Evaluation of Pre-Trial Diversion Project, State of Alaska, Department of Law

In February 1978 the Alaska Department of Law initiated a pilot pretrial intervention (PTI) project in Anchorage directed at first-time property offenders with no history of violence and no current drug or alcohol dependency. The project was aimed at reducing recidivism and costs to the criminal justice system, and included a built-in evaluation component. This report explores the PTI project's impact by (1) comparing PTI clients with other defendants; (2) investigating compliance of PTI clients with contracts to which they agree at time of program entry; (3) comparing costs of PTI compared with those generated in ordinary criminal cases; (4) evaluating the program's administration, identifying its deficiencies, and suggesting improvements; and (5) looking at recidivism rates of PTI clients.State of Alaska Department of Law Grant No. 78-A-014 Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, United States Department of JusticeAcknowledgements / Introduction / Project Background / Project Clientele / Client Performance / Cost Comparisons / Project Administration / Appendix A. Eligibility Criteria / Appendix B. Data Collection For

Managing direct energy use now and in the future

[Background and Introduction]: Agricultural producers are currently aware of increasing energy costs. This has occurred before the scientific and political debate on climate change has been resolved and a decision made on the best policy instruments to be used to respond. In parallel to this discussion, the on farm assessment of direct energy inputs (i.e. diesel and electricity) enables farmers to react positively to the potential of rising energy costs while contributing to a reduction in greenhouse gasses (GHGs) regardless of the scientific and policy debate surrounding climate change and emissions reduction. Previous work undertaken by the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA) has studied direct on farm energy use involving a number of case study cotton farms to understand the range, costs and contributions of energy use to cotton production and greenhouse gas emissions. The results from this work showed that energy use varies depending on the cropping enterprise and the farming system and that there are significant opportunities to reduce energy and costs. In comparison the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) from direct energy use can be similar and in fact greater than the GHGs generated by soil / fertiliser / water interactions. Improving on farm energy use would appear to be as important as improving nitrogen efficiency. A more detailed study undertaken by the NCEA on a large cotton farm in the Gwydir Valley (reference) identified significant reductions in energy resulting from the adoption of reduced tillage systems. The study showed that the adoption of a minimum tillage system had reduced energy costs (and greenhouse emissions) by 12% since 2000 and developing a 'near zero till' system had the potential to reduce this to 24% less than 2000 energy costs. It is evident from this work that there is substantial scope to improve energy use efficiency in cotton production systems, but to enable more growers to identify where they can improve, further development of tools, processes and human capacity is required. In the cropping sector a number of practice changes and technology developments have been, or are being, adopted which can be expected to reduce fuel / energy use or energy use intensity. Examples include minimum / zero tillage, controlled traffic, a range of precision ag technologies, planting of GM crops, some water use efficiency measures and use of legumes in crop rotations. Unfortunately, because the primary driver for the adoption of these practices and technologies has not been energy costs or efficiency, relatively few studies have considered the energy savings or efficiencies associated with them. Within highly mechanised agricultural productions systems such as the Australian Cotton Industry direct energy inputs (i.e. diesel and electricity) represent a major cost to the grower and potentially a significant proportion of the total green house gas (GHG) emissions. Previous studies by Baillie and Chen (2008) have reported significant savings in energy for both a refinement in current practices (i.e. up to 30 % for individual operations) and a change in practice (10 – 20% across the farming system) through energy assessment

A three-dimensional lattice gas model for amphiphilic fluid dynamics

We describe a three-dimensional hydrodynamic lattice-gas model of amphiphilic fluids. This model of the non-equilibrium properties of oil-water-surfactant systems, which is a non-trivial extension of an earlier two-dimensional realisation due to Boghosian, Coveney and Emerton [Boghosian, Coveney, and Emerton 1996, Proc. Roy. Soc. A 452, 1221-1250], can be studied effectively only when it is implemented using high-performance computing and visualisation techniques. We describe essential aspects of the model's theoretical basis and computer implementation, and report on the phenomenological properties of the model which confirm that it correctly captures binary oil-water and surfactant-water behaviour, as well as the complex phase behaviour of ternary amphiphilic fluids.Comment: 34 pages, 13 figures, high resolution figures available on reques

International Dimensions in the Financing of Higher Education

This chapter compares and contrasts international experience with respect to higher education financing. The size and payment forms of tuition, and the different types and levels of public sector support, are illustrated for a large number of countries. A major aspect of the discussion concerns the conceptual bases and the costs and benefits of the two different instruments of government intervention for student financing: guaranteed bank loans, and income contingent loans. It is argued that income contingent loans have a number of advantages over government guaranteed bank loans, and this seems to be increasingly recognised with respect to international adoption of the former. However, to be efficacious income contingent loan systems require sophisticated institutional and administrative repayment collection arrangements.government guaranteed bank loans, higher education, income contingent loans, student loans, tuition

Tissue-conducted spatial sound fields

We describe experiments using multiple cranial transducers to achieve auditory spatial perceptual impressions via bone (BC) and tissue conduction (TC), bypassing the peripheral hearing apparatus. This could be useful in cases of peripheral hearing damage or where ear-occlusion is undesirable. Previous work (e.g. Stanley and Walker 2006, MacDonald and Letowski 2006)1,2 indicated robust lateralization is feasible via tissue conduction. We have utilized discrete signals, stereo and first order ambisonics to investigate control of externalization, range, direction in azimuth and elevation, movement and spaciousness. Early results indicate robust and coherent effects. Current technological implementations are presented and potential development paths discussed

Hearing Without Ears

We report on on-going work investigating the feasibility of using tissue conduction to evince auditory spatial perception. Early results indicate that it is possible to coherently control externalization, range, directionality (including elevation), movement and some sense of spaciousness without presenting acoustic signals to the outer ear. Signal control techniques so far have utilised discrete signal feeds, stereo and 1st order ambisonic hierarchies. Some deficiencies in frontal externalization have been observed. We conclude that, whilst the putative components of the head related transfer function are absent, empirical tests indicate that coherent equivalents are perceptually utilisable. Some implications for perceptual theory and technological implementations are discussed along with potential practical applications and future lines of enquiry