Juvenile Mental Health Courts: An Emerging Strategy

Examines the benefits and drawbacks in using juvenile mental health courts. Includes how the courts are funded, which agencies administer them, criteria used for including youth in the programs, and community services that are provided to participants

Qualidade e conservação da uva Superior Seedless sob atmosfera controlada.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar o efeito do emprego da tecnologia Cargofresh de AC associada ao emprego de SO2 e ao envolvimento do pallet com filme plástico, sobre a vida útil de armazenamento da uva 'Superior Seedless' produzida no Vale do São Francisco

The Gaia spectrophotometric standard stars survey -II. Instrumental effects of six ground-based observing campaigns

The Gaia SpectroPhotometric Standard Stars (SPSS) survey started in 2006, it was awarded almost 450 observing nights, and accumulated almost 100,000 raw data frames, with both photometric and spectroscopic observations. Such large observational effort requires careful, homogeneous, and automated data reduction and quality control procedures. In this paper, we quantitatively evaluate instrumental effects that might have a significant (i.e.,$\geq$1%) impact on the Gaia SPSS flux calibration. The measurements involve six different instruments, monitored over the eight years of observations dedicated to the Gaia flux standards campaigns: DOLORES@TNG in La Palma, EFOSC2@NTT and ROSS@REM in La Silla, [email protected] in Calar Alto, BFOSC@Cassini in Loiano, and [email protected] in San Pedro Martir. We examine and quantitatively evaluate the following effects: CCD linearity and shutter times, calibration frames stability, lamp flexures, second order contamination, light polarization, and fringing. We present methods to correct for the relevant effects, which can be applied to a wide range of observational projects at similar instruments.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Astron. Nach

Time-Series Photometry of Globular Clusters: M62 (NGC 6266), the Most RR Lyrae-Rich Globular Cluster in the Galaxy?

We present new time-series CCD photometry, in the B and V bands, for the moderately metal-rich ([Fe/H] ~ -1.3) Galactic globular cluster (GC) M62 (NGC 6266). The present dataset is the largest obtained so far for this cluster, and consists of 168 images per filter, obtained with the Warsaw 1.3m telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) and the 1.3m telescope of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), in two separate runs over the time span of three months. The procedure adopted to detect the variable stars was the optimal image subtraction method (ISIS v2.2), as implemented by Alard. The photometry was performed using both ISIS and DAOPHOT/ALLFRAME. We have identified 245 variable stars in the cluster fields that have been analyzed so far, of which 179 are new discoveries. Of these variables, 133 are fundamental mode RR Lyrae stars (RRab), 76 are first overtone (RRc) pulsators, 4 are type II Cepheids, 25 are long-period variables (LPV), 1 is an eclipsing binary, and 6 are not yet well classified. Such a large number of RR Lyrae stars places M62 among the top two most RR Lyrae-rich (in the sense of total number of RR Lyrae stars present) GCs known in the Galaxy, second only to M3 (NGC 5272) with a total of 230 known RR Lyrae stars. Since this study covers most but not all of the cluster area, it is not unlikely that M62 is in fact the most RR Lyrae-rich GC in the Galaxy. In like vein, we were also able to detect the largest sample of LPV's known in a Galactic GC. We analyze a variety of Oosterhoff type indicators for the cluster, and conclude that M62 is an Oosterhoff type I system. This is in good agreement with the moderately high metallicity of the cluster, in spite of its predominantly blue horizontal branch morphology -- which is more typical of Oosterhoff type II systems. We thus conclude that metallicity plays a key role in defining Oosterhoff type. [abridged]Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures (emulateapj format). AJ, in pres

Markov evolutions and hierarchical equations in the continuum I. One-component systems

General birth-and-death as well as hopping stochastic dynamics of infinite particle systems in the continuum are considered. We derive corresponding evolution equations for correlation functions and generating functionals. General considerations are illustrated in a number of concrete examples of Markov evolutions appearing in applications.Comment: 47 page

Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics of the Zero-Range Process and Related Models

We review recent progress on the zero-range process, a model of interacting particles which hop between the sites of a lattice with rates that depend on the occupancy of the departure site. We discuss several applications which have stimulated interest in the model such as shaken granular gases and network dynamics, also we discuss how the model may be used as a coarse-grained description of driven phase-separating systems. A useful property of the zero-range process is that the steady state has a factorised form. We show how this form enables one to analyse in detail condensation transitions, wherein a finite fraction of particles accumulate at a single site. We review condensation transitions in homogeneous and heterogeneous systems and also summarise recent progress in understanding the dynamics of condensation. We then turn to several generalisations which also, under certain specified conditions, share the property of a factorised steady state. These include several species of particles; hop rates which depend on both the departure and the destination sites; continuous masses; parallel discrete-time updating; non-conservation of particles and sites.Comment: 54 pages, 9 figures, review articl

From urn models to zero-range processes: statics and dynamics

The aim of these lecture notes is a description of the statics and dynamics of zero-range processes and related models. After revisiting some conceptual aspects of the subject, emphasis is then put on the study of the class of zero-range processes for which a condensation transition arises.Comment: Lecture notes for the Luxembourg Summer School 200

A novel approach to simulate gene-environment interactions in complex diseases

Background: Complex diseases are multifactorial traits caused by both genetic and environmental factors. They represent the major part of human diseases and include those with largest prevalence and mortality (cancer, heart disease, obesity, etc.). Despite a large amount of information that has been collected about both genetic and environmental risk factors, there are few examples of studies on their interactions in epidemiological literature. One reason can be the incomplete knowledge of the power of statistical methods designed to search for risk factors and their interactions in these data sets. An improvement in this direction would lead to a better understanding and description of gene-environment interactions. To this aim, a possible strategy is to challenge the different statistical methods against data sets where the underlying phenomenon is completely known and fully controllable, for example simulated ones. Results: We present a mathematical approach that models gene-environment interactions. By this method it is possible to generate simulated populations having gene-environment interactions of any form, involving any number of genetic and environmental factors and also allowing non-linear interactions as epistasis. In particular, we implemented a simple version of this model in a Gene-Environment iNteraction Simulator (GENS), a tool designed to simulate case-control data sets where a one gene-one environment interaction influences the disease risk. The main aim has been to allow the input of population characteristics by using standard epidemiological measures and to implement constraints to make the simulator behaviour biologically meaningful. Conclusions: By the multi-logistic model implemented in GENS it is possible to simulate case-control samples of complex disease where gene-environment interactions influence the disease risk. The user has full control of the main characteristics of the simulated population and a Monte Carlo process allows random variability. A knowledge-based approach reduces the complexity of the mathematical model by using reasonable biological constraints and makes the simulation more understandable in biological terms. Simulated data sets can be used for the assessment of novel statistical methods or for the evaluation of the statistical power when designing a study