From Options to Action: A Roadmap for City Leaders to Connect Formerly Incarcerated Individuals to Work

On February 28, 2008, P/PV, along with The United States Conference of Mayors, the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU and the City of New York, convened the Mayors Summit on Reentry and Employment, where 150 city leaders, policymakers, practitioners and academics came together from more than 20 cities to share strategies for connecting formerly incarcerated people to the labor market. From Options to Action was inspired and informed by discussions that took place at the Summit, as well as P/PV's experience in the field and a review of pertinent literature. It is meant to provide a framework for reentry efforts, with guidance for cities in early planning phases as well as those implementing more advanced strategies. The report presents practical steps for achieving a more coordinated, comprehensive approach to reentry at the city level, including identifying and convening relevant stakeholders, addressing city-level barriers to employment, engaging the business community and working with county, state and federal leaders to implement collaborative approaches and produce needed policy change.Because mayors and other municipal leaders are confronted with the day-to-day reality of prison and jail reentry and see its detrimental effects in their cities, many have already begun to seek out, test and refine lasting solutions. We hope this publication will support their efforts, as they work to interrupt the revolving door of recidivism -- and offer hope to returning prisoners, their families and communities

Personal tutoring: a recognition of ‘levelness’ in the support for undergraduates

The changing terrain of higher education in the UK, and particularly the greater diversity of the student body, has undoubtedly led to the need for universities to provide greater support, both from frontline teaching staff and in the provision of extra institutional services.  Added to the mix are sectoral concerns for the wellbeing and welfare of the student.  It is therefore unsurprising that we are seeing a renewed focus on, and interest in, personal tutoring.  Taking a qualitative approach, we set out to explore the needs of undergraduate students, on an event management programme, in relation to personal tutoring.  Outlined in this paper are the different senses of personal tutoring as student transition through their course.&nbsp

Physical Activity, Screen Time, and Obesity: A Statistical Inquiry into Latina/o Youth

Background and Purpose: Overweight and obesity have been identified by the World Health Organization as a global epidemic and disproportionately affects minority populations in the United States. This study explored cross-sectional associations with TV viewing, physical activity, video game playing, gender, and Latina/o ethnicity with Body Mass Index (BMI). Methods: Data from the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) were utilized (N=15,503). Results: Time spent in physical activity, watching television, playing video games, male gender, and Latina/o ethnicity status were all significantly associated with increased risk of overweight and obesity, but age was not. There was also a significant interaction effect in which above-median levels of physical activity had a stronger relationship with lower overweight/obesity rates among non-Latinos compared to Latinos. Conclusion: Our findings support previous findings regarding well-known correlates of overweight and obesity. The significant interaction effects suggest that the relationships of these correlates are nuanced, and future interventions may be more effective if demographic-specific relationships between correlates and obesityrelated outcomes are considered

Infinite Idealizations in Science: An Introduction

We offer a framework for organizing the literature regarding the debates revolving around infinite idealizations in science, and a short summary of the contributions to this special issue

Risk factors for falls with severe fracture in elderly people living in a middle-income country: a case control study

BACKGROUND: Fracture after falling has been identified as an important problem in public health. Most studies of risk factors for fractures due to falls have been carried out in developed countries, although the size of the elderly population is increasing fast in middle income countries. The objective of this paper is to identify risk factors for fall related to severe fractures in those aged 60 or more in a middle-income country. METHODS: A case-control study was carried out in Rio de Janeiro-Brazil based general hospitals between 2002-2003. Two hundred-fifty hospitalised cases of fracture were matched with 250 community controls by sex, age group and living area. Data were collected for socio-demographic variables, health status and drugs used before the fall. A conditional logistic regression model was fitted to identify variables associated with the risk of fall related severe fracture. RESULTS: Low body mass index, cognitive impairment, stroke and lack of urine control were associated with increased risk of severe fall related fractures. Benzodiazepines and muscle relaxants were also related to an increased risk of severe fractures while moderate use of alcohol was associated with reduced risk. CONCLUSION: Although the association between benzodiazepines and fractures due to fall has been consistently demonstrated for old people, this has not been the case for muscle relaxant drugs. The decision to prescribe muscle relaxants for elderly people should take into account the risk of severe fracture associated with these drugs

Multi-contrast imaging and digital refocusing on a mobile microscope with a domed LED array

We demonstrate the design and application of an add-on device for improving the diagnostic and research capabilities of CellScope--a low-cost, smartphone-based point-of-care microscope. We replace the single LED illumination of the original CellScope with a programmable domed LED array. By leveraging recent advances in computational illumination, this new device enables simultaneous multi-contrast imaging with brightfield, darkfield, and phase imaging modes. Further, we scan through illumination angles to capture lightfield datasets, which can be used to recover 3D intensity and phase images without any hardware changes. This digital refocusing procedure can be used for either 3D imaging or software-only focus correction, reducing the need for precise mechanical focusing during field experiments. All acquisition and processing is performed on the mobile phone and controlled through a smartphone application, making the computational microscope compact and portable. Using multiple samples and different objective magnifications, we demonstrate that the performance of our device is comparable to that of a commercial microscope. This unique device platform extends the field imaging capabilities of CellScope, opening up new clinical and research possibilities