Rationalizing Juvenile Justice

Few issues have occupied the public mind so much in recent years as the problem of youth violence. Due to sensational school shootings and public paranoia about the violence of youth gangs, America is concerned - very concerned - about the growing criminality of its children. In our concern, we find ourselves caught in the classic conundrum of criminal responsibility: reconciling the unavoidable knowledge that much of human behavior is determined with our strong instincts about free will. We blame violent television and video games, we blame single mothers, we blame low church attendance, but when all is said and done, we punish the child. The concrete response to our fears about increasing youth violence has been increased accountability for young offenders, and growing rhetoric about the genuine evil that exists even in seemingly innocent youth. Franklin Zimring confronts this trend of getting tough on young offenders in his most recent book, American Youth Violence. The basic aim of his project is to quell the storm of youth crime policy motivated by fear and hostility towards young offenders (p. xiii). Increased length of punishment, as well as abandonment of efforts at reform, have characterized the recent moves in juvenile justice. Zimring argues against these trends

Eliminating Consideration of Parental Wealth in Post-Divorce Child Custody Disputes

There may be no story as old as that of the child of privilege, spoiled in the things of the world, who finally achieves happiness through coming to appreciate the simple charms of working-class life. But equal in strength are the real life stories of American parents: their drive for the accumulation of personal wealth, so frequently justified as for the children. The place of wealth in the good life of a child is deeply controversial, and it should surprise no one to see it played out in child custody law. Under the statutes of almost all states, custody disputes between divorcing parents must be decided in the best interests of the child. These statutes often list particular factors that are to be considered when deciding children\u27s interests, such as [t]he love, affection, and other emotional ties existing between the parties involved and the child. Some statutes also expressly forbid consideration of particular factors, such as the gender of the parent. Even with these attempts to narrow the inquiry, the best-interests standard remains notably vague. This inevitably leads to serious disputes about which factors ought to be considered, and how much weight they should be given. Perhaps the most troubling of these disputes has involved the relevance to the custody decision of each parent\u27s ability to provide the child with material goods

Mapping the Shores of the Brown Dwarf Desert. I. Upper Scorpius

We present the results of a survey for stellar and substellar companions to 82 young stars in the nearby OB association Upper Scorpius. This survey used nonredundant aperture mask interferometry to achieve typical contrast limits of ΔK ~5-6 at the diffraction limit, revealing 12 new binary companions that lay below the detection limits of traditional high-resolution imaging; we also summarize a complementary snapshot imaging survey that discovered seven directly resolved companions. The overall frequency of binary companions (~35 +5 -4% at separations of 6-435 AU) appears to be equivalent to field stars of similar mass, but companions could be more common among lower mass stars than for the field. The companion mass function has statistically significant differences compared to several suggested mass functions for the field, and we suggest an alternate lognormal parameterization of the mass function. Our survey limits encompass the entire brown dwarf mass range, but we only detected a single companion that might be a brown dwarf; this deficit resembles the so-called brown dwarf desert that has been observed by radial velocity planet searches. Finally, our survey’s deep detection limits extend into the top of the planetary mass function, reaching 8-12 MJup for half of our sample. We have not identified any planetary companions at high confidence (≳99.5%), but we have identified four candidate companions at lower confidence (≳97.5%) that merit additional follow-up to confirm or disprove their existence

The Role of Multiplicity in Disk Evolution and Planet Formation

The past decade has seen a revolution in our understanding of protoplanetary disk evolution and planet formation in single star systems. However, the majority of solar-type stars form in binary systems, so the impact of binary companions on protoplanetary disks is an important element in our understanding of planet formation. We have compiled a combined multiplicity/disk census of Taurus-Auriga, plus a restricted sample of close binaries in other regions, in order to explore the role of multiplicity in disk evolution. Our results imply that the tidal influence of a close (<40 AU) binary companion significantly hastens the process of protoplanetary disk dispersal, as ~2/3 of all close binaries promptly disperse their disks within <1 Myr after formation. However, prompt disk dispersal only occurs for a small fraction of wide binaries and single stars, with ~80%-90% retaining their disks for at least ~2--3 Myr (but rarely for more than ~5 Myr). Our new constraints on the disk clearing timescale have significant implications for giant planet formation; most single stars have 3--5 Myr within which to form giant planets, whereas most close binary systems would have to form giant planets within <1 Myr. If core accretion is the primary mode for giant planet formation, then gas giants in close binaries should be rare. Conversely, since almost all single stars have a similar period of time within which to form gas giants, their relative rarity in RV surveys indicates either that the giant planet formation timescale is very well-matched to the disk dispersal timescale or that features beyond the disk lifetime set the likelihood of giant planet formation.Comment: Accepted to ApJ; 15 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables in emulateapj forma

Medical coverage at soccer sessions

INTRODUCTION: Soccer in Rwanda exposes soccer players to the risk of injury warranting a need for medical coverage at both training and competitive sessions. This study aims to identify the prevalence, period of injury occurrence, and severity of common soccer injuries among the 1st and 2nd division soccer teams in Rwanda. METHODS: A cross-sectional retrospective quantitative study design was used. Simple random sampling, clustered within teams, was used to get a sample of this study. During sample selection, the random order was determined using the random number generator in Microsoft Excel. Data for soccer players was gathered, using a close-ended questionnaire. The data from soccer players were captured and analyzed with the Microsoft Excel package. RESULTS: The study revealed 68.1 % injury prevalence with a significantly high rate of injuries occurring during training (p< 0.005). Most of the training injuries were moderate followed by major, minor and severe injuries while most injuries during competition were major-moderate, followed by severe-minor. CONCLUSION: The prevalence, period of injury occurrence and severity of injuries in Rwanda indeed warrants medical coverage as a first preventive strategy

Encouraging practitioners in infection prevention and control to publish: a cross-sectional survey

Aim: The aim of this cross-sectional survey was to determine the views of infection prevention and control practitioners (IPCPs) on publishing research. Methods: A convenience sample was obtained by approaching delegates at the 2015 Infection Prevention Society conference and data was captured via a hand-held electronic device. Findings: Of the 79 respondents most (83%) read Journal of Infection Prevention (JIP) and found it useful for informing their practice (72%). However, most (91%) had never published in JIP, and less than half (40%) published elsewhere. The main barrier to publication was not having work suitable for publication (38%). Support (37%), training in writing for publication (10%) and time (9%) were considered to be important facilitators in encouraging respondents to publish. Discussion: Strategies that support IPCPs in developing their writing skills may encourage more IPCPs to disseminate evidence to support best practice by publishing their work in peer reviewed journals

Experimental study of a low-order wavefront sensor for the high-contrast coronagraphic imager EXCEDE

The mission EXCEDE (EXoplanetary Circumstellar Environments and Disk Explorer), selected by NASA for technology development, is designed to study the formation, evolution and architectures of exoplanetary systems and characterize circumstellar environments into stellar habitable zones. It is composed of a 0.7 m telescope equipped with a Phase-Induced Amplitude Apodization Coronagraph (PIAA-C) and a 2000-element MEMS deformable mirror, capable of raw contrasts of 1e-6 at 1.2 lambda/D and 1e-7 above 2 lambda/D. One of the key challenges to achieve those contrasts is to remove low-order aberrations, using a Low-Order WaveFront Sensor (LOWFS). An experiment simulating the starlight suppression system is currently developed at NASA Ames Research Center, and includes a LOWFS controlling tip/tilt modes in real time at 500 Hz. The LOWFS allowed us to reduce the tip/tilt disturbances to 1e-3 lambda/D rms, enhancing the previous contrast by a decade, to 8e-7 between 1.2 and 2 lambda/D. A Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controller is currently implemented to improve even more that result by reducing residual vibrations. This testbed shows that a good knowledge of the low-order disturbances is a key asset for high contrast imaging, whether for real-time control or for post processing.Comment: 12 pages, 20 figures, proceeding of the SPIE conference Optics+Photonics, San Diego 201

Epidemiology of soccer-related injuries among male high school players in Kigali, Rwanda

Soccer in Rwandan high schools can expose players to the risk of injury warranting prevention programmes. The aim of this study was to determine the type, causes, severity and management of injuries among high school soccer players in Rwanda, in order to obtain baseline data for injury prevention programmes. A cross-sectional study was used to obtain the relevant information. A total of 360 high school soccer players were targetted. Data for soccer players were gathered, using a validated closed-ended questionnaire. Information was obtained from the players during training sessions at the schools after informed consent was obtained. The soccer players were all males aged 11 to 26 years, with a mean age of 16.8 years (SD= 3.4). The study revealed a 75% injury prevalence, with a significantly high rate of injuries occurring during competiton (p< 0.05). The lower extremities accounted for 78% of all injuries sustained, and most of the injuries were not severe. Management of injuries was poor. The epidemiology and risk factors of soccer-related injuries among Rwandan high school soccer players demonstrates the need for urgent implementation of prevention programmes. There is a clear need for education as part of the injury prevention and mangement programmes.Department of HE and Training approved lis