4,105 research outputs found
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
Exploring the views of academics on an academic leadership program in higher education
Leadership in higher education institutions has been receiving growing interest, because of the role institutions play in developing students to become leaders in the broader society. However, institutions have to equip staff, adequately, with leadership skills, first, and one way of doing this, is through a leadership development programme for academic staff. The purpose of this current study was to explore and describe the impact of an academic leadership development programme, based on the perceptions of the participants.
In this study, a qualitative, exploratory descriptive, research design was employed. Thirteen (13) participants were purposively selected to participate in the study. Data were collected using individual, open-ended, face-to-face interviews. The data were transcribed, verbatim, and analysed, using thematic analysis.
Four key themes emerged: (1) emotional responses to the programme; (2) professional application of skills; (3) benefits from the programme; and (4) recommendations. The programme had an impact on both the personal and professional lives of the participants, which is evidence of the truly transformative nature of the programme. The study, however, is limited because the researchers only sought to explore the perceived impact of a leadership development programme. To determine the true impact, it would need to be studied, using multiple sources.
 
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