Estimating Costs and Benefits Associated with Evidence-Based Violence Prevention: Four case studies based on the Fourth R program

Teen violence in dating and peer relationships has huge costs to society in numerous areas including health care, social services, the workforce and the justice system. Physical, psychological, and sexual abuse have long-lasting ramifications for the perpetrators as well as the victims, and for the families involved on both sides of that equation. An effective violence prevention program that is part of a school’s curriculum is beneficial not only for teaching teenagers what is appropriate behaviour in a relationship, but also for helping them break the cycle of violence which may have begun at home with their own maltreatment as children. The Fourth R program is an efficacious violence prevention program that was developed in Ontario and has been implemented in schools throughout Canada and the U.S. Covering relationship dynamics common to dating violence as well as substance abuse, peer violence and unsafe sex, the program can be adapted to different cultures and to same-sex relationships. The program, which gets its name from the traditional 3Rs — reading, ’riting and ’rithmetic — offers schools the opportunity to provide effective programming for teens to reduce the likelihood of them using relationship for violence as they move into adulthood. The federal government has estimated that the societal costs of relationship violence amount to more than $7 billion. These costs can continue to be incurred through the legal and health-care systems as the ripple effects of violence play out over the years, even after a relationship has ended. Other types of violence are also costly to society and not just in terms of dollars, but in young lives diverted into criminal activity. Up to 15 per cent of youth who become involved with the justice system grow into serious adult offenders who develop lengthy criminal careers. Yet, research shows that if prevention programs such as the Fourth R can deter just one 14-year-old high-risk juvenile from a life of crime, up to$5 million can be saved in costs to society

Playing safe: Assessing the risk of sexual abuse to elite child athletes

Young athletes frequently suffer from being seen as athletes first and children second. This has consequences for their legal, civil and human rights as children (Kelly et al., 1995) and for the way in which sport organisations choose to intervene on their behalf to protect them from physical, psychological and sexual abuses (Brackenridge, 1994). Sport careers peak at different ages depending on the sport: in some, children as young as 12 or 13 may reach the highest levels of competitive performance; in others, full maturity as an athlete may come late into adulthood or even middle age. Recognition of this variation has given rise to the concept of ‘sport age’ (Kirby, 1986) referring to sport-specific athlete development. This concept is of significance in helping to identify the developmental process in terms of athletic, rather than chronological, maturity. The risk of sexual abuse in sport, formerly ignored or denied, has now been documented in a number of studies, using both quantitative and qualitative methods (Kirby & Greaves, 1996; Brackenridge, 1997; Volkwein, 1996). Drawing on data from these studies and from the previous work on sport age and athletic maturation, this paper proposes a possible means of identifying and assessing relative risk of sexual abuse to elite young athletes in selected sports. The concept of a ‘stage of imminent achievement’ (SIA) is proposed as the period of peak vulnerability of young athletes to sexual abuse

Asymptotic channels and gauge transformations of the time-dependent Dirac equation for extremely relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We discuss the two-center, time-dependent Dirac equation describing the dynamics of an electron during a peripheral, relativistic heavy-ion collision at extreme energies. We derive a factored form, which is exact in the high-energy limit, for the asymptotic channel solutions of the Dirac equation, and elucidate their close connection with gauge transformations which transform the dynamics into a representation in which the interaction between the electron and a distant ion is of short range. We describe the implications of this relationship for solving the time-dependent Dirac equation for extremely relativistic collisions.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, 2 figures, submitted to PR

Axially symmetric Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov Calculations for Nuclei Near the Drip-Lines

Nuclei far from stability are studied by solving the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) equations, which describe the self-consistent mean field theory with pairing interaction. Calculations for even-even nuclei are carried out on two-dimensional axially symmetric lattice, in coordinate space. The quasiparticle continuum wavefunctions are considered for energies up to 60 MeV. Nuclei near the drip lines have a strong coupling between weakly bound states and the particle continuum. This method gives a proper description of the ground state properties of such nuclei. High accuracy is achieved by representing the operators and wavefunctions using the technique of basis-splines. The detailed representation of the HFB equations in cylindrical coordinates is discussed. Calculations of observables for nuclei near the neutron drip line are presented to demonstrate the reliability of the method.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Physical Review C on 05/08/02. Revised on Dec/0

Toeplitz Quantization of K\"ahler Manifolds and gl(N)gl(N) N→∞N\to\infty

For general compact K\"ahler manifolds it is shown that both Toeplitz quantization and geometric quantization lead to a well-defined (by operator norm estimates) classical limit. This generalizes earlier results of the authors and Klimek and Lesniewski obtained for the torus and higher genus Riemann surfaces, respectively. We thereby arrive at an approximation of the Poisson algebra by a sequence of finite-dimensional matrix algebras $gl(N)$, $N\to\infty$.Comment: 17 pages, AmsTeX 2.1, Sept. 93 (rev: only typos are corrected

Accuracy of predictive equations for the measurement of resting energy expenditure in older subjects

Background and aims: The measurement of resting energy expenditure (REE) is important to assess individual total energy requirements in older subjects. The validity of REE prediction equations in this population has not been thoroughly evaluated and therefore the main aim of this analysis was to assess the accuracy of REE prediction equations in older subjects. Methods: Weight, height and body mass index (BMI) were measured. REE was measured by indirect calorimetry (IC) in 68 older subjects (age: 60-94 years, M/F: 13/55, BMI: 26.3\ub15.0kg/m2). Measured REE was compared to 14 equations for the calculation of REE estimates. In addition, two novel approaches (Aggregate model and meta-regression equations) for the prediction of REE were evaluated. Paired t test and Bland-Altman method were used to assess the agreement of the equations. Results: The average measured REE was 1298\ub1264kcal/day. The equation with the smallest bias was proposed by Muller (Bias\ub12SD=+3\ub1294kcal/day) whereas the Mifflin equation was associated with the largest error (Bias\ub12SD=-172\ub1282kcal/day). The Aggregate, Muller, Harris-Benedict and Fredrix equations were characterised by a prediction within \ub110% of measured REE in more than 60% of subjects. Of the four algorithms, only the Aggregate equation did not show a significant association of the measurement bias with age, BMI and gender. Conclusions: The Aggregate algorithm was characterised by a higher, overall accuracy for the prediction of REE in older subjects and its use should be advocated in older subjects. However, due to the large variability of the estimates, the measurement of REE by IC is still recommended for an accurate assessment of individual REE

Recent African derivation of Chrysomya putoria from C. chloropyga and mitochondrial DNA paraphyly of cytochrome oxidase subunit one in blowflies of forensic importance

Chrysomya chloropyga (Wiedemann) and C. putoria (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are closely related Afrotropical blowflies that breed in carrion and latrines, reaching high density in association with humans and spreading to other continents. In some cases of human death, Chyrsomya specimens provide forensic clues. Because the immature stages of such flies are often difficult to identify taxonomically, it is useful to develop DNA-based tests for specimen identification. Therefore we attempted to distinguish between C. chloropyga and C. putoria using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data from a 593-bp region of the gene for cytochrome oxidase subunit one (COI). Twelve specimens from each species yielded a total of five haplotypes, none being unique to C. putoria. Therefore it was not possible to distinguish between the two species using this locus. Maximum parsimony analysis indicated paraphyletic C. chloropyga mtDNA with C. putoria nested therein. Based on these and previously published data, we infer that C. putoria diverged very recently from C. chloropyga

Influence of next-nearest-neighbor electron hopping on the static and dynamical properties of the 2D Hubbard model

Comparing experimental data for high temperature cuprate superconductors with numerical results for electronic models, it is becoming apparent that a hopping along the plaquette diagonals has to be included to obtain a quantitative agreement. According to recent estimations the value of the diagonal hopping $t'$ appears to be material dependent. However, the values for $t'$ discussed in the literature were obtained comparing theoretical results in the weak coupling limit with experimental photoemission data and band structure calculations. The goal of this paper is to study how $t'$ gets renormalized as the interaction between electrons, $U$, increases. For this purpose, the effect of adding a bare diagonal hopping $t'$ to the fully interacting two dimensional Hubbard model Hamiltonian is investigated using numerical techniques. Positive and negative values of $t'$ are analyzed. Spin-spin correlations, $n(\bf{k})$, $\langle n\rangle$ vs $\mu$, and local magnetic moments are studied for values of $U/t$ ranging from 0 to 6, and as a function of the electronic density. The influence of the diagonal hopping in the spectral function $A(\bf{k},\omega)$ is also discussed, and the changes in the gap present in the density of states at half-filling are studied. We introduce a new criterion to determine probable locations of Fermi surfaces at zero temperature from $n(\bf{k})$ data obtained at finite temperature. It appears that hole pockets at ${\bf{k}}=(\pi/2,\pi/2)$ may be induced for negative $t'$ while a positive $t'$ produces similar features at ${\bf{k}}=(\pi,0)$ and $(0,\pi)$. Comparisons with the standard 2D Hubbard ($t'=0$) model indicate that a negative $t'$ hopping amplitude appears to be dynamically generated. In general, we conclude that it is very dangerous to extract a bare parameter of the Hamiltonian $(t')$ from PES data whereComment: 9 pages (RevTex 3.0), 12 figures (postscript), files packed with uufile

Pb0.4Bi1.6Sr2Ca1Cu2O8+xPb_{0.4}Bi_{1.6}Sr_{2}Ca_{1}Cu_{2}O_{8+x} and Oxygen Stoichiometry: Structure, Resistivity, Fermi Surface Topology and Normal State Properties

$Pb_{0.4}Bi_{1.6}Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+x}$ ($Bi(Pb)-$2212) single crystal samples were studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), $ab-$plane ($\rho_{ab}$) and $c-$axis ($\rho_c$) resistivity, and high resolution angle-resolved ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (ARUPS). TEM reveals that the modulation in the $b-$axis for $Pb(0.4)-$doped $Bi(Pb)-$2212 is dominantly of $Pb-$type that is not sensitive to the oxygen content of the system, and the system clearly shows a structure of orthorhombic symmetry. Oxygen annealed samples exhibit a much lower $c-$axis resistivity and a resistivity minimum at $80-130$K. He-annealed samples exhibit a much higher $c-$axis resistivity and $d\rho_c/dT<0$ behavior below 300K. The Fermi surface (FS) of oxygen annealed $Bi(Pb)-$2212 mapped out by ARUPS has a pocket in the FS around the $\bar{M}$ point and exhibits orthorhombic symmetry. There are flat, parallel sections of the FS, about 60\% of the maximum possible along $k_x = k_y$, and about 30\% along $k_x = - k_y$. The wavevectors connecting the flat sections are about $0.72(\pi, \pi)$ along $k_x = k_y$, and about $0.80(\pi, \pi)$ along $k_x = - k_y$, rather than $(\pi,\pi)$. The symmetry of the near-Fermi-energy dispersing states in the normal state changes between oxygen-annealed and He-annealed samples.Comment: APS_REVTEX 3.0, 49 pages, including 11 figures, available upon request. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B