Everyday Legal Problems and the Cost of Justice in Canada: Survey

The Cost of Justice project (2011-2017) examines the social and economic costs of Canada’s justice system. It is guided by two questions: What is the cost of delivering access to justice? And what is the cost of not delivering access to justice? Comprised of leading researchers investigating various dimensions of access to justice and cost across the country, the Cost of Justice project is producing empirical data that will inform the future of access to justice in Canada and abroad. The lead research team includes: Trevor C.W. Farrow (Principal Investigator), Nicole Aylwin, Les Jacobs, Lisa Moore, and Diana Lowe

Design and Conduct of the Cost of Justice Survey

The “Everyday Legal Problems and the Cost of Justice in Canada” survey (“CoJ survey”) 1 is a national everyday legal problems survey carried out as part of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice’s Cost of Justice project (CFCJ). 2 The CoJ survey was conducted by the Institute for Social Research (ISR), York University, on behalf of the CFCJ, between September 2013 and May 2014. The 3,051 main study interviews were completed with randomly selected adults from randomly selected households over land line telephones. An additional set of 212 cell phone interviews were also conducted (discussed further below). The interviews averaged just over 21 minutes in length and the response rate was 42%. This technical report briefly outlines the design and conduct of the survey

Everyday Legal Problems and the Cost of Justice in Canada: Overview Report

Law and legal problems are part of everyday life. If you have ever been harassed at work, unfairly fired or evicted, divorced, not received support payments, disputed a will or a cell phone contract, or had your credit rating challenged, you may have already experienced one of these types of everyday legal problems. If so, you are not alone. Almost half (48.4%) of Canadians over 18 will experience at least one civil or family justice problem over any given three-year period. Even though many Canadians do not understand, feel connected to or welcomed by the justice system, essentially all of us will experience at least one everyday legal problem over the course of our lifetime

Everyday Legal Problems and the Cost of Justice in Canada: Overview Report

Law and legal problems are part of everyday life. If you have ever been harassed at work, unfairly fired or evicted, divorced, not received support payments, disputed a will or a cell phone contract, or had your credit rating challenged, you may have already experienced one of these types of everyday legal problems. If so, you are not alone. Almost half (48.4%) of Canadians over 18 will experience at least one civil or family justice problem over any given three-year period. Even though many Canadians do not understand, feel connected to or welcomed by the justice system,2 essentially all of us will experience at least one everyday legal problem over the course of our lifetime

Schoolbus driver performance can be improved with driver training, safety incentivisation, and vehicle roadworthy modifications

In South Africa (SA), the school transport industry provides millions of children with a means of travelling to and from school. The industry has, however, been reported to be plagued by widespread safety concerns. The consequent road traffic incidents have often been attributed to driver factors, including driving in excess of legal speeds or at inappropriate speeds; driving while under the influence of alcohol, while sleepy or fatigued; or driving without using protective equipment for vehicle occupants. There are currently very few SA interventions that specifically target this important industry role-player. The Safe Travel to School Programme was recently implemented by a national child safety agency, with a focus on driver road safety awareness, defensive driver training, eye-testing, vehicle roadworthy inspections with selected upgrades, incentives for safe performance, and implementation of a vehicle telematics tracking system with regular, individual driving behaviour information updates. This quasi-experimental study offers an evaluation of the initial impact on safety performance of this telematics-based driver and vehicle safety intervention in terms of speeding, acceleration, braking, cornering, and time-of-day driving, and compares the school transport driver performance with that of general motorists. Despite concerns that some school transport vehicles are used for multiple purposes outside of school transport duties, at night, and for longer distances, overall these vehicles recorded lower percentages of speeding, lower harsh braking, and lower average harsh cornering and acceleration than general driversInstitute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

Structure of the Afferent Terminals in Terminal Ganglion of a Cricket and Persistent Homology

We use topological data analysis to investigate the three dimensional spatial structure of the locus of afferent neuron terminals in crickets Acheta domesticus. Each afferent neuron innervates a filiform hair positioned on a cercus: a protruding appendage at the rear of the animal. The hairs transduce air motion to the neuron signal that is used by a cricket to respond to the environment. We stratify the hairs (and the corresponding afferent terminals) into classes depending on hair length, along with position. Our analysis uncovers significant structure in the relative position of these terminal classes and suggests the functional relevance of this structure. Our method is very robust to the presence of significant experimental and developmental noise. It can be used to analyze a wide range of other point cloud data sets

The effect of Neuragen PN® on Neuropathic pain: A randomized, double blind, placebo controlled clinical trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A double blind, randomized, placebo controlled study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the naturally derived topical oil, "Neuragen PN^®" for the treatment of neuropathic pain.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sixty participants with plantar cutaneous (foot sole) pain due to all cause peripheral neuropathy were recruited from the community. Each subject was randomly assigned to receive one of two treatments (Neuragen PN^®or placebo) per week in a crossover design. The primary outcome measure was acute spontaneous pain level as reported on a visual analog scale.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was an overall pain reduction for both treatments from pre to post application. As compared to the placebo, Neuragen PN^®led to significantly (p < .05) greater pain reduction. Fifty six of sixty subjects (93.3%) receiving Neuragen PN^®reported pain reduction within 30 minutes. This reduction within 30 minutes occurred in only twenty one of sixty (35.0%) subjects receiving the placebo. In a break out analysis of the diabetic only subgroup, 94% of subjects in the Neuragen PN^®group achieved pain reduction within 30 minutes vs 11.0% of the placebo group. No adverse events were observed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This randomized, placebo controlled, clinical trial with crossover design revealed that the naturally derived oil, Neuragen PN^®, provided significant relief from neuropathic pain in an all cause neuropathy group. Participants with diabetes within this group experienced similar pain relief.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p><b>ISRCTN registered: </b>ISRCTN13226601</p

Making mathematics and science integration happen: key aspects of practice

The integration of mathematics and science teaching and learning facilitates student learning, engagement, motivation, problem-solving, criticality and real-life application. However, the actual implementation of an integrative approach to the teaching and learning of both subjects at classroom level, with in-service teachers working collaboratively, at second-level education, is under-researched due to the complexities of school-based research. This study reports on a year-long case study on the implementation of an integrated unit of learning on distance, speed and time, within three second-level schools in Ireland. This study employed a qualitative approach and examined the key aspects of practice that impact on the integration of mathematics and science teaching and learning. We argue that teacher perspective, teacher knowledge of the ‘other subject’ and of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), and teacher collaboration and support all impact on the implementation of an integrative approach to mathematics and science education

Engaging Undergraduates in Science Research: Not Just About Faculty Willingness.

Despite the many benefits of involving undergraduates in research and the growing number of undergraduate research programs, few scholars have investigated the factors that affect faculty members' decisions to involve undergraduates in their research projects. We investigated the individual factors and institutional contexts that predict faculty members' likelihood of engaging undergraduates in their research project(s). Using data from the Higher Education Research Institute's 2007-2008 Faculty Survey, we employ hierarchical generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 4,832 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty across 194 institutions to examine how organizational citizenship behavior theory and social exchange theory relate to mentoring students in research. Key findings show that faculty who work in the life sciences and those who receive government funding for their research are more likely to involve undergraduates in their research project(s). In addition, faculty at liberal arts or historically Black colleges are significantly more likely to involve undergraduate students in research. Implications for advancing undergraduate research opportunities are discussed