Predicting Punitive Attitudes: Racial-Animus towards New Immigrant and Aboriginal Minority Groups as a Mediating Agent upon Public Crime Concerns

In English-speaking Western society’s punitive attitudes towards the sentencing of criminal offenders is a well-established phenomenon. Two theoretical models; the Crime-distrust model and Racial-animus model are demonstrated predictors of punitive attitudes. However, little is known about how racial prejudice impacts the association between the public’s crime concerns and their demand for harsher sentencing outcomes. The present study utilises online survey data obtained from a convenience sample of 566 Australian residents to examine the Racial-animus model as a mediating agent upon the Crime-distrust model and its relationship with punitive attitudes. A significant indirect effect of racial animus is demonstrated upon the perception of increasing crime rates and public confidence in the court system and punitive attitudes, regardless of whether animus is towards new-immigrants or Indigenous Australians. A significant indirect relationship between fear of crime and the demand for harsher sentencing is only demonstrated through negative perceptions of new immigrants. Results lend support for a mediation model whereby the indirect effect of fear of crime is significant when mediated by negative sentiment towards new-immigrants but not towards Indigenous Australians. Future research using a representative sample of the Australian population is indicated to increase the confidence with which findings are interpreted

A Case of Conversion Catatonia Misdiagnosed for 24 Years

Catatonia is a syndrome whose etiology may be both diverse and difficult to substantiate. Ms. H. is a 45-year-old black female with 18 previous psychiatric hospitalizations beginning at age 21. A common characteristic to all hospitalizations was a catatonic presentation (i.e ., the patient was mute with marked muscular rigidity; she would refuse to eat or follow orders). In each of her previous 18 hospitalizations, the patient was thought to be psychotic. It was found that each catatonic episode could be related to a severe psychological stressor. The patient\u27s illness never involved delusions, hallucinations or disturbances in thought form. Upon detailed evaluation of this patient \u27s history she was found to have symptoms consistent with conversion disorder. I report here the identification of a conversion disorder presenting as recurrent episodes of catatonia. Intramuscular lorazepam was found to be repeatedly successful in resolving the catatonic state

Theorizing and Generalizing About Risk Assessment and Regulation Through Comparative Nested Analysis of Representative Cases

This article provides a framework and offers strategies for theorizing and generalizing about risk assessment and regulation developed in the context of an on-going comparative study of regulatory behavior. Construction of a universe of nearly 3,000 risks and study of a random sample of 100 of these risks allowed us to estimate relative U.S. and European regulatory precaution over a thirty-five-year period. Comparative nested analysis of cases selected from this universe of ecological, health, safety, and other risks or its eighteen categories or ninety-two subcategories of risk sources or causes will allow theory-testing and -building and many further descriptive and causal comparative generalizations

The Impact of the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Gene on Trauma and Spatial Processing.

The influence of genes and the environment on the development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) continues to motivate neuropsychological research, with one consistent focus being the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) gene, given its impact on the integrity of the hippocampal memory system. Research into human navigation also considers the BDNF gene in relation to hippocampal dependent spatial processing. This speculative paper brings together trauma and spatial processing for the first time and presents exploratory research into their interactions with BDNF. We propose that quantifying the impact of BDNF on trauma and spatial processing is critical and may well explain individual differences in clinical trauma treatment outcomes and in navigation performance. Research has already shown that the BDNF gene influences PTSD severity and prevalence as well as navigation behaviour. However, more data are required to demonstrate the precise hippocampal dependent processing mechanisms behind these influences in different populations and environmental conditions. This paper provides insight from recent studies and calls for further research into the relationship between allocentric processing, trauma processing and BDNF. We argue that research into these neural mechanisms could transform PTSD clinical practice and professional support for individuals in trauma-exposing occupations such as emergency response, law enforcement and the military

Wind Energy Forecasting: A Collaboration of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Xcel Energy

The focus of this report is the wind forecasting system developed during this contract period with results of performance through the end of 2010. The report is intentionally high-level, with technical details disseminated at various conferences and academic papers. At the end of 2010, Xcel Energy managed the output of 3372 megawatts of installed wind energy. The wind plants span three operating companies1, serving customers in eight states2, and three market structures3. The great majority of the wind energy is contracted through power purchase agreements (PPAs). The remainder is utility owned, Qualifying Facilities (QF), distributed resources (i.e., 'behind the meter'), or merchant entities within Xcel Energy's Balancing Authority footprints. Regardless of the contractual or ownership arrangements, the output of the wind energy is balanced by Xcel Energy's generation resources that include fossil, nuclear, and hydro based facilities that are owned or contracted via PPAs. These facilities are committed and dispatched or bid into day-ahead and real-time markets by Xcel Energy's Commercial Operations department. Wind energy complicates the short and long-term planning goals of least-cost, reliable operations. Due to the uncertainty of wind energy production, inherent suboptimal commitment and dispatch associated with imperfect wind forecasts drives up costs. For example, a gas combined cycle unit may be turned on, or committed, in anticipation of low winds. The reality is winds stayed high, forcing this unit and others to run, or be dispatched, to sub-optimal loading positions. In addition, commitment decisions are frequently irreversible due to minimum up and down time constraints. That is, a dispatcher lives with inefficient decisions made in prior periods. In general, uncertainty contributes to conservative operations - committing more units and keeping them on longer than may have been necessary for purposes of maintaining reliability. The downside is costs are higher. In organized electricity markets, units that are committed for reliability reasons are paid their offer price even when prevailing market prices are lower. Often, these uplift charges are allocated to market participants that caused the inefficient dispatch in the first place. Thus, wind energy facilities are burdened with their share of costs proportional to their forecast errors. For Xcel Energy, wind energy uncertainty costs manifest depending on specific market structures. In the Public Service of Colorado (PSCo), inefficient commitment and dispatch caused by wind uncertainty increases fuel costs. Wind resources participating in the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) footprint make substantial payments in the real-time markets to true-up their day-ahead positions and are additionally burdened with deviation charges called a Revenue Sufficiency Guarantee (RSG) to cover out of market costs associated with operations. Southwest Public Service (SPS) wind plants cause both commitment inefficiencies and are charged Southwest Power Pool (SPP) imbalance payments due to wind uncertainty and variability. Wind energy forecasting helps mitigate these costs. Wind integration studies for the PSCo and Northern States Power (NSP) operating companies have projected increasing costs as more wind is installed on the system due to forecast error. It follows that reducing forecast error would reduce these costs. This is echoed by large scale studies in neighboring regions and states that have recommended adoption of state-of-the-art wind forecasting tools in day-ahead and real-time planning and operations. Further, Xcel Energy concluded reduction of the normalized mean absolute error by one percent would have reduced costs in 2008 by over $1 million annually in PSCo alone. The value of reducing forecast error prompted Xcel Energy to make substantial investments in wind energy forecasting research and development

Sex Differences in Sleep Duration among Older Adults with Self-Reported Diagnosis of Arthritis: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2009-2012

Objective. Sleep is restorative, essential, and benefcial to health. Prevalences of some diseases have been associated with sleep duration. Tere are few studies in the literature on the relationship of sleep duration and arthritis stratifed by sex in older adults. Te purpose of this research is to investigate sleep duration among older adults in the United States who have self-reported diagnosis of arthritis. Methods. A cross-sectional study design was used. Te data source was the National Health and Nutrition Examination 2009-2010 and 2011-2012. Self-reported diagnosis of arthritis and sleep duration were the variables of interest. Results. Tere were 4,888 participants, aged 50 years and above, of whom 41.6% self-reported having a diagnosis of arthritis, and 60.6% were female. Of the people who had a self-reported diagnosis of arthritis, 15.2% reported sleeping 2-5 hours as compared with 10.9% of the people who did not have a self-reported diagnosis of arthritis (� = .0004). In bivariate analysis of self-reported diagnosis of arthritis and sleep stratifed by sex, there were signifcantly more people with self-reported diagnosis of arthritis who slept 2-5 hours for both women (� = 0.0192) and men (� = 0.0231). Te overall relationship remained signifcant in adjusted overall logistic regression comparing for self-reported diagnosis of arthritis for 2-5 hours of sleep (with 6-7 hours of sleep as the reference) (odds ratio: 1.35 [95% CI: 1.08, 1.70; � = 0.0103]); however, when the data were stratifed by sex, the association failed to reach signifcance. Conclusion. In this analysis of noninstitutionalized older adults in the United States, the prevalence of a self-reported diagnosis of arthritis was associ

Causal connectivity of evolved neural networks during behavior

To show how causal interactions in neural dynamics are modulated by behavior, it is valuable to analyze these interactions without perturbing or lesioning the neural mechanism. This paper proposes a method, based on a graph-theoretic extension of vector autoregressive modeling and 'Granger causality,' for characterizing causal interactions generated within intact neural mechanisms. This method, called 'causal connectivity analysis' is illustrated via model neural networks optimized for controlling target fixation in a simulated head-eye system, in which the structure of the environment can be experimentally varied. Causal connectivity analysis of this model yields novel insights into neural mechanisms underlying sensorimotor coordination. In contrast to networks supporting comparatively simple behavior, networks supporting rich adaptive behavior show a higher density of causal interactions, as well as a stronger causal flow from sensory inputs to motor outputs. They also show different arrangements of 'causal sources' and 'causal sinks': nodes that differentially affect, or are affected by, the remainder of the network. Finally, analysis of causal connectivity can predict the functional consequences of network lesions. These results suggest that causal connectivity analysis may have useful applications in the analysis of neural dynamics

Retrospective file review shows limited genetic services fails most patients – an argument for the implementation of exome sequencing as a first-tier test in resource-constraint settings

Background: Exome sequencing is recommended as a first-line investigation for patients with a developmental delay or intellectual disability. This approach has not been implemented in most resource-constraint settings, including Africa, due to the high cost of implementation. Instead, patients have limited access to services and testing options. Here, we evaluate the effectiveness of a limited genetic testing strategy and contrast the findings to a conceivable outcome if exome sequencing were available instead. Results: A retrospective audit of 934 patient files presenting to a medical genetics clinic in South Africa showed that 83% of patients presented with developmental delay as a clinical feature. Patients could be divided into three groups, representing distinct diagnostic pathways. Patient Group A (18%; mean test cost $131) were confirmed with aneuploidies, following a simple, inexpensive test. Patient Group B (25$140) presented with clinically recognizable conditions but only 39% received a genetic diagnostic confirmation due to limited testing options. Patient Group C – the largest group (57%; mean test cost $337) – presented with heterogenous conditions and DD, and 92% remained undiagnosed after limited available testing was performed. Conclusions: Patients with DD are the largest group of patients seen in medical genetics clinics in South Africa. When clinical features are not distinct, limited testing options drastically restricts diagnostic yield. A cost- and time analysis shows most patients would benefit from first-line exome sequencing, reducing their individual diagnostic odysseys

Intellectual Property and Alternatives: Strategies for Green Innovation

This report provides an analysis of how intellectual property rights (IPRs), and alternatives to IPRs, might operate in green innovation. Part I of the paper discusses the economics of green innovation, including the important role that will need to be played by the private sector. Part II discusses the IPR issues, principally involving patents, that may arise if and when GHG externalities are addressed through the appropriate pricing of greenhouse gases. Part III addresses alternatives to traditional patents and exclusive licenses, including patent pools, liability rules, and prizes