Becoming an Undercover

For two years, beginning in 2004, Mitch Librett left his day job as a Shift Commander in his own police department at 4 o’clock, 3 afternoons per week, donning old clothing to assume the role of narcotics investigator with the Special Investigations Unit of another police jurisdiction. He conducted in-depth interviews with these undercover police officers, eventually gaining their trust and confidence. Dr. Librett is currently writing a book about his research. Qualitative research of this sort is often rooted in the personal experiences of the researcher. It also benefits from a careful and honest examination of this history by the researcher. This article reveals some of Dr. Librett’s self examination as an undercover police officer and researcher, and presents some excerpts from his field notes and insights. All of the locations, names, and settings from his research have been disguised, both here and in his manuscript

America\u27s War on Drugs: Applying a Supply and Demand Framework for the Opioid Epidemic Through the Lens of Federalism

For the past fifty years, American drug policy has been manipulated and enforced in a way that made it possible for drug epidemics to occur and has exaggerated their negative consequences on society. The War on Drugs policy initiatives first implemented in the 1970s created a drug law enforcement structure that has criminalized addiction and made it difficult for addicts to receive treatment. The United States is currently facing it\u27s worst drug epidemic in history due to these policies. However, unlike previous epidemics, the opioid crisis is particularly unique not only because of the unparalleled nature of the issue, but also because of the policy approaches being put forward that are attempting to combat it. This thesis attempts to evaluate why the War on Drugs policies failed and trace the astonishing trajectory of the opioid epidemic in order to recommend realistic and effective policy solutions that can successfully curb the crisis. As a way to categorize the wide array of possible solutions, I use the basic economic theory of supply and demand, a popular prism used to evaluate drug policy. I also consider the federalization of drug policy, a phenomenon that occurred during the War on Drugs era in which states and localities became increasingly involved in drug enforcement. Thus, this thesis attempts to apply a two-layered framework of supply and demand within the scope of federalism in order to provide some innovative insights into how the United States can approach this ongoing issue

Writing Migration: Points of Departure and Arrival in History and Reason

Introduction to vol. 11: Writing Migration: Points of Departure and Arrival in History and Reaso

From Reason-vs.-Madness to Science-vs.-the Non-scientific (and Beyond)

Introduction to section

Reason Split into Rationalism and Empiricism: Divergent Traditions on the Borderline

Introcution to sectio

Writing Migration: Points of Departure and Arrival in History and Reason

10 pagesIntroduction to volume XI of Konturen, Writing Migration

Participation in environmental enhancement and conservation activities for health and well-being in adults: a review of quantitative and qualitative evidence

PUBHLT

Quantification of Differences in Sleep Measurement by a Wrist-Worn Consumer Wearable Compared to Research-Grade Accelerometry and Sleep Diaries of Female Adults in Free-Living Conditions

Cindy R Hu,1 Caitlin Delaney,2 Jorge E Chavarro,2– 4 Francine Laden,1– 3 Rachel Librett,4 Laura Katuska,4 Emily R Kaplan,5 Li Yi,4,6 Michael Rueschman,5 Joe Kossowsky,7 Jukka-Pekka Onnela,8 Brent A Coull,8 Susan Redline,3,5 Peter James,1,6,9 Jaime E Hart1,2 1Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Boston, Boston, MA, USA; 2Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Boston, Boston, MA, USA; 3Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Boston, Boston, MA, USA; 4Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Boston, Boston, MA, USA; 5Division of Sleep of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Departments of Medicine and Neurology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Boston, Boston, MA, USA; 6Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute; Boston, Boston, MA, USA; 7Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Boston, Boston, MA, USA; 8Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Boston, Boston, MA, USA; 9Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California, Davis School of Medicine; Davis, Davis, CA, USACorrespondence: Cindy R Hu, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA, Email [email protected]: The objective of this study is to compare sleep measurements by a consumer-wearable with research-standard actigraphy coupled with sleep diaries in free-living female adults.Methods: Forty-seven females in the Nurses’ Health Study 3 (NHS3) participated in the Sleep and Physical Activity Validation Substudy (SPAVS), where they were asked to concurrently wear a consumer wearable (Fitbit Charge, Models 3 or 5) and a research-grade accelerometer (Actigraph, GT3X+ or Actisleep) on the same wrist and fill out a smartphone-based sleep diary for fourteen consecutive days. We compared measures of total sleep time (TST), time in bed (TIB), and sleep efficiency (SE) from the consumer wearable with actigraphy measures as our research-standard reference for TST and SE and self-reported sleep diary as our reference for TIB. We calculated mean absolute percent error (MAPE) and intra-class correlations (ICC), as well as Bland-Altman analyses to compute mean difference and limits of agreement.Results: For all three measures, the consumer wearable underestimated sleep parameters relative to research-standard actigraphy, with a mean bias of − 16.0 minutes and − 11.2 minutes for TST and TIB, respectively, and − 1.0% for SE. In terms of agreement, TST (MAPE = 11.18%; ICC = 0.79) and TIB (MAPE = 10.45%; ICC = 0.74) had similar MAPES and ICCs, while and SE (MAPE = 5.09%; ICC = 0.39) had a lower ICC.Conclusion: In the NHS3 SPAVS, the wearable sleep measurements modestly underestimated wrist actigraphy measures of TST, TIB, and SE from sleep over multiple days; within sleep measures assessed, TST and TIB had greater agreement with research-grade accelerometry than SE.Keywords: wearables, fitbit, sleep, actigraphy, accelerometer, wome