The Right to Challenge the Accuracy of Breath Test Results Under Alaska Law

Section 28.90.020 of the Alaska Statutes provides that in prosecutions for drunk driving, if an offense described under this title requires that a chemical test of a person\u27s breath produce a particular result, and the chemical test is administered by a properly calibrated instrument approved by the Department of Public Safety, the result described by statute is not affected by the instrument\u27s working tolerance. This provision appears to prohibit the defense from calling into question the accuracy of a breath test by introducing evidence of uncertainty inherent in the testing procedure. The statute is problematic because due process requires that defendants be permitted to challenge the evidence presented against them. Moreover, there is a strong argument that basing conviction on a single breath sample that is within a known margin of error is a per se violation of due process, as it bases guilt or innocence on a purely fortuitous result. This Article examines the issues with Alaska\u27s statute and proposes using multiple breath tests as a simple, cost-effective solution to this potential abuse of due process

Liveable and climate sensitive urban environment

We meet several global challenges as climate changes, growing elderly population and urbanisation. We as architects and planners have to consider several aspects to meet these challenges. For the climate change we have both to decrease the strains from the urbanisation and adapt it to the predicted influences. The urban area has to be design in a universal way to include all inhabitants. We also have to make the urban built environment to be functionaland appealing to give the physical possibilities for all inhabitants to have an accommodating and sustainable way of living and  transportation. And, what are the pros and cons of these aspects in cold, snowy and icy conditions

Using Semantic Features Derived from Word-Space Models for Swedish Coreference Resolution

Proceedings of the 17th Nordic Conference of Computational Linguistics NODALIDA 2009. Editors: Kristiina Jokinen and Eckhard Bick. NEALT Proceedings Series, Vol. 4 (2009), 134-141. © 2009 The editors and contributors. Published by Northern European Association for Language Technology (NEALT) http://omilia.uio.no/nealt . Electronically published at Tartu University Library (Estonia) http://hdl.handle.net/10062/9206

Frågor kring ämnet Information Management i svenskt näringsliv våren 2002

I denna rapport ges en nulägesbild av frågor som relaterar till ämnet Information Mangement i svenskt näringsliv under våren 2002. Rapporten är resultatet av ett antal intervjuer med finans- och IT-ansvariga i 17 stora bolag. De intervjuade är deltagare i en grupp för erfarenhetsutbyte som träffas regelbundet på Handelshögskolan i Stockholm. Rapporten återspeglar ett antal aktuella frågeställningar i näringslivet. Rapporten kan ses som input till pågående som framtida diskussioner och forskning.information management; informationssystem; ledtider

Low resource innovations for sustaining service delivery: examples from districts in Malawi

Low-income countries have less funds to allocate for water, sanitation & hygiene (WASH) services, but those funds which are available should still be used to have the greatest service delivery reach possible. This paper shares examples from several District Water Development Offices in Malawi of innovations developed to sustain service delivery with the limited resources they do have. These approaches include using available funds to pay for lower-cost alternatives which achieve their objectives, using other networks existing in communities to increase their reach, and leveraging other sets of resources that exist in the area

Mutual reinforcement: combining project outputs with capacity development outcomes for service delivery

Capacity development of permanent local institutions is needed to improve the sustainability of investments made in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector. To check capacity development intentions, development partners (DPs) can ask the question “What capacities are you developing and why?” This will verify that capacity development is being done with precise objectives, and is aligned with institutional needs and role definitions. DPs can use implementation and capacity development objectives as mutually reinforcing opportunities to support strong project outputs as well as to improve outcomes for service delivery. Two particular techniques for capitalizing on this duality are highlighted: supporting implementers, and supporting reflective learning. Examples of practical combinations of capacity development approaches are presented from the perspective of Engineers Without Borders Canada working in collaboration with other DPs and with district governments in Malawi’s WASH sector

Överlevnad, tillväxt och snytbaggeskador i fält hos långnattsbehandlade ettåriga tallplantor med dubbelbarr

En skogsägare är skyldig att återbeskoga efter föryngringsavverkning och plantering är den vanligaste metoden. I Sverige produceras årligen miljontals skogsplantor för att tillgodose behovet och den vanligaste planttypen är täckrotsplantan. Med hjälp av olika odlingsprogram kan plantorna få olika egenskaper för att passa alla ståndorter och deras utmaningar. Ett sådant odlingsprogram är långnattsbehandling på våren under första året i plantskolan, vilket hos tallplantor leder till ett tvåårigt utseende med dubbelbarr. Att producera dubbelbarrsplantor innebär en extra kostnad i plantskolan. För att motivera denna kostnadsökning för kunden krävs en bevisad fördel hos dessa plantor. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om långnattsbehandlade och obehandlade tallplantor skiljer sig åt i fält vad gäller tillväxt, överlevnad och mängden gnag av snytbagge efter en respektive två växtsäsonger. Fältarbetet gjordes under hösten 2016 i tre områden i norra Sverige. I inventeringen ingick tolv planteringar som fördelades på sex par med liknande förutsättningar inom paren. På provytorna mättes plantvariabler såsom planthöjd, skottlängd och stamdiameter. Vidare bestämdes ståndortsindex och konkurrens från omgivande vegetation. Resultaten visade ingen konsekvent signifikant skillnad mellan de två planttyperna för någon variabel. Sett till medelvärden hade de långnattsbehandlade plantorna efter en säsong i fält grövre stamdiameter, högre total biomassa och rotbiomassa och i flera fall en större barrmassa. De långnattsbehandlade plantorna uppvisade totalt också en något högre överlevnadsgrad. Ingen markant skillnad i mängd snytbaggegnag förekom mellan planttyperna.Forest owners in Sweden are obliged to regenerate after final felling and planting is the most common method. Forest nurseries produce millions of forest plants yearly to cover the need and containerized seedlings are the most common stock type. With various growing schedules the plants can acquire different qualities to suit all regeneration sites and their respective challenges. An example of such a growing schedule is short-day treatment during spring the first year in the nursery. With pine plants this leads to an appearance similar to that of a two-year old plant, with double needles. To produce plants with double needles means an extra cost for the nurseries. To motivate a higher price to the customer, proof of an advantage with these plants is needed. The aim of this study was to analyse if the field performance of short-day treated and untreated plants differed, after one and two years respectively, regarding growth, survival and amount of pine weevil damage. The field work was performed during autumn 2016 in three areas in northern Sweden. Twelve plantations were included in the inventory and paired to get the best resemblance. At the sample plots plant variables, such as plant height, shoot height and stem diameter were measured. Also, data to determine the site index and the degree of competition from other vegetation was collected. The results showed no consistent significant difference between the two plant types for any variable. The short-day treated plants had, after one growing season in the field, a thicker stem diameter, more total biomass and root biomass and in most comparisons more needle biomass. The short-day treated plant also showed a slightly higher survival rate. No distinct difference in pine weevil damage was proven between the two plant types

Short-term learning for long-term impact: lessons on project design from Malawi

The complex work of sustainable development is one that benefits from applying “lessons learned” from previous experience in similar contexts. The paradox of requiring quick learning about long-term impacts can be partially resolved by co-interpretation with project partners on how a project’s impacts are expected to proceed over time, and how the project has helped and hindered sustained service delivery. In 2013, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB) used this idea to study the anticipated impacts of a past AfDB supported project in Malawi’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector, to inform the design of a new project to be supported by AfDB. This paper describes this innovative approach to impact assessment, as well as key lessons from this study, on using decentralised structures, investing in capacity building, and building sustaining community level institutions

Complement Diagnostics: Concepts, Indications, and Practical Guidelines

Aberrations in the complement system have been shown to be direct or indirect pathophysiological mechanisms in a number of diseases and pathological conditions such as autoimmune disease, infections, cancer, allogeneic and xenogeneic transplantation, and inflammation. Complement analyses have been performed on these conditions in both prospective and retrospective studies and significant differences have been found between groups of patients, but in many diseases, it has not been possible to make predictions for individual patients because of the lack of sensitivity and specificity of many of the assays used. The basic indications for serological diagnostic complement analysis today may be divided into three major categories: (a) acquired and inherited complement deficiencies; (b) disorders with complement activation; (c) inherited and acquired C1INH deficiencies. Here, we summarize indications, techniques, and interpretations for basic complement analyses and present an algorithm, which we follow in our routine laboratory