Prevalence of head injury and associated disability in prison populations: a systematic review

Objective: This review systematically assesses literature on the prevalence of head injury (HI) and associated disability in adults in prison. Methods: Searches were carried out using electronic databases (PsycINFO, Cochrane Databases, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science). Reference lists of 2 meta-analyses were checked for relevant articles. Methods were rated for risk of bias. Results: The 10 studies included report a range in prevalence of HI in prisoners from 25% to 86%. Risk of bias was high overall, probably because a range of HI definitions was used, assessments were often not validated, and samples were not or not evidenced to be representative of the prison population. There was an absence of appropriate population controls from which to compare relative risk of HI in different countries. No study reported the prevalence of disability associated with HI. Conclusion: The wide range in prevalence estimates of HI in prisoners is associated with high risk of bias from study design and methods. Persisting disability associated with HI was not reported and as a result the service need for prisoners with HI is unclear. Future studies should indicate that samples are representative of prison populations, use validated tools and internationally accepted definitions of HI, and link prevalence to persisting disability

Interpolation Properties and SAT-based Model Checking

Craig interpolation is a widespread method in verification, with important applications such as Predicate Abstraction, CounterExample Guided Abstraction Refinement and Lazy Abstraction With Interpolants. Most state-of-the-art model checking techniques based on interpolation require collections of interpolants to satisfy particular properties, to which we refer as "collectives"; they do not hold in general for all interpolation systems and have to be established for each particular system and verification environment. Nevertheless, no systematic approach exists that correlates the individual interpolation systems and compares the necessary collectives. This paper proposes a uniform framework, which encompasses (and generalizes) the most common collectives exploited in verification. We use it for a systematic study of the collectives and of the constraints they pose on propositional interpolation systems used in SAT-based model checking

Profit Sharing Between Governments and Multinationals in Natural Resource Extraction: Evidence From a Firm-Level Panel

The "fairness" of negotiations between countries and resource extracting firms is subject to many accusations and counter-accusations and may be argued, in many instances, to impact the subsequent economic benefit to a host country from extraction. This paper examines the role of host country governance on the share of government take from extraction revenue. We attempt to disentangle a number of competing hypotheses regarding the relationship between governance and government take using panel data for US resource extracting multinational corporations (MNCs) operating abroad from the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the US Department of Commerce over 1982-1999. Using fixed effects regression, we find a statistically significant positive impact of institutional quality on government take. The nature of this relationship -- whether this represents the result of a "corruption premium" paid by US MNCs or the exploitation of poor governance in negotiating government take -- is not completely clear. The evidence presented does, however, indicate that potential forms of bargaining power other than institutional quality (e.g., outside options to the deal) do increase government take, indicating that bargaining power may nonetheless be an important factor.

Models for the Effects of G-seat Cuing on Roll-axis Tracking Performance

Including whole-body motion in a flight simulator improves performance for a variety of tasks requiring a pilot to compensate for the effects of unexpected disturbances. A possible mechanism for this improvement is that whole-body motion provides high derivative vehicle state information whic allows the pilot to generate more lead in responding to the external disturbances. During development of motion simulating algorithms for an advanced g-cuing system it was discovered that an algorithm based on aircraft roll acceleration producted little or no performance improvement. On the other hand, algorithms based on roll position or roll velocity produced performance equivalent to whole-body motion. The analysis and modeling conducted at both the sensory system and manual control performance levels to explain the above results are described

Cosmic censorship of smooth structures

It is observed that on many 4-manifolds there is a unique smooth structure underlying a globally hyperbolic Lorentz metric. For instance, every contractible smooth 4-manifold admitting a globally hyperbolic Lorentz metric is diffeomorphic to the standard $\R^4$. Similarly, a smooth 4-manifold homeomorphic to the product of a closed oriented 3-manifold $N$ and $\R$ and admitting a globally hyperbolic Lorentz metric is in fact diffeomorphic to $N\times \R$. Thus one may speak of a censorship imposed by the global hyperbolicty assumption on the possible smooth structures on $(3+1)$-dimensional spacetimes.Comment: 5 pages; V.2 - title changed, minor edits, references adde

Designing Policies to Open Trade

In this paper we consider recent proposals to auction U.S. import quotas. using the funds so obtained to encourage relocation out of the protected industries. We argue that the information available to the government, or lack thereof, is a critical factor in understanding these policies. In a world or full information, it makes little sense to use auction quotas rather than tariffs. Similarly, it is unclear why an elaborate program of temporary protection is needed, rather than immediately opening trade and compensating people with an income transfer. When the government has Limited information, however, these policies become quite sensible and may even be optimal.

Splitting Proofs for Interpolation

We study interpolant extraction from local first-order refutations. We present a new theoretical perspective on interpolation based on clearly separating the condition on logical strength of the formula from the requirement on the com- mon signature. This allows us to highlight the space of all interpolants that can be extracted from a refutation as a space of simple choices on how to split the refuta- tion into two parts. We use this new insight to develop an algorithm for extracting interpolants which are linear in the size of the input refutation and can be further optimized using metrics such as number of non-logical symbols or quantifiers. We implemented the new algorithm in first-order theorem prover VAMPIRE and evaluated it on a large number of examples coming from the first-order proving community. Our experiments give practical evidence that our work improves the state-of-the-art in first-order interpolation.Comment: 26th Conference on Automated Deduction, 201

The Minefield: Designing and Implementing Human Resource Policies in the Age of Social Media

Human resource managers have had to navigate a minefield of laws and regulations while continuing to manage the traditional business functions of the employer. Now, human resource departments across the nation are tasked with managing the traditional employee-employer relationship in light of an ever-changing technological and legal landscape. Businesses across the nation have had to adjust to a rise in the use of social-media and have suffered the consequences of instantaneous communication between employees and the media. These same businesses must reconcile the need to protect its goodwill and livelihood, while incorporating the safeguards provided by legislation and regulations in the area of employment. While the legal implications often differ depending on whether the employer is public or private in nature, there remains very basic and relevant advice on how to design and implement human resource policy in light of social-media

Superhero TV– Analyzing the Narrative Techniques of the CW’s the Flash (2014 - Present) & the Netflix Original Program Daredevil (2015 - 2018)

Shaped by contemporary television industry distribution practices and the phenomenon of binge-viewing culture, Netflix introduced its version of narrative storytelling via original drama series that rival traditional linear broadcast network series narratives. This thesis project is a textual analysis that evaluates the separate narrative strategies of two different, but very similar, superhero television drama series that appear on two different distribution platforms. In this thesis, I analyze and compare the Netflix original series Daredevil (2015 – 2018) to The CW series The Flash (2014 – present) to find out if they share any narrative similarities or differences with linear TV series using narrative strategies like recapping, cliffhangers, and connected franchise tie-ins. I posit that the Daredevil and The Flash series both use franchise crossovers as a way to serve comic book fans and comic book movie fans. I argue that Daredevil uses recaps through dialogue as a narrative strategy while The Flash focuses a lot on recap sequences. Lastly, cliffhangers are used as a narrative strategy at the end of both series. The Flash includes situational cliffhangers and many informational cliffhangers. Daredevil relies on situational cliffhangers

“More than a Fossil-Hunter: The Life and Pursuits of Charles W. Beehler”

Besides being a noted paleontologist in the Gilded Age, Charles Beehler was also a noted inventor, manufacturer, and businessman— and he made Kimmswick famous for mastodon bones