Criminal Justice Information Sharing: A Legal Primer for Criminal Practitioners in California

California criminal justice agencies need access to data in order to provide security, health care treatment, and appropriate programming, as well as to coordinate these activities with other agencies. By the same token, outside agencies—whether criminal, social service, or non-governmental—could often do their jobs more effectively with access to information generated or retained within particular criminal justice agencies. Criminal justice realignment under AB 109 has only heightened the need for inter-agency data sharing and cooperation, yet there continue to be misunderstandings about the legal framework surrounding information exchange.This Article aims to provide a basic, practical background on the legal rules relevant to information exchange, highlighting under what circumstances—and with whom—criminal justice agencies may share, must share, or must not share their information. The Article’s basic conclusion is that criminal justice data sharing is enabled by the existing legal regime

FVCOM validation experiments : comparisons with ROMS for three idealized barotropic test problems

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 113 (2008): C07042, doi:10.1029/2007JC004557.The unstructured-grid Finite-Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM) is evaluated using three idealized benchmark test problems: the Rossby equatorial soliton, the hydraulic jump, and the three-dimensional barotropic wind-driven basin. These test cases examine the properties of numerical dispersion and damping, the performance of the nonlinear advection scheme for supercritical flow conditions, and the accuracy of the implicit vertical viscosity scheme in barotropic settings, respectively. It is demonstrated that FVCOM provides overall a second-order spatial accuracy for the vertically averaged equations (i.e., external mode), and with increasing grid resolution the model-computed solutions show a fast convergence toward the analytic solutions regardless of the particular triangulation method. Examples are provided to illustrate the ability of FVCOM to facilitate local grid refinement and speed up computation. Comparisons are also made between FVCOM and the structured-grid Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) for these test cases. For the linear problem in a simple rectangular domain, i.e., the wind-driven basin case, the performance of the two models is quite similar. For the nonlinear case, such as the Rossby equatorial soliton, the second-order advection scheme used in FVCOM is almost as accurate as the fourth-order advection scheme implemented in ROMS if the horizontal resolution is relatively high. FVCOM has taken advantage of the new development in computational fluid dynamics in resolving flow problems containing discontinuities. One salient feature illustrated by the three-dimensional barotropic wind-driven basin case is that FVCOM and ROMS simulations show different responses to the refinement of grid size in the horizontal and in the vertical.For this work, H. Huang and G. Cowles were supported by the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Institute (MFI) through NOAA grants DOC/NOAA/NA04NMF4720332 and DOC/ NOAA/NA05NMF472113; C. Chen was supported by NSF grants (OCE0234545, OCE0606928, OCE0712903, OCE0732084, and OCE0726851), NOAA grants (NA160P2323, NA06RG0029, and NA960P0113), MIT Sea grant (2006-RC-103), and Georgia Sea grant (NA26RG0373 and NA66RG0282); C. Winant was supported through NSF grant OCE-0726673; R. Beardsley was supported through NSF OCE—0227679 and the WHOI Smith Chair; K. Hedstrom was supported through NASA grant NAG13– 03021 and the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center; and D. Haidvogel was supported through grants ONR N00014- 03-1-0683 and NSF OCE 043557

Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes: What Can Be Unified and What Needs to Be Individualized?

Data show that the insights that improve obesity prevention and treatment will almost certainly benefit the incidence and care of type 2 diabetes

Mice Lacking NKT Cells but with a Complete Complement of CD8+ T-Cells Are Not Protected against the Metabolic Abnormalities of Diet-Induced Obesity

The contribution of natural killer T (NKT) cells to the pathogenesis of metabolic abnormalities of obesity is controversial. While the combined genetic deletion of NKT and CD8+ T-cells improves glucose tolerance and reduces inflammation, interpretation of these data have been complicated by the recent observation that the deletion of CD8+ T-cells alone reduces obesity-induced inflammation and metabolic dysregulation, leaving the issue of the metabolic effects of NKT cell depletion unresolved. To address this question, CD1d null mice (CD1d−/−), which lack NKT cells but have a full complement of CD8+ T-cells, and littermate wild type controls (WT) on a pure C57BL/6J background were exposed to a high fat diet, and glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, inflammation, and obesity were assessed. Food intake (15.5±4.3 vs 15.3±1.8 kcal/mouse/day), weight gain (21.8±1.8 vs 22.8±1.4 g) and fat mass (18.6±1.9 vs 19.5±2.1 g) were similar in CD1d−/− and WT, respectively. As would be expected from these data, metabolic rate (3.0±0.1 vs 2.9±0.2 ml O2/g/h) and activity (21.6±4.3 vs 18.5±2.6 beam breaks/min) were unchanged by NKT cell depletion. Furthermore, the degree of insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, liver steatosis, and adipose and liver inflammatory marker expression (TNFα, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ, MCP-1, MIP1α) induced by high fat feeding in CD1d−/− were not different from WT. We conclude that deletion of NKT cells, in the absence of alterations in the CD8+ T-cell population, is insufficient to protect against the development of the metabolic abnormalities of diet-induced obesity

U.S. IOOS coastal and ocean modeling testbed : inter-model evaluation of tides, waves, and hurricane surge in the Gulf of Mexico

© The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 118 (2013): 5129–5172, doi:10.1002/jgrc.20376.A Gulf of Mexico performance evaluation and comparison of coastal circulation and wave models was executed through harmonic analyses of tidal simulations, hindcasts of Hurricane Ike (2008) and Rita (2005), and a benchmarking study. Three unstructured coastal circulation models (ADCIRC, FVCOM, and SELFE) validated with similar skill on a new common Gulf scale mesh (ULLR) with identical frictional parameterization and forcing for the tidal validation and hurricane hindcasts. Coupled circulation and wave models, SWAN+ADCIRC and WWMII+SELFE, along with FVCOM loosely coupled with SWAN, also validated with similar skill. NOAA's official operational forecast storm surge model (SLOSH) was implemented on local and Gulf scale meshes with the same wind stress and pressure forcing used by the unstructured models for hindcasts of Ike and Rita. SLOSH's local meshes failed to capture regional processes such as Ike's forerunner and the results from the Gulf scale mesh further suggest shortcomings may be due to a combination of poor mesh resolution, missing internal physics such as tides and nonlinear advection, and SLOSH's internal frictional parameterization. In addition, these models were benchmarked to assess and compare execution speed and scalability for a prototypical operational simulation. It was apparent that a higher number of computational cores are needed for the unstructured models to meet similar operational implementation requirements to SLOSH, and that some of them could benefit from improved parallelization and faster execution speed.This project was supported by NOAA via the U.S. IOOS Office (award: NA10NOS0120063 and NA11NOS0120141

Oncostatin m is produced in adipose tissue and is regulated in conditions of obesity and type 2 diabetes

CONTEXT: Adipose tissue is a highly active endocrine organ that secretes many factors that affect other tissues and whole-body metabolism. Adipocytes are responsive to several glycoprotein 130 (gp130) cytokines, some of which have been targeted as potential antiobesity therapeutics. OBJECTIVE: Oncostatin M (OSM) is a gp130 family member known to inhibit adipocyte differentiation in vitro, but its effects on other adipocyte properties are not characterized. The expression of OSM in white adipose tissue (WAT) has not been evaluated in the context of obesity. Thus, our objective was to examine the expression of adipose tissue OSM in obese animals and humans. DESIGN: OSM expression was examined in adipose tissues from mice with diet-induced and genetic obesity and in obese humans as well as in fractionated adipose tissue from mice. Murine adipocytes were used to examine OSM receptor expression and the effects of OSM on adipocytes, including the secretion of factors such as plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 and IL-6, which are implicated in metabolic diseases. RESULTS: OSM expression is increased in rodent and human obesity/type 2 diabetes mellitus. In humans, OSM levels correlate with body weight and insulin and are inversely correlated with glucose disposal rate as measured by hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp. OSM is not produced from the adipocytes in WAT but derives from cells in the stromovascular fraction, including F4/80(+) macrophages. The specific receptor of OSM, OSM receptor-β, is expressed in adipocytes and adipose tissue and increased in both rodent models of obesity examined. OSM acts on adipocytes to induce the expression and secretion of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 and IL-6. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that WAT macrophages are a source of OSM and that OSM levels are significantly induced in murine and human obesity/type 2 diabetes mellitus. These studies suggest that OSM produced from immune cells in WAT acts in a paracrine manner on adipocytes to promote a proinflammatory phenotype in adipose tissue

The NANOGrav Nine-year Data Set:Mass and Geometric Measurements of Binary Millisecond Pulsars

We analyze 24 binary radio pulsars in the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) nine-year data set. We make 14 significant measurements of the Shapiro delay, including new detections in four pulsar-binary systems (PSRs J0613−0200, J2017+0603, J2302+4442, and J2317+1439), and derive estimates of the binary-component masses and orbital inclination for these MSP-binary systems. We find a wide range of binary pulsar masses, with values as low as ${m}_{{\rm{p}}}={1.18}_{-0.09}^{+0.10}\,{M}_{\odot }$ for PSR J1918−0642 and as high as ${m}_{{\rm{p}}}={1.928}_{-0.017}^{+0.017}\,{M}_{\odot }$ for PSR J1614−2230 (both 68.3% credibility). We make an improved measurement of the Shapiro timing delay in the PSR J1918−0642 and J2043+1711 systems, measuring the pulsar mass in the latter system to be ${m}_{{\rm{p}}}={1.41}_{-0.18}^{+0.21}\,{M}_{\odot }$ (68.3% credibility) for the first time. We measure secular variations of one or more orbital elements in many systems, and use these measurements to further constrain our estimates of the pulsar and companion masses whenever possible. In particular, we used the observed Shapiro delay and periastron advance due to relativistic gravity in the PSR J1903+0327 system to derive a pulsar mass of ${m}_{{\rm{p}}}={1.65}_{-0.02}^{+0.02}\,{M}_{\odot }$ (68.3% credibility). We discuss the implications that our mass measurements have on the overall neutron-star mass distribution, and on the "mass/orbital-period" correlation due to extended mass transfer

The NANOGrav Nine-year Data Set:Observations, Arrival Time Measurements, and Analysis of 37 Millisecond Pulsars

We present high-precision timing observations spanning up to nine years for 37 millisecond pulsars monitored with the Green Bank and Arecibo radio telescopes as part of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) project. We describe the observational and instrumental setups used to collect the data, and methodology applied for calculating pulse times of arrival; these include novel methods for measuring instrumental offsets and characterizing low signal-to-noise ratio timing results. The time of arrival data are fit to a physical timing model for each source, including terms that characterize time-variable dispersion measure and frequency-dependent pulse shape evolution. In conjunction with the timing model fit, we have performed a Bayesian analysis of a parameterized timing noise model for each source, and detect evidence for excess low-frequency, or "red," timing noise in 10 of the pulsars. For 5 of these cases this is likely due to interstellar medium propagation effects rather than intrisic spin variations. Subsequent papers in this series will present further analysis of this data set aimed at detecting or limiting the presence of nanohertz-frequency gravitational wave signals

Psychopathology predicts the outcome of medial branch blocks with corticosteroid for chronic axial low back or cervical pain: a prospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Comorbid psychopathology is an important predictor of poor outcome for many types of treatments for back or neck pain. But it is unknown if this applies to the results of medial branch blocks (MBBs) for chronic low back or neck pain, which involves injecting the medial branch of the dorsal ramus nerves that innervate the facet joints. The objective of this study was to determine whether high levels of psychopathology are predictive of pain relief after MBB injections in the lumbar or cervical spine.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a prospective cohort study. Consecutive patients in a pain medicine practice undergoing MBBs of the lumbar or cervical facets with corticosteroids were recruited to participate. Subjects were selected for a MBB based on operationalized selection criteria and the procedure was performed in a standardized manner. Subjects completed the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) just prior to the procedure and at one-month follow up. Scores on the HADS classified the subjects into three groups based on psychiatric symptoms, which formed the primary predictor variable: <it>Low</it>, <it>Moderate</it>, or <it>High </it>levels of psychopathology. The primary outcome measure was the percent improvement in average daily pain rating one-month following an injection. Analysis of variance and chi-square were used to analyze the analgesia and functional rating differences between groups, and to perform a responder analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eighty six (86) subjects completed the study. The <it>Low </it>psychopathology group (n = 37) reported a mean of 23% improvement in pain at one-month while the <it>High </it>psychopathology group (n = 29) reported a mean worsening of -5.8% in pain (p < .001). Forty five percent (45%) of the <it>Low </it>group had at least 30% improvement in pain versus 10% in the <it>High </it>group (p < .001). Using an analysis of covariance, no baseline demographic, social, or medical variables were significant predictors of pain improvement, nor did they mitigate the effect of psychopathology on the outcome.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Psychiatric comorbidity is associated with diminished pain relief after a MBB injection performed with steroid at one-month follow-up. These findings illustrate the importance of assessing comorbid psychopathology as part of a spine care evaluation.</p

The NANOGrav 11-year Data Set: High-precision Timing of 45 Millisecond Pulsars

We present high-precision timing data over time spans of up to 11 years for 45 millisecond pulsars observed as part of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) project, aimed at detecting and characterizing low-frequency gravitational waves. The pulsars were observed with the Arecibo Observatory and/or the Green Bank Telescope at frequencies ranging from 327 MHz to 2.3 GHz. Most pulsars were observed with approximately monthly cadence, and six high-timing-precision pulsars were observed weekly. All were observed at widely separated frequencies at each observing epoch in order to fit for time-variable dispersion delays. We describe our methods for data processing, time-of-arrival (TOA) calculation, and the implementation of a new, automated method for removing outlier TOAs. We fit a timing model for each pulsar that includes spin, astrometric, and (for binary pulsars) orbital parameters; time-variable dispersion delays; and parameters that quantify pulse-profile evolution with frequency. The timing solutions provide three new parallax measurements, two new Shapiro delay measurements, and two new measurements of significant orbital-period variations. We fit models that characterize sources of noise for each pulsar. We find that 11 pulsars show significant red noise, with generally smaller spectral indices than typically measured for non-recycled pulsars, possibly suggesting a different origin. A companion paper uses these data to constrain the strength of the gravitational-wave background