The scope of criminal law and criminal sanctions: An economic view and policy implications

This paper considers why some harm-generating activities are controlled by criminal law and criminal sanctions while others are subject to some other mechanism such as civil law, administrative law, regulation or the tax system. It looks at the question from the perspective of the law and economics approach. We seek to identify the comparative benefits of using the criminal law relative to other enforcement mechanisms and – more broadly – why certain specific behaviours are criminalized. The paper argues that an economic approach emphasizing the relative merits of alternative legal instruments for bringing about harm reduction can provide an explanation for a number of recent legal developments. It argues also that the willingness of legislators to combine the use of sanctions traditionally used in one area of the law with sanctions from other areas is more readily explicable in economic terms than in other terms.

Improving service coordination for children with complex needs

Although recognised by policy incentives shaping children's services, research and service development for children with complex healthcare needs have received limited attention. Both health-care professionals and families of those children affected frequently report fragmented care and unmet needs in the literature. Not only is the wellbeing of the family and health of the child jeopardised, but also the lack of consistent service coordination between diagnosis, impairment, functional need or disability, directly contributes to a lack of data for the subgroup of children with complex healthcare needs. In this scoping review, key themes are identified, proposing priorities for innovation of future services. It is clear from the literature, longitudinal data analysis providing a more accessible platform for service evaluation and improvement, specialist training for key workers, and further research around definitions and classification systems, is lacking

Hiring preferences of employers of entry-level biomedical equipment technicians in Texas.

This study examined the signaling strength, or marketing power, of the most common qualifications of entry-level biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs) in Texas, based on stated hiring preferences of BMET managers, using order ranking of fictitious resumes. This study also sought to determine whether certification status, education background, military training background as a BMET, or type of employer [hospital or ISO] of the hiring manager had an effect on hiring preference for applicant qualifications of associate degree, military training as a BMET, or certified biomedical equipment technician (CBET) certification candidacy. Participants were asked to rank 16 fictitious resumes representing the most common qualifications of entry-level BMETs and to fill out a background questionnaire regarding their education, military, certification, and employer. The number of times each resume ranked in first place was tabulated and inter-rater reliability was calculated. Resumes with qualifications of associate degree versus military training as a BMET were compared at three levels of work experience. A chi-square test for independence was conducted for the comparisons to determine whether work experience influenced preference. Chi-square tests were also conducted for comparisons of associate degree with candidacy for CBET certification versus associate degree and military training with CBET candidacy versus military training. No statistically significant results were found for the chi-square tests, indicating that work experience did not significantly influence participant preferences for the compared qualifications. BMET hiring managers indicated a preference for combinations of qualifications rather than any single qualification. Correlations in hiring managers' educational background, certification status, military training as a BMET, type of employer, and preference for applicant qualifications were examined. Statistically significant correlations were found between participants' preference for associate degree or military training and level of education, military training background, and type of employer. Statistically significant correlations were also found between participants' preference of military training with CBET candidacy over military training alone and military training as a BMET background as well as certification background

GAN Augmentation: Augmenting Training Data using Generative Adversarial Networks

One of the biggest issues facing the use of machine learning in medical imaging is the lack of availability of large, labelled datasets. The annotation of medical images is not only expensive and time consuming but also highly dependent on the availability of expert observers. The limited amount of training data can inhibit the performance of supervised machine learning algorithms which often need very large quantities of data on which to train to avoid overfitting. So far, much effort has been directed at extracting as much information as possible from what data is available. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) offer a novel way to unlock additional information from a dataset by generating synthetic samples with the appearance of real images. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of introducing GAN derived synthetic data to the training datasets in two brain segmentation tasks, leading to improvements in Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) of between 1 and 5 percentage points under different conditions, with the strongest effects seen fewer than ten training image stacks are available

Historical and Projected Municipal and Industrial Water Usage in Utah 1960-2020

This publication reports the results of a municipal and industrial water use inventory. Data reported covers the period 1960 through 1976. Time series information is aggregated from municipal and industrial system level to country and state totals. Total municipal and industrial withdrawals are divided between surface and groundwater sources. Yearly per capital withdrawal rates are estimated for 50 Utah municipalities and for each of Utah’s 29 counties. Per capita withdrawal rates range from a high of over 400 gallons per capita per day (gcd) in the communities of Delta, Fillmore, Hyrum, Logan, and Morgan to a low of 100 gcd in Bountiful, Washington, Terrace, Centerville, and South Ogden. A three year average (1974, 1975, and 1976) of Utah’s per capita withdrawal rate is 262 gcd. Also reported are return flow rates for 13 Utah waste treatment facilities. Withdrawal and return flow rates are also reported for Utah’s major water using industries. These rates are reported in gallons per employee per day (or gallons per unit of output). The publication also discusses methodologies for projecting municipal and industrial usage in Utah to the year 2020. Also reported are population projections for multicounty districts, counties and major cities by ten year intervals from 1960-2020

Ursinus College Alumni Journal, March 1961

The President writes • Who gets into college? • Mr. Dolman comments • Search for certainty • Two foreign students sponsored • Dr. Miller on TV • Announcing an alumni seminar • The thousand and second night\u27s tale • Student European tour • Two students attend white house conference • Greetings from Philadelphia • Spring Festival replaces May Day • Dr. Shilling speaks • Final Forum of the semester • Dr. Miller to teach in India • Ursinus Women\u27s Club • Attention, alumni: Constitution change • Portrait of a pioneer • Jacobs promoted to Captain • Henschel takes over new post • Nominees for Alumni Association offices • Alumni regionals announce meetings • January 1961 mid year report of the Loyalty Fund campaign • Wrestling results • Basketball review • Ursinus girls dominate U.S. hockey team • Track prospects • Happy retirement • John Shuttleworth, \u2745 • Class notes • Births • Weddings • Necrologyhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/alumnijournal/1070/thumbnail.jp

Daratumumab, Cyclophosphamide, Bortezomib, Lenalidomide, and Dexamethasone as Induction and Extended Consolidation Improves Outcome in Ultra-High-Risk Multiple Myeloma

Purpose: The multicenter OPTIMUM (MUKnine) phase II trial investigated daratumumab, low-dose cyclophosphamide, lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (Dara-CVRd) before and after autologous stem-cell transplant (ASCT) in newly diagnosed patients with molecularly defined ultra–high-risk (UHiR) multiple myeloma (NDMM) or plasma cell leukemia (PCL). To provide clinical context, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were referenced to contemporaneous outcomes seen in patients with UHiR NDMM treated in the recent Myeloma XI (MyeXI) trial.Methods: Transplant-eligible all-comers NDMM patients were profiled for UHiR disease, defined by presence of ≥2 genetic risk markers t(4;14)/t(14;16)/t(14;20), del(1p), gain(1q), and del(17p), and/or SKY92 gene expression risk signature. Patients with UHiR MM/PCL were offered treatment with Dara-CVRd induction, V-augmented ASCT, extended Dara-VR(d) consolidation, and Dara-R maintenance. UHiR patients treated in MyeXI with carfilzomib, lenalidomide, dexamethasone, and cyclophosphamide, or lenalidomide, dexamethasone, and cyclophosphamide, ASCT, and R maintenance or observation were identified by mirrored molecular screening. OPTIMUM PFS at 18 months (PFS18m) was compared against MyeXI using a Bayesian framework, and patients were followed up to the end of consolidation for PFS and OS.Results: Of 412 screened NDMM OPTIMUM patients, 103 were identified as UHiR or PCL and subsequently treated on trial with Dara-CVRd; 117 MyeXI patients identified as UHiR formed the external comparator arm, with comparable clinical and molecular characteristics to OPTIMUM. Comparison of PFS18m per Bayesian framework resulted in a 99.5% chance of OPTIMUM being superior to MyeXI. At 30 months' follow-up, PFS was 77% for OPTIMUM versus 39.8% for MyeXI, and OS 83.5% versus 73.5%, respectively. Extended post-ASCT Dara-VRd consolidation therapy was highly deliverable, with limited toxicity.Conclusion: Our results suggest that Dara-CVRd induction and extended post-ASCT Dara-VRd consolidation markedly improve PFS for UHiR NDMM patients over conventional management, supporting further evaluation of this strategy.</p