The Seattle Consent Decree: Excessive or effective force in police reform?

The main objective of this research project was to evaluate and critically analyze the United States Department of Justice’s (USDOJ) effort to reform the Seattle Police Department through the use of a “Consent Decree,” pursuant to the provisions of 42 U.S.C. Section 14141. By examining the history, origin and use of Section 14141 with respect to other jurisdictions in general and Seattle in particular, an understanding of the effectiveness of this externally mandated reform effort emerged. Data compiled from interviews, court filings, public reports and media accounts support the conclusion that substantive, sustainable reform has been achieved as a result of the adoption of the federal Consent Decree between the City of Seattle and the USDOJ, at least as it relates to updated policies and practices involving police use-of-force, “stop and frisks,” and biased policing, as well as investigations of uses-of-force and reviews of those incidents. However, questions remain as to the long-term effectiveness of the reform effort on the culture of the Seattle Police Department and its ability to sustain the reform efforts into the future. Further, the data support that there is great potential for future DOJ externally-imposed reform efforts to be successful if the USDOJ enhances its efforts to engage in a holistic approach to police reform and if the DOJ uses police use-of-force theory in its application and enforcement of Section 14141 investigations, findings and litigation efforts. The research also indicates benefits to USDOJ reform efforts through the creation of a new “Police Reform Section” within the Civil Rights Division to replace the USDOJ’s reliance on its Special Litigation Section to enforce Constitutional policing on a systemic level within the United States

Optimization Modeling for Airlift Mobility

We describe a multi-period optimization model, implemented in GAMS, to help the U.S. Air Force improve logistical efficiency. It determines the maximum on-time throughput of cargo and passengers that can be transported within a given aircraft fleet over a given network, subject to appropriate physical and policy constraints. The model can be used to help answer questions about selecting airlift assets and about investing or divesting in airfield infrastructure

Can Pay-for-Performance Improve Quality and Reduce Health Disparities?

The authors discuss a new study that examined whether pay-for-performance improves or worsens existing disparities in health between ethnic groups

Real Property - Adverse Possession - Title Acquired by Husband and Wife

John and Maltie Preston moved onto a parcel of land in 1910 where they lived until 1950 when John died intestate. Maltie died intestate in 1954. Title to the land had been perfected by twenty years adverse possession. Evidence showed that the adverse possession was intended to inure to their joint benefit. Complainants, collateral heirs of John, sued in ejectment claiming that John took the whole title by exclusive adverse possession. Defendants, collateral heirs of Maltie, claimed a tenancy by the entirety had been created, with the survivor, Maltie, becoming the sole owner. The court of appeals ruled that the husband and wife had become tenants in common. On writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court, held, affirmed without opinion. Preston v. Smith, (Tenn. 1956) 293 S.W. (2d) 51

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The Generalized Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS), developed by Alexander Meeraus, Anthony Brooke et al.is a language for expressing mathematical models in a form that is both easily understandable to a modeler and processible by a computer. For practitioners and researchers, it can greatly reduce the time required for formulating, documenting, solving and analyzing large, complex linear, nonlinear and integer programs. For teachers and students, it is a valuable tool for learning advanced modeling. This paper is a tutorial for the beginning GAMS user. Keywords: Optimization, Modeling languages, Mathematical programming, GAMS, Computer programming, Programming languageshttp://archive.org/details/tutorialongamsmo00ros

DNA sequences required for regulated expression of β-globin genes in murine erythroleukaemia cells.

We introduced into MEL cells rabbit beta-globin gene deletion mutants and two sets of hybrid genes constructed from the inducible human beta-globin gene and noninducible human gamma-globin gene or the murine H-2Kbm1 class I MHC gene. S1 nuclease analysis of gene transcripts before and after MEL differentiation showed that induction of the rabbit beta-globin gene did not require more than 58 bp of DNA 5' to the transcription initiation site. Hybrid genes were constructed with human beta-globin DNA sequences from either 5' or 3' of the translation initiation site linked to the complementary parts of the gamma or H2Kbm1 genes. Both types of constructs were inducible during MEL differentiation. The relative rates of transcription of the 5' gamma-3' beta and 5'H2-3' beta hybrid genes show that induction of the hybrid gene transcripts results at least in part from transcriptional activation of the genes. We suggest that DNA sequences that regulate beta-globin gene transcription during MEL differentiation are located both 5' and 3' to the translation initiation site