Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Bail and Sentencing : Does Pretrial Detention Lead to Harsher Punishment?

Previous research on judicial decision making has shown that legal factors, such as offense severity and prior criminal record, exert a strong impact on sentencing decisions. In addition, studies have demonstrated that demographic factors, such as race and gender, also influence sentencing decisions. This study utilized a sample of (n = 975) cases collected by New JerseyÕs Criminal Disposition Commission, tracked from arrest through disposition, to assess the factors that influence sentencing decisions, with a specific focus on the role of pretrial release status. The authors found that pretrial detention does not influence the decision to incarcerate; however, pretrial detention does significantly and negatively affects the length of the sentence in cases that involve a sentence of incarceration

Preventive Detention

Corrections looks at the correctional system and offers arguments for and against the practice of the laws and policies that comprise corrections, from parole and probation to imprisonment, to the application of the death penalty. The 20 included chapters, written by eminent scholars and experts in the fields of criminology, police science, law, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines, take on such contested topics as what the goals of the correctional system should be (deterrence, rehabilitation, retribution, or something else?) and how they should be achieved; who should make these dec

Can general strain theory be used to explain recidivism among registered sex offenders?

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to assess sex offender recidivism in the context of General Strain Theory (GST). Methods Surveys were mailed to 3,506 sex offenders with (N = 939) in Nebraska, (N = 1,850) in Kansas and (N = 717) in Montana. Questions related to strain associated with registration and community notification, anger, depression, and criminal behavior were asked. OLS Regression was utilized to predict overall recidivism, as well as sex, violent, drug, and property recidivism. Results Findings suggest that GST is supported when analyzing recidivism. Conclusions In the context of these findings, policymakers would do well to reexamine the broad use of registration and community notification laws

Pretrial detention and guilty pleas: if they cannot afford bail they must be guilty

Many researchers have examined the factors that affect guilty pleas, but have typically utilized a dichotomous dependent variable, measuring either a guilty plea or trial. However, the majority of cases are resolved though a guilty plea, making the inevitable question one of timing. The current study investigates the factors that affect disposition timing and, in particular, considers the impact of pretrial detention on guilty pleas. Using a sample of (n = 975) cases from New Jersey\u27s Criminal Disposition Commission, tracked from inception through disposition, to assess the factors that influence the timing of guilty pleas, our research finds that defendants held in pretrial detention will plead guilty faster than those defendants released into the community prior to tria

The New Penology Revisited: The Criminalization of Immigration as a Pacification Strategy

The New Penology is a set of criminal justice policies that focuses on risk management and control of certain groups of people. Scholars have noted the existence of these strategies since the early 1990s. One population for whom these strategies is most apparent is undocumented immigrants in the United States. First, this article outlines the new penology as it related to undocumented immigrants. Next, it offers an explanation of pacificati on strategies as they relate to policy and finally, the article provides a new theoretical explanation for current immigration policy. The authors argue that pacification strategies lead to the existence and popularity of new penological strategies

Sentenced to Pretrial Detention: A Study of Bail Decisions and Outcomes

Previous research on bail practices has shown that both legal factors, such as offense severity and prior criminal record, and demographic factors such as race and age, exert a strong influence on bail decisions and outcomes. Using a novel application of Knowledge Discovery statistical methods, Bayesian probability analytics, this study utilized a sample of (n = 975) cases collected by New JerseyÕs Criminal Disposition Commission, followed from arrest through disposition, to examine bail decisions made by judges and subsequent bail outcomes, i.e., whether defendant was able to meet financial bail requirements to secure release from jail. We found the following: Black and Hispanic defendants are more likely than their white counterparts to have to pay a financial bail requirement; modest differences between races with regards to bail amount set by the court; and that minority defendants, and especially Hispanic defendants, are at a disadvantage when it comes to being able to post bail and they are therefore much more likely than their white counterparts to be held in pretrial detention

The Experiences of Registered Sex Offenders With Internet Offender Registries in Three States

For over two decades, U.S. state and federal governments have enacted broad legislation in an effort to keep communities aware about and safe from sex offenders living nearby. The current study qualitatively analyzes unsolicited responses from sex offenders regarding their feelings, attitudes, and experiences living under the auspices of such legislation. A total of 60 survey responses from offenders in three states were reviewed. Several key themes emerged, including legal issues, hopelessness and despair, collateral consequences, and lack of effectiveness of registration and notification. Policy and research implications are discussed

Legislation Targeting Sex Offenders: Are Recent Policies Effective in Reducing Rape?

In recent years, several pieces of state and federal legislation have imposed new restrictions on convicted sex offenders, including registration with law enforcement agencies, community notification provisions, and sexually violent predator designations permitting civil commitment following a prison sentence. This paper uses panel data for the American states for the years 1970Ã2002 to assess the impact of these policies on the rate at which rapes occur. Our research finds no evidence that our current policies reduce the incidence of rape

A comparative analysis of nutrition-related assessment criteria and associated nutrition performance scores of food companies across three prominent corporate sustainability assessment tools

Abstract Objective: Corporate sustainability assessment tools are increasingly used to evaluate company performance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. Given the growing burden of diet-related disease and nutrition-related business risks, it is important to understand the scope of nutrition-related ESG data currently available. This study aimed to compare the nutrition-related assessment criteria and associated food company performance across three prominent assessment tools. Design: Key attributes and assessment criteria of two civil society-led and one commercially available corporate sustainability assessment tools were extracted and compared for the year 2021. Company performance scores for twenty-five major food and beverage manufacturers using these three tools were analysed by nutrition domain: ‘Product Portfolio’, ‘Labelling’, ‘Marketing’, ‘Accessibility and Affordability’, ‘Governance and Reporting’, ‘Stakeholder Engagement’ and ‘Employee Health’. To enable comparison between tools, company performance scores were assigned to categories of low (score = 0–25 % score or D), moderately low (25–50 % or C), moderately high (50–75 % or B) and high (75–100 % or A). Setting: Global. Participants: N/A. Results: The tools covered similar nutrition domains; however, there was heterogeneity in the assessment criteria used to evaluate each domain. When applied to assess the performance of twenty-five major food and beverage manufacturers, a median nutrition-related performance score of moderately low or low was observed across all tools. The highest scoring domain was ‘Governance and Reporting’, and the lowest scoring domains were ‘Product Portfolio’ and ‘Accessibility and Affordability’. Conclusions: Greater standardisation of the nutrition-related criteria against which food companies are assessed is needed as part of efforts to drive improvements in food company practices