Catching Card Counters

The casino industry has been researched through a variety of disciplines including psychological gambling habits, technological advances, business strategies, and mathematical simulations. In the vast number of studies that have been conducted, there are few scholarly articles that focus on the specific aspect of card counting. The majority of games in the casino are designed to favor the “house”. This study focuses on the game of blackjack, in which players using a card counting strategy can tip the odds in their favor. A computer simulation was used to model the betting strategy of a card counter who would bet methodically. Conversely, the unpredictable betting strategy of a “normal” gambler was gathered through observations of over one thousands hands of blackjack. The comparison of the two led to deviations in behavior and betting habits. An understanding of these differences will provide a casino with additional information to catch card counters at the table

Health Care Share: Fighting Food Insecurity with Local Farm Shares

Food insecurity affects 10% of Vermont families annually, up to 15% of families with children. Contributing factors to this include lack of transportation, low wages, lack of affordable housing, unemployment, and limited access to nutritious produce. For children, this issue is even more pronounced during the summer months, without access to free or reduced-price meals at school. Health Care Share is a 14-week farm share distributed to families who have been identified to have food insecurity by their healthcare provider in Vermont. This project’s goal was to promote provider and patient awareness regarding the application process by implementing reminders for providers during the application window, as well as increasing ease of patient education via a dotphrase to provide the patients with additional information to take home with them.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1582/thumbnail.jp

Jury Sentencing and Juveniles: Eighth Amendment Limits and Sixth Amendment Rights

Across the country, states are grappling with how to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Miller v. Alabama, which held that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles violate the Eighth Amendment. Following Miller, it appears a sentencer may impose life without parole on a juvenile homicide offender only in those rare instances in which the sentencer determines, after considering the mitigating qualities of youth, that the juvenile’s crime reflects “irreparable corruption.” Courts are preparing to conduct resentencing hearings in states nationwide, and new cases where juveniles face the possibility of life in prison are entering the courts. Yet courts and scholars have not addressed a fundamental question: Who is the sentencer? Can a judge decide that a particular juvenile should die in prison or does the Constitution give juveniles the right to require that a jury make that determination? Courts and state legislatures responding to Miller have assumed that a judge can impose life without parole on a juvenile, as long as the judge has discretion to impose a less severe sentence. But viewing Miller in light of the Supreme Court’s recent Sixth Amendment jury right jurisprudence raises questions about the role of the jury in these post-Miller sentencing hearings. In particular, does an Eighth Amendment limit on a sentence operate in the same way as a statutory maximum sentence and set a ceiling that cannot be raised absent a jury finding? If so, a jury must find the facts beyond a reasonable doubt that expose a juvenile to life without parole. Understanding how the Court’s recent Sixth and Eighth Amendment cases interact has broad implications for how sentencing authority is allocated not only in serious juvenile cases but also in our justice system more widely

Homely, Cultured Brahmin Woman Seeks Particular Social Group: Must Be Immutable, Particulara, nd Socially Visible

This Note examines whether Brahmin women constitute a particular social group under United States asylum law. The domestic violence victims in immigration court-who are predominately Latin American-have thus far failed to establish, in a precedential decision, that they are part of a particular social group or that their perpetrators\u27 violence was on account of their membership in a particular social group. Orthodox Brahmin women in India, however, may be able to meet the elements of asylum where other victims have failed. This Note examines whether Brahmin women can meet the elements of a particular social group, whether the Indian government can protect Brahmin women, and other significant barriers preventing Brahmin women from seeking asylu

What training and resources would help journalists covering traumatic events?

Professional project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Journalism from the School of Journalism, University of Missouri--Columbia.There is no question that covering traumatic events can cause PTSD in journalists. The research is proven. According to Killeen (2011), reporters’ suffering has been labeled Assignment Stress Injury (ASI). Backholm and Björkqvist (2012) back this up saying “86–100% of news journalists had assignments including potentially traumatic exposure at some point.” In the past, journalists were not viewed as first responders. This project examines journalists who have covered traumatic events. It also takes a close look at how to spot the warning signs of trauma and what journalists and managers can do about it. It is important to change the culture in newsrooms to not view emotional distress after covering traumatic events as a sign of weakness. If journalists have the proper training and if managers know what to look out for and how to handle it, the mental health of future journalists will be protected. This entails more training for journalists, as well as more resources provided to newsrooms after covering traumatic events. Staying on top of the mental health of journalists is vital for the future of the industry.Includes bibliographical references

Bullies In Blue: Origins and Consequences of School Policing

This new ACLU white paper, "Bullies in Blue: Origins and Consequences of School Policing," explores the beginnings of school policing in the United States and sheds light on the negative consequences of the increasing role of police and links it to both the drivers of punitive criminal justice policies and mass incarceration nationwide. The report traces a line back to the struggle to end Jim Crow segregation during the civil rights movement, and challenges assumptions that the function of police in schools is to protect children. It posits that police are police, and in schools they will act as police, and in those actions bring the criminal justice system into our schools and criminalizing our kids

Teaching during a pandemic: Novice K-12 teachers tackle existing and unprecedented challenges

This survey-based study explores the ways Covid19 has added to the existing challenges faced by novice teachers by introducing brand new stressors and exacerbating previously identified challenges during the 2020-2021 school year. We have sought to identify what kinds of support were in place for new teachers during Covid-19 and how these were received by beginning educators. What did they find comforting and useful? In what work contexts did teachers feel supported? By whom? What were teachers’ preferences for intervention and support? Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) 2022 Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL from February 11-16, 202