Justice Reinvestment: winding back imprisonment

Justice reinvestment was introduced as a response to mass incarceration and racial disparity in the United States in 2003. This book examines justice reinvestment from its origins, its potential as a mechanism for winding back imprisonment rates, and its portability to Australia, the United Kingdom and beyond. The authors analyze the principles and processes of justice reinvestment, including the early neighborhood focus on 'million dollar blocks'. They further scrutinize the claims of evidence-based and data-driven policy, which have been used in the practical implementation strategies featured in bipartisan legislative criminal justice system reforms. This book takes a comparative approach to justice reinvestment by examining the differences in political, legal and cultural contexts between the United States and Australia in particular. It argues for a community-driven approach, originating in vulnerable Indigenous communities with high imprisonment rates, as part of a more general movement for Indigenous democracy. While supporting a social justice approach, the book confronts significantly the problematic features of the politics of locality and community, the process of criminal justice policy transfer, and rationalist conceptions of policy. It will be essential reading for scholars, students and practitioners of criminal justice and criminal law

UC-37 Interactive PDF File Editing for Online Classes

This system aims to create an interactive environment for teachers to view/grade/edit student submission in virtual classes. Objectives for this project are to create independent component or logic model that includes the following functions. This component should be integrated with a .net core application easily. -Upload pdf files to the system and save files to the server; -Record audio online and save audio to the system; also, the audio can be played online; -Upload and play video or video link (YouTube); -Split file. When uploading a PDF file, the system will allow to split or crop the file (partial file content) and upload the file; -PDF edit: be able to view the pdf file and leave comments;Advisors(s): Yang Ming - Capstone Professor Derek Shi - Project SponsorTopic(s): Software EngineeringIT 498

Paterson\u27s Curse management handbook

Paterson’s curse (Echium plantagineum) is one of the most damaging weeds to the Australian meat and wool industries. It infests an estimated 33 million hectares in southern Australia, at an annual cost to the sheep industry of $250 million in lost pasture productivity, control costs and wool contamination. In WA, it is found on about 5000 agricultural properties infesting some 500,000 ha. It is an extremely invasive weed, that reduces pasture productivity and stock carrying capacity by competing with and excluding more beneficial pasture species. The weed is also toxic to stock. It is important to implement control measures on isolated patches of Paterson’s curse, to limit the spread of the weed into new areas.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1091/thumbnail.jp

Planar Cell Polarity Enables Posterior Localization of Nodal Cilia and Left-Right Axis Determination during Mouse and Xenopus Embryogenesis

Left-right asymmetry in vertebrates is initiated in an early embryonic structure called the ventral node in human and mouse, and the gastrocoel roof plate (GRP) in the frog. Within these structures, each epithelial cell bears a single motile cilium, and the concerted beating of these cilia produces a leftward fluid flow that is required to initiate left-right asymmetric gene expression. The leftward fluid flow is thought to result from the posterior tilt of the cilia, which protrude from near the posterior portion of each cell's apical surface. The cells, therefore, display a morphological planar polarization. Planar cell polarity (PCP) is manifested as the coordinated, polarized orientation of cells within epithelial sheets, or as directional cell migration and intercalation during convergent extension. A set of evolutionarily conserved proteins regulates PCP. Here, we provide evidence that vertebrate PCP proteins regulate planar polarity in the mouse ventral node and in the Xenopus gastrocoel roof plate. Asymmetric anterior localization of VANGL1 and PRICKLE2 (PK2) in mouse ventral node cells indicates that these cells are planar polarized by a conserved molecular mechanism. A weakly penetrant Vangl1 mutant phenotype suggests that compromised Vangl1 function may be associated with left-right laterality defects. Stronger functional evidence comes from the Xenopus GRP, where we show that perturbation of VANGL2 protein function disrupts the posterior localization of motile cilia that is required for leftward fluid flow, and causes aberrant expression of the left side-specific gene Nodal. The observation of anterior-posterior PCP in the mouse and in Xenopus embryonic organizers reflects a strong evolutionary conservation of this mechanism that is important for body plan determination

Lightcurves of Type Ia Supernovae from Near the Time of Explosion

We present a set of 11 type Ia supernova (SN Ia) lightcurves with dense, pre-maximum sampling. These supernovae (SNe), in galaxies behind the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), were discovered by the SuperMACHO survey. The SNe span a redshift range of z = 0.11 - 0.35. Our lightcurves contain some of the earliest pre-maximum observations of SNe Ia to date. We also give a functional model that describes the SN Ia lightcurve shape (in our VR-band). Our function uses the "expanding fireball" model of Goldhaber et al. (1998) to describe the rising lightcurve immediately after explosion but constrains it to smoothly join the remainder of the lightcurve. We fit this model to a composite observed VR-band lightcurve of three SNe between redshifts of 0.135 to 0.165. These SNe have not been K-corrected or adjusted to account for reddening. In this redshift range, the observed VR-band most closely matches the rest frame V-band. Using the best fit to our functional description of the lightcurve, we find the time between explosion and observed VR-band maximum to be 17.6+-1.3(stat)+-0.07(sys) rest-frame days for a SN Ia with a VR-band Delta m_{-10} of 0.52mag. For the redshifts sampled, the observed VR-band time-of-maximum brightness should be the same as the rest-frame V-band maximum to within 1.1 rest-frame days.Comment: 35 pages, 18 figures, 15 tables; Higher quality PDF available at http://ctiokw.ctio.noao.edu/~sm/sm/SNrise/index.html; AJ accepte

A novel tool to predict food intake: The Visual Meal Creator

Subjective appetite is commonly measured using an abstract visual analogue scale (VAS) technique, that provides no direct information about desired portion size or food choice. The purpose of this investigation was to develop and validate a user-friendly tool – the Visual Meal Creator (VIMEC) – that would allow for independent, repeated measures of subjective appetite and provide a prediction of food intake. Twelve participants experienced dietary control over a 5-hour period to manipulate hunger state on three occasions (small breakfast (SB) vs. large breakfast (LB) vs. large breakfast + snacks (LB+S)). Appetite measures were obtained every 60 minutes using the VIMEC and VAS. At 4.5 hours, participants were presented with an ad libitum test meal, from which energy intake (EI) was measured. The efficacy of the VIMEC was assessed by its ability to detect expected patterns of appetite and its strength as a predictor of energy intake. Day-to-day reproducibility and test-retest repeatability were assessed. Between- and within-condition differences in VAS and VIMEC scores (represented as mm and kcal of the “created” meal, respectively) were significantly correlated with one another throughout. Between- and within-condition changes in appetite scores obtained with the VIMEC exhibited a stronger correlation with EI at the test meal than those obtained with VAS. Pearson correlation coefficients for within-condition comparisons were 0.951, 0.914 and 0.875 (all p < 0.001) for SB, LB and LB+S respectively. Correlation coefficients for between-condition differences in VIMEC and EI were 0.273, 0.940 (p < 0.001) and 0.525 (p < 0.05) for SB – LB+S, SB – LB and LB – LB+S respectively. The VIMEC exhibited a similar degree of reproducibility to VAS. These findings suggest that the VIMEC appears to be a stronger predictor of energy intake than VAS

Ebullition-Driven Fluxes of Methane from Shallow Hot Spots in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf

The maximum concentration of atmospheric methane (CH4) occurs over the Arctic: the value of CH4 over Greenland exceeds that over Antarctica by 8-10%; an absolute maximum is measured during wintertime (Steel et. al., 1987; Fung et. al., 1991). Geologic evidence provides insight into possible climate change effects from a warmer Arctic, suggesting that enhanced Arctic CH4 emissions during warm periods played a key role in past rapid climate change.This work was supported by the International Arctic Research Center of the University Alaska Fairbanks (by the Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research through NOAA Cooperative Agreement NA17RJ1224 and the National Science Foundation Agreement No OPP-0327664), the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (No.04-05-64819) and the Far-Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, RAS (Project: Environmental changes in the East-Siberian region)

EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF A PIPELINE PROTECTION SYSTEM TO PREVENT DAMAGE TO SUBSEA PIPELINES FROM DROPPED OBJECTS

ABSTRACT One of the primary concerns for subsea pipeline involves damage from dropped objects. Using risk analysis modeling, it is possible to estimate the likelihood of impact, as well as the consequence of damage. Chevron Energy Technology Company, Stress Engineering Services, Inc. (SES) and Geoscience Earth &amp; Marine Services, Inc. (GEMS) conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a pipeline protection system (PPS) designed to protect a subsea 16-inch products pipeline off the coast of Angola in West Africa in approximately 400 feet of water beneath the South Nemba platform. The plan prior to the study was for platform upgrades to be made and concerns existed regarding the potential for dropped objects. Chevron specified that the PPS be designed to withstand a minimum impact of 3 MJ, with the possibility for extending this to 5 MJ if possible. The work involved a combination of testing and analysis methods. Chevron developed the basic design of the PPS that included a large diameter upper (60-inch diameter) and a lower (72-inch diameter) halfpipe assemblies placed over the top of the 16-inch diameter pipeline. Preliminary analyses calculated the potential energy absorption capacity of the design considering variations in thickness of the PPS structural members. Using insights gained from the preliminary analysis, full-scale drop tests were performed on prototype PPS pieces fabricated from rolled and welded steel plate. These drop tests released a 23,850 lbs weight dropped from 25.2 feet, resulting in impact energies of 815 kJ. Significant deformation was inflicted to the PPS tests pieces during the drop tests; however, the 16-inch diameter pipe placed beneath the protection was untouched for all tests except the one that did not include the upper half-pipe shell. Once the full-scale testing efforts were completed, finite element modeling was used to evaluate the PPS to soil interaction. The West Africa soil is rather compliant and concerns existed prior to the final phase of this study regarding the level of rigidity that could be expected from the soil. The ABAQUS Explicit finite element software was used to simulate impact with a dropped object having energy levels up to 5 MJ. Results showed that with contribution from the surrounding soil the system design, including the PPS pieces and the mud mats, can withstand impact energies of 5 MJ when the thickness of the upper shell is 1.25 inches. The results of this study demonstrate that the Chevron energy design requirement can be satisfied using the appropriate PPS design. INTRODUCTION This paper details findings from a study that was performed for Chevron to assess the performance capacity of a pipeline protection system for a 16-inch diameter products pipeline off the coast of Angola in West Afric

Supernova Cosmology and the ESSENCE project

The proper usage of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) as distance indicators has revolutionized cosmology, and added a new dominant component to the energy density of the Universe, dark energy. Following the discovery and confirmation era, the currently ongoing SNe Ia surveys aim to determine the properties of the dark energy. ESSENCE is a five year ground-based supernova survey aimed at finding and characterizing 200 SNe Ia in the redshift domain z=[0.2-0.8]. The goal of the project is to put constraints on the equation of state parameter, w, of the dark energy with an accuracy of <10%. This paper presents these ongoing efforts in the context of the current developments in observational cosmology.Comment: Submitted to EPS1