WITNESS ANONYMITY AT THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: DUE PROCESS FOR DEFENDANTS, WITNESSES OR BOTH?

The question of how far and in what way to extend protection to witnesses in trials has manifested itself in institutions as diverse as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the Committee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the ad hoc criminal tribunals (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone), and most recently the International Criminal Court (ICC). This is not surprising; as David Lusty has pointed out in his seminal analysis of the use of anonymous accusers, the question has arisen in almost every legal deliberative body for the past two thousand years

Impact of Motivation on the Working Alliance in Couples Therapy

This study used the actor partner interdependence model to examine the relationship between motivation, measured through the transtheoretical model of change (TTM), and the working alliance in couple�s therapy. The study was underpowered due to the small sample size (22 couples). Using the APIM, the study did not find a significant relationship between a partner�s motivation level and his or her own rating of the alliance; the study also did not find a significant relationship between one partner�s motivation level and his or her partner�s alliance. The study proposed the concept of a split in motivation and examined its relationship to the alliance using both statistical and visual analyses. No significant results were found, but several relevant trends emerged suggesting a relationship between differences in motivation levels between members of a couple, and differences between members rating of the alliance. Moderate but insignificant correlations were found between a male partner�s motivation and female partner�s alliance. Challenges in applying TTM to couples therapy are addressed suggesting the TTM may not capture the construct of �motivation� in couples� therapy. Implications for clinicians and directions for future research are explored.Human Development & Family Scienc

How do Ontario family medicine residents perform on global health competencies? A multi-institutional survey

Background: There is an increased interest in global health among medical students, family medicine residents, and medical educators. This paper is based on research to assess confidence in knowledge and skills in global health in family medicine residents in five universities across Ontario. Methods: A web based survey was sent to 166 first-year family medicine residents from five universities within Ontario. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze residents’ confidence in their knowledge and skills in global health. The strength of association between each of the self-perceived knowledge and skills variables was assessed by the Spearman correlation coefficient.  Results: The response rate ranged from 29% to 66% across the five universities. Self-perceived knowledge scores revealed that 34.3% of the respondents were very confident, 51.9% were somewhat confident, and 13.8% were not at all confident about their global health knowledge. Participants' confidence scores were lower in relation to knowledge of access to health care for low income nations (44.3%), and were better on their global health skills related to working in a team (70.9%) and listening actively to patients' concerns (64.6%). Conclusions: The global health competency scale has identified key areas of strengths and weaknesses of family medicine programs in global health education. This can be used to evaluate and analyze progress over time

ANTARES: Progress towards building a `Broker' of time-domain alerts

The Arizona-NOAO Temporal Analysis and Response to Events System (ANTARES) is a joint effort of NOAO and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Arizona to build prototype software to process alerts from time-domain surveys, especially LSST, to identify those alerts that must be followed up immediately. Value is added by annotating incoming alerts with existing information from previous surveys and compilations across the electromagnetic spectrum and from the history of past alerts. Comparison against a knowledge repository of properties and features of known or predicted kinds of variable phenomena is used for categorization. The architecture and algorithms being employed are described

Automating Thermal Analysis with Thermal Desktop™

Thermal analysis is typically executed with multiple tools in a series of separate steps for performing radiation analysis, generating conduction and capacitance data, and for solv-ing temperatures. This multitude of programs often leads to many user files that become unmanageable with their mul-titude, and the user often looses track as to which files go with which cases. In addition to combining the output from multiple programs, current processes often involve the user inputting various hand calculations into the math model to account for MLI/Insulation and contact conductance between entities. These calculations are not only tedious to make, but users often forget to update them when the geometry is changed. Several new features of Thermal Desktop are designed to automate some of the tedious tasks that thermal engineers now practice. To start with, Thermal Desktop is a single program that does radiation analysis, generates conduc-tion/capacitance data and automates the building of a SINDA/FLUINT model to solve for temperatures. Some of these new features of Thermal Desktop are Radiation Anal

Kinetic Model for Signal Binding to the Quorum Sensing Regulator LasR

We propose a kinetic model for the activation of the las regulon in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The model is based on in vitro data and accounts for the LasR dimerization and consecutive activation by binding of two OdDHL signal molecules. Experimentally, the production of the active LasR quorum-sensing regulator was studied in an Escherichia coli background as a function of signal molecule concentration. The functional activity of the regulator was monitored via a GFP reporter fusion to lasB expressed from the native lasB promoter. The new data shows that the active form of the LasR dimer binds two signal molecules cooperatively and that the timescale for reaching saturation is independent of the signal molecule concentration. This favors a picture where the dimerized regulator is protected against proteases and remains protected as it is activated through binding of two successive signal molecules. In absence of signal molecules, the dimerized regulator can dissociate and degrade through proteolytic turnover of the monomer. This resolves the apparent contradiction between our data and recent reports that the fully protected dimer is able to “degrade” when the induction of LasR ceases

2010 Massachusetts Recreational Boater Survey: Final Report Submitted to the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership

The Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan (Plan) completed in 2009 recognized recreational boating as an activity with “significant actual and prospective conflicts among multiple waterway uses in Massachusetts” and included the economic value of recreational boating as a key socio-economic indicator that will be used to inform coastal management. At the time of Plan completion, statistically robust recreational boating data were identified as an important need for comprehensive ocean planning. To fill this data gap, the 2010 Massachusetts Recreational Boater Survey gathered information on boating activity in Massachusetts’ coastal and ocean waters directly from recreational boaters. Researchers sent 10,000 surveys to owners of Massachusetts registered and documented vessels in the spring of 2010 asking for participation in the six month study. Over 22% responded and provided detailed information through monthly surveys between May and October about their boating trips including expenditures, recreational activities, and routes. Boaters plotted their spatial data (routes and activity areas) using an innovative online open source mapping tool. Using statistical methods and economic models, the demographic and economic information from the sample of boaters was generalized to the population of Massachusetts boaters. Results revealed the economic contribution of this activity to the Massachusetts economy - an estimated $806 million in 2010. Information gathered through the survey was also compiled into comprehensive maps depicting recreational boating patterns and density, and was used to better understand details of the recreational boating community, such as the most common boat size, the typical age of Bay State boaters, etc. The research findings will be incorporated into the Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan and can be used by resource managers, the boating industry and others in many ways, such as ensuring boating routes and destinations receive appropriate attention in ocean planning efforts