Handle with Care: Domestic Violence Safety Planning in the Age of Data Privacy Laws

The United States has been patiently waiting for a comprehensive federal data privacy law to protect consumers. However, strong data privacy laws can also protect a less thought-about group: survivors of domestic violence and intimate partner violence. As new technology proliferates into our daily lives, technology-based abuse is quickly becoming a common form of intimate partner abuse. Domestic violence survivors and advocates have to stay extra vigilant about who has access to their internet data. Needing to understand technology-specific safety measures and learn technology-literacy skills adds more work to already overwhelmed domestic violence advocates and survivors. Could the law serve to take on some of the work to protect survivors from tech-based abuse without further shrinking their autonomy and complexity in their experiences? While new data privacy laws in the European Union and California were crafted with consumer rights in mind, they can be used to protect the rights of domestic violence survivors, whether through direct application or by inspiration. This article explores the extent that legal relief is available for domestic violence survivors in Washington state–especially for survivors of technology-based abuse–and how data privacy laws could augment and expand available legal relief, particularly options that can lessen a survivor’s reliance on the criminal justice system. An intersectional analysis of domestic violence reveals the harm of a singular narrative of intimate partner abuse and sheds light on the shortcomings of criminal laws as the sole source of relief for victims of tech-based abuse. Enacting data privacy laws that provide heighten protection over the data of survivors of domestic violence and intimate partner violence can not only provide additional technology safeguards to protect survivors, but also reignite the conversation on a private right of action for violence against women and intimate partners

Establishing the Program of Origin Firing during S Phase in Fission Yeast

SummaryInitiation of eukaryotic DNA synthesis occurs at origins of replication that are utilized with characteristic times and frequencies during S phase. We have investigated origin usage by evaluating the kinetics of replication factor binding in fission yeast and show that similar to metazoa, ORC binding is periodic during the cell cycle, increasing during mitosis and peaking at M/G1. At an origin, the timing of ORC binding in M and pre-RC assembly in G1 correlates with the timing of firing during S, and the level of pre-IC formation reflects origin efficiency. Extending mitosis allows ORC to become more equally associated with origins and leads to genome-wide changes in origin usage, while overproduction of pre-IC factors increases replication of both efficient and inefficient origins. We propose that differential recruitment of ORC to origins during mitosis followed by competition among origins for limiting replication factors establishes the timing and efficiency of origin firing

Evaluation Of Feasibility And Performance Of Foamed Fire-Resistant Coating Materials

A preliminary study found high-performance cement mortar, geopolymer mortar, and magnesium phosphate cement mortar (MPCM) have the potential as new fire-resistant materials. In this study, foam was added to these three fire-resistant materials to further improve their rheological, mechanical, and fire-resistant performance and reduce costs. Systematic design and experimental programs were conducted. The results showed the addition of foam enhanced workability, adhesiveness, and fire resistance, allowing the materials to withstand higher temperatures and further delay heat transfer. A mixture of 70% MPCM and 30% foam was identified as the optimum design, which could withstand 1000 °C with low heat transfer rates

Causal exposure-response curve estimation with surrogate confounders: a study of air pollution and children's health in Medicaid claims data

In this paper, we undertake a case study in which interest lies in estimating a causal exposure-response function (ERF) for long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM$_{2.5}$) and respiratory hospitalizations in socioeconomically disadvantaged children using nationwide Medicaid claims data. New methods are needed to address the specific challenges the Medicaid data present. First, Medicaid eligibility criteria, which are largely based on family income for children, differ by state, creating socioeconomically distinct populations and leading to clustered data, where zip codes (our units of analysis) are nested within states. Second, Medicaid enrollees' individual-level socioeconomic status, which is known to be a confounder and an effect modifier of the exposure-response relationships under study, is not available. However, two useful surrogates are available: median household income of each enrollee's zip code of residence and state-level Medicaid family income eligibility thresholds for children. In this paper, we introduce a customized approach, called \textit{MedMatch}, that builds on generalized propensity score matching methods for estimating causal ERFs, adapting these approaches to leverage our two surrogate variables to account for potential confounding and/or effect modification by socioeconomic status. We conduct extensive simulation studies, consistently demonstrating the strong performance of \textit{MedMatch} relative to conventional approaches to handling the surrogate variables. We apply \textit{MedMatch} to estimate the causal ERF between long-term PM$_{2.5}$ exposure and first respiratory hospitalization among children in Medicaid from 2000 to 2012. We find a positive association, with a steeper curve at PM$_{2.5} \le 8$ $\mu$g/m$^3$ that levels off at higher concentrations.Comment: 38 pages,5 figure

Extraction of a tricarboxylic acid from a sugar-cane by-product – Study and modeling of the anion-exchange step

Extraction of a tricarboxylic acid from a sugar-cane by-product – Study and modeling of the anion-exchange step . 16. Congrès de la Société Française de Génie des Procédés "Le Génie des Procédés au Service de l'Homme" (SFGP 2017