Speak of the Missing Witness, and Surely He Shall Appear: The Missing Witness Doctrine and the Constitutional Rights of Criminal Defendants—\u3ci\u3eState v. Blair\u3c/i\u3e, 117 Wash. 2d 479, 816 P.2d 718 (1991)

In State v. Blair, the Washington Supreme Court held for the first time that the state may use the missing witness doctrine against criminal defendants. Under the missing witness doctrine, which provides a permissive inference based on a defendant\u27s failure to present available witnesses, prosecutors may now argue that a defendant failed to call certain witnesses because the defendant feared that their testimony would have been incriminating. This Note examines the court\u27s decision in State v. Blair, the formulation of the missing witness doctrine adopted by the court, and the common law origins of the missing witness doctrine. This Note argues that the Blair court failed to examine the most compelling constitutional issues raised by its use of the missing witness doctrine and concludes that although the court correctly decided the issues presented in Blair, Washington courts should narrowly interpret the holding of Blair and prohibit the use of the doctrine against criminal defendants on constitutional grounds not addressed in State v. Blair

Tunneling phase gate for neutral atoms in a double-well lattice

We propose a new two--qubit phase gate for ultra--cold atoms confined in an experimentally realized tilted double--well optical lattice [Sebby--Strabley et al., Phys. Rev. A {\bf 73} 033605 (2006)]. Such a lattice is capable of confining pairs of atoms in a two--dimensional array of double--well potentials where control can be exercised over the barrier height and the energy difference of the minima of the two wells (known as the ``tilt''). The four lowest single--particle motional states consist of two pairs of motional states in which each pair is localized on one side of the central barrier, allowing for two atoms confined in such a lattice to be spatially separated qubits. We present a time--dependent scheme to manipulate the tilt to induce tunneling oscillations which produce a collisional phase gate. Numerical simulations demonstrate that this gate can be performed with high fidelity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

The potential role of kelp forests on iodine speciation in coastal seawater

Funding: FCK would like to thank the TOTAL Foundation (Paris) and the MASTS pooling initiative (The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland) for their support. MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions. JG acknowledges support from an SDSU Research Foundation Summer Undergraduate Research Award. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Serenade Espagnole

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/1650/thumbnail.jp

Key Equations in the Tuljapurkar-Lee Model of the Social Security System

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Re-integrating scholarly infrastructure: the ambiguous role of data sharing platforms

Web-based platforms play an increasingly important role in managing and sharing research data of all types and sizes. This article presents a case study of the data storage, sharing, and management platform Figshare. We argue that such platforms are displacing and reconfiguring the infrastructure of norms, technologies, and institutions that underlies traditional scholarly communication. Using a theoretical framework that combines infrastructure studies with platform studies, we show that Figshare leverages the platform logic of core and complementary components to re-integrate a presently splintered scholarly infrastructure. By means of this logic, platforms may provide the path to bring data inside a scholarly communication system still optimized mainly for text publications. Yet the platform strategy also risks turning over critical scientific functions to private firms whose longevity, openness, and corporate goals remain uncertain. It may amplify the existing trend of splintering infrastructures, with attendant effects on equity of servic

Are nerve conduction studies necessary? The development and evaluation of a patient-completed screening version of the Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire for use in primary care

Abstract Introduction: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common peripheral nerve entrapment seen within the outpatient orthopaedic clinic; therefore assessment and management of this common condition is of significant importance. Traditionally diagnosis has been made through detailed questioning; clinical examination and nerve conduction studies (NCS). There is however no true consensus as to the gold standard assessment of CTS and the use of NCS can confer additional costs and delay treatment. Previous studies have explored methods of predicting the presence of CTS including the clinician-administered Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (CTQ) (Kamath and Stothard, 2003). The aim of the present studies is therefore to explore the versatility of the CTQ to see how a novel Patient-completed Version of the CTQ compares to the original Clinican-completed version. Psychometric properties of the questionnaire will be explored together the economic impact of integrating both versions within an orthopaedic care pathway. A further aim is to answer whether the CTQ more effective and cost-effective than NCS for patients referred to an orthopaedic clinic with suspected CTS. Method: 100 patients referred for further investigation of suspected CTS were assessed using parallel patient and clinician-completed versions of the CTQ and results were subsequently compared with those obtained from NCS. Item analysis explored each of the nine constructs of the questionnaire and the original scoring algorithm was validated using binary logistic regression and compared with alternative algorithms. Sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire when compared to results of NCS was explored using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses. Inter-rater reliability was explored through Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Economic analysis and modelling was carried out to explore potential cost savings of use of the questionnaire rather than NCS for those with suspected CTS. Results demonstrated sensitivity of 92% and specificity of 54.67% (positive predictive value 95.35%) for the patient-completed questionnaire and 96% sensitivity with 70.67% specificity (98.15 positive predictive value) for the clinician-completed questionnaire when used to predict the outcome of NCS. Binary logistic regression confirmed the original scoring algorithm and a revised algorithm did not significantly improve sensitivity. Adoption of the clinician-completed CTQ would have screen out 54% of referrals for NCS, which in the case of the study site would have conferred cost savings of £73,305 per annum (base upon a referral rate of 750 per annum). The patient-completed CTQ in the current sample resulted in 43% of referrals with suspected CTS not requiring NCS to assist in diagnosis with a potential saving of £58,372.5 per annum. There are further considerations of the reduction in waiting times, which are explored further within the analysis. Conclusion: Economic evaluation is complex due to the variety of pathways adopted by different orthopaedic departments. While the results of the Patient-complete version of the CTQ may not be as convincing as the clinician completed the study does provide validation for its use and expands the versatility of this useful adjunct to the assessment of CTS. Both versions could potentially confer significant cost savings and reduce demands on investigative services, reducing waiting times and improving the patient journey in suspected CTS.Strategic Health AuthorityExeter universit

Infrastructure studies meet platform studies in the age of Google and Facebook

Two theoretical approaches have recently emerged to characterize new digital objects of study in the media landscape: infrastructure studies and platform studies. Despite their separate origins and different features, we demonstrate in this article how the cross-articulation of these two perspectives improves our understanding of current digital media. We use case studies of the Open Web, Facebook, and Google to demonstrate that infrastructure studies provides a valuable approach to the evolution of shared, widely accessible systems and services of the type often provided or regulated by governments in the public interest. On the other hand, platform studies captures how communication and expression are both enabled and constrained by new digital systems and new media. In these environments, platform-based services acquire characteristics of infrastructure, while both new and existing infrastructures are built or reorganized on the logic of platforms. We conclude by underlining the potential of this combined framework for future case studies