Obstacles to the Implementation of Criminal Justice Reform

Mass incarceration or overincarceration has gained significant attention over the last two decades, and criminal justice reform seeks to address it. This study uses constructivist grounded theory to examine the implementation of criminal justice reform legislation in Mississippi. Mississippi was chosen as the study setting because the state has been recognized as a national leader in enacting reform legislation and it has one of the nation’s highest incarceration rates. It is well established that policy implementation affects outcomes. Therefore, if the policies Mississippi is implementing are effective and they are implemented correctly, it stands to reason the state could benefit substantially from successful implementation. In other words, implementation should very much matter in Mississippi. The purpose of this dissertation was to build a set of theories that identify and explain obstacles to the implementation of criminal justice reform. The researcher applied Charmaz’s (2014) constructivist grounded theory to do so, and the result was seven theories that best explained the primary obstacles to the implementation of reform legislation in Mississippi. These seven theories were: 1) failure to convince, (2) failure to hit targets, (3) failure to exercise fidelity to statutory language, (4) failure to make data accessible, (5) failure to reinvest, (6) failure to make programs affordable, and (7) failure to address pre-trial problems. Failure to exercise fidelity to statutory language was identified as the one theory that best explained, overall, blockades to implementation in Mississippi. These theories should be transferrable to other jurisdictions

Shortcut to a Fermi-Degenerate Gas of Molecules via Cooperative Association

We theoretically examine the creation of a Fermi-degenerate gas of molecules via a photoassociation or Feshbach resonance applied to a degenerate Bose-Fermi mixture of atoms. This problem raises an interest because, unlike bosons, fermions in general do not behave cooperatively, so that the collective conversion of, say, two million atoms into one million molecules is not to be expected. Nevertheless, we find that the coupled Fermi system displays collective Rabi-like oscillations and adiabatic passage between atoms and molecules, thereby mimicking Bose-Einstein statistics. Cooperative association of a degenerate mixture of Bose and Fermi gases could therefore serve as a shortcut to a degenerate gas of Fermi molecules.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PRL; v2: expanded intro, added discussion on neglect of collisions and when mimicking should occu

Smart thermostat

The current thermostat marketplace is dominated by programmable thermostats that are engineered to give the user as much control as possible. However, not all users program these thermostats optimally. Some prefer comfort over energy efficiency and will heat an empty house. Others do not care to program their thermostat and leave it at a set temperature. The Smart Thermostat that we have created is engineered to optimize the temperature for the user, using the common sense of the engineer to lower energy consumption. It uses a Raspberry Pi as a platform to implement a fuzzy logic control System. By removing the extensive control of the thermostat from the user we are able to create a more energy efficient product that also maintains the comfort level of the occupants

The Molly Hootch Schools After 40 Years: Successes, Failures, and Opportunities

This quantitative study was designed to understand the relationship between the variables of student attendance, educator experience and turnover, and student achievement at the Molly Hootch schools in rural Alaska, to better understand the current state of achievement according to data from 2002–2019, collected from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (AKDEED) database. Data revealed that Molly Hootch school attendance was at 90% and that proficiency among students dropped from 40% to 15% during the years under review. The drop in proficiency during a time period where attendance level was strong leads to further qualitative exploration of the causes of the phenomenon

Simple Sprinkler Performance Testing for Sanpete County

This fact sheet describes how to perform a site inspection and a sprinkler test so you can irrigate your landscape more efficiently, and provides an irrigation schedule for Sanpete County