Targeting Poverty in the Courts: Improving the Measurement of Ability to Pay

Ability-to-pay determinations are essential when governments use money-based alternative sanctions, like fines, to enforce laws. One longstanding difficulty in the U.S. has been the extreme lack of guidance on how courts are to determine a litigant’s ability to pay. The result has been a seat-of-the-pants approach that is inefficient and inaccurate, and, as a consequence, very socially costly. Fortunately, online platform technology presents a promising avenue for reform. In particular, platform technology offers the potential to increase litigant access, reduce costs, and ensure consistent and fair treatment—all of which should lead to more accurate sanctions. We use interviews, surveys, and case-level data to evaluate and discuss the experiences of six courts that recently adopted an online ability-to-pay assessment tool that streamlines and standardizes ability-to-pay determinations. Our findings suggest that the online tool improves accuracy and therefore the effectiveness of fines as punishments, and so it may make the use of fines as sanctions more socially attractive

Sensemaking training in preparation for effective mission command in the African battlespace

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF), as a member state of the United Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, has certain continental and regional responsibilities. It is foreseen that the main areas of influence and operations of the SANDF will be situated in Africa and are referred to as the African battlespace, which holds challenges for deploying military commanders. We argue that the elevated levels of complexity and uncertainty in this context make mission command, as a command approach, especially relevant. The conceptual study on which this article is based, found that mission command is highly suitable to promote a command culture that is flexible yet robust, fosters unity of command at all levels, and simultaneously provides subordinate commanders with the freedom to act decisively when new opportunities are identified. For mission command to be applied in the African battlespace, sensemaking is an important cognitive skill that should form an integral part of the psychological preparation and training of commanders. Recommendations are made for sensemaking development in the current training of commanders in the SANDF

Do Density and Food Availability Influence Survivorship and Reproduction in the Freshwater Bivalve, Sphaerium simile?

The small freshwater bivalve Sphaerium simile, like most “fingernail clams” (Sphaeriidae), does not exhibit a planktonic larval stage but instead offspring are brooded inside the valves of the parent. The species is generally regarded as reproductively specialized, or relatively “K” selected along the r‐K continuum. Multiple offspring can develop simultaneously, but brooding siblings are commonly at different developmental stages. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the relative success of brooding offspring and adults in different adult densities and feeding regimes. A controlled laboratory experiment examined four treatment groups, with adult density and feeding frequency as independent variables. There were two density treatments [0.07 (low) and 0.35 (high) clams per cm2] and two feeding treatments (continuous and once each week). A parallel field experiment was conducted with high, moderate and low density treatments. In the laboratory experiment, offspring production was highest in treatment groups with high densities and/or more frequent feeding. Mortality of adults was highest among subjects kept at low feeding frequency feeding. In the field experiment, offspring production was highest in high and moderate density treatments. These results provide insight into the life history and stress response of Sphaerium simile, a brooding bivalve that remains under studied

Bayesian sampling design for contaminated land investigation

The problem of sampling design for contaminated land investigation is approached using Bayesian methods. We develop a decision tool designed to aid site investigators and decision makers in the process of site investigation. Current legislation and guidance is considered, and used to drive the development of a spatial model to describe the contamination levels over a site. This model is updated using a full Bayes approach and combined with a detailed loss structure in order to calculate the expected losses associated with the possible decisions. A sampling search algorithm looks for good designs with which we can further update beliefs and improve decision making ability through reduced uncertainty and therefore increased confidence. We also offer an MCMC approach to learn about multiple contaminants which are believed to be related. The decision tool provided offers a flexible environment in which multiple decisions, outcomes and contaminants may be considered simultaneously in order to assist the site investigator in implementing a cost effective sampling strateg

Overall survival of patients with recurrent pancreatic cancer treated with systemic therapy: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Only a few patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) recurring after curative resection and peri-operative (neoadjuvant and adjuvant) therapy are included in clinical trials of metastatic PDAC. As such, there is a paucity of data to guide treatment after relapse, and patients are treated similarly to those with de novo metastatic PDAC (mPDAC). We evaluated the patterns of chemotherapy use and over-all survival (OS) in patients with recurrent PDAC (rPDAC) following curative therapy. METHODS: In this retrospective study, the Indiana University pancreatic cancer database was used to identify patients with PDAC who underwent curative resection and subsequently developed recurrence. Demographics, tumor and treatment characteristics were collected. Patients were broadly divided into those who received chemotherapy for rPDAC and those who did not. Patients in the former category were further subdivided into those who received single agent therapy, any standard combination therapy (5-fluorouracil/irinotecan/oxaliplatin combination or gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel) and those who received non-standard combinations. Survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Log rank tests were used to determine differences in survival between treated rPDAC patients and those not treated. Cox regression analysis was employed to evaluate factors associated with OS. RESULTS: We identified 435 patients with resected PDAC treated between 2008 and 2014. Two hundred and twenty-three patients (51.2%) were diagnosed with rPDAC. Of these, 140 patients (63%) received chemotherapy whereas 71 patients (32%) did not receive chemotherapy. The 74 patients (53%) who received any standard, approved multiagent combination regimen had a median OS of 14 months compared to 8 months for the 47 patents (34%) who received other non-standard combinations and the 19 (13%) who received single agent therapy (P = 0.029). Multivariate cox regression analysis showed that margin negative resection, peri-operative therapy, radiotherapy and the use of any chemotherapy for rPDAC were associated with improved OS. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the use of standard approved multi-agent therapy in rPDAC. Patients derive significant benefit from these standard combination therapies with median OS that is comparable to what is observed with treatment for de novo mPDAC

Evaluating the Impact of Cooperative Extension Outreach via Twitter

Twitter is increasingly being used by Extension educators as a teaching and program-marketing tool. It is not enough, however, to simply use Twitter to disseminate information. Steps must be taken to evaluate program impact with quantitative and qualitative data. This article described the following Twitter evaluation metrics: unique hashtags, clicks on unique links, online surveys of professionals and their followers, pre- and post-project Klout scores, and TweetReach reports. A triangulated evaluation combining several of these metrics can provide substantial evidence of program effectiveness

Addressing Childhood Adversity and Social Determinants inPediatric Primary Care:Recommendations for New Hampshire

Research has clearly demonstrated the significant short- and long-term impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the social determinants of health (SDOH) on child health and well-being.1 Identifying and addressing ACEs and SDOH will require a coordinated and systems-based approach. Pediatric primary care* plays a critical role in this system, and there is a growing emphasis on these issues that may be impacting a family. As awareness of ACEs and SDOH grows, so too does the response effort within the State of New Hampshire. Efforts to address ACEs and the SDOH have been initiated by a variety of stakeholders, including non-profit organizations, community-based providers, and school districts. In late 2017, the Endowment for Health and SPARK NH funded the NH Pediatric Improvement Partnership (NHPIP) to develop a set of recommendations to address identifying and responding to ACEs and SDOH in NH primary care settings caring for children. Methods included conducting a review of literature and Key Informant Interviews (KII). Themes from these were identified and the findings are summarized in this report

Analytic treatment of geodesics in five-dimensional Myers-Perry space--times

We present the complete set of analytical solutions of the geodesic equation in the five-dimensional Myers-Perry space-time with equal rotation parameter in terms of the Weierstra{\ss}' elliptic and Weierstra{\ss}' zeta and sigma functions. We study the underlying polynomials in the polar and radial equations which depend on the parameters of the metric and conserved quantities of a test particle and characterize the motion by their zeros. We exemplify the efficiency of the analytical method on the orbits of test particles.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, to be published in PRD. Version with improved reference