The Effect of Microneighborhood Conditions on Adult Educational Attainment in a Subsidized Housing Intervention

The ACHIEVEability model of affordable housing aims to promote self-sufficiency by requiring enrollment in postsecondary education in exchange for subsidized housing. In this study, we exploit the quasi random assignment of ACHIEVEability participants (N = 84) to subsidized housing units to evaluate whether microneighborhood environments moderated participants’ progress in postsecondary education. Participants progressed in their educational pursuits in line with program requirements, earning about 12 college credits per year. Neighborhood block group characteristics moderated this progress. Participants who were assigned to housing located in poorer, more violent, and less educated block groups earned credits at a significantly slower rate than participants assigned housing in more advantaged block groups. Our results suggest that the micro environments immediately surrounding residents of subsidized housing matter, even if they are situated within broader contexts of spatial and personal disadvantage.     

Toward maintaining canine training aid integrity: Visualizing contamination and testing storage materials for a non-hazardous canine training aid

Contamination of canine training aids is a pervasive issue that may lead to incorrect canine discrimination of target odors. It is therefore important to properly store training materials to maintain their integrity and efficiency. First, this study demonstrated the potential for contamination using GloGerm™ as a proxy for odor/particulate transfer. Then, eight types of containers were evaluated to determine (1) the ability to prevent odor permeation and (2) the likelihood of maintaining the ab/adsorbed odor. Lastly, a longitudinal study evaluated how the permeation of the target odor changed over time. Analysis occurred using a direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometer (DART-MS) to detect triacetone triperoxide (TATP) from the non-hazardous canine training aid known as the polymer odor capture-and-release (POCR) system. Results showed that Mylar and Opsak bags were most effective for short-term storage, maintaining low levels of ab/adsorption. Over time, the amount of TATP permeating through the primary containers and collecting in a secondary container (i.e., outer packaging) increased at 1 week and decreased thereafter (up to 4 months). The amount of TATP collecting in the primary containers, however, increased up to 1 month and decreased thereafter.     

Human Dignity as a Sui Generis Principle

This paper argues that human dignity is a sui generis status principle whose function lies in unifying our normative orders. More fully, human dignity denotes a basic status to be preserved in any institution or process; it is a principle demanding determination in different contexts; and it has its most characteristic application where the legal, moral, and political place competing obligations on individuals. The implication of this account is that we should not seek to reduce human dignity to either a legal norm or a legal principle.     

Jeremy Bentham and Equity: The Court of Chancery,Lord Eldon,and the Dispatch Court Plan

In 1929 Sir William Holdsworth argued that Jeremy Bentham wrote ‘the best criticism’ of Lord Mansfield’s attempts to ‘fuse’ law and equity that has ever been made. As the present article will show, Bentham was in fact in favour of a form of ‘fusion’ that consisted of the abolition of the procedural distinction between law and equity, the incorporation of the subject-matters ordinarily handled by equity courts into his Civil Code, and the inclusion of formal mechanisms to provide relief and to amend the law in his ideal constitution. In the immediate term, Bentham devised a series of ‘equity dispatch courts’ that would employ a summary method of procedure in order to clear the large backlog of Lord Eldon’s court of chancery. While he claimed that this project would be experimental and temporary, he often portrayed it as an avenue through which to instigate radical reform, and to eliminate entirely the need for separate systems of law and equity. However, it will be concluded that, with the exception of Henry Bickersteth, Bentham’s writings on equity gained little influence in the decades preceding the Supreme Court of Judicature Acts (1873–75), and achieved only a small circulation.     

Highly polymorphic minisatellite sequences: allele frequencies and mutation rates for five locus-specific probes in a Caucasian population

Six human minisatellite sequences (MS1, MS8, MS29, MS31, MS43, g3) have been subcloned into a stable host/vector system. Allele frequencies at the hypervariable loci detected by five of these probes were determined in a Caucasian population (200 individuals). Mendelian inheritance has been demonstrated in 5 large multi-generation pedigrees. The mutation rate has been determined in 59 families. The highest mutation rate was observed with MS1, as might be predicted from the observed high heterozygosity and in agreement with previous direct measurement of germ line mutation rates. The data presented on allele frequencies and mutation rates provide preliminary data supporting the use of these probes in paternity analysis and forensic investigations.     

Moral Values and Responsible Administration: Live Organs Transplant Systems in the United States and Germany

This article explores the unexpected ways in which recently introduced accountability mechanisms shape hospital administrators’ and physicians’ actions in Germany and in the United States. Though the reforms were designed to provide governments with more control over hospitals by increasing doctors’ and managers’ direct answerability to clients, this research finds that they fail to achieve these objectives by overlooking and clashing with existing behavioral settings within the medical sector. This analysis employs a newly synthesized theoretical framework at the nexus of ethics and accountability, as well as a comparative empirical exploration of the organ transplant systems in Germany and the U.S.     

Workers' compensation in Canada: a case for greater public accountability

Abstract: In this article, the authors argue that workers' compensation policies in Canada should be made more accountable to elected governments. The changing nature of occupational risks has created a range of workplace injuries against which current workers' compensation programs do not adequately insure. The existence of workers' compensation alongside the other components of the social‐safety net may have created significant numbers of individuals who are either not receiving compensation when they should be or are receiving compensation when they should not be. The implication is that other programs bear some of the costs that should be borne by workers' compensation and, conversely, that some of the costs borne by workers' compensation should be borne by other social programs. These “gaps and overlaps” indicate that workers' compensation should be better integrated with the rest of the programs that make up the Canadian social‐safety net. The article concludes with a menu of reforms, including the establishment, through legislation, of a formal reporting relationship; changes to the composition and size of governance structures; the introduction of strategic planning; and the establishment of performance measurement processes. Sommaire: Selon les auteurs de cet article, les politiques concernant les accidents du travail au Canada devraient relever davantage des gouvernements élus. L'évolution des risques professionnels a Créé toute une gamme d'accidents du travail pour lesquels l'assurance des régimes actuels d'indemnisation est inadéquate. L'existence des régimes d'assurance contre les accidents du travail parallèlement aux autres éléments de sécurité sociale aurait pour effet de multiplier le nombre de personnes quisoit ne reçoivent pas de prestations lorsqu'elles devraient en recevoir, soit l'inverse. Par conséquent, d'autres programmes défraient certains des coûts qui incombent au régime des accidents du travail, tandis que ce dernier défraie des coûts imputables a d'autres programmes sociaux. Ces lacunes et chevauchements indiquent que le régime d'assurance contre les accidents du travail devrait être mieux intégré au reste des programmes qui constituent le filet de sécurité sociale au Canada. L'article propose une série de réformes, dont l'adoption légiférée d'une relation formelle de compte rendu, la modification de la composition et de la taille des structures de gouvernance, l'adoption de la planification stratégique, et l'établissement de processus de mesure du rendement.     

Delinquent Girls Grown Up: Young Adult Offending Patterns and Their Relation to Early Legal, Individual, and Family Risk

Although the number of girls served by the juvenile justice system has grown dramatically, little is known about the adult offending patterns of delinquent girls and the factors associated with their persistence and desistance from adult crime. To address this gap, we prospectively track 499 girls (62% Black, 16% Hispanic) discharged from juvenile justice facilities in the early 1990s and document their adult arrests, convictions, and incarcerations between the ages of 16–28. Trajectory analysis reveals four distinct early adult offending paths: Rare/Non-Offending (RN), Low Chronic (LC), Low-Rising (LR), and High Chronic (HC). Girls assigned to the LR and LC path are responsible for a disproportionate amount of adult arrests and are more likely than girls on the RN and LC path to come from homes characterized by high levels of family dysfunction and child maltreatment. Adoption of a therapeutic, trauma-sensitive and family-centered approach to female delinquency programming is recommended.

A Balanced Budget with Side Effects—A Case Study of Implementation of a Hospital Cost Savings Program in Sweden

This study examines the implementation of a hospital cost savings program in a Swedish county hospital to understand how and why a downsizing intervention works and what outcomes it produces. Data were gathered from interviews and documents. Substantial differences were found among the healthcare professionals’ perceptions of the downsizing process. These diverse perceptions likely limited the scope of staffs’ participation and innovations of new savings strategies. Our findings stress the need for impact analyses addressing both intended aims and unintended side effects. Full attention should be paid to communication processes required to establish a trustful and committed change climate.