Reforming the family justice system initiative

Family breakdown is common and brings with it many challenges for parents and their children. These challenges are compounded by the current family justice system, which is adversarial in nature, complex and costly for families. Over the years, the justice community has tried isolated interventions to improve access to justice, and while these projects, reforms and programs have achieved some good, they have not created the system-wide change we desire. We’ve learned from past experience that the only way to bring about meaningful, systemic change is to have a broad collaboration of all the participants in the justice system come together to work collectively to create the change we desire. In the RFJS initiative, we are exploring systemic design processes to address complex problems through systemic change. This case study includes a description of the steps taken to bring together a collaborative alliance made up of approximately 200 individuals and organizations representing ten sectors that work within the broadly defined family justice system. Over the past year, we have held four workshops designed to build community and relationships among the collaborators; to gather information about the focus of concern within our collaborative alliance; to develop an understanding of systemic change and innovative lab processes; and to ensure that there is a shared commitment to change. The main technique and method used throughout this process was Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) developed by Sohail Inayatullah, a futures studies researcher. While our current family justice system is characterized by a focus on family breakdown and legal responses, the space created through CLA enables us to consider solutions that might exist entirely outside the current understanding. Additionally, the language of the mental model and Theory of Change help us to understand and talk about the system in new ways that are much more focused on helping families to thrive, and recognize that family justice issues are primarily social and relationship problems which contain a legal element. This initiative is increasing the knowledge and capacity for systemic change among all participants in the RFJS. We are building an awareness and understanding of innovative approaches, developmental evaluation and collaborative action that has not previously existed among these participants. This project is opening up a space to enable stakeholders (clients, families, and those who work within the system) to reframe the problems that they encounter in family justice. We are creating a culture of learning that allows us to learn as we go forward, and will support continued improvement in the family justice system

Thank You, Mr. Madison

Reviewing: Jeremy D. Bailey, James Madison and Constitutional Imperfection (Cambridge University Press 2015); Michael J. Klarman, The Framers’ Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution (Oxford University Press 2016)

Using Oribatid Mites as a Measure of Biodiversity

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1241/thumbnail.jp

The Effects of Ego Depletion and Deception on Thin-Slicing Accuracy

This study was designed to examine the effects of ego depletion and deception on thin slicing. Experiment 1 examined whether participants could identify a video that contained a lie at an accuracy rate better-than-chance. Fifty-five percent of participants selected the deception video, which provided support that the videos were distinguishable. Experiment 2 assessed whether ego depletion and deception could decrease thin-slicing accuracy. The main effect of deception on deception accuracy was significant, such that participants in the deception condition had lower deception accuracy than participants in the no-deception condition. The main effect of depletion and the interaction of depletion and deception on deception accuracy were not significant. The generalizability of the results was impaired by the failure to successfully manipulate ego depletion and the study being underpowered. Keywords: thin slicing, thin-slicing accuracy, ego depletion, deception, deception detectio

USING ORIENTATION TO CONVEY ALERT QUANTITY

Vast amounts of data are presented to users in digital systems that generally require visualizations to simplify and provide more insights in a small number of pixels. This is crucial for targeting users who do not have the time or inclination to parse a large number of charts and graphs, but who want to understand what is happening with their digital systems. To solve this issue, proposed herein is a technique that relies on using the orientation of colored stripes to add a dimension of information to a large dataset, such as a health bar chart indicating alerts. The proposed technique will assist in conveying aspects of a digital system to some users, while also not getting in the way of other users in the same space who do not know what it means

A high-resolution map of human evolutionary constraint using 29 mammals.

The comparison of related genomes has emerged as a powerful lens for genome interpretation. Here we report the sequencing and comparative analysis of 29 eutherian genomes. We confirm that at least 5.5% of the human genome has undergone purifying selection, and locate constrained elements covering ∼4.2% of the genome. We use evolutionary signatures and comparisons with experimental data sets to suggest candidate functions for ∼60% of constrained bases. These elements reveal a small number of new coding exons, candidate stop codon readthrough events and over 10,000 regions of overlapping synonymous constraint within protein-coding exons. We find 220 candidate RNA structural families, and nearly a million elements overlapping potential promoter, enhancer and insulator regions. We report specific amino acid residues that have undergone positive selection, 280,000 non-coding elements exapted from mobile elements and more than 1,000 primate- and human-accelerated elements. Overlap with disease-associated variants indicates that our findings will be relevant for studies of human biology, health and disease

Characteristics and Predictive Value of Blood Transcriptome Signature in Males with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is a spectrum of highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorders in which known mutations contribute to disease risk in 20% of cases. Here, we report the results of the largest blood transcriptome study to date that aims to identify differences in 170 ASD cases and 115 age/sex-matched controls and to evaluate the utility of gene expression profiling as a tool to aid in the diagnosis of ASD. The differentially expressed genes were enriched for the neurotrophin signaling, long-term potentiation/depression, and notch signaling pathways. We developed a 55-gene prediction model, using a cross-validation strategy, on a sample cohort of 66 male ASD cases and 33 age-matched male controls (P1). Subsequently, 104 ASD cases and 82 controls were recruited and used as a validation set (P2). This 55-gene expression signature achieved 68% classification accuracy with the validation cohort (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC): 0.70 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.62–0.77]). Not surprisingly, our prediction model that was built and trained with male samples performed well for males (AUC 0.73, 95% CI 0.65–0.82), but not for female samples (AUC 0.51, 95% CI 0.36–0.67). The 55-gene signature also performed robustly when the prediction model was trained with P2 male samples to classify P1 samples (AUC 0.69, 95% CI 0.58–0.80). Our result suggests that the use of blood expression profiling for ASD detection may be feasible. Further study is required to determine the age at which such a test should be deployed, and what genetic characteristics of ASD can be identified

Three red suns in the sky: A transiting, terrestrial planet in a triple M-dwarf system at 6.9 pc

We present the discovery from Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) data of LTT 1445Ab. At a distance of 6.9 pc, it is the second nearest transiting exoplanet system found to date, and the closest one known for which the primary is an M dwarf. The host stellar system consists of three mid-to-late M dwarfs in a hierarchical configuration, which are blended in one TESS pixel. We use MEarth data and results from the Science Processing Operations Center data validation report to determine that the planet transits the primary star in the system. The planet has a radius of ${1.38}_{-0.12}^{+0.13}$ ${R}_{\oplus }$, an orbital period of ${5.35882}_{-0.00031}^{+0.00030}$ days, and an equilibrium temperature of ${433}_{-27}^{+28}$ K. With radial velocities from the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, we place a 3σ upper mass limit of 8.4 ${M}_{\oplus }$ on the planet. LTT 1445Ab provides one of the best opportunities to date for the spectroscopic study of the atmosphere of a terrestrial world. We also present a detailed characterization of the host stellar system. We use high-resolution spectroscopy and imaging to rule out the presence of any other close stellar or brown dwarf companions. Nineteen years of photometric monitoring of A and BC indicate a moderate amount of variability, in agreement with that observed in the TESS light-curve data. We derive a preliminary astrometric orbit for the BC pair that reveals an edge-on and eccentric configuration. The presence of a transiting planet in this system hints that the entire system may be co-planar, implying that the system may have formed from the early fragmentation of an individual protostellar core.Accepted manuscrip

Ceilings of treatment: a qualitative study in the emergency department

Background: Decision-making concerning the limitation of potentially life-prolonging treatments is often challenging, particularly in the Emergency Department (ED). Current literature in this area of Emergency Medicine is limited and heterogeneous. We seek to determine the factors that influence ceiling of treatment institution in the ED. Methods: We conducted a phenomenological qualitative study employing semi-structured interviews. Emergency Medicine Consultants were recruited via a sample of convenience from 5 hospitals in the West of Scotland. Data saturation was achieved after 15 interviews. Interviews were recorded, anonymised, transcribed, coded, and an iterative thematic analysis was carried out. Results: A model was created to illustrate the identified themes. Patient wishes are central to decision-making. Acute clinical factors and patient-specific factors lay the foundations of ceiling of treatment decisions. This is heavily contextualised by family input, collateral information, anticipated outcome, and whether the patient is accepted for higher care. This decision-making process flows through a ‘filter’ of cultural and environmental factors. The overarching nature of patient benefit was found to be of key importance, framing all aspects of ceiling of treatment institution. Ultimately, all ceiling of treatment decisions result in one of three common patient pathways: full escalation, limited escalation, and maintenance of current care with the option of palliative care initiation. Conclusions: We present a conceptual model composed of 10 major thematic factors that influence Consultant ceiling of treatment decision-making in the ED. Clinicians should be cognizant of influential factors and associated biases when making these important and challenging decisions