Valuing Monitoring Networks for Invasive Species: The Case of Soybean Rust

Crop Production/Industries,

The 14C(n,g) cross section between 10 keV and 1 MeV

The neutron capture cross section of 14C is of relevance for several nucleosynthesis scenarios such as inhomogeneous Big Bang models, neutron induced CNO cycles, and neutrino driven wind models for the r process. The 14C(n,g) reaction is also important for the validation of the Coulomb dissociation method, where the (n,g) cross section can be indirectly obtained via the time-reversed process. So far, the example of 14C is the only case with neutrons where both, direct measurement and indirect Coulomb dissociation, have been applied. Unfortunately, the interpretation is obscured by discrepancies between several experiments and theory. Therefore, we report on new direct measurements of the 14C(n,g) reaction with neutron energies ranging from 20 to 800 keV

Modeling bursts and heavy tails in human dynamics

Current models of human dynamics, used from risk assessment to communications, assume that human actions are randomly distributed in time and thus well approximated by Poisson processes. We provide direct evidence that for five human activity patterns the timing of individual human actions follow non-Poisson statistics, characterized by bursts of rapidly occurring events separated by long periods of inactivity. We show that the bursty nature of human behavior is a consequence of a decision based queuing process: when individuals execute tasks based on some perceived priority, the timing of the tasks will be heavy tailed, most tasks being rapidly executed, while a few experiencing very long waiting times. We discuss two queueing models that capture human activity. The first model assumes that there are no limitations on the number of tasks an individual can hadle at any time, predicting that the waiting time of the individual tasks follow a heavy tailed distribution with exponent alpha=3/2. The second model imposes limitations on the queue length, resulting in alpha=1. We provide empirical evidence supporting the relevance of these two models to human activity patterns. Finally, we discuss possible extension of the proposed queueing models and outline some future challenges in exploring the statistical mechanisms of human dynamics.Comment: RevTex, 19 pages, 8 figure

Paying for the Privilege of Punishment: Reinterpreting Excessive Fines Clause Doctrine to Allow State Prisoners to Seek Relief from Pay-to-Stay Fees

Across the country, the criminal justice system is becoming both more private and more expensive. Some prison systems have come to rely on private contractors for electronic monitoring, probation, pretrial services, and incarceration services. At the same time, criminal justice fees are exploding, including fees charged to inmates for their “room and board” while in prison. These fees, sometimes called “pay-to-stay,” are imposed at the state and county level, and how they are applied varies widely. Some take into account inmates’ ability to pay the fees, or the effect on their families. Some do not. Some only apply to prisoners with paying jobs. Some apply to every prisoner. What they all have in common is this: these fees are imposed on convicted offenders who are statistically likely to be low income, and therefore less likely to be able to pay. Because of this reality, the effects of pay-to-stay systems can be devastating, even when the crime is comparatively minor and the sentence is relatively short. Take the example of George Richey, a Missouri man who spent three months in jail after a misdemeanor conviction. The county charged him thirty-five dollars per day for his stay in jail, leaving him with a bill of $3150 just for room and board. Richey’s only income was a$600-per-month disability payment, and over two years after his release from jail, he still owed the county more than half his bill. In an absurd twist, because Richey could not pay the room and board fees for his jail sentence, the county put him back in jail for failure to pay and charged him an additional $2,275 in daily fees for his new jail time. By the time Richey was released again, his debt was higher than it had been before he began paying it down. He still could not afford to pay it. Describing the difficulty of breaking out of this cycle of criminal justice debt, Richey lamented that “[i]t’s like trying to shovel in a blizzard.” Finally, the court told him “his bill would only be dismissed if he agreed to serve a second 90-day jail stay.” In other words, the only way to escape his pay-to-stay debt was to volunteer to serve double the time for his original crime. When pay-to-stay fees prove ruinous, as they sometimes can, prisoners like Richey may finally have a practical constitutional remedy. In 2019, the Supreme Court turned its attention to a long ignored clause of the Constitution, the Excessive Fines Clause, which prohibits the government from imposing excessive fines on its citizens. In Timbs v. Indiana, the Court declared this Clause of the Eighth Amendment was a “safeguard [that] ... is ‘fundamental to our scheme of ordered liberty’” and that it must apply to the states. This Note argues that in the aftermath of Timbs, current Excessive Fines Clause doctrine can be interpreted to grant state and county prisoners increased opportunities to bring challenges to pay-to-stay fees. Bearing in mind the Clause’s historical background and purpose, it is consistent with the current doctrine for prisoners to argue that these daily fees constitute fines and that those fines are excessive. Part I explains pay-to-stay fees at the state and local level throughout the United States, providing a specific example through “subsistence fee” statutes in Florida. Part II then discusses the history of the Excessive Fines Clause and reviews the Court’s jurisprudence, drawing doctrinal lessons from each of the four cases in which the Court has interpreted the Clause. Part III argues that prisoners should be able to seek relief from pay-to-stay fees under the Excessive Fines Clause. Part III.A argues that these fees can constitute fines under the Clause, and that those fines can be excessive, particularly if the Court incorporates an “ability to pay” consideration into the evaluation of excessiveness. This Section argues that this slight modification is consistent with the purpose and history of the Clause, and that moral and procedural process concerns support the change. Finally, Part III.B argues that a doctrinal limitation on fines— that they must be paid to the government to qualify for Clause protection—should be reinterpreted to allow prisoners to seek relief for payments made to private prison contractors. This can be done by reinterpreting this requirement consistently with the Court’s dicta in Paroline v. United States, to say that a fine does not need to be paid to the government if the imposition of the fine sufficiently “implicates ‘the prosecutorial powers of government.’” Alternatively, the Court could address the increasing privatization of the criminal justice system by adding a new requirement to the doctrine: that qualifying fines must be paid to the government or to an “entity performing an essential government function at the government’s behest.

An Analysis of Writing Across the Curriculum

Between 1900 and 1925 several changes took place which modernized American universities. One of the most significant involved a different curriculum. The new program was, in part, geared toward preparing students for specialized careers. This approach, however, made it possible for teachers outside of English to eliminate writing from their courses and, more generally, to develop distorted and limited views of the uses of writing. Today, Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs are being incorporated into many colleges and universities across the country in an attempt to correct misperceptions and to bring writing back into non-English courses. WAC stresses the advantages of using writing as a way to learn and to communicate in all disciplines. For the business discipline, more specifically, WAC means combining efforts with teachers in other disciplines in order to learn how best to use writing to teach course material and business-specific communication skills. Teachers who already have brought writing into their courses found that it is an excellent way to improve students comprehension and analytical skills while improving their writing ability. Voluntary WAC workshops are the most common and effective way to educate faculty on the meaning, practices, and benefits of WAC. Leaders of a WAC workshops usually clearly outline the writing process and show how it involves several recursive steps: invention, drafting, and revision. An explanation of evaluation is also included in a WAC workshops. WAC workshops are intended to dispel common misperceptions so that participants see that writing is an excellent way to improve students\u27 learning ability and to turn them into more fluent and confident writers

Impaired Competence for Pretense in Children with Autism: Exploring Potential Cognitive Predictors.

Lack of pretense in children with autism has been explained by a number of theoretical explanations, including impaired mentalising, impaired response inhibition, and weak central coherence. This study aimed to empirically test each of these theories. Children with autism (n=60) were significantly impaired relative to controls (n=65) when interpreting pretense, thereby supporting a competence deficit hypothesis. They also showed impaired mentalising and response inhibition, but superior local processing indicating weak central coherence. Regression analyses revealed that mentalising significantly and independently predicted pretense. The results are interpreted as supporting the impaired mentalising theory and evidence against competing theories invoking impaired response inhibition or a local processing bias. The results of this study have important implications for treatment and intervention