scholarly journals Personal Watercraft Incident Court Decisions: The Plaintiff’s Odds?

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5096
Author(s):  
Eui-Yul Choi ◽  
Woo Jeong Cho
Keyword(s):  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
The United States ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Demographic Information ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
Personal Watercraft ◽  
Successful Adults ◽  
Significant Factors

A personal watercraft (PWC) is a vessel that uses an inboard motor powering a water jet pump as a source of power and is operated by a person sitting, standing, or kneeling. Maneuvering a PWC is different from operating a motor vehicle or boat. An obstacle cannot be avoided by slowing down and turning the watercraft; throttle power is required to turn or maneuver the PWC. The watercraft stops only by drifting or turning sharply. The study examined sixty court decisions published in LexisNexis databases of the United States over the last decade. Cases included individuals injured while operating a PWC as a driver, passenger, or as a result of contact with a watercraft. A content analysis identified items to be used in the study. Crosstab and logistic regression analyses were used to identify demographic information and the characteristics of those who succeeded in a court of law. One-third of the cases were successful; adults, males, and the party who sustained a severe injury were more successful in a court of law with the exception of the statistically significant factors (high risk maneuvers and sharp turns). Among the additional results, we should be aware that insurance companies may not pay; additionally, it is unwise to loan a PWC to a female who has no experience.

scholarly journals A Deep Learning and Transfer Learning Approach for Vehicle Damage Detection

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Li ◽  
Koshin Ono ◽  
Chun-Kit Ngan
Keyword(s):  
Image Segmentation ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
Damage Detection ◽  
Transfer Learning ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
The United States ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Department Of Transportation ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
The Cost

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there is an average of six million motor vehicle crashes every year in the United States. For insurance companies, it is very time-consuming and expensive to process claims for detecting and classifying vehicle damages; thus, deep learning techniques have been used to automate this process to reduce the time and the cost. In this paper, Mask R-CNN is used for image segmentation to identify and crop vehicles from images. Then a convolutional neural network (CNN) model is built to classify whether or not the vehicles have damages. In addition, transfer learning is utilized in both image segmentation and classification phases to help build the models for vehicle detection and damage detection, using the pre-trained weights from Microsoft COCO dataset and ImageNet, respectively. 864 images of damaged vehicles collected from public websites, such as Google Images, are used in this research. The experiment on the detection of bumper damages has achieved 87.5% accuracy.   

Do Released Prisoners’ Perceptions of Neighborhood Condition Affect Reentry Outcomes?

2020 ◽  
pp. 088740342098080
Author(s):  
Lin Liu ◽  
Christy A. Visher ◽  
Dayu Sun
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Neighborhood Context ◽  
Contextual Effect ◽  
Neighborhood Disorder ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Neighborhood Cohesion ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Neighborhood Condition

As the United States enters a decarceration era, the factors predicting reentry success have received a rapidly growing body of research attention. Numerous studies expand beyond individual-level attributes to assess the contextual effect of neighborhoods to which released prisoners return. However, past studies predominantly used neighborhood structural/economic characteristics as the proxies of neighborhood context, leaving the roles of community cohesion and disorder understudied in the context of reentry. Using longitudinal data, this study examines the influence of neighborhood cohesion and disorder on reentry outcomes, represented by released prisoners’ determination to desist and social isolation. The results of linear regression analyses show that net of the effects of individual-level risk factors, released prisoners’ perception of neighborhood disorder exhibit profound influence on reentry outcomes. Implications for reentry programming and interventions are presented.

Forum Non Conveniens and Antisuit Injunctions: An Update

1998 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-43
Author(s):  
Andreas F. Lowenfeld
Keyword(s):  
New Jersey ◽  
New South ◽  
Product Liability ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
South Wales ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Forum Non Conveniens ◽  
Court Of First Instance

In the April 1997 issue of the Journal, I reported on three cases in which the response to an action brought in the court of one country led not to an answer, but to a countersuit in another country—for an antisuit injunction, a declaration of nonliability or both. One of the cases I discussed arose out of a controversy between an asbestos manufacturer, CSR, and a group of insurance companies, the Cigna Group, that may or may not have been obligated to defend and indemnify the manufacturer in respect of claims in the United States for product liability. The manufacturer brought suit in federal court in New Jersey, raising both contract and antitrust claims. The insurers, as I reported, succeeded in securing an antisuit injunction in the Supreme Court of New South Wales (a court of first instance), and thereafter in defeating a motion by the manufacturer to stay or dismiss, on grounds of forum non conveniens, the insurers’ action seeking a declaration of nonliability. I thought that outcome was wrong: in my view, the Australian court should not have stepped into the controversy, and the insurers should have brought their challenge to the jurisdiction and suitable venue of the New Jersey court in that court.

Shattering the Glass Podium: Successes and Setbacks of Women in Collegiate Choral Conducting

2021 ◽  
pp. 875512332110183
Author(s):  
Melissa Baughman
Keyword(s):  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Choral Conducting ◽  
Demographic Information ◽  
Choral Conductors ◽  
The Status ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Experiences Of Women

The purpose of this study was to explore the status and experiences of women in collegiate choral conducting positions. Out of all collegiate choral conductors ( N = 992) at institutions accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music in the United States, 68.65% ( n = 681) were men and 31.35% ( n = 311) were women at the time of this study; I invited the women collegiate choral conductors to serve as study participants. Ninety-six respondents completed an online survey, resulting in a response rate of 30.86%. I collected data through a researcher-designed survey. First, I asked respondents to provide demographic information and respond to Likert-type and open-ended prompts related to three domains: gaining entry into the profession, navigating the profession, and issues surrounding gender. I analyzed data through descriptive statistics and qualitative methods of assigning codes, combining codes into themes, and displaying the data. I addressed general discrepancies in the self-reported attitudes of respondents. Although women reported an overall attitude of satisfaction as choral conductors in their Likert-type responses, many respondents detailed several instances of gender discrimination and other challenges in their open-ended responses. Implications for the music profession, including specific strategies to help empower women in collegiate choral conducting settings, are discussed.

Finite Element Based Injury Metrics for Pulmonary Contusion From Vehicle to Vehicle Crash Simulations

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry A. Danelson ◽  
Joel D. Stitzel
Keyword(s):  
Distress Syndrome ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pulmonary Contusion ◽  
Volumetric Measurement ◽  
Abbreviated Injury Scale ◽  
Sampling System ◽  
Vehicle To Vehicle ◽  
Injured Lung

Motor Vehicle Crashes (MVCs) are a public health problem in the United States. In 2009, 33,808 Americans were killed in a MVC and 2.22 million more were injured.4 Pulmonary contusion (PC) is a common injury following MVC with over 38% of the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 3+ thoracic injuries identified as some form of PC in a recent National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) study.5 Miller et al. correlated the percent injured lung to the possibility of developing Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). The results indicated that if 20% of the lung was injured, the incidence of ARDS sharply increased with seventy-eight percent of those patients developing ARDS.2 The significance of these findings is that the volumetric measurement of PC can predict possible clinical outcomes.

Licensing Journalists in Latin America: An Appraisal

1996 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 878-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry W. Knudson
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
The United States ◽  
Professional Standards ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Military Regimes ◽  
The Press ◽  
University Degree

The issue of professionalization of journalism and therefore of how to achieve professional standards has been of concern to journalists and to the general public for many years.1 In Latin America, one attempt at professionalization - the development of the colegio - has garnered some praise and has raised concerns about government control. Probably no issue in recent years concerning the Latin American press has aroused greater opposition or misunderstanding in the United States than the system whereby anyone must have a university degree in journalism and/or be a member of a colegio - a professional association - in order to practice journalism. Despite recent Supreme Court decisions in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica against obligatory licensing by their colegios of journalists, the institution is gaining headway in Latin America as a whole. Opponents maintain that the colegio system imperils freedom of the press. But others assert it raises professional standards and increases salaries. The author of this study notes that colegios frequently uphold freedom of expression under dictatorial or military regimes, and that opposition by publishers to colegios seems to be based on economic rather than “free press” grounds.

scholarly journals Psychological distress following a motor vehicle crash: evidence from a statewide retrospective study examining settlement times and costs of compensation claims

BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. e017515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Guest ◽  
Yvonne Tran ◽  
Bamini Gopinath ◽  
Ian D Cameron ◽  
Ashley Craig
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Retrospective Study ◽  
Injury Severity ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Multivariate Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
Musculoskeletal Injury ◽  
Motor Vehicle Crash ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Vehicle Crash

ObjectiveTo determine whether psychological distress associated with musculoskeletal injuries sustained in a motor vehicle crash (MVC), regardless of time of onset, impacts compensation outcomes such as claim settlement times and costs. Second, to identify factors routinely collected by insurance companies that contribute to psychological distress during the compensation process.DesignStatewide retrospective study.Data sourceAnalysis of the New South Wales statewide (Australia) injury register for MVC survivors who lodged a compensation claim from 2011 to 2013.Participants6341 adults who sustained a musculoskeletal injury and who settled a claim for injury after an MVC. Participants included those diagnosed with psychological distress (n=607) versus those not (n=5734).Main outcome measuresTime to settlement and total costs of claims, as well as socio-demographic and injury characteristics that may contribute to elevated psychological distress, such as socio-economic disadvantage, and injury severity.ResultsPsychological distress in those with a musculoskeletal injury was associated with significantly longer settlement times (an additional 17 weeks) and considerably higher costs (an additional $A41 575.00 or 4.3 times more expensive). Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified risk factors for psychological distress including being female, social disadvantage, unemployment prior to the claim, not being at fault in the MVC, requiring ambulance transportation and rehabilitation as part of recovery.ConclusionsResults provide compelling evidence that psychological distress has an adverse impact on people with musculoskeletal injury as they progress through compensation. Findings suggest that additional resources should be directed toward claimants who are at risk (eg, the socially disadvantaged or those unemployed prior to the claim), the major aim being to reduce risk of psychological distress, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, and associated risk of increased settlement times and claim costs. Prospective studies are now required that investigate treatment strategies for those at risk of psychological distress associated with an MVC.

Youth and Parent Participation in Transition Planning in the U.S.A.: Findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012 (NLTS 2012)

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Johnson ◽  
Martha L. Thurlow ◽  
Yi-Chen Wu ◽  
Xueqin Qian ◽  
Ernest Davenport ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transition Planning ◽  
Parent Participation ◽  
Individualized Education Program ◽  
The United States ◽  
Significant Decline ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
The Past ◽  
Transition Study ◽  
Disability Categories ◽  
National Longitudinal Transition Study

Abstract The purpose of this study was to use data from the United States' National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012 (NLTS 2012) to present descriptive information on youth and parent participation and youth's role in required Individualized Education Program (IEP)/transition planning meetings by disability category and age groupings (14-22 year olds, 14-15 year olds, and 16-22 year olds). The study found that youth and parent attendance in IEP/transition planning meetings was high across disability categories, but the extent to which youth and parents met with teachers to discuss transition goals was much lower. Data from NLTS 2012 and a previous U.S. study, the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 (NLTS2), were compared for youth's participation with school staff in discussing transition goals. A significant decline in participation was found over the past decade. Logistic regression analyses illustrated differences in youth and parent participation and youth's role by disability category.

Driving and Public Health

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Cell Phone ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Electronic Device ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Distracted Driving ◽  
The Past

Distracted driving is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “the practice of driving a motor vehicle while engaged in another activity, typically one that involves the use of a mobile phone or other electronic device.” However, other distractions not involving the use of a cell phone or texting are important as well, contributing to this burgeoning public health problem in the United States. Examples include talking to other passengers, adjusting the radio or other controls in the car, and daydreaming. Distracted driving has been linked to increased risk of motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) in the United States, representing one of the most preventable leading causes of death for youth ages 16 to 24 years. Undoubtedly, the proliferation of cell phone, global positioning system (GPS), and other in-vehicle and personal electronic device use while driving has led to this rise in distracted driving prevalence. This behavior has impacted society—including individual and commercial drivers, passengers, pedestrians—in countless numbers of ways, ranging from increased MVCs and deaths to the enactment of new driving laws. In 2016, for example, 20 percent of all US pediatric deaths (nearly 4,000 children and adolescents) were due to fatal MVCs. It has been estimated that at any given time, more than 650,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving. In the United States, efforts are underway to reduce this driving behavior. In the past two decades, state and federal laws have specifically targeted cell phone use and texting while driving as priority areas for legal intervention. Distracted driving laws have become “strategies of choice” for tackling this public health problem, though their enforcement has emerged as a major challenge and varies by jurisdiction and location. Multimodal interventions using models such as the “three Es” framework—Enactment of a law, Education of the public about the law and safety practices, and Enforcement of the law—have become accepted practice or viewed as necessary steps to successfully change this behavior caused by distractions while driving. This Oxford Bibliographies review introduces these and other aspects (including psychological influences and road conditions) of distracted driving through a presentation of annotated resources from peer- and non-peer-reviewed literature. This selective review aims to provide policymakers, program implementers, and researchers with a reliable source of information on the past and current state of American laws, policies, and priorities for distracted driving.

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