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Virginia Renews Its Faith in Second Chances
Get PDFOn January 1, 1995, in the early morning hours, 17-year-old A.M. committed a crime in Virginia that would change his life forever. Tragically, he and two co-defendants took a man’s life. He will live the rest of his life regretting that day and working to become a better person. Something else significant happened on January 1, 1995˗˗Virginia’s legislation to abolish discretionary parole went into effect. (See Va. Code §53.1-165.1) If he had committed the crime one day earlier, A.M. would have been eligible for parole years ago. Under the new law, however, any person sentenced to a term of incarceration for a felony offense committed on or after that date would not be parole eligible. This was only the beginning of Virginia’s get tough on crime era. In A.M.’s case, it meant that he received a mandatory death-in-prison sentence. [..
Map of Road Proposals, National Parks, and Topography of the Sierra del Divisor Range, Peru-Brazil Borderlands
No full textCartographers: Yunuen Reygadas, D. S. Salisbury
Informação disponível: http://www.stephaniespera.com/, https://servir.ciat.cgiar.org/ , https://blog.richmond.edu/dsalisbury/
At the end of 2020 the official geodatabases of the two countries show the two road proposals reaching the international border in two separate locations not linking one to the other.
“In the southwestern Amazon lies the Sierra del Divisor, an isolated cluster of mist-covered peaks and ridges rising out of the steamy lowland rainforest. The forests of these fiercely dissected crests and valleys still ring with the low grunt of jaguar and the thunderous clacks of hundreds-strong herds of whitelipped peccaries, while the canopy sways with troops of the rare red Uakari monkey. This biodiversity inspired the Serra do Divisor National Park, and its transboundary sister reserve, but these forests are also home to humans: the descendants of Asheninka warriors and rubber tappers, a re-emergent Nawa people, and most elusive, the uncontacted Isconahua. These homelands and ecosystems are crisscrossed with the ephemeral scars made by more recent arrivals: loggers, miners, and drug traffickers. However, the most important line in the Sierra del Divisor is the border itself, the international boundary that follows the Sierra\u27s ridge dividing Peru\u27s Ucayali river basin from Brazil\u27s Jurua basin in the state of Acre. Relatively equidistant from the boundary ridgeline lie two cities, Ucayali\u27s capital of Pucallpa, and Western Acre\u27s commercial center, Cruzeiro do Sul. Both cities are the end of the road for their country\u27s network of thoroughfares. For now. Planners and government officials increasingly view the 160 kilometers of forest separating the two cities as a temporary obstruction to continental integration” (Salisbury et al., 2013, p. 129).https://scholarship.richmond.edu/geography-maps/1016/thumbnail.jp
Living Lethal Weapons
Get PDFBiological weapons, as defined by the Federation of American Scientists, are “toxins and microorganisms, such as viruses and bacteria, used to deliberately inflict disease among people, animals and agriculture.” Biological weapons have been used for hundreds of years on varying scales, from the catapulting of plague-infected corpses into enemy cities in the 14th century, to the testing of infectious diseases in China during WWII, to the 2001 anthrax attacks. These weapons act discreetly, as it is hard to trace an outbreak to a particular attacker and it takes several days for an infected individual to show signs of the disease. Moreover, because biological weapons are often highly infectious, their effect on society is far reaching. While state actors have made use of biological weapons in the past, the discreet and wide-reaching aspects of biological weapons make them increasingly appealing for terrorist groups, as they have the capability to disrupt society and cause panic
Brains on Batteries: The Potential of Deep Brain Stimulation
Get PDFDeep brain stimulation (DBS), the process of implanting electrodes into the brain to lessen the symptoms of neurological diseases, began as an experimental idea based on early pain-processing theories. Today, DBS is used to treat various neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, depression, OCD, and chronic pain. While major advancements have been made in recent years, DBS is still in its infancy and possesses a tremendous potential to advance human well-being as our knowledge of neuroscience increases
Coronavirus is spreading fast, but what is spreading faster?
Get PDFThe term coronavirus refers not to the newest, mysterious disease that is slowly spreading globally, but rather a family of viruses. These viruses are the source behind common illnesses such as the common cold to the more recent outbreaks of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Other more severe diseases have occurred before then such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012
Wolves and Ravens: Defining a unique relationship
Get PDFI barely felt the cold, dry Montana air pierce my lungs as I looked through my scope for an iconic animal in our culture: a wolf. While the dramatic thermal features on the south side of Yellowstone National Park attract the most visitors, the north is quiet and rich with life. The Lamar Valley is a stunning stage for Yellowstone’s wildlife to interact with one another. As the sun rises and hits the mountain tops, the cold air rushes into the valley and creates a thick fog, a curtain. Backstage, the wooded mountain ranges slowly bleed into the tall grasses and sage bushes blanketing the valley ground. Finally, I saw a black wolf’s head peeking above the tall grass. Another five followed, probably from the Junction Butte Pack who currently hold control over the Lamar Valley
“A Fitbit For Your Brain”-Elon Musk, Sci-Fi or Attainable?
Get PDFJust a couple months ago, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and now Neuralink, debuted his enhanced design of the Neuralink, a wireless brain implant the size of a coin, which he plans to use to ultimately facilitate the achievement of a state of symbiosis between humans and artificial intelligence. Specifically, Musk envisions a world where we can control technology with our minds by connecting the neurons of our brains to the Neuralink and hence, digitally to computers
Sustainable and Ethical Development in Africa: A Perspective from Ghana
Get PDFThis research period sought to try to understand the role of China, a growing superpower in the world, in global interactions. I investigated their increasing role in the world by tracking different investments they have made in Africa, and seeing if they correlated with changing voting patterns and narratives across the African continent
Beyond the Three Laws: An Argument for Regulating Data Scientists as Fiduciaries
Get PDFIn the short story Runaround, science fiction author Isaac Asimov first introduced the world to an ethical framework for artificial intelligence known as the Three Laws of Robotics. These laws state: (1) “a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm”; (2) “a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law”; and (3) “a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First and Second Laws.” On the surface, the Three Laws appear to provide a tidy regulatory framework for alleviating society’s concerns regarding how and when machines may adversely interact with humans, preventing harm or even death. These Three Laws are particularly appealing in our current time where robots and artificial intelligence are no longer the stuff of science fiction, but rather increasingly part of our everyday lives. Yet, society cannot rely on Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics to provide a much- needed regulatory framework for artificial intelligence. These Laws are not only fictional, but also practically flawed because they place the legal, as well as the ethical, duties on the artificial intelligence and not on the actual intelligence—the human—behind the machine
The IOS 14.5 Update: A Game Changer in Federal Privacy Law
Get PDFFrom 1890, when the right to privacy was defined, to the 1973 debut of the Fair Information Practice Principles that set the “Gold Standard” for consumer privacy protection, to the FTC’s request for a federal privacy law in 2000, the core expectations of privacy have remained the same. United States consumers have a right to privacy that requires notice and consent for the use of their personal information. The Apple iOS 14.5 update introduced App Tracking Transparency, providing consumers with the opportunity to affirmatively opt in or decline the tracking and sharing of their personal information. This update has shown that when faced with a simple, comprehensible choice to opt in to the sale of their personal information, only 15% of responding consumers in the United States consent to this invasive surveillance. The majority of online applications and websites currently track and share personal information without consumer knowledge or consent. Such data sharing subjects individuals to potential privacy harms, like discrimination, reputational damage, social stigmatization, and safety concerns. Absent a comprehensive federal privacy law, states have begun passing their own privacy laws creating a fragmented patchwork of regulation. This trend is leading away from pro-consumer fundamentals of privacy, increasingly favoring business backers. There have been calls for federal privacy legislation for decades. This article will be among the first to analyze the iOS 14.5 update and emerging state privacy laws. This article argues that United States consumers’ thirst for privacy, as exemplified by the iOS 14.5 update results, should be utilized as an overarching guide for Congress when enacting comprehensive federal privacy law. By drawing from principles of the iOS 14.5 update and the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and from some features of recent state privacy laws, Congress should enact federal privacy legislation that applies to all businesses collecting consumer personal information and requires affirmative opt-in consent for data sharing and tracking. Consumers have spoken. It is time for Congress to utilize this data and provide a high level of privacy protection for all Americans