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This paper examines the production of settler ecologies through nineteenth century swamp reclamation projects in California. It focuses on the transformation of inland swamps into agricultural land and San Francisco salt marshes and tidelands into urban real estate. I argue that swamp reclamation was both an economic and a racial project. Swamp reclamation sought to transform perceived wastelands into productive property. Swamp reclamation was also a racial project, in at least three ways. First, it aimed to transform colonial environments for the health of the white settler body. Second, draining swamps and making solid land depended on a racialized labor force. Third, swamp reclamation was accelerated through government subsidies that largely benefitted white settlers at the same time the state of California disenfranchised Black, Chinese, and Indigenous residents and supported racial immigration policies. These formations of race, nature, and property were established by law and political economy, and undergirded by settler epistemologies of space and nature. By studying the discourses and practices of swamp reclamation in nineteenth century California, this paper contributes to scholarship on the production of settler ecologies under conditions of racial capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, San Francisco (SF) implemented Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), a program Beckett described as harm reduction policing. Through a process and outcome evaluation of LEAD SF, this paper demonstrates the positive impacts of harm reduction policing, on those who use drugs and/or engage in sex work. When law enforcement officers used their discretion to divert individuals into LEAD rather than arrest, those individuals had significantly fewer felony and misdemeanor arrests and felony cases, in comparison to a propensity score matched group. The focus group and interview data describe that the collaboration, the warm handoff, and LEAD's harm reduction principles were mechanisms of success. However, obtaining officer buy-in was a key challenge. Despite that obstacle, LEAD SF's harm reduction policing reduces offending, improves the wellbeing of people who use drugs and engage in sex work, and allows the police to carry out their mandate to protect and serve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an alternative to sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) with great potential for application, heptafluoroisobutyronitrile–carbon dioxide (C4F7N–CO2) gas mixture has been applied in various gas-insulated equipment. The insulation performance of the gas mixture is closely related to the mixing ratio. Therefore, accurate quantification of C4F7N in the C4F7N–CO2 gas mixture has very important engineering significance. At present, there are few reports on the rapid quantitative detection of the concentration of C4F7N in the gas mixture. In this paper, a rapid analytical method for C4F7N concentration based on ultraviolet (UV) absorption spectroscopy is constructed. The UV spectral characteristics of C4F7N molecules are calculated by density functional theory. The appropriate bands that can be detected are determined by analyzing the calculated results. A concentration detection system of C4F7N based on UV absorption spectroscopy is built. Through analysis of the calculated results and experimental results, a quantitative detection method of C4F7N in the C4F7N/CO2 gas mixture is determined. The method can achieve accurate detection of the concentration of the gas mixture in the conventional application range (including 4–10% C4F7N). The coefficient of the determination R2 of the concentration inversion curve reaches 0.999 and the inversion error ratio does not exceed 5%. The related research results provide an important reference for the engineering application of the gas mixture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Which neighborhood conditions foster the growth of ethnic organizations? This paper explores how changing unemployment, homeownership, and immigration in neighborhoods shape the growth of ethnic organizations in San Francisco from 1940 to 1970. Using hierarchical linear modeling, this paper analyzes the growth of white ethnic and racial minority organizations as postwar neighborhood changes took form. Results indicate that white ethnic and racial minority organizations experience very different growth trajectories. Findings indicate that the growth of racial minority organizations was negatively affected as foreign-born population size grew and unemployment rose. White ethnic organizations, however, were impervious to these same neighborhood changes. These results suggest that social heterogeneity and economic uncertainty stall the growth of racial minority organizations, whereas white ethnic organizations are unaffected by these conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critics often mourn a loss of publicness in cities due to the increased presence of antiterror security zones and related behavioral and access controls, although recent work suggests that security landscapes have shifted from the hard, intense, militarized architecture of the late 1990s-early 2000s to a softer, less obtrusive approach more commonly seen today. Nonetheless, these studies are mostly anecdotal in nature: few studies attempt to back these claims with empirical evidence and even fewer connect this physical security imposition with the policies and plans governing its implementation and operation. In this paper I describe results of site visits to Civic Centers and Financial Districts in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In each neighborhood I catalog security landscapes using a simple tool to assess the intensity, duration, and location of individual security zones. I find that the security landscape covers between 3.4% and 35.7% of publicly accessible space in the districts studied, and that this landscape is most prevalent and intense in New York City. I also find that security zones governed by multistakeholder networks are more intense and militarized than zones managed by a single entity. By understanding how the policies impact physical security, albeit in a relatively small sample of cities and districts, we can better predict what the future of urban security measures might hold. This paper provides empirical grounding to more common theoretical speculations regarding the future of the urban security landscape in the global West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores drug use in the lives of female gang members. Gang researchers have traditionally neglected the roles that females play in street gangs. More recent efforts have begun to examine the social life of young women and to uncover the extent to which the women develop a subculture within a male-dominated environment. In analyzing the culture of drug use in gang life, we uncover the extent to which women use illicit drugs in a highly gendered way. We focus on the ways in which female gang members use drugs in a recreational manner, in a social setting where drug taking is normative behavior. Data for this paper are drawn from an ongoing study of street gangs in the San Francisco Bay area in which 168 female gang members were interviewed using both a quantitative and a qualitative interview schedule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An awareness of the growing importance of the Chinese overseas was recognized in convening the major conference Luodi-shenggen: The Legal Political and Economic Status of Chinese in Diaspora, which was held in San Francisco, California in November 1992. The organizing committee had designated five major themes around which participants could write their papers. Panels were created around these themes, with additional panels developed around topics that emerged as being of concern as planning for the conference progressed. Concern tended to center around the general issues of overseas Chinese communities and, in particular, the origin and structure of new Chinatowns. In total, over 140 papers were presented encompassing these themes during the three days of the conference. Just under half of the papers were presented in Chinese and the rest in English. The sessions on business relations devoted much attention to the strategies of Chinese entrepreneurs within both local and regional contexts. The sessions on migration covered the gamut from theoretical, global aspects of the Chinese diaspora to local dimensions of the Chinese migrant and criminal law. Particular attention was focused on two of the main destinations of migration such as Australia and Canada.

Combining mind-altering substances, whether illegal or legal, has provoked calls of alarm and concern among drug researchers for over thirty years. Since then numerous studies have been conducted to trace the different prevalent combinations and emphasize the serious consequences for individuals who use two or more drugs at any given time. Recently, this concern has been heightened as a result of the evidence that polydrug use among young people is increasing, especially among those who attend electronic music dance parties. The aim of this paper is to explore the different drug combinations used by a group of young people who attend raves, clubs and dance parties in the San Francisco Bay Area. Based on in-depth interviews with 300 young people we explore not only the different substances combined, but the meanings given as to why such combinations are chosen. In exploring our respondents' accounts, we hope to highlight both the thinking behind their drug using practices and the range of procedures adopted by young people to enhance the pleasures they hope to achieve in taking different substances, and control any potential problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article previews the 2006 conference of the Association of Business Simulation and Experimental Learning that will be held from March 22-24, 2006 in San Francisco, California. The 2006 program will feature papers and panels addressing on experiential, simulation and online education.

This paper presents a cohort study of injection drug users (n=229) who did and did not use syringe exchange in San Francisco in 1993. Participants were interviewed at baseline, six months (49%), and 12 months (57%). At baseline, exchangers were less likely than nonexchangers to share syringes (21% vs. 37%), have multiple sharing partners (7% vs. 19%), and reuse their syringes (73% vs. 90%). These differences persisted in multivariate analysis adjusting for gender, age, race, education, and injection frequency. For the subset of participants who provided data at all three time points (n=101), rates of syringe sharing, syringe reuse, and indirect sharing decreased over time for both exchangers and nonexchangers. Nonetheless, levels of indirect sharing remained high among exchangers in this study (>45%) and decreased significantly less than nonexchanger levels over time. The implications of these findings for syringe exchange programs and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the demographic and drug use characteristics, and levels of HIV-related risk behavior, for a sample of injection drug users (N=50) participating in the San Francisco needle exchange program. Exchange patrons were recruited as they approached the street-based exchange program, and were interviewed immediately to minimize drop-out. Clients reported high levels of satisfaction with exchange services, and many reported decreasing HIV risk behavior since participating in the exchange. Regular participation in the exchange was associated with lower levels of HIV risk behavior, but number of months since first visiting the exchange was not. Participation in needle exchange may negatively impact drug use behavior for a small minority of clients, and this issue warrants further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed during the Pediatric Telehealth Colloquium in San Francisco, California in October 2006 is presented. The topics of the conference are structured into themes including inpatient telemedicine, telehealth administration and alternative applications of telemedicine. Physician Tom Nesbitt gave the introduction and overview of telemedicine, as well as its historical and future perspectives. Dan Kurywchak also provided general telehealth technology lecture.

The article presents an invitation to scholars, who focus on the history of philosophy of science from any disciplinary perspective, to submit abstracts for consideration for the fifth international congress of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science. Submissions of abstracts of papers of approximately 30 minutes reading length, and of symposia of three to four thematically related paper, will be considered for the program. The biennial meeting will be held in San Francisco, California on June 24-27, 2004. Other significant information relative to the matter is provided.