The New Neighborhood Watch: An Exploratory Study of the Nextdoor App and Crime Narratives

Community members use the Nextdoor App to prevent crime and circulate information when suspicious activity or criminal misconduct is afoot. The Nextdoor App operates like other popular social media platforms, but unlike Facebook and Twitter, it connects citizens based on geography instead of areas of interest. One unique aspect of the app is posting events and perceptions of suspicious behavior and criminal acts. User posts can provide narratives on feelings, incidents, and perceptions of crime in designated neighborhoods. This exploratory study focuses on how community members in an urban Colorado area use the app as a high-tech Neighborhood Watch. A qualitative research approach with a thematic analysis is implemented to examine neighbors’ perceptions of crime events and community safety. The findings depict that citizens engaged in Nextdoor communications are frustrated with petty community incivilities, property crimes, and law enforcement actions. In addition, the results show that lessons in being a capable guardian, possible increases in fear levels, and surveillance activities are important aspects of understanding social media and crime

Triglyceridemic Waist Phenotypes as Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: Triglyceride waist phenotypes, which combine high triglyceride levels and central obesity, have recently emerged as an area of interest in metabolic disease research. Objective: To conduct a systematic review (SR) with meta-analysis to determine if triglyceride waist phenotypes are a risk factor for T2DM. Materials: SR with meta-analysis of cohort studies. The search was conducted in four databases: PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and EMBASE. Participants were classified into four groups, based on triglyceride level and waist circumference (WC): 1) Normal WC and normalConduct triglyceride level (NWNT); 2) Normal WC and high triglyceride level (NWHT), 3) Altered WC and normal triglyceride level (EWNT) and 4) Altered WC and high triglyceride level (EWHT). For the meta-analysis, only studies whose measure of association were presented as Hazard ratio (HR) along with 95% confidence intervals (CI95%) were used. Results: Compared to people with NWHT, a statistically significant association was found for those with NWHT (HR: 2.65; CI95% 1.77–3.95), EWNT (HR: 2.54; CI95% 2.05–3.16) and EWHT (HR: 4.41; CI95% 2.82–6.89). Conclusions: There is a clear association between triglyceride waist phenotypes and diabetes, according to this SR and meta-analysis. Although central obesity and high triglyceride levels are associated with a higher risk of the aforementioned disease, their combination appears to pose an even greater risk. Therefore, in the clinical setting, it is important to consider this when assessing the risk of diabetes

What is the Cost? The Effect of the Post-Independence Government on Public Sector Performance in Namibia

The end of colonisation in Sub-Saharan Africa did not bring the expected welfare to many. Several governments stumbled with public resource mismanagement, which created room for corruption and other malpractices (Good, 1994: Maipose, 2000: Ncholo, 2000: Tsatsu, 2015). This article examines the performance and efficiency of the Namibian government interventions between 1990 and 2020. The findings reveal that some indicators showed significant improvement, while some did not record any substantial improvement. Decent performance was recorded in government policies to reduce inequality and poverty. Good performance is also seen in policies improving education attainment, while policies to reduce unemployment performed poorly. Other indicators have shown mixed results. The results also revealed the worst performance during the first five years after independence. The period between 2016-2020 recorded poor government performance in most of the indicators. The findings suggest a need to improve performance and efficiency in the public sector

Understanding the Material Impact of Social Media during Public Criticism and Dissent in African Countries: A Review of the Literature

Globally, governments are imposing national blackouts on digital communication, particularly the internet and subsequently the social media space during public criticism and dissent. To understand the material impact of this digital blackout, a literature review is conducted, focusing on African countries. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of social media during public criticism and dissent from an African perspective. To achieve this, an extensive review of the literature was conducted on African countries. The United Nations (UN) classifies 54 countries as African. All these countries had a known chance of being selected as part of the sample (probability sampling). In total, 29 countries were chosen based on relevance and the availability of data on internet shutdowns. Furthermore, the study looks into a 5-year trend from 2018 to 2022. Consequently, the results suggest that internet shutdowns in Africa are currently on the rise and remain disruptive, oppressive, expensive, and cost countries dearly. Additionally, the study also found that internet shutdowns often result in violent and/or fatal protests. It was further found that the responses by governments and companies during public criticism and dissent have been challenging, insufficient, and detrimental to human rights. At a country level, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Chad - respectively remain the regional leaders in terms of shutting down the Internet. This research recommends more scientific research to be conducted under the topic to enrich the existing body of knowledge, and possibly refine the findings of the current study. It further recommends country-specific policies that should openly condemn government-imposed internet shutdowns. Moreover, this research also recommends that global Human Rights Organisations should stand firm and strongly condemn government-imposed internet shutdowns by imposing sanctions and repercussions for oppressive governments. Finally, this research concludes that social media has unique capabilities to convey messages to larger groups of people, mobilizing or immobilizing them with only a few clicks. Among others, social media can also spread fake information or news by posting old material and linking it to current situations

Reticulocytes and Related Parameters in Clinical Practice

The development of hematologic analyzers allowed us to assess several additional parameters derived in addition to the number of reticulocytes. There is, among others, the calculation of immature reticulocyte fractions, reticulocyte maturity index, reticulocyte production index, and equivalent reticulocyte hemoglobin. The advantage of the equivalent hemoglobin and the content of hemoglobin is the insensitivity to interference by inflammation. These newly introduced parameters expand the possibilities to access bone marrow erythropoietic activity, iron stores, and the effectiveness of iron supplementation, vitamin B12, and folic acid supplementation. These parameters are also used to make decisions about blood transfusions or to detect occult internal bleeding

Prevalence of Bronchial Asthma in Children in Southern Kyrgyzstan

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of bronchial asthma and other allergic diseases such as allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis among 6075 school-aged children in Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken regions of Kyrgyzstan. Methods: 6075 children were questioned using the ISAAC questionnaire. Bronchial asthma symptoms are frequent – 21.1% of children had difficulty wheezing, and 13.4% had night cough. This indicates a high prevalence of bronchial asthma among children in the study population. The obtained morbidity rates significantly exceed the official statistics for the region. This indicates insufficient diagnosis of allergic diseases in children and substantiates the need to develop a set of measures aimed at optimizing the detection of cases of allergic pathology and increasing the effectiveness of therapeutic and preventive measures. Results: The results of the study demonstrate a high need for the development and implementation of a regional program for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of allergic diseases in children of Osh, Jalal-Abad, and Batken regions. Conclusion: Implementing such a program will contribute to better control of bronchial asthma and other allergic pathologies and improve the quality of life of the child population in the region

Cybercrime and Strain Theory: An Examination of Online Crime and Gender

Purpose: Historically, cybercrime has been seen as a near exclusively male activity. We were interested to learn whether the relationship between strain and crime holds for both males and females. Methods: We utilized an online survey instrument to collect data from a national sample of individuals (n=2,121) representing the US population by age, gender, race and ethnicity. We asked offending related questions regarding various cybercrimes. In the current study, we use data from 390 individuals who reported a cybercrime activity within the past 12 months. Results: We find strong support for prior strains correlating with both specific (e.g., illegal uploading) and general cyber-offending. We further examine whether gender interacts with strain. While general strain theory (GST) correlates with cyber-offending for both males and females, we did find a few important differences. Except for lack of trust in others and receiving unsatisfactory evaluation at school or work, there are different variables responsible for online offending for men and women. Parents’ divorcing, anonymity, and online video gaming increase cybercrime offending in women, whereas falling victim to a crime, breaking up with a significant other, and darkweb activity are correlated with cyber-offending for men. Conclusion: Although GST functions differently by gender when it comes to engaging in cyber-offending, the theory is indeed gender-specific, as different strain variables are responsible for engaging in cyber-offending in women and men. Components of general strain responsible for cyber-offending need to be further studied concerning gender. According to our results, GST is gender-specific, and these variables need to be further studied

Prompt Response, Cues-Pause-Point Therapies and Gender on Management of Echolalia among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The repetitive and delayed nature of echolalia can hinder the development of adaptive behaviors and impact the ability to establish rapport with others. This study investigated the effects of prompt response and cues-pause-point therapies on the management of echolalia among children with autism spectrum disorder. A pre-test, post-test, and control group of a 3x2 factorial matrix of quasi-experimental research design was used to assess the effect of the therapies on children with autism spectrum disorder in Ibadan, Nigeria. 90children with autism spectrum disorder were purposively selected using Diagnostic Statistical Manual- V (DSM-V) for ASD (0.70), Gilliam Autism Rating Scale/Third Edition (GARS-3) (in terms of sensitivity= 0.97, ROU/AUC= 0.93). In contrast, the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) (0.90) was used for the pretest and posttest to ascertain the presence of echolalia. Participants were assigned to one of three groups: prompt response, cues-pause-point therapies, or control (N = 90, male = 44, female = 46, age range = 3 –5 years old). Twenty-four prompt response and cues-pause-point therapy were held for each experimental group. The findings showed that the main effect of treatment (prompt response and cues-pause-point therapies) (F (2; 72) = 45.519, p<.05, ƞ2 = .558) on the management of echolalia among children with autism was significant, premised on this, the null hypothesis was rejected. The post hoc estimated marginal mean indicates that prompt response treatment was higher than cues-pause-point therapy; however, this difference was statistically significant. The study findings indicated that the impact of gender on managing echolalia in individuals with ASD was not statistically significant. Based on the findings, it is recommended that speech therapists, caregivers, and parents of children with autism spectrum disorder should seek alternative therapy that will take into cognizance other underlying factors associated with the presence of echolalia

Prevalence of Congenital Heart Defects and their Non-Inherited Risk Factors among Children through the Period 2019-2023: A Retrospective Comparative Study

Background: Congenital heart defects (CHD) are the most common types of congenital disabilities. The frequency of CHD among their patient populations also remains the leading cause of their increased mortality, accounting for an estimated 50% of all causes of death from abnormalities. Objectives: The study aimed to identify the prevalence of non-inherited risk factors among children with cardiac defects and compare the prevalence of congenital heart defects among children in different governorates in Iraq related to non-inherited risk factors. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study design was used to study congenital heart defects in children in Babylon Centre for Catheterization and Cardiac Surgery in Al-Imam Sadiq Hospital Babylon province, Iraq, from 15/10/2023 to 13/6/2024. A nonprobability convenience sample of 542 patients aged 0-18 years with CHD was collected by administering a constructed tool for the study. The data were collected from all Iraqi governorates, including the north, center, and south, as well as east and west countries. Result: The study shows the mean age of children was 2.2 ±9.2 years. The majority of children included were within infant age groups, almost equal in their sexes, giving girl to boy, 1.04:1. The age at screening and diagnosis of Echo was more than half in the first month, and the type of defect was Ventricular-septal-defect (VSD) and Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). The study findings show that there is a statistically significant relationship between risk factors related to maternal medication history, including Folic acid Supplements. Maternal diseases such as Rubella, with CHD, and the highest recorded governorates for congenital heart defects are Baghdad, Mosul, and Diyala. Conclusions: The study concludes that most children included were within infant age groups, almost equal in their sexes, and the highest recorded governorates for congenital heart defects are Baghdad, Mosul, and Diyala. Also, the most frequent CHD is VSD and TOF, the history of maternal medication use, including folic acid supplements, and maternal diseases such as Rubella were significant factors in assessing the risk or outcome

Milk Production, Quality Parameters, and Bacterial Colony Counts of Raw Milk from Murrah Buffaloes Reared in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems

This research aimed to assess the quantity and quality of raw Murrah buffalo milk in a mixed crop-livestock farming system in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The study was conducted at the Sumber Ternak Abadi livestock farm in Pagar Merbau District, North Sumatra, Indonesia, established in 2012 within an oil palm plantation. The study observed 40 lactating Murrah buffaloes. Variables included milk production and quality metrics such as total plate count in colony-forming units per ml, water content percentage, total solids, fat content, and pH. Results demonstrated a milk yield standardized to 305 days ranging from 1,200.78±490.25 to 1,505.71±589.73 kg/head/lactation. The total plate count was 2.1 x 105 ± 0.32 CFU/ml, total solids were 16.87% (w/w), fat was 5.7% (v/v), and pH was 6.73. The results confirmed that the raw Murrah buffalo milk from the observed farm meets the Indonesian National Standard for milk quality. A significant positive correlation was found between water content and total bacterial colony count (r = 0.82, p < 0.01), suggesting that higher water content in milk correlates with increased bacterial colonies