Youth Knife Crime in London and Croydon

Rising rates of youth-involved knife crime in London and Croydon have created a culture of fear, drawing criticism of criminal justice practices which aim to tackle this issue. Research shows there is no one core motivator for knife crime among juveniles, but instead an array of possibilities for why young people engage in knife crime. Ranging from lack of community and youth centers to gangs preying on vulnerable young people, different reasons for involvement means creating a layered solution that isn’t one-size-fits-all. Opposing political approaches from the Conservative and Labour parties demonstrate how policy and political agendas play a role in juvenile crime, as well as present potential strategies for combating youth crime. The fallout of austerity measures and financial cuts to community and social services has been cited as a major factor in the rise of juvenile knife crime. This report seeks to demonstrate the aspects and potential causes of juvenile knife crime and criminality, and present possible solutions. Ultimately, a public health approach shows the potential to be effective, as noted by both researchers and young people at risk. Methods used to aid juveniles at risk of engaging in knife crime should account for the intersections of vulnerability. Resources including youth centers, mental health services, and a collaboration of social services would be beneficial in reducing levels of youth-involved knife crime. &nbsp

Justifying Force: Police Procedurals and the Normalization of Violence

Much like the CSI effect in forensic crime dramas, portrayals of law enforcement in crime media can potentially skew a viewer’s perception of what the profession actually entails. Many studies address the depiction of law enforcement in the media, but few solely examine the use of force by television police officers, and the impact this may have on frequent viewers. In an era of calls for accountability over growing attention towards police brutality and misconduct, the media as an influencer has the potential to play a role in how real-world instances of brutality are perceived, and more importantly, how it is justified. This paper serves to analyze the portrayal of use of force and normalization of violence in popular police procedurals and how characters within the context justify their use of force. Using a content analysis, a full season of the shows Chicago PD, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and Blue Bloods were analyzed for the use of force by law enforcement against persons of interest. The portrayal of force was found to be, in a majority of cases, justified or considered necessary. Consequences for actions were few and far between, rarely lasting beyond the scene. As crime drama viewers were not surveyed as part of this study, the impact of a positive, justified portrayal of the use of force and excessive force can only be speculated. However, accompanying literature demonstrates the portrayal of excessive force as a necessity plays a role in viewers justifying real-world instances of police use of force

Contested Water Governance in Myanmar/Burma : Politics, the Peace Negotiations and the Production of Scale

Along the Salween River, water is governed at multiple—at times overlapping—scales with implications for authority and claims to access. In this chapter it is argued that the scales of water governance in Myanmar are currently being contested and how this constitutes a key battleground for future decision-making not only in terms of water governance, but also with implications for the peace negotiations and the federal structure of government that it is working towards.Peer reviewe

Can ongoing movements be guided by allocentric visual information when the target is visible?

People use both egocentric (object-to-self) and allocentric (object-to-object) spatial information to interact with the world. Evidence for allocentric information guiding ongoing actions stems from studies in which people reached to where targets had previously been seen while other objects were moved. Since egocentric position judgments might fade or change when the target is removed, we sought for conditions in which people might benefit from relying on allocentric information when the target remains visible. We used a task that required participants to intercept targets that moved across a screen using a cursor that represented their finger but that moved by a different amount in a different plane. During each attempt, we perturbed the target, cursor, or background individually or all three simultaneously such that their relative positions did not change and there was no need to adjust the ongoing movement. An obvious way to avoid responding to such simultaneous perturbations is by relying on allocentric information. Relying on egocentric information would give a response that resembles the combined responses to the three isolated perturbations. The hand responded in accordance with the responses to the isolated perturbations despite the differences between how the finger and cursor moved. This response remained when the simultaneous perturbation was repeated many times, suggesting that participants hardly relied upon allocentric spatial information to control their ongoing visually guided actions

Slightly perturbing the arm influences choices between multiple targets

We constantly make choices about how to interact with objects in the environment. Do we immediately consider changes in our posture when making such choices? To find out, we examined whether motion in the background, which is known to influence the trajectory of goal-directed hand movements, influences participants’ choices when suddenly faced with two options. The participants’ task was to tap on as many sequentially presented targets as possible within 90 seconds. Sometime after a new target appeared, it split into two targets and participants had to choose which of them to hit. Shortly before the split, the background moved in a way that was expected to result in the finger shifting slightly towards one of the two new targets. We examined whether such shifts influenced the choice between the two targets. The moving background influenced the finger movements in the expected manner: participants moved in the direction of the background motion. It also influenced the choice that participants made between the two targets: participants more frequently chose the target in the direction of the background motion. There was a positive correlation across participants between the magnitude of the response to background motion and the bias to choose the target in the direction of such motion. Thus, people consider sudden changes in their posture when choosing between different movement options

Online updating of obstacle positions when intercepting a virtual target

People rely upon sensory information in the environment to guide their actions. Ongoing goal-directed arm movements are constantly adjusted to the latest estimate of both the target and hand's positions. Does the continuous guidance of ongoing arm movements also consider the latest visual information of the position of obstacles in the surrounding? To find out, we asked participants to slide their finger across a screen to intercept a laterally moving virtual target while moving through a gap that was created by two virtual circular obstacles. At a fixed time during each trial, the target suddenly jumped slightly laterally while still continuing to move. In half the trials, the size of the gap changed at the same moment as the target jumped. As expected, participants adjusted their movements in response to the target jump. Importantly, the magnitude of this response depended on the new size of the gap. If participants were told that the circles were irrelevant, changing the gap between them had no effect on the responses. This shows that obstacles' instantaneous positions can be considered when visually guiding goal-directed movements

Spatial contextual cues that help predict how a target will accelerate can be used to guide interception

Objects in one's environment do not always move at a constant velocity but often accelerate or decelerate. People are very poor at visually judging acceleration and normally make systematic errors when trying to intercept accelerating objects. If the acceleration is perpendicular to the direction of motion, it gives rise to a curved path. Can spatial contextual cues help one predict such accelerations and thereby help interception? To answer this question, we asked participants to hit a target that moved as if it were attached to a rolling disk, like a valve (target) on a bicycle wheel (disk) moves when cycling: constantly accelerating toward the wheel's center. On half the trials, the disk was visible such that participants could use the spatial relations between the target and the rolling disk to guide their interception. On the other half, the disk was not visible, so participants had no help in predicting the target's complicated pattern of accelerations and decelerations. Importantly, the target's path was the same in both cases. Participants hit more targets when the disk was visible than when it was invisible, even when using a strategy that can compensate for neglecting acceleration. We conclude that spatial contextual cues that help predict the target's accelerations can help intercept it

Enhancing the Connectedness Between Undergraduate Students, Faculty, and the DPT Program Within the Same Institution

Background Minimal data exists on optimizing the retention of undergraduate students to the DPT program within the same academic institution. Many DPT programs provide information and resources for applicants to explain admission requirements and overview the program curriculum. Purpose Identify and understand undergraduate student and faculty member’s knowledge, perceptions and resources regarding the DPT program within the same institution. Develop resources and tools to enhance the connectedness within the undergraduate and graduate DPT program in the same institution and fill identified gaps. Participants 41 undergraduate Science and Kinesiology students 6 Kinesiology faculty members 5 Science faculty members 4 active DPT students who attended CSP as undergraduates 18 active DPT students Methods Qualitative data collection via surveys and focus groups Triangulation of data, coding and development of themes Action research strategies used to create tangible products and resources Results Majority of undergraduate students choose their major in high school or freshman year of college. Undergraduate students expressed a lack of resources and understanding of the DPT program within their institution (Figure 1). Undergraduate students expressed desire for admission requirements, informational meetings and mentorship (Figure 2). Faculty echoed lack of resources and provided ideas for potential products. Conclusion Themes emerged that students and faculty were provided with little information regarding the DPT program within their home institution. Analysis of student and staff focus groups, questionnaires, and interviews, determined the need for a variety of products including: Program resource guide, Mentorship program, Social media (Facebook & Instagram), On campus marketing, and informational events. Implications Designing and implementing products may help bridge the gap between the undergraduate and graduate populations in the same institution. Future research will examine the impact of products and to also determine if graduate applications within institution increased. Future phases may include admissions, undergraduate student advisors and other CSP undergraduate departments

Additive Equivalence in Turbulent Drag Reduction by Flexible and Rodlike Polymers

We address the "Additive Equivalence" discovered by Virk and coworkers: drag reduction affected by flexible and rigid rodlike polymers added to turbulent wall-bounded flows is limited from above by a very similar Maximum Drag Reduction (MDR) asymptote. Considering the equations of motion of rodlike polymers in wall-bounded turbulent ensembles, we show that although the microscopic mechanism of attaining the MDR is very different, the macroscopic theory is isomorphic, rationalizing the interesting experimental observations.Comment: 8 pages, PRE, submitte

Up-Front Endoscopy Maximizes Cost-Effectiveness and Cost-Satisfaction in Uninvestigated Dyspepsia.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Practice guidelines promote a routine noninvasive, non-endoscopic initial approach to investigating dyspepsia without alarm features in young patients, yet many patients undergo prompt upper endoscopy. We aimed to assess tradeoffs among costs, patient satisfaction, and clinical outcomes to inform discrepancy between guidelines and practice. METHODS: We constructed a decision-analytic model and performed cost-effectiveness/cost-satisfaction analysis over a 1-year time horizon on patients with uninvestigated dyspepsia without alarm features referred to gastroenterology. A RAND/UCLA expert panel informed model design. Four competing diagnostic/management strategies were evaluated: prompt endoscopy, testing for Helicobacter pylori and eradicating if present (test-and-treat), testing for H pylori and performing endoscopy if present (test-and-scope), and empiric acid suppression. Outcomes were derived from systematic reviews of clinical trials. Costs were informed by prospective observational cohort studies and national commercial/federal cost databases. Health gains were represented using quality-adjusted life years. RESULTS: From the patient perspective, costs and outcomes were similar for all strategies (maximum out-of-pocket difference of $30 and <0.01 quality-adjusted life years gained/year regardless of strategy). Prompt endoscopy maximized cost-satisfaction and health system reimbursement. Test-and-scope maximized cost-effectiveness from insurer and patient perspectives. Results remained robust on multiple one-way sensitivity analyses on model inputs and across most willingness-to-pay thresholds. CONCLUSIONS: Noninvasive management strategies appear to result in inferior cost-effectiveness and patient satisfaction outcomes compared with strategies promoting up-front endoscopy. Therefore, additional studies are needed to evaluate the drivers of patient satisfaction to facilitate inclusion in value-based healthcare transformation efforts