Homicide co-victims confidence in the criminal justice system

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address the phenomenology of family members of homicide victims; known as “co-victims”. In particular, co-victims experiences of the criminal justice system (CJS) in England and Wales. Design/methodology/approach In 2018, 10 kV methodology facilitated an electronic-focus group. Anonymously, volunteers from families of homicide victims responded to key questions in a session entitled “a conversation which matters: confidence”. The thematic analysis presents the responses to three questions around “what works” and “what does not” in CJS practice. Findings The responses indicate four themes in relation to confidence building: communication and information; outcome; honesty and fairness; and family support. Responses indicate three themes in relation to what the CJS does well: family liaison officers, homicide detectives and court services. Responses indicate three themes in relation to what is not working: court proceedings, police budget cuts and preventative interventions. Research limitations/implications The research considers benefits and limitations of methodology and makes suggestions for how these facets could be addressed by future research. Practical implications The research findings reveal good practice and points for attention to support confidence building in the CJS. Amongst other considerations, the work advances CJS practical good practice principles from the perspective of co-victims: education, interpersonal relations, working together, communication and justice. Originality/value Findings are of value to CJS policy makers, training and education for co-victim support, police and academics

Effects of Alewife (Alosa Pseudoharengus) Predation on Zooplankton Community Structure in Honeoye and Conesus Lakes

The objective of this study was to describe and compare the chemistry and alewife and piscivore abundance between Honeoye and Conesus Lakes to identify possible reasons of the continuing presence of large-bodied zooplankton in Honeoye Lake in the presence of alewife. Alewives were accidentally introduced into Conesus Lake in the late 1970\u27s. By 1985, large Daphnia had disappeared and Crustacea size in Conesus Lake had decreased from 1.03 mm in 1972 to 0.5 mm in 1985 and has continued to decrease to 0.29 mm in 1988 and 1993. Alewives were confirmed in Honeoye Lake by 1991, but unconfirmed reports go back to 1988. Unlike Conesus Lake, Honeoye Lake still has a large-bodied zooplankton population. The weighted mean length of Crustacea in Honeoye Lake is 0.64 mm. The classical effects on zooplankton size distribution of alewife predation that occurred in Conesus Lake by 1985 were not happening in Honeoye Lake despite the fact that the alewife in Honeoye Lake were selecting those Daphnia that were greater than one millimeter in length. There were significant differences in chemistry between the two lakes. However, none of these differences could account for differences in the zooplankton communities. Chlorophyll a was significantly higher in the epilimnion of Conesus Lake, so it could be assumed that there would be ample forage to support a large cladoceran population. Nitrate + nitrite and total phosphorus were not significantly different between the two lakes. Soluble reactive phosphorus was significantly higher in the epilimnion of Conesus Lake. The density of alewives in Honeoye Lake (0.08 fish/minute of trawling) is much less than that of Conesus Lake (0.5 fish/minute of trawling). Possible reasons for this density difference were explored. The winter water temperature of Honeoye Lake does not drop low enough (5° C) to affect alewife survival. A substantial piscivore community could be keeping the alewife population in check. There is an extremely large population of walleye in Honeoye Lake (20,000), which is one-fifth the volume of Conesus Lake (10,000 walleye). Other possible fish that could be responsible for keeping the alewife density low are small and large mouth bass, pickerel and panfish, such as yellow perch and sunfish. All things considered, the only difference between Honeoye and Conesus Lakes that could account for the differences in planktivore density and zooplankton community structure appears to be the top down effects of their respective piscivore communities

Interactions between directly and parametrically driven vibration modes in a micromechanical resonator

The interactions between parametrically and directly driven vibration modes of a clamped-clamped beam resonator are studied. An integrated piezoelectric transducer is used for direct and parametric excitation. First, the parametric amplification and oscillation of a single mode are analyzed by the power and phase dependence below and above the threshold for parametric oscillation. Then, the motion of a parametrically driven mode is detected by the induced change in resonance frequency in another mode of the same resonator. The resonance frequency shift is the result of the nonlinear coupling between the modes by the displacement-induced tension in the beam. These nonlinear modal interactions result in the quadratic relation between the resonance frequency of one mode and the amplitude of another mode. The amplitude of a parametrically oscillating mode depends on the square root of the pump frequency. Combining these dependencies yields a linear relation between the resonance frequency of the directly driven mode and the frequency of the parametrically oscillating mode.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Las raíces kantianas de la autonomía personal en el pensamiento de Rawls

Rawls acknowledges the analogy between his conception of the moral personality and the thought of Kant. However, many philosophers have discussed that similarity. This article aims to evaluate the Kantian foundation of Rawlsian liberty. Specifically, it assesses the idea of personal autonomy. The conclusion is that certain interpretation of Kant, which incorporates both his thinkings on the moral law and on happiness as an intrinsic purpose of the human being, allows the acknowledgement of the aforementioned analogy, and thus enables a better understanding of the Rawlsian idea of freedom.Rawls reconoce la analogía entre su concepción de la personalidad moral y el pensamiento de Kant. Sin embargo, numerosos filósofos han discutido dicha similitud. El presente artículo tiene como objeto evaluar el fundamento kantiano de la libertad en Rawls, específicamente bajo la idea de la autonomía personal. Se concluye que una determinada interpretación de Kant, que incorpore sus reflexiones tanto sobre la ley moral como sobre la felicidad como fin intrínseco del ser humano, permite señalar dicha analogía y comprender mejor la idea rawlsiana de libertad

Biodiversity Patterns of Littoral Tidal River Fishes in the Gulf Coastal Plain Region of Mississippi

Fish biodiversity patterns within littoral habitats of major tidal river systems of coastal Mississippi were examined. The biodiversity of littoral tidal river fishes varied meaningfully on several spatial scales in the Gulf Coastal Plain region of Mississippi. Fish diversity typically appeared higher in littoral channel habitats than in side-pond habitats of tidal river systems. Faunal representation by three core groups of littoral fishes (cyprinids, centrarchids, and fundulids) generally differed between side-pond and channel habitats, as well as among different tidal river systems. Some of the faunal variation among systems reflected biogeographic (east/west) trends, but most of the variation reflected system size-related patterns. Among-site similarity in fish assemblage composition reflected both site proximity and system size. Moreover, the degree of variability in assemblage composition increased with system size. Thus, regional assemblage patterns were generally most discernible on the landscape scale, rather than through historical congruence. This limited regional study of tidal river fish biodiversity improved our biogeographic understanding by revealing the importance of landscape-scale factors such as tidal river size and associated variation in the available species pool. Understanding landscape-scale environmental variation is key to explaining regional fish diversity patterns

Oscillator-Based Volatile Detection System Using Doubly- Clamped Micromechanical Resonators

AbstractIn this paper, we demonstrate a functionalized and resonant piezo-actuated volatile sensor which is interfaced by electronics for frequency shift detection. Enhanced signal sensing is achieved via the effective feed-through capacitance cancellation scheme. The closed-loop oscillator, realized with off-the-shelf components, attains a frequency stability of 2.7Hz for the 1.8MHz resonant mode of the gas sensor. The sensor was exposed to pulses of water and ethanol vapor mixtures, yielding a temporary dip in resonance frequency as well as volatile-specific recovery times

Interoperability: maintaining clear superordinate goals, reducing task complexity, and optimizing team size to ensure inter-agency action implementation in critical incident decisions.

This study demonstrates how naturalistic decision-making (NDM) can be usefully applied to study ‘decision inertia’ – Namely the cognitive process associated with failures to execute action when a decision-maker struggles to choose between equally perceived aversive outcomes. Data assessed the response and recovery from a sudden impact disaster during a 2-day immersive simulated emergency response. Fourteen agencies (including police, fire, ambulance, and military) and 194 participants were involved in the exercise. By assessing the frequency, type, audience, and content of communications, and by reference to five subject matter experts’ slow time analyses of critical turning points during the incident, three barriers were identified as reducing multiagency information sharing and the macrocognitive understanding of the incident. When the decision problem was non-time-bounded, involved multiple agencies, and identification of superordinate goals was lacking, the communication between agencies decreased and agencies focused on within-agency information sharing. These barriers distracted teams from timely and efficient discussions on decisions and action execution with seeking redundant information, which resulted in decision inertia. Our study illustrates how naturalistic environments are conducive to examining relatively understudied concepts of decision inertia, failures to act, and shared situational macrocognition in situations involving large distributed teams

Psychologist’s role in a Psychogeriatric Day Care Center

[Resumen] La progresiva implantación de centros asistenciales para la tercera edad, junto con la interdisciplinareidad de la actuación en valoración y posterior actuación frente a la persona mayor, hacen que el psicólogo desempeñe un papel claramente definido, y que en lo que respecta a los Centros de día psicogeriátricos, papel más importante si cabe, por las características del usuario, cada vez se beneficia más de una actuación altamente cualificada. Mediante el presente trabajo pretendemos realizar una descripción de las distintas funciones del psicólogo en un Centro de día específico para pacientes con demencia, revisando y proponiendo las diferentes actuaciones de acuerdo a sus áreas de investigación.[Abstract] The progressive establishment of assistant centers for the third age, together with the interdisciplinary of the performance in the valuation and later performance dealing with the elderly people, make psychologist plays a clearly defined part, and in what concerns to the Psychogeriatric Day Care centers, a more important role, if possible for the user’s characteristics that benefits more and more of a highly qualified performance. By means of the present work we seek to carry out a description of the psychologist’s different functions in a day care center, specific for Alzheimer’s disease patients, revising and proposing the different performances according to the intervention areas