Weapons of choice: A statistical comparison between different weapons and resulting injuries, opportunist weapon selection and forensic awareness

Homicide is a known term for the unlawful killing of another person, which can be classified into three subcategories; Mass, Spree and Serial Homicide. Serial Homicide is the chosen focus for this literature review, and the following study to come. A Serial Killer can be described as an individual who takes the life of at least two people, each within a separate event to one another. Specifically, the weapons of choice by these Serial Killers is the main concentration of the study, and how different external variables can change their choosing, as well as the resulting injuries the victim sustains from these weapons. Variables such as victimology of both the offender and the victim, the level of forensic awareness known by the offender and whether the weapon was an opportunist circumstance or not are detailed to identify the changes in weapon choice and injury infliction as these variables change between offenders. The literature review aims to display what information is already present in the field, with the relation of all factors in weapon choice and injuries and if there is already a link between any. The review ultimately defined that there is a big gap in research about weapons of opportunity and the factors which can cause an offender to use an unplanned weapon to cause injury, as well as how the injuries differ between opportunity and planned weapon selection. The review also revealed there is an obvious gap in knowledge linking all of these mentioned variables, to the way the offender inflicts injuries on the victim. The proposed study will hopefully fill these research gaps by comparing victimology, opportunity and planned weapons, forensic awareness knowledge and clean-up to the type of weapon used and the resulting injuries, the hope is to link them all together, as well as identify individual characteristics of each which can change offenders weapon selection

Navigating Roadblocks in Utah\u27s Path Towards Curbing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

In places where discussions about climate change have become highly political and divided, community groups have attempted to connect rival political parties by focusing on improving air quality. This topic is often less politically charged. The effects of climate change have been disproportionately felt by marginalized communities around the world. In the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, many communities are more likely to experience the negative consequences of a drying lake, a problem that Utah and other regions are currently facing, compared to others in the valley. This research focuses on the individuals who have signed the Utah Climate and Clean Air Compact, a public attempt to bring together political parties in a conservative state to address air quality issues in Utah. The state is facing challenges such as rapid population growth, rising temperatures, and prolonged drought conditions. Despite some prominent leaders publicly endorsing this Compact, progress towards improving air quality and addressing climate change has been slow in Utah. It is also unclear if these leaders are considering the unequal impacts that marginalized communities may face. However, there have been some efforts made since the Compact\u27s publication and signing that indicate minor successes in the state. To understand the perceived obstacles to taking action on climate change and potential solutions, I conducted semi-structured interviews with community leaders, business representatives, and other individuals who signed the Compact. I also analyzed documents such as interviews and opinion pieces focusing on or written by the signatories of the Compact. The first study revealed that population growth and political disagreements are the most common barriers reported by leaders in Utah. According to these leaders, the key to addressing air quality and climate issues lies in working together across party lines, even though significant progress has not been made so far. The second study found that although most leaders express concern about the negative effects of the drying Great Salt Lake, they tend to focus on the entire valley rather than prioritizing the needs of the most vulnerable residents. They also do not ensure that these communities have a say in decisions related to water use and air quality policies, signaling that major changes to include these communities must be made in the planning and mitigation process for these issues

Modelling the cost of ill health in Health&WealthMOD (Version II): lost labour force participation, income and taxation, and the impact of disease prevention

This paper provides a detailed description of the construction of Health&WealthMOD (Version II). It is Australia’s only microsimulation model of health and illness and their impacts on labour force participation, income, wealth and government revenue and expenditure. In this paper, we describe Health&WealthMOD (Version II) and its architecture, the application of the model, and some of the results it has produced.Health&WealthMOD, cost of ill health, lost labour force participation, income, taxation, disease prevention

Realist trials and the testing of context-mechanism-outcome configurations: a response to Van Belle et al.

BACKGROUND: Van Belle et al. argue that our attempt to pursue realist evaluation via a randomised trial will be fruitless because we misunderstand realist ontology (confusing intervention mechanisms with intervention activities and with statistical mediation analyses) and because RCTs cannot comprehensively examine how and why outcome patterns are caused by mechanisms triggered in specific contexts. METHODS: Through further consideration of our trial methods, we explain more fully how we believe complex social interventions work and what realist evaluation should aim to do within a trial. RESULTS: Like other realists, those undertaking realist trials assume that: social interventions provide resources which local actors may draw on in actions that can trigger mechanisms; these mechanisms may interact with contextual factors to generate outcomes; and data in the 'empirical' realm can be used to test hypotheses about mechanisms in the 'real' realm. Whether or not there is sufficient contextual diversity to test such hypotheses is a contingent not a necessary feature of trials. Previous exemplars of realist evaluation have compared empirical data from intervention and control groups to test hypotheses about real mechanisms. There is no inevitable reason why randomised trials should not also be able to do so. Random allocation merely ensures the comparability of such groups without necessarily causing evaluation to lapse from a realist into a 'positivist' or 'post-positivist' paradigm. CONCLUSIONS: Realist trials are ontologically and epistemologically plausible. Further work is required to assess whether they are feasible and useful but such work should not be halted on spurious philosophical grounds

Countering Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing: A Case for Bitcoin Regulation

Bitcoin was created in 2008 to serve as an alternative payment mechanism for the underbanked and unbanked, or those in regions where the formal financial system suffers from rampant corruption or ceases to exist altogether. However, criminals and terrorists quickly exploited Bitcoin’s unique properties, namely its peer-to-peer nature and pseudo anonymity, to facilitate extensive terrorist financing and money laundering schemes. Government reactions to safeguard national security interests have been extremely varied, ranging from outright bans to passive tolerance. This inconsistency stems from how to effectively classify Bitcoin. On one side are those who argue Bitcoin is a currency, and on the other are those who claim it is a type of asset. In the United States alone, these discrepancies have led to a bureaucratic turf war between different regulatory bodies, namely the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Commodity Futures Trading Association, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Internal Revenue Service. This study seeks to move beyond the existing legal frameworks, arguing that Bitcoin should be classified as a technology and regulation should rest with private sector technology companies

Eocene-Oligocene Latitudinal Climate Gradients in North America Inferred from Stable Isotope Ratios in Perissodactyl Tooth Enamel

The Eocene-Oligocene transition (~ 34 Ma) was one of the most pronounced episodes of climate change of the Cenozoic. In order to investigate this episode of global climate cooling in North America, we analyzed the carbon and oxygen stable isotope composition of the carbonate component of 19 perissodactyl (horse and rhino) tooth enamel samples from the Eocene-Oligocene rocks of the Cypress Hills Formation (southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada); we then compared the results with previously published data from the US Great Plains (Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming). Average (± 1σ) perissodactyl enamel δ13C values (vs. V-PDB) in the Eocene (-8.8 ± 0.3‰) and Oligocene (-9.0 ± 0.3‰) are indistinguishable, suggesting no major change in mean annual precipitation in Saskatchewan across the transition. The δ13C values in Saskatchewan indicate the presence of arid ecosystems and are slightly higher than those in the US Great Plains, suggesting drier conditions at higher latitudes. With respect to oxygen isotopes, average (± 1σ) perissodactyl enamel δ18O values (vs. V-SMOW) in the Eocene (19.8 ± 2.0‰) and Oligocene (20.1 ± 3.6‰) are also indistinguishable, suggesting no change in the δ18O of meteoric precipitation across the transition in Saskatchewan. Enamel δ18O variability is much larger in the Oligocene vs. Eocene, indicating a large increase in temperature seasonality. This increase in enamel δ18O variability is much larger than that recorded in the US Great Plains, suggesting that higher latitudes are more sensitive to major episodes of climate change with respect to temperature seasonality. Finally, our data indicate no major change in the Oligocene vs. Eocene latitudinal gradient in local water δ18O in North America, which suggests no change in mean annual temperature gradients across the transition. This result supports the hypothesis that ascribes the climate change of the transition with a drop in atmospheric pCO2 because climate models show that this mechanism produces uniform cooling at mid-latitudes

Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in the Acute Care Surgery Model: Risk Factors for Complications

Background: The Acute Care Surgery (ACS) model developed during the last decade fuses critical care, trauma, and emergency general surgery. ACS teams commonly perform laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) for acute biliary disease. This study reviewed LCs performed by an ACS service focusing on risk factors for complications in the emergent setting. Methods: All patients who underwent LC on an ACS service during a 26-month period were identified. Demographic, perioperative, and complication data were collected and analyzed with Fisher\u27s exact test, χ 2 test, and Mann-Whitney U Test. Results: During the study period, 547 patients (70.2% female, mean age 46.1±18.1, mean body mass index 32.4±7.8 kg/m 2 ) had LC performed for various acute indications. Mean surgery time was 77.9±50.2 minutes, and 5.7% of cases were performed after hours. Rate of conversion to open procedure was 6%. Complications seen included minor bile leaks (3.8%), infection (3.8%), retained gallstones (1.1%), organ injury (1.1%), major duct injury (0.9%), and postoperative bleeding (0.9%). Statistical analysis demonstrated significant relationships between conversion, length of surgery, age, gender, and intraoperative cholangiogram with various complications. No significant relationships were detected between complications and BMI, pregnancy, attending experience, and time of operation. Discussion: Although several statistically significant relationships were identified between several risk factors and complications, these findings have limited clinical significance. Factors including attending years in practice and time of the operation were not associated with increased complications. ACS services are capable of performing a high volume of LCs for emergent indications with low complication and conversion rates.-Level of evidence:IV. Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared

Social support and mental health status of older people: a population-based study in Iran - Tehran

Objectives: To investigate direct and stress-buffering associations between social support from family and the mental health of older people in Iran, a country which has recently undergone an exceptionally fast fertility transition and is consequently experiencing rapid population ageing. Method: A cross-sectional stratified random survey of 800 people aged 60+ years resident in Tehran was conducted. In total, 644 people responded. The SPS and the GHQ were used to measure perceived social support and mental health respectively. Multilevel mixed-effects models were used to examine the hypotheses. Results: The findings supported the hypothesis of a direct association between perceived and received social support and mental health. However, we did not find strong evidence to suggest that social support buffered the effects of stress arising from limitations of physical functioning. Lack of help doing paperwork was associated with worse mental health for women but not men. Source of support did not seem to be important. Conclusion: Our results indicated that in Tehran, as in Western settings, social support is important for the mental well-being of older people. Recommendations for policy and further research priorities based on the study findings were provided

Role of practices and Clinical Commissioning Groups in measures of patient experience: analysis of routine data.

Recent years have seen an increased focus on measuring how people experience health services to ensure that care and treatment is of the highest quality and safety.1 2 Better patient care experiences are associated with better adherence, clinical outcomes and patient safety, and with lower health care utilisation.3 4 In England, the national GP Patient Survey (GPPS) measures patients’ experience of Primary Care.5 As part of an NHS initiative to improve patient experience and facilitate patient-centred care, GPPS scores are currently reported at the level of general practices, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and nationally.Not externally funde