Use of data to inform expert evaluative opinion in the comparison of hand images—the importance of scars

Evaluation of a likelihood ratio is widely recognised as the most logical and appropriate means of assessing and expressing the weight of expert scientific evidence. This paper describes the application of such an approach to cases involving the comparison of images of hands that contain visible scars. Such evidence is frequently provided in cases of alleged child sexual abuse in which images of the perpetrator’s hand are compared with images of the suspect/accused’s hand. We illustrate how data provided from a database of hand images can be used to inform the probabilities that are an essential part of evaluating a likelihood ratio and, hence, how data have a bearing on the appraisal of the weight of evidence that can be attributed when scars are present within an image

One-pot synthesis of difluoromethyl ketones by a difluorination/fragmentation process

Difluoromethyl ketones are an under-studied class of ketones which have great potential as useful building blocks for materials and drug design. Here we report a simple and convenient synthesis of this class of compounds via a one-pot difluorination/fragmentation of 1-trifluoromethyl-1,3-diketones which should now allow the chemistry of difluoromethyl ketones to be fully developed

Wave-driven flow over shallow reefs

Long-term (1 month) observations of waves and currents over a natural reef are presented which show a strong correlation between offshore rms incident wave height and cross-reef currents at subtidal frequencies. The energy spectrum of the cross-reef currents shows a significant peak at twice the semidiurnal tidal frequency, while the spectrum of sea surface elevation over the reef flat shows no corresponding peak. Furthermore, experimental results reported by Gourlay (1993) show setup over the reef occurs in the absence of a beach, and the cross-reef transport decreases with an increase in the sea surface slope across the reef flat due to an increase in setup at the top of the reef face. Analytic solutions for flow forced by wave breaking over an idealized reef explain the above features of cross-reef flows in the absence of a beach. Through the surf zone on the reef face the cross-reef gradient in the radiation stress due to wave breaking is partitioned between balancing an offshore pressure gradient associated with setup over the reef and forcing a mean flow across the reef. Over the reef flat, where the depth is constant, there is no forcing due to wave breaking and the flow is driven by a pressure gradient which results from the setup through the surf zone. The magnitude of the setup through the surf zone is such that the transport across the reef flat matches the transport through the surf zone which is forced by the gradient in the radiation stress. Solutions are presented for general reef geometry, defined by the reef width and slope of the seaward reef face, and incident wave forcing, defined by the depth at the breakpoint and the depth of water over the reef. As the depth over the reef goes to zero, the solutions converge to the plane beach solutions described by Longuet-Higgins and Stewart (1964), wave setup is maximized, and the cross-reef transport is zero. In other cases the relative magnitudes of the setup and the cross-reef transport depend on the geometry of the reef and the incident wave forcing

Social Emotional Learning: A Multi-Tiered School Counseling Approach

The authors explore the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL) at the elementary school level. A review of the literature on the short term and long term benefits of SEL in schools and a description of the competencies of SEL programming: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making, is provided. The authors propose a three-tier comprehensive prevention and intervention model of SEL instruction, intervention, and progress monitoring that involves elementary school counselors, staff, parents, and community stakeholders to provide students with essential skills to be utilized throughout secondary and post-secondary education

Setting priorities for development of emerging interventions against childhood pneumonia, meningitis and influenza

WAcute lower respiratory infections, which broadly include pneumonia and bronchiolitis, are still the leading cause of childhood mortality. ALRI contributed to 18% of all deaths in children younger than five years of age in 2008, and the main pathogens responsible for high mortality were Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and respiratory syncytial virus. In addition, meningitis was estimated to contribute up to 200 000 deaths each year, and influenza anywhere between 25 000 and 110 000. It is widely acknowledged that a major portion of this mortality should be avoidable if universal coverage of all known effective interventions could be achieved. However, some evaluations of the implementation of World Health Organization’s (WHO) Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy, which promotes improved access to a trained health provider who can administer “standard case management”, have shown somewhat disappointing results. Only a minority of all children with life-threatening episodes of pneumonia, meningitis and influenza in developing countries have access to trained health providers and receive appropriate treatment. Thus, novel strategies for control of pneumonia that balance investments in scaling up of existing interventions and the development of novel approaches, technologies and ideas are clearly needed

Optimizing community case management strategies to achieve equitable reduction of childhood pneumonia mortality:An application of Equitable Impact Sensitive Tool (EQUIST) in five low- and middle-income countries

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to populate the Equitable Impact Sensitive Tool (EQUIST) framework with all necessary data and conduct the first implementation of EQUIST in studying cost–effectiveness of community case management of childhood pneumonia in 5 low– and middle–income countries with relation to equity impact. METHODS: Wealth quintile–specific data were gathered or modelled for all contributory determinants of the EQUIST framework, namely: under–five mortality rate, cost of intervention, intervention effectiveness, current coverage of intervention and relative disease distribution. These were then combined statistically to calculate the final outcome of the EQUIST model for community case management of childhood pneumonia: US$ per life saved, in several different approaches to scaling–up. RESULTS: The current ‘mainstream’ approach to scaling–up of interventions is never the most cost–effective. Community–case management appears to strongly support an ‘equity–promoting’ approach to scaling–up, displaying the highest levels of cost–effectiveness in interventions targeted at the poorest quintile of each study country, although absolute cost differences vary by context. CONCLUSIONS: The relationship between cost–effectiveness and equity impact is complex, with many determinants to consider. One important way to increase intervention cost–effectiveness in poorer quintiles is to improve the efficiency and quality of delivery. More data are needed in all areas to increase the accuracy of EQUIST–based estimates

Automated lithological mapping using airborne hyperspectral thermal infrared data: A case study from Anchorage Island, Antarctica

The thermal infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum has considerable potential for mineral and lithological mapping of the most abundant rock-forming silicates that do not display diagnostic features at visible and shortwave infrared wavelengths. Lithological mapping using visible and shortwave infrared hyperspectral data is well developed and established processing chains are available, however there is a paucity of such methodologies for hyperspectral thermal infrared data. Here we present a new fully automated processing chain for deriving lithological maps from hyperspectral thermal infrared data and test its applicability using the first ever airborne hyperspectral thermal data collected in the Antarctic. A combined airborne hyperspectral survey, targeted geological field mapping campaign and detailed mineralogical and geochemical datasets are applied to small test site in West Antarctica where the geological relationships are representative of continental margin arcs. The challenging environmental conditions and cold temperatures in the Antarctic meant that the data have a significantly lower signal to noise ratio than is usually attained from airborne hyperspectral sensors. We applied preprocessing techniques to improve the signal to noise ratio and convert the radiance images to ground leaving emissivity. Following preprocessing we developed and applied a fully automated processing chain to the hyperspectral imagery, which consists of the following six steps: (1) superpixel segmentation, (2) determine the number of endmembers, (3) extract endmembers from superpixels, (4) apply fully constrained linear unmixing, (5) generate a predictive classification map, and (6) automatically label the predictive classes to generate a lithological map. The results show that the image processing chain was successful, despite the low signal to noise ratio of the imagery; reconstruction of the hyperspectral image from the endmembers and their fractional abundances yielded a root mean square error of 0.58%. The results are encouraging with the thermal imagery allowing clear distinction between granitoid types. However, the distinction of fine grained, intermediate composition dykes is not possible due to the close geochemical similarity with the country rock

The EVIDENCE project: Origins, review findings and prospects for enhanced urban transport appraisal and evaluation in the future

The EVIDENCE project1 sets out to provide objective, robust information to support local and European policy initiatives seeking a substantial change in the flow of funding towards sustainable urban transport investments. In particular it has focussed on EU funding for transport in cities delivered through the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) process – a European program crucial to helping newer member states deliver sustainable mobility in their cities. Whilst delivering more sustainable urban mobility is a policy objective of the EU, many of those involved in such endeavours report that they are in need of more information about the range of interventions and packages of interventions available to them. In particular they need to know more about the economic benefits of sustainable urban mobility choices, as local politicians and other stakeholders see an important role for mobility in supporting their local economies, and hitherto the ‘received wisdom’ has often asserted that it is primarily car and lorry-oriented transport investment that delivers the prosperity they seek.In response to the need to address such perceptions, EVIDENCE has looked for and assessed existing evidence for economic benefits arising from sustainable mobility implementations arising from twenty-two different categories of measures typically found in SUMPs (see Table 1 below). Most of the twenty-two include multiple, related interventions and reflect the types of demonstration initiative delivered through Europe urban mobility programmes, such as CIVITAS. However, the sources drawn upon in collating the evidence are much wider than those arising from European projects. Literature searching by the research team drew upon academic journals and books, and reports from government and other agencies across the globe. For this reason, the potentially-relevant body of evidence would cover thousands of documents. Clearly, a single, small research team working for a year could not review every item in detail. However, a selection process (see Shergold & Parkhurst, 2016) sought to ensure that the sources which were both important in terms of their evidence and complied with internationally-accepted standards of robust evaluation methodology were included. In practice, this process resulted in a larger body of core sources in respect of some measures than others. Indeed, a sufficient quantity of relevant, high quality evidence was not found in every case

Viral load, clinical disease severity and cellular immune responses in primary varicella zoster virus infection in Sri Lanka

Background In Sri Lanka, varicella zoster virus (VZV) is typically acquired during adulthood with significant associated disease morbidity and mortality. T cells are believed to be important in the control of VZV replication and in the prevention of reactivation. The relationship between viral load, disease severity and cellular immune responses in primary VZV infection has not been well studied. Methodology We used IFNγ ELISpot assays and MHC class II tetramers based on VZV gE and IE63 epitopes, together with quantitative real time PCR assays to compare the frequency and phenotype of specific T cells with virological and clinical outcomes in 34 adult Sri Lankan individuals with primary VZV infection. Principal Findings Viral loads were found to be significantly higher in patients with moderate to severe infection compared to those with mild infection (p<0.001) and were significantly higher in those over 25 years of age (P<0.01). A significant inverse correlation was seen between the viral loads and the ex vivo IFNγ ELISpot responses of patients (P<0.001, r = −0.85). VZV-specific CD4+ T cells expressed markers of intermediate differentiation and activation. Conclusions Overall, these data show that increased clinical severity in Sri Lankan adults with primary VZV infection associates with higher viral load and reduced viral specific T cell responses