How time shapes crime: the temporal impacts of football matches on crime [WP]

In this paper we analyze the temporal profile of crime in the urban context of Barcelona (Spain) for the period 2007-2011 using a unique micro data set with police reported crime. Additionally, we assess the temporal effect that a leisure activity clearly bounded in time, namely the matches played by Football Club Barcelona (FCB), exert on criminal activities. We obtain a detailed time profile for the crime recorded in the city of Barcelona and the displacement effect attributable to the football matches. The latter was found to be notable in the case of thefts, criminal damage, robberies and gender violence. Instances of gender violence were more prevalent after a FCB defeat

Routine activities and proactive police activity: a macro-scale analysis of police searches in London and New York City

This paper explored how city-level changes in routine activities were associated with changes in frequencies of police searches using six years of police records from the London Metropolitan Police Service and the New York City Police Department. Routine activities were operationalised through selecting events that potentially impacted on (a) the street population, (b) the frequency of crime or (c) the level of police activity. OLS regression results indicated that routine activity variables (e.g. day of the week, periods of high demand for police service) can explain a large proportion of the variance in search frequency throughout the year. A complex set of results emerged, revealing cross-national dissimilarities and the differential impact of certain activities (e.g. public holidays). Importantly, temporal frequencies in searches are not reducible to associations between searches and recorded street crime, nor changes in on-street population. Based on the routine activity approach, a theoretical police-action model is proposed

Randomised controlled trial of Tumour necrosis factor inhibitors Against Combination Intensive Therapy with conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in established rheumatoid arthritis: The TACIT trial and associated systematic reviews

Conclusions: Active RA patients who have failed methotrexate and another DMARD achieve equivalent clinical benefits at a lower cost from starting cDMARDs or from starting TNFis (reserving TNFis for non-responders). Only a minority of patients achieve sustained remission with cDMARDs or TNFis; new strategies are needed to maximise the frequency of remission

Suburbanization and amphibians: designed ecological solutions

Regulations guiding land development around seasonal isolated wetlands disregard habitat requirements for specialized faunal inhabitants. This oversight needs to be addressed at multiple scales in order to sustain future seasonal pond inhabitants. In particular, pool-breeding amphibians are suffering worldwide decline and are susceptible to water quality, temperature, hydrology and watershed impacts. The complex aquatic-terrestrial lifecycle of amphibians makes them sensitive to terrestrial habitat alterations and fragmentation. The temporal variation in hydroperiod within individual ponds and variation in hydrology across ponds within a landscape create a stochastic system. In these systems amphibian populations likely function as metapopulations, and rely on juvenile dispersal and rescue effects to counter local extinction. Given the limited regulations at the local, state and federal level, maintaining amphibian breeding populations will require efforts at the pond, migration corridor, upland habitat, watersheds and regional connectivity levels. Addressing these gaps requires further basic research to expose hidden aspects of amphibian lifecycle patterns, in part due to their fossorial nature as well as the challenges of interpreting metapopulation connectivity. Addressing the gaps also requires translating the ecological requirements into preservation tactics within the pressures of land development, which poses substantial challenges. I utilized designed experiments, which serve as a hybrid research and planning approach, to navigate these complex circumstances. Here, I present a series of large-scale field experiments situated within a 500-hectare privately owned suburban development project located in Tuxedo, New York. The field experiments were implemented as part of the masterplanning process with the aim of exposing and addressing several of these regulatory gaps from both a basic science and applied solutions perspective. A series of drift fence and pit-fall trap experiments provides data at the scale of individual breeding populations and their migration patterns to and from ponds. Larval density studies utilizing replicate enclosures evaluate the impact of within pond density versus variability of habitat quality across ponds. This analysis provides a bioassay of species performance teasing apart the presumed dominant effect of density versus variation across ponds. The results of this study indicate that physical and biotic pond scale factors have a far greater effect on survival and fecundity than density. These results differ from the environmental consultant's evaluation of the same ponds and call into question the current rapid assessment of pond habitat.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-237)by Alexander Jacob Felso

Differences in licensee, police and public opinions regarding interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm associated with licensed premises

Objectives: To determine the level of support by licensees, police and the general public for interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm associated with licensed premises and to identify differences between the three groups. Methods: Participants were 108 licensees of premises licensed to sell alcohol; 132 police officers; 200 members of the public. Questionnaires were administered either through work settings or by mail. Respondents’ levels of agreement with interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm associated with licensed premises: responsible service of alcohol; security and crowd control; policing; patron transport; and linking of alcohol-related harm to licensed premises and communication. Results: Police and members of the public were significantly more likely than licensees to agree with strategies under licensee control, such as subsidising patron transport and training staff to deal with intoxicated patrons. Police were more likely than licensees and members of the public to agree with strategies requiring community action and changes to liquor licensing laws. Licensees had significantly lower levels of agreement than the other groups about licensees’ responsibility to reduce alcohol-related harm as a consequence of drinking at their premises. Conclusions: While there was good agreement between police officers and members of the public about strategies for reducing alcohol-related harm at licensed premises, licensees held divergent views about strategies within their control. Licensees were less likely than police and members of the public to agree they were responsible for reducing alcohol-related harm resulting from drinking at their premises