Tracking Kidnappings in London: Offenders, Victims and Motives

Funder: University of CambridgeAbstract: Research Question: What was the nature of kidnappings in London during a fairly recent 5-year period in the kinds of victims, offenders, motives, types of violence used and levels of injury? Data: We analyse 924 reports of kidnap crimes recorded by the Metropolitan Police Service between 1 April 2006 and 31 March 2011. These data included free text information drawn from case notes. Methods: We establish mutually exclusive categories of kidnappings by codifying all crime records, after examining case notes and populated fields from the Metropolitan Police’s crime recording system. Descriptive statistics are used to portray the patterns and nature of these crimes. Findings: The application of a typology of mutually exclusive categories for these kidnappings shows that gangland/criminal/drugs-related cases comprised 40.5% of all kidnappings. Another 21% of all kidnaps were domestic or familial, including honour killings. Just over 10% were incidental to ‘acquisitive’ crimes such as car-jacking, whilst 8% were sexually motivated. Only 6% were categorised as traditional ransom kidnappings. About 4% were categorised into a purely violent category, whilst 3% were categorised as international/political. Conclusions: The investigative and preventive implications of these many social worlds mapped out by this typology are substantial. Each social context may require investigators to possess expertise in the specific social world of kidnapping, as distinct from what might be called expertise in ‘kidnaps’ per se. Investigations and prevention might be re-engineered around targeted intelligence from these diverse social contexts

Model of Dietary Fiber Utilization by Small Mammalian Herbivores, with Empirical Results for Neotoma

Allometric considerations have suggested that small herbivores are inefficient at or incapable of extracting energy from the microbial fermentation of structural carbohydrates. This notion is at odds with accumulating empirical evidence that demonstrates well-developed fiber digestion abilities for a number of small rodent genera. To examine the apparent inconsistency, we have constructed a model of plant fiber utilization tailored specifically for hindgut fermenters. Computer simulations provide estimates of fiber and overall dry-matter digestibilities as a function of body size, energy demand, and diet. Our calculations indicate that small mammals can obtain significant benefit from fiber fermentation, especially at moderate fiber levels. Comparisons with literature data are in general agreement, although fiber digestion abilities are still underestimated for the smallest animals. In an empirical test of the model, Neotoma obtained over 21 % of their digestible energy solely from the microbial fermentation of plant fiber. We also observed an interesting pattern of allometric sorting predicted by the model. Smaller wood rats significantly reduced the fiber content of their diet, a behavior presumably reflecting energy limitations

Moisture and Temperature Effects on the Transformations of Nitrogen from Applied Ammonium Sulfate in a Calcareous Soil

nitrogen has commonly been a deficient element in the cultivated soils of the world since the beginning of agriculture. The general acceptance of the practice of using manures as a means of increasing plant growth, as shown by the records of ancient civilizations, attest to this fact. Since the time of von Liebig there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of this deficiency in soils. As a result of a better understanding of the problem and the increasing availability of commercial forms of nitrogen, a rapid increase in the use of nitrogen fertilizers has taken place in the last few decades. this increasing use of commercial forms of nitrogen is accompanied by the need for more information concerning the proper use of these materials in order to accomplish the greatest benefit. For example, with the advent of increasing use of ammonium fertilizer to improve soil productivity, there has arisen a possibility of lengthening the period from the date of the fertilizer application to the time of utilization by the crop. this advanced application, especially in the fall of the year, has many advantages and is widely advocated. The following questions need to be answered in connection with efficiency of such a practice: Will the ammonium form of nitrogen remain unoxidized in the soil over the winter months? Could it be only partially oxidized and result in an accumulation of nitrites that may cause toxicity or be lost from the soil in gaseous forms such as nitrous oxide? What are the chance for significant losses by volatilization before it is oxidized? How does the amount of moisture and the prevailing temperature affect these transformations? The study reported here is an endeavor to contribute to more complete answers to some of these questions. Although much research has been conducted relating to the effects of moisture or temperature on nitrogen transformations in the soil, more information is needed covering greater variations in the moisture and temperature levels along with the interactions of these. Accordingly, experiments were conducted under carefully controlled conditions to measure the changes occurring in the inorganic soil nitrogen from an applied ammonium source, at various moisture and temperature levels

The politics of prisoner legal rights

The article begins by locating human rights law within the current political context before moving on to critically review judicial reasoning on prisoner legal rights since the introduction of the Human Rights Act 1998. The limited influence of proportionality on legal discourses in England and Wales is then explored by contrasting a number of judgments since October 2000 in the domestic courts and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the restricted interpretation of legal rights for penal reform and proposes an alternative radical rearticulation of the politics of prisoner human rights

Application of Reservoir Characterization and Advanced Technology to Improve Recovery and Economics in a Lower Quality Shallow Shelf San Andres Reservoir Progress Report

The Class 2 Project at West Welch was designed to demonstrate the use of advanced technologies to enhance the economics of improved oil recovery (IOR) projects in lower quality Shallow Shelf Carbonate (SSC) reservoirs, resulting in recovery of additional oil that would otherwise be left in the reservoir at project abandonment. Accurate reservoir description is critical to the effective evaluation and efficient design of IOR projects in the heterogeneous SSC reservoirs. Therefore, the majority of Budget Period 1 was devoted to reservoir characterization. Technologies being demonstrated include: (1) Advanced petrophysics; (2) Three-dimensional (3-D) seismic; (3) Crosswell bore tomography; (4) Advanced reservoir simulation; (5) Carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) stimulation treatments; (6) Hydraulic fracturing design and monitoring; and (7) Mobility control agents

Application of Reservoir Characterization and Advanced Technology to Improve Recovery and Economics in a Lower Quality Shallow Shelf San Andres Reservoir Progress Report

The Class 2 Project at West Welch was designed to demonstrate the use of advanced technologies to enhance the economics of improved oil recovery (IOR) projects in lower quality Shallow Shelf Carbonate (SSC) reservoirs, resulting in recovery of additional oil that would otherwise be left in the reservoir at project abandonment. Accurate reservoir description is critical to the effective evaluation and efficient design of IOR projects in the heterogeneous SSC reservoirs. Therefore, the majority of Budget Period 1 was devoted to reservoir characterization. Technologies being demonstrated include: (1) Advanced petrophysics; (2) Three-dimensional (3-D) seismic; (3) Crosswell bore tomography; (4) Advanced reservoir simulation; (5) Carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) stimulation treatments; (6) Hydraulic fracturing design and monitoring; and (7) Mobility control agents

Active Amplification of the Terrestrial Albedo to Mitigate Climate Change: An Exploratory Study

This study explores the potential to enhance the reflectance of solar insolation by the human settlement and grassland components of the Earth's terrestrial surface as a climate change mitigation measure. Preliminary estimates derived using a static radiative transfer model indicate that such efforts could amplify the planetary albedo enough to offset the current global annual average level of radiative forcing caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gases by as much as 30 percent or 0.76 W/m2. Terrestrial albedo amplification may thus extend, by about 25 years, the time available to advance the development and use of low-emission energy conversion technologies which ultimately remain essential to mitigate long-term climate change. However, additional study is needed to confirm the estimates reported here and to assess the economic and environmental impacts of active land-surface albedo amplification as a climate change mitigation measure.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures. In press with Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, N

1964: Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures - Full Text

LEADERSHIP IN THE CHURCH” Being the Abilene Christian College Annual Bible Lectures 1964 Price: $3.95 Published by ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS EXCHANGE ACC Station Abilene, Texa

Prevention of suicidal behaviour in prisons: an overview of initiatives based on a systematic review of research on near-lethal suicide attempts

Background: Worldwide, prisoners are at high risk of suicide. Research on near-lethal suicide attempts can provide important insights into risk and protective factors, and inform suicide prevention initiatives in prison. Aims: To synthesize findings of research on near-lethal attempts in prisons, and consider their implications for suicide prevention policies and practice, in the context of other research in custody and other settings. Method: We searched two bibliographic indexes for studies in any language on near-lethal and severe self-harm in prisoners, supplemented by targeted searches over the period 2000–2014. We extracted information on risk factors descriptively. Data were not meta-analyzed owing to heterogeneity of samples and methods. Results: We identified eight studies reporting associations between prisoner near-lethal attempts and specific factors. The latter included historical, prison-related, and clinical factors, including psychiatric morbidity and comorbidity, trauma, social isolation, and bullying. These factors were also identified as important in prisoners' own accounts of what may have contributed to their attempts (presented in four studies). Conclusion: Factors associated with prisoners' severe suicide attempts include a range of potentially modifiable clinical, psychosocial, and environmental factors. We make recommendations to address these factors in order to improve detection, management, and prevention of suicide risk in prisoners

Substance abuse and intimate partner violence: treatment considerations

Given the increased use of marital- and family-based treatments as part of treatment for alcoholism and other drug disorders, providers are increasingly faced with the challenge of addressing intimate partner violence among their patients and their intimate partners. Yet, effective options for clinicians who confront this issue are extremely limited. While the typical response of providers is to refer these cases to some form of batterers' treatment, three fundamental concerns make this strategy problematic: (1) most of the agencies that provide batterers' treatment only accept individuals who are legally mandated to complete their programs; (2) among programs that do accept nonmandated patients, most substance-abusing patients do not accept such referrals or drop out early in the treatment process; and (3) available evidence suggests these programs may not be effective in reducing intimate partner violence. Given these very significant concerns with the current referral approach, coupled with the high incidence of IPV among individuals entering substance abuse treatment, providers need to develop strategies for addressing IPV that can be incorporated and integrated into their base intervention packages