Where there’s smoke there’s fire: An opportunity theory perspective on vehicle arson

Opportunity theories of crime suggest that crime occurs in specific spatio-temporal patterns due to an increase in opportunity and a decrease in risk. Financially-motivated crimes have been demonstrated to be influenced by the economy. From an opportunity perspective this is likely to be due to changes in an individual’s financial circumstances leading them to view the benefits of crime to outweigh the risks. To extend this idea, this research is examining whether financial hardship influences the perceived costs/benefits associated with crimes such as vehicle arson committed with the intention of escaping debt. From 1997-2003, vehicle fires in Surrey were occurring at a rate more than double the national average and many of these were transpiring under suspicious circumstances. Using an opportunity theory framework, this study aims to examine the spatio-temporal patterns of vehicle arson and discover how it was effected by changes in economic conditions. The data for this study were obtained from Surrey Fire Services and contain information on all fires that involved a vehicle in Surrey from 2000-2015. The vehicle fire data were separated into arson and non-arson groups depending on their recorded act/omission and various economic variables were considered to represent the market. Vehicle arson trends were examined over the study period along with motor vehicle theft data, economic variables and the non-arson fire data. Relative to the unsuspicious vehicle fires, vehicle arson was significantly more likely to occur at night in areas with little surveillance. Results indicate that vehicle arson increases during times of economic downturn. Vehicle arson significantly increased following a rise in unemployment and interest rates whilst non-arson vehicle fires remained stable throughout the study period thus supporting an opportunity theory of crime. Results are discussed with relation to situational crime prevention policy and practice

Beta-endorphin expression and sex affect the ability of alcohol to alter tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity in the reward pathway in mice

Alcohol has sexually dimorphic effects on the brain, and the endogenous opioid, beta-endorphin (BE), mediates many effects of alcohol. In the mesolimbic dopamine reward pathway, alcohol stimulates neurons to enhance dopaminergic signaling, but the exact mechanism underlying this phenomenon is unknown. Alcohol could impact dopaminergic signaling in the reward pathway by affecting the production and localization of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme for dopamine synthesis. Therefore, we hypothesized that acute alcohol intoxication would increase c-fos expression and tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity (TH-ir) in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) in a sex- and BE-dependent manner. In this study, male and female wild type (WT) and BE knock out (KO) mice were injected intraperitoneally with 2g/kg ethanol (EtOH) or saline. Post-injection animals were sacrificed by overdose with sodium pentobarbital and perfused with saline followed by 4% paraformaldehyde. Brain sections (35μm) were processed for immunohistochemical staining for TH (Anti-TH, 1:10,000, EMD Millipore) and cfos (1:5000, SYnaptic SYstems). The number of single and double labeled cells in the VTA were counted and the integrated optical density of the TH-ir staining in the NAc was quantified using Image Pro Plus software. In the VTA, KO females given EtOH treatment exhibited greater c-fos and TH expression. EtOH treatment significantly decreased TH-ir in the NAc in WT mice and increased it in KO mice. The results of this study indicate that females are particularly sensitive to the effects of EtOH and emphasizes the importance of studying the impact of sex on alcohol addiction

Importance of safety climate, teamwork climate and demographics: understanding nurses, allied health professionals and clerical staff perceptions of patient safety

Background: There is growing evidence regarding the importance of contextual factors for patient/staff outcomes and the likelihood of successfully implementing safety improvement interventions such as checklists; however, certain literature gaps still remain—for example, lack of research examining the interactive effects of safety constructs on outcomes. This study has addressed some of these gaps, together with adding to our understanding of how context influences safety. Purpose: The impact of staff perceptions of safety climate (ie, senior and supervisory leadership support for safety) and teamwork climate on a self-reported safety outcome (ie, overall perceptions of patient safety (PS)) were examined at a hospital in Southern Ontario. Methods: Cross-sectional survey data were collected from nurses, allied health professionals and unit clerks working on intensive care, general medicine, mental health or emergency department. Results: Hierarchical regression analyses showed that perceptions of senior leadership (p<0.001) and teamwork (p<0.001) were significantly associated with overall perceptions of PS. A non-significant association was found between perceptions of supervisory leadership and the outcome variable. However, when staff perceived poorer senior leadership support for safety, the positive effect of supervisory leadership on overall perceptions of PS became significantly stronger (p<0.05). Practice implications: Our results suggest that leadership support at one level (ie, supervisory) can substitute for the absence of leadership support for safety at another level (ie, senior level). While healthcare organisations should recruit into leadership roles and retain individuals who prioritise safety and possess adequate relational competencies, the field would now benefit from evidence regarding how to build leadership support for PS. Also, it is important to provide on-site workshops on topics (eg, conflict management) that can strengthen working relationships across professional and unit boundaries.York University Librarie

Who Will Own the Mazama? Tribal Power and Forest Ownership in the Klamath Basin

Through the case study of a 90,000-acre section of forest called the Mazama Tree Farm (Mazama), this manuscript explores several dynamics within the State of Jefferson, notably (1) the changing power of Native American tribes relative to other landowners and (2) the transition in rural land uses from productivism toward post-productivism. The Mazama was part of the Klamath Reservation until tribal termination in 1954, when it was purchased by an industrial landowner. The loss of the reservation coincided with the nadir of tribal power within the State of Jefferson, but more recent developments may return the Mazama to tribal ownership as a result of renewed tribal power and the diminishing role of industrial forestry in the region

Taking Credit: Maximizing College Students\u27 Ability to Raise Credit Scores

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1102/thumbnail.jp

Writing on Demand in College, Career, and Community Writing: Preparing Students to Participate in the Pop-Up Parlor

The Writing on Demand Unit is an important part of the College, Career, and Community Writers Program. In this article, we review the literature on C3WP; contextualize the writing on demand unit in relation to the other instructional resources in C3WP; explore five big ideas about writing on demand; and describe an approach to teaching this unit that includes some preliminary results of teaching this unit in a rural, Native American high school. The five big ideas that inform its use are the following: 1) emotions matter, 2) everyone does it, so provide reasons for writing on demand, 3) time is important, 4) reading on demand is a part of writing on demand, and 5) transfer is key. Furthermore, we believe that this unit can potentially improve access and equity in education and that C3WP provides a foundation for the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Education

Quality of Life and Functional Capacity following Peripheral Arterial Disease Exercise Programme

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a manifestation of generalised atherosclerotic disease in which the arterial lumen becomes progressively narrowed by atherosclerotic plaques. This results in reduced blood flow to the tissues causing pain on exercise, relieved by rest (Intermittent Claudication [IC]). As PAD is a chronic, progressive disease with a significant cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk burden it has a considerable impact on functional capacity and quality of life (QOL). Current evidence suggests that 27 million people in Europe and North America have PAD1. The main aim of treatment is maintenance or improvement in quality of life by eliminating ischaemic symptoms and preventing progression to vascular occlusion. The use of patient-based measures of treatment effect including functional capacity and disease-specific quality of life questionnaires has been recommended