EXPLORING INTERLOCAL COOPERATION IN PUBLIC SAFETY: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

This bibliography summarizes fourteen studies of interlocal collaboration in fire and/or police services. It directs scholars to research materials that examine the patterns of cooperation and relative financial and other advantages (if any) of contracting out these services to other governments. It also includes studies related to the consolidation of police and fire services. Though not exhaustive, this collection of studies includes materials from different time periods and with diverse approaches

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING QUERIES WITH QUERY FILTERS ON A SERVER

The present disclosure provides a method and a system for processing queries with query filter on a server. The method includes receiving a query to be executed. The method analyses the received query and query filter. The method includes performing a search across metadata of Resilient Distributed Datasets (RDDs) associated with one or more files to identify whether the query filter is within a threshold of a given RDD. The method further identifies at least one RDD satisfying the query filter based on the search. Finally, the method includes executing the query to read the content from one or more files associated with the identified at least one RDD

Prospective end-of-life decision-making: A study of Asian Indian Hindu younger and older adults

The process of end-of-life decision-making involves the choice of treatment preference and decision-maker. This study examined Asian Indian Hindus' decisions to determine age and cultural effects within the context of socioemotional selectivity theory. Younger (N=100) and older (N=100) Asian Indian Hindus completed a questionnaire on end-of-life scenarios, Western and Indian acculturation and Hindu end-of-life values. Twenty participants were interviewed. Results of sequential logistic regression provide support for the emphases on positive emotional experiences as predicted by socioemotional selectivity theory, but did not indicate age effects. This was substantiated in the qualitative interview data as well as supplemental analyses with a sample of younger (N=64) and older (N=59) non-Hispanic Whites. Asian Indians were less likely to choose life-sustaining treatments than non-Hispanic Whites. Autonomy in decision-making was important to both ethnic groups. The discussion focuses on implications of these findings for socioemotional selectivity and the role of culture in end-of-life decision-making

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FACILITATING PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS IN OFFLINE MODE

The present disclosure relates to a method and a system for facilitating payment transactions in offline mode. The system comprises a mobile device associated with user, a POS terminal, and a server. At first, the user provides details of mobile number at the POS terminal which is forwarded to the server as a message. The server creates a unique ID based on the mobile number and provides the unique ID to the POS terminal. At the POS terminal, the user provides password which is set during registration of user with the server using which another unique ID is generated by an application in the mobile device. Once both unique ID’s match, a secure connection is set up between the POS terminal and the mobile device for facilitating the payment transactions. The present disclosure overcomes need for NFC feature for performing offline payment transaction at a POS terminal and establishes secure WiFi connection between the POS terminal and the mobile device for the payment transaction processing

The Influence of Cultural Stigma on Perceptions of Mental Illness

The stigma of mental illness can often lead to the afflicted individual not receiving the professional help they need and thereby worsening their condition, which has serious consequences both for themselves and their loved ones. Moreover, stigma surrounding mental illness varies from culture to culture. This research study highlighted the significance of studying stigma and long-term coping with a loved one’s mental health issues across cultures. Differences in perceptions of mental health based on the type of culture and (in)experience of growing up with someone who had mental health issues were tested. I predicted that there were main effects of both culture and exposure, such that participants from collectivist cultures would have more negative perceptions towards mental health and those who did not grow up with someone who had mental health issues would have more negative perceptions towards mental health. I also predicted an interaction: while individualists would have relatively positive perceptions regardless of experience, collectivists would have negative perceptions where there is no experience but relatively positive perceptions if there is experience growing up with someone who had mental health issues. Additionally, I tested that these effects were held when controlling for socioeconomic status, mental health education, mental health support, and gender. The results of the study only supported a main effect of culture on anger. Additional analyses found that there were interaction effects among culture and mental health support and culture and mental health familiarity for both personal responsibility and anger. Overall, while the study did not bridge the gap between cultural stigma and coping, it did contribute to the literature by indicating how strongly culture and stigma influence mental health perceptions, and how individuals with past experiences of mental illness compared to those without past experiences of mental illness