Trauma Center-Community Partnerships to Address Firearm Injury: It can be Done

Firearm violence is often framed as a problem of the inner cities and of the criminal justice system. However, this focus may direct attention away from smaller communities that also face firearm violence, including suicide. Ten years ago, the Firearm and Injury Center at Penn (FICAP) developed and implemented a model program in three smaller cities, using trauma centers to spearhead community partnerships. This Issue Brief describes the development and implementation of these partnerships, and highlights one community’s ongoing activities to reduce firearm injury

Firearm Injury in America

In 2000, nearly 29,000 people in the U.S. died from firearm injury. The vast majority of these people died from suicide (58%) or homicide (38%). And for every person who died, at least two others were shot and survived, often with permanent disability. The Firearm Injury Center at Penn (FICAP), founded in 1997, is a unique collaboration among health professionals, researchers and communities to address the magnitude and impact of firearm injury and violence. In this Issue Brief, FICAP presents an overview of firearm violence, and discusses public health approaches to reducing the toll of violent injury

The Case for Enhanced Data Collection of Gun Type

Background: National surveillance systems have differentiated long guns into rifles and shotguns but fail to do so for handgun type. We sought to determine whether specific gun type data could be collected and whether knowledge of specific gun types (rifle, shotgun, pistol, revolver) could be used to distinguish gun homicide victims with respect to important injury parameters such as number of wounds. Methods: Data on gun fatalities over a 5-year period in three communities were abstracted from medical examiner/coroner, police, and crime laboratory records. Results: Gun type was obtained for 92% of 490 guns linked to 405 gun homicides. Handguns were associated with more wounds per gun than long guns (p = 0.001) and more entry wounds per gun than long guns (p = 0.002). Among handguns, pistols were associated with more wounds per gun (p \u3c 0.001) and entry wounds per gun (p = 0.001) than revolvers. These same associations were not found among specific long gun types (i.e., rifles and shotguns). Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that information about gun type can be obtained and that significant differences exist in wounds per gun between long guns and handguns and between pistols and revolvers. Classification of long guns into rifles and shotguns and handguns into pistols and revolvers should be included in local, regional, and national data collection systems

Small molecules induce mesocrystal formation: nanoparticle aggregation directed by self-assembling calixarenes

Calixarenes have been shown to induce mesocrystal formation of barium sulfate, despite being relatively low molecular weight additives. Scanning probe microscopy has shown that a possible mechanism is the self-assembling properties of the calixarene resulting in steric stabilization of the nanoparticles, comparable to that typically requiring polymeric additives

MASS2, Modular Aquatic Simulation System in Two Dimensions, User Guide and Reference

The Modular Aquatic Simulation System in Two Dimensions (MASS2) is a two-dimensional, depth-averaged hydrodynamics and transport model. The model simulates time varying distributions of depth-averaged velocities, water surface elevations, and water quality constituents. This manual documents the use of MASS2. It is the second of two reports on MASS2. The first report documents the theory and numerical methods used in MASS2, and is often referred to herein as the Theory Manual. MASS2 is applicable to a wide variety of environmental analyses of rivers and estuaries where vertical variations in the water column are negligible or unimportant

MASS2, Modular Aquatic Simulation System in Two Dimensions, Theory and Numerical Methods

The Modular Aquatic Simulation System in Two Dimensions (MASS2) is a two-dimensional, depth-averaged hydrodynamics and transport model. The model simulates time varying distributions of depth-averaged velocities, water surface elevations, and water quality constituents. MASS2 uses a structured, multi-block, boundary-fitted, curvilinear computational mesh, which allows the simulation of very complex riverine or estuarine networks. The blocks may be of varying resolution, which allows high resolution to be used only where needed. MASS2 can simulate a wide variety of hydrodynamic conditions, including supercritical flow and hydraulic jumps. It can also simulate a wide variety of water quality conditions, including sediment, conservative or decaying contaminants, sediment-sorbed contaminants, water temperature, and total dissolved gas. Any number of these constituents may be simulated simultaneously. In addition, transport simulations may be performed using pre-calculated hydrodynamic conditions, allowing long-term transport simulations unencumbered by the more intensive hydrodynamic calculations, or repeated transport simulations without re-simulating hydrodynamics. This report documents the theory and numerical methods used in MASS2. In addition, the results are presented from several of hydrodynamic and transport validation tests to which MASS2 was subjected. The companion user manual documents the application of MASS2

Effective Trauma Center Partnerships to Address Firearm Injury: A New Paradigm

Background: Firearm violence is the second leading cause of injury-related death. This study examined the use of local trauma centers as lead organizations in their communities to address firearm injury. Methods: Three trauma centers in cities with populations less than 100,000 were linked with a university-based firearm injury research center. A trauma surgeon director and coordinator partnered with communities, recruited and directed advisory boards, established a local firearm injury surveillance system, and informed communities using community-specific profiles. Primary process and outcome measures included completeness of data, development of community-specific profiles, number of data-driven consumer media pieces, number of meetings to inform policy makers, and an analysis of problems encountered. Results: Local trauma centers in smaller communities implemented a firearm injury surveillance system, produced community-specific injury profiles, and engaged community leaders and policy makers to address firearm injury. Community-specific profiles demonstrated consistent firearm suicide rates (6.58–6.82 per 100,000) but variation in firearm homicide rates (1.08–12.5 per 100,000) across sites. There were 63 data-driven media pieces and 18 forums to inform community leaders and policy makers. Completeness of data elements ranged from 57.1% to 100%. Problems experienced were disconnected data sources, multiple data owners, potential for political fallout, limited trauma center data, skills sets of medical professionals, and sustainability. Conclusion: Trauma centers, when provided resources and support, with the model described, can function as lead organizations in partnering with the community to acquire and use community-specific data for local firearm injury prevention

System and Method for Automated Rendezvous, Docking and Capture of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

A system for automated rendezvous, docking, and capture of autonomous underwater vehicles at the conclusion of a mission comprising of comprised of a docking rod having lighted, pulsating (in both frequency and light intensity) series of LED light strips thereon, with the LEDs at a known spacing, and the autonomous underwater vehicle specially designed to detect and capture the docking rod and then be lifted structurally by a spherical end strop about which the vehicle can be pivoted and hoisted up (e.g., onto a ship). The method of recovery allows for very routine and reliable automated recovery of an unmanned underwater asset