Explaining trends in addictive behaviour policy--the role of policy coherence.

PubMed

Adam, Christian; Raschzok, Andreas

2014-05-01

This article analyses addictive behaviour policy regimes - focusing on illegal drugs and gambling - in 19 countries over a period of 50 years. It compares how these countries have combined rules on the consumption and possession of cannabis and on the participation in sports betting with sanctions for violations of these rules. While theories of policy convergence can explain dominant trends in the way the combination of these policy instruments have changed, they cannot account for all of the empirical variation observed. Turning to Portugal, a case which deviates in both illegal drug and gambling policy from the expected trend, we show that explanations of policy change improve substantially when taking the concept of policy coherence into account. Specifically, we argue that changes of the policy status quo are facilitated when policy entrepreneurs succeed in shaping a perception of policy incoherence. In turn, when relevant actors are able to maintain a perception of policy coherence, the policy status quo is stabilized. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Legal, illegal and legitimate in the use and misuse of substances].

PubMed

Ghioldi, Leonardo

2016-11-01

his article attempts to establish a dialogue between existing laws, their effectiveness and the controversy within the context of the popularization of substance use in the country. To this end, the origin of the criminalization of substance use and the contradictory positions that have been adopted in laws and court rulings are tracked. All this is confronted with the growing habit of psychoactive substance use among general population, which no laws and rulings have yet managed to in?uence.

Spatiotemporal trends of illegal activities from ranger-collected data in a Ugandan national park.

PubMed

Critchlow, R; Plumptre, A J; Driciru, M; Rwetsiba, A; Stokes, E J; Tumwesigye, C; Wanyama, F; Beale, C M

2015-10-01

Within protected areas, biodiversity loss is often a consequence of illegal resource use. Understanding the patterns and extent of illegal activities is therefore essential for effective law enforcement and prevention of biodiversity declines. We used extensive data, commonly collected by ranger patrols in many protected areas, and Bayesian hierarchical models to identify drivers, trends, and distribution of multiple illegal activities within the Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area (QECA), Uganda. Encroachment (e.g., by pastoralists with cattle) and poaching of noncommercial animals (e.g., snaring bushmeat) were the most prevalent illegal activities within the QECA. Illegal activities occurred in different areas of the QECA. Poaching of noncommercial animals was most widely distributed within the national park. Overall, ecological covariates, although significant, were not useful predictors for occurrence of illegal activities. Instead, the location of illegal activities in previous years was more important. There were significant increases in encroachment and noncommercial plant harvesting (nontimber products) during the study period (1999-2012). We also found significant spatiotemporal variation in the occurrence of all activities. Our results show the need to explicitly model ranger patrol effort to reduce biases from existing uncorrected or capture per unit effort analyses. Prioritization of ranger patrol strategies is needed to target illegal activities; these strategies are determined by protected area managers, and therefore changes at a site-level can be implemented quickly. These strategies should also be informed by the location of past occurrences of illegal activity: the most useful predictor of future events. However, because spatial and temporal changes in illegal activities occurred, regular patrols throughout the protected area, even in areas of low occurrence, are also required. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

School Districts Face New Limitations under Commercial Drivers License Rules.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finkel, Karen

1990-01-01

Summarizes the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 requirements, discusses problems engendered by new state laws, and tells how school administrators can ensure that their state's law does not inhibit school bus driver recruitment and retainment. Basically, multiple commercial licenses are now illegal, and alcohol impairment standards are…

Reducing the Illegal Sales of Cigarettes to Minors: Analysis of Alternative Enforcement Schedules.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jason, Leonard; And Others

1996-01-01

Stores (n=120) in Chicago (Illinois) were targeted for enforcement of prohibitions on selling cigarettes to minors. Enforcement schedules of 2, 4, and 6 months were effective in reducing illegal sales, from 86% to 19%, 87% to 34%, and 87% to 42%, respectively, indicating the effectiveness of regular enforcement of civil penalties for tobacco sales…

Sub-Saharan Africa Report

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-09-15

Zimbabwe Tourist Development Corporation and its Mozambican counterpart, Empresa Nacional de Turismo , will co-operate in training programmes for...31 Afrikaners Urged To Cooperate With Moderates of Other Races (Hannes de Wet; THE STAR, 13 Aug 86) 33 - b - Official Supports Joint...Illegal Workers Targeted 54 De Klerk on Groups’ Survival 55 Minister Says Apartheid Alive 55 Police Cash Reward 55 ’Illegal Aliens’ Hiring Opposed 56

Unfair "Housing Regulation of Major Construction" in the Russian Federation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goncharov, Alexander I.; Inshakova, Agnessa O.; Kazachenok, Olesya P.; Dikarev, Ilya S.

2016-01-01

This research analyzes the illegal and unreasonable practice of court rulings that aim to accelerate the major construction of problematic long-delayed apartment blocks in the Russian Federation. The authors express their critical attitude to the widespread wrongful approach that violates the laws in effect and allows courts to apply…

Teens, Drugs, & Vegas: Toxicological surveillance of illicit prescription and illegal drug abuse in adolescents (12-17 years) using post-mortem data in Clark County, Nevada from 2005 to 2015.

PubMed

Paul, Anthea B Mahesan; Simms, Lary; Mahesan, Andrew A; Belanger, Eric Charles

2018-04-14

Illegal drug abuse, particularly prescription drug abuse is a growing problem in the United States. Research on adolescent drug abuse is based on national self-reported data. Using local coroner data, quantitative prevalence of illegal substance toxicology and trends can be assessed to aid directed outreach and community-based prevention initiatives. Retrospective analysis was conducted on all cases aged 12-17 years referred to the Office of the Medical Examiner, Clark County from 2005 to 2015 (n = 526). The prevalence of illegal opioid use in this population was 13.3%. The most commonly used drug was tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in 29.7%. Illegal-prescription opioids and benzodiazepines were used approximately 1.7 times as much as all other illegal-drugs, excluding THC combined. The largest proportion of illicit prescription drug users were accidental death victims (p = 0.02, OR = 2.02). Drug trends by youth are ever evolving and current specific data is necessary to target prevention initiatives in local communities. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Longitudinal change mechanisms for substance use and illegal activity for adolescents in treatment.

PubMed

Hunter, Brooke D; Godley, Susan H; Hesson-McInnis, Matthew S; Roozen, Hendrik G

2014-06-01

The current study investigated: (a) the relationships of exposure to the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA) with reductions in substance use, illegal activity, and juvenile justice system involvement in adolescents diagnosed with a substance use disorder, and (b) the pathways by which reductions in the target behaviors were achieved. This study is a secondary data analysis of longitudinal data from a large-scale implementation effort for A-CRA. The sample consisted of 1,467 adolescents who presented to substance use treatment and reported past-year engagement in illegal activity. Participants had an average age of 15.8 years (SD = 1.3) and were 25% female, 14% African American, 29% Hispanic, 35% Caucasian, 16% mixed ethnicity, and 6% other ethnicity. Path analyses provided support that participation in A-CRA had a significant, direct association with reduced substance use; a significant, indirect association with reduced illegal activity through reductions in substance use; and a significant indirect association with reduced juvenile justice system involvement through reductions in both substance use and illegal activity. In addition, post hoc analyses using a bootstrapping strategy provided evidence that reductions in substance use partially mediated the relationship between A-CRA and illegal activity.

New Rules Will Push Colleges to Rethink Tactics against Student Pirates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lipka, Sara

2009-01-01

Colleges have deployed various tactics over the years to deter illegal file sharing, usually of commercial music and movies, by their students. This month, the U.S. Department of Education will begin crafting regulations that specify strategies, a prospect that is making some campus officials wonder if plans they have already invested in will pass…

State Law Challenges to School Discipline: An Outline of Claims and Case Summaries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pressman, Robert

This publication presents topic headings that may be used as a checklist of state law grounds for challenging a disciplinary action. Topics include: (1) illegality in rule adoption; (2) inadequate notice that conduct is subject to discipline; (3) existence of a protected interest; (4) inadequate notice of hearing; (5) inadequate hearing…

76 FR 52297 - Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; U.S. Captive-Bred Inter-Subspecific Crossed or...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-22

...-ground tiger conservation efforts, such as anti-poaching programs, habitat and ecosystem management... protect wild tiger populations from poaching and illegal trade, but also the implementation of measures to... the head of an agency certifies that the rule would not have a significant economic impact on a...

Taxation without representation: the illegal IRS rule to expand tax credits under the PPACA.

PubMed

Adler, Jonathan H; Cannon, Michael F

2013-01-01

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) provides tax credits and subsidies for the purchase of qualifying health insurance plans on state-run insurance exchanges. Contrary to expectations, many states are refusing or otherwise failing to create such exchanges. An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule purports to extend these tax credits and subsidies to the purchase of health insurance in federal exchanges created in states without exchanges of their own. This rule lacks statutory authority. The text, structure, and history of the Act show that tax credits and subsidies are not available in federally run exchanges. The IRS rule is contrary to congressional intent and cannot be justified on other legal grounds. Because tax credit eligibility can trigger penalties on employers and individuals, affected parties are likely to have standing to challenge the IRS rule in court.

What the Rule of Law Should Mean in Civics Education: From the "Following Orders" Defence to the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minow, Martha

2006-01-01

Sixty years after the International Military Tribunal opened in Nuremberg to try "major war criminals", how should soldiers learn not to follow clearly illegal or unconscionable orders? Following the Charter of the International Military Tribunal, judges during the Nuremberg Trials rejected defendants' efforts to avoid punishment on the basis of…

Amid Immigration Debate, Settled Ground: High Court's School Access Ruling Endures as a Quiet Fact of Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zehr, Mary Ann

2007-01-01

Illegal immigration is a divisive issue in the politically conservative East Texas community of Tyler, known by many locally as "The Rose Capital of America." Drawn by jobs in the rose fields and iron foundries, Mexican immigrants began settling here with their families in the 1970s. Hispanic children--citizens, legal residents, and…

Who Wants to Save the Forest? Characterizing Community-Led Monitoring in Prey Lang, Cambodia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turreira-García, Nerea; Meilby, Henrik; Brofeldt, Søren; Argyriou, Dimitris; Theilade, Ida

2018-06-01

Community monitoring is believed to be successful only where there is sustained funding, legislation for communities to enforce rules, clear tenure rights, and an enabling environment created by the state. Against this backdrop, we present the case of an autonomous grassroots-monitoring network that took the initiative to protect their forest, in a context, where no external incentives and rule enforcement power were provided. The aim was to analyze the socio-demographic and economic backgrounds, motivations and achievements of forest monitors, compared to non-monitors in the same communities. A total of 137 interviews were conducted in four villages bordering Prey Lang forest in Cambodia. We used binary logit models to identify the factors that influenced the likelihood of being a monitor. Results show that there were few (22%, n = 30) active monitors. Active monitors were intrinsically motivated forest-users, and not specifically associated with a particular gender, ethnicity, or residence-time in that area. The most common interventions were with illegal loggers, and the monitors had a general feeling of success in stopping the illegal activities. Most (73%, n = 22) of them had been threatened by higher authorities and loggers. Our results show that despite the lack of power to enforce rules, absence of external funding and land-ownership rights, and enduring threats of violence and conflicts, autonomous community monitoring may take place when community members are sufficiently motivated by the risk of losing their resources.

Determination of eight illegal drugs in human urine by combination of magnetic solid-phase extraction with capillary zone electrophoresis.

PubMed

Chen, Ming-Luan; Suo, Li-Li; Gao, Qiang; Feng, Yu-Qi

2011-08-01

Using magnetite/silica/poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) (Fe(3)O(4)/SiO(2)/poly(MAA-co-EDMA)) magnetic microspheres, a rapid and high-throughput magnetic solid-phase extraction coupled with capillary zone electrophoresis (MSPE-CZE) method was developed for the determination of illegal drugs (ketamine, amphetamines, opiates, and metabolites). The MSPE of target analytes could be completed within 2 min, and the eight target analytes could be baseline separated within 15 min by CZE with 30 mM phosphate buffer solution (PBS, pH 2.0) containing 15% v/v ACN as background electrolyte. Furthermore, hydrodynamic injection with field-amplified sample stacking (FASS) was employed to enhance the sensitivity of this MSPE-CZE method. Under such optimal conditions, the limits of detection for the eight target analytes ranged from 0.015 to 0.105 μg/mL. The application feasibility of MSPE-CZE in illegal drugs monitoring was demonstrated by analyzing urine samples, and the recoveries of target drugs for the spiked sample ranging from 85.4 to 110.1%. The method reproducibility was tested by evaluating the intra- and interday precisions, and relative standard deviations of <10.3 and 12.4%, respectively, were obtained. To increase throughput of the analysis, a home-made MSPE array that has potential application to the treatment of 96 samples simultaneously was used. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Broca's area and the language instinct.

PubMed

Musso, Mariacristina; Moro, Andrea; Glauche, Volkmar; Rijntjes, Michel; Reichenbach, Jürgen; Büchel, Christian; Weiller, Cornelius

2003-07-01

Language acquisition in humans relies on abilities like abstraction and use of syntactic rules, which are absent in other animals. The neural correlate of acquiring new linguistic competence was investigated with two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. German native speakers learned a sample of 'real' grammatical rules of different languages (Italian or Japanese), which, although parametrically different, follow the universal principles of grammar (UG). Activity during this task was compared with that during a task that involved learning 'unreal' rules of language. 'Unreal' rules were obtained manipulating the original two languages; they used the same lexicon as Italian or Japanese, but were linguistically illegal, as they violated the principles of UG. Increase of activation over time in Broca's area was specific for 'real' language acquisition only, independent of the kind of language. Thus, in Broca's area, biological constraints and language experience interact to enable linguistic competence for a new language.

Plan Colombia: The Strategic and Operational Imperatives

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-04-01

through freer markets , and economic integration through free trade agreements leading to an eventual Free Trade Area of the Americas. Both the Clinton...such manifestations of the Colombian state as the judicial system, police, military, roads, schools, medical service, markets , and credit facilities... principles of democratic community—the rule of law, the inviolability of international borders, and the security of the individual and society. Illegal

Colombia: Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-12

Demobilization Ruling Thwarts Future Abuses,” July 19, 2006; “ Gobierno colombiano abrirá debate público sobre decretos reglamentarios de ley de ...ongoing scandal concerning past government ties to illegal paramilitary groups. Uribe’s popularity soared after Colombia’s March 2008 raid of a FARC camp...investigation for possible paramilitary ties . On July 28, 2008, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a certification to Congress asserting that the

Retail sales of scheduled listed chemical products; self-certification of regulated sellers of scheduled listed chemical products. Interim final rule with request for comment.

PubMed

2006-09-26

In March 2006, the President signed the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, which establishes new requirements for retail sales of over-the-counter (nonprescription) products containing the List I chemicals ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine. The three chemicals can be used to manufacture methamphetamine illegally. DEA is promulgating this rule to incorporate the statutory provisions and make its regulations consistent with the new requirements. This action establishes daily and 30-day limits on the sales of scheduled listed chemical products to individuals and requires recordkeeping on most sales.

Development and evaluation of an immunochromatographic strip for rapid screening of sildenafil-type compounds as illegal additives in functional foods.

PubMed

Guo, Jiebiao; Liu, Wangpei; Lan, Xianquan; Chen, Hualong; Xiao, Zijun

2016-07-01

Sildenafil is a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor (PDE-5) for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Undeclared sildenafil and related analogues adulterated in functional foods are a threat to public health. To screen these illegal drugs rapidly in herbal samples, an immunochromatographic (IC) assay was developed based on polyclonal antibodies specific to both sildenafil and its analogues. A group that is pharmacological necessary for sildenafil and its analogues was employed as a representative hapten for the generation antibodies against the target compounds. The desired antisera showed satisfactory specificities to sildenafil and major analogues with IC50 values ranging from 19.3 to 34.6 ng ml(-1) in a referring enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The optimised IC assay showed detection thresholds in the range 5.0-20 μg g(-1) for sildenafil and major analogues in herbal samples. Sixty herbal food supplements were screened and six were found to be positive using the IC strip. It was confirmed by ELISA and UPLC-PDA-MS/MS that positive samples contain target illegal additives in levels of 10-40 mg g(-1) (1-4%). In this range, sensitivity of the IC strip is adequate to screen sildenafil-type compounds in herbal commodities under a dilution ratio of 1:10(3). Thus, the current IC assay is a suitable tool for screening sildenafil and its analogues as illegal additives in herbal food supplements.

Wastewater-based epidemiology generated forensic information: Amphetamine synthesis waste and its impact on a small sewage treatment plant.

PubMed

Emke, Erik; Vughs, Dennis; Kolkman, Annemieke; de Voogt, Pim

2018-05-01

Chemical analysis of domestic wastewater can reveal the presence of illicit drugs either consumed by a population or directly discharged into the sewer system. In the search for causes of a recent malfunctioning of a small domestic wastewater treatment plant aberrantly high loads of amphetamine were observed in the influent of the plant. Direct discharges of chemical waste from illegal production sites were suspected to be the cause. Illegal manufacturing of amphetamines creates substantial amounts of chemical waste. Here we show that fly-tipping of chemical waste originating from an amphetamine synthesis in the catchment of a small sewage treatment plant resulted in failure of the treatment process. Target analysis of drugs of abuse and non-target screening using high resolution mass spectrometry provided evidence for the presence of amphetamine produced from the precursor 1-phenylpropan-2-one by the Leuckart process through specific synthesis markers. Furthermore the identity and presence of the pre-precursor 3-oxo-2-phenylbutanamide was confirmed and a route specific marker was proposed. This is the first study that demonstrates that non-target screening of wastewater can identify intermediates, impurities and by products of the synthesis routes used in illegal manufacturing of amphetamine. The profiles of chemicals thus obtained can be used in tracking productions sites within the corresponding sewer catchment. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Illegal hunting cases detected with molecular forensics in Brazil

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Illegal hunting is one of the major threats to vertebrate populations in tropical regions. This unsustainable practice has serious consequences not only for the target populations, but also for the dynamics and structure of tropical ecosystems. Generally, in cases of suspected illegal hunting, the only evidence available is pieces of meat, skin or bone. In these cases, species identification can only be reliably determined using molecular technologies. Here, we reported an investigative study of three cases of suspected wildlife poaching in which molecular biology techniques were employed to identify the hunted species from remains of meat. Findings By applying cytochrome b (cyt-b) and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) molecular markers, the suspected illegal poaching was confirmed by the identification of three wild species, capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), Chaco Chachalaca (Ortalis canicollis) and Pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus). In Brazil, hunting is a criminal offense, and based on this evidence, the defendants were found guilty and punished with fines; they may still be sentenced to prison for a period of 6 to 12 months. Conclusions The genetic analysis used in this investigative study was suitable to diagnose the species killed and solve these criminal investigations. Molecular forensic techniques can therefore provide an important tool that enables local law enforcement agencies to apprehend illegal poachers. PMID:22863070

Not an 'iron pipeline', but many capillaries: regulating passive transactions in Los Angeles' secondary, illegal gun market.

PubMed

Chesnut, Kelsie Y; Barragan, Melissa; Gravel, Jason; Pifer, Natalie A; Reiter, Keramet; Sherman, Nicole; Tita, George E

2017-08-01

California has strict firearm-related laws and is exceptional in its regulation of firearms retailers. Though evidence suggests that these laws can reduce illegal access to guns, high levels of gun violence persist in Los Angeles (LA), California. This research seeks to describe the sources of guns accessed by active offenders in LA, California and reports offenders' motivations for obtaining guns. Los Angeles County Jail (LACJ) system (four facilities). Random sampling from a screened pool of eligible participants was used to conduct qualitative semistructured interviews with 140 incarcerated gun offenders in one of four (LACJ) facilities. Researchers collected data on firearm acquisition, experiences related to gun violence, and other topics, using a validated survey instrument. Grounded theory guided the collection and analysis of data. Respondents reported possession of 77 specific guns (79.2% handguns) collectively. Social networks facilitate access to illegal guns; the majority of interviewees acquired their illegal guns through a social connection (85.7%) versus an outside broker/unregulated retailer (8.5%). Most guns were obtained through illegal purchase (n=51) or gift (n=15). A quarter of gun purchasers report engaging in a passive transaction, or one initiated by another party. Passive gun buyers were motivated by concerns for personal safety and/or economic opportunity. In LA's illegal gun market, where existing social relationships facilitate access to guns across a diffuse network, individuals, influenced by both fear and economic opportunity, have frequent opportunities to illegally possess firearms through passive transactions. Gun policies should better target and minimise these transactions. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Massacre of Canadian Army Medical Corps personnel after the sinking of HMHS Llandovery Castle and the evolution of modern war crime jurisprudence

PubMed Central

Doucet, Jay; McAlister, Vivian

2018-01-01

Summary Events after the sinking of the hospital ship Llandovery Castle on June 27, 1918, by the German submarine U-86 outraged Canadians. Survivors aboard a single life raft gave evidence that many of the 234 souls lost had made it to lifeboats but were rammed and shot by the submarine. Many of those who died were nurses. Three German officers were charged with war crimes after the war. The submarine’s captain evaded capture. The remaining two officers’ defence that they were following the captain’s orders failed and they were convicted. This ruling was used as a precedent to dismiss similar claims at the war crime trials after the Second World War. It is also the basis of the order given to members of modern militaries, including the Canadian Armed Forces, that it is illegal to carry out an illegal order. PMID:29806812

Massacre of Canadian Army Medical Corps personnel after the sinking of HMHS Llandovery Castle and the evolution of modern war crime jurisprudence.

PubMed

Doucet, Jay; Haley, Gregory; McAlister, Vivian

2018-06-01

Events after the sinking of the hospital ship Llandovery Castle on June 27, 1918, by the German submarine U-86 outraged Canadians. Survivors aboard a single life raft gave evidence that many of the 234 souls lost had made it to lifeboats but were rammed and shot by the submarine. Many of those who died were nurses. Three German officers were charged with war crimes after the war. The submarine's captain evaded capture. The remaining two officers' defence that they were following the captain's orders failed and they were convicted. This ruling was used as a precedent to dismiss similar claims at the war crime trials after the Second World War. It is also the basis of the order given to members of modern militaries, including the Canadian Armed Forces, that it is illegal to carry out an illegal order.

Choices and Challenges: A Guide for the Battalion Commander’s Wife

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-05-28

make sure you allow yourself plenty of time between them (about 20 minutes) to replenish food and beverage . Whom do you invite? There are no rules. Some...Etiquette" .............. 91 P. Information Letter for a Unit Dining Out V (Sample) ......... ..................... 97 Q. Conducting a Workshop...Fundraising Events: bake sales (donation only), food booth sales, auctions and raifles (days off or passes for soldiers are illegal). Check your local

Translations on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, Number 288

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-03-10

benefits, U.S. medical researchers have found, and can be used to relieve the symptoms of glaucoma and asthma and as a tonic for terminal cancer ...DAILY TELEGRAPH, 11 Feb 77) 157 h - CONTENTS (Continued) Page Court Rules Possession of Cannabis Seed Not Illegal (Terence Shaw; THE DAILY...raw opium, or 200 grams of cannabis or cannabis resin or more, otherwise than in accordance with the authority of the ordinance or any other

[The risk for illegal behaviour and corruption in the healthcare sector: what preventive measures can be taken?].

PubMed

Rivoiro, Chiara

2016-05-01

In the healthcare sector risk factors for illegal behavior and corruption are peculiar and greater than in other social areas, as it plays a crucial role in the community's economical, political and cultural life. The healthcare services is a complex network that require interaction between may people, constant contacts with the industry, safety and adequate facilities that require regular maintenance, upgrade and replacement of medical technology, connection with local and regional policy makers. This provides the opportunity of being exposed to improper influence. However, illegal behaviors can be prevented: first of all supporting all professionals that everyday work to protect our health with ethics and expertise; then with all instruments that anti-corruption action plans, such as the one introduced in Italy in 2012, aim to identify and target those areas most at risk of corruption phenomena.

To 'enable our legal product to compete effectively with the transit market': British American Tobacco's strategies in Thailand following the 1990 GATT dispute.

PubMed

MacKenzie, Ross; Lee, Kelley; LeGresley, Eric

2015-08-21

The opening of the Thai tobacco market, following action brought by the US Trade Representative under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, is seen as a key case study of the tensions between trade and health policy. Interpretations of the dispute cast it, either as an example of how trade agreements undermine national policy-making, or how governments can adopt effective public health protections compliant with international trade rules. As a UK-based company, British American Tobacco has been regarded as peripheral to this dispute. This paper argues that its close monitoring of the illegal trade during this period, the role of smuggling in the company's global business strategy, and its management of the relative supply and pricing of legal and illegal products after market opening provide a fuller understanding of the interests and roles of transnational tobacco companies and the government in this dispute. The findings have important policy implications, notably the role of effective governance in countries facing pressure to open their tobacco sectors, need to better understand corporate-level activities within an increasingly globalised tobacco industry, and need to address the intertwined legal and illegal trade in implementing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.

To ‘enable our legal product to compete effectively with the transit market’: British American Tobacco’s strategies in Thailand following the 1990 GATT dispute

PubMed Central

MacKenzie, Ross; Lee, Kelley; LeGresley, Eric

2016-01-01

The opening of the Thai tobacco market, following action brought by the US Trade Representative under the GATT, is seen as a key case study of the tensions between trade and health policy. Interpretations of the dispute cast it, either as an example of how trade agreements undermine national policy making, or how governments can adopt effective public health protections compliant with international trade rules. As a UK-based company, British American Tobacco has been regarded as peripheral to this dispute. This paper argues that its close monitoring of the illegal trade during this period, the role of smuggling in the company’s global business strategy, and its management of the relative supply and pricing of legal and illegal products after market opening provide a fuller understanding of the interests and roles of transnational tobacco companies and the government in this dispute. The findings have important policy implications, notably the role of effective governance in countries facing pressure to open their tobacco sectors, need to better understand corporate-level activities within an increasingly globalized tobacco industry, and need to address the intertwined legal and illegal trade in implementing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. PMID:26295971

Stress-Induced Enzyme Compounds Methamphetamine Neurotoxicity

MedlinePlus

... two exposures. They implicate ketoprofen’s main target, the pro-inflammatory enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX-1/COX-2), in ... Illegal Drugs Inhalants K2/Spice Kratom LSD (Acid) Marijuana MDMA (Ecstasy) Methamphetamine Opioids Other Drugs Over-the- ...

A Mixed-Method Approach for Quantifying Illegal Fishing and Its Impact on an Endangered Fish Species.

PubMed

Free, Christopher M; Jensen, Olaf P; Mendsaikhan, Bud

2015-01-01

Illegal harvest is recognized as a widespread problem in natural resource management. The use of multiple methods for quantifying illegal harvest has been widely recommended yet infrequently applied. We used a mixed-method approach to evaluate the extent, character, and motivations of illegal gillnet fishing in Lake Hovsgol National Park, Mongolia and its impact on the lake's fish populations, especially that of the endangered endemic Hovsgol grayling (Thymallus nigrescens). Surveys for derelict fishing gear indicate that gillnet fishing is widespread and increasing and that fishers generally use 3-4 cm mesh gillnet. Interviews with resident herders and park rangers suggest that many residents fish for subsistence during the spring grayling spawning migration and that some residents fish commercially year-round. Interviewed herders and rangers generally agree that fish population sizes are decreasing but are divided on the causes and solutions. Biological monitoring indicates that the gillnet mesh sizes used by fishers efficiently target Hovsgol grayling. Of the five species sampled in the monitoring program, only burbot (Lota lota) showed a significant decrease in population abundance from 2009-2013. However, grayling, burbot, and roach (Rutilus rutilus) all showed significant declines in average body size, suggesting a negative fishing impact. Data-poor stock assessment methods suggest that the fishing effort equivalent to each resident family fishing 50-m of gillnet 11-15 nights per year would be sufficient to overexploit the grayling population. Results from the derelict fishing gear survey and interviews suggest that this level of effort is not implausible. Overall, we demonstrate the ability for a mixed-method approach to effectively describe an illegal fishery and suggest that these methods be used to assess illegal fishing and its impacts in other protected areas.

A Mixed-Method Approach for Quantifying Illegal Fishing and Its Impact on an Endangered Fish Species

PubMed Central

Free, Christopher M.; Jensen, Olaf P.; Mendsaikhan, Bud

2015-01-01

Illegal harvest is recognized as a widespread problem in natural resource management. The use of multiple methods for quantifying illegal harvest has been widely recommended yet infrequently applied. We used a mixed-method approach to evaluate the extent, character, and motivations of illegal gillnet fishing in Lake Hovsgol National Park, Mongolia and its impact on the lake’s fish populations, especially that of the endangered endemic Hovsgol grayling (Thymallus nigrescens). Surveys for derelict fishing gear indicate that gillnet fishing is widespread and increasing and that fishers generally use 3–4 cm mesh gillnet. Interviews with resident herders and park rangers suggest that many residents fish for subsistence during the spring grayling spawning migration and that some residents fish commercially year-round. Interviewed herders and rangers generally agree that fish population sizes are decreasing but are divided on the causes and solutions. Biological monitoring indicates that the gillnet mesh sizes used by fishers efficiently target Hovsgol grayling. Of the five species sampled in the monitoring program, only burbot (Lota lota) showed a significant decrease in population abundance from 2009–2013. However, grayling, burbot, and roach (Rutilus rutilus) all showed significant declines in average body size, suggesting a negative fishing impact. Data-poor stock assessment methods suggest that the fishing effort equivalent to each resident family fishing 50-m of gillnet 11–15 nights per year would be sufficient to overexploit the grayling population. Results from the derelict fishing gear survey and interviews suggest that this level of effort is not implausible. Overall, we demonstrate the ability for a mixed-method approach to effectively describe an illegal fishery and suggest that these methods be used to assess illegal fishing and its impacts in other protected areas. PMID:26625154

48 CFR 52.203-10 - Price or Fee Adjustment for Illegal or Improper Activity.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... contract and the total cost and fee under a cost-type contract by the amount of profit or fee determined as... Regulation. (b) The price or fee reduction referred to in paragraph (a) of this clause shall be— (1) For cost...-incentive contracts, the Government may— (i) Reduce the contract target price and contract target profit...

Tobacco industry allegations of "illegal lobbying" and state tobacco control.

PubMed

Bialous, S A; Fox, B J; Glantz, S A

2001-01-01

This study assessed the perceived effect of tobacco industry allegations of "illegal lobbying" by public health professionals on policy interventions for tobacco control. Structured interviews were conducted with state health department project managers in all 17 National Cancer Institute-funded American Stop Smoking Intervention Study (ASSIST) states. Documentation and media records related to ASSIST from the National Cancer Institute, health advocates, and the tobacco industry were analyzed. The tobacco industry filed formal complaints of illegal lobbying activities against 4 ASSIST states. These complaints had a temporary chilling effect on tobacco control policy interventions in those states. ASSIST states not targeted by the tobacco industry developed an increased awareness of the industry's tactics and worked to prepare for such allegations to minimize disruption of their activities. Some self-reported self-censorship in policy activity occurred in 11 of the 17 states (65%). Public health professionals need to educate themselves and the public about the laws that regulate lobbying activities and develop their strategies, including their policy activities, accordingly.

Tobacco industry allegations of "illegal lobbying" and state tobacco control.

PubMed Central

Bialous, S A; Fox, B J; Glantz, S A

2001-01-01

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the perceived effect of tobacco industry allegations of "illegal lobbying" by public health professionals on policy interventions for tobacco control. METHODS: Structured interviews were conducted with state health department project managers in all 17 National Cancer Institute-funded American Stop Smoking Intervention Study (ASSIST) states. Documentation and media records related to ASSIST from the National Cancer Institute, health advocates, and the tobacco industry were analyzed. RESULTS: The tobacco industry filed formal complaints of illegal lobbying activities against 4 ASSIST states. These complaints had a temporary chilling effect on tobacco control policy interventions in those states. ASSIST states not targeted by the tobacco industry developed an increased awareness of the industry's tactics and worked to prepare for such allegations to minimize disruption of their activities. Some self-reported self-censorship in policy activity occurred in 11 of the 17 states (65%). CONCLUSIONS: Public health professionals need to educate themselves and the public about the laws that regulate lobbying activities and develop their strategies, including their policy activities, accordingly. PMID:11189827

The neural basis of implicit moral attitude--an IAT study using event-related fMRI.

PubMed

Luo, Qian; Nakic, Marina; Wheatley, Thalia; Richell, Rebecca; Martin, Alex; Blair, R James R

2006-05-01

Recent models of morality have suggested the importance of affect-based automatic moral attitudes in moral reasoning. However, previous investigations of moral reasoning have frequently relied upon explicit measures that are susceptible to voluntary control. To investigate participant's automatic moral attitudes, we used a morality Implicit Association Test (IAT). Participants rated the legality of visually depicted legal and illegal behaviors of two different intensity levels (e.g., high intensity illegal = interpersonal violence; low intensity illegal = vandalism) both when the target concept (e.g., illegal) was behaviorally paired with an associated attribute (e.g., bad; congruent condition) or an unassociated attribute (e.g., good; incongruent condition). Behaviorally, an IAT effect was shown; RTs were faster in the congruent rather than incongruent conditions. At the neural level, implicit moral attitude, as indexed by increased BOLD response as a function of stimulus intensity, was associated with increased activation in the right amygdala and the ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex. In addition, performance on incongruent trials relative to congruent trials was associated with increased activity in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 47), left subgenual cingulate gyrus (BA 25), bilateral premotor cortex (BA 6) and the left caudate. The functional contributions of these regions in moral reasoning are discussed.

Application of Big Data Analytics to Support Homeland Security Investigations Targeting Human Smuggling Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

Human smuggling organizations facilitating the smuggling of aliens into the United States have an unlawful network supporting their illicit...illegal aliens more efficient while producing the necessary articulable facts to substantiate enough probable cause for subsequent investigative

The Supreme Court of Canada Ruling on Physician-Assisted Death: Implications for Psychiatry in Canada.

PubMed

Duffy, Olivia Anne

2015-12-01

On February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the prohibition of physician-assisted death (PAD) was unconstitutional for a competent adult person who "clearly consents to the termination of life" and has a "grievous and irremediable (including an illness, disease, or disability) condition that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition." The radically subjective nature of this ruling raises important questions about who will be involved and how this practice might be regulated. This paper aims to stimulate discussion about psychiatry's role in this heretofore illegal practice and to explore how psychiatry might become involved in end-of-life care in a meaningful, patient-centred way. First, I will review existing international legislation and professional regulatory standards regarding psychiatry and PAD. Second, I will discuss important challenges psychiatry might face regarding capacity assessment, the notion of rational suicide, and the assessment of suffering.

The Supreme Court of Canada Ruling on Physician-Assisted Death: Implications for Psychiatry in Canada

PubMed Central

Duffy, Olivia Anne

2015-01-01

On February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the prohibition of physician-assisted death (PAD) was unconstitutional for a competent adult person who “clearly consents to the termination of life” and has a “grievous and irremediable (including an illness, disease, or disability) condition that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition.”1 The radically subjective nature of this ruling raises important questions about who will be involved and how this practice might be regulated. This paper aims to stimulate discussion about psychiatry’s role in this heretofore illegal practice and to explore how psychiatry might become involved in end-of-life care in a meaningful, patient-centred way. First, I will review existing international legislation and professional regulatory standards regarding psychiatry and PAD. Second, I will discuss important challenges psychiatry might face regarding capacity assessment, the notion of rational suicide, and the assessment of suffering. PMID:26720829

Separate the inseparable one-layer mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Chia-Lun J.

2000-04-01

When the input-output mapping of a one-layered perceptron (OLP) does NOT meet the PLI condition which is the if-and- only-if, or 'IFF, condition that the mapping can be realized by a OLP, then no matter what learning rule we use, a OLP just cannot realize this mapping at all. However, because of the nature of the PLI, one can still construct a parallel- cascaded, two-layered perceptron system to realize this `illegal' mapping. Theory and design example of this novel design will be reported in detail in this paper.

Firework injuries presenting to a national burn's unit.

PubMed

Jones, D; Lee, W; Rea, S; Donnell, M O; Eadie, P A

2004-09-01

The sale to the general public of fireworks is illegal in Ireland. However, many fireworks are readily available on the black market from illegal traders. The number of firework injuries presenting to our unit during the three week run-up to Hallowe'en October 2001 was recorded. In addition, each patient was contacted to determine how the fireworks were obtained, the average amount of money spent, and the level of adult supervision present at the time of injury. A total of 19 patients presented, 18 from the local catchment area, with a mean age of 16 yrs (range 5-46 yrs). Thirteen patients required admission. Sixteen patients sustained hand injuries including burns, and three sustained burns to other body areas. The amount of money spent varied between adults and children, the average amount among the paediatric group was Euro 2-4, but Euro 45 in the adult group. None were willing to identify the local source of their fireworks, but most fireworks originated in Northern Ireland. This small review highlights an ongoing problem in Ireland; fireworks are illegal, yet they are easily and cheaply available without quality or safety controls. Our public awareness campaign has failed to reach its target audience, and the illegal traders who sell these often inferior products are seldom charged. Children and adults will continue to sustain serious injuries as a result.

Security inspection in ports by anomaly detection using hyperspectral imaging technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivera, Javier; Valverde, Fernando; Saldaña, Manuel; Manian, Vidya

2013-05-01

Applying hyperspectral imaging technology in port security is crucial for the detection of possible threats or illegal activities. One of the most common problems that cargo suffers is tampering. This represents a danger to society because it creates a channel to smuggle illegal and hazardous products. If a cargo is altered, security inspections on that cargo should contain anomalies that reveal the nature of the tampering. Hyperspectral images can detect anomalies by gathering information through multiple electromagnetic bands. The spectrums extracted from these bands can be used to detect surface anomalies from different materials. Based on this technology, a scenario was built in which a hyperspectral camera was used to inspect the cargo for any surface anomalies and a user interface shows the results. The spectrum of items, altered by different materials that can be used to conceal illegal products, is analyzed and classified in order to provide information about the tampered cargo. The image is analyzed with a variety of techniques such as multiple features extracting algorithms, autonomous anomaly detection, and target spectrum detection. The results will be exported to a workstation or mobile device in order to show them in an easy -to-use interface. This process could enhance the current capabilities of security systems that are already implemented, providing a more complete approach to detect threats and illegal cargo.

Skipping Syntactically Illegal "the" Previews: The Role of Predictability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abbott, Matthew J.; Angele, Bernhard; Ahn, Y. Danbi; Rayner, Keith

2015-01-01

Readers tend to skip words, particularly when they are short, frequent, or predictable. Angele and Rayner (2013) recently reported that readers are often unable to detect syntactic anomalies in parafoveal vision. In the present study, we manipulated target word predictability to assess whether contextual constraint modulates…

The Effects of Gendered Immigration Enforcement on Middle Childhood and Schooling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallo, Sarah

2014-01-01

Drawing from an ethnographic study on Mexican immigrant fathers and their second-grade children, this article examines the masked realities behind current immigration policies that equate "illegal" with "Mexican immigrant" and how the enforcement of these policies, which overwhelmingly target Mexican immigrant men, affect…

A spatial approach to combatting wildlife crime.

PubMed

Faulkner, S C; Stevens, M C A; Romañach, S S; Lindsey, P A; Le Comber, S C

2018-06-01

Poaching can have devastating impacts on animal and plant numbers, and in many countries has reached crisis levels, with illegal hunters employing increasingly sophisticated techniques. We used data from an 8-year study in Savé Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe, to show how geographic profiling-a mathematical technique originally developed in criminology and recently applied to animal foraging and epidemiology-can be adapted for use in investigations of wildlife crime. The data set contained information on over 10,000 incidents of illegal hunting and the deaths of 6,454 wild animals. We used a subset of data for which the illegal hunters' identities were known. Our model identified the illegal hunters' home villages based on the spatial locations of the hunting incidences (e.g., snares). Identification of the villages was improved by manipulating the probability surface inside the conservancy to reflect the fact that although the illegal hunters mostly live outside the conservancy, the majority of hunting occurs inside the conservancy (in criminology terms, commuter crime). These results combined with rigorous simulations showed for the first time how geographic profiling can be combined with GIS data and applied to situations with more complex spatial patterns, for example, where landscape heterogeneity means some parts of the study area are less likely to be used (e.g., aquatic areas for terrestrial animals) or where landscape permeability differs (e.g., forest bats tend not to fly over open areas). More broadly, these results show how geographic profiling can be used to target antipoaching interventions more effectively and more efficiently and to develop management strategies and conservation plans in a range of conservation scenarios. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

A spatial approach to combatting wildlife crime

USGS Publications Warehouse

Faulkner, Sally C.; Stevens, Michael C.A.; Romañach, Stephanie; Lindsey, Peter A.; LeComber, Steven C.

2018-01-01

Poaching can have devastating impacts on animal and plant numbers, and in many countries has reached crisis levels, with illegal hunters employing increasingly sophisticated techniques. Here, we show how geographic profiling – a mathematical technique originally developed in criminology and recently applied to animal foraging and epidemiology – can be adapted for use in investigations of wildlife crime, using data from an eight-year study in Savé Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe that in total includes more than 10,000 incidents of illegal hunting and the deaths of 6,454 wild animals. Using a subset of these data for which the illegal hunters’ identities are known, we show that the model can successfully identify the illegal hunters’ home villages using the spatial locations of hunting incidences (for example, snares) as input, and show how this can be improved by manipulating the probability surface inside the Conservancy to reflect the fact that – although the illegal hunters mostly live outside the Conservancy, the majority of hunting occurs inside (in criminology, ‘commuter crime’). The results of this analysis – combined with rigorous simulations – show for the first time how geographic profiling can be combined with GIS data and applied to situations with more complex spatial patterns – for example, where landscape heterogeneity means that some parts of the study area are unsuitable (e.g. aquatic areas for terrestrial animals, or vice versa), or where landscape permeability differs (for example, forest bats tending not to fly over open areas). More broadly, these results show how geographic profiling can be used to target anti-poaching interventions more effectively and more efficiently, with important implications for the development of management strategies and conservation plans in a range of conservation scenarios.

Disobedience and driving in patients with epilepsy.

PubMed

Tatum, W O; Worley, A V; Selenica, M L B

2012-01-01

Motor vehicle accidents direct legislators to ensure pubic safety. We attempted to characterize and quantify driving risk in patients with seizures (PWS). We delivered 12-question surveys to 287 consecutive PWS at an epilepsy clinic in Florida. Illegal and disobedient driving practices were analyzed. Eighty-three of 236 (35.2%) PWS were eligible to drive and 62.3% were ineligible with a seizure in <6 months (P<0.001, 95% CI: 0.57-0.70). Among the ineligible responders, 23.8% (35/147) of ineligible responders were illegally driving (14.83% of cohort); 11.86% (28/236) of PWS were disobedient refusing to obey the law, and 8.9% (21/236) of PWS were defiant and knew the law. Sadness (75/236, 31.8%) was the most common reaction to restriction, but disobedient PWS were angry (10/28, 35.7%). Overall, a small number of PWS are disobedient and illegally driving. A targeted approach to high-risk drivers with repeated verbal and supplemental driving information may help avoid unnecessary universal physician reporting for PWS. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, Teens 2002.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2002

The Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) is Partnership for a Drug Free America's (PDFA) unique contribution to the field of substance abuse prevention. An annual study that tracks the attitudes consumers have about illegal drugs, this research examines what PDFA's target audiences think and feel about various drugs. After a decade of rising…

Don't ask or tell: Pay secrecy policies in U.S. workplaces.

PubMed

Rosenfeld, Jake

2017-07-01

How widespread are workplace rules against discussing wages and salaries in the U.S.? And what are the core correlates of whether or not an employer prohibits or discourages this type of speech? Using a unique dataset that includes a measure of whether workers are prohibited or discouraged from discussing pay, this article investigates the prevalence of pay secrecy policies, and what worker- and workplace-level characteristics are associated with these rules. Key findings reveal that these policies are commonplace, despite being illegal, and that they are concentrated in more "coercive" rather than "enabling" organizations. These more coercive workplaces are disproportionately in the private sector, lack union representation, and have managers that are generally punitive in their approach and unaccommodating of employees. Findings also indicate that the greater discretion pay secrecy provides managers does not result in discriminatory application of these rules to women, racial/ethnic minorities, or immigrants. The article concludes with a call for data collection efforts that would allow researchers to analyze the consequences of this widespread managerial practice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Too Good for Drugs[TM]. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

What Works Clearinghouse, 2006

2006-01-01

"Too Good for Drugs"[TM] is designed to promote life skills, character values, resistance skills to negative peer influence, and resistance to the use of illegal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. The program, which targets elementary and middle school students, is based on classroom discussions and structured activities that center on…

Simultaneous LC-MS/MS determination of 40 legal and illegal psychoactive drugs in breast and bovine milk.

PubMed

López-García, Ester; Mastroianni, Nicola; Postigo, Cristina; Valcárcel, Yolanda; González-Alonso, Silvia; Barceló, Damia; López de Alda, Miren

2018-04-15

This work presents a fast, sensitive and reliable multi-residue methodology based on fat and protein precipitation and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of common legal and illegal psychoactive drugs, and major metabolites, in breast milk. One-fourth of the 40 target analytes is investigated for the first time in this biological matrix. The method was validated in breast milk and also in various types of bovine milk, as tranquilizers are occasionally administered to food-producing animals. Absolute recoveries were satisfactory for 75% of the target analytes. The use of isotopically labeled compounds assisted in correcting analyte losses due to ionization suppression matrix effects (higher in whole milk than in the other investigated milk matrices) and ensured the reliability of the results. Average method limits of quantification ranged between 0.4 and 6.8 ng/mL. Application of the developed method showed the presence of caffeine in breast milk samples (12-179 ng/mL). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Drug use and nightlife: more than just dance music.

PubMed

Van Havere, Tina; Vanderplasschen, Wouter; Lammertyn, Jan; Broekaert, Eric; Bellis, Mark

2011-07-27

Research over the last decade has focused almost exclusively on the association between electronic music and MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or "ecstasy") or other stimulant drug use in clubs. Less attention has been given to other nightlife venues and music preferences, such as rock music or southern/funky music. This study aims to examine a broader spectrum of nightlife, beyond dance music. It looks at whether certain factors influence the frequency of illegal drug and alcohol use: the frequency of going to certain nightlife venues in the previous month (such as, pubs, clubs or goa parties); listening to rock music, dance music or southern and funky music; or sampling venues (such as, clubs, dance events or rock festivals). The question of how these nightlife variables influence the use of popular drugs like alcohol, MDMA, cannabis, cocaine and amphetamines is addressed. The study sample consisted of 775 visitors of dance events, clubs and rock festivals in Belgium. Study participants answered a survey on patterns of going out, music preferences and drug use. Odds ratios were used to determine whether the odds of being an illegal substance user are higher for certain nightlife-related variables. Furthermore, five separate ordinal regression analyses were used to investigate drug use in relation to music preference, venues visited during the last month and sampling venue. Respondents who used illegal drugs were 2.5 times more likely to report that they prefer dance music. Goa party visitors were nearly 5 times more likely to use illegal drugs. For those who reported visiting clubs, the odds of using illegal drugs were nearly 2 times higher. Having gone to a pub in the last month was associated with both more frequent alcohol use and more frequent illegal substance use. People who reported liking rock music and attendees of rock festivals used drugs less frequently. It was concluded that a more extended recreational environment, beyond dance clubs, is associated with frequent drug use. This stresses the importance of targeted prevention in various recreational venues tailored to the specific needs of the setting and its visitors.

Drug use and nightlife: more than just dance music

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Research over the last decade has focused almost exclusively on the association between electronic music and MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or "ecstasy") or other stimulant drug use in clubs. Less attention has been given to other nightlife venues and music preferences, such as rock music or southern/funky music. This study aims to examine a broader spectrum of nightlife, beyond dance music. It looks at whether certain factors influence the frequency of illegal drug and alcohol use: the frequency of going to certain nightlife venues in the previous month (such as, pubs, clubs or goa parties); listening to rock music, dance music or southern and funky music; or sampling venues (such as, clubs, dance events or rock festivals). The question of how these nightlife variables influence the use of popular drugs like alcohol, MDMA, cannabis, cocaine and amphetamines is addressed. Methods The study sample consisted of 775 visitors of dance events, clubs and rock festivals in Belgium. Study participants answered a survey on patterns of going out, music preferences and drug use. Odds ratios were used to determine whether the odds of being an illegal substance user are higher for certain nightlife-related variables. Furthermore, five separate ordinal regression analyses were used to investigate drug use in relation to music preference, venues visited during the last month and sampling venue. Results Respondents who used illegal drugs were 2.5 times more likely to report that they prefer dance music. Goa party visitors were nearly 5 times more likely to use illegal drugs. For those who reported visiting clubs, the odds of using illegal drugs were nearly 2 times higher. Having gone to a pub in the last month was associated with both more frequent alcohol use and more frequent illegal substance use. People who reported liking rock music and attendees of rock festivals used drugs less frequently. Conclusions It was concluded that a more extended recreational environment, beyond dance clubs, is associated with frequent drug use. This stresses the importance of targeted prevention in various recreational venues tailored to the specific needs of the setting and its visitors. PMID:21794101

Criminal history and future offending of juveniles convicted of the possession of child pornography.

PubMed

Aebi, Marcel; Plattner, Belinda; Ernest, Melanie; Kaszynski, Katie; Bessler, Cornelia

2014-08-01

Most child pornography is distributed online. It is estimated that 3% to 15% of child pornography consumers are juveniles. The present study analyzed a consecutive sample of 54 male juveniles convicted of the possession of child pornography. Demographic characteristics, criminal history, and subsequent offending were assessed from criminal files and official reports. Juvenile possessors of child pornography were compared to three different groups of juveniles: Juvenile possessors of other illegal pornography (n = 42), juveniles who committed a sexual contact offense against a child (n = 64), and juveniles who committed a sexual contact offense against a peer or adult (n = 104). Juvenile possessors of child pornography were found to have downloaded the illegal material more frequently and over a longer time period than juvenile possessors of other illegal pornography. Furthermore, juvenile possessors of child pornography differed from juveniles who had committed a sexual contact offense in terms of demographics and showed fewer previous and subsequent offending than juveniles who sexually offended against a peer or adult. We conclude that juvenile possessors of child pornography need a specific target intervention focusing on dysfunctional Internet use and sexually deviant arousal. © The Author(s) 2013.

Overlap in attitudes to policy measures on alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.

PubMed

Lund, Ingunn O; Halkjelsvik, Torleif; Storvoll, Elisabet E

2016-02-01

Effective alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug policies reduce the harm to users and third parties. Knowledge about determinants and interrelations between attitudes held by the general public to different types of policy measures can benefit policy-makers who aim to increase acceptance for effective policy. The present study describes the level of support for various policy measures held by the general public, and investigates the association between attitudes to policy measures on alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug. A sample of the Norwegian general population aged 16-64 (N=1803) was interviewed by telephone. Respondents reported demographic information, personal substance use and attitudes to various policy measures. Associations between attitudes were assessed with correlation and regression analysis. Associations between attitudes were strongest for similar policy measures across substance groups (e.g. tax increases on alcohol and tobacco). There was a weaker association between attitudes to different policy measures aimed at the same substance (e.g. tax increase on alcohol and campaigns on alcohol). The degree to which people approve or disapprove of the use of particular types of policy measures is irrespective of the targeted substance. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Illegal Drug Use in Orthodox Jewish Adolescents.

PubMed

Fogel, Joshua

2004-01-01

Orthodox Jewish adolescents are increasingly seeking stimulation with illegal drugs. Eleven Orthodox Jewish adolescents were surveyed with semi-structured interviews on the Orthodox Jewish cultural aspects of their illegal drug use. Adolescents had mixed beliefs about religious teachings affecting their illegal drug use. No consistent pattern existed for particular ethnic aspects of Orthodox Jewish religious practice as a risk factor for illegal drug use. Language used to describe illegal drug use in this population is described. Unlike illegal drug use in secular and non-Jewish adolescents, these adolescents reported very little family discord or poor relationships with their parents.

EFFECTIVE REMOVAL METHOD OF ILLEGAL PARKING BICYCLES BASED ON THE QUANTITATIVE CHANGE AFTER REMOVAL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toi, Satoshi; Kajita, Yoshitaka; Nishikawa, Shuichirou

This study aims to find an effective removal method of illegal parking bicycles based on the analysis on the numerical change of illegal bicycles. And then, we built the time and space quantitative distribution model of illegal parking bicycles after removal, considering the logistic increase of illegal parking bicycles, several behaviors concerning of direct return or indirect return to the original parking place and avoidance of the original parking place, based on the investigation of real condition of illegal bicycle parking at TENJIN area in FUKUOKA city. Moreover, we built the simulation model including above-mentioned model, and calculated the number of illegal parking bicycles when we change the removal frequency and the number of removal at one time. The next interesting four results were obtained. (1) Recovery speed from removal the illegal parking bicycles differs by each zone. (2) Thorough removal is effective to keep the number of illegal parking bicycles lower level. (3) Removal at one zone causes the increase of bicycles at other zones where the level of illegal parking is lower. (4) The relationship between effects and costs of removing the illegal parking bicycles was clarified.

State of Outrage: Immigrant-Related Legislation and Education in Arizona

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powers, Jeanne M.; Williams, Tiffany R.

2012-01-01

In April 2010, Arizona made national headlines when Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070, the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act" which was aimed at deterring illegal immigration to Arizona. SB 1070 is the most prominent of a series of laws and other state policies targeting immigrants in Arizona that date back to the…

Analysis of illegal peptide drugs via HILIC-DAD-MS.

PubMed

Janvier, Steven; De Sutter, Evelien; Wynendaele, Evelien; De Spiegeleer, Bart; Vanhee, Celine; Deconinck, Eric

2017-11-01

Biopharmaceuticals have established themselves as highly efficient medicines, and are still one of the fastest growing parts of the health-product industry. Unfortunately, the introduction of these promising new drugs went hand in hand with the creation of a black market for illegal and counterfeit biotechnology drugs. Particularly popular are the lyophilised peptides with a molecular weight of less than 5kDa. Most of them are meant for subcutaneous injection and are easily accessible via the internet. In recent years, different methods based on reversed phase liquid chromatography have been developed to detect and quantify these peptides. The emerging of more polar peptides however requires the introduction of other separation techniques. Therefore, we set out to develop and validate an analytical method based on hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) to identify and quantify the most frequently encountered illegal peptides on the European market. For this objective, five different HILIC columns were selected and screened for their chromatographic performance. Among those columns, the ZIC HILIC column showed the best performance under the tested screening conditions in terms of resolution and symmetry factor for the targeted peptide set. Hence, the operational conditions were further optimised for the identification of illegal preparations via mass spectrometry (MS) and quantification via UV. Validation was performed via accuracy profiles based on the ISO 17025 guideline. The obtained validated HILIC-method allows for the detection and quantification of the most frequently encountered illegal peptides on the internet in a total run time of 35min including post gradient equilibration and online cleaning step. Combined with a previously developed RPLC-method, the ZIC HILIC system allows for the detection and quantification of a wide spectrum of illicit peptide drugs available on the internet. Furthermore, the developed method could also be envisaged for the detection of new emerging polar peptide drugs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of drug use among pregnant women in the United States: Opioid and non-opioid illegal drug use.

PubMed

Metz, Verena E; Brown, Qiana L; Martins, Silvia S; Palamar, Joseph J

2018-02-01

The opioid epidemic in the US is affecting pregnant women and their offspring, with rising numbers of maternal and neonatal treatment episodes. The aim of this study was to characterize pregnant drug users in order to inform intervention strategies based on sociodemographic, mental health, and substance use characteristics. Data on pregnant women aged 18-44 reporting past-year, nonmedical opioid use or use of non-opioid illegal drugs (other than marijuana) were analyzed from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2005-2014). Women (N = 818) were categorized into 3 groups: 1) use of opioids only (n = 281), 2) opioid-polydrug users (n = 241), and 3) other (non-opioid) illegal drug users (n = 296). Characteristics between the 3 groups of women were compared using bivariable analyses. Most women were non-Hispanic White (67.6%), had a high school diploma or less education (61.0%), a household income <$20,000/year (72.2%), and health insurance coverage (84.3%). No significant differences between the three groups were found regarding sociodemographic characteristics. Past-30-day marijuana use was less prevalent among opioid-only users (10.9%) compared to opioid-polydrug users (43.6%) and other pregnant illegal drug users (27.6%) (P < 0.001) and past-year drug/alcohol treatment was less prevalent among opioid-only users (6.3%) compared to opioid-polydrug users (20.3%) and other illegal drug users (8.3%) (P = 0.002). Opioid-only users also reported lower prevalence of past-year depression (P < 0.001) and anxiety (P = 0.039). Pregnant drug-using women were often of low socioeconomic status, with mental health and substance use patterns suggesting the need for targeted mental health/substance use screening and interventions before and during pregnancy, particularly for opioid-polydrug users. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Reversed preview benefit effects: Forced fixations emphasize the importance of parafoveal vision for efficient reading

PubMed Central

Schotter, Elizabeth R.; Leinenger, Mallorie

2016-01-01

Current theories of eye movement control in reading posit that processing of an upcoming parafoveal preview word is used to facilitate processing of that word once it is fixated (i.e., a foveal target word). This preview benefit is demonstrated by shorter fixation durations in the case of valid (i.e., identical or linguistically similar) compared to invalid (i.e., dissimilar) preview conditions. However, we suggest that processing of the preview can directly influence fixation behavior on the target, independent of similarity between them. In Experiment 1, unrelated high and low frequency words were used as orthogonally crossed previews and targets and we observed a reversed preview benefit for low frequency targets—shorter fixation durations with an invalid, higher frequency preview compared to a valid, low frequency preview. In Experiment 2, the target words were replaced with orthographically legal and illegal nonwords and we found a similar effect of preview frequency on fixation durations on the targets, as well as a bimodal distribution in the illegal nonword target conditions with a denser early peak for high than low frequency previews. In Experiment 3, nonwords were used as previews for high and low frequency targets, replicating standard findings that “denied” preview increases fixation durations and the influence of target properties. These effects can be explained by forced fixations, cases in which fixations on the target were shortened as a consequence of the timing of word recognition of the preview relative to the time course of saccade programming to that word from the prior one. That is, the preview word was (at least partially) recognized so that it should have been skipped, but the word could not be skipped because the saccade to that word was in a non-labile stage. In these cases, the system pre-initiates the subsequent saccade off the upcoming word to the following word and the intervening fixation is short. PMID:27732044

Physicians and Insider Trading.

PubMed

Kesselheim, Aaron S; Sinha, Michael S; Joffe, Steven

2015-12-01

Although insider trading is illegal, recent high-profile cases have involved physicians and scientists who are part of corporate governance or who have access to information about clinical trials of investigational products. Insider trading occurs when a person in possession of information that might affect the share price of a company's stock uses that information to buy or sell securities--or supplies that information to others who buy or sell--when the person is expected to keep such information confidential. The input that physicians and scientists provide to business leaders can serve legitimate social functions, but insider trading threatens to undermine any positive outcomes of these relationships. We review insider-trading rules and consider approaches to securities fraud in the health care field. Given the magnitude of the potential financial rewards, the ease of concealing illegal conduct, and the absence of identifiable victims, the temptation for physicians and scientists to engage in insider trading will always be present. Minimizing the occurrence of insider trading will require robust education, strictly enforced contractual provisions, and selective prohibitions against high-risk conduct, such as participation in expert consulting networks and online physician forums, by those individuals with access to valuable inside information.

Scheduling rules to achieve lead-time targets in outpatient appointment systems.

PubMed

Nguyen, Thu-Ba T; Sivakumar, Appa Iyer; Graves, Stephen C

2017-12-01

This paper considers how to schedule appointments for outpatients, for a clinic that is subject to appointment lead-time targets for both new and returning patients. We develop heuristic rules, which are the exact and relaxed appointment scheduling rules, to schedule each new patient appointment (only) in light of uncertainty about future arrivals. The scheduling rules entail two decisions. First, the rules need to determine whether or not a patient's request can be accepted; then, if the request is not rejected, the rules prescribe how to assign the patient to an available slot. The intent of the scheduling rules is to maximize the utilization of the planned resource (i.e., the physician staff), or equivalently to maximize the number of patients that are admitted, while maintaining the service targets on the median, the 95th percentile, and the maximum appointment lead-times. We test the proposed scheduling rules with numerical experiments using real data from the chosen clinic of Tan Tock Seng hospital in Singapore. The results show the efficiency and the efficacy of the scheduling rules, in terms of the service-target satisfaction and the resource utilization. From the sensitivity analysis, we find that the performance of the proposed scheduling rules is fairly robust to the specification of the established lead-time targets.

Targeted training of the decision rule benefits rule-guided behavior in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Ell, Shawn W

2013-12-01

The impact of Parkinson's disease (PD) on rule-guided behavior has received considerable attention in cognitive neuroscience. The majority of research has used PD as a model of dysfunction in frontostriatal networks, but very few attempts have been made to investigate the possibility of adapting common experimental techniques in an effort to identify the conditions that are most likely to facilitate successful performance. The present study investigated a targeted training paradigm designed to facilitate rule learning and application using rule-based categorization as a model task. Participants received targeted training in which there was no selective-attention demand (i.e., stimuli varied along a single, relevant dimension) or nontargeted training in which there was selective-attention demand (i.e., stimuli varied along a relevant dimension as well as an irrelevant dimension). Following training, all participants were tested on a rule-based task with selective-attention demand. During the test phase, PD patients who received targeted training performed similarly to control participants and outperformed patients who did not receive targeted training. As a preliminary test of the generalizability of the benefit of targeted training, a subset of the PD patients were tested on the Wisconsin card sorting task (WCST). PD patients who received targeted training outperformed PD patients who did not receive targeted training on several WCST performance measures. These data further characterize the contribution of frontostriatal circuitry to rule-guided behavior. Importantly, these data also suggest that PD patient impairment, on selective-attention-demanding tasks of rule-guided behavior, is not inevitable and highlight the potential benefit of targeted training.

Judgments about illegal performance-enhancing substances: reasoned, reactive, or both?

PubMed

Dodge, Tonya; Stock, Michelle; Litt, Dana

2013-07-01

This study applied aspects of the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Prototype/Willingness model to understand cognitions associated with the use of illegal performance-enhancing substances. There were two study objectives. One was to investigate whether the illegal-is-effective heuristic (i.e. belief that illegal performance-enhancing substances are more effective than legal performance-enhancing substances) affects willingness to use illegal performance-enhancing substances. The second was to examine whether attitudes, norms, and prototypes influence the willingness and intentions to use illegal performance-enhancing substances. The illegal-is-effective heuristic was a significant predictor of willingness but was not a significant predictor of intentions. Implications for future research and prevention efforts are discussed.

Characteristics of illegal and legal cigarette packs sold in Guatemala.

PubMed

Arevalo, Rodrigo; Corral, Juan E; Monzon, Diego; Yoon, Mira; Barnoya, Joaquin

2016-11-25

Guatemala, as a party to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), is required to regulate cigarette packaging and labeling and eliminate illicit tobacco trade. Current packaging and labeling characteristics (of legal and illegal cigarettes) and their compliance with the FCTC is unknown. We sought to analyze package and label characteristics of illegal and legal cigarettes sold in Guatemala. We visited the 22 largest traditional markets in the country to purchase illegal cigarettes. All brands registered on tobacco industry websites were purchased as legal cigarettes. Analysis compared labeling characteristics of illegal and legal packs. Most (95%) markets and street vendors sold illegal cigarettes; 104 packs were purchased (79 illegal and 25 legal). Ten percent of illegal and none of the legal packs had misleading terms. Half of the illegal packs had a warning label covering 26 to 50% of the pack surface. All legal packs had a label covering 25% of the surface. Illegal packs were more likely to have information on constituents and emissions (85% vs. 45%, p < 0.001) and were less expensive than legal ones (USD 0.70 ± 0.7 and 1.9 ± 1.8, p < 0.001). In Guatemala, neither illegal nor legal cigarette packs comply with FCTC labeling mandates. Urgent implementation and enforcement of the FCTC is necessary to halt the tobacco epidemic.

Diplomas Count 2012: Trailing behind, Moving Forward--Latino Students in U.S. Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Education Week, 2012

2012-01-01

When it comes to educational challenges, the nation's 12.1 million Hispanic schoolchildren face plenty: language, poverty, lower-than-average graduation rates for high school and college, and, more recently, a wave of laws targeting illegal immigrants that has made school seem like less of a safe haven for Hispanic students in some states. Yet, as…

A novel approach to assessing the prevalence and drivers of illegal bushmeat hunting in the serengeti.

PubMed

Nuno, Ana; Bunnefeld, Nils; Naiman, Loiruck C; Milner-Gulland, E J

2013-12-01

Assessing anthropogenic effects on biological diversity, identifying drivers of human behavior, and motivating behavioral change are at the core of effective conservation. Yet knowledge of people's behaviors is often limited because the true extent of natural resource exploitation is difficult to ascertain, particularly if it is illegal. To obtain estimates of rule-breaking behavior, a technique has been developed with which to ask sensitive questions. We used this technique, unmatched-count technique (UCT), to provide estimates of bushmeat poaching, to determine motivation and seasonal and spatial distribution of poaching, and to characterize poaching households in the Serengeti. We also assessed the potential for survey biases on the basis of respondent perceptions of understanding, anonymity, and discomfort. Eighteen percent of households admitted to being involved in hunting. Illegal bushmeat hunting was more likely in households with seasonal or full-time employment, lower household size, and longer household residence in the village. The majority of respondents found the UCT questions easy to understand and were comfortable answering them. Our results suggest poaching remains widespread in the Serengeti and current alternative sources of income may not be sufficiently attractive to compete with the opportunities provided by hunting. We demonstrate that the UCT is well suited to investigating noncompliance in conservation because it reduces evasive responses, resulting in more accurate estimates, and is technically simple to apply. We suggest that the UCT could be more widely used, with the trade-off being the increased complexity of data analyses and requirement for large sample sizes. Una Aproximación Novedosa para Evaluar la Prevalencia y Factores de la Cacería Ilegal en el Serengueti. © 2013 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., on behalf of the Society for Conservation Biology.

Delinquency and family problems in incarcerated adolescents with and without a history of inhalant use.

PubMed

McGarvey, E L; Canterbury, R J; Waite, D

1996-01-01

In this retrospective study of incarcerated adolescents, inhalants were used by significantly more nonminority than minority youth. Among both minority and nonminority groups, family problems and delinquent behaviors were higher among those youth with a history of inhalant use than those who reported no use. Family problems included history of running away from home, breaking rules, fighting with parents, and having relatives who had attempted suicide. Delinquent behavior included earlier personal use of drugs, selling illegal drugs, buying drugs from dealers, committing crimes while under the influence, committing crimes to get money to buy drugs, and threatening to hurt people.

The feasibility study based on e-commerce instructions-focuses on detection and deletion of illegal content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Tianze; Bi, Siyu; Liu, Jiaming

2018-04-01

This essay legally restrains the illegal content based on the e-commerce directive and introduces that the European countries detect and notify illegal content through the instructions of competent authorities, notification of credible flaggers, user reports and technical tools. The illegal content should be deleted through the service terms and transparency report basing on prevent excessive deletions system. At the same time, use filters to detect and filter to against the recurrence of illegal content. By analyzing the advantages of China under the environment of cracking down on illegal content, this essay concludes that the success of China in cracking down on illegal content lies in all-round collaborative management model of countries, governments, enterprises and individuals. At the end of the essay, one is to build a training corpus that can automatically update the ability to identify the illegal content. And it proposes an optimization scheme that establish a complete set of address resolution procedures and classify IP address data according to big data analysis and DNS protection module to prevent hackers from spreading illegal content by tampering with DNS segments.

Illegal drugs in Grenada: arrests and drug treatment from 2001-2009.

PubMed

Fagorala, A

2013-09-01

Illegal drug use and abuse has increased in the Caribbean since the 1990s. In Grenada, statistical indicators such as admission rates to treatment facilities and drug arrests have provided evidence for the increased rates of illegal drug use and abuse. This study reviewed these statistical indicators and explored drug treatment options in Grenada from 2001 to 2009. A search of statistical records from the Drug Control Secretariat and the Grenada Drug Information Network/National Observatory on Drugs (GRENDIN/NOD) was performed. Literature review of relevant articles from search engines was used to support findings. Additionally, semi-structured interviews of key stakeholders from government and health agencies involved in drug prevention in Grenada were conducted to obtain information on recent developments surrounding drug arrests and treatments in Grenada. From 2001 to 2009, there were a 118% and a 23% increase in the arrest rate for males and females,respectively. There was also an increase in demand for drug treatment at the sole drug treatment facility. Preventive measures in schools and several forms of media programmes have raised awareness. However,drug use/abuse/activities still persist at a significant rate. Programmes that target improvement of treatment facilities and increased inter-agency collaboration may be successful in enhancing drug arrests and treatments.

Activities associated with drownings in Imperial County, CA, 1980-90: implications for prevention.

PubMed Central

Agócs, M M; Trent, R B; Russell, D M

1994-01-01

Statewide surveillance in California determined that the highest drowning rate from 1980 through 1989 was for the rural, desert county of Imperial (21.9 drownings per 100,000 population). To identify activities associated with drowning in this county, the authors abstracted data from the county sheriff-coroner's reports. From 1980 through 1990, there were 317 unintentional drownings; 85 percent occurred in irrigation canals. The activity prior to drowning was known for 262 persons (83 percent), and the most common activity was illegal entry into the United States. Overall, 140 persons (53 percent) were illegal entrants. Ninety-three percent of illegal entrants drowned in the All American Canal; the monthly drowning rate increased as the monthly average water velocity in the canal increased (r = 0.36; P < 0.001). Forty-eight persons (18 percent) drowned while riding in or on a land vehicle (automobile, pick-up truck, motorcycle, dune buggy, or tractor), the second most common activity associated with drowning. Seventy percent of the 23 drivers had an alcohol concentration of 100 milligrams per deciliter or more, California's limit for intoxication. To reduce drownings in Imperial County, prevention strategies should target persons engaged in at-risk activities near bodies of water. These strategies should include the identification and use of effective canal safety devices. PMID:8153281

Software Piracy in Research: A Moral Analysis.

PubMed

Santillanes, Gary; Felder, Ryan Marshall

2015-08-01

Researchers in virtually every discipline rely on sophisticated proprietary software for their work. However, some researchers are unable to afford the licenses and instead procure the software illegally. We discuss the prohibition of software piracy by intellectual property laws, and argue that the moral basis for the copyright law offers the possibility of cases where software piracy may be morally justified. The ethics codes that scientific institutions abide by are informed by a rule-consequentialist logic: by preserving personal rights to authored works, people able to do so will be incentivized to create. By showing that the law has this rule-consequentialist grounding, we suggest that scientists who blindly adopt their institutional ethics codes will commit themselves to accepting that software piracy could be morally justified, in some cases. We hope that this conclusion will spark debate over important tensions between ethics codes, copyright law, and the underlying moral basis for these regulations. We conclude by offering practical solutions (other than piracy) for researchers.

Risk Behaviors Among HIV-Positive Gay and Bisexual Men at Party-Oriented Vacations

PubMed Central

Fisher, Michael P.; Ramchand, Rajeev; Bana, Sarah; Iguchi, Martin Y.

2013-01-01

Objective: This study examined substance use (intended and actual), unprotected sex, and HIV disclosure practices (disclosure and questioning) among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) at two party-oriented vacations, where substance use and sexual risk may be heightened. Method: A random sample of 489 MSM attending one of two party-oriented vacations participated in PartyIntents, a short-term longitudinal survey. Nearly half (47%) completed a follow-up assessment at the event or online for up to 2 weeks after the event. We examined rates of baseline intentions to use substances, actual substance use, and unprotected intercourse among HIV-positive men in attendance.Rates among HIV-negative men were estimated for comparison. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the impact of illegal drug use and HIV status on unprotected anal intercourse (UAI). Results: HIV-positive attendees (17%) were significantly more likely than HIV-negative attendees to use nitrite inhalants (or “poppers”) (24.3% vs. 10.7%). HIV-positive attendees were also significantly more likely to have insertive UAI (64.3% vs. 34.1%) and receptive UAI (68.8% vs. 22.2%). Multivariate models showed associations between HIV status and illegal drug use with UAI (for HIV status, odds ratio [OR] = 4.5, p = .001; for any illegal drug use, OR = 16.4, p < .001). There was no evidence that the influence of drug use moderated risk by HIV status. Rates of HIV disclosure and questioning did not differ by HIV status. Conclusions: HIV-positive men attending these events engaged in higher rates of illegal drug use and sexual risk than HIV-negative men. Prevention campaigns targeting MSM at high-risk events should include messages geared toward HIV-positive men. PMID:23200162

The Spillover of US Immigration Policy on Citizens and Permanent Residents of Mexican Descent: How Internalizing "Illegality" Impacts Public Health in the Borderlands.

PubMed

Sabo, Samantha; Lee, Alison Elizabeth

2015-01-01

The militarization of the US-Mexico border region exacerbates the process of "Othering" Latino immigrants - as "illegal aliens." The internalization of "illegality" can manifest as a sense of "undeservingness" of legal protection in the population and be detrimental on a biopsychological level. We explore the impacts of "illegality" among a population of US citizen and permanent resident farmworkers of Mexican descent. We do so through the lens of immigration enforcement-related stress and the ability to file formal complaints of discrimination and mistreatment perpetrated by local immigration enforcement agents, including local police authorized to enforce immigration law. Drawing from cross-sectional data gathered through the National Institute of Occupation Safety and Health, "Challenges to Farmworker Health at the US-Mexico Border" study, a community-based participatory research project conducted at the Arizona-Sonora border, we compared Arizona resident farmworkers (N = 349) to Mexico-based farmworkers (N = 140) or Transnational farmworkers who cross the US-Mexico border daily or weekly to work in US agriculture. Both samples of farmworkers experience significant levels of stress in anticipation of encounters with immigration officials. Fear was cited as the greatest factor preventing individuals from reporting immigration abuses. The groups varied slightly in the relative weight attributed to different types of fear. The militarization of the border has consequences for individuals who are not the target of immigration enforcement. These spillover effects cause harm to farmworkers in multiple ways. Multi-institutional and community-centered systems for reporting immigration-related victimization is required. Applied participatory research with affected communities can mitigate the public health effects of state-sponsored immigration discrimination and violence among US citizen and permanent residents.

Nonmedical prescription opioid use and illegal drug use: initiation trajectory and related risks among people who use illegal drugs in Vancouver, Canada.

PubMed

Cheng, Tessa; Small, Will; Nosova, Ekaterina; Hogg, Bob; Hayashi, Kanna; Kerr, Thomas; DeBeck, Kora

2018-01-16

We investigated the prevalence of and risk factors associated with initiating nonmedical prescription opioid use (NMPOU) before and after illegal drugs using data from two linked cohort studies of street youth and adults who use illegal drugs in Vancouver, Canada. All participants who attended a study visit between 2013 and 2016 were eligible for the primary analyses. Among 512 youth and 833 adult participants, the prevalence of NMPOU was extremely high (88% among street youth; 90% among adults), and over one-third of those who reported engaging in NMPOU had initiated NMPOU before illegal drug use (vs. transitioning from illegal drugs to NMPOU). Participants who reported either transitioning to or from NMPOU had higher risk profiles, particularly related to substance use, when compared with those who reported never engaging in NMPOU. Sub-analyses restricted to only those who engaged in NMPOU found few statistically significant differences between those who initiated NMPOU prior to illegal drugs versus those who initiated illegal drugs prior to NMPOU. Findings suggest that among people who use illegal drugs, early NMPOU trajectories do not appear to critically shape future patterns and practices.

Estimating the Worldwide Extent of Illegal Fishing

PubMed Central

Agnew, David J.; Pearce, John; Pramod, Ganapathiraju; Peatman, Tom; Watson, Reg; Beddington, John R.; Pitcher, Tony J.

2009-01-01

Illegal and unreported fishing contributes to overexploitation of fish stocks and is a hindrance to the recovery of fish populations and ecosystems. This study is the first to undertake a world-wide analysis of illegal and unreported fishing. Reviewing the situation in 54 countries and on the high seas, we estimate that lower and upper estimates of the total value of current illegal and unreported fishing losses worldwide are between $10 bn and $23.5 bn annually, representing between 11 and 26 million tonnes. Our data are of sufficient resolution to detect regional differences in the level and trend of illegal fishing over the last 20 years, and we can report a significant correlation between governance and the level of illegal fishing. Developing countries are most at risk from illegal fishing, with total estimated catches in West Africa being 40% higher than reported catches. Such levels of exploitation severely hamper the sustainable management of marine ecosystems. Although there have been some successes in reducing the level of illegal fishing in some areas, these developments are relatively recent and follow growing international focus on the problem. This paper provides the baseline against which successful action to curb illegal fishing can be judged. PMID:19240812

Assessing the extent and nature of wildlife trade on the dark web.

PubMed

Harrison, Joseph R; Roberts, David L; Hernandez-Castro, Julio

2016-08-01

Use of the internet as a trade platform has resulted in a shift in the illegal wildlife trade. Increased scrutiny of illegal wildlife trade has led to concerns that online trade of wildlife will move onto the dark web. To provide a baseline of illegal wildlife trade on the dark web, we downloaded and archived 9852 items (individual posts) from the dark web, then searched these based on a list of 121 keywords associated with illegal online wildlife trade, including 30 keywords associated with illegally traded elephant ivory on the surface web. Results were compared with items known to be illegally traded on the dark web, specifically cannabis, cocaine, and heroin, to compare the extent of the trade. Of these 121 keywords, 4 resulted in hits, of which only one was potentially linked to illegal wildlife trade. This sole case was the sale and discussion of Echinopsis pachanoi (San Pedro cactus), which has hallucinogenic properties. This negligible level of activity related to the illegal trade of wildlife on the dark web relative to the open and increasing trade on the surface web may indicate a lack of successful enforcement against illegal wildlife trade on the surface web. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

An exploratory study of illegal gamblers in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Tessler, Andrew; El Beyrouty, Kareen; Crapnell, Natasha

2017-01-01

This study investigates the nature and behaviour of illegal gamblers in Hong Kong. A face-to-face street survey of 512 gamblers was conducted in Hong Kong between September and December 2015 with supplementary convenience sampling allowing for analysis of a total sample of 103 illegal gamblers. 56% of illegal gamblers recorded results consistent with this study's definition of 'excessive gambling' [i.e. moderate risk and problem gamblers under the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI)]. 81% of surveyed illegal gamblers were male, 77% were aged between 30 and 49 and 67% were in blue collar occupations. Illegal gamblers bet more frequently on both legal and illegal games than their legal counterparts and spent more when they did bet. While this research did not indicate the direction of causality between illegal and excessive gambling, international work (de Bruin et al. in verslingerd aan meer dan een spel: Een onderzoek naar de aard en omvang van kansspelproblematiek in Nederland, WODC/CVO, Utrecht, http://www.lexandgaming.eu/nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Verslingerd-aan-meer-dan-een-spel.pdf, 2005; Binde in What are the most harmful forms of gambling? Analysing problem gambling prevalence surveys, http://www.utbildning.gu.se/digitalAssets/1327/1327132_cefos-wp12.pdf, 2011) suggests that excessive gamblers are drawn to illegal gambling. Reform could allow excessive gambling by illegal gamblers to be better addressed and initial work suggests some financial benefits to Hong Kong.

Do immigrants working illegally reduce the natives' legal employment? Evidence from Italy.

PubMed

Venturini, A

1999-01-01

This paper examines how immigrants working illegally in the shadow economy affect the legal employment of native and foreign workers in the official economy of Italy. The data set used was provided by the Central Statistical Office and includes information regarding the units of labor employed both in official production and in underground production; employment in the latter is subdivided into native workers and foreign workers. Estimates were then made as to how "legal employment" has reacted to changes in "illegal employment", with special reference to the effect of the foreign component of "illegal labor". The results of the cross sector-time series analysis of the demand for legal labor in the Italian economy from 1980 to 1995 showed that the increase of illegal units of labor produces a reduction in the use of legal labor, albeit a very limited one. An analysis by sectors shows that the competitive effects of illegal foreign workers is not homogeneous and is strongest in the agricultural sector while complementarity between the two categories of labor is evident in the nontradable services sector. When comparing the number of effects of illegal foreign and illegal native workers, illegal native workers are lower than the illegal foreign workers. Despite regularization in Italy and the lack of flexibility in the labor market, neither regular nor nonregular foreign workers have begun to openly displace native workers.

Ambulant Measurements of Physiological Status and Cognitive Performance during Sustained Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-01

the target, reaction time, illegal responses, and missed responses were recorded. 2.4 Physiological measurements 2.4.1 Anthropometry ...system (SPi-Elite, GPsports Australia ) was mounted on the soldiers’ backpack. The system measured continuously during the training weeks. Walking or...the percentage missed stimuli were even more alike. 3.3 Physiological measurements 3.3.1 Anthropometry The soldiers who completed the training

28 CFR 36.209 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 36.209 Section 36... PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS AND IN COMMERCIAL FACILITIES General Requirements § 36.209 Illegal use of drugs. (a... discrimination against an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public...

28 CFR 36.209 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 36.209 Section 36... PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS AND IN COMMERCIAL FACILITIES General Requirements § 36.209 Illegal use of drugs. (a... discrimination against an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public...

28 CFR 36.209 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 36.209 Section 36... PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS AND IN COMMERCIAL FACILITIES General Requirements § 36.209 Illegal use of drugs. (a... discrimination against an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public...

28 CFR 35.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public entity shall not discriminate on the basis of illegal use of drugs against an individual who is not engaging in current illegal...) A public entity shall not deny health services, or services provided in connection with drug...

28 CFR 36.209 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... connection with drug rehabilitation, to an individual on the basis of that individual's current illegal use... discrimination against an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public... engaging in current illegal use of drugs and who— (i) Has successfully completed a supervised drug...

Neurons with object-centered spatial selectivity in macaque SEF: do they represent locations or rules?

PubMed

Tremblay, Léon; Gettner, Sonya N; Olson, Carl R

2002-01-01

In macaque monkeys performing a task that requires eye movements to the leftmost or rightmost of two dots in a horizontal array, some neurons in the supplementary eye field (SEF) fire differentially according to which side of the array is the target regardless of the array's location on the screen. We refer to these neurons as exhibiting selectivity for object-centered location. This form of selectivity might arise from involvement of the neurons in either of two processes: representing the locations of targets or representing the rules by which targets are selected. To distinguish between these possibilities, we monitored neuronal activity in the SEF of two monkeys performing a task that required the selection of targets by either an object-centered spatial rule or a color rule. On each trial, a sample array consisting of two side-by-side dots appeared; then a cue flashed on one dot; then the display vanished and a delay ensued. Next a target array consisting of two side-by-side dots appeared at an unpredictable location and another delay ensued; finally the monkey had to make an eye movement to one of the target dots. On some trials, the monkey had to select the dot on the same side as the cue (right or left). On other trials, he had to select the target of the same color as the cue (red or green). Neuronal activity robustly encoded the object-centered locations first of the cue and then of the target regardless of the whether the monkey was following a rule based on object-centered location or color. Neuronal activity was at most weakly affected by the type of rule the monkey was following (object-centered-location or color) or by the color of the cue and target (red or green). On trials involving a color rule, neuronal activity was moderately enhanced when the cue and target appeared on opposite sides of their respective arrays. We conclude that the general function of SEF neurons selective for object-centered location is to represent where the cue and target are in their respective arrays rather than to represent the rule for target selection.

28 CFR 35.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 35.131 Section 35... STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES General Requirements § 35.131 Illegal use of drugs. (a) General. (1... an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public entity shall not...

28 CFR 35.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 35.131 Section 35... STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES General Requirements § 35.131 Illegal use of drugs. (a) General. (1... an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public entity shall not...

28 CFR 35.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 35.131 Section 35... STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES General Requirements § 35.131 Illegal use of drugs. (a) General. (1... an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) A public entity shall not...

50 CFR 12.32 - Effect of prior illegality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Effect of prior illegality. 12.32 Section... PLANTS SEIZURE AND FORFEITURE PROCEDURES Disposal of Forfeited or Abandoned Property § 12.32 Effect of prior illegality. The effect of any prior illegality on a subsequent holder of any wildlife or plant...

Toward a new understanding of the links between poverty and illegal wildlife hunting.

PubMed

Duffy, Rosaleen; St John, Freya A V; Büscher, Bram; Brockington, Dan

2016-02-01

Conservation organizations have increasingly raised concerns about escalating rates of illegal hunting and trade in wildlife. Previous studies have concluded that people hunt illegally because they are financially poor or lack alternative livelihood strategies. However, there has been little attempt to develop a richer understanding of the motivations behind contemporary illegal wildlife hunting. As a first step, we reviewed the academic and policy literatures on poaching and illegal wildlife use and considered the meanings of poverty and the relative importance of structure and individual agency. We placed motivations for illegal wildlife hunting within the context of the complex history of how wildlife laws were initially designed and enforced to indicate how hunting practices by specific communities were criminalized. We also considered the nature of poverty and the reasons for economic deprivation in particular communities to indicate how particular understandings of poverty as material deprivation ultimately shape approaches to illegal wildlife hunting. We found there is a need for a much better understanding of what poverty is and what motivates people to hunt illegally. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Toward a new understanding of the links between poverty and illegal wildlife hunting

PubMed Central

Duffy, Rosaleen; St John, Freya A. V.; Büscher, Bram; Brockington, Dan

2015-01-01

Abstract Conservation organizations have increasingly raised concerns about escalating rates of illegal hunting and trade in wildlife. Previous studies have concluded that people hunt illegally because they are financially poor or lack alternative livelihood strategies. However, there has been little attempt to develop a richer understanding of the motivations behind contemporary illegal wildlife hunting. As a first step, we reviewed the academic and policy literatures on poaching and illegal wildlife use and considered the meanings of poverty and the relative importance of structure and individual agency. We placed motivations for illegal wildlife hunting within the context of the complex history of how wildlife laws were initially designed and enforced to indicate how hunting practices by specific communities were criminalized. We also considered the nature of poverty and the reasons for economic deprivation in particular communities to indicate how particular understandings of poverty as material deprivation ultimately shape approaches to illegal wildlife hunting. We found there is a need for a much better understanding of what poverty is and what motivates people to hunt illegally. PMID:26332105

Which psychoactive prescription drugs are illegally obtained and through which ways of acquisition? About OPPIDUM survey.

PubMed

Frauger, Elisabeth; Nordmann, Sandra; Orleans, Veronica; Pradel, Vincent; Pauly, Vanessa; Thirion, Xavier; Micallef, Joëlle

2012-08-01

The objective of the study was to determine which psychoactive prescription drugs are illegally obtained and through which ways of acquisition. OPPIDUM is an annual national study. It is based on specialized care centers that included subjects presenting a drug dependency or under opiate maintenance treatment. All their psychoactive substances consumed are reported. This work focuses on the different ways of acquisition specially the illegal ways of acquisition (bought on the street, forged prescription, stolen, given, internet). For each medication illegally obtained, a ratio has been calculated (number of illegal acquisitions divided by the number of described acquisitions). In 2008, 5542 subjects have been included and have described the consumption of 11 027 substances including 63.8% of prescription drugs. Among them, 11% were illegally obtained. The different illegal acquisition ways were 'street market' (77.6%), 'gift' (16.6%), 'theft' (2.3%), 'forged prescription' (2.3%), and 'internet' (0.7%). The third first drugs illegally obtained were high dosage buprenorphine, methadone, and clonazepam. Some prescription drugs, less consumed, have an important ratio of illegal acquisition like ketamine, flunitrazepam, morphine, trihexyphenidyl, or methylphenidate. This study confirms that theft, forged prescription and internet are few used and permits to highlight diversion of prescription drugs. It is important to inform healthcare professionals on the different prescription drugs that are illegally obtained. © 2011 The Authors Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology © 2011 Société Française de Pharmacologie et de Thérapeutique.

Prototype system of secure VOD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minemura, Harumi; Yamaguchi, Tomohisa

1997-12-01

Secure digital contents delivery systems are to realize copyright protection and charging mechanism, and aim at secure delivery service of digital contents. Encrypted contents delivery and history (log) management are means to accomplish this purpose. Our final target is to realize a video-on-demand (VOD) system that can prevent illegal usage of video data and manage user history data to achieve a secure video delivery system on the Internet or Intranet. By now, mainly targeting client-server systems connected with enterprise LAN, we have implemented and evaluated a prototype system based on the investigation into the delivery method of encrypted video contents.

Non-sanctioning of illegal tackles in South African youth community rugby.

PubMed

Brown, J C; Boucher, S J; Lambert, M; Viljoen, W; Readhead, C; Hendricks, S; Kraak, W J

2018-06-01

The tackle event in rugby union ('rugby') contributes to the majority of players' injuries. Referees can reduce this risk by sanctioning dangerous tackles. A study in elite adult rugby suggests that referees only sanction a minority of illegal tackles. The aim of this study was to assess if this finding was similar in youth community rugby. Observational study. Using EncodePro, 99 South African Rugby Union U18 Youth Week tournament matches were coded between 2011 and 2015. All tackles were coded by a researcher and an international referee to ensure that laws were interpreted correctly. The inter- and intra-rater reliabilities were 0.97-1.00. A regression analysis compared the non-sanctioned rates over time. In total, 12 216 tackles were coded, of which less than 1% (n=113) were 'illegal'. The majority of the 113 illegal tackles were front-on (75%), high tackles (72%) and occurred in the 2nd/4th quarters (29% each). Of the illegal tackles, only 59% were sanctioned. The proportions of illegal tackles and sanctioning of these illegal tackles to all tackles improved by 0.2% per year from 2011-2015 (p<0.05). In these youth community rugby players, 59% of illegal tackles were not sanctioned appropriately. This was better than a previous study in elite adult rugby, where only 7% of illegal tackles were penalised. Moreover, the rates of illegal tackles and non-sanctioned illegal tackles both improved over time. However, it is critical that referees consistently enforce all laws to enhance injury prevention efforts. Further studies should investigate the reasons for non-sanctioning. Copyright © 2017 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Illegal use of natural resources in federal protected areas of the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Silva, Jose M.C.; Michalski, Fernanda

2017-01-01

Background The Brazilian Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest regions and plays a key role in biodiversity conservation as well as climate adaptation and mitigation. The government has created a network of protected areas (PAs) to ensure long-term conservation of the region. However, despite the importance of and positive advances in the establishment of PAs, natural resource depletion in the Brazilian Amazon is pervasive. Methods We evaluated a total of 4,243 official law enforcement records generated between 2010 and 2015 to understand the geographical distribution of the illegal use of resources in federal PAs in the Brazilian Amazon. We classified illegal activities into ten categories and used generalized additive models (GAMs) to evaluate the relationship between illegal use of natural resources inside PAs with management type, age of PAs, population density, and accessibility. Results We found 27 types of illegal use of natural resources that were grouped into 10 categories of illegal activities. Most infractions were related to suppression and degradation of vegetation (37.40%), followed by illegal fishing (27.30%) and hunting activities (18.20%). The explanatory power of the GAMs was low for all categories of illegal activity, with a maximum explained variation of 41.2% for illegal activities as a whole, and a minimum of 14.6% for hunting activities. Discussion These findings demonstrate that even though PAs are fundamental for nature conservation in the Brazilian Amazon, the pressures and threats posed by human activities include a broad range of illegal uses of natural resources. Population density up to 50 km from a PA is a key variable, influencing illegal activities. These threats endanger long-term conservation and many efforts are still needed to maintain PAs that are large enough and sufficiently intact to maintain ecosystem functions and protect biodiversity. PMID:29038758

Illegal use of natural resources in federal protected areas of the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Kauano, Érico E; Silva, Jose M C; Michalski, Fernanda

2017-01-01

The Brazilian Amazon is the world's largest rainforest regions and plays a key role in biodiversity conservation as well as climate adaptation and mitigation. The government has created a network of protected areas (PAs) to ensure long-term conservation of the region. However, despite the importance of and positive advances in the establishment of PAs, natural resource depletion in the Brazilian Amazon is pervasive. We evaluated a total of 4,243 official law enforcement records generated between 2010 and 2015 to understand the geographical distribution of the illegal use of resources in federal PAs in the Brazilian Amazon. We classified illegal activities into ten categories and used generalized additive models (GAMs) to evaluate the relationship between illegal use of natural resources inside PAs with management type, age of PAs, population density, and accessibility. We found 27 types of illegal use of natural resources that were grouped into 10 categories of illegal activities. Most infractions were related to suppression and degradation of vegetation (37.40%), followed by illegal fishing (27.30%) and hunting activities (18.20%). The explanatory power of the GAMs was low for all categories of illegal activity, with a maximum explained variation of 41.2% for illegal activities as a whole, and a minimum of 14.6% for hunting activities. These findings demonstrate that even though PAs are fundamental for nature conservation in the Brazilian Amazon, the pressures and threats posed by human activities include a broad range of illegal uses of natural resources. Population density up to 50 km from a PA is a key variable, influencing illegal activities. These threats endanger long-term conservation and many efforts are still needed to maintain PAs that are large enough and sufficiently intact to maintain ecosystem functions and protect biodiversity.

Economic incentives exist to support measures to reduce illegal logging

Treesearch

J.A. Turner; J. Buongiorno; A. Katz; S. Zhu; R. Li

2008-01-01

Three studies of the global economic implications of eliminating illegal logging are summarized. Processors of illegally sourced wood would lose from the elimination of illegal logging through high prices for logs and decreased production of wood products. Associated with these changes could be losses in employment and income. Beyond these losses to the processing...

34 CFR 668.40 - Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 34 Education 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. 668... Eligibility § 668.40 Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. (a)(1) A student is ineligible to... of illegal drugs for conduct that occurred during a period of enrollment for which the student was...

36 CFR 1280.20 - What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... illegal drugs and alcohol? 1280.20 Section 1280.20 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES... Conduct on NARA Property? Prohibited Activities § 1280.20 What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol? You may not use or be in possession of illegal drugs on NARA property. You also may not enter NARA...

36 CFR 1280.20 - What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... illegal drugs and alcohol? 1280.20 Section 1280.20 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES... Conduct on NARA Property? Prohibited Activities § 1280.20 What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol? You may not use or be in possession of illegal drugs on NARA property. You also may not enter NARA...

36 CFR 1280.20 - What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... illegal drugs and alcohol? 1280.20 Section 1280.20 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES... Conduct on NARA Property? Prohibited Activities § 1280.20 What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol? You may not use or be in possession of illegal drugs on NARA property. You also may not enter NARA...

34 CFR 668.40 - Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 34 Education 3 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. 668... Eligibility § 668.40 Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. (a)(1) A student is ineligible to... of illegal drugs for conduct that occurred during a period of enrollment for which the student was...

34 CFR 668.40 - Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 34 Education 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. 668... Eligibility § 668.40 Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. (a)(1) A student is ineligible to... of illegal drugs for conduct that occurred during a period of enrollment for which the student was...

34 CFR 668.40 - Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 34 Education 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. 668... Eligibility § 668.40 Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. (a)(1) A student is ineligible to... of illegal drugs for conduct that occurred during a period of enrollment for which the student was...

36 CFR 1280.20 - What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... illegal drugs and alcohol? 1280.20 Section 1280.20 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES... Conduct on NARA Property? Prohibited Activities § 1280.20 What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol? You may not use or be in possession of illegal drugs on NARA property. You also may not enter NARA...

Illegal drug use among female university students in Slovakia.

PubMed

Matejovičová, Barbora; Trandžík, Jozef; Schlarmannová, Janka; Boledovičová, Mária; Velemínský, Miloš

2015-01-20

This study is focused on the issue of illegal drug use among female university students preparing to become teachers. The main aim was to determine the frequency of drug abuse in a group of young women (n=215, mean age 20.44 years). Using survey methods, we determined that 33.48% of female university students in Slovakia use illegal drugs and 66.51% of students have never used illegal drugs. Differences between these groups were determined using statistical analysis, mostly in 4 areas of survey questions. We determined that education of parents has a statistically significant influence on use of illegal drugs by their children (χ2=10.14; P<0.05). Communication between parents and children and parental attention to children have a significant role in determining risky behavior (illegal drug use, χ2=8.698, P<0.05). Parents of students not using illegal drugs were interested in how their children spend their free time (68.53%). We confirmed the relationship between consumption of alcohol and illegal drug use (χ2=16.645; P<0.001) and smoking (χ2=6.226; P<0.05). The first contact with drugs occurs most frequently at high school age. The most consumed "soft" drug in our group of female university students is marijuana. Our findings are relevant for comparison and generalization regarding causes of the steady increase in number of young people using illegal drugs.

[Self-Reported consumption of illegal psychoactive substances in a street inhabitant population from Cali, Colombia].

PubMed

Hernández-Carrillo, Mauricio; Álvarez-Claros, Katherine E; Osorio-Sabogal, Iván Alberto

2015-04-01

Objective To determine the prevalence of self-reported use of illegal psychoactive substances in a homeless population of the city of Cali. Method Descriptive study of prevalence of period. The target population was 763 homeless people registered during 2010 in the database provided by a temporary shelter facility in the city of Cali. Statistical analysis was performed using R version 3.2.0. Research safe according to the resolution 8430 of 1993. Results 76.9 % of the homeless population recognizes that they consume some type of illegal psychoactive substance (IPAS). The substances with a higher prevalence of use in this population were: marijuana (51.2 %), the crack cocaine (44.6 %) and cocaine (11.3 %). 28.6 % of homeless people were found to consume IPAS more than three times a day and that the main route of administration is smoke (54.7 %). 50% of respondents reported having been hospitalized at some time in a rehabilitation center. Discussion The results in this study show that the problem of PASI consumption significantly affects the population of homeless people, with marijuana and crack cocaine being the most commonly used, which is a complex situation if the easy access of these substances and the severe physical and mental degenerative effects the cause in those who consume them are taken into account. Therefore it is necessary to support initiatives aimed at intervening in this social phenomenon.

10 CFR 707.10 - Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use... Procedures § 707.10 Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use. (a)(1) It may be necessary to... relating to the testing for the use of illegal drugs are not intended to prohibit the contractor from...

10 CFR 707.10 - Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use... Procedures § 707.10 Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use. (a)(1) It may be necessary to... relating to the testing for the use of illegal drugs are not intended to prohibit the contractor from...

10 CFR 707.10 - Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use... Procedures § 707.10 Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use. (a)(1) It may be necessary to... relating to the testing for the use of illegal drugs are not intended to prohibit the contractor from...

10 CFR 707.10 - Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use... Procedures § 707.10 Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use. (a)(1) It may be necessary to... relating to the testing for the use of illegal drugs are not intended to prohibit the contractor from...

10 CFR 707.10 - Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use... Procedures § 707.10 Drug testing for reasonable suspicion of illegal drug use. (a)(1) It may be necessary to... relating to the testing for the use of illegal drugs are not intended to prohibit the contractor from...

36 CFR § 1280.20 - What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Conduct on NARA Property? Prohibited Activities § 1280.20 What is your policy on illegal drugs and alcohol? You may not use or be in possession of illegal drugs on NARA property. You also may not enter NARA property while under the influence of illegal drugs or alcohol. Using alcoholic beverages on NARA property...

Infrared small target detection based on Danger Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lan, Jinhui; Yang, Xiao

2009-11-01

To solve the problem that traditional method can't detect the small objects whose local SNR is less than 2 in IR images, a Danger Theory-based model to detect infrared small target is presented in this paper. First, on the analog with immunology, the definition is given, in this paper, to such terms as dangerous signal, antigens, APC, antibodies. Besides, matching rule between antigen and antibody is improved. Prior to training the detection model and detecting the targets, the IR images are processed utilizing adaptive smooth filter to decrease the stochastic noise. Then at the training process, deleting rule, generating rule, crossover rule and the mutation rule are established after a large number of experiments in order to realize immediate convergence and obtain good antibodies. The Danger Theory-based model is built after the training process, and this model can detect the target whose local SNR is only 1.5.

Rule-based expert system for maritime anomaly detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roy, Jean

2010-04-01

Maritime domain operators/analysts have a mandate to be aware of all that is happening within their areas of responsibility. This mandate derives from the needs to defend sovereignty, protect infrastructures, counter terrorism, detect illegal activities, etc., and it has become more challenging in the past decade, as commercial shipping turned into a potential threat. In particular, a huge portion of the data and information made available to the operators/analysts is mundane, from maritime platforms going about normal, legitimate activities, and it is very challenging for them to detect and identify the non-mundane. To achieve such anomaly detection, they must establish numerous relevant situational facts from a variety of sensor data streams. Unfortunately, many of the facts of interest just cannot be observed; the operators/analysts thus use their knowledge of the maritime domain and their reasoning faculties to infer these facts. As they are often overwhelmed by the large amount of data and information, automated reasoning tools could be used to support them by inferring the necessary facts, ultimately providing indications and warning on a small number of anomalous events worthy of their attention. Along this line of thought, this paper describes a proof-of-concept prototype of a rule-based expert system implementing automated rule-based reasoning in support of maritime anomaly detection.

Long-term effects of eliminating illegal logging on the world forest industries, trade, and inventory

Treesearch

Ruhong Li; J. Buongiorno; J.A. Turner; S. Zhu; J. Prestemon

2008-01-01

We assessed the impact on the world forest sector of a progressive elimination of illegal logging. The analysis compared predictions from 2007 to 2020, with and without a gradual reduction of illegally logged industrial roundwood from 2007 to 2011. A large part of the curtailment of timber supply due to the stoppage of illegal logging would be compensated by increased...

Pregnancy and Substance Abuse

MedlinePlus

... baby. If you smoke, use alcohol or take illegal drugs, so does your unborn baby. First, don't ... children, including fetal alcohol syndrome. Don't use illegal drugs. Using illegal drugs may cause underweight babies, birth ...

Illegal killing for ivory drives global decline in African elephants

PubMed Central

Wittemyer, George; Northrup, Joseph M.; Blanc, Julian; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain; Omondi, Patrick; Burnham, Kenneth P.

2014-01-01

Illegal wildlife trade has reached alarming levels globally, extirpating populations of commercially valuable species. As a driver of biodiversity loss, quantifying illegal harvest is essential for conservation and sociopolitical affairs but notoriously difficult. Here we combine field-based carcass monitoring with fine-scale demographic data from an intensively studied wild African elephant population in Samburu, Kenya, to partition mortality into natural and illegal causes. We then expand our analytical framework to model illegal killing rates and population trends of elephants at regional and continental scales using carcass data collected by a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species program. At the intensively monitored site, illegal killing increased markedly after 2008 and was correlated strongly with the local black market ivory price and increased seizures of ivory destined for China. More broadly, results from application to continental data indicated illegal killing levels were unsustainable for the species between 2010 and 2012, peaking to ∼8% in 2011 which extrapolates to ∼40,000 elephants illegally killed and a probable species reduction of ∼3% that year. Preliminary data from 2013 indicate overharvesting continued. In contrast to the rest of Africa, our analysis corroborates that Central African forest elephants experienced decline throughout the last decade. These results provide the most comprehensive assessment of illegal ivory harvest to date and confirm that current ivory consumption is not sustainable. Further, our approach provides a powerful basis to determine cryptic mortality and gain understanding of the demography of at-risk species. PMID:25136107

Illegal killing for ivory drives global decline in African elephants.

PubMed

Wittemyer, George; Northrup, Joseph M; Blanc, Julian; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain; Omondi, Patrick; Burnham, Kenneth P

2014-09-09

Illegal wildlife trade has reached alarming levels globally, extirpating populations of commercially valuable species. As a driver of biodiversity loss, quantifying illegal harvest is essential for conservation and sociopolitical affairs but notoriously difficult. Here we combine field-based carcass monitoring with fine-scale demographic data from an intensively studied wild African elephant population in Samburu, Kenya, to partition mortality into natural and illegal causes. We then expand our analytical framework to model illegal killing rates and population trends of elephants at regional and continental scales using carcass data collected by a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species program. At the intensively monitored site, illegal killing increased markedly after 2008 and was correlated strongly with the local black market ivory price and increased seizures of ivory destined for China. More broadly, results from application to continental data indicated illegal killing levels were unsustainable for the species between 2010 and 2012, peaking to ∼ 8% in 2011 which extrapolates to ∼ 40,000 elephants illegally killed and a probable species reduction of ∼ 3% that year. Preliminary data from 2013 indicate overharvesting continued. In contrast to the rest of Africa, our analysis corroborates that Central African forest elephants experienced decline throughout the last decade. These results provide the most comprehensive assessment of illegal ivory harvest to date and confirm that current ivory consumption is not sustainable. Further, our approach provides a powerful basis to determine cryptic mortality and gain understanding of the demography of at-risk species.

Reality Television Programs Are Associated With Illegal Drug Use and Prescription Drug Misuse Among College Students.

PubMed

Fogel, Joshua; Shlivko, Alexander

2016-01-02

Reality television watching and social media use are popular activities. Reality television can include mention of illegal drug use and prescription drug misuse. To determine if reality television and social media use of Twitter are associated with either illegal drug use or prescription drug misuse. Survey of 576 college students in 2011. Independent variables included watching reality television (social cognitive theory), parasocial interaction (parasocial interaction theory), television hours watched (cultivation theory), following a reality television character on Twitter, and demographics. Outcome variables were illegal drug use and prescription drug misuse. Watching reality television and also identifying with reality TV program characters were each associated with greater odds for illegal drug use. Also, following a reality TV character on Twitter had greater odds for illegal drug use and also in one analytical model for prescription drug misuse. No support was seen for cultivation theory. Those born in the United States had greater odds for illegal drug use and prescription drug misuse. Women and Asians had lower odds for illegal drug use. African Americans and Asians had lower odds for prescription drug misuse. Physicians, psychologists, and other healthcare practitioners may find it useful to include questions in their clinical interview about reality television watching and Twitter use. Physician and psychology groups, public health practitioners, and government health agencies should consider discussing with television broadcasting companies the potential negative impact of including content with illegal drugs and prescription drug misuse on reality television programs.

An Efficient and Examinable Illegal Fallow Fields Detecting Method with Spatio-Temporal Information Integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Chia-Hao; Chu, Tzu-How

2017-04-01

To control the rice production and farm usage in Taiwan, Agriculture and Food Agency (AFA) has published a series of policies to subsidize farmers to plant different crops or to practice fallow science 1983. Because of no efficient and examinable mechanism to verify the fallow fields surveyed by township office, illegal fallow fields were still repeated each year. In this research, we used remote sensing images, GIS data of Fields, and application records of fallow fields to establish an illegal fallow fields detecting method in Yulin County in central Taiwan. This method included: 1. collected multi-temporal images from FS-2 or SPOT series with 4 time periods; 2. combined the application records and GIS data of fields to verify the location of fallow fields; 3. conducted ground truth survey and classified images with ISODATA and Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC); 4. defined the land cover type of fallow fields by zonal statistic; 5. verified accuracy with ground truth; 6. developed potential illegal fallow fields survey method and benefit estimation. We use 190 fallow fields with 127 legal and 63 illegal as ground truth and accuracies of illegal fallow field interpretation in producer and user are 71.43% and 38.46%. If township office surveyed 117 classified illegal fallow fields, 45 of 63 illegal fallow fields will be detected. By using our method, township office can save 38.42% of the manpower to detect illegal fallow fields and receive an examinable 71.43% producer accuracy.

77 FR 48570 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Order Approving a Proposed Rule...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-14

... Underlying Securities) of the NASDAQ Options Market rules.\\11\\ Additionally, the Target Component's and the...\\ Additionally, the Target Component's and the Benchmark Component's trading volume (in all markets in which the...-Regulatory Organizations; The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Order Approving a Proposed Rule Change Relating to the...

Identifying Demand Responses to Illegal Drug Supply Interdictions.

PubMed

Cunningham, Scott; Finlay, Keith

2016-10-01

Successful supply-side interdictions into illegal drug markets are predicated on the responsiveness of drug prices to enforcement and the price elasticity of demand for addictive drugs. We present causal estimates that targeted interventions aimed at methamphetamine input markets ('precursor control') can temporarily increase retail street prices, but methamphetamine consumption is weakly responsive to higher drug prices. After the supply interventions, purity-adjusted prices increased then quickly returned to pre-treatment levels within 6-12 months, demonstrating the short-term effects of precursor control. The price elasticity of methamphetamine demand is -0.13 to -0.21 for self-admitted drug treatment admissions and between -0.24 and -0.28 for hospital inpatient admissions. We find some evidence of a positive cross-price effect for cocaine, but we do not find robust evidence that increases in methamphetamine prices increased heroin, alcohol, or marijuana drug use. This study can inform policy discussions regarding other synthesized drugs, including illicit use of pharmaceuticals. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Prevalence of smuggled and foreign cigarette use in Tehran, 2009

PubMed Central

Heydari, Gholamreza; Tafti, Saeid Fallah; Telischi, Firouzeh; Joossens, Luk; Hosseini, Mostafa; Ghafari, Mostafa

2010-01-01

Background Iran is one of two main target markets for tobacco smuggling in the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region. The Iranian government has a local tobacco monopoly but there is high demand for international brands. Informal reports show about 20% of cigarette consumption is smuggled brands. This pack survey study is the first in Iran to gather validated information on use of smuggled cigarettes. Methods A randomized cross-sectional household survey in Tehran in 2008–2009 of 1540 smokers aged 16–90 (83% men) was performed, including interviewer checking of cigarette packs. Results In all, 20.9% of cigarettes and 6.7% of domestic branded cigarettes were smuggled. A total of 60.1% of smokers preferred foreign cigarettes. There was no significant difference between consumption of illegal cigarettes by sex. (Fisher exact test p=0.61) Use of smuggled cigarettes was higher among younger smokers (p=0.01) Conclusions Use of illegal cigarettes is high. Tobacco control laws outlawing their sale are not being enforced. PMID:20876076

Transfer Learning of Classification Rules for Biomarker Discovery and Verification from Molecular Profiling Studies

PubMed Central

Ganchev, Philip; Malehorn, David; Bigbee, William L.; Gopalakrishnan, Vanathi

2013-01-01

We present a novel framework for integrative biomarker discovery from related but separate data sets created in biomarker profiling studies. The framework takes prior knowledge in the form of interpretable, modular rules, and uses them during the learning of rules on a new data set. The framework consists of two methods of transfer of knowledge from source to target data: transfer of whole rules and transfer of rule structures. We evaluated the methods on three pairs of data sets: one genomic and two proteomic. We used standard measures of classification performance and three novel measures of amount of transfer. Preliminary evaluation shows that whole-rule transfer improves classification performance over using the target data alone, especially when there is more source data than target data. It also improves performance over using the union of the data sets. PMID:21571094

75 FR 51808 - Lead-Based Paint Renovation, Repair and Painting Activities in Target Housing and Child Occupied...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-23

... Renovation, Repair and Painting Activities in Target Housing and Child Occupied Facilities; State of Rhode.... These rules already cover all lead-based paint activities that are conducted in target housing and child... in target housing and child-occupied facilities. These rules: 1. Establish the discipline of lead...

Calculating the social cost of illegal drugs: a theoretical approach.

PubMed

Diomidous, Marianna; Zimeras, Stelios; Mechili, Aggelos

2013-01-01

The use of illegal drugs generates a wide range of social harms depending on various ways, according to the policy definition of the problem. The challenge is the way to model the impact of illegal drugs use during a long time period considering the factors that affects the process. Based on these models, estimation could be measured and prediction could be achieved. The illegal drugs use might affect the economic and social structure of the public system leading to direct and effective decisions to overcome the problematic. For that reason, calculation of social cost related to the use of illegal could be introduced over time (t) as a proposed social measure to define the variability of social indicator on society. In this work, a theoretical approach for the calculation of social cost of illegal drugs is proposed and models over time are defined.

Perception of illegal practice of medicine by Brazilian medical students.

PubMed

Lins, Liliane; Herbas, Suzana; Lisboa, Larissa; Damasceno, Hannah; Menezes, Marta

2014-06-01

Illegal practice of medicine by medical students is a worldwide problem. In Brazil, information about this issue is scarce. To describe the perception of illegal practice of medicine by medical students. A cross-sectional study in a stratified random sample of 130 medical students in the 6th to 12th semesters from a private faculty of medicine in Salvador, State of Bahia, Brazil, from September to October 2011. Students responded to a standardised questionnaire about the illegal practice of medicine by medical students. Knowing medical students who practised medical activities without supervision was reported by 86% of the respondents, and 93.8% had heard about someone who performed such practices. Medical specialties most often associated with illegal practice were general medicine (78.8%) and occupational health (55.9%). Illegal practice of medicine was more common in peripheral cities/towns (83.9%) than in the State capital, Salvador City (52.4%). Only 10.5% of illegal activities were reported to the authorities. Unsupervised medical practice was more often reported in the 8th-9th semester (56.8%) and 10th-11th semester (54.4%) of medical school. Illegal practice of medicine was commonly reported by the medical students questioned. The high frequency of reported illegal practice for financial reasons highlights the need for greater availability of paid internships for medical students. Educational institutions represent the social control responsible for supervising the activities of academics. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Informal payments for health care--the phenomenon and its context.

PubMed

Cohen, Nissim

2012-07-01

This paper reviews current research and literature on the issue of informal payments for health care and its context and suggests a new perspective for a better understanding of this phenomenon. This perspective, based on political culture and behavior and on wider social processes, is already used to explain various phenomena from different fields of public policy. The paper explains the impact of a specific type of political culture, called 'alternative politics' (AP) in the Israeli literature, on healthcare policy and institutional healthcare settings. AP is based on a 'do-it-yourself' approach adopted by citizens to address their dissatisfaction with governmental services. When such a mode of political culture is diffused to all sectors and levels of society, all players, including bureaucrats and politicians, are guided by short-term considerations and apply unilateral strategies that bypass formal rules either through illegal activity or by marginalizing formal rules. Explaining informal payments by analyzing social processes and political culture and behavior has some disadvantages, but it provides us with a better understanding of the phenomenon while covering most of its characteristics and configurations.

[Current and future legislation of illegal drugs in Tokyo].

PubMed

Abe, Tetsuya

2013-01-01

Abuse of illegal drugs is widespread among young people, especially in the so-called "dance club scene" or "rave scene". Severe and even fatal poisonings have been attributed to the consumption of such drugs of abuse. The actions against these drugs by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and subsequently by the Government of Japan have gone some way to reducing the potential harm caused by these substances. However, alternative products have been advertised on a number of websites. During our careful surveillance of illegal drugs in 2011, we found seven unregulated drugs advertised. This means that we have an obligation to continue strict surveillance of illegal drugs and to structure a system of temporary bans on illegal drugs.

Tracking illegal small arms traffic across U.S. borders through the implementation of firearm microstamping to small arms and small arms exports

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lizotte, Todd E.; Ohar, Orest P.

2009-05-01

At a border security conference in August 2008, Michael Sullivan, acting director of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stated that, "Nearly all illegal firearms (90% to 95%) seized in Mexico come from the United States"[1]. When firearms are recovered at a crime scene, the firearms can be traced providing specific details on illegal firearm dealers or straw purchasers within the United States. Criminals or narco terrorist groups target US dealers to source firearms for drug cartels in Mexico and South America. Joint law enforcement programs between the US and Mexico law enforcement have been effective, however, in most cases the firearms that are seized are only a small fraction of the firearms trafficked across the United States border. A technology called Microstamping, when applied to newly manufactured firearms will provide further opportunities for tracing illegal firearms for law enforcement in the United States and across the globe. Microstamping is a patented technology and trace solution where intentional tooling marks are formed or micromachined onto firearms interior surfaces that come into contact or impact the surfaces of cartridge casings. The intentional tooling marks can take the form of alphanumeric codes or encoded geometric codes, such as a barcode. As the firearm is discharged the intentional tooling marks transfer a code to the cartridge casing before it is ejected out of the firearm. When recovered at the scene of an incident, the Microstamped cartridge can indentify a specific firearm, without the need to recover that firearm. Microstamping provides critical intelligence for use in border security operations and cross border violent drug related crime investigations. This paper will explain the key attributes of microstamping technology; including its potential benefits in border security operations and how data gathered from the technique can be used in geospatial information systems to identify illicit firearm sources, trafficking routes, as well as spatial and temporal mapping of narco-terrorist movements on either side of the border.

"Smart inhibition": electrophysiological evidence for the suppression of conflict-generating task rules during task switching.

PubMed

Meiran, Nachshon; Hsieh, Shulan; Chang, Chi-Chih

2011-09-01

A major challenge for task switching is maintaining a balance between high task readiness and effectively ignoring irrelevant task rules. This calls for finely tuned inhibition that targets only the source of interference without adversely influencing other task-related representations. The authors show that irrelevant task rules generating response conflict are inhibited, causing their inefficient execution on the next trial (indicating the presence of competitor rule suppression[CRS];Meiran, Hsieh, & Dimov, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 36, 992-1002, 2010). To determine whether CRS influences task rules, rather than target stimuli or responses, the authors focused on the processing of the task cue before the target stimulus was presented and before the response could be chosen. As was predicted, CRS was found in the event-related potentials in two time windows during task cue processing. It was also found in three time windows after target presentation. Source localization analyses suggest the involvement of the right dorsal prefrontal cortex in all five time windows.

Sum rules and other properties involving resonance projection operators. [for optical potential description of electron scattering from atoms and ions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berk, A.; Temkin, A.

1985-01-01

A sum rule is derived for the auxiliary eigenvalues of an equation whose eigenspectrum pertains to projection operators which describe electron scattering from multielectron atoms and ions. The sum rule's right-hand side depends on an integral involving the target system eigenfunctions. The sum rule is checked for several approximations of the two-electron target. It is shown that target functions which have a unit eigenvalue in their auxiliary eigenspectrum do not give rise to well-defined projection operators except through a limiting process. For Hylleraas target approximations, the auxiliary equations are shown to contain an infinite spectrum. However, using a Rayleigh-Ritz variational principle, it is shown that a comparatively simple aproximation can exhaust the sum rule to better than five significant figures. The auxiliary Hylleraas equation is greatly simplified by conversion to a square root equation containing the same eigenfunction spectrum and from which the required eigenvalues are trivially recovered by squaring.

Medicinal and illegal drugs among Danish car drivers.

PubMed

Behrensdorff, Inge; Steentoft, Anni

2003-11-01

The objective of this study was to get an insight into the prevalence of medicinal and illegal drugs among car drivers in a Danish rural area. The police randomly stopped about 1000 car drivers and asked them to deliver a saliva sample and gave them a questionnaire to fill in at home. Laboratory analyses by specific methods of samples, which a screening found positive, confirmed that 2% were positive for benzodiazepines or illegal drugs (amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine or opiates): 1.3% were positive for illegal drugs and 0.7% for benzodiazepines. Questionnaire statements from some of the drivers confirm that occasionally some of these drive despite a suspicion to be under the influence of an illegal drug (2.8%), an illegal drug including alcohol (4%), a hazardous medicinal drug including alcohol (8.5%), or alcohol alone above the legal limit (24.5%). These results are considered reliable for the survey area and may not reflect national conditions. The overall results indicate that in this study driving under the influence of illegal drugs or alcohol seems to be associated to especially men, aged 22-44 years. Driving under the influence of hazardous medicinal drugs seems to be associated to middle-aged/elderly drivers, both men and women.

[Illegal abortion with misoprostol in Guadeloupe].

PubMed

Manouana, M; Kadhel, P; Koffi, A; Janky, E

2013-04-01

The aim of this study was to describe the typical profile, and to assess the motivations of women who underwent illegal abortion with misoprostol in Guadeloupe (French West Indies). We conducted a 1-year prospective study on women who consulted after failure or complication of an illegal abortion with misoprostol. Fifty-two cases of illegal abortion with misoprostol were recorded. The most common profile was an unemployed woman, who was unmarried, foreign-born, had no medical insurance, and a low level of education; the median age was 28 (range 17 to 40). The justifications given were that the legal procedure was considered to be too slow, the young age of the woman, the ease of the self-medication procedure, a history of illegal abortion by misoprostol in the woman's country of origin, ignorance of the legal process, and financial and/or administrative problems. The problem of illegal abortion is probably underestimated in Guadeloupe and possibly France. This description of the profile of the population concerned and the justifications for choosing illegal abortion by misoprostol provides elements allowing better focus of education concerning abortion, contraception and family planning. Access to legal abortion centers should also be improved. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Quantifying the Effect of Macroeconomic and Social Factors on Illegal E-Waste Trade.

PubMed

Efthymiou, Loukia; Mavragani, Amaryllis; Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P

2016-08-05

As illegal e-waste trade has been significantly growing over the course of the last few years, the consequences on human health and the environment demand immediate action on the part of the global community. Though it is argued that e-waste flows from developed to developing countries, this subject seems to be more complex than that, with a variety of studies suggesting that income per capita is not the only factor affecting the choice of regions that e-waste is illegally shipped to. How is a country's economic and social development associated with illegal e-waste trade? Is legislation an important factor? This paper aims at quantifying macroeconomic (per capita income and openness of economy) and social (human development and social progress) aspects, based on qualitative data on illegal e-waste trade routes, by examining the percentage differences in scorings in selected indicators for all known and suspected routes. The results show that illegal e-waste trade occurs from economically and socially developed regions to countries with significantly lower levels of overall development, with few exceptions, which could be attributed to the fact that several countries have loose regulations on e-waste trade, thus deeming them attractive for potential illegal activities.

Users' and GPs' causal attributions of illegal substance use: an exploratory interview study.

PubMed

Wynn, Rolf; Karlsen, Kjetil; Lorntzsen, Bianca; Bjerke, Trond Nergaard; Bergvik, Svein

2009-08-01

There is a need to explore the beliefs regarding the causes of illegal substance use of the people who themselves use the substances (SU) and their GPs. Increased knowledge about such beliefs--often referred to as causal attributions--may improve mutual understanding and communication between SU and GPs. Eight SU and five GPs were interviewed about the causes of illegal substance use. They also talked about how substance use was discussed in consultations. Data were analysed qualitatively. Both the SU and the GPs believed that several factors usually were important in each case of illegal substance use. The SU more often than the GPs emphasised the positive aspects of illegal substance use. We discerned five main causes: biological, social, lack of self-control, positive experiences, and chance. Several of the SU and GPs emphasised that it was difficult to communicate about substance use. The GPs and the SU believed illegal substance use is caused by many factors, including biological, social, and lack of self-control. Communicating about illegal substance use is challenging. GPs should be aware of the clinical importance of causal attributions and should explore beliefs held by SU about the causes of their substance use.

Won't get fooled again: An event-related potential study of task and repetition effects on the semantic processing of items without semantics.

PubMed

Laszlo, Sarah; Stites, Mallory; Federmeier, Kara D

2012-01-01

A growing body of evidence suggests that semantic access is obligatory. Several studies have demonstrated that brain activity associated with semantic processing, measured in the N400 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP), is elicited even by meaningless, orthographically illegal strings, suggesting that semantic access is not gated by lexicality. However, the downstream consequences of that activity vary by item type, exemplified by the typical finding that N400 activity is reduced by repetition for words and pronounceable nonwords but not for illegal strings. We propose that this lack of repetition effect for illegal strings is caused not by lack of contact with semantics, but by the unrefined nature of that contact under conditions in which illegal strings can be readily categorised as task-irrelevant. To test this, we collected ERPs from participants performing a modified Lexical Decision Task, in which the presence of orthographically illegal acronyms rendered meaningless illegal strings more difficult lures than normal. Confirming our hypothesis, under these conditions illegal strings elicited robust N400 repetition effects, quantitatively and qualitatively similar to those elicited by words, pseudowords, and acronyms.

Daily Stressors as Antecedents, Correlates, and Consequences of Alcohol and Drug Use and Cravings in Community-Based Offenders

PubMed Central

Neupert, Shevaun D.; Desmarais, Sarah L.; Gray, Julie S.; Cohn, Amy M.; Doherty, Stephen; Knight, Kevin

2017-01-01

Justice-involved individuals with alcohol and drug use problems reoffend at higher rates than their non-using counterparts, with alcohol and drug use serving as an important vector to recidivism. At the daily level, exposure to stressors may exacerbate problematic alcohol and drug use; at the individual-level, prior treatment experiences may mitigate substance use as individuals adapt to and learn new coping mechanisms. We conducted a daily diary study using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology over 14 consecutive days with 117 men on probation or parole participating in a community-based treatment program (n = 860 calls) and referred to medication-assisted treatment. Participants reported daily stressors, craving for alcohol and illegal drugs, and use of alcohol and illegal drugs one time each day. Results of multilevel models showed significant day-to-day fluctuation in alcohol and drug craving and use. In concurrent models, increases in daily stressors were associated with increases in cravings and use of illegal drugs. Prior treatment experience modified many of these relationships, and additional lagged models revealed that those with less treatment experience reported an increase in next-day alcohol craving when they experienced increases in stressors on the previous day compared to those with more treatment experience. Collectively, these findings highlight the importance of tailoring treatment as a function of individual differences, including prior treatment experiences, and targeting daily stressors and subsequent cravings among justice-involved adults with alcohol and drug use problems. PMID:28383933

Sociodemographic and psychopathological predictors of criminal behavior in women with gambling disorder.

PubMed

Mestre-Bach, Gemma; Steward, Trevor; Granero, Roser; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Talón-Navarro, María Teresa; Cuquerella, Àngel; Del Pino-Gutiérrez, Amparo; Aymamí, Neus; Gómez-Peña, Mónica; Mallorquí-Bagué, Núria; Mena-Moreno, Teresa; Vintró-Alcaraz, Cristina; Baño, Marta; Moragas, Laura; Magaña, Pablo; Menchón, José Manuel; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana

2018-05-01

Women have been underrepresented in the empirical research of gambling disorder (GD), a psychiatric condition included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM-5). More specifically, no studies to date have been carried out exploring the clinical phenotype of women with GD who have committed gambling-related illegal acts. In this study, we sought to delineate the clinical, personality and psychopathological differences between treatment-seeking women with GD, with and without a criminal record. Furthermore, we aimed to identify the variables that best predict the presence of illegal acts in this clinical group. Data corresponded to n=273 treatment-seeking women who met criteria for GD. Two groups were compared: women with a history of criminal behavior (n=61, 22.34%) to those who did not (n=212, 77.66%) taking psychopathology, clinical and personality data into account. Women who engaged in criminal acts were younger and endorsed higher psychopathology, GD severity, and novelty seeking levels than the other clinical group. Regarding the predictive model, women with higher levels of novelty seeking and lower levels of reward dependence were at higher risk of having a criminal record. DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE AND/OR POLICY: Our findings uphold that women with GD and a history of illegal acts are especially vulnerable in terms of comorbid psychopathology and dysfunctional personality traits. Therefore, this population could potentially benefit from public policies that target their mental health needs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

28 CFR 35.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... participation to individuals who engage in illegal use of drugs while they are in the program. (c) Drug testing... procedures, including but not limited to drug testing, designed to ensure that an individual who formerly... of testing for the illegal use of drugs. ...

Drinking Drivers and Drug Use on Weekend Nights in the United States*

PubMed Central

Voas, Robert B.; Lacey, John H.; Jones, Kristina; Scherer, Michael; Compton, Richard

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND Studies of drinking drivers in alcohol-related crashes have shown that high breath-alcohol concentrations (BrACs) are associated with illegal drug use. Until the 2007 National Roadside Survey (NRS), the prevalence of drugs among drinking drivers on U.S. roads was unknown. Using NRS data, we explore how many drivers with positive BrACs may also be using drugs and their significance to current drinking-driving enforcement procedures. METHODS Based on a stratified, random sample covering the 48 U.S. contiguous states, we conducted surveys on weekend nights from July-November 2007. Of the 8,384 eligible motorists contacted, 85.4% provided a breath sample; 70.0%, an oral fluid sample; and 39.1%, a blood sample. We conducted regression analyses on 5,912 participants with a breath test and an oral fluid or blood test. The dependent variables of interest were illegal drugs (cocaine, cannabinoids, street drugs, street amphetamines, and opiates) and medicinal drugs (prescription and over-the-counter). RESULTS 10.5% of nondrinking drivers were using illegal drugs, and 26 to 33% of drivers with illegal BrACs (≥.08 g/dL) were using illegal drugs. Medicinal drug use was more common among nondrinking drivers (4.0%) than among drivers with illegal BrACs (2.4%). CONCLUSIONS The significant relationship between an illegal BrAC and the prevalence of an illegal drug suggests as many as 350,000 illegal drug-using drivers are arrested each year for DWI by U.S. alcohol-impaired driving enforcement. These drug-using drivers need to be identified and appropriate sanctions/treatment programs implemented for them in efforts to extend per se laws to unapprehended drug users. PMID:23265090

Homeland Security: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Border Surveillance

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-08

outfit the Predator B with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system17 and a moving target indicator (MTI) radar. Adding SAR and MTI to the Predator B’s...Predator Squadrons,” Inside the Air Force, June 7, 2002. 17 For more information about Synthetic Aperture Radar, see http://www.sandia.gov/radar...contributed to the seizing of more than 22,000 pounds of marijuana and the apprehension of 5,000 illegal immigrants,” others disagree.24 “Unmanned aircraft

Understanding illegality and corruption in forest governance.

PubMed

Sundström, Aksel

2016-10-01

This review synthesizes the literature studying illegality and government corruption in forest management. After discussing the theoretical connections between different types of corruption and illegal forest-related activities it describes the major trends in previous studies, examining cross-national patterns as well as local in-depth studies. Both theory and available empirical findings provide a straightforward suggestion: Bribery is indeed a "door opener" for illegal activities to take place in forest management. It then discusses the implications for conservation, focusing first on international protection schemes such as the REDD+ and second on efforts to reduce illegality and bribery in forest management. Key aspects to consider in the discussion on how to design monitoring institutions of forest regulations is how to involve actors without the incentive to engage in bribery and how to make use of new technologies that may publicize illegal behavior in distant localities. The review concludes by discussing avenues for future research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Economic interventions to discourage the illegal sale of cigarettes to minors in New York State.

PubMed

Cummings, K M; Pechacek, T; Sciandra, E

1992-12-01

In New York State it is illegal to sell tobacco products to persons under the age of 18 years. In most communities, compliance with this law is poor. This study provides estimates of teenage cigarette smoking and the illegal sale of cigarettes to minors in 1990 in each of New York's 57 counties and in New York City. Results show that in New York State, approximately 135,700 teens between the ages of 12 and 17 years are regular cigarette smokers. Data available on the cigarette consumption and purchasing habits of teenage smokers reveal that nearly 21.9 million packs of cigarettes were sold illegally to minors in 1991 in New York State. This finding underscores the fact that cigarette sales to underage youth in New York is big business, representing $39.5 million in sales annually. Government officials should consider levying an illegal drug profit tax on the cigarette industry to recover the millions in profits derived annually from the illegal sale of cigarettes to children.

The Effects of Polyvictimization and Quality of Caregiver Attachment on Disclosure of Illegal Sexual Behavior.

PubMed

Harrelson, Megan E; Alexander, Apryl A; Morais, Hugo B; Burkhart, Barry R

2017-07-01

The current study examined the relationship among self-disclosure of illegal sexual behaviors and two conceptually relevant constructs in psychotherapy: childhood polyvictimization (i.e., cumulative types of victimization experienced during childhood) and caregiver attachment. Participants consisted of 63 adolescent males participating in mandated treatment for illegal sexual behavior. Childhood polyvictimization and caregiver attachment were expected to predict self-disclosure of illegal sexual behaviors. Quality of caregiver attachment was also expected to mediate the relationship between polyvictimization and disclosure. Consistent with our main hypothesis, results indicate that quality of caregiver attachment mediated the relationship between childhood polyvictimization and self-disclosure of illegal sexual behaviors in psychotherapy. The current findings highlight the impact of polyvictimization on important therapeutic processes as well as the importance of assessing for multiple types of victimization in adolescents who engage in illegal sexual behavior. Further clinical implications regarding the use of trauma-informed approaches during sex offender treatment are discussed.

75 FR 53952 - Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-02

.../Annual Catch Target Control Rule Working Group. DATES: The first meeting will convene at 9 a.m. on Monday.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Annual Catch Limit/Annual Catch Target Control Rule Working Group will review and... limit and annual catch target. For fisheries that have the annual catch limit allocated into sectors...

26 CFR 1.338-0 - Outline of topics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... contained in the regulations under section 338 as follows: § 1.338-1General principles; status of old target and new target. (a) In general. (1) Deemed transaction. (2) Application of other rules of law. (3) Overview. (b) Treatment of target under other provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. (1) General rule for...

On the rules of integration of crowded orientation signals.

PubMed

Põder, Endel

2012-01-01

Crowding is related to an integration of feature signals over an inappropriately large area in the visual periphery. The rules of this integration are still not well understood. This study attempts to understand how the orientation signals from the target and flankers are combined. A target Gabor, together with 2, 4, or 6 flanking Gabors, was briefly presented in a peripheral location (4° eccentricity). The observer's task was to identify the orientation of the target (eight-alternative forced-choice). Performance was found to be nonmonotonically dependent on the target-flanker orientation difference (a drop at intermediate differences). For small target-flanker differences, a strong assimilation bias was observed. An effect of the number of flankers was found for heterogeneous flankers only. It appears that different rules of integration are used, dependent on some salient aspects (target pop-out, homogeneity-heterogeneity) of the stimulus pattern. The strategy of combining simple rules may be explained by the goal of the visual system to encode potentially important aspects of a stimulus with limited processing resources and using statistical regularities of the natural visual environment.

TARGET's role in knowledge acquisition, engineering, validation, and documentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Levi, Keith R.

1994-01-01

We investigate the use of the TARGET task analysis tool for use in the development of rule-based expert systems. We found TARGET to be very helpful in the knowledge acquisition process. It enabled us to perform knowledge acquisition with one knowledge engineer rather than two. In addition, it improved communication between the domain expert and knowledge engineer. We also found it to be useful for both the rule development and refinement phases of the knowledge engineering process. Using the network in these phases required us to develop guidelines that enabled us to easily translate the network into production rules. A significant requirement for TARGET remaining useful throughout the knowledge engineering process was the need to carefully maintain consistency between the network and the rule representations. Maintaining consistency not only benefited the knowledge engineering process, but also has significant payoffs in the areas of validation of the expert system and documentation of the knowledge in the system.

College Students' Moral Evaluations of Illegal Music Downloading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jambon, Marc M.; Smetana, Judith G.

2012-01-01

Although unauthorized music downloading is illegal, a majority of college students have downloaded music for free online. Evaluations of illegal music downloading and their association with downloading behavior were examined using social domain theory in a sample of 188 ethnically diverse college students (M[subscript age] = 19.80 years, SD =…

26 CFR 301.7624-1 - Reimbursement to State and local law enforcement agencies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... contributes to the recovery of Federal taxes imposed with respect to illegal drug or related money laundering... law enforcement agency substantially contributed to the recovery of taxes with respect to illegal drug... but otherwise uncollectable Federal tax liability with respect to illegal drug or related money...

75 FR 17379 - Identification of Nations Whose Fishing Vessels Are Engaged in Illegal, Unreported, or...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-06

... Identification of Nations Whose Fishing Vessels Are Engaged in Illegal, Unreported, or Unregulated Fishing and/or... illegal, unregulated, or unreported (IUU) fishing or bycatch of protected living marine resources (PLMRs... High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act (Moratorium Protection Act). On March 5, 2010...

Factors Associated with Illegal Drug Use in Rural Georgia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Napier, Ted L.; And Others

1983-01-01

Assessed the extent of illegal drug use among 2,060 junior and senior high school students in rural Georgia, and found extensive illegal drug use, especially among older White male students. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists, Orlando, Florida, February 1982. (JAC)

26 CFR 301.7624-1 - Reimbursement to State and local law enforcement agencies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... contributes to the recovery of Federal taxes imposed with respect to illegal drug or related money laundering... law enforcement agency substantially contributed to the recovery of taxes with respect to illegal drug... but otherwise uncollectible Federal tax liability with respect to illegal drug or related money...

26 CFR 301.7624-1 - Reimbursement to State and local law enforcement agencies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... contributes to the recovery of Federal taxes imposed with respect to illegal drug or related money laundering... law enforcement agency substantially contributed to the recovery of taxes with respect to illegal drug... but otherwise uncollectible Federal tax liability with respect to illegal drug or related money...

26 CFR 301.7624-1 - Reimbursement to State and local law enforcement agencies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... contributes to the recovery of Federal taxes imposed with respect to illegal drug or related money laundering... law enforcement agency substantially contributed to the recovery of taxes with respect to illegal drug... but otherwise uncollectible Federal tax liability with respect to illegal drug or related money...

Legal and Illegal Patterns of Drug Distribution in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caliguri, Joseph P.

1976-01-01

Along with large supply sources of legal and illegal drug substances, diversion and distribution systems have developed to feed and maintain the demand. This presentation provides information on the diverting of drugs from legal and illegal sources as well as the characteristics of the distribution patterns. (Author)

50 CFR 22.12 - What activities are illegal?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false What activities are illegal? 22.12 Section 22.12 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR... WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) EAGLE PERMITS General Requirements § 22.12 What activities are illegal? (a...

Client and clinician-rated characteristics of problem gamblers with and without history of gambling-related illegal behaviors.

PubMed

Ellis, Jennifer D; Lister, Jamey J; Struble, Cara A; Cairncross, Molly; Carr, Meagan M; Ledgerwood, David M

2018-03-12

Individuals with gambling disorder are at an elevated risk for engaging in gambling-related illegal behaviors. The present study examined client (N = 88) and clinician ratings (N = 30) of client characteristics associated with a history of gambling-related illegal behaviors. We also examined client characteristics associated with history of arrest for a gambling-related crime. Gambling-related illegal behaviors and arrest were common (57.3% and 23.9%, respectively) in the present sample. Clients of younger age, and those with greater gambling-related financial consequences, lifetime alcohol problems, impulsivity, mood symptoms, and daily living role difficulties were more likely to report gambling-related illegal behaviors. Clients who had been arrested for a gambling-related crime were more likely to report daily living and role functioning difficulties and lifetime alcohol problems. Clinicians rated clients with a history of gambling-related illegal behaviors and/or gambling-related arrests as more impulsive, and clinicians also endorsed higher rates of treatment failure among these clients. Both client and clinician report suggested that clients with a history of illegal behaviors may have a variety of comorbid problems that may be a focus of clinical intervention. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantifying the Effect of Macroeconomic and Social Factors on Illegal E-Waste Trade

PubMed Central

Efthymiou, Loukia; Mavragani, Amaryllis; Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P.

2016-01-01

As illegal e-waste trade has been significantly growing over the course of the last few years, the consequences on human health and the environment demand immediate action on the part of the global community. Though it is argued that e-waste flows from developed to developing countries, this subject seems to be more complex than that, with a variety of studies suggesting that income per capita is not the only factor affecting the choice of regions that e-waste is illegally shipped to. How is a country’s economic and social development associated with illegal e-waste trade? Is legislation an important factor? This paper aims at quantifying macroeconomic (per capita income and openness of economy) and social (human development and social progress) aspects, based on qualitative data on illegal e-waste trade routes, by examining the percentage differences in scorings in selected indicators for all known and suspected routes. The results show that illegal e-waste trade occurs from economically and socially developed regions to countries with significantly lower levels of overall development, with few exceptions, which could be attributed to the fact that several countries have loose regulations on e-waste trade, thus deeming them attractive for potential illegal activities. PMID:27527200

[Induced abortion: a world perspective].

PubMed

Henshaw, S K

1987-01-01

This article presents current estimates of the number, rate, and proportion of abortions for all countries which make such data available. 76% of the world's population lives in countries where induced abortion is legal at least for health reasons. Abortion is legal in almost all developed countries. Most developing countries have some laws against abortion, but it is permitted at least for health reasons in the countries of 67% of the developing world's population. The other 33%--over 1 billion persons--reside mainly in subSaharan Africa, Latin America, and the most orthodox Muslim countries. By the beginning of the 20th century, abortion had been made illegal in most of the world, with rules in Africa, Asia, and Latin America similar to those in Europe and North America. Abortion legislation began to change first in a few industrialized countries prior to World War II and in Japan in 1948. Socialist European countries made abortion legal in the first trimester in the 1950s, and most of the industrialized world followed suit in the 1960s and 1970s. The worldwide trend toward relaxed abortion restrictions continues today, with governments giving varying reasons for the changes. Nearly 33 million legal abortions are estimated to be performed annually in the world, with 14 million of them in China and 11 million in the USSR. The estimated total rises to 40-60 million when illegal abortions added. On a worldwide basis some 37-55 abortions are estimated to occur for each 1000 women aged 15-44 years. There are probably 24-32 abortions per 100 pregnancies. The USSR has the highest abortion rate among developed countries, 181/1000 women aged 15-44, followed by Rumania with 91/1000, many of them illegal. The large number of abortions in some countries is due to scarcity of modern contraception. Among developing countries, China apparently has the highest rate, 62/1000 women aged 15-44. Cuba's rate is 59/1000. It is very difficult to calculate abortion rates in countries where the procedure is illegal. On the basis of hospital reports and other fragmentary information, the true rate appears to be relatively high in Latin America and the Far East. The abortion rate for Latin America in the mid-1970s was estimated at 65/1000 fertile aged women, and rates were believed to be higher in urban areas. Sub-Saharan Africa, where women desire very large families, apparently had the lowest rates. Up to 68% of pregnancies in the USSR, 57% in Rumania, and 55% in Japan may end in abortion. The proportion in developing countries ranged from 8% in Vietnam to 43% in China. Women undergoing abortion in developed countries tend to be young, childless, and single, while those in developing countries tend to be older, high parity, and married. Abortion mortality is still high in countries where large numbers of illegal abortions are performed by unqualified personnel, as in many parts of Latin America.

Social capital, political trust and purchase of illegal liquor: a population-based study in southern Sweden.

PubMed

Lindström, Martin

2008-05-01

To investigate the association between political trust in the Riksdag (the national parliament in Sweden) and having purchased illegal liquor during the past 12 months. The 2004 public health survey in Skåne is a cross-sectional postal questionnaire study answered by 27,757 respondents aged 18-80 with a 59% response rate. A logistic regression model was used to investigate the associations between political trust and having purchased illegal liquor during the past 12 months. Multivariate analyses of political trust and having purchased illegal liquor were performed in order to investigate the importance of possible confounders (including generalized/horizontal trust in other people). A 21.2% fraction of the men and 9.6% of the women had purchased illegal alcohol during the past 12 months. A total of 17.3% and 11.6% of the male and female respondents, respectively, reported that they had no trust at all in the national parliament, and another 38.2% and 36.2%, respectively, reported that their political trust was not particularly high. Respondents in younger age groups, with medium/low education, economic stress, low horizontal trust and not particularly high and no political trust at all and no opinion had significantly higher levels of having purchased illegal liquor. The significant odds ratios of having purchased illegal liquor in the not particularly high political trust and no political trust at all categories were somewhat reduced although still significant after multiple adjustments. The results suggest that political trust may have an independent effect on the propensity to purchase illegal liquor in Sweden.

49 CFR 28.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 28.131 Section 28.131... drugs. (a) General. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, this part does not prohibit discrimination against an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) The agency...

49 CFR 28.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 28.131 Section 28.131... drugs. (a) General. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, this part does not prohibit discrimination against an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) The agency...

49 CFR 28.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Illegal use of drugs. 28.131 Section 28.131... drugs. (a) General. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, this part does not prohibit discrimination against an individual based on that individual's current illegal use of drugs. (2) The agency...

Parables and Politics: Clergy Attitudes toward Illegal Immigration in Alabama

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wickersham, Mary Eleanor

2013-01-01

The passage of a stringent immigration law in Alabama in 2011 makes relevant the juxtaposition of clergy and congregant attitudes and behaviors toward illegal immigrants as related to Biblical teachings that require charity to aliens. In order to examine the relationship between religious attitudes and illegal immigration, approximately 426…

24 CFR 982.304 - Illegal discrimination: PHA assistance to family.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... assistance to family. 982.304 Section 982.304 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing... Leasing a Unit § 982.304 Illegal discrimination: PHA assistance to family. A family may claim that illegal... prevents the family from finding or leasing a suitable unit with assistance under the program. The PHA must...

49 CFR 28.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... individual is otherwise entitled to such services. (c) Drug testing. (1) This part does not prohibit the... drug testing, designed to ensure that an individual who formerly engaged in the illegal use of drugs is... construed to encourage, prohibit, restrict, or authorize the conduct of testing for the illegal use of drugs. ...

49 CFR 28.131 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... individual is otherwise entitled to such services. (c) Drug testing. (1) This part does not prohibit the... drug testing, designed to ensure that an individual who formerly engaged in the illegal use of drugs is... construed to encourage, prohibit, restrict, or authorize the conduct of testing for the illegal use of drugs. ...

22 CFR 127.6 - Seizure and forfeiture in attempts at illegal exports.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Seizure and forfeiture in attempts at illegal... REGULATIONS VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES § 127.6 Seizure and forfeiture in attempts at illegal exports. (a) An... vessel, vehicle or aircraft involved in such attempt is subject to seizure, forfeiture and disposition as...

Defining and Quantifying Potentially Discriminatory Questions in Employment Interviewing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Springston, Jeffery K.; Keyton, Joann

A study determined what constitutes an illegal pre-employment question, reviewed current laws and literature on the subject, and determined the prevalence of illegal questions asked by organizations. Except in the case of specific statutory law, there is no precise way to define what constitutes an illegal question; however, state and federal…

Canada moving backwards on illegal drugs.

PubMed

Hyshka, Elaine; Butler-McPhee, Janet; Elliott, Richard; Wood, Evan; Kerr, Thomas

2012-01-01

Internationally, illegal drug use remains a major public health problem. In response, many countries have begun to shift their illegal drug policies away from enforcement and towards public health objectives. Recently, both the Global Commission on Drug Policy and the Supreme Court of Canada have endorsed this change in direction, supporting empirically sound illegal drug policies that reduce criminalization and stigmatization of drug users and bolster treatment and harm reduction efforts. Until recently, Canada was a participant in this growing movement towards rational drug policy. Unfortunately, in recent years, policy changes have made Canada one of the few remaining advocates of a "war-on-drugs" approach. Indeed, the current government has implemented a number of new illegal drug policies that contradict well-established scientific evidence from public health, criminology and other fields. As such, their approach is expected to do little to reduce the harms associated with substance use in Canada. The authors call on the current government to heed the recommendations of the Global Commission's report and learn from the many countries that are innovating in illegal drug policy by prioritizing evidence, human rights and public health.

Illegal fishing and territorial user rights in Chile.

PubMed

Oyanedel, Rodrigo; Keim, Andres; Castilla, Juan Carlos; Gelcich, Stefan

2017-11-07

Illegal fishing poses a major threat to conservation of marine resources worldwide. However, there is still limited empirical research that quantifies illegal catch levels. We used the randomized response technique to estimate the proportion of divers and the quantities of loco (Concholepas concholepas) they extracted illegally. Loco have been managed for the past 17 years through a territorial user rights for fisheries system (TURFs) in Chile. Illegal fishing of loco was widespread within the TURFs system. Official reported landings (i.e., legal landings) accounted for 14-30% of the total loco extraction. Our estimates suggest that ignoring the magnitude of illegal fishing and considering only official landing statistics may lead to false conclusions about the status and trends of a TURFs managed fishery. We found evidence of fisher associations authorizing their members to poach inside TURFs, highlighting the need to design TURFs systems so that government agencies and fishers' incentives and objectives align through continuous adaptation. Government support for enforcement is a key element for the TURFs system to secure the rights that are in place. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

A new method of inshore ship detection in high-resolution optical remote sensing images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Qifeng; Du, Yaling; Jiang, Yunqiu; Ming, Delie

2015-10-01

Ship as an important military target and water transportation, of which the detection has great significance. In the military field, the automatic detection of ships can be used to monitor ship dynamic in the harbor and maritime of enemy, and then analyze the enemy naval power. In civilian field, the automatic detection of ships can be used in monitoring transportation of harbor and illegal behaviors such as illegal fishing, smuggling and pirates, etc. In recent years, research of ship detection is mainly concentrated in three categories: forward-looking infrared images, downward-looking SAR image, and optical remote sensing images with sea background. Little research has been done into ship detection of optical remote sensing images with harbor background, as the gray-scale and texture features of ships are similar to the coast in high-resolution optical remote sensing images. In this paper, we put forward an effective harbor ship target detection method. First of all, in order to overcome the shortage of the traditional difference method in obtaining histogram valley as the segmentation threshold, we propose an iterative histogram valley segmentation method which separates the harbor and ships from the water quite well. Secondly, as landing ships in optical remote sensing images usually lead to discontinuous harbor edges, we use Hough Transform method to extract harbor edges. First, lines are detected by Hough Transform. Then, lines that have similar slope are connected into a new line, thus we access continuous harbor edges. Secondary segmentation on the result of the land-and-sea separation, we eventually get the ships. At last, we calculate the aspect ratio of the ROIs, thereby remove those targets which are not ship. The experiment results show that our method has good robustness and can tolerate a certain degree of noise and occlusion.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996: an overview.

PubMed

Fragomen, A T

1997-01-01

"On September 30, 1996, President Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (1996 Act), Pub. L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009. After an intense lobbying effort by the business community, most provisions relating to legal immigration were omitted from the final bill. Instead, the 1996 Act focuses on illegal immigration reform and includes some of the toughest measures ever taken against illegal immigration." Aspects considered include border enforcement, penalities against alien smuggling and document fraud, deportation and exclusion proceedings, employer sanctions, welfare provisions, and changes to existing refugee and asylum procedures. excerpt

System dynamic modeling on construction waste management in Shenzhen, China.

PubMed

Tam, Vivian W Y; Li, Jingru; Cai, Hong

2014-05-01

This article examines the complexity of construction waste management in Shenzhen, Mainland China. In-depth analysis of waste generation, transportation, recycling, landfill and illegal dumping of various inherent management phases is explored. A system dynamics modeling using Stella model is developed. Effects of landfill charges and also penalties from illegal dumping are also simulated. The results show that the implementation of comprehensive policy on both landfill charges and illegal dumping can effectively control the illegal dumping behavior, and achieve comprehensive construction waste minimization. This article provides important recommendations for effective policy implementation and explores new perspectives for Shenzhen policy makers.

Monitour: Tracking global routes of electronic waste.

PubMed

Lee, David; Offenhuber, Dietmar; Duarte, Fábio; Biderman, Assaf; Ratti, Carlo

2018-02-01

Many nations seek to control or prevent the inflow of waste electronic and electrical equipment, but such flows are difficult to track due to undocumented, often illegal global trade in e-waste. We apply wireless GPS location trackers to this problem, detecting potential cases of non-compliant recycling operations in the United States as well as the global trajectories of exported e-waste. By planting hidden trackers inside discarded computer monitors and printers, we tracked dozens of devices being sent overseas to various ports in Asia, flows likely unreported in official trade data. We discuss how location tracking enables new ways to monitor, regulate, and enforce rules on the international movement of hazardous electronic waste materials, and the limitations of such methods. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emerging branches of the N-end rule pathways are revealing the sequence complexities of N-termini dependent protein degradation.

PubMed

Eldeeb, Mohamed A; Leitao, Luana C A; Fahlman, Richard P

2018-06-01

The N-end rule links the identity of the N-terminal amino acid of a protein to its in vivo half-life, as some N-terminal residues confer metabolic instability to a protein via their recognition by the cellular machinery that targets them for degradation. Since its discovery, the N-end rule has generally been defined as set of rules of whether an N-terminal residue is stabilizing or not. However, recent studies are revealing that the N-terminal code of amino acids conferring protein instability is more complex than previously appreciated, as recent investigations are revealing that the identity of adjoining downstream residues can also influence the metabolic stability of N-end rule substrate. This is exemplified by the recent discovery of a new branch of N-end rule pathways that target proteins bearing N-terminal proline. In addition, recent investigations are demonstrating that the molecular machinery in N-termini dependent protein degradation may also target proteins for lysosomal degradation, in addition to proteasome-dependent degradation. Herein, we describe some of the recent advances in N-end rule pathways and discuss some of the implications regarding the emerging additional sequence requirements.

26 CFR 1.338-11 - Effect of section 338 election on insurance company targets.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... section 338 election on insurance company targets. (a) In general. This section provides rules that apply when an election under section 338 is made for a target that is an insurance company. The rules in this... treatment of the parties and the transaction when a section 338 election is made for an insurance company...

Counterfeit Adderall Containing Aceclofenac from Internet Pharmacies.

PubMed

Gaudiano, Maria Cristina; Borioni, Anna; Antoniella, Eleonora; Valvo, Luisa

2016-07-01

A nontargeted approach based on liquid chromatography equipped with a quadrupole time-of-flight mass detector (LC-MS Q-TOF) joined to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis allowed rapid identification and quantification of the anti-inflammatory drug aceclofenac in illegal Adderall tablets. The largest chromatographic peak had m/z = 354.030 and m/z = 376.012 matching, respectively, the ionic structures (M + H) + and (M + Na) + of a molecule M. The accurate mass data generated the molecular formula C 16 H 13 Cl 2 NO 4 . A screening of the pharmaceutical active substances having that molecular formula together with the MS/MS fragmentation pattern suggested aceclofenac. Aceclofenac structure was unambiguously confirmed by 1 H and 13 C NMR experiments. The aceclofenac content was 90 mg/tablet (RSD 2%) as detected by quantitative NMR. Information on the identity and content of illegal drugs is required for legal purposes; it supports in evaluating the effective impact on users safety, and it is useful for control laboratories using a targeted approach in their analytical activities. © 2016 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Forensic timber identification: It's time to integrate disciplines to combat illegal logging

Treesearch

Eleanor E. Dormontt; Markus Boner; Birgit Braun; Gerhard Breulmann; Bernd Degen; Edgard Espinoza; Shelley Gardner; Phil Guillery; John C. Hermanson; Gerald Koch; Soon Leong Lee; Milton Kanashiro; Anto Rimbawanto; Darren Thomas; Alex C. Wiedenhoeft; Yafang Yin; Johannes Zahnen; Andrew J. Lowe

2015-01-01

The prosecution of illegal logging crimes is hampered by a lack of available forensic timber identification tools, both for screening of suspectmaterial and definitive identification of illegally sourcedwood. Reputable timber traders are also struggling to police their own supply chains and comply with the growing requirement for due diligence with respect to timber...

Doping Attitudes and the Use of Legal and Illegal Performance-Enhancing Substances among Italian Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mallia, Luca; Lucidi, Fabio; Zelli, Arnaldo; Violani, Cristiano

2013-01-01

Using retrospective self-reporting, rates of illegal and legal performance-enhancing substance (PES) use in the past three months among more than 3,400 Italian high school adolescents were obtained and estimated. The study focused on the extent to which these sociodemographic characteristics and illegal PES use were associated with adolescents'…

Global governance approaches to addressing illegal logging: uptake and lessons learnt

Treesearch

B. Cashore; K. McGinley; S. Leipold; P.O. Cerutti; G. Bueno; S. et al. Carodenuto

2016-01-01

This report presents the results of the fifth global scientific assessment undertaken by the GFEP initiative. The report set out to gain deeper understanding of the meaning of illegal logging and related timber trade, its scale, drivers and consequences. It provides a structured synthesis of available scientific and expert knowledge on illegal logging and associated...

48 CFR 52.203-10 - Price or Fee Adjustment for Illegal or Improper Activity.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Price or Fee Adjustment... Text of Provisions and Clauses 52.203-10 Price or Fee Adjustment for Illegal or Improper Activity. As prescribed in 3.104-9(b) insert the following clause: Price or Fee Adjustment for Illegal or Improper...

10 CFR 707.14 - Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use. 707.14 Section 707.14 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707.14 Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use. (a) When an applicant for...

10 CFR 707.14 - Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use. 707.14 Section 707.14 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707.14 Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use. (a) When an applicant for...

10 CFR 707.14 - Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use. 707.14 Section 707.14 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707.14 Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use. (a) When an applicant for...

10 CFR 707.14 - Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use. 707.14 Section 707.14 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707.14 Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use. (a) When an applicant for...

10 CFR 707.14 - Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use. 707.14 Section 707.14 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707.14 Action pursuant to a determination of illegal drug use. (a) When an applicant for...

Father Absence as a Risk Factor for Substance Use and Illegal Behavior by the Adolescent Sons.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedman, Alfred S.; Ali, Asad; McMurphy, Suzanne

1998-01-01

Illegal behavior, drug trafficking, and substance abuse levels of two groups (both parents, mother only) of inner-city African-American youth were compared. African-American subjects who had been raised in mother-only households reported significantly fewer illegal offenses. Findings are contrary to common attitudes regarding the effects of…

The Role of Family Experiences for Adolescents' Readiness to Use and Participate in Illegal Political Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glatz, Terese; Dahl, Viktor

2016-01-01

This study used reactance theory as a starting point to explain what role a perceived undemocratic and controlling family has for adolescents' readiness to use illegal political activity. Additionally, we examined whether adolescents' readiness to use illegal political means was related to actual political behaviour, which has been lacking in…

Alcohol or Marijuana: A Follow up Survey at Ithaca College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rand, Martin E.; And Others

1970-01-01

Results of this study indicate: (1) A majority of college students make illegal use of psychotomimetic drugs; (2) illegal drug use starts during the junior and senior years in high school; and (3) attitudes towards illegal drug use are formed prior to college years, and colleges can do little to modify these attitudes. (Author)

School Violence, Substance Use, and Availability of Illegal Drugs on School Property among U.S. High School Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowry, Richard; Cohen, Lisa R.; Modzeleski, William; Kann, Laura; Collins, Janet L.; Kolbe, Lloyd J.

1999-01-01

Investigated whether school violence among high school students related to substance use and availability of illegal drugs at school, examining the associations of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana and availability of illegal drugs with five school violence indicators. Data from the 1995 Youth Risk Behavior Survey indicated that school violence…

Compton scattering from nuclei and photo-absorption sum rules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gorchtein, Mikhail; Hobbs, Timothy; Londergan, J. Timothy; Szczepaniak, Adam P.

2011-12-01

We revisit the photo-absorption sum rule for real Compton scattering from the proton and from nuclear targets. In analogy with the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule appropriate at low energies, we propose a new “constituent quark model” sum rule that relates the integrated strength of hadronic resonances to the scattering amplitude on constituent quarks. We study the constituent quark model sum rule for several nuclear targets. In addition, we extract the α=0 pole contribution for both proton and nuclei. Using the modern high-energy proton data, we find that the α=0 pole contribution differs significantly from the Thomson term, in contrast with the original findings by Damashek and Gilman.

Daily stressors as antecedents, correlates, and consequences of alcohol and drug use and cravings in community-based offenders.

PubMed

Neupert, Shevaun D; Desmarais, Sarah L; Gray, Julie S; Cohn, Amy M; Doherty, Stephen; Knight, Kevin

2017-05-01

Justice-involved individuals with alcohol and drug use problems reoffend at higher rates than their nonusing counterparts, with alcohol and drug use serving as an important vector to recidivism. At the daily level, exposure to stressors may exacerbate problematic alcohol and drug use; at the individual level, prior treatment experiences may mitigate substance use as individuals adapt to and learn new coping mechanisms. We conducted a daily diary study using Interactive Voice Response technology over 14 consecutive days with 117 men on probation or parole participating in a community-based treatment program (n = 860 calls) and referred to medication-assisted treatment. Participants reported daily stressors, craving for alcohol and illegal drugs, and use of alcohol and illegal drugs 1 time each day. Results of multilevel models showed significant day-to-day fluctuation in alcohol and drug craving and use. In concurrent models, increases in daily stressors were associated with increases in cravings and use of illegal drugs. Prior treatment experience modified many of these relationships, and additional lagged models revealed that those with less treatment experience reported an increase in next-day alcohol craving when they experienced increases in stressors on the previous day compared to those with more treatment experience. Collectively, these findings highlight the importance of tailoring treatment as a function of individual differences, including prior treatment experiences, and targeting daily stressors and subsequent cravings among justice-involved adults with alcohol and drug use problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The neural implementation of task rule activation in the task-cuing paradigm: an event-related fMRI study.

PubMed

Shi, Yiquan; Zhou, Xiaolin; Müller, Hermann J; Schubert, Torsten

2010-07-01

To isolate the neural correlates for task rule activation from those related to general task preparation, the effect of a cue explicitly specifying the S-R correspondences (rule-cue) was contrasted with the effects of a cue specifying only the task to performed (task-cue). While the task-cue provides merely information about the type of task, the rule-cue is explicit about both the task type and the task rule (i.e., the set of S-R correspondences). The rule-cue was expected to activate the task rule more efficiently in the preparation period (prior to target presentation); by contrast, in the task-cue condition, part of the task rule activation was expected to be postponed into the task execution period (following the presentation of the target). In an event-related fMRI experiment, we found the right anterior and middle parts of the middle frontal and superior frontal gyri, the right inferior frontal junction, the pre-SMA, as well as the right superior and inferior parietal lobes to show larger activation elicited by the rule-cue than by the task-cue prior to target presentation. Conversely, the results revealed larger activations in these regions in the task-cue than in the rule-cue condition during the task execution period. In summary, this study identified some of the neural correlates of task rule activation and showed that these are a subset of the general task preparation network. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Guide to FASTGEN Target Geometric Modeling

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-10-01

component part is described in plate mode. These rules apply to all primitives with the exception of rod mode primitives which are always accompanied by a...format. A detailed discussion of the rules for preparing the target description file, where components are described using primitives defined as triangles...NN position is 99, the diameter of a rod mode component is limited to a maximum of 1.98-inches. Theie are several rules and cautions associated with

Outdoor Illegal Construction Identification Algorithm Based on 3D Point Cloud Segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

An, Lu; Guo, Baolong

2018-03-01

Recently, various illegal constructions occur significantly in our surroundings, which seriously restrict the orderly development of urban modernization. The 3D point cloud data technology is used to identify the illegal buildings, which could address the problem above effectively. This paper proposes an outdoor illegal construction identification algorithm based on 3D point cloud segmentation. Initially, in order to save memory space and reduce processing time, a lossless point cloud compression method based on minimum spanning tree is proposed. Then, a ground point removing method based on the multi-scale filtering is introduced to increase accuracy. Finally, building clusters on the ground can be obtained using a region growing method, as a result, the illegal construction can be marked. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified using a publicly data set collected from the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS).

Injury Patterns Among Illegal Migrants from Africa in Israel.

PubMed

Perlman, Amotz; Radomislensky, Irina; Peleg, Kobi

2015-08-01

In recent years Israel has become a destination for many migrants from Africa that illegally cross the Egyptian-Israeli border. The objective of this paper is to describe the epidemiological characteristics of injuries among illegal migrants in Israel. The study was carried out retrospectively using data from 19 trauma centers that participated in the Israel National Trauma Registry between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2011. Illegal migrants from Africa were compared to the local population. Migrants were injured more often than the local population from intentional injuries (57.11 %). Migrants were also less likely than the local population (58.38 %) to sustain a minor injury (i.e., injury severity ≤8). The study also shows the hospitalization cost as a result of injuries among migrants from Africa. Preventive measures among illegal migrants from Africa should prioritize intentional injuries and industrial site injuries.

Burns from illegal drug manufacture: case series and management.

PubMed

Porter, C J W; Armstrong, J R

2004-01-01

This case series presents our experience with burns sustained while manufacturing illegal drugs. All adult burn admissions in an 18-month period were retrospectively reviewed. All patients suspected of sustaining burns from illegal drug manufacture were contacted. Information regarding the burn mechanism was sought. Nine of the 64 adult burn admissions were caused by explosions during the manufacture of cannabis oil. Young males with hand and face burns were heavily represented. First-aid treatment was often ignored in favor of hiding incriminating evidence. Only two patients gave honest admission histories. Illegal drug manufacture is becoming more common as synthetic drugs become more consumer desirable. Burns sustained may be thermal and/or chemical. Dishonest patient histories negatively influence burn management. A high level of suspicion is required for diagnosing and treating burns from illegal drug manufacture. Public education is unlikely to be effective as the financial rewards outweigh the perceived risks.

Rule-violations sensitise towards negative and authority-related stimuli.

PubMed

Wirth, Robert; Foerster, Anna; Rendel, Hannah; Kunde, Wilfried; Pfister, Roland

2018-05-01

Rule violations have usually been studied from a third-person perspective, identifying situational factors that render violations more or less likely. A first-person perspective of the agent that actively violates the rules, on the other hand, is only just beginning to emerge. Here we show that committing a rule violation sensitises towards subsequent negative stimuli as well as subsequent authority-related stimuli. In a Prime-Probe design, we used an instructed rule-violation task as the Prime and a word categorisation task as the Probe. Also, we employed a control condition that used a rule inversion task as the Prime (instead of rule violations). Probe targets were categorised faster after a violation relative to after a rule-based response if they related to either, negative valence or authority. Inversions, however, primed only negative stimuli and did not accelerate the categorisation of authority-related stimuli. A heightened sensitivity towards authority-related targets thus seems to be specific to rule violations. A control experiment showed that these effects cannot be explained in terms of semantic priming. Therefore, we propose that rule violations necessarily activate authority-related representations that make rule violations qualitatively different from simple rule inversions.

19 CFR 12.27 - Importation or exportation of wild animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally captured or killed, etc. 12.27 Section 12.27 Customs Duties... animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally captured or killed, etc. Customs officers shall... or exportation of wild animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof, or the eggs of such birds...

19 CFR 12.27 - Importation or exportation of wild animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally captured or killed, etc. 12.27 Section 12.27 Customs Duties... animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally captured or killed, etc. Customs officers shall... or exportation of wild animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof, or the eggs of such birds...

19 CFR 12.27 - Importation or exportation of wild animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally captured or killed, etc. 12.27 Section 12.27 Customs Duties... animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally captured or killed, etc. Customs officers shall... or exportation of wild animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof, or the eggs of such birds...

10 CFR 707.13 - Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use. 707.13 Section 707.13 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707.13 Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use. (a) All test results shall be...

10 CFR 707.13 - Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use. 707.13 Section 707.13 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707.13 Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use. (a) All test results shall be...

10 CFR 707.13 - Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use. 707.13 Section 707.13 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707.13 Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use. (a) All test results shall be...

10 CFR 707.13 - Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use. 707.13 Section 707.13 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707.13 Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use. (a) All test results shall be...

Preteen Children and Illegal Drugs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKeganey, Neil; McIntosh, James; MacDonald, Fiona; Gannon, Maria; Gilvarry, Eilish; McArdle, Paul; McCarthy, Steve

2004-01-01

In this paper we report the results of research on the nature and extent of legal and illegal drug use among preteens and those factors associated with illegal drug use at this young age. The paper is based upon a survey of 2318 ten to twelve year olds in Glasgow and Newcastle. Overall around 30% of children reported having been exposed to illegal…

19 CFR 12.27 - Importation or exportation of wild animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally captured or killed, etc. 12.27 Section 12.27 Customs Duties... SPECIAL CLASSES OF MERCHANDISE Wild Animals, Birds, and Insects § 12.27 Importation or exportation of wild animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally captured or killed, etc. Customs officers shall...

19 CFR 12.27 - Importation or exportation of wild animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally captured or killed, etc. 12.27 Section 12.27 Customs Duties... SPECIAL CLASSES OF MERCHANDISE Wild Animals, Birds, and Insects § 12.27 Importation or exportation of wild animals or birds, or the dead bodies thereof illegally captured or killed, etc. Customs officers shall...

Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Annual Report 2009

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

International financial crisis Global warning/ climate change Pandemic disease Drug trafficking Illegal migration Piracy Terrorism Arms smuggling Illegal...Resource scarcity/rivalry Global warming/ climate change Drug trafficing Illegal fishing Crime Territorial disputes Pandemic disease Government...APCSS. March 2009. <http://www.apcss.org/Publications/da vis2009governanceInChina2010. pdf > hashmi, Taj, “Emerging Changes in America’s Pakistan Policy

Factors Associated with Illegal Drug Use among Older Methadone Clients

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosen, Daniel

2004-01-01

Purpose. The overall aims of this study are to describe the life stressors of, exposure to illegal drug use of, and illegal drug use by older methadone clients. Design and Methods. The current study focuses on a sub-sample of the larger administrative data of a methadone clinic that is limited to African American and White clients over the age of…

24 CFR 982.553 - Denial of admission and termination of assistance for criminals and alcohol abusers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... PHA determines that any household member is currently engaging in illegal use of a drug; (B) The PHA determines that it has reasonable cause to believe that a household member's illegal drug use or a pattern of illegal drug use may threaten the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other...

Executive Policy--Administration: E11.201, Illegal Drug and Substance Abuse. Executive Policy E11.203, Illegal Drugs and Alcohol Abuse.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawaii Univ., Honolulu.

This document includes two statements of policy for the University of Hawaii's drug and alcohol abuse prevention program. The first, "Illegal Drugs and Substance Abuse," opens with an introduction stating the University's general mission and that mission's incompatibility with substance abuse. A second section details the University's…

Illegal Mexican Aliens in Southern Colorado: A Sampling of Their Views on Living and Working in the United States and Mexico.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Philip L.

Observations and recollections of Mexican workers, smuggled illegally to farms in southern Colorado, resulted in this account of their attitudes toward work conditions, pay and benefits, leisure activities, feelings of insecurity, and their aspirations. Backgrounds of the 30 aliens interviewed coincided with available statistics on illegal Mexican…

Chromatography in the detection and characterization of illegal pharmaceutical preparations.

PubMed

Deconinck, Eric; Sacré, Pierre-Yves; Courselle, Patricia; De Beer, Jacques O

2013-09-01

Counterfeit and illegal pharmaceutical products are an increasing worldwide problem and constitute a major challenge for analytical laboratories to detect and characterize them. Spectroscopic techniques such as infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy have always been the first methods of choice to detect counterfeits and illegal preparations, but due to the evolution in the seized products and the necessity of risk assessment, chromatographic methods are becoming more important in this domain. This review intends to give a general overview of the techniques described in literature to characterize counterfeit and illegal pharmaceutical preparations, focusing on the role of chromatographic techniques with different detection tools.

Health risks related to illegal and on-line sale of drugs and food supplements: results of a survey on marketed products in Italy from 2011 to 2013.

PubMed

Gaudiano, Maria Cristina; Manna, Livia; Bartolomei, Monica; Rodomonte, Andrea Luca; Bertocchi, Paola; Antoniella, Eleonora; Romanini, Laura; Alimonti, Stefano; Rufini, Leandro; Valvo, Luisa

2016-01-01

The increasing illegal and on-line market of medicines and food supplements is helping the widespread diffusion of harmful counterfeit and forbidden products among consumers of developed countries. The objectives of this survey were the description of the main frauds recognized by public officers and the detection of illegal or counterfeit drugs and food supplements. Medicines and food supplements found by Police forces on the illegal market or resulting from seizures made by Italian Customs authorities were visually inspected and analysed to evaluate their quality and the presence of other undeclared substances. The visual inspection and the chemical analysis revealed unsuitable packaging (mostly lacking of adequate information for consumers), absence of the declared active substances and presence of undeclared active substances. Products containing doping agents, illegal substances and active ingredients requiring medical supervision were found. The present work confirmed the health risk associated with assumption of medicines purchased on the Internet and from the illegal supply chain and evidenced a new threat to consumer safety related to the presence of pharmaceutical active ingredients in food supplements claiming to contain only "natural ingredients".

Prevalence of use, abuse and dependence on legal and illegal psychotropic substances in an adolescent inpatient psychiatric population.

PubMed

Niethammer, Oliver; Frank, Reiner

2007-06-01

To examine the prevalence of use, abuse, and dependence on legal and illegal psychotropic substances in an adolescent in-patient psychiatric population in relation to age and gender. Participants were all consecutive admissions (patients aged from 14 to 17) to the adolescent psychiatric in-patient unit. Of the 86 patients who met all the criteria for taking part in the study 70 were interviewed, giving a response rate of 81%. Prevalence of use and of substance use disorders were assessed through structured diagnostic interviews (M-CIDI), conducted from March 2000 through July 2000. We found high prevalence of use and of the diagnosis of legal and illegal psychotropic substances. Around 76% reported a regular use of tobacco, 44% regular alcohol use, and 40% regular use of illegal substances. Diagnosis (abuse or dependence) was found in 50% of cases for nicotine, 29% for alcohol, and 26% for illegal substances. The adolescent in-patient psychiatric population is at high risk of use, abuse, and dependence on legal and illegal psychotropic substances. It is important to diagnose these disorders (anamnesis, screening tools) and to install preventive and therapeutic programs in clinical therapeutic settings.

Twitter-Based Detection of Illegal Online Sale of Prescription Opioid.

PubMed

Mackey, Tim K; Kalyanam, Janani; Katsuki, Takeo; Lanckriet, Gert

2017-12-01

To deploy a methodology accurately identifying tweets marketing the illegal online sale of controlled substances. We first collected tweets from the Twitter public application program interface stream filtered for prescription opioid keywords. We then used unsupervised machine learning (specifically, topic modeling) to identify topics associated with illegal online marketing and sales. Finally, we conducted Web forensic analyses to characterize different types of online vendors. We analyzed 619 937 tweets containing the keywords codeine, Percocet, fentanyl, Vicodin, Oxycontin, oxycodone, and hydrocodone over a 5-month period from June to November 2015. A total of 1778 tweets (< 1%) were identified as marketing the sale of controlled substances online; 90% had imbedded hyperlinks, but only 46 were "live" at the time of the evaluation. Seven distinct URLs linked to Web sites marketing or illegally selling controlled substances online. Our methodology can identify illegal online sale of prescription opioids from large volumes of tweets. Our results indicate that controlled substances are trafficked online via different strategies and vendors. Public Health Implications. Our methodology can be used to identify illegal online sellers in criminal violation of the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act.

Characterization of suspected illegal skin whitening cosmetics.

PubMed

Desmedt, B; Van Hoeck, E; Rogiers, V; Courselle, P; De Beer, J O; De Paepe, K; Deconinck, E

2014-03-01

An important group of suspected illegal cosmetics consists of skin bleaching products, which are usually applied to the skin of the face, hands and décolleté for local depigmentation of hyper pigmented regions or more importantly, for a generalized reduction of the skin tone. These cosmetic products are suspected to contain illegal active substances that may provoke as well local as systemic toxic effects, being the reason for their banning from the EU market. In that respect, illegal and restricted substances in cosmetics, known to have bleaching properties, are in particular hydroquinone, tretinoin and corticosteroids. From a legislative point of view, all cosmetic products containing a prohibited whitening agent are illegal and must be taken off the EU market. A newly developed screening method using ultra high performance liquid chromatography-time off flight-mass spectrometry allows routine analysis of suspected products. 163 suspected skin whitening cosmetics, collected by Belgian inspectors at high risk sites such as airports and so-called ethnic cosmetic shops, were analyzed and 59% were classified as illegal. The whitening agents mostly detected were clobetasol propionate and hydroquinone, which represent a serious health risk when repeatedly and abundantly applied to the skin. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

New anti-rebate legislation in South Korea.

PubMed

Yu, Su-Yeon; Yang, Bong-Min; Kim, Jin-Hyun

2013-08-01

The South Korean Government recently announced a reform in the drug anti-rebate law, with the purpose of eradicating pervasive, unethical, and illegal rebate practices in pharmaceutical marketing. The main objective of this reform is to have the ability to bring criminal charges against doctors and pharmacists for receiving illegal kickbacks from drug companies. Previously, provision of illegal kickbacks by drug companies led to criminal punishment of the drug companies alone, leaving doctors and pharmacists unpunished as the recipients. With the introduction of the "Dual Punishment System (DPS)" reform, criminal punishment for illegal rebates is extended to those receiving illegal kickbacks. Although bitter controversy erupted among stakeholders when the reform was first drafted, a civic group participated in the reform process and effectively influenced the legislative process to a successful end. Some interim outcomes from the DPS in terms of bringing illegal practices to account have already been reported since the policy's implementation in November 2010. The reform background, goals, potential issues, and policy implications are explored in this study with the objective of providing further insight into drug policy for other countries that face similar challenges in the area of drug marketing.

Official control of plant protection products in Poland: detection of illegal products.

PubMed

Miszczyk, Marek; Płonka, Marlena; Stobiecki, Tomasz; Kronenbach-Dylong, Dorota; Waleczek, Kazimierz; Weber, Roland

2018-04-03

Market presence of illegal and counterfeit pesticides is now a global problem. According to data published in 2012 by the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA), illegal products represent over 10% of the global market of plant protection products. Financial benefits are the main reason for the prevalence of this practice. Counterfeit and illegal pesticides may contain substances that may pose a threat to the environment, crops, animals, and humans, inconsistent with the label and registration dossier. In Poland, action against illegal and counterfeit plant protection products is undertaken by the Main Inspectorate of Plant Health and Seed Inspection (PIORiN), the police, the prosecution, and the pesticide producers. Results of chemical analyses carried out by the Institute of Plant Protection - National Research Institute Sośnicowice Branch, Pesticide Quality Testing Laboratory (PQTL IPP-NRI Sosnicowice Branch) indicate that a majority of illegal pesticides in Poland are detected in the group of herbicides. Products from parallel trade tend to have the most irregularities. This article describes the official quality control system of plant protection products in Poland and presents the analytical methods for testing pesticides suspected of adulteration and recent test results.

Profile of international air passengers intercepted with illegal animal products in baggage at Guarulhos and Galeão airports in Brazil.

PubMed

de Melo, Cristiano Barros; Pinheiro de Sá, Marcos Eielson; Alves, Flaviane Faria; McManus, Concepta; Aragão, Lucas Fernandes; Belo, Bruno Benin; Campani, Paulo Ricardo; da Matta Ribeiro, Antonio Cavalcanti; Seabra, Christina Isoldi; Seixas, Luiza

2014-01-01

Protection against biological material entering a country or region through airports is important because, through them, infectious agents can quickly reach exotic destinations and be disseminated. Illegal products of animal origin may contain hazardous infectious agents that can compromise animal and public health. The aim of this study was to identify associations between possession of illegal animal products in baggage and demographic characteristics of the passengers, as well as characteristics of their travel plans in the two main Brazilian international airports. A total of 457 passengers were divided into two groups: passengers identified as carrying illegal animal products and control. Passengers identified as carrying illegal animal products not stated on the accompanied baggage declaration completed a questionnaire, to aid in profiling. Nationality, origin, age and residency of passengers were analyzed using chi square, logistic regression and odds ratios. Passengers from Eastern Europe were the most likely to enter with animal products as were those aged between 35 and 55 years. When evaluating the departure point, the highest frequency was seen in those coming from Portugal. Passenger group, reasons for travel, amount and type of baggage were available only for passengers identified as carrying illegal animal products, noting that they prefer traveling alone, for leisure, bringing few bags. Such information can contribute to the early identification of passengers that have illegal animal products in baggage at Brazilian airports.

Practitioner Perceptions of Patients Wearing Decorative Contact Lenses Purchased Through Unauthorized Sellers.

PubMed

Gaiser, Hilary; Ho, Connie; Janier, Nicole; Wee, Amy; Johnson, Catherine; Watanabe, Ronald

2017-03-01

To describe practitioner experiences regarding ocular complications in patients wearing decorative contact lenses, and to investigate the compliance of unauthorized distributors of decorative contact lenses to current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations. Also, to provide data to support a more targeted public health approach to reducing the incidence of illegal contact lens sales and associated ocular complications. An institutional review board-approved online survey was distributed through mass email to a list of 98 optometrists in the Boston, MA area. Concurrently, an empirical evaluation of independent, online decorative contact lens sellers who were not associated with FDA-approved contact lens manufacturers was performed to determine their adherence to FDA and FTC guidelines. The first 18 noncoincidental websites that resulted from a Google search for "costume contact lens sellers" and "cosmetic contact lens sellers" were examined as to the brands and parameters of lenses being sold, whether or not a valid prescription was required or verified, and if consumer education was provided. Twenty-two optometrists completed the online survey. Seventy-seven percent of respondents reported having patients with complications from decorative contact lenses that were purchased both legally and illegally. The most common age group for complications was 18 to 25 years (61%). One third of complications were seen in first-time lens wearers, half of whom never received proper care instructions or were unaware that care instructions existed. One quarter of the lenses were purchased illegally with unlicensed stores being the most common place of purchase. Of the 18 online sites examined, 72% of sellers failed to adhere to FTC and FDA regulations. A significant number of individuals who obtain contact lenses illegally from unauthorized sources are young adults. Most unauthorized sellers reviewed did not adhere to the proper protocol for selling contact lenses or instruct their customers on proper lens wear and care. A significant percentage of optometrists responding to the survey reported complications associated with contact lenses purchased through unauthorized sources, suggesting that the risk of contact lens-related complications increases when the lenses are purchased from one of these sources.

Compton Scattering and Photo-absorption Sum Rules on Nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gorshteyn, Mikhail; Hobbs, Timothy; Londergan, J. Timothy; Szczepaniak, Adam P.

2012-03-01

We revisit the photo-absorption sum rule for real Compton scattering from the proton and from nuclear targets. In analogy with the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule appropriate at low energies, we propose a new ``constituent quark model'' sum rule that relates the integrated strength of hadronic resonances to the scattering amplitude on constituent quarks. We study the constituent quark model sum rule for several nuclear targets. In addition we extract the J=0 pole contribution for both proton and nuclei. Using the modern high energy proton data we find that the J=0 pole contribution differs significantly from the Thomson term, in contrast with the original findings by Damashek and Gilman. We discuss phenomenological implications of this new result.

Ecuador: A Low-Threat Environment for Drug Trafficking

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

neighbors. This Andean country traditionally serves as a transshipment hub for illegal narcotics, precursor chemicals, and a place to launder money ...Andean country traditionally serves as a transshipment hub for illegal narcotics, precursor chemicals, and a place to launder money . Over the past...Andean compatriots. It has served mostly as a transshipment hub for illegal narcotics, precursor chemicals, and a place to launder money

10 CFR 707.13 - Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use... Procedures § 707.13 Medical review of results of tests for illegal drug use. (a) All test results shall be submitted for medical review by the MRO. A confirmed positive test for drugs shall consist of an initial...

Public spending for illegal drug and alcohol treatment in hospitals: an EU cross-country comparison.

PubMed

Lievens, Delfine; Vander Laenen, Freya; Christiaens, Johan

2014-06-30

In view of the current economic crisis and the resulting austerity measures being implemented by governments across Europe, public expenditure for substance abuse treatment has increasingly become a subject of discussion. An EU cross-country comparison would allow an estimation of the total amount of public resources spent on substance abuse treatment, compare various substance abuse treatment funding options, and evaluate the division of expenditures between alcohol and illegal drugs. The purpose of this study is to estimate the public spending of EU countries for alcohol and illegal drug abuse treatment in hospitals. Our study uses a uniform methodology in order to enable valid cross-national comparisons. Our data are drawn from the Eurostat database, which provides anno 2010 data on government spending for the treatment of illegal drug and alcohol abuse in 21 EU member states. The cross-country comparison is restricted to hospitals, since data were unavailable for other types of treatment providers. The systematic registration of in- and outpatient data is essential to monitoring public expenditures on substance abuse treatment using international databases. Total public spending for hospital-based treatment of illegal drug and alcohol abuse in the 21 EU member states studied is estimated to be 7.6 billion euros. Per capita expenditures for treatment of illegal drug abuse vary, ranging from 0.1 euros in Romania to 13 euros in Sweden. For alcohol abuse, that figure varied from 0.9 euros in Bulgaria to 24 euros in Austria. These results confirm other studies indicating that public expenditures for alcohol treatment exceed that for illegal drug treatment. Multiple factors may influence the number of hospital days for alcohol or illegal substance abuse treatment, and expenditures fluctuate accordingly. In this respect, we found a strong correlation between gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and public expenditures per hospital day. The prevalence of problematic (illegal or legal) drug use in a country did not correlate significantly with the number of hospital days. Other factors must be included in the analysis of public expenditures for the treatment of substance abuse, such as the drug policy in a given country and the social norms regarding alcohol consumption.

Bodychecking Rules and Concussion in Elite Hockey

PubMed Central

Donaldson, Laura; Asbridge, Mark; Cusimano, Michael D.

2013-01-01

Athletes participating in contact sports such as ice hockey are exposed to a high risk of suffering a concussion. We determined whether recent rule changes regulating contact to the head introduced in 2010–11 and 2011–12 have been effective in reducing the incidence of concussion in the National Hockey League (NHL). A league with a longstanding ban on hits contacting the head, the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), was also studied. A retrospective study of NHL and OHL games for the 2009–10 to 2011–12 seasons was performed using official game records and team injury reports in addition to other media sources. Concussion incidence over the 3 seasons analyzed was 5.23 per 100 NHL regular season games and 5.05 per 100 OHL regular season games (IRR 1.04; 95% CI 1.01, 1.50). When injuries described as concussion-like or suspicious of concussion were included, incidences rose to 8.8 and 7.1 per 100 games respectively (IRR 1.23; 95% CI 0.81, 1.32). The number of NHL concussions or suspected concussions was lower in 2009–10 than in 2010–11 (IRR 0.61; 95% CI 0.45, 0.83), but did not increase from 2010–11 to 2011–12 (IRR 1.05; 95% CI 0.80, 1.38). 64.2% of NHL concussions were caused by bodychecking, and only 28.4% of concussions and 36.8% of suspected concussions were caused by illegal incidents. We conclude that rules regulating bodychecking to the head did not reduce the number of players suffering concussions during NHL regular season play and that further changes or stricter enforcement of existing rules may be required to minimize the risk of players suffering these injuries. PMID:23874888

Multisensor data fusion for integrated maritime surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Premji, A.; Ponsford, A. M.

1995-01-01

A prototype Integrated Coastal Surveillance system has been developed on Canada's East Coast to provide effective surveillance out to and beyond the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone. The system has been designed to protect Canada's natural resources, and to monitor and control the coastline for smuggling, drug trafficking, and similar illegal activity. This paper describes the Multiple Sensor - Multiple Target data fusion system that has been developed. The fusion processor has been developed around the celebrated Multiple Hypothesis Tracking algorithm which accommodates multiple targets, new targets, false alarms, and missed detections. This processor performs four major functions: plot-to-track association to form individual radar tracks; fusion of radar tracks with secondary sensor reports; track identification and tagging using secondary reports; and track level fusion to form common tracks. Radar data from coherent and non-coherent radars has been used to evaluate the performance of the processor. This paper presents preliminary results.

Binary translation using peephole translation rules

DOEpatents

Bansal, Sorav; Aiken, Alex

2010-05-04

An efficient binary translator uses peephole translation rules to directly translate executable code from one instruction set to another. In a preferred embodiment, the translation rules are generated using superoptimization techniques that enable the translator to automatically learn translation rules for translating code from the source to target instruction set architecture.

Sampling in research on interpersonal aggression.

PubMed

Nielsen, Morten Birkeland; Einarsen, Ståle

2008-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of convenience samples in research on interpersonal aggression among adults. It was hypothesised that convenience sampled targets of aggression differs from targets in general with regards to both demographic characteristics and degree of aggression exposed to. A convenience sample comprising support-seeking targets of workplace bullying was compared with a representative sample of Norwegian targets of bullying. The results showed that the two samples differed significantly on all demographic variables investigated, except gender. A far higher percentage of the convenience sample had blown the whistle on illegal, immoral or illegitimate practice at their workplace, whereas they also reported significantly more frequent and more intense exposure to aggression. The findings confirm that convenience samples have low external validity when generalising to the general population. Such samples should therefore mainly be used to investigate tendencies in, and the phenomenology of, interpersonal aggression, in studies where generalisability is not the principal objective. Copyright 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Interpreting the empirical evidence on illegal gun market dynamics.

PubMed

Braga, Anthony A; Wintemute, Garen J; Pierce, Glenn L; Cook, Philip J; Ridgeway, Greg

2012-10-01

Thousands of Americans are killed by gunfire each year, and hundreds of thousands more are injured or threatened with guns in robberies and assaults. The burden of gun violence in urban areas is particularly high. Critics suggest that the results of firearm trace data and gun trafficking investigation studies cannot be used to understand the illegal supply of guns to criminals and, therefore, that regulatory and enforcement efforts designed to disrupt illegal firearms markets are futile in addressing criminal access to firearms. In this paper, we present new data to address three key arguments used by skeptics to undermine research on illegal gun market dynamics. We find that criminals rely upon a diverse set of illegal diversion pathways to acquire guns, gun traffickers usually divert small numbers of guns, newer guns are diverted through close-to-retail diversions from legal firearms commerce, and that a diverse set of gun trafficking indicators are needed to identify and shut down gun trafficking pathways.

Summarizing the evidence on the international trade in illegal wildlife.

PubMed

Rosen, Gail Emilia; Smith, Katherine F

2010-08-01

The global trade in illegal wildlife is a multi-billion dollar industry that threatens biodiversity and acts as a potential avenue for invasive species and disease spread. Despite the broad-sweeping implications of illegal wildlife sales, scientists have yet to describe the scope and scale of the trade. Here, we provide the most thorough and current description of the illegal wildlife trade using 12 years of seizure records compiled by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network. These records comprise 967 seizures including massive quantities of ivory, tiger skins, live reptiles, and other endangered wildlife and wildlife products. Most seizures originate in Southeast Asia, a recently identified hotspot for future emerging infectious diseases. To date, regulation and enforcement have been insufficient to effectively control the global trade in illegal wildlife at national and international scales. Effective control will require a multi-pronged approach including community-scale education and empowering local people to value wildlife, coordinated international regulation, and a greater allocation of national resources to on-the-ground enforcement.

A novel application of mark-recapture to examine behaviour associated with the online trade in elephant ivory.

PubMed

Yeo, Lydia M; McCrea, Rachel S; Roberts, David L

2017-01-01

The illegal trade in elephant ivory is driving the unlawful killing of elephants such that populations are now suffering unsustainable reductions. The internet is increasingly being used as a platform to conduct illegal wildlife trade, including elephant ivory. As a globally accessible medium the internet is as highly attractive to those involved in the illegal trade as it is challenging to regulate. Characterising the online illegal wildlife (ivory) trade is complex, yet key to informing enforcement activities. We applied mark-recapture to investigate behaviour associated with the online trade in elephant ivory on eBay UK as a generalist online marketplace. Our results indicate that trade takes place via eBay UK, despite its policy prohibiting this, and that two distinct trading populations exist, characterised by the pattern of their ivory sales. We suggest these may represent a large number of occasional (or non-commercial) sellers and a smaller number of dedicated (or commercial) sellers. Directing resource towards reducing the volume of occasional sales, such as through education, would enable greater focus to be placed upon characterising the extent and value of the illegal, "commercial" online ivory trade. MRC has the potential to characterise the illegal trade in ivory and diverse wildlife commodities traded using various online platforms.

The self-reported health of legal and illegal/irregular immigrants in the Czech Republic.

PubMed

Pikhart, Hynek; Drbohlav, Dusan; Dzurova, Dagmar

2010-10-01

To test whether immigrants with illegal/irregular status have higher odds of poor self-rated health (SRH) than immigrants with legal status, and whether different demographic, socioeconomic and psychosocial factors affect SRH among legal and illegal/irregular immigrants. Analysis is based on data from two questionnaire surveys of 285 Post-Soviet and Vietnamese immigrants (126 legal and 159 illegal/irregular) living and working in the Czech Republic, which were conducted between 2003 and 2006. The risk of poor SRH was estimated by ordered polytomous regression, the dependent variable was SRH, and selected demographic, socioeconomic and psychosocial characteristics entered the analysis as explanatory variables. Odds of poor SRH among illegal immigrants were not statistically significantly higher than among legal migrants in fully adjusted analysis. Females and older immigrants had poorer SRH. Satisfaction with work, and, partly, with housing were found to have a significant role. Educational level and 'social communication' variables did not have an important role in predicting SRH. Inequalities in SRH among legal and illegal immigrants were largely explained by socioeconomic and psychosocial factors in this study. These results should stimulate further research activities that might improve health policy and planning related to immigrants' health in this and other countries in Europe.

Identifying areas under potential risk of illegal construction and demolition waste dumping using GIS tools.

PubMed

Seror, Nissim; Portnov, Boris A

2018-05-01

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste, dumped illegally in ravines and open areas, contaminates soil and can cause underground water pollution and forests fires. Yet, effective monitoring of illegal C&D waste dumping and enforcing legislation against the offenders are often a difficult task due to the large size of geographic areas that need to be monitored, and limited human and financial resources available to environmental law enforcement agencies. In this study, we use Geographic Information System (GIS) tools and geo-statistical modelling to identify the areas under potentially elevated risk of illegal C&D waste dumping in the Haifa district of Israel. As our analysis shows, locational factors, significantly associated with the accumulated amount of waste in the existing illegal C&D waste sites, include: distance to the nearest main road, depth of the ravine present at the site (p<0.01), and forest proximity (p<0.05). Using the model incorporating these locational parameters, we mapped the areas under the elevated risk of illegal C&D waste dumping for future monitoring. As we suggest, the proposed approach may be useful for environmental law enforcement authorities, by helping them to focus on specific sites for inspection, save resources, and act against the offenders more efficiently. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A novel application of mark-recapture to examine behaviour associated with the online trade in elephant ivory

PubMed Central

McCrea, Rachel S.; Roberts, David L.

2017-01-01

The illegal trade in elephant ivory is driving the unlawful killing of elephants such that populations are now suffering unsustainable reductions. The internet is increasingly being used as a platform to conduct illegal wildlife trade, including elephant ivory. As a globally accessible medium the internet is as highly attractive to those involved in the illegal trade as it is challenging to regulate. Characterising the online illegal wildlife (ivory) trade is complex, yet key to informing enforcement activities. We applied mark-recapture to investigate behaviour associated with the online trade in elephant ivory on eBay UK as a generalist online marketplace. Our results indicate that trade takes place via eBay UK, despite its policy prohibiting this, and that two distinct trading populations exist, characterised by the pattern of their ivory sales. We suggest these may represent a large number of occasional (or non-commercial) sellers and a smaller number of dedicated (or commercial) sellers. Directing resource towards reducing the volume of occasional sales, such as through education, would enable greater focus to be placed upon characterising the extent and value of the illegal, “commercial” online ivory trade. MRC has the potential to characterise the illegal trade in ivory and diverse wildlife commodities traded using various online platforms. PMID:28289565

Why Abortion is Illegal? Comparison of Legal and Illegal Abortion: A Critical Review.

PubMed

Huq, M E; Raihan, M J; Shirin, H; Chowdhury, S; Jahan, Y; Chowdhury, A S; Rahman, M M

2017-10-01

Abortion is the termination of pregnancy that occurs spontaneously or purposely. In the most developed world, abortion is legally allowed for women seeking safe termination of pregnancies. Particularly, when access to legal abortion is restricted, abortion is the resort to unsafe methods. The aim of this review is to necessitate safe abortion and to accentuate the consequences of illegal abortion in case of legal prohibition. We used Pubmed, MedLine and Scopus databases to review previous literatures of safe, unsafe, legal and illegal abortions. Research work and reports from organizations such as World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank (WB) and United Nations (UN) were included. Snowball sampling was used to obtain relevant journals. Abortion is conventional whether it is safe, unsafe, legal or illegal. The intention of the antiabortion policy was to reduce the number of abortions globally. However, instead of decreasing rates, evidences show significant increase in abortions. When abortion is legal, the preconditions to be ensured are availability, accessibility, affordability and acceptability for the safe abortion facilities. When abortion is illegal, risk reduction strategies are needed to decrease maternal morbidity and mortality. We can reduce abortion related morbidity and mortality, whether it is legal or illegal if we can ensure the appropriate access to health care, including abortion services, education on sexuality, access to contraceptives, post abortion care, and suitable interventions and liberalization of laws. The paper reviewed the Mexico City Policy and the US foreign aid strategies and highlighted the evidence based analysis for policy reform. The liberalized abortion law can save pregnant women from abortion related complications and death.

TOXIC EXPOSURES IN CHILDREN INVOLVING LEGALLY AND ILLEGALLY COMMERCIALIZED HOUSEHOLD SANITIZERS

PubMed Central

Campos, Alessandra Marcuz de Souza; Bucaretchi, Fábio; Fernandes, Luciane Cristina Rodrigues; Fernandes, Carla Borrasca; de Capitani, Eduardo Mello; Beck, Ana Raquel Medeiros

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Objectives: To analyze and to compare clinical repercussions of accidents involving legally and illegally commercialized household sanitizers in children under 7 years of age. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to collect data from electronic database of a regional Poison Control Center during one year. Data were analyzed by means of descriptive non-parametric statistics and association tests. Results: The sample had 737 reported cases. Most of the accidents occurred with children under 3 years of age (median: 1 year of age; interquartile interval: 1-3 years of age), at home (92.9%), by ingestion (97.2%). Products involved were cleaning products with low toxicity and no caustic effects (38.9%); caustics (24.1%); hydrocarbons (19.3%); pesticides/rodenticides (16.6%), and other products (1.1%). Seventy accidents were due to exposures to illegal products, mainly caustics (n=47) and rodenticides (n=15). Among the 337 children presenting post-exposure clinical manifestations, the most frequent were vomiting (n=125), oral burns (n=74), cough (n=35), drooling (n=26), and abdominal pain (n=25). Clinical manifestations were significantly more frequent after illegal products exposure (55/70 versus 282/667, p<0.01). Nineteen children had to be hospitalized (caustics, n=17; illegal products, n=12; median time of hospitalization: 2 days), 22 were submitted to esophagogastroduodenoscopy (sodium hydroxide, n=14; illegal products, n=14); and 12 cases had endoscopic alterations (severe in 2). No deaths occurred. Conclusion: Toxic exposures owing to illegal household sanitizer products are associated with greater morbidity when compared with legal ones. PMID:28977311

Frequency of and responses to illegal activity related to commerce in firearms: findings from the Firearms Licensee Survey.

PubMed

Wintemute, Garen J

2013-12-01

Firearms may be obtained illegally from federally-licensed dealers and pawnbrokers through surrogate (straw) purchases, undocumented purchases and theft. Some retailers knowingly make illegal sales. To obtain information about the frequency of and risk factors for these events, and retailers' reactions to them, directly from licensed retailers. Survey of a random sample of 1601 licensed dealers and pawnbrokers in 43 states who were believed to sell ≥50 firearms annually, conducted by mail during June-August 2011. The response rate was 36.9%, typical of establishment surveys using such methods. In the preceding year, 67.3% of respondents experienced attempted straw purchases; 42.4% experienced undocumented purchase attempts. For each event, 10% reported ≥1 occurrence/month. A quarter (25.6%) experienced firearm theft in the preceding 5 years. Pawnbroker status, sales volume, denied sales and sales of firearms that were subsequently traced by law enforcement were associated with all outcomes in multivariate analysis. Estimates of retailer involvement in illegal sales (median 3%, IQR 1-10%) were related in multivariate analysis to respondents' age and sex, and to denied sales. In a hypothetical case involving 50 illegal sales, respondents recommended prolonged incarceration (median 10 years, IQR 5-20 years) and a substantial fine (median $50 000, IQR $10 000-$250 000) for retailers and made similar recommendations for buyers. Attempts to acquire firearms illegally from licensed dealers and pawnbrokers are common. Characteristics associated with frequency of occurrence may facilitate prevention efforts. Licensed retailers consider selling and buying firearms illegally to be serious crimes.

Illegal trade of regulated and protected aquatic species in the Philippines detected by DNA barcoding.

PubMed

Asis, Angelli Marie Jacynth M; Lacsamana, Joanne Krisha M; Santos, Mudjekeewis D

2016-01-01

Illegal trade has greatly affected marine fish stocks, decreasing fish populations worldwide. Despite having a number of aquatic species being regulated, illegal trade still persists through the transport of dried or processed products and juvenile species trafficking. In this regard, accurate species identification of illegally traded marine fish stocks by DNA barcoding is deemed to be a more efficient method in regulating and monitoring trade than by morphological means which is very difficult due to the absence of key morphological characters in juveniles and processed products. Here, live juvenile eels (elvers) and dried products of sharks and rays confiscated for illegal trade were identified. Twenty out of 23 (87%) randomly selected "elvers" were identified as Anguilla bicolor pacifica and 3 (13%) samples as Anguilla marmorata. On the other hand, 4 out of 11 (36%) of the randomly selected dried samples of sharks and rays were Manta birostris. The rest of the samples were identified as Alopias pelagicus, Taeniura meyeni, Carcharhinus falciformis, Himantura fai and Mobula japonica. These results confirm that wild juvenile eels and species of manta rays are still being caught in the country regardless of its protected status under Philippine and international laws. It is evident that the illegal trade of protected aquatic species is happening in the guise of dried or processed products thus the need to put emphasis on strengthening conservation measures. This study aims to underscore the importance of accurate species identification in such cases of illegal trade and the effectivity of DNA barcoding as a tool to do this.

[Operation Pangea - standing together in combat against international pharmaceutical crime].

PubMed

Smolka, Kirstin; Gronwald, Klaus

2017-11-01

Crime on the internet has grown accordingly to the increased use of the internet in everyday life. This includes illegal trading of pharmaceuticals via the internet. Trading in pharmaceuticals as "special commodities" underlies certain legal regulations in Germany, as in most other countries worldwide.Mail order trade (colloquially also known as internet trade) in pharmaceuticals requires approval of the competent regulatory authority. However, numerous illegal internet vendors of medicines present their websites to customers, purporting to be legal pharmacies and trading good and genuine medicines.It is not always easy for customers or patients to distinguish between legal websites, i. e. pharmacies operating with the approval of the authorities, and illegal, criminal websites. Patients accept dangerous risks when they order medicines on such illegal websites. Consumption of falsified or unlicensed pharmaceuticals of unknown origin often exposes patients' health to serious risks and dangers.Operation PANGEA is now in its tenth year of fighting illegal internet trade in pharmaceuticals at an internationally coordinated level. The results of Operation PANGEA are published in national and international media. Thus the public should be alert to the risks of buying medicines from one of the numerous illegal vendors on the internet.The competence for combatting illegal sales of medicines lies with customs and police agencies amongst others. These enforcement agencies regularly participate in the annual PANGEA Operations. The following article describes the origin and background of this operation, and outlines both the work of customs and police in this context, as well as the results of the latest PANGEA Operation.

Clandestine abortions are not necessarily illegal.

PubMed

Cook, R J

1991-01-01

It is common to find the term illegal abortion misused. Often times this misuse is perpetrated by antiabortion advocates who wish to reinforce negative stereotypes and thus apply pressure on doctors to refrain from performing abortions. Until a practitioner is prosecuted and convicted of performing an abortion contrary to the law, the procedure should not be referred to as illegal. Instead the legally neutral term, abortion, should be used instead. This would better serve the interests of women's reproductive health. There is no legal system that makes abortion illegal in all circumstances. For example, abortion is often legal if the life of the mother in danger. This includes a perception on behalf of the practitioner that the women may be suicidal or attempt to terminate the pregnancy by herself. A practitioner performing an abortion in such circumstances is not doing so illegally. The use of the term illegal abortion ignores the fact that in criminal law one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. A prosecutor must prove 1st that an intervention was performed and 2nd that a criminal intent accompanied the intervention. It is this 2nd criterion that is often the hardest to prove, since the practitioner must only testify that the intervention was indicated by legally allowed circumstances to be innocent. The prosecutor must show bad faith in order to gain a justified conviction. Even abortion by unqualified practitioners may not be illegal if doctors refuse to perform the intervention because it is still indicated. Accurate description of abortions would clarify situations in which abortion can be legally provided.

Ethanol mandate thrown out by appeals court

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Begley, R.

1995-05-10

In a victory for the oil industry, a federal appeals court has overturned EPA`s mandate for ethanol use in reformulated gasoline (REG), saying the agency lacks authority to require 30% of the oxygenate market be reserved for ethanol. EPA says the ruling does not prevent ethanols use in RFG - {open_quotes}It only says that EPA cannot dictate the recipe.{close_quotes} Charles DiBona, president of the American Petroleum Institute (API), says {open_quotes}API and its member companies are not opposed to the use of ethanol as an oxygenate. We oppose this illegal mandate.{close_quotes} Urvan Sternfels, president of the National Petroleum Refiners Association, says,more » {open_quotes}Mandating market shares for any product is unsound economic policy.{close_quotes} The two trade groups led the legal battle against the ethanol requirement.« less

On the rules of integration of crowded orientation signals

PubMed Central

Põder, Endel

2012-01-01

Crowding is related to an integration of feature signals over an inappropriately large area in the visual periphery. The rules of this integration are still not well understood. This study attempts to understand how the orientation signals from the target and flankers are combined. A target Gabor, together with 2, 4, or 6 flanking Gabors, was briefly presented in a peripheral location (4° eccentricity). The observer's task was to identify the orientation of the target (eight-alternative forced-choice). Performance was found to be nonmonotonically dependent on the target–flanker orientation difference (a drop at intermediate differences). For small target–flanker differences, a strong assimilation bias was observed. An effect of the number of flankers was found for heterogeneous flankers only. It appears that different rules of integration are used, dependent on some salient aspects (target pop-out, homogeneity–heterogeneity) of the stimulus pattern. The strategy of combining simple rules may be explained by the goal of the visual system to encode potentially important aspects of a stimulus with limited processing resources and using statistical regularities of the natural visual environment. PMID:23145295

Rule Encoding in Orbitofrontal Cortex and Striatum Guides Selection

PubMed Central

Castagno, Meghan D.; Hayden, Benjamin Y.

2016-01-01

Active maintenance of rules, like other executive functions, is often thought to be the domain of a discrete executive system. An alternative view is that rule maintenance is a broadly distributed function relying on widespread cortical and subcortical circuits. Tentative evidence supporting this view comes from research showing some rule selectivity in the orbitofrontal cortex and dorsal striatum. We recorded in these regions and in the ventral striatum, which has not been associated previously with rule representation, as macaques performed a Wisconsin Card Sorting Task. We found robust encoding of rule category (color vs shape) and rule identity (six possible rules) in all three regions. Rule identity modulated responses to potential choice targets, suggesting that rule information guides behavior by highlighting choice targets. The effects that we observed were not explained by differences in behavioral performance across rules and thus cannot be attributed to reward expectation. Our results suggest that rule maintenance and rule-guided selection of options are distributed processes and provide new insight into orbital and striatal contributions to executive control. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Rule maintenance, an important executive function, is generally thought to rely on dorsolateral brain regions. In this study, we examined activity of single neurons in orbitofrontal cortex and in ventral and dorsal striatum of macaques in a Wisconsin Card Sorting Task. Neurons in all three areas encoded rules and rule categories robustly. Rule identity also affected neural responses to potential choice options, suggesting that stored information is used to influence decisions. These results endorse the hypothesis that rule maintenance is a broadly distributed mental operation. PMID:27807165

Development and optimization of a novel sample preparation method cored on functionalized nanofibers mat-solid-phase extraction for the simultaneous efficient extraction of illegal anionic and cationic dyes in foods.

PubMed

Qi, Feifei; Jian, Ningge; Qian, Liangliang; Cao, Weixin; Xu, Qian; Li, Jian

2017-09-01

A simple and efficient three-step sample preparation method was developed and optimized for the simultaneous analysis of illegal anionic and cationic dyes (acid orange 7, metanil yellow, auramine-O, and chrysoidine) in food samples. A novel solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure based on nanofibers mat (NFsM) was proposed after solvent extraction and freeze-salting out purification. The preferred SPE sorbent was selected from five functionalized NFsMs by orthogonal experimental design, and the optimization of SPE parameters was achieved through response surface methodology (RSM) based on the Box-Behnken design (BBD). Under the optimal conditions, the target analytes could be completely adsorbed by polypyrrole-functionalized polyacrylonitrile NFsM (PPy/PAN NFsM), and the eluent was directly analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). The limits of detection (LODs) were between 0.002 and 0.01 mg kg -1 , and satisfactory linearity with correlation coefficients (R > 0.99) for each dye in all samples was achieved. Compared with the Chinese standard method and the published methods, the proposed method was simplified greatly with much lower requirement of sorbent (5.0 mg) and organic solvent (2.8 mL) and higher sample preparation speed (10 min/sample), while higher recovery (83.6-116.5%) and precision (RSDs < 7.1%) were obtained. With this developed method, we have successfully detected illegal ionic dyes in three common representative foods: yellow croaker, soybean products, and chili seasonings. Graphical abstract Schematic representation of the process of the three-step sample preparation.

The N-end rule pathway and regulation by proteolysis

PubMed Central

Varshavsky, Alexander

2011-01-01

The N-end rule relates the regulation of the in vivo half-life of a protein to the identity of its N-terminal residue. Degradation signals (degrons) that are targeted by the N-end rule pathway include a set called N-degrons. The main determinant of an N-degron is a destabilizing N-terminal residue of a protein. In eukaryotes, the N-end rule pathway is a part of the ubiquitin system and consists of two branches, the Ac/N-end rule and the Arg/N-end rule pathways. The Ac/N-end rule pathway targets proteins containing Nα-terminally acetylated (Nt-acetylated) residues. The Arg/N-end rule pathway recognizes unacetylated N-terminal residues and involves N-terminal arginylation. Together, these branches target for degradation a majority of cellular proteins. For example, more than 80% of human proteins are cotranslationally Nt-acetylated. Thus, most proteins harbor a specific degradation signal, termed AcN-degron, from the moment of their birth. Specific N-end rule pathways are also present in prokaryotes and in mitochondria. Enzymes that produce N-degrons include methionine-aminopeptidases, caspases, calpains, Nt-acetylases, Nt-amidases, arginyl-transferases, and leucyl-transferases. Regulated degradation of specific proteins by the N-end rule pathway mediates a legion of physiological functions, including the sensing of heme, oxygen, and nitric oxide; selective elimination of misfolded proteins; the regulation of DNA repair, segregation, and condensation; the signaling by G proteins; the regulation of peptide import, fat metabolism, viral and bacterial infections, apoptosis, meiosis, spermatogenesis, neurogenesis, and cardiovascular development; and the functioning of adult organs, including the pancreas and the brain. Discovered 25 years ago, this pathway continues to be a fount of biological insights. PMID:21633985

Target-Based Maintenance of Privacy Preserving Association Rules

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahluwalia, Madhu V.

2011-01-01

In the context of association rule mining, the state-of-the-art in privacy preserving data mining provides solutions for categorical and Boolean association rules but not for quantitative association rules. This research fills this gap by describing a method based on discrete wavelet transform (DWT) to protect input data privacy while preserving…

Public spending for illegal drug and alcohol treatment in hospitals: an EU cross-country comparison

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background In view of the current economic crisis and the resulting austerity measures being implemented by governments across Europe, public expenditure for substance abuse treatment has increasingly become a subject of discussion. An EU cross-country comparison would allow an estimation of the total amount of public resources spent on substance abuse treatment, compare various substance abuse treatment funding options, and evaluate the division of expenditures between alcohol and illegal drugs. The purpose of this study is to estimate the public spending of EU countries for alcohol and illegal drug abuse treatment in hospitals. Methods Our study uses a uniform methodology in order to enable valid cross-national comparisons. Our data are drawn from the Eurostat database, which provides anno 2010 data on government spending for the treatment of illegal drug and alcohol abuse in 21 EU member states. The cross-country comparison is restricted to hospitals, since data were unavailable for other types of treatment providers. The systematic registration of in- and outpatient data is essential to monitoring public expenditures on substance abuse treatment using international databases. Results Total public spending for hospital-based treatment of illegal drug and alcohol abuse in the 21 EU member states studied is estimated to be 7.6 billion euros. Per capita expenditures for treatment of illegal drug abuse vary, ranging from 0.1 euros in Romania to 13 euros in Sweden. For alcohol abuse, that figure varied from 0.9 euros in Bulgaria to 24 euros in Austria. These results confirm other studies indicating that public expenditures for alcohol treatment exceed that for illegal drug treatment. Conclusions Multiple factors may influence the number of hospital days for alcohol or illegal substance abuse treatment, and expenditures fluctuate accordingly. In this respect, we found a strong correlation between gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and public expenditures per hospital day. The prevalence of problematic (illegal or legal) drug use in a country did not correlate significantly with the number of hospital days. Other factors must be included in the analysis of public expenditures for the treatment of substance abuse, such as the drug policy in a given country and the social norms regarding alcohol consumption. PMID:24981850

Prehospital Emergencies in Illegal Gold Mining Sites in French Guiana.

PubMed

Egmann, Gérald; Tattevin, Pierre; Palancade, Renaud; Nacher, Matthieu

2018-03-01

Illegal gold mining is flourishing in French Guiana, existing outside the law due to both the high cost of gold mining permits and the challenges of law enforcement within the Amazon forest. We report the characteristics of, and the medical responses to, medical emergencies in illegal gold mining sites. We performed a retrospective study of all medical emergencies reported from illegal gold mining sites to the centralized call office of SAMU 973 from 1998 through 2000 and from 2008 through 2010. According to the national health care system, any medical emergency within the territory is handled by the prehospital emergency medical service (SAMU 973), irrespective of the patients' legal status. Data were extracted from the SAMU 973 notebook registry (1998-2000) or the SAMU 973 computerized database (2008-2010) and werre collected using a standardized questionnaire. Of 71,932 calls for medical emergencies in French Guiana during the study periods, 340 (0.5%) originated from illegal gold mining sites. Of these, 196 (58%) led to medical evacuation by helicopter, whereas the overall rate of evacuation by helicopter after placing a call to SAMU 973 was only 4% (3020/71,932; P<0.0001 for comparison with illegal gold mining sites). Medical emergencies were classified as illness (48%, mostly infectious), trauma (44%, mostly weapon wounds), and miscellaneous (8%). Medical emergencies at illegal gold mining sites in the Amazon forest mostly include infectious diseases, followed by trauma, and often require medical evacuation by helicopter. Our study suggests that implementation of preventive medicine within gold mining sites, irrespective of their legal status, could be cost-effective and reduce morbidity. Copyright © 2017 Wilderness Medical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Outcomes of pregnancy in women using illegal drugs and in women who smoke cigarettes.

PubMed

Black, Mairead; Bhattacharya, Sohinee; Fairley, Tara; Campbell, Doris M; Shetty, Ashalatha

2013-01-01

To compare obstetric outcomes in women using illegal drugs with women who smoke cigarettes. Retrospective cohort study. Aberdeen, UK. All deliveries in Aberdeen in women using illegal drugs and women who smoked cigarettes during 1997-2007. The women who used illegal drugs were identified from a database of affected pregnant women in Aberdeen. The Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank was used to identify women who smoke cigarettes and to obtain pregnancy outcome information. Sociodemographic characteristics, maternal and perinatal outcomes were compared using chi-squared test, independent sample t-test and logistic regression analysis. Preterm delivery, low birthweight (standardized birthweight score <-2) and admission to the neonatal unit. Of the 561 illegal drug users, 96% were also cigarette smokers. Compared with women who smoke cigarettes with no reported illegal drug use, they were significantly more likely to have a preterm delivery [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.6 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-2.1)], low birthweight baby [aOR 1.9 (95%CI 1.4-2.6)], baby admitted to the neonatal unit [aOR 13.3 (95%CI 10.9-16.3)], deep vein thrombosis [aOR (95%CI 8.8-50.8)] and antepartum hemorrhage [aOR (95%CI 1.2-2.1)]. They were less likely to be at the extremes of age, or to develop pregnancy-induced hypertension [aOR 0.3 (95%CI 0.2-0.4)]. Illegal drug use in pregnancy appears to increase the risk of adverse outcomes, over and above that related to cigarette smoking, but appears to be associated with lower prevalence of gestational hypertension. © 2013 The Authors © 2013 Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Ramifications of Illegal U.S. Arms Exports

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-03-01

the military goods may not have known and/or cared where their wares would ultimately be delivered. 5. U.S. v. Ken Park , aka Kwan Park, January 1989 The...revealed that Ken Park , acting as the Export Manager of Universal Technology, was involved in illegal export of aircraft parts to South Korea in August...transshipment to Teheran, Iran. On January 13, 1939, Ken Park admitted illegally exporting aircraft parts purchased from HTL. This case not only shows Iran’s

Digital surveillance: a novel approach to monitoring the illegal wildlife trade.

PubMed

Sonricker Hansen, Amy L; Li, Annie; Joly, Damien; Mekaru, Sumiko; Brownstein, John S

2012-01-01

A dearth of information obscures the true scale of the global illegal trade in wildlife. Herein, we introduce an automated web crawling surveillance system developed to monitor reports on illegally traded wildlife. A resource for enforcement officials as well as the general public, the freely available website, http://www.healthmap.org/wildlifetrade, provides a customizable visualization of worldwide reports on interceptions of illegally traded wildlife and wildlife products. From August 1, 2010 to July 31, 2011, publicly available English language illegal wildlife trade reports from official and unofficial sources were collected and categorized by location and species involved. During this interval, 858 illegal wildlife trade reports were collected from 89 countries. Countries with the highest number of reports included India (n = 146, 15.6%), the United States (n = 143, 15.3%), South Africa (n = 75, 8.0%), China (n = 41, 4.4%), and Vietnam (n = 37, 4.0%). Species reported as traded or poached included elephants (n = 107, 12.5%), rhinoceros (n = 103, 12.0%), tigers (n = 68, 7.9%), leopards (n = 54, 6.3%), and pangolins (n = 45, 5.2%). The use of unofficial data sources, such as online news sites and social networks, to collect information on international wildlife trade augments traditional approaches drawing on official reporting and presents a novel source of intelligence with which to monitor and collect news in support of enforcement against this threat to wildlife conservation worldwide.

Mapping Of Construction Waste Illegal Dumping Using Geographical Information System (GIS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zainun, Noor Yasmin; Rahman, Ismail Abdul; Azwana Rothman, Rosfazreen

2016-11-01

Illegal dumping of solid waste not only affecting the environment but also social life of communities, hence authorities should have an effective system to cater this problem. Malaysia is experiencing extensive physical developments and this has led to an increase of construction waste illegal dumping. However, due to the lack of proper data collection, the actual figure for construction waste illegal dumping in Malaysia are not available. This paper presents a mapping of construction waste illegal dumping in Kluang district, Johor using Geographic Information System (GIS) software. Information of the dumped waste such as coordinate, photos, types of material and quantity of waste were gathered manually through site observation for three months period. For quantifying the dumped waste, two methods were used which are the first method is based on shape of the waste (pyramids or squares) while the second method is based weighing approach. All information regarding the waste was assigned to the GIS for the mapping process. Results indicated a total of 12 types of construction waste which are concrete, tiles, wood, gypsum board, mixed construction waste, brick and concrete, bricks, sand, iron, glass, pavement and tiles, and concrete at 64 points locations of illegal dumping on construction waste in Kluang. These wastes were accounted to an estimated volume of 427.2636 m3. Hopefully, this established map will assist Kluang authority to improve their solid waste management system in Kluang.

The Environment, Energy, and the Tinbergen Rule

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knudson, William A.

2009-01-01

Higher energy prices and the growing concern about global warming have led to a number of policy goals and targets designed to curb global warming and/or the development of alternative sources of energy. However, the Tinbergen Rule states that for each and every policy target there must be at least one policy tool. If there are fewer tools than…

Cannabinoid modulation of drug reward and the implications of marijuana legalization.

PubMed

Covey, Dan P; Wenzel, Jennifer M; Cheer, Joseph F

2015-12-02

Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug worldwide. Recent trends indicate that this may soon change; not due to decreased marijuana use, but to an amendment in marijuana's illegal status. The cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor mediates marijuana's psychoactive and reinforcing properties. CB1 receptors are also part of the brain endocannabinoid (eCB) system and support numerous forms of learning and memory, including the conditioned reinforcing properties of cues predicting reward or punishment. This is accomplished via eCB-dependent alterations in mesolimbic dopamine function, which plays an obligatory role in reward learning and motivation. Presynaptic CB1 receptors control midbrain dopamine neuron activity and thereby shape phasic dopamine release in target regions, particularly the nucleus accumbens (NAc). By also regulating synaptic input to the NAc, CB1 receptors modulate NAc output onto downstream neurons of the basal ganglia motor circuit, and thereby support goal-directed behaviors. Abused drugs promote short- and long-term adaptations in eCB-regulation of mesolimbic dopamine function, and thereby hijack neural systems related to the pursuit of rewards to promote drug abuse. By pharmacologically targeting the CB1 receptors, marijuana has preferential access to this neuronal system and can potently alter eCB-dependent processing of reward-related stimuli. As marijuana legalization progresses, greater access to this drug should increase the utility of marijuana as a research tool to better understand the eCB system, which has the potential to advance cannabinoid-based treatments for drug addiction. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Counterfeit Medicines in Internet and the Fakeshare European Project: Experiences and Activities in Spain].

PubMed

Catalán-Matamoros, Daniel; González-Ochando, Nuria; Pecharroman-Arribas, Henar; Fernández-Muelas, Ana; Bentolila-Benchimol, Stella Sandra; IbarraLorente, Manuel

2016-08-16

The illicit trafficking of medicines over the Internet is a growing problem that affects public health. Since 2013, the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS) participates in the European project Fakeshare, co-funded by the European Commission and coordinated by the Italian Medicines Agency (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco, AIFA). This project aims to coordinate initiatives against the illegal supply of medicines, including from purchases through websites engaged in illegal activity, to thefts and other diversions of medicines to the illicit trafficking.This paper presents the activities in that area as well as strategies and elaborated materials at the national level. The keys to fight or face the illegal sale of medicines over the internet are coordinated cooperation with all the stakeholders, development of communication campaigns to raise awareness and sensitize consumers, health professionals and industry organizations about the risks of buying medicines on illegal websites, creating databases to share information on thefts and other deviations to the illegal market and disseminate national practices to combat illicit medicines trafficking at European and international levels.

The Use of Illegal Drugs and Infectious Contagious Diseases: Knowledge and Intervention among Dockworkers

PubMed Central

Cezar-Vaz, Marta Regina; Bonow, Clarice Alves; da Silva, Mara Regina Santos; de Farias, Francisca Lucélia Ribeiro; de Almeida, Marlise Capa Verde

2016-01-01

This study’s objective was to analyze the use of illegal drugs by dockworkers and provide risk communication regarding the use of illegal drugs and test for infectious contagious diseases among dockworkers. This cross-sectional study including an intervention addressed to 232 dockworkers, who were individually interviewed, as well as communication of risk with testing for infectious contagious diseases for 93 dockworkers from a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Poisson regression analysis was used. Twenty-nine workers reported the use of illegal drugs. Poisson regression indicated that being a wharfage worker, smoker, having a high income, and heavier workload increases the prevalence of the use of illegal drugs. During risk communication, two workers were diagnosed with hepatitis B (2.2%), three (3.2%) with hepatitis C, two (2.2%) with syphilis. None of the workers, though, had HIV. This study provides evidence that can motivate further research on the topic and also lead to treatment of individuals to improve work safety, productivity, and the health of workers. PMID:26771625

The Use of Illegal Drugs and Infectious Contagious Diseases: Knowledge and Intervention among Dockworkers.

PubMed

Cezar-Vaz, Marta Regina; Bonow, Clarice Alves; da Silva, Mara Regina Santos; de Farias, Francisca Lucélia Ribeiro; de Almeida, Marlise Capa Verde

2016-01-12

This study's objective was to analyze the use of illegal drugs by dockworkers and provide risk communication regarding the use of illegal drugs and test for infectious contagious diseases among dockworkers. This cross-sectional study including an intervention addressed to 232 dockworkers, who were individually interviewed, as well as communication of risk with testing for infectious contagious diseases for 93 dockworkers from a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Poisson regression analysis was used. Twenty-nine workers reported the use of illegal drugs. Poisson regression indicated that being a wharfage worker, smoker, having a high income, and heavier workload increases the prevalence of the use of illegal drugs. During risk communication, two workers were diagnosed with hepatitis B (2.2%), three (3.2%) with hepatitis C, two (2.2%) with syphilis. None of the workers, though, had HIV. This study provides evidence that can motivate further research on the topic and also lead to treatment of individuals to improve work safety, productivity, and the health of workers.

Feathered Detectives: Real-Time GPS Tracking of Scavenging Gulls Pinpoints Illegal Waste Dumping.

PubMed

Navarro, Joan; Grémillet, David; Afán, Isabel; Ramírez, Francisco; Bouten, Willem; Forero, Manuela G

2016-01-01

Urban waste impacts human and environmental health, and waste management has become one of the major challenges of humanity. Concurrently with new directives due to manage this human by-product, illegal dumping has become one of the most lucrative activities of organized crime. Beyond economic fraud, illegal waste disposal strongly enhances uncontrolled dissemination of human pathogens, pollutants and invasive species. Here, we demonstrate the potential of novel real-time GPS tracking of scavenging species to detect environmental crime. Specifically, we were able to detect illegal activities at an officially closed dump, which was visited recurrently by 5 of 19 GPS-tracked yellow-legged gulls (Larus michahellis). In comparison with conventional land-based surveys, GPS tracking allows a much wider and cost-efficient spatiotemporal coverage, even of the most hazardous sites, while GPS data accessibility through the internet enables rapid intervention. Our results suggest that multi-species guilds of feathered detectives equipped with GPS and cameras could help fight illegal dumping at continental scales. We encourage further experimental studies, to infer waste detection thresholds in gulls and other scavenging species exploiting human waste dumps.

Feathered Detectives: Real-Time GPS Tracking of Scavenging Gulls Pinpoints Illegal Waste Dumping

PubMed Central

Grémillet, David; Afán, Isabel; Ramírez, Francisco; Bouten, Willem; Forero, Manuela G.

2016-01-01

Urban waste impacts human and environmental health, and waste management has become one of the major challenges of humanity. Concurrently with new directives due to manage this human by-product, illegal dumping has become one of the most lucrative activities of organized crime. Beyond economic fraud, illegal waste disposal strongly enhances uncontrolled dissemination of human pathogens, pollutants and invasive species. Here, we demonstrate the potential of novel real-time GPS tracking of scavenging species to detect environmental crime. Specifically, we were able to detect illegal activities at an officially closed dump, which was visited recurrently by 5 of 19 GPS-tracked yellow-legged gulls (Larus michahellis). In comparison with conventional land-based surveys, GPS tracking allows a much wider and cost-efficient spatiotemporal coverage, even of the most hazardous sites, while GPS data accessibility through the internet enables rapid intervention. Our results suggest that multi-species guilds of feathered detectives equipped with GPS and cameras could help fight illegal dumping at continental scales. We encourage further experimental studies, to infer waste detection thresholds in gulls and other scavenging species exploiting human waste dumps. PMID:27448048

On digital cinema and watermarking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Leest, Arno; Haitsma, Jaap; Kalker, Ton

2003-06-01

The illegal copying of movies in the cinema is now common practice. Although the quality is fairly low, the economic impact of these illegal copies can be enormous. Philips' digital cinema watermarking scheme is designed for the upcoming digital cinema format and will assist content owners and distributors with tracing the origin of illegal copies. In this paper we consider this watermarking scheme in more detail. A characteristic of this watermarking scheme is that it only exploits the temporal axis to insert a watermark. It is therefore inherently robust to geometrical distortions, a necessity for surviving illegal copying by camcorder recording. Moreover, the scheme resists frame rate conversions resulting from a frame rate mismatch between the camcorder and the projector. The watermarking scheme has been tested in a 'real' digital cinema environment with good results.

Conservation Beyond Park Boundaries: The Impact of Buffer Zones on Deforestation and Mining Concessions in the Peruvian Amazon.

PubMed

Weisse, Mikaela J; Naughton-Treves, Lisa C

2016-08-01

Many researchers have tested whether protected areas save tropical forest, but generally focus on parks and reserves, management units that have internationally recognized standing and clear objectives. Buffer zones have received considerably less attention because of their ambiguous rules and often informal status. Although buffer zones are frequently dismissed as ineffective, they warrant attention given the need for landscape-level approaches to conservation and their prevalence around the world-in Peru, buffer zones cover >10 % of the country. This study examines the effectiveness of buffer zones in the Peruvian Amazon to (a) prevent deforestation and (b) limit the extent of mining concessions. We employ covariate matching to determine the impact of 13 buffer zones on deforestation and mining concessions from 2007 to 2012. Despite variation between sites, these 13 buffer zones have prevented ~320 km(2) of forest loss within their borders during the study period and ~1739 km(2) of mining concessions, an outcome associated with the special approval process for granting formal concessions in these areas. However, a closer look at the buffer zone around the Tambopata National Reserve reveals the difficulties of controlling illegal and informal activities. According to interviews with NGO employees, government officials, and community leaders, enforcement of conservation is limited by uncertain institutional responsibilities, inadequate budgets, and corruption, although formal and community-based efforts to block illicit mining are on the rise. Landscape-level conservation not only requires clear legal protocol for addressing large-scale, formal extractive activities, but there must also be strategies and coordination to combat illegal activities.

Conservation Beyond Park Boundaries: The Impact of Buffer Zones on Deforestation and Mining Concessions in the Peruvian Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weisse, Mikaela J.; Naughton-Treves, Lisa C.

2016-08-01

Many researchers have tested whether protected areas save tropical forest, but generally focus on parks and reserves, management units that have internationally recognized standing and clear objectives. Buffer zones have received considerably less attention because of their ambiguous rules and often informal status. Although buffer zones are frequently dismissed as ineffective, they warrant attention given the need for landscape-level approaches to conservation and their prevalence around the world—in Peru, buffer zones cover >10 % of the country. This study examines the effectiveness of buffer zones in the Peruvian Amazon to (a) prevent deforestation and (b) limit the extent of mining concessions. We employ covariate matching to determine the impact of 13 buffer zones on deforestation and mining concessions from 2007 to 2012. Despite variation between sites, these 13 buffer zones have prevented ~320 km2 of forest loss within their borders during the study period and ~1739 km2 of mining concessions, an outcome associated with the special approval process for granting formal concessions in these areas. However, a closer look at the buffer zone around the Tambopata National Reserve reveals the difficulties of controlling illegal and informal activities. According to interviews with NGO employees, government officials, and community leaders, enforcement of conservation is limited by uncertain institutional responsibilities, inadequate budgets, and corruption, although formal and community-based efforts to block illicit mining are on the rise. Landscape-level conservation not only requires clear legal protocol for addressing large-scale, formal extractive activities, but there must also be strategies and coordination to combat illegal activities.

Comparison of illegal drug use pattern in Taiwan and Korea from 2006 to 2014.

PubMed

Feng, Ling-Yi; Yu, Wen-Jing; Chang, Wei-Ting; Han, Eunyoung; Chung, Heesun; Li, Jih-Heng

2016-09-23

Illegal drug use has long been a global concern. Taiwan and Korea are geographically adjacent and both countries have experienced the illegal use problems of methamphetamine, a predominant prototype of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). NPS, a term coined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in recent years, have not been scrutinized for their safety and may become a new threat to public health and security worldwide. To conduct evidence-based drug policy, it is imperative to estimate the trend and pattern of illegal drug use. Therefore, this study aims to analyze and compare the current status of drug-related seizures, arrests and illegal drug use, with a focus on methamphetamine and NPS, between Taiwan and Korea. Data of illegal drug (including NPS)-related seizures and arrests were collected via anti-drug related agencies of both countries from 2006 through 2014.Since listing of NPS as controlled substances was a result of NPS abuse liability through official evaluation, the items of controlled NPS were used as an indicator of emerging use. These data obtained from Taiwan and Korea was then compared. The results showed that while methamphetamine remained as a predominant drug in both Taiwan and Korea for decades, different illegal drug use patterns have been observed in these two countries. In Taiwan, the major illegal drugs were methamphetamine, heroin, and ketamine, whereas in Korea those were methamphetamine and cannabis. By comparison of per capita illicit drug seizures, the illegal drug use situation in Taiwan was at a higher stake than that in Korea. In terms of NPS use, ketamine has been a major drug in Taiwan, but it was seldom found in Korea. Besides ketamine, the major type of NPS was synthetic cathinones in Taiwan whereas it was synthetic cannabinoids and phenethylamines in Korea. The difference in the numbers of controlled NPS items between Taiwan (23) and Korea (93) may be due to the implementation of temporary control on NPS in Korea since 2011. While the problem of methamphetamine still lingers, NPS have emerged as a new issue in both countries. However, the NPS pattern was different between Taiwan and Korea. Although the controlled NPS items in Taiwan were far less than those in Korea, the quantity of total NPS seizures, especially with ketamine, was much larger in Taiwan than in Korea. Different NPS pattern may also imply they were from different sources. Factors other than geographical proximity, such as drug policy and availability and accessibility to drugs, should be taken into account for the current status of illegal drug use in Korea and Taiwan.

Winning the War on Drugs in Mexico? Toward an Integrated Approach to the Illegal Drug Trade

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-01

the beginning of the twentieth century when prohibition of the opium trade started. Since then, the social harm of the illegal drug trade in all...its forms has been constantly increasing. Today, the most obvious example of the social harm of the illegal drug trade in Mexico is drug-related crime...reduction approach that has proved ineffective both in Mexico and around the world over the last century because it is not aimed at the social roots of

Acid-mediated Lipinski's second rule: application to drug design and targeting in cancer.

PubMed

Omran, Ziad; Rauch, Cyril

2014-05-01

With a predicted 382.4 per 100,000 people expected to suffer from some form of malignant neoplasm by 2015, and a current death toll of 1 out of 8 deaths worldwide, improving treatment and/or drug design is an essential focus of cancer research. Multi-drug resistance is the leading cause of chemotherapeutic failure, and delivery of anticancer drugs to the inside of cancerous cells is another major challenge. Fifteen years ago, in a completely different field in which improving drug delivery is the objective, the bioavailability of oral compounds, Christopher Lipinski formulated some rules that are still used by the pharmaceutical industry as rules of thumb to improve drug delivery to their target. Although Lipinski's rules were not formulated to improve delivery of antineoplastic drugs to the inside of cancer cells, it is interesting to note that the problems are similar. On the basis of the strong similarity between the fields, we discuss how they can be connected and how new drug targets can be defined in cancer.

Factors associated with tobacco sales to minors: lessons learned from the FDA compliance checks.

PubMed

Clark, P I; Natanblut, S L; Schmitt, C L; Wolters, C; Iachan, R

2000-08-09

Tobacco products continue to be widely accessible to minors. Between 1997 and 1999, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted more than 150,000 tobacco sales age-restriction compliance checks. Data obtained from these checks provide important guidance for curbing illegal sales. To determine which elements of the compliance checks were most highly associated with illegal sales and thereby inform best practices for conducting efficient compliance check programs. Cross-sectional analysis of FDA compliance checks in 110,062 unique establishments in 36 US states and the District of Columbia. Illegal sales of tobacco to minors at compliance checks; association of illegal sales with variables such as age and sex of the minor. The rate of illegal sales for all first compliance checks in unique stores was 26.6%. Clerk failure to request proof of age was strongly associated with illegal sales (uncorrected sales rate, 10.5% compared with 89.5% sales when proof was not requested; multivariate-adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.03-0.04). Other factors associated with increased illegal sales were employment of older minors to make the purchase attempt (adjusted ORs for 16- and 17-year-old minors compared with 15-year-olds were 1.52 [95% CI, 1.46-1.63] and 2.43 [95% CI, 2.31-2. 59], respectively), attempt to purchase smokeless tobacco (adjusted OR, 2.16 [95% CI, 1.90-2.45] vs cigarette purchase attempts), and performing checks at or after 5 PM (adjusted OR, 1.28 [95% CI, 1. 21-1.35] vs before 5 PM). Female sex of clerk and minor, Saturday checks, type of store (convenience store selling gas, gas station, drugstore, supermarket and general merchandise), and rural store locations also were associated with increased illegal sales. This analysis found that a request for age verification strongly predicted compliance with the law. The results suggest several ways in which the process of compliance checks might be optimized. JAMA. 2000;284:729-734

Sampling--how big a sample?

PubMed

Aitken, C G

1999-07-01

It is thought that, in a consignment of discrete units, a certain proportion of the units contain illegal material. A sample of the consignment is to be inspected. Various methods for the determination of the sample size are compared. The consignment will be considered as a random sample from some super-population of units, a certain proportion of which contain drugs. For large consignments, a probability distribution, known as the beta distribution, for the proportion of the consignment which contains illegal material is obtained. This distribution is based on prior beliefs about the proportion. Under certain specific conditions the beta distribution gives the same numerical results as an approach based on the binomial distribution. The binomial distribution provides a probability for the number of units in a sample which contain illegal material, conditional on knowing the proportion of the consignment which contains illegal material. This is in contrast to the beta distribution which provides probabilities for the proportion of a consignment which contains illegal material, conditional on knowing the number of units in the sample which contain illegal material. The interpretation when the beta distribution is used is much more intuitively satisfactory. It is also much more flexible in its ability to cater for prior beliefs which may vary given the different circumstances of different crimes. For small consignments, a distribution, known as the beta-binomial distribution, for the number of units in the consignment which are found to contain illegal material, is obtained, based on prior beliefs about the number of units in the consignment which are thought to contain illegal material. As with the beta and binomial distributions for large samples, it is shown that, in certain specific conditions, the beta-binomial and hypergeometric distributions give the same numerical results. However, the beta-binomial distribution, as with the beta distribution, has a more intuitively satisfactory interpretation and greater flexibility. The beta and the beta-binomial distributions provide methods for the determination of the minimum sample size to be taken from a consignment in order to satisfy a certain criterion. The criterion requires the specification of a proportion and a probability.

Immigrant children's reliance on public health insurance in the wake of immigration reform.

PubMed

Pati, Susmita; Danagoulian, Shooshan

2008-11-01

We sought to determine whether the reversal of the public charge rule of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which may have required families to pay for benefits previously received at no cost, led to immigrant children becoming increasingly reliant on public health insurance programs. We conducted a secondary data analysis focusing on low-income children sampled in the 1997 through 2004 versions of the National Health Interview Survey. Between 1997 and 2004, public health insurance enrollments and the numbers of uninsured foreign-born children in the United States increased by 3.1% and 2.7%, respectively. Using multinomial logistic regression models to account for the substantial differences in socioeconomic status between foreign-born and US-born children, we found that low-income US-born children were just as likely as foreign-born children to have public health insurance coverage (odds ratio [OR] = 1.16; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.89, 1.52) and that, after 2000, foreign-born children were 1.59 times (95% CI = 1.24, 2.05) more likely than were US-born children to be uninsured (vs publicly insured). In the wake of the reversal of the public charge rule, immigrant children are increasingly likely to be uninsured as opposed to relying on public health insurance.

Immigrant Children's Reliance on Public Health Insurance in the Wake of Immigration Reform

PubMed Central

Danagoulian, Shooshan

2008-01-01

Objectives. We sought to determine whether the reversal of the public charge rule of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which may have required families to pay for benefits previously received at no cost, led to immigrant children becoming increasingly reliant on public health insurance programs. Methods. We conducted a secondary data analysis focusing on low-income children sampled in the 1997 through 2004 versions of the National Health Interview Survey. Results. Between 1997 and 2004, public health insurance enrollments and the numbers of uninsured foreign-born children in the United States increased by 3.1% and 2.7%, respectively. Using multinomial logistic regression models to account for the substantial differences in socioeconomic status between foreign-born and US-born children, we found that low-income US-born children were just as likely as foreign-born children to have public health insurance coverage (odds ratio [OR] = 1.16; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.89, 1.52) and that, after 2000, foreign-born children were 1.59 times (95% CI = 1.24, 2.05) more likely than were US-born children to be uninsured (vs publicly insured). Conclusions. In the wake of the reversal of the public charge rule, immigrant children are increasingly likely to be uninsured as opposed to relying on public health insurance. PMID:18799772

Factor Analysis of Therapist-Identified Treatment Targets in Community-Based Children's Mental Health.

PubMed

Love, Allison R; Okado, Izumi; Orimoto, Trina E; Mueller, Charles W

2018-01-01

The present study used exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to identify underlying latent factors affecting variation in community therapists' endorsement of treatment targets. As part of a statewide practice management program, therapist completed monthly reports of treatment targets (up to 10 per month) for a sample of youth (n = 790) receiving intensive in-home therapy. Nearly 75 % of youth were diagnosed with multiple co-occurring disorders. Five factors emerged: Disinhibition, Societal Rules Evasion, Social Engagement Deficits, Emotional Distress, and Management of Biodevelopmental Outcomes. Using logistic regression, primary diagnosis predicted therapist selection of Disinhibition and Emotional Distress targets. Client age predicted endorsement of Societal Rules Evasion targets. Practice-to-research implications are discussed.

Aspects of QCD current algebra on a null plane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beane, S. R.; Hobbs, T. J.

2016-09-01

Consequences of QCD current algebra formulated on a light-like hyperplane are derived for the forward scattering of vector and axial-vector currents on an arbitrary hadronic target. It is shown that current algebra gives rise to a special class of sum rules that are direct consequences of the independent chiral symmetry that exists at every point on the two-dimensional transverse plane orthogonal to the lightlike direction. These sum rules are obtained by exploiting the closed, infinite-dimensional algebra satisfied by the transverse moments of null-plane axial-vector and vector charge distributions. In the special case of a nucleon target, this procedure leads to the Adler-Weisberger, Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn, Cabibbo-Radicati and Fubini-Furlan-Rossetti sum rules. Matching to the dispersion-theoretic language which is usually invoked in deriving these sum rules, the moment sum rules are shown to be equivalent to algebraic constraints on forward S-matrix elements in the Regge limit.

Medicare program; Medicare hospital reimbursement reforms: limitations on reimbursable costs and the rate of hospital cost increases--HCFA. Interim final rule with comment period.

PubMed

1982-09-30

These rules implement section 1886 of the Social Security Act (established by section 101 of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982). These rules amend current regulations on hospital cost limits, providing for new exemptions and exceptions. These amendments make exceptions available to hospitals consistent with the new cost limits published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, and specifically exempt from those cost limits rural hospitals with less than 50 beds in existence as of the enactment of the law. These rules also set forth new regulations establishing a three-year ceiling on the allowable annual rate of increase in operating costs per case for inpatient hospital services. This ceiling takes the form of a target amount of cost per case against which a hospital's incurred cost per case will be compared. Hospitals are provided incentives to keep their cost increases below the target rate. A hospital that has costs per case less than the target amount will be paid a portion of the difference between actual cost and the target amount. A hospital that has costs per case that are greater than the target amount will be paid the target amount plus 25 percent of its costs in excess of the target for the first two years of the ceiling, and none of the excess in the third year. However, payment to a hospital under these new target rate regulations will not be greater than the amount determined under the new schedule of limits on hospital inpatient operating costs published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.

Litigating reproductive and developmental health in the aftermath of UAW versus Johnson Controls.

PubMed

Clauss, C A; Berzon, M; Bertin, J

1993-07-01

In a major decision handed down last term (International Union [UAW] versus Johnson Controls, Inc.), the Supreme Court ruled that employment practices excluding fertile or pregnant women from the workplace because of alleged concerns for fetal health constitute illegal sex discrimination. We analyze the three opinions in the case and explain why the decision was an essential first step to promoting reproductive and developmental health in the workplace. Continued progress toward eliminating or reducing reproductive occupational risks will require comprehensive legal strategies involving private lawsuits, governmental regulation and enforcement actions, and new legislation designed to preserve the existing rights of workers and to obtain new and additional protections. Finally, we caution that, in designing such strategies, it will be important to avoid solutions that either shift responsibility for reproductive health to workers, rather than to employers, or that undermine other important legal rights.

Litigating reproductive and developmental health in the aftermath of UAW versus Johnson Controls.

PubMed Central

Clauss, C A; Berzon, M; Bertin, J

1993-01-01

In a major decision handed down last term (International Union [UAW] versus Johnson Controls, Inc.), the Supreme Court ruled that employment practices excluding fertile or pregnant women from the workplace because of alleged concerns for fetal health constitute illegal sex discrimination. We analyze the three opinions in the case and explain why the decision was an essential first step to promoting reproductive and developmental health in the workplace. Continued progress toward eliminating or reducing reproductive occupational risks will require comprehensive legal strategies involving private lawsuits, governmental regulation and enforcement actions, and new legislation designed to preserve the existing rights of workers and to obtain new and additional protections. Finally, we caution that, in designing such strategies, it will be important to avoid solutions that either shift responsibility for reproductive health to workers, rather than to employers, or that undermine other important legal rights. PMID:8243393

Illegal drugs and delinquency.

PubMed

Kirschbaum, Katrin M; Grigoleit, Lisa; Hess, Cornelius; Madea, Burkhard; Musshoff, Frank

2013-03-10

An interrelation between consumption of illegal drugs and committing an indictable offence has been repeatedly discussed in literature. In a retrospective study serum concentrations of illegal and legal drugs as well as data originating from police reports and examinations by physicians taking blood from individuals being suspected to be under the influence of drugs were evaluated. Results from 4816 cases were available. Property offences were the most frequent type (36%) as well as consumption of cannabinoids (55%). Psychophysiological conditions of consumers were compared with according serum concentrations. Close correlations between stimulating drugs and violence associated crime could not be found. Stimulated as well as sedated behaviour occurring following the consumption of various drugs might be the reason for no clear correlation between types of offence and consumed illegal or legal drugs in this study. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Digital Surveillance: A Novel Approach to Monitoring the Illegal Wildlife Trade

PubMed Central

Joly, Damien; Mekaru, Sumiko; Brownstein, John S.

2012-01-01

A dearth of information obscures the true scale of the global illegal trade in wildlife. Herein, we introduce an automated web crawling surveillance system developed to monitor reports on illegally traded wildlife. A resource for enforcement officials as well as the general public, the freely available website, http://www.healthmap.org/wildlifetrade, provides a customizable visualization of worldwide reports on interceptions of illegally traded wildlife and wildlife products. From August 1, 2010 to July 31, 2011, publicly available English language illegal wildlife trade reports from official and unofficial sources were collected and categorized by location and species involved. During this interval, 858 illegal wildlife trade reports were collected from 89 countries. Countries with the highest number of reports included India (n = 146, 15.6%), the United States (n = 143, 15.3%), South Africa (n = 75, 8.0%), China (n = 41, 4.4%), and Vietnam (n = 37, 4.0%). Species reported as traded or poached included elephants (n = 107, 12.5%), rhinoceros (n = 103, 12.0%), tigers (n = 68, 7.9%), leopards (n = 54, 6.3%), and pangolins (n = 45, 5.2%). The use of unofficial data sources, such as online news sites and social networks, to collect information on international wildlife trade augments traditional approaches drawing on official reporting and presents a novel source of intelligence with which to monitor and collect news in support of enforcement against this threat to wildlife conservation worldwide. PMID:23236444

[Analysis and identification of illegal constituents in health food products implicitly advertizing tonic or slimming effect in the National Institute of Health Sciences in Japan].

PubMed

Goda, Yukihiro

2014-01-01

With the prefectural governments' aid of the purchase, the Division of Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry and Narcotics, National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) successively has surveyed illegal constituents in health food products implicitly advertizing tonic or slimming effect since the fiscal year of 2002 (slimming type) or 2003 (tonic type). The average numbers of the analyzed products per year are about 100 (slimming type) and 150 (tonic type), respectively. We also continuously distribute standards of authentic samples of several illegal components such as N-nitrosofenfluramine (NFF) and sildenafil (SIL) to prefectural institutes and the average gross number per year is about 140. In the case of slimming type, the fact that the products containing NFF were widely sold in Japanese markets in 2002 is well known. In addition, phenolphthalein, fenfluramine, sibtramine, desdimethylsibtramine, orlistat, mazindol, Rhubarb, Senna Leaf, etc. have been found as illegal constituents. In the tonic type products, we have identified more than 20 synthetic compounds relating to the erectile dysfunction (ED) treatment drugs, SIL, vardenafil and tadalafil (TDF). Since 2005, their synthetic intermediates and the patented but non-approved PDE5 inhibitors also have been found. It should be noted that TDF was found in the shells of capsule in 2009 and that mutaprodenafil was found as pro-drug type illegal component in 2010. In this report identification method of these illegal constituents is briefly described and then analytical trend in this decade is reviewed.

Non-destructive terahertz imaging of illicit drugs using spectral fingerprints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawase, Kodo; Ogawa, Yuichi; Watanabe, Yuuki; Inoue, Hiroyuki

2003-10-01

The absence of non-destructive inspection techniques for illicit drugs hidden in mail envelopes has resulted in such drugs being smuggled across international borders freely. We have developed a novel basic technology for terahertz imaging, which allows detection and identification of drugs concealed in envelopes, by introducing the component spatial pattern analysis. The spatial distributions of the targets are obtained from terahertz multispectral transillumination images, using absorption spectra measured with a tunable terahertz-wave source. The samples we used were methamphetamine and MDMA, two of the most widely consumed illegal drugs in Japan, and aspirin as a reference.

A simple dilute and shoot methodology for the identification and quantification of illegal insulin.

PubMed

Vanhee, Celine; Janvier, Steven; Moens, Goedele; Deconinck, Eric; Courselle, Patricia

2016-10-01

The occurrence of illegal medicines is a well-established global problem and concerns mostly small molecules. However, due to the advances in genomics and recombinant expression technologies there is an increased development of polypeptide therapeutics. Insulin is one of the best known polypeptide drug, and illegal versions of this medicine led to lethal incidents in the past. Therefore, it is crucial for the public health sector to develop reliable, efficient, cheap, unbiased and easily applicable active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) identification and quantification strategies for routine analysis of suspected illegal insulins. Here we demonstrate that our combined label-free full scan approach is not only able to distinguish between all those different versions of insulin and the insulins originating from different species, but also able to chromatographically separate human insulin and insulin lispro in conditions that are compatible with mass spectrometry (MS). Additionally, we were also able to selectively quantify the different insulins, including human insulin and insulin lispro according to the validation criteria, put forward by the United Nations (UN), for the analysis of seized illicit drugs. The proposed identification and quantification method is currently being used in our official medicines control laboratory to analyze insulins retrieved from the illegal market.

8 CFR 1216.3 - Termination of conditional resident status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... or her investment capital through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs... through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). (b) Determination of fraud...

8 CFR 1216.3 - Termination of conditional resident status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... or her investment capital through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs... through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). (b) Determination of fraud...

8 CFR 1216.3 - Termination of conditional resident status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... or her investment capital through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs... through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). (b) Determination of fraud...

8 CFR 1216.3 - Termination of conditional resident status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... or her investment capital through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs... through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). (b) Determination of fraud...

48 CFR 3.104-9 - Contract clauses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... the clauses at— (a) 52.203-8, Cancellation, Rescission, and Recovery of Funds for Illegal or Improper Activity; and (b) 52.203-10, Price or Fee Adjustment for Illegal or Improper Activity. [67 FR 13059, Mar...

48 CFR 3.104-9 - Contract clauses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... the clauses at— (a) 52.203-8, Cancellation, Rescission, and Recovery of Funds for Illegal or Improper Activity; and (b) 52.203-10, Price or Fee Adjustment for Illegal or Improper Activity. [67 FR 13059, Mar...

48 CFR 3.104-9 - Contract clauses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... the clauses at— (a) 52.203-8, Cancellation, Rescission, and Recovery of Funds for Illegal or Improper Activity; and (b) 52.203-10, Price or Fee Adjustment for Illegal or Improper Activity. [67 FR 13059, Mar...

48 CFR 3.104-9 - Contract clauses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... the clauses at— (a) 52.203-8, Cancellation, Rescission, and Recovery of Funds for Illegal or Improper Activity; and (b) 52.203-10, Price or Fee Adjustment for Illegal or Improper Activity. [67 FR 13059, Mar...

48 CFR 3.104-9 - Contract clauses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... the clauses at— (a) 52.203-8, Cancellation, Rescission, and Recovery of Funds for Illegal or Improper Activity; and (b) 52.203-10, Price or Fee Adjustment for Illegal or Improper Activity. [67 FR 13059, Mar...

38 CFR 17.805 - Additional terms of loans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... or any illegal drugs in the residence will be prohibited; (b) Any resident who violates the prohibition of alcohol or any illegal drugs will be expelled from the residence; (c) The cost of maintaining...

38 CFR 17.805 - Additional terms of loans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... or any illegal drugs in the residence will be prohibited; (b) Any resident who violates the prohibition of alcohol or any illegal drugs will be expelled from the residence; (c) The cost of maintaining...

38 CFR 17.805 - Additional terms of loans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... or any illegal drugs in the residence will be prohibited; (b) Any resident who violates the prohibition of alcohol or any illegal drugs will be expelled from the residence; (c) The cost of maintaining...

What You Need to Know about Drugs (For Kids)

MedlinePlus

... who are selling them illegally. Cigarettes, Alcohol, and Marijuana Cigarettes and alcohol are two other kinds of ... for adults and are off limits for kids. Marijuana is generally an illegal drug, but some states ...

26 CFR 1.338-0 - Outline of topics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... old target and new target. (a) In general. (1) Deemed transaction. (2) Application of other rules of...(h)(10) election. (16) Selling group. (17) Target; old target; new target. (18) Target affiliate. (19...) Stock subject to election. (e) Liabilities of new target. (1) In general. (2) Time and amount of...

26 CFR 1.338-0 - Outline of topics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... old target and new target. (a) In general. (1) Deemed transaction. (2) Application of other rules of...(h)(10) election. (16) Selling group. (17) Target; old target; new target. (18) Target affiliate. (19...) Stock subject to election. (e) Liabilities of new target. (1) In general. (2) Time and amount of...

Legal ivory trade in a corrupt world and its impact on African elephant populations.

PubMed

Bennett, Elizabeth L

2015-02-01

Illegal hunting of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) for ivory is causing rapid declines in their populations. Since 2007, illegal ivory trade has more than doubled. African elephants are facing the most serious conservation crisis since 1989, when international trade was banned. One solution proposed is establishment of a controlled legal trade in ivory. High prices for ivory mean that the incentives to obtain large quantities are high, but the quantity of tusks available for trade are biologically constrained. Within that context, effective management of a legal ivory trade would require robust systems to be in place to ensure that ivory from illegally killed elephants cannot be laundered into a legal market. At present, that is not feasible due to corruption among government officials charged with implementing wildlife-related legislation. With organized criminal enterprises involved along the whole commodity chain, corruption enables the laundering of illegal ivory into legal or potentially legal markets. Poachers and traffickers can rapidly pay their way out of trouble, so the financial incentives to break the law heavily outweigh those of abiding by it. Maintaining reliable permitting systems and leak-proof chains of custody in this context is challenging, and effective management breaks down. Once illegal ivory has entered the legal trade, it is difficult or impossible for enforcement officers to know what is legal and illegal. Addressing corruption throughout a trade network that permeates countries across the globe will take decades, if it can ever be achieved. That will be too late for wild African elephants at current rates of loss. If we are to conserve remaining wild populations, we must close all markets because, under current levels of corruption, they cannot be controlled in a way that does not provide opportunities for illegal ivory being laundered into legal markets. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Dissecting the Illegal Ivory Trade: An Analysis of Ivory Seizures Data

PubMed Central

Underwood, Fiona M.; Burn, Robert W.; Milliken, Tom

2013-01-01

Reliable evidence of trends in the illegal ivory trade is important for informing decision making for elephants but it is difficult to obtain due to the covert nature of the trade. The Elephant Trade Information System, a global database of reported seizures of illegal ivory, holds the only extensive information on illicit trade available. However inherent biases in seizure data make it difficult to infer trends; countries differ in their ability to make and report seizures and these differences cannot be directly measured. We developed a new modelling framework to provide quantitative evidence on trends in the illegal ivory trade from seizures data. The framework used Bayesian hierarchical latent variable models to reduce bias in seizures data by identifying proxy variables that describe the variability in seizure and reporting rates between countries and over time. Models produced bias-adjusted smoothed estimates of relative trends in illegal ivory activity for raw and worked ivory in three weight classes. Activity is represented by two indicators describing the number of illegal ivory transactions – Transactions Index – and the total weight of illegal ivory transactions – Weights Index – at global, regional or national levels. Globally, activity was found to be rapidly increasing and at its highest level for 16 years, more than doubling from 2007 to 2011 and tripling from 1998 to 2011. Over 70% of the Transactions Index is from shipments of worked ivory weighing less than 10 kg and the rapid increase since 2007 is mainly due to increased consumption in China. Over 70% of the Weights Index is from shipments of raw ivory weighing at least 100 kg mainly moving from Central and East Africa to Southeast and East Asia. The results tie together recent findings on trends in poaching rates, declining populations and consumption and provide detailed evidence to inform international decision making on elephants. PMID:24250744

The temporal relationship between drug supply indicators: an audit of international government surveillance systems.

PubMed

Werb, Dan; Kerr, Thomas; Nosyk, Bohdan; Strathdee, Steffanie; Montaner, Julio; Wood, Evan

2013-09-30

Illegal drug use continues to be a major threat to community health and safety. We used international drug surveillance databases to assess the relationship between multiple long-term estimates of illegal drug price and purity. We systematically searched for longitudinal measures of illegal drug supply indicators to assess the long-term impact of enforcement-based supply reduction interventions. Data from identified illegal drug surveillance systems were analysed using an a priori defined protocol in which we sought to present annual estimates beginning in 1990. Data were then subjected to trend analyses. Data were obtained from government surveillance systems assessing price, purity and/or seizure quantities of illegal drugs; systems with at least 10 years of longitudinal data assessing price, purity/potency or seizures were included. We identified seven regional/international metasurveillance systems with longitudinal measures of price or purity/potency that met eligibility criteria. In the USA, the average inflation-adjusted and purity-adjusted prices of heroin, cocaine and cannabis decreased by 81%, 80% and 86%, respectively, between 1990 and 2007, whereas average purity increased by 60%, 11% and 161%, respectively. Similar trends were observed in Europe, where during the same period the average inflation-adjusted price of opiates and cocaine decreased by 74% and 51%, respectively. In Australia, the average inflation-adjusted price of cocaine decreased 14%, while the inflation-adjusted price of heroin and cannabis both decreased 49% between 2000 and 2010. During this time, seizures of these drugs in major production regions and major domestic markets generally increased. With few exceptions and despite increasing investments in enforcement-based supply reduction efforts aimed at disrupting global drug supply, illegal drug prices have generally decreased while drug purity has generally increased since 1990. These findings suggest that expanding efforts at controlling the global illegal drug market through law enforcement are failing.

Geo-spatial aspects of acceptance of illegal hunting of large carnivores in Scandinavia.

PubMed

Gangaas, Kristin E; Kaltenborn, Bjørn P; Andreassen, Harry P

2013-01-01

Human-carnivore conflicts are complex and are influenced by: the spatial distribution of the conflict species; the organisation and intensity of management measures such as zoning; historical experience with wildlife; land use patterns; and local cultural traditions. We have used a geographically stratified sampling of social values and attitudes to provide a novel perspective to the human - wildlife conflict. We have focused on acceptance by and disagreements between residents (measured as Potential Conflict Index; PCI) towards illegal hunting of four species of large carnivores (bear, lynx, wolf, wolverine). The study is based on surveys of residents in every municipality in Sweden and Norway who were asked their opinion on illegal hunting. Our results show how certain social values are associated with acceptance of poaching, and how these values differ geographically independent of carnivore abundance. Our approach differs from traditional survey designs, which are often biased towards urban areas. Although these traditional designs intend to be representative of a region (i.e. a random sample from a country), they tend to receive relatively few respondents from rural areas that experience the majority of conflict with carnivores. Acceptance of poaching differed significantly between Norway (12.7-15.7% of respondents) and Sweden (3.3-4.1% of respondents). We found the highest acceptance of illegal hunting in rural areas with free-ranging sheep and strong hunting traditions. Disagreements between residents (as measured by PCI) were highest in areas with intermediate population density. There was no correlation between carnivore density and either acceptance of illegal hunting or PCI. A strong positive correlation between acceptance of illegal hunting and PCI showed that areas with high acceptance of illegal hunting are areas with high potential conflict between people. Our results show that spatially-stratified surveys are required to reveal the large scale patterns in social dynamics of human-wildlife conflicts.

Dissecting the illegal ivory trade: an analysis of ivory seizures data.

PubMed

Underwood, Fiona M; Burn, Robert W; Milliken, Tom

2013-01-01

Reliable evidence of trends in the illegal ivory trade is important for informing decision making for elephants but it is difficult to obtain due to the covert nature of the trade. The Elephant Trade Information System, a global database of reported seizures of illegal ivory, holds the only extensive information on illicit trade available. However inherent biases in seizure data make it difficult to infer trends; countries differ in their ability to make and report seizures and these differences cannot be directly measured. We developed a new modelling framework to provide quantitative evidence on trends in the illegal ivory trade from seizures data. The framework used Bayesian hierarchical latent variable models to reduce bias in seizures data by identifying proxy variables that describe the variability in seizure and reporting rates between countries and over time. Models produced bias-adjusted smoothed estimates of relative trends in illegal ivory activity for raw and worked ivory in three weight classes. Activity is represented by two indicators describing the number of illegal ivory transactions--Transactions Index--and the total weight of illegal ivory transactions--Weights Index--at global, regional or national levels. Globally, activity was found to be rapidly increasing and at its highest level for 16 years, more than doubling from 2007 to 2011 and tripling from 1998 to 2011. Over 70% of the Transactions Index is from shipments of worked ivory weighing less than 10 kg and the rapid increase since 2007 is mainly due to increased consumption in China. Over 70% of the Weights Index is from shipments of raw ivory weighing at least 100 kg mainly moving from Central and East Africa to Southeast and East Asia. The results tie together recent findings on trends in poaching rates, declining populations and consumption and provide detailed evidence to inform international decision making on elephants.

Framing unauthorized immigrants: the effects of labels on evaluations.

PubMed

Ommundsen, Reidar; Van der Veer, Kees; Larsen, Knud S; Eilertsen, Dag-Erik

2014-04-01

In the U.S. media, unauthorized immigrants are often interchangeably referred to as "illegal aliens," "illegal immigrants," and undocumented immigrants." In spite of formal equivalence, these terms carry different connotations, but the effects of these labels on people's attitudes toward immigrants are not well documented. In this replication study, 274 undergraduate students in psychology responded to one of three randomly distributed versions of a 20-item scale measuring attitudes toward unauthorized immigration. The items in the three scale versions varyingly referred to immigrants using the three terms. Results showed differences in attitudes toward unauthorized immigration between all experimental conditions. The label "illegal immigrants" yielded significantly less positive attitudes compared to the label "undocumented immigrants," and respondents exposed to the label "illegal aliens" showed the most positive attitudes. Furthermore, the effects of the experimental conditions were not moderated by the respondents' patriotism, sex, or own immigrant background.

Reducing the illegal sale of cigarettes to minors.

PubMed

Altman, D G; Foster, V; Rasenick-Douss, L; Tye, J B

1989-01-06

This study reports on an effort to stop the illegal sale of cigarettes to minors. In Santa Clara County, Calif, 412 stores and 30 vending machines were visited by 18 minors aged 14 through 16 years with the intent to purchase cigarettes; they were successful at 74% of the stores and 100% of the vending machines. After an aggressive six-month campaign using communitywide media, direct merchant education, contact with the chief executive officers of chain stores and franchise operations owned by major companies, and grassroots work with community organizations, the percentage of stores with illegal over-the-counter sale of cigarettes to minors was reduced to 39%. Sales from vending machines were not reduced. While much remains to be accomplished in stopping the illegal sale of tobacco to minors, data from this study illustrate that a well-designed community and merchant education campaign can significantly reduce such sales.

Nicotine dependence, use of illegal drugs and psychiatric morbidity.

PubMed

Martínez-Ortega, José María; Jurado, Dolores; Martínez-González, Miguel Angel; Gurpegui, Manuel

2006-09-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the association of smoking and nicotine dependence with psychiatric morbidity, controlling for the potential confounding effect of smoking on the relationship between the use of other substances and psychiatric morbidity. A sample of 290 adults were interviewed at a primary health centre (patients, 58%; patients' relatives, 34%; staff, 8%) to inquire about their tobacco, caffeine, alcohol, and illegal drug consumption. Psychiatric morbidity, defined by a score >6 on the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), showed a strong direct association with nicotine dependence. The use of illegal drugs, but not of alcohol, was also strongly associated with psychiatric morbidity, after controlling for smoking. Both smoking and high nicotine dependence were also associated with use of caffeine, alcohol, cannabis and cocaine. High nicotine dependence may be considered as an expression of individual psychopathologic vulnerability. Tobacco may have a central facilitating role in the use of caffeine, alcohol, and illegal drug.

Preemployment physical evaluation.

PubMed

Jackson, A S

1994-01-01

There is a growing trend toward using preemployment tests to select employees for physically demanding jobs. Women are, in increasing numbers, entering physically demanding occupations that were traditionally dominated by men. Under current Federal employment law, it is illegal to disqualify an employee for a job because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and with the recent passage of the American Disabilities Act (ADA), handicap. Because of gender differences in strength, body composition, and VO2max, preemployment tests for physically demanding jobs tend to screen out more females than males. Employers are using preemployment tests not only to enhance worker productivity, but also to minimize the threat of litigation for discriminatory hiring practices and to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries. The primary ergonomic methods used in industry to reduce the risk of back injuries are preemployment testing and job redesign. When a test results in adverse impact, the validity of the test must be established. Validity in this context means that the test represents or predicts the applicant's capacity to perform the job. Criterion-related, content, and construct validation studies are the means used to establish validity. The validity of preemployment hiring practices for physically demanding jobs has been decided in the courts. The most common reason for ruling an employment practice invalid is the failure to show that the test measured important job behaviors. Much of this litigation has involved height and weight requirements for public safety jobs. The courts have generally ruled that using height and weight standards as a criteria for employment is illegal because they were not job related. If fitness tests comprise part or all of the preemployment test, it is essential to demonstrate that the fitness component is related to job performance. Although there are many factors to consider when establishing a cut score, there is a growing trend toward establishing the cut score on the basis of the job's physical demands, defined by VO2max and strength. This literature is limited because most validation studies are not published. They more typically take the form of a technical report to the governmental agency or company that funded the project. There are published preemployment validation studies for outdoor telephone craft jobs involving pole-climbing tasks; firefighters; highway patrol officers; steel workers; underground coal miners; chemical plant workers; electrical transmission lineworkers; and various military jobs.

The social cost of illegal drug consumption in Spain.

PubMed

García-Altés, Anna; Ollé, Josep Ma; Antoñanzas, Fernando; Colom, Joan

2002-09-01

The objective of this study was to estimate the social cost of the consumption of illegal drugs in Spain. We performed a cost-of-illness study, using a prevalence approximation and a societal perspective. The estimation of costs and consequences referred to 1997. As direct costs we included health-care costs, prevention, continuing education, research, administrative costs, non-governmental organizations and crime-related costs. As indirect costs we included lost productivity associated with mortality and the hospitalization of patients. Estimation of intangible costs was not included. The minimum cost of illegal drug consumption in Spain is 88,800 million pesetas (PTA) (467 million dollars). Seventy-seven per cent of the costs correspond to direct costs. Of those, crime-related costs represent 18%, while the largest part corresponds to the health-care costs (50% of direct costs). From the perspective of the health-care system, the minimum cost of illegal drug consumption is 44,000 million PTA (231 million dollars). The cost of illegal drug consumption represents 0.07% of the Spanish GDP. This gross figure compares with 2250 million PTA (12.5 million dollars) invested in prevention programmes during the same year, and with 12,300 million PTA (68.3 million dollars) spent on specific programmes and resources for the drug addict population. Although there are limitations intrinsic in this type of study and the estimations obtained in the present analysis are likely to be an underestimate of the real cost of this condition, we estimate that illegal drug consumption costs the Spanish economy at least 0.2% of GDP.

[Current status of illegal trade in pharmaceutical products on Internet auction sites in Japan and responses of site administrators to such transactions].

PubMed

Ohtani, Hisakazu; Imaoka, Ayuko; Akiyoshi, Takeshi

2015-01-01

In Japan, it is illegal to sell pharmaceuticals on Internet auction sites, although a considerable number of pharmaceuticals are listed on such sites. We investigated the current situation regarding the illegal trade in pharmaceuticals on Japanese Internet auction sites and the responses of site administrators to such transactions. We searched for pharmaceuticals and "gray" items that were suspected of being pharmaceuticals on Yahoo-oku! (Yahoo! Auctions, Japan) over a 37-day period and then submitted violation reports indicating that selling pharmaceuticals is illegal or that the description of an item was insufficient. The reports were directed to the site administrators and forwarded to the sellers. One hundred and six pharmaceutical products and 34 gray items were identified during the study period. After the submission of the violation reports, only 28 of the pharmaceutical products and one of the gray items were deleted by the administrator, while 18 of the pharmaceutical products and 7 of the gray items were withdrawn by their sellers. However, 41 pharmaceuticals and 20 gray items were sold. Most of the gray items were listed using characteristic terms or abbreviations without photographic images. More than 70% of the identified pharmaceuticals had a contraindication(s) other than hypersensitivity. In conclusion, the illegal trade in pharmaceuticals on Internet auction sites remains a serious problem in Japan, and the responses of site administrators to such transactions are inadequate. The government and pharmaceutical industry may have to take measures such as providing public and administrative guidance to stop the illegal trade in pharmaceuticals on the Internet.

Worries about others' substance use-Differences between alcohol, cigarettes and illegal drugs?

PubMed

Moan, Inger Synnøve; Storvoll, Elisabet E; Lund, Ingunn Olea

2017-10-01

While it is well documented that many experience harm from others' substance use, little is known about the psychological strain associated with others' use. The aims were: (1) to describe the prevalence of worries about others' alcohol, cigarette and illegal drug use, (2) whose substance use people worry about, (3) the overlap in worries, and (4) to examine how worries about others' use of each substance vary according to demographics, own substance use and experience of harm from others' use. A population survey was conducted among 16-64year old Norwegians (N=1667). Respondents' reported on worries about others' alcohol, cigarette and illegal drug use, measures of experiences of harm from others' use of the three substances, and own substance use. Worries about others' drinking were most prevalent. Among those who worried, others' cigarette and illegal drug use caused more frequent worry. While worry about cigarette use was mostly associated with family members' use, worry about others' alcohol and illegal drug use more often concerned friends'/acquaintances' use. About half worried about others' use of at least one substance. Across all three substances, experience of harm from others' substance use was most strongly related to worries. Worries about others' substance use are common and reflect the prevalence of use of the substances in the population. In sum, the findings suggest that worry about others' alcohol and illegal drug use is primarily related to acute harm while worry about others' cigarette smoking is more related to chronic harm. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Informal inter-island poultry movement in Indonesia: does it pose a risk to HPAI H5N1 transmission?

PubMed

Millar, Joanne; Abdurrahman, Muktasam; Toribio, Jenny-Ann; Ambarawati, Annie; Yusuf, Ria Puspa; Suadnya, Wayan

2015-10-01

Informal movement of domesticated poultry and wild birds is considered a major threat in terms of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 transmission between birds and from birds to humans. However, the risk of transmission from informal illegal poultry movement has received little attention in Indonesia where human fatalities are the highest in the world. This research investigated the illegal movement of adult poultry between the islands of Java, Bali and Lombok to determine the potential risk of HPAI H5N1 transmission. The aim was to determine known origins and destinations of poultry, estimated quantity and types of birds, people involved and the drivers of illegal movement. Transportation and handling methods and views on how to minimise illegal movement were also investigated. In-depth interviews were carried out with 71 key informants in Bali and Lombok in 2009. East Java was the main origin of poultry entering Bali, followed by Central Java and Lombok. Interviewees estimated that over 10,000 village chickens, 500 ducks and 50 fighting cocks were brought into Bali per month from all origins. However, there were significant discrepancies with quarantine records indicating that the majority of birds imported illegally are not detected. We conclude that although informal illegal movement of poultry in Indonesia poses a potentially high risk for potential HPAI H5N1 transmission if birds are infected, much can be done to increase surveillance, encourage reporting of sick birds, educate traders about the risks and provide effective quarantine within an appropriate cultural framework.

26 CFR 1.338-0 - Outline of topics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... old target and new target. (a) In general. (1) Deemed transaction. (2) Application of other rules of... target; new target. (18) Target affiliate. (19) 12-month acquisition period. (d) Time and manner of... amount. (iii) Losses not recognized. (iv) Stock subject to election. (e) Liabilities of new target. (1...

26 CFR 1.338-0 - Outline of topics.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... and new target. (a) In general. (1) Deemed transaction. (2) Application of other rules of law. (3...) election. (16) Selling group. (17) Target; old target; new target. (18) Target affiliate. (19) 12-month...) Stock subject to election. (e) Liabilities of new target. (1) In general. (2) Time and amount of...

Children's Knowledge of Display Rules for Emotional Expression and Control.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doubleday, Catherine; And Others

An important task for children is to acquire their culture's rules for emotional display. Accurate knowledge of display rules prescribing, for example, safe targets for anger or indelicate situations for excitement helps regulate expressive behavior and mediate the impact of emotional expression on the self and others. In this study, children's…

The role of multi-target policy instruments in agri-environmental policy mixes.

PubMed

Schader, Christian; Lampkin, Nicholas; Muller, Adrian; Stolze, Matthias

2014-12-01

The Tinbergen Rule has been used to criticise multi-target policy instruments for being inefficient. The aim of this paper is to clarify the role of multi-target policy instruments using the case of agri-environmental policy. Employing an analytical linear optimisation model, this paper demonstrates that there is no general contradiction between multi-target policy instruments and the Tinbergen Rule, if multi-target policy instruments are embedded in a policy-mix with a sufficient number of targeted instruments. We show that the relation between cost-effectiveness of the instruments, related to all policy targets, is the key determinant for an economically sound choice of policy instruments. If economies of scope with respect to achieving policy targets are realised, a higher cost-effectiveness of multi-target policy instruments can be achieved. Using the example of organic farming support policy, we discuss several reasons why economies of scope could be realised by multi-target agri-environmental policy instruments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

0.08 BAC Illegal Per Se Level

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-09-01

The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) encourages States to have laws that make it illegal for a person to operate a motor vehicle if he or she has blood or breath alcohol concentration (BAC) of...

How to Deal with the Drug Problem on Campus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hecklinger, Fred J.

1971-01-01

The author contends that an educational program is worth very little without an effective policy on handling illegal drug activity. Presented is a proposal for an institutional response toward dealing with the use of illegal drugs on campus. (Author)

Workplace bullying--what's it got to do with general practice?

PubMed

Askew, Deborah A; Schluter, Philip J; Dick, Marie-Louise

2013-04-01

Workplace bullying is repeated systematic, interpersonal abusive behaviours that negatively affect the targeted individual and the organisation in which they work. It is generally the result of actual or perceived power imbalances between perpetrator and victim, and includes behaviours that intimidate, offend, degrade or humiliate a worker. It is illegal, and bullied employees can take legal action against their employers for a breach of implied duty of trust and confidence. Despite this, workplace bullying occurs in many Australian workplaces, including Australian general practices. This article explores the issue of workplace bullying with particular reference to bullying within general practice and provides a framework for managing these situations. All general practices need organisation-wide anti-bullying policies that are endorsed by senior management, clearly define workplace bullying, and provide a safe procedure for reporting bullying behaviours. General practitioners should investigate whether workplace issues are a potential contributor to patients who present with depression and/or anxiety and assess the mental health of patients who do disclose that they are victims of workplace bullying, Importantly, the GP should reassure their patient that bullying is unacceptable and illegal, and that everyone has the right to a safe workplace free from violence, harassment and bullying. The time has come for all workplaces to acknowledge that workplace bullying is unacceptable and intolerable.

Set-up of a multivariate approach based on serum biomarkers as an alternative strategy for the screening evaluation of the potential abuse of growth promoters in veal calves.

PubMed

Pirro, Valentina; Girolami, Flavia; Spalenza, Veronica; Gardini, Giulia; Badino, Paola; Nebbia, Carlo

2015-01-01

A chemometric class modelling strategy (unequal dispersed classes - UNEQ) was applied for the first time as a possible screening method to monitor the abuse of growth promoters in veal calves. Five serum biomarkers, known to reflect the exposure to classes of compounds illegally used as growth promoters, were determined from 50 untreated animals in order to design a model of controls, representing veal calves reared under good, safe and highly standardised breeding conditions. The class modelling was applied to 421 commercially bred veal calves to separate them into 'compliant' and 'non-compliant' with respect to the modelled controls. Part of the non-compliant animals underwent further histological and chemical examinations to confirm the presence of either alterations in target tissues or traces of illegal substances commonly administered for growth-promoting purposes. Overall, the congruence between the histological or chemical methods and the UNEQ non-compliant outcomes was approximately 58%, likely underestimated due to the blindness nature of this examination. Further research is needed to confirm the validity of the UNEQ model in terms of sensitivity in recognising untreated animals as compliant to the controls, and specificity in revealing deviations from ideal breeding conditions, for example due to the abuse of growth promoters.

Causes and manners of death among users of heroin, methadone, amphetamine, and cannabis in relation to postmortem chemical tests for illegal drugs.

PubMed

Eksborg, Staffan; Rajs, Jovan

2008-01-01

A 12-year medicolegal investigation of deceased illegal drug users (ILDU) in Stockholm, Sweden, classified on the basis of postmortem chemical tests, showed noticeable variations in causes and manners of death as well as in the distribution of suicide methods. This study offers objective information about connection between the postmortem findings of illegal drugs and the causes and manners of death of their users. However, further studies, comparing prevalence of drug use in general population and at the postmortem tests, are needed for more detailed elucidation of this connection.

Organization of Full-Scale Analyses of Filtration-Thermal Regime of Tailings Dams on Permafrost Foundations (Organizatsiya Naturnykh Issledovaniy Filtratsionnotermicheskogo Rezhima Damb Khvostokhranilishch na Vechnomerzlykh Osnovaniyakh),

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-07-01

dams of the second unit of one of the plants was also equipped with thermometric drill holes. A detailed [one word i llegible) of the equipping of...word illegible]. Each tailings dump was equipped with three thermometric sections -- one • in the bed part and two in the bank [one word illegible) of...2a , b , c). The thermometric drill hole sections ~ere situated in the [one word 0 illeg ible] at a distance of not more than 5-10 m from the

[Smuggling of illegal drugs by body suffers].

PubMed

Aksnes, Tonje Amb; Jacobsen, Dag

2004-07-01

Body packers are persons who smuggle illegal drugs by swallowing condoms or plastic cylinders containing such substances. Body stuffers are drug dealers or drug abusers who swallow illegal drugs in an effort to conceal evidence during an arrest or in fear of being arrested. We report four cases and discuss management. Asymptomatic body packers may be managed conservatively with laxatives and water-soluble contrast medium. This method allows an accurate follow-up with abdominal radiography. If patients develop abdominal pain or signs and symptoms of intoxication, surgical intervention should be considered. Both types of patients should be monitored carefully.

Illegal drugs, anti-drug policy failure, and the need for institutional reforms in Colombia.

PubMed

Thoumi, Francisco E

2012-01-01

This paper is inspired by two anomalies encountered in the study of the illegal drugs industry. First, despite the very high profits of coca/cocaine and poppy/opium/heroin production, most countries that can produce do not. Why, for example, does Colombia face much greater competition in the international coffee, banana, and other legal product markets than in cocaine? And second, though illegal drugs are clearly associated with violence, why is it that illegal drug trafficking organizations have been so much more violent in Colombia and Mexico than in the rest of the world? The answers to these questions cannot be found in factors external to Colombia (and Mexico). They require identifying the societal weaknesses of each country. To do so, the history of the illegal drugs industry is surveyed, a simple model of human behavior that stresses the conflict between formal (legal) and informal (socially accepted) norms as a source of the weaknesses that make societies vulnerable is formulated. The reasons why there is a wide gap between formal and informal norms in Colombia are explored and the effectiveness of anti-drug policies is considered to explain why they fail to achieve their posited goals. The essay ends with reflections and conclusion on the need for institutional change.

On the effects of adaptive reservoir operating rules in hydrological physically-based models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giudici, Federico; Anghileri, Daniela; Castelletti, Andrea; Burlando, Paolo

2017-04-01

Recent years have seen a significant increase of the human influence on the natural systems both at the global and local scale. Accurately modeling the human component and its interaction with the natural environment is key to characterize the real system dynamics and anticipate future potential changes to the hydrological regimes. Modern distributed, physically-based hydrological models are able to describe hydrological processes with high level of detail and high spatiotemporal resolution. Yet, they lack in sophistication for the behavior component and human decisions are usually described by very simplistic rules, which might underperform in reproducing the catchment dynamics. In the case of water reservoir operators, these simplistic rules usually consist of target-level rule curves, which represent the average historical level trajectory. Whilst these rules can reasonably reproduce the average seasonal water volume shifts due to the reservoirs' operation, they cannot properly represent peculiar conditions, which influence the actual reservoirs' operation, e.g., variations in energy price or water demand, dry or wet meteorological conditions. Moreover, target-level rule curves are not suitable to explore the water system response to climate and socio economic changing contexts, because they assume a business-as-usual operation. In this work, we quantitatively assess how the inclusion of adaptive reservoirs' operating rules into physically-based hydrological models contribute to the proper representation of the hydrological regime at the catchment scale. In particular, we contrast target-level rule curves and detailed optimization-based behavioral models. We, first, perform the comparison on past observational records, showing that target-level rule curves underperform in representing the hydrological regime over multiple time scales (e.g., weekly, seasonal, inter-annual). Then, we compare how future hydrological changes are affected by the two modeling approaches by considering different future scenarios comprising climate change projections of precipitation and temperature and projections of electricity prices. We perform this comparative assessment on the real-world water system of Lake Como catchment in the Italian Alps, which is characterized by the massive presence of artificial hydropower reservoirs heavily altering the natural hydrological regime. The results show how different behavioral model approaches affect the system representation in terms of hydropower performance, reservoirs dynamics and hydrological regime under different future scenarios.

Departure from the onset-onset rule.

PubMed

Chow, S L

1994-09-01

Using a signal-detection task, the generality of Turvey's (1973) onset-onset rule was tested in our experiments. After seeing, in succession, (1) one or two letters (target display), (2) a multiletter detection display, and (3) a mask display, subjects decided whether or not the letter or letters in the target display reappeared in the succeeding detection display at different levels of detection-display duration in various situations. The subjects' sensitivity was inconsistent with the onset-onset rule. More specifically, sensitivity increased with increases in display duration within a fixed stimulus onset asynchrony of 150 msec. Display duration, however, had no effect on response bias. Nor was there any interaction between display duration and display size in terms of either sensitivity or response bias. The more complicated relationship between display duration and display size does not invalidate the departure from the onset-onset rule.

Improved specificity of TALE-based genome editing using an expanded RVD repertoire.

PubMed

Miller, Jeffrey C; Zhang, Lei; Xia, Danny F; Campo, John J; Ankoudinova, Irina V; Guschin, Dmitry Y; Babiarz, Joshua E; Meng, Xiangdong; Hinkley, Sarah J; Lam, Stephen C; Paschon, David E; Vincent, Anna I; Dulay, Gladys P; Barlow, Kyle A; Shivak, David A; Leung, Elo; Kim, Jinwon D; Amora, Rainier; Urnov, Fyodor D; Gregory, Philip D; Rebar, Edward J

2015-05-01

Transcription activator-like effector (TALE) proteins have gained broad appeal as a platform for targeted DNA recognition, largely owing to their simple rules for design. These rules relate the base specified by a single TALE repeat to the identity of two key residues (the repeat variable diresidue, or RVD) and enable design for new sequence targets via modular shuffling of these units. A key limitation of these rules is that their simplicity precludes options for improving designs that are insufficiently active or specific. Here we address this limitation by developing an expanded set of RVDs and applying them to improve the performance of previously described TALEs. As an extreme example, total conversion of a TALE nuclease to new RVDs substantially reduced off-target cleavage in cellular studies. By providing new RVDs and design strategies, these studies establish options for developing improved TALEs for broader application across medicine and biotechnology.

TECHNICAL APPROACHES TO CHARACTERIZING AND REDEVELOPING BROWNFIELDS SITES: MUNICIPAL LANDFILLS AND ILLEGAL DUMPS

EPA Science Inventory

The guidance document gives assistance to communities, decision-makers, states and municipalities, academia, and the private sector to address issues related to the redevelopment of Brownfields sites, specifically, municipal landfill and illegal dump sites. The document helps use...

Introduction of African swine fever into the European Union through illegal importation of pork and pork products.

PubMed

Costard, Solenne; Jones, Bryony Anne; Martínez-López, Beatriz; Mur, Lina; de la Torre, Ana; Martínez, Marta; Sánchez-Vizcaíno, Fernando; Sánchez-Vizcaíno, Jose-Manuel; Pfeiffer, Dirk Udo; Wieland, Barbara

2013-01-01

Transboundary animal diseases can have very severe socio-economic impacts when introduced into new regions. The history of disease incursions into the European Union suggests that initial outbreaks were often initiated by illegal importation of meat and derived products. The European Union would benefit from decision-support tools to evaluate the risk of disease introduction caused by illegal imports in order to inform its surveillance strategy. However, due to the difficulty in quantifying illegal movements of animal products, very few studies of this type have been conducted. Using African swine fever as an example, this work presents a novel risk assessment framework for disease introduction into the European Union through illegal importation of meat and products. It uses a semi-quantitative approach based on factors that likely influence the likelihood of release of contaminated smuggled meat and products, and subsequent exposure of the susceptible population. The results suggest that the European Union is at non-negligible risk of African swine fever introduction through illegal importation of pork and products. On a relative risk scale with six categories from negligible to very high, five European Union countries were estimated at high (France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom) or moderate (Spain) risk of African swine fever release, five countries were at high risk of exposure if African swine fever were released (France, Italy, Poland, Romania and Spain) and ten countries had a moderate exposure risk (Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Sweden and United Kingdom). The approach presented here and results obtained for African swine fever provide a basis for the enhancement of risk-based surveillance systems and disease prevention programmes in the European Union.

Demographic evidence of illegal harvesting of an endangered asian turtle.

PubMed

Sung, Yik-Hei; Karraker, Nancy E; Hau, Billy C H

2013-12-01

Harvesting pressure on Asian freshwater turtles is severe, and dramatic population declines of these turtles are being driven by unsustainable collection for food markets, pet trade, and traditional Chinese medicine. Populations of big-headed turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) have declined substantially across its distribution, particularly in China, because of overcollection. To understand the effects of chronic harvesting pressure on big-headed turtle populations, we examined the effects of illegal harvesting on the demography of populations in Hong Kong, where some populations still exist. We used mark-recapture methods to compare demographic characteristics between sites with harvesting histories and one site in a fully protected area. Sites with a history of illegal turtle harvesting were characterized by the absence of large adults and skewed ratios of juveniles to adults, which may have negative implications for the long-term viability of populations. These sites also had lower densities of adults and smaller adult body sizes than the protected site. Given that populations throughout most of the species' range are heavily harvested and individuals are increasingly difficult to find in mainland China, the illegal collection of turtles from populations in Hong Kong may increase over time. Long-term monitoring of populations is essential to track effects of illegal collection, and increased patrolling is needed to help control illegal harvesting of populations, particularly in national parks. Because few, if any, other completely protected populations remain in the region, our data on an unharvested population of big-headed turtles serve as an important reference for assessing the negative consequences of harvesting on populations of stream turtles. Evidencia Demográfica de la Captura Ilegal de una Tortuga Asiática en Peligro. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Social costs of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco in the European Union: A systematic review.

PubMed

Barrio, Pablo; Reynolds, Jillian; García-Altés, Anna; Gual, Antoni; Anderson, Peter

2017-09-01

Drug use accounts for one of the main disease groups in Europe, with relevant consequences to society. There is an increasing need to evaluate the economic consequences of drug use in order to develop appropriate policies. Here, we review the social costs of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco in the European Union. A systematic search of relevant databases was conducted. Grey literature and previous systematic reviews were also searched. Studies reporting on social costs of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco were included. Methodology, cost components as well as costs were assessed from individual studies. To compare across studies, final costs were transformed to 2014 Euros. Forty-five studies reported in 43 papers met the inclusion criteria (11 for illegal drugs, 26 for alcohol and 8 for tobacco). While there was a constant inclusion of direct costs related to treatment of substance use and comorbidities, there was a high variability for the rest of cost components. Total costs showed also a great variability. Price per capita for the year 2014 ranged from €0.38 to €78 for illegal drugs, from €26 to €1500 for alcohol and from €10.55 to €391 for tobacco. Drug use imposes a heavy economic burden to Europe. However, given the high existing heterogeneity in methodologies, and in order to better assess the burden and thus to develop adequate policies, standardised methodological guidance is needed. [Barrio P, Reynolds J, García-Altés A, Gual A, Anderson P. Social costs of illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco in the European Union: A systematic review. Drug Alcohol Rev 2017;00:000-000]. © 2017 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

The use of legal, illegal and roll-your-own cigarettes to increasing tobacco excise taxes and comprehensive tobacco control policies: findings from the ITC Uruguay Survey.

PubMed

Curti, Dardo; Shang, Ce; Ridgeway, William; Chaloupka, Frank J; Fong, Geoffrey T

2015-07-01

Little research has been done to examine whether smokers switch to illegal or roll-your-own (RYO) cigarettes in response to a change in their relative price. This paper explores how relative prices between three cigarette forms (manufactured legal, manufactured illegal and RYO cigarettes) are associated with the choice of one form over another after controlling for covariates, including sociodemographic characteristics, smokers' exposure to antismoking messaging, health warning labels and tobacco marketing. Generalised estimating equations were employed to analyse the association between the price ratio of two different cigarette forms and the usage of one form over the other. A 10% increase in the relative price ratio of legal to RYO cigarettes is associated with a 4.6% increase in the probability of consuming RYO cigarettes over manufactured legal cigarettes (p≤0.05). In addition, more exposure to antismoking messaging is associated with a lower odds of choosing RYO cigarettes over manufactured legal cigarettes (p≤0.05). Non-significant associations exist between the manufactured illegal to legal cigarette price ratios and choosing manufactured illegal cigarettes, suggesting that smokers do not switch to manufactured illegal cigarettes as prices of legal ones increase. However, these non-significant findings may be due to lack of variation in the price ratio measures. To improve the effectiveness of increased taxes and prices in reducing smoking, policymakers need to narrow price variability in the tobacco market. Moreover, increasing antismoking messaging reduces tax avoidance in the form of switching to cheaper RYO cigarettes in Uruguay. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Characterization of illegal food items and identification of foodborne pathogens brought into the European Union via two major German airports.

PubMed

Beutlich, Janine; Hammerl, Jens Andre; Appel, Bernd; Nöckler, Karsten; Helmuth, Reiner; Jöst, Kristine; Ludwig, Marie-Luise; Hanke, Christine; Bechtold, Dirk; Mayer-Scholl, Anne

2015-09-16

Foods of animal origin brought illegally from third party countries into the European Community pose a risk for the introduction of diseases. This can lead to animal disease outbreaks with significant economic and social costs and subsequent severe trade restrictions. Further, disease outbreaks in humans due to illegally imported foods of animal origin have been described, yet, there are very few studies examining the potential human health impact. Passenger baggage is the most likely route by which illegal products enter a country. Therefore, the volume and geographic origin of foods of animal origin introduced illegally into Germany via the Frankfurt International Airport and Berlin-Schönefeld Airport by passenger luggage were characterized. Further, the occurrence of foodborne zoonotic bacteria such as Salmonella spp., Listeria spp., Campylobacter spp., Yersinia spp., Verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) and Brucella spp. and the microbial quality of the foods were analysed by total bacterial count. Between 2012 and 2013, a total of 663 food items were seized from 296 passengers arriving in Germany from 35 different departure countries. The majority of confiscates (51%) originated from Turkey and Russia. A selection of 474 samples was subjected to microbiological analyses. Twenty-three food products tested positive for at least one of the pathogens analysed. The majority of the contaminated foods were meat (33%) or meat products (42%), and milk products (21%). Considering that only a small fraction of arriving passengers is subjected to airport custom controls and only a small number of confiscated foods could be analysed during this study, further investigations are needed to understand the public health risks posed by illegally introduced food items. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Work related injuries: estimating the incidence among illegally employed immigrants.

PubMed

Mastrangelo, Giuseppe; Rylander, Ragnar; Buja, Alessandra; Marangi, Gianluca; Fadda, Emanuela; Fedeli, Ugo; Cegolon, Luca

2010-12-08

Statistics on occupational accidents are based on data from registered employees. With the increasing number of immigrants employed illegally and/or without regular working visas in many developed countries, it is of interest to estimate the injury rate among such unregistered workers. The current study was conducted in an area of North-Eastern Italy. The sources of information employed in the present study were the Accidents and Emergencies records of a hospital; the population data on foreign-born residents in the hospital catchment area (Health Care District 4, Primary Care Trust 20, Province of Verona, Veneto Region, North-Eastern Italy); and the estimated proportion of illegally employed workers in representative samples from the Province of Verona and the Veneto Region. Of the 419 A&E records collected between January and December 2004 among non European Union (non-EU) immigrants, 146 aroused suspicion by reporting the home, rather than the workplace, as the site of the accident. These cases were the numerator of the rate. The number of illegally employed non-EU workers, denominator of the rate, was estimated according to different assumptions and ranged from between 537 to 1,338 individuals. The corresponding rates varied from 109.1 to 271.8 per 1,000 non-EU illegal employees, against 65 per 1,000 reported in Italy in 2004. The results of this study suggest that there is an unrecorded burden of illegally employed immigrants suffering from work related injuries. Additional efforts for prevention of injuries in the workplace are required to decrease this number. It can be concluded that the Italian National Institute for the Insurance of Work Related Injuries (INAIL) probably underestimates the incidence of these accidents in Italy.

The Use of Legal, Illegal, and Roll-you-own Cigarettes to Increasing Tobacco Excise Taxes and Comprehensive Tobacco Control Policies-Findings from the ITC Uruguay Survey

PubMed Central

Curti, Dardo; Shang, Ce; Ridgeway, William; Chaloupka, Frank J.; Fong, Geoffrey T

2015-01-01

Background Little research has been done to examine whether smokers switch to illegal or roll-your-own (RYO) cigarettes in response to a change in their relative price. Objective This paper explores how relative prices between three cigarette forms (manufactured legal, manufactured illegal, and RYO cigarettes) are associated with the choice of one form over another after controlling for covariates, including sociodemographic characteristics, smokers’ exposure to anti-smoking messaging, health warning labels, and tobacco marketing. Methods Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were employed to analyse the association between the price ratio of two different cigarette forms and the usage of one form over the other. Findings A 10% increase in the relative price ratio of legal to RYO cigarettes is associated with 4.6% increase in the probability of consuming RYO over manufactured legal cigarettes (P≤0.05). In addition, more exposure to anti-smoking messaging is associated with lower odds of choosing RYO over manufactured legal cigarettes (P≤0.05). Non-significant associations exist between the manufactured illegal to legal cigarette price ratios and choosing manufactured illegal cigarettes, suggesting that smokers do not switch to manufactured illegal cigarettes as prices of legal ones increase. However, these non-significant findings may be due to lack of variation in the price ratio measures. In order to improve the effectiveness of increased taxes and prices in reducing smoking, policy makers need to narrow price variability in the tobacco market. Moreover, increasing anti-smoking messaging reduces tax avoidance in the form of switching to cheaper RYO cigarettes in Uruguay. PMID:25740084

Have We Come as Far as We Had Hoped? Discrimination in the Residency Interview.

PubMed

Hessel, Kara; DiPasco, Peter; Kilgore, Lyndsey; Shelley, Casey; Perry, Alvin; Wagner, Jamie

The primary objective was to use a pilot survey of fourth-year medical students at our institution to determine if female residency applicants were asked potentially illegal questions regarding family status and childbearing more frequently than male applicants. Secondary objectives included comparing the use of potentially illegal questions in surgical versus nonsurgical specialties and between community and academic residency programs. A 20-item questionnaire was distributed to all fourth-year medical students at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Data were analyzed in SPSS using descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis, and multivariate analysis. University of Kansas Health System, Tertiary Care Center. Fourth-year medical students from the University of Kansas School of Medicine. There were 57 survey respondents (51% male and 49% female). Female applicants were more likely to report being asked about their desire to have a family than male applicants (32% vs. 3%, respectively, p = 0.041). However, male and female students were equally likely to report being asked specifically if they had or intended to have children (p = 0.194). No significant differences were found in potentially illegal question-asking between surgical and nonsurgical specialties or between community-based and academic programs. Although women now represent 47% of the applicant pool, gender discrimination in the residency interview has not been eradicated. Women are more likely to report potentially illegal questions regarding their desire to have a family on residency interviews than men. Community and academic programs appear to ask similar numbers and types of potentially illegal questions. Further study is warranted to determine if these findings apply to the entire applicant pool. Further education of interviewers is necessary regarding potentially illegal questions during the residency interview process. Copyright © 2017 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Advancements of molecularly imprinted polymers in the food safety field.

PubMed

Wang, Peilong; Sun, Xiaohua; Su, Xiaoou; Wang, Tie

2016-06-07

Molecularly imprinted technology (MIT) has been widely employed to produce stable, robust and cheap molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) materials that possess selective binding sites for recognition of target analytes in food, such as pesticides, veterinary drugs, mycotoxins, illegal drugs and so on. Because of high selectivity and specificity, MIPs have drawn great attention in the food safety field. In this review, the recent developments of MIPs in various applications for food safety, including sample preparation, chromatographic separation, sensing, immunoassay etc., have been summarized. We particularly discuss the advancements and limitations in these applications, as well as attempts carried out for their improvement.

The use of geoscience methods for terrestrial forensic searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pringle, J. K.; Ruffell, A.; Jervis, J. R.; Donnelly, L.; McKinley, J.; Hansen, J.; Morgan, R.; Pirrie, D.; Harrison, M.

2012-08-01

Geoscience methods are increasingly being utilised in criminal, environmental and humanitarian forensic investigations, and the use of such methods is supported by a growing body of experimental and theoretical research. Geoscience search techniques can complement traditional methodologies in the search for buried objects, including clandestine graves, weapons, explosives, drugs, illegal weapons, hazardous waste and vehicles. This paper details recent advances in search and detection methods, with case studies and reviews. Relevant examples are given, together with a generalised workflow for search and suggested detection technique(s) table. Forensic geoscience techniques are continuing to rapidly evolve to assist search investigators to detect hitherto difficult to locate forensic targets.

9 CFR 104.8 - Illegal shipments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Illegal shipments. 104.8 Section 104.8 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE VIRUSES... thereof, destroyed by Department personnel. (b) Biological products for Distribution and Sale presented...

Motivating Illegal Drug Use Recovery: Evidence for a Culturally Congruent Intervention.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Longshore, Douglas; Grills, Cheryl

2000-01-01

Describes a motivational intervention, based on the transtheoretical model, to promote recovery from illegal drug use among African Americans. The culturally sensitive intervention featured a needs assessment and service referrals. Participants completed motivational intervention or standard assessment-referral protocols. Interview data indicated…

45 CFR 1633.3 - Prohibition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... proceeding is brought by a public housing agency on the basis that the illegal drug activity for which the... Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION RESTRICTION ON REPRESENTATION IN... with or has been convicted of the illegal sale, distribution, or manufacture of a controlled substance...

45 CFR 1633.3 - Prohibition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... proceeding is brought by a public housing agency on the basis that the illegal drug activity for which the... Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION RESTRICTION ON REPRESENTATION IN... with or has been convicted of the illegal sale, distribution, or manufacture of a controlled substance...

45 CFR 1633.3 - Prohibition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... proceeding is brought by a public housing agency on the basis that the illegal drug activity for which the... Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION RESTRICTION ON REPRESENTATION IN... with or has been convicted of the illegal sale, distribution, or manufacture of a controlled substance...

45 CFR 1633.3 - Prohibition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... proceeding is brought by a public housing agency on the basis that the illegal drug activity for which the... Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION RESTRICTION ON REPRESENTATION IN... with or has been convicted of the illegal sale, distribution, or manufacture of a controlled substance...

45 CFR 1633.3 - Prohibition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... proceeding is brought by a public housing agency on the basis that the illegal drug activity for which the... Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION RESTRICTION ON REPRESENTATION IN... with or has been convicted of the illegal sale, distribution, or manufacture of a controlled substance...

Results of DATAS Investigation of Illegal Mode S ID's at JFK Airport

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1992-12-01

This report documents the second deployment of the Data Link Test and Analysis : System (DATAS) as a Traffic Alert and Collision System (TCAS) monitor. The : purpose was to identify aircraft which were reporting Illegal Mode Select : (Mode S) ID's. T...

Use of Discriminatory Questions in Screening Interviews.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jablin, Fredric M.

1982-01-01

Fifty-six college placement directors perceived that five percent of the on-campus job recruiters ask illegal questions concerning applicants' sex, age, national origin, race or color, handicaps, or religion. Forty percent of the student applicants are judged to be unaware of illegal questioning. (Author/MLF)

28 CFR 36.209 - Illegal use of drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... the program. (c) Drug testing. (1) This part does not prohibit a public accommodation from adopting or administering reasonable policies or procedures, including but not limited to drug testing, designed to ensure..., restrict, or authorize the conducting of testing for the illegal use of drugs. ...

A theory of local learning, the learning channel, and the optimality of backpropagation.

PubMed

Baldi, Pierre; Sadowski, Peter

2016-11-01

In a physical neural system, where storage and processing are intimately intertwined, the rules for adjusting the synaptic weights can only depend on variables that are available locally, such as the activity of the pre- and post-synaptic neurons, resulting in local learning rules. A systematic framework for studying the space of local learning rules is obtained by first specifying the nature of the local variables, and then the functional form that ties them together into each learning rule. Such a framework enables also the systematic discovery of new learning rules and exploration of relationships between learning rules and group symmetries. We study polynomial local learning rules stratified by their degree and analyze their behavior and capabilities in both linear and non-linear units and networks. Stacking local learning rules in deep feedforward networks leads to deep local learning. While deep local learning can learn interesting representations, it cannot learn complex input-output functions, even when targets are available for the top layer. Learning complex input-output functions requires local deep learning where target information is communicated to the deep layers through a backward learning channel. The nature of the communicated information about the targets and the structure of the learning channel partition the space of learning algorithms. For any learning algorithm, the capacity of the learning channel can be defined as the number of bits provided about the error gradient per weight, divided by the number of required operations per weight. We estimate the capacity associated with several learning algorithms and show that backpropagation outperforms them by simultaneously maximizing the information rate and minimizing the computational cost. This result is also shown to be true for recurrent networks, by unfolding them in time. The theory clarifies the concept of Hebbian learning, establishes the power and limitations of local learning rules, introduces the learning channel which enables a formal analysis of the optimality of backpropagation, and explains the sparsity of the space of learning rules discovered so far. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The quality of sildenafil active substance of illegal source.

PubMed

Keizers, Peter H J; Wiegard, Andrea; Venhuis, Bastiaan J

2016-11-30

There must be a large market for active pharmaceutical ingredients of illegal source to support the huge and lucrative business of trade in illegal medicines. The active substances found in illegal pharmaceuticals may differ from their legal counterparts concerning purity and associated risks for the health of the user. In this study we show two examples in which the active substance sildenafil, used in erectile dysfunction products, was not of European Pharmacopeia quality. In one case milligram-scale amounts of a 2-mercaptobenzothiazole contamination were found, in another case the mesylate salt rather than the monograph based citrate was used. For the user of products containing these active substances, the risks of side effects increase through the inherent properties of the impurity and the chance of overdosing. The fact that the users are most likely not aware of the poor quality of the products adds up to the health risk of using prescription medication without consulting medical professionals. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Logging concessions enable illegal logging crisis in the Peruvian Amazon.

PubMed

Finer, Matt; Jenkins, Clinton N; Sky, Melissa A Blue; Pine, Justin

2014-04-17

The Peruvian Amazon is an important arena in global efforts to promote sustainable logging in the tropics. Despite recent efforts to achieve sustainability, such as provisions in the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, illegal logging continues to plague the region. We present evidence that Peru's legal logging concession system is enabling the widespread illegal logging via the regulatory documents designed to ensure sustainable logging. Analyzing official government data, we found that 68.3% of all concessions supervised by authorities were suspected of major violations. Of the 609 total concessions, nearly 30% have been cancelled for violations and we expect this percentage to increase as investigations continue. Moreover, the nature of the violations indicate that the permits associated with legal concessions are used to harvest trees in unauthorized areas, thus threatening all forested areas. Many of the violations pertain to the illegal extraction of CITES-listed timber species outside authorized areas. These findings highlight the need for additional reforms.

Logging Concessions Enable Illegal Logging Crisis in the Peruvian Amazon

PubMed Central

Finer, Matt; Jenkins, Clinton N.; Sky, Melissa A. Blue; Pine, Justin

2014-01-01

The Peruvian Amazon is an important arena in global efforts to promote sustainable logging in the tropics. Despite recent efforts to achieve sustainability, such as provisions in the US–Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, illegal logging continues to plague the region. We present evidence that Peru's legal logging concession system is enabling the widespread illegal logging via the regulatory documents designed to ensure sustainable logging. Analyzing official government data, we found that 68.3% of all concessions supervised by authorities were suspected of major violations. Of the 609 total concessions, nearly 30% have been cancelled for violations and we expect this percentage to increase as investigations continue. Moreover, the nature of the violations indicate that the permits associated with legal concessions are used to harvest trees in unauthorized areas, thus threatening all forested areas. Many of the violations pertain to the illegal extraction of CITES-listed timber species outside authorized areas. These findings highlight the need for additional reforms. PMID:24743552

Logging Concessions Enable Illegal Logging Crisis in the Peruvian Amazon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finer, Matt; Jenkins, Clinton N.; Sky, Melissa A. Blue; Pine, Justin

2014-04-01

The Peruvian Amazon is an important arena in global efforts to promote sustainable logging in the tropics. Despite recent efforts to achieve sustainability, such as provisions in the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, illegal logging continues to plague the region. We present evidence that Peru's legal logging concession system is enabling the widespread illegal logging via the regulatory documents designed to ensure sustainable logging. Analyzing official government data, we found that 68.3% of all concessions supervised by authorities were suspected of major violations. Of the 609 total concessions, nearly 30% have been cancelled for violations and we expect this percentage to increase as investigations continue. Moreover, the nature of the violations indicate that the permits associated with legal concessions are used to harvest trees in unauthorized areas, thus threatening all forested areas. Many of the violations pertain to the illegal extraction of CITES-listed timber species outside authorized areas. These findings highlight the need for additional reforms.

Completing fishing monitoring with spaceborne Vessel Detection System (VDS) and Automatic Identification System (AIS) to assess illegal fishing in Indonesia.

PubMed

Longépé, Nicolas; Hajduch, Guillaume; Ardianto, Romy; Joux, Romain de; Nhunfat, Béatrice; Marzuki, Marza I; Fablet, Ronan; Hermawan, Indra; Germain, Olivier; Subki, Berny A; Farhan, Riza; Muttaqin, Ahmad Deni; Gaspar, Philippe

2017-10-26

The Indonesian fisheries management system is now equipped with the state-of-the-art technologies to deter and combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. Since October 2014, non-cooperative fishing vessels can be detected from spaceborne Vessel Detection System (VDS) based on high resolution radar imagery, which directly benefits to coordinated patrol vessels in operation context. This study attempts to monitor the amount of illegal fishing in the Arafura Sea based on this new source of information. It is analyzed together with Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and satellite-based Automatic Identification System (Sat-AIS) data, taking into account their own particularities. From October 2014 to March 2015, i.e. just after the establishment of a new moratorium by the Indonesian authorities, the estimated share of fishing vessels not carrying VMS, thus being illegal, ranges from 42 to 47%. One year later in January 2016, this proportion decreases and ranges from 32 to 42%. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Party Identification, Contact, Contexts, and Public Attitudes toward Illegal Immigration

PubMed Central

Gravelle, Timothy B.

2016-01-01

Illegal immigration is a contentious issue on the American policy agenda. To understand the sources of public attitudes toward immigration, social scientists have focused attention on political factors such as party identification; they have also drawn on theories of intergroup contact to argue that contact with immigrants shapes immigration attitudes. Absent direct measures, contextual measures such as respondents’ ethnic milieu or proximity to salient geographic features (such as borders) have been used as proxies of contact. Such a research strategy still leaves the question unanswered – is it contact or context that really matters? Further, which context, and for whom? This article evaluates the effects of party identification, personal contact with undocumented immigrants, and contextual measures (county Hispanic population and proximity to the US–Mexico border) on American attitudes toward illegal immigration. It finds that contextual factors moderate the effects of political party identification on attitudes toward illegal immigration; personal contact has no effect. These findings challenge the assumption that contextual measures act as proxies for interpersonal contact. PMID:27257305

Prediction of Chinese Drivers' Intentions to Park Illegally in Emergency Lanes: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior.

PubMed

Zheng, Yubing; Ma, Yang; Guo, Lixin; Cheng, Jianchuan; Zhang, Yunlong

2018-06-21

Illegal parking in emergency lanes (paved highway shoulders) is becoming a serious road safety issue in China. The aim of this study was: 1) to examine the utility of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) extended with descriptive norm, past behavior, facilitating and deterring circumstances, sensation seeking and invulnerability in predicting Chinese drivers' intentions in illegal emergency lane parking; 2) to investigate whether respondents' demographic characteristics would impact their views towards the behavior and predictive patterns of intentions; 3) to identify significant predictors of intentions. In this cross-sectional study, eligible respondents were all qualified Chinese drivers. A self-administered questionnaire was employed to collect data including demographic information, descriptive norm, past behavior, facilitating and deterring circumstances, sensation seeking and scenario-based invulnerability combined with TPB constructs. Descriptive statistics, MANOVAs and a series of hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were conducted in SPSS. A total of 435 qualified drivers (234 males and 201 females) with a mean age of 35.2 years (S.D.=10.3) were included in analysis. The descriptive analysis showed that most participants reported weak intentions (M = 2.35) to park illegally in emergency lanes with negative attitude (M = 3.19), low perceived support (M = 2.91) and high control (M = 5.08) over the behavior. The model succeeded in explaining 64% of the variance in intentions for the whole sample, and principal TPB components accounted for 21% of variance in intentions after demographic variables were controlled. MANOVAs revealed that significant differences of respondents' opinions towards illegal emergency lane parking were only found between better-educated drivers (with college education background) and less-educated ones. Separate regression analyses revealed that predictive pattern of better-educated participants also differed significantly from that of less-educated ones. The study revealed that perceived behavioral control, past behavior, facilitating circumstance and invulnerability emerged as consistently significant predictors of Chinese drivers' intentions to park illegally in emergency lanes. Findings of this study may have some practical implications in developing multi-faced interventions or education process for illegal emergency lane parking in China.

A brief report on the illegal cage-bird trade in southern Florida: a potentially serious negative impact on the eastern population of Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sykes, P.W.; Manfredi, L.; Padura, M.

2006-01-01

Populations of Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) have been declining annually over the past 35 years. A cursory survey indicates that illegal trapping of Painted Buntings for a black market cage-bird trade is widespread in southeastern Florida. Coupled with other negative factors confronting the eastern population, the trapping of buntings for the cagebird trade may, in time, produce dire results for this native songbird. Law enforcement personnel need to continue to monitor the illegal activity of trapping native passerines for the local songbird market and to continue to arrest those who support it.

Cloning: A Review on Bioethics, Legal, Jurisprudence and Regenerative Issues in Iran.

PubMed

Nabavizadeh, Seyedeh Leila; Mehrabani, Davood; Vahedi, Zabihallah; Manafi, Farzad

2016-09-01

In recent years, the cloning technology has remarkably developed in Iran, but unfortunately, the required legal framework has not been created to support and protect such developments yet. This legal gap may lead to abuse of scientific researches to obtain illegal benefits and to undermine the intellectual property rights of scientists and researchers. Thus to prevent such consequences, the attempts should be made to create an appropriate legal-ethical system and an approved comprehensive law. In this review we concluded that the right method is guiding and controlling the cloning technology and banning the technique is not always fruitful. Of course, it should be taken into accounts that all are possible if the religion orders human cloning in the view of jurisprudence and is considered as permission. In other words, although the religious order on human cloning can be an absolute permission based on the strong principle of permission, it is not unlikely that in the future, corruption is proved to be real for them, Jurists rule it as secondary sanctity and even as primary one. If it is proved, the phenomenon is considered as example of required affairs based on creation of ethical, social and medical disorders, religious and ethical rulings cannot be as permission for it, and it seems that it is a point that only one case can be a response to it and it needs nothing but time.

Cloning: A Review on Bioethics, Legal, Jurisprudence and Regenerative Issues in Iran

PubMed Central

Nabavizadeh, Seyedeh Leila; Mehrabani, Davood; Vahedi, Zabihallah; Manafi, Farzad

2016-01-01

In recent years, the cloning technology has remarkably developed in Iran, but unfortunately, the required legal framework has not been created to support and protect such developments yet. This legal gap may lead to abuse of scientific researches to obtain illegal benefits and to undermine the intellectual property rights of scientists and researchers. Thus to prevent such consequences, the attempts should be made to create an appropriate legal-ethical system and an approved comprehensive law. In this review we concluded that the right method is guiding and controlling the cloning technology and banning the technique is not always fruitful. Of course, it should be taken into accounts that all are possible if the religion orders human cloning in the view of jurisprudence and is considered as permission. In other words, although the religious order on human cloning can be an absolute permission based on the strong principle of permission, it is not unlikely that in the future, corruption is proved to be real for them, Jurists rule it as secondary sanctity and even as primary one. If it is proved, the phenomenon is considered as example of required affairs based on creation of ethical, social and medical disorders, religious and ethical rulings cannot be as permission for it, and it seems that it is a point that only one case can be a response to it and it needs nothing but time. PMID:27853684

Food safety issues affecting the dairy beef industry.

PubMed

Stefan, G

1997-12-01

The ability of dairy farmers to market cull cows and veal calves may be affected by the final rule on Pathogen Reduction and HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) Systems, a sweeping reform of USDA food safety regulations that was published on July 25, 1996. Although the regulations apply only to slaughter and processing plants handling meat and poultry, the rule will have an impact on food animal producers, including dairy farmers. Under this regulation, plant operators are required to evaluate potential hazards and to devise and implement controls that are appropriate for each product and plant to prevent or reduce those hazards. Processing plants may need to consider the potential hazards associated with incoming animals, such as illegal drug residues, which may result in marked changes in the relationships among some producers, livestock markets, and slaughter plants. Such information may actually improve the marketability of some animal classes because documentation will help the packer ensure the safety of products for sale to domestic and foreign markets. Dairy scientists are in an excellent position to explain the food safety issues to dairy farmers and to help develop the appropriate strategies that are necessary to guide the changes needed. These scientists can be conduits for information, the research leaders for practical solutions to reduce public health risks, and valuable resources to help farmers adjust to the impact of these new in-plant regulatory systems.

Increasing organ donation via changes in the default choice or allocation rule

PubMed Central

Li, Danyang; Hawley, Zackary; Schnier, Kurt

2013-01-01

This research utilizes a laboratory experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative public policies targeted at increasing the rate of deceased donor organ donation. The experiment includes treatments across different default choices and organ allocation rules inspired by the donor registration systems applied in different countries. Our results indicate that the opt-out with priority rule system generates the largest increase in organ donation relative to an opt-in only program. However, sizeable gains are achievable using either a priority rule or opt-out program separately, with the opt-out rule generating approximately 80% of the benefits achieved under a priority rule program. PMID:24135615

7 CFR 1773.9 - Disclosure of fraud, illegal acts, and other noncompliance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

..., the auditor must design the audit to provide reasonable assurance of detecting fraud that is material... UTILITIES SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) POLICY ON AUDITS OF RUS BORROWERS RUS Audit... statements, auditors should apply audit procedures specifically directed to ascertaining whether an illegal...

28 CFR 2.204 - Conditions of supervised release.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... if the supervision officer finds that the releasee has tested positive for illegal drugs or has... with drug testing, possessed a firearm, or tested positive for illegal controlled substances more than... releasee's residence, workplace, or vehicle. (v) The releasee shall submit to a drug or alcohol test...

28 CFR 2.204 - Conditions of supervised release.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... if the supervision officer finds that the releasee has tested positive for illegal drugs or has... with drug testing, possessed a firearm, or tested positive for illegal controlled substances more than... releasee's residence, workplace, or vehicle. (v) The releasee shall submit to a drug or alcohol test...

28 CFR 2.204 - Conditions of supervised release.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... if the supervision officer finds that the releasee has tested positive for illegal drugs or has... with drug testing, possessed a firearm, or tested positive for illegal controlled substances more than... releasee's residence, workplace, or vehicle. (v) The releasee shall submit to a drug or alcohol test...

28 CFR 36.104 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 431(e)). Current illegal use of drugs means illegal use of drugs that occurred recently enough to justify a reasonable belief that a person's drug use is current or that continuing use... (whether symptomatic or asymptomatic), tuberculosis, drug addiction, and alcoholism; (iv) The phrase...

28 CFR 36.104 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 431(e)). Current illegal use of drugs means illegal use of drugs that occurred recently enough to justify a reasonable belief that a person's drug use is current or that continuing use... (whether symptomatic or asymptomatic), tuberculosis, drug addiction, and alcoholism; (iv) The phrase...

28 CFR 36.104 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 431(e)). Current illegal use of drugs means illegal use of drugs that occurred recently enough to justify a reasonable belief that a person's drug use is current or that continuing use... (whether symptomatic or asymptomatic), tuberculosis, drug addiction, and alcoholism; (iv) The phrase...

28 CFR 36.104 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 431(e)). Current illegal use of drugs means illegal use of drugs that occurred recently enough to justify a reasonable belief that a person's drug use is current or that continuing use... (whether symptomatic or asymptomatic), tuberculosis, drug addiction, and alcoholism; (iv) The phrase...

10 CFR 707.6 - Employee assistance, education, and training.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Section 707.6 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707... employees: Health aspects of substance abuse, especially illegal drug use; safety, security, and other workplace-related problems caused by substance abuse, especially illegal drug use; the provisions of this...

10 CFR 707.6 - Employee assistance, education, and training.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... Section 707.6 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707... employees: Health aspects of substance abuse, especially illegal drug use; safety, security, and other workplace-related problems caused by substance abuse, especially illegal drug use; the provisions of this...

10 CFR 707.6 - Employee assistance, education, and training.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Section 707.6 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707... employees: Health aspects of substance abuse, especially illegal drug use; safety, security, and other workplace-related problems caused by substance abuse, especially illegal drug use; the provisions of this...

10 CFR 707.6 - Employee assistance, education, and training.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Section 707.6 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WORKPLACE SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS AT DOE SITES Procedures § 707... employees: Health aspects of substance abuse, especially illegal drug use; safety, security, and other workplace-related problems caused by substance abuse, especially illegal drug use; the provisions of this...

19 CFR 123.72 - Written agreement requirement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... law, including Customs regulations, especially those concerned with trafficking in illegal drugs; and... techniques, drug awareness, and conveyance searches; (b) To establish security systems at the place of... lading of illegal drugs while the conveyance is en route to the United States; (c) To conduct, to the...

Classification of Encrypted Web Traffic Using Machine Learning Algorithms

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

DPI devices to block certain websites; Yu, Cong, Chen, and Lei [52] suggest hashing the domains of pornographic and illegal websites so ISPs can...Zhenming Lei. “Blocking pornographic , illegal websites by internet host domain using FPGA and Bloom Filter”. Network Infrastructure and Digital Content

Business Ethics: Perceptions in a Vocational Development Setting.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ponthieu, Louis D.; And Others

1993-01-01

Secondary business students (n=341) responded to 19 scenarios of illegal/questionable business practices. Some students do not know what constitutes legal/ethical business practice, would knowingly or unknowingly engage in illegal/unethical practices, and perceive small business owners as less inclined to behave legally/ethically. (SK)

28 CFR 2.204 - Conditions of supervised release.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... releasee's residence, workplace, or vehicle. (v) The releasee shall submit to a drug or alcohol test... alcoholic beverages to excess and shall not illegally buy, possess, use, or administer a controlled... if the supervision officer finds that the releasee has tested positive for illegal drugs or has...

[The role of German official medicines control laboratories in combating counterfeit medicines].

PubMed

Wiegard, Andrea; Heuermann, Matthias

2017-11-01

An official medicines control laboratory (OMCL) provides an important contribution to combat counterfeit and illegal medicines. The OMCL supports the competent authorities in controlling the quality of authorised medicinal products in the legal supply chain. For detecting counterfeit medicines in the legal supply chain, a risk-based approach in choice of products is conducted. Furthermore, the OMCL analyses suspicious medicines from the illegal supply chain for any other authority. The chemical analysis of a suspicious sample is needed to identify such a sample as a counterfeit medicine. The analytical results are fundamental for the evaluation of the legal status of the product and for the assessment of it's inherent hazard to public health. The global market of illegal medicines is rapidly changing. Therefore a good national and international working liaison and co-operation between laboratories and authorities is obligatory to protect public health. The OMCL provides important knowledge of new trends in counterfeit and illegal medicines. Hence, it is an essential part in surveillance of medicinal products. The efficient networking enables prompt official interventions. Thus, risks for the public health by substandard medicines were reduced. Beside the chemical analysis, the OMCL can help to raise public awareness about counterfeit and illegal medicines. In Germany, the risk of counterfeit medicines reaching patients through the legal supply chain is still low, but the possibility cannot be ignored.

The potential for accurately measuring behavioral and economic dimensions of consumption, prices, and markets for illegal drugs.

PubMed

Johnson, Bruce D; Golub, Andrew

2007-09-01

There are numerous analytic and methodological limitations to current measures of drug market activity. This paper explores the structure of markets and individual user behavior to provide an integrated understanding of behavioral and economic (and market) aspects of illegal drug use with an aim toward developing improved procedures for measurement. This involves understanding the social processes that structure illegal distribution networks and drug users' interactions with them. These networks are where and how social behaviors, prices, and markets for illegal drugs intersect. Our focus is upon getting an up close measurement of these activities. Building better measures of consumption behaviors necessitates building better rapport with subjects than typically achieved with one-time surveys in order to overcome withholding and underreporting and to get a comprehensive understanding of the processes involved. This can be achieved through repeated interviews and observations of behaviors. This paper also describes analytic advances that could be adopted to direct this inquiry including behavioral templates, and insights into the economic valuation of labor inputs and cash expenditures for various illegal drugs. Additionally, the paper makes recommendations to funding organizations for developing the mechanisms that would support behavioral scientists to weigh specimens and to collect small samples for laboratory analysis-by providing protection from the potential for arrest. The primary focus is upon U.S. markets. The implications for other countries are discussed.

Differences in illegal drug consumption between native and immigrants in a large sample of injected drug users in Catalonia (Spain).

PubMed

Saigí, Núria; Espelt, Albert; Folch, Cinta; Sarasa-Renedo, Ana; Castellano, Yolanda; Majó, Xavier; Meroño, Mercè; Brugal, M Teresa; Casabona, Jordi

2014-01-01

The aims of this study were to describe illegal drug abuse patterns in relation to the migration process and use of drug treatment centers among immigrant injected drug users (IDUs) involved in harm reduction programs, and to compare the characteristics of immigrant and native IDUs. Cross-sectional study of 748 IDUs aged ≥18 years attending harm reduction centers between 2008 and 2009. We explored differences in socio-economic status, illegal drug consumption, health status and use of treatment centers in native versus immigrant IDUs. We also described whether immigrant IDUs started using injected drugs before or after entering the host country. Immigrant IDUs tend to live alone more frequently, start injection at later ages, use heroin and inject it more frequently and use drug treatment centers less frequently than native IDUs. Seventy-six percent of immigrants began using illegal drugs before arriving at the host country. Those who started in other countries were residing in the host country for 5 years or less (63.9%). Overall, immigrant IDUs attended drug treatment centers (36.9%) less frequently than native IDUs (71.8%). In conclusion, migration could be a risk factor for illegal drug abuse initiation or increase in consumption, often with the adoption of local consumption patterns and aggravated due to a lower access to drug treatment centers.

Novel strategy for the determination of illegal adulterants in health foods and herbal medicines using high-performance liquid chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Wang, Zhe; Wu, Caisheng; Wang, Gangli; Zhang, Qingsheng; Zhang, Jinlan

2015-03-01

The detection, confirmation, and quantification of multiple illegal adulterants in health foods and herbal medicines by using a single analytical method are a challenge. This paper reports on a new strategy to meet this challenge by employing high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry and a mass spectral tree similarity filter technique. This analytical method can rapidly collect high-resolution, high-accuracy, optionally multistage mass data for compounds in samples. After a preliminary screening by retention time and high-resolution mass spectral data, known illegal adulterants can be detected. The mass spectral tree similarity filter technique has been applied to rapidly confirm these adulterants and simultaneously discover unknown ones. By using full-scan mass spectra as stem and data-dependent subsequent stage mass spectra to form branches, mass spectrometry data from detected compounds are converted into mass spectral trees. The known or unknown illegal adulterants in the samples are confirmed or discovered based on the similarity between their mass spectral trees and those of the references in a library, and they are finally quantified against standard curves. This new strategy has been tested by using 50 samples, and the illegal adulterants were rapidly and effectively detected, confirmed and quantified. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The Potential for Accurately Measuring Behavioral and Economic Dimensions of Consumption, Prices, and Markets for Illegal Drugs

PubMed Central

Johnson, Bruce D.; Golub, Andrew

2007-01-01

There are numerous analytic and methodological limitations to current measures of drug market activity. This paper explores the structure of markets and individual user behavior to provide an integrated understanding of behavioral and economic (and market) aspects of illegal drug use with an aim toward developing improved procedures for measurement. This involves understanding the social processes that structure illegal distribution networks and drug users’ interactions with them. These networks are where and how social behaviors, prices, and markets for illegal drugs intersect. Our focus is upon getting an up close measurement of these activities. Building better measures of consumption behaviors necessitates building better rapport with subjects than typically achieved with one-time surveys in order to overcome withholding and underreporting and to get a comprehensive understanding of the processes involved. This can be achieved through repeated interviews and observations of behaviors. This paper also describes analytic advances that could be adopted to direct this inquiry including behavioral templates, and insights into the economic valuation of labor inputs and cash expenditures for various illegal drugs. Additionally, the paper makes recommendations to funding organizations for developing the mechanisms that would support behavioral scientists to weigh specimens and to collect small samples for laboratory analysis—by providing protection from the potential for arrest. The primary focus is upon U.S. markets. The implications for other countries are discussed. PMID:16978801

Virtual local target method for avoiding local minimum in potential field based robot navigation.

PubMed

Zou, Xi-Yong; Zhu, Jing

2003-01-01

A novel robot navigation algorithm with global path generation capability is presented. Local minimum is a most intractable but is an encountered frequently problem in potential field based robot navigation. Through appointing appropriately some virtual local targets on the journey, it can be solved effectively. The key concept employed in this algorithm are the rules that govern when and how to appoint these virtual local targets. When the robot finds itself in danger of local minimum, a virtual local target is appointed to replace the global goal temporarily according to the rules. After the virtual target is reached, the robot continues on its journey by heading towards the global goal. The algorithm prevents the robot from running into local minima anymore. Simulation results showed that it is very effective in complex obstacle environments.

Cognitive Control Functions of Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Macaque Monkeys Performing a Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Analog

PubMed Central

Kuwabara, Masaru; Mansouri, Farshad A.; Buckley, Mark J.

2014-01-01

Monkeys were trained to select one of three targets by matching in color or matching in shape to a sample. Because the matching rule frequently changed and there were no cues for the currently relevant rule, monkeys had to maintain the relevant rule in working memory to select the correct target. We found that monkeys' error commission was not limited to the period after the rule change and occasionally occurred even after several consecutive correct trials, indicating that the task was cognitively demanding. In trials immediately after such error trials, monkeys' speed of selecting targets was slower. Additionally, in trials following consecutive correct trials, the monkeys' target selections for erroneous responses were slower than those for correct responses. We further found evidence for the involvement of the cortex in the anterior cingulate sulcus (ACCs) in these error-related behavioral modulations. First, ACCs cell activity differed between after-error and after-correct trials. In another group of ACCs cells, the activity differed depending on whether the monkeys were making a correct or erroneous decision in target selection. Second, bilateral ACCs lesions significantly abolished the response slowing both in after-error trials and in error trials. The error likelihood in after-error trials could be inferred by the error feedback in the previous trial, whereas the likelihood of erroneous responses after consecutive correct trials could be monitored only internally. These results suggest that ACCs represent both context-dependent and internally detected error likelihoods and promote modes of response selections in situations that involve these two types of error likelihood. PMID:24872558

A preliminary assessment of the impact of lowering the illegal per se limit to 0.08 in five states

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-12-01

Author's abstract: This report contains the results of a preliminary assessment of the impact of lowering the illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) per se limit to 0.08 in five states (California, Maine, Oregon, Utah, and Vermont). The report pro...

Illegal Drugs: What Should We Do Now? An Issue Book.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Issues Forums, Dayton, OH.

Increasing frustration with the illegal drug problem is fueling public discussion about the effectiveness of the nation's antidrug efforts. This document offers three choices for dealing with the drug abuse problem in the Untied States. Each choice presents "what can be done" and information "in support" and "in…

Illegal File Sharing 101

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wada, Kent

2008-01-01

Much of higher education's unease arises from the cost of dealing with illegal file sharing. Illinois State University, for example, calculated a cost of $76 to process a first claim of copyright infringement and $146 for a second. Responses range from simply passing along claims to elaborate programs architected with specific goals in mind.…

The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Cause for National Concern

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-02-28

was officially terminated in 1964. However, illegal aliens were recruited in large numbers well after the Bracero program .24 For almost ten years...Mexico has its official roots in the demise of the Bracero program . Employers had become accustomed to cheap Mexican labor and were willing to ignore

The Great Irish Head Shop Controversy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryall, Graham; Butler, Shane

2011-01-01

This research describes and analyses recent policy developments in Ireland in relation to the practice of selling psychoactive substances which, while not themselves illegal, mimic the effects of commonly used illegal drugs. These so-called "legal highs" had been sold in Ireland through an increasing number of "head shops"…

32 CFR 861.4 - DOD air transportation quality and safety requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... experience, and the individual's potential to perform safely. Freedom from alcohol abuse and illegal drugs is.... Freedom from alcohol abuse and illegal drugs is required. (ii) Quality assurance. A system that... certificate are expected. Safety equipment is available in hangars, shops, etc., and is serviceable. Shipping...

32 CFR 861.4 - DOD air transportation quality and safety requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... experience, and the individual's potential to perform safely. Freedom from alcohol abuse and illegal drugs is.... Freedom from alcohol abuse and illegal drugs is required. (ii) Quality assurance. A system that... certificate are expected. Safety equipment is available in hangars, shops, etc., and is serviceable. Shipping...

32 CFR 861.4 - DOD air transportation quality and safety requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... experience, and the individual's potential to perform safely. Freedom from alcohol abuse and illegal drugs is.... Freedom from alcohol abuse and illegal drugs is required. (ii) Quality assurance. A system that... certificate are expected. Safety equipment is available in hangars, shops, etc., and is serviceable. Shipping...

32 CFR 861.4 - DOD air transportation quality and safety requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... experience, and the individual's potential to perform safely. Freedom from alcohol abuse and illegal drugs is.... Freedom from alcohol abuse and illegal drugs is required. (ii) Quality assurance. A system that... certificate are expected. Safety equipment is available in hangars, shops, etc., and is serviceable. Shipping...

75 FR 10213 - Identification of Nations Whose Fishing Vessels are Engaged in Illegal, Unreported, or...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-05

... Identification of Nations Whose Fishing Vessels are Engaged in Illegal, Unreported, or Unregulated Fishing and/or..., or unreported (IUU) fishing or bycatch of protected living marine resources (PLMRs). Such information... Fishing Moratorium Protection Act (Moratorium Protection Act). DATES: Information should be received on or...

8 CFR 251.2 - Notification of illegal landings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... or desertion occurred, in writing, of the name, nationality, passport number and, if known, the... any passport surrendered pursuant to § 252.1(d) of this chapter. Failure to file notice of illegal landing or desertion and to furnish any surrendered passport within 24 hours of the time of such landing...

8 CFR 251.2 - Notification of illegal landings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... or desertion occurred, in writing, of the name, nationality, passport number and, if known, the... any passport surrendered pursuant to § 252.1(d) of this chapter. Failure to file notice of illegal landing or desertion and to furnish any surrendered passport within 24 hours of the time of such landing...

8 CFR 251.2 - Notification of illegal landings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... or desertion occurred, in writing, of the name, nationality, passport number and, if known, the... any passport surrendered pursuant to § 252.1(d) of this chapter. Failure to file notice of illegal landing or desertion and to furnish any surrendered passport within 24 hours of the time of such landing...

8 CFR 251.2 - Notification of illegal landings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... or desertion occurred, in writing, of the name, nationality, passport number and, if known, the... any passport surrendered pursuant to § 252.1(d) of this chapter. Failure to file notice of illegal landing or desertion and to furnish any surrendered passport within 24 hours of the time of such landing...

8 CFR 251.2 - Notification of illegal landings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... or desertion occurred, in writing, of the name, nationality, passport number and, if known, the... any passport surrendered pursuant to § 252.1(d) of this chapter. Failure to file notice of illegal landing or desertion and to furnish any surrendered passport within 24 hours of the time of such landing...

The Mexican "Illegal Alien" Commute.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Decker, Phil

1986-01-01

A photo report of the following three treks by illegal aliens across the border from Mexico to work in Arizona reveals the dangers and disappointments the migrants are exposed to: (1) a "carpool" from Southern Mexico; (2) a train ride from Sinaloa; and (3) a 40-mile hike through the Arizona desert. (PS)

36 CFR 702.5 - Gambling.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Gambling. 702.5 Section 702.5 Parks, Forests, and Public Property LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONDUCT ON LIBRARY PREMISES § 702.5 Gambling. Participation in any illegal gambling, such as the operation of gambling devices, the conduct of an illegal pool...

36 CFR 702.5 - Gambling.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Gambling. 702.5 Section 702.5 Parks, Forests, and Public Property LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONDUCT ON LIBRARY PREMISES § 702.5 Gambling. Participation in any illegal gambling, such as the operation of gambling devices, the conduct of an illegal pool...

36 CFR 702.5 - Gambling.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Gambling. 702.5 Section 702.5 Parks, Forests, and Public Property LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONDUCT ON LIBRARY PREMISES § 702.5 Gambling. Participation in any illegal gambling, such as the operation of gambling devices, the conduct of an illegal pool...

36 CFR 702.5 - Gambling.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Gambling. 702.5 Section 702.5 Parks, Forests, and Public Property LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONDUCT ON LIBRARY PREMISES § 702.5 Gambling. Participation in any illegal gambling, such as the operation of gambling devices, the conduct of an illegal pool...

10 CFR 55.53 - Conditions of licenses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... not use, possess, or sell any illegal drugs. The licensee shall not perform activities authorized by a..., or illegal substance that could adversely affect his or her ability to safely and competently perform... drugs, the term “under the influence” means the licensee exceeded, as evidenced by a confirmed test...

24 CFR 960.203 - Standards for PHA tenant selection criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... to deny admission for illegal drug use or a pattern of illegal drug use by a household member who is... participating in or has successfully completed a supervised drug or alcohol rehabilitation program, or has..., a supervised drug or alcohol rehabilitation program or evidence of otherwise having been...

10 CFR 55.53 - Conditions of licenses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... not use, possess, or sell any illegal drugs. The licensee shall not perform activities authorized by a..., or illegal substance that could adversely affect his or her ability to safely and competently perform... drugs, the term “under the influence” means the licensee exceeded, as evidenced by a confirmed test...

10 CFR 55.53 - Conditions of licenses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... not use, possess, or sell any illegal drugs. The licensee shall not perform activities authorized by a..., or illegal substance that could adversely affect his or her ability to safely and competently perform... drugs, the term “under the influence” means the licensee exceeded, as evidenced by a confirmed test...

24 CFR 960.203 - Standards for PHA tenant selection criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... to deny admission for illegal drug use or a pattern of illegal drug use by a household member who is... participating in or has successfully completed a supervised drug or alcohol rehabilitation program, or has..., a supervised drug or alcohol rehabilitation program or evidence of otherwise having been...

10 CFR 55.53 - Conditions of licenses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... not use, possess, or sell any illegal drugs. The licensee shall not perform activities authorized by a..., or illegal substance that could adversely affect his or her ability to safely and competently perform... drugs, the term “under the influence” means the licensee exceeded, as evidenced by a confirmed test...

Enhanced waterlogging tolerance in barley by manipulation of expression of the N-end rule pathway E3 ligase PROTEOLYSIS6.

PubMed

Mendiondo, Guillermina M; Gibbs, Daniel J; Szurman-Zubrzycka, Miriam; Korn, Arnd; Marquez, Julietta; Szarejko, Iwona; Maluszynski, Miroslaw; King, John; Axcell, Barry; Smart, Katherine; Corbineau, Francoise; Holdsworth, Michael J

2016-01-01

Increased tolerance of crops to low oxygen (hypoxia) during flooding is a key target for food security. In Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., the N-end rule pathway of targeted proteolysis controls plant responses to hypoxia by regulating the stability of group VII ethylene response factor (ERFVII) transcription factors, controlled by the oxidation status of amino terminal (Nt)-cysteine (Cys). Here, we show that the barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) ERFVII BERF1 is a substrate of the N-end rule pathway in vitro. Furthermore, we show that Nt-Cys acts as a sensor for hypoxia in vivo, as the stability of the oxygen-sensor reporter protein MCGGAIL-GUS increased in waterlogged transgenic plants. Transgenic RNAi barley plants, with reduced expression of the N-end rule pathway N-recognin E3 ligase PROTEOLYSIS6 (HvPRT6), showed increased expression of hypoxia-associated genes and altered seed germination phenotypes. In addition, in response to waterlogging, transgenic plants showed sustained biomass, enhanced yield, retention of chlorophyll, and enhanced induction of hypoxia-related genes. HvPRT6 RNAi plants also showed reduced chlorophyll degradation in response to continued darkness, often associated with waterlogged conditions. Barley Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes (TILLING) lines, containing mutant alleles of HvPRT6, also showed increased expression of hypoxia-related genes and phenotypes similar to RNAi lines. We conclude that the N-end rule pathway represents an important target for plant breeding to enhance tolerance to waterlogging in barley and other cereals. © 2015 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Fabrication High Resolution Metrology Target By Step And Repeat Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dusa, Mircea

1983-10-01

Based on the photolithography process generally used to generate high resolution masks for semiconductor I.C.S, we found a very useful industrial application of laser technology.First, we have generated high resolution metrology targets which are used in industrial measurement laser interferometers as difra.ction gratings. Secondi we have generated these targets using step and repeat machine, with He-Ne laser interferometer controlled state, as a pattern generator, due to suitable computer programming.Actually, high resolution metrology target, means two chromium plates, one of which is called the" rule" the other one the "vernier". In Fig.1 we have the configuration of the rule and the vernier. The rule has a succesion of 3 μM lines generated as a difraction grating on a 4 x 4 inch chromium blank. The vernier has several exposed fields( areas) having 3 - 15 μm lines, fields placed on very precise position on the chromium blank surface. High degree of uniformity, tight CD tolerances, low defect density required by the targets, creates specialised problems during processing. Details of the processing, together with experimental results will be presented. Before we start to enter into process details, we have to point out that the dimensional requirements of the reticle target, are quite similar or perhaps more strict than LSI master casks. These requirements presented in Fig.2.

26 CFR 1.53-3 - Separate rule for pass-through of jobs credit.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Separate rule for pass-through of jobs credit. 1... INCOME TAXES Tax Surcharge § 1.53-3 Separate rule for pass-through of jobs credit. (a) In general. Under section 53(b), in the case of a new jobs credit or targeted jobs credit earned under section 44B by a...

[What to do? The Ontario government and the illegal recreational use of drugs, 1966-1972].

PubMed

Martel, Marcel

2003-01-01

This paper deals with the social construction of illegal drug use in the context of the counterculture movement. It looks at the actions and reactions of three groups in particular: the Ontario government, the Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario and citizens. It demonstrates that the debate about drug use took place in particular circumstances characterized by ignorance about the health consequences of illegal drug use but also within a moral panic context. Medical expertise was solicited to provide guidance to the Ontario government but it was gradually challenged by other medical groups and citizens who, by sending letters to their Provincial Premier and the Minister of Health, tried to shape public policy.

Biodiversity data mining from Argus-eyed citizens: the first illegal introduction record of Lepomis macrochirus macrochirus Rafinesque, 1819 in Japan based on Twitter information.

PubMed

Miyazaki, Yusuke; Teramura, Akinori; Senou, Hiroshi

2016-01-01

An apparent illegal introduction of Lepomis macrochirus macrochirus from Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, is reported based on a juvenile specimen and a photograph of two adults collected on 14 June 2015 and deposited in the Kangawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History. The specimens and photographs were initially reported on the internet-based social networking site, Twitter. Two specimens of Carassius auratus, including an aquarium form, were also reported at the same locality and date, suggesting that the illegal introductions originated from an aquarium release. Our report demonstrates an example of web data mining in the discipline of Citizen Science.

Addictive illegal drugs: structural neuroimaging.

PubMed

Geibprasert, S; Gallucci, M; Krings, T

2010-05-01

Illegal addictive drugs can lead to functional or structural impairment of the central nervous system. This review provides an overview of the structural imaging findings on CT, MR imaging, and conventional angiography related to chronic and acute abuse of the most commonly abused illegal drugs, including cannabis, organic solvents, and amphetamines and opioids and their respective derivatives. Pathomechanisms include excitotoxicity, which may lead to an acute or subacute leukoencephalopathy, and vascular complications, including vasoconstriction, vasculitis, or hypertension, which may lead to intracranial hemorrhage or ischemia. Because clinical findings alone are often nonspecific, and afflicted patients are unlikely to admit to the substance abuse, the neuroradiologist may play an important role in establishing the diagnosis and, thereby, initiating treatment.

Darknet and bitcoin, the obscure and anonymous side of the internet in healthcare.

PubMed

Masoni, Marco; Guelfi, Maria Renza; Gensini, Gian Franco

2016-11-14

Illegal activities prosecutable by law in the real life can be committed on the internet alike. In the healthcare domain, we refer mainly to selling of illegal and counterfeit drugs, exchange of pedo-pornographic material and marketing of stolen medical records. These illegal activities are made easier by recent developments of the Internet that medical community must be aware of: darknet and bitcoin. The first allows anonymous surfing and the last anonymous financial transactions. After discussing which healthcare areas are affected by these technological developments of the Internet and the deriving consequences, then the Authors express their opinion on what actions can be taken to protect internet community.

Design rules for successful governmental payments for ecosystem services: Taking agri-environmental measures in Germany as an example.

PubMed

Meyer, Claas; Reutter, Michaela; Matzdorf, Bettina; Sattler, Claudia; Schomers, Sarah

2015-07-01

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to financial environmental policy instruments that have played important roles in solving agri-environmental problems throughout the world, particularly in the European Union and the United States. The ample and increasing literature on Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and agri-environmental measures (AEMs), generally understood as governmental PES, shows that certain single design rules may have an impact on the success of a particular measure. Based on this research, we focused on the interplay of several design rules and conducted a comparative analysis of AEMs' institutional arrangements by examining 49 German cases. We analyzed the effects of the design rules and certain rule combinations on the success of AEMs. Compliance and noncompliance with the hypothesized design rules and the success of the AEMs were surveyed by questioning the responsible agricultural administration and the AEMs' mid-term evaluators. The different rules were evaluated in regard to their necessity and sufficiency for success using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). Our results show that combinations of certain design rules such as environmental goal targeting and area targeting conditioned the success of the AEMs. Hence, we generalize design principles for AEMs and discuss implications for the general advancement of ecosystem services and the PES approach in agri-environmental policies. Moreover, we highlight the relevance of the results for governmental PES program research and design worldwide. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evolving societal risks and necessary precautions in the age of nuclear power and therapeutic radiation: an American perspective.

PubMed

Pham, Martin H; Yu, Cheng; Rusch, Mairead; Holloway, Charles; Chang, Eric; Apuzzo, Michael L J

2014-12-01

Terrorism involving nuclear or radiologic weapons can devastate populations, city infrastructures, and entire sociopolitical systems. In our age of nuclear medicine and therapeutic radiation delivery, the unauthorized and illegal acquisition of radioactive materials needed for such an attack is always a possibility and risk. Physicians handling high-energy isotopes for medical radiotherapy must be aware of the basic security requirements as outlined by the Nuclear Regulation Commission, which include background checks and authorized access, physical protection during radionuclide use, and physical protection during its transit. The Leksell Gamma Knife and its Category 1 cobalt-60 radioactive source are discussed because of their significant potential for deployment in a weaponized device. Although this article presents a perspective relating to American rules and regulations, these precautions are applicable anywhere that similar situations exist. Understanding these materials and the security they require is essential to preventing the disastrous outcomes should these isotopes fall into terrorists' hands. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Black holes, quantum theory and cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penrose, Roger

2009-06-01

Some reasons are given for believing that the rules of quantum (field) theory must be changed when general relativity becomes seriously involved. If full quantum mechanical respect is paid to the principle of equivalence, we find that a superposition of gravitational fields leads to an illegal superposition of different vacua, giving support to a proposal for spontaneous quantum state reduction made earlier by Diósi, and then independently by the author. A different line of attack involves the over-riding role of black holes in the total entropy content of the universe, and in the operation of the 2nd Law of thermodynamics. The author's proposal of conformal cyclic cosmology is reviewed in order to highlight a seeming paradox, according to which the entropy of the universe of the remote future seems to return to the small kind of value that it had at the big bang. The paradox is resolved when we take into account the information loss that, from this perspective, necessarily occurs in Hawking's black-hole evaporation, with the accompanying loss of unitarity.

Quality and content of dental practice websites.

PubMed

Nichols, L C; Hassall, D

2011-04-09

To investigate the quality and content of dental practice websites by constructing an audit framework based on regulations, guidance and expert advice, and applying this framework to a random sample of UK dental practices' websites. An audit framework was constructed and in-depth data collected from a random sample of 150 UK dental practices. Thirty-five percent of dental practices in this study were found to have websites. Compliance with rules and regulations regarding dental practice websites was generally poor. Use of advised content for practice promotion was variable. Many websites were poorly optimised. Eighty-nine percent of the websites advertised tooth whitening, despite the issues surrounding its legality; 25% of the websites advertised Botox even though advertising of prescription only medicines is illegal. Some websites gave misleading information about the specialist status of their dentists. Those responsible for dental practice websites need to be aware of a wide range of regulations and guidance, and are advised to follow expert advice on content and optimisation in order to maximise the potential of their websites.

An evaluation of the relative potential public health concern for the self-defense spray active ingredients oleoresin capsicum, o-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, and 2-chloroacetophenone.

PubMed

Recer, Gregg M; Johnson, Thomas B; Gleason, A Kevin

2002-08-01

In 1996, the New York State Department of Health was charged by the State Legislature to develop regulations regarding the types of self-defense spray devices which could lawfully be purchased, possessed, and used in New York State. Prior to this legislation, sale or possession of self-defense spray devices in New York State was illegal. The Department of Health used existing data to evaluate three commonly used self-defense spray active ingredients (oleoresin capsicum, o-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, and 2-chloroacetophenone) with respect to their relative toxicity and their involvement in accidental poisonings. Based on the balance of the available information, the Department of Health determined that oleoresin capsicum posed a lower public health concern than o-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile or 2-chloroacetophenone, and developed a rule that specifies oleoresin capsicum as the only active ingredient to be used in self-defense sprays for sale and use in New York State.

EEG potentials associated with artificial grammar learning in the primate brain.

PubMed

Attaheri, Adam; Kikuchi, Yukiko; Milne, Alice E; Wilson, Benjamin; Alter, Kai; Petkov, Christopher I

2015-09-01

Electroencephalography (EEG) has identified human brain potentials elicited by Artificial Grammar (AG) learning paradigms, which present participants with rule-based sequences of stimuli. Nonhuman animals are sensitive to certain AGs; therefore, evaluating which EEG Event Related Potentials (ERPs) are associated with AG learning in nonhuman animals could identify evolutionarily conserved processes. We recorded EEG potentials during an auditory AG learning experiment in two Rhesus macaques. The animals were first exposed to sequences of nonsense words generated by the AG. Then surface-based ERPs were recorded in response to sequences that were 'consistent' with the AG and 'violation' sequences containing illegal transitions. The AG violations strongly modulated an early component, potentially homologous to the Mismatch Negativity (mMMN), a P200 and a late frontal positivity (P500). The macaque P500 is similar in polarity and time of occurrence to a late EEG positivity reported in human AG learning studies but might differ in functional role. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Real-time radionuclide identification in γ-emitter mixtures based on spiking neural network.

PubMed

Bobin, C; Bichler, O; Lourenço, V; Thiam, C; Thévenin, M

2016-03-01

Portal radiation monitors dedicated to the prevention of illegal traffic of nuclear materials at international borders need to deliver as fast as possible a radionuclide identification of a potential radiological threat. Spectrometry techniques applied to identify the radionuclides contributing to γ-emitter mixtures are usually performed using off-line spectrum analysis. As an alternative to these usual methods, a real-time processing based on an artificial neural network and Bayes' rule is proposed for fast radionuclide identification. The validation of this real-time approach was carried out using γ-emitter spectra ((241)Am, (133)Ba, (207)Bi, (60)Co, (137)Cs) obtained with a high-efficiency well-type NaI(Tl). The first tests showed that the proposed algorithm enables a fast identification of each γ-emitting radionuclide using the information given by the whole spectrum. Based on an iterative process, the on-line analysis only needs low-statistics spectra without energy calibration to identify the nature of a radiological threat. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

24 CFR 982.552 - PHA denial or termination of assistance for family.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... illegal drug use, other criminal activity, and alcohol abuse that would threaten other residents, see... criminal activity or alcohol abuse as described in § 982.553. (2) Consideration of circumstances. In... admission or terminate assistance for illegal use of drugs or alcohol abuse by a household member who is no...

8 CFR 216.3 - Termination of conditional resident status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). If the Service issues a notice of intent to... obtained his or her investment capital through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). (b) Determination of fraud after two years. If, subsequent to the removal of the conditional...

Alcohol/Drug Abuse for East Carolina University Students, Faculty, and Staff.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

East Carolina Univ., Greenville, NC.

This booklet for distribution to students and employees contains East Carolina University's (ECU/North Carolina) policy prohibiting illegal drug use, a description of the medical and legal implications of using illegal substances, and a listing of campus and off-campus resources available to assist persons with substance abuse problems. A…

8 CFR 216.3 - Termination of conditional resident status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). If the Service issues a notice of intent to... obtained his or her investment capital through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). (b) Determination of fraud after two years. If, subsequent to the removal of the conditional...

8 CFR 216.3 - Termination of conditional resident status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). If the Service issues a notice of intent to... obtained his or her investment capital through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). (b) Determination of fraud after two years. If, subsequent to the removal of the conditional...

8 CFR 216.3 - Termination of conditional resident status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). If the Service issues a notice of intent to... obtained his or her investment capital through other than legal means (such as through the sale of illegal drugs). (b) Determination of fraud after two years. If, subsequent to the removal of the conditional...

11. Photographic copy of construction drawing, dated July ??, 19?? ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

11. Photographic copy of construction drawing, dated July ??, 19?? (illegible, ca. 1927), Construction Division Office of the Quartermaster General, in possession of Selfridge Base Museum, Mt. Clemens, Michigan. DETAILS, SECTIONS (illegible), SDO 141 - Selfridge Field, Building Nos. 228, 230, 232, 234, 236, 228, 230, 232, 234, & 236 George Avenue, Mount Clemens, Macomb County, MI

10. Photographic copy of construction drawing, dated July ??, 19?? ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

10. Photographic copy of construction drawing, dated July ??, 19?? (illegible, ca. 1927), Construction Division Office of the Quartermaster General, in possession of Selfridge Base Museum, Mt. Clemens, Michigan. PLAN (illegible), SDO 141 - Selfridge Field, Building Nos. 228, 230, 232, 234, 236, 228, 230, 232, 234, & 236 George Avenue, Mount Clemens, Macomb County, MI

9. Photographic copy of construction drawing, dated July ??, 19?? ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

9. Photographic copy of construction drawing, dated July ??, 19?? (illegible, ca. 1927), Construction Division Office of the Quartermaster General, in possession of Selfridge Base Museum, Mt. Clemens, Michigan. PLAN (illegible), SDO 140 - Selfridge Field, Building Nos. 228, 230, 232, 234, 236, 228, 230, 232, 234, & 236 George Avenue, Mount Clemens, Macomb County, MI

34 CFR 668.40 - Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) OFFICE OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION STUDENT ASSISTANCE GENERAL PROVISIONS Student Eligibility § 668.40 Conviction for possession or sale of illegal drugs. (a)(1) A student is ineligible to... student has been convicted of an offense under any Federal or State law involving the possession or sale...

Alcohol Service Practices: A Survey of Bar and Restaurant Managers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nederhoff, Dawn M.; Lenk, Kathleen M.; Horvath, Keith J.; Nelson, Toben F.; Ecklund, Alexandra M.; Erickson, Darin J.; Toomey, Traci L.

2016-01-01

Excessive alcohol consumption can result from illegal sales to intoxicated patrons at bars and restaurants. We surveyed bar/restaurant managers about their practices in reducing illegal sales to intoxicated patrons. We found that managers were confident that they could refuse service to intoxicated customers but were less likely to have…

Equal Protection, Immigration, and Education: "Plyler v. Doe"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feinberg, Joseph R.; Doppen, Frans H.; Hollstein, Matthew S.

2014-01-01

When the Texas state legislature passed a law in the 1970s allowing school districts to deny enrollment or charge tuition to illegal immigrant children, the Tyler Independent School District instituted a $1,000 tuition rate for illegal immigrant children. Sixteen undocumented children from four Mexican families in Tyler filed a class-action suit…

Handicap Parking: A Demographic Study of Legal and Illegal Users.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bordeaux, Monica N.; And Others

Studies on handicap parking reveal the existence of a significant problem of unauthorized use of designated handicap spaces. This study examined various demographic variables involved in the illegal use of handicap parking spaces. Subjects (N=266) were drivers of vehicles observed in handicap parking spaces in three grocery store parking lots.…

24 CFR 982.552 - PHA denial or termination of assistance for family.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... illegal drug use, other criminal activity, and alcohol abuse that would threaten other residents, see... admission or terminate assistance for illegal use of drugs or alcohol abuse by a household member who is no... has successfully completed a supervised drug or alcohol rehabilitation program, or has otherwise been...

24 CFR 982.552 - PHA denial or termination of assistance for family.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... illegal drug use, other criminal activity, and alcohol abuse that would threaten other residents, see... admission or terminate assistance for illegal use of drugs or alcohol abuse by a household member who is no... has successfully completed a supervised drug or alcohol rehabilitation program, or has otherwise been...

24 CFR 982.552 - PHA denial or termination of assistance for family.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... illegal drug use, other criminal activity, and alcohol abuse that would threaten other residents, see... admission or terminate assistance for illegal use of drugs or alcohol abuse by a household member who is no... has successfully completed a supervised drug or alcohol rehabilitation program, or has otherwise been...

24 CFR 982.552 - PHA denial or termination of assistance for family.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... illegal drug use, other criminal activity, and alcohol abuse that would threaten other residents, see... admission or terminate assistance for illegal use of drugs or alcohol abuse by a household member who is no... has successfully completed a supervised drug or alcohol rehabilitation program, or has otherwise been...

26 CFR 301.7624-1 - Reimbursement to State and local law enforcement agencies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... contributes to the recovery of Federal taxes imposed with respect to illegal drug or related money laundering... or related money laundering activities provided the information was not already in the possession of... million in taxes with respect to money laundering in connection with illegal drug activities because, even...

Illegality of international population movements in Poland.

PubMed

Okolski, M

2000-01-01

Until the beginning of the 1990s Poland did not receive foreign migrants. Thereafter, the situation changed dramatically. A large part of the inflow proved to be illegal migrants, many of whom were in transit to Western Europe. Although these movements gradually declined in the second half of the decade, some became increasingly identified with relatively sophisticated smuggling of people. Foreigners smuggled from the South to the West, together with the international criminal networks assisting them, became typical of the migratory movements of people in Central and Eastern Europe during the 1990s. This article seeks to describe illegal migration from the perspective of Poland, a country often perceived as a major transit area in the smuggling of persons to Western Europe. The conclusions draw on the findings of several surveys recently carried out in Poland. Basic concepts related to illegal migration are defined and juxtaposed, and various myths and stereotypes concerning it that most often stem from the paucity of empirical evidence are examined. Finally, the trends observed in Poland are interpreted within the larger context of contemporary European migration.

Traces of illegal drugs on body surfaces: indicator for consumption or dealing?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aberl, Franz; Bonenberger, Johannes; Berg, Ralf-Peter; Zimmermann, Rudolph; Sachs, Hans W.

1997-01-01

Customs investigation and drug enforcement services are interest in a rapid and reliable identification of smugglers and dealers. In contrast workplace testing and traffic controls are aiming at the detection of intoxicated persons via the determination of illegal narcotics in body fluids like urine or blood. DRUGWIPE is a pen size, test strip based immunochemical detector for narcotic contaminations on surfaces. It is extremely simple to apply and takes about two minutes to read test results without depending upon any further technical means. This paper describes the applicability of DRUGWIPE to identify drug smugglers or dealers as well as consumers. With respect to the situation and the initial suspicion the test indicates handling as well as consumption. In cooperation with the Institute for Legal Medicine in Munich suspicious drivers were examined with DRUGWIPE for the abuse of illegal narcotics. Test results from this test series are presented and compared with the results from the blood or urine analysis. The question whether the detected traces of illegal narcotics on the body surface of suspicious drivers are combing transpiration or external contamination are discussed.

a Hyperspectral Based Method to Detect Cannabis Plantation in Inaccessible Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Houmi, M.; Mohamadi, B.; Balz, T.

2018-04-01

The increase in drug use worldwide has led to sophisticated illegal planting methods. Most countries depend on helicopters, and local knowledge to identify such illegal plantations. However, remote sensing techniques can provide special advantages for monitoring the extent of illegal drug production. This paper sought to assess the ability of the Satellite remote sensing to detect Cannabis plantations. This was achieved in two stages: 1- Preprocessing of Hyperspectral data EO-1, and testing the capability to collect the spectral signature of Cannabis in different sites of the study area (Morocco) from well-known Cannabis plantation fields. 2- Applying the method of Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) based on a specific angle threshold on Hyperion data EO-1 in well-known Cannabis plantation sites, and other sites with negative Cannabis plantation in another study area (Algeria), to avoid any false Cannabis detection using these spectra. This study emphasizes the benefits of using hyperspectral remote sensing data as an effective detection tool for illegal Cannabis plantation in inaccessible areas based on SAM classification method with a maximum angle (radians) less than 0.03.

A rapid situation assessment of the market for surrogate and illegal alcohols in Tallinn, Estonia.

PubMed

Pärna, Kersti; Lang, Katrin; Raju, Kadi; Väli, Marika; McKee, Martin

2007-01-01

To understand the phenomenon of consumption of surrogate and illegal alcohols in Tallinn, capital of Estonia. This study, conducted in Tallinn in May 2006, used rapid situation assessment. Interviews with key informants in relevant settings such as emergency departments of hospitals, accommodation for the homeless, police etc. (n = 22), with alcohol abusers (n = 33), natural observations of surrogate sale and consumption venues (n = 46), and tracking of trade data were carried out. Key informants confirmed that consumption of illegal and surrogate alcohols are widely used by alcohol abusers, a finding confirmed by the alcohol abusers. Availability of surrogates varied by area of the city, mainly sold from street kiosks. Illegally produced spirits were also easily available. Sales of surrogates appear to have increased in recent years. A range of alcohol-containing substances that appear to be easily available at low cost, and that have high concentration of ethanol or contaminants known to be toxic, were identified in Tallinn. Alcohol policies in Estonia should address the consumption and availability of these substances.

Non-Destructive and Discriminating Identification of Illegal Drugs by Transient Absorption Spectroscopy in the Visible and Near-IR Wavelength Range

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sato, Chie; Furube, Akihiro; Katoh, Ryuzi; Nonaka, Hidehiko; Inoue, Hiroyuki

2008-11-01

We have tested the possibility of identifying illegal drugs by means of nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy with a 10-ns UV-laser pulse for the excitation light and visible-to-near-IR light for the probe light. We measured the transient absorption spectra of acetonitrile solutions of d-methamphetamine, dl-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine hydrochloride (MDMA), and dl-N-methyl-1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-2-butanamine hydrochloride (MBDB), which are illegal drugs widely consumed in Japan. Transient absorption signals of these drugs were observed between 400 and 950 nm, a range in which they are transparent in the ground state. By analyzing the spectra in terms of exponential and Gaussian functions, we could identify the drugs and discriminate them from chemical substances having similar structures. We propose that transient absorption spectroscopy will be a useful, non-destructive method of inspecting for illegal drugs, especially when they are dissolved in liquids. Such a method may even be used for drugs packed in opaque materials if it is further extended to utilize intense femtosecond laser pulses.

Analysis and design of Cubesat constellation for the Mediterranean south costal monitoring against illegal immigration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazreg, Nissen; Ben Bahri, Omar; Besbes, Kamel

2018-02-01

Costal monitoring is focused on fast response to illegal immigration and illegal ship traffic. Especially, the illegal ship traffic has been present in media since April 2015, as the number of reported deaths of immigrants crossing the Mediterranean significantly increased. Satellite images provide a possibility to at least partially control both types of events. This paper defines the principal criteria to select the best satellite constellation architecture for maritime and coastal monitoring, filling the gaps of imagery techniques in term of real-time control. The primary purpose of a constellation is to obtain global measurement improving the temporal resolution. The small size and low-cost are the main factors, which make CubeSats ideal for use in constellations. We propose a constellation of 9 Cubesats distributed evenly in 3 different planes. This reduces the revisit time enhancing the coverage duration. In addition, it also allows observing fire, damage on building and similar disasters. In this analysis, the performance criteria were reported such as the revisit time, the vision duration and the area coverage.

[Ischemic strokes in young adults and illegal drugs].

PubMed

Barbieux, M; Véran, O; Detante, O

2012-01-01

One out of four ischemic strokes in France occurs in adults under 65 years old. About a third of them remain unexplained even after an extensive etiological assessment. A large part of these unexplained strokes could be linked to illegal drug abuse, and 10 % are estimated to be directly linked to illegal drugs in some international studies. The most frequently incriminated recreational drug remains cocaine, via several mechanisms. However, several other illegal drugs, some very commonly used such as cannabis, are suspected to have an important role in neurovascular diseases. In this article, we reviewed the epidemiological, pathophysiological and clinical studies, published in the international literature over the past 30 years. The drug-caused stroke epidemiology needs to be more precisely studied, as well as the underlying mechanisms depending on each drug. This is a public health issue that affects an economically active population, as stroke is the first cause of acquired handicap in adults. Copyright © 2011 Société nationale française de médecine interne (SNFMI). Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

The big crossing: illegal boat migrants in the Mediterranean.

PubMed

Kassar, Hassène; Dourgnon, Paul

2014-08-01

This article explores illegal migration routes and groups across North Africa to Europe. We describe sub-Saharan and cross-Mediterranean routes, and how they changed during the years. We propose an analytical framework for the main factors for these migrations, from local to international and regulatory context. We then describe sea-migrants' nationalities and socio-economic and demographic characteristics, from studies undertook in Tunisia and Morocco. While boat migration represents only a fraction of illegal migration to Europe, it raises humanitarian as well as ethical issues for European and North African (NA) countries, as a non-negligible amount of them end up in death tolls of shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea. Moreover, existing statistics show that illegal trans-Mediterranean migration is growing exponentially. Ongoing crises in Africa and the Middle East are likely to prompt even larger outflows of refugees in the near future. This should induce NA countries to share closer public policy concerns with European countries. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Use of mathematics to guide target selection in systems pharmacology; application to receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) pathways.

PubMed

Benson, Neil; van der Graaf, Piet H; Peletier, Lambertus A

2017-11-15

A key element of the drug discovery process is target selection. Although the topic is subject to much discussion and experimental effort, there are no defined quantitative rules around optimal selection. Often 'rules of thumb', that have not been subject to rigorous exploration, are used. In this paper we explore the 'rule of thumb' notion that the molecule that initiates a pathway signal is the optimal target. Given the multi-factorial and complex nature of this question, we have simplified an example pathway to its logical minimum of two steps and used a mathematical model of this to explore the different options in the context of typical small and large molecule drugs. In this paper, we report the conclusions of our analysis and describe the analysis tool and methods used. These provide a platform to enable a more extensive enquiry into this important topic. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Clinical Trials Targeting Aging and Age-Related Multimorbidity

PubMed Central

Crimmins, Eileen M; Grossardt, Brandon R; Crandall, Jill P; Gelfond, Jonathan A L; Harris, Tamara B; Kritchevsky, Stephen B; Manson, JoAnn E; Robinson, Jennifer G; Rocca, Walter A; Temprosa, Marinella; Thomas, Fridtjof; Wallace, Robert; Barzilai, Nir

2017-01-01

Abstract Background There is growing interest in identifying interventions that may increase health span by targeting biological processes underlying aging. The design of efficient and rigorous clinical trials to assess these interventions requires careful consideration of eligibility criteria, outcomes, sample size, and monitoring plans. Methods Experienced geriatrics researchers and clinical trialists collaborated to provide advice on clinical trial design. Results Outcomes based on the accumulation and incidence of age-related chronic diseases are attractive for clinical trials targeting aging. Accumulation and incidence rates of multimorbidity outcomes were developed by selecting at-risk subsets of individuals from three large cohort studies of older individuals. These provide representative benchmark data for decisions on eligibility, duration, and assessment protocols. Monitoring rules should be sensitive to targeting aging-related, rather than disease-specific, outcomes. Conclusions Clinical trials targeting aging are feasible, but require careful design consideration and monitoring rules. PMID:28364543

[Birth and pregnancy outcomes of drug addicted women].

PubMed

Tzur, Tamar; Aslanov, Lili; Sheiner, Eyal; Levy, Amalia

2012-03-01

Illegal drug abuse causes significant health problems with consequences to the mother and the neonate, and an economic burden to the health system. The present study aimed to investigate pregnancy and perinatal outcome in women using illegal drugs prior to and during pregnancy. A retrospective cohort study comparing pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of drug addicted women to the outcomes of other Jewish women. The study population includes all women who gave birth between the years 1989-2008 at the Soroka University Medical Center. From a total of 106,000 deliveries, 119 women were known to be drug addicted. No significant differences were found between the groups regarding maternal age and origin, but more women in the addicted group smoked, and tacked prenatal care. More women in the addicted group had obstetrics complications such as: recurrent abortions, placenta previa, pLacental abruption and preterm labor. Illegal drug abuse was significantly associated with adverse perinatal outcomes such as low birth weight, congenital anomalies, peripartum death and prolonged hospitalizations. Illegal drug abuse is an independent risk factor for adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes. This study investigated a significant problem that may be underestimated in our population. The higher incidence of pLacental abruption, placenta previa, preterm tabor and low birth weight could be a sign for placentaL insult. Illegal drug abuse is an independent risk factor for adverse perinatal outcomes and causes an economic burden. Further national studies are needed to characterize the problem, and to develop appropriate intervention programs.

China's Rare Earth Supply Chain: Illegal Production, and Response to new Cerium Demand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Ruby Thuy; Imholte, D. Devin

2016-07-01

As the demand for personal electronic devices, wind turbines, and electric vehicles increases, the world becomes more dependent on rare earth elements. Given the volatile, Chinese-concentrated supply chain, global attempts have been made to diversify supply of these materials. However, the overall effect of supply diversification on the entire supply chain, including increasing low-value rare earth demand, is not fully understood. This paper is the first attempt to shed some light on China's supply chain from both demand and supply perspectives, taking into account different Chinese policies such as mining quotas, separation quotas, export quotas, and resource taxes. We constructed a simulation model using Powersim Studio that analyzes production (both legal and illegal), production costs, Chinese and rest-of-world demand, and market dynamics. We also simulated new demand of an automotive aluminum-cerium alloy in the US market starting from 2018. Results showed that market share of the illegal sector has grown since 2007-2015, ranging between 22% and 25% of China's rare earth supply, translating into 59-65% illegal heavy rare earths and 14-16% illegal light rare earths. There will be a shortage in certain light and heavy rare earths given three production quota scenarios and constant demand growth rate from 2015 to 2030. The new simulated Ce demand would require supply beyond that produced in China. Finally, we illustrate revenue streams for different ore compositions in China in 2015.

Economic consequences of legal and illegal drugs: The case of social costs in Belgium.

PubMed

Lievens, Delfine; Vander Laenen, Freya; Verhaeghe, Nick; Putman, Koen; Pauwels, Lieven; Hardyns, Wim; Annemans, Lieven

2017-06-01

Legal and illegal drugs impose a considerable burden to the individual and to society. The misuse of addictive substances results in healthcare and law enforcement costs, loss of productivity and reduced quality of life. A social cost study was conducted to estimate the substance-attributable costs of alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs and psychoactive medication to Belgian society in 2012. The cost-of-illness framework with prevalence-based and human capital approach was applied. Three cost components were considered: direct, indirect and intangible costs related to substance misuse. The direct and indirect cost of addictive substances was estimated at 4.6 billion euros in Belgium (419 euros per capita or 1.19% of the GDP) and more than 515,000 healthy years are lost due to substance misuse. The Belgian social cost study reaffirms that alcohol and tobacco impose the highest cost to society compared to illegal drugs. Health problems are the main driver of the social cost of legal drugs. Law enforcement expenditure exceed the healthcare costs but only in the case of illegal drugs. Estimating social costs of addictive substances is complex because it is difficult to determine to what extent the societal harm is caused by substances. It can be argued that social cost studies take only a 'snapshot' of the monetary consequences of substance misuse. Nevertheless, the current study offers the most comprehensive analysis thus far of the social costs of substance misuse in Belgium. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An overview of waste crime, its characteristics, and the vulnerability of the EU waste sector.

PubMed

Baird, J; Curry, R; Cruz, P

2014-02-01

While waste is increasingly viewed as a resource to be globally traded, increased regulatory control on waste across Europe has created the conditions where waste crime now operates alongside a legitimate waste sector. Waste crime,is an environmental crime and a form of white-collar crime, which exploits the physical characteristics of waste, the complexity of the collection and downstream infrastructure, and the market opportunities for profit. This paper highlights some of the factors which make the waste sector vulnerable to waste crime. These factors include new legislation and its weak regulatory enforcement, the economics of waste treatment, where legal and safe treatment of waste can be more expensive than illegal operations, the complexity of the waste sector and the different actors who can have some involvement, directly or indirectly, in the movement of illegal wastes, and finally that waste can be hidden or disguised and creates an opportunity for illegal businesses to operate alongside legitimate waste operators. The study also considers waste crime from the perspective of particular waste streams that are often associated with illegal shipment or through illegal treatment and disposal. For each, the nature of the crime which occurs is shown to differ, but for each, vulnerabilities to waste crime are evident. The paper also describes some approaches which can be adopted by regulators and those involved in developing new legislation for identifying where opportunities for waste crime occurs and how to prevent it.

China’s rare earth supply chain: Illegal production, and response to new cerium demand

DOE PAGES

Nguyen, Ruby Thuy; Imholte, D. Devin

2016-03-29

As the demand for personal electronic devices, wind turbines, and electric vehicles increases, the world becomes more dependent on rare earth elements. Given the volatile, Chinese-concentrated supply chain, global attempts have been made to diversify supply of these materials. However, the overall effect of supply diversification on the entire supply chain, including increasing low-value rare earth demand, is not fully understood. This paper is the first attempt to shed some light on China’s supply chain from both demand and supply perspectives, taking into account different Chinese policies such as mining quotas, separation quotas, export quotas, and resource taxes. We constructedmore » a simulation model using Powersim Studio that analyzes production (both legal and illegal), production costs, Chinese and rest-of-world demand, and market dynamics. We also simulated new demand of an automotive aluminum-cerium alloy in the U.S. market starting from 2018. Results showed that market share of the illegal sector has grown since 2007 to 2015, ranging between 22% and 25% of China’s rare earth supply, translating into 59–65% illegal heavy rare earths and 14–16% illegal light rare earths. There would be a shortage in certain light and heavy rare earths given three production quota scenarios and constant demand growth rate from 2015 to 2030. The new simulated Ce demand would require supply beyond that produced in China. Lastly, we illustrated revenue streams for different ore compositions in China in 2015.« less

China’s rare earth supply chain: Illegal production, and response to new cerium demand

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nguyen, Ruby Thuy; Imholte, D. Devin

As the demand for personal electronic devices, wind turbines, and electric vehicles increases, the world becomes more dependent on rare earth elements. Given the volatile, Chinese-concentrated supply chain, global attempts have been made to diversify supply of these materials. However, the overall effect of supply diversification on the entire supply chain, including increasing low-value rare earth demand, is not fully understood. This paper is the first attempt to shed some light on China’s supply chain from both demand and supply perspectives, taking into account different Chinese policies such as mining quotas, separation quotas, export quotas, and resource taxes. We constructedmore » a simulation model using Powersim Studio that analyzes production (both legal and illegal), production costs, Chinese and rest-of-world demand, and market dynamics. We also simulated new demand of an automotive aluminum-cerium alloy in the U.S. market starting from 2018. Results showed that market share of the illegal sector has grown since 2007 to 2015, ranging between 22% and 25% of China’s rare earth supply, translating into 59–65% illegal heavy rare earths and 14–16% illegal light rare earths. There would be a shortage in certain light and heavy rare earths given three production quota scenarios and constant demand growth rate from 2015 to 2030. The new simulated Ce demand would require supply beyond that produced in China. Lastly, we illustrated revenue streams for different ore compositions in China in 2015.« less

50 CFR 622.60 - Adjustment of management measures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... markings and identification, allowable biological catch (ABC) and ABC control rules, rebuilding plans, sale... harvested shrimp (maintaining shrimp in whole condition, use as bait), target effort and fishing mortality... identification, vessel markings and identification, ABC and ABC control rules, rebuilding plans, sale and...

50 CFR 622.60 - Adjustment of management measures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... markings and identification, allowable biological catch (ABC) and ABC control rules, rebuilding plans, sale... harvested shrimp (maintaining shrimp in whole condition, use as bait), target effort and fishing mortality... identification, vessel markings and identification, ABC and ABC control rules, rebuilding plans, sale and...

Dollars and Deadlines: Rule Reforms in Short Time Frames

EPA Science Inventory

ABSTRACT: In "At Last! Aye, and there's the Rub" (i.e., the target article for this commentary), Capron describes challenges related to the timing for development, adoption, and revision of the Common Rule. Specifically, what the National Commission thought would be a...

Fast range estimation based on active range-gated imaging for coastal surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Qingshan; Cao, Yinan; Wang, Xinwei; Tong, Youwan; Zhou, Yan; Liu, Yuliang

2012-11-01

Coastal surveillance is very important because it is useful for search and rescue, illegal immigration, or harbor security and so on. Furthermore, range estimation is critical for precisely detecting the target. Range-gated laser imaging sensor is suitable for high accuracy range especially in night and no moonlight. Generally, before detecting the target, it is necessary to change delay time till the target is captured. There are two operating mode for range-gated imaging sensor, one is passive imaging mode, and the other is gate viewing mode. Firstly, the sensor is passive mode, only capturing scenes by ICCD, once the object appears in the range of monitoring area, we can obtain the course range of the target according to the imaging geometry/projecting transform. Then, the sensor is gate viewing mode, applying micro second laser pulses and sensor gate width, we can get the range of targets by at least two continuous images with trapezoid-shaped range intensity profile. This technique enables super-resolution depth mapping with a reduction of imaging data processing. Based on the first step, we can calculate the rough value and quickly fix delay time which the target is detected. This technique has overcome the depth resolution limitation for 3D active imaging and enables super-resolution depth mapping with a reduction of imaging data processing. By the two steps, we can quickly obtain the distance between the object and sensor.

Store tobacco policies: a survey of store managers, California, 1996-1997.

PubMed

Weinbaum, Z; Quinn, V; Rogers, T; Roeseler, A

1999-01-01

To identify store tobacco policies and retailer perception and beliefs that may have contributed to changes in compliance with youth access laws in California. In the winter of 1996-7, a cross sectional, follow up telephone survey was conducted of California store managers whose stores were anonymously surveyed for illegal tobacco sales in the summer of 1996 (that is, 1996 Youth Tobacco Purchase Survey, YTPS). A simple random sample of stores from a list of California stores likely to sell tobacco, used in the 1996 YTPS. 334 managers (77%) of the 434 stores surveyed in 1996 responded to the survey. After eliminating stores that stopped selling tobacco or were under new management or ownership, 320 responses of store managers were included in the analysis. The stores were analysed by type of ownership: chain, which included corporate managed (n = 61); franchise owned (n = 56); and independent (n = 203). Responses of store managers were linked with the 1996 YTPS outcomes. Manager responses were compared by chi2 tests. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify store factors associated with illegal tobacco sales. A lower likelihood of illegal sales rate was associated with the chain stores when compared with the independent stores (odds ratio (OR) = 0.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.2 to 0.9). A lower likelihood of illegal tobacco sales was found in stores that implemented tobacco related activities in the previous year such as changing tobacco displays (OR = 0.5, 95% CI 0.2 to 0.9) or adding new warning signs (OR = 0.7, 95% CI 0.4 to 1.2). Store managers' beliefs that youth were sent to their stores to do compliance checks also resulted in a lower likelihood of illegal sales (OR = 0.7, 95% CI 0.4 to 1.1). Store tobacco youth access policies, and managers' beliefs about the extent of youth access enforcement in the community, are important in reducing illegal tobacco sales to minors.

Risks, prices, and positions: A social network analysis of illegal drug trafficking in the world-economy.

PubMed

Boivin, Rémi

2014-03-01

Illegal drug prices are extremely high, compared to similar goods. There is, however, considerable variation in value depending on place, market level and type of drugs. A prominent framework for the study of illegal drugs is the "risks and prices" model (Reuter & Kleiman, 1986). Enforcement is seen as a "tax" added to the regular price. In this paper, it is argued that such economic models are not sufficient to explain price variations at country-level. Drug markets are analysed as global trade networks in which a country's position has an impact on various features, including illegal drug prices. This paper uses social network analysis (SNA) to explain price markups between pairs of countries involved in the trafficking of illegal drugs between 1998 and 2007. It aims to explore a simple question: why do prices increase between two countries? Using relational data from various international organizations, separate trade networks were built for cocaine, heroin and cannabis. Wholesale price markups are predicted with measures of supply, demand, risks of seizures, geographic distance and global positioning within the networks. Reported prices (in $US) and purchasing power parity-adjusted values are analysed. Drug prices increase more sharply when drugs are headed to countries where law enforcement imposes higher costs on traffickers. The position and role of a country in global drug markets are also closely associated with the value of drugs. Price markups are lower if the destination country is a transit to large potential markets. Furthermore, price markups for cocaine and heroin are more pronounced when drugs are exported to countries that are better positioned in the legitimate world-economy, suggesting that relations in legal and illegal markets are directed in opposite directions. Consistent with the world-system perspective, evidence is found of coherent world drug markets driven by both local realities and international relations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysis of illegal peptide biopharmaceuticals frequently encountered by controlling agencies.

PubMed

Vanhee, Celine; Janvier, Steven; Desmedt, Bart; Moens, Goedele; Deconinck, Eric; De Beer, Jacques O; Courselle, Patricia

2015-09-01

Recent advances in genomics, recombinant expression technologies and peptide synthesis have led to an increased development of protein and peptide therapeutics. Unfortunately this goes hand in hand with a growing market of counterfeit and illegal biopharmaceuticals, including substances that are still under pre-clinical and clinical development. These counterfeit and illegal protein and peptide substances could imply severe health threats as has been demonstrated by numerous case reports. The Belgian Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP) and customs are striving, together with their global counterparts, to curtail the trafficking and distributions of these substances. At their request, suspected protein and peptide preparations are analysed in our Official Medicines Control Laboratory (OMCL). It stands to reason that a general screening method would be beneficiary in the battle against counterfeit and illegal peptide drugs. In this paper we present such general screening method employing liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the identification of counterfeit and illegal injectable peptide preparations, extended with a subsequent quantification method using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (UHPLC-DAD). The screening method, taking only 30 min, is able to selectively detect 25 different peptides and incorporates the proposed minimum of five identification points (IP) as has been recommended for sports drug testing applications. The group of peptides represent substances which have already been detected in illegal and counterfeit products seized by different European countries as well as some biopharmaceutical peptides which have not been confiscated yet by the controlling agencies, but are already being used according to the many internet users forums. Additionally, we also show that when applying the same LC gradient, it is also possible to quantify these peptides without the need for derivatization or the use of expensive labelled peptides. This quantification method was successfully validated for a representative subset of 10 different peptides by using the "total error" approach in accordance with the validation requirements of ISO-17025. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Set-up of a multivariate approach based on serum biomarkers as an alternative strategy for the screening evaluation of the potential abuse of growth promoters in veal calves

PubMed Central

Pirro, Valentina; Girolami, Flavia; Spalenza, Veronica; Gardini, Giulia; Badino, Paola; Nebbia, Carlo

2015-01-01

A chemometric class modelling strategy (unequal dispersed classes – UNEQ) was applied for the first time as a possible screening method to monitor the abuse of growth promoters in veal calves. Five serum biomarkers, known to reflect the exposure to classes of compounds illegally used as growth promoters, were determined from 50 untreated animals in order to design a model of controls, representing veal calves reared under good, safe and highly standardised breeding conditions. The class modelling was applied to 421 commercially bred veal calves to separate them into ‘compliant’ and ‘non-compliant’ with respect to the modelled controls. Part of the non-compliant animals underwent further histological and chemical examinations to confirm the presence of either alterations in target tissues or traces of illegal substances commonly administered for growth-promoting purposes. Overall, the congruence between the histological or chemical methods and the UNEQ non-compliant outcomes was approximately 58%, likely underestimated due to the blindness nature of this examination. Further research is needed to confirm the validity of the UNEQ model in terms of sensitivity in recognising untreated animals as compliant to the controls, and specificity in revealing deviations from ideal breeding conditions, for example due to the abuse of growth promoters. PMID:25730172

Gambling and Impulsivity Traits: A Recipe for Criminal Behavior?

PubMed

Mestre-Bach, Gemma; Steward, Trevor; Granero, Roser; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Talón-Navarro, María Teresa; Cuquerella, Àngel; Baño, Marta; Moragas, Laura; Del Pino-Gutiérrez, Amparo; Aymamí, Neus; Gómez-Peña, Mónica; Mallorquí-Bagué, Núria; Vintró-Alcaraz, Cristina; Magaña, Pablo; Menchón, José Manuel; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana

2018-01-01

Gambling disorder (GD) is a psychiatric condition that was recently recategorized as a non-substance-related addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders. Criminal activity is commonly associated with gambling; however, few empirical studies to date have examined sociodemographic and psychological variables in this population. In this study, we explored criminal behavior history in a sample of consecutively recruited treatment-seeking gamblers ( n  = 382) and compared subjects with a history of illegal acts ( n  = 103, 26.9%) to those with no criminal record ( n  = 279, 73.1%). Impulsivity and personality traits were specifically explored, along with other gambling-related severity factors. We found that gamblers who engaged in illegal activity were more likely to endorse high levels of urgency (i.e., the tendency to act out when experiencing heightened emotional states) and increased lack of premeditation. Gamblers with a history of criminal behavior also had greater GD severity levels and gambling-related debts. Additionally, these gamblers reported lower levels of self-directedness, which is characterized by difficulty in establishing and redirecting behavior toward one's goals. Likewise, gamblers who had conducted criminal acts showed a tendency to engage in greater risk-taking behavior. These results shed new light on this understudied population and provide insights for developing targeted harm-prevention interventions and treatment protocols.

Evaluation of a primary school drug drama project: methodological issues and key findings.

PubMed

Starkey, F; Orme, J

2001-10-01

This paper describes the impact evaluation of a primary school drug drama project developed by a health promotion service and a theatre's education department in England. The project targeted 10-11 year olds in 41 schools with an interactive drama production and workshop day on attitudes, choices, decisions and risks of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug use. Parents were also involved in parents' evenings and watching children's performances. The research consisted of both process evaluation, consultation with pupils, teachers, parents, actors and health promotion staff on the project itself, and impact evaluation which looked at potential changes in children's knowledge, attitudes and decision-making skills. This paper reports findings of the impact evaluation, from six of the schools participating in the project. The impact evaluation consisted of pre- and post-project testing using a 'draw and write' and a problem-solving exercise. These findings suggest that the project had a significant impact on the children's knowledge of names of specific illegal drugs, and on their awareness that alcohol and cigarettes were also drugs, and secondly encouraged the children to think in less stereotypical terms about drugs and drug users. The problem-solving exercise, involving decision-making scenarios, showed small but positive trends between pre- and post-project solutions in more than half of the response categories. Methodological difficulties relating to evaluating such a project are discussed.

Gambling and Impulsivity Traits: A Recipe for Criminal Behavior?

PubMed Central

Mestre-Bach, Gemma; Steward, Trevor; Granero, Roser; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Talón-Navarro, María Teresa; Cuquerella, Àngel; Baño, Marta; Moragas, Laura; del Pino-Gutiérrez, Amparo; Aymamí, Neus; Gómez-Peña, Mónica; Mallorquí-Bagué, Núria; Vintró-Alcaraz, Cristina; Magaña, Pablo; Menchón, José Manuel; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana

2018-01-01

Gambling disorder (GD) is a psychiatric condition that was recently recategorized as a non-substance-related addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders. Criminal activity is commonly associated with gambling; however, few empirical studies to date have examined sociodemographic and psychological variables in this population. In this study, we explored criminal behavior history in a sample of consecutively recruited treatment-seeking gamblers (n = 382) and compared subjects with a history of illegal acts (n = 103, 26.9%) to those with no criminal record (n = 279, 73.1%). Impulsivity and personality traits were specifically explored, along with other gambling-related severity factors. We found that gamblers who engaged in illegal activity were more likely to endorse high levels of urgency (i.e., the tendency to act out when experiencing heightened emotional states) and increased lack of premeditation. Gamblers with a history of criminal behavior also had greater GD severity levels and gambling-related debts. Additionally, these gamblers reported lower levels of self-directedness, which is characterized by difficulty in establishing and redirecting behavior toward one’s goals. Likewise, gamblers who had conducted criminal acts showed a tendency to engage in greater risk-taking behavior. These results shed new light on this understudied population and provide insights for developing targeted harm-prevention interventions and treatment protocols. PMID:29434553

Species and hybrid identification of sturgeon caviar: a new molecular approach to detect illegal trade.

PubMed

Boscari, E; Barmintseva, A; Pujolar, J M; Doukakis, P; Mugue, N; Congiu, L

2014-05-01

Overexploitation of wild populations due to the high economic value of caviar has driven sturgeons to near extinction. The high prices commanded by caviar on world markets have made it a magnet for illegal and fraudulent caviar trade, often involving low-value farmed caviar being sold as top-quality caviar. We present a new molecular approach for the identification of pure sturgeon species and hybrids that are among the most commercialized species in Europe and North America. Our test is based on the discovery of species-specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the ribosomal protein S7, supplemented with the Vimentin gene and the mitochondrial D-loop. Test validations performed in 702 specimens of target and nontarget sturgeon species demonstrated a 100% identification success for Acipenser naccarii, A. fulvescens, A. stellatus, A. sinensis and A. transmontanus. In addition to species identification, our approach allows the identification of Bester and AL hybrids, two of the most economically important hybrids in the world, with 80% and 100% success, respectively. Moreover, the approach has the potential to identify many other existing sturgeon hybrids. The development of a standardized sturgeon identification tool will directly benefit trade law enforcement, providing the tools to monitor and regulate the legal trade of caviar and protect sturgeon stocks from illicit producers and traders, hence contributing to safeguarding this group of heavily threatened species. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Catastrophic Disruption Threshold and Maximum Deflection from Kinetic Impact

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, A. F.

2017-12-01

The use of a kinetic impactor to deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth was described in the NASA Near-Earth Object Survey and Deflection Analysis of Alternatives (2007) as the most mature approach for asteroid deflection and mitigation. The NASA DART mission will demonstrate asteroid deflection by kinetic impact at the Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 65803 Didymos in October, 2022. The kinetic impactor approach is considered to be applicable with warning times of 10 years or more and with hazardous asteroid diameters of 400 m or less. In principle, a larger kinetic impactor bringing greater kinetic energy could cause a larger deflection, but input of excessive kinetic energy will cause catastrophic disruption of the target, leaving possibly large fragments still on collision course with Earth. Thus the catastrophic disruption threshold limits the maximum deflection from a kinetic impactor. An often-cited rule of thumb states that the maximum deflection is 0.1 times the escape velocity before the target will be disrupted. It turns out this rule of thumb does not work well. A comparison to numerical simulation results shows that a similar rule applies in the gravity limit, for large targets more than 300 m, where the maximum deflection is roughly the escape velocity at momentum enhancement factor β=2. In the gravity limit, the rule of thumb corresponds to pure momentum coupling (μ=1/3), but simulations find a slightly different scaling μ=0.43. In the smaller target size range that kinetic impactors would apply to, the catastrophic disruption limit is strength-controlled. A DART-like impactor won't disrupt any target asteroid down to significantly smaller size than the 50 m below which a hazardous object would not penetrate the atmosphere in any case unless it is unusually strong.

Inventory of echinoderms in the Iles Eparses (Europa, Glorieuses, Juan de Nova), Mozambique Channel, France

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conand, C.; Mulochau, T.; Stöhr, S.; Eléaume, M.; Chabanet, P.

2016-04-01

The multidisciplinary programme BioReCIE (Biodiversity, Resources and Conservation of coral reefs at Eparses Is.) inventoried multiple marine animal groups in order to provide information on the coral reef health of the Iles Eparses. All five classes of echinoderms were observed by visual census, photographed and later identified. About 100 species are reported, including a few unidentified ones which require further studies. The Holothuroidea and Ophiuroidea are the most diverse. One new species, the asterinid Aquilonastra chantalae O'Loughlin and McKenzie (2013), was discovered in addition to several new records of echinoderms. The illegal fishery targeting holothurians, which are presently highly valuable resources in this zone, is discussed.

Alternative Fuels Data Center

Science.gov Websites

reasonably available. Practicability and measures of compliance are defined in rules adopted by the standards, measures, targets, and tools to support agencies in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and and measures of compliance are defined in rules adopted by the Department. (Reference Executive Order

Catalog of Selected Federal Publications on Illegal Drug and Alcohol Abuse.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (DHHS), Rockville, MD.

A concise collection of federal publications in the area of illegal drug and alcohol abuse, this catalog begins with a listing of seven federal clearinghouse, with information on services, user audience, and a contact provided for each. The main part of the document provides briefly annotated information on federal publications organized into the…