Understanding and preventing violent extremism in school settings.

Violent extremism (VE; i.e., terrorism) is an issue of increasing relevance in school settings.

Violent extremism in the U.S.: Causes and consequences for youth, families, schools, and communities.

Violent extremism in the United States has surged over the past 25 years, with attacks on and threats to major governmental and other institutions, infrastructure (e.g., electric grid), and specific segments of the population, including immigrant and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color) communities.

Prospective Trial of Water Vapor Thermal Therapy for Treatment of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Due to Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in Subjects with a Large Prostate: 6- and 12-month Outcomes.

Background: Current guidelines recommend Rezūm water vapor thermal therapy for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) for prostate glands ranging in volume from 30 to 80 cm. Few prospective studies have specifically evaluated the use of Rezūm for larger prostates.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of water vapor thermal therapy in patients with a prostate gland >80 cm and ≤150 cm.

Similar crimes, similar behaviors? Comparing lone-actor terrorists and public mass murderers.

This article adds to the growth in data-driven analyses seeking to compare samples of violent extremists with other violent populations of interest. While lone-actor terrorists and public mass murderers are frequently treated as distinct offender types, both engage (or attempt to engage) in largely public and highly publicized acts of violence and often use similar weapons. This article investigates the (dis)similarities between both offender types.

Psychology of terrorism: Introduction to the special issue.

Despite the extraordinary social and political consequences often associated with terrorist violence, as well as our responses to it, psychological research on terrorist behavior is conspicuously underdeveloped. This special issue of presents a series of articles that showcase new conceptual, theoretical, and empirical advances in our understanding of terrorism. In doing so, it seeks to not merely summarize recent accomplishments, but to highlight the immense value of explicitly psychological research on these issues, far more of which is called for to realize the potential for informing solutions.

Shooting Alone: The Pre-Attack Experiences and Behaviors of U.S. Solo Mass Murderers.

This paper outlines the sociodemographic, developmental, antecedent attack, attack preparation, and commission properties of 115 mass murderers between 1990 and 2014. The results indicate that mass murderer attacks are usually the culmination of a complex mix of personal, political, and social drivers that crystalize at the same time to drive the individual down the path of violent action. We specifically focus upon areas related to prior criminal engagement, leakage, and attack location familiarity.

Women's connectivity in extreme networks.

A popular stereotype is that women will play more minor roles than men as environments become more dangerous and aggressive. Our analysis of new longitudinal data sets from offline and online operational networks [for example, ISIS (Islamic State)] shows that although men dominate numerically, women emerge with superior network connectivity that can benefit the underlying system's robustness and survival. Our observations suggest new female-centric approaches that could be used to affect such networks.

Actions Speak Louder than Words: A Behavioral Analysis of 183 Individuals Convicted for Terrorist Offenses in the United States from 1995 to 2012.

Involvement in terrorism has traditionally been discussed in relatively simplistic ways with little effort spent on developing a deeper understanding of what involvement actually entails, and how it differs from person to person. In this paper, we present the results of a three-year project focused on 183 individuals associated with the global jihadist movement who were convicted in the United States, for terrorist offenses, between 1995 and 2012. These data were developed by a large-scale, open-source data collection activity that involved a coding dictionary of more than 120 variables.

Relation of psychosocial factors to diverse behaviors and attitudes among Somali refugees.

Refugee studies have examined both resilience and adverse outcomes, but no research has examined how different outcomes co-occur or are distinct, and the social-contextual factors that give rise to these diverse outcomes. The current study begins to address this gap by using latent profile analysis to examine the ways in which delinquency, gang involvement, civic engagement, political engagement, and openness to violent extremism cluster among Somali refugees. We then use multivariable regression analyses to examine how adversity (e.

Killing Range: Explaining Lethality Variance within a Terrorist Organization.

This paper presents an analysis of the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (PIRA) brigade level behavior during the Northern Ireland Conflict (1970-1998) and identifies the organizational factors that impact a brigade's lethality as measured via terrorist attacks. Key independent variables include levels of technical expertise, cadre age, counter-terrorism policies experienced, brigade size, and IED components and delivery methods. We find that technical expertise within a brigade allows for careful IED usage, which significantly minimizes civilian casualties (a specific strategic goal of PIRA) while increasing the ability to kill more high value targets with IEDs.

Simple mathematical law benchmarks human confrontations.

Many high-profile societal problems involve an individual or group repeatedly attacking another - from child-parent disputes, sexual violence against women, civil unrest, violent conflicts and acts of terror, to current cyber-attacks on national infrastructure and ultrafast cyber-trades attacking stockholders. There is an urgent need to quantify the likely severity and timing of such future acts, shed light on likely perpetrators, and identify intervention strategies. Here we present a combined analysis of multiple datasets across all these domains which account for >100,000 events, and show that a simple mathematical law can benchmark them all.

Bombing alone: tracing the motivations and antecedent behaviors of lone-actor terrorists,

This article analyzes the sociodemographic network characteristics and antecedent behaviors of 119 lone-actor terrorists. This marks a departure from existing analyses by largely focusing upon behavioral aspects of each offender. This article also examines whether lone-actor terrorists differ based on their ideologies or network connectivity.

Comparative optimism among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) is associated with fewer adverse clinical events 12 months later.

The current study evaluates the levels of comparative optimism among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and examines its relationship to health outcomes 12 months later. 164 patients completed self-report questionnaires at the end of cardiac rehabilitation and the number of adverse clinical events in the following 12 months were recorded. Comparative optimism was assessed in relation to a typical other who has not had cardiac event, a typical other who has had the same cardiac event as the respondent, and a typical member of the cardiac rehabilitation class.

Organisational adaptation in an activist network: social networks, leadership, and change in al-Muhajiroun.

Social networks are said to facilitate learning and adaptation by providing the connections through which network nodes (or agents) share information and experience. Yet, our understanding of how this process unfolds in real-world networks remains underdeveloped. This paper explores this gap through a case study of al-Muhajiroun, an activist network that continues to call for the establishment of an Islamic state in Britain despite being formally outlawed by British authorities.

Relationship of initial level of distress to changes in health-related quality of life during cardiac rehabilitation or usual care.

Objectives: To assess the relationship between changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and initial levels of distress in cardiac patients who received multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitation (CR) or usual care. High rates of psychological distress have been reported in cardiac patients.

Methods: Cardiac patients completed a questionnaire battery at the start and finish of a CR program (n = 131) or at equivalent times after hospital discharge in comparison hospitals where CR was not available (n = 185).

Screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms in cardiovascular patients.

Background: The objective of the study was to determine the incidence of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA) in a population of symptomatic cardiac patients. A retrospective cohort study of investigations was done at the cardiology clinic, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.

Materials And Methods: There were 415 men and women recruited by referral to the cardiology clinic.

Responsiveness of health-related quality of life outcome measures in cardiac rehabilitation: comparison of cardiac rehabilitation outcome measures.

Assessment instruments that are not responsive to change are unsuitable as outcome tools in cardiac rehabilitation because they underestimate the psychosocial benefits of program attendance. Nine questionnaires were assessed for responsiveness with the standardized response mean (SRM). Questionnaires were allocated into 3 batteries, and each battery was completed by cardiac rehabilitation and comparison participants at 2 time points (411 and 375 participants in total, respectively).

Four-week multidisciplinary cardiac rehabilitation produces similar improvements in exercise capacity and quality of life to a 10-week program.

Background: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is widely accepted as beneficial for patients with myocardial infarction (MI) and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). A need exists to evaluate how different formats of delivery can best meet CR service demands.

Methods And Results: Cardiac patients (n = 60) were randomly assigned to either a standard 10-week (30 sessions) or a 4-week (20 sessions) multifactorial rehabilitation program.

Rates of smoking in the households of cardiac patients.

Background: Non-smokers who live with smokers are at increased risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). However, such a risk may be increased if the non-smoker is a patient with established CHD. The present study assessed the percentage of cardiac rehabilitation patients who share a household with regular smokers.