Analytical professionals working in criminal justice and in social media companies are exposed to aversive details of traumatic events. Albeit indirect, exposure in these roles is repeated and can be extreme, including exposure to material containing lethal violence, sexual assault, and serious self-harm, leading to post-traumatic stress disorder and Secondary Traumatic Stress reactions. Incorporating relevant empirical research, this article considers the mechanisms that may contribute to post-exposure post-traumatic stress disorder and Secondary Traumatic Stress reactions in these roles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report an investigation of the neural processes involved in the processing of faces and objects of brain-lesioned patient PS, a well-documented case of pure acquired prosopagnosia. We gathered a substantial dataset of high-density electrophysiological recordings from both PS and neurotypicals. Using representational similarity analysis, we produced time-resolved brain representations in a format that facilitates direct comparisons across time points, different individuals, and computational models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhy are some individuals better at recognizing faces? Uncovering the neural mechanisms supporting face recognition ability has proven elusive. To tackle this challenge, we used a multimodal data-driven approach combining neuroimaging, computational modeling, and behavioral tests. We recorded the high-density electroencephalographic brain activity of individuals with extraordinary face recognition abilities-super-recognizers-and typical recognizers in response to diverse visual stimuli.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is extensive literature on front-line officers and investigators exposure to trauma and its negative impact on them. However, there are analytical practitioners in law enforcement who indirectly work with the traumatic experiences of other people daily, but are seldom the focus of academic research. Our goal was to conduct the first international study with these practitioners to identify the risk of depression symptoms and establish whether potentially modifiable risk factors (belief in a just world, mental imagery and thought suppression) and work-related characteristics (medium of exposure) are associated with depression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAustralia's fisheries have experience in responding individually to specific shocks to stock levels (for example, marine heatwaves, floods) and markets (for example, global financial crisis, food safety access barriers). The COVID-19 pandemic was, however, novel in triggering a series of systemic shocks and disruptions to the activities and operating conditions for all Australia's commercial fisheries sectors including those of the research agencies that provide the information needed for their sustainable management. While these disruptions have a single root cause-the public health impacts and containment responses to the COVID-19 pandemic-their transmission and effects have been varied.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSexual violence (SV) is a widespread public health and human rights problem, with countries in East Africa having higher rates than the global average. Prosecutions of SV in East Africa are rare, and survivors face many challenges accessing medico-legal justice and services. Developing initiatives that support survivors in navigating the criminal justice system is vital, yet there is limited research on efforts to improve the criminal justice system's management and treatment of survivors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProfessionals in analytical and secondary investigative roles are exposed to violent material on a daily basis with full immersion in the details of serious offenses. However, there is limited evidence of the impact of this on their mental health. Therefore, this research aims to explore the impact of traumatic material on the mental health of these professionals in police and law enforcement and the strategies they employ to cope with the nature of their work.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: During the present pandemic, emerging literature argues that front-line officers' mental health is at greater risk while performing their duties. However, little is known of the impact on the work of professionals in analytical/intelligence roles in police, law enforcement, and justice organizations. Therefore, this study explored the impact of the current pandemic on the experiences of analysts working in these roles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKnowing how humans differentiate children from adults has useful implications in many areas of both forensic and cognitive psychology. Yet, how we extract age from faces has been surprisingly underexplored in both disciplines. Here, we used a novel data-driven experimental technique to objectively measure the facial features human observers use to categorise child and adult faces.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: When child sexual exploitation material is seized, digital forensics analysts are required to manually process all "unknown" digital material by determining (a) whether a child is present in the image, and (b) whether the image is of an indecent nature (i.e., illegal).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInternational law enforcement have noted a rise in the use of the Dark Web to facilitate and commit sexual offenses against children, both prior to and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study presented here therefore aimed to investigate the characteristics and behaviors of anonymous users of Dark Web platforms who were suspected of engaging in the sexual abuse of children. Naturally-occurring data on 53 anonymous suspects, who were active on the Dark Web and had come to police attention in the United Kingdom (UK), were sampled.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA key issue facing cybercrime investigations is connecting online identities to real-world identities. This paper shows that by combining the Fringe-P3 method with a concealed information test, we can detect a participant's familiarity with their own email address, thus connecting their real-world identity to their online one. Participants were shown Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) streams of email addresses, some including their own email address (probe) or a target email address.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of the present study was to (a) assess the reliability with which indecent images of children (IIOC) are classified as being of an indecent versus nonindecent nature, and (b) examine in detail the decision-making process engaged in by law enforcement personnel who undertake the difficult task of identifying and classifying IIOC as per the current legislative offense categories. One experienced researcher and four employees from a police force in the United Kingdom coded an extensive amount of IIOC ( = 1,212-2,233) to determine if they (a) were deemed to be of an indecent nature, and (b) depicted a child. Interrater reliability analyses revealed both considerable agreement and disagreement across coders, which were followed up with two focus groups involving the four employees.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is little empirical research examining the reasons behind multiple perpetrator sexual offending. A limited number of studies provide reasons for offending offered by perpetrators of this type of sexual violence, but only one published study exists where these perpetrators were interviewed regarding their offense. The Multi-Factorial Model of Multiple Perpetrator Sexual Offending (MPSO) proposed that various factors (individual, sociocultural, and situational) play a role in this type of sexual assault, noting in particular the importance of group dynamics and processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhotochemical Internalisation (PCI) is a novel drug delivery technology in which low dose photodynamic therapy (PDT) can selectively rupture endo/lysosomes by light activation of membrane-incorporated photosensitisers, facilitating intracellular drug release in the treatment of cancer. For PCI to be developed further, it is important to understand whether nerve damage is an impending side effect when treating cancers within or adjacent to nervous system tissue. Dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons and their associated satellite glia were subjected to PCI treatment in a 3D co-culture system following incubation with photosensitisers: meso-tetraphenylporphine (TPPS) or tetraphenylchlorin disulfonate (TPCSa) and Bleomycin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study shows the therapeutic outcome of Photochemical Internalisation (PCI) in prostate cancer in vitro surpasses that of Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) and could improve prostate PDT in the clinic, whilst avoiding chemotherapeutics side effects. In addition, the study assesses the potential of PCI with two different photosensitisers (TPCS and TPPS) in prostate cancer cells (human PC3 and rat MatLyLu) using standard 2D monolayer culture and 3D biomimetic model. Photosensitisers were used alone for photodynamic therapy (PDT) or with the cytotoxin saporin (PCI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Offender Ther Comp Criminol
December 2016
A systematic review of the reasons why detained adult offenders fail to attend or successfully complete treatment programme(s) was conducted. An initial search of the literature identified 2,827 articles, which following evaluation against explicit inclusion/exclusion criteria and a quality assessment was reduced to 13 studies. Extracted data from the 13 studies were synthesised using a qualitative approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhotochemical internalisation (PCI) is a technique for improving cellular delivery of certain bioactive agents which are prone to sequestration within endolysosomes. There is a wide range of agents suitable for PCI-based delivery including toxins, oligonucleotides, genes and immunoconjugates which demonstrates the versatility of this technique. The basic mechanism of PCI involves triggering release of the agent from endolysosomes within the target cells using a photosensitiser which is selectively retained with the endolysosomal membranes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere are investigative advantages to being able to determine early in a police investigation whether a rape has been committed by a serial or a one-off rapist. Previous research has found some differences in the crime-scene behaviors of serial and one-off rapists; however, this research suffers from the limitation of utilizing a sample of rapes within which there was a mixture of victim-offender relationships. To address this limitation, this study sampled 38 serial (two or more convictions) and 50 one-off (one conviction) stranger rapists and compared their crime scene behavior across four domains (control, sex, escape and style behaviors).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Anal Intraepithelial Neoplasia (AIN), a pre-cursor of anal squamous carcinoma, is increasingly detected in individuals with impaired immune function. However, choices for effective, low morbidity treatment are limited. Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) is promising as it is known to ablate more proximal gastrointestinal mucosa with safe healing, without damage to underlying muscle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn response to concerns regarding the rise in female juvenile violent crime and the dearth of gender-specific research, this study aimed to identify predictors of violent offending in female offenders. Data were extracted from risk assessments of 586 male and female juvenile offenders (aged 11-17 years) conducted between 2005 and 2009 by the Youth Offending Service in Gloucestershire, an English county. Information regarding the young people's living arrangements, family and personal relationships, education, emotional/mental health, thinking and behavior, and attitudes to offending was recorded.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of number of perpetrators involved in multiple perpetrator rapes on offense characteristics is underresearched despite beliefs that duos/dyads differ in their interactions and dynamics to groups of 3+ members. We analyzed a national sample of 336 allegations of completed and attempted rape of female victims from the United Kingdom. Rapes committed by multiple (duos and groups of 3+ perpetrators) and lone offenders were compared on offense characteristics (incorporating the approach, maintenance, and closure phases of each rape) and victim and offender sociodemographic characteristics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArch Sex Behav
November 2013
Several research studies have reported an elevated level of aggression in rapes committed by multiple perpetrators compared to rapes committed by lone suspects. Several factors that have been linked to elevated aggression in generic samples of rape were examined for the first time with a sample of multiple perpetrator rapes. Factors that might be associated with victim resistance were also investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPEGylated and non-PEGylated ORMOSIL nanoparticles prepared by microemulsion condensation of vinyltriethoxy-silane (VTES) were investigated in detail for their micro-structure and ability to deliver photoactive agents. With respect to pure silica nanoparticles, organic modification substantially changes the microstructure and the surface properties. This in turn leads to a modulation of both the photophysical properties of embedded photosensitizers and the interaction of the nanoparticles with biological entities such as serum proteins.
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