Purpose
Systematic reviews on child homicide have proliferated recently, making it hard to keep up with their output. Using an umbrella review approach (i.e., a synthesis of systematic reviews), this ...study aimed to identify what aspects of child homicide have been examined in systematic reviews, synthesize systematic review findings, and discuss the implications for policy, practice, and future primary research.
Method
The current study utilized an umbrella review approach to locate systematic reviews of studies on child homicide published in various disciplines. The final sample included fourteen systematic review articles published from 2010 to 2022.
Results
The main research questions varied across systematic reviews, but they included risk factors, typology, statistics on incidence and prevalence, and punishment and disposition. Systematic reviewers highlighted the need for a database and monitoring system, multi-disciplinary Child Death Review Teams, parenting education, and women-friendly services and policies.
Conclusions
More systematic reviews and meta-analyses need to be conducted, focusing on evidence-informed strategies, to inform child abuse policies and practices. It is also imperative that the child homicide research community establish knowledge dissemination strategies to build large-scale datasets and translate research results into effective risk management practices.
The first model independent results obtained by the DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 experiment are presented. The data have been collected over 6 annual cycles corresponding to a total exposure of 1.13 t yr, ...deep underground at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) of the I.N.F.N. The DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 apparatus, ≃ 250 kg highly radio-pure NaI(Tl), profits from a second generation high quantum efficiency photomultipliers and of new electronics with respect to DAMA/LIBRA-phase1. The improved experimental configuration has also allowed to lower the software energy threshold. New data analysis strategies are presented. The DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 data confirm the evidence of a signal that meets all the requirements of the model independent Dark Matter (DM) annual modulation signature, at 9.5 C.L. in the energy region (1 - 6) keV. In the energy region between 2 and 6 keV, where data are also available from DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA-phase1 (exposure 1.33 t yr, collected over 14 annual cycles), the achieved C.L. for the full exposure (2.46 t yr) is 12.9 ; the modulation amplitude of the single-hit scintillation events is: (0.0103 ± ± 0.0008) cpd/kg/keV, the measured phase is (145 ± 5) d and the measured period is (0.999 ± 0.001) yr, all these values are well in agreement with those expected for DM particles. No systematics or side reaction able to mimic the exploited DM signature (i.e. to account for the whole measured modulation amplitude and to simultaneously satisfy all the requirements of the signature), has been found or suggested by anyone throughout some decades thus far.
Criminologists have been interested in the gap in reported levels of fear of crime between men and women for decades. Our study advances and empirically tests the hypothesis that gender identity is ...an important mechanism that accounts for the gap in fear of crime between men and women. Specifically, the current study incorporates Magliozzi, Saperstein, and Westbrook's gradational measures of masculinity and femininity to test if these variables are related to fear of crime. Statistical analyses reveal that masculinity is negatively and significantly associated with fear of crime, suggesting that men may be doing gender in reporting fear of crime by suppressing their expression of fear when responding to survey items related to fear of crime. Additionally, the inclusion of the measures of masculinity and femininity in our statistical model reduces the effect of sex to non-significance.
Abstract
We report on phenomena observed in planar integrated networks obtained connecting superconducting island by Josephson tunnel junctions. These networks, identifiable as tree-like graphs, have ...branches consisting of series arrays of Josephson junctions which can be individually current biased and characterized. Both Josephson supercurrents and gap parameters of the arrays embedded in the graph structures display properties significantly different from those of “reference” arrays fabricated on the same chips and having identical geometrical shape. The temperature and magnetic field dependencies of the Josephson current of the embedded arrays both show a singular behavior when a critical value is reached by the Josephson characteristic energy. The gap parameter of the junctions generating the embedded arrays is higher than that of the junctions forming the reference geometrical arrays.
From 7 naturally occurring Nd isotopes, 5 are unstable in relation to
α
decay. If an excited level of the daughter nucleus is populated, or the daughter nucleus is unstable,
γ
quanta can be emitted. ...We used an ultra-low background spectrometry system with 4 high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors (about 225 cm
3
volume each) to search for such decays using a highly purified Nd-containing sample with mass of 2.381 kg. Measurements were performed at the INFN Gran Sasso underground laboratory (with an overburden of about 3600 m w.e.) during 51,237 h. Half-life limits for
α
decays of
143
Nd and
145
Nd were determined to be
T
1/2
(
143
Nd) > 1.1 × 10
20
year and
T
1/2
(
145
Nd) > 2.7 × 10
19
year at 90% C.L. This is an increase of three and two orders of magnitude, respectively, compared with the most restrictive values currently given in literature. A limit for
α
decay of
144
Nd to the excited level of
140
Ce with
E
exc
= 1596.2 keV was determined for the first time as
T
1/2
(
144
Nd →
140
Ce
*
) > 9.3 × 10
20
year. Restriction for the
α
decay of
146
Nd to the excited level of
142
Ce with
E
exc
= 641.3 keV was increased by 3 orders of magnitude to
T
1/2
(
146
Nd →
142
Ce
*
) > 1.4 × 10
21
year. For
α
and 2
α
decays of
148
Nd, first
T
1/2
limits were set as 4.2 × 10
18
year and 2.1 × 10
20
year, respectively.
Anisotropic scintillators can offer a unique possibility to exploit the so-called directionality approach in order to investigate the presence of those Dark Matter (DM) candidates inducing nuclear ...recoils. In fact, their use can overcome the difficulty of detecting extremely short nuclear recoil traces. In this paper we present recent measurements performed on the anisotropic response of a
ZnWO
4
crystal scintillator to nuclear recoils, in the framework of the ADAMO project. The anisotropic features of the
ZnWO
4
crystal scintillators were initially measured with
α
particles; those results have been also confirmed by the additional measurements presented here. The experimental nuclear recoil data were obtained by using a neutron generator at ENEA-CASACCIA and neutron detectors to tag the scattered neutrons; in particular, the quenching factor values for nuclear recoils along different crystallographic axes have been determined for three different neutron scattering angles (i.e. nuclear recoils energies). From these measurements, the anisotropy of the light response for nuclear recoils in the
ZnWO
4
crystal scintillator has been determined at 5.4 standard deviations.
Domestic homicide (DH) is the most extreme form of domestic violence (DV). There has been a growing worldwide interest in DH offenses and the characteristics of perpetrators and victims, and it is ...evidenced in part by the increase in the number of primary research studies in this area. The findings of a large number of the available primary literature have already been summarized into several systematic reviews. The principal purposes of this study were to identify what types and aspects of DH have been reviewed systematically (research trends), to synthesize findings from recent systematic reviews of the theoretical and empirical literature on the different types of DH (main findings), and to consider what existing reviews can tell us about the implications for policy and practice as well as future primary research (implications). The current study utilized a systematic review approach to locate systematic reviews of studies on DH. The final sample included 25 systematic review articles published from 2010 to 2020, including 12 on intimate partner homicide, eight on child homicide, and five on familicide. The main research questions varied across systematic reviews, but they included risk factors, statistics on incidence and prevalence, theories, risk assessment tools, punishment and disposition, and prevention strategies. Building on the synthesis findings, the current study concludes with suggestions for future systematic review research and implications for practice and policy efforts.
Abstract
The existence of Dark Matter particles as a significant portion of the Universe’s total mass is suggested by theoretical reasoning at the galactic and larger scales as well as experimental ...data. This motivates the DAMA experiment’s efforts to investigate the presence of the Dark Matter particles in the galactic halo by utilizing a model-independent signature with an extremely radio-pure set-up underground. The long-standing, model-independent annual modulation effect at Gran Sasso seen by DAMA with several experimental set-ups is summarized in this paper, along with its perspectives. DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 set-up, ≃ 250 kg highly radio-pure NaI(Tl) further confirms the evidence of a signal that meets all the requirements of the model independent Dark Matter annual modulation signature at high C.L.; the combined exposure of DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA is 2.86 ton × yr over 22 independent annual cycles. The experiment is currently collecting data in the DAMA/LIBRA–phase2 empowered configuration with an even lower software energy threshold.
During the past decade, it has been shown that circadian clock genes have more than a simple circadian time-keeping role. Clock genes also modulate motivational processes and have been implicated in ...the development of psychiatric disorders such as drug addiction. Recent studies indicate that casein-kinase 1ε/δ (CK1ε/δ)--one of the components of the circadian molecular clockwork-might be involved in the etiology of addictive behavior. The present study was initiated to study the specific role of CK1ε/δ in alcohol relapse-like drinking using the 'Alcohol Deprivation Effect' model. The effect of CK1ε/δ inhibition was tested on alcohol consumption in long-term alcohol-drinking rats upon re-exposure to alcohol after deprivation using a four-bottle free-choice paradigm with water, 5%, 10%, and 20% ethanol solutions, as well as on saccharin preference in alcohol-naive rats. The inhibition of CK1ε/δ with systemic PF-670462 (0, 10, and 30 mg/kg) injections dose-dependently decreased, and at a higher dosage prevented the alcohol deprivation effect, as compared with vehicle-treated rats. The impact of the treatment was further characterized using nonlinear regression analyses on the daily profiles of drinking and locomotor activity. We reveal that CK1ε/δ inhibition blunted the high daytime alcohol intake typically observed upon alcohol re-exposure, and induced a phase shift of locomotor activity toward daytime. Only the highest dose of PF-670462 shifted the saccharin intake daily rhythm toward daytime during treatment, and decreased saccharin preference after treatment. Our data suggest that CK1 inhibitors may be candidates for drug treatment development for alcoholism.
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