In this article, we examine graffiti abatement policies and programs in three West Coast U.S. cities: Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle. Through this analysis, several similarities in the graffiti ...abatement efforts of each city emerged. Since the 1990s, graffiti abatement efforts in these cities have become increasingly formalized and coordinated. By the early 2000s, the cities of Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle adopted zero-tolerance approaches toward handling graffiti and those caught making graffiti. City governments have placed increasing responsibility for cleaning up graffiti on private property onto property owners. Despite the increased coordination and effort, annual abatement estimates are hard to obtain because tracking spending on graffiti abatement across agencies and bureaus is difficult and often the cities do not comprehensively compile these data.
The concept of the city has come to play a central role in the practices of a new generation of artists for whom the city is their canvas. Street art is a complex social issue. For decades, its ...presence has fueled intense debate among residents of modern cities. Street art is considered by some to be a natural expression that exercises a collective right to the city, and by others, it is seen as a destructive attack upon an otherwise clean and orderly society. This research focuses on various forms of street art from the perspective of the urban audience. The general aim is to further an understanding of how people interact with and respond to street art. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered via direct participant observations of street art installations and 139 surveys conducted with residents in Portland, Oregon. Survey respondents distinguished between street art forms; generally preferring installations and masterpieces over tagging and stickers. More respondents considered graffiti to be a form of artistic expression, rather than an act of vandalism. Participant observations indicated that purposefully-designed street art can promote interaction between people, art, and public space. Random urban spectators became active collaborators; using art and performance to express themselves in public. These findings indicate there is a need to reconsider zero tolerance graffiti policies. Overall, these findings also contribute to a more informed discussion regarding the regulation, acceptability, and possibilities of unauthorized artistic expression in cities.
The concept of the city has come to play a central role in the practices of a new generation of artists for whom the city is their canvas. Street art is a complex social issue. For decades, its ...presence has fueled intense debate among residents of modern cities. Street art is considered by some to be a natural expression that exercises a collective right to the city, and by others, it is seen as a destructive attack upon an otherwise clean and orderly society. This research focuses on various forms of street art from the perspective of the urban audience. The general aim is to further an understanding of how people interact with and respond to street art. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered via direct participant observations of street art installations and 139 surveys conducted with residents in Portland, Oregon. Survey respondents distinguished between street art forms; generally preferring installations and masterpieces over tagging and stickers. More respondents considered graffiti to be a form of artistic expression, rather than an act of vandalism. Participant observations indicated that purposefully-designed street art can promote interaction between people, art, and public space. Random urban spectators became active collaborators; using art and performance to express themselves in public. These findings indicate there is a need to reconsider zero tolerance graffiti policies. Overall, these findings also contribute to a more informed discussion regarding the regulation, acceptability, and possibilities of unauthorized artistic expression in cities.
ABSTRACT
Aims To evaluate the efficacy of cue‐exposure addiction treatment and review modern animal learning research to generate recommendations for substantially enhancing the effectiveness of this ...treatment.
Design Meta‐analysis of cue‐exposure addiction treatment outcome studies (N = 9), review of animal extinction research and theory, and evaluation of whether major principles from this literature are addressed adequately in cue‐exposure treatments.
Findings The meta‐analytical review showed that there is no consistent evidence for the efficacy of cue‐exposure treatment as currently implemented. Moreover, procedures derived from the animal learning literature that should maximize the potential of extinction training are rarely used in cue‐exposure treatments.
Conclusions Given what is known from animal extinction theory and research about extinguishing learned behavior, it is not surprising that cue‐exposure treatments so often fail. This paper reviews current animal research regarding the most salient threats to the development and maintenance of extinction, and suggests several major procedures for increasing the efficacy of cue‐exposure addiction treatment.
Many addiction theories assume that craving plays a central role in the acquisition and maintenance of drug dependence. For example, craving is often depicted as the subjective experience of the ...motivational state directly responsible for all drinking in the alcoholic. Craving has two prominent features that must be explained by any viable model of craving. First, craving tends to be highly situationally specific, readily triggered by stimuli previously associated with drug use. Secondly, craving can persist well beyond the cessation of drinking in an alcoholic. Conventional theories typically address craving's cue specificity and persistence by invoking concepts of classical conditioning. These theories fall into two classes: those that emphasize withdrawal and those that focus on the positive‐incentive properties of drugs. Both types of theories assume that craving processes are represented by the concomitant activation of craving report, drug‐seeking and drug use, and specific patterns of autonomic responses. However, research fails to find more than modest relationships across these putative manifestations of craving. The cognitive processing model, described in this paper, offers a different view of craving's form and function and proposes that drug use can operate independently of the processes controlling craving. According to this model, addictive drug use is regulated by automatic cognitive processes, while craving represents the activation of non‐automatic processes. These non‐automatic processes are activated to either aid in completing interrupted drug use or block automatic drug‐use sequences. From this perspective, craving is neither irrelevant nor central to the alcoholic's drug use, but rather serves as a cognitive marker of processes that, only in some instance, may be associated with alcohol seeking and use. The research and treatment implications of this model's assumptions regarding drug use and craving processes are discussed.
Background
Acrolein is a reactive aldehyde present in high amounts in coal, wood, paper, and tobacco smoke. It is also generated endogenously by lipid peroxidation and the oxidation of amino acids by ...myeloperoxidase. In animals, acrolein exposure is associated with the suppression of circulating progenitor cells and increases in thrombosis and atherogenesis. The purpose of this study was to determine whether acrolein exposure in humans is also associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
Methods and Results
Acrolein exposure was assessed in 211 participants of the Louisville Healthy Heart Study with moderate to high (CVD) risk by measuring the urinary levels of the major acrolein metabolite—3‐hydroxypropylmercapturic acid (3‐HPMA). Generalized linear models were used to assess the association between acrolein exposure and parameters of CVD risk, and adjusted for potential demographic confounders. Urinary 3‐HPMA levels were higher in smokers than nonsmokers and were positively correlated with urinary cotinine levels. Urinary 3‐HPMA levels were inversely related to levels of both early (AC133+) and late (AC133−) circulating angiogenic cells. In smokers as well as nonsmokers, 3‐HPMA levels were positively associated with both increased levels of platelet–leukocyte aggregates and the Framingham Risk Score. No association was observed between 3‐HPMA and plasma fibrinogen. Levels of C‐reactive protein were associated with 3‐HPMA levels in nonsmokers only.
Conclusions
Regardless of its source, acrolein exposure is associated with platelet activation and suppression of circulating angiogenic cell levels, as well as increased CVD risk.
Previous studies have shown that residential proximity to a roadway is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk. Yet, the nature of this association remains unclear, and its effect on ...individual cardiovascular disease risk factors has not been assessed. The objective of this study was to determine whether residential proximity to roadways influences systemic inflammation and the levels of circulating angiogenic cells.
In a cross-sectional study, cardiovascular disease risk factors, blood levels of C-reactive protein, and 15 antigenically defined circulating angiogenic cell populations were measured in participants (n=316) with moderate-to-high cardiovascular disease risk. Attributes of roadways surrounding residential locations were assessed using geographic information systems. Associations between road proximity and cardiovascular indices were analyzed using generalized linear models. Close proximity (<50 m) to a major roadway was associated with lower income and higher rates of smoking but not C-reactive protein levels. After adjustment for potential confounders, the levels of circulating angiogenic cells in peripheral blood were significantly elevated in people living in close proximity to a major roadway (CD31(+)/AC133(+), AC133(+), CD34(+)/AC133(+), and CD34(+)/45(dim)/AC133(+) cells) and positively associated with road segment distance (CD31(+)/AC133(+), AC133(+), and CD34(+)/AC133(+) cells), traffic intensity (CD31(+)/AC133(+) and AC133(+) cells), and distance-weighted traffic intensity (CD31(+)/34(+)/45(+)/AC133(+) cells).
Living close to a major roadway is associated with elevated levels of circulating cells positive for the early stem marker AC133(+). This may reflect an increased need for vascular repair. Levels of these cells in peripheral blood may be a sensitive index of cardiovascular injury because of residential proximity to roadways.
ABSTRACT
Little is known about the processes that underlie changes in smoking that occur between the first use of a cigarette, subsequent regular use and eventual addictive use. At present, ...assessments of those critical processes are poorly developed and not strongly informed by contemporary models of drug dependence. The preceding three papers in this special issue address explicitly how modern drug‐dependence theories describe the emergence of drug dependence and the implications of those theories for assessment. The papers covered three domains of theories: negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, and cognitive and social learning. In this paper, we summarize these reviews and extract general themes and issues that emerge across all the articles. These include: (1) the importance of learning processes; (2) limitations of self‐report measures; (3) the view of dependence as a process and not a state; (4) the conception of dependence on a continuum in contrast to the conventional perspective of tobacco dependence as a natural category; (5) the ontological status of the dependence concept; (6) limitations of backward extrapolations from adult assessments; (7) the possibility of multiple dimensions or forms of dependence; and (8) the value of a transdisciplinary approach when studying the emergence of tobacco dependence.
The need for cyber security professionals continues to grow and education systems are responding in a variety of way. The US government has weighed in with two efforts, the NICE effort led by NIST ...and the CAE effort jointly led by NSA and DHS. Industry has unfilled needs and the CAE program is changing to meet both NICE and industry needs. This paper analyzes these efforts and examines several critical, yet unaddressed issues facing school programs as they adapt to new criteria and guidelines. Technical issues are easy to enumerate, yet it is the programmatic and student success factors that will define successful programs.
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