Urban resilience, as an emerging research focus in urban studies, is the capability of an urban system to adapt to the uncertainties and disturbances faced by modern cities. Numerical ...characterization of an urban system’s resilience can be performed with urban resilience indicators. Moreover, as cities evolve with intensive socio-economic interactions, the performances of urban indicators are heavily dependent on the scale of these interactions; these relationships are conceptualized as urban scaling laws. Therefore, this study explores the scaling patterns of urban resilience, analyzing the scaling relationship between different resilience indicators and urban population size, as well as the spatial–temporal evolutions of the scaling patterns. The empirical case is based on 267 prefectural-level cities in China. The results show resilience indicators demonstrate scaling patterns on both spatial and temporal scales. Moreover, the scale-adjusted metropolitan indicator (SAMI) differs from the commonly used per capita indicator. Therefore, the scale needs to be considered when assessing urban resilience performance. Findings in this study indicate that moderate scale enhances resilience, enriching urban resilience theorization and urban scaling laws application. The empirical results in the case study also provide a reference for future urban resilience planning and management.
The recent publication of the PREDIMED trial provided definitive evidence that a Mediterranean diet provides protection against cardiovascular disease. Two articles published in BMC Medicine provide ...further understanding of why this may be the case, by considering contributory effects of olive oil, a core food in the diet, and polyphenols, a class of identifiable protective compounds. Using a number of statistical models, analyses were conducted to show around a 35% cardiovascular disease risk reduction in the highest consumers of olive oil and a similar degree of risk reduction for all-cause mortality comparing highest to lowest quintiles of polyphenol intake. The effects were an advance on cohort studies not related to trials. This suggests that it may be necessary to have better control of the background diet to enable exposure of the value of individual foods and nutrients in a dietary pattern, bearing in mind that, by nature, it is difficult to separate out effects of foods, nutrients and whole diets.
Use of non-consensual smartphone recordings as evidence in domestic and family violence matters – determining admissibility – whether recordings contravene criminal laws and listening and ...surveillance devices law – need for reform if the law is to keep abreast of this issue.
Since the early 1990s, unexplained infant death has been reformulated as a criminal justice problem within many western societies. This shift has produced wrongful convictions in more than one ...jurisdiction. This book uses a detailed case study of the murder trial and appeals of Kathleen Folbigg to examine the pragmatics of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. It explores how legal process, medical knowledge and expectations of motherhood work together when a mother is charged with killing infants who have died in mysterious circumstances. The author argues that Folbigg, who remains in prison, was wrongly convicted. The book also employs Folbigg’s trial and appeals to consider what lessons courts have learned from prior wrongful convictions, such as those of Sally Clark and Angela Cannings. The author’s research demonstrates that the Folbigg court was misled about the state of medical knowledge regarding infant death, and that the case proceeded on the incorrect assumption that behavioural and scientific evidence provided independent proofs of guilt. Individual chapters critically assess the relationships between medical research and expert testimony; the operation of unexamined cultural assumptions about good mothering; and the manner in which contested cases are reported by the press as overwhelming.
Many child sexual abuse complainants find the adversarial trial process so distressing that they say they would never report abuse again. Their concerns stem largely from cross-examination, in which ...the lawyer acting for the accused attempts to discredit their evidence. We examined whether—and if so, how—Australian defense lawyers’ approaches to cross-examining child sexual abuse complainants have changed meaningfully over the past 60 years. To do this, we systematically evaluated cases that were prosecuted in the 1950s, comparing them to a matched set of cases from the turn of the twenty-first century. Despite the intervening law reforms designed to improve complainants’ experience in court, we found that, relative to their historical counterparts, contemporary child complainants of sexual abuse are actually subjected to far lengthier cross-examinations involving a much broader range of strategies and associated tactics. These findings have important implications for future legal practice and reform, and for the way in which these are evaluated.
More immediately, courts will deprive American businesses of billions of dollars in coverage they paid for and need to survive the worst public health crisis in a century. ...Couch reckons with this ...error, busy trial and appellate judges cannot, and should not, trust it to give them the straight answer on this foundational question. Co. v. Benjamin Franklin Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n, decided by a federal district court in Oregon, in 1990.18 Benjamin Franklin involved the sudden discovery of non-friable (or intact) asbestos in a building.19 The property insurer refused to pay for its removal, arguing there was no "direct physical loss. Co. v. Trutanich, a case involving methamphetamine contamination.27 Trutanich distinguished Wyoming Sawmills (the liability-insurance case Benjamin Franklin found "most helpful") and instead followed First Presbyterian.28 When Couch 3d cited Benjamin Franklin as evincing a "distinct, demonstrable, physical alteration" rule,29 it ignored that Trutanich had rendered the "intact and undamaged" rule a dead letter three years earlier.30 It also added the modifiers "distinct" and "demonstrable" out of thin air-we have found no pre-Couch 3d case where a court frames the test using those adjectives. The opposite result has been reached, allowing coverage based on physical damage despite the lack of physical alteration of the property, on the theory that the uninhabitability of the property was due to the fact that gasoline vapors from adjacent property had infiltrated and saturated the insured building, and the theory that the threatened physical damage to the insured building from a covered peril essentially triggers the insured's obligation to mitigate the impending loss by undertaking some hardship and expense to safeguard the insured premises.31 This lukewarm counterpoint cited only First Presbyterian and Hampton Foods-two of at least thirteen cases that had
This Comment illustrates the creation of a uniform standard that permits neuroimaging evidence in the courtroom to help determine competency, culpability, and guide sentencing. By exploring several ...case studies and current legal standards, this Comment highlights the reasons for a uniform standard to ensure equal opportunities for defendants. Among other issues, this Comment also considers the direct ethical and legal questions surrounding neuroimaging evidence. Neuroimaging evidence is increasingly used in state and federal courtrooms in the United States to help explain the behavior of criminal defendants. Currently, judges have discretion whether to admit or reject neuroimaging evidence even if the evidence indicates brain abnormalities, disorders, or injuries. Without a uniform neuroscience standard in place in the criminal courtroom, requiring consideration on request, defendants willing to submit neuroimaging evidence are left to the mercy of the court. Neuroimaging technology provides the opportunity for physicians to detect physical differences in the brain that may manifest into criminal behavior down the road. In many criminal cases, the admission and consideration of neuroscientific evidence has led to reduced sentences. Conversely, when neuroscientific evidence is rejected, defendants cannot introduce the biological data to mitigate their circumstances to potentially produce more favorable outcomes. A uniform neuroscience standard with appropriate safeguards in place can strengthen the legal system's accuracy. In addition to impacting mitigation, a uniform neuroscience standard will assist with the identification of malicious tendencies and recidivism rates. While neuroimaging evidence is constantly evolving, the justice system will be better equipped to admit this evidence upon incorporating appropriate guidelines while validating the science.
This retrospective study evaluated trends and association between resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from patients with hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) and hospital antimicrobial usage ...from 2003 through 2011 in a tertiary care hospital in northeast China. HAI was defined as occurrence of infection after hospital admission, without evidence that infection was present or incubating (≦48 h) on admission. In vitro susceptibilities were determined by disk diffusion test and susceptibility profiles were determined using zone diameter interpretive criteria, as recommended by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). Data on usage of various antimicrobial agents, expressed as defined daily dose (DDD) per 1,000 patients-days developed by WHO Anatomical Therapeutical Chemical (ATC)/DDD index 2011, were collected from hospital pharmacy computer database. Most of 747 strains of P. aeruginosa were collected from respiratory samples (201 isolates, 26.9%), blood (179, 24.0%), secretions and pus (145, 19.4%) over the years. Time series analysis demonstrated a significant increase in resistance rates of P. aeruginosa to ticarcillin/clavulanic acid, piperacillin/tazobactam, cefoperazone/sulbactam, piperacillin, imipenem, meropenem, ceftazidime, cefepime, ciprofloxacin, and levofloxacin except aminoglycosides over time in the hospital (P<0.001). The rates of carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa (CRPA) isolated from patients with HAIs were 14.3%, 17.1%, 21.1%, 24.6%, 37.0%, 48.8%, 56.4%, 51.2%, and 54.1% over time. A significant increase in usage of anti-pseudomonal carbapenems (P<0.001) was seen. ARIMA models demonstrated that anti-pseudomonal carbapenems usage was strongly correlated with the prevalence of imipenem and meropenem-resistant P. aeruginosa (P<0.001). Increasing of quarterly CRPA was strongly correlated at one time lag with quarterly use of anti-pseudomonal carbapenems (P<0.001). Our data demonstrated positive correlation between anti-pseudomonal antimicrobial usage and P. aeruginosa resistance to several classes of antibiotics, but not all antimicrobial agents in the hospital.
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