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Revealing Hidden and Concealed Vehicle Compartments. A Survey of States’ Efforts at Addressing Prohibition Era Tactics
No full textThe transportation of contraband such as controlled substances, illegal firearms, stolen items, and proceeds from criminal activities can take many forms and are subject to the ever-evolving creative efforts by traffickers and criminal organizations to avoid detection by law enforcement. However, one of the simplest and most straightforward mechanisms of transport is in hidden or “trap” compartments in motor vehicles. However, given the legitimate use of discreet compartments (sometimes referred to as “automotive safes” or “traps”) in motor vehicles to secure personal items, important paperwork, and even licensed firearms, a question arises as to whether hidden and false compartments in vehicles can be criminalized without evidence of contraband at the time of discovery. There is no federal law specifically designed to address the manufacture, installation, use, or possession of hidden or false compartments in motor vehicles despite the often inter-state nature of trafficking contraband. Due to the lack of federal legislation concerning the manufacture, installation, or possession of a hidden compartment in a vehicle for the purposes of concealing and transporting contraband, criminal proceeds, and instrumentalities of crime, law enforcement may have to turn to state laws to prosecute instances where a false or hidden compartment in a vehicle is discovered containing something other than controlled substances, or where there is evidence that the compartment is commonly used for concealing and transporting contraband but, at the time of discovery, is empty. Unfortunately, only a few states have laws that allow for the prosecution of such conduct and the forfeiture of such vehicles. This article is a survey of each state’s legislative history, state laws, and case law that address the criminalization of hidden and false compartments in motor vehicles
Books: The Dying Art in Education
No full textI will be addressing the topic of book bans in education, pulling from multiple sources and interviews done with educators stating their opinions on this topic. In video format, I will visually take the audience through my topic, getting through the importance it is to everyone and not just education majors like me. I want to bring attention to this topic, reaching a large audience to try and get the necessary attention to help our education system from becoming censored. Books are being banned at an alarming rate and most people do not know or really care that this is happening. This will lead to issues with how informed our future generations are, leading to less competent citizens later who will be in control of the country. I propose that instead of banning books entirely that we look at alternative options of imposing age restrictions as we do with other things in our lives. Censorship is a dangerous game that cannot continue and only be informing others and being proactive may we deal with this properly
Public and Private Police and Their Impact on Crime: Evidence from American Universities
Full text linkThis study quantitatively assesses the effect of fully deputized private police (FDPP) on nine measures of crime on 770 American university campuses over thirteen years. Building on the analysis of FDPP found in Stringham (2015), this study offers a public choice analysis of the incentives resulting from private ownership, positing that officers serving in such systems face systemically different incentives than their public counterparts, leading to a more vigilant and consumer-focused security posture. This increases the likelihood that criminals will be apprehended, which thereby reduces the expected utility of criminality, leading to fewer such instances. By building a unique dataset of 13,090 individual datapoints, and controlling for student population, region, urbanization level, number of police officers, public or private status, and Pell grant recipiency, this study compares state-controlled police and FDPP using nine standard ordinary least squares regressions. The direction of the coefficients supports the theoretical framework, but the study is challenged by limited statistical significance among the variables denoting public and private police systems. The present study gives highly measured support to the contention that FDPP reduces campus crime rates
The Effectiveness of Telehealth for the Management of Chronic Disease
Full text linkTelehealth made a wide appearance in the medical industry during the Covid-19 pandemic due to the necessary decrease of physical interaction. It has continued to thrive and populate more patients since then. The benefits of telemedicine include quick, reliable one-onone sessions with a healthcare provider virtually, and is overall less costly compared to in person visits. Seeing a medical provider online is helpful in aiding patient recovery and management of chronic diseases. It is used to significantly improve the quality of life in the patients seen today. A literature review was conducted using databases such as PubMed and ScienceDirect. Papers that were included discussed whether telemedicine was effective in the case of recovery from a chronic disease. Thirteen reliable sources were included in this research review. Results concluded that telemedicine is an efficient and effective tool in the management of specific chronic diseases
Social Media and Protection of the Youth: Assessing Policy Safeguards and Political Implications
Full text linkThe purpose of this paper is to explain the potential gaps in U.S. state-level policies from Illinois, Utah, and California. The scope of this paper focuses on policies that specifically address the emerging issue of child influencers. Through a comparative analysis, I found that states like Illinois, California, and Utah all lack enforcement mechanisms, which rational choice theory explains are crucial for ensuring policy effectiveness. Many states, such as California and Utah, followed Illinois’s legal framework through policy diffusion. Therefore, I propose that, in order for states to adopt stronger measures, they should implement France’s more developed legal framework. Through this framework, I outlined four recommendations that states can utilize
Evaluation of Phenotypic Antimicrobial Resistance from Bacterial Pathogen Isolates in Bison
Full text linkBison, the American buffalo, are increasingly utilized for food consumption due to their high protein content. Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is an important food-borne pathogen that leads to severe clinical infections and becomes antimicrobial-resistant (AMR). Specifically, fluoroquinolone antibiotics can complicate human treatment when infected with resistant STEC. This study aims to determine the presence of STEC in bison reservoirs and their antimicrobial resistance. Fecal samples (n=320) from bison herds were collected, followed by specific culture-based isolation for STEC. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was employed for pathogen confirmation, with 25.6% prevalence. PCR targeting gene, gyrA (resistant to fluoroquinolone), was tested for AMR confirmation, and phenotypic confirmation of resistance to Ofloxacin antibiotics was confirmed by the Kirby-Bauer method. Our findings will provide insight into the potential public health risks posed by bison as carriers of AMR pathogens, calling for monitoring and mitigating bacterial transmission in the food supply
Estimating Pedestrian Crossing Times at Scramble Crossings via Machine Learning and Agent-Based Modeling
Full text linkScramble crosswalks differ from conventional crosswalks in their ability for pedestrians to cross diagonally. This research compares the average crossing times and investigates the walking behaviors that pedestrians adopt to produce the speediest times in the two crosswalk configurations. Identification of the most efficient set of walking behaviors is done through an agent-based model, whereas producing polynomials relating crossing times to the most prominent walking behaviors is done through regression algorithms in machine learning. With the combination of these two approaches, it is revealed that pedestrians must adopt a relaxed walking style to make each crosswalk configuration efficient. Additionally, between conventional and scramble crosswalks, the scramble configuration generally leads to lower crossing times, provided that there is sufficient pedestrian traffic. In all other cases, transitioning from a conventional to scramble design by the addition of diagonal routes leads to no significant changes – or even an increase – in crossing times
Estimating Pedestrian Crossing Times at Scramble Crossings via Machine Learning and Agent-Based Modeling
Full text linkScramble crosswalks differ from conventional crosswalks in their ability for pedestrians to cross diagonally. This research compares the average crossing times and investigates the walking behaviors that pedestrians adopt to produce the speediest times in the two crosswalk configurations. Identification of the most efficient set of walking behaviors is done through an agent-based model, whereas producing polynomials relating crossing times to the most prominent walking behaviors is done through regression algorithms in machine learning. With the combination of these two approaches, it is revealed that pedestrians must adopt a relaxed walking style to make each crosswalk configuration efficient. Additionally, between conventional and scramble crosswalks, the scramble configuration generally leads to lower crossing times, provided that there is sufficient pedestrian traffic. In all other cases, transitioning from a conventional to scramble design by the addition of diagonal routes leads to no significant changes – or even an increase – in crossing times
