Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Weird Winter Weather In The Anthropocene: How Volatile Temperatures Shape Violent Crime, Christopher Thomas, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

Purpose: Current evidence suggests volatile temperatures are becoming more common because of climate change and can be expected to become even more frequent in the future. By focusing on recent temperature variability, we attempt to estimate one important dimension of the impact of climate change on violent crime. We also explore whether sudden upward temperature anomalies have stronger positive impacts on violent crime in the coldest months of the year, as routine activities are likely to change more drastically during this period.

Methods: This study explores the association between sudden temperature anomalies (both upward and downward) and the daily incidence …

The Internet Never Forgets: Image-Based Sexual Abuse And The Workplace, John Schriner, Melody Lee Rood

Publications and Research

Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), commonly known as revenge pornography, is a type of cyberharassment that often results in detrimental effects to an individual's career and livelihood. Although there exists valuable research concerning cyberharassment in the workplace generally, there is little written about specifically IBSA and the workplace. This chapter examines current academic research on IBSA, the issues with defining this type of abuse, victim blaming, workplace policy, and challenges to victim-survivors' redress. The authors explore monetary motivation for websites that host revenge pornography and unpack how the dark web presents new challenges to seeking justice. Additionally, this chapter presents recommendations …

An Information Theory Approach To Hypothesis Testing In Criminological Research, Gohar A. Petrossian, Mike Maxfield

Publications and Research

Background: This research demonstrates how the Akaike information criterion (AIC) can be an alternative to null hypothesis significance testing in selecting best fitting models. It presents an example to illustrate how AIC can be used in this way.

Methods: Using data from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we test models of place-based predictor variables on street robbery and commercial robbery. We build models to balance explanatory power and parsimony. Measures include the presence of different kinds of businesses, together with selected age groups and social disadvantage.

Results: Models including place-based measures of land use emerged as the best models among the set of …

Species Identification Of Necrophagous Insect Eggs Based On Amino Acid Profile Differences Revealed By Direct Analysis In Real Time-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry, Justine E. Giffen, Jennifer Y. Rosati, Cameron M. Longo, Rabi A. Musah

Publications and Research

The colonization of decomposing remains by necrophagous insects such as blow flies is of forensic importance because the progression through the various stages of insect development can be correlated to time of death. The ability to infer this information hinges on accurate determination of the fly species that are associated with the entomological evidence collected. This evidence can include eggs, larvae, pupae, and puparial casings. Determination of the egg’s identity is particularly challenging because the eggs of multiple species are morphologically very similar. We report here that the species identity of fly eggs can be determined from their chemical fingerprint …