This study provides an initial analysis of how effective commonly used risk assessment and psychological tests are in postdicting the severity of the index offense and the individual’s most severe offense in a forensic inpatient sample. The study involved a chart review of risk assessment measures, cognitive and personality tests, and criminological data for 65 patients at St. Joseph’s Hamilton Mountain Centre for Mental Health Care. The results found a significant correlation between the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (Wechsler, 1997) and index offense severity. Moreover, an aggression typology (Nussbaum, Saint-Cyr, & Bell, 1997) showed promising signs in differentiating severity by offender type. The study also suggests that further research is necessary in this area, given the limited relationship found between risk instruments and severity of violence, though the risk assessment measures did show good concurrent validity.

This study provides an initial analysis of how effective commonly used risk assessment and psychological tests are in postdicting the severity of the index offense and the individual’s most severe offense in a forensic inpatient sample. The study involved a chart review of risk assessment measures, cognitive and personality tests, and criminological data for 65 patients at St. Joseph’s Hamilton Mountain Centre for Mental Health Care. The results found a significant correlation between the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (Wechsler, 1997) and index offense severity. Moreover, an aggression typology (Nussbaum, Saint-Cyr, & Bell, 1997) showed promising signs in differentiating severity by offender type. The study also suggests that further research is necessary in this area, given the limited relationship found between risk instruments and severity of violence, though the risk assessment measures did show good concurrent validity.

Forest fires have an enormous impact on biotic and abiotic variables that control runoff and soil properties in watersheds. Because wildfires do not have a uniform effect on the burned area, significant variability occurs between areas of different burn severity and likely elicits different hydrologic responses within watersheds. Much of the control on this hydrologic response stems from the variability of soil between burned and unburned watersheds. Establishing a linkage between soil infiltration and burn severity may therefore, offer insight into the likelihood of elevated levels of runoff and the likelihood of floods. Although previous studies have sought to establish a quantitative relationship between runoff and burn severity, this relation has not been evaluated with respect to soil moisture and infiltration and varying degrees of burn severity. The Loretta-Linda Basin presents a unique opportunity to compare areas with different burn severities (with the right fork of the drainage experiencing a much higher burn severity than the left), while eliminating most other variables that may occur with greater spatial variability such as elevation, temperature, precipitation, underlying geology, and soil type. Rainfall, soil moisture, runoff, and infiltration data collected over a two-month period were used to evaluate the relationship between burn severity, runoff, and infiltration for the Loretta-Linda basin as a whole as well as for the individual forks of the basin. The impact of varying burn severity on the two sub drainages was further investigated by creating a dynamic simulation model in TopoFlow®. Comparative analysis between the two forks did not show a dramatic difference in the runoff and infiltration relationship between the two burn severities. Variability of field conditions, the presence of parameters affecting runoff not accounted for, and the limitations of point measurements, are reflected by the data analysis and lack of a strong correlation between burn severity, infiltration, and runoff. The use of spatial hydrologic modeling allowed for the investigation of the relative importance of the infiltration parameters as well as the impact of Manning’s n on the response of the basin to rainfall. The modeling results indicate a strong correlation between high burn severity, low infiltration capacity, and elevated discharge volumes.

Background. In Canada, motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of unintentional injury deaths and second leading cause of injury hospitalization. Nationally, serious traffic injury has reduced 35% (1986-2005). Social determinants of health have not been studied with serious traffic injury in adulthood. Study Aims. To determine whether lower SES (measured by education, income, and employment), is associated with serious traffic and fall injury and injury severity and whether the pattern of association differed between traffic and fall injury. To reveal issues to be made by decision makers regarding at risk groups. Methods. Combined cycles (1.1, 2.1, and 3.1) of the cross-sectional Canadian Community Health Survey were used. Injuries in the past year ‘serious enough to limit normal activities’ were studied. Deaths and less serious injuries are not captured. “Transportation accident” was used to represent traffic injury. It does not specify victim type (e.g. driver, bicyclist) yet the category pertains to “automobiles” and published research used it as a proxy for motor vehicle collisions. Power analyses, survey weighting and bootstrapping were executed to prevent biased population estimates. Records with missing data were excluded. Logistic regression models were performed for tests with binary outcomes. Injury severity selected individuals’ highest treatment within 48 hours - admitted to hospital, Emergency Department visit, or seeing a health professional. Results. Socioeconomic variables were associated with serious traffic and fall injury and severity. For serious traffic injury, those with some post-secondary education were at higher risk (OR=1.34; 95%CI 1.08, 1.67) than post-secondary graduates. For serious fall injury, an education by gender interaction resulted. Males who did not complete high school had a higher risk (OR=1.14; 95%CI 1.03, 1.27) relative to post-secondary graduates. With the same reference group, females who completed high school had a lower risk (OR=0.86; 95%CI 0.75, 0.98). For serious fall injury, those in the lowest, versus top, personal income quintile had a higher risk (OR=1.37; 95%CI 1.23, 1.51). Females had a higher risk (OR=1.18; 95%CI 1.03, 1.35) of serious traffic injury relative to males. Youth/young adults had a higher risk of serious traffic injury (OR=1.75; 95%CI 1.50, 2.06) relative to the middle-aged group. The younger group had a higher risk of serious fall injury (OR=1.41; 95%CI 1.25, 1.60) relative to seniors. With serious traffic injury, seniors had a lower risk (OR=0.50; 95%CI 0.37, 0.68) than the middle-aged group. This did not support the literature with young and old at risk for traffic injury. In the two-level traffic severity model, employed, versus unemployed, individuals had a higher risk (OR=1.69; 95%CI 1.12, 2.55). Discussion. Associations were found between SES variables and serious traffic and fall injury for Canadians 12 years of age and over that were mostly but not always in the direction of lower SES having higher rates. Findings must be interpreted with caution due to sampling bias from missing data removal (27%). Information was not available on culpability or vehicle miles travelled. The traffic injury-SES relationship and SES-traffic severity relationship merit further inquiry in other contexts or with other datasets.

Cyberbullying is a term that encompasses aggressive behaviours performed through different information and communication technologies (ICT), with the intention to harm or cause discomfort to others. Cyberbullying has gained prominence due to reported cases of teenage suicides linked to cyberbullying. Researchers have studied the prevalence and outcomes of cyberbullying (e.g. truancy) and strategies used by victims to deal with cyberbullying (e.g. email address change). However, researchers have not taken into account victims’ perceptions of the severity of the cyberbullying they experience and how those perceptions affect them at a personal level and their experience with ICT. This study combines Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping with the Expectation-Confirmation Theory and proposes two research models that will aid in understanding (i) the contextual factors that affect victims’ perceptions of cyberbullying, and (ii) the consequences of those perceptions on victims’ satisfaction with the ICT through which cyberbullying occurs. In addition, this study proposes two secondary objectives aimed at (i) developing and validating a scale to measure victims’ perception of cyberbullying severity and (ii) exploring its impact on victims’ use of different coping mechanisms. A survey-based study involving 229 cyberbullying victims is employed to empirically validate the proposed theoretical models, using structural equation modeling techniques. Results indicate that victims’ perception of the severity of a cyberbullying episode affects her/him at a personal level and negatively impacts her/his ICT beliefs, which in turn, impact her/his satisfaction with ICT. The analysis of different contextual factors indicates that the harshness of the message(s) the victim receives, the importance of the ICT through which cyberbullying occurred to her/him, her/his self-esteem, and knowing who the bully is affect a victim’s evaluation of the severity of a cyberbullying episode. Implications of these results for academics and practitioners, as well as limitations of this study, are discussed. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) é um índice que permite calcular probabilidade de sobrevida de pacientes traumatizados. Para seu cálculo são necessárias as informações: idade; tipo de trauma - penetrante ou contuso; valor do Revised Trauma Score (RTS); e pontuação do Injury Severity Score (ISS). Em 1997 foi realizada uma revisão do ISS com o intuito de melhorar sua acurácia na determinação da gravidade do trauma. Essa revisão resultou em mudança no cálculo desse índice e, consequentemente, em uma nova versão, o New Injury Severity Score (NISS). Resultados de estudos têm indicado que o NISS se iguala ou supera o ISS na previsão de mortalidade. Procurou-se neste estudo verificar se a substituição do ISS pelo NISS, na fórmula original do TRISS, melhora sua estimação de sobrevida. Trata-se de pesquisa retrospectiva realizada no Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo. A população foi constituída por 533 pacientes traumatizados atendidos e internados no Pronto-Socorro deste hospital pelo período de um ano. Foi realizada análise descritiva das características das vítimas e calculadas as medidas de posição para as variáveis contínuas. Para verificar qual o melhor indicador (TRISS ou NTRISS) para probabilidade de sobrevida e o melhor ponto de corte, foi utilizada a curva ROC. Os resultados foram confrontados com as mortes e sobrevidas observadas com o intuito de se identificar a fórmula mais acurada para cálculo da probabilidade de sobrevida. Fizeram parte do estudo pacientes traumatizados entre 18 e 95 anos, sendo a maioria jovens (61,9%), do sexo masculino (80,5%). Os acidentes de transporte foram as causas externas mais frequentes (61,9%), e, consequentemente, houve predomínio de trauma contuso (87,1%). Do total de pacientes, 82,9% foram atendidos por unidades sistematizadas de atendimento pré-hospitalar. A região mais freqüentemente traumatizada foi a superfície externa (63,0%), seguida por cabeça e pescoço (55,5%). Os pacientes estiveram internados por uma média de 11,0 dias (+ 18,0). Dos 533 pacientes, 42,2% necessitaram de internação em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva. A taxa de sobrevida foi de 76,9%. A maioria dos indivíduos (54,5%) apresentou valor de RTS de 7 a 7,84. O escore do ISS e do NISS variou de 0 a 75, com predomínio do escore de 9 a 15 (40,0%) para o ISS e de 16 a 24 (25,5%) para o NISS. O valor do TRISS e do NTRISS variou de 0 a 100,0%; probabilidade de sobrevida maior ou igual a 75,0% foi apresentada por 83,4% dos pacientes segundo o TRISS e por 78,4% dos pacientes de acordo com o NTRISS. O TRISS superestimou a probabilidade de sobrevida dos pacientes traumatizados. Houve diferença estatisticamente significativa entre a previsão de sobrevida dada pelo TRISS e NTRISS, e o NTRISS foi mais assertivo que o TRISS para prever sobrevida dos pacientes atendidos neste centro de trauma / The Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) is an index that permits the calculation of survival probability in trauma victims. The following information is necessary to perform this calculation: age, trauma type -penetrating or contusion; value from the Revised Trauma Score (RTS); and the scores from the Injury Severity Score (ISS). In 1997, a revision was done to the ISS to improve its accuracy for determining the severity of traumas, thus resulting in a new version called the New Injury Severity Score (NISS). Studies have shown that this NISS is equal to or greater than the ISS in the prediction of mortality. The objective of this study was to verify if substituting the ISS with the NISS, in the original TRISS form, improved the survival rate estimate. This retrospective study included 533 trauma victims who were attended and interned in the emergency room during a period of 1 year, in \"Hospital das Clínicas\" of the Medical School of the University of Sao Paulo. A descriptive analysis of the characteristics of the victims was performed and the position measurements for the continuous variables were calculated. An ROC curve was used to verify which would be the best indicator (TRISS or NTRISS) for calculating the survival probability. The results were compared with the deaths and survivors in order to indentify the most accurate formula for calculating survival probability. Included in this study were trauma victims, between the ages of 18 to 95, with the majority being youths (61.9%) and of the male gender (80.5%). Contributing causes were predominantly from motor vehicle accidents (61.9%), and predominantly with contusions (87.1%). Of the total victims, 82.9% were treated in first aid clinics. The most frequent trauma regions were superficial (63%) followed by the head and neck (55.5%) The victims were interned on an average of 11 days. ( +18.0). Of the 533 victims 42.2% were interned in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the survival rate was 76.9%. The majority of individuals (54.5%) had RTS scores between 7 and 7.84. The ISS and NISS score varied from 0 to 75, with the average ISS score ranging from 9-15 (40.0%) and the NISS score from 16-24 (25.5%). The TRISS and NTRISS scores varied between 0 and 100 %; probability of survival equal to or greater than 75.0% was presented for 83.4% of the victims according to TRISS and 78.4% according to NTRISS thus, the TRISS overestimated the probability of survival in trauma victims. There was a statistically significant difference in the estimate of survivability data between the TRISS and NTRISS with the latter being the more accurate scale for predicting survivability among the victims treated in this trauma center

Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) é um índice que permite calcular probabilidade de sobrevida de pacientes traumatizados. Para seu cálculo são necessárias as informações: idade; tipo de trauma - penetrante ou contuso; valor do Revised Trauma Score (RTS); e pontuação do Injury Severity Score (ISS). Em 1997 foi realizada uma revisão do ISS com o intuito de melhorar sua acurácia na determinação da gravidade do trauma. Essa revisão resultou em mudança no cálculo desse índice e, consequentemente, em uma nova versão, o New Injury Severity Score (NISS). Resultados de estudos têm indicado que o NISS se iguala ou supera o ISS na previsão de mortalidade. Procurou-se neste estudo verificar se a substituição do ISS pelo NISS, na fórmula original do TRISS, melhora sua estimação de sobrevida. Trata-se de pesquisa retrospectiva realizada no Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo. A população foi constituída por 533 pacientes traumatizados atendidos e internados no Pronto-Socorro deste hospital pelo período de um ano. Foi realizada análise descritiva das características das vítimas e calculadas as medidas de posição para as variáveis contínuas. Para verificar qual o melhor indicador (TRISS ou NTRISS) para probabilidade de sobrevida e o melhor ponto de corte, foi utilizada a curva ROC. Os resultados foram confrontados com as mortes e sobrevidas observadas com o intuito de se identificar a fórmula mais acurada para cálculo da probabilidade de sobrevida. Fizeram parte do estudo pacientes traumatizados entre 18 e 95 anos, sendo a maioria jovens (61,9%), do sexo masculino (80,5%). Os acidentes de transporte foram as causas externas mais frequentes (61,9%), e, consequentemente, houve predomínio de trauma contuso (87,1%). Do total de pacientes, 82,9% foram atendidos por unidades sistematizadas de atendimento pré-hospitalar. A região mais freqüentemente traumatizada foi a superfície externa (63,0%), seguida por cabeça e pescoço (55,5%). Os pacientes estiveram internados por uma média de 11,0 dias (+ 18,0). Dos 533 pacientes, 42,2% necessitaram de internação em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva. A taxa de sobrevida foi de 76,9%. A maioria dos indivíduos (54,5%) apresentou valor de RTS de 7 a 7,84. O escore do ISS e do NISS variou de 0 a 75, com predomínio do escore de 9 a 15 (40,0%) para o ISS e de 16 a 24 (25,5%) para o NISS. O valor do TRISS e do NTRISS variou de 0 a 100,0%; probabilidade de sobrevida maior ou igual a 75,0% foi apresentada por 83,4% dos pacientes segundo o TRISS e por 78,4% dos pacientes de acordo com o NTRISS. O TRISS superestimou a probabilidade de sobrevida dos pacientes traumatizados. Houve diferença estatisticamente significativa entre a previsão de sobrevida dada pelo TRISS e NTRISS, e o NTRISS foi mais assertivo que o TRISS para prever sobrevida dos pacientes atendidos neste centro de trauma / The Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) is an index that permits the calculation of survival probability in trauma victims. The following information is necessary to perform this calculation: age, trauma type -penetrating or contusion; value from the Revised Trauma Score (RTS); and the scores from the Injury Severity Score (ISS). In 1997, a revision was done to the ISS to improve its accuracy for determining the severity of traumas, thus resulting in a new version called the New Injury Severity Score (NISS). Studies have shown that this NISS is equal to or greater than the ISS in the prediction of mortality. The objective of this study was to verify if substituting the ISS with the NISS, in the original TRISS form, improved the survival rate estimate. This retrospective study included 533 trauma victims who were attended and interned in the emergency room during a period of 1 year, in \"Hospital das Clínicas\" of the Medical School of the University of Sao Paulo. A descriptive analysis of the characteristics of the victims was performed and the position measurements for the continuous variables were calculated. An ROC curve was used to verify which would be the best indicator (TRISS or NTRISS) for calculating the survival probability. The results were compared with the deaths and survivors in order to indentify the most accurate formula for calculating survival probability. Included in this study were trauma victims, between the ages of 18 to 95, with the majority being youths (61.9%) and of the male gender (80.5%). Contributing causes were predominantly from motor vehicle accidents (61.9%), and predominantly with contusions (87.1%). Of the total victims, 82.9% were treated in first aid clinics. The most frequent trauma regions were superficial (63%) followed by the head and neck (55.5%) The victims were interned on an average of 11 days. ( +18.0). Of the 533 victims 42.2% were interned in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the survival rate was 76.9%. The majority of individuals (54.5%) had RTS scores between 7 and 7.84. The ISS and NISS score varied from 0 to 75, with the average ISS score ranging from 9-15 (40.0%) and the NISS score from 16-24 (25.5%). The TRISS and NTRISS scores varied between 0 and 100 %; probability of survival equal to or greater than 75.0% was presented for 83.4% of the victims according to TRISS and 78.4% according to NTRISS thus, the TRISS overestimated the probability of survival in trauma victims. There was a statistically significant difference in the estimate of survivability data between the TRISS and NTRISS with the latter being the more accurate scale for predicting survivability among the victims treated in this trauma center

No description available.

Fire is the most significant natural disturbance agent in the MSdm biogeoclimatic subzone and has a determinant role in the dynamics of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia Engelm.ex S.Wats.) dominated forests. Fire severity is a controversial term that usually refers to a qualitative measure of the fire effects on soil and vegetation and ultimately on ecosystem sustainability. The main objective of the thesis was to evaluate methods for quantifying and modelling the effects of fire severity on live biomass and dead organic matter and post-fire coarse woody debris (CWD) dynamics. A review of the representation of fire in models was conducted and several of the most commonly used fire models in North America have been described in terms of fire severity representation. The potential for developing the fire severity concept as a fire effects descriptor in an ecosystem management model were assessed. Severity matrices summarizing the probabilities of occurrence for fires of varying severity were constructed for two sites in the MSdm biogeoclimatic subzone of British Columbia, using weather data and past fire records. These matrices provide information to improve fire representation in the ecosystem based model FORECAST by quantifying the effects of fire severity on dead and live biomass components. Although this represents only a preliminary step, the severity matrix approach appears toprovide a viable methodology for improving the representation of fire effects in FORECAST. Patterns of post-fire coarse woody debris (CWD) accumulation were also assessed in the context of model development. Data were collected from a chronosequence of fire affected sites in the MSdm subzone of the TFL 49 Kelowna. The ability of the FORECAST model to simulate accumulation patterns in CWD and soil organic matter and nitrogen following fire was tested by comparing model outputs with field data. The evaluation of the model against chronosequence-derived data highlighted the fact that caution needs to be taken when using such data for model testing. The very slow recruitment pattern for new CWD illustrates the need to retain sources of CWD recruitment following fire by not salvage logging all killed trees and/or surviving live trees.

Fire is the most significant natural disturbance agent in the MSdm biogeoclimatic subzone and has a determinant role in the dynamics of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia Engelm.ex S.Wats.) dominated forests. Fire severity is a controversial term that usually refers to a qualitative measure of the fire effects on soil and vegetation and ultimately on ecosystem sustainability. The main objective of the thesis was to evaluate methods for quantifying and modelling the effects of fire severity on live biomass and dead organic matter and post-fire coarse woody debris (CWD) dynamics. A review of the representation of fire in models was conducted and several of the most commonly used fire models in North America have been described in terms of fire severity representation. The potential for developing the fire severity concept as a fire effects descriptor in an ecosystem management model were assessed. Severity matrices summarizing the probabilities of occurrence for fires of varying severity were constructed for two sites in the MSdm biogeoclimatic subzone of British Columbia, using weather data and past fire records. These matrices provide information to improve fire representation in the ecosystem based model FORECAST by quantifying the effects of fire severity on dead and live biomass components. Although this represents only a preliminary step, the severity matrix approach appears toprovide a viable methodology for improving the representation of fire effects in FORECAST. Patterns of post-fire coarse woody debris (CWD) accumulation were also assessed in the context of model development. Data were collected from a chronosequence of fire affected sites in the MSdm subzone of the TFL 49 Kelowna. The ability of the FORECAST model to simulate accumulation patterns in CWD and soil organic matter and nitrogen following fire was tested by comparing model outputs with field data. The evaluation of the model against chronosequence-derived data highlighted the fact that caution needs to be taken when using such data for model testing. The very slow recruitment pattern for new CWD illustrates the need to retain sources of CWD recruitment following fire by not salvage logging all killed trees and/or surviving live trees.