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The need for adherence to the rule of law, safety of citizen and national security has been issues of public concern with the emergence of organised society. The return of democratic governance to Nigeria has more than ever before brought these issues to the front burner in national discuss as part of the broader good governance agenda. Constitutional provisions and regulations have been made in addition to extant laws in the service of the rule of law, personal safety and national security. Reforms have also been undertaken in the security sector in order to make it more responsive. In spite of these efforts, there have been increasing incidences of threat to personal safety and national security in Nigeria. The objective of this paper was to examine the significance of relationship between the rule of law and personal safety, rule of law and national security and national Security personal safety in Nigeria for the period 2004-2014. The research design for the study was content analysis of secondary data from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. The data was presented in tables and analysed using percentages and averages. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to test the hypotheses. The study revealed that the level of adherence to the rule of was fairly poor while the level of Personal Safety was very poor state of personal safety. Nigeria however fared better maintaining national security. However, this was not translated to personal safety of Nigerians. The hypotheses tested indicated that a negatively week (-.011) relationship existed between adherence to the rule of law and personal safety in Nigeria. The relationship between adherence to the rule of law and national security in Nigeria was also negatively weak (-.081). The relationship between national security and personal safety in Nigeria was also negative but fairly significant (-.252). The study concludes that Nigeria's high scores in national security were not as a result of the adherence to the rule of law. The low level of adherence to the rule of law also negatively affected personal safety in Nigeria. The study also concludes that Nigeria's high score in national security could not be translated to safety of the persons. In view of this, the study recommends for the strengthening of the rule of law for improvement in the safety of the citizen and sustainable national security in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence shows that children and young people with disability experience violence, abuse, and neglect at rates considerably higher than their peers. Despite persistent efforts to address it, these rates do not appear to be declining over time. As Australia moves towards implementing a national policy of personalised disability support, new opportunities and risks arise concerning personal safety in young people's lives. This paper reviews the existing evidence on abuse and neglect of children and young people with disability to help identify the nature of these risks and potential ways of thinking about and responding to these. Applying a social ecological lens, the discussion points to the importance of working productively with the multidimensional realities of these children's lives at a time when the policy and services designed to support them are also in a state of flux. The paper invites and challenges researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to engage critically with the knowledge already available and to question more deeply why abuse and neglect continue to diminish the lives of children and young people with disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Internal Security is the property of Police Academy in Szczytno and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Human behavior largely depends on individual peculiarities of personality, but also on environmental aspects, the novelty or the spontaneity of the situation. In extreme situations, everyone reacts differently. One of the factors that generate specific behavioral reactions in such situations is fear - an emotion characteristic of danger or the perception of danger. The discrepancy between our own resources and the surrounding world's imbalance requires forced autonomy on the part of the individual and decision-making for his own safety and rescue. Fear expressed in society is conditioned by historical development of nations. Behavioral reactions of nations in situations which pose a threat to their own integrity indicate values and power of influence of states and peoples. The presence or absence of fear shows the historical evolution of the Romanian people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about how people with intellectual disability understand personal safety, or what strategies they call upon when they do not feel safe in their homes. In this participatory research, 20 people with intellectual disability talked about the ways they keep themselves safe in the places where they live, and what helps them or makes it hard for them to stay safe. Interviews with nine disability policy-makers were also conducted to include a systemic perspective about how personal safety is addressed by funded disability support services. A series of factors either support people or make it difficult for them to put their strategies into action, influencing the degree to which they were able to draw upon their own strategies to protect themselves from potential harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Empirical evidence of the relationship between safety concerns and walking to school (WTS) is growing. However, current research offers limited understanding of the multiple domains of parental safety concerns and the specific mechanisms through which parents articulate safety concerns about WTS. A more detailed understanding is needed to inform environmental and policy interventions. This study examined the relationships between both traffic safety and personal safety concerns and WTS in the U.S. Methods This cross-sectional analysis examined data from the Texas Childhood Obesity Prevention Policy Evaluation (T-COPPE) project, an evaluation of state-wide obesity prevention policy interventions. All study data were from the survey (n = 830) of parents with 4th grade students attending 81 elementary schools across Texas, and living within two miles from their children's schools. Traffic safety and personal safety concerns were captured for the home neighborhood, en-route to school, and school environments. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to assess the odds of WTS controlling for significant covariates. Results Overall, 18% of parents reported that their child walked to school on most days of the week. For traffic safety, students were more likely to walk to school if their parent reported favorable perceptions about the following items in the home neighborhood environment: higher sidewalk availability, well maintained sidewalks and safe road crossings. For the route to school, the odds of WTS were higher for those who reported "no problem" with each one of the following: traffic speed, amount of traffic, sidewalks/pathways, intersection/crossing safety, and crossing guards, when compared to those that reported "always a problem". For personal safety in the en-route to school environment, the odds of WTS were lower when parents reported concerns about: stray or dangerous animals and availability of others with whom to walk. Conclusions Findings offered insights into the specific issues that drive safety concerns for elementary school children's WTS behaviors. The observed associations between more favorable perceptions of safety and WTS provide further justification for practical intervention strategies to reduce WTS barriers that can potentially bring long-term physical activity and health benefits to school-aged children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on findings that suggest women are more afraid of crime than men despite their overall lower rates of victimization, some scholars have suggested that personal experience plays, at best, a limited role in our feelings of personal safety. Feminist scholars have countered by arguing that many women are abused by their male intimate partners, yet this type of victimization is rarely considered in studies measuring fear of crime. Women's greater levels of fear, they argue, are therefore justified. This study draws on a nationally representative sample of Canadian women age 15 years or more to examine the relationship between intimate partner violence and fear of crime. The results of regression and cross-tabular analyses lend support to the feminist perspective, finding that physical and emotional abuse and severe physical abuse committed by male intimates generally increases women's fear of crime. The results demonstrate the importance of considering partner violence when studying women's fear of crime so as to not misrepresent women's fear as being 'unrealistic.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of social media and web 2.0 applications (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogs, etc.) in the previous 5 years has created a new social research opportunity, with over an estimated 552 million active daily users on Facebook (Facebook Press 2012 ). As with all research, boundaries must be set out to create valid and accurate data, keeping ethical practices at the forefront of the data gathering process. The lack of standardized practices requires an in-depth look into the use of such methods, with focus on four major areas: 1) security for the individual, 2) anonymity, 3) safety and 4) use of mined data and information gathered by either passive or active means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating mobile technology into women's everyday lives has rendered fantasies (and realties) around enhancing one's personal safety in multi-tasking while fulfilling the often gendered expectations of constant contact, accessibility, and responsibility. Mobile intimacy changes the user's perception of their current social environment. A survey study was conducted using 197 female college students from a large US public institution to investigate whether women imagine their mobile phones to be weapons of self-defense. Significant results indicate that not only do women imagine their mobile phones to be weapons of self-defense, they view mobile phones to be more effective than a more traditional weapon, like pepper spray. Mobile phones do promote personal safety and disaster relief, yet over-reliance on mobile phone use can be detrimental. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fears about crime-related personal safety on public transport can have an important impact on ridership. A range of studies have examined different factors that influence perceptions of crime risk. This study uses structural equation modelling to explore the influences on perceptions of safety on public transport and the impact these perceptions have on ridership using a survey sample from Melbourne, Australia. The largest direct influences on feelings of safety on public transport were trust in others and feeling safe in one''s home or on the street at night. Gender and age are commonly-cited influences in the literature but in this model their influence on feelings of safety was indirect. The total indirect effect of age was larger than the indirect effect of gender. Feelings of safety had a small but significant positive influence on how frequently people used public transport. This was slightly smaller than the negative effect of cars in the household but larger than the negative effect of distance from the city centre. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Internal Security is the property of Police Academy in Szczytno and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Internal Security is the property of Police Academy in Szczytno and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The cross-agency project described in this paper builds on the success of an earlier collaboration, called ‘Healthy Eating’, by the same team of participants (See JAT 3.1 March 2009). Personal safety has become an issue of national importance, and here we outline a new project developed using ICT tools and digital film, to create a DVD about personal safety for, and by, people with learning disabilities. The aims and objectives, the project development, and our plans for the future are outlined. The project is complex, and so the paper presents the general aims first, and then charts the work of each separate group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the neighbourhood-level personal safety concerns experienced by older people living in socioeconomically deprived communities in South Wales. While there is a wealth of criminological literature focusing on whether older people experience high levels of fear of crime, much of it conflicting in its conclusions, such studies tell us little about the social and physical cues for feelings of fear that are evoked in older people on a community level. To provide a richer understanding of these issues the study adopted a predominantly qualitative approach to identify community characteristics that shaped older people's views of personal safety. This was supplemented by quantitative data regarding their actual experiences of crime. The main finding was that personal safety concerns were overwhelmingly related to the social connotations of specific community locations, such as those associated with the presence and behaviour of perceived 'undesirable others', rather than specific locations themselves or their physical characteristics. This raises questions and challenges about the development of appropriate and effective crime and fear reduction strategies that enable older people to feel safer in their communities, and so facilitate their community engagement and social inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current investigation examined parental efforts to educate their children about sexual abuse. Approximately 750 surveys were distributed to parents of kindergarten through third grade youngsters (mean age 8.5) in three New Jersey elementary schools. Participants were 289 guardians (39% response rate) who voluntarily completed a survey assessing demographic characteristics, caregivers' direct or indirect experience with child sexual abuse, and their efforts to educate their children about the issue. As found previously, parents continue to disproportionately focus on strangers as potential offenders and provide limited information particularly in terms of the nature of sexual abuse and the secrecy associated with it. Parents with no direct or indirect experience with child sexual abuse were least likely to talk with their children about the issue in general and when they did so provided less information. These findings were surprisingly similar to earlier investigations despite methodological and sampling differences across investigations. Implications and limitations of the current survey findings discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with problems of personal safety and security in current times. It addresses a variety of dangerous situations and their prudent avoidance. Training and education for classes at risk are suggested, along with the kinds of professional help that may be sought and utilized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a stark contrast between heightened perceptions of risk associated with drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) and a lack of evidence that this is a widespread threat. Through surveys and interviews with university students in the United Kingdom and United States, we explore knowledge and beliefs about drink-spiking and the linked threat of sexual assault. University students in both locations are not only widely sensitized to the issue, but substantial segments claim first- or second-hand experience of particular incidents. We explore students’ understanding of the DFSA threat in relationship to their attitudes concerning alcohol, binge-drinking, and responsibility for personal safety. We suggest that the drink-spiking narrative has a functional appeal in relation to the contemporary experience of young women's public drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses a case in which an ambulance crew and Mobile Medical Team (MMT) were intoxicated by the insecticide Methylbromide following a chemical incident at a container port. The author explains that healthcare providers cannot always oversee an accident scene. An overview of prehospital care in The Netherlands is included. Signs and symptoms of methylbromide intoxication are listed.

Among numerous changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, most yoga classes have repositioned online. However benefits, difficulties and satisfaction of teaching yoga online remain to be studied. With this background the present survey aimed to determine: (i) benefits, disadvantages and satisfaction of teaching yoga online and (ii) their association with characteristics related to (a) socio-demographic, (b) online yoga teaching experience and (c) yoga practice. Three hundred and five yoga instructors were invited to take part in the online survey. Of these, 181 (m:f = 98:83) responded to the survey satisfactorily and were included. The three most common benefits of teaching yoga online were: (i) a sense of safety from risk of COVID-19 (93.92%), (ii) cost saving (82.87%) and (iii) wider access to trainees within India (77.90%). The three most common disadvantages were: (i) technical difficulties (74.03%), (ii) missing in-person contact (63.90%) and (iii) concern that online instructions can lead to injury (59.16%). Around 66.30% respondents were satisfied with the monitoring of trainees during online yoga classes while 70.16% respondents were satisfied with the level of attention they could pay to the topic they were teaching during online yoga class. The benefits and disadvantages of teaching yoga online varied with the characteristics of yoga instructors (p < 0.05, χ2 test). The benefits and disadvantages of teaching yoga online are of relevance during and beyond the pandemic. Characteristics related to (i) socio-demographics, (ii) online yoga teaching and (iii) yoga practice influence reported benefits and disadvantages of teaching yoga online. • Benefits and disadvantages of online yoga reported by yoga instructors. • An online convenience sample survey from India. • Three benefits: safety from COVID-19, cost saving and wider access to trainees. • Three disadvantages: technical difficulties, missing in-person contact and concern about injury. • Teleyoga has benefits which can extend post-pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Urban dwellers experience conflicting thoughts and feelings about urban woodlands; valued for their natural qualities, the relief they provide from the stress of modern urban living and the opportunities they afford for children''s play and exploration. At the same time the seclusion inherent in this type of urban greenspace seems fraught with risk from crime, vandalism and abuse. Whilst many of these characteristics are well-researched, less is known about the differing perceptions of particular social groups. This study aimed to explore the ways in which age affects urban dwellers’ aspirations, values and fears concerning the woods, and woodland accessibility, focusing on the views of elderly people (aged over 65). This pilot study was based in Norfolk Heritage Park, an urban park containing a variety of woodland settings located in Sheffield, UK. The questionnaire survey (participants n=97) revealed that although walking is the most popular leisure activity, most respondents did not visit urban parks as often as they would like, regardless of age. Whilst many of the meanings associated with urban woodland (“relaxation”, “peacefulness”, “seasonal change”, “scenery” and “education”) were shared amongst age groups, it seemed that the elderly respondents particularly valued the woods for their links with the past, and opportunities for immersion in the natural world. Some respondents from all age groups had fears about their personal security in the woodland, and the concerns of the elderly were heightened by their perceived frailty, reduced mobility and sense of vulnerability; this age group had a corresponding need for particular measures to alleviate these problems. The study provides preliminary evidence for the idea that adults of different ages have differing perceptions and requirements in relation to urban woodlands. Due to the small sample size and other methodological issues, further research is needed to confirm and develop the findings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study evaluates “woodland in the ecological style” as a setting for contemporary housing by means of a case study of Birchwood, Warrington New Town, UK, using a postal questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to reveal residents’ perceptions of the aesthetic and safety aspects of the woodland, together with its underlying meanings. Most Birchwood residents liked the visual appearance of their street, though they had both positive and negative feelings towards its “trees and greenery”. Woodland in the local area figured prominently amongst the residents’ favourite places though some feared that they would be the victims of physical or sexual assault, or of robbery or intimidation from groups of young people in the woodland, and women felt particularly vulnerable. Whilst the woodland was significant for many residents it was not strongly identified with Birchwood as a place: the quality of the community as symbolised by the behaviour of local individuals, community groups and institutions was regarded as a more potent measure of local identity. Colourful and well-tended landscape interventions had the ability to act as signs of a caring community. The contribution of these findings to theoretical frameworks of residential satisfaction, restorative experiences and place identity is discussed: it is suggested, inter alia, that whilst signs of individual and collective care in the landscape contribute to communal place identity, individual experiences of wilder urban green spaces, including those of a restorative nature, are formative of individual place attachment. The implications for planning, design and management with ecological woodland are explored: urban dwellers should be able to choose their preferred way of interacting with the woodland, residential settings should accommodate a wide variety of user needs, and the vegetation on and around the streetscape should be proactively managed in consultation with the community. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Nurses have been advised to encourage older persons to keep their doors locked, but there is little guidance about how home care providers should best gain access to the homes of clients. During a descriptive phenomenological study of the experience of home care (N = 25), 9 frail older women explained their strategies for allowing providers access to their homes. Women who typically left their doors open for their own reasons were not uncomfortable leaving the door open when a provider was expected. However, women who left the door unlocked at the request of a provider expressed misgivings about doing so. Older women need personalized counseling about ensuring access to care providers while maximizing safety. For practical, ethical, and legal reasons, home care providers who ask older women to leave their doors open should reconsider that strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Assessment of the sensitivity and specificity of two commercially available ‘drug-facilitated sexual assault’ drug detector kits, Drink Guard and Drink Detective. Design Experimental. Setting Laboratory. Measurements Gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) sodium salt, ketamine hydrochloride, temazepam, flunitrazepam and diazepam were dissolved (Tween added to benzodiazepine solutions) as separate stock solutions and added to 330 ml samples of cola (Pepsi Max®), beer (Stella Artois®), ‘alcopop’ (Bacardi Breezer®) and placebo (distilled water). The doses used are reported to be common in cases of intoxication. Each kit was tested 10 times for each drink/drug combination. Two blind, independent observers scored each test (presence/absence of drug) in accordance with kit instructions; χ2 was used to compare the proportion of times raters scored tests correctly and incorrectly. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated overall, for each drink, and sensitivity was calculated for each drug. Inter-observer agreement was evaluated using the kappa statistic. Findings While both raters were able to score significantly more tests correctly than incorrectly using Drink Detective, and one rater scored similarly using Drink Guard, the overall sensitivity of Drink Detective and Drink Guard was 69.0% (95% CI 64.2–73.5%) and 37.5% (95% CI 30.1–45.5%), respectively. Sensitivity was drink-dependent. Drink Detective was unable to detect our dose of GHB in water, with all tests scored negatively by both raters for this drink/drug combination ( n = 20 negative scores). Overall, specificity was 76.6% (95% CI 71.5–81.0%) and 87.9% (95% CI 83.0–91.6%) for Drink Guard and Drink Detective, respectively, but was affected by the beverage. Inter-rater agreement was poor for Drink Guard (kappa = 0.278 ± 0.069) but excellent for Drink Detective (kappa = 0.894 ± 0.245). Inter-observer agreement was drug-dependent. Conclusions Use of drug detector kits by the public in the night-time environment needs further investigation and may create a false sense of security (false negatives) and undue concern (false positives) among kit users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare organizations and social services deal with issues of personal security. They are involved in risk assessment and in the protection of individuals and families. However, their mission in this domain is not defined, and its boundaries are not set. The article discusses the right to personal security. The duty of the state to guarantee this right is stated by international declarations and conventions that were ratified by the United Kingdom, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights that was adopted into domestic English law. In the application of the right to personal security, and the state's duty to secure this right, two independent processes are taking place. First, in the United Kingdom, the English courts are reluctant to recognize an affirmative right to personal security and to impose on state and public agencies a duty to secure this right. Second, as in many other service areas, this duty is rendered to the community. It is vital for the social services to discuss this duty, especially when they are called to vouch for the personal security of individuals and families in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors describe an overview of the pilot project Taking Charge, a 36-hour comprehensive behavioral intervention involving psychoeducation, personal safety, and self-defense training for 12 female veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from military sexual trauma. Self-defense training can incorporate the benefits of repeated exposure while teaching proactive cognitive and behavioral responses to the feared stimuli, and thus facilitate emotional and physical rescripting of and mastery over the trauma. Results up to 6 months follow-up indicate significant reductions in behavioral avoidance, PTSD hyperarousal, and depression, with significant increases in interpersonal, activity, and self-defense self-efficacy. The authors propose that this therapeutic self-defense curriculum provides an enhanced exposure therapy paradigm that may be a potent therapeutic tool in the treatment of PTSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A victimisation study conducted among 3300 householders in South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality (NMMM) in the Eastern Cape Province aimed to inform a crime prevention strategy for the metropolitan area. The study found that the variables ‘fear of crime’ – measured in terms of perceived likelihood of victimisation – and concern about ‘personal safety’ had greater negative influence on life satisfaction than actual victimisation. Individual crimes against the person had greater negative influence on subjective wellbeing and feelings of personal safety than property and other household crimes. Individuals who perceived themselves to be at risk of becoming a victim of crime also perceived greater risk of other misfortunes. However, materially better-off victims reported higher levels of life satisfaction than non-victims in spite of their crime experience. South Africa has high crime rates by international standards and fighting crime presents the country with one of its major challenges in the second decade of democracy. Nevertheless, findings suggest that the negative impact of crime issues on achieving the good life are overshadowed by issues of racial inequalities and poverty. The conclusion is drawn that residents of Nelson Mandela Metropole are hardy when it comes to living with crime but nonetheless suffer stress in doing so. From a methodological perspective, the discussion considers whether subjective crime issues such as fear of crime and personal safety should be regarded as personal or neighbourhood quality-of-life issues. Based on survey findings, the conclusion is drawn that concern for personal safety is both. However, a crime-as-neighbourhood-issue is more likely to attract remedial action on the part␣of␣local authorities to better protect citizens and allay their fears of crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assessed perceptions of vulnerability and the desire for personal safety/self-defense (PS/SD) training among 67 female veterans receiving outpatient mental health treatment, primarily for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from sexual and/or physical trauma. Consistent with the literature on the impact of such training on nonclinical populations and on individuals with visual impairments, the results of this study indicate that traumatized female veterans believe that PS/SD training would be an effective and powerful addition to more traditional treatments for PTSD. Study participants indicated they believe such training would positively affect their sense of personal safety; promote increased competence in thwarting future assaults; improve their self-esteem, confidence, and assertiveness; and reduce avoidant and agoraphobic behaviors. These pilot results support the development of an adjunct intervention to augment current PTSD treatments for women veterans with histories of sexual and physical trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to introduce people working in the field of learning disabilities to the concept of 'protective behaviours' (PBs). It suggests that the PBs approach is relevant to people with learning disabilities, particularly in relation to issues of vulnerability and empowerment. The paper briefly overviews the basic features of the PBs approach and provides examples of its application in clinical settings. It concludes that the PBs process is of fundamental importance to services for people with learning disabilities and recommends that professionals would benefit from attending any training opportunities that may arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between spatial arrangement and vegetation structure was systematically examined in the context of an urban park in an impoverished area of Sheffield, UK. Local residents rated digitally manipulated photographs depicting different spatial arrangements of mature trees and edge treatments for safety and preference. Spatial arrangement was the most important factor in determining sense of safety but not preference. Perception of edge treatment varied significantly according to variation in spatial arrangement in ratings for both safety and preference. The results of this study suggest that more naturalistic vegetation can be introduced into parks and green spaces without necessarily making the parks appear unsafe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a study that examined the living conditions and analyzed the determinants of quality of life satisfaction among 59 Black women 75 years and older. The contextual framework of this study provide for a structure within which to examine some of the everyday issues and characteristics that contribute to life quality satisfaction for the elderly as well as the order of their importance to the subjects of this study. This framework also challenges existing policies that govern how the elderly deal with the issues of aging. This framework directly connects study findings to policy recommendations. This study sought to test the following two hypotheses: one, among African American women 75 years of age and older, satisfaction with quality of life is positively and significantly correlated with being embedded in a particularly ordered, familial and social support network, and two, physical independence and personal safety is positively and significantly associated with quality of life satisfaction. These hypothetical assumptions are based on the theoretical approaches of social phenomenology and political economy that provide the study's contextual framework. The findings indicate that satisfaction with quality of life is significantly associated with belonging to a family and social support network that includes church, as well as maintaining physical health independence and personal safety. These findings hold implications for the design of social work services to the Black middle-income elderly as well for future development of public policy that focuses on providing effective help for older Americans in all their diversity.

More and more ships are coming to the economic end of life nowadays, it is a sustainable way to send end-of-life ships for recycling considering the material circulation by the ship owners. Due to the hazardous materials and dangerous working process, it is important for the ship recycling companies to ensure the workers' safety. Herein, the objective of this study is to find out the factors affecting personal safety during ship recycling activities, and to evaluate their interrelationships. By exploring the main steps, hazardous materials and potential risks during ship recycling, customized factors affecting workers' safety were proposed. A questionnaire survey about the proposed factors was designed and conducted by scholars, managers and workers in ship recycling industry. Meanwhile, a theoretical model with hypotheses was developed and evaluated based on structural equation modeling by using the survey data. The findings showed that all the proposed factors, i.e., disposal of hazardous materials, dismantling operation safety, dismantling operation management, dismantling operation equipment, and safety awareness, directly or indirectly affect personal safety during ship dismantling, especially the dismantling operation management factor. The implications and limitations of this study were also discussed, which could be beneficial to ship recycling companies and policy makers. • Factors affecting personal safety were proposed by analyzing the hazardous materials and risks during ship dismantling. • SEM method was applied to evaluate the interrelationships of DOM, DHM, DOS, DOE, SAW and PES factors. • Dismantling operation management factor dramatically affects personal safety during ship dismantling. • The theoretical and managerial implications on ship recycling companies and policy makers were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes geospatial datasets and exemplary data across five environmental domains (walkability, socioeconomic deprivation, urbanicity, personal safety, and food outlet accessibility). The environmental domain is one of four domains (behavioral, biological, environmental and psychosocial) in which the Accumulating Data to Optimally Predict obesity Treatment (ADOPT) Core Measures Project suggested measures to help explain variation in responses to weight loss interventions. These data are intended to facilitate additional research on potential environmental moderators of responses to weight loss, physical activity, or diet related interventions. These data represent a mix of publicly and commercially available pre-existing data that were downloaded, cleaned, restructured and analyzed to create datasets at the United States (U.S.) block group and/or census tract level for the five domains. Additionally, the resource includes detailed methods for obtaining, cleaning and summarizing two datasets concerning safety and the food environment that are only available commercially. Across the five domains considered, we include component as well as derived variables for three of the five domains. There are two versions of the National Walkability Index Dataset (one based on 2013 data and one on 2019 data) consisting of 15 variables. The Neighborhood Deprivation Index dataset contains 18 variables and is based on the US Census Bureau's 5-year American Community Survey (ACS) data for 2013-2017. The urbanicity dataset contains 11 variables and is based on USDA rural-urban commuting (RUCA) codes and Census Bureau urban/rural population data from 2010. Personal safety and food outlet accessibility data were purchased through commercial vendors and are not in the public domain. Thus, only exemplary figures and detailed instructions are provided. The website housing these datasets and examples should serve as a valuable resource for researchers who wish to examine potential environmental moderators of responses to weight loss and related interventions in the U.S., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships which have or could be perceived to have influenced the work reported in this article.