Search

Person-centered language has increasingly been adopted in criminal legal contexts. Recognizing the harmful effects of stigmatizing language, some states have mandated correctional staff to use person-centered language instead of "prisoner" or "inmate." However, little is known about the implementation of these mandates. To address this, the current study utilized interviews with 87 incarcerated people and 15 staff members in two prisons in a state that recently adopted a mandate. The findings suggest that the mandate has not substantially altered the terminology used or treatment people receive. This research builds understanding of how language affects the carceral experience, highlighting its limitations when unaccompanied by culture change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study explores the relationship between demographic factors and attitudes toward criminal justice funding in the United States. Specifically, we explore responses from two years of data from the United States General Social Survey, both prior to and after the dramatic events of 2020, during which reformers called for a reduction in funding for law enforcement agencies as a response to high-profile incidents of police violence. We find that while certain demographic traits align with previous understandings of public attitudes toward police funding, the relationship between gender and these attitudes presents a notable exception; race appears less predictive than expected. Additionally, the impact of racially prejudiced views on opinions about law enforcement funding has grown more pronounced over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner aggression (IPA) is a costly and incompletely understood phenomenon. Negative urgency, the tendency to act impulsively in response to negative affect, is predictive of IPA perpetration. Mindfulness, by virtue of its emphasis on nonreactivity to negative affect, is an opposing force to urgent tendencies that may mitigate the negative urgency‐IPA link. Yet, no research to date investigates the interactive effects of negative urgency and mindfulness on IPA perpetration. Two studies were conducted that measured and manipulated multiple facets of mindfulness alongside measures of negative urgency and tendencies of IPA perpetration (combined N = 508 undergraduate students in monogamous intimate relationships). Counter to our preregistered predictions, we found that negative urgency's association with greater IPA perpetration increased at higher levels of mindfulness. These findings suggest that mindfulness may not be a protective factor against IPA perpetration for individuals higher in negative urgency, but rather may serve as a risk factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, impacting their own air quality through occupancy and activities. Human VOC emissions indoors from exercise are still relatively uncertain, and questions remain about emissions from chlorine‐based cleaners. To investigate these and other issues, the ATHLETic center study of Indoor Chemistry (ATHLETIC) campaign was conducted in the weight room of the Dal Ward Athletic Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. Using a Vocus Proton‐Transfer‐Reaction Time‐of‐Flight Mass Spectrometer (Vocus PTR‐TOF), an Aerodyne Gas Chromatograph (GC), an Iodide‐Chemical Ionization Time‐of‐Flight Mass Spectrometer (I‐CIMS), and Picarro cavity ringdown spectrometers, we alternated measurements between the weight room and supply air, allowing for determination of VOC, NH3, H2O, and CO2 emission rates per person (emission factors). Human‐derived emission factors were higher than previous studies of measuring indoor air quality in rooms with individuals at rest and correlated with increased CO2 emission factors. Emission factors from personal care products (PCPs) were consistent with previous studies and typically decreased throughout the day. In addition, N‐chloraldimines were observed in the gas phase after the exercise equipment was cleaned with a dichlor solution. The chloraldimines likely originated from reactions of free amino acids with HOCl on gym surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the sources and composition of organic aerosol (OA) in indoor environments requires rapid measurements, since many emissions and processes have short timescales. However, real‐time molecular‐level OA measurements have not been reported indoors. Here, we present quantitative measurements, at a time resolution of five seconds, of molecular ions corresponding to diverse aerosol‐phase species, by applying extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (EESI‐MS) to indoor air analysis for the first time, as part of the highly instrumented HOMEChem field study. We demonstrate how the complex spectra of EESI‐MS are screened in order to extract chemical information and investigate the possibility of interference from gas‐phase semivolatile species. During experiments that simulated the Thanksgiving US holiday meal preparation, EESI‐MS quantified multiple species, including fatty acids, carbohydrates, siloxanes, and phthalates. Intercomparisons with Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) and Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer suggest that EESI‐MS quantified a large fraction of OA. Comparisons with FIGAERO‐CIMS shows similar signal levels and good correlation, with a range of 100 for the relative sensitivities. Comparisons with SV‐TAG for phthalates and with SV‐TAG and AMS for total siloxanes also show strong correlation. EESI‐MS observations can be used with gas‐phase measurements to identify co‐emitted gas‐ and aerosol‐phase species, and this is demonstrated using complementary gas‐phase PTR‐MS observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We deployed an extractive electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (EESI-MS) for airborne measurements of biomass burning aerosol during the Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) study onboard the NASA DC-8 research aircraft. Through optimization of the electrospray working solution, active control of the electrospray region pressure, and precise control of electrospray capillary position, we achieved 1 Hz quantitative measurements of aerosol nitrocatechol and levoglucosan concentrations up to pressure altitudes of 7 km. EESI-MS response to levoglucosan and nitrocatechol was calibrated for each flight, with flight-to-flight calibration variability of 60% (1σ). Laboratory measurements showed no aerosol size dependence in EESI-MS sensitivity below particle geometric diameters of 400 nm, covering 82% of accumulation mode aerosol mass during FIREX-AQ. We also present a first in-field intercomparison of EESI-MS with a chemical analysis of aerosol online proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometer (CHARON PTR-MS) and a high-resolution Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS). EESI-MS and CHARON PTR-MS levoglucosan concentrations were well correlated, with a regression slope of 0.94, R² = 0.77. AMS levoglucosan-equivalent concentrations and EESI-MS levoglucosan showed greater difference, with a regression slope of 1.36, R² = 0.96, likely indicating the contribution of other compounds to the AMS levoglucosan-equivalent measurement. Total EESI-MS signal showed correlation (R² = 0.9) with total organic aerosol measured by AMS, and the EESI-MS bulk organic aerosol sensitivity was 60% of the sensitivity to levoglucosan standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a field-deployable gas chromatograph (GC) with thermal desorption preconcentration (TDPC), which is demonstrated here with automatic detector switching between two high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometers (TOF-MS) for in situ measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This system provides many analytical advances including acquisition of fast time-response data in tandem with molecular speciation and two types of mass spectral information for each resolved GC peak: molecular ion identification from Vocus proton transfer reaction (PTR) TOF-MS and fragmentation pattern from electron ionization (EI) TOF-MS detection. This system was deployed during the 2018 ATHLETIC campaign at the University of Colorado Dal Ward Athletic Center in Boulder, Colorado where it was used to characterize VOC emissions in the indoor environment. The addition of the TDPC-GC increased the Vocus sensitivity by a factor of 50 due to preconcentration over a 6 min GC sample time versus direct air sampling with the Vocus which was operated with a time resolution of 1 Hz. The GC-TOF methods demonstrated average limits of detection of 1.6 ppt across a range of monoterpenes and aromatics. Here, we describe the method to use the two-detector system to conclusively identify a range of VOCs including hydrocarbons, oxygenates and halocarbons, along with detailed results including the quantification of anthropogenic monoterpenes, where limonene accounted for 47-80 % of the indoor monoterpene composition. We also report the detection of dimethylsilanediol (DMSD), an organosiloxane degradation product, which was observed with dynamic temporal behavior distinct from volatile organosiloxanes (e.g. decamethylcyclopentasiloxane, D5 siloxane). Our results suggest DMSD is produced from humidity-dependent, heterogeneous reactions occurring on surfaces in the indoor environment, rather than formed through gas-phase oxidation of volatile siloxanes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tattoos have made their way from prisons to fashion runways, but are they still perceived by law enforcement as marks of deviance? The purpose of this study is to examine law enforcement arrest patterns to determine the relationship between tattoos and offense charges. This study analyzes a random sample of arrestees from a large county in the Southern U.S. Using logistic regression models, the relationship between tattoos, tattoo location, number of offense charges, and severity of offense charges is examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines death/life capital sentences in one southern state, North Carolina, during the period 1990 to 2010 to determine the extent to which they are comparatively excessive/lenient. The study employs data derived from a variety of official sources on the population of capital trials in the state during this timeframe and follows the analytic techniques developed by David Baldus and his colleagues and by Paternoster and Kazyaka in their studies of comparative excessiveness in capital sentencing in California, Georgia, and South Carolina, respectively. The results show a substantial number of death sentences that meet the standard for excessiveness, but the data also show a nearly equal number of life sentences that may be deemed too lenient. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry are pushing for increased use of recycled polyethylene terephthalate. Packaging materials made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate are used for direct food contact in recycled rigid containers and films. Most recycled polyethylene terephthalate packaging materials contain heavy metal catalysts, the most common being antimony. The recycling process has the potential to increase degradation products, chemical additives and polymerization side-products. Recent studies using inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry confirmed the presence of cadmium, chromium, lead, nickel and antimony in food packaging. These heavy metals have the potential to migrate onto and into food products, and limited governmental regulation of these contaminants in recycled polyethylene terephthalate packaging materials increases public health risks. In this study, 22 samples of known heavy metal content were tested for heavy metal migration of lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel and antimony into a 5% aqueous citric acid solution or deionized water. Samples were exposed for 5 min to microwaves from a 1700 W microwave oven set to 70% power, or were stored at 7.2 or 22.2℃ for 1, 7 or 14 days before testing. The samples were analyzed for heavy metal content per ASTM E1613-04, the standard test method for the determination of lead by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. Neither the storage nor the microwave treatments had a significant effect on heavy metal migration, while exposure to 5% aqueous citric acid resulted in a higher rate of heavy metal leaching from the recycled polyethylene terephthalate compared to samples exposed to deionized water. A very low percentage of the samples tested had heavy metals migrate above detectable levels indicating that most recycled polyethylene terephthalate packaging materials are relatively safe for direct food contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]