Search results for: rape victims

Authors: Martin Popescu D. Dana Maria

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The aims of this research are to broaden the study on the relationship between emotional intelligence and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). The study sample consisted in 441 Romanian employees from companies all over the country. Data has been collected through web surveys and processed with SPSS. The results indicated an average correlation between the two constructs and their sub variables, employees with a high level of emotional intelligence tend to be less aggressive. In addition, labeling was considered an individual difference which has the power to influence the level of employee aggression. A regression model was used to underline the importance of emotional intelligence together with labeling as predictors of CWB. Results have shown that this regression model enforces the assumption that labeling and emotional intelligence, taken together, predict CWB. Employees, who label themselves as victims and have a low degree of emotional intelligence, have a higher level of CWB.

Keywords: aggression, CWB, emotional intelligence, labeling

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Authors: Tapiwa Shumba

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The right to fairness and access to appeals and reviews enshrined under the South African Constitution seeks to ensure that justice is served. In essence, the constitution and the law have put in place mechanisms to ensure that a miscarriage of justice through wrongful convictions does not occur. However, once convicted and sentenced on appeal the procedural safeguards seem to resign as if to say, the accused has met his fate. The challenge with this construction is that even within an ideally perfect legal system wrongful convictions would still occur. Therefore, it is not so much of the failings of a legal system that demand attention but mechanisms to redress the results of such failings where evidence becomes available that a wrongful conviction occurred. In this context, this paper looks at the South African criminal procedural mechanisms for litigating innocence post-conviction. The discussion focuses on the role of section 327 of the South African Criminal Procedure Act and its apparent shortcomings in providing an avenue for victims of miscarriages to litigate their innocence by adducing new evidence at any stage during their wrongful incarceration. By looking at developments in other jurisdiction such as the United Kingdom, where South African criminal procedure draws much of its history, and the North Carolina example which in itself was inspired by the UK Criminal Cases Review Commission, this paper is able to make comparisons and draw invaluable lessons for the South African criminal justice system. Lessons from these foreign jurisdictions show that South African post-conviction criminal procedures need reform in line with constitutional values of human dignity, equality before the law, openness and transparency. The paper proposes an independent review of the current processes to assess the current post-conviction procedures under section 327. The review must look into the effectiveness of the current system and how it can be improved in line with new substantive legal provisions creating access to DNA evidence for post-conviction exonerations. Although the UK CCRC body should not be slavishly followed, its operations and the process leading to its establishment certainly provide a good point of reference and invaluable lessons for the South African criminal justice system seeing that South African law on this aspect has generally followed the English approach except that current provisions under section 327 are a mirror of the discredited system of the UK’s previous dispensation. A new independent mechanism that treats innocent victims of the criminal justice system with dignity away from the current political process is proposed to enable the South African criminal justice to benefit fully from recent and upcoming advances in science and technology.

Keywords: innocence, forensic law, post-conviction remedies, South African criminal justice system, wrongful conviction

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Authors: Kristina F. Wolff

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Background: In the Federal Republic of Germany, violence against women is deeply embedded in society. Germany is, as of March 2020, the most populous member state of the European Union with 83.2 million inhabitants and, although more than half of its inhabitants are women, gender equality was not certified in the Basic Law until 1957. Women have only been allowed to enter paid employment without their husband's consent since 1977 and have marital rape prosecuted only since 1997. While the lack of equality between men and women is named in the preamble of the Istanbul Convention as the cause of gender-specific, structural, traditional violence against women, Germany continues to sink on the latest Gender Equality Index. According to Police Crime Statistics (PCS), women are significantly more often victims of lethal violence, emanating from men than vice versa. The PCS, which, since 2015, also collects gender-specific data on violent crimes, is kept by the Federal Criminal Police Office, but without taking into account the relevant criteria for targeted prevention, such as the history of violence of the perpetrator/killer, weapon, motivation, etc.. Institutions such as EIGE or the World Health Organization have been asking Germany for years in vain for comparable data on violence against women in order to gain an overview or to develop cross-border synergies. The PCS are the only official data collection on violence against women. All players involved are depend on this data set, which is published only in November of the following year and is thus already completely outdated at the time of publication. In order to combat German femicides causally, purposefully and efficiently, evidence-based data was urgently needed. Methodology: Beginning in January 2019, a database was set up that now tracks more than 600 German femicides, broken down by more than 100 crime-related individual criteria, which in turn go far beyond the official PCS. These data are evaluated on the one hand by daily media research, and on the other hand by case-specific inquiries at the respective public prosecutor's offices and courts nationwide. This quantitative long-term study covers domestic violence as well as a variety of different types of gender-specific, lethal violence, including, for example, femicides committed by German citizens abroad. Additionallyalcohol/ narcotic and/or drug abuse, infanticides and the gender aspect in the judiciary are also considered. Results: Since November 2020, evidence-based data from a scientific survey have been available for the first time in Germany, supplementing the rudimentary picture of reality provided by PCS with a number of relevant parameters. The most important goal of the study is to identify "red flags" that enable general preventive awareness, that serve increasingly precise hazard assessment in acute hazard situations, and from which concrete instructions for action can be identified. Already at a very early stage of the study it could be proven that in more than half of all femicides with a sexual perpetrator/victim constellation there was an age difference of five years or more. Summary: Without reliable data and an understanding of the nature and extent, cause and effect, it is impossible to sustainably curb violence against girls and women, which increasingly often culminates in femicide. In Germany, valid data from a scientific survey has been available for the first time since November 2020, supplementing the rudimentary reality picture of the official and, to date, sole crime statistics with several relevant parameters. The basic research provides insights into geo-concentration, monthly peaks and the modus operandi of male violent excesses. A significant increase of child homicides in the course of femicides and/or child homicides as an instrument of violence against the mother could be proven as well as a danger of affected persons due to an age difference of five years and more. In view of the steadily increasing wave of violence against women, these study results are an eminent contribution to the preventive containment of German femicides.

Keywords: femicide, violence against women, gender specific data, rule Of law, Istanbul convention, gender equality, gender based violence

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Authors: Benjamin Okike

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There is a need to hide information along the superhighway. Today, information relating to the survival of individuals, organizations, or government agencies is transmitted from one point to another. Adversaries are always on the watch along the superhighway to intercept any information that would enable them to inflict psychological ‘injuries’ to their victims. But with information encryption, this can be prevented completely or at worst reduced to the barest minimum. There is no doubt that so many encryption techniques have been proposed, and some of them are already being implemented. However, adversaries always discover loopholes on them to perpetuate their evil plans. In this work, we propose the enhanced data encryption standard (EDES) that would deploy randomly generated numbers as an encryption method. Each time encryption is to be carried out, a new set of random numbers would be generated, thereby making it almost impossible for cryptanalysts to decrypt any information encrypted with this newly proposed method.

Keywords: encryption, enhanced data encryption, encryption techniques, information security

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Authors: Elizabeth Carthy

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There is growing recognition that sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) perpetrated by humanitarian workers is widespread, most recently affirmed by allegations of high-ranking Oxfam officials paying women for sex in post-earthquake Haiti. SEA covers a range of gendered abuses, including rape, sexual assault, and ‘transactional’ or ‘survival’ sex. Holding individuals legally accountable for such behaviors is difficult in all contexts even more so in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Transactional sex, for the purposes of this paper, refers to situations where humanitarian workers exchange aid or assistance for sexual services. This paper explores existing organizational accountability measures relating to transactional sex engaged in by international humanitarian workers through a descriptive and interpretive case study approach-examining the situation in Haiti. It comparatively analyses steps the United Nations has taken to combat this problem. Then it examines the possibility of domestic legal accountability for such conduct in Haiti. Finally, the paper argues that international human rights law can fill in potential gaps in domestic legal frameworks to ensure states hold humanitarian workers and potentially organizations accountable for engaging in and/or perpetuating this gendered abuse of power.

Keywords: gender-based violence, humanitarian action, international human rights law, sexual exploitation

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Authors: Ana Campina, José Caramelo Gomes, Maria Emília Teixeira, Cristina Costa-Lobo

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In the pursuit of educational equity within Human Rights and European Fundamental Laws, the reality presents serious problems based on the psychologic, social understanding. Take into account the miscellaneous cultures in the global context and the nowadays numbers of Human mobilities, there are serious problems affecting the societies. This justifies the diagnosed need of a renew pedagogical and social education strategy to achieve the integration positive context preventing violence and discrimination, especially in Education systems. Consequently, it is important to have in mind the respect, acceptance, and integration of special needs students in all study degrees, as it is law but a complex reality. Despite the UN and International Human Rights, European Fundamental Chart, and all EU Treats, as the 28th EU State Member’s fundamental laws forecast the right of Education, the respect, the action and promotion of different cultures and the Education for ‘Difference’ integration – cultures; ideologies, Special Needs Students/Citizens – there are different and severe problems. Firstly, there are questions/contexts/problems not denounced by the lack of investments, political, social or ‘powers’ pressures, so, consequently, the authorities don’t have the action as laws demand and the transgressors haven´t any juridical or judicial punishment. Secondly, and our most important point: Governments, authorities and even victims hide these violations/violence/problems what disable the effective protection and law enforcement. Finally, the official and non-official strategies to get around the duties, break away the laws, failing the victims protection and consequently enable the problems increase dramatically. With this research, we observed that there are international Organizations/regions and States acting without respect to the Education right despite their democratic ideology and the generated external ‘image’ of law-abiding and Human Rights defenders. Nevertheless, it is urgent to develop a consistent Human Rights Education program aiming to protect, promote and implement the Right to be different and be respected by the law, the governments, institutions official and non-official, adapted to the needs in each society. The background of this research is the International and European laws, in accordance with the state’s legal systems. The approaches and the differences of the Education for Human and Fundamental Rights execution in the different EU countries, studying the pedagogy and social inclusion programs/strategies, with particular analysis of the Special Needs students. The results aim to construct a European Education profiling, with the governments and EU interventions need, as well as the panorama of the Special Needs Students effective integration achieving a renewed strategy to promote the respect of the Differences and an Inclusive School life.

Keywords: international human rights, culture, differences, European education profiling

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Authors: Febrian Tegar Wicaksana, Niqmatul Kurniati, Surya Nandika

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Indonesia is one of the countries that have great number of disaster occurrence and threat because it is located in not only between three tectonic plates such as Eurasia plates, Indo-Australia plates and Pacific plates, but also in the Ring of Fire path, like earthquake, Tsunami, volcanic eruption and many more. Recently, research shows that there are potential areas that will be devastated by Tsunami in southern coast of Java. Tsunami is a series of waves in a body of water caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean. When the waves enter shallow water, they may rise to several feet or, in rare cases, tens of feet, striking the coast with devastating force. The parameter for reference such as magnitude, the depth of epicentre, distance between epicentres with land, the depth of every points, when reached the shore and the growth of waves. Interaction between parameters will bring the big variance of Tsunami wave. Based on that, we can formulate preparation that needed for disaster mitigation strategies. The mitigation strategies will take the important role in an effort to reduce the number of victims and damage in the area. It will reduce the number of victim and casualties. Reducing is directed to the most difficult mobilization casualties in the tsunami disaster area like old people, sick people and disabilities people. Until now, the method that used for rescuing people from Tsunami is basic horizontal evacuation. This evacuation system is not optimal because it needs so long time and it cannot be used by people with disabilities. The writers propose to create a vertical evacuation model with an escape bunker system. This bunker system is chosen because the downward vertical evacuation is considered more efficient and faster. Especially in coastal areas without any highlands surround it. The downward evacuation system is better than upward evacuation because it can avoid the risk of erosion at the ground around the structure which can affect the building. The structure of the bunker and the evacuation process while, and even after, disaster are the main priority to be considered. The power of bunker has quake’s resistance, the durability from water stream, variety of interaction to the ground, and waterproof design. When the situation is back to normal, victim and casualties can go into the safer place. The bunker will be located near the hospital and public places, and will have wide entrance supported by large slide in it so it will ease the disabilities people. The technology of the escape bunker system is expected to reduce the number of victims who have low mobility in the Tsunami.

Keywords: escape bunker, tsunami, vertical evacuation, mitigation, disaster management

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Authors: Gabaikanngwe Ethel Mambo, Kinyanjui Godfrey Gichuhi

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The study analysed the Children’s Act of 2009 of Botswana in curbing child sexual abuse (CSA) in Francistown and its surroundings. The qualitative methodology was used to collect data. Retrospective reports of CSA were obtained from various departments dealing with children. The research findings revealed the ineffectiveness of the Children’s Act of 2009 in identifying and preventing CSA. The Act has failed to deter or prevent the offenders from committing crimes against children. The study demonstrated an increase in CSA cases that were never reported. Lack of skills by the justice system exacerbated sexual molestation. The study also revealed that most CSA cases were underreported. Lastly, the study demonstrated those child victims were sexually molested by someone known to them.

Keywords: sexual abuse, molestation, incest, child

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Authors: Manpreet Kaur

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When legitimate credit card users are mistakenly labelled as fraudulent in numerous financial delated applications, there are numerous ethical problems. The innovative machine learning approach we have suggested in this research outperforms the current models and shows how to model a data set for credit card fraud detection while minimizing false positives. As a result, we advise using random forests as the best machine learning method for predicting and identifying credit card transaction fraud. The majority of victims of these fraudulent transactions were discovered to be credit card users over the age of 60, with a higher percentage of fraudulent transactions taking place between the specific hours.

Keywords: automated fraud detection, isolation forest method, local outlier factor, ML algorithm, credit card

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Authors: Shaneil Taylor

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Gender-based violence is a reflection of the inequalities that are associated within a society between the men and women that affects the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims. There are various determinants that contribute to the health risk of young women who have experienced sexual violence, in countries that have a high prevalence rate for HIV. For instance, in South Africa, where the highest prevalence rate for HIV is among young women, their susceptibility to the virus has been increased by sexual violence and cultural inequalities. Therefore, this study is a review of literature that explores how gender-based violence increases the possibility for HIV/AIDS among young women in South Africa.

Keywords: gender-based violence, HIV/AIDS transmission, risky sexual behavior, young women

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Authors: Chansiri Singhtaun

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This paper proposes a mathematical model and examines the performance of an exact algorithm for a location–transportation problems in humanitarian relief. The model determines the number and location of distribution centers in a relief network, the amount of relief supplies to be stocked at each distribution center and the vehicles to take the supplies to meet the needs of disaster victims under capacity restriction, transportation and budgetary constraints. The computational experiments are conducted on the various sizes of problems that are generated. Branch and bound algorithm is applied for these problems. The results show that this algorithm can solve problem sizes of up to three candidate locations with five demand points and one candidate location with up to twenty demand points without premature termination.

Keywords: disaster response, facility location, humanitarian relief, transportation

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Authors: Mandlenkosi Richard Mphatheni

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The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996 section 28(1) (d)) states, ‘Every child has the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse, and degradation’. Qualitative research studied perceptions of the selected sample. Objectives of the research were to determine factors that influence perpetrators of sexual violence to target children, the risk factors of child sexual abuse, the effects of child sexual abuse on the development of the child, and the community prevention measures to minimize the risks of child sexual abuse. The research aimed to understand perspective and experiences of the Ngangelizwe community members on the problem of sexual violence against children and the perpetrator’s perceived motive for sexually abusing children. Convenience non-probability sampling technique was adopted to select 20 participants within the Ngangelizwe Township at Mthatha. Thematic analyses were used to analyse data. It was found that sexual abuse of children affects severely child and parents, while the community reported to be trivially affected by the sexual abuse of a child. The research revealed ignorance of some forms of sexual violence, as the commonly known form of sexual violence was rape. Therefore, ignorance of community members regarding various forms of sexual abuse means that such acts are either ignored, tolerated, or even regarded as acceptable. It thus means that community members cannot reject any actions or behaviour if they themselves are ignorant of what constitutes sexual violence. This study recommends that communities should be educated about different sexual offenses.

Keywords: child sexual abuse, community, childhood attachment, adult attachment

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Authors: Mary Elizabeth Bernardin, Margie Batek, Joseph Moen, David Schnadower

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Background: Injuries due to interpersonal violence are a common reason for emergency department (ED) visits amongst the American pediatric population. Gun violence, in particular, is associated with high morbidity, mortality as well as financial costs. Patterns of pediatric ED usage may be an indicator of risk for future violence, but very little data on the topic exists. Objective: The aims of this study were to assess for frequencies of ED usage for previous interpersonal violence, mental/behavioral issues, sexual/reproductive issues and concerns for abuse in youths presenting to EDs due to physical assault injuries (PAIs) compared to firearm injuries (FIs). Methods: In this retrospective case-control study, ED charts of children ages 8-19 years who presented with injuries due to interpersonal violent encounters from 2014-2017 were reviewed. Data was collected regarding all previous ED visits for injuries due to interpersonal violence (including physical assaults and firearm injuries), mental/behavioral health visits (including depression, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, homicidal ideation and violent behavior), sexual/reproductive health visits (including sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy related issues), and concerns for abuse (including physical abuse or domestic violence, neglect, sexual abuse, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence). Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of gun violence based on previous ED visits amongst physical assault injured versus firearm injured youths. Results: A total of 407 patients presenting to the ED for an interpersonal violent encounter were analyzed, 251 (62%) of which were due to physical assault injuries (PAIs) and 156 (38%) due to firearm injuries (FIs). The majority of both PAI and FI patients had no previous history of ED visits for violence, mental/behavioral health, sexual/reproductive health or concern for abuse (60.8% PAI, 76.3% FI). 19.2% of PAI and 13.5% of FI youths had previous ED visits for physical assault injuries (OR 0.68, P=0.24, 95% CI 0.36 to 1.29). 1.6% of PAI and 3.2% of FI youths had a history of ED visits for previous firearm injuries (OR 3.6, P=0.34, 95% CI 0.04 to 2.95). 10% of PAI and 3.8% of FI youths had previous ED visits for mental/behavioral health issues (OR 0.91, P=0.80, 95% CI 0.43 to 1.93). 10% of PAI and 2.6% of FI youths had previous ED visits due to concerns for abuse (OR 0.76, P=0.55, 95% CI 0.31 to 1.86). Conclusions: There are no statistically significant differences between physical assault-injured and firearm-injured youths in terms of ED usage for previous violent injuries, mental/behavioral health visits, sexual/reproductive health visits or concerns for abuse. However, violently injured youths in this study have more than twice the number of previous ED usage for physical assaults and mental health visits than previous literature indicates. Data comparing ED usage of victims of interpersonal violence to nonviolent ED patients is needed, but this study supports the notion that EDs may be a useful place for identification of and enrollment in interventions for youths most at risk for future violence.

Keywords: child abuse, emergency department usage, pediatric gun violence, pediatric interpersonal violence, pediatric mental health, pediatric reproductive health

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Authors: Laura Lee Prather

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A functioning democracy is defined by various characteristics, including freedom of speech, equality, human rights, rule of law and many more. Lawsuits brought to intimidate speakers, drain the resources of community members, and silence journalists and others who speak out in support of matters of public concern are an abuse of the legal system and an encroachment of human rights. The impact can have a broad chilling effect, deterring others from speaking out against abuse. This article aims to suggest ways to address this form of judicial harassment. In 1988, University of Denver professors George Pring and Penelope Canan coined the term “SLAPP” when they brought to light a troubling trend of people getting sued for speaking out about matters of public concern. Their research demonstrated that thousands of people engaging in public debate and citizen involvement in government have been and will be the targets of multi-million-dollar lawsuits for the purpose of silencing them and dissuading others from speaking out in the future. SLAPP actions chill information and harm the public at large. Professors Pring and Canan catalogued a tsunami of SLAPP suits filed by public officials, real estate developers and businessmen against environmentalists, consumers, women’s rights advocates and more. SLAPPs are now seen in every region of the world as a means to intimidate people into silence and are viewed as a global affront to human rights. Anti-SLAPP laws are the antidote to SLAPP suits and while commonplace in the United States are only recently being considered in the EU and the UK. This researcher studied more than thirty years of Anti-SLAPP legislative policy in the U.S., the call for evidence and resultant EU Commission’s Anti-SLAPP Directive and Member States Recommendations, the call for evidence by the UK Ministry of Justice, response and Model Anti-SLAPP law presented to UK Parliament, as well as, conducted dozens of interviews with NGO’s throughout the EU, UK, and US to identify varying approaches to SLAPP lawsuits, public policy, and support for SLAPP victims. This paper identifies best practices taken from the US, EU and UK that can be implemented globally to help combat SLAPPs by: (1) raising awareness about SLAPPs, how to identify them, and recognizing habitual abusers of the court system; (2) engaging governments in the policy discussion in combatting SLAPPs and supporting SLAPP victims; (3) educating judges in recognizing SLAPPs an general training on encroachment of human rights; (4) and holding lawyers accountable for ravaging the rule of law.

Keywords: Anti-SLAPP Laws and Policy, Comparative media law and policy, EU Anti-SLAPP Directive and Member Recommendations, International Human Rights of Freedom of Expression

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Authors: Josie West

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This paper focuses on the conflicts and utility of Marxist Feminist frames for sex work research, drawing on findings uncovered through in-depth interviews with online sex workers, alongside critical discourse analysis of media and political commentary. It brings the critical perspective of women into digital workerism and gig economy dialogue who, despite their significant presence within online work, have been overlooked. The autonomist Marxist concept of class composition is adopted to unpack the social, technical and political composition of this often-invisible segment of the service sector. Autonomism makes visible the perspective of workers engaged in processes of mobilization and demobilizaiton. This allows researchers to find everyday forms of resistance which occur within and outside trade unions. On the other hand, Marxist feminist arguments about invisibility politics can generate unhelpful allegories about sex work as domestic labour within the reproductive sphere. Nick Srnicek’s development of Marx’s notion of infrastructure rents helps theorize experiences of unpaid labour within online sex work. Moreover, debates about anti-work politics can cause conflict among sex workers fighting for the labour movement and those rejecting the capitalist work ethic. This illuminates’ tensions caused by white privilege and differing experiences of sex work. The monopolistic and competitive nature of sex work platforms within platform capitalism, and the vulnerable position of marginalised workers within stigmatized/criminalised markets, complicates anti-work politics further. This paper is situated within the feminist sex wars and the intensely divisive question of whether sex workers are victims of the patriarchy or symbols of feminist resistance. Camgirls are shown to engage in radical tactics of resistance against their technical composition on popular sex work platforms. They also engage in creative acts of resistance through performance art, in an attempt to draw attention to stigma and anti-criminalization politics. This sector offers a fascinating window onto grassroots class-action, alongside education about ‘whorephobia.’ A case study of resistance against Only Fans, and a small workers co-operative which emerged during the pandemic, showcases how workers engage in socialist and political acts without the aid of unions. Workers are victims of neoliberalism and simultaneous adopters of neoliberal strategies of survival. The complex dynamics within unions are explored, including tensions with grass-roots resistance, financial pressures and intersecting complications of class, gender and race.

Keywords: autonomist marxism, digital labor, feminism, neoliberalism, sex work, platform capitalism

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Authors: Amer Alsari, Hassan Alhalal, Tahar Ayadat, Andi Asiz, Omar KM Ouda

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Al Khaldiyah is a regional road situated in west-south of Al Khobar, precisely in the area of Half Moon Bay. It is characterized by four lines, which become six lines in some places, in both directions extending over about 10 km length. The road extends between the bridge near the Air Force Base and Half Moon Bay Road. Many accidents have been observed in this road notably over the last two years. Many injuries and deaths were recorded, some of the victims were PMU students. Consequently, management of the road to eliminate or reduce accidents to a large extend becomes imperative. The main goal of this project are to propose sustainable solutions for the purpose optimizing safety and improving its sight view by designing some appropriate junctions including bridge and tunnel in the critical locations.

Keywords: management, road, accident, traffic, safety, sustainable, solutions

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Authors: Viacheslav Sushko, Viktor Sushko

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Pre-cancerous breast diseases are pathological changes that precede the appearance of adenocarcinoma. The most common benign breast disease is mastopathy. We examined the life and disease history of 114 women aged 58-69 who were diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the breast at different stages of development. They filled out the Reeder Scale to determine the level of stress. The results of the study revealed that 62 of them had mastopathy at the age of 30-45 years old. These women refused surgical treatment for mastopathy. Five to six years before their diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the mammary gland, 84 women had experienced severe stress (death of a beloved close relative, torture accompanied by rape, prolonged stay in extreme conditions (under bombardment and bombardment). In the assessment of data from completed Reeder scales, 114 women had a high level of mental stress, with a score from 1-1.72. The 84 women who suffered from severe stress showed overeating or a significant decrease in food intake, insomnia, apathy, increased irritability and restlessness, loss of interest in sexual relationships, forgetfulness, difficulty in performing routine work, prolonged uncontrollable headaches, unexplained fatigue, heart pain, reduced capacity for work. In conclusion, it is important to provide psychotherapy for breast cancer patients as the diagnosis, and the different stages of treatment are very stressful. It is also advisable to see a psychiatrist at an early stage and prevent distress and treat precancerous breast disease.

Keywords: breast cancer, distress, mastopathy, severe stress

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Authors: Shirin jalili, Hadi Shirzad, Samaneh Nabavi, Somayeh Khanjani

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Biosensors in forensic analysis are ideal biological tools that can be used for rapid and sensitive initial screening and testing to detect of suspicious components like biological and chemical agent in crime scenes. The wide use of different biomolecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, microorganisms, antibodies and enzymes makes it possible. These biosensors have great advantages such as rapidity, little sample manipulation and high sensitivity, also Because of their stability, specificity and low cost they have become a very important tool to Forensic analysis and detection of crime. In crime scenes different substances such as rape samples, Semen, saliva fingerprints and blood samples, act as a detecting elements for biosensors. On the other hand, successful fluid recovery via biosensor has the propensity to yield a highly valuable source of genetic material, which is important in finding the suspect. Although current biological fluid testing techniques are impaired for identification of body fluids. But these methods have disadvantages. For example if they are to be used simultaneously, Often give false positive result. These limitations can negatively result the output of a case through missed or misinterpreted evidence. The use of biosensor enable criminal researchers the highly sensitive and non-destructive detection of biological fluid through interaction with several fluid-endogenous and other biological and chemical contamination at the crime scene. For this reason, using of the biosensors for detecting the biological fluid found at the crime scenes which play an important role in identifying the suspect and solving the criminal.

Keywords: biosensors, forensic analysis, biological fluid, crime detection

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Authors: N. B. Chandrakala

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Domestic violence is one of the most under-reported crimes. Problem with domestic violence is that it is not even considered as abuse in many parts of the world especially certain parts of Asia, Africa and Middle East. It is viewed as “doing the needful”. Domestic violence could be in form of emotional harassment, physical injury or psychological abuse perpetrated by one of the family members to another. It is a worldwide phenomenon mainly targeting women. The acts of violence have terrible negative impact on women. It is also an infringement of women’s rights and can be safely termed as human rights abuse. In cases pertaining to domestic violence, male adults often misuses his authority and power to control another using physical or psychological means. Violence and other forms of abuse are common in domestic violence. Sexual assaults, molestation and battering are common in these cases. Domestic violence is a human rights issue and a serious deterrent to development. Domestic violence could also take place in subtle forms like making the person feel worthless or not giving the victims any personal space or freedom. The problematic aspect is cases of domestic violence are very rarely reported. The majority of the victims are women but children are also made to suffer silently. They are abused and neglected. Their innocent minds are adversely affected with the incidents of domestic violence. According to a report by World Health Organization (WHO), sexual trafficking, female feticide, dowry death, public humiliation and physical torture are some of the most common forms of domestic violence against Indian women. Such acts belie our growth and claim as an economic superpower. It is ironic that we claim to be one of the most rapidly advancing countries in the world and yet we have done hardly anything of note against social hazards like domestic violence. Laws are not that stringent when it comes to reporting acts of domestic violence. Even if the report is filed it turns out to be a long drawn process and not every victim has that much resource to fight till the end. It is also a social taboo to make your family matters public. The big challenge in front now is to enforce it in true sense. Steps that are actually needed; tough laws against domestic violence, speedy execution and change in the mindset of society only then we can expect to have some improvement in such inhuman cases. An effective response to violence must be multi-sectoral; addressing the immediate practical needs of women experiencing abuse; providing long-term follow up and assistance; and focusing on changing those cultural norms, attitudes and legal provisions that promote the acceptance of and even encourage violence against women, and undermine women's enjoyment of their full human rights and freedoms. Hence the responses to the problem must be based on integrated approach. The effectiveness of measures and initiatives will depend on coherence and coordination associated with their design and implementation.

Keywords: domestic violence, human rights, sexual assaults, World Health Organization

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Authors: Margaret Schmuhl, Michelle Cubellis

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Violence against women (VAW) is a widespread social problem affecting nearly two million women in the United States each year. Recently, feminist criminologists have sought to examine patriarchy as a guiding framework for understanding violence against women. Literature on VAW often examines measures of structural gender equality, often overlooking ideological patriarchy which is necessary for structural inequality to remain unchallenged. Additionally, empirical literature generally focuses on extreme forms of VAW, rape, and femicide, often neglecting more common types of violence. This literature, under the theoretical guidance of the Liberal, Radical, and Marxist feminist traditions, finds mixed support for the relationship of patriarchy and VAW. Explanations for these inconsistencies may include data availability, and the use of different operationalizations of structural patriarchy. Research is needed to examine fuller operationalizations of patriarchy in social institutions and to extend this theoretical framework to the criminal justice response to VAW (i.e., clearance rates). This study examines sexual violence clearance rates under the theoretical guidance of these feminist traditions using incident- and county-level data from National Incident Based Reporting System and other sources in multilevel modelling. The findings suggest mixed support for the feminist hypotheses and that patriarchy and gender equality differentially affect arrest clearance rates and clearance through exceptional means for sexual violence.

Keywords: clearance rates, gender equality, multilevel modelling, patriarchy, sexual victimization, violence against women

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Authors: Rocio Murad, Juan Carlos Rivillas, Nury Alejandra Rodriguez, Daniela Roldán

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In Colombia, around 5 million women have suffered forced displacement and all forms of gender-based violence, mostly adolescents and young women, single mothers, or widows with children affected by the war. After the signing of the peace agreements, the department of Antioquia has been one of the most affected by the armed conflict, from a territorial and gender perspective in the period. The objective of the research was to analyze the situation of sexual and reproductive rights in the department of Antioquia from a territorial and gender perspective in the period after the signing of the Peace Agreement. A mixed methodology was developed. The quantitative component conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study of barriers to access to contraceptive methods, safe abortion and gender-based violence based on microdata from the 2015 National Demographic and Health Survey. In the qualitative component, a case study was developed in Dabeiba, a municipality of Antioquia prioritized in order to deepen the experiences before, during and after the armed conflict in sexual and reproductive rights; using three research techniques: Focused observation, Semi-structured interviews, and Documentary review. The results showed that there is a gradient of greater vulnerability to greater effects of the conflict and that the subregion of Urabá Antioqueño, to which Dabeiba belongs, has the highest levels of vulnerability in relation to departmental data. In this subregion, the percentage of women with an unmet need for contraceptive methods (9%), women with unintended pregnancies (31%), of women between 15 and 19 years of age who are already mothers or are pregnant with their first child (32%) and the percentage of women victims of physical violence (42%) and sexual violence (13%) by their partners are significantly higher. Women, particularly rural and indigenous women, were doubly affected due to the existence of violence that is specifically directed at them or that has a greater impact on their life projects. There was evidence of insufficient, fragmented and disjointed social and institutional action in relation to women's rights and the existence of androcentric and patriarchal social imaginaries through which women and the feminine are undervalued. These results provide evidence of violations of sexual and reproductive rights in contexts of armed conflict and make it possible to identify mechanisms to guarantee the re-establishment of the rights of the victims, particularly women and girls. Among the mechanisms evidenced are: working for the elimination of gender stereotypes; supporting the formation and strengthening of women's social organizations; working for the concerted definition and articulated implementation of actions necessary to respond to sexual and reproductive health needs; and working for the recognition of reproductive violence as specific and different from sexual violence in the context of armed conflict. Also, it was evidenced that it is necessary to implement prevention, attention and reparation actions.

Keywords: sexual and reproductive rights, Colombia, armed conflict, violence against women

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Authors: Marta Maria Aguilar Carceles, Ginesa Torrente Hernandez

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The goal of the current study is focused on giving an interdisciplinary comprehension of an increased phenomenon in recent years: violence against parents. Violence can take different forms depending on the context and the vulnerability of the victims, but in this kind of situations, the relationship between parents and young people can become abusive and uncontrollable. Taking a sample from the Spanish Criminal Courts, this study explores those psychological and sociological factors that can contribute to the appearance and continuity of this kind of behaviors in minors. It is considered factors like the type of offence, presence or absence of psychopathology in the subjects, family aspects, or sociodemographic factors, getting a criminal profile of the minor and evaluating which measures are more efficient or adequate in each particular case. Finally, it will be discussed on how getting effective interventions and restorative responses to address teen violence against their parents within the Spanish Legal System.

Keywords: criminality, legal system, parents, tyrant sons, violence

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Authors: Maria C. Almario, Pam Remer, Jeff Resse, Kathy Moran, Linda Theander Adam

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The identification of victims of human trafficking and consequential service provision is characterized by a significant disconnection between the estimated prevalence of this issue and the number of cases identified. This poses as tremendous problem for human rights advocates as it prevents data collection, information sharing, allocation of resources and opportunities for international dialogues. The current paper introduces the Inclusive Human Trafficking Checklist (IHTC) as a measurement methodology with theoretical underpinnings derived from dialectic theory. The presence of human trafficking in a person’s life is conceptualized as a dynamic and dialectic interaction between vulnerability and exploitation. The current papers explores the operationalization of exploitation and vulnerability, evaluates the metric qualities of the instrument, evaluates whether there are differences in assessment based on the participant’s profession, level of knowledge, and training, and assesses if users of the instrument perceive it as useful. A total of 201 participants were asked to rate three vignettes predetermined by experts to qualify as a either human trafficking case or not. The participants were placed in three conditions: business as usual, utilization of the IHTC with and without training. The results revealed a statistically significant level of agreement between the expert’s diagnostic and the application of the IHTC with an improvement of 40% on identification when compared with the business as usual condition While there was an improvement in identification in the group with training, the difference was found to have a small effect size. Participants who utilized the IHTC showed an increased ability to identify elements of identity-based vulnerabilities as well as elements of fraud, which according to the results, are distinctive variables in cases of human trafficking. In terms of the perceived utility, the results revealed higher mean scores for the groups utilizing the IHTC when compared to the business as usual condition. These findings suggest that the IHTC improves appropriate identification of cases and that it is perceived as a useful instrument. The application of the IHTC as a multidisciplinary instrumentation that can be utilized in legal and human services settings is discussed as a pivotal piece of helping victims restore their sense of dignity, and advocate for legal, physical and psychological reparations. It is noteworthy that this study was conducted with a sample in the United States and later re-tested in Colombia. The implications of the instrument for treatment conceptualization and intervention in human trafficking cases are discussed as opportunities for enhancement of victim well-being, restoration engagement and activism. With the idea that what is personal is also political, we believe that the careful observation and data collection in specific cases can inform new areas of human rights activism.

Keywords: exploitation, human trafficking, measurement, vulnerability, screening

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Authors: Fangwen Ni, Hongpeng Xu

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When disasters occur, it is important to provide temporary shelters to protect victims from their environment and to comfort them with privacy and dignity. However, the commonly used shelters like tents and shanties can not ensure a comfortable condition. Furthermore, the demand for more energy and less pollution has become a major challenge. Focusing on the sustainable of temporary shelters, this study intends to clarify the essential role of temporary shelters before the reconstruction work is done. The paper also identifies the main problems from three aspects including spatial layout, thermal comfort and utilization of passive technology. Moreover, it expounds the passive strategies of ecological design by case study and simulation. It is found that the living condition of shelters can be improved from the perspective of architectural space, ventilation theory and construction techniques. Regardless of being temporary, these shelters are crucial elements in emergency situations and should be taken more seriously.

Keywords: architectural space, construction technique, sustainable strategy, temporary shelter

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Authors: Farhat Jabeen, Syed Asfaq Hussain Bukhari

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In the wake of the contemporary period the basic objective of the research paper points out that socio-cultural scenario of Pakistan reveals that gender-based violence is deep rooted in the society irrespective of language and ethnicity. This paper would reconnaissance the possibility reforms in Pakistan for diminishing of violence. Women are not given their due role, rights, and respect. Furthermore, they are treated as chattels. This presentation will cover the socio-customary practices in the context of discrimination, stigmatization, and violence against women. This paper envisages justice in a broader sense of recognition of rights for women, and masculine structure of society, socio-customary practices and discrimination against women are a very serious concern which needs to be understood as a multidimensional problem. The paper will specially focus on understanding the existing obstacles of women in Pakistan in the constitutional scenario. Women stumble across discrimination and human rights manipulations, voluptuous violation and manipulation including domestic viciousness and are disadvantaged by laws, strategies, and programming that do not take their concerns into considerations. This presentation examines the role of honour killings among Pakistani community. This affects their self-assurance and capability to elevation integrity campaign where gender inequalities and discrimination in social, legal domain are to be put right. This paper brings to light the range of practices, laws and legal justice regarding the status of women and also covers attitude towards compensations for murders/killings, domestic violence, rape, adultery, social behavior and recourse to justice.

Keywords: discrimination, cultural, women, violence

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Authors: Saima Akbar

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The global financial crisis severely and adversely impacted the Pakistanis’ financial setups with far-reaching consequences for its victims. This study aimed to analyze the various determinants of the banks’ financial performance in Pakistan. The stepwise multiple regression analysis and pre-post analysis were carried out in this regard by using SPSS ver 22. The study found that the assets quality is the most influential determinant of return over assets followed by bank size and solvency. Advances, liquidity, investments, and size have positive while poor assets quality and deposits have a negative impact on the return over assets. The comparison of the pre-crisis and post-crisis coefficient values of the independent variables revealed that the global financial crisis had exerted a significant impact on the relative ability of the financial performance determinants to explain variations in return over assets.

Keywords: pre-crisis, post-crisis, coefficient values, determinants

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Authors: Malgorzata Walkowiak, Magdalena Witczak, Wojciech Cichy

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Biomass is an important renewable energy source in Poland. As a biofuel, it has many advantages like renewable in noticeable time and relatively high energy potential. But disadvantages of biomass like high moisture content and hygroscopic nature causes that gaining, transport, storage and preparation for combustion become troublesome and uneconomic. Thermal modification of biomass can improve hydrophobic properties, increase its calorific value and natural resistance. This form of thermal processing is known as torrefaction. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of the pre-heat treatment of wood and plant lignocellulosic raw materials on the properties of solid biofuels. The preliminary studies included pine, beech and willow wood and other lignocellulosic raw materials: mustard, hemp, grass stems, tobacco stalks, sunflower husks, Miscanthus straw, rape straw, cereal straw, Virginia Mallow straw, rapeseed meal. Torrefaction was carried out using variable temperatures and time of the process, depending on the material used. It was specified the weight loss and the ash content and calorific value was determined. It was found that the thermal treatment of the tested lignocellulosic raw materials is able to provide solid biofuel with improved properties. In the woody materials, the increase of the lower heating value was in the range of 0,3 MJ/kg (pine and beech) to 1,1 MJ/kg (willow), in non-woody materials – from 0,5 MJ/kg (tobacco stalks, Miscanthus) to 3,5 MJ/kg (rapeseed meal). The obtained results indicate for further research needs, particularly in terms of conditions of the torrefaction process.

Keywords: biomass, lignocellulosic materials, solid biofuels, torrefaction

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Authors: Josef Steinberger, Vanni Zavarella, Hristo Tanev

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Natural disasters cause tens of thousands of victims and massive material damages. We refer to all those events caused by natural disasters, such as damage on people, infrastructure, vehicles, services and resource supply, as micro events. This paper addresses the problem of micro - event detection in online media sources. We present a natural language grammar learning algorithm and apply it to online news. The algorithm in question is based on distributional clustering and detection of word collocations. We also explore the extraction of micro-events from social media and describe a Twitter mining robot, who uses combinations of keywords to detect tweets which talk about effects of disasters.

Keywords: online news, natural language processing, machine learning, event extraction, crisis computing, disaster effects, Twitter

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Authors: David Abrahams

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In October 2016 South Africa deposited its ‘instrument of withdrawal’ from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Rome Statute is the founding document of the treaty-based International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC has jurisdiction to hear cases where crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide have been committed, on the basis of individual criminal responsibility. It is therefore not surprising that one of the ICCs mandates is to ensure that the sufferings, due to gross human rights violations towards the civilian population is, in principle, brought to an end by punishing those individuals responsible, thus providing justice to the victims. The ICC is unable to effectively fulfill its mandate and thus depends, in part on the willingness of states to assist the Court in its functions. This requires states to ratify the Statute and to domesticate its provisions, depending on whether it is a monist or dualist state. South Africa ratified the Statute in November 2000, and domesticated the Statute in 2002 by virtue of the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002. South Africa thus remains under an obligation to cooperate with the ICC until the final date of withdrawal, which is October 2017. An AU Summit was hosted by South Africa during June 2015. Omar Al-Bashir, whom the prosecutor of the ICC has indicted on two separate occasions, was invited to the summit. South Africa made an agreement with the AU that it will honour its obligations in terms of its Diplomatic and Immunities Privileges Act of 2001, by granting immunity to all heads of state, including that of Sudan. This decision by South Africa has raised a plethora of questions regarding the status and hierarchy of international laws versus regional laws versus domestic laws. In particular, this paper explores whether a state’s international law treaty obligations may be suspended in favour of, firstly, regional peace (thus safeguarding the security of the civilian population against further atrocities and other gross violations of human rights), and secondly, head of state immunity. This paper also reflects on the effectiveness of the trias politca in South Africa in relation the manner in which South African courts have confirmed South Africa’s failure in fulfilling its obligations in terms of the Rome Statute. A secondary question which will also be explored, is whether the Rome Statute is currently an effective tool in dealing with gross violations of human rights, particularly in a regional African context, given the desire by a number of African states currently party to the Statute, to engage in a mass exodus from the Statute. Finally, the paper concludes with a proposal that there can be no justice for victims of gross human rights violations unless states are serious in playing an instrumental role in bringing an end to impunity in Africa, and that withdrawing from the ICC without an alternative, effective system in place, will simply perpetuate impunity.

Keywords: African Union, diplomatic immunity, impunity, international criminal court, South Africa

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Authors: Hamed Tofangsaz

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In the absence of an internationally agreed definition of terrorism, the question which needs to be posed is whether there is a clear and common understanding of what constitutes terrorism, terrorist acts and terrorist groups, the financing of which needs to be stopped. That is, from a criminal law perspective, whether the Terrorist Financing Convention, as the backbone of the counter-terrorist financing regime, clarifies what types of conduct, by who, in what circumstances and when, against whom (targets or victims) and with what intention or motivation should be considered terrorism? It will be explained how and why it has been difficult to reach an agreement on the definition of terrorism. The endeavour of the drafters of the Terrorist Financing Convention and others involved in countering terrorist financing to establish a general definition of terrorism will be examined. The record of attempts to define the elements of terrorism proves that it is hardly possible to reach an agreement on a generic definition of terrorism because the concept of terrorism is elusive and subject to various understandings. Even the definition provided by the Terrorist Financing Convention, is not convincing. With regard to the findings, this paper calls for further research on the legal consequences of the implementation of the terrorist financing-counter measures while the scope of terrorism, terrorist acts and terrorist organizations have been left vague.

Keywords: terrorism, terrorist financing, crime, convention

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