The Online dating romance scam: The psychological impact on victims – both financial and non-financial

This paper examined the psychological impact of the online dating romance scam. Unlike other mass-marketing fraud victims, these victims experienced a ‘double hit’ of the scam: a financial loss and the loss of a relationship. For most, the loss of the relationship was more upsetting than their financial losses (many described the loss of the relationship as a ‘death’). Some described their experience as traumatic and all were affected negatively by the crime. Most victims had not found ways to cope given the lack of understanding from family and friends. Denial (e.g., not accepting the scam was real or not being able to separate the fake identity with the criminal) was identified as an ineffective means of coping, leaving the victim vulnerable to a second wave of the scam. Suggestions are made as to how to change policy with regards to law enforcement deal with this crime.

SCAM et modélisation 3-D du canal TRPV5

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Roles of transmembrane domain 2 and the first intracellular loop in human noradrenaline transporter function: pharmacological and SCAM analysis

The aim was to investigate the roles of transmembrane domain 2 and the adjacent region of the first intracellular loop in determining human noradrenaline transporter (hNET) function by pharmacological and substituted-cysteine accessibility method (SCAM) analyses. It was first necessary to establish a suitable background NET for SCAM. Alanine mutants of endogenous hNET cysteines, hC86A, hC131A and hC339A, were examined and showed no marked effects on expression or function. hNET and the mutants were also resistant to methanethiosulfonate (MTS), ethylammonium (MTSEA) and MTStrimethylammonium (MTSET). Hence, wild-type hNET is an appropriate background for production of cysteine mutants for SCAM. Pharmacological investigation showed that all mutants except hT99C and hL109C showed reduced cell-surface expression, while all except hM107C showed a reduction in functional activity. The mutations did not markedly affect the apparent affinities of substrates, but apparent affinities of cocaine were decreased 7-fold for hP97C and 10-fold for hF101C and increased 12-fold for hY98C. [H-3]Nisoxetine binding affinities were decreased 13-fold for hP97C and 5-fold for hF101C. SCAM analysis revealed that only hL102C was sensitive to 1.25 mM MTSEA, and this sensitivity was protected by noradrenaline, nisoxetine and cocaine. The results suggest that this region of hNET is important for interactions with antidepressants and cocaine, but it is probably not involved in substrate translocation mechanisms.

The Online Romance Scam: A Serious Cybercrime

The Online Romance Scam is a relatively new form of fraud that became apparent in about 2008. In this crime, criminals pretend to initiate a relationship through online dating sites then defraud their victims of large sums of money. This paper presents some descriptive statistics about knowledge and victimization of the online dating romance scam in Great Britain. Our study found that despite its newness, an estimated 230,000 British citizens may have fallen victim to this crime. We conclude that there needs to be some rethinking about providing avenues for victims to report the crime or at least making them more comfortable when doing so.

Love hurts: The costly reality of online romance fraud

Online dating and romance scams continue to lure in Australians with figures this week showing people have lost more than A$23 million this year alone, with average individual losses at A$21,000 – three times higher than other types of fraud. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) set up the Scam Disruption Project in August to help target those it believes have been caught in such scams. Over three months it sent 1,500 letters to potential victims in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. The figures released this week show that 50 people have been scammed, losing a total A$1.7 million – that’s an average of A$34,000 per victim. Almost three quarters of the scams were dating and romance related, which saw it evolve into the number one category of fraud victimisation. Romance scams continue to pose a problem – despite the efforts of the police and ACCC – so why is it that people continue to fall for them?

山东莱芜中生代高镁侵入岩及其超镁铁质岩捕掳体的成因研究

In order to know better about the Phanerozoic lithosphere thinning process of Sino-Korea Plate, four Cretaceous intrusion complexes and their ultramafic xenoliths are investigated by this thesis, which are located in Laiwu, Shandong Province, Eastern China, a region far away from plate margin. The four complexes, Kuanshan, Jiaoyu, Jingniushan and Tietonggou, intruded into Archaeozoic granite gneiss and Paleozoic carbonate rocks with scam iron ore at their contact zone. The four complexes can be divided into two magma series, abyssal rocks for the early and hypabyssal rocks for the later. K-Ar dating show that the abyssal rocks intrusion began with 120 ±2 Ma and the hypabyssal rocks intruded about 113 Ma. Abyssal rocks, mainly made up of augite diorites, amphibole diorites and gabbros for the lesser, are chemically characterized with high-Mg (Mg#>0.5) high-K calcalklic rock, which are depleted with Nb, Ta and Ti related to LILE and extremely enriched with Sr and Pb. Comparatively, augite diorites are the most LREE enriched in abyssal rocks, and they show no Eu abnorrnity or weak positive Eu abnormity. Gabbros show the least LREE enrichment with a strong Eu abnormity relatively. In (~(87)Sr/~(86)Sr)_1 -ε Nd(T) diagram, the abyssal rocks show a mixing trend , a rapid change in ε Nd(T) with a relatively small change in (~(87)Sr/~(86)Sr)_1. Low radiogenic Sr and Pb composition with high radiogeic Nd composition indicate that the mixing processes happened in lower crust Melt-rock interactions in lower crust might be the most possible processes to produce these high-Mg and high-K calcalklic magmas. Hypabyssal rocks, mainly made up of granite porphyry and dioritic porphrite, show much higher ε Nd(T) than abyssal rocks. Granite porphyry are distinct with an adakite geochemical characteristics, high (La/Yb)_N, Sr/Y and low Rb/Sr ratio. The adakitic granite porphyry indicates a new lower crust produced by underplating within plate. Ultramafic xenoliths had been found only in augite diorites and amphibole diorites. Field investigations show that ultramafic xenoliths in augite diorites had been inherited from amphibole diorites, so ultramafic xenoliths had been only entrained by hydrous dioritic magma. Ultramafic xenoliths are mainly made up of dunite and harzburgite, orthopyroxenite and bistangite are the lessor. Coarse olivines in dunite often show many chromite exsolution lamellae. Opx in orthopyroxenite often show dense chromite exsolution lamellae. The presence of exsolution minerals indicates that ultramafic xenoliths had cooled before entraining. Metasomatism phenomenons are popular in dunite and harzburgite xenoliths, including two kinds of assemblage, cpx+phlogapite and opx+pl. The first metasomatism assemblage indicates an ancient enrichment. Rb-Sr dating of xenoliths shows that the ancient enrichment happened in 223 ± 7Ma. The second metasomatism assemblage indicates a recent, relatively not deep melt-rock interaction, which might be related with the genesis of the high-Mg high-K calcalklic rocks. Mineralogy and geochemistry indicate that these ultramafic xenoliths might sample the crust-mante transition zone (or the base of lower crust, moho). Investigation of high-Mg intrusions and their ultramafic xenoliths in Laiwu indicate that the thinning processes of Sino-Korea Plate can be divided into two stages. The first stage is lithosphere mantle thinning with crust thickening by underplating in lower crust. The second stage is that the thickened lower crust delaminated into the underlying mantle.

Match-fixing and Money-laundering

his essay is premised on the following: a conspiracy to fix or otherwise manipulate the outcome of a sporting event for profitable purpose. That conspiracy is in turn predicated on the conspirators’ capacity to: (a) ensure that the fix takes place as pre-determined; (b) manipulate the betting markets that surround the sporting event in question; and (c) collect their winnings undetected by either the betting industry’s security systems or the attention of any national regulatory body or law enforcement agency.

Unlike many essays on this topic, this contribution does not focus on the “fix”– part (a) of the above equation. It does not seek to explain how or why a participant or sports official might facilitate a betting scam through either on-field behaviour that manipulates the outcome of a game or by presenting others with privileged inside information in advance of a game. Neither does this contribution seek to give any real insight into the second part of the above equation: how such conspirators manipulate a sports betting market by playing or laying the handicap or in-play or other offered betting odds. In fact, this contribution is not really about the mechanics of sports betting or match fixing at all; rather it is about the sometimes under explained reason why match fixing has reportedly become increasingly attractive as of late to international crime syndicates. That reason relates to the fact that given the traditional liquidity of gambling markets, sports betting can, and has long been, an attractively accessible conduit for criminal syndicates to launder the proceeds of crime. Accordingly, the term “winnings”, noted in part (c) of the above equation, takes on an altogether more nefarious meaning.

This essay’s attempt to review the possible links between match fixing in sport, gambling-related “winnings” and money laundering is presented in four parts.

First, some context will be given to what is meant by money laundering, how it is currently policed internationally and, most importantly, how the growth of online gambling presents a unique set of vulnerabilities and opportunities to launder the proceeds of crime. The globalisation of organised crime, sports betting and transnational financial services now means that money laundering opportunities have moved well beyond a flutter on the horses at your local racetrack or at the roulette table of your nearest casino. The growth of online gambling platforms means that at a click it is possible for the proceeds of crime in one jurisdiction to be placed on a betting market in another jurisdiction with the winnings drawn down and laundered in a third jurisdiction and thus the internationalisation of gambling-related money laundering threatens the integrity of sport globally.

Second, and referring back to the infamous hearings of the US Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organised Crime in Interstate Commerce of the early 1950s, (“the Kefauver Committee”), this article will begin by illustrating the long standing interest of organised crime gangs – in this instance, various Mafia families in the United States – in money laundering via sports gambling-related means.

Third, and using the seminal 2009 report “Money Laundering through the Football Sector” by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF, an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system), this essay seeks to assess the vulnerabilities of international sport to match fixing, as motivated in part by the associated secondary criminality of tax evasion and transnational economic crime.

The fourth and concluding parts of the essay spin from problems to possible solutions. The underlying premise here is that heretofore there has been an insularity to the way that sports organisations have both conceptualised and sought to address the match fixing threat e.g., if we (in sport) initiate player education programmes; establish integrity units; enforce codes of conduct and sanctions strictly; then our integrity or brand should be protected. This essay argues that, although these initiatives are important, the source and process of match fixing is beyond sport’s current capacity, as are the possible solutions.

ORBS and the limits of static slicing

Observation-based slicing is a recently-introduced, language-independent, slicing technique based on the dependencies observable from program behaviour. Due to the wellknown limits of dynamic analysis, we may only compute an under-approximation of the true observation-based slice. However, because the observation-based slice captures all possible dependence that can be observed, even such approximations can yield insight into the limitations of static slicing. For example, a static slice, S that is strictly smaller than the corresponding observation based slice is guaranteed to be unsafe. We present the results of three sets of experiments on 12 different programs, including benchmarks and larger programs, which investigate the relationship between static and observation-based slicing. We show that, in extreme cases, observation-based slices can find the true static minimal slice, where static techniques cannot. For more typical cases, our results illustrate the potential for observation-based slicing to highlight unsafe static slices. Finally, we report on the sensitivity of observation-based slicing to test quality.

La prise de contrôle inversée en droit canadien

"Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de LLM en droit"

Étude des changements de conformation du cotransporteur de Na⁺/glucose (SGLT1) à l'aide de mesures électrophysiologiques et de marqueurs fluorescents

Thèse diffusée initialement dans le cadre d'un projet pilote des Presses de l'Université de Montréal/Centre d'édition numérique UdeM (1997-2008) avec l'autorisation de l'auteur.

Essais en microéconomie appliquée

La thèse comporte trois essais en microéconomie appliquée. En utilisant des modèles d’apprentissage (learning) et d’externalité de réseau, elle étudie le comportement des agents économiques dans différentes situations. Le premier essai de la thèse se penche sur la question de l’utilisation des ressources naturelles en situation d’incertitude et d’apprentissage (learning). Plusieurs auteurs ont abordé le sujet, mais ici, nous étudions un modèle d’apprentissage dans lequel les agents qui consomment la ressource ne formulent pas les mêmes croyances a priori. Le deuxième essai aborde le problème générique auquel fait face, par exemple, un fonds de recherche désirant choisir les meilleurs parmi plusieurs chercheurs de différentes générations et de différentes expériences. Le troisième essai étudie un modèle particulier d’organisation d’entreprise dénommé le marketing multiniveau (multi-level marketing). Le premier chapitre est intitulé "Renewable Resource Consumption in a Learning Environment with Heterogeneous beliefs". Nous y avons utilisé un modèle d’apprentissage avec croyances hétérogènes pour étudier l’exploitation d’une ressource naturelle en situation d’incertitude. Il faut distinguer ici deux types d’apprentissage : le adaptive learning et le learning proprement dit. Ces deux termes ont été empruntés à Koulovatianos et al (2009). Nous avons montré que, en comparaison avec le adaptive learning, le learning a un impact négatif sur la consommation totale par tous les exploitants de la ressource. Mais individuellement certains exploitants peuvent consommer plus la ressource en learning qu’en adaptive learning. En effet, en learning, les consommateurs font face à deux types d’incitations à ne pas consommer la ressource (et donc à investir) : l’incitation propre qui a toujours un effet négatif sur la consommation de la ressource et l’incitation hétérogène dont l’effet peut être positif ou négatif. L’effet global du learning sur la consommation individuelle dépend donc du signe et de l’ampleur de l’incitation hétérogène. Par ailleurs, en utilisant les variations absolues et relatives de la consommation suite à un changement des croyances, il ressort que les exploitants ont tendance à converger vers une décision commune. Le second chapitre est intitulé "A Perpetual Search for Talent across Overlapping Generations". Avec un modèle dynamique à générations imbriquées, nous avons étudié iv comment un Fonds de recherche devra procéder pour sélectionner les meilleurs chercheurs à financer. Les chercheurs n’ont pas la même "ancienneté" dans l’activité de recherche. Pour une décision optimale, le Fonds de recherche doit se baser à la fois sur l’ancienneté et les travaux passés des chercheurs ayant soumis une demande de subvention de recherche. Il doit être plus favorable aux jeunes chercheurs quant aux exigences à satisfaire pour être financé. Ce travail est également une contribution à l’analyse des Bandit Problems. Ici, au lieu de tenter de calculer un indice, nous proposons de classer et d’éliminer progressivement les chercheurs en les comparant deux à deux. Le troisième chapitre est intitulé "Paradox about the Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)". Depuis quelques décennies, on rencontre de plus en plus une forme particulière d’entreprises dans lesquelles le produit est commercialisé par le biais de distributeurs. Chaque distributeur peut vendre le produit et/ou recruter d’autres distributeurs pour l’entreprise. Il réalise des profits sur ses propres ventes et reçoit aussi des commissions sur la vente des distributeurs qu’il aura recrutés. Il s’agit du marketing multi-niveau (multi-level marketing, MLM). La structure de ces types d’entreprise est souvent qualifiée par certaines critiques de système pyramidal, d’escroquerie et donc insoutenable. Mais les promoteurs des marketing multi-niveau rejettent ces allégations en avançant que le but des MLMs est de vendre et non de recruter. Les gains et les règles de jeu sont tels que les distributeurs ont plus incitation à vendre le produit qu’à recruter. Toutefois, si cette argumentation des promoteurs de MLMs est valide, un paradoxe apparaît. Pourquoi un distributeur qui désire vraiment vendre le produit et réaliser un gain recruterait-il d’autres individus qui viendront opérer sur le même marché que lui? Comment comprendre le fait qu’un agent puisse recruter des personnes qui pourraient devenir ses concurrents, alors qu’il est déjà établi que tout entrepreneur évite et même combat la concurrence. C’est à ce type de question que s’intéresse ce chapitre. Pour expliquer ce paradoxe, nous avons utilisé la structure intrinsèque des organisations MLM. En réalité, pour être capable de bien vendre, le distributeur devra recruter. Les commissions perçues avec le recrutement donnent un pouvoir de vente en ce sens qu’elles permettent au recruteur d’être capable de proposer un prix compétitif pour le produit qu’il désire vendre. Par ailleurs, les MLMs ont une structure semblable à celle des multi-sided markets au sens de Rochet et Tirole (2003, 2006) et Weyl (2010). Le recrutement a un effet externe sur la vente et la vente a un effet externe sur le recrutement, et tout cela est géré par le promoteur de l’organisation. Ainsi, si le promoteur ne tient pas compte de ces externalités dans la fixation des différentes commissions, les agents peuvent se tourner plus ou moins vers le recrutement.

Uso de tácticas de negociación bajo condiciones adversas – experiencia en la empresa Transpabón Ltda.

Este trabajo de grado, fue inspirado por la experiencia que el autor tuvo mientras trabajaba en Transpabon Ltda, empresa de transporte de perecederos a nivel nacional con sede en la ciudad de Bogotá. Esta organización, inició un programa de expansión en el año 2012, en el cual sufre una presunta estafa por parte de un cliente y se busca usar las tácticas de negociación para solucionar el conflicto.

Plan de Negocio Avanzalogistic

Avanzalogistic corresponde a una plataforma multilateral que hace parte de las nuevas tecnologías de información y servicios, por lo cual se considera como una nueva opción para la ciudad de Bogotá, enfocada en dar solución al transporte de mercancía para las pequeñas y medianas empresas de un sector de la ciudad. Teniendo como diferenciación, la asistencia y atención personalizada para este tipo de clientes, donde por medio de la configuración de carga en tiempo real y con la facilidad virtual, podrán recibir el mejor servicio, en el menor tiempo posible y con los mejores precios del mercado. Considerando las necesidades de confiabilidad, seguridad, rapidez y buena atención que exige nuestro segmento objetivo, Avanzalogistic propone un servicio con calidad integral, donde por medio del desempeño enfocado al cliente y el cubrimiento de las necesidades del mismo será potencialmente reconocido como una de las mejores opciones del mercado para las empresas que soliciten transportar su carga de manera rápida y segura, disminuyendo el tiempo de respuesta de 24 horas (tiempo actual de respuesta de la competencia) a instantáneamente (tiempo por Avanzalogistic). Teniendo en cuenta lo anterior, en el proyecto se decide realizar una inversión inicial de $ 135 627 200 pesos colombianos, alcanzando su punto de equilibrio a partir del mes seis del primer año y teniendo un periodo de recuperación representado a partir del segundo año. Avanzalogistic es un proyecto que presenta una rentabilidad del 68,51%, justificada por la baja inversión y los bajos costos de operación, teniendo como principal ventaja la tercerización de los vehículos, además de la gran oportunidad de tener un mercado potencial lo suficientemente amplio que evidencia un ingreso que justifica la utilidad en cada servicio prestado. Siendo así un proyecto no solo viable, sino también con posibilidad de crecimiento y atractivo para invertir.