Attributes of identity document credibility: A synthesis of expert knowledge

In broad terms — including a thief's use of existing credit card, bank, or other accounts — the number of identity fraud victims in the United States ranges 9-10 million per year, or roughly 4% of the US adult population. The average annual theft per stolen identity was estimated at $6,383 in 2006, up approximately 22% from $5,248 in 2003; an increase in estimated total theft from $53.2 billion in 2003 to $56.6 billion in 2006. About three million Americans each year fall victim to the worst kind of identity fraud: new account fraud. Names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and other data are acquired fraudulently from the issuing organization, or from the victim then these data are used to create fraudulent identity documents. In turn, these are presented to other organizations as evidence of identity, used to open new lines of credit, secure loans, “flip” property, or otherwise turn a profit in a victim's name. This is much more time consuming — and typically more costly — to repair than fraudulent use of existing accounts. ^ This research borrows from well-established theoretical backgrounds, in an effort to answer the question – what is it that makes identity documents credible? Most importantly, identification of the components of credibility draws upon personal construct psychology, the underpinning for the repertory grid technique, a form of structured interviewing that arrives at a description of the interviewee’s constructs on a given topic, such as credibility of identity documents. This represents substantial contribution to theory, being the first research to use the repertory grid technique to elicit from experts, their mental constructs used to evaluate credibility of different types of identity documents reviewed in the course of opening new accounts. The research identified twenty-one characteristics, different ones of which are present on different types of identity documents. Expert evaluations of these documents in different scenarios suggest that visual characteristics are most important for a physical document, while authenticated personal data are most important for a digital document. ^

Immigrant high school students' in-depth understandings of the value of heritage language and bilingualism

The purpose of this research was to explore perceptions among 9 th through 12th grade students from Brazil, Haiti and Jamaica, with respect to their heritage languages: Portuguese, Haitian Creole, and Jamaican Patois. An additional purpose was to understand in greater detail possible variations of perception with respect to heritage language maintenance (or loss) in relation to one’s gender, first language, and place of birth. The research implemented semi-structured interviews with male and female adolescents with these heritage language backgrounds. Participants’ responses were recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions were analyzed via a categorizing of themes emerging from the data. Data were analyzed using inductive analysis. Three categories emerged from the inductive analysis of the data: (a) heritage language, (b) bilingualism, and (c) English as a second language. The analysis reveals that as participants learn English, they continue to value their heritage language and feel positively toward bilingualism, but differ in their preference regarding use of native language and English in a variety of contexts. There seems to be a mismatch between a positive attitude and an interest in learning their heritage language. Families and teachers, as agents, may not be helping students fully understand the advantages of bilingualism. Students seem to have a lack of understanding of bilingualism’s cognitive and bi-literacy benefits. Instead, employment seems to be perceived as the number one reason for becoming bilingual. Also, the students have a desire to add culture to the heritage language curriculum. The study was conducted at one of the most diverse and largest high schools in Palm Beach, in Palm Beach County, Florida. The results of this study imply that given the positive attitude toward heritage language and bilingualism, students need to be guided in exploring their understanding of heritage language and bilingualism. Implications for teaching and learning, as well as recommendations for further research, are included.

Regional Variation on Rates of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia and Associated Risk Factors

Background. An abnormally high incidence (44%) of bronchopulmonary dysplasia with variations in rates among cities was observed in Colombia among premature infants. Objective. To identify risk factors that could explain the observed high incidence and regional variations of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Study Design. A case-control study was designed for testing the hypothesis that differences in the disease rates were not explained by differences in city-of-birth specific population characteristics or by differences in respiratory management practices in the first 7 days of life, among cities. Results. Multivariate analysis showed that premature rupture of membranes, exposure to mechanical ventilation after received nasal CPAP, no surfactant exposure, use of rescue surfactant (instead of early surfactant), PDA, sepsis and the median daily FIO2, were associated with a higher risk of dysplasia. Significant differences between cases and controls were found among cities. Models exploring for associations between city of birth and dysplasia showed that being born in the highest altitude city (Bogotá) was associated with a higher risk of dysplasia (OR 1.82 95% CI 1.31–2.53). Conclusions. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia was manly explained by traditional risk factors. Findings suggest that altitude may play an important role in the development of this disease. Prenatal steroids did not appear to be protective at high altitude.

Iraqi Birth Defects and the WHO Report

Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, epidemics of birth defects and cancers are rising in many Iraqi cities. In 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Iraqi Ministry of Health (MoH) undertook a large-scale epidemiological study to determine the prevalence of birth defects in the Iraqi population. A report which appeared on the WHO website in September 2013, claims that "The rates for spontaneous abortion, stillbirths and congenital birth defects found in the [Iraq] study are consistent with or even lower than international estimates." This article discusses the severe shortcomings of this report and questions its reliability .

Attributes of Identity Document Credibility: A Synthesis of Expert Knowledge

In broad terms — including a thief's use of existing credit card, bank, or other accounts — the number of identity fraud victims in the United States ranges 9-10 million per year, or roughly 4% of the US adult population. The average annual theft per stolen identity was estimated at $6,383 in 2006, up approximately 22% from $5,248 in 2003; an increase in estimated total theft from $53.2 billion in 2003 to $56.6 billion in 2006. About three million Americans each year fall victim to the worst kind of identity fraud: new account fraud. Names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and other data are acquired fraudulently from the issuing organization, or from the victim then these data are used to create fraudulent identity documents. In turn, these are presented to other organizations as evidence of identity, used to open new lines of credit, secure loans, “flip” property, or otherwise turn a profit in a victim's name. This is much more time consuming — and typically more costly — to repair than fraudulent use of existing accounts. This research borrows from well-established theoretical backgrounds, in an effort to answer the question – what is it that makes identity documents credible? Most importantly, identification of the components of credibility draws upon personal construct psychology, the underpinning for the repertory grid technique, a form of structured interviewing that arrives at a description of the interviewee’s constructs on a given topic, such as credibility of identity documents. This represents substantial contribution to theory, being the first research to use the repertory grid technique to elicit from experts, their mental constructs used to evaluate credibility of different types of identity documents reviewed in the course of opening new accounts. The research identified twenty-one characteristics, different ones of which are present on different types of identity documents. Expert evaluations of these documents in different scenarios suggest that visual characteristics are most important for a physical document, while authenticated personal data are most important for a digital document.

Acculturation and Hispanic identity/ethnicity as a predictor of change on the brief situational confidence questionnaire

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether level of acculturation among Hispanic adolescent males (n = 174) influenced treatment outcome in a substance abuse program, specifically on the Brief Situational Confidence Questionnaire (BSCQ) which measures relapse confidence. It was hypothesized that lower levels of acculturation were likely to be predictive of positive change, whereas higher levels of acculturation were likely to be predictive of no change or negative change. It was found that adolescents changed over time in BSCQ scores regardless of which acculturation variable was measured. Contrary to expectations, for those adolescents placed in family treatment, place of birth was not significantly associated with treatment response. However, both, U.S. and non-U.S. born adolescents demonstrated a change over time when receiving family treatment, suggesting that the family substance abuse treatment utilized in this intervention effected change over time.