Police legitimacy, ideology and qualitative methods: a critique of procedural justice theory

I argue that there are unconsidered complexities to police legitimacy and use examples from my study of police–public consultation forums in Edinburgh, Scotland to illustrate. I make a number of conceptual and methodological critiques by drawing upon Steven Lukes’ social theory on power to show how legitimacy can be a product of authority relations as much as it is a cause of authority relations. This view finds support from systems-justification theory. I also tackle Beetham’s conception of legitimacy and argue that there is evidence from police studies that the police breach his key antecedents to legitimacy without incurring the expected consequences. Furthermore, I take an original methodological approach to studying police legitimacy which reveals additional insights. For instance, Bottoms and Tankebe suggest legitimacy addresses multiple ‘audiences’; I would also add that it addresses multiple recipients as legitimacy is shown to vary among officers and positions of rank.

New approach to direct stenting using a novel "all-in-one" coronary stent system via 5 French diagnostic catheters: a pilot study

OBJECTIVES We sought to evaluate the strategy success and short term clinical outcomes of direct stenting via 5 French (F) diagnostic catheters using a novel bare metal stent with integrated delivery system (IDS) (Svelte Medical Systems, New Providence, NJ) and compare the results to a conventionally treated matched group. METHODS Fifteen consecutive patients with lesions deemed suitable for direct stenting using a bare metal stent were included. The primary endpoint was the strategy success defined as the ability to successfully treat a target lesion via a 5 F diagnostic catheter with a good angiographic result (TIMI III flow, residual stenosis ≤20%). Procedure and fluoroscopy times, contrast agent use, cost, and short-term clinical outcomes were compared to a matched group treated via conventional stenting. RESULTS The primary endpoint was reached in 14/15 patients (93%). There were no significant differences in procedural (58.6 min ± 12.7 vs. 57.4 min ± 14.2) or fluoroscopy times (10.0 min ± 4.3 vs.10.1 min ± 3.9) or contrast agent use (193.7 ml ± 54.8 vs. 181.4 ml ± 35.6). However, there were significant reductions in materials used in the study group compared to the control group equating to cost savings of almost US $600 per case (US $212.44 ± 258.09 vs. US $804.69 ± 468.11; P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Direct stenting using a novel bare metal stent with an IDS via 5 F diagnostic catheters is a viable alternative to conventional stenting in selected patients and is associated with significant cost savings.

Five-Year Outcome of Catheter Ablation of Persistent Atrial Fibrillation Using Termination of Atrial Fibrillation as a Procedural Endpoint.

BACKGROUND -This study aimed to determine five-year efficacy of catheter ablation for persistent atrial fibrillation (PsAF) using AF termination as a procedural endpoint. METHODS AND RESULTS -150 patients (57±10 years) underwent PsAF ablation using a stepwise ablation approach (pulmonary vein isolation, electrogram-guided and linear ablation) with the desired procedural endpoint being AF termination. Repeat ablation was performed for recurrent AF or atrial tachycardia (AT). AF was terminated by ablation in 120 patients (80%). Arrhythmia-free survival rates after a single procedure were 35.3±3.9%, 28.0±3.7%, and 16.8±3.2% at 1, 2, and 5 years, respectively. Arrhythmia-free survival rates after the last procedure (mean 2.1±1.0 procedures) were 89.7±2.5%, 79.8±3.4%, and 62.9±4.5%, at 1, 2, and 5 years, respectively. During a median follow-up of 58 (IQR 43-73) months following the last ablation procedure, 97 of 150 (64.7%) patients remained in sinus rhythm without antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs). Another 14 (9.3%) patients maintained sinus rhythm after re-initiation of AADs, and an additional 15 (10.0%) patients regressed to paroxysmal recurrences only. Failure to terminate AF during the index procedure (HR 3.831; 95%CI: 2.070-7.143; p<0.001), left atrial diameter ≥50mm (HR 2.083; 95%CI: 1.078-4.016; p=0.03), continuous AF duration ≥18 months (HR 1.984; 95%CI: 1.024-3.846; p<0.04) and structural heart disease (HR 1.874; 95% CI: 1.037-3.388; p=0.04) predicted arrhythmia recurrence. CONCLUSIONS -In patients with PsAF, an ablation strategy aiming at AF termination is associated with freedom from arrhythmia recurrence in the majority of patients over a 5-year follow up period.Procedural AF non-termination and specific baseline factors predict long-term outcome after ablation.

Anaerobic Digestion Project Working Guide: A Case Study Analysis and Procedural Summary of Anaerobic Digester Projects for the United States Agricultural Sector

Renewable energy such as biomass has given markets, including dairy farms, an effective approach to reducing the costs of sustaining a profitable business. Anaerobic digestion systems offer dairy farms a very effective way to reduce manure odor, comply with soil and water pollution regulations, manufacture compost for general market sales, produce irrigation capacity and generate on-site electricity as well as the ability to sell excess electricity back to the local utilities. This project defines anaerobic digestion technologies and practices, analyzes case studies and presents a step-by-step anaerobic digestion project startup checklist. The result is an anaerobic digestion project working guide that acts as a tool to aid dairy farmers in their own potential anaerobic digestion project.

EU-Turkey plan for handling refugees is fraught with legal and procedural challenges. CEPS Commentary, 10 March 2016

EU-Turkey relations in the scope of the ongoing refugee crisis were at the heart of the European Council meeting of 7 March 2016. Among the set of initiatives proposed, the following two have attracted the most attention: First, for every Syrian readmitted by Turkey from the Greek islands, another Syrian from Turkey would be resettled in an EU member state. This has come to be known as the ‘one for one’ resettlement approach. Second, all new irregular migrants and asylum-seekers crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands would be returned to Turkey without offering any guarantee of protection.

Epicardial phrenic nerve displacement during catheter ablation of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias: procedural experience and outcomes.

BACKGROUND Arrhythmia origin in close proximity to the phrenic nerve (PN) can hinder successful catheter ablation. We describe our approach with epicardial PN displacement in such instances. METHODS AND RESULTS PN displacement via percutaneous pericardial access was attempted in 13 patients (age 49±16 years, 9 females) with either atrial tachycardia (6 patients) or atrial fibrillation triggered from a superior vena cava focus (1 patient) adjacent to the right PN or epicardial ventricular tachycardia origin adjacent to the left PN (6 patients). An epicardially placed steerable sheath/4 mm-catheter combination (5 patients) or a vascular or an esophageal balloon (8 patients) was ultimately successful. Balloon placement was often difficult requiring manipulation via a steerable sheath. In 2 ventricular tachycardia cases, absence of PN capture was achieved only once the balloon was directly over the ablation catheter. In 3 atrial tachycardia patients, PN displacement was not possible with a balloon; however, a steerable sheath/catheter combination was ultimately successful. PN displacement allowed acute abolishment of all targeted arrhythmias. No PN injury occurred acutely or in follow up. Two patients developed acute complications (pleuro-pericardial fistula 1 and pericardial bleeding 1). Survival free of target arrhythmia was achieved in all atrial tachycardia patients; however, a nontargeted ventricular tachycardia recurred in 1 patient at a median of 13 months' follow up. CONCLUSIONS Arrhythmias originating in close proximity to the PN can be targeted successfully with PN displacement with an epicardially placed steerable sheath/catheter combination, or balloon, but this strategy can be difficult to implement. Better tools for phrenic nerve protection are desirable.

Automatically Extracting Procedural Knowledge from Instructional Texts using Natural Language Processing

Procedural knowledge is the knowledge required to perform certain tasks, and forms an important part of expertise. A major source of procedural knowledge is natural language instructions. While these readable instructions have been useful learning resources for human, they are not interpretable by machines. Automatically acquiring procedural knowledge in machine interpretable formats from instructions has become an increasingly popular research topic due to their potential applications in process automation. However, it has been insufficiently addressed. This paper presents an approach and an implemented system to assist users to automatically acquire procedural knowledge in structured forms from instructions. We introduce a generic semantic representation of procedures for analysing instructions, using which natural language techniques are applied to automatically extract structured procedures from instructions. The method is evaluated in three domains to justify the generality of the proposed semantic representation as well as the effectiveness of the implemented automatic system.

Verification of Procedural Programs via Building their Generalized Nets Models

Магдалина Василева Тодорова - В статията е описан подход за верификация на процедурни програми чрез изграждане на техни модели, дефинирани чрез обобщени мрежи. Подходът интегрира концепцията “design by contract” с подходи за верификация от тип доказателство на теореми и проверка на съгласуваност на модели. За целта разделно се верифицират функциите, които изграждат програмата относно спецификации според предназначението им. Изгражда се обобщен мрежов модел, специфициащ връзките между функциите във вид на коректни редици от извиквания. За главната функция на програмата се построява обобщен мрежов модел и се проверява дали той съответства на мрежовия модел на връзките между функциите на програмата. Всяка от функциите на програмата, която използва други функции се верифицира и относно спецификацията, зададена чрез мрежовия модел на връзките между функциите на програмата.

Victoria’s banning notice provisions: parliamentary, procedural and individual vulnerabilities

Purpose Alcohol-related disorder in Australia’s night-time economy has precipitated an expanding regulatory and legislative framework. A key feature is the growth of police-imposed discretionary justice, one example of which are Victoria’s banning provisions. Banning notices are imposed on-the-spot, may be issued pre-emptively, but permit no right of independent appeal. However, there has been little analysis of the enactment, implementation or use of police-imposed banning provisions. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach This paper draws upon a detailed examination of the record of parliamentary debate of the banning notice legislation to document how the provisions, and their embedded procedural vulnerabilities, were legitimised. In addition, an analysis of Victoria Police data informs consideration of the ongoing scrutiny of the police power to ban.

FindingsThe absolute discretion afforded to police officers, and a lack of effective oversight, has created the potential for the disproportionate and discriminatory implementation of Victoria’s banning notice powers. The findings highlight procedural vulnerabilities within the provisions, and concern regarding the particular risk of banning notices for vulnerable recipients.

Research limitations/implications The nature of Victoria’s banning provisions created the circumstances for their inequitable imposition, but public scrutiny of their use and effect is limited. Omissions and deficiencies in the published data restricts meaningful analysis of how banning works in practice.

Originality/value The research underpinning this paper was the first detailed examination of the implementation and ongoing scrutiny of Victoria’s banning notice provisions. The findings presented in this paper highlight key procedural vulnerabilities resulting from the passage of the legislation and the absence of effective oversight.