Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Abuse detection'
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1
Abbott, R. W. "HPLC of drugs of abuse with chemiluminescence detection." Thesis, University of Hull, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.384671.
2
Lamping, Sarah Louise. "Study of SERS for the detection of drugs of abuse." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2008. http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=21989.
Abstract:
A study of the use of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) for the detection of illicit drugs in oral fluid using metal enhancement mechanisms was undertaken. Initial work investigated ecstasy tablet composition using Raman to identify what drugs and excipients might be present in oral fluid samples obtained from users. Overall, it is possible to identify the presence of phenethylamines and excipients in the seized tablets but not categorically distinguish between the phenethylamine derivative(s) especially when in a mixture. Comparison of the overall batch average peak positions and peak responses of the phenethylamine derivatives and excipients shows variability across the batches and reveals trends within the sub-batches. The Raman spectra appear to reflect the findings of the GUMS analysis tentatively, implying this technique could be used for initial intelligence gathering applications whilst confirmatory analysis results are awaited. Initial SERS research focused on achieving enhancement of aqueous drug solutions with silver and gold colloid. Overall a lack of reproducibility was observed. Therefore, alternative SERS enhancement mechanisms were sought. Ag/Ti0₂ substrates demonstrated low limits of detection and the possibility of detecting SERS enhancement of aqueous amphetamine solution at levels below 8x10⁻² M. The work also showed that cotton swabs for sample application onto the surface of the substrate are a viable practical option for both experimental and field analysis. Successful detection of methadone and buprenorphine, used to treat heroin addiction, was achieved with Ag/Ti0₂ substrates at concentrations associated with therapeutic use, representing lower concentration drugs. The detection of MDMA in oral fluid following ecstasy use, not only showed promise for the detection of illicit drugs, but did so at the analytical cut-off concentration detailed in the draft type approval specification for roadside drug screening devices. This work confirms that SERS has a role for drug detection in oral fluid samples.
3
Faulds, Karen Jade. "Detection of drugs of abuse by surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.288636.
4
Badiru, Shewu Oladapo. "Chromatographic studies on the detection of some basic drugs of abuse." Thesis, University of Bath, 1989. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.234086.
5
Mansell, Sheila L. "Sexual abuse detection, sequelae, and therapy accommodations for people with developmental disabilities." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq23027.pdf.
6
Wang, Ling. "Applications of Paper Microfluidic Systems in the Field Detection of Drugs of Abuse." FIU Digital Commons, 2017. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3381.
Abstract:
Over the years, colorimetric reagents and immunology have been widely used in screening tests for illicit drugs; however, the test kits are not always convenient for field use and often require the user to mix and develop a specific set of reagents. In our project, we have been working on alternative platforms based on paper microfluidic devices (uPADs) for field testing. These devices utilize wax channels printed on paper to direct the analyte towards a specific set of chemical reagents. Using the procedure, we have developed a six-channel chip that adapts known colorimetric reagents targeting cocaine, opiates, amphetamines and ketamine for multiplex detection. For more sensitive and specific determinations than the colorimetric reagents, we have also developed a paper device that utilizes the interaction between gold nanoparticles and drug specific aptamers.
The µPADs using colorimetric reagent are designed as a six-channel multiplexed system. Sequences of different reagents applied to each channel to produce a series of reactions and the color changes appear at the end of each channel. The entire process takes less than five minutes. The adjusted reagents produce specific color changes for seized drugs on the paper microfluidic devices. Procedures have been developed for the detection of cocaine, ketamine, codeine, ephedrine, morphine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, and MDMA. These devices have been tested for sensitivity, specificity and stability against a variety of potential interferences and test conditions.
Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)/ aptamers µPADs were developed to detect cocaine. The presence of cocaine cause the binding with aptamers, and the gold nanoparitcles produced a salt-indicated aggregations and gave a color change of AuNPs from red to black. The absence of cocaine allowed the aptamers freely to bind gold nanoparticles, and no color change occured. The device had a preliminary validation of sensitvity and specificity against a variety of potential interferences.
The use of paper microfluidic devices permits the development of rapid, inexpensive and easily operated tests for drug samples in the field. They present a safe and convenient presumptive tool that can be used in the field.
7
Cécillon, Noé. "Combining Graph and Text to Model Conversations : An Application to Online Abuse Detection." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Avignon, 2024. http://www.theses.fr/2024AVIG0100.
Abstract:
Les comportements abusifs en ligne peuvent avoir des conséquences dramatiques sur les utilisateurs et les communautés. Avec l'avènement d'internet et des réseaux sociaux, personne n'est à l'abri de ce genre de comportement. Ces dernières années, de nombreux pays ont mis en place des lois visant à réduire ce type d'abus. Une détection et un traitement rapide des cas abusifs est un facteur important afin de réduire leur impact et leur nombre. Cette tâche de modération impliquant d'importants coûts humains et financiers, les entreprises ont un gros intérêt à l'automatiser. La détection automatique de contenu abusif se révèle assez complexe. Pour contrer ce problème, il a été montré que prendre en compte le contexte dans lequel un message est posté permet d'améliorer la détection. Cependant la méthode la plus courante dans la littérature consiste à traiter des messages individuels, pris en dehors de leur contexte. Dans ce manuscrit, on s'intéresse plus particulièrement à la combinaison du contenu et de la structure pour la détection de contenu abusif. Utiliser le contenu textuel des messages est l'approche la plus courante dans la littérature. Cette méthode présente l'avantage d'être facile à mettre en place, mais elle est aussi très vulnérable aux attaques basées sur le texte, notamment aux techniques d'obfuscation. La structure de la conversation, représentant le contexte, est beaucoup moins étudiée car elle est plus complexe à manipuler. Pourtant, elle permet d'introduire une notion de contexte qui permet de détecter des cas abusifs là où le texte seul n'en est pas capable. Ce contexte peut être modélisé sous la forme d'un graphe conversationnel représentant la conversation contenant le message étudié. En comparant deux méthodes construites à partir d'un procédé d'extraction de caractéristiques (feature engineering), nous avons montré qu'une méthode n'utilisant que des graphes conversationnels et ignorant le contenu textuel des messages était capable d'obtenir de meilleures performances. Des auteurs dans la littérature suggèrent que combiner plusieurs modalités d'information permet d'améliorer la détection de messages abusifs. À cet effet, nous proposons plusieurs stratégies pour combiner le contenu et la structure des conversations et par nos expériences, nous prouvons que cela est en effet bénéfique pour la détection. Une limitation de ces méthodes basées sur un ensemble de mesures est qu'elles sont assez coûteuses tant en ressources informatiques qu'en temps de conception. Les méthodes d'apprentissage de représentations peuvent être une solution à ce problème, en permettant d'apprendre automatiquement la représentation de ces données. Pour les graphes, nous avons démontré que considérer les attributs des liens, à savoir la direction, le poids et le signe, permet d'améliorer les performances. La littérature ne proposant aucune méthode de plongement de graphe entier signé, nous comblons ce vide en développant deux méthodes de ce type. Nous les évaluons sur un benchmark nouvellement créé et constitué de trois jeux de données de graphes signés, et prouvons qu'ils obtiennent de meilleurs résultats que leurs équivalents ne prenant pas en compte les signes. Finalement, nous menons une étude comparative de plusieurs méthodes de plongement lexical et de graphes pour la détection de messages abusifs en les appliquant à un jeu de données de conversations. Nos résultats montrent qu'elles sont plus efficaces que les méthodes se basant sur un ensemble de mesures pour le texte, et légèrement moins efficaces pour les graphes. Cependant, ces résultats restent très encourageants car ces méthodes possèdent de nombreux autres avantages tels qu'être complètement indépendantes de la tâche, plus faciles à adapter à d'autres environnements d'utilisation, et beaucoup plus efficaces en termes de tempsOnline abusive behaviors can have devastating consequences on individuals and communities. With the global expansion of internet and the social networks, anyone can be confronted with these behaviors. Over the past few years, laws and regulations have been established to regulate this kind of abuse but the responsibility ultimately lies with the platforms that host online communications. They are asked to monitor their users in order to prevent the proliferation of abusive content. Timely detection and moderation is a key factor to reduce the quantity and impact of abusive behaviors. However, due to the sheer quantity of online messages posted every day, platforms struggle to provide adequate resources. Since this implies high human and financial costs, companies have a keen interest in automating this process. Although it may seem a relatively simple task, it turns out to be quite complex. Indeed, malicious users have developed numerous techniques to bypass the standard automated methods. Allusions or implied meaning are other examples of strategies that automatic methods struggle to detect. While usually performed on individual messages taken out of their context, it has been shown that automatic abuse detection can benefit from considering the context in which the message was posted. In this thesis, we want to focus on the combination of content and structure of conversations to tackle the abuse detection task. Using the textual content of messages is the standard approach which was first developed in the literature. It has the advantage of being easy to set up, but on the other hand, it is vulnerable to text-based attacks such as obfuscation. The structure of the conversation which represent the context is less frequently used as it is more complicated to manipulate. Yet it allows to introduce a contextual aspect which helps detecting abuse occurrences when the text on its own is not sufficient. This context can be modeled as a contextual graph representing the conversation which includes the message. By comparing two methods based on feature engineering on a dataset of conversations extracted from a video games, we could show that a method relying exclusively on conversational graphs and ignoring the content was able to obtain better detection performance. The literature suggest that combining multiple modalities often result in a better detection of abusive messages. We propose multiple strategies to combine the content and structure of conversations and prove that their combination is indeed beneficial to the detection. A limitation of feature-based methods is that they are costly in time and computational resources. Our study also highlights that only a fraction of the computed features are truly relevant for the task. Representation learning methods can be used to mitigate these issues by automatically learning the representations of text and conversational graphs. For graphs, we demonstrated that using edge weights, signs and directions improved the performance. As no method exists for signed whole-graph embedding, we fill this gap in the literature by developing two such methods. We assess them on a newly constituted benchmark of three datasets of signed graphs and show that they perform better than their unsigned counterparts. Lastly, we perform a comparative study of several lexical and graph-embedding method for abuse detection by applying them to our dataset of conversations. Our results show that they perform better than feature-based approaches on text and are slightly less effective on graphs. Still, they obtain promising results given that they are completely task independent, much more scalable and time-efficient than feature-based approaches
8
Yang, Li. "A comparison of unsupervised learning techniques for detection of medical abuse in automobile claims." California State University, Long Beach, 2013.
9
Mwenesongole, Ellen Musili. "Simultaneous detection of drugs of abuse in waste water using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry." Thesis, Anglia Ruskin University, 2015. http://arro.anglia.ac.uk/550378/.
Abstract:
Sewage epidemiology is increasingly becoming an alternative method of estimating drug usage and consumption patterns for a given population. With the constant emergence of new psychoactive substances such as cathinones and piperazines, versatile, reliable, specific and sensitive analytical methods are needed for their detection in complex matrices such as waste water. This thesis reports the development of an analytical method based on solid phase extraction, derivatization with pentafluoropropionic anhydride and analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the simultaneous analysis of 29 illicit and therapeutic drugs of abuse. All 29 drugs could be reliably identified in spiked waste water samples using selected ion monitoring and splitless injection. Recoveries for the majority of the drugs were above 70 %. Linearity varied based on the analyte but was assessed in the range 2.0 x 10-4 to 1.4 μg/mL. Intra-assay and intermediate precision of the instrument was determined at 0.005, 0.1 and 1.0 μg/mL, with the majority of relative standard deviations less than 10 %. Limits of detection and quantification for drugs such as amphetamine and methamphetamine were better than reported values for liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, a more commonly used technique. Untreated 72 h composite waste water samples from Cambridge, UK, were analysed using a six-point standard addition curve. Eleven drugs of abuse were detected, including amphetamine, methamphetamine, butylone and 4-fluoromethamphetamine. The latter two having been detected for the very first time in waste water. Using the validated method, the consumption of heroin, ketamine, cocaine, methamphetamine and amphetamine, in Cambridge, UK, was estimated to be 399.4 ± 90.8, 2463.5 ± 182.5, 195.5 ± 95.4, 84.3 ± 59.1 and 38.9 ± 24.8 mg/day per 1000 inhabitants. This is the first reported validated method for the detection of both classic drugs of abuse and new psychoactive substances in waste water using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and derivatization with pentafluoropropionic anhydride.
10
Low, Ann Stewart. "An evaluation of analytical procedures for detection of drug abuse with particular reference to opiates." Thesis, Robert Gordon University, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.242985.
11
Singh, Rohitpal. "An Approach for Deliberate Non-Compliance Detection during Opioid Abuse Surveillance by a Wearable Biosensor." Digital WPI, 2018. https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/etd-theses/1260.
Abstract:
Wearable sensors can be used to monitor opioid use and other key behaviors of interest, and to prompt interventions that promote behavioral change. The effectiveness of such systems is threatened by the potential of a subject's deliberate non-compliance (DNC) to the monitoring. We define deliberate non-compliance as the process of giving one's device to someone else when surveillance is on-going. The principal aim of this thesis is to develop an approach to leverage movement and cardiac features from a wearable sensor to detect such deliberate non-compliance by individuals under surveillance for opioid use. Data from 11 participants who presented to the Emergency Department following an opioid overdose was analyzed. Using a personalized machine learning classifier (model), we evaluated if a snippet of blood volume pulse (BVP) and accelerometer data received is coming from the expected participant or an alternate person. Analysis of our classier shows the viability of this approach, as we were able to detect DNC (or compliance) with over 90% accuracy within 3 seconds of its occurrence.
12
Sheikh, Muhammad. "State of charge dependent thermal runaway detection of lithium-ion battery under mechanical abuse conditions." Thesis, University of Sunderland, 2018. http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/9898/.
Abstract:
With the high industrial acceptance of lithium-ion batteries as an electric vehicle (EV) energy source, it is necessary to examine these batteries for critical safety issues. The contribution of this research is to investigate the state of charge (SOC) dependent thermal runaway detection of 18650 lithium-ion batteries due to mechanical abuse conditions. To achieve accurate results, an experimental setup was designed to capture temperature variations and deformation of the battery due to loading conditions, where four test protocols were used which were rod, circular punch, three-point bend and flat plate. The numerical simulation model was used for the battery layered model where the concentric layered formation was used for the single battery model. The proposed numerical simulation model integrates both temperature and structural changes. To ensure accuracy, validation of the numerical simulation model was achieved by comparing these results with experimental results. The validation analysis of battery behaviour shows that the compared results are in good correlation with experimental work and the numerical simulation model can be used for the single battery layered model. Furthermore, numerical simulation analysis of impact load is conducted where results, using quasi-static and impact load, are compared to understand sequential failures and short circuit leading to thermal runaway. Deformation of cells mimics thermal runaway where various thermal runaway detection strategies are employed in this work, including; force-displacement, voltage-temperature, stress-strain, SOC dependency and separator failure. Results show that a cell can undergo severe conditions even with no fracture or iii rupture, which may be slow to develop but they can lead to catastrophic failures. Short circuit displacement was used as an indication of initial failure for all test conditions and mean short circuit displacement was 6.94mm for all test protocols. Numerical simulation results show that with the moderate number of elements where element size is 1mm for active materials and current collectors, better results can be achieved.
13
Hoft, Mary, and Lisa Haddad. "Screening Children for Abuse and Neglect: A Review of the Literature." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/8514.
Abstract:
Child abuse and neglect occur in epidemic numbers in the United States and around the world, resulting in major physical and mental health consequences for abused children in the present and future. A vast amount of information is available on the signs and symptoms and short- and long-term consequences of abuse. A limited number of instruments have been empirically developed to screen for child abuse, with most focused on physical abuse in the context of the emergency department, which have been found to be minimally effective and lacking rigor. This literature review focuses on physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and neglect, occurring in one or multiple forms (polyabuse). A systematic, in-depth analysis of the literature was conducted. This literature review provides information for identifying children who have been abused and neglected but exposes the need for a comprehensive screening instrument or protocol that will capture all forms of child abuse and neglect. Screening needs to be succinct, user-friendly, and amenable for use with children at every point of care in the healthcare system.
14
Kronstrand, Robert. "Analytical and toxicological aspects of drug incorporation into human hair /." Linköping : Univ, 2001. http://www.bibl.liu.se/liupubl/disp/disp2001/med709s.pdf.
15
Martin, Danica Paige. "Optimization of a Method for the Extraction of Drugs of Abuse from Wastewater." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1617014087323429.
16
Nordgren, Helena. "Mass spectrometry in the search for new drugs of abuse : method development and clinical application /." Stockholm, 2004. http://diss.kib.ki.se/2004/91-7349-827-0/.
17
Greco, Ana Martina. "Children and youth victimization: Detection and reporting from school staff members." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/672576.
Abstract:
Violence affects many children and youth, causing devastating effects. Schools are in an ideal position to prevent, detect and report potential victimization cases. Yet, studies have found several limitations to perform these tasks, like misconceptions or lack of knowledge and resources. Besides, the empirical evidence of the effect of each of these variables in the detection and reporting experience is limited.
This thesis composed by three original empirical studies addresses the experience of school staff members with children and youth victimization, its detection and the reporting of potential cases, as well as their level of knowledge. The studies have been published as detailed in the “Studies” section.
The sample for studies 1 and 2 was composed by 184 staff members between 22 and 64 years old (84.04% females, M = 43.40, SD = 10.37). Sample for study 3 included 453 school staff members (83.53% females) between 22 and 65 years old (M = 42.23, SD = 9.46). Participants answered a self-administered questionnaire created ad·hoc , including questions about experience with victimization (e.g., “Have you received any training regarding child victimization?”), its detection (e.g., “How many times during your career did you suspect that a minor might be being victimized?”) and its reporting (e.g., “Have you ever you report a child abuse suspicion to an external agency outside school (e.g., social services)?”). The level of knowledge was tested through statements about victimization (e.g., “Child victimization affects less than 10% of minors in Spain”) , its detection (e.g., “A minor growing up in a one-parent family is more likely to experience victimization”) and its reporting (e.g., “If a suspicions turns out not to be true, the family is entitled to sue the informant”) that participants had to classify as true, false or unknown. Descriptive statistics (i.e., frequencies, percentages, proportions, means and standard deviations), bivariate (i.e., Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis test with their corresponding effect sizes) multivariate (i.e., logistic regression) and qualitative analysis were used to respond to each study’s aims.
A small proportion of school staff has ever been trained regarding childhood and youth victimization. Over 70% has suspected that a student might be being victimized at least once. However, only around 40% of those who ever detected a potential case reported outside school. The majority of those who reported perceived the intervention that followed the report as beneficial for the child’s well-being. The decision not to report was mostly based on what happened once participants shared their concerns within the school. Other reasons not to report were thinking that their suspicions needed to be serious or certain, unclear definitions, feeling they were not entitled, lack of knowledge and fears. With each year of experience, the likelihood to detect a potential case increased by one time. The likelihood of reporting was significantly higher among school staff with accurate and concrete knowledge in reporting procedures (e.g., anonymity, need for the principal’s consent). Reporter’s gender (i.e., males were more likely to report than females) or the role they performed in school (i.e., workers who only came into contact with children specifically or sporadically reported significantly less than those who spent at least for hours a day in charge of groups of students) were also relevant.
Results found complement previous research by quantifying the proportion of suspicions of potential victimization cases that go underreported from school. Findings contribute to dispel misconceptions about the efficiency of social services interventions and suggest ways in which early report can be increased. Empirical evidence of the effect of specific aspects of knowledge in reporting is provided and internal school dynamics that might prevent some concerns to reach external agencies are described.Las escuelas están en posición ideal para prevenir, detectar y notificar potenciales casos de violencia, pero los estudios reportan limitaciones como la persistencia de falsas creencias o falta de conocimiento y recursos. La presente tesis, compuesta por tres investigaciones originales, estudia la experiencia y el conocimiento de trabajadores escolares respecto de la victimización infantil y adolescente, su detección y notificación. La muestra de los estudios 1 y 2 fue de 184 trabajadores escolares de entre 22 y 64 años (84,04% mujeres, M = 43,40, DT = 10,37). En el estudio 3 se incluyeron 453 sujetos (83,53% mujeres) de entre 22 y 65 años (M = 42,23, DT = 9,46). Los participantes respondieron a un cuestionario autoadministrado creado ad·hoc, que incluía preguntas sobre victimización, detección y notificación. Se evaluó el nivel de conocimiento con frases que debían clasificarse como ciertas, falsas o desconocidas. Se obtuvieron estadísticos descriptivos, se hicieron análisis bivariados, multivariante y cualitativos para responder a los objetivos de cada estudio. Una minoría se ha formado en victimización. Más del 70% ha sospechado que alguno de sus estudiantes podría estar siendo victimizado/a. De ellos, sólo el 40% notificó alguna vez por fuera de la escuela. La mayoría de quienes habían notificado consideraron que la posterior intervención fue beneficiosa para el menor. La decisión de no notificar se tomó mayormente luego de compartir la sospecha con otros miembros del equipo. Con cada año de experiencia, la probabilidad de detectar al menos un potencial caso de victimización se incrementa una vez. La probabilidad de notificar es significativa más alta entre los participantes que tienen conocimiento concreto del procedimiento. El género o el cargo también resultaron relevantes. Esta tesis complementa trabajos anteriores cuantificando la proporción potenciales casos de victimización que no se notifican a autoridades exteriores desde la escuela. Los resultados contribuyen a desmitificar opiniones adversas sobre la eficiencia de los servicios sociales y sugieren maneras de aumentar la notificación temprana.
18
Laraba, Abir. "Protocol Abuse Mitigation In SDN Programmable Data Planes." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Université de Lorraine, 2022. http://www.theses.fr/2022LORR0168.
Abstract:
L'émergence du paradigme des réseaux définis par logiciel (SDN) a favorisé le développement de nouveaux mécanismes de surveillance des réseaux grâce à leur programmabilité. Le premier objectif de SDN est de centraliser l'intelligence du réseau au niveau d'un plan de contrôle avec un plan de données sans état (i.e., des éléments de réseau, des commutateurs). Par conséquent, les fonctions de surveillance du réseau nécessitent l'aide du contrôleur distant ou l'extension des protocoles de plan de données existants. Ces dernières années, des efforts ont été faits pour rendre le plan de données plus programmable et plus apte à supporter un traitement à état, ce qui permet de déployer des fonctions personnalisées et de décharger de nombreuses applications sur les éléments du réseau. Par exemple, la programmabilité du plan de données peut être assurée par le langage P4 qui définit la manière dont les paquets sont traités dans un pipeline d'un commutateur et qui prend en charge le traitement à état des paquets. Cependant, le langage P4 ne fournit pas d'abstractions à états intuitives pour modéliser les attaques comportementales. Il est donc nécessaire de reconsidérer des abstractions générales pour modéliser et surveiller un comportement complexe et à état dans le plan de données. Pour exploiter les opportunités offertes par un plan de données programmable, notamment le traitement des paquets à état et en temps réel, nous avons besoin de modèles suffisamment simples pour être déployés sur un commutateur programmable, tout en respectant les primitives existantes qui restent limitées, et en même temps, capables de capturer un comportement complexe. Parallèlement, les attaquants exploitent les vulnérabilités présentes dans les protocoles utilisés au cœur de l'Internet, tels que TCP et DNS. Cependant, les solutions proposées pour détecter ces attaques nécessitent de modifier l'implémentation des protocoles au niveau des hôtes finaux ou ont un impact négatif sur les flux bénins. Par conséquent, corriger les vulnérabilités à l'échelle de l'Internet nécessiterait beaucoup de temps pour le déploiement, comme dans le cas de DNSSEC. Dans cette thèse, nous abordons ces lacunes en définissant une fonction de sécurité (c'est-à-dire une approche de détection et d'atténuation des attaques) qui peut être déployée dans un plan de données programmable de SDN. Nous proposons une abstraction reposant sur une machine à états finis étendue (EFSM) pour modéliser le comportement d'une attaque. Pour détecter des attaques sophistiquées telles que les attaques à étapes multiples, nous l'étendons avec un réseau de Petri pour synchroniser la détection d'un ensemble d'étapes d'attaque. Nous présentons comment ces modèles peuvent être mappés aux primitives P4 afin de pouvoir détecter et agir contre une attaque au sein du réseau. Nous présentons trois attaques de la couche 3, la couche 4 et la couche 7 du modèle OSI (Open System Interconnection), à savoir l'abus du protocole ECN (Explicit Congestion Notification), l'attaque Optimisitic ACK et la récente attaque DNS par empoisonnement du cache. Notre approche ne nécessite pas de modifier l'implémentation du protocole au niveau des hôtes finaux. En outre, notre solution s'appuie sur des plans de données programmables, permettant la surveillance des flux et la réaction contre les attaques en temps réel au sein du réseauThe emergence of the Software-Defined Networking paradigm has supported the development of new network monitoring schemes thanks to network programmability. The first purpose of SDN is to centralize the network intelligence at the control plane with a stateless data plane (i.e., network elements, switches). As a result, the network monitoring functions require the help of the remote controller or the extension of existing data plane protocols. In recent years, efforts have been made to make the data plane more programmable and stateful, permitting customized functions deployment and offloading many applications to network elements (e.g., forwarding devices). For example, the data plane programmability can be enabled by the P4 language that defines how packets are processed in a switch pipeline and supports stateful packet processing. However, P4 does not provide intuitive stateful abstractions to model behavioral attacks. Therefore, rethinking on the general abstractions to model and track a complex and stateful behavior in the data plane is necessary. To exploit the opportunities offered by a programmable data plane, including stateful and real-time packet processing, we need models which are simple enough to be deployed on a programmable switch with respect to the existing primitives that remain limited and, at the same time, capable of capturing a complex behavior.Meantime, attackers exploit vulnerabilities present in protocols used in the core of the Internet, such as TCP and DNS. However, the proposed solutions to detect these attacks require modifying the protocol implementation at the end-hosts or having a negative impact on benign flows. Therefore, patching at the scale of the Internet would require much time for deployment, such as in the case of DNSSEC. In this thesis, we address these shortcomings by designing a security function (i.e., an attack mitigation approach) that can be deployed in an SDN programmable data plane. We propose an abstraction based on an Extended Finite State Machine (EFSM) to model an attack behavior. To detect sophisticated attacks such as multi-step attacks, we extend it with Petri Net to synchronize the detection of a set of attack steps. We present how these models can be mapped to P4 primitives so that we can detect and react against an attack within the network. We present three attacks from Layer-3, Layer-4, and Layer-7 of the OSI model, namely the ECN protocol abuse, the Optimistic ACK attack, and the recent DNS multi-step cache poisoning attack. Our approach does not require modifying protocol implementation at the end hosts. Besides, our solution leverages programmable data planes, enabling flow tracking and reaction against attacks in real-time within the network
19
O'Connell, Michael A. "Using polygraph testing to assess deviant sexual history of sex offenders /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/7905.
20
Kay, Richard G. "The application of proteomic technologies to the detection of the abuse of gene therapy and protein therapeutic agents." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2010. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/6969.
Abstract:
An acetonitrile based protein extraction method was developed that demonstrated high efficient and effective removal of high abundant proteins from both human and murine serum. The protein content of the extract was characterised using gel electrophoresis, the Bradford assay and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with database searching. Selected reaction monitoring (SRM) analysis was used to quantify the levels of high abundant serum proteins to further validate the extraction methodology. The ACN depletion method, in combination with artificial neural networks (ANNs) data mining software, was applied to a murine growth hormone (GH) gene doping study with the aim of identifying biomarker ions capable of detecting gene doping. The LC-MS and ANNs analysis approach failed to conclusively identify a biomarker to gene doping in the mouse model. However, the application of the same technique to serum from a rhGH administration study in humans, returned models capable of discriminating between rhGH treated placebo states. The ion identified as being the most discriminatory was characterised using mass spectrometry, and was derived from the protein leucine-rich a-2-glycoprotein (LRG). Multiple LRG related tryptic peptides were identified as being up-regulated upon dosing with recombinant human GH (rhGH). A high throughput LC-MS/MS and SRM approach was developed to quantify proteins in human serum. The approach was validated by comparison of LC-MS/MS derived APO A1 concentrations with those obtained using established clinical analyser technologies. The LC-MS/MS methodology was applied to a large cohort of 257 serum samples from two rhGH administration studies performed at Royal Free Hospital . The two administrations included serum samples from 15 individuals who had been dosed daily with rhGH. Serum concentrations of the established rhGH biomarker insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) were quantified by LC-MS/MS and compared well with those determined using two different immunoassay-based methodologies. Serum concentrations of the LRG protein were measured simultaneously with IGF-I and appeared to increase in 14 of the 15 rhGH dosed individuals. Combining the LRG and IGF-I data further increased the separation of rhGH treated and placebo states within each individual, and the application of ANNs analysis showed that the combination of the two proteins increased the discrimination characteristics over using IGF-I alone. The murine equivalent of the LRG protein was identified and SRM transitions for a tryptically derived peptide were developed, along with transitions for monitoring a peptide from the murine IGF-I protein. These transitions were used to quantify the two proteins in the remaining aliquots from a murine GH gene doping experiment, however neither protein appeared to increase in the GH +ve plasmid samples that were analysed.
21
Daskalaki, Evangelia. "An exploration of the potential of metabolomics for the detection of recombinant human erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) abuse in sport." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2015. http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=25455.
Abstract:
Recombinant human erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) administration stimulates the increase in red blood cell (RBC) mass and ultimately the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood, which results in its ergogenic benefits. EPO and its related forms are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The main aim of this thesis was to apply an untargeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry based approach to investigate a possible phenotypic response to r-HuEPO in the plasma, urine and RBC (from whole blood and centrifuged blood residue) metabolomes of twenty physically active non-smoking males, as a potential method to detecting abuse. Participants underwent a ten week sampling protocol consisting of two weeks of baseline, four weeks of treatment (50IU.kg-1 every second day) followed by four weeks of wash-out. Significant metabolites (p-value < 0.05) were identified from a diverse range of metabolic pathways. Most interesting are as follows: orotate from urine, as well as linoelaidyl and elaidic carnitines, glycine, ergothioneine, thymine, 2-oxoglutarate, L-arginine, homoarginine, deoxycholic acid 3-glucuronide, D-glucuronate, D-glucosamine, 4-aminobutanoate, muramic acid and [PR] tretinoin/all-trans retinoic acid from plasma. The whole blood investigation highlighted significant metabolites which could be responsible for the generation of glutathione (namely 2-oxoglutaramate) which is an essential component to RBCs, because of its antioxidant capacity. Whereas the RBC residue obtained following removal of plasma showed significant changes in L-carnitine and acyl-carnitines (linoelaidyl, elaidic, hydroxybutyryl, heptadecanoyl, stearoyl, tetradecanoyl carnitines). As a result of the absence in a control group as well as training frequency of the participants, in the primary study, a small pilot investigation was carried out with the same untargeted methodology to investigate the phenotypic response of an hour of aerobic exercise in the urine metabolome of three physically active non-smoking males. Main significant systems affected include: purine pathway, tryptophan metabolism, carnitine metabolism, cortisol metabolism, androgen metabolism, amino acid oxidation and the gastrointestinal microbiome. It was concluded that a more robust investigation into r-HuEPO abuse would require a placebo controlled cross-over study, in order to ensure that the findings were truly related to the administration itself and not to other external stimuli, such as training.
22
Miller, Eleanor Isabel. "The detection of drugs of abuse in biological matrices using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2007. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1516/.
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to investigate the potential use of ELISA and LC-MS-MS in combination and as individual techniques, for the detection of drugs of abuse in biological matrices. Overall the LC-MS-MS method showed good correlation results for opiates compared to the GC-MS method. 6-MAM was however detected in more root segments and segments excluding roots by LC-MS-MS. Morphine was detected in a greater number of root segments by LC-MS-MS compared to GC-MS. However, morphine was detected in a greater number of segments excluding roots by GC-MS. Codeine and dihydrocodeine were also detected in a greater number of root segments and segments excluding roots by GC-MS. The cocaine results showed excellent qualitative correlation between the LC-MS-MS and GC-MS methods for cocaine and benzoylecgonine. The GC-MS method did not however extract greater concentrations of cocaine and its metabolites compared to LC-MS-MS due to the higher recovery of the drug group specific GC-MS method. Cocaethylene and EME were detected in some samples by LC-MS-MS method for opiates and cocaine and its metabolites compared to the GC-MS method; there may be some cases where the GC-MS method would detect the analytes where the LC-MS-MS method would not. This has been demonstrated in 3 samples for morphine and in 6 samples for codeine. The LC-MS-MS method analysed for and detected amphetamines in samples that were not tested for amphetamines by GC-MS. In one sample that was tested by both methods, amphetamine was detected in the root sample by LC-MS-MS where GC-MS failed to detect it. Also a greater concentration of amphetamine was extracted using the LC-MS-MS method in the segment without roots. The LC-MS-MS method was useful for the analysis of 17 drugs of abuse in post-mortem hair samples in forensic toxicology cases. Using this method, it is possible to obtain maximum information from one hair sample which is extremely useful when the sample weight is limited. The ability of the LC-MS-MS method to extract and analyse a greater number of drug groups from one hair sample highlights the advantages of using this method over GC-MS which targets individual drug groups and requires splitting of the sample. This method is particularly applicable for implementation in the forensic toxicology laboratory at the University of Glasgow where currently GC-MS methods that target individual drug groups are used for routine hair screening and confirmation.
23
Trembath, Mark. "Detection of substance misuse in people with a psychotic disorder : preliminary analysis of the problem list as a new screening measure /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2005. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe18764.pdf.
24
Paulsson, Tobiaz. "Towards Dialogue Models for Online Grooming Detection." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för psykologi, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-173166.
Abstract:
Social networks are a popular way for people to engage in activities and find new friends over the Internet. One central feature that these services share is the possibility for users to interact and share personal information. However, social networks also enable sexual predators with an interest in children to have access to rich hunting grounds with a reduced risk of detection. This thesis applies grounded theory to provide domain knowledge from eight experts on online child sexual abuse. This domain knowledge is used to create informational structures that can be applied in intelligent software systems to potentially detect these types of crimes. The results provide structures for automated dialogue detection including ontological structures, models of influential circumstances (social and psychological) and a normative dialogue structure of a nested deliberation dialogue. Implementation of intelligent software systems in this domain has the potential to detect probable outcomes of dialogues much faster than human analysts. Future work is needed to provide further theoretical sampling to extend the proposed models and to evaluate the models on real-world data sets.Sociala nätverk är ett populärt sätt att delta i aktiviteter och hitta nya vänner på internet. En central funktion för dessa tjänster är möjligheten för användare att interagera och utbyta personlig information. Dock medför sociala nätverk också möjligheter för sexualförbrytare att utnyttja barn då de får tillgång till plattformar där många barn befinner sig, samtidigt som de har en minskad risk för detektion. Den här kandidatuppsatsen använder grundad teori för att samla in domänkunskap från åtta experter kring sexuellt utnyttjande av barn på internet. Denna domänkunskap används för att skapa informationsstrukturer som kan tillämpas inom intelligenta mjukvarusystem för att potentiellt upptäcka denna typen av brott. Resultaten bidrar med strukturer för automatiserad dialogdetektion vilket inkluderar ontologiska strukturer, en modell för psykologiska- och sociala faktorer som kan påverka förhållandet mellan offer och förbrytare samt en normativ dialogstruktur baserad på dialogteori. Införandet av dialogmodeller inom intelligenta mjukvarusystem har potential att förutse utfallen av dialoger snabbare än mänskliga granskare. Fortsatt forskning behövs för att bistå modellerna med ytterligare teoretisk applicering samt att utvärdera modellerna på verkliga fall.
25
Peng, Yan. "Development, optimisation and validation of a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the detection of drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals in drinking water." Thesis, Anglia Ruskin University, 2016. https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/id/eprint/702708/1/Peng_2016.pdf.
Abstract:
The quality of drinking water is fundamental to human health and welfare and therefore it is
important to remove contaminants. Recent research has focused on the presence of drugs
of abuse and pharmaceuticals in water which could have an adverse effect on human
health via bio-accumulation. Therefore, the focus of this research is to develop a method to
simultaneously analyse 20 traditional illicit drugs, novel psychoactive substances (NPS)
and antidepressants in drinking water from the East Anglian, UK, which has never been
investigated before. Furthermore, removal efficiencies were also determined to assess the
drinking water treatment plants effectiveness in treating and eliminating such compounds.
The analysis was based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography-mass
spectrometry (LC-MS) using a C18 column for identification and quantification, followed by
a biphenyl column for confirmation. 65 - 107 % SPE recoveries were achieved for 17
analytes. For the C18 column, precision was below 7.57 % and 15.04 % relative standard
deviations for higher and lower concentrations and method accuracy was below ± 8.66 %
bias at low, medium and high concentrations. Method detection and quantification limits
(0.0056 - 1.0918 ng/L and 0.0187 - 3.6394 ng/L) were at sub ng/Ls. For the biphenyl
column, the method was selective and instrumental detection limits ranged from 0.0115 to
0.4795 ng/mL. This is the first reported method for the analysis of 20 drugs of abuse and
pharmaceuticals in drinking water using LC-MS.
Cocaine, methamphetamine, citalopram, fluoxetine, ketamine, mephedrone and methylone
were detected in drinking water between 0.139 and 2.814 ng/L. The latter two NPS have
been found in drinking water for the first time. In addition, the removal efficiencies of
drinking water treatment plants were determined for methamphetamine, fluoxetine,
ketamine and mephedrone from -25.27 % to 98.76 %.
The findings could help to identify and recognise the ever-changing composition of
contaminants in drinking water, which can aid in the development of water treatments for
their removal. Moreover, this research could inform drinking water regulatory bodies of the
presence of drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals, as they are currently not included within
the regulatory framework.
26
Peng, Yan. "Development, optimisation and validation of a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the detection of drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals in drinking water." Thesis, Anglia Ruskin University, 2016. http://arro.anglia.ac.uk/702708/.
Abstract:
The quality of drinking water is fundamental to human health and welfare and therefore it is important to remove contaminants. Recent research has focused on the presence of drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals in water which could have an adverse effect on human health via bio-accumulation. Therefore, the focus of this research is to develop a method to simultaneously analyse 20 traditional illicit drugs, novel psychoactive substances (NPS) and antidepressants in drinking water from the East Anglian, UK, which has never been investigated before. Furthermore, removal efficiencies were also determined to assess the drinking water treatment plants effectiveness in treating and eliminating such compounds. The analysis was based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) using a C18 column for identification and quantification, followed by a biphenyl column for confirmation. 65 - 107 % SPE recoveries were achieved for 17 analytes. For the C18 column, precision was below 7.57 % and 15.04 % relative standard deviations for higher and lower concentrations and method accuracy was below ± 8.66 % bias at low, medium and high concentrations. Method detection and quantification limits (0.0056 - 1.0918 ng/L and 0.0187 - 3.6394 ng/L) were at sub ng/Ls. For the biphenyl column, the method was selective and instrumental detection limits ranged from 0.0115 to 0.4795 ng/mL. This is the first reported method for the analysis of 20 drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals in drinking water using LC-MS. Cocaine, methamphetamine, citalopram, fluoxetine, ketamine, mephedrone and methylone were detected in drinking water between 0.139 and 2.814 ng/L. The latter two NPS have been found in drinking water for the first time. In addition, the removal efficiencies of drinking water treatment plants were determined for methamphetamine, fluoxetine, ketamine and mephedrone from -25.27 % to 98.76 %. The findings could help to identify and recognise the ever-changing composition of contaminants in drinking water, which can aid in the development of water treatments for their removal. Moreover, this research could inform drinking water regulatory bodies of the presence of drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals, as they are currently not included within the regulatory framework.
27
Lundberg, Yuko. "Detection Methods of IGF-I in the context of Performance-Enhancing Drug Abuse in Sports : The versatility of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method and biomarkers." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Farmakologi, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-151691.
28
Curtis, Byron Dale. "The forensic toxicology of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-n-propylthiophenethylamine (2C-T-7)." Oklahoma City : [s.n.], 2005.
29
Svensson, Birgitta. "Barn som riskerar att fara illa i sin hemmiljö : Utmaningar i ett förebyggande perspektiv." Doctoral thesis, Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för hälsovetenskaper, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-26456.
Abstract:
Baksidestext Barnmisshandel är ett omfattande folkhälsoproblem med långsiktiga negativa konsekvenser för den enskilda individen och för samhället i stort. Förebyggande insatser kan vara livsavgörande för de utsatta barnen. Denna avhandlings övergripande syfte var att öka kunskapen om barn som riskerar att fara illa i sin hemmiljö samt att identifiera utmaningar i ett förebyggande perspektiv. Två områden har studerats: (1) Våld mot barn med långvarig sjukdom/funktionsnedsättning (2) Förskolan som upptäckande och stödjande arena Gemensamt för inriktningarna är att barn med långvarig sjukdom/funktionsnedsättning och barn i förskoleåldern utgör särskilt sårbara grupper, som löper ökad risk att fara illa i sin hemmiljö. De har också unik kontakt med professionella med möjlighet att upptäcka och agera vid oro. Avhandlingen bygger på fyra delstudier; en nationell kartläggning riktad till skolelever, en intervjustudie med föräldrar samt två förskolestudier. Resultaten från studierna diskuteras utifrån identifierade utmaningar i ett förebyggande perspektiv. Utmaningarna inkluderar emotionella hinder samt behov av ett mer nyanserat och proaktivt förhållningssätt för att kunna utveckla tidiga insatser till barn och föräldrar.The aim with this thesis was to increase the knowledge about children at risk of maltreatment and to identify challenges in a preventive perspective. Two areas have been studied; Physical abuse of children with chronic conditions/disabilities and Detection and support within the pre-school environment. Four data sets were used: a national survey of school children (I), an in-depth interview study with parents (II) and two pre-school studies (III, IV). I-II: Chronic conditions in children increase the risk for physical abuse, but vary with socio-economic circumstances. The highest risk for physical abuse was found among children with chronic conditions born outside Sweden. The subsequent study revealed direct risk factors related to parent and child (emotional demands in precarious situations), and indirect risk factors related to parent and professional (gradual shift in responsibility and emotionally closed environment) and social norms (taboo on talking about abuse). III-IV: Preschool staff suspected child maltreatment for two percent of the preschool children. In less than half of the cases, the parents were informed and a report to social services was made in a third of the cases. The most common reason for not making a report was that the staff believed that the pre-school had sufficient resources to help the child. In the subsequent study, preschool teachers’ concerns about the child’s home environment were explored in a broader perspective over a one year period. The study showed that concern for the children’s home situation related to increased concern for several aspects of children’s health and development, increased need of special support in preschool, insufficient contact with parents, and lower parental socioeconomic status. The results are discussed according to identified challenges in a preventive perspective. These include emotional obstacles for prevention and a need for a more nuanced and proactive professional approach to enable early support to children at risk of maltreatment and their parents.
30
Ali, Esam M. A. "Applications of Raman Spectroscopic Techniques in Forensic and Security Contexts. The detection of drugs of abuse and explosives in scenarios of forensic and security relevance using benchtop and portable Raman spectroscopic instrumentation." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5267.
Abstract:
Drug trafficking and smuggling is an ongoing challenge for law enforcement agencies. Cocaine smuggling is a high-value pursuit for smugglers and has been attempted using a variety of concealment methods including the use of bottled liquids, canned milk, wax and suspensions in cans of beer. In particular, traffickers have used clothing impregnated with cocaine for smuggling. Handling, transportation or re-packaging of drugs of abuse and explosives will inevitably leave residual material on the clothing and other possessions of the involved persons. The nails and skin of the person may also be contaminated through the handling of these substances.
This research study describes the development of Raman spectroscopic techniques for the detection of drugs of abuse and explosives on biomaterials of forensic relevance including undyed natural and synthetic fibres and dyed textile specimens, nail and skin. Confocal Raman microscopy has been developed and evaluated for the detection and identification of particulates of several drugs of abuse and explosives on different substrates. The results show that excellent spectroscopic discrimination can be achieved between single particles and substrate materials, giving a ubiquitous non-destructive approach to the analysis of pico-gram quantities of the drugs and explosives in-situ. Isolating the particle in this way corresponds with an analytical sensitivity comparable with the most sensitive analytical techniques currently available e.g. the highly sensitive, yet destructive ionization desorption mass spectrometry. With the confocal Raman approach, this work demonstrates that definitive molecular-specific information can be achieved within seconds without significant interference from the substrate. The potential for the application of this technique as a rapid preliminary, forensic screening procedure is obvious and attractive to non-specialist operators as it does not involve prior chemical pretreatment
ii
or detachment of the analyte from the substrate. As a result, evidential materials can be analysed without compromising their integrity for future investigation.
Also, the applications of benchtop and portable Raman spectroscopy for the in-situ detection of drugs of abuse in clothing impregnated with the drugs have been demonstrated. Raman spectra were obtained from a set of undyed natural and synthetic fibres and dyed textiles impregnated with these drugs. The spectra were collected using three Raman spectrometers; one benchtop dispersive spectrometer coupled to a fibre-optic probe and two portable spectrometers. High quality spectra of the drugs could be acquired in-situ within seconds and without any sample preparation or alteration of the evidential material. A field-portable Raman spectrometer is a reliable instrument that can be used by emergency response teams to rapidly identify unknown samples. This method lends itself well to further development for the in-situ examination by law enforcement officers of items associated with users, handlers and suppliers of drugs of abuse in the forensics arena.
In the last section of this study, a portable prototype Raman spectrometer ( DeltaNu
Advantage 1064) equipped with 1064 nm laser excitation has been evaluated for the analysis of drugs of abuse and explosives. The feasibility of the instrument for the analysis of the samples both as neat materials and whilst contained in plastic and glass containers has been investigated. The advantages, disadvantages and the analytical potential in the forensics arena of this instrument have been discussed.Egyptian Government and Sohag University
31
Ali, Esam Mohamed Abdalla. "Applications of Raman spectroscopic techniques in forensic and security contexts : the detection of drugs of abuse and explosives in scenarios of forensic and security relevance using benchtop and portable Raman spectroscopic instrumentation." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5267.
Abstract:
Drug trafficking and smuggling is an ongoing challenge for law enforcement agencies. Cocaine smuggling is a high-value pursuit for smugglers and has been attempted using a variety of concealment methods including the use of bottled liquids, canned milk, wax and suspensions in cans of beer. In particular, traffickers have used clothing impregnated with cocaine for smuggling. Handling, transportation or re-packaging of drugs of abuse and explosives will inevitably leave residual material on the clothing and other possessions of the involved persons. The nails and skin of the person may also be contaminated through the handling of these substances. This research study describes the development of Raman spectroscopic techniques for the detection of drugs of abuse and explosives on biomaterials of forensic relevance including undyed natural and synthetic fibres and dyed textile specimens, nail and skin. Confocal Raman microscopy has been developed and evaluated for the detection and identification of particulates of several drugs of abuse and explosives on different substrates. The results show that excellent spectroscopic discrimination can be achieved between single particles and substrate materials, giving a ubiquitous non-destructive approach to the analysis of pico-gram quantities of the drugs and explosives in-situ. Isolating the particle in this way corresponds with an analytical sensitivity comparable with the most sensitive analytical techniques currently available e.g. the highly sensitive, yet destructive ionization desorption mass spectrometry. With the confocal Raman approach, this work demonstrates that definitive molecular-specific information can be achieved within seconds without significant interference from the substrate. The potential for the application of this technique as a rapid preliminary, forensic screening procedure is obvious and attractive to non-specialist operators as it does not involve prior chemical pretreatment ii or detachment of the analyte from the substrate. As a result, evidential materials can be analysed without compromising their integrity for future investigation. Also, the applications of benchtop and portable Raman spectroscopy for the in-situ detection of drugs of abuse in clothing impregnated with the drugs have been demonstrated. Raman spectra were obtained from a set of undyed natural and synthetic fibres and dyed textiles impregnated with these drugs. The spectra were collected using three Raman spectrometers; one benchtop dispersive spectrometer coupled to a fibre-optic probe and two portable spectrometers. High quality spectra of the drugs could be acquired in-situ within seconds and without any sample preparation or alteration of the evidential material. A field-portable Raman spectrometer is a reliable instrument that can be used by emergency response teams to rapidly identify unknown samples. This method lends itself well to further development for the in-situ examination by law enforcement officers of items associated with users, handlers and suppliers of drugs of abuse in the forensics arena. In the last section of this study, a portable prototype Raman spectrometer ( DeltaNu Advantage 1064) equipped with 1064 nm laser excitation has been evaluated for the analysis of drugs of abuse and explosives. The feasibility of the instrument for the analysis of the samples both as neat materials and whilst contained in plastic and glass containers has been investigated. The advantages, disadvantages and the analytical potential in the forensics arena of this instrument have been discussed.
32
Cézar, Juliana Guimarães Silva. "Padrão de uso de álcool e outras drogas em famílias de usuários cadastrados como alcoolistas em uma unidade de estratégia de saúde da família." Universidade de São Paulo, 2013. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/22/22131/tde-13012014-114153/.
Abstract:
As equipes de Estratégia de Saúde da Família desenvolvem ações de vigilância, prevenção, promoção e recuperação da saúde do indivíduo, da família e da comunidade. Estas atuam de forma integral e contínua, no nível de atenção primária. Neste contexto, o uso e abuso de álcool e outras drogas se destacam como problemática multifatorial que acarreta impactos sociais e econômicos que afetam o desenvolvimento dos países. O álcool é a droga mais consumida em todo mundo e o uso de múltiplas drogas pode agravar os danos causados para o indivíduo e sua família, constituindo um desafio à saúde pública. Foi objetivo desta pesquisa investigar o padrão de uso de álcool e outras drogas e tratamentos recebidos entre os usuários identificados em uma unidade de Estratégia de Saúde da Família com alcoolismo e seus familiares. Para tanto, realizamos um estudo transversal, com abordagem quantitativa em uma unidade de Estratégia de Saúde da Família, no município de Ribeirão Preto-SP, com a utilização dos testes Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) e um Questionário Sociodemográfico e Clínico. A maioria dos usuários identificados com alcoolismo era do sexo masculino (87,5%). 93,7% faziam uso de bebida alcoólica, sendo que 18,7% apresentaram provável dependência, 56,3% consumo de risco e 25% consumo de baixo risco. Foi observado que 62,5% eram fumantes, 18,7% e 6,2% já fizeram uso de maconha e cocaína na vida, respectivamente. No momento da pesquisa, 6,2% apresentavam risco moderado de consumo de maconha. Ainda, 50% declararam problemas de saúde, 12,5% relataram atendimento e tratamento relacionado ao consumo de álcool no último ano e 18,7% na vida, há mais de um ano. Quanto aos familiares, a amostra era composta majoritariamente por mulheres (94,1%), sendo que 58,8% faziam uso de bebida alcoólica e 11,8% apresentavam consumo de risco. Foi observado que 35,3% eram fumantes, 11,8% já fizeram uso de maconha na vida, sendo que 5,9% já utilizaram outras drogas e no momento da pesquisa tinha consumo de risco moderado de cocaína ou crack. A maioria (70,6%) relatou problemas de saúde, 5,9% relataram ter iniciado tratamento para o tabagismo no ano e 5,9% declararam tratamento na vida para consumo de drogas. Observou-se que o uso de álcool esteve presente tanto entre os usuários identificados com alcoolismo quanto entre seus familiares, sendo alguns identificados com padrão de consumo de risco e outros com dependência desta droga. Trata-se, portanto, de informações importantes para que a equipe desenvolva ações para prevenir complicações advindas deste consumo, pois sabe-se que o uso de álcool e outras drogas pode trazer graves problemas no contexto individual e familiarThe teams of Health Family Strategy develop surveillance, prevention, promotion and recovery actions for individual, family and community health. These teams act fully and continuously at the primary care level. In this context, the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs stand out as multifactorial problem which causes social and economic impacts that affect the development of countries. Alcohol is the most consumed drug in the world and the use of multiple drugs can worsen the damage caused to the individuals and their families, it is a challenge to public health. The objective of this research was to investigate the pattern of use of alcohol and other drugs and treatments received by users identified as alcoholics and their families in a Health Family Strategy unit. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional, study with a quantitative approach for a Health Family Strategy unit, in Ribeirão Preto-SP, with the use of the following tests: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) and Sociodemographic and Clinical Questionnaire. Most users identified with alcoholism were male (87.5%), 93.7% used alcohol, and 18.7% had probable dependence, 56.3% risk consumption and 25% low risk consumption. It was observed that 62.5% were smokers, 18.7% and 6.2% had used cannabis and cocaine, respectively in their lifetime. At the time of the survey, 6.2% had moderate risk of cannabis use. Still, 50% reported health problems, 12.5% reported care and treatment to alcohol consumption in the last year and 18.7% in their lifetime before the last year. Regarding the family members, the sample consisted mostly of women (94.1%), and 58.8% used alcohol and 11.8% had risk consumption. It was observed that 35.3% were smokers, 11.8% have already used cannabis in their lifetime, and that 5.9% had used other drugs and at the time of the survey had moderate risk consumption of cocaine or crack. The majority (70.6%) reported health problems, 5.9% reported smoking treatment within the last year and 5.9% reported drug use treatment in their lifetime. It was observed that the alcohol use was present both between users identified as alcoholics and their families, some being identified as risk consumption pattern and others with probable dependence of this drug. It is therefore, important information for the team to develop actions to prevent complications which may come from this consumption, since it is known that the use of alcohol and other drugs can cause serious problems in the individual and family context
33
Holmgren, Per. "Postmortem toxicology : aspects on interpretation /." Linköping : Univ, 2004. http://www.bibl.liu.se/liupubl/disp/disp2004/med862s.pdf.
34
Ochoa, Mariela L. "Forensic and Proteomic Applications of Thermal Desorption Ion Mobility Spectrometry and Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2005. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ohiou1113585811.
35
da, Rosa Raquel C. "An Evaluation of Unsupervised Machine Learning Algorithms for Detecting Fraud and Abuse in the U.S. Medicare Insurance Program." Thesis, Florida Atlantic University, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10815097.
Abstract:
The population of people ages 65 and older has increased since the 1960s and current estimates indicate it will double by 2060. Medicare is a federal health insurance program for people 65 or older in the United States. Medicare claims fraud and abuse is an ongoing issue that wastes a large amount of money every year resulting in higher health care costs and taxes for everyone. In this study, an empirical evaluation of several unsupervised machine learning approaches is performed which indicates reasonable fraud detection results. We employ two unsupervised machine learning algorithms, Isolation Forest, and Unsupervised Random Forest, which have not been previously used for the detection of fraud and abuse on Medicare data. Additionally, we implement three other machine learning methods previously applied on Medicare data which include: Local Outlier Factor, Autoencoder, and k-Nearest Neighbor. For our dataset, we combine the 2012 to 2015 Medicare provider utilization and payment data and add fraud labels from the List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE) database. Results show that Local Outlier Factor is the best model to use for Medicare fraud detection.
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Davies, Miranda Louise. "Detecting and preventing financial abuse of older adults : examining decision making by health, social care and banking professionals." Thesis, Brunel University, 2011. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/5831.
Abstract:
Financial elder abuse is gaining increasing attention from researchers and policy makers. Such abuse can include theft of money as well as misuse of assets such as property. This research applied judgement analysis methodology to explore professional decision making in the context of such abuse and to identify the nature of the cues used to detect and prevent abuse. Participants included social care, health and banking professionals, who were established as key decision makers. In Phase I, semi-structured interviews (n = 63) were conducted. The critical incident technique was used to identify cue use and decisions taken in the most recent case experienced. Key cues for both social care and health professionals included the nature of the 'financial problem suspected', the older persons 'mental capacity' and the 'identifier of the abuse', this being whether the abuse was directly observed or instead reported by a third party. A separate cue used by health professionals was the individual's 'physical capacity'. Banking professionals did not use physical or mental capacity as cues, but independently considered 'who was in charge of the money'. Decisions made by social care professionals included determining whether safeguarding procedures should be implemented. In Phase II, a factorial survey approach was applied whereby social care, health and banking professionals (n=223) were presented with case scenarios incorporating the cues from Phase I in addition to cues from literature review. Multiple regression analysis and incremental F-tests identified the cues that explained a significant amount of the variance in judgements of certainty of abuse and likelihood of taking action. For example, for social care and health professionals this included the older person's mental capacity, and the nature of the financial problem suspected. The findings could be used to develop a training tool to enable other professionals to improve their strategies for detection and prevention of financial elder abuse.
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Iorio, Cristina. "Detecting and referring battered women : an emergency department case study." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0024/MQ50699.pdf.
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Agarwal, Richa. "Computer aided detection for breast lesion in ultrasound and mammography." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Girona, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/670295.
Abstract:
In the field of breast cancer imaging, traditional Computer Aided Detection (CAD) systems were designed using limited computing resources and used scanned films (poor image quality), resulting in less robust application process. Currently, with the advancements in technologies, it is possible to perform 3D imaging and also acquire high quality Full-Field Digital Mammogram (FFDM).
Automated Breast Ultrasound (ABUS) has been proposed to produce a full 3D scan of the breast automatically with reduced operator dependency. When using ABUS, lesion segmentation and tracking changes over time are challenging tasks, as the 3D nature of the images make the analysis difficult and tedious for radiologists. One of the goals of this thesis is to develop a framework for breast lesion segmentation in ABUS volumes. The 3D lesion volume in combination with texture and contour analysis, could provide valuable information to assist radiologists in the diagnosis.
Although ABUS volumes are of great interest, x-ray mammography is still the gold standard imaging modality used for breast cancer screening due to its fast acquisition and cost-effectiveness. Moreover, with the advent of deep learning methods based on Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), the modern CAD Systems are able to learn automatically which imaging features are more relevant to perform a diagnosis, boosting the usefulness of these systems. One of the limitations of CNNs is that they require large training datasets, which are very limited in the field of medical imaging.
In this thesis, the issue of limited amount of dataset is addressed using two strategies: (i) by using image patches as inputs rather than full sized image, and (ii) use the concept of transfer learning, in which the knowledge obtained by training for one task is used for another related task (also known as domain adaptation). In this regard, firstly the CNN trained on a very large dataset of natural images is adapted to classify between mass and non-mass image patches in the Screen-Film Mammogram (SFM), and secondly the newly trained CNN model is adapted to detect masses in FFDM. The prospects of using transfer learning between natural images and FFDM is also investigated. Two public datasets CBIS-DDSM and INbreast have been used for the purpose. In the final phase of research, a fully automatic mass detection framework is proposed which uses the whole mammogram as the input (instead of image patches) and provides the localisation of the lesion within this mammogram as the output. For this purpose, OPTIMAM Mammography Image Database (OMI-DB) is used.
The results obtained as part of this thesis showed higher performances compared to state-of-the-art methods, indicating that the proposed methods and frameworks have the potential to be implemented within advanced CAD systems, which can be used by radiologists in the breast cancer screeningEn el camp de les imatges de càncer de mama, els sistemes tradicionals de detecció assistida per ordinador (de l’anglès CAD) es van dissenyar utilitzant recursos informàtics limitats i pel·lícules de mamografia escanejades (del angles SFM) de qualitat d’imatge deficient, fet que va resultar en aplicacions poc robustes. Actualment, amb els avanços de les tecnologies, és possible realitzar imatges mèdiques en 3D i adquirir mamografies digitals (de l’anglès FFDM) d’alta qualitat. L’ultrasò automàtic de la mama (de l’anglès ABUS) ha estat proposat per adquirir imatges 3D de la mama amb escassa dependència del operador. Quan s’utilitza ABUS, la segmentació i seguiment de les lesions en el temps s ́on tasques complicades ja que la naturalesa 3D de les imatges fa que l’anàlisi sigui difícil i feixuc per els radiòlegs. Un dels objectius d’aquesta tesi és desenvolupar un marc per la segmentació semi-automàtica de lesions mamàries en volums ABUS. El volum de lesió 3D, en combinació amb l’anàlisi de la textura i el contorn, podria proporcionar informació valuosa per realitzar el diagnòstic radiològic. Tot i que els volums de ABUS són de gran interès, la mamografia de raigs X continua essent la modalitat d’imatge estàndard utilitzada per la detecció precoç del càncer de mama, degut principalment a la seva ràpida adquisició i rendibilitat. A més, amb l’arribada dels mètodes d’aprenentatge profund basats en xarxes neuronals convolucionals (de l’anglès CNN), els sistemes CAD moderns poden aprendre automàticament quines característiques de la imatge són més rellevants per realitzar un diagnòstic, fet que augmenta la utilitat d’aquests sistemes. Una de les limitacions de les CNN és que requereixen de grans conjunts de dades per entrenar, els quals són molt limitats en el camp de la imatge mèdica. En aquesta tesi, el tema de la poca disponibilitat d’imatges mediques s’aborda mitjançant dues estratègies: (i) utilitzant regions de la imatge com a entrada en comptes de les imatges de mida original, i (ii) mitjançant tècniques d’aprenentatge per transferència, en el que el coneixement après per a una determinada tasca es transfereix a una altra tasca relacionada (també conegut com a adaptació de domini). En primer lloc, la CNN entrenada en un conjunt de dades molt gran d’imatges naturals és adaptada per classificar regions de la imatge en tumor i no tumor de SFM i, en segon lloc, la CNN entrenada és adaptada per detectar tumors en FFDM. També s’ha investigat l’aprenentatge per transferència entre imatges naturals i FFDM. S’han utilitzat dos conjunts de dades públiques (CBIS-DDSM i INbreast) per aquest propòsit. En la fase final de la investigació, es proposa un marc de detecció automàtica de tumors utilitzant la mamografia original com entrada (en lloc de regions de la imatge) i que proporciona la localització de la lesió dins d’aquesta mamografia com a sortida. Per aquest propòsit s’utilitza una altra base de dades (OMI-DB). Els resultats obtinguts com a part d’aquesta tesi mostren millors rendiments en comparació amb l’estat de l’art, el que indica que els mètodes i marcs proposats tenen el potencial de ser implementats dins de sistemes CAD avançats, que poden ser utilitzats per radiòlegs en el cribratge del càncer de mama
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Larabi, Islam Amine. "Nouveaux produits de synthèse : analyse, consommation et métabolisme ; Applications cliniques et médicolégales Rapid and simultaneous screening of new psychoactive substances and conventional drugs of abuse. A comparative study of Biochip Array Technology versus LC-MS/MS in whole blood and urine Development of a sensitive untargeted liquid chromatography– high resolution mass spectrometry screening devoted to hair analysis through a shared MS2 spectra database: A step toward early detection of new psychoactive substances Validation of an UPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of sixteen synthetic cannabinoids in human hair. Application to document chronic use of JWH-122 following a non-fatal overdose Development and validation of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry targeted screening of 16 fentanyl analogs and U-47700 in hair: Application to 137 authentic samples Prevalence and Surveillance of Synthetic Cathinones Use by Hair Analysis: An Update Review Prevalence of New Psychoactive Substances(NPS) and conventional drugs of abuse (DOA) in high risk populations from Paris(France) and its suburbs A cross sectional study by hair testing(2012–2017) Evaluation of drug abuse by hair analysis and self-reported use among MSM under PrEP: Results from a sub-study of the ANRS-IPERGAY trial. Hair testing for 3‑fluorofentanyl, furanylfentanyl, methoxyacetylfentanyl, carfentanil, acetylfentanyl and fentanyl by LC–MS/MS after unintentional overdose Drug‐facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) involving 4‐methylethcathinone (4‐MEC),3,4‐Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), and doxylamine highlighted by hair analysis Metabolic Profiling of Deschloro-N-ethyl-ketamine (O-PCE) and identification of new target metabolites in urine and hair using human liver microsomes and high-resolution accurate mass spectrometry." Thesis, université Paris-Saclay, 2020. http://www.theses.fr/2020UPASL029.
Abstract:
L’objectif de ce travail a été de développer deux approches analytiques dédiées à l’analyse toxicologique des nouveaux produits de synthèse (NPS) dans différentes matrices biologiques (sang, urine et cheveux). La première est basée sur le criblage non ciblé par chimiluminescence sur biopuces et chromatographie liquide couplée à la spectrométrie de masse haute résolution (LC-HRMS) et la deuxième correspond à un criblage ciblé par spectrométrie de masse en tandem (LC-MS/MS). Ces deux approches ont ensuite été appliquées dans des études observationnelles pour évaluer la consommation de NPS dans des populations à risques de surdosage, de pharmacodépendance ou de soumission chimique dans un contexte clinique ou médico-judiciaire.La dernière partie a été consacrée au développement d’un nouvel outil analytique de traitement des données issues de la LC-HRMS qui a permis d’étudier le métabolisme de 9 NPS in vitro sur des cultures de microsomes du foie humain (HLM) et in vivo sur des échantillons biologiques d’usagers de ces drogues. Cette dernière approche a permis la création d’une bibliothèque de spectres de haute résolution composée de 228 métabolites dont certains ont été proposés comme marqueurs pertinents d’exposition aux NPS dont ils sont issus.Ce travail a été concrétisé par la rédaction de 10 publications scientifiques et a permis d’initier plusieurs collaborations pluridisciplinairesThe aim of the present work was to develop two analytical approaches dedicated to the analysis of new psychoactive substances in different biological matrices (blood, urine and hair). The first approach is based on untargeted screening by both biochip array technology chemiluminescence assay and liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) and the second corresponds to a targeted screening by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). These two approaches were then applied in observational studies to assess the consumption of NPS in high risk populations (overdose, drug abuse, drug facilitated crimes) in clinical and forensic settings. The last part of the work was devoted to the development of a new analytical tool for LC-HRMS data processing which made it possible to study the metabolism of 9 NPS In vitro on human liver microsomes (HLM) and In vivo in biological samples from drug users. This approach has enabled the creation of HRMS spectral library containing 228 metabolites, some of which have been proposed as relevant markers of NPS exposure.This work has resulted on 10 scientific publications and allowed to initiate many multidisciplinary collaborations
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Scherer, Juliana Nichterwitz. "Substâncias psicoativas no trânsito : estudo sobre fatores de risco e tecnologias de detecção in loco." reponame:Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFRGS, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/158226.
Abstract:
O impacto do uso do álcool na condução de veículos automotores foi primeiramente evidenciado concomitantemente ao surgimento dos primeiros automóveis. Desde então, diversos estudos foram realizados a fim de identificar a relação entre o uso de álcool e a capacidade psicomotora de motoristas. Atualmente, já está bem estabelecido que dirigir veículos sob o efeito de álcool aumenta o risco de colisões no trânsito. Por outro lado, dados sobre o impacto de outras substâncias psicoativas (SPAs) além do álcool ainda são escassos na literatura, mesmo com o crescente relato de motoristas envolvidos em colisões no trânsito que testaram positivo para SPAs. No Brasil, poucos estudos foram realizados visando à detecção de SPAs no trânsito - porém, mesmo com poucos dados, já foi possível observar uma alta prevalência de uso de SPAs pelos condutores. Além disso, estudos internacionais apontam que condutores que dirigem sob o efeito de álcool e de outras SPAs possuem características específicas, como por exemplo, alto índice de recidiva e alta prevalência de transtornos pelo uso de substâncias. Apesar de o Brasil possuir legislação que proíba motoristas de dirigir sob o efeito de álcool e também outras SPAs, contamos apenas com o uso de etilômetros para a mensuração do uso de álcool como medida efetiva na testagem de motoristas em barreiras de fiscalização, sem nenhum dispositivo aprovado para SPAs. Assim, o objetivo desta tese foi investigar fatores de risco para colisões no trânsito envolvendo o uso de SPAs e avaliar dispositivos de detecção de SPAs que possam ser implementados na fiscalização de condutores brasileiros. O artigo 1 da presente tese é uma análise de dados secundários provenientes de um estudo multicêntrico que avaliou 765 usuários de crack, e teve como objetivo estimar a prevalência de dirigir sob o efeito de SPAs e de colisões no trânsito na amostra, analisando se questões psiquiátricas e padrão de uso de SPAs estão relacionadas ao histórico de acidentalidade. O artigo 2 compreende uma revisão sistemática da literatura sobre a confiabilidade de dispositivos de triagem para a detecção de SPAs utilizando urina ou fluido oral como matrizes biológicas. O artigo 3 é uma avaliação de dois dispositivos de triagem para a detecção de cocaínicos, utilizando amostras de fluido oral doadas por usuários de cocaína ou crack recrutados em centros de atendimento para transtorno pelo uso de substâncias na cidade de Porto Alegre. Como resultados principais, encontrou-se uma alta prevalência de usuários de crack que relataram ter dirigido sob o efeito de SPAs e também uma alta prevalência do relato de colisões no trânsito após o uso de crack. Além disso, o uso de crack por mais de cinco anos - independente de comorbidades psiquiátricas ou consumo de outras SPAs - foi o único fator associado à maior prevalência de histórico de acidentalidade (RR=1.52, 95%IC: 1.02-2.75). De forma geral, os dispositivos de triagem avaliados pela revisão sistemática mostraram uma alta variabilidade nos dados de confiabilidade (sensibilidade, especificidade e acurácia), tanto para dispositivos de urina quanto para dispositivos de fluido oral. Especificamente, o dispositivo DDS2TM atingiu resultados superiores ao recomendado para os critérios de confiabilidade (>80%) para a análise de benzoilecgonina no ponto de corte de 10 ng/mL. Já o dispositivo Multi-Drugs Multi-Line – Twist Screen Test Device™ não atingiu esses parâmetros de forma concomitante para nenhuma das análises realizadas. Os resultados do presente trabalho sugerem que a população de usuários de crack é uma população de risco para colisões no trânsito. Além do uso prolongado de crack (que foi estatisticamente associado ao desfecho de histórico de acidentalidade), outros fatores, como o uso de múltiplas substâncias, prejuízo cognitivo e altos índices de impulsividade também podem estar indiretamente associados ao aumento do risco de colisões no trânsito nessa população. Devido à alta variabilidade dos resultados de confiabilidade dos dispositivos de triagem encontrados na literatura, e devido ao fato de que o uso desses dispositivos frequentemente implica em questões legais e morais dos sujeitos testados, aconselha-se que os dispositivos sejam avaliados quanto as suas capacidades analíticas e características práticas antes de serem implementados em qualquer contexto. Especificamente para a detecção de cocaínicos, o dispositivo DDS2TM apresentou melhores resultados quando comparado ao dispositivo MDMLTM. Entretanto, principalmente devido à alta prevalência de resultados falsos positivos, ressalta-se a importância da realização de testes confirmatórios sempre que a realização de testes de triagem tiverem finalidades forenses, como no caso do uso para fiscalização de trânsito.The impact of alcohol use in driving abilities was initially described concomitantly to the development of the automobile. Since then, several studies were conducted aiming at the identification of the relationship between alcohol use and driving impairment. Currently, it is well established that driving under the influence of alcohol increases the risks of traffic crashes. However, data regarding the impact of psychoactive substances (PAS) other than alcohol are still missing in the literature, even with the increased report of drivers who have tested positive in traffic crashes. In Brazil, few studies were conducted aiming at the detection of PAS in traffic settings; however, even with little data, it is possible to describe a high prevalence of PAS use among drivers. Moreover, international studies suggest that drivers who drive under the influence of alcohol or other PAS present specific characteristics, such as high rates of recidivism and high prevalence of substance-use related disorders. Although Brazil has legislation that prohibits drivers to drive under the influence of alcohol and other PAS, we can only rely on the use of breathalyzers for the measurement of alcohol at the roadside. Therefore, the aim of the present thesis was to investigate risk factors for traffic crashes involving PAS use, and to evaluate point-of-collection testing devices for detection of PAS that could be implemented in the context of Brazilian traffic enforcement. The first paper is a secondary data analysis derived from a multicenter study which evaluated 765 crack-cocaine users; its main goal was to estimate the prevalence of driving under the influence of PAS and traffic crashes, and to ascertain psychiatric comorbidities and polydrug use related to the history of crashes. The second paper is a systematic review of the literature about the reliability of point-of-collection testing devices for detecting PAS in urine and oral fluid. The third paper is an analytical evaluation of two point-of-collection testing devices for cocaine detection, using samples of oral fluid obtained from cocaine or crack-cocaine users recruited in substance abuse treatment centers in the city of Porto Alegre. We found a high prevalence of crack-cocaine users that reported driving under the influence of PAS, and a high prevalence of reported involvement in traffic crashes after crack-cocaine use. Besides that, crack-cocaine consumption for more than five years – independently of psychiatric comorbidities and other PAS use - was the single factor associated with higher prevalence of crash history (RR=1.52, 95%IC: 1.02-2.75). Overall, the point-of-collection testing devices evaluated in the systematic review showed high variability in the reliability results (sensitivity, specificity and accuracy), even for urine as for oral fluid analysis. Specifically, the DDS2TM mobile test system achieved results superior to that recommended for reliability measures (>80%) for the analysis of benzoylecgonine with the cutoff of 10 ng/mL. The Multi-Drugs Multi-Line – Twist Screen Test Device™ did not achieve these parameters in a concomitant way in any of the analysis performed. The results of the present study suggest that crack-cocaine users are a risky population for traffic crashes. Besides the longer use of crack-cocaine (which was statisticaly associated with the traffic crash outcome), other factors - such as use of several PAS, cognitive impairment and high levels of impulsivity could be indirectly associated with increased risk for traffic crashes among this population. Due to the high variability in the reliability measures of the point-of-collection testing devices found in the literature, and also due to the fact that the use of these devices frequently implies legal and moral aspects of the subjects being tested, it is recommended that these devices be evaluated for its analytical and practical capacities before they are implemented in any context. Specifically for cocaine detection, the DDS2TM mobile test system showed better results in comparison with the MDMLTM device. However, primarily because of the high prevalence of false positive results, we highlight the need for confirmatory analysis in all cases where the screening tests would have forensic purposes, such as in the traffic enforcement context.
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Green, Jennifer Elizabeth. "Aesthetic Excuses and Moral Crimes: The Convergence of Morality and Aesthetics in Nabokov's Lolita." unrestricted, 2006. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04272006-134431/.
Abstract:
Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006.Title from title screen. Paul Schmidt, committee chair ; Marti Singer, Chris Kocela, committee members. Electronic text (60 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Apr. 17, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-64).
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Hill, Lorna. "Bloody women : a critical-creative examination of how female protagonists have transformed contemporary Scottish and Nordic crime fiction." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/27352.
Abstract:
This study will explore the role of female authors and their female protagonists in contemporary Scottish and Nordic crime fiction. Authors including Val McDermid, Denise Mina, Lin Anderson and Liza Marklund are just a few of the women who have challenged the expectation of gender in the crime fiction genre. By setting their novels in contemporary society, they reflect a range of social and political issues through the lens of a female protagonist. By closely examining the female characters, all journalists, in Val McDermid’s Lindsay Gordon series; Denise Mina’s Paddy Meehan series; Anna Smith’s books about Rosie Gilmour; and Liza Marklund’s books about Annika Bengzton, I explore the issue of gender through these writers’ perspectives and also draw parallels between their societies. I document the influence of these writers on my own practice-based research, a novel, The Invisible Chains, set in post-Referendum Scotland. The thesis will examine and define the role of the female protagonist, offer a feminist reading of contemporary crime fiction, and investigate how the rise of human trafficking, the problem of domestic abuse in Scotland and society’s changing attitudes and values are reflected in contemporary crime novels, before discussing the narrative structures and techniques employed in the writing of The Invisible Chains. This novel allows us to consider the role of women in a contemporary and progressive society where women hold many senior positions in public life and examine whether they manage successfully to challenge traditional patriarchal hierarchies. The narrative is split between journalist Megan Ross, The Girl, a victim of human trafficking, and Trudy, who is being domestically abused, thus pulling together the themes of the critical genesis in the creative work. By focusing on the protagonist, the victims and raising awareness of human trafficking and domestic abuse, The Invisible Chains, an original creative work, reflects a contemporary society’s changing attitudes, problems and values.
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Berrios-Ayala, Mark. "Brave New World Reloaded: Advocating for Basic Constitutional Search Protections to Apply to Cell Phones from Eavesdropping and Tracking by Government and Corporate Entities." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2013. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/1547.
Abstract:
Imagine a world where someone’s personal information is constantly compromised, where federal government entities AKA Big Brother always knows what anyone is Googling, who an individual is texting, and their emoticons on Twitter. Government entities have been doing this for years; they never cared if they were breaking the law or their moral compass of
human dignity. Every day the Federal government blatantly siphons data with programs from the original ECHELON to the new series like PRISM and Xkeyscore so they can keep their tabs on issues that are none of their business; namely, the personal lives of millions. Our allies are taking note; some are learning our bad habits, from Government Communications Headquarters’ (GCHQ) mass shadowing sharing plan to America’s Russian inspiration, SORM. Some countries are following the United States’ poster child pose of a Brave New World like order of global events. Others like Germany are showing their resolve in their disdain for the rise of tyranny. Soon, these new found surveillance troubles will test the resolve of the American Constitution and its nation’s strong love and tradition of liberty. Courts are currently at work to resolve how current concepts of liberty and privacy apply to the current conditions facing the privacy of society. It remains to be determined how liberty will be affected as well; liberty for the United States of America, for the European Union, the Russian Federation and for the people of the World in regards to the extent of privacy in today’s blurred privacy expectations.B.S.
Bachelors
Health and Public Affairs
Legal Studies
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Broecker, Sebastian. "Aufbau und Anwendung einer Methode zur Identifizierung und Quantifizierung von Giften und deren Metaboliten in Blut und Haaren in der Systematischen Toxikologischen Analyse mittels Flüssigchromatographie-Quadrupol-Flugzeitmassenspektrometrie-Kopplung (LC-QTOF-MS)." Doctoral thesis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät I, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/16461.
Abstract:
Die Systematische Toxikologische Analyse (STA) stellt auf Grund der großen Vielfalt und der ständigen Zunahme an toxikologisch relevanten Substanzen eine der größten Herausforderungen in der chemischen Analyse dar. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde daher die Eignung der Flüssigchromatographie in Kombination mit der Hybrid-Quadrupol-Flugzeitmassenspektrometrie (LC-QTOF-MS) für diesen Zweck untersucht. Dazu wurden eine Datenbank mit über 7360 und eine CID-Spektrenbibliothek mit mehr als 2720 toxikologisch relevanten Substanzen erstellt und geeignete Probenvorbereitungsmethoden entwickelt. Die Erprobung der Methoden erfolgte an dotierten Blut- und Haarproben. Hierbei zeigte sich, dass die Analyse im Auto-MS/MS-Modus (Messzyklen von MS- und MS/MS-Spektren) eine Identifizierung basischer Substanzen mittels CID-Spektren zwischen 0,5 und 2 ng/ml im Blut ermöglichte. Die Nachweisgrenzen der für 24 Wirkstoffe validierten Methode in Haaren lagen bei 3 bis 15 pg/mg. Die Eignung der LC-QTOF-MS zur STA von Haarproben wurde an 30 Drogentodesfällen und 60 Todesfällen mit bekannter chronischer Medikamenteneinnahme zu Lebzeiten sowie an 77 Blutproben nachgewiesen. Für die Suche nach Metaboliten wurde ein Metaboliten-Tool entwickelt. In der praktischen Anwendung auf Datenfiles von Blut- und Haarproben erwies sich das Tool als wertvolles Hilfsmittel zur Identifizierung unbekannter Peaks und zur Bestätigung von Suchergebnissen in der Datenbank. Zur automatischen Konzentrationsabschätzung identifizierter Substanzen wurde ein Tool „Estimate Concentration“ geschaffen. Die Überprüfung des Verfahrens an realen Blut- und Haarproben durch Vergleich mit HPLC-DAD- und GC-MS-Ergebnissen wies eine gute Übereinstimmung der Konzentrationen auf. Insgesamt zeigten die Untersuchungen, dass die LC-QTOF-MS zurzeit die am besten geeignete Methode für die STA darstellt. Auch bei einem erst später aufkommenden Verdacht kann eine gezielte Suche in dem bereits gemessenen Datenfile durchgeführt werden.Due to the large variety and the steady increase of toxicologically relevant substances, systematic toxicological analysis (STA) is one of the most difficult tasks in analytical chemistry and, therefore, a steady topic of research and methodical improvement. For this reason, the suitability of liquid chromatography in combination with hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) for STA was investigated. For this purpose, a database of more than 7360 and a CID spectra library of more than 2720 toxicologically relevant substances and suitable methods for sample preparation were developed. The application was evaluated at spiked blood and hair samples. It was found that the analysis in Auto-MS/MS mode (alternating measurement cycles of MS and MS/MS spectra) allowed substance identification in blood using CID spectra between 0.5 and 2 ng/ml for basic substances. The detection limits of the validated method in hair ranged from 3 to 15 pg/mg for 24 drugs. The suitability of LC-QTOF-MS for STA was tested for hair samples from 30 drug-related death cases and from 60 death cases with known chronic medication as well as for 77 blood samples. For the search of metabolites, a metabolite tool was developed. In the practical application to data files from blood and hair samples, the tool proved to be very helpful for identification of unknown peaks and for confirmation of results obtained only from the database without CID spectra. A tool "Estimate Concentration" was created for automatic estimation of concentrations of identified substances. The application to real blood and hair samples and the comparison of the concentrations with results from HPLC-DAD and GC-MS showed good agreement. Overall, these investigations showed that LC-QTOF-MS is currently the most favorable method for STA. Because of the comprehensive registration of all substances in a sample, the data files can be checked for the presence of certain poisons even later without new measurements.
45
Mero, Alana Elizabeth. "The role of the coroner in the detection of child abuse and neglect." Thesis, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/4205.
Abstract:
The role of the Coroner in child protection is examined from the creation of
the office in Medieval England to the current B.C. Coroners Service. Legislation and
policy of the Coroner and Ministry of Social Services are examined with regards to
investigating deaths of children. An exploratory, descriptive review was conducted of
the B.C. Coroner's files for 1986 to 1989 to identify abuse and neglect deaths. Thirtyfive
child abuse and neglect deaths were identified. Ministry of Social Services files
were searched to determine if there were prior child welfare investigations. Results
indicated these had been conducted in 14 of the cases. Five children had been
apprehended and returned prior to the incident causing death. Victims and
perpetrators were similar to those of other studies. Children under the age of 5
account for 80% of the victims, slightly more males than females were killed, and
parent or parent substitutes were identified as the perpetrator in 74% of the deaths.
Training for Coroners, social workers, police and medical staff dealing with possible
child abuse and neglect deaths is recommended. It is recommended that the Coroner
review all deaths in which M.S.S. had, or should have had, any involvement. The
Coroner has and continues to play a valuable role in detecting child abuse and
neglect, and in educating agencies and the public.
46
Pearsall, Catherine. "Detection and management of elder abuse nurse practitioner self-perceptions of barriers and strategies /." 2006. http://etd1.library.duq.edu/theses/available/etd-07022006-220103/.
47
Yang, Wan-Shiou, and 楊婉秀. "A Process Pattern Mining Framework for the Detection of Health Care Fraud and Abuse." Thesis, 2003. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/21367545106340544973.
Abstract:
博士國立中山大學
資訊管理學系研究所
91
With the intensive need for health insurances, health care service providers’ fraud and abuse have become a serious problem. The practices, such as billing services that were never rendered, performing medically unnecessary services, and misrepresenting non-covered treatments as medically necessary covered treatments, etc, not only contribute to the problem of rising health care expenditure but also affect the health of patients. We are therefore motivated to investigate the detection of service providers’ fraudulent and abusive behavior. In this research, we introduce the concept of clinical pathways and thereby propose a framework that facilitates automatic and systematic construction of adaptable and extensible detection systems. For the purposes of building such detection systems, we study the problems of mining frequent patterns from clinical instances, selecting features that have more discriminating power and revising detection model to have higher accuracy with less labeled instances. The performance of the proposed approaches has been evaluated objectively by synthetic data set and real-world data set. Using the real-world data set gathered from the National Health Insurance (NHI) program in Taiwan, the experiments show that our detection model has fairly good prediction power. Comparing to traditional expense driven approach, more importantly, our detection model tends to capture different fraudulent scenarios.
48
Mwenesongole, Ellen M. "Simultaneous detection of drugs of abuse in waste water using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry." Thesis, 2015. https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/id/eprint/550378/1/Ellen%20Mwenesongole%20Thesis_Final_2015.pdf.
Abstract:
Sewage epidemiology is increasingly becoming an alternative method of estimating drug usage and consumption patterns for a given population. With the constant emergence of new psychoactive substances such as cathinones and piperazines, versatile, reliable, specific and sensitive analytical methods are needed for their detection in complex matrices such as waste water. This thesis reports the development of an analytical method based on solid phase extraction, derivatization with pentafluoropropionic anhydride and analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the simultaneous analysis of 29 illicit and therapeutic drugs of abuse.
All 29 drugs could be reliably identified in spiked waste water samples using selected ion monitoring and splitless injection. Recoveries for the majority of the drugs were above 70 %. Linearity varied based on the analyte but was assessed in the range 2.0 x 10-4 to 1.4 μg/mL. Intra-assay and intermediate precision of the instrument was determined at 0.005, 0.1 and 1.0 μg/mL, with the majority of relative standard deviations less than 10 %. Limits of detection and quantification for drugs such as amphetamine and methamphetamine were better than reported values for liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, a more commonly used technique.
Untreated 72 h composite waste water samples from Cambridge, UK, were analysed using a six-point standard addition curve. Eleven drugs of abuse were detected, including amphetamine, methamphetamine, butylone and 4-fluoromethamphetamine. The latter two having been detected for the very first time in waste water. Using the validated method, the consumption of heroin, ketamine, cocaine, methamphetamine and amphetamine, in Cambridge, UK, was estimated to be 399.4 ± 90.8, 2463.5 ± 182.5, 195.5 ± 95.4, 84.3 ± 59.1 and 38.9 ± 24.8 mg/day per 1000 inhabitants.
This is the first reported validated method for the detection of both classic drugs of abuse and new psychoactive substances in waste water using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and derivatization with pentafluoropropionic anhydride.
49
Shor, Sarit. "Use of Meconium and Hair for Detection of Prenatal Exposure to Ethanol and Other Drugs of Abuse." Thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1807/18884.
Abstract:
In-utero ethanol exposure may result in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Studies have suggested that women who drink ethanol are more likely to consume illicit drugs. Detection of such exposures has been done via meconium and hair testing and can serve to direct needed prevention methods and appropriate management and intervention for the neonate and the mother. This study examined maternal diabetes as a possible confounder for in-utero ethanol exposure testing and determined the trends in drug use associated with heavy in-utero ethanol exposure in a high-risk obstetric Canadian population. It was determined that maternal diabetes does not produce false-positive results in testing for in-utero ethanol exposure. Furthermore, heavy in-utero ethanol exposure was detected in 15.5% of samples and was associated with an increased exposure to amphetamines (OR=3.30) and opiates (OR=2.01), but a decreased exposure to cannabinoids (OR=0.61) when compared to neonates with no heavy in-utero ethanol exposure.
50
Taft, Angela Joy. "Lifting the lid on Pandora's box : training family doctors in the detection and management of intimate partner abuse/domestic violence." Phd thesis, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/148079.