Articles

TASA ID: 91

Make a list of the items to be appraised. Make sure that those items are available for inspection and not in boxes waiting to be unpacked or otherwise inaccessible. The appraiser will want to know how many items are to be evaluated and the list will organize you and make the job easier for the appraiser.

TASA ID: 9505

This article was originally published on https://www.forensicpsychiatrynow.com/date-rape-drugs, posted May 15, 2018. 

Drug‑Facilitated Sexual Assault (DFSA) is the use of drugs and/or alcohol by a sexual predator to render a victim incapacitated and unable to fight back against a sexual assault. A side effect of many “Date Rape” or “Club Drugs” is also anterograde amnesia, the inability to recall what happened while drugged, increasing a predator’s belief he will “get away with it.”  Those odds are shifting, but attorneys, Courts, and potential victims are better served if they understand some of the drugs used and their impact on mind and body. 
 
DFSA is more easily prosecuted if reported while the drug is still in the victim’s system and thus testable by a toxicology screen. Each drug has a different deterioration time for detection. Luckily, law enforcement protocols now better respond with urgency to obtain a blood test when a DFSA is reported.  The Drug-Induced Rape Prevention and Punishment Act of 1996 provides for more severe sentencing. Public awareness, particularly after the recent Bill Cosby trial, has made potential victims warier of at least the most obvious DFSA attempts.

To read the full article, click here. 

TASA ID: 12689

This article was originally posted in the Journal of Healthcare Protection Management, Vol. 35, No. 1 - 2019.

In a 2007 article in this journal, the authors detailed how to protect staff, patients and visitors from becoming contaminated after attacks by weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) or weapons of mass exposure.  Given security's central role in keeping hospitals free from contamination, here they update the advice for today's world.  They review the contaminants of concern, addressing the basics of effective training for security officers, how to handle the flow of vehicles and people, when to institute lockdowns, and how to don and remove personal protective equipment (PPEs).

To read more, download the PDF below.

TASA ID: 651

This article was originally published in the July/August 2016 issue of Stormh2o.com.

Why are we dumbing down hydrology for engineers? When I say, "dumbing down," what I mean is that we (the stormwater profession) are telling engineers to use pre-computer, simple methods and techniques to size stormwater facilities.  I recently asked a noted, national stormwater expert this question, and his response was (to paraphrase him), "We need to keep things simple because 99% of stormwater design is being done by a general civil engineer using somewhat dated models, or simple automations of older methods, for whom the stormwater design is about 10% of what he does." That may be true, but it is hardly an appropriate excuse.  Today in the United States, we spend billions of dollars on stormwater management. For that much money, isn't it important that we use the most accurate tools and methods available? So, why in most parts of the country are we still using pre-computer, slide rule hydrology to do our calculations?

TASA ID: 396

Virtually every one of my dozen plus cases of wrongful death and/or serious injury has occurred in troubled, older strip centers that have gone through several different ownerships. Only one case has involved a major mall REIT as owner. This fact alone tells me that these centers are usually not professionally operated or managed.