Review of Nuclear Reactions at the AGS

Results from p+A and A+A collisions from the beam energies 2-18 AGeV/c are reviewed with emphasis on the properties of dense hadronic matter, and its implications for claims that a new state of matter has been formed at the SPS.Comment: 10 pages, 15 figures, quark matter 2001 proceeding

Suicide contagion : is the media placing the public at risk? An analysis of suicide reporting in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The media’s reporting of suicide has been shown to increase subsequent community suicide rates through a process called suicide contagion. It is not necessarily the reporting of suicide that causes suicide contagion, but rather it is the manner in which it is reported. As a result, within New Zealand a number of legislative (the Coroners Act, 2006) and industry guidelines (Reporting Suicide: A resource for the media, 2011) have been introduced to decrease any risk of suicide contagion. The aim of the present study was to investigate how suicide is portrayed in newspapers, examine whether suicide reporting has changed between two timeframes, and explore journalists’ beliefs and behaviour about suicide reporting. The present thesis is divided into two parts. Study One uses quantitative and qualitative methods to compare and contrast all suicide newspaper articles from leading New Zealand newspapers from 12 month periods in 1997 (pre-suicide guidelines) and 2009 (post-suicide guidelines). The results revealed that reporting quality had improved where there was a decrease in the occurrence of elements known to contribute to suicide contagion. However, despite reporting quality improving the study identified that articles continued to include a number of areas where suicide reporting could be improved upon. Study Two complemented Study One by interviewing journalists about their knowledge of contagion, reporting practices and barriers and difficulties in suicide reporting. The rhetorical analysis demonstrated that participants argued that evidence for suicide contagion was inconclusive and problematic. This had important implications as the media argued their reporting was to a high standard and consequently did not view reporting guidelines or the Coroners Act as necessary. As a result, participants largely avoided these restrictions and viewed them as a threat to media freedom. Together these studies demonstrated that suicide reporting quality can still be improved, however, in order to improve writing styles, implementing suicide guidelines does not appear enough. Instead, this study demonstrates that it is necessary to increase media awareness of suicide contagion, so the media understand the importance of applying reporting guidelines

Population dynamics of Windermere perch

This paper looks briefly at some of the more recent analyses and interpretations of the changes that have occurred in the population dynamics of Windermere perch and at the present level of understanding. The long-term study has shown how flexible the population is and how it has behaved in different ways over successive periods of time since 1939. Through one of these periods it was possible to account for nearly all the variance in recruitment by a relatively simple explanatory model. The reduction in numbers on the outbreak of disease in 1976 started a natural experiment which will form a baseline for future studies

Mental illness in prisons: true diagnosis or social control?

The poster (presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Mental Health Research Network 2013) questions the validity of certain mental health diagnoses within forensic settings