Necessary Intrustion or Criminalising the Innocent? An exploration of Modern Criminal Vetting

This article considers the processes of criminal vetting and outlines the legislative framework allowing such disclosures and subsequent judicial interpretation of that framework. The focus is on disclosure of non-conviction (so-called ‘soft’) materials on ‘enhanced’ certificates and subsequent challenges to those disclosures at judicial review. Key cases are analysed, including R (on the application of X) v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police (2004) and R (on the application of L) (FC) (Appellant) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (Respondent) (2009). The proportionality test in R (L) is noted and its subsequent application in the recent decisions of R (on the application of C) v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester; Secretary of State for the Home Department (2011) and R (on the application of B) v Chief Constable of Derbyshire Constabulary (2011) is scrutinised. The article also highlights interference in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to privacy) and questions whether interference can be justified, and whether the present judicial focus on right of representations in such cases is misplaced

The Vetting Epidemic in England and Wales

This article charts the rise of criminal vetting by employers and voluntary organisations in England and Wales. It examines the historical roots of vetting and its progress from being initially a marginal concern for specialised groups to its position as an integral part of the recruitment process for over 3,000,000 people per annum by 2007. Critical exploration of this shift is provided – key events such as the Conservative government consultation of the early 1990’s and the incremental implementation of its recommendations are re-evaluated. This article identifies and examines the correlation between the media reporting of, and subsequent public reaction to, a series of high profile child murders and the response of the legislature and the judiciary to these which lead ultimately to the development of a vetting epidemic in England and Wales by 2007. The role played in this development by vested interests, such as voluntary groups and employers, will be traced and critiqued, along with the missed opportunities for reform which might have prevented the epidemic’s spread

Lost in translation: First year physical education teachers' experiences with teaching Sudanese refugee students

The purpose of this study was to analyse and explore the experiences of eight first year physical education teachers who have taught Sudanese refugee students. Interviews were conducted at the end of each participant's first year of teaching. The findings of this study highlight the vast different learning styles of students from Sudan and the strategies that these teacher’s trialled and incorporated into their lessons in an attempt to minimise the disruptions that they experienced when first introduced to the students. The results of this study, together with information from the literature, suggest that the training and education of teacher’s in Australia must incorporate strategies for teaching students from different backgrounds, cultures and living situations to better facilitate the inclusion of them in school based activities and learning

Blowing the whistle, waving the flag :The difficulty in retaining rugby union referees from season to season

The retention of sports referees is a critical factor in the ability of local, state and national sporting organisations to deliver community sport to its clients on a weekly basis. Previous studies have been dedicated to investigating the retention rates of coaches and players however little work has focused upon the sports referee and why referees continue to officiate. Using data from interviews and material sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this research looked at the factors which influenced community based rugby union referees from choosing to remain involved in officiating. Results revealed that decisions to join and decisions to join and decisions to leave differ greatly amongst the referees who participated in the research. Factors including camaraderie amongst referees, level of enjoyment and success experienced were all identified as key elements in helping referees decide to remain

Ecology and Engagement: The Importance of Direct Experience of Nature in Culture and Scholarship

Our culture is becoming increasingly detached from nature. We spend more of our time indoors than ever. While the indoors may offer certain benefits, it’s becoming increasingly clear that our alienation from nature has serious downsides. We depend upon nature for our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being and without it. The opposite of detachment is engagement. Engagement involves direct experience of nature, whether in national parks, wilderness, backyard woods, or unkempt vacant lots. If we want to reverse the problems associated with detachment, we need to encourage engaged alternatives. Only through a culture of engagement, one that recognizes and values natural places and one that sees that human and natural flourishing are intertwined, can we ensure a brighter future. In this paper I argue from an environmental pragmatist position. With a commitment to focusing on urgent practical problems first and theory later, a preference for value pluralism over value monism, and an invitation for multidisciplinary cooperation, this orientation of environmental philosophy offers a promising approach for philosophers to help usher in a culture of engagement, one that the dominant intrinsic value approach of environmental philosophy cannot so easily foster. I’ll show that scholars today must engage with the public, professionals and ordinary citizens alike, if we want to combat the effects of detachment. In making the case, I illustrate how detachment shapes our way of life through two areas: scholarship and general culture. Chapter 2 focuses on scholarship. I build my case by focusing on the work of scientific ecologists. Because ecology is the study of natural systems, we might assume this discipline more than others encourages direct experience of nature. However, in an era of laboratory experiments and computer modeling, this is not so. Many ecologists are no more engaged with nature than ordinary citizens. This is a problem because in an era of great environmental change, we need to be able to recognize changes in real natural places. That requires careful on-site observation. Luckily, there is a resurgence of observational methods in ecology. More and more, ecologists are beginning to break free from the dominant orientation of the discipline and experimenting with observational methods, those that require on-site exploration. Lab work and computer modeling are important, but they can’t deliver all of what we want from the discipline. Observational methods help the discipline engage with the public so that it can help inform public policy as we fight to address the urgent environmental problems of today. Chapter 3 focuses on culture. I illustrate the problems associated with detachment by looking at children. Today’s generation of children, more than any other in history, have grown up in a culture radically alienated from nature. As a consequence of this cultural alienation, many children suffer what psychologist Richard Louv terms “nature-deficit disorder,†a set of health problems common to those with minimal exposure to the outdoors. These include increased anxiety, depression, lack of curiosity, etc. The problem here is that many children, because they are not exposed to nature at an early age, are unable to understand its importance for human flourishing, both for the individual and for the culture at large. The indoors seems to be more clean, more safe, more interesting, and more comfortable. Because of this, we might assume nature can be replaced. This, however, is shortsightedness. If this were so, we’d expect children today to be healthier and happier than their predecessors, which is not the case. In order to help our children develop in a healthy way and ensure a new generation of eager preservationists and restorationists, we need to work together as a community to bring nature back into the center of our lives

HIV-1 drug-resistance and drug-dependence

In this review, we will describe several recent HIV-1 studies in which a drug-dependent virus variant was selected. A common evolutionary route to the drug-dependence phenotype is proposed. First, the selection of a drug-resistance mutation that also affects the function of the targeted viral protein. Second, a compensatory mutation that repairs the protein function, but in the presence of the drug, which becomes an intrinsic part of the mechanism. The clinical relevance of drug-dependent HIV-1 variants is also discussed

Classification and analysis of emission-line galaxies using mean field independent component analysis

We present an analysis of the optical spectra of narrow emission-line galaxies, based on mean field independent component analysis (MFICA). Samples of galaxies were drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and used to generate compact sets of `continuum' and `emission-line' component spectra. These components can be linearly combined to reconstruct the observed spectra of a wider sample of galaxies. Only 10 components - five continuum and five emission line - are required to produce accurate reconstructions of essentially all narrow emission-line galaxies; the median absolute deviations of the reconstructed emission-line fluxes, given the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the observed spectra, are 1.2-1.8 sigma for the strong lines. After applying the MFICA components to a large sample of SDSS galaxies we identify the regions of parameter space that correspond to pure star formation and pure active galactic nucleus (AGN) emission-line spectra, and produce high S/N reconstructions of these spectra. The physical properties of the pure star formation and pure AGN spectra are investigated by means of a series of photoionization models, exploiting the faint emission lines that can be measured in the reconstructions. We are able to recreate the emission line strengths of the most extreme AGN case by assuming the central engine illuminates a large number of individual clouds with radial distance and density distributions, f(r) ~ r^gamma and g(n) ~ n^beta, respectively. The best fit is obtained with gamma = -0.75 and beta = -1.4. From the reconstructed star formation spectra we are able to estimate the starburst ages. These preliminary investigations serve to demonstrate the success of the MFICA-based technique in identifying distinct emission sources, and its potential as a tool for the detailed analysis of the physical properties of galaxies in large-scale surveys.Comment: MNRAS accepted. 29 pages, 24 figures, 3 table

Interpreting the Ionization Sequence in AGN Emission-Line Spectra

We investigate the physical cause of the great range in the ionization level seen in the spectra of narrow lined active galactic nuclei (AGN). Mean field independent component analysis identifies examples of individual SDSS galaxies whose spectra are not dominated by emission due to star formation (SF), which we designate as AGN. We assembled high S/N ratio composite spectra of a sequence of these AGN defined by the ionization level of their narrow-line regions (NLR), extending down to very low-ionization cases. We used a local optimally emitting cloud (LOC) model to fit emission-line ratios in this AGN sequence. These included the weak lines that can be measured only in the co-added spectra, providing consistency checks on strong line diagnostics. After integrating over a wide range of radii and densities our models indicate that the radial extent of the NLR is the major parameter in determining the position of high to moderate ionization AGN along our sequence, providing a physical interpretation for their systematic variation. Higher ionization AGN contain optimally emitting clouds that are more concentrated towards the central continuum source than in lower ionization AGN. Our LOC models indicate that for the objects that lie on our AGN sequence, the ionizing luminosity is anticorrelated with the NLR ionization level, and hence anticorrelated with the radial concentration and physical extent of the NLR. A possible interpretation that deserves further exploration is that the ionization sequence might be an age sequence where low ionization objects are older and have systematically cleared out their central regions by radiation pressure. We consider that our AGN sequence instead represents a mixing curve of SF and AGN spectra, but argue that while many galaxies do have this type of composite spectra, our AGN sequence appears to be a special set of objects with negligible SF excitation.Comment: 57 pages; 18 figures, accepted by MNRA

DISTRIBUTED SENSING FOR FLEXIBLE STRUCTURES USING A FIBER OPTIC SENSOR SYSTEM

In this dissertation, a framework is developed and demonstrated for the use of a new shape measurement system consisting of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based strain sensors, a shape determination algorithm based on Frenet frames, and a signal processing algorithm based on modal analysis techniques. The system is experimentally validated by using a long slender, aluminum cantilever structure (65.625"x2.0"x0.125") with eight serially multiplexed FBG sensors. The multiplexed FBG sensors measure the bending strain distribution along the cantilever structure, and this distribution is used to calculate the dynamic shape of the structure forced by a base excitation. The structural shape data is processed by using modal analysis techniques to determine the modal coefficients and the associated spatial modes that best represent the structure's vibration. The results obtained for the modal coefficients are found to compare well with results of Fourier transform analysis of signals recorded over time. Analysis by using the shape algorithm developed herein demonstrates the effectiveness of using a Frenet frame-based technique to determine the shape of the structure from recorded strain data. Sources of error due to factors such as the number of sensors and Taylor series approximation in the shape algorithm are examined. The methodology discussed in this dissertation allows both static and dynamic monitoring of structural shape characteristics. This type of real-time analysis may be useful for applications in structural health monitoring where changes in the modal coefficients may lead to indications of damage to the structure and in applications such as sonar arrays and aircraft wings where knowledge of a structure's shape can yield improved results