Promoting forgiveness in violent offenders: A more positive approach to offender rehabilitation?

In this paper we suggest that the effectiveness of many offender rehabilitation programs may be further enhanced by the inclusion of interventions that build on existing motivation to change. Taking the example of anger management interventions delivered within the context of violent offender rehabilitation, we propose that the emphasis on positive personal change implicit in therapies designed to promote forgiveness may hold some promise. Such therapies may be useful in so far as they facilitate the development of perspective-taking skills, and assist in the therapeutic management of shame and guilt in ways that are likely to be engaging for violent offenders. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Temporal association of potato tuber development with susceptibility to common scab and Streptomyces scabiei-induced responses in the potato periderm

Using hydroponics and novel non-destructive pot culture systems which enable inoculation at specific tuber development stages, the dynamics of common scab infection patterns in potato were studied in order to provide more precise identification of tuber physiological factors associated with susceptibility. At the whole-tuber level, infection percentages were greatest when Streptomyces scabiei inoculation occurred early; at 2 weeks after tuberization (WAT) 68% of tubers became infected, contrasting with late inoculation (8 WAT), when only 4% infection occurred. The first-formed internodes were most susceptible to infection, whilst later-forming and slower-expanding internodes were less susceptible. Detailed tuber physiological examination of internode 2 showed that pathogen-induced changes, including increased phellem (periderm) thickness, cell layers and phellem suberization (key physiological features believed critical to S. scabiei infection) were promoted through S. scabiei inoculation. Sequential harvesting showed enhanced phellem suberization (28% greater than the control) within 7 days of pathogen exposure, while phellem thickness and layer responses were also initiated early in the infection process (10–14 days after pathogen exposure) and these responses were independent of symptom expression. Differences in cultivar response were observed, with greater phellem suberization observed 10 days after tuberization (DAT) in the common-scabtolerantcv. Russet Burbank than in the susceptible cv. Desiree. Likewise, Russet Burbank had thicker and more numerous cell layers in the phellem (up to eight cell layers) during early tuber growth (20–30 DAT) than Desiree (up to six cell layers)

Infection of potato tubers with the common scab pathogen Streptomyces scabiei in a soil-less system

A novel soil-less method was developed to define susceptibility of developing potato tubers accurately to infection with Streptomyces scabiei the causal agent of common scab disease. Hydroponic production enabled precise identification of individual tuber development. Direct inoculation of tubers with a spore suspension of S. scabiei resulted in disease development, demonstrating that infection could be initiated in a soil-less media. Tubers were most susceptible to infection between 3 and 20 days after tuber initiation, confirming that this early period of tuber formation is critical to disease development

Sleep for heart health: Investigating the relationship between work day sleep, days off sleep, and cardiovascular risk in Australian train drivers

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in train drivers is associated with health conditions that can result in sudden incapacity. Drivers are at high risk on several CVD risk factors with research suggesting that sleep may predict CVD risk, however this relationship has not yet been explored. This study investigated the link between sleep and CVD risk, in relation to hours of work day and days off sleep. N=309 Australian drivers completed cross-sectional survey. A CVD risk score was calculated by summing scores from behavioural and biomedical risk factors. Sleep was most frequently cited as the main reason for decline in perceived health status. Main analyses showed that shorter work day sleep (M=5.79 h) was a significant predictor of increased CVD risk (p=0.013). This relationship was moderated by days off sleep, such that when days off sleep (M=8.17 h) was higher, the effect of work day sleep on CVD risk was weaker (p=0.047). Findings indicate the amount of sleep a driver obtains on non-work days may compensate for adverse health outcomes. Successful management of fatigue in safety critical occupations appears essential not only for the prevention of safety hazards, but also for the long-term health of shift workers. Further investigation is warranted

Temporal association of potato tuber development with susceptibility to common scab and Streptomyces scabiei-induced responses in the potato periderm

Using hydroponics and novel non-destructive pot culture systems which enable inoculation at specific tuber development stages, the dynamics of common scab infection patterns in potato were studied in order to provide more precise identification of tuber physiological factors associated with susceptibility. At the whole-tuber level, infection percentages were greatest when Streptomyces scabiei inoculation occurred early; at 2 weeks after tuberization (WAT) 68% of tubers became infected, contrasting with late inoculation (8 WAT), when only 4% infection occurred. The first-formed internodes were most susceptible to infection, whilst later-forming and slower-expanding internodes were less susceptible. Detailed tuber physiological examination of internode 2 showed that pathogen-induced changes, including increased phellem (periderm) thickness, cell layers and phellem suberization (key physiological features believed critical to S. scabiei infection) were promoted through S. scabiei inoculation. Sequential harvesting showed enhanced phellem suberization (28% greater than the control) within 7 days of pathogen exposure, while phellem thickness and layer responses were also initiated early in the infection process (10–14 days after pathogen exposure) and these responses were independent of symptom expression. Differences in cultivar response were observed, with greater phellem suberization observed 10 days after tuberization (DAT) in the common-scabtolerantcv. Russet Burbank than in the susceptible cv. Desiree. Likewise, Russet Burbank had thicker and more numerous cell layers in the phellem (up to eight cell layers) during early tuber growth (20–30 DAT) than Desiree (up to six cell layers)

Words fail me: The verbal IQ deficit in inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome

Background: Many chronic illnesses are accompanied by impaired cognitive functioning. In people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), there is some research to suggest a decrement in verbal IQ (VIQ), when compared to people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and healthy controls. Although this is an important finding, it is necessary to ensure that such deficits are not due to methodological problems such as the failure to take into account pre-morbid functioning. Methods: A total of 88 people (IBD, N=29; IBS, N=29; Controls, N =30) completed the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading (WATR), the Trait Rumination Questionnaire (TRQ), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Results: We found evidence of a VIQ decrement in both IBD and IBS groups when measured against both healthy controls and against their own pre-morbid IQ scores (WTAR-Predicted WAIS-III IQ measures). However, the decrement was larger (and of clinical significance) in the IBD group but not in the IBS group. Conclusion: Some tentative evidence is presented which suggests that poor VIQ performance may be due in part to interference from excessive rumination

Constraining the budget of atmospheric carbonyl sulfide using a 3-D chemical transport model

Carbonyl sulfide (OCS) has emerged as a valuable proxy for photosynthetic uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) and is known to be important in the formation of aerosols in the stratosphere. However, uncertainties in the global OCS budget remain large. This is mainly due to the following three flux terms: vegetation uptake, soil uptake and oceanic emissions. Bottom-up estimates do not yield a closed budget, which is thought to be due to tropical emissions of OCS that are not accounted for. Here we present a simulation of atmospheric OCS over the period 2004-2018 using the TOMCAT 3-D chemical transport model that is aimed at better constraining some terms in the OCS budget. Vegetative uptake of OCS is estimated by scaling gross primary productivity (GPP) output from the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) using the leaf relative uptake (LRU) approach. The remaining surface budget terms are taken from available literature flux inventories and adequately scaled to bring the budget into balance. The model is compared with limb-sounding satellite observations made by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment - Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) and surface flask measurements from 14 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Earth System Research Laboratory (NOAA-ESRL) sites worldwide. We find that calculating vegetative uptake using the LRU underestimates the surface seasonal cycle amplitude (SCA) in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) mid-latitudes and high latitudes by approximately 37ppt (35%). The inclusion of a large tropical source is able to balance the global budget, but further improvement to the SCA and phasing would likely require a flux inversion scheme. Compared to co-located ACE-FTS OCS profiles between 5 and 30km, TOMCAT remains within 25ppt (approximately 5% of mean tropospheric concentration) of the measurements throughout the majority of this region and lies within the standard deviation of these measurements. This provides confidence in the representation of atmospheric loss and surface fluxes of OCS in the model. Atmospheric sinks account for 154GgS of the annual budget, which is 10%-50% larger than previous studies. Comparing the surface monthly anomalies from the NOAA-ESRL flask data to the model simulations shows a root-mean-square error range of 3.3-25.8ppt. We estimate the total biosphere uptake to be 951GgS, which is in the range of recent inversion studies (893-1053GgS), but our terrestrial vegetation flux accounts for 629GgS of the annual budget, which is lower than other recent studies (657-756GgS). However, to close the budget, we compensate for this with a large annual oceanic emission term of 689GgS focused over the tropics, which is much larger than bottom-up estimates (285GgS). Hence, we agree with recent findings that missing OCS sources likely originate from the tropical region. This work shows that satellite OCS profiles offer a good constraint on atmospheric sinks of OCS through the troposphere and stratosphere and are therefore useful for helping to improve surface budget terms. This work also shows that the LRU approach is an adequate representation of the OCS vegetative uptake, but this method could be improved by various means, such as using a higher-resolution GPP product or plant-functional-type-dependent LRU. Future work will utilise TOMCAT in a formal inversion scheme to better quantify the OCS budget.</p

Atmospheric distribution of HCN from satellite observations and 3-D model simulations

Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is an important tracer of biomass burning, but there are significant uncertainties in its atmospheric budget, especially its photochemical and ocean sinks. Here we use a tracer version of the TOMCAT global 3-D chemical transport model to investigate the physical and chemical processes driving the abundance of HCN in the troposphere and stratosphere over the period 2004-2016. The modelled HCN distribution is compared with version 4.1 of the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS) HCN satellite data, which provide profiles up to around 42ĝ€¯km, and with ground-based column measurements from the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). The long-Term ACE-FTS measurements reveal the strong enhancements in upper-Tropospheric HCN due to large wildfire events in Indonesia in 2006 and 2015. Our 3-D model simulations confirm previous lower-Altitude balloon comparisons that the currently recommended NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) reaction rate coefficient of HCN with OH greatly overestimates the HCN loss. The use of the rate coefficient proposed by in combination with the HCN oxidation by O(1D) gives good agreement between ACE-FTS observations and the model. Furthermore, the model photochemical loss terms show that the reduction in the HCN mixing ratio with height in the middle stratosphere is mainly driven by the O(1D) sink with only a small contribution from a reaction with OH. From comparisons of the model tracers with ground-based HCN observations we test the magnitude of the ocean sink in two different published schemes . We find that in our 3-D model the two schemes produce HCN abundances which are very different to the NDACC observations but in different directions. A model HCN tracer using the scheme overestimates the HCN concentration by almost a factor of 2, while a HCN tracer using the scheme underestimates the observations by about one-Third. To obtain good agreement between the model and observations, we need to scale the magnitudes of the global ocean sinks by factors of 0.25 and 2 for the schemes of and , respectively. This work shows that the atmospheric photochemical sinks of HCN now appear well constrained but improvements are needed in parameterizing the major ocean uptake sink.</p

Examining the social networks of older adults receiving informal or formal care: a systematic review

Purpose: To address the care needs of older adults, it is important to identify and understand the forms of care support older adults received. This systematic review aims to examine the social networks of older adults receiving informal or formal care and the factors that influenced their networks. Methods: A systematic review was conducted by searching six databases from inception to January 31, 2023. The review included primary studies focusing on older adults receiving long-term care, encompassing both informal and formal care. To assess the risk of bias in the included studies, validated appraisal tools specifically designed for different study types were utilized. Network analysis was employed to identify the grouping of study concepts, which subsequently formed the foundation for describing themes through narrative synthesis. Results: We identified 121 studies relating to the formal and informal care of older adults’ networks. A variety of social ties were examined by included studies. The most commonly examined sources of care support were family members (such as children and spouses) and friends. Several factors were consistently reported to influence the provision of informal care, including the intensity of networks, reciprocity, and geographical proximity. In terms of formal care utilization, older age and poor health status were found to be associated with increased use of healthcare services. Additionally, physical limitations and cognitive impairment were identified as factors contributing to decreased social engagement. Conclusion: This review found that older people were embedded within a diverse network. The findings of this review emphasize the importance of recognizing and incorporating the diversity of social networks in care plans and policies to enhance the effectiveness of interventions and improve the overall well-being of older adults

Solar Energetic Particle Events Detected in the Housekeeping Data of the European Space Agency's Spacecraft Flotilla in the Solar System

Despite the growing importance of planetary Space Weather forecasting and radiation protection for science and robotic exploration and the need for accurate Space Weather monitoring and predictions, only a limited number of spacecraft have dedicated instrumentation for this purpose. However, every spacecraft (planetary or astronomical) has hundreds of housekeeping sensors distributed across the spacecraft, some of which can be useful to detect radiation hazards produced by solar particle events. In particular, energetic particles that impact detectors and subsystems on a spacecraft can be identified by certain housekeeping sensors, such as the Error Detection and Correction (EDAC) memory counters, and their effects can be assessed. These counters typically have a sudden large increase in a short time in their error counts that generally match the arrival of energetic particles to the spacecraft. We investigate these engineering datasets for scientific purposes and perform a feasibility study of solar energetic particle event detections using EDAC counters from seven European Space Agency Solar System missions: Venus Express, Mars Express, ExoMars-Trace Gas Orbiter, Rosetta, BepiColombo, Solar Orbiter, and Gaia. Six cases studies, in which the same event was observed by different missions at different locations in the inner Solar System are analyzed. The results of this study show how engineering sensors, for example, EDAC counters, can be used to infer information about the solar particle environment at each spacecraft location. Therefore, we demonstrate the potential of the various EDAC to provide a network of solar particle detections at locations where no scientific observations of this kind are available