The introduction and evaluation of Community Care Orders following the Mental Health (Patients in the Community) Act 1995

Community Care Orders (CCOs) were introduced in Scotland in the Mental Health (Patients in the Community) Act 1995, which also saw the reduction of leave of absence. The aim of the study was to evaluate the use of CCOs in the first 33 months of their availability and to assess psychiatrists' and patients' views on their usefulness. Three data sources were used: (1) Mental Welfare Commission; (2) a named patient survey to consultant psychiatrists; (3) interviews with patients. Forty-five CCOs were used between 1 April 1996 and 31 December 1998. Half of these were judged successful by consultants. Conditions were varied and the impact on patients' lives could be extensive. There is confusion over the ability of CCOs to enforce medication but 77% implicitly or explicitly mentioned medication. CCO use has been low but set against the negative expectations of psychiatrists might be judged more successful than expected

The end of indefinitely renewable leave of absence in Scotland: the impact of the Mental Health (Patients in the Community) Act 1995

The Mental Health (Patients in the Community) Act 1995 restricted leave of absence (LOA) for detained patients in Scotland to 12 months. This study looked at the impact on patients who were affected by this restriction. A total of 266 patients were identified from Mental Welfare Commission records: 194 reached the new maximum, 47 were 'transitional', 16 were on improperly long LOA and 9 were on community care orders (CCOs) following LOA but not maximum LOA. Of this 194, 12 were transferred to guardianship and the remainder became voluntary patients. The responsible medical officers (RMOs) would have liked to renew LOA for 71% of patients. In 90% of cases RMOs renewed LOA to ensure compliance with medication. Patients were significantly more likely to be compliant with medication while on LOA than post-LOA. A minority (28%) were recorded as being involved in 'incidents' post-LOA. There were 37% who were known to have a substance use problem in their management. The results suggest that RMOs may have been conservative in using LOA

Changes to leave of absence in Scotland: the views of patients

Sixty-four patients were interviewed about changes to leave of absence brought about by the Mental Health (Patients in the Community) Act 1995 in the context of their views about services and medication. Few patients were clear about the change in the law,which suggests that more has to be done to inform patients of their rights and legal status. A number of patients reported difficulty in negotiating preferred medication with their psychiatrists and felt compelled to take medication that resulted in debilitating side-effects. A third of patients eligible to be interviewed agreed to an interview and ethical and practical difficulties in accessing patients for this type of research are discussed

Counting approximately-shortest paths in directed acyclic graphs

Given a directed acyclic graph with positive edge-weights, two vertices s and t, and a threshold-weight L, we present a fully-polynomial time approximation-scheme for the problem of counting the s-t paths of length at most L. We extend the algorithm for the case of two (or more) instances of the same problem. That is, given two graphs that have the same vertices and edges and differ only in edge-weights, and given two threshold-weights L_1 and L_2, we show how to approximately count the s-t paths that have length at most L_1 in the first graph and length at most L_2 in the second graph. We believe that our algorithms should find application in counting approximate solutions of related optimization problems, where finding an (optimum) solution can be reduced to the computation of a shortest path in a purpose-built auxiliary graph

Exponential Time Complexity of Weighted Counting of Independent Sets

We consider weighted counting of independent sets using a rational weight x: Given a graph with n vertices, count its independent sets such that each set of size k contributes x^k. This is equivalent to computation of the partition function of the lattice gas with hard-core self-repulsion and hard-core pair interaction. We show the following conditional lower bounds: If counting the satisfying assignments of a 3-CNF formula in n variables (#3SAT) needs time 2^{\Omega(n)} (i.e. there is a c>0 such that no algorithm can solve #3SAT in time 2^{cn}), counting the independent sets of size n/3 of an n-vertex graph needs time 2^{\Omega(n)} and weighted counting of independent sets needs time 2^{\Omega(n/log^3 n)} for all rational weights x\neq 0. We have two technical ingredients: The first is a reduction from 3SAT to independent sets that preserves the number of solutions and increases the instance size only by a constant factor. Second, we devise a combination of vertex cloning and path addition. This graph transformation allows us to adapt a recent technique by Dell, Husfeldt, and Wahlen which enables interpolation by a family of reductions, each of which increases the instance size only polylogarithmically.Comment: Introduction revised, differences between versions of counting independent sets stated more precisely, minor improvements. 14 page

On the spherical-axial transition in supernova remnants

A new law of motion for supernova remnant (SNR) which introduces the quantity of swept matter in the thin layer approximation is introduced. This new law of motion is tested on 10 years observations of SN1993J. The introduction of an exponential gradient in the surrounding medium allows to model an aspherical expansion. A weakly asymmetric SNR, SN1006, and a strongly asymmetric SNR, SN1987a, are modeled. In the case of SN1987a the three observed rings are simulated.Comment: 19 figures and 14 pages Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Science in the year 201

Imperfect Dark Energy from Kinetic Gravity Braiding

We introduce a large class of scalar-tensor models with interactions containing the second derivatives of the scalar field but not leading to additional degrees of freedom. These models exhibit peculiar features, such as an essential mixing of scalar and tensor kinetic terms, which we have named kinetic braiding. This braiding causes the scalar stress tensor to deviate from the perfect-fluid form. Cosmology in these models possesses a rich phenomenology, even in the limit where the scalar is an exact Goldstone boson. Generically, there are attractor solutions where the scalar monitors the behaviour of external matter. Because of the kinetic braiding, the position of the attractor depends both on the form of the Lagrangian and on the external energy density. The late-time asymptotic of these cosmologies is a de Sitter state. The scalar can exhibit phantom behaviour and is able to cross the phantom divide with neither ghosts nor gradient instabilities. These features provide a new class of models for Dark Energy. As an example, we study in detail a simple one-parameter model. The possible observational signatures of this model include a sizeable Early Dark Energy and a specific equation of state evolving into the final de-Sitter state from a healthy phantom regime.Comment: 41 pages, 7 figures. References and some clarifying language added. This version was accepted for publication in JCA

Harnessing plant biomass for biofuels and biomaterials

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72519/1/j.1365-313X.2008.03512.x.pd

Seabirds of the Benguela Ecosystem: Utilisation, Long-Term Changes and Challenges

The Benguela Current is used by c. 82 seabird species, of which seven are endemic to it. Eggs and guano of formerly abundant seabirds were heavily harvested in the 19th and 20th centuries but decreases in seabird populations led to cessation of these industries at islands. Guano is still scraped from platforms. Seabird ecotourism has grown. There were large recent decreases in numbers of African Penguins Spheniscus demersus, Cape Gannets Morus capensis and Cape Phalacrocorax capensis and Bank P. neglectus Cormorants and redistributions of these other species away from the centre of the Benguela ecosystem towards its northern or eastern boundaries. In 2020, seabirds endemic to the Benguela ecosystem and albatrosses and petrels migrating into it had high proportions of globally Near Threatened or Threatened species. The primary threat to four Endangered endemic birds was scarcity of forage resources. A Vulnerable endemic damara tern was susceptible to habitat degradation and disturbance. The principal threat to visiting albatrosses and petrels was by-catch mortality. Identification and effective protection of Important Bird Area breeding and marine foraging and aggregation sites, and a suite of complementary measures, are needed to conserve the seabirds and ensure continuation of their economic and ecosystem benefits into the future

'Drowning in here in his bloody sea' : exploring TV cop drama's representations of the impact of stress in modern policing

The Criminal Justice System is a part of society that is both familiar and hidden. It is familiar in that a large part of daily news and television drama is devoted to it (Carrabine, 2008; Jewkes, 2011). It is hidden in the sense that the majority of the population have little, if any, direct contact with the Criminal Justice System, meaning that the media may be a major force in shaping their views on crime and policing (Carrabine, 2008). As Reiner (2000) notes, the debate about the relationship between the media, policing, and crime has been a key feature of wider societal concerns about crime since the establishment of the modern police force. He outlines the recurring themes in post-war debates in this field. For Conservatives there has been an ongoing concern that the media is criminongenic, as it serves to undermine traditional institutions, including the police. From the viewpoint of radical criminology, the impact of the media is two-fold: it exaggerates legitimate concerns about crime and emphasises the bureaucratic and other restrictions under which the police operate (Reiner, 2000). This is seen as undermining due process and legitimatising what can be termed a ‘maverick’ approach to policing. An early example of this can be seen in Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry movies (Siegel, 1971) where Harry Callaghan acts as a one-man law enforcement system outside of the formal legal process, a process portrayed as corrupt, inefficient, and concerned with offenders’ rights rather than protecting victims. From a policing perspective, Reiner (2000) argues that film and TV drama creates a simplistic narrative of crime solving that is almost completely divorced from the reality of modern police work, a finding consistent with more recent work by Cummins et al., (2014)