Prisoner Society in an Era of Psychoactive Substances, Organised Crime, New Drug Markets and Austerity

Framed by the limited and now dated ethnographic research on the prison drug economy, this article offers new theoretical and empirical insights into how drugs challenge the social order in prisons in England and Wales. It draws on significant original and rigorous ethnographic research to argue that the ‘era of hard drugs’ has been superseded by an ‘era of new psychoactive drugs,’ redefining social relations, transforming the prison illicit economy, producing new forms of prison victimisation, and generating far greater economic power and status for suppliers. These changes represent the complex interplay and compounding effects of broader shifts in political economy, technological advances, organised crime, prison governance, and the declining legitimacy and moral performance of English and Welsh prisons

Crime in Prison: Where now and Where Next?

Four Police and Crime Commissioners in the West Midlands are presenting to government a hard-hitting six-month study into crime in prisons after months of research and multi-agency work. The in-depth look at crime behind bars also presents a future plan for straightforward solutions to tackle criminality across the prisons estate. Matthew Ellis, Staffordshire’s Commissioner has taken a lead on the work on behalf of all West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioners and visited prisons throughout the region. Staffordshire itself has 8 prisons – one of the highest number of prisons in a single county across the country. Mr Ellis commissioned Staffordshire University’s Professor James Treadwell and Dr Kate Gooch, from University of Leicester, both experts in the field, to carry out the in-depth study. They spoke to prisoners, prison governors, staff and multiple agencies throughout the West Midlands over a period of 6 months

Applications of residual stress in combatting fatigue and fracture

Residual stresses have a significant impact on the propensity for engineering components and structures to undergo fatigue and fracture, with either a positive (life enhancing) or negative (life reducing) effect that is largely dependent on the sign of the residual stress relative to that of the applied stress, i.e. on whether they add to, or subtract from, the applied stresses. Accurate life prediction relies on accurate experimental assessment of residual stresses, often combined with simulation using advanced numerical analysis techniques, that must be calibrated against real service data and this implies a necessity for ongoing condition monitoring. The present paper will outline some industrial applications where detailed knowledge of residual stress is advantageous in assessing their influence on fatigue and fracture erformance, and hence assists in combatting failure. It will also draw attention to some examples of failures of expensive structures where residual stresses played a role and consider the design and/or fabrication measures that would have led to an amelioration of the level of residual stress and hence prolonged life

Prisoner Society in an Era of Psychoactive Substances, Organised Crime, New Drug Markets and Austerity

Framed by the limited and now dated ethnographic research on the prison drug economy, this article offers new theoretical and empirical insights into how drugs challenge the social order in prisons in England and Wales. It draws on significant original and rigorous ethnographic research to argue that the ‘era of hard drugs’ has been superseded by an ‘era of new psychoactive drugs,’ redefining social relations, transforming the prison illicit economy, producing new forms of prison victimisation, and generating far greater economic power and status for suppliers. These changes represent the complex interplay and compounding effects of broader shifts in political economy, making necessary new considerations of consumerism, organised crime, prison governance, and the declining legitimacy and moral performance of prisons

Development of solvent-free synthesis of hydrogen-bonded supramolecular polyurethanes

In this work we describe the solvent free synthesis of supramolecular polyurethanes held together by heterocomplementary triple hydrogen bonding. We perform a systematic evaluation on the base catalyzed synthesis of small molecule ureas and carbamates from a range of isocyanates, amines and alcohols in solution and in the solid state using ball milling. These optimized procedures are then shown to be applicable to the synthesis of supramolecular polyurethanes using solvent-free method

Strength training for people with multiple sclerosis and the current recommendations

Recent guidelines recommend strength and conditioning training for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). This article evaluates and summarises four systematic reviews examining strength training for people with MS and examines if these reviews substantiate these current guidelines