An Analysis of Readmissions to a Mental Health Court

Mental health courts (MHCs) have emerged as one option to address the needs of people with severe mental illness who enter the criminal justice system. Little is known about defendants having multiple referrals to MHCs or the outcomes of subsequent admissions. This study included a sample of 1,084 defendants referred to municipal MHC. During the 13-year study period, 14.3% of defendants had a second admission, with an estimated probability of readmission of 17.4%. Key factors associated with readmission included being eligible to participate in the court but choosing not to do so, being rearrested during court supervision, and having a negative termination from supervision. Defendants who had a second admission during the study period had poorer outcomes than those with one admission. When defendants are referred for readmission to MHCs, careful assessment is required to ensure that these courts are the best alternative for them

Dehydrative etherification reactions of glycerol with alcohols catalyzed by recyclable nanoporous aluminosilicates: telescoped routes to glyceryl ethers

Catalytic strategies for the efficient transformation of abundant sustainable bioderived molecules, such as glycerol, into higher value more useful products is an important research goal. In this study, we demonstrate that atom efficient dehydrative etherification reactions of glycerol with activated alcohols are effectively catalyzed by nanoporous aluminosilicate materials in dimethylcarbonate (DMC) to produce the corresponding 1-substituted glyceryl ethers in high yield. By carrying out the reaction in acetone, it is possible to capitalize on the ability of these materials to catalyze the corresponding acetalization reaction, allowing for the development of novel, telescoped acetalization-dehydrative etherification reaction sequences to selectively produce protected solketal derivatives. These materials also catalyze the telescoped reaction of glycerol with <i>tert</i>-butanol (TBA) in acetone to produce the corresponding solketal mono <i>tert</i>-butyl ether product in high yield, providing a potential route to convert glycerol directly into a useful and sustainable fuel additive

Role of Social Support and Ego Network Characteristics on Quality of Life: Implications for Persons Involved with Mental Health Courts

Mental health courts offer alternatives to incarceration for persons with severe mental illness who are involved in the criminal justice system. These courts have the dual function of ensuring treatment for persons involved in the court as well as ensuring the safety of the public. Persons with severe mental illness who are involved in mental health courts rely on others for support, such as family members. Others may buttress the participant from engaging in criminal activities and provide for needs of the participant. The supportiveness as well as the composition of one’s network members may play a role in the success of mental health court participants, such as successfully completing the mental health court program and avoiding incarceration. Little research has explored how social support impacts mental health court participants. We explored how the composition and sense of support of network members were associated with mental health court participants’ quality of life. We regressed quality of life on social support and network characteristics of 80 participants in two mental health courts. Findings suggest that perceived support is positively associated with quality of life, and the proportion of family in one’s network was negatively related to quality of life. Findings suggest that persons involved in mental health courts need supportive others in their social networks in addition to family. More research is needed to explore the reasons having a higher proportion of family members in one’s network is associated with lower quality of life. Practitioners need to pay attention to and leverage mental health court participants’ social networks to help improve their quality of life

Identification of single-site gold catalysis in acetylene hydrochlorination

There remains considerable debate over the active form of gold under operating conditions of a recently validated gold catalyst for acetylene hydrochlorination. We have performed an in situ x-ray absorption fine structure study of gold/carbon (Au/C) catalysts under acetylene hydrochlorination reaction conditions and show that highly active catalysts comprise single-site cationic Au entities whose activity correlates with the ratio of Au(I):Au(III) present. We demonstrate that these Au/C catalysts are supported analogs of single-site homogeneous Au catalysts and propose a mechanism, supported by computational modeling, based on a redox couple of Au(I)-Au(III) species. View Full Tex

Facile synthesis of precious-metal single-site catalysts using organic solvents

Single-site catalysts can demonstrate high activity and selectivity in many catalytic reactions. The synthesis of these materials by impregnation from strongly oxidizing aqueous solutions or pH-controlled deposition often leads to low metal loadings or a range of metal species. Here, we demonstrate that simple impregnation of the metal precursors onto activated carbon from a low-boiling-point, low-polarity solvent, such as acetone, results in catalysts with an atomic dispersion of cationic metal species. We show the generality of this method by producing single-site Au, Pd, Ru and Pt catalysts supported on carbon in a facile manner. Single-site Au/C catalysts have previously been validated commercially to produce vinyl chloride, and here we show that this facile synthesis method can produce effective catalysts for acetylene hydrochlorination in the absence of the highly oxidizing acidic solvents previously used