Developing a suicide prevention programme to address the increase in prison suicides in Kent

This document presents the final report of a student internship project, focusing on the development of a suicide prevention programme in Kent. Following an increase in prison suicides between 2013 and 2014, Kent & Medway Suicide Prevention Steering Group were approached by the commissioning manager for health and justice to conduct research into this area. Dr Ian Marsh from Canterbury Christ Church University put forward the CCCU student internship as a means of undertaking this research. The Research and Knowledge Exchange internships at Canterbury Christ Church University allow students to work with academic staff on a specific research project. Academics apply for a research intern to work with them on research in areas which are likely to result in tangible outputs. The author of this report is a final year BSc Sociology student at Canterbury Christ Church University who worked as an intern on this project for a period of 10 weeks from May to July. The project involved an extensive literature review, along with consultation with various agencies and individuals, in order to gain a deeper insight into the emerging issues. Consultations were with the following stakeholders: • Kent and Medway Suicide Prevention Steering Group • Mental health in-reach team at HMP Elmley • The Samaritans Listener Scheme Co-ordinator • The Howard League Policy Officer • The Prisons and Probation Assistant Ombudsman • Safer Custody team for Kent This report provides a brief overview of suicides, prison suicides, and prevention - nationally and in Kent. Key themes from the literature are outlined and supported with insight from the consultations where appropriate. Recommendations are put forward where appropriate in regard to potential steps for prison suicide prevention in Kent. Project Aims The main aims of this project were to: • Review existing literature and data around prison suicides and prevention. • Meet with key stakeholders who could give a deeper insight into these issues. • Present findings to the Kent & Medway suicide prevention steering group. • Use the final report to inform relevant agencies and prison staff

Searching for nova shells around cataclysmic variables

We present the results of a search for nova shells around 101 cataclysmic variables (CVs), using Halpha images taken with the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) and the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope Photometric Halpha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS). Both telescopes are located on La Palma. We concentrated our WHT search on nova-like variables, whilst our IPHAS search covered all CVs in the IPHAS footprint. We found one shell out of the 24 nova-like variables we examined. The newly discovered shell is around V1315 Aql and has a radius of approx.2.5 arcmin, indicative of a nova eruption approximately 120 years ago. This result is consistent with the idea that the high mass-transfer rate exhibited by nova-like variables is due to enhanced irradiation of the secondary by the hot white dwarf following a recent nova eruption. The implications of our observations for the lifetime of the nova-like variable phase are discussed. We also examined 4 asynchronous polars, but found no new shells around any of them, so we are unable to confirm that a recent nova eruption is the cause of the asynchronicity in the white dwarf spin. We find tentative evidence of a faint shell around the dwarf nova V1363 Cyg. In addition, we find evidence for a light echo around the nova V2275 Cyg, which erupted in 2001, indicative of an earlier nova eruption approx.300 years ago, making V2275 Cyg a possible recurrent nova.Comment: 14 pages, 50 figures, 3 Table

Reconstructing Images from Projections Using the Maximum-Entropy Method. Numerical Simulations of Low-Aspect Astrotomography

The reconstruction of images from a small number of projections using the maximum-entropy method (MEM) with the Shannon entropy is considered. MEM provides higher-quality image reconstruction for sources with extended components than the Hogbom CLEAN method, which is also used in low-aspect astrotomography. The quality of image reconstruction for sources with mixed structure containing bright, compact features embedded in a comparatively weak, extended base can be further improved using a difference-mapping method, which requires a generalization of MEM for the reconstruction of sign-variable functions.We draw conclusions based on the results of numerical simulations for a number of model radio sources with various morphologies.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Banning short sales and market quality: The UK's experience

We study the effects that the ban on short sales of shares in financial firms introduced in late 2008 and removed early 2009 had on the microstructure and the quality of UK equity markets. We show that the ban did nothing to affect order flows: financial stocks were being more aggressively sold off than their peers pre-ban and this situation persisted through the ban period. Trading volume in financials was massively reduced, however. The ban decimated order book liquidity for financials. The deterioration was symmetric, affecting the limit buy and limit sell side of the order book equally. Finally we show that, through the period of the ban, markets for financial stocks were substantially less efficient and that the role of the trading process in aiding price discovery was greatly reduced. The effects identified above were largely reversed once the ban was lifted. The persistence of the deterioration in market quality and liquidity though the relatively long-lasting UK ban on short selling suggests that other major market developments such as the TARP program were not responsible since these were concentrated in the early half of the ban. We thus argue that the short selling ban was responsible for detrimental effects on the quality of UK equity markets and that, far from being stabilising, the ban exacerbated problems in valuing UK financial stocks

SS433:the microquasar link with ULXs?

SS433 is the prototype microquasar in the Galaxy and may even be analogous to the ULX sources if the jets' kinetic energy is taken into account. However, in spite of 20 years of study, our constraints on the nature of the binary system are extremely limited as a result of the difficulty of locating spectral features that can reveal the nature and motion of the mass donor. Newly acquired, high resolution blue spectra taken when the (precessing) disc is edge-on suggest that the binary is close to a common-envelope phase, and hence providing kinematic constraints is extremely difficult. Nevertheless, we do find evidence for a massive donor, as expected for the inferred very high mass transfer rate, and we compare SS433's properties with those of Cyg X-3.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in "Compact binaries in the Galaxy and beyond

Discovery of 15-second oscillations in Hubble Space Telescope observations of WZ Sagittae following the 2001 outburst

We report the discovery of 15-s oscillations in ultraviolet observations of WZ Sge obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope approximately one month after the peak of the 2001 outburst. This is the earliest detection of oscillations in WZ Sge following an outburst and the first time that a signal near 15 s has been seen to be dominant. The oscillations are quite strong (amplitude about 5%), but not particularly coherent. In one instance, the oscillation period changed by 0.7 s between successive observations separated by less than 1 hour. We have also found evidence for weaker signals with periods near 6.5 s in some of our data. We discuss the implications of our results for the models that have been proposed to account for the 28-s oscillations seen in quiescence. If the periods of the 15-s oscillations can be identified with the periods of revolution of material rotating about the white dwarf, the mass of the white dwarf must satisfy M_WD > 0.71 M_sun. The corresponding limit for the 6.5-s signals is M_WD > 1.03 M_sun.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ Letters; 13 pages, 4 postscript figures; new version corrects a few typos and matches version that will appear in ApJ

ULTRACAM observations of the black hole X-ray transient XTE J1118+480 in quiescence

We present high time-resolution multicolour observations of the quiescent soft X-ray transient XTE J1118+480 obtained with ULTRACAM. Superimposed on the double-humped continuum g' and i'-band lightcurves are rapid flare events which typically last a few minutes. The power density spectrum of the lightcurves can be described by a broken power-law model with a break frequency at ~2 mHz or a power-law model plus a broad quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) at ~2 mHz. In the context of the cellular-automaton we estimate the size of the quiescent advection-dominated flow (ADAF) region to be ~10^4 Schwarzschild radii, similar to that observed in other quiescent black hole X-ray transients, suggesting the same underlying physics. The similarites between the low/hard and quiescent state PDS suggest a similar origin for the optical and X-ray variability, most likely from regions at/near the ADAF.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted by MNRA

Variability Flagging in the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Preliminary Data Release

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Preliminary Data Release Source Catalog contains over 257 million objects. We describe the method used to flag variable source candidates in the Catalog. Using a method based on the chi-square of single-exposure flux measurements, we generated a variability flag for each object, and have identified almost 460,000 candidate sources that exhibit significant flux variability with greater than ~7σ confidence. We discuss the flagging method in detail and describe its benefits and limitations. We also present results from the flagging method, including example light curves of several types of variable sources including Algol-type eclipsing binaries, RR Lyr, W UMa, and a blazar candidate