Homelessness and housing stress among police detainees: results from the DUMA program

This research reaffirms the need for intensive accommodation support services to complement criminal justice responses to crime and those who have contact with the criminal justice system. Foreword It is generally accepted that a person’s living situation, in particular their experience of homelessness and housing stress, can have both long-lasting and wide-ranging consequences. For criminal justice practitioners, the task of limiting homelessness and preventing crime remain key policy priorities in need of ongoing and integrated research. This paper provides a much needed examination of homelessness and housing stress among Australia’s criminal justice population. Using data from the AIC’s Drug Use Monitoring in Australia program, this study examines the prevalence and nature of homelessness among a sample of police detainees. It is the first of its kind to examine a broader range of homelessness experiences and the reasons why some offenders have few choices but to ‘sleep rough’ or seek accommodation support. Importantly, the authors estimate that 22 percent of the detainee population is homeless or experiencing housing stress in some form; much higher than has been previously estimated. This research reaffirms the need for intensive accommodation support services to complement criminal justice responses to crime and those who have contact with the criminal justice system

The Role of Invitational Theory on Minority Student Enrollment in Advanced Placement Courses

The number of students enrolling in Advanced Placement (AP) classes has been increasing in Florida and across the nation over the last decade. However, this trend is not happening for traditionally underserved groups of students such as African Americans, Hispanics, and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. These minority groups are underrepresented in AP classes, while Asian and White students are overrepresented. This trend is alarming because there are qualified minority students who have a great chance of being successful in AP classes according to AP Potential data. For some reason though, these qualified minority and low income students are nevertheless not enrolling in AP classes. The purpose of this research was to investigate whether or not the extension of inviting messages to enroll in AP courses was dependent upon students\u27 ethnic and/or socioeconomic background. A mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed to examine how the role of invitational theory affects minority student enrollment in AP classes. Mean scale scores from a survey were used to measure student attitudes about how welcoming and inviting schools were when it came to student recruitment into AP classes. T-tests and an analysis of variance were used to determine if there were differences in attitudes among students currently enrolled in AP classes, students of various economic means, and students of various ethnicities. Results from this study found that students already in AP classes felt very invited to challenge themselves in AP classes by teachers, administrators, parents, and peers. Richer students, Whites, and Asians also felt more invited to join AP classes than did poorer, African American, and Hispanic students, though these results were not statistically significant. To increase enrollment in AP classes, the overwhelming response from students was that schools should advertise the pros and cons of taking an AP class. Future research should examine students\u27 perspectives regarding inviting school cultures in regions outside of the southeastern United States. Researchers should also focus on students in urban high schools as previous research has only examined student attitudes in rural and suburban high schools. Finally, future research should examine inviting school cultures from other stakeholders\u27 perspectives such as parents and teachers

Australian Government Balance Sheet Management

Since almost eliminating net debt, the Australian Government%u2019s attention has turned to the financing of broader balance sheet liabilities, such as public sector superannuation. Australia will be developing a significant financial asset portfolio in the %u2018Future Fund%u2019 to smooth the financing of expenses through time. This raises the significant policy question of how best to manage the government balance sheet to reduce risk. This paper provides a framework for optimal balance sheet management. The major conclusions are that: %u2013 fiscal sustainability depends on both the expected path of future taxation and the risks around that path; %u2013 optimal balance sheet management requires knowledge of how risks affect the balance sheet (and therefore volatility in tax rates); and %u2013 the government%u2019s financial investment strategy should reduce the risk to government finances from macroeconomic shocks that permanently affect the budget. Based on this framework, we find that a Future Fund portfolio that included (amongst other potential investments) domestic nominal securities and equities of selected countries would reduce overall balance sheet risk.

Aerobic degradation assessment for the fungicide BAS 505 using batch and intact soil core methodologies

Although registration protocol stipulates that pesticide degradation be quantified using homogeneous soil, research suggests that degradation in intact soil may give results more consistent with field data. This project examined degradation of the turf and cereal fungicide BAS 505 [N-methyl-(E)-2-methoxyamino-2-(2-((2,5-dimethylphenoxy)methyl)phenyl) acetamide]. Yearlong and four-month-long incubation studies compared degradation rates in intact cores and homogeneous (batch) samples of Ruston fine sandy loam (fine-loamy, siliceous, thermic Typic Paleudults) soil. Recovery of BAS 505 in methanol extracts was measured 12 times over the 360 d incubation by HPLC-LSC analysis, and declined to 36 % and 57 % of the amount applied in cores and batch soils, respectively, by 360 d. But degradation in cores was faster than in batch soil only after long-term incubation. Since geostatistical surveys of soil biological, chemical and physical properties at the study site revealed spatial variability, a four month incubation using soil from different landscape positions was performed to verify field-wide consistency. Recovery was measured 5 times and after 120 d decreased to 65 % and 67 % of applied in cores and batch soils (averaged across all positions), respectively. This study found no significant difference in degradation of BAS 505, either between systems for any landscape position or among positions for intact and batch soils. In both studies and systems, degradation rate decreased over time and could be described by Nth-order kinetics but not 1st-order. Sorption BAS 505 in the Ruston soil was reversible so that sorption kinetics was likely not the cause of slowing degradation rate. Decreasing microbial activity with time (as by lack of nutrient inputs) may have occurred but this was not shown by the highly variable microbial biomass C data. A follow-up greenhouse study that compared BAS 505 degradation in packed cores of Ruston soil under bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.), bare and bare but shaded found evidence that the presence of living grass led to faster degradation of BAS 505 versus bare soil. Thus, long-term static laboratory incubations may be a poor basis for projecting environmental fate and persistence

Evaluation of in situ bioremediation approaches in meeting international standards for organic and residual metals toxicity in soils

Drilling fluids and muds are an essential component of the rotary drilling process used to drill for oil and gas on land and in offshore environments. However, the bioaccumulation of petroleum contaminated soils/drilling mud due to oil and natural gas exploration has posed a major environmental concern due to its prolonged environmental persistence and its leachability below the rhizosphere. The main objectives of this research were: (i) To assess initial toxicity of drilling mud and related contaminated soils from an agricultural setting in Galliano, Sicily (Phase one) and (ii) To develop a low intervention bioremediation approach using bioplug technology to ensure that the soil/drilling mud has met U.S. and international soil/ground water quality standards by performing a microcosm study (Phase two). Total petroleum hydrocarbon content of the drilling mud reduced to 617.0±176.0, 446.0±195.0, and 533.0±138.0 mg/kg from 5000.0±530.0 mg/kg after treatment via mixing (84.2-95% reduction). The PAH and phenol concentration of the drilling mud resulted in a 97-99.5% reduction via mixing (5d study) and 69.4-77.9% reduction via in situ treatment (40d study). The metals of concern for the drilling mud are cadmium and selenium. Both metals had exceeded Italian and La DEQ soil leachability standards, which were established at 0.005 mg/L for cadmium and 0.010 and 0.050 mg/L for selenium, respectively. In situ bioremediation was performed on a cross-section of Italian soil/mud to test the effectiveness of bioplug technology. Total petroleum hydrocarbons had reduced from 217.12±43.38 and 149.68±45.51 mg/kg to 15.16±3.35 and 34.27±15.86 mg/kg for the control drilling mud test beds, and from 89.20±67.42, 141.71±64.80, and 197.87±77.38 mg/kg to 5.24±6.15, 15.02±10.20, and 9.65±9.37 mg/kg for the experimental drilling mud test beds, respectively. The efficiency of degradation for control and experimental setups were 85.1±11.2% and 92.9±3.0%, respectively. Overall, the microcosm experiment indicated that a significant reduction in total petroleum hydrocarbons had taken place for the drilling mud using bioplug technology and will be installed at the Italian site

Nonlinear response of superconductors to alternating fields and currents

Nonlinearities caused by vortex pinning and weak links in superconductors are considered. The effects of vortex pinning will be treated in both the parallel and perpendicular geometries using the critical state model. The results for the parallel geometry will be used to calculate the nonlinear surface impedance of a hard type-II superconductor. The results for the perpendicular geometry will be used to treat harmonic generation (HG) and intermodulation distortion (IM) in superconducting transmission lines and resonators. Nonlinearites due to weak links will be modelled using both the resistively shunted junction model (RSJ) for small junctions, and the damped sine-Gordon equation for long junctions. I will investigate HG in small junctions, and in long junctions with various geometries, and the unusual phenomenon of second HG due to Josephson fluxons in long junctions will be discussed

A perspective on trends in Australian government spending

This paper provides a summary of trends in government spending, revealing strong growth in government spending and the size of government, particularly over the past four years. It also discusses the distribution and sustainability of spending and notes the importance of high quality spending and flexibility in resource allocation in responding to future pressures

To Supersede or Supplement: Profiling Aggregator e-Book Collections vs. Our Print Collections

Presentation given at the XXVIII Annual Charleston Conference: Issues in Book and Serials Acquisitions, November 5 - 8, 2008. After the conference, Price and McDonald have verified their results using the xISBN work ID, which allows grouping of the various unique ISBNs that refer to the same intellectual work (e.g.cloth vs paperback). Wrangling these nearly 15 million lines of data took quite a while, and did not result in a substantive change to their results: only about 30% of the print books purchased during 2006-2007 by any of the 5 libraries they studied were available from the e-book aggregator marketplace