The impact of skills in probation work: A reconviction study

This article reports on the results of a quasi-experimental study of practitioners’ skills in probation work. Videotaped interviews were produced by a group of probation officers and analysed by researchers using a checklist designed to identify the range of skills used in one-to-one supervision. Reconviction rates were found to be significantly lower among those whose supervisors were assessed as using a wider range of skills. The article also reviews the recent history of research on practitioners’ skills in probation, and considers the implications of positive findings from this and other studies

Bison foraging responds to fire frequency in nutritionally heterogeneous grassland

Citation: Raynor, E. J., Joern, A., & Briggs, J. M. (2015). Bison foraging responds to fire frequency in nutritionally heterogeneous grassland. Ecology, 96(6), 1586-1597. doi:10.1890/14-2027.1Foraging decisions by native grazers in fire-dependent landscapes modulate the fire-grazing interaction. Uncovering the behavioral mechanisms associated with the attraction of grazers to recently burned areas requires understanding at multiple spatial scales in the ecological foraging hierarchy. This study focused on feeding in the area between steps in a foraging bout, the feeding station, as forage chemistry and vegetation architecture play central roles in these fine-scale, feeding-station decisions. The forage maturation hypothesis (FMH) uses the temporal dynamics of forage quality and quantity in grasslands to explain the distribution of large herbivores, but does not address herbivore responses to inter-patch variation caused by fire-induced nutrient increases of forage quality. Using an experimental setting with contrasting fire treatments we describe the effects of variable burn history on foraging kinetics by bison at Konza Prairie Biological Station (KPBS). We assessed the potential to link the FMH in a complementary fashion to the transient maxima hypothesis (TMH) to explain temporal variation in bison responses to grassland forage quality and quantity in response to burning at different temporal frequencies. Forage attributes met predictions of the TMH that allowed us to investigate how forage maturation affects feeding station foraging behavior across watersheds with varying burn frequency. At sites burned in the spring after several years without burning, both bite mass and intake rate increased with increasing biomass at a greater rate during the growing season than during the transitional midsummer seasonal period. In these infrequently burned watersheds, early growing season bite mass (0.6 +/- 0.05 g; mean +/- SE), bite rate (38 +/- 1.5 bites/ min), and intake rate (21 +/- 2.3 g/min) was reduced by similar to 15%, 13%, and 29% during the midsummer transitional period. A behavioral response in foraging kinetics at the feeding station occurred where a nonequilibrial pulse of high-quality resource was made available and then retained by repeated grazing over the growing season. Our results provide the first experimental evidence for demonstrating the fine-scale behavioral response of a large grazer to fire-induced changes in forage attributes, while linking two prominent hypotheses proposed to explain spatial variation in forage quality and quantity at local and landscape scales

Lidar Measurements of On-Shore Wind Diffusion

The concept to place electric power generating stations on the oceans off the coast of the United States has instilled new efforts in research for improved understanding of the diffusion properties of the atmosphere in the ocean-air interface. The Atomic Energy Commission has instigated a program by the Meteorology Group at Brookhaven National Laboratory to investigate the low level, on-shore wind systems that dominate many of the coastal regions. Analytical techniques and specialized instrumentation from previous studies at Brookhaven are being used in this new program. The Brookhaven Lidar system is used to measure some of the physical properties of the oil-fog plume originating from a portable smoke generator on a boat off the coast. The oil-fog plume is used as a tracer which can be observed, photographed and measured to determine the diffusive power of the atmosphere associated with the ocean-air interface and the discontinuities found in the ocean-land boundary. This paper will describe the program rather briefly and the oil-fog scattering measurements that have been made with the Lidar system

Suzbijanje geografskog širenja zaraze: kuga u Italiji od 1347.-1851.

After the establishment of the first quarantine station in the Republic of Ragusa (modern-day Dubrovnik) in 1377, the states and principalities of Italy developed a sophisticated system of defensive quarantine in an attempt to protect themselves from the ravages of plague. Using largely unknown and unseen historical maps, this paper reconstructs the extent and operation of the system used. It is shown that a cordon sanitaire existed around the coast of Italy for several centuries, consisting of three elements: (i) an outer defensive ring of armed sailing boats in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, (ii) a middle coastal ring of forts and observation towers, and (iii) an inner defensive ring of land-based cavalry. The principles established, although not especially successful at the time against a disease of (then) unknown aetiology, are still used today in attempts to control the spread of infections of animal and human populations.Nakon uspostave prvoga lazareta u Dubrovačkoj Republici 1377., talijanske državice i kneževine razradile su sustav karantena kako bi se zaštitile od razarajućega djelovanja kuge. Oslanjajući se mahom na dosad nepoznate povijesne karte, u ovome se članku rekonstruira kako je i u kojem razmjeru djelovao sustav zaštite. Duž talijanske obale stoljećima je postojao sanitarni kordon, a sastojao se od tri dijela: (i) vanjski pojas sastavljen od naoružanih jedrenjaka na Sredozemnom i Jadranskome moru, (ii) srednji obrambeni pojas sastavljen od utvrda i promatračnica te (iii) unutarnji obrambeni pojas na kopnu sastavljen od konjice. Premda ovaj sustav svojevremeno i nije bio pretjerano uspješan u zaštiti od bolesti (tada) nepoznate etiologije, njegova se načela još uvijek rabe za sprječavanje širenja bolesti među ljudima i životinjama

Patients’ use of information about medicine side effects in relation to experiences of suspected adverse drug reactions

Background Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are common, and information about medicines is increasingly widely available to the public. However, relatively little work has explored how people use medicines information to help them assess symptoms that may be suspected ADRs. Objective Our objective was to determine how patients use patient information leaflets (PILs) or other medicines information sources and whether information use differs depending on experiences of suspected ADRs. Method This was a cross-sectional survey conducted in six National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in North West England involving medical in-patients taking at least two regular medicines prior to admission. The survey was administered via a questionnaire and covered use of the PIL and other medicines information sources, perceived knowledge about medicines risks/ADRs, experiences of suspected ADRs, plus demographic information. Results Of the 1,218 respondents to the survey, 18.8 % never read the PIL, whilst 6.5 % only do so if something unexpected happens. Educational level was related to perceived knowledge about medicines risks, but not to reading the PIL or seeking further information about medicines risks. Over half the respondents (56.0 %) never sought more information about possible side effects of medicines. A total of 57.2 % claimed they had experienced a suspected ADR. Of these 85.9 % were either very sure or fairly sure this was a reaction to a medicine. Over half of those experiencing a suspected ADR (53.8 %) had read the PIL, of whom 36.2 % did so before the suspected ADR occurred, the remainder afterwards. Reading the PIL helped 84.8 % of these respondents to decide they had experienced an ADR. Educational level, general knowledge of medicines risks and number of regular medicines used all increased the likelihood of experiencing an ADR. Conclusion More patients should be encouraged to read the PIL supplied with medicines. The results support the view that most patients feel knowledgeable about medicines risks and suspected ADRs and value information about side effects, but that reading about side effects in PILs or other medicines information sources does not lead to experiences of suspected ADRs

Abrupt transition to heightened poliomyelitis epidemicity in England and Wales, 1947–1957, associated with a pronounced increase in the geographical rate of disease propagation

The abrupt transition to heightened poliomyelitis epidemicity in England and Wales, 1947–1957, was associated with a profound change in the spatial dynamics of the disease. Drawing on the complete record of poliomyelitis notifications in England and Wales, we use a robust method of spatial epidemiological analysis (swash-backwash model) to evaluate the geographical rate of disease propagation in successive poliomyelitis seasons, 1940–1964. Comparisons with earlier and later time periods show that the period of heightened poliomyelitis epidemicity corresponded with a sudden and pronounced increase in the spatial rate of disease propagation. This change was observed for both urban and rural areas and points to an abrupt enhancement in the propensity for the geographical spread of polioviruses. Competing theories of the epidemic emergence of poliomyelitis in England and Wales should be assessed in the light of this evidence

W(h)ither the academy? An exploration of the role of university social work in shaping the future of social work in Europe

A controversial proposal to pilot the training of child protection social workers through an intensive work-based route in England is being supported and funded by the UK Government. Frontline, the brainchild of a former teacher, locates social work training within local authorities (‘the agency’) rather than university social work departments (‘the academy’) and has stimulated debate amongst social work academics about their role in shaping the direction of the profession. As a contribution to this debate, this paper explores the duality of social work education, which derives its knowledge from both the academic social sciences and the experience of practice within social work agencies. While social work education has traditionally been delivered by the academy, this paper also explores whether the delivery of training in the allied professions of probation and nursing by ‘the agency’ is equally effective. Finally, this paper explores the Helsinki model which achieves a synergy of ‘academy’ and ‘agency’. It suggests that there are alternative models of social work education, practice and research which avoid dichotomies between the ‘academy’ and the ‘agency’ and enable the profession to be shaped by both social work academics and practitioners