Improving the Institutional Behaviour of Prisoners: Challenges and Opportunities for Behaviour Analysis

Prisoner misconduct presents a significant issue to correctional administrators, disrupting the orderly running of regimes, endangering safety, and negatively impacting the health and well-being of both prisoners and frontline staff. While an extensive literature has emerged around rehabilitative intervention with offenders, research efforts have been more commonly directed towards reducing post-release recidivism, resulting in a relatively sparse literature concerning the in-prison behaviour of prisoners. Persistent and rising levels of violent and disruptive behaviour in prisons highlight the need for greater research attention to be devoted to this issue. The field of applied behaviour analysis may be well placed to address this research deficit, with historical work in prisons and more recent efforts in juvenile justice settings suggesting that approaches derived from behaviour analysis may hold promise in correctional settings. This includes an emerging literature relating to the adaptation of school-wide Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports (PBIS) to juvenile justice facilities. PBIS offers a framework within which to integrate a continuum of evidencebased practices to address the needs of the population to which it is applied. Preliminary evidence suggests that the approach is feasible, is viewed positively by residents and staff, and can be efficacious in improving resident behaviour in these settings. However, addressing prisoner misconduct within adult prisons may present distinct challenges to that of juvenile forensic settings, given differences in their size, staffing ratios, and focus on education and rehabilitation. This thesis aimed to contribute to the literature on identifying effective behavioural interventions for use with adult prisoners. First, a comprehensive systematic review was conducted to explore the range of interventions directed towards reducing prisoner misconduct and identify “what works” in reducing institutional infractions (Chapter 2). Findings suggested that cognitive behavioural approaches reduced violent infractions but not overall misconduct, while therapeutic community interventions and educational approaches reduced overall misconduct. Second, focus groups were conducted with prisoners and frontline staff (prison officers) to assess valued intervention outcomes and explore potential barriers for PBIS implementation (Chapter 3). Three overarching values were identified: a need for rehabilitation, consistency, and respect. Potential barriers to PBIS included pessimistic views towards rehabilitative approaches and perceptions of limited resources. Third, the intervention design process of a universal (Tier 1) intervention strategy was described that incorporated evidence-based practices, stakeholder values, and institutional data on prisoner behaviour, whilst also operating within available resources (Chapter 4). The resulting intervention was a peer-led approach that focussed on increasing prisoner engagement in purposeful activity. Fourth, a feasibility study was conducted to establish the viability of the intervention as well as the feasibility of research procedures in the setting (Chapter 5). The intervention successfully promoted prisoner engagement, with prisoners reporting beneficial effects on behaviour, social relationships, and well-being. Staff perceptions of the approach were more tempered but generally positive. Institutional records did not appear sufficiently sensitive to detect changes in prisoner misconduct, suggesting that alternative measurement approaches may need to be identified. Finally, opportunities and barriers to behaviour analytic research in adult prisons were explored (Chapter 6), highlighting the continued relevance of the seven dimensions of behaviour analysis to prisonbased research.<br/

Impacts of variable renewable energy on wholesale markets and generating assets in the United States: A review of expectations and evidence

We synthesize available literature, data, and analysis on the degree to which growth in variable renewable energy (VRE) has impacted or might in the future impact bulk power system assets, pricing, and costs in the United States. Most studies of future scenarios indicate that VRE reduces wholesale energy prices and capacity factors of thermal generators. Traditional baseload generators are more exposed to these changing market conditions than low-capital cost and more flexible intermediate and peak-load generators. From analysis of historical data we find that VRE is already influencing the bulk power market through changes in temporal and geographic patterns areas with higher levels of VRE. The most significant observed impacts have concentrated in areas with significant VRE and/or nuclear generation along with limited transmission, with negative pricing also often occurring during periods with lower system-wide load. So far, however, VRE, has had a relatively modest impact on historical average annual wholesale prices across entire market regions, at least in comparison to other drivers. The reduction of natural gas prices is the primary contributor to the decline in wholesale prices since 2008. Similarly, VRE impacts on thermal plant retirements have been limited and there is little relationship between the location of recent retirements and VRE penetration levels. Although impacts on wholesale prices have been modest so far, impacts of VRE on the electricity market will be more significant under higher VRE penetrations

Study of chiral symmetry restoration in linear and nonlinear O(N) models using the auxiliary field method

We consider the O(N) linear {\sigma} model and introduce an auxiliary field to eliminate the scalar self-interaction. Using a suitable limiting process this model can be continuously transformed into the nonlinear version of the O(N) model. We demonstrate that, up to two-loop order in the CJT formalism, the effective potential of the model with auxiliary field is identical to the one of the standard O(N) linear {\sigma} model, if the auxiliary field is eliminated using the stationary values for the corresponding one- and two-point functions. We numerically compute the chiral condensate and the {\sigma}- and {\pi}-meson masses at nonzero temperature in the one-loop approximation of the CJT formalism. The order of the chiral phase transition depends sensitively on the choice of the renormalization scheme. In the linear version of the model and for explicitly broken chiral symmetry, it turns from crossover to first order as the mass of the {\sigma} particle increases. In the nonlinear case, the order of the phase transition turns out to be of first order. In the region where the parameter space of the model allows for physical solutions, Goldstone's theorem is always fulfilled.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, improved versio

B739: Structure, Conduct, and Performance of the Commercial Campground Industry in Maine Part I: Industry Structure

The major objective of this research was to assemble basic, quantitative data for Maine\u27s commercial campground industry and to analyze these data for the purpose of providing a detailed description of the industry\u27s organizational structure, conduct, and performance. A large amount of information was assembled and organized and has been presented in some detail in preceding sections. Major findings of the structural analysis and, where appropriate, conclusions are summarized below.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1087/thumbnail.jp

B741: Structure, Conduct, and Performance of the Commercial Campground Industry in Maine Part II: Industry Conduct and Performance

This study deals specifically with the privately owned and operated commercial campground industry in Maine. The general goals of the research are: 1. To assemble basic, quantitative data for Maine\u27s commercial campground industry. 2. To analyze these data for the purpose of providing detailed information, having implications for both public policy formulation and the management of new and existing campground firms, on the structure, conduct and performance of the industry.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1094/thumbnail.jp

Enriching Prison Environments via Peer-Led Activities

Criminologists have long claimed that states of deprivation engendered by restrictive prison environments account for much of the problematic behavior that occurs there. It is logical to assume that any efforts to provide greater access to meaningful and appropriate activities may therefore serve to reduce such behavior by altering motivating operations for misconduct and occasioning reinforcement for other types of behaviors. Given the higher rates of trauma exposure and other mental health issues in prison populations, considering trauma-informed practices in intervention design is prudent. The current study evaluated the effects of environmental enrichment via prisoner-selected, peer-led activities conducted during association times. We used direct observation to assess engagement, existing facility data collection to detect changes in problematic behavior, and prisoner and staff surveys to assess perceptions of the overall acceptability and effects of the intervention. Prisoners engaged with and led a range of activities, with the majority reporting positive effects on behavior, social relationships, and general well-being; staff responses were generally positive but more tempered. Institutional behavior records did not appear sensitive enough to detect treatment effects. We discuss the results in terms of integrating trauma-informed care into prison interventions and the need to develop more robust measures of behavior change

Gambling in Risk-Taking Contests: Experimental Evidence

This paper experimentally investigates excessive risk taking in contest schemes by implementing a novel stopping task based on Seel and Strack (2013). In this stylized setting, managers with contest payoffs have an incentive to delay halting projects with a negative expectation, with the induced inefficiency being highest for a moderately negative drift. The experiment systematically varies the negative drift (between-subjects) and the payoff incentives (within-subject). We find evidence for excessive risk taking in all our treatment conditions, with the non-monotonicity at least as problematic as predicted. Contrary to the theoretical predictions, this aggregate pattern of behaviour is seen even without contest incentives. Further analysis suggests that many subjects display behaviour consistent with some intrinsic motivation for taking risk. This intrinsic motive and the strategic motive for excessive risk taking reinforce the non-monotonicity. The experiment uncovers a behavioural nuance where contest incentives crowd out an intrinsic inclination to gamble

Excitation spectrum of bosons in a finite one-dimensional circular waveguide via the Bethe ansatz

The exactly solvable Lieb-Liniger model of interacting bosons in one-dimension has attracted renewed interest as current experiments with ultra-cold atoms begin to probe this regime. Here we numerically solve the equations arising from the Bethe ansatz solution for the exact many-body wave function in a finite-size system of up to twenty particles for attractive interactions. We discuss the novel features of the solutions, and how they deviate from the well-known string solutions [H. B. Thacker, Rev. Mod. Phys.\ \textbf{53}, 253 (1981)] at finite densities. We present excited state string solutions in the limit of strong interactions and discuss their physical interpretation, as well as the characteristics of the quantum phase transition that occurs as a function of interaction strength in the mean-field limit. Finally we compare our results to those of exact diagonalization of the many-body Hamiltonian in a truncated basis. We also present excited state solutions and the excitation spectrum for the repulsive 1D Bose gas on a ring.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figure