Measuring mental health in criminology research: Lessons from the Drug Use Monitoring in Australia program

Poor mental health among people in the Australian criminal justice system is increasingly being identified and targeted for remediation. This is evidenced by Australian and international governments establishing specialist services for prisoners with mental disorders such as forensic hospitals, forensic units within prisons and specialist drug treatment programs within correctional environments (eg Birgden & Grant 2010; Justice Health & Forensic Mental Health Network 2011). Drug courts, mental health courts, court liaison services and pre-court diversion schemes for drug addicted or mentally ill offenders are also increasingly being established to divert mentally disordered and/or substance dependent offenders away from the criminal justice system and towards treatment (Justice Health & Forensic Mental Health Network 2011; Payne 2006; Richardson 2008). This focus by the criminal justice system on addiction and mental health stems from evidence indicating that these factors may be related to offending behaviour and rehabilitation prospects (Andrews & Bonta 2010; Day & Howells 2008). The link between illicit drug use and criminal offending has been well established (Andrews & Bonta 2010; Bradford & Payne 2012; Kinner et al. 2009) and evidence also suggests a relationship between mental disorders and illicit drug use (Degenhardt 2008; Frisher et al. 2005; Marsh 2008; Mattick & O’Brien 2008). However, the findings regarding a relationship between mental disorders and offending behaviour are varied (Andrews & Bonta 2010), with some studies suggesting that the relationship is not a direct one but rather, may be mediated by substance abuse (Elbogen & Johnson 2009; Fazel et al. 2009). While it is arguable that mental disorders play a causal role in offending behaviour, studies have identified that imprisoned offenders experience poor mental health (AIHW 2012; Butler & Allnutt 2003; Fazel & Danesh 2002). It is also widely accepted that offenders who are mentally ill are less able to respond to offender rehabilitation programs (Andrews & Bonta 2010), thereby making mental health treatment important not only on humanitarian grounds but also to give offender rehabilitation programs the best possible chance of success. It is important to note that prisoners constitute a minority of offenders, as most people who appear in court are not given a custodial sentence (BOCSAR 2012), however recent studies of police detainees suggest that alleged offenders (ie those not yet brought before the courts) may also experience poor mental health at the time of their arrest (Baksheev, Ogloff & Thomas 2010; Forsythe & Gaffney 2012; Heffernan et al. 2003). One issue that has been highlighted by such studies is the challenge of accurately measuring mental health among people who are detained for short periods of time in police cells or watchhouses.This report is focused on describing and discussing the process and challenges inherent in measuring mental health concerns among alleged offenders in police custody. This is, in part, informed by the author’s experience as the Site Manager responsible for DUMA data collection in New South Wales from 1999–2010; a role that included evaluating and improving the mental health information collected as part of the DUMA program

Legislative History of the Fair Labor Standards Act

With recent advances in power electronic technology, High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission system has become an alternative for transmitting power especially over long distances. Multi-Terminal HVDC (MTDC) systems are proposed as HVDC systems with more than two terminals. These systems can be geographically wide. While in AC grids, frequency is a global variable, in MTDC systems, DC voltage can be considered as its dual. However, unlike frequency, DC voltage can not be equal across the MTDC system. Control of DC voltage in MTDC systems is one of the important challenges in MTDC systems. Since the dynamic of MTDC system is very fast, DC voltage control methods cannot rely only on remote information. Therefore, they can work based on either local information or a combination of local and remote information. In this thesis, first, the MTDC system is modeled. One of the models presented in this thesis considers only the DC grid, and effects of the AC grids are modeled with DC current sources, while in the other one, the connections of the DC grid to the AC grids are also considered. Next, the proposed methods in the literature for controlling the DC voltage are described and in addition to these methods, some control methods are proposed to control the DC voltage in MTDC system. These control methods include two groups. The first group (such as Multi-Agent Control methods) uses remote and local information, while the second group (such as Sliding Mode Control and H¥ control) uses local information.The proposed multi-agent control uses local information for immediate response, while uses remote information for a better fast response. Application of Multi-Agent Control systems leads to equal deviation of DC voltages from their reference values. Using remote information leads to better results comparing to the case only local information is used. Moreover, the proposed methods can also work in the absence of remote information. When AC grid is considered in the modeling, the MTDC system has anon-linear dynamic. Sliding Mode Control, a non-linear control method with high disturbance rejection capability, which is non-sensitive to the parameter variations, is applied to the MTDC system. It controls the DC voltage very fast and with small or without overshoot. Afterward, a static state feedback H¥ control is applied to the system which minimizes the voltage deviation after a disturbance and keeps the injected power of the terminals within the limits. Finally, some case studies are presented and the effectiveness of the proposed methods are shown. All simulations have been done in MATLAB and SIMULINK.QC 20140911</p

Strategies to Support PGCE Mathematics and Science Students Preparing for Assignments at Masters Level

The main aim of this study was to analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of support strategies being put into place for students who need to write assignments at Masters Level. In preparation for writing a 5000 word assignment on an aspect of teaching Mathematics or Science, 57 Science and Mathematics PGCE students were asked to write a 500 word synopsis which included an introduction, description of the main focus, questions that the assignment would address and possible strategies for teaching and learning. A strategy not reported previously in this context was the use of peer assessment of the synopsis. Each synopsis was reviewed by two students and discussed in professional learning conversations. The assessments by students were used as feedback along with the University subject tutor’s assessment of the synopsis. Data were collected from questionnaires and interviews to explore the perceived effectiveness of the peer assessment exercise and other support strategies. Findings were analysed to consider how support for future groups might be developed

Which qualities did aspiring teachers value in their ‘best’ mathematics teachers?

When aspiring mathematics teachers were asked to describe one of their own mathematics teachers who had made an impact on them it was found that personal attributes such as empathy, caring and commitment to their students were mentioned most often. This study uses Gossman’s categories of ‘teacher as teacher’ and ‘teacher as person’ to analyse the descriptions of best teachers given by people who were being interviewed for the Post Graduate Certificate in Education in Secondary Mathematics at our Institution. The aim of this study is to add to the growing body of literature which indicates the value of teachers’ personal attributes and how important these can be for student motivation and confidence in mathematics. These attributes are hardly mentioned in lists of teacher competencies compiled as part of Government standards for teachers. We expected that aspiring mathematics teachers, since they are most likely to have been successful at mathematics themselves, would feel positively about mathematics and their mathematics teachers. However a surprising finding from the data was that even successful students occasionally experienced disaffection

A collaborative action research project to support Mathematics and Science PGCE students with Masters level writing

Since 2005, Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses in England and Wales have been awarded at Masters level which requires students to be able to write reflectively in an academic style in the discipline of Social Science. We have found that the majority of Mathematics and Science PGCE students rarely experience this style of academic writing in their undergraduate studies. This can put them at a disadvantage compared to other students. The project reported in this paper set out to develop the skill of academic writing of Mathematics and Science PGCE students. The first part of this collaborative study focused on peer-assessment of a synopsis for the second assignment with an emphasis on learning conversations. The effectiveness of this teaching strategy and other forms of support such as formative feedback of the first assignment and discussing exemplar assignments were analysed. The survey responses and questionnaires revealed that the students valued the forms of support offered. A small percentage of students, however, reported that they found the peer assessments less helpful and preferred more tutor feedback. This appears to indicate that students would benefit from developing better skills for self-assessment and peer-assessment to make learning conversations more productive

Desiccation resistance and persistence of Cronobacter species in infant formula

Cronobacter is a newly described genus which includes opportunistic pathogens formerly known as ‘Enterobacter sakazakii’. These organisms have been isolated from a wide variety of sources, including powdered infant formula (PIF). This review focuses on the desiccation survival of Cronobacter, and its relevance to vehicles of infection. Due to its probable natural habitat of plant material, the organism has an array of survival mechanisms which includes resistance to desiccation and osmotic stresses. The organism can survive for long periods of time (> 2 years) in the desiccated state, and can be recovered from a large number of powdered foods in addition to powdered infant formula. On reconstitution, the organism may rapidly multiply and present a risk to immunocompromised infants. It is expected that an improved understanding of the nature of Cronobacter persistence may aid in further improved control measures and eliminate the bacterium from the critical food production environments