Increasing the voluntary and community sector’s involvement in Integrated Offender Management(IOM)

As part of an undertaking to increase voluntary and community sector (VCS) involvement in service delivery, the Home Office set up an initiative to provide small grants to VCS organisations to work with IOM partnerships. The Home Office commissioned an evaluation of the initiative which aimed to: explore the strengths and weaknesses of the funding model; identify perceived barriers and facilitators to voluntary and community sector involvement in IOM; explore how the Home Office might best work with the VCS to encourage and support their capacity to work in partnership with statutory agencies; and identify any implications for the delivery of future similar projects

COVIDNet-CT: Detection of COVID-19 from Chest CT Images using a Tailored Deep Convolutional Neural Network Architecture

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a tremendous impact on patients and healthcare systems around the world. To combat this disease, there is a need for effective screening tools to identify patients infected with COVID-19, and to this end CT imaging has been proposed as a key screening method to complement RT-PCR testing. Early studies have reported abnormalities in chest CT images which are characteristic of COVID-19 infection, but these abnormalities may be difficult to distinguish from abnormalities caused by other lung conditions. Motivated by this, we introduce COVIDNet-CT, a deep convolutional neural network architecture tailored for detection of COVID-19 cases from chest CT images. We also introduce COVIDx-CT, a CT image dataset comprising 104,009 images across 1,489 patient cases. Finally, we leverage explainability to investigate the decision-making behaviour of COVIDNet-CT and ensure that COVIDNet-CT makes predictions based on relevant indicators in CT images

Process evaluation of Derbyshire Intensive Alternatives to Custody Pilot

The aim of this study was to critically assess the implementation and development of the Intensive Alternatives to Custody (IAC) pilot in Derbyshire. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Penal Policy paper (May 2007) outlined the government’s intention to develop higher intensity community orders as an alternative to short-term custody. The IAC Order was subsequently developed and piloted, first in Derbyshire and then in six other areas.* The pilots were centrally funded until March 2011

Wood Anatomy of \u3ci\u3eAmanoa\u3c/i\u3e (Euphorbiaceae)

Wood anatomy of 29 specimens of seven species of Amanoa from tropical Africa, South America, and the Caribbean is described. The wood is diffuse-porous with most vessels in short radical multiples. Vessel elements are notably long, have simple perforation plates and small, alternative intervessel pits; tyloses are present in heartwood. Libriform wood fibres bear thick walls. Axial parenchyma distribution is diffuse and diffuse-in-aggregates. Chambered crystalliferous axial parenchyma is common. Rays are heterocellular, narrow, and very tall. The species examined, all from moist lowland forests, have similar wood structure. Wood of Amanoa resembles that of other primitive Euphorbiaceae

Investigating the prisoner finance gap across four prisons in the North East

Within the underpinning context of reducing re-offending of released prisoners, the Prisoner Finance Gap (PFG) has been identified as an issue that is likely to present a significant barrier to the effective resettlement of offenders. The Hallam Centre for Community Justice at Sheffield Hallam University was therefore commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions to conduct an investigation into the PFG within four prisons in the North East: Her Majesty’s Prison HMP Durham, HMP Acklington, Her Majesty’s Young Offenders Institution HMYOI Castington and HMP Low Newton. The research was conducted between April 2009 and May 2010 and included a literature review, semi-structured interviews with strategic and policy stakeholders, staff from prison, probation, voluntary sector agencies and Jobcentre Plus, 51 prisoners and 21 ex-prisoners, and an online survey

Hands-on GPS and Remote Sensing Training for High School Learners During IGARSS 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa

Continuing the commitment of the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) to education and outreach, the IEEE 2009 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) conference in Cape Town, South Africa provided an opportunity for over 400 local high school students to engage in hands-on GPS training and remote sensing workshops. Mafeteng Schools Environment Network (MSEN) and the Students’ Health and Welfare Centres Organization (SHAWCO) worked with the University of Cape Town in identifying the student learners, who had an average age of 17.7 years and came from socio-economically challenged populations in areas surrounding Cape Town. Activities included a remote sensing art workshop, Mathematics of Remote Sensing team contest, and a scavenger hunt requiring students to ask questions of scientists and vendors. NOAA scientists led discussions and demonstrations of educational products to help build an understanding of the science of Earth’s systems and the stewardship of our planet. This paper details the e-o events and gives demographic information on the participants

Collaborations Focused on Enhancing Undergraduate Involvement in Remote Sensing Applications to Atmospheric and Earth Science Research

This paper discusses the mentoring strategies used with groups of undergraduate physics, mathematics, and atmospheric science majors to develop their ability to contribute to remote sensing investigations. The projects have been a joint effort of scientists and educators at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton University in Virginia, Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, Stennis Space Center, and The Office of Naval Research. Atmospheric Science investigations have included verification of Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER). The SABER instrument is one of the four instruments housed on the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite. SABER explores the MLTI (Mesosphere Lithosphere Thermosphere Ionosphere) region of the Earth's atmosphere using infrared limb emission to sound the atmosphere. Other atmospheric science investigations have included use of a single scatter lidar equation to investigate tropospheric and stratospheric aerosol and temperature measurements derived from the 355 and 532 nm channels and comparison of the SAGE III limb scattering data to other instruments measuring similar aerosol and gas profiles. Earth science investigations include investigating incidents of coastal upwelling during the summer of 2000 along the northeastern coast of North Carolina (from Cape Hatteras to the Virginia Commonwealth border) by comparing archived in situ near and offshore wind and temperature measurements with sea surface temperatures deduced from observations by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on board several of NOAA's Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES); remote sensing investigation of turbidity and water clarity in the Atlantic Ocean with the use of SeaWiFS data during which the frequency and extent of turbidity events in the Atlantic coast was studied and SeaWiFS ocean color data was utilized to generate Secchi disk depth estimates- - and; determining the spatial and temporal variability of chlorophyll concentrations in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico during 2002. Techniques for developing the required collaborations, student selection, and organization of research training activities are described in this paper

Reduction and Loss of an Ice Shelf in Elizabeth City State University Bay, Antarctica: 1972 - 2003

Gradual reduction of a small ice shelf in the Pine Island Bay area is measured using eleven Landsat images spanning 1972 to 2003. Measurements of Ice shelf area indicate that it expanded slightly during the first two decades of observations from approximately 6.19 km2 measured on December 7, 1972, to a maximum of about 6.82 km2 observed in 1986. This maximum was followed by a nearly continuous decrease in area and ultimate disappearance of the ice shelf by January 17, 2003. No ice shelf has reappeared since 2003 as observed in subsequent Landsat images. Ten of the eleven Landsat images were co-registered and warped to one of a pair of 2003 geographic reference images before area measurement. Individual study team members made independent measurements of the ice shelf area apparent in each image. The average of these measurements had a standard deviation of 0.14 km2.The specific cause of this ice shelf disappearance is unknown but is probably related to increased basal melting by warmer ocean waters reaching Pine Island Bay. Intrusions of warm ‘Circumpolar Deep Water’ are related to ice shelf and outlet glacier thinning and retreat as reported throughout the Amundsen Sea region. This is the first report of complete ice shelf loss so far south or in the Amundsen Bay region. This small, previously unnamed ice shelf formerly occupied what is now known as the Elizabeth City State University Bay

Building a Model of Collaboration Between Historically Black and Historically White Universities

Despite increases over the last two decades in the degrees awarded to underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, enhancing diversity in these disciplines remains a significant challenge. This paper describes a strategic approach to this challenge—the development of a collaborative partnership model between two universities: the historically black Elizabeth City State University and the historically white University of New Hampshire. The partnership, a type of learning organization built on a mutually-agreed upon set of principles, strives to enhance opportunities for underrepresented students to pursue careers in STEM disciplines, specifically those in Earth system science and remote sensing. In examining the partnership, six promising practices have helped advance the partnership. These practices include institutional commitment and faculty engagement, establishing mutual respect and shared time commitment, identifying an engaged leader, engaging critical change agents, initiating difficult dialogues, and preparing for growth and evolution. In reality, these practices overlap and integrate with the partnership principles, forming the foundation for an effective working partnership