Emergency workers' experiences of the use of section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983: interpretative phenomenological investigation.

AIMS AND METHOD: To explore the experiences of emergency workers dealing with incidents in which section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 is invoked by the police. Data from interviews with police officers and ambulance workers in a London locality were subject to interpretative phenomenological analysis. RESULTS: Participants felt they were the first port of call and that training should be improved to help them deal with those experiencing mental health crises in the community. Police participants noted time pressures trying to gain individuals' trust and described section 136 detention as sometimes feeling like a betrayal of the individual. Most participants had negative experiences of admissions to the 136 suite; several suggested ways of improving the admissions system. Several went beyond their expected duties to ensure that distressed individuals were supported before accessing mental healthcare services. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Improving training of emergency workers in dealing with mental health crises would also help with aftercare decision-making. Learning identified from the participants' experiences lends support to collaboration between emergency and mental health services, an important step towards improving the section 136 process so that detainees can access help without unnecessary delay

Disagreement and Faith: Ockham on Faith as an Intellectual Virtue.

At the beginning of Chapter III, Book VI of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle lists five intellectual virtues or veridical habits: art, scientific knowledge, prudence, intellectual intuition, and wisdom (1139b14-1139b19). The intellectual virtues are habitual powers of the mind to act that promote certainty and true belief, and Aristotle distinguishes them from opinion, in which “we may be mistaken” (1139b19). Unlike beliefs attributable to the veridical habits, which altogether exclude falsity and doubt, it is recognized even by those who hold them that opinions are less than certain, and that they could be either true or false. Regarding faith, however, it is unclear from Aristotle`s discussion in the Nicomachean Ethics whether it is opinion or veridical habit. Beliefs held on the basis of faith, such as my belief about who my parents are, have the unwavering certainty that mere opinions lack, yet they lack the evidence that would rule out error and make for knowledge. Should faith be considered an intellectual virtue or a species of opinion? Or, is faith a category unto itself? This paper examines a late-medieval debate about the position of faith in the framework of the veridical habits. William of Ockham (c. 1287-1347) makes faith an intellectual virtue on par with the other five. While we cannot have evident knowledge on the basis of faith in the way that we can through the other five veridical habits, beliefs held through faith are nevertheless certain and true. For this reason faith should be considered a veridical habit distinguishable from opinion. Ockham’s confrère and student, Adam Wodeham (c. 1298-1358), rejects faith as a veridical habit. If faith were a veridical habit, then an increase in degree should eliminate disagreement. But an equal increase in faith on both sides of a dispute does not reduce disagreement. If anything, it intensifies it. So faith cannot be a veridical habit. Several counter-arguments in support of Ockham’s position that stem from his epistemological externalism are also discussed, but I claim that in the final analysis Wodeham is correct. According to Ockham’s own epistemology and psychology faith cannot be an intellectual virtue

Genetic Enhancement of Selected Species

This report, presented by Peter Langridge of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, considers current advances in plant breeding and the identification and utilization of genetic variation. The efficiency of breeding and selection processes is often assessed according to the ultimate success of the varieties released and the frequency with which new varieties are produced. Large breeding programs for annual crops may carry hundreds of thousands of lines to produce a new variety only once every few years. Molecular markers are well established tools in plant breeding and genetics. Recent developments in molecular markers for many crops offer considerable improvements in the efficiency and sophistication of breeding. The developmental challenges for molecular markers are considered together with the implications for public breeding programs. This report was discussed at the Stakeholder Meeting at AGM2005

Britain’s Alternating Immigration Discourse

This thesis will investigate whether British immigration discourse has gone in a circle for the last 20 years. Following on from that, it will also attempt to determine whether the government’s discourse and policy on immigration is heavily influenced by the other two powerful players, the media and the people. To do this, I will examine three speeches that are based solely on immigration from different times in this 20-year period. The first speech is by then Labour prime minister Tony Blair in April 2005, the second is by Conservative home secretary Theresa May in 2015 shortly before she became prime minister, while the third is by Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson in April 2022. I will apply the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to these speeches. The way I will do this is to determine if the first speech and the third speech promote a similar ideology, whereas the second speech has a completely different one. The aim will be to establish that both the first and third speeches have a discourse that both promotes ‘good’ immigrants yet denigrates ‘bad’ immigrants, while the second speech would contrast to this with a very negative outlook on immigration. Along the way, I will also attempt to show that these three speeches and, subsequently the government’s immigration discourse have been influenced by the other two players

The Tearful Gaze in Elizabeth Gaskell’s \u3cem\u3eRuth\u3c/em\u3e: Crying, Watching and Nursing

Using the complex figure of Mary Magdalene, in her various guises as sexualised sinner, repentant weeper and observant watcher, this essay addresses the complexities and contradictions found in Elizabeth Gaskell’s 1853 novel Ruth. Although presenting a largely sympathetic view of the ‘fallen woman,’ the eventual catastrophic and puzzling demise of the protagonist casts a bleak picture of the likelihood of redemption for such women in nineteenth century British society. As several feminist critics have pointed out, the narrative is frequently disrupted by the unspoken presence female sexuality suggesting Gaskell’s uncertainty about the nature of her heroine’s fall; was Ruth’s sexual encounter borne out of naïve ignorance, exploitation, sin, or – dare we say it – curiosity and pleasure. I argue that this uncertainty and ambiguity becomes apparent through careful interrogation of scenes of crying in the novel. These scenes also reveal the layers of significance tears hold, over and above their simplistic, and perhaps misleading, relation to the penitential tears of the Magdalene. Tears are also shown as affecting the gaze, bound up as it is in power and gender relations. Gaskell reveals a glimpse of the active and potentially subversive female gaze in her observant protagonist, but soon finds ways of occupying it with jobs that require careful ‘watching.’ I argue that this relates closely to the author’s own project of observation of social injustice. The female author is empowered by her work effectively ‘nursing’ social ills, but the call to empathy that becomes the overriding feature of the novel, draws attention away from some of the more challenging questions raised by the tearful gaze

Observation of ion beam induced magnetic patterning using off-specular polarized neutron reflectometry

The long-range magnetic structure in Co/Pt multilayers magnetically patterned by ion irradiation is observed by off-specular polarized neutron reflectivity. While both specular and off-specular measurements indicate the formation of an artificial domain structure when the sample is in its remanent state, resonant peaks seen in the diffuse scatter reveal long-range magnetic ordering with periodicity in agreement with the design value. These peaks are completely suppressed when the sample is saturated in plane, confirming their origin in the magnetic patterning of the multilayer

Low thermal mass furnace linings

Originally heat treatment furnaces were lined with dense fireclay bricks with insulating materials as a backing. Since the development of hot face insulating firebricks in the 1930's, most heat treatment furnaces have been lined with this material to take advantage of its lighter weight, lower heat storage and lower thermal conductivity. Over the last ten years or so, ceramic fibres, mainly in the form of blankets, have become increasingly used as heat treatment furnace linings. Ceramic fibres have even lower densities, heat storage and thermal conductivity than insulating fibrebricks