Police officers’ perceptions and experiences with mentally disordered suspects

Despite mentally disordered suspects being over-represented within the criminal justice system, there is a dearth of published literature that examines police officers’ perceptions when interviewing this vulnerable group. This is concerning given that police officers are increasingly the first point of contact with these individuals. Using a Grounded Theory approach, this study examined 35 police officers’ perceptions and experiences when interviewing mentally disordered suspects. Current safeguards, such as Appropriate Adults, and their experiences of any training they received were also explored. A specially designed questionnaire was developed and distributed across six police forces in England and Wales. Nine conceptual categories emerged from the data that highlighted how police officers’ level of experience impacted upon their perceptions when dealing with this cohort. As a consequence, a new model grounded within Schema Theory has emerged termed Police Experience Transitional Model. Implications include the treatment and outcome of mentally disordered suspects being heavily dependent on whom they encounter within the criminal justice system

Eyes wide open: perceived exploitation and its consequences

Drawing on the array of literature on exploitation from several social science disciplines, we propose a new way of seeing employer-employee relationships by introducing the concept of perceived exploitative employee-organization relationships, distinguish it from related concepts, and conduct five studies to develop a scale and test our theoretical model of the effects of such employee perceptions. Contributing to the Employee-Organization Relationships and workplace emotions literatures, perceived exploitation is defined as employees’ perceptions that they have been purposefully taken advantage of in their relationship with the organization, to the benefit of the organization itself. We propose and find that such perceptions are associated with both outward-focused emotions of anger and hostility toward the organization and inward-focused ones of shame and guilt at remaining in an exploitative job. In two studies including construction workers and a time-lagged study of medical residents, we find that the emotions of anger and hostility partially mediate the effects of perceived exploitation on employee engagement, revenge against the organization, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions, whereas the emotions of shame and guilt partially mediate the effects of perceived exploitation on employee burnout, silence, and psychological withdrawal

Correlating the Mechanical Properties of Fiberglass Composites for Different Flaw Defects

Structural weight reduction with improved functionality is one of the targeted desires of engineers, which drives materials and structures to be lighter, but without compromising critical properties such as strength, elasticity and endurance. Lightweight composite materials are widely used in many industries including automobile and aerospace. The presence of different types of defects such as voids, inclusions, de-bonds, improper cure, and delamination are common during the composite fabrication. In composite industries, engineers practice Ultrasonic Non-Destructive-Test (NDT) to detect undesirable structural defects. In this research, we will prepare different composite samples using fiberglass. Samples will be prepared with and without embedded flaws along the thickness and length direction. Samples will also be prepared where we can change the flaw geometry; flaws can be round, square and/or diamond shapes. Then, we will use an ultrasonic flaw tester to detect the flaws and their corresponding location. Finally, we will conduct several tensile tests to determine the mechanical properties of those samples. We will demonstrate how the composite strength and elasticity changes with different flaw geometries and shapes

Investigating the Effects of Acetone Vapor Treatment Conditions and Post Drying Methods on Surface Roughness and Tensile Strength of 3D Printed ABS Components

The additive manufacturing/3D printing process using the material Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) is melted and printed layer by layer to create parts most often used in rapid prototyping or mass production of products. The additive manufacturing process of 3D printing often results in discontinuities and structural uncertainties causing voids and poor layer bonding. Past documented research investigated 3D printed ABS samples in different orientations and how to improve their tensile strength and fatigue life. This prior research also investigated a surface treatment method using Acetone Vapor Smoothing (AVS) on 3D printed ABS parts. That data confirmed the reduction of stress concentrations on the surfaces and a reduction of structural inconsistencies by AVS methods in the ABS parts. Using AVS methods decreased the roughness of the 3D printed samples creating a smooth surface finish. A correlation was established to an improved tensile strength and fatigue life using an adjusted acetone vapor exposure and improving drying methods. Current research uses the acetone vapor exposure from the previous study that displayed the most improved tensile strength and minimized stress concentrations and structural inconsistencies within the 3D printed parts. This research will determine the optimal drying time which produces the largest tensile strength in the ABS components of various print orientations. Additional research on the improvement of surface roughness utilizing AVS methods are performed on 3D printed samples will be conducted to determine a correlation to tensile strength