The Insanity Defense in Operation

The purpose of this Article is to describe the problems of the insanity defense and criminal commitment as they appear to a psychiatrist in a hospital for the criminally insane. Viewed from this vantage point, the terrain seems to look quite different from the way it appeared to the Court of Appeals in United States v. Brawner

Combustion characterisation of compositionally dynamic steelworks gases

This thesis investigates the combustion of fuel compositions representative of those produced by the integrated steelmaking process. As organisations strive for improvements in utilisation efficiency with increasingly complex technologies, more detailed understanding is required to accurately simulate combustion of the potentially weak and dilute fuels, and thereby aid design processes. Dynamic fuel properties have been characterised through experimentation, in addition to a comparison of numerically simulated results obtained from chemical kinetics. The parameters identified to investigate fuel behaviour were laminar burning velocity and Markstein Length, and characterised with regard to operational instability in practical combustion systems. The design and construction of a suitable experimental rig is detailed, as required to facilitate the accurate determination of burning velocities by quantifying the outward propagation of spherical flames. A regressive analytical technique was developed based on previous studies, nonlinearly relating propagation to change in stretch rate. The developed solution was benchmarked against analogous studies in literature, and ensured experimental performance was accurate and repeatable for the well documented combustion of methane. Steelworks gases were tested to attain representative burning velocities, with significant attention paid to the change resulting from fluctuation in blast furnace gas H2 fraction. The study characterised the observed sensitivity to change in flame speed and discussed the implications with regard to practical combustion systems. Several methods of reducing the measured fluctuation are subsequently quantified, including change in ambient condition, and relative humidity. Non-monotonic behaviour was observed for the latter effect, with a suggested trade-off between a chemically catalytic influence on intermediate species, and lowering of flame temperature. Consequently this suggested water addition could be an effective mechanism for the reduction of H2 induced flame speed variation for blast furnace gas, and influence other synthesised fuels comprising large quantities of CO, including BOS gas. Additional steelworks gases were blended in different ratios to assess dynamic combustive properties relating to fuel flexibility, and the effectiveness of minimising fluctuation in combustion behaviour

Testing the Continuum of Delusional Beliefs: An Experimental Study Using Virtual Reality

A key problem in studying a hypothesized spectrum of severity of delusional ideation is determining that ideas are unfounded. The first objective was to use virtual reality to validate groups of individuals with low, moderate, and high levels of unfounded persecutory ideation. The second objective was to investigate, drawing upon a cognitive model of persecutory delusions, whether clinical and nonclinical paranoia are associated with similar causal factors. Three groups (low paranoia, high nonclinical paranoia, persecutory delusions) of 30 participants were recruited. Levels of paranoia were tested using virtual reality. The groups were compared on assessments of anxiety, worry, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anomalous perceptual experiences, reasoning, and history of traumatic events. Virtual reality was found to cause no side effects. Persecutory ideation in virtual reality significantly differed across the groups. For the clear majority of the theoretical factors there were dose–response relationships with levels of paranoia. This is consistent with the idea of a spectrum of paranoia in the general population. Persecutory ideation is clearly present outside of clinical groups and there is consistency across the paranoia spectrum in associations with important theoretical variables

Development and commissioning of a chemiluminescence imaging system for an optically-accessible high-pressure generic swirl burner

A chemiluminescence imaging system has been commissioned at Cardiff University’s Gas Turbine Research Centre. OH* and CH* chemiluminescence measurements were initially made on swirl-stabilised methane flames to find the optimal settings of intensifier gate timing, gain, and UV lens f-stop. Measurements with gate widths down to 100 μs have been achieved on methane flames with thermal powers up to 100 kW, pressures up to 3 bara, and global equivalence ratios of 0.6 to 1.2. OH* and CH* chemiluminescence intensities are found to vary with each parameter and yield sufficient spatial information to confirm visual evidence of stable flame operation as well as both lean and rich stability limits. Additionally, the OH*/CH* chemiluminescence intensity ratio is used for evaluation of the local equivalence ratio within the flame. Further OH* and CH* chemiluminescence measurements were made on BOS gas (65% CO, 34% N2, 1% H2) flames at comparable conditions to the CH4 flames to investigate the change in intensities, with marked variation identified between the two fuel blends. In addition to developing measurement capability, image processing and deconvolution techniques have also been integrated into the chemiluminescence system, extending the fundamental combustion research capabilities of the Gas Turbine Research Centre

Strategies Employed by Community-Based Service Providers to Address HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Challenges: A Qualitative Study

Background: HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and other causes of neurocognitive challenges experienced by people living with HIV (PLWH) persist as public health concerns in developed countries. Consequently, PLWH who experience neurocognitive challenges increasingly require social support and mental health services from community-based providers in the HIV sector. Methods: Thirty-three providers from 22 AIDS service organizations across Ontario, Canada, were interviewed to determine the strategies they used to support PLWH experiencing neurocognitive difficulties. Thematic analysis was conducted to determine key themes from the interview data. Results: Three types of strategies were identified: (a) intrapersonal, (b) interpersonal, and (c) organizational. Intrapersonal strategies involved learning and staying informed about causes of neurocognitive challenges. Interpersonal strategies included providing practical assistance, information, counseling, and/or referrals to PLWH. Organizational strategies included creating dedicated support groups for PLWH experiencing neurocognitive challenges, partnering with other organizations with services not available within their own organization, and advocating for greater access to services with expertise and experience working with PLWH. Conclusion: Through concerted efforts in the future, it is likely that empirically investigating, developing, and customizing these strategies specifically to address HIV-associated neurocognitive challenges will yield improved social support and mental health outcomes for PLWH

Lean methane flame stability in a premixed generic swirl burner: Isothermal flow and atmospheric combustion characterization

Gas turbine combustors operating in lean premixed mode are known to be susceptible to flame blowoff due to competing influences of increasing chemical timescales and decreasing flow time scales under these conditions. In this study, combustion stability and the onset of flame blowoff in particular, are characterized in a new swirl burner operated with fully premixed methane (CH4) and air at thermal power of 55 kW, atmospheric combustor inlet pressure, and ambient (∼290 K) combustor inlet temperature. The onset of flame blowoff was shown repeatedly to exhibit high amplitude, low frequency combustion instabilities as a result of periodic flame extinction and reignition events. In addition to detailed isothermal characterization of the burner velocity field using particle image velocimetry, a combination of dynamic pressure sensing and optical combustion diagnostics, including OH∗ chemiluminescence and OH planar laser induced fluorescence, give indication of the combustion rig acoustic response and changes in flame acoustic response, heat release, and flame anchoring location related to the onset and occurrence of blowoff. This analysis shows that the onset of this instability was preceded by a marked reduction in dominant frequency and amplitude until frequency collapse and high amplitudes were observed throughout the burner inlet mixing plenum, burner pilot, combustion chamber, and exhaust ducting. Acoustic and optical signal analysis show potential viability for use in practical applications for precursor indications of lean blowoff. The flame anchoring location within the combustion chamber was shown to detach from the burner exit nozzle and stabilize within the outer and central recirculation zones near the lean blowoff limit, providing evidence of changes to both chemical and flow time scales. Chemical kinetic modelling is used in support of the empirical studies, in particular highlighting the relationship between maximum heat release rate and OH∗ chemiluminescence intensity

Effect of the cation structure on the properties of homobaric imidazolium ionic liquids

In this work we investigate the structure-property relationships in a series of alkylimidazolium ionic liquids with almost identical molecular weight. Using a combination of theoretical calculations and experimental measurements, we have shown that re-arranging the alkyl side chain or adding functional groups results in quite distinct features in the resultant ILs. The synthesised ILs, although structurally very similar, cover a wide spectrum of properties ranging from highly fluid, glass forming liquids to high melting point crystalline salts. Theoretical ab initio calculations provide insight on minimum energy orientations for the cations, which then are compared to experimental X-ray crystallography measurements to extract information on hydrogen bonding and to verify our understanding of the studied structures. Molecular dynamics simulations of the simplest (core) ionic liquids are used in order to help us interpret our experimental results and understand better why methylation of C^{2} position of the imidazolium ring results in ILs with such different properties compared to their non-methylated analogues

Catalytic influence of water vapor on lean blowoff and NOx reduction for pressurised swirling syngas flames

It has become increasingly cost-effective for the steel industry to invest in the capture of heavily carbonaceous BOF (Basic Oxygen Furnace) or converter gas, and use it to support the intensive energy demands of the integrated facility, or for surplus energy conversion in power plants. As industry strives for greater efficiency via ever more complex technologies, increased attention is being paid to investigate the complex behavior of by-product syngases. Recent studies have described and evidenced the enhancement of fundamental combustion parameters such as laminar flame speed due to the catalytic influence of H2O on heavily carbonaceous syngas mixtures. Direct formation of CO2 from CO is slow due to its high activation energy, and the presence of disassociated radical hydrogen facilitates chain branching species (such as OH), changing the dominant path for oxidation. The observed catalytic effect is non-monotonic, with the reduction in flame temperature eventually prevailing, and overall reaction rate quenched. The potential benefits of changes in water loading are explored in terms of delayed lean blowoff, and primary emission reduction in a premixed turbulent swirling flame, scaled for practical relevance at conditions of elevated temperature (423 K) and pressure (0.1-0.3 MPa). Chemical kinetic models are used initially to characterize the influence that H2O has on the burning characteristics of the fuel blend employed, modelling laminar flame speed and extinction strain rate across an experimental range with H2O vapor fraction increased to eventually diminish the catalytic effect. These modelled predictions are used as a foundation to investigate the experimental flame. OH* chemiluminescence and OH planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) are employed as optical diagnostic techniques to analyze changes in heat release structure resulting from the experimental variation in water loading. A comparison is made with a CH4/air flame and changes in lean blow off stability limits are quantified, measuring the incremental increase in air flow and again compared against chemical models. The compound benefit of CO and NOx reduction is quantified also, with production first decreasing due to the thermal effect of H2O addition from a reduction in flame temperature, coupled with the potential for further reduction from the change in lean stability limit. Power law correlations have been derived for change in pressure, and equivalent water loading. Hence, the catalytic effect of H2O on reaction pathways and reaction rate predicted and observed for laminar flames, are compared against the challenging environment of turbulent, swirl-stabilized flames at elevated temperature and pressure, characteristic of piratical systems