Researching trust in the police and trust in justice: a UK perspective

This paper describes the immediate and more distant origins of a programme of comparative research that is examining cross-national variations in public trust in justice and in the police. The programme is built around a module of the fifth European Social Survey, and evolved from a study funded by the European Commission. The paper describes the conceptual framework within which we are operating – developed in large measure from theories of procedural justice. It reviews some of the methodological issues raised by the use of sample surveys to research issues of public trust in the police, public perceptions of institutional legitimacy and compliance with the law. Finally it gives a flavour of some of the early findings emerging from the programme

Indeterminacy of Holographic Quantum Geometry

An effective theory based on wave optics is used to describe indeterminacy of position in holographic spacetime with a UV cutoff at the Planck scale. Wavefunctions describing spacetime positions are modeled as complex disturbances of quasi-monochromatic radiation. It is shown that the product of standard deviations of two position wavefunctions in the plane of a holographic light sheet is equal to the product of their normal separation and the Planck length. For macroscopically separated positions the transverse uncertainty is much larger than the Planck length, and is predicted to be observable as a "holographic noise" in relative position with a distinctive shear spatial character, and an absolutely normalized frequency spectrum with no parameters once the fundamental wavelength is fixed from the theory of gravitational thermodynamics. The spectrum of holographic noise is estimated for the GEO600 interferometric gravitational-wave detector, and is shown to approximately account for currently unexplained noise between about 300 and 1400Hz. In a holographic world, this result directly and precisely measures the fundamental minimum interval of time.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX. Considerably shortened from earlier version. Conclusions are unchanged. Submitted to PR

Comparison of consensus profiles obtained at the end of product-specific training with profiles obtained by individual measurements and statistical analysis

In many occasions descriptive analysis consists of product-specific training where the samples to be measured are used during the training. Towards the end of the training period it is common practice to present these samples and reach a consensus on their profiles, which we have called Training Consensus Profiles (TCP). Following the TCP, the samples are scored by each assessor and the results are statistically analysed to obtain statistical profiles. The objective of the present work was to compare the TCP with the statistical profiles in samples from three different food categories: fernet (an herb-based alcoholic drink), mayonnaise, and spaghetti. General Procrustes analysis showed that the TCP and statistical profiles were similar. A case is made, that if this type of training and measurement are to be followed, the statistical measuring stage could be left aside, directly reporting the results obtained from the TCP. Advantages and limitations on reporting these TCP profiles are discussed

A two micron polarization survey toward dark clouds

A near infrared (2.2 micron) polarization survey of about 190 sources was conducted toward nearby dark clouds. The sample includes both background field stars and embedded young stellar objects. The aim is to determine the magnetic field structure in the densest regions of the dark clouds and study the role of magnetic fields in various phases of star formation processes, and to study the grain alignment efficiency in the dark cloud cores. From the polarization of background field stars and intrinsically unpolarized embedded sources, the magnetic field structure was determined in these clouds. From the intrinsic polarization of young stellar objects, the spatial distribution was determined of circumstellar dust around young stars. Combining the perpendicularity between the disks and magnetic fields with perpendicularity between the cloud elongation and magnetic fields, it is concluded that the magnetic fields might have dominated nearly all aspects of cloud dynamics, from the initial collapse of the clouds right through to the formation of disks/tori around young stars in these low to intermediate mass star forming clouds of the Taurus, Ophiuchus, and Perseus

A reduction in long-term spatial memory persists after discontinuation of peripubertal GnRH agonist treatment in sheep

Chronic gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) administration is used where suppression of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis activity is beneficial, such as steroid-dependent cancers, early onset gender dysphoria, central precocious puberty and as a reversible contraceptive in veterinary medicine. GnRH receptors, however, are expressed outside the reproductive axis, e.g. brain areas such as the hippocampus which is crucial for learning and memory processes. Previous work, using an ovine model, has demonstrated that long-term spatial memory is reduced in adult rams (45 weeks of age), following peripubertal blockade of GnRH signaling (GnRHa: goserelin acetate), and this was independent of the associated loss of gonadal steroid signaling. The current study investigated whether this effect is reversed after discontinuation of GnRHa-treatment. The results demonstrate that peripubertal GnRHa-treatment suppressed reproductive function in rams, which was restored after cessation of GnRHa-treatment at 44 weeks of age, as indicated by similar testes size (relative to body weight) in both GnRHa-Recovery and Control rams at 81 weeks of age. Rams in which GnRHa-treatment was discontinued (GnRHa-Recovery) had comparable spatial maze traverse times to Controls, during spatial orientation and learning assessments at 85 and 99 weeks of age. Former GnRHa-treatment altered how quickly the rams progressed beyond a specific point in the spatial maze at 83 and 99 weeks of age, and the direction of this effect depended on gonadal steroid exposure, i.e. GnRHa-Recovery rams progressed quicker during breeding season and slower during non-breeding season, compared to Controls. The long-term spatial memory performance of GnRHa-Recovery rams remained reduced (P < 0.05, 1.5-fold slower) after discontinuation of GnRHa, compared to Controls. This result suggests that the time at which puberty normally occurs may represent a critical period of hippocampal plasticity. Perturbing normal hippocampal formation in this peripubertal period may also have long lasting effects on other brain areas and aspects of cognitive function

Information and punitiveness: trial reconstruction in Ireland

Purpose of this paper: to report results from a rape trial reconstruction in Ireland Design/methodology/approach: A studio audience of 100 members of the Irish public were selected to attend a TV programme by the Republic of Ireland’s national broadcasting organisation (RTÉ). This involved the examination of the sentencing of a rape case. The audience’s sentencing preferences were measured at the outset, when they had been given only summary information about the case, and later, when full details had been disclosed. Findings: Previous research examining changes in public attitudes to crime and punishment has shown that deliberation, including the provision of new information and discussion with others and experts, tends to decrease public punitiveness and increase public leniency towards sentencing. An experiment in Ireland, however, showed that providing information does not invariably and necessarily moderate punitive attitudes. This article presents the results, and offers some explanations for the anomalous outcome. Research limitations: The pre/post design, in which the audience served as their own controls, is a weak one, and participants may have responded to what they took to be the agenda of the producers. - Due to the quality of the sample, the results may not be generalizable to the broader Irish population. Practical implications: - Policy makers should recognise that the public is not uniformly punitive for all crimes. There is good research evidence to show that the apparent public appetite for tough punishment is illusory, and is a function of the way that polls measure public attitudes to punishment. - However the ‘information hypothesis’ is too often stated in overly simple terms, that fuller and more accurate information about specific cases necessarily moderates public punitiveness. - The experiment presented here serves as a counter-example, showing that a sample of the public failed to moderate their views when given fuller information about a rape case involving serious violence and a vulnerable victim. - Sentencers and those responsible for sentencing policy would benefit from a fuller understanding of the sorts of cases which illicit strong punitive responses from the public, and the reasons for this response. - However any such understanding should not simply translate into responsiveness to the public’s punitive sentiments – where these exist. What is original/value of paper: There have been limited research studies which reports factors which may increase punitiveness through the provision of information and deliberation