Illegal finance and usurers behaviour

This paper deals with a stochastic dynamic optimization problem in the context of illegal company financing. Our analysis of the usury phenomenon is conducted by searching for the best interest rate which an illegal financier should apply to a company in order to bring about the firm??s bankruptcy whilst still securing the maximum wealth for the firm??s guarantee. In this case, the company itself can be taken over and used by the financier for illegal activities. Because of the highly complex nature of the problem, the analysis will be performed via simulation studies.     

The Effects of Child Abuse and Exposure to Domestic Violence on Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior Problems

This study examines the effects of child abuse and domestic violence exposure in childhood on adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Data for this analysis are from the Lehigh Longitudinal Study, a prospective study of 457 youth addressing outcomes of family violence and resilience in individuals and families. Results show that child abuse, domestic violence, and both in combination (i.e., dual exposure) increase a child’s risk for internalizing and externalizing outcomes in adolescence. When accounting for risk factors associated with additional stressors in the family and surrounding environment, only those children with dual exposure had an elevated risk of the tested outcomes compared to non-exposed youth. However, while there were some observable differences in the prediction of outcomes for children with dual exposure compared to those with single exposure (i.e., abuse only or exposure to domestic violence only), these difference were not statistically significant. Analyses showed that the effects of exposure for boys and girls are statistically comparable.     

Appeals against detention in conditions of excessive security: outcomes and decision-making

The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Scotland Act 2003 introduced the right for patients to appeal against detention in conditions of excessive security initially to those in high security. Aim: to further investigate appeal outcomes and to examine Tribunal decision-making. Results: responsible medical officer support, being on the transfer list and not having a diagnosis of learning disability increased the chances of a successful appeal. Qualitative analysis of the Tribunal’s decision-making produced 5 themes and 17 subthemes. These were used to develop a ‘checklist’ framework to improve understanding of relevant appeal factors. Conclusions: Neither appeal outcomes nor patient characteristics have changed over time. The checklist may be useful as a training tool and clinical guide. This study is timely given that the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2015 extended the right of appeal against excessive security to patients detained within medium secure units from November 2015.     

Treatment and Intervention for Opiate Dependence in the United Kingdom: Lessons from Triumph and Failure

The history of opiate treatment in the United Kingdom (UK) since the early 1980s is a rich source of learning about the benefits and pitfalls of drug treatment policy. We present five possible lessons to be learnt about how factors outside the clinic, including government, charities and researchers can influence treatment and outcomes. First, do not let a crisis go to waste. The philosophical shift from abstinence to harm reduction in the 1980s, in response to an HIV outbreak in injecting users, facilitated expansion in addiction services and made a harm reduction approach more acceptable. Second, studies of drug-related deaths can lead to advances in care. By elucidating the pattern of mortality, and designing interventions to address the causes, researchers have improved patient safety in certain contexts, though significant investment in Scotland has not arrested rising mortality. Third, collection of longitudinal data and its use to inform clinical guidelines, as pursued from the mid-1990s, can form an enduring evidence base and shape policy, sometimes in unintended ways. Fourth, beware of the presentation of harm reduction and recovery as in conflict. At the least, this reduces patient choice, and at worst, it has caused some services to be redesigned in a manner that jeopardises patient safety. Fifth, the relationship between the third and state sectors must be carefully nurtured. In the UK, early collaboration has been replaced by competition, driven by changes in funding, to the detriment of service provision.     

Tobacco status,impulsivity, and the five-factor of the PANSS in paranoid schizophrenia

There is consistent evidence that impulsivity is linked to tobacco consumption and to symptomatology in schizophrenia. In the current study, we propose a new integrative model of the relationship between impulsivity, psychopathological symptoms, and tobacco status in patients with paranoid schizophrenia. We investigated 33 paranoid schizophrenia patients and 37 healthy controls using a battery of psychopathological scales included the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID), the five-factor model of the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-10), and the UPPS Impulsive Behavior scale (UPPS). Step-wise regression analysis revealed that positive factor of the PANSS and tobacco status contributed positively and significantly to the explained variance of impulsivity. In addition, non-planning impulsivity and sensation-seeking emerged as significant predictors of tobacco status, while smoking predicted non-planning impulsivity and sensation-seeking. Our results suggest that the relationship between sensation-seeking and tobacco use is reciprocal and proposes a new integrative model of the relationship between impulsivity, positive symptoms and tobacco status in patients with paranoid schizophrenia. However, the exact mechanisms for these relationships deserve further investigation.