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The article examines the interrelation between alcohol consumption, behaviour mediation and violent offending, including murder. Whilst a correlation may be drawn between intoxication and some acts of violence, a causal link between drinking and murder is less certain.

A significant number of offenders have both mental health and substance use problems. Failure to identify and treat these complex needs can lead to poor outcomes, such as relapse and re‐offending. Many staff working in the criminal justice sector lack access to appropriate training in this area ‐ a point identified in the Bradley Report (Department of Health, 2009a). A training project was established to develop and evaluate the feasibility of training in dual diagnosis interventions for staff working in the criminal justice system. This was part of a Skills for Health national demonstration site. The course was developed based on Skills for Health learning design principles, using a competence‐based approach. The training was delivered to 58 staff from a wide range of services. The feedback was generally positive; however, a number of issues related to the mental health training needs of people from a substance use background were identified. This paper will describe the process of development of the training and the implications of the feedback for the future development of such workforce development initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether it is possible to switch patients from heroin or methadone to buprenorphine without needing to experience symptoms of withdrawal?

Review of author’s experience in 1980s where three patients transferred to 4 mg buprenorphine from 40 ml (1mg/ml) methadone without symptoms of withdrawal. Review of literature where patients were transferred to buprenorphine without waiting for withdrawal symptoms to occur. Presentation of six case histories in author’s clinic.

Provided the buprenorphine is commenced at a very low dosage, is gradually increased and the heroin/methadone is reduced over a period of time, it is possible to change from heroin or methadone without inducing withdrawal symptoms. It is not necessary to stop the heroin/methadone and wait for withdrawal symptoms to occur.

Due to the author’s retirement in October 2015 further research into the production of a template which could be used universally has not yet been possible.

Transferring patients from heroin and methadone to buprenorphine has often been difficult. Waiting for withdrawal symptoms to occur has often resulted in treatment failure. The method described eliminates the problem for patients.

Patients find the method is more acceptable and allows normal functioning.

Confirmation that the findings of the original case histories from 1980s were valid. The value to the treatment service should be considerable in simplifying the prescribing practice.

Physical inactivity has a considerable negative impact on health. Physical activity has reduced partly due to workplace and lifestyle changes, causing people to spend more time in buildings and increasing sedentary behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to address a largely untapped opportunity for designers and managers to improve building users’ health by designing buildings that raise users’ Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) levels. In this research a conceptual model was developed to assess buildings’ performance in providing NEAT-promoting opportunities through building design features and management, in relation to building users’ propensity for NEAT behaviours.

The conceptual model was developed by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and data to populate the model was obtained through a survey of 75 buildings in Jakarta (Indonesia).

The presented proof-of-concept shows that the model’s “meso-scale” approach to study physical activity and building design can lead to potential improvements of NEAT levels and physical activity in buildings.

The review of precedent models shows that this subject has been researched at micro-scale (i.e. detailed monitoring of individuals’ movement) and macro-scale (i.e. epidemiological studies of populations’ health). The presented model is original, as it explores a “meso-scale”(i.e. building scale) that is unique.

The COMA Report of the Panel on Dietary Reference Values, published by the Department of Health in 1991, increased the recommended nutrient intake of calcium for children from 11 to 18 years of age. For girls the RNI is now 800mg daily and for boys it is 1,000mg per day. These quantities have a built‐in safety margin to allow for the range of requirements which exist. The previous recommended daily allowance was 700mg per day for both sexes. Recommendations for calcium intake during growth are higher in the USA and continue at a higher level of 1,200mg per day until 24 years of age.

This study aims to evaluate a novel mobile therapeutic videogame for adolescents with anxiety disorders (ADs), combining elements of cognitive-behavioural therapy and attention-bias modification, in terms of both its therapeutic efficacy over a controlled intervention and two-month follow-up, as well as the extent and implications of self-directed play.

A within-groups design with two parallel conditions [clinical anxiety (N = 16) and subclinical/at-risk (N = 15)] were measured on both self-reported anxiety and threat-detection bias (TDB) across three timepoints (pre- and post-intervention and two-month follow-up).

Significant reductions were observed in both self-reported state and trait anxiety and TDB over the course of the two-week intervention, which were maintained at follow-up. Engagement in self-directed play during the follow-up period significantly predicted outcomes at two-month follow-up for clinical participants.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper represents the first of its kind to evaluate a mobile therapeutic game designed with and solely for adolescents with ADs. This study also represents the first of its kind to examine the extent and implications of self-directed play for outcomes.

Response to suggestion that EU-wide cash payment limits would assist in the control of terrorism finance and money laundering.

Desk review and interviews

The inception impact assessment (IIA) is ill-conceived, not grounded on firm empirical evidence and harmful to both crime control and the legitimate interests and rights of the EU citizens. The action under discussion is presented as a measure against terrorism finance, serious crime and tax evasion. The problem is that these criminal acts correspond to very different methods, volumes, perpetrators, causes and control challenges. Cash payment limitations (CPLs) are nowhere near a panacea that can address all of them and cannot make any of them go away magically. Even when each of these crime challenges are considered on their own, the empirical linkage of CPLs to effective controls is not there. The evidence from EU countries with CPLs in place shows higher levels of informal economy, corruption, tax evasion and terrorism risks than those without. There is substantial evidence of non-cash, very serious and organized crime, while the amounts needed and used by terrorists in Europe are usually very small in cash transactions, way below the thresholds under consideration. In fact, determined offenders will shift to other methods and become more sophisticated, posing new problems to controllers. Displacement and incentives for better-organized crime may well be the main products of such measures.

It counters the argument that the cash payment limits can help reduce serious crime, while pointing to several adverse consequences on legitimate interests and human rights.

This paper aims to report on findings from the first phase of a longitudinal study of undergraduate business students’ attitudes, beliefs and perceptions concerning sustainability issues.

To improve understanding of the potential effects of changes in the curriculum, business students enrolled during the academic year prior to a redesigned, sustainability-informed, curriculum were surveyed. Familiarity with key sustainability terms was tested using a semi-structured questionnaire applied across two campuses of James Cook University, Australia. Quantitative data were complemented by use of open-ended questions that yielded qualitative insight into a range of student knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and normative influences relating to sustainability and climate change.

Findings reflect naïve awareness of the potential impact of individual contributions to sustainability and environmental challenges. They reveal a tendency to regard major issues as beyond personal control and to view solutions as being the responsibility of others. This is coupled with reluctance to consider major lifestyle changes.

Universities are increasing their focus on sustainability-related issues and the ways in which these can be effectively communicated via curricula. This paper carries implications for this societal agenda, particularly in relation to the need to address disconnections between awareness of issues, personal relevance and effective strategies for addressing sustainability issues.

The findings shed fresh light on the attitudes and behavioural dispositions of undergraduate business students and could help guide the development and delivery of curriculum content.

The study has investigated the comparative importance of financial access in promoting gender inclusion in African countries.

Gender inclusion is proxied by the female labour participation rate while financial channels include: financial system deposits and private domestic credit. The empirical evidence is based on non-contemporary fixed effects regressions.

In order to provide more implications on comparative relevance, the dataset is categorised into income levels (middle income versus (vs.) low income); legal origins (French civil law vs. English common law); religious domination (Islam vs. Christianity); openness to sea (coastal vs. landlocked); resource-wealth (oil-poor vs. oil-rich) and political stability (stable vs. unstable). Six main hypotheses are tested, notably, that middle income, English common law, Christianity, coastal, oil-rich and stable countries enjoy better levels of “financial access”-induced gender inclusion compared to respectively, low income, French civil law, Islam, landlocked, oil-poor and unstable countries. All six tested hypotheses are validated.

This is the first study on the comparative importance of financial access in gender economic participation.