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Previous studies have found general differences between non‐lean and lean production systems, but none of them have identified the major factors in supporting operations such as maintenance which are important in shifting the production from a non‐lean to a lean system. The purpose of this paper is to determine the major factors and parameters of maintenance operations that are most effective in enhancing production to a lean system.

A questionnaire is constructed and a direct mail survey is conducted in the greater Cincinnati/tri‐state region. The data collected are analyzed with SAS software using contingency tables with Fisher's exact test and a logistic regression analysis method.

The results show strong correlations between a lean production system and some of the major maintenance variables and parameters such as annual costs of maintenance personnel, parts/materials, and training.

The results of this study can be used as a guideline for engineers, experts and managers in order to monitor the maintenance operation during the transition process from a non‐lean to a lean production system.

A year‐long study of free end‐user access to the Medline database (using the Grateful Med software) was undertaken in 1993. Twenty bio‐scientists from two UK universities were surveyed at the beginning and end of the year. Responses were viewed in the light of independent factors affecting user attitude and behaviour, such as familiarity with information technology and a perceived need for bibliographic data. Those concerning quality of data or the capability of the software were relatively few and these were assigned less importance than practical considerations such as the location of the PC linking the user to Medline and the quality of network connections. Most users used Grateful Med in a simplistic way—not venturing beyond keyword searching—although deficiencies in coverage or recall were protected against by recourse to other end‐user systems. Librarian‐mediated online and CDROM services have been superseded—for this group of users—by desktop end‐user services.

This paper aims to examine academic dishonesty and research misconduct, two forms of academic fraud, and provides suggestions for future research informed by criminological theory.

After reviewing prior literature, this paper outlines four general criminological theories that can explain academic fraud.

While criminological theory has been applied to some studies of academic dishonesty, research misconduct has rarely been examined within a broader theoretical context.

This paper provides a blueprint for future theoretically informed analyses of academic fraud.

This paper represents a unique attempt to apply general criminological theories to diverse forms of fraud in higher education settings.

The annual cost of alcohol‐related harm in the UK is estimated to be between £17.7 and £25.1 billion with healthcare costs alone reaching £2.7 billion and the costs of alcohol‐fuelled crime and disorder accounting for £7.3 billion each year. The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUD) in prison and probation settings in the North East of England, and to compare the ability of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Offender Assessment System (OASys) at identifying alcohol‐related need in probation clients. A quantitative prevalence study was carried out using anonymous questionnaires with participants from four prisons and three probation offices in the North East who voluntarily completed the AUDIT questionnaire during a 1‐month period in 2006. Response outcomes on AUDIT were compared with OASys scores which identify alcohol‐related need in probation. At the time of the study OASys scores were not available for offenders in prison. Seven hundred and fifteen questionnaires were completed. Sixty‐three per cent of men and 57% of women were identified as having an AUD with over a third of all individuals scoring within the possibly dependant range (20+ on AUDIT). Around 40% of probation cases who were classified as either hazardous, harmful or possibly dependant drinkers on AUDIT were not identified by OASys. The results indicate that the prevalence of AUD in offenders is much higher than in the general population. In addition, current methods of identifying offenders with alcohol‐related need in probation are flawed and as many such people go undetected. Alcohol assessment procedures need to be improved in criminal justice setting order to correctly identify people with AUD.

The big changes over recent years and their rapid development in Food Retailing have resulted in different shopping practices, for the institution, the hotel, restaurant and the home. Different cuisines have developed, foods purchased, both in cooking practices and eating habits, especially in the home. Gone are the old fashioned home economics, taking with them out of the diet much that was enjoyed and from which the families benefitted in health and stomach satisfaction. In very recent times, the changes have become bigger, developments more rapid, and the progress continues. Bigger and bigger stores, highly departmentalised, mechanical aids of every description, all under one roof, “complex” is an appropriate term for it; large open spaces for the housewife with a car. The development is in fact aimed at the bulk buyer — rapid turnover — the small household needs, not entirely neglected, but not specially catered for. Daily cash takings are collosal. This is what the small owner‐occupied general store, with its many domestic advantages, has come to fall in the late twentieth century.

Previous studies have demonstrated high rates of psychiatric morbidity in the female prison population and difficulty in transferring women to psychiatric hospital. This study examines whether female prisoners found by consultant forensic psychiatrists to need hospital are admitted and explores the factors affecting this. All women referred to a specialist prison forensic mental health in‐reach service during 2003 were identified and written documentation from assessing consultant forensic psychiatrists was obtained. This was used to identify demographic, offence, clinical and outcome data. Missing data were sought from the prison database, and individual clinicians were interviewed to clarify clinical records. 119 women were referred for assessment. Of these, 50% of those with personality disorder were rejected compared with only 38% of those with a psychotic illness. A sizeable minority of those identified by specialist forensic mental health in‐reach services as needing treatment in hospital were not transferred. There appears to be a particular problem for those with personality disorders. Long delays in transfer to hospital remain a problem for prison mental health services.

In 2007, seven young people were murdered in London alone, four of them under 16, so there is a pressing need to find out from young people about their experiences and fears in respect of crime as well as their views on how their personal safety can be enhanced. This article discusses the findings of a study of victimisation among young people in an East London borough. Although modest and not necessarily representative, the findings of this study are important because of the relative absence of research into children and young people as victims of crime.

Commonly known as ecstasy, MDMA has been central to the British acid house, rave and dance club scene over the last 20 years. Figures from the annual national British Crime Survey suggest that ecstasy use has declined since 2001. This apparent decline is considered here alongside the concurrent emergence of a ‘new’ form of ecstasy ‐ MDMA powder or crystal ‐ and the extent to which this can be seen as a successful rebranding of MDMA as a ‘premium’ product in the wake of user disenchantment with cheap and easily available but poor quality pills. These changes have occurred within a policy context, which in the last decade has increasingly prioritised the drugs‐crime relationship through coercive treatment of problem drug users within criminal justice‐based interventions, alongside a focus on binge drinking and alcohol‐related harm. This has resulted in a significant reduction in the information, support and treatment available to ecstasy users since the height of dance drug harm reduction service provision pioneered by the Safer Dancing model in the mid‐1990s.

This paper is based upon the writer’s observations when one local area began to implement the requirements of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The interaction of statutory and voluntary groups is examined by using an existing analysis of the areas that, it is argued, have proved problematic. Argues for the need for participants to revisit stereotypes and assumptions and to explore mutual purpose and understanding.