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This paper sets a case study of missing children in the Republic of Ireland against a review of international research to explore broader understandings and responses to the problem.

The study begins by reviewing the literature on pioneering American initiatives dating back to the 1970s and more recent literature from Great Britain where a series of high-profile scandals involving sexual exploitation of teenage girls provoked a number of controversial inquiries into the police and social work professions. The present study was prompted by an evaluation of the 116 000 Missing Children Hotline which was introduced to Ireland in 2012 under the auspices of the European Union (EU) Daphne III Programme by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC).

The central conclusion emerging from analysis of the evidence is that Missing Children Hotlines remain rooted in representations of ‘stranger danger’ and disconnected from repeat runaway children who feature prominently in police reports from formal care settings or family homes and who are actively targeted by sexual predators and criminal gangs. The implications are that systemic change requires grounding in research strategies which combine police data with anthropological studies to give legitimacy to the voices of runway and sexually exploited children.

The study offers original international perspectives on missing children to epistemological research communities in the fields of social work, criminology and policing with recommendations that Missing Children and Runaway Safe-lines are targeted systemically at keeping runaway children, homeless children and at-risk-youth safe and off the streets.

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast two formal models of escalation and de-escalation: the attractor landscape model and the S-shaped reaction function model. Also, the paper aims to enumerate conditions that affect the shape and location of reaction functions and, hence, the stability of less and more escalated states.

Both models are presented together with geometric proofs of the main assertions of the second model. Overlap and comparative strengths of the models are reviewed. Parts of the social science literature are synthesized in a discussion of the antecedents of stability.

Though derived from totally different traditions, these models are similar in their basic assumptions and predictions. Each model has value. The attractor landscape model is easier to grasp and contains a concept of resistance to escalation that is not found in the S-shaped reaction function model. The latter model looks at individual parties rather than the dyad as a whole and, thus, offers an explanation for most of the phenomena described by the former model. It also allows identification of many variables that affect the shape and location of reaction functions and, hence, can be viewed as antecedents of escalation and de-escalation.

Seven testable hypotheses are presented in the Conclusions section. Laboratory tasks for testing such hypotheses have yet to be developed and there is only one study employing real-life measures. However, it is clear that once research on these phenomena really begins, new variables will be found that moderate the strength of the effects hypothesized.

The models provide concepts for thinking about how to avoid runaway escalation and promote runaway de-escalation. The variables mentioned in the hypotheses suggest ways to diminish the likelihood of runaway escalation and can also be used for constructing measures of the likelihood of that phenomenon. The theories also imply that when the likelihood of runaway escalation increases, disputants should be doubly careful to avoid initiating escalative behavior.

The article is original in that the S-shaped reaction function model is refined and further developed and the proofs are new. The comparison between the models is also new, as is most of the enumeration of conditions affecting the stability of low and high escalation. The value of the article is to provide concepts and theory for thinking about escalation and de-escalation, and testable hypotheses for studying these phenomena.

This article describes a practice initiative to reduce the incidence of young people running away from home or care. Such individuals are at risk of exploitation, offending and victimisation. The cost of dealing with runaways is also assessed. Partnership initiatives are described that achieved significant reductions in the number of running away incidents and cost savings.

This paper outlines best practice in the commissioning of emergency accommodation for children and young people who run away, identifying: levels of need; models of accommodation provision that have existed in the UK; approaches to funding; costs of emergency accommodation; the commissioning process; and service delivery issues.

This paper is an expert opinion piece drawing upon a project commissioned by The Scottish Government based on extensive research including a review of the pre‐existing evidence base and new data.

Fixed refuge has been the most common form of emergency accommodation for young runaways in the UK and provides positive outcomes for young runaways relating to improved general well‐being, mental health and schooling. The costs of refuge can compare favourably to alternative specialised accommodation and support and prevent other costs relating to future episodes of running away, future offending, substance misuse and youth homelessness.

Evidence‐based learning has identified best practice in the commissioning of emergency accommodation related to a number of issues including: scoping activity; the commissioning process; costs; approaches to funding; effective future commissioning of emergency accommodation; why the third sector is best placed to deliver emergency accommodation; and ensuring key elements of service delivery are included to meet children and young people's need and achieve positive outcomes.

The commissioning of emergency accommodation for young runaways has received little attention in research; this paper goes some way to rectifying this omission alongside providing evidence‐based learning for commissioners and service delivery organisations.

This paper aims to offer a commentary on Psychologically Informed Services: A Good Practice Guide, a recently published operational guidance document on developing psychologically informed environments (PiEs) in services for homeless people.

The paper is an invited opinion piece and comment based on the author's specialist knowledge gained from undertaking research addressing the experiences and needs of young runaways.

The new operational guidance is welcomed but should be extended so that psychologically informed environments are provided in services for young runaways under the age of 16, who often encounter abuse, mental health issues and problematic substance misuse and experience homelessness post 16 and into adulthood.

Commissioners and practitioners should encourage the development of psychologically informed environments for young runaways to meet their needs, aid recovery and reduce the likelihood of experiencing homelessness as they move into adulthood.

OF THE MANY forms of abnormal combustion that occur in petrol engines, runaway preignition is the only one that commonly leads to engine damage. It only occurs in passenger cars under abnormal driving conditions and in truck engines operated at high speed and full load for long periods. According to the Co‐ordinating Research Council runaway preignition is defined as surface ignition which occurs earlier and earlier in the cycle. Research workers L. B. Scott, J. G. Ryan and J. B. Baker, of Shell Oil Co's. Wood River Research Laboratory, presented a paper at the S.A.E. Summer Meeting in June at Atlantic City, when the results of their work on this subject were given.

The transition to adulthood can be a difficult time for young people, both financially and emotionally. A number of additional factors make this transition more difficult for young people in vulnerable housing situations, such as lower rates of the minimum wage and benefits, increased likelihood of unemployment and exclusion from housing registers. Many of the causes of homelessness, such as unemployment, shortage of housing and family problems, affect young people across the spectrum. However, there are some young people who are more at risk of becoming homeless.

Amid widespread social and cultural shifts and advocacy toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights remain a hidden population of homeless adolescents who are cast out from families and communities because of their sexual and gender orientation. The result is an over-representation of LGBT adolescents among the homeless in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of literature and research which explores the status and needs of LGBT homeless adolescents in the United States.

To understand the experiences of LGBT adolescents leading up to and during homelessness, I provide a thematic and critical review of four decades of research to connect our understanding of the LGBT homeless experience with institutional and collective efforts that work to promote their well-being.

Bringing together this body of literature, I explore four interrelated questions. First, has the rate of homelessness increased for LGBT adolescents in recent decades? Second, what is the experience of LGBT adolescents who become homeless? Third, what role does advocacy and support play in ameliorating the difficulties these young people face? Finally, what role can future research and policy play in shaping the well-being of LGBT adolescents who become homeless?

Understanding the experience of homeless LGBT adolescents and the collective advocacy efforts designed to promote their well-being offers insight into the intersection of symbolic, inter-personal, and institutional forces which shape their trajectories.

To document the police protective custody (PPC) process and in doing so develop a predictive model to better inform police decision makers on the factors that are more likely to result in the state maintaining custody of a child.

Data for the current study were gathered through a series of focus groups and 6,607 existing records of PPC admissions into a children's home in the Wichita Children's Home (WCH) (Kansas). Systematic predictive modeling (logistic regression) was used to differentiate between children that are likely to need continued involvement of the child welfare system and those who could remain in the custody of their families.

Documents the PPC process by which a child is referred to be housed by WCH by a law enforcement agency. Reports on the design of a decision model which identifies the factors affecting the outcome of the PPC process.

Provides recommendations for streamlining the PPC process as well as the improvement of police policies and procedures.

Numerically analyzed the flow characteristic and explored the hydrodynamic mechanism of the S-shaped region formation of a Francis pump-turbine.

Three-dimensional steady and unsteady simulations were performed for a number of operating conditions at the optimal guide vanes opening. The steady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the SST turbulence model were solved to model the internal flow within the entire flow passage. The predicted discharge-speed curve agrees well with the model test at generating mode. This paper compared the hydrodynamic characteristics of for off-design cases in S-shaped region with the optimal operating case, and more analysis focuses particularly on very low positive and negative discharge cases with the same unit speed.

At runaway case towards smaller discharge, the relative circumferential velocity becomes stronger in the vaneless, which generates the “water ring” and blocks the flow between guide vane and runner. The runner inlet attack angle becomes larger, and the runner blade passages nearly filled with flow separation and vortexes. The deterioration of runner blade flow leads to the dramatic decrease of runner torque, which tends to reduce the runner rotation speed. In this situation, the internal flow can’t maintain the larger rotating speed at very low positive discharge cases, so the unit discharge-speed curves bend to S-shaped near runaway case.

The analysis method of four off-design cases on S-shaped region with the comparison of optimal operation case and the calculated attack angles are adopted to explore the mechanism of S characteristic. The flow characteristic and quantitative analysis all explain the bending of the unit discharge-speed curves.