Church's wall of silence on sexual abuse

A SINGLE document was all it took to illuminate a dark secret in the Church of England. The two-page child protection report, unearthed by police in the archives of the diocese of Manchester, was proof, at last, that a former cathedral choirboy -- alleging years of sexual abuse by one of Britain's most senior clergyman -- was not alone. There was another boy. Also a solo soprano, on the other side of the world, who was singing from the same hymn sheet about The Very Reverend Robert Waddington. "There had been a previous referral about sexual impropriety some time ago from Australia, where RW had been the headmaster at a school. An ex-pupil had made a complaint to the Bishop of (north) Queensland who had relayed it to the Archbishop (of York)," the 2003 report says. Eli Ward's family had prompted the secret report when they told church officials, without Ward's knowledge, of the alleged abuse he suffered in the mid-1980s.

Anglican boarding school a hotbed of sexual punishment

THE little Anglican boarding school of St Barnabas, in the misty mountain town of Ravenshoe, north Queensland, was allegedly a hotbed of physical and sexual abuse in the 1960s. North Queensland Bishop Bill Ray has confirmed the diocese has few files about the school -- which was closed mid-term in 1990 -- with suspicions they were dumped "down a well or an old mine shaft" in the district A history of brutal physical punishment and sexual abuse at the school dating from the 1960s is now emerging. Headmaster Robert Waddington, who arrived at the school from England to be headmaster in 1961, dished out daily canings to many of his young students and then allegedly raped some behind closed doors in his room or the sick bay, which were next to each other. Former St Barnabas student Bim Atkinson, now 58, and two other former students have levelled allegations against the man they called "the Wadd".

School-based youth health nurses and adolescent decision-making concerning reproductive and sexual health advice : how can the law guide healthcare practitioners in this context?

This paper outlines some of the issues faced by School-Based Youth Health Nurses working in Queensland, in relation to the legal principles surrounding the provision of reproductive and sexual health advice. The paper outlines a number of specific issues faced by nurses working within this setting and considers the legal principles underpinning the issues concerning consent and confidentiality. The discussion in this paper demonstrates how the legal principles – which are often viewed as complex and uncertain by nurses working within this field – may be used as a guide to underpin good practice and compliance with the law. Although this paper is considered in the context of nurses working within Queensland, the principles and factors outlined are relevant to healthcare practitioners working within all Australian jurisdictions.

Ozone-induced dissociation of conjugated lipids reveals significant reaction rate enhancements and characteristic odd-electron product ions

Ozone-induced dissociation (OzID) is an alternative ion activation method that relies on the gas phase ion-molecule reaction between a mass-selected target ion and ozone in an ion trap mass spectrometer. Herein, we evaluated the performance of OzID for both the structural elucidation and selective detection of conjugated carbon-carbon double bond motifs within lipids. The relative reactivity trends for \[M + X](+) ions (where X = Li, Na, K) formed via electrospray ionization (ESI) of conjugated versus nonconjugated fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were examined using two different OzID-enabled linear ion-trap mass spectrometers. Compared with nonconjugated analogues, FAMEs derived from conjugated linoleic acids were found to react up to 200 times faster and to yield characteristic radical cations. The significantly enhanced reactivity of conjugated isomers means that OzID product ions can be observed without invoking a reaction delay in the experimental sequence (i.e., trapping of ions in the presence of ozone is not required). This possibility has been exploited to undertake neutral-loss scans on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer targeting characteristic OzID transitions. Such analyses reveal the presence of conjugated double bonds in lipids extracted from selected foodstuffs. Finally, by benchmarking of the absolute ozone concentration inside the ion trap, second order rate constants for the gas phase reactions between unsaturated organic ions and ozone were obtained. These results demonstrate a significant influence of the adducting metal on reaction rate constants in the fashion Li > Na > K.

GNSS ambiguity resolution with controllable failure rate for long baseline network RTK

Many large-scale GNSS CORS networks have been deployed around the world to support various commercial and scientific applications. To make use of these networks for real-time kinematic positioning services, one of the major challenges is the ambiguity resolution (AR) over long inter-station baselines in the presence of considerable atmosphere biases. Usually, the widelane ambiguities are fixed first, followed by the procedure of determination of the narrowlane ambiguity integers based on the ionosphere-free model in which the widelane integers are introduced as known quantities. This paper seeks to improve the AR performance over long baseline through efficient procedures for improved float solutions and ambiguity fixing. The contribution is threefold: (1) instead of using the ionosphere-free measurements, the absolute and/or relative ionospheric constraints are introduced in the ionosphere-constrained model to enhance the model strength, thus resulting in the better float solutions; (2) the realistic widelane ambiguity precision is estimated by capturing the multipath effects due to the observation complexity, leading to improvement of reliability of widelane AR; (3) for the narrowlane AR, the partial AR for a subset of ambiguities selected according to the successively increased elevation is applied. For fixing the scalar ambiguity, an error probability controllable rounding method is proposed. The established ionosphere-constrained model can be efficiently solved based on the sequential Kalman filter. It can be either reduced to some special models simply by adjusting the variances of ionospheric constraints, or extended with more parameters and constraints. The presented methodology is tested over seven baselines of around 100 km from USA CORS network. The results show that the new widelane AR scheme can obtain the 99.4 % successful fixing rate with 0.6 % failure rate; while the new rounding method of narrowlane AR can obtain the fix rate of 89 % with failure rate of 0.8 %. In summary, the AR reliability can be efficiently improved with rigorous controllable probability of incorrectly fixed ambiguities.

Are in vitro estimates of cell diffusivity and cell proliferation rate sensitive to assay geometry?

Cells respond to various biochemical and physical cues during wound–healing and tumour progression. In vitro assays used to study these processes are typically conducted in one particular geometry and it is unclear how the assay geometry affects the capacity of cell populations to spread, or whether the relevant mechanisms, such as cell motility and cell proliferation, are somehow sensitive to the geometry of the assay. In this work we use a circular barrier assay to characterise the spreading of cell populations in two different geometries. Assay 1 describes a tumour–like geometry where a cell population spreads outwards into an open space. Assay 2 describes a wound–like geometry where a cell population spreads inwards to close a void. We use a combination of discrete and continuum mathematical models and automated image processing methods to obtain independent estimates of the effective cell diffusivity, D, and the effective cell proliferation rate, λ. Using our parameterised mathematical model we confirm that our estimates of D and λ accurately predict the time–evolution of the location of the leading edge and the cell density profiles for both assay 1 and assay 2. Our work suggests that the effective cell diffusivity is up to 50% lower for assay 2 compared to assay 1, whereas the effective cell proliferation rate is up to 30% lower for assay 2 compared to assay 1.

Analysis of strain-rate dependent mechanical behavior of single chondrocyte : a finite element study

Various studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of impact loading on cartilage damage and chondrocyte death. These have shown that the rate and magnitude of the applied strain significantly influence chondrocyte death, and that cell death occurred mostly in the superficial zone of cartilage suggesting the need to further understand the fundamental mechanisms underlying the chondrocytes death induced at certain levels of strain-rate. To date there is no comprehensive study providing insight on this phenomenon. The aim of this study is to examine the strain-rate dependent behavior of a single chondrocyte using a computational approach based on Finite Element Method (FEM). An FEM model was developed using various mechanical models, which were Standard Neo-Hookean Solid (SnHS), porohyperelastic (PHE) and poroviscohyperelastic (PVHE) to simulate Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) experiments of chondrocyte. The PVHE showed, it can capture both relaxation and loading rate dependent behaviors of chondrocytes, accurately compared to other models.

Bad apples, bad barrel: Exploring institutional responses to child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Australia

This paper considers constructions of institutional culture and power in the cover-up of child sexual abuse (CSA) by clergy in the Roman Catholic Church of Australia. The issue of cover-up has previously been considered in international inquiries as an institutional failing that has caused significant harm to victims of CSA by Catholic Clergy. Evidence given by select representatives of the Catholic Church in two government inquiries into institutional abuse carried out in Australia is considered here. This evidence suggests that, where cover-up has occurred, it has been reliant on the abuse of institutional power and resulted in direct emotional, psychological and spiritual harm to victims of abuse. Despite international recognition of cover-up as institutional abuse, evidence presented by Roman Catholic Representatives to the Victorian Inquiry denied there was an institutionalised cover-up. Responding to this evidence, this paper queries whether the primary foundation of cover-up conforms to the ‘bad apple theory’ in that it relates only to a few individuals, or the ‘bad barrel theory’ of institutional structure and culture.

Exploration of mechanisms underlying the strain-rate-dependent mechanical property of single chondrocytes

Based on the characterization by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), we report that the mechanical property of single chondrocytes has dependency on the strain-rates. By comparing the mechanical deformation responses and the Young’s moduli of living and fixed chondrocytes at four different strain-rates, we explore the deformation mechanisms underlying this dependency property. We found that the strain-rate-dependent mechanical property of living cells is governed by both of the cellular cytoskeleton (CSK) and the intracellular fluid when the fixed chondrocytes is mainly governed by their intracellular fluid which is called the consolidation-dependent deformation behavior. Finally, we report that the porohyperelastic (PHE) constitutive material model which can capture the consolidation-dependent behavior of both living and fixed chondrocytes is a potential candidature to study living cell biomechanics.

Correlates of female sexual functioning : adult attachment and differentiation of self

Introduction Female sexual functioning is affected by a range of factors including motivation, psychological well-being, and relationship issues. In understanding female sexual dysfunction (FSD), there has been a tendency to privilege diagnostic and medical over relationship issues. Aim To investigate the association between women’s experience of intimacy in close relationships - operationalized in terms of attachment and degree of differentiation of self - and FSD. Methods Two hundred and thirty sexually active Australian women responded to an invitation to complete a set of validated scales to assess potential correlates of sexual functioning. Main Outcome Measures The Female Sexuality Function Index, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale, the Differentiation of Self Inventory, as well as a set of study-specific questions were subject to hierarchical multiple regression analyses Results Relational variables of attachment avoidance and to a lesser degree, attachment anxiety were associated with FSD. Participants with lower levels of differentiation of self were more likely to report sexual difficulties. The inability to maintain a sense of self in the presence of intimate others was the strongest predictors of sexual problems. A history of sexual abuse in adulthood and higher levels of psychological distress were also associated with sexual difficulties. Conclusions The findings provide support for a relational understanding of female sexual functioning. Attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, and degree of differentiation of self are shown to be associated with sexual difficulties. The findings support the need to focus on relational and psychological factors in women’s experience of sex.

Civil litigation limitation periods : submission to the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse

This submission makes one simple yet powerful recommendation for law reform to promote justice for survivors of child sexual abuse. It is informed by extensive analyses of the phenomenon of child sexual abuse and its psychological sequelae, legislative time limits and case law across Australia and internationally, the policy reasons underpinning statutory time limits generally, and the need for fairness, certainty and practicability in the legal system. The recommendation is that legislative reform is required in all Australian States and Territories to remove time limitations for civil claims for injuries caused by child sexual abuse.

Sex, love and abuse : discourses on domestic violence and sexual assault

Sex, Love and Abuse intervenes in a timely way on some important issues that have become 'elephants in the room' for academic and policy considerations around sexual violence and abuse. In so doing, this book draws upon a range of literatures and novel empirical sources to encourage critical thinking about the relationship between sex, love and abuse, examining crimes including sexual assault, pornography, child sexual abuse and domestic violence. This provocative book seeks to destabilize essentialist understandings of these phenomena with a view to identifying the subtle and complex nature of relationships, which often defy easy explanation and categorisation. Focusing on theories, public discourses and moral ideals, Hayes connects romantic love, intimacy and harm in a unique philosophical analysis, exploring abuse in relationships and how such abuse is fostered.

Developing a framework of effective prevention and response strategies in workplace sexual harassment

Sexual harassment remains a widespread workplace phenomenon, despite laws that proscribe it. Drawing initially on a typology from the violence prevention literature that conceptualizes prevention and response approaches according to when they occur, the paper synthesizes strategies identified in literature addressing workplace sexual harassment, as well as other workplace injustices or grievances. The paper utilizes this previous research to develop a framework of sexual harassment prevention strategies along two dimensions: functions and timing. The framework offers a research-informed set of organization-wide preventative and remedial approaches, a systemic approach to what is often seen as an individual problem, and a means to better focus interventions that are often disparate and unco-ordinated. The paper also highlights important areas for future research including a stronger focus on longer-term (tertiary) corrective actions.

A comparison of mathematical models for phase separation in high-rate LiFePO4 cathodes

We construct a two-scale mathematical model for modern, high-rate LiFePO4cathodes. We attempt to validate against experimental data using two forms of the phase-field model developed recently to represent the concentration of Li+ in nano-sized LiFePO4crystals. We also compare this with the shrinking-core based model we developed previously. Validating against high-rate experimental data, in which electronic and electrolytic resistances have been reduced is an excellent test of the validity of the crystal-scale model used to represent the phase-change that may occur in LiFePO4material. We obtain poor fits with the shrinking-core based model, even with fitting based on “effective” parameter values. Surprisingly, using the more sophisticated phase-field models on the crystal-scale results in poorer fits, though a significant parameter regime could not be investigated due to numerical difficulties. Separate to the fits obtained, using phase-field based models embedded in a two-scale cathodic model results in “many-particle” effects consistent with those reported recently.