Modern punishments generally seek to achieve four purposes: Retribution, deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation. Capital punishment, due to its unique and permanent nature, can only fulfill the functions of retribution and deterrence. Even though the death penalty has an already limited scope of objectives, the effectiveness of its remaining objectives is still questionable. Retribution is often synonymous with the terms 'justice'and also 'revenge'. The death penalty convincingly satisfies the retributive criteria set by Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart: 1. the principle of responsibility, 2. the principle of proportionality, 3.The principle of requital. The deterrent factor, which can also be called crime prevention, is empirically inconclusive due to the various reasons for not committing crimes. The death penalty shows no statistical significance of being a greater deterrent than any other form of punishment. Death itself is not sufficient to deter decision making, such as joining a career of law enforcement where death is imminent and high possibility. There is more retribution than deterrent value in the death penalty. Should a modern state's judicial system have the authority and discretion to impose a punishment that is almost purely retributive?

Intimate partner violence or domestic violence can be defined as the unlawful physical attack, perceived physical attack or the infliction of fear of physical attack between intimate partners. Female initiated intimate partner violence has been shown to occur at almost equivalent rates as male initiated intimate partner violence. This suggests that intimate partner violence or domestic violence is a gender neutral construct. However, this has become the subject of much debate and controversy. Intimate partner violence has become feminised to the extent that “domestic violence” and “battered women” have become terms that are used synonymously, suggesting society does not view intimate partner violence as gender neutral. Feminists argue that studying female on male intimate partner violence is not important because females sustain greater injury, are more dependent on men economically and use violence in self-defence. However, women are more likely to make use of a weapon when initiating violence and garner more public sympathy. Females as aggressors are not all that different from males as they both have criminal histories and similar motivations, however, they make use of different methods when carrying out said violence. Males as victims of intimate partner violence face a number of challenges including police and judicial bias, emasculation at admitting being abused by a female and a lack of resources available to them. This has a number of implications that include the need for resources to be made available to male victims of intimate partner violence. The author thus argues and supports that intimate partner violence is gender neutral.

Goffman, Brown and Levinson believe the concept of face is universal. ‘Given the diverse cultural resources, forms of practices, and meaning systems, the universal concern with face can take on various local significations depending on the particular cultural setting in which it is enacted.’ (Chen, p.110)

The face theory introduces the 'self' in a very frustrating situation of violence at home where we look at a husband who is abusive towards his wife. There is a face-to face interaction and physical altercations which prove there is no way to maintain positive face or 'Mien tze'. Although the Face theory suggests that we should not study the psychology of the interaction, rather the relations, one can argue that psychological and sociological factors influence the setting of violence – the husband is under the influence of drugs or alcohol and the wife's arguments of financial dependence aggravate the situation.

This paper is to develop a research on domestic violence as a cultural phenomenon. It is to be done through the ethnographic communication theory, face-work theory and politeness theory. Basic studies of domestic violence neither give an actual explanation of why abuse exists, nor do they explain why women remain in the abusive relationship. Often, it is perceived that domestic abuse occurs in places that lack educational and proper law systems. Yet we find cases of murders and abuse in corporate America and Europe. This leads to the conclusion that domestic violence is a cultural issue.

The paper investigates the topical but under researched question of the political impact of think tanks and advocacy groups working on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation issues. It analyses the impact on the Trident renewal debate of Chatham House, the British American Security Information Council, the Royal United Services Institute, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and WMD Awareness. Time was spent with each organisation interviewing key staff about their tactics and activities as well as with policy makers gauging the impact each organisation has; this primary research is combined with a rigorous selection and application of literature to provide a rounded and informed discussion. The paper sets out what impact each of the groups and organisations has had on the debate and decision making process and offers some suggestions as to why these groups have been successful in doing so. It concludes with a summary of where the community sees the future of the UK's nuclear deterrent.

The project will assess how the presentation of message appeals impact viewer’s emotional, cognitive, and behavioural responses to advertisements. Specifically, we will examine the elicitation of guilt, in response to an ad and how the presentation of an ad impacts a viewer’s experience of guilt and subsequent responses. Past research indicates that the content as well as the manner in which information is processed can guide judgments and behaviours (Adaval abd Wyer, 1998; Smith and Schwarz, 2012). Building on these findings, we will examine whether different presentation format for ads would have greater effect on eliciting specific cognitive and emotional responses in viewers and changing subsequent behaviours. In a pilot study we will recruit approximately 30 participants to first examine the different emotional and cognitive responses that are elicited to ads used in practice. In a subsequent study we will recruit approximately 60 participants to explore how presenting information in a list-wise versus narrative format impacts immediate emotional, cognitive and behavioural responses. Together, these initial studies will contribute to a larger programme of research that examines the immediate and delayed effect of guilt-eliciting appeals and explores if guilt-appeals exert their effect as a result of the emotional experience whilst consuming the ad or after some delay during a purchase behaviour (Antonetti and Baines, 2014). This project will provide clear evidence of the immediate effects of these guilt-eliciting ads presented in different formats, which will allow us to better understand how these message appeals impact viewer’s emotional, cognitive and behavioural responses.

Increasing cultural and ethnic diversity in the United States introduces a unique set of challenges for the development of preschool classroom peer communities as well as individual statuses of preschool children. A pilot project in a diverse preschool setting, which led to the current study, found that immigrant children were less likely to be leaders of social groups and held a lower social status when compared to non-immigrant children. This early social development is a significant factor in predicting future social and academic success therefore, how social roles and rules are established warrants attention. Examined in this study was the teacher's influence on social development of children in culturally diverse preschool classrooms, including the teacher's role in influencing the hierarchical peer structure. Thirty-nine, ethnically diverse 4 and 5 year old children were observed in preschool classrooms using the following measures: teacher instruction, information exchange, responsiveness, and social interaction. There were significant differences between immigrant and non-immigrant children concerning experiences and interactions to their preschool teachers. Immigrant children received more basic information and interactions, which have negative social implications; however, peer referrals were higher with immigrant children and led to positive social outcomes. These findings have implications for teachers working with a culturally and ethnically diverse childcare population.

The use of social networking sites (SNS), such as Twitter, has increased substantially over the last decade. It has been well-established that the way individuals interact on SNS is largely influenced by their personality type; however, it is unknown if a link also exists between behaviour on SNS and other individual differences, such as self-esteem (SE) and emotional regulation (ER). To answer this research question, participants completed an online questionnaire which assessed their use of and opinion of the SNS Twitter using the newly created Twitter Usage Questionnaire (TUQ), as well as their levels of SE and ER. This study did not find any evidence that people's preferred style of ER was associated with their engagement with Twitter. However, it was found that low SE was related to negative behaviour on Twitter, which could be the result of the neurotic behavioural traits often exhibited by those with low SE. This finding may be important for the future development of methods to identify individuals who are at-risk of developing low SE, and the subsequent implementation of early online intervention programmes to tackle SE issues. It was also found that individuals who engage frequently with Twitter tended to use the SNS for both positive and negative purposes, which suggests that Twitter can be a useful tool to satisfy a range of emotional needs. This finding could impact on the future interpretation of individuals' online behaviour because it indicates that one or two posts on a SNS may not be fully indicative of a person's emotional state.

In the UK, where food banks report escalating numbers of parcels given out, the attention of politicians, academics and the charity sector is turning to other 'local food projects', including food production, as a potential solution to household food insecurity. Especially outside the UK, existing research shows contradictory results. Although domestic or communal food production can benefit local food security, it might not be the most appropriate and efficient measure to reach moderately/severely insecure households. This exploratory study thus examines the impacts of two food projects in the Midlands, promoting windowsill growing to people at risk of or currently being food insecure, on participants'household food insecurity and their lives in general. Following feminist methodology, through a variety of methods including participant observation, photo-elicitation interviews and interviews with focus groups with three groups of stakeholders (food bank volunteers, project officers and beneficiaries), this study highlights problems with current (non)measurement of food security in the UK and shows how the projects attempted to lower physical and mental barriers to growing food. They also improve the food bank experience and have beneficial mental health outcomes. Most importantly, the projects can open the 'producer's continuum', helping participants to imagine themselves as growers/producers and reclaiming gardening as growing food for necessity, not a middle-class leisure. Because of the small quantities of produce, these projects have only a limited ability to benefit participant's immediate household food security. However, they have a potential to open discussions about different ways of accessing foods.

Infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria result in direct health care costs exceeding $30 billion per year, with additional societal costs due to lost productivity totaling more than $35 billion per year. One ubiquitous, effective mechanism of resistance is conferred by bacterial efflux pumps. These efflux pumps discharge antibiotics from bacterial cells, rendering the bacteria resistant to the treatment. Certain chemical compounds, including some natural products, have been shown to inhibit bacterial efflux pumps, restoring the efficacy of antibiotics. Traditional medicinal plants, such as goldenseal (Hydrastis candensis), have long been used to treat bacterial infections, but their mechanism of action remains unexplained. Several pure compounds from ethanolic extracts of goldenseal were shown to have efflux inhibitory activity. These data suggest that some of the antibacterial activity of goldenseal is due to these efflux pump inhibitors. In the long term, the results of this study are expected to aid in the development of new treatments for drug resistant bacterial infections.

Researchers have long sought to identify which mechanisms can overcome basic selection pressures and support the establishment of cooperation within a population. In a variation on their traditional conception, cooperators are individuals who pay a cost for another individual to receive a benefit, whereas wildtype individuals are free-riders or defectors who receive but do not provide benefits, thus paying no cost. In models of well-mixed populations, free-riders are favored; however, cooperation can emerge and evolve in spatially structured populations. In this paper, we extend previous models of the evolution of cooperation to a stochastic simulation of a finite, fixed population of mobile competitors. Using Gillespie's Algorithm, we examine how parameters controlling an individual's mobility and neighborhood size influence the likelihood that cooperation can evolve within the population. We find that both greater mobility and larger neighborhood size inhibit the evolution of cooperation because they allow free-riders to find cooperators more quickly. / /

There is an international drive to rapidly eliminate a number of neglected tropical diseases in poor populations. Yaws is such a disease, infecting only 2.5 million people, but causing them considerable pain and discomfort. This poorly understood disease mainly affects young children, with an incubation period of between 9 and 90 days. There is currently no published transmission model for Yaws and this impedes the design of effective control policies. The project will develop transmission and household models, using a vast array of mathematical tools, which will be analysed to see how the assumptions in the model lead to the observed dynamics.

The questions we seek to answer are what is the impact of earlier diagnosis? How does this compare with mass drug administration? And, how fast could we eradicate the disease? The study will allow us to add to the evidence supporting decisions about the best use of resources in tackling Yaws and under what condition the eradication target of 2020 set by the World Health Organization (WHO) is achievable.

The results of the project tell us that the WHO’s target is unrealistic and an adapted strategy is needed if eradication by 2020 is to be achievable and cost effective. The data and models also suggest that schools should be the targeted location for treatment. However we realize that our model has limitations and the disease displays complex endemic and epidemic characteristics which are not fully captured by the model.