title: Prospective actuarial risk assessment: A comparison of five risk assessment instruments in different sexual offender subtypes

authors: Rettenberger, Martin

subjects: sexual offending

abstract: This study examines the predictive validity of the most commonly used risk assessment instruments for sexual offenders: Static-99, Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offense Recidivism, Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide, Sexual Violence Risk—20, and Psychopathy Checklist—Revised in a prospective research design. Although risk assessment is part of a regime leading to various efforts to reduce risk by treatment and aftercare, all instruments show good predictive validity. However, depending on the instrument, recidivism category, and subgroup, the predictive accuracy varies markedly. Furthermore, the authors fail to demonstrate predictive validity for sexual violent reoffences—for the whole sample and for all subgroups. The results, nevertheless, support the utility and predictive validity of actuarial risk assessment complementary to treatment efforts to reduce risk. On the other hand, forensic practitioners have to be aware of the limitations of actuarial risk assessment methods, in particular as regards to variable predictive accuracy for different sexual offender subgroups and reoffence categories.

text: Prospective actuarial risk assessment: A comparison of five risk assessment instruments in different sexual offender subtypes This study examines the predictive validity of the most commonly used risk assessment instruments for sexual offenders: Static-99, Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offense Recidivism, Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide, Sexual Violence Risk—20, and Psychopathy Checklist—Revised in a prospective research design. Although risk assessment is part of a regime leading to various efforts to reduce risk by treatment and aftercare, all instruments show good predictive validity. However, depending on the instrument, recidivism category, and subgroup, the predictive accuracy varies markedly. Furthermore, the authors fail to demonstrate predictive validity for sexual violent reoffences—for the whole sample and for all subgroups. The results, nevertheless, support the utility and predictive validity of actuarial risk assessment complementary to treatment efforts to reduce risk. On the other hand, forensic practitioners have to be aware of the limitations of actuarial risk assessment methods, in particular as regards to variable predictive accuracy for different sexual offender subgroups and reoffence categories.

year: 2010

title: Supporting Collocation Learning

authors: Wu, Shaoqun

subjects: Collocation teaching and learning

abstract: Collocations are of great importance for second language learners. Knowledge of them plays a key role in producing language accurately and fluently. But such knowledge is difficult to acquire, simply because there is so much of it. Collocation resources for learners are limited. Printed dictionaries are restricted in size, and only provide rudimentary search and retrieval options. Free online resources are rare, and learners find the language data they offer hard to interpret. Online collocation exercises are inadequate and scattered, making it difficult to acquire collocations in a systematic way. This thesis makes two claims: (1) corpus data can be presented in different ways to facilitate effective collocation learning, and (2) a computer system can be constructed to help learners systematically strengthen and enhance their collocation knowledge. To investigate the first claim, an enormous Web-derived corpus was processed, filtered, and organized into three searchable digital library collections that support different aspects of collocation learning. Each of these constitutes a vast concordance whose entries are presented in ways that help students use collocations more effectively in their writing. To provide extended context, concordance data is linked to illustrative sample sentences, both on the live Web and in the British National Corpus. Two evaluations were conducted, both of which suggest that these collections can and do help improve student writing. For the second claim, a system was built that automatically identifies collocations in texts that teachers or students provide, using natural language processing techniques. Students study, collect and store collocations of interest while reading. Teachers construct collocation exercises to consolidate what students have learned and amplify their knowledge. The system was evaluated with teachers and students in classroom settings, and positive outcomes were demonstrated. We believe that the deployment of computer-based collocation learning systems is an exciting development that will transform language learning.

text: Supporting Collocation Learning Collocations are of great importance for second language learners. Knowledge of them plays a key role in producing language accurately and fluently. But such knowledge is difficult to acquire, simply because there is so much of it. Collocation resources for learners are limited. Printed dictionaries are restricted in size, and only provide rudimentary search and retrieval options. Free online resources are rare, and learners find the language data they offer hard to interpret. Online collocation exercises are inadequate and scattered, making it difficult to acquire collocations in a systematic way. This thesis makes two claims: (1) corpus data can be presented in different ways to facilitate effective collocation learning, and (2) a computer system can be constructed to help learners systematically strengthen and enhance their collocation knowledge. To investigate the first claim, an enormous Web-derived corpus was processed, filtered, and organized into three searchable digital library collections that support different aspects of collocation learning. Each of these constitutes a vast concordance whose entries are presented in ways that help students use collocations more effectively in their writing. To provide extended context, concordance data is linked to illustrative sample sentences, both on the live Web and in the British National Corpus. Two evaluations were conducted, both of which suggest that these collections can and do help improve student writing. For the second claim, a system was built that automatically identifies collocations in texts that teachers or students provide, using natural language processing techniques. Students study, collect and store collocations of interest while reading. Teachers construct collocation exercises to consolidate what students have learned and amplify their knowledge. The system was evaluated with teachers and students in classroom settings, and positive outcomes were demonstrated. We believe that the deployment of computer-based collocation learning systems is an exciting development that will transform language learning.

year: 2010

title: Everyday experiences of racism: Suppressing Māori cultural expressions in mental health

authors: Southey, Kim Marie

abstract: Tēnā kautau i runga i ngā tini āhuatanga o te wā.

This publication has been produced as part of the He Kokonga Ngākau Fellowships, an initiative of Te Atawhai o Te Ao that seeks to support and contribute to our research projects, and grow Māori research capability that promotes Kaupapa Māori research. These fellowships have been established to support Māori postgraduate students, practitioners, community researchers, and writers in their writing on kaupapa that have relevance to our organisation and wider community.

Dr Kim Southey (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kuia) draws on her doctoral research on re-presenting Māori and Indigenous understandings of being, and deconstructing the notion of mental illness. This
publication focuses on how Māori and Indigenous expressions within the mental (and wider) health system are suppressed and restricted by a dominant (western) worldview. Dr Southey posits that the western insistence on representing things in the world through rational, logical explanations impacts on Māori cultural understandings, limiting how we can express ourselves. This is viewed by Dr Southey as a form of institutional racism.

text: Everyday experiences of racism: Suppressing Māori cultural expressions in mental health Tēnā kautau i runga i ngā tini āhuatanga o te wā.

This publication has been produced as part of the He Kokonga Ngākau Fellowships, an initiative of Te Atawhai o Te Ao that seeks to support and contribute to our research projects, and grow Māori research capability that promotes Kaupapa Māori research. These fellowships have been established to support Māori postgraduate students, practitioners, community researchers, and writers in their writing on kaupapa that have relevance to our organisation and wider community.

Dr Kim Southey (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kuia) draws on her doctoral research on re-presenting Māori and Indigenous understandings of being, and deconstructing the notion of mental illness. This
publication focuses on how Māori and Indigenous expressions within the mental (and wider) health system are suppressed and restricted by a dominant (western) worldview. Dr Southey posits that the western insistence on representing things in the world through rational, logical explanations impacts on Māori cultural understandings, limiting how we can express ourselves. This is viewed by Dr Southey as a form of institutional racism.

year: 2022