While the extent of employer non-compliance with minimum employment standards has yet to be decisively determined in Australia, there is evidence to suggest that it is both prevalent and persistent. This article draws on the scholarship emerging from the regulatory studies field to explore the underlying impulses and issues that may have led to this compliance gap. It considers how a more pluralistic and decentred understanding of regulation may improve compliance. This understanding is then applied to examine the various ways in which the federal labour inspectorate — the Fair Work Ombudsman — has sought to supplement and strengthen its existing compliance and enforcement mechanisms by harnessing or ‘enrolling’ non-state stakeholders, such as employer associations, trade unions, top-level firms and key individuals.

Reasoning biases, specifically jumping to conclusions and belief inflexibility, may play a causal role in persistent paranoia. SlowMo, a new digitally supported blended cognitive-behavioural therapy, targets these biases. Adopting the terms ‘fast’ and ‘slow thinking’ as a heuristic to support therapy, SlowMo encourages people to notice a tendency to fast thinking, and to slow down for a moment to reduce paranoia. SlowMo therapy is the first digital blended therapy for paranoia, employing face to face therapy sessions with interactive digital content, and using mobile technology to promote generalisation to daily life. We report a randomised controlled trial with N=362 participants with distressing and persistent (3+months) paranoia, comparing 8 sessions of SlowMo plus Treatment as Usual (TAU) with TAU alone. We examined SlowMo’s effectiveness in reducing paranoia and improving reasoning biases; its mechanisms of action; usability; and acceptability (Garety et al., 2021). Outcomes: SlowMo was beneficial for paranoia: 10 /11 paranoia measures at 12 weeks and 8/11 at 24 weeks demonstrated significant effects, and sustained moderate effects were observed on all observer-rated measures of persecutory delusions. Improvements in self-esteem, worry, wellbeing and quality of life were also reported. Mediation: Consistent with the theory-driven design and treatment rationale, improvements in slower thinking were found to mediate change in paranoia at 12- and 24-week follow-ups. However contrary to hypothesis, reduced fast thinking did not mediate change in paranoia, whereas worry did. These findings highlight the potential therapeutic mechanisms of action of SlowMo which which are discussed further. Garety P, Ward T, Emsley R, et al. Effects of SlowMo, a Blended Digital Therapy Targeting Reasoning, on Paranoia Among People With Psychosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 2021;78(7):714–725. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.0326

We address a curious omission from both the literature on the law of charity and socio-legal studies – the effect of apparently extraneous factors, such as politics and ideology, as well as the searching for money on the charitable purposes and identities of the public who are to benefit from the charity. This is a curious omission because even the law accepts that the idea of public benefit in charity law is a sociological concept, albeit one that has developed a technical meaning. We argue that approaching charitable purposes and public benefit as sociological concepts enables us to appreciate the tensions that those external factors produce as they re-shape those purposes and refashion the public who are to benefit. We refer to these factors under the rubric of the shaping effects of money. We use a case-study of the Canal and River Trust (CRT) to develop this argument. The trust was set up by the government as a charity to manage and control 2,000 miles of inland waterways in England and Wales. We draw on interviews with households who live on boats and ‘continuously cruise’ those boats on the canals to illustrate how their interests have been marginalised as the CRT has re-shaped itself as a well-being charity.

In March 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, California Department of Public Health, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and Pennsylvania Department of Health initiated an investigation of an outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) infections. Sixty infections were identified in California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maine, Nevada and Ohio. The infections were linked to a no-rinse cleansing foam product (NRCFP), produced by Manufacturer A, used for skin care of patients in healthcare settings. FDA inspected Manufacturer A's production facility (manufacturing site of over-the-counter drugs and cosmetics), reviewed production records and collected product and environmental samples for analysis. FDA's inspection found poor manufacturing practices. Analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis confirmed a match between NRCFP samples and clinical isolates. Manufacturer A conducted extensive recalls, FDA issued a warning letter citing the manufacturer's inadequate manufacturing practices, and federal, state and local partners issued public communications to advise patients, pharmacies, other healthcare providers and healthcare facilities to stop using the recalled NRCFP. This investigation highlighted the importance of following appropriate manufacturing practices to minimize microbial contamination of cosmetic products, especially if intended for use in healthcare settings.

Universal Credit (UC) has been rolling out since 2013 to radically alter the UK welfare system. Several UC design features, and its changes to benefit generosity, can lead to claimants struggling to afford rent payments. This article uses fixed-effects panel modelling to investigate UC’s housing insecurity impacts within English local authorities (2014 Q1 - 2019 Q1) by bringing together official UC data and Citizens Advice ‘advice trends’ data on rent arrears/homelessness issues within the social/private rented sectors. The results suggest UC rollout is associated with increases in rent arrears advice issues (though not homelessness advice issues). This impact tended to be greater when UC had been rolled out for longer (and therefore reached more claimants), and was greatest in the social rented sector where people are more vulnerable to arrears. This highlights a need to increase the level of UC payments and address its long wait periods and harsh sanctions.

Invasive plant species (IPS) management in national parks is a complex problem often characterized by the involvement of various organizations with different responsibilities, legal mandates, and jurisdictions. These institutional arrangements shape the structure, function, and decision-making behaviors of organizations and influence management effectiveness. Drawing on institutional theory, this study analyzed institutional arrangements and how these influenced IPS management in Vietnam’s national parks. Data were collected between May and July 2017 using in-depth interviews with 39 key informants with responsibility for IPS management at different institutional levels (national, provincial, and local national parks). Results demonstrated that IPS management in Vietnam’s national parks was characterized by centralized management with overlaps and gaps in vertical institutional relationships that limited the effectiveness of horizontal relationships. These characteristics resulted in a lack of clear guiding regulations and limited resources that restricted decision making and hindered implementation at the local national park level. The study highlights the need for a common set of principles across agencies, governed by an overarching body to promote constructive relationships across the vertical and horizontal institutional dimensions of IPS management.

In May of 2018, PulseNet, the national molecular subtyping network for enteric pathogens, detected a multistate cluster of illnesses caused by an uncommon molecular subtype of Salmonella serovar Mbandaka. A case was defined as an illness in a person infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Mbandaka with illness onset on or after 3 March 2018 and before 1 September 2018. One-hundred thirty-six cases from 36 states were identified; 35 hospitalisations and no deaths were reported. Ill people ranged in age from <1 year to 95 years (median: 57 years). When standardised questionnaires did not generate a strong hypothesis, opened-ended interviews were performed. Sixty-three of 84 (75%) ultimately reported consuming or possibly consuming a specific sweetened puffed wheat cereal in the week before illness onset. Environmental sampling performed at the cereal manufacturing facility yielded the outbreak strain. The outbreak strain was also isolated from open cereal samples from ill people's homes and from a sealed retail sample. Due to these findings, the brand owner of the product issued a voluntary recall of the cereal on 14 June 2018. Additional investigation of the manufacturing facility identified persistent environmental contamination with Salmonella Mbandaka that was closely genetically related to other isolates in the outbreak. This investigation highlights the ability of Salmonella to survive in low-moisture environments, and the potential for prolonged outbreaks linked to products with long shelf lives and large distribution areas.

Five conjectures are proposed on the text of the third book of Propertius, one a slight alteration of an idea already proposed, four mainly original contributions: 1.23 postremo for post obitum, 4.18 supra uinctos for subter captos, 8.13 seu grege custodum for custodum gregibus (custodum grege seu Heinsius), 10.13 somnos for somnum, 11.40 adulta canis for adusta nota. One additional conjecture is made in passing on the text of Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto 3.4.104, where duces probably ought to be read for uiros.