Q1 is for short circuit protection. Under normal operation Q1 is nonconductive because the resistor R14 through the base of Q1 is held at negative voltage. But when negative voltage starts to fall, the transistor Q1 becomes conductive (due to the positive voltage on its base through resistor R13), and thus connects the output of U2 to the ground and locks the transistor Q2, so it shut down the output voltage through Q4 .U3 and R7 are for holding constant current based on the adjustment of U1 .