4101 research outputs found
Sort by
Remarkable lives: Laura O'Brien in conversation with Jerome Carson
No full textPurpose - The purpose of the paper is to provide a profile of Laura O'Brien. Design/methodology/approach - Laura provides a short biographical account of her life thus far. She is then interviewed by Jerome. She describes her abusive childhood and the effect this has had on her mental health. Findings - Despite enduring significant adversity, Laura has completed a Psychology degree, is finishing off a PGCE and hopes to go on to complete a PhD. Research limitations/implications - There has been increasing interest looking at the effects of childhood abuse on predisposing individuals to adult mental health problems. This case study provides evidence of this linkage. Practical implications - Patricia Deegan talks about mental health staff having to "hold the care" while the individual struggles with their personal recovery. Laura's story shows how despite numerous overdoses and admissions, she has been able to battle through. Mental health staff should never give up. There are thousands of "Lauras" out there. Social implications - How much of Laura's problems might have been avoided or minimised if there had been better interventions during her troubled childhood years? Originality/value - Given what she has endured, Laura's recent career successes have been staggerin
Children and young people as health consumers
No full textChapter 4.Vesty and Wardle explore the child and young person as consumer, with particular regard to services in health. Using broad perspectives such as national agendas and service models, they connect these to intervention practices and principles. They survey the ongoing changes in policy and funding which directly impact on services available to children and young people. They discuss the particular challenges related to health services that provide constant challenges for the child and young person consumer. The chapter focuses on children and young people’s voice as consumers and the possibilities of consultation with them regarding their wants, needs, desires and rights of access where services are unevenly spread. The authors propose that children and young people should be at the centre of policy, practices and decision-making as the main consumers of key services
How much longer can we afford the free school debacle? State sponsored Neoliberalism and the myths of choice
No full textThe United Kingdom’s 2010 Academies Act further widened the school and State relationship with free schools, in particular, becoming a model separately identified as endorsing and celebrating the neoliberal ideology of competition informed by market principles. The main features of the model are described and complemented with illustrative evidence from Ofsted inspections and research strongly suggesting that, rather than delivering an informed and inclusive approach as claimed by the government, they in fact are socially divisive and serve only to further accentuate class structures and prejudice. It is concluded that they should be replaced by open access, non-selective and fully State owned and funded approaches based on principles of equality and ant-discrimination
Transitioning towards a learning organisation : an action research approach
No full textAs a journey of continuous improvement, my research focused on supporting and enabling my organisation to become a learning organisation. This is set out in six action research cycles that describe the processes and changes as they occurred. This thesis presents the interplay between developments in the organisation and several strands of systems thinking.At the outset, learning within the organisation was considered to be what happened in the training room, and it started out from evaluating existing training provision. The research found this to be inadequate on its own, and it was followed up by provision of transfer and performance support and a change of emphasis towards mentoring, coaching and informal learning. This was accompanied by the development of a holistic goals-learning-evaluation review process that then integrated all forms of learning into the daily practice of the workplace. Evaluation was embedded as a key feedback loop of both formal and informal learning and a higher tier evaluation of the basic learning/evaluation loop was then introduced. In the light of any continuing unsatisfactory outcomes, this double loop learning questioned assumptions regarding both internal and external conditions and sought new learning solutions as part of wider strategic planning.However this final step was interrupted by significant organisational changes that integrated the UK and Irish branches and. within the Irish branch, my Energy division was integrated with the Water and Waste divisions. After a pause, my focus was then shifted from the Energy division to bringing the Water and Waste divisions up to the level reached by the Energy division. While this effectively brought my PhD programme to an end before reaching the goal of fully establishing the Energy division as a learning organisation, much had been achieved and it presented the opportunity to test the framework and accompanying practices in two different organisations.This has now (two years later) been achieved, hence providing some degree of validation of the framework and processes, and some degree of confidence that they can be successfully applied elsewhere and many of the research approaches and evaluation techniques that I provided are now embedded as part of the work practices across all the units in the Irish branch.The remaining steps to be undertaken within Veolia Ireland would be the completion of those outlined in Action Research Cycle 6, but now across all the subdivisions of the Ireland branch. This would involve the full implementation of the 2nd order review process that integrated the goals-learning-evaluation processes that have been developed and are now fully embedded, with the existing environmental scanning, innovation and strategy formation processes within the Irish branch to create a fully responsive and adaptive learning organisation.Many, if not most organisations are currently at the stage of seeing learning as training room based, which other research has shown to be similarly inadequate.However there is a need for organisations to be more responsive to a rapidly changing operating environment, which can be met through the transition to an organisation that continuously learns and adapts. The approach taken in this work therefore has the potential for wider use. To that end this thesis proposes a generic framework to guide others seeking to become a learning organisation. It provides a concrete illustration of its use and development for users to consider and adapt as needed to their specific circumstances.This study adopts both qualitative and quantitative approaches, using both questionnaires and semi-structured interviews from delegates who participated in three different training programs.The contribution of this study, the Learning Organisation Transition Framework and the practical steps taken from which it both emerged and in turn directed, will be of greatest use to other organisations that have the strategic intent of becoming a learning organisation, but seek guidance on implementation. The studies value offers a concrete contribution to knowledge, by applying a systems thinking approach to the creation of a learning organisation, a task often found to be difficult in practice. Systems thinking principles were used to create feedback loops from internal and external conditions, to enhance performance and adaptivity, thereby, increasing the scope for more generative learning. This involved all employees in their and their organisations future development
Investigating the victim pseudomaturity effect:How a victim’s chronological age and dress style influences attributions in a depicted case of child sexual assault
No full textThree-hundred and seven members of the UK public read a hypothetical child sexual abuse case in which the victim’s chronological age (12 versus 15 years old) and dress style (sexualized versus nonsexualized) were experimentally manipulated before completing 22 assault severity and blame attribution items. It was predicted that the 15-year-old and the sexually dressed victim would be blamed more for her own abuse. In addition, males were expected to be more blaming generally, but especially of the older and/or sexually dressed victim. Results were generally in line with predictions, highlighting the role seemingly controllable victim characteristics play in blaming child sexual abuse victims. Findings are discussed in relation to defensive attributions, gender stereotyping and the newly suggested victim pseudomaturity effect. Criminal justice, victim welfare, and rape myth implications together with methodological issues and ideas for future research work are also considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved
Investigation of electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of needle punched nonwoven fabric produced from conductive silver coated staple polyamide fibre.
No full textIn this paper, electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (EMSE) of needle-punched nonwoven fabric produced from silver-coated staple polyamide fibre having a fineness of 1.7 dtex was investigated. This production was carried out at Automatex needle punching line, which consists of carding, cross lapper and needle punching machine. After production, the surface resistivity measurements of needle-punched nonwoven fabric was carried out in accordance with ASTM D 257-07 standard. The EMSE of the as-produced needle-punched nonwoven fabric was determined using a network analyzer as specified in ASTM D4935-10 in the frequency range of 15–3000 MHz. Electromagnetic shielding test shows that needle-punched nonwoven fabric produced from 1.7-dtex silver-coated polyamide fibre has the highest shielding value of 36.53 dB in the frequency range of 15–3000 MHz. The EMSE of needle-punched nonwoven fabric with fibre fineness of 1.7 dtex increased from 11.00 dB maximum to 36.53 dB in the 15–3000 MHz frequency range. It was seen that as the frequency increases, reflection values of the needle-punched nonwoven fabric decrease at floating mode, while absorption values of the nonwoven fabric increase at floating mode in the frequency range of 15–3000 MHz. EMSE results of the needle-punched nonwoven fabric produced from 1.7-dtex silver-coated staple polyamide fibres were compared to carbon fabric and needle-punched nonwoven fabric made from stainless steel fibres
Recent developments in fire retardation and fire protection of fibre-reinforced composites
No full textThis article reviews recent work on fire retardation and fire protection of fibre-reinforced composites carried out in the laboratories of the Fire Materials Group at the University of Bolton.This work has concentrated mainly on the effects of fire-retardant additives and coatings on the fire performance of unsaturated polyester, vinyl ester and epoxy resin composites reinforced with glass fibres
Temperature threshold and water role in CVD growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes
No full textAn in-depth understanding of the growth process of single-walled carbon nanotubes is of vital importance to the control of the yield of the material and its carbon structure. Using a nickel/silica (Ni/SiOx) catalyst, we have conducted a series of growth experiments with a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system. We find that there is a temperature threshold in the CVD process, and if the reaction temperature sets above this threshold, there will be no growth of the nanotubes. Moreover, we find that in association with this temperature effect, water plays an important role in the promotion or termination of the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes
Complex doping chemistry owing to Mn incorporation in nanocrystalline anatase TiO2 powders
No full textMn-doped TiO2 powders with a wide range of nominal doping levels were fabricated using a one-step hydrothermal method followed by 400 °C annealing. Anatase powders with a uniform size distribution below 10 nm were obtained. The maximum solubility of Mn in the TiO2 lattice was around 30%, beyond which the Mn3O4 compound appeared as a secondary phase. The optical absorption edges for Mn-doped anatase TiO2 were red-shifted effectively through increasing Mn content. Alloying chemistry and associated elemental valences were elaborated through combining X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), and theoretical simulation in the framework of density functional theory (DFT). The results showed that the Mn species exhibited mixed valence states of 3+ and 4+ in anatase TiO2, with the latter being the key to remarkable photocatalytic performance