A profile of UK doctoral candidates in social work and social care

One important indication of the strength of a discipline is the state of its doctoral research. An important milestone for the official recognition of social work in the UK has been its inclusion in Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) doctoral funding schemes. The current study assesses the longer-term impact of these schemes, via a 2013 survey, following up a previous one in 2008. A web-based survey of social work doctoral candidates in the UK (n = 216) was conducted, to profile student demographics, research topics, methods, challenges of and supports for doctoral work. Most doctoral candidates (70 per cent) were using a primarily qualitative research strategy and only 4 per cent were using a primarily quantitative approach. Social work doctoral candidates were slightly less satisfied with their research degree programme than the general population of doctoral students. Key areas of similarity with the 2008 survey included the demographical profile (gender, age, ethnicity) and the percentage who were qualified social workers; key differences included increased percentages of candidates who were registered full time, funded by the ESRC and doing a Ph.D., as opposed to a professional doctorate. The findings highlight a need for capacity building in quantitative research methods and improved support for this academic community

A Perturbation Theory for Ergodic Markov Chains and Application to Numerical Approximations

Perturbations to Markov chains and Markov processes are considered. The unperturbed problem is assumed to be geometrically ergodic in the sense usually established through the use of Foster--Lyapunov drift conditions. The perturbations are assumed to be uniform, in a weak sense, on bounded time intervals. The long-time behavior of the perturbed chain is studied. Applications are given to numerical approximations of a randomly impulsed ODE, an Itô stochastic differential equation (SDE), and a parabolic stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) subject to space-time Brownian noise. Existing perturbation theories for geometrically ergodic Markov chains are not readily applicable to these situations since they require very stringent hypotheses on the perturbations

Enhanced pump absorption in double-clad fibres using localised laser-machined mode scramblers

A novel method for improving pump absorption efficiency in circular double-clad fibres by laser machining localised pump scramblers at strategic positions along the fibre is reported. Preliminary results for a thulium-doped double-clad fibre indicate that the pump absorption coefficient attainable via this approach is comparable to an equivalent octagonal fibre

Mathematical modelling of adjuvant-enhanced active ingredient leaf uptake of pesticides

The global importance of effective and affordable pesticides to optimise crop yield and to support health of our growing population cannot be understated. But to develop new products or refine existing ones in response to climate and environmental changes is both time-intensive and expensive which is why the agrochemical industry is increasingly interested in using mechanistic models as part of their formulation development toolbox. In this work, we develop such a model to describe uptake of pesticide spray droplets across the leaf surface. We simplify the leaf structure by identifying the outer cuticle as the main barrier to uptake; the result is a novel, hybrid model in which two well-mixed compartments are separated by a membrane in which we describe the spatio-temporal distribution of the pesticide. This leads to a boundary value partial differential equation problem coupled to a pair of ordinary differential equation systems which we solve numerically. We also simplify the pesticide formulation into two key components: the Active Ingredient which produces the desired effect of the pesticide and an Adjuvant which is present in the formulation to facilitate effective absorption of the Active Ingredient into the leaf. This approach gives rise to concentration-dependent diffusion. We take an intuitive approach to parameter estimation using a small experimental data set and subsequently demonstrate the importance of the concentration-dependent diffusion in replicating the data. Finally, we demonstrate the need for further work to identify how the physicochemical properties of pesticides affect flow into and across the leaf surface

Unsung heroes: who supports social work students on placement?

Since the introduction of the three year degree programme in 2003, social work education has undergone a number of significant changes. The time students spend on placement has been increased to two hundred days, and the range of placement opportunities and the way in which these placements have been configured has significantly diversified. A consistent feature over the years, however, has been the presence of a Practice Educator (PE) who has guided, assessed and taught the student whilst on placement. Unsurprisingly, the role of the PE and the pivotal relationship they have with the student has been explored in the past and features in social work literature. This paper, however, concentrates on a range of other relationships which are of significance in providing support to students on placement. In particular it draws on research to discuss the role of the university contact tutor, the place of the wider team in which the student is sited, and the support offered by family, friends and others. Placements and the work undertaken by PE’s will continue to be integral to the delivery of social work education. It is, however, essential to recognise and value the often over looked role of others in providing support to students on placement

The long-term psycho-social impact of the pandemic on people with intellectual disability and their carers

Background: People with intellectual disabilities (PWID) are at six times higher risk of death due to COVID-19. To mitigate harm, as a high-risk group, significant social changes were imposed on PWID in the UK. Alongside these changes, the uncertainty of the pandemic influence, caused PWID and their carers to encounter significant stress. The evidence of the pandemic’s psycho-social impact on PWID originates mainly from cross-sectional surveys conducted with professionals and carers. There is little research on the longitudinal psycho-social impact of the pandemic from PWID themselves. Aims: To examine the long-term psycho-social impact of the pandemic on PWID. Methods: A cross-sectional survey, following STROBE guidance, of 17 Likert scale statements (12 to PWID and 5 to their carers) to ascertain the pandemic’s psychosocial impact was conducted. Every other PWID open to a specialist Intellectual Disability service serving half a UK County (pop:500,000) was selected. The same survey was re-run with the same cohort a year later. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney, Chi-square and unpaired-t tests were used to compare responses. Significance is taken at p &lt; .05. Comments were analysed using Clarke and Braun’s approach. Results: Of 250 PWID contacted, 100 (40%) responded in 2020 and 127 (51%) in 2021. 69% (2020) and 58% (2021) reported seeking medical support. Carers, (88%, 2020 and 90%, 2021) noticed emotional changes in PWID they cared for. 13% (2020) and 20% (2021) of PWID had their regular psychotropics increased. 21% (2020) and 24% (2021) had their pro re nata (PRN) medication adjusted. PWID or carers demonstrated no statistically significant variation in responses between themselves from 2020 to 2021. PWID were more likely to report being upset/distressed compared to their carers’ perceptions of them in both years ( p &lt; .001). Four themes were identified. Conclusion: This longitudinal study highlights the diverse psycho-social impact of the pandemic on PWID in the UK. The Pandemic’s psycho-social impact has been significantly underestimated. </jats:sec

Developing effective practice learning for tomorrow's social workers

This paper considers some of the changes in social work education in the UK, particularly focusing on practice learning in England. The changes and developments are briefly identified and examined in the context of what we know about practice learning. The paper presents some findings from a small scale qualitative study of key stakeholders involved in practice learning and education in social work and their perceptions of these anticipated changes, which are revisited at implementation. The implications for practice learning are discussed

A New Corpus to Support Text Mining for the Curation of Metabolites in the ChEBI Database

We present a new corpus of 200 abstracts and 100 full text papers which have been annotated with named entities and relations in the biomedical domain as part of the OpenMinTeD project. This corpus facilitates the goal in OpenMinTeD of making text and data mining accessible to the users who need it most. We describe the process we took to annotate the corpus with entities (Metabolite, Chemical, Protein, Species, Biological Activity and Spectral Data) and relations (Isolated From, Associated With, Binds With and Metabolite Of ). We report inter-annotator agreement (using F-score) for entities of between 0.796 and 0.892 using a strict matching protocol and between 0.875 and 0.963 using a relaxed matching protocol. For relations we report inter annotator agreement of between 0.591 and 0.693 using a strict matching protocol and between 0.744 and 0.793 using a relaxed matching protocol. We describe how this corpus can be used within ChEBI to facilitate text and data mining and how the integration of this work with the OpenMinTeD text and data mining platform will aid curation of ChEBI and other biomedical databases