Book review: the price of public intellectuals by Raphael Sassower

Who are our public intellectuals? Are they needed in a democracy? These and other questions are answered in Raphael Sassower’s historically-informed survey of the role of public intellectuals in western democracies. Claire Forbes finds that this is a thought provoking read and will appeal to anyone interested in philosophy, intellectualism and public engagement

Book review: education, work and social change by Robin Simmons, Ron Thompson and Lisa Russell

The number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) is rising to alarming levels across the globe and costing the economy billions. This book is based upon a longitudinal study of the lives of a set of young people in the north of England classified as NEET, or at risk of becoming NEET. Drawing on ethnographic data from over two years of fieldwork, it looks beyond dominant political and media discourses on NEET young people to provide a rich, detailed account of young people’s experiences on the margins of education and employment in post-industrial Britain. Claire Forbes reviews

Playing the game: a study of public relations, politics and the construction of Islam in the UK public sphere.

This doctoral thesis explores the relationship between politics, Islam and the news media in the UK. Using the theory of mediatisation as a framework for understanding media power, it argues that the relationship between politics and the media cannot be fully appreciated without a consideration of the role of public relations practice within it. Drawing on Bourdieusian field theory, it utilises textual analysis and 31 semi-structured interviews with public relations practitioners, representatives of Muslim organisations and others with professional experience of Islam and the media to establish whether public relations can be understood as a distinct field, how it mediates between the political and journalistic fields and what the implications of this might be for Muslim organisations seeking to shape news media content

Risk assessing sexual deviance, including the predictive validity of the Violence Risk Scale for Sexual Offenders (VRS-SO): a systematic review; and, Understanding sexual deviance in risk assessment practice: a criminal justice social worker perspective

BACKGROUND: Sexual deviance is an important risk factor for sexual recidivism that is notoriously difficult to define and therefore to measure in practice. AIMS: The aim of this portfolio is to contribute to the literature regarding the assessment of sexual deviance in forensic practice. Firstly, by reviewing the evidence for an actuarial instrument which presents a sexual deviance domain that shows promising concurrent validity with phallometric measures. Secondly, by qualitatively exploring the experience of those most commonly charged with assessing sexual deviance in practice and capturing how they understand and approach this. METHODS: Systematic review methodology was used to search the literature for the Violence Risk Scale for Sexual Offenders (VRS-SO). The tool presents a total score, static and dynamic scale scores and three dynamic domain scores (Sexual deviance, criminality, and treatment responsivity). Nine studies were included. The risk of bias in these studies was assessed using the Prediction model Risk of Bias Assessment Tool (PROBAST) and their findings synthesised. The researcher adopted a grounded theory approach to capture the experience of 10 Criminal Justice Social Workers (CJSW’s). Data collection and analysis occurred in an iterative cycle to inform the development of a theoretical model representing how they understand and assess sexual deviance as a risk factor. RESULTS: The systematic review suggested that total, dynamic and sexual deviance domain scores had good predictive validity for sexual recidivism. However, these scores were interpreted cautiously within the context of the methodological quality. Qualitative data analysis led to the formation of a theoretical model by which CJSW’s primarily conceptualised sexual deviance as a deviant sexual interest or preference which could act as an underlying motivator for sexual recidivism. The process of assessing this is described and relied predominantly upon repeated patterns of behavioural evidence that spoke to an enduring interest in a victim-group or sexual act over time. CONCLUSIONS: The results of these studies are discussed in the context of the existing literature on sexual deviance and risk assessment. Suggestions for future research are considered alongside implications for clinical practice

Strengthening social work education in mental health: change through inter-professional collaboration

The impacts of mental health issues are widely documented in the literature, and Social Work as a profession is challenged to respond effectively to these issues. Strengthening social work education in mental health is accordingly gaining in importance so as to enable social work students to respond effectively to these challenges through appropriate knowledge, skills, and the ability to apply these in practice. This paper presents one approach towards strengthening social work education as utilised in the 'Social Worker as a Member of a Multidisciplinary Team' project at James Cook University. It is based on the premise that inter-professional education and collaborative process, the research team identified the areas of Competence, Compassion, and Confidence as the areas that need to be strengthened in the curriculum to meet the current needs and standards of professional practice of social workers in mental health; and also identified some methods towards embedding these in the social work curriculum. The paper closes with highlighting the need for such interprofessional collaborations and the synergies that they bring to curriculum development as well as presenting some of the areas of further research that have emerged through the process

Establishing the Effect of Brushing and a Day’s Diet on Tooth Tissue Loss in Vitro

To develop an in vitro model to mimic the effects of meals equivalent to a day’s diet on tooth tissue loss (TTL). To identify how diet effects tooth wear and to test the efficacy of dental products designed to reduce tooth wear in a more realistic environment. A typical Friday diet was devised comprising: Breakfast then brushing, lunch, dinner then brushing. Groups of enamel samples were exposed to one meal, or all three in series, a control group was exposed to water and brushed. The daily cycle was repeated to represent two days’ consumption; TTL was quantified by non-contact profilometry. This pilot study highlighted adaptions that could be made to the model such as human enamel and saliva to further replicate natural eating habits. The sum of the TTL measured after Breakfast, lunch and dinner (bovine enamel specimens exposed to single meals) was less than that exhibited by the group of samples exposed to the series of meals but this difference was not significant (p = 0.09).In the absence and presence of brushing, TTL caused by breakfast and dinner was similar, but significantly greater than that caused by lunch (p < 0.05). While brushing increased TTL, this increase was not significant. It is possible to model a daily diet in vitro, and the data obtained confirms that the combination of food and drink affects the degree of TTL. This supports the further development of an in vitro model that includes alternative foodstuffs. This would aid understanding of the effects different diets have on TTL and could test new products designed to prevent TTL

Time-resolved multi-mass ion imaging: femtosecond UV-VUV pump-probe spectroscopy with the PImMS camera

The Pixel-Imaging Mass Spectrometry (PImMS) camera allows for 3D charged particle imaging measurements, in which the particle time-of-flight is recorded along with $(x,y)$ position. Coupling the PImMS camera to an ultrafast pump-probe velocity-map imaging spectroscopy apparatus therefore provides a route to time-resolved multi-mass ion imaging, with both high count rates and large dynamic range, thus allowing for rapid measurements of complex photofragmentation dynamics. Furthermore, the use of vacuum ultraviolet wavelengths for the probe pulse allows for an enhanced observation window for the study of excited state molecular dynamics in small polyatomic molecules having relatively high ionization potentials. Herein, preliminary time-resolved multi-mass imaging results from C$_2$F$_3$I photolysis are presented. The experiments utilized femtosecond UV and VUV (160.8~nm and 267~nm) pump and probe laser pulses in order to demonstrate and explore this new time-resolved experimental ion imaging configuration. The data indicates the depth and power of this measurement modality, with a range of photofragments readily observed, and many indications of complex underlying wavepacket dynamics on the excited state(s) prepared