Policy to practice: a critical analysis of the ‘valuing people’ strategy

This qualitative investigation set out to analyse the impact of ‘Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century’ (DH, 2001) on the lives of people with profound intellectual and multiple impairments (PIMD) and their family carers. Data was drawn from three distinct sources. The investigation began with a critical discourse analysis of Valuing People (VP). The findings informed the development of a semi-structured interview schedule for use with family carers caring for an adult with PIMD. It was deemed important to the study to include an individual with PIMD in as meaningful manner as possible. Therefore, following careful ethical deliberations, filmed excerpts of a woman with PIMD engaged in aspects of her daily routine, representing the main themes of VP, were used to elicit focus group discussions with paid care workers in different parts of London. The findings from the different data sources were triangulated, highlighting how a focus on a social model of disability in VP excluded those with PIMD. This neglect was confirmed and elaborated by the family carers and also the paid care workers. The findings further highlighted deficiencies in the volume and nature of provision of appropriately skilled staff, the availability of specialist services and residential respite for families. There was also a general feeling that things had not improved and much concern about the future. The film elicitations demonstrated the use of VP language among care workers but with little understanding of the concepts of rights, independence, choice and inclusion. By situating this hermeneutic exploration within a critical approach, the main findings have demonstrated the manner in which people with PIMD are marginalised within the policy, rather than having their differences recognized and ultimately their needs met

Method of identifying clusters representing statistical dependencies in multivariate data

Approach is first to cluster and then to compute spatial boundaries for resulting clusters. Next step is to compute, from set of Monte Carlo samples obtained from scrambled data, estimates of probabilities of obtaining at least as many points within boundaries as were actually observed in original data

Nature Dis-Graced and Grace De-Natured: The Problematic of the Augustinian Doctrine of Grace for Contemporary Theology

Contemporary theologians, as one of their number has commented, have turned from a theology of the Word to a theology of the world. After a period during the first half of the twentieth century in which theologians concerned themselves primarily with questions of their discipline\u27s identity and character, they have in recent years turned to address as a matter of first principle the physical, the social, and the political issues in the world about them. In the course of this effort to shift theological direction, a number of fundamental issues have been raised which have yet to be fully examined. Perhaps the most urgent of these is the problematic of the western doctrine of grace. If contemporary theologians wish to develop a theology of the world, it is imperative that they come to grips with the fact that the soteriological categories of our western traditions offer precious little help in doing so. For the western doctrine of grace has concerned itself almost exclusively with the \u27innerness\u27 or the \u27soul\u27 of the individual, and has but rarely addressed itself to human being or human society or the material world as a whole. In point of fact, basic to the western doctrine has been the distinction between the world as a whole and salvation, i.e., between nature and grace a distinction which has had disastrous results , in that it has led to God and world\u27 and creation and redemption being torn asunder. If a theology of the world is ever to be developed, therefore, this disjunction, indeed, this virtual contradiction between \u27God and world\u27 and between creation and redemption in our thinking and doing must be addressed anew. This article seeks to begin to do so, first, by examining the theology of Augustine, the source of this western doctrine with its axiomatic separation of grace from nature, secondly, by exploring how that separation has characterized the western theological tradition, and third, by suggesting that Augustine himself points to a possible way beyond that separation through a theology of the Holy Spirit

Evaluation of Toxicity of a Carbamate and an Organophosphate Insecticide to Adult and Larval Western Corn Rootworm, Diabrotica Virgifera Leconte

The western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera LeCcnte, has caused great economic loss to the com producers of the Midwest. That economic loss is twofold: first, the loss of revenue due to insect damage and second, the cost of control measures. It has been estimated that in South Dakota in 1972, approximately $9,000,000 were lost to the insect. The rootworm complex in South Dakota is composed of the western and northern, D. longicomis, corn rootworms. In later years the western has become the primary pest in the complex. The resistance to chemicals by corn rootworms has compounded the problem of holding in check one of the major pests of com in South Dakota. Cultural controls, especially crop rotation, were first recommended for control of the insect. Ball and Weekman stated that in the early l950\u27s, aldrin, chlordane, and heptachlor were recommended for control of the insect larva. By 1959 ineffective control of the rootworm larvae was noted where there were corn-on-corn growing practices, irrigation, and continual use of the chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides. The western com rootworm had become resistant to these chemicals. With the development of the resistance to the chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides new chemicals were sought; diazinon, an organophosphate insecticide, was one of these. However, Ball in Nebraska soon reported that rootworms were becoming resistant to diazinon. From 1963 to 1967 an increase of 66.1% in dosage was needed to obtain the same control. Since the western corn rootworm had become resistant to chemical insecticides and more entomologists were monitoring resistance, the Entomological Society of America in 1970 published a tentative method for detection of insecticide resistance. In 1972, the same organization published a second paper setting standard methods for detection of resistance in Diabrotica and Hypera beetles. In both publications it was noted that limited data was available concerning the possibility of resistance occurring in both the larvae and the adults. It is the purpose of this research to determine if any differences do occur in LD50 values for a carbamate and an organophosphate insecticide on adults and larvae of the western corn rootworm, and to investigate the possibility of the western corn rootworm becoming resistant to these same chemicals

A Study of Enrollment Trends in Accredited Vocational Programs in Small Schools in North Central Washington

Vocational enrollment trends of small school districts in North Central Washington were studied. Seven school districts located in Okanogan, Douglas and Chelan counties were charted. The data provided by the Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction show individual program enrollment as well as total vocational enrollment compared to total high school enrollment. The results support the hypothesis that small schools\u27 vocational enrollment remains constant with regard to high school enrollment. Recommendations were made for further studies, to include a more in-depth study of large schools as well as the smaller schools