An exploratory study: Investigating the socio-political and personal factors influencing social work decision-making in child exploitation cases in England

This thesis adds to the growing body of research relating to the sexual and criminal exploitation of young people in the extrafamilial context. The issue of child exploitation is a relatively recent development in child protection in England. Though a range of studies have explored young people’s experiences and the effectiveness of professional interventions, there remains a limited focus on the role of the social worker as the lead safeguarding professional. This study argues that social workers hold a unique position in safeguarding young people at risk of child exploitation because of the legal duties bestowed on local authorities and their social workers. Using constructivist grounded theory techniques, this study explores influences on social work decision-making. The research presents primary data from two contrasting local authorities in England. The research activities included the analysis of fifteen social work case files, where child sexual or criminal exploitation was a principal concern. The findings from the case file analysis were subsequently shared and developed further during two focus groups. The twelve research participants attending the focus groups were qualified social workers. The study found that practices usually associated with traditional social work (including bureaucratic and managerialist systems) also influenced social work decision-making in the emerging area of child exploitation. The prescriptive nature of such practices routinely prioritised professionals’ views over those of young people, undermining opportunities for participation. Additionally, the study argues that a gender-biased approach to social work legislation and policy development has placed boys and young men, particularly Black boys and young men, at an increased risk of receiving a compromised safeguarding response. This thesis is exploratory and systems-based in its contribution. It explores influences on social workers via their interactions with young people, multi-agency colleagues, managers, and the social work profession. While this thesis aims to contribute towards developments in social work research, policy and practice, the findings may also interest other professionals working in child exploitation

Sub-femtosecond electron bunches created by direct laser acceleration in a laser wakefield accelerator with ionization injection

In this work, we will show through three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that direct laser acceleration in laser a wakefield accelerator can generate sub-femtosecond electron bunches. Two simulations were done with two laser pulse durations, such that the shortest laser pulse occupies only a fraction of the first bubble, whereas the longer pulse fills the entire first bubble. In the latter case, as the trapped electrons moved forward and interacted with the high intensity region of the laser pulse, micro-bunching occurred naturally, producing 0.5 fs electron bunches. This is not observed in the short pulse simulation.Comment: AAC 201

Anglo-American Relations Before 1580

Paper read before the Historical Society of the Rice Institute on April 12, 195

The population of hot subdwarf stars studied with Gaia II. The Gaia DR2 catalogue of hot subluminous stars

Based on data from the ESA Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) and several ground-based, multi-band photometry surveys we compiled an all-sky catalogue of $39\,800$ hot subluminous star candidates selected in Gaia DR2 by means of colour, absolute magnitude and reduced proper motion cuts. We expect the majority of the candidates to be hot subdwarf stars of spectral type B and O, followed by blue horizontal branch stars of late B-type (HBB), hot post-AGB stars, and central stars of planetary nebulae. The contamination by cooler stars should be about $10\%$. The catalogue is magnitude limited to Gaia $G<19\,{\rm mag}$ and covers the whole sky. Except within the Galactic plane and LMC/SMC regions, we expect the catalogue to be almost complete up to about $1.5\,{\rm kpc}$. The main purpose of this catalogue is to serve as input target list for the large-scale photometric and spectroscopic surveys which are ongoing or scheduled to start in the coming years. In the long run, securing a statistically significant sample of spectroscopically confirmed hot subluminous stars is key to advance towards a more detailed understanding of the latest stages of stellar evolution for single and binary stars.Comment: 13 pages, A&A, accepte

Humor and Invective in Early Tudor Polemic Prose

Paper by Dr. T. N. Mars

Analysis of B and Be Star Populations of the Double Cluster h and chi Persei

We present blue optical spectra of 92 members of h and chi Per obtained with the WIYN telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. From these spectra, several stellar parameters were measured for the B-type stars, including V sin i, T_eff, log g_polar, M_star, and R_star. Stromgren photometry was used to measure T_eff and log g_polar for the Be stars. We also analyze photometric data of cluster members and discuss the near-to-mid IR excesses of Be stars.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in the proceedings of IAU Symposium 266: Star Cluster

A STRUCTURAL-EQUATION GME ESTIMATOR

A generalized maximum entropy estimator is developed for the linear simultaneous equations systems model. We provide results on large and small sample properties of the estimator. Empirical results illustrate efficiency advantages of the generalized maximum entropy estimator proposed in this study over traditional estimators (e.g., 2SLS and 3SLS).Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Studies of Intestinal Lymphoid Tissue. XI – The Immunopathology of Cell-Mediated Reactions in Gluten Sensitivity and Other Enteropathies

Computerised image-analysis was used to quantitate small intestinal mucosae from celiac sprue and dermatitis herpetiformis patients, Gambian children with tropical-sprue-like malabsorption, first-degree celiac sprue relatives, and treated celiac sprue patients during challenge with a peptic-tryptic digest of gluten. A wide range of mucosal appearances was observed. Typically, \u27flat\u27 lesions (Type 2) revealed a reduced number of epithelial lymphocytes that were large and mitotically active. At the other extreme, mucosal architecture was relatively well preserved (Type 1) but surface epithelium contained an expanded population of small, non-mitotic lymphocytes, with or without crypt hyperplasia. Similar changes were observed in one-third of celiac relatives and following small dose gluten challenge. Larger dose challenges revealed a transition from Type 1 to Type 2 lesions over a 5-day period. Studies in a few patients over 2-4 years showed a similar type of progression. A major feature of this sequence was early appearance of crypt hypertrophy while villi persisted, indicating a role for factors other than increased loss of enterocytes from surface epithelium. These changes parallel the T lymphocyte-mediated events in graft-versus-host reactions in animals. It is thus concluded that the spectrum of immunopathologic changes observed in gluten sensitivity is fundamentally a cell-mediated effect, the degree of change being controlled by host genetic factors. In becoming flat, it appears obligatory for the mucosa to evolve through the earlier Type 1 lesion in which crypt hypertrophy is a prominent response

The Grassmannian Sigma Model in SU(2) Yang-Mills Theory

Spin-charge separation in pure SU(2) Yang-Mills theory was recently found to involve the dynamics of an O(3) non-linear sigma model and, seemingly, a Grassmannian non-linear sigma model. In this article we explicitly construct the Grassmannian sigma model of the form appearing in the the spin-charge separated SU(2) theory through a quaternionic decomposition of the manifold, thus verifying its relevance in this context. The coupling between this model and the O(3) non-linear sigma model is further commented upon.Comment: 11 pages, undergraduate research project; version published in J. Phys.