Building a future...An exploration of the contribution of educational provision to clients’ well-being at Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers

This research project builds on previous work, ‘Beneath the Surface’ (Cogo, Inman, McCormack, Rogers 2018) which focussed on how clients at Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers (SDCAS) understood and evaluated their well-being. One of the areas touched on in that research was the role of educational activities in developing the well-being of clients. This report describes in depth the ways in which the educational provision offered in the centre contributes to the well-being of clients and how this contribution might be enhanced. The report focuses on two areas of education provision; gardening and storytelling and explains how they contribute to the well-being of the clients. The interview data confirms that the activities in these two areas help to build clients’ psychological, physical and social resources and have a positive effect on how clients feel and how they function in the world. The report ends with recommendations as to how SDCAS might ensure that gardening and storytelling continue to benefit the well-being of clients and also as to what might be put in place to strengthen the activities

Stories from lockdown: the impact of the Covid19 pandemic on the well-being of clients at Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers (SDCAS)

The report describes the findings of research on how the Covid 19 related lockdowns affected the well-being of clients at the Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers. A small number of clients were interviewed about the practical issues of housing, food, money and about their physical and mental health during the periods of lockdowns. They were also asked about support from the Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers. The report describes the experiences of these clients between March 2020 and March 202

Guidance in social and ethical issues related to clinical, diagnostic care and novel therapies for hereditary neuromuscular rare diseases

Drug trials in children engage with many ethical issues, from drug-related safety concerns to communication with patients and parents, and recruitment and informed consent procedures. This paper addresses the field of neuromuscular disorders where the possibility of genetic, mutation-specific treatments, has added new complexity. Not only must trial design address issues of equity of access, but researchers must also think through the implications of adopting a personalised medicine approach, which requires a precise molecular diagnosis, in addition to other implications of developing orphan drugs. It is against this background of change and complexity that the Project Ethics Council (PEC) was established within the TREAT-NMD EU Network of Excellence. The PEC is a high level advisory group that draws upon the expertise of its interdisciplinary membership which includes clinicians, lawyers, scientists, parents, representatives of patient organisations, social scientists and ethicists. In this paper we describe the establishment and terms of reference of the PEC, give an indication of the range and depth of its work and provide some analysis of the kinds of complex questions encountered. The paper describes how the PEC has responded to substantive ethical issues raised within the TREAT-NMD consortium and how it has provided a wider resource for any concerned parent, patient, or clinician to ask a question of ethical concern. Issues raised range from science related ethical issues, issues related to hereditary neuromuscular diseases and the new therapeutic approaches and questions concerning patients rights in the context of patient registries and bio-banks. We conclude by recommending the PEC as a model for similar research contexts in rare diseases

To what extent has the United Kingdom law on psychoactive substances been successful?

This review examines the law in relation to psychoactive substances and investigating how dangerous they really are and how much the law is required, together with how its enforcement is really impacting on the number of arrests and convictions and its prevalence in prisons. The law that was enforced on the 26th May 2016 across the United Kingdom has been the subject of some criticism, due to questionable gaps within this law, making it difficult to secure convictions. The 'blanket ban' approach has too been questioned, due to its lack of success with other legislations. Whilst this is not the first time a law like this has been enforced, the UK's approach to the global problem, may not be the answer, or if it is following/making the same mistakes other countries have made. The United Kingdom policing system is already under an immense amount of pressure, and whilst the problem on psychoactive substances is clear, the law is not. So, while UK police are enforcing this law, their conviction rates are ceasing to be parallel with the number of arrests. Drugs, classified under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, are prominent in society, even almost fifty year after the legislation came into force. A new approach was adopted to overcome the problem with psychoactive substances, it will not be a surprise if they are too, just as prominent in later years to come

Ecological Effects of Fear: How Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity in Predation Risk Influences Mule Deer Access to Forage in a Sky‐Island System

Forage availability and predation risk interact to affect habitat use of ungulates across many biomes. Within sky‐island habitats of the Mojave Desert, increased availability of diverse forage and cover may provide ungulates with unique opportunities to extend nutrient uptake and/or to mitigate predation risk. We addressed whether habitat use and foraging patterns of female mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) responded to normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), NDVI rate of change (green‐up), or the occurrence of cougars (Puma concolor). Female mule deer used available green‐up primarily in spring, although growing vegetation was available during other seasons. Mule deer and cougar shared similar habitat all year, and our models indicated cougars had a consistent, negative effect on mule deer access to growing vegetation, particularly in summer when cougar occurrence became concentrated at higher elevations. A seemingly late parturition date coincided with diminishing NDVI during the lactation period. Sky‐island populations, rarely studied, provide the opportunity to determine how mule deer respond to growing foliage along steep elevation and vegetation gradients when trapped with their predators and seasonally limited by aridity. Our findings indicate that fear of predation may restrict access to the forage resources found in sky islands

Risks and benefits HIV preexposure prophylaxis with tenofovir/emtricitabine in an older male with comorbidities

Renal toxicity in a 73 year old man using tenofovir/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is described. Reduced renal reserve, a higher exposure to co-medications and co-morbidities can present a challenge when assessing the risks and benefits of tenofovir based PrEP in the ageing population

Shear forming of 304L stainless steel – microstructural aspects

Shear forming is an incremental cold forming process. It transforms 2D plates into 3D structures commonly consisting of conical geometry. Roller(s) push the blank onto a cone-shaped mandrel, resulting in a decrease of the initial thickness. The shear forming process has diverse advantages, such as improved material utilisation, enhanced product characteristics, good surface finish, consistent geometric control and reduced production costs. Shear forming has potential applications in a wide range of conical geometries used within advanced aerospace structures, which are currently manufactured from bulk forgings with high associated machining costs. Research findings related to shear forming have been published over the past two decades, however, important remaining questions have still to be answered, with this paper addressing one such gap associated with the material deformation mechanism. Several studies have demonstrated the impact of key process variables on the final geometry and surface roughness, such as the feeds, roller nose radius and mandrel/roller offset. Although the material outputs are essential, as they link directly with the mechanical properties of the final components, the microstructure and texture of the material after shear forming have rarely been studied. Achieving a greater understanding in this area could reduce the reliance upon mechanical testing to validate the process and ease the exploitation route of the technology into advanced aerospace applications. Firstly, this paper presents the principle of shear forming and its related terminology. Then, a brief overview of the shear forming process including its history and origin is given. The areas of focus are a selection of the main variables encountered within this process which could impact the final properties. The generation of local stresses due to deviations from the sine law, the angle variations, and forces required during the forming operation are also considered. This is explored in the context of forming 304L stainless steel plates

Directions of zero thermal expansion in anisotropic oxides

Figure 13. – Quadric surface visualizing the coefficients of thermal expansion of HfTiO4 at room temperature. Blue is positive, red is negative and yellow represents directions of zero thermal expansion. Oxide materials often have anisotropic crystal structures, which can result in direction-dependent material properties. While they typically have positive coefficients of thermal expansion, it has been observed that some oxide materials can have directions of negative thermal expansion over certain temperature ranges. Such materials, having both positive and negative coefficients of thermal expansion, must also have particular directions in which the thermal expansion is zero. Using the Quadrupole Lamp Furnace (QLF) developed in the Kriven group at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, high-temperature in-situ x-ray diffraction has been performed at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS II) X-ray powder diffraction beamline (XPD – 28-ID) to track directions of zero thermal expansion in orthorhombic HfTiO4. These results have important implications for the design of composites for high-temperature applications. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract