Pressure Drop: Securitising and De-Securitising Safeguarding

This article explores how securitization theory is mobilised in contemporary social work discourse, policy and practice. We draw on recent child protection research to support our claim that a new practice issue, described previously as securitised safeguarding, has emerged. We demonstrate its emergence using securitization theory as a conceptual mode of analysis to describe how a securitised safeguarding response depicts particular families as an existential threat, which in turn, prompts a response characterised by forms of muscular liberalism. We argue that this emerging practice issue requires critical consideration and suggest it will have a significant impact on social work; one that is unlikely to be beneficial for the profession and more importantly, families being worked with. By describing a process of de-securitisation, we offer an alternative and more nuanced approach, that perceives families holistically, and mobilises a welfare safeguarding model. This more closely resembles traditional social work values of emancipation, liberation and empowerment within social work practice

Soils and Vegetation of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Route: A 1999 Survey

This report presents the results of a survey of soil s and vegetation along the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) right-o f-way (ROW) from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, Alaska. This survey, conducted in the summer of 1999, was designed to secure an overall perspective of the soil fertility and general vegetation conditions in the ROW and in the undisturbed habitat immediately adjacent to the ROW. Researchers examined 52 sites along the 800-mile ROW, which crosses three vegetation zones: tundra, alpine, and boreal (includes coastal forest). Soil samples were collected for laboratory analysis of plant nutrients, vascular plant species were inventoried, and photographs were taken at each site. This information can be used to assess the impacts of TAPS on vegetation and the success or failure of revegetation efforts performed during pipeline construction in the 1970s and to make recommendations for revegetation of future disturbed areas in regions similar to the TAPS ROW. The Federal Agreement and Grant of Right-of-Way for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System requires that seeding and planting of disturbed areas be conducted as soon as practicable and, if necessary, repeated until vegetation was successful. As a res ult , a reasdisturbed during pipe line construction were revegetated by seeding grasses and fertilizing soil s and by planting willow cuttings and transplants from natural sources and greenhouse production. Seeding and fertilizing were the most extensively used applications along the route. Transpl anted trees and shrubs were used where the pipeline crossed public roads, in order to shield the view of the open ROW from the highway. Native and non-native grasses were seeded. As a res ult, some weeds were introduced and grasses were established, some of which have persisted

Identification of phenological stages and vegetative types for land use classification

The author has identified the following significant results. Recent signature identification and refinement techniques indicate that with automated classification of MSS CCT data commercial stands of cottonwood and white spruce can be identified with 80% accuracy in the Bonanza Creek experimental forest. Since that forest is representative of the vast interior Alaska forests, this finding has substantial economic importance to public and private forestry interests in Alaska

Retesting visual fields: Utilizing prior information to decrease test-retest variability in glaucoma

PURPOSE. To determine whether sensitivity estimates from an individual's previous visual field tests can be incorporated into perimetric procedures to improve accuracy and reduce test-retest variability at subsequent visits. METHODS. Computer simulation was used to determine the error, distribution of errors and presentation count for a series of perimetric algorithms. Baseline procedures were Full Threshold and Zippy Estimation by Sequential Testing (ZEST). Retest strategies were (1) allowing ZEST to continue from the previous test without reinitializing the probability density function [pdf], (2) running ZEST with a Gaussian pdf centered about the previous result; (3) retest minimizing uncertainty (REMU), a new procedure combining suprathreshold and ZEST procedures incorporating prior test information. Empiric visual field data of 265 control and 163 patients with glaucoma were input into the simulation. Four error conditions were modeled: patients who make no errors, 15% false-positive (FP) with 3% false-negative (FN) errors, 15% FN with 3% FP errors, and 20% FP with 20% FN errors. RESULTS. If sensitivity was stable from test to retest, an the retest algorithms were faster than the baseline algorithms by, on average, one presentation per location and are significantly more accurate (P < 0.05). When visual fields changed from test to retest, REMU was faster and more accurate than the other retest approaches and the baseline procedures. Relative to the baseline procedures, REMU showed decreased test-retest variability in impaired regions of Visual field. CONCLUSIONS. The obvious approaches to retest, such as continuing the previous procedure or seeding with previous values, have limitations when sensitivity changes between tests. REMU, however, significantly improves both accuracy and precision of testing and displays minimal bias, even when fields change and patients make errors

Fertilizing and Seeding Oil-damaged Arctic Tundra to Effect Vegetation Recovery Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Vegetational recovery from an accidental oil spill on a wet tundra site at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, was studied during six growing seasons. The spilled oil consisted of 22° API gravity, Prudhoe Bay crude from which diesel and heating oil fractions had been removed by a topping process. Damages from the winter spill ranged from killing the moss layer and above-grounds parts of vascular plants to killing all the macroflora. Damage to the oil sensitive mosses persisted throughout the study even in lightly oiled areas. Test plots where commercial phosphorus fertilizers had been applied were an exception to this. Moss cover began re-establishing during the first growing season with phosphorus fertilization and continued to improve thereafter. Growth of sedges and grasses, not killed by the oil, was significantly enhanced by phosphorus fertilizations, even though oil persisted in the soil. Revegetation attempts in a barren area during the fourth growing season after the spill resulted in establishing Puccinellia borealis (alkaligrass) seedlings and mosses in phosphorus-fertilized plots. Neither nitrogen nor potassium fertilizers alone and combined with each other improved growth of either resident or seeded plant species on the spill area. The more significant response was to phosphorus

Identification of phenological stages and vegetative types for land use classification

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Effects of Burning Crude Oil Spilled Onto Six Habitat Types in Alaska

The effects on vegetational recovery of removing spilled Prudhoe Bay crude oil from terrestrial sites by burning were observed at three Alaskan locations; Palmer, Fairbanks, and Prudhoe Bay. Five habitat types were studied: 1) abandoned agricultural grass field, 2) the high-brush stage in the secondary succession of interior Alaskan spruce forests, 3) sedge meadow, 4) spruce forest, and 5) wet and mesic arctic tundra. Oil burning was carried out on snow during winter, during the summer growing season and in autumn as soils were freezing. Burning in summer during the growing season was much more detrimental to plant survival than winter burning. Significant amounts of dormant or near dormant vegetation survived hot burns in September where the soil was frozen to a depth of at least four centimeters. Burning spilled oils on frozen soil surfaces at all three locations affected subsequent plant survival less than when soil surfaces were thawed. Plant dormancy, reduced soil permeability, high soil moisture levels and low soil temperatures were the most probable factors contributing to plants surviving oil spills and burns. Heating during the burn failed to raise soil temperatures to levels in the upper soil zone lethal to the perennating buds of grasses and forbs. Spilled oil, permitted to stand (aged), ignited with difficulty or not at all, suggesting the effects of volatilization on combustion potential. Oil that soaked into surface mats of organic matter was also impossible to burn. Attempts to ignite oil spilled on snow during winter at Prudhoe Bay were unsuccessful, possibly because strong winds were rapidly removing volatile fractions. Certain herbaceous plants were relatively unharmed, either by the oil or burning when dormant. Limited damage occurred in winter if the oil was burned immediately after spilling. Delaying burning of oil either 48 hrs or one month after spilling significantly decreased plant survival. In woody vegetation types, plant survival improved slightly where oil was removed by burning. Woody species apparently survived burning and oiling and regrew from stump sprouts. There were two extremes and no intermediate burning situations. Fires either burned rapidly and hot or were impossible to ignite. Heavy black smoke produced during the rapid burns was soon dissipated by light breezes

PREVENT, Safeguarding and the Common-Sensing of Social Work in the UK

INTRODUCTION: The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (2015) passed in the United Kingdom (UK) made it mandatory for social workers, as well as a wide range of caring professionals, to work within the PREVENT policy, originally introduced in 2002, as one strand of the UK’s overall counter-terrorism policy. METHOD: The paper offers a theoretical account of how complex issues, like terrorism, that understandably impact on the safety and security of countries, are reduced to a series of assertions, claims and panics that centre on the notion of common sense. IMPLICATIONS: We theorise the concept of common sense and argue that such rhetorical devices have become part of the narrative that surrounds the PREVENT agenda in the UK, which co-opts social workers (and other public servants) into an increasingly securitised environment within the state. In other words, the appeal to common sense stifles critical debate, makes it hard to raise concerns and positions debates in a binary manner. We use the example of how there has been a decisive linking of traditional safeguarding social work practice with counter-terrorism activity. CONCLUSIONS: We posit that linkages such as this serve to advance a more closed society, resulting in a “chilling” of free speech, an increase in surveillance and the unchecked advancement of a neoliberal political agenda which promotes economic considerations over issues of social justice. This we argue, has implications for not only the UK, but for other countries where social workers are increasingly being tasked with counter-terrorism activities

Knowledge/geometry-based Mobile Autonomous Robot Simulator (KMARS)

Ongoing applied research is focused on developing guidance system for robot vehicles. Problems facing the basic research needed to support this development (e.g., scene understanding, real-time vision processing, etc.) are major impediments to progress. Due to the complexity and the unpredictable nature of a vehicle's area of operation, more advanced vehicle control systems must be able to learn about obstacles within the range of its sensor(s). A better understanding of the basic exploration process is needed to provide critical support to developers of both sensor systems and intelligent control systems which can be used in a wide spectrum of autonomous vehicles. Elcee Computek, Inc. has been working under contract to the Flight Dynamics Laboratory, Wright Research and Development Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio to develop a Knowledge/Geometry-based Mobile Autonomous Robot Simulator (KMARS). KMARS has two parts: a geometry base and a knowledge base. The knowledge base part of the system employs the expert-system shell CLIPS ('C' Language Integrated Production System) and necessary rules that control both the vehicle's use of an obstacle detecting sensor and the overall exploration process. The initial phase project has focused on the simulation of a point robot vehicle operating in a 2D environment

Herd-level risk factors associated with the presence of Phage type 21/28 E. coli O157 on Scottish cattle farms

<p>Background: E. coli O157 is a bacterial pathogen that is shed by cattle and can cause severe disease in humans. Phage type (PT) 21/28 is a subtype of E. coli O157 that is found across Scotland and is associated with particularly severe human morbidity.</p> <p>Methods: A cross-sectional survey of Scottish cattle farms was conducted in the period Feb 2002-Feb 2004 to determine the prevalence of E. coli O157 in cattle herds. Data from 88 farms on which E. coli O157 was present were analysed using generalised linear mixed models to identify risk factors for the presence of PT 21/28 specifically.</p> <p>Results: The analysis identified private water supply, and northerly farm location as risk factors for PT 21/28 presence. There was a significant association between the presence of PT 21/28 and an increased number of E. coli O157 positive pat samples from a farm, and PT 21/28 was significantly associated with larger E. coli O157 counts than non-PT 21/28 E. coli O157.</p> <p>Conclusion: PT 21/28 has significant risk factors that distinguish it from other phage types of E. coli O157. This finding has implications for the control of E. coli O157 as a whole and suggests that control could be tailored to target the locally dominant PT.</p&gt