Understanding the use of the Common Assessment Framework: exploring the implications for frontline professionals

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.Current legislation, within England, states that local authorities should provide services for all those families in need, while also setting thresholds for access to these services. However, research has identified that regardless of the introduction of strategies to identify need and enhance family support, on-going barriers to services remain. This study took a social constructionist approach to explore professionals’ experiences of the use of the Common Assessment Framework form and multiagency working. Data were collected in four different local authorities in the South East of England, in two phases: phase one February 2011 to February 2012, phase two July to September 2014. Phase one was intended to focus on the experiences of both professionals and families in one Local Authority (LA). However, as a result of a difficulty in accessing families the research was refocused to professionals’ experiences and use of the CAF alone. Phase two was extended to three further LAs. Forty one professionals, from a variety of agencies, took part in semistructured interviews individually or in a group. Data were analysed utilising thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke 2006). Conclusions are from a small scale study and so cannot be generalised. However, findings suggested professional use of the CAF was dictated by local authority policy. Two issues emanated from this. Firstly, as the local authorities adopted the policy of utilising the CAF as a referral mechanism, rather than for its intended purpose, to assess needs, professionals perceived the CAF form as a referral tool, rather than an assessment tool. Secondly, the range of professionals utilising the CAF was diverse. This diversity necessitates suitable training to accommodate the various professionals and their backgrounds. However, in this study, such training was largely lacking. Additionally professionals found multi-agency working, required by the CAF process, problematic, time consuming, and onerous. However, experienced and knowledgeable professionals were seen to utilise creative ways in which to successfully navigate the ‘referral process’. A further finding of the study is that there were key differences in regard to the ways in which diverse professional groups view safeguarding for adolescents. Recommendations for future research, policy and local authority use of the CAF form have been made

Forty years of malaria control and Zululand

The epidemiology of malaria in Natal and Zululand before the introduction of insecticides is discussed. The present control measures are outlined. The danger of malaria being reintroduced is always present. It is stressed that the greatest threat stems from illegal immigrants, seasonal workers, and social events along the borders. The cooperation of all doctors, hospitals, and laboratories concerned with the diagnosis of malaria is solicited.S. Afr. Med. J. 48, 1168 (1974)

The intelligentsia is dead, long live the intelligentsia! Alexander Solzhenitsyn on soviet dissidence and a new spiritual elite

This article explores the peculiar intermeshing of continuity and discontinuity in Russian culture through the prism of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s essay, Obrazovanshchina (The Smatterers). Written in 1974 for the collective volume Iz-pod glyb (From Under the Rubble), Solzhenitsyn drew on arguments advanced by contributors to the famous pre-revolutionary work, Vekhi (Landmarks, 1909), both as a polemical tool to distance himself from his immediate contemporary rivals and as a template in his bid to establish a new spiritual elite in Brezhnev’s Soviet Russia. This article suggests that if one intention of Solzhenitsyn’s essay was to declare an irrevocable break with the culture of the pre-revolutionary intelligentsia tradition, the discursive tools he used to do this (intertextual devices, ad hominem polemics, selective historical and ideological narratives) remained firmly anchored within that tradition.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

New Zealand’s Thin Capitalisation Rules and the Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards in New Zealand

In response to Australia’s decision to adopt international financial reporting standards (IFRSs) from 2005, New Zealand has subsequently decided to follow. New Zealand reporting entities are required to adopt IFRSs from 2007 with the option of early adoption from 2005. As New Zealand is one of many jurisdictions where different rules are employed to determine income for financial reporting and tax purposes, it would seem to a casual observer that the adoption of IFRSs in New Zealand is unlikely to have any income tax implications for New Zealand companies. This is not entirely correct. There are links between financial reporting standards and the determination of taxable income under New Zealand income tax law in respect of certain matters. One such area is the application of the New Zealand thin capitalisation rules in subpart FG of the Income Tax Act 2004. The rules rely upon values taken from a taxpayer’s financial statements to determine the taxpayer’s debt percentage and consequently the extent to which a deduction for interest expense will be apportioned. Therefore the adoption of IFRSs in New Zealand potentially could affect a taxpayer’s New Zealand tax liability if the thin capitalisation rules have application. This paper seeks to examine the changes in IFRS and their impact on the New Zealand thin capitalisation provisions. In particular it will examine the changes in the IFRS Standards concerning the measurement and valuation of assets and the effect on the safe harbour provisions. In addition, the paper will consider the implications for tax advisers and their clients in complying with the new standards and the transitional issues involved

Static Multiple-Sample NMR Probe

A static solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probe includes multiple probe subunits each configured for holding a sample. Each probe subunit includes at least an associated magic angle spinning (MAS) module, a radio-frequency (RF) coil and an RF transmission line together defining an RF circuit. Each of the multiple probe subunits is individually held in a conducting housing isolating the RF circuit of the each of the probe subunit from any other of the plurality of probe subunits. The static solid-state NMR probe may include four or more probe subunits including four or more MAS modules

Engineering of a thermostable alcohol dehydrogenase towards imine reduction

The enantioselective reduction of carbon-nitrogen double bonds is a powerful tool for accessing chiral secondary amines. These are important building blocks in the production of many high-added value chemicals, with an estimated 40-45 % of all pharmaceuticals and 20 % of agrochemicals containing a chiral amine intermediate. However, most of their current methods of manufacture are inefficient and wasteful. As a consequence, there is an interest to develop better synthetic routes to chiral amines based on the use of catalytic technologies and of atom efficient reagents. One approach is with the use of enzymes, due to their high activities and selectivities, mild reaction conditions and their renewable origin. The enzymatic reduction of imines is a relatively recent area of research, and the known imine reductases (IREDs) have low activities and limited substrate scope. The research presented here investigates new routes to make imine reduction biocatalysts, whereby an alcohol dehydrogenase is used as a starting point to engineer reaction promiscuity. These enzymes catalyse the reduction of a similar functionality, the carbon-oxygen double bond. The mode of substrate activation differs between the two enzymes: a Brønsted acid is used in imine reductases, while a zinc(II) Lewis acid is used in alcohol dehydrogenases. The well-characterised thermostable alcohol dehydrogenase from Thermus sp. ATN1 (TADH) was selected, due to its broad substrate range and stability. Docking studies with selected imines suggested that these substrates could be accommodated in the hydrophobic binding pocket. Both imines and amines were shown to act as mixed inhibitors of the native TADH activity, and it was suggested that inhibition occurred due to binding elsewhere in the active site. Three approaches were investigated towards the engineering the TADH active site to avoid inhibition and promote imine activation, based on both genetic and chemical modifications. First, sixteen zinc-devoid TADH mutants containing aspartic acid or tyrosine at selected positions within the active site were created, in an effort to mimic the key features found in existing imine IREDs. Whilst ketone reduction activity was abolished in these mutants, no imine reduction activity could be restored. Second, a chemical modification approach was proposed, involving the replacement of the catalytic zinc(II) ion by a rhodium(I), which is known to activate imines in synthetic catalysts. Zinc was successfully removed from the active site to yield apo-TADH, as shown by the absence of catalytic activity. Rhodium(I) was observed to non-selectively bind to apo-TADH and to restore a small degree of native activity, however no imine reduction activity was observed. Finally, a novel iridium(III) complex containing a nicotinamide-functionalised N-heterocyclic carbene ligand was designed and synthesised. This complex was capable of performing transfer hydrogenation of an aromatic ketone and an aromatic imine, in both organic and aqueous conditions. An increased activity was observed for the imine compared to the ketone in aqueous media employing sodium formate as the hydride source. Inhibition studies showed that the Ir-catalyst acted as a mixed inhibitor for TADH, suggesting that interactions with the protein do not occur at the co-factor binding site

Family Perceptions of Mental Health Service Use Among Mexican Americans

AbstractMexican immigrants are less likely to use psychiatric services compared to people from other race or ethnic groups in the United States, yet little is known about the reasons why the Mexican American population are less likely to seek mental health services. A qualitative descriptive study, guided by Leininger\u27s culture care diversity and universality care theory, was used to explore the perceptions of mental health service use and barriers to psychiatric services for Mexican American immigrants living in the United States. After institutional review board approval was obtained, flyers were placed in five churches in a northwestern U.S state where Mexican Americans attended. Six volunteers for the study were family members of Mexican immigrants who experienced mental health issues, and consented to participate in face-to-face interviews using semi-structured and open-ended questions. Interviews were recorded then manually transcribed for analysis using Miles, Huberman and Saldana’s method of qualitative thematic analysis. Three themes resulted from the analysis: Mental health is a private and individual issue, culture plays a role in accessing mental health care, and religion contributes to decisions to seek mental health services. Results of this study may contribute to positive social change as providers become aware of the unique cultural and religious beliefs that influence Mexican Americans’ access to psychiatric health services. Future studies are needed to identify educational strategies that promote access to mental health services for Mexican American patients and families

Family Perceptions of Mental Health Service Use Among Mexican Americans

AbstractMexican immigrants are less likely to use psychiatric services compared to people from other race or ethnic groups in the United States, yet little is known about the reasons why the Mexican American population are less likely to seek mental health services. A qualitative descriptive study, guided by Leininger\u27s culture care diversity and universality care theory, was used to explore the perceptions of mental health service use and barriers to psychiatric services for Mexican American immigrants living in the United States. After institutional review board approval was obtained, flyers were placed in five churches in a northwestern U.S state where Mexican Americans attended. Six volunteers for the study were family members of Mexican immigrants who experienced mental health issues, and consented to participate in face-to-face interviews using semi-structured and open-ended questions. Interviews were recorded then manually transcribed for analysis using Miles, Huberman and Saldana’s method of qualitative thematic analysis. Three themes resulted from the analysis: Mental health is a private and individual issue, culture plays a role in accessing mental health care, and religion contributes to decisions to seek mental health services. Results of this study may contribute to positive social change as providers become aware of the unique cultural and religious beliefs that influence Mexican Americans’ access to psychiatric health services. Future studies are needed to identify educational strategies that promote access to mental health services for Mexican American patients and families

The excursionism project and the study of literary places (1921-1924)

The article charts the history of ‘excursionism’, a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of urban environments, which, in the early 1920s, briefly benefitted from Narkompros funding for the purposes of advancing a revolutionary new programme of education and research in the humanities and science. The main part of the article focuses on theories of urban spaces as cultural historical and literary complexes, which Ivan Grevs (1860-1941) and Nikolai Antsiferov (1889-1958), both trained in European mediaeval history, developed as one of the three principal axes of excursionism, alongside natural history and economics. By the mid-1920s, the excursionism project would be eclipsed by the rise of regional studies (kraevedenie). Yet, despite this, I argue that certain aspects of the methodology they pioneered and, in particular, Antsiferov’s literary approach to urban spaces remained relevant to the generation of cultural theorists and historians active in the post-Stalinist era.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe