Innovation still needed? Service user participation in social care services and practice-led management

This paper considers the extent to which the empowerment of service users to participate in, or become active in, the management of care services is possible without further innovation in the way services are delivered and structured. Can such innovations be successful within bureaucratic and target driven environments? To what extent can leadership based on social work and care values be part of management? Can service user voice about the management of services be sustained beyond tokenism and, if so, how? It concludes that committed and innovative management is needed and that inevitably the pivotal person may well be the first line manager

Creative connections: Parenting capacity, reading with children and practitioners assessment and intervention

This paper presents some findings from a study of the views of 33 parents from a diversity of backgrounds with children between 0 and 12. Twenty-two parents were using family support services. They were asked about their views on 'parenting capacity' based on the dimensions of The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families (Department of Health et al.) which are now incorporated into the Common Assessment Framework used in Every Child Matters (Department for Education and Skills). They were also asked about reading with their children and how this enhanced their parenting capacities. Their responses were analysed using the parenting capacity dimensions of The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families. It became apparent that this common activity (parent/child reading) contributed much to children's development and to the quality of the child/parent relationship. It also enhanced parenting capacity as described in the parenting capacity dimensions. This paper presents that part of the findings which illustrates the creative connections that exist between the activity of parents and children reading together and the parenting capacity dimensions social workers use in assessment and intervention. These findings are relevant to practitioners working within current policy and practice agendas in children's services, which promote multidisciplinary working and non-stigmatizing assessments and interventions

Consultation and consequences: A view on the services experienced by some young people and six families

Reports the views of some young people and 6 families on services received from social care professionals. Summarises the main themes that emerged and emphasises the issue of professional reliability as articulated in these 2 small, but in depth, studies. The views of both sets of interviewees contributed to the creation of a course for front line managers drawing from user and worker consultations. Draws on the interviews to shed light on various aspects of professional relationships with services users and what they said they wanted. Discussion sets this in the context of policy agenda

Barriers to communication in tale and short book which are prepared for preschool children

Bu araştırmanın genel amacı "okulöncesi çocuklarına yönelik hazırlanan masal ve öykü kitaplarında geçen iletişim engelleri nasıl ele alınmıştır?" sorusuna yanıt aramaktır. Bu araştırmanın evrenini; okulöncesi çocuklarına yönelik hazırlanan masal ve öykü kitapları oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmanın örneklemini seçkisiz (rastgele) örnekleme yöntemi ile seçilmiş kırk dört masal, elli altı öykü kitabı oluşturmaktadır. Çalışmada veri toplama aracı olarak doküman incelemesi kullanılmış, incelenen dökümanlar betimsel analiz yöntemiyle açıklanmış ve yorumlanmıştır. Araştırmanın başında çocuk edebiyatı ve iletişim ile ilgili alanyazın taraması yapılmıştır. Araştırılacak olan iletişim engelleri 1)emir vermek, 2)alay etmek-küçümsemek, 3)ad takmak, 4)eleştirmek-suçlamak, 5)tehdit etmek- gözdağı vermek başlıkları altında kategorilere ayrılmıştır. Çalışmanın başında örnekleme alınan yüz kitaptan otuz tanesi iki uzman ve araştırmacı tarafından ayrı yerlerde ve zamanlarda oluşturulan kategorilere göre incelenmiştir. Uzmanlar bu başlıklara uygun buldukları tanımları değerlendirip araştırmacıya geri bildirimde bulunmuşlardır. Uzmanlar ve araştırmacı tarafından elde edilen tanımlar karşılaştırılmış; aralarındaki korelasyon SPSS paket programında hesaplanmıştır. İncelemenin sonunda okulöncesi çocuklarına yönelik hazırlanan masal ve öykü kitaplarında geçen iletişim engelleri, kitaplardan doğrudan alıntı yapılarak listelenip, bu ifadelerin çocukların içinde bulunduğu dönemin gelişim özelliklerine uygun olup olmadığı yorumlanmıştır.There are some barriers to communication in tale and short story books which are prepared for preschool children. The cosmos of this study is these books and aim of this study is finding an answer to the question of "how was the barriers to communication written down in these books are treated". The samples of the study are chosen randomly among the forty four tale and sixty six short story books. In this study, documentary investigation is used as data collection tool, and the documents examined are explained and commented by descriptive analysis method. In the beginning of study, literature about `fictitious books for children" and `communication" are scanned through. The barriers to communication examined are classified through the titles of: 1- ordering, 2- persiflage 3-name-calling 4- criticizing and blaming 5- threatening. Thirty of the hundred books in the beginning of the study is examined by two expert researchers according to the categories built during two different locations and time. The researchers gave feedbacks to the student by evaluating the definitions suitable for these titles. The definitions obtained by the student and experts are compared and the corelation between is calculated by the help of SPSS packaged software. At the end of the investigation, the barriers to communication written down in tale and short story books for preschool children are listed by directly quotations from the books, and commentary made on if these statements are suitable for the development of the children in this period

Enhancing outcomes through children’s literature

This article considers how child outcomes can be improved through parent/child reading. The article suggests that while this process is well understood in education, it may be overlooked by other child welfare professionals. The article argues that practitioners can utilize this process when assessing and intervening with children in need and looked after children. It draws from aliterature review and empirical study and summarizes some key findin gs

Production, purification and characterization of thermostable protease from alkaliphilic and thermophilic geobacillus sp.

Thesis (Master)--İzmir Institute of Technology, Chemistry, İzmir, 2011Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 58-67)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxi, 76 leavesProteases are the hydrolase enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of the peptide bonds in the primary structure of proteins and peptids. They are used to cleave the proteins specifically to produce useful peptides in the processes. Proteases are present in a wide variety of living organisms and they also show different physicological, physicochemical, biological, chemical functions on the earth. They are the most important enzymes in the industry, accounting for 60% of the total enzyme scales in the world. The microorganisms that were previously isolated and characterized as a Bacillus sp. from Balçova Geotermal region in İzmir were used in the experiments. The aim of this study was to produce the protease enzyme from alkaliphilic and thermophilic Bacillus sp., purify and determine the properties of the enzyme with the characterization steps. When the screening studies and growth conditions were investigated, it was understood that the alkaliphilic and thermophilic Bacillus sp. produced extracellular protease enzyme. This extracellular protease enzyme was purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation and ion exchange chromatography chromatograpy. The yield and purification fold after purification of the enzyme were 33% and 1.41, respectively. In the characterization studies, the results indicated that the protease enzyme had highest activity at pH 8.0 and 55 C. The protease enzyme lost 20% of its activity at pH 4.0 and it lost 10% of its activity at pH 10.0. The protease enzyme at temperatures below 55 C lost 15% of its activity and also the protease enzyme at temperatures above 55 C lost 25% of its activity. The protease enzyme was stable at different pH values during 3 hours and at different temperature values during 6 hours. When compared the substrates, casein showed higher activity. The effect of organic solvents and surfactants on protease activity was investigated and the results indicated that the protease enzyme was stable in the presence of 10% of the organic solvents and 1% of the surfactants. PMSF and the protease inhibitor coctail decrease the activity of the protease

The new nationalism and the first world war (ed. by L. Rosenthal and V. Rodic)

‘The New Nationalism and the First World War’, attempts to provide an overview of the world’s state, especially at the end of 19th century and the beginning on 20th century from a holistic perspective.For a long time, countries were under the influence of liberalism and later on socialism came into question. While liberalism and socialism were occupying the majority of the agenda, opposing views just remained as fringes. Unexpectedly after a while, these fringes got together and came forward as the ‘new nationalism’

Parenting capacity and reading with children: enhancing the assessment framework for children in need and their families.

This thesis draws together two strands of thinking to consider their usefulness, when combined, to vulnerable children, their parents and practitioners who work in children's services. One strand conceptualises the abilities and qualities required by a parent to respond to children's developmental needs, as summarised by the term 'parenting capacity', in the psychological and social work literature which underpins assessment and intervention frameworks for practitioners. The second strand is the psychological and educational literature which considers the contribution of reading children's books to child development and the benefits to child-parent relationships of reading together. Both literatures draw from common knowledge, informed from research into the developmental needs of children and the abilities parents need to raise them. There is also contemporary research and scholarship which interprets the relevance of this heritage in contemporary cultural contexts. To add to and link these understandings, this study explores and discusses the views of 33 contemporary parents. Their views on both what makes for a good parent and the benefits of reading with children were gathered. The parents' views were analysed within the paradigm of the parenting capacity dimensions of The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families, published as government guidance to practitioners in 2000 (Department of Health et al. 2000), which remains relevant to children's services in 2006. The use of this framework which draws mainly from one of the strands of literature that is explored (psychological and social work) means that the second strand of thinking (psychological and education) can be brought into the framework and relevant connections and comparisons made, in order to enhance the understanding of parenting capacity contained there. The study concludes by considering how the findings from this analysis have relevance to child welfare practice in contemporary contexts