"I suddenly had a voice" : a qualitative study of patient experiences of violence and treatment in a Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) unit.

Narratives give direction, purpose and meaning to people’s lives and are a key component in the development of personality. In forensic psychology, violent offending is most often presented as a set of enduring dispositional traits. It is argued, however, that an analysis of narratives may also offer useful insights into what sustains offending and what might lead to change. This review examines the literature on adult offender narratives and their function within correctional cultures and society. It suggests that practitioners may wish to consider incorporating features of what an offender is trying to achieve through their narratives into existing programmes of rehabilitation to ensure future gains are sustained. The implications of this are discussed. This study investigates the personal accounts of patients in a UK Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) Unit who are engaging in treatment to help them manage their violent / offending behaviour. Ten participants were interviewed and their interviews were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four master themes surfaced: “A dog eat dog world” shows how violence became a legitimate response to early, abusive environments; “No-one really saw that side of me” explores how alterative ways of behaviour were deterred and difficult to relinquish; “Finding a voice” describes participants’ experiences of change and what they see as important components of it; and ‘Fears for the future’ considers the difficulties that still lie ahead. As the DSPD pilot ends, how these experiences might help augment existing clinical treatment programmes are discussed

Creation of an ultra scale-down bioreactor mimic for rapid development of lignocellulosic enzymatic hydrolysis processes

BACKGROUND Cellulosic bioethanol processes involve several steps, all of which require experimental optimisation. A significant aid to this research would be a validated ultra scale-down (USD) model that could be used to perform rapid, wide ranging screening and optimisation experiments using limited materials under process relevant conditions. RESULTS In this work, the use of 30 mL shaken conical tubes as a USD model for an enzymatic hydrolysis process is established. The approach is demonstrated for the hydrolysis of distillers' dried grains with solubles (DDGS). Results from the USD tubes closely mimic those obtained from 4 L stirred tanks, in terms of the rate, composition and concentrations of sugars released, representing an 80-fold scale reduction. The utility of the USD approach is illustrated by investigating factors that may be limiting hydrolysis yields at high solids loadings. Washing the residual solids periodically during hydrolysis allowed 100% of the available sugar to be hydrolysed using commercially available enzymes. CONCLUSION The results demonstrate that the USD system reported successfully mimics the performance of conventional stirred tanks under industrially relevant conditions. The utility of the system was confirmed through its use to investigate performance limitation using a commercially relevant feedstock

Is talking alone enough in the 21st century? A qualitative exploration into the therapeutic helpfulness of creative and symbolic methods in school-based counselling (Wales)

This qualitative study sought to examine the nature of School-Based Counselling from the subjective understanding of the therapeutic practitioner, where two central objectives were examined: (1) To investigate the assertion that talking alone is enough when engaging a young person in School-Based Counselling. (2) To demonstrate the usefulness of creative and symbolic method and to explore whether these can be helpful when enhancing the therapeutic relationship. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five School-Based Counselling practitioners who worked exclusively across Wales. The study was then extensively analysed using The Constant Comparative Method. Three master themes emerged from the data: (1) Adopting a 'Young Person-Centred Approach; (2) From the 'Silenced Youth' to the 'Expressive Person'; (3) The usefulness of Creative and Symbolic Methods. School-Based Counselling was identified as predominately Young Person-Centred in its therapeutic practice. The role of School-Based Counselling was also placed into a wider societal context which illustrated the role of a key adult, whilst also suggesting that certain fractions of the adult world still deemed young people as powerless. Talking alone was also identified as 'enough' when promoting therapeutic development for most young people in School-Based Counselling. However the use of Creative and Symbolic Method seemed particularly powerful for those young people who found talking difficult or who belonged to an additional educational needs group. The therapeutic processes of Creative and Symbolic Method were also seen as significant and helped facilitate greater communication. These findings highlight a gap in knowledge in the School-Based Counselling field particularly around young people accessing therapy who also have additional educational needs. The current findings support existing School-Based Counselling literature but offer new clinical insights, advocating opportunities for future research

The public life of a twentieth century princess: Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood

The histiography on Princess Mary is conspicuous by its absence. No official account of her long public life, from 1914 to 1965, has been written and published since 1922, when the princess was aged twenty-five, and about to be married. The only daughter of King George V, she was one of the chief protagonists in his plans to include his children in his efforts to engage the monarchy, and the royal family, more deeply and closely with the people of the United Kingdom. This was a time when women were striving to enter public life more fully, a role hitherto denied to them. The king’s decision was largely prompted by the sacrifices of so many during the First World War; the fall of Czar Nicholas of Russia; the growth of socialism; and the dangers these events may present to the longevity of the monarchy in a disaffected kingdom. Princess Mary’s public life helps to answer the question of what role royal women, then and in the future, are able to play in support of the monarchy. It was a time when for the most part careers of any kind were not open to women, royal or otherwise, and the majority had yet to gain the right to vote. Her work was carried out during four periods: the First World War, which broke out when the effects of the industrial revolution were still being felt by the majority of the poor and working class, in health and housing in the big cities; the inter-war years at a time of economic depression, unemployment and deprivation for so many; the Second World War; and the post war period 1945-1965. The princess’s particular areas of interest were philanthropic, civic, regimental and diplomatic, both at home and abroad. Philanthropy was to become a major factor in the royal family’s efforts to provide publicity and support for the charitable organizations working to alleviate the plight of so many of the nation’s deprived citizens. Given that Princess Mary may be said to have disappeared from British history the resources for my research have been limited, first, to the entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, the National Archives, and the only published biography. Newspapers have been consulted both nationally and 4 foreign, in particular The Times Court Circular; without this publication research would have been almost impossible. Not only did it provide a record of her daily engagements throughout her lifetime, but it provided knowledge of the many organizations with which the princess was connected. Thus, I was able to gain access to their archives, where available; locally, regional and foreign. Histories of the various organizations were also helpful when Princess Mary’s involvement was described, even if only briefly. The Royal Archive at Windsor does not hold her papers, but on occasions staff were able to answer my questions. Princess Mary’s archive at Harewood remains uncatalogued. Despite the various limitations on my research I believe I have obtained an overview and understanding of Princess Mary’s public role, and its value to the nation and the monarchy. During her life time she set the template for the public role of future princesses, and other females, within the royal family

Three Histories of Liberalism: Hobhouse, Berlin, and Rawls: A study of liberalism, the liberal tradition, and their historical development

Liberalism has a history. Not only does it have a history, it has a history of that history being rewritten, reshaped, and recounted. The thesis explores this ‘second-order’ history—the history of the history of liberalism, for want of a better phrase—and examines some of the different ways in which liberalism has been understood as a tradition and as an historical phenomenon. More precisely, the thesis is an examination of three histories of liberalism; liberalism according to L. T. Hobhouse, Isaiah Berlin, and John Rawls respectively. All three figures made their defences of liberalism at particular moments and in the face of particular crises during the long twentieth century. All three of those defences were predicated upon different conceptions of liberalism as a historical phenomenon and a living tradition, which attempted to either reconcile or accommodate the inherent conceptual tensions and divided lineages within liberalism, and distinguish it from its ideological rivals. These different conceptions of the liberal tradition were also, I argue, forms of 'practical' pasts where the past was framed in relation to the present and one context was written over from another. By examining these 'practical' pasts in their own contexts and alongside one another, we can see the changes in the meaning of liberalism as a historical phenomenon and the emergence of the stories that have come to seem essential to liberalism's self-image as the modern tradition par excellence. This development of the liberal tradition, I argue, has been essential to ways in which liberalism was understood in the twentieth century, and by examining the former, we can better grasp the latter and the multiplicity of meanings that have at different times been attributed to it

Emergence of noncollinear magnetic ordering in small magnetic clusters: Mnn_n and As@Mnn_n

Using first-principles density functional calculations, we have studied the magnetic ordering in pure Mn$_n$ ($n=2-$10, 13, 15, 19) and As@Mn$_n$ ($n=1-$10) clusters. Although, for both pure and doped manganese clusters, there exists many collinear and noncollinear isomers close in energy, the smaller clusters with $n\leqslant$5 have collinear magnetic ground state and the emergence of noncollinear ground states is seen for $n\geqslant$6 clusters. Due to strong $p-d$ hybridization in As@Mn$_n$ clusters, the binding energy is substantially enhanced and the magnetic moment is reduced compared to the corresponding pure Mn$_n$ clusters.Comment: 10 Pages and 5 Figure

Discovering cultural justice: Difference, democracy and the discursive minimal state.

In this thesis a theory of cultural justice is developed from Hayekian premises. Importantly, and despite the virtual disappearance of the centralised economic institutions that Hayek was always keen to reject, it claims that it is possible to reconnect his thought to contemporary political theory and to both critically and normatively contribute to debates about multicultural justice. For what is most interesting about Hayek today are not the reasons why he defended liberalism but rather the conceptual tools that he deployed in doing so. It is these conceptual tools that can e shown to have a relevance to contemporary concerns with cultural diversity that is methodologically, critically and normatively both clear and compelling. Part One of this thesis discusses Hayek's place in contemporary political theory. In Chapter One it is claimed that an interpretative reading of Hayek's social theory and of the conception of the self that underlies it not only clarifies his well-known economic arguments, but also enables us to appeal to his thought with respect to culture. Chapter Two builds upon this to address Hayek's normative argument for individual cultural liberty. Part Two is concerned to examine, from this Hayekian, the response to diversity of a range of theorists. In Chapter Three, the response of the difference democrats who endorse a group-differentiated account of deliberative democratic decision-making is assessed and, in Chapter Four, that of liberal egalitarian theory that both attempts and in a significant sense rejects the reconciliation of cultural difference with the institutions of the welfare state. Finally, Part Three is concerned with the account of cultural justice emergent from these discussions. Thus Chapter Five concerns itself with the articulation of the Discursive Minimal State and, in Chapter Six, with its defence against some important objections

Measurement Characteristics of Athlete Monitoring Tools in Professional Australian Football.

PURPOSE:To examine the measurement reliability and sensitivity of common athlete monitoring tools in professional Australian Football players. METHODS:Test-retest reliability (noise) and weekly variation (signal) data were collected from 42 professional Australian footballers from 1 club during a competition season. Perceptual wellness was measured via questionnaires completed before main training sessions (48, 72, and 96 h postmatch), with players providing a rating (1-5 Likert scale) regarding their muscle soreness, sleep quality, fatigue level, stress, and motivation. Eccentric hamstring force and countermovement jumps were assessed via proprietary systems once per week. Heart rate recovery was assessed via a standard submaximal run test on a grass-covered field with players wearing a heart rate monitor. The heart rate recovery was calculated by subtracting average heart rate during final 10 seconds of rest from average heart rate during final 30 seconds of exercise. Typical test error was reported as coefficient of variation percentage (CV%) and intraclass coefficients. Sensitivity was calculated by dividing weekly CV% by test CV% to produce a signal to noise ratio. RESULTS:All measures displayed acceptable sensitivity. Signal to noise ratio ranged from 1.3 to 11.1. Intraclass coefficients ranged from .30 to .97 for all measures. CONCLUSIONS:The heart rate recovery test, countermovement jump test, eccentric hamstring force test, and perceptual wellness all possess acceptable measurement sensitivity. Signal to noise ratio analysis is a novel method of assessing measurement characteristics of monitoring tools. These data can be used by coaches and scientists to identify meaningful changes in common measures of fitness and fatigue in professional Australian football

Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling of Ferromagnetic Domain Walls

Quantum tunneling of domain walls out of an impurity potential in a mesoscopic ferromagnetic sample is investigated. Using improved expressions for the domain wall mass and for the pinning potential, we find that the cross-over temperature between thermal activation and quantum tunneling is of a different functional form than found previously. In materials like Ni or YIG, the crossover temperatures are around 5 mK. We also find that the WKB exponent is typically two orders of magnitude larger than current estimates. The sources for these discrepancies are discussed, and precise estimates for the transition from three-dimensional to one-dimensional magnetic behavior of a wire are given. The cross-over temperatures from thermal to quantum transitions and tunneling rates are calculated for various materials and sample sizes.Comment: 10 pages, 2 postscript figures, REVTe