Everyday ethnography interpreting and ‘doing’ empowerment and protection care imperatives in a supported-living environment for intellectually disabled adults. Findings from experiences as a support worker

Glued laminated timber (GLT) is a structural product composed of several layers of timber boards glued together. GLT components have many advantages, such as the larger range of available component dimensions to choose from, the environmental sustainability or the e- cient ratio between weight and load-bearing capacity. Because of that, GLT beams have been established as one of the most important products in timber engineering in the last decades. As a natural grown material, timber properties exhibit higher variability, compared with other building materials. The variability is pronounced not only between dierent structural elements but also within single elements, the latter being highly related to the occurrence of knot clusters. Due to the highly inhomogeneous structure of timber, the prediction of the material properties of GLT beams is aected by large uncertainties. In the presented thesis, the in uence of varying material properties on the load-bearing capacity of GLT beams was investigated. Thus the thesis contributes to develop the quality of GLT beams, in terms of reliability and eciency. Detailed, non-destructive investigations of altogether 400 timber boards were performed. Thereby, dierent strength and stiness related indicators, such as the position and characteristic of knots, or the eigenfrequency, were assessed. Furthermore, non-destructive tensile test were performed to estimate the stiness properties of knot clusters. Out of the investigated timber boards, GLT beams having a precisely-known beam setup were fabricated. As a result, the exact position of each particular timber board (and each particular knot cluster) within the GLT beams was known. Afterwards, bending tests were performed to estimate the load-bearing capacity of these GLT beams. Thereby, the in uence of knot clusters and nger joint connections on the deformation and failure behaviour was investigated. In addition to the experimental investigations, a probabilistic approach for modelling GLT beams (referred to as GLT model ) was developed. Thereby, at rst, timber boards are simulated according to their natural growth characteristics. Afterwards, out of the simulated timber boards, virtual GLT beams are fabricated. Finally, the load-bearing behaviour of these GLT beams is estimated by using a numerical model. To assure the quality of the numerical model, it was validated with the test results. Using the GLT model, the in uence of dierent parameters, such as the position and characteristics of knots, or the quality of nger joint connections, on the load-bearing capacity of GLT beams was investigated. One further goal of this thesis was the investigation of machine-grading indicators, that are measured during the grading process. Therefore, all the investigations presented in this thesis are conducted for indicators measured in laboratory and machine-grading indicators. The same applies for the GLT model, which was also developed for both types of indicators

Everyday ethnography interpreting and ‘doing’ empowerment and protection care imperatives in a supported-living environment for intellectually disabled adults. Findings from experiences as a support worker

This paper details findings from my own experiences as a support worker working in a UK-based supported-living home (previously residential care) for adults with intellectual (learning) disabilities. These findings, along with other previous research, which investigated access to health and social care for this population (Redley, Banks, Foody and Holland 2012), have formed the basis of my doctoral research—an ethnographic study of this environment—which, since submitting this paper, has now commenced. Importantly, the experiences to which I refer are drawn my own perceptions of the nature of the supportedliving setting in which I worked. Although, it is not possible to remove my perceptions as a researcher from my experiences as a support worker, what is relayed in this paper is not formally connected with my previous work as a researcher.In recent years, social care services have begun to alter the way that full-time support is provided to recipients of services. These changes are set within a larger context of reform that is premised upon empowerment, through independence and choice. Such principles require individual self-determination, and the introduction of this ethos in the lives of adults who are limited in intellectual functioning has been questioned. In undertaking employment as a support worker within an organisation providing support to adults with intellectual disability, my intention was to begin to gain direct insight into how, or whether, changes in the nature of services and models of care that are provided in an everyday supported-living home for people with intellectual disabilities are impacting upon daily care practices and relations between service providers and service recipients

Trust, guilds and kinship in London, 1330-1680

How was trust created and reinforced between the inhabitants of medieval and early modern cities? And how did the social foundations of trusting relationships change over time? Current research highlights the role of kinship, neighbourhood and associations, particularly guilds, in creating ‘relationships of trust’ and social capital in the face of high levels of migration, mortality and economic volatility, but tells us little about their relative importance or how they developed. We uncover a profound shift in the contribution of family and guilds to trust networks among the middling and elite of one of Europe’s major cities, London, over three centuries, from the 1330s to the 1680s. We examine the networks of sureties created to secure the inheritances of children whose fathers died while they were minors, surviving in the records of London’s Orphans Court. Our analysis of almost fifteen thousand networks evaluates the presence of trusting relationships connected with guild membership, family and place over several centuries. We show a profound increase in the role of kinship – a re-embedding of trust within the family - and a decline of the importance of shared guild membership in connecting Londoner’s who secured orphans’ inheritances together. We suggest these developments are best explained as a result of the impact of the Reformation on the form and intensity of sociability fostered by guilds and the enormous growth of the metropolis

Trust, guilds and kinship in London, 1330-1680

How was trust created and reinforced between the inhabitants of medieval and early modern cities? And how did the social foundations of trusting relationships change over time? Current research highlights the role of kinship, neighbourhood and associations, particularly guilds, in creating ‘relationships of trust’ and social capital in the face of high levels of migration, mortality and economic volatility, but tells us little about their relative importance or how they developed. We uncover a profound shift in the contribution of family and guilds to trust networks among the middling and elite of one of Europe’s major cities, London, over three centuries, from the 1330s to the 1680s. We examine almost 15,000 networks of sureties created to secure orphans’ inheritances to measure the presence of trusting relationships connected by guild membership, family and place. We uncover a profound increase in the role of kinship – a re-embedding of trust within the family - and a decline of the importance of shared guild membership in connecting Londoner’s who secured orphans’ inheritances together. These developments indicate a profound transformation in the social fabric of urban society