Quality: who’s quality? Developing, supporting and sustaining high quality social work services

An examination of "Quality in Social Work Services" as a contested concept. The author proposes a 'whole systems' model of developing, defining, distinguishing and sustaining the notion of 'Quality". A multi-stakeholder approach is outlined which calls for academics, employers, practitioners, and students to engage with service users and carers to develop agreed approaches to quality in service development, delivery and impact

Religion and foreign policy

Religion has become (again) a recognisable significant factor in many aspects of international politics. Any consideration of its role inevitably raises in the mind of the British reader the current threat of terrorism from ‘Al Qaida and related terrorist groups’ as MI5 puts it (1). For reasons that I will return to later, this ‘international terrorism’ is not labelled as being in any sense related to, or derived from Islam officially in the British language – MI5 describes the threat as being not even from readings of Islam, but rather from ‘Al Qaeda’s ideology’ (2). But all recognise this terrorist threat as being related in some form to religion. The attacks on New York and Washington, Bali, Istanbul, London, Madrid – have all brought into sharp relief the mobilising effect of religion. But religion is not only important in the twenty-first century because of those terrorist acts and threats

The Stag Without a Heart

The Stag Without a Heart explores the potential of the perpetual film loop and the complexities of the narrative drive. It was the outcome of an AHRC-funded Practice-led and Applied Research Project Award (2009–10). Croft collaborated with Booker Prize-nominated writer Deborah Levy to adapt Aesop’s Fable #214, ‘The lion, the fox and the stag’ into a circular monologue. The resulting allegorical tale of corruption, deception and the desire for power is delivered in the style of a classical Hollywood ‘mise-en-scène’, alluding to black and white American crime cinema. By undermining narrative conventions and laws of continuity through employing a seamless loop, Croft subverts the construction of on-screen film space and coalesces discrete forms of language and, as such, the spectator’s expectations. Croft placed significant emphasis on traditional filmmaking production values, incorporating cinematic hallmarks into a visual art context. His rigorous methodological approach can be identified by his use of 35mm film stock, professional actors, pronounced cinematography, a stylised film set, a large crew and an emotive musical score. In so doing, the film distinguishes itself as its own genre of filmic practice, an interdisciplinary enterprise further indicated by its accessibility to viewers in environments ranging from the contemporary art gallery, the museum installation, and the looped video screening within a moving image festival. The film was exhibited and screened in public institutions and galleries including MuHKA, Antwerp (2011), Raum fur Gegenwartskunst, Linz (2011) and Cornerhouse, Manchester (2012). It can be viewed on the The Stag Without a Heart website, which was developed with AHRC funding: http://www.stuartcroft.com/thestagwithoutaheart/index.htm The website includes a critical essay by Steven Eastwood, ‘The repetition of repetition’. Croft also convened an AHRC-funded research seminar (2010) on the project’s central themes, including papers from David Heinemann (Middlesex University), Deborah Levy, Janice McLaren (Photographers’ Gallery) and curator David Thorp

Sanctuary in the Richmond City Jail

The following article is a collaboration among four individuals about unique programs run through “The Sanctuary” at the Richmond City Jail in Virginia, US. The Richmond City Jail is one of few jails in the US to offer programs to inmates who serve only short sentences as compared to prisons where the incarcerated serve much longer. In addition to this anomaly, students from outside of the jail come inside to take college classes with the inmates. Programs include literature classes, yoga, religious studies, creative writing, and more. The article explores the impact of The Sanctuary on the spirit, confidence, and perceptions of self-worth among inmates as compared to incarceration without such programs. Practitioners may use the programs detailed as a model for other institutions and evidence of the success of community building and education inside jails and prisons

First Year Computer Science Projects at Coventry University:Activity-led integrative team projects with continuous assessment.

We describe the group projects undertaken by first year undergraduate Computer Science students at Coventry University. These are integrative course projects: designed to bring together the topics from the various modules students take, to apply them as a coherent whole. They follow an activity-led approach, with students given a loose brief and a lot of freedom in how to develop their project. We outline the new regulations at Coventry University which eases the use of such integrative projects. We then describe our continuous assessment approach: where students earn a weekly mark by demonstrating progress to a teacher as an open presentation to the class. It involves a degree of self and peer assessment and allows for an assessment of group work that is both fair, and seen to be fair. It builds attendance, self-study / continuous engagement habits, public speaking / presentation skills, and rewards group members for making meaningful individual contributions.Comment: 4 pages. Accepted for presentation at CEP2

Status and Management of Pyrethroid Resistance in the Predatory Mite, \u3ci\u3eAmblyseius Fallacis\u3c/i\u3e (Acarina: Phytoseiidae)

Low levels of (5-15 fold) resistance to synthetic pyrethroid (SP) insecticides occur in unexposed apple orchard populations of the predatory mite, Amblyseius fallacis Garman. Permethrin resistance in one strain has been elevated 60--500 fold by selections in green- houses. Multiple resistances to DDT and azinphosmethyl are present and cross-resistance to SP-related compounds is generic at 10--250 fold. Permethrin resistance appears due to both hydrolytic esterase and knock down resistance mechanisms. Permethrin resistance appears to be polygenic and more recessive than dominant; it is unstable in the presence of high densities of susceptible immigrant types, but is reasonably stable in the presence of unselected, resistant immigrant types. Successful establishment of SP-resistant mites into SP-treated, commercial apple orchards was monitored using electrophoretic finger-printing techniques over a two year period. Aspects of management of resistance in A. fallacis to improve IPM are discussed

Beyond The Hobbit: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Other Works for Children

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is best known to the world as the author of the classic fantasies The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In his professional life, he was a superb philologist, a skilled translator, the author of a seminal essay on Beowulf, and a contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary. But Tolkien was also a father who loved to make up stories for his four children, write them down, and in many cases, as we’ve seen in the exhibit at the Morgan, illustrate them himself. Tolkien was an enthusiastic amateur artist with a unique style, loved color and line and repetitive decoration, but he was rather better at depicting landscapes than people. He usually worked in pen and ink, chalk, or colored pencil. In addition to The Hobbit, widely considered a classic of children’s literature, he also wrote four shorter works specifically for children, two published during his lifetime and two posthumously, as well as many poems and a delightful collection of annual illustrated letters from Father Christmas

Radio frequency science considerations

Use of the 400 MHz telecommunications system to obtain scientific information, to provide backup information for the experiments flown, and to obtain measurements which aid in designing future probes is considered. Recommended objectives of such a program are summarized and include: measure 400 MHz amplitude to determine adsorption and perhaps scintillation (if data rate permits); measure noise strength near 400 MHz to reexamine 400 MHz choice and to observe thermal, cosmic, and local synchrotron noise trends; probe VSWR sensing to monitor integrity of system, icing, and possible plasma effects; after the probe is finished, have the bus radio occultation in the same region where the probe fell to evaluate the occultation