Expectations and Experiences: Service User and Carer perspectives on the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act

Mae’r ddogfen yma hefyd ar gael yn Gymraeg. This document is also available in Welsh. © Crown Copyright Digital ISBN 978-1-80391-736-8The report provides findings from 170 people living in Wales who receive care and support or who are carers and is part of a wider evaluation of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act., known as the IMPACT study.Welsh Governmen

Problematising 'Fused Principles' in Discourses of Preventative Social Care: Interpreting the Implementation of National Social Services Legislation in Wales, UK

Supplementary material is available at British Journal of Social Work Journal online at: https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article/53/4/2331/7146149#409126216 .Prevention is a core principle in social care legislation across the UK. However, history shows great variability in how a preventative social care agenda is conceptualised and implemented. We report findings from an independent evaluation of the implementation of the ‘2014 Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act’ incorporating a document analysis of reports and plans from Wales’ twenty-two local authorities (LAs) and eighty-eight qualitative interviews from social services strategic leaders and operational managers within four Welsh LAs. Analysis highlighted multiple interpretations of national policy, with notable overlapping agendas. In Gramscian terms, there is a constant process of negotiating prevention values and agendas, with consequences for whose interests are served. This was apparent through drives towards cost-saving, financial sustainability and reduced service demand operating alongside values-based principles rooted in well-being and mutualism. Following Kenny’s work in community development, we argue a ‘fusing’ of principles whilst espousing benefits for service users, potentially blurs the aims of the legislation, with implications for practice.Welsh Government, derived from an evaluation of the implementation of the 2014 Social Services and Well-being Act (Wales) (IMPACT Study: Grant number - C410/2017/2018)

A system design for distributed energy generation in low temperature district heating (LTDH) networks

Project SCENIC (Smart Controlled Energy Networks Integrated in Communities) involves connecting properties at the University of Nottingham’s Creative Energy Homes test site in a community scale, integrated heat and power network. Controls will be developed to allow for the most effective heat load allocation and power distribution scenarios. Furthermore, the system will develop the prosumer concept, where consumers are both buyers and sellers of energy in both heat and power systems. This paper describes the initial phase of project SCENIC, achieving truly distributed generation within a heat network. The first of its kind, the system has a four pipe network configuration, consisting of a network flow loop to supply heat to homes, and a generation loop to collect energy from residential heating systems and supply it to a centralised thermal store. To achieve the design, IES-VE steady state heat load and dynamic building modelling have been used. A pre-insulated Rehau Rauthermex piping diameter was sized using flow rate calculations. Pipe diameter is reduced in line with distance from the central pump and associated pressure losses. The diameter ranges from 40 to 25mm, with a heat loss as low as 7.0 W/m. In addition, flow rates will fluctuate below a maximum of 1.99 l/s. Danfoss – 7 Series BS flatstations have been selected as the network-building heat interface units (HIU), to satisfy a calculated peak design heating loads of between 36.74 and 44.06 kW. Furthermore, to enable the prosumer concept and associated business models an adapted Danfoss Flatstations – 3 Series BS was selected to interface the distributed heat sources with the network. This paper gives details of the novel system configuration and concept, energy flows, as well as calculation and modelling results for the heat network. A premise is given to maintaining low temperatures in the network to ensure system efficiency in line with the latest research thinking

Probabilistic analysis of the response of plates subjected to near-field blast loading

Accurate prediction of the response of structures subjected to close proximity blast loads is a pressing engineering concern; the landscape of global terror has shifted away from large and indiscriminate bombings towards much smaller and more targeted attacks (e.g. against critical infrastructure and/or transport). In such close-proximity blast events (in the so-called ‘nearfield’), interaction between the expanding detonation products and air shock gives rise to complex hydrodynamic features which introduce localised variations in the pressure field. The resultant loading (typically defined in terms of specific impulse since loading durations act on timescales considerably shorter than structural response) is therefore highly uncertain, and even nominally identical experiments produce loading distributions with a high degree of local variability. Current predictive approaches either grossly simplify or neglect entirely the inherent ‘fuzziness’ of nearfield blast loading, to the extent where it is currently unknown what effect this has on structural response, how sensitive plate structures are to uncertainties in loading distribution, and how this varies with plate properties and loading condition (e.g. charge mass and stand-off distance). This paper presents a numerical study aimed at answering these questions, where specific impulse distributions are probabilistically simulated with varying degrees of localised variations and mapped onto a range of different plates. This work aims to shed light on the fundamentally stochastic nature of close-proximity blast, with a view to implementing the findings in fast running engineering models for prediction of plate response under near-field blast loading

Effect of surface conditioning with cellular extracts on Escherichia coli adhesion and initial biofilm formation

Bacterial adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation start with surface conditioning by molecules originating from the surrounding medium and from cell lysis. Different cell extracts e.g. total cell extract (TCE), cytoplasm with cellular debris (CCDE) and periplasmic extract (PE) were tested in agitated 96-well microtiter plates and in a flow cell. Crystal violet assay demonstrated that a polystyrene substratum conditioned with TCE or CCDE decreased initial biofilm formation, however cell adhesion generally increased when PE was used. These results were dependent on conditioning film concentration. Using a parallel plate flow chamber, the use of optimal conditioning film concentrations resulted in all the different cellular extracts reducing biofilm formation. Multifractal analysis was used to generate quantitative data on the number of cell clusters. Surface conditioning with cellular components affected the amount and clustering of bacteria on polystyrene surfaces and their propensity to induce biofilm formation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study addressing the effect of cellular surface conditioning of cellular compartments on E. coli adhesion and initial biofilm formation. This work leads to a greater understanding of the factors that influence biofilm formation under flow conditions which are prevalent in food industry

Recent development and research at the University of Sheffield blast lab in Buxton, UK

The Blast and Impact Dynamics Lab in Buxton, UK has recently undergone a significant refurbishment due to investment by the University of Sheffield and funding from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through a Strategic Equipment Grant. This has complimented development in measurement techniques funded through standard EPSRC grants and commercial blast testing undertaken by Blastech Ltd. a spin out company of the University of Sheffield

Sucrose helps regulate cold acclimation of Arabidopsis thaliana

A test was carried out to see if sucrose could regulate cold-acclimation-associated gene expression in Arabidopsis. In plants and excised leaves, sucrose caused an increase in GUS activity, as a reporter for the activity of the cold-responsive COR78 promoter. This increase was transient at 21 °C but lasted for at least 4 d at 4 °C in continuous darkness. However, at 4 °C with a 16 h photoperiod, GUS activity was similarly high with solutions lacking sucrose or with different concentrations of sucrose. In peeled lower epidermis in the cold dark environment, 40 mM sucrose increased COR78 transcript abundance to substantially above that in the controls, but sorbitol had no effect. Similarly to the cold and dark conditions, sucrose increased COR78 transcript abundance in the epidermis in the warm light and warm dark environments, but not in a cold light environment. Sucrose had much less effect on COR78 transcript abundance in leaves without the lower epidermis. Thus sucrose regulates expression of COR78, possibly mainly in the epidermis, at the level of transcription. Furthermore, 40 mM sucrose at 4 °C for 24 h in constant darkness was sufficient to give the same GUS activity as in fully acclimated plants of the same age in a 16 h photoperiod, although by 48 h, GUS activity had become intermediate between control and fully cold-acclimated plants. Thus sucrose has a regulatory role in the acclimation of whole plants to cold and this may be important during diurnal dark periods

Antimicrobial activity of graphene oxide-metal hybrids.

With resistant bacteria on the increase, there is a need for new combinations of antimicrobials/biocidal agents to help control the transmission of such microorganisms. Particulate forms of graphite, graphene oxide (GO) and metal-hybrid compounds (silver-graphene oxide (AgGO) and zinc oxide graphene oxide (ZnOGO)) were fabricated and characterised. X-Ray diffraction and Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy demonstrated the composition of the compounds. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy determined the compounds were heterogeneous and irregular in shape and size and that the level of silver in the AgGO sample was 57.9 wt% and the ZnOGO contained 72.65 wt % zinc. The compounds were tested for their antimicrobial activity against four prominent bacteria; Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecium and Klebsiella pneumoniae. AgGO was the most effective antimicrobial (Minimum inhibitory concentration E. coli/Enterococcus faecium 0.125 mg mL−1; S. aureus/K. pneumoniae 0.25 mg mL−1). The addition of Ag enhanced the activity of GO against the bacteria tested, including the generally recalcitrant K. pneumoniae and Enterococcus faecium. These findings demonstrated that GO-metal hybrids have the potential to be utilised as novel antimicrobials or biocides in liquid formulations, biomaterials or coatings for use in the treatment of wounds where medically relevant bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant

Vascular phenotype in angiogenic and non-angiogenic lung non-small cell carcinomas

We have previously described a group of non-small cell lung carcinomas without morphological evidence of neo-angiogenesis. In these tumours neoplastic cells fill up the alveoli and the only vessels present appear to belong to the trapped alveolar septa. In the present study we have characterised the phenotype of the vessels present in these non-angiogenic tumours, in normal lung and in angiogenic non-small cell lung carcinomas. The vessels, identified by the expression of CD31, were scored as mature when expressing the epitope LH39 in the basal membrane and as newly formed when expressing αVβ3 on the endothelial cells and/or lacking LH39 expression. In the nine putative non-angiogenic cases examined, the vascular phenotype of all the vessels was the same as that of alveolar vessels in normal lung: LH39 positive and αVβ3 variable or negative. Instead in 104 angiogenic tumours examined, only a minority of vessels (mean 13.1%; range 0–60%) expressed LH39, while αVβ3 (in 45 cases) was strongly expressed on many vessels (mean 55.5%; range 5–90%). We conclude that in putative non-angiogenic tumours the vascular phenotype is that of normal vessels and there is no neo-angiogenesis. This type of cancer may be resistant to some anti-angiogenic therapy and different strategies need to be developed

Evaluation of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014: Literature Review

The author list for the literature review is provided below: Evaluation of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014: Literature Review Chapter authors: Introduction and methods Verity, F., Wallace, S., Llewellyn, M., Anderson, P. and Lyttleton-Smith, J. Well-being Anderson, P., Lyttleton-Smith, J., Kosnes, L., Read, S., Blackmore, H. and Williams, Z. Prevention and early intervention Verity, F., Read, S. and Richards, J. Co-production Andrews, N., Calder, G., Blanluet, N., Tetlow, S. and Wallace, S. Multi-agency Wallace, C., Orrell, A., Garthwaite, T., Tetlow, S. and Wallace, S. Voice and control Llewellyn, M., Saltus, R., Blackmore, H., Tetlow, S., Williams, Z. and Wallace, S. Financial and economic Phillips, C., Prowle, M., Tetlow, S. and Williams, Z. Service user and carer experiences under the Act Wallace, S.This report is a summary of the extensive review of the literature to inform the evaluation of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. This document is a summary of the extensive review of the literature undertaken to inform the evaluation of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (hereafter referred to as ‘the Act’).1 The Welsh Government has commissioned a partnership between academics across four universities in Wales and expert advisers to deliver the evaluation. The Act sets out a government vision to produce ‘transformative changes’ in social service public policy, regulations, and delivery arrangements across Wales. It has 11 parts and is informed by five principles that set out a vision to produce transformative changes in public policy, regulations, and service delivery. Aligned to it are structures, processes, and codes of practice. The Evaluation of the Act – a study called IMPACT – is organised around each of the five principles together with a focus on the financial and economic aspects of the Act’s implementation. The approach to undertaking this evaluation research is to structure the evaluation by using the fundamental principles of the Act as the scaffolding. These principles are: • Well-being • Prevention • Co-Production • Multi-agency working • Voice and control There is also a focus on the financial and economic considerations of the implementation of the Act and this area constitutes the sixth evaluation study theme