The role of theory in promoting social work values and its potential effect on outcomes in work with domestically violent men

This article is concerned with the ethical conflicts that arise for social workers when dealing with males that perpetrate violence against women and children with whom they have or had intimate relationships. In particular, the article seeks to highlight how a strong social work value base is essential when working with perpetrators whose apparent wilful violent controlling behaviour creates a major ethical dilemma for the practising social worker. The argument contends that strategies designed to protect and enhance the welfare of domestic violence victims, particularly those aimed at the re-education of perpetrators, are weakened when social workers do not adhere to a social work value base.

Temperature dependence of the mid-infrared dielectric function of YBCO in the a-b plane: a re-evaluation

The a-b plane dielectric function (epsilon) of c-axis YBa2Cu3O7-delta thin films with T-c > 85 K was measured at lambda = 3.392 mum in the temperature range 85-300 It, using an attenuated total reflectance (ATR) technique based on the excitation of surface plasmons, The results show that \epsilon (r)\ decreases quasi-linearly with increasing temperature, while Ei is invariant to temperature within experimental uncertainties. Typical values are epsilon (ab) = -23 + 16.5i at similar to 295 R and epsilon (ab) = -27 + 15.5i at similar to 90 K. A generalised Drude analysis yields effective scattering rates (1/tau*) that increase with temperature from similar to 1500 to similar to 1900 cm(-1). The temperature dependent rates best fit an equation of the form 1/tau* = a + bT(alpha) with alpha = 1.46 +/- 0.40. The effective plasma frequencies of w(p)* similar to 18,500 cm(-1) are almost independent of temperature. The uniquely detailed temperature dependence of the results confirm and consolidate data obtained by other groups using normal reflectance methods, but contradict our previously published ATR measurements. Technical shortcomings in the earlier work are identified as the source of the discrepancy. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of an FE/HE Partnership in the Delivery of a Preparation for Practice Module within an Undergraduate Social Work Degree Programme

The Preparation for Practice module at the University of Ulster is delivered to 170 first year students via a collaborative arrangement between higher and further education institutions. In each of the five sites, students receive large group and small group teaching facilitated by social work training agency workers and academic tutor dyads. An evaluation of the module sought the perceptions of the agency and academic facilitators regarding the overall collaborative arrangement and the model of co-teaching involving social work academics and agency partners. Respondents were asked to complete a semi-structured questionnaire, which generated data from a Likert scale and also invited qualitative commentary. The Likert scale data were analysed via SPSS and the qualitative information was scrutinised using a manual thematic analysis technique. Findings indicated that continuous communication, consistency in programme content and the acknowledgement of the differences in organisation resources were key to a successful collaborative arrangement. It was also noted that a co-teaching model should be viewed as a positive vehicle for achieving module objectives in a safe learning environment.

Re-Envisioning the Artist Hero Through Two Cole Porter Biopics

Songwriter Cole Porter is unusual in having had two biopics based on his life: Night and Day (1946) starring Cary Grant, and De-Lovely (2004), starring Kevin Kline. The differences in the treatment of the character of Cole Porter between the films are striking, and indicate a change in the way that society envisions its artists, and the very act of creativity. Night and Day was conceived partly as a showcase of Porter's songs, but also as a means of providing inspiration to soldiers returning wounded from World War II, based on Porter's recovery from a traumatic riding accident. It depicts Porter as an everyman following a trajectory of achievement, from having little to great success, which was positioned as easy to emulate. De-Lovely, on the other hand, is about the relationship between Porter and his wife Linda, and the way that his creativity was influenced by his changing relationships with various people. Drawing on the work on biopics of scholars such as G.F.Custen, together with research into the shifting ideas of how creativity operates and is popularly understood, this article uses these biopics as case studies to examine the representation of changing concepts of the artist and the act of creativity through Hollywood film. It also considers how these changing conceptions and representations connect to shifts in American society.

The Musical Body: Devising a choreo-musical interpretation for the work Tierkreis (1974-75) by Karlheinz Stockhausen

In this chapter the authors explore a practice-led approach to understanding the role of the body in music performance.

Many writers have discussed the body in music performance, in improvised music, as well as in electronic music. In this chapter the authors offer new modalities of reflection on the musical body in the interpretation of existing contemporary repertoire. Specifically, the authors discuss a re-interpretation of German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen's musical work 'Tierkreis'. Through the development of a specifically physical approach to the performance, the authors investigate the intrinsic relationship between the body and the music and point to an under-explored modality, which is not a musical choreography, but a choreography that is shaped through the musical body itself. It is a modality in which music itself propels forward choreographic ideas, the body becoming the driving force behind musical interpretation. The authors' thinking is influenced by Susan Kozel’s understanding of performance as an ecosystem (Kozel 2007) and framed within a subjective account of musical embodiment.

By merging theory with praxis the authors offer a deeper understanding of the role of the body in music performance and consider how such contributions might lead to new and exciting interpretive frameworks for existing musical repertoires.

‘5 ways to say your prayers’:The Art and Architecture of Curating People, Place and Creativity in a Post-Conflict Context. The Shed, Galway, Ireland 18th June – 23rd July 2013 Includes: 1. Co-Curation of Exhibition with Peter Mutschler, Director of PS² and 2. Morrow’s individual work as part of the exhibition, entitled ‘Departures & Arrivals: Academic Interactions with the Activities, Artists and Archive of PS² ’

This exhibition profiles the curatorial approach of PS² and the work of creative practitioners who have practiced alongside and with the organisation. PS² is a Belfast-based, voluntary arts organisation that initiates projects inside and outside its project space. It seeks to develop a socio-spatial practice that responds to the post-conflict context of Northern Ireland, with particular focus on active intervention and social interaction between local people, creative practitioners, multidisciplinary groups and theorists.
Morrow has collaborated with PS² since its inception in 2005, acting as curatorial advisor specifically on the projects that occur outside PS² . She regards her involvement as a parallel action to her pedagogical explorations within architectural education.

Morrow's personal contribution to the Exhibition aimed to:
-interrogate PS² spatial projects
-contextualise PS² curatorial practice
-open up the analytical framework and extend to similar local practices

The Shed, Galway, Ireland is a joint Galway City Arts and Harbour Company venture. The exhibition subsequently travelled to DarcSpace Gallery, Dublin (Sept 2013).

‘Preparing Social Workers for Practice: Re-evaluating Student Learning Needs’

Among the key developmental priorities that have been identified in the current process of reform taking place in social work in the UK is the need to improve social work students' preparedness to meet the challenges they will encounter in practice. This paper contributes to the current debate about this issue by reporting a research study that focused on final year undergraduates' experience of academic and practice learning and considered the impact of demographic factors, including age, gender, disability, previous experience and qualifications, on their perceptions of preparedness. The results indicate that students were satisfied with most aspects of preparatory teaching and learning. However, the findings also highlight areas in which students' preparation could be further enhanced, including their skills in dealing with conflict and managing risk. The results suggest that social work programmes should not overly depend on practice learning to prepare students to address the challenges presented by increasingly complex working environments and that educators need to work closely in collaboration with employing partners to ensure that the curriculum keeps up to date with the changing learning needs of practitioners.

“Do You Want to See My Hornpipe?”: The Traditional Irish Dancing Body at Play in the Work of Jean Butler and Colin Dunne.

This chapter considers the radical re-imaginings of traditional Irish step dance in the recent works of Jean Butler and Colin Dunne. In Butler's Does She Take Sugar (2007) and Dunne's Out of Time (2008), the Irish step dancing body is separated from its historical roots in nationalism, from the exhibitionism required by the competitive form, and from the spectacularization of the commercialized theatrical format. In these works, which are both solo pieces performed by the choreographers themselves, the traditional form undergoes a critical interrogation in which the dancers attempt to depart from the determinacy of the traditional technique, while acknowledging its formation of their corporealities; the Irish step dance technique becomes a springboard for creative experimentation. In order to consider the importance of the creative potential revealed by these works, this chapter will contextualize them within the dance background from which they emerged, outlining the history of competitive step dancing in Ireland, the "modernization" of traditional Irish dance with the emergence of Riverdance (1994), and the experiments of Ireland's national folk theatre, Siamsa Tíre.

Application of halohydrocarbons for the re-dispersion of gold particles

Methods to control the dispersion of gold in supported heterogeneous catalysts are very valuable due to the strong nanoparticle size dependence on their activity and selectivity towards many reactions. Additionally, the ability to disperse large, inactive gold nanoparticles to smaller nanoparticles provides an opportunity to reactivate, stabilise and increase the lifetime of gold catalysts making them more practical for industrial applications. Previously it has been demonstrated that the use of gas phase iodomethane (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2009, 131, 6973; Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2011, 50, 8912) was able to re-disperse gold from >20 nm particles to dimers and trimers. In the current work, we show that this technique can be applied using less hazardous halohydrocarbons treatments, both in the gas phase and the liquid phase. The ability of these individual halohydrocarbons to re-disperse gold as well as the extent to which leaching occurs is assessed.

Πολιτικες ασύλου της ΕΕ- A critical review of the European policies of asylum: The re-positioning of asylum seekers from refugees/victims in need of protection to criminals (illegal immigrants)

This publication traces how asylum seekers are repositioned in the existing European asylum legislation from asylum seekers as victims in need of protection, to criminals . It is argued that this is due to the European legislation concerning the area of freedom, security and justice. The latest asylum legislation seems to undermine the refugee status which -as it is widely known- is safeguarded by the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its relevant 1967 Protocol. Additionally, in this paper the role of social workers and other social scientists to protect the rights of asylum seekers and question the existing legislation is presented.

Falling in love outwards: Eco-social work and the sensuous event

Summary: Social work is a discipline that focuses on the person-in-the-environment. However, the social domains of influence have traditionally received more attention from the profession compared with the impact of the natural world on human well-being. With the development of ecological theories, and growing threats to the environment, this gap has been addressed and now the notion of eco-social work is attracting more interest. This article builds on this corpus of work by exploring, and augmenting, the thinking of the philosopher, David Abram, and his phenomenological investigation of perception, meaning, embodiment, language and Indigenous experience. The implications for eco-social work are then addressed.

Findings: The development of Abram’s philosophical thesis is charted by reviewing his presentation of the ideas of the European phenomenologists, Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. It is argued that Abram uses phenomenology to explore the character of perception and the sensual foundations of language which, in Indigenous cultures, are connected with the natural world. A gap in Abram’s thinking is then revealed showing the need to set human perception and language within an understanding of power. Overall, this re-worked thesis is underpinned by a meta-narrative in which ecology engages with philosophy, psychology and Indigenous experience.

Applications: By grounding such ideas in Slavoj Žižek’s construct of the sensuous event, three applications within social work are evinced, namely: (i) reflecting on the sensuous event in social work education; (ii) rekindling the sensuous event with Indigenous Peoples; and (iii) instigating the sensuous event with non-Indigenous populations.

Re-Visiting Sylvia Townsend Warner

Sylvia Townsend Warner was born in 1893 in Harrow and died in Dorset in 1978. Her writing career was both productive and diverse, spanning poems, short stories, novels, music reviews, a biography, translations of Proust, and a guide to Somerset. But this list, impressive as it is, does not do justice to the idiosyncrasy and heterogeneity of her work. While she is well known mostly for the seven novels she published, those works are all radically different in style and content. Indeed, Townsend Warner's singularity has, it could be argued, made it difficult to place her in the various fields and sub-fields of 20th-century literary studies. She shares as many similarities as differences with the high modernists who dominated the literary landscape of the interwar period. Likewise she fits, yet also resists, the more recent formulations of intermodernist and middlebrow scholarship that have attempted to interrogate and expand the horizons of mid-20th century literature.

Re-dispersion of gold supported on a ‘mixed’ oxide support

The ability to reactivate, stabilize and increase the lifetime of gold catalysts by dispersing large, inactive gold nanoparticles to smaller nanoparticles provides an opportunity to make gold catalysts more practical for industrial applications. Previously it has been demonstrated that mild treatment with iodomethane (CH3I) (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2009, 131, 6973; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2011, 50, 8912) was able to re-disperse gold on carbon and metal oxide supports. In the current work, we show that this technique can be applied to re-disperse gold on a ‘mixed’ metal oxide, namely a mechanical mixture of ceria, zirconia and titania. Characterization was conducted to gage the impact of the iodomethane (CH3I) treatment on a previously sintered catalyst.

An examination of student and provider perceptions of voluntary sector social work placements in Northern Ireland

Practice based learning in Northern Ireland is a core element of social work education and comprising 50% of the degree programme for undergraduate and postgraduate students. This article presents evidence about the perceptions of practice learning from voluntary sector/non-government organisation (NGO) placement providers and final year social work students on social work degree programmes in Northern Ireland in 2011. It draws on data from 121 respondents from189 final year students and focus group interviews with voluntary sector providers offering 16% (85) of the total placements available to students. The agencies who participated in the research study provide a total of 55 PLOs to social work students, and are therefore fairly representative in terms of voluntary sector (NGO) provision. The article locates these data in the context of practice learning pedagogy and the changes introduced by the Regional Strategy for Practice Learning Provision in Northern Ireland 2010–2015. Several themes emerged including; induction, support and guidance, practice educator/student relationship, professional identity and confidence in risk assessment and decision-making. Social work educators, placement providers and employers must be cognisant of newly qualified social workers’ needs in terms of consolidating knowledge within the formative stages of their professional development.