Calving is an essential event in dairy production, as lactation only begins after calving and cows must give birth at regular intervals in order to maintain milk production. Careful management is important during the weeks around calving as this is when dairy cows most frequently experience health problems. Experienced stockmen use judgements based on physical and behavioural changes in order to recognise when cows may be about to calve, and subsequently be available to offer assistance when required. With increasing herd sizes and large numbers of cows per stockman, individual attention is often difficult. An automated system that monitors behavioural or physiological changes before calving could potentially be used to predict the time of calving, and help improve supervision by farm staff. Data comprising two years of records from Langhill Farm were used to identify any variables which could be used for calving prediction or as risk factors for various calving problems. Records kept by stockmen detailing the signs of calving and time of observation were compared with quantitative behavioural data. Observations from video recordings were used to identify any consistent behavioural changes occurring the day before calving that could be used to predict the onset of calving. The frequencies of lying and tail raises proved to be the most useful indicators, as they showed consistent changes in the final six hours before calving. Differences between heifers and cows, and between those experiencing calving difficulties and those which did not, were also investigated. Differences between heifers and cows were shown which should be taken into account when predicting calving times. However, no early-warning signs of difficulties were identified for cows and heifers assisted with a calving jack. Cows were also fitted with collars containing accelerometers to investigate if features in tri-axial accelerometer data could be shown to correspond to specific behaviours. Some success was achieved in identifying eating behaviour and postural changes, demonstrating that there is potential for monitoring behaviour using this method. Weekly heart rate recordings were also taken to establish if there was a change in the heart rate or heart rate variability during the final six weeks of gestation. Changes were found but, although they were statistically significant, they were considered too subtle for any practical application. Consistent changes in behaviour were observed in the six hours before calving, some of which could be measured using accelerometers. These changes have the potential to be used as the basis of an automated monitoring system to predict calving.

This thesis examines two research questions: firstly, how does community punishment impact upon the lives of those subjected to it; and secondly, to what extent is that impact affected by the relationship between the offender and her Probation Service supervisor? It considers these questions in both conceptual and empirical terms by outlining, and then deploying, the analytical framework of penal impact, an approach to penal severity that uses pain as a metric by which to judge the suitability of punitive interventions. By evaluating sentence severity in terms of penal impact, one can examine both the types of pain that follow from a particular sentence, as well as their relative magnitude, building up a qualitative comparison of different impositions of community punishment. However, because pain is an inherently subjective concept, the evaluation of penal impact requires empirical data. This study therefore explores the findings of interviews with nine offenders and 11 supervision officers within a single Probation Trust. The data drawn from these interviews indicate a broad range of pains that vary considerably in their intensity and incidence from offender to offender. The study explores the question of the extent to which these pains can be associated with the formal process of punishment, the extent to which they can be considered punitive in a retributive sense, and the means by which such pains can be compared between subjective experiences. It concludes that the penal impact of community punishment in England and Wales is considerable, and goes substantially beyond the relatively ‘soft’ image suggested by a narrow, liberty-based conception of sentence severity. The process of supervision has a substantial effect upon the pains felt – and therefore, upon the sentence’s overall impact. The implications of these conclusions for sentencing policy in England and Wales are discussed, and avenues of further research are identified.

The sale of ancient objects on eBay is presented to buyers as legitimate and ethical. However the antiquities trade is a grey market, where both licit and illicit objects are sold (Bowman, 2008). An unknown percentage of illicit antiquities have entered the market as a consequence of archaeological looting. However, antiquities are fungible by nature, meaning that it is very difficult for buyers to differentiate the licit from the illicit. This thesis is based on the premise that the antiquities trade causes harm through the destruction of archaeological knowledge, and therefore there is a necessity to reduce the size of the market. Using Sutton’s market reduction approach, the study sets out to collect empirical data on the market from eBay. The thesis considers three main research questions: First, is the current regulatory framework for the sale of antiquities adequate? Second, what is the scale and scope of the market on eBay for antiquities? Third, what are the routine features of the operation of this market?

Objective: To assess the impact of North American transition programs for youth emerging to adulthood on education, housing, relationship, identity formation, youth engagement, life skills, mental health, and financial outcomes. Methods: Electronic databases, grey literature sites, and research articles were searched to identify randomized control trials and quasi-experimental designed studies examining the effectiveness of transition programs for foster youth. Cochrane Collaboration criteria were used to conduct, identify and assess potential studies. Whenever possible data was extracted and synthesized with random effect, inverse variance meta-analyses. Results: A total of eight studies including 1560 participants were included in this review. Data suggests that interventions focusing on teaching independent living skills are no more effective at improving outcomes for youth when compared with services “as usual.” Youth who participated in school-based self-determination programs showed improved outcomes in transition planning, quality of life, and self-determination. Conclusion: These results are preliminary and should be interpreted with caution. The studies examined here had small sample sizes, and may not have had enough power to detect a real difference. More research is needed. / Graduate

Due to a large number of felid species being endangered they are subjects of conservation projects both in situ and ex situ. Keeping felids in zoos are problematic with stereotypic behaviours such as pacing and reproduction difficulties often occurring. The aim of this study was to review research and zoo husbandry knowledge about which resources are most important for the welfare of zoo kept felids, and in addition perform behavioural observations in seven felid species in four Swedish zoos to try to find an order of priority of resources. Observations were performed during opening hours in 36 sessions per species and zoo. The results showed that studies of felid resource usage are missing. Zoo husbandry practice is probably based mainly on traditions and anecdotal knowledge. The observations showed that except for minor differences felids behave similarly regardless of species but the use of resources varies. Small felid species seems to be hiding rather than pacing as a way of coping. Elevated resources and areas as well as numerous hiding places are important to felids but many factors might affect the choice of resting places. Therefore it is important to provide the felids with multiple choices. It is also important to evaluate both species and individuals when designing enclosures and providing resources. More multi-institutional studies with large number of individuals of all zoo kept felid species are needed to gather knowledge about felids needs and preferences of resources.

The Aim of this study was to gain an understanding of how educational welfare officers reason and act when there is a suspicion of child maltreatment. An employee who regularly meets children where there is a suspicion of child maltreatment is required by law to report it to social services. Five educational welfare officers from the Kronoberg county, as well as one from an adjacent county, received vignettes with three fictive accounts of children who were being maltreated.  The educational welfare officers were then interviewed and asked questions concerning the vignettes. The results and following analysis showed that if there was a suspicion of child maltreatment, then the educational welfare officers in general reported it to the social services. However, an exception to this was when they believed it not to be in the best interest of the child to report their suspicions. The results further showed that stigma, as described by Goffman (2014), was a factor that could drive the educational welfare officers towards acting in a way that wasn´t in accordance to what was required by the law. The actions they took could further be understood by using Lipsky´s (2010) “Theory of discretion”, which in this study translated to whether they acted in a way that was either fully in accordance to the law or in a more dubious way.

This study explores the views of the peak level industrial and labour organisations towards government social policy after the publication of the Beveridge Report in 1942. The reform of state welfare in the 1940s meant that employers and trade unions became more involved in the administration than in the provision of social services. The process entailed a greater role for the Trades Union Congress, the British Employers’ Confederation and the Federation of British Industries in the formulation of state social policy. This is a hitherto neglected aspect of their relations with government. Labour and business historians have paid little attention to trade union and industrial views on social policy after the second world war while historians of the welfare state have neglected the participation of these particular interest groups in the formation of welfare policy. These concepts are herein applied to a range of areas of welfare - social security, pensions, the National Health Service and state education - in which the TUC, BEC and FBI demonstrated a level of interest. While being of some relevance in relation to particular areas of policy and specific points in time, these approaches have a limited function in explaining government consultation of primarily industrial interests on social policy matters. Corporate bias may help to explain why consultation took place but offers little understanding in those instances where it did not. A search for a wider welfare consensus reaching outside the political party arena is similarly flawed as the theory seeks to generalise an impose uniform patterns of policy-making where none existed. If the consenualists continue to adhere to the notion that the involvement of economic interests in policy making was a product of consensus politics, it must now seek to examine the impact of these interests on the policy-making process. In the same vein, corporate theorists might look to other policy areas outwith the industrial and economic sphere in order to explore the wider application of their findings.

Field social workers are in daily working contact with the poor and deprived. In Britain as many as nine out of ten users of social work services are claimants of social security; over half are dependent on means tested social assistance. Most referrals to social workers are for benefit and housing problems. Social work trainers, managers, and agencies expect social workers to have positive attitudes to clients. Professional training is increasingly confronting racist and sexist attitudes amongst student social workers; but very little is known about social workers' attitudes to poor people or how these attitudes affect the nature and delivery of social work services to claimants - the main user group of social services. This study explores the attitudes to poverty of over 450 field social workers. As a group these social workers have relatively "positive" attitudes to the poor and feel very strongly - in a supportive direction - about a number of issues confronting social security claimants. Poverty itself is defined in relative terms, as a lack of opportunities for choice and participation in customs and practices accepted by the non poor population. The poor are viewed very much as victims of injustice and structural inequalities. But most social workers employ individualising methods of work aimed at helping clients adapt to their financial status and circumstances. Less individually focused approaches are generally unpopular. Organisational structures, priorities, and dominant methods of working are powerful constraints on alternative approaches. Current methods reinforce definitions of acceptable practice. The study raises important issues for the operation, practice, management and organisation of social work; in addition there are a number of implications for the research of attitudes to poverty. Social workers' attitudes to poverty and the poor are characterised by contradiction and paradox, as is social work itself. The study of these attitudes requires a number of complementary research methodologies.

Publications and a commentary on them. List of Publications [1] Tischler, V., Cumella, S., Bellerby, T. and Vostanis, P. (2000) A Mental health Service for homeless children and families. Psychiatric Bulletin 24, 339-341 [2] Vostanis, P. Tischler, V., Cumella, S. and Bellerby, T. (2001) Mental health problems and social supports among homeless mothers and children victims of domestic violence. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 47 (4), 30-40 [3] Tischler, V., Vostanis, P., Bellerby, T. and Cumella, S. (2002) Evaluation of a mental health outreach service for homeless families. Archives of Disease in Childhood 86, 158-163 [4] Tischler, V. and Gregory, P. (2002) A resettlement service for homeless and vulnerable parents. Housing, care and support 5 (4), 33-36 [5] Tischler, V., Karim, K., Rastall, S., Gregory, P. and Vostanis, P. (2004) A Family Support Service for homeless children and parents: users'perspectives and characteristics. Health and Social Care in the Community 12 (4), 327-335 [6] Karim, K., Tischler, V., Gregory, P. and Vostanis, P. (2006) Homeless children and parents: short-term mental health outcome. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 52 (5), 447-458 [7] Tischler, V. and Vostanis, P. (2007) Homeless Mothers: Is there a Relationship between Coping Strategies, Mental Health and Goal Achievement? Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 17, 85-102 [8] Tischler, V., Rademeyer, A. and Vostanis, P (2007) Mothers experiencing homelessness: mental health, support and social care needs. Health and Social Care in the Community 15 (3), 246-253 [9] Tischler, V. (in press) Resettlement and Reintegration: Mother's Reflections after Homelessness. Community, Work and Family [10] Tischler, V. (under review) I'm not coping, I'm surviving: Understanding coping in vulnerable populations. Qualitative Research in Psychology

The thesis begins with a review of the feminist social work literature, setting out four key issues: the immersion of women social workers in feminist social workidentity, the creation of egalitarian relationships with women-service users, the goal of empowerment and the neglect of the statutory context. Research questions are generated in the process of discussing these themes, with a view to beginning to redress the paucity of empirical research in this area. The state is then explored as crucial to developing an understanding of the characteristics and the operation of social work. The advent of managerialism in state social work is presented as the locus in which women social workers' experiences arc grounded and practice possibilities are constructed. The thesis moves on to consider the mainslreaming of gender in the reform of social work education undertaken by CCETSW. These developments in social work education are seen as consistent with trends in state social work more generally. The methods used in the case study are introduced and the data this case study produced are discussed in relation to: women social workers' identities, identifications and stances; egalitarian relationships and empowerment; and managerialism. The thesis concludes by summarising its findings and drawing out their implications for future research and practice based on accommodations between women social workers and state social work.