Despite an extensive literature, there is surprisingly little research about what social workers do in their day to day practice. This body of published work, supported by critical review, argues that we need to hear, and learn from, practitioner voices if we are to comprehend the breadth, challenges and potential of social work practice. It contributes to a steadily expanding field of research that is exploring the hidden, frequently misunderstood, and often negatively perceived, world of everyday practice. By making social work more visible, we open up opportunities for students, social workers, other professionals and the public to learn about the profession's work by engaging with the live challenges and dilemmas encountered by practitioners. My research examines the actual work of social work by analysing practitioner narratives to reveal the ways in which social workers recount, reflect on and learn from direct work with service users and their families. Most of the research is informed by a strengths-based, narrative perspective, the critical best practice approach. It draws on qualitative methods, consistent with a social constructionist stance that recognises the contingency of practice with its multiple subjectivities, uncertainties, contested viewpoints and constant flux. Three main themes are explored: social workers' use of knowledge, their decision-making and judgement when services users are at risk of harm, or pose a risk to others, and the integration of practice and theory in a student practice placement. I also report on two related inquiries, one focusing on the experience of co-publication with practitioners, and the other on social workers' use of self in practice. The notion of 'best' practice is found, inevitably, to be fraught with ambiguity, raising important questions about the criteria on which judgements about 'good' practice can be made, and who is entitled to make them. My review tackles these and other theoretical, methodological and ethical issues that I encountered during the research. An essential thread that runs through all the research findings is the need for a critical, reflexive approach to everyday practice that recognises the situated, and often contradictory, nature of voice and of the practices described. Taken together, the research findings stress the centrality of practitioner capabilities such as relationship building, critical reflection, skilful use of self, respectful authority, curiosity, creativity and the ability to combine a range of different forms of knowledge in imaginative and flexible ways. They collectively make a strong case for valuing and learning from direct access to practitioners' experiences of practice. The research, conducted in a range of UK contexts, identifies how and why social workers' voices continue to fail to be heard, and suggests a number of ways of tackling gaps in our understanding. From a personal point of view, the research is also my own story of learning about doing research into my profession over the last ten years, and of seeking to share and use the findings to improve social work practice and make a difference to people who use social work services, their friends, families and communities.

Initiatives to electrify urban transport promote the purchase and usage of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and have great potential to mitigate the pressing challenges of climate change, energy scarcity and local air quality. Transportation electrification is a huge innovation and could directly and indirectly impact and/or be impacted by several urban sub-systems. This project develops an agent-based integrated framework for investigating how the EV market expands in the context of urban evolution at the micro scale, and assessing the potential impacts of the market expansion on the environment, power grid system and transport facilities, considering the interactions and dynamics found there. The framework may be useful for stakeholders, such as governments, as an aid to decision making. The integrated framework, SelfSim-EV, is updated from a Land Use and Transport (L-T) model, SelfSim, by incorporating several EV-related modules, including an EV market model, an activity-based travel demand model, a transport facility development model and a social network model. In order to somewhat present the behavioural rules of some key agents in SelfSim-EV, two questionnaire surveys on individual EV travel and purchase behaviours were delivered to members of the general public in Beijing, and semi-structured interviews with EV stakeholders were also carried out. The collected data was analysed using discrete choice models and Geographic Information System (GIS). SelfSim-EV was fully tested within two test cases in China, Baoding (a medium-sized city) and Beijing (the capital of China): first, parameter Sensitivity Analyses (SAs) were carried out to test SelfSim-EV within the test case of Baoding from both global and local perspectives, investigating the relationships between the 127 model parameters and 78 outputs of interest; Then SelfSim-EV was further tested within the case study of Beijing, involving in model initialisation, calibration, validation and prediction. Specifically, the SA results were used to calibrate SelfSim-EV in Beijing from 2011 to 2014 by matching various observed and simulated data types at both city- and district-levels, and the calibrated SelfSim-EV model was further validated against historical data in 2015. Then the future of EVs in Beijing was explored within a Reference Scenario (RefSc) from 2016 to 2020. Due to the model uncertainty in future events, several "what-if" scenarios were set up with the SelfSim-EV Beijing model to explore how three typical types of driving factors, namely policy, technology and infrastructure, may influence the EV market expansion at both aggregate and disaggregate levels. The results indicate that policies tend to be more influential than technologies and infrastructures in terms of EV penetration rates. RefSc eventually shows some improvement in total emissions, however, boosting sales of EVs (particularly PHEVs) in the wrong way could have negative impacts. Charging demand accounting for around 4% of total residential electricity demand in 2020 may put slight pressure on the power grid system in RefSc, and it does not increase linearly as the EV sales rise. Slow charging posts appear to be necessary, whereas fast charging facilities seem to contribute slightly to the EV market expansion and thus may be not necessary at the current stage.

Diabetes mellitus is a common chronic disease that affects approximately 382.8 million people worldwide. Globally, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has the seventh highest prevalence of diabetes, with over one-fifth of the Saudi population diagnosed with diabetes. Poor understanding and low health awareness, in parallel with lifestyle choices are considered the main components behind the increase of diabetes and diabetes-related complications in KSA. There is also a lack of diabetes speciality centres, especially in remote areas of KAS. Moreover, diabetes management becomes more complicated during the Ramadan month because people observe fasting throughout the month. The month long fasting process complicates the disease status of Saudi diabetic patients with potential complications post the fasting period. In this thesis, we present the design and development of a novel and intelligent mobile diabetes management system tailored for type 2 diabetic (T2D) patients in Saudi Arabia with the focus on the integration of educational and compliance issues, which we name as the SAED system. The system was validated in two preliminary pilots in the Kingdom, one pilot being specifically dsigned to evaluate the system for diabetic patient during Ramadan fasting month. The outcomes of the clinical pilot indicated the clear effectiveness of the SAED system in lowering the HbA1c levels. The system was tested for its performance through a randomized control trial on 20 diabetic patients for a period of six months in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The outcomes of the pilot study showed improvements in the HbA1c levels of patients and also significant improvements in diabetes knowledge amongst the patients. The HbA1c levels of the diabetic patients in the SAED intervention group decreased from 8.76% to 7.85%. The diabetic knowledge test outcomes of the diabetic patients in the SAED intervention group significantly improved from 46.20% to 61.10%. Further, our study also tested the SAED system on diabetic patients during the Ramadan period. This is important because fasting is observed during the Ramadan month which can significantly affect the diabetes management and diagnosis amongst the patients. The study for the Ramadan period was conducted on another 20 patients using the similar approach described above. The results from the clinical trial indicated significant reductions in the number of hypoglycaemic and hyperglycaemic events during the month of Ramadan in patients who used the SAED system. The diabetes knowledge test outcomes also significantly rose from 44.60% to 64.10%. The SAED system for diabetes management using mobile technologies in KSA has been proven to be successful in improving the diagnosis and management of diabetes amongst the patients. The SAED system offers an inexpensive, practically feasible solution for diabetes self-management in KSA. Considering the social, economic, and political conditions in KSA, the SAED system can enhance the quality of healthcare provided to patients, lead to better utilization of resources, provide timely interventions, and improve the overall quality of life of diabetic patients and their family and friends.

The number of patients diagnosed with long term conditions in the UK is increasing with an expected number of 18 million patients by 2018, responsible for 69% of all spending on health and social care in England. These challenges cannot be solved solely by conventional approaches and other alternatives, such as cost-effective technological solutions, must be considered to increase patient's independence and quality of life, and produce cost savings for the authorities. This practice-based research explored the potential role of technologies in the care of patients with long term conditions, and aimed to evaluate the acceptance and effectiveness of a telehealth service provided to patients' with chronic obstructive pulomary disease and heart failure; to map and compare chronic obstructive pulmonary disease care pathways between different EU countries to better understand how technologies fit within the standard forms of care; to explore how m-health interventions can be developed and designed to support the care of cancer patients and survivors; and to provide data on UK cancer patients' ownership of and interest in m-health technologies. Mixed-mthod research approach was used in this study with a mixture of face-to-face and email semi-structured interviews, postal and online questionnaires, and data extraction from available databases. This approach was selected to harness the strengths of, both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Seven nurses, working on telehealth for an average of 15 months were interviewed. Lack of resources and organisational support, patient selection criteria, and technological support were identified as barriers for effective implementation of telehealth. Telehealth reduced the number of both A&E and hospital admissions by 36% (P=0.03) and 28% (P=0.02), respectively. 27 patients responded to the postal questionnaire and were very satisfied with the service. They agreed that telehealth had improved their health, was a convenient form of healthcare delivery for them, and that it made them more involved in the decisions about their care or treatment. Five COPD-specialised HCPs were interviewed, and the COPD care pathway was compared between 5 EU countries including Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands and England. Lack of communication among different healthcare providers managing COPD and co-morbities is a common feature of the studies care pathways. In all countries, the lifestyle management services provided were similar with no specific tools used to enhance patients' adherance, and no specified role/training existing for informal carers (partners, family & friends). Telehealth can play a role int he integrated care of long tem conditions by providing means communication allowing better communications between different healthcare providers managing LTCs and co-morbidities. Next, the role of m-health in cancer care was explored. A need for m-health platforms to support cancer patients and survivors was identified, and two m-health platforms were developed and designed using patient's centred approach and Waterfall system development model. MyAppPal and CanAdvice+ were designed to support colorectal cnacer srvivors set up on follow-up care plans and cancer patients receiving oral chemotheraphy at home, respectively. 12 colorectal cancer patients were interviewed and 69 patients responded to the postal questionnaire. Patients expereince with the support provided during follow up plan varied based on appointment type and location. They had problems remembering or accessing information as they moved away from their treatment, and reported needs for more specific and personalised information, more information on how to handle financial difficulties and social care, and more control over their hospital appointments. The usability scores of the developed apps were very positive, and they were seen as simple and attractive to use, and had very positive learnability and usability scores. Finally, 529 cancer patients completed surveys to assess their ownership of smart-technologies and interest in m-health apps. 90.5% of the patients had access to smartphone, tablet or both, and only patients' age significantly affected this ownership. Almost half of the patients showed an interest in the use of m-health apps, and two out of five were willing to download apps in were made available from the hospital. Five factors were found to significantly predict patients' willingness to use and download health applications, including age, health literacy, previous use of apps in general and health apps in particular, and previous use of smartphones/tablets to access related health information in the past six months. Ownership of smart-technologies and interest in m-health apps was independent from all other socio-economic factors. Technologies seem to be acceptable to patients with long term conditions, and can play an important role in improving their clinical outcomes if well designed, introduced, implemented and managed. Patients' perceptions of the usefulness and ease of use of these technologies seem to be a crucial factor in their acceptance of such interventions.

問題式學習模式，已採用在許多不同的學科，包括醫學，工程和其他實用的科學領域，尤其是一些注重實踐應用，而不是純粹知識技能的學科。然而，到目前為止，只有很少的實證研究是關于問題式學習模式在法律科的應用，法律科也是一個實踐性很強的學科，側重於學生應用法律的能，而是純粹法律知識的傳授。 / 此研究旨在探討問題式學習模式對學生在法律科學習成果的影響。學生的學習成果在這項研究中包括學生的學業成就，動機和自我調節學習策略。這項研究的研究問題是： / 1）問題式學習模式在學生學習法律時，與傳統的課堂講授方法相比，是否對學生的學業成就，動機和自我調節學習策略有任何影響？ / 2）如果上述問題的答案是肯定的，在什麼條件下，問題式學習模式會對學生的學業成就，動機和自我調節學習策略產生正面影響？ / 在這項研究中，學生被分為兩組，即問題式學習模式組（處理組）和傳統的課堂講授組（對照組）。課程結束後，學生的成績是由一份試卷衡量，而學生的學習動機和自我調節學習策略是由一份專為研究學生的學習動機和自我調節學習策略的問卷MSLQ衡量。試卷分為三節，包括20條選擇題，5條簡短的問題，和3個現實生活中的案例研究。採用方差分析(ANOVA)來對學生的考試成績和MSLQ結果分別進行了分析。 / 研究結果顯示，學生的學業成就，動機和自我調控學習策略，在考試和MSLQ結果上，處理組和對照組之間有一個顯著的差異。在考試中，這項研究發現學生在選擇題和簡短的問題上，處理組和對照組得分沒有顯著區別，而學生在個案研究上，兩組之間的分數有顯著的差異。有關的結果，跟廣泛支持問題式學習模式好處的研究，包括Savery & Duffy (1993)，Barr (1997)，和 Rouse (1990)，是一致的。 / 此外，這項研究還用質定性的方法，包括觀察和訪談，找出在什麼條件下問題式學習模式可以有效地影響學生的學習成果。結果發現，為使問題式學習模式有效，應該有良好的時機，成熟的學生，熱情的推動者和適當的學習環境。這項研究提出，如果有老師想採用問題式學習模式作為一種學習方法，他應該確保這些條件都滿足，以保證問題式學習模式的成功。 / Problem-based learning has been adopted in many disciplines, including medicine, engineering and other practical science areas which place more emphasis on applied skills as opposed to pure knowledge. However, so far, there is little, if any, empirical research conducted on the impacts of PBL in the field of law, which is also a very practical subject and focused on application skills rather than the dissemination of pure legal knowledge. / This study aimed to examine the impacts of PBL on student learning outcomes in the contextof law. Students’ learning outcomes in this study included students’ academic achievement,motivation and self-regulated learning strategies. The research questions of this study were: / 1) Does the use of PBL have any impact on students’ learning outcomes, including students’ academic achievement, motivation and self-regulated learning skills, in a law subject when compared to students enrolled in traditional lecturing method? / 2) Under what conditions, does PBL have these impacts on students’ academic achievement, motivation and self-regulated learning strategies? / In this study, students were divided into two groups, i.e. PBL group (treatment group) and traditional lecturing group (control group). After the course was completed, students’ academic achievement was measured by a final examination paper, while students’ motivation and self-regulated learning strategies were measure by the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The final examination paper was divided into three sessions, including 20 MC, 5 short questions, and 3 real life case studies. ANOVA was used to analyze students’ scores in the final examination and the MSLQ. Students’ scores on each session of the final examination were analyzed individually, while the motivational subscale and self-regulated learning strategies subscale of the MSLQ were analyzed separately. / The findings showed that there was a significant difference in students’ academic achievement, motivation and self-regulated learning strategies between the two groups in both the final examination and the MSLQ scores. In the final examination, it was found that there was no significant difference between students’ MC scores and short question scores of the treatment group and the control group, while there was significant difference between students’ case study scores between the two groups. In relation to the MSLQ results, it was found that there was significant difference between both students’ motivational subscale scores and self-regulated learning strategies score of the two groups. The significant difference in the ANOVA score of the PBL group was found to be consistent with the research of Savery & Duffy (1993), Barr (1997), and Rouse (1990), who indicated widespread support for the knowledge and stimulus benefits of PBL. / Besides, the researcher also used qualitative methods, including observation and interview, to find out, under what condition, PBL may have an impact on students’ learning outcomes. It was found that in order to make PBL effective, there should be good timing, mature students, passionate facilitator and appropriate learning environment. It was suggested that, if any teacher would like to adopt PBL as a learning approach, he should make sure that these conditions are met in order to ensure the success of PBL. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Chan, Sui Ki. / Thesis (Ed.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 320-346). / Abstracts also in Chinese.

Social-ecological systems (SES) may become “locked in” particular states or configurations due to various constraints on adaptability imposed by feedback mechanisms or by processes designed to incentivize certain behavior. While these locked-in states may be desirable and robust to disturbances over relatively short time periods, limits on system adaptations may diminish the longer-term resilience of these states, and potentially of the system itself. The agricultural SES in the Iowa-Cedar River Basin in eastern Iowa is one such system. While highly productive, culturally important, and essential to local economies, the system is facing significant economic and environmental challenges. This dissertation presents the results of a project designed to survey the adaptability of farmers in the ICRB, model their actions subject to constraints, and plot potential future states under scenarios of climate change, policy, and market conditions. We utilize a coupled agent-based model (ABM) to examine the specified resilience of the system to future climate, leveraging the ability of ABMs to integrate heterogeneous actors, dynamic couplings of natural and human systems, and processes across spatiotemporal scales. We find that farmer behavior is primarily constrained by economic factors, including federal crop insurance subsidies and the financial risk of implementing different crops or practices. Finally, we generate alternative system trajectories by modeling twenty-one scenarios, identifying actionable adaptations and pathways for transforming the system to alternative, more sustainable states.

Site-based management (SBM) in schools can trace its roots back to two phenomena, citizen's movements in large cities such as New York in the late 1960s and decentralization efforts of business in the 1970s. Both were done in the belief that achieving a better result can be done 11 through decisions made by the people closest to the process. Site-based management programs are diverse. Some stress one aspect, the restructuring of the school administration and program to affect achievement. Other schools stress a second aspect, the empowerment of teachers and stakeholders to make administrative decisions. Whichever emphasis chosen, several changes must occur for school management to move from the central office to the local school. These changes are evolutionary, taking 10-15 years. An evaluation study in a northern rural Utah school that has been involved with site-based management since 1990 allows for a context to understand the changes that might occur, namely, (a) the relinquishment of central school district authority; (b) the assumption of authority by the local school; ( c) the assumption of accountability for student achievement; ( d) the development of sensitivity between school and community; and (e) the development of consensus among school stakeholders. An instrument was developed for the evaluation, the Site-Based Management Progress Check. The instrument used items covering the agents and activities that would be present as these five changes occur. Additionally, the largest portion of the progress check was based on the goals in the school. As respondents showed more agreement concerning which goals were chosen and achieved, an inference was made that greater progress had occurred toward the team activity necessary for local school management. The data were provided by 100% of the lower-elementary teachers; upper-elementary teachers, however, were poorly represented, restricting data generalizability. The study indicated that, despite its 7-year involvement with site-based management, the school was still at an early stage of development with no change in district authority and no use of stakeholder groups to monitor goals. The school did have a wide base of teacher leadership. Slow progress seems to be related to lack of knowledge of SBM processes.

<div> <div> <div> <p>The objective of this study is that combination of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and machine learning to complement each other. In this study, four steps are conducted. </p> <p>First is based on the empirical potentials development in silicon nanowires for theory parts of molecular dynamics. Many-body empirical potentials have been developed for the last three decades, and with the advance of supercomputers, these potentials are expected to be even more useful for the next three decades. Atomistic calculations using empirical potentials can be particularly useful in understanding the structural aspects of Si or Si-H systems, however, existing empirical potentials have many errors of parameters. We propose a novel technique to understand and construct interatomic potentials with an emphasis on parameter fitting, in which the relationship between material properties and potential parameters is explained. The input database has been obtained from density functional theory (DFT) calculations with the Vienna ab initio simulation package (VASP) using the projector augmented-wave method within the generalized gradient approximation. The DFT data are used in the fitting process to guarantee the compatibility within the context of multiscale modeling. </p> <p>Second, application part of MD simulations, enhancement of mechanical properties was focused in this research by using MEAM potentials. For instance, Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile strength, true strain, true stress and stress-strain relationship were calculated for nanosized Cu-precipitates using quenching & partitioning (Q&P) processing and nanosized Fe3C strengthened ultrafine-grained (UFG) ferritic steel. In the stress-strain relationship, the structure of simulation is defined using the constant total number of particles, constant-energy, constant-volume ensemble (NVE) is pulled in the y-direction, or perpendicular to the boundary interface, to increase strain. The strain in increased for a specified number of times in a loop and the stress is calculated at each point before the simulation loops.</p></div></div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Third, based on the MD simulations, machine learning and the peridynamics are applied to prediction of disk damage patterns. The peridynamics is the nonlocal extension of classical continuum mechanics and same as MD model. Especially, FEM is based on the partial differential equations, however, partial derivatives do not exist on crack and damage surfaces. To complement this problem, the peridynamics was used which is based on the integral equations and overcome deficiencies in the modeling of deformation discontinuities. In this study, the forward problem (i), if we have images of damage and crack, crack patterns are predicted by using trained data compared to true solutions which are hit by changing the x and y hitting coordinates on the disk. The inverse problem (ii), if we have images of damage and crack, the corresponding hitting location, indenter velocity and indenter size are predicted by using trained data. Furthermore, we did the regression analysis for the images of the crack patterns with Neural processes to predict the crack patterns. In the regression problem, by representing the results of the variance according to the epochs, it can be confirmed that the result of the variance is decreased by increasing the epoch through the neural processes. Therefore, the result of the training gradually improves, and the ranges of the variance are expressed as 0 to 0.035. The most critical point of this study is that the neural processes makes an accurate prediction even if the information of the training data is missing or not enough. The results show that if the context points are set to 10, 100, 300, and 784, the training information is deliberately omitted such as context points of 10, 100 and 300, and the predictions are different when context points are significantly lower. However, when comparing the results of context points 100 and 784, the predicted results appear to be very similar to each other because of the Gaussian processes in the neural processes. Therefore, if the training data is trained through the Neural processes, the missing information of training data can be supplemented to predict the results. </p> <p>Finally, we predicted the data by applying various data using deep learning as well as MD simulation data. This study applied the deep learning to Cryo-EM images and Line Trip (LT) data with power systems. In this study, deep learning method was applied to reduce the effort of selection of high-quality particles. This study proposes a learning frame structure using deep learning and aims at freeing passively selecting high quality particles as the ultimate goal. For predicting the line trip data and bad data detection, we choose to analyze the frequency signal because suddenly the frequency changes in the power system due to events such as generator trip, line trip or load shedding in large power systems. </p> </div> </div> </div>

In a Southern state at a rural high school, leadership staff implemented phonics-based strategies with 9th grade English teachers to improve students' Lexile reading scores. The absence of formative data related to program implementation left stakeholders without a clear understanding of the influence of the phonics-based strategies. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to obtain formative information from teachers to discern the perceived influence of the phonics-based strategies on reading. Dual coding theory was used to examine teachers' perceptions of the influence of phonics-based strategies on students' motivation, fluency, and self-efficacy. Data were collected using interviews with 9 purposefully selected English teachers who taught Grade 9 students and had at least 1 year of experience using the phonics-based strategies. Data were coded in NVivo and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results indicated that phonics-based strategies were perceived to benefit students' extrinsic motivation and fluency; conversely, teachers perceived the strategies had a limited effect on students' intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy. Implementation of recommendations presented in a white paper based on these findings could result in positive social change by strengthening students' reading and promoting their academic success.

Evidence-based practice has resulted in better patient outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, and effective patient-centered care. Leadership of a large teaching hospital determined that new nurses lacked the education and experience to design and implement an evidence-based project at the bedside, which was an expected outcome for completion of the established nurse residency program. The purpose of this project was to develop a design-only project in which Masters of Science in Nursing-prepared mentors were added to the residency program to establish the required evidence-based project. A mentor workshop was developed to guide the mentors in this role using Benner's novice to expert theoretical model. A team of stakeholders, including an expert in the field of nursing education, provided ongoing process evaluation in the development of the outcome products including the Mentor Facilitation Guide, Mentor Workshop Curriculum, Mentoring Toolkit, Pre-and Post-Mentor Workshop Survey Assessment, and Mentor Implementation Plan. Stakeholders completed a summative evaluation on the processes, outcomes, and student leadership of the project. Findings showed that the project met 100% of the stated goals and objectives, as evidenced by the stakeholders' responses to the summative evaluation regarding the degree of effectiveness for the project, process, and leadership skills. Implementation and evaluation of the project, which was developed for use in the hospitals' existing nurse residency program, will occur post-graduation. Social change will occur if new nurses learn to use evidence-based practice to support their nursing actions, resulting in improved patient care outcomes and population health.