‘Bring yourself to work’ : rewriting the feeling rules in ‘personalised’ social work

Purpose: This paper explores how feeling rules are constructed, experienced and contested within personalised social work practice. It considers how organisations seek to shape practitioners towards certain forms of emotional display in increasingly market-oriented conditions. It contributes to our understanding of the place of ‘backstage’ emotional labour in seeking to shape and direct social work practice. Design/methodology/approach: A single immersive ethnographic case study of an English social work department was undertaken over a period of six months. Findings: The paper reveals embedded tensions which emerge when practitioners are caught between traditional bureaucratic function, the incursions of the market and feeling rules of relatability, commitment and creativity. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the scant literature on frontline experiences of personalisation in children’s services and the importance of ‘backstage’ emotional labour for shaping and directing social work practice. Importantly, it considers the complexity of emotional labour within an organisational context which is neither fully marketised, nor fully welfarised, a position many welfare organisations now find themselves in

Authenticity and the interview : a positive response to a radical critique

We respond to recent discussions of the interview, and the ‘radical critique’ of interviewing, as reiterated in publications by Silverman and Hammersley. Reviewing and extending the critical commentary on the social life of the interview and its implications for qualitative research, we endorse criticism of the Romantic view of the informant as a speaking subject, arguing that the interview does not give access to the interiority or private emotions of social actors. We focus especially on the search for the ‘authentic’ voice of experience and feeling, arguing that the expression of authenticity is performative, and that such interviews need to be analysed for their performative features. The biographical work of the interview demands close, formal analysis, and not mere celebration. The argument is illustrated with a single case-study, derived from an ethnographic study of a social-work service in the UK. We suggest that it is possible to derive constructive responses to the radical critique, by adopting an analytic stance towards respondents’ biographical work, as expressed through extended, qualitative interviewing. The speaker’s use of positioning rhetoric is discussed

Reflexivity

Central to reflexivity is an awareness that the researcher and the object of study exist in a mutual relationship with one another. Thus, reflexivity calls for attention to how thinking comes to be, how it is shaped by preexisting knowledge, and how research claims are made. The topic of reflexivity is pervasive in the methodological literature of the social sciences. It is an issue for the social sciences in general, but it has particular significance for ethnographic and other qualitative research (Davies, 2008). There is no single definition of reflexivity: It has multiple meanings and connotations (Babcock, 1980). Moreover, it is apparent that some usages of “reflexivity” actually overlook its core significance. The aim of this entry is to clarify some of the main issues raised by reflexivity. This entry begins by discussing reflexivity in social research. It then examines several types of reflexivity, including epistemic, disciplinary, methodological, textual, and positional reflexivity. The entry concludes by briefly contrasting reflexivity and reflection

Autism as a disorder of neural information processing: directions for research and targets for therapy

The broad variation in phenotypes and severities within autism spectrum disorders suggests the involvement of multiple predisposing factors, interacting in complex ways with normal developmental courses and gradients. Identification of these factors, and the common developmental path into which theyfeed, is hampered bythe large degrees of convergence from causal factors to altered brain development, and divergence from abnormal brain development into altered cognition and behaviour. Genetic, neurochemical, neuroimaging and behavioural findings on autism, as well as studies of normal development and of genetic syndromes that share symptoms with autism, offer hypotheses as to the nature of causal factors and their possible effects on the structure and dynamics of neural systems. Such alterations in neural properties may in turn perturb activity-dependent development, giving rise to a complex behavioural syndrome many steps removed from the root causes. Animal models based on genetic, neurochemical, neurophysiological, and behavioural manipulations offer the possibility of exploring these developmental processes in detail, as do human studies addressing endophenotypes beyond the diagnosis itself

The microsporidian parasites Nosema ceranae and Nosema apis are widespread in honeybee (Apis mellifera) colonies across Scotland

Nosema ceranae is spreading into areas where Nosema apis already exists. N. ceranae has been reported to cause an asymptomatic infection that may lead, ultimately, to colony collapse. It is thought that there may be a temperature barrier to its infiltration into countries in colder climates. In this study, 71 colonies from Scottish Beekeeper’s Association members have been screened for the presence of N. apis and N. ceranae across Scotland. We find that only 11 of the 71 colonies tested positive for spores by microscopy. However, 70.4 % of colonies screened by PCR revealed the presence of both N. ceranae and N. apis, with only 4.2 or 7 % having either strain alone and 18.3 % being Nosema free. A range of geographically separated colonies testing positive for N. ceranae were sequenced to confirm their identity. All nine sequences confirmed the presence of N. ceranae and indicated the presence of a single new variant. Furthermore, two of the spore-containing colonies had only N. ceranae present, and these exhibited the presence of smaller spores that could be distinguished from N. apis by the analysis of average spore size. Differential quantification of the PCR product revealed N. ceranae to be the dominant species in all seven samples tested. In conclusion, N. ceranae is widespread in Scotland where it exists in combination with the endemic N. apis. A single variant, identical to that found in France (DQ374655) except for the addition of a single nucleotide polymorphism, is present in Scotland

Enzyme sequestration as a tuning point in controlling response dynamics of signalling networks

Signalling networks result from combinatorial interactions among many enzymes and scaffolding proteins. These complex systems generate response dynamics that are often essential for correct decision-making in cells. Uncovering biochemical design principles that underpin such response dynamics is a prerequisite to understand evolved signalling networks and to design synthetic ones. Here, we use in silico evolution to explore the possible biochemical design space for signalling networks displaying ultrasensitive and adaptive response dynamics. By running evolutionary simulations mimicking different biochemical scenarios, we find that enzyme sequestration emerges as a key mechanism for enabling such dynamics. Inspired by these findings, and to test the role of sequestration, we design a generic, minimalist model of a signalling cycle, featuring two enzymes and a single scaffolding protein. We show that this simple system is capable of displaying both ultrasensitive and adaptive response dynamics. Furthermore, we find that tuning the concentration or kinetics of the sequestering protein can shift system dynamics between these two response types. These empirical results suggest that enzyme sequestration through scaffolding proteins is exploited by evolution to generate diverse response dynamics in signalling networks and could provide an engineering point in synthetic biology applications

Right drug, right patient, right time: aspiration or future promise for biologics in rheumatoid arthritis?

Individualising biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) to maximise outcomes and deliver safe and cost-effective care is a key goal in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Investigation to identify predictive tools of bDMARD response is a highly active and prolific area of research. In addition to clinical phenotyping, cellular and molecular characterisation of synovial tissue and blood in patients with RA, using different technologies, can facilitate predictive testing. This narrative review will summarise the literature for the available bDMARD classes and focus on where progress has been made. We will also look ahead and consider the increasing use of ‘omics’ technologies, the potential they hold as well as the challenges, and what is needed in the future to fully realise our ambition of personalised bDMARD treatment