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Wasted Pumpkins: A Real Halloween Horror Story
Get PDFYesPurpose
This study aims to understand pumpkin waste awareness among people by converting unstructured quantitative data into insightful information to understand the public's awareness of pumpkin waste during Halloween.
Design/methodology/approach
To fulfil the study's purpose, we extracted Halloween-related tweets by employing #halloween and #pumpkin hashtags and then investigated Halloween-related tweets via a topic modelling approach, specifically Latent Dirichlet Allocation. The tweets were collected from the UK between October 25th and November 7th, 2020. The analysis was completed with 11,744 tweets.
Findings
The topic modelling results revealed that people are aware of the pumpkin waste during Halloween. Furthermore, people tweet to reduce pumpkin waste by sharing recipes for using leftover pumpkins.
Originality/value
The study offers a novel approach to convert social media data into meaningful knowledge about public perception of food waste. This paper contributes to food waste literature by revealing people's awareness of pumpkin waste during Halloween using social media analytics. Norm activation model and communicative ecology theory are used for the theoretical underpinning of topic modelling
The prevalence of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis in England and Catalonia from the Roman to the post-medieval periods
Get PDFYesObjective: Evaluate the prevalence of DISH through time from the Roman to the post-Medieval period in England
and Catalonia.
Material: 281 individuals from England and 247 from Catalonia were analyzed.
Methods: Adult individuals with at least three well-preserved lower thoracic vertebral bodies were analyzed. DISH
was assessed considering the early stages of development. Diachronic and geographical dietary shifts were
investigated using reported light isotope data, archaeological reports and historical documentation.
Results: Males and older individuals showed consistently higher prevalence of DISH, however, only the English
sample showed a significant difference between males and females in the prevalence of DISH. No significant
difference was found in the prevalence of DISH though time (from Roman to post medieval periods) nor across
regions (England and Catalonia).
Conclusion: The development of DISH is probably influenced by a combination of factors including increasing age
and sex.
Significance: This is the first exhaustive analysis of DISH in ancient Catalan populations and the first that considers the early stages of DISH.
Limitations: Reduced sample size, particularly in post-medieval samples, as a result of the available excavated
samples and the inclusion criteria adopted.
Future Research: Include rural, religious and high-status samples in the analysis of DISH. Re-assess the prevalence
of DISH in post-medieval populations.This project was funded by an Institute of Life Sciences Research Studentship awarded by the University of Bradford, Bradford, UK
The blood-to-plasma ratio and predicted GABAA-binding affinity of designer benzodiazepines
Get PDFYesThe number of benzodiazepines appearing as new psychoactive substances (NPS) is continually increasing. Information about the pharmacological parameters of these compounds is required to fully understand their potential effects and harms. One parameter that has yet to be described is the blood-to-plasma ratio. Knowledge of the pharmacodynamics of designer benzodiazepines is also important, and the use of quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) modelling provides a fast and inexpensive method of predicting binding affinity to the GABAA receptor.
Methods: In this work, the blood-to-plasma ratios for six designer benzodiazepines (deschloroetizolam, diclazepam, etizolam, meclonazepam, phenazepam, and pyrazolam) were determined. A previously developed QSAR model was used to predict the binding affinity of nine designer benzodiazepines that have recently appeared.
Results: Blood-to-plasma values ranged from 0.57 for phenazepam to 1.18 to pyrazolam. Four designer benzodiazepines appearing since 2017 (fluclotizolam, difludiazepam, flualprazolam, and clobromazolam) had predicted binding affinities to the GABAA receptor that were greater than previously predicted binding affinities for other designer benzodiazepines.
Conclusions: This work highlights the diverse nature of the designer benzodiazepines and adds to our understanding of their pharmacology. The greater predicted binding affinities are a potential indication of the increasing potency of designer benzodiazepines appearing on the illicit drugs market.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, Feb 2022
Five years of #MedRadJClub: An impact evaluation of an established twitter journal club
Get PDFYesTwitter journal clubs are a relatively new adaptation of an established continuing professional development (CPD) activity within healthcare. The medical radiation science (MRS) journal club 'MedRadJClub' (MRJC) was founded in March 2015 by a group of academics, researchers and clinicians as an international forum for the discussion of peer-reviewed papers. To investigate the reach and impact of MRJC, a five-year analysis was conducted.
Tweetchat data (number of participants, tweets and impressions) for the first five years of MRJC were extracted and chat topics organised into themes. Fifth anniversary MRJC chat tweets were analysed and examples of academic and professional outputs were collated.
A total of 59 chats have been held over five years with a mean of 41 participants and 483,000 impressions per hour-long synchronous chat. Ten different tweetchat themes were identified, with student engagement/preceptorship the most popular. Eight posters or oral presentations at conferences, one social media workshop and four papers have been produced. Qualitative analysis revealed five core themes relating to the perceived benefits of participation in MRJC: (1) CPD and research impact, (2) professional growth and influencing practice, (3) interdisciplinary learning and inclusion, (4) networking and social support and (5) globalisation.
MRJC is a unique, multi-professional, global community with consistent engagement. It is beneficial for both CPD, research engagement, dissemination and socialisation within the MRS community
Role of Finance in Economic Development
No full textNoA huge body of literature has well acknowledged the crucial role played by financial sector in economic growth. Financial sector enables mobilisation of savings and allocation of credit for production and investment. Among its other functions are supplying transaction and portfolio management services and providing payment services, and source of liquidity for the firms. Financial sector also monitors borrowers, matches illiquid assets with liquid liabilities, and integrates credit and liquidity provision functions (Bossone, 2000). Banks boost economic growth by identifying the entrepreneurs with the best chances of successfully initiating new goods and production processes (King & Levine, 1993) and facilitate long-run investments in the high return projects (Bencivenga & Smith, 1991). In this chapter we examine the role of financial sector in achieving economic growth and development. We also briefly look at the factors determining financial development
Method of Micro-Sampling Human Dentine Collagen for Stable Isotope Analysis
Get PDFYesSampling of dentine for stable carbon (δ13 C) and nitrogen (δ15 N) isotope ratios in the direction of tooth growth allows the study of temporal changes to the diet and physiological stress of an individual during tooth formation. Current methods of sampling permanent teeth using 1mm increments provide temporal resolution of six - nine months at best depending on the tooth chosen. While this gives sufficient sample sizes for reliable analysis by mass spectrometry, sectioning the dentine across the incremental structures results in a rolling average of the isotope ratios. A novel method of incremental dentine collagen sampling has been developed to decrease the collagen increment size to 0.35mm along the incremental structures thus reducing averaging and improving the temporal resolution of short-term changes within the δ13 C and δ15 N values.
This study presents data for a MicroMill-assisted sampling method that allows for sampling at 0.35mm width x 1mm depth increments following the incremental growth pattern of dentine. A NewWave MicroMill was used to sample the demineralised dentine section of modern donated human third molars from Sudan and compared to data from the same teeth using the 1mm incremental sectioning method 2 from Beaumont et al. (2013).
The δ13 C and δ15 N isotopic data showed an increased temporal resolution, with each increment providing data for two-four months of dentine formation.
The data show the potential of this method for studying dietary reconstruction, nutritional stress, and physiological change with greater temporal resolution potentially to seasonal level and with less attenuation of the δ13 C and δ15 N values than was previously possible from human dentine
User engagement on global social networks: Examining the roles of perceived brand globalness, identification and global identity
Get PDFYesBuilding on the global branding literature, brand relationship theory and social identity theory, this study investigates the relationship between perceived brand globalness (PBG) and user engagement (active/passive) on
global social networks (GSN). Additionally, the study investigates the mediating effects of two distinct forms of
user identification (i.e., user identification with the GSN brand and user identification with the GSN community)
as well as the moderating effects of user global identity on the relationship between PBG and user engagement
with such brands. Covariance-based structural equation modeling was used to analyse data collected from users
of a GSN (i.e., Facebook) in the United Kingdom (UK) and India. The results indicate that PBG significantly
influences both active and passive user engagement. This relationship is mediated by users' identification with a
GSN brand and community. Additionally, the findings indicate that the associations between PBG and user
engagement (active/passive) on GSN vary as a function of users' global identity. The results also demonstrate
some country-specific variations in key relationships. Finally, the study offers useful recommendations for social
media managers to rethink and redesign their user engagement strategies, keeping in mind global cultural
diversity
A scoping review: Strategic workforce planning in health and social care
Get PDFYesAim
This aim of this scoping review was to undertake a detailed review of the pertinent literature
examining strategic workforce planning in the health and social care sectors. The scoping review was
tasked to address the following three questions:
1. How is strategic health and social care workforce planning currently undertaken?
2. What models, methods, and tools are available for supporting strategic health and
social care workforce planning?
3. What are the most effective methods for strategic health and social care workforce
planning?
Methods
The scoping review utilised the five-stage scoping review framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley
(2005). This includes identifying the research question; identifying relevant studies; study selection;
charting the data and collating, summarizing, and reporting the results. The search included a range
of databases and key search terms included “workforce” OR “human resource*” OR “personnel” OR
“staff*”. Relevant documents were selected through initially screening titles and s, followed
by full text screening of potentially relevant documents.
Results
The search returned 6105 unique references. Based on title and screening, 654 were
identified as potentially relevant. Screening of full texts resulted in 115 items of literature being
included in the synthesis. Both national and international literature covers strategic workforce
planning, with all continents represented, but with a preponderance from high income nations. The
emphasis in the literature is mainly on the healthcare workforce, with few items on social care.
Medical and dental workforces are the predominate groups covered in the literature, although nursing
and midwifery are also discussed. Other health and social care workers are less represented. A variety
of categories of workforce planning methods are noted in the literature that range from determining
the workforce using supply and demand, practitioner to population ratios, needs based approach, the
utilisation of methods such as horizon scanning, modelling, and scenario planning, together with
mathematical and statistical modelling. Several of the articles and websites include specific workforce
planning models that are nationally and internationally recognised, e.g., the workload indicators of
staffing needs (WISN), Star model and the Six Step Methodology. These models provide a series of
steps to help with workforce planning and tend to take a more strategic view of the process. Some of
the literature considers patient safety and quality in relation to safe staffing numbers and patient
acuity. The health and social care policies reviewed include broad actions to address workforce
planning, staff shortages or future service developments and advocate a mixture of developing new
roles, different ways of working, flexibility, greater integrated working and enhanced used of digital
technology. However, the policies generally do not include workforce models or guidance about how
to achieve these measures. Overall, there is an absence in the literature of studies that evaluate what
are the most effective methods for strategic health and social care planning.
Recommendations
The literature suggests the need for the implementation of a strategic approach to workforce
planning, utilising a needs-based approach, including horizon scanning and scenarios. This could
involve adoption of a recognised workforce planning model that incorporates the strategic elements
required for workforce planning and a ‘one workforce’ approach across health and social care
Mold temperature- and molar mass-dependent structural formation in micro-injection molding of isotactic polypropylene
Get PDFYesThe structural formation and development of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) upon the micro-injection molding process was investigated at different mold temperatures and molecular weights utilizing a real-time synchrotron radiation small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) technique combined with a customized micro-injection molding apparatus. Shish-kebab structure and parent-daughter lamellae were found to be formed during micro-injection molding for all iPP samples. In the case of kebab lamellae, a considerable growth in the long period and in the average thickness of lamellar crystallites and amorphous domains is observed at initial stages of crystallization for samples molded at varying temperatures. This effect is caused by the successive formation of thin lamellae in the outer layer and thick lamellae in the inner layer during the manufacturing process as evidenced by the spatial distribution of the crystalline lamellae across the thickness. In addition, the length of the shish formation increases remarkably at the onset of crystallization, the extent of which is dependent on the mold temperature. Despite the large changes of the lamellar stacks and the shish misorientation, the final length of the shish remains essentially unchanged when varying mold temperature. Since there is a critical orientation molecular weight above which the chains are stretched and oriented to form stable shish, the iPP sample with a low molar mass exhibits an overall decrease in the scattering intensity of SAXS patterns compared to the high molecular weight polypropylene.National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFB0704200), National Natural Science Foundation of China (21674119, 21790342 and 51525305), and Royal Society Newton Advanced Fellowship, United Kingdom (NA150222)
Exploring the use of speculative design as a participatory approach to more inclusive policy-identification and development in Malaysia
Get PDFYesThis Case Study paper presents the first exploration of Speculative Design as a participatory democracy method for navigating the future of ageing in Malaysia. Speculative Design in the context of Global South is emerging, but without much data on how it is applied within different socio-economic conditions from the Global North countries. This Case Study considers the challenges and opportunities of employing Speculative Design as policy identification and development method from the context of Malaysia, a Global South country with its own unique characteristics. The paper concludes by suggesting that the novelty of Speculative Design as a policy-design approach in Global South countries, such as in Malaysia, requires the right selection of provocations and culturally familiar content to ease introduction of the methodology. Also, the efficacy of this approach as a participatory design application would require further enculturation within targeted communities, as well as sustained engagement through Champions.This work was supported by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council [grant number: AH/S005684/1]