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Evaluating the transparency capability of smart manufacturing systems
Full text linkTransparency encompasses the potential to monitor operations instantaneously so that required corrective actions can be taken as needed. Transparency entails the ability to track processes in real-time, enhance the visibility of the operations, and require a seamless network for improved communication for smart manufacturing systems. However, there is a lack of proper metrics to assess the transparency of smart manufacturing environments. This paper contributes to the assessment of transparency by proposing a metric for its evaluation. In doing so, we found that the assessment of transparency takes the quantification of traceability into account. Hence, a step-in assessment is conducted by initially developing a mathematical model for traceability, followed by a model for transparency. The model is validated by analysing the sensitivity and applicability through simulation-based experimentation. The results demonstrate the level of traceability followed by transparency with the implementation of smart manufacturing systems. A point of inflexion that determines the variability in the offerings of traceability at a given set of inputs was found. This is one of the few works that focus on the development of a metric for quantifying transparency through the traceability of smart manufacturing systems. Furthermore, it investigates the behaviour by analyzing the sensitivity of the model through simulation-based approaches, which is a unique addition to the realm of the smart manufacturing literature. Managers can refer to this study's findings to design the deployment of smart manufacturing systems with informative trade-offs to maintain their required traceability and transparency capabilities
Learning analytics for open learning environments: connection to 21st century skills
Full text linkThis paper presents the design and development process of an innovative learning analytics tool tailored to address the challenge of generating analytics for diverse, constructionist, open learning tools. The paper outlines the preparatory phase, which informs a co-design component aimed at eliciting data requirements and establishing a shared conceptual framework among educators regarding the monitoring of 21st-century skills using open learning tools. Through this process, common understandings and agreed-upon metrics for assessing skill cultivation were identified. Subsequently, the paper delineates how these insights were translated into functional and technical specifications for the development of a learning dashboard. Finally, a report is given on the results of a preliminary evaluation, giving promising indications that the designed tool effectively addresses the identified challenges. This paper contributes to the advancement of learning analytics by offering a systematic approach to designing tools that support the cultivation of 21st-century skills in diverse learning environments
Home is where the start is: qualitatively exploring the role of accommodation in desistance, for people with sexual convictions living in the U.K.
Full text linkAttaining accommodation upon prison release is a key reintegration need. It is recognised by academics, policy makers, and practitioners, as an important risk factor to consider. This consideration, however, largely focuses on the importance of accommodation in terms of attaining a structural dwelling. Furthermore, many investigations do not consider the unique experiences of people with sexual convictions, who arguably require distinct considerations due to added risk management and increased stigma. This research explored the holistic accommodation experiences of men with sexual offences, now living within the community. Interviews were conducted with 15 men who had all served a prison sentence for a sexual offence. Participants discussed what they needed from their accommodation, emphasising desires for a sense of ownership, autonomy, control, safety, and socialisation. These needs were immaterial, reflecting psychosocial and affective ties to accommodation, capturing the importance of home. By considering these components of living spaces, theoretical comparisons are drawn between factors contributing to home and factors contributing to desistance. Accommodation is not merely important as a physical building necessary for risk reduction, but also as a place for individuals to ascertain feelings of home, facilitating an individual’s ability to desist, and lead a positive, offence-free, life
Embodied pain, authenticity, and ethics in performance: reflections on tender steps
Full text linkIn Tender Steps, a dance-for-film exploring baby loss, I examine how lived experience shapes performance and meaning-making. Rooted in my own grief, the piece reflects how embodiment carries emotional and cultural weight. My body, having endured this loss, became the primary site of storytelling—where each gesture and stillness arose from personal memory. This authenticity, I argue, cannot be replicated by another performer, as it stems from the unique intersection of emotional, physical, and narrative truths.
However, this approach raises critical ethical questions. While lived experience can deepen resonance, it also risks re-traumatisation. The creative process was emotionally taxing, revealing the need for supportive frameworks when working with embodied trauma. Asking performers without direct experience to embody such pain can feel ethically fraught, potentially reducing complex realities to performance.
Through this presentation, I explore how we can support artists in navigating the demands of personal storytelling. Practices like building a compassionate team, incorporating therapeutic tools, and normalising vulnerability are essential. Tender Steps thus serves as both a personal case study and a broader inquiry into authenticity, ethics, and care in performance. How do we honour lived experience without harm, and what responsibilities do we carry as creators of embodied narratives
Tender steps: A dance film, raising awareness of babyloss in the digital arena
Full text linkTender Steps, a short dance film created to raise awareness of babyloss, has captivated a global online audience through its emotionally resonant portrayal of grief and remembrance. This work addresses an often underrepresented experience, using the power of virtual performance to harness participation and empathy. By focusing on an issue that transcends cultural and national boundaries, Tender Steps mobilizes the performing arts as a vehicle for community engagement and social support, highlighting how the digital space can act as a site for collective healing and awareness-building.
The viewing of this work for delegates fits within the broader theme of ‘Performing Arts and Participation in Virtual and Online Media.’ The film’s impact lies in its use of cinematic techniques that are both accessible and emotionally immersive, leveraging the immediacy of digital platforms to reach a diverse and international viewership. As noted in the EU Work Plan for Culture 2023-2026, cultural institutions, such as the University of Derby, are pivotal in strengthening integration and community involvement. This film exemplifies this role by engaging an online audience in a participatory experience that encourages dialogue on babyloss—a topic that often remains stigmatised or overlooked.
Through Tender Steps, we explore how virtual media can extend the reach of the performing arts, creating a new, inclusive space for engagement that is not constrained by geographic or social barriers. This project underscores the potential of digital platforms to facilitate participatory engagement and inclusive storytelling, setting a precedent for how performance-based art can create meaningful online communities around sensitive issues. Tender Steps not only deepens audience involvement but also broadens the scope of digital performing arts as a medium for empathy and
awareness in addressing complex social themes
Dementia Digest : University of Northampton Creative Dementia: Using Arts to support people with young onset dementia and their families
Full text linkPresentation of the AHRC research project to the University of Northampton's Dementia Digest
"On-line conference hosted by the University of Northampton who were partners with University of Derby on this project.
“Turning around an oil tanker”: Recommendations for a safeguarding program in football
Full text linkDespite increasing awareness and reports of wrongdoing in sports such as professional football there remains a lack of safeguarding education targeted at adults to address this behavior. Thus, there is a need to develop safeguarding education programs based on the experiential knowledge of adults in football. The present study explored knowledge users' recommendations, as a means to co-produce a safeguarding education program to address maltreatment in football. Guided by a social constructivist approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 safeguarding and welfare personnel (nine who identified as females and ten as males) who work within British clubs and organizations ranging from English Premier League (EPL) through to the English Northern Premier League Division One. The participants’ roles ranged from Chief Executive Officer; Vice Chairman; General Counsel; Club Development Officer; Head of Safeguarding; Designated Safeguarding Officer; Safeguarding Case Officer; Academy Safeguarding Manager; Head of Education and Welfare; Player Care and Welfare Officer; Head of Education and Player Care, and Coach. Through a reflexive thematic analysis, knowledge users discussed shaping safeguarding education in professional football, and the best way to deliver safeguarding education. Knowledge users highlighted the need for safeguarding programs to be designed and delivered at individual, club, and systemic levels to be effective. Furthermore, these programs need to be underpinned by a cultural intervention to safeguarding education in professional football. From a research perspective, the present findings emphasize the value of collaborating with underrepresented groups to create meaningful change in safeguarding in sport. Lastly, the present study provides the foundation for future research to evaluate the effectiveness of a safeguarding education program in football in practic
Impact of menu calorie labeling on hypothetical meal choices in the united kingdom: an exploration of potential public health benefit versus risk for disordered eating harm
Full text linkThis study investigates the impact of calorie-labeled menus on hypothetical consumer behavior in the United Kingdom (UK), whilst exploring risk for disordered eating. A general population sample of 415 participants, diverse in age and gender, selected hypothetical meals from menus either with or without calorie information, having completed the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) immediately before or after menu presentation. Regression analyses showed that menu type significantly predicted calorie selection, with participants in the calorie-labeled condition choosing meals with fewer total calories compared to those in the non-labeled condition. Global disordered eating scores did not predict total calories, nor did they interact with menu type. Only the restraint (R) subscale of the EDE-Q was a significant independent predictor of total calories, indicating that higher R was associated with choosing meals with fewer calories, though this did not interact with menu type. These findings indicate that, in a hypothetical choice context, calorie information was associated with lower-calorie selections without evidence of immediate disordered eating risk. However, given the cross-sectional and correlational design, no causal conclusions can be drawn, and potential longer-term or compensatory effects (e.g., restrictive eating, purging, or exercise behaviors) were not assessed. Further longitudinal and real-world research is required to validate and expand these findings within the UK context
'It’s not a subject you can sugar-coat’—An interpretative phenomenological analysis of service providers’ experiences of delivering a domestic abuse awareness intervention
Full text linkWith 2.3 million people in the UK having experienced domestic abuse (DA) in the year ending March 2024, DA represents a severe public health issue. Public interest in DA remains high, with its importance and impact re-emphasised through recent legislative changes. Thus, educating the public about the predictors and consequences of DA and barriers to gaining support can both empower potential victims and enable them to recognise and support others. The CEASE Educational Programme is one such intervention, provided by UK-based DA charity RemediUK. This study employed semi-structured interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore the experiences of staff (n = 6) who had facilitated the CEASE Educational Programme. Two overarching themes relating to barriers to delivery were highlighted: (1) understanding participants’ lack of engagement, and (2) a desire to fill the gaps. Our findings indicate a need to explore how DA education can best target those who would benefit from it the most, and in doing so, identify attitudes and beliefs endorsing DA, and how to best educate those with personal experiences of abuse
Parametric study of the energy dissipation by a suspension system
No full textThis study examines the energy dissipation characteristics of a nonlinear vehicle suspension system. The suspension system is described as a nonlinear mass-spring-damper system, which is developed using the output frequency response function (OFRF) technique. This approach allows for the establishment of a direct relationship between the output spectrum of the system (or performance metric) and the nonlinear parameters of interest. The OFRF polynomial, related to the level of energy dissipation, was formulated in terms of the relevant nonlinear parameters. The findings indicate that the OFRF model for energy dissipation can be utilised to estimate the heat generated for specific design parameters. This could offer valuable insights for designing vibration-based energy harvesters, as some of the energy lost as heat could potentially be converted into electrical energy