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The “5Rs of Rugby”: A reflective case study on the reality of implementing a mental health literacy and social norms intervention with professional rugby players
No full textProfessional athletes face unique pressures on their well-being, particularly during elite competitions. In the context of professional rugby union, there is little research into players’ mental health experiences, literacy, and help seeking. We implemented a social norms intervention that aimed to improve outcomes in these three areas in the 2022–23 season. The present case study presents a reflective account of the reality of implementing this project across Irish professional rugby union teams from the perspective of the key collaborators in the project, including staff working for Rugby PlayersIreland, clinical staff who provide well-being services to players, and academic researchers. We identify several considerations for future applied research of this nature with professional athletes, including the importance of developing flexible and collaborative relationships between practitioners and academic researchers. We discuss measuring impact, logistical and planning difficulties, gaining entry and ensuring buy-in, and engaging athletes through effective delivery in professional sport. Balancing the (often idealized) demands of academic research with the practical realities of elite sport remains a challenge but one that, when navigated effectively, can help bridge the gap between research and applied practice
Effect of the printing orientation on the yield surface and its evolution reflecting plastic pre-deformation of additively manufactured stainless steel 316L
Full text linkThis study explores the influence of printing orientation on the yield surface characteristics and their evolution under plastic
pre-deformation in additively manufactured (AM) stainless steel 316L produced via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). Tubular specimens were fabricated in three orientations (XY, ZX, and Z) and subjected to multi-axial loading to experimentally
determine initial and subsequent yield surfaces using a single-specimen probing approach. The yield surfaces were derived
at two offset strain definitions (0.001% and 0.005%) and further analyzed after tensile pre-deformations of 0.35%, 0.5%,
and 0.8%. Results revealed strong anisotropy in the AM specimens, with the Z-oriented samples displaying the lowest yield
strength and most significant softening. In contrast, the XY and ZX orientations exhibited higher resistance to plastic deformation. The wrought SS316L showed superior mechanical performance. The evolution of yield surfaces highlighted the
orientation-dependent hardening/softening mechanisms and directional stress redistribution. Electron backscatter diffraction
(EBSD) analysis revealed that the microstructural anisotropy and grain morphology—particularly the presence of columnar
grains in the Z-oriented samples—correlate strongly with the observed mechanical anisotropy and yield surface asymmetry
Bodies of evidence: recent investigations from the Jucu de Sus Project
No full textThis brief paper details the archaeological work and analyses carried out on the site of Jucu de Sus, (Cluj), over the months of June-August 2023 and 2024. The project is overseen by directors Prof. Dr. Kori Filipek (University of Derby, UK), Dr. Ioan Stanciu (Institute of Archaeology and Art History, Cluj-Napoca), and Dr. Katie White- Iribhogbe (Transylvania Bioarchaeology). The remaining project team is composed of researchers from Transylvania Bioarchaeology and international participants academic and government institutions
Quantitative methods and criteria for modifying and defining transtibial prosthetic alignment: A systematic review
No full textThis study aimed to better understand the various objective techniques employed for evaluating and correcting prosthetic alignment and examine proposed methods to define a predefined (a priori) alignment criterion grounded in clinically accepted alignment. A comprehensive search of 5 online databases and a hand search of reference lists of the included papers were conducted. The American Academy of Orthotics and Prosthetics checklists were used to assess the quality of included studies. A total of 247 adults with transtibial amputations participated in the 20 studies included in this study. These studies vary in methodology, approach, instrumentation, and alignment steps. The results indicate that none of the tested methods can replace the current clinical approach. Nevertheless, some techniques can assist the prosthetist in quantifying and adjusting alignment, such as using instruments to measure the moments at the base of the socket or visualizing the ground reaction force. Based on current evidence, it is not possible to define a universal priori alignment because of individual differences and the complexity and multifactorial nature of alignment. However, each prosthetic user appears to have a specific alignment configuration that they find acceptable. Combining various techniques, such as anatomical-based alignment and biomechanical measurement tools, may help to objectively quantify a priori alignment for an individual
The handbook of neuro-dramatic-play cross-cultural, attachment-based play for clinicians and practitioners
No full textAn innovative contribution to our understanding of research and practice behind Neuro-Dramatic-Play (NDP), this book demonstrates how readers may apply this attachment and play-based approach to teaching, parenting and therapy. This essential book will provide guidance on new techniques and methods, enhancing their practice and providing potential solutions to problems they may be encountering in their work with clients
Progressive Reform of African States’ Investor-State Dispute Settlement policy: A Proposal for a Pan-African Investment Court
No full textThis chapter provides a framework to rebalancing the socio-economic and investment regulatory relationship between African States and investors in international investment law, through the proposal for a hybrid pan-African Investment Court, and provision of a prototype structure for the Court, as the adjudicatory mechanism in Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). This is motivated by the legitimacy crisis of ISDS, a notion that the system is incompatible with democratic values, and therefore, at variance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030, and African Union Agenda 2065. This proposal is significant because of the need to remedy the socio-economic challenges of African States through the restoration of rights of States to regulate for sustainable development. African States have recently created an architecture for regulating foreign investment through the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA), and its Draft Protocol on Investment, which has given the momentum for the fundamental reform of ISDS, in order to preserve and safeguard national interests in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Findings on the ‘African experience’ in ISDS through the study of Egypt, Tanzania, and South Africa, are the motivations behind the recommendation for an Investment Court System (ICS). The outcomes shows that ISDS has transformed from a tool for socio-economic development, to instead limit the legitimate exercise of democratic powers by African States to regulate in national interest, and therefore, hinder the development of policy initiatives for sustainable development. This finding supports the conclusion that investor-State arbitration is no longer fit for purpose in driving the economic objectives of African States. The viability of this proposal was conducted through the evaluation of existing Court Systems such as the International Court of Justice and Arab Investment Court, which outcomes were adapted to create a prototype Investment Court System for Africa. It is predicted that this proposal will help to resolve the legitimacy crisis of ISDS, through balanced investment protection and restoration of rights of States to regulate for sustainable development
Negotiating learner identities and success: a linguistic ethnography with late-arrival multilingual learners in a secondary school
Full text linkThis thesis offers rich insights into the under-researched experiences of late arrival multilingual learners in English secondary schools. It examines how they co-construct and resist learner identities through interactions with peers and staff, and how these identities are positioned within majoritarian stories of success.
It focuses on four recently-arrived young people in a secondary school in the West Midlands of England with data gathered through conducting a linguistic ethnography between 2019 and 2022. Analysis is based on observational fieldnotes including interactions recorded in mainstream and intervention lessons, ethnographic and more formal interviews with the four learners and teaching staff, and a learner focus group. The analysis centres on accessing a deep understanding of the experiences of each young person, using the tools of ethnography and Conversation Analysis to analyse data, including through the detailed study of their interactions.
Identity is explored by employing the lens of Positioning Theory (Davies and Harré 1990), where it is constructed at micro, meso and macro levels through the co-positioning of participants in talk in (dis)alignment with storylines about success, multilingualism and learning which circulate at these three scales. Local understandings of success are uncovered through the concepts of Model Minorities (Gillborn 2008) and Imagined Communities (Norton 2001), ideal learners (Archer and Francis 2007) and educational triage (Gillborn and Youdell 2000).
The thesis makes three main arguments which reinterpret and extend these established concepts of success to consider the multilingual and transnational dimensions of new arrivals’ learner identities. Firstly, I argue that while multilingual new arrivals negotiate classroom positions, teaching staff hold significant power to make these (un)available, resulting in greater or fewer opportunities for learning content and English language. Secondly, over time, these momentary interactional positions sediment into meso-level identities which align more or less closely with a construct I propose of the ideal EAL learner. These alignments enable schools to triage newly-arrived learners according to their perceived potential value for formal measures of success, realised through national exams at the age of sixteen.
Thirdly, this identity work takes place within macro-level storylines about multilingualism, success and the ‘good immigrant’, which coalesce in a racialised and meritocracy-driven construct I call the EAL Model Minority. While these majoritarian constructs drive institutional and national notions of success for multilingual learners, the learners additionally envision success in richer, more humanitarian terms through the Imagined Communities to which they (seek to) belong. I argue that recognising learners’ identities as members of Imagined Communities creates a more holistic understanding of success, providing a counter-story to the majoritarian view and a more inclusive understanding of multilingual learners in mainstream classrooms
Interventions to Promote Physical Activity and Healthy Ageing: Special Issue Reprint:
Full text linkThe Healthy Ageing Challenge aims for people to enjoy at least five extra healthy independent years of life by 2035 while narrowing the gap between the experiences of the richest and poorest. Regular physical activity is important for healthy ageing, not only for maintaining health in midlife but also for maintaining health, independence, and quality of life as people become older. Global
physical activity guidelines highlight the benefits and importance of helping adults to adopt and maintain regular physical activity participation throughout the course of life and not only in later life, and interventions and activities that support this aspiration are so important. As experienced
researchers, Professor Andy Pringle and Dr Nicky Kime’s text, Interventions to Promote Physical Activity and Healthy Ageing, features contributions reporting the impact and implementation of physical activity interventions for adults and older adults, as well as the experiences of performing
research and evaluation in this context in a diverse range of projects. The text provides important learning for practice and research in physical activity and public health. As such, it will be of interest to colleagues working in the design, implementation, and evaluation/research of physical activity
interventions for adults and older adults. A copy of the special issue reprint book is available from: https://mdpi-res.com/bookfiles/book/10391/Interventions_to_Promote_Physical_Activity_and_Healthy_Ageing.pdf?v=173591913
A Novel Approach Based on Quantum Key Distribution Using BB84 and E91 Protocol for Resilient Encryption and Eavesdropper Detection
Full text linkQuantum cryptography is anticipated to drive substantial advancements in the field of cybersecurity. The impending arrival of quantum cryptography has the potential to compromise current encryption methods, thereby possibly compromising the effectiveness of traditional key management-based security protocols. Quantum cryptography represents a burgeoning area that necessitates thorough examination and scrutiny to validate its efficacy in safeguarding data and securely distributing secret keys. One fundamental quantum key distribution protocol, BB84, encounters challenges when operating with fewer quantum bits (qubits) and bases that only support up to 8 qubits. This limitation weakens the system’s security, making brute force, intercept, and resend attacks less challenging. Consequently, this study proposes a method to enhance the security of the BB84 protocol, to reduce susceptibility to attacks and eavesdropping. The proposed improved BB84 protocol utilizes 9, 12, and 16 quantum bits along with two, and three bases to significantly bolster security, allowing authorized parties to prevent the key distribution process and eliminate the use of compromised keys. Additionally, this study has implemented the E91 quantum key distribution protocol utilizing the Entanglement Pair Generation method to produce secure keys. While the existing E91 protocol ensures security through Bell’s theorem and Bell’s inequality, it overlooks the impact of noise, leading to inaccuracies in eavesdropper detection. Hence, this study introduces an additional security measure. Whenever an eavesdropper attempts to measure the quantum state, the proposed E91 protocol collapses its state from |10⟩ to |11⟩, setting the first qubit to |1⟩ and the other qubit to |0⟩, thus providing the eavesdropper with incorrect information, accompanied by a phase angle of 15π/8. This leads to misconception and misconfiguration, preventing eavesdroppers from obtaining useful details about transferred quantum states and compromising the keys. Additionally, considering that the proposed E91 protocol relies on entangled particles and utilizes double qubit gates, which are inherently noisier than single qubit gates and susceptible to quantum decoherence, this study employs error mitigation techniques in the final measurement to predict outcomes more efficiently
How to Live Together in Sound exhibition
No full textThe exhibition brings together four different intersecting and overlapping positions by the project's artist-researchers. Collecting insights, processes, traces and collaborative explorations, the research centres around the central topics in relation to sound and the environment and prioritising the otherwise ignored aspects of co-existence in shared and transferred experiences with the Other. The exhibition follows a research residency in Lapland in October 2024, whereby central questions concerning the projects’ themes were explored and articulated to systematically align and connect individual inquiry and outcome. Specifically, the research questions how humans, and all animals negotiate the land, and if communication can be established through sonic, textual and translated creative gestures. It asks if saturation within an environment can afford greater awareness and understanding of its inhabitants, and if co-existence is a manageable and creatable when precise methods and tactics of inquiry are included. It seeks to give benefit to the Other in this context, whether that be the land itself or its varied inhabitants, by utilising multiple and varied layers of cognitive and reflective engagement. The combined research within this project responds to the need for contributions in this way and is significant in its creativity and reach to diverse audiences.
Angela Bartram and Jaana Erkkilä-Hill: Voicing the Other (2025)
The two artists aim to create shared spaces of communication and experience inspired by interaction between, and with other species. Voicing the Other combines words, sound, moving and still images. The research was created in close collaboration between two artist-researchers for this exhibition and includes a durational method in its making that is reflective of the time needed to be fully attentive to others (their sounds, lives, actions, and needs) within the environment. The research uses participatory means, through the acts of writing, reading, listening and communicating to animals, and its communication and translation to the audience. It also includes a participatory method in which the viewer is invited to continue the exchange of letters with the animals concerned. Within the field of critical animal studies there is still little recognition giving to voicing the other in this way, and this creative approach by Bartram and Erkkilä-Hill contributes significantly to this gap in knowledge.
Alex Arteaga: Aural aesthetic research_Rovaniemi - An invitation to practice
This research cell proposes to inquire into Rovaniemi as an environment (or a meshwork of environments) through aesthetic aural practices. These practices consist of organized sets of actions of listening and, principally, hearing to be performed on specific spots throughout the city, in a deepened and intensified relationship with the present surroundings. The invitation issued here is to practice some predefined aesthetic aural practices individually and most relevantly, collectively. For the individual practice some "scores" (indications describing how to proceed) will be made available; for the shared practice two "collective and experimental research frameworks" guided by Alex Arteaga will be offered.
Petri Kuljuntausta: Imaginary Birdscapes (2025)
This work is a dive into the possibilities of interspecies interaction. The work is based on recordings in nature, combining the sounds of birds and the environment with sound worlds created by the musician.
Jan Schacher: Traversing landscape (2025)
Steps, breath, and pulse are the central elements propelling this piece forward. Light, movement, and instability characterise the image. The piece develops on the basis of the documentary video, collected during a hike with an artistic-research group. The focus is shifted towards the auditory and physical dimensions of personal experience, evoking an intense connection with the environment while moving. Musical processes of resonance and transformation serve to reinforce the auditory domain. In consequence, a shared exploration of landscape combined with a raw, contingent, and subjective trace collection gets fixed and transformed into the mediated format of this audio-visual piece.
Gallery Hamara, 28 January - 20 February, Rovaniemi, 2025.
The exhibition was accompanied by an artists research talk 28th January 2025.
The images attached to this record document the work within the exhibition by Bartram and Erkkilä-Hill