23852 research outputs found
Sort by
"The Ecstatic and the Bilious": To be a Methodist in Nineteenth Century Provincial England
Full text linkThe history and impact of Methodism during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have been debated by academics. Its role in the lives of ordinary people has not, however, been fully explored and comparative studies are few and far between. This thesis sets out, therefore, to examine Methodist significance for those closely associated with it. It teases out similarities and differences for urban and rural dwellers. Simultaneously this allows for comment in relation to the development of Methodism itself and also the wider secularisation debate. The nineteenth century is the focus. The agricultural Wolds of Yorkshire's East Riding and the Black Country of the industrial Midlands are the chosen areas. Both Wesleyan and Primitive Methodism are scrutinized with their distinctive contributions acknowledged. Extensive archival research has made this possible and a spatial approach has been adopted to add fresh insight. Primarily a work of cultural history, much is gleaned from sociologists, theologians and geographers. Particular attention is given to four Victorian novelists. A spatial and Methodist analysis of works by Eliot, Bennett, Hocking and Thorneycroft Fowler contribute to the study. Methodism was ubiquitous and unique: the novels imply and the history confirms. It created communities within communities in both rural and urban settings and the implications for members were profound. Methodist use of space emphasises this. Methodists migrated knowing that something familiar awaited them. Identities were forged and respectability, with both positive and negative connotations, became a possibility for urban Methodists. It is argued that an analysis of how both outdoor and indoor space was used is essential to an understanding of Methodist fortunes over time. Sacralisation, the turning of space into religious place, is important here but so, too, is desacralisation. As chapel usage changed, there were implications, more widely for secularisation
Taking pleasure seriously: Should alcohol research say more about fun?
Full text linkBackground This paper invites discussion on whether pleasure should receive more attention in public health-oriented research on alcohol. While there is a history of sociological and anthropological literature exploring alcohol and pleasure, this is much less common in public health-oriented alcohol research, and associated advocacy. Argument We propose three broad reasons why more extensive engagement with issues of pleasure may be important for public health-oriented research. The first is epistemological: because overlooking pleasure risks leaving a gap in knowledge of a key component of, and motive for, drinking. The second is ethical: because the prioritisation of long-term health over shorter-term pleasures is not uncontested, and needs to be explicitly justified. The third is pragmatic: because ceding the discourse on pleasure to other actors (including commercial ones) risks undermining effective engagement with target populations. Conclusions There is strong case for more attention to pleasure in public health-oriented alcohol research. Key to this is the further development of interdisciplinary perspectives and mixed-methods research. This brings both conceptual and methodological challenges, many of which remain unresolved; however, bringing these issues to the surface may enable greater clarity on both normative principles (including arguments against research engaging with pleasure) and practical questions concerning the design of research and analysis in this area
Peripheral Creator Labor: Navigating Regional Marginalization and Resistance in Social Media Entertainment
Full text linkThis article examines how social media creators in the United Kingdom navigate regional labor dynamics in small urban cities and towns and their perceptions of potential resistance strategies. Grounded in a creator workers’ inquiry and thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with creators (N = 53), it expands the notion of peripheral creator labor. It reveals how digital factors and historically-entrenched regional disparities exacerbate the global platform precarity experienced by different types of peripheral creators and the relative privilege of peripheral Englishlanguage Western-based creators. The study introduces the concepts of regional monetization precarity and localized production space and networking precarity to capture the unique challenges creators face in small urban cities and their shared strategic resistance strategies to effect change, combining professional support and unionization. This study contributes to theoretical understandings of creator labor by challenging a binary notion of “center-periphery” relations and a homogenous Western user experience in creator economies
Development and evaluation of an intervention designed to increase the prioritisation of health by professionals working in the private sector of urban development: study protocol
Full text linkThe built environment is known to have a significant influence on population and planetary health, including the incidence of non-communicable disease, but evidence suggests that professionals in the land and development industries struggle to prioritise health and health equity when making urban development decisions amidst challenging structures and competing priorities. The aim of this study is to use a mixed-methods approach to develop, deliver, optimise, and evaluate an intervention for professionals working in the private sector of urban development to increase their intention to act on health and health equity where possible. This protocol describes four planned research activities that constitute this intervention’s development, delivery, and evaluation: 1) Intervention development using an iterative co-production process with non-academic industry partners using the Person-Based Approach and following Medical Research Council guidelines on the development of complex interventions; 2) Development of survey questions to assess intervention effectiveness; 3) Delivery and mixed-methods longitudinal evaluation of the intervention; and 4) Evaluation of the impact of co-production and delivery of the intervention with the project’s industry partners.Good Health and Well-BeingReduced InequalitiesSustainable Cities and Communitie
Macroeconomic determinants of the stock market: A comparative study of Anglosphere and BRICS
Full text linkThis study examines and compares the macroeconomic determinants of stock markets in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and Anglosphere (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) countries given their different economic structures. Using quarterly data from 1995Q3 to 2023Q3, we employ a panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration approach to analyse the long-run relations between real stock prices and the key macroeconomic variables of real GDP, consumer price index (CPI), policy rates, and money supply. Our findings show that in Anglosphere countries, there is a significant positive elastic long-run relation between stock prices and real GDP, and a significant negative elastic relation with CPI. Thus, economic growth enhances stock market performance while inflation adversely affects it in these developed economies. For BRICS countries, we identify a significant positive inelastic long-run relation between stock prices and CPI, indicating that stock markets in these emerging economies act as an inflation hedge. Policy rates and money supply are not significant for either group. These results highlight that different macroeconomic dynamics influence stock markets across developed and emerging economies, implying different risk characteristics. The Anglosphere stock markets are driven by the competing macroeconomic effects arising from GDP and CPI, whereas for the BRICS stock markets, inflationary conditions are of primary importance. The study offers insights for investors and policymakers regarding asset allocation strategies and the formulation of policies tailored to different economic blocs
Do firms with more powerful CEOs and greater visibility have better social reputation?
No full textAbstract Purpose – In addition to financial performance, firms are increasingly trying to obtain a social reputation from their CSR engagement within society due to reputational benefits. Thus, we seek to highlight two facilitators of social reputation which may help firms realize their targets. Hence, drawing on the signalling, stewardship, and legitimacy theories, our aim is to investigate whether CEO power and firm visibility help translate CSR engagement into greater social reputation, proxied by CSR awarding. Design/methodology/approach - Adopting a cross-country and cross-industry sample of 52,549 observations between 2002 and 2021, we run a fixed effects regression analysis. Findings - We found that greater CSR engagement leads to better social reputation. Furthermore, CEO power and greater firm visibility foster a positive association between CSR engagement and social reputation. Our results are robust to endogeneity concerns, which were addressed by propensity score matching, entropy balancing, instrumental variable regression analysis, alternative samples and regulatory changes. Practical implications - Although the CEOs’ power is severely criticized in the corporate governance literature due to its weakening effect on board monitoring ability, we found that it is beneficial for firms seeking to improve their social reputation. This outcome may help firms shape their upper management structure for greater social reputation gains from CSR engagement. Furthermore, more visible firms achieve greater social reputation through their CSR engagement, which could help managers co-consider firms’ advertising–CSR awarding engagements and budget their financial resources accordingly. Originality - Increasing the CSR engagement of firms has prompted investigations into how firms may better benefit from this investment. However, despite considerable research interest in the financial return of CSR engagement, the social reputation that firms derive from CSR engagement has not been sufficiently addressed. Thus, we examine whether two corporate mechanisms, CEO power and firm visibility, could help firms translate CSR engagement into improved social reputation, proxied by CSR awarding
Promoting Physical Activity in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes: A Feasibility Study to Develop Intervention Tools for Delivery of Diabetes‐Specific Education
Full text linkBackground Physical activity is an important aspect of lifestyle management and type 2 diabetes, although the percentage of people with type 2 diabetes achieving recommended guidelines is low. Supported self-management underpinned by group educational programmes may be helpful but difficult to implement in remote and rural areas. We aimed to test the feasibility of an approach based on education delivered individually by community-based exercise advisors to people with type 2 diabetes. Methods Following the development of an online educational toolkit a mixture of exercise advisors and people with type 2 diabetes were recruited. People with diabetes had a face-to-face consultation with an exercise advisor with mutually agreed follow-up over 6 months. To track physical activity, people with diabetes aimed to wear an accelerometer device for 7 days at baseline, 3 months and 6 months. Post-intervention semi-structured interviews were undertaken with both groups of participants to gauge perspectives of the initiative. Results There was a 56% total attrition rate from baseline to 3 months due to COVID-19 and its impact on clinical research. Around 50% of participants achieved minimum physical activity recommendations at each time point and 22% of participants had accelerometer data at 3 time points. People with diabetes valued interaction with exercise advisors and felt that the programme would be of greatest benefit to less active individuals. Exercise advisors felt that the programme provided more opportunities and increased confidence and that training in working with older less active individuals would be useful for them. Conclusion It is feasible to develop a physical activity programme delivered by non-healthcare practitioners underpinned by diabetes-specific education tailored to people with type 2 diabetes. Several project adaptions should be considered for progress to a pilot study to assess an integrated physical activity programme delivered by community exercise advisors
Exploring Athletes' Experiences and Perspectives on an Educational Program for Athletes in the Pacific Islands
Full text linkThis exploratory study aims to understand athletes’ experiences and perceptions of the “Voices of Athletes” (VOA), an athlete support program specifically designed and implemented in the Pacific Islands. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, combining questionnaires and short interviews, data were gathered from 414 athletes (questionnaires) and 104 athletes (interviews) during the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa. While a Chi-square test was used for quantitative analysis to assess the association between familiarity with the VOA and interest in learning more about the program, content and thematic analyses were employed to qualitatively examine participants’ perceptions and attitudes towards the VOA. The Chi-square result indicated that although the majority of athletes were initially unfamiliar with the VOA, there was a significant association between familiarity and interest in learning more about the VOA. Accompanied by the results from the quantitative data analysis, the results of the content and thematic analysis demonstrate that athletes who participated in the VOA onsite reported positive experiences and acknowledged the program's benefits in terms of personal growth and development. Participants emphasized the educational and informative aspects of the VOA, highlighting its role in increasing athletes’ awareness of contemporary social issues, empowering them to make informed decisions, and nurturing leadership skills within their communities. The results also highlighted the potential for integrating VOA into school curricula and using it as a model for support initiatives in other countries. Expanding the program could promote personal development, responsible decision-making, and leadership among a wider young population. Overall, the VOA offers significant benefits and has strong potential for broader application and customization across diverse environments. This can significantly contribute to the comprehensive growth of athletes and young people worldwide
Depth constancy and the absolute vergence anomaly
Full text linkBinocular disparity provides information about the depth structure of objects and surfaces in our environment. Since disparity depends on the distance to objects as well as the depth separation of points, information about distance is required to estimate depth from disparity. Our perception of size and shape is biased, such that far objects appear too small and flattened in depth, and near objects too big and stretched in depth. The current study assessed the extent to which the failure of depth constancy can be accounted for by the uncertainty of distance information provided by vergence. We measured individual differences in vergence noise using a nonius line task, and the degree of depth constancy using a task in which observers judged the magnitude of a depth interval relative to the vertical distance between two targets in the image plane. We found no correlation between the two measures, and show that depth constancy was much poorer than would be expected from vergence noise measured in this way. This limited ability to take account of vergence in the perception of depth is, however, consistent with our poor sensitivity to absolute disparity differences. This absolute disparity anomaly thus also applies to our poor ability to make use of vergence information for absolute distance judgements
Place-pedagogies of water stress
Full text linkThis article explores the pedagogical affect of water in a place of water stress and illustrates its entanglement with dynamics of power and control. The current climate crisis is rendering already drought-prone regions ever drier, and it is often the already socially and economically disadvantaged who experience the most immediate impacts. In this article, we describe the experiences of residents in one township in South Africa's Cape Flats to explore how water literacies have developed and been reinforced by a prolonged period of water scarcity. By analysing assemblages of images and accompanying texts produced through a photovoice process undertaken by co-researchers in this settlement, we show how water's presence as an always imminent absence has profound pedagogical impact. We also explore how water manages to escape and flow outside of attempts to control and constrain it. Finally, we speculate on the implications for place-based water literacies and the pedagogies at work in other places of water stress
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Stirling Online Research Repository (STORRE)? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!