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Experiences of dementia in farming communities: A scoping review
Get PDFFarming communities experience significant rates of dementia, however research exploring the support needs of this population is scarce. In response, this scoping review examined published literature on the experiences of dementia in farming communities. Five databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles and a general google search conducted for grey literature. Eighteen articles were included in the review. The majority (n = 12) were grey literature including magazine and newspaper articles, demonstrating a large research gap in this area. Thematic analysis generated thirteen sub-themes that are presented within two overarching themes: ‘challenges’ and ‘fostering resilience’. A stakeholder meeting was organised with representatives from eight organisations that support farmers in Wales, to discuss themes and gain additional insights. Findings indicate a unique set of challenges faced by farming communities in relation to dementia, that are in addition to those faced by people living rurally in general. Importantly, this review also highlights helpful advice around opportunities for fostering resilience in people living with dementia and their families in farming communities. The findings of this review could be used to guide the development of healthcare information and support tailored to the unique needs of farming populations
The framing of entrepreneurship education in policy and guidance: Opportunities and challenges in the UK
Get PDFThe UK government, like many governments, has promoted entrepreneurship education (EE) to catalyse innovation, economic growth, and societal development through policy and guidance. However, it has been suggested that there is an incoherent picture as to what is meant by EE within policy and guidance, leading to calls to clarify exactly what EE policy and guidance is seeking to achieve. This research addresses these calls by reviewing the development of how EE in higher education has been framed within UK policy and guidance, and the opportunities and challenges that have come from this framing. The research demonstrates that whilst the UK has maintained a general emphasis and promotion of EE, policy and guidance have evolved from helping small business managers run their businesses to supporting start-ups and now supporting the creation of cultural, social, or economic value. This broadening of the framing of entrepreneurship education mainstreams its relevance to the masses but reduces its focus on start-ups, potentially misaligning with policymakers expected outcomes. Challenges and opportunities relating to the current UK policy and guidance are discussed, including the nebulous focus on skills, challenges in measuring cultural, social and economic value, a high degree of freedom for educators, funding challenges and limited identification of specific technologies. The paper posits that whilst the mainstreaming of EE is beneficial in reaching a larger audience, this paper contends that shifting the emphasis too far away from new venture creation may undermine the original goal of EE, confuse stakeholders, and increase blurring with business education
Aspiring Against the Odds: Women Strength and Conditioning Coaches in a Gendered Landscape
Get PDFStrength and Conditioning (S&C) remains a male-dominated profession, with women significantly underrepresented and facing persistent structural, cultural, and interpersonal barriers. While existing research has focused on experienced practitioners, this study explores the experiences and aspirations of women at the early stages of their S&C careers. Drawing on Raymond Williams’ (1980) framework of dominant, residual, and emergent culture, this qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with twelve aspiring women S&C coaches. Thematic analysis revealed three key themes: the underrepresentation of women in S&C leadership, experiences of mansplaining, and navigating gendered power dynamics. Participants highlighted the need to constantly prove legitimacy, often in environments shaped by hegemonic masculinity. While emergent cultural shifts, such as mentorship programmes, show potential for change, these remain constrained by enduring dominant and residual cultural norms. The findings underscore the importance of systemic reform, ethical mentorship, and inclusive professional development pathways that extend beyond surface-level diversity initiatives. This study contributes to a growing body of literature advocating for structural and cultural transformation in S&C, arguing that meaningful change requires dismantling the deeply embedded gendered norms that continue to marginalise women in the profession
Prospects, Challenges and Injustices associated with Bioeconomy in the Amazon Region 2025
No full textThe concept of the bioeconomy is undoubtedly attractive and carries the promise of contributing to sustainable development. However, much of its practical application to date has been characterised by isolated production processes and a largely naïve, depoliticised association with environmental conservation and economic growth.-Bioeconomy has frequently been co-opted by broader political and economic interests, serving to neutralise transformative alternatives and to reinforce the hegemonic forces that drive both environmental degradation and social exclusion.-Confronting these challenges requires moving beyond mainstream environmental management and neoliberal governance, and instead positioning the bioeconomy at the centre of a politicised struggle for socio-ecological justice, one that recognises the deep interconnections between ecological preservation, socio-political equity and the environmental justice
Building relationships within blended learning.
No full textThis chapter explores dispositions for blended learning by examining student reflections on the benefits and challenges of this mode of study. It explores how online pedagogy could be enriched by social pedagogical values, particularly a values-based and relationship-centred approach as outlined in the Diamond Model. Contrary to the depersonalised approach typical of online learning, it argues that more personalised, human approaches should be taken, especially through utilising the technologically advanced capabilities of learning systems now available
Contested and neglected stories of art: A critical study of cultural representation within the primary art curriculum
No full textThis study interrogates cultural representation within the primary art curriculum, exposing the enduring dominance of Eurocentric narratives and the marginalisation of minority ethnic artists in classroom practice. Prompted by Ofsted’s 2023 call to explore the ‘contested and neglected stories of art’ (Ofsted, 2023: 17), it critically examines whether primary art education has responded to this imperative or continues to replicate the ‘whiteness’ of teachers’ own art education (Cameron et al., 2024).
Drawing on critical race theory and critiques of the artistic canon, the study explores how systemic inequalities are perpetuated through curriculum choices, often under the guise of cultural appreciation.
An online questionnaire distributed via social media gathered responses from 22 primary educators: mostly white, female, and non-specialist. Participants identified the artists and cultural practices they include in their teaching, alongside perceived barriers to delivering a more representative curriculum. Findings reveal that 59 per cent included no minority ethnic artists, and 68 per cent included no Black artists. Even
among specialists, only 38 per cent referenced Black artists, suggesting tokenistic inclusion rather than a broader anti-racist pedagogical commitment (Kraehe and Herman, 2020).
The study highlights how cultural art is often reduced to decontextualised activities that reinforce stereotypes and risk cultural appropriation (Rogers, 2006; Davenport, 2000). Teachers cited lack of training, confidence, time and fear of parental resistance as key barriers.
This research calls for systemic change, advocating for a flexible, child-centred curriculum that reflects Britain’s cultural diversity and empowers teachers as ‘arbiters of truth and shapers of history’ (Link, 2020: 11)
Welcome to your health and social care degree!
No full textStudying health and social care provides the opportunity to acquire knowledge and learn skills that positively transform both your life and the lives of many others. This chapter outlines the key aims of the book in terms of its focus on providing students with the essential context, knowledge and skills of studying health and social care. It defines and brings together these themes to explain in detail why these are important to doing a successful health and social care degree. It also provides a brief outline of the structure of the book and subsequent chapters
The Government of India Act 1858
No full textThe Government of India Act 1858 ended the East India Company’s peculiar role in governing India and redefined, rationalised, and strengthened the constitutional basis of the United Kingdom’s sovereignty on the subcontinent. Enacted at the tail end of a long and bloody revolt across north India, the Act’s parliamentary passage was neither inevitable nor straightforward. The third attempt to legislate for India in 1858, the first two bills having been set aside, it was far more than an incremental development of previous acts that had gradually increased parliamentary oversight of the company. The termination of company rule went hand in hand with abolishing the archaic constitutional construction that it inhabited in India, which was centred on the Mughal emperor. In its place, the British crown became the paramount sovereign authority of a bounded territory that thereafter would be treated as a unitary state. The attendant expansion in the application of the royal prerogative placed overarching power into the hands of a Secretary of State at the newly created India Office. More than a holding measure but less than an Indian constitution, the 1858 Act was the constitutional foundation on which British-Indian relations were practised and redefined through to independence in 1947
Multi-level feature fusion networks for smoke recognition in remote sensing imagery
No full textSmoke is a critical indicator of forest fires, often detectable before flames ignite. Accurate smoke identification in remote sensing images is vital for effective forest fire monitoring within Internet of Things (IoT) systems. However, existing detection methods frequently falter in complex real-world scenarios, where variable smoke shapes and sizes, intricate backgrounds, and smoke-like phenomena (e.g., clouds and haze) lead to missed detections and false alarms. To address these challenges, we propose the Multi-level Feature Fusion Network (MFFNet), a novel framework grounded in contrastive learning. MFFNet begins by extracting multi-scale features from remote sensing images using a pre-trained ConvNeXt model, capturing information across different levels of granularity to accommodate variations in smoke appearance. The Attention Feature Enhancement Module further refines these multi-scale features, enhancing fine-grained, discriminative attributes relevant to smoke detection. Subsequently, the Bilinear Feature Fusion Module combines these enriched features, effectively reducing background interference and improving the model’s ability to distinguish smoke from visually similar phenomena. Finally, contrastive feature learning is employed to improve robustness against intra-class variations by focusing on unique regions within the smoke patterns. Evaluated on the benchmark dataset USTC_SmokeRS, MFFNet achieves an accuracy of 98.87%. Additionally, our model demonstrates a detection rate of 94.54% on the extended E_SmokeRS dataset, with a low false alarm rate of 3.30%. These results highlight the effectiveness of MFFNet in recognizing smoke in remote sensing images, surpassing existing methodologies. The code is accessible at https://github.com/WangYuPeng1/MFFNet
