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Music4DisplacedDyads – East West
No full textThe Music Therapy for Displaced Dyads East and West project explores how music therapy can support displaced caregivers and their young children from Ukraine and Afghanistan. Since music is a universal language that goes beyond words, it can help families connect emotionally, communicate, and share both cultural traditions and parenting experiences.
This video project builds on an earlier one that focused only on Ukrainian families. Now expanded to include Afghan families, it is being documented in a film. Through interviews and data analysis, the documentary will explore how music therapy can make a difference in the lives of these displaced families
Sustainable Management of Mediterranean Superyacht Marinas: A Comparative Assessment of Environmental Practices and Policy Implications
No full textThe Mediterranean superyacht industry significantly contributes to the region’s economy, but its rapid growth has raised serious environmental concerns. This study compares the emissions, waste management, and biodiversity protection of two marinas located in Sicily, Italy, and the Balearic Islands, Spain. A survey assessing the carbon footprint and water quality was distributed to the management of the marinas. The collected data were analysed and translated into tonnes of CO2 equivalent using emission factors. By calculating the carbon and water footprints of the two marinas, this study aimed to understand the environmental impact of port-related operations. The JMarinas Environmental Decision Support System and a P-Mapping/Pareto approach were used to identify pollutant sources, following Pareto’s principle. The findings indicated that the primary operations of the marina sector are the main sources of pollution, with significant contributions from supporting activities. This study clarifies the origins of CO2 and pollution in marina operations, enabling the authors to recommend the close supervision of all recreational boating activities to reduce CO2 emissions and environmental degradation. By adopting these recommendations, policymakers, marina operators, and yacht owners can ensure the long-term sustainability of Mediterranean marinas
Optimizing augmented reality navigation over wireless networks using efficient point cloud streaming and compression
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Diagnostic tools and methods for dermatological assessment
No full textAdvanced clinical practitioners (ACPs) play an essential role in dermatological care but often encounter challenges due to limited training in dermatological assessments and investigations. This two-part series aims to address these gaps by offering a structured approach specifically for ACPs. Part one focused on conducting a thorough history-taking and physical examination to establish a solid foundation for diagnosis. Part two contributes to the existing literature by detailing essential diagnostic tools and emerging technologies that empower ACPs to enhance diagnostic accuracy and patient-centred care. These include traditional methods such as skin biopsies, histopathology, microbiological testing, immunofluorescence, dermatoscopy and relevant blood tests, as well as innovative advancements such as artificial intelligence (AI) tools and imaging techniques. In addition, the integration of quality-of-life (QoL) measures highlights the broader impact of skin diseases on patients' mental and emotional wellbeing. By combining clinical examination skills, diagnostic innovations and holistic assessments ACPs can provide more effective and empathetic dermatological care, ultimately improving outcomes and diagnostic confidence
Reshaping Africa’s Sustainable Development through Digital Inclusion
No full textAbstract
Purpose - Despite emerging evidence of better disclosure standards, improving board sovereignty and stakeholder inclusion, emerging economies still maintain unique set of attributes that warrants further research to develop a corporate governance model that is fit for banking sustainability. In an environment where investors and customers struggle to monitor governance, financial performance, environmental and social issues, this paper employed a grounded theory approach to build an effective governance system for managing the needs of different stakeholder groups within the banking sector in The Gambia.
Design/methodology/approach - The grounded theory methodology adopted includes a three-stage process of analysing data namely open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with senior bank executives, employees, and customers, as well as regulators across The Gambian banking sector.
Findings – This led to the development of the human factor model of bank corporate governance regulation in The Gambian banking system. The results concluded that there is no consistency between banks regarding corporate governance mechanisms and codes due to obstacles such as environment, culture, and policies. Regulatory compliance and ethics are necessary to serve as a moral compass in the absence of a mandatory regulatory framework. The implications of this novel corporate governance framework as an exemplar business model for organizational sustainability and societal transformation are presented.
Research limitations/implications - The sample size was limited to five out of 12 banks in The Gambia. High illiteracy levels impacted the willingness of participants with requisite knowledge and experience. The substantive theory should not be assumed to constitute concrete and objective reality but rather an interpretation constructed by the researchers through set procedures and analysis.
Practical implications - The research accomplished its objective of building a substantive theory of bank corporate governance regulation in The Gambia using the Categorical Imperative (CI) framework. Ethics grafted onto the corporate body helps combat corruption, promote obedience to laws and procedures, and increase trust between citizens and institutions.
Originality/value - The literature review revealed that corporate governance regulation in The
Gambian banking system is not well researched. The use of CI framework serves as an alternative theoretical attempt to address shareholder and stakeholder weaknesses, leading to
the development of a substantive theory focused on The Gambia banking context
Stöðlun á aðferðum til greiningar á utanfrumuerfðaefni í plasma
No full textUtanfrumuerfðaefni (e. cell-free DNA, cfDNA) eru litlir erfðaefnisbútar sem eru til staðar í blóðrásinni og öðrum lífvökvum. Utanfrumuerfðaefni losnar út í blóðrásina m.a. þegar frumur fara í skipulagðan frumudauða eða þegar þær deyja með nekrósu. Rannsóknir á utanfrumuerfðaefni kallast lífvökvasýnataka (e. liquid biopsies). Þessar rannsóknir geta gefið góðar upplýsingar um heilsufar fólks með mjög einfaldri sýnatöku. Með lífvökvasýnatökum er hægt að leita eftir alls kyns lífmerkjum (e. biomarkers) eða stökkbreytingum sem eru einkennandi fyrir sjúkdóma eins og krabbamein. Takmarkanir við lífvökvasýnatökur er að mjög lítið magn af utanfrumuerfðaefni er í blóðrásinni og því getur reynst erfitt að finna stökkbreytingar eða lífmerki sökum þess að þær eru í svo litlu magni í blóðrás. Því er mjög brýn þörf á því að staðla aðferðir til að einangra utanfrumuerfðaefni í blóðrás, sem og aðferðir til að gera rannsóknir á því. Lífvökasýnatökur eru mjög hratt vaxandi í heilbrigðisvísindum og eru miklar vonir bundnar til þeirra í framtíðinni í læknavísindum.
Markmið verkefnisins var að bera saman tvær aðferðir til einangrunar á utanfrumuerfðaefni í plasma, mæla stærðir á erfðabútunum og magnmæla með ddPCR (e. digital droplet PCR) og Qubit.
38 sjálboðaliðar gáfu tvö blóðsýni, sem voru síðan notuð til að einangra cfDNA með tveimur mismunandi aðferðum. Þessar aðferðir eru sjálfvirk Chemagen aðferð, sem byggir sína einangrun á bindingu erfðaefnis við segulkúlur, og handvirk Qiagen aðferð, sem notar aðsog sýnis að kísilhimnu til einangrunar á utanfrumuerfðaefni. Chemagic 360 tækið frá Chemagen var notað til einangrunar með Chemagen tækni, en QIAvac kerfið frá Qiagen var notað til einangrunar með Qiagen aðferðinni.Magnmælt var erfðaefni í sýninu með Qubit, stærðir erfðaefnabúta í sýni voru metnar með Agilent Bioanalyzer og frekari magnmæling var framkvæmd með ddPCR.
Niðurstöður sýndu að marktækur munur reyndist á magnmælingum með Qubit og ddPCR. Qiagen kísilhimnuaðferðin reyndist magnmæla meira af cfDNA bæði með Qubit flúrljómunarmælingu og ddPCR. Chemagen segulkúluaðferðin reyndist þó stöðugri milli keyrsla, bæði í einangrun og magnmælingu og reyndist meira af DNA af háum mólmassa (e. high-molecular weight DNA, HMW DNA) í þeim sýnum sem einangruð voru með Chemagen aðferðinni. Svipað mikið af cfDNA hlutfalli af heild var í sýnunum eftir einangrun.
Þessar niðurstöður sýna að báðar einangrunaraðferðirnar virðast skila af sér hreinu cfDNA, en nokkrir þættir skilja aðferðirnar í sundur. Stöðugleiki Chemagen aðferðarinnar á Chemagic 360 tækið er líklega útskýrður með sjálfvirkni aðferðarinnar, á meðan að meira rými er fyrir mistök með handvirkri einangrun með Qiagen aðferðinni. Frekari rannsókna er þörf til að meta til fulls hvor aðferðin henti betur til einangrunar á cfDNA