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Investigating Factors Influencing Recruitment and Retention of Adult Community Nurses: An Exploratory Qualitative Study Across NHS Trusts in England
No full textBackground:
The recruitment and retention of community nurses is a growing global challenge, exacerbated by aging populations and increasing demand for primary and home-based care. Across Europe, nurse shortages threaten healthcare sustainability, with high attrition rates linked to workplace pressures, inadequate staffing, and emotional exhaustion. Despite efforts to strengthen retention, many European countries struggle to maintain adequate staffing levels, particularly in community nursing.
Methods:
An exploratory qualitative approach was used with semi-structured interviews. The interview schedule was shaped by the study's aims, a prior integrative literature review, and the 'causal model of turnover for nurses.' Questions explored participants’ experiences of recruitment into community nursing and factors influencing retention. The study focused on registered nurses and service managers within adult community nursing organisations across diverse geographical areas.
Findings:
The study identified eight main themes influencing recruitment and retention: the perfect job, finding true self and fulfilment, alignment with organisational values, prior development and transitional experience, job dissatisfaction, shift in traditional practices, lack of compassionate leadership, and family commitments. Key factors included workplace flexibility, professional identity, job security, and organisational culture. However, challenges such as staffing shortages, lack of career progression, and increased administrative tasks were significant barriers to retention
‘Sisters in Art’: Reassessing the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood
No full textHow significant were friendships to Pre-Raphaelite women artists and writers? How did these connections play a formative role in their work? My thesis is the first to examine the impact of friendships amongst Pre-Raphaelite women artists and writers and how they used their friendships to challenge the masculine structures of the Victorian art and literary worlds. The figures explored in this research include Barbara Bodichon, Anna Mary Howitt, Bessie Parkes, Jane Benham, Eliza Fox and Elizabeth Siddall. These women established their own women’s network that was built on creative and domestic friendships, as well as political alliances. Together, they utilised their friendships to challenge the masculine structures of the art community, and eventually wider aspects of Victorian culture.
Despite growing publicity following their first exhibition in 1848, women who moved in the Pre-Raphaelite circle were significantly marginalised in comparison to their male counterparts.¹ For instance, John Ruskin criticised Howitt, advising her to ‘leave contentious subjects alone’.² This subsequently led Howitt and other female artists to destroy some of their works. As a result, these women and their works have been excluded from the mainstream narrative of Pre-Raphaelitism. Notwithstanding the stigmas these women experienced, their work broke away from the feminine ideal defined by male-centric institutions. Marsh (1985) coined the term ‘Sisterhood’ as a way of identifying these women as more than the Brotherhood’s ‘muses’, and rightfully as artists. Although ‘Sisterhood’ has been crucial in the efforts to recover them, the term’s use in critical scholarship has proven problematic. These women should not be collectively generalised as the ‘Sisterhood’ as it still relegates their individual and collaborative achievements. Instead, they adopted their own labels to further establish themselves as professional artists and writers, forming their own working partnerships that have hitherto been unknown. My thesis is the first to deconstruct the critical ideologies that have predominated in academic analyses of them, as well as recover the lives and works of these women, the friendships and bonds they formed and their creative agency, distinct from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
1 Serena Trowbridge and Amelia Yeates, Pre-Raphaelite Masculinities: Constructions of Masculinity in Art and Literature (Routledge, 2017), p. 1.
² Jo Devereux, The Making of Women Artists in Victorian England: The Education and Careers of Six Professionals (McFarland, 2016), p. 158
Audit fees-audit quality relationship: Does employee board representation matter?
No full textWe examine the effect of employee board representation on audit fees and whether the interplay between audit fees and employee board representation has an impact on audit quality, as measured by discretionary accruals. Using a sample of 3,142 firm-year observations across seven European countries over the period of 2005-2019, we show that employee board representation is negatively associated with audit fees, and this association is primarily observed when the number of employee directors reaches two or more. In addition, we test the possible channels through which employee board representation affects audit fees and show that the effect is stronger in firms with weak corporate governance. We also document that audit committee effectiveness moderates the relationship. Finally, we show that the observed lower audit fees lead to an improvement in audit quality, probably due to a stronger control environment and reduced audit risk in the presence of employee directors. Our main results are unchanged when using alternative measures, additional controls, subsample analysis, alternative econometric techniques, and identification strategies
AI-Enabled Customised Workflows for Smarter Supply Chain Optimisation: A Feasibility Study
No full textThis study investigates the integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) into supply chain workflow automation, with a focus on their technical, operational, financial, and socio-technical implications. Building on Dynamic Capabilities Theory and Socio-Technical Systems Theory, the research explores how LLMs can enhance logistics operations, increase workflow efficiency, and support strategic agility within supply chain systems. Using two developed prototypes, the Q inventory management assistant and the nodeStream© workflow editor, the paper demonstrates the practical potential of GenAI-driven automation in streamlining complex supply chain activities. A detailed analysis of system architecture and data governance highlights critical implementation considerations, including model reliability, data preparation, and infrastructure integration. The financial feasibility of LLM-based solutions is assessed through cost analyses related to training, deployment, and maintenance. Furthermore, the study evaluates the human and organisational impacts of AI integration, identifying key challenges around workforce adaptation and responsible AI use. The paper culminates in a practical roadmap for deploying LLM technologies in logistics settings and offers strategic recommendations for future research and industry adoption
Teaching Law Students to Advocate for Human Rights and Global Justice through the UPR Project at BCU
No full textToday, the need for clinical human rights teaching and advocacy within higher education institutions is vital for law students (and their teachers and wider communities). Students often leave university to enter the workplace and do so in an increasingly internationalised context. Clinical legal education (CLE) provides the ideal space to support students to navigate a globalised world, whilst providing them with transferrable employability skills. The chapter focuses on using extra-curricular opportunities as a vehicle to provide such opportunities, specifically to teach our law students to advocate for human rights and global social justice, through the UPR Project at BCU.
Under the auspice of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is an intergovernmental process providing a review of the human rights record of all UN Member States. Crucially, it involves the participation of civil society organisations (CSOs) of all shapes and sizes acting as ‘stakeholders’. The UPR Project at BCU engages with the UPR mechanism through three intersecting streams: (1) research, (2) education, and (3) practice, providing CLE opportunities through extra-curricular activities.
In 2012, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum, Esteban Hoyos-Ceballos and Melissa C. Del Aguila Talvadkar published their article, ‘Catalysts for Change: A Proposed Framework for Human Rights Clinical Teaching and Advocacy’ (‘Catalysts for Change’). They provide six distinct components to this framework, arguing that ‘rethinking roles and adopting certain models for clinical legal education and advocacy can successfully realize both the pedagogical and advocacy goals of [human rights clinics]’.
This chapter applies the six framework components to the UPR Project at BCU in terms of its ability to teach law students to advocate for human rights and global justice. Section 2 introduces the UPR Project at BCU, its aims, and work to date. Section 3 situates the UPR Project within the existing literature on CLE. Section 4 then analyses the UPR Project at BCU’s operation through the framework set out in Catalysts for Change, identifying the positives and challenges, along with providing suggestions for further developing clinical human rights teaching in relation to advocating for human rights and global justice. Section 5 concludes with broader proposals for engaging, supporting, and celebrating law students in international human rights CLE
Conservatoire staff perspectives on the role of alumni in higher music education: who benefits?
No full textThe forging and maintenance of alumni relations is critical to the sustainability of Higher Music Education Institutions worldwide. In contrast to university-based career mentoring programmes, research about the role of alumni in conservatoire students’ professional development is scarce. Alumni profiles are often used to support conservatoires’ marketing campaigns, featuring graduates perceived as having the most ‘successful’ careers. Yet, alumni can contribute significantly to conservatoire education by being honest about their lived experiences as graduates and breaking down perceived barriers relating to what constitutes success in music. This research addresses a significant gap in the literature by involving conservatoire staff as participants. Firstly, perspectives on alumni involvement in a UK conservatoire’s day-to-day activity were gathered from 64 staff via an online questionnaire. Subsequently, researcher observations of a series of career seminars led by ten alumni provided context for semi-structured interviews with two academic staff who organised the series. The findings, which are developed into a model for ‘alumni in conservatoire education’, show that whilst conservatoire staff were committed to supporting students’ professional development through alumni activities, the benefits of alumni contributions for the professional development of staff could be more widely recognised, to further develop institutional approaches to supporting student-professional transition
The Principle of Orality in County and Family Courts
No full textThe principle of orality is a key feature of adversarial legal systems. It safeguards the right of the parties to present their case in court and for court hearings to be heard in public, underpinning thus transparency and procedural justice. The implementation of the principle of orality in legal proceedings has, however, been challenged in legal research and practice.
The chapter draws on linguistic frameworks to explore the principle of orality from the theoretical perspective and question its implementation in county and family courts across England and Wales. Focusing on these high-volume proceedings, the analysis expands on the conceptualisation of the principle of orality, presents a novel methodological approach to exploring orality in legal practice, and identifies court procedures that support and those that impede on the effective implementation of the principle of orality. To address issues with reduced orality and its patchy implementation, the chapter argues for the need to uphold the quality assurance of the investigative and evidentiary process, support court users through guided elicitation, and provide scope for procedural flexibility
A Hybrid Feature Selection Method for Advanced Persistent Threat Detection
No full textAdvanced Persistent Threats (APTs) represent one of the most complex and dangerous categories of cyber-attacks characterised by their stealthy behaviour, long-term persistence, and ability to bypass traditional detection systems. The complexity of real-world network data poses significant challenges in detection. Machine learning models have shown promise in detecting APTs; however, their performance often suffers when trained on large datasets with redundant or irrelevant features. This study presents a novel, hybrid feature selection method designed to improve APT detection by reducing dimensionality while preserving the informative characteristics of the data. It combines Mutual Information (MI), Symmetric Uncertainty (SU) and Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance (mRMR) to enhance feature selection. MI and SU assess feature relevance, while mRMR maximises relevance and minimises redundancy, ensuring that the most impactful features are prioritised. This method addresses redundancy among selected features, improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the detection model. Experiments on a real-world APT datasets were conducted to evaluate the proposed method. Multiple classifiers including, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Gradient Boosting, and Neural Networks were used to assess classification performance. The results demonstrate that the proposed feature selection method significantly enhances detection accuracy compared to baseline models trained on the full feature set. The Random Forest algorithm achieved the highest performance, with near-perfect accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 scores (99.97). The proposed adaptive thresholding algorithm within the selection method allows each classifier to benefit from a reduced and optimised feature space, resulting in improved training and predictive performance. This research offers a scalable and classifier-agnostic solution for dimensionality reduction in cybersecurity applications
Mn3O4 Tetrahedral with Carbonyldiimidazole Nanoflower Deposition on Laser‐Scribed Graphene for Selective Bio‐Capture
No full textDengue fever, a mosquito‐borne viral infection, poses a significant global health challenge, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. The absence of non‐effective vaccines and specific treatments underscores the need for advanced diagnostic tools for early detection and management. This study presents a novel biosensor for detecting dengue virus type 4 (DENV‐4) by combining carbonyldiimidazole nanoflower (CDI‐NF) with Mn 3 O 4 on laser‐scribed graphene (LSG). Material characterization techniques, including Raman spectroscopy, TEM, XRD, XPS, and FTIR, were employed to confirm the successful integration of Mn 3 O 4 and CDI‐NF, resulting in a unique 3D flower‐like structure. In order to verify the sensing efficiency, a selective DNA sample captured on LSG/Mn 3 O 4 ‐CDI‐NF was investigated for specifc binding with Aedes aegypti target DNA through selective hybridization and mismatch analysis. Electrochemical impedance studies further confirmed sensitive detection of up to 1 fM, where the sensitivity was confirmed by large transfer resistance ( R ct ) before and after hybridization with a regression coefficient 0.97373. EIS results demonstrated successful surface modifications and the biosensor's specificity in distinguishing between complementary, mismatched, and non‐complementary target sequences. The biosensor's ability to differentiate between these sequences highlights its potential for accurate and targeted DENV‐4 detection, offering a promising avenue for advancing dengue diagnostics
The Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) relative age solutions project—part one: a call to action
No full textIntroduction: Despite its widespread prevalence in youth soccer, there seems to be no widely implemented intervention to moderate or overcome Relative Age Effects (RAEs). The purpose of this study was a call to action for stakeholders to propose relative age solutions to the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB).
Methods: The call to action consisted of a standardised, open-access questionnaire that contained questions focussed on: (a) the mechanisms of the proposal, (b) hypothesised effects, and (c) reference to empirical findings.
Results: Following the initial screening of 185 submissions, a total of 143 eligible proposals were included. Each proposal was categorised by two project members based on a taxonomy to classify different approaches designed to reduce RAEs by: (a) altering the behaviour of observers, (b) implementing rules when selecting teams, or (c) adjusting competition structures. From this, 13 lower-order independent solutions were categorised.
Discussion: Interestingly, whilst no new suggestions outside the existing literature were proposed in any of the submissions, only two have been empirically tested in soccer. Overall, the results present a useful first step in identifying possible relative age solutions. Due to the number of proposed solutions and their anecdotal nature, the next step for the KNVB was to utilise the knowledge of experts in the field via an adapted e-Delphi study to identify the most effective and feasible solutions to implement in practice (Part Two)