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‘These wretched foreigners: When the death of a 7-year-old is sad, but not that sad’.
No full text‘English Channel: Girl, 7, dies after boat capsizes near Dunkirk in France’, reads the headline on March 4 (BBC 2024). A seven-year-old girl died when a small boat attempting to reach the English Channel capsized. The boat was carrying 16 migrants when it sank off the coast of Dunkirk. The girl’s parents and her three siblings survived and were taken to a hospital in Dunkirk. According to local authority Préfet du Nord, the vessel was ‘probably stolen’ and was too small to support the amount of people on board. Already this year 9 people have drowned attempting the journey, compared with 12 for the whole of 2023
The likely harm of the prolonged high interest rates scenario
No full textWell, here we go again- another MPC meeting, the 5th in succession which kept interest rates unchanged. Rates stuck at 5.25 % until the next meeting on May 9
Self-reported physical activity and sedentary behaviour amongst UK university students: a cross-sectional case study
No full textBackground
This cross-sectional study investigated self-reported physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour amongst UK university students.
Methods
An online survey was completed by 590 students at a higher education institution in the UK to obtain both quantitative and qualitative data on PA levels and experiences, knowledge and adherence to PA guidelines, and sitting time.
Results
Considerable numbers (37%) were estimated to not meet the 150-min moderate-vigorous intensity weekly PA guideline and 56% did not meet strength-based activity guidelines. Just under half (48%) reported experiencing barriers to PA at university, with females, sexual minority students, white ethnicity students, those reporting lower levels of PA, and undergraduate students being more likely to report experiencing barriers. Respondents reported financial reasons, time and stress being the most influential barriers to PA, regardless of demographics. Average reported sitting time on weekdays was 8 h.
Conclusions
The results indicate that a large proportion of our sample of UK university students did not meet PA guidelines, experience barriers to engaging in PA, and demonstrate sedentary behaviour that has been associated with negative health outcomes. The article discusses these findings and practical considerations are offered for personnel working within universities as well as directions for future research
Effective Communication for Water-Resilient Communities
No full textThe world is facing significant water challenges, including droughts and scarcity brought about by climate change and demographic changes. In the UK, where awareness levels are often low and other environmental issues tend to take priority, there exists a common perception that the country is blessed with abundant rainwater and is not susceptible to water scarcity. With the power of social media and the growing recognition of emotions in marketing, it has become essential to develop a robust framework for effective communication in the context of water conservation campaigns. This research thus aims to propose a new, socio-psychological water conservation framework that integrates elements of effective communication using video and social media technologies to motivate a change in household water consumption behaviour. The framework is built on the foundations of two key persuasion theories: the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The framework integrates elements of effective communication, aiming to bridge the gap between knowledge and action. Notably, it introduces emotional appeal as an important element of communication, a novel approach in the context of social media water conservation campaigns. By combining informativeness, credibility, and emotional appeal, this framework offers a comprehensive solution to the problem of stagnant communication efforts. To investigate this, an online questionnaire was administered, featuring a validated stimulus in the form of a video. A total of 443 responses were collected and analysed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) within the AMOS software. The study evaluated the framework’s impact on shaping positive attitudes, empathy expressions, perceived behavioural control, and subjective norms, ultimately influencing intentions for water conservation. The findings also underscore the pivotal role of emotional appeal as a mediator, translating informativeness and creativity into favourable attitudes. Additionally, demographic variables particularly gender, water usage habits, awareness levels, and billpayer status were explored as potential moderators of the framework’s effectiveness. Practically, this research may offer valuable guidance for designing effective communication strategies not just for water conservation but also for other critical matters
Methodological shifts and departures in music education research: Embracing complexity with diffraction, intra-action, and agentic assemblages
No full textIn England, music education policy is deeply rooted in neoliberal ideologies, shaping classroom practice and assessments. This paper presents findings from a four-year funded longitudinal project exploring the impact of musical partnerships on young people at risk of educational exclusion.
Through a posthuman lens, the researchers made a methodological shift, acknowledging the agency of non-human elements and physical spaces in musical interactions. Posthumanism offered alternative insights, challenging traditional notions of music education practice and extended human-centric perspectives and school assessment metrics. It expanded our understanding of what it means to be a musician and pedagogue.
This paper proposes that posthumanism can challenge existing notions of music education practice while simultaneously moving the discussion of important matters in music education research into new areas of thinking, doing, and being.
Keywords: Posthumanism, musical learning, partnership
Characterising affective and situational dimensions of creativity in the primary classroom through a posthuman lens
No full textThe proliferation of creativity frameworks can be problematic for teachers and learners seeking to develop creativity in day-to-day classroom practices. Although some schools have successfully adopted standardised models, others lack models that are tailored to localised contexts and interface with pedagogical provision. This article reports on the development of one of eight projects part of the nationwide programme, Arts Council England Creativity Collaboratives. Using data collected through creative qualitative methods, we discuss how these partnerships have fostered novel and engaging creative encounters that exceed human-to-human interactions. In contrast to existing creativity frameworks, we advocate a posthuman perspective that recognises the importance of affective and situational intra-actions between human and non-human agents. Finally, we examine how such factors contribute to the development of ethical and inclusive understandings of creativity for learners aged 4–11 that account for their specific needs as well as those of their teachers and schools
Enhancing Detection of Remotely-Sensed Floating Objects via Data Augmentation for Maritime SAR
No full textA figure of 33,000 search and rescue (SAR) incidents were responded to by the UK’s HM Coastguard in 2020, and over 1322 rescue missions were conducted by SAR helicopters during that year. Combined with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), artificial intelligence, and computer vision, SAR operations can be revolutionized through enabling rescuers to expand ground coverage with improved detection accuracy whilst reducing costs and personal injury risks. However, detecting small objects is one of the significant challenges associated with using computer vision on UAVs. Several approaches have been proposed for improving small object detection, including data augmentation techniques like replication and variation of image sizes, but their suitability for SAR application characteristics remains questionable. To address these issues, this paper evaluates four float detection algorithms against the baseline and augmented datasets to improve float detection for maritime SAR. Results demonstrated that YOLOv8 and YOLOv5 outperformed the others in which F1 scores ranged from 82.9 to 95.3%, with an enhancement range of 0.1–29.2%. These models were both of low complexity and capable of real-time response
Breaking down musical barriers and the National Plan for Music Education
No full textHaving a theme to develop certainly focuses the mind. In our case, it was thinking about the National Plan for Music Education: The Power of Music to Change Lives (NPME), in its current guise, that tested our mental agility. We were privileged to share our thoughts and ideas around our research and this framework at the MTA conference this year, ably guided through this process by the questioning, commentary and discussion provided by Dr Rebecca Berkley are the University of Reading
Using a NEAT approach with curriculums for dynamic content generation in video games
No full textThis paper presents a novel exploration of the use of an evolving neural network approach to generate dynamic content for video games, specifically for a tower defence game. The objective is to employ the NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies (NEAT) technique to train a NEAT neural network as a wave manager to generate enemy waves that challenge the player’s defences. The approach is extended to incorporate NEAT-generated curriculums for tower deployments to gradually increase the difficulty for the generated enemy waves, allowing the neural network to learn incrementally. The approach dynamically adapts to changes in the player’s skill level, providing a more personalised and engaging gaming experience. The quality of the machine-generated waves is evaluated through a blind A/B test with the Games Experience Questionnaire (GEQ), and results are compared with manually designed human waves. The study finds no discernible difference in the reported player experience between AI and human-designed waves. The approach can significantly reduce the time and resources required to design game content while maintaining the quality of the player experience. The approach has the potential to be applied to a range of video game genres and within the design and development process, providing a more personalised and engaging gaming experience for players
Experimental Study Employing EMI-based Piezoelectric Diaphragms to Detect Water Leakages in PVC Pipes
No full textConsidering the increased demand for using natural resources sustainably, water is an ultra-valuable resource to be preserved. Notwithstanding, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipes, which are mainly used in complex building water distribution systems, are still in use and present a considerable rate of water loss. Unfortunately, the recently developed Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has not deeply covered leaks in those pipes. To fill this gap, this approach proposes an experimental study to assess the feasibility of using Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) diaphragms to detect water leaks in these structures. Experimental tests were conducted by attaching one PZT diaphragm to a mini-scale water distribution system, where the leakage scenarios were simulated by opening taps. To attest to the effectiveness of the methodology, it calculated statistical metrics between the baseline (without leaks) and unknown conditions. The experimental results are promising and may be extrapolated to detect water losses in a full-scale water-distributing system