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Enforced transnationalism from an ethics of care perspective: barriers to living ‘care‐filled lives’ and resistance tactics among ‘forced’ transnational families in the UK
Get PDFHeavily restricted humanitarian protection schemes, protracted waiting periods, and immobility regimes are increasingly disrupting familyhood and intra‐/intergenerational caregiving practices for many forced migrants and their extended families. This paper draws from the experiences of 16 displaced families of diverse ethnicities living in the UK with higher care needs related to disability, chronic illness and/or mental health, which have hitherto been overlooked. Integrating feminist ethics of care with the notion of ‘enforced transnationalism’, the analysis shows how displaced families are subjected to a continuum of migration, welfare, and social care policies over time which result in processes of family ‘nuclearization’ and immobility. Barriers to family visits and reunification compound limitations on welfare and social care support when families seek to fulfil transnational caring obligations. This increases the pressures on the middle and younger generations providing informal care and negatively affects families' relational wellbeing. Despite this, transnational families deploy resistance tactics through maintaining and re‐building intra‐ and intergenerational caring relationships and values of family solidarity to live ‘care‐filled lives’ in the places where they have sought sanctuary. The paper significantly deepens the theoretical and empirical scope of the concept of ‘enforced transnationalism’, bringing relational selves and care front and centre in studies of forced migration and transnational familyhood
Do environmental laws matter for corporate ethics and green process innovation in environment performance? The moderating role of institutional support
No full textRoman Britain: civil
No full textAgainst the background of political developments between the Roman invasion of AD 43 and the abandonment of Britain by Rome in AD 409-10, this chapter explores how the character of Britain changed through the emergence of towns, a road network, the development of agriculture and a re-ordered countryside, the growth of industry and mineral exploitation, and of external and internal trade. However, with a decreasing population and the eventual loss of the controlling authority, the achievements of the first two centuries of occupation could not be sustained
The impact of an electronic learning intervention to support appropriate antibiotic prescribing behaviour by non-medical prescribers for upper respiratory tract infections in the primary care setting: a feasibility study
Get PDFBackground
Interventions are available for general practitioners to support appropriate antibiotic prescribing behaviour for common, acute, uncomplicated, self-limiting upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). Non-medical prescribers frequently manage these conditions, but no such interventions exist for these groups. This study aimed to assess the feasibility and perceived impact of a theory-based electronic learning intervention designed to support appropriate antibiotic prescribing by non-medical prescribers for URTIs in primary care settings.
Methods
A repeated measures, electronic survey design was used, with data collection occurring pre-intervention (stage 1), post-intervention (stage 3), and at a 3-month follow-up (stage 4). The intervention’s usefulness was assessed by analysing prescribers’ self-reported confidence and knowledge in treating patients with URTIs, as well as their views on the relevance of the intervention to their work. The influence of the intervention on prescribing behaviour was evaluated by examining prescribers’ perceived capabilities, opportunities, and motivations (COM) in the pre-intervention questionnaire and at follow-up. Feasibility outcome measures included recruitment, retention, and engagement with the intervention.
Results
Twenty-one participants (n = 18 nurses, n = 1 pharmacist, and n = 2 paramedics) responded to the recruitment materials, followed the weblink to the survey, and completed the intervention over the 2-month recruitment period. Outcome data for 21 participants were available for pre- and post intervention (stage 1 & 3) and 11 (52%) participants completed follow-up (stage 4). Behavioural practice (information and support for self-management of URTIs) and perceived COM in relation to prescribing for patients with URTIs all increased at follow-up. Mean confidence scores were high at pre- and post-intervention stages but showed a slight decrease at follow-up. The intervention was reported to be useful and applicable to participants’ practice.
Conclusion
It was feasible to recruit the target sample, and participants engaged well with the intervention. However, further consideration is needed for recruiting pharmacists and paramedics and developing a retention strategy for the follow-up survey. Behaviour and COM influences on behaviour changed positively from before to after the intervention. Future work should consider using the intervention in nursing and pharmacy undergraduate programmes, with students on prescribing programmes, and with other non-medical prescribers such as paramedic and physiotherapist prescribers
Testing green finance portfolio performance
Get PDFGreen activities are measured with a green revenue adjustment factor that can be used to adjust observed market stock prices. We examine the green revenues factors for all companies that are part of the stock indexes representing the main five economies. Using multivariate
correlation coefficients, we detect higher-order groupings of green indexes that may highly or lowly correlate. We employ the green revenues factor to construct portfolios that may benefit from the wedge between high green companies and low green companies, for all five economies. The quintile portfolios are compared across mean return, the CAPM beta, and realised beta. We also statistically test their comparative dollar performance using high order stochastic dominance tests. The US portfolio has better dollar performance than the corresponding portfolios for the other economies, while the similar portfolio for Japan has
the least dollar performance out of portfolios of all the other economies
Exploring the dietary changes and support required for healthy eating with female students at UK universities: Findings from focus group discussions
Get PDFStudents’ diets often change when leaving home and starting university due to increased responsibility for their diet and finances. However, there is limited qualitative research with students at UK universities about how their diets change during the transition to, and whilst at university and the reasons for these changes. The aim of this study was to qualitatively explore three topics: 1) specific dietary changes reported by students at UK universities, 2) reasons for these dietary changes and 3) how students can be supported to eat more healthily. Fifteen students (100% female, 54% white) across different academic years (60% undergraduate and 40% postgraduate) from the Universities of Reading and Hertfordshire were recruited. Four online focus groups were conducted, ranging from groups of 2 to 6 participants, using a semi-structured topic guide. Discussions were recorded and
professionally transcribed. Transcripts were coded and themes derived for each research topic using qualitative analysis software. After joining university, dietary changes commonly reported by the students included either increased or decreased fruit and vegetable intake, increased snacking behaviour, and increased alcohol and convenience food
consumption. Common reasons for changes included limited budget, time management struggles, a lack of cooking skills, and peer influence. Students suggested that reduced cost of healthy foods on campus and cooking classes to learn new skills could help them to adopt a healthier diet. These suggestions could be used to guide future healthy eating
interventions for university students
Priority research directions for wildfire science: views from a historically fireprone and an emerging fire-prone country
Get PDFFire regimes are changing across the globe, with new wildfire behaviour phenomena and increasing impacts felt, especially in ecosystems without clear adaptations to wildfire. These trends pose significant challenges to the scientific community in understanding and communicating these changes and their implications, particularly where we lack underlying scientific evidence to inform decision-making. Here, we present a perspective on priority directions for wildfire science research—through the lens of academic and government wildfire scientists from a historically wildfire-prone (USA) and emerging wildfire-prone (UK) country. Key topic areas outlined during a series of workshops in 2023 were as follows: (A) understanding and predicting fire occurrence, fire behaviour and fire impacts; (B) increasing human and ecosystem resilience to fire; and (C) understanding the atmospheric and climate impacts of fire. Participants agreed on focused research questions that were seen as priority scientific research gaps. Fire behaviour was identified as a central connecting theme that would allow critical advances to be made across all topic areas. These findings provide one group of perspectives to feed into a more transdisciplinary outline of wildfire research priorities across the diversity of knowledge bases and perspectives that are critical in addressing wildfire research challenges under changing fire regimes
A structural–functional diagnostic of Mpumalanga’s agricultural education and training system
Get PDFIncreasing capabilities are required to develop solutions to wicked problems whilst the economic, environmental, and social contexts of farming have become more turbulent. There is a growing focus on developing systemic capabilities that enable the identification, development, and scaling of shared solutions. This requires a cohesive agricultural education and training (AET) system that identifies needs of entire food systems and delivers responsive pedagogies that combine learning sources. However, South Africa’s AET system remains in dire need of governance reform directed towards greater integration. This study investigates the performance of the AET system in the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, utilising an agricultural innovation system (AIS) lens to identify where there are absent or poor-quality infrastructures and interactions, and cognitive, regulatory, and normative institutions that hinder AET-system performance. Evaluations of AET-supportive innovation structures were coupled with articulations of innovation functions that support transdisciplinary demand articulation, knowledge co-development, and networking. Results highlight an absence of communication and coordination mechanisms, hindering vertical and horizontal interactions between multi-actor groups. This absence contributes to a disenabling environment for AET-supportive networking, facilitation, and brokerage, leading to missed opportunities to facilitate between food system actors and AET providers to develop transdisciplinary research and pedagogies that harness diverse knowledge, resources, and networks to maximise impact. Whilst there are industry-led needs assessment structures, these operate in silos and lack public sector engagement that could enable organisations with complementary mandates, knowledge, and infrastructures to respond to common priorities
Supramolecular Comb Polymers featuring aromatic urea receptor pendant units – the effect of aromatic substitution on material properties
Get PDFMolecular recognition units incorporated in polymer networks can provide a useful avenue for the introduction of dynamic stimuli-responsive properties into bulk materials to permit recovery post-damage. In this study, meta- and para-nitro substitution on pendant urea groups of polymethacrylate comb polymers has been investigated to establish their effect on the bulk-material properties. The effect of supramolecular interactions on bulk properties was assessed through the creation of a series of comb polymers featuring increasing molar ratios of methacrylate monomers that possess urea recognition units, namely 2-(3-(4-(3-(3-nitrophenyl)ureido)phenyl)ureido)ethyl methacrylate (the meta system) or 2-(3-(4-(3-(4-nitrophenyl)ureido)phenyl)ureido)ethyl methacrylate (the corresponding para system) with lauryl methacrylate employed as the comonomer. These monomers are capable of forming multiple supramolecular interactions through hydrogen bonding involving the urea and nitro sites. Varying the ratio of supramolecular monomers yielded materials with increased phase separation, mechanical durability, adhesive shear strength, and improved property recovery. The materials that incorporated the para-substituted urea recognition unit exhibited enhanced mechanical properties when compared to the meta counterparts. The degree of property recovery proved to be comparable across both set of materials: as the supramolecular monomer content was increased in both series, a higher percent of property recovery post-damage was observed