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Where are the physics teachers? Challenges and opportunities in retaining physics teachers
No full textIt is common knowledge that recruiting and retaining teachers across all subjects is increasingly challenging, but we know that for physics it is especially so. We know that too few teachers are entering the profession, but this is compounded by the number leaving, taking away valuable expertise and affecting opportunities and outcomes for students. In physics, the situation is exacerbated but there are actions that schools can take to improve retention of their physics teachers and maybe even
help in recruiting new ones.Unfunde
Under a Green Light - A Darkroom for the Future
Get PDFExploring the evironmental impacts of darkroom photography and how the University of Chester's darkroom has been modified toward more sustainable alternatives.Unfunde
The road to recovery: A two-year longitudinal analysis of mental health among university students during and after the Covid-19 pandemic
Get PDF© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Longitudinal research into the impact of Covid-19 on university student mental health beyond the pandemic is lacking. This study aims to address the gap in the literature by tracking the mental health of university students over a two-year period, spanning the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath. A two-year longitudinal study surveyed a sample of university students (n=302) three times between May 2020 and May 2022. Students’ psychological distress, generalised anxiety, flourishing, and personal wellbeing were assessed at each time point. It was found that students’ psychological distress levels spiked in May 2021 (T1) during the first year of the pandemic, but reverted back to similar levels seen in May 2020 (T0) at two-year follow-up (T2). While generalised anxiety gradually improved, both their psychological distress and generalised anxiety remained considerably worse than pre-pandemic norms obtained in other studies. Students’ flourishing scores remained very low, while their life satisfaction and state happiness improved slightly between May 2021 (T1) and May 2022 (T2). These findings clearly demonstrate that students’ mental health is still in crisis, even after the Covid-19 pandemic. More needs to be done to support students beyond the pandemic generally, including this particularly unique cohort of students who endured unprecedented challenges for prolonged periods, and are now transitioning into the working world. Practical implications and recommendations are discussed.Unfunde
Some improvements but a long way to go: a national survey of local authorities on the provision of social care for people released from prison
Get PDFThe version of record of this article, first published in [Health & Justice], is available online at Publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40352-024-00304-6The provision of social care for people in prison in England has historically been lacking. Seeking to address this, the 2014 Care Act clarified that local authorities are responsible for identifying, assessing and meeting prisoners’ social care needs. Against this background, in 2020 we undertook a survey to explore the emerging services for this group. Eighty-six (57%) local authorities responded. A mixed methods approach was taken. Numerical data were analysed through descriptive statistics with comparisons made to the previous survey. An inductive approach to thematic analysis was used to analyse the free text responses. The findings revealed some improvements since the 2015/16 surveys, including the wider introduction of self-referral systems, the success of peer supporters in identifying people in need of social care and greater multi-disciplinary working. However, other issues remained stubbornly persistent, including a dearth of systematic processes to identify those needing social care on release from prison, a lack of timely information sharing and disputes over the sending and receiving authorities’ responsibilities. There were also particular concerns about the shortage of appropriate accommodation for people leaving prison. Perhaps the most striking finding, however, was how little most authorities knew about this population. Building on discussions in previous papers, we explore three ways in which arrangements could be strengthened for this group: the collection of better data, the wider use of release on temporary licence and the greater employment of technology in planning people’s release.This article presents independent research commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Social Care Research (C969/CM/UMCR-P136
Unlocking trust: Advancing activity recognition in video processing – Say no to bans!
Get PDF© 2024, The AuthorsAnonymous activity recognition is pivotal in addressing privacy concerns amidst the widespread use of facial recognition technologies (FRTs). While FRTs enhance security and efficiency, they raise significant privacy issues. Anonymous activity recognition circumvents these concerns by focusing on identifying and analysing activities without individual identification. It preserves privacy while extracting valuable insights and patterns. This approach ensures a balance between security and privacy in surveillance-heavy environments such as public spaces and workplaces. It detects anomalies and suspicious behaviours without compromising individual identities. Moreover, it promotes fairness by avoiding biases inherent in FRTs, thus mitigating discriminatory outcomes. Here we propose a privacy-preserved activity recognition framework to augment the facial recognition technologies. The goal of this framework is to provide activity recognition of individuals without violating their privacy. Our approach is based on extracting Regions of Interest (ROI) using YOLOv7-based instance segmentation and selective encryption of ROIs using the AES encryption algorithm. Furthermore, we investigate training deep learning models on privacy-preserved video datasets, utilising the previously mentioned privacy protection scheme. We developed and trained a CNN-LSTM based activity recognition model, achieving a classification accuracy of 94 %. The outcomes from training and testing deep learning algorithms on encrypted data illustrate significant classification and detection accuracy, even when dealing with privacy-protected data. Furthermore, we establish the trustworthiness and explainability of our activity recognition model by using Grad-CAM analysis and assessing it against the Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (ALTAI) assessment list.The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science 10.13039/501100001592-Higher Education Authority; Presidential Doctoral Scheme (PDS
How can we make HE more accessible for those with criminal convictions?
No full textThis item is not available on ChesterRepTo access this item click on the additional linkStudents with criminal convictions are often left out of higher education widening participation efforts. This resource challenges the narrative and offers strategies to support themUnfunde
The thermal physiology of Lysathia sp. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), a biocontrol agent of parrot’s feather in South Africa, supports its success
No full textThe establishment success of biocontrol agents originating from tropical regions is often limited by climate when introduced in temperate regions. However, the flea beetle, Lysathia sp. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), a biocontrol agent of Myriophyllum aquaticum (Vell.) Verdc. (Haloragaceae) in South Africa, is an effective agent in regions where other biocontrol agents of tropical aquatic weeds have failed due to winter-induced mortality. The development (degree-day model) and thermal tolerance (critical thermal minimum/maximum [CTmin/max] and lower/upper lethal limits [LLT/ULT50]) of Lysathia sp. were investigated to explain this success. The model predicted that Lysathia sp. could complete 6 to 12 generations per year in the colder regions of the country. The lower threshold for development (t0) was 13.0 °C and thermal constant (K) was 222.4 days, which is considerably lower than the K values of other biocontrol agents of aquatic weeds in South Africa. This suggests that above the temperature threshold, Lysathia sp. can develop faster than those other species and complete multiple life cycles in the cooler winter months, allowing for rapid population growth and thus improving M. aquaticum control. Furthermore, the CTmin of Lysathia sp. was 2.3 ± 0.2 °C and the CTmax was 49.0 ± 0.5 °C. The LLT50 was calculated as ∼ −7.0 °C and the ULT50 as ∼ 43.0 °C. These wide tolerance ranges and survival below freezing show why Lysathia sp. has established at cool sites and suggest that it may be a suitable agent for other cold countries invaded by M. aquaticum.This work was supported by Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs, South Africa: [Natural Resources Management Programme]; Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation [South African Research Chairs Initiative
Supporting people with social care needs on release from prison: A scoping review
Get PDFContext: Social care need in prisons is increasing in many countries. However, the delivery of social care in prisons has been (at best) inconsistent and there has been no previous review to inform provision for people on release.
Objective: To identify and synthesise what is known about the social care needs of people on release from prison and how best to meet these.
Method: A scoping review encompassing systematic searches of 26 electronic databases (January 2010-July 2021) included a wide range of literature. No exclusions were made on the basis of study design, method or quality. Findings were organised according to their contribution to the research questions.
Findings: Forty-six documents met the review criteria of which 27 were from the UK. Just two focused specifically on the topic of interest and most of the extracted material was descriptive in nature. Almost no information was found on the number of people released from prison in need of social care. However, the challenges of providing care for this group appeared well understood. Although there were many examples of good practice and widespread consensus about its enablers, outcome information was lacking.
Limitations: In keeping with the nature of the review, the quality of the literature was not formally assessed.
Implications: The review identified several promising initiatives ranging from prison buddy schemes to pre-release training in everyday living skills and personalised pathway documents.
Conclusions: Policy makers and researchers must now shift their attention to the effectiveness of particular interventions in improving social care outcomes
Typography San Diego 1986 - 1987
No full textComposed of 17 black&white photographs taken in the 1980s and 1990s. It is included in a box set of 100 Café Royal Books photobooks titled Archive Four and is in the collection of major institutions. Typography San Diego 1986 - 1987 was exhibited at the Martin Parr Foundation in the exhibition Café Royal Books: Documentary, Zines and Subversion (14 April-12 June 2022); and at Stills: Centre for Photography, Edinburgh as part of the exhibition titled Café Royal Books (10 November 2023 – 10 February 2024). Images from this book were included in the exhibition Alien Resident: San Diego Photographs 1986 – 1987 shown at the Contemporary Art Space Chester (CASC) Gallery, The Forum, Chester (6 November – 2 December, 2020).When Stephen Clarke arrived on America’s West Coast in the mid-1980s having just completed his art degree, he had expected to feel a familiarity with its landscape. Growing up in the 1960s and ‘70s he had absorbed a version of California by watching popular American detective shows. Onto this childhood picture he later mapped the work of the photo-artists based there who informed his art practice —Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, Lewis Baltz. For a year he took photographs of San Diego, struggling to navigate through an arid and sprawling landscape which he discovered was alien territory. [a version of this abstract was written by Julia Garcia Hernandez and first published in the RPS Contemporary Photography, No. 63, Spring 2016]
Typography San Diego 1986 - 1987 was published by Café Royal Books in an edition of 250. It was edited by Craig Atkinson, founder of Café Royal Books. Typography San Diego 1986 - 1987 is one of Clarke’s four CRB publications dedicated to the subject of San Diego, California, USA. These photographs form part of a larger project—including books, articles, and exhibitions—titled Alien Resident based on Clarke’s legal status while in the USA as a resident alien
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