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The Oxford Handbook of Mesolithic Europe
No full textA characteristic feature of the mortuary record of Mesolithic Europe is the variability in the depositional contexts from which human remains have been recovered. As well as clearly defined burials, skeletal material has also been recorded from occupation deposits, middens, caves, stream channels and bodies of water – the ‘non-burial’ contexts of this chapter’s title. The character of this material also varies, from isolated finds of single skeletal elements, to the disarticulated remains of partial bodies, assemblages of specific elements (notably skulls), and the commingled remains of multiple individuals. In some cases, they represent the only evidence for the deposition of human remains at a site, while in others they occur (both spatially and temporally) alongside inhumation and cremation burials. This chapter reviews human remains from a variety of non-burial contexts, defined principally as those remains that were not inhumed as complete bodies, and explores the contribution that this material can make to our understanding of funerary practice and belief in the European Mesolithic
Reviewing the literature on scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL): An academic literacies perspective: Part 2
Get PDFThere are few sources that critically evaluate the different ways of reviewing the literature on scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). We use an academic literacies perspective as a lens with which to explore the different ways that literature reviews may be undertaken. While reviewing the literature is often presented as a scientific, objective process; the reality is much messier, nuanced, and iterative. It is a complex, context-dependent procedure. We provide a practical, critical guide to undertaking SoTL literature reviews. By adopting an academic literacies perspective, we argue that undertaking a synthesis of the literature is a socially constructed process. There is no one way of reviewing the SoTL literature.
We distinguish between embedded reviews that present a review contextualising the research that follows, as in most SoTL research articles; and freestanding reviews that synthesize research on specific topics. We discuss the nature of embedded reviews, and evaluate systematic and narrative review approaches to undertaking freestanding reviews. We contend that some of the claims of the superiority of systematic reviews are unjustified. Though critical of systematic reviews, we recognise that for the most part narrative and systematic reviews have different purposes, and both are needed to review the SoTL literature. We suggest that narrative reviews are likely to continue to dominate the SoTL literature, especially while most SoTL studies use qualitative or mixed methods. It is important that contextually-sensitive judgements and interpretation of texts, associated with narrative reviews, are seen as central to the reviewing process, and as a strength rather than a weakness.
This article complements a separate one, where we apply an academic literacies lens to reviewing the literature on searching the SoTL literature (Healey and Healey 2023). Together they present a narrative review of searching and reviewing the SoTL literature undertaken systematically. We conclude the current article by discussing the implications for the further development of an academic literacies perspective to searching and reviewing the SoTL literature. We call for studies investigating the lived experiences of SoTL scholars as they go about searching and reviewing the literature. We illustrate this argument with an auto-ethnographic account of the often-serendipitous nature of our hunt for sources in preparing this review and the way our thinking and writing evolved during the writing of the two articles
Determinants of user's intentions to book hotels: a comparison of websites and mobile apps
Get PDF© [2022, Emerald Publishing Limited]. This AAM is provided for your own personal use only. It may not be used for resale, reprinting, systematic distribution, emailing, or for any other commercial purpose without the permission of the publisherThis empirical study uses the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework to examine the interrelationships amongst hotel websites and app quality, flow, telepresence, user engagement and booking intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from two different datasets, including users of hotel websites (N sample 1 = 257) and hotel mobile apps (N sample 2 = 292), were collected. Partial least squares (PLS-SEM) was used to test the research model.
Findings
Findings indicate that the quality of the hotel websites and mobile apps positively influences telepresence, flow and engagement. Telepresence and flow positively affect the users booking intentions for both the samples. However, for hotel website users, engagement has a no-significant effect on booking intentions. Finally, telepresence has a non-significant effect on flow, and flow has a non-significant effect on engagement for both the users of hotel websites and mobile apps.
Originality/value
This study uses two datasets to understand how hotel booking channel (hotel website and mobile app) quality leads to booking intentions by tapping into telepresence, flow and engagement
Adult family violence coming out of the shadows
Get PDF© [2023, Emerald Publishing Limited]. This AAM is provided for your own personal use only. It may not be used for resale, reprinting, systematic distribution, emailing, or for any other commercial purpose without the permission of the publisher.We consider what is known regarding the characteristics and context of adult family violence; and what practitioners and organisations in the United Kingdom might learn from the literature.
Approach - We review literature on adult family violence and parricide and include illustrative cases from a study of domestic homicide review reports involving older adults.
Findings - Adult family violence most often involves mothers killed by their adult sons. Mental health issues, alcohol/ substance misuse, and criminality are common themes for perpetrators. Caregiving responsibilities is a theme for both victims and
perpetrators. Our research identified two main categories of adult family homicide: perpetrators with major psychotic illness, and victims-perpetrators in complex relational contexts.
Practical implications - We consider how practitioners respond to situations of adult family violence and learning for policy-makers, agencies and practitioners.
Originality - This paper summarises what is known, argues that more research is needed, and suggests practical ways forward for policy-makers, relevant agencies and practitioners
Robot companion cats for people at home with dementia: A qualitative case study on companotics
Get PDFThis document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a published work that appeared in final form in [Dementia]. To access the final edited and published work see http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1471301220932780The use of robot companion pets for people in care homes has been extensively studied. The results are largely positive and suggest that they are valuable in enhancing wellbeing, communication and behavioural aspects. However, there has been little research in people’s own homes, possibly due to the cost and complexity of some of the robot pets currently available. As dementia affects people in different ways, this study explores the effects of a robot cat for people in their own homes, without specifically investigating the effects on a particular symptom. We utilised a case study design to investigate the proposition that various factors influence the impact of a robot cat on the person living with dementia and their carer, including acceptability of the robot pet and acceptance of dementia and its symptoms. The qualitative analysis explores the similarities and differences within the data which were gathered during interviews with people with dementia and their families. This analysis revealed four themes: Distraction, Communication, Acceptance and rejection, and Connecting with the cat and connecting with others. These themes were synthesised into two overarching themes: the effect of the cat on mood and behaviour, and The interaction with the cat. We present the acceptability and impact of the robot cat on symptoms of dementia, with data presented across and within the group of participants. Our analysis suggests that benefits of the robot pet were evident, and although this was a small-scale study, where they were accepted, robot pets provided positive outcomes for the participants and their families
Variable filters: local bureaucracies in citizenship and nationality procedures in the UK and Belgium.
Get PDF© Éditions de l’Université de BruxellesIn this chapter I explore how two street-level bureaucracies charged with filtering applications for nationality, Nationality Checking Services (NCSs) in the UK and municipal registers in Belgium showed very different approaches of filtering despite having a similar legal mandate. While one explanation of the difference in approach is that in the UK (but not in Belgium) candidates to nationality could send the application directly to the Home Office bypassing the NCSs, I show that this factor alone does not explain the differences and that others should be considered
Towards flexible personalized learning and the future educational system in the fourth industrial revolution in the wake of Covid-19
Get PDFThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Higher Education Pedagogies on 25/02/2021, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/23752696.2021.1883458The concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is examined and related to a ubiquitously connected and pervasively proximate (UCaPP) world, Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity (VUCA) as well as Barnett's concept of 'supercomplexity' in Higher Education and its response to Covid-19. Pedagogies need to be aligned with institutional and views about 'quality education' but with respect to the likely changes in the nature of undergraduate student intake in the formulation of a Future Educational System. Considerations include students from 'nontraditional' sources adapting to existing university structures and how
adaptive structures might accommodate these students on top of changes and disruptions resulting from Covid-19. We consider that mobile devices (phones and tablets) allow Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) to be developed in accordance with individual students' needs. PLEs allow ubiquitous, flexible educational structures to be developed to improve personalised and quality education. Educational policies should be associated with connectivist approaches involving active learning via broad curriculum development and the core values of 'hybrid-flexible' learning and appreciate the importance of individual student needs and capabilities, socio-economic as well as academic. We stress the importance of broadening access to higher education, in particular, those who have been 'neglected' by current procedures
Women suppliers to Medieval courts: Making visible Ducal and Royal power
Get PDF© 2023 The Authors. Gender & History published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.This article analyses under-studied women suppliers to medieval courts, with a focus on Burgundian and French courts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Through its archival research it identifies over a hundred women involved in creating, supplying and repairing objects. Starting from the objects supplied, provisioned or repaired by women, the article seeks to understand women suppliers as significant actors in ducal and royal households through the way in which the objects they supplied became visible and meaningful expressions of ducal and royal power.AAM swapped for VoR 12/09/202
Suicide after leaving the UK Armed Forces 1996–2018: A cohort study
Get PDFThere are comparatively few international studies investigating suicide in military veterans and no recent UK–wide studies. This is important because the wider context of being a UK Armed Forces (UKAF) veteran has changed in recent years following a period of intensive operations. We aimed to investigate the rate, timing, and risk factors for suicide in personnel who left the UKAF over a 23–year period. Methods and findings: We carried out a retrospective cohort study of suicide in personnel who left the regular UKAF between 1996 and 2018 linking national databases of discharged personnel and suicide deaths, using survival analysis to examine the risk of suicide in veterans compared to the general population and conditional logistic regression to investigate factors most strongly associated with suicide after discharge. The 458,058 individuals who left the UKAF accumulated over 5,852,100 person years at risk, with a median length of follow–up of 13 years, were mostly male (91%), and had a median age of 26 years at discharge. 1,086 (0.2%) died by suicide. The overall rate of suicide in veterans was slightly lower than the general population (standardised mortality ratio, SMR [95% confidence interval, CI] 94 [88 to 99]). However, suicide risk was 2 to 3 times higher in male and female veterans aged under 25 years than in the same age groups in the general population (age–specific mortality ratios ranging from 160 to 409). Male veterans aged 35 years and older were at reduced risk of suicide (age–specific mortality ratios 47 to 80). Male sex, Army service, discharge between the ages of 16 and 34 years, being untrained on discharge, and length of service under 10 years were associated with higher suicide risk. Factors associated with reduced risk included being married, a higher rank, and deployment on combat operations. The rate of contact with specialist NHS mental health services (273/1,086, 25%) was lowest in the youngest age groups (10% for 16– to 19–year–olds; 23% for 20– to 24–year–olds). Study limitations include the fact that information on veterans was obtained from administrative databases and the role of pre–service vulnerabilities and other factors that may have influenced later suicide risk could not be explored. In addition, information on contact with support services was only available for veterans in contact with specialist NHS mental health services and not for those in contact with other health and social care services. Conclusions: In this study, we found suicide risk in personnel leaving the UKAF was not high but there are important differences according to age, with higher risk in young men and women. We found a number of factors which elevated the risk of suicide but deployment was associated with lower risk. The focus should be on improving and maintaining access to mental health care and social support for young service leavers, as well as implementing general suicide prevention measures for all veterans regardless of age.Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Defence Statistics Health, the Armed Forces Team within NHS England, and staff at the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) for their help and advice on the study. We thank Dan Stears, Fiona Naylor, and Liz Monaghan (members of Mutual Support for Mental Health Research (MS4MH-R), the patient and public involvement, and engagement group at the Centre for Mental Health and Safety, University of Manchester) and Tom Fox, Jo Brettell, and Wayne Palmer for their advisory roles in the study design. We would also like to thank the HQIP for the provision of data from the Mental Health Clinical Outcome Review Programme (MH-CORP) as delivered by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health.Funders: NHS England; Grant(s): 700030303; Ministry of Defence; funder-id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006083; Grant(s): 70003030
A one-class support vector machine for detecting valve stiction
Get PDFIn industrial processes, control valve stiction is known to be one of the primary causes for poor control loop performance. Stiction introduces oscillatory behaviour in the process, leading to increased energy consumption, variations in product quality, shortened equipment lifespan and a reduction in overall plant profitability. Several detection algorithms using routine operating data have been developed over the last few decades. However, with the exception of a handful of recent publications, few attempts to apply classical supervised learning techniques have been published thus far. In this work, principal component analysis, linear discriminant analysis and a one-class support vector machine are trained to detect stiction using time series features as input. These features are extracted from the data using the tsfresh package for Python. The training data consists of simulated stiction examples generated using the XCH stiction model as well as other sources of oscillation. The classifier is subsequently benchmarked against closed-loop stiction data collected in an industrial setting, with performance exceeding that of existing methods.VoR uploaded 27/10/2023Funder: European Regional Development Fund; Grant(s): 03R17P01835
Funder: Spiro Control Lt
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