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Anti-austerity politics and social media in the UK: political participation and non-traditional political organisations
Get PDFThis thesis examines how UK anti-austerity communities on Twitter have contributed to politics. The ‘age of austerity’ has embroiled much of the UK for over 10 years with little deviation from anti-austerity policies in governments occurring. It could be questioned what is the purpose of anti-austerity communities? Political researchers (e.g., Craddock, 2017, 2019, Harrison, 2020, 2021) have questioned ‘what is the point of anti-austerity activism on-the-ground’ and others have regularly attributed digital participation to pejoratively termed ‘slacktivism’ (Christensen, 2011, 2012, Rickett, 2013, Bendell, 2021). This thesis shifts attention to how anti-austerity communities communicate online and how digital publics receive and interpret these alternative messages. By constructing an original model entitled the ‘sixth-estate’, it is argued that anti-austerity communities online are chosen to be engaged with due to their provision of (1) an alternative perspective to mainstream agendas; (2), a desirable single-issue focus on subjectively salient issues; (3), the amplification of traditionally marginalised discourses and (4), they can affect political efficacy and foster political competence.
The creation of this model is substantiated by data collected from a mixed-methods online survey and social network analysis conducted utilising the software NodeXL. The survey provided in-depth qualitative understanding as to why digital publics chose to engage with and consume information from digital anti-austerity communities. This was corroborated by social network analysis, where a semi-longitudinal quantitative dataset observed anti-austerity discourses to recognise how anti-austerity
conversations were brokered, led, and what their purpose was.
The social network analysis also featured a qualitative component, where applied thematic content analysis, mirroring the survey, was employed to unearth meaning within anti-austerity discourses and
generate noticeable themes. In the period of study, these were (1) Twitter discourses contained a specific anti-austerity focus; (2) the presence of a pro-Corbyn, anti-Starmer agenda; (3), an evident anti-Tory sentiment; (4), explicit interconnection with COVID-19. This is underpinned by the theoretical framework of counterpublics (Fraser, 1990, Asen, 2000, Loehwing and Motter, 2009, Wonneberger, Hellsten and Jacobs, 2021). This is where political communities seek to contest dominant narratives and legitimise alternative discourses. Anti-austerity communities constitute visible counterpublics. This work contributed to knowledge on this area by recognising the subjective significance of anti-austerity communities and their democratically-significant contribution to UK politics
SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and Spike protein mutational dynamics in a Swedish cohort during 2021, studied by Nanopore sequencing
Get PDFBackground: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, new variants of significance to public health have emerged. Consequently, early detection of new mutations and variants through whole-genome sequencing remains crucial to assist health officials in employing appropriate public health measures.
Methods: We utilized the ARTIC Network SARS-CoV-2 tiled amplicon approach and Nanopore sequencing to sequence 4,674 COVID-19 positive patient samples from Uppsala County, Sweden, between week 15 and 52 in 2021. Using this data, we mapped the circulating variants of concern (VOC) in the county over time and analysed the Spike (S) protein mutational dynamics in the Delta variant throughout 2021.
Results: The distribution of the SARS-CoV-2 VOC matched the national VOC distribution in Sweden, in 2021. In the S protein of the Delta variant, we detected mutations attributable to variants under monitoring and variants of interest (e.g., E484Q, Q613H, Q677H, A222V and Y145H) and future VOC (e.g., T95I and Y144 deletion, which are signature mutations in the Omicron variant). We also frequently detected some less well-described S protein mutations in our Delta sequences, that might play a role in shaping future emerging variants. These include A262S, Q675K, I850L, Q1201H, V1228L and M1237I. Lastly, we observed that some of the Delta variant’s signature mutations were underrepresented in our study due to artifacts of the used bioinformatics tools, approach and sequencing method. We therefore discuss some pitfalls and considerations when sequencing SARS-CoV-2 genomes.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that genomic surveillance in a small, representative cohort can be used to make predictions about the circulating variants nationally. Moreover, we show that detection of transient mutations in currently circulating variants can give valuable clues to signature mutations of future VOC. Here we suggest six such mutations, that we detected frequently in the Delta variant during 2021. Lastly, we report multiple systematic errors that occurred when following the ARTIC Network SARS-CoV-2 tiled amplicon approach using the V3 primers and Nanopore sequencing, which led to the masking of some of the important signature mutations in the Delta sequences
Psychological Therapies and Non-Suicidal Self Injury in LGBTIQ in Accident and Emergency Departments in the UK: A scoping review
Get PDFThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Review of Psychiatry on 25/08/2022, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2022.2108313Background: To identify psychological interventions that improve outcomes for those who overdose, especially amongst Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning populations.
Objective: To recognise and assess the results from all studies including randomised control trials that have studied the efficiency of psychiatric and psychological assessment of people who have depression that undergo Non-Suicidal Self Injury (NSSI) by self-poisoning, presenting to UK A & E Departments
Method: A scoping review of all studies including randomised controlled trials of psychiatric and psychological therapy treatments. Studies were selected according to types of engagement and intervention received. All studies including Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) available in databases since 1998 in the Willey version of the Cochrane controlled trials register in 1998 till 2021, Psych INFO, Medline, Google Scholar and from manually searching of journals were included. Studies which included information on repetition of NSSI behaviour were also included. Altogether this amounts to 3,900 randomised study participants with outcome data.
Results: 7 trials reported repetition of NSSI as an outcome measure which were classified into 4 categories. Problem solving therapy (PST) is indicated as a promising therapy and has shown to significantly reduce repetition in participants who NSSI by overdosing than patients in the control treatment groups consisting of standard after care.
Conclusion: The data shows that Manualised Cognitive Therapy (MACT) psychological intervention was more effective than TAU after care. However, these differences are not statistically significant with p = 0.15; CI 0.61, 1.0 which crosses the line of no effect.
And Psychodynamic Interpersonal Therapy (PIT) is more effective than standard treatment. Despite being only one study in this subgroup the analysis shows a statistically Significance with p = 0.009, CI0.08; 0.
What's Wat's Dyke? Wrexham Comic Heritage Trail (English & Welsh Language Booklets)
Get PDFWe hope this comic heritage trail for Wrexham helps introduce you to Britain's third-longest ancient monumen
What’s Wat’s Dyke? Wrexham Comic Heritage Trail
Get PDFThe publication of the English version of the What's Wat's Dyke? comic in the Offa's Dyke Journal
Developing a Sport Psychology Consultancy Practice A Toolkit for Students and Trainees
Get PDFThis is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in [Developing a Sport Psychology Consultancy Practice
A Toolkit for Students and Trainees] on [30/12/2022], available online: https://www.routledge.com/Developing-a-Sport-Psychology-Consultancy-Practice-A-Toolkit-for-Students/Shanmuganathan-Felton-Smith/p/book/9781032051482?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-cXo-ora-QIVYWHmCh1WiQBxEAAYASAAEgKEhfD_BwE#If education can be described as “the kindling of a flame not the filling of a vessel” (Plutarch, nd), attainment of a formal sport psychology practice qualification and Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) registration should represent the point at which the kindling fire is fully ignited and kept alight through lifelong learning. The following chapter discusses the applied Sport Psychologist’s lifelong learning journey describing the inter-related areas of Continued Professional Development and education. Through the framework of Kneebone (2020) the journey to expert practitioner is examined and personal stories from practitioners are used to explore stages in their lifelong learning and create guidelines for sport psychologists
A Mathematical Model which Examines Age-Related Stochastic Fluctuations in DNA Maintenance Methylation
Get PDFDue to its complexity and its ubiquitous nature the ageing process remains an enduring biological puzzle. Many molecular mechanisms and biochemical process have become synonymous with ageing. However, recent findings have pinpointed epigenetics as having a key role in ageing and healthspan. In particular age related changes to DNA methylation offer the possibility of monitoring the trajectory of biological ageing and could even be used to predict the onset of diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease. At the molecular level emerging evidence strongly suggests the regulatory processes which govern DNA methylation are subject to intracellular stochasticity. It is challenging to fully understand the impact of stochasticity on DNA methylation levels at the molecular level experimentally. An ideal solution is to use mathematical models to capture the essence of the stochasticity and its outcomes. In this paper we present a novel stochastic model which accounts for specific methylation levels within a gene promoter. Uncertainty of the eventual site-specific methylation levels for different values of methylation age, depending on the initial methylation levels were analysed. Our model predicts the observed bistable levels in CpG islands. In addition, simulations with various levels of noise indicate that uncertainty predominantly spreads through the hypermethylated region of stability, especially for large values of input noise. A key outcome of the model is that CpG islands with high to intermediate methylation levels tend to be more susceptible to dramatic DNA methylation changes due to increasing methylation age
The interdependency and co-regulation of the vitamin D and cholesterol metabolism.
Get PDFVitamin D and cholesterol metabolism overlap significantly in the pathways that contribute to their biosynthesis. However, our understanding of their independent and co-regulation is limited. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally and atherosclerosis, the pathology associated with elevated cholesterol, is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease. It is therefore important to understand vitamin D metabolism as a contributory factor. From the literature, we compile evidence of how these systems interact, relating the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved to the results from observational studies. We also present the first systems biology pathway map of the joint cholesterol and vitamin D metabolisms made available using the Systems Biology Graphical Notation (SBGN) Markup Language (SBGNML). It is shown that the relationship between vitamin D supplementation, total cholesterol, and LDL-C status, and between latitude, vitamin D, and cholesterol status are consistent with our knowledge of molecular mechanisms. We also highlight the results that cannot be explained with our current knowledge of molecular mechanisms: (i) vitamin D supplementation mitigates the side-effects of statin therapy; (ii) statin therapy does not impact upon vitamin D status; and critically (iii) vitamin D supplementation does not improve cardiovascular outcomes, despite improving cardiovascular risk factors. For (iii), we present a hypothesis, based on observations in the literature, that describes how vitamin D regulates the balance between cellular and plasma cholesterol. Answering these questions will create significant opportunities for advancement in our understanding of cardiovascular healt
Understanding the contribution of intellectual disability nurses: Scoping research Volume 2 of 3: Scoping survey research report
No full textIntroduction
This scoping research identifies nursing-led and or nursing centred interventions that are in place to address the changing needs of people with intellectual disabilities (ID).
Aims
The aim of the research is to identify nursing-led and / or nursing centred interventions that are in place to address the challenging and changing needs of people with ID. The research identifies interventions, that can be implemented by nurses working in multi-disciplinary teams. The research also identifies areas of good care delivery, innovative practices, and possible gaps in the provision of care for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Methods
We undertook an online survey to collect quantitative and qualitative data. We used voluntary response sampling to collect data from 230 participants from 7 countries. Participants were primarily registered intellectual disabilities nurses working with people with ID. We used thematic, and content analyses to analyse qualitative data. We undertook descriptive and inferential statistical analyses of quantitative data, specifically we undertook Pearson correlations and Pearson Chi-square analyses.
Results
We identified 878 interventions from 7 countries. These interventions were undertaken in a wide range of settings and across the lifespan (maternity (4), children (156), adults (384), older adults (129), all age groups (393) and end of life (19). We categorised the interventions into five themes; effectuating nursing procedures, enhancing impact of ID services, enhancing impact of mainstream services, enhancing quality of life, and enhancing ID nursing practice. We identified several case studies that demonstrate the positive impact of ID nursing interventions.
Conclusions
ID nurses implement a wide range of emerging interventions working in multi-disciplinary teams. They practice in a wide range of settings in the UK and other countries. More work is needed in order to better understand the reasons for the limited involvement of ID nurses with pregnant women with IDs and in end-of-life care. The variation in understanding the interventions undertaken by ID nurses between countries need to be further investigated
Exploring SMEs attitudes to Net Zero & social media: Action Case research as a force for good
No full textWe recently presented a full paper at the British Academy of Management 2022 entitled: Exploring SMEs attitudes to Net Zero & social media: Action Case research as a force for good. Action case is a method designed to bridge the gap between understanding and change. We created a research team of academics and practitioners in conjunction with the Cheshire and Warrington Business Growth Programme to explore this important topic.
We aimed to address a research gap in SME understanding and attitudes to Net Zero and their communications. Our Action Case approach included a small-scale qualitative survey of SMEs and social network analysis of Twitter. We discovered a lack of clarity regarding the help available to SMEs and Net Zero. While the survey revealed some support for Net Zero from SMEs, it was unclear how this support corresponded with their social media strategy. The SNA revealed a dearth of SMEs in online discussions around Net Zero on Twitter. Government agencies and other organisations were dominant in these internet discussions. We also found SMEs opposed to government environmental programmes like clean air levies, which some saw as harmful to their operations. The Action Case method was demonstrated to be an effective method for bridging the academic-practice divide, and future research should build on this topic
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