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A creativity training gap? - Employers’ perceptions of apprentices’ creativity and contributions to the creative and cultural workplace
Get PDFTo address skills and diversity challenges, the UK Government has introduced a range of apprenticeships for the creative sector. These have been problematic for various reasons and the ways in which apprentices support creative practice in such creative workplaces is unknown. The purpose of this research is to share employers’ insights into apprentices’ creativity and their contributions to the creative and cultural workplace. Drawing on existing literature, a symbiotic framework is designed to explore and analyse experiences.
The findings suggest that apprentices’ curiosity, openness, flexibility, and adaptability contribute to their creativity and that employers facilitate motivational and empowering environments. Creative employers emphasise the benefits of co-location and most perceive that their physical environments are inspiring. Outside of these physical environments, insights suggest that apprentices’ youth play a vital role in fostering engagement between creative employers and their audiences, as well as facilitating their expansion with new audiences through digital and social media. Moreover, employers’ altruistic values provide a nurturing ethos to support apprentices’ creativity, but the research found that no systematic processes were employed to develop apprentices’ creativity. These altruistic values, however, suggest that employers are well-placed to develop apprentices’ creativity, which in turn supports the sustainability of creative talent. These insights have implications for informing the implementation of training initiatives and shaping future policy directions. Further limitations arise from the participant sample
Food insecurity: The resilient, but “silent poverty” perspectives of older ethnic minority individuals within UK communities
Get PDFFood insecurity is acknowledged as a key social determinant of health among older adults. Despite recording significantly higher levels of poverty in comparison to white ethnic groups, older individuals from ethnic minorities are under-represented as recipients of food aid. Thus, there are knowledge gaps in our understanding of older people and their experiences of food insecurity within ethnic minority communities. Through the theoretical lens of Individual and Community Resilience, we empirically advance our understanding of food security and resilience within South Asian communities via in-depth interviews with community stakeholders and older individuals from Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities across the Greater Manchester region. Our findings reveal that the integration of temporal, environmental and social constructs within a resilience framework reveals significant potential for further negative social, cultural and economic impact on older ethnic minorities in the future, especially as current food support services do not appear to cater for ethnic dietary preferences, language accessibility and/or cultural norms regarding asking for help/charity outside the home. We predict therefore, in combination with the identified persistent stressors, that food insecurity issues within older ethnic minority communities are likely to get much worse, resulting in the need for extensive resilient capacities to cope with future cost-of-living challenges. In acknowledging previous limitations within previous resilience frameworks, we propose an incremental contribution to theory and conclude by identifying culturally and operationally appropriate food support system approaches, which can be used to address the increasing prevalence of “silent poverty” within ethnic minority communities.University of Chester QR Research Grant (QR769
A double ovulation protocol for Xenopus laevis produces doubled fertilisation yield and moderately transiently elevated corticosterone levels without loss of egg quality
Get PDFThe African claw-toed frog, Xenopus laevis, is a well-established laboratory model for the biology of vertebrate oogenesis, fertilisation, and development at embryonic, larval, and metamorphic stages. For ovulation, X. laevis females are usually injected with chorionic gonadotropin, whereupon they lay typically hundreds to thousands of eggs in a day. After being rested for a minimum of three months, animals are re-used. The literature suggests that adult females can lay much larger numbers of eggs in a short period. Here, we compared the standard “single ovulation” protocol with a “double ovulation” protocol, in which females were ovulated, then re-ovulated after seven days and then rested for three months before re-use. We quantified egg number, fertilisation rate (development to cleavage stage), and corticosterone secretion rate as a measure of stress response for the two protocol groups over seven 3-month cycles. We found no differences in egg number-per-ovulation or egg quality between the groups and no long-term changes in any measures over the 21-month trial period. Corticosterone secretion was elevated by ovulation, similarly for the single ovulation as for the first ovulation in the double-ovulation protocol, but more highly for the second ovulation (to a level comparable to that seen following shipment) in the latter. However, both groups exhibited the same baseline secretion rates by the time of the subsequent cycle. Double ovulation is thus transiently more stressful/demanding than single ovulation but within the levels routinely experienced by laboratory X. laevis. Noting that “stress hormone” corticosterone/cortisol secretion is linked to physiological processes, such as ovulation, that are not necessarily harmful to the individual, we suggest that the benefits of a doubling in egg yield-per-cycle per animal without loss of egg quality or signs of acute or long-term harm may outweigh the relatively modest and transient corticosterone elevation we observed. The double ovulation protocol therefore represents a potential new standard practice for promoting the “3Rs” (animal use reduction, refinement and replacement) mission for Xenopus research.N/
An exploratory study of AI participants' views on using AI in business hotels
Get PDFThis study presents a novel approach to exploring the viewpoints of AI bots regarding the utilization of AI in business hotels using thematic analysis. Interviews were conducted with AI bots serving as the subjects. The rationale for this approach is that AI bots have undergone extensive training using a wide range of data from different internet sources. Therefore, having an interview with an AI bot can be viewed as an interaction with an entity that embodies collective viewpoints and information derived from the internet. The study has unearthed crucial themes that offer invaluable insights to industry participants and policymakers, contributing to the expansion of existing literature by generating novel knowledge and fostering a comprehensive understanding. The pioneering approach of incorporating AI bots as participants in interviews opens up fresh avenues for future research endeavours and engenders discussions and debates concerning the use of AI bots as participants.N/
A theory of how career development practitioners innovate
Get PDFAn exploration of the power constraints and other barriers to innovation by career development practitioners in HE. Based upon a grounded theory study of a Cathedral's Group University.How do career development practitioners innovate in HE? | Funder: Jisc Careers Research Gran
Presenting a theory of how career development practitioners innovate
No full textThe presentation shares an introduction to a theory of how careers practitioners innovate in higher education. It explores the output from a grounded theory study in a cathedrals group university, where practitioner voices about innovation are explored. Previously their voices have only been based on conjecture, not grounded in their own words.How do career development practitioners innovate in HE? | Funder: Jisc Careers Research Gran
Self-dual codes from a block matrix construction characterised by group rings
Get PDFThis version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10623-024-01359-0]This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10623-024-01359-0]We give a new technique for constructing self-dual codes based on a block matrix whose blocks arise from group rings and orthogonal matrices. The technique can be used to construct self-dual codes over finite commutative Frobenius rings of characteristic 2. We give and prove the necessary conditions needed for the technique to produce self-dual codes. We also establish the connection between self-dual codes generated by the new technique and units in group rings. Using the construction together with the building-up construction, we obtain new extremal binary self-dual codes of lengths 64, 66 and 68 and new best known binary self-dual codes of length 80.Unfunde
Gender stereotypes in artificial intelligence within the accounting profession using large language models
Get PDF© The Author(s) 2024The version of record of this article, first published in [Humanities & Social Sciences Communications], is available online at Publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03660-8This study investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) perpetuates gender stereotypes in the accounting profession. Through experiments employing large language models (LLMs), we scrutinize how these models assign gender labels to accounting job titles. Our findings reveal differing tendencies among LLMs, with one favouring male labels, another female labels, and a third showing a balanced approach. Statistical analyses indicate significant disparities in labelling patterns, and job titles classified as male are associated with higher salary ranges, suggesting gender-related bias in economic outcomes. This study reaffirms existing literature on gender stereotypes in LLMs and uncovers specific biases in the accounting context. It underscores the transfer of biases from the physical to the digital realm through LLMs and highlights broader implications across various sectors. We propose raising public awareness as a means to mitigate these biases, advocating for proactive measures over relying solely on human intervention.University of Cheste
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