BORDaR Bournemouth Online Research Data Repository
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Exploring the Use of Social Media by Female Saudi Nursing Students for Personal and Academic Purposes
Full text linkSocial media is increasingly deployed in diverse fields, including nursing,
but few studies have considered this in Saudi Arabia.
Aim: To examine the role of social media in female Saudi nursing students’ lives and to explore the positive and negative influences of this from students’ perspectives.
Research design: The grounded theory approach used in this research project was informed by the work of Charmaz (2014). A semi-structured interview consisting of open- ended questions was developed by the researcher for face-to-face interviews, which were digitally recorded, transcribed, translated, and then analysed using a constant comparative method, with participants’ consent. Constant comparative method was used in each phase of data collection and analysis, facilitated by MAXQDA software.
Participants: 12 female undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students at King Saud University were recruited to participate in the study using purposive and theoretical sampling techniques. Ethical approval was gained from the Ethics Committees at Bournemouth University and King Saud University.
Findings: Three categories were identified as being key components of the theoretical model of the study findings regarding nursing students’ usage of social media platforms: personal interests, extending knowledge, and challenges. Personal interests were identified as a core category because they are crucial in terms of understanding how nursing students connect and collaborate, extend their knowledge, and address challenges.
Conclusions and key recommendations: User personal interests shape personal and academic communication. Participants were acutely aware of the dangers posed by excessive use of social media, and the need to develop self-control to prevent this. Social media communication was perceived to have beneficial capabilities for academic organisation and planning, but to have issues related to information quality, distraction and attention loss, time consumption, and Internet connection problems. A key gap pinpointed in this research was the absence of formal guidelines on the use of social media, and strategies to develop social media learning abilities to benefit nursing students
The Extent to which the national and organisational Culture Contributes to Delays of Libyan Construction Projects
Full text linkThis study presents research findings derived from the gathering of quantitative and qualitative data to investigate the degree and impact of organisational and national culture on construction companies in Libya
The Compilation of a British Lowland Heathland and Agricultural Grassland Phytolith Reference Database and its application at the archaeological site of Wytch Farm, Poole Harbour, Dorset
Full text linkThe aim of this project was to compile the photographic phytolith reference data base for comparative purposes and then apply the data base as an analytical tool on a Late Anglo-Saxon archaeological site located within a lowland heathland setting on the Southwest coast of Britain. Three British Isle habitats, agricultural grassland, lowland heathland, and an experimental agricultural field, were used
for the reference collection. Plants collected from these habitats in late autumn led to the compilation of a website that shows the plant’s phytoliths (httms://phynd.online). The website and phytolith soil analysis conducted at Wytch Farm were then combined to interpret a 1000-year-old soil build up overlying a late Anglo-Saxon saltern site. Other environmental proxies were integrated such
as: pollen analysis, geochemical analyses using portable x-ray florescence (pXRF), magnetic susceptibility to examine burning levels, soil pH and loss on ignition to examine the soil’s organic content. The combined analysis has led to methodological observations on the extraction of phytoliths from British native plants and an interpretation of the Wytch Farm soil build up and anthropogenic
use of the site.
An experiment was included to establish the link between plants growing above ground and phytoliths detected in the soil A horizon. This did not prove successful, and the results did not improve when pollen data was added. Most of the archaeological soil samples analysed contained single phytoliths in large numbers. However, the analysis suggested that identification to plant species through phytoliths is difficult because of a lack of multicelled phytoliths observed. The dry ashing process of the modern plants used for the reference data base showed that plants did produce multicells. The pXRF results showed that silica is present in the Wytch Farm soil, and therefore multicells should be present. A possible answer might be that weak bonds are formed within the multicells due
to low transpiration rates within a temperate climate zone. This means that post depositional taphonomic conditions account for the lack of multicelled forms preserved in the archaeological samples.
At the Wytch Farm site the application of single phytolith counts over time and through different contexts (core samples and micromorphology subsamples) together with the other proxies pointed to a site that since late Anglo-Saxon times has been used for agricultural and industry related activities (salt production and metal working) and did not revert back to a lower heathland landscape over that 1000-year time period. Agricultural practices that could be inferred were grazing, cereal production and possible burning of stubble fields. There was clear indication for a water edge clearing event right at the start of the saltern production site and the presence of repeated flooding events for the lowest soil strata. A rise in burnt phytoliths in certain areas together with the magnetic
susceptibility results seems to indicate areas with high temperature burning processes
Land of Hope and Glory: Englishness, Imperialism and Audiences of Major Sport Events
Full text linkAt the time of writing, public debate about the imperialism associated with ‘Englishness’ and subsequent marginalisation of ‘other’ identities has become increasingly salient. From the European Union Referendum to the mourning of Elizabeth II’s passing, explicit displays of the contention between identity, hierarchy and privilege are plentiful. But what of those everyday practices and spaces in which the boundaries of an imagined national community are enacted? In conjunction with other day-to-day sources of nationhood – literature, religion, monarchy, and so forth – sport is an omnipresent domain in which individual fears about being and belonging are played out.
This thesis examines the cultural significance of high-profile major sport events (MSEs) to audiences’ production, embodiment and creation of ‘Englishness.’ It begins with a postcolonial reading of ‘Englishness’ that considers the interplay of imperialism, nationhood and sport viewership. Following this, a philosophical discussion about the nature of truth and knowledge serves as the entry point for broader consideration of the sensory experience of participant households/families watching MSEs. Through a methodology based on “watching people watching” MSEs, this work engages with the mundane, everyday and taken-for-granted parts of sport viewership through which imperial imaginaries, ‘othering’ processes, English exceptionalism and forms of ‘motivated ignorance’ remain unnoticed and unchallenged in the practices of MSE audiences. I argue that participants were (re)defining, (re)producing and (re)enforcing social hierarchies of belonging based on arbitrary characteristics of an imperially defined ‘Englishness’ and highlighting a collective responsibility for inequity. This thesis therefore contributes to dialogues at the intersection of imperialism, nationalism and sport viewership by presenting the ‘concrete’ ways in which – actively unaware or otherwise – difference may be enacted
Dataset for "Additive effects explain the interactions between microplastics and interacting stressors in freshwater fishes"
Full text linkData used in the analysis for "Additive effects explain the interactions between microplastics and interacting stressors in freshwater fishes" are provided in CSV format together with a README file to navigate this data. Please refer to the publication for details on data collection and the analyses
Chemical Analysis Data Supporting The Origins and Development of the Verwood-Type Pottery Industry
No full textChemical analysis data collected using a Niton xl3 GOLDD+ pXRF examining difference between various medieval and post-medieval pottery samples.
Samples were collected from past pottery production sites including Laverstock, Wiltshire; Wareham, Dorset; Hermitage, Dorset; Holnest, Dorset; Southampton, Hampshire and various east Dorset sites in and around the Verwood area.
Clay samples were also included covering a northeast-southwest transect from Wareham to Salisbury.
Samples were also collected from various production sites in Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset.
Details of all of these are outlined in Volume 1 of the PhD
Spiders on lowland heath: Functional diversity and abundance in relation to heathland structure
Full text linkA dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree Master by Research (MRes)Habitat loss and fragmentation has had negative effects on biodiversity worldwide. The Dorset Heathlands, despite historical changes and drastic losses, are home to some of the rarest species in the UK. The dominant plants, ericaceous shrubs, vary in structure according to age, creating a heterogeneous landscape of different habitats. Conservation and restoration management can influence patterns of growth stages which can alter species composition and diversity. The diversity of different functional traits of species can be defined by their activity, which is related to their use of resources. The overall aim of this study examines the influence of heathland vegetation structure and habitat type on the abundance and functional diversity of spiders.
Sampling was conducted within the Purbeck Heaths National Nature Reserve (PHNNR) over 30 sites (10 dry heath, 10 restored dry heath and 10 wet heath); each sample site measured 20m x 20m. A combination of pitfall traps, sweep netting and vacuum methods were undertaken fortnightly over two months (May and June 2023). Vegetation structure data were also gathered by cover estimates and the use of drop disc to measure the vegetation height within sites. Including juveniles, a total of 1,661 individual spiders were collected across all three methods from 66 species across 18 different families, with 835 mature individuals across 16 families used in the analyses. The abundance of individual spider species with different functional traits, and diversity, were compared across the different habitat types and related to vegetation structure, using contingency tables and chi-square tests, ANOVA with post hoc tukey, generalised linear models, and Multimodel inference analysis in R.
Results indicated that the wet heaths were significantly different from the dry and restored heaths. Wet heaths had higher percentage cover of pioneer heather, whilst restored dry heaths contained a higher percentage cover of building heather as well as all shrub species and the dry heath had higher percentage cover of bare ground, mature heather, litter layer and moss lichen layer. The wet heaths had higher abundance and species richness of spiders and were more functionally diverse. The restored heaths had significantly higher frequency and abundance of the traits ground dwellers, nocturnal species and those with preference of living on the ground than the dry habitat. In addition, the wet heaths e had significantly more of the orb web weavers and those that build an orb web trait than the dry heaths. The most significant variables influencing the frequency of spider functional traits and species were vegetation height and the habitat type of wet heath. The functional traits ground hunter, capture of prey through pursuit, no use of a web, nocturnal and ground dwellers had highest abundance in the study and the most significant inverse relationship with vegetation height. The wet heath had significantly more frequent traits of the tangled cribellate web builders, cathemeral species and those that preferred to live in vegetation than were in the restored dry heath. The most abundant spiders were Pardosa pullata, predominantly recorded on the wet heath, and P. nigriceps on the dry. The wet habitat type was significantly different from the dry habitat for species Pardosa pullata, Mangora acalypha and Drassyllus praeficus. The wet habitat type was significantly different from the restored dry habitat for the species Dysdera erythrina and Dictyna arundinacea.
Overall, the results suggest that the current heathland structure, particularly the vegetation height, influences the diversity and abundance of spider functional traits, generating additional evidence to support the importance of heterogeneity and the mosaic theory of heathland management. Further research is required across the wider PHNNR, over a longer sampling period to include additional sampling methods further to the understanding of how conservation and restoration efforts affect biodiversity as a whole
Ageing with maintained executive functioning abilities is associated with effective compensatory strategies in dynamic perceptual decisions.
No full textOlder adults' visual attentional skills are declining with age. The decline of these skills can lead to difficulties in day to day activities such as throwing or catching a ball, cycling, crossing a road, or even maintaining stability when walking. Alongside this, older adults are among the most vulnerable in road crossing situations, with older adults accounting for almost 50% of road crossing fatalities
in the EU. A link has been suggested between visual attentional control skills and the vulnerability of older adults to pedestrian accidents but little has been done to investigate this link. I set out to investigate in fine-grained detail the involvement of attentional control skills in road crossing decisions in younger, and older adults. The experiment tested younger and older adults in a road crossing situation where participants had to watch videos of road traffic and decide when they could safely cross the road. The participants' eye movements were recorded. My findings revealed that older adults were less able to inhibit attentional capture by distractors compared to younger adults. Despite this attentional bias, older adults made safe crossing decisions. This experiment involved only one direction of traffic and more complex situations (several traffic directions, different speeds, large field of view) might be more taxing for older people and impact their abilities to make safe crossing decisions
Refining monitoring practices and applying novel enhancement strategies to populations of threatened diadromous species: Data collected from electrofishing surveys targeting salmonids and European eels to evaluate existing monitoring methods and test proposed translocation-based novel management strategies
No full textThese datasets were collected as part of experiments to determine the accuracy of a commonly applied population monitoring method for stream-dwelling salmonids (time-delineated electrofishing surveys) and the efficacy of two translocation-based novel management strategies for salmonids and the European eel (Anguilla anguilla); intra- and inter-catchment translocation respectively. The data relate to the doctoral thesis by Luke Cameron entitled 'Refining monitoring practices and applying novel enhancement strategies to populations of threatened diadromous species', with each dataset corresponding to an individual thesis data chapter. The full thesis is available at: https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/37040/
Datasets from chapters 2, 5 and 6 were collected as part of a series of large-scale field experiments conducted by Luke Cameron within the River Erriff catchment from 2019-2021, where Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) post-emergent larvae ('fry') were translocated from identified high-density riffle sites to low-density riffle sites/stream reaches. This was followed by subsequent electrofishing surveys at the end of the summer period to determine the effects on salmon densities. These experiments were based on the hypothesis that this method could be used to reduce density-dependent mortality over the first summer following fry emergence at the catchment level, and thus increase freshwater production of Atlantic salmon, given this period is often considered a population bottleneck.
Additionally, these experiments also included an additional element to evaluate the accuracy of a commonly applied population monitoring method for juvenile salmonids (time-delineated single-pass electrofishing surveys) versus a more established method with known accuracy (area-delineated single-pass electrofishing surveys). In 2019 and 2020 paired time-delineated and area delineated surveys were performed as part of the above experiments, with the former forming a component of the latter. This allowed direct comparison of fry abundance estimates, as provided by the two methods, recorded from the same habitat units at the same time.
The datasets from Chapter 4 are adapted from a prior experiment conducted in 2015 by Lewis Naisbett-Jones to evaluate the efficacy of inter-catchment translocations of juvenile European eels in enabling eel colonisation of headwater stream habitats in Wales. Eels were released into the centre of stream reaches under two treatments; trout-populated and trout-free, as defined by the presence or absence of brown trout (Salmo trutta), to determine the effect of trout presence on eel colonisation success. Following release of eels in June, all stream reaches were surveyed using area-delineated single-pass electrofishing surveys in September to determine eel colonisation success
Sites, gun equipment and archives
No full textA series of spreadsheets listing shipwreck sites, which include the type of information that related to gunnery and where archive material is found