30115 research outputs found
Sort by
Investigating Opinions about the Relevance of Genetic and Environmental Research in Education: The Role of Parental Status, Working in Education and Heritability Ratings
Get PDFGenetic research has a potentially increasing impact on educational practices. This study investigated attitudes towards the utility of genetic and environmental research in personalising education, with comparisons between parents/non-parents and educators/non-educators, as well as how these attitudes may relate to heritability ratings of educationally relevant traits (N = 6,304). Data was collected using the International Genetic Literacy and Attitudes Survey (iGLAS). Overall, participants endorsed environmental research more than genetic research to personalising education. Parents were slightly less likely to endorse genetic (but not environmental) research than non-parents. Educators tended to endorse environmental research over genetic research when compared to non-educators; however, effect sizes were minimal. Participants ranking educational traits as more heritable were more likely to endorse genetic (but not environmental) research in education. Future work should focus on promoting the importance of genetic and environmental research in education
Piero Sraffa’s Internment on the Isle of Man in 1940 as a British ‘Enemy Alien’
No full textOn 10 June 1940, the Axis power of Italy declared war on Great Britain and France. Shortly thereafter the British government extended to Italians its policy of internment that had previously applied to Austrian and German nationals living within its borders. In this essay the authors present newly declassified documents from the British Home Office as well as previously unearthed correspondence by Keynes from the Wren Library that bring color to the story of Sraffa being caught up in this fervor which resulted in his internment on the Isle of Man for a three-month period. The new evidence uncovers John Maynard Keynes in a fever pitch to secure the safety and eventual release of Sraffa and a few other Continental colleagues also caught up in this geopolitical quagmire. While in internment Sraffa was able to have delivered from the publisher a brand-new copy of the Aveling and Moore English translation of Marx’s Capital, Volume I. Sraffa studied this volume with great intensity while in confinement as evidenced by the scores of various markings he made in that volume, including a two-page index he had written out on the last pages of the volume
The Amazonification of Royal Mail and postal worker identity
Get PDFPostal work has undergone significant transformations with the advent of platformisation that follows on from broader structural changes in the consumption and delivery of communication infrastructure. In this context, an important question is how worker identity is affected, both in terms of sense of self and in terms of ‘who we are’ collectively as an organisation, especially within a sector like postal work that has a history of public service. We investigate this through a case study of Royal Mail based on in-depth interviews with postal workers in the UK. We argue that the organisational features by which postal workers understand and define their identity at Royal Mail are being displaced by features of Amazonification – the mimicking and adoption of Amazon's technologies and organisational culture and practices – which is contributing to a redefinition of postal worker identity and gives rise to new forms of identity struggle. The identity struggle we are pointing to is not purely embedded in processes of privatisation but in the emerging gig economy template and its accompanying algorithmic management techniques. As such, we see a transformation of the features of postal work into those of platform work, and the loss of protection and social purpose that this represents to postal workers. This focus, we contend, is a very significant but largely neglected aspect in current debates on platformisation and the future of work
From ‘Stop the Boats’ to ‘Smash the Gangs’: Migration and Securitisation in Contemporary Capitalism
Get PDFWhile purporting to protect refugees, the Labour government’s new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill further criminalises asylum seekers, conflating criminal law with immigration law and equating desperate people forced to use ‘irregular routes’ to seek safety with ‘immigration criminals’ and the ‘terror threat’. The Bill proposes a range of new criminal offences and the creation of a new Border and Security Command along the lines of the Department of Homeland Security in the US. The article argues that the movement of people follows the labour demands of capital and that racialised borders are crucial to regulate the movement of labour. Neoliberal states have long racialised surplus populations who are deemed to be without market value; today the project of the securitisation of borders is seen as a ‘fix’ for the multiple crises facing contemporary capitalism
SENS-HEAD: A Machine Learning Framework for Sensationalism Detection in News Headlines Using Linguistic and Semantic Features
Get PDFThe proliferation of sensationalized news headlines has raised concerns about media integrity, necessitating automated approaches for detecting sensationalism beyond traditional clickbait classification. This study presents SENS-HEAD, a novel dataset comprising over 30,000 annotated headlines labelled for sensational content and emotional arousal. Employing Natural Language Processing (NLP), we extract a diverse set of linguistic and semantic features, including sentiment polarity, syntactic complexity, punctuation distribution, and stop word ratio, to systematically distinguish sensational from non-sensational headlines. We implement ensemble learning models—XGBoost, CATBoost, and Random Forest achieving a balanced F1-score of 0.66. To enhance interpretability, we integrate SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations), unveiling key predictive markers such as stop word frequency, headline length, and sentiment extremity. The findings not only advance explainable AI (XAI) for sensationalism detection but also provide practical applications in automated journalism, content moderation, and media ethics regulation. By strengthening computational linguistics with ethical AI, this research delivers actionable insights for policymakers and promotes trustworthy news dissemination in the digital era
CHAT as a Lens Unveils the Intercultural Gaps of Three Chinese Language Teachers in the UK: A Case Study
Get PDFThis study explores intercultural challenges faced by three Chinese language teachers in UK schools. While most research focuses on English and European language educators, little is known about Chinese teachers’ experiences abroad. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory and a multiple case study design, data from interviews, journals, and observations reveal shared and divergent challenges shaped by background, language skills, and support networks. The findings underscore the role of formal CPD, peer networks, and individual agency in intercultural learning, arguing for context-responsive, sustained, and community-oriented professional development tailored to the needs of Chinese language teachers
Making and selling Greek food in London: Migrant hospitality professionals talk about food authenticity over dinner
Get PDFThe 2007/2008 financial crisis more than doubled the number of Greek nationals in London (Pratsinakis et al. 2020, ONS 2022). This transformation is visible in London’s foodscapes, as the number of Greek restaurants in the city boomed over the last decade, which was also marked by Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper, based on a Research England-funded project, shows how professionals in London’s Greek food businesses oscillated between competitive and solidarity positionings in conversations over dinner. The data were collected in focus group interactions and using multi-sited, participatory, multisensory ethnographic tools (Pink 2015). Five Greek hospitality workers and four researchers participated in discussions that took place over dinner in three Greek restaurants in London; these were followed by two online conversations. The data were analysed using concepts from Membership and Conversation Analysis (Smith, Fitzerald & Housley 2021, Mondada 2018) to examine the negotiation of categorisations situated in the glocal economic conditions. Participants claimed, ascribed and negotiated a range of professional roles (from novice to expert) and other regional and social class identities and contrasting positionings vis-à-vis what is considered “Greek” food, including juxtapositions between homecooked and professionally prepared food and contrasting constructions of authenticity, tradition and modernity in Greek food and hospitality. At the same time, participants also constructed some solidarity positionings as joint members of the Greek food hospitality industry in the UK, looking to forge shared networks that would help them face the shared challenges in staffing and costs created by the wider economic and political forces of Brexit and the post-Covid recession. The participants’ limits as to how far they were prepared to go in terms of making intra-sector alliances at a time of crisis provides a glimpse into the wider neoliberal context of the UK (food) market of free competition, gig economy and gentrification
Optimising FPV Drone Cinematography Experience: Transforming Flight Planning Workflow by Integrating Ground Control Software
No full textFirst-person-view (FPV) drones, known for their high mobility and manual operation, have become increasingly prominent in aerial cinematography over the past decade. However, challenges related to safety, stability, and the lack of standardised workflows persist, with limited research focusing on the planning, rehearsing, and evaluation phases of drone operations. This study investigates current practices in FPV drone videography, emphasising workflow improvements in these areas. Data were collected through interviews with FPV drone pilots in the media industry and a case study of existing solutions from various companies. Based on the findings, a revised flight planning workflow integrating ground control software is proposed and evaluated through A/B testing of two tools—Google Earth Studio and Google Earth Pro—to assess their effectiveness in enhancing user experience and operational efficiency. The results reveal usability issues within the current software interfaces and offer recommendations for improving flight planning tool design
Developing Effective UX Guidelines for HUD Design: A Practical Approach for Independent Game Developers
No full textHeads-Up Displays (HUDs) have become increasingly popular across different game genres, underscoring the importance of effective UX design in enhancing player experience. However, independent game developers often face significant challenges in crafting HUDs that are both functional and engaging, given the constraints of limited resources and expertise. Although many researchers have focused on HUD design in various game genres, there is still a lack of research on practical guidelines that are both effective and easy to use. This paper aims to address these challenges by conducting interviews and questionnaires with indie game developers to identify the issues in existing solutions and propose a set of practical and effective UX guidelines for HUD design specifically tailored to the needs of indie developers. Drawing from both academic research and industry practices, the study offers actionable insights by developing a prototype UX guideline and recommendations that can empower indie developers to create intuitive, player-friendly HUDs, ultimately improving gameplay immersion and satisfaction
‘Creating Beauty’: Collagen’s speculative processes from waste to wellness
Get PDFUsing a corpus of digital materials relating to collagen markets in New Zealand we sketch a chain of processes: the harvesting of collagen ‘waste’ from inside slaughtered animals as part of industrial farming or fisheries, the hydrolysing of collagen as waste in a laboratory into peptides, the packaging and shipping of hydrolysed collagen peptides, as well as the creation of predictive markets and the ongoing marketing processes of collagen which alchemize waste into a beauty ingestible. We connect these processes to the interpellation of a gendered self-optimizing consumer who is called upon to metabolize animals’ collagen supplies while speculating about their human futures – corporeal, national and planetary. We analyse collagen as a series of material and immaterial processes all imbued with a speculative logic