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Africa Asia Scholars Global Network: Creating a sustainable future
Get PDFOur warming planet cannot cope with us and our growing population. Perspectives on the global north and the global south need to change to accommodate contemporary realities and likely future trends. Past greenhouse gas emissions are history. Our collective survival now depends on current and future incremental changes. Most of the world’s young people reside in the Global South. Their futures will be prejudiced by a resurgence of drilling for oil and gas and the mining of coal. Moving to different and less materialistic and scarce resource hungry development models in the south could be decisive. Rather than imitate and follow, the south could initiate and lead collective responses to common challenges, global risks and existential threats. The global south could collaborate to create more resilient communities and infrastructures and offer young people the prospects of living in harmony with the natural world. The global south could champion more sustainable, inclusive and responsible development, pioneer healthier, less stressful and more fulfilling lifestyles, and become the first post-industrial societies
Digital cognitive behavioural self-management programme for fatigue, pain, and faecal incontinence in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD-BOOST): a multicentre, parallel, randomised controlled trial
Get PDFBackground
Fatigue, pain, and faecal urgency or incontinence are common, debilitating symptoms in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We developed IBD-BOOST, a digital, interactive, facilitator-supported, self-management intervention, and aimed to assess its effects compared with care as usual in relieving these symptoms and improving quality of life.
Methods
This multicentre, parallel, randomised controlled trial was conducted online in the UK, with allocation concealment maintained. Participants aged 18 years or older with IBD who rated the impact of fatigue, pain, and faecal urgency or incontinence as 5 or more on a 0–10 scale in a UK national survey were invited. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to the online IBD-BOOST programme or care as usual for 6 months via computer-generated randomisation. Primary outcomes were UK Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (UK-IBDQ) and Global Rating of Symptom Relief at 6 months post-randomisation. All randomly assigned participants were included in the intention-to-treat and harms analysis. This trial is registered with ISRCTN.com (ISRCTN71618461) and is closed.
Findings
Between Jan 20, 2020, and July 27, 2022, 4449 participants were invited to participate, and 780 participants were randomly assigned: 391 to IBD-BOOST and 389 to care as usual. 524 (67%) of 780 participants were female and 253 (32%) were male. At 6 months, there were no statistically significant differences for UK-IBDQ between the care as usual group (unadjusted mean 62·09 [SD 14·42]) and the IBD-BOOST group (unadjusted mean 60·85 [SD 16·08]; treatment effect estimate: adjusted mean difference –1·67 [95% CI –4·13 to 0·80], p=0·19) or for Global Rating of Symptom Relief (unadjusted mean 3·65 [2·75] vs 4·13 [2·81]; adjusted mean difference 0·44 [95% CI –0·56 to 1·44], p=0·39). Complier-averaged causal effects analysis demonstrated that participants who complied with IBD-BOOST reported lower UK-IBDQ scores than those who would have complied in the care as usual group (mean difference –2·39 [95%CI –4·34 to –0·45], p=0·016). Adverse events and serious adverse events were similar between the IBD-BOOST group (55 [14%] of 391) and care as usual group (79 [20%] of 389). There was one possible treatment-related serious adverse event in the IBD-BOOST group (recurrent sleep disorder) and no deaths.
Interpretation
IBD-BOOST did not statistically significantly improve disease-specific quality of life or Global Rating of Symptom Relief in patients with IBD with fatigue, pain, or faecal urgency or incontinence compared with care as usual. People who complied with the intervention appeared to derive benefit. Future research should focus on enhancing compliance with interventions and targeting them to individuals most likely to benefit
"THE GARDENER" A play by Lab Ky Mo
No full text“THE GARDENER”
A new play by Lab Ky Mo
Starring Aidan Cheng, Jules Chan, Jessie Baek & Lobo Chan.
Directed by Lab Ky Mo and Jillian Wallis
Strapline:
“Dead plants don’t make money. Nothing dead ever makes money.”
Logline:
A boy is smuggled over from Vietnam only to be locked inside a house on his own and forced to look after a houseful of cannabis plants as THE GARDENER.
Synopsis:
THE GARDENER is a new tragi-comedy by Lab Ky Mo which examines the trafficking of illegal Vietnamese migrants into the UK to work on Cannabis farms, often as domestic slaves. When a boy is smuggled over from Vietnam, he finds himself locked inside a house in suburban England and forced to work as an urban ‘gardener’ – to look after and feed a house full of cannabis plants. He sees no one other than his minder whose job it is to look after and feed the boy – with nothing more imaginative than instant noodles. When the boy has the temerity to complain about his poor diet, it not only questions the dynamic of their prisoner/warder relationship but it also precipitates a chain of events that ultimately threatens their entire, closeted world.
Details:
Greenwich Theatre, London 21-22 June, 7.30pm
https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/events/thegardener/
Running time: 1hr 1
From aspirational to transformed: configurational recipes for analytics-driven operational excellence
No full textAnalytics technologies are vital for improving operational performance, yet the configurations that maximise their value remain unclear. Drawing on complexity theory and contingency theory, this study examines how supply chain governance, organisational capability, and environmental conditions interact with different levels of analytics capability. Using secondary data from 205 Chinese high-tech firms over two years, we combine content analysis with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to uncover configurations that enhance performance. Results show that firms must align governance, capabilities, and environmental strategies with their analytics maturity, aspirational, experienced, or transformed. The study advances understanding of analytics implementation and offers practical guidance
Measuring what matters: a study on leadership training among middle managers
Get PDFPurpose
As global investments in leadership development continue to grow, this paper aims to determine what training methods work best for middle managers, a demography that grapples with the challenges of managing both senior leadership and frontline employees. This study investigates the perceived effectiveness of different training methods and explores the motivation and perception of middle managers before and after undergoing the experience. The findings of this study could help organisations be more strategic and focused when investing in developing middle managers.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methods approach was employed involving a survey of 200 middle managers. Regression analysis was then conducted to identify training methods associated with perceived leadership development effectiveness. To complement this analysis, qualitative thematic analysis of open-ended responses was conducted. Anchored on adult learning theory and self-determination theory, the analysis conducted provides practical insights into participant experiences and perceptions from leadership training.
Findings
Leadership workshops, executive coaching, group projects, and online learning were rated as the most effective methods of leadership training. Among the middle managers surveyed, motivation to undertake leadership training significantly increased after participation, while perception of training value remained stable or slightly improved. Qualitative feedback highlighted the importance of interactivity, personalisation and relevance to real-world challenges in the design and delivery of leadership training.
Originality/value
This paper contributes a focused and data-driven analysis of leadership training effectiveness among middle managers, an integral group within modern-day organisations. It integrates quantitative and qualitative approaches to bridge the gap between training investments and outcomes in leadership development
Towards a multidimensional big data index for urban tourism resilience
No full textThis study posits an index system based on multidimensional urban big data indicators to accurately portray city tourism development before, during and after a global public health crisis. As part of this process, index scores were calculated for cities and provinces in China using standard deviation ellipse, kernel density, and regression analyses to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on urban tourism and the resilience of tourism cities. The results show that regions with better tourism infrastructure and resources displayed higher levels of resilience. Similarly, post-pandemic recovery varied widely from one region to another. After the pandemic, the dissemination of tourism images shows a more balanced trend. Although the tourism sector was affected, niche urban destinations experienced growth. The focus of tourism resources changed towards the southwest of China. Overall, most tourism cities in the country’s eastern coastal regions displayed low levels of resilience, while other cities located in emerging tourism markets showed high levels of resilience. Cities in different quadrants exhibited very different resistance and recovery capabilities
Tomographic reconstruction with real-time a priori acquisition
Get PDFAn a priori construction technique is proposed, utilizing a minimal swarm optimizer to achieve enhanced reconstruction accuracy. Central to the method is the incorporation of a priori information, constructed dynamically without prior knowledge of material properties, positions, or structural details. Instead, this a priori information is derived directly from sinogram projections for each defined angle in the set. A novel dynamic masking strategy leverages these sinogram-derived values to identify certain entries, generating a priori data structure that removes regions in the reconstructed image corresponding to zero sinogram values, thereby achieving theoretical dimensionality reduction. This approach effectively eliminates noise and artifacts, resulting in significantly lower reconstruction and reproduction errors
Recruiting and retaining the right environmental health workforce beyond degree programmes: challenges and training opportunities supporting private-rented housing regulatory teams
Get PDFThe United Kingdom’s local authority private rented housing sector regulatory workforce, often part of wider environmental health and housing service teams, have has faced multiple challenges in recent years due to declining numbers entering and remaining in the profession, a rise in the number and complexity of the private rented housing sector itself and austerity measures. Combined, this has led to a depleted workforce needing authentic, tailored and appropriate training options. There has been very little research in this area. ThereforeTherefore, an online Qualtrics survey was developed focusing on the local authority private rented housing regulatory workforce and training needs was developed and shared via existing contacts and social media networks. Eighty-three 83 completed responses were analysed. Multiple interrelated challenges were raised around workforce challenges, including in staff recruitment and retention,; purpose of the work,; staffing and caseload,; and a major gaps in training and opportunities. Results demonstrated challenges in recruitment and retention largely due to a shift in the profession from long term, accredited professional degrees routes with practice experience, leading to fewer from Environmental Health Officers to a range of ‘other staff’ working in this space. Challenges in filling vacant posts were highlighted with local authorities looking for other affordable and flexible training options at accessible, viable locations. Some solutions were suggested around the type of short courses local authorities would find helpful both in content and mode of delivery to support the development and retention of the workforce their private rented sector housing sector regulatory teams. Local authorities need to take these complex and interrelated issues forward with strategic plans around recruiting and retaining their private sector housing regulatory workforce. Equally education institutions need to work with the sector to design and deliver relevant flexible, accessible and affordable training options
Information Delivery Specification for Occupant Movement Analysis Technical Report
No full textThis document details the work undertaken by the Occupant Movement Analysis (OMA) project team and working group overseen by buildingSMART International (bSI). The focus was the development of an Information Delivery Specification (IDS) for OMA, supporting the analysis of building circulation and evacuation. In addition, the project had a broader aim of developing an openBIM-based two-way digital workflow for OMA
A scoping review of interventions to improve maternal and neonatal care in Nepal
Get PDFBackground
Nepal has achieved significant progress in maternal health outcomes, and the country’s health system prioritises life-saving interventions during pregnancy, delivery, neonatal, and postpartum care. This scoping review aimed to systematically identify and analyse the available on interventions to improve maternal and neonatal care in Nepal.
Methods
Our scoping review was conducted using Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage framework to map existing interventions. Data searches were carried out in Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Scopus, focusing on interventions to improve the maternal and neonatal care. Titles and abstracts were screened, followed by full-text reviews of potentially relevant studies. Key findings were retrieved using a data extraction sheet, and the findings were presented in a narrative synthesis.
Results
Our review found 418 studies, and 20 (published between 2004 and 2023) were included for this scoping review using various interventions targeting maternal and neonatal populations. Five overarching interventions were identified. Community-based maternal health literacy was the most significant intervention, followed by health facility strengthening, including health staff training, mobilisation of female community health volunteers for birth preparedness and identifying danger signs, mobile health messaging, and involving husbands in improving the uptake of maternal and neonatal care. Most interventions were a mixture of activities with a combination of interventions rather than a single intervention.
Conclusions
The findings highlight that no single intervention is sufficient on its own; indeed, a combination of approaches is needed to improve the uptake of maternal and neonatal care services. Effective interventions should be scaled up and extended to underserved and marginalised communities to ensure that maternal and neonatal care services are accessible to all
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