11237 research outputs found
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Diversifying knowledge before colonisation: New Space, Africa, and future making practices
No full textThis paper is an exploration into broadening the scope of knowledge and perspectives that that could shape the emerging New Space sector through practices aimed at shaping the future for Africa. Research and practice into space in Africa is still at its infancy. This paper delves into discussions that aim to set the groundwork for study if new space in Africa. To achieve this aim, the paper provides an overview of new space in Africa from a perspective of policy, practice, and research by portraying the state-of-the-art and prospects of New Space is assessed. Next, the paper explores some of the pedagogical underpinnings of decolonialisation in relation to new space. Finally, a discussion on the intersection between New Space, decolonisation, and Africa to explore ways to map out a future that is inclusive of Africa.</p
Creative research methodologies in critical military studies
No full textThis paper discusses the use of creative research methods in critical military studies. This article centres creative research practices in methodological terms and engages with the implications of the use of creative research methodologies for the politics of research practice in military and related contexts. The utility of creative research methodologies in social science contexts is discussed, noting the growth of methods that produce research data through active generative practices and their epistemological framing through post-phenomenological thought. The paper then considers the critical military studies contexts for these methodologies, identifying their utility and the challenges they pose. Military engagements with creative practices and creative research methodologies are identified and discussed. The paper then examines in more detail, with reference to empirical examples, four features of creative methodologies: that they are about doing; the role of experimentation; issues of collaboration; and questions of public engagement. The paper concludes with a discussion of the politics of creative research methods in critical military studies, including questions of military utilization of creativity and questions of creative practice as labour, and considers whether there is a specificity to the use of creative methods in military and related contexts.</p
Group singing in cognitive decline – what it is and how it is done. A systematic search and review
No full textGroup singing is an effective nonpharmacological approach used to support wellbeing and social connection for older adults living with cognitive decline. However, the precise designs of group singing research studies are subject to variation. Therefore, the central aim of this systematic search and review was to identify studies that applied group singing as a key element of their methodology, and compare the relevant details of its implementation. The 23 reviewed studies varied considerably in their implementation strategies and group sizes. However, some consensus emerged: most sessions, for instance, included singing familiar songs with participants well over 70 years of age who were predominantly female. Sessions typically took place once a week, lasted more than one hour, and were held over 2–3 months, leading to a mean of 14 sessions. This accumulated information could be used to guide the planning of future studies for people with cognitive decline.</p
Technology platforms as an ICT4D model for business development
No full textPlatform technologies provide cost-effective models of exchange, use a huge amount of data to suggest different products for customers and create a scalable space for the unprivileged and underserved entities to do business online. Yet the unlimited opportunities created by platform technologies can collapse into different forms of institutional voids and socio-economic inequalities. This editorial discusses the unique benefits of platform technology and ICTs for business development and explore emergent knowledge of consumers as an opportunity to shape the design, implementation, use and evaluation of platform-based business models that can address institutional voids and be trusted for development. Taking inspiration from emergent knowledge and articles published on the potential of platform technology and ICT infrastructures for development in this Special Section, we advance Ciborra’s original conceptualization of platform as a unique organizing technology to innovate organizations by arguing that platform-based business models can be positively leveraged to mitigate institutional voids in marginalized communities. This offers an insightful contribution for researchers, practitioners and policymakers to empower consumer participation in the design of platform-based business models to maximize the full and equitable potential of technology platforms and ICTs for business and socio-economic development.</p
The impact of adverse childhood experiences on older adults’s health measured via comprehensive geriatric assessment
No full textBackground: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that occur up to the age of 18 years. Such trauma often results in chronic psychological stress that is associated with negative health outcomes across the lifespan. The aim of this study is to investigate associations between ACEs and health outcomes in older adults.Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional design. Socio-demographic information on patients’ age, gender, marital status, living status, and education level were collected. Furthermore, a comprehensive geriatric assessment and ACE scale were conducted. The ACE scale consisted of 10 questions that were categorised as psychological, physical, and sexual abuse, as well as neglect. The relationship between detailed comprehensive geriatric assessment parameters and ACE were analyzed.Results: There were 276 (mean age 77.9 ± 7.3 years, and 74.3% female) patients included in the study. The prevalence of ACEs was 43.1%, with psychological ACE being the most common. Female gender, number of medications, the presence of insomnia and dysphagia were higher in older patients who experienced at least one ACE than those without ACE (P Conclusions: ACEs were detected in approximately one in every two older adults. Those with ACEs were 1.8 times more likely to experience insomnia. Therefore, when evaluating an older patient with insomnia, ACEs should be evaluated and insomnia should also be questioned in older patients who have experienced ACE.</p
The finance gap and the government tax policy for small and medium size enterprises in Oman
No full textEntrepreneurship growth and sustained evolution is one of the effective means to promote competition, and innovation and to promote private sector growth and economic prosperity. Entrepreneurs are opportunity seekers and are prepared to take risks to pursue creative and innovative ventures. Nurturing and promotion of entrepreneurship have been recognised as a practical policy to promote economic development (Taylor & Plummer, 2003a), within the context of Oman, entrepreneurship has gained traction amongst policymakers over the last three decades (Al Shukaili et al., 2018). Entrepreneurship in developing economies is considered a tool to revitalise economies as well as promote innovation and growth (Jones, 2019). In the case of Oman, the uniqueness of the government policy is to promote entrepreneurship reduce dependency on state jobs, grow the jobs market for youth unemployment, and transition the economy away from oil revenue to tax revenue generated from enterprise. Therefore, this research investigates the evolutionary policy development within Oman and the government initiatives over the last three decades to develop support infrastructure as well as access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as the sector is considered to be associated with high-risk (Al Qubtan et al., 2021).Literature suggests SMEs within the Sultanate of Oman have traditionally relied, as is the case in all economies, on the pecking order (Mazur, 2007) (Due Hoang Quan, 2002) theory. Given the underdeveloped financial market and heavy reliance on a few banks since the 1970s, has meant that SMEs tended to be limited to accessing external finance and remained reliant on family and friends once internal sources are exhausted, they seek external finance, conventional banking and that too was a barrier as they tended to offer interest-based finance. However, over the recent past, sharia-compliant products and banks have emerged. SME owners can exercise preference to choose between Islamic or non-Islamic compliant finance. The literature also suggested that the development of support agencies and infrastructure for SMEs has evolved over the last three decades. For this reason, SME support via conventional, Islamic banks and government funding has gained significant grounding within Oman. The impact of access to finance is investigated and suggests there are divergent views of end users and policymakers but from the analysis of responses, it is evident that financial infrastructure, education and training, and awareness amongst youth and policymakers have grown. Thus, the study findings suggest the thesis contributes to the understanding of the issues faced by SMEs and how government policies are alleviating the barriers to entering self-employment in Oman.This research used semi-structured questionnaires to seek the views of SME owners/managers about access to finance, institutional environment, education, training, and information to access finance. The semi-structured interviews took place over 6 months in Oman, a capital city of Oman, Muscat, where the majority of SMEs are located. On the supply side, a cross-section of lending managers was interviewed. Responses recorded transcribed and analyzed. Support agencies, policymakers as well as government officials with policy formulation and implementations were interviewed. More specifically, a section of the questionnaire sought the views of all the stakeholders about the change in government taxation policy, their perception, and the likely impact. Using the responses of the stakeholders, the research findings attempted to establish whether there is any link between government taxation policy and SMEs' attitudes towards investment and demand for their services. The research approach used a pragmatic research philosophy, where the qualitative data was collected using a survey that consisted of questionnaires with semi-structured questions to ensure there was less rigidity and more flexibility to enable respondents to provide a comprehensive answer.The findings of the qualitative study revealed an array of findings. There was a consensus amongst SME owner-managers that government initiatives to establish an enabling environment have been evolving. This is evidenced by the policy to persuade banks to lend 5 percent of their loan facility to SMEs. Banks, conventional and Islamic banks want to support government initiatives. However, lending banking managers and government loan support agencies reported that SME owner-managers, especially at the start-up stage lack the expertise to develop viable business plans and fail to see how best to succeed in securing loans. There was consensus amongst all lending managers that, they must protect banks from excessive SMEs failure. Consequently, there was excessive reliance on ‘personal guarantees’ that often served as a barrier to new entrants. The important point that emerged from this study was that there is a ‘mismatch’ between the expectations of lenders and borrowers. The borrowers failed to fully account for risk and often they believed, banks must lend. Whereas the lending managers had an absolute and rigid understanding that they must safeguard the interest of banks; the opposite position meant there was a high rejection rate amongst banks to SMEs. This suggested the need for the government to provide a loan guarantee scheme for new high-risk SMEs. However, the lending managers, believed their lending portfolio would increase with the loan guarantee scheme but this would lead to a disproportioned rate of business failure, resulting in greater costs for banks.In terms of the impact of change in government policy to raise tax revenue. The analysis suggested, that there was limited if any awareness of taxation amongst the public, and the same applied to SME owner-managers. SME owner-managers reported, their businesses were impacted by taxation. However, further exploration and questions suggested, that there was a limited real understanding of the impact on individuals and businesses but there existed a general understanding that taxation policies will lead to a decline in consumer demand. More starkly, there was less acceptance of change in government taxation policy amongst the population above the age of 40 years than under 40s. From the analysis of responses, it was also evident that SME owners did not have systems in place to comply with changes in government policy.The thematic analysis suggested that government agencies and policymakers appreciate the link between the economic prosperity of Oman and SME support. There is also appreciation between banks, policymakers and SME owner-managers for a greater share of information between all the stakeholders. A thorough review and the findings from this study have the potential to positively support policymakers to support potential as well as the existing enterprises to succeed. However, there is a need to narrow the financial gap, demand, and supply, and reduce information asymmetry. This study has the potential to assist policymakers, government agencies, banks, and SMEs in improving support and sanctioning loans. Support agencies in collaboration with government agencies could develop policies, training, and awareness amongst schools and universities to inspire youth to enter entrepreneurship rather than to seek public sector jobs. This empirical research provides in-depth empirical evidence and policy recommendations for all the stakeholders to promote the growth of SMEs, job creation, economic growth, and tax revenue and as a result, reduce dependency on public sector jobs and lessen dependency on oil revenue. Finally, the findings of this study aim to help them develop strategies to attract youths to choose entrepreneurship a choice career that will enhance Oman’s economic well-being as well as enhance its tax revenue base.</p
Development of minimally invasive approaches in penile cancer
No full textIntroduction: Penile cancer (PeCa) is a rare genital malignancy. The prognosis for patients presenting early and with no involvement of the inguinal lymph nodes is excellent. Advances in penile preserving surgery and avoiding overtreatment of inguinal lymph nodes aims to reduce the morbidity of surgery. The aim of this thesis is to investigate penile cancer surgical techniques to reduce morbidity.Methods: A total of 10 peer-reviewed research papers (as senior author) were critically evaluated. These included surgical treatment for primary disease which described novel techniques and predictors for local recurrence using a consecutive cohort of patients for data analysis. The outcomes from dynamic sentinel lymph node biopsy and the management of non-visualisation were evaluated using a complete dataset of patients with impalpable inguinal lymph nodes. Finally, the management of inguinal lymph nodes using a fascial sparing technique used a data set from 2 specialist centres and combined the data to report on the surgical outcomes.Results: The results from the studies included in this thesis show that with penile preserving procedures such as glansectomy, the local recurrence rate is less than 10%. The results from the dynamic sentinel lymph node studies showed that a delayed procedure was feasible with a sensitivity of 88.9%. The non-visualisation group can be visualised on repeat dynamic sentinel node biopsy in 86% of cases. The complication rate of fascial sparing inguinal lymphadenectomy is 36.1% and lower than previously reported series. The use of novel techniques such as “Batman’ scrotectomy and myocutaneous flaps is associated with low wound complications and allows palliation of patients.Discussion: The management of penile cancer has undergone significant change over the study period. The use of minimally invasive surgery has reduced morbidity and not significantly impacted on the local recurrence rate or cancer specific survival.</p
Low-luminance visual acuity and low-luminance deficit: optimising measurement and analysis
No full textClinical relevanceLow-luminance visual acuity and low-luminance deficit (standard visual acuity minus low-luminance visual acuity) are gaining popularity as outcome measures in clinical trials for retinal disease, demonstrating capability to detect central visual function changes earlier than standard visual acuity.BackgroundThe aim of this study is to explore suspected sources of low-luminance visual acuity variability, standardise the method of measurement of low-luminance visual acuity, and define a ‘normal’ low-luminance deficit upper limit for young adults (MethodsData from three separate studies were collated. Standard visual acuity was obtained using ETDRS charts (Precision Vision, Bloomington, IL, USA) and low-luminance visual acuity was obtained with the addition of a 2.0-log neutral density filter. The effects of dark adaptation and different background luminance levels on low-luminance visual acuity results were explored. The Electronic Visual Acuity chart (M&S Technologies, Niles, IL, USA) for low-luminance visual acuity testing was also assessed.ResultsThree-minutes of dark adaptation and different background luminance levels (1.6 and 0.85 cd/m2) did not demonstrate clinically significant changes in low-luminance visual acuity and low-luminance deficit. Bland-Altman analyses revealed significant variability between the ETDRS physical charts and the electronic chart indicating the two cannot be used interchangeably in the presence of a luminance difference. An upper low-luminance deficit limit of 11 ETDRS letters for younger individuals was also identified.ConclusionFormal dark adaptation does not improve low-luminance visual acuity results since any increased sensitivity is nullified by extremely quick cone light adaptation times. Small reductions in background luminance levels are not a clinically significant source of variability. However, for consistency, the same luminance level should be maintained throughout testing. Results from electronic and physical charts are not transferrable without proper luminance calibration. A low-luminance deficit greater than 11 ETDRS letters, in younger individuals, should prompt further investigation.</p
The development and face validity of the music therapy sensory instrument for cognition, consciousness, and awareness (MuSICCA)
No full textSevere brain injuries in children and young people can result in disorders of consciousness. This can pose significant challenges for the brain injury survivor as they may struggle to show awareness; for their family, who want to help their child to recover consciousness; and for the team providing treatment and care for them, who need an assessment that will inform optimal treatment and care planning. Currently, there is a paucity of fully validated behavioral tools to assess consciousness in 2–18-year-olds. Assessing awareness across this age range is challenging and complex due to neurodevelopmental changes that occur during maturation. This study evaluated the face validity of a music-based behavioral assessment for children and young people with disorders of consciousness. This is known as the Music therapy Sensory Instrument for Cognition, Consciousness and Awareness (MuSICCA). The study recruited 20 participants to compose a mixed cohort of music therapists, non-music therapy healthcare professionals and family members with lived experience of caring for a child or young person with a disorder of consciousness. These participants reviewed the MuSICCA and evaluated its suitability as an assessment of consciousness for use with children and young people. They provided feedback by rating their level of agreement with two statements and they also described the perceived strengths and limitations of the MuSICCA. The results showed substantial agreement among raters that the MuSICCA appears to be an assessment of consciousness and awareness, and that the MuSICCA appears to be suitable for use with children and young people. Its strengths include being rigorous, comprehensive, providing guidance and opportunity for caregiver involvement, its use of salience in stimulation, and its utility in supporting the wider clinical and care teams. The findings suggest that the MuSICCA may be a valuable assessment tool in providing treatment and care for children and young people with disorders of consciousness and their families.</p
The impact of teaching method and learning style on student engagement: a formative assessment of a primate education programme
No full textWe explore the impact of teaching methods and learning styles on student engagement in a conservation education program focused on primate conservation in Indonesia. Engaging students is essential for fostering environmental literacy and encouraging pro-environmental behaviours. We assessed the effectiveness of active versus didactic teaching methods and visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic learning styles in enhancing engagement. Using a formative assessment approach, we observed student participation and attentiveness across 19 different activities in a Nature Club program. Our results indicated that active teaching methods significantly increased engagement, while auditory learning styles were associated with lower levels of engagement. The findings emphasise the importance of adopting active learning strategies and tailoring activities to accommodate diverse learning styles to maximise student involvement. This research contributes valuable insights into the design of conservation education programs that effectively promote long-term environmental stewardship among young learners. Furthermore, this method can easily be adapted to evaluate a range of different conservation education programmes</p
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