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Coming out of conflict: How migrant entrepreneurs utilise human and social capital
No full textAbstractThis paper examines how human and social capital influences the entrepreneurial activity of migrant entrepreneurs, with special reference to forced migrants due to conflict. The study uses Riinvest Migrant’s Survey data collected at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 to estimate the probability of entrepreneurial activity among Kosovan migrants. The findings demonstrate that host networking (foreign spouse and foreign language fluency) exerts a positive effect on entrepreneurial activity of migrants, while co-ethnic networking is found not to be important. We show that migration experience has a positive impact on the probability of entrepreneurship. Exposure to host country (both measured as years in migration and age) increases probability to start a business. Educational qualifications in the country of origin before migration do not have any influence on entrepreneurship, while specific business training in the country of residence has a positive impact. Contributions to scholarship on migrant entrepreneurship and policy approaches to mobilise them are discussed
Having a voice: A collaborative research project exploring the challenges and assets of people experiencing homelessness
Get PDFPurpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the lived experience of people who have experienced homelessness and street activity, and professional stakeholders’ views about the challenges faced by this client group. The study sought to identify measures to improve the current situation for both individuals experiencing homelessness and professionals working with them.
Design/methodology/approach
Peer researchers with lived experience of multiple and complex needs conducted semi-structured interviews/surveys with 18 participants (eight individuals experiencing homelessness and street activity and ten professional stakeholders). The authors of the paper conducted a thematic analysis of the data.
Findings
This paper offers insights into both the current challenges and assets for people who are or have been homeless in an urban setting. Key findings include the need for a coordinated partnership approach to address pathways to support, and the importance of developing opportunities for meaningful activity and building on local resources including giving homeless people a voice. These findings are discussed within the context of current policy (Housing First) and legislation (Homelessness Reduction Act 2017) and the impact on integrated care for people who have experienced homelessness.
Research limitations/implications
The views explored in this study are specific to one city centre in the West Midlands; thus, generalisability may be limited.
Originality/value
This study presents a participatory research approach with peer researchers exploring the perspective of individuals experiencing homelessness and wider stakeholders. The findings of this research are considered with reference to the provisions of the HRA 2017
Philip Astley: His Life and Legacy
No full textDr Carmel Thomason from Staffordshire University worked with Brampton Museum and a group of volunteers to research the life of Philip Astley and his family in Newcastle-under-Lyme and the role of Astley’s theatrical performances in shaping recreational life of the period. The research was compiled and curated into an exhibition at the Bramptom Museum: "Philip Astley: His Life and Legacy". The exhibition ran from 5/6/18 to 15/7/18 and was visited by 16,600 people.
The exhibition was part of the 250th Anniversary of the first circus, and was held in association with the Victoria and Albert museum. Archive material, costume, sights and sounds were used to examine the man and the myths that surround Astley's rise from the son of a Newcastle cabinet maker to Father of the Modern Circus. The centrepiece of the exhibition was a scale model of Astley’s amphitheatre taken from a contemporary print showing the building’s impressive interior. Using loan material from the V & A Museum, Chethams Library, and other museums which included drawings, engravings and prints of Astley’s riding school and amphitheatres the exhibition displayed the progression from wooden outdoor structure through to the magnificent amphitheatre of the early 19th century and included a recreated section of Astley Amphitheatre based on an image of Astley’s Amphitheatre painted in 1806
Psychological exploration of the cognitions preventing smoking cessation or maintaining smoking in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) sufferers
Get PDFEsports: Engaging Education
No full textThis was a White Paper created by UKie Digital Schoolhouse as part of this research was performed by Staffordshire University to answer the following two questions
A. Does participating in esports create positive behavioural change in young
players that will translate into behaviour modification in other aspects of
their lives?
B. Does participating in esports influence the career path and STEM interests
of young players
The Use of Light in the Analysis of Glass
No full textGlass is commonly retrieved in a wide range of crime types, including major
and volume, both in the form of large, easy to analyse evidence items and
more frequently as very small shards and fragments. Glass evidence has the
ability to provide information not only to link individuals to broken glass
items found at a crime scene but also to help establish what, when and how
these were transferred. Light plays a fundamental role in obtaining this
information, particularly source information, because the morphology, optical
and chemical properties of glass can be characterised by different regions
of both the visible and near visible electromagnetic spectrum. This chapter
will provide an introduction to glass as evidence and how light is a partner
to the forensic glass analyst in understanding the properties of glass and to
answering questions posed by the criminal justice system. The limitations of
techniques that use light at their foundation will also be discussed, because
where light elucidates characteristics of glass that allow discrimination, it
also highlights issues in the mass-produced nature of glass that must be
acknowledged in forensic analysis
Managing Clinical Heterogeneity: An Argument for Benefit-Based Action Limits
No full textThe use of reference ranges is well established in medical practice and research. Classically, a range would be derived from the local healthy population and matched in age, gender, and other characteristics to the patients under investigation. However, recruiting suitable controls is problematic and the derivation of the range by excluding 2.5% at each end of the distribution results in 5% of the values being arbitrarily discarded. Thus, the traditional reference range is derived using statistical and not clinical principles. While these considerations are recognized by clinicians, it is often not realized that the application of whole population derived reference ranges to complex pathologies that comprise patient subgroups may be problematic. Such subgroups may be identified by phenotypes including genetic etiology, variations in exposure to a causative agent, and tumor site. In this review, we provide examples of how subgroups can be identified in diverse pathologies and how better management can be achieved using evidence-based action limits rather than reference ranges. We give examples from our clinical experience of problems arising from using the wrong reference ranges for the clinical situation. Identifying subgroups will often enable clinicians to derive specific action limits for treatment that will lead to customized management and researchers a route into the study of complex pathologies
A case study examining Graduate Attribute implementation in a Higher Education Institute department and its Further Education college partners. Transformative education or ‘ticking the box’?
Get PDFThe development of Graduate Attributes (GAs) in higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world has contributed to its reorientation towards explicitly developing graduate level employability within a competitive globalised market (Kalfa and Taksa, 2015). Underpinning GAs is the contested view that such generic skills can be transferred outside learners’ subject expertise (Hughes and Barrie, 2012; Barnett, 2012). Key proponent Simon Barrie argues that GA implementation requires institution-wide transformation; changing approaches to teaching, assessment, quality and stakeholder engagement (Barrie, 2004; 2006; Hughes and Barrie, 2012). However, numerous problems relating to GA implementation have been identified, including differing conceptual viewpoints (Barrie, 2004; 2012), poor management and inconsistent application (De la Harpe and David, 2012; Bond et al., 2017). Additionally, resistance to change, defined by Starr (2011, p.647) as, “…negative actions and non-actions, ill will and resentment, and defensive or confrontational dispositions.”, was identified as a key hindrance to GA implementation by Jackson and Wilton (2016).
Currently, GA investigations have tended to debate the extent to which they develop personal, social and employability skills of young full-time undergraduate learners about to embark on their careers. This exploratory case study contributes to the field of knowledge by focusing on ‘non-traditional’ learners whose voice has yet to be considered within GA literature. It therefore gives voice learners who are mature, part-time and already employed within their chosen career sector (education), studying a degree either at an HEI or Further Education College (FEC). The study considers the extent to which such attributes hold relevance for their personal, academic and professional development needs.
The case study is framed through Barrie’s (2006) identification of systemic factors involved in GA institutional transformation. These have been simplified to focus on four lenses for the study: conceptualisation, strategic implementation, facilitation and quality. Data was gained through a documentary search, interviews with HE and FE based managers and lecturers as well as a scoping questionnaire which informed learner focus groups from each of the institutions.
The study found that the featured HEI had faced GA implementation difficulties commonly identified in research based in Australia and New Zealand (Hughes and Barrie, 2010; Bond et al., 2017), thus contributing to the body of research suggesting that problems may transcend national systems. Distinctively, the findings from within FEC settings revealed additional problems not identified in previous GA studies; policy clashes between the institutions, unaddressed training and support needs and conflicting dual roles for lecturers.
The study advocates the need for greater stakeholder involvement, including FEC partners, in GA formation to make them genuinely represent the ethos of an institution as was envisaged in their initial iteration (Bowden et al., 2000). In this respect, institutions need to give serious consideration to the appropriacy of such a policy for all undergraduates rather than just full-time learners. In terms of implementation, leadership grit and institutional resilience is required. This should acknowledge that genuine transformative change requires and a systematic, consistent and long-term approach which includes transparent reflective evaluation to inform future development. Further research emanating from this work will relate to policy implementation barriers between universities and their FEC partners as well as the extent to which HEI policies and education measurement metrics represent education values espoused by mature, employed, part-time learners
A Conceptual Model using Ambient Assisted Living to Provide a Home Proactive Monitoring System for Elderly People in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Get PDFThe growth in the ageing population is rapidly increasing and their care cost will be a challenging issue in the future. The number of elderly people worldwide (defined as those aged 60 years and older) was 202 million in 1950; this number has since quadrupled to reach 901 million and is expected to triple again by 2100. In particular, the number of elderly people in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is increasing rapidly, from 5% of the total population in 2015 to a forecasted 20.9% by 2050. Clearly, the cost of taking care of elderly people is already a challenge, but it will be very difficult to meet in the future, when it will lead to a much higher expenditure on healthcare facilities. Furthermore, although elderly people are vulnerable to a decline in their health, they do not wish to live as they did in the 1970s to 1990s. Instead, their desire is to live independently in their own homes and continue to practice normal activities. In fact, Saudi culture is changing, and the children tend not to live with their parents as they used to. However, the literature review indicates that there is a lack of professionally designed systems that can fulfil the growing needs or requirements of elderly people in the KSA.
These demographic changes raise a number of challenges related to the elderly people’s quality of life, including health, autonomy, care, social communication, and the utilisation of institutional services. These challenges require novel approaches to provide dependable self-adapting technological innovations. The era of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed the world of the ageing population. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) aims to improve the quality of life of elderly people, and to provide them with technologies and services that support their daily activities, help them to live longer and remain independently at home.
The aims and objectives of this research are to review Ambient Assisted Living Technology, to provide examples of relevant technologies and applications, and to examine attitudes and perceptions of elderly people towards using AAL technologies in the KSA. This research also explores the factors of AAL, identifying those that affect the adoption of these technologies in the KSA, by conducting a systematic review, and using quantitative and qualitative analyses.
The questionnaire results showed that elderly Saudi Arabians are willing and intending to accept and use AAL technologies, and that there are many factors that influence their adoption and use of AAL technologies. This provides an insight for solutions to the provision of support for their independent living.
Thus, we developed a conceptual model using AAL to provide a Home Proactive Monitoring System (AALHPMS) that supports the stakeholders in adopting AAL technologies. We envisage that the AALHPMS can fulfil the needs and requirements of elderly people, motivate healthcare providers to implement AAL technologies, and assist the Saudi Government to make suitable provision for issues associated with the ageing population. In addition, a knowledge-based-system was built using a rule-based system. Experiments using Smart watches were conducted to monitor the heart rates. Further experiments using ZigBee, Bluetooth beacons, and surveillance cameras technology were also undertaken for monitoring the movement of elderly persons at their home. A website was also developed to disseminate knowledge related to ageing population and AAL technology in Saudi Arabia
The effects of rational and irrational coach team talks on the cognitive appraisal and achievement goal orientation of varsity football athletes
Get PDFThe effects of rational and irrational coach team talks on cognitive appraisal and achievement goal orientation were examined. During the half-time interval of a 60-minute football match, 25 male varsity football athletes (Mage = 20.20; SD ± 1.38 years) received a rational (n = 13) or an irrational (n = 12) team talk from a coach. Irrational and rational beliefs were measured before the football match. Task engagement, cognitive appraisal (challenge and threat), and achievement goal orientation (approach and avoidance) regarding second-half football performance were measured following team-talk delivery. Athletes in the rational team talk condition reported significantly lower threat appraisal and avoidance goal orientation than athletes in the irrational team talk condition. No significant between-condition differences emerged for challenge appraisal and approach goal orientation. For coaching practice, data suggest that communicating rational or irrational beliefs to football athletes through a half-time team talk will influence appraisal and achievement goal orientation regarding upcoming performance
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