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Should I stay or should I go? The quandary for Black-African International students studying in the UK.
No full textThis chapter explores the experiences of Black African international students in higher education in the UK and examines the dilemmas they face as they decide whether to go abroad to study, and whether to stay once they arrive. Black-African international students face a number of particular challenges in embarking on the decision to study abroad, including financial pressures and the uncertain process of obtaining student visas, and they also frequently experience isolation and discrimination once they arrive at their host institutions. These challenges affect their subsequent ability to adjust to life abroad. In order to cope with the difficulties they may face, Black-African students utilise a range of coping mechanisms, including a preference for support from co-nationals, other Africans and religious organisations, rather than assistance from university services
Chronic wound care: synthetic and natural antimicrobials
No full textOlder people are at a higher risk of developing chronic wounds, both because of a weakened immune system and because the cause of the wound (pressure, reduced blood supply) cannot be taken away. Subbiyan Rajendran advises on treatment
Reality of autonomous transportation technologies in global supply chains : the consumer driven demand chain
No full textAutonomous transportation has been implemented in supply chain for decades, especially in indoor environments, such as warehouses, where safety risks and regulations are less than in everyday traffic. Applications include horizontal and vertical transportation. Regarding outdoor transportation, the most used and researched application is platooning, which consists of a convoy of vehicles, where the first vehicle leads and the others copy its movements. However, full automation in this environment has not been completely achieved within this aspect. The paper aims to examine the important principles of autonomous vehicles, its applications, and the extent to which it impacts the transportation industry and global supply chains. Autonomous vehicles can perform driving functions by themselves, by sensing its environment and navigating with or without human input. The main autonomous functions can be divided in navigation, situational analysis, motion planning, and trajectory control. The benefits of this technology are improved safety, higher efficiency, lower environmental impacts and greater comfort, whereas barriers include laws and liabilities, high initial costs, ethics, human factors and security risks. The most important impact of autonomous transportation in supply chains is costs reductions, mainly due to staff reductions, fuel efficiency gains, accident savings and productivity gains. Through our research study, we examine the advantages of autonomous vehicles and how enterprises need to redefine their supply chains for ways to benefit from these new technologies and achieve competitive advantage in global demand driven markets
System adoption: socio-technical integration
No full textIn this case study we identify the factors that influence the adoption of a new system in a major company in Saudi Arabia. We develop a theoretical framework to help derive better understanding of system adoption via socio-technical integration.We formulation of 14 hypotheses that were tested via a survey of 42 system users. Management support and change management were found to be significant factors influencing system adoption. As a result, the 14 null hypotheses were rejected due to their statistical significance (p-value < 0.05). Discussions and recommendations for future research are discussed
Understanding the thermal and dielectric response of organosolv and modified kraft lignin as a carbon fibre precursor
No full textUnderstanding the thermal behaviour of lignin is crucial in order to realise its valorisation as an engineering polymer. Two hardwood lignins, organosolv (OSL) and chemically modified kraft lignin (ML) have been chosen to represent important classes of renewable and abundant raw material. The relationship between ionic mobility and viscosity in OSL and ML have been studied. The rheological results have been interpreted in terms of the competitive processes of thermal plasticisation and stiffening through crosslinking. Results show that with OSL crosslinking proceeds relatively rapidly, and this is consistent with its more reactive structure. Higher molecular weight (Mw) influenced the melt stability as cross-linking kinetics were reduced and this was attributed to the reduction of chain ends available for cross-linking reactions. Scanning calorimetry has shown that both materials are glassy and pass through the glass transition between 100 °C and 115 °C, with the higher molecular weight modified material having the slightly higher Tg. Both lignins show pronounced maxima in the Gramm-Schmidt plots for methane or methanol around 400°C. However, a significant difference between the materials is observed with the detection of a strong carbonyl peak in the evolution products of the ML, this is attributed to scission of the hydroxypropyl substituent present in the ML structure. The differences in the degradation processes are further reflected in the dielectric properties of the partially degraded materials where loss maxima occur at different temperatures, and show different degrees of frequency dependence. An important observation is the difference in conductivity, where higher values for OSL are attributed to cross-linking between adjacent benzene rings, whereas with the ML lower conductivity is associated with intrinsically less conductive intermolecular linkages. These results demonstrate that the thermal decomposition of the two lignins, follow significantly different paths at the molecular level. With the more reactive OSL it appears to be the case that there is a greater tendency to form direct ring to ring crosslinks and this is very significant for the properties of the intended end product
Nine and a 1/2 things I wish I knew as a student
No full textEditors’ comments: Neil Dougan gave a talk at a student conference and this is the text of his talk. It is written in a conversational style and not as an academic piece
Rethinking student wellbeing experiences: the coping strategies of Black-African international students
No full textHigher rates of myocardial infarction and revascularization in patients with diffuse vascular inflammation. Insights from two-year follow-up of a multicenter study
No full textIntroduction: Recent studies have proved the association of inflammation with major cardiovascular events (MACE) including myocardial infarction (MI) and revascularization. Microwave radiometry (MWR) allows the indirect noninvasive assessment of carotid artery inflammation, through evaluation of their temperatures
Not all those who wander are lost: examining the character strengths of dyslexia
No full textThe number of students and people with dyslexia and other learning differences has been steadily increasing in recent years. This has led to an accompanying need for additional support for people with dyslexia. Whilst acknowledging that support is vital for people with dyslexia, it is also important to identify the strengths that people with dyslexia have that help individuals flourish. For many years, dyslexia research has been more pre-occupied in exploring the problems faced by people with dyslexia. This study attempts to explore the strengths of people with dyslexia. This quantitative study looked at 89 people with dyslexia [N=89] from the UK and USA. Using the Values in Actions Character Strengths Inventory, participants were given the opportunity to explore their signature strengths. The survey was hosted on a specially designed Dyslexia friendly website. The length of the survey at 240 questions may have proved a deterrent for some respondents, many of who gave up half way through. From the results of those who completed the survey the main signature strengths for people with dyslexia are, Curiosity, Fairness, Kindness, Judgement, Honesty, Leadership and Humour. Comparisons were made between the sample of people with dyslexia and with wider general population surveys. Addressing the strengths of people with dyslexia is as important as looking at their problems and difficulties. The authors feel there is a need for a shorter measure of character strengths that could be used in future research
Three years, six semesters and thirty assessments later
No full textWhen it is put into words it doesn’t seem that much, but when you are sat in those lectures, week in and week out, putting in every hour you can to hit those deadlines, words begin to fail you. Reflections of an undergraduate student