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Creative Research with Indigenous Women: challenging marginalisation through collective spaces and livelihoods practices
Get PDFPurposeIn this paper we ask: “What are the opportunities and challenges that creative methods pose in terms of conducting research processes with indigenous peoples impacted by emergencies and disasters?” To do that, we critically examine the creative and collaborative methodological approaches applied in the research project, Moving with Risk: Forced Displacement and Vulnerability in Colombia. This project sought to understand the trajectories of risk of families who were forcibly displaced as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia and resettled in areas at risk of disaster.Design/methodology/approachThis article is intentionally written from the perspective of the researchers’ positionality. In doing so, we embrace writing that is situated and embodied in the researcher’s experiences and positionalities. This reflexive writing allows us to question the methodological experience of the research project we are analysing and, at the same time, ourselves, “the researchers” be questioned by it.FindingsIn this paper, we show how creative methods and participatory research can foster awareness and become the basis for inclusive and reciprocal research processes with indigenous communities in disaster studies. Specifically, we show that the use of creative methods helped us recognise that agency needs to be framed in collective spaces with the indigenous women we were working with and in relation to their livelihoods needs. We argue that finding spaces to conduct collaborative research and recognize agency is inextricably related to how the researchers reflect on their positionality.Originality/valueThis article contributes to critical perspectives in Disaster Studies and to an overall understanding of the role that creative methodologies play in research processes with people affected by disasters. It provides a novel perspective on the opportunities and challenges of applying arts-based methods in disaster risk studies with indigenous communities in Latin America
K-stability of Casagrande-Druel varieties
Get PDFWe introduce a new subclass of Fano varieties (Casagrande-Druel varieties) that are n-dimensional varieties constructed from Fano double covers of dimension n-1. We conjecture that a Casagrande-Druel variety is K-polystable if the double cover and its base space are K-polystable. We prove this for smoothable Casagrande-Druel threefolds, and for Casagrande-Druel varieties constructed from double covers of ℙ n - 1 > ramified over smooth hypersurfaces of degree 2d with n > d > n/2 > 1. As an application, we describe the connected components of the K-moduli space parametrizing smoothable K-polystable Fano threefolds in the families No 3.9 and No 4.2 in the Mori-Mukai classification.</p
Who is the ‘public’ when it comes to public opinion on energy? A mixed-methods study of revealed and elicited public attitudes to shale gas extraction
Get PDFShale gas is a contentious energy source. Yet, ‘imagined’ notions of the public (for example, NIMBYs) rarely reflect the reality of public opinion. We use an inductive, empirical approach to define UK publics in relation to shale gas extraction, drawing on multiple data sources (social media, a national survey, and two local surveys) and composite measures. Cluster analyses and thematic coding reveal a diversity of responses ranging from active opposition, through ambivalence, to active support. The number of communities varies by data source and analytical method, but across all datasets we see more opposition than support. Across all datasets, political views were an important lens through which shale gas was understood. Our findings have implications for how developers and policy-makers engage with the public, and expose limitations of pre-defined notions of the public that may not reflect empirical realities.</p
Disclosure and non-disclosure of childhood sexual abuse in Australia:Results from a national survey
Get PDFBackground: Little population-based evidence exists about prevalence of lifetime disclosure and non-disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA). Evidence is lacking about disclosure by girls and women compared with boys and men, and gender diverse individuals. It is unclear if disclosure is more common in contemporary society, and if disclosure is influenced by abuse severity and perpetrator type. Objective: We aimed to identify prevalence of lifetime disclosure of CSA, and prevalence by gender, age group, abuse severity and perpetrator.Participants and Setting: The Australian Child Maltreatment Study collected information about CSA victimization from a nationally representative sample of 8503 individuals aged 16 and over; 28.5% (n = 2348) experienced CSA and provided information about disclosure.Methods: We generated national estimates of lifetime CSA disclosure, compared results by gender and age group, and identified differences by severity and perpetrator.Results: Prevalence of lifetime CSA disclosure was 54.8%, and prevalence of non-disclosure was 45.2%. Disclosure was more common for women (60.3%) than men (42.2%). Disclosure was more common among those aged 16-24 (70.5%) than those aged 25-44 (61.9%) and 45 and over (46.2%). Prevalence was similar across four CSA sub-types (47.2%-58.2%). Disclosure varied across perpetrator classes.Conclusions: Population-wide, almost one in two people who experience CSA had not disclosed. Men and those aged 45 and over were less likely to disclose. Increased disclosure by younger participants indicates progress in societal understanding of CSA. However, continued widespread non-disclosure indicates further efforts are needed to support those with lived experience of CSA to seek assistance
UKCropDiversity-HPC: A collaborative high-performance computing resource approach for sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation
No full textDiverse gene pools are fundamental to crop improvement, biodiversity maintenance and environmental management. The UKCropDiversity-HPC high-performance computing resource enables seven UK institutes to perform plant and conservation research with increased efficiency, cost-effectiveness and environmental sustainability. It supports research across numerous areas, including bioinformatics, genetics, phenomics and conservation - including Artificial Intelligence approaches. Its utilisation supports many United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including Goals-2 (Zero Hunger), −13 (Climate Action), −15 (Life on Land), −9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and −4 (Quality Education). Accordingly, UKCropDiversity-HPC helps maximise the societal impact of research undertaken at our seven institutes, driving positive change for future generations.</p
Characterization of post-ictal signs in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy; a questionnaire -based study
Get PDFBACKGROUND: Post-ictal (PI) clinical signs are a key defining stage of seizure manifestation in dogs. However, this phase remains poorly understood.OBJECTIVES: To further characterize PI signs and their relation to other parts of a seizure, and understand the owner's perception of how PI signs affect the quality of life (QOL) of the dog.ANIMALS: Eight-seven dogs with a diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy from a single institution.METHODS: The prospective questionnaire-based study surveying owners of dogs previously and newly diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy.RESULTS: Post-ictal signs were identified in 79/87 dogs, 5/5 of dogs with focal seizures and 74/82 of dogs with generalized seizures. Median duration of PI signs was 30 minutes (range, 5-4320 minutes). The most common PI signs reported were disorientation (50/79) and wobbliness or clumsiness (49/79). Within a year, a change in PI signs was seen in 18/79 dogs. The administration of benzodiazepines was significantly associated with an increase in duration of PI signs (P = .04). Post-ictal signs had more impact on dogs' quality of life compared with ictal signs (P < .01). Groupings of co-existing PI signs identified included disorientation, blindness and deafness.CONCLUSION: Post-ictal signs are a commonly reported aspect of seizures in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy, both in focal as well as generalized seizures. Co-existence of signs could provide some valuable insight into the relevance of this particular phase of a seizure. Owner-reported signs and documentation emphasize the need for a better understanding of PI signs in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy.</p
The 200 million student classroom:Teaching Islamicate history, one video game at a time?
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Using routine primary care data in research:(in)efficient case studies and perspectives from the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research
Get PDFAim We aimed to identify enablers and barriers of using primary care routine data for healthcare research, to formulate recommendations for improving efficiency in knowledge discovery.Background Data recorded routinely in primary care can be used for estimating the impact of interventions provided within routine care for all people who are clinically eligible. Despite official promotion of ‘efficient trial designs’, anecdotally researchers in the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research (AUKCAR) have encountered multiple barriers to accessing and using routine data.Methods Using studies within the AUKCAR portfolio as exemplars, we captured limitations, barriers, successes, and strengths through correspondence and discussions with the principal investigators and project managers of the case studies.Results We identified 14 studies (8 trials, 2 developmental studies and 4 observational studies). Investigators agreed that using routine primary care data potentially offered a convenient collection of data for effectiveness outcomes, health economic assessment and process evaluation in one data extraction. However, this advantage was overshadowed by time-consuming processes that were major barriers to conducting efficient research. Common themes were multiple layers of information governance approvals in addition to the ethics and local governance approvals required by all health service research; lack of standardisation so that local approvals required diverse paperwork and reached conflicting conclusions as to whether a study should be approved. Practical consequences included a trial that over-recruited by 20% in order to randomise 144 practices with all required permissions, and a 5-year delay in reporting a trial while retrospectively applied regulations were satisfied to allow data linkage.Conclusions Overcoming the substantial barriers of using routine primary care data will require a streamlined governance process, standardised understanding/application of regulations and adequate National Health Service IT (Information Technology) capability. Without policy-driven prioritisation of these changes, the potential of this valuable resource will not be leveraged.<br/
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