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Art in water and sanitation research in Nepal: a performance with sanitation workers
No full textThis paper documents and discusses the creation of a performance (dance and song) by 12 sanitation workers in Nepal working with artists Alice Fox (UK) and Ashmina Ranjit (Nepal). This creative work was one element within an international, interdisciplinary research programme that explored shit flow, wastewater and marginality in five rapidly developing off-grid towns. Performed at the Lumbini Peace Park as part of the 2022 Women of the World Festival, an important objective of the work was raising awareness of issues affecting sanitation workers, who are among the most precarious workers in the world. Using photos and artist commentary, ‘we’ (geographers and artists) show how the performance (un)seen (un)clean opened a creative space through which to engage and circulate the lived experiences of workers
Laser interference lithography: a method for the fabrication of controlled periodic structures
Get PDFA microstructure determines macro functionality. A controlled periodic structure gives the surface specific functions such as controlled structural color, wettability, anti-icing/frosting, friction reduction, and hardness enhancement. Currently, there are a variety of controllable periodic structures that can be produced. Laser interference lithography (LIL) is a technique that allows for the simple, flexible, and rapid fabrication of high-resolution periodic structures over large areas without the use of masks. Different interference conditions can produce a wide range of light fields. When an LIL system is used to expose the substrate, a variety of periodic textured structures, such as periodic nanoparticles, dot arrays, hole arrays, and stripes, can be produced. The LIL technique can be used not only on flat substrates, but also on curved or partially curved substrates, taking advantage of the large depth of focus. This paper reviews the principles of LIL and discusses how the parameters, such as spatial angle, angle of incidence, wavelength, and polarization state, affect the interference light field. Applications of LIL for functional surface fabrication, such as anti-reflection, controlled structural color, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), friction reduction, superhydrophobicity, and biocellular modulation, are also presented. Finally, we present some of the challenges and problems in LIL and its applications
Competition, scandal, or ideology? a congruence analysis of Australian political finance reforms (1980–2020)
Get PDFAlthough studies into political finance reform have become commonplace, many questions remain unanswered in this area. Studies into links between scandals and political finance reform have provided conflicting findings, while little is known about why incumbents force through self-serving reforms in some instances, but cooperate with rivals in others. The ‘General Theory of Campaign Finance Reform’ reconciles inconsistencies by situating reform processes within the context of party competition. Observing that this framework has not yet been empirically tested, this study undertakes a Congruence Analysis to apply the model to a 40-year period of Australian political finance reform. Hansard is used to document inter-party interactions, in conjunction with quantitative indicators of party competition, organization, and ideology, which outline the changing contexts of reform. Findings indicate that party competition, scandals, and changes in incumbency are influential drivers of reform, while ideological factors play an inconsistent role. Providing insights into causal processes of reform, this article bridges the gap between theoretical and empirical literature on political finance
Dark comedies/dark universities: negotiating the neoliberal institution in British satirical comedies The History Man (1981), A Very Peculiar Practice (1986-1988) and Campus (2011)
No full textIn this chapter, three British satirical comedies about universities are examined. These are The History Man (1981), A Very Peculiar Practice (1986-1988) and Campus (2011). These comedies produce and negotiate popular cultural understandings of the academy, serving to demonstrate how certain ideas about British (and in an increasingly homogoneised higher education system globally) universities have shifted or intensified over time, set in periods ranging from the 1970s to the 2000s. Each series is set in a modern university, a space where tensions between industry, education, the financialisation of higher education and its role as a public good are at the fore. Their narratives feature tropes familiar to anyone working in a university, including funding cuts, corruption, redundancies, new buildings, stressed students, bureaucracy, and sexism as well as stereotypes of neurotic professors and ruthless Vice-Chancellors. As satirical comedies, they function to challenge shifts toward the neoliberal university, mocking the absurd and sometimes surreal practices of global higher education. We argue that whilst television can operate as a powerful form of popular culture mediating academia, it can also act as a form of critique, contributing to the cultural production of critical knowledge about the university, its staff, students, and discontents
Developing a climate-resilient investment protocol: lessons from the final draft protocol on investment to the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area
Get PDFThis article explores the draft Protocol on Investment under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) agreement, with a view to examining the Protocol’s implications for climate change objectives in Africa. It explores how the Phase II Protocol on Investment under the AFCFTA could draw from the Paris Agreement. In particular, it suggests that the Protocol on Investment under the AFCFTA can incorporate arrangements to address state and direct investor rights and obligations in relation to climate change action. However, the article proposes that climate change objectives should be addressed in the Protocol in more detail. The article also proposes a strong mechanism of liability and accountability of states and investors under the Investment Protocol, embracing liability for parent multinational corporations (MNCs) in their home states even when such liability is not the law of the investor’s home state
Exploring the dynamic relationship between Dr. GEPT feedback and learners’ L2 motivation
No full textFeedback is an important means to bridge assessment and learning, but its usefulness ultimately depends on whether and how learners engage with and act on the feedback. Learners’ L2 learning motivation may interact with feedback in meaningful and consequential ways, yet there is relatively little research to date that explores such a dynamic relationship, particularly among language learners in secondary education. This study aimed to fill this gap by exploring the relationship between learners’ motivation and assessment feedback offered by Dr. GEPT – automated personalised feedback provided to GEPT each test-taker alongside their test scores, including an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses, learning advice, and vocabulary and sentence patterns for further study. Taking a mixed-methods approach, Phase 1 of this study involved a large-scale questionnaire survey (n = 635) to explore L2 motivation among senior high school learners of English in Taiwan and their general perceptions towards assessment feedback. The questionnaire was developed based on the L2 Motivational Self System model (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009). Phase 2 used learning logs (n = 14) and interviews (n = 10) for an in-depth qualitative inquiry into how learners engaged with Dr. GEPT feedback and how the feedback might have shaped the developments in learners’ learning journeys. The report concludes with a discussion of how Dr. GEPT helps learners develop a positive orientation towards assessments and cultivates learner autonomy, as well as making some suggestions for enhancing the effectiveness of Dr. GEPT feedback
Assessing place experiences in Luton and Darlington on Twitter with topic modelling and AI-generated lexicons
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the in situ place experiences of people in Luton and Darlington. Design/methodology/approach: The study used 109,998 geotagged tweets from Luton and Darlington between 2020 and 2022 and conducted topic modelling using latent Dirichlet allocation. Lexicons were created using GPT-4 to evaluate the eight dimensions of place experience for each topic. Findings: The study found that Darlington had higher counts in the sensorial, behavioural, designed and mundane dimensions of place experience than Luton. Conversely, Luton had a higher prevalence of the affective and intellectual dimensions, attributed to political and faith-related tweets. Originality/value: The study introduces a novel approach that uses AI-generated lexicons for place experience. These lexicons cover four facets, two intentions and two intensities of place experience, enabling detection of words from any domain. This approach can be useful not only for town and destination brand managers but also for researchers in any field
Implementing network applications for 5G-enabled robots through the 5G-ERA platform
No full textNovel orchestration architectures for 5G networks have primarily focused on enhancing Quality of Service, yet have neglected to address Quality of Experience concerns. Consequently, these systems struggle with intent recognition and End-to-End interpretability, resulting in the possibility of suboptimal control policies being developed. The 5G-ERA project has proposed and demonstrated an AI-driven intent-based networking solution for autonomous robots to address this issue. Specifically, the proposed solution employs a workflow consisting of four tools - Action Sequence Generation, Network Intent Estimation, Resource Usage Forecasting, and OSM Control Policy Generation - to map an individual vertical action's intent to a global OSM control policy. The paper describes how the 5G-ERA platform enables the onboarding and control of 5G-enabled robots and how we demonstrate the platform’s capabilities through the project’s use cases
Digital forensics challenges in cyberspace: overcoming legitimacy and privacy issues through modularisation
Get PDFThe significance of the cloud environment is growing in the current digital world. It provides several advantages, such as reduced expenses, the ability to adjust to different needs, adaptability and enhanced cooperation. The field of digital forensic investigations has encountered substantial difficulties in reconciling the requirement for efficient data analysis with the increasing apprehensions regarding privacy in recent times. As investigators analyse digital evidence to unearth crucial information, they must also traverse an intricate network of privacy rules and regulations. Given the increasing prevalence of remote work and the necessity for businesses to be adaptable and quick to react to shifting market circumstances, the cloud infrastructure has become a crucial asset for organisations of various scales. Although the cloud offers benefits such as scalability, flexibility and enhanced collaboration, it presents difficulties in digital forensic investigations regarding data protection, ownership and jurisdictional boundaries. These concerns are becoming increasingly significant as more data is kept in the cloud. In this paper, we present three major challenges that are faced during cloud-based forensics investigation. We analyse the extent to which different data formats increase complexity in forensics investigations in cyberspace. This paper analyses three core challenges facing digital forensics in the cloud environment: legitimacy, complexity and an increase in data volume, looking at the implications these have on data liable for legal issues in court. These challenges contribute to the backlog in digital forensics investigations due to a lack of modularisation of the procedures. To address these concerns, modularisation model is proposed to offer a way to integrate traditional processing functions while ensuring strict adherence to privacy protocols. To overcome these challenges, we propose modularisation as a strategy for improving the future of digital forensic research's operational efficiency, overcoming the identified challenges faced during cloud-based investigations and demonstrating how organisations can mitigate potential risks associated with storing sensitive information in the cloud
Our Voices University Network: a briefing on our PhD student forum
Get PDFThe Our Voices University Network (OVUN) formed one half of ‘Our Voices III’, a project coordinated by the Safer Young Lives Research Centre at the University of Bedfordshire. The OVUN was established to facilitate links between academics around the world in order to develop and share knowledge about the prevention of and response to child sexual abuse and exploitation. It was recognised that those undertaking doctorate studies related to the area of child sexual abuse and exploitation hold a wealth of knowledge on this topic. One strand of the OVUN therefore focussed on creating a space where doctoral students could come together to share knowledge and understanding. This briefing shares learning from the PhD student forum sessions that were held over the course of the project. Here, we reflect on what forum members have shared about: • the tensions and challenges of doing doctoral research on child sexual abuse and exploitation (or related topics/other forms of harm) • what they have valued about the forum • what support needs they have which are not being met It is hoped that the learning captured in this briefing will be of use to other PhD researchers and supervisors who are undertaking or supporting work in this field
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