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Monstrosity and Global Crisis in Transnational Film, Media and Literature
No full textMonsters have always been rampant border crossers, from Dracula’s journey from Romania to Whitby, to the rampaging monsters of Godzilla movies across global cities. This volume studies how their transnationality reflects an era of global crisis. Monstrosity has long been explored in a number of ways that connect gender, sexuality, class, race, nationality and other forms of otherness with depictions of monsters or monstrosity. This book, however, explores cultural flow as it relates to the construction of a transnational genre, by both producers and audiences. It also examines the ramifications of representations of monstrosity in socio-political terms as they relate to a tumultuous era of global crises. This era has of course been amplified and altered by the Covid pandemic, which frames much of the content of this collection. This ongoing crisis imbues the discourses of monstrosity, global catastrophe and societal and human vulnerability with its significant expression in artistic terms
Together while apart: Interrogating togetherness in the context of COVID-19 and online community arts practice
Get PDFThis chapter interrogates the meanings and experiences of ‘togetherness’, specifically in the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) prompted expansion in the online delivery of community arts practice. It frames the simultaneous loss and pursuit of togetherness as a key territory of the pandemic, something that occurred at both community and individual levels, became problematically politicised and yet was also genuinely desired. The utilisation of online community practice to instil a sense of togetherness, wellbeing and resilience has the potential to be a lasting legacy of COVID-19. The objective of this chapter is to think through virtual togetherness, developing a critical framework to help us better evaluate experiences of being together while apart. Specifically, this chapter examines what produces authentic and meaningful experiences of togetherness within online community arts practice. It uses as a key case study the Creative Doodle Book (CDB) project, which between November 2020 and June 2021 delivered online arts workshops with partners across the UK, in contexts including learning disabilities, mental health, care homes and young people. Discussion considers insights from the CDB project in the context of ideas of communitas and selfhood, proposing that authentic experiences of togetherness require both a letting go and strong holding onto personal and collective identity. Its conclusions reflect on how claims for togetherness during COVID-19 are time exclusionary, and it suggests that active consideration of inclusion is essential to future thinking about being together while in online space
Athlete burnout and mental and physical health: A three-wave longitudinal study of direct and reciprocal effects
No full textBurnout is a mental health-related problem in athletes that may also be linked to further adverse mental and physical health problems. However, longitudinal research in this area is scarce. The studies that do exist have yet to test possible reciprocal effects while accounting for the multilevel structure of longitudinal data. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to examine longitudinal and reciprocal relationships between athlete burnout and a number of health variables. To do so, we used a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model to disaggregate between- and within-person effects. Based on existing literature, we chose to focus on physical symptoms, illness, depressive symptoms, sleep disruptions, and life satisfaction as the health variables of interest. Following a pre-registered protocol with open data, materials, and code, we recruited a sample of 267 competitive athletes who completed measures at three timepoints over six months. At the between-person level, we found athlete burnout to be associated with all examined health variables. At the within-person level, emotional and physical exhaustion was found to predict increases in depressive symptoms, sleep disruptions were found to predict increases in devaluation, and life satisfaction was found to predict decreases in total burnout, exhaustion, and reduced sense of accomplishment. The findings demonstrate that athlete burnout increases the risk for certain health consequences such as depressive symptoms, and reciprocal findings suggest that sleep and satisfaction-based interventions (e.g., sleep hygiene training and positive psychology interventions) may be able to protect against burnout development
Faith Communities and Fair Trade Towns in the UK: Raising Awareness of Sustainable Development
Get PDFDrawing on my research of Luton Fair Trade Town, in this article I argue that faith communities, working in partnership in Fair Trade Towns, are well placed to raise awareness of sustainable development. I will discuss the ability of faith communities to raise awareness and bring about change towards sustainable development, utilising both social and spiritual capital. An analysis focussing on social capital, highlights the ability of faith communities to bridge different sections of society, issues and geographies. Spiritual capital concentrates on the motivation to action and this can provide challenge to the status quo and a vision of how society can work differently, offering a necessary contribution to working towards a sustainable future
Navigating Human-Technology Nexus for Environmental and Organizational Sustainability in Industry 5.0
No full textThis chapter explores sustainable human resource management (HRM) practices within Industry 5.0,
focusing on merging sustainability and technology to transform organizational culture and workforce
management. It discusses the shift from traditional HRM to using ICT and e-HRM to enhance effectiveness
and embed sustainability in business operations. The chapter assesses strategies for fostering innovation,
aligning HR strategies with sustainability goals, and integrating human capabilities with technology.
The frameworks for ensuring organizational resilience and highlights HRM's role in leading digital
transformations. The chapter examines establishing a sustainable culture characterized by adaptability,
collaboration, and sustainability principles. It outlines strategies to enhance employee engagement in
sustainability initiatives, addresses challenges in integrating sustainable HRM practices, and highlights
opportunities for innovation in Industry 5.0
Disruption of the pro-oncogenic c-RAF–PDE8A complex represents a differentiated approach to treating KRAS–c-RAF dependent PDAC
Get PDFPancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is considered the third leading cause of cancer mortality in the western world, offering advanced stage patients with few viable treatment options. Consequently, there remains an urgent unmet need to develop novel therapeutic strategies that can effectively inhibit pro-oncogenic molecular targets underpinning PDACs pathogenesis and progression. One such target is c-RAF, a downstream effector of RAS that is considered essential for the oncogenic growth and survival of mutant RAS-driven cancers (including KRASMT PDAC). Herein, we demonstrate how a novel cell-penetrating peptide disruptor (DRx-170) of the c-RAF–PDE8A protein–protein interaction (PPI) represents a differentiated approach to exploiting the c-RAF–cAMP/PKA signaling axes and treating KRAS–c-RAF dependent PDAC. Through disrupting the c-RAF–PDE8A protein complex, DRx-170 promotes the inactivation of c-RAF through an allosteric mechanism, dependent upon inactivating PKA phosphorylation. DRx-170 inhibits cell proliferation, adhesion and migration of a KRASMT PDAC cell line (PANC1), independent of ERK1/2 activity. Moreover, combining DRx-170 with afatinib significantly enhances PANC1 growth inhibition in both 2D and 3D cellular models. DRx-170 sensitivity appears to correlate with c-RAF dependency. This proof-of-concept study supports the development of DRx-170 as a novel and differentiated strategy for targeting c-RAF activity in KRAS–c-RAF dependent PDAC
Sequential ATR and PARP Inhibition Overcomes Acquired DNA Damaging Agent Resistance in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
No full textPancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains the most lethal cancer and will soon be the second most common cause of cancer related death. While regimens containing DNA damaging agents such as FOLFIRINOX and PARP inhibitors have derived clinical benefits for some patients, their efficacy invariably fails over time. This presents a significant clinical challenge, and thus there is an urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies which are able to overcome the acquisition of resistance in PDAC. Clinically relevant models of treatment resistance were generated from patient-derived cell lines by extended exposure to chemotherapy agents. Synergy scoring, clonogenicity assays, flow cytometry, immunofluorescence and transcriptomic analysis were used to investigate the efficacy of combined ATR and PARP inhibition in re-sensitising resistant PDAC to treatment. Acquisition of resistance was associated with transcriptomic shifts in cell cycle checkpoint regulation, metabolic control, DNA damage response (DDR), programmed cell death and the replication stress response. Additionally, combined treatment with the ATR inhibitor (ceralasertib), and the PARP inhibitor (olaparib) was synergistic in all models of acquired resistance. Sequential treatment using ceralasertib prior to olaparib was highly effective at low dose for DDR proficient cell lines, whereas DDR deficient models responded better when treated with olaparib first. We provide in vitro evidence of a novel therapeutic strategy to overcome acquired PARP inhibitor and platinum resistance in PDAC by using sequential exposure to ceralasertib and olaparib. A sequential regimen may be more tolerable and should be investigated clinically to circumvent dose limiting toxicity in concurrent combinations
Twenty years of action learning in the journal Action Learning: Research and Practice
Get PDFThis paper provides a thematic analysis of research papers published in Action Learning: Research and Practice over the past 20 years. The analysis concentrates on the different contexts in which action learning has taken place and on the variations of action learning that have been presented in different papers. Contexts discussed in this paper are different international settings for action learning, and the use of action learning in healthcare, for social action, for small and medium-sized enterprises, and in higher education. Variations and developments of action learning are critical action learning, virtual action learning, and action learning research
Deciphering the evolution of metaverse - A techno-functional perspective in digital marketing
Get PDFThe metaverse has disrupted the traditional marketing practices and it has potential to transform entire world of marketing activities with thrilling immersive experiences. This study provides an analysis of evolving field of metaverse marketing in the context of information systems using state of the art bibliometric and scientometric tools coupled with machine learning algorithms. Utilizing 257 documents from Scopus database that published between 1996 and 2024, this research maps and unveils the development of metaverse marketing from its inception and the role of information systems in its evolution. The analysis of literature resulted in five main emerging themes of the role of information systems in metaverse marketing research as User Experience, Customer engagement, Convergence of metaverse Technology, Design of virtual goods & experience and Global Social Interaction. The major sub-themes of the study are User Behaviors and Preferences, Branding on virtual environment, Virtual reality, Virtual wearables and Virtual Socialization. This study also reveals the emerging trends and gaps in literature that pave the ways for future research expansion in the information systems and metaverse marketing. Few of the important future research areas identified are understanding user experience, design of immersive customer engagement strategies, customer virtual presence and Security & privacy concerns of the users on metaverse platform