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Maintaining the fight for equality through and beyond COVID-19: a focus on the build back better report and ambidextrous leadership
No full textPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the Diversity Project’s Build Back Better report, which considers leadership practice while maintaining the fight for equality through and beyond COVID-19, through the lens of ambidextrous leadership.Design/methodology/approach – The authors succinctly present findings from the Build Back Better report that explores an industry response of investment and savings practitioners to managing diversity and inclusion through and beyond COVID-19. Ambidextrous leadership is applied to the discussion to offer greater theoretical discussion and practical consideration for HR leaders and their strategic approaches to the subject at hand.Findings – The Build Back Better report offers numerous recommendations for leadership practice within these unprecedented times. An ambidextrous leadership approach can assist in supporting many of the recommendations, as they are complex and potentially paradoxical.Originality/value – The Build Back Better report offers a practitioner’s immediate response to supporting business leaders shape their strategies as national lockdown periods ease while also ensuring the fight for equality is not lost within the COVID-19 crisis
A Very Belarusian Affair: What Sets the Current Anti-Lukashenka Protests Apart?:Policy Memo No. 671
No full textUnprecedented mass protests in Belarus against the rigged presidential elections on August 9 continue into their sixth week with no signs of abating. They are massive, tenacious, and draw on a remarkably broad social and geographical base. These qualities, combined with the absence of a single opposition political leader, pose an unprecedented challenge to Europe’s longest-serving ruler, Aliaksandr Lukashenka.These protests also defy easy comparisons with the color revolutions. Despite continued police brutality and intimidation, Belarusian protesters remain resolutely peaceful, insist on the strictly internal nature of this political crisis, and repel charges of nationalism. While Lukashenka shows every determination to fight his people, he is facing a very different nation from the one he has ruled for the past quarter of a century
Augmented Reality Interface Design to Support Visualisation of ‘Risk Landscapes’
No full textClimate change is producing an increase in the severity and frequency of hydro-meterological hazards, such as hurricanes, storm surges, flooding, landslides and debris flows. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are particularly susceptible to such hazards because of their limited economic base. Furthermore, the inhabitants of SIDS tend to live near the coast and along river valleys: both are high-risk locations. The first priority of the UN’s Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction is understanding disaster risk. To that end, the CommonSensing project is using satellite remote sensing data as the basis for an Augmented Reality application to support understanding of local “risk landscapes” for SIDS. This paper uses a systematic literature search to establish existing guidelines for Augmented Reality applications to support understanding of risk. There is very little recent research relating to developing interfaces for Augmented Reality applications, especially for risk reduction and management. Based on the results of this study, eight recommendations have been produced to support development of Augmented Reality applications. Additionally, suggestions have been made of how to apply these guidelines to an Augmented Reality for improved risk understanding and communication within SIDS
The Effect of Acute Hypoxic Exercise on Calcium Metabolism.
No full textSeveral investigations show exercise induces a decrease of ionised calcium which may be responsible for increased bone breakdown following acute exercise (1-3). While the general mechanism of decreased Ca2+stimulating PTH and subsequent bone resorption has been comprehensively detailed (1-2), what causes Ca2+ to decrease remains unknown. We suggest it may be the result of the complex acid-base changes seen during exercise (4) as Ca2+ is heavily influenced by pH. We investigated whether pH alterations, achieved by use of exercise and hypoxia, influenced calcium metabolism. Sixteen healthy physically active males volunteered for our study ([mean ± 1 SD] age 24 ± 5 years, height 1.80 ± 0.08m, body mass ± 78.5 ± 12.6kg), approved by the University’s Research Ethics Committee and in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Participants were randomly assigned in a counter-balanced manner to perform two V̇O2max tests on a cycle ergometer in either normoxia (21% FiO2) or hypoxia (13% FiO2), one week apart. Participants then completed 60 minutes of cycle exercise at 70% of their respective V̇O2max/peak in both conditions. Venous blood was collected via venepuncture: pre-exercise; immediately post- exercise; and 1h, 4h and 24h post exercise, to measure markers of calcium metabolism. A sub-sample of participants (n = 5) provided additional blood samples during the exercise trials (see Figure 1a) for analysis of Ca2+ and pH. Data were analysed using two-way repeated measures ANOVAs and regression. We observed that exercise caused a transient increase in Ca2+ at the onset of exercise and later decrease until cessation (Figure 1a). Ca2+ was positively correlated with PTH (Figure 1d: R = -0.82, p < .001) further supporting previous observations. Although hypoxic exercise reduced relative Ca2+ to a greater degree, and despite pH being higher during hypoxia (Figure 1c: Condition*Time p = .01), the interaction of time and condition was non-significant. The respiratory alkalosis during hypoxia appeared to reduce competition for albumin binding positions, demonstrated by the positive correlation between pH and albumin (Figure 2b: R = 0.7, p < .001). We speculate that a greater sample size may observe a difference between conditions. The higher total calcium concentration following hypoxic exercise (Figure 3c; MD = 0.04±0.01, p < .001) and the negative correlation between Ca2+ and pH (Figure 2c-d: R = -0.57, p < 0.0001) support that Ca2+ is bound to albumin during respiratory alkalosis. Hypoxia attenuated the phosphate response to exercise, demonstrated at the post exercise time point (Figure 3d: MD = -0.21±0.02, p < .001), which may be explained by hypocapnia. The reduced CO2 increased pH (Figure 2a), known to stimulate the glycolytic system and the production of phosphofructokinase (PFK). PFK enhances sugar phosphate production and subsequently stimulates phosphate entry to muscle (5). It is possible that the decrease in phosphate may have been compounded by the hypoxic-induced transcription of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23). FGF23 is known to reduce serum phosphate concentrations and negatively regulate PTH, possibly explaining the lower PTH response post hypoxic exercise (Figure 3f; MD = -0.11 ± 0.05, p < .05)
Bastard Feudalism, English Society and the Law:The Statutes of Livery, c. 1390 to c. 1520.
No full textRegulation of the distribution of liveries and the practice of retaining, which underpinned the so-called system of bastard feudalism in late medieval England, are the subject of this book. Rather than relying primarily on the records of noble estates, as much previous scholarship has done, it draws on the records of the court of King's Bench, covering all 336 known cases of illegal livery and retaining over 130 years. The author examines the political events and legal processes surrounding illegal livery, by exploring the nature of the legislation and its enforcement, particularly the relationship between law-making in parliament and law-enforcement in the localities. The wider social and cultural contexts in which the statutes operated are also investigated, along with the legal processes and outcomes of the cases. Finally, the book considers the importance of retaining in the numerous acts of magnate violence during the fifteenth century, how they shaped the Wars of the Roses and the ways in which Henry VII accepted most noble retaining, save the most extreme cases
The Sound System of the State:Critical Listening as Performative Resistance
Get PDFThis chapter discusses the sonic methodology of critical listening as a means of interpreting these cues in their political context. This methodology can be used to reveal the ways in which sound operates as an ideological sphere. I will examine critical listening both as a method for analysing state sound systems and as a performative act of political resistance in its own right. The text draws on John L. Austin’s influential theory of speech acts, outlining the role of the listening agency in setting the conditions for the failure or success of illocutionary acts. Listening is then conceptualized as a means of resistance that can challenge or subvert the ideological signification of state- produced sounds. Building upon this performative role, critical listening is theorized as a method which broadens our understanding of how ideological sound systems can be challenged and resisted
A Literature Review of Interventions to Manage the Harmful Stress of Doctors
Get PDFAim Stress is prevalent amongst doctors and interventions are offered, often as part of their continuing professional development, to help doctors learn in the workplace about the recognition, prevention and management of the harmful effects of stress. The aim of this review was to look at existing research to determine the features of successful educational interventions and any factors that may affect outcomes.Methods We searched key databases for papers published between 1990 and 2017 on the themes of stress which included an education-based intervention and practising doctors. Using an inclusive approach to the review, a broad evaluation was made of the primary research using both quantitative and /or qualitative evidence where the study reported a positive outcome in terms stress management. Results Review criteria were met in 31 studies of 1356 originally retrieved. Three broad categories of interventions emerged from the coding process: Mindfulness-type [n=12]; coping and solutions focused (CSF) [n=12]; and reflective groups [n=7]. There is evidence that these interventions can be successful to help doctors deal with stress. Based on the results from this review, an original guide is advanced to help educators choose an educational intervention. Conclusion Although evidence for some interventions may be ‘hierarchically stronger’, it is misleading to assume that interventions can be imported as successfully into any context. Factors such as medical specialty and health care systems may affect which intervention can be used. The guide offers an evidence base on which further research can be built. <br/