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Technorati
No full text'Technorati' is a speculative poem (dark sci-fi) by A J Dalton that appeared in the Summer 2024 (47.3) issue of Star*Line journal, the leading title of the Science Fiction Poetry Association (SFPA). The poem is dedicated to the author's father, who died just some weeks before. The poems 'Digital Desire', 'The Nekra', 'Unwind' and 'Surface Tension', also by A J Dalton, appeared in previous issues
Exploring health-related quality of life, exercise and alcohol use in adolescents with sickle cell disease and healthy siblings
Get PDFObjective
This study explored the health-related quality of life (HRQL) and health behaviours of adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD) and healthy siblings, drawing on Gap theory which suggests HRQL is the discrepancy between current and ideal selves.
Design
Twenty-three adolescents with SCD and 21 healthy siblings aged 13 to 17 years participated in eight focus groups.
Results
Thematic analysis identified three themes: learning to accept SCD, coping with SCD and influences on health behaviours. Adolescents appear to have normalised and adapted to SCD. Adolescents with SCD have learnt effective coping strategies, such as moderating engagement in exercise. Unlike heathy siblings, they were not encouraged to exercise by parents but were content with their level of participation. Both groups were influenced to exercise by role models or wanting to socialise, and influenced to drink alcohol by peers, but there was limited understanding of the potential negative impacts of alcohol on SCD.
Conclusion
There does not appear to be a discrepancy between adolescents’ current and ideal selves, providing optimism about their HRQL. Further consideration of engaging in healthy behaviours is needed, but it is important to strike a balance so that modifications to lifestyle do not impair HRQL
Coming Soon.. the Charmers
No full textExhibition of work in progress on 'The Charmers' project with live performance, 22-26 May, 202
Transitioning to higher education
No full textThis chapter supports new students and those about to commence higher level education. It provides advice on how to plan study as well as tips on how to be successful on their course
Die wettbewerblichen Auswirkungen des exklusiven Zugangs zu Mobilitatsdaten von Fahrzeugherstellern auf mobilitatsdatenbasierte loT-Markte - Eine okonomisch-rechtliche Analyse unter besonderer Berucksichtigung von datenschutz- und kartellrechtlichen Vorschriften
Get PDFThis thesis investigates how exclusive access to mobility data from vehicle manufacturers affects mobility data-based IoT markets. Raw and analytical data from the field of Internet of Things hold significant economic potential. They are the raw material for knowledge discovery, innovation and new digital business models. The technical design of most vehicle manufacturers provides for mobility data to be initially stored on a manufacturer's own server. The vehicle manufacturer predominantly exclusively preserves direct access to the data generated in the vehicle. Vehicle users and third parties may only have access to the data if the vehicle manufacturer agrees. To the extent vehicle manufacturers offer data access under the "NEVADA-Share & Secure" or "ADAXO" concepts, data access is criticised by market participants as restricting competition. Hence, legal regulation for data access is required.
The current state of research on the competitive conditions on mobility data-based IoT markets and on the rights relevant for data access shows that the raised question in this thesis has not been conclusively answered neither at national nor at international level. For a more holistic view, there is a need to combine economic and legal considerations. Mobility data-based business models and the data access offers of vehicle manufacturers are constantly evolving, as are the technical possibilities for data access and transfer. This requires continued investigation and evaluation. With the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and new antitrust data access claims, the question continues to arise to what extent data rights can affect access to mobility data and thus competitive conditions in data-based markets.
The theoretical part of this thesis deals with the economic and legal dimensions of exclusive data access held by vehicle manufacturers based on existing literature. The theoretical findings are then evaluated through own empirical research and a more up-to-date status of the situation is presented. Within the framework of a qualitative approach, by means of expert interviews with representatives of various interest groups (independent workshops, motor vehicle insurance companies, inspection bodies for general inspections, data trading platforms, consumer protection, public authorities, vehicle manufacturers) knowledge and experience were collected and evaluated. Information gaps on current data access conditions and their role for competition in mobility data-based IoT markets were closed. Finally, by combining all theoretical and empirical findings, the focus is on a further analysis and evaluation of the competitive implications as well as on the practical feasibility of suitable and appropriate legal regulatory approaches for such data access
Christian-Muslim dialogue in post-revolutionary Egypt: the influence of the humanist discourse
No full textThis study brings to light grassroots interfaith meetings between Christians and Muslims in post-revolutionary Egypt using grounded theory methodology. The theoretical framework combines Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory from political science with the intergroup theory from social psychology. This framework helps reveal details of the interfaith dynamics. This research argues that: Firstly, there has been a stronger discursive struggle among people taking top-down and bottom-up approaches in inter-religious dialogue since the 2011 revolution. It has been also against a backdrop of occasionally aggressive religious discourse. Secondly, today’s interfaith activity reflects Egyptian humanism. Egyptians, especially the ‘revolutionary youth’, advocate the social solidarity movement in general and interfaith relations building in particular as an alternative way to continue the ‘unfinished revolution’ in their society. Thirdly although the traditional national discourse remains dominant in Egypt, the humanist discourse has helped shape interfaith relations building since the 2011 revolution and has grown since the chaotic period around 2013 under the Muslim Brotherhood-friendly regime. The weakening of Islamist discourse gave more room for the humanist rationale in Egyptian society. Egyptian humanism directly and indirectly shapes interfaith relations after the revolutions, and it has left a trail in social discourses: nationalist, religious as well as atheist/agnostic. Adding to the existing body of literature, this study sheds light on the contemporary interfaith relations in Egypt under the influence of the humanist discourse after the 2011 revolution
Measuring breastfeeding prevalence using demographic and health surveys
Get PDFBackground: This study aims to investigate the measurement of breastfeeding prevalence indicators using Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data, focusing on early initiation, exclusive breastfeeding, and continued breastfeeding indicators as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and on the discrepancies arising from small changes in their definition.
Methods: 260 DHS samples from 78 countries were analyzed to re-calculate usual indicators reported by WHO and UNICEF: early initiation of breastfeeding (EIB), exclusive breastfeeding under 6 months (EBF), and continued breastfeeding between 1 and 2 years (CBF12 and CBF24). Additionally, alternative estimates of the same indicators, slightly changing their definition, were calculated to test their robustness.
Results: The WHO and UNICEF indicators for early initiation (EIB) primarily capture cases where breastfeeding is initiated "immediately" after birth, omitting those initiated
within 0 or 1 hour. This discrepancy leads to substantial underestimation of levels in some regions, particularly South Asia, and in trends. Furthermore, sizable discrepancies between exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) indicators arise from the inclusion or exclusion of plain water in the definition, with significant variations across regions, especially in West and Middle Africa. However, continued breastfeeding indicators showed consistency across definitions, proving them robust for international comparisons and time trend estimations.
Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of understanding how breastfeeding indicators are defined and calculated using DHS data. Researchers should be cautious when using WHO and UNICEF indicators for early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding, as they may underestimate prevalence due to their narrow definition. Continued breastfeeding indicators, on the other hand, are less affected by small changes in definitions and provide reliable measures for cross-country comparisons and trend analyses. These findings underscore the need for standardized robust definitions and transparent reporting of breastfeeding indicators in global health assessments
Generation Z in London in times of social crisis: a phenomenological exploration of the experience of joy of living during national lockdown
No full textThis research project explored the experience of joy of living during the times of the COVID-19 Pandemic for eight young adults of Generation Z living in London. The exploration also covered the young adult’s generational self-identity and their views about the world of today. Generation Z or Gen Z is the generation of young adults born between 1995 and the early 2000s. The research aims were to identify what would motivate young adults to choose a “joy of living” philosophy of life and to get insight into the identity and values of this particular generation. The study particularly explored the participants’ experience of being a young adult in the world of today, their experiences of existential paradox and the possibility of choice for joy of living in the times of social crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection and the analysis was conducted using structural existential analysis, a qualitative phenomenological method that helped explore the experience of joy if living in crisis within the four existential realms of the participants (personal, relational, physical and spiritual).
The findings of this research study hold valuable potential to generate social impact. The results could encourage the young generation and other individuals in their search for joy of living. The results also reveal meaningful insights into generational identity and inter-generational communication. TRIBE which is an acronym for the core themes of the findings is proposed as an existential framework in working therapeutically with young adults.
This is a novel research topic for the fields of psychology and philosophy. The potential challenges and purposefulness of the project are also discussed in the sections of this thesis. The thesis consists of four core chapters, the Project Rationale, the Scoping Literature Search, the Systematic Literature Review, the Research Study and a concluding section of Final Thoughts. The systematic literature review and the research study chapters are stand-alone articles written in the format of academic articles as required by psychology journals
A midwifery department's social media presence
Get PDFHow does social media affect student learning? This article details the benefits of universities utilising social media and the challenges they may experience
Early Years leadership development during workforce crisis: perspectives of 24 UK training providers
Get PDFThere is growing global recognition of the contribution that leadership development can make to improving quality and outcomes in the Early Years (EY) education sector. UK governments are responding to such evidence through the creation of new national qualifications for EY professionals across the sector and the expansion of publicly funded digitally mediated leadership development. At the same time, the sector is experiencing an acute workforce crisis with a majority of English providers self-reporting that they are struggling to recruit the staff they need. In this article, we explore how diverse training providers across the UK conceptualise their offer of leadership development in the context of a workforce crisis. Based on interviews and focus groups with a total of 24 organisations, we present three needs that guide leadership development in the sector going forward. These are the needs to: (1) embed leadership development in a coherent workforce strategy, (2) build capacity in EY settings to support engagement with leadership development and (3) emphasise collaboration over competition in the design of leadership development programmes. These findings have implications for the next steps that governments and training providers take to support EY leadership as part of a healthy workforce across the sector