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Re-thinking housing inspection and regulation: using 360 technology as a new approach in environmental health practice training
Get PDFFront-line professions such as environmental health require practitioners to demonstrate competence in practice-based skills typically gained only through on-the-job experience. However, practice opportunities have been more scarce, owing mainly to austerity but also to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, so necessitating novel approaches to teaching and learning. 360 technology has recently emerged as a possible solution, but its potential for use in an environmental health setting, such as housing inspection and regulation, is virtually unknown.
This study involved the use of a 360-degree camera to record a simulated walkthrough and mock inspection of a two-storey house. These ‘photospheres’ were demonstrated to under- and postgraduate students, who were then surveyed online to explore their attitudes towards the use of this technology as a training method. Analysis of the questionnaire responses revealed four self-reported themes: experience of housing regulation and enforcement practice and training; experiences of 360 technology in housing inspection practice and enforcement; attitudes towards using 360 technology versus traditional photograph and filming methods for experiential learning, training and practice purposes; and attitudes towards the application of 360 technology for experiential learning and training purposes in housing inspection enforcement and regulation.
The results indicated that students found this a helpful and flexible tool, particularly valuing its immersive nature, both for initial training and continuing professional development (CPD) in housing inspections and interventions. It has wider applicability to other frontline professional practices and requires further development to help shape new forms of training
Politics, belonging and identity across the British South Asian middle classes: between privilege and prejudice
No full textThis book will discuss the growing socio-economic and political diversity of the groups that comprise the British South Asian diaspora, with a focus on the formation of the British South Asian "middle classes". They will be framed within this work as a heterogenous sub-population, but this book is be the first comprehensive effort to define them sociologically as a distinct ethnoracial collective with a unique political profile. It does this with reference to secondary statistical data and primary interview data, and engages with relevant academic and non-academic literature. It describes the ways in which socially mobile South Asian migrants and particularly their descendants in the UK relate to their racial, ethnic, religious, classed and gendered identities, their relationship with ‘Britishness’, and their politics. It will therefore be of interest to students and researchers of political sociology, particularly those specialising in race, processes of racism and racialisation, ethnic and ethno-religious identity, class and social mobility amongst ethnic minority groups, and the interaction between minority identity and political identity
Combatting conspiracies in the classroom: teacher strategies and perceived outcomes
Get PDFThis article draws on data from a specially commissioned representative survey, which elicited responses from 7691 teachers in primary and secondary schools in England, to examine how teachers perceive young people's engagement with a variety of different conspiracy theories in school settings and how they respond to them. Approximately 40% of teachers report encountering students who supported conspiracy theories. In response, teachers use a wide range of contradictory strategies, including opening up discussion, closing it down, challenging students in class and reporting individuals as safeguarding concerns. The research evidence suggests that several of these strategies are likely to be ineffective or even backfire to reinforce conspiracy thinking. Unsurprisingly then, few teachers report successful responses. The article concludes that the evidence of possible negative impacts of unprepared teachers confronting conspiracy theories at school means that teachers need to be better equipped through training, support and further research
Ovarian cancer: identifying and managing familial and genetic risk—summary of new NICE guidance
Get PDFWhat you need to know
• Men and people born with male reproductive organs have a genetic risk of carrying a pathogenic variant associated with ovarian cancer and other cancers
• If a person had a direct-to-consumer genetic test and is reported to have a pathogenic variant for which NHS testing is offered, liaise with a regional NHS genetics service to discuss whether referral is appropriate
• Refer for genetic counselling and testing people who have a first or second degree relative diagnosed with ovarian cancer, those from high risk groups, anyone identified through cascade testing, or those diagnosed with ovarian cancer linked to pathogenic variants
• For women, trans men, and non-binary people born with female reproductive organs who are at increased risk of ovarian cancer, risk reducing surgery that is age appropriate for their pathogenic variant or family
history is the most effective way to reduce the risk of ovarian cance
Towards engineering higher quality intelligent environments: a multi case study approach
Get PDFThis study addresses the need to enhance the quality of Intelligent Environments, recognizing their unique characteristics and the absence of adequate guidance on quality management during development. It pursues three primary objectives: proposing a novel quality-in-use model, presenting an enhanced version of the User-Centered Intelligent Environment Development Process, and reporting on the application of these approaches through a multiple case study. To embed quality into systems, we advocate for the integration of quality characteristics from ISO/IEC 25000 standards with functional requirements. Stakeholders collaboratively define targets using measures from quality standards, and metrics enable early problem detection and resolution during development. The proposed quality-in-use model provides an insightful and objective perspective on system capabilities, guiding development and ensuring stakeholder involvement. However, challenges such as shortening development cycles for early and regular stakeholder feedback and managing an increased number of system tests were noted. Our study makes a significant contribution to the field of Intelligent Environments by providing a structured approach to embedding and managing quality throughout the development lifecycle. The multiple case study offers empirical evidence of the effectiveness of the proposed approaches, with ongoing considerations for challenges in the development process
Faith living understanding: towards a theatrical model for oral theologizing
Get PDFVanhoozer’s theatrical model provides a framework for theology that moves beyond intellectual abstraction to embodied performance in community informed by church tradition and bound by the canon of Scripture. The question I raise is to what extent Vanhoozer’s model might provide a framework for oral theologizing. In order to answer this question, I explore Vanhoozer’s model through the lens of orality studies. Using a tripartite structure of orality - dramatic epistemology, embodied rationality, and communal hermeneutics - I explore a framework for an oral theology by building upon Vanhoozer’s model. I also explore real-life implications for the model using vignettes from my own work. In doing so I show how the communal nature of oral theology might enrich Vanhoozer’s model. Furthermore, oral theology moves beyond Vanhoozer’s understanding of doctrine to suggest that oral theology operates as canonical habitus. Proverbs, songs, story, drama, and dance become expressions of the canonical habitus, or oral doctrine. Beyond illustrating that Vanhoozer’s model is an adequate framework for oral theology, I suggest that oral theology might be considered the proper domain for Vanhoozer’s theodramatic theology in that it moves beyond the written word and the stage to embodied action in the real world. Oral theology is theodramatic in that it is embodied theology in community, and oral theodramatic theology provides a middle way between the fixedness of the biblical text and the perceived ephemerality of orality. Thus, oral theology is faith living understanding – faithfully, contextually, creatively, and communally
Assessing the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on perceived barriers and facilitators to physical activity among women in southeast England
Get PDFBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in restricting daily physical activity (PA). Women’s PA levels have been disproportionately negatively affected by the pandemic, compared with men. It is important to determine how women’s PA has changed over the pandemic, and if new barriers to PA participation exist since the release of restrictions. Aims: To assess how women in southeast England changed their activity during the pandemic and postpandemic, including how barriers and facilitators to activity have changed. Methods: Three hundred and thirty females completed the first online questionnaire (during lockdown), and 139 completed the postlockdown questionnaire. Questionnaires were designed from the General Practice Physical Activity Questionnaire and International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Participants self-reported PA, and barriers and facilitators to exercise. Eighteen females then participated in online semistructured focus groups. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were used for questionnaire data, and focus group transcriptions were thematically analyzed. Results: Most females maintained PA levels throughout the pandemic. Significant barriers to activity were lack of access to equipment/space, limited time to exercise, limited access to social groups, and finances as well as legal restrictions, safety concerns, gender, and lack of childcare. Similarly, significant facilitators were identified during lockdown and postlockdown for access to equipment, finances, having more time to exercise, and exercising with a social group. Participants both expressed desires to return to prelockdown PA habits, but also maintain new ones that were created. Conclusion: It is evident that the pandemic affected and changed the barriers and facilitators to female PA participation. Governments and industries in the sector should focus on providing services that address these changing habits to improve activity levels in women
A Delphi study to strengthen research-methods training in undergraduate psychology programs
Get PDFPsychology programs often emphasize inferential statistical tests over a solid understanding of data and research design. This imbalance may leave graduates underequipped to effectively interpret research and employ data to answer questions. We conducted a two-round modified Delphi to identify the research-methods skills that the UK psychology community deems essential for undergraduates to learn. Participants included 103 research-methods instructors, academics, students, and nonacademic psychologists. Of 78 items included in the consensus process, 34 reached consensus. We coupled these results with a qualitative analysis of 707 open-ended text responses to develop nine recommendations for organizations that accredit undergraduate psychology programs—such as the British Psychological Society. We recommend that accreditation standards emphasize (1) data skills, (2) research design, (3) descriptive statistics, (4) critical analysis, (5) qualitative methods, and (6) both parameter estimation and significance testing; as well as (7) give precedence to foundational skills, (8) promote transferable skills, and (9) create space in curricula to enable these recommendations. Our data and findings can inform modernized accreditation standards to include clearly defined, assessable, and widely encouraged skills that foster a competent graduate body for the contemporary world
Question-order effects on judgements under uncertainty
No full textData on judgements under uncertainty (e.g., expectations and risk preferences) have been increasingly used to predict and understand people’s decision making. However, little is known about how sensitive the elicitation of such measures is to questionnaire design. Using a survey experiment conducted in Chile, we assess order effects on the elicitation of expectations and risk preference measures. To do so, we randomly alter the position of questionnaire modules. Our findings suggest that expectations about future work, school, and wellbeing-related outcomes, as well as risk preferences, are sensitive to order effects. When people are asked about their past experiences immediately before the elicitation of such measures, more pessimistic expectations about future outcomes are reported, as well as higher levels of risk aversion. We also observed that positioning non-cognitive skill questions immediately before the elicitation of expectations and risk preferences generates data with lower variance suggesting more reliable measurements. Indeed, using these measures in prediction models of schooling and labour market outcomes, we find higher predictive power of future schooling and labour market outcomes when our measures are preceded by non-cognitive skills questions
Truth diagrams for some non-classical and modal logics
Get PDFThis paper examines truth diagrams for some non-classical, modal and dynamic logics. Truth diagrams are diagrammatic and visual ways to represent logical truth akin to truth tables, developed by Peter C.-H. Cheng. Currently, it is only given for classical propositional logic. In this paper, we establish truth diagrams for Priest's Logic of Paradox, Belnap–Dunn's Four-Valued Logic, MacColl's Connexive Logic, Bochvar–Halldén's Logic of Non-Sense, Carnielli–Coniglio's logic of formal inconsistency as well as classical modal logic and its dynamic extension to shed light on the semantic behaviour of some non-classical and modal logics