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Reconceptualising the factory as plant-ation: Black radicalism and the politics of history in a Detroit automobile plant
Get PDFIn the late 1960s, Chrysler’s auto factories in Detroit were among the most regimented, fast-paced, and gruelling industrial workplaces of the United States. Their production lines employed a majority of Black workers who toiled under a racialized form of labour control, safety hazards and no leverage in the local union. In these circumstances, Black radicals, inside and outside the factory, mobilised support by crafting a discourse that drew on a repertory of notions linked to slavery and in fact reconceptualised industrial labour as slave labor, the plant as plantation, floor supervisors as overseers, and strikers as “field negroes” or rebelled slaves. The notion of the Black factory worker as a slave drew on, and in turn influenced, a new historiography on slavery that emphasized agency. It was influenced also by a tradition of radical Marxism that saw slaves as embedded in a class struggle and celebrated their “self-activity”. Radicals blended Black Power and Marxism in an, ultimately failed, attempt to gain political control of the plants and of the city administration. Through propaganda materials, interviews and self-narratives, this article explores the role of the politics of history in the mobilisation efforts of Black revolutionary groups and reconstructs the genesis and demise of a discourse that was the backdrop to the Black workers’ upheaval in the Motor City, a few years before Chrysler condemned most of its factories to closure
Views and uses of sepsis digital alerts in national health service trusts in England: qualitative study with health care professionals
Get PDFBackground:
Sepsis is a common cause of serious illness and death. Sepsis management remains challenging and suboptimal. To support rapid sepsis diagnosis and treatment, screening tools have been embedded into hospital digital systems to appear as digital alerts. The implementation of digital alerts to improve the management of sepsis and deterioration is a complex intervention that has to fit with team workflow and the views and practices of hospital staff. Despite the importance of human decision-making and behavior in optimal implementation, there are limited qualitative studies that explore the views and experiences of health care professionals regarding digital alerts as sepsis or deterioration computerized clinician decision support systems (CCDSSs).
Objective:
This study aims to explore the views and experiences of health care professionals on the use of sepsis or deterioration CCDSSs and to identify barriers and facilitators to their implementation and use in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals.
Methods:
We conducted a qualitative, multisite study with unstructured observations and semistructured interviews with health care professionals from emergency departments, outreach teams, and intensive or acute units in 3 NHS hospital trusts in England. Data from both interviews and observations were analyzed together inductively using thematic analysis.
Results:
A total of 22 health care professionals were interviewed, and 12 observation sessions were undertaken. A total of four themes regarding digital alerts were identified: (1) support decision-making as nested in electronic health records, but never substitute professionals’ knowledge and experience; (2) remind to take action according to the context, such as the hospital unit and the job role; (3) improve the alerts and their introduction, by making them more accessible, easy to use, not intrusive, more accurate, as well as integrated across the whole health care system; and (4) contextual factors affecting views and use of alerts in the NHS trusts. Digital alerts are more optimally used in general hospital units with a lower senior decision maker:patient ratio and by health care professionals with experience of a similar technology. Better use of the alerts was associated with quality improvement initiatives and continuous sepsis training. The trusts’ features, such as the presence of a 24/7 emergency outreach team, good technological resources, and staffing and teamwork, favored a more optimal use.
Conclusions:
Trust implementation of sepsis or deterioration CCDSSs requires support on multiple levels and at all phases of the intervention, starting from a prego-live analysis addressing organizational needs and readiness. Advancements toward minimally disruptive and smart digital alerts as sepsis or deterioration CCDSSs, which are more accurate and specific but at the same time scalable and accessible, require policy changes and investments in multidisciplinary research
McCarthy Knew
No full text'McCarthy Knew' is the title of a speculative poem which appeared in the anthology titled The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters, published in 2024. The anthology offers neurodiversity-themed science fiction short stories, poetry and art by and for neurodivergent people. The Neurodiversiverse includes themes of autism, ADHD, PTSD, OCD, synesthesia, several kinds of anxiety, avoidant attachment disorder, dissociative disorder, and more
Book Review: The Impact of a sense of belonging in college: Implications for student persistence, retention and success by Bentrim, E. M., and Henning, G. W.
Get PDF“[D]eveloping and maintaining a sense of belonging is inherent to the academic and cocurricular success of college and university students” (Bentrim & Henning, 2022, p. 273). Within their edited collection, The Impact of Sense of Belonging in College: Implications for Student Persistence, Retention, and Success, Bentrim and Henning compile theoretical foundations and practical considerations for those hoping to utilize the promising concept of belonging to positively influence student outcomes.
The book seeks to provide a “compendium of research, applications and approaches to sense of belonging” (p. xvii) that were hitherto scattered across disparate strands of the broader student success literature. Furthermore, the book aims to bring consistent definitions and an overarching theoretical approach to this topic that has gained traction in practical work at higher education institutions. Towards this aim, the first few chapters of the book lay out theoretical foundations and definitions, with most chapters thereafter exploring practical applications of work to enhance students’ sense of belonging. In particular, the book recognizes the close connection between belonging and inclusion, with many chapters exploring how belonging is experienced by specific demographic groups of students, mostly those historically underrepresented within higher education. Whilst the book is centered around the U.S. college experience and aimed primarily at guiding practitioners in U.S. universities, belonging and its links to student success are relevant for international higher education audiences.
This review is structured into two subsequent parts: a section to provide a summary of the contents of the book, followed by critical analyses of whether the book met its stated purposes
Authentic no-exam assessment for student wellbeing
No full textThere is compelling evidence that high-stakes exams are detrimental to student wellbeing and further that these effects are not uniform across demographics. The Middlesex maths team will share their experiences of replacing all exams on specialist maths modules with authentic coursework assessments for a better and fairer student experience
The impact of environmental accountability on firm corporate lobbying behaviour: an empirical investigation of US listed firms
No full textThis thesis aims to investigate an understanding into the behaviour of firms in relation to the environment contextualized within the political arena of the US. By employing a quantitative research approach, the thesis consists of three empirical studies (covering firm level data between 2010 to 2020) based on four theoretical underpinnings, namely; public choice, tollbooth, legitimacy and stewardship.
The first study sampled US firms and looked at their corporate lobbying spending. After running both the fixed effect and random effect models along with the Hausman test to determine which model was best applicable to the hypothesis, the random effect model illustrated optimal results concluding that firms that lobby more tend to be poor environmental performers and their corporate lobbying habit creates a protection against environmental non-conformity. The study also found that leadership experience helped firms to lobby as experience brings knowledge of knowing the tricks of the trade.
The second study analysed the behaviour of high lobbying US firms and the level of commitment they have towards the environment. As high corporate lobbying equated to poor environmental performance, this study conducted a pooled OLS regression model and found that high lobbying firms have greater commitment to the environment as now need to get back-up on their feet after suffering from being poor performers; demonstrating commitment towards improving their relationship to the environment. It was concluded that corporate lobbying acts as a tool to buy time in order for improvements to be made.
Building upon that, the third study sampled US firms to analyse the genuineness of those firms depicting environmental commitment. After running a pooled OLS regression model, it was concluded that those firms that depict commitment to the environment are more environmentally friendly and are genuinely looking to improve their impact and relationship with the environment sincerely through their actions rather than just simply announcing and reporting empty words.
This thesis makes an overall contribution to the field of accounting by analysing the various factors of environmental accountability collectively; environmental performance, environmental commitment and environmental friendliness along with establishing its connection to politics. Furthermore, contribution is also made by the fact that this thesis investigates the inclusive behaviour and nature of firms towards jurisdictions when environmental accountability is at stake
Principles of innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability: an evidence-based approach
No full textThis book presents the principles governing the entrepreneurial and innovation mindset and processes of people working in the small business sector and other organisations, based on research findings from real-life issues and challenges that face entrepreneurs on a daily basis. Entrepreneurship development forms the bedrock of business evolution and economic growth in many nations: indeed, without entrepreneurship, there can be no real economic development. This book provides students with an accessible introduction to innovation and entrepreneurship, examining the different forms of innovative and entrepreneurial practice including commercial and social enterprise. The book introduces some of the major business management issues faced by entrepreneurs and small business owners. It also introduces readers to such concepts as opportunity recognition and the ability to act upon opportunities and problem solving. Throughout, the book is founded on an evidence base drawn from the author's own years of teaching and research. An essential read for students of entrepreneurship and innovation at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Principles of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability: An Evidence-Based Approach is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the realities of innovation and entrepreneurship in a more empirical context. Featuring a comprehensive range of case studies, reading lists, glossaries and discussion questions, this book provides students with all they need to develop their understanding of these exciting topics. The book is accompanied by digital learning resources including PowerPoint slides and test questions, complete with answers, for all chapters
A secure cooperative image super-resolution transmission with decode-and-forward relaying over Rayleigh fading channels
Get PDFIn addition to susceptibility to performance degradation due to hardware malfunctions and environmental influences, wireless image transmission poses risks of information exposure to eavesdroppers. This paper delves into the image communications within wireless relay networks (WRNs) and proposes a secure cooperative relaying (SCR) protocol over Rayleigh fading channels. In this protocol, a source node (referred to as Alice) transmits superior-resolution (SR) images to a destination node (referred to as Bob) with the assistance of a mediating node (referred to as Relay) operating in decode-and-forward mode, all while contending with the presence of an eavesdropper (referred to as Eve). In order to conserve transmission bandwidth, Alice firstly reduces the size of the original SR images before transmitting them to Relay and Bob. Subsequently, random linear network coding (RLNC) is employed by both Alice and Relay on the down- scaled poor-resolution (PR) images to obscure the original images from Eve, thereby bolstering the security of the image communications. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed SCR protocol surpasses both secure relaying transmission without a direct link and secure direct transmission without relaying links. Additionally, a slight reduction in image quality can be achieved by increasing the scaling factor for saving transmission bandwidth. Furthermore, the results highlight the SCR protocol’s superior effectiveness at Bob’s end when compared to Eve’s, which is due to Eve’s lack of access to the RLNC coefficient matrices and reference images utilised by Alice and Relay in the RLNC process. Finally, the evaluation of reference images, relay allocations and diversity reception over Rayleigh fading channels confirms the effectiveness of the SCR protocol for secure image communications in the WRNs
Thermoregulatory demands of épée fencing during competition
Get PDFThe International Olympic Committee recently introduced a consensus statement on recommendations for outdoor sports in the heat. However, indoor sports such as fencing whereby athletes are required to wear full body protective clothing when competing have received no recommendations. Such scenarios could cause high thermoregulatory demands particularly as competition progresses into latter rounds (direct elimination; DE). Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the thermoregulatory responses of épée fencing across different phases of competition (Poule and DE). Seven well-trained fencers competed in a simulated competition comprising of seven Poule and seven DE fights. Gastrointestinal temperature (Tgast), skin temperature (Tskin), mask temperature (Tmask), heart rate (HR), thermal sensation, differentiated ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and movement characteristics were collected for all fights. There was a moderate thermoregulatory demand during Poule rounds shown by post-fight Tgast (38.1 ± 0.4°C), Tskin (34.4 ± 0.7°C), and thermal sensation ratings (6 ± 1). A greater thermoregulatory and perceptual demand observed during DE rounds evidenced by Tgast (38.7 ± 0.3°C post fight), Tskin (35.1 ± 0.7°C), thermal sensation (7 ± 1), increases in Tmask across DE rounds (~1.1°C), and RPE (~15). Furthermore, a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in distance covered from DE 1 to DE 7 suggests a thermoregulatory based impact on performance. This is the first study demonstrating the thermoregulatory demands of épée fencing, highlighting the need to develop heat exertion guidelines within fencing
Designing for learnability: improvement through layered interfaces
Get PDFA significant cost of system operation is the training required for the end users to achieve and maintain competence. The training need is partially determined by user interface properties that make it harder or easier to learn. This article explores improving system learnability through human-machine interface design. A design pattern of Progressive Disclosure through Layered Interfaces is proposed to improve learnability (time taken to learn) by presenting users with a subset of functionality. An experimental study supported tentative conclusions. Interesting differences between experiment participants suggest a customised approach, including Progressive Disclosure, to reduce the training burden