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Let’s form a positive academia collective transformation: re-imagining our academic values and interactions
Get PDFAs Management academics, we could play a critical role in tackling the existential threats that our societies are facing by using our expertise in organizing resources and people to get things done. Instead, we seem to be stuck in an endless cycle of self-critique on the state of our academic discipline. In this provocation essay, we disrupt this vicious cycle by laying the foundation for an academic heterotopia through a concrete, comprehensive, and coherent re-imagination of both our academic values and our interactions. Discarding the convenient falsehood that as academics we are merely unwilling victims of neoliberalism and all-powerful managers, we instead embrace the inconvenient truth that we have co-created the current state of academia. We therefore urge all of us to take back freedom and invest our individual and collective efforts into crafting a more positive academia by joining our PACT (Positive Academia Collective Transformation)
Beyond the type 1 pattern: comprehensive risk stratification in Brugada Syndrome
Get PDFBrugada Syndrome (BrS) is an inherited cardiac ion channelopathy associated with an elevated risk of sudden cardiacdeath, particularly due to ventricular arrhythmias in structurally normal hearts. Affecting approximately 1 in 2,000 individ-uals, BrS is most prevalent among middle-aged males of Asian descent. Although diagnosis is based on the presence of aType 1 electrocardiographic (ECG) pattern, either spontaneous or induced, accurately stratifying risk in asymptomatic andborderline patients remains a major clinical challenge. This review explores current and emerging approaches to BrS riskstratification, focusing on electrocardiographic, electrophysiological, imaging, and computational markers. Non-invasiveECG indicators such as the β-angle, fragmented QRS, S wave in lead I, early repolarisation, aVR sign, and transmural dis-persion of repolarisation have demonstrated predictive value for arrhythmic events. Adjunctive tools like signal-averagedECG, Holter monitoring, and exercise stress testing enhance diagnostic yield by capturing dynamic electrophysiologicalchanges. In parallel, imaging modalities, particularly speckle-tracking echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonancehave revealed subclinical structural abnormalities in the right ventricular outflow tract and atria, challenging the paradigmof BrS as a purely electrical disorder. Invasive electrophysiological studies and substrate mapping have further clarifiedthe anatomical basis of arrhythmogenesis, while risk scoring systems (e.g., Sieira, BRUGADA-RISK, PAT) and machinelearning models offer new avenues for personalised risk assessment. Together, these advances underscore the importanceof an integrated, multimodal approach to BrS risk stratification. Optimising these strategies is essential to guide implant-able cardioverter-defibrillator decisions and improve outcomes in patients vulnerable to life-threatening arrhythmias
Voices of the Future: rhetoric, myth, and science in children’s climate discourse
No full textThis article addresses the rhetorical dimensions of the language of children and young people around trees and climate change. Via an analysis of statements and stories by children, made in educational settings, the complex constellation of experience, meaning, scientific understanding, mythical imagination and the affective dimensions of fear and hope, that structures children’s environmental awareness, is brought out. In particular, the mythical use to which scientific ideas and terms are put is discussed. In order to foster agency and empowerment with respect to climate futures, environmental education should not only rely on the epistemic regime of scientific thinking but should also adopt a critical rhetorical perspective
Exploring vision transformers and explainable AI for enhanced artefact classification in esophageal endoscopic images
Get PDFEsophageal cancer (EC) remains the disease that has the highest incidence and highest mortality rate in global cancer statistics, emphasising the imperative to enhance diagnostic precision and reliability through the use of advancing technologies. While AI-enhanced systems can improve the early detection of EC considerably, the prevalence of artefacts (1 in 4 frames) during endoscopy procedures compromises the developed systems significantly, leading to unreliable medical decision making. Vision transformer (ViT) networks, initially designed for natural language processing tasks, have demonstrated outstanding performance in handling medical images by presenting distinctive features advantageous for image processing. The application of ViT for detecting and classifying artefacts in endoscopic images, particularly in classifying colour misalignment artefacts is still subject to continual refinement and enhancement. This work aims to investigate the implementation of ViT for classification of colour misalignment artefacts in esophagus endoscopy images. Moreover, even though ViT has been a major breakthrough, its acceptance for real world applications is often jeopardised due to the lack of interpretability of how the classification results have been reached. Consequently, Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques have been explored to understand the criteria used to achieve the outcome. Several variants of the ViT and Data Efficient image Transformer (DeiT) networks have been fine-tuned and applied to our dataset in order to improve and evaluate their performance in colour misalignment classification in esophagus endoscopic images. Furthermore, XAI methods have been implemented to provide the criteria used by the network in reaching the classification results. Our fine-tuned ViT model, achieves an accuracy of 93.46%, precision of 93.48%, recall of 93.46% and F1 score of 93.46% surpassing InceptionResNetV2, a state-of-the-art model based on CNN, with an accuracy of 89.10%, precision of 89.10%, recall of 89.10% and F1 score of 88.23%. Additionally, the GradCAM XAI technique has been found to highlight the deterministic features used by the ViT model better than other XAI methods applied in this work. ViT achieves remarkable performance in classification of colour misalignment artefact outperforming CNNs, attributed to ViT’s enhanced ability to capture pixel relationships through self-attention weights. In addition, the intrinsic self-attention technique provides novel insights into the model’s decision-making mechanism
Orthodox Jewish women’s lived experience of pregnancy following a previous miscarriage
Get PDFBackground: Research has shown that women who experience a miscarriage can feel repercussions physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually for differing periods of time. Factors such as strength of relationships, medical support, meaning making, and physical wellbeing contribute to recovery time. Many women choose to attempt a subsequent pregnancy as part of their healing.
Purpose: This study aims to explore the lived experience of pregnancy post-miscarriage, specifically in the Orthodox Jewish community, as little research has been undertaken in this area.
Method: Seven participants were interviewed phenomenologically in a semi-structured interview, and IPA was used to discover common themes resulting from the experience.
Results: The results of this research found that for these participants a subsequent pregnancy does not mitigate the effects of miscarriage. Pregnancy subsequent to miscarriage is an emotionally charged experience requiring specialist attention. The emotional and physical loss of miscarriage is present in the subsequent pregnancy. A relationship with G-d and having a philosophical framework to life acts as a protective factor, as does sensitive medical care, and supportive human relationships.
Conclusion: Those dealing with women who are pregnant subsequent to miscarriage need to be aware of how that differs to a pregnancy where a woman has not experienced a miscarriage. In addition, respecting women’s religious beliefs and practices can ease their grief, anxiety, and overall wellbeing when pregnant subsequent to miscarriage
Transforming collaborative learning environments: investigating the role augmented virtuality has in measuring collaboration in educational environments
No full textCollaborative education involves learners working together to solve a problem or create a product, focusing on the social engagements between learners and teachers and the mutual exploration of a subject [58]. While fostering collaboration improves the learning process [106], challenges like "free riding", where some students contribute less, can negatively impact group effectiveness and learning outcomes, which can be a result of misunderstandings, miscommunications, or issues with group dynamics rather than deliberate intent [34].
This project provides background on the current approaches to collaborative learning, particularly measuring collaboration to understand interactions, indicators and behaviours that indicate a possible degree of collaboration between students. As well as investigating how rapidly evolving educational technologies, specifically Augmented Virtuality (AV), a subsection of Mixed-Reality technologies, could potentially transform collaborative education. Although AV is an underexplored dimension in the Virtuality Continuum [2], this study lays the groundwork for its pedagogical integration, by investigating how real-world data can enhance collaborative learning and offer insights into student’s collaborative interactions.
The study employs a mixed-method research approach, in which data and findings are collected and analysed by drawing upon quantitative and qualitative methods, such as experimental studies, surveys and analysis methods to leverage the method strengths to obtain a richer and more in-depth understanding of the research area. Furthermore, this approach enables the triangulation of data from both qualitative and quantitative sources for greater validity and to provide a more comprehensive picture of the research, thereby strengthening the overall credibility and depth of the study.
The project describes the pilot studies conducted in a Higher Education setting, aimed at evaluating learners during learning activities, which played a key role in refining the initial requirements for the proposed framework, design and development of the system. Validation experiments were conducted, showed a positive association between student’s perceived collaboration levels and algorithmic evaluation, suggesting that the framework can support and promote self-awareness and collaborative interactions.
Furthermore, educational practitioners recognised the framework potential for providing feedback. However, both students and educational professionals raised concerns about data privacy and ethical data use, which were addressed in the final refined version of the framework. This study contributes to integrating AV technologies into education, offering a foundation for creating enriched collaborative environments
The lived experience of therapists working with suicidal clients in Ghana: a heuristic study
No full textIn Ghana, a good amount of research has been carried out in the area of suicidology, mostly centred on suicidal persons, and views and attitudes of various professional groups towards suicide. However, none as yet has been carried out on the therapist's work with suicidal clients. This heuristic (qualitative) study was designed to explore the lived experience of seven psychotherapists working with suicidal clients in Ghana. As a heuristic study, I was both the researcher and a research participant. The qualitative data was analysed using the modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method; the research revealed the following findings among others:
1) Attunement in the therapy room varied from therapist to therapist. However, therapists trained in the same modality tended to have similar attunement in the therapy room. Some were more bodily attuned to their clients than others; most were attuned to the time sensitive nature of their work with suicidal clients; while a few were attuned to the space around them whilst working with suicidal clients.
2) Spirituality was utilised in the therapy, plus working with suicidal clients was deemed to have positive effect on therapists' spirituality.
3) Therapists were against the current anti-suicide law and most were engaged in advocacy work to have it repealed.
4) There was a disconnect between what therapists were witnessing in the therapy room as contributing to the suicidal crisis and what was presented to the public during suicide prevention campaigns.
5) Therapists reported working with suicidal clients to be heavy emotional work, and to counteract the possible negative effects, engaged in various forms of self-care.
Limitations of this research were discussed along with implications for psychotherapy. Further research topics were also discussed
The design and evaluation of a postdoctoral mentoring programme to support the academic and professional development of NIHR Academy members
No full textPurpose: This study provides insight into the design, implementation and evaluation of a structured developmental mentoring programme, created to support the academic and
professional development of postdoctoral researchers from diverse disciplines and backgrounds. The research context is the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Academy. The Academy attracts, trains and supports health and care researchers through personal or institutional career development awards, as well as training and academic career development within NIHR infrastructure, schools and capacity-building structures. The mentoring programme is open to all UK-based postdoctoral Academy members.
Design/methodology/approach: The approach first sets out the context, purpose and design of the mentoring programme. Second, we explore the extent to which the mentor- and
mentee-defined relationship objectives were fulfilled and whether the programme met the underlying principles of the NIHR. Finally, we identified participants’ level of satisfaction with the programme. The study adopted a pragmatic multiple-method evaluation, with matched-pair mentee and mentor interviews thematically analysed.
Findings: The study found that all participants felt they met all or most of their mentoring objectives and overall programme objectives. The mentoring programme was highly valued by a diverse range of participating mentors and mentees from different health, care and research disciplines, reflective of the NIHR Academy.
Research limitations/implications: Limitations of this study include the short-term outcomes that participants were asked to reflect on at the end of the one-year programme; other studies may capture longer term outcomes through longitudinal evaluation.
Originality/value: The study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the benefits and organisational support that postdoctoral researchers (mentees) and their mentors receive through mentoring programme participation. This study underscores the importance and impact of a structured, formal organisational mentoring programme
Assuring privacy of AI-powered community driven Android code vulnerability detection
No full textThe challenge of training AI models is heightened by the limited availability of data, particularly when public datasets are insufficient.
While obtaining data from private sources may seem like a viable solution, privacy concerns often prevent data sharing. Therefore, it is essential to establish a system that effectively balances privacy concerns with the need for data. In our previous work, we introduced “Defendroid”, which focuses on real-time Android code vulnerability detection using a blockchain federated neural network with explainable artificial intelligence. In this study, the Defendroid approach is enhanced by incorporating variable differential privacy techniques to ensure the privacy of the model training process. The proposed method significantly improves privacy, achieving a privacy budget between 1 and 1.5, while maintaining Defendroid's baseline accuracy of 96% and an F1-Score of 0.96. As a result, this research thoroughly addresses concerns about the privacy of source code, filling a critical gap. This advancement not only showcases the effectiveness of the new approach but also its capability to address the significant challenges of privacy and data scarcity in AI-driven, community-focused Android code vulnerability detection
