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TASPO’s July 2026 Platinum Anniversary - the Momentum Builds Up: 12th International Steelpan/Carnival Arts 22-24th July and Carnival Gala at the Southbank 25 -26th July 2026
No full textThe epic journey of the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra (TASPO) from the docks of Port of Spain, Trinidad on 6th July 1951 aboard the S.S. San Mateo en route to London for the Festival of Britain remains a watershed moment in the cultural and musical history of Trinidad and Tobago and its emerging global diaspora. It brought steelpan music of the New World onto the global stage and led to the start of a new phase in the long history of this instrument whose roots date back to the emancipation of slavery in 1938. Several authoritative sources have attempted to reclaim its history from the margins, incorporating oral accounts, newspaper archives, and personal testimonies with scholarly care—over the years building up a narrative that foregrounds the voices of these pioneers themselves. Authors utilised storytelling to bridge academic history and popular memory, to ensure that TASPO’s significance is understood not just as entertainment but as cultural revolution. And as we approach its platinum jubilee in the summer of 2026 these accounts continue to endure as a foundational myth of Trinidad and Tobago’s identity.
With this entire narrative focused on the platform of the South Bank of the Thames and the then newly built Royal Festival Hall and Southbank Centre post-World War II, it is fitting that the Centre will play a pivotal role in hosting such a historic milestone. The initial programme was launched at the Royal Festival Hall on 18th September 2025, first focused on the ‘Festival of Britain’ and then a more dedicated event on TASPO, ‘The Rhythm of History: A TASPO Sharing Event’ on 3rd October 2025. The latter was recently reassigned to the Carnival Village (Tabernacle) in the heart of the Notting Hill Carnival community on 2nd November with immense appreciation from the community. These programmes will continue to develop to a climax in July 2026 along with plans to juxtapose our 12th International Conference in Carnival Arts to the Southbank’s ‘Steel Scenes: The Steel Pan Weekender’ to provide a continuous programme of academic and performance-related events between 22nd–26th July 2026
Non-medical device apps for good health and well-being: regulatory challenges
Get PDFGeneral healthcare/well-being awareness and technological innovations have resulted in numerous smartphone apps (especially powered by artificial intelligence (AI)) being developed and marketed to the public. Due to the widespread use of smartphones, apps can be easily downloaded and are hence widely available. Revenue from digital fitness and well-being apps (e.g., to address anxiety, depression, stress, panic attacks, mindfulness, meditation, mood tracking and self-care) in the United Kingdom (UK) is projected to reach £.1.65 billion in 2025 and £2.16 billion by 2029. Most fitness and well-being apps are not categorised as medical devices, and are therefore not regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). This paper discusses medical device apps versus non-medical device apps with a focus on the regulatory challenges of the latter especially in the UK context
I'm still here: an essay on family and community resistance to state violence
No full textThis essay reflects on I’m Still Here, Brazil’s first Oscar-winning film, as an invitation to explore violence, memory and resistance. Writing as a Brazilian scholar shaped by both lived experience and academic activism, this essay considers three interconnected areas: how the film portrays historical state violence; how it resonates with ongoing forms of violence in Brazil; and how families and communities resist through memory work. Set against the history of Brazil’s military dictatorship and its legacies, the discussion links elements from the film to broader patterns of systemic neglect and structural abandonment that determine whose lives are valued. Rather than romanticizing resilience, the discussion focuses on how families and communities refuse erasure by creating remembrance practices that transform personal loss into collective mobilization. In dialogue with feminist thought, including Lélia Gonzalez’s work on Black Brazilian women’s resistance and Catherine Walsh’s concept of re-existence, the essay explores how families and communities preserve life and challenge invisibility. In doing so, the essay situates memory work as relational labor within families and communities, directly engaging with Community, Work & Family debates on how unpaid, intergenerational practices of care sustain social life and how remembrance itself can be a form of justice
Digital piggybacking: materialised figuration across Roblox, with children hampered by adults
No full textExamining the patient capital problem for green technology start-up and scale-up businesses
No full textThis study, using an innovative longitudinal quantitative methodology, investigated the equity funding gap for start-up and scale-up stage green technology (“Greentech”) companies. It reports the role innovation and technology plays to address environmental challenges. Evaluation of the last decades’ equity funding environment using Beauhurst data for UK Greentech companies suggests that funding in relative and total terms has increased. The findings suggest there is an increased pipeline of viable Greentech companies and that their financial access has broadened with the enhanced funding from venture capital, business angel and crowdfunding investors. However, despite improvements in the supply side, challenges remain for hardware-based Greentech companies to access larger scale funding, especially at the scaling-up stage and across all funding rounds in the UK. Analysis of PitchBook data shows that compared with the US and other major European markets, UK investors are more risk averse, and consequently reluctant to provide sufficient scale-up funding, giving rise to a structural investment funding gap that tends to undermine UK Greentech development. Public sector finance institutions perform an important role to close the Greentech investment gap, leveraging private finance through targeted support for Greentech companies at all stages of their development
Imiquimod-loaded dissolvable microneedles: a novel pre-clinical immunotherapeutic approach for dermato-oncology
No full textBackground
Imiquimod, a toll-like receptor-7 agonist, is approved for topical treatment of superficial basal cell carcinoma and actinic keratosis, but dermal penetration is limited and variable. Improved delivery strategies are needed to maximise its immunotherapeutic potential in dermato-oncology. Dissolvable microneedles (MNs) provide a minimally invasive platform for intradermal administration with potential for sustained exposure. Sustained intradermal delivery may improve treatment adherence and local immune activation compared to repeated topical application. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pre-clinical feasibility of imiquimod delivery using dissolvable MNs.
Methods
Sugar-based MNs incorporating imiquimod were fabricated by vacuum casting. MN geometry, mechanical strength, insertion and dissolution behaviour were assessed. Drug incorporation was confirmed. Release was analysed in aqueous media using UV-HPLC, triple quadrupole LC-MS and UV spectrophotometry. Ex-vivo penetration and drug quantification were performed in porcine skin.
Results
MNs exhibited sharp geometry, robust insertion into skin, and sustained release of imiquimod over several days before complete dissolution. Incorporation was confirmed, and release into solution was quantifiable across methods. Ex-vivo studies in porcine skin verified intradermal delivery of imiquimod into the epidermis and upper dermis, with measurable recovery.
Conclusions
This pre-clinical feasibility study shows that dissolvable MNs can reproducibly deliver imiquimod intradermally with prolonged release, overcoming the penetration limits of topical creams. As a novel immunotherapeutic approach in dermato-oncology, this platform may enhance local immune activation in cutaneous malignancies including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. These findings support further development of MN-based imiquimod delivery as part of emerging intradermal immunotherapeutic strategies in oncology. Further optimisation and in vivo evaluation are warranted to establish therapeutic efficacy and safety
A 1.76 mW, 355-fps, electrical impedance tomography system with a simple time-to-digital impedance readout for fast neonatal lung imaging
No full textFunctional lung imaging for neonates using electrical impedance tomography (EIT) requires a fast frame rate to avoid under sampling the faster respiratory rate in neonates than adults. Also, the EIT system must have low power consumption to facilitate wireless operation during kangaroo care. The application of existing EIT systems primarily designed for adults is limited by the trade-off between power consumption and speed of the impedance readout. This article presents an integrated EIT system in a 65 nm CMOS node featuring a novel ultralow-power time-to-digital impedance readout method based on dc cross-point detection. To increase the resolution of the impedance readout, a dynamic comparator with multi-phase voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)-based least-common-multiple (LCM) coherent clock control is used, yielding a measured impedance error of 0.94% and a phase error of 0.81 ∘ over a frequency range from 100 to 500 kHz in a 10 μ s measurement time. In addition, a novel fast-settling switch matrix allows multiplexing the single impedance readout channel, significantly decreasing power consumption without degradation in speed. The EIT system has a maximum frame rate of 355 frames per second (fps) and a total power consumption of 1.76 mW. The impedance readout and digitization consume 172 μ W, a power reduction of 83%–93% compared to prior work. The frame rate is both suitable for neonatal lung imaging and other fast EIT applications. Both in vitro and adult in vivo measurements are presented
No poverty, zero hunger and human resource management
No full textThis chapter connects the SDGs on poverty and hunger to the workplace and therefore to the welfare functions associated with HR. It begins with an overview of these specific SDGs before providing an historical overview of how poverty and hunger have been linked historically to work and employment, from nineteenth century philanthropy as a solution to pauperisation in early capitalist industrialisation, through the de-coupling of hunger and poverty from paternalist managerial prerogative during the nascent welfare state in the twentieth century, to the twenty-first century retreat from the high-point welfare-oriented HR of post WWII pluralism in the West to globalised neoliberalism and how the emergence of global value chains create new international divisions of labour that create new challenges. Two contrasting case studies are then offered. First, the re-emergence of in-work poverty and hunger in Britain is outlined, where working conditions among the growing proportion of the workforce on precarious contracts link directly to poverty, bad diet and to increasing impact on health inequalities. Second, the example of paternalist management practices in the Sri-Lankan tea and garment sectors is outlined where the link between food provision as part of a broader company welfare package creates dependencies upon workers
What does recovery mean to Jordanian mental health service users and their families? A descriptive qualitative study
Get PDFBackground
The concept of recovery in mental health has been extensively documented in the Western context. Yet, little is known about this concept in the Arab context, particularly in Jordan.
Aim
The aim of this study was to explore the conceptuality of recovery in mental health from the perspectives of both Jordanian service users and their families.
Methods
A qualitative descriptive design was used, and semi structured interviews were conducted with 16 service users and 16 family members, selected from three different mental health sectors in Jordan: Government, Military and University Sectors. The data were transcribed verbatim, translated into English, and then analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis approach.
Results
Three main themes were identified as a result of the qualitative data analysis: (1) the definition of recovery implies functional recovery, (2) the definition of recovery implies symptomatic recovery, and (3) the definition of recovery from a religious perspective.
Conclusions
The findings of the present study shed light on how recovery in mental health is perceived by service users and their families in the Jordanian context, and they generate insight into what to consider when targeting the development and implementation of recovery-supporting care within the mental health services (MHSs) in Jordan
Automated journalism in UK local newsrooms: attitudes, integration, impact
Get PDFAutomated journalism is increasingly used to produce News content in UK local newsrooms. Although scholars have been discussing the disruptive potential of automation for journalism, little is known about how local media practitioners deploy and perceive automated journalism. This study aims to help fill this research gap using semi-structured interviews with media practitioners from four local news companies. Each use automated content provided by the news automation service RADAR moderated by human journalists at RADAR itself. Typically RADAR identifies important national datasets on release and then uses a human journalist to create an algorithm to analyse the data for local variations. This material is then made available through a subscription service to the end user, the local newsroom. It is for the local newsroom teams to decide what is relevant to their audiences.
Our findings show that local journalists evaluate automated journalism based on several occupational influences, that they integrate RADAR’s automated journalism into their own editorial outputs in various ways, and that the use of this automated journalism is having an impacts on shaping local nes agendas and newsroom performance. Our evidence also shows that whilst most media practitioners perceive a limited relevance of automated journalism for local news reporting and continue to stress the importance of human agency in the journalism workflow, what they report is conversely a shift in their practices which actually suggests that automated journalism has greater impact than they are currently willing to acknowledge