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Proceedings of Data Analytics and Management: ICDAM 2023, Volume 1
No full textThis book includes original unpublished contributions presented at the International Conference on Data Analytics and Management (ICDAM 2023), held at London Metropolitan University, London, UK, during June 2023. The book covers the topics in data analytics, data management, big data, computational intelligence, and communication networks. The book presents innovative work by leading academics, researchers, and experts from industry which is useful for young researchers and students. The book is divided into four volumes
Health and safety performance of UK universities and how to improve it
Get PDFThis research suggested a method for evaluating health and safety performance as a combination of reactive and active monitoring. A number of Freedom of Information requests (FoI) were sent to the Health and safety Executive (HSE) and 100 UK universities. Data on the number of reportable incidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences were compiled for UK universities and combined with the Impact Ranking for good health and well-being. A semi-structured survey was used to identify best H&S practices. Subsequently, the effect of workers' involvement in H&S management on RIDDOR and near-miss reports, was investigated using statistical analysis. A ranking of UK universities that perform highly in Health and Safety (H&S) was assembled and selected universities were contacted to identify best practices. Best practices were divided into three categories: team management, roles and responsibilities, and H&S performance monitoring. One of the findings demonstrated a reverse dependence between provision of a refresher training in risk assessments and a number of reported RIDDOR incidents. Health and Safety professionals in the universities may find it useful to reflect on these findings and the identified best practices in order to improve the H&S performance in their own organisations
Using translanguaging and English as a Lingua Franca to promote an inclusive multilingual approach towards comprehension in assessment in Higher Educational Institutions in the UK
Get PDFThe multilingual approach towards comprehension in assessment and translanguaging has attracted considerable attention lately, challenging the monolingual tradition
and the use of English as a medium for instruction in the Global North. The current study employed a mixed-methods approach using classroom observations, focus group discussions, students’ pre- and post-tests and anonymous learning journals to explore the impact of translanguaging and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) on students’ writing performance when a multilingual approach towards comprehension in assessment is used with learners in higher education in the UK Findings indicated that students overall had a very positive attitude towards translanguaging and ELF in terms of a multilingual approach towards comprehension in assessment as they facilitated content and language learning and enhanced students’ intercultural and multilingual awareness Moreover, they had a significant impact on students’ academic performance Finally, the article argues that monolingual ideologies should be abandoned due to the increasing drive towards globalization in Higher Educatio
AI/ML enabled automation system for software defined disaggregated open radio access networks: transforming telecommunication business
Get PDFOpen Air Interface (OAI) alliance recently introduced a new disaggregated Open Radio Access Networks (O-RAN) framework for next generation telecommunications and networks. This disaggregated architecture is open, automated, software defined, virtual, and supports the latest advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) Machine Learning (AI/ML). This novel intelligent architecture enables programmers to design and customize automated applications according to the business needs and to improve quality of service in fifth generation (5G) and Beyond 5G (B5G). Its disaggregated and multivendor nature gives the opportunity to new startups and small vendors to participate and provide cheap hardware software solutions to keep the market competitive. This paper presents the disaggregated and programmable O-RAN architecture focused on automation, AI/ML services, and applications with Flexible Radio access network Intelligent Controller (FRIC). We schematically demonstrate the reinforcement learning, externa
Pentecostalisation, the American Christian right, and civil religion in Ghana
Get PDFChristianity’s political prominence in Ghana has attracted the attention of scholars interested in the wider issues of religion and politics in sub-Saharan Africa. Analyses of the political influence of Christianity in Ghana generally focus on domestic factors, without considering external actors’ involvement. This article examines the political impact of the leading form of Christianity in Ghana, Pentecostalism, in relation to both domestic and external factors. The aims of the article are, first, to explain and account for Pentecostals’ political impact in Ghana. The second aim is to explain and account for the links between elements of the American Christian Right and prominent Pentecostals in Ghana. Both support normatively conservative, even regressive, policies which, the article argues, encourages the breakdown of Ghana’s civil religion. Ghana is the first west African nation to be subject to sustained attention from elements of the US Christian Right, following similar efforts in east Africa, particularly in relation to Kenya and Uganda. This novelty makes the American Christian Right’s focus on Ghana both noteworthy and an important topic of research in the context of the internationalisation of the former. The article is divided into four sections. The introductory section presents the main sections of the article, and provides a thorough account of the background of the study. The second section surveys what has been called the ‘pentecostalisation’ of Christianity in Ghana, which aligns with similar processes in other sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria. The third section examines the links between Ghana’s Pentecostals and elements of the American Christian Right and explains how this helps to fuel a breakdown Ghana’s longstanding allegiance to civil religion. The final section describes the main political result: the scapegoating and criminalisation of Ghana’s numerically small, beleaguered gay community
Marta Czok ARCHĪVUM
Get PDFMarta Czok ARCHĪVUM, exhibition curated by Jacek Ludwig Scarso at Palazzo Mathis in Bra, Piedmont
The works of Marta Czok have always intrigued the public in their ability to portray social scenes ranging from simple everyday life to the most complex global problems: migration, war and class struggles.
In 2020, under the curation of Jacek Ludwig Scarso, the Marta Czok Foundation was born with the intention of promoting the study and dissemination of this work. With a Permanent Collection in the historic centre of Castel Gandolfo (Rome) and a Project Space in Venice, the Foundation's programme integrates a retrospective look at the artist's works, from the early eighties to the present day, with artistic collaborations on a national and international level, through which the work can generate new ideas for dialogue and new opportunities for experimentation.
The concept of 'archive' is fundamental in this mission. Creating an artist's archive is not only about preserving their works for the future, but also about exploring the life path that gave rise to these works, linking them together in various thematic itineraries. Each work is a standing document, but also part of a compendium of memories made, in this case, of images and narratives that intertwine with one another, as if they were branches of a tree – itself a symbol that we frequently find in Marta Czok's works.
For Palazzo Mathis in Bra, this concept became the stimulus for a retrospective exhibition that looked at the artist's overall work, highlighting particular moments through a selection of four themes: AURUM (gold representations), CIVITAS (scenes of social life), VENUS (female representations), URBS (cityscapes). According to these themes, paintings that span decades of work were explored, extrapolating new connections between them and marking their relevance in relation to the present.
Archivum continued the 2024 programme of Fondazione Marta Czok, after the opening of the De Innocentia cycle at the Palazzo di Vicolo Valdina at the Chamber of Deputies and the Urbe cycle for the Palazzo Montecitorio of the Parliament. The exhibition complemented EX_PATRIA in Venice on the occasion of the Sixtieth Art Biennale, with the patronage of the Polish Embassy
South Asian diasporas and (imaginary) homelands: narratives, representations and mediated exchanges
No full textThis edited volume looks at the ways in which films, literature, photography and social media construct images of homelands and diasporas as well as the ways in which they facilitate exchanges between them. The volume presents with a dialogue between these representations and analyses how they are constructed, disseminated, appropriated and/or challenged in relation to recent political developments in South Asia and in the diaspora.
Focusing on images and narratives about South Asia and its diaspora, the book aims to re-centre the political nature of representations, as it addresses the interplay between representation, imagination and identity, with a specific focus on the South Asian diasporic experience.
This book will interest students and scholars of media, communication, popular culture, cultural studies, Asian studies, politics and sociology.
The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of South Asian Diaspora
"It really kind of like cuts my existence into two": an interpretative phenomenological analysis of the experience of adults with sickle cell disease receiving curative Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT)
Get PDFBackground:
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common single gene disorder in England. At present, Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) is the only cure, and as of 2020, these have been funded for adults with SCD by the National Health Service (NHS) in England.
Rationale:
The provision of psychology support is deemed important for patients undergoing HSCT, as studies have found a high prevalence of psychological distress is reported (Amonoo et al., 2019). Most research into HSCT have been in relation to haematological malignancies. I reasoned that further research adopting an explicitly psychological focus would be valuable in understanding the lived experiences of HSCT recipients with SCD and how they can be supported psychologically through this major life transition.
Methodology:
Six adults with SCD participated in semi-structured interviews regarding their experience of HSCT. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith et al., 2022).
Findings:
The analysis resulted in three Group Experiential Themes: (1) ‘Leaving the Inferno’ – details how the worsening burden of SCD over time influenced participants in making the decision to proceed with HSCT, despite the risks, with all hoping for a more ‘normal life’; (2) ‘Travelling through Purgatorio’ – documents the challenging experiences participants had, how they coped, and their attitudes towards psychological therapy as a way of supporting them through HSCT; (3) ‘Journeying towards Paradiso’ – focuses on participants’ progress towards the more ‘normal’ life they had hoped for after HSCT and ongoing adjustment to life without SCD. Crystal Park’s Meaning-Making model (2010) was selected as a theory that could help in understanding the way in which participants’ beliefs and goals developed through a life lived with SCD guided their interpretation of their HSCT experience.
Implications:
Psychological therapies that can facilitate the process of meaning-making would appear potentially helpful in supporting people with SCD through HSCT and adjusting to life afterwards. The importance of making therapy culturally sensitive is emphasised, with African Psychology being a strengths-based approach that may be particularly relevant. Finally, a relational approach to supporting people with SCD through HSCT at the level of the healthcare system as a whole is argued for, extending the principles of Trauma-Informed Care towards building genuine trust with recipients who may have experienced health and race-based stigma and discrimination
Engineering and technology applications of control co-design: a survey
Get PDFControl-inspired design, as the name suggests, involves drawing inspiration from control theory to design other engineering systems. Engineers may use the principles of feedback control to design systems that can adapt and self-correct in response to changing conditions. This technique is known as Control Co-design (CCD), and it focuses on the redesign of dynamics and subsystem interactions. CCD offers several benefits, such as improved performance, reduced design time and cost, and increased reliability, and has been applied to a variety of areas. In this paper, we present a review of 197 articles related to CCD and highlight the main topics of its applications, such as renewable energy, vehicular and aircraft control systems and communication systems in control. We delimit the applications of CCD in the field of engineering, providing an introductory understanding of this topic and presenting the main works developed in this field in recent years, as well as discussing the tendencies and benefits of CCD. The paper offers an in-depth conceptualisation of CCD. A theoretical example is provided to illustrate CCD’s application in a Hybrid Wind-Wave Platform (HWWP), detailing the interaction between aerodynamic and hydrodynamic design domains and their control challenges, along with discussions on simultaneous and nested CCD formulations
‘English as an additional language’, ‘multilingual’, and ‘vulnerable’: a reflexive account of the labelling practices surrounding school pupils in a researcher-practitioner collaboration
No full textDespite their diversity, UK school pupils with non-English home languages are uniformly labelled English as an additional language (EAL), presupposing linguistic deficiencies and academic challenges; thus, equating multilingualism with vulnerability. As part of a researcher-practitioner collaboration with a London primary school, we explore how researchers and educators assign and contest the labels EAL, multilingual, and vulnerable. Through this, we reflexively consider whether changing discourses around multilingualism can minimise potential vulnerabilities associated with EAL. We argue that researchers play a crucial role in mitigating a priori categorization of EAL pupils and expose the impact of our agenda on potentially vulnerable pupils