19 research outputs found
Enabling mental health through social and cultural inclusion
No full textblueSCI is a not‐for‐profit organisation based in Trafford that aims to enable good mental health through facilitating progress towards personal goals and development for people in the local community. Alicia Clare, Elizabeth Collier and Steven Higgin describe this inclusive, person‐centred, recovery‐oriented service that has emerged from a boundary‐breaking partnership between a mental health professional and a professional artist.</jats:p
Three sketches of the life of Nelson Higgins
No full textTypescripts of three short sketches of Captain Nelson Higgins: "Biography of Capt. Nelson Higgins" by grandson Foy Lewis Higgins (2 pages); "Life of Nelson Higgins" by Ella Peason Chavis (4 pages); and "Captain Higgins" (author uncertain, 1 page)Foy Lewis Higgins, Biography of Captain Nelson Higgins and Ella Peason Chavis, Life of Nelson Higgin
Radiologic Technologists: We See Right Through You
No full textThis research paper investigates a career that is of personal interest to the author. The culmination of a semester-long project, the paper is an overview of radiography, examining the skills all successful x-ray technologists should have, with added consideration given to job responsibilities and some stressors. Further exploration into educational requirements, professional organizations, and employment opportunities are also discussed. Finally, it highlights some research into the history of the field, some of its controversies, and where the profession is headed in the future.
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Lisa Higgin
Financial institutions and corporate strategy: David Alliance and the transformation of British textiles, c.1950-c.1990
No full textThis article introduces and assesses a conceptual model of institutional and corporate change. In particular it seeks to integrate strategic choice and associated corporate structure with the role of the market for corporate control (MCC) as a governance mechanism. The model is illustrated using longitudinal case studies from the British textile industry with particular reference to the acquisition policy of David Alliance as he built up the Spirella Group and then used this as a vehicle to acquire, in turn, Vantona, Carrington Viyella, Nottingham Manufacturing Company and Coats Patons. These policies are contrasted with the acquisition strategies of the Lancashire Cotton Corporation (LCC) and Courtaulds and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). The evidence indicates that there was no relationship between the depth of the MCC and restructuring success, but to the extent that the market lacked depth, abnormal profits accrued to market-making entrepreneurs such as Alliance. There is evidence that decentralized market-led strategies were more successful than strategies based on the integration of production for the achievement of scale economies. Successful adoption of these strategies was also based on the acquisition of financial resources through appropriate network connections and associated political lobbying channels
The Transformative Power of Knowledge Sharing in Settings of Poverty and Social Inequality
No full textKnowledge sharing is central to reducing inequality and alleviating poverty. However, communities in
settings of extreme poverty are often bounded by distinct perspectives and understandings that hinder
knowledge sharing. Furthermore, social fault lines may create internal boundaries that impede interaction,
further complicating knowledge sharing. Despite these challenges, some knowledge sharing efforts are
successful. The purpose of this study is to better understand how knowledge sharing overcomes boundaries
in settings of extreme inequality and poverty. Using qualitative data from rural India, we find that boundary
work performed by boundary spanners overcomes external and internal boundaries by creating space for
action, observation, and reflection in the recipient community. These actions, or syncretizing mechanisms,
transform newly introduced knowledge, which then facilitates further boundary work, resulting in community
transformation. Under certain circumstances, we see how boundary work and syncretism can lead to
significant knowledge and recipient transformation. Thus, we seek to contribute to the literature by more
fully exploring the transformative power of knowledge sharing within contexts of extreme poverty, and by
explaining the process by which it occurs.This research was supported by Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (GRF Grants: PolyU 548210 to the
first author and PolyU 549211 to the first and the third author), travel funding from the Higgin Kim Business
Program at Miami University (to the second author), and IDRC Doctoral Research Award (# 107473-
99906075-074 to the third author)
The postliberal politics of halal: new directions in the civilizing process?
No full textThis paper examines the emergence of postliberal halal politics in European societies. Building on research undertaken during the EU funded Dialrel project, it examines how the Malaysian state is inserting hegemonic claims into transnational space in order to dominate the international halal market. Moving beyond the idea of horizontally aligned networks of transnational power as the dominant framework for understanding social and economic change, the paper explores the complex interweaving of the large-scale macro processes and everyday micro practices underpinning the rise of Malaysia’s postliberal halal strategy. It is argued that the processes of social and economic differentiation emerging as a result of these processes have the potential to be an important step in the global civilizing process. In conclusion, the paper discusses the implication of these developments for figurational sociology
`Virtual' Text Corpora and their Management
No full textThe extensive use of computer-based corpora for a range of language studies has led to the proliferation of the ways in which texts within an individual corpus are organised Basically, the organisation reflects the immediate needs of a group of well motivated users, like lexicographers or terminologists. This means that the subsequent generation of corpus users are forced to use a classification of texts according to categories they may not be familiar with or may not be comfortable with or both. There is an urgent need to have a facility in corpus management system that allow its users to use their own classification system to categorise texts in a corpus. That is, the users should be able to choose, for example, their own style, register, field, time span, author attributes for generating word lists, concordances, contextual examples etc. A lexicography/terminology management system, System Quirk, is described that can support such a virtual organisation of texts within a corpus. Int..
Poster: The Myth Behind the Poem
No full textThe poem “Narcissus and Echo” by Fred Chappell is a mythological poem about the Greek creation myths and the feeling behind two specific characters. In the first reading of the poem, Narcissus is recalling his own beauty. He is saying the only gratitude I treasure is my own, I live separated from my reflection but cannot live without it. Look in the water and see the silence of a flower, who whispers my name in air and the world becomes cloudy. This poem has two ways of reading it. The first was a point of view from Narcissus, the “echo” poem was from the point of view of Echo. She felt the empty longing for a man who will not love her (ache of unbeing) the un real love. She questions how the man who loves only himself as to how he does not have a heart as he never loves. Fred Chappell attended Duke University and author of over a dozen books, he has received many awards, including the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Bollingen Award, the Aiken Taylor Award, and was North Carolina Poet Laureate from 1997-2002. Chappell calls poetry “the noblest secular endeavor that the human mind undertakes.” In “Narcissus and Echo,” Fred Chappelle makes sure the meaning of the poem is to show readers that there really is two sides to every story. The echo part of the poem follows the myth of the two, as well as shows Echos true feelings about Narcissus. The author uses opposite words when the speaker of the poem changes.
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Lisa Higgin
Development and testing of multi-modal, multi-scale imaging systems for rare-earth-doped contrast agents
No full textRare-earth based nanoparticles have appealing properties for use as contrast agents in biomedical imaging. With unique luminescent properties and a refractive index that is higher than that of tissue, these versatile materials have a wide range of potential applications spanning basic science research to preclinical testing and clinical translation. The goal of this dissertation was to exploit the unique optical properties of these materials to develop new multi-modal, multi-scale imaging platforms and expand the applicability of these materials in biomedicine. Under near-infrared excitation, these particles emit conventional Stokes-shifted fluorescence in the short wave infrared region (SWIR), as well as a higher-energy upconversion signal in the visible spectrum. Previous work, focused on wide-field imaging of the SWIR fluorescence, has shown the ability to detect the accumulation of biofunctionalized rare-earth albumin nanocomposites (fREANCs) in preclinical models of cancer metastasis. This dissertation builds upon previous studies, exploring high- resolution imaging of these particles to serve as an “optical biopsy†through the combination of confocal microscopy and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Confocal microscopy provides subcellular resolution imaging from near the tissue surface while OCT is capable of imaging tissue microstructure up to 1-2 mm below the surface, both important factors in the evaluation of disease progression. High-resolution imaging of these materials in thick tissues has been limited by the long emission lifetimes of the rare-earth elements. This work demonstrates that line- scanning confocal microscopy (LSC) can overcome these challenges by extending the excitation and emission time while maintaining frame rate, providing a method for real- time, high-resolution imaging of rare-earth doped contrast agents in ex vivo tissue samples. Although the refractive index mismatch did not increase OCT backscattering in tissue, motivating the development of fREANCs as a molecularly-targeted OCT contrast agent, OCT can still provide valuable insight into tissue disease state based on native optical properties. From this work, a multi-modal imaging platform was developed combining OCT with line-scanning confocal microscopy of fREANCs. A first-generation proof-of-concept system, combining OCT with full-field fluorescence microscopy allowed for the identification of potential technical challenges, before integrating OCT within the line- scanning microscope. Through the combination of LSC and OCT, the second-generation system achieved an en face lateral resolution of 2.8 μm (LSC) with an imaging depth of 1.4 mm (OCT). Finally, this multi-modal imaging platform was evaluated within a preclinical study, designed to explore multi-scale imaging of fREANCs to identify tumors in the lungs. Through this work, signature features of healthy and malignant tissue were identified within the multi-modal image sets, with the potential to serve as a basis for future high-resolution in vivo imaging as a method of “optical biopsy†in the presence of fREANCs. More generally, the technical development of multi-scale, multi-modal imaging presented here, ranging from the macroscopic to microscopic scale, may be beneficial across a broad range of emerging applications for rare-earth based nanoscale contrast agents.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Laura M. Higgin
Can simply answering research questions change behaviour? Systematic review and meta analyses of brief alcohol intervention trials.
No full textBACKGROUND: Participant reports of their own behaviour are critical for the provision and evaluation of behavioural interventions. Recent developments in brief alcohol intervention trials provide an opportunity to evaluate longstanding concerns that answering questions on behaviour as part of research assessments may inadvertently influence it and produce bias. The study objective was to evaluate the size and nature of effects observed in randomized manipulations of the effects of answering questions on drinking behaviour in brief intervention trials. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Multiple methods were used to identify primary studies. Between-group differences in total weekly alcohol consumption, quantity per drinking day and AUDIT scores were evaluated in random effects meta-analyses. Ten trials were included in this review, of which two did not provide findings for quantitative study, in which three outcomes were evaluated. Between-group differences were of the magnitude of 13.7 (-0.17 to 27.6) grams of alcohol per week (approximately 1.5 U.K. units or 1 standard U.S. drink) and 1 point (0.1 to 1.9) in AUDIT score. There was no difference in quantity per drinking day. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Answering questions on drinking in brief intervention trials appears to alter subsequent self-reported behaviour. This potentially generates bias by exposing non-intervention control groups to an integral component of the intervention. The effects of brief alcohol interventions may thus have been consistently under-estimated. These findings are relevant to evaluations of any interventions to alter behaviours which involve participant self-report
