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Background: Harmful Alcohol use is frequent among opioid dependents patients undergoing agonist maintenance treatment. The objective assessment of harmful alcohol use can be done using laboratory measures of serum biomarkers. For community-based patients, there is often a requirement of an alternative method due to lack of onsite laboratory services. The aim of the study was to examine filter paper as a matrix to measure serum biomarkers of harmful alcohol use. Methods: The initial phase involved standardization of the filter-paper-based assay. Conditions were optimised for extraction and estimation of alcohol biomarkers (Aspartate Aminotransferase; AST, Alanine Aminotransferase; ALT, Gamma Glutamyl transferase; GGT and Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin; CDT) from the filter paper. For clinical validation, serum samples were collected from community clinics. Biomarker levels obtained from both the methods were correlated using linear regression analysis. Limits of agreement between the two methods was estimated using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Results: The extraction of enzymes (AST, ALT and GGT) from filter paper was carried out using the substrate buffer available with the reagent kit (Randox, UK). CDT was readily extracted from filter paper using deionised water. Serum biomarker levels measured from samples collected from community clinics correlated well with filter paper extracted levels (ICC 0.97-0.99). More than 90% of alcohol biomarker levels were recovered from the filter paper matrix using this method. Conclusion: Filter paper has the potential to be used as a matrix to objectively measure alcohol biomarkers among opioid-dependent patients from community settings lacking onsite laboratory facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally there is a shortage of organs available for transplant resulting in thousands of lives lost as a result. Recently in the United Kingdom 457 people died as a result of organ shortage in just 1 year. 1 NHS Blood and Transplant suggest national debates to test public attitudes to radical actions to increase organ donation should be considered in addressing organ shortage. The selling of organs for transplant in the United Kingdom is prohibited under the Human Tissue Act 2004. This discussion paper considers five ethical objections raised in the United Kingdom to paid donation and discusses how these objections are addressed within the only legal and regulated paid living unrelated renal donation programme in the world in Iran, where its kidney transplant list was eliminated within 2 years of its commencement. This article discusses whether paid living unrelated donation in Iran increases riskier donations and reduced altruistic donation as opponents of paid donation claim. The paper debates whether objections to paid donation based upon commodification arguments only oppose enabling financial ends, even if these ends enable beneficent acts. Discussions in relation to whether valid consent can be given by the donor will take place and will also debate the objection that donors will be coerced and exploited by a paid model. This article suggests that exploitation of the paid donor within the Iranian model exists within the legally permitted framework. However, paid living kidney donation should be discussed further and other models of paid donation considered in the United Kingdom as a radical means of increasing donation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper explores the theoretical and empirical capacity of developmental and life-course criminology (DLC) to further our understanding of non-lethal intimate partner violence (IPV) and femicide. Drawing on Sampson and Laub's age-graded theory and Moffitt's dual taxonomy, the paper delves into empirical research that has identified and examined the overlap between general offending and IPV, highlighting how these DLC theoretical frameworks could provide insight into non-lethal IPV and femicide. We also outline the ways in which these DLC perspectives are challenged to fully address the gendered nature of IPV and less able to provide an empirical and theoretical understanding of the role of power and control by men over their women partners. We then place these frameworks within the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender-based violence, including femicide. While the COVID-19 lockdowns increased vulnerability to IPV and increased homicide in the United States, the expected rise in femicide did not materialize—at least within the United States, prompting questions about the extent to which existing criminological theories are able to provide a framework for these types of crime trends during unprecedented events. We examine the way non-lethal and lethal IPV are shaped by different factors as outlined in Moffitt's dual taxonomy. The pandemic for example did not create increased psychopathy (i.e., affective and personality disorders) associated with the risk for femicide, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns did create increased economic and family stressors, which placed many at-risk women and children in further social isolation, and reduced access to victim services. We conclude a need for further theoretical development surrounding femicide, integrating developmental and life-course perspectives, thereby emphasizing the need for refined frameworks to address the intricate dynamics of violence against women globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the prevalence and challenges of diagnosing Long Covid Syndrome in children and adolescents, highlighting the varied symptoms, the scarcity of literature on the subject, and the potential risk factors, including age, gender, allergies, and persistent symptoms.

Building upon ethnographic research conducted among participants in UK-based initiatives in Jewish-Muslim dialogue, the paper contributes to anthropological literature on the essentialising nature of state-sponsored constructions of minoritised groups. More specifically, I put forward two sets of arguments. Firstly, I suggest a concept of simultaneity that challenges colonially inflected conceptualisations of the relationship between communities and their respective traditions. Activists of Jewish-Muslim inter-community work subvert dominant conceptualisations of intergroup commonalities and divergencies by developing a theorisation of Jewish-Muslim relations that acknowledges group similarities and differences as overlapping categories. Secondly, I contribute to John Jackson's (2005) theorisation of racial sincerity, a notion offering a conceptual challenge to the notion of authenticity. I argue that the complexity of my interlocutors' thematisations of Jewish-Muslim relations underpinned by the diversity of the sources of knowledge that they rely on could be best understood as an example of this analytic. On a broader theoretical plane, the paper proposes a framework that underscores the agentive power of minority communities and pays close attention to the way they define their positionalities vis-à-vis the majorities and each other in ways that go beyond binaries-based theorisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State labour inspection has been relatively underresearched in economic and labour geography, despite its prospective role in tackling worker exploitation as part of national state regulatory strategies. This paper seeks to address this gap by critically examining state labour inspection as a government function capable of upholding labour standards within and across economic space. A key contribution of the paper is to make stronger connections between workers' spatial strategies and their ability to shape how labour inspection and standards enforcement is carried out. Focusing upon the UK and Ireland, we examine different ways in which some labour-friendly groups have sought to contest but also to support state labour inspection efforts with a view to protecting workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an empirical study of femicide and intimate partner violence (IPV) in Israel during 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to previous years. Studies worldwide found elevated IPV during 2020 and a mixed picture of femicide, as both increases and decreases were reported, depending on the country. In Israel, the media reported a growth in IPV and femicide. However, no comprehensive empirical comparison of femicide and IPV during the lockdown months in 2020 in comparison to previous years was conducted. The current study fills this gap, comparing the 2014–2020 period in terms of IPV and femicide to determine whether the first pandemic year was unusual in terms of femicide and IPV. Data were collected from news websites, the Knesset (Israeli parliament) report, and annual public police reports to break down case-by-case femicide reports. The findings show a growth in femicide and IPV in the pandemic's first year, compared to 2019. However, compared to previous years, 2020 was not unusually high in terms of femicide. However, IPV was higher in 2020 than that in previous years. Hence, the media claims about the pandemic's elevated risk of femicide and IPV are only partially true. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, stay-at-home restrictions significantly changed people's daily lives around the world. Opportunity and strain theories predict this would lead to an increase in intimate partner abuse (IPA), including intimate partner homicide (IPH). This paper applies an alternative theoretical framework—situational action theory (SAT)—to explain mixed findings regarding changes in IPA and unexpected findings regarding (a lack of) changes in IPH. It is argued that SAT may contribute to explaining the impact of stay-at-home restrictions on IPA and IPH in three important ways: 1. by addressing the fact that motivation is necessary but not sufficient for explaining action and better specifying how motivation translates into IPA and IPH; 2. by addressing the fact that people perceive different alternatives for action and better specifying why some people come to see IPA and IPH as acceptable action alternatives; 3. by addressing the fact that exposure affects people differently and better specifying how stay-at-home restrictions shaped people's activity fields and, in turn, their perceptions and action choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many research institutions and funders have recently stated their commitment to actively support and promote 'Equality, Diversity and Inclusion' (EDI) in various aspects of health research including Patient and Public Involvement (PPI). However, translating this commitment into specific research projects presents significant challenges that existing approaches, practical guidelines and initiatives have not adequately addressed. In this paper, we explore how the lack of clear justifications for the EDI commitment in existing guidelines inadvertently complicates the work of those involved with PPI and we stress the need for conceptual clarity for any EDI effort to yield meaningful results. Our focus centres on the first principle of the EDI discourse, 'equality', particularly in the form of 'equality of opportunity' as outlined in current guidance provided by the National Institute of Health Research in the United Kingdom. We examine challenges related to justifying and implementing a general, unspecified commitment to equality of opportunity and explain that this reflects a lack of consensus regarding the moral value of PPI in research – a profound problem that remains unaddressed. We then discuss how the presence of several opposing moral perspectives on PPI, makes determining the most appropriate way of addressing barriers to involvement complex and controversial, raising ethical implications for the work of health researchers, PPI specialists and coordinators. Finally we make suggestions on how future research can enrich the concept of 'equality of opportunity' in PPI and improve practice. While our primary focus is on the NIHR, a strong advocate of PPI in research, this analysis will point to normative and ethical considerations that may be relevant to other research institutions and funding organisations aiming to promote equality of opportunity in their public and patient involvement strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The school nurse has a crucial role in the United States and the United Kingdom and has their own expertise dedicated to school assistance for children, families, school staff, and the community. This study aims to identify the role and skills of the school nurse and understand the effects of COVID-19 on nursing skills in the following countries: The United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy. A Scoping Review was conducted following the JBI methodology for scoping reviews, following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Three databases were consulted: PubMed, Cinahl, and Scopus. In all, 58 studies met the eligibility criteria and were included. 93.1% of the studies were carried out in the United States, 5.2% in the United Kingdom, and 1.7% in Italy. 34.5% of the articles were published in 2020, 15.5% in 2021, 31% in 2022, and 19% in 2023. 22.4% of the studies included in the review concerned health promotion and education. Regarding the methodology of the studies, 41.5% of the studies were commentary papers, 15.5% were observational studies, and 12% were cross-sectional studies. Considering the effects of the school nurse in the United States and the United Kingdom, it is possible to reflect on how the systematic presence of a nurse could also have benefits in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Ketamine use as a recreational drug is becoming more popular nowadays. Ketamine-induced uropathy (KIU) is a late finding observed with long-term use of ketamine. A systematic review of Ketamine-Induced Uropathy was performed to emphasise its key clinical manifestations, mechanism of action and establish an effective treatment pathway. Methods and Results: A literature search was conducted in MEDLINE via Pubmed and Cochrane using the keywords ketamine and bladder, ketamine and uropathy, and ketamine and epidemiology. The search strategy was limited to articles published from 2000 to 2023. Both animal and human studies were included. A total of 101 papers were reviewed based on topic relevance from the title and abstracts available. While ketamine is a controlled drug in the United Kingdom (UK) and other countries, 283 ketamine-related deaths have been reported in the UK. There is no definite pathogenesis but multiple potential mechanisms that cause KIU and its related symptoms. KIU involves chronic inflammation of the bladder, ureteral wall thickening, hydronephrosis and finally, chronic renal failure. A multidisciplinary approach is paramount when managing these patients to break the vicious cycle. The mainstay of medical and surgical treatment pathways is continued abstinence to prevent symptom relapse. This review included the pathophysiology, novel medical treatments and surgical management of KIU. Conclusion: KIU is a rare but significantly disabling condition often seen among ketamine abusers. With the rising trend in drug addiction, KIU is expected to be more common. Unfortunately, it is a late complication in chronic ketamine abusers and is only partially reversible even with abstinence. This review discusses this rare entity's newer medical treatments and surgical options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing scholarly and media attention on sexual violence in public spaces, including those associated with the night-time economy and licensed venues, music festivals have been largely absent from research and policy. This paper presents the findings from the first UK study of sexual violence at music festivals, drawing on data from interviews with 13 women who have experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault at a festival. Analysis reveals that sexual violence at festivals occurs on a continuum and represents an extension of rape culture through which sexual violence is culturally condoned and normalized, enabled through a number of environmental and culture features that are unique to festivals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on my experience of organising a photovoice project with asylum seekers to outline the ethical dilemmas and rewards of planning and facilitating a participatory, creative research project with a hard-to-reach, potentially vulnerable population. It offers lessons learnt and useful insights for others considering a similar approach to data collection. The photo project was utilised to explore the impact of involvement with community-based social protection on the self-reported wellbeing of asylum seekers in the United Kingdom. It was also designed to test the efficacy of the photovoice research methodology to produce simple, impactful findings useful for researcher, research participant and policymaker, empowering those who have often had little voice in community development to inform policy discussions. The paper is written from the author's perspective, adopting a layered approach that utilises fieldnotes, quotes from project participants, and exhibition attendee feedback to provide a rounded description of the project. It pays particular attention to ethical dilemmas concerning project access, recruitment and communication and the complexity of juggling academic ethical rigour with a community-led approach across cultural and linguistic borders. It highlights how power dynamics can be experienced in the research environment entangled with issues of co-researcher dignity, ownership, and vulnerability. It also details the positive outcomes of the photovoice project in relation to collaborative knowledge creation, empathetic understanding, and advocacy opportunities. The author concludes by offering a summary of the key lessons learnt through the project and their implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how police negotiators offer "help" to suicidal persons in crisis. The phrase "a cry for help" is long associated with suicide ideation, and "help" is a key offer made in crisis situations. However, we know little about how "help" is formulated, and received, in crisis encounters as they actually unfold. Fourteen cases (31 h) of UK-based police crisis negotiations with (suicidal) individuals in crisis were transcribed and analyzed using conversation analysis. Our analysis shows that persons in crisis typically reject negotiators' offers of "help." However, when negotiators propose that (and how) matters can be "sorted out," or refocus "help" as actions that the person in crisis can do themselves, progress is made. The paper contributes to the growing literature on the management of resistance in institutional encounters, and to our understanding of how negotiators may minimize or de-escalate resistance in crisis communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that trust cannot be taken for granted in long-term participatory research and promotes greater consideration to conceptualizing the trusting process as fluid and fragile. This awareness by researchers can reveal to them how the passing of time shapes and reshapes the nature of trusting relationships and their constant negotiation and re-negotiation. The paper draws together literature from different disciplines on the themes of trust, temporality and participatory research and outcomes from interviews and workshops undertaken for The Trust Map project to focus on two key moments that reveal the fragility of trust. These are the subtlety of disruption and trust on trial and trust at a distance. We discuss how trust was built over time through processes of interaction that were continually tested, incremental and participatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The platform is emerging as a key organizational form and operational logic of contemporary capitalism, intimately tied to financialization and assetization. However, discussions to date have focused on platforms and platformization in the context of the private, corporate, and technology sectors. In this paper, we develop an analysis of how platformization operates in the context of public policy. Using the UK's National Health Service as a case study, we explore how platformization is altering the form and function of the state. The platformization of the NHS has its roots in the UK government's strategic interest in the development of the bioeconomy. This led to the creation of a research infrastructure within the health service. Subsequently, the NHS has leveraged various assets into a range of data- and technology-focused initiatives. We argue that platformization has been a major form of neoliberalization within the NHS. The paper concludes with a discussion of what an analysis of public platformization can teach us about ongoing transformations of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a UK-based group of female postgraduate researchers, the authors explored their experiences during COVID-19 pandemic through multivocal inquiry via a feminist collaborative autoethnographic project. In this paper, we use the Listening Guide as a tool to revisit and (re)analyse data from the aforementioned project, displaying findings in the form of voice poems. In utilising the Listening Guide, we discovered that listening is less of an exercise and more an art form. While the structured approach of the LG helped to enhance our understandings of wider individual experiences of disability and womanhood, identities that all authors inhabit, we were surprised to find that despite our established mutual trust and superficially similar experiences, we were unable to find emotional resonance through data that wasn't our own voice. We also found that the traditional stepped process of the LG that incorporates four listens to the data left our interpretations feeling flat. Through reflexivity and the novel collaborative approach we undertook in this analysis, we identified and implemented an augmentation of the Listening Guide process. In this paper, we propose an additional fifth listen, focusing on emotion, to facilitate a more holistic analysis of voice data. We explore how the fifth listen assisted the (re)construction of individual and collective identities, helping us to reshape our understandings. Finally, we elucidate the positives and pitfalls we experienced in the Listening Guide as a data analysis tool, recommending to other researchers the adoption of an iterative, flexible and reflexive approach in using it during collaborative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how solicited paper diaries, and the accompanying materials, are carefully handled over the course of one research project. It foregrounds the value of attending to mundane moments with research materials, by tracing tangible material encounters together with intimate fieldnote reflections. Through drawing upon theories of materiality with feminist and relational ethics of care, this article centralises paper diaries as a key mediator of relationships and care within research. It considers the micro processes of choosing diaries, posting them, receiving and storing them and tracing the emotionally charged moments as a researcher in everyday research situations. Such reflections, from the perspective of the researcher, look to offer insights into research relationalities and care. It argues that these momentary fieldwork reflections extend understandings of material methodologies by emphasising relational intimacies as a researcher and connects material and sensory understandings with feminist ethics of care and researcher reciprocities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Sino-UK financial relations in the fintech sector. Through an empirical focus on fintech payments systems, the analysis locates fintech within broader research on the internationalisation of Chinese finance. Conceptually, the paper responds to calls for more attention to be paid to state actors in fintech development. By examining the relationship between the UK and China in fintech, as part of the UK's wider role in Chinese financial internationalisation, I argue that such a focus on the state needs to be expanded beyond the current focus on domestic policy to include wider questions regarding how fintech sits alongside overseas and international policy concerns. I suggest that one productive way of doing this is to understand fintech as a monetary infrastructure. In so doing, the paper argues that fintech needs to be understood as much as a monetary geography as it is a financial geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data generated from a 'video booth', this paper explores how LGBT+ identifying individuals and allies navigate public visibility in front of a video camera. The video booth was set up in eight different NHS organisations in the UK to enable users to record short messages (30 s maximum) about their working life and/or experiences of LGBT+ employee networks, using a self-operated tablet system. The workplace context had an impact on how people represented themselves in front of the camera with prioritisation of professional identities and positive work-self. LGBT+ visibility was further masked by the inclusion of allies. We also discuss ethics and privacy issues related to using video booth methodology and signal how this methodology can best be used for future research purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Behçet's syndrome (BS) is a rare multi-systemic vasculitis of unknown aetiology. Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is more prevalent in rheumatological conditions such-as BS, than the general population. However, there is limited research into the aetiology and characteristics of pain in BS. Objectives: To describe the pain characteristics and incidence of FMS in people with BS and investigate their relationship with BS disease activity. Methods: A cohort study of BS patients attending the Liverpool Behçet's Centre between February 2017 and March 2019. BS was defined using the International Study Group Criteria. BS severity was assessed using the Behçet's Disease Current Activity Form. FMS was determined from consultant diagnosis. Assessments of pain included: Pain Visual Analogue Scale (PVAS), Pain Mannequin, Brief Pain Inventory, EQ-5D-3L and Short Form McGill. Pain and FMS prevalence were compared between high and low disease activity. Results: 90% reported moderate-severe pain with a median PVAS score of 68/100 [38, 81]. 35.6% of participants had FMS and 46.5% experienced generalized pain. 76% of participants with high disease activity reported severe pain, compared to 39.1% with low disease activity (p =.003). Pain was more generalised in high disease activity (72%) compared to low disease activity (37.7%) (p =.003). FMS was more prevalent in the high disease activity group (52%) than the low disease activity group (29%) (p =.04). Conclusions: This is the first study to explore pain in participants with BS in the United Kingdom. The majority of BS patients experience moderate-severe widespread pain. Severe widespread pain is more prevalent in those with high disease activity. We have demonstrated a relationship between high disease activity, worse pain intensity, and FMS. This paper contributes to the understanding of two conditions which remain to be fully understood, FMS and BS, and generates new hypotheses to describe the interplay between. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The story of carriage cleaners has been sadly neglected in the history of railway workers. The work has low pay, it is sometimes unpleasant, and it is also physically tough. This panorama paper explores some of the literature surrounding the history of carriage cleaners from the earliest records in the nineteenth century, through the two world wars, up to the early days of privatisation. The focus is on female carriage cleaners, exploring the reasons why their work has been hidden from history and putting forward an argument as to why more attention should be drawn to it. Despite its low pay and poor working conditions, cleaning work is found at an important nexus of the railway economy, ensuring that the spaces of railway travel remain sanitary and functional. Given their importance for the operation of the railway transport system, it is surprising that cleaners remain largely invisible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been little research on domestic violence (DV) within ethnic minority communities in high-income countries. This study reports on the findings of a meta-ethnography that examined the barriers and facilitators of help-seeking behaviors in South Asian women living in high-income countries who have experienced DV to inform practice, understand the limits of the evidence, and identify research gaps. Qualitative studies were identified which were available in English by electronic databases. After an initial search, 2,465 articles were reviewed by title and abstract and 135 articles were reviewed for full text. Thirty-five papers were included for this review and were synthesized using meta-ethnography. Key findings included barriers and facilitators of help-seeking behaviors: (1) Socio-cultural norms to prohibit help-seeking behaviors, (2) Fear of negative consequences, (3) Negative aspects of immigration status, (4) Insufficient support from statutory, and voluntary agencies, (5) Safety strategies and facilitators for surviving. Although this review investigated the perceptions of two different populations (survivors and service providers) both groups had similar views about the barriers and facilitators of help-seeking behaviors. It is crucial for the government and non-government organizations to understand the barriers for women who are DV survivors to seek help from their organizations and also from South Asian ethnicities. The awareness and understanding of these barriers and facilitators may help support the development of interventions to encourage effective help-seeking amongst South Asian women affected by DV. Suggestions for research, practice, and policies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the UKIP Breaking Point advertisement, which appeared prominently during the Brexit referendum campaign and used a documentary photograph of Syrian refugees, implying that they were migrating to Britain. We chart the assemblage through which the transformation of the image occurred: starting as Jeffrey Mitchell's documentary photograph, charting news of the journey of a group of refugees, but becoming appropriated as an advertising image and ultimately an expression of political notoriety. The controversy generated by the advertisement serves as an example of advertising's meaning becoming a source of unpredictable contestation as different interests clash to define the image's 'real' meaning. Rather than take advertising as a managed process, with meaning directly encoded and carefully crafted by producers, a cultural politics of advertising perceives advertisements as comprised of raw material whose meanings are ambiguous, negotiable and politically charged. Through this lens, advertising images are contextualized by a process of production and consumption, partly shaped by the producers of the advertisement, but also largely mediated by responses of the wider public, creative fields from where the original image was produced, and by unforeseen factors, such as when texts become overtaken by events and appropriated by intermediaries. Breaking Point, in other words, presents a perfect example to illustrate that advertising is not merely a passive channel that represents but is instead an assemblage able to shape engagement and (coercively) infer meanings and draw distorted patterns from different social worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College governing boards are widely held to be the keystone of institutional strategy and the prime locus of support, challenge and accountability in respect of the actions of the senior Executive. Whilst there are many normative prescriptions about the conditions and arrangements required for effective college governance, relatively little is known about how and to what extent the practices of boards reflect or realise these prescriptions. This paper draws upon a unique research study of eight further education colleges across the four nations of the UK. Following Chia and MacKay and Hendry et al., our 'strategy as practice' approach gives primacy to emergence and immanence through board practices. Video and observational data, supplemented by some interview and documentary data are used to develop an understanding of governing practices. Our analysis suggests that current normative prescriptions lack the conceptual sophistication required to support governing as it really happens. We offer a reconceptualisation of both strategy and accountability suggesting that the latter includes lateral, inward- and outward-facing functions that make conflicting demands on governors. We argue that these distinctions are vital in enabling further positive development of governing in the college sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a pilot interview study investigating the leisure reading habits of 20 practising AI researchers based in the United Kingdom. The interview analysis yields six areas in which literature plays a role in the field of AI: research focus, career choice, community formation, science communication, ethical thinking, and modelling of sociotechnical futures. These categories are proposed as the basis of a systematic taxonomy of the role of literature in AI research, evidencing literature's significance in AI laboratory and professional cultures. The paper presents the results of this preliminary investigation in combination with a synthesis of existing evidence in each category of influence. The aim of this hybrid approach is to cohere research and evidence in this relatively new area of study, and to present new findings contextually, in order to provide the foundations for further qualitative and quantitative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Listening, as a general psychological capacity, is a key aspect of perception, communication and experience. However, listening researchers frequently characterize it as a neglected, misunderstood and ill-defined phenomenon. This is a significant problem because questions of listening pervade social inequalities and injustices, as this paper demonstrates in the context of UK child protection practices. Exploring concepts of listening within and beyond psychology, the paper illustrates how a lack of overall theorization can contribute to inequality and injustice within applied listening practices. To address this, the paper theorizes listening in the spirit of Whiteheadian process ontology, drawing on the work of Nancy and Bonnet. Based on this, it develops the concept of 'Cultures of Listening' (CoL), which provides a tool for the critical analysis of troubled listening practices, indicating how they can be challenged and transformed. Within CoL, listening is not a mere aspect of auditory perception or communication, but each instant of listening is considered as shaped by and expressing political, social and experiential circumstances, that is, cultures. The paper demonstrates the theoretical, critical and applied value of CoL by offering a detailed analysis of the role of listening within troubled UK child protection practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Britain is rarely considered an exemplar of 'state capitalism'. In contrast, we argue that Britain should be treated as the prototype project of state capitalism in the world economic system, the primary contribution of our paper been to outline the parameters of state capitalism in Britain across two historical periods. Turning the conceptual lens of state capitalism towards Britain raises some challenging issues for the wider literature. Recent scholarship has started to consider greater diversity in regimes of state capitalism and moved beyond the typical nation-state geographical imaginary of state capitalism. Similarly, our paper seeks to introduce a new spatiality to state capitalism with deeper sensitivity to multi-scalar relations. State capitalism in Britain has rarely been bound to the geographical limitations of the nation-state; instead, it has been a transnational project, centred variably on empire, Europe, and the global market – with industrial policy tailored to enable the British economy to exploit and/or service these various spaces by 'making markets'. We emphasize the often-financialized nature of this industrial policy intervention arguing it is constitutive of a 'financial state capitalism'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study explored the role of pre-existing and pandemic-time child, family or environmental factors in the presentation of mental health symptoms of autistic youth and their parents during the pandemic. Participants were parents/carers of autistic children (Autism Spectrum Treatment and Resilience Cohort, N = 67, M age = 9 years) and adolescents (QUEST cohort, N = 112, M age = 17 years). Parents completed an online survey that asked about child and parental mental health, infection experience, and changes to education arrangements, family life, housing and finances during the pandemic. Pre-existing measures of mental health, autism and adaptive functioning were also utilised. More engagement and enjoyment in education provision and going outside was associated with better child and parental mental health. In multivariate multiple linear regression models, more pre-existing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms were associated with more behavioural/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms during the pandemic in the pre-adolescent cohort, and with greater emotional symptoms in the adolescent cohort. More pre-existing parental mental health problems were associated with more parental mental health symptoms during the pandemic in both cohorts. Knowledge of pre-existing mental health and pandemic-related stressors may help care planning. Encouraging engagement and enjoyment in education and promoting physical exercise are key intervention targets. Ensuring access to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medication and support is important, especially if this is managed jointly across school and home. What is already known about the topic: The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictions impacted all of society. There is emerging evidence showing a range of impacts on autistic children and young people and their families. Further research that looks at how individuals coped during the pandemic while considering how they were doing before the pandemic is needed. What this paper adds: This article explores whether how well autistic youth were doing before the pandemic influenced how they coped during the pandemic. It also looked at how well their parents were doing during the pandemic and whether any pre-pandemic factors influenced how they coped. Samples of both primary-school-aged autistic children and autistic teenagers and their parents were surveyed to answer these questions. More engagement and enjoyment in education provision during the pandemic and getting outside more were linked with better child and parental mental health during the pandemic. More attention deficit hyperactivity disorder before the pandemic was linked with more attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and behavioural problems during the pandemic in primary-school-aged autistic children, and more emotional problems during the pandemic in autistic teenagers. Parents with more mental health problems during the pandemic had more mental health problems before the pandemic. Implications for practice, research or policy: Encouraging engagement and enjoyment in education and promoting physical exercise are key intervention targets. Ensuring access to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medication and support is important, especially if this is managed jointly across school and home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighbourhood-level economic inequality is thought to have important implications for social, political, and economic attitudes and behaviours. However, due to a lack of available data, to date it has been impossible to investigate how inequality varies across neighbourhoods in the UK. In this paper, I develop a novel measure of within-neighbourhood inequality in the UK by exploiting data on housing values for over 26.6 million addresses – nearly the universe of residential properties in the UK. Across two surveys, I demonstrate that housing value inequality is perceptually-salient – what people see around them in terms of housing discrepancies is associated with their beliefs about inequality. This new measure of local, salient inequality represents a powerful tool with which to investigate both the anatomy of local inequality in the UK, as well as its attitudinal and behavioural consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When researching with or about families in home-based research, there are numerous unexpected ethical issues that can emerge, particularly in qualitative research. This paper is based on reflective accounts of four homed-based research projects, two in the UK and two Australia, which examined ethical dilemmas identified when engaged in home-based research with young children. Using a synergy of ecocultural theory and Foucauldian ideas of Heterotopia as theoretical conceptualisations, the authors employed reflective lenses to guide their approach, and examine dilemmas and complexities when conducting research in the home. We argue that, to address ethical dilemmas, researchers need to problematise and reflect upon the nature of respectful approaches and the ethical implications of their behaviours. We conclude that, although ethical codes are valuable when researching families at home, researchers should plan for and forefront their methodological approaches in ways that are family-centred, whilst also framed by practices that are ethical, respectful and reflective to the situated contexts of family's ecologies and heterotopias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contextualises the political economy of land value capture (LVC) within the shift to an increasingly financialised, rentier-dominated capitalism. Contributing to an emerging dialogue between social constructivist planning literature on performativity in LVC and the critical political economy literature on rents and rentiership, we overview Salford's planning policy trajectory in recent decades in order to highlight how the UK planning system has increasingly been reconfigured as a mechanism to increase land values. In doing so, we explore both Salford's shift to neoliberal planning and its municipal socialist counter-turn in recent years, reflecting on how the centrality of LVC to the latter still leaves it dependent on rentier logics. In doing so, we locate these policy conjunctures within the governance dynamics of Britain's transformation into a rentier economy; wherein the stimulation, disbursement and capture of land values have become central objects of spatio-economic policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient activated rapid response (PARR) services allow patients and family members to escalate care in hospital without agreement by their primary care team. Methods: This paper explores the evidence base for PARR and examines the experience of a sample of patients to identify barriers and opportunities for PARR. These are then used to develop a framework for the measurement of PARR that can be applied to quantify clinical impact and develop new research. Results: The observed number of escalation events by patients and family members is small. Interviews with patients suggested concerns of patients in undermining staff and difficulties to recall the mechanics of escalation during periods of acute illness. The Quadruple aim could be used as a framework to quantify impact: In a functioning PARR system earlier recognition of illness can be facilitated by patients and this should lead to 1. a reduction in cardiac arrests and preventable deaths, 2. timely admission to critical care with shorter (cheaper) length of stay, 3. better patient engagement and Patient Reported Experience measures and 4. flatter hierarchies with higher staff satisfaction. Conclusion: PARR services are in the early stages of implementation. We present a framework to measure improvement of services and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a UK-based group of female postgraduate researchers, the authors explored their experiences during COVID-19 pandemic through multivocal inquiry via a feminist collaborative autoethnographic project. In this paper, we use the Listening Guide as a tool to revisit and (re)analyse data from the aforementioned project, displaying findings in the form of voice poems. In utilising the Listening Guide, we discovered that listening is less of an exercise and more an art form. While the structured approach of the LG helped to enhance our understandings of wider individual experiences of disability and womanhood, identities that all authors inhabit, we were surprised to find that despite our established mutual trust and superficially similar experiences, we were unable to find emotional resonance through data that wasn't our own voice. We also found that the traditional stepped process of the LG that incorporates four listens to the data left our interpretations feeling flat. Through reflexivity and the novel collaborative approach we undertook in this analysis, we identified and implemented an augmentation of the Listening Guide process. In this paper, we propose an additional fifth listen, focusing on emotion, to facilitate a more holistic analysis of voice data. We explore how the fifth listen assisted the (re)construction of individual and collective identities, helping us to reshape our understandings. Finally, we elucidate the positives and pitfalls we experienced in the Listening Guide as a data analysis tool, recommending to other researchers the adoption of an iterative, flexible and reflexive approach in using it during collaborative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on my experience of organising a photovoice project with asylum seekers to outline the ethical dilemmas and rewards of planning and facilitating a participatory, creative research project with a hard-to-reach, potentially vulnerable population. It offers lessons learnt and useful insights for others considering a similar approach to data collection. The photo project was utilised to explore the impact of involvement with community-based social protection on the self-reported wellbeing of asylum seekers in the United Kingdom. It was also designed to test the efficacy of the photovoice research methodology to produce simple, impactful findings useful for researcher, research participant and policymaker, empowering those who have often had little voice in community development to inform policy discussions. The paper is written from the author's perspective, adopting a layered approach that utilises fieldnotes, quotes from project participants, and exhibition attendee feedback to provide a rounded description of the project. It pays particular attention to ethical dilemmas concerning project access, recruitment and communication and the complexity of juggling academic ethical rigour with a community-led approach across cultural and linguistic borders. It highlights how power dynamics can be experienced in the research environment entangled with issues of co-researcher dignity, ownership, and vulnerability. It also details the positive outcomes of the photovoice project in relation to collaborative knowledge creation, empathetic understanding, and advocacy opportunities. The author concludes by offering a summary of the key lessons learnt through the project and their implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The roles digital media-technologies play in raising public issues relating to emerging technologies and their potential for engaging publics with science and policy assessments is a lively field of inquiry in Science and Technology Studies (STS). This paper presents an analysis of controversies over proposals for the large-scale removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CDR). The study combines a digital method (web-querying) with document analysis to map debates about two CDR approaches: bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and afforestation. In the first step, we locate actors using the web to engage with BECCS and afforestation and map their alignments in relation to competing framings of CDR. In a second step, we examine the devices deployed by UK-based actors to evidence and contest the feasibility of BECCS and afforestation. Our analysis shows that policy distinctions between "natural" and "engineered" CDR are used flexibly in practice and do not map neatly onto actor engagement with BECCS and afforestation. We highlight the predominance of cross-cutting techno-economic expertise and argue that framings of CDR as a solution to governing climate change may contribute to public disengagement from climate policy processes. The paper reflects on methods for studying controversies, publics, and issues emerging around processes of technoscientific assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Polish experiences of lived diversities in the UK through the lens of their precarious socio-economic status and ambivalent racial identity. Using the concept of conditional citizenship, the article explores how being only tentatively accepted in British society affects Polish migrants' understandings of British diversity. Drawing on qualitative data from a study of Polish migrants' lived diversities, this paper exposes the repertoires of actions that individuals apply in different social contexts in the process of learning to live with diversity. It advances the academic debate on everyday multiculturalism through an exploration of the relationship between conditional citizenship and lived diversities and contributes to an understanding of migrants' racism by contextualising it within national hierarchies of belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within multi-national research collaborations, power dynamics often shape who is involved in which parts of the research process. The analysis phase of research has historically been framed as requiring expert perspective, excluding national or local researchers whose role is often limited to collecting data and transferring it to others to analyze. In this paper, we describe and reflect on the process of collaborative coding across a multi-national team based in Lebanon and the United Kingdom, as part of a broader approach to co-production. We explore the value and benefit of collaborative coding, reflecting on how coding together enabled greater inclusion, teamwork, improved analysis as well as improved future data collection. We also discuss the technical and logistical challenges we faced in coding within a team and using internet-based software, including the complications involved in navigating power dynamics between researchers and coming to final decisions about codes. Over time, we found collaborative coding became a smoother process, however working in this way is not straight-forward. Our paper contributes a reflexive analysis on the power dynamics and decision-making complexities involved in collaborative coding. It emphasizes the importance of investing in interpersonal relationships over time and prioritizing less-centralized decision-making within research collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current debates about assisted dying and assisted suicide cover a series of medical, legal, moral, ethical and religious aspects. Yet, public views on the subject remain underexplored and, therefore, not always accounted for in the formation of public policy. This paper reports on empirical data from a cross-sectional study in the UK in 2019, which examines public views about the legalisation of assisted dying and assisted suicide, by means of a self-administered Qualtrics-based survey (self-devised vignettes). A combination of simple random and convenience sampling was used. Participants (n = 297) state their preference that both assisted dying and assisted suicide should be legalised in the UK (n = 70%), while doctors should be legally allowed to support such wishes of patients with an incurable and painful illness from which they will die (n = 62.22%). The paper concludes that public opinion needs to be further accounted for in policymaking and discourses regarding patient autonomy and dignity of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topics relating to race and experiences of racism are made visible through literary texts such as Carol Anderson's White Rage and Reni Eddo-Lodge's Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race. This paper examines the ways in which the two texts address historical trajectories of racism and how they suggest these histories should be dealt with in the present, drawing on Michael Rothberg's theory of implication in oppressive and unjust pasts. The paper engages with these notions while also exploring Eddo-Lodge's and Anderson's critique of color-blindness and post-racialism. The two texts provide an opportunity to examine potential avenues for and ways of dealing with legacies of racial inequality; legacies that inevitably persist in the present moment, taking new shapes and forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negotiating the relationships influenced by a combination of identity markers during fieldwork is an important aspect of qualitative data co-creation. Based on ethnographic research with the canal boating and enthusiast communities in the UK, this paper focuses on the mundane power dynamics and hierarchies in research situations. The paper discusses the role of humour in negotiating the interpersonal dynamics and argues for the consideration of power (im)balances in the field beyond assumptions of the researcher as definitely the advantaged side. Joking plays an important role and is used by both research participants and researchers to level the researcher–participant hierarchies as well as to reproduce and reaffirm them. This takes place on a conceptual continuum: first, in terms of their relative rigidity, whereby certain norms, opinions or value systems are reinforced; and secondly, flexibility, whereby the notions about norms and preconceived ideas might shift during the research encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws from a research project that was initiated in 2017 and continued in to 2020. It followed on from previous University-LGBT + community projects (e.g., football versus homophobia 2012–2018) and involved working with a local transgender social group, specifically, their engagement with once-a-month recreational swim sessions. The research findings that are discussed come from sixty-three research participant's 'drawings', three focus groups including a professionally drawn illustration of two of these focus groups, and nine semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the qualitative data demonstrates the significance of play and pleasure, feeling free, and transgender and non-binary imaginations to physical activity participation, and wellbeing. These three themes are presented through the lens of queer/queering and transfeminism. As such, the paper has two aims: to document the experiences of physical activity by an often-excluded group; and to evaluate the concept of queering to an understanding of indoor recreational swimming and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population aging has led to the establishment of Healthcare Real Estate Investment Trusts (HC-REITs) to boost the supply of nursing homes, but these initiatives have met with contrasting success in different countries. This paper bridges two strands of research on financialization, social welfare and the built environment, to explain the uneven geography of HC-REIT development in France, the UK and Japan. It argues that nation-specific processes of nursing home securitization are shaped by the interrelationships between three crucial factors: (i) the regime of retirement income, (ii) public policies dedicated to long-term institutional care and (iii) the power relations between the REITs and care providers themselves. Drawing on discussions with experts in these sectors, the paper demonstrates that liberal welfare states such as the UK have an especially attractive profile for Healthcare REIT investors due to the advanced state of financialized pension reforms, significant state disengagement in the provision of long-term care and REIT-friendly regulations that facilitate investment operations and leases. On the one hand, these tendencies are driving financial investors to satisfy a growing demand for retirement savings in niche markets such as Healthcare REITs. On the other hand, value extraction is being increasingly sought through the capture of care-dependent residents' home equity. By linking social benefit provisioning to later life housing accommodation, this article casts important light on current debates on the political economy of real estate financialization, while also emphasizing the need for continued state support for long-term institutional care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its classical form, ballroom dancing constitutes heterosexual dance couples enacting conservative forms of masculinity and femininity. A normative focus, both in scholarship and in practice, on the classical form in competitive ballroom dancing (also known as Dancesport) excludes the lived narratives of LGBT + dancers practicing the sport outside of the mainstream. Equality Dancesport is one such example, with dancers performing in diverse partnership typologies and adopting less gender-segregated dance roles and movements. Drawing on the photo-elicitation exercise, embedded within in-depth interviews, conducted as part of a broader ethnographic study on the equality Dancesport scene in the United Kingdom, I demonstrate how the strategy informed a ground-up emergence of a queer theoretical framework for understanding masculinities and femininities across the sex, gender and sexuality categorical divides. Four key opportunities afforded by photo elicitation are identified, namely (1) invoking new queer knowledge which blurs the binary divide in how concepts of masculinities and femininities are investigated in existing dance scholarship, (2) facilitating the development of more egalitarian researcher/participant relationships, (3) enabling affective, detailed and fluid narrations of lived experiences of dancing, and (4) positioning interviewees as dance spectators and inspiring reflections on the community. The paper concludes with three recommendations for negotiating the pitfalls of using a photo elicitation technique in dance studies. First, researchers need to recognise the limits of inclusivity offered by photo elicitation and practice sensitivity towards participants. Second, integrating photographs with other visual methods such as videos can enable researchers to leverage the strengths of different visual tools to inspire talk about broader topics. Third, before using the method, researchers need to develop mental strength for coping with negative talk, to achieve more holistic understanding of participants' sentiments and motivations and as a duty of accountability towards them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trauma-informed (T-I) approaches to working with vulnerable people have gained popularity in practice but are rarely used in academic research and little is known about the challenges of conducting a T-I approach to participatory research. This paper reflects on our experiences of a participatory peer research project involving unaccompanied young people seeking asylum (16–25 years) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst the project adhered to a robust ethical framework, it became apparent at an early stage in the empirical phase that our methods needed to acknowledge and accommodate the trauma of those involved in the project much more thoughtfully and effectively than our ethical framework suggested. With this in mind, we set about identifying the key elements of a T-I approach to research and how these might add value to research with vulnerable and marginalised populations. Our model of a T-I approach to peer research is framed around five core principles: working reflectively with those with lived experience; contextualising trauma; nurturing trust; showing care; and empowering those involved in and affected by the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is known that businesses report cybercrime to public authorities at a low rate, and this hinders prevention strategies, there is a lack of research on companies' decisions to report cyber victimisation. This paper analyses the UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey to explore factors associated with cybercrime reporting by businesses. Results indicate that the type of cybercrime is relevant to the reporting decision, and that the likelihood of reporting increases when cybersecurity incidents generate negative impacts and when the company places high priority on cybersecurity. However, we find no association between having cybersecurity insurance and reporting. Finally, while having outsourced cybersecurity management is associated with reporting to anyone outside the organisation but not to public authorities, in-house cybersecurity teams seem more inclined to report to public authorities. Findings are discussed in relation to the role of the private cybersecurity sector and the criminal justice system in combatting cybercrime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector faces multiple challenges linked to increased climate uncertainty, causing severe shocks including increased frequency of extreme weather events, new pest and disease risks, soil degradation, and pre and postharvest food losses. This situation is further exacerbated by geopolitical instability and volatility in energy prices impacting on fertiliser supplies and production costs. Net zero strategies are vital to achieve both food security and address negative environmental impacts. This perspective paper reviews and assesses the most viable options (actions) to achieve net zero with a focus on the arable/livestock and protected cropping sectors in the UK. The methodology was based on a synthesis of relevant literature, coupled with expert opinions using the holistic PESTLE (Political, Environmental, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental) approach to categorise actions, leading to formulation of a roadmap to achieve net zero. The PESTLE analysis indicated that there are technically and economically viable actions available which need to be prioritised depending on the ease of their implementation within the two crop sectors investigated. These actions include (i) policy changes that are better aligned to net zero; (ii) circular economy approaches; (iii) connectivity and accessibility of information; (iv) increased resilience to shocks; (v) changing diets, nutrition and lifestyles; (vi) target setting and attainment; and (vii) farm economics and livelihoods. The outputs can be used by stakeholders and decision makers to inform policy and drive meaningful changes in global food and environmental security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a multi-dimensional analysis of the ways and extent to which the US president and UK prime minister have securitized the Covid-19 pandemic in their public speeches. This assessment rests on, and illustrates the merits of, both an overdue theoretical consolidation of Securitization Theory's (ST) conceptualization of securitizing language, and a new methodological blueprint for the study of 'securitizing semantic repertoire'. Comparing and contrasting the two leaders' respective securitizing semantic repertoires adopted in the early months of the coronavirus outbreak shows that securitizing language, while very limited, has been more intense in the UK, whose repertoire was structured by a biopolitical imperative to 'save lives' in contrast to the US repertoire centred on the 'war' metaphor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]