Desistance and Children Critical Reflections from Theory, Research and Practice

The roots of this book lie in conversations about desistance and children in early 2021 that originated following an online event with academics, practitioners and policymakers who energetically critiqued and commented on the relevance and application of desistance theories to youth justice-involved children. While the purpose of the online event was to launch a briefing paper on desistance and youth justice, and thus mark the culmination of the National Association for Youth Justice’s (NAYJ) work on the topic, the discussions led to a number of reflections and questions. What helps children to move away from offending? To what extent is the concept and theorisation of desistance useful to explaining this during childhood and adolescence? Does the application of desistance theories risk problematising rather than normalising children’s behaviour? How is desistance thinking understood, interpreted and implemented in youth justice policy and practice

Experience in a VR cricket game using Brain Computer Interaction (BCI)

This vision paper outlines the necessity to improve the user-experience of Extended Reality (XR) simulations. XR applications use the term 'immersion' to describe the technological factors that lead to an effective user experience and improve user presence [4] [9]. This research aims to improve immersion by user's motion tracking for playing [1] [2] enhanced by EEG signals from Brain especially for the extreme cricket bowling activities. This requires many nuanced controls including motion control. Hence, this empirical research enables mapping of the natural user interface (NUI) in game play [7] along with the Brain Computer Interaction (BCI) [8] to improve immersion. The research application development aims to pipeline a BCI device called 'NeuroConcise' [6] to acquire decision data for additional inputs to the commercial Virtual Reality (VR) Game controls from Meta [3]

Reflections on Identity: Narratives from Educators

The authors are teacher educators working within a university/college collaboration supporting new and existing and staff within post-compulsory education (PCE) to achieve qualified status. The authors have complementary roles; one being the direct support for a cohort of trainees, the other overseeing the programme as a whole. Both of these roles have a single overarching aim, which is to prepare new teachers for their professional roles within PCE. With more than 60 years’ experience between them, the authors are well placed to reflect on the ways in which PCE teachers, and PCE teacher educators take part in the process of teacher education and how this experience informs their professional identities

Child maltreatment and metabolic syndrome in midlife: a life-course approach

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyEvidence suggests that childhood adverse events are associated with an elevated risk of adult diseases in later life. However, there is limited knowledge of child maltreatment (CM) on the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adulthood. This study examined the role of CM and the mechanism through which CM influences the development of MetS in midlife. The National Child Development (NCDS) 1958 British birth cohort study in the UK consists of approximately 18,558 babies born in the same week in March in England, Scotland and Wales. At intervals, the NCDS cohort was followed up from birth to the age of 60 in 2018, and information on CM was prospectively measured at ages 7, 11, and 16 and retrospectively at age 45. Also, research professionals measured information on MetS during the biomedical survey when the cohort members were 45 years old. The association between CM and MetS was examined using suitable statistical methods such as Logistic regression and Structural equation modelling, and estimates were presented as odds ratio (OR) 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and standardised coefficients. The main finding shows an indirect path where smoking fully mediated the effect of all CM measures obtained retrospectively on the risk of MetS. Hence, the knowledge of the mechanism through which CM influences MetS should play a significant role in the prevention of MetS. Further research is required to consolidate these findings further

Roles of e-service in economic development, case study of Nigeria, a lower-middle income country

E-Government activities are still very low in Nigeria, a lower middle-income country, and this is hindering E-Service adoption. E-Service is inextricably linked to E-Government and they will not develop separately, but as one progresses the other moves forward. Having a new technology like E-service opens new opportunities for government, private and public sectors. Despite the fact that the new technology will not be without a hindrance, the overall benefits of using outweigh its lapses. Nigeria has overtaken South Africa as top Africa economy. There is still more to be done in increasing the revenue of the country, reducing the huge external debt owing the World Bank. Furthermore, there is a need to sustain the new status as top economy in Africa. There are many unresolved problems like corruption. This leads to a slow movement of files in offices, embezzlement, election irregularities, and port congestions among others. Adoption of E-Service will help to reduce these problems and increase the revenue base of the country. This study will identify e-Service roles in economic development in Nigeria, a lower middle-income country. The study is based on literature review methodology and recent online survey that shows the level of E-Service awareness and roles. We shall also examine previous conference papers related to this study and necessary recommendations will be suggested and offered to the authority in Nigeria on how best the e-service adoption will add more success to the economic development.RSS 16/4/2025 - article from 2015, not eligible

Challenges and benefits of cat fostering: a focus group study with volunteer cat fosterers in Aotearoa New Zealand

Cat fostering programs play a critical role in managing and supporting the health and wellbeing of stray abandoned or relinquished cats. Most cat fostering programs can only operate with the help of volunteer cat fosterers. Yet, there is comparatively little research on the experiences of cat fosterers. This study aimed to explore the motivations of volunteer cat fosterers, the challenges they experienced in their fostering practice, and what they perceived as the main benefits of cat fostering. We conducted focus group interviews with cat fosterers in Aotearoa New Zealand to answer our research questions. In total, 13 cat fosterers with a range of fostering experience participated in the focus groups. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The primary motivations to become cat fosterers included a general love for animals, wanting an alternative to cat ownership, and the desire to help and make a difference, which was underpinned by altruistic values. Cat fostering is an emotionally challenging role that requires significant time commitment and involves substantial responsibility, which makes it a form of high-stakes volunteerism. Despite the challenges, however, cat fosterers experienced social and emotional benefits along with the satisfaction of making a meaningful impact on their fosters’ lives. These benefits fulfil basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence. The findings have important implications for shelter organizations and for the recruitment, retention, and training of volunteer fosterers.18m embargo https://openpolicyfinder.jisc.ac.uk/id/publication/868

Development of ultrasound inversion methods for characterising features in 3D woven composite materials

There is an increasing interest in the use of 3D woven composites in applications that require improved strength-to-weight ratios. In addition, the use of these structures helps to reduce CO2 emissions. Woven composites offer many benefits including many possible architectures with high ratios of strain to failure. Woven composites are structures made by interlacing some continuous fibres (known as wefts) in one direction and other continuous fibres (known as warps) in a perpendicular direction. In the case of 3D woven composites, the third direction is reinforced by other continuous fibres known as binder. This study deals with the development of ultrasound inversion methods to characterize features in 3D woven composite materials. The study focuses on orthogonal weave-type only. Both theoretical (simulated) and measured data are analysed and used to calculate features such as the warps, wefts, and binder locations. The analytical-signal response, including the definition of three instantaneous parameters, is analysed and their capabilities to calculate the warp, weft and binder locations are demonstrated. These instantaneous parameters are the instantaneous amplitude, phase and frequency. The simulated data is obtained from a 3D time domain Finite Element model whereas the measured data is acquired from scanning a built specimen using an ultrasound immersion tank. The inversion techniques developed in this study can be extended to other 3D woven weave-types

INTED2022 Proceedings

In an effort to respond to the UK's OfS (Office for Students) Gravity Assist review the Digital Learning team at the University of Bedfordshire have been experimenting with ways to improve the experiences of students' academic writing skills as part of an effective digital induction, to support students' transitions into HE (Higher Education), and for our existing student body. A key part of our efforts has focussed upon using a study support service called Studiosity which provides students with feedback on their assessments and academic work. Rather than focusing upon a service which utilises AI for feedback, we opted to utilise a service which provides feedback from a writing assessor. In this way the service mirrors, supports and provides a route for us to better understand our students' writing skills and to determine how we can feed forward and back to students and a multitude of organisational layers within the University which stretch across staff and student groups. Using a DBR (Design Based Research) approach we explore our initial considerations before approaching staff and students with the service, the technical and pedagogical considerations we made before our first engagements, and detail some of our experiences of engaging staff and students in the process of improving their academic writing. We move from these initial considerations to explain how we are engaging with academic and support colleagues within the University, the insights the data provides us about our students writing skills. We conclude the paper by providing an initial version of a potential implementation framework which other colleagues implementing similar schemes can build upon our initial mode to critique and develop their own implementations from. We also examine the possibilities for demonstrating the ways in which we can evidence and explain the ways we and our students think the service is effective. As this is our first iteration of the implementation, this paper also serves the secondary purpose of bracketing and recording our assumptions about our implementation. Our intention is to use this paper to document our initial iteration and we will return to provide an updated version of this paper as a point of reference for our next iteration

Brandalism, Cascina Cuccagna, Milan, Italy.

Wasteland Poster exhbited at Brandalism Exhbjtion, Cascina Cuccagna, Milan, Italy. Can we fight the big companies that induce consumerism, those that pollute the environment, with street-art? This is what the Brandalism project did at COP21 in Paris. Told by a protagonist, with the slogan: “He who kills the climate kills you too, tell him to stop” Brandalism is an anti-advertising campaign. A project that recovers the original spirit of street art, with unauthorized and unsettling interventions, to oppose consumerism and false needs that brands, advertising, advertising and mass media generate daily. Two days before the launch of COP21, the December 2015 , 2015, six hundred posters were installed in outdoor multimedia spaces throughout Paris. Eighty-two artists from nineteen different countries have created works of art to protest against the control exercised by multinationals, to reveal to the public the connections between advertising, the promotion of consumerism and climate change. A complaint about the influence of multinationals in climate negotiations. From 10 to 20 March 2016, a selection consisting of 30 of these six hundred opereworks in total will be on display at Cascina Cuccagna in Milan. The project is carried out by Cascina Cuccagna and Giacimenti Urbani with the collaboration of Terre di Mezzo