Marriage, the Law and Pluralism in Ghana

Marriage plays a central role in the conception and idea of family in African societies. As a consequence of the plural legal system in Ghana, there are three types of marriage: Civil, Customary and Islamic. This chapter will examine the impact of pluralism and the extent to which it determines the nature of marriage and its consequences. Notwithstanding this plurality, customary marriages remain the norm with the attendant effects on divorce and intestate succession. Despite some attempts at reform, the law(s) on marriage highlight the tensions between traditional and contemporary conceptions of marriage. The legal regulation of marriage serves to illustrate the limitations of the law, and the challenges this may pose in regard to its recognition and application

Walking Through Literature: Race, Symbolic Capital & Performativity

This first seminar in the series explores the intersection of race within academic literature. It probes into the concept of symbolic capital via examining how identities are racialised and performed for economic imperatives in socio-cultural contexts. The reading interrogates the power dynamics and social constructs that shape these performances, offering a comprehensive understanding of contemporary phenomena. The lecture underscores the importance of acknowledging and challenging prevalent racial mythologies in cultural performative narratives that appear as ‘colourwashed’ artefacts

Post-Activation Potentation of Trunk Rotational Movement on Punch Power Output in Amateur Bozers

This study aimed to investigate the post-activation potentiation (PAP) effect of a woodchop conditioning activity combined with an elastic resistance band on enhancing punching impact power among fifty-three amateur boxers (age = 21.8 ± 4.7 years). The experimental protocol began with a pretest measuring punch impact power for rear hook, cross-punch, and frontal hook. Subsequently, participants underwent a PAP warm-up, which included a woodchop conditioning activity with an elastic resistance band at a moderate intensity, followed by a 7-minute rest interval. A onegroup pretest-posttest design was utilised to assess changes in impact power before and after the intervention. The data revealed that participants exhibited significantly greater punching impact power after completing the PAP protocol (p < .05). However, effect size (d) was trivial (d < 0.20). The data was then stratified into subgroups based on competitive level (Open-class vs. Development) and Resistance Training (RT) experience (Advanced vs. Novice). Results indicated that although significance difference was found in all three punch variations in the Development group, the effect size remained trivial. In contrast, although the Open-class group only showed significance in both the rear hook and frontal hook, the magnitude of the difference between groups was small in all three punch variations (d = 0.2-0.6). Analysing the data based on RT experience, the Novice group reported a significant difference in all punches with trivial effect sizes. Meanwhile, the Advanced group exhibited significance in the rear hook and frontal hook, but no significance in the cross-punch. Nevertheless, all three punches showed small effect sizes. In summary, the findings suggest that when combined with a woodchop conditioning activity and an elastic resistance band, PAP may lead to improvements in punch performance. Coaches and athletes seeking novel approaches to enhance performance may find this information valuable. However, it's important to note that while participants did punch with greater impact post-PAP, those with greater resistance training experience and of higher competitive level should a greater PAP sensitivity. Further research may be needed to explore the practical significance of these findings

The Human Affectome

Over the last decades, the interdisciplinary field of the affective sciences has seen proliferation rather than integration of theoretical perspectives. This is due to differences in metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions about human affective phenomena (what they are and how they work) which, shaped by academic motivations and values, have determined the affective constructs and operationalizations. An assumption on the purpose of affective phenomena can be used as a teleological principle to guide the construction of a common set of metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions—a framework for human affective research. In this capstone paper for the special issue “Towards an Integrated Understanding of the Human Affectome”, we gather the tiered purpose of human affective phenomena to synthesize assumptions that account for human affective phenomena collectively. This teleologically-grounded framework offers a principled agenda and launchpad for both organizing existing perspectives and generating new ones. Ultimately, we hope Human Affectome brings us a step closer to not only an integrated understanding of human affective phenomena, but an integrated field for affective research

Proposing Thematic Mapping for Integrated Risk Communication: A study of British & Japanese perspectives in flood-prone communities

Modern flood risk communication continues to lack the input of different stakeholder levels and as a result, there has been an insufficiency to construct communication that is inclusive of all stakeholders. There is also still an absence of consideration of context-specific information that helps to shape the communication crafting process. This study sought to establish the above through the creation of a thematic map (a visual display based on themes), merging top-down and bottom-up approaches to create a clearer picture of important factors for risk communication within the specific contexts being observed. The research team conducted 16 semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 4 different types of stakeholders at 2 rural sites in the UK and 2 rural sites in Japan. The results outlined five key themes that underpin integrated risk communication, establishing the thematic map – Individual Circumstances, Community Structure, Impact Scale, Response Capacity, and Social Barriers. These findings are important in beginning to help conceptualise how current DRR efforts can be enhanced and in presenting an integrated approach to risk communication that helps to reduce unnecessary complexity and inaccessibility. However, further replications of the study are needed at other sites across the world to test the robustness and adaptability of this kind of modelling

Barriers and facilitators to social prescribing in child and youth mental health: Perspectives from the frontline

There is growing interest in the role of Social Prescribing (SP) to help promote mental wellbeing and support individuals with mental health difficulties. Yet, implementation of SP to children and young people (CYP) has proved slow and underdeveloped compared with adult populations. Understanding the barriers and facilitators will help key stakeholders to better embed SP for CYP into practice. Using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), a comprehensive, theoretical-led framework, underpinned by 33 behaviour change theories and 128 constructs, perceived barriers and facilitators to SP were investigated. The sample comprised of 11 Link Workers and 9 individuals involved in facilitating SP with CYP, who took part in semi-structured interviews. Transcripts were analysed using a deductive thematic analysis, and themes were coded under each theoretical domain. Overall, 33 barriers and facilitators for SP were identified across 12 domains of the TDF. Under capability, barriers and facilitators were found for knowledge, skills, memory/attention/decision making processes, and behavioural regulation. For opportunity, barriers and facilitators were found for social/professional influences, as well as environmental context and resources. Finally, for motivation, domains covered included: beliefs about consequences, beliefs about capabilities, optimism, motivations/goals, reinforcement, and emotions. Findings suggest that a wide range of barriers and facilitators affect the implementation of CYP SP to improve mental health and wellbeing. Interventions which target different domains related to capability, opportunity and motivation should be developed to better facilitate CYP SP

HRM 5.0: Unpacking the Digitalisation of Human Resource Management

Technology has affected almost all organisations in terms of process, procedures, and management and many organisations now seek technologically minded people to run their business at every level. It has also created new realms of employment, such as platform and virtual work, where HRM must play a part if employee wellbeing is to be preserved. This book sheds light on the current reality and future expectations of digital HRM and fills a gap in the existing literature of empirical studies into the forefront of HRM around the world. It will cover topics on algorithmics, artificial intelligence, and digitalisation of HRM practices and will be of great value to academics, international and domestic business organisations, policy makers, and undergraduate and postgraduate students

Identification of A.I. Generated Deep Fake Video by Higher Education Students

The research regarding Deepfakes has been developing at a faster pace as technology to simplify the process becomes more accessible with the use of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). Deepfakes are a part of the Fake News area of interest and, as such, have just as much impact on the current era of the Internet as the other parts that make up Fake News. This paper presents a survey of UK University Computer Science students (n=179) and tests their ability to identify a deepfake video using their mobile phone devices. The results of the survey are able to demonstrate, with statistical significance, that educated university students in the field of Computer Science failed to identify Deepfake videos even when altered to the possibility that one of three videos is Deepfaked. In fact, while being altered, the respondents gave equal red flags to all the videos and those who indicated the correct sequence were statistically less accurate than if the guesses were made randomly. This contributes to an increasing call that educating the masses may not be enough in the fight against Fake News

Original Scientific Research Study: An Investigation into the Physiological Profiles of Muay Thai and the Relationships to Striking Performances

The purpose of this study was to observe and identify the physiological profiles of competitive Muay Thai athletes, to further understand what is required to be successful. Muay Thai bouts are set in differing formats, with timings of 3 x 2 minutes, 3 x 3 minutes or 3 x 5 minutes in duration dependant on weight category, fighter experience and tournament rules, with a 1-minute restorative period in between rounds. 24 Muay Thai fighters (21 males, 3 females; age: 26 years ± 6; stature: 1.75m ± 0.11; body mass: 76.30kg ± 16.22; body fat %: 12.88 ± 3.35), with a minimum of five years Muay Thai training and two years competitive experience (20 bouts ± 5) participated in the study. Participants completed a battery of physiological measurements, along with a series of strike performance measures. Correlation coefficients were used to assess the relationship between strike performance and physiological test performance. All striking performances apart from front hand Jab had a large correlation to pull ups, with back squats demonstrating both large and very large correlations with all strikes performed. Jab, rear hand cross and roundhouse strikes identified large correlations with reactive strength index. Right hook predictor variables are able to predict performance, F(6,17) = 4.754, p=0.005. The R² value (.792) suggests the model can explain 63% of the variance in right hook performance. Analysis of the coefficients showed the predictor variable of relative-bench press had a positive and significant influence on right hook impact power (B=2123.15, t = 2.402, p=0.028). Within the fight camp, fighters should be trained with a mixture of aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, with emphasis on strength and explosive strength