Exploring Difference or Just Watching the Experts at Work? Interrogating Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in a Cancer Research Setting Using the Work of Jurgen Habermas

Patient and public involvement (PPI) has emerged as a key consideration for organisations delivering health research and has spawned a burgeoning literature in the health and social sciences. The literature makes clear that PPI in health research encompasses a heterogeneous set of practices with levels of participation and involvement ranging from relatively minimal contributions to research processes to actively driving the research agenda. In this paper, we draw on the work of Jurgen Habermas to explore the ways in which PPI was accomplished in a cancer research setting in England. Drawing on ethnographic data with PPI participants and professional researchers, we describe the ways in which the life-world experiences of PPI participants were shaped by the health research system. We argue that PPI in this setting is less about exploring differences with regard to a plurality of expertise and more about simply watching or supporting the professional researchers at work

Pedagogy, curriculum, teaching practices and teacher education in developing countries

This rigorous literature review focused on pedagogy, curriculum, teaching practices and teacher education in developing countries. It aimed to: 1. review existing evidence on the review topic to inform programme design and policy making undertaken by the DFID, other agencies and researchers 2. identify critical evidence gaps to guide the development of future research programme

Participatory epidemiology: the contribution of participatory research to epidemiology

Background: Epidemiology has contributed in many ways to identifying various risk factors for disease and to promoting population health. However, there is a continuing debate about the ability of epidemiology not only to describe, but also to provide results which can be better translated into public health practice. It has been proposed that participatory research approaches be applied to epidemiology as a way to bridge this gap between description and action. A systematic account of what constitutes participatory epidemiology practice has, however, been lacking. Methods: A scoping review was carried out focused on the question of what constitutes participatory approaches to epidemiology for the purpose of demonstrating their potential for advancing epidemiologic research. Relevant databases were searched, including both the published and non-published (grey) literature. The 102 identified sources were analyzed in terms of comparing common epidemiologic approaches to participatory counterparts regarding central aspects of the research process. Exemplary studies applying participatory approaches were examined more closely. Results: A highly diverse, interdisciplinary body of literature was synthesized, resulting in a framework comprised of seven aspects of the research process: research goal, research question, population, context, data synthesis, research management, and dissemination of findings. The framework specifies how participatory approaches not only differ from, but also how they can enhance common approaches in epidemiology. Finally, recommendations for the further development of participatory approaches are given. These include: enhancing data collection, data analysis, and data validation; advancing capacity building for research at the local level; and developing data synthesis. Conclusion: The proposed framework provides a basis for systematically developing the emergent science of participatory epidemiology

Parapatric distribution and sexual competition between two tick species, [i]Amblyomma variegatum[/i] and [i]A. hebraeum[/i] (Acari, Ixodidae), in Mozambique

[b]Background[/b]: [i]Amblyomma variegatum[/i] and [i]A. hebraeum[/i] are two ticks of veterinary and human health importance in south-east Africa. In Zimbabwe they occupy parapatric (marginally overlapping and juxtaposed) distributions. Understanding the mechanisms behind this parapatry is essential for predicting the spatio-temporal dynamics of Amblyomma spp. and the impacts of associated diseases. It has been hypothesized that exclusive competition between these species results from competition at the levels of male signal reception (attraction-aggregation-attachment pheromones) or sexual competition for mates. This hypothesis predicts that the parapatry described in Zimbabwe could also be present in other countries in the region. [br/][b]Methods[/b]: To explore this competitive exclusion hypothesis we conducted field surveys at the two species' range limits in Mozambique to identify areas of sympatry (overlapping areas) and to study potential interactions (communicative and reproductive interference effects) in those areas. At sympatric sites, hetero-specific mating pairs were collected and inter-specific attractiveness/repellent effects acting at long and short distances were assessed by analyzing species co-occurrences on co-infested herds and co-infested hosts.[br/] [b]Results[/b]: Co-occurrences of both species at sampling sites were infrequent and localized in areas where both tick and host densities were low. At sympatric sites, high percentages of individuals of both species shared attachment sites on hosts and inter-specific mating rates were high. Although cross-mating rates were not significantly different for[i] A. variegatum[/i] and [i]A. hebraeum[/i] females, attraction towards hetero-specific males was greater for [i]A. hebraeum[/i] females than for A. variegatum females and we observed small asymmetrical repellent effects between males at attachment sites.[br/][b]Conclusions[/b]: Our observations suggest near-symmetrical reproductive interference between [i]A. variegatum[/i] and [i]A. hebraeum[/i], despite between-species differences in the strength of reproductive isolation barriers acting at the aggregation, fixation and partner contact levels. Theoretical models predict that sexual competition coupled with hybrid inviability, greatly reduces the probability of one species becoming established in an otherwise suitable location when the other species is already established. This mechanism can explain why the parapatric boundary in Mozambique has formed within an area of low tick densities and relatively infrequent host-mediated dispersal events

Digital humanities

Digital technologies continue to entangle themselves more deeply in our everyday lives in various ways; however, two key aspects can be seen as particularly dominant: an increasing recognition of the materiality of the digital and the role of ‘big data’ in controlling—indeed, structuring—us. The emergence of ubiquitous computing in the form of the Internet of Things that connects devices and their users physically within cybernetic networks can be seen through the increasing popularity of wearable devices and ‘smart’ home technologies. Meanwhile, the operations of big data reconfigure human subjects into ‘users’, defined by quantification and shaped by algorithmic processes. Undergoing such datafication, we are interpellated—often voluntarily, occasionally through coercion—into systems that leave us prone to surveillance by corporations, governmental agencies and cybercriminals. Recent macro-events—the crippling cyberattack on the UK’s National Health Service (May 2017), the catastrophic outage of British Airways’ IT infrastructure (May 2017) and the shadowy role played by data mining/analysis companies in the US Presidential Election and Brexit Referendum in the second half of 2016—have demonstrated how vulnerable today’s digital citizens are. This chapter considers seven publications from 2016 that reflect these concerns with materiality and datafication in various ways, first surveying three major essay collections that seek to explore longstanding issues or stimulate new reflections on our immersions within digital culture. Discussion then moves to examine ‘media archaeological’ approaches to computing, in Matthew Kirschenbaum’s literary history of the word processor and Tung-Hui Hu’s prehistory of the cloud—both offering new insights into everyday computational technologies that provoke a reconsideration of our interactions with them. The chapter then turns to quantification, by examining Deborah Lupton’s analysis into the ways in which digital self-tracking has coalesced around the Quantified Self movement, and to the risks to our lives and liberties through the increasing dominance of big data in analysing and controlling social policy interrogated by Cathy O’Neil

Gender influences in Digital Humanities co-authorship networks

PURPOSE: This paper presents a co-authorship study of authors who published in Digital Humanities journals and examines the apparent influence of gender, or more specifically, the quantitatively detectable influence of gender in the networks they form. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This study applied co-authorship network analysis. Data has been collected from three canonical Digital Humanities journals over 52 years (1966–2017) and analysed. FINDINGS: The results are presented as visualised networks and suggest that female scholars in Digital Humanities play more central roles and act as the main bridges of collaborative networks even though overall female authors are fewer in number than male authors in the network. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This is the first co-authorship network study in Digital Humanities to examine the role that gender appears to play in these co-authorship networks using statistical analysis and visualisation