Can political public relations be used as a tool for social integration, with particular reference to the Muslim community in the UK?

Political, social and demographic change has resulted in a search for new techniques for building public trust and reconciling relationships between the Muslim community and others in society. In this study, extremism and social cohesion have been chosen as potential new aims for the PR industry. This study assesses whether political PR can be diverted from its role in spin doctoring towards new cultural and social functions. My argument is that political public relations can be used as a tool for social integration with particular reference to the Muslim community in the UK. This research distinguishes between two issues. The first connects with political PR within a political communication background, which relates to politicians, election campaigns, news management, and their relationship with the media. The second issue is that political PR can be reconsidered from a corporate perspective, one that endorses the use of PR in challenging political environments. My study places emphasis on the second issue. It applies a triangulating methodology based on using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to answer the research questions. A sample of seven UK public relations academics evaluated the current communication policies for their effectiveness, explained how political PR could help, and gave their recommendations. In addition, seven NGOs in Britain described their work, the problems they encountered, and their concerns. A lack of social integration and the continuing rise of extremism were repeatedly explained in terms of stereotyping, marginalisation, and counter-productive techniques. The results suggest that a change in political PR is possible and should be encouraged to intervene in fighting against radicalisation, extremism, and enhancing social cohesion. They also show a lack of PR support for NGOs. More broadly, my findings move the field of inclusivity forward by working on a bottom-up approach instead of a top-down model of communication. The best answer for sustaining long-term community relationships was improved communication and engagement, inclusive messages and campaigns, and the Muslim community remaining open to others in society

Examining the Link Between Domestic Violence Victimization and Loneliness in a Dutch Community Sample: A Comparison Between Victims and Nonvictims by Type D Personality

The current study investigated whether differences in loneliness scores between individuals with a distressed personality type (type D personality) and subjects without such a personality varied by domestic violence victimization. Participants (N = 625) were recruited by random sampling from the Municipal Basic Administration of the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch and were invited to fill out a set of questionnaires on health status. For this study, only ratings for domestic violence victimization, type D personality, feelings of loneliness, and demographics were used. Statistical analyses yielded main effects on loneliness for both type D personality and history of domestic violence victimization. Above and beyond these main effects, their interaction was significantly associated with loneliness as well. However, this result seemed to apply to emotional loneliness in particular. Findings were discussed in light of previous research and study limitations

SPARC 2018 Internationalisation and collaboration : Salford postgraduate annual research conference book of abstracts

Welcome to the Book of Abstracts for the 2018 SPARC conference. This year we not only celebrate the work of our PGRs but also the launch of our Doctoral School, which makes this year’s conference extra special. Once again we have received a tremendous contribution from our postgraduate research community; with over 100 presenters, the conference truly showcases a vibrant PGR community at Salford. These abstracts provide a taster of the research strengths of their works, and provide delegates with a reference point for networking and initiating critical debate. With such wide-ranging topics being showcased, we encourage you to take up this great opportunity to engage with researchers working in different subject areas from your own. To meet global challenges, high impact research inevitably requires interdisciplinary collaboration. This is recognised by all major research funders. Therefore engaging with the work of others and forging collaborations across subject areas is an essential skill for the next generation of researchers

Classification of common basic activities of daily living using a rule-based system

Aged people who live independently require continuous monitoring of their health and activities of daily living in order to be supported by different health services and maintain their health status. This need can be addressed in the home setting, by providing a “health smart home” living environment for them. Using a health smart home approach has many advantages, such as, reducing the cost of health services by minimizing visits to hospitals, improving the quality of life for aged people recovering from illness at home instead of hospital, providing a secure and safe place for aged people who live independently, and routinely monitoring health status and daily activities to assist in improving health life of aged people. To provide such solution, it is required to classify the activities of daily living by using an activity recognition system. The development of sensing technologies that are cheap in price and provide an appropriate level of accuracy has opened the door for a wide range of research in the field of human activity recognition, including health applications. Different types of sensing technologies, modelling approaches and computational methods have been proposed for use in activity recognition systems, some of which are very complex. However, no one system solution has been widely accepted as optimal, providing scope for more investigations and improvements in this very rapidly growing area. The aim of this thesis is to develop a rule-based system to classify the activities of daily living in different hierarchical levels by using a cheap and sufficiently accurate ultrasonic location system (Hexamite19). Moreover, using a simple classification method based on initial application of activity distinguishing rules and then improving these results using finite state machine methods that can provide a high level of accuracy similar or better to previous research. In addition, a comparison of the system performance with existing classification methods is desirable, and in this case a decision-tree method (implemented in Sipina software) was used. To achieve the aims of the thesis, a systematic approach was followed, that included defining the research questions, setting up the experimental facility, selecting wearable sensor technology, collection of data on typical daily activities, development of methods for pre-processing of data followed by windowing, feature extracting, classification and finally the analysis of the rule-based system performance and accuracy. The rule-based system deployed three classification methods (range-based method, backward range-based method and symmetric range-based method). Range-based method deploys only rules, where backward range-based method and symmetric range-based method deploy rules and finite state machine extensions. The difference between backward range-based method and symmetric range-based method is the improvement of classification for undefined activity. System testing accuracy was used to assess the accuracy values of the different hierarchical levels. The rule-based system performance and accuracy was improved by using the finite state machine and the best method was symmetric range-based method for all hierarchical levels, except for the second hierarchical level where the accuracy of the three classification methods was equal. Moreover, it was found that the accuracy range of rule-based system was 83.4%-100%. By comparing the accuracy range of rule-based system with previous research and decision-tree method of Sipina software, it was found that the performance and accuracy of rule-based system were comparable with previous research and better in some cases. By using the decision-tree method of Sipina software, the accuracy range was 74.4%-99.3%. By comparing the accuracy range of rule-based system and decision-tree method of Sipina software, it is obvious that the rule-based system performance and accuracy was better, except for the activities sleep, walk straight and walk curvy. In conclusion, based on the analysis it was found that the rule-based system succeeded in classifying the activities of daily living into hierarchical levels; the finite state machine improved the accuracy of the rule-based system and the rule-based system accuracy was comparable with previous research and better than the decision-tree method of Sipina software (for all activities except for sleep, walk straight and walk curvy). It is therefore claimed that the deployed rule-based system has fulfilled the objectives of providing a robust and computationally inexpensive solution for common home-based activity recognition

Evaluation of Family Planning Counselling in North Jordan

Objectives: Counselling plays a key role in enhancing reproductive services, providing contraception-related information and supporting long-term family planning for women of childbearing age. This study aimed to evaluate family planning counselling sessions in selected governmental and private clinics in northern Jordan. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between January and June 2016 in Irbid, Jordan. A total of 200 women attending two private clinics affiliated with the Jordanian Association for Family Planning and Protection (JAFPP) and six governmental clinics were invited to participate in the study. Counselling sessions were attended by an independent observer and evaluated with regards to their compliance with the standard Greet, Ask, Tell, Help, Explain, Return (GATHER) framework. Results: A total of 198 women participated in the study (response rate: 99.0%), including 80 women (40.4%) from JAFPP clinics and 118 (59.6%) from governmental clinics. In total, 42.9% of the counselling sessions were deemed adequate, with providers applying 80% or more of the GATHER framework, while 26.8% of the sessions were deemed semi-adequate and 30.3% were considered inadequate. Counselling services provided in the governmental clinics were significantly less adequate than those provided in JAFPP clinics (P <0.001). Conclusion: The quality of counselling services in governmental family planning centres in Jordan needs to be improved to ensure that women receive the highest possible level of care. Healthcare policymakers should therefore focus on developing and supporting effective family planning counselling services in northern Jordan

Multi-layered system design for classifying activities of daily living

Our overall aim in this research is to develop a health smart home design that can monitor activities of its occupants. Our design includes three stages: system physical layers and software, fusion of multi-layered data, and classification of activities of daily living. We review prior work, discuss design and implementation issues, and describe our validation approach