“You always think about what other people be thinking”: Black men and barriers to cycling in London

The climate crisis and coronavirus pandemic have highlighted the need and potential to increase cycling, alongside inequalities in current cycling levels. In London, UK, groups including women, ethnic minority communities, and disabled people are under-represented. While gender-based marginalisation within cycling is more widely discussed, racial exclusions remain under-researched, and no other study focuses on experiences of cycling among Black men. This small qualitative study recruited Black male Londoners, a group whose cycling rates remain low compared to White males, although they have relatively high cycling potential and expressed demand for cycling. Speaking to Black men who cycle at least occasionally, it explored their experiences of and feelings about cycling, and the barriers that prevent them from cycling more. The analysis identifies barriers associated with direct discrimination or marginalisation, and barriers more connected to London's wider structural inequalities in areas such as employment, poverty, and housing. Among the former are racism, stop and search, and lack of visual representation; among the latter are access to infrastructure, secure parking, and the Cycle to Work scheme. Some interviewees suggest a Black cycling eco-system is needed to address a problematic dynamic of invisibility/visibility among Black men with respect to cycling

The role of ethnicity in consumer evaluation of services : a study of retail banking in the UK

Research looking at ethnicity and aspects of consumer financial behaviour in the UK suggests that ethnicity is overlooked among bank marketers, hence ignoring the potential marketing opportunities posed by the continuing existence of ethnic groups in the market place. This study aimed to understand the role played by ethnicity in shaping consumers' perceptions of service in the context of retail banking. This study employed a qualitative exploratory approach, and adopted an interpretative and subjective stance with emphasis on meaning and experience. Data were collected from 30 individuals via in-depth ethnographic and phenomenological interviews over a two-stage process looking at ethnicity and services evaluation respectively. The interest here was to develop a description of the context in which ethnicity takes place, and to see how these meanings may come together to influence a consumption experience (services evaluation). The data were analysed by seeking and identifying common themes, to develop a description of how the phenomena (ethnicity and service evaluation) are experienced by informants and to determine the interrelationships between the concept of ethnicity and services evaluation. The empirical evidence showed that the meanings associated with the concept of ethnicity for the informants of this study centred on three major elements of identity, culture and perceived discrimination and prejudice. These elements were further operationalised as an ethnic experience script that customers brought to the service encounter. The ethnic experience script formed one of the bases for the perception of service, especially when there was a service failure. The perception of service was tied to the script, in that, the script largely determined which of a respondent's previous experiences gained from being a member of an ethnic group and not of the service per se was relevant in judging the service encounter. This thesis argues against the assumption made in the service evaluation literature that standards used as references by consumers are mostly bound to the knowledge relating the specific service category with which the customer is involved. This study's contribution is that there are other contextual knowledge representations (information not necessarily gained/tied to the existing service). One example is the ethnic experience script, which influences perceptions of service in addition to the traditionally modelled antecedents (for example in comparison with norms). A key research implication that arises for this study is that understanding the role of ethnicity in service evaluation requires knowledge, not only of the attributes of a service. But also, the psychological and experientially determined ways by which ethnicity may shape the perception and interpretation of a service experience

How Do Social Media Discourses Shape Gendered Stereotypes of Women in Entrepreneurship?

This project uses content analysis from ten various Instagram pages from women entrepreneurs. The analysis highlights what linguistic choices women entrepreneurs use in their social media captions. The captions are also classified based on their framing of women entrepreneurship. Recent studies on women entrepreneurship has found that the Meso/Macro environment plays a role in the growth and development of women entrepreneurs. Taking an analytical gaze on these linguistic choices may open a space to understand the gendering stereotypes of women in entrepreneurship. Additionally, may reveal the gender sub-text that exists in the lingustic choices of women entrepreneurs

Photoperiod, adrenal corticosterone and the development of avian glaucoma

Three hundred and fifty Rhode Island Red cockerels were maintained under three lighting conditions from day one after hatching to 10 weeks of age to investigate the possible relationships between photoperiod, avian glaucoma and adrenal function. Other parameters studied included body, comb, testicular and thyroid weights. The lighting treatments included (1) diurnal light/dark or 12L:12D, (2) continuous light or 24L:0D, and (3) continuous dark or 0L:24D. Both 24L:0D and 0L:24D conditions significantly increased avian eyeball weight, adrenal weight and plasma content of corticosterone compared with the 12L:12D regimen (P \u3e 0.05). There was a highly significant reduction in eye depth (P \u3c 0.01) when birds were raised under continuous light or continuous darkness. A non-significant reduction in thyroid weight was produced by keeping chicks under total illumination and also under 24 hours of darkness. Constant light greatly enhanced testicular growth while the continuous absence of light drastically reduced testes weight in comparison with testicular growth under alternating light and dark. Body weight, comb weight, and intraocular pressure were not significantly affected by any of the treatments. At least two peaks of plasma corticosterone were seen under each treatment, but the corticosterone diurnal rhythm was not disturbed even though the levels of the hormone were increased significantly (P \u3c 0.05) by the absence of an alternating light and dark treatment

GED diploma graduates: Performance, persistence, and attrition in four -year postsecondary education institutions

Individuals who pass the General Educational Development (GED) exam often pursue higher education. Although GED diploma students tend to enroll in two-year colleges, an increasing number are enrolling in four-year postsecondary education institutions. GED diploma college students are characterized as nontraditional students and usually possess risk factors that impede academic performance and cause attrition. Collective data and analysis of their academic performance and persistence and attrition behavior is needed to determine their success in attaining a bachelor\u27s degree.;The purpose of this study was to analyze the academic performance and persistence and attrition behavior of GED diploma undergraduates who applied directly to Virginia\u27s public, four-year postsecondary education institutions fall 1993 and fall 1994. Data on demographic factors, first-year grade point average, and persistence and attrition behavior for Virginia GED undergraduates and a national sample of nontraditional undergraduates were analyzed and comparisons were conducted within the groups and between the groups.;Statistical tests were used to determine if relationships existed between gender and academic performance and gender and graduation. Multiple regression was utilized to determine if relationship existed between demographic variables and GPA. Discriminant analysis was used to classify first-year dropouts and six-year graduates.;Comparatively, GED diploma undergraduates do not perform as well as other nontraditional undergraduates. GED diploma undergraduates who complete more credit hours in their first-year can earn satisfactory grades and are likely to persist to a second year. Female GED undergraduates should be expected to earn higher GPAs than their male counterparts. Older GED undergraduates are more likely to achieve higher GPAs and accumulate more credit hours than younger GED undergraduates. The majority of GED undergraduates who enroll directly in four-year degree programs drop out in their first year and over time and subsequently, do not earn a bachelor\u27s degree

Assessment and Management of Articulation and Phonological Disorders in School Children in Ghana

Thirty regular school children with functional articulation and phonological disorders, aged 7; 0 to 17; 11, were involved in the study. They were screened for speech defects from selected schools in the Kumasi metropolis. Effects of maturation were controlled for by the inclusion of only children of seven years and above who had reached their limit for spontaneous acquisition of phonemes by adult standards. The study investigated the children's age versus their school grades, their class performance, the emergence of their speech and language milestones, differences in their speech mechanisms, the intelligibility of their speech and the treatment outcome. The result indicated a sex ratio of 1:6.5 females to males. Only 10% of the children were in their normal school grade level while 90% were in various grade levels below the normal. Fifty percent were rated as below average, 46.7% as average and 3.3% as below average. Considering the time for speech and language acquisition, 63.3% were considered normal while the rest were considered delayed. While 50% had “normal” tongue, 16.7% had ankyloglossia, 30% had limited tongue movement and 3.3% had macroglossia. However these tongue differences were considered insignificant due to the adequacy of the tongue structure in its performance. Twenty percent sounded hypernasal but correction of their misarticulations solved their problems. Baseline intelligibility rates were: moderate-30%; moderate- severe 30%, and severe-40%. Therapy gains were 90-100% for 73.3% of the children; 70-80% for 20% of them and 50-60% for 6.7% of the rest. By these gains, the children had improved skills for effective communication, a great sense of pride and confidence and a fully active social life. Keywords: Articulation disorders, phonological disorders, phonemes, intelligibility. Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 28 (2) 2008: pp. 19-2