Breathless and awaiting diagnosis in UK lockdown for COVID-19…We’re stuck

During the COVID-19 pandemic, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 20 adults awaiting a diagnosis for their chronic breathlessness. Three key themes were identified using thematic analysis: (1) de-prioritisation of diagnosis, (2) following UK ‘lockdown’ guidance for the general population but patients fearful they were more at risk, and (3) the impact of lockdown on coping strategies for managing breathlessness. The existing unpredictable pathway to diagnosis for those with chronic breathlessness has been further interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic

Social cohesion and civil law: marriage, divorce and religious courts

This Cardiff University study of religious courts and tribunals across the UK has been funded by the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme. The project, „Social Cohesion and Civil Law: Marriage, Divorce and Religious Courts‟, explores how religious law functions alongside civil law in England and Wales. The context, though not the catalyst, for our study, is the lecture given by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2008 on the relationship between religious law - primarily though not exclusively Islamic – and civil law in England and Wales.1 In that lecture, Rowan Williams sought to bring to a higher level of public debate than the tabloid press to the question of „what it is like to live under more than one (legal) jurisdiction‟ and how (and how far) the civil law of the land should recognise or accommodate a legal pluralism based on religious adherence. Part –perhaps much – of the public outcry which greeted the Archbishop‟s lecture in 2008 reflected a lack of knowledge of how religious courts already operate in this country. Media-hyped fears over the operation of shariah courts were matched with prejudiced comments about the privileging of Jewish courts which have indeed operated in this country for over a hundred years. And no one mentioned that the Roman Catholic Church has handed down decrees of nullity of marriage throughout its history. So our project explores how religious law already functions alongside civil law in England and Wales

Social cohesion and religious law: marriage, divorce and religious courts

This AHRC-funded project, ‘Social Cohesion and Civil Law: Marriage, Divorce and Religious Courts’, explored how religious law functions alongside civil law in the area of marriage and divorce. It examined the workings of three religious courts in detail: a Jewish Beth Din; a matrimonial tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church; and a Muslim “Shariah Council”). The project asked ‘What is the legal status of these courts?’ and ‘How do they operate in relation to marriage, divorce and remarriage?

Britain's religious tribunals: 'joint governance' in practice

In recent years, there have been a number of moral panics in Western societies about the existence of religious courts and tribunals in general and Shariah law in particular. In England and Wales, these concerns came to the fore following the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 2008 lecture on ‘Civil Law and Religious Law in England’. In that lecture, the Archbishop drew upon the work of the Canadian scholar Ayelet Shachar endorsing her concept of ‘transformative accommodation’. In this article, we return to the work of Shachar in the light of our recent empirical study which examined the divorce jurisdiction of three religious tribunals in detail: a Jewish Beth Din; a matrimonial tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church; and a Muslim Shariah Council. We suggest that the focus upon Shachar’s concept of ‘transformative accommodation’ by the Archbishop and subsequent commentators is unfortunate given that Shachar actually proposes ‘transformative accommodation’ as just one variant of what she refers to as ‘joint governance’ (albeit her preferred variant). We propose that the concept of ‘joint governance’ and the other variants can be developed in a way that could prove to be more useful than ‘transformative accommodation’

Inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability of the Performance and Fitness (PERF-FIT) test battery for children: a test for motor skill related fitness

Background The Performance and Fitness (PERF-FIT) test battery for children is a recently developed, valid assessment tool for measuring motor skill-related physical fitness in 5 to 12-year-old children living in low-income settings. The aim of this study was to determine: (1) inter-rater reliability and (2) test-retest reliability of the PERF-FIT in children from 3 different countries (Ghana, South Africa and the Netherlands). Method For inter-rater reliability 29 children, (16 boys and 13 girls, 6–10 years) were scored by 2 raters simultaneously. For test–retest reliability 72 children, (33 boys and 39 girls, 5–12 years) performed the test twice, minimally 1 week and maximally 2 weeks apart. Relative and absolute reliability indices were calculated. ANOVA was used to examine differences between the three assessor teams in the three countries. Results The PERF-FIT demonstrated excellent inter-rater reliability (ICC, 0.99) and good test-retest reliability (ICC, ≥ 0.80) for 11 of the 12 tasks, with a poor ICC for the Jumping item, due to low spread in values. A significant difference between first and second test occasion was present on half of the items, but the differences were small (Cohen’s d 0.01–0.17), except for Stepping, Side jump and Bouncing and Catching (Cohen’s d 0.34, 0.41 and 0.33, respectively). Overall, measurement error, Limits of Agreement and Coefficient of Variation had acceptable levels to support clinical use. No systematic dissimilarities in error were found between first and second measurement between the three countries but for one item (Overhead throw). Conclusions The PERF-FIT can reliably measure motor skill related fitness in 5 to 12-year-old children in different settings and help clinicians monitor levels of fundamental motor skills (throwing, bouncing, catching, jumping, hopping and balance), power and agility

Formic acid synthesis using CO₂ as raw material: Techno-economic and environmental evaluation and market potential

The future of carbon dioxide utilisation (CDU) processes, depend on (i) the future demand of synthesised products with CO₂, (ii) the availability of captured and anthropogenic CO₂, (iii) the overall CO₂ not emitted because of the use of the CDU process, and (iv) the economics of the plant. The current work analyses the mentioned statements through different technological, economic and environmental key performance indicators to produce formic acid from CO₂, along with their potential use and penetration in the European context. Formic acid is a well-known chemical that has potential as hydrogen carrier and as fuel for fuel cells. This work utilises process flow modelling, with simulations developed in CHEMCAD, to obtain the energy and mass balances, and the purchase equipment cost of the formic acid plant. Through a financial analysis, with the net present value as selected metric, the price of the tonne of formic acid and of CO₂ are varied to make the CDU project financially feasible. According to our research, the process saves CO₂ emissions when compared to its corresponding conventional process, under specific conditions. The success or effectiveness of the CDU process will also depend on other technologies and/or developments, like the availability of renewable electricity and steam

Britain's religious tribunals: 'joint governance' in practice

In recent years, there have been a number of moral panics in Western societies about the existence of religious courts and tribunals in general and Shariah law in particular. In England and Wales, these concerns came to the fore following the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 2008 lecture on ‘Civil Law and Religious Law in England’. In that lecture, the Archbishop drew upon the work of the Canadian scholar Ayelet Shachar endorsing her concept of ‘transformative accommodation’. In this article, we return to the work of Shachar in the light of our recent empirical study which examined the divorce jurisdiction of three religious tribunals in detail: a Jewish Beth Din; a matrimonial tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church; and a Muslim Shariah Council. We suggest that the focus upon Shachar’s concept of ‘transformative accommodation’ by the Archbishop and subsequent commentators is unfortunate given that Shachar actually proposes ‘transformative accommodation’ as just one variant of what she refers to as ‘joint governance’ (albeit her preferred variant). We propose that the concept of ‘joint governance’ and the other variants can be developed in a way that could prove to be more useful than ‘transformative accommodation’