Tinker, Tailor: Information Systems and Strategic Development in Knowledge Based SMEs

Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) can experience difficulties in adopting Information Systems (IS) and aligning them with their strategic development. Using the concept of bricolage, an improvisational approach that allows learning from concrete experience, we explore IS adoption and organisational change in two SME case studies. The case studies cover IS rationalisations and innovations and small- and large-scale change over a four year period, and highlight the roles of different actors, internal and external to the SMEs. We find that bricolage is a useful concept as it deals with the need for SMEs to learn about the possibilities of IS in situ, simultaneously exploiting the can-do approach that can be found in many SMEs. However bricolage needs organisation space and the possibility for trust to grow between end users, developers and management as visions are explored and revised

Older people, Social Isolation and Loneliness in Scotland Insights from the Healthy Ageing in Scotland (HAGIS) study

Acknowledging the increasing recognition of social isolation and loneliness as major public health issues, the Scottish Government’s policy document A Connected Scotland (2018) sets out a strategic approach to tackling loneliness through building stronger social connections. The strategy recognises that although that social isolation and loneliness can affect anyone, particular groups of people, including those living alone, those who have been bereaved, and those with socio-economic disadvantage, are among those at increased risk. In seeking to build a Scotland where individuals and communities are more connected, the strategy identifies a series of priorities; empowering communities to build partnerships; promoting positive attitudes and tackling stigma; creating opportunities for people to connect; and supporting infrastructure that fosters connections. This briefing, drawing on initial findings from the Healthy Ageing in Scotland (HAGIS) study (www.hagis.scot), presents headline statistics identified through the data, and demonstrates the significant potential of the project for informing policies in Scotland. The Healthy Ageing in Scotland (HAGIS) study is the first comprehensive cohort study of older people in Scotland. In its pilot phase, the study interviewed over 1,000 people aged 50 or over in Scotland, with permission to link the survey data to administrative data including health (inpatients, day cases, outpatients, A&E and prescriptions), social care (social care census), tax and benefits. Collectively, the study’s data presents a rich source of information has the capacity to inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions aimed at reducing instances of loneliness and isolation among older people in Scotland

Pilot study protocol to inform a future longitudinal study of ageing using linked administrative data: Healthy AGeing in Scotland (HAGIS)

Introduction  Population ageing is a welcome testament to improvements in the social, economic and health circumstances over the life course. However, these successes necessitate that we understand more about the pathways of ageing to plan and cost our health and social care services, to support our ageing population to live healthier for longer and to make adequate provisions for retirement. Longitudinal studies of ageing facilitate such understanding in many countries around the world. Scotland presently does not have a longitudinal study of ageing, despite dramatic increases to its ageing population and its poor health record. Healthy AGeing in Scotland (HAGIS) constitutes the launch of Scotland’s first comprehensive longitudinal study of ageing.  Methods  A sample of 1000 people aged 50+ years will be invited to take part in a household social survey. The innovative sampling procedure used administrative data to identify eligible households. Anonymised survey responses will be linked to administrative data.  Ethics and dissemination  Ethics approval was obtained from the host institution for the study design and from the Public Benefits and Privacy Panel for administrative data linkage. Anonymised survey data will be deposited with the UK Data Service. A subset of survey data, harmonised with other global ageing studies, will be available via the Gateway to Global Aging platform. These data will enable powerful cross-country comparisons across the social, economic and health domains that will be relevant for national and international research.  Research publications from the HAGIS team will be disseminated through journal articles and national and international conferences. The findings will support current and future research and policy debate on ageing populations

How Do Subjective Life Expectancies Compare with Mortality Tables? Similarities and Differences in Three National Samples

Estimates of personal longevity play a vital role in decisions relating to asset accumulation and decumulation. Subjective life expectancy (SLE) is a measure of individuals’ expectation of remaining years of life. Either explicitly or implicitly, it is a key determinant of consumption and savings behaviour, and may be guided by a person’s own health and health behaviours. The Gateway to Global Aging, a platform for the Health and Retirement Study’s (HRS) family of population surveys, provides harmonised longitudinal datasets for many countries, each based on individual survey responses from respondents aged 50 and above. In this paper, we analyse SLE three of these datasets: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), The Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing (TILDA) and Healthy Ageing in Scotland (HAGIS). First, we focus on measurement of SLE, followed by the SLE differential – the discrepancy between SLE and mortality risk indicated by population life tables. One novel finding from our analysis is that the SLE differential is positive for Ireland and is negative for Scotland and England. This difference does not appear to be explained by differences of survey design or population characteristics

Sheffield Submission to the CHiC Ineractive Task: Exploring Digital Cultural Heritage

The Cultural Heritage in CLEF 2013 (CHiC) interactive task focused on acquiring and analysing interactive information retrieval (IIR)behaviour in a Digital Cultural Heritage collection. The University of Sheffield contributed 120 on-line and 20 in-lab participants to this task. The results of both the on-line and in-lab experiments strongly indicate that when faced with a new, unfamiliar collection and an open-ended task, participants will spend more time using the category hierarchy for exploration, than the search box. However, analysis of the the number of items the on-line participants view in detail and then saved to their workspace indicates that the two access methods fulfil different functions. From this we conclude that the categories are seemingly there to support the development of an initial overview over the collection, while the search is used to locate things in a more focused manner

Validation of the Worries Emerging from the Covid-19 Pandemic (WECP) Scale

Background and Objectives: Covid-19 has caused substantial disruption to how we live, work and socialise and has evoked concerns and worries regarding many aspects of life. As the UK was easing Covid-19 restrictions in the period March – May 2021, we devised and validated a Worries Emerging from the Covid-19 Pandemic scale (the WECP scale). Research Design and Methods: We devised 100 items that factor analyses over two rounds of data collection on UK residents reduced to a 14-item scale. The resultant WECP scale captures the following dimensions: worries about the future course of the virus; worries about readjusting to society; feelings of isolation; worries about the continuation or reintroduction of restrictions; worries for family and friends; financial worries and worries regarding the safety and efficacy of Covid vaccines. Results: Scores on our WECP scale are independently predicted by three scales from the peer-reviewed literature: one that captures fear concerning the disease itself, one that captures broader worries around the pandemic and one that measures resilience. WECP scores are lower among older respondents (age 70+) than among younger respondents (age 40-49) and this is largely explained by financial worries and worries regarding the efficacy and risks of the Covid-19 vaccines. Discussion: The WECP scale provides a uniquely insightful measure of the worries experienced by the older UK population as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. It can help identify which groups have been left feeling vulnerable by the pandemic and on which dimensions those groups would profit from support

Validation of the Worries Emerging from the Covid-19 Pandemic (WECP) Scale

Background and Objectives: Covid-19 has caused substantial disruption to how we live, work and socialise and has evoked concerns and worries regarding many aspects of life. As the UK was easing Covid-19 restrictions in the period March – May 2021, we devised and validated a Worries Emerging from the Covid-19 Pandemic scale (the WECP scale). Research Design and Methods: We devised 100 items that factor analyses over two rounds of data collection on UK residents reduced to a 14-item scale. The resultant WECP scale captures the following dimensions: worries about the future course of the virus; worries about readjusting to society; feelings of isolation; worries about the continuation or reintroduction of restrictions; worries for family and friends; financial worries and worries regarding the safety and efficacy of Covid vaccines. Results: Scores on our WECP scale are independently predicted by three scales from the peer-reviewed literature: one that captures fear concerning the disease itself, one that captures broader worries around the pandemic and one that measures resilience. WECP scores are lower among older respondents (age 70+) than among younger respondents (age 40-49) and this is largely explained by financial worries and worries regarding the efficacy and risks of the Covid-19 vaccines. Discussion: The WECP scale provides a uniquely insightful measure of the worries experienced by the older UK population as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. It can help identify which groups have been left feeling vulnerable by the pandemic and on which dimensions those groups would profit from support

Legal Issues for ADRN Users

The guide sets out the legal background to data protection laws in the UK, and offers a broad explanation of the current law relating to data sharing and linkage, as well as a consideration of the implications of the impending EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR). There is also consideration of some non-legal issues surrounding the topic

Heterologous production of the insecticidal pea seed albumin PA1 protein by Pichia pastoris and protein engineering to potentiate aphicidal activity via fusion to snowdrop lectin Galanthus nivalis agglutinin; GNA)

BackgroundNew bioinsecticides with novel modes of action are urgently needed to minimise the environmental and safety hazards associated with the use of synthetic chemical pesticides and to combat growing levels of pesticide resistance. The pea seed albumin PA1b knottin peptide is the only known proteinaceous inhibitor of insect vacuolar adenosine triphosphatase (V-ATPase) rotary proton pumps. Oral toxicity towards insect pests and an absence of activity towards mammals makes Pa1b an attractive candidate for development as a bioinsecticide. The purpose of this study was to investigate if Pichia pastoris could be used to express a functional PA1b peptide and if it’s insecticidal activity could be enhanced via engineering to produce a fusion protein comprising the pea albumin protein fused to the mannose-specific snowdrop lectin (Galanthus nivalis agglutinin; GNA).ResultsWe report the production of a recombinant full-length pea albumin protein (designated PAF) and a fusion protein (PAF/GNA) comprised of PAF fused to the N-terminus of GNA in the yeast Pichia pastoris. PAF was orally toxic to pea (Acyrthosiphon pisum) and peach potato (Myzus persicae) aphids with respective, Day 5 LC50 values of 54 µM and 105 µM derived from dose–response assays. PAF/GNA was significantly more orally toxic as compared to PAF, with LC50 values tenfold (5 µM) and 3.3-fold (32 µM) lower for pea and peach potato aphids, respectively. By contrast, no phenotypic effects were observed for worker bumble bees (Bombus terristrus) fed PAF, GNA or PAF/GNA in acute toxicity assays. Confocal microscopy of pea aphid guts after pulse-chase feeding fluorescently labelled proteins provides evidence that enhanced efficacy of the fusion protein is attributable to localisation and retention of PAF/GNA to the gut epithelium. In contact assays the fusion protein was also found to be significantly more toxic towards A. pisum as compared to PAF, GNA or a combination of the two proteins.ConclusionsOur results suggest that GNA mediated binding to V-type ATPase pumps acts to potentiate the oral and contact aphicidal activity of PAF. This work highlights potential for the future commercial development of plant protein-based bioinsecticides that offer enhanced target specificity as compared to chemical pesticides, and compatibility with integrated pest management strategies