Effective communication to improve udder health: can social science help?

Improved udder health requires consistent application of appropriate management practices by those involved in managing dairy herds and the milking process. Designing effective communication requires that we understand why dairy herd managers behave in the way they do and also how the means of communication can be used both to inform and to influence. Social sciences- ranging from economics to anthropology - have been used to shed light on the behaviour of those who manage farm animals. Communication science tells us that influencing behaviour is not simply a question of „getting the message across‟ but of addressing the complex of factors that influence an individual‟s behavioural decisions. A review of recent studies in the animal health literature shows that different social science frameworks and methodologies offer complementary insights into livestock managers‟ behaviour but that the diversity of conceptual and methodological frameworks presents a challenge for animal health practitioners and policy makers who seek to make sense of the findings – and for researchers looking for helpful starting points. Data from a recent study in England illustrate the potential of „home-made‟ conceptual frameworks to help unravel the complexity of farmer behaviour. At the same time, though, the data indicate the difficulties facing those designing communication strategies in a context where farmers believe strongly that they are already doing all they can reasonably be expected to do to minimise animal health risks

Adapting to new challenges: extension theory and practice for the 21st century

Twenty first century challenges facing agriculture include climate change, threats to food security for a growing population and downward economic pressures on rural livelihoods. Addressing these challenges will require innovation in extension theory, policy and education, at a time when the dominance of the state in the provision of knowledge and information services to farmers and rural entrepreneurs continues to decline. This paper suggests that extension theory is catching up with and helping us to understand innovative extension practice, and therefore provides a platform for improving rural development policies and strategies. Innovation is now less likely to be spoken of as something to be passed on to farmers, than as a continuing process of creativity and adaptation that can be nurtured and sustained. Innovation systems and innovation platforms are concepts that recognise the multiple factors that lead to farmers’ developing, adapting and applying new ideas and the importance of linking all actors in the value chain to ensure producers can access appropriate information and advice for decision making at all stages in the production process. Concepts of social learning, group development and solidarity, social capital, collective action and empowerment all help to explain and therefore to apply more effectively group extension approaches in building confidence and sustaining innovation. A challenge facing educators is to ensure the curricula for aspiring extension professionals in our higher education institutions are regularly reviewed and keep up with current and future developments in theory, policy and practice

Let's Get Organised: Practicing and Valuing Scientific Work Inside and Outside the Laboratory

Over the past thirty years there has been a significant turn towards practice and away from institutions in sociological frameworks for understanding science. This new emphasis on studying \'science in action\' (Latour 1987) and \'epistemic cultures\' (Knorr Cetina 1999) has not been shared by academic and policy literatures on the problem of women and science, which have focused on the marginalisation and under-representation of women in science careers and academic institutions. In this paper we draw on elements of both these approaches to think about epistemic communities as simultaneously practical and organisational. We argue that an understanding of organisational structures is missing in science studies, and that studies of the under-representation of women lack attention to the detail of how scientific work is done in practice. Both are necessary to understand the gendering of science work. Our arguments are based on findings of a qualitative study of bioscience researchers in a British university. Conducted as part of a European project on knowledge production, institutions and gender the UK study involved interviews, focus groups and participant observation in two laboratories. Drawing on extracts from our data we look first at laboratories as relatively unhierarchical communities of practice. We go on to show the ways in which institutional forces, particularly contractual insecurity and the linear career, work to reproduce patterns of gendered inequality. Finally, we analyse how these patterns shape the gendered value and performance of \'housekeeping work\' in the laboratory.Women, Science, Laboratory, Epistemic Community, Organisation, Value, Work, Career, Housekeeping

Dissemination pathways for RNR research

This document discusses ways to disseminate research outputs. Choice of pathways and of how to use them will depend on the nature of the outputs, the characteristics of the potential users and the capacities of in-country collaborators and institutions

Supporting wellbeing in school

DApp Ed PsyResilience research suggests that supportive school environments can positively impact on the ecological systems within which children and young people develop, with a particular focus on their wellbeing. Taking this idea to a broader, systemic perspective, literature also suggests for children and young people to enhance feelings of wellbeing, it is extremely important that staff working within our schools are supported in meeting their own basic needs. Self Determination Theory (SDT) emphasises the importance of satisfying three basic psychological needs for life long psychological growth and wellbeing: Autonomy, Relatedness and Competence. The ideas presented within these three papers are relevant in today’s society where the level of wellbeing experienced by individuals can impact on staff attrition rates within our schools, as well as academic success and positive life opportunities for children and young people. Chapter 1 – The Systematic Review focuses on the impact of non-parental mentors used within schools in building resilience and enhancing feelings of wellbeing for children and young people. A quantitative approach was taken to synthesise the findings from six papers. The papers suggest those who demonstrated greater gains in terms of their resilience related outcomes had positively connected relationships with their mentors. However, outcome measures used within these papers varied greatly. Chapter 2 – The Bridging Document describes the journey from the systematic review to the empirical research. My ontological and epistemological positions are considered in relation to how they shaped my methodology and chosen methods. The importance of ethical practice, including being a reflexive practitioner is also described within this chapter. Chapter 3 – The Empirical Research follows on from the systematic review which highlighted a gap in applying one theoretical perspective to an understanding of wellbeing within schools. It indicated the wellbeing of children and young people can be influenced by the wellbeing of those who care for them. Five participants from two schools, took part in reflective discussions with a partner, over a six week period, before in depth reflective interviews were conducted. A theory driven analysis was applied to identify how the psychological needs suggested within SDT might be met through reflective discussion with a relatively close and connected partner; their associated feelings of wellbeing were also explored. Findings suggest that reflective discussions with a focus on the exploration of psychological needs, detailed within SDT, can support positive feelings of wellbeing among school staff. Implications for how this might be used in school, in addition to the role for Educational Psychology are explored. As this was conducted on a small scale, it highlighted the importance of conducting similar research with a wider range of staff in schools to allow generalisations to be made

Compassion without compensation :the novelists and Baron Bramwell

PhD ThesisMy purpose in this thesis is to explore the work of Nineteenth Century Condition of England novelists and to identify how and to what extent they addressed issues of industrial safety and used their skills to identify problems. I looked at the developing law of negligence over the period 1830-1880 with particular reference to compensation for injured workpeople and to the role played by the common law judiciary. My researches revealed that one judge, Baron Bramwell, carried great influence but used the common law as a tool to prevent injured employees from recovering damages. I identified Charles Dickens, who was acquainted with Bramwell, as the novelist who had the skills and outlets to make the greatest impression in the fight for reform. I consider whether there was any common ground between Dickens and Bramwell and thus seek to use Literature as a comfortable adjunct to Legal History in telling the story of the law’s development over the period in the field of industrial safety and of the search for an humane compensation system

Executive Attention, Action Selection and Attention-Based Learning in Neurally Controlled Autonomous Agents

I describe the design and implementation of an integrated neural architecture, modelled on human executive attention, which is used to control both automatic (reactive) and willed action selection in a simulated robot. The model, based upon Norman and Shallice's supervisory attention system, incorporates important features of human attentional control: selection of an intended task over a more salient automatic task; priming of future tasks that are anticipated; and appropriate levels of persistence of focus of attention. Recognising that attention-based learning, mediated by the limbic system, and the hippocampus in particular, plays an important role in adaptive learning, I extend the Norman and Shallice model, introducing an intrinsic, attention-based learning mechanism that enhances the automaticity of willed actions and reduces future need for attentional effort required for dealing with distractions. These enhanced features support a new level of attentional autonomy in the operation of the simulated robot. Some properties of the model are explored using lesion studies, leading to the identification of a correspondence between the behavioural pathologies of the simulated robot and those seen in human patients suffering dysfunction of executive attention

Exactly solvable interacting two-particle quantum graphs

We construct models of exactly solvable two-particle quantum graphs with certain non-local two-particle interactions, establishing appropriate boundary conditions via suitable self-adjoint realisations of the two-particle Laplacian. Showing compatibility with the Bethe ansatz method, we calculate quantisation conditions in the form of secular equations from which the spectra can be deduced. We compare spectral statistics of some examples to well known results in random matrix theory, analysing the chaotic properties of their classical counterparts