Online platforms of public participation -- a deliberative democracy or a delusion?

Trust and confidence in democratic institutions is at an all-time low. At the same time, many of the complex issues faced by city administrators and politicians remain unresolved. To tackle these concerns, many argue that citizens should, through the use of digital platforms, have greater involvement in decision-making processes. This paper describes research into two such platforms, 'Decide Madrid' and 'Better Reykjavik'. Through the use of interviews, questionnaires, ethnographic observation, and analysis of platform data, the study will determine if these platforms provide greater participation or simply replicate what is already offered by numerous other digital tools. The findings so far suggest that to be successful platforms must take on a form of deliberative democracy, allowing for knowledge co-production and the emergence of collective intelligence. Based on this, we aim to identify key features of sustainable models of online participation.Comment: 8 page

Embedding digital participatory budgeting within local government : motivations, strategies and barriers faced

The challenging task of embedding innovative participatory processes and technologies within local government often falls upon local council officers. Using qualitative data collection and analysis, we investigate the ongoing work of Scottish local councils seeking to run the process of participatory budgeting (PB) within their institution, the use of digital platforms to support this and the challenges faced. In doing so this paper draws on empirical material to support the growing discussion on the dynamics or forces behind embedding. Our analysis shows that formal agreement alone does not make the process a certainty. Local council officers must work as mediators in the transitional space between representative structures and new, innovative ways of working, unsettling the entrenched power dynamics. To do so they must be well trained and well resourced, including the ability to use digital platforms effectively as part of the process. This provides the necessary, accessible, transparent and deliberative space for participation

Breaking new ground: Restorative justice in education and training - Panel session at RJC conference 2021,Tuesday 24/11/21

It was a privilege to introduce this session, particularly as I teach and research in areas of Restorative Justice touched upon in these talks. I’m also on the APPG steering group, and throughout the conference we heard about the work of the APPG particularly in relation to Criminal Justice System. In this session we were seeking to expand this, considering Restorative Work more broadly and the panel of speakers, including Tom Procter-Legg, Rowan Sweeney, and Dr Brian Payne, consider ways in which restorative work is increasingly embedded in educational, training, and policy settings. The questions that the speakers received after their presentations, summarised at the end of the slides, are testament to the importance of these issues and the quality and thought of the work presented

Pedagogic development of a gamified approach to enhancing engagement in interprofessional education

Inter-professional education (IPE) is an integral part of learning for undergraduate healthcare students. From the evidence in the literature about the benefits of linked learning, collaboration between the health professions early in student development can lead to improved patient outcomes. This article reflects on the adoption at Keele University in the United Kingdom (UK), of a novel approach to introducing inter-professional education – with the intention of increasing interest in undergraduate health students across the Health faculty. A card-based scenario game (a ‘Braincept’ game) in the style of a pub quiz introduced elements of gamification, in order to engage students and increase their awareness of various healthcare professionals’ roles and interactions. This article assesses the impact of using gamification elements and outlines pedagogic principles underpinning development of this novel intervention

Basic Volcanic Elements of the Arxan-Chaihe Volcanic Field, Inner Mongolia, NE China

The Arxan-Chaihe Volcanic Field, Inner Mongolia, NE China is a Pleistocene to Recent volcanic field still considered to be active. In this chapter we provide an update of current volcanological research conducted in the last four years to describe the volcanic architecture of the identified vents, their eruptive history and potential volcanic hazards. Here we provide an evidence-based summary of the most common volcanic eruption styles and types the field experienced in its evolution. The volcanic field is strongly controlled by older structural elements of the region. Hence most of the volcanoes of the field are fissure-controlled, fissure-aligned and erupted in Hawaiian to Strombolian-style creating lava spatter and scoria cone cone chains. One of the largest and most complex volcano of the field (Tongxin) experienced a violent phreatomagmatic explosive phase creating a maar in an intra-mountain basin, while the youngest known eruptions formed a triple vent set (Yanshan) that reached violent Strombolian phases and created an extensive ash and lapilli plains in the surrounding areas. This complex vent system also emitted voluminous lava flows that change the landscape by damming fluival networks, providing a volcanological paradise for the recently established Arxan UNESCO GLobal Geopark

Collider constraints on electroweakinos in the presence of a light gravitino

Using the GAMBIT global fitting framework, we constrain the MSSM with an eV-scale gravitino as the lightest supersymmetric particle, and the six electroweakinos (neutralinos and charginos) as the only other light new states. We combine 15 ATLAS and 12 CMS searches at 13 TeV, along with a large collection of ATLAS and CMS measurements of Standard Model signatures. This model, which we refer to as the G~-EWMSSM, exhibits quite varied collider phenomenology due to its many permitted electroweakino production processes and decay modes. Characteristic G~-EWMSSM signal events have two or more Standard Model bosons and missing energy due to the escaping gravitinos. While much of the G~-EWMSSM parameter space is excluded, we find several viable parameter regions that predict phenomenologically rich scenarios with multiple neutralinos and charginos within the kinematic reach of the LHC during Run 3, or the High Luminosity LHC. In particular, we identify scenarios with Higgsino-dominated electroweakinos as light as 140 GeV that are consistent with our combined set of collider searches and measurements. The full set of G~-EWMSSM parameter samples and GAMBIT input files generated for this work is available via Zenodo

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Collider constraints on electroweakinos in the presence of a light gravitino

Using the GAMBIT global fitting framework, we constrain the MSSM with an eV-scale gravitino as the lightest supersymmetric particle, and the six electroweakinos (neutralinos and charginos) as the only other light new states. We combine 15 ATLAS and 12 CMS searches at 13 TeV, along with a large collection of ATLAS and CMS measurements of Standard Model signatures. This model, which we refer to as the G~-EWMSSM, exhibits quite varied collider phenomenology due to its many permitted electroweakino production processes and decay modes. Characteristic G~-EWMSSM signal events have two or more Standard Model bosons and missing energy due to the escaping gravitinos. While much of the G~-EWMSSM parameter space is excluded, we find several viable parameter regions that predict phenomenologically rich scenarios with multiple neutralinos and charginos within the kinematic reach of the LHC during Run 3, or the High Luminosity LHC. In particular, we identify scenarios with Higgsino-dominated electroweakinos as light as 140 GeV that are consistent with our combined set of collider searches and measurements. The full set of G~-EWMSSM parameter samples and GAMBIT input files generated for this work is available via Zenodo

A multi-disciplinary commentary on preclinical research to investigate vascular contributions to dementia

Although dementia research has been dominated by Alzheimer's disease (AD), most dementia in older people is now recognised to be due to mixed pathologies, usually combining vascular and AD brain pathology. Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), which encompasses vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common type of dementia. Models of VCI have been delayed by limited understanding of the underlying aetiology and pathogenesis. This review by a multidisciplinary, diverse (in terms of sex, geography and career stage), cross-institute team provides a perspective on limitations to current VCI models and recommendations for improving translation and reproducibility. We discuss reproducibility, clinical features of VCI and corresponding assessments in models, human pathology, bioinformatics approaches, and data sharing. We offer recommendations for future research, particularly focusing on small vessel disease as a main underpinning disorder

A Multi-disciplinary Commentary on Preclinical Research to investigate Vascular Contributions to Dementia

Although dementia research has been dominated by Alzheimer's disease (AD), most dementia in older people is now recognised to be due to mixed pathologies, usually combining vascular and AD brain pathology. Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), which encompasses vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common type of dementia. Models of VCI have been delayed by limited understanding of the underlying aetiology and pathogenesis. This review by a multidisciplinary, diverse (in terms of sex, geography and career stage), cross-institute team provides a perspective on limitations to current VCI models and recommendations for improving translation and reproducibility. We discuss reproducibility, clinical features of VCI and corresponding assessments in models, human pathology, bioinformatics approaches, and data sharing. We offer recommendations for future research, particularly focusing on small vessel disease as a main underpinning disorder.</p