The Nigerian Media Space and the Cost of a Bribe

Despite the existence of the Code of Conduct for Journalists, media practice in Nigeria is marred by the brown envelope syndrome – an unprofessional act which gives the profession a bad name. This conceptual study, The Nigerian Media Space and the Cost of a Bribe investigated the matter using two theoretical frameworks namely, the social responsibility theory and Aristotle’s golden mean theory. The findings revealed that sensationalism and news commercialisation are offshoots of the brown envelope syndrome. It noted love of money, lack of training and conflict as possible causes of the ugly trend. It observed that these unwholesome acts make the media lose capacity to facilitate good governance. Therefore, the study recommended maintenance of professionalism by reporters and remunerating media workers as ways of revamping media practice in Nigeria.  In conclusion, the study called on journalists to shun unethical practices and key into the dynamics of professionalism. Keywords: Bribe, brown, envelope, chequebook, sensationalis

Teacher Professionalism in Uganda: An Outcome of a Myriad of Factors

This study examined primary school teachers’ reasons for choosing teaching as a profession, their current attitudes toward teaching, and the support they receive and obstacles and opportunities they encounter during teaching during their work. A descriptive survey design guided the study. 240 Participants from Eastern Central, and Western regions of Uganda were selected using a non-probability convenience sampling technique. The findings indicate that, the assurance of a job (irrespective of its unattractive salary) was the main reason for joining teacher education colleges. Some teachers have positive attitudes resulting from intrinsic motivation such as regarding teaching as a calling or enjoying working with children while others were extrinsically motivated by the salary and chances for further studies. Poor salary, heavy work-load and low-status accounted for teachers’ negative attitudes. Teachers appreciated the support they get from head teachers but expressed dissatisfaction with the Government’s support services. The main obstacles to teachers’ professional development are insufficient salary and negative attitudes towards teaching. The head teacher’s support (85%) was identified as the biggest opportunity. A detailed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis needs to be done as one of the strategies of promoting teacher professional development.Group C: Teacher Professional Developmen

Highly Selective Fluorimetric Turn-Off Detection of Copper (II) by Two Different Mechanisms in Calix[4]arene-Based Chemosensors and Chemodosimeters

Isoxazolo‐pyrene tethered calix[4]arenes selectively detect copper(II) ions without interference from related perchlorate ions. The fluorescence emission of the probes, synthesised by nitrile oxide alkyne cycloaddition, and characterised by spectroscopic and crystallographic data, is rapidly reduced by Cu(II) ions. Detection limits are in the micromolar or sub‐micromolar range (0.3–3.6 μM) based on a 1 : 1 sensor:analyte interaction. Voltammetric behaviour and 1H NMR data provide new insights into the sensing mechanism which is dependent on the calixarene substitution pattern. When the calixarene lower rim is fully substituted, Cu(II) detection occurs through a traditional chelation mechanism. In contrast, for calixarenes 1,3‐disubstituted on the lower rim, detection takes place through a chemodosimetric redox reaction. The isolation of a calix[4]diquinone from the reaction with excess Cu(ClO4)2 provides confirmation that the sensor–analyte interaction culminates in irreversible sensor oxidation

Improving community support for older people’s needs through commissioning third sector services: a qualitative study

Aim: This exploratory study of commissioning third sector services for older people aimed to explore whether service data was fed back to commissioners and whether this could improve intelligence about the population and hence inform future commissioning decisions. Background: Third sector services are provided through charities and non-profit community organisations, and services that assess and advise people for self-management or provide wellbeing support in the community have developed over recent years. Third sector services have an opportunity to reach vulnerable populations and to provide intelligence about them. Some third sector services are state funded (commissioned) in the United Kingdom (UK). While evidence is available about the commissioning of statutory health and social care, as well as private providers, there is limited evidence about how third sector health services are funded. Methods: Participants were recruited from commissioner organisations and third sector organisations, both with an interest in supporting the independence, self-management and wellbeing of older people. Organisations were recruited from five purposively selected sites within one region of England (East Midlands). Semi-structured interviews explored the relationships between commissioners and providers and the nature of funding arrangements, including co-production. Interviews also explored collection of data within the service and how data was fed back to commissioners. Focus groups were held with older people with the potential to benefit from wellbeing services.Results: Commissioning arrangements were varied, sometimes complex, and often involved co-production with the third sector. Commissioners valued third sector organisations for their engagement with the local community, value for money, outreach services and ability to provide information about the community. Assessing the needs and outcomes of individuals was integral to delivery of support and advice to older people. Diverse approaches were used to assess an individual’s needs and outcomes, although there were concerns that some assessment questionnaires may be too complex for this vulnerable group. Assessment and outcomes data were also used to monitor the service contract and there was potential for the data to be summarised to inform commissioning strategies, but commissioners did not report using assessment data in this way. While the policy context encouraged partnerships with third sector organisations and their involvement in decision-making, the relationship with third sector organisations was not valued within contract arrangements, and may have been made more difficult by the tendering process and the lack of analysis of service data.Conclusion: This exploratory study has demonstrated a diversity of commissioning arrangements for third sector services across one region of England. Most commissioners invited co-production; that is, the commissioners sought input from the third sector while specifying details of the service. Service data, including assessments of needs and outcomes, were reported to commissioners, however commissioners did not appear to use this to full advantage to inform future commissioning decisions. This may indicate a need to improve measurement of needs and outcomes in order to improve the credibility of commissioning process

Identifying excellent coaching practice along the sporting pathway

First paragraph: Recognising that coaches operate within different contexts and with different participant populations is important in determining how coaches work with participants. Identifying examples of excellent coaching practice for each of these populations is a critical step towards enhancing a quality participant pathway and coaching system. The purpose of the project was to identify excellent coaching practice along the participant pathway and identify areas for future research and/or education

Exploring the Global Health and Defence Engagement Interface

Militaries have an important and inevitable role in global health and will interface with existing health systems on deployments. Whilst the primary concern of militaries is not global health, there are clear, and increasingly frequent, circumstances when global health activities align with the interests of defence. Recognising this link between global health and security warrants thoughtful consideration and action where concerns affecting both intersect. In addition to providing medical support to military personnel on operations, advantageous effects can be achieved directly from military medical activities as part of Defence Engagement. Whilst there are limitations and ethical boundaries to the role of militaries in global health, further training, research and conceptual development are warranted to optimise military medical activity at the intersection of security and global health to deliver advantageous effects. This paper forms part of a special issue of BMJ Military Health dedicated to Defence Engagement

Discerning the Role Context Plays in the Value of Information

For the military, effective human-agent teaming requires a shared understanding between the human and the intelligent agents acting on their behalf. One of the central challenges associated with developing this shared understanding originates at the information level. The simple fact is while all information may be created equal, the value of information is not. Confounding this calculation is the knowledge that the true value of information is dependent not only on its source, content and latency, but just as importantly on the context of the situation in which it is being exercised. Building upon previous research aimed at codifying the value of information, this paper presents a multi-facetted experiment meant to discern a Soldier’s value of information within varying military contexts. Initial results reveal that context plays a significant role in how information is valued and more importantly provides a foundation for strengthening human-agent information understanding and collaboration

Evaluating health systems strengthening interventions in low-income and middle-income countries: are we asking the right questions?

In recent years, there have been several calls for rigorous health policy and systems research to inform efforts to strengthen health systems (HS) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including the use of systems thinking concepts in designing and evaluating HS strengthening interventions. The objectives of this paper are to assess recent evaluations of HS strengthening interventions to examine the extent to which they ask a broader set of questions, and provide an appropriately comprehensive assessment of the effects of these interventions across the health system. A review of evaluations conducted in 2009-10 was performed to answer these questions. Out of 106 evaluations, less than half (43%) asked broad research questions to allow for a comprehensive assessment of the intervention's effects across multiple HS building blocks. Only half of the evaluations referred to a conceptual framework to guide their impact assessment. Overall, 24% and 9% conducted process and context evaluations, respectively, to answer the question of whether the intervention worked as intended, and if so, for whom, and under what circumstances. Almost half of the evaluations considered HS impact on one building block, while most interventions were complex targeting two or more building blocks. None incorporated evaluation designs that took into account the characteristics of complex adaptive systems such as non-linearity of effects or interactions between the HS building blocks. While we do not argue that all evaluations should be comprehensive, there is a need for more comprehensive evaluations of the wider range of the intervention's effects, when appropriate. Our findings suggest that the full range of barriers to more comprehensive evaluations need to be examined and, where appropriate, addressed. Possible barriers may include limited capacity, lack of funding, inadequate time frames, lack of demand from both researchers and research funders, or difficulties in undertaking this type of evaluatio