Do the Clothes Make the (Fat) Woman: The Good and Bad of the Plus-Sized Clothing Industry

This paper focuses on the relationship between the “women of size” population and the sector of the fashion industry that aims to serve them. This research intends to determine if the fashion industry truly understands the plus-size audience, or if they are simply forgetting an entire audience. It is important to identify how women of size see themselves personally, as a community, and reflected in mass media as that is where most fashion inspiration is derived. The study encompasses three research methods: interviews with self-identified plus-size women; an ethnographic approach to examining the clothes shopping options of a woman of size in Atlanta, Georgia; and an analysis of the current literature and blogs on this topic. Identifying as a plus-size woman herself, the researcher has an obvious bias and commitment to this area of study. This study is the foundation for future works to be undertaken by the author concerning the plus-size body, public confidence, and breaking the normative taboos of society with the body

Pengaruh Bahasa Ibunda dalam Proses Pembelajaran Bahasa Melayu Murid-Murid India

Penyelidikan ini dijalankan dengan tujuan meneliti pengaruh bahasa ibunda dalam proses pembelajaran bahasa Melayu murid-murid India di Pekan Buntung, Perak Darul Ridzuan. Kajian ditadbir ke atas sejumlah 180 murid tahun enam di SRJK(T) Sg. Pari dan SRJK(T) Methodist, Buntung, Perak Darul Ridzuan. Kajian ini menggunakan karangan murid-murid yang ditulis dalam situasi pembelajaran formal, pertuturan bahasa Melayu di dalam kelas dan jawapan-jawapan kepada soal selidik yang diberi di penghujung sesi kajian. Dapatan tentang analisis kandungan ke atas karangan murid yang dihasilkan dalam proses pembelajaran secara formal menunjukkan bahawa proses penggantian fonem vokal bahasa Melayu dalam aspek leksikal paling banyak dipengaruhi oleh bahasa ibunda. Dalam aspek ayat, pengaruh tersebut diwakili oleh binaan ayat penyata. Pengaruh seperti pemindahan bahasa ibunda paling ketara dalam aspek kata dasar yang menerima pengaruh bunyi vokal dan konsonan bahasa Tamil. Selanjutnya, pemerhatian ke atas aspek pertuturan bahasa Melayu murid-murid membuktikan bahasa memanjangkan bunyi vokal dalam kata pinjaman kerap terdapat pada kata dasar. Di samping itu fenomenon percampuran kod bahasa Melayu-Tamil terutama yang terdiri daripada jenis Ayat Penyata turut dikesan. Dalam proses pembelajaran secara tidak formal tinjauan telah dilakukan berdasarkan soal selidik. Dapatan soal selidik menunjukkan bahawa unsur ekstralinguistik bahasa ibunda yang paling dominan ialah sikap terhadap bahasa ibunda. Dengan kata lain, sikap terhadap bahasa ibunda sangat kukuh di kalangan pengguna menganggap bahasa ibunda perlu digunakan selalu

Enabling access to affordable credit for social housing residents

This research report explores the dynamics and impact of the affordable loans project organised by the Affinity Sutton Group (ASG) in order to enable its residents nationwide to access credit through Places for People Financial Services (PfP)

Borrowing from a Credit Union: Messages from Members

The paper summarises survey and focus group data from two large credit unions on the member experience with borrowing from their credit unions. It also includes mini-case studies on the initiatives and practices of five other credit unions who have been notably successful in getting loans out to members

ELVIS: Entertainment-led video summaries

© ACM, 2010. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications, 6(3): Article no. 17 (2010) http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1823746.1823751Video summaries present the user with a condensed and succinct representation of the content of a video stream. Usually this is achieved by attaching degrees of importance to low-level image, audio and text features. However, video content elicits strong and measurable physiological responses in the user, which are potentially rich indicators of what video content is memorable to or emotionally engaging for an individual user. This article proposes a technique that exploits such physiological responses to a given video stream by a given user to produce Entertainment-Led VIdeo Summaries (ELVIS). ELVIS is made up of five analysis phases which correspond to the analyses of five physiological response measures: electro-dermal response (EDR), heart rate (HR), blood volume pulse (BVP), respiration rate (RR), and respiration amplitude (RA). Through these analyses, the temporal locations of the most entertaining video subsegments, as they occur within the video stream as a whole, are automatically identified. The effectiveness of the ELVIS technique is verified through a statistical analysis of data collected during a set of user trials. Our results show that ELVIS is more consistent than RANDOM, EDR, HR, BVP, RR and RA selections in identifying the most entertaining video subsegments for content in the comedy, horror/comedy, and horror genres. Subjective user reports also reveal that ELVIS video summaries are comparatively easy to understand, enjoyable, and informative

The DWP CUEP Review

The Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) commissioned the Research Unit for Financial Inclusion at Liverpool John Moores University to undertake this independent academic research study into credit union experience of the Credit Union Expansion Project (CUEP)

The Credit Union Difference

The credit union difference is in part reflected in its social impact. This report enables credit unions to identify, measure and report on their social impact with members and in society at large

A Manual of Credit Union Governance

Acest manual a fost elaborat din dorința de a deveni un instrument util în educarea directorilor, a personalului angajat, a colaboratorilor și a membrilor caselor de ajutor reciproc(C.A.R.) din România și a uniunilor de credit din Marea Britanie.Acest manual este un produs intelectual ca parte a programului „Finanțarea financiară pentru incluziune socială”, finanțat prin programul Erasmus + în cadrul inițiativei „Cooperare pentru inovare și schimb de bune practici”și, în mod specific, în cadrul măsurii „Parteneriate strategice pentru educația adulților”

The Irish Credit Union Business Model: Is it still fit for purpose?

By any objective standard, the credit union movement in Ireland achieved amazing success during the first four decades after its founding in the 1950s. In the years since, however, it has been in gradual but on-going decline. Despite their current financial strength, credit unions must substantially change how they do business, or their long-term future is in doubt. The objective of this research paper is to explore the reasons for this decline and to prompt discussion and debate by credit unions and their stakeholders on how that decline can be reversed

Occupational therapists’ views of using a virtual reality interior design application within the pre-discharge home visit process

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background: A key role of Occupational Therapists (OTs) is to carry out pre-discharge home visits (PHV) and propose appropriate adaptations to the home environment, to enable patients to function independently after hospital-home discharge. However, research shows that more than 50% of specialist equipment installed as part of home adaptations is not used by patients. A key reason for this is that decisions about home adaptations are often made without adequate collaboration and consultation with the patient. Consequently, there is an urgent need to seek out new and innovative uses of technology to facilitate patient/practitioner collaboration, engagement and shared decision making in the PHV process. Virtual reality interior design applications (VRIDAs) primarily allow users to simulate the home environment and visualise changes prior to implementing them. Customised VRIDAs, which also model specialist occupational therapy equipment, could become a valuable tool to facilitate improved patient/practitioner collaboration if developed effectively and integrated into the PHV process. Objective: To explore the perceptions of occupational therapists with regards to using VRIDAs as an assistive tool within the PHV process. Methods: Task-oriented interactive usability sessions, utilising the think-aloud protocol and subsequent semi-structured interviews were carried out with seven Occupational Therapists who possessed significant experience across a range of clinical settings. Template analysis was carried out on the think-aloud and interview data. Analysis was both inductive and driven by theory, centring around the parameters that impact upon the acceptance, adoption and use of this technology in practice as indicated by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Results: OTs’ perceptions were identified relating to three core themes: (1) perceived usefulness (PU), (2) perceived ease of use (PEoU), and (3) actual use (AU). Regarding PU, OTs believed VRIDAs had promising potential to increase understanding, enrich communications and patient involvement, and improved patient/practitioner shared understanding. However, it was unlikely that VRIDAs would be suitable for use with cognitively impaired patients. For PEoU, all OTs were able to use the software and complete the tasks successfully, however, participants noted numerous specialist equipment items that could be added to the furniture library. AU perceptions were positive regarding use of the application across a range of clinical settings including children/young adults, long-term conditions, neurology, older adults, and social services. However, some “fine tuning” may be necessary if the application is to be optimally used in practice. Conclusions: Participants perceived the use of VRIDAs in practice would enhance levels of patient/practitioner collaboration and provide a much needed mechanism via which patients are empowered to become more equal partners in decisions made about their care. Further research is needed to explore patient perceptions of VRIDAs, to make necessary customisations accordingly, and to explore deployment of the application in a collaborative patient/practitioner-based context