Equations in a consumer culture: mathematical images in advertising

Affect energises the learning and use of mathematics; a key influence comes from the images of mathematics available in society. We sought advertisements containing such ‘images’ (e.g. mathematical expressions, equations or graphs) in 1600 editions of UK newspapers, over two recent three-month periods. We found that 4.7% of editions included a ‘mathematical’ advert, compared with 1.7% found in the pilot for 1994-2003. This supports the idea that mathematical images are being used more in advertising, paralleling the increase observed anecdotally in films. The incidence varied from 8.2% among the ‘quality’ papers, to 2.3% in mid-market, to 0.6% among the ‘populars’, suggesting a correlation with the social class of the readershi

Mathematics in different settings: plenary panel.

When we think about the title “Mathematics in different settings”, a number of questions arise. For example: • How many mathematics are there – one or many? Is there a mathematics that is “prior to”, or independent of, any setting? • What (who) is it that makes settings “different”? And how does this relate to social differences among people? • What is an appropriate typology of different settings – for research or for curriculum design purposes? Relatedly, we might ask: who decides what is “important”? • What is the nature of relations among policy arrangements, research and educational institutional settings? • How are different settings represented in mathematics teaching and assessment? • What is the relationship of mathematics education researchers to any setting

Development of a novel platform for greater situational awareness in the urban military terrain

The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and the more recent war in the Gaza Strip have emphasized the need for novel platforms which provide for greater situational awareness in the urban terrain. Without intelligent systems, which can accurately provide real-time information, collateral damage to property will result, together with unnecessary civilian deaths. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that within the next decade 75% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. This paper outlines the current state of unmanned aerial vehicles throughout the world and presents a novel design of a multiple rotary wing platform which has great potential for both military and civilian application areas

A review of research into business coaching supervision

A systematic search of the coaching literature for original peer-reviewed studies into business coaching supervision yielded seven research reports. Evaluation of these studies showed them to be low in the reporting of methodological rigour. However, as an emerging area of research with great importance for the development of the profession of business coaching these studies provide valuable insights into the functions of supervision and its benefits. Gaps in knowledge and directions for future research are identified. There is a need for future research to be more rigorous in its reporting of methods and analytic procedures, small scale qualitative research that can provide insight into the issues and challenges of coaching supervision in specific contexts, and large scale quantitative research which can provide broader and generalizable understandings into the uses and benefits of supervision

Development and validation of the needs of children questionnaire: An instrument to measure children\u27s self-reported needs in hospital

AIM: To develop and psychometrically test the needs of children questionnaire (NCQ), a new instrument to measure school-aged children\u27s self-reported psychosocial physical and emotional needs in paediatric wards. DESIGN: This is an instrument development study based on recommendations for developing a reliable and valid questionnaire. METHOD: The NCQ was developed over three phases between February 2013-April 2017 and included item generation; content adequacy assessment; questionnaire administration; factor analysis; internal consistency assessment and construct validity. Psychometric properties were assessed after 193 school-aged children completed the needs of children\u27s questionnaire in four paediatric areas in Australia and New Zealand. RESULTS: The development and validation of the NCQ over two countries resulted in a 16-item, four-category tool to measure the self-reported importance and fulfilment of school-aged children\u27s needs in hospital. Cronbach\u27s alpha for the combined samples was 0.93. CONCLUSION: The NCQ bridges a gap to measure the level of importance and fulfilment of school-aged children\u27s self-reported needs in hospital. Future testing and validation is needed in other paediatric areas and countries. IMPACT: The 16-item NCQ is a valid measure to evaluate if the quality of care delivered and received in hospital is in line with what children self-report as important and required and to date indicates good usability and utility. Child self-reports are essential to inform healthcare delivery, policy, research and theory development from a child and family-centred care lens that honours the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the best interests of the child

Emotional self-efficacy, conduct problems, and academic attainment: Developmental cascade effects in early adolescence

The study is amongst the first of its kind to utilise developmental cascade modelling in order to examine the inter-relations between emotional self-efficacy, conduct problems, and attainment in a large, nationally representative sample of English adolescents (n = 2,414, aged 11 years). Using a 3-wave, longitudinal, cross lagged-design, we tested three cascading hypotheses: adjustment erosion, adjustment fortification, and academic incompetence. A fourth hypothesis considered the role of shared risk. Results supported small effects consistent with the cascade hypotheses, and a small but significant effect was found for shared risk. Strengths and limits of the study are considered alongside a discussion of the implications for these findings

A randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of minocycline and/or Omega-3 fatty acids added to treatment as usual for At Risk Mental States (NAYAB): study protocol

Background The At Risk Mental State (ARMS) describes individuals at high risk of developing schizophrenia or psychosis. The use of antipsychotics in this population is not supported because most individuals with ARMS are unlikely to develop psychosis. Anti-inflammatory treatments and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may have some beneficial effects in the treatment of ARMS. There have been no controlled clinical trials that have investigated the use of minocycline for ARMS and no trials involving PUFAs in combination with other proposed treatments. There is a need to find effective, tolerable and inexpensive interventions for ARMS that are available both in high, low and middle-income countries. Methods A six-month intervention study of minocycline and/or Omega-3 fatty acids added to treatment as usual (TAU) in patients with ARMS will be conducted in Pakistan using a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind factorial design. 320 consenting patients with capacity will be recruited from community, general practitioner clinics and psychiatric units. Allowing for a 25% dropout rate, we will recruit 59 completing participants to each study arm, and 236 will complete in total. We will determine whether the addition of minocycline and/or Omega-3 fatty acids to TAU attenuates rate of transition from ARMS to first-episode psychosis and improves symptoms and/or level of functioning in ARMS. We will also investigate whether any candidate risk factors such as negative symptoms, influence treatment response in the ARMS group. The primary efficacy end-point is conversion to psychotic disorder at 12 months post study entry. Analysis will be by intention-to-treat, using analysis-of variance, chi-squared tests and adjusted odds ratios to assess between-group differences. Cox regression analyses will be used to analyse potential between-group differences in time-to-onset of psychosis. Discussion The outcomes of this trial will provide evidence of the potential benefits of minocycline and PUFAs in the treatment of ARMS. Both minocycline and PUFAs are inexpensive are readily available in low/middle-income countries such as Pakistan, and if evidenced, may prove to be safe and effective for treating ARMS

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a physical activity loyalty scheme for behaviour change maintenance: a cluster randomised controlled trial

Abstract Background Increasing physical activity in the workplace can provide employee physical and mental health benefits, and employer economic benefits through reduced absenteeism and increased productivity. The workplace is an opportune setting to encourage habitual activity. However, there is limited evidence on effective behaviour change interventions that lead to maintained physical activity. This study aims to address this gap and help build the necessary evidence base for effective, and cost-effective, workplace interventions. Methods/design This cluster randomised control trial will recruit 776 office-based employees from public sector organisations in Belfast and Lisburn city centres, Northern Ireland. Participants will be randomly allocated by cluster to either the Intervention Group or Control Group (waiting list control). The 6-month intervention consists of rewards (retail vouchers, based on similar principles to high street loyalty cards), feedback and other evidence-based behaviour change techniques. Sensors situated in the vicinity of participating workplaces will promote and monitor minutes of physical activity undertaken by participants. Both groups will complete all outcome measures. The primary outcome is steps per day recorded using a pedometer (Yamax Digiwalker CW-701) for 7 consecutive days at baseline, 6, 12 and 18 months. Secondary outcomes include health, mental wellbeing, quality of life, work absenteeism and presenteeism, and use of healthcare resources. Process measures will assess intervention “dose”, website usage, and intervention fidelity. An economic evaluation will be conducted from the National Health Service, employer and retailer perspective using both a cost-utility and cost-effectiveness framework. The inclusion of a discrete choice experiment will further generate values for a cost-benefit analysis. Participant focus groups will explore who the intervention worked for and why, and interviews with retailers will elucidate their views on the sustainability of a public health focused loyalty card scheme. Discussion The study is designed to maximise the potential for roll-out in similar settings, by engaging the public sector and business community in designing and delivering the intervention. We have developed a sustainable business model using a ‘points’ based loyalty platform, whereby local businesses ‘sponsor’ the incentive (retail vouchers) in return for increased footfall to their business. Trial registration ISRCTN17975376 (Registered 19/09/2014)

Clinical psychologists’ use of reflection and reflective practice within clinical work

Previous research regarding reflective practice has considered the training and development of reflective skills; little attention has been paid to how these are used by clinicians in practice. This study aims to understand how clinical psychologists experience reflection and reflective practice in their day-to-day clinical role. Six practicing clinical psychologists in Singapore were interviewed regarding their experiences. The interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Participants experienced reflection and reflective practice in many ways. Reflection helped the participants understand themselves better and how they personally impacted their work. Reflection helped in understanding and engaging with clients; it was particularly important for the development of the therapeutic relationship, and when cases felt ‘stuck’. Finally, reflection helped participants understand their professional role as clinicians, and maintain professional and ethical standards. Whilst participants valued reflection and could describe the mechanisms they used to reflect, they struggled to define reflective practice and their own process of reflection. In conclusion, participants were able to describe how using reflection and reflective practice within their clinical work benefited them and their clients. Further investigation into this area is required, particularly focusing on the challenging issue of developing a clearer definition of reflective practice