MULTIPLE EXPERTS: SCIENTIFIC, MEDICAL, MEDIA AND LAY DISCOURSES ON 'NEW GENETICS'

The significance of public relationships with scientific and medical expertise has increasingly been highlighted as an area of importance in governmental policy formulation and scientific activities. Central to this relationship has been the role of the media, frequently depicted as increasing the strained communications between science, medicine and the public in the present UK 'crisis' of expertise. Sociological research has contributed to our understandings of science, medicine, the media and lay knowledge. The research presented in this thesis correlates these contributions. It focuses on 'new genetics' to elicit the views towards communication and understanding expressed by three groups; media professionals, members of the public and medical and scientific experts. Utilising a range of quantitative and qualitative methods, this research reflects on the relationships and identities created during interactions between these three groups, ignored by prior studies that have frequently focused on one or two participants in such relationships. This thesis contributes to present debates surrounding the role of the media and public, concluding that the present climate for dialogue is a politically motivated, theoretical context, challenged by a lack of practical methods to confront long-held notions of understanding and communication between expertise and lay persons. This offers original insight into the identities members of the media, public and scientific and medical experts create, maintain and displace in their interactions. The 'crisis' in science and trust instead comes 10 represent a manufactured perception of the public and media, which continues to exclude the public from true dialogue with medical and scientific experts and maintains traditional notions of the media as incompetent

All This World Is Full of Mystery : The Fiction of Ellen Douglas.

This dissertation, \u27All This World Is Full of Mystery:\u27 The Fiction of Ellen Douglas, provides an introduction to the life of Ellen Douglas (pen name for Josephine Haxton) and a study of the author\u27s major fiction from A Family\u27s Affairs through Can\u27t Quit You, Baby (1962-1988). The first chapter gives an overview of Douglas\u27s life preceding her first novel, A Family\u27s Affairs, with a focus on those people and events contributing to the themes and structure of her writing. The subsequent chapters trace the development of her craft, discussing in chronological order A Family\u27s Affairs, Black Cloud, White Cloud, Where the Dreams Cross, Apostles of Light, The Rock Cried Out, A Lifetime Burning, and Can\u27t Quit You, Baby. In all these works, mystery permeates narrative, as characters portray human beings\u27 basic inability to understand the forces at play both within and outside themselves. On one level, the writer depicts primarily white, middle class people going about their day-to-day activities. On another level, however, she dislodges readers\u27 perceptions of the norm by using the everyday to reveal how unknowable the events and people one takes for granted really are. Underscoring her stories with myth is one way the author implies the large scope of mystery. She draws on comparative mythology, particularly Joseph Campbell\u27s theory of the monomyth and Heinrich Zimmer\u27s The King and the Corpse, as well as fairy tales and mythic archetypes. She also conveys mystery by manipulating point of view. Irony undermines the validity of the overt story, and she increasingly includes the author as a character to remind the reader of writing\u27s subjectivity. Dreams often lie beyond one\u27s conscious control, and Douglas employs them to emphasize the unknown realms within and outside the individual. Myth, point of view, and dreams all function to underscore the mystery which permeates and transcends human existence in her fiction

How Can Local Governance Systems Strengthen Community Resilience? A Social-Ecological Systems Approach

"At their core, donor-funded climate and disaster resilience programmes provide goods and services to help build assets and minimise the impact of shocks and stresses on people's lives and livelihoods. Little is known, however, about the way local risk governance systems and the broader institutional arrangements, in which they are embedded, mediate people’s access to these services and therefore lead to improved resilience. Drawing on Social-Ecological Systems theory, we explore those characteristics of risk governance systems believed to be more favourable for building resilience at the community level in different developing country contexts. These include: diversity; polycentricism and connectivity; decentralisation and flexibility; participation and community engagement; and, learning and innovation. This review paper proposes a conceptual framework and assesses the evidence linking risk governance and access to the services needed to build resilient outcomes, drawing particularly on evidence from the Sahel and Horn of Africa. In doing so, we can start to understand where the entry points might be for strengthening resilience and the conditions needed for community-level initiatives to be brought to scale from the bottom up." (author's abstract

Technology and Mental Health Counseling

The use of technology in the field of mental health has been an increasing interest of study and utilization in recent years, especially during and after the Covid 19 pandemic in which social distancing practices were encouraged to limit the spread of the virus. During this time, the use of technology for health-related appointments became vital as many offices shut down and/ or had limited in-person access. Furthermore, technology has already been integrated and researched significantly in other areas of the healthcare fields such as psychiatry and nursing. However, there is a lack of understanding of the role of technology in the counseling field, understanding its use, defining what it is, and exploring its outcomes. This paper will highlight the development of technology in counseling and specifically focus on the available types of technology such as virtual reality and augmented reality

Obesity and cardiovascular risk factors: results of a unique approach to NHS health checks

The aim of the study was to evaluate health check data from an inner London borough. Haringey have taken a unique approach to NHS health checks, pairing up with the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation (THF) to offer the health checks outside of traditional GP surgeries. Between March 2014 and July 2015, 3000 health checks were carried out by the THF community health check practitioner at 25 locations in the east of the Borough. The whole group data (n=2254) were analysed, comprising of 23.4% females (50.2±8.0 years) and 76.6% males (49.4±8.0 years). Alcohol consumption in males was significantly greater in the underweight compared to all other BMI groups. The underweight/normal BMI groups had significantly lower total cholesterol levels than the overweight/obese. Blood glucose levels were significantly lower in the underweight compared to overweight/obese. QRISK2 score was significantly lower in normal and underweight compared to overweight/obese males. Blood glucose levels and QRISK2 were significantly greater in the inactive/moderately inactive groups compared to the active groups. Interventions must be sought to address diet and activity in the borough, particularly in the 40–60-year-old age group. Females and the underweight should not be forgotten. Keywords: NHS health check, Cardiovascular disease, Lifestyle risk, Obesit

Research on performance pay for teachers

This report falls into three main sections, in accordance with the project brief. The first provides an overview of current pay arrangements and collective enterprise bargaining agreements for teachers in Australian schools. Within these arrangements, the report gives particular attention to provisions for performance-based pay schemes and to identifying potential impediments to the introduction of performance-based pay for teachers. The second part of the brief called for an overview of recent Australian and international research on the attitudes of stakeholders to performance-based pay schemes for teachers and the impact of these schemes on, for example, teacher retention, improved teaching standards, improved student outcomes and recognition of accomplished teachers. The third part of the brief asked for gaps in the Australian and international evidence base on performance pay to be identified and for suggestions about further research that would be valuable in assessing the value and/or acceptance of performance-based pay for teachers in the Australian context

Climate Change in Northern New Hampshire: Past, Present and Future

EARTH’S CLIMATE CHANGES. It always has and always will. However, an extensive and growing body of scientific evidence indicates that human activities—including the burning of fossil fuel (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy, clearing of forested lands for agriculture, and raising livestock—are now the primary force driving change in the Earth’s climate system. This report describes how the climate of northern New Hampshire has changed over the past century and how the future climate of the region will be affected by a warmer planet due to human activities

Delivery and use of individualised feedback in large class medical teaching

Background: Formative feedback that encourages self-directed learning in large class medical teaching is difficult to deliver. This study describes a new method, blueprinted feedback, and explores learner’s responses to assess its appropriate use within medical science teaching. Methods: Mapping summative assessment items to their relevant learning objectives creates a blueprint which can be used on completion of the assessment to automatically create a list of objectives ranked by the attainment of the individual student. Two surveys targeted medical students in years 1, 2 and 3. The behaviour-based survey was released online several times, with 215 and 22 responses from year 2, and 187, 180 and 21 responses from year 3. The attitude-based survey was interviewer-administered and released once, with 22 responses from year 2 and 3, and 20 responses from year 1. Results: 88-96% of learners viewed the blueprinted feedback report, whilst 39% used the learning objectives to guide further learning. Females were significantly more likely to revisit learning objectives than males (p = 0.012). The most common reason for not continuing learning was a ‘hurdle mentality’ of focusing learning elsewhere once a module had been assessed. Conclusions: Blueprinted feedback contains the key characteristics required for effective feedback so that with further education and support concerning its use, it could become a highly useful tool for the individual and teacher

Climate Change in Southern New Hampshire: Past, Present and Future

EARTH’S CLIMATE CHANGES. It always has and always will. However, an extensive and growing body of scientific evidence indicates that human activities—including the burning of fossil fuel (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy, clearing of forested lands for agriculture, and raising livestock—are now the primary force driving change in the Earth’s climate system. This report describes how the climate of southern New Hampshire has changed over the past century and how the future climate of the region will be affected by a warmer planet due to human activities