Investigating students’ learning of sustainable development through music education: An exploratory study at Key Stage 3 in England

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University London‘Education’ is widely regarded as the primary agent of transformation towards ‘sustainable development (SD). In England, ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ (ESD) has been an established part of the National Curriculum, but in secondary schools, the subject of music, which seems to have great potential for helping in creating interest and awareness of SD to foster responsible behaviours, appears more often to be ignored. There is a growing enthusiasm for, and anecdotal recognition of, the benefits of using music in the teaching of SD issues to young people amongst educators and musicians. However, no in-depth ESD empirical research with regard to music education and few ESD good practices currently exist. To this end, the PhD, which examines the pedagogical potential of music in ESD and the role of music as a learning medium in the development of students’ capacities necessary for a more sustainable future, fills this research gap. An ethnographical intervention, informed by constructionist and symbolic interactionist approaches, is employed in this project. Sets of music-SD lessons in the lower stages of four secondary schools in London boroughs were analysed as case studies of how SD might be taught in music classrooms. Evidence suggested that it is feasible and beneficial to embed SD into the secondary music curriculum. The findings demonstrated that a transformative pedagogical approach in ESD was achieved by combining different methods for integration, including listening, composing and performing pieces of music, raps and songs on SD and creating and performing junk instruments, with a range of strategies of ESD, such as discussion, audio and visual activities, brainstorming and co-operative work, in a holistic process. For some students, compared with the traditional subjects for ESD, such as geography and science, the particular ways of learning SD within the musical context seemingly resulted in their higher level of enthusiastic, active, participative, affective and transformative learning, and thus positively affected the achievement of the outcomes of ESD, which was manifested in the development of their SD-related understandings, skills, attitudes and potential behaviours

Correlation Between Serum C-Reactive Protein And Cystatin C In Patients With Acute Cerebral Infarction And Carotid Artery Stenosis

To investigate the correlation between serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum cystatin C (Cys-C) levels in patients with acute cerebral infarction and carotid artery stenosis. Methods: From January 2015 to December 2016 admitted to our hospital new acute cerebral infarction parallel neck vascular color Doppler ultrasound examination showed 121 cases of carotid stenosis as the case group; select the same period of hospitalized patients with non-cerebrovascular disease in 50 cases As a control group. Fasting venous blood was collected on the third day after onset of the disease and serum levels of CRP and Cys-C were measured and compared. Results: Serum levels of CRP and Cys-C in case group were significantly higher than those in control group (P <0.05). The correlation between serum CRP and Cys-C was found in any pairwise comparison (r = 0.4732). The level of CRP and Cys-C were closely related to the degree of carotid artery stenosis (P <0.05). Conclusion: The combined detection of serum CRP and Cys-C levels can be used to evaluate the degree of carotid artery stenosis in patients with acute cerebral infarction and provide a reference for the next carotid endarterectomy

Effect of anlotinib combined with camrelizumab on clinical efficacy and short-term prognosis in male patients with advanced gastric cancer

This study aimed to investigate the effects of combining anlotinib with camrelizumab on clinical efficacy and short-term prognosis in male patients with advanced gastric cancer. A total of 88 male patients admitted to our hospital between May 2019 and March 2022 with advanced gastric cancer were included and randomly assigned to Group A (treated with anlotinib alone) or Group B (treated with anlotinib combined with camrelizumab) using the envelope method, with 44 patients in each group. Their clinical efficacy, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and programmeddeath-1 (PD-1) expression on Cluster of differentiation 4+ (CD4+) and cytotoxic Tlymphocyte (CD8+ T) cells in peripheral blood, immune function parameters, tumor markers, incidence of adverse reactions and survival time were compared. The results showed that the patients in Group B had significantly higher objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR), superior PD-1 in VEGF, CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells, significantly improved immune function indicators and tumor markers (Carbohydrate antigen 50 (CA50), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA21-1)), and significantly longer progression-free survival and overall survival than Group A. In addition, no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups was observed. Therefore, the combination of anlotinib and camrelizumab could be a clinically beneficial treatment option and recommended for male patients with advanced gastric cancer as it can effectively control tumor progression, improve clinical efficacy and prolong their survival without increasing adverse reactions

Early methodist experience: some prototypical accounts

A great many 20th century studies of 18th century Methodism concern John Wesley himself, and even those which promise to tell you about early Methodist beliefs and activities often turn out to be largely based on Wesley’s alone. Few have concerned themselves with the humble folk who followed him. Yet it is impossible properly to understand even why Wesley himself believed and behaved in the way he did without taking account of the minds and desires of his disciples

Customers\u27 Risk Perception and Dine-out Motivation During a Pandemic: Insight for the Restaurant Industry

The restaurant industry is one of the most affected businesses during the outbreak of COVID-19. The customer choice regarding whether or not to dine in a restaurant have changed due to this unprecedented global pandemic. Integrated with the affective decision-making framework, meta-theoretic model of motivation (3M), and optimistic bias theory, this conceptual paper proposes a theoretical scheme for understanding constructs that affect consumer motivation while considering the significance of consumers\u27 risk perceptions of the novel coronavirus disease. This research aims to delineate the role of loyalty, trust, and transparency on resuming in-restaurant dining during and after the pandemic. By identifying the link between each construct and addressing the unparalleled food-/health related risks, this study suggests that restaurants who accumulated more customer trust by fostering transparency are likely to have more business and quickly recover from the shock

Design of a Support System for Complicated Logistics Location Integrating Big Data

Logistics location is an important component of logistics planning that affects traffic pressure and vehicle emissions. To date, there has not been an adequate study of the integration of big data into the location for a complicated logistics system. This study developed a decision support system that can address location problems for complicated logistics systems, e.g., a multilevel urban underground logistics system (ULS), using logistics big data. First, information needed in the logistics location, such as the traffic performance index (TPI) and the origin/destination (OD) matrix, was collected and calculated using a big data platform, and this information was digitized and represented based on a geographic information system (GIS) tool. Second, a two-stage location model for a ULS was designed to balance the construction costs and traffic congestion. The first stage is establishing a set-covering model to identify optimum locations for secondary hubs based on the ant colony optimization algorithm, and the second stage is clustering of the secondary hubs to determine locations for primary hubs using the iterative self-organizing data analysis technique algorithm (ISODATA). Finally, the Xianlin district of Nanjing, China, was chosen as a case study to validate the effectiveness of the proposed system. The system can be used to facilitate logistics network planning and to promote the application of big data in logistics

Seeing Destinations Through Vlogs: Implications for Leveraging Customer Engagement Behavior to Increase Travel Intention

Purpose: This study aims to understand customers\u27 watching experience with travel vlogs and its impacts on one of the most prominent manifestations of customer engagement behaviors (CEBs) – word-of-mouth (WOM) – and their travel intention. Drawing upon the theory of resonance, this study incorporated both cognitive and emotional aspects of travel vlog watching experience. Design/methodology/approach: Online survey data were collected from 352 participants who have watched travel vlogs over the past 12 months. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was performed for hypotheses testing. Findings: The study results reveal positive impacts of source credibility, inspiration, escapism and self-congruence on WOM, which further leads to travel intention. While source credibility is the strongest predictor of WOM, more factors representing the emotional resonance turn out to be the driving factors of WOM. Research limitations/implications: This study pinpoints the value of investigating audiences\u27 vlogs watching experience from a CEB perspective within the tourism setting. Future research is encouraged to explore more types of CEBs in the intersection of social media consumption and travel behaviors. Practical implications: Travel vloggers need to convey their intrinsic passion and enthusiasm to create an emotional connection with the audiences. Hospitality and tourism marketers are recommended to promote products and services by incentivizing audiences to engage with the travel vlogs. Originality/value: No prior research integrated vlogs watching experiences, engagement behavior and future travel intention in a tourism setting. This study fills this gap and contributes to the literature on customer engagement, media consumption and marketing

Identity Regulation, Identity Work, Self Identities in IBM

This paper studies the identity regulation, identity work and self identities in knowledge intensive firms after mergers and acquisitions. Based on one to one interviews and secondary data collected from various sources, we identified two major sources of self identities in IBM Global Business Service Office in Malmö. These two sources of self identification is analyzed and discussed in our paper. The empirical material is based on fourteen semi structured interviews with both consultants and managers of IBM Global Business Services Office in Malmö as well as the secondary data collected from company website, catalogues etc

The Empowering Role of Hospitable Telemedicine Experience in Reducing Isolation and Anxiety: Evidence From the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose: This paper aims to explore how hospitable telemedicine services empowered patients during the COVID-19. Expanding from the technology aspect, this research integrated the philosophy of hospitality organizational culture by including factors related to human-human interaction as significant predictors for patients\u27 sense of empowerment (perceived competence and control) in coping with their emotional stress (anxiety and isolation). Design/methodology/approach: Survey data were obtained from 409 general consumers who have used video-based virtual consultation since February 2020. Stepwise multiple regression and simple linear regression analyses were used for hypotheses testing. Findings: The results reveal that the doctors\u27 reliability, responsiveness and empathy significantly predict patients\u27 perceived competence and control. Perceived usefulness and convenience of telemedicine technology enhance patients\u27 perceived competence and control. Patients\u27 sense of empowerment significantly reduces their anxiety and sense of isolation. Research limitations/implications: To fully understand the role of hospitality in people\u27s telemedicine experiences, future studies are encouraged to not only examine the patients-clinicians interactions but also explore the patients-support staff interactions. Practical implications: Health care providers\u27 bed-side manners empower patients in managing their emotional stress. Health care providers should be trained for their empathetic ability and communication skills. Strategies such as collaborating with hospitality schools and business schools can be implemented to help build medical student\u27s patient-centric attitudes and skills. Originality/value: This paper provided empirical evidence for the value of hospitality in health care and offered useful suggestions for health care providers, especially by empowering vulnerable people during catastrophic events such as COVID-19