Balance for people with multiple sclerosis (MS)

People with MS can develop balance problems as a result of damage to the brain or spinal cord. Finding the best way to manage balance problems in people with MS requires a unique approach for each individual

Yes they\u27re out there : a qualitative study on strong African American marriages

Much of the research that exists on Black marriage is usually from a deficit perspective and focuses on the decline of marriages among Black Americans. Even so, many Black families are marriage based and it is unfortunate that little research exists that focuses on understanding these families from a strength-based approach. It is important that we learn what constitutes the characteristics of strong Black marriages and families and learn how Black U.S. families differ from and are similar to Euro U.S. families. This study looked at the hows, whys, and processes of enduring and sustaining marriages in Black families. Black couples were interviewed to examine strengths and characteristics that contribute to happy, strong, long-term marriage for Black Americans. A purposive sample of Black married (or remarried) couples were interviewed to identify factors and characteristics that contribute to a strong, long-term marriage. Participants in this study were 12 heterosexual Black couples (24 participants) that were married for at least 20 years. The average length of marriage for the couples was 33 years. Participants’ ages ranged from 45 years to 75 years old. The findings revealed six salient themes discussed by participants. The first four themes were relational and marital in scope. They were: (a) the influence of children on marriage, (b) the influence of faith on marriage, (c) the sources of strength for marriage, and (d) the characteristics for a strong marriage. The final two themes were more societal in scope. They were: (e) the impact of Black community on marriage, and (f) the impact of racism on marriage. These findings highlight the strengths of strong, enduring Black marriages and families. This qualitative study provided insights and understandings from the participants’ points of view, including findings that concentrated on experiences, processes, meaning and understandings of Black persons and families

Strength and cardiorespiratory exercises for people with multiple sclerosis (MS)

People with MS experience specific problems that may affect their performance of strength and cardiorespiratory exercises. An understanding of the MS population is required for the successful implementation of such exercises

Ataxia and tremor in people with multiple sclerosis (MS)

Ataxia and tremor are common yet difficult symptoms to manage in people with MS ― often requiring the involvement of a multidisciplinary team. Early intervention is important in order to address both the functional and psychological issues associated with these symptoms

Pretty in Plastic: Aesthetic authenticity in Barbie Land

Our report critically applies aesthetic authenticity as a theoretical lens to interrogate the multimodal reproduction of gendered relations in the Barbie (2023) movie. Recent research has focused on how the aesthetic authenticity stakes are being continually elevated, such that this requires ongoing labour and continual renegotiation. It is not surprising that even Barbie finds this exhausting! We offer an analysis of character arcs across the movie, before exploring how a plastic doll enables conceptual insight regarding aesthetic authenticity. We discuss how the movie reconfirms neoliberal postfeminist perspectives on how women should seek their happy ever after. Finally, we consider the implications of representations of patriarchy and matriarchy before setting out suggestions for future research and concluding our report

Mapping policy understandings of gender & sexuality: thematic analysis

This second report from the Breaking Binaries Research (BBR) programme extends and develops our first report which offered a preliminary review of mapping understandings of genders and sexualities across policy data (Pritchard et al., 2023). As in our first report, we focus on the implications of these understandings for entrepreneurs and small businesses in relation to how diversity is constructed by policy makers. We define gender and sexuality diversity as including all those who self-identify as not conforming to binary identities and/or bodies, and those who identify in various, and sometimes multiple ways, as part of LGBTQIA+ and non-binary communities. Policy makers labelling of these identities, especially the use of pre-given categories, is problematic (Guyan, 2022). Within the overarching initialisms or acronyms, like LGBTQIA+, sit host of diverse, and in most cases, intersecting communities, which are oversimplified and little understood

Migrating Boundaries

The boundaries between land parcels usually are assumed to be static and unchanging. However, not all land borders are stable. An important land boundary that routinely ambulates is the border between what is publicly and privately owned along U.S. coastal shores. This coastal boundary recently has been the subject of renewed attention from the courts, scholars, and even the popular press in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. This Article offers an economic analysis of why the boundary generally ambulates, rather than remaining perpetually fixed as land borders usually are assumed to do. It also considers whether the legal border generally should continue to migrate in an era of sea level rise due to climate change

Mapping policy understandings of gender & sexuality: preliminary review

As part of the wider Breaking Binaries Research (BBR) programme, in this project we aim to map understandings of gender and sexuality diversity across various government policy documents within the UK. We focus on the implications of these understandings for entrepreneurs and small businesses in relation to how diversity is constructed by policy makers. Policy documents provide a visual and written summary with varying focus ranging from statements, directives, advisories and guidance, plans and reviews. Such policies represent a political ideological articulation of how prevailing values intersect with understandings of diverse identities (Ahl & Marlow, 2021). We define gender and sexuality diversity as including all those who self-identify as not conforming to binary identities and/or bodies, and those who identify in various, and sometimes multiple, ways as part of LGBTQIA+ communities. Policy makers labelling of these identities, especially the use of pre-given categories, is problematic (Guyan, 2022) but little is known about the use of different terms and associated understandings. Our initial focus is therefore a mapping exercise to explore both visual and textual data to shed light on policy understandings of these aspects of diversity

Migrating Boundaries

The boundaries between land parcels usually are assumed to be static and unchanging. However, not all land borders are stable. An important land boundary that routinely ambulates is the border between what is publicly and privately owned along U.S. coastal shores. This coastal boundary recently has been the subject of renewed attention from the courts, scholars, and even the popular press in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. This Article offers an economic analysis of why the boundary generally ambulates, rather than remaining perpetually fixed as land borders usually are assumed to do. It also considers whether the legal border generally should continue to migrate in an era of sea level rise due to climate change

College Students’ Images of Mathematicians and Mathematical Careers

In this paper we report our findings of college students’ images of mathematicians and we reflect on different methodologies used to assess this information. The study reported in this paper was conducted in two stages. During the first stage, we asked 179 college students to “draw a mathematician” and also asked them to list five characteristics and five careers for a mathematician. In the second stage of the study, we conducted four focus group interviews with a total of twelve college students. During the focus group interviews, we showed the students 16 photos of real people and asked them to determine which they think are mathematicians and which are not. We found that college students do hold certain stereotypic images of mathematicians and that different perspectives arose based on the different research methodologies. In this paper, we argue for the need to go beyond relying solely on the “draw a mathematician” test and we conclude with a discussion on the implications that stereotypic images of mathematicians have on the mathematical workforce