The Everyday Activities of Motherhood

The focus of the research is a particular type of localised mothering, in the late 2000s, in the East Midlands of the UK, and the mundane practices that characterise motherhood for a group of women in this region. The thesis employs an ethnographic approach to explore the everyday activities of motherhood, through photographs taken by mothers of their activities, and their talk about them. The data presented is based on observations, with two mothers; and photographs taken by 18 mothers, and interviews. The data are offered as a pictorial and narrated description of their lives, and of their concerns at the time. This data is situated within a literature about the everyday, and how the self is theorised, considering maternal identities and associated subject positions. The thesis begins with an introduction to the topic, before moving on to a review of different bodies of academic literature about the everyday, and how the self is theorised. The methodology chapter explores how I came to employ reflexive and auto/biographical methods and how visual methods emerged as a productive way of generating, and presenting data on maternal practices. The main body of the thesis takes the form of four chapters, revealing different aspects of the empirical data: food, material culture, space and time. The thesis continues with an analysis of themes that cut through these four chapters, and through which maternal identities and practices can be conceptualised: the creation of home and family through practices; and maternal feelings that gave meaning to these practices. I conclude by suggesting an integration of these practices and feelings to produce a sensual understanding of motherhood

Five advantages of skill

In this Special Issue we explore and extend conceptions, characterisations, and applications of skill within and beyond geography. Framed by the question: “where is skill located?”, the papers assembled do not just explore where skilled practice ‘takes place’, its sites and situations, but also prompt a deeper ontological and epistemological rethinking of skill. And it is this rethinking of skill that is at stake in our editorial. In what follows, we map out this rethinking and introduce the five advantages of skill that the papers develop. Firstly, skill is practical in that it is concerned with the actual doing or use of something with accomplishment. Secondly, skill is processual in that the skilled practitioner works emergently and responsively rather than rubrically and successionally. Thirdly, skill is technical in that it involves not just techniques of the body but encompasses what Bernard Stiegler calls the ‘originary technicity’ of the body. Fourthly, skill is ecological in that it is not of the individual body, but of the entire field of relations that make practice possible. And finally, skill is political in that there is a continuous flow between the micro – (that which is emergent) and macro – (that which exists more concretely and can be represented) politics of practice. </jats:p

Detecting Cheating when Testing Vision:Variability in Acuity Measures Reveals Misrepresentation

SIGNIFICANCE In certain scenarios, it is advantageous to misrepresent one's ability and "cheat" on vision tests. Our findings suggest that increased variability when testing visual acuity holds promise as a novel means to help detect this cheating and may generalize to other subjective tests of visual function. PURPOSE People who cheat on vision tests generally do so to make their vision appear better than it actually is (e.g., for occupational or driving purposes). However, there are particular settings in which it is advantageous for their vision to appear to be worse than is the case (e.g., to qualify for benefits available to people with low vision). Therefore, a method to help detect cheating in these scenarios is desirable. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the intentional underrepresentation of vision could be detected when testing visual acuity. METHODS We tested the visual acuity of 13 participants with simulated vision impairment using the Berkeley Rudimentary Vision Test. Participants were tested in an honest condition when providing their best effort and in a cheating condition when attempting to make their visual acuity appear to be markedly worse. We also tested visual acuity of 17 participants with a wide range of vision impairments. RESULTS Participants were successfully able to "cheat" on the tests; however, their responses were significantly more variable when cheating (P <.001). Although the variability in visual acuity was larger in individuals with actual vision impairment compared with those providing honest answers with simulated impairment (P <.01), their responses remained significantly less variable than those for individuals in the cheating condition (P =.01). CONCLUSIONS The variability in the estimations of vision provides a promising novel means of detecting the intentional underrepresentation of vision and could help to minimize the chance of successfully cheating on tests of vision

The Michigan Robotics Undergraduate Curriculum: Defining the Discipline of Robotics for Equity and Excellence

The Robotics Major at the University of Michigan was successfully launched in the 2022-23 academic year as an innovative step forward to better serve students, our communities, and our society. Building on our guiding principle of "Robotics with Respect" and our larger Robotics Pathways model, the Michigan Robotics Major was designed to define robotics as a true academic discipline with both equity and excellence as our highest priorities. Understanding that talent is equally distributed but opportunity is not, the Michigan Robotics Major has embraced an adaptable curriculum that is accessible through a diversity of student pathways and enables successful and sustained career-long participation in robotics, AI, and automation professions. The results after our planning efforts (2019-22) and first academic year (2022-23) have been highly encouraging: more than 100 students declared Robotics as their major, completion of the Robotics major by our first two graduates, soaring enrollments in our Robotics classes, thriving partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This document provides our original curricular proposal for the Robotics Undergraduate Program at the University of Michigan, submitted to the Michigan Association of State Universities in April 2022 and approved in June 2022. The dissemination of our program design is in the spirit of continued growth for higher education towards realizing equity and excellence. The most recent version of this document is also available on Google Docs through this link: https://ocj.me/robotics_majorComment: 49 pages, approximately 25 figure

Expert Consensus to Guide the Classification of Paralympic Swimmers With Vision Impairment: A Delphi Study

The International Paralympic Committee requires their member sports to develop a classification system that is sport-specific, meaning that the specific ‘class’ in which an athlete competes should be suitable for the degree to which the athlete’s impairment affects performance in that particular sport. However, swimmers with vision impairment (VI) currently compete in classes that were developed on the basis of legal definitions of blindness, failing to consider how vision impacts swimming performance. The aim of this study was to establish expert guidance on the specific requirements for a sport-specific system of classification for VI swimming. A three-round Delphi review was conducted with a panel of 16 people with expertise in VI swimming either as an athlete, coach, administrator, or scientist. There was clear consensus (86%) among the panel that the current classification system used for VI swimming fails to fulfill the aim of minimizing the impact of VI on the outcome of competition. Particularly, the panel agreed that there are a range of aspects of visual function (e.g., depth perception and contrast sensitivity) that are important for optimal swimming performance, yet are not assessed using the current classification system. The panel also identified nine performance components of a swimming race that are mostly likely to be affected by VI. Interestingly, these were spread across all four major segments (start, clean swim, turn, and finish), and weren’t necessarily those performance determinants generally used by performance analysts and coaches. There was also strong agreement that the age at which VI is acquired will substantially impact the ability of a swimmer to reach their full potential in the pool. The main implication is that changes are required to the way that swimmers with VI are classified for para-sport competition. Clear guidance has been provided for how to further the development of an evidence-based classification system

Teaching and Learning Under COVID-19 Public Health Edicts: The Role of Household Lockdowns and Prior Technology Usage

Public health edicts necessitated by COVID-19 prompted a rapid pivot to remote online teaching and learning. Two major consequences followed: households became students\u27 main learning space, and technology became the sole medium of instructional delivery. We use the ideas of digital disconnect and digital divide to examine, for students and faculty, their prior experience with, and proficiency in using, learning technology. We also explore, for students, how household lockdowns and digital capacity impacted learning. Our findings are drawn from 3806 students and 283 faculty instructors from nine higher education institutions across Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. For instructors, we find little evidence of a digital divide but some evidence of a digital disconnect. However, neither made a difference to self-reported success in transitioning courses. Faculty instructors were impacted in a myriad of diverse ways. For students, we show that closure and confinement measures which created difficult living situations were associated with lower levels of confidence in learning. The digital divide that did exist among students was less influential than were household lockdown measures in undermining student learning

UPBEAT-UK::a programme of research into the relationship between coronary heart disease and depression in primary care patients

Many people with coronary heart disease (CHD) are depressed and research on people who have had a heart attack found that depression increases the chance of further heart attacks. The UPBEAT-UK team conducted research with people on general practitioner CHD registers in 33 south London practices to: examine any link between CHD, depression and worse future heart disease; and develop case\ud management by practice nurses for people with CHD and depression. We followed 803 people with CHD for up to 3 years, assessing them for depression, chest pain and\ud worsening of heart disease, and also measured care costs. We asked patients, GPs and nurses how people with CHD and depression should be treated. From this, we developed care designed for each person called ‘personalised care’ (PC). We tested it in 41 people (while 40 people received their usual care from GPs)\ud with chest pain and depression, to assess how acceptable it is, whether or not it helps and what the costs would be. PC was acceptable to people, and those who received it reported less chest pain 6 and 12 months later. Costs were lower following PC but the difference was not statistically significant. Just under half of those with CHD had chest pain. Depression was frequent, but anxiety was more\ud common and increased the chances of both heart attacks and death. We conclude that further research is needed to understand the links between anxiety, chest pain and heart\ud disease, and to further develop our promising findings that PC can be helpful in reducing chest pain in\ud general practice

Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis: Impact of Conduct Problem Severity, Comorbid Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Emotional Problems, and Maternal Depression on Parenting Program Effects

Objective: There is concern whether established parenting programs for children’s conduct problems meet the needs of families with severe and complex mental health problems. For example, many children with conduct problems show comorbid ADHD or emotional problems, or have parents who are depressed, but families with such complex mental health problems typically seen in real life are often underrepresented in evaluation trials. We tested whether children with more severe conduct problems, and those with more complex mental health problems, benefit less from the Incredible Years parenting program, using individual participant data meta-analysis of randomized trials in Europe. Method: In 1,696 families from 13 trials (child age 2−11; 37% girls; 58% low income; 30% ethnic minority; 98% mothers), we used moderator analysis within a multilevel model to test whether initial conduct problem severity, comorbid ADHD or emotional problems and maternal depression diminished intervention effects for children’s conduct problems. Results: The Incredible Years program reduced children’s conduct problems overall (Cohen’s d = −0.35), but more so in children with more severe conduct problems. There was no evidence that children’s comorbid ADHD and emotional problems changed the intervention benefits. Children of mothers with more depressive symptoms benefited more. Conclusion: Children with more severe conduct problems derive greater, rather than lesser, benefits from a high-quality group parenting program, and comorbid ADHD and emotional problems do not reduce effects; maternal depression, rather than being linked to less child change, were associated with greater reductions in children’s conduct problems

A pilot randomised controlled trial of personalised care for depressed patients with symptomatic coronary heart disease in South London general practices: the UPBEAT-UK RCT protocol and recruitment.

ABSTRACT: Background: Community studies reveal people with coronary heart disease (CHD) are twice as likely to be depressed as the general population and that this co-morbidity negatively affects the course and outcome of both conditions. There is evidence for the efficacy of collaborative care and case management for depression treatment, and whilst NICE guidelines recommend these approaches only where depression has not responded to psychological, pharmacological, or combined treatments, these care approaches may be particularly relevant to the needs of people with CHD and depression in the earlier stages of stepped care in primary care settings. Methods: This pilot randomised controlled trial will evaluate whether a simple intervention involving a personalised care plan, elements of case management and regular telephone review is a feasible and acceptable intervention that leads to better mental and physical health outcomes for these patients. The comparator group will be usual general practitioner (GP) care. 81 participants have been recruited from CHD registers of 15 South London general practices. Eligible participants have probable major depression identified by a score of ≥8 on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale depression subscale (HADS-D) together with symptomatic CHD identified using the Modified Rose Angina Questionnaire. Consenting participants are randomly allocated to usual care or the personalised care intervention which involves a comprehensive assessment of each participant’s physical and mental health needs which are documented in a care plan, followed by regular telephone reviews by the case manager over a 6-month period. At each review, the intervention participant’s mood, function and identified problems are reviewed and the case manager uses evidence based behaviour change techniques to facilitate achievement of goals specified by the patient with the aim of increasing the patient’s self efficacy to solve their problems. Depressive symptoms measured by HADS score will be collected at baseline and 1, 6- and 12 months post randomisation. Other outcomes include CHD symptoms, quality of life, wellbeing and health service utilisation. Discussion: This practical and patient-focused intervention is potentially an effective and accessible approach to the health and social care needs of people with depression and CHD in primary care. Trial registration: ISRCTN21615909