A series of talks, seminars, webinars and events held by the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) that aims to bring together students, staff, academics, development practitioners and policy makers working in the following research areas: disaster risk reduction and response; shelter, housing and home; human rights; forced migration; conflict, peace and humanitarianism; and, transformative and community resilience in adverse settings.
By using the adjective behavioural in the financial sphere, one wishes to refer to the science that took shape in the past twenty years of this century. Behavioural finance studies the influence of individual behaviour traits on decisions-making in the financial field and the effect of these on the market (Sewell, 2010). Undoubtedly, the spotlight on the existence of a variety of psychological factors influencing the process of decision-making has proved to be its most significant contribution to the field of economics and finance. This has clearly forced experts to question whether the individual always acts in a predictable and rational way. Therefore, behavioural finance has the task of explaining how individuals can react to certain events and aim to predict the irrational financial moves that many could possibly make (Hellmann, 2016). The literature on the subject can be distinguished between studies on anomalies within classical market theories (Bondt & Thaler, 1985); and those analysing investor’s beha…
In the absence of university facilities to physically construct and manufacture a prototype mini robot for testing due to Covid 19 restrictions, alternative methods have been introduced and adopted to replace the original aims and objectives that was initially proposed. This dissertation is predominately theory based due to the prevailing conditions. Autonomous automation, driverless cars is the next best opportunity on the horizon, certainly the next big thing for the future. Safety is the number 1 priority in this field, and it is imperative that machines, robots, driverless cars have the full complement of safety features to prevent injury and death. This paper explores various possibilities in the search for the best sensors for obstacle avoidance in robots. A strong literature review looks at what has been done in the recent past and what is currently being done now. Methodology sets out all the hardware and software alternatives by introducing a selection matrix to determine the best product for the pro…
The purpose of this study is to provide a constructivist perspective regarding developments in the Arctic. Climate change and the ambition of resource extraction has led to Arctic littoral states tightening their grip on the Arctic region. The debate regarding the prospects of the region has been dominated by neorealist and neoliberal arguments concerning whether there is a new Cold War brewing or not. With the objective to provide a more nuanced analysis, this study brings identity, history and social factors to the debate. Accordingly, the study answers the following research question: “Arctic Militarization: A Security Dilemma?”. The study introduces its use of theory; the concept of militarization, the security dilemma, constructivism’s take on the security dilemma, identity and cooperation. The study then analyzes Norway and Russia individually, before discussing the relationship between the two states. The study finds that Norway, as a small Arctic state, saw the need to re-brand their Arctic identity…
The Acute Recovery and Stress Scale (ARSS) and the Short Recovery and Stress Scale (SRSS) are well-established monitoring tools in German-speaking countries. This study aimed at validating them for English-speaking populations. Overall, 996 athletes (536 males, 24.9 ± 9.1 years) of Australia/New Zealand (n = 380), the United Kingdom (n = 316), and North America (n = 300) participated. The 32-item ARSS consists of eight scales. These scales constitute the eight items of the SRSS with the corresponding ARSS items as descriptors. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), internal consistency (α), and discriminatory power of the items (rit) were calculated for the total and subsamples separately. Satisfactory discriminatory power (rit > .30) for all ARSS and SRSS items and acceptable internal consistency (α > .70) was achieved. CFA indicated good fit indices for the total sample and subsamples, and strong measurement invariance was found across subsamples and gender. Correlations between corresponding scales and items …
The focus of this research explored readers’ opinions of multicultural children’s books in light of the demands placed on mainstream children’s publishers in the United Kingdom (UK) to improve representations and availability of multicultural children’s books. The need for this research is based on a manifest response required by the broader diversity movement who assert that publishers’ attempts to correctly represent ethnic minorities is inadequate and misguided. The overall aim of this research was to understand how mainstream UK children’s publishers can improve publications of multicultural children’s books for the benefit of parents, carers and their child readers. To facilitate the aim of this research, it was necessary to explore key issues raised by pressure groups, authors and the broader publishing industry through an extensive review of relevant literature and through the collection and analysis of empirical data. The primary research consisted of an online survey questionnaire targeting parents a…
Birmingham Children's Trust Development Programme April 2021 Session 2 - materials
This conceptual research study sought to explore the effective use of metaphor within coaching and mentoring using primary literature research evidence collected from within the combined and related ‘helping professions’ fields of coaching and mentoring, counselling and psychotherapy and adult learning. The focus of this study was on metaphor use in coaching and mentoring but also considered metaphor in therapy and adult education to support the development of an understanding of what’s happening in coaching and mentoring without being the focus of the study. It was anticipated that that knowledge generated from this research would provide new insights and inform and benefit coaching and mentoring practice. The research employed a combination of 3 linked qualitative techniques: (i) a thematic network analysis (TNA) to organise the coded data; (ii) a qualitative meta-synthesis (QMS) to synthesise new understandings from the network data; and (iii) a critical realist analysis (CRA) to enable development of a mo…
This article explores the concept of national security in China’s legal system and the potential impact for the future of international economic law. By mapping the legal evolution of the concept, this article argues that its expansion reflects China’s changing role in global politics and the global economy. When ‘national security with Chinese characteristics’ is unpacked, we can find multi-dimensional concerns about a stable and prosperous China. While China displays no intention to challenge the current international economic legal order, this article argues that China has created the foundation to develop a mechanism to project its concept of national security through the Belt and Road Initiative. In this alternative order parallel to the current one established with the US dominance, economic development is considered as an integral part of peace and security.
This chapter tackles issues of place in the self-presentation and critical reception of John Clare, and pursues it across a number of axes. The argument centres on the placing of Clare both socio-economically and ‘naturally’, and limitations exerted upon perceptions of his work. Interrogating criticism this chapter finds a pervasive awkwardness especially in relation to issues of class and labour. It assesses the contemporary ‘placing’ of Clare, and seemingly unavoidable insensitivities to labour and poverty in the history industry, place-naming, and polemical ecocriticism. It assesses the ways Clare represents place – in poverty, in buildings, in nature – and, drawing on Michel de Certeau, considers the tactics Clare uses to negotiate his place. It pursues trajectories to ‘un-place’ Clare: the flight of fame in Clare’s response to Byron; and the flight of an early poem in songbooks and beyond, across the nineteenth century.