scholarly journals Enabling Technologies for Improved Data Management: Hardware

2001 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-25
Author(s):  
Kerstin van Dam-Kleese ◽  
Michael Hopewell

The most valuable assets in every scientific community are the expert work force and the research results/data produced. The last decade has seen new experimental and computational techniques developing at an ever-faster pace, encouraging the production of ever-larger quantities of data in ever-shorter time spans. Concurrently the traditional scientific working environment has changed beyond recognition. Today scientists can use a wide spectrum of experimental, computational and analytical facilities, often widely distributed over the UK and Europe. In this environment new challenges are posed for the Management of Data every day, but are we ready to tackle them? Do we know exactly what the challenges are? Is the right technology available and is it applied where necessary? This part of enabling technologies investigates current hardware techniques and their functionalities and provides a comparison between various products.

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 160940691881937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqui Stevenson ◽  
Peter Keogh ◽  
John Smith ◽  
Elizabeth West

Recruiting participants to qualitative studies is often a challenge—reaching the right people, and the right people choosing to participate, is a primary consideration for researchers. For research on HIV, as a condition which continues to be stigmatized, this can be magnified. However, being part of the HIV voluntary sector and occupying a role of “HIV advocate” can provide routes to overcome this challenge. Using the example of the researcher’s transition from voluntary sector worker to academic PhD researcher, this article explores how recruitment can be facilitated by utilizing personal and professional networks and how, in turn, this can present new challenges in reaching participants who are not “research regulars,” who are experienced in participating in qualitative research. It further explores reflexive methodologies as applied to participatory research on HIV and aging as it affects women in the UK and asks how the roles of “advocate” and “researcher” complement and challenge one another. Reflexive practice and an analysis of the researcher’s motives and how this impacts on recruitment, participation, and dissemination are considered. A three-part approach to reflexively engaging with participants’ questions is put forward. This provides a new perspective on participatory approaches in relation to research recruitment specifically.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hollis ◽  
Stavroula Leka ◽  
Aditya Jain ◽  
Nicholas Andreou
Keyword(s):  
The Uk ◽  

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aslı Eker ◽  
Meltem Aydın Besen ◽  
Mine Yurdakul

Background: Every working woman has the right to continue to live as a healthy individual. The working environment has important effects on general health status and reproductive health of women. If menopouse period of women is not taken into consideration and if appropriate arrangements are not made at workplaces, their work performance and productivity decrease. It is important to have detailed knowledge about factors creating risk for health in order to develop effective policies and programs directed towards preventing them. Objective: This study was performed to determine perceived effects of menopause on work life and attitudes of an institution towards menopausal women. Methods: The study population included 419 women aged 45-55 years and working at a university. Out of 419 women, 291 could be contacted. Data were collected with a questionaire composed of questions about descriptive characteristics, effects of menopause on work life and support from and attitudes of the institution about menopause. Data collected to reveal menopausal women’s experiences at work were analyzed with statistical methods frequency, percentages and mean. Results: The mean age at which menopause started was 47 years and 89.7% of the women experienced menopausal complaints. Conclusions: Physical conditions at work and stressors were found to increase menopausal complaints and had a negative effect on work performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. e100320
Author(s):  
Vahid Garousi ◽  
David Cutting

ObjectivesOur goal was to gain insights into the user reviews of the three COVID-19 contact-tracing mobile apps, developed for the different regions of the UK: ‘NHS COVID-19’ for England and Wales, ‘StopCOVID NI’ for Northern Ireland and ‘Protect Scotland’ for Scotland. Our two research questions are (1) what are the users’ experience and satisfaction levels with the three apps? and (2) what are the main issues (problems) that users have reported about the apps?MethodsWe assess the popularity of the apps and end users’ perceptions based on user reviews in app stores. We conduct three types of analysis (data mining, sentiment analysis and topic modelling) to derive insights from the combined set of 25 583 user reviews of the aforementioned three apps (submitted by users until the end of 2020).ResultsResults show that end users have been generally dissatisfied with the apps under study, except the Scottish app. Some of the major issues that users have reported are high battery drainage and doubts on whether apps are really working.DiscussionTowards the end of 2020, the much-awaited COVID-19 vaccines started to be available, but still, analysing the users’ feedback and technical issues of these apps, in retrospective, is valuable to learn the right lessons to be ready for similar circumstances in future.ConclusionOur results show that more work is needed by the stakeholders behind the apps (eg, apps’ software engineering teams, public-health experts and decision makers) to improve the software quality and, as a result, the public adoption of these apps. For example, they should be designed to be as simple as possible to operate (need for usability).


Legal Studies ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eoin Daly ◽  
Tom Hickey

In law and discourse, it has typically been assumed that the religious freedom of state-funded religious schools must trump any competing right to non-discrimination on grounds of belief. For example, the Irish Constitution has been interpreted as requiring the broad exemption of denominational schools from the statutory prohibition on religious discrimination in school admissions. This stance is mirrored in the UK Equality Act 2010. Thus, religious discrimination in the public education context has been rationalised with reference to a ‘liberty-equality dichotomy’, which prioritises the integrity of faith schools' ‘ethos’, as an imperative of religious freedom. We argue that this familiar conceptual dichotomy generates a novel set of absurdities in this peculiar context. We suggest that the construction of religious freedom and non-discrimination as separate and antagonistic values rests on a conceptually flawed definition of religious freedom itself, which overlooks the necessary dependence of religious freedom on non-discrimination. Furthermore, it overstates the necessity, to religious freedom, of religious schools' ‘right to discriminate’. We argue for an alternative ordering of the values of religious freedom and non-discrimination – which we locate within the neo-republican theory of freedom as non-domination.


2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-32
Author(s):  
Patrick Valduriez

I have been working on research in data management for the last 40 years. I like my job and my research institution (Inria, the French national research institute for computer science), which have offered me great opportunities to learn a lot, do good work, get to know smart and nice people and overall feel useful. However, since the early days of my mid-career, the research environment, including academia and industry, has certainly become more complex, making the move from junior (or pre-tenure) researcher to senior researcher quite challenging. Based on my experience, I review some of the main questions and challenges and give some hints on how to deal with them. I'll sometimes use stories and anecdotes to illustrate the point.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serik Tokbolat ◽  
Rajnish Kaur Calay

<p>This paper aimed to investigate the up-to-date levels of sustainability in the UK construction with special interest to sustainable housing. It also aims to examine the justification behind construction and housing sustainability, and to look at the practicality of transferring current expertise within the UK as well as to an emerging Central Asian country such as Kazakhstan. A synergy of case studies, survey and numerical simulation research methodologies were applied to undertake a wide-spectrum analysis of the topic. Regardless of difficulties related to applying sustainable practices the considered housing developments are found to be satisfactory in terms of environmental and socio-economic effects. Technical evaluation of the case studies compared to standard housing parameters has shown encouraging outcomes and confirmed the claimed energy and water efficiency. Findings of the survey indicated that construction companies of the UK and Kazakhstan are at different stages of application of sustainability measures. It was also established that companies and public are mainly optimistic about sustainability if suitable economical and legal conditions are ensured. Finally, numerical simulations have shown that selected sustainability measures made the studied housing projects competitive on the sustainability market. </p>


Author(s):  
David J Hunter

As in the case of other parts of the UK wider health system, it has been a turbulent time for public health since 2010. Not only has the function undergone major structural and cultural change following its return to local government from the NHS, where it had been located since 1974, but it has had to confront new challenges in public health arising from lifestyle behaviours and a widening health gap between social groups. All of this has occurred during a period of unprecedented financial austerity affecting public services in general but local government in particular. This chapter reviews the state of public health in the lead up to the changes announced by the Coalition government in 2010. It then summarises the reforms before offering an interim assessment of their impact. Finally, it discusses the evidence to date concerning the reforms and speculates on likely prospects in the years ahead.


Psichologija ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 86-100
Author(s):  
Rita Rekašiūtė-Balsienė

Daugelio tyrimų rezultatai rodo, kad organizacijos klimatas ir jos veiklos rezultatai yra susiję. Organizacijos klimato matavimas gali būti atspirties taškas planuojant veiklos tobulinimo, siekiant didesnio efektyvumo, pokyčius. Straipsnyje pristatytos trys organizacijos klimato teorijų grupės ir atliktas tyrimas, siekiant aprašyti Lietuvos verslo organizacijų klimatą. Tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti Lietuvos verslo organizacijų klimatą taikant tam sukurtą metodiką. Tyrimui keliami uždaviniai: 1) parengti organizacijos klimato vertinimo metodiką; 2) išanalizuoti organizacijos klimato ypatybes, būdingas Lietuvos verslo organizacijoms. Gauti rezultatai rodo, kad Lietuvos verslo organizacijų klimatas turi bendrų ypatumų: geriausiai yra vertinama organizacijos svarba darbuotojams (didžiavimasis organizacija), darbuotojų pastangos ir tarpusavio santykiai bei pagarba, o blogiausiai – darbuotojų veiklos ir pastangų įvertinimas bei darbo organizavimas. Sukurta metodika patikrinta tiriant Lietuvos verslo organizacijas. Ji leidžia įvertinti bei aprašyti organizacijos klimatą ir gali būti pagrindas aiškinantis, kokia yra organizacijos būklė. ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT POSSIBILITIES IN BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONSRita Rekašiūtė-Balsienė SummaryOrganizational climate has been widely discussed in the literature since the concept of social climate was proposed. They perceived organizational climate as a set of properties of the working environment which can be measured. In the article we present three set of theories of organizational climate concepts, which were found in the literature.The wide spectrum of organizational climate and performance surveys suggests that there are relationship between the climate dimensions and all kind of organizational performance indicators. It is suggested, that for a plan of activities for improving effectiveness of all organization may be used climate surveys.The purpose of this survey is to evaluate organizational climate is Lithuanian business organizations using the questionnaire which was created by the author of the article.Sample: 6 Lithuanian organizations from the service business sector, total of 591 employees. All organizations are among the firs seventh leaders of their practice field.Method: Organizational climate questionnaire (constructed by author of the article) was used in this survey. Factorial analysis distinguishes eight factors (scales): evaluations of employee attempts and performance; interrelations and respect; flexibility and quality of organization performance; employee struggle; goals knowledge; organization magnitude; cooperation; work organization. The research has been carried out in 2003–2004.Results of this survey shows, that all organizations have common peculiarities of organizational climate. Perceived as the best organizational climate aspects are organization magnitude, employee struggle, interrelations and respect; perceived as the worst organizational climate aspects are evaluation of employee attempts and performance and work organization. There was found significant differences in perceived organization conditions between managers and employees and between business departments and business support departments, what request more in depth survey. Organizational climate of two organizations are described in detail. It is suggested, that created questionnaire can be used to asses organizational climate and be useful tool for the organizational development practitioner and researcher. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are proposed.


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