David Palmer, Lucy Williams, Sue White, Charity Chenga, Verusca Calabria, Dawn Branch, Sue Arundal, Linda Storer, Chris Ash, Claire Cuthill, Haile Bezuayehu and Eleni Hatzidimitriadou
In 2008, Mind in Bexley received a research development grant from the Big Lottery Fund and a training grant from Bexley Care Trust to empower service users to participate and…
Abstract
In 2008, Mind in Bexley received a research development grant from the Big Lottery Fund and a training grant from Bexley Care Trust to empower service users to participate and contribute to a pilot research project. The project aims were to work with, develop, train and support service users as researchers, in order to record the narratives of service users who have common experiences of mental health distress and treatment. The research development project set up an advisory group, created and developed a partnership with the University of Kent and provided workshops and training sessions to explore some of the principles of research and ethics. In addition, the group undertook a preliminary literature review, developed and refined a research questionnaire and piloted interviews with six service users. Many issues were raised and lessons learned during the planning and conduct of the project. This paper discusses the process and reflects on aspects of the project's design and delivery. In addition, this paper highlights some of the difficulties in undertaking service user research and suggests recommendations as to how to overcome some of these complex issues.
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Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American…
Abstract
Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.
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Examines burials, grave rights and how problems connected with these events require sensitive and positive handling. Demonstrates feelings of perceived discrimination not falling…
Abstract
Examines burials, grave rights and how problems connected with these events require sensitive and positive handling. Demonstrates feelings of perceived discrimination not falling within normal areas of the topic recognized by law – such as exhumations. Gives case examples and also gives verdicts and explanations to aid with research. Concludes that there are difficulties with regard to advice for the bereaved, whether for valid or invalid reasons of exhumation.
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Chris Pawson, Richard Bolden, Beth Isaac, Joseph Fisher, Hannah Mahoney and Sandeep Saprai
The purpose of this paper is to present a case study tracking the development and engagement of a group of experts by experience (The Independent Futures (IF) Group) who provided…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a case study tracking the development and engagement of a group of experts by experience (The Independent Futures (IF) Group) who provided a lived experience voice to the Bristol Golden Key (GK) partnership within the Fulfilling Lives programme. The case study reports the genesis and impact of the group, as well as the facilitators of impact and experiences of the group members and those they worked in partnership with.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopted an iterative approach drawing on multiple data sources over an eight-year period. An inductive ethnographic analysis of stakeholder and partnership meetings was combined with documentary analysis and thematic analysis of interviews with experts by experience and service providers.
Findings
The voice of lived experience provided by the IF group contributed to the GK partnership through various channels. Evidence of this contribution and its impact was found at programme, city-wide and national levels of the service ecosystem. Furthermore, IF members recognised the value of the group in contributing to systems change and service improvement, but also for themselves.
Practical implications
This case study serves to illustrate the impact of the lived experience voice on services and systems change, specifically the provision of that voice from a formalised advisory group. The successes and challenges of the group and the experiences of its members are reported with a view to sharing learning that may influence future co-production initiatives with experts by experience and service provision for those experiencing multiple disadvantage.
Originality/value
The insights provided by the longitudinal observation of the group as it was formed and evolved, coupled with insights provided by the experts by experience, have important implications for facilitating and supporting sustainable lived experience input.
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Yijun Hou, Dongdong Wang and Guoqi Dong
The purpose of this paper is to take the early Permian no.6 coal seam in Jungar coalfield of North China as an example, this paper studied the net primary productivity (NPP) level…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to take the early Permian no.6 coal seam in Jungar coalfield of North China as an example, this paper studied the net primary productivity (NPP) level of the early Permian peatland and its relationship with the atmospheric environment at that time, analyzed the influence of the atmospheric environment, and discussed its control factors.
Design/methodology/approach
First, geophysical logging signals were used for a spectrum analysis to obtain the Milankovitch cycle parameters in the no. 6 coal seam, including the eccentricity (95 ka); obliquity (35.6 ka); and precession (21.2 ka). These were then used to calculate the accumulation rate of the residual carbon in the no. 6 coal seam, which was determined to be between 49.44 and 50.57 gC/(m2 · a). The carbon loss could be calculated according to the density and residual carbon content of the no. 6 coal seam. Then, the total carbon accumulation rate of the peatland was further derived as being between 64.91 and 66.40 gC/(m2 · a). Also, the NPP of the peatland was determined to be between 129.82 and 132.8 gC/(m2 · a).
Finding
The result showed that the NPP of the early Permian peatland area was lower than that of the Holocene at the same latitude, and also lower than that of the later Permian of South China.
Originality/value
This study’s comprehensive analysis indicated that the temperature and humidity conditions, along with the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, were the main control factors of the NPP of the early Permian peatland. Also, wildfires were found to play a role.
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Dawn B. Homer, Kim R. Matthews and Chris C. Warkup
Sausages from three major retail outlets producing their own label pork and reduced fat sausages were sampled over a period of four weeks. A branded product was also purchased…
Abstract
Sausages from three major retail outlets producing their own label pork and reduced fat sausages were sampled over a period of four weeks. A branded product was also purchased from the stores. A trained sensory panel evaluated the sausages and found that, although the overall acceptability differed between retailers, one of the low fat products matched the equivalent standard product in terms of acceptability. The overall acceptability of the branded product was within the range of the own label standard products but below the most acceptable low fat product. It was concluded that, whilst the successful production of low fat sausages is possible, a wider range would be encouraged by the adoption of modified compositional standards.
The Final Girls (Todd Strauss-Schulson, 2015) is the story of a group of teenage friends that, during the screening of a Friday the 13th-like 1980s slasher horror, happen to be…
Abstract
The Final Girls (Todd Strauss-Schulson, 2015) is the story of a group of teenage friends that, during the screening of a Friday the 13th-like 1980s slasher horror, happen to be sucked into the film. Trapped in the gruesome narrative, they have to survive the deranged killer that haunts the premises of the campsite by applying their knowledge of the rules and cliches of the slasher genre. The film is of interest not only because it mixes horror and comedy and exaggerates the horror genre’s conventions – as Scream and other neo-slashers already did. By employing the device of the screen rupture, the film constructs a complex network of self-reflexive moments and intertextual references. The metalinguistic play involves in particular the notoriously sexophobic and gender-led dynamics of the 1980s slashers – those more emancipated girls who have sex are killed; the most prudish girl is the one that eventually manages to defeat the monster, the ‘Final Girl’. In this sense, the film is almost like a video essay that reprises and illustrates one of the most seminal study of the slasher genre, Carol Clover’s 1992 Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. The chapter presents the defining elements of the slasher subgenre as theorized by Clover and then focusses on the analysis of the metalinguistic elements of The Final Girls vis-à-vis Clover’s classic text.
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This study compares filmic and televisual representations of fictional black presidents to white Americans’ reactions to the advent of the United States’s first African American…
Abstract
Purpose
This study compares filmic and televisual representations of fictional black presidents to white Americans’ reactions to the advent of the United States’s first African American president. My main goal is to determine if there is convergence between these mediated representations and whites’ real-world representations of Barack Obama. I then weigh the evidence for media pundits’ speculations that Obama owes his election to positive portrayals of these fictional heads of state.
Methodology/approach
The film and television analyses examine each black president’s social network, personality, character traits, preparation for office, and leadership ability. I then compare the ideological messages conveyed through these portrayals to the messages implicated in white Americans’ discursive and pictorial representations of Barack Obama.
Findings
Both filmic and televisual narratives and public discourses and images construct and portray black presidents with stereotypical character traits and abilities. These representations are overwhelmingly negative and provide no support for the argument that there is a cause–effect relationship between filmic and televisual black presidents and Obama’s election victory.
Research implications
Neither reel nor real-life black presidents can elude the representational quagmire that distorts African Americans’ abilities and diversity. Discourses, iconography, narratives, and other representations that define black presidents through negative tropes imply that blacks are incapable of effective leadership. These hegemonic representations seek to delegitimize black presidents and symbolically return them to subordinate statuses.