Abstracts B5-B6
| Showcase Session B5: Science and Health | |
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| Chair: Professor Sandra MacRury | |
| Presentation 1 - Remote Monitoring of HbA1c for People With Diabetes | |
| Jenny Hall / Sandra MacRury, Rural Health and Wellbeing, Executive Office | |
| Abstract | Five per cent of the Scottish population is registered as having diabetes. Good blood glucose control is essential for effective management of diabetes with high blood glucose increasing the risk and associated costs of complications. Glycaemic control in diabetes is monitored by regular testing of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c). In NHS Highland, patients requiring HbA1c tests attend their GP practice for venepuncture, with blood samples sent to Raigmore Hospital for analysis. Our work aims to provide a more convenient and acceptable method of blood sample collection especially for rural dwellers: dried blood spots prepared by the patient at home using capillary blood. The current 15 month study builds on a pilot study which demonstrated a strong correlation between venous and capillary dried blood spot HbA1c levels. One hundred and thirty participants are being recruited to prepare dried blood spots at home with return by post. Results are being compared with venous levels taken concomitantly. A questionnaire is assessing participants’ views on ease of use and acceptability. Findings from the study to date will be presented. |
| Presentation 2 - Participation in Health and Wellbeing - Is it Different in the Rural Context? | |
| Sarah-Anne Munoz / Sarah Bowyer, Division of Health Research | |
| Abstract | Health and wellbeing policy increasingly asks for communities to be actively involved in the planning and delivery of their health services. This presentation gives an overview of a systematic literature review that aimed to answer the question: ‘what does the academic literature tell us about the promoters and barriers to community engagement in rural areas?’ (Munoz, 2014). A conceptual framework related to the empowerment theory of change (Entwhistle and Cribb, 2013) is suggested for the co-production of health services in such areas. An example of working with a remote and rural community on participatory mapping for healthcare planning is also given - this allows illustration of the real-life experience of framework (Bowyer, 2016). |
| Presentation 3 - Comparison of Personality and Problem Solving Between Computing Science and Psychology Students and Professionals: Exploring and Exploding the Stereotypes | |
| Eleanor Rutherford / Tommy Watkin, Inverness College UHI | |
| Abstract | The continuing growth of the software industry is expected to present a large number of employment opportunities in the field (Capretz, 2003). However, educators may struggle to meet this need, programming is hard to learn and difficult to teach (Baldwin & Kuljis, 2000). Difficulties in recruiting to the industry generally and addressing the gender gap within the industry can be compounded by the propagation of unhelpful stereotypes. The problem of stereotyping and gender gaps is also found within psychology, although unlike computing science where the majority of students and professionals are male, in psychology the profession is becoming increasingly dominated by females. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of personality traits and cognitive traits, to determine the level of stereotyping and find out what traits are genuinely helpful for within the disciplines. Psychometric questionnaires were used to assess personality (IPIP questionnaire), information processing preferences (REI questionnaire), and problem solving ability (Insights questions). Overall despite stereotypical views of each field, there were fewer differences between professionals than between undergraduates suggesting that the traits required for success in each field may be similar. The results found that both groups viewed themselves as having a preference for rational styles of problem solving over more intuitive styles. However a preference for rationality was positively correlated with correct answers for Computer Science but not for psychology. Conversely preference for an intuitive style of problem solving was negatively correlated with correct answers on the problems solving questions but only for psychology with no relationship in the computing science sample suggesting self-concepts may differ for the two groups. There was a stronger link between personality traits and cognitive processes in the Computer Science sample and this is another area for further research. |
| Presentation 4 - A Tour of a Veterinary Epidemiology Online Resource Centre | |
| Duncan, Andrew J. (presenting author), Inverness College UHI and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) / Gunn, George J., Correia-Gomes, Carla & Humphry, Roger W, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) | |
| Abstract |
Providing epidemiological tools within an online resource centre allows ready access for vets, farmers and research epidemiologists to make use of epidemiological models and applications to inform decisions and the design of research projects. We present a tour of these resources that were developed by the SRUC’s Epidemiology Research Unit. The models were developed as part of larger projects and are now made available for others. They include: This estimates herd health costs for both breeding and finishing pig herds. The animal health decision support system estimates the cost of various diseases to an individual herd. It combines a range of interactive economic- epidemiological models designed to support the management of endemic diseases of cattle and sheep in the UK. The applications are more general in scope. They include: The calculator provides both positive and negative predictive values for a range of prevalence estimates. All the user needs to do is change a slider to provide the sensitivity and specificity of their test. Results are provided graphically and in a table. Our online calculator adopts a relatively simple method (Humphry et al., 2004) for the question of determining the number of animals and the number of herds to test in order to achieve a desired confidence about a measured herd level prevalence using an imperfect test. Our calculator presents a suite of scenarios via simple 2-D graphs so as to assist the practitioner in “exploring the options”. All the models and applications are written in R (R Core Team, 2016) using the Shiny (Chang et al., 2016) package. These tools allow researchers to publish their work with little web design knowledge and allow users to investigate it interactively. |
| Showcase Session B6: Arts, Humanities and Social Science | |
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| Chair: Professor Jane Downes | |
| Presentation 1 - An Exploration of Place and its Representations: Tarbert Loch Fyne and a Dialogical Reading of the Photographs of A.B Ovenstone (1851-1935) | |
| Lindsay Blair, Moray College UHI | |
| Abstract | The proposed paper is an exploration of place and its representations based on a reading of a series of photographs of Tarbert, Loch Fyne taken between 1880 and 1882 by Andrew Begbie Ovenstone (1851-1935), the Atlantic Freight Manager of Glasgow-based shipping company Anchor Line. The paper raises questions about the (unexamined) coded readings of place, especially in relation to the photograph. The images here are from a rare, unpublished, private collection. The photographer’s oeuvre as a whole is from Scotland, India and the furthest reaches of Empire. Methodologically, a semiotic approach to the subject will reveal far more than has been discovered within the tradition of hermeneutics and patrimony. The conventional reading of photography in relation to place would be one of contrast between objective and subjective representations of reality. The photograph, with its indexical signification, would reflect more accurately the “what is” than could ever be achieved in, for example, fiction with its purely symbolic relation to the real. My contention is that the acceptance of such an un-problematized reading is reductive of both our understanding of place and the codes underlying representation itself. |
| Presentation 2 - Using Fuzzy-Sets Analysis Methodology to Study Rural Areas. An Example in the Field of Public Actions Addressing Social Exclusion in Spain | |
| Diana E Valero, Centre for Mountain Studies, Perth College UHI | |
| Abstract |
This presentation introduces the potential that the fuzzy-sets comparative qualitative analysis (fsQCA) methodology presents for the field of rural studies. The case study that illustrates this approach is a research exploring the role of local Councils addressing social exclusion in rural localities of Spain. Primary data comes from thirty personal semi-structured interviews with rural mayors which were conducted at the end of the third year of the term of office 2011-2015. The analysis of the information generated during the fieldwork is done with a qualitative approach in several phases, starting with a content analysis driven by the findings of the literature review, and finishing with a fsQCA analysis studying the performance of the local governments combating social exclusion according to the political features of each Council. Results show that, despite the general limited role of rural councils to protect the social development of their population, there are important differences between them. Thus, the fsQCA has evidenced the links between local governments ruled by different political parties and the implementation of different social development strategies. The particularities of this kind of analysis lie in three key aspects: 1) It allows the study of analytical dimensions which do not present exclusive and exclusionary categorical values but different degrees of membership (Ragin 2008; Schneider and Wageman 2012); 2) it allows working with a limited number of cases (Ragin 2008; Schneider and Wageman 2012); and 3) it requires an in-depth study of the cases (Ragin 2008). So, the features of the configurational approach and qualitative comparative research allow an intermediate line of work between the difficult practical implementation of extensive quantitative studies in rural areas, and qualitative case studies, in which through in-depth study of a limited number of cases it is possible to explore their diversity and to get extensive conclusions. |
| Presentation 3 - Words and Waves: Dialogism, narrative and the Environmental Humanities | |
| Rebecca Ford, Centre for Mountain Studies, Perth College UHI | |
| Abstract | As the location of the European Marine Energy test Centre (EMEC), Orkney has become a focus for an emerging Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) sector, bringing the local community into contact with individuals, organisations and ideas from across the globe. In this interaction between the local community and the MRE sector, the ongoing discourse engages with a range of local and global narratives, about issues such as energy policy, economic development, environmental protection and socio-cultural change. Yet within the, often competing and conflicting, ideas and opinions within this discourse, only certain voices and narratives appear to have the power to enact change in the world. My research looks at the nature of this discourse, and the range of narratives, seeking to identify which voices and narratives are seen as authoritative, and to explore why and how this might have come about. The project considers what we might learn about the nature of authoritative discourse, exploring the role of narrative in meaning making and the development and implementation of public policy, particularly in relation to the future of energy and environment. This presentation focuses on the theoretical and methodological concerns of the project, exploring how a dialogical approach to communication and meaning making opens up the possibilities for thinking beyond disciplinary boundaries. Situating my work within the emerging field of the ‘environmental humanities’ I hope to show how dialogism’s understanding of language and communication - as situated within multiple contexts, and as a process of ongoing interaction - resonates with an ecological approach to nature and culture, which resists boundaries, and recognizes entanglement and liminality. |
| Presentation 4 - Davenant and Bellarmine: the Controversy Over the Doctrine of Justification in the Early Modern Era | |
| Hyo Ju Kang, Highland Theological College UHI | |
| Abstract | The restoration of the doctrine of justification was the crucial means of effecting the Reformation of religion in Europe in the sixteenth century. The controversy between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant was continued with much keenness and great ability in both sides in the early seventeenth century. One of the most significant figures in the Counter-Reformation, Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), defended the Roman Catholic view of justification. A question at stake, for instance, was “are we justified by a righteousness infused and inherent, or by a righteousness imputed, which is not in us, but in Christ?” Bellarmine’s argument was answered by an Anglican bishop, John Davenant (1572-1641), who successfully exposed the subtleties and devices of Bellarmine. This paper aims to investigate Davenant’s work, Disputatio De Justitia Habituali et Acctuali, and figure out as to why he disagreed with Bellarmine and how he defended the Reformed position regarding the doctrine of justification. This investigation would help us to gain an insight to understand the difference between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant in the early modern era. |