PurposeThe purpose of this research is to understand the effect of innovation and networks in mitigating the effect of COVID-19 on small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs’) performance. Moreover, we aim to explore how different regions withstand the effects of the COVID-19 recession. To do this, we carried out panel data analysis on firm-level data and generated several interesting results. We explore how networking and innovation can help mitigate the effects of extreme shocks on SMEs’ performance. Design/methodology/approachWe use a rich and detailed longitudinal dataset and apply panel data econometric methods over the period 2015–2021. We also conduct several robustness tests to address endogeneity and examine the regional disparities between core and peripheral regions. FindingsOur study uniquely focuses on the effects of COVID-19, innovation and external advice (as a proxy for networks) on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Importantly, we also explore the interaction effects of innovation and external advice with COVID-19. First, we find that both external advice and financial obstacles are associated with firm performance. Second, we find the interaction effect between innovation and the COVID-19 recession dummy to be positive and statistically significant. This suggests that innovation can be an important resilience strategy for SME performance during periods of economic downturn. Third, we find significant regional differences between the SMEs that operate in peripheral regions and those operating in core regions. Our findings are generally robust to potential endogeneity concerns. Originality/valueOverall, the paper contributes to the theoretical and empirical literature on pandemic-driven and/or financial crises and the resilience of SMEs.
Image encryption is a reliable means to safeguard digital image security, in which chaotic systems are extensively applied due to their unique properties. However, the existing image encryption algorithms cannot strike an appropriate balance between efficiency and security. To address these limitations, a 6-dimensional (6D) discrete hyperchaotic system is constructed. Phase and bifurcation diagrams are employed to assess the dynamic characteristics, and the pseudo-randomness of the designed system is also analyzed. We devise a secure image encryption method building upon this system, in the process of scrambling, to disturb the pixel positions, we design a scrambling method utilizing the concept of Rubik's Cube to make the scrambling result more sufficient. Then, the dynamic DNA encoding is applied for diffusion processing to produce the ciphertext. Simulation experiments and evaluation analysis results demonstrate that the devised method has greater security and running performance than existing schemes.
For two decades since modern languages (MLs) secondary qualifications ceased being mandatory in the English curriculum. Compounded by curricular or external pressures that followed, numerous critics have written about the primarily negative impact on learning motivation and teaching practice. However, the impact has not been uniform across school sectors even though they share common stressors, and few have considered cross-sector sharing of language practices for exchanging and enhancing professional knowledge and experience. This paper reports practice-based research that involved teachers and students from three sectors (state, complementary and independent) who mutually visited for paired observations and focus groups before reflective interviews. Thematic analysis of the transcripts generated three overarching themes: creative and useful practices that teachers and students valued; divergent challenges from teachers and students' perspectives distinguishable by their focus on structural or external and language-based issues, respectively, and reflecting cross-sector disparity; and impacts from the cross-sector exchange. Findings indicate how certain practices are driven by resourcing issues as shared experiences. This study suggests that multi-player, cross-sector language practice exchanges should be implemented more widely for garnering collective pedagogic capital and continuing professional development.
Background: This study explores the motivations and influences behind psychotherapists' choices of artwork for their practice rooms. Whilst prior research has focused on client preferences and general therapeutic environments, limited attention has been paid to the therapist's subjective experience in curating artwork within their space. Methods: Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), this study investigates the lived experiences of three UK-based psychotherapists who have personally selected artwork for their rooms. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed to identify three Group Experiential Themes (GETs): artwork as implicit communication, artwork as a therapeutic resource, and artwork as personally meaningful. Results: Findings suggest that therapists use artwork to subtly communicate aspects of their identity and theoretical orientation, regulate emotional states (both their own and their clients'), and evoke personal memories. Notably, participants often made these choices intuitively, with limited conscious reflection on broader influences. Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for greater reflexivity in therapists' aesthetic decisions and suggests that artwork plays a dynamic role within the therapeutic frame. Implications for practice include encouraging practitioners to reflect on the subjectivity within their visual environment. Future research should explore these themes across more diverse samples to deepen understanding of this overlooked aspect of the therapeutic frame.
This paper examines how second-generation Nigerian Pentecostals in Britain cope with racism, asking whether these coping strategies are best understood as passive, pragmatic, or even resistant. Drawing on empirical data, it explores how second-generation Nigerians make life choices and how socialization into their migrant parents’ culture and religion as well as British society shape identity construction and belonging. Participants described experiences in which their blackness was frequently made central to interactions in educational, occupational, and other public spaces. However, rather than allowing these encounters to define their outcomes, many developed Pentecostal-informed and culturally influenced ways of being that enabled them to negotiate the interstices of race, faith, and integration. Common responses include silence, avoidance, and ways of “excusing whiteness.” These may be understood as religiously informed practices, rooted in values of restraint and endurance, aimed at fitting in, avoiding confrontation, and maintaining emotional well-being and socioeconomic mobility. Although often viewed by outsiders as passive, participants consider these responses as pragmatic and shaped by Pentecostal and family values such as longsuffering, humility, discipline, and hard work. Others adopt more open forms of resistance like speaking out against racism, participating in anti-racist activities, and leveraging their social and religious networks to challenge discrimination. However, these reactions were flexible and context-dependent, influenced by age, socioeconomic status, and individual ambition as well as religious and familial upbringing. This paper argues that Pentecostal and family moral frameworks complicate secular understanding of agency because these teachings promote both tolerance and resistance to racism.
