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Less screen time, more frequent fruit and vegetable intake, and physical activity are associated with greater mental wellbeing in adolescents
Get PDFYesWellbeing declines during adolescence, for which the reasons are unclear. This analysis explored associations between wellbeing and multiple lifestyle, socioeconomic and school-level factors in young people. Data were collected as part of the Wellbeing in School (WiSe) survey of adolescent school children in Northern Ireland at age 13-14 years (N=1618; 49% female) and 15-16 years (N=1558; 50.5% female). Wellbeing was assessed using the short-form Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (sWEMWBS), where scores declined between time one (13-14 years) and time two (15-16 years) in both sexes and were significantly lower in females at both timepoints. Multilevel, multivariate modelling was therefore undertaken separately for males and females with sWEMWBS scores as the dependent variable. Physical activity, family affluence, fruit and vegetable intake, social media use, sleep duration, school factors (size and type) and religion were independent variables. More frequent physical activity in both sexes at both timepoints was associated with higher sWEMWBS scores. In females, higher sWEMWBS scores were associated with less social media use at time one (and marginally at time two), greater family affluence at time two, and being Catholic at both timepoints. In males, higher sWEMWBS scores were associated with more frequent fruit and vegetable intake at time one. Mental wellbeing was unrelated to sleep duration or school factors in either sex, at both time points. Efforts to maximize mental wellbeing in adolescents should promote engagement in physical activity and implement sex-specific interventions.This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. This material is based upon work conducted as part of the Wellbeing in Schools (WiSe) study which was financially supported by the Centre of Excellence for Public Health (Northern Ireland), and the Centre of Evidence and Social Innovation, at Queens University Belfast
USP5 enhances SGTA mediated protein quality control.
Get PDFYesMislocalised membrane proteins (MLPs) present a risk to the cell due to exposed hydrophobic amino acids which cause MLPs to aggregate. Previous studies identified SGTA as a key component of the machinery that regulates the quality control of MLPs. Overexpression of SGTA promotes deubiqutination of MLPs resulting in their accumulation in cytosolic inclusions, suggesting SGTA acts in collaboration with deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) to exert these effects. However, the DUBs that play a role in this process have not been identified. In this study we have identified the ubiquitin specific peptidase 5 (USP5) as a DUB important in regulating the quality control of MLPs. We show that USP5 is in complex with SGTA, and this association is increased in the presence of an MLP. Overexpression of SGTA results in an increase in steady-state levels of MLPs suggesting a delay in proteasomal degradation of substrates. However, our results show that this effect is strongly dependent on the presence of USP5. We find that in the absence of USP5, the ability of SGTA to increase the steady state levels of MLPs is compromised. Moreover, knockdown of USP5 results in a reduction in the steady state levels of MLPs, while overexpression of USP5 increases the steady state levels. Our findings suggest that the interaction of SGTA with USP5 enables specific MLPs to escape proteasomal degradation allowing selective modulation of MLP quality control. These findings progress our understanding of aggregate formation, a hallmark in a range of neurodegenerative diseases and type II diabetes, as well as physiological processes of aggregate clearance
Profiles of social, cultural, and economic capital as longitudinal predictors of stress, positive experiences of caring, and depression among spousal carers of people with dementia
Get PDFYesWe explored (1) social, cultural, and economic capital in spousal carers of people with dementia; (2) profiles of carers with different levels of capital; (3) whether the identified profiles differ in levels of stress and positive experiences of caring, and likelihood of depression over time.
Baseline (2014-2016), 12-month, and 24-month follow-up data were analyzed for 984 coresident spousal carers of people with dementia. We assessed social, cultural, and economic capital, stress, positive experiences of caring, depression.
On average, carers reported infrequent social and cultural participation. Most carers were not socially isolated, trusted their neighbours, had education at least to age 16, and had an income aligned with the 2014 UK average. We identified four groups of carers with different levels of capital. Although on average stress was low, depression was infrequent, and positive experiences of caring were moderately frequent, the group of carers with lowest capital was the least stressed and reported the most positive experiences of caring over time. Compared to the two groups with better capital, those with poorer capital were more likely to be depressed over time.
Social, cultural, and economic resources may decrease likelihood of depression, but not stress, in carers of people with dementia
Service robots in long-term care: a consumer-centric view
Get PDFYesService robots with advanced intelligence capabilities can potentially transform servicescapes. However, limited attention has been given to how consumers experiencing vulnerabilities, particularly those with disabilities, envisage the characteristics of robots’ prospective integration into emotionally intense servicescapes, such as long-term care (LTC). We take an interdisciplinary approach conducting three exploratory studies with consumers with disabilities involving Community Philosophy, LEGO® Serious Play®, and Design Thinking methods. Addressing a lack of consumer-centric research, we offer a three-fold contribution by 1) developing a conceptualization of consumer-conceived value of robots in LTC, which are envisaged as a supporting resource offering consumers opportunities to realize value; 2) empirically evidencing pathogenic vulnerabilities as a potential value-destruction factor to underscore the importance of integrating service robots research with a service inclusion paradigm; and 3) providing a theoretical extension and clarification of prior characterizations of robots’ empathetic and emotion-related AI capabilities. Consumers with disabilities conceive robots able to stimulate and regulate emotions by mimicking cognitive and behavioral empathy, but unable to express affective and moral empathy, which is central to care experience. While providing support for care practices, for the foreseeable future, service robots will not, in themselves, actualize the experience of “being cared for.”This paper originates as a result of work on a project titled “Improving Inclusivity in Robotics Design” which received funding from “Research England, via The University of Sheffield’s Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF)" and in-kind funding from IBM
Psychological and overall well-being of Italian young adults in transition to adulthood: Evidence from a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study
Get PDFYesTransitioning to adulthood is a fundamental yet challenging
phase in human development. Despite its relevance, the literature has paid little attention to the impact that
transitioning to adulthood has on multiple aspects of individual well-being. This is one of the few attempts that has
employed a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study to
explore how the path to adulthood impacted on the psychological and overall well-being of Italian young adults. In
the quantitative phase, we employed two-step cluster analysis to assign 45 young adults, who had completed the Italian I COPPE scale of multidimensional well-being, to three
clusters based on their level of change in psychological and
overall well-being. Results from mixed design ANCOVA revealed that participants belonging to the high change cluster
showed the highest significant positive change over time
with respect to well-being. In the qualitative phase, 17 individuals took part in focalized narrative interviews, which
aimed at exploring significant events, barriers, and facilitators, which had impacted on their well-being during the
transition to adulthood. The textual material was analysed
through the Grounded Theory Methodology. It emerged that the state of transition was associated with some triggering events and a temporary negative impact on the interviewees' well-being. However, findings also revealed that
people assigned to different clusters had put in place or
learned several resources, skills, and copying strategies,
which led to different transitional and well-being outcomes
Four-Element/Eight-Port MIMO Antenna System with Diversity and Desirable Radiation for Sub 6 GHz Modern 5G Smartphones
Get PDFYesIn this manuscript, a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna array system with identical compact antenna elements providing wide radiation and diversity function is introduced for sub 6 GHz fifth-generation (5G) cellular applications. The introduced design contains four pairs of miniaturized square-loop resonators with dual-polarization and independently coupled T-shaped feed lines which have been placed symmetrically at the edge corners of the smartphone mainboard with an overall size of 75 mm × 150 mm. Therefore, in total, the introduced array design encompasses four pairs of horizontally and vertically polarized resonators. The elements are very compact and utilize at 3.6 GHz, a potential 5G candidate band. In order to improve the frequency bandwidth and radiation coverage, a square slot has been placed and excited under each loop resonator. Desirable isolation has been observed for the adjacent elements without any decoupling structures. Therefore, they can be considered self-isolated elements. The presented smartphone antenna not only exhibits desirable radiation but also supports different polarizations at various sides of the printed circuit board (PCB). It exhibits good bandwidth of 400 MHz (3.4-3.8 GHz), high-gain patterns, improved radiation coverage, and low ECC/TARC (better than 0.004 and -30 dB at 3.6 GHz, respectively). Experimental measurements were conducted on an array manufactured on a standard smartphone board. The simulated properties of this MIMO array are compared with the measurements, and it is found that they are in good agreement. Furthermore, the introduced smartphone array offers adequate efficiency in both the user interface and components integrated into the device. As a result, it could be suitable for 5G handheld devices.Deputyship for Research & Innovation, Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia for funding this research work through project number RI-44-0422
An integrated data- and capability-driven approach to the reconfiguration of agent-based production systems
Get PDFYesIndustry 4.0 promotes highly automated mechanisms for setting up and operating flexible manufacturing systems, using distributed control and data-driven machine intelligence. This paper presents an approach to reconfiguring distributed production systems based on complex product requirements, combining the capabilities of the available production resources. A method for both checking the “realisability” of a product by matching required operations and capabilities, and adapting resources is introduced. The reconfiguration is handled by a multi-agent system, which reflects the distributed nature of the production system and provides an intelligent interface to the user. This is all integrated with a self-adaptation technique for learning how to improve the performance of the production system as part of a reconfiguration. This technique is based on a machine learning algorithm that generalises from past experience on adjustments. The mechanisms of the proposed approach have been evaluated on a distributed robotic manufacturing system, demonstrating their efficacy. Nevertheless, the approach is general and it can be applied to other scenarios.SURE Research Projects Fund of the University of Bradford and the European Commission (grant agreement no. 314762)Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, Nov 202
Solar-powered direct contact membrane distillation system: performance and water cost evaluation
Get PDFYesFresh water is crucial for life, supporting human civilizations and ecosystems, and its
production is one of the global issues. To cope with this issue, we evaluated the performance and cost
of a solar-powered direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) unit for fresh water production in
Karachi, Pakistan. The solar water heating system (SWHS) was evaluated with the help of a system
advisor model (SAM) tool. The evaluation of the DCMD unit was performed by solving the DCMD
mathematical model through a numerical iterative method in MATLAB software®. For the SWHS,
the simulation results showed that the highest average temperature of 55.05 ◦C and lowest average
temperature of 44.26 ◦C were achieved in May and December, respectively. The capacity factor and
solar fraction of the SWHS were found to be 27.9% and 87%, respectively. An exponential increase
from 11.4 kg/m2
·h to 23.23 kg/m2
·h in permeate flux was observed when increasing the hot water
temperatures from 44 ◦C to 56 ◦C. In the proposed system, a maximum of 279.82 L/day fresh water
was produced in May and a minimum of 146.83 L/day in January. On average, the solar-powered
DCMD system produced 217.66 L/day with a levelized water cost of 23.01 USD/m3Researcher's Supporting Project Number (RSP-2021/269), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Mattering, wellness, and fairness: psychosocial goods for the common good
Get PDFYesWhereas the behavioral and health sciences have been mainly concerned with the private good,
there is an urgent need to understand and foster the collective good. Without a coherent framework
for the common good, it will be extremely difficult to prevent and manage crises such as
pandemics, illness, climate change, poverty, discrimination, injustice, and inequality, all of which
affect marginalized populations disproportionally. While frameworks for personal well-being
abound in psychology, psychiatry, counseling and social work, conceptualizations of collective
well-being are scarce. Our search for foundations of the common good resulted in the identification
of three psychosocial goods: mattering, wellness, and fairness. There are several reasons for
choosing them, including the fact that they concurrently advance personal, relational, and collective
value. In addition, they represent basic human motivations, have considerable explanatory power,
exist at multiple ecological levels, and have significant transformative potential. The
complementary nature of the three goods is illustrated in an interactional model. Based on empirical
evidence, we suggest that conditions of justice lead to experiences of mattering, which, in turn,
enhance wellness. Challenges and opportunities afforded by the model at the intrapersonal,
interpersonal, occupational, communal, national, and global levels are presented. The proposed
psychosocial goods are used to formulate a culture for the common good in which we balance the
right with the responsibility to feel valued and add value, to self and others, in order to promote not
just wellness but also fairness