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School Food Hero and the Battle of the Food Foe: a story of public health policy, power imbalance and potential
Get PDFThis paper explores the impact of school food policy from the perspective of school food workers to offer an alternative account of why school food may not be having the desired impact on child health or food choices. Drawing upon the findings from an institutional ethnography carried out in three UK primary schools, we argue that school food is being asked to perform an unrealistic task of luring children and families away from more unhealthy food options, without being given adequate resources or powers to do this job effectively. We theorise that the narrative depicting school food as a hero, combatting the harms of poor dietary choices and poor health outcomes, is inappropriate as a countermeasure to mitigate the effects of wider food industry forces. We revisit the narrative to consider the power imbalances within society that structure dietary choices, presenting our findings and the wider policy review in the form of a story about the evolution of school food set against a shifting food environment. We conclude with recommendations for policy makers who want to see school food have a greater impact in improving child health
Preventing food waste in perishable food supply chains during outbreaks: A simulation-based methodology [Abstract only]
No full textEvaluation of the impact of a 20-week exercise referral scheme on Mauritian adults diagnosed with non-communicable diseases
Get PDFThe escalating prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCD) presents a concern in Mauritius. These diseases, caused by many factors, reflect the social, economic and environmental conditions within which people live and work. Type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and obesity are the most prevalent among Mauritian adults. Within the framework of a comprehensive systems approach aiming at addressing the social determinants of health, there is a need for customised strategies for both management and prevention of non-communicable diseases. One such example is exercise referral. Exercise referral schemes (ERS) represent an emerging tool for helping people become more physically active and healthier. Evidence of their effectiveness is equivocal and lacks contextual insight into their value in a Mauritian context. Hence, this study serves to bridge this gap. We report the outcomes of a 20-week ERS. Two hundred sixty consenting adults recruited from Area Health Centres (AHC) and Mediclinic’s around Mauritius were assigned to one of two groups: intervention group (ERS + guidance and support by exercise referral consultant) or control group (exercise ‘advice’ from a general practitioner). Body mass index (BMI), grip strength, waist circumference, fasting blood sugar (FBS), HbA1c, lipid profile and blood pressure were measured at week 0, 10 and 20. This quasi-experimental longitudinal study successfully demonstrated improvements in parameters associated with risk factors for coronary heart disease, particularly among women in the intervention group. Significant reductions in weight, waist circumference, FBS and BMI at week 10 and 20 were noted. A less pronounced decline in parameters was observed in men, except for waist circumference, which reached near significance (p = 0.076). Using female participants as a primary focal point, this study supports the notion of exercise referral as part of a holistic treatment plan to control NCDs. We advocate future ERS initiatives prioritise a patient-centred comprehensive approach in design and implementation to ensure successful outcomes
Testing the relationships among involvement, sponsorship perceived fit and intention to purchase sponsors’ products: The case of esports tournament viewers
Get PDFPurpose: Despite fast developments in esports sponsorship, limited research exists in the area of sponsorship evaluation in the esports context. The purpose of the present study was to test the relationships among esports involvement, sponsorship perceived fit, and viewers’ intention to buy the sponsor’s products, and examine the degree to which perceived fit mediates the relationship between the involvement dimensions and intention.
Design/methodology/approach: The study draws on the theoretical model of sponsorship effects proposed by Wakefield et al. (2020) and obtained quantitative data from sampling esports viewers (n=285). Statistical analysis was carried out in three steps. Beyond the descriptive
statistics, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess the goodness of fit of the measurement model. The mediation analysis was performed at the end of the study.
Findings: The results supported the impact of one of the esports involvement dimensions (i.e., self-expression) on both perceived fit and esports viewers’ intentions to buy sponsors’ products. Involvement (self-expression) was found to have both direct and indirect relationships, through
perceived fit, on purchase intentions. The study provided support for the associations among esports involvement dimensions, sponsorship perceived fit and purchase intentions.
Originality/value: It is the first study to test a sponsorship evaluation model in the context of
esports users. It does so by including a more detailed measurement of involvement (with threedimensions) in the hypothesized model.
Practical implications: The practitioners should first consider the involvement profile of esports viewers. The more involved viewers will be more likely to have positive perceptions about the fit between the esports tournament and the sponsor
Instruments for Measuring Psychological Dimensions in Human-Robot Interaction: A Systematic Review of Psychometric Properties.
Get PDFBackgroundNumerous user-related psychological dimensions can significantly influence the dynamics between humans and robots. For developers and researchers, it is crucial to have a comprehensive understanding of the psychometric properties of the available instruments used to assess these dimensions, as they indicate the reliability and validity of the assessment.ObjectiveThis study aims to provide a systematic review of the instruments available for assessing the psychological aspects between people and social and domestic robots, offering a summary of their psychometric properties and the quality of the evidence.MethodsA systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines across different databases including Scopus, PubMed and IEEEXplore. The search strategy encompassed studies meeting the following inclusion criteria: a) the instrument could assess psychological dimensions related to social and domestic robots, including attitudes, beliefs, opinions, feelings, and perceptions; b) the study focused on validating the instrument; c) it evaluated the psychometric properties of the instrument; d) it underwent peer review; e) it was in English. Studies focusing on industrial robots, rescue robots, robotic arms, or those primarily concerned with technology validation or measuring anthropomorphism were excluded. Independent reviewers extracted instruments properties and methodological quality of their evidence following the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) guidelines.ResultsFrom 3,828 identified records, the research strategy yielded 34 articles that validated and examined the psychometric properties of 27 instruments designed to assess individuals' psychological dimensions in relation to social and domestic robots. These instruments encompass a broad spectrum of psychological dimensions. While most studies predominantly focused on structural validity and internal consistency, consideration of other psychometric properties was frequently inconsistent or absent. Despite their significance in the clinical context, no instrument has evaluated measurement error and responsiveness. Most of the instruments were targeted at both adults and older adults (18 years old and above). There is a limited number of instruments specifically designed for children, older adults, and healthcare contexts.ConclusionsGiven the strong interest in assessing psychological dimensions in the human-robot relationship, there is a need to develop new instruments using more rigorous methodologies and to consider a broader range of psychometric properties. This is essential to ensure the creation of reliable and valid measures for assessing people's psychological dimensions toward social and domestic robots. Among the limitations, the review included instruments applicable to both social robots and domestic robots, while excluding those for some specific types of robots (e.g., industrial robots).ClinicaltrialThe review was not registered with any relevant database
Customer Sentiments in Product Reviews: A Comparative Study with GooglePaLM
Get PDFIn this work, we evaluated the efficacy of Google’s Pathways Language Model (GooglePaLM) in analyzing sentiments expressed in product reviews. Although conventional Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques such as the rule-based Valence Aware Dictionary for Sentiment Reasoning (VADER) and the long sequence Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model are effective, they frequently encounter difficulties when dealing with intricate linguistic features like sarcasm and contextual nuances commonly found in customer feedback. We performed a sentiment analysis on Amazon’s fashion review datasets using the VADER, BERT, and GooglePaLM models, respectively, and compared the results based on evaluation metrics such as precision, recall, accuracy correct positive prediction, and correct negative prediction. We used the default values of the VADER and BERT models and slightly finetuned GooglePaLM with a Temperature of 0.0 and an N-value of 1. We observed that GooglePaLM performed better with correct positive and negative prediction values of 0.91 and 0.93, respectively, followed by BERT and VADER. We concluded that large language models surpass traditional rule-based systems for natural language processing tasks
An Optimized Hybrid Encryption Framework for Smart Home Healthcare: Ensuring Data Confidentiality and Security
Get PDFThis study proposes an optimized hybrid encryption framework combining ECC-256r1 with AES-128 in EAX mode, tailored for smart home healthcare environments, and conducts a comprehensive investigation to validate its performance. Our framework addresses current limitations in securing sensitive health data and demonstrates resilience against emerging quantum computing threats. Through rigorous experimental evaluation, we show that the proposed configuration outperforms existing solutions by delivering unmatched security, processing speed, and energy efficiency. It employs a robust yet streamlined approach, meticulously designed to ensure simplicity and practicality, facilitating seamless integration into existing systems without imposing undue complexity. Our investigation affirms the framework's capability to resist common cybersecurity threats like MITM, replay, and Sybil attacks while proactively considering quantum resilience. The proposed method excels in processing speed (0.006 seconds for client and server) and energy efficiency (3.65W client, 95.4W server), offering a quantum-resistant security level comparable to AES-128. This represents a security-efficiency ratio of 21.33 bits per millisecond, a 25.6% improvement in client-side processing speed, and up to 44% reduction in server-side energy consumption compared to conventional RSA-2048 methods. These improvements enable real-time encryption of continuous health data streams in IoT environments, making it ideal for IoT devices where AES-128′s smaller footprint is advantageous. By prioritizing high-grade encryption alongside ease of use and implementation, the proposed framework presents a future-proof solution that anticipates the trajectory of cryptographic standards amid advancing quantum computing technologies, signifying a pivotal advancement in safeguarding IoT-driven healthcare data
Ultrafast opto-magnetic effects in the extreme ultraviolet spectral range
Get PDFCoherent light-matter interactions mediated by opto-magnetic phenomena like the inverse Faraday effect (IFE) are expected to provide a non-thermal pathway for ultrafast manipulation of magnetism on timescales as short as the excitation pulse itself. As the IFE scales with the spin-orbit coupling strength of the involved electronic states, photo-exciting the strongly spin-orbit coupled core-level electrons in magnetic materials appears as an appealing method to transiently generate large opto-magnetic moments. Here, we investigate this scenario in a ferrimagnetic GdFeCo alloy by using intense and circularly polarized pulses of extreme ultraviolet radiation. Our results reveal ultrafast and strong helicity-dependent magnetic effects which are in line with the characteristic fingerprints of an IFE, corroborated by ab initio opto-magnetic IFE theory and atomistic spin dynamics simulations
