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Addressing Injustice in Higher Education during a Time of Crisis: A View from the Global South
No full textAgainst the Grain: radical eco-social work and a global movement for land reform, ‘emancipatory agroecologies’, food sovereignty and climate justice
No full textThis article highlights the relevance of ‘genuine’ agrarian reform, ‘emancipatory agroecologies’, and food sovereignty to climate justice and radical eco-social work. It explores the connections between capitalism, the climate crisis and global food system and their interconnections with today’s global crises in care and democracy. It analyses the role and exploitation of women and the expropriation of land and resources from racialised ‘others’. The case for UK agrarian reform is discussed in relation to the monarchy and systems of kinship, inheritance and tax. Ongoing struggles for justice, equality and democracy in Peru are highlighted and the relevance of ‘genuine’ agrarian reform. It argues that La Via Campesina movement - an agrarian, trans-environmental movement that promotes global ‘peasant-to-peasant’ knowledge exchange, food sovereignty, ‘emancipatory agroecologies’, and ‘genuine’ agrarian reform – can unite land/social workers and women, globally, to demand climate justice and system change from below. This has implications for radical eco-social work
Exploring effects of foveal load and preview restrictions for single and multiple parafoveal words in Chinese reading
Full text linkTwo experiments are reported that used the boundary paradigm to investigate how foveal lexical processing load (high/low frequency) of a pre-target word influences parafoveal processing of upcoming target word(s) with either zero-, one-, two- or three-character, or full preview in Chinese reading. In Experiment 1, the three characters comprised a single word as the target while in Experiment 2 they formed multiple words (two or three words). Pre-target word analyses showed an effective foveal load manipulation with low frequency pre-targets being fixated for longer than high frequency pre-targets in both experiments. Both experiments showed robust preview extent effects at the target words, such that fixation times increased, and landing positions shortened dramatically with reduced preview extent. Modulatory influences of foveal load effects were obtained on both fixation times and landing positions at the target region. These effects themselves were consistent, but reduced, for parafoveal character strings comprised of multiple words relative to a single word, consistent with the MCU hypothesis (Zang, 2019). Our findings demonstrate that increased foveal load reduces the disruptive influence of restrictive parafoveal windows and reduces preview extent in relation to saccadic targeting. The current findings align at a very basic level with the Foveal Load Hypothesis (Henderson & Ferreira, 1990), though the results indicate that a more nuanced theoretical account is necessary to capture all aspects of the results in respect of Chinese reading
The Development of Audio‐Tactile Spatial Integration: Unraveling Vision's Contribution
Full text linkVision is considered the dominant sense for spatial perception. Yet, how vision contributes to its refinement in other modalities remains unclear. Consequently, we investigated the development of audio‐tactile spatial integration using a localization task in which participants had to determine the position of auditory, tactile, and audio‐tactile stimuli and the influence of visual experience in this process. We tested sighted and blind children at different ages. We found that in sighted children, tactile spatial perception stabilizes earlier than the auditory one, and optimal audio‐tactile integration is achieved only after 12 years‐of‐age. Conversely, blind children showed higher uni‐sensory precisions from a younger age, although multisensory performance exhibited minimal improvement through age. Overall, our findings suggest that optimal audio‐tactile spatial integration develops late during childhood and that vision might play a pivotal role in this process, that is, the absence of vision prompts earlier development of other sensory modalities when processing bodily stimuli.
Summary
Sighted children achieve optimal audio‐tactile spatial integration only after 12 years, aligning bimodal precision with MLE predictions in adolescence.
Blind children show superior early uni‐modal sensory localization precision compared to sighted peers.
Tactile precision stabilizes earlier than auditory in sighted children, whereas blind children show the opposite developmental trajectory for localization
Artificial Intelligence for Sport Injury Prediction
No full textPreventing injury is a core facilitator of success in sport. Thus, vast sums of money are invested into achieving this. However, sport injury is still seen as equal parts ‘art’ and science. Despite the best efforts of individuals, teams, and national bodies to apply scientifically-derived injury prevention strategies, millions of athletes still get injured in sport every year. Evidently, sport injury prediction is a field which has scope for improvement. One potential way of advancing the field is the use of AI (artificial intelligence). It offers an opportunity to: (1) treat sporting injury as the complex phenomenon it appears to be; (2) consider the non-linear context surrounding athlete injuries; and (3) provide a supplement to practitioner reasoning, to facilitate quicker decisions. The present book chapter evaluates previous research studies’ use of AI for injury prediction, assesses the unique advantages offered by AI-based analyses, and discusses challenges when attempting to utilise AI for injury prediction. Overall, the use of AI for sport injury prediction offers a fascinating opportunity. It may one day create a revolution in the field, improving not only prediction itself but also our understanding of the complex interactive factors which govern injury in sport
The effect of three types of water-based training protocols on thymus atrophy and specific indicators of cellular immune senescence in aged rats
Full text linkBackground: The collective detrimental impact of aged naive lymphocytes and thymus atrophy contribute on the aging of the immune system can be mitigated by exercise. Hence, this research aims to explore the effects of three methods of water-based exercises on immune system aging and thymus atrophy in elderly rats. Thirty-two 24-month-old rats, with an average weight of 320±5 grams, were randomly allocated into four groups of endurance training (n=8), resistance training (n=8), combined training (n=8), and control (n=8).
The training protocols (10 weeks) were conducted four times a week in a container measuring 50x50x100 cm filled with water at 30±1°C. The evaluation of naïve and memory T lymphocytes was conducted between groups intervention based on the expression or lack of expression of the CD28 and CD57 markers in the subsets of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Naïve T cells were represented by CD28+¬CD57- T lymphocytes, memory T cells were represented by CD28- CD57- T lymphocytes, aged naïve T cells were indicated by CD28+¬CD57+ lymphocytes, and aged memory T cells were represented by CD28- CD57+ lymphocytes.
Results: The findings of the study showed that all three exercise protocols resulted in a significant decrease in levels of memory CD8, aged CD8, naive CD8, aged memory, and naive CD4, as well as an increase in levels of CD4, ¬ CD8, ¬CD4+, and naive CD8 when compared to the control group. It was observed that thymus atrophy, memory CD4, and aged CD4 showed a significant decrease only in the combined exercise group compared to the control group, with no significant differences observed in these indicators for the resistance and endurance groups. Furthermore, the ratio of CD4 to CD8 remained unchanged across all groups.
Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest greater efficacy of combined training in enhancing specific health indicators of cell immunity among elderly populations. Moreover, engaging in water exercises of all three types of combined, resistance and endurance training are deemed safe activities for older individuals to bolster their immune system and mitigate the aging process of T cell
Effects of 12-week combined interval running and resistance training on cardiac structure and performance in patients with type 1 diabetes
Full text linkBackground
Exercise has been suggested to effectively improve cardiac performance in children with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) by enhancing glycemic control. The purpose of this study was to investigate 1) the effects of a 12 week combined Interval Running and Resistance Training (CIRRT), and 2) 1-month of detraining on cardiac structure and myocardial performance in adolescent males with T1D.
Methods
A total of 72 participants including 48 adolescent males with T1D (FBG: 274.67 ± 52.99 mg/dl, age: 15.20 ± 1.78 yrs) and 24 healthy adolescents (Fasting Blood glucose؛ FBG: 90.75 ± 5.47 mg/dl, age:15.08±1.67 yrs) were recruited to the study. Participants were allocated into Diabetes Exercise (DE), Diabetes Control (DC), and Healthy Controls
(HC) groups. DE group performed 12 weeks of a CIRRT programme three times per week. Blood glucose profile, Echocardiography (ECHO) indices, and peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) were measured pre- and postintervention and following 1-month detraining period. Repeated measures
ANOVA was used for pre- and post-intervention comparisons within the DE group and across the three study groups.
Results
Exercise intervention resulted in decreased Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c%=Pre: 10.44 ± 2.03, Post: 9.38 ± 1.66, p < 0.05), FBG, left ventricular internal diameter (LV), and both tricuspid and mitral deceleration time (DT) in the DE group.VO2peak, ejection fraction (EF%= Pre: 62.38 ± 1.6,
Post: 64.08 ± 1.18, p < 0.05), fractional shortening (FS), early tricuspid diastolic inflow E velocity, and tricuspid velocity during atrial contraction were also increased following the exercise training. HbA1c (Pre vs.
Follow-up: 9.83 ± 1.73, p < 0.05), EF (Pre vs. Follow-up: 62.97 ± 1.56, p < 0.05), LV, and DT tricuspid, remained significantly improved after detraining period compared to the baseline. In the baseline, the glycemic index and ECHO Variable significantly differed in the DE and DC groups
with HC group (P<0.05).
Conclusions
The CIRRT intervention was associated with improved cardiac structure and performance in male adolescents with T1D potentially due to exercise-induced adaptations. Meanwhile, the results indicate that most cardiac morphological and functional changes are reversible following periods of inactivity in patients with T1D
The Reflection, Objective, Movement and Action (ROMA) Model©: A new paradigm for anti-racist social work practice
No full textRomani and Traveller people have been saying for many years that they want social workers to promote their human rights and social intercultural inclusion. To do this, social workers must be better equipped with the knowledge, values and skills needed to recognise and challenge racism and to build opportunities for restorative practices.
In 2020, The Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Social Work Association was established to develop world-leading knowledge and support for social workers and allied professionals working to engage Romani and Traveller people. We develop restorative practices that help build and maintain positive healthy relationships, resolve difficulties, and repair the harm caused by centuries of racism
Port resilience to climate change in the Greater Bay Area
Full text linkAs vital global supply chain nodes, ports are particularly vulnerable to risks caused by disruptions from climate-induced risks, i.e., extreme weather events, sea-level rise. Through incorporating the Objective Oriented Bayesian Network and Expectation Maximization approach, this paper develops a new framework which enables the assessment of port resilience to climate change across multiple dimensions. Taking the Greater Bay Area as an example, it is found that port systems are quite resilient under typical scenario, and the resilience could be enhanced with higher utilisation rate and the implementation of recovery or adaptive measures with faster relative recovery speed. Key measures in improving the resilience of port systems from different perspectives are identified, including the advanced equipment, maintenance and reliability, and technology restoration in the future. Practically, such findings contribute to a deeper understanding of port resilience and offer industry practitioners and policymakers valuable implications to enhance sustainable and resilient port management.
Keywords: Risk and resilience; Climate change; Objective Oriented Bayesian Network; Port systems; Port performanc