Stirling Online Research Repository (RIOXX)
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Staff information and training needs for offering support to mid-life and older women who are experiencing homelessness and problem substance use: a survey.
Full text linkIntroduction: Current research in the UK has yet to investigate the health care needs and treatment preferences of mid-life and older women (aged 40+) who are experiencing homelessness as well as challenges related to substance use (drugs and alcohol). This briefing paper reports on an online survey undertaken with staff working with women using homelessness services. The survey's aim was to help inform third sector organisations of the views and knowledge of staff working with women experiencing homelessness in terms of healthcare provision, as well as the training needs they require when supporting these women
Why are socioeconomic health inequalities unacceptable? Studying the influence of explanatory framings on cognitive appraisals
Full text linkStudies of aversion to health inequality have found that this is often greater when health outcomes are presented as varying with socioeconomic conditions. We sought to understand better why this is by studying the cognitive appraisals made about health inequality when presented with distinct explanatory framings. Across two pre-registered studies (N = 1321), UK and US participants judged the acceptability of life expectancy differences attributed to distinct framings: income, education, social class, neighborhood, lifestyle choices, and genetics. Health inequality was least acceptable when attributed to the four socioeconomic framings, and most acceptable for lifestyle choices and genetics. Six appraisal dimensions—complexity, malleability, inevitability, and extent driven by biological, psychological, and sociocultural causes—varied with framing and predicted views on health inequality. These dimensions could explain most of the drop in acceptability for health inequality attributed to socioeconomic factors relative to a condition with no framing. This work illustrates for the first time the cognitive appraisals and causal intuitions that link different explanatory framings to views on health inequality. These framings are viewed as least acceptable because they reduce the perceived involvement of biological causes while increasing the perception that sociocultural and psychological factors contribute to health inequality
"History from Marble": Church Notes and Epigraphy in Early Modern England
Full text linkThis essay examines a new form of historical writing that emerged in seventeenth-century England. Mixing the study of inscriptions with the examination of tombs and other church monuments, this form of history came to be known as “history from marble”. Its practitioners drew upon the methods of epigraphy pioneered by sixteenth-century Italian humanists and the genealogical and heraldic research characteristic of late sixteenth and early seventeenth-century English antiquarianism. What resulted was a distinctive (and distinctly English) early modern historical innovation. This essay traces that development through scrutiny of four landmark works in this tradition by William Camden, Hugh Holland, John Weever and Thomas Dingley. Shaped by both continental classical philology and the specifically English interest in material culture post-Reformation, these works were at once genealogical, heraldic, epigraphic and preservationist. Influenced by memories of the recent past, but also by contemporary methodological innovations, they spearheaded a transformation in English historical and antiquarian culture. In their method of studying and writing about churches and their interest in monuments and inscriptions, they also promoted, perhaps for the first time (in an English context at least), a distinctly visual sense of the past
Pre-service primary teachers’ understandings of inclusive practice in Scotland and Finland.
Full text linkCONTEXT. Teachers’ attitudes are prerequisite to the implementation of inclusive practices, and teachers’ professional development through their teacher preparation programmes is important for inclusive classroom practice in schools. Developing effective inclusive practice begins in the teachers’ professional preparation. This study investigated pre-service teachers’ understandings of inclusive practice in Scotland and Finland. The aim was to have an in-depth understanding of some pre-service teachers’ views with examples and gain ideas that could count as evidence of inclusive practice, contributing to the dialogue about good inclusive practice. METHODS. This was a comparative small-scale qualitative study. Data were drawn from focus group interviews with second- and fourth-year pre-service teachers from both countries. The focus groups were conducted online, they lasted around an hour, and they were video and audio recorded. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. The Finnish data was analysed in Finnish but during the analysis their meanings and interpretations were confirmed through regular discussions. FINDINGS. In both contexts, the participants understand inclusive education beyond disabilities and special education. There was a better understanding of inclusive practice, more examples and fewer concerns from fourth-year pre-service teachers compared to second-year pre-service teachers. The replies of pre-service teachers in both countries highlighted the importance of values and pedagogy. Pre-service teachers shared examples of pedagogical approaches that they consider to be inclusive, but links to socially-constructed notions of ability or having the same expectations from all pupils were also evident. The findings indicate that a focus on values and pedagogy in both teacher preparation programs is needed with more explicit links between key ideas and practice. It is suggested that the idea of inclusion is embedded in the programs rather than focusing solely on special education modules. This study offers empirical evidence and contributes to inclusive education research, teachers’ professional preparation, policy goals and practice. KEY MESSAGE. A focus on values and pedagogy in teacher preparation programs is needed with more explicit links between key ideas and practice
Real-world waste dispersion modelling for benthic integrated multi-trophic aquaculture
Full text linkIn real-world situations, marine fish farms accommodate multiple fish species and cohorts within the farm, leading to diverse farm layouts influenced by cage dimensions, configurations, and intricate arrangements. These cage management practices are essential to meet production demands, however, farm-level complexities can impact model predictions of waste deposition and benthic impact near fish cages. This is of particular importance when the cages are used for integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) with benthic feeders, where this waste not only affects environmental conditions but also provides a potential food source. The Cage Aquaculture Particulate Output and Transport (CAPOT) model incorporated multiple species, cohorts, and cage arrangements to estimate waste distribution from a commercial fish farm in the Mediterranean between October 2018 and July 2019. This spreadsheet model estimated dispersion for individual fish cages using a grid resolution of 5 m x 5 m. The study categorized discrete production periods for each fish cage every month, aligning with intermittent changes in biomass and food inputs due to different cage management practices throughout production. This approach facilitated the use of detailed input data and enhanced model representativeness by considering variations in cage biomass, food types, settling velocities, and configurations. Model outputs, represented in contour plots, indicated higher deposition directly below fish cages that varied monthly throughout fish production cycles. Deposition footprints reflected changes in cage biomass, food inputs, and farm-level practices reflecting this real-world scenario where aquaculture does not follow a production continuum. Moreover, cohort dynamics and cage movements associated with the cage management practices of the fish farm influenced the quantity and fate of wastes distributed around fish cages, revealing variability in deposition footprints. Clearly, these findings have important implications for the design of benthic IMTA systems, with species such as sea cucumber and polychaetes. Variability in waste deposition creates challenges in identifying where the benthic organisms should be placed to allow optimal uptake of waste to meet their food requirements and increase survivability. Evidently, models have an important role to play and this study emphasizes the need for representative input data to describe actual food inputs, cage biomass changes, and management practices for more representative farm-scale modelling and essentially to improve particulate waste management. To effectively mitigate benthic impacts through IMTA, models must quantify and resolve particulate waste distribution and impact around fish farms to maintain a balanced system with net removal of wastes. Resolving farm-level complexities provides vital information about the variability of food availability and quality for extractive organisms that helps improve recycling of organic wastes in integrated systems, demanding a more representative modelling approach
Salmonella Typhimurium and Vibrio cholerae can be transferred from plastic mulch to basil and spinach salad leaves
Full text linkPlastic pollution is increasingly found in agricultural environments, where it contaminates soil and crops. Microbial biofilms rapidly colonise environmental plastics, such as the plastic mulches used in agricultural systems, which provide a unique environment for microbial plastisphere communities. Human pathogens can also persist in the plastisphere, and enter agricultural environments via flooding or irrigation with contaminated water. In this study we examined whether Salmonella Typhimurium and Vibrio cholerae can be transferred from the plastisphere on plastic mulch to the surface of ready-to-eat crop plants, and subsequently persist on the leaf surface. Both S. Typhimurium and V. cholerae were able to persist for 14 days on fragments of plastic mulch adhering to the surface of leaves of both basil and spinach. Importantly, within 24 h both pathogens were capable of dissociating from the surface of the plastic and were transferred onto the surface of both basil and spinach leaves. This poses a further risk to food safety and human health, as even removal of adhering plastics and washing of these ready-to-eat crops would not completely remove these pathogens. As the need for more intensive food production increases, so too does the use of plastic mulches in agronomic systems. Therefore, there is now an urgent need to understand the unquantified co-pollutant pathogen risk of contaminating agricultural and food production systems with plastic pollution
Restricting the content of alcohol advertising and including text health warnings: A between-group online experiment with a non-probability adult sample in the United Kingdom
Full text linkBackground: Statutory options for restricting alcohol advertising include limiting it to product-orientated information and requiring health warnings. We assess the impact of removing positive contextual factors from alcohol advertising and including a health warning among adults in the United Kingdom (UK). Methods: We conducted a 2 × 2 online between-group experiment with adults (18+) (n = 2421) recruited from a non-probability research panel in the United Kingdom. Participants were randomized to see an alcohol (vodka) advertisement (advert) which varied by context (no context vs. imagery depicting positive social interactions around alcohol) and message (multiple text health warning vs. “drink responsibly”). The multiple text health warning, based on recent legislation in Ireland, comprised three separate warnings (liver disease, cancers, drinking during pregnancy) and a web address for alcohol-related information and support. The “drink responsibly” control reflected the self-regulatory messages commonly used by alcohol companies. Participants rated the advert on 7-point scales for advert attractiveness, product appeal, trial intentions, perceived harm, and whether it made drinking alcohol seem enjoyable. Results: Removing the positive social context reduced positive advert and product reactions (difference in estimated marginal means [EMM]: −1.57 [makes drinking alcohol seem enjoyable] to −0.23 [intention to try]). Including the multiple text health warning also reduced positive advert and product reactions (difference in EMM: −0.55 [advert attractiveness] to −0.25 [intention to try]) and increased perceived product harm (difference in EMM: +0.25). There were no interactions between advert context and message for any outcome. Conclusions: Restricting content and including a multiple text health warning (compared to a “drink responsibly” message) may attenuate the persuasive impact of alcohol advertising and increase perceived product harm. Further research is needed to examine different degrees of content restrictions, alternative warning content and design, generalizability to different alcohol products and advert formats, and whether the impact of content controls varies among population subgroups
The Incidence and Persistence of Partnerships in a British Industrial City: Glasgow, 1861-1881.
Full text linkThis paper examines the prevalence of business partnerships in a late nineteenth century British city, using individual level data from Post Office directories and censuses. Focusing on Glasgow, we present a detailed picture of partnership number and type, demographic characteristics of the entrepreneurs who ran them, and how these businesses persisted over time. We show that partnerships were a key business grouping in the city, demonstrate that the partnership form was advantageous in manufacturing, and that the majority of partnerships were formed between individuals without family ties. Furthermore, we offer new insight into business longevity, showing that partnership business survival broadly matched corporate survival rates in this period, with persistence data also suggesting that kinship partnerships were better able to deal with the perceived hold-up problems associated with the partnership form
Larger and structurally complex woodland creation sites provide greater benefits for woodland plants
Full text linkReforestation initiatives are underway across the world. However, we know relatively little about the ecological consequences of creating and restoring forest ecosystems, and there is a lack of studies examining the drivers of species colonisation and establishment across appropriate temporal and spatial scales to inform conservation practice. Using data from a long-term natural experiment (the WrEN project), we explore ground plant species occurrence and community composition in 102 woodland creation sites (10–160 years since planting), and 27 old growth woodlands (>250 years). We conducted field surveys to collect data on occurrence of plant species (classified into woodland specialist, woodland generalist, or non-woodland) and used Structural Equation Modelling to investigate the influence of local (age, size, woodland structure) and landscape-level (amount of surrounding woodland) attributes on species richness. Woodland generalists are readily colonising woodland creation sites to similar levels found in old growth woodlands. However, there were fewer woodland specialist and more non-woodland plants in creation sites than in old growth. Specialists and generalists were more likely to be present in larger woodlands and those with higher variation in tree size (which was higher in older woodlands) and did not appear to be influenced by features of the surrounding landscape. Some plant communities in older creation sites (80–160 years) were similar to old growth, suggesting colonisation of a typical old growth flora over time; however, some sites were shifting away from this trajectory. Specialists are slow to colonise woodland creation sites and their occurrence was low relative to old growth woodlands even after >80 years. However, woodland management to increase structural complexity may enhance the establishment of woodland plants. The lack of influence of the surrounding landscape on species occurrence is likely due to most of the study sites being relatively isolated resulting in limited colonisation. This suggests that new woodlands need to be adjacent or very near to existing woodland to receive the benefits of increased colonisation. Our results highlight the importance of creating large and structurally complex woodlands, close to existing woodlands to facilitate the colonisation and establishment of woodland plants
Litigation and liability in concussion research and collaboration
Full text linkThis paper explores, first, the common law principles of personal injury litigation explored through court decisions relating to sports injuries in (primarily) England and Wales and, second, the statutory schemes relating to concussion liability in the US. It explores the difficulties of using those civil law strategies as a means of establishing liability for injuries arising from sports-related concussion (SRC) and explains why they are of such limited utility. While proposed class actions over historically-acquired injuries or individual litigation over recent catastrophic injury may have some merit, and while future amendments to the US laws might remove some of their inherent flaws the difficulties in establishing liability for personal injury will always be exacerbated by the specific characteristics of SRC and the legal, factual and evidential issues that arise. For those reasons, the paper considers the potential benefits of other means of concussion prevention and mitigation, including no-fault compensation and mandatory insurance, the more widespread use of effective, nuanced concussion protocols and inter-disciplinary research which engages with doctrinal legal research
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