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When bits enter just transitions: data and energy justice in digitalised energy futures
No full textEnergy systems worldwide are undergoing a profound transformation. Transitions to low-carbon pathways rely on digital technologies to decarbonise and decentralise energy infrastructure. However, this digitalisation raises critical questions around data and its fair use—referred to as ‘data justice’— which remained unexplored in energy research. While justice considerations have become central to energy transitions, the specific justice challenges introduced by digitalisation demand careful attention to ensure it does not exacerbate existing injustices or create new forms of exclusion and inequality. To date, little emphasis has been placed on how digitalisation influences justice outcomes through the data generated and required by smart energy systems, and how these data-related issues might prompt a rethinking of social justice in energy contexts. This paper argues that integrating energy and data justice perspectives offers a critical starting point for addressing these emerging challenges. The study identifies justice challenges related to the production, ownership, use, and governance of data within digital energy systems. The findings demonstrate how data justice perspectives can enrich energy justice scholarship and help navigate the nuanced social and ethical complexities introduced by digitalisation. The study offers recommendations for policymakers and energy stakeholders to embed justice principles into the design and implementation of digitalised energy systems, ensuring that future energy transitions are both inclusive and equitable.</p
Access to women’s services, including sexual health and wellbeing services, for women aged 40-65 years: the views of providers of care
No full textObjective:Women aged 40–65 years, who undergo predictable and important physiological transitions, feel that access in England to Women’s Health and Wellbeing Services (WHWS) is poor and inequitable. The barriers and enablers to WHWS, focusing on sexual health and sexual wellbeing services, for women aged 40–65 years, and feasible suggestions for development, were explored from the perspective of 11 providers of health and social care.Design:A qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews, was conducted with providers of WHWS. Framework Analysis, applying the Socio-ecological Model (SEM), through an intersectionality lens, was employed to analyse the findings. The study was reported according to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ).Setting and Participants:Eleven providers of care were recruited by convenience sampling from health and wellbeing settings serving the most under-resourced areas in South-East England.Results:The intersectional disadvantage of belonging to underserved groups overlapped across the constructs of the SEM. The main themes that emerged were the lack of prioritisation of midlife women within society, and the inadequate knowledge about the health and well-being requirements, including the sexual health and sexual well-being requirements, of midlife women.Conclusion:Amongst policy makers, the sensitive, complex, and interlinked nature of health and wellbeing, including sexual health and sexual wellbeing, of midlife women must be recognised. Investment in public and Health Care Professionals’ education, together with a life-course approach to health research and policy, is required to destigmatise and improve access to WHWS for midlife women.</p
Brain volumes after hypertensive pregnancy and postpartum blood pressure management: a POP-HT randomized clinical trial imaging substudy
No full textImportance: Hypertensive pregnancy increases risk of cognitive decline, stroke, and dementia, especially after pre-eclampsia. Women with prior hypertensive pregnancy show lower brain volumes, but it was unknown whether early postpartum blood pressure optimization could alter these outcomes.
Objective: To evaluate whether an intervention designed to achieve better postpartum blood pressure control following a hypertensive pregnancy is associated with differences in brain volumes at ~9 months postpartum compared to usual care.
Design: The Physician Optimized Postpartum blood pressure self-management trial (POP-HT) was a prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded endpoint study. Enrollment began February 21, 2020; last follow-up November 2, 2021; mean follow-up ~9 months. Secondary-outcome analyses (primary results published 2022) conducted May 2025.
Setting: Single tertiary center in the UK.
Participants: Participants aged >18 years with pre-eclampsia or gestational hypertension requiring
antihypertensive treatment at hospital discharge. Of 252 eligible, 32 declined; 220 randomized.
Interventions: Randomization 1:1 to telemonitored self-management with research physician-guided titration or usual postnatal care.
Main outcomes and measures: Secondary outcomes: T1-weighted brain MRI volumes (grey matter, white matter, cerebrospinal fluid, subcortical structures) acquired at ~9 months postpartum. Analyses used linear regression models adjusted for total intracranial volume.
Results: Mean (SD) age 33.5 (5.1) years; 63% pre-eclampsia, 37% gestational hypertension.
Intervention group (n=81) had larger total white matter volumes (adjusted mean difference 11.50 cm378 , 95% CI: 2.04 to 20.96; P = .02) compared to usual care (n = 71). In usual care, those with preeclampsia
had smaller putamen (adjusted mean difference -8.31 cm3 , 95% CI: -1.20 to -0.46; P =
.001), accumbens (adjusted mean difference -0.15 cm3 , 95% CI: -0.24 to -0.05; P = .003), and
pallidum (adjusted mean difference -0.13 cm3, 95% CI: -0.26 to -0.01; P = .04) volumes compared to
those with gestational hypertension. These differences were not observed in the intervention group.
Conclusions and relevance: Short-term postpartum optimization of blood pressure control following
hypertensive pregnancy was associated with larger brain volumes during the first year postpartum.
Because brain volume is a surrogate of brain health linked to tissue preservation and cognitive outcomes, these findings suggest potential neurovascular benefits, most pronounced among women with pre-eclampsia.
Clinical Trial Registration: NCT04273854</p
How to abolish the abstract power of capital? Re-designing market institutions for post-capitalist alternatives
No full textHow to transform the capitalist system, which we experience as an abstract, alienating force that is independent from us? How can we design post-capitalist practices and institutions that will not reproduce this abstract force? In this article, Nicole Pepperell’s immanent Marxism, J.K. Gibson-Graham’s diverse economies, and a comparative analysis of market institutions in the cut flower sector are brought together to answer these questions. Pepperell theorises value and capital as emergent results of various local practices, none of which would reproduce capital in isolation from the broader assemblage in which they are currently embedded. Post-capitalism is understood as the repurposing of existing local practices for new emancipatory ends. Gibson-Graham’s project concretises this possibility through a reparative reading of diverse economic practices as the building blocks of an alternative collective life. This theoretical debate informs the empirical analysis of two cut flower markets in Turkey. Whereas the export market compels individuals to rationalise production and transform labour process, a domestic cut flower cooperative reconfigures the relationship between supply and demand, diverse prices, solidarity, and mutual aid through regulated local auctions. This helps growers to have autonomy and control over production without capitalist differentiation.</p
Unraveling the complexity of radical service innovation: a systematic review, integrative framework, and research roadmap
No full textRadical service innovation (RSI) is essential for firms seeking long-term competitive advantage. However, RSI’s conceptual ambiguity and the lack of a comprehensive framework detailing its antecedents and consequences have hindered progress in the field. This study conducts a systematic literature review on RSI to critically examine the extant literature. We propose the knowledge-based view of innovation as a theoretical foundation for RSI, and identify three core attributes of service innovation that enable differentiation between RSI and incremental service innovation (ISI). From our synthesis of the existing literature, we develop an integrative framework that outlines the antecedents, consequences, and moderators of RSI. Finally, we identify five central RSI themes and propose an agenda with exemplar research questions for future studies. This study enhances the theoretical clarity of RSI, offers actionable insights for managers implementing RSI, and provides a foundation for advancing research in the service innovation domain.</p
A socio-ecological and multilevel approach to the role of honour cultures on violence justification: resource scarcity and ineffective law enforcement
No full textNo description supplied</p
Changes in harm perceptions of e-cigarettes compared with cigarettes following the announcement of the disposable vape ban in Great Britain
No full textIntroductionE-cigarettes (‘vapes’) are less harmful than cigarettes and effective for smoking cessation. However, public perceptions of their relative harms have worsened over the past decade. In January 2024, the UK government announced a forthcoming ban on disposable e-cigarettes, which received extended media coverage. Concerns were raised that this could exacerbate negative harm perceptions.MethodsWe conducted a repeat cross-sectional study using monthly data from the Smoking Toolkit Study (January 2022–June 2025, the month the ban was implemented). Segmented regression models assessed changes in relative harm perceptions of e-cigarettes vs. cigarettes before and after the January 2024 announcement. Participants were 16,489 people (≥16y) in Great Britain who smoked.ResultsTrends in harm perceptions changed following the announcement of the ban on disposable e-cigarettes. Between January 2022 and January 2024, the proportion who believed e-cigarettes were less harmful declined (RR=0.804 [95%CI=0.764-0.846]), while those believing e-cigarettes were more (RR=1.300 [1.226-1.379]) or equally harmful (RR=1.078 [1.033-1.124]) increased, and the proportion unsure decreased (RR=0.859 [0.805-0.917]). Following the policy announcement, the decline in less harmful perceptions and increase in more harmful perceptions both decelerated significantly (post-announcement trends: RR=0.922 [0.806-1.055]; RR=1.073 [0.939-1.227]). By June 2025, 18.7% [17.1-20.5%] believed e-cigarettes were less harmful, 31.3% [29.1-33.7%] more harmful, 37.5% [35.5-39.6%] equally harmful, and 12.5% [10.9-14.3%] were unsure.ConclusionsConcerns that the UK government’s 2024 vaping policy announcement would exacerbate worsening trends in negative harm perceptions of e-cigarettes among people who smoke appeared unfounded: the rate of deterioration in harm perceptions actually slowed significantly to June 2025. However, harm perceptions still declined, albeit more slowly, and a large proportion of people who smoke continue to hold misperceptions about the relative harms of e-cigarettes.ImplicationsMisperceptions about the relative harms of e-cigarettes remain common among people who smoke in Great Britain. The slowing of negative trends following the disposable ban announcement suggests the policy announcement did not worsen deteriorating harm perceptions as feared. Nonetheless, with only one in five adults who smoke recognising that e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes, clear communication from public health bodies, government, and via the media is needed to address ongoing misconceptions. Future research should assess whether implementation of the ban in June 2025 has different effects on harm perceptions.</p
Corpus Linguistics and Discourse Analysis
No full textThis entry introduces the combination of corpus linguistics and discourse analysis and positions it with reference to the ideational, interpersonal and textual functions of language. It sets out why we combine these two approaches to language analysis and how they may interact with one another, discusses the principal software used, and surveys the range of work in this area, devoting particular attention to cross-linguistic studies. It concludes with some discussion of where future work in corpus linguistics and discourse analysis might focus its attention.</p
