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Nonperturbative test of nucleation calculations for strong phase transitions
No full textNucleation rate computations are of broad importance in particle physics and cosmology. Perturbative calculations are often used to compute the nucleation rate Γ, but these are incomplete. We perform nonperturbative lattice simulations of nucleation in a scalar field theory with a tree-level barrier, computing a final result extrapolated to the thermodynamic and continuum limits. Although the system in question should be well described by a complete one-loop perturbative calculation, we find only qualitative agreement with the full perturbative result, with a 20% discrepancy in |logΓ|. Our result motivates further testing of the current nucleation paradigm.</p
Pauses, reformulations and inhibitory control in speakers with non-specific Alzheimer’s Disease
No full textCompared to healthy individuals, differences have been reported in people living with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in their production of reformulations and silences within turns in spontaneous conversation. Inhibitory control has been found to influence the production of the same disfluencies in language learners’ semi-spontaneous monologic speech, but their cumulative incidence in that mode, which is more conveniently collected and analysed than conversation, has not been assessed in AD speakers. We hypothesised that AD speakers would produce fewer reformulations and more silent pauses in long turns over time. Data was collected from seven participants with AD and 10 healthy controls over two years. Elicitation materials comprised a MoCA test, category fluency and Stroop tasks, and speech prompt. In AD participants only the number and duration of pauses correlated with measures of inhibition. Reformulations were not significantly associated with any other measure in either year.</p
Interaction of contextual, setting and implementation factors on a podoconiosis intervention in rural Ethiopia: results from a qualitative study.
No full textSocial science perspectives enable more holistic approaches to the evaluation of health interventions. Balance between context, setting and implementation is key to the sustainable impact of health interventions. However, little is known about how the implementation of interventions against Neglected Tropical Diseases interacts with context and settings, or the influence of the interaction on intervention outcomes. We conducted a qualitative evaluation of a podoconiosis intervention in Northwestern Ethiopia, and collected data on intervention implementation, context, setting and relations among these elements between 10/04/2022 and 29/07/2022. Our system and network analyses revealed that the context, setting and implementation of the intervention interacted formally and informally across macro, meso and micro levels during intervention delivery and created constraints on the intervention. In future, implementers must design programs that can withstand the constraining effects of contextual and related factors to effectively deliver activities and institutionalize NTD services at the community level. These programs must be supported by simultaneous efforts to mobilize institutions and local actors to ensure reflection on priorities and local solutions. Integrating social science perspectives into intervention evaluation enables better analysis and understanding of the factors influencing health interventions.</p
Queer Arab art in the wake of the Arab spring: humour, visibility and wider social reform
No full textThis paper traces the emergence of new aesthetics, trends and forms in queer Arab popular culture in the wake
of the Arab Spring. Focusing on three case studies – Art Queer Habibi’s comic strip cartoons, Mashrou’ Leila ’s
subversive music and the Berlin Darvish’s gender-bending dance – the paper examines the multifaceted
humorous and creative ways in which contemporary LGBTQ artists from the region are sketching, singing and
dancing their future emancipated realities through rewriting themselves into spaces from which they have been
erased. The Arab Spring uprisings may not have brought about the desired socio-political change in the region;
they have, however, broken the barrier of fear and enabled subaltern groups such as LGBTQ subjects to emerge
politically and assert their visibility artistically in a new era of global and cyber connectivity beyond state control.
Drawing on the local and international appeal of this new wave of queer Arab creativity, the paper explores its
anti-mimetic potential for real socio-political change in the region.</p
A revealed preference approach to approximate utility maximisation
No full textWe develop a revealed preference method for studying preferences of individuals whose choices may be inconsistent with utility maximisation. We show that acyclicity of the strict revealed preference is necessary and sufficient for the data to be rationalisable with approximate utility maximisation. In this model, an alternative is selected from a menu only if its utility is not significantly lower than that of any other available option. This allows us to test for consumer behaviour that is subject to imprecision, vagueness of judgement, or incommensurability, among others. Our results require minimal assumptions on the empirical framework, making them applicable to studies of choices over consumption bundles, state-contingent consumption, and lotteries.</p
Prelimbic cortical excitatory overdrive and inhibitory underdrive accompany environmental suppression of food seeking
No full textCues associated with food, such as fast-food advertising, can provoke food cravings and may lead to unhealthy overeating. Environmental enrichment (EE) that enhances cognitive and physical stimulation can reduce cue-evoked sucrose seeking in mice and recruitment of sucrose cue-reactive neurons or ‘neuronal ensembles’ in the prelimbic cortex (PL), which regulates appetitive behaviors. Hence, EE provides us with a behavioral model and neuronal targets to identify ‘anti-craving’ relevant mechanisms. Here, we investigated in the PL how EE modulated neuronal excitability and activity patterns in cue-reactive neuronal populations. Chemogenetic inhibition of cue-reactive neurons in PL blocked cue-evoked sucrose seeking, thereby confirming the function of these neurons in sucrose cue memory. EE boosted the baseline excitability of ‘originally’, or before EE exposure, cue-reactive, excitatory pyramidal cells in PL. Furthermore, their sucrose cue-specificity was lost – resulting in their persistent activation and non-cue selective activation or ‘excitatory overdrive’. Furthermore, EE reduced recruitment of cue-reactive, inhibitory interneurons reflecting ‘inhibitory underdrive’. Taken together, impaired neuronal food cue processing due to simultaneous prefrontal cortical excitatory ‘overdrive’ and inhibitory ‘underdrive’ likely underlies EE’s anti-craving action, thereby serving as potential neurophysiological targets to develop novel medications that help control food cravings.</p
How can we do authentic co-construction with autistic secondary pupils?
No full textPurpose of the research:Co-constructed digital storytelling methods have the potential to provide authentic children’s perspectives for planning health and education support. The Our Stories project investigated how this method can be applied with autistic children and young people (CYP). A year-long sub-project supported four autistic CYP in a mainstream secondary school in the UK to create short videos illustrating how they manage their sensory and emotional experiences during the school day. The CYP were supported by a member of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities team, a specialist autism teacher, a researcher, and filmmakers from a disability-led community interest company. This paper reflects on how we can authentically co-construct digital stories with autistic secondary pupils.Major findings:We identified two broad messages for genuinely participatory research. The first was how the structure of sessions changed, from an initial assumption of imposing structure to achieve the research aims to the negotiation of a messy, more fluid means of working to suit the CYP’s needs and wishes. Second was a change in the intended purpose of the stories, from a product to support reflection and understanding about emotional regulation, to each CYP’s own unfolding of purpose.Conclusion:We draw out general implications for co-construction in participatory research in terms of awareness of how to work with power relations in ways that keep the young person at the centre of analysis, and which recognise the need for space for CYP to construct their own meanings.</p
The association between age at menarche (AAM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in the MASHAD cohort study
No full textAge at menarche may be associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors in different ethnic groups. The purpose of this study was to identify the association of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors with age at menarche (AAM) in Mashhad, the second biggest city in Iran. This was a cross- sectional study based on cohort data of 2353 women (35–65 years) from Mashhad, Iran for whom the age at menarche was reported. Baseline demographic, anthropometric data, and biochemical profiles were also collected. The levels of depression and anxiety were evaluated using a validated Persian version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Multiple logistic regression models were used to examine the association between age at menarche with CVD risk factors. Anthropometric parameters, short stature, prevalence of diabetes, and CVD risk were significantly higher in women who were younger at menarche (AAM) in comparison to women with an older AAM. Women with a menstruating age of 11 years had a significantly higher weight (P 28.7 kg/m2, WC > 96 cm, HC > 105 cm and WTR > 61.96 were higher than girls who menstruated at 13 years old. The odds of height > 155 cm was higher in girls with menarche age of ≥ 15 than 13 years and the odds of having depression scores greater than 12 was lower in menarche age group of ≥ 15 years. The girls with menstruation age of 12 years had higher odds of having diabetes mellitus and HC > 105 cm than girls with menstruation age of 13 years. The odds of demi span exceeded 74 cm and height > 155 cm were higher in girls with menarche age of 14 than 13 years. AAM may be a useful factor to identify women at greater risk of CVD to implement appropriate preventive measures.</p
Teachers as the intervention: can teachers’ professional knowledge, beliefs and attitudes be influenced to enhance their effective teaching of reading comprehension?
No full textThe teaching of reading comprehension is complex. Moreover, how teachers understand reading comprehension and translate this understanding into effective practice in the classroom is complex and poorly understood. This thesis describes a research journey seeking to understand how teachers’ professional knowledge of the teaching of reading comprehension can be developed.The thesis starts, in Chapter 1, with a systematic review into the current understanding of reading comprehension and how it is developed by students in the primary ages (5-11years). In Chapter 2, further reviews into teacher professional knowledge of reading comprehension and the effectiveness of teaching of reading comprehension to children in mainstream classrooms are shared. Following this Chapter 3 describes the development of a tool to measure teacher knowledge, behaviour and attitudes to teaching reading comprehension (the KBAT-RC) and the findings from using this tool with a sample of primary teachers across England, UK. Building on the findings from Chapter 3, Chapter 4 describes the process of co-construction adopted to develop an online training programme for teachers called the Comprehension Train(ing). Chapter 5 reports on the findings of a quasi-experimental study that investigated the effectiveness of the training on teacher professional knowledge and practice in the classroom (proximal outcomes) and student outcomes, using a standardised, norm-referenced assessment of reading comprehension (distal outcomes).The findings of the studies reported showed that teachers lack knowledge in the more abstract and meta-cognitive aspects of the reading comprehension process, such as inferencing and self-monitoring for meaning. The evaluation of the training programme, the Comprehension Train(ing) showed that engaging with the programme increased teacher professional knowledge, behaviours and attitudes towards teaching reading comprehension, but did not result in any significant difference in outcomes for students.</p