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Sensory Reactivity and Intolerance to Uncertainty: What characterises demand avoidance behaviours in Children and Adolescents with Pathological Demand Avoidance?
Full text linkThe present study addressed the underlying factors contributing to Extreme Demand Avoidance (EDA) behaviours in autistic children and adolescents with and without Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). Data from 795 children between the ages of 4-17 years old were analysed. Parents of 475 of autistic children and adolescents + PDA, 171 autistic children, and 94 neurotypical children completed an online composite questionnaire consisting of the characteristics of EDA, autism, anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and sensory processing patterns. The findings showed that higher levels of anxiety and autism corresponded to higher EDA behaviours for all three groups. While IU and sensory reactivity were not found to be associated with EDA in the autism group; higher levels of IU corresponded with higher levels of EDA for the neurotypical controls. Importantly, this was the first study to illustrate higher levels of sensory reactivity, namely sensory sensitivity and sensory seeking, to uniquely characterise EDA in the children and adolescents identifying with autism + PDA. It is suggested that significant sensory reactivity may play a major role in the ability to undertake and/or in the avoidance of certain demands and situations for children with a PDA. Understanding the key underlying mechanisms behind EDA behaviours, could lead to a strengths-based approach, tailoring more comprehensive management strategies for autistic children with PDA, including those that address environmental sensory demands
Circular Economy in Polyisocyanurate-based Insulation: Lifecycle Cost and Glycolysis Recycling Modelling
Full text linkPurpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate the economic impact of the integration of circular economy (CE) principles into the recycling processes of polyisocyanurate (PIR)-based building thermal insulation. Design/methodology/approach The study focuses on the glycolysis recycling of PIR waste and identifies factors influencing the cost-effectiveness of polyol recovery. An agent-based model was designed for product circularity assessment and Lifecycle Cost Analysis. The model was applied and evaluated on a polyurethane-based PIR building thermal insulation product. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify and assess the sources of uncertainty within the model. Findings The results identified that the cost of glycolysis agents and the catalyst contributed to 62% of the cost of the polyol recovery process compared to PIR waste. This study highlights the impact of supplementary materials on polyol recovery. Results also highlight how excessive methylene diphenyl diisocyanate significantly influences the cost of recycling PIR building thermal insulation. Practical implications CE of the least recycled materials, such as PIR, is an effective alternative to provide a sustainable economic growth and to protect against natural capital depletion. Originality/value This study provides insights into the economic feasibility and material impacts of integrating CE in PIR insulation recyclin
Mechanical and microstructural characterization of graphene dispersed basalt fiber reinforced polymeric composites
Full text linkThis study focused on effects of graphene nanofiller on basalt/epoxy composites. Basalt epoxy (BE) composite samples were fabricated by dispersing graphene in n-Butanol, using hand layup method. Fabricated materials were subjected to mechanical (tensile, flexural and impact) testing according to the ASTM standards. Interfacial characterization, failure morphology and internal structure of the fractured surfaces of the tested samples were carried out, using scanning electron microscope (SEM). From the results obtained, it was observed that addition of graphene nanofiller notably enhanced the mechanical properties: tensile strength and modulus, flexural and impact strengths of the composite samples. Graphene imposed composite, designated as basalt/epoxy-graphene (BEG) sample recorded 9.98% higher tensile strength than BE counterpart. Similarly, its flexural and impact strengths increased by 58.34% and 97.30%, respectively. These can be attributed to presence of graphene nanofiller in basalt/epoxy composite system. Considering further study on their microstructures, it was observed that graphene enhanced the interfacial adhesion bonding between basalt fiber and epoxy matrix, which consequently improved the mechanical properties of the BEG composites. This investigation can inform better design, fabrication and application of fiber reinforced polymeric composites
Regulatory Performance of African National Medicines Regulatory Authorities Achieving WHO Maturity Level 3: Identifying Best Practices
Full text linkBackground: The World Health Organization (WHO) developed the WHO Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) to assess and benchmark the drug regulatory systems and practices in national medicines regulatory authorities (NMRAs). The objective of the study was to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement by comparing the regulatory performance of the NMRAs in Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, all which have attained maturity level 3 status for medicines and /or vaccines, in order to enhance regulatory review processes and patients’ access to medicines and/or vaccines. Methods: The NMRAs selected for the study completed a questionnaire that collected data and metrics that facilitated comparative studies among the NMRAs. Results: The comparative study showed that similarities among these authorities also translated into their strengths. The study revealed that the human resource capacity in African NMRAs is inadequate to fully execute regulatory mandates. Review process map comparison revealed the important observation that these NMRAs conducted labelling review early in the review process rather than in the latter stages of the process. Conclusion: The study has identified the regulatory best practices that led to the NMRAs achieving WHO GBT maturity level 3. The African Medicines Agency should engage these maturity level-3 NMRAs to explore ways of benefiting from their experience and resources. It is hoped that through such engagement, the NMRAs will be encouraged to further develop their capacity to help the AMA to achieve its mandate. Additionally, by addressing the identified gaps and recommendations in the study these NMRAs can achieve WHO GBT maturity level 4 whilst NMRAs who have not yet reached GBT maturity level 3 can also benefit from this study in order to reach higher maturity levels
A Tree of Life Informed Exploration of Intergenerational Trauma in Second-Generation British Eritreans
Full text linkRationale and Aims: The experiences of second-generation British Eritreans, a community
shaped by colonialism, war, and forced migration, are absent from intergenerational trauma
research, despite growing recognition of the mental health needs of racialised communities
in the UK. This study explored how intergenerational trauma shapes their psychosocial wellbeing, situating lived experiences within historical, cultural, and structural contexts. Methods: Using a critical realist approach, 18 participants took part in Tree of Life and Forest of Life narrative workshops, followed by semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify patterns across interviews. Findings: Five themes were identified: (1) Survival is not the End: Inherited Wounds from War to the Diaspora, (2) "You're Just a Spectator": Intergenerational Storytelling and Emotional Inheritance, (3) Reconstructing Family in the Diaspora: Survival, Roles and Relational Ruptures, (4) Fragmentation to Fluidity: Carving Out an Existence Along the Margins, and (5) Carrying the Weight: Emotional Wounds and the Search for Healing.
Trauma was experienced as an ongoing, structurally embedded condition, reproduced through cultural silencing, disrupted family systems, identity misrecognition, and systemic exclusion, alongside adaptive resilience through spirituality, cultural memory, and collective
storytelling.
Discussion: Findings challenge individualised, Eurocentric therapy models, proposing a shift from "What happened to you?" to "What do you carry?". This reframing validates inherited survival strategies, recognises systemic injury as a clinical concern, and positions
second-generation British Eritrean experiences as critical to reshaping how intergenerational trauma is theorised, researched, and addressed in clinical practice
The Pristine Survey- XXVII. Journey to the Galactic outskirts : Mapping the outer halo red giant stars down to the very metal-poor end
Full text linkContext. In the context of Galactic archaeology, the outer halo remains relatively unexplored with respect to its metallicity distribution, merger debris, and the abundance of known very/extremely metal-poor ([Fe/H]50 kpc), 40-50% of the stars are very metal-poor (VMP, [Fe/H]<-2.0). Additionally, we use the PDR1-giants with radial velocities from spectroscopic surveys to map the metallicity view of the integrals-of-motion space where accreted dwarf galaxy debris conserve their orbital parameters for a long time. The PGS-giants catalogue is used to look for outer halo substructures such as the Pisces Plume overdensity where we associate 41 stars tentatively to the stellar counterpart of the Magellanic stream in the VMP end Conclusions. We publish two catalogues of RGB stars between-4.0<[Fe/H]<+0.1 from Pristine data release 1 and Pristine-Gaia synthetic photometric metallicities with reliable photometric distances inferred in this work. The PDR1-giants catalogue consists of 180,314 (111,305 with 6D phase-space data) giants out to ∼100 kpc, with 10,096 VMP candidate stars and 2,096 stars beyond 40 kpc, while the PGS-giants catalogue consists of 2,420,898 (1,706,006 with 6D phase-space data) giants out to ∼70 kpc, with 75,679 VMPcandidate stars and 267 VMP candidate stars beyond 40 kpc
Ketamine and psilocybin for athletes : A therapeutic breakthrough or a slippery slope?
Full text linkCOMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MACHINE LEARNING MODELS FOR PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Full text linkPredictive maintenance of Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) using machine learning is vitalfor preventing data loss and operational downtime in data centres. SequentialSMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) data provides a richsource for forecasting impending failures. However, a clear consensus on the mosteffective modelling approach is absent, constituting a knowledge gap caused bystudies that focus on a single paradigm without a comprehensive, comparativebenchmark across multiple task types. This research aims to systematicallyevaluate and rank the performance of over 20 models across regression,classification, time-series forecasting, and anomaly detection tasks to identify theoptimal strategies for predicting HDD failures. We conducted an extensiveempirical study, employing tree-based models, deep learning architectures,including LSTMs (Long Short-Term Memory networks), GRUs (Gated RecurrentUnits), and Temporal Fusion Transformers (TFT), as well as various autoencoders.A full hyperparameter sweep was performed for time-series models to ensurerobust comparisons. Tree-based models excelled in static analysis, while deeplearning was superior for temporal sequences. The TFT model achieved thehighest average accuracy (86.12%) and best generalisation. The GRU modelattained the highest failure recall (92.52% peak accuracy). Conversely, anomalydetection methods demonstrated only moderate performance (65-73% accuracy).The key contribution of this work is a definitive, evidence-based model selectionframework that addresses this gap. The TFT architecture is identified as the mostrobust and efficient model for analysing temporal SMART data. Practitionersshould prioritise tree-based models for static tabular data, TFT for accurate andreliable forecasting, and GRU for maximising failure detection sensitivity, therebysignificantly enhancing predictive maintenance frameworks
Influence of artificial refuge type on the success of a presence-absence survey for slow worms Anguis fragilis
Full text linkArtificial refuges are widely used to improve detection rates when surveying for reptiles. We compared the efficacy of refuges constructed from four different materials to detect slow worms (Anguis fragilis). The refuges included two types that were flat - roofing felt (bitumen) and carpet tiles, and two types that were corrugated - one constructed of roofing felt (bitumen-soaked fibers) and the other of metal. The proportion of occupied refuges (i.e. sheltering at least one slow worm) varied greatly by month with the highest proportions in June. The effect of refuge type was not statistically significant on its own, but the interaction between the type and month was significant. The proportion of occupied refuges was most affected by refuge type in the months with intermediate slow worm occupancy rates (May, July). Flat roofing felt and the corrugated roofing felt appear to be the most different, the former higher in July and the latter higher in May and June. Using a mixture of refuge types simultaneously during surveys could potentially increase the detection rate of slow worms
Use and reporting of patient-reported outcomes in randomized controlled trials in non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a scoping review
Full text linkBackground: Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) constitutes a biologically and clinically heterogeneous group of lymphoid malignancies, with varying prognoses and treatment aims between indolent and aggressive subtypes. While survival outcomes remain key efficacy measures, they insufficiently capture the impact of disease and treatment on daily physical and psychosocial functioning, as well as quality of life (QoL). Objectives: To characterize the use and reporting of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in adult NHL randomized controlled trials (RCTs), including the trajectory of PRO dissemination throughout the trial reporting process. Methods: MEDLINE, CENTRAL, ClinicalTrials.gov, and WHO ICTRP were systematically searched from 1 January 2017 to 19 January 2023 for NHL RCTs irrespective of subtype, with databases being re-searched until 4 February 2025. Cross-sectional and longitudinal descriptive analyses were conducted to investigate PRO use and reporting practices. Findings: 549 completed and ongoing RCTs met the eligibility criteria, of which 176 trials (32.1%) included a reference to PROs, and 27 (4.9%) used a PRO as a primary outcome. Overall, 95 PRO measures were identified across trials, with EORTC QLQ-C30, FACT-Lymphoma, and EQ-5D being referenced most frequently. Among trials with published results that pre-specified PROs, 25.0% entirely and 10.5% partly omitted PRO findings from their main full-texts, without addressing this shortcoming in subsequent publications. Conclusion: PROs are underused and underreported in RCTs in NHL. Standardized PRO evaluation methodology and guidance for the selection of fit-for-purpose PRO measures are needed, along with clear positioning of PROs alongside survival outcomes in clinical trial design and interpretation