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Meta-Regression Insights for Optimizing Accelerated Neuromodulation Protocols in Major Depression
Get PDFAccelerated neuromodulation, which involves multiple daily sessions of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), is increasingly recognized as a time-efficient and clinically effective treatment for major depressive episodes, including treatment-resistant and bipolar depression. Given the considerable variability in stimulation parameters and therapeutic outcomes, this study aims to provide preliminary insights to optimize accelerated excitatory rTMS protocols for enhanced clinical efficacy. We performed a meta-regression analysis including controlled and uncontrolled trials reporting the effect of high-frequency prefrontal cortex accelerated rTMS (arTMS) and intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (aiTBS) on depression response rate in patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder, treatment-resistant depression and bipolar depression (both men and women, all ages). The systematic search identified 25 arTMS/aiTBS interventions in depression studies with 5 or more participants, totaling 810 participants and 722 stimulation sessions. Meta-regression analysis revealed a significant dose–response relationship in clinical outcomes. Both a higher number of pulses and a greater total number of sessions (i.e., more than 20) were associated with enhanced antidepressant effects. Additionally, longer intersession intervals (≥ 50 minutes) appeared to positively influence treatment effectiveness. No significant differences emerged between stimulation modalities (iTBS vs. arTMS) or methods of target localization. Despite some limitations, these findings provide preliminary evidence of the significant impact that parameter settings in accelerated rTMS protocols have on clinical outcomes, offering valuable guidance for the future optimization of neuromodulation strategies in the treatment of depression
Gurkha Veterans' Narratives of Mental Health, Activism, and Justice
Get PDFGurkhas are soldiers from Nepal who have served in the British Army for over 200 years.
They form a unique yet historically marginalised part of Britain’s military legacy (Caplan,
1995; Des Chene, 1991). Despite being celebrated in service, they have faced longstanding
inequalities such as pension rights and welfare provision. Activism has become central to
Gurkha public life with the ongoing pension disparity remaining a key focus (British Gurkha
Case, 2024; Thurley, 2021).
Little is known about how Gurkha veterans experience activism, despite its significance for
their collective identity. There is a growing UK Nepali community, which includes a
significant number of Gurkha veterans and their families (Office for National Statistics,
2023). Evidence shows that this population underutilises mental health services, highlighting
the need to understand their lived experiences (Thake, 2014; Simkhada et al., 2021; Jones,
Palmer & Bhui, 2022).
This study explored five Gurkha veterans’ narratives of mental health, activism, and justice,
analysed through Narrative Analysis (Riessman, 2008) through the lenses of Postcolonial and
Critical Race Theory. Three collective storylines emerged: stories of awakening, stories of
enduring, and stories of holding on. The key finding was trauma, which was experienced as
historical, intergenerational, and ongoing. For Gurkha veterans, distress was cumulative and
moral rather than confined to discrete events. This shaped how participants remembered,
grieved, and sought justice. Consistent with critical trauma theorists, these findings highlight
how suffering reflects structures of power and oppression (Herman, 1992; Fanon, 1963;
Brave Heart, 1998).
Clinical implications include the need for culturally meaningful, trauma-informed models of
care and the recognition of activism as a site of both psychological burden and healing.
Recommendations are made for individual, policy, and community-based responses in
working with this community
Examining Strength-Based Characteristics in Adults with ADHD
Get PDFAim: To explore strengths-based self-concept in adults diagnosed with ADHD and to develop and conduct a preliminary psychometric evaluation of a novel self-report measure of self-perceived ADHD-related strengths (the ADHD Strengths Identification Questionnaire; ASIQ).
Method: A novel self-report measure, the ASIQ, was developed based on a synthesis of qualitative literature and expert feedback from adults with ADHD. Data were collected via an online survey from 167 adults with a formal ADHD diagnosis. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed to establish the factor structure and internal consistency of the ASIQ. Independent samples t-tests, ANOVAs, and ordinal regression analyses assessed the relationship between strength identification and demographic variables including gender, education, socioeconomic deprivation, and ADHD treatment history.
Results: EFA supported a two-factor, 12-item solution: Cognitive Adaptability and Creative–Divergent Thinking, with acceptable preliminary internal consistency. Descriptively, participants reported moderate-to-high endorsement of strengths across both domains. In univariable analyses, Creative–Divergent Thinking differed by gender and Cognitive Adaptability differed by educational attainment; deprivation and treatment history were not significantly associated with ASIQ scores. In combined models, demographic predictors were not statistically significant, suggesting that any subgroup effects were modest and should be interpreted cautiously.
Discussion: These findings provide preliminary empirical support for the idea that adults with ADHD recognise positive strengths associated with their condition. The two-factor structure of the ASIQ mirrors themes from previous qualitative studies, suggesting a convergence between lived experiences and measurable strengths domains. Gender and education differences emerged in strength endorsement, though these results should be interpreted cautiously due to sample imbalances. Importantly, this research is in an early, exploratory stage - the ASIQ is not yet ready for clinical use. Nonetheless, the work highlights the potential value of strengths-based approaches in ADHD. Integrating an awareness of cognitive adaptability and creative-divergent thinking into post-diagnostic support and therapy could help adults with ADHD develop a more balanced and positive self-concept. Future research will need to validate the ASIQ through further psychometric testing
(e.g. confirmatory factor analysis, broader samples) and establish how these strength domains relate to real-life outcomes. This initial evidence, however, underscores that viewing ADHD through a dual lens of challenges and strengths can enrich clinical practice and research, aligning with neurodiversity-affirmative perspectives
Finding the common good in divided societies : The benefits of self-interest in transitional justice interactions
Get PDFPost-conflict transitional justice aims to nurture constructive dialogue between members of formerly opposed groups. Expressions of self-interest are often deemed antithetical to this because they can be framed as interest pertaining to single group. We argue that expressions of self-interest can be beneficial to transitional justice dialogues. In sequences of interactions between individuals across group lines, expressions of interest are dynamic and can shift. We analyse how they can shift and how they result in a common good orientation based on a shared vision of justice. We draw on theories of self-interest in deliberative democracy and use Conversation Analysis, a micro-analytic approach to the analysis of turns in conversations, to capture this in transcripts from 12 multi-ethnic focus groups conducted in four former Yugoslav countries. The findings show that expressions of self-interest in transitional justice dialogues are more complex than previously theorised and can aid transitional justice
Continuous Authentication Through Touch Stroke Analysis with Explainable AI (xAI)
Get PDFMobile authentication is crucial for device security; however, conventional techniques such as PINs and swipe patterns are susceptible to social engineering attacks. This work explores the integration of touch stroke analysis and Explainable AI (xAI) to address these vulnerabilities. Unlike static methods that require intervention at specific intervals, continuous authentication offers dynamic security by utilizing distinct user touch dynamics. This study aggregates touch stroke data from 150 participants to create comprehensive user profiles, incorporating novel biometric features such as mid-stroke pressure and mid-stroke area. These profiles are analyzed using machine learning methods, where the Random Tree classifier achieved the highest accuracy of 97.07%. To enhance interpretability and user trust, xAI methods such as SHAP and LIME are employed to provide transparency into the models’ decision-making processes, demonstrating how integrating touch stroke dynamics with xAI produces a visible, trustworthy, and continuous authentication system
The impact of superradiance on the spin evolution of variably accreting massive black holes
Get PDFThis paper explores how time-varying increases in mass accretion onto rapidly spinning black holes influence their long-term spin evolution when affected by superradiance - a process where energy is extracted from the black hole by a surrounding axion field. Using simulations the study tracks how sudden accretion boosts affect a critical spin-down phase (the superradiance drop) during which the black hole's spin rapidly decreases while its mass remains nearly constant. The black hole spin evolution is controlled by the competition between two processes: how fast angular momentum is added through accretion, and how fast it is removed by the axion cloud. One major conclusion is that boosts to the accretion rate before the superradiance drop have the strongest effect, as they can delay or reshape the drop and significantly shrink the region of the mass-spin plane depopulated due to the superradiance. In particular, a super-Eddington accretion rate of 5 times Eddington accretion, lasting for 4 Myr and occurring 30 Myr before the superradiance drop can reduce the superradiance exclusion region in the mass-spin plane by 40 percent. In contrast, boosts to the accretion rate after the superradiance drop only cause temporary changes in the black hole spin. The study also shows that black holes with lighter axion clouds are more sensitive to these early boosts and can show observable spin changes lasting tens to hundreds of millions of years. Heavier axion clouds, however, require much stronger or longer-lasting boosts to produce similar effects, making them more stable under variable accretion
A Modal-based Contribution to Damage Location in Laminated Composite Plates
Get PDFThe need for damage detection on complex structures at an early stage, has led to the development of techniques that evaluate changes on vibration parameters, since the dynamic response of a structure is dependent on its particular characteristics. The generality of the vibration based damage detection techniques are based on the fact that damage will induce a local reduction on the component stiffness. However, no single approach has proven appropriate for all situations. Composite materials, which are receiving an increasing attention in the aeronautical and other industries, namely Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRPs), are very sensitive to impacts of medium and low energy. Typically, Barely Visible Impact Damage (BVID) will occur, constituting an unsafe failure of difficult assessment. To assess (detect, locate and quantify) damage in this kind of material is still a challenge, especially if a huge amount of sensors or expensive equipments are not available. In this work, a methodology that makes use of a reduced amount of conventional sensors is explored, with the aim of locating damage on laminated components that are subjected to impacts during service for a low cost. This represents a considerable benefit, namely for the assessment of damage in aeronautical components, when compared to most methods used today. This work can also give a major contribution to the research community since uncommon approaches will be used to model damage in composite materials, namely the modal damping factor as feature for damage location
Spirits of Place: The English Picturesque in Post-Second World War Audiovisual Narratives
Get PDFThis thesis offers a detailed, work-by-work chronological study of the picturesque in a small number of carefully chosen country house screen narratives, from the period 1949-1982. Each chapter deals with one of these works: Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949); The Go-Between (Joseph Losey, 1971); The Ruling Class (Peter Medak, 1972); Brideshead Revisited (Charles Sturridge and Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1981); and The Draughtsman's Contract (Peter Greenaway, 1982). These screen fictions are not representative of country estate screen narratives in general, nor are they typical of their directors' oeuvres. The most significant trend is a topos; they all feature a specific type of figure set in a picturesque landscape: a male protagonist who visits a country estate and whose status as an outsider there is largely articulated through his perception of the landed family and its estate. Each figure performs in a picturesque landscape; in the process, he alters, and is altered irrevocably by, the estate. He becomes its genius loci (spirit of place). What was, in 1949, a somewhat unusual landscape narrative, became a small, but highly significant, groundbreaking genre between 1971 and 1982. Through this combination of case studies, I chart a history of innovation in the deployment of country estates in post-Second World War film and television. Heritage criticism tends to see landscapes in screen fictions as pauses in, or distractions from, narrative. This thesis develops an alternative approach to analysing and historicising audiovisual narratives set in picturesque landscapes. It examines the way the chosen works establish a reciprocal relationship between location and narrative. It argues that landscape history plays an integral role in such fictions and that landscape historiography is, therefore, a valuable hermeneutic tool for the analysis of these narratives, yielding new insights into a distinctly English genre
Electron densities from [S II] lines significantly overestimate the impact of ionised AGN outflows
Get PDFTo explain the properties of the local galaxy population, theoretical models require active galactic nuclei (AGN) to inject energy into host galaxies, thereby expelling outflows of gas that would otherwise form stars. Observational tests of this scenario rely on determining outflow masses, which requires measuring the electron density () of ionised gas. However, recent studies have argued that the most commonly used diagnostic may underestimate electron densities (and hence overestimate outflow masses) by several orders of magnitude, casting doubt as to whether ionised AGN-driven outflows can provide the impact needed to reconcile observations with theory. Here, we investigate this by applying two different electron-density diagnostics to Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopy of the Quasar Feedback (QSOFEED) sample of 48 nearby type-2 quasars. Accounting for uncertainties, we find that outflow masses implied by the transauroral-line electron-density diagnostic are significantly lower than those produced by the commonly-used ‘strong-line’ [S II](6717/6731) method, indicating a different origin of these emission lines and suggesting that these doubts are justified. Nevertheless, we show that it is possible to modify the [S II](6717/6731) electron-density diagnostic for our sample by applying a correction of log10 (, outflow [cm−3]) = log10 (,[S II] [cm−3]) + 0.75(±0.07) to account for this, which results in values that are statistically consistent with those produced using the transauroral-line method. The techniques that we present here will be crucial for outflow studies in the upcoming era of large spectroscopic surveys, which will also be able to verify our results and broaden this method to larger samples of AGN of different types
Achieving high terminal performance: a case study of Korean steel terminals using fsQCA
Get PDFSteel-dedicated terminals play a critical role in the facilitation of the Korean steel industry. Due to the nature of steel production and handling, Korean steel-dedicated terminals are heavily utilized in the transportation of steel products both domestically and internationally. Despite the importance of steel terminals, there is limited research exploring factors that drive high terminal performance for bulk terminals, let alone steel terminals. Thus, this study examines factors that lead to high terminal performance for Korean steel terminals. A configurational approach was taken using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to yield different combinations of factors that drive high terminal performance. Based on the collected data from 24 Korean steel terminals, two key paths were revealed using factors including deadweight tonnage, stockyard area/yard area, loading and unloading capacity, berth length, and mean depth that determine the level of annual cargo throughput. The findings of this study provide insights and implications to both researchers and relevant stakeholders on the complex interactions of factors that lead to high performance in the context of Korean steel terminals. This study also enhances understanding of the operational process and background of Korean steel terminals