34028 research outputs found
Sort by
Reactive and risky: The behavioural structuring of ‘dog reactive dogs’
No full textReactive behaviour is a commonly used term among dog trainers and owners to describe rapid, high-arousal responses by dogs directed towards specific stimuli. When directed towards other dogs, the term ‘dog reactive dog’ (DRD) is often used. There has been little attempt to examine these dogs’ responses within the broader biological framework of agonistic behaviour. We aimed to generate an owner-centred definition of DRDs, then investigate whether the commonly reported reactive behaviours could be used to define specific population subtypes. A dog reactive dog was defined as a dog exhibiting one or more of the following behaviours in response to another dog: barking, growling, snarling (raised lip), lunging, snapping, nipping, biting, whining, and a stiff posture with raised hackles accompanied by intense staring. A questionnaire (n = 1959; 1360 complete responses for reactive behaviour profiles) collected data on the frequency of observation of these behaviours in DRDs, alongside dog demographics and contextual factors. Three components were derived using principal component analysis, labelled: PC1 ’Oral Attack’ (snapping, nipping, biting), PC2 ‘Frustration’ (barking, lunging, whining), and PC3 ‘Posturing’ (growling, snarling, stiff posture). Hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis of dogs’ component scores indicated four clusters within the population. Cluster 1 dogs (40 % of the sample) exhibited moderate ‘Posturing’ and ‘Frustration’ but very low ‘Oral Attack’, suggesting lower escalation risk. Cluster 2 (18 %) displayed very high ‘Frustration’, high ‘Posturing’, and low-moderate ‘Oral Attack’. Cluster 3 (32 %) displayed moderate ‘Frustration’ but high levels of ‘Posturing’ and moderate levels of ‘Oral Attack’, suggesting a greater tendency for contact. Cluster 4 (10 %) showed high scores across all components and represented the highest escalation risk. Demographic associations indicated that source of acquisition and general social reactivity were predictive of cluster membership, whereas sex, neuter status, age, and size were not. Overall, these results demonstrate that DRDs are a heterogeneous group whose behaviours cluster in psychobiologically meaningful ways. The findings provide partial empirical support for the structure of behaviours noted in the ‘Ladder of Aggression’, while highlighting an independent influence from ‘Frustration’. Clinical management should be tailored according to cluster type, with lower-risk dogs benefiting from avoidance measures and offering alternate communicative behaviours, and higher-risk groups requiring stricter risk management with a longer-term focus on strategies to reduce ‘Frustration’. As a result, an owner-friendly screening tool was developed to estimate a dog’s cluster type and associated management guide.</p
Sleep Disturbances, Psychosis Symptoms, and Suicidal Ideation in First Episode Psychosis: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Study
No full textSleep disturbances are a risk factor for suicidal ideation and are commonly reported amongst individuals experiencing psychosis. Given elevated suicide risk in First Episode Psychosis (FEP), understanding associations between sleep and suicidality is imperative for informing risk management and intervention. This study explored associations between sleep, psychosis symptoms, and suicidal ideation and explored the perceptions of those with FEP regarding these experiences.10 participants experiencing FEP were recruited from Early Intervention services. Participants wore an actigraph for 7 days, completed 3 measures (Insomnia Severity Index [ISI], Prodromal Questionnaire Brief [PQB], and Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation [BSS]), and participated in a semi-structured interview. No significant associations were found between variables, however, descriptive statistics indicated variation in sleep duration, sleep timing, wake after sleep onset, and onset latency. Qualitatively, participants described an extended process of loss, from losing sleep to ‘losing themselves’ and the ability to make safe decisions. Sleep disturbances were considered central to the meaning making of psychosis experiences prior to an acute episode, and as a ‘trigger’ for subsequent experience. Participants discussed reduced emotional control and heightened self-harm or non-suicidal self-injury following sleep disturbances. Participants described a sense of entrapment in their experiences of poor sleep and described suicide as an escape from their current reality. The relationship between sleep and suicidality in FEP warrants further exploration, including understanding of how specific aspects of sleep relate to suicidality, and exploration of the psychological processes in this complex relationship.</p
Jack Zipes: God Help Us (Books 1, 2, and 3)
No full textA set of three Risographed Artists' Books with visual design by Dave Eccles. The books are visual interpretations of Jack Zipes' post-modern fairy tales.</p
Augmented Instructors and Students: Rethinking Business Education Through AI-Driven Innovative Teaching Strategies for Business Graduate
No full textThis chapter examines how artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing business education by augmenting the responsibilities of both teachers and students, while replacing some routine tasks. It starts with a critical analysis of the shortcomings of traditional teaching methods and the evolving skill requirements of the digital economy. The main emphasis is on how roles are changing in the classroom: teachers are becoming mentors and facilitators rather than content providers, and students are growing more independent, tech-savvy, and active knowledge co-creators. This chapter is based on a conceptual analysis and qualitative data gathered from both educators and students within Tunisian business schools. It raises issues regarding academic integrity and dehumanizing instruction while highlighting the ways AI, as a sparring partner, improves personalization, engagement, and active learning. Divergent adoption patterns, ethical conflicts, and a high requirement for institutional support, training, and ethical frameworks are revealed by thematic analysis.</p
Elizabeth Gaskell’s Transatlantic Legacies: Margaret Hale’s Daughters in Nineteenth-Century US Industrial Fiction
No full textThis chapter identifies Elizabeth Gaskell’s significant transatlantic fictional legacy, through a study of three novels published in the US that were clearly influenced by her industrial novel North and South (1854-5): Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s The Silent Partner (1871), English-American author Frances Hodgson Burnett’s That Lass O’Lowrie’s (1877), and Helen Winslow’s utopian fiction Salome Shepard: Reformer (1893). All three novels take the basic plot, setting and schematic contrasts of North and South as a framework through which to address later forms of industrial class conflict, and the possibilities of women’s engagement in the public sphere. Writing one or two generations after Gaskell, these expand their ‘Margaret’ character’s social engagement in accordance with women’s widening sphere of opportunity, including in cultural philanthropy of the kind modelled by reformer Octavia Hill. I argue that Phelps’s The Silent Partner serves as a paratext that influences Burnett’s and Winslow’s engagement with North and South, chiefly in their empowerment of the working-class woman as a co-agent of reform along with her middle-class counterpart (unlike Gaskell’s Bessy Higgins). Yet, in sharing Gaskell’s ambivalence towards women’s work and general working-class empowerment, they recast North and South as head of a small tradition of women’s industrial fiction that is sympathetically reformist, but maternalistic.</p
Preliminary assessment of AI as a triage tool for forensic toxicology case interpretation
No full textLarge language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT have demonstrated potential for interpretation in various scientific disciplines; however, their application in forensic toxicology remains unexamined. We wanted to investigate the performance of LLMs compared to experts at interpreting drug concentrations in body fluids as a triage tool. In this preliminary study, the results from 10 anonymised forensic toxicology cases from published sources were submitted as prompts to Microsoft 365 Copilot and ChatGPT version 3.5. AI-Generated outputs were assessed against the published expert interpretations for accuracy in drug identification, risk categorisation (fatal, life threatening, severe, etc.), caveats to the interpretation (e.g. post-mortem redistribution), and expression of confidence (suggests, strongly suggests, etc.). LLMs correctly identified 93% of 15 substances across the cases, but in 70% of cases used markedly overconfident language. Differences in the number of caveats to the interpretation given were observed for experts ranging from 0–5 per case (mean = 2.2) compared to Copilot (0–5, mean = 1.3) and ChatGPT (1–7, mean = 3.9). While results indicate that LLMs may assist in early triage under supervision, their use in evidential contexts is not currently supportable due to errors in drug identification, inappropriate use of language, a lack of nuance in interpretation of drug concentrations, and an inconsistent approach to caveats.</p
A path for transforming esports into a health and performance domain
No full textThe health and wellbeing of young people (10 – 24 years old) is a global public health priority, with evidence that many of these individuals have poor physical, mental, and social health. Adding to the growing concerns is the rise in overall digital media usage and the popularity of video gaming as a leisure activity. Developing from video gaming is a competitive form known as esport, which has now reached a level where it is starting to mirror the traditional sporting landscape in terms of professionalism. Given the competitive focus of esports and players striving to gain an edge over opponents, many have adopted a training approach characterised by long hours of repetitive practice, colloquially referred to as “grinding”. These high levels of engagement, often totalling over 20 hours per week, mean players may sacrifice their physical, mental, and social health, as they do not have time to engage in healthy behaviours. With the growing visibility and mainstream status, we argue that esports is at a crossroads where failing to address the grinding culture could negatively impact players’ long-term health and wellbeing. Rather than seeing performance and health as a dichotomy, we propose a Performance through Health approach that raises the potential for the two to co-exist. We suggest leveraging systems thinking, socio-ecological models, and co-creation methodologies to design, develop, and implement strategies and interventions that are appropriately tailored to the needs of the industry while acknowledging the multiple interacting layers that can impact implementation and success </p
Lombard Sculpture: Archaeology of a Historiographical Concept
No full textThis article explores the formation and affirmation of the myth of the «Lombard style» examining two centuries of literary production in Great Britain and in the United States. It aims to excavate how the concept of Lombard art was shaped and transformed across time, and the historical, cultural, or artistic motivations that led scholars to regard it as an exceptional style.</p
Targeting inflammation in cardiometabolic disease: Icosapent ethyl modulates monocyte-derived macrophages isolated from patients with cardiovascular disease with or without type 2 diabetes
No full textAimsDespite intensive lipid-lowering therapy, individuals with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) exhibit residual inflammatory risk, which drives recurrent cardiovascular events. This risk is amplified in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), where a pro-inflammatory milieu accelerates atherogenesis. Monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs), key mediators of vascular inflammation, contribute significantly to this process. Icosapent ethyl (IPE), a highly purified ethyl ester of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), reduces major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) beyond triglyceride lowering, yet its cellular mechanisms remain unclear. This study aims to determine whether IPE modulates inflammatory pathways in patient-derived MDMs and to distinguish direct EPA effects from therapy-mediated changes.MethodsThis single-centre, open-label, randomised observational cohort study will recruit ASCVD patients, stratified by T2DM status, who are prescribed IPE (Vazkepa®). MDMs and plasma/serum samples will be collected from patients, either IPE-naïve or following 6 months of therapy. In parallel, direct EPA effects will be assessed by treating MDMs from healthy donors and ASCVD patients with physiologically relevant concentrations of EPA. We will evaluate NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome priming and activation, inflammatory cytokine profiles, and markers of cellular senescence.ResultsThe study will investigate mechanisms that potentially underlie the cardiovascular benefits of IPE, focusing on the modulation of inflammatory pathways. We hypothesise that IPE attenuates priming and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in monocyte-derived macrophages, thereby reducing cellular inflammation and senescence.ConclusionsThis study will provide mechanistic insight into how IPE influences macrophage-driven inflammation in ASCVD and T2DM, informing strategies to target residual inflammatory risk in high-risk cardiometabolic populations.</p
MAP Virtual Exhibitions
No full textExhibitions produced through the Mobile Arts for Peace programme</p