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Trust in scientists and doctors: The roles of faith, politics, education and gender
No full textData availability statement:
Code and replication data are available from the Harvard Dataverse, at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/Z7A1GC .Supplementary Material is available online at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09636625251386562#supplementary-materials .This article examines trust in science in England, focusing on variation across demographic and ideological groups. Using survey data from 11,173 respondents, we compare trust in two domains, medical doctors and scientists, to explore whether predictors operate similarly across these professional groups. We find higher education is associated with greater trust, while right-wing political orientation predicts lower trust. Religious affiliation also matters, with some faith groups reporting lower trust relative to the non-religious baseline. Gender differences emerge as well, particularly in trust in medical doctors. Respondents selecting ‘Prefer not to say’ on the religion item report significantly lower trust in both doctors and scientists, consistent with a broader privacy-motivated disclosure style. Our results highlight the importance of considering not just overall levels of trust in science, but variation across education, ideology, religion and gender, and they suggest that trust in doctors and trust in scientists, while related, are not interchangeable.The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project is sponsored by the UK Research and Innovation’s Economic and Social Research Council (UKRI-ESRC, grant reference ES/W011913/1) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS, grant reference JPJSJRP 20211704)
Integrating Inequality Regimes and Social Cognitive Career Theory: Female Physicians' Resilience in India
No full textData Availability Statement:
Data will be made available on request.This study integrates Acker's institutional inequality regimes and social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to explore career resilience amongst highly qualified women professionals in a developing country context. Despite women undergraduate students outnumbering men in Indian medical schools, female physicians continue to face systemic barriers to long-term career advancement into executive roles. This research investigates how gendered organizational structures and patriarchal socio-cultural norms impact individual level behaviors, personal goals and circumstances. A thematic analysis of semi-structured qualitative interviews with 30 practicing female and male physicians in northern India highlights a national government policy context of female empowerment or “Nari Shakti”. Four themes emerged based on “family first”; “passion first”, such as surgery or entrepreneurship; accepting inequities; and developing competencies to cope with and overcome challenges to career advancement. Our research contributes to inequality regimes and SCCT literature by using a holistic, integrated and multi-level approach to understanding career resilience. It applies non-Western centric perspectives to examine career resilience amongst highly qualified professional women. The findings offer nuanced approaches to gender discrimination beyond social cognition related to emotional and physical tensions at various career stages. Finally, this empirical study provides recommendations for policy and practice.All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. Grant Number: AIIMS-UCL/15/RS;
University College London. Grant Number: AIIMS-UCL/15/RS
Reduced cognitive resources induces risky stepping strategies in older adults
No full textData Availability:
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Background:
Falls frequently occur during situations that require a transfer or shift of bodyweight (e.g., stepping around an obstacle or turning). One contributor to falls in this scenario is a risky stepping strategy known as ‘cross-stepping’, whereby the feet cross over during the step. However, contributors to this potentially dangerous stepping strategy are not understood. This study examined whether reduced cognitive resources are a contributor to ‘cross-stepping’.
Methods:
Fifty-one older adults without neurological, musculoskeletal, or major cognitive impairment participated. Participants completed a modified multitarget stepping task while traversing a GAITRite walkway containing stepping targets forming paths of various colors. Participants walked designated color paths under single-task (normal walking) and a dual-task (serial subtraction) condition designed to reduce cognitive resources available for walking. The number of cross-steps and stepping errors were assessed. Cognitive performance, gait velocity, and double-limb support (% of gait cycle) were also collected.
Results:
During single-task conditions, measures of executive function (set-shifting)/attention (Trail Making Test–Part B) independently predicted greater cross-steps (B=0.01, p = .025). Walking under dual-task conditions significantly increased cross-steps (p = .001). Gait velocity also significantly decreased when compared to single-task, whilst global stepping errors and percentage of the gait cycle spent in double-limb support significantly increased.
Significance:
These findings suggest that cross-steps can result from reduced cognitive resources being allocated to movement planning and execution. Future research should seek to explore if the relationship between cognition and cross-stepping is causally linked to increased fall risk.This work was supported by an internal award from the lead institution (Brunel Research Initiative and Enterprise Fund [BRIEF] Award)
Vacuum insulation enabled energy efficient domestic cooking ovens – A validated numerical study
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Data will be made available on request.There are approximately 109 million domestic cooking ovens in the UK and USA combined. As maximum energy consumption limits for ovens get stricter, manufacturers are looking for technological solutions to meet regulatory demands. Advanced vacuum insulation technology is increasingly expected to play a significant role in addressing the challenge of delivering energy-efficient equipment. In the current study, we built and validated a full-scale COMSOL Multiphysics-based model of a typical electric domestic cooking oven to assess the effectiveness of a selection of insulation materials including perlite based Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIP/VIPs), silica board and mineral wool. Three turbulent flow models k-ε, k-ω and SST were used to solve for airflow inside the oven cooking cavity. The oven cavity temperature was maintained at 250 °C. The cooking energy consumed was predicted for a range of insulation scenarios with the expanded perlite VIP insulated oven performing best with the lowest energy consumption of 685 Wh and the mineral wool insulated oven the worst with 1384 Wh. Additionally, VIP insulation resulted into a more uniform temperature distribution with a maximum spatial variation of 16.9 K inside the cavity. It is predicted that VIP insulated ovens can save 15.4 MtCO2eq/year in the USA and the UK.The British Council for project BASiS (The Wohl Clean Growth Alliance Grants) and CCASH project (Application ID 300), and SPARC project number 2066
A Ladder-Type Carbon Trading-Based Low-Carbon Economic Dispatch Model for Integrated Energy Systems with Flexible Load and Hybrid Energy Storage Optimization
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The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.This paper proposes a ladder carbon trading-based low-carbon economic dispatch model for integrated energy systems (IESs), incorporating flexible load optimization and hybrid energy storage systems consisting of battery and thermal energy storage. First, a ladder-type carbon trading mechanism is introduced, in which the carbon trading cost increases progressively with emission levels, thereby providing stronger incentives for emission reduction. Second, flexible loads are categorized and modeled as shiftable, transferable, and reducible types, each with distinct operational constraints and compensation mechanisms. Third, both battery and thermal energy storage systems are considered to improve system flexibility by storing excess energy and supplying it when needed. Finally, a unified optimization framework is developed to coordinate the dispatch of renewable generation, gas turbines, waste heat recovery units, and multi-energy storage devices while integrating flexible load flexibility. The objective is to minimize the total system cost, which includes energy procurement, carbon trading expenditures, and demand response compensation. Three comparative case studies are conducted to evaluate system performance under different operational configurations: the proposed comprehensive model, a carbon trading-only approach, and a conventional baseline scenario. Results demonstrate that the proposed framework effectively balances economic and environmental objectives through coordinated demand-side management, hybrid storage utilization, and the ladder-type carbon trading market mechanism. It reshapes the system load profile via peak shaving and valley filling, improves renewable energy integration, and enhances overall system efficiency.This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62206062), Zhaoqing University (qn202521), 2024 Science and Technology Innovation Guidance Project of Zhaoqing (241223110090450), the Innovation Research Team of Zhaoqing University (No. TD202419), Key Disciplines in Zhaoqing Universities—Electronic Science and Technology, and the seventh key discipline of Zhaoqing University—Electrical Engineering
Editorial: Special-purpose money for sustainability
Get PDFThe rationale for this Editorial and the Special Feature Issue (SFI) it introduces is the conviction that money and monetary system design are largely overlooked in debates concerning sustainability. Modern monies (i.e., conventional sovereign fiat currencies) and aspects of them (such as their issuance, functions, and features) tend to be taken for granted as self-evident foundations for the organization of human exchange. The design of conventional money is not so self-evident as generally assumed, however. In its function as a generalized unit of account, modern money makes possible an economic conceptualization of efficiency that now dominates markets and economic thinking. Combined with currency convertibility and capital mobility, this has provided unprecedented levels of commensurability. As a feature of modern markets, this generalized commensurability is rarely questioned or reflected upon despite its significance for sustainability and growing awareness within the humanities and social sciences of the “agency” potential of artifacts (Latour in Reassembling the social: an introduction to actor-network theory, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005). From an ontological stance of actant theory, we argue here that money and its design clearly impact on the nature of both social and human–environmental relations. Paradoxically, money—perhaps the most influential artifact of all in modern society with momentous consequences for human society, ecosystems, and the biosphere—has so far largely escaped critical scrutiny. This Editorial and the Special Feature Issue it introduces examine the relation between money design and sustainability, and explore the potentially transformative roles that Special or Limited Purpose complementary currencies might play in sustainability transitions.This study was funded by Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas (Grant no. 2020-00402)
Pressure Effect on Nucleate Boiling and Critical Heat Flux of R1233zd(E) on a Smooth Copper Surface
Get PDFThis study examines the impact of pressure on the nucleate pool boiling performance of the sustainable refrigerant R1233zd(E), with a focus on the Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) and Critical Heat Flux (CHF). Experiments on a smooth copper surface with an average roughness (Ra) of 0.03 μm, under pressures of 1 to 2.5 bar reveal that both HTC and CHF improve with increasing pressure due to greater nucleation site density, smaller bubble sizes, and higher detachment frequencies. However, the HTC enhancement with pressure is not constant in the range studied. Comparison with existing HTC correlations and CHF models shows partial agreement, highlighting the need for correlations based on a bank of data covering a wider range of fluids. The results facilitate the use of R1233zd(E) in energy-efficient thermal systems and sustainable heat transfer technologies.This work is part of research funded at Brunel University of London by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant: EP/X015335/1)
Exploring Global Environmental Engagement: The Role of Willingness and Membership in Environmental Action
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The present study uses secondary data from the publicly available WVS dataset (https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org, accessed on 14 November 2024).This study explores the role of willingness and membership in global environmental engagement, focusing on how these factors influence environmental action across diverse global populations. Using a combination of latent class analysis and logistic regression models, we examine the impact of the willingness to contribute financially, environmental membership, and trust in people, alongside demographic variables such as gender, age, and education level. Our findings highlight the significant role of environmental membership and the willingness to act in shaping behaviours, with gender and trust further influencing engagement patterns. This promotes the UN’s sustainable goals, primarily Climate Action. These insights contribute to understanding the drivers of environmental activism globally.This work was supported and funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU) (grant number IMSIU-DDRSP2502)
MRI data sharing in psychosis: Key challenges and a new Open Access resource for researchers
No full textDespite decades of research, people living with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders still often experience poor functional recovery, and progress in developing new treatments has been unsatisfactory. A major factor in this is that we still only have a limited mechanistic understanding of the underlying biological processes that underlie psychosis. There have been many Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies conducted investigating the brain morphological abnormalities which underpin psychosis risk and development, and how these link to symptoms; although some results have proved replicable, conflicting findings and a lack of clarity are predominant in the literature. This means that we still cannot confidently point to the neuroanatomical markers and mechanisms associated with psychosis risk and symptomology. Knowledge of these is essential, to guide advances in early detection, prognosis, and treatment.PsyShareD is funded by a Partnership Grant from the UK's Medical Research Council (MR/X010651/1; PI: Prof P. Allen)
Limit theorems for a class of unbounded observables with an application to ‘Sampling the Lindelöf hypothesis’
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Primary:
37A50: Relations with probability theory and stochastic processes
Secondary:
60F05: Central limit and other weak theorems
11M06: zeta(s) and L(s,chi)We prove the central limit theorem (CLT), the first-order Edgeworth expansion and a mixing local central limit theorem (MLCLT) for Birkhoff sums of a class of unbounded heavily oscillating observables over a family of full-branch piecewise C^2 expanding maps of the interval. As a corollary, we obtain the corresponding results for Boolean-type transformations on \mathbb {R}. The class of observables in the CLT and the MLCLT on \mathbb {R} include the real part, the imaginary part and the absolute value of the Riemann zeta function. Thus obtained CLT and MLCLT for the Riemann zeta function are in the spirit of the results of Lifschitz & Weber [Sampling the Lindelöf hypothesis with the Cauchy random walk. Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 98 (2009), 241–270] and Steuding [Sampling the Lindelöf hypothesis with an ergodic transformation. RIMS Kôkyûroku Bessatsu B34 (2012), 361–381] who have proven the strong law of large numbers for sampling the Lindelöf hypothesis...
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