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Blood, ancestral spirits and witches: Rethinking descent in contemporary South Africa
Get PDFAn earlier version of this article was presented at the Annual Conference of the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2024In this article, I express profound scepticism about recent theories that de-emphasise the centrality of procreation and shared blood in the determination of kinship. These theorists posit that in many ethnographic situations the incarnation of spirits, the sharing of names, coming of age in the same house, and joint consumption of certain foods may be more important criteria. Contra these theorists I suggest that these are more likely to be complementary than alternative modes of relatedness. The challenge is to conceptualise their coexistence. Ethnographically, I explore how blood, spirits and names interweave in the social biography of the Monareng family in the South African Lowveld. I show that while kinship was modelled on an ideology of descent and shared blood, connections were also forged through the reincarnation of ancestors within children and through naming. These spiritual modes of relatedness reinforced the credentials of marginal kin to lineage membership. I also highlight the salience of witchcraft as the ‘dark side of kinship’. Whereas the invocation of ancestors connected individuals to lineages, the accusation of in-marrying wives of witchcraft disconnected people and led to the segmentation of lineages. My analysis concludes by reconceptualising the concepts of the lineage. In contemporary South Africa, as elsewhere, it is more appropriate to conceptualise the lineage as a line on a map of social relations than as a corporate grouping.The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article
The sociocultural ecology of resilience: A comparative study among women in the United Kingdom
Get PDFResilience is often framed as an internal, individual process. However, this perspective overlooks the complex relationship between individuals and their social and ecological contexts. Drawing on insights from evolutionary anthropology, psychology, and public health, this paper explores how women who use drugs from two regions in the United Kingdom perceive resilience and navigate intricate sociocultural environments of recovery. It also considers factors that promote resilience and those that can cause harm. This study was conducted in two regions of England: Northeast England (n = 14), including Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham, and Greater London (n = 10). Participants, who were actively engaged in recovery services, participated in one-on-one in-depth interviews that included questions about their perceptions of and direct experiences with substance use and recovery. They were also asked to share their journeys into addiction and subsequent recovery while reflecting on the barriers and facilitators to recovery for women in their community. Our findings support a growing body of research that emphasizes recovery as a relational process. Women in Northeast England and London relied on social networks, particularly through peer meetings, to navigate their recovery. Additionally, key themes included the impact of community and institutional harm, particularly in promoting isolation and emotional distress. This study highlights the significance of social learning and relational resilience in addiction recovery, framed within a sociocultural-ecological model. These findings underscore that recovery is not solely an individual process but one deeply embedded in broader sociocultural and relational dynamics.This work was supported by the Fulbright Global Scholar program
Semantic distances of WAIS Similarities word pairs in non-demented adults: An item-level index of semantic memory granularity
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The dataset underpinning this publication can be accessed from the European Platform for Neurodegenerative Diseases (EPND), at https://discover.epnd.org/catalogue/datasets/a6430adf-d6d2-4d92-8a74-a37ca0c4cef8.Supplementary material is available online at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361923025002515?via%3Dihub#sec0090 .Innovative approaches to test scoring can help neuropsychologists detect subtle semantic memory alterations. We focussed on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Similarities (SIM) test and calculated an item-level score based on the ‘Leacock & Chodorow ‘(LCH) semantic distance expressed by each SIM item. We hypothesised that LCH would predict 1) performance on standard semantic memory tests; 2) an Alzheimer aetiology; 3) transentorhinal grey-matter integrity. Six hundred sixty-nine non-demented participants completed a neuropsychological battery inclusive of SIM and consolidated tests of semantic memory and executive functioning. Hierarchical linear regressions were designed to test the association between LCH and semantic memory performance after controlling for major confounders. A hierarchical logistic regression was then designed to test the association between LCH and underlying aetiology (Alzheimer/cerebrovascular) in a mild cognitive impairment sub-cohort. Finally, we tested the association between LCH and both whole-brain grey-matter density and transentorhinal thickness using voxel-based-morphometry and region-of-interest models. LCH predicted semantic memory performance but not on a test significantly supported by executive resources. LCH also predicted clinical aetiology and grey-matter density in the transentorhinal cortex and in other regions involved in linguistic-semantic processing. No significant association was found with regional thickness. Post-hoc LCH scoring in 89 people with dementia revealed the presence of a gradient of diagnostic severity, i.e., healthy adults < mild cognitive impairment < dementia. Item-level scores of SIM performance are associated with neurocognitive constituents of semantic memory. LCH is a valuable construct that could help clinicians detect semantic memory decline in ageing adults with suspected neurodegeneration.This work was supported by a grant from the Alzheimer's Association (23AARG-1030190), awarded to MDM. AV is supported by funding obtained under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3 - Call for tender No. 341 of 15/03/2022 of Italian Ministry of University and Research funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, Project code PE0000006, Concession Decree No. 1553 of 11/10/2022 adopted by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, CUP D93C22000930002, “A multiscale integrated approach to the study of the nervous system in health and disease” (MNESYS)
Minimal vs Specialized Exercise Equipment for Pulmonary Rehabilitation: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Get PDFData Sharing Statement: See Supplement 4, available online at: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2837445#note-ZOI250748-1 . Access to data: WDCM had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.Additional Contributions: The Harefield Pulmonary Rehabilitation Team provided the intervention. Nannette Spain, BSc, and Jennifer Merton, members of the patient and public involvement team and trial management group, had input into the study design and monitoring.Importance: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) improves exercise tolerance, symptom burden, and health-related quality of life for people with chronic respiratory conditions. However, demand for PR outstrips supply. Traditionally, PR has been delivered using specialist, gym-based exercise equipment.
Objective: To investigate whether PR using minimal equipment (PR-min) is noninferior to PR using specialist gym exercise equipment (PR-gym).
Design: Settings, and Participants This parallel, 2-group, assessor- and statistician-blinded, noninferiority randomized clinical trial compared PR-min with PR-gym. Eligible participants were people with chronic respiratory disease referred for PR to the Regional Pulmonary Rehabilitation Unit in northwest London, UK. Recruitment occurred from October 15, 2018, to December 21, 2021, with a final follow-up to December 14, 2022. Randomization was by an independent web-based system using minimization with 1:1 allocation. Data analysis was performed from May 2023 to January 2025.
Interventions: Both PR programs comprised 2 in-person, outpatient supervised sessions per week for 8 weeks. PR-min used minimal equipment (eg, walking circuit and body weight exercises), whereas PR-gym used specialist exercise equipment (eg, treadmills and weights machines).
Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was change in incremental shuttle walk (ISW) distance after PR (ie, at 8 weeks; with a predefined noninferiority margin of −24 m). Secondary outcomes included dyspnea, health-related quality of life, costs, and adverse events.
Results: A total of 436 participants (median [IQR] age, 71.7 [63.2-77.7] years; 239 [54.8%] male) were enrolled, with 218 randomized to PR-min and 218 to PR-gym. At 8 weeks, PR-min (n = 136) and PR-gym (n = 130) demonstrated significant improvements in ISW distance with no significant between-group difference in ISW distance change (mean, 1.7 m; 1-sided 97.5% CI lower bound, −16.8), which was within the −24-m noninferiority margin. The intention-to-treat analysis and a robust range of sensitivity analyses all demonstrated that PR-min was noninferior to PR-gym. Similar findings were observed for dyspnea and health-related quality of life. No excess adverse events or costs were seen with intervention.
Conclusions and Relevance: This randomized clinical trial found that PR-min demonstrated noninferiority to PR-gym for exercise capacity, dyspnea, and health-related quality of life. PR-min can expand the number of settings where PR can be provided, thus improving patient accessibility.
Trial Registration isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN16196765This study was supported by the United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration–registered King’s Clinical Trials Unit at King’s Health Partners, which is part funded by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and Maudsley National Health Service Foundation Trust and King’s College London and the NIHR Evaluation, Trials, and Studies Coordinating Centre. This project is funded by grant PB-PG-0816-20022 the NIHR under its Research for Patient Benefit Program
Moving towards openness: introduction to the registered reports and data notes article collection
Get PDFImproving the transparency and openness of health psychology and behavioural medicine research is of critical importance. This research has a profound impact on people’s lives, and the majority of this research is also publicly funded. Therefore, ensuring transparency in health psychology and behavioural medicine research is essential to make the most of limited research resources and to deliver the greatest possible benefits to individuals and society. ..
Traditional methods, consumers’ stereotyping of farmers and the compensatory effects of ethical food cues
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Attesting to the growing interest in ethical food, scholarship has examined how consumers respond to different cues associated with food ethicality. However, the psychological mechanisms through which ethical food cues shape consumer preferences have been overlooked. Focusing on an underexamined cue (traditional production methods) and drawing from the Stereotype Content Model, this study aims to examine whether a warmth stereotyping of farmers may explain the influence of this cue on consumer preferences. Moreover, the paper also explores how the interaction of cues of localness and traditionality affect consumers’ perceptions of farmers. The paper documents compensatory effects between traditional methods and localness in specific circumstances.
Design/methodology/approach:
Two online experiments (Study 1, n = 291; Study 2, n = 183) were conducted to test the hypotheses. This paper manipulates farming methods and localness and measure perceptions of warmth and consumer responses to the profile of a fictitious farm. A model of moderated mediation is examined which identifies compensatory effects between traditional farming methods and perceptions of localness.
Findings:
A warm stereotype of farmers explains the positive effect of traditional farming methods and localness on consumers’ food attitudes and preferences. Furthermore, different ethical cues can have a compensatory effect on consumers’ perceptions of warmth. Specifically, for consumers with strong opposition to long supply chains, the adoption of traditional farming methods compensates for the perceived warmth of geographically distant farmers. Thus, consumers who would usually dislike distant farmers retain a positive impression of them if these farmers can boast traditional farming cues. Furthermore, we find no evidence of an additive effect between traditional farming methods and localness on warmth: the addition of the two cues does not significantly increase perceptions of warmth.
Research limitations/implications:
The study demonstrates that the social perception of farmers plays a key role in food preferences and the perception of ethical cues in food consumption. Moreover, it shows how different cues may influence perceptions of warmth depending on consumers’ involvement.
Practical implications:
For the promotion of ethical food systems, farmers could increase favourable consumer attitudes by foregrounding the ethical cues of localness and traditional farming methods.
Originality/value:
The results extend our understanding of the mechanisms underpinning preferences for ethical food and explicate how multiple ethical cues influence ethical food consumption
Physical activity and favourable adiposity genetic liability reduce the risk of hypertension among high body mass individuals
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Natural core material based Vacuum Insulation Panels for application at up to 70 ℃
Get PDFThis thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonEnergy costs are rising and environmental concerns are gaining prominence in today’s society, where the significance of effective insulation in the pursuit of energy efficiency cannot be overstated. The need to reduce heat transmission has emerged as a driving force for technical advancements across several domains including buildings, transportation, industrial processes, cold chain logistics, and energy storage. Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIPs) have generated a huge interest in recent years due to their ability to achieve a thermal conductivity of less than 7 mW.m-1.K-1. Fumed Silica (FS) and Glass Fibres (GF) are often used as core materials in VIPs owing to their inherent characteristics that enhance the panels’ insulation performance. Primary drawbacks associated with these core materials are their significant impact on the environment and the high costs involved in their preparation.
The aim of this study was to develop an alternative core material from tree-based waste to partially or completely replace fumed silica and to thoroughly characterise it for its suitability in vacuum insulation panels. Three materials developed from tree-based waste, namely Tree-based Natural Fibres of varying sizes (TNFm and TNFs) and Tree-based Natural Ash (TNA). Subsequently, ten composites with FS were produced, followed by laboratory experimental characterisations. The materials microstructure was examined using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and image analysis, revealing that TNFm and TNFs had an average fibre length of 0.82 mm and 0.22 respectively, and TNA had an average particle size of 9.37 μm. SEM revealed that small agglomerates of FS particles infiltrated the interior pores of both TNFm and TNFs particles, thereby reducing the pore size. The pore size and porosity of materials and composites were analysed using Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP). Only fumed silica exhibited pores smaller than 0.1 μm, attributable to the diminutive size of primary particles and their aggregation behaviour, whereas the tree-based samples displayed an average pore size between 0.7 and 2.43 μm, with porosity ranging from 77.34% to 84.93%. The average pore diameter of all FS with tree-based natural fibre composite samples was determined to be smaller than 0.26 μm, which significantly contributes to achieving low gaseous conductivity, even under high VIP pressure. The infrared (IR) transmission spectra of the materials were acquired by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Both TNF and TNA had a better spectrum extinction coefficient than FS within the 2.5 to 7.5 μm range, indicating decreased radiative leakage over the analysed wavelength spectrum. FS-TNFm1 (30 wt.% TNFm) showed the lowest thermal conductivity of 8.28 mW.m-1.K-1at 70 ℃ among all FS-TNFm composites. FS-TNFs1 (30 wt.% TNFs) showed the lowest thermal conductivity of 8.25 mWm-1K-1 at 70 ℃ among all FS-TNFs composites. FS-TNA1 (30 wt.% TNA) showed the lowest thermal conductivity among all composites studied with a value of 7.41 mW.m-1.K-1at 70 ℃.
The results were utilised to create a COMSOL Multiphysics model of a Car Painting Booth (CPB) operating at 70 ℃. The energy consumption over a decade was analysed using three optimal composites along with FS VIP, considering the ageing effects of VIPs with various core materials, and was compared to EPS, the most common insulation employed in CPBs. Car painting booth insulated with FS-TNA1 exhibited the lowest energy consumption at 42.5 GJ over 252 days, succeeded by FS-TNFm1 at 42.7 GJ, FS-TNFs1 at 42.8 GJ, FS at 43.3 GJ, and EPS at 55.1 GJ over one year. After ten years of operation, CPBs insulated with FS VIP exhibited a reduction of 14 GJ and 11 GJ compared to FS-TNFm1 and FS-TNFs1, respectively. Following two years of operation, FS-TNFs1 and FS-TNFm1 exhibited superior thermal conductivity compared to FS, resulting in this reduction. The minimum energy consumption was 434 GJ for FS-TNA1, while the maximum was 551 GJ for EPS throughout a ten-year period.
The CPB results were used to evaluate a cradle to cradle Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of VIPs, comprising primary material extraction, production, usage phase, and transportation of VIPs. LCA approaches Cut-off and APOS were used alongside two environmental impact assessment methods: Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and EN15804 + A2. Impact categories were adjusted according to electricity consumption in the UK. FS-TNFm1 and FS-TNFs1 had the highest non-renewable impact at 848 GJ and 846 GJ, respectively, whereas FS had 837 GJ and FS-TNA1 had 829 GJ. The FS-TNA-insulated CPB used the least energy over a decade. The pyrolysis of TNA during early material processing prevented TNA composites from reducing their climate change impact below TNFm composites. When assessing acidification, climate change, and renewable and non-renewable resource impacts, FS was the "Green core" for substitution. Reusing core materials like FS and FS-TNA reduced environmental impacts by 74%, whereas FS-TNFm1 and FS-TNFs1 reduced impacts by 57%-59%, albeit increased energy requirements.
Additionally, the cost per R-value of all manufactured VIPs at 20 ℃ and 70 ℃. FS yielded the greatest cost value of £5.13 kg⁻¹ per R-value, surpassing FS-TNFm1, FS-TNFs1, and FS-TNA1, which had values of £2.70, £3.07, and £2.39 kg⁻¹ per R-value, respectively.
These results demonstrate that tree-based waste materials can be transformed into sustainable, cost-effective alternatives to conventional VIP cores, reducing energy consumption by up to 7 GJ over 10 years of operation in a car painting booth and core cost by up to 29% when replacing up to 30 wt.% of tree-based waste with fumed silica, while also lowering environmental impact in both high/ low-temperature applications such as car painting booths, buildings, and cold storage
Effects of Perceived Scarcity on Mental Health, Time and Risk Preferences, and Decision-Making During and After COVID-19 Lockdown: Quasi-Natural Experimental Study
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De-identified participant data and analysis code for this study are available on the Open Science Framework (OSF) [77]. OSF home. Effects of perceived scarcity on mental health, cognitive functioning, time and risk preferences and decision-making during and after covid-19 lockdown: a quasi-natural experimental study. URL: https://osf.io/fs7x2/ [Accessed 2025-08-22].Multimedia Appendix 1: Web-based survey questions. Available online at: https://jmir.org/api/download?alt_name=publichealth_v11i1e69496_app1.docx&filename=55b040a3-851f-11f0-b7bc-e7f4dae2113a.docx [DOCX File (Microsoft Word File), 884 KB-Multimedia Appendix 1].
Multimedia Appendix 2: Supplementary tables. Available online at: https://jmir.org/api/download?alt_name=publichealth_v11i1e69496_app2.docx&filename=55ceec31-851f-11f0-b7bc-e7f4dae2113a.docx [DOCX File (Microsoft Word File), 89 KB-Multimedia Appendix 2].Background:
The COVID-19 lockdowns led to significant resource constraints, potentially impacting mental health and decision-making behaviors. Understanding the psychological and behavioral consequences could inform designing interventions to mitigate the negative impacts of episodic scarcity during crises like pandemics.
Objective:
To investigate the effects of perceived scarcity on mental health (stress and fear), cognitive functioning, time and risk preferences (present bias and risk aversion), and trade-offs between groceries, health, and temptation goods during and after the COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai.
Methods:
A quasi-natural experiment was conducted in Shanghai during and after the COVID-19 lockdown. Web-based surveys were administered in May 2022 (during lockdown) and September 2022 (post-lockdown). Propensity score matching was used to balance demographic factors between the groups (During: n=332; After: n=339). Data were analyzed using regression analyses, controlling for potential confounders and applying propensity score matching weights.
Results:
Perceived scarcity was significantly higher during the lockdown (mean 7.97 (SD 2.1)) than after (mean 4.35 (SD 2.27); P<.001). Higher perceived scarcity was associated with increased stress levels both during (standardized β coefficient=.62, P<.001) and after the lockdown (standardized β coefficient=.65, P<.001). Perceived scarcity also predicted greater fear of COVID-19 after lockdown (standardized β coefficient =.38, P<.001), though not during lockdown. Cognitive functioning remained stable, possibly due to a ceiling effect from high education levels. Monetary risk aversion increased under prolonged scarcity during lockdown (scarcity×during-lockdown interaction standardized β coefficient=4.68, P<.001). Present bias (tendency to choose immediate rewards) showed no significant overall change between groups, in line with recent evidence of stable time preferences during the pandemic. During lockdown, participants allocated more budget to groceries (standardized β coefficient=.67, P=.01) and less to health items (standardized β coefficient=−.61, P=.02), compared to post-lockdown, reflecting shifted priorities on pressing needs under scarcity. Subgroup analyses indicated stratified heterogeneity. Women increased their grocery spending (standardized β coefficient =.16, P=.04) and reduced spending on health items (standardized β coefficient = –.15, P=.05). Lower education participants exhibited more risk-averse attitudes (standardized β coefficient =.80, P=.01) under scarcity, whereas age and income did not significantly moderate these effects.
Conclusions:
The study highlights that perceived scarcity during lockdown intensified stress and altered decision-making behaviors, including increased monetary risk aversion and shifts in spending priorities. Theoretically, this study advances the understanding of perceived scarcity by exploring its domain-specific effects on mental health and decision-making. Practically, these findings emphasize the need for public health strategies that mitigate the psychological impact of scarcity during crises, ensure access to essential goods, and support adaptive decision-making behaviors.This work was supported by the University Research Studentship (GS1015 5277) and the Dean’s Research Bursary from the School of Design and Creative Arts at Loughborough University. HZ is supported by the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, which is supported by core funding from the Wellcome Trust (203132/Z/16/Z)
Strategy for optimizing the bidirectional time-of-use electricity price in multi-microgrids coupled with multilevel games
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The data that has been used is confidential.Demand response (DR) based on the time-of-use (TOU) electricity price is an effective method for addressing the source‒load mismatch in microgrids by improving the load curve on the user side, thereby improving source‒load matching. However, the degree to which users respond to DR strategies is not only influenced by economic factors but also closely related to psychological factors. Therefore, considering the TOU electricity prices on both the generation side and the load side, this paper presents an optimization strategy for the bidirectional TOU electricity price for multi-microgrids (MMGs) coupled with multilevel games. First, the DR model based on the endowment effect is constructed with close attention to the influence of psychological factors on user behavior in the context of electric energy trading in an MMG system. A bidirectional TOU electricity pricing incentive mechanism is designed that simultaneously targets both power producers and users, promoting the active participation of various stakeholders in scheduling within MMG systems. Second, a multilevel differential game model is established, which takes power producers, microgrid operators (MGOs), and microgrid users as the main actors, couples a noncooperative game and a leader–follower game, achieves game balance by optimizing the bidirectional TOU electricity price, and makes appropriate decisions. Finally, the case study results demonstrate that the proposed strategy can optimize energy management, reduce the system's operating cost and the user's power consumption cost, and improve the power producers' economic benefit and user satisfaction.This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62233006
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