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Cross-modal associations of human body odour attractiveness with facial and vocal attractiveness provide little support for the backup signals hypothesis: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Get PDFAssessing the attractiveness of potential mating partners typically involves multiple sensory modalities, including the integration of olfactory, visual, and auditory cues. However, predictions diverge on how the individual modalities should relate to each other. According to the backup signals hypothesis, multimodal cues provide redundant information, whereas the multiple messages hypothesis suggests that different modalities provide independent and distinct information about an individual's mating-related quality. The backup signals hypothesis predicts a positive association between assessments based on different modalities, whereas no substantial correlation across modalities is expected under the multiple messageshypothesis. Previous studies testing the two hypotheses have provided mixed results, and a systematic evaluation is currently missing.
We performed a systematic review and a meta-analysis of published and unpublished studies to examine the congruence in assessments between human body odour and facial attractiveness, and between body odour and vocal attractiveness. We found positive but weak associations between ratings of body odours and faces (r = 0.1, k = 25), and between body odours and voices (r = 0.1, k = 9). No sex differences were observed in the magnitude of effects.
Compared to judgments of facial and vocal attractiveness, our results suggest that assessment of body odour provides independent and non-redundant information about human mating-related quality. Our findings thus provide little support for the backup signals hypothesis and may be better explained by the multiple messages hypothesis
An Interview with Raja Shehadeh: Documenting the Ordinary in an Unordinary Place
Get PDFThis interview is part of an ongoing PhD research project on contemporary Anglophone Palestinian memoirs, autobiographies, and life narratives. The project examines the linguistic, aesthetic, and thematic elements of a number of texts that document daily life under occupation in Palestine within a settler-colonial theoretical framework. Interviews with authors have been conducted to foreground the textual analysis of the texts. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this interview was conducted online via Zoom in February 2022, and was later edited by the interviewer and the interviewee
It’s not all about control: Challenging mainstream framing of eating disorders
Get PDFBackground: The concept of control has long been suggested as a central factor in eating disorder ( aetiology. The concept is now so mainstream that it risks being used in a potentially reductionist, stigmatising or otherwise harmful manner. In this we explore and discuss our positions on the use of control related terminologyfor EDs.
Methods: The authors of this auto ethnographic position paper include academic researchers, individuals with lived experience and clinicians not mutually exclusive) In sharing our experiences and observations, we aim to raise awareness of the wider impacts that control framing can have on ED perceptions, treatment, recovery and individuals’ lived experience.
Results We argue that although control can play a role in some ED experiences, an overemphasis upon this factor to the exclusion of other conceptualisations is not beneficial.
Conclusions: To mitigate against pathologisation of an individual, it is important to challenge a discourse that can lead to EDs being perceived as something ‘ with the individual, rather than a consequence of life events or other environmental influences We identify priorities for the future for researchers, clinicians, policy makers and the wider public
The Challenges of Addressing Transnational Organized Maritime Crimes: A Review of Current Law and Practice in Djibouti
Get PDFThe threat of transnational maritime crimes has grown significantly in the past few years, particularly in the Gulf of Aden, due to the ongoing armed conflicts in the Middle East and Africa combined with the concomitant deteriorated diplomatic relations between states in the region. This background context has enabled organized groups to commit their crimes largely with impunity, benefiting from poor international cooperation between states in criminal matters. This article sets out the international legal framework on transnational maritime crimes and the internationally recognized definitions of major maritime crimes. It then takes the Republic of Djibouti as a case example of how the international legal framework has been incorporated into domestic legislation and assesses its enforcement in practice. The article identifies an underlying lack of international cooperation in criminal matters in respect of prosecuting transnational maritime crimes, particularly with regard to mutual legal assistance and extradition not only in respect of Djibouti but also in the Gulf of Aden as a whole. Based also on evidence gathered by one of the authors during a United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime’s workshop that took place in the Djibouti Regional Maritime Training Centre in November 2022, the article concludes that, in order to protect the peace and security of the region and implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, states must enhance cooperation by entering into further bilateral as well as plurilateral agreements on cooperation in criminal matters. More importantly, in order to enhance mutual understanding, trust and the sharing of good practices, it is recommended that a judicial cooperation network in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea under the auspices of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime Global Maritime Crime Programme be established
Real-Time Gait Phase Detection on Wearable Devices for Real-World Free-Living Gait
Get PDFDetecting gait phases with wearables unobtrusively and reliably in real-time is important for clinical gait rehabilitation and early diagnosis of neurological diseases. Due to hardware limitations of microcontrollers in wearable devices (e.g., memory and computation power), reliable real-time gait phase detection on the microcontrollers remains a challenge, especially for long-term real-world free-living gait. In this work, a novel algorithm based on a reduced support vector machine (RSVM) and a finite state machine (FSM) is developed to address this. The RSVM is developed by exploiting the cascaded K-means clustering to reduce the model size and computation time of a standard SVM by 88% and a factor of 36, with only minor degradation in gait phase prediction accuracy of around 4%. For each gait phase prediction from the RSVM, the FSM is designed to validate the prediction and correct misclassifications. The developed algorithm is implemented on a microcontroller of a wearable device and its real-time (on the fly) classification performance is evaluated by twenty healthy subjects walking along a predefined real-world route with uncontrolled free-living gait. It shows a promising real-time performance with an accuracy of 91.51%, a sensitivity of 91.70%, and a specificity of 95.77%. The algorithm also demonstrates its robustness with varying walking conditions
Highly Stable Garnet Fe2Mo3O12 Cathode Boosts the Lithium–Air Battery Performance Featuring a Polyhedral Framework and Cationic Vacancy Concentrated Surface
Get PDFLithium–air batteries (LABs), owing to their ultrahigh theoretical energy density, are recognized as one of the next-generation energy storage techniques. However, it remains a tricky problem to find highly active cathode catalyst operating within ambient air. In this contribution, a highly active Fe2Mo3O12 (FeMoO) garnet cathode catalyst for LABs is reported. The experimental and theoretical analysis demonstrate that the highly stable polyhedral framework, composed of FeO octahedrons and MO tetrahedrons, provides a highly effective air catalytic activity and long-term stability, and meanwhile keeps good structural stability. The FeMoO electrode delivers a cycle life of over 1800 h by applying a simple half-sealed condition in ambient air. It is found that surface-rich Fe vacancy can act as an O2 pump to accelerate the catalytic reaction. Furthermore, the FeMoO catalyst exhibits a superior catalytic capability for the decomposition of Li2CO3. H2O in the air can be regarded as the main contribution to the anode corrosion and the deterioration of LAB cells could be attributed to the formation of LiOH·H2O at the end of cycling. The present work provides in-depth insights to understand the catalytic mechanism in air and constitutes a conceptual breakthrough in catalyst design for efficient cell structure in practical LABs
Experiencing (dis)comforting pedagogies: learning critical geography beyond the here and now
Get PDFIn this paper we reflect on our experiences teaching human geography across two modules that pedagogically centre student reflexivity through content that has potential to be dis-comforting. Drawing upon student experiences on two final year option modules, relating to social and spatial exclusion and “race”, ethnicity and multiculture, we reflect on how learning experiences on these modules “stay with” students in ways that are potentially transformative. The paper draws upon our own reflections as teachers, alongside anonymous student work and crucially the student voice, through a questionnaire distributed to previous graduates. Foregrounding the student voice is a key contribution here, whereby we assess student relationships with taught content beyond their studies. Bringing this data together, we draw upon border pedagogy to suggest that discomfort is integral to a transformative approach, but how scaffolding is necessary to enable such learning experiences. We also acknowledge, though, that such learning experiences are not experienced equally and there are limits to such approaches, particularly within contemporary higher education institutions
Experimental and finite element simulation for thermal distribution in TIG, MIG and TIG-MIG hybrid welds
Get PDFThe Tungsten Inert Gas-Metal Inert Gas (TIG-MIG) hybrid process has the combined advantages of standalone TIG and MIG welding processes. This study investigates the thermal distribution of the TIG-MIG hybrid welding process compared to the standalone TIG and MIG welding processes. The welds' mechanical properties, microstructural evolution, and phase formation are also discussed. The process parameters for the TIG-MIG, TIG and MIG welding processes used in this study were obtained from prior parametric optimisation for each welding process performed by the Taguchi method with an L-9 orthogonal matrix. The thermal behaviour of TIG, MIG and TIG-MIG welds were investigated by adopting the Gaussian heat source model on the ANSYS workbench. The simulated temperature distributions of the three weld types were validated by the mechanical, microstructural, and phase formation characteristics as obtained experimentally. Similar temperature profiles were observed for all weld types having peak temperatures at the weld seams. The simulated temperature distributions were in good correlation with the experimentally obtained the hardness results, microstructural evolution and phase formation, as revealed from the X-ray diffraction analysis. Hence, the Gaussian heat source model can accurately simulate the properties of a complex heat source interaction, allowing for process optimisation and forecasting
A Review of Solution Stabilization Techniques for RANS CFD Solvers
Get PDFNonlinear, time-linearized and adjoint Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers are widely used to assess and improve the aerodynamic and aeroelastic performance of aircrafts and turbomachines. While RANS CFD solver technologies are relatively mature for applications at design conditions where the flow is benign, their use in off-design conditions, featuring flow instabilities, such as separations and shock wave/boundary layer interactions, still faces many challenges, with tight residual convergence being a major difficulty. To cope with this, several solver stabilization techniques have been proposed. However, a systematic and comparative study of these techniques has not been reported, to some extent hindering the wide deployment of these methods for industrial applications. In this paper, we critically review the existing methods for solver convergence stabilization, with the main purpose of explaining the rationale behind the algorithms and providing a systematic view of the seemingly different methods. Specifically, mathematical formulations and implementation details of these methods, example applications, and the pros and cons of the methods are discussed in detail, along with suggestions for further improvements. This review is expected to give CFD method developers an overview of the various solution stabilization methods and application engineers an idea how to choose a suitable method for their respective applications
The narrative of human suffering: using automated semantic tagging to analyse news articles and public attitudes towards the MH370 air tragedy
Get PDFNarratives about death and loss require sensitivity and handling with care. However, the influence of the specific language employed within such narratives is not well understood. To help address this gap, this article details the findings of two complementary studies. Study 1 examined the ways in which the 2014 Malaysian Airline MH370 air tragedy is linguistically defined and constructed in a number of newspapers in Malaysia and the UK. Study 2 explored 50 Malaysian and 50 UK students’ attitudes towards the tragedy through the analysis of keyword responses. The findings of study 1 suggest an overall tendency within UK newspapers to construct simplistic binary classifications of ‘capable us’ and ‘incapable others’ whereas the Malaysian broadsheets frequently highlighted the Malaysian authorities’ expert management of the crisis. By contrast, both Malaysian and UK students’ attitudinal responses demonstrated a greater depth of emotional engagement with the tragedy through the use of affective language