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Digital–environmental habitus of families in England in times of pandemic
Get PDFThis article uses adopts a revised version of the concept of techno-environmental habitus to investigate and make sense of the differentiation among digital technology users’ attitudes towards the environment in England. Digital–environmental habitus refers to the combination of structural determinants (existing background) and the metabolised increased use of digital technologies in people’s everyday life that also interacts with individual environmental attitudes. The results of a national survey among English parents between 20 and 55 years suggest that parents’ education levels, gender, age and income play a role in increasing their awareness about the environmental-friendly use of digital technologies. This study shows that the digital–environmental habitus of parents in England is layered according to the combination of existing socioeconomic traits and individual capacity and willingness to adapt to a drastic increase in both the use of digital technologies (due to the social distancing imposed by the pandemic) and environmental degradation
A scoping review of recent advancements in intervention and outcome measures for post-stroke cognitive impairments
Get PDFBackground: Cognitive deficit is one of the common impairments that occur post stroke and have a major effect on the quality of life of stroke survivors. However, the intervention and outcome measures used to remediate post‑stroke cognitive impairments are diverse and highly heterogeneous. Therefore, a review of intervention and outcome measures for post‑stroke cognitive impairments was carried out.
Objectives: To review all available information on the recent advancements in intervention and outcome measures for post‑stroke cognitive impairments.
Methods: An electronic database search was conducted in PubMed, Medline, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Library with key search terms between 2001 and 2021. The search results were systematically screened, and data was independently extracted by three reviewers. The data was thematically analyzed and narratively synthesized.
Results: The search retrieved 2018 records, and we included 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Most of the studies targeted global cognitive deficits in ischemic stroke patients in the chronic phase. We categorized data based on the type of cognitive impairment, cognitive‑ domain targeted, intervention, and available outcome measures for post‑stroke cognitive rehabilitation. Attention, memory, executive function, and global cognition were the common cognitive components targeted, managed, and assessed using an outcome measure. We found that technology is replacing conventional approaches to improve cognitive impairment. Conclusion: Regardless of many new developments in post‑stroke cognitive rehabilitation interventions driven by technology, there is limited data available on actual implementation as a scalable solution. There is an extensive need for future research for evidence‑based assessment and management of cognitive impairments in post‑stroke rehabilitation
The role of the social environment in inclusive sports participation—Identifying similarities and challenges in athletes with and without Intellectual Disabilities through coaches’ eyes: A qualitative inquiry
Get PDFDespite the efforts of mainstreaming in sports, inclusive participation of people with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) in sports remains challenging. In sports settings, the social environment may influence the motivation of athletes and promote (or restrict) inclusive sports participation of athletes with ID. Thus, this study aims to explore the motivations of athletes and coaches and to investigate the role of the social environment in sports participation of athletes with and without ID. Coaches who coach athletes with ID (n = 11), athletes without ID (n = 13) and both groups (n = 2) were involved in semi-structured interviews. From the inductive thematic analysis three themes were identified for the sports motivations of athletes with ID (Sport-related Progression, Social Interaction, Positive Emotions), two for their coaches’ motivations (Help others, Personal and Professional Development) and four for coaching practices toward athletes with ID (Psychological and Life skills development, Building Meaningful Relationships, Behaviour adaptations and Participation-focused). Moreover, ‘Teammates and Opponents’ and ‘Family’ were classified as social agents that influence the sport participation of athletes with ID. Coaches of athletes without ID reported additional themes about their athletes’ motivations (Health-related Reasons), their coaching motivations (Career aspirations) and their coaching practices towards athletes without ID (Performance-focused). The motivations of athletes and the practices of coaches could promote sports participation of athletes with ID, but more work is needed to address athletes’ sports motivations and overcome the able-ist attitudes and the social oppression that may make their inclusion in sports more challenging. These sports participation barriers and facilitators could provide direction to stakeholders for developing inclusive sports pathways to people with ID
Perceptions of social media challenges and benefits during the Covid-19 pandemic: Qualitative findings from a cross sectional international survey
Get PDFSince the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020 the need for rapid information spread grew and social media became the ultimate platform for information exchange as well as a tool for connection and entertainment. With the rapid information spread along came the various public misconceptions and misinformation which consequently influenced perceptions and behaviors of the public towards the coronavirus pandemic. Thus, there was a need for identification and collation of public perceptions information to address future public health initiatives. This cross-national study aimed to examine the challenges and benefits of using social media during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. This study was a content analysis of the open-ended questions from a wider cross-sectional online survey conducted in Norway, UK, USA, and Australia during October/November 2020. 2368 participants out of 3474 respondents to the survey provided the open text responses included in the qualitative analysis. Thematic analysis was conducted independently by two researchers. All statements were coded to positive and negative sentiments. Three overarching themes were identified: 1. Mental health and emotional exhaustion 2. Information and misinformation; 3. Learning and inspiration.While providing a powerful mode of connection during the pandemic, social media also led to negative impact on public perceptions, including mistrust and confusion. Clarity in communications by institutions and education about credible information sources should be considered in the future. Further research is required in exploring and documenting social media narratives around COVID-19 in this and any subsequent incidents of pandemic restrictions. Understanding the public perceptions and their social narratives can support the designing of appropriate support and services for people in the future, while acknowledging the uncertainty and overwhelming impact of the pandemic that may have skewed the experiences of social media
Case comment: R v Byrne 2022 EWCA Crim 1630
Get PDFDiscusses hospital and limitation directions under s.45A Mental Health Act 1983
A hybrid sliding mode control scheme for rapid earth fault current limiters in compensated distribution networks in bushfire prone areas
Get PDFA hybrid sliding mode controller is proposed for rapid earth fault current limiters (REFCLs) used in resonant grounded power distribution networks to self‐extinguish powerline bushfires where the concepts of the proportional integral (PI) action and nonsingular fast terminal sliding surface (NFTSS) are combined together to utilize the benefits of both schemes. A hybrid sliding surface is designed for obtaining the control input so that the fault current compensation is achieved by the residual current compensation (RCC) inverter used within a REFCL to a value that the fire does not ignite. The inclusion of an integral action along with the NFTSS helps to significantly reduce the chattering effect. Furthermore, a continuous function is introduced within the proposed scheme to replace the discontinuous signum function. The switches for the RCC inverter are controlled by deriving control actions from the Lyapunov stability theory applied on the hybrid PI‐NFTSS. The performance of the proposed controller is compared with a nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode controller. For this reason, this paper also includes the design process of nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode controller which is designed using only the NFTSS. Simulations under different scenarios having different fault resistances clearly depict the superiority of the proposed scheme over the nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode controller and an existing integral sliding mode controller in terms of maintaining transient responses
Nitrogen-doped graphite-like carbon derived from phthalonitrile resin with controllable negative magnetoresistance and negative permittivity
Get PDFHerein, a nitrogen-doped graphite-like carbon material derived from hybrid phthalonitrile (PN) resin with controllable carbon microstructures including crystalline structures, hybridized carbon configurations, degree of disorder and nitrogen species such as pyridinic N, pyrrolic N, and graphitic N has been manufactured by high temperature annealing method. By simply altering these carbon microstructures through annealing temperature, the lowest resistivity of 1.76 ·cm at 290 K, the negative MR value of -6.10 at a magnetic field of 9 T and negative permittivity over -105 at low frequency are achieved in the semiconducting nitrogen-doped graphite-like carbon material. The results confirm the decreasing degree of disorder attained from Raman spectroscopy, the increasing ratio of sp2 and sp3 hybridized carbon, i.e. C(sp2)/C(sp3), from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the rise of charge carrier mobility with increasing the magnetic field from Hall-effect measurement are responsible for the negative MR effect in this nitrogen-doped graphite-like carbon material. The negative permittivity is attributed to the plasma oscillation with delocalized charge carriers by Drude model and the greatly increasing graphitic N in the carbon microstructures. This work opens a new insight for the applications of carbonized PN resins in the electronic device field
The use of integrated behavioural z-scoring in behavioural neuroscience: A perspective article
Get PDFComplex pathophysiology in psychiatric disorders results in difficulties interpreting pre-clinical data. Guilloux et al. (2011b), proposed an integrated behavioural z-scoring procedure to improve the predictive validity of animal models by converging evidence similarly used to diagnose mental health conditions in humans. Here, I set out to give a brief review of the current methodology and literature using integrated behavioural z-scoring. Secondly, I will discuss the benefits and downfalls of integrated behavioural z-scoring and its potential future applications. Integrated behavioural z-scoring is a methodology used most frequently within animal models of depression and anxiety. Here, I am suggesting broadening the application of integrated behavioural z-scoring beyond the field of depression and anxiety to a three-step methodology to obtain disease-specific behavioural z-scores (i.e Schizophrenia index, Alzheimer's disease index) to aid translatability and interpretation of data. Lastly, I suggest integrating not only behaviour but also biological variables to create converging psychological and physiological evidence to sustain face and construct validity, while improving predict validity
Reforming of Women’s Litigant Rights and Child Wellbeing: Evidence from Nigeria
Get PDFDoes a legal reform with patriarchal interpretations of the religious law codes affect the wellbeing of the children? In this study, we show that reforming the legal system by adopting a religious law, with high enforcement in some Nigerian states, affects a woman's bargaining power and utility outside marriage, which could adversely affect a child's wellbeing. We find empirical support for this framework by using a difference-in-differences design that exploits variation in the women's religion, the state of residence, and the period of reform enforcement in Nigeria. The findings of this paper reveal that women exposed to the reforms are likely to report poor health investment and poor health outcomes in their children. The potential pathways through which the reform affects child wellbeing include early marriage entry and a decline in a woman's intra-household bargaining power
In defence of fear: COVID-19, crises, and democracy
Get PDFThe COVID-19 crisis has served, not just to instill fear in the populace, but to highlight the importance of fear as a motivating dynamic in politics. The gradual emergence of political philosophical approaches calling for concern for ‘positive’ emotions may have made sense under non-pandemic conditions. Now, however, describing fear in the face of a deadly pandemic as ‘irrational’ or born of ‘ignorance’ seems ‘irrational’ and ‘ignorant’. In this article, we draw upon the work of John Gray and behavioural science to present a defence of fear. We show how the pandemic has highlighted deficits in the work of four thinkers highly critical of fear: Martha Nussbaum, Zygmunt Bauman, Hannah Arendt and Sarah Ahmed. We argue that, if such approaches are to be of value in anything other than optimal conditions, then they have to acknowledge the fundamental role of fear in helping human beings to pursue fundamental interests