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COVID-19: the relationship between perceptions of risk and behaviours during lockdown
Full text linkAim
Understanding COVID-19 risk perceptions and their impact on behaviour can improve the effectiveness of public health strategies. Prior evidence suggests that, when people perceive uncontrollable risks to their health, they are less likely to engage in healthful behaviour. This article aims to understand the extent to which COVID-19 is perceived as an uncontrollable risk, and to assess whether this perceived risk is associated with health behaviour.
Subject and methods
We surveyed a nationally representative sample of 496 participants during the first UK lockdown. We assessed perceptions of COVID-19-related risk, self-reported adherence to infection control measures recommended by the UK Government, and general health behaviours. We predicted that increased perceived extrinsic mortality risk (the portion of mortality risk perceived to be uncontrollable) would disincentivise healthy behaviour.
Results
Perceived threat to life was the most consistent predictor of reported adherence to infection control measures. Perceived extrinsic mortality risk was found to have increased due to the pandemic, and was associated with lower reported adherence to Government advice on diet, physical activity, and smoking.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that health messages that highlight threat to life may be effective in increasing adherence to infection control, but may also lead to a reduction in health-promoting behaviours. We suggest that messages that highlight threat to life should be accompanied by statements of efficacy. Further, messages evoking feelings of concern for others may be effective in promoting compliance with anti-infection measures, without the potential for the unwelcome side-effect of discouraging healthy behaviour
Trifunctional Cu-Mesh/Cu2O@FeO-nanoarrays for highly efficient degradation of antibiotic, inactivation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and damage of antibiotics resistance genes
Full text linkTrifunctional Cu-mesh/Cu2O@FeO-nanoarrays heterostructure is designed and fabricated by integrating Cu2O@FeO-nanoarrays onto Cu-mesh (CM) via an in situ growth and phase-transformation process. It is successfully applied to efficiently mitigate the antibiotic pollution, including degradation of antibiotics, inactivation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and damage of antibiotics resistance genes (ARGs). Under visible-light irradiation, CM/Cu2O@FeO-nanoarrays exhibits a superior degradation efficiency on antibiotics (e.g., up to 99% in 25 min for tetracycline hydrochloride, TC), due to the generated reactive oxygen species (ROS), especially the dominant ·O2−. It can fully inactivate E. coli (HB101) with initial number of ~108 CFU·mL-1 in 10 min, which is mainly attributed to the synergistic effects of 1D nanostructure, dissolved metal ions and generated ROS. Meanwhile it is able to damage ARGs after 180 min of photodegradation, including tetA (vs. TC) of 3.3 log10, aphA (vs. kanamycin sulfate, KAN) of 3.4 log10, and tnpA (vs. ampicillin, AMP) of 4.4 log10, respectively. This work explores a green way for treating antibiotic pollution under visible-light
The Social Practices of Food Bank Volunteer Work
Full text linkThe on-going rise in demand experienced by voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) providing emergency food aid has been described as a sign of a social and public health crisis in the UK (Loopstra, 2018; Lambie-Mumford, 2019), compounded since 2020 by the impact of (and responses to) Covid 19 (Power et al., 2020). In this article we adopted a social practice approach to understanding the work of food bank volunteering. We identify how ‘helping others’, ‘deploying coping strategies’ and ‘creating atmospheres’ are key specific (and connected) forms of shared social practice. Further, these practices are sometimes suffused by faith-based practice. The analysis offers insights into how such spaces of care and encounter (Williams et al., 2016; Cloke et al., 2017) function, considers the implications for these distinctive organisational forms (the growth of which has been subject to justified critique) and suggests avenues for future research
Daughter-mother perspectives on feminist activism in the academy
Full text linkThis article addresses feminist solidarity between a daughter and a mother in academia. We are respectively a PhD student and aspirant early career academic, and a senior academic, both identifying as feminists and engaging in forms of activism to improve gender equality. We take an autoethnographical approach, drawing from vignettes and conversational dialogues, focusing on feminist perspectives, activism, our contested identities, fears and hopes. We reflect on the challenges of living feminist lives whilst working in gendered university institutions and highlight strategies to enact feminism whilst trying to progress and maintain an academic career at different positions on the career spectrum. Our contribution is to highlight differential experiences and understandings of academic activism between daughter and mother, early-career academics and senior leaders, in order to enhance mutual understanding and action on feminist solidarity and praxis in the academy
Appealing, Appalling: Morality and Revenge in I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
Full text linkThe notion of revenge – intentionally seeking to inflict harm in return for a perceived wrong – is encumbered by several ethical and conceptual problems. Even defining revenge is challenging because revenge has been variously distinguished from or combined with retribution and retaliation by numerous thinkers (see Stainton 2006). The present work focuses on one particular conceptual problem: in philosophical scholarship, revenge is reputed to be either morally appealing (satisfying, universally desired, natural, righteous and so forth) or appalling (immoral, universally abhorred, disquieting, and so forth). Although these positions are presented as mutually exclusive in the literature, the sustained presence of both defences and vilifications in revenge scholarship indicates that revenge presents us with a genuine dilemma: revenge is simultaneously appealing and appalling
School-based allied health interventions for children and young people affected by neurodisability: A systematic evidence map
Full text linkPurpose
To systematically map available evidence for school-based interventions led by allied health (i.e., occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and/or speech and language therapy).
Materials and methods
We searched for studies in pre-school, primary, secondary, or post-secondary settings, published 2004–2020. We coded study, population, and intervention characteristics. Outcomes were coded inductively, categorised, and linked to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health.
Results
We included 337 studies (33 countries) in an interactive evidence map. Participants were mainly pre-school and primary-aged, including individuals with neurodisability and whole-school populations. Interventions targeted wide-ranging outcomes, including educational participation (e.g., writing, reading) and characteristics of school environments (e.g., educators’ knowledge and skills, peer support). Universal, targeted, and intensive interventions were reported in 21.7%, 38.9%, and 60.2% of studies, respectively. Teachers and teaching assistants delivered interventions in 45.4% and 22.6% of studies, respectively. 43.9% of studies conducted early feasibility testing/piloting and 54.9% had ≤30 participants. Sixty-two randomised controlled trials focused on intervention evaluation or implementation.
Conclusions
In the United Kingdom, future research should take forward school-based allied health interventions that relate directly to agreed research priorities. Internationally, future priorities include implementation of tiered (universal, targeted, intensive) intervention models and appropriate preparation and deployment of the education workforce.
IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION
Allied health professionals (occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and speech and language therapists) work in schools supporting children and young people affected by neurodisability but the content, impact, and cost-effectiveness of their interventions are not well-understood.
We systematically mapped the available evidence and identified that allied health school-based interventions target highly diverse health-related outcomes and wider determinants of children and young people’s health, including educational participation (e.g., literacy) and characteristics of the school environment (e.g., educators’ knowledge and skills).
Our interactive evidence map can be used to help stakeholders prioritise the interventions most in need of further evaluation and implementation research, including tiered models of universal, targeted, and intensive allied health support.
Teachers and teaching assistants play a central role in delivering allied health interventions in schools – appropriate preparation and deployment of the education workforce should therefore be a specific priority for future international allied health research
Designing Technology-Mediated Peer Support for Postgraduate Research Students at Risk of Loneliness and Isolation
Full text linkStudent mental health and wellbeing have come under increased scrutiny in recent years. Postgraduate research (PGR) students are at risk of experiencing mental health concerns and this, with the often isolated and competitive nature of their work, can impact their sense of community and social connectedness. In response to these concerns, we designed Pears, a system to connect PGR students for regular “pearings” (in-person meetings) and provide activities to promote reflection and conversation. A four-week evaluation of Pears with 15 students highlighted its potential to sometimes, but not always, facilitate peer support. Some participants would instead meet formally and according to their needs, others instead used the system to make new social connections. Additionally, some participants who faced work-related difficulties during the study found using the system contributed to their stress levels. We conclude by noting how technologies that encourage peer support can help build social relationships, providing an avenue to share similar PhD experiences and guidance for those new to the experience, while importantly raising awareness and an understanding for the need to take time for self-care. However, these technologies must be utilised carefully, and are not a replacement for other sources of student support in universities
Coordinated Electric Vehicle Active and Reactive Power Control for Active Distribution Networks
Full text linkThe deployment of renewable energy in power systems may raise serious voltage instabilities. Electric vehicles (EVs), owing to their mobility and flexibility characteristics, can provide various ancillary services including active and reactive power. However, the distributed control of EVs under such scenarios is a complex decision-making problem with enormous dynamics and uncertainties. Most existing literature employs model-based approaches to formulate the active and reactive power control problems, which require full models and are time-consuming. This paper proposes a multi-agent reinforcement learning method featuring actor-critic networks and a parameter sharing framework to solve the EVs coordinated active and reactive power control problem towards both demand-side response and voltage regulations. The proposed method can further enhance the learning stability and scalability with privacy perseverance via the location marginal prices. Simulation results based on a modified IEEE 15-bus network are developed to validate its effectiveness in providing system charging and voltage regulation services
Evolution of Anthropometric and Physical Performance Characteristics of International Male Cricketers from 2014 to 2020 in a World Cup Winning Nation
Full text linkThe aim of the study was to firstly, present a comprehensive physical profile of international cricketers in a World Cup winning cricket nation. Secondly, to describe changes in physical profiles across seven years. Fifty-two senior international cricketers’ physical profiles were retrospectively analysed across seven years. Using linear mixed-modelling, changes in stature, body mass, sum-of-8 skinfolds, sprinting time (10 and 40 m), run-2 time, counter movement jump (CMJ), push and pull strength capacity and the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level-1 (Yo-Yo-IR1) were analysed during a seven year period. There were no significant changes in body mass (p = 0.63) or stature (p = 0.99) during this time. However, there was a significant (p < 0.001) mean decrease of ∼ 14 mm in the sum-of-8 skinfolds. Distance covered in the Yo Yo-IR1 also showed a significant (p = 0.002) effect of years, with a mean increase of 459 m in 2017 when compared to 2014. A significantly (p = 0.01) more balanced push-to-pull strength capacity ratio was also evident across years as a result of a significant (p < 0.001) increase in pull strength capacity. Significant (p < 0.05) fluctuations in CMJ, sprint and run-2 time were seen, with no obvious trends. International cricketers within our study have gone through a notable physical transformation that has likely resulted in an increase in lean mass and aerobic capacity. The change across time to a more balanced push-to-pull strength capacity may be beneficial for injury prevention
IoT-based Android Malware Detection Using Graph Neural Network With Adversarial Defense
Full text linkSince the Internet of Things (IoT) is widely adopted using Android applications, detecting malicious Android apps is essential. In recent years, Android graph-based deep learning research has proposed many approaches to extract relationships from the application as a graph to generate graph embeddings. First, we demonstrate the effectiveness of graph-based classification using graph neural networks (GNNs)-based classifier to generate API graph embedding. The graph embedding is used with “Permission” and “Intent” to train multiple machine learning and deep learning algorithms to detect Android malware. The classification achieved an accuracy of 98.33% in CICMaldroid and 98.68% in the Drebin data set. However, the graph-based deep learning is vulnerable as an attacker can add fake relationships to avoid detection by the classifier. Second, we propose a generative adversarial network (GAN)-based algorithm named VGAE-MalGAN to attack the graph-based GNN Android malware classifier. The VGAE-MalGAN generator generates adversarial malware API graphs, and the VGAE-MalGAN substitute detector (SD) tries to fit the detector. Experimental analysis shows that VGAE-MalGAN can effectively reduce the detection rate of GNN malware classifiers. Although the model fails to detect adversarial malware, experimental analysis shows that retraining the model with generated adversarial samples helps to combat adversarial attacks