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Investigating the impact of the indoor environmental quality of vehicles with different fuel transmission: emphasis on Particulate Matter
No full textIn today’s world, human activities have changed, with significant rise in individuals spending more time indoors including other enclosed spaces such as vehicles. Buildings have been extensively researched regarding their indoor environments (IEs). This, however, is not the case with vehicles, even though a substantial amount of time is spent in vehicles due to changes of workers commute patterns. With increased commuters since the Covid pandemic, understanding the IE of automobiles is vital as individuals are spending considerable time in vehicles.
The aim of this research is to investigate the IE of vehicles with different fuel transmissions (i.e. petrol, diesel, and electric) and its impact on users. The methodology uses a questionnaire (non-heating and heating season) with an integrated Likert scale to determine the perception of vehicle users during different traffic conditions. 150 participants responded to the questionnaire. In addition, measurements (non-heating season) of PM2.5 and PM10 were collated for six vehicles of different fuel transmissions. The results from the questionnaire illustrate, in normal conditions, approximately 20% of participants experienced stress and tiredness most of the time, and 10% of individuals rarely experience these sensations. Experimentally, significant variation in pollutant concentrations in the vehicles for the different non-heating season and fuel transmission were observed. 75% of vehicles assessed exceeded acceptable guidelines for some of the monitored pollutants and reached elevated levels for CO2. Similarly, the air change rate (ACH) was significantly low in some vehicles, and combined with pollutants at elevated levels, this can be a reason as to why drivers’ felt stressed and/or tired.
The findings presented in this research demonstrates the impact commuting has on the users of vehicles, regardless of vehicle transmission type. It also provides significant synergies noticed in buildings where the accumulation of carbon dioxide is proxy for poor indoor air quality
Older adults' acceptability of and preferences for food-based protein fortification in the UK, France and Norway
Get PDFResearch suggests that as we age, protein intake, recognised as vital for combating negative health outcomes,
consistently falls below recommendations in older adults. Decreased food intake, combined with age-related
eating complications is a major determinant of this protein undernutrition. If nutritional interventions are to
be effective and sustainable, they must enable eating pleasure, cater for personal preferences and be adaptable to
different eating patterns. As such, we aimed to identify successful strategies for at-home protein-fortification to
empower older adults to take a personalised approach to their nutrition, without requiring a large behavioural
change. To explore healthy older adults’ (age 70+) acceptability and preferences for at-home protein fortification, European project Fortiphy led discussions with older adults (n = 37) and caregivers of older adults (n = 15)
to develop high-protein recipes, which were then utilised in a home-use trial with healthy older adults (n = 158).
Each fortified recipe was paired with a questionnaire to rate the ease of preparation and liking, and an end-of-study questionnaire was provided to capture overall opinions and preferences. The uniqueness of this study is
that the protein fortified recipes were prepared and tested by older adults themselves, in their own homes.
Findings showed that older adults were unaware of the importance of protein in ageing and did not have a desire
to fortify their foods at present. Yet, they were positive regarding the concept and highlighted the importance of
taste, familiar ingredients, and preferred preparation methods. Cultural preferences across countries were
identified as having the most influence on the liking of fortified meals. This study also indicated a need for
increased awareness of protein requirements to influence the motivation to use fortification
Characterisation of cooked cheese flavour: volatile components
Get PDFThe aim of this work was to identify volatiles that contribute to the aroma of cooked cheese, including the role of fat content in their development during cooking. Volatiles and odorants in cooked mature Cheddar were identified using a combination of SPME (solid phase microextraction) /GC-O (gas chromatography - olfactometry) and SPME/GC-MS (gas chromatography – mass spectrometry). A selection of the odorants were quantitated in six cheeses, uncooked and cooked, (mature Cheddar, high-, medium- and low-fat mild Cheddar, mozzarella and Parmesan). Many compounds showed significant differences between cooked and uncooked cheese; Strecker aldehydes, pyrazines and furanones were all significantly higher in cooked cheeses than in uncooked cheese, while ethyl esters (key odorants in uncooked cheese) were not detected in any of the cooked cheese. Principle component analysis demonstrated that fat concentration in mild Cheddar was positively correlated with formation of potential odorants (the Strecker aldehydes, methanethiol, 2-methylketones and fatty acids) upon cooking. Potential lipid precursors for these compounds are discussed
Automatic revocation of a will on marriage – a rule that is past its use-by date?
Get PDFExamines the historical background to s 18 Wills Act 1837, demonstrating that it was a consequence of the property rights of married women. Argues that this section should be revoked
Reform of testamentary capacity: the hidden pitfalls of replacing Banks v Goodfellow with the Mental Capacity Act 2005
No full textAccelerating and standardising IUCN Red List assessments with sRedList
Get PDFThe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species underpins much decision-making in conservation and plays a key role in monitoring the status and trends of biodiversity. However, the shortage of funds and assessor capacity slows the uptake of novel data and techniques, hampering its currency, applicability, consistency and long-term viability. To help address this, we developed sRedList, a user-friendly online platform that assists Red List assessors through a step-by-step process to estimate key parameters in a standardised and reproducible fashion. Through the platform, assessors can swiftly generate outputs including species' range maps, lists of countries of occurrence, lower and upper bounds of area of occupancy, habitat preferences, trends in area of habitat, and levels of fragmentation. sRedList is compliant with the IUCN Red List guidelines and outputs are interoperable with the Species Information Service (SIS; the IUCN Red List database) in support of global, regional and national assessments and reassessments. sRedList can also help assessors prioritise species for reassessment. sRedList was released in October 2023, with a complete documentation package (including text documentation, ‘cheatsheets’, and 15 video tutorials), and will soon be highlighted in the official Red List online training course. sRedList will help to bridge the gap between extinction risk research and Red List assessment practice, increase the taxonomic coverage and consistency of assessments, and ensure the IUCN Red List is up-to-date to best support conservation policy and practice across the world
Quantification choices for individual differences: an example of mapping self-report to psychophysiological responses
Get PDFA popular focus in affective neuroscience research has been to map the relationships between individual differences (e.g. personality and environmental experiences) and psychophysiological responses, in order to further understand the effect of individual differences upon neurobehavioral systems that support affect and arousal. Despite this trend, there have been a lack of practical examples demonstrating how the quantification of individual differences (e.g. categorical or continuous) impacts the observed relationships between different units of analysis (e.g. self-report > psychophysiological responses). To address this gap, we conducted a two-stage aggregated meta-analysis of self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and skin conductance responses during threat extinction (k = 18, n = 1006) using different quantification choices for individual differences in self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (continuous, categorical via median split, and categorical via extremes – one standard deviation above/below). Results from the meta-analyses revealed that the different quantification techniques produced some consistent (e.g. higher IU was significantly associated with skin conductance responding during late extinction training) and inconsistent IU-related effects. Furthermore, the number of statistically significant effects and effect sizes varied based on the quantification of individual differences in IU (e.g. categorical, compared to continuous was associated with more statistically significant effects, and larger effect sizes). The current study highlights how conducting different quantification methods for individual differences may help researchers understand the individual difference construct of interest (e.g. characterisation, measurement), as well as examine the stability and reliability of individual difference-based effects and correspondence between various units of analysis
Child surgency and child aggression: the moderating effect of parental nurturance, emotion coaching, and family income
Get PDFAccording to the goodness-of-fit development theory, a mismatch between child characteristics and socialization processes tends to lead to child maladjustment. The present study aimed to examine whether the association between child surgency and child aggression varies as a function of parenting styles and practices such as parental nurturance and parental emotion coaching. In addition, family economic background was examined as a contextual moderator. Cross-sectional questionnaire data were collected from parents and class teachers of 288 preschoolers (Mage = 5.2 years; 53% were boys) in Hong Kong, China. Separate multilevel models were run to test parental nurturance, emotion coaching, and family income level as moderators. Results indicated that controlling for confounding variables, child surgency was only positively associated with child aggression when parental nurturance was low, but not when parental nurturance was high. However, this pattern only emerged in high- and medium-income families, but not in low-income families. A similar but different pattern was observed for parental emotion coaching: regardless of family income level, child surgency was only associated with child aggression when parental emotion coaching was low, but not when it was high. Theoretically, our findings highlight the importance of considering the fit between child temperament and environmental features, such as parenting and family economic background, in understanding child development. Practically, our findings point to the utility of helping parents to express their love and affection and to talk to their children about managing emotions to reduce aggression in preschool-aged children, especially those with high surgency and economic advantages
Courage: an ethico-sociological analysis from the Yorùbá worldview
No full textThe virtue of courage has had varying meanings and definitions across different cultures and peoples. For instance, the well-known Aristotelian Nicomachean Ethics tradition defines courage as a virtue expressed as the moderation between cowardice and rashness. In the Nordic tradition, courage is embodied in the nine noble virtues when an individual dares to face their fear and is willing to handle the fear no matter how hard. How these expressions of courage are similar or different from other traditions, especially various Afro-ethnic traditions remains relatively underexplored. This chapter therefore aims to provide an ethico-sociological analysis and interpretation of the virtue of courage from the perspective of human personality in the Yorùbá worldview. The Yorùbás are a large African ethnic group that inhabit western Africa, mainly the countries of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Their philosophy and worldview are largely rooted in their unique brand of humanism typified by the concept of ‘Ọmọlúàbí’, that is, a good person provides a basis for which other key virtues such as courage known as ‘Akinkanju’ are understood and expressed. A critical discourse of how the Yorùbás’ conceptualization of courage and broader philosophical worldview differs from the Western tradition, especially the Aristotelian Greek tradition will ensue from which key insights and conclusions will be drawn