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Should I stay or should I go now? Empirical and real-life observations of the effect of uniform colour on inhibitory control
Get PDFWe asked whether inhibitory control during sport is influenced by uniform colour. Participants were instructed to pass to the larger side of an opponent wearing red, green, or grey (control) uniforms, but not when that side was defended. Correct inhibition of responses was lower when opponents wore uniforms that were green compared to grey, but not red compared to grey, suggesting that perceiving green impaired inhibition. We therefore interrogated archival data to examine the association between green uniforms and intercepted passes–if green impairs an opponent’s inhibitory control, more ill-chosen passes should occur. Netball teams wearing predominantly green uniforms completed significantly more intercepts than teams wearing other-coloured (control) uniforms, suggesting that the colour of their uniform may have promoted a higher proportion of ill-chosen passes by opponents. Colour may influence inhibition in sport due to a colour-meaning association–green is “go”
Impacts of metal mining on river systems: a global assessment
Get PDFAn estimated 23 million people live on floodplains affected by potentially dangerous concentrations of toxic waste derived from past and present metal mining activity. We analyzed the global dimensions of this hazard, particularly in regard to lead, zinc, copper, and arsenic, using a georeferenced global database detailing all known metal mining sites and intact and failed tailings storage facilities. We then used process-based and empirically tested modeling to produce a global assessment of metal mining contamination in river systems and the numbers of human populations and livestock exposed. Worldwide, metal mines affect 479,200 kilometers of river channels and 164,000 square kilometers of floodplains. The number of people exposed to contamination sourced from long-term discharge of mining waste into rivers is almost 50 times greater than the number directly affected by tailings dam failures
Global lakes are warming slower than surface air temperature due to accelerated evaporation
Get PDFWidespread increases in lake surface water temperature have been documented in recent decades. Yet our understanding of global lake warming is mainly based on summertime measurements and includes relatively few observations from high latitudes (>60° N) where half of the world’s lakes are located. Here we provide temporally and spatially detailed high-resolution lake surface water temperatures for 92,245 lakes (36% are located within the Arctic) based on satellite remote sensing and numerical modelling. The global lake surface water temperature data suggested a mean increase of +0.24 °C decade−1 (uncertainty 0.02 °C decade−1) from 1981 to 2020, which is significantly (P
Straw return counteracts the negative effects of warming on microbial community and soil multifunctionality
Get PDFClimate warming is one of the most serious threats to soil biodiversity and ecosystem stability. Straw return has been extensively recommended as an environmentally friendly management to increase soil health and agricultural productivity. However, little is known about their interactive effects on microbial communities and soil functioning. We investigated the effects of soil warming, straw return, and their interactions on soil microbial communities, functional genes, enzyme activities related to C, N and P cycling, and multifunctionality in a two-factorial experiment in a wheat-maize rotation system. Soil warming decreased fungal diversity (by 20%) and functional genes associated with organic matter decomposition, N fixation, nitrification, denitrification, and organic P mineralization compared with ambient temperature. Soil multifunctionality mediated by enzyme activities were reduced under warming because of lower soil moisture, nutrient availability, and root-derived labile organic matter inputs. The close relationships of microbial diversity and functional genes with soil multifunctionality highlighted the importance of soil biodiversity in maintaining agroecosystem functioning related to nutrient cycling. Under soil warming and ambient temperature, straw return resulted in higher bacterial diversity (by 3.6%) and microbial functional genes abundances of C, N and P cycling compared to straw removal, and consequently raised soil multifunctionality. This was primarily because straw buffered soil temperature amplitude and moisture variation, as well as the additional nutrient supply within the added straw. Overall, straw return created favorable habitats for microorganisms, and thereby mitigated the adverse effects of warming on microbial communities and soil functionality. Our study provided the possibility to increase soil biodiversity and further ecosystem services related to organic matter decomposition and nutrient turnover by straw addition, especially under climate warming
Associations between School-Level Disadvantage, Bullying Involvement and Children’s Mental Health
Get PDFBullying is a modifiable risk factor for poor mental health across childhood and adolescence. It is also socially patterned, with increased prevalence rates in more disadvantaged settings. The current study aimed to better understand whether school-level disadvantage is associated with different types of bullying roles, and whether it is a moderator in the association between bullying and children’s mental health. Cross-sectional data were used from 4727 children aged 6–11 years, from 57 primary schools across England and Wales. The child data included previous bullying involvement and bullying role characteristics (bully, victim, bully–victim, reinforcer, defender, outsider), and the teacher-reported data included each child’s mental health (emotional symptoms and externalizing) problems. School-level disadvantage was calculated from the proportion of children in the school eligible to receive free school meals (an indicator of disadvantage). Children in more disadvantaged schools were more likely to report being bully perpetrators, bully–victims, and engage less in defending behaviors during a bullying incident. Children from more disadvantaged schools who reported bullying others showed fewer emotional symptoms than those from less disadvantaged schools. There was no other evidence of moderation by school-level disadvantage between bullying roles and emotional and externalizing problems. The findings highlight the potential for school-based interventions targeting children’s emotional and social development, targeting bullying, and promoting defending behaviors, particularly in more disadvantaged settings
Towards a reframing of Eryri: how historic framings of landscape influence perceptions and expectations of a Welsh national park
Get PDFThe landscape decision-making system in northwest Wales is insufficiently democratised and the main framings of Eryri (Snowdonia) are grounded in the perception and expectation that it is a sublime, distant and static landscape. Eryri, however, is changing. The landscape of the national park is already being impacted by climate change and the loss of biodiversity. Anticipated future change will also bring the need for further adaptation and transformation in land management. Historic framings of Eryri perpetuate ideologies and ambivalences that have, and could, continue to hamper the much-needed landscape change required to tackle today’s multiple crises. This article explores how past modes of representation, newly specialised industries and government legislation have perpetuated a limited understanding of Eryri. It links the eighteenth-century ‘top-down’, elitist rationalisation of the environment and the legacies of longing to find a ‘truly British’ landscape, with people’s current perceptions and expectations of the landscape. This article begins the journey of exposing the dominant ideologies of landscape, helping to define the underlying problem with the current prevailing framings of the landscape of the national park. It concludes by going beyond defining the problem and proposes an approach to actively reframe Eryri. To do this, it acknowledges the need to empower multiple voices, involving diverse forms of knowledge and incorporating new ways of representation within the landscape decision-making process
A randomised controlled trial of a digital intervention (Renewed) to support symptom management, wellbeing and quality of life in cancer survivors
Get PDFBackgroundMany cancer survivors following primary treatment have prolonged poor quality of life. Aim. To determine the effectiveness of a bespoke digital intervention to support cancer survivors. Design. Pragmatic parallel open randomised trial.Setting. UK general practices.Methods. People having finished primary treatment (<= 10 years previously) for colo-rectal, breast or prostate cancers, with European-Organization-for-Research-and-Treatment-of-Cancer QLQ-C30 score <85, were randomised by online software to: 1)detailed ‘generic’ digital NHS support (‘LiveWell’;n=906), 2) a bespoke complex digital intervention (‘Renewed’;n=903) addressing symptom management, physical activity, diet, weight loss, distress, or 3) ‘Renewed-with-support’ (n=903): ‘Renewed’ with additional brief email and telephone support. Results. Mixed linear regression provided estimates of the differences between each intervention group and generic advice: at 6 months (primary time point: n’s respectively 806;749;705) all groups improved, with no significant between-group differences for EORTC QLQ-C30, but global health improved more in both intervention groups. By 12 months there were: small improvements in EORTC QLQ-C30 for Renewed-with-support (versus generic advice: 1.42, 95% CIs 0.33-2.51); both groups improved global health (12 months: renewed: 3.06, 1.39-4.74; renewed-with-support: 2.78, 1.08-4.48), dyspnoea, constipation, and enablement, and lower NHS costs (generic advice £265: in comparison respectively £141 (153-128) and £77 (90-65) lower); and for Renewed-with-support improvement in several other symptom subscales. No harms were identified.Conclusion. Cancer survivors quality of life improved with detailed generic online support. Robustly developed bespoke digital support provides limited additional short term benefit, but additional longer term improvement in global health enablement and symptom management, with substantially lower NHS costs.<br/
Bank regulations and surges and stops in credit: panel evidence
Get PDFPrudential bank regulation complicates monetary policy because it has cyclical effects on the growth of bank credit, which can be a channel through which monetary policy is transmitted to the economy. Employing a panel of 36 advanced and developing countries for the period 1973-2015, we find that changes in regulation have been procyclical with respect to credit surges and counter-cyclical with respect to credit stops. As a result, monetary policy risks being too loose over the credit cycle. The economic effects of prudential regulation on credit have been meaningful given the large-scale bank liberalizations undertaken by many countries. The result is robust to dealing with a wide range of sensitivity tests and endogeneity concerns. In designing regulations, policymakers need to consider transmission mechanisms through which they might affect the real economy and undermine the goals of monetary policy
Technical analysis as a sentiment barometer and the cross-section of stock returns
Get PDFThis paper explores an unexamined sentiment channel through which technical analysis can add value. We use a spectrum of technical trading strategies to build a daily market sentiment indicator that is highly correlated with other commonly used sentiment measures. This technical-analysis-based sentiment indicator positively predicts near-term returns and is inversely related to long-term returns in the cross-section. Simple trading strategies based on this sentiment indicator yield substantial abnormal returns. These results are consistent with the explanation that lack of synchronization induces rational arbitrageurs to exploit the mispricing before it is corrected
Mapping to explore the challenges and opportunities for reconciling artisanal gem mining and biodiversity conservation
Get PDFArtisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) provides a vitally important livelihood for millions of people in many low- and middle-income countries. ASM can result in habitat clearance, increased hunting pressure, pollution, and sedimentation of waterways. Consequently, where mineral and biological wealth coincide, there are trade-offs. Here, we combine geological data with four datasets capturing conservation priorities, to evaluate where, and to what extent, mining may impact biodiversity, and to explore opportunities for both to co-exist. We use Madagascar as a case study: a biodiversity hotspot rich in economically important minerals where artisanal gem mining has conflicted with biodiversity conservation. We identify areas of Madagascar most likely to host primary deposits of gems and find that 11% - 14% of the most important area for biodiversity on the island could host primary gem deposits. However, we also identify 7 million hectares (80%) of potentially prospective land which is outside of these areas. Establishing decentralised, community-managed zones for licensed ASM in such areas could help to incentivise formalisation and minimise social and environmental trade-offs. Our mapping approach could be applied in other countries to encourage the establishment of designated zones for ASM in places where mining does not conflict with conservation