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Revisioning a Pentecostal Theology of water Baptism: An ecclesial rite of embodied transformation
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Building Long-Term Human–Robot Relationships: Examining Disclosure, Perception and Well-Being Across Time
Get PDFWhile interactions with social robots are novel and exciting for many people, one concern is the extent to which people’s behavioural and emotional engagement might be sustained across time, since during initial interactions with a robot, its novelty is especially salient. This challenge is particularly noteworthy when considering interactions designed to support people’s well-being, with limited evidence (or empirical exploration) of social robots’ capacity to support people’s emotional health over time. Accordingly, our aim here was to examine how long-term repeated interactions with a social robot affect people’s self-disclosure behaviour toward the robot, their perceptions of the robot, and how such sustained interactions influence factors related to well-being. We conducted a mediated long-term online experiment with participants conversing with thesocial robot Pepper 10 times over 5 weeks. We found that people self-disclose increasingly more to a social robot over time, and report the robot to be more social and competent over time. Participants’ moods also improved after talking to the robot, and across sessions, they found the robot’s responses increasingly comforting as well as reported feeling less lonely. Finally, our results emphasize that when the discussion frame was supposedly more emotional (in this case, framing questions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic), participants reported feeling lonelier and more stressed. These results set the stage forsituating social robots as conversational partners and provide crucial evidence for their potential inclusion in interventions supporting people’s emotional health through encouraging self-disclosure
Habitat structure shapes temperate reef assemblages across regional environmental gradients
Get PDFIntertidal artificial habitats are proliferating, but are generally simpler in structure and host lower biodiversity than natural rocky reefs. Eco-engineering aims to enhance the biodiversity of coastal infrastructure, often through physical structural modifications that mimic topographic properties of natural shores. Relationships between biotic assemblages and structural properties of natural and artificial reefs have been extensively studied at sampling scales of up to 1 m2. But evidence that quantified local structural variation has an appreciable influence on biotic assemblages, at a shore-wide scale across regional environmental gradients, is lacking. Here we addressed this knowledge gap with an observational study at 32 natural and artificial intertidal reef sites in Wales, UK. We used multivariate community analysis and permutation tests to examine associations between local physical structure, regional environmental variables and sessile biotic assemblages. A potential influence of local habitat structure on assemblage composition was evident across regional-scale environmental gradients. Compared to natural sites, artificial reefs had lower taxonomic richness, distinct and more variable assemblage composition, and different physical structure. After removing the effect of habitat (natural or artificial), canonical correspondence analysis showed that environmental variables (wave exposure, sea surface temperature and salinity variation), along with two metrics of physical structure (standard deviation in log-transformed detrended roughness and skewness of surface verticality, both at 0.5 m scale), explained 40 % of the variation in assemblage composition among sites. The two structural metrics independently explained 14.5 % of the variation. Associations identified between individual taxa and environmental variables indicated that sites with a higher proportion of horizontal surfaces hosted more canopy macroalgae, which in turn support other algae and invertebrates. Our findings provide evidence to inform scaling-up of structural eco-engineering interventions from experimental contexts to enhance the biodiversity of coastal infrastructure across regional extents
Shifting to a 36-month fuel cycle with advanced moderating burnable absorbers enabling high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU)
Get PDFMeeting the increasing demand for energy requires more efficient and economical use of resources. Thus, extending the fuel cycle of nuclear reactors that commonly operate on 18-month cycles has become an important area of research both academically and industrially. However, longer fuel cycles necessitate higher fuel enrichment, which poses a greater challenge in terms of reactivity control. In this study, the operation and safety of nuclear power plants in 36-month fuel cycles using High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) enriched up to 7.00 wt% were assessed. Moderated Discrete Burnable Absorber Pins (MDBAPs), containing ZrB2 and UB2 have the potential to improve fuel efficiency and fuel economy in long cycles, were introduced as a new burnable absorber solution. Comprehensive evaluations of MDBAPs were undertaken using fuel cycle analyses with the advanced Studsvik CASMO-4/SIMULATE-3 code system. This assessment focuses on understanding the impact of MDBAPs on several key aspects: reactivity feedback parameters, peaking factors, power distribution profiles, and shutdown margin. The results indicate that MDBAPs are a promising burnable absorber option for fuel enriched up to 7.00 wt% (HALEU), demonstrating substantial promise for supporting a 36-month fuel cycle while complying with those operational safety standards and limits
Qualitative Content and Discourse Analysis Comparing the Current Consent Systems for Deceased Organ Donation in Spain and England
Get PDFEngland switched to an opt-out system of consent in 2020 aiming to increase the number of organs available. Spain also operates an opt-out system yet has almost twice the organ donations per million population compared with England. We aimed to identify both differences and similarities in the consent policies, documents and procedures in deceased donation between the two countries using comparative qualitative content and discourse analysis. Spain had simpler, locally tailored documents, the time taken for families to review and process information may be shorter, there were more pathways leading to organ donation in Spain, and more robust legal protections for the decisions individuals made in life. The language in the Spanish documents was one of support and reassurance. Documents in England by comparison appeared confusing, since additions were designed to protect the NHS against risk and made to previous document versions to reflect the law change rather than being entirely recast. If England's ambition is to achieve consent rates similar to Spain this analysis has highlighted opportunities that could strengthen the English system-by giving individuals' decisions recorded on the organ donor register legal weight, alongside unifying and simplifying consent policies and procedures to support families and healthcare professionals.</p