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Trends in adult visual impairment certification in Northern Ireland: a 10-year analysis
No full textPurpose: In the UK, people are certified as severely sight impaired (SSI) or sight impaired (SI) according to Government guidelines. Certification ensures people with visual impairments can access adequate support and benefits. Certification of visual impairment data has been collected and analysed in Northern Ireland by a team and full continuous data is available from 2014 to 2023.Methods: Data from certification forms was collected, entered into an Excel spreadsheet, and 10% was validated by the certification of visual impairment team. This data was collated, cleaned and analysed using IBM SPSS (version 27) for frequency, mean, median and interquartile ranges.Results: Results show that over a 10-year period (2014–2023) the number of certifications in Northern Ireland has increased to a point where they are aligned with figures from other regions of the United Kingdom (UK). Results show that more people are certified as SSI than SI in Northern Ireland (NI) which is in contrast to figures reported in England and Wales. More females are certified than males in NI. Similarly to England and Wales, the most common cause of certification of visual impairment in adults in NI is Age-Related Macular Degeneration, accounting for around 50% of certifications annually. The second most common cause is glaucoma followed by diabetic eye disease (DED). In working age adults, DED is the leading cause of certification.Conclusion: The results from 10 years of certification data in NI show common themes with other high-income countries, including increased certification, particularly among females, and the most common causes of certification remain AMD, glaucoma and DED.<br/
Chapter 9 - From farm to bytes: Sustainable strategies to manage new age wastes
No full textThe management of diverse waste streams presents numerous challenges that demand immediate attention and innovative solutions. Some of the key challenges in waste management include a lack of funds, infrastructure, and public awareness. Additionally, environmental pollution and climate change impact are worsened by poor waste management practices, and to address these challenges, various strategies and technologies have been developed. The global supply chain system has caused an unprecedented surge in diverse waste streams, ranging from conventional agricultural byproducts to contemporary e-waste, demanding urgent focus on sustainable management approaches. This comprehensive review delves into a holistic array of waste generation and investigates innovative strategies and technologies crucial for their effective and environmentally conscientious management. Agricultural waste, stemming from farming practices, poses multifaceted challenges in its handling and disposal. Existing sustainable interventions such as composting, biomass conversion, and other related practices, along with the integration of circular economy principles, could serve as a promising strategy in alleviating the detrimental effects. Simultaneously, the domain of e-waste, characterized by the rapid turnover of electronic devices, necessitates specialized treatment methods. Deployment of recycling technologies, extending producer responsibility schemes, and advocating for extensive reuse stand out as pivotal solutions in electronic waste management. This chapter illustrates effective waste management initiatives across diverse sectors. Furthermore, it outlines future trajectories and anticipated challenges, underscoring the vitalness of interdisciplinary collaborations and policy reinforcement to foster sustainable waste management practices. In conclusion, the transition from a linear “farm to bytes” model to a circular and sustainable waste management paradigm necessitates embracing innovative technologies and implementing inclusive strategies across multiple domains. Achieving this transition remains imperative for sustainable coexistence with our environment
Memory for repeated auditory textures
No full textEven though memory plays a pervasive role in perception, the nature of the memory traces left by past sounds is still largely mysterious. Here, we probed the memory for natural auditory textures. For such stochastic sounds, two types of representations have been put forward: a representation based on sets of temporally local features, or a representation based on time-averaged summary statistics. We synthesized naturalistic texture exemplars and used them in an implicit memory paradigm based on repetition, previously shown to induce rapid learning for artificial sounds such as white noise. Results were similar for artificial and natural sounds, exhibiting a general trend for a decrease in repetition detection performance with increasing exemplar duration, although with some variation depending on texture type. This trend could be captured by a summary statistics model, but also by a new model based on the random sampling of temporally local features. Moreover, repeated exposure to a same natural texture or artificial noise exemplar systematically induced a performance gain, which was comparable across all sound types and exemplar durations. Thus, natural texture exemplars were amenable to learning when repeated exposure was available. The findings are consistent with two interpretations: the existence of a special processing mode when acoustic repetition is involved, to which natural textures are not immune, or a convergence of the local features versus summary statistics descriptions if a continuum of time scales is considered for auditory representations.</p
Gender, family and policy: international perspectives
No full textThis book explores the interplay between gender norms, family policies and practices in the UK, US, Australia, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, China, South Korea and Japan. It covers important and emergent topics in family policy, such as the impact of Covid-19 on women and family, work-family balance issues and policies from a gender perspective, and the impact of policy on childcare, motherhood and fatherhood. Studies have shown that a gender gap is apparent in employment, unpaid family work and policy-use (e.g. parental leave and flexi-time) is apparent in all the countries examined, as women continue to take more responsibility for unpaid family work and remain more likely to make use of parental leave than men. This book suggests that implementing gender-egalitarian policies are therefore crucial to promote equal sharing of paid and unpaid work and to provide genuine choices for both women and men
Balancing work and family in policy and practice: coping strategies for Korean working mothers in dual-earner families
No full textThis article explores women’s experiences of work-family reconciliation in South Korea, with particular focus on how women’s coping strategies are shaped by gendered expectations of care. It will also examine the limitations of current work-family balance policies and opportunities for further development. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with working mothers in Seoul, Korea, it examines women’s experiences of balancing work and family. The findings from interviews suggest that traditional gendered patterns of care persist even in dual-earner families. For instance, it is women who are mainly responsible for taking time off from work for family emergencies and who reduce their working hours or even quit their jobs to provide childcare and eldercare. Despite recent developments in childcare and parental leave provisions, the notion of care as women’s/mothers’ work has not been greatly challenged in Korea. While the introduction of father-specific leave is noteworthy, low uptake of parental leave by fathers implies that a cultural shift is as necessary as policy development to promote equal sharing of paid and unpaid work
Unlocking 80% renewables by 2030: interconnectors, batteries, and demand response
No full textThe Integrated Single Electricity Market (ISEM) is the wholesale electricity market across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and has an ambitious target of 80% renewable energy by 2030. Wind power is expected to play a central role in this transition, but its inherent variability and uncertainty present significant challenges. This study develops a novel electricity market model using PLEXOS, incorporating existing alternating current transmission infrastructure and planned interconnectors with Great Britain and France. The model was validated against 2022 data and extended to evaluate scenarios for 2030, achieving over 80% renewable penetration. Focusing on Northern Ireland, the study examines the role of key technologies, demand response, battery storage, and interconnectors to meet this target. These technologies are evaluated for their complementary contributions to grid flexibility and security under high levels of system non-synchronous penetration. This analysis explores wind power curtailment, CO2 emissions, electricity generation costs, wholesale prices, net revenues, and optimal interconnection capacities. Findings demonstrate the potential of these technologies to mitigate wind power variability, reduce emissions, and lower costs while maintaining system stability. Insights from this research are critical for transmission system operators to develop strategies and policies supporting the transition to a renewable-dominated grid. This study provides valuable guidance for regions pursuing ambitious renewable energy targets while ensuring grid security and economic efficiency.<br/
Experiences of older adults and widows with the government allowance programmes in rural Bangladesh
No full textThe Government of Bangladesh has digitised social safety net programmes to improve enrollment and allowance disbursement, yet the impact on rural beneficiaries remains unclear. This article examines the experiences of older adults and widows in Kurigram based on 68 semi-structured interviews. At the administrative level, beneficiaries reported positive aspects such as support for enrollment and disbursement. However, challenges included delays due to unofficial payment demands, slow disbursement, and difficulties accessing mobile financial service (MFS) accounts. At the individual level, many lacked the knowledge to use their MFS accounts, often needing to share PINs for assistance, and relied on family or community support to receive their allowances. The findings suggest that enhancing local government capabilities may help combat corruption and improve communication. Educational initiatives and community support may boost digital literacy and address gender disparities. Collaboration between the government and MFS providers is essential for timely payments and effective support for beneficiaries.<br/
Prompt optimization with two gradients for classification in large language models
No full textLarge language models (LLMs) generally perform well in common tasks, yet are often susceptible to errors in sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) on classification applications. Prompt engineering has emerged as a strategy to enhance their performance. Despite the effort required for manual prompt optimization, recent advancements highlight the need for automation to reduce human involvement. We introduced the PO2G (prompt optimization with two gradients) framework to improve the efficiency of optimizing prompts for classification tasks. PO2G demonstrates improvement in efficiency, reaching almost 89% accuracy after just three iterations, whereas ProTeGi requires six iterations to achieve a comparable level. We evaluated PO2G and ProTeGi on a benchmark of nine NLP tasks, three tasks from the original ProTeGi study, and six non-domain-specific tasks. We also evaluated both frameworks on seven legal-domain classification tasks. These results provide broader insights into the efficiency and effectiveness of prompt optimization frameworks for classification across diverse NLP scenarios.<br/
