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Real-world views of patching differ to health professionals’: an online survey of professionals, patients, teachers, parents and carers
No full textBackground: patching therapy is the most common treatment for amblyopia (lazy eye) and is unsuccessful for approximately 40% of patients, leaving them with life-long unilateral visual impairment and increased risk of bilateral visual impairment later in life. Poor adherence to patching therapy is a major contributing factor in treatment failure yet we lack real-world understanding as to why this is a problem outside of controlled research studies. Methods: in collaboration with patient contributors, we developed an online survey for past patients, parents/carers of children with amblyopia, health professionals, and schoolteachers. The survey included questions about when and where is best for children to wear the patch, the design of the patch, and facilitators and barriers to patching therapy. Results: we received 631 responses to the survey (259 health professionals, 213 parents/carers, 110 people who patched as a child, 7 teachers, and 42 people matched to multiple categories). Healthcare professionals thought weekday (54.4% versus 14.3% preferring weekend and 31.3% no difference) and school (54.4% versus 21.6% preferred home and 23.9% no difference) patching was more successful. Past patients (52.4%) favoured ‘force’ as a technique to encourage patching; more than both health professionals (7.7%) and parents or carers (19.7%). Patients rated ‘people making fun’ of them as an important barrier to patching.Conclusions: we describe surprising differences in stakeholders’ responses to the survey questions about barriers to successful patching treatment. We suggest these differences are used as a guide for further work to explore stakeholder’s social experience of patching.</p
Deep joint semantic coding and beamforming for near-space airship-borne massive MIMO network
No full textNear-space airship-borne communication network is recognized to be an indispensable component of the future integrated ground-air-space network thanks to airships’ advantage of long-term residency at stratospheric altitudes, but it urgently needs reliable and efficient Airship-to-X link. To improve the transmission efficiency and capacity, this paper proposes to integrate semantic communication with massive multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technology. Specifically, we propose a deep joint semantic coding and beam forming (JSCBF) scheme for airship based massive MIMO image transmission network in space, in which semantics from both source and channel are fused to jointly design the semantic coding and physical layer beam forming. First, we design two semantic extraction networks to extract semantics from image source and channel state information, respectively. Then, we propose a semantic fusion network that can fuse these semantics into complex-valued semantic features for subsequent physical-layer transmission. To efficiently transmit the fused semantic features at the physical layer, we then propose the hybrid data and model-driven semantic-aware beam forming networks. At the receiver, a semantic decoding network is designed to reconstruct the transmitted images. Finally, we perform end-to-end deep learning to jointly train all the modules, using the image reconstruction quality at the receivers as a metric. The proposed deep JSCBF scheme fully combines the efficient source compressibility and robust error correction capability of semantic communication with the high spectral efficiency of massive MIMO, achieving a significant performance improvement over existing approaches
Luxury value perceptions and consumer outcomes: a meta-analysis
No full textLuxury value perception is a well-researched, yet fragmented domain. Extant research reports several dimensions of luxury value perception, where different investigations identify varying dimensions and their impact on several consumer-related outcomes. However, such findings are inconsistent across studies, which are carried out across various contexts using disparate samples. In this research, we use the Theory of Consumption Value and Economic Theory to provide a comprehensive understanding of the dimensions, outcomes, and moderators of luxury value perception. This investigation synthesizes extant literature through a meta-analysis to explain the inconsistent findings and offer new insights. The meta-analysis integrates findings from 64 papers that report 74 separate studies with 32,587 participants/consumers. The impact of the dimensions of luxury value perception (functional, social, emotional, conditional, epistemic, and economic) on consumer outcomes (affective, cognitive, and behavior), and the moderating effects of several moderators (industry type, culture, gender, and publication year) are conceptualized and examined through meta-analytic techniques. Some relationships are under-researched in literature and cannot be tested, which provides scope for future investigations. This research is valuable for theory as we offer novel insights and identify boundary conditions that advance theoretical understanding of the domain. Managers will benefit from this holistic understanding as they may apply the insights obtained to formulate nuanced marketing and branding strategies
Resource task games
No full textIn this work, we introduce Resource Task Games (RTGs), a model of cooperative strategic interactions generalising Wooldridge and Dunne’s Coalitional Resource Games. In RTGs, agents are endowed with different types of resources, which can be put towards graded completion of certain tasks. Agents have preferences over the states of completion of these tasks and can allocate resources in cooperation with other agents. We introduce a notion of core for RTGs and investigate the existence and computation of stable outcomes and core-related closure properties. We show that RTGs are sufficiently expressive to encode Transferable Utility (TU) games efficiently,providing a construction from an arbitrary TU game to an RTG that preserves the core. We provide the computational complexity classes of problems relating to the core of these games, including bounds on the polynomial hierarchy for each problem
The impact of perinatal exposure to paternal anxiety on offspring: a prospective study using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort
No full textBackground: paternal perinatal mental health influences subsequent child development, yet is under-investigated. This study aims to examine the impact of different timings of paternal perinatal anxiety (prenatal-only, postnatal-only, and both pre-and postnatally) on children’s subsequent emotional and behavioral difficulties.Method: we used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and tested the prospective associations between anxiety in fathers and adverse mental health outcomes in children at 3 years, 6 months and 7 years, 7 months.Results: children whose fathers were anxious in the perinatal period were at higher risk of subsequent adverse outcomes, compared to children whose fathers were not anxious perinatally. At 3 years, 6 months, the highest risk group was the one with fathers anxious prenatally-only; compared to children with non-anxious fathers, children in the prenatal-only group were significantly more likely to present mental health difficulties, measured by total problems (unadjOR = 1.82, 95%CI [1.28, 2.53]). At 7 years, 7 months, children exposed to paternal anxiety both pre- and postnatally were at higher risk of any psychiatric disorder (unadjOR = 2.35, 95%CI [1.60, 3.37]) compared to the non-anxious group.Conclusions: paternal perinatal anxiety is a risk factor for child adverse outcomes, even after accounting for maternal mental health, child temperament, and sociodemographic factors, and should not be overlooked in research and clinical practice
Exploring the experiences of emotional literacy support assistants (ELSAs) providing support to children and young people during and outside of the COVID-19 lockdowns
No full textSocial, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) needs continue to rise amongst children and young people (CYP), particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) intervention in schools aims to support CYP with SEMH difficulties to develop their emotional literacy skills. The current study addressed a gap in the literature by capturing ELSAs’ views of the supportive factors and barriers to their work during and outside of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Thirty-two ELSAs completed an anonymous online qualitative survey. Codebook thematic analysis identified five overarching themes: 1) supportive professional relationships, 2) understanding and communication, 3) resources in the role, 4) relationships with CYP and family, and 5) effects of COVID-19. Findings highlight individual level and systemic factors impacting ELSA implementation and the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns, furthering our understanding of how to develop and maintain effective and sustainable ELSA interventions. Limitations, recommendations for future research, and practice implications are discussed
<i>Phragmidium mexicanum</i> (Uredinales: Phragmidiaceae), a neophyte rust established in Britain, with notes on its European distribution
No full textWe report recent records of the introduced rust Phragmidium mexicanum infectingPotentilla indica in Britain and, through published sources since its initial discovery in Europe in 1952, summarise its global distribution and review the spread of records of it in Europe
Health literacy profiling of parents in two disadvantaged inner-city areas in the United Kingdom
No full textBackground: health literacy refers to the skills needed to access, understand, and navigate health information and services. Limited parental health literacy is associated with ineffective preventive behaviours and worse child health outcomes. People with limited financial and social resources are more likely to have limited health literacy. Profiling health literacy strengths and limitations of a population allows the multidimensional nature of health literacy to be considered and highlight patterns of need.Aims: this study aimed to identify the health literacy profiles of parents of children aged 0–4 years in two cities in the United Kingdom with high levels of deprivation (Portsmouth, Southampton), and develop vignettes to illustrate their diverse experiences.Methods: a mixed-methods approach was employed using the Optimising Health Literacy and Access framework. Quantitative data were collected using the Health Literacy Questionnaire-Parent version (HLQ-Parent) among parents from two cities. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed on the HLQ-Parent data to identify clusters reflecting varied health literacy strengths and limitations across its nine domains. Demographic data enriched the profiles. Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews contextualized the clusters, with vignettes created to represent each profile in an explanatory sequential design.Results: a total of 175 participants (mean age 33 years; 98% female) completed the HLQ-Parent. Eight clusters with distinct health literacy profiles emerged. In both cities, one cluster (44% of participants) exhibited high scores across all domains, while another cluster (20% of participants) displayed significant challenges across all domains. Eight vignettes were created to represent the lived experiences of parents within each health literacy profile, highlighting the unique strengths and challenges faced by each cluster.Discussion: this study provides a deeper understanding of how parents use health information and navigate services to manage their children’s health and wellbeing. The findings highlight that a one-size-fits-all approach to improving health literacy would overlook those with the greatest needs, emphasising the importance of developing interventions to the unique characteristics of each identified health literacy cluster. The vignettes developed will inform future research, including stakeholder workshops, to co-design targeted health literacy interventions and solutions, ensuring they address the specific strengths and challenges identified in this study
Teacher role in online course and materials design
No full textThis article examines the role of the teacher in online course and materials design for language learning. It considers the skills, competencies and knowledge required by language teachers to be effective in creating and delivering online education and reflects upon how these skills have evolved as technology has developed. Teacher competencies and knowledge have altered in response to technical developments that enable greater networked sharing, collaboration and communication across the internet. This progress has facilitated a change in understanding of how education is delivered, with a move from teacher-centred to learner-centred approaches. As a result, the teacher role has become multi-faceted and includes aspects of designer, expert curator and facilitator of learning. The article reflects upon how new technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence, might further impact the role of the teacher in creating and fostering an effective learning experience. It suggests that the Community of Inquiry framework (COI) and its notion of ‘teaching presence’ is a suitable way of contextualising and framing how the role of the teacher has adapted and can continue to adapt in a rapidly changing world of technology
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