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The impact of a couple-based intervention on one-year viral suppression among pregnant women living with HIV and their male partners in Malawi: a randomized controlled trial
No full textIntroduction: couple-based behavioral interventions (CBIs) have been associated with improved HIV virological outcomes for pregnant women and their male partners living with HIV in observational settings, but have never been tested in a randomized controlled trial (RCT).Setting: Bwaila District Hospital Antenatal clinic (Lilongwe, Malawi).Methods: an RCT was conducted among 500 pregnant women living with HIV (index clients) randomized 1:1 to the standard of care (SOC) or CBI and followed for one year. The CBI offered an initial session for index clients, HIV assisted partner notification, two enhanced couple counseling and testing sessions, illustrated materials, and antiretroviral therapy pick-up for either couple member at the antenatal clinic. At 12 months, viral load among index clients and male partners with HIV was measured. Risk differences (RD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) compared viral suppression (<1000 copies/ml) between arms.Results: mean index client age was 26.6 years; most were married or cohabiting (93.3%). Index client viral suppression was 6.5% higher in the CBI arm (88.0%) than in the SOC arm (81.6%). Male partner viral suppression was 16.2% higher in the CBI arm (73.6%) than the SOC arm (57.4%). Overall couple viral suppression was 7.8% higher (CI: 0.5% to 15.1%, p=0.04) in the CBI arm (84%) than in the SOC arm (76.0%). Social harms were rare (3.6%) and comparable between arms (p=0.8).Conclusion: this CBI had a positive impact on couple viral suppression. Scaling this CBI to antenatal clients with HIV and their male partners could improve HIV outcomes among expecting families
Pre-crime, hyper-vigilance, and the over-surveillance of migrant-heritage families in FGM-safeguarding in England and Wales
No full textThis article investigates the role of pre-emptive policies and practices aiming to eliminate female genital cutting/mutilation (FGC/M) in England and Wales. We argue that the Serious Crime Act 2015, with its focus on pre-empting, uncovering and punishing FGC/M, represents a milestone in the development of a pre-crime society. By combining data collected from focus groups with migrant-heritage families living in Bristol in 2018 and data on state practices obtained via Freedom of Information requests in 2022, we provide unique insights into the nature and unfolding harmful impacts of hyper-vigilance and over-surveillance associated with the pre-emptive justice elements of the 2015 Act. In doing so, we expose the role played by the central government in ‘institutionalising racism’ within the police and social work. Facilitating an effective challenge to these issues requires social work professionals to engage reflexively in anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice and to drive new discussions about decolonialism within the profession.</p
Quantum information processing, sensing and communications: their myths, realities and futures
No full textThe recent advances in quantum information processing, sensing and communications are surveyed with the objective of identifying the associated knowledge gaps and formulating a roadmap for their future evolution. Since the operation of quantum systems is prone to the deleterious effects of decoherence, which manifests itself in terms of bit-flips, phaseflips or both, the pivotal subject of quantum error mitigation is reviewed both in the presence and absence of quantum coding. The state-of-the-art, knowledge gaps and future evolution of quantum machine learning are also discussed, followed by a discourse on quantum radar systems and briefly hypothesizing about the feasibility of integrated sensing and communications in the quantum domain. Finally, we conclude with a set of promising future research ideas in the field of ultimately secure quantum communications with the objective of harnessing ideas from the classical communications field
The comfort cookbook: African and Caribbean recipes for those in care towards the end of life
No full textThe Comfort Cookbook: African and Caribbean recipes for those in care towards the end of life was coproduced by an African and Caribbean community living in Southampton with support from academics from the University of Southampton
Chinese teachers or teachers of Chinese? A qualitative case study on the construction of the identity of native and non-native speaker teachers of Chinese as a foreign language in Malta
No full textThe terms native and non-native speaker are widely used in the field of foreign language teaching practice and in scholarly literature even though the meaning of such terms is unclear and debatable. This thesis considers nativeness from the point of view of identity, that is fluid and whose construction is generally thought to be influenced by several factors such as the language or languages one acquires naturally during childhood and place of birth among others. Since this thesis is about the construction of the identity of native and non-native speaker teachers of Chinese, this thesis also discusses the term ‘Chinese’. The term Chinese encompasses a vast linguistic diversity of dialects, some of which are even classified by some linguists as distinct languages due to a lack of mutual intelligibility. In view of the linguistic diversity that the term Chinese entails and theory on identity as fluid and socially constructed, this thesis finds out how the participants within the boundary of this case study perceive the identity of native and non-native speaker teachers of Chinese in Malta to be constructed.This thesis presents a case study conducted in academic year 2020/2021 and qualitative data is collected through two research instruments, interview and lesson observations. The aim of this case study research is to present a particular instance within a particular boundary, the boundary of the case study presented in this thesis is the bachelor’s programme in Chinese at the University of Maltaiiiin 2020/2021, a very particular time when all teaching was held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, making this study a contribution to literature on teaching during the pandemic.After analysing the data collected from the interviews, it could be concluded that the general perception of the participants is that a native speaker is one who acquired Chinese (or any other language) within one’s immediate family since birth and throughout early childhood. While the participants’ perceptions are quite common and at face value could be a contribution to a definition of the term ‘native’ speaker, upon closer consideration and in view of the literature reviewed, such perceptions are just common simplistic perceptions and do not lead to any clear definitions of the term ‘native speaker’ as the matter is far more complex. In view of this, the thesis presents the participants’ perceptions and concludes that while such perceptions might be common, they are just perceptions and cannot be generalised to lead to any definitions.After the findings on the participants’ perceptions on factors that contribute to the construction of the identity of the so-called ‘native’ and ‘non-native’ speaker teachers of Chinese, the thesis moves on to describe and to analyse how the identity of the so-called ‘native’ and ‘non-native’ speaker teachers are manifested in their classroom practice. Several differences were noticed, mainly resulting from the teachers’ cultural backgrounds, training, expectations and experience. Several similarities in classroom practice were also observed in the teaching methods used by teachers. Even though the communicative approach is the official approach that language teachers in Malta are required to use, both the so-called ‘native’ and ‘non-native’ teachers deviate from this approach at times and employ a mix of other approaches. This suggests that for the case of Chinese in Malta, the prescription of only the communicative approach might not be as effective, but rather a mix of approaches is used.This thesis is a contribution to the teaching of Chinese in Malta as it describes how it was being taught within the boundaries of the case. It concludes that a more localised approach that takes into consideration several methods is needed. Also, this thesis concludes that while there are general perceptions of factors that contribute to the construction of the identity of the so-called ‘native’ speaker, a clear definition of the term is not needed as terms that refer to a person’s level of proficiency in a language (irrelevant of when and how it was acquired) are more reflective of a person’s proficiency as they are very often a result of measurable examination and certification
The climatic resilience of the Sasanian Empire
No full textThe Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE) has been given relatively little attention in research on climate-society interactions when compared to the neighboring Byzantine Empire, despite evidence of changing conditions and an agricultural economy that is theoretically vulnerable to droughts due to low annual precipitation. We review the available historical, archaeological, paleo-environmental, and paleo-climatic evidence to assess whether climatic conditions factored into periods of Sasanian growth and decline. We find evidence for drier conditions across Sasanian territories at the turn of the sixth century, a pattern that extends to the Aegean, Anatolia, and Central Asia. These same conditions contributed to a significant decline for the nearby Kingdom of Himyar but occurred alongside a period of expansion and intensification for the Sasanian Empire. We suggest that a combination of careful management of water infrastructure, including qanats, which can conserve water resources during dry periods, and land-use strategies that are both diverse and flexible, may have mitigated the worst impacts of this dry period. However, we note several weaknesses in the available data that still hinder confident interpretations of the potential impacts of climate change in the Sasanian Empire. Notably, there are gaps in the coverage of paleo-hydrological records and a complete lack of terrestrial paleo-temperature records in the region, as well as low resolution and high chronological uncertainties in the archaeological and paleo-environmental evidence
Continuum-kinematics-inspired peridynamics for transverse isotropy
No full textAccounting for the combined effects of mechanical anisotropy and nonlocality is critical for capturing a wide range of material behaviour. Continuum-kinematics-inspired peridynamics (CPD) provides the essential underpinning theoretical and numerical framework to realise this objective. The formalism of rational mechanics is employed here to rigorously extend CPD to the important case of transverse isotropy at finite deformations while retaining the fundamental deformation measures of length, area and volume intrinsic to classical continuum mechanics. Details of the anisotropic contribution to the potential energy density due to length, area and volume elements are given. A series of numerical examples serve to elucidate the theory presented
The effect of pregnancy vitamin D supplementation on maternal blood pressure: real-world data analysis within the MAVIDOS randomised placebo-controlled trial
No full textPurpose: observational studies have suggested negative associations between maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) status and risk of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy [pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) and preeclampsia (PET)]. Data from intervention studies are limited. We hypothesised that vitamin D supplementation would lower maternal blood pressure (BP) during pregnancy and reduce the incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.Methods: the Maternal Vitamin D Osteoporosis Study (MAVIDOS) was a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Pregnant women with a baseline 25(OH)D of 25–100 nmol/l were randomized to either 1000 IU/day cholecalciferol or placebo from 14 to 17 weeks’ gestation until delivery. BP recordings documented during routine clinical pregnancy care were obtained from clinical records and grouped into gestational windows based on the schedule for routine antenatal care in the United Kingdom (23+0–24+6, 27+0–28+6, 33+0–35+6, 37+0–38+6, 39+0–40+6 and ≥ 41+0 weeks+days). Systolic and diastolic BP measurements in these gestational windows were compared between randomisation groups. Diagnoses of PIH or PET (in accordance with national guidelines) and the use of antihypertensive agents were also noted and compared between groups.Results: data for 734 women (366 cholecalciferol, 368 placebo) were included. Maternal mean systolic and diastolic BP did not differ between the randomization groups at any of the gestations studied. The incidences of PIH (placebo 1.6%, cholecalciferol 3.6%, p = 0.10) and PET (placebo 3.3%, cholecalciferol 3.8%, p = 0.68) were similar between the two groups.Conclusions: gestational vitamin D supplementation with 1000 IU/day from 14 to 17 weeks gestation did not lower maternal BP or reduce the incidences of PIH or PET in this trial
The key class in networks
No full textThis paper examines optimal targeting of multiple network players from a new perspective, focusing on classes of players holding similar network positions – and thus fulfilling similar network roles – as captured by the graph theoretic notion of equitable partition. Unlike existing centrality measures, we show that analysing the network game with local payoff complementarities under symmetry brings out new insights about the relative influence of classes of similarly positioned network players on the Nash equilibrium activity. Our analysis introduces two novel class-based centrality measures with broad theoretical and empirical applicability that geometrically characterize the key class whose removal results in the maximal reduction of aggregate and per-capita network activity, respectively.<br/
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