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“Hopeless but supported in that hopelessness”: A qualitative study of how people experience talking to a GP about suicide
No full textIntroduction: There is evidence that help-seeking escalates in the weeks before death, with general practice being the most common last point of contact. The experiences of people seeking support for suicidal thoughts and feelings in primary care is under-explored. Understanding the perspectives of people experiencing suicidal thoughts and feelings may identify innovative ways to assess risk in primary care in a safe and collaborative way, allowing more opportunity for intervention. The aim of the current qualitative study was to explore individual experiences of talking to a GP about suicide to understand how they perceive these interactions. Methods: This study was developed with people who have lived experience of suicidality and support seeking, who also supported the interpretation of data and informed the dissemination plan. A participatory, consultative approach was adopted, with experts by experience involved flexibly at multiple stages of the research. Participation was strengths-based and care-informed, prioritising choice, comfort, and psychological safety. Data were collected using an online qualitative survey that was distributed using social media. Forty-one responses were inductively analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Participants were aged between 19 and 67 years old, 29 were female, nine male, two non-binary, and one did not disclose their gender. Results: Three overarching themes were identified: 1) Challenges disclosing suicidal thoughts and feelings: "I wish she would just say suicide"; 2) GP limitations: "I felt my medical needs were met, but not necessarily my mental health needs."; 3) Creating a safe space: "He made it normal, not embarrassing or weird.". This study identified a range of factors influencing how people experience talking to a GP about suicide, including stigma, fear of the consequences of disclosing suicidality, the resources available to GPs generally (e.g., training and knowledge of suicide prevention), and GPs' active listening skills. This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article Discussion: These findings have implications for practice largely connected to a need for relationally informed responses to suicidality that promote more compassionate, contextually responsive mental health care. Methodologically, the paper demonstrates the value of participatory, lived experience– led research grounded in trust, reciprocity, and collaboration beyond tokenism
Land use and multidimensional diversity jointly shape carbon stocks in an Indonesian seasonally dry ecosystem
Get PDFDry ecosystems are critical to the global carbon cycle. Seasonally dry tropical ecosystems as a whole are botanically megadiverse, yet we have little understanding of how diversity impacts aboveground carbon, which is particularly noticeable for insular Asia. Across 133 vegetation plots on the seasonally dry tropical island of Flores, we used spatially explicit models to determine how land use impacts aboveground carbon stocks and whether this is dependent upon multidimensional diversity. Carbon is greatest in primary forests and least in agricultural landscapes. However, we find that land use interacts with phylogenetic and species diversity to shape carbon stocks. Across almost all models, quadratic effects of diversity were better predictors of carbon, indicating that whilst the initial build-up of diversity increases carbon, greater diversity causes carbon decline. Results suggest that future conservation plans will be needed to balance carbon storage with multidimensional diversity, which may offer distinct benefits for ecosystem resilience and services
Parental Attitudes and Digital Parenting in the Early Years: Development and Validation of the PADTS Scale
Get PDFBackground: This paper reports on the development and validation of the 15‐item Parental Attitudes to Digital Technology Scale (PADTS), a brief, psychometrically validated measure assessing parents' beliefs confidence, and concerns about their very young children's use of digital technologies. Method: Developed as part of the UK‐wide Toddlers, Tech and Talk (TTT) study, PADTS addresses a gap in existing research by focusing on children from birth to 3 years, a stage often overlooked in digital parenting literature. Co‐developed with parents and early years experts, the scale was tested with a nationally balanced UK sample (N = 934). Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a four‐factor structure: perceived risks, perceived learning benefits, parental confidence and technology‐related anxiety. The PADTS showed strong model fit and measurement invariance across parent gender, ethnicity and region, with some variation by child age. Correlational analyses indicated that benefits, perceptions and confidence were associated with supportive digital parenting, while anxiety was more weakly linked. Conclusion: PADTS shows potential as a practical tool for researchers, practitioners and policy‐makers and may support a more nuanced understanding of how parental attitudes shape early digital experiences
Maternal and paternal depressive symptoms from pregnancy to late childhood in a UK-birth cohort: Reciprocal and bidirectional effects
Get PDFBackground Evidence regarding the dynamics of the longitudinal reciprocal associations between maternal and paternal depression over time is lacking. The current study examines reciprocal longitudinal associations between maternal and paternal depressive symptoms (DS) from pregnancy (18 weeks-gestation) to 11 years 2 months (study child's age) to gain insights into the joint course of DS. Methods The study sample comprised 6296 mothers and fathers from the UK-based birth cohort, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Reciprocal longitudinal associations between maternal and paternal DS, assessed at nine time-points (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; continuous scores), were examined using random intercept cross-lagged panel models to differentiate between stable covariance (between-person differences in DS) and dynamic processes (within-person level). Analyses were adjusted for parental and socioeconomic confounders. Results There were strong correlations between random intercepts of maternal and paternal DS (β = 0.305, SE = 0.015, p ≤ 0.001), suggesting positive associations between the overall mean levels of parental DS (i.e., a between-person association). There were strong stability effects for maternal and paternal DS across all nine measurement occasions (i.e., within-person associations), with larger effects evident for both maternal and paternal DS later in childhood (between ages 5 and 11 years). There was evidence for bidirectional longitudinal within-person effects between maternal and paternal DS at some but not other measurement occasions. Conclusions These findings have important implications for screening, prevention and intervention programmes. Depression in one parent may require screening efforts directed at the other parent, with prevention and intervention programmes focused on the family, rather than one parent
A Review of AI-Driven Engineering Modelling and Optimization: Methodologies, Applications and Future Directions
Get PDFEngineering is suffering a significant change driven by the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into engineering optimization in design, analysis, and operational efficiency across numerous disciplines. This review synthesizes the current landscape of AI-driven optimization methodologies and their impacts on engineering applications. In the literature, several frameworks for AI-based engineering optimization have been identified: (1) machine learning models are trained as objective and constraint functions for optimization problems; (2) machine learning techniques are used to improve the efficiency of optimization algorithms; (3) neural networks approximate complex simulation models such as finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and this makes it possible to optimize complex engineering systems; and (4) machine learning predicts design parameters/initial solutions that are subsequently optimized. Fundamental AI technologies, such as artificial neural networks and deep learning, are examined in this paper, along with commonly used AI-assisted optimization strategies. Representative applications of AI-driven engineering optimization have been surveyed in this paper across multiple fields, including mechanical and aerospace engineering, civil engineering, electrical and computer engineering, chemical and materials engineering, energy and management. These studies demonstrate how AI enables significant improvements in computational modelling, predictive analytics, and generative design while effectively handling complex multi-objective constraints. Despite these advancements, challenges remain in areas such as data quality, model interpretability, and computational cost, particularly in real-time environments. Through a systematic analysis of recent case studies and emerging trends, this paper provides a critical assessment of the state of the art and identifies promising research directions, including physics-informed neural networks, digital twins, and human–AI collaborative optimization frameworks. The findings highlight AI’s potential to redefine engineering optimization paradigms, while emphasizing the need for robust, scalable, and ethically aligned implementations
The Performance, Health and Development of Youth Women’s Footballers: A Systematic Scoping Review
No full textThe primary aim of this scoping review was to summarise the current scientific literature on the performance, health and development of youth women’s footballers. The review provides a summary of the research topics, including methodological approaches adopted and key findings, and identifies gaps in the literature. A systematic search of electronic databases was conducted in December 2023 and June 2025, with keywords relating to the population, football, and performance, health and development. Studies which involved youth women’s footballers playing at any competitive standard, and quantified at least one aspect of performance, health or development were included. Of the 16,473 studies identified in the database searches, 294 studies met the eligibility criteria to be included in the review. Of the eight research topics investigating the performance, health and development of youth women’s footballers, physical qualities was the most investigated (n=119; 40%), followed by injury (n=49; 17%), biomechanics (n=40; 14%), psychology (n=31; 11%), match-play (n=20; 7%), nutrition (n=14; 5%), fatigue and recovery (n=13; 4%) and training load (n=8; 3%). Players competing in regional (42%) and national competitions (32%), and within an U17 age-group (23%) were the most investigated. Over half of all studies (56%) were published from 2020 onwards, demonstrating recent rapid growth in youth women’s football literature. This comprehensive resource can be used to inform practices supporting the performance, health and development of youth women’s footballers across various competitive standards. Furthermore, multiple research areas are highlighted as underdeveloped, and areas for future research concerning this population to explore
Understanding Appearance Concerns in Young People With Cleft Lip ± Palate: A Photo Elicitation Study
Get PDFObjective:
Young people (YP) with a cleft lip with or without cleft palate have expressed concerns about their appearance and image-sharing on social media. This study aimed to explore and understand YP's concerns, views, and experiences regarding photographs of themselves.
Design:
This was an exploratory qualitative study using photo-elicitation during semi-structured interviews conducted virtually. YP provided 3 photographs of themselves they liked and 3 they did not, which were used to facilitate discussion of their appearance, thoughts, and feelings about their photographs, and social media. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis.
Patients/Participants:
Thirteen YP aged 16 to 20 years (mean = 17.8), 10 females and 3 males, were recruited via a UK cleft charity. Two had a cleft lip only, 9 had a unilateral cleft lip and palate, and 2 had a bilateral cleft lip and palate.
Results:
Four themes were developed: (1) symmetry equals beauty, (2) controlling and curating the image presented to others, (3) acceptance with maturity, and (4) connections can promote empowerment.
Conclusions:
The themes highlight the concerns that YP have with their appearance, how they present their self-image to others, and how they can become empowered to embrace their cleft condition and support others. Results suggest cleft services should integrate psychosocial screening, peer support, and appearance-focused interventions to promote confidence and resilience in young people
War Trauma in Medieval Europe
Get PDFThe study of medieval combat trauma is a fledgling field, despite the wealth of both sources and studies of medieval warfare. While some research considers individual aspects of trauma, few works engage with the difficult and changing theories on the causes and consequences of psychological trauma in wartime, or apply that theoretical knowledge in an historically appropriate way. This book offers the first detailed analysis of the relevant theories and their applicability to narratives written about medieval war. In doing so, it not only demonstrates how the difficult issue of identifying evidence for trauma can be tackled, but also suggests new ways of looking at the medieval experience of war
“When you report fake news which CNN does a lot you are the enemy of the people”: Trump’s attempts to influence/manipulate audience members’ reality paradigms
No full textDonald J. Trump undertook his second US presidency on January 20, 2025. This chapter demonstrates
the linguistic features that Trump used (over a ten-year period) when seeking to influence and,
sometimes, manipulate the reality paradigms of his audiences. Reality paradigms equate to the truth
filters that individuals see through, draw from, and rely upon when making sense of the world, thereby
colouring their worldview (Archer 2002, 2011, 2020, forthcoming). The chapter draws upon fifteen TV
extracts (covering April 2011 to January 2021), selected for their capacity to shed light upon Trump’s
manipulative practices. These extracts capture Trump’s pre-presidency comments on Obama,
presidential comments, and reactions to losing the 2020 election. Collectively, they provide evidence
of (1) Trump’s use of ambiguous/vague language, hyperbole, implicatures, plausible deniability,
presuppositions, and self/other-presentation devices; (2) his communicative aim in using them (i.e., to
influence but also manipulate and, potentially, deceive); and (3) the anticipated impact on his audiences’
truth filters, namely, affecting by (re)shaping their view(s) of political opponents, organisations and
policies and, by extension, their political affiliation(s), voting behaviour, impulse to act, etc. The
analysis of these practices focuses on unpacking Trump’s attempts at manipulation whereby he seeks
“to get someone to adopt [a] faulty mental state” – aka distorted perceptual lens – and thus act in ways
that suit his agenda (Noggle 2020: 243). To tease apart the subtleties offered by the reality paradigm
concept, this chapter also highlights other novel applications. They include (i) attempts to influence for
altruistic purposes, such that the influencer moves another (or others) out of a faulty mental state that is
causing them harm (discussed further in Archer 2020; forthcoming); (ii) attempts where a would-be
influencer wants (un/knowing) others to adopt a faulty mental state, which they themselves believe
(because their own perceptual lens has affected – to the point of skewing – their assessment of the
world: discussed further in Archer 2002, 2011); and (ii) attempts where the addressees perceive there
are issues with the messaging and are seduced anyway (Sorlin 2024), because what’s been pushed
appeals to their own perceptual lens (aka reality paradigm)
From conductive filament design to 3D-printed devices: a critical review and development guide for advanced electrochemical applications
Get PDFThe application of 3D printing technology has grown significantly in both academic and industrial areas, enabling innovative approaches to materials design and device productions. Within 3D printing techniques, Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) has established considerable potential in the electrochemical field, especially with the advancement of electrically conductive filaments, which enabled the fabrication of customized, low-cost, and functional electrode materials with complex geometries and custom-made properties applied to energy or sensing applications. With this progress, there has been increasing interest in understanding the several aspects that influence the performance of 3D-printed electrochemical devices, such as the composition of printable materials, as well as the preparation of novel conductive filaments, containing different materials, such as plasticizers, conductive materials, and tailored polymer matrices. Additionally, the optimization of printing parameters (temperature, speed, layer thickness, and infill density), has been recognized as essential for achieving desirable electrochemical performance while remaining structural integrity (appropriate printability). This review provides a development guide for obtaining conductive filaments applied for electrochemical applications and an overview of recent advances in 3D-printed materials focused on the development of electrodes for batteries, supercapacitors, water electrolysis, and sensors. The role of material selection, surface treatments, and printing conditions in optimizing 3D-printed electrode performance is highlighted. Current challenges and future perspectives for the development of high-performance, application-specific 3D-printed electrodes are also discussed focusing on sensing and energy applications