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The influence of voice masculinity and femininity on parents' and teachers' expectations of children’s academic and occupational competence
No full textGender-related acoustic features of voices may play a role in perceived aptitude for academic subjects and occupations. In the present study, parents and teachers rated the perceived competence of children with respect to a range of gender-stereotyped academic subjects and future possible occupations. Ratings were based solely on re-synthesized recordings of 8 children (4 girls, 4 boys) saying a single sentence. Resynthesis involved changing format spacing only, either to the mean for each gender in the larger group from which the four speakers had been selected, or to one standard deviation above or below that mean. In Experiment 1, the speakers were rated for perceived competence in academic subjects by 61 parents and 38 teachers. Results showed that lowered or raised voices led to ratings of different levels of competence in traditionally masculine-typed or feminine-typed academic subjects, although the effects were clearer for boy speakers than for girl speakers. In Experiment 2, the speakers were rated for perceived competence in future occupations by 49 parents and 50 teachers. Results showed that perceptions of both boys’ and girls’ aptitude for gender-typed occupations were even more clearly affected in stereotypical ways by the raised or lowered voices. The results have implications for possible interventions with adults to prevent unintentional stereotyping of children, and also point to the value of this method as an implicit measure of parents’ and teachers’ stereotyping of academic subjects and occupations
Living well with long-term conditions: a quantitative investigation into the influences of illness and healthcare experiences
Full text linkObjectives:
To examine whether illness or healthcare experiences have a more significant influence on living well, and which factors in these experiences have the most influence.
Methods:
Information collected included demographic data, illness and healthcare experience, and the LTCQ to measure living well. Data was collected via online survey platform Qualtrics. Two separate 2-stage hierarchical multiple regressions were run to investigate how much variance in living well with long-term conditions is accounted for by established and exploratory illness and healthcare experience factors.
Results:
70 participants met the inclusion criteria of the study, with 54 included in the analysis. Results showed that illness experience had a significant influence on living well while healthcare experience did not. The factors of illness intrusiveness in illness experience and patient assessment of chronic illness care in healthcare experience significantly impacted living well.
Discussion: This study examines the influences of illness and healthcare experiences on the ability to live well with LTCs. Future research could focus on specific LTCs and compare which factors they find significantly affect living well. The findings pave the way for future explorations into the factors influencing living well differ between LTCs and the best interventions to improve living well with LTCs
Closing editorial: advancements in optical measurement devices and technologies
Full text linkOptical measurement technologies have emerged as indispensable tools in modern metrology, offering precision, noninvasive measurement capabilities, and remarkable versatility across diverse scientific and industrial applications [1,2]. The field of optical metrology encompasses a wide range of techniques, from classical interferometry to quantum-enhanced measurements, each contributing to our ability to measure physical quantities with ever-increasing accuracy [3]. As we enter an era defined by the second quantum revolution, optical measurement devices are at the forefront of technological innovation, enabling breakthroughs in fields ranging from fundamental physics to advanced manufacturing [4,5]
Maybe You Could Close Your Eyes While I Dance: ‘Age’, ‘Ageing’ and ‘In/visibility’ as choreographic drivers in Yael Flexer & Galit Liss’s Acting Our Age
No full textThe chapter examines Yael Flexer and Galit Liss’s shared interest in Age, Ageing and ‘In/visibility’ as choreographic drivers for the creation of professional works with cross-generational and over 60s female performers. It hones in on their recent joint touring production Acting Our Age (2023) co-created with an international cast of performers aged 26-76, delineating the different ways in which age, ageing and in/visibility manifest as choreographic form and content bringing to the fore a methodology that prioritises somatic, socio-political and ethical values attuned to the ageing body in performance (Farmer et al 2022, Liss 2024).
The work uses a variety of choreographic strategies that build on Liss and Flexer’s previous independent works. These include an informal and proximal mode of performance to engender embodied viewing, unearthing autobiographical nuggets of material used as text or as impetus for movement creation (Suslik 2019:84), playing with different modes and references to the visible and invisible - what is displayed and what is hidden from view - to underscore the intertwining of presence and representation (Flexer 2020) and a pointing towards co-authorship and nonauthoritarian choreography (Lepecki 2013). As a dancer’s personal movement archive serves a key choreographic component in Acting Our Age (2023), the discussion also touches on notions of ‘the body as archive’ drawing on writing by Lepecki (2010), Foellmer (2020), Adair & Griffiths (2020) and Schwaiger (2012). However, rather than exploring the re-staging of repertoire , the writing (and performed work) focus on the ways in which the archive is used as choreographic device in relation to the overarching theme of age. Similarly, notions of ‘choreopolicing’ and ‘choreopolitics’ as discussed by Lepecki (2013) ground a discussion of the ways in which socially constructed conventions of the ‘danceable’ (Laermans 2015) and the disciplining function of dance underlies and frames audiences and dancers’ own perceptions of age and stage performance (Schwaiger 2012)
The ethos, practice, parallels, and intersubjectivity of elite and community sport coaching: how coaches define personal meaning, motivation, and validation
No full textThere is a significant literature base relating to behaviors, motivations, and the principles and practices of coaches in the elite performance context, and a growing body of work related to the dispositions and practice of community coaches. However, despite acknowledgments of similarities between performance and community coaching in terms of fundamental postulates (i.e. managing groups/developing relationships), there is a dearth of research specifically exploring any deeper interface between elite-level coaching and community coaching. Given this, the present research focuses on understanding the intersectionality between both contexts as observed and disclosed by coaches with significant experience in both environments (elite-community). Semi-structured interviews with nine such coaches were undertaken, with the findings outlining the inter-related aspects of elite and community coaching, including increasing participants’ altruistic behaviors, facilitating their personal agency, and notably how the coaches saw the development of their participants as a critical part of their own motivation and self-validation
Optimising P2P energy trading using Internet of Things and agentic AI cluster zooming
Full text linkArtificial intelligence (AI) has become the game changer in smart grids-an enabler of network autonomy, self-healing, and reconfiguration. This study integrates AI and Internet of Things (IoT) to organise peer-to-peer (P2P) energy prosumers into virtual clusters without altering the physical topology of the power network. The aim is to enable an autonomous, scalable and dynamic virtual microgrids (VMG) by leveraging federated learning, agentic AI, AI agents, IoT, and cluster zooming to optimise P2P energy trading costs for pro-sumers and operational expenditure (OPEX) for network operators, depending on the number of prosumers available. The study employs a central controller AI to coordinate multiple local AI agents. Each AI agent resides in the network server and monitors energy trading traffic for each long-range wide-area network (LoRaWAN) gateway to optimise trading and OPEX costs via cluster zooming achieved by the spreading factor (SF) via adaptive data rate (ADR) mechanism of LoRaWAN. The agentic AI module in the cloud autonomously selects and adapts the network coverage based on SF, via the AI energy trading agent configured in the LoRaWAN access network server, to zoom the clusters (i.e., VMGs) in grid-connected and island modes. The study formulates an energy trading model connecting the physical (electrical) and virtual (telecom) distances and OPEX in the VMG. With agentic AI-assisted cluster zooming, over 70% of the energy is traded at lower SF. At the same time, the energy costs decrease by 40% in proportion to the network size and the number of prosumers. For the network operator, OPEX reduces by 21% and 38% in base-station power consumption. Ultimately, grid-connected prosumers pay higher charges than their off-grid counterparts. The agentic AI model in this study exemplifies a use case of the 3GPP model of the future 6G network
Experiences of delivering community-based physical activity for individuals with severe mental illnesses
No full textSevere Mental Illnesses (SMI) significantly affect physical and mental health, with individuals often facing isolation, stigma, and reduced life expectancy. While evidence supports that physical activity (PA) can be beneficial for individuals with SMI, there is limited research on the practical considerations needed when designing these PA programmes to ensure safe and supportive experiences. This collaborative study, with a mental health charity, explores the experiences of 21 stakeholders (coaches, volunteers, development officers) who deliver community-based PA for individuals with SMI. Qualitative data collection included observations (N = 10 sessions, mean= >12hrs), semi-structured interviews (21 participants), and informal conversations. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to craft three themes: (a) The Challenge of Initiating Physical Activity in a Novel Community Environment, (b) Approaches to Supporting Service Users in Entering PA Spaces: Setting Expectations and Creating Safe Spaces, (c) Continued Participation: Approaches to Maintain PA Engagement. Results illustrate the value of experiential knowledge in creating practices that are both trauma-informed and support long-term recovery
Blackcurrant anthocyanin supplementation alters exercise-induced substrate utilisation – a systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textBackground: blackcurrant anthocyanins have been investigated for the effects on exercise-induced substrate utilisation. Studies have addressed the effects of dose, duration of intake and exercise modalities. Results are mixed, with studies generally demonstrating fat oxidation to be increased, while carbohydrate oxidation to be decreased.
Objective: to undertake a systematic review of literature and a meta-analysis of results.
Data sources: Electronic database searches were undertaken in PubMed, Web of Science and EBSCOhost from 1st May up to 14th November 2025, using a pre-defined search strategy.
Study selection: The inclusion criteria required studies to be controlled trials investigating the effects of blackcurrant supplementation on fat and carbohydrate oxidation during exercise in physically active adults (18-65 years). All forms, doses, and durations of blackcurrant supplementation were eligible, with outcomes reported as absolute rates of substrate utilisation during exercise.
Data extraction and synthesis: two authors independently extracted data and assessed for risk of bias using the Cochrane RoB 2 tool, with a random-effects meta-analysis undertaken on the mean difference between control or placebo and consumption of blackcurrant extract on exercise substrate utilisation.
Results: Searches returned 263 articles, with 15 studies included with 226 participants after full-text screening. Meta-analysis demonstrated blackcurrant extract to increase fat oxidation (0.042 g·min-1, P<0.001) and decrease carbohydrate oxidation (-0.099 g·min-1, P=0.012).
Conclusions: Blackcurrant can increase fat oxidation and decrease carbohydrate oxidation during exercise. However, this finding is not consistent for individuals and factors such as training status, sex, dosage, duration of intake may determine responses
Chapter 1: Introduction
No full textWriting this book has been a voyage of discovery, an Odyssey of the heart as much as of the mind.
(Annette Kuhn)
We will return to Annette Kuhn’s work later, particularly when we explore the thorny subject of memory. For now, it is enough to say that her description of writing her memoir describes beautifully our experience as we have worked on this book project over the last four years. When Bob (a former children’s home resident) emailed Viv (a former social worker) in 2021, we had no idea that this would be the beginning of a voyage of discovery for all four contributors to this book (including Rose and Doug, also former children’s home residents). Nor did we expect that there would be so much learning in it for all of us. What we present here is therefore a summation of what we have individually and collectively learned along the way, fully aware that our voyage of discovery will never be finished, because, when all is said and done, clichéd as this might be, it is the journey of life, in all its messiness, uncertainty and contradictions
The dangers of occupational vigilance: a scoping review
No full textAbstract
Objective: This scoping review systematically mapped the current evidence base for occupational vigilance to identify research gaps and inform future intervention development. Background: Vigilance, the ability to sustain attention to detect rare critical events, is essential across numerous occupations, yet performance typically deteriorates within minutes. Despite extensive laboratory research, occupational applications remain poorly understood, representing a significant gap given safety and productivity implications in contemporary workplaces. Method: Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we searched multiple databases for empirical studies examining occupational vigilance. Two reviewers independently conducted screening, with data extracted on study characteristics, measurement approaches, performance outcomes, and moderating factors. Results: Twelve empirical studies spanning military, healthcare, nuclear operations, air traffic control, and aquatic safety sectors were identified. Consistent vigilance decrements emerged across contexts, with performance deterioration occurring within 5-15 minutes and substantial effect sizes (often η²ₚ > 0.7). Individual differences, particularly expertise and working memory capacity, significantly moderated outcomes. The evidence base remains narrow, concentrated in safety-critical domains, and relies heavily on laboratory simulations. Conclusion: Occupational vigilance research demonstrates robust decrements across diverse contexts, but critical gaps exist in understanding vigilance demands in emerging work environments, effective intervention strategies, and long-term vigilance requirements