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Young adults dealing with loneliness at university
Get PDFLoneliness is a phenomenon that occurs across the lifespan, having consequences for both physical and mental health. This article reports a study focussing on university students’ perceived loneliness. The findings from the thematic analysis of online contributions to relevant forums highlight that loneliness affected the students’ experience by influencing their psychological wellbeing, social identity and academic performance
Academic success and individual differences
Get PDFIndividual differences in students such as motivation, self-regulation and feedback orientation all have an impact on completing academic tasks. Additionally, motivation to study has been shown to impact course engagement. The aim of this research is to explore whether these individual differences can directly predict academic successes at university
Watch for the laughs! The music of graphic scores
No full textIn this case study, Emilie Capulet discusses the concepts of play and playfulness in music performance by investigating the playful nature of graphic scores and showing how graphic scores can play a central role in a game of musical creativity which may help to restore the confidence of young musicians
‘Antisemitism is just part of my day-to-day life’: Coping mechanisms adopted by Orthodox Jews in North London
Get PDFThis paper analyses the coping mechanisms which Orthodox Jews in North London have adopted in managing antisemitism. The study, which was informed by a sociological framework, employed a qualitative approach using 28 semi-structured interviews and five focus groups. The findings reveal that despite the high frequency of the victimisation, and despite the awareness among respondents that antisemitism has seen a resurgence in recent years, Orthodox Jews have managed to accept the victimisation. The way the Orthodox Jewish community has managed their victimisation of antisemitism is argued to be profoundly different from the dominant narratives of hate crime victims, in that by and large the majority of respondents accepted their victimisation. It proposes that respondents were able to show agency and to normalise the victimisation because of their strong religious identity and close community ties
High-dimensional brain-wide functional connectivity mapping in magnetoencephalography
Get PDFBackground
Brain functional connectivity (FC) analyses based on magneto/electroencephalography (M/EEG) signals have yet to exploit the intrinsic high-dimensional information. Typically, these analyses are constrained to regions of interest to avoid the curse of dimensionality, with the latter leading to conservative hypothesis testing.
New method
We removed such constraint by estimating high-dimensional source-based M/EEG-FC using cluster-permutation statistic (CPS) and demonstrated the feasibility of this approach by identifying resting-state changes in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a prodromal stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Particularly, we proposed a unified framework for CPS analysis together with a novel neighbourhood measure to estimate more compact and neurophysiological plausible neural communication. As clusters could more confidently reveal interregional communication, we proposed and tested a cluster-strength index to demonstrate other advantages of CPS analysis.
Results
We found clusters of increased communication or hypersynchronization in MCI compared to healthy controls in delta (1−4 Hz) and higher-theta (6−8 Hz) bands oscillations. These mainly consisted of interactions between occipitofrontal and occipitotemporal regions in the left hemisphere, which may be critically affected in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Conclusions
Our approach could be important to create high-resolution FC maps from neuroimaging studies in general, allowing the multimodal analysis of neural communication across multiple spatial scales. Particularly, FC clusters more robustly represent the interregional communication by identifying dense bundles of connections that are less sensitive to inter-individual anatomical and functional variability. Overall, this approach could help to better understand neural information processing in healthy and disease conditions as needed for developing biomarker research
On the influence of individual differences in cross-modal Mulsemedia QoE
Get PDFQuality of Experience (QoE) is inextricably linked to the human side of the multimedia experience. Whilst there has been a considerable amount of research undertaken to explore the various dimensions of QoE, one facet which been relatively unexplored is the role of individual differences in determining an individual’s QoE. Whereas this is certainly true of multimedia applications, when it comes to mulsemedia (multiple media engaging three or more human senses) this is even more so, given its emerging and novel nature. Accordingly, in this paper we report the results of a study which investigated the role that individual differences (such as age, gender, education, and smell sensitivity) have on QoE, when mulsemedia incorporating olfactory and haptic stimuli is experienced in cross-modal environments. Our results reveal that whilst users had a satisfying overall mulsemedia experience the specific use of cross modally matched odours did not result in significantly higher QoE levels than when a control scent (rosemary) was employed. However, aspects of QoE are impacted upon by all individual differences dimensions considered in our study
Urban-rural differences in the associated factors of severe under-5 child undernutrition based on the composite index of severe anthropometric failure (CISAF) in Bangladesh
Get PDFIntroduction
Severe undernutrition among under-5 children is usually assessed using single or conventional indicators (i.e., severe stunting, severe wasting, and/or severe underweight). But these conventional indicators partly overlap, thus not providing a comprehensive estimate of the proportion of malnourished children in the population. Incorporating all these conventional nutritional indicators, the Composite Index of Severe Anthropometric Failure (CSIAF) provides six different undernutrition measurements and estimates the overall burden of severe undernutrition with a more comprehensive view. This study applied the CISAF indicators to investigate the prevalence of severe under-5 child undernutrition in Bangladesh and its associated socioeconomic factors in the rural-urban context.
Methods
This study extracted the children dataset from the 2017–18 Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS), and the data of 7661 children aged under-5 were used for further analyses. CISAF was used to define severe undernutrition by aggregating conventional nutritional indicators. Bivariate analysis was applied to examine the proportional differences of variables between non-severe undernutrition and severe undernutrition group. The potential associated socioeconomic factors for severe undernutrition were identified using the adjusted model of logistic regression analysis.
Results
The overall prevalence of severe undernutrition measured by CISAF among the children under-5 was 11.0% in Bangladesh (rural 11.5% vs urban 9.6%). The significant associated socioeconomic factors of severe undernutrition in rural areas were children born with small birth weight (AOR: 2.84), children from poorest households (AOR: 2.44), and children aged < 36 months, and children of uneducated mothers (AOR: 2.15). Similarly, in urban areas, factors like- children with small birth weight (AOR: 3.99), children of uneducated parents (AOR: 2.34), poorest households (APR: 2.40), underweight mothers (AOR: 1.58), mothers without postnatal care (AOR: 2.13), and children’s birth order ≥4 (AOR: 1.75), showed positive and significant association with severe under-5 undernutrition.
Conclusion
Severe undernutrition among the under-5 children dominates in Bangladesh, especially in rural areas and the poorest urban families. More research should be conducted using such composite indices (like- CISAF) to depict the comprehensive scenario of severe undernutrition among the under-5 children and to address multi-sectoral intervening programs for eradicating severe child undernutrition
Surrexit Hodie
No full textSubtitled Fantasia-Toccata. Founded upon the Easter plainchant, 'O Filii et Filae'. Recital item or church recessional voluntary suitable for Easter Day. Duration: 8.5 minutes
Ultrafine platinum nanoparticles supported on covalent organic frameworks as stable and reusable oxidase-like catalysts for cellular glutathione detection
Get PDFNanozymes have been widely developed as supplements of natural enzymes owing to their relatively low cost, high mass production, easy storage, good stability, and reusability. By controlling the particle size, nanozymes’ catalytic activities can distinctly be improved. The porous materials such as covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are definitely considered as promising supports for in situ preparation of high dispersity and small-size nanozymes. Herein, we designed and synthesized COF supported ultrafine platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs/COF-300-AR) by controlling the growth of Pt NPs by using uniformly distributed nitrogen atoms of well-organized framework structures of 3D COFs. Pt NPs/COF-300-AR nanohybrids catalyzed the colorless 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) solution to turn blue, displaying excellent oxidase-like activity, good stability, and high reusability, which should be owed to the uniform size and high dispersity of ultrafine Pt NPs. By virtue of those advantages, the TMB-Pt NPs/COF-300-AR colorimetric platform was successfully applied to cellular glutathione detection. Similarly, other COFs with good acid resistance and abundant functional groups can also be used as the supports of a nanozyme, which will greatly expand the members of the nanoenzyme family.
KEYWORDS: oxidase mimic, in situ preparation, ultrafine Pt nanoparticles, COF support, glutathione, nanohybrids, colorimetry, cell lysat
The construction of (white) working-class identity in narrative literary texts and its contribution to socio-cultural and politico-financial inequality
Get PDFUsing Fredric Jameson’s theory of the ideologeme to trace representations of working- and white working-class characters through a selection of contemporary literary texts, this article shows how the construction of (white) working-class identity in literature has been influenced by, and fed back into, mainstream representations of the (white) working class in politics and media, thus contributing to cycles of socio-cultural, financial and political exclusion. This article continues by arguing that there is a lack of rounded and developed white working-class characters in British fiction, specifically in London and the South-East, and that contemporary authors continue to rely on typified representations rather than interrogate them, therefore remaining complicit in feedback loops that work to marginalise the (white) working class. To conclude, an argument is put forward in support of opening up space in the public arena for both imagined and real individual voices from marginalised groups to be heard, providing more direct access to channels of representation and an interrogation of the blame narratives that are used to maintain these groups’ socio-economic and political exclusion