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Editorial introduction: Special Issue on Food Crimes and Harms of the Food Supply Chain: Activities, Actors and Countermeasures
Full text linkIntegration of contrast-adaptive colour correction and convolutional neural network for cryptocaryon fish disease detection
No full textIntegrating Contrast Colour Correction (CACC) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) can help fish breeders in earlier classification and identification of Cryptocaryon fish disease (protozoan white spot disease). Disease identification accuracy is enhanced through such method by adaptive colour changes and CNN feature extracting ability, thereby boosting underwater image clarity. Unlike traditional rule-based systems that relies on expert knowledge despite being error-prone, existing methods focus on visual quality without classifying impact influence. Early disease identification is hampered in terms of efficiency due to machine learning methods reliant on abundant human expertise other than efficient feature extracting. An artificial intelligence (AI)-oriented computer model is introduced for existing research in overcoming limitations and eliminating subjectivity. The model employs a proprietary method of diagnosing fish disease through underwater images examination that yields objective outcome. Several CNN structures such as GoogleNet, ResNet-101, AlexNet, ResNet-50 as well as VGG-16 are tested on its performance. The current study shows integration of CACC with CNN through a set of 15000 images boosting up model performance in Cryptocaryon fish disease detection. The introduced novel method significantly enhances performance with 99.53% accuracy, 99.08% precision along with 100.00% recall. This efficient, accurate approach can significantly reduce the workload of experts and fish farmers while promoting sustainable aquaculture and healthier aquatic ecosystems
Impact of mental health on youths' overall wellbeing and positive outlook
No full textThis article reports on the overall wellbeing and positive outlook of 106 pupils in a city secondary school in England. The pupils were in Year 7 (n=38) [age 11-12], Year 8 (n=31) [age 12-13], and Year 10 (n=37) [age 14-15]. The demographic experienced high levels of socio-economic challenge with a range of social, emotional, and mental health needs requiring support. The percentage of Free School Meals (FSM) and Pupil Premium (PP) across the year groups ranged from 32.4% to 48.4%. All pupils were involved in school intervention to support their mental health literacy and wellbeing between April and July 2024. The findings demonstrated that in-school intervention supported pupils to understand aspects or poor mental health and maintain a positive wellbeing. In Year 7 and Year 8, 68% and 90% of pupils respectively knew what caused poor mental health which increased by 32% for Year 8 pupils and slightly decreased by 3% for year 7 pupils post-intervention. There was less surety in the causes of poor mental health amongst Year 10s with a decrease of 11% post-intervention. There was an observable statistical difference (determined by Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient) in the outlook of Year 8 pupils with just 22.6% reporting a positive general attitude to life
The Causes and Effects of Financial Crises from Macro and Micro Perspectives: An Empirical Investigation from Top Ten Emerging Countries
No full textThis thesis provides a detailed investigation into the causes, dynamics, and consequences of financial crises in emerging economies, spanning the period 1990–2023 and focusing on ten representative countries: Mexico, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Russia, Brazil, China, and Turkey. The study adopts a multidimensional approach, integrating macroeconomic, institutional, and microeconomic perspectives to examine both the determinants of crises and their socioeconomic and firm-level impacts.The introductory and literature review chapters set the theoretical foundation, contrasting orthodox and heterodox approaches. While orthodox models emphasize market efficiency and rational expectations, they often fail to explain speculative bubbles and systemic fragility. Conversely, heterodox theories such as Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis highlight the cyclical nature of crises but do not sufficiently account for political volatility and institutional weaknesses in emerging economies. To bridge these gaps, this study synthesises insights from heterodox approaches and Krugman’s currency crisis model to formulate hypotheses addressing both internal vulnerabilities (debt accumulation, speculative behaviour) and external shocks (exchange rate pressures, balance of payments crises).The stylized facts presented in chapter three, provided historical and empirical evidence of recurrent crisis episodes, demonstrating how emerging markets remain highly vulnerable due to dependence on external capital and exposure to global shocks. Case studies of countries such as Brazil, Turkey, Mexico, and Russia illustrate how crises often manifest as twin or triple crises, exacerbated by contagion effects and commodity price volatility.The methodology (chapter four) detailed the quantitative research design, data sources, variable construction, and econometric strategies. Logistic regression, System Generalised Method Moment (GMM), and panel fixed-effects models were employed to address the core research questions, supported by rigorous diagnostic testing to ensure robustness.Empirical analysis of crisis determinants, presented in chapter five confirmed that low GDP growth, weak regulatory quality, high income inequality, large international debt, currency depreciation, and balance of payments imbalances significantly heighten the likelihood of crisis. Political stability emerged as an important mitigating factor when controlling for country-specific heterogeneity.The socioeconomic consequences (Chapter 6) revealed that financial crises increase poverty levels and, through rising unemployment, deepen economic hardship for vulnerable populations. Although income inequality was less directly affected, poverty persistence underscores the need for targeted social protection. Education expenditure unexpectedly showed a short-term positive link with poverty and inequality, raising concerns about allocation efficiency.At the microeconomic level, the analysis of firm productivity (Chapter 7) found evidence of a ‘cleansing effect’, whereby crises force restructuring and efficiency gains among surviving firms. However, larger firms, constrained by structural rigidities, experienced more pronounced productivity declines. High-tech and low-tech firms exhibited distinct responses, highlighting the importance of technological orientation in shaping resilience.Finally, in the concluding chapter (Chapter 8), we provide some policy recommendations by stressing the importance of strengthening governance and institutions, developing proactive social safety nets, improving labour market resilience, ensuring equitable and efficient education investment, and tailoring firm support measures to enhance productivity and adaptability. These findings offer actionable guidance for policymakers in designing effective early warning systems and resilience-building strategies.Overall, this thesis highlights that financial crises in emerging economies are multidimensional phenomena, rooted in structural vulnerabilities and carrying significant social and economic costs. By linking macroeconomic determinants, institutional quality, and firm-level performance, the study provides an integrated perspective that advances both academic understanding and policy relevance
Benchmarking Radar Preprocessing Techniques and Transfer Learning Models for FMCW-based Human Activity Recognition
No full textHuman Activity Recognition (HAR) using radar signals has gained significant attention due to its non-intrusive nature and robustness in various environments. However, the impact of radar signal preprocessing techniques on the performance of deep learning (DL) models remains an active area of research. This study investigates how different radar domain representations affect HAR accuracy by evaluating four preprocessing methods: Time-Range (TR) maps generated via Range-Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Range-Doppler (RD) maps obtained through sequential FFTs, and Time-Doppler (TD) features extracted using Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT) and Smoothed Pseudo Wigner Ville Distribution (SPWVD). We employ a baseline Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and state-of-the-art Transfer Learning (TL) models to assess whether advanced preprocessing or increased model complexity yields greater performance gains. The results reveal that high-resolution TD analysis using SPWVD does not significantly enhance classification performance and incurs substantial computational overhead, limiting its real-time applicability. Conversely, the TR representation offers computational efficiency but struggles to classify complex activities with the baseline CNN accurately. RD and STFT methods provide a favorable balance between classification accuracy and computational efficiency. Notably, transitioning from the baseline CNN to TL models leads to substantial improvements in recognition accuracy: up to 29.36% for TR, 21.42% for RD, 16.66% for STFT, and 11.11% for SPWVD representations. Overall, our findings demonstrate that TL models, when combined with computationally efficient radar preprocessing techniques like RD or STFT, significantly improve recognition accuracy and generalize well across datasets, as confirmed by evaluation on two publicly available radar-based HAR datasets. Among these, the RD representation combined with VGG-19 yielded the best trade-off between accuracy and latency, achieving a total processing time of 0.91 s per sample for a 10 s activity duration, making it highly suitable for latency-sensitive HAR applications
A CROSS-SECTIONAL EXPLORATORY STUDY OF RAT SARCOMA (RAS) ACTIVATION IN NON-OBESE WOMEN WITH AND WITHOUT POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME
No full textStudies in obese polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have shown growth factors that activate rat sarcoma (Ras) proteins, which regulate intracellular signaling pathways, differ in PCOS; however, it is difficult to account for obesity, insulin resistance, and systemic inflammation that are linked to many of the features found in PCOS. This study explores Ras signaling proteins and related growth factors in non-obese women with and without PCOS. Somascan proteomic analysis of circulating KRas, Ras GTPase-activating protein-1 (RASA1), and 45 growth factor-related proteins that signal through Ras was undertaken in a non-obese population of women with (n=44) and without (n=78) PCOS, groups matched for age and body mass index (BMI), without insulin resistance (HOMAIR) or systemic inflammation (normal CRP; C-reactive protein). There was an increase in the free androgen index (FAI, p<0.0001) and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH, p<0.0001) in PCOS. Cohen’s d showed a moderate effect size for 3 proteins, of which Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA) and EGFR were increased and EGFR1 was decreased in PCOS (all FDR p<0.05). EGFR and VEGF pathways interact closely and when EGFR signaling decreases, VEGFA may increase to maintain angiogenic balance, suggesting that in non-obese PCOS there may be a signal for compensatory angiogenesis in a dysfunctional endothelial environment
Person-Centered Multimorbidity Care in UK Primary Care: Identifying Changes to Practice
No full textPURPOSE Growing numbers of people live with multimorbidity, defined as 2 or more long-term health conditions. Health care delivery must adapt to manage the growing workload and complexity associated with multimorbidity. Research, practice, and policy have called for a shift to whole-person tailored primary care management of multimorbidity but have yet to adequately describe how this should be implemented. Here, we systematically identify the enablers and barriers to delivery of tailored care for people living with multimorbidity to develop a new model for implementation.METHODS We collected data across 5 UK general practitioner (GP) sites through 2 methods: ethnography and focus group discussions. Ethnographers observed 25 consultation sessions, 5 per site. Focus groups were held among primary care staff (n = 16, across 4 sessions) and patients and carers (n = 8, across 2 sessions). We analyzed integrated data using inductive thematic analysis to describe enablers/barriers to delivery of tailored care.RESULTS We identified 3 elements needed to enable tailored management: (1) resources for tailored assessment of, and practical support for, tailored management of multimorbidities, (2) engagement of patients/carers with professional collaboration to cocreate tailored management plans, and (3) evaluation and development of the professional skills required to confidently work beyond traditional condition-focused models.CONCLUSIONS Whole-person tailored care needs inclusion of more services in routine primary care and change of culture toward shared decision making among multidisciplinary health care teams, patients, and carers. Such approach needs flexible consultation models and data sources enforced through monitoring and continual learning
Experimental Investigation of Dynamic Operation and Performance Limits of ASHP-Driven Radiant Floor and Fan Coil Heating System
No full textThis study investigates the operation of an air source heat pump (ASHP) working with combined radiant floor (RF) and fan coil unit (FCU) heating systems in hot summer and cold winter (HSCW) regions. Intermittent heating demands and ASHP sensitivity to supply water temperature in these regions lead to insufficient steady-state assumptions, while experimental evidence on transient heating behavior, thermal comfort development, and operational limits remains limited. In this study, experiments were conducted to analyze six supply water temperatures (ranging from 35 °C to 45 °C) with respect to the system’s dynamic thermal response, vertical air temperature difference, floor surface temperature, power consumption, and coefficient of performance (COP). The results show that start-up heating is dominated by FCU convection, causing pronounced vertical temperature stratification, while radiant heat becomes dominant as the system approaches steady operation. A good vertical air temperature difference with respect to breathing zones and ankle-level temperature differences below 2 °C was achieved after sufficient operating time. Increasing the supply water temperature accelerated the heating response, where the time required for the average indoor temperature to reach 18 °C decreased from 5.5 h at 35 °C to 2.2 h at 45 °C. However, this improvement was accompanied by reduced energy efficiency, with the mean ASHP unit COP declining from 2.5 to 2.3. Excessively high supply temperatures further induced premature indoor overheating and the frequent start–stop cycling of the heat pump, thereby limiting thermal benefits and increasing power demand. These findings provide experimentally grounded insight into the operation and performance limits of ASHP RF–FCU heating systems
Racial gaslighting in Britain: politics and power
No full textPioneering work on racial gaslighting has developed and linked the concept to, among other things, the production of narratives which ‘obfuscate the existence’ of racial, and racist, power structures (Davis and Ernst, 2017: 761). Racial gaslighting, this work has demonstrated, consequently operates in the service of upholding these same structures and further undermining challenges to them. What follows in this chapter examines racial gaslighting in a British context, exploring it as an ideological process informing material realisations of state power. It provides a brief intellectual genesis of the term, foregrounding some of its parameters by those who have developed analyses of it as a concept and linking this to dominant narratives around ‘race’ and racism in Britain. In doing so, this provides a framework against which a series of ‘case studies’ of racial gaslighting are presented and explored analytically, each demonstrating different but inter-related dynamics
Designed Not to Work but Working Perfectly: The Silencing of Victims of Corporate Crime
No full textThis article examines the operation of the courts in response to crimes committed by the powerful, in their position relative to victims of corporate crime. During the pandemic, construction fatalities rose by 33%, whereas prosecutions fell by 24%. Fines, on average, have increased, but enforcement has decreased, leaving many families without justice. Using Smart's feminist framework of analysis with testimony from bereaved families, this article examines how the court process silences potential corporate criminality and harms. It offers empirical data that deepen the understanding of the response of the courts to corporate crime as an invisible crime that has been effectively decriminalised. Additionally, it examines the experiences of bereaved families, whose testimonies are rarely acknowledged in academia or media. Their stories expose the reality of corporate power, and the challenges faced by those who are silenced by justice in practice