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Religiosity, political tolerance, and willingness to reconcile in post-conflict contexts:Evidence from Colombia
No full textThis article examines the role of religiosity in shaping people’s willingness to reconcile with ex-combatants in post-conflict societies, using Colombia as a case study. Drawing on LAPOP survey data from 2014 to 2018, the study employs linear and logistic regression models to reveal that individuals tend to be less willing to reconcile when they have high levels of religiosity (LAPOP 2004–2021). However, this relation can be mitigated by an individual’s level of political tolerance, which fosters greater openness to support reconciliation despite strong religious convictions
The once and future tree:Ontic space, the anthropocene, and the Sycamore Gap
No full textThe felling of the iconic tree at the Sycamore Gap in Northumberland, England, in September 2023 was met with national outrage. The tree was believed to be over 300 years old and was the subject of countless paintings, photographs, and social media posts, earning it the moniker of "most photographed tree in Britain". The reaction to this act of vandalism went beyond expectation, with locals describing the loss as akin to a wound on the soul of the community. Mourners far and wide expressed similar outpourings of grief. In this paper, we explore how the natural world relates to questions of ontological security. We argue that the destruction of nature represents a violation of our sense of "home."However, we also explore how the persistent dualism of human and nonhuman in Western thought is an ontological security mechanism. The Sycamore Gap Tree is a perfect distillation of this, as much of the media coverage has "untreed"the tree to such a degree that it is no longer part of the "natural"world but rather a part of the British "home"and national story. Stories of what the tree "saw"and "felt"dominated the news cycle. In presenting the tree as part of "our world,"these narratives reinforce a fundamental narrative of human ontological security in opposition to the natural world.</p
Juxtaposed trajectories:Weird relations, temporality, and life in Lake Salda and Jezero Crater
No full textConceived as an analog environment to early Mars, Lake Salda, a large, shallow tectonic lake located in southwestern Turkey, known for its stunningly clear azure waters, white sands, and unique geomorphological formations, is one of the few known lakes on Earth that scientists believe contain carbonates and depositional features like those found at the Jezero Crater on Mars. Between 2020 and 2021, NASA’s geobiologists studied microbial fossils in Lake Salda to prepare for the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission, which aimed to search for ancient life on Mars. This extended photo essay pushes against dichotomies of familiar and alien, relation and separation, past and present, in order to trace the weird encounters and disjointed temporalities that characterize the biogeological and geopolitical relations and separations between Mars and Earth. In doing so, the essay points at the impossibility of working through a logic of past/present, geological/astronomical, and familiar/alien dichotomies, and a cosmic demand for facing ambiguity and disjointed, even anachronistic temporalities when it comes to non-anthropocentric imagination about life and living on other planets. In the disjointed temporal, political, and biogeological relations, or modes of time-telling between Salda and Jezero, where agnostic musings over life and anachronistic political relations might flourish, we might find weird openings. The juxtaposed trajectories of the blue and red planets force us to confront our assumptions regarding life and non-life, past and present, possible and impossible.</p
Impact on diabetes-related health outcomes using a digitally-enabled diabetes self-management platform in Somerset, UK: An interrupted time-series analysis
No full textBackground: The MyWay Diabetes (MWD) digital platform aims to improve diabetes management through personalisedaccess to health records, structured education, and other self-management features.Purpose: We aimed to assess health outcomes in MWD users with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes(T2DM) over 6 years of use.Methods: An interrupted time-series analysis in MWD users with T1DM or T2DM in Somerset, UK, compared preandpost-MWD registration trends to estimate differences in health outcomes (HbA1c, blood pressure, lipids,BMI, weight). Generalised estimating equations modelling adjusted for participant baseline characteristics andidentified significant predictors.Results: A total of 7207 people (T1DM: n = 750 (52.3 % female, mean age 51.2 (SD15.8)), T2DM: n = 6457(58.1 % male, mean age 64.7 (SD12.0))) were included in the analysis. The study showed some health outcomesimproved significantly for T2DM between pre- and post-MWD registration. HbA1c reduced by 8.6 mmol/mol at24 months post-MWD registration, with greatest improvements observed in users who were younger, had shorterdiabetes durations and who were frequent MWD users. All health outcomes for T1DM were unchanged.Conclusion: The large HbA1c reduction for T2DM is notable for a scalable digitally-enabled self-managementintervention and adds to the evidence base for digital interventions for diabetes self-management
Human factors barriers to retrofitting historic residential properties in Edinburgh
No full textEdinburgh has one of the highest concentrations of historic buildings in the UK outside of London, with more than 10,000 listed buildings and 50 conservation areas where modifications of properties are restricted for heritage conservation purposes. Like many cities, Edinburgh also has an ambitious net zero aspiration to significantly reduce average household electricity and gas consumption, which necessitates changes that may not be permitted in protected properties. This paper examines the interlinked human factor challenges to retrofitting protected historic residential properties in Edinburgh, using data from a 2023 City of Edinburgh Council public consultation on building heritage conservation and climate change adaptation. The results showed that whilst financial cost is a major barrier for historic property-owners to improve the energy efficiency and climate change resilience of their homes (as indicated by 70% of all respondents), other human factors in the planning process and wider construction industry also contribute to the larger national challenge of retrofitting and adapting the historic building stock. These barriers contribute to Edinburgh residents’ overall negative perception of retrofitting or adapting historic residential properties, and an erosion of trust of the local authority, leading to both potential loss of heritage architectural characteristics and lagging rate of old buildings needing energy retrofits
Overlapping structural and functional connectivity disruptions in clinical high-risk for psychosis participants:A network analysis study
No full textSchizophrenia involves aberrant connectivity of anatomical and functional networks. However, it is currently unclear whether such disruptions are present in clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P) participants and whether there may be an overlap between structural and functional connectivity alterations. We obtained diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) and resting-state, magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) data from N = 110 CHR-P participants and N = 49 healthy controls (HC). A network analysis approach was employed to explore differences in dMRI and rsfMRI connectivity as well as potential overlap between both modalities. In addition, correlations between dMRI and rsfMRI-data, clinical and neurocognitive variables as well as with clinical outcomes were investigated. We observed hyper- and hypoconnectivity across occipital, parietal, temporal, and frontal cortices in both dMRI and rsfMRI-data in CHR-Ps. Moreover, dMRI- and rsfMRI-defined overlapping nodes that differed between CHR-Ps vs. HC overlapped with visual networks, right ventral attention network, and right default mode network. Correlational analyses indicated significant relationships between the severity of CHR-P symptoms, cognitive deficits, and dMRI/rsfMRI-defined hypo- and hyper-connectivity. Finally, CHR-P individuals with persistent attenuated psychotic symptoms (APS) were characterised by aberrant dMRI and rsfMRI connectivity compared to non-persistent APS. Our study shows subtle but widespread disruptions in dMRI and rsfMRI connectivity in CHR-P participants. Specifically, we identified several occipital, parietal, temporal, and frontal regions that were characterised by hyper and hypoconnectivity which correlated with the severity of clinical symptoms and cognitive impairments. Moreover, our findings suggest that dMRI and rsfMRI connectivity measures could serve as a potential biomarker for clinical outcomes in CHR-Ps.</p
The association between disordered eating and sleep in non-clinical population:A systematic review and meta-analysis
Get PDFSleep and disordered eating behaviours may be linked through physiological and psychological mechanisms; yet, no review has systematically investigated the relationship between different sleep indicators and disordered eating behaviours and cognitions outside a clinical context. The present systematic review and meta-analysis addressed this research gap to gain a better understanding of associations in non-clinical populations to potentially inform future prevention and early intervention approaches in the context of both sleep and disordered eating. All studies published from 2003 onwards were included if they assessed a relationship between disordered eating and sleep in a non-clinical population. In total, 89 studies were included, of which 33 met eligibility criteria for the meta-analyses. General eating pathology, loss of control eating, and excessive exercise were most consistently significantly associated with poorer sleep quality and higher insomnia symptoms, while evening chronotypes were most consistently associated with bulimia symptoms, night eating, and body image concerns. Likely due to the limited evidence available, findings relating to restrictive eating behaviours and bulimia symptoms were largely mixed. Primarily small and non-significant effects were found for associations between disordered eating and sleep duration measures. Overall, this review identified a need for more longitudinal research, the use of validated assessment methods, and studies focusing on restrictive eating, bulimia-related behaviours, and excessive exercise. Despite the heterogeneity of study populations and designs, this review highlights sleep problems (e.g., insomnia symptoms, impaired sleep quality) as a transdiagnostic correlate of disordered eating concerns
Using multi-method data for more accurate research findings
Get PDFThe vast majority of personality research is based on a single method: self-reports. As about half of the variance in single-method trait scores is the result of systematic biases and random error, it is likely that most research findings are biased, even well-replicated ones. While some ‘significant’ associations may be entirely artefactual, most are likely to be underestimated, sometimes by as much as 50 %. Unfortunately, this is rarely discussed explicitly, let alone addressed empirically. After explaining the causes and extent of the problem, we argue that it can be effectively addressed by combining personality trait self-ratings with those of knowledgeable informants. To underscore the feasibility of multi-method research, we review recent large-scale studies that have combined self-reports and informant reports to provide more accurate answers to key questions in personality research, such as the heritability of traits and their association with important life outcomes. Since most associations are likely to be underestimated in typical single-method studies, multi-method studies will likely reveal higher correlations with commensurately stronger theoretical and practical implications. For example, single-method studies may have underestimated heritability by around a third and the predictability of life satisfaction from personality traits by around half. Personality psychologists have made great progress in incentivizing more reliable research; it is now time for the field to incentivize valid research, too
My whole world:Integrating the digital into social work assessments with children and young people
Get PDFMost children and young people now live a significant proportion of their lives online, a situation that has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic which required many services, including education, to go online. Social media apps, messaging apps, online gaming, and chatrooms provide new and important spaces for children and young people to connect to others, have fun and learn. Equally, children and young people also have upsetting and harmful experiences online, with research raising particular concerns about the number of young people accessing distressing images and/or pornographic material online, and experiencing bullying and sexual exploitation online. Despite this complex picture of online risk and opportunity, little guidance exists for social work practitioners about how to incorporate the digital world into a holistic assessment of children’s needs and strengths. This article begins to address this gap by exploring the key elements of assessing a child’s digital world, bringing in learning from guidance available in England, current research and good practice in terms of assessment. The discussion is focused around three domains: how the child or young person is growing and developing; what the child or young person needs from the people who look after them, and the impact of the child or young person’s wider world or family, friends and community. Each of these domains are considered in turn, with suggestions given about how the digital world might be incorporated into this ‘triangle’ of domains and how current research might help practitioners to think about what they need to find out and why
Does noise pollution influence modal choices? A random forest application
Get PDFThis work investigates the relationship between noise pollution and modal choices exploring and comparing two different urban contexts: Greater London and Brisbane. To achieve this, data on commuting flows by mode of transport and estimated noise pollution have been obtained and combined with measures to characterise the built environment which demonstrated to have an influence on modal choices. Random forest models have shown very good performances in solving classification problems to predict transport modes and allow the exploration of non-linear relationships between the predicted classes and explanatory variables. Two random forest models have been tuned, trained and tested to investigate the association between modal choices and contextual variables, including noise pollution, in Greater London and Brisbane. Results have shown that noise levels play a role in predicting modal choices in Greater London, while the characteristics of the built environment are more relevant when predicting modal choices in Brisbane. Furthermore, we find that walking and cycling, despite being both active travel modes, are influenced by very different factors, with cycling displaying patterns more similar to those characterising driving. Evidence showing the varying relationships between walking and cycling with contextual variables, e.g. noise levels, building and street density, presence of amenities can inform more targeted policies to encourage active travel.</p
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