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Exhausting the ears:Aural discomfort as epistemological disruption in British travel writing on China, c. 1860–c. 1911
Get PDFBritish travellers to late Qing China regularly complained about the discomforting noises they heard across the country. However, despite the prominence of sonic language in travelogues from the period, the impact of sound upon British travellers has remained understudied. While historians have long emphasised vision as the primary sensory modality through which Western travellers projected imperial authority over colonised spaces of empire, this article reinterprets this global encounter between Britain and China as a fully embodied experience rather than an exercise of the eye. It contends that prevailing historiographical assumptions of British imperial knowledge making, in China and elsewhere, become fundamentally disrupted if we attend to the many reports of sound-induced discomfort within the archive of nineteenth-century British travel. In particular, the article argues that the emotive reactions of British travellers to China’s soundscape prohibited them from ever existing as unaffected observers of empire, and also undermined their attempts to represent the country as a passive idyll reminiscent of domestic chinoiserie. Overall, the British experience of aural discomfort in China suggests the ambivalence of these travellers about the possibility of projecting total imperial order over this semi-colonial space.</p
Burnout and relationship quality in residential childcare – Exploring the role of care worker and teacher emotional intelligence
Get PDFThe quality of relationships between staff and children in residential childcare is crucial for fostering healthy psychological and emotional development in vulnerable populations. This study explores the links between staff burnout, emotional intelligence (EI) and the quality of interactions in childcare facilities providing residential care and full-time education in the UK. More specifically, the aim of the study was to assess the role of EI in mitigating burnout’s adverse effects on staff-child relationships. Using cross-sectional survey data from 78 participants (70.5% residential childcare workers; 29.5% residential teachers), the results indicated a significant negative association between burnout and relationship quality, with EI showing a positive correlation with better relationship outcomes. However, contrary to expectations, EI did not moderate the link between burnout and relationship quality, suggesting that even individuals with high EI are not fully protected from the impacts of burnout. Further analysis revealed that client-related burnout had a particularly detrimental effect on staff-child relationships, highlighting the need for targeted interventions
Plug-and-Play Myoelectric Control via a Self-Calibrating Random Forest Common Model
Get PDFObjective. Electromyographic (EMG) signals show large variabilities over time due to factors such as electrode shifting, user behavior variations, etc substantially degrading the performance of myoelectric control models in long-term use. Previously one-time model calibration was usually required each time before usage. However, the EMG characteristics could change even within a short period of time. Our objective is to develop a self-calibrating model, with an automatic and unsupervised self-calibration mechanism. Approach. We developed a computationally efficient random forest (RF) common model, which can (1) be pre-trained and easily adapt to a new user via one-shot calibration, and (2) keep calibrating itself once in a while by boosting the RF with new decision trees trained on pseudo-labels of testing samples in a data buffer. Main results. Our model has been validated in both offline and real-time, both open and closed-loop, both intra-day and long-term (up to 5 weeks) experiments. We tested this approach with data from 66 non-disabled participants. We also explored the effects of bidirectional user-model co-adaption in closed-loop experiments. We found that the self-calibrating model could gradually improve its performance in long-term use. With visual feedback, users will also adapt to the dynamic model meanwhile learn to perform hand gestures with significantly lower EMG amplitudes (less muscle effort). Significance. Our RF-approach provides a new alternative built on simple decision tree for myoelectric control, which is explainable, computationally efficient, and requires minimal data for model calibration. Source codes are avaiable at: https://github.com/MoveR-Digital-Health-and-Care-Hub/self-calibrating-rf
Exposure to trauma in pregnant women and its association with previous perinatal complications, IPV and antenatal service satisfaction in rural Ethiopia: a cross-sectional facility-based study
Get PDFDecolonizing interventions for workplace gender equity:An intersectional and Latin American lens
No full textAlthough gender equity is acknowledged as a global objective, existing progress parameters and interventions predominantly align with Western contexts and academic traditions, which often overlook the complex realities of the Majority World. This paper provides a critique of the dominance of such approaches and highlights the challenges of applying them universally. We examine the limitations of prevailing gender equity scholarship, including how a lack of diversity in general and intersectionality in particular, methodological biases, and individual-level solutions may inadvertently perpetuate inequities. We propose alternatives based on Latin American theory and practice to design decolonial and intersectional interventions for gender equity. Finally, we call for a systemic change by introducing the 5S framework, which advocates for interventions that (a) challenge the status quo, (b) focus on systemic changes, (c) are sensitive to social context, (d) are sustainable, and (e) are supported by evidence
Detrital zircon evidence for provenance and paleodrainage in Miocene south Tauride basins, southern Turkey
No full textTerrigenous successions of Miocene basins along the southern flank of the Central Taurus Mountains, southern Turkey, provide insights into sediment provenance, erosion, exhumation, paleodrainage, and paleogeomorphology. Here, we present a provenance study of sandstones based on detrital zircon U-Pb-Hf and trace-element data, supported by field and petrographic information. Twenty-nine Miocene−Pliocene sandstones were analyzed from seven adjacent Miocene basins, from east to west: the Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Misis, Adana, Mut, Manavgat, and Köprü basins. Our investigations reveal that the Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Misis, and Adana basins are relatively enriched in upper Cretaceous, Eocene, and Miocene zircons. This suggests significant input from contemporaneous magmatic and tectonic sources, specifically those related to metamorphic, arc, and rift environments. In contrast, the Mut, Manavgat, and Köprü basins are dominated by Neoproterozoic and minor, older Precambrian zircons, indicating derivation from an exhumed basement of African-Arabian affinity. A comparison of observed zircon age spectra with those predicted from modern drainage networks (e.g., the Asi, Ceyhan, and Seyhan rivers) suggests several overall patterns in Miocene drainage evolution. First, changes in sediment supply within the Asi catchment reflect episodes of surface uplift and incision, such as inferred downcutting into Paleozoic units. Second, the Seyhan River catchment maintained a relatively stable drainage configuration, delivering upper Cretaceous and Eocene detritus to sedimentary lobes in the Adana basin. Third, as in the northern Seyhan catchment, some drainage systems progressively expanded their catchments. Finally, surface uplift triggered drainage capture from the paleo-Euphrates to the Asi and/or Ceyhan River system, with major rerouting of sediment transport pathways
Development of Acoustic Absorbent Materials Using Pine Needles
No full textAcoustic absorbing materials made from waste plants or trees represent a sustainable source for noise reduction products and applications such as home acoustic insulation and/or traffic road noise reduction barriers. The primary aim of this work is hence to demonstrate the potential application of pine needle waste as the main constituent in acoustic absorbing materials while resin is used as binder. Once the samples have been manufactured, their different physical (density and porous structure), mechanical (compressive strength), and sound-insulating (sound absorption coefficient) properties are characterized. The influence of the ratio of pine needle/resin, length of the pine needle fragments, and thickness of the samples on the different properties has been explored. As the ratio of pine needles/resin increases so does the porosity, although the compressive strength decreases. To highlight this, the noise reduction coefficient is in the range of 0.67 and 0.71 (for 4 cm of thickness), which is higher than that reported for other typical sound absorption materials. An excess of resin produces a clogging phenomenon at the bottom of the samples, producing a reflective layer instead of an absorbent one, which could be used positively to increase the acoustic absorption coefficient in materials with combinations of sections with different needle/resin ratios. Owed to its low weight and high sound absorption coefficients at low frequencies (characteristic of road noise), PN finds usefulness in the manufacturing of environmentally friendly sound-absorbing materials as road insulation barrier
Podcasts as pedagogy in higher education:A scoping review to map and advance the field
Get PDFPodcasts are now one of the most ubiquitous forms of digital engagement and entertainment. Their increasing global impact also extends to higher education (HE), where they serve a variety of pedagogical purposes despite limited conceptual clarity. This paper reports on a scoping review exploring the concept and role of podcasts in HE teaching and learning. Based on a review of 91 publications, the paper maps definitions, taxonomies and pedagogical uses of podcasts, leading to a working definition of the concept ‘educational podcasts’. This conceptualisation seeks to capture the many types of pedagogical work for which podcasts are used in contemporary HE, which are explored in an adapted taxonomy based on the scoping review. The paper then points to four key areas for future research. Together, the paper thinks productively and creatively toward further development in researching and teaching of, with and through podcasts
TbTim20 facilitates protein import at a low membrane potential in trypanosomes lacking the mitochondrial genome
Get PDFProtein import across the mitochondrial inner membrane typically depends on two protein translocases of the inner membrane (TIM) complexes and the membrane potential. The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei, however, has a single, divergent TIM complex. Unlike other trypanosomal TIM subunits, TbTim20 is not essential for the normal growth of the insect or bloodstream forms of T. brucei, leaving its role uncertain. Specific mutations in the γ-subunit of the F1FO-ATPase, such as γL262P, permit bloodstream form trypanosomes to grow without mitochondrial DNA (kinetoplast or kDNA). Here, we show that RNAi-mediated depletion of TbTim20 inhibits growth of this cell line, but only if it lacks the kDNA. Titration of mitochondrial uncouplers and direct membrane potential measurements reveal that TbTim20 becomes more critical as the membrane potential decreases across all tested cell lines. Proteomic analysis of the uninduced and induced γL262P TbTim20-RNAi cell line, which lacks kDNA and exhibits the lowest membrane potential, shows depletion of a subset of imported proteins. This subset includes ATPase subunits, suggesting a mechanism by which TbTim20-silenced cell lines become more sensitive to uncouplers. Thus, we propose that TbTim20 supports the import of a subset of proteins whose import is hypersensitive to a low membrane potential
Light therapy for bipolar disorders:Clinical recommendations from the international society for bipolar disorders (ISBD) Chronobiology and Chronotherapy Task Force
Get PDFThe International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) Chronobiology and Chronotherapy Task Force conducted a comprehensive review to deliver concise evidence-based recommendations on the use of bright light therapy (BLT) for bipolar disorder (BD). Adjunctive BLT is likely an efficacious acute treatment for bipolar depression as implicated by higher quality evidence. The position of maintenance BLT for relapse prevention awaits further investigation. Protocols of effective BLT in BD are similar to parameters indicated for treatment of seasonal and non-seasonal major depressive disorder. Anti-manic prophylaxis (especially for BD-I) and clinical monitoring are recommended with initiation of and ongoing light treatment. Administer BLT daily, preferably in the morning or at mid-day. If mornings are prohibitive, then mid-day exposure, implemented to avoid excessively early wake times, is an acceptable alternative. Informed by the literature, target 30 min/day of BLT exposure. Patients wary of emergent hypomania or partial responders, can initiate 15 min/day and increase by 15 min each week to full response (or 30-60 min/day by the fourth week). Consider patient centred outcome assessments to evaluate mood response, safety and side effects. Clinical improvement is typically observed within 1-2 weeks, with response/remission expected by 4-6 weeks. Integration of BLT with other chronotherapeutic strategies may enhance long-term efficacy.</p
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