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Exploring the environmental issues influencing engagement in pro environmental behaviour (PEB) by plastic manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Lagos State, Nigeria
No full textObsessive–compulsive symptoms predict increased fronto-parahippocampal synchronisation during thought suppression
No full textBackground:Thought suppression is suggested as a causal factor in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), as it can lead to an increase in intrusive thoughts. However, the neural mechanisms through which obsessive–compulsive symptoms (OCS) influence thought suppression, particularly in the context of preferentialprocessing of negatively valenced stimuli, remains unclear. We hypothesized that OCS would predict increased inhibitory communication between frontal and parahippocampal neurocircuitry during the suppression of negative words. Additionally, we tested an exploratory analysis to see whether this wasmediated by preferential processing of these stimuli.Methods:EEG was recorded from 47 participants tasked with directed forgetting of negative and neutral words. Data from 38 of these participants were analyzed. We examined the influence of OCS on frontoparahippocampal beta-1 (13–18 Hz) synchronization during a Directed Forgetting task. An exploratory analysis of the mediating role of stimulus processing bias, measured via the late positive potential following the word stimulus, was assessed using a mediated moderation model.Results:Obsessive–compulsive symptoms predicted enhanced fronto-parahippocampal beta-1 synchronisation when instructed to forget negative words. The moderating effect of valence was mediated by preferential processing of negative stimuli, as indicated by increased late positive potential.Conclusions:Healthy individuals with relatively high OCS exhibit compensatory connectivity between frontal and parahippocampal regions when attempting to suppress negative emotional stimuli. Exploratory analysis showed this compensatory activity is influenced by both preferential processing of negative stimuli and the severity of OCS, providing preliminary evidence of a neural mechanism that may contribute to the persistence of intrusive thoughts in OCD
Temporal associations between psychological climate and coach-rated team performance in sport
Full text linkThis study provides the first empirical test of the Practice Environment Model’s (PEM) proposition that athletes’ psychological climate perceptions are temporally related to subsequent team functioning. We examined whether daily psychological climate appraisals, collected via high-frequency digital monitoring, were associated with coach-rated team performance, and whether they offered added value beyond traditional perceived wellness assessments. Using the MIMIR platform, daily data were collected from 48 NCAA Division II athletes across men’s soccer, women’s soccer, and women’s tennis teams. A time-lagged correlational design assessed whether psychological climate or perceived wellness ratings were linked to coach-rated performance on subsequent days. Results showed that psychological climate was significantly associated with coach ratings in several contexts, with the strongest and most sustained relationships observed in women’s tennis, extending up to a five-day lag. In contrast, perceived wellness ratings showed no consistent associations with performance across teams or terms. These findings offer initial support for the PEM’s climate–performance feedback loop and identify psychological climate as a potentially valuable indicator of team functioning in applied sport. Future research should examine potential moderators and mechanisms to guide targeted climate-based interventions
Pig welfare and ethical considerations during abattoir stunning: CO 2 vs. alternative methods such as argon gas
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'Recording the dismantlement of empire: contested narratives and the after-lives of colonial statues in de-colonizing Britain and France, 1950-2021'
No full textScanning Differences between Small-Sided and Full-Sized Games in Elite Youth Footballers
Full text linkThe aim of this study was to compare the scanning activity of elite youth footballers across 7v7, 9v9 and 11v11 game formats. The participants were outfield under 12 footballers (N = 60) born between 1st September 2011 and 31st August 2012 from a Premier League category 1 football academy in the UK. Observational analysis on scan frequency as well as critical scan frequency, the scan situation, the play type and technical action outcomes from the scan were all undertaken. As game formats decreased in player number and pitch size, scanning activity increased. Positional, situational and technical action scanning differences were found between game formats. The most meaningful differences in scan activity across game formats were highlighted during defensive actions and between positions. This study is the first known to explore scanning differences between small-sided and full-sized games, with results suggesting small-sided games may not replicate the scanning situations found in full-sized games. Until further research is conducted, coaches should be aware that small-sided games may influence skill transfer
Hollow Pursuits:Desire, therapy, and 'play' on Star Trek: The Next Generation's holodeck
No full textIn so many ways the vision of the future imagined in the Star Trek universe seems painfully distant. Perhaps, the closest the show has come to anticipating the world as it is today, however, can be found in its depiction of the holodeck as the crew’s primary space for leisure. This article focuses on episode 21, season 3 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, ‘Hollow Pursuits’, in which we meet Reginald Barclay, a nervous engineer who becomes addicted to the ship’s virtual reality simulator. Taking its cue from Janet Murray’s book, Hamlet on the Holodeck, writing on the Enterprise’s leisure technology has tended to explore the holodeck’s role as a theatrical story-telling device. However, in ‘Hollow Pursuits’, I argue, Barclay’s use of the software resonates far more with its closest comparator today: virtual reality videogaming. For Barclay the holodeck blurs the line between the virtual world and reality in ways that make other crew members uncomfortable. In doing so, as this paper demonstrates, it also reveals flaws in The Next Generation’s utopia particularly in relation to desire, addiction, therapy, and ‘play’
Neurodegenerative Disease and Association Football (NDAF): Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
No full textThere is increasing concern that head injuries in Association Football (or soccer) may lead to adverse health outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine whether head impacts or injuries are associated with an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease. We performed a systematic search using PubMed, Embase, and Ovid (up to April 2025). Studies included investigated neurodegenerative diseases in football in comparison to control athletic and general populations. Data were extracted according to PRISMA guidelines. Studies with an odds ratio (OR) were included in the meta-analysis. A total of ten studies were included in this review, of which nine were suitable for meta-analysis from eight cohorts. The risk for developing any neurodegeneration was 1.69 OR (95%CI 1.11 to 2.59; p = 0.01); for Dementia, it was 2.16 OR (95%CI 1.60 to 2.93; p < 0.01; for Motor Neurone Disease (MND), it was 1.39 OR (95%CI 0.67 to 2.53; p = 0.21); for Parkinson’s Disease (PD), it was 1.14 OR (95%CI 0.55 to 2.89; p = 0.79). Heterogeneity was reduced following the removal of two studies and the revised risk scores for any neurodegenerative disease; Dementia increased, with that for MND reaching significance, 1.81 OR (95%CI 1.22 to 2.30; p = 0.01), but there remained no association with PD. Evidence suggests that professional football significantly increases the odds of neurodegenerative disease
The influence of acute alcohol intoxication and hair visibility on delayed face recall
Full text linkMany witnesses are intoxicated at crime scenes, yet little is known of their ability to accurately describe perpetrators to police. We therefore explored the impact of alcohol on delayed verbal face recall across two experiments. Participants were administered an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage prior to viewing either one or two unfamiliar female faces, which they described from memory the following day while in a sober state. Each to be-remembered model had long hair worn either loose (i.e., visible), or tied behind the head (i.e., concealed). Testing the hypothesis that alcohol narrows the focus of attention to the external (hairstyle) region of faces, we expected intoxicated participants to have poorer memory of internal face features (eyes, nose, mouth) than sober controls for stimulus faceswith visibly long hair. Results revealed poorer recall accuracy for internal face details following alcohol consumption (Exp. 2), but the effect was uninfluenced by hairstyle. Findings are therefore consistent with the more general view that alcohol is associated with a bias to the external (hairstyle) region of faces during face learning, irrespective of hair visibility