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Nonbinary young adults without children explore past, present, and future family relationship intentions through family maps
Get PDFMinimal research has explored how nonbinary people narrate past and present family relationships and their family building desires, despite growing awareness of the distinct needs of nonbinary people. Five nonbinary young adults (aged 22-30 years) participated in a semi-structured interview and family mapping exercise (FME). Visual and verbal qualitative findings were analyzed
using thematic analysis with a life course theory lens (Elder, 1998). All participants reported challenging relationships with their family of origin, emphasizing experiences of emotional distance and invalidation plus concealment of their gender identity. Friends and chosen family networks – particularly within the LGBTQ+ community – compensated for emotional needs left unmet by
family of origin. Most participants envisaged a childfree future family life and were not currently interested in parenting. Parenthood was conceptualized as a series of challenges linked to a complex array of life course considerations, particularly in relation to family background and risks associated with gender
dysphoria, misgendering, and other challenges related to being a nonbinary parent. Although their current conditions did not support nonbinary parenthood, most participants considered that parenthood might be a future option if their context and circumstances changed
Care-full resistance to slow violence: building radical hope through creative encounters with refugees during the pandemic
Get PDFThis paper explores the slow violence of the state towards those seeking asylum, alongside resistance to it, through a critical discussion of the role of arts-based practice, care-full practice and the potential for a new politics of hope. It reflects on a series of creative online workshops led by two arts-based refugee organisations based in London, Stories & Supper and Phosphoros Theatre, during the COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK in 2020 and 2021. Exploring these workshops and their legacies against the backdrop of precarity, uncertainty and slow violence, the article considers some of the ways in which these workshops – and their focus on play, creativity and care – enabled practices of resistance, solidarity and radical hope to emerge
History and Digital Preservation
No full textThis week, over Christmas 2024, I have read two pieces about digital preservation: Ian Milligan’s Averting the Digital Dark Age and Ageh et al.’s “The Preservation of Knowledge in the Digital Age” for Arcadia. It is, in truth, fairly difficult to reconcile these two accounts of the state of digital preservation. Milligan opts for the bold, but he hopes not hubristic, “The digital dark age was largely averted by 2001, at least in terms of the most apocalyptic predictions made only a half-decade earlier”. Meanwhile, Ageh’s report opts for the more pessimistic “We conclude that knowledge will almost certainly be lost unless new robust and intentional arrangements are put in place to preserve and provide future access to electronic literature”. So which is it
Improving traffic-flow prediction using proximity to urban features and public space
Get PDFAccurate traffic prediction and planning help alleviate congestion and facilitate sustainable traffic management through short-term traffic controls and long-term infrastructure design. While recent uptake on Machine Learning (ML) approaches helps refine our ability to predict the traffic flow, proximity to landmarks and public spaces are often overlooked, thus undermining the impact of location-specific traffic patterns. Using traffic-flow estimates from London, this study incorporates the proximity to urban features
approximated with Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) and compares the performance of models with and without such features. They are also tested using classic spatial/nonspatial regression models and ML-based regression models. Results suggest that adding
urban features considerably improves the performance of the ML models (Fine tree yielding R2 = 0.94, RMSE = 0.129, and MAE = 0.069), which compares favourably against the best performing non-ML model (the spatial error model returning R2 = 0.448, RMSE = 0.358, and MAE = 0.280). Sensitivity of the KDE is tested across different bandwidths for including urban features. The ML classification approach was also applied for estimating the
traffic density and achieved high accuracy, with Fine KNN achieving 98.7%. They offer a robust framework for accurate traffic projection at specific locations, thus enabling road infrastructure designs that cater to the specific needs of the local situations
Land use, hydroclimate and damming influence organic carbon sedimentation in a flood pulse wetland, Malaysia
Get PDFWater bodies located in floodplains and tropical forests are known to be important carbon stores, but many are subjected to intensive pressures from damming, land use and climate changes. Sedimentary records preserve long-term archives for understanding how such changes affect the quantity and quality of carbon stores. We analysed sediment cores from seven sites across a flood-pulse multi-basin wetland, Tasik Chini in Peninsular Malaysia (for percentage LOI550, sediment density and spheroidal carbonaceous particles), and conducted more analyses on three 210Pb-dated cores (X-ray fluorescence of elements, grain size analysis, carbon isotopes, C/N ratios, carotenoid pigments) to gain an understanding of the drivers of organic carbon accumulation rates (OCARs) since 1860 ce. The median OCAR of 85 g m−2 a−1 for the basin since 1945 ce was higher than in other floodplain and temperate lakes and in line with other tropical forest lakes. However, we found evidence for different mechanisms of OC deposition across the basin. In ‘autochthonous mode’, the site with minimal local land disturbance had lowest OCARs and OC was derived mainly from autochthonous production, which rose slightly around 1940 ce when regional land disturbance increased nutrient influx to the basin. The site with the most long-term and intensive land disturbance through forest removal (1940s) and then conversion to rubber and oil palm farming (1980s) functioned mainly in ‘allochthonous mode’; that is, increases in OCARs after 1940 ce were driven by deposition of soil-derived OC. The highest OCARs were in the basin that was converted to oil palm after the 1980s and had increased iron mining activity in the 2000s; because this site was located distal from the flood pulse and became increasingly hydrologically disconnected after a low rainfall period in the 1970s, the lake responded strongly in ‘autochthonous mode’, through encroachment of fringing swamp, the spread of benthic algae and macrophytes, and efficient sediment retention. Weir installation in 1995 ce raised water levels and increased lentic conditions, promoting autochthonous OC production and sedimentation across all basins. The long-term fate of this more recently deposited OC remains uncertain because it is more labile. Overall Tasik Chini has responded strongly to land use changes since at least the 1940s, earlier than anticipated in this region of Southeast Asia, and the sedimentary proxies indicate large changes in the ecosystem function and capacity for C storage over the past ca. 80 years. Most of these shifts have increased OC accumulation by strengthening autochthonous production or allochthonous OC fluxes, but the implications for other aspects of the C cycle, including catchment soil C loss and greenhouse gas production, need to be accounted for when evaluating the overall impacts of land and hydrological disruption
'The internet acts as a level playing field. All it takes is one slip-up.' Online fraud and the sense of pervasive threat
Get PDFMuch of the public and policy debate about the cost of fraud does not take into account the extent to which fraud attempts, regardless of whether they result in victimisation, impact on individuals and society as a whole. In a series of focus groups involving members of the public, participants described exposure to the risk of fraud as an intrinsic part of lives that are lived at least partly online. The focus group findings make clear the importance of strengthening responses to fraud attempts, as part of efforts to tackling online fraud
Rostral body shape analyses reveal cryptic diversity of Late Jurassic batomorphs (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii) from Europe
Get PDFThe fossil record of chondrichthyans (chimaeras, sharks, rays, and skates)
consists largely of isolated teeth, with holomorphic specimens being extraordinary
exceptions. Numerous of these more or less completely preserved skeletons are
known from several Late Jurassic deposits of Europe, allowing a detailed analysis of
their morphology. Batomorphs (rays and skates) resembling modern guitar- and
wedgefishes (Rhinopristiformes) are among the most common Jurassic
chondrichthyans found, but they only have been sporadically studied up to now,
which resulted in large knowledge gaps concerning their taxonomy and phylogeny.
Here, we present the most detailed revision of Late Jurassic holomorphic
batomorphs to date, quantitatively analyzing body proportions of specimens from
Germany (Solnhofen Archipelago), France (Cerin), and the United Kingdom
(Kimmeridge) employing both geometric and traditional morphometrics. Furthermore,
we identify qualitative morphological characters for species discrimination, to clarify
the taxonomic identity and diversity of Late Jurassic batomorphs based on
holomorphic specimens. Our results support the validity of Belemnobatis sismondae,
Kimmerobatis etchesi, and Spathobatis bugesiacus, as well as that of the previously
doubtful Asterodermus platypterus. Moreover, we describe Aellopobatis bavarica
gen. et sp. nov., a new taxon, which hitherto was considered a large-sized
morphotype of Spathobatis bugesiacus. Our results highlight that the diversity of
holomorphic batomorphs during the Late Jurassic was greater than previously
thought, and suggest that this group was already well-established and diverse by this
time. This study thus provides vital information about the evolutionary history of Late
Jurassic batomorphs and has direct implications on batomorph species that are
based on isolated teeth only
Evaluation of adapted parent training for challenging behaviour in pre-school children with moderate to severe intellectual developmental disabilities: a randomised controlled trial
Get PDFObjectives: There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of parenting interventions to improve disruptive behaviour in children with intellectual developmental disabilities. This clinical trial evaluated whether an adapted group parenting intervention for preschool children with intellectual developmental disabilities who display challenging behaviour is superior to treatment as usual in England.
Study design: 261 children aged 30–59 months with moderate to severe intellectual developmental disabilities and challenging behaviour were randomised to either the intervention (Stepping Stones Triple P) and treatment as usual or treatment as usual alone. The primary outcome was the parent-rated Child Behaviour Checklist at 52 weeks after randomisation. A health economic evaluation was also completed.
Results: We found no significant difference between arms on the primary outcome (mean difference -4.23; 95% CI: -9.99 to 1.53; p = 0.147). However, a subgroup analysis suggests the intervention was effective for participants randomised before the COVID-19 pandemic (mean difference -7.12; 95% CI: -13.44 to -0.81; p = 0.046). Furthermore, a complier average causal effects analysis (mean difference -11.53; 95% CI: -26.97 to 3.91; p = 0.143) suggests the intervention requires participants to receive a sufficient intervention dose. The intervention generated statistically significant cost savings (-£1,057.88; 95% CI -£3,218.6 to -£46.67) but the mean point estimate in Quality Adjusted Life Years was similar in both groups.
Conclusion: This study did not find an effect of the intervention on reducing challenging behaviour, but this may have been influenced by problems with engagement. The intervention could be considered by services as an early intervention if families are supported to attend, especially given its low cost
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