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Identifying an Appropriate Extractant for Assessing the Presence of Available Potassium in Soils with High Mica Content: A Comprehensive Statistical Analysis
Get PDFThe choice of extractant for estimating plant-available potassium (K) in mica-rich soil has not been universally established. In order to evaluate and monitor the complex chemical performance of K in K-rich soil, and subsequently, its availability in crops, a suitable extractant protocol that takes into consideration soil properties in relation to rice plant parts (root, shoot, and grain) uptake becomes necessary. Nine laboratory soil K extraction methods to estimate the K content using 63 soil samples collected from nearly 21 mica mines, encompassing a wide range of properties across different agricultural lands. While extraction using ammonium acetate is the widely used for soil K testing, other methods have also been proposed for estimating crop-available K. Among the various extractants tested, 0.5 M sodium bicarbonate at pH 8.5 (mean 132.24 mg/kg) gave the best results for estimating the K content in mica-rich soil from agricultural areas near mica mines. Additionally, the soil water-soluble K extractant showed promise for rice plant parts such as root, shoot, and grain K uptake, as indicated by a correlation coefficient of 0.94, 0.94, and 0.93 respectively. Based on the artificial neural network (ANN) and Sobol (variance-based method for determining how different input variables contribute to the output variance of a model) methods, water-soluble K and the Mehlich 3 extraction procedure showed the best results for suitable extractable forms of K and a positive impact on K uptake by rice grain. Taylor (a graphical tool used to compare various models) diagram used for comparing multiple machine learning algorithms, multivariate adaptive regression spline and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) emerged as the best-fit models for determining the contribution of each extractant to rice K uptake. Considering soils derived from weathered parent materials often have negative K balances, which could lead to negative of plant-available K
Close encounters: Interpersonal proximity amplifies social appraisals
Get PDFSocial appraisals reflect the rapid integration of available perceptual information with broader contextual factors (e.g., intentions). While interpersonal distance affects both information availability and social context, how it changes trait impressions remains unknown. Over four
experiments we used a novel paradigm to address this question. In Experiment 1 we assessed participants’ attributions of attractiveness, competence, dominance, and trustworthiness of life size full body images of people when they appeared at near (1m) and far (4m) distances. Proximity amplified the relative magnitude of both positive and negative socio-evaluative
impressions. However, this effect of proximity leading to more extreme positive or negative ratings was selectively weaker for aesthetic (attractiveness) judgements. In Experiment 2 (size) and Experiment 3 (spatial frequency), we held distance constant while manipulating visual cues relating to implied distance, revealing broadly similar results to Experiment 1. In
Experiment 4, we used the interpersonal comfort distance paradigm to confirm that our lifesized projected images elicited similar comfort distance to interacting with a real person, helping to validate our general approach. These findings demonstrate the crucial role of
interpersonal distance in impression judgements
Experiences of nursing associates’ transition to the bachelor nursing degree apprenticeship: a qualitative study
Get PDFBackground: The transition from Nursing Associate to Registered Nurse Degree Apprenticeship presents both opportunities and challenges. While this pathway offers career progression, limited research exists on the experiences of Nursing associates undertaking the accelerated undergraduate nursing degree programme.
Aim: To explore the motivations driving nursing associates to pursue a nursing degree and investigate the facilitators and barriers they encounter when transitioning to an accelerated registered nursing degree apprenticeship program.
Methods: A qualitative exploratory study was conducted. Data were collected through two online focus groups. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes related to their transition experience.
Results: Three themes emerged: Overarching aspiration for professional and personal growth, Support systems and structured transitions facilitating the program and Navigating multifaceted barriers in the transition to full-time nursing education.
Conclusions: The transition from a Nursing Associate to a Registered Nursing Degree Apprenticeship provides a valuable career progression pathway but requires structured academic, social, and employer support. Strengthening mentorship, flexible learning approaches, and workplace engagement will enhance the transition experience and student retention, contributing to reducing nursing shortages
Interactive digital narratives for mental resilience: Understanding the player experience of betwixt
Get PDFInteractive storytelling has been successfully established in various artistic disciplines, and as the medium matures, we see a variety of forms and applications. Recently the form has been used for production of applications that offer the users various therapeutic elements. Our work exploring the usage and impact of such works presents a user experience (UX) study of a mobile application called Betwixt, designed to support mental resilience. Over a four-week period, recruited participants took part in usability tests and responded to surveys and interviews to answer questions on topics such as: navigation approach and difference in experience, motivation for using an application like Betwixt, and whether they were affected emotionally while using the application. We analysed our results through inductive coding and the retrieval of user analytics. Our key findings, presented in the form of observations, include: reasons why the application’s narrative and interface affected the participants, how the interface can reflect negatively on an otherwise enjoyable narrative, how the interactive element of the application has been the main attraction for most participants no matter their background, and ways in which the application affected the participants emotionally via its conversational style and significant level of user agency in the narrative
Articulating the ‘How’ of Social Return on Investment: Foregrounding the Plural and Pluralizing Character of Its ‘Moments of Judgment’
Get PDFSocial accounting practices attribute value to an organization's activities beyond traditional economic conceptions of success. In assessing the merit of such practices, we argue that it is helpful to extend our analytical focus beyond questions of what is evaluated and who evaluates to how valuations are performed. Social accounting literature has already explored a crucial aspect of the “how question,” emphasizing the need to widen stakeholder input and engage in agonistic democratic deliberation beyond applying technical expertise. We extend these insights by drawing attention to an important dimension of the how question that remains underexplored, namely, where such deliberation can or should be applied and explaining why this matters. In doing so, we disclose the complexity and messiness of social accounting processes, as well as their normative and political significance. We deploy political discourse theory to highlight the virtues of focusing on where value is constructed along the social accounting chain, illustrating our contribution with examples drawn from our experience conducting a Social Return on Investment (SROI) for a not-for-profit organization. We present and unpack key decision-junctures in the SROI process, demonstrating the plural and pluralizing character of these “moments of judgment” by showing how contestability and normativity enter the valuation process, aspects that are often obfuscated by an over-reliance on, and the rhetoric of, the technical aspects of quantification and monetization. By foregrounding the contingency and subjectivity embedded in valuation practices, we argue there is a need to navigate agonistically, deliberatively, and pragmatically their plural and complex character
‘We Don’t Let It Build Up’: Relationship Satisfaction and Well-Being Among Equal-Sharing, Role-Reversed and Semi-Traditional Parents
Get PDFThis mixed-methods study examined couples’ relationship quality, satisfaction and well-being by comparing semi-traditional, equal-sharing and role-reversed couples. Quantitative analysis involved 2813 parents (1380 men, 1433 women) with at least one child aged 11 or under who were primary caregivers, primary breadwinners or equal-sharers. Qualitative analysis drew on 60 in-depth interviews with 10 couples from each of the groups. Semi-traditional couples reported lower relationship quality and positive affect compared to other arrangements. Equal-sharers and role-reversed couples were more likely to discuss their frustrations and make conscious attempts to resolve them. Women in semi-traditional arrangements had lower levels of relationship quality and life satisfaction than women in equal-sharing and role-reversed arrangements. They were also more likely to report disagreements and frustrations. Caregiving parents also expressed lower levels of self-esteem compared to parents in breadwinning and equal-sharing roles. Our findings highlight how different breadwinning and caring responsibilities can impact parents’ well-being and relationship
Postprandial glycaemic response and pain sensitivity in breast cancer survivors suffering from chronic pain: a double-blind, randomised controlled cross-over pilot experiment
Get PDFINTRODUCTION: The study's primary goal is to investigate differences in postprandial glycaemic response (PPGR) to beverages with varying glycaemic index (i.e. low and medium) between breast cancer survivors (BCS) with chronic pain and healthy pain-free controls (HC). The secondary goal of the study is to investigate the potential link between PPGR and pain-related outcomes in BCS with chronic pain. METHODS: In this study, 15 BCS and 15 HC were included. After 12 h of fasting, subjects were randomised between drinking a beverage made with 50 g of sucrose (medium) or isomaltulose (low) within 250 ml water. Blood glucose levels were monitored at fasting as well as at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 min following beverage consumption. Furthermore, each participant was evaluated using several experimental pain measurements, including pressure pain thresholds (PPT), electrical detection threshold, electrical pain threshold, temporal summation and electrical offset analgesia (OA). RESULTS: The BCS group had significantly higher PPGR to sucrose (p = .001) than the HC group. Furthermore, when PPGR to sucrose was compared to PPGR to isomaltulose within the groups, the BCS group showed a considerably larger difference (p = .012). Additionally, correlation analyses indicated both positive and negative associations between PPGR after sucrose intake and specific pain measurements (PPT-tibialis (r = .599), OA (rs = - .549), respectively) in BCS, and a positive association between the difference in PPGR between sucrose and isomaltulose and PPT-tibialis (r = .622). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that medium glycaemic index beverage intakes result in significantly higher blood glucose responses (i.e. PPGR) than low-glycaemic index beverage intakes in BCS. Additionally, BCS show an impaired glycaemic response to medium glycaemic index beverage intake and that the impaired glycaemic response might be related to pain sensitivity and endogenous analgesia in BCS. Furthermore, the higher glycaemic response to sucrose and greater difference in the amount of change in PPGR (when isomaltulose was substituted for sucrose) compared to HC highlight the importance of understanding how dietary choices with a lower glycaemic index can alter glycaemic regulation in BCS with chronic pain
Advanced Metaheuristic-Based Optimization for Tensile Strength in Fused Filament Fabricated Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Parts
No full textThis study presents a hybrid Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy to maximize the tensile strength of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) parts produced through Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). Process parameters—such as infill density, extrusion temperature, and layer height—were optimized by integrating Genetic Algorithm-Artificial Neural Network (GA-ANN) modeling, Response Surface Methodology (RSM), and sensitivity analysis. Sensitivity analysis concluded that infill density is the most critical parameter for tensile strength, seconded by layer height and temperature, for steering parameter optimization to better mechanical properties. Optimum parameters (89.99% infill density, temperature 239.99 °C, layer height of 0.266 mm) delivered the highest tensile strength value at 49.35 MPa, marking an improvement by 164% compared to the lowest-performing example (18.7 MPa). Regression analysis validated the GA-ANN model's strength with an R-value of 0.98936. RSM-based ANOVA validated the statistical importance of the model (R² = 0.9987, p < 0.0001). FESEM analysis of tensile fractured test specimens produced using the optimized parameters showed uniform bonding of layers and few voids, supporting the microstructural enhancements responsible for improved tensile properties. This combined optimization approach points to the possibility of substantially enhancing the mechanical properties of FDM-printed ABS parts
The inverse and non-linear association between central augmentation index and heart rate variability in a cohort of male British combat personnel- findings from the ADVANCE study.
Get PDFPURPOSE: The central augmentation index (cAIx) is an indirect measure of arterial stiffness. The influence of heart rate variability (HRV) on cAIx remains unexplored in a military cohort and was the aim of this analysis. METHOD: The first follow-up data from the ArmeD serVices trAuma rehabilitatioN outComE (ADVANCE) study were analysed. Participants were male British servicemen who served in Afghanistan (2003-2014) and were divided into two groups at recruitment: injured (who sustained severe combat injury) and uninjured. The uninjured were frequency-matched to the injured by age, rank, role-in-theatre and deployment. HRV was reported as root-mean-square-of-successive-differences (RMSSD) using a five-minute single-lead electrocardiogram. The cAIx was measured using pulse waveform analysis and was adjusted for heart rate at 60 beats/minute (cAIx@60). Effect modification by injury was assessed via interaction analysis. Linear models reported the association between RMSSD (HRV) and cAIx@60 adjusting for a priori confounders. RESULTS: 1052 participants (injured n = 526; uninjured 526; median age at follow-up 37.4 years) were examined. Effect modification by injury was not statistically significant; therefore, was adjusted for along with other confounders. RMSSD and cAIx@60 exhibited a moderate inverse correlation (-0.40; p < 0.001). The association between natural log-transformed RMSSD (LnRMSSD) and cAIx@60 was non-linear and statistically significant, suggesting that a 10% decrease in LnRMSSD would be associated with 0.30% increase in cAIx@60. CONCLUSION: Lower RMSSD (HRV) is associated with an increase in cAIx@60, independent of injury status and other traditional cardiovascular risk factors. The efficacy of positive HRV modification on cardiovascular risk in military populations needs to be examined
