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Unshrouding narratives, beliefs, and practices related to the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) in Eastern Madagascar
Get PDFEthnoprimatology emphasizes the complex sociocultural dimensions of human-alloprimate interactions, often overlooked in conservation practices and narratives shaped by ecological perspectives alone. In Madagascar, lemurs are deeply embedded in local traditions structured around taboos, legends, and kinship beliefs. Among them, the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is frequently subject to a narrative portraying it as an evil animal, an omen, or a harbinger of misfortune. Yet, cultural representations of the aye-aye across Madagascar are far more diverse. While some reports describe ritual killings, others recount respectful mortuary practices bestowed upon these primates. We explored the beliefs, narratives, and practices associated with the aye-aye in three regions of eastern Madagascar. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach, we combined quantitative and qualitative data from 219 semistructured interviews with grounded theory methodology and developed an interpretive framework for understanding the species’ cultural representations. Our results revealed a wide variety of traditions, including magical and therapeutic uses of aye-aye body parts and three legends underpinning these belief systems. We propose that these traditions stem from the belief that the aye-aye is inhabited by a spirit, whether evil or ancestral. Responses to its perceived nefarious powers vary from ritual display of the killed animal to mortuary practices comparable to human funerals. These findings urge a shift away from reductive narratives long popularized in recent decades, recognizing complexity and site-specificity. Similar to other contemporary ethnoprimatologists, we advocate for a cautious, context-sensitive approach to both reporting lemur-related traditions and designing conservation programs, emphasizing the need for carefully considering the religious systems that underlie practices involving threatened species
The impact of poverty on children’s mental health in Southern Africa : a scoping review of psychosocial, socioeconomic, and environmental influences
No full textBarriers and facilitators to oral healthcare support in gestational diabetes mellitus : an interview study with healthcare professionals
No full textIntroduction:
Women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have a higher prevalence of periodontal disease, whilst oral health is implicated in blood glucose management and GDM development. Oral health may also impact birth weight and prematurity; however, it is often an overlooked topic in maternity care. The complexity and intensity of GDM, and the higher prevalence of psychological distress associated with this condition, call for a tailored approach to oral health care in GDM. Oral health deserves more attention in GDM considering its impact on diabetes and pregnancy-related outcomes.
Aim and methods:
This study aimed to explore the support needs of women regarding oral health care within the context of GDM management and to identify specific intervention strategies to address these needs. Semi-structured interviews inspired by co-design principles were conducted, and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The output was the development of a theory and evidence-derived care delivery model for healthcare professionals (HCPs) to promote oral health in GDM.
Results and conclusions:
The model instructs HCPs in oral health care delivery in GDM. Specifically, the model describes what is needed to engage women with GDM in oral health care and proposes specific intervention strategies to accommodate these needs. The model can also be applied in maternity care to provide HCPs with a structured approach to addressing oral health. The utilisation of our model may improve oral health status, blood glucose management, and health outcomes for women with GDM
EndNote Online: Instructions on setup and use for Education & Early Childhood students
Get PDFStep-by-step guide to setting up, configuring and using an EndNote account, tailored to Education students, plus details of where to find more information on the Library Web page
Early-life programming of livestock metabolism by glucocorticoids
Get PDFAdverse environmental conditions during early life are known to determine adult metabolic phenotype in laboratory species and human populations. However, less is known about developmental programming of adult metabolic phenotype in livestock, given their size and longevity compared to laboratory animals. As maternal and/or fetal glucocorticoid (GC) concentrations rise in stressful conditions during pregnancy, GCs may act as a common mechanism linking early-life environmental conditions to the subsequent metabolic phenotype. This review examines prenatal and longer-term postnatal programming of metabolism by early-life GC overexposure in livestock species with a particular emphasis on sheep. It examines the effects of both cortisol, the natural glucocorticoid and more potent synthetic GCs used clinically to treat threatened pre-term delivery and other conditions during pregnancy. It considers the effects of early- life GC overexposure on the metabolism of specific feto-placental and adult tissues in relation to changes in the growth trajectory, other metabolic hormones and in the functioning of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis itself. It highlights the role of GCs as maturational and environmental signals in programming development of a metabolic phenotype fit for survival at birth and future homeostatic challenges. However, the ensuing metabolic phenotype induced by early GC overexposure may become inappropriate for the prevailing postnatal conditions and lead to metabolic dysfunction as functional reserves decline with age. Further studies are needed in livestock to establish whether the metabolic outcomes of early-life GC overexposure are sex-linked, more pronounced in old age and inherited transgenerationally in these species
Employment status on a spectrum : porn content creators as limb (b) workers?
No full textPornography is a global multibillion dollar industry in which porn content creators (PCCs) work in precarious conditions, associated with the fact that their work is both sex work proper and an instance of the gig economy. While legal scholars tend to look at the links between pornography and obscenity laws, little work has been done to look at pornography as a business and a working environment. This paper sets out to fill this gap in existing literature by assessing PCCs’ employment status under UK labour law in light of eight semi-structured interviews. The empirical data show that, although currently PCCs operate as if they were self-employed individuals running their own business through porn platforms, they should be classified as limb (b) workers under the 1996 Employments Rights Act. On the employment status spectrum, they are in the grey area between self-employed and employees. A purposive approach to their employment reality shows that platforms have employer-like power as they firmly integrate PCCs into their business for which porn services are essential for running. PCCs therefore should be empowered through rights associated with limb (b) worker status to avoid being exploited at the hands of porn platforms
ASTRA : a scene-aware transformer-based model for trajectory prediction
Get PDFWe present ASTRA (A Scene-aware TRAnsformer-based model for trajectory prediction), a light-weight pedestrian trajectory forecasting model that integrates the scene context, spatial dynamics, social inter-agent interactions and temporal progressions for precise forecasting. We utilised a U-Net-based feature extractor, via its latent vector representation, to capture scene representations and a graph-aware transformer encoder for capturing social interactions. These components are integrated to learn an agent-scene aware embedding, enabling the model to learn spatial dynamics and forecast the future trajectory of pedestrians. The model is designed to produce both deterministic and stochastic outcomes, with the stochastic predictions being generated by incorporating a Conditional Variational Auto-Encoder (CVAE). ASTRA also proposes a simple yet effective weighted penalty loss function, which helps to yield predictions that outperform a wide array of state-of-the-art deterministic and generative models. ASTRA demonstrates an average improvement of 27%/10% in deterministic/stochastic settings on the ETH-UCY dataset, and 26% improvement on the PIE dataset, respectively, along with seven times fewer parameters than the existing state-of-the-art model (see Figure 1). Additionally, the model’s versatility allows it to generalize across different perspectives, such as Bird’s Eye View (BEV) and Ego-Vehicle View (EVV)
'Crown dependency' : history, usage and possible reform
Get PDF“Crown Dependency” is a collective term used to refer to the Isle of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey and
its dependent territories of Alderney and Sark (for ease simply referred to as Guernsey), which I will
refer to as our jurisdictions in the discussion that follows. This report considers the history of
“Crown Dependency” as a collective term for our jurisdictions; the possible advantages and
disadvantages of an umbrella term referring to our jurisdictions, and only our jurisdictions; and
alternatives to “Crown Dependency” as the term for this category
Under (employability and financial) pressure : the unequal effects of work experience on graduate earnings
Get PDFAs students seek out work experience to become ‘employable’, many also do casual paid work while studying to ease financial pressures. But do different types of work experience affect graduates’ earnings differently? We explore this question in this paper and discuss whether our findings are consistent with human capital or signalling theoretical perspectives. If human capital – any skill-developing work experience would increase earnings compared to doing nothing. If signalling – only certain (e.g. competitive) work experiences would improve earnings. We extend the work on the effect of placements on graduate earnings by Delis and Jones (Citation2023) and respond to the authors’ calls to analyse a larger UK sample by using rich, nationally representative survey data on students’ higher education and post-graduation experiences (Futuretrack, N∼ = 3200). Using linear regression with extensive controls and sensitivity analysis, we demonstrate a hierarchy of work experience payoffs, with high, medium and low payoff groups, favouring internships and placements, career-related paid work, and casual paid work respectively. Career-related unpaid work shows no earnings advantages, and combining it with casual paid work may depress earnings, especially for female graduates. Our findings are therefore more consistent with the signalling, rather than the human capital, perspective. We further highlight that horizontal gender segregation in higher education subjects structures access to curricular work experience (sandwich and shorter placements) with differential earnings payoffs. We discuss the implications of our work for higher education institutions, careers professionals, employers and students regarding career information and access to work experience opportunities
Exploring key barriers to effective material waste reduction in UK construction projects
No full textConstruction material waste (CMW) is a hot topic with strong links to sustainability and ongoing targets towards net-zero agenda. Despite growing awareness, UK construction consistently wastes approximately 100 million tonnes of materials per year. Barriers preventing effective CMW minimisation must therefore persist, which this study aims to identify. Understanding barriers is prerequisite for mitigating the industry’s alarming issue. Sequential mixed research design was adopted. Twelve semi-structured interviews obtained opinions from construction experts to identify emerging barriers. Subsequently, survey was used for ranking barriers based on their impact. Findings from 59 responses convey lack of accountability among professionals, with widespread apathy towards waste minimisation fuelled by poor incentives and training. Counter-intuitively, results suggest that industry has become over reliant on recycling to reactively manage waste as a low-risk option, meaning less resource is allocated to preferential practices that minimise waste before production. The findings can be used as a basis to examine interrelationship between the identified barriers, waste minimisation methods, and the circular economy principles by using the systems thinking. This would assist decision-makers in understanding the issue surrounding CMW and help in examining scenarios to overcome waste minimisation barriers, thereby enhancing sustainability in construction and assisting effective cost management