19683 research outputs found
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How tourists’ negative and positive emotions motivate their intentions to reduce food waste
No full textFood waste significantly contributes to complex socioeconomic and environmental problems. The tourism sector is not immune to these sustainability challenges. This research examines how both negative and positive emotions build tourists’ intentions to reduce food waste. The study employs two experiments and a survey to establish causality among the key constructs and test the nomological network of those constructs. Results demonstrate a causal relationship between guilt, regret and hope and how these constructs interplay to explain the impact of a tourist’s perceptions of potential cost and harm from not implementing food waste-reduction practices. Additionally, four tourist categories are developed using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The results of fsQCA identify different configurations of tourists who seek to reduce food waste. This study encourages tourism operators to leverage positive emotions, such as hope, in marketing communications to encourage food waste reduction. A key contribution of this work is the examination of the variable of ‘hope’, and its effect in the context of food waste behaviour among tourists. This is the first study to examine how the interaction between tourists’ negative (guilt and regret) and positive (hope) emotions motivates their intentions to reduce food waste.</p
A Long History of Home-bases, Huts, Houses, Villages, Towns, Cities and Megacities
No full textThis review traces the lengthy record of human habitation on our planet. So long has the process of homemaking been that it includes constructions made by prehuman ancestors, upwards of a million years ago. Efforts towards the building of shelters and the founding of settlements have involved lengthy periods of relative stasis, punctuated by leaps to new and more complex systems. The first home-bases were simple fireplaces, around which our ancestors gathered, prepared food, and made tools. During the Pleistocene, occasional vestiges of curvilinear huts are found, and during the Late Glacial period, substantial groups of houses appear on the plains of Eurasia. The transition to sedentary life was accomplished by Natufian hunter-gatherers in the Levant, near the end of the Ice Age. There followed the establishment of village life across the Middle East by Pre-Pottery Neolithic farmers in the early Holocene, and the first cities around 3,500 BCE in southern Iraq and south-western Iran. Urban systems had spread across the globe by 3000 BCE, from China, to Peru in the Americas. The Classical cities of the Mediterranean developed regular urban grid plans in the fifth century BCE and introduced new types of civic amenities. In terms of complexity and size, the ancient city reached its zenith in imperial Rome. Occasionally, premodern cities such as Angkor became much larger than it in area through the establishment of low-density residential populations. New sources of energy were unleashed by the technological revolution of the nineteenth century that utterly transformed the city. In short order, they led to the mega-conurbations that currently spread over large tracts of the earth. This review considers factors of community interaction and communication that have both retarded and permitted breakthroughs in settlement strategies through time. It also examines the idea of non-verbal syntactical grammars that govern the patterning of human settlements, and the relative contributions of adventitious organic growth versus deliberate planning and retention of community ideals in settlement planning.</p
The Baker–Schmidt problem for dual approximation and some classes of manifolds
No full textAbstract: The Generalised Baker–Schmidt Problem (1970) concerns the Hausdorff f -measure of the set of Ψ-approximable points on a nondegenerate manifold. We refine and extend our previous work [Int. Math. Res. Not. IMRN 2021, no. 12, 8845–8867] in which we settled the problem (for dual approximation) for hypersurfaces. We verify the GBSP for certain classes of nondegenerate submanifolds of codimension greater than 1. Concretely, for codimension two or three, we provide examples of manifolds where the dependent variables can be chosen as quadratic forms. Our method requires the manifold to have even dimension at least the minimum of four and half the dimension of the ambient space. We conjecture that these restrictions on the dimension of the manifold are sufficient to provide similar examples in general.</p
Social Workers' Experiences of Working With Support Workers in Services for Adults With Intellectual Disabilities in Hong Kong
No full textABSTRACT:-
Background: Services for adults with intellectual disabilities in Hong Kong have a hierarchical staffing structure. Professional social workers, who performed as mid‐level employees, work with frontline support workers to deliver services to clients.
Methods: This qualitative study explored social workers' experiences of working with support workers through in‐depth interviews with 13 participants.
Findings: The study revealed that social workers perceived a significant variation between themselves and support workers in terms of working motivation, values and attitudes towards clients with intellectual disabilities. Despite the hierarchical relationships, social workers and support workers share the power of service decision‐making. Social workers used firm and gentle approaches to facilitate changes in practices to uphold service values. These findings were compared with Western literature on this topic, indicating similarities and differences.
Conclusion: The organisations need to facilitate an effective collaboration between social workers and support workers to enhance the quality of services for adults with intellectual disabilities in Hong Kong.</p
Dilemmas of Social Democracy: The Evolution of the Australian Labor Party’s Approach to Temporary Labour Migration
No full textA thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.</p
Sink or Swim? Sleep Patterns in Highly Trained Adolescent Swimmers during the In-Season Phase of Training
No full textObjectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the sleeping patterns of highly-trained adolescent swimmers. Further objectives were to compare subjective and objective measures of sleep and to evaluate the relationship between electronic device use and sleep in this cohort. Methods: Fifteen national-level swimmers (age: 16.4 ± 1.0 years) wore wrist actigraphs while completing sleep diaries over a two-week training period. Types of nights were classified as early morning training (≤7am - EARLY), day training (>7am - DAY), and no training (REST). Information on electronic device use before bed and other sleep behaviors was collected via questionnaires. Results: Total sleep time (TST) was significantly (p < 0.05) shorter on nights preceding EARLY (5:53 ± 1:06 hour:min) compared with nights preceding DAY (7:40 ± 1:12 hour:min) and REST (7:59 ± 1:19 hour:min). Participants overestimated subjective TST by ∼54 minutes when compared with objectively measured TST (p < 0.05). Discussion: Adolescent athletes obtained a greater amount of sleep prior to later training the next day or before rest days, when compared with early morning swim training the next day. Adolescents also overestimated their sleep duration by ∼1 hour per night. There were no significant relationships between electronic device use at night and measured sleep indices.</p
Exertional heat stress promotes the presence of bacterial DNA in plasma: A counterbalanced randomised controlled trial
No full textObjectives: The primary aim was to explore the impact of exertional-heat stress (EHS) promoted exercise-associated bacteraemia. A secondary aim was to examine if an amino acid beverage (AAB) intervention may mitigate exercise-associated bacteraemia. Design: Counterbalanced randomised control trial. Methods: Twenty endurance trained male participants completed two randomised EHS trials. On one occasion, participants consumed a 237 mL AAB twice daily for 7 days prior, immediately before and every 20 min during EHS (2 h running at 60 % V̇O2max in 35 °C). On the other occasion, a water volume control (CON) equivalent was consumed. Whole blood samples were collected pre- and immediately post-EHS, and were analysed for plasma DNA concentration by fluorometer quantification after microbial extraction, and bacterial relative abundance by next generation 16s rRNA gene sequencing. Results: Increased concentration of microbial DNA in plasma pre- to post-EHS was observed on CON (pre-EHS 0.014 ng/μL, post-EHS 0.039 ng/μL) (p < 0.001) and AAB (pre-EHS 0.015 ng/μL, post-EHS 0.031 ng/μL) (p < 0.001). The magnitude of change from pre- to post-exercise on AAB was 40 % lower, but no significant difference was observed versus CON (p = 0.455). Predominant bacterial groups identified included: phyla-Proteobacteria (88.0 %), family-Burkholderiaceae (59.1 %), and genus-Curvibacter (58.6 %). No significant variation in absolute and relative change in α-diversity and relative abundance for phyla, family, and genus bacterial groups was observed in AAB versus CON. Conclusions: The increased presence of microbial-bacterial DNA in systemic circulation in response to EHS appears positive in all participants. An amino acid beverage supplementation period prior to and consumption during EHS did not provide significant attenuation of EHS-associated bacteraemia
Smart Sex Toys: A Narrative Review of Recent Research on Cultural, Health and Safety Considerations
No full textPurpose of the Review: Smart sex toys (‘teledildonics’), are digitally enabled haptic devices designed for sexual or erotic stimulation. Devices may conform to conventional sex toy design (e.g. dildoes) or take other forms. Their primary purpose is to provide sexual or erotic stimulation through the networked haptic function. Here, we present a narrative review of academic work in which we aimed to synthesise current lines of inquiry relating to cultural impacts and research on risks and benefits. Recent Findings. Forty-one articles were included, published between 2011 and 2024. The articles focused on: prevalence and context of smart sex use; considerations on whether smart sex toys have potential to disrupt normative gendered sexual scripts; whether smart sex toys have potential to expand or change people’s expectations for sex; the potential for harm and non-consensual use; the politics of data security; and the possibilities for smart sex toys to enhance sexual wellbeing. Summary: Smart sex toys may create new ways for people to explore sexual connection and experience, including people with limited mobility. Data security and consensual use should be considered in product development
Efficacy of arch contouring foot orthoses for midfoot osteoarthritis: Protocol for a randomised controlled trial
No full textIntroduction: Midfoot osteoarthritis (OA) is a painful and disabling condition. Arch contouring foot orthoses have been recommended for midfoot OA, yet there is no high-quality evidence from randomised controlled trials to support their use. This clinical trial aims to evaluate the efficacy of arch contouring foot orthoses for midfoot OA. Methods: This will be a parallel-group randomised controlled superiority trial. One-hundred and forty community-dwelling people with painful midfoot OA will be randomised to receive either arch contouring foot orthoses or flat sham inserts. Outcome measures will be obtained at baseline, 4, 8 and 12 weeks; the primary endpoint for assessing efficacy being 12 weeks. The primary outcome measure will be average midfoot pain whilst walking over the last 7 days on an 11-point numerical rating scale. Secondary outcome measures include function (walking/standing subscale of the Manchester–Oxford Foot Questionnaire), participants' perception of overall treatment effect (self-reported global rating of change on a 15-point Likert scale), physical activity (Incidental and Planned Exercise Questionnaire), general health-related quality of life (Short Form-12 Version® 2.0), use of co-interventions and adverse events. Discussion: This trial will evaluate the efficacy of arch contouring foot orthoses for relieving pain and improving function, physical activity and health-related quality of life in people with midfoot OA. The findings will provide high-quality evidence as to whether arch contouring foot orthoses are efficacious and will help to inform clinical guidelines about the use of foot orthoses for midfoot OA. Trial registration: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12623000953639)
The DUF579 proteins GhIRX15s regulate cotton fiber development by interacting with proteins involved in xylan synthesis
No full textCotton provides the most abundant natural fiber for the textile industry. The mature cotton fiber largely consists of secondary cell walls with the highest proportion of cellulose and a small amount of hemicellulose and lignin. To dissect the roles of hemicellulosic polysaccharides during fiber development, four IRREGULAR XYLEM 15 (IRX15) genes, GhIRX15-1/-2/-3/-4, were functionally characterized in cotton. These genes encode DUF579 domain-containing proteins, which are homologs of AtIRX15 involved in xylan biosynthesis. The four GhIRX15 genes were predominantly expressed during fiber secondary wall thickening, and the encoded proteins were localized to the Golgi apparatus. Each GhIRX15 gene could restore the xylan deficient phenotype in the Arabidopsis irx15irx15l double mutant. Silencing of GhIRX15s in cotton resulted in shorter mature fibers with a thinner cell wall and reduced cellulose content as compared to the wild type. Intriguingly, GhIRX15-2 and GhIRX15-4 formed homodimers and heterodimers. In addition, the GhIRX15s showed physical interaction with glycosyltransferases GhGT43C, GhGT47A and GhGT47B, which are responsible for synthesis of the xylan backbone and reducing end sequence. Moreover, the GhIRX15s can form heterocomplexes with enzymes involved in xylan modification and side chain synthesis, such as GhGUX1/2, GhGXM1/2 and GhTBL1. These findings suggest that GhIRX15s participate in fiber xylan biosynthesis and modulate fiber development via forming large multiprotein complexes