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Not apologising for a community: Young people’s responses to misrecognition and stigma
No full textThis article considers the experiences of four groups of young people (from Germany, Estonia, Russia and the UK) whose ‘mode of being’ is reduced or distorted in different ways as a result of misrecognition or stigmatisation. It argues that the responses young people make to this form of social subordination are enabled or constrained by the recognition status - misrecognition, absence of recognition or stigmatisation - they experience. It demonstrates that the experience of misrecognition and stigmatisation, in some cases, may constitute a resource to act and stimulate social change but that the institutional response to it may also work to re-embed the stigma or misrecognition that young people’s action sought to counter. It argues that stigmatisation and misrecognition are more than the accumulation of negative representations of individuals or groups. They reflect the configuration of power relations that underpin the institutionalisation of the labelling of specific groups as unworthy of respect and deny them the opportunity to participate equally in social life. The outcome of the struggle for recognition is thus not a matter of young people ‘choosing’ a positive identity or showing the desire to engage but the willingness of society to open itself to that engagement
‘Very small effects of an imagery-based randomized trial to promote adherence to wearing face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic and identification of future intervention targets’
No full textObjective: Mental imagery interventions are a cost-effective way of promoting health behaviour change. We tested a mental imagery intervention designed to promote adherence to wearing face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: A four-arm randomized controlled trial to explore potential mechanisms of action. Main outcome measures: Measures of behaviour (frequency of self-reported face covering adherence), theory of planned behaviour constructs (i.e., intention, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control), personality traits, imagery ability and barrier self-efficacy were measured at baseline (T1). Behaviour was also assessed at four-week follow up (T2). Results: Of 297 participants, a majority always wore face coverings (N = 216, 73% overall sample). Logistic regression analyses revealed no intervention effects on changes in adherence to wearing face coverings, though T1 wearing of face coverings and being male predicted T2 behaviour. Subgroup analysis of participants with ‘suboptimal T1 adherence’, revealed that T2 non-adherence was predicted by being a non-student and by subjective norms and less intention to wear face coverings. Conclusion: Imagery-based interventions to increase face covering wearing adherence may exert significant public health effects but only when conducted on a very large scale. Our findings suggest that interventions should target men and disrupt habitual past behaviour. Key words: mental imagery intervention; behaviour change; COVID-19; face coverings; habitual past behaviour<br/
A crystal growth cell incorporating automated image analysis enables measurement of facet specific crystal growth rates.
No full textWe present an automated method for measuring facet specific growth rates by combining a crystal growth flow cell with image processing. This paper details the design of the growth cell and its advantages over previous models. The method of image processing utilizes a Hough transform to identify crystal facets, ultimately leading to facet specific growth rate measurements. Finally, experimental results are presented for facet specific growth rates of αglycine crystals and compared to previous data
Dissolution and remobilization of NAPL in surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation from microscopic scale simulations
No full textMRSD: a quantitative approach for assessing suitability of RNA-seq in the investigation of mis-splicing in Mendelian disease
No full textBackground: Variable levels of gene expression between tissues complicates the use of RNA-sequencing of patient biosamples to delineate the impact of genomic variants. Here, we describe a gene- and tissue-specific metric to inform the feasibility of RNAsequencing. This overcomes limitations of using expression values alone as a metric to predict RNA-sequencing utility.Results: We have derived a metric, Minimum Required Sequencing Depth (MRSD) that estimates the depth of sequencing required from RNA-sequencing to achieve user-specified sequencing coverage of a gene, transcript or group of genes. We applied MRSD across four human biosamples (whole blood, lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs), skeletal muscle and cultured fibroblasts). MRSD has high precision (90.1- 98.2%) and overcomes transcript region-specific sequencing biases. Applying MRSD scoring to established disease gene panels shows that fibroblasts are the optimum source of RNA, of these four biosamples, for 63.1% of gene panels. Using this approach, up to 67.8% of the variants of uncertain significance in ClinVar that are predicted to impact splicing could be assayed by RNA-sequencing in at least one of the biosamples.Conclusions: We demonstrate the utility and benefits of MRSD as a metric to informfunctional assessment of splicing aberrations, in particular in the context of Mendelian genetic disorders to improve diagnostic yield
Are differences in dysphagia assessment, oral care provision or nasogastric tube insertion associated with stroke-associated pneumonia? A nationwide survey linked to national stroke registry data.
No full textIntroductionStroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) is a common complication associated with poor outcomes. Early dysphagia screening and specialist assessment is associated with reduced risk of SAP. Evidence about oral care and nasogastric tube (NGT) placement is equivocal. This study aimed to expose variations in dysphagia management practices and explore their associations with SAP.Participants and methodsSpeech Pathologists from 166 stroke units in England and Wales were surveyed about dysphagia assessment and management, oral care and NGT placement. Survey data were then linked to the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP), the national register of stroke. Univariable and multivariable linear regression models were fitted to estimate the association between dysphagia management practices and SAP incidence.Results113 hospitals completed the survey (68%). Variation was evident in dysphagia screening protocols (DSPs), oral care and NGT practice while specialist swallow assessment data patterns were more consistent. Multivariable analysis showed no evidence of an association in incidence of SAP when using a water-only hospital DSP compared to a multi-consistency DSP (B -.688, 95% CI –2.912-1.536), when using written swallow assessment guidelines compared to not using written guidelines (B .671, 95% CI –1.567-2.908), when teams inserted NGTs overnight compared to teams which did not (B –.505, 95% CI –2.759-1.749) and when teams had a written oral care protocol compared to those which did not (B –1.339, 95% CI –3.551 - .873).Discussion and ConclusionVariation exists in dysphagia screening and management but there was no evidence of an association between clinical practice patterns and incidence of SAP. Further research with larger sample sizes is needed to examine association with SAP
Structural Dynamics and Thermal Transport in Bismuth Chalcogenide Alloys
No full textWe present a detailed study of the structural dynamics, energetic and dynamical stability and thermal transport of the bismuth chalcogenides Bi2S3, Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3 and their alloys. The active Bi lone pairs lead to competition between orthorhombic Pnma and rhombohedral R3̅m phases, with the latter favored by the heavier chalcogens, while the reported non-ambient Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3 phases show phonon instabilities under ambient conditions. The Pnma structure has intrinsically weaker chemical bonding and stronger phonon anharmonicity than the R3̅m phase, resulting in lower lattice thermal conductivity. A thermodynamic model of Bi2(Se1-xSx)3 indicates the R3̅m structure is energetically favored only at low S content, but the stability window may be extended with lower formation temperatures. R3̅m Bi2(Se1-xTex)3 is a non-ideal solid solution due to a strong preference for the Se and Te atoms to occupy the interior and exterior sites, respectively, in the constituent quintuple layers. Strain-field fluctuations from chemical bonding inhomogeneities are shown to play an important role in the heat transport in the alloys, and chalcogen disorder is found to be an important factor in the lower thermal conductivity of Bi2SeTe2 compared to Bi2Te3. The microscopic insight from this study provides a new theoretical perspective on the bismuth chalcogenides and their alloys, to inform ongoing research on the thermoelectric performance of these and related system
Interfered-Naming Therapy for Aphasia (INTA): A neuroscience-based approach to improve linguistic-executive processing
No full textBackground and Aims. Research just started to combine behavioural, computational and neural accounts to investigate the nature of post-stroke aphasia, but the dynamic aspect of aphasia recovery has rarely been integrated. Moreover, executive functions in aphasia recently gained attention as important contributor to language performance. Lexical picture/word interference embraces both executive control and language processing through distracted confrontation naming, as revealed by functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Thus, we for the first time applied this complex paradigm in diagnostic and therapeutic settings for persons with aphasia (PWA) on the group level. In consideration of behavioural and computational data, we aimed at investigating the neural responses of persons with aphasia (a) to a novel treatment method targeting both word processing and language control by means of interferednaming, and (b) to the interfering stimuli to determine preserved and impaired processing and changes thereof. Method. 19 PWA at a mean age of 51 years (range 21-74) and 26 months post-onset (4-63) as well as 22 matched healthy controls were included in a diagnostic fMRI studycomprising a pure naming test and the lexical fMRI interference paradigm with five distractor conditions (phonological, associative-semantic, categorical-semantic, unrelated word, unrelated noise) in a 3T Philips scanner. 12 participants completed the 4-weeks therapy, 11 the fMRI therapy study. During therapy, both comprehension of the interfering words and distracted but cued picture naming were trained. Results. The distribution of lexical-semantic and -phonological impairments of PWA in the computational model was well-balanced. The novel linguistic executive treatment significantly improved pure and interfered naming for the PWA group, fostering generalisation to untrained items, reducing repetition of distractors, and ameliorating lexical-semantic processing. The predicted behavioural effects of distractor types were only found for the two semantic conditions. Neuroimaging revealed right-hemisphere compensation before treatment, activation decrease related to enhanced efficiency due to treatment, and both differential and overlapping responses to distractor types. Key brain regions encompassed inferior frontal gyrus and right posterior middle temporal gyrus as well as the basal temporal language area, cerebellum and anterior cingulate cortex. Discussion. The novel inferfered-naming in aphasia therapy revealed to be effective, but differential effects of distractor types were less prominent than expected. Behavioural, computational and neural findings converge on identifying semanticexecutive processing as the core source of improvements. This account of linguisticexecutive processing in aphasia offers a step towards a comprehensive theory of neurorehabilitation
A methodology to evaluate solvent extraction-based processes considering techno-economic and environmental sustainability criteria for biorefinery applications
No full textExtraction processes are widely used in biorefinery applications to recover target products from biomass, and their comprehensive evaluation is key to improving their economic and environmental sustainability. This paper applies a systematic methodology that combines a rigorous process design, techno-economic analysis, and life cycle assessment to evaluate the sustainability performance of solvent extraction-based processes, with a focus on downstream activities. The methodology, which consists of seven iterative steps that combine process simulation, economic and environmental sustainability assessment tools, is demonstrated using a biodiesel production process from algae biomass, with hexane as the lipid extraction solvent. The minimum biodiesel selling price is estimated at $8.95 per US gal, using the discounted cash flow rate of return. This is 3.5 times the average price of fossil diesel, mostly due to the cost of algae biomass and lipid recovery capacity of the solvent. Eighteen environmental impact categories are estimated from cradle to grave using the ReCiPe V1.1 method. For example, the climate change and primary energy demand are calculated at 95 g CO2 eq./MJ and 1.52 MJ/MJ biodiesel, which are 5% and 24% higher compared to fossil diesel, respectively. Lipid extraction is identified as the hotspot of the downstream processing stages for all impact categories (52% - 97%), and an opportunity for improving the overall sustainability performance of algae biodiesel, e.g. solvent selection. These findings provide a benchmark for future improvements to biodiesel production from algae biomass, with focus on the interactions between biomass and the solvent, e.g. phase equilibrium thermodynamics
Synthesis of 2D anatase TiO2 with Highly Reactive Facets by Fluorine-free Topochemical Conversion of 1T-TiS2 nanosheets
No full textTwo-dimensional (2D) anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) is expected to exhibit different properties as compared to anatase nanocrystallites, due to its highly reactive exposed facets. However, access to 2D anatase TiO2 is limited by the non-layered nature of the bulk crystal, which does not allow to use top-down chemical exfoliation. Large effort has been dedicated to the growth of 2D anatase TiO2 with high reactive facets by bottom-up approaches, which relies on the use of harmful chemical reagents. Here, we demonstrate a novel fluorine-free strategy based on topochemical conversion of 2D 1T-TiS2 for the production of single crystalline 2D anatase TiO2, exposing the {001} facet on top and bottom and {100} at the sides of the nanosheet. The exposure of these faces, with no additional defects or doping, gives rise to a significant activity enhancement in the hydrogen evolution reaction, as compared to commercially available Degussa P25 TiO2 nanoparticles.Because of the strong potential of TiO2 in many energy-based applications, our topochemical approach offers a low cost, green and mass scalable route for production of highly crystalline anatase TiO2 with well controlled and highly reactive exposed facets