Beekeepers’ perceptions toward a new omics tool for monitoring bee health in Europe

Pressures on honey bee health have substantially increased both colony mortality and beekeepers’ costs for hive management across Europe. Although technological advances could offer cost-effective solutions to these challenges, there is little research into the incentives and barriers to technological adoption by beekeepers in Europe. Our study is the first to investigate beekeepers’ willingness to adopt the Bee Health Card, a molecular diagnostic tool developed within the PoshBee EU project which can rapidly assess bee health by monitoring molecular changes in bees. The Bee Health Card, based on MALDI BeeTyping®, is currently on level six of the Technology Readiness Level scale, meaning that the technology has been demonstrated in relevant environments. Using an on-line survey from seven European countries, we show that beekeepers recognise the potential for the tool to improve colony health, and that targeted economic incentives, such as subsidises, may help reduce cost being a barrier to the adoption and frequent use of the tool. Based on the description of the tool, 43% of beekeepers appear to be moderately confident in the effectiveness of the Bee Health Card. This confidence could increase if the tool was easy to use and not time consuming, and a higher confidence could also contribute to raising the probability of accepting extra costs linked to it. We estimate that, in the worst-case scenario, the cost per single use of the Bee Health Card should be between €47–90 across a range of European countries, depending on the labour and postage costs. However, the monetary benefits in terms of honey production could exceed this. In order to successfully tackle colony health issues, it is recommended using the BHC five times per year, from the end to the beginning of winter. Finally, we discuss the knowledge needs for assessing beekeeper health tools in future research

“Takeaway Night”: understanding UK families’ consumption of takeaway food for family mealtimes

Takeaway food is typically of poor nutritional quality and its increasing availability and consumption is considered a contributor to the obesity crisis. Shared family mealtimes are associated with a wealth of positive outcomes for children and adolescents, and are valued by family members. Parents describe prioritising health when planning family meals and consuming takeaway food seems incongruent with this goal. This study aimed to investigate UK families’ consumption of takeaway food for family mealtimes and explore the interplay between the nutritional harms of occasional takeaway food for family mealtimes and the broader benefits arising from sharing meals with family. An online survey was completed by 189 parents diverse in key socio-demographic characteristics. Results showed that consumption of takeaway food for family mealtimes is common (96% did so at least occasionally) but for most families relatively infrequent (74% did so less than weekly). Content analysis of responses to open-ended questions revealed that parents considered takeaway food for family mealtimes a convenient, enjoyable treat associated with togetherness and connectedness. Logistic regression analysis indicated a non-linear association between frequent consumption of takeaway food for family mealtimes, household income and neighbourhood deprivation, with low household income and high neighbourhood deprivation significantly associated with frequent consumption. This study is the first to examine the consumption of takeaway food for family mealtimes. The positivity with which parents described “takeaway night” suggests it is an important part of family culture and may not be readily given up. Given this, policies and interventions would most effectively focus on improving the nutritional quality of takeaway food

Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) of formal and informal waste collectors in decentralized waste to compost facility

The global generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) is expected to increase by 70 % by 2050, reaching 3.4 billion metric tons. Despite the need for proper waste management, less than 20 % of waste is recycled, and waste continues to end up in landfills. Waste management is a significant problem in Bangladesh and other rapidly urbanizing nations, exacerbated by densely populated housing coupled with inadequate infrastructure. The utilization of informal waste collectors arises from the government’s frequent inability to offer sufficient waste collection and disposal services. A large number of Dhaka’s informal sector workers depend on collecting waste for a living. In this study, the social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) is applied to analyze the social implications of formal and informal waste collectors on the waste management process in Uttara, Dhaka. Working conditions, human rights, health and safety, and socio-economic repercussions are the four primary areas of focus for the SLCA. For the assessment, an indicator score ranging from 2 (best performance) to − 2 (poor performance) was used. The data revealed that informal workers scored 0 for fair salaries, but formal workers received 1, showing that formal workers adhere to higher standards. Both groups obtained an average score of − 2 in the social security subcategory, which is much lower than anticipated. Formal workers scored − 2 on health and safety, while informal workers scored − 1, indicating serious inadequacies in both categories. These findings highlight the need for stronger legislation and support systems to enhance waste collectors’ working conditions in Dhaka and other similar cities throughout the world, as well as the considerable socioeconomic challenges they confront

Mangroves and economic development in Tobago: incorporating payment horizons, choice certainty and ex-post interviews in discrete choice experiments

Governments have long faced potential trade-offs between economic development and protecting nature. This is particularly true for tropical and sub-tropical islands where most mangroves are found. Motivated by Trinidad and Tobago’s central government’s prior hotel development plans, we employ a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to investigate residents’ preferences for mangrove ecosystem services (ES) in the Bon Accord Lagoon and Buccoo Bay, Tobago. Preferences were investigated in the context of a trade-off between conserving mangroves and promoting economic development through a hypothetical hotel project in the study area. We use a Hierarchical Bayesian Logit Model, exploring two distinct payment horizons, 5 and 25-years, undertaken independently and also merged in models that allow for choice certainty and individual characteristics. We find that respondents have consistent willingness-to-pay (WTP) for mangrove ES and exhibit general insensitivity to the payment horizons due to perceived disbenefits associated with mangrove loss from hotel development. The DCE and ex-post (follow-up) interviews suggest that there is strong public support for policies aimed at long-term protection of mangroves

Eveningness and procrastination: an exploration of relationships with mind wandering, sleep quality, self-control, and depression

While morningness (a preference for rising earlier in the day) is associated with positive affect and life satisfaction, eveningness is correlated with negative emotionality, poor sleep, less self-control, and more procrastination. The current study investigated inter-relationships between morningness–eveningness; bedtime, academic, and exercise procrastination; mind wandering; sleep quality; self-control; and depressive symptoms. An online survey including questionnaire measures of these variables was completed by 306 university students (aged 18–51 years; mean = 20.36, SD = 4.001; 34 male). Morningness correlated with more self-control and better sleep quality—eveningness correlated with more bedtime, academic, and exercise procrastination; depressive symptoms; and mind wandering. All forms of procrastination negatively correlated with self-control and sleep quality, and positively correlated with depressive symptoms and mind wandering, although more strongly with spontaneous than deliberate mind wandering. Mediation effects were found—bedtime procrastination (BP) between eveningness and spontaneous mind wandering (MW); spontaneous MW between BP and sleep quality; sleep quality between BP and depressive symptoms; self-control between depressive symptoms and academic procrastination. A path model of these inter-relationships was developed. This study adds to a growing body of research indicating that interventions to reduce bedtime procrastination may bring about improvements in wellbeing and academic achievement

Empowering stroke recovery with upper limb rehabilitation monitoring using TinyML based heterogeneous classifiers

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, with approximately 70% of survivors experiencing motor impairments in the upper limbs, significantly affecting their quality of life. Home-based rehabilitation offers a cost-effective approach to improving motor function, but it faces challenges, including inaccurate movement reporting, lack of real-time feedback, and the high cost of rehabilitation equipment. Therefore, there is a need for affordable, lightweight home-based rehabilitation monitoring systems. This paper presents an intelligent wearable sensor system that utilizes TinyML AI technology to classify eight upper limb rehabilitation movements with minimal sensors. The system is designed for patients with upper limb impairments who retain antigravity voluntary movement, enabling them to monitor rehabilitation progress at home. The study recruited 10 healthy volunteers to perform rehabilitation movements, creating a standardized dataset for model training. Data normalization, preprocessing, model training, and deployment were carried out using the Edge Impulse platform. A hybrid classifier, combining multilayer perceptron and k-means clustering, achieved 96.1% training accuracy, 95.09% testing accuracy, and 88.01% deployment accuracy. The proposed TinyML-based system shows promising potential for home-based rehabilitation of stroke patients

Motivating transparent communications about bias in healthcare technology development

As healthcare artificial intelligence (AI) systems advance, their capacity for bias (e.g., as a function of patient protected characteristics) increases as well, and these limitations are often left undisclosed by developers. Here, the question arises - does supportive motivational messaging designed to increase buy-in inspire healthcare AI developers to transparently communicate about bias in their technology? Computer science students (Study 1: N=271; Study 2: N=209) were randomly assigned to receive a brief communication framed in either an autonomy-supportive (choice promoting) or controlling (judging and pressuring) way, emphasizing either personal benefits (gaining profit) of transparency or legal implications of non-transparency. Results showed that while communication type was not associated with behavioral intention to engage in an educational course on transparent communication about bias, both internal (self-directed) and external motivation were associated with greater intention to take a course to build transparency-congruent technology skills, as well as with greater ethical voice - intention to speak up in the service of positive transparency-consistent cultural change, and lower antagonism – i.e., a lower critical perspective regarding the need for transparency. Findings suggest that universities and workplaces should provide students and developers with a broadly supportive motivational climate, rather than a singular brief training

Breaking the biofilm barrier: harnessing PVA-Nisin technology to safeguard dairy products from persistent pathogens

This study explores the fabrication, characterization, and antimicrobial properties of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based films incorporating nisin. Films prepared via casting display smooth, transparent surfaces, with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showing increased surface roughness upon nisin addition. Contact angle analysis confirmed enhanced hydrophilicity (p ≤ .05), while Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) revealed that the casting method preserved the chemical integrity of PVA and nisin. Mechanical testing demonstrated reduced Young’s Modulus, suggesting improved elasticity due to nisin’s plasticizing effect. Biofilm assays with Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes showed significant reductions in biofilm populations (p ≤ .05) within 24–48 hours. PVA-nisin films achieved up to 99.98% (3.8 log) and 99.84% (2.8 log) reductions for Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes, respectively. These findings highlight the potential of PVA-nisin films as antimicrobial materials, providing sustained nisin release to inhibit biofilm formation in dairy food processing environments

Contemporary outcomes of childhood aortic coarctation interventions: a national registry analysis of mortality, reinterventions and hospital resource use

Background Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) has good modern results, but large multicentre longitudinal data on outcomes, especially hospital resource utilisation through childhood and adolescence, are not available. Methods All patients with CoA treated between 2000 and 2017 in England and Wales were linked to hospital and outpatient records through the Linking AUdit and National datasets in Congenital HEart Services (LAUNCHES) project. Mortality, reintervention and hospital stay were described, and associated risk factors were explored using multivariable regression models for each of these three outcomes (Cox regression, Fine-Gray subdistribution hazard model and quantile regression at median, respectively). Results A total of 3321 patients were included: n=669 (20.1%) had CoA with ventricular septal defect (VSD), n=331 (10.0%) had CoA with small VSD and n=2321 (69.9%) had isolated CoA. Mortality and cardiac reintervention at 10 years (from birth and CoA repair, respectively) were 3.7% (95% CI 3.0%; 4.4%) and 13.3% (12.1%; 14.5%), respectively. Compared with isolated surgical repair, isolated catheter repair (HR 3.7, (95% CI 2.2; 6)) and concomitant VSD closure (HR 1.34, (1; 1.9)) or pulmonary artery banding (HR 3.5, (2.4; 5.1)) had higher risk of reintervention. During the first year of life, the median time in hospital was 26 days (IQR 17; 44), decreasing to 1 (0; 2) day beyond 8 years. CoA with large VSD (−12, (−16; −8)), premature birth (−50, (−60; −40)), congenital comorbidity (−31, (−37; −25)), low weight (−23/kg, (−37; −11)) and younger age at first procedure (−6/year (−7; −5)) were associated with fewer days spent at home. Conclusions Subgroups of patients with CoA are still at risk of unfavourable outcomes during childhood and adolescence follow-up, especially cardiac reintervention at a distance from initial repair. Hospital resource utilisation remains low beyond the first year of life in the majority of patients. Identified factors, while non-modifiable, remain useful in risk stratification and counselling