Introduction: Disability and digital marketing

Despite having the right to full social inclusion, people with disabilities face multiple everyday trials. These challenges are further compounded through persisting narratives of stigma, prejudice and discrimination. Disabled voices tend to be carried by others, originating from more formal positions, where the medical model assumes precedence. Acknowledging the frailties and the need to break down impediments to exorcising voice needs further cultivating and holds potential to transfigure the disability scape, enabling appreciation and recognition of lives lived, in all their volubility. Consumer researchers’ immersion (physically and virtually) in wider fields of disability offers rich and interactive insights into disabled consumers’ lives, from carefully curated, shared voice-making. Silenced voices of disabled consumers are often understood as one of choices-the wanting to remain marginalized, reinforced by illness and stigma. Marketplace exclusion disrupts everyday life, and in its wake, associated challenges of non-acceptance persist. These cannot be negotiated from the basis of ostensible vulnerability, veiled in misunderstanding. While disabled consumers face many barriers to communing in the online space, Internet usage nonetheless offers potential both to participate in society more fully and to create alternatives to experiencing wider exclusion, utilizing the arts and activism as forms of empowering expression and understanding of disability culture.</p

The roles of switching and inhibition in adult counterintuitive scientific thinking

Learning science often appears to involve replacement of naïve, intuitive ideas with correct, counterintuitive ones. Recent studies indicate that the old naïve, intuitive ideas are not actually replaced but exist alongside the correct but often counterintuitive ones. On this account, newer knowledge for scientific thinking might involve inhibition of the old idea. However, instead of merely inhibiting old ideas, it is possible that switching is necessary to select between new and old scientific ideas. In this study, we explored the direct and indirect contributions of behavioural inhibition, cognitive inhibition and switching to intuitive and counterintuitive science reasoning in adults (N = 167). After replicating the commonly observed processing costs of counterintuitive items relative to intuitive ones, we find that individual differences in switching rather than in inhibition are most strongly associated with variation in the accuracy and speed of adult intuitive and counterintuitive science reasoning. These results suggest that adults switch between older and newer ideas when reasoning about science rather than suppressing one in favour of the other

Antidepressant and anxiolytic medications and risk of mortality in people with dementia: a nested case-control study in Northern Ireland

Background Antidepressant and anxiolytic medication use in people with dementia (PwD) may contribute to potentially inappropriate prescribing and be associated with mortality.Objective To investigate trends in prescribing of these medications and their association with mortality risk among PwD.Methods A nested case-control study was conducted in Northern Ireland (NI) using linkage of five administrative population-based data sources within a cohort of dementia patients (identified if a medication indicated for dementia was prescribed). Dementia patients who died were matched to one control who lived at least as long as their matched case after dementia diagnosis (matched on age, sex and year of dementia). Exposure to antidepressant and anxiolytic medications was assessed from two years prior to study entry. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using conditional logistic regression after adjusting for demographic factors and comorbidities. Results The study included 14,420 dementia cases. Antidepressants were prescribed to 59.2% of cases and 54.7% of controls whilst 44.8% of cases and 36.0% of controls were prescribed anxiolytics. There was evidence of a weak increased risk of mortality in PwD prescribed antidepressants (fully adjusted OR=1.08; 95% CI 1.02-1.14) and a strong increased risk in those prescribed anxiolytics (fully adjusted OR=1.26; 95% CI 1.19-1.33) compared to nonusers. Conclusions In this large NI population-based cohort of PwD, elevated levels of antidepressant and anxiolytic prescribing were observed. The use of anxiolytic medications was strongly associated with mortality in PwD

Engaging young people with ecocritical analysis of language in the media

Media reports that focus on human interaction with the natural world stimulate debate about how our behaviour impacts on the sustainability of life on Earth. Activists for change highlight crisis scenarios; and media reports, across all platforms, carry the news. Media studies courses that focused on traditional news now expand to address modern short-form or visual media that many young people consume. This chapter focuses on how individuals can be equipped to engage critically with eco-based news. In that context we explore what an eco-literate citizen should know and be able to do. The principles that underpin a pedagogical framework are highlighted, and examples from teachers’ classroom experience illustrate how pupils might be introduced to critical analysis of eco-news in cross-curricular settings. The importance and challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration are discussed

Quantifying inter- and intramolecular interactions in liquids with correlated vibrational spectroscopy: case study of CCl₄ and CH₃CN

Correlated vibrational spectroscopy (CVS) is a hyper-Raman-based vibrational spectroscopy that retrieves separate spectra of individual (self-correlated, SC) and interacting (cross-correlated, CC) molecules. The spectra are recorded in the &gt;40 cm–1 THz/mid-IR frequency range and contain modes that are IR and/or Raman active. Here, we further develop CVS and apply it to investigate intra- and intermolecular interactions using room temperature liquid carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), a nonpolar liquid, and acetonitrile (CH3CN), a polar liquid, as case studies. CVS spectra of CCl4 display no intermolecular coupling, confirming the isotropy and short-range nature of the molecular interactions. Strong intramolecular coupling is observed on the Fermi resonance, and the relative phase between the participating modes is determined based on the intensities in the experimental spectra. CVS spectra of acetonitrile display intermolecular coupling of the C≡N mode vibrations, whose cross-correlated out-of-phase signature is evidence for near-perpendicular pair arrangements. Performing a theoretical analysis of the CVS response, an equation for the effective average orientational angle between C≡N groups of adjacent liquid molecules is developed and solved. The effective average orientational angle between adjacent acetonitrile dipoles is ∼102° ± 2°, which is close to a head-to-tail arrangement

Thematic analysis and characterisation to support climate vulnerability assessments of cultural World Heritage

Climate change is ubiquitous and progressively more evident than other threats, affecting all types of World Heritage. However, comprehensive assessments of climate impacts upon all individual heritage properties are improbable given the extent and urgency of the challenge. Grouping properties by their similar values, common threats and/or geographic co-location is one approach to accelerate the evaluation of climate risk. This paper develops and demonstrates a thematic analysis methodology for grouping properties into themes and sub-themes based upon their similar cultural heritage characteristics. Defining thematically representative groups of properties can inform and facilitate assessments of climate vulnerability of properties with similar values, as well as enabling strategic networks of site managers whose responsibilities include managing similar threats. The Indian Subcontinent was selected for this analysis due to the variety of cultural World Heritage properties spread over a range of natural settings and climatic regions. The 49 properties analysed include some that are widely recognised (e.g., Taj Mahal, Red Fort Complex), as well as other lesser known but no less significant cultural locations. The framework developed here is a valuable standalone tool for decision making providing a practical management strategy that can aid policy and practice; however, it also contributes to a broader understanding of the climate vulnerability and risk to cultural heritage. Eight cultural thematic groups developed here were standardised and validated against existing international cultural heritage categories to ensure transferability to other geographical and heritage regions. Within these, 71 sub-themes were identified that reflect region-specific heritage aspects. Beyond climate-change applications, the thematic framework and outcomes have potential to influence heritage management more broadly

Longitudinal analysis of male fertility using an Acr-Luc knock-in mouse model: a preclinical platform for reproductive toxicity testing

Reproductive toxicity testing is essential for evaluating whether xenobiotics, including pharmaceuticals, environmental chemicals, or ionizing radiation, adversely affect reproductive function. However, conventional assessments rely on mating outcomes or histopathology, which are labor‐intensive, variable, and require large numbers of animals. Acrosin, a serine protease encoded by the Acr gene and localized in the acrosome of spermatozoa, plays a critical role in sperm penetration of the zona pellucida. To exploit this germ cell‐specific expression, we generated a genetically engineered mouse model in which the Luciferase (Luc) reporter gene is driven by the Acr promoter. This Acr‐Luc knock‐in (KI) model enables longitudinal and quantitative imaging of spermatogenesis using bioluminescence. We demonstrate that this platform captures radiation‐induced impairments in male fertility in real time, eliminating the need for terminal analyses. By allowing repeated evaluation within the same individuals, our approach reduces interindividual variability and enables a substantial reduction in animal use, aligning with the “Reduction” principle of the 3Rs. Moreover, it reveals both the onset and recovery phases of spermatogenic disruption with high temporal resolution. The Acr‐Luc KI model provides a reliable preclinical platform for reproductive toxicity testing and offers broad utility for studies in reproductive biology, toxicology, and oncofertility research