Beyond the spotlight: unveiling self-presentation strategies of elite Turkish female athletes on Instagram

This study aims to reveal the self-presentation strategies of elite Turkish female athletes on Instagram. Drawing on Goffman’s self-presentation theory, the research also explores how gender typing across different sports may shape athletes’ self-presentation strategies. By examining the use of social media by 44 elite Turkish female athletes in 15 different sports, this study provides clear evidence that elite athletes utilise Instagram for both front-stage and back-stage presentations by employing six self-presentation ­strategies (information-sharing, match or competition-related information-sharing, behind-the-scenes, interaction, self-promotion, and opinion-sharing) when sharing content on the platform to convey these different aspects of their athletic lives. The research findings also reveal that, in ‘masculine’ sports, female athletes tend to share more back-stage performance footage, whereas within ‘feminine’ branches of athletics, there appears to be a notable inclination towards higher utilisation of the front-stage category.<br/

Worlding women and international law

Jeni Pettman convincingly demonstrated that International Relations (IR) is gendered and male (Pettman, 2005). But, in Worlding Women, she also insists women maintain their agency within the IR world. International law (IL) is readily, and perhaps unsurprisingly given their disciplinary overlaps, easily and accurately substituted into her claim. Since the publication of Worlding Women in 1996 and the ground-breaking publication of The Boundaries of International Law by Hilary Charlesworth and Christine Chinkin in 2000, international (legal) feminist scholarship has grown tremendously (2000). Nonetheless, Pettman, Charlesworth and Chinkin’s claims remain essentially true that despite representing half of the world’s population, women remain narrowly considered in international legal analysis because the discipline’s homosocial structures fail to recognise much beyond the white Western heteronormative male. This chapter considers where worlding women within IL now stands and makes a modest proposal for feminist treaty interpretation (FTI) as a space of both future change and to redress past exclusions

Damage equivalent strain as a metric for tidal turbine blade fatigue scenario comparison

Tidal turbine blades are a key component for small, medium, and utility scale tidal turbines given their role as the power capture interface. Common practice is to instrument a turbine blade using strain gauges in order to monitor maximum loads as well as load cycles. The calculation of some fatigue parameters requires the conversion of strain to stress, however, this is not always trivial especially when material properties are highly directional or complex geometries are present. This paper presents a windowed approach using strain as a proxy for stress to enable fatigue scenario comparison. Strain recorded on a transverse axis crossflow turbine blade allows fatigue comparison between a range of scenarios during field testing as well as field-laboratory comparisons. It was found that turbine revolution frequency dominates the fatigue of a transverse axis crossflow turbine eclipsing the fatigue impact of dynamic flow features conducive to a real tidal environment in a way that would not be present for a horizontal axis turbine. This allows blade life to be monitored using a revolution counter. Simplified indicative fatigue comparisons enable rapid identification and mitigation of high damage scenarios beyond the example case presented in this paper facilitating the extension of turbine blade life.<br/

A survey study on meta-heuristic-based feature selection approaches of intrusion detection systems in distributed networks

With the emergence of IoT and expanding the coverage of distributed networks such as cloud and fog, security attacks and breaches are becoming distributed and expanded too. Cybersecurity attacks can disrupt business continuity or expose critical data, leading to significant failures. The Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) as a remedy in such networks play a critical role in this ecosystem to find an attack at the earliest time and the countermeasure is performed if necessary. Artificial intelligence techniques such as machine learning-based and meta-heuristic-based approaches are being pervasively applied to prepare smarter IDS components from logged network traffic. The network traffic is recorded in the form of data sets for further analysis to detect traffic behavior from past treatments. Feature selection is a prominent approach in creating the prediction model to recognize feature network connection is normal or not. Since the feature selection problem in large datasets is NP-Hard and utilizing only heuristic-based approaches is not as efficient as desired, meta-heuristic-based approaches attract research attention to prepare highly accurate prediction models. To address the issue, this paper presents a subjective classification of published literature. Then, this presents a survey study on meta-heuristic-based feature selection approaches in preparing efficient IDSs. It investigates several kinds of literature from different angles and compares them in terms of used metrics in the literature to give broad insights into readers for advantages, challenges, and limitations. It can pave the way by highlighting research gaps for further processing and improvement in the future by interested researchers in the field.</p

Does being a service user of social work or an unpaid carer influence motivation to study social work?

This study draws upon findings from a cross-sectional survey of 278 social work students enrolled at one of six universities across Ireland. Multivariate multiple regression was used to examine the effects of being a past or current user of social work services, or a past or current unpaid carer, on their motivation to become a social worker. Most respondents were 23–30 years old and female. Wanting to help people and overcoming oppression were the main motivators to engage in professional training. Half identified as past or current unpaid carers, which significantly predicted motivation to become a social worker. Less than a third reported previous/current social work support due to witnessing domestic abuse, or the consequences of mental ill health or addiction as a child or adolescent. Others disclosed firsthand experiences of poverty, mental illness, addiction, bereavement or custody battles with ex-partners. Being a past or current service user significantly predicted motivation to become a social worker. The discussion suggests that universities explore ways to improve support for care experienced students or student carers to prevent withdrawals. Examples include a more robust and accessible mental health service, increased financial support, flexible approaches to assessment and meeting the requirements of placements.<br/

Beyond conventional routes: an approach to understanding leptospirosis transmission dynamics through mathematical modeling with real data from Thailand

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by Leptospira bacteria, that occurs mainly in tropical regions such as Thailand. This study presents a mathematical model that captures the dynamics of Leptospira transmission. The model incorporates direct and environmental transmission pathways and notably includes an exposed human compartment, an often-neglected element in existing leptospirosis models. We combined several control interventions, including environmental management, reservoir control, and human treatment to explore strategies for mitigating disease spread. The equilibrium points of the system are identified, and their stability properties are analyzed. Using real data from Thailand, we estimate key parameters and perform a global sensitivity analysis to identify the dominant factors driving leptospirosis transmission. Finally, we evaluate optimal control theory and conduct a comparative cost-effectiveness analysis of the proposed interventions. Our findings suggest that environmental management is the most effective and potentially cost-effective strategy to reduce leptospirosis transmission

The impact of self‐directed aftercare following breast cancer surgery: a scoping review

PurposeWith over 56,000 new cases of breast cancer a year in the UK and 76% of these expected to live beyond 10 years, managing long-term care and support is an urgent challenge. This scoping review aims to map the current literature on outcomes and lived experience of Self-Directed Aftercare (SDA) pathways following breast cancer surgery. We aim to assess what evidence exists to support the current delivery of this approach.MethodsA scoping review in line with the PRISMA-ScR template was undertaken across 3 databases (Web of Science, PubMED and OVID Medline) using an iteratively developed search strategy based on concepts of “breast cancer”, “self-directed” and “aftercare”. Screening was undertaken by all authors and disagreements settled by team discussion. Key data were extracted from qualitative and quantitative studies, with descriptive statistical and thematic analysis conducted.ConclusionsAvailable literature is sparse and of variable quality. While reductions in clinic attendance are reported, there is a wide range of patient lived experience. There are positive reports of the convenience of SDA, while negative aspects included unmet psychological and information needs, which also changed over time. Ease of access to speciality breast advice varied across studies.Implications for Cancer SurvivorsGlobally more patients are being managed via SDA, but this review demonstrates the lack of research assessing the safety, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of this approach. It is imperative that services address the evolving needs of breast cancer survivors and integrate feedback from patients with lived experience of breast cancer aftercare.Trail RegistrationThis project has been publicly registered with the Open Science Framework (July 2024). It can be found under the project “Exploring oncological outcomes and lived experiences of patients and their carers managed via self-directed aftercare pathways following breast cancer surgery” available at https://osf.io/b56vq/.<br/

Multiphysics modelling and experimental validation of road tanker dynamics: stress analysis and material characterization

Crossland Tankers is a leading manufacturer of bulk-load road tankers in Northern Ireland. These tankers transport up to forty thousand litres of liquid over long distances across diverse road conditions. Liquid sloshing within the tank has a significant impact on driveability and the tanker’s lifespan. This study introduces a novel Multiphysics model combining Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to simulate fluid–structure interactions in a full-scale road tanker, validated with real-world road test data. The model reveals high-stress zones under braking and turning, with peak stresses at critical chassis locations, offering design insights for weight reduction and enhanced safety. Results demonstrate the approach’s effectiveness in optimising tanker design, reducing prototyping costs, and improving longevity, providing a valuable computational tool for industry applications