Murdoch’s MacKinnon: the grounding of metaphysics as a guide to morals

Whilst a good deal of space has been given to discussing the biographical connections between Donald MacKinnon and his most famous pupil, Iris Murdoch, little has been said of the influence of MacKinnon’s own theological writings, particularly Borderlands of Theology (1968) and The Problem of Metaphysics (1974), on the later philosophy of Murdoch. Using the extensive marginalia and notes in her copy of these works stored at the Kingston University archive, this chapter will attempt to outline the impact his thought had on her final work, Metaphysics as Guide to Morals as well as their shared affinities for the work of Kant. It is the contention of the chapter that his lasting impact provided the groundwork for her final work of philosophy

“You don't have to be a survivor of abuse to be worried about smears”: cervical screening experience of forensic inpatients.

Purpose: Childhood trauma, especially sexual abuse is linked to higher health risks including cervical cancer. Forensic inpatients often have complex trauma histories placing them at increased risk of cervical cancer. The uptake of screening in patient forensic inpatient services is sub-optimal, although little is known about their experiences. This study focuses on the cervical screening experiences of people nursed in forensic service inpatients. This group present with unique health challenges and are an under-researched and vulnerable population with a higher risk of cervical cancer Method: A qualitative study used purposive sampling to recruit eight participants from two NHS secure forensic services. All participants were inpatients detained under the Mental Health Act (1983, revised 2007) in Women’s pathways. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and was analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Results: Two superordinate themes were developed: (1) Internal Conflict linked past experiences to screening beliefs, and (2) Manufacturing Control showed how individuals employed strategies to feel psychological ready for screening. Conclusion: This study aimed to understand the facilitators and barriers to cervical screening among forensic in-patients and identify ways to improve their experiences to increase engagement in screening. The results identify how participants experiences prior to and within forensic services impact cervical screening uptake. Forensic inpatients require psychological readiness and feelings of control and safety to engage in cervical screening to minimise examinations reminding or re-enacting their trauma history. Systemic factors can enhance safety perceptions and encourage screening in this group

The sustained attention paradox: a critical commentary on the theoretical impossibility of perfect vigilance

The human capacity for sustained attention represents a critical cognitive paradox: while essential for numerous high-stakes tasks, perfect vigilance is fundamentally impossible. This commentary explores the theoretical impossibility of maintaining uninterrupted attention, drawing from extensive interdisciplinary research in cognitive science, neuroscience, and psychology. Multiple converging lines of evidence demonstrate that sustained attention is constrained by neural, biological, and cognitive limitations. Neural mechanisms reveal that attention operates through rhythmic oscillations, with inherent fluctuations in frontoparietal networks and default mode network interactions. Neurochemical systems and cellular adaptation effects further underscore the impossibility of continuous, perfect vigilance. Empirical research across domains—including aviation, healthcare, industrial safety, and security—consistently demonstrates rapid declines in attention performance over time, regardless of individual expertise or motivation. Even elite performers like military personnel and experienced meditators exhibit inevitable attention lapses. This paper presents an argument against traditional approaches that seek to overcome these limitations through training or willpower. Instead, it advocates for designing human-technology systems that work harmoniously with cognitive constraints. This requires developing adaptive automation, understanding individual and cultural attention variations, and creating frameworks that strategically balance human capabilities with technological support

Task difficulty promotes tactical learning but supresses the positive learning effects of autonomy and cognitive effort

Learning conditions that provide task-relevant autonomy, and those that encourage cognitive effort through manipulations of difficulty, have been reported to enhance skill development. However, research is yet to directly compare these two manipulations to establish their relative contribution to enhancing motor learning. This study used an on-screen target interception task to compare an autonomous group (self-selection of racquet size), a Challenge Point group (performance-contingent racquet size), a yoked group, and a fixed racquet size control group. Task accuracy and self-report measures of intrinsic motivation and cognitive effort were recorded at multiple time points across acquisition and at immediate, 24-h, seven-day, and 30-day retention and transfer tests. Results showed that task accuracy improved over acquisition, and remained robust across all retention tests, but no between group differences were seen. Intrinsic motivation levels decreased over acquisition, but with no between group differences observed. Participants (83, mean age 40(±12) years, 50 % male) within all groups reported consistently high cognitive effort scores, and made tactical learning choices, suggesting that high task difficulty may have suppressed the more subtle effects of autonomy and performance contingent practice. Conclusions are made regarding the variability of individual approaches to a novel task and the need to build experiments that can detect these idiosyncrasies

Anthocyanin-rich blackcurrant supplementation as a nutraceutical ergogenic aid for exercise performance and recovery: A narrative review

Athletes and physically active individuals consume sports nutrition supplements to enhance competitive sport performance and exercise recovery. Polyphenols have emerged as a promising area of research with application for sport and exercise nutrition due to affecting physiological mechanisms for exercise performance and recovery. The anthocyanin is a polyphenol that can be abundantly present in dark-colored fruits, berries and vegetables. Anthocyanins and anthocyanin-induced metabolites will provide antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The focus in this narrative review is on the observations with intake of anthocyanin-rich blackcurrant supplements on whole-body exercise performance and exercise recovery. This review included a total number of 17 studies with a randomized placebo-controlled cross-over design (10 studies on performance and 8 on recovery effects) and 1 with a randomized placebo-controlled parallel group design (recovery effects). Among the performance studies, 6 studies (60%) reported positive effects, 3 studies (30%) reported no significant effects and 1 study (10%) reported a mixed outcome. Among the recovery studies, 7 studies (78%) reported positive effects, 1 study (11%) reported no significant effects and 1 study (11%) reported a negative effect. Studies with intake of supplements made from New Zealand blackcurrants (dose: 1.8 to 3.2 mg·kg-1 and 105 to 315 mg of anthocyanins, acute to 7-day intake) have provided meaningful (but not always consistent) effects on continuous and intermittent exercise performance tasks (i.e. rowing, cycling and running) and markers for exercise recovery. A mechanistic understanding for the beneficial exercise effects of anthocyanins for athletes and physically active individuals is still limited. Future work requires a better understanding of the specific types of anthocyanins and anthocyanin-induced metabolites and their effects on altering cell function that can enhance exercise performance and recovery

Examining the use of verbal teacher feedback in physical education lessons

This study analysed the frequency and nature of verbal feedback given by physical education (PE) teachers in a secondary school, focusing on the influence of teacher gender, experience, and student learning stage. Eight PE teachers (four male, four female) were observed across 24 lessons, with each teacher observed three times. Feedback was systematically coded using a structured framework for evaluating coaching practises. The results revealed variations in feedback patterns based on teacher experience, gender, and student age. Female teachers provided more specific positive feedback (28%) compared to male teachers (23%). Younger, less experienced students received more corrective feedback (years 7 and 8: 18.7%; years 9 and 10: 12.7%), highlighting the importance of targeted instruction in early learning stages. Additionally, less experienced teachers used less corrective feedback (15%) than their more experienced counterparts (25.6%), suggesting a need for professional development in feedback strategies. These findings emphasise the role of tailored feedback in PE to optimise student learning and engagement

New Zealand blackcurrant extract has no effect on physiological and cardiovascular responses during low-intensity sustained intermittent isometric contractions in men

Purpose: Intake of anthocyanin-rich supplements such as New Zealand blackcurrant (NZBC) extract for 7 days showed beneficial effects on cardiovascular function at rest and during moderate and high-intensity exercise. The effects of 4- and 7-day intake of 600 mg of NZBC extract on cardiovascular function, femoral artery diameter, muscle force, muscle activity and muscle fatigue during low-intensity sustained intermittent isometric contractions were examined. Methods: Fifteen healthy males (age: 25±6 years, height: 180±7 cm, body mass: 82±8 kg) visited the laboratory on five occasions (familiarisation, days 4 and 7 of placebo (PLA) or NZBC extract intake). Each visit required the participants to hold the isometric contraction of the m.quadriceps femoris at 10% of their isometric maximal voluntary contraction (iMVC) for 5 bouts of 2-min. At the end of each 2-min, an iMVC was performed with subsequent 20 s rest before starting a subsequent bout. Electromyography, isometric muscle force, hemodynamic and ultrasound data were recorded. Results: At days 4 and 7, there were no effects for NZBC extract on systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac output, stroke volume, total peripheral resistance and femoral artery diameter. Although the isometric contraction protocol resulted in fatigue, there were no differences between PLA and NZBC extract conditions for isometric muscle force and muscle activity at days 4 and 7 (P>0.05). Conclusion: NZBC extract had no effect on cardiovascular function and exercise-induced fatigue during repeated bouts of low-intensity sustained intermittent isometric contractions of the m.quadriceps femoris, maybe due to the low demand of the exercise model

The psychology of esports: Trends, challenges, and future directions

This rapid review examines how sport and exercise psychology (SEP) research has engaged with esports over the last five years, highlighting the academic acceptance of esports in SEP journals and on the psychological factors that influence esports performance and well-being. In addition to searching for recent empirical studies, we identified systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and scoping reviews to capture the breadth of existing syntheses. Following rapid review guidelines (Sabiston et al., 2022) and adapting the PRISMA framework (Page et al., 2021), two systematic searches were conducted in the Web of Science Core Collection and EBSCO host (SPORTDiscus) databases. First, we identified 13 syntheses of the esports literature highlighting the main topics of interest across scholars in relation to SEP. Then, we identified 125 relevant peer-reviewed empirical publications on esports in SEP context, of which 18 appeared in SEP-specific journals. Findings reveal increasing academic attention in affective, cognitive-motor processes, team dynamics, training structures, and health behaviors (e.g., mental health, physical activity, sleep, nutrition) unique to esports while revealing the need for theoretical and methodological attention. Overall, we highlighted how esports and SEP appear to benefit one another in a reciprocal way. Esports offer a controlled, data-rich performance environment for testing and refining SEP theories. Meanwhile, SEP principles enhance professionalism in esports by informing evidence-based training methods and well-being initiatives. Future research should consider longitudinal designs, open science practices, and interdisciplinary collaboration such as data science, sleep medicine, and nutrition to address the nuanced psychological demands in this rapidly evolving performance domain

Malign velocities: accelerationism and capitalism: 2nd Edition

We are told our lives are too fast, subject to the accelerating demand that we innovate more, work more, enjoy more, produce more, and consume more. That’s one familiar story. Another, stranger, story is told here: of those who think we haven’t gone fast enough. Instead of rejecting the increasing tempo of capitalist production they argue that we should embrace and accelerate it. Rejecting this conclusion, Malign Velocities tracks this 'accelerationism' as the symptom of the misery and pain of labour under capitalism. Retracing a series of historical moments of accelerationism - the Italian Futurism; communist accelerationism after the Russian Revolution; the 'cyberpunk phuturism' of the ’90s and ’00s; the unconscious fantasies of our integration with machines; the apocalyptic accelerationism of the post-2008 moment of crisis; and the terminal moment of negative accelerationism - suggests the pleasures and pains of speed signal the need to disengage, negate, and develop a new politics that truly challenges the supposed pleasures of speed