Parents’ wellbeing: perceptions of happiness and challenges in parenthood in Latin America

Traditional research on parenthood and wellbeing often employs a positivist perspective and focuses on non-LA samples -limiting our knowledge and understanding of the influence that strong components of the LA culture such as Machismo and Marianismo, have in parents’ wellbeing. This study explored how Latin American (LA) parents’ wellbeing is influenced by parenthood in a culture strongly influenced by such gender-based perspectives. An interpretative perspective was employed to explore fifteen LA parents’ lived experiences. An eight-questions interview was developed and data were analysed via Thematic Analysis. The American Psychological Association’s Journal Article Reporting Standards for Qualitative Research (JARS-Qual), was followed to compile this paper. Results showed that socio-economic factors such as crime, violence, and economic inequality, negatively influence parents wellbeing -emotions experienced and life satisfaction. Notably, parents seem to find joy in sharing their own personal experiences with their children and passing on gender-based models. However, parents perceive family pressure as a “burden” since they are expected to follow principles of Machismo/Marianismo. Similar to Asian, but unlike European parents, LA parents experience a mixture of positive and negative emotions throughout the parenting journey although strongly shaped by Machismo and Marianismo. This study makes a unique contribution by uncovering the unique influence of LA socio-economic challenges and cultural impositions and expectations and its influence on parental wellbeing

Automated identification of hedgerows and hedgerow gaps using deep learning Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation

Hedgerows are a key component of the UK landscape that form boundaries, borders and limits of land whilst providing vital landscape-scale ecological connectivity for a range of organisms. They are diverse habitats in the agricultural landscape providing a range of ecosystem services. Poorly managed hedgerows often present with gaps, reducing their ecological connectivity, resulting in fragmented habitats. However, hedgerow gap frequency and spatial distributions are often unquantified at the landscape-scale. Here we present a novel methodology based on deep learning (DL) that is coupled with high-resolution aerial imagery. We demonstrate how this provides a route towards a rapid, adaptable, accurate assessment of hedgerow and gap abundance at such scales, with minimal training data. We present the training and development of a DL model using the U-Net architecture to automatically identify hedgerows across the East Riding of Yorkshire (ERY) in the UK and demonstrate the ability of the model to estimate hedgerow gap types, lengths and their locations. Our method was both time efficient and accurate, processing an area of 2479 km2 in 32 h with an overall accuracy of 92.4%. The substantive results allow us to estimate that in the ERY alone, there were 3982 ± 302 km of hedgerows and 2865 ± 217 km of hedgerow gaps (with 339 km classified as for access). Our approach and study show that hedgerows and gaps can be extracted from true colour aerial imagery without the requirement of elevation data and can produce meaningful results that lead to the identification of prioritisation areas for hedgerow gap infilling, replanting and restoration. Such replanting could significantly contribute towards national tree planting goals and meeting net zero targets in a changing climate

Forever but not everywhere? Unexpected non-detection of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in major Philippines rivers

Recent studies suggest per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous in rivers worldwide. In the Asia-Pacific region, the frequency of PFAS detection in rivers is increasing. However, the overwhelming majority of studies and data represent high population and urbanized river catchments. In this study, we investigate PFAS occurrence in major Philippines river systems characterized by both high and low population densities. In the Pasig Laguna de Bay River, which drains a major urban conurbation, we detected PFAS at concentrations typical of global rivers. Unexpectedly, we did not detect PFAS in river water or sediments in low population density river catchments, despite our instrument detection limits being lower than the vast majority of river concentrations reported worldwide. We hypothesize that septic tanks, as the dominant wastewater treatment practice in Philippines catchments, may control the release of PFAS into groundwater and rivers in the Philippines. However, no groundwater PFAS data currently exist to validate this supposition. More broadly, our findings highlight the need for more representative PFAS sampling and analysis in rivers to more accurately represent regional and global detection frequencies and trends

Teaching first-year students during transition to higher education: An autoethnographical account

Transition to the first-year of higher education represents a key period of change for students and is a powerful element of the university experience. Educators are key in facilitating successful first-year experiences and must understand the multidimensional aspects of transition in order to effectively support diverse student groups. This study adopts an autoethnographic methodology to explore the experiences of an educator teaching first-year students during transition to higher education. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted using data from a period of the educators' reflexive journaling, identifying three themes for discussion: managing variation, everchanging hats, and worthwhile efforts. Implications for practice are identified and the process of writing an autoethnographic piece is reflected upon. This autoethnography encourages educators to reflect and develop a deeper understanding of the self and others for the benefit of the learning and teaching environment

URED Observer-Based Feedback Linearized Neuro Adaptive SMC for a Twin Rotor MIMO System: Design and Experimental Study

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are highly nonlinear and sophisticated systems that demand precise trajectory tracking in environments with uncertainties and disturbances. This research presents advanced nonlinear, adaptive, and artificial intelligence-based control strategies for UAVs. Beyond simulation, the strategies are experimentally evaluated on a coupled Two Degree of Freedom (2-DOF) Twin-rotor MIMO System (TRMS). The proposed strategies include Sliding Mode Control (SMC), Super Twisting (ST), BackStepping (BS), and Neuro-Adaptive SMC (NNSMC), all designed using a feedback linearized mathematical model of the system. System performance is enhanced by decoupling the TRMS into horizontal and vertical subsystems through Lie derivatives and diffeomorphism principles. A Uniform Robust Exact Differentiator (URED) estimates rotor speeds and recovers missing derivatives, while a nonlinear state feedback observer improves system observability and mitigates uncertainties and external wind gusts. Furthermore, ST and NNSMC-based laws reduce high-frequency oscillations in the control input of the first-order SMC law, resulting in improved transient response. The experimental results reveal that NNSMC significantly outperforms ST and BS in terms of trajectory tracking accuracy, transient performance, and integral performance indices for both pitch and yaw angles. These findings underscore the superior convergence performance and robustness of NNSMC, establishing it as a promising solution for precise TRMS control in real real-world environment

Assessing the Tribological Performance of Sanitary Pads

The impact of tribological performance on comfort and user satisfaction in material-skin interactions is an established field of study. Work in this field has translated to the investigation of incontinence products, but the performance of sanitary pad products has been largely overlooked despite the substantial user group. With the push for sustainability in personal care products, reusable products are a growing market that should be a key focus for product development. This study investigated the frictional characteristics of three reusable and five disposable sanitary pads in contact with silicone skin surrogate and PLA reference pin, to work towards understanding the impact of material composition selection on comfort. Repeat tests were conducted on dry and increasingly saturated samples to measure the coefficient of friction on both disposable and reusable pads. With one reusable product being assessed following three sequential wash and dry cycles to assess frictional response to cleaning. Reusable pads showed a lower coefficient of friction comparative to disposable pads regardless of top cover composition with silicone surrogate interactions. Across both product types, favourably friction coefficients were seen in bamboo composition top covers. Thickness and material composition both contribute to the variance seen in interactions and require further investigation into how to optimise material properties for sanitary products from a comfort perspective. Washing cycles applied to one reusable product, showed a marginal reduction in friction, indicating smoothing or coating of the fibres may be taking place and could impact comfort perception, which should be assessed further to understand the impact on product lifetime comparative to absorbency potential

Modelling the Effects of Anthropogenic Disturbances on the Evolution of a Mega-Delta

River deltas provide ecosystem services that are vital to the world's population, supporting both lives and livelihoods. However, these low-lying areas face heightened vulnerability to the effects of climate change. This is intensified by local resource exploitation including sand mining and hydropower expansion that cause the lowering of riverbeds and modulate freshwater flux. These cumulative impacts, coupled with changes in input hydrological conditions and rising sea levels, have the potential to cause considerable disruptions in the flow dynamics across river deltas. Despite numerous studies into anthropogenic influences in delta evolution, a significant knowledge gap persists regarding how the combination of stressors that drive riverbed lowering influences alterations in hydraulic patterns and sediment transport capacity.Here the Lower Mekong Basin is used as an exemplar of sediment starved lowland rivers and deltas globally. Long-term hydrological data are combined with a 1D hydrodynamic numerical model and a 2D coupled hydrodynamic – sediment transport model to examine system response to rapid riverbed lowering. Assessing the relationships between riverbed lowering, water level, tidal amplitude and sediment transport across a range of spatiotemporal scales allows the quantification of the effects of riverbed lowering during a historical 20-year period and future projection.Historical data analysis and hydrodynamic model results suggest that for median freshwater flux conditions, the system's historical average riverbed lowering of approximately 3.06 m ( = 2.03 m) from 1998 to 2018 has led to simultaneous declines in average annual water levels of approximately 0.65 m ( = 0.75 m) and an increase in the average annual tidal range by approximately 0.19 m ( = 0.15 m). The reduction in water level is more pronounced landward, whereas the increased tidal range is more prominent seaward. Under anticipated Future scenario (to the year 2038), where the riverbed lowering is projected to average around 5.92 m ( = 2.84 m) compared to 1998, declines in mean water level of approximately 1.27 m ( = 1.5 m) are projected while, the maximum water level reduction landward reaches may reach 4.19 m. Simultaneously, the mean tidal range is expected to increase by approximately 0.46 m ( = 0.27m), with the maximum rise potentially reaching more than 1 m in seaward areas. Furthermore, model results indicate that riverbed lowering significantly reduces water flux from the river to its floodplain and towards the Tonle Sap Lake, one of the world’s most productive lake-wetland systems, with wide implications for food security. Hydrodynamic and sediment transport model results indicate that riverbed lowering diminishes sediment transport capacity. Specifically, simulated sand transport at the apex of the delta has decreased by approximately 30% over the nine-year period from 2013 to 2022. By 2022, simulated data at the apex of the delta indicates that sand transport is roughly 10 times lower than the observed total sand extraction volume across the entire Lower Mekong Basin. The significant disparity between sand transport capacity and sand extraction in the delta, coupled with the decrease in sediment supply due to upstream damming and natural reductions in sediment load from shifting tropical cyclones will further exacerbate the adverse effects of sand mining and sediment starvation caused by upstream river impoundment

Sustainable Pedagogy in Early Childhood and Beyond

The seminar will consider how adults and children are preparing to manage sustainability in the 21st Century. UNESCO (2017) reminds us of the urgency of the current planetary situation. Gunther and colleagues (2024) stress the need for children to have the capacity and ability to question and be critically open to acquiring new knowledge. Sustainable Pedagogy promotes a children’s rights-based philosophy led from practice

How do patient information documents present dialysis and conservative kidney management? A document analysis

Background Most older people with advanced kidney disease face a decision between conservative kidney management (CKM) or dialysis and must weigh their potential benefits, risks and impacts on quality and length of life. Patient information documents are designed to supplement patients' understanding of their kidney disease and explain treatment options to support decision-making. We aimed to explore how patient information documents frame the treatment options of CKM and dialysis and consider implications for patients' treatment choice. Methods We conducted a qualitative document analysis of patient information documents collected from four UK renal outpatient departments with variation in rates of CKM for people ≥75 years of age. Data were analysed using critical discourse analysis. Results Three global themes were identified: 1) Treatment options are not presented equally: Dialysis was constructed as the assumed patient choice. CKM was often omitted as an option; when included, it was always mentioned last and was typically constructed negatively. 2) Deciding is challenging: Treatment decision-making, particularly choosing CKM, was portrayed as a challenge requiring emotional support, with clinicians the ultimate decision-maker. 3) Dialysis is living, CKM is dying: Patient information documents presented patients as living with one treatment option choice (dialysis) and dying with another (CKM). Advance care planning, palliative care and information about dying were presented only in the context of CKM, implying these were irrelevant topics for people choosing dialysis. Conclusions Patient information documents presented unbalanced explanations of dialysis and CKM. Dialysis was framed as 'treatment' and possible complications were minimized. CKM was framed as 'non-treatment' and linked to advance care planning, palliative care and death. Inaccurate framing of both CKM and dialysis may mean patients exclude treatment options that may be more concordant with their goals, values and preferences