Psychopathic Cultures: Sexual and Lateral Violence in Contemporary Chicana and Métis Women's Writing

The chapter examines the memoir Mean (2017) by Chicana author Myriam Gurba and the novel The Break (2016) by Métis writer Katherena Vermette. Through textual analysis, the chapter shows how these two writers resist dominant ideas concerning “psychopathy” that perpetuate gendered, raced, and classed stereotypes. The chapter argues that these authors unsettle psychopathy as something situated in the individual to depict the United States and Canada as psychopathic structures that create the conditions for certain forms of violence to flourish. Vermette and Gurba’s work contributes to the body of Indigenous and Chicana writing that rejects, rewrites, and resists misleading images of violence

A Randomised Controlled Trial of a psychotherapeutic intervention to improve quality of life and other outcomes in people who repeatedly self-harm: FReSH START study protocol

Background Self-harm is a major public health challenge and repeated self-harm is common in those attending hospital following an episode. Evidence suggests psychological interventions could help people who self-harm, but few definitive studies have assessed their clinical and cost-effectiveness. Repeated self-harm is associated with poor quality of life, depression, suicide and increased health service costs which justify the development of psychotherapeutic interventions tailored for people with repeated self-harm. Methods FReSH START is a multicentre individually 1:1 randomised controlled trial evaluating the clinical and cost-effectiveness of standard care plus psychological therapy or standard care alone for adults (>=18 years) presenting at an emergency department (ED) with repeated self-harm. Recruiting 630 participants, it includes an internal pilot, economic evaluation and process evaluation. The intervention will be delivered by mental health staff working in acute settings, with experience of assessing and managing risk in people presenting to emergency services with self-harm. Staff will be trained and supervised to deliver one of three specially adapted therapies: psychodynamic interpersonal therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, or acceptance and commitment therapy. Participants allocated to the intervention will receive one of the adapted therapies according to therapist allocation for up to 6 months via 12 weekly, one to one, 45-50 minute sessions. The primary outcome is quality of life measured by the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation Outcome Measure at 12 months post-randomisation. Secondary outcomes include suicidal intent, depression, and cost-effectiveness. Data are collected using hospital attendance records and online/postal/telephone questionnaires at 6 and 12 months post-randomisation, with resource use additionally collected at 3 and 9 months). Discussion This protocol outlines a randomised controlled trial to investigate whether modified therapies are cost-effective and improve quality of life for people who repeatedly self-harm. Few interventions are proven to be deliverable in the NHS for this population. This study is strengthened by the involvement of qualified mental health workers experienced in managing risk as therapists

Ontology, complex adaptive systems and economics

In this article we first set out what complexity theory is and its place in economics. We then discuss whether complexity economics has observably transformed the mainstream before asking, even if complexity economics did in fact succeed in changing the mainstream, would this make the mainstream significantly different? The purpose of the article is to establish that complexity economics is different than the previously existing mainstream but, drawing on critical realism and social ontology, not as different as one might think. We conclude by suggesting there is scope for a more ontologically nuanced understanding of complexity

"[K]neeling only goes to highlight your ignorance. England is NOT! a #racist country": Aversive racism, colour-blindness, and racist temporalities in discussions of football online

Drawing on theories of aversive racism and colour-blindness, which stress the invisibility of contemporary racism, this article analyses online discussions on taking the knee (TTK) during EURO2020 men’s football tournament. While highly visible racist abuse directed at Black English players after losing the final to Italy (dominative racism) received most public attention and repudiation, based on 6,850 English language tweets published on Twitter/X, this article shows how subtle racism and colour-blindness were reinforced in discussions around TTK over the duration of the tournament (aversive racism). The article also shows how individuals online developed a variety of strategies (evidence, othering, critique, and activism) to challenge the main arguments against anti-racist activism in football (identified in four themes: BLM, Marxism, virtue signalling, and woke). The article makes an original contribution by examining the changing intensity of online conversations on TTK over the duration of the tournament. Our analysis identifies key moments in the tournament, political elites’ rhetoric, and trends of success and failure as relevant factors that shaped vernacular conversations online. The discussion ultimately argues that investigating the temporal patterns of public discussions on (anti)racism provides valuable insights to understand the contemporary complexity of racism in football and society more broadly

Keystrokes: A practical exploration of semantic drift in timed word association tasks

This study investigates the phenomena of semantic drift through the lenses of language and situated simulation (LASS) and the word frequency effect (WFE) within a timed word association task. Our primary objectives were to determine whether semantic drift can be identified over the short time (25 seconds) of a free word association task (a predicted corollary of LASS), and whether more frequent terms are generated earlier in the process (as expected due to the WFE). Respondents were provided with five cue words (tree, dog, quality, plastic and love), and asked to write as many associations as they could. We hypothesized that terms generated later in the task (fourth time quartile, the last 19–25 seconds) would be semantically more distant (cosine similarity) from the cue word than those generated earlier (first quartile, the first 1–7 seconds), indicating semantic drift. Additionally, we explored the WFE by hypothesizing that earlier generated words would be more frequent and less diverse. Utilizing a dataset matched with GloVe 300B word embeddings, BERT and WordNet synsets, we analysed semantic distances among 1569 unique term pairs for all cue words across time. Our results supported the presence of semantic drift, with significant evidence of within-participant, semantic drift from the first to fourth time (LASS) and frequency (WFE) quartiles. In terms of the WFE, we observed a notable decrease in the diversity of terms generated earlier in the task, while more unique terms (greater diversity and relative uniqueness) were generated in the 4th time quartile, aligning with our hypothesis that more frequently used words dominate early stages of a word association task. We also found that the size of effects varied substantially across cues, suggesting that some cues might invoke stronger and more idiosyncratic situated simulations. Theoretically, our study contributes to the understanding of LASS and the WFE. It suggests that semantic drift might serve as a scalable indicator of the invocation of language versus simulation systems in LASS and might also be used to explore cognition within word association tasks more generally. The findings also add a temporal and relational dimension to the WFE. Practically, our research highlights the utility of word association tasks in understanding semantic drift and the diffusion of word usage over a sub-minute task, arguably the shortest practically feasible timeframe, offering a scalable method to explore group and individual changes in semantic relationships, whether via the targeted diffusion of influence in a marketing campaign, or seeking to understand differences in cognition more generally. Possible practical uses and opportunities for future research are discussed

Executive Summary of Evaluation of the Calderdale Warm Spaces 2022/23 Provision

The cost-of-living crisis has led to many people across the UK struggling to pay for essentials such as heating or eating. For those who were already living in poverty, increasing costs have brought additional challenges. Calderdale Council recognised the added challenges local people are facing and implemented a number of initiatives to support them. One initiative funded Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations to provide Warm Spaces. Warm Spaces, or warm hubs, are safe and friendly places where someone can go to keep warm during the day, throughout the winter months

Acceptance and rejection of “morally challenging” behaviour in online sperm donation communities: narrative interviews with recipients and donors

Introduction Online sperm donation allows those hoping to conceive a baby (“recipients”) to meet prospective sperm donors online, via “connection” websites or social media. These sites offer some advantages to clinical donation (including lower costs and greater choice over donation arrangements) but previous research has suggested that these sites may also pose risks and challenges to those who use them. Therefore, the aim of this exploratory research was to better understand online sperm donation communities and the experiences of both recipients and donors, particularly with respect to situations that could be “morally challenging” or involve harm. Methods Three prolific donors and five recipients were interviewed using an in-depth narrative approach. Carol Gilligan's Listening Guide was employed to analyse the data. Results The findings demonstrated that the donors sought to find ways to maintain autonomy in their donating practices and were concerned about the character and parenting abilities of recipients, as well as the potential for recipients to make unwarranted complaints. The recipients were concerned about their safety and finding a donor they could trust, discussing issues relating to donor “dishonesty”, online abuse, and a lack of support from connection sites and related authorities. Both donors and recipients identified “morally challenging” behaviour relating to donor anonymity (donor use of fake online profiles or aliases) and the sexual motivations or (mis)conduct of some donors. The participants each discussed the ways in which they managed perceived risks. Discussion The degree to which the participants voiced their acceptance or rejection of challenging behaviour in online sperm donation communities varied across and within participants, highlighting the complexity of the way in which people interact in this environment. Further research is required to understand how this form of sperm donation can be as safe and supportive as possible, while also respecting the importance to donors and recipients of autonomy and choice when making donation arrangements

Complex Interventions for a Complex System? Using Systems Thinking to Explore Ways to Address Unhealthy Commodity Industry Influence on Public Health Policy

Background: Interventions are needed to prevent and mitigate unhealthy commodity industry (UCI) influence on public health policy. Whilst literature on interventions is emerging, current conceptualisations remain incomplete as they lack considerations of the wider systemic complexities surrounding UCI influence, which may limit intervention effectiveness. This study applies systems thinking as a theoretical lens to help identify and explore how possible interventions relate to one another in the systems in which they are embedded. Related challenges to addressing UCI influence on policy, and actions to support interventions, were also explored. Methods: Online participatory workshops were conducted with stakeholders with expertise in UCIs. A systems map, depicting five pathways to UCI influence, and the Action Scales Model were used to help participants identify interventions and guide discussions. Codebook thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: Fifty-two stakeholders participated in 23 workshops. Participants identified 27 diverse, interconnected and interdependent interventions corresponding to the systems map’s pathways that reduce the ability of UCIs to influence policy, e.g., reform policy financing; regulate public-private partnerships; reform science governance and funding; frame and reframe the narrative, challenge neoliberalism and GDP growth; leverage human rights; change practices on multistakeholder governance; and reform policy consultation and deliberation processes. Participants also identified four potential key challenges to interventions (i.e., difficult to implement or achieve; partially formulated; exploited or misused; requires tailoring for context), and four key actions to help support intervention delivery (i.e., coordinate and cooperate with stakeholders; invest in civil society; create a social movement; nurture leadership). Conclusion: A systems thinking lens revealed the theoretical interdependence between disparate and heterogenous interventions. This suggests that to be effective, interventions need to align, work collectively, and be applied to different parts of the system synchronously. Importantly, these interventions need to be supported by intermediary actions to be achieved. Urgent action is now required to strengthen healthy alliances and implement interventions

Comparing 5D BIM costs: stilt housing against conventional housing for flood management

Purpose Sustainable and resilient infrastructure projects aim to reduce flooding impacts and improve community adaptability. For instance, flood-resistant stilts elevate structures, mitigating flood damage. Comprehensive consideration is crucial when adding elements to housing projects, incurring costs for all involved parties. This study aims to assess the viability of concrete stilts for cost-effective flood mitigation in Malaysian terrace housing. Design/methodology/approach The study evaluates cost implications through a comparative 5D building information modeling (BIM) cost analysis of stilted and conventional (standard) housing models. This assesses the percentage increase in total cost. Furthermore, a survey of construction professionals was undertaken. The study used online convenience and stratified sampling techniques. Out of the 222 emails that were sent, 27 construction professionals located in Johor, Sabah and Selangor within Malaysia participated in the research survey. Their perspectives on stilt housing prospects and factors for costing such structures were analyzed through a descriptive analysis using SPSS. Findings The case study models revealed that the incorporation of stilts could lead to a 21.64% increase in the overall cost per unit. This cost increase was primarily attributed to the additional reinforcement required. However, the survey findings highlighted that a majority of construction professionals perceived the cost increment to fall within the range of 10%–20%. Consequently, it becomes imperative to meticulously consider cost factors such as foundational requirements, staircases, and the extended construction duration to effectively curtail expenditures. The prospect of heightened costs potentially posing a threat to profit margins and discouraging developers necessitates careful financial management. Notwithstanding these challenges, the survey's insights underscored that professionals in the construction industry indeed recognize the potential of stilt technology in the realm of flood mitigation and management, particularly within housing projects. Practical implications This research has significant practical implications. It provides a precise financial contrast between housing categories using 5D BIM and incorporates construction experts’ viewpoints on raised housing. Enhanced design considerations for raised housing can make it economically viable, offering a cost-effective, nature-based approach to flood mitigation. This approach can bring substantial benefits to residents by reducing flood-related damages and enhancing community resilience. Originality/value One of the notable aspects of this research is its originality. It uses a dual quantitative methodology involving modeling and survey techniques to address its objectives effectively. This approach contributes significantly to the relatively limited body of research focused on stilt housing and the application of 5D BIM. By combining these methodologies, the study explores a relatively uncharted area, making a valuable contribution to the field

SCMC: Smart city measurement and control process for data security with data mining algorithms

In this paper the importance of monitoring smart city with integration of sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) is discussed with establishment of node control process. To describe the feature of smart cities time measurements are considered with one hop distance between various nodes. Hence the system model is established for various parameters that are integrated with K-means algorithm for clustering and C4.5 for classification. As a result of combining the dual algorithms with system model it is possible to establish a secured state for each data with proper response factor. The major significance of proposed method is to introduce node point where all increasing queues in smart cities are controlled due to the information that is achieved from every data points. Moreover the improvement in projected model can be observed with four scenarios where security at every data point plays an important role at an increased level of 84%. In addition to security the amount of stable points is increased with reduction in disparities for about 2% thereby every applications in smart cities are monitored in a precise way