Exploring How Soccer Players With Perfectionism Navigate Challenges in Talent Pathways

The study provides a qualitative exploration of how soccer players reporting perfectionism navigate challenges in talent pathways. Eighteen players (10 females, eight males, M age = 16.17 years, SD = 3.47) from talent pathways with higher levels of perfectionism and perfectionistic cognitions (1 SD above the mean of samples from previous studies) participated in semistructured one-to-one interviews. Using semantic thematic analysis, seven themes were identified: cycles of anxiety, sadness at being a substitute, self-criticism and hopelessness during slumps, ruminating on mistakes, worthless when injured, shame in success and intolerance of defeat, and psychological distress. Participants experienced heightened anxiety, especially when substituted, and responded to poor performance, mistakes, and injuries with self-criticism and unhelpful emotions. Postmatch, they ruminated over both success and defeat, with some reporting extreme psychological difficulties. The findings highlight how aspiring soccer players perceived perfectionism as a barrier to overcoming challenges, hindering both their performance and well-being

A figurational analysis of secondary Physical Education gendered changing room procedures and practices in England

This article provides ethnographic insights from one state-funded secondary school in the north of England detailing gendered differences within changing room procedures and practices when changing attire for Physical Education (PE). Attained through participant observations, focus groups with pupils, and individual interviews with PE teachers, the school’s changing rooms were found to encompass multiple spaces, which served dual intended and unintended functions and social consequences. Applying concepts of figuration (Elias, 1978), [gendered] civilised bodies (Elias, 2012), habitus (Elias, 1978), and emotions (Elias, 2001) as theoretical prisms revealed how PE teacher-informed procedures and expectations were gendered. Furthermore, with age, boys’ and girls’ diverging changing room behaviours and emotional navigations became increasingly gendered. This article demonstrates how changing rooms not only serve practical functions, but also evoke social and emotional processes which impacts peer-group dynamics and pupils’ experiences of PE. Given this, participatory action research could be undertaken aimed at creating more equitable, inclusive, and effective localised changing room policies, procedures and practices. This study could also be expanded into investigating policies, practices and experiences of other similar spaces, such as toilets and swimming pools

Supporting and encouraging authors to publish Open Access Monographs with no REF2029 mandate

This online webinar explored how libraries are making the case for Open Access Monographs in the absence of a REF mandate. In August of last year, REF confirmed that the 2029 Research Excellence Framework will not have a mandate for Open Monographs, instead open access requirement for submission of longform outputs will be in place for the next assessment exercise, with implementation from 1 January 2029. Whilst this has delayed a sector wide transition to OA Books, there is still a need to support and encourage authors to publish open access monographs to encourage culture of Open Research and ensure the sector is ready for the 1st of January 2029

AI-driven strategies for enhancing Mpox surveillance and response in Africa

Mpox, a zoonotic viral disease endemic to several African countries, has re-emerged as a significant public health concern, particularly in regions with limited healthcare resources. Current public health strategies in Africa fall short due to fragmented surveillance systems, delayed diagnostic capabilities, and inadequate resource distribution networks that cannot effectively respond to rapidly evolving outbreaks in remote and underserved areas. This narrative review explores the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance the management and control of Mpox in Africa. AI technologies, including machine learning and predictive analytics, can significantly improve early detection, surveillance, contact tracing, case management, public health communication, and resource allocation. AI-driven tools can analyze large datasets to identify outbreak patterns, automate contact tracing through mobile data, optimize treatment plans, and tailor public health messages to specific communities. However, the successful implementation of AI faces challenges, including limited digital infrastructure, data quality issues, ethical concerns, and the need for capacity building. Furthermore, ongoing research is essential to refine AI algorithms and develop culturally sensitive applications. This review emphasizes the need for investment in infrastructure, training, and ethical frameworks to fully integrate AI into public health systems in Africa. By addressing these challenges, AI can play a pivotal role in mitigating the impact of Mpox and enhancing the resilience of healthcare systems against future infectious disease outbreaks. This represents a novel comprehensive synthesis of AI applications specifically for African Mpox control, providing a critical framework for evidence-based implementation strategies in resource-limited settings

Pictures at an Exhibition—AI-Driven Surrealist Futures: The Case of Reimagining Higher Education through Aesthetic Critique

This chapter explores the problematic of critique in the era of human-AI interaction. Drawing on Benjamin’s conception of dialectics at a standstill, the research makes use of an AI image generative application to construct an ‘exhibition’ of six imaginations—previously published as part of an imminent critique of entrepreneurial capitalistic economics. The research aim is to explore the potential of AI as a critical tool to unlock, access, or make visible, the value of human imagination. It addresses the question: can we (collectively) cultivate the use of genAI as a tool for a more general aesthetic engagement with a critical understanding of our future potential as a society? The chapter adopts a methodology of Applied Negative Dialectics, drawing implications from a single-case method, using AI-generated images of the future of Business Schools in Higher Education. The conclusion drawn is that the use of AI to garner the intrinsic value of ‘an empirics of the imagination’, in relation to the immanent critique of a defined area of socio-economic activity, provides the excitement of an AI that has value in facilitating the curation, exploration and enhancement of—rather than merely the replication and imitation of—the human experience. The chapter may benefit critical scholars, social and cultural theorists, artists and AI researchers by offering a new approach to utilising AI and aesthetically-informed judgment in socio-economic knowledge production

Teachers’, parents’ and pupils’ perceptions and described experiences of toilet provisions and practices within English schools

This article explores teachers’, parents’ and pupils’ perceptions and described experiences of school toilet policies, provisions and practices within state-funded primary (5-11 years) and secondary (11-16 years) schools in England. In doing so, this research critically examines how school-specific policies and toilet provisions influence children’s and young people’s use of toilets at school and identifies issues which pupils must navigate within this heavily tabooed space. Seeking to portray a range of perspectives, we present data generated through three mixed-method surveys completed by 96 schoolteachers, 158 parents, and 198 secondary school pupils. Adopting an overarching wide-angled lens, we combine descriptive statistics with thematic analysis to detail similarities and nuances of parents’, teachers’ pupils’ perceptions around (a) accessibility to school toilets, (b) problematic pupil behaviour, (c) provision quality. The different perspectives offered provide a wide-angled lens which allows for a wider dialogue between pupils, parents and teachers. Our key findings underscore the need for standardised, equity-focused guidelines that address both infrastructural inadequacies and behavioural dynamics

Greening the Path to Carbon Neutrality: The Role of Technical Factors in Reducing Carbon Emissions in South Asia Post‐COP 28

The rapid industrialization and economic growth of South Asia have improved living standards but also exacerbated CO2 emissions, intensifying the region's climate vulnerabilities. While existing literature has extensively examined green growth strategies in developed economies, few studies explore how green technological innovation, finance, and trade policies interact to shape emissions in South Asia, a region with distinct developmental challenges and high climate risks. This study investigates whether green energy adoption, technological innovation, and sustainable investments can decouple economic growth from emissions in South Asian economies from 1995 to 2022. Using second‐generation panel econometrics—accounting for cross‐sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity—along with AMG and CCEMG estimators, we assess long‐term relationships, supplemented by causal analysis, CuP‐FM and CuP‐BC for robustness. The results demonstrate that green technological innovation, green energy, and green finance significantly reduce CO2 emissions, while trade liberalization increases them, likely due to carbon‐intensive export structures and weak environmental regulations, a critical finding for regional policymaking. Furthermore, green investment mitigates emissions but requires stronger institutional support to align with COP28 mandates and SDGs (7, 9, 11–13). This study contributes to the literature by addressing the gap in South Asia–specific green growth analyses, integrating COP28 resolutions into empirical policy recommendations, and demonstrating the underutilized potential of green finance and innovation in achieving carbon neutrality. The findings urge policymakers to prioritize sustainable infrastructure, reform trade policies to reduce emissions leakage, and scale targeted green investments to reconcile economic and environmental goals

Utility of advanced brain MRI techniques for clinical and research purposes in a low-resource setting: A multicentre survey

Rationale and objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of advanced brain MRI techniques for clinical and research purposes in a low-resource setting. Materials and methods A national survey was conducted across healthcare facilities nationwide in Ghana. The survey included questions relating to facility demographic information, MRI scanner work functions, and utility of MRI for clinical and research purposes. Results Most MRI scanners were private-owned, with General Electric being the dominating scanner brand, and a high prevalence of 1.5 T MRI scanners. Most facilities have 1 – 4 radiologists and radiographers, and brain MRI prices were higher in private facilities compared to the public facilities. Most (84.6 %) facilities indicated the availability of PACS; however, none indicated the integration of artificial intelligence into their clinical workflow. Average weekly availability of MRI services was 7 days in most facilities (53.8 %). Most (69.2 %) facilities provide a 24-hour window to offer brain MRI services. A total of 1 – 4 brain MRI cases were performed daily. Only 4 (30.8 %) facilities indicated the availability of brain MRI protocol for research purposes. For clinical purposes, most facilities indicated their acquisition of 3D-T1-weighted (11 facilities), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) (7 facilities), and perfusion imaging (7 facilities). Conversely, fMRI (3 facilities), 1H-MRS (2 facilities), and DTI (1 facility) were in use for research purposes. Approximately 85 % of respondents indicated that they 'rarely' or 'never' utilize the scanners for research purposes. Conclusion The wide variation in the utility of MRI for clinical and research purposes highlights some opportunities for enhanced accessibility and potential recruitment of study participants, including challenges related to standardization in a potential multicentre brain MRI research