‘Like being on death row’: Britain and the end of coal, c. 1970 to the present

ABSTRACT The introduction draws on the work of Raymond Williams to identify the ‘structures of feeling’ that surround the figure of the coal miner in contemporary British culture. As an analysis of the media coverage of the closure of the UK’s last deep-coal mine in December 2015 demonstrates, mine workers were cast as ‘residual proletarians’ whose modes of being and consciousness were portrayed as both admirable and pitifully out of date. The introduction goes on to demonstrate the dominance that selective memories of the miners’ strike of 1984/1985 exert over contemporary understandings of coal mining. Drawing on the work of Williams again, the introduction reflects on how certain images and tropes have reached hegemonic status while others have been marginalised. The introduction concludes by arguing that historical scholarship must extricate itself from the stranglehold of ‘1984/85’ and contends that the true significance of coal for contemporary British history lies in the extraordinary range of emotions, meanings and significations with which both the industry and the miners were invested by the contemporaries themselves

Differential predictors for alcohol use in adolescents as a function of familial risk

Abstract: Traditional models of future alcohol use in adolescents have used variable-centered approaches, predicting alcohol use from a set of variables across entire samples or populations. Following the proposition that predictive factors may vary in adolescents as a function of family history, we used a two-pronged approach by first defining clusters of familial risk, followed by prediction analyses within each cluster. Thus, for the first time in adolescents, we tested whether adolescents with a family history of drug abuse exhibit a set of predictors different from adolescents without a family history. We apply this approach to a genetic risk score and individual differences in personality, cognition, behavior (risk-taking and discounting) substance use behavior at age 14, life events, and functional brain imaging, to predict scores on the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) at age 14 and 16 in a sample of adolescents (N = 1659 at baseline, N = 1327 at follow-up) from the IMAGEN cohort, a longitudinal community-based cohort of adolescents. In the absence of familial risk (n = 616), individual differences in baseline drinking, personality measures (extraversion, negative thinking), discounting behaviors, life events, and ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, while the overall model explained 22% of the variance in future AUDIT. In the presence of familial risk (n = 711), drinking behavior at age 14, personality measures (extraversion, impulsivity), behavioral risk-taking, and life events were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, explaining 20.1% of the overall variance. Results suggest that individual differences in personality, cognition, life events, brain function, and drinking behavior contribute differentially to the prediction of future alcohol misuse. This approach may inform more individualized preventive interventions

Differential predictors for alcohol use in adolescents as a function of familial risk

Abstract: Traditional models of future alcohol use in adolescents have used variable-centered approaches, predicting alcohol use from a set of variables across entire samples or populations. Following the proposition that predictive factors may vary in adolescents as a function of family history, we used a two-pronged approach by first defining clusters of familial risk, followed by prediction analyses within each cluster. Thus, for the first time in adolescents, we tested whether adolescents with a family history of drug abuse exhibit a set of predictors different from adolescents without a family history. We apply this approach to a genetic risk score and individual differences in personality, cognition, behavior (risk-taking and discounting) substance use behavior at age 14, life events, and functional brain imaging, to predict scores on the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) at age 14 and 16 in a sample of adolescents (N = 1659 at baseline, N = 1327 at follow-up) from the IMAGEN cohort, a longitudinal community-based cohort of adolescents. In the absence of familial risk (n = 616), individual differences in baseline drinking, personality measures (extraversion, negative thinking), discounting behaviors, life events, and ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, while the overall model explained 22% of the variance in future AUDIT. In the presence of familial risk (n = 711), drinking behavior at age 14, personality measures (extraversion, impulsivity), behavioral risk-taking, and life events were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, explaining 20.1% of the overall variance. Results suggest that individual differences in personality, cognition, life events, brain function, and drinking behavior contribute differentially to the prediction of future alcohol misuse. This approach may inform more individualized preventive interventions

An immune dysfunction score for stratification of patients with acute infection based on whole-blood gene expression

Dysregulated host responses to infection can lead to organ dysfunction and sepsis, causing millions of global deaths each year. To alleviate this burden, improved prognostication and biomarkers of response are urgently needed. We investigated the use of whole-blood transcriptomics for stratification of patients with severe infection by integrating data from 3149 samples from patients with sepsis due to community-acquired pneumonia or fecal peritonitis admitted to intensive care and healthy individuals into a gene expression reference map. We used this map to derive a quantitative sepsis response signature (SRSq) score reflective of immune dysfunction and predictive of clinical outcomes, which can be estimated using a 7- or 12-gene signature. Last, we built a machine learning framework, SepstratifieR, to deploy SRSq in adult and pediatric bacterial and viral sepsis, H1N1 influenza, and COVID-19, demonstrating clinically relevant stratification across diseases and revealing some of the physiological alterations linking immune dysregulation to mortality. Our method enables early identification of individuals with dysfunctional immune profiles, bringing us closer to precision medicine in infection.peer-reviewe

See it, Say it, Sort it: How Personality and Decision Making Affects Safety Behaviours

Safety is major concern for organisations, and research has shown that individual differences have important roles in determining safety related behaviours. However, there are still substantial gaps in the literature that could further understanding of why individuals behave unsafely. Research in the safety literature has been constricted by the conceptualisation of personality as a stable construct and by research methods that usually measure personality and safety behaviours in their broad forms. Furthermore, there is little research on other influential individual differences, such as intentions and decision-making processes, that may affect the relationship between personality and safety behaviours.This thesis by publication aims to fill these gaps with three research papers on how personality and decision-making affects safety related behaviours. The first paper is a meta- analysis that examines relationships between the Big Five traits and specific safety related behaviours, such as rule violations, aggressive acts and compliance. It also examines personality facets, and traits not classified in the Big Five, and their effect on unsafe behaviour. Two observations were made during data collection of the meta-analysis: there were very few studies that researched the effect of decision-making processes on safety behaviours and no safety studies conceptualised personality as changeable, dynamic and reactive to workplace situations. Thus, the second paper constructed a safety decision making scale to make it possible for future researchers to test for relationships between safety decision making and behaviours. Finally, the third paper is a conceptual review that transfers knowledge of personality dynamics to the safety literature, to explain why individuals vary in their risk taking across different domains of risk, such as safety. The overall thesis contributes to the safety literature by providing depth in the exploration of personality and safety relationships, and by applying different perspectives of personality and decision making to explain safety related behaviours

Morphometric and physical characteristics distinguishing adult Patagonian lamprey, Geotria macrostoma from the pouched lamprey, Geotria australis

The pouched lamprey, Geotria australis Gray, 1851, has long been considered monotypic in the Geotriidae family with a wide southern temperate distribution across Australasia and South America. Recent studies have provided molecular and morphological evidence for a second Geotria species in South America; Geotria macrostoma (Burmeister, 1868). The aim of this study was to determine morphometric and physical characteristics of adult G. macrostoma that further differentiate this re-instated species of Geotriidae from G. australis. The diagnostic features discriminating immature adult G. macrostoma from G. australis when entering fresh water, are distinct differences in dentition, oral papillae and fimbriae counts and differences in coloration. In addition, G. macrostoma display greater growth of the prebranchial region and oral disc and has a deeper body depth and higher condition fac tor. All current ecological knowledge of the genus Geotria is based on Australasian popula tions, which may not be applicable to G. macrostoma. To ensure the conservation and protection of the Patagonian lamprey as a re-identified species, further investigations are needed to understand its life history, biology and ecology throughout its range.Fil: Baker, Cindy F.. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research; Nueva ZelandaFil: Riva Rossi, Carla Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto de Diversidad y Evolución Austral; ArgentinaFil: Quiroga, Analía Pamela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto de Diversidad y Evolución Austral; ArgentinaFil: White, Emily. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research; Nueva ZelandaFil: Williams, Peter. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research; Nueva ZelandaFil: Kitson, Jane. Kitson Consulting; Nueva ZelandaFil: Bice, Christopher M.. South Australian Research And Development Institute; Australia. University of Adelaide; AustraliaFil: Renaud, Claude B.. Canadian Museum Of Nature; CanadáFil: Potter, Ian. Murdoch University; AustraliaFil: Neira, Francisco J.. Neira Marine Sciences Consulting; AustraliaFil: Baigún, Claudio. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigación en Ingeniería Ambiental; Argentin