COVID-Keynesianism was a short-term crisis management tactic. Neoliberal policymaking is back

When major economies adopted Keynesian policies to deal with the COVID pandemic, the move was hailed as a ­reorientation of economic policymaking around a new policy paradigm. However, James Wood, Valentina Ausserladscheider, and Matthew Sparkes argue that rather than marking a permanent shift away from neoliberalism, Keynesian-style policies may have been a temporary form of economic crisis management, and neoliberal economic ideas have become re-established post-COVID

Borrowed identities: Class(ification), inequality and the role of credit-debt in class making and struggle

Class analysis has re-emerged as a pertinent area of enquiry. This development is linked to a growing body of work dubbed cultural class analysis, that utilises Bourdieu’s class scheme to develop rich understandings of how culture and lifestyle interacts with economic and social relations in Britain, generating inequalities and hierarchies. Yet cultural class analyses do not properly account for the way individuals resist their relative class positions, nor the role of unsecured credit in facilitating consumption. This article contributes to this area by examining how unsecured credit and problem debt influences consumption and class position amongst individuals with modest incomes. Drawing on 21 interviews with individuals managing problem debt, this article details how class inequality emerges through affective states that include anxiety and feelings of deficit. It also shows how these experiences motivate participants to rely on unsecured credit to consume cultural goods and engage in activities in a struggle against their class position, with the intention of enhancing how they are perceived and classified by others. The findings indicate that cultural class analyses may have overlooked the symbolic importance of mundane consumption and goods in social differentiation. This article further details how these processes entangle individuals into complex liens of debt – which lead to over-indebtedness, default, dispossession and financial expropriation – illustrating how investigations of credit-debt can better inform understandings of class inequality, exploitation and struggleThis work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number 1014317]

The Role of Boundary Conditions on the Stability of Confined Active Matter: A Numerical Instability Analysis on Momentum-Conserving Active Matter

Active matter is comprised of active particles whose underlying property is their ability to exert mechanical stresses on their environment by the conversion of stored or ambient free-energy. At sufficient particle number density, orientational order emerges due to steric, mechanical or behavioural mechanisms, generating collective motion in motile suspensions. On micrometre length scales, active particles such as bacteria can be categorised by their swimming type: `extensile' swimmers push themselves through their medium using flagellum, whereas `contractile' swimmers pull themselves. Activity drives an instability in ordered extensile (contractile) suspensions due to bend (splay) deformations in the suspension orientation (director) which generate active flow and enhance the director perturbation by shear-induced torque. This work comprises a two-part comprehensive extension to this fundamental instability in both 2D and 3D, and both unbounded and confined regimes. Active flow propagates in the same plane as the deformation that caused it, and in part one of this work, we show this causes a de-coupling of the governing equations in the unbounded 3D regime, resulting in the dominance of bend modes for extensile suspensions. Our main result concerns a new chirality term in the Jeffrey orbit equations which re-couples the governing equations by rotating the director out-of-plane from activity induced shear, and in an imposed-shear regime, enhances the instability growth rate by up to 10% versus the unbounded regime when alignment-to-shear and chiral-rotation effects are both present. In part two, we connect bulk growth rates to regimes of weak and strong confinement and show the critical confinement length h^c to suppress growth in 2D regime is related to the wavelength of maximum growth in the unbounded regime, and show further that alternative boundary conditions can reduce this critical value by an order of magnitude. The culmination of this work is the exploration of alternative steady states and boundary conditions for the suspension orientation: the effects of rotating the suspension relative to the boundaries, investigating torque-free boundary conditions, imposing a `swimmer slip' condition on the substrate, and the effects of inclination. We find regimes for which alignment-to-shear is stabilising, regimes where alignment-to-shear is de-stabilising, and predict new steady states using a steady torque-balanced equation for the director. This work invites discussion on appropriate boundary conditions for active matter by providing insight into the dynamics of 3D regimes of confinement, with experimentally realisable predictions for low Reynolds number suspensions. As part of an ongoing research narrative, this work utilises a robust codebase, broadly extendable to new regimes of interest, and will be published at a later date

Borrowed Identities: Credit, Debt and Classificatory Struggles in Neoliberal Britain

This thesis unpacks the complex and interconnected relationships between credit and debt, specific techniques of government, and social class processes over time. The thesis is underpinned by a social ecological model: it operates horizontally across the credit and debt realms and vertically on three levels – the meta, the macro and the micro. Methodologically, the data are generated from archival databases, experiences drawn from working within a debt charity, and in-depth interviews with 21 individuals using the services of StepChange Debt Charity to help with their financial difficulties. The thesis starts by exploring how a cadre of free-marketers proposed a series of economic and social policies from the 1950s which aimed to configure a new form of governmentality. Drawing upon documents drawn from various archives, the thesis reveals how their ideas – the market, the consumer, and the pursuit of private property – all rely on unhindered credit to operate. The thesis subsequently examines identity formation within a social domain dominated by these ideas and awash with credit. Building a theoretical framework based on Pierre Bourdieu’s relational understandings of class and Anthony Giddens’ notion of ontological security, the thesis then draws on interview data to outline how the participants use credit to build identities in response to amplifying inequality. A consequence of this process for the participants is the accumulation of a large credit balance, and their fall-into-debt. Here the thesis changes track, beginning to explore the dominant forms of governmentality that structure the debt realm. Initially tracing how debt collection practices threaten the participants’ capital stocks, the thesis moves onto expose how the shame and fear these practices induce are not unintended but instead serve to transform identities. The thesis shows how neoliberals classify and stigmatise those who fall-into-debt as irresponsible and immoral debtors, and disseminate a discourse of individual financial responsibility, with the intention of normalising total debt repayment. The thesis draws upon the interview data to reveal how the participants come to internalise these discourses and reconstruct their lives to make sure they submit to it. This thesis argues the realms of credit and debt, the forms of governmentality engendered to support them, and the ‘classificatory struggles’ they induce, are arranged to provide enduring, maximised and protected profit streams to those who produce and distribute credit

The neuromuscular, endocrine and mood responses to a single versus double training session day in soccer players

ObjectivesThis study profiled the 24 hour (h) neuromuscular, endocrine and mood responses to a single versus a double training day in soccer players.DesignRepeated measures.MethodsTwelve semi-professional soccer players performed small-sided-games (SSG’s; 4vs4 + goalkeepers; 6 × 7-min, 2-min inter-set recovery) with neuromuscular (peak-power output, PPO; jump height, JH), endocrine (salivary testosterone, cortisol), and mood measures collected before (pre) and after (0 h, +24 h). The following week, the same SSG protocol was performed with an additional lower body strength training session (back-squat, Romanian deadlift, barbell hip thrust; 4 × 4 repetitions, 4-min inter-set recovery; 85% 1 rep-max) added at 2 h after the SSG’s.ResultsBetween-trial comparisons revealed possible to likely small impairments in PPO (2.5 ± 2.2 W·kg-1; 90% Confidence Limits: ±2.2 W·kg-1), JH (-1.3; ±2.0 cm) and mood (4.6; ±6.1 AU) in response to the double versus single sessions at +24 h. Likely to very likely small favourable responses occurred following the single session for testosterone (-15.2; ±6.1 pg·ml-1), cortisol (0.072; ±0.034 ug·dl-1) and testosterone/cortisol ratio (-96.6; ±36.7 AU) at +24 h compared to the double session trial.ConclusionsThese data highlight that performance of two training sessions within a day resulted in possible to very likely small impairments of neuromuscular performance, mood score and endocrine markers at +24 h relative to a single training session day. A strategy of alternating high intensity explosive training days containing multiple sessions with days emphasising submaximal technical/tactical activities may be beneficial for those responsible for the design and delivery of soccer training programs

<i>PHKA2</i> variants expand the phenotype of phosphorylase B kinase deficiency to include patients with ketotic hypoglycemia only

Idiopathic ketotic hypoglycemia (IKH) is a diagnosis of exclusion with glycogen storage diseases (GSDs) as a differential diagnosis. GSD IXa presents with ketotic hypoglycemia (KH), hepatomegaly, and growth retardation due to PHKA2 variants. In our multicenter study, 12 children from eight families were diagnosed or suspected of IKH. Whole‐exome sequencing or targeted next‐generation sequencing panels were performed. We identified two known and three novel (likely) pathogenic PHKA2 variants, such as p.(Pro869Arg), p.(Pro498Leu), p.(Arg2Gly), p.(Arg860Trp), and p.(Val135Leu), respectively. Erythrocyte phosphorylase kinase activity in three patients with the novel variants p.(Arg2Gly) and p.(Arg860Trp) were 15%–20% of mean normal. One patient had short stature and intermittent mildly elevated aspartate aminotransferase, but no hepatomegaly. Family testing identified two asymptomatic children and 18 adult family members with one of the PHKA2 variants, of which 10 had KH symptoms in childhood and 8 had mild symptoms in adulthood. Our study expands the classical GSD IXa phenotype of PHKA2 missense variants to a continuum from seemingly asymptomatic carriers, over KH‐only with phosphorylase B kinase deficiency, to more or less complete classical GSD IXa. In contrast to typical IKH, which is confined to young children, KH may persist into adulthood in the KH‐only phenotype of PHKA2

Neuromuscular, biochemical, endocrine, and mood responses to small-sided games' training in professional soccer

The 24h responses to small-sided games (SSG) soccer training were characterized. Professional soccer players (n=16) performed SSG’s (4vs4 + goalkeepers; 6x7-min, 2-min inter-set recovery) with performance (peak-power output, PPO; jump height, JH), physiological (blood creatine kinase: CK, lactate; salivary testosterone, cortisol), and mood measures collected before (baseline), and after (immediately; 0h, +2h, +24h). For PPO and JH, possibly small-moderate reductions occurred at 0h (-1.1W·kg-1; ±0.9W·kg-1, -3.2cm; ±1.9cm, respectively), before returning to baseline at +2h (trivial) and declining thereafter (small-moderate effect) at +24h (-0.9W·kg-1; ±0.8W·kg-1, -2.5cm; ±1.2cm, respectively). Lactate increased at 0h (likely-large; +1.3mmol·L-1; ±0.5mmol·L-1), reduced at +2h (likely-small; -0.5mmol·L-1; ±0.2mmol·L-1), and returned to baseline at 24h (trivial). A very-likely small increase in CK occurred at 0h (+97u·L-1; ±28u·L-1), persisting for +24h (very-likely small; +94u·L-1; ±49u·L-1). Possibly-small increases in testosterone (+20pg·ml-1; ±29pg·ml-1) occurred at 0h, before likely-moderate declines at +2h (-61pg·ml-1; ±21pg·ml-1) returning to baseline at +24h (trivial). For cortisol, possibly-small decreases occurred at 0h (-0.09ug·dl-1; -±0.16ug·dl-1), before likely-large decreases at +2h (-0.39ug·dl-1; ±0.12ug·dl-1), which persisted for 24h (likely-small; -0.12ug·dl-1; ±0.11ug·dl-1). Mood was disturbed by SSG’s at 0h (likely-moderate; +13.6AU, ±5.6AU) and +2h (likely-small; +7.9AU; ±5.0AU), before returning to baseline at +24h (trivial). The movement demands of SSG’s result in a bimodal recovery pattern of neuromuscular function and perturbations in physiological responses and mood for up to 24h. Accordingly, when programming soccer training, SSG’s should be periodized throughout the competitive week with submaximal technical/tactical activities

Physiological differences between sugar beet varieties susceptible, tolerant or resistant to the beet cyst nematode, Heterodera schachtii (Schmidt) under uninfested conditions

The beet cyst nematode (BCN) is a problem to sugar beet growers around the world and can cause severe yield losses. Recently, varieties of sugar beet have been developed which are either tolerant to damage caused by BCN, or alternatively are resistant to BCN. Little is understood about these varieties and how they may have different physiological characteristics when compared with varieties of sugar beet that are susceptible to BCN. This study assessed a range of nine varieties, which were tolerant, susceptible or resistant to BCN, in pot and hydroponic tank investigations to measure differences in their canopy, early rooting and yield traits in the absence of BCN. Two field experiments, using four varieties which were susceptible, resistant or tolerant to BCN, then followed to test the hypothesis that increasing the plant population density (PPD) allows a BCN resistant variety to achieve a greater yield. In the pot and hydroponic experiments, it became clear that the varieties had different growth habits. The resistant variety yielded the least sugar and had the smallest canopy per plant. In the field experiments, which were not infested with BCN, in both years the resistant variety also showed a delayed canopy expansion compared to the other varieties. The rate of expansion could be increased by increasing the PPD. In 2016 this increased PPD resulted in higher yields of the resistant variety. However, due to better canopy development in the following year, a yield penalty was found in 2017 at higher PPDs. Understanding how different varieties need different PPDs may make resistant varieties a more economical option to cultivate in the future. However, the levels of impurities, particularly sodium impurities, in the resistant plants may still make them a less favourable choice to grow. The light tolerant varieties showed a distinct increased rooting and canopy expansion rate compared to the other variety types, while the tolerant varieties showed similar rooting and canopy traits to the susceptible varieties but had different yield responses to increased seed rate