Late cochlear implanted adults with prelingual deafness in Southern New Zealand: exploring their long-term needs

Background: To date, there is a lack of research that has focused on the needs of late cochlear implanted adults with prelingual deafness. The specific study aims were: (1) to explore the met and unmet long-term needs of late cochlear implanted adults with prelingual deafness from their own perspectives and those of the employees at SCIP; and 2) to identify a consensus of the most important met and unmet long-term needs of late cochlear implanted adults with prelingual deafness. Method: This study used a modified Delphi technique with two rounds. In the first round, nine adults who were considered experts on this topic participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews. The participants were five late cochlear implanted recipients with prelingual deafness who were involved in the Southern Cochlear Implant Programme in New Zealand, and four clinicians from the programme. The interview transcripts were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results from the first round were used to inform the development of the survey for the second round. The second round of the study involved surveying the same participants who participated in the first round. These surveys were quantitatively analysed so as to discover which needs were considered important and met, and important and unmet for the cochlear implant recipients, from the perspectives of the two categories of participants. Results: The first round of the study revealed 42 met needs and 39 unmet needs that fell into 15 categories. Of these needs, 26 met needs and 18 unmet needs were identified as being important by a majority of the participants in the second round. Conclusion: The results from the study may impact potential CI recipients’ and their families’ expectations of what the device can provide, as well as the development of future services and governmental policies in the area

Renegotiating father’s identity following stillbirth: what and who am I?

This study examines the experiences of men following stillbirth in particular the challenges they face in claiming their identity as a father of an absent child. Fathers felt diminished when concerns about how they were coping were directed only to the women. Contrary to the notion that father’s experience suggests men suffer less distress, this research shows that men also deal with loss at an emotional level. This investigation into men’s accounts of loss forms part of a larger study in which 28 men and women participated in interviews and focus groups about their experiences of perinatal death. By listening to narrative accounts of loss, the passage to parenthood for bereaved men represents a disruption and re-evaluation of who they are, what they knew about the world as they negotiate the incomprehensibility of the death itself. Narratives by bereaved men also reveal how their sense of self and identity is mediated by the social and cultural milieu to which they belong and are largely disenfranchising experiences when friends, family and others, at times, fail to acknowledge the enormity of their loss. The findings suggest that recognition of the death of baby who is stillborn as well as the impact of the death for father’s is intertwined with personal identity. Men in this study needed to receive recognition as fathers, both at the time of their loss and after. In examining the reproductive and bereavement journey of men, several domains occurred to illuminate the experience of men including; men as support partners; the impact of the death; parenting an absent child [advocate, protector]. The findings from this study will offer insight into the experiences of men that will resonate for others including practitioners who support individuals going through similar experiences. Ethical approval for the study was granted by the University of Bristol Ethics Committee as part of doctoral research. Written informed consent was obtained by all study participants. No formal recruitment was obtained through the National Health Service or Government Institution and was entirely voluntary

Public perceptions of carbon dioxide removal in the United States and the United Kingdom

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies may be needed to meet climate change targets. A full understanding of public attitudes towards such approaches is currently lacking. Here we report a mixed-methods study on public perceptions of CDR in the United States and the United Kingdom, focusing on bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, direct air capture and terrestrial enhanced rock weathering. A discourse of climate urgency had a substantial impact on perceptions, with CDR seen as offering too slow a response to the climate crisis. CDR also fails to reflect long-term hopes for a sustainable world, being interpreted as not addressing the root causes of climate change. A social license to operate may therefore depend on resolving these temporal dilemmas regarding both the short- and long-term implications of technology development. While research under well-controlled conditions is likely to be acceptable, at-scale deployment without corresponding efforts to reduce emissions may represent a red line for many people

Exploring cross-national public support for the use of enhanced weathering as a land-based carbon dioxide removal strategy

This study explores how public attitudes across three countries influence support towards terrestrial enhanced weathering, whereby silicate minerals are applied to agricultural land to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. An online survey was administered in Australia (N = 1000), the UK (N = 1000), and the USA (N = 1026) where there are ongoing field trials of this technique. Findings are similar across all three countries with many participants unfamiliar with enhanced weathering and unsure about supporting the use of enhanced weathering. Results show that positive affect is the main predictor for support of this technique, along with perceived benefits and level of concern about climate change. Open-ended questions asking why respondents would or would not support the use of enhanced weathering elicit mainly affective concepts, with enhanced weathering seen by individual respondents as either something mainly positive or mainly negative, with others saying it sounds risky and/or would have impacts on the environment. The way in which enhanced weathering is communicated is likely to influence support of the use of this strategy so must be undertaken carefully. Overall, our findings show that it is imperative to continue to engage the public, thereby allowing their views to be incorporated as enhanced weathering technology develops over time

Incumbency, trust and the Monsanto effect: stakeholder discourses on greenhouse gas removal

This paper explores factors shaping perceptions of Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) amongst a range of informed stakeholders, with a particular focus on their role in future social and political systems. We find considerable ambivalence regarding the role of climate targets and incumbent interests in relation to GGR. Our results suggest that GGR is symbolic of a fundamental debate - occurring not only between separate people, but sometimes within the minds of individuals themselves - over whether technological solutions represent a pragmatic or an unethical strategy. We present the idea of a 'Monsanto effect', whereby an entirely separate debate taps into deeper narratives and becomes so pervasive that it spills over into a new topic area. Our findings have significant implications for extant and emergent climate policy as they suggest that, in addition to the considerable practical challenges facing large-scale GGR deployment, there is a deeper psychological challenge in that actors are themselves conflicted about the fundamental desirability of GGR

Deliberating enhanced weathering: public frames, iconic ecosystems, and the governance of carbon removal at scale

Meeting goals for ‘net zero’ emissions may require the removal of previously emitted carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. One proposal, enhanced rock weathering, aims to speed up the weathering processes of rocks by crushing them finely and spreading them on agricultural land. Public perceptions of enhanced rock weathering and its wider social and environmental implications will be a critical factor determining its potential; we use six 2-day deliberative workshops in England, Wales and Illinois to understand public views. Consideration of enhanced rock weathering deployment in tropical countries led participants to frame it from a social justice perspective, which had been much less prevalent when considering Western agricultural contexts, and generated assumptions of increased scale, which heightened concerns about detrimental social and environmental impacts. Risk perceptions relating to ‘messing with nature’ became amplified when participants considered enhanced rock weathering in relation to ‘iconic’ environments such as the oceans and rainforest

Effects of Strength Training on Postpubertal Adolescent Distance Runners

**Purpose** Strength training activities have consistently been shown to improve running economy (RE) and neuromuscular characteristics, such as force producing ability and maximal speed, in adult distance runners. However the effects on adolescent (<18 years) runners remains elusive. This randomized control trial aimed to examine the effect of strength training on several important physiological and neuromuscular qualities associated with distance running performance. **Methods** Participants (n=25, 13 female, 17.2 ±1.2 years) were paired according to their sex and RE and randomly assigned to a ten week strength training group (STG), or a control group (CG) who continued their regular training. The STG performed twice weekly sessions of plyometric, sprint and resistance training in addition to their normal running. Outcome measures included body mass, maximal oxygen uptake (V˙O2max), speed at V˙O2max, running economy (quantified as energy cost), speed at fixed blood lactate concentrations (sFBLC), 20 m sprint, and maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) during an isometric quarter-squat. **Results** Eighteen participants (STG, n=9, 16.1 ±1.1 years; CG, n=9, 17.6 ±1.2 years) completed the study. The STG displayed small improvements (3.2-3.7%, ES: 0.31-0.51) in running economy that were inferred as ‘possibly beneficial’ for an average of three submaximal speeds. Trivial or small changes were observed for body composition variables, V˙O2max and sV˙O2max, however the training period provided likely benefits to sFBLC in both groups. Strength training elicited a very likely benefit and a possible benefit to sprint time (ES: 0.32) and MVC (ES: 0.86) respectively. **Conclusion** Ten weeks of strength training added to the programme of a post-pubertal distance runner was highly likely to improve maximal speed, and enhances running economy by a small extent, without deleterious effects on body composition or other aerobic parameters

Casting a wider net on ocean NETs

Societal issues involving policies and publics are generally understudied in research on ocean-based Negative Emission Technologies (NETs), yet will be crucial if novel techniques are ever to function at scale. Public attitudes are vital for emerging technologies: publics influence political mandates, help determine the degree of uptake by market actors, and are key to realizing broader ambitions for robust decision-making and responsible incentivization. Discourses surrounding ocean NETs will also have fundamental effects on how governance for the techniques emerges, shaping how they are defined as an object of governance, who is assigned the authority to govern, and what instruments are deemed appropriate. This Perspective brings together key insights on the societal dimensions of ocean NETs, drawing on existing work on public acceptability, policy assessment, governance, and discourse. Ocean iron fertilization is the only ocean NET on which there exists considerable social science research thus far, and we show that much evidence points against its social desirability. Taken in conjunction with considerable natural science uncertainties, this leads us to question whether further research is actually necessary in order to rule out ocean iron fertilization as an option. For other ocean NETs, there is a need for further research into social dimensions, yet research on analogous technologies shows that ocean interventions will likely evoke strong risk perceptions, and evidence suggests that the majority of ocean NETs may face a greater public acceptability challenge than terrestrial NETs. Ocean NETs also raise complex challenges around governance, which pose questions well-beyond the remit of the natural sciences and engineering. Using a conceptual exploration of the ways in which different types of discourse may shape emerging ocean NETs governance, we show that the very idea of ocean NETs is likely to set the stage for a whole new range of contested futures

Toward Best Management Practices for Ecological Corridors

This article summarizes the best available information about managing ecological corridor systems. The aim with is to provide managers with a convenient guidance document and tool to assist in applying scientific management principles to management of corridors. It does not cover issues related to corridor design or political buy in, but focuses on how a corridor should be managed once it has been established