University of Greenwich

This study investigated patterns of digital technology use and their associations with loneliness in a cohort of 1632 young adults (mean age 26) in the UK who had been followed prospectively since childhood by the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study. Data were collected via an online survey in 2019–2020. Although overall time spent online was associated with greater loneliness, this was not the case for social media usage specifically. Use of social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) showed no association with loneliness. Instead, greater loneliness was associated with the use of Reddit and dating apps, while the use of WhatsApp was associated with lower loneliness. However, individuals who reported more compulsive use of digital technology, or experiences of online victimization, were lonelier on average, suggesting that the types of experiences individuals encounter online may be more related to loneliness than using particular platforms per se. Associations were robust to controls for a prior history of depression or anxiety at age 18. Moreover, findings remained broadly consistent between those who participated before versus during COVID‐19 lockdown measures. An exception was that certain types of media characterized by passive consumption were associated with loneliness prior to, but not during lockdown.

This study examines demographic and attitudinal determinants of belief in COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs in Poland and their impact on psychological well-being, social functioning, and adherence to public health measures over one year. A cross-sectional study with a retrospective component was conducted one year after the pandemic outbreak (N = 1000). A COVID-19 conspiracy belief factor, extracted via PCA, served as the dependent variable in hierarchical regression models. Changes in P-score (psychological distress), S-score (social functioning), WHO-5 score (well-being), and adherence to public health guidance were analyzed using t-tests. Key predictors of conspiracy belief included lower education, younger age, higher religiosity, and distrust in experts. Conspiracy believers (CTB) exhibited significantly higher P-scores (greater psychological distress) compared to non-believers (N-CTB). While S-score (social functioning) and WHO-5 score (well-being) declined in both groups over time, differences between CTB and N-CTB were not significant. Stronger conspiracy beliefs were associated with lower adherence to public health guidelines from the pandemic’s outset, with no significant improvement after one year. These findings confirm previous research linking conspiracy beliefs to reduced adherence to health measures and poorer psychological outcomes. However, they challenge assumptions that conspiracy beliefs necessarily impair well-being and social functioning over time. Strengthening institutional trust and addressing misinformation remain critical for improving public health compliance.

This review provides a critical analysis of the emerging role of video games in higher education, with a specific focus on their theoretical foundations, practical implications, and potential areas for future research. The author posits that despite the potential benefits of video games in promoting student engagement and enhancing learning outcomes, the integration of these games into higher education curricula faces significant theoretical and practical challenges that have not been adequately explored in current scholarly works. Through the synthesis and critical analysis of recent research, this review highlights the significant tensions that arise when attempting to implement game-based learning in higher education settings, despite its perceived benefits. This review conducts a systematic literature review and employs a well-established thematic analysis framework. The author has identified five crucial areas that necessitate additional investigation. These include the epistemological underpinnings of game-based learning, the assessment of long-term learning outcomes, the equity implications of game-based education, the integration of emerging technologies, and the development of game design frameworks tailored for higher education. The purpose of this review is to stimulate a more nuanced and critical discussion regarding the impact of video games in higher education. This entails transcending techno-optimism and embracing a more theoretically informed and empirically substantiated perspective.

Background Zoonotic pathogens transmitted by rodents are highly prevalent in low-middle income countries and effective control measures that are easily implemented are urgently needed. Whilst rodent control seems sensible as a mitigation strategy, there is a risk that disease prevalence in reservoir populations can increase following control due to impacts on movement and demographics. Additionally, removing rodents from the population does not necessarily lead to reductions in abundance as populations can compensate for removal through increased breeding and immigration. In a previous study of intermittent control within houses, we showed that reduction in rodent abundance was only very short-term. Working in rural settings within the plague-endemic area of Madagascar, this study explores whether community-led daily intensive rodent trapping within houses can effectively reduce long-term rodent and flea abundance. Main text A rodent management experiment was carried out in six rural villages of Madagascar during 2022–2023. Three villages were selected as intervention villages, where intensive daily rodent trapping inside houses was conducted. Surveillance of rodent and flea abundance using traps and tiles took place at 4-month intervals. We show that community-led intensive rodent trapping in rural Malagasy households effectively reduced abundance of the main rodent reservoir (Rattus rattus) and indoor flea vector (Xenopsylla cheopis) of plague. Importantly, indoor abundance of the outside flea vector (Synopsyllus fonquerniei) did not increase. Conclusions Community-based intensive rodent trapping inside houses is an effective methodology in controlling key reservoirs and vectors of plague, which can be implemented by the communities themselves. Co-ordinated and sustained rodent control should be considered as an important plague mitigation strategy.

Background Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) provide protection against malaria vectors through their insecticidal action and as a physical barrier. However, insecticide resistance in malaria vectors has diminished their efficacy, threatening future malaria control. To reinforce ITNs’ effectiveness, evaluating non-insecticide-based tools in an integrated control approach is worthwhile. In the present study, a mosquito collection technique, the Host Decoy Trap (HDT), was coupled with standard ITNs as a complementary intervention, and its effectiveness against insecticide-resistant Anopheles gambiae s.l. was assessed in experimental huts. Methods An HDT combined with either permethrin or deltamethrin-treated nets was tested against field-collected An. gambiae mosquitoes from Za-Kpota (Benin Republic) in experimental hut trials following WHO Phase II guidelines. Effectiveness was assessed in terms of mosquito mortality, blood feeding and exophily rates. Prior to hut trials, an insecticide susceptibility test was performed on field-collected An. gambiae s.l. mosquitoes to screen for pyrethroid resistance. Results A significantly higher mortality rate was observed against both susceptible and field-collected An. gambiae s.l. mosquitoes when ITNs were used with HDT (ranging from 80.18 to 99.78%) compared to alone (2.44–100%). The combined use of treated nets with HDT resulted in a lower rate (ranging from 0 to 10.83%) of blood feeding compared to the treated nets alone (ranging from 0 to 16.93%). When treated nets were hung next to the HDT, they significantly limited the number of insecticide-resistant mosquitoes that exited experimental huts compared to the nets alone. Conclusions The use of HDT alongside ITNs has been demonstrated to significantly reduce the likelihood of vector-host contact by insecticide-resistant An. gambiae. A combination of HDT and treated nets reduced the number of live An. gambiae mosquitoes as well as the blood-feeding rate. Furthermore, it reduced the number of mosquitoes likely to leave the huts and enter the natural environment. Altogether, our findings highlight the potential of integrated approaches combining non-insecticidal trapping devices with ITNs when designing future integrated vector control strategies.

Business ethics scholars have argued that the way business is conceived and theorized can drive out our ability to think ethics. This article examines that problem by drawing attention to inherent normativity in metaphors we use to imagine organizations. We use Levinas-scholarship to characterize ethics as radically other-oriented and undertake close reading of his major work to articulate problematic aspects of images for organizational metaphors. This leads us to distinguish two types of metaphors: (1) images of organization with a Totalizing normativity which reduce all otherness and in that sense are normatively self-referential; and (2) images with a normativity that distorts the image, in which the organization is not the normative reference point. The article provides examples of both types of metaphors and argues that the first type of metaphors maintains a cognitive trap, whereas the second type can trigger moral imagination, i.e. give us operative mental models that allow us to perceive a situation from the perspective of others.

This paper focuses on the fault detection and diagnosis of terminal units (TUs) in a building located in London, utilizing real operational historical data to assess their performance and optimal placement across multiple floors. While precise locations of the TUs are unavailable, our method analyzes their operational behaviour for one month, applying popular machine learning models to detect and analyze faults effectively. By examining each TU individually and in the aggregate, we identify behavioural patterns that inform decisions regarding their positioning within the building. The dataset comprises over 2 million data points collected from 730 TUs, enabling a comprehensive analysis of their functionality and the impact of suboptimal thermostat placements. Our study employs three machine learning models-traditional multi-class Support Vector Machines and two ensemble methods: Random Forest (RF), and Adaptive Boosting (AdaBoost)-to classify TU behaviors into normal operation, heating faults, and cooling faults. Results indicate that RF outperforms the other models with an accuracy of 99.89%, while AdaBoost achieves an accuracy of 85% and SVM shows 47% accuracy. The findings underscore the potential of a data-driven approach to inform retrofitting decisions and enhance the reliability of HVAC systems. This research contributes valuable knowledge toward optimizing TU placement, ultimately leading to improved energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality.

Loyalty programmes (LPs, thereafter) can restrict customers' actions where they require customers to undertake specific activities (i.e., LP efforts) to collect reward points. As a consequence, these activities inevitably limit customers' future consumption freedom. The customer's consumption freedom may be even more restricted by green loyalty programmes (GLPs, thereafter), given the pro‐environmental goals of such programmes. However, in order to attract customers to join a GLP, they may be offered rewards that are non‐eco‐friendly alongside eco‐friendly ones. If customers choose non‐eco‐friendly rewards, then this can defeat the pro‐environmental objective of offering GLPs to customers. This study focuses on the effect of individual differences in trait reactance on reward preferences in GLPs that has been overlooked in LP literature. Through one experimental study and three scenario‐based online surveys, we find that customers with high (vs low) trait reactance are more likely to choose the non‐eco‐friendly rewards. However, when customers are primed with the pro‐environmental goal, they choose eco‐friendly instead of non‐eco‐friendly rewards. Interestingly, we find that this effect is stronger for those who score highly on trait reactance. Our research advances the understanding of LPs and psychological reactance theory, highlighting the broader implications of studying reactance in managing customers' preferences for GLP rewards. We explore how high‐reactant LP members, when their pro‐environmental goals are salient, respond positively to offerings by preferring eco‐friendly rewards. This demonstrates the superiority of the goal‐reward congruity hypothesis over the effort‐reward congruity hypothesis, enriching previous studies on goals and pro‐environmental behaviour. Moreover, the insights gained from this study have practical implications for designing effective reward schemes that promote pro‐environmental behaviours.

This chapter investigates the question: What constitutes a constructive ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the age of surveillance capitalism? The approach is twofold. First, it explores the rise of surveillance capitalism as a new economic order in the digital age. The discourse on AI ethics often focuses on constraints to mitigate risks, but this overlooks the mediation of our relationship with technology by surveillance capitalism, leading to societal regress. Instead, the chapter advocates for a shift towards a constructive ethics of AI that rethinks our relationship with technology to foster societal progress. Second, it adopts a political concept of responsible innovation, proposing that a constructive ethics of AI must consider the human-technology relationship from a political perspective. This entails that AI systems should promote plurality, empower citizens, and serve the public sphere. The chapter concludes with a critical perspective, questioning whether AI systems can simultaneously serve the public sphere and the public good, or if these objectives might sometimes conflict.

The stigma of incarceration contributes to the global reoffending crisis and remains a barrier to reintegration into receiving communities. Recent research suggests that the key to solving this problem may lie in shared transformative experiences. We tested whether the salience of such experiences can overcome stigma among members of receiving communities when they act as gatekeepers for formerly incarcerated persons seeking employment. Across four experimental studies with seven samples of US and UK nationals ( N = 2091), we examined the conditions under which transformative experiences can lead to identity fusion, a powerful form of social bonding and contribute to hiring and optimism about reintegration among prospective employers. In six of seven samples, those who reported stronger transformative experiences of their own were more fused to a job applicant, which was linked to positive attitudes towards them and willingness to hire them. Effects of formerly incarcerated persons' experiences varied between national samples and experience contexts: American citizens were more receptive to experiences in prison, while British citizens were more influenced by sports experiences. These findings highlight the potency of transformative experiences to forge connective bridges to stigmatized groups, despite cultural differences in perceptions of relevant social cues about formerly incarcerated people.

Psychedelic induced mystical experiences have been largely assumed to drive the therapeutic effects of these substances, which may in part be mediated by changes in metaphysical beliefs. However, there is growing evidence that psychedelic experiences can also trigger long lasting distress. Studies of persisting difficulties suggest a high prevalence of ontological challenges (related to the way people understand reality and existence). We conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 people who reported experiencing existential distress following psychedelic experiences. We explored the phenomenology of participants’ difficulties and the ways they navigated them, including what they found helpful and unhelpful in their process. Thematic analysis revealed that participants experienced persistent existential struggle, marked by confusion about their existence and purpose and preoccupation with meaning-making. Along with cognitive difficulties stemming from the ungrounding of their prior frameworks for understanding, participants’ ontologically challenging experiences also had significant emotional, social, bodily and other functional impact. Participants managed to alleviate their distress primarily through ‘grounding’: practices of embodiment and the social and cognitive normalisation of their experience. Our findings suggest that psychedelic experiences act as pivotal mental states that can facilitate transformative learning processes, challenging and expanding the ways individuals make meaning. This research contributes to the growing field of psychedelic integration by exploring the complex pathways through which people reestablish coherence and grow following ontologically challenging psychedelic experiences.

Objectives To estimate the prevalence in Australia of intimate partner violence, each intimate partner violence type, and multitype intimate partner violence, overall and by gender, age group, and sexual orientation. Study design National survey; Composite Abuse Scale (Revised)—Short Form administered in mobile telephone interviews, as a component of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study. Setting Australia, 9 April – 11 October 2021. Participants 8503 people aged 16 years or older: 3500 aged 16–24 years and about 1000 each aged 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, or 65 years or older. Main outcome measures Proportions of participants who had ever been in an intimate partner relationship since the age of 16 years (overall, and by gender, age group, and sexual orientation) who reported ever experiencing intimate partner physical, sexual, or psychological violence. Results Survey data were available for 8503 eligible participants (14% of eligible persons contacted), of whom 7022 had been in intimate relationships. The prevalence of experiencing any intimate partner violence was 44.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 43.3–46.2%); physical violence was reported by 29.1% (95% CI, 27.7–30.4%) of participants, sexual violence by 11.7% (95% CI, 10.8–12.7%), and psychological violence by 41.2% (95% CI, 39.8–42.6%). The prevalence of experiencing intimate partner violence was significantly higher among women (48.4%; 95% CI, 46.3–50.4%) than men (40.4%; 95% CI, 38.3–42.5%); the prevalence of physical, sexual, and psychological violence were also higher for women. The proportion of participants of diverse genders who reported experiencing intimate partner violence was high (62 of 88 participants; 69%; 95% CI, 55–83%). The proportion of non‐heterosexual participants who reported experiencing intimate partner violence (70.2%; 95% CI, 65.7–74.7%) was larger than for those of heterosexual orientation (43.1%; 95% CI, 41.6–44.6%). More women (33.7%; 95% CI, 31.7–35.6%) than men (22.7%; 95% CI, 20.9–24.5%) reported multitype intimate partner violence. Larger proportions of participants aged 25–44 years (51.4%; 95% CI, 48.9–53.9%) or 16–24 years (48.4%, 95% CI, 46.1–50.6%) reported experiencing intimate partner violence than of participants aged 45 years or older (39.9%; 95% CI, 37.9–41.9%). Conclusions Intimate partner violence is widespread in Australia. Women are significantly more likely than men to experience any intimate partner violence, each type of violence, and multitype intimate partner violence. A comprehensive national prevention policy is needed, and clinicians should be helped with recognising and responding to intimate partner violence.

This chapter intricately explores the interplay of love and reflexivity in academic research, emphasising their pivotal role in refining the research process. Spanning diverse perspectives on love, from bell hooks’ conceptualisation as a verb to Freudian analyses, the discussion delves into the nuanced nature of love as both a binding force and a potent tool for resistance within academic research and Black feminist perspectives. Shifting the narrative towards an exploration of love’s role in Black feminist research, the chapter challenges conventional paradigms, advocating for a subjective and emotionally engaged approach. Drawing from personal experiences interviewing Black Caribbean women, the author highlights love’s transformative potential in reclaiming personal identity and building authentic connections with research participants. Extending the inquiry to reflexivity, the chapter explores five variants, portraying it through a Black feminist lens as a dynamic practice valuing the researcher’s emotions and identity as essential tools for understanding data. Love emerges as a driving force in establishing rapport, promoting participant agency and creating a more equitable research dynamic. Acknowledging potential challenges in integrating love into academic research, the chapter raises critical questions about the feasibility of fully practising love in an academic landscape that may marginalise minority perspectives. In conclusion, it advocates for a re-evaluation of research practices, urging researchers to embrace love as a guiding force for collaboration and a more inclusive, emotionally aware approach to knowledge production.

Overcompensation, defined as recovery beyond a baseline state, arises from both hormetic and hydra effects, illustrating adaptive responses to stress. The overcompensation framework of a re-evaluated fishery resource management model was examined through nonlinear growth patterns based on logistic or Ricker models, emphasizing population size over carrying capacity. This complete overcompensation model’s threshold conditions reveal an interplay between hydra and hormetic effects. Also, when dividing a population into distinct subgroups, such as susceptible and infected classes in disease transmission, the population size can be modelled as a function of the basic reproduction number (R0). A threshold condition of R0 allows examination of how disease infectivity triggers hydra or hormetic effects and, also, development of a partial overcompensation model that elucidates the internal mechanisms of overcompensation. Analysis of data from 24 groups of U-shaped or inverted U-shaped dose–response curves validated the dose–response curves. The simplified modelling approach developed revealed the mechanisms underlying hydra and hormetic effects, highlighting the importance of strong growth or regenerative capabilities, overcompensatory responses (strong nonlinearity), mild external stimuli (weak stressors) and the baseline population size. Our new analytical techniques for overcompensation modelling can be adapted to many fields, including tumour treatment and toxicology.