University of Greenwich

The ever-evolving Internet of Things (IoT) has ushered in a new era of intelligent manufacturing across multiple industries. However, the security and privacy of real-time data transmitted over the public channel of the industrial IoT (IIoT) remain formidable challenges. Existing lightweight protocols often omit one or more critical security features, such as anonymity and untraceability, and are susceptible to threats like desynchronization attacks. Additionally, they struggle to achieve an optimal balance between robust security and performance efficiency. To bridge these gaps, we introduce a new lightweight key agreement security scheme that guarantees secure access to the IIoT-enabled flexible manufacturing system (FMS). The strength of our scheme lies in its utilization of the authenticated encryption with associative data (AEAD) primitive, AEGIS, along with hash functions and physical unclonable functions, which secure the IIoT ecosystem. Additionally, our scheme offers flexibility in the form of the addition of new machines, password updates, and revocation in cases of theft or loss. A comprehensive security analysis demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed scheme in thwarting various attacks. The formal analysis, based on the Real-Or-Random (RoR) model, ensures session key indistinguishability, while the informal analysis highlights its resilience against known attacks. The comparative assessment demonstrate that the proposed scheme consistently outperforms the benchmark schemes across multiple dimensions, including security and functionality features, computational and communication overheads, and runtime efficiency. Specifically, the proposed scheme achieves peak performance enhancements of 77.55%, 44.73%, and 69.6% in computational overhead, runtime overhead, and communication overhead, respectively, underscoring its substantial performance advantages.

This original study investigated the impact of language on stigmatizing attitudes towards people in forensic mental health services. We recruited a nationally representative UK adult general population sample ( N = 668) and used a randomized online survey design with three experimental conditions. We explored the associations between different terms—“mentally disordered offender”, “forensic mental health patient”, and “person working towards recovery using forensic mental health services”—and attitudes related to social distance, perceptions of community risk, stereotypes, compassion, and diminished responsibility. Our results showed that person-first, recovery-oriented language was associated with reduced desire for social distance and increased perceptions of responsibility for behavior. These findings make a significant contribution to knowledge, adding new data to demonstrate that person-first, recovery-oriented language is linked to attitudes toward stigmatized groups. This research supports the Lancet Commission's call for the use of person-first language. Further, our findings provide a valuable guide, shaping the direction of future research relating to the effects of language on stigma, real-world behaviors, and interventions designed to reduce stigma towards people in forensic mental health systems.

Purpose Loneliness has been identified as an important risk factor for mental health problems, and concern about its impact on workers’ health and wellbeing has grown in recent years. While a body of workplace loneliness research is emerging, the degree to which existing definitions of the phenomenon reflect workers’ experiences has not been investigated. This study aims to develop an evidence-based conceptualisation of workplace loneliness that can inform future research and interventions aiming to improve workers’ mental health and wellbeing. Methods Semi-structured interviews exploring experiences of social connection, loneliness and work were conducted with a diverse sample of 31 UK-based workers. The interviews were supplemented with a social mapping task. Interview data were analysed inductively using reflexive thematic analysis. Social maps were analysed using a thematic analysis approach informed by a visual semiology framework. Results Three themes were identified, in which loneliness was conceptualised as disconnection from (1) colleagues, (2) one’s organisation, and (3) society. Across each theme, disconnection and loneliness were experienced as an unfulfilled desire to feel that one’s authentic self was understood, valued or belonged as a result of one’s work or occupation. Conclusions Workplace loneliness comprises not only dissatisfaction with interpersonal relationships at work, but also a sense of disconnection from larger social groups and structures, particularly one’s employing organisation and society as a whole. Definitions of workplace loneliness that acknowledge the role of the social and organisational context, as well as professional relationships, are needed to better reflect the lived experience of loneliness at work.

The underrepresentation of women in Engineering, Technology, and Computing (ETC) education, with enrollments in leading global institutions falling below 30%, is a persistent challenge; however, emerging data suggests the efficacy of structured interventions. Analyses of contemporary data demonstrate that a confluence of institutional, pedagogical, and sociocultural barriers systematically disadvantages women in technical fields. This systematic review analyzed data from leading academic databases, focusing on fifteen impactful empirical studies (2019–2024) demonstrating quantifiable improvements in gender inclusion initiatives. A rigorous thematic analysis, adhering to PRISMA guidelines, was utilized to investigate longitudinal data from diverse institutional settings spanning three continents. Quantitative data analysis demonstrated that the implementation of evidence-based interventions by institutions resulted in substantial, quantifiable enhancements; specifically, structured mentorship programs integrated with technologically advanced learning environments yielded a 15–20% increase in women’s retention rates compared to conventional methods. Collaborative early intervention initiatives, involving industry partners, resulted in a 25–35% rise in female enrollment. Concurrently, curriculum revisions addressing gender-specific requirements resulted in an 18% enhancement of academic performance metrics. Significantly, robust support systems, including peer networks and professional mentoring, yielded a 40% increase in graduation rates. These results yield a metrics-based structure for institutional change, thereby supplying practical benchmarks for the assessment of progress in gender equality endeavors. Findings support the allocation of resources to integrated technological and structural reforms within technical education, offering stakeholders concrete implementation guidelines and measurable outcomes for sustainable transformation.

Societal Impact Statement Drought stress poses a growing threat to food security worldwide. In this study, we investigated the putative drought tolerance traits of enset, a multipurpose staple crop endemic to Ethiopia that sustains over 20 million people. Our findings reveal that enset's domestication has reduced landrace diversity and trait variability, particularly in drier environments, potentially limiting the crop's adaptive potential. Farmers in arid areas preferentially selected landraces with drought tolerance traits, highlighting the vital role of indigenous knowledge in climate adaptation. By emphasizing the importance of preserving phenotypic and genetic diversity to enhance crop resilience, our study provides globally relevant insights for food security and sustainable agricultural systems under climate change. Summary Increasing drought stress driven by climate change presents a significant challenge to global food security, requiring crop adaptations. Indigenous knowledge and sustainable practices in drought‐prone agricultural systems may offer effective climate adaptation strategies. This study investigates the functional traits associated with the reported drought tolerance of enset (Ensete ventricosum), a multipurpose Ethiopian staple crop providing food security to more than 20 million people. Through field surveys and farmer interviews along three aridity gradients in southwest Ethiopia, we determined how domestication and farmer cultivation choices have shaped enset trait and landrace diversity. We measured 12 morphological and physiological traits of 430 cultivated enset plants on farms and a subset of traits of 30 wild enset plants. We also conducted interviews on farmers' knowledge of drought and enset, and how it influenced their choice of landraces. We showed that domestication reduced trait variance in cultivated enset and lowered landrace diversity in drier environments. Farmers in drier areas chose landraces with drought tolerance traits, resulting in trait differentiation between wetter and drier farms. Cultivated enset exhibited lower stomatal density and a narrower aridity niche compared to wild enset, suggesting adaptation to reduce water loss. We also found increased leaf wax coverage, leaf number, leaf temperature differential and plant height growth rate and reduced stomatal conductance on drier farms. Our findings are globally relevant, highlighting that climate adaptation and farmer selection may reduce trait and genetic diversity in drier environments, potentially resulting in less adaptative capacity under climate change.

Drawing on critical frameworks in criminology, including Popular Criminology and Ghost Criminology, this paper aims to explore how Bloodborne offers a critical reflection of the haunting nature of the harms inflicted by humans in the age of the Anthropocene. More specifically, we aim to examine how the cultural text of Bloodborne illustrates humanity's corruption of the natural and the harms this inflicts, arguing that this can be understood as a reflection of ghosts of the Anthropocene. Using ethnographic content analysis, three main themes were uncovered in Bloodborne that related to humanity's corruption of the natural, the harms this inflict, as well as how this can be understood as a reflection of ghosts of the Anthropocene: Sanguine Exploitation, Horrific Creation , and Monstrous Extinction . We conclude by arguing that Bloodborne , in evoking the horrors of climate catastrophe, is an important cultural script that responds to McBrien’s necrocene and Haraway’s Chthulucene.

Background Alopecia areata (AA) can significantly impact patients’ quality of life (QoL) and mental health, with increased levels of anxiety and depression. It is unclear whether this impact is more strongly associated with disease severity or patients’ disease perception, and which patients are more likely to have a greater psychological burden. Objectives Examine AA’s psychosocial impact, whilst focusing on illness perceptions and stigma, aiming to identify high-risk subgroups and key perceptions linked to worse QoL, anxiety and depression. Methods This was a UK cross-sectional online study. It comprised 596 patients with AA who self-reported disease severity and completed the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), EuroQol 5-dimensional 5-level (EQ-5D-5L), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Stigma Scale for Chronic Illnesses 8-Item (SSCI-8), and Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ). Results Patients with AA perceived their condition as chronic and life-impacting, with limited personal or treatment control, significant emotional effects, and high concern. Many reported high levels of anxiety, depression, stigma and impaired QoL, all strongly associated with illness perceptions. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that illness perceptions and stigma explained a higher proportion of variance in QoL, anxiety and depression than disease severity. Cluster analysis identified two distinct patient groups based on illness perceptions, with different levels of QoL, anxiety, depression, and stigma. Conclusions AA has a severe psychosocial impact, more strongly linked to patients’ illness perceptions and stigma than disease severity. The identification of two distinct patient profiles based on illness perceptions reveals differences in psychosocial burden, highlighting those at risk of worse outcomes and underscoring the value of evaluating illness perceptions along with stigma in clinical practice to improve patient outcomes.

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.

Introduction Isometric handgrip (IHG) exercise training significantly reduces blood pressure (BP). However, the prescription of isometric exercise remains poor, with continued concerns over safety. This study directly compares real-time hemodynamic responses between isometric and traditionally prescribed aerobic exercise when performed at commonly prescribed and comparable intensities. Methods Seventeen male participants (18–35 yr) were randomized in a crossover study design into aerobic (AER = cycling, 6 metabolic equivalents (METs)) and alternating IHG exercises (4 × 2 min, 30% maximal voluntary contraction). Participants completed three sessions on separate days within 1 wk. After a 1-wk washout, participants crossed over to the opposite exercise arm. Bilateral resting and exercise BP measures were collected at minutes 1, 4, 7, and 10 during exercise and minutes 2, 5, 10, 20, and 30 post-exercise using validated automated sphygmomanometers. Results Systolic BP (SBP), pulse pressure, and rate pressure product (RPP) were higher during AER compared to IHG exercise ( P < 0.01), whereas diastolic BP (DBP) was higher during IHG compared to AER exercise ( P < 0.01). These findings show that IHG exercise elicits a significantly lower myocardial workload (RPP) compared to AER ( P < 0.05). Despite variations in SBP and DBP changes during rest to peak exercise, responses remained within exercise termination criteria. No hypotension was observed for either exercise mode across testing sessions. Conclusion Overall, this study provides additional evidence to encourage the prescription of isometric exercise and further endorsement for its adoption into clinical practice as an exercise mode for managing blood pressure. Given the elevated DBP during IHG exercise, further investigation of end-diastolic left ventricular function is recommended before generalizations about safety can be made.

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.