Emergency departments are high-risk settings for severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) surface contamination. Environmental surface samples were obtained in rooms with patients suspected of having COVID-19 who did or did not undergo aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs). SARS-CoV-2 RNA surface contamination was most frequent in rooms occupied by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients who received no AGPs.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in online gaming behaviour among college students. This study aimed to examine the impact of online self-help interventions consisting of different components within the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) framework on college students’ gaming disorder and gaming frequency. Additionally, it evaluated the effectiveness of both interventions in addressing psychological distress among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. One intervention was a full ACT program, which consists of six core components, while the other intervention focused on the engaged components of ACT (specifically targeting value-based actions). The study employed a 2 conditions (Full ACT vs. Engaged ACT) × 3 times (pre-, mid- and post-program) design to examine the effectiveness of these interventions. Each intervention consisted of 10 sessions, delivered at a frequency of five sessions per week over a 2-week period for both groups. The participants in this study were enrolled in two online classes. Participants with gaming disorder scores in the top 20% were selected and assigned to either the Full group (N = 49) or the Engaged group (N = 41) for the interventions. The study assessed outcome variables, including gaming disorder, psychological flexibility, daily gaming hours, weekly gaming days and psychological distress, at pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention and one-month follow-up for both groups. No significant differences were observed between the two groups on these outcomes at the pre-intervention stage. The findings of this study indicate that both interventions effectively reduced gaming disorder and weekly gaming frequency, while enhancing psychological flexibility. Nonetheless, the Engaged group exhibited a significant reduction in daily gaming hours. There was no substantial change in psychological distress in either group during and after the intervention. The implications and limitations of this study were also reported.

I suggest that the diagnosis that an individual self-diagnoses with can be influenced by levels of public awareness. Accurate diagnosis requires consideration of multiple diagnoses. Sometimes, different diagnoses can overlap with one another and can only be differentiated in subtle and nuanced ways, but particular diagnoses vary considerably in levels of public awareness. As such, an individual may meet the diagnostic criteria for one diagnosis but self-diagnoses with a different diagnosis because it is better known. I then outline a potential negative consequence of this. Psychiatric diagnoses can grant access to what I call social resources, namely, political advocacy, campaigning for support, participating in scientific research, building diagnostic cultures, and opportunity for social interactions with people who have the same diagnosis. The strength of the social resources for a particular diagnosis can be made stronger when more people have that diagnosis. As such, inaccurate self-diagnosis can result in the social resources for one diagnosis being strengthened whilst not being strengthened in relation to another diagnosis in comparison to accurate diagnosis. This shows how inaccurate self-diagnosis can alter the distribution of social resources. We need to consider whether this is unfair to people who are diagnosed with less well-known conditions.

Solitary rugose corals assigned to Streptelasma rutkae n. sp. and an annulated orthoconic cephalopod identified as Gorbyoceras sp. occur in nearshore shallow-marine sandstone of the Whirlpool Formation in Hamilton, southern Ontario. They are the first macrofossils contributing to a modern understanding of the age and correlation of this stratigraphic unit. Streptelasma rutkae most closely resembles S. subregulare (Savage, 1913), which occurs widely in the Edgewood Province of the east-central United States, in strata considered latest Ordovician (Hirnantian). Gorbyoceras ranges into the latest Katian (latest Richmondian) in the Cincinnati Arch region. Thus, the occurrences of S. rutkae and Gorbyoceras sp. support other biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data suggesting that the Whirlpool Formation is latest Ordovician, rather than earliest Silurian as traditionally thought. They also indicate paleogeographic connections between the area of Whirlpool deposition in Ontario and the Edgewood Province and Cincinnati Arch region in the east-central United States

UUID: http://zoobank.org/d1ded814-204d-4070-a469-52d3b6e259c7

In a 4-manifold, the composition of a Riemannian Einstein metric with an almost paracomplex structure that is isometric and parallel defines a neutral metric that is conformally flat and scalar flat. In this paper, we study hypersurfaces that are null with respect to this neutral metric, and in particular we study their geometric properties with respect to the Einstein metric. Firstly, we show that all totally geodesic null hypersurfaces are scalar flat and their existence implies that the Einstein metric in the ambient manifold must be Ricci-flat. Then, we find a necessary condition for the existence of null hypersurface with equal nontrivial principal curvatures, and finally, we give a necessary condition on the ambient scalar curvature, for the existence of null (non-minimal) hypersurfaces that are of constant mean curvature.

This article is part of an internationally coordinated themed collection on ‘labour conflict, forms of organisation, and class’ exploring important questions. How can we explain the interplay of capital, the state, and the international order, in defining the persistence of labour conflict in changing historical and political-economic contexts? How have the economic, social, and technological transformations precipitated by the recent pandemic shaped the expression of work-related conflict? As part of a response to these main questions, the author and contributors of this collection conceptualise labour conflict and collective action in broader class analysis and examine the combined effect of state policies, migration, and digital innovation on contemporary labour politics. This article, drawing on insights from Marxist-oriented interdisciplinary approaches and feminist theories, seeks to suggest approaches to future studies on class, labour conflict, and workers’ organisation.

It is a privilege to be asked to contribute to this celebration of Francis's career and I am pleased to contribute a few comments beyond those concerned with his immense contributions to his field of study and to pay tribute to him as a major player in the intellectual and social life of Royal Holloway, University of London.

Canadian election campaigns often see a proliferation of political signs at the start of an election, but are they worth the effort? We examined official results at the poll level (N = 785) from elections agencies and the quantities of household signs recorded in internal political party databases (Green Parties of Canada, Manitoba, and Ontario). Overall, the results suggest that the use of household signs is an effective form of political campaigning in Canada for nongoverning parties. Analyses suggest that every sign placed per 100 registered electors is associated with an increase of 0.5–1.5 per cent vote share. The presence of household signs was associated with an increase of 1.5–3.4 per cent vote share. Further, preliminary evidence also suggests a possible diminishing returns trend: the per-sign rate of increase in vote share may slow down at higher densities. We discuss the implications of the results, including the possible curvilinear trend.

Alexander Berkman’s 1912 Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist is a significant book in the development of American anti-prison politics, not despite, but because of its ambivalent approach to prisons. I trace through Berkman’s book and archive an unresolved tension between two approaches to the prison: advocacy for political prisoners, whereby the prison is a state tool for suppressing radical ideas, and advocacy against the politics of prisons, whereby the prison is an “aggravated counterpart” of social structures and a site of struggle. Berkman’s ambivalence between these approaches amid his memoirs and activism exemplifies the complex development of U.S. thinking on prisons and enduring tensions in contemporary prison politics.

We present an alternative radiocarbon (14C) age-depth model using IntCal20 to calibrate new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) data applied to a Lake Baikal sediment core (VER99G12) in southern Siberia. 14C dating showed that the core extends to 31 ka. To take into account uncertainties in 14C age and sedimentation depth in the core, a new age-depth modeling routine, undatable, was used in this study. Undatable revealed that significant changes in sedimentation rate correspond to global climate events, either warm or cold, which periods are likely close to the timing of the occurrence of the Meltwater pulses (MWP) at 19 and 14 ka, and the Last glacial Maximum (LGM) at 21–20 ka. Since the Selenga River accounts for 50% of the total river inflow to Lake Baikal, we interpret that these changes in sedimentation rate could be signals of significant changes in Selenga River discharge to the lake, which is expected to be affected by global climate change. Based on pollen analysis, it is highly probable that the sudden influx of the Selenga River to Lake Baikal, particularly at 19 ka, was due to the thawing of permafrost water through the Selenga River, which had developed in the region. Total organic carbon content and mean grain size increases concurrent with sedimentation rate, suggesting river inflow increased available nutrients for biological activity. Our results indicate that hydrological changes corresponding to MWP events can be observed in continental areas of the Northern Hemisphere.