While previous studies provide broad categories of the public who intend to get a COVID-19 vaccine, few systematically segment and help understand and engage with distinct publics to improve COVID-19 ...vaccine uptake. Using data from a national sample of the Australian public (N = 1054) and using measures primarily based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, a latent class analysis of 16 items was undertaken to identify COVID-19 audience segments for potential future message targeting. We found five different segments of COVID-19 vaccine intentions: vaccine enthusiasts (28%), supporters (26%), socials (20%), hesitant (15%) and sceptics (10%). These five audience segments also differ on demographic variables and their level of trust in mainstream media, scientists and health experts, social media and family and friends. Understanding the COVID-19 vaccine attitudinal and information-seeking characteristics of these sub-publics will help inform appropriate messaging campaigns.
Denialism and the spreading of misinformation have occurred regarding both climate change and COVID-19, delaying uptake of urgent actions. Audience segmentation analysis identifies audience subgroups ...likely to have similar responses to messaging, and is a valuable tool for effective campaigns encouraging critical behaviors in both contexts. This study compared audience segmentations based on a representative sample of 1054 Australians. One segmentation was based on the 'Global Warming's Six Americas' online SASSY tool. The second segmentation applied the Theory of Planned Behavior and found five distinct COVID-19 vaccine segments. Both studies showed those most concerned and those most skeptical in the climate change segmentation tended to be in more enthusiastic COVID-19 vaccine segments, while those in the center on climate change were more skeptical on COVID-19 vaccines. Differences identified relating to age, gender, and political views may be explained by a combination of the specific nature and histories of these issues. These findings have implications for effective communication on science and health issues across diverse disciplines.
Although the International Criminal Court (ICC) was established to prosecute the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, around a quarter of all indictments it has issued have ...instead been for offences against the administration of justice. Covered under Article 70 of the ICC Statute, most of these offences have related to witness interference, typically involving bribery.While rules addressing offences against the administration of justice or contempt of court are also a feature of other international criminal tribunals, and have given rise to a number of high profile cases, the situation at the ICC can be distinguished, both in terms of the scale and gravity of offences and because the ICC's relevant provisions are considerably more difficult to amend in response to challenges. This article critically examines some of these key challenges posed by Article 70 proceedings, and considers their impact on the Court's functioning.
Economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) have been subject to increased attention in recent decades including within the United Nations. Created in 2006, the Human Rights Council is the only ...intergovernmental UN body dealing exclusively with human rights. Since a flurry of activity at its inception, the academic attention paid to the Council overall, much less specifically on ESCR, has been surprisingly scant. This article lessens that gap by analysing the Council's performance on ESCR and ESCRrelated rights. It demonstrates that there has been progress, which, as with anything in the multilateral system, remains measured. The old debate on the hierarchy between civil and political rights (CPR) and ESCR is less relevant: the ideological battleground now centres on the scope and nature of international cooperation, and so-called 'third generation rights'. Expectations should be realistic as to what an intergovernmental body can achieve but the Council's treatment of ESCR is undoubtedly an improvement on the situation prior its creation in 2006.
Human rights and the universal periodic review: Rituals and ritualism, by Hilary Charlesworth and Emma Larking (eds), (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2015, xvi1297pp, 65.00 pounds) ISBN ...9781107086302 (hb).
Abstract
Following implantation, the human embryo undergoes major morphogenetic transformations that establish the future body plan. While the molecular events underpinning this process are ...established in mice, they remain unknown in humans. Here we characterise key events of human embryo morphogenesis, in the period between implantation and gastrulation, using single-cell analyses and functional studies. First, the embryonic epiblast cells transition through different pluripotent states and act as a source of FGF signals that ensure proliferation of both embryonic and extra-embryonic tissues. In a subset of embryos, we identify a group of asymmetrically positioned extra-embryonic hypoblast cells expressing inhibitors of BMP, NODAL and WNT signalling pathways. We suggest that this group of cells can act as the anterior singalling centre to pattern the epiblast. These results provide insights into pluripotency state transitions, the role of FGF signalling and the specification of anterior-posterior axis during human embryo development.
Psychological research on sustainable consumption is developing a rich and diverse corpus of knowledge and tools, involving a broad range of disciplines. This very growth and diversity, however, ...poses challenges to our collective ability to build upon past research and progress in the field. We aim to place a selection of these challenges in the spotlight for discussion. In particular, we highlight some of the salient difficulties for early career researchers in psychology who are entering this field. Based on issues raised at a workshop conducted as part of the Psychology of Sustainable Consumption Small Group Meeting of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists in 2018, we first examine challenges associated with working in transdisciplinary teams, measurement quality, data accessibility, and research dissemination. We then propose several options to address these, ranging from actions individual researchers can take, to more systemic changes.
Stem cells have evoked considerable excitement in the animal-owning public because of the promise that stem cell technology could deliver tissue regeneration for injuries for which natural repair ...mechanisms do not deliver functional recovery and for which current therapeutic strategies have minimal effectiveness. This review focuses on the current use of stem cells within veterinary medicine, whose practitioners have used mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), recovered from either bone marrow or adipose tissue, in clinical cases primarily to treat strain-induced tendon injury in the horse. The background on why this treatment has been advocated, the data supporting its use and the current encouraging outcome from clinical use in horses treated with bone-marrow-derived cells are presented together with the future challenges of stem-cell therapy for the veterinary community.
Abstract
Recent scholarship suggests that groups who oppose acting on climate change have shifted their emphasis from attacking the credibility of climate science itself to questioning the policies ...intended to address it, a position often called ‘response skepticism’. As television is the platform most used by audiences around the world to receive climate information, we examine 30 news programmes on 20 channels in Australia, Brazil, Sweden, the UK and USA which included coverage of the 2021 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the Physical Science. Using manual quantitative content analysis, we find that skepticism about the science of climate change is still prevalent in channels that we have classified as ‘right-wing’, but largely absent from channels classified as ‘mainstream’. Forms of response skepticism are particularly common in ‘right-wing’ channels, but also present in some ‘mainstream’ coverage. Two of the most prominent discourses question the perceived economic costs of taking action and the personal sacrifices involved. We explore the implications of our findings for future research and climate communication.
An international arts organisation and network engaging with music, dance, theatre and visual art, Phakama creates adventurous, site-responsive performances with large groups of people from diverse ...backgrounds. With contributions from participants, artists, academics and cultural commentators from India, Ireland, South Africa, the UK and USA, this book features case studies, interviews and articles covering two decades of practice.
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