UWCScholar
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Recent Submissions
Trauma exposure, insomnia, and fatigue: a cross‐sectional study of the pathways to burnout among South African first responders
(John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2025) Padmanabhanunni, Anita; Pretorius, Tyrone
Background and Aims: First responders are disproportionately vulnerable to the development of insomnia, fatigue and burnout, due to chronic exposure to trauma inherent in their occupational roles. This study examined the mediating roles of insomnia and fatigue in the relationship between trauma exposure and burnout among South African first responders. Methods: Participants included police officers (n = 309) and paramedics (n = 120) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. They completed an online survey comprising the Life Events Checklist, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Mediation analyses were conducted using the Hayes PROCESS macro in SPSS Version 30.Results: Mediation analysis provided evidence of both parallel as well as serial mediation roles for insomnia and fatigue in the relationship between trauma exposure and burnout. Insomnia fully mediated the relationships between trauma exposure and emotional exhaustion as well as personal accomplishment and partially mediated the relationship with depersonalization. Fatigue fully mediated the relationships between trauma exposure and emotional exhaustion and depersonalization but did not mediate the relationship with personal accomplishment. Serial mediation analysis indicated that insomnia and fatigue, in sequence, fully mediated the effects of trauma exposure on emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Conclusions: Insomnia and fatigue are critical pathways linking trauma exposure to burnout among South African first responders. Early identification and treatment of sleep disturbances may be crucial for preventing burnout and enhancing resilience in this population.
Euclid preparation LXIII. Simulations and non-linearities beyond Lambda cold dark matter. 2. Results from non-standard simulations
(EDP Sciences, 2025) Karagiannis, Dionysis
The Euclid mission will measure cosmological parameters with unprecedented precision. To distinguish between cosmological models, it is essential to generate realistic mock observables from cosmological simulations that were run in both the standard Λ-cold-dark-matter (ΛCDM) paradigm and in many non-standard models beyond ΛCDM. We present the scientific results from a suite of cosmological N-body simulations using non-standard models including dynamical dark energy, k-essence, interacting dark energy, modified gravity, massive neutrinos, and primordial non-Gaussianities. We investigate how these models affect the large-scale-structure formation and evolution in addition to providing synthetic observables that can be used to test and constrain these models with Euclid data. We developed a custom pipeline based on the Rockstar halo finder and the nbodykit large-scale structure toolkit to analyse the particle output of non-standard simulations and generate mock observables such as halo and void catalogues, mass density fields, and power spectra in a consistent way. We compare these observables with those from the standard ΛCDM model and quantify the deviations. We find that non-standard cosmological models can leave large imprints on the synthetic observables that we have generated. Our results demonstrate that non-standard cosmological N-body simulations provide valuable insights into the physics of dark energy and dark matter, which is essential to maximising the scientific return of Euclid.
Editorial – ‘asking for the moon’: a special issue on Drucilla Cornell
(Springer Science and Business Media B.V., 2025) van Marle, Karin
Several tributes and publications have appeared since Drucilla Cornell’s untimely passing on the 22 December 2022. The birth of this special issue commemorating her was a stream organised at the Critical Legal Conference that took place at the University of Durham in September 2023. Not all of the papers delivered at the conference were submitted for this issue and one of the articles published here was not delivered at the conference but the issue nevertheless reflects the spirit and gist of a gathering of people who worked closely with Drucilla, her ideas, politics and theories honouring her memory and legacy.
Euclid: the early release observations lens search experiment
(EDP Sciences, 2025) Vaccari, Mattia; Acevedo Barroso, Javier A.; O'Riordan, Conor M.
We investigated the ability of the Euclid telescope to detect galaxy-scale gravitational lenses. To do so, we performed a systematic visual inspection of the 0.7 deg2 Euclid Early Release Observations data towards the Perseus cluster using both the high-resolution IE band and the lower-resolution YE, JE, and HE bands. Each extended source brighter than magnitude 23 in IE was inspected by 41 expert human classifiers. This amounts to 12 086 stamps of 1000 × 1000. We found 3 grade A and 13 grade B candidates. We assessed the validity of these 16 candidates by modelling them and checking that they are consistent with a single source lensed by a plausible mass distribution. Five of the candidates pass this check, five others are rejected by the modelling, and six are inconclusive. Extrapolating from the five successfully modelled candidates, we infer that the full 14 000 deg2 of the Euclid Wide Survey should contain 100 000+-7030000000 galaxy-galaxy lenses that are both discoverable through visual inspection and have valid lens models. This is consistent with theoretical forecasts of 170 000 discoverable galaxy-galaxy lenses in Euclid. Our five modelled lenses have Einstein radii in the range 000 . 68 < θE < 100 . 24, but their Einstein radius distribution is on the higher side when compared to theoretical forecasts. This suggests that our methodology is likely missing small-Einstein-radius systems. Whilst it is implausible to visually inspect the full Euclid dataset, our results corroborate the promise that Euclid will ultimately deliver a sample of around 105 galaxy-scale lenses.
Pathways, pressure, and profit: adaptive innovation and strain in a convicted cybercrime academy called Hustle Kingdom
(Routledge, 2025) Lazarus, Suleman; Soares, Adebayo; Button, Mark
This research offers the first empirical examination of the “Hustle Kingdom (HK)”phenomenon. Hustle Kingdoms are underground cybercrime training centers in West Africa that recruit and train young men to become digital fraudsters. The empirical foundation of this study draws on case files from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) concerning the prosecution and eventual conviction of the proprietor and students of a Hustle Kingdom. Ethnographic field notes and informal conversations with relevant authorities supplement this dataset. It examines the significance of Merton’s Strain Theory ,focusing on the innovation mode of adaptation, to understand how economic pressures and socio-fabric elements of society drive individuals toward illicit entrepreneurship. Our findings reveal key characteristics of these academies ,including their structure, recruitment and governance strategies, motivations ,indirect enablers, and prosecutorial challenges. While this pioneering investigation positions Hustle Kingdoms as an alternative route to economic mobility for many youths, it situates Hustle Kingdoms within broader processes of deviant innovation and informal economic adaptation. The study concludes by reflecting on the broader ecosystem of subtle enablers.