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Biodiversity of beetles: The phylogenetic composition of beetle communities across tropical forests of the world
No full textThis thesis examines the phylogenetic diversity patterns of beetle (Coleoptera) communities across tropical forests by developing and implementing molecular methodologies. A novel protocol for authenticating amplicon sequence variants was designed using 10,395 specimens representing 98 families from 11 countries, integrating abundance-based filtering with phylogenetic placement to achieve an authentication success rate of 82.34%. Multivariate analysis identified preservation methodology (χ² = 145.00, p < 0.001) and sequencing protocols (χ² = 287.45, p < 0.001) as primary determinants of authentication outcomes. Machine learning frameworks were implemented to automate sequence authentication, with DNA barcoding and metabarcoding pipelines achieving an accuracy of 99.80%. Field applications in Thailand's protected areas yielded 1,800 specimens (71 families) processed via mitogenomics (187 mitogenomes), DNA barcoding (584 sequences), and metabarcoding (608 operational taxonomic units, or OTUs). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Thai specimens (1.54% of the global dataset) contributed disproportionately to total phylogenetic diversity (3.23%, p<0.01). Community structure analysis revealed significant phylogenetic clustering at Khao Yai National Park (NRI = 1.875207, p < 0.001) and overdispersion at Sakaerat Environmental Research Station (NRI =-0.82255, p < 0.01). Comprehensive phylogenetic analysis integrated 12,320 mitochondrial genome sequences, establishing sequential infraorder diversification in Polyphaga spanning approximately 56 million years (254.3-198.5 Ma). The lineages-through-time analysis identified an inflexion point at approximately 120 MYA, coinciding with angiosperm radiation. This research advances the understanding of beetle diversity while establishing methodological frameworks for molecular biodiversity assessment in hyperdiverse taxa.Open Acces
Impact of land-use change on ecosystem services in Africa’s Great Green Wall
No full textAfrica’s Sahel faces severe land degradation, threatening livelihoods and regional stability. To address this challenge, the Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land. Achieving this goal requires an improved understanding of recent land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics and their impacts on ecosystem services. This study quantifies the impacts of land-use transitions between 2007 and 2019 on multiple ecosystem services and identifies spatial trade-offs and synergies to inform restoration planning across the GGW region. We integrated MODIS land-use/land-cover data with geospatial ecosystem service models and applied the Ecosystem Service Contribution Index (ESCI) to quantify the effects of LULC transitions on carbon stock, water yield, soil conservation, sand stabilisation, and grain production. Bivariate Moran’s I was applied to explore associations among services. Land use reconfigured substantially, with grasslands declining and cropland and barren land expanding. Ecosystem service responses were heterogeneous: carbon stock increased in the Ethiopian Highlands and Nigerian agricultural zones, and sand stabilisation improved in parts of Niger and Chad, whereas soil conservation and water yield declined in several arid areas. Grain production rose by 31.1%, but cropland conversion generated trade-offs with wind-erosion control and soil retention. Across climatic gradients, synergies emerged between carbon stock and soil conservation in wetter or highland zones, while trade-offs between provisioning and regulating services dominated in farmed and arid areas. These findings show that LULC in the GGW region is dynamic and variable, with changes enhancing ecosystem services in some areas and compromising them in others. To strengthen ecosystem resilience and support sustainable livelihoods, ecological restoration strategies need to vary in response to local ecological and social conditions
An octadecameric O glucosyltransferase generates diversity in antibody epitopes on variant surface antigens in African trypanosomes
No full textPreprint versio
Arterial intelligence: laying the foundations for holistic, multi-modal, and ai-driven clinical decision support in peripheral arterial disease
No full textPeripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) is a major global health burden, causing substantial morbidity, limb loss, and mortality. Although vascular diagnostics and treatments have advanced, decision-making in PAD remains variable and highly dependent on clinician experience, subjective assessment, and fragmented data sources. As clinical data grow in volume and complexity, artificial intelligence (AI) offers a powerful opportunity to improve risk stratification, enhance decision-making, and support more consistent, precise care.
This thesis establishes the foundations for a holistic, multi-modal, AI-driven Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) for PAD. The work is organised into three components:
System requirements and conceptual foundations: A systematic review examines how vascular clinical decisions are currently made, analysing assessment frameworks and identifying key gaps and fragmentation that limit holistic care. These insights define the requirements of an ideal CDSS.
AI-enhanced exploration of individual data modalities: A suite of computational models is developed to evaluate core concepts identified in the system specification. These include structured questionnaire data, audio recordings, interview transcripts, electronic health records, computational imaging, and clinical photographs. Each modality is examined for its unique contribution to a unified decision-support architecture.
Roadmap for future development: The thesis reflects on the strengths and limitations of the proposed framework and outlines steps for further development, validation, integration, and clinical translation. It also discusses the theoretical principles underlying the integration of high-dimensional, multimodal data for structured, clinically meaningful outputs.
Explainability, ethics, and clinical usability are emphasised throughout, addressing transparency, regulatory considerations, and the safe, equitable deployment of AI tools in healthcare.
Overall, this research lays the groundwork for a standardized, data-driven, and patient-centred approach to PAD management, with the potential to improve diagnostic consistency, guide optimal treatment strategies, and enhance patient outcomes.Open Acces
Application of activated carbon fiber as the substrate in biofiltration-nanofiltration process treating surface water
No full textThis study has evaluated different types of carbon fiber (CF) biofiltration media in terms of their efficiency in mitigating nanofiltration (NF) fouling and their ability to remove natural organic matter (NOM) and disinfection by-product formation potential (DBPFP). Compared to direct NF, a combined CF biofiltration-NF system enhanced dissolved organic carbon and DBPFP removal by up to 32.6% and 39.1%, respectively, achieving final removal rates of 78.45% and 85%. Furthermore, this combined system reduced irreversible NF fouling by up to 44.5%. Specifically, activated carbon fiber (ACF) exhibited a greater tendency to remove low-molecular-weight organics, thus achieving greater performance. Microbial sequencing and correlation analyses further indicated that the microbial communities were significantly influenced by the physicochemical properties of the CF, such as microporosity, electrical resistance, and surface functional groups. Pore size distribution and carboxyl content were shown to promote the enrichment of dominant species such as Pseudomonadota, Chloroflexota, and Bacillota. This led to a higher expression of fatty acid metabolism and the citric acid cycle, contributing to the degradation and removal of DOM and DBPFP. Overall, this study demonstrates the promising potential of applying CF as a biofiltration substrate to improve subsequent NF processes, and achieving greater water treatment performance overall by the combined CF-NF process
Power margin ratio – a large-signal system strength metric for inverter-based resources-dominated power systems
No full textPreprint versionLearning at scale often requires domain-specific automation such as assessment and feedback. An organization locked in to a general learning platform without these specialist automations limits its pedagogical offering. An ecosystem of interoperable, platformagnostic microservices for domain-specific automation would solve this problem. To develop an effective ecosystem , a standard interface (API) for education microservices is required. We propose an initial specification for a standard, platformindependent API for educational microservices, µEd. The API integrates functionality from existing systems in use at four institutions, which are adopting the new API. The API is initially specified for automation of feedback, assessment, and educational chatbots, with further service types envisaged in the future. The API specification provided here enables the development of an ecosystem of education microservices that will facilitate automation in more domains, to more users, providing a richer learning experience in a wide range of disciplines. CCS Concepts • General and reference → Computing standards, RFCs and guidelines; • Applied computing → Education
The effects of delayed remuneration on doctor labour supply: evidence from the English NHS
No full textWe examine the labour supply response of doctors in England to a reform to public sector pensions that increased the link between current labour supply and pension value. Exploiting the staggered rollout of the reform across narrowly defined birth cohorts, we find that mid-career doctors increased their labour supply to the public healthcare system by just under 4% four years after exposure. This was driven by increases on the extensive margin of working in the public healthcare system. Our results imply an extensive margin labour supply elasticity with respect to the link between current labour supply and pension value of 0.04. Taking into account current pay we estimate an extensive margin labour supply elasticity with respect to total remuneration of 0.29. This is similar to estimates of doctor labour elasticities with respect to pay in other contexts, and suggests that delayed remuneration can be an effective tool for hospital systems to affect mid-career doctor labour supply
Effective science communication in the face of water crises: a community perspective on challenges and best practice in HELPING
No full textAddressing global water crises demands effective communication across diverse audiences, especially in initiatives such as the scientific decade HELPING by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS). This study synthesizes insights from the hydrological community, gathered through interviews, workshops and a digital survey. We identify key challenges and best practices across three inter-related domains of communication: science–society interactions, policy–science interfaces and transdisciplinary research communication. Effective science–society interaction depends on community trust-building, transparent communication of uncertainty and inclusive engagement strategies. Strong policy–science interfaces benefit from bridging institutions and dedicated knowledge brokers. Transdisciplinary work improves when disciplinary siloing is reduced through common language and co-production. We summarize our findings in the FUSS framework, which promotes messages that are few, unambiguous, short and well-structured. We argue that advancing hydrological science in the face of water crises requires moving beyond one-way communication towards more dialogic, inclusive and context-sensitive approaches
Mucosal IL-36 is a defining feature of severe paediatric bronchiolitis
No full textRationale
Bronchiolitis is the commonest cause of hospital admission in children under the age of 1 year, most cases being due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. The mechanisms causing infantile bronchiolitis are incompletely understood but include a deficient mucosal interferon response, neutrophilic inflammation and enhanced mucosal Type-2 responses.
Objectives
We sought to determine the mucosal immune processes associated with severe paediatric bronchiolitis.
Methods
We performed transcriptomic analyses on mucosal samples from infants hospitalized with Moderate (n = 48) and Severe (n = 40) bronchiolitis. Differential expression and regression analyses determined genes associated with different severity categories. Responses were modelled in vitro using air–liquid interface human nasal epithelial cell culture models.
Measurements and main results
We confirmed weakened interferon-associated signalling in severe RSV and non-RSV bronchiolitis but unexpectedly found elevated IL-36α (an IL-1 family cytokine implicated in chronic inflammatory diseases) early in infection. Conversely, IL36A was decreased in whole blood during severe RSV, suggesting that this association is unique to the mucosa. In human nasal epithelial cells grown in vitro under air–liquid interface we found IL-36α to be produced by epithelial cells during RSV infection and that its secretion is enhanced by neutrophils.
Conclusions
These findings implicate mucosal IL-36α as a dominant feature of severe paediatric bronchiolitis
Recruitment prior to conception for pregnancy studies: a systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textObjective
Pregnancy outcomes may be improved by optimizing preconception health; however, designing preconception research studies presents distinct challenges. These include estimating feasible recruitment, attrition, and expected pregnancy rates. We systematically reviewed existing preconception studies to quantify recruitment rates, retention, and pregnancies to inform feasibility assessments and sample size calculations for future preconception and pregnancy-related research.
Data Sources
NHS Knowledge Hub, TRIP database, Cochrane Library, PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Emcare, Web of Science, Scopus, ASSIA, and PsycINFO were searched (database inception-September 2025).
Study Eligibility Criteria
Eligible studies reported recruitment of non-pregnant women intending to conceive into studies reporting at least one pregnancy outcome.
Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods
Risk of bias and quality assessment were performed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool, followed by the GRADE framework. Statistical analysis was performed in R v4.4.1.
Results
79 studies (n=117,603 participants; n=53,838 pregnancies) were included. Overall, risk of bias was fair across studies. The heterogeneity across all meta-analyses was high.
Recruitment via healthcare settings yielded higher weekly recruitment than other methods (median 9 participants/week, IQR 4-19), compared with studies using only non-healthcare-based recruitment methods (2, IQR 2-4). Weekly recruitment was higher in larger studies and in low- and middle-income countries compared to high-income countries.
Attrition prior to conception was lower in observational than interventional studies and among those with fertility issues compared to those with other medical comorbidities. Among participants who conceived, retention during pregnancy was high across all studies (97.7%, IQR 95.2-99.0), with higher retention in interventional than observational studies.
Conclusions
This review provides a quantitative synthesis of recruitment and retention patterns in preconception research, addressing a critical but understudied period to improve maternal and child health. We found that participant characteristics, recruitment strategy, and study design significantly influence recruitment rates, preconception attrition, and pregnancy retention, with important implications for feasibility assessment, anticipated loss to follow-up, and sample size estimation. Our findings highlight the need for recruitment of diverse populations and methodological tools tailored to preconception research. These findings offer empirically grounded parameters to support the design of more efficient, inclusive, and adequately powered preconception and pregnancy-related studies