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Climagicles: Addressing Agency in Climate Action
No full textThe urgency of climate action demands a societal transformation and a unified effort. While systemic changes to reduce emissions and enhance adaptation are critical, individual and collective actions at a local scale play a vital role. However, navigating these deeply embedded complex systems makes addressing climate change seem daunting. Individual agency often feels insignificant leading many to question the impact of their actions. Nonetheless, positive change is occurring in various communities, although it is frequently overshadowed by pessimism, denial, and a sense of impending doom. To support local climate action and promote participatory city-making, innovative engagement processes are needed. Current approaches lack tools that enhance agency, enable local action, and maintain optimism. This research explored ways to address this gap, leading to a design intervention– Climagicles, an engagement platform that aims to enhance agency, enable solutions, and motivate citizens in local climate resilience initiatives. The research methodology, based on Design Science Research (DSR), provided a framework that included 'action research strategy' guiding the study, complemented by specific research and creative methods for direction across study aspects. The 'interview' method was critical and involved semi-structured interviews of experts in architecture, urban design, planning, behavioural science, social science, climate science, and gaming. These Key Informants played a pivotal role in the study. Climagicles is a comprehensive digital platform designed to promote individual and collective agency through a scaffolding approach, and leverages three primary tactics: digital media, storytelling, and gamification. Framed around the potential needs of Generation Z, Climagicles encourages participation from a wide spectrum of users. The platform comprises three key components: a social media channel (Instagram), a dynamic database-driven web portal, and enabling resources for support. Climagicles using a “scaffolding” approach offers a flexible and engaging environment that caters to diverse user needs, fostering participation, and empowerment towards local climate action. This idea of scaffolding to support community initiatives and participatory city making can be a promising potential for the urban design profession at large. This approach would involve designers and local agencies shifting toward facilitating and enabling innovative local solutions and empowering communities to achieve positive outcomes
Continuum Mechanics of Duhem’s Approach to Hysteresis
No full textAlthough the Duhem model of hysteresis was introduced in the late nineteenth century, it has not received particular attention for nearly a century. Only in the late twentieth century did researchers begin to cite and attribute this model to Pierre Duhem, employing it as a “black-box model” in various applications. The model has been widely used to describe hysteretic behaviours, particularly those observed in piezoelectric materials. In this work, we explore the thermomechanical basis of the Duhem model. In a conser-vative system, the time rate of the dependent variable (e.g., stress) is related to the time rate of the independent variable (e.g., strain) through the second derivative of the Helmholtz free energy. To account for hysteresis, Duhem added a term featuring a continuous function representing dissipation and leading to permanent changes in the state variables. We call this Duhem’s irreversibility function or simply Duhem’s function. Based on the properties
of Duhem’s function, the model describes a region of equilibrium states of the system called the natural state surface, for which Duhem’s function vanishes and no irreversible transfor-mations occur. Duhem studied the isothermal case (constant temperature) and the isobaric case (constant pressure/stress). As an example of application, we show how the isothermal Duhem model is equivalent to classical elastoplasticity with isotropic and kinematic hardening, with a judicious choice of Duhem’s function. To illustrate this example, we numerically simulate cyclic loading for materials with both linear and non-linear elastic behaviour, and linear hardening. This work shows how, after more than a century from its conception and without knowledge of the specific system (e.g., the decomposition into elastic and plastic strain), the Duhem model constitutes a viable phenomenological approach to the modelling of hysteresis
Exploring the Camouflaging Experiences of Early-Diagnosed Autistic Females
No full textCamouflaging refers to both behavioural and cognitive strategies used by autistic individuals to hide their autistic traits. These strategies are often intended to help autistic people adapt to social norms and fit in with their neurotypical peers. Camouflaging is a key factor of the female autism phenotype, as such strategies are more commonly employed by autistic girls and women; however, most camouflaging research has particularly revolved around late-diagnosed autistic women. To address the gap of knowledge regarding camouflaging in autistic girls and women diagnosed earlier in life, the current study aimed to explore the camouflaging experiences of early-diagnosed autistic women (i.e., women who were diagnosed during or before their kindergarten year). The findings were then compared to the existing literature on camouflaging in late-diagnosed autistic women. Four early-diagnosed autistic women participated in semi-structured interviews that were then analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. A cross-analysis of personal experiential themes generated seven group experiential themes which highlighted similarities and distinctions in participant experiences. These themes highlight
participants’ motivations for camouflaging and its’ impacts while capturing how participants have made sense of their camouflaging experiences from childhood and into adulthood. These findings amplify the voices of early-diagnosed autistic women, offering important clinical implications and directions for future research
Microbiome Dynamics in Broilers Infected with Infectious Bronchitis Virus and the Protective Role of Lactobacillus-Based Probiotics
No full textInfectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a corona virus, which has economic significance in broiler industry due to reduced weight gain and carcass condemnation following infection. Regardless of on-going vaccination, still outbreaks occur indicating the need to investigate novel approaches to reduce infection. In our study first, we evaluated the respiratory and gastrointestinal microbiome dysbiosis at 6, 9 and 15 days post-infection (dpi) in commercial broiler chickens following challenge with IBV DMV/1639 strain. Trachea and cecal tonsils of IBV challenged group showed significantly higher histopathological lesions score compared to control. Significantly higher alpha diversity indexes including observed Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and Shannon was observed in IBV challenged group compared to control in cecum at 6 and 15 dpi, whereas tracheal microbiome of IBV challenged group showed significantly higher evenness and Shannon index compared to control in 6 and 9 dpi respectively. Beta diversity indicated a significant microbial composition shift in both cecum and trachea following infection. Secondly, we analyzed the effect of two Lactobacillus based probiotics in trachea and cecal microbiome at 6, 9 and 15 dpi in commercial broiler chickens infected with IBV DMV/1639 strain. Virus infected group showed significantly higher histopathological lesion scores compared to both probiotics treated groups advance to IBV challenge. Alpha diversity of cecum in Lactobacillus cocktail supplemented group in advance to infection showed significantly higher diversity and evenness compared to Lactobacillus cocktail supplemented only group at all the observed time points, whereas Lactobacillus based commercial probiotics supplemented prior to IBV challenge showed significantly lower diversity compared to Lactobacillus based commercial probiotics only group at 15 dpi. Beta diversity analysis indicated IBV challenged only and both the probiotic supplemented groups in advance to viral challenge developed a distinct microbial composition following infection. According to differential abundance analysis, IBV infection favored the growth of Lactobacillus in cecum, whereas Lactobacillus based commercial probiotic limited the flourish of opportunistic bacteria in cecum following infection. The findings from our study contribute to the understanding of respiratory and cecum microbiome shift following IBV challenge and the impact of Lactobacillus based probiotics in ameliorating the dysbiosis
Operationalizing Sustainability in Supply Chain: Organization Interventions to Bridge the Intention Behaviour Gap
No full textThe importance of sustainability in organizational strategy has grown significantly over the last years, from both an academic and industry perspective. Supply chain management (“SCM”) plays a key role in sustainability strategy, as most organizations see as much as 92% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) contributions come from their supply chain (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2024). However, despite increased recognition of the importance SCM in achieving sustainability objectives, with 72% of top Chief Procurement Officers identifying sustainability as a key priority, the actual integration and deployment of sustainability measures within supply chains remain limited (Deloitte, 2023). This research addresses existing gaps in research in Sustainable Supply Chain Management (“SSCM”) through a behaviour-based model founded on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, focusing on identifying the effects of organizational interventions on adoption of sustainability into SCM practices. This research is founded on a comprehensive systematic review of extensive past research covering 840 past research papers to identify common variables impacting sustainability adoption. These variables are then refined through qualitative analysis and interrater reliability validation to develop a list of nine (9) interventions that can be deployed within organizations to impact adoption, and five (5) external forces which moderate their effectiveness. These interventions and external forces are evaluated through a series of workshops working with leaders and subject matter experts within global organizations to identify their effectiveness and likelihood of implementation when it comes to behaviour adoption of SSCM. The data and findings are then organized into a structured framework to provide a compass for organizations seeking to establish or enhance SSCM adoption. By taking a behaviour-based focus, this research helps to bridge a gap in translating high level organizational objectives into tangible behaviour change at the working level and helps to guide organizations on their strategy setting for SSCM adoption
Investigating the Retinal Age Gap as an Innovative Disease Biomarker
No full textRecently, the retinal age gap (RAG), the difference between chronological age and retinal biological age predicted from imaging data, has emerged as a promising biomarker for disease screening. RAG estimation is non-invasive, cost-effective, and widely accessible, making it suitable for global health applications. Elevated RAG values have been shown to correlate with increased risk for various ocular and systemic diseases, highlighting its potential as a health indicator. This study addresses key challenges in clinical translation by developing an efficient, multimodal, distributed learning framework for retinal age prediction and RAG estimation, specifically designed for decentralized, privacy-sensitive real-world settings. Therefore, an EfficientNet convolutional neural network was trained on color fundus photography (CFP) from 86,522 UK Biobank participants achieving a mean absolute error (MAE) of 3.11 years, surpassing previous CNN-based models, and demonstrating strong generalizability (MAE of 4.03 years) on the external BRSET dataset. Using this model, the largest RAG analysis to date was conducted, covering 159 disease/injury groups from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study. Significant RAG differences from healthy controls were found in 56 groups, reinforcing its clinical relevance. To further enhance accuracy and disease sensitivity, the first multimodal retinal age prediction model combining CFP and optical coherence tomography (OCT) was developed, achieving a state-of-the-art MAE of 2.75 years, outperforming CFP-only (3.21 years), OCT-only (3.98 years), and baseline convolutional neural network (3.27 years) models. Multimodal RAG estimates improved disease classification for type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and chronic kidney disease. Additionally, algorithmic bias analyses showed that while single-modality models exhibited significant sex- and ethnicity-based biases, the multimodal model did not, highlighting how multimodal models may provide benefits from a fairness perspective. For scalable deployment, a distributed learning framework using 8-bit quantized RETFound feature representations was developed, achieving performance comparable to centralized learning and enabling training on mobile and low-resource devices. Additionally, a novel gradient inversion attack method was developed to quantify privacy vulnerabilities, which were subsequently addressed through developing differential privacy methods and an innovative homomorphic encryption approach. Overall, this work provides a robust, generalizable, and privacy-preserving multimodal framework for RAG estimation, advancing its potential for clinical health applications
Understanding Steam-Based Hybrid Recovery Process Energetically Efficient for Heavy Oil Reservoirs
No full textEven though steam injection is the most widely implemented oil recovery method for heavy, extra-heavy, and tar sand reservoirs worldwide, it faces multiple challenges due to the maturity of some processes, the volatility of oil markets, energy efficiency, and current environmental regulations. Additionally, the limited availability of conventional or easy-to-produce crude oils combined with the growing global energy demand and energy transition has pushed oil and gas companies to develop economically and environmentally sustainable approaches to exploit heavy oil resources. This research was motivated by the need to evaluate steam-based hybrid technologies for a Colombian heavy oilfield. The study focused on selecting and assessing hybrid processes that combine enhanced oil recovery (EOR) with decarbonization objectives. The combination of steam and flue gas offered a promising opportunity to overcome recovery decline and environmental restrictions. Furthermore, a steam–solvent hybrid approach was evaluated as a strategy to reduce energy input per unit of oil recovered. Both hybrid technologies were compared in terms of EOR performance and energy efficiency. The main objective of this work was to investigate the effects of combining steam and flue gas to enhance heavy oil recovery and energy efficiency in a steamflooding process and to establish a technical comparison with the steam and solvent hybrid technology. After initial experimental tests, the steam plus flue gas hybrid technology was selected as the most promising option to support a pilot test in a Colombian heavy oil field. In that sense, this research included a comprehensive understanding of the impact of steam and flue gas EOR technology on reservoir phase behavior and the fluid flow as well as on relative permeability (kr) changes and hysteresis effects. The methodology combined physical experiments, numerical simulations, and analytical modelling. Finally, building on experimental and simulation results, a field-scale sector model was designed to support a potential pilot implementation of the steam–flue gas hybrid process, demonstrating improvements in oil recovery and energy efficiency, providing valuable input for advancing steam-based hybrid technologies in Colombian heavy oil fields
Volumetric Properties of Industrially Relevant Solutes in Carbon Dioxide, a Green Solvent
No full textThe science behind the industrial use and sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) has advanced rapidly in recent years; however, there is a lack of near-critical thermophysical data for many dilute industrially relevant solutes in CO2. Many thermophysical properties are sensitive to small temperature and pressure changes in the near-critical region. This allows for accurate fitting of equations-of-state to data collected in this region which leads to the optimization of industrial processes. This study explores the volumetric behaviour of different infinitely dilute solutes near the critical point of the solvent. These solutes include methanol, ethanol, 2-propanol, isoprene, limonene, caffeine, and cannabidiol. Apparent molar volumes were calculated from measured density differences using a SODEV vibrating-tube densimeter upgraded for high-pressure measurements. Solubilities of caffeine in CO2 also were measured. Volumetric properties were then used to optimize binary mixing parameters for reduced Helmholtz equations-of-state for methanol and ethanol in CO2. Fluctuation solution theory (FST) coefficients were fitted to the volumetric properties for each system. These coefficients were used to calculate solubilities of solutes and vapour-liquid equilibria of each system. FST also was used to calculate Krichevskii parameters of the selected solutes. Apparent molar volumes were used to optimize mixing coefficients from Kunz and Wagner for methanol in CO2, and these mixing coefficients were determined for the first time for ethanol in CO2. FST fit to alcohol apparent molar volumes showed lower uncertainties compared to Helmholtz equations when calculating volumetric properties of the solutions. FST accurately calculated vapour-liquid-equilibria (AARD = 0.31 – 3.71 %) and solubilities (AARD = 70 %) of isoprene and limonene in CO2. While FST fitted to caffeine and cannabidiol apparent molar volumes accurately calculated volumetric properties of the system (AARD = 63 - 77 %), solubility calculations had high errors (AARD = 99 %). Apparent molar volume minima of each solute in CO2 were compared and correlated to solute vapour pressure and polarizabilities. A universal c12 coefficient used in FST calculations was determined for solutes in CO2 after refitting each system. The value of this coefficient was found to be -300 cm3 mol-1
Supplementary Tables S1-S6
No full textSupplementary Tables 1-6 for manuscript "Sex differences in cerebrovascular function across an aerobic exercise intervention in older adults using MRI"
Mohan Singh Diwana’s Gobind Gītā textbook: An Analysis on the Subversion of Varṇāśramadharm a in the Sikh Tradition
No full textThis thesis examines Mohan Singh Diwana’s Gobind Gītā textbook (GGt), focusing on its portrayal of karmayoga (path of action) within the formative period of Indian nationalist and communal politics (1920-1950). It addresses the marginalization of the Gobind Gītā (GG) and the reemergence of the GGt in Sikh intellectual spaces. This occurs against the backdrop of the politicization of the Bhagavad Gītā (BG) as a unifying text for Indian nationalist identity and the GG’s subsequent exclusion from the standardized Dasam Granth (DG) by the Sodhak Committee. I argue that Diwana contextualizes the GGt to safeguard a pluralistic vision grounded in Gurmat against interpretations of karmayoga in the BG that supported varṇāśramadharma , connecting it to a Vedānticized Indian nationalist identity formation. The thesis concludes that the GGt presents a unique understanding of karmayoga based in Gurmat (Sikh worldview) and Gursikhī (Gurmat lived experience), actively rejecting the socioreligious institution of varṇāśramadharma (hierarchical sociopolitical system). This thesis employs a historical hermeneutic approach and comparative literary analysis by focusing on chapter three “Karmayoga da updesh” of the GGt, analysing Diwana’s introduction, verses, and biography. The concept of kathā (dialogical exposition) is also used to understand the GGt’s structure and its critique of varṇāśramadharma . This thesis begins by contextualizing GGt's emergence, while outlining the argument and methodology. Then, this thesis explores karmayoga in the Bhagavad Gītā to establish its textual connection with varṇā śramadharma and to contextualize its role in nationalist interpretations. Next, this thesis analyzes the GGt’s portrayal of karmayoga, arguing that it embodies Gurmat and Gursikhī through practices like nām simran (remembrance of the divine name), kīrtan (singing hymns), and kathā , alongside an egalitarian Khalsa (spiritual-military order) ethos. This thesis contributes to Sikh Studies by reinserting Diwana’s work into scholarly discourse and reasserting a Sikh pluralistic vision against prevailing varṇāśramadharma based BG interpretations