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Predictions of Particle Trajectory Response to Reynolds Number in Turbulent Channel Flows Using Artificial Neural Networks
No full textCommunity and care in independent union organising of paid care workers
Get PDFPaid care work persists as a site of low pay, insecurity, and exploitation globally, with ‘decent work’ elusive. In England, the adult social care (ASC) workforce is fragmented, contributing to a lack of sectoral-level organising and collective bargaining. Consequently, industrial disputes in the sector are uncommon; however, they do occur. Based on a case study of an independent trade union, United Voices of the World, involving interviews with union staff and paid care workers, the article uses the lens of care to understand successful elements of a campaign to improve conditions at a London nursing home. Alongside this care focus, the article draws on sociological conceptualisations of ‘community’ to theorise what worked well in this case. This literature strengthens analysis of the union’s successful engagement with this group of workers, and how it sustained the campaign. The article presents one of few studies of paid ASC worker organising in England. It includes important insights on sociological notions of care, community, agency, and work orientations. These pertain to the ways they shape worker organising. The article augments the growing independent union literature through examining an employment sector not previously discussed in that context. In addition, it strengthens sociological understanding of the consequences of, and worker resistance to, societal undervaluation of care work. It concludes by summarising the implications and key learning from the case, including the prospects for wider organising of paid ASC workers
Designing for pro-environmental behaviour change: the aspiration–reality gap
Get PDFBuilt-environment designers (architects, landscape architects and urban designers) shape the spatial and material conditions that support or hinder pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs). This study examines the gap between designers’ aspirations (the PEB outcomes they wish to enable) and their perceived reality (feasibility judgements under present institutional and project conditions) across five domains where designers exert material influence: recycling, energy conservation, sustainable transport, food growing and biodiversity-supportive gardening. Survey responses from UK-based design practitioners (n = 577) reveal a pervasive aspiration–reality gap, with aspirations exceeding perceived feasibility across all domains. The gap is smallest for lower dependency interventions and largest for higher dependency measures requiring organisational or political coordination. Around one-quarter of variance is attributable to between-person differences, with the remainder being intervention specific. Aspirations and perceived realities are strongly aligned across domains. Alignment is strongest in stewardship-dependent domains (food-growing; biodiversity-supportive gardening) and weakest in sustainable transport. This pattern suggests designers calibrate ambition to perceived delivery pathways, but coupling loosens where pathways are externally controlled or contested. These findings highlight the need to reduce institutional constraints shaping feasibility judgements and strengthen designers’ behavioural-design capability and the professional sustainability baseline. Together, these measures can help to enable the facilitation of low-carbon, resource-efficient lifestyles. Built-environment designers (architects, landscape architects and urban designers) reported aspirations that exceeded what they judged feasible under current delivery conditions. Narrowing this gap depends less on exhorting higher ambition than on making PEB-supportive design routinely deliverable in practice. Three near-term priorities are as follows. (1) Institutional reform (procurement, approvals, stewardship): embed behavioural criteria in briefs and approvals; move procurement beyond lowest capital cost; streamline pathways for high-dependency measures (notably sustainable transport); and resource long-term stewardship. (2) Professional empowerment (capability and confidence): strengthen behavioural-science literacy, evidence-based briefing, and user-centred stewardship guidance through continuing professional development and professional standards. (3) Strengthen the evidence base: normalise post-occupancy evaluation and operational feedback; use these data to test perceived feasibility against delivered interventions and realised behavioural/operational outcomes; codify learning into repeatable guidance and specifications
N-terminal protein-macrocycles enabled by conjugate addition/ring expansion cascade reactions
Get PDFThe development of methods for chemical modification of proteins has enabled transformative advancements in the fields of chemical biology, cell biology and biomedicine. Herein we demonstrate that simple, easy-to-prepare acryloyl imides can be used as reagents for N-terminal protein bioconjugation that exploit conjugate addition/ring expansion (CARE) cascade reactions to afford novel protein-macrocycle conjugates. The CARE approach advantageously proceeds with high N-terminal selectivity, affords the formation of stable bioconjugates driven by irreversible ring expansion, and facilitates access to modified proteins appended with complex, functionalized medium sized rings. The utility of this late stage protein macrocycle diversification is showcased in nanobody-based imaging of cancer tissue and modulation of a chemokine-receptor interaction, uniquely decoupling GPCR endocytosis from phosphorylation. As such the CARE bioconjugation represents a powerful and versatile platform with broad potential application in the construction of tools for dissecting biological mechanisms, and biologics with new therapeutic modalities
#2922 The relative and absolute quantity of qualitative research in nephrology compared to other specialities: a scoping review covering over two decades
No full textAceramic Revolution? Understanding Technological Continuity and Change in Viking Age England
No full textTHE ARRIVAL OF THE POTTERS’ WHEEL in late 9th-century England heralded major changes in ceramic manufacturing practice. Whether it appeared before or coincided with Scandinavian settlement of England in the ad 870s has been the subject of much debate, yet still it is poorly understood why its use was restricted to areas settled by Scandinavians, a group traditionally viewed by English archaeologists as aceramic. Our understanding of the origins of this settling group has transformed in recent years: it is now clear that the early settlers were not purely of Scandinavian stock, nor did they arrive directly from Scandinavian homelands. By considering the success of wheel-thrown pottery as a function of pre-existing ceramic use and the manufacturing practices of this diverse settling group and the late Saxon communities who hosted them, it is demonstrated that this revolution in pottery making was as much about continuity in ceramic practice as it was about change
Feasibility of routine quality-of-life measurement in residential aged care: Results from a pilot study in Australia
Get PDFObjective
This study presents findings from a pilot study that aimed to examine the feasibility of routine measurement of quality of life in residential aged care, including the examination of barriers to and facilitators of collecting and using that data to improve quality of care.
Methods
This study was conducted at two not-for-profit residential aged care facilities in Melbourne, VIC, Australia. All residents were eligible to participate if consent was provided. Self-reported quality-of-life data were collected from residents, alongside proxy-reported data from aged care staff and relatives, primarily using the EQ-5D-5L in addition to a randomly assigned second measure (i.e. The Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit [ASCOT], Quality of Life-Aged Care Consumers [QOL-ACC], EQ Health and Wellbeing Instrument [EQ-HWB]). Feasibility was assessed in terms of missing data, residents’ level of engagement and understanding, and difficulty experienced by staff and relatives in providing proxy reports. Perceived facilitators and barriers were identified via qualitative interviewers with staff who collected the data.
Results
From 103 consenting participants, we gathered quality-of-life data through self-report (n = 90), staff proxy-report (n = 101) and family proxy-report (n = 49). Most residents (94%) were able to respond to the EQ-5D-5L questions and residents’ level of engagement was rated by staff as good. Only a few missing values (0–10%) were recorded for the EQ-5D-5L. Qualitative findings indicate that while quality-of-life data collection has benefits, barriers include time pressures, residents being too unwell to self-report, staff uncertainty about responding on their behalf and issues with the measure itself.
Conclusions
While it is feasible to routinely collect quality-of-life data in residential aged care, addressing the barriers identified will optimise the efficiency of the process and maximise the use of data to guide quality improvement strategies
Progressively learned musical ability predicts cognitive transfer in older adult novices: a 12-month musical instrument training programme
Get PDFMusical instrument training is an often-suggested candidate for cognitive training in older adults. Studies are typically short-term, with little opportunity to explore different trained music-making activities (e.g. improvisation) or how progression in music-specific learning may affect cognitive outcomes. This long-term study (12 months training, six months follow-up) contributes the first comparison of music-making activity and instruments for healthy older adult novices, evaluating how different conditions may affect music learning (measured quantitatively by objective computational means) and how this transfers to domain-general cognitive and motor skills. Sixty-eight participants experienced both types of music-making activity (replication versus improvisation) and instrument (piano keyboard versus iPad-based ThumbJam) through four three-month blocks delivered online. We have previously published our investigation of the participants’ music learning, with the biggest improvements in melodic discrimination tasks associated with improvisation training. This article uses our repeated measures design of domain-general cognitive and motor skills to demonstrate that the extent of learning, as evaluated by music-specific perception tests, can predict some cognitive benefits. Implications are in the design of music teaching and learning tasks for cognitive gain, such that individuals can be supported to develop skills to the best of their ability
“Vulnerabilities and compound risks of escalating climate disasters in the Brazilian Amazon”
Get PDFThe Brazilian Amazon is severely impacted by extreme climate events, with 1.8 million people (6.4% of the Brazilian Amazon’s population) affected by climate-related disasters each year between 2018 and 2022. Yet, how climate disasters specifically affect human populations in different municipalities in the Amazon is underexplored. We target this gap, presenting a region-wide spatiotemporal assessment of climate-related disasters and social vulnerability across the Brazilian Amazon over the period 2000–2022, considering floods, droughts, heatwaves, fires, and landslides, and using a compound risk lens. Analysis of secondary data shows disaster frequency surged, with wet events rising fivefold, fires tenfold, and droughts and heatwaves tripling. Economic losses rose 370% reaching USD 634.2 million annually, with wet events most damaging. Farming sustained over 60% of total losses, followed by infrastructure, housing, and health services. Smaller municipalities, which host 61% of the region’s Indigenous population, experienced the highest relative impacts, including a 9.58% loss in economic growth and lower Social Progress Index scores. Data on non-economic losses and damages were lacking, but further exacerbated the impacts in these vulnerable areas. Findings underscore that climate change is a poverty multiplier, and highlight the urgent need for adaptation policy interventions to be justice-centered
Origin–destination specific traffic emissions and data-driven NO2 pollution-optimal routing in urban environments
Get PDFUrban air pollution from traffic poses serious public health risks. Pollution exposure can be minimised through traffic routing systems; these currently rely on detailed local environmental information, which is often difficult to collect or generalise within and across cities. Here, we introduce a new data-driven approach for ready application to different urban road networks by directly relating NO2 to traffic density in a time-dependent and weather-corrected manner. We demonstrate this application by comparing pollution-optimal routings, using our novel direct NO2/density approach, to the conventional traffic assignment minimising user travel time, in a case study of Sheffield, UK. There, we find user-optimal traffic flows result in 21% higher total NO2 concentrations than pollution-optimal routings, while saving only 9% in total travel time: an average of 0.3 min per road. Our generalisable framework offers a practical alternative to current emissions-based models for air-quality-aware traffic control and environmental zone planning
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