159370 research outputs found
Sort by
Elevated CO2 Increases the Canopy Temperature of Mature Quercus robur (Pedunculate Oak)
Get PDFThe canopy thermal response of natural forests to elevated CO2 (eCO2) is an understudied biophysical feedback in the global climate system. We investigated the effects of eCO2 (150 μmol mol−1 above ambient) on canopy temperature (Tcan) dynamics of mature (> 175 years) Quercus robur (oak) at the Birmingham Institute for Forest Research Free Air CO2 Enrichment (BIFoR-FACE) facility in Staffordshire, England, during the growing seasons of 2021, 2022 and 2023. We employed long-term, high-frequency thermal infrared (TIR) imaging to measure Tcan. Our results show that daily maximum oak Tcan under eCO2 was, on average, approximately 1.3°C higher than under ambient (aCO2) conditions (21.5°C ± 4.4°C for aCO2 vs. 22.8°C ± 5.2°C for eCO2 oaks). Moreover, daily maximum Tcan–air temperature (Tair) differences were significantly higher under eCO2, resulting from more frequent extreme temperature excursions. These differences appear primarily to be driven by reduced stomatal conductance under eCO2, which limits transpirational cooling and alters the surface energy balance. This effect was evident in the different relationship between Tcan–Tair and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) for eCO2 compared to aCO2, showing a reduction in transpirational cooling under high VPD. Also, CO2-induced leaf structural and anatomical modifications, such as increased leaf mass per area, may have enhanced solar radiation absorption, thereby enabling greater canopy warming under high radiation conditions. Thus, eCO2 could likely cause a reduction in leaf transpiration in oaks, reducing its contribution to processes such as humidification of the lower atmosphere and precipitation in local and regional climates. Our findings highlight how high CO2 conditions may intensify thermal stress in temperate forests, influencing water and carbon cycles and potentially impacting forest resilience. Furthermore, Tcan will be essential for refining global Earth system models, which often use Tair as a proxy for Tcan, despite the latter's direct influence on carbon and hydrological cycles
SII-NowNet: A machine learning tool for nowcasting convection initiation and intensification in the Tropics
Get PDFNowcasting developing convection is a crucial component of early warning systems in the Tropics. While machine learning has proven effective for radar-based nowcasting, the lack of radar coverage across much of the Tropics creates a significant capability gap. This study presents Simple Initiation and Intensification Nowcasting neural Network (SII-NowNet), a machine learning tool that uses satellite brightness temperatures to produce probabilistic nowcasts of intensifying and initiating convection in the Tropics. SII-NowNet is first demonstrated over Sumatra, Indonesia—a densely populated tropical island with frequent convective activity. For nowcasts of intensifying convection, SII-NowNet outperforms an optical flow model for lead times of 1–6 hours but begins to over-predict events beyond 3 hours, indicating its limit of capability. For nowcasts of initiating convection, SII-NowNet’s limit of capability is reached at 2 hours, beyond which it over-predicts events and is outperformed by climatology. SII-NowNet is trained on 8,661 samples (12 months of data), but sensitivity testing shows that the number of samples can be reduced to three weeks for intensification and three months for initiation, before its outperformed by climatology. This has practical implications for the implementation and further development of SII-NowNet in resource-constrained settings. To exemplify generalisability in other Tropical regions, SII-NowNet is tested over New Guinea, Zambia, Congo and West Africa. Without retraining or region-specific tuning, SII-NowNet achieves skill scores comparable to those over Sumatra. Overall, SII-NowNet’s promising results, combined with ease of applicability across the Tropics, make it a valuable tool for future operational nowcasting
The temporal context of eye contact influences perceptions of communicative intent
Get PDFThis study examined the perceptual dynamics that influence the evaluation of eye contact as a communicative display. Participants (n = 137) completed a task where they decided if agents were inspecting or requesting one of three objects. Each agent shifted its gaze three times per trial, with the presence, frequency and sequence of eye contact displays manipulated across six conditions. We found significant differences between all gaze conditions. Participants were most likely, and fastest, to perceive a request when eye contact occurred between two averted gaze shifts towards the same object. Findings suggest that the relative temporal context of eye contact and averted gaze, rather than eye contact frequency or recency, shapes its communicative potency. Commensurate effects were observed when participants completed the task with agents that appeared as humans or a humanoid robot, indicating that gaze evaluations are broadly tuned across a range of social stimuli. Our findings advance the field of gaze perception research beyond paradigms that examine singular, salient and static gaze cues and inform how signals of communicative intent can be optimally engineered in the gaze behaviours of artificial agents (e.g. robots) to promote natural and intuitive social interactions
Cost-effectiveness of low-dose amitriptyline for irritable bowel syndrome in primary care
Get PDFObjective
General practitioners may not prescribe amitriptyline for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) despite using it for other chronic conditions. The Amitriptyline at Low-Dose and Titrated for Irritable Bowel Syndrome as Second-Line Treatment (ATLANTIS) trial found low-dose titrated amitriptyline was a safe and clinically effective second-line treatment for IBS in primary care. We undertook a prespecified cost-effectiveness analysis of ATLANTIS trial data.
Design/method
Complete case (CC) and a full population (FP) analysis using multiply imputed data with analyses at 6 (365 participants CC, 463 participants FP) and 12 (224 participants CC, 291 participants FP) months. As the trial was not fully randomised between 6 and 12 months, we adopted inverse probability weighting to mitigate potential impact of participants choosing to continue trial medication.
Results
At a 6-month time horizon, CC analysis demonstrated low-dose amitriptyline was more likely to be cost-effective than not (incremental net health benefit (NHB) 0.0029 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs)/person, low-dose amitriptyline dominant, 67.3% probability cost-effective), but not FP analysis. At 12 months, all analyses demonstrated low-dose amitriptyline was more likely to be cost-effective than not (CC: incremental NHB 0.00757 QALYs/person, low-dose amitriptyline dominant, 81.7% probability cost-effective; FP: incremental NHB 0.00388 QALYs/person, low-dose amitriptyline dominant, 68.7% probability cost-effective).
Conclusion
In addition to the clinical benefit, safety and acceptability of low-dose amitriptyline in patients with IBS found in the ATLANTIS trial, these results indicate this inexpensive medication is likely to be cost-effective as a second-line treatment for IBS in primary care over 12 months. This strengthens amitriptyline as a treatment option for people with ongoing IBS symptoms
The Void of Surveillance: Machine Learning, Psychoanalysis, and the Misreading of Desire
Get PDFSurveillance studies has long drawn on Michel Foucault’s (1977) panopticon and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s (1987) assemblage to analyse how surveillance functions and its many societal effects. More recently, there has been a particular emphasis on how profiles, otherwise known as data doubles, have played an increased role in surveillance using artificial intelligence. While this scholarship has explored how data are gathered and analysed, this article problematises the ability for the data flowing from humans to machines to be so revelatory of subjectivity. In doing so, this article considers how adopting a psychoanalytical notion of desire, drawn from Jacques Lacan (2007), problematises the assumption that data stemming from outward affirmations of subjectivity are an accurate reflection of who we are. If desire is bound to lack, instead of being an active, positive force, this raises a host of questions about how surveillance is confronted by cuts, blockages, absences, and exclusions when trying to make sense of an individual. As this article argues, this gap of knowledge between profiles and individuals is not because there is a flaw within surveillance but because surveillance itself depends on a constitutive void: the necessary gap of knowledge between data and desire, in light of machines only ever being able to interpret humans as machines. The void of surveillance is not what merely sustains surveillance, as needing to know more to fill a gap of knowledge, but sustains the necessary failure of total surveillance’s goal of knowing everything there is to know about an individual, given there is always more to know. This article shows how paying attention to this void offers new insights into surveillance’s misunderstanding of subjectivity
Letter to the Editor Rebuttal to Qi et al. (2025): “Alpha 9 integrin in spinal cord repair: a critical appraisal of mechanisms, circuitry, and translational potential”
Get PDFIn response to the commentary by Qi et al. (2025) on our recent study of α9 integrin in spinal cord repair, we provide clarifications on several factual and interpretative points. The α9 integrin binding site resides within the third fibronectin type III-like repeat of tenascin-C, which is not alternatively spliced, ensuring consistent ligand engagement. Multiple studies, including those by Dobbertin et al., Cimpean et al., and Tan et al. support the pro-regenerative role of α9 integrin and its ability to overcome CSPG-mediated inhibition through Src and FAK signalling. We further note that long-term studies are indeed warranted and have facilitated such research by depositing all constructs on Addgene. Contrary to the commentary’s claim, our study employed a spinal cord injury model, not a dorsal root crush, and histological data confirm the presence of a fibrotic scar. No evidence of neuropathic pain was observed at 12 weeks, indicating functional safety within the study timeframe. Together, these clarifications reaffirm that α9 integrin signalling directly promotes axon regeneration and that future work using temporally controlled systems will build on these findings
Disadvantaged neighbourhoods, modifiable risk factors, and cerebral small vessel disease in healthy midlife adults: the PREVENT dementia study
Get PDFTrimodal age distribution of frequent attendance at the emergency department:a descriptive analysis of national, English, secondary care data using a retrospective cohort
Get PDFEngineering polar nanoclusters for enhanced microwave tunability in ferroelectric thin films
Get PDFMicrowave tunable thin films that can dynamically adjust dielectric properties are essential for next-generation communication and sensing technologies. However, achieving high-tunability often comes at the cost of increased dielectric loss or the need for large bias electric fields. In this study, we address this challenge by engineering nanoclusters in a tin doped barium titanate thin film and systematically investigate their polarization behaviour across the ferroelectric–paraelectric transition. The optimized film exhibits outstanding microwave tunability (~74% at 6 GHz under a low DC bias of 15 V), which are attributed to the presence of polar nanoclusters embedded within a macroscopically non-polar cubic matrix, stabilized by subtle structural features such as twin boundaries, local lattice distortions, and compositional variations. Structural and dielectric analyses confirm that these nanoclusters remain active, enabling strong field-induced permittivity modulation near room temperature. This work demonstrates a promising strategy to achieve high tunability with minimal losses in ferroelectric thin films, thereby addressing a key performance trade-off in the design of advanced microwave tunable devices
Data sources:
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Open Research Online? Become a CORE Member to access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard! 👇