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Metal element drivers of rice sensory variation revealed by ICP-MS and electronic tongue predictive modeling
No full textMetal accumulation in rice grains influenced both nutritional composition and consumer-perceived eating quality. Concentrations of 26 metal elements were quantified in 36 rice samples by ICP-MS, and hierarchical cluster analysis grouped the samples into three categories. ANOVA revealed significant differences in essential elements (Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu) and non-essential or potentially toxic elements (Al, Ba, B), highlighting their contribution to classification. Sensory evaluation of representative samples demonstrated pronounced variation in odor, taste, palatability, and overall eating quality. Pearson correlation and PLSR-VIP analyses identified Ag, Al, B, Ba, Co, and V as strongly and negatively associated with sensory traits, whereas Ca and Fe exerted attribute-specific effects. Electronic tongue analysis with PCA achieved clear group separation, and a SVM model reached 93% overall accuracy. These results established a close linkage between elemental profiles and sensory performance, providing a framework for rapid, objective, and non-destructive rice quality assessment
Retrieval-augmented generation for natural language art provenance searches in the Getty Provenance Index
Get PDFThis study presents a prototype Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) framework for art provenance research, focusing on the Getty Provenance Index German Sales dataset. The prototype addresses challenges posed by fragmented and multilingual archival data, as well as the limitations of traditional metadata-based search tools. By enabling flexible, natural language queries in multiple languages, the framework facilitates searches of the Getty Provenance Index without knowledge of specific object metadata. Using a sample of 10,000 records to test the concept and later an extended 100,000 record sample, we explore a RAG prototype that aims to improve both the efficiency and accessibility of provenance searches and find encouraging results for specific and exploratory research scenarios. The framework emphasises transparency, suggesting a scalable and practically oriented approach for historians and cultural heritage professionals working with complex art market archives
Remaining aerosol forcing uncertainty after observational constraint and the processes that cause it
Get PDFAerosol radiative forcing remains a major source of climate model uncertainty, limiting climate model projection skill and slowing global action on addressing climate risks. Observations only modestly constrain the magnitude of aerosol radiative forcing despite advances in model fidelity, resolution and availability of observations. Our goals are to understand where aerosol-cloud forcing uncertainty resists efforts to reduce (or constrain) it and to identify the processes that cause the remaining uncertainty, to guide future observation campaigns and model constraint efforts. We map the aerosol forcing uncertainty in a global climate model perturbed parameter ensemble before and after constraint to satellite observations of several cloud, aerosol and radiative properties. Original uncertainty falls by more than 80 % in Northern Hemisphere marine regions and by 70 % for globally averaged aerosol forcing. However, the uncertainty remains large (more than 70 % of the original uncertainty) in Southern Hemisphere marine environments where stratocumulus clouds transition to cumulus, as well as in some highly populated industrialized areas. Regional clusters of shared causes of model uncertainty highlight common processes as targets for future observational constraint. Our findings highlight the value in re-evaluating the remaining causes of ΔFaci uncertainty during the constraint process and provide actionable information for prioritizing existing observations that should be included as constraints. Additionally, our results highlight targeted observations in persistent uncertainty hotspots where novel and process-specific data could further constrain aerosol forcing. This work provides a framework for model evaluation and development that prioritises aerosol forcing constraint to improve model skill at making climate projections
Layer-dependent spin properties of charge carriers in vertically coupled telecom quantum dots
Get PDFWe investigate the spin properties of charge carriers in vertically coupled InAs/InAlGaAs quantum dots
grown by molecular beam epitaxy, emitting at telecom C-band wavelengths, with a silicon δ-doped layer.
Using time-resolved pump-probe Faraday ellipticity measurements, we systematically study single-, two-,
and four-layer quantum dot (QD) configurations to quantify how vertical coupling affects key spin-coherence
parameters. Our measurements reveal distinct layer-dependent effects: (i) Adding a second QD layer flips the
resident charge from electrons to holes, consistent with optically induced electron tunneling into lower-energy
dots and resultant hole charging. (ii) Starting from the four-layer sample, the pump-probe signal develops an
additional nonoscillating, decaying component absent in single- and two-layer samples, attributed to multiple
layer growth changing the strain environment, which reduces heavy-hole and light-hole mixing. (iii) With four
layers or more, hole spin mode locking (SML) can be observed, enabling quantitative extraction of the hole
coherence time T2 ≈ 13 ns from SML amplitude saturation. We also extract longitudinal spin relaxation (T1) and
transverse (T ∗
2 ) spin dephasing times, g-factors, and inhomogeneous dephasing parameters for both electrons and
holes across all layer configurations. The hole spin dephasing times T ∗
2 remain relatively constant (2.3–2.7 ns)
across layer counts, while longitudinal relaxation times T1 decrease with increasing layers (from 0.9 µs for
single-layer to 0.32 µs for four-layer samples). These findings provide potential design guidelines for engineering
spin coherence in telecom-band QDs for quantum information applications
Editorial: Understanding the Value of Pilot Studies in Educational Research
Get PDFPilot studies play a crucial role in strengthening doctoral research, yet limited detailed discussion has been carried out on how to effectively design, conduct and reflect on them. This gap potentially leads to incorrect understanding or misunderstanding of their purposes and undermines their value to enhance research quality. This special issue brings together reflections on pilot studies from seven doctoral students in education, offering rich insights into their practical, methodological, and personal benefits and challenges. Complemented by perspectives from experienced researchers at the School of Education, these contributions highlight that research is not solely about results but also about the
process. Importantly, this process begins well before the main study commences, with pilot studies serving as a foundational step in shaping rigorous and reflective doctoral research
3D environment favors persistent changes in cell functions and altered morphology, wrinkling, and biomechanical signature of the nucleus
Get PDFThe interplay between cells and their surrounding microenvironment drives multiple cellular functions, including migration, proliferation, and cell fate transitions. The nucleus is a mechanosensitive organelle; however, the morphological and functional changes of the nucleus induced by a three-dimensional (3D) extracellular environment remain unclear. Here, we report that leukemia Jurkat cells selected after 3D growth conditions retain persistent nuclear changes even after being released from confinement. These altered cells showed aberrant nuclear wrinkling, visualized by the lamin B1 distribution and mediated by disrupted actin dynamics and protein kinase C (PKC)β signaling. Moreover, these cells presented changes in chromatin compaction, transcription, apoptosis, and in vivo dissemination. By combining biomechanical techniques and single-nucleus analysis, we have determined that these cells exhibit a distinct nuclear mechanical behavior and biophysical signature compared with control cells. Together, these findings demonstrate that 3D microenvironments alter leukemia cell biology by promoting persistent changes in chromatin organization, morphology, and mechanical response of the nucleus
Navigating the supply chain environmental sustainability: the moderating role of digitalisation in driving supply chain efficiency on circular economy performance
Get PDFWithin the supply chain sustainability literature, the role of circular economy (CE) from a supply chain management (SCM) perspective has gained increasing attention. However, how supply chain efficiency (SCE) facilitates CE development under digitalisation, and the moderating role of digital transformation (DT), remain unclear. Grounded in the dynamic capabilities framework, this study examines the effect of SCE on CE development and the moderating influence of DT, while considering economic feasibility. Using text analysis, DT measures are derived from corporate annual reports and merged with data from CNRDS and CSMAR. Panel regressions are conducted on 4,248 firm-year observations. The results show that SCE significantly promotes CE development, and this relationship is strengthened by DT. By contrast, DT has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between SCE and financial performance. These findings suggest that firms can leverage existing SCM capabilities to pursue CE in a cost-effective manner, highlighting the strategic role of DT in CE transitions
Geographical characteristics and other factors associated with alcohol-related fatal fires in Ireland 2014 – 2021 [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]
Get PDFIntroduction
Alcohol-related fatal fires represent a tragic but preventable death. Geographic features of these events can inform prevention campaigns and are important to consider in combination with other risk factors. This study aims to examine the factors associated with alcohol-related versus non-alcohol-related fatal fires, and to examine geographical characteristics of alcohol-related fatal fires in Ireland.
Method
Using Irish Coronial data, we looked at all 273 fire fatalities for the period 2014 to 2021, of which 112 (41.0%) had positive alcohol toxicology. Descriptive analyses were conducted followed by logistic regression and geospatial analyses to understand the characteristics of alcohol-related fatal fires.
Results
Compared to non-alcohol related fatal fires, the proportion of fatal fires that involved alcohol was higher among 35–49-year-olds (65.9%) smokers (54.7%) and those accompanied by friends (86.7%). In regression analyses, history of alcohol dependency was the only significant risk factor for a fatal fire being alcohol-related. Rural areas were over-represented in alcohol-related fatal fires, with an annual average 0.37 deaths per 100,000 people in rural areas for every 0.25 in urban areas. Alcohol-related fires that occurred in rural areas involved a longer travel time and distance to the nearest fire station but there was no significant association between alcohol-related fires and area-level deprivation.
Conclusions
People with a history of alcohol dependency suffer higher rates of alcohol-related vs non-alcohol-related fatal fires. These deaths are avoidable, and it is essential that alcohol use is acknowledged as a contributory risk factor and efforts be made to raise awareness and target at-risk individuals
Social identity and cooperation co-evolve in a multilevel public goods game
Get PDFIn the real world people often face collective action problems at multiple scales, where they must choose between local and global cooperation. Unlike single public goods scenarios, which can be solved if enough players are willing to cooperate, multilevel collective action problems introduce an additional coordination challenge in working towards the same goals. Using a pre-registered, online behavioural experiment, we investigate how perceptions of social identity predict and covary with cooperation success in multilevel public goods games. We find that introducing a local cooperation option undermines global cooperation and exacerbates parochial biases, but that increasing the payoffs of global cooperation boosts global cooperation levels. We also see a performance-cohesion effect, whereby successful cooperation within groups is associated with increased social identification with that group. Overall, our findings point to the importance of social context for cooperation, social identity, and their interplay
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