19684 research outputs found
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Acting in the Middle:a Glossary of Encounter
No full textActing in the Middle: A Glossary of Encounter brings together a selection of artworks, artefacts, and materials made and gathered during the first phase of Bleak Plateaus, an ongoing artistic-research project, which explores and engages with the peatlands of the northern Peak District and the wider Pennines, responding to these important sites as zones of productive ambiguity, where, for example, multispecies subsistence, joy, the violence of marginalisation and anguish at impending ecological devastation all intersect.Focussing primarily on Kinder Scout, the most famous of the Dark Peak’s moorland plateaus, the works and objects on display attend to the polyphonic composition of the manifold human-non-human assemblages that crisscross Kinder’s slopes and plateaus. From commoners’ subsistence, mass trespass, occult teachings and interplanetary parliaments, to sphagnum mosses, bog lilies, labour, leisure, environmental devastation, carbon sequestration, ring ouzels and a unique mountain hare population, the complex entanglements that energise this important site’s mental, social and environmental ecologies exist across multiple scales, times and registers, held together by stubborn and outmoded orthodoxies. Placed in open dialogue with one another, these objects and events invite speculative associations and interpretations, not unlike words awaiting new languages, drawing attention to the inadequacy of our current modes of enunciation in addressing the crises that constitute the present ecological and cultural condition and how they manifest aesthetically. As the title of the show suggests, the starting point is neither holism nor reduction; beginning instead from somewhere in the middle, a place of not knowing and uncertainty, acknowledging the shifty nature of the peats and sands that locate these spaces as somewhere between liquid and solid, and recognising that thought emerges in relation to specific environments, which matters in how we form questions about the world and imagine and communicate within it. The exhibition seeks to unsettle what Isabelle Stengers calls ‘faithful communication,’ in favour of misunderstanding and indeterminacy, opening onto an ecology of practices that refuses the potent allure of Truth and the theoretical disentanglement of something from its milieu.3 Against the backdrop of climate breakdown and the urgent need for ethico-aesthetic repair, it looks to activate a situated and transversal cutting across, in search of new ways of speaking about what we don’t yet have the proper words to express. It asks us to learn to listen without privileging the voice, directing us towards politics and ethics that hum in a minor key. <br/
<i>Untitled (Alien Alphabet)</i>
No full textSeries of photographic prints exploring nonhuman language and machinic animis
Leveraging known Pacific colonisation times to test models for the ancestry of Southeast Asians
No full textThe most widely accepted model for the colonization of Remote Oceania by Austronesian-speaking bearers of the Lapita complex ~ 3 ka (3000 years ago) links it to a broader Neolithic expansion from China, via Taiwan, ~ 4.5–6 ka. However, analyses of mitochondrial DNA haplogroup B4a1a1a, prevalent among Remote Oceanians today, have both supported and challenged this scenario. Here, we analyze 1364 B4a1a1 mitogenomes (234 novel) from 68 islands and compare age estimates with radiocarbon dates for colonization. We estimate the settlement of Remote Oceania ~ 3.2 [2.7; 3.75] ka, matching radiocarbon ages, and then extrapolate the age in Near Oceania. B4a1a1a arose around the northern coasts of New Guinea at least 6 ka, following Early Holocene dispersals from Asia. Technological advances (e.g., in sailing), fueled by interaction networks alongside the arrival of Late Holocene migrants from Taiwan or ISEA and putative environmental changes, likely triggered the expansion of Lapita colonists carrying B4a1a1a from New Guinea into Remote Oceania.</p
Localisation-Dependent Variations in Articular Cartilage ECM:Implications for Tissue Engineering and Cartilage Repair
No full textArticular cartilage (AC) is a specialised connective tissue covering joint surfaces. It enables smooth movement, distributes mechanical loads, and protects the underlying bone. In response to loading, AC adapts by modifying both its thickness and composition. AC is organised in different zones, with low cellularity and a high abundance of extracellular matrix (ECM). Mechanical overloading or immobilisation can lead to structural changes, potentially resulting in osteoarthritis (OA), for which no causal treatment currently exists. However, smaller defects can be treated using chondrocyte/cartilage transplantation or tissue engineering. A better understanding of the molecular composition of AC at different locations is essential to improve such therapeutic approaches. For this purpose, we performed a comprehensive analysis of porcine femoral knee cartilage at eight defined anatomical sites. Cartilage thickness and proteoglycan (PG) content were analysed histologically, while specific ECM proteins were assessed by proteomics and validated by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. Significant differences were identified, particularly between medial and lateral compartments, in terms of cartilage thickness, PG abundance, and ECM composition. Some proteins also showed zone-specific localisation patterns. These structural differences likely reflect adaptation to mechanical loading and should be considered to optimise future cartilage repair and tissue engineering strategies.</p
Thermoelectric performance of oriented SrTiO<sub>3</sub> nanofilms containing Σ3{111} grain boundary interfaces
No full textHeat-recovery technologies such as thermoelectric power are key to achieving Net Zero. Oxide perovskites are abundant, cost effective and stable thermoelectric materials, but their performance is limited by high lattice thermal conductivity, . While nanostructuring is often used to control the , its impact on the electrical transport is less well understood. In this work, we report a first principles modelling study of nanofilms of SrTiO3 containing Σ3{111} grain boundaries, providing detailed microscopic insights into how different stacking sequences affect the electrical and thermal transports, and the thermoelectric figure of merit, . We find that structurally complex interfaces can reduce the by > 80 % compared to bulk SrTiO3, but lead to undesirable reductions in the Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity and thermoelectric power factor. This implies the need for concurrent doping strategies alongside nanostructuring. Our results highlight the importance of nanostructuring to length scales above the electron mean-free path, and show that the can be optimised by engineering the grain-boundary structure
Multi-Model-Based Condition Monitoring Framework for the Health Assessment of the Tool Center Point and Joints of Industrial Collaborative Robots
No full textAmidst the rapidly advancing landscape of robotics, AI, and IoT, collaborative robots (cobots) play a pivotal role in the transition to Industry 5.0. The precise positioning and performance of cobots are crucial for ensuring product quality and worker safety. This paper examines system and subsystem-level Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) by leveraging Tool Centre Point (TCP) position and orientation data, along with joints’ currents measurements of cobots, to detect anomalies caused by functional deviations. The proposed framework employs multiple Long Short-Term Memory AutoEncoder (LSTM-AE) models, and the results obtained demonstrate that the framework is highly effective in detecting and isolating cobot anomalies, with high potential to be developed into a smart solution for identifying real faults.</p
A case in support of creative vocational education and training teachers:Innovative teaching practices and the impact on engagement for learners on a senior leader apprenticeship program
No full textThis research examines the use of innovative teaching practices and their impact on learner engagement using feedback from learners enrolled in a Senior Leader Apprenticeship program at a United Kingdom (UK) higher education institutions. Through outlining practice and analyzing learner feedback, this paper seeks to unleash and support the creative potential of vocational education and training teachers in engaging diverse learners. First, the paper explores the link between innovation and engagement in the classroom. Second, we introduce Photovoice, an innovative and creative pedagogical tool, and examine its impact on learner engagement and outcomes
Supply chain management for online pharmacies:An exploration of operations, pricing, counterfeit medicine and technology uptake
No full textThe global online pharmacy sector is set to double its size in the next couple of years; a forecast highlighting its crucial and still rapidly emerging impact in healthcare. Using a theme-based narrative literature review covering academic publications through years 2013 to 2022, this study describes the role of Supply Chain Management (SCM) for online pharmacies by identifying and contextualising four industry-defining themes. These are namely dual-channel operations (i.e., synergies between online and traditional pharmacies), pricing strategies (e.g., balancing profitability and affordability), legitimacy challenges (i.e., are any medicine counterfeit?), and technology's transformative impact (e.g., AI and blockchain operations are paradigm-changers). The study highlights the urgency of regulatory collaboration and rigorous oversight for secure and efficient online pharmacy supply chains and exposes the reader to the current challenges and opportunities underpinning the online pharmacies’ SCM. This work enhances the academic understanding of an emerging sector and provides practical insights for online pharmacy businesses about tackling barriers that may disrupt or diminish supply chain efficiency. As the sector grows, these evidence-based insights can assist strategic decisions, policy formations, and technological progress, fostering improved global healthcare access.</p
An Ontology for Climate Risks in a Credit Risk Management Framework for Financial Institutions
No full textClimate-related risks have recently emerged as critical factors in financial risk management, resulting in significant demand forreliable and standardized sustainability data. In response, the European Union (EU) has established regulatory frameworks mandating corporations of varying sizes to disclose key sustainability indicators. These developments facilitate improved quantitative risk management through consistent and accessible sustainability data published by corporations in their respective reports. However, reporting from diverse and heterogeneous data sources necessitates structured methods for storing and organizing domain knowledge, enabling efficient data access and retrieval. To address these challenges, we introduce an ontology designed to function as a schema for constructing a Knowledge Graph (KG) that integrates data essential for assessing climate risks within financial institutions’ loan portfolios. Following established ontology modeling practices, our approach reuses and extends existing ontologies, ensuring alignment with the latest EU reporting standards specified in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This ontology, which is made publicly available, supports the assessment of transition climate risks, e.g., through a portfolio temperature alignment framework and further enhances capabilities for information extraction, identification of data gaps, and analysis of data integrity within sustainability reports.<br/
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