62880 research outputs found
Sort by
The impact of plants on indoor air quality and the wellbeing of building occupants
No full textIndoor plants are introduced into buildings to benefit the occupants’ wellbeing or comfort, through enhancing the visual design of the interior or improving the indoor air quality (IAQ). However, their room-scale impact on the IAQ and effect on people’s responses is poorly understood. Indoor humidity is an important aspect of IAQ. Plants can humidify the air through evapotranspiration (ET) but few studies have quantified this in office environments. Air temperature (Ta) and relative humidity (RH) were measured over multiple days and seasons within naturally-ventilated, unoccupied offices (28 m3), with and without 12 Ficus, or 6 Epipremnum plants. Through ET, and depending on the season, the plants released between 35 g and 65 g of moisture (plant-1 day-1), resulting in a small but significant increase in the offices’ indoor absolute humidity (AH). Most of the moisture emitted from the plants was removed through room air exchange and moisture sorption. In controlled chamber experiments, Ta and RH conditions significantly impacted the ET rate of five plant species, with different inherent transpiration rates. All ET rates were higher at 30% RH compared to 50/70% RH. Leafy Epipremnum had the highest ET rate under all conditions and would have the greatest humidification potential for indoor environments. Succulent Sansevieria had the lowest ET rate and would be ideal where a low moisture contribution is required. Whilst the office-scale impact of potted plants on IAQ/AH was small, the plants’ physical appearance had a significant impact on the responses of 520 participants, measured through a photo-questionnaire. Participants associated perceived wellbeing benefits with plant interest and beauty, and IAQ benefits with canopy density and healthiness of appearance. Participants perceived the plants would have a greater benefit for their wellbeing than for IAQ
Inconsistent survey histograms and point forecasts revisited
Get PDFPast analyses of surveys of professional forecasters’ histogram and point forecasts indicate that the two are not always consistent. The point forecasts are either systematically higher or lower than the corresponding histogram means, depending on whether we consider inflation or GDP growth. We consider whether inconsistencies are related to delayed updating of the histogram forecasts, or
to the reaction of the two types of forecasts to new information, and whether inconsistent pairs typically imply less accurate point or histogram forecasts. We also re-consider explanations related to the complexity of the task on an extended dataset
Proximity to natural habitat enhances flower visitor diversity and pollination services in avocado orchards
Get PDFInsect pollination is known to increase avocado yields, with wild pollinators likely playing an important role. In central Chile, the rapid expansion of avocado orchards has resulted in highly diverse natural habitats being replaced by plantations, potentially negatively impacting wild pollinators and thus avocado production. This study aimed to understand the role of natural habitats and wild pollinators in avocado production by (1) exploring the relationship between flower visitor abundance and diversity, and proximity to natural habitat, (2) quantifying the pollination effectiveness of different insect taxa, and (3) measuring the contribution to avocado production of insect pollinators and exploring how this varies with proximity to natural habitats. We conducted flower visitor observations and controlled pollination trials at different distances to natural habitat in three orchards in central Chile, across three years. The results showed that flower visitor abundance, visitation, richness, and diversity were significantly higher closer to natural habitats. However, this relationship varied across distances, with wild insect abundance and visitation rates approximately 2.55 times higher, richness around 1.6 times higher, and diversity 1.5 times higher at the natural habitat edge compared to further inside the orchard. Insect pollinators contributed significantly to avocado production, with almost no fruit set when pollinators were excluded. Hoverflies and other flies were identified as potentially important avocado pollinators. This study demonstrates the importance of natural habitats and wild insect pollination services in crop production. We recommend that growers implement land management practices that protect and restore natural areas in and around their orchards to support wild pollinators
Tackling antimicrobial resistance in dairy production: using microfluidics and smartphone technology to monitor resistance through functional antibiotic sensitivity testing
Get PDFAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a current and increasing threat to both animal and human
health alike, and particularly common where farming is concerned. Of importance is the role that
antibiotic treatment of mastitis in cattle plays in this health crisis. Improved diagnostics for
bacterial detection and antibiotic resistance detection is one area that can be targeted to
improve antibiotic prescribing and treatment regimes, optimising the use of antimicrobials.
However, rapid, on-farm tools are needed to effectively make antibiotic-prescribing decisions.
On-farm diagnostic tests are already in use, such as the California Mastitis Test (CMT), somatic
cell counting (SCC) and infrared thermography. However, these generally rely on host
biomarkers for mastitis rather than bacterial culture. This is due to the complex nature of the milk
microbiome and slow culture-based methods increasing the time to treatment. New technology
offers the promise of rapid and more complex diagnostics for on-farm diagnosis of mastitis and
the detection of AMR. Here we aim to review the state-of-the-art and emerging approaches to
detecting bovine mastitis, with a particular focus on novel on-farm bacterial and antibiotic
resistance detection.
The detection and treatment of this disease can prove problematic and often time-consuming,
leading to the inappropriate use and overuse of antibiotics in farming. Common diagnostic and
AMR detection techniques, although standardised and highly sensitive, are often too laborious
and require laboratory time and equipment. Meanwhile, the literature suggests that novel AMR
detection systems need to be rapid, accessible, affordable and more information to be useful in
aiding antibiotic stewardship. The overarching aim of this project is to address this problem by
building on microfluidic technologies, combining traditional laboratory techniques with the use
of microcapillary film (MCF) to carry out high-throughput investigations and perform testing that
would usually be confined to a laboratory setting, on-farm. Of importance is the ability to carry
out direct testing in milk from mastitis-infected cattle. The main objective was to produce a
microfluidic test that can be used on-farm to detect bacteria growth and help indicate antibiotic
resistance and therefore inform on a course of treatment. We describe a system by which we
can detect the growth of bacteria within milk samples using resazurin dye in an assay imaging
system.
The development of the PiRamid imaging system takes advantage of open-source computing
allowing for automated imaging of a range of microbiological experiments including novel MCF
and bacteria motility assays and conventional culture, as well as proving useful in chemistry
analysis through the imaging of crystal formation. The effects of spoiled milk on a miniaturised
Matthew Long
©University of Reading 2025 Page 9
AST system were identified by the comparison of fresh, pasteurised milk and yoghurt as a
simulated spoiled milk sample. It was also determined the effect on time to results by a milk
sample that may contain both a pathogen of interest and commensal bacteria, indicating the
potential for a period of false susceptibility in the presence of a high commensal bacterial load.
It was also demonstrated that the resazurin-based assay can be adapted to accommodate the
potential antimicrobial properties of resazurin dye, evaluating the use of lower concentrations of
resazurin with reduced antimicrobial effect. The fluorescence intensities analysed allow for the
detection of bacteria growth at lower concentrations of resazurin dye, with the time to detection
of growth for all species more rapid than the standard laboratory culture method. These
developments begin to pave the way for high-throughput, on-farm diagnosis of mastitis in cattle,
reducing treatment time and eventually aiding in the choice of treatment antibiotics.
It is important to understand the challenges relating to the matrix effects of milk as a sample.
Milk can become spoiled during storage, therefore a comparison of fresh, pasteurised milk and
yoghurt as a simulated spoiled milk sample was made in a miniaturised AST system. Moreover,
not only does a milk sample collected from a dairy farm potentially contain a pathogen of interest
related to a mastitis infection, but it can also harbour commensal bacteria from the surrounding
environment and the cow itself. It was hypothesised the potential for false susceptibility in the
presence of a high commensal bacterial load. Investigation was required to evaluation time to
results and the performance of this miniaturised AST system containing a simulated milk sample
that may contain both a pathogen of interest and commensal bacteria, indicating. Sample
dilution reduces the effects of milk on bacteria growth and observed MIC and reduces the
interference of commensal bacteria on observed MIC and time to result in this system. It is
possible to monitor Gram-negative bacterial growth colourimetrically even in the presence of
milk and yoghurt (used to simulate spoiled milk samples), as long as this sample matrix was
diluted 1:5 or more in growth medium. Growth detection kinetics using resazurin was not
changed by milk at final concentrations of 20% or lower, but a significant delay was seen with
yoghurt above 10%. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for ciprofloxacin and
gentamicin was increased in the presence of higher concentrations of milk and yoghurt. When
diluted to 1% all observed MIC were within range, indicating dilution may be sufficient to avoid
milk matrix interfering with microfluidic AST. Finally, overlap is seen between mastitis-causing
bacteria with commensal organisms proving difficulty to avoid false positive culture from the
growth of commensals found in healthy milk. It is determined that a susceptible commensal
would only be likely to mask the resistance of a pathogen in samples where the commensal cell
density significantly exceeds the pathogen cell density.
Matthew Long
©University of Reading 2025 Page 10
Where previously the growth and AST of gram-negative bacteria has been validated in
microcapillary film (MCF), it was important to understand if it can be used as a portable,
microenvironment enabling the growth of Streptococci. Experimentally, 78% of Streptococcus
strains were found to be resistant to resazurin dye at a concentration of ≥ 10µg/mL, where
previously a concentration of 60µg/mL was shown to provide fluorescent intensity suitable for
analysis of bacterial growth kinetics. Where the reduction in resazurin dye concentration may be
required to allow Streptococcal growth, the difference in start and endpoint is also reduced,
therefore making colourimetric detection unviable for Streptococcal growth. Compared to
traditional microtitre plates (MTP) used for BMD, MCF has a decreased path length, decreasing
the colour intensity of resazurin dye and decreasing the range between start and endpoint
absorbance. Resazurin dye has been shown to be useful colorimetric indicator of the growth of
bacteria in MCF. It was determined that haemolysis alone cannot indicate the growth of
Streptococcus spp. in MCF where the difference between the absorbance calculated at 0h does
not vary enough from the absorbance calculated at 20 h, where growth is present. Fluorometric
detection with resazurin dye at 10µg/mL and 5µg/mL saw the difference between the highest
fluorescent intensity and the background intensity as acceptable to detecting growth. In this
system, it was determined that the maximum time to detection for Streptococci in this system
was 9 h at a bacterial concentration of 2.5x104
CFU/mL. All species had detectable growth
between 5.5-9 h, considerably faster than the method deployed for traditional AST (> 24 hrs). In
AST validation experiments, essential agreement for ampicillin minimum inhibitory
concentration (MIC) across all the strains was 100% with all MCF MICs within ±1 doubling
dilution of antibiotic. For benzylpenicillin, essential agreement was 80% within ±1 doubling
dilution of antibiotic. Future resazurin-based microfluidic assays for the detection of bovine
mastitis organisms require lower concentrations of resazurin dye and should potentially utilise
fastidious Mueller Hinton broth (MHB-F) to incorporate the detection of Streptococcus spp.
growth and AST detection.
Rapid AST in mastitis-infected milk still requires optimisation and careful consideration of the
problems faced by such a complex media. With an extensive microbial community, we still see
effects of false susceptibility, microbial depletion and pH changes that must be considered.
Reducing time to testing and therefore time of storage will have a positive effect on the microbial
community being tested and will provide the most accurate simulation of the pathogenic
bacteria for AST. We have demonstrated reduced time to results sufficiently below common
culture methods for AST of mastitis bacteria. Time to results < 10 h have been demonstrated,
significantly faster than traditional culture methods of 24 – 48 h. There are still problems with
Matthew Long
©University of Reading 2025 Page 11
understanding the bacterial load of a mastitis infection in milk and currently insufficient
consistent data on the bacteria inoculum found in milk of a mastitis infection to conclude a
threshold for infection. Although the limit of the detection for a novel MCF assay is as low as 103
CFU/mL, complications surrounding the detection of false susceptibility in the presence of high
loads of commensal bacteria may still arise. This device can provide a comprehensive screening
for AMR in mastitis-infected milk. Moreover, if coupled with a rapid method of microbial
identification, will prove a powerful tool for detecting AMR and informing effective antibiotic
treatment of mastitis
A banquet for the gods: the cultural significance of a distinctive group of small, first century CE reclining bronze figures
No full textIn this paper I present and interpret, for the first time, a previously unrecognised but distinctive assemblage of 90 small copper-alloy figural mounts depicting divine or human banqueters from across the Roman Empire. The reclining deities, most commonly Mercury and genii, and the male and female human banqueteers probably adorned vessels, in particular incense burners. They build on Graeco-Etruscan antecedents, and possibly copy silver vessels decorated with figures in relief such as those mentioned by Cicero. A first century CE date is suggested by excavated examples, which stretch from Italy across the north-western provinces. This analysis enhances our understanding of Roman drinking and dining as well as religious practices, in particular offerings of incense in domestic and funerary rites. The figures were perhaps related to a late Republican propitiatory ritual, and may have also acted as votives once detached from the vessel.
Key words: Roman, figural mounts, banqueters, dining, incense burners, votive, religio
Exploring pharmacists’ perceptions of their current role in mental health trusts in England: a qualitative study
No full textAim: This study assessed how pharmacists perceive the impact of their role in the mental health (MH) services in two National Health Service (NHS) Trusts in England and their views on this service. Methods: An interview-based study was conducted from September to December 2023 on Microsoft Teams® by interviewing the pharmacists involved in MH services in Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust & the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust (BSMHFT) in England. Interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide containing questions related to pharmacists’ roles, activi-ties, perceptions about the service, and future recommendations. Transcripts were pre-pared and analysed using thematic analysis. The study was approved by the ethics com-mittee of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Reading and was registered as a ser-vice evaluation with both Trusts. Results: A total of 11 participants attended the inter-views. Most of the participants self-identified as women (N = 9), worked between 25 and 40 h on average weekly (N = 8), and had training in MH (N = 7). Few (N = 4) had work ex-perience > 20 years. Four themes emerged: (1) Roles and responsibilities—pharmacists play a vital role in medication management, clinical decision-making, and patient coun-selling; (2) satisfaction and positive impacts—a high job satisfaction derived from im-proved patient outcomes and effective multidisciplinary collaboration was reported; (3) challenges and barriers—stigma, role ambiguity, limited training in mental health, and in-stitutional challenges (workload, funding, etc.), were identified; participants also ex-pressed scepticism about the readiness of newly qualified prescriber pharmacists; (4) recommendations—participants advocated for enhanced MH content in pharmacy curric-ula, societal awareness and de-stigmatisation. Conclusion: Pharmacists viewed their role as integral to providing MH services; however, progress is impeded by challenges such as stigma, fragmented care, training gaps, and staffing shortages. It seemed unclear at the moment how the new prescriber-ready pharmacists will contribute to services. Additional findings from primary-care settings would provide a collective account of the current roles of pharmacists and their potential in MH
Regional-level analysis of housing price dynamics in the United Kingdom: a multivariate causality approach
No full textThis paper investigates the dynamic causal relationships between regional housing markets and the national house price index in the United Kingdom from 2005 to 2024, capturing periods of economic expansion, financial crisis, post-Brexit uncertainty, COVID-19 disruption, and inflationary volatility. Drawing on a dual spatial framework, disaggregating the devolved nations and England’s NUTS1 regions, this study employs Granger causality testing alongside a triad of robust regression estimators (M-estimator, S-estimator, and MM-estimator) to detect persistent and directional price leadership patterns. Empirical results identify three English sub-regions (the North East, North West, and South West) as consistent ‘signal transmitters’ whose house price innovations significantly Granger-cause movements in the national index. In contrast, London and the South East exhibit diminishing bidirectional influence, suggesting post-pandemic price decoupling and weakening spatial arbitrage. These findings contradict classical ripple-effect assumptions and indicate increasing segmentation within the UK housing system. The analysis is further strengthened by a series of robustness checks that accounts for structural breaks, heteroskedasticity, and outlier bias, thereby increasing confidence in the model’s validity across the complex macro-financial cycles under investigation. The results carry material implications for policymakers, particularly the Bank of England, HM Treasury, and the Office for Budget Responsibility, as early-warning signals from peripheral regions could enhance macroprudential risk forecasting and affordability targeting. This paper contributes to the theoretical discourse on regional integration and market segmentation, offering a multi-scalar, statistically robust framework for assessing housing market dynamics in advanced economies. It also opens new directions for incorporating time-varying causality and spatial dependency into national housing policy design
Insulin‐related disordered eating behavior: clarifying terminology
Get PDFObjectives: Consistent terminology for disordered eating behaviors relating to insulin manipulation is needed to consolidate and harmonize knowledge across research and practice. The aim of this study was to explore the terminology used to describe insulin‐related disordered eating behaviors in people with type 1 diabetes and suggest consolidated terms to be used consistently going forward. Method: This study was conducted as part of a larger scoping review and offers analysis of terms used in the literature. Results: Across 201 primary and secondary sources, 19 different terms were identified, 11 of which related specifically to insulin restriction. Motivations for insulin manipulation were rarely defined. Discussion: Insulin‐related disordered eating behavior is the proposed umbrella term to encompass all facets and directions of insulin manipulation, including insulin inflation and insulin restriction. Providing a consistent term for use in this field will consolidate evidence, facilitating a clear research direction and increasing the visibility of evidence to be used in practice recommendations and care pathways
Identifying knowledge barriers to agroforestry adoption and co‐designing solutions to them
No full textCompared to monocultures, agroforestry can promote biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and climate resilience, whilst maintaining or enhancing production and profits. Despite this, uptake in temperate regions remains low. Knowledge gaps amongst land managers are a primary barrier to uptake, but little is known about which aspects of agroforestry management are hindering uptake specifically, or how to address them.
We use a mixed-method approach to identify knowledge barriers to agroforestry adoption in the UK and co-design solutions to them. To identify barriers, we interviewed 27 farmers in 2023–2024. We used a perception matrix to quantitatively assess their perceptions of 12 agroforestry knowledge elements (e.g. tree species, inputs, markets) against eight perceptions (e.g. information is important, available or trustworthy). To identify solutions, we used the interview results to direct focus group discussions at a multi-actor workshop with 48 participants, including farmers, policymakers, NGOs and other stakeholders. We then conducted a framework analysis to identify shared solutions and create an evidence-based educational agenda.
We found that the perceived knowledge gaps were greater for the business elements (e.g. financial or legal impacts) than the ecological elements (e.g. understory management) and that the relative importance of the learning barriers differed between elements. Averaging across elements, the largest barriers were time constraints and a shortage of trusted information. The proposed solutions to the knowledge gaps included (for example) designs for open-access online tools for independent learning, innovative mechanisms to fund farmer-to-farmer mentoring, agroforestry accreditation to enhance trust in advice and policy reforms to education. Creating living labs or demonstration farms could provide multiple benefits in parallel. We consolidated the solutions into a 10-step educational agenda.
This evidence-based agenda for agroforestry education reflects the views of UK stakeholders across the agricultural supply chain. It is directly relevant to policymakers, agricultural advisors and educators, and researchers and their funders. Many of the solutions are straightforward to implement and could promote agroforestry uptake quickly, whereas others are systemic and require multi-organisational collaboration. Equipping farmers with the knowledge needed to adopt agroforestry and manage it effectively will help us to build a more climate-resilient and sustainable future