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Regenerative agriculture: its meaning, rationale, prospective benefits and relation to policy
Get PDFA critical narrative review is conducted of “regenerative agriculture” literature. An outcome-oriented definition, aiming beyond sustainability, is defended as consistent with evidence of regenerative farmers’ usage. It is partly a response to problems of soil degradation and has scientific rationale in contemporary understandings of soil formation and soil ecology. Potential benefits include input reduction enabled by an enhanced soil microbiome, improvements to farming livelihoods, farmscape ecosystems, health and wider environmental public goods. Research at a systems level is lacking, however; and scale of adoption is contingent on the business and policy environment
I love you, my AI companion! do you? perspectives from triangular theory of love and attachment theory
Get PDFThis study examines the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) companions on users’ social well-being by integrating the Triangular Theory of Love and Attachment Theory. Specifically, this study explores how the three components of love (including intimacy, passion and commitment) shape users’ attachment (interactive engagement, emotional attachment, emotional trust) toward AI companions, and how attachment, in turn, impacts social well-being. The study also investigates the moderating role of sweet deception in these relationships.
An online survey was conducted with 527 users of AI companion apps, recruited through a panel service provided by a marketing agency. The proposed path relationships in the conceptual framework were analyzed using SmartPLS 4.0.
The results show that the three components of love significantly impact users’ attachment, and both interactive and emotional attachment subsequently influence social well-being. Additionally, sweet deception was found to strengthen the relationships between interactive engagement and social well-being, as well as that between emotional attachment and social well-being.
This study makes a unique contribution to the literature by empirically examining how human-AI companion relationships impact users’ social well-being. Specifically, it introduces the novel concept of sweet deception – the strategic use of affectionate yet deceptive communications to foster emotional bonds – and empirically test its role in strengthening the relationship between users’ emotional attachment and social well-being. By integrating Triangular Theory of Love and Attachment Theory, this study offers a new theoretical framework for understanding the emotional dynamics of human-AI interactions. Moreover, this study provides innovative practical insights for businesses on designing emotionally engaging AI companions that promote user well-being
A computational framework for the investigation of phosphoinositide regulation
Get PDFPhosphoinositides are a group of interconvertible lipids that are located in the membrane of eukaryotic cells. They turnover via complex network of reactions (called the phosphoinositide pathway) that respond rapidly to regulate many aspects of a cell’s response to their environment. Given their low-abundance they are difficult to characterise experimentally. Here we utilise a new experimental method to generate an unusually large dataset that characterises the time-dependent changes in five membrane bound phospoinositides and a soluble inositide in platelet, downstream of its GPVI receptor, where we know the phosphoinositide pathway is particularly active. To shed light on regulatotory steps that are often opaque to experimentation we use this data within a mathematical and computational framework. We construct and assess eleven mathematical models that represent competing interpretations of the dominant mechanisms that regulate the pathway. We find that while four of the models can generate the available data only one model, that
incorporates an additional pool of PtdIns, is consistent with the data and is able to successfully predict the effects of an inhibitor. We publish all models openly in a form that is easily usable and adaptable for other researchers to use alongside our or their own data. We studied how changes in the shape and magnitude of events that stimulate the phosphoinositide pathway affect its dynamics. Despite these perturbations, the abundance of Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P2) remained stable, consistent with findings reported in the literature
‘Engaging’ workplace ecosystem post-pandemic: a real estate industry perspective
No full textPurpose
Triggered by the acceleration of hybrid work practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study aims to explore the future development and utilisation of the workplace environment for knowledge-based organisations. It examines whether, and how, the global real estate (workplace) sector has contributed to this transition, with a focus on creating an “engaging” workplace post-pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study was carried out to examine future workplace scenarios through in-depth interviews with 11 experts from the global real estate (workplace) sector. All the experts interviewed focused on different aspects of the workplace environment, such as management, design and evaluation.
Findings
The findings emphasise the need to improve alignment between organisational and workplace industry metrics within broader urban environments to facilitate a successful transition to an “engaging” workplace ecosystem after the pandemic. The study also underscores the importance of wider adoption of workplace certificates and metrics to support these post-pandemic workplace ecosystems.
Originality/value
This is a relevant and timely study that presents future workplace scenarios projected by leading global real estate sector professionals. The findings obtained through in-depth interviews offer recommendations for organisations considering a permanent shift or transition to hybrid work practices and their monitoring and evaluation
Assimilation of Satellite Flood Likelihood Data Improves Inundation Mapping From a Simulation Library System
Get PDFMitigating against the impacts of catastrophic flooding requires funding for the communities at risk, ahead of an event. Simulation library flood forecasting systems are being deployed for forecast-based financing (FbF) applications. The FbF trigger is usually automated and relies on the accuracy of the flood inundation forecast, which can lead to missed events that were forecast below the trigger threshold. However, earth observation data from satellite-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors can reliably detect most large flooding events. A new data assimilation framework is presented to update the flood map selection from a simulation library system using SAR data, taking account of observation uncertainties. The method is tested on flooding in Pakistan, 2022. The Indus River in the Sindh province was not forecast to reach flood levels, which resulted in no selection of the flood maps and no triggering of the FbF scheme. Following observation assimilation, the flood map selection could be triggered in four out of five sub catchments tested, with the exception occurring in a dense urban area due to the simulation library flood map accuracy here. Thus, the analysis flood map has potential to be used to trigger a secondary finance scheme during a flood event
and avoid missed financing opportunities for humanitarian action
Fragile objects: uncovering networks and tracing material culture from the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic exploration
Get PDFCaptain Robert Falcon Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton, among others, led multiple expeditions during
the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, which lasted from the late-19th to the mid-20th century.
Today, the material culture of their expeditions shapes the legacies of Heroic Age explorers in
museum collections across Britain and Ireland. The Polar Museum in Cambridge and Discovery Point
in Dundee are both heritage institutions with Heroic Age collections relating to Scott and
Shackleton’s expeditions. While these collections are generally considered to be fairly inert – unless
they are put on public display – and to relate to only a select group of white European explorers, this
thesis considers the ongoing production of their status within the museums, and the diverse network
of actors with which they are entangled. Through ethnographic data acquired during fieldwork with
the museum teams and visitors at the Polar Museum and Discovery Point, as well as visitor
observations and archival research, I argue that museum objects are undergoing continuous
production within their networks. This thesis makes three key arguments: (1) that museum objects
are subject to three modes of fragility – physical, contextual and conceptual, and that these must be
stabilised to ensure their ‘object’ status; (2) that certain museum objects may be seen as more
significant than others as a result of their inalienable connection to the body of particular historic
figures; and (3) that reconstituting the network of actors within which objects are entangled enables
researchers to analytically ‘pause’ an object’s connection to an inalienable individual and uncover
other actors who have shaped the object’s trajectory. This thesis argues that ‘object’ status is not a
fixed state, but requires a broad network of actors to produce and sustain it over time
An experimental approach to study foraging memory in ectomycorrhizal mycelium
Get PDFBehavioral ecology of fungi is an emerging field investigating how fungi respond to environmental stimuli through morphological and physiological changes. Progress
requires methodologies suited to fungal biology. Here, we developed an experimental approach to test for memory in the ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor. We hypothesized that mycelium exposed to pea cotyledons would retain directional information about the nutrient source. To test this, a portion of the mycelium was transferred to fresh medium, where memory would be assessed by asymmetrical growth toward the former nutrient position. The hypothesis was not supported, but the methods offer a framework for exploring fungal behavior in both ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic species. Although no evidence of memory was found, this study highlights the value of publishing both positive and negative results and provides tools to advance research on fungal cognition and behavior
Acid or salt adaptation of Listeria monocytogenes 10403S grown until exponential phase aerobically, enhances sensitivity to oxidative stress
Get PDFAims
The work aimed at investigating a possible role of sigB in catalase transcription and activity in L. monocytogenes. Furthermore, we also aimed to investigate whether sigB upregulation during the exponential phase, due to acid or salt adaptation, could result in hypersensitivity to oxidative stress. Finally, we investigated how this discovery could be used in the wider concept of Hurdle Technology through combination of different stresses.
Methods and Results
L. monocytogenes 10403S WT and ΔsigB strains were grown aerobically, and catalase transcription and activity were assessed at different growth stages. Catalase transcription peaked at 6 h of growth in both strains, with ΔsigB showing higher levels. Subsequently, from 8 to 10 h, a major drop to similarly low levels occurred for both strains. However, catalase activity peaked 2 h later (at 8 h of growth) than transcription and remained higher in ΔsigB beyond this point.
To evaluate stress adaptation, exponential-phase cells were exposed to sub-lethal acidic conditions (pH 4.5; HCl) or salt (0.5 mol L−1 NaCl) and later subjected to H2O2 or sonication (tested only with acid). Adaptation increased sensitivity in WT but not in ΔsigB, underpinning the negative role of sigB upregulation. Acid adaptation reduced catalase activity in both strains, explaining the reduced oxidative stress resistance, although salt adaptation did not affect catalase activity. After adaptation to acid or salt, application of oxidative stress without removing the initial adaptation stresses resulted in a higher synergistic effect in both WT and ΔsigB.
Conclusion
The above synergistic effects are important for our understanding of listerial oxidative stress resistance and optimisation of relevant oxidative stress decontamination processes (e.g. oxidative compounds, ultrasound and plasma treatments) but also virulence
Is veganism not good enough? Industrial plant agriculture and unnecessary harm
Get PDFSome philosophers have sought to reject industrial animal agriculture by appealing to what we may call the Principle of Unnecessary Harm – the principle according to which it is wrong to cause, or support practices that cause, extensive, unnecessary harm to animals. Since factory farming causes extensive, unnecessary harm, so the argument goes, it is morally impermissible. But, as some philosophers have argued, certain forms of industrial plant agriculture may also cause extensive harm to animals as a result of harvesting, pesticides, and land clearing. Furthermore, this harm may be unnecessary, since we could eat plants from less harmful sources such as backyard or vertical farms. If so, then simply being vegan (or having a diet consisting of plants and non-factory-farmed animal products) is not good enough, since one may also have an obligation to abstain from certain plant foods if the production of such foods also causes unnecessary harm to animals. In this paper, I assess the plausibility of this argument. First, I consider several arguments as to why industrial plant agriculture may not cause extensive harm to animals. I show that these arguments face significant difficulties, and argue that more empirical support is needed to dispute the claim that industrial plant agriculture causes extensive harm to animals. I then argue, however, that even if it does cause extensive harm to animals, this harm is plausibly necessary. For this reason, I argue, the practice as-a-whole is not morally problematic according to the Principle of Unnecessary Harm. I finish by addressing the concern that even if the practice as-a-whole does not cause extensive, unnecessary harm to animals, certain individuals may have an obligation to abstain from purchasing industrially produced plant foods
Overuse of familiar phrases by individuals with Williams syndrome masks differences in language processing
Get PDFWe investigated whether individuals with Williams Syndrome (WS) produce language with a focus towards statistical properties of word combinations rather than grammatical rules, resulting in an overuse of holistically stored, familiar phrases. We analysed continuous speech samples from children with WS (n = 12), typically developing (TD) controls matched on chronological age (n = 15) and TD controls matched on language age (n = 14). Alongside word count, utterance length, grammatical complexity, and morphosyntactic errors, we measured familiarity of expressions by computing collocation strength of each word combination. The WS group produced stronger collocations than both control groups. Moreover, the WS group produced fewer complex sentences, shorter utterances, and more frequent function words than chronological-age matched controls. Language in WS may appear more typical than it is because familiar, holistically processed expressions mask grammatical and other difficultie