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(Il)legal Bodies: Activism, Climate Fictions, Climate Culling
Get PDFWhen the non-violent environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion (XR) was created in late 2018, I was completing a Masters in Research in Science Fiction Literature. Although initially nervous, I understood the urgent need to non-violently protest the lack of governmental action on the climate and ecological crisis (as it has since become known). In November 2018, I took a copy of Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods with me to London, where I was joined by thousands of fellow activists on the streets around the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street, many dressed as animals, with banners and flags protesting the sixth mass extinction and ongoing anthropogenic climate-related genocides across the globe.N/
Evaluation of different classes of additives on ash melting characteristics of garden grass waste
Get PDFThe version of record of this article, first published in [Waste and Biomass Valorization], is available online at Publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12649-025-02991-0In this work, the ash melting characteristics of crude garden grass waste (GGW) and its additive modulated mixtures were evaluated in a laboratory scale furnace by combusting the samples. For the purpose of understanding and rationalising the complex ash transformation characteristics of crude and additive modulated GGW samples in high-temperature thermochemical units, comprehensive theoretical knowledge and compositional ternary phase diagrams have been utilised in conjunction with the visual evaluation of the sintering degree of ash residues, coupled with their morphology and microchemistry results determined by the SEM–EDX and XRD analysis. This work proved that both raw and calcined eggshells can be utilised as Ca-rich anti-sintering additives as a substitute for commercially available additives such as lime and limestone for the enhancement of melting characteristics of low-melting garden grass ash. Kaolin exhibited the best anti-sintering characteristics for the elimination of ash melting of garden grass waste among all the additive mixtures tested, while no synergistic effects were observed in the Ca-rich and P-rich additive mixtures compared to their pure steams.European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (Grant No. EICW-4F-44)
Dysfunctional tetraspanin 7 (TSP-7) in Caenorhabditis elegans promotes; increases in average life- & health-span, stress-induced survival and motility
Get PDF© 2025 The Author(s). FEBS Open Bio published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Federation of European Biochemical Societies.Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) tetraspanin-7 (TSP-7) protein is an orthologue of the Human tetraspanin CD63, which has recently been shown to be a negative regulator of autophagy. In this study a mutant strain of wild-type (WT) C. elegans (tm5761) with a 352 bp deletion in the tsp-7 gene, was studied. A polyclonal antibody was raised to a peptide sequence present only in the wild-type strain (N2). This antibody cross-reacted with the protein of the correct molecular weight (MW) in the WT lysate, but not in the tm5761, confirming the absence of a functional TSP-7 in this strain. From life-span studies, the tm5761 strain had a higher average survival age of 23.3 ± 0.6, compared to 20.1 ± 0.8 days for WT, although the absolute life-span was not statistically different. This indicates that the mutant tm5761 strain has an increased physiological health-span. Survival studies undertaken at 37 °C, showed a decrease in survival levels, with complete death of the WT occurring after 3 h of exposure, whereas the tm5761 strain was more robust (i.e. 25% survival after 3 h). Sub-lethal osmotic stress caused by increased sodium chloride (NaCl) concentrations was investigated by observing stress-related motility, such as frequency of coiling and reversing. These results showed that the tm5761 strain was more motile at higher concentrations of NaCl than the WT. These findings suggest that, like CD63, TSP-7 could be acting as a negative regulator of autophagy; therefore, the tm5761 strain likely has increased basal autophagy. This would explain its; increased, mean life- and health-span, motility under stress, and improved thermotolerance.Funding was provided by University of Chester, UK
Weighted echo state graph neural networks based on robust and epitaxial film memristors
Get PDF© 2025 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbHHardware system customized toward the demands of graph neural network learning would promote efficiency and strong temporal processing for graph‐structured data. However, most amorphous/polycrystalline oxides‐based memristors commonly have unstable conductance regulation due to random growth of conductive filaments. And graph neural networks based on robust and epitaxial film memristors can especially improve energy efficiency due to their high endurance and ultra‐low power consumption. Here, robust and epitaxial Gd: HfO2‐based film memristors are reported and construct a weighted echo state graph neural network (WESGNN). Benefiting from the optimized epitaxial films, the high switching speed (20 ns), low energy consumption (2.07 fJ), multi‐value storage (4 bits), and high endurance (109) outperform most memristors. Notably, thanks to the appropriately dispersed conductance distribution (standard deviation = 7.68 nS), the WESGNN finely regulates the relative weights of input nodes and recursive matrix to realize state‐of‐the‐art performance using the MUTAG and COLLAB datasets for graph classification tasks. Overall, robust and epitaxial film memristors offer nanoscale scalability, high reliability, and low energy consumption, making them energy‐efficient hardware solutions for graph learning applications.National key R&D plan “nano frontier” key special project (grant no. 2021YFA1200502 and 2024YFA1208400), Disruptive Technology Innovation Project of the National Key R&D Program (grant no. DT01202402075), Interdisciplinary Research Program of Natural Science (grant no. DXK202101), Cultivation projects of national major R & D project (grant no. 92164109), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 61674050 and 61874158), Special project of strategic leading science and technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDB44000000-7), Hebei Basic Research Special Key Project (grant no. F2021201045), the Project of Distinguished Young of Hebei Province (grant no. A2018201231), the Support Program for the Top Young Talents of Hebei Province (grant no. 70280011807), the Hundred Persons Plan of Hebei Province (grant nos. E2018050004 and E2018050003), the Supporting Plan for 100 Excellent Innovative Talents in Colleges and Universities of Hebei Province (grant no. SLRC2019018), outstanding young scientific research and innovation team of Hebei University (grant no. 605020521001), Special support funds for national high level talents (grant no. 041500120001), High-level Talent Research Startup Project of Hebei University (grant no. 521000981426), Funded by Science and Technology Project of Hebei Education Department (grant nos. QN2020178, QN2021026), Baoding Science and Technology Plan Project (2172P011, 2272P014), Postgraduate's Innovation Fund Project of Hebei Province (CXZZBS2024004)
Improvement of water quality for mass anopheline rearing: evaluation of the impact of ammonia-capturing zeolite on larval development and adult phenotypic quality
Get PDF© The Author(s) 2021.Background: Malaria vector control approaches that rely on mosquito releases such as the sterile insect technique (SIT) and suppression or replacement strategies relying on genetically modified mosquitoes (GMM) depend on effective mass production of Anopheles mosquitoes. Anophelines typically require relatively clean larval rearing water, and water management techniques that minimise toxic ammonia are key to achieving optimal rearing conditions in small and large rearing facilities. Zeolites are extensively used in closed-system fish aquaculture to improve water quality and reduce water consumption, thanks to their selective adsorption of ammonia and toxic heavy metals. The many advantages of zeolites include low cost, abundance in many parts of the world and environmental friendliness. However, so far, their potential benefit for mosquito rearing has not been evaluated.
Methods: This study evaluated the independent effects of zeolite and daily water changes (to simulate a continuous flow system) on the rearing of An. coluzzii under two feed regimes (powder and slurry feed) and larval densities (200 and 400 larvae per tray). The duration of larval development, adult emergence success and phenotypic quality (body size) were recorded to assess the impact of water treatments on mosquito numbers, phenotypic quality and identification of optimal feeding regimes and larval density for the use of zeolite.
Results: Overall, mosquito emergence, duration of development and adult phenotypic quality were significantly better in treatments with daily water changes. In treatments without daily water changes, zeolite significantly improved water quality at the lower larval rearing density, resulting in higher mosquito emergence and shorter development time. At the lower larval rearing density, the adult phenotypic quality did not significantly differ between zeolite treatment without water changes and those with daily changes.
Conclusions: These results suggest that treating rearing water with zeolite can improve mosquito production in smaller facilities. Zeolite could also offer cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions for water recycling management systems in larger production facilities. Further studies are needed to optimise and assess the costs and benefits of such applications to Anopheles gambiae (s.l.) mosquito-rearing programmes.This work was funded by a PhD scholarship from the Faculty for the Future fellowship, Schlumberger Foundation, The Hague, The Netherlands, and Niger Delta Development Commission, Nigeria, to NOA
An examination of inpatient ward and secondary community care stay costs for individuals with complex mental health needs in the UK
Get PDFCopyright: © 2025 Saini et al.Some people with mental health problems have such high levels of complex clinical and/or risk needs that those needs cannot be adequately met within generic mental health services. To design health and social provisions to better serve these people’s needs, it is necessary to first characterise the current provision. This study examines the cost element of this provision. This retrospective observational cohort study examined routinely collected healthcare service administrative data from a large UK-based NHS provider of community and hospital-based mental health services. Data were collected from medical records of individuals with complex mental health (CMH) needs aged ≥18 years old who had an inpatient ward stay between February 2000 until August 2021. Predictors of annual inpatient ward and secondary community care stay (residential/supported living/independent) costs were estimated using generalised linear models. Mean (median) annual total healthcare costs for 185 included adults were £106,847 (£109,651), comprising 16.4% from inpatient ward stay costs of £17,512 (£10,723) and 83.6% from secondary community care stay costs of £89,336 (£97,739). Associations varied across care context. Key predictors of inpatient stay cost included age, deprivation, and substance abuse. The primary diagnostic group of schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders (ICD10 codes: F20-F29) was found to be a predictor of greater secondary community care stay costs. Inpatient ward and secondary community care stay costs varied across patient characteristics. Additional research is warranted to further explore predictors identified in this study to prevent, promote, and monitor activities for individuals with differing CMH needs.Wirral Borough Council; Grant(s): 1582 CW
The textile collection at St John’s Oxford
No full textThis chapter foregrounds the form and materiality of the St John’s textiles by exploring commercial networks across the period 1300 to 1500.Unfunde
Global anaesthesia practice using inguinal hernia surgery as a tracer condition: A secondary analysis of an international prospective cohort study
Get PDF© 2025 The Author(s). Anaesthesia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association of Anaesthetists.INTRODUCTION: Restoration of surgical capacity is essential to post-COVID-19 recovery. This study explored the use and safety of anaesthesia options for inguinal hernia surgery, a common tracer condition, to describe current global practice and highlight opportunities to build the capacity of health systems.
METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of an international prospective cohort study of consecutive patients who underwent elective inguinal hernia surgery. We used a consensus process to define generalisable outcomes to measure patient selection, utilisation of hospital capacity and peri-operative safety in patients who received locoregional, spinal or general anaesthesia for their surgery.
RESULTS: In total, 16,554 patients from 83 countries were included. Locoregional anaesthesia was performed in 1536 (9.2%) of patients, compared with 9165 (55.4%) who had general and 55,853 (35.4%) who had spinal anaesthesia. Patient selection outcomes were comparable across anaesthesia groups. As a measure of hospital capacity, adjusted day-case rates were higher for locoregional anaesthesia (OR 6.62, 95%CI 5.13-8.54, p < 0.001) but not for spinal anaesthesia (OR 0.97, 95%CI 0.84-1.12, p = 0.68) compared with general anaesthesia. Complications were lower in patients who underwent locoregional anaesthesia (OR = 0.67, 95%CI 0.52-0.87, p = 0.001) but not for spinal anaesthesia (OR = 0.90, 95%CI 0.77-1.05, p = 0.167) compared with general anaesthesia after risk adjustment.
DISCUSSION: This study has filled knowledge gaps of anaesthesia practice in common surgeries across the world. Locoregional and spinal anaesthesia could be adopted as safe options to increase surgical volume when there is limited access to general anaesthesia.The study was prospectively registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05748886O). Funding was provided by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Unit Grant
(In)action on the social and commercial determinants of health: a call to arms to push the agenda forward
Get PDF© Royal Society for Public Health 2024.In this article, Noonan contends that boosting public support is vital for increasing pressure on the Government to enact change for the common good. He argues that the public health community can build public support for the required structural changes by challenging misinformation and sharing a new story.Unfunde
Nigeria's transition to a circular economy: challenges, opportunities and future perspectives
Get PDFCopyright © 2024 by author(s) and UAB Sustainability for Regions This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).The concept of a circular economy (CE) is a sustainable development strategy aimed at minimising waste and maximising resource efficiency. This paper explores the transition towards a circular economy in Nigeria, providing an overview of the challenges, opportunities, and future perspectives. Nigeria is rich in natural resources and has significant economic potential. However, the country faces severe environmental, economic, and social challenges that could be met with a circular economy. Although Nigeria has abundant natural resources and great economic potential, it faces many significant environmental, economic, and social challenges that must be addressed to move to a circular economy as a viable solution. The methods used in research are based on a mixed-methods research approach; the study synthesises findings from a comprehensive literature review, case studies of Nigerian businesses adopting CE practices, and insights from a SWOT analysis conducted in consultation with experts. The conclusions of the SWOT analysis, enriched by discussions with experts, form the basis for a set of targeted recommendations. These recommendations are aimed at policymakers, business leaders, and practitioners, outlining strategic actions to overcome the identified barriers and harness the opportunities inherent in a circular economy. This paper contributes to the scholarly discourse on sustainability and serves as a practical guide for other developing countries navigating the transition to a circular economy. It underscores the urgency and feasibility of adopting circular economy principles in Nigeria, highlighting the path towards a more sustainable, efficient, and economically robust future. In the study, prospects for Nigeria to benefit from include increased resource efficiency, job creation, economic diversification, and environmental sustainability if the circular economy approach were applied.This research was supported and funded by Nigeria circular Hub project
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