9095 research outputs found
Sort by
Enhancing community involvement in low-carbon projects: a study of northwest Wales climate assemblies
Get PDFThis report investigates community engagement with climate action. It uses the GwyrddNi Community Assemblies on the Climate as case study to identify the ways in which particular communities respond to attempts at addressing climate change locally. This report, through analysis of academic and grey literature, as well as communications with the GwyrddNi team, stakeholders, participants and non-participants, identifies place attachment and heritage (underpinned by and developed through discourse analysis) as means of widening engagement
Facultative parthenogenesis: a transient state in transitions between sex and obligate asexuality in stick insects?
Get PDFTransitions from obligate sex to obligate parthenogenesis have occurred repeatedly across the tree of life. Whether these transitions occur abruptly or via a transient phase of facultative parthenogenesis is rarely known. We discovered and characterised facultatively parthenogenetic populations of the North American stick insect Timema douglasi, a species in which only obligately parthenogenetic populations were known so far. These populations comprised three genetic lineages. Females from all lineages were capable of parthenogenesis (with variable efficiency) but their propensity to reproduce sexually after mating varied extensively. In all three lineages, parthenogenesis resulted in the complete loss of heterozygosity in a single generation. Obligately parthenogenetic Timema have also lost all heterozygosity, suggesting that the transition to obligate parthenogenesis did not require a modification of the proximate mechanism, but rather involved a gradual increase in frequency. We speculate that facultative parthenogenesis may often be transient and be replaced by obligate strategies (either sex or parthenogenesis) because of a trade-off between the efficiency of the two reproductive modes. Such a trade-off could help explain why facultative parthenogenesis is rare among animals, despite its potential to combine the known benefits of sex and parthenogenesis
Influence of motor imagery training on hip abductor muscle strength and bilateral transfer effect
Get PDFMotor imagery training could be an important treatment of reduced muscle function in patients and injured athletes. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of imagery training on maximal force production in a larger muscle group (hip abductors) and potential bilateral transfer effects. Healthy participants (n=77) took part in two experimental studies using two imagery protocols (~30 min/day, 5 days/week for 2 weeks) compared either with no practice (study 1), or with isometric exercise training (study 2). Maximal hip abduction isometric torque, electromyography amplitudes (trained and untrained limbs), handgrip strength, right shoulder abduction (strength and electromyography), and imagery capability were measured before and after the intervention. Post intervention, motor imagery groups of both studies exhibited significant increase in hip abductors strength (~8%, trained side) and improved imagery capability. Further results showed that imagery training induced bilateral transfer effects on muscle strength and electromyography amplitude of hip abductors. Motor imagery training was effective in creating functional improvements in limb muscles of trained and untrained sides
Using lessons learnt from key stakeholders to increase support for scaling the Reach Up early childhood parenting program
Get PDFINTRODUCTION: Sustainable implementation of early childhood programs requires resources, materials and methods that are adaptable, scalable and feasible for delivery through multiple sectors. Additional or modified program resources may be required to meet emerging needs, as programs go to scale. An active and effective monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) process may enable programs to be responsive to demands. The Reach Up: Early Childhood Parenting program, is designed primarily for disadvantaged children under 4 years of age in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to promote their development through playful caregiver interactions. The curriculum, training manuals and other materials and resources support implementers in the adaptation of the intervention, implementation, workforce training, monitoring and evaluation. This paper reports on how data collected from key informants drove modifications to program processes, materials and resources.METHODS: We conducted in-depth interviews with 14 key informants (including program managers, lead trainers, academics, consultants and workforce personnel) on their experiences with Reach Up across 15 LMICs where the program has been implemented. We also reviewed written records generated from (i) structured small group discussions at a Knowledge Exchange meeting of 31 Reach Up partners and (ii) notes from working groups formed at the meeting and tasked to continue working post-meeting to find solutions to support ongoing implementation. The transcripts from the in-depth interviews and the meeting records were analysed using thematic analysis with a mixture of pre-defined categories and data-driven sub-themes.RESULTS: The main findings indicated that there was a need to: (i) develop advocacy and communication resources and materials to aid prospective implementers and other stakeholders, to make decisions for implementation, (ii) revise and/or add to the content and format of the curriculum and add content in the training and other supporting manuals and (iii) enhance the training process.CONCLUSION: The feedback from the key global partners informed the development of new knowledge materials, resources and processes and modifications to existing program materials and resources. These will help to support advocacy, ongoing implementations, and the process of transitioning the Reach Up early childhood intervention to scale.</p
Photocatalytic fixation of NOx in soils
Get PDFNitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) are important atmospheric pollutants that are directly harmful to human health. Recently in urban and industrial areas, synthetic materials have been developed and deployed to photocatalytically oxidize NOx to nitrate (NO3-) in order to improve air quality. We show that the natural presence of small amounts (≤5%) of titanium oxides, such as anatase and rutile, can also drive NOx oxidation to nitrate in soils under UV-visible irradiation. The NO uptake coefficients ranged between 0.1 × 10-6 for sandy soils to 6.4 × 10-5 in the case of tropical clay soils; the latter comparable in efficiency to current industrial man-made catalysts. This photocatalytic N-fixation mechanism offers a new strategy for NOx mitigation from the atmosphere by transforming it into nitrate, and simultaneously provides an energy efficient source of essential fertilizer to agriculture.</p
Towards a better future for biodiversity and people: modelling Nature Futures
Get PDFThe Nature Futures Framework (NFF) is a heuristic tool for co-creating positive futures for nature and people. It seeks to open up a diversity of futures through mainly three value perspectives on nature – Nature for Nature, Nature for Society, Nature as Culture. In this paper, we describe how the NFF can be applied in modelling to support policy. First, it describes key building blocks of the NFF in developing qualitative and quantitative scenarios: i) multiple value perspectives on nature and the frontier representing their improvements, ii) incorporating mutually reinforcing and key feedbacks of social-ecological systems, iii) indicators describing the evolution of socialecological systems. We then present three approaches to modelling Nature Futures scenarios in review, screening and design phases of policy processes. This paper seeks to facilitate the integration of relational values of nature in models and to strengthen modelled linkages across biodiversity, nature’s contributions to people andquality of life
Situating support for people living with rarer forms of dementia
Get PDFBACKGROUND: Awareness of a multitude of diseases that can cause neurodegenerative decline and their unique symptom profiles in the dementia care and support sectors remains limited. Obtaining an accurate diagnosis and post-diagnostic care and support is a challenge for many people and their families. As part of a larger study examining multi-component forms of support for people living with rarer dementias, the aim of this present study was to examine how rare dementia was situated within the complex social groupings, their organization and embedded discursive constructions that broadly form dementia care and support delivery.METHODS: Adopting a situational analysis approach, we undertook an examination of public documents and organizational websites within the support sector for people living with dementia in Canada, England, and Wales. We also surveyed professionals to further explore the situation at the point of care and support delivery. Consistent with our approach, data collection and analysis occurred concurrently including the development of a series of analytic maps.RESULTS: Recognizing the complexities within the situation, our findings provided new insights on the situated structures for support action and the discursive representations that illuminate both the limitations of the current support landscape and possibilities for a more flexible and tailored rare dementia support. Alongside, the predominant universal versus tailored support positionings within our data reinforced the complexity from which a promising new social space for people living with rarer dementias is being cultivated.CONCLUSIONS: The social worlds engaged in supportive action with people living with rare dementia are less visible within the shadow of a universally constructed dementia support milieu and appear to be negotiated within this powerful arena. However, their evolving organization and discursive constructions point to an emerging new social space for people living with rarer conditions.</p
Researching Green Process Innovation Across Borders and Boundaries Through Collaborative Inquiry
Get PDFResearch involving multistakeholder collaborative partnerships is growing, as both academia and funding agencies align their objectives with societal challenges and undertake research in the context of application. In particular, the UN sustainable development goals mandate green process innovation research that transcends disciplinary boundaries. Responding to this opportunity, this article explores the question: how can researchers, as societal stakeholders, collaborate in the design and implementation of a green process innovation research initiative and produce actionable research-based contributions to knowledge? Drawing upon our shared experience of realizing green process innovation, we describe and conceptualize the collaborative inquiry process, reflecting on the interplay of modes of knowledge production and the complementarity of researchers’ roles. We conclude by noting how researchers collaborating in a green process innovation initiative can shape the environment in which Transdisciplinary research (TDR) develops and play different roles enabling breadth and diversity of interaction, depth of disciplinary integration, and production of different types of knowledge
The genome sequence of the short-fringed mining bee, Andrena dorsata (Kirby, 1802)
Get PDFWe present a genome assembly from an individual female Andrena dorsata (the short-fringed mining bee; Arthropoda; Insecta; Hymenoptera; Andrenidae). The genome sequence is 277.3 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 3 chromosomal pseudomolecules. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 16.11 kilobases in length. Gene annotation of this assembly on Ensembl identified 10,916 protein coding genes