18918 research outputs found
Sort by
Beyond the closed-forest paradigm: Cross-scale vegetation structure in temperate Europe before the late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions
Get PDFThe Last Interglacial (∼129,000–116,000 years ago) provides key insights into temperate European vegetation dynamics before significant anthropogenic impacts. Using LOVE (Local Vegetation Estimates) and REVEALS (Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites) models, this study reconstructs vegetation patterns across local (∼9 km²) and regional (∼100 km²) scales. Local landscapes presented a heterogeneous mosaic, with averages of 17 % open vegetation, 21 % closed forests, and 63 % light woodlands, reflecting high fine-scale heterogeneity. Importantly, weak local-regional correlations highlight the importance of localised drivers. Longitude and, to a lesser extent, precipitation explained some variation in local vegetation openness, but heterogeneity remained unexplained, emphasising the role of disturbance regimes. Shannon diversity and evenness varied widely, indicating a mix of species-rich and more uniform habitats and reflecting diverse ecological dynamics. Beta diversity showed high spatial turnover, suggesting composition was shaped by localised factors rather than uniform climatic drivers. Frequently represented genera, such as Artemisia, Helianthemum, Erica, Filipendula, and Plantago, indicate diverse open and semi-open habitats, shaped by disturbances and hydrological variability. Weak climatic correlations and dominance of disturbance-adapted taxa suggest active disturbance-shaped vegetation. Large herbivorous mammals (megafauna) likely maintained vegetation openness through grazing and browsing; there is limited evidence for frequent fire activities in this period. These findings challenge the closed forest paradigm for interglacials, revealing substantial openness and heterogeneity. This scale-explicit evidence of Last Interglacial vegetation complexity offers insights into the biodiversity and ecological functionality of pre-anthropogenic ecosystems, with implications for modern conservation and rewilding, particularly in maintaining diversity through disturbance and megafaunal interactions
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Composite: limitations on decision making for composite environmental sustainability
No full textLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a systems approach to understanding the environmental impacts of a product or process. It is guided by the ISO14040 series of standards. The expectation is that there will be a clear goal and scope for the study with well-defined system boundaries. It is essential to define a Functional Unit (FU) which sensibly allows comparisons between differing configurations of the same product. The assessment should ensure that there is conservation of mass and energy flows. However, a number of shortfalls have been identified in LCA reports. For example, the standard environmental inventory data bases may not contain data specific to the materials used, or that data may not be fully compliant with the conditions being modelled. The literature contains incomplete studies with e.g. epoxy resin but no hardener, or fabrics with no consideration of textile process such as weaving. Given the cautionary tales, any LCA should be regarded as unfinished unless signed off by an LCA practitioner or Chartered Environmentalist? LCA can be good for identifying hotspots in the system but do be wary of comparisons of similar systems where data uncertainty could suggest incorrect ranking of the studied systems
RL-SCAP SigFox: A Reinforcement Learning Based Scalable Communication Protocol for Low-Power Wide-Area IoT Networks
Get PDFThe Internet of Things (IoT) aims to wirelessly connect billions of physical things to the IT infrastructure. Although there are several radio access technologies available, few of them meet the needs of Internet of Things applications, such as long range, low cost, and low energy consumption. The low data rate of low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies, particularly SigFox, makes them appropriate for Internet of Things applications since the longer the radio link’s useable distance, the lower the data rate. Network reliability is the primary goal of SigFox technology, which aims to deliver data messages successfully through redundancy. This raises concerns about SigFox’s scalability and leads to one of its flaws, namely the high collision rate. In this paper, the goal is to prevent collisions by switching to time division multiple access (TDMA) from SigFox’s Aloha-based medium access protocol, utilizing only orthogonal channels, and eliminating redundancy. Consequently, during a designated time slot, each node transmits a single copy of the data message over a particular orthogonal channel. To achieve this, a multi-agent, off-policy reinforcement learning (RL) Q-Learning technique will be used on top of SigFox. In other words, the objective is to increase SigFox’s scalability through the use of Reinforcement Learning based time slot allocation (RL-SCAP). The findings show that, especially in situations with high node densities or constrained communication slots, the proposed protocol performs better than the basic SCAP (Slot and Channel Allocation Protocol) by obtaining a higher Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) in average of 60.58%, greater throughput in average of 60.90%, and a notable decrease in collisions up to 79.37%
Ethical and collaborative decision-making in crisis mental healthcare: a case report
Get PDF#400WORDS: KNOWLEDGE + ACTIO
Comorbidities and emotions - unpacking the sentiments of pediatric patients with multiple long-term conditions through social media feedback: A large language model-driven study
Get PDFObjectivesThe emotional and psychological challenges faced by children with multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs) remain underexplored. This study aimed to analyze sentiments and emotions expressed by this vulnerable population and their caregivers on social media, assess the effects of comorbidities and the COVID-19 pandemic on emotional well-being.MethodsNarratives from the Care Opinion platform (2008–2023) were analyzed by a model called CoEmoBERT, developed using the large language model, distilroberta-base transformer model. The CoEmoBERT-based sentiment analysis categorized emotions into “Positive”, “Negative”, and “Neutral,” with further refinements into specific emotions such as “Sad,” “Fear”, “Satisfied” etc. through pretraining and transferring process. Comorbidity associations with emotions were analyzed. We further examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient sentiments and investigated temporal trends in emotional expressions.ResultsOf 389 narratives, 93.8 % reflected negative sentiments, with “Sad” (60.9 %) and “Fear” (15.4 %) being the most prevalent. Negative emotions were linked to severe comorbidities like asthma, cancer, and chronic pain, highlighting the emotional burden of managing MLTCs. Positive sentiments (5.9 %) were associated with effective communication and exceptional healthcare experiences. The analysis revealed strong associations between certain comorbidity combinations and specific emotional responses, with mental health conditions showing the most diverse range of comorbidities and emotional impacts. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated negative sentiments, particularly sadness and disgust.ConclusionThis study underscores the significant emotional burden on children with MLTCs, emphasizing the need for integrated care approaches to both physical and emotional well-being. These findings can guide the development of patient-centered care for this population
Leadership in open innovation: Strategies for effective crisis management in Malaysia
Get PDFThe study of crisis management is vital for developing effective strategies that address the unique challenges posed by socio-political and environmental contexts. Despite its importance, there is a notable lack of research on crisis management across various sectors in Malaysia. This highlights the need for comprehensive studies considering the country\u27s challenges and strategies. Through the lens of dynamic capabilities theory, this research aims to fill the gap in existing literature by focusing on Malaysia\u27s distinct socio-economic and cultural dynamics, which may influence the effectiveness of crisis management strategies. Data were collected from 310 employees of Malaysian manufacturing companies and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that leadership assessment (LA), transformational leadership style (TLS), strategic flexibility (SF), e-readiness (ER), and open innovation (OI) positively predict crisis management success (CMS). Surprisingly, strategic planning showed no significant relationship with CMS. Additionally, the study examined the mediating effects of open innovation on these constructs. The findings indicate that all variables, except strategic planning, enhance the positive relationship between open innovation activities and crisis management success. The study offers innovative approaches to crisis management by thoughtfully integrating effective and culturally acceptable methods within organizations during crises. These findings contribute valuable insights for enhancing the effectiveness of crisis management strategies in Malaysia and beyond
Why deliberate practice is not a basis for teacher expertise
Get PDFIn this paper we examine the notion of ‘deliberate practice’, which has formed the basis of several teacher education programmes in England and the United States and promises to improve the quality of teaching via highly structured training programmes. We identify early criticisms of deliberate practice and unpack the assumptions embedded in its underpinning thinking. We demonstrate that deliberate practice is insufficient as a basis for teacher expertise as teaching is not a ‘performance profession’, the activities of teachers cannot all be easily or meaningfully decomposed, and the ‘goals’ of teaching are not solely geared towards maximising measurable student attainment. We suggest that deliberate practice is problematically aligned with reductive assumptions about teacher and student behaviour, causality in social relations and a superficial approach to learning as acquisition, and this reflects how the notion has been extracted from its psychological roots and recontextualised into debates about teacher preparation
Integrated proteomic and targeted Next Generation Sequencing reveal relevant heterogeneity in lower-grade meningioma and ANXA3 as a new target in NF2 mutated meningiomas
Get PDFBackground: Meningiomas, the most common primary brain tumours, are classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) into grades 1, 2, and 3. Some grade 1 tumours exhibit increased clinical aggressiveness, with the biallelic mutation of NF2 being the most frequently reported. Methods: In our study, we analysed the most common driver mutations (NF2, AKT1, KLF4, and TRAF7) in meningioma by genomics describing co-occurrences and new mutations. Furthermore, tumour tissue bearing the driver mutations was analysed by proteomics. The relevance of the specific target found in the most common driver mutation in meningiomas (NF2) was validated in vitro using both lower and higher-grade meningioma and further, the higher-grade meningioma was analysed in vivo using an NOD scid gamma (NSG) mouse model. Findings: Our genomic data revealed co-occurrences of non-NF2 mutations in lower-grade meningiomas, suggesting synergistic effects supporting tumour growth. NF2 −/− meningiomas showed distinct proteomic clustering, with different mutations found in these clusters. Additionally, proteomics identified Annexin-3 (ANXA3) upregulated in NF2 −/− meningioma. Its role in proliferation was confirmed in grade 1 and subsequently grade 3 tumours in vitro and with abolished growth when knocked down in a meningioma mouse model. Interpretation: These findings highlight new targets in different meningioma backgrounds, presenting ANXA3 as a potential therapeutic target for meningioma treatment. Funding: This work was funded by the Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence
Home-based high-intensity interval training for people with Parkinson’s : The HIIT-Home4Parkinson’s Study
Get PDFBackgroundExercise, particularly of high intensity, is considered to be important for people with Parkinson’s (PwP). However, PwP are less active than healthy individuals, and face disease specific and logistical barriers to exercise participation such as lack of outcome expectation, symptom exacerbation, travel logistics due to motor symptoms, expense and perceived lack of time. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a low volume exercise modality, evinced to be beneficial and time efficient for people within various healthy and clinical populations. HIIT therefore, particularly undertaken in the home could be apposite for PwP, although evidence is currently limited. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the practicality and utility of home-based HIIT for PwP, which could potentially constitute a useful long-term exercise strategy.MethodsFollowing a systematic review of HIIT for PwP, a new, home-based HIIT programme for PwP was developed through an iterative, co-creative process of focus groups and exercise testing. The new programme was then implemented as a 12-week randomised, controlled feasibility study incorporating process evaluation, to assess feasibility, acceptability and safety, identify potential primary and secondary outcomes, and clarify key methodological considerations for a definitive trial. Assessments included programme completion, adherence and adverse events, while potential primary outcomes included brain-derived neurotrophic factor, maximal oxygen uptake and the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale motor symptom assessment.ResultsA systematic review of literature indicated supervised HIIT in clinical settings to be feasible, safe and useful for some PwP of mild-to-moderate disease severity, although extended adherence appeared to be problematic. Co-creators then developed HIIT-Home4Parkinson’s (HH4P), a 12-week home-based HIIT programme, based on individualisation, adaptability and appropriate remote supervision. Following programme development, 13 PwP of Hoehn and Yahr stages 1-3 undertook the HH4P randomised controlled feasibility study, with seven allocated to the exercise group, and six to usual care. On completion, adverse effects were minor and uncommon, while high levels of programme completion and adherence along with qualitative data indicated the programme to be practical and acceptable. However, the required exercise intensity was not uniformly achieved, and participants did not experience improvements in any of the potential primary outcomes.ConclusionsHome-based HIIT appears to be practical, acceptable and safe for some PwP of mild to moderate disease severity, although the potential benefits of this exercise modality, and the suitability for generating the required exercise intensity remain uncertain. Continuation to a full trial is not recommended with the current HH4P programme format, as results suggest that several aspects regarding intervention and study procedures, such as exercise type, model of support, eligibility criteria and outcome measures require further evaluation. Results of these evaluations could provide a potential rationale for the implementation of a full trial with long-term follow-up, providing further evidence regarding the suitability of home-based HIIT as a long-term exercise strategy for PwP
Foreword to the Special Issue: the Power of Us Conference
Get PDFThis introduction to the special issue of the Plymouth Institute of Education Open Journal summarises the thinking behind the organisation of the Power of Us Conference held at the University of Plymouth on May 1st, 2025. The theme of the conference was creating more inclusive schools and communities through fostering dialogue between all participants in inclusive spaces: students, families, local authorities, community organisations, leaders, and numerous others. This conference can form a model for creating other inclusive spaces for sharing best practice and enabling as many voices as possible to be heard