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Bioactive Peptoids against Vector-Borne Parasitic Diseases
Full text linkProtozoan parasites represent a severe threat to global human health as they are responsible for infection in Malaria, and a range of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) including Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and African sleeping sickness. Often treatments for protozan parasites are limited in their efficacy and drug resistance is an emerging problem. The current efforts to develop new treatments for the aforementioned diseases have been met with limited success and as such novel compound classes for development are being actively sought. Peptoids are peptidomimetics that have showed promise as antimicrobial agents but their application in the field of vector-borne parasitic diseases is highly underdeveloped. Herein, a library of over 50 peptoids containing a wide variety of chemical functionalities has been prepared and biologically evaluated against a range of protozoan parasitic targets. Selected members of the peptoid library were found to have potent anti-parasitic activity and good selectivity indices (SI). For example, peptoid 29 [NamyNspeNspe)(NhArgNspeNspe)]₂ had an IC50 of 0.05 μM against Plasmodium falciparum and a SI > 100
AI in Smart Buildings and Construction 4.0: Implementation areas and influencing factors in construction organizations
Full text linkThe construction sector faces persistent challenges in productivity, innovation, and fragmented organizational practices. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers transformative potential in Smart Buildings and Construction 4.0 (SBC4.0), yet organizational-level implementation remains underexplored. This paper develops an integrated framework grounded in institutional theory, the resource-based view, and dynamic capabilities, validated through a survey of large Chinese construction firms using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings identify three key AI implementation areas — smart building operation and health, construction and material optimization, and offsite manufacturing and automation — each shaped by distinct configurations of normative and mimetic pressures, coercive forces, organizational management, technological feasibility, and resources and capabilities. The framework provides a roadmap for policymakers in industry and government navigating the intricacies of AI in SBC4.0 to enhance operational efficiency and organizational performance. It also establishes a foundation for future cross-national research on AI implementation across varied construction and regulatory contexts
Changes in chlorophyll-a in English rivers over the last 49 years
Full text linkOngoing anthropogenically-driven environmental change in rivers (e.g. increasing air temperature, changing river flow extremes, increases in some key nutrients and decreasing concentrations of other key nutrients) is expected to impact ecological status and the magnitude and frequency of river algal blooms. In this study we considered 49 years of data from up to 161 river sites across England using water-column chlorophyll-a as a measure of suspended algal biomass and used a Bayesian hierarchical model to explore the potential drivers of changing river chlorophyll-a concentrations. Over a period of five decades the changes in chlorophyll-a concentrations in rivers across England showed a mixed pattern in relationships with key environmental variables and are almost evenly divided between significant increases and decreases in those chlorophyll-a concentrations. Most river sites showed no significant change in the probability of algal bloom events (chlorophyll-a > 15 μg/l; > 30 μg/l or 45 μg/l) over the last 49 years. These results indicate that there has been no clear directional response in algal bloom events across England’s rivers to the changing pressures, including climate change and large-scale reductions in P concentrations achieved over the last 49 years from improved wastewater treatment. By identifying these differing patterns in chlorophyll-a trends and responses across England, this large-scale spatio-temporal analysis provides a basis for exploring the multiple pressures driving chlorophyll-a responses at local to regional scales
An interpolation and remesh based large deformation finite element method considering soil spatial variability
Full text linkNumerical modelling of soil spatial variability is of significant interest in stochastic analyses of geotechnical problems. For large deformation problems, the incorporation of spatial variability is challenging, as commonly used numerical techniques such as remeshing and interpolation inevitably modify the original random field which, in turn, affects the probabilistic assessment of the geotechnical performance. To analyse the extent of such modifications, this paper investigates first the effect of interpolation in a small strain problem to assess the undrained bearing capacity of a strip footing. As expected, the effects of interpolation in the original random field for undrained shear strength su are small, with differences (or errors) of approximately 5.1% in the coefficient of variation (COV) and 8.5% in scale of fluctuation (SOF). Smaller errors close to 2% are observed in the mean bearing capacity and corresponding COV. The investigation is then extended to study large deformation finite element (LDFE) problems, where more frequent remeshing and interpolations are required. The results from the simulation of a cone penetration test (CPT) confirm that the repeated use of these numerical strategies introduce errors which accumulate during the simulation. To mitigate this accumulation of errors, a new approach is developed, extending existing LDFE into LDRFE (large deformation random finite element), using a set of dummy material points (MPs) to store the random field with their positions updated after each increment. The random field values in the new mesh are remapped from the dummy MPs (rather than from the old mesh), minimising the modifications to the random field, and facilitating the effective simulation of material redistribution
Examining Sponge City coverage and perceptions in global news media
Full text linkMany countries are developing sustainable urban water management approaches to tackle the increasing risks of rainstorms due to climate change. As such, in China the Sponge City Program (SCP) was adopted in 2013. To ensure successful adoption, the SCP should incorporate social indicators, such as public perception and uptake. News media is a key channel to relay information to the public, yet the role and influence of media outlets in portraying the SCP have not been investigated. We reviewed 786 online news articles published from 2014 to 2022. Our analysis found alignment between media reports and academic research on high-level SCP functions (mainly urban water management, and its ecological, socio-cultural, and economic co-function) and its challenges (financial constraints, technical difficulties, and governance issues). However, the media often lacked nuance, such as the detailed extent to which SCP can mitigate flooding, which could pose risks for future practices. This study highlights the critical role of online media in shaping public perceptions and influencing decision-making within SCP similar approaches, and the need to understand the complexities of flood processes and SCP to drive policy changes. As the narrative and coverage of such approaches evolve and mature, we recommend greater engagement between academics and the media
Dynamic Calibration of Trust and Trustworthiness in AI-Enabled Systems
No full textTrust is a multi-faceted phenomenon traditionally studied in human relations and more recently in human-machine interactions. In the context of AI-enabled systems, trust is about the belief of the user that in a given scenario the system is going to be helpful and safe. The system-side counterpart to trust is trustworthiness. When trust and trustworthiness are aligned with each other, there is calibrated trust. Trust, trustworthiness, and calibrated trust are all dynamic phenomena, evolving throughout the history and evolution of user beliefs, systems, and their interaction. In this paper, we review the basic concepts of trust, trustworthiness and calibrated trust and provide definitions for them. We discuss their various metrics used in the literature, and the causes that may affect their dynamics, particularly in the context of AI-enabled systems. We discuss the implications of the discussed concepts for various types of stakeholders and suggest some challenges for future research
A monumental garden complex in Tabriz, Iran
No full textAnalysis of historic aerial photography has identified a possible monumental formal garden complex on the outskirts of Tabriz, Iran. Here, the authors describe this complex and explain why it is an important addition to our knowledge of elite Persian garden design practice that spread globally over time
How mergers and flybys shape azimuthal age patterns in spiral galaxies
No full textSpiral structures are one of the most common features in galaxies, yet their origins and evolution remain debated. Stellar age distributions offer crucial insights into galaxy evolution and star formation, though environmental effects can obscure the intrinsic age patterns. Using the Auriga cosmological gravo-magnetohydrodynamical zoom-in simulations, we investigate the azimuthal age distribution of young stars ( Gyr) in a sample of five Milky Way-mass spiral galaxies over the past 5 Gyr. We quantify the age gradients across spiral arms using the mean age offset () and the non-overlap fraction (). We further analyse the impact of mergers and fly-by events on the age gradients. Our results show that Auriga spiral galaxies generally feature younger stars in their leading edges compared to the trailing edges, with a typical between 30 and 80 Myr. However, gas-rich interactions can disrupt this age offset, resulting in similar age distributions on each side of the spiral arms. In three snapshots, we observe similar mean ages on both sides of spiral arms but differing age distribution broadness, coinciding with satellite interactions crossing the host galaxy’s disc plane. Our simulation data suggest that the typical azimuthal age variation recovers within 600 Myr after galaxy interactions. This work highlights the transient role of environmental interactions in shaping spiral arm age patterns
Critical dynamics of superfluids
No full textWe use standard techniques of hydrodynamics to construct a relativistic effective field theory for the low energy dynamics of nearly critical superfluids. In an appropriate non-relativistic limit, our theory predicts an additional coefficient when compared and contrasted to earlier work of Khalatnikov and Lebedev. In addition, we provide an alternative derivation of the same effective theory, using the Keldysh-Schwinger framework for non-equilibrium systems. Finally, we comment on the comparison with the results of an appropriate holographic computation presented in a companion paper. This provides further evidence in support of the theory we propose and confirms the existence of the extra coefficient we identified
Making comparative archaeological and historical urbanism rigorous and open access through the URBank data platform
No full textAdapting to a global urban future requires diverse, long-term perspectives on urbanism. URBank supports this by bringing together global deep-time urban datasets in a modern open-science computing platform. Its design eschews checklist definitions of cities, representing the variability of past urbanism and enabling systematic comparative spatiotemporal research
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