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Bioactive Peptoids against Vector-Borne Parasitic Diseases
Get PDFProtozoan 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
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDFOngoing 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
Get PDFNumerical 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
Get PDFMany 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
Physical activity interventions for older adults – an overview of systematic reviews
Get PDFBackgroundThe proportion of people meeting recommended physical activity (PA) guidelines declines with age. Older adults who are physically inactive have an increased risk of: all-cause mortality; chronic diseases; injury and reduced cognitive functioning. Multiple systematic reviews aim to understand the effectiveness of PA interventions but the evidence is fragmented and it is unclear how well the research reflects the needs of older people. We conducted an overview of existing systematic reviews (PROSPERO reference: CRD42015023796) to map evidence on interventions to encourage older people to be more active.MethodsNine electronic databases were searched, most recently in October 2023. Older people were defined as those aged 50+, with physical activity including active daily living (walking the dog, gardening, etc.), organised activities and clubs and more formal exercise or sport. Screening of records, data extraction, and assessments of quality (using AMSTAR-2) and inequality (using Progress-Plus) were completed independently by two reviewers.ResultsA total of 35 reviews (reported in 36 papers) published between 2002 and 2023 were included. Reviews included between 3 and 79 studies (total 480 unique studies) with a median of 162 and 184 participants per study in meta-analyses (overall AMSTAR-2 median quality low) and narrative syntheses (median quality critically low) respectively. Eighteen included a mixture of interventions (e.g. supporting lifestyle change, walking groups, exercise classes), nine focussed on remote delivery, six on wearable devices, five on 1-to-1 interventions, two on walking, and two focussed on group-based interventions. Interventions to increase physical activity in older people were shown to be effective in the short term (< 12 months). The use of wearable devices as interventions had a small-to-medium effect on increasing physical activity and daily steps. Remote delivery approaches, including the use of text messaging, web- or mobile-technology, and social media, were effective in increasing PA.ConclusionsA range of interventions are effective in increasing PA in older adults. Newer research highlights the usefulness of technology - including wearable devices, social media, text messaging - as useful tools. Improved effectiveness seems to relate to theory-based interventions, but without further research, caution should be taken when interpreting the effectiveness of individual behaviour change techniques. Identifying and resolving wider barriers and facilitators, social and environmental interactions influencing PA may improve future interventions. Better reporting of equity by future studies will improve understanding of who benefits from such interventions. Increased knowledge of potential wider social, economic and environmental determinants of physical activity in older adults, and specifically more vulnerable and minority populations, will help policy makers and practitioners develop more effective interventions
SUFFICIENCY OF DISCLOSURE AND AI-RELATED INVENTIONS
No full textThe patent system grants inventors exclusive rights in exchange for public disclosure of their inventions. Sufficiency of disclosure operates as a threshold condition for patent validity, conditioning entitlement to private reward on the provision of public benefit. This article argues that AI-related inventions expose a structural mismatch within the sufficiency doctrine. The tension arises most clearly in applied settings, where sufficiency assessed as formal enablement diverges from sufficiency understood as a mechanism for supporting reproducibility and knowledge dissemination. While the doctrines of enablement, plausibility, and possession remain conceptually coherent, their application to data-dependent and opaque technologies risks validating disclosures that are legally sufficient yet incapable of supporting practical reproducibility. Building on a distinction between Core AI and Applied AI, the article shows that disclosure challenges arise most acutely in the latter category, where claimed technical effects depend on training data, training methods, model configuration, or trained model states that may not be inferable from common general knowledge. Drawing on utilitarian and economic justifications, it develops a context-sensitive and category-aware account of sufficiency grounded in existing doctrine and informed by a comparative analysis of the UK, the EU, the United States, Singapore, and China. The article demonstrates how sufficiency can be applied in a reproducibility-oriented and exclusion-focused manner without introducing technology-specific legal tests or uniform disclosure mandates. It further argues that complementary mechanisms may support the practical delivery of disclosure where necessary, provided that they remain subordinate to doctrinal assessment and do not displace the core disclosure obligations underpinning the patent bargain
Cryogenic closed-cycle linear engine integration for cold energy recovery in fuel cell trucks
Get PDFThis study investigated the integration of a Cryogenic Closed-cycle Free-piston Linear Joule Engine Generator (CCFLJEG) into a 100-kW hydrogen fuel cell truck to recover and convert cryogenic hydrogen cold energy into electricity. At 100% load and a hydrogen flow rate of 1.4 g/s, the CCFLJEG produced up to 2.9 kW of additional electrical power. Approximately 27% of the liquid hydrogen (LH2) regasification enthalpy was directly absorbed by helium in the cold heat exchanger, while a further 48.9% was indirectly utilised by enhancing hot-side energy recovery, giving an overall cold-energy utilisation of 76.2%. The system reduced annual energy demand from 131.04 MWh to 124.25 MWh (5.2% decrease), equivalent to a hydrogen saving of 333.3 kg. These results demonstrate that coupling CCFLJEG with fuel cell trucks provides an efficient pathway for exploiting cryogenic exergy while improving vehicle-scale energy efficiency. Economic analysis indicated that, when powered by green liquid hydrogen, the system achieved a net present value (NPV) of £23,355 and a payback time (PBT) of 0.7 years. With grey hydrogen, the PBT remained favourable at 1.4 years. Sensitivity analysis identified hydrogen purchase price as the most influential factor affecting NPV, while the capital cost of the CCFLJEG had the strongest influence on PBT. The findings indicated a positive outlook on the technical and economic viability of integrating CCFLJEG in fuel cell trucks, suggesting that it could offer a promising approach to improving energy efficiency and reducing hydrogen consumption in heavy-duty transport applications
Making New Faith In/Visible. Religious Movements and Urban Space
Get PDFThe visibility – and invisibility – of religious movements has been an important aspect in different fields of research, however not been considered systematically in studies on the reciprocal formation of religion and urbanity. This article explores how new religious groups in Europe, South and Southeast Asia make themselves or are made in/visible in towns and cities. It brings together sociological, historical and cultural studies perspectives.Case studies – spanning from Antiquity to our time – allow overall observations about the modes of appropriating urban space, about visibility as premise of social interaction and the perception of difference, about strategies employed to display or hide religious mindsets, and about the political conditions of religious change. These observations confirm theoretical concepts regarding the interrelatedness of visibility and invisibility and the character of in/visibility as a relational phenomenon. In particular, the observations about various cases show that in/visibility generally depends on multifarious factors: first and foremost, the individual interests of religious groups in becoming visible, in addition to political circumstances and even the particular cityscape. At the same time, these case studies stress the fact that visibility can be conveyed in many ways, that it is not necessarily permanent, and that it can quickly increase or diminish
3D particle aggregation in consolidated clay systems: Insights from phase-contrast nano-holo-tomography
No full textThe microstructural arrangement of clay platelets governs their macroscopic properties, yet 3D observations at the particle scale remain limited. This study employs radiation-based X-ray phase-contrast nano-holo-tomography (nano-CT) to achieve an unprecedented three-dimensional (3D) characterisation of clay particle fabric in saturated kaolin clay samples subjected to one-dimensional (1D) compression. Two samples were prepared with acidic (pH = 4.1) and alkaline (pH = 9.1) pore fluids to examine the influence of electrochemical conditions on the association of clay particle. Phase-contrast nano-CT resolves individual kaolin platelets and their spatial arrangement, enabling quantitative analysis of fabric. Autocorrelation function analyses are used to study the alignment of a macroscopically isotropic, yet locally anisotropic structure for the acidic sample, where the edge-to-face (EF) associations of stacks of particles (i.e., aggregates) dominate. In contrast, the alkaline sample exhibits a highly anisotropic, face-to-face (FF) aligned aggregate configuration. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of clay fabric characterisation and highlight the potential of non-destructive synchrotron X-ray 3D nano-imaging techniques for advancing clayey materials characterisation
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