61378 research outputs found
Sort by
Towards a Framework for Conceptualising Holistic Wellbeing in Schools
Get PDFpeer reviewedHuman wellbeing is highly interconnected with the wellbeing (and survival) of the whole Earth’s ecosystem. Schools are important places in which people learn how to enhance both present and future wellbeing. To date, however, there are no school wellbeing frameworks that holistically consider the psychosocial and physical wellbeing of the entire school community and extend the concept of wellbeing beyond human boundaries. This paper focuses on the need to increase our understanding of what holistic wellbeing in schools means from a broad perspective, including not only various aspects of human wellbeing but also non-human aspects of wellbeing into a single conceptual framework. The framework was developed based on a narrative literature review consisting of 107 articles. The profound joy and happiness of both teachers and learners form the foundation of our conceptualisation of wellbeing. In addition to these core concepts, and based on the earlier conceptualisations of holistic wellbeing, our framework includes physical, psychological, social, creative and socioeconomic dimensions of wellbeing. Finally, all these wellbeing dimensions are highly dependent on planetary wellbeing. The framework is designed to serve as a basis for developing pre- and in-service teacher training programmes and to support school leaders and educational policymakers in their efforts to promote holistic wellbeing at schools.Joyful Schools – Joyful Schools: active learning strategies for health, well-being and growth mindse
Leveraging open cheminformatics tools for non-targeted metabolomics analysis of C. elegans: a workflow comparison and application to strains related to xenobiotic metabolism and neurodegeneration
Get PDFCaenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a well-established nematode model for studying metabolism and neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Non-targeted metabolomics via liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has proven useful for uncovering metabolic changes in biological systems. Here, we present workflows for C. elegans metabolomics, leveraging advanced open science tools. We compared two metabolite extraction methods: a monophasic extraction, which provided broader metabolite coverage in analyses conducted in hydrophilic interaction with positive polarity (HILIC POS), and a biphasic extraction, which yielded more features in reverse-phase C18 chromatography with negative polarity (RPLC NEG) analyses. Data were processed using patRoon, integrating IPO, XCMS, CAMERA, and MetFrag, which incorporated PubChemLite compounds and C. elegans-specific metabolites from an expanded WormJam database enhanced with PubChem and literature sources. MS-DIAL was also employed for data processing, allowing for expanded annotations with predicted spectra for the expanded WormJam metabolites calculated using CFM-ID. Significant metabolite differences were identified when comparing the Bristol (N2) wildtype strain with two knockout strains of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes and two transgenic strains related to neurodegenerative pathways. Pooled quality control (QC) samples for each strain ensured robust data quality and the detection of strain-related metabolites. Our study indicates the potential of non-targeted metabolomics for metabolite discovery employing open science tools in metabolomics studies of model organisms
Measuring adequacy of minimum wages in the multi-level system
No full textpeer reviewedThe measuring of the adequacy thresholds of the minimum wage in the multilevel
system. The minimum wage is becoming increasingly important at the macroeconomic, social
and legal level, for this reason it is now essential to focus on the meaning of setting minimum
wages at an “adequate” level. Directive 2022/2041 identifies the measure of adequacy by
referring to some indices or parameters already known at a statistical level, but the question
posed by the A. concerns the scope of these parameters and their effective translation at the level
of the EU Member States, given the profound differences between the systems for determining
the minimum wage and industrial relations. The analysis focuses on the scope of the salary
adequacy threshold in supranational sources and on the legal effectiveness of art. 5 of the
Directive, in order to define the impact of the adequacy threshold at a national level. Particular
attention is paid to the Italian situation, where the analysis is conducted by recalling both the important doctrinal debate, recently influenced by the orientations of the Supreme Court on the
“constitutional” minimum wage, and the institutional position of the CNEL on the minimum
salary threshold and working poverty. The A. highlights the centrality of a comparative analysis
of the different mechanisms that govern the setting of the adequacy of minimum wages in order
to guide legislative choices in the direction traced by supranational sources
EDPB’s Opinion 28/2024 on Certain Data Protection Aspects Related to the Processing of Personal Data in the Context of AI Models: A Missed Chance?
No full textpeer reviewe
Title Holistic Simulation of Heat Extraction Sheet Pile Walls for Renewable Energy Extraction
Get PDFThis study numerically investigates Heat Extraction Sheet Pile Walls (HESPWs) for low-temperature geothermal energy using a 3D transient heat-transfer model in COMSOL Multiphysics. We analyze how flow rates, boundary conditions, and thermal interactions between sheet piles, soil, canals, and the atmosphere affect performance in an urban canal context. Simulations show higher flow rates lower outlet temperatures but boost total heat extraction, while the Thermal to Pumping Power Ratio (TPR) drops due to increased pumping needs. Lower flow rates improve TPR but limit energy output. These trade-offs emphasize tailoring flow rates to goalsmaximizing power for district heating or efficiency for smaller systems. HESPWs prove viable for urban infrastructure, combining structural support with sustainable heating and cooling
Electric Vehicle Demand-Responsive Transport with Transit Integration
Get PDFIntegrated Demand-Responsive Transport (IDRT), which combines demand-responsive transport services with regular transit systems, is widely recognized as an effective strategy to mitigate the impact of standalone demand-responsive services on traffic congestion and the environment. However, successful implementation of such service must address customer inconvenience, as transfers between demand-responsive vehicles and transit services often discourage ridership. As the transition towards sustainable mobility accelerates, it is essential to incorporate electric vehicles into IDRT to enhance environmental benefits. Involving electric vehicles in the IDRT system also brings additional challenges, particularly in managing charging operations and ensuring service reliability. This dissertation introduces an Electric Integrated Demand-responsive Transport (EIDRT) service, in which electric buses operates with fixed-route transit to effectively meet customer demand.
To address the complexity of the EIDRT problem, we first investigate a meeting-point-based first mile feeder service utilizing electric buses. The objective is to minimize bus operational costs and customer inconvenience, including reducing customers’ waiting time at transit stations. Bus charging operations consider capacitated charging stations. A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation is developed using a layered graph structure and a metaheuristic solution algorithm is proposed. Computational experiments demonstrate that the metaheuristic produces good-quality solutions with around 1 or 2 minutes to solve 100-customer test instances. Results also show that the layered-graph significantly reduces computational time.
Next, we extend the meeting-point-based first-mile feeder service to a many-to-many EIDRT service that connects customers from their origins to destinations. A MILP formulation is proposed with the objective function minimizing both bus operational costs and customer travel times. To reduce customer inconvenience, the service incorporates synchronization between demand-responsive buses and transit departures, along with a maximum inter-modal transfer time. Capacitated charging stations are also included to reflect realistic recharging operations. The MILP formulation is built on a departure-expanded transit graph, incorporating the layered graph concept to better represent the transit network within a service area. A hybrid large neighborhood search algorithm is proposed to efficiently solve the problem, addressing the challenges of multi-modal routing and capacitated charging stations. The algorithm is benchmarked against eight-hour solutions by a MILP solver, demonstrating efficiency and better solution quality for up to 100 customers with two transit lines.
Lastly, the performance of the EIDRT is assessed by a set of experiments on scenarios reflecting real-world problem size and a case study. The findings provide valuable insights for operators regarding the trade-offs between operational costs and customer convenience, particularly focus on fleet size, buses’ state-of-charge, and transit networks. Results indicate that while the EIDRT service saves vehicle kilometers traveled compared with non-integrated demand-responsive services, maintaining a high-quality service might still require the same or a larger bus fleet size. Moreover, the results show that the service performs the best when the transit network in the service area is well-connected. The case study further compares the EIDRT service with existing transportation options, confirming significant reductions in bus operating costs relative to non-integrated demand-responsive services. Similar results are found that bus travelling costs are saved significantly compared to non-integrated demand-responsive services. In terms of customer travel experiences, EIDRT achieves substantially lower customer travel times compared to traditional public transport.9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure11. Sustainable cities and communitie
Biodiversity loss and entrepreneurship: Empirical evidence on threat perceptions among primary-sector entrepreneurs in 28 European countries
No full textpeer reviewedBiodiversity loss is widespread and accelerating, threatening ecological systems and human well-being. Entrepreneurship and biodiversity loss are intertwined: entrepreneurs—especially in the primary sector—are both causing and suffering from this loss in biodiversity. However, little is known about the biodiversity-entrepreneurship nexus, in particular, how primary sector entrepreneurs perceive the negative effects of their activities on nature and biodiversity loss. Addressing this glaring and policy-relevant research gap, we empirically investigate how 3,469 entrepreneurs across 28 European countries perceive threats to biodiversity. Despite their close dependence on nature, our multilevel analyses show that primary sector entrepreneurs perceive activities related to the primary sector (e.g., intensive farming, intensive forestry, and overfishing) as less threatening to biodiversity loss than entrepreneurs in other sectors. However, this difference diminishes in countries with stronger reliance on the primary sector, suggesting a nuanced interplay between economic dependencies and biodiversity threat perception. Our study contributes to research on biodiversity and entrepreneurship, identifies crucial future research areas, and offers policy implications that can help societies leverage biodiversity entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurship more generally, as a vehicle to combat biodiversity loss.14. Life below water15. Life on land8. Decent work and economic growt
Families at a Loss: The Asymmetric Relationship Between Income Changes and Child Human Capital
Get PDFpeer reviewedI here assess the link between distributional changes in family income and child human capital.
Using a value-added model and data from a UK child cohort, I show evidence of an asymmetric effect of income gains and losses on child non-cognitive development. Only income losses are associated with a reduction in children’s socio-emotional health – with one-third of the effect operating through measures of maternal well-being – while no effect is found for income gains. This is consistent with a model of human-capital formation where the quality and quantity of parental inputs react to changes in family income asymmetrically