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The ‘roots/routes to fruit’ model:Developing a ‘fruitful’ collaborative network across universities
Get PDFThis study explores the development and dynamics of the Wales Collaborative for Learning Design (WCLD), a multidisciplinary network across eight Welsh universities. Funded by Welsh Government, the WCLD aimed to foster collaboration in digital learning design while supporting individual and collective academic growth. The study aimed to investigate what factors impact on the development and sustainability of a personal and professional, multidisciplinary Higher Education collaborative network. Using a collective autoethnographic approach, the research explored the network’s evolution, highlighting the interplay of person attributes, facilitating conditions, and professional relationships. Findings revealed key factors including trust, open-mindedness, and consistent communication as essential to the network’s sustainability and success. Further findings illustrate how positive constraints, diverse career stages, and interdisciplinary opportunities underpin growth and productivity. ‘Outcomes’ included enhanced institutional impact, significant personal and professional conversations, and the cross-pollination of ideas within and beyond the network. When considered as a process, the findings underscore the value of cultivating intentional, yet adaptable, collaborative networks to support higher education innovation and personal academic development. This culminates in the ‘Roots/routes to Fruit’ model. This original contribution builds on existing theory surrounding significant, collaborative networks and provides a process for future interdisciplinary, multi-institutional, collaborative networks to build upon
Evolution of Alfvén Waves in the Solar Wind II:Broadband Driver
Get PDFThe propagation of azimuthal Alfvén waves and their interaction with the solar wind are investigated using a 2.5D magnetohydrodynamic model that incorporates the effects of optically thin radiation, as well as collisional and collisionless thermal conduction. The background plasma forms a dipole field that is extended into a helmet streamer by the solar wind, with slow wind near the equator and fast wind at mid- and high latitudes. Alfvénic wave trains, localized at random heliographic latitudes, are launched from the coronal base with a moderate amplitude of 9 km s−1 across a wide range of frequencies. Experiments with 100 and 200 events are carried out, resulting in the formation of a cavity where the waves are trapped. The cavity expands or contracts based on the dominant driver period, with longer-period waves setting up larger cavities. A distinctive feature of the cavity is the formation of large-amplitude backward waves that provide an additional push to the solar wind plasma at mid- and high latitudes through the ponderomotive force. We find that episodic and localized wave trains are more efficient at heating and accelerating solar wind plasma compared to continuous monochromatic waves uniformly launched from all heliographic latitudes. Increasing the number of wave events results in enhanced acceleration and heating of the solar wind plasma, as well as suppression of plasmoid breakup events in the equatorial plasma sheet.</p
European Biometric ID Program in West Africa:Between European External Border Securitization and ECOWAS Free Movement
Get PDFThis article embodies a major shift from dominant Eurocentric narratives and policy analyses that over-exaggerate the benefits of the EU biometric ID system as a tool that facilitates free intra-regional movement in West Africa. The article argues that the intrusion of EU-funded biometric ID technologies in border security and migration governance seriously undermines ECOWAS Free Movement Protocols. I demonstrate how the EU biometric ID projects and border security measures in West Africa serve the ulterior interests of the two migration collaborating actors - the EU and African governments, while robbing local migrants of their freedom of movement. Basically, the EU migration-development-security nexus and its funding components have become an inducement for African governments to tighten their borders. These financial aids have been generally mismanaged by unscrupulous politicians
Do self-reported well-being and residence predict depression and anxiety in Mozambican women?:A national survey analysis
No full textBackgroundUnderstanding the intersection of well-being, residential location and mental health outcomes is essential for developing effective mental health interventions for women in Mozambique.ObjectiveTo examine whether self-reported well-being and place of residence predict depression and anxiety symptomsMethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted using data from the 2023 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey, with a sample of 13,057 women aged 15 to 49 years. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify significant predictors of depression and anxiety.ResultsThe majority report good well-being (76.2 %), rural residency (56.7 %), no history of depression (98.6 %) and low anxiety (90.7 %). Women reporting moderate well-being were 1.5 times as likely to be diagnosed with depression (AOR = 1.54, 95 % CI: 1.05–2.27, p = 0.028) and 1.7 times as likely to feel anxious (AOR = 1.66, 95 % CI: 1.34– 2.05, p = 0.001) compared to those with good well-being. Those reporting bad well-being were 2.6 times as likely to feel anxious (AOR = 2.63, 95 % CI: 1.75–3.95, p = 0.001) compared to those with good well-being. Additionally, rural women were 0.35 times as likely to feel anxious (AOR = 0.65, 95 % CI: 0.49–0.85, p = 0.001) than their urban counterparts.ConclusionThere is a link between self-reported well-being, place of residence, and mental health outcomes among women in Mozambique, with urban women being more likely to experience mental health conditions, indicating the need for targeted mental health interventions and support.<p/
Bacterial pathogen deploys the iminosugar glycosyrin to manipulate plant glycobiology
No full textThe extracellular space (apoplast) in plants is a key battleground during microbial infections. To avoid recognition, the bacterial model phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 produces glycosyrin. Glycosyrin inhibits the plant-secreted b-galactosidase BGAL1, which would otherwise initiate the release of immunogenic peptides from bacterial flagellin. Here, we report the structure, biosynthesis, and multifunctional roles of glycosyrin. High-resolution cryo–electron microscopy and chemical synthesis revealed that glycosyrin is an iminosugar with a five-membered pyrrolidine ring and a hydrated aldehyde that mimics monosaccharides. Glycosyrin biosynthesis was controlled by virulence regulators, and its production is common in bacteria and prevents flagellin recognition and alters the extracellular glycoproteome and metabolome of infected plants. These findings highlight a potentially wider role for glycobiology manipulation by plant pathogens across the plant kingdom.</p
Implementing AF-Raman scanning for testing basal cell skin carcinoma clearance during Mohs’ micrographic surgery:a replacement technology evaluation
Get PDFWe provide a time-benefit analysis from the perspective of the UK National Health Service (NHS) as payer when intraoperative AF-Raman scanning is used as a replacement, or load reducing technology, for patients with high-risk basal cell carcinoma being treated by staged Mohs’ micrographic surgery. We explore the potential to treat an additional patient using the new technology compared with standard care that relies on intraoperative frozen section histopathology. Results pertain to a multi-patient setting, built from a simple, single patient decision tree pathways model of Mohs’ surgery. Parameterisation is informed by results drawn from the Nottingham diagnostic accuracy study. The main metric of comparison is the expected duration of operations. Main baseline result: the expected duration of operations are 416 min when 6 patients are treated using intraoperative AF-Raman scanning and 375.4 min when 5 patients are treated under standard care, the difference is just over 40 min. Offsetting the costs a hospital would incur to supply that additional time on each day of operations are (i) the NHS reimbursement it is paid for treating an extra patient (averaging £2,255), and (ii) by daily gains of approximately 10 man hours of freed histopathology resource that can be reallocated to other work
An ethogram of facial behaviour in domestic horses:Evolutionary perspectives on form and function
Get PDFUnderstanding cause and function of animal facial behaviour can provide key insights into the animal’s cognitive and emotional state. The Equine Facial Action Coding System (EquiFACS) has characterised a wide range of equine (Equus caballus) facial movements (Action Units (AU) and Descriptors (AD)). However, there is still a lack of systematic documentation of whether and how these AUs and ADs are combined to produce discrete configurations of facial behaviour in horses. The aim of this study was to provide a systematically derived ethogram of equine facial behaviour in the domestic horse across positive, negative and neutral social interactions. Facial behaviour was recorded during horse-horse interactions occurring during affiliative (non-play), play, agonistic and attentional contexts, based on the coding of contextual behaviour. Using EquiFACS, a bank of 805 AU/AD combinations, across 22 distinct behaviours, was created. Network analysis techniques (NetFACS) were used to establish the facial movements significantly associated with each context. Domestic horses use a wide range of distinct facial behaviours, which are defined and described in our ethogram. Interestingly, there were marked similarities between the play faces of horses and the open mouth play faces of primates and carnivores, adding weight to the hypothesis that these facial behaviours are deep rooted in mammalian biology. We also defined a new EquiFACS Action Unit, AUH21, facial tightener (platysma), which makes the underlying facial structures appear more prominent. This AU is found in humans and gibbons, but no other species studied, and its addition to EquiFACS will enhance cross-species comparisons and potentially facilitate the attribution of emotional state and assessment of pain in horses. Our equine facial behaviour ethogram will be invaluable in future work exploring equine emotion, welfare, social behaviour, and perception, as well as having direct applications for those working with and around horses
Photothermal Integration of Multi-Spectral Imaging Data via UAS Improves Prediction of Target Traits in Oat Breeding Trials
Get PDFThe modelling and prediction of important agronomic traits using remotely sensed data is an evolving science and an attractive concept for plant breeders, as manual crop phenotyping is both expensive and time consuming. Major limiting factors in creating robust prediction models include the appropriate integration of data across different years and sites, and the availability of sufficient genetic and phenotypic diversity. Variable weather patterns, especially at higher latitudes, add to the complexity of this integration. This study introduces a novel approach by using photothermal time units to align spectral data from unmanned aerial system images of spring, winter, and facultative oat (Avena sativa) trials conducted over different years at a trial site at Aberystwyth, on the western Atlantic seaboard of the UK. The resulting regression and classification models for various agronomic traits are of significant interest to oat breeding programmes. The potential applications of these findings include optimising breeding strategies, improving crop yield predictions, and enhancing the efficiency of resource allocation in breeding programmes.</p
Genome-wide association analysis revealed novel candidate genes for body measurement traits in indigenous Gudali and crossbred Simgud in Cameroon
Get PDFBackgroundThe genetic potential of Central African cattle for enhanced productivity remains largely unexplored. The absence of systematic pedigree recording and performance monitoring represent a major obstacle to implementing informed breeding strategies aimed at improving their production. To address this gap, we performed a genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) on a total of 856 animals genotyped with the GGP Bovine 100K array. The analysis focused on identifying genomic regions and candidate genes associated with body traits in a local Zebu (Gudali) and its crossbreed with the European Simmental (Simgud), using mixed linear models (MLM).ResultsThe SNP-based heritability for the four body traits studied varied between 0.23 ± 0.12 for the height at wither (HAW) to 0.44 ± 0.11 for the sacrum height (SH). The genetic correlation ranged from 0.19 ± 0.14 between height at wither and ear length (EL), to 0.81 ± 0.06 between height at wither and sacrum height. For the phenotypic correlations, the ranges were 0.58 ± 0.00 between body length (BL) and ear length to 0.90 ± 0.06 between height at wither and body length. The maximum Pairwise Linkage Disequilibrium (LD), measured as squared correlation coefficient (r2) was 0.465 for Gudali, decreasing by half (0.23) at a distance of 50,708 bp. For the Simgud population the maximum LD was 0.47 halving (0.23) at 99,201 bp. Notably, we observed extended LD patterns across both the Gudali and Simgud genomes, persisting over distances greater than 1 mbp. These features hold significant potential for association analysis studies and genetic improvement initiatives. A total of 52 SNPs were identified has being associated to the considered body traits. These SNPs were mapped within or near 70 candidate genes across the genome. Among them, the ADGRD1, NDUFAF1, RTF1 and ITPKA genes exhibited a pleiotropic effect as they were associated with two or more traits. Additionally, LAMTOR5, PCDH9, BCL2, CTIF, BHLHA15, UNC5D, CNTNAP5, TMEM109, TMEM132A, and NOS1AP genes showed direct association with individual body traits.ConclusionsThis study identified a number of novel loci associated with pathways influencing growth and body traits, disease resistance and immunity, reproduction and milk production. Overall, the identified genes could be considered as candidate genes in any attempt to improve growth, disease resistance and production in tropical cattle raised under extensive management systems. These genes or genomic regions should be prioritized in future cattle breeding programs in Cameroon