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Between cultures and challenges: First‐generation British South Asian women's experiences of discrimination, intersectionality and woman‐to‐woman support in the workplace
No full textWomen from ethnically minoritised groups navigate challenges in the Western workforce using unique strategies. However, less is known about multicultural women's workplace experiences. The current study aimed to examine the research question: How do multicultural first-generation British South Asian women experience intersectionality in the workplace, and what role does woman-to-woman support play in such experiences? We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 first-generation British South Asian women in the United Kingdom (UK). Participants were asked about (a) the impact of their identities on their employment and (b) the role of woman-to-woman support. Thematic analysis revealed that multicultural South Asian women living in the UK experience workplace discrimination due to their single-group identity (e.g., being South Asian) and their intersectional identities (e.g., being a South Asian woman). Moreover, contextual factors (e.g., workplace demographics) and individual-level factors (e.g., accent) offered protection against workplace discrimination. Participants also received practical and emotional woman-to-woman support; notably, support rooted in cultural understanding was especially effective. Our findings demonstrated the importance of social and community contexts in shaping British South Asian women's individual and social functioning. These findings held implications by providing a multicultural and intersectional lens for understanding workplace inclusivity and diversity
A Comparative Life Cycle Analysis of an Active and a Passive Battery Thermal Management System for an Electric Vehicle:A Cold Plate and a Loop Heat Pipe
Full text linkThis study extends beyond conventional Battery Thermal Management System (BTMS) research by conducting a Life Cycle Analysis comparing the environmental impacts of two technologies: a traditional active cold plate system and an innovative passive Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) system. While active cold plate BTMS requires continuous energy input during operation and charging, leading to significant energy consumption and emissions, the passive LHP BTMS operates without external power or moving parts, substantially reducing the climate change impact. This analysis considered two materials for LHP construction: copper and stainless steel. The results demonstrated that the LHP design achieved a 9.9 kg reduction in overall BTMS mass compared to the cold plate system. The implementation of stainless steel effectively addressed the high resource consumption associated with copper while reducing environmental impact by over 50% across most impact categories, compared to the cold plate BTMS. The passive operation of the LHP system leads to substantially lower energy usage and emissions during the use phase compared to the active cold plate. These findings highlight the potential of passive LHP technology to enhance the environmental sustainability of Battery Thermal Management Systems while maintaining effective thermal performance
Unsettling accounts:Voicing disquiet in other rainforests
No full textWomen's Voices from the Rainforest. Janet Gabriel Townsend (in collaboration with Ursula Arrevillaga, Jennie Bain, Socorro Cancino, Susan F. Frenk, Silvana Pacheco and Elia Pérez). Routledge, London, UK and New York, USA, 1995, pp. viii + 212. ISBN 978-0-415-10532-3 (pbk).Women's Voices from the Rainforest (WVFTR) provides an unsettling account of women's experiences in the process of transforming forests to fields in Colombia and Mexico. In this short reflection, I elaborate on what I found ‘unsettling’, initially during my engagement with the book and its genesis, but also on the ways the approach and substantive themes of the book continue to unsettle my own research journey and messy collaborations in Indonesia. Re-reading Janet Townsend's work, I realize how much her informal mentorship through the pages of the book and through our in-person conversations have shaped the substantive themes of my work on resettlement (Indonesia's transmigration programme) and ‘forced’ displacement (associated with conservation and large-scale corporate investments in oil palm), always with an evolving (and sometimes troubled) idea of learning stories ‘from below’ (Elmhirst, 1999; Elmhirst et al., 2017).<br/
Barian Micas and Exotic Ba-Cr and Ba-V Micas Associated with Metamorphosed Sedimentary Exhalative Baryte Deposits near Aberfeldy, Scotland, UK
Full text linkRegionally metamorphosed, Neoproterozoic stratiform baryte deposits near Aberfeldy in the Grampian Highlands of Scotland, UK, contain barium-poor and barium-rich micas in the host rocks and mineralized strata, respectively. The barium-rich micas include muscovite, biotite, phlogopite, and chromium-bearing muscovite. They occur in schistose metasediments and metabasites, in barium-feldspar rocks, and in small amounts in baryte rock. An extensive study of micas in a range of lithologies using electron-probe micro-analysis found up to 10.86 wt% BaO in muscovite, 5.46 wt% in biotite, and 15.70 wt% in Ba-Cr muscovite, the latter containing up to 9.27 wt% Cr2O3. Compositions are comparable with Ba- and Ba-Cr-micas in other metamorphosed Sedimentary Exhalative deposits and barium-rich metasediments worldwide. In one baryte rock sample, disseminated crystals of an exotic Ba-V-Cr mica contain up to 12.33 wt% BaO and 10.82 wt% V2O3, compositionally similar to Ba-V micas in the Hemlo lode gold deposit, Ontario. Ba2+ incorporation is mainly by coupled substitution with Al3+ for K+ + Si4+ in the tetrahedral site. The extent of phengitic (Tschermakitic) substitution is typical of micas in amphibolite-facies metasediments. Similar Fe:Mg ratios in coexisting muscovite and biotite reflect partitioning of iron into sulphides and metamorphic equilibration, with rare exceptions in fine-grained rocks that exhibit millimetre-scale disequilibrium
Personalised Environmental Control Systems (PECS) usage thresholds:a dynamic simulation approach to assess energy, cost, and emissions saving
Full text linkPersonalised Environmental Control Systems (PECS) have emerged as a solution to customise thermal conditions at individual workstations, potentially reducing overall energy consumption. However, their energy performance under diverse building operating conditions remains underexplored. This study investigates the integration of PECS in office environments, focusing on their impact beyond thermal comfort – including energy efficiency, cost, and environmental outcomes. To achieve this, dynamic Building Energy Simulations (BES) were conducted, integrating heating and cooling PECS with traditional HVAC systems in an open-plan office across different climates, building insulation levels, PECS power capacities, and occupancy rates. The evaluation method, which can serve as a standard approach for assessing PECS-building energy efficiency, compares scenarios with and without PECS across various indices, including Primary Energy consumption, energy cost, and CO2 emissions. The results reveal that PECS can significantly cut energy consumption, costs, and emissions, particularly at occupancy rates below 75% for heating and 50% for cooling. PECS prove effective as a year-round solution across various climates, with notable energy savings in extreme conditions. For instance, heating PECS can reduce Primary Energy consumption by up to 33.8 kWh/m2⋅yr (78 MWh – 45%) in buildings located in cold climates with no insulation, while cooling PECS save up to 18.6 kWh/m2⋅yr (43 MWh – 53%) in insulated buildings situated in warm, temperate climates. Integrating PECS, particularly in retrofitting projects, can yield notable energy and cost savings. However, in some cases, energy use increased – mainly with high-power PECS (70–100 W) and full occupancy. These outcomes highlight a “switch point” beyond which PECS no longer yield net savings, underscoring the need for careful sizing. Overall, the study highlights the potential of PECS to enhance office energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability, even alongside modern HVAC systems, and positions the evaluation method as a valuable standard for assessing PECS-building performance
Hydrogen fumigated diesel combustion for de-carbonisation and Tier III NOx compliant marine engines
Full text linkThe International Maritime Organisation is targeting 40% CO2 emissions reduction by 2030 and NOx targets of 2.16 g/kWh for 1250 rpm, all whilst prioritising approaches that improve brake thermal efficiency (BTE). This work presents three primary outputs to identify how H2 fumigated diesel engines can meet these targets. Firstly, experimental results are presented from a 2L single cylinder engine at constant load (1250 rpm, 31 kW, 195 Nm) with fumigated H2 (0 to 9.5%Vol), at advanced and delayed diesel injection timings (A-FiT-6 and D-FiT +4 CA⁰ ATDC). The second and third outputs use ANSYS Chemkin Pro multizone digital twin engine model. Initially to, develop the modelling approach which accounts for the variation in equivalence ratio across the real combustion chamber to accurately represent performance and emissions, and then to, extend the experimental results towards identifying the optimal combustion strategy. The experimental results indicated that over 8.5%Vol H2 offered CO2 reduction in excess of 40% for both A-FiT and D-FiT. Whilst H2 heating value offered substantial gain in brake specific fuel consumption (≈45% for 0 to 9.5%Vol H2), it did marginally compromise BTE, with A-FiT showing greatest sensitivity (-2% points from 0 to 9.5%Vol H2). Though A-FiT NOx emissions met the Tier III requirements when coupled to selective catalytic reduction (SCR) at 90% conversion efficiency, this may exceed limits in sub-optimal SCR conditions (e.g. cold start). D-FiT also showed marginal reduction in BTE (across all %Vol H2), with significant reductions in NOx emissions (-56% at maximum %Vol H2). Therefore, the validated model established a revised trade-off point, with 9%Vol H2 at FiT-4 CA⁰ ATDC achieving excess of 40% CO2 reduction compared to diesel only. This also corresponded to over 20% drop in NOx to the most A-FiT condition with fumigated H2, with only negligible BTE compromise (-0.2% points). These results demonstrate a low disruption pathway to meet the maritime 2030 de-carbonisation and regulated emissions targets
The Calcium Signalling Profile of the Inner Blood–Retinal Barrier in Diabetic Retinopathy
Full text linkDiabetic retinopathy is a sight-threatening complication of diabetes mellitus, affecting millions of people worldwide. From a vascular perspective, diabetic retinopathy compromises the structure and function of the blood–retinal barrier, leading to aberrant angiogenesis and vascular leakage, with consequent loss of vision. This review will delve into the vascular abnormalities caused by diabetic retinopathy in the inner blood–retinal barrier, focusing primarily on retinal endothelial cells. It will then discuss how calcium signalling regulates inner blood–retina barrier function and dysfunction, how calcium channels contribute to the development of diabetic retinopathy, and how studying the components of the calcium toolkit may identify new therapeutic targets
Opposing the Planning and Infrastructure Bill 2025 and the need for a Rights of Nature approach
Full text linkDetection Dog Survey Detects African Wild Dog Presence and a Shared Marking Site
Full text linkAfrican wild dog (Lycaon pictus) populations are difficult to assess effectively and scalable strategies for population monitoring are lacking, often because of low detection rates. Scat detection dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) have emerged as a suitable tool to detect the presence of wide-ranging carnivores. In this study, we employed a detection dog to locate African wild dog scat in an unfenced, understudied region of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. Over 2 weeks of fieldwork, the detection dog-team found 21 African wild dog scats within a 2304 km2 study area. Six of those scats were detected at a marking site shared by multiple African wild dog individuals, as determined through genetic identification. The marking site discovered by the scat detection dog facilitated the collaring of two African wild dogs in close proximity, the repeat detection of wild dog individuals on camera trap, the collection of additional scat samples, and the highest recording of individuals per site from camera traps (n = 5) and genetic verification (n = 5). This highlights the value of marking sites for improved long-term monitoring for this elusive species. To our knowledge, we report the first use of a detection dog to find wild dog scat and discover a shared marking site. Our findings hold promise for the potential of detection dogs to rapidly survey this wide-ranging, endangered canid.</p
Knowing the Nature near you
No full textCraig Jordan-Baker introduces a whole world of forgotten and overlooked Nature – on an urban doorste