179566 research outputs found
Sort by
Machine learning for air quality forecasting: Insights from five provinces of Rwanda
Get PDFAccurately predicting air quality is a crucial challenge for public health and environmental management. This study compares and contrasts machine learning approaches to benchmark best practices for the Rwandan context and to evaluate the added value of advanced statistical methods for air quality monitoring in data-scarce settings. We forecast fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations across five provinces in Rwanda, using multi-year meteorological and air quality data to identify context-specific patterns. This work establishes a methodological foundation for context-optimized early warning systems and informs policy interventions to improve air quality management in Rwanda. By rigorously testing machine learning capabilities against regional constraints, we demonstrate how machine learning can reduce population exposure to pollution, quantify attribution gaps in under-monitored regions, and improve sustainable environmental governance in resource-limited settings. The results indicate significant seasonal variability, with higher PM2.5 levels during dry seasons than wet seasons. Our evaluation demonstrates that machine learning models can capture complex, non-linear relationships between environmental variables and pollution trends, although performance varies between algorithms. Limitations remain, including the integration of real-time data streams and localized variables such as industrial emissions, road traffic, and agricultural practices
All-trans retinoic acid and fluid transport in myopigenesis
Get PDFMyopia, or near-sightedness, is rapidly growing in prevalence, with significant long-term implications for ocular health. There is thus great impetus to better understand molecular signalling pathways leading to myopia. We and others have reported that all-trans retinoic acid (atRA) is involved in myopigenic signalling, yet the understanding of how atRA is transported and exerts a myopigenic influence is poor. Here we measured the concentrations of atRA in the serum in wild-type C57BL/6 mice under control conditions and after atRA feeding, previously shown to induce myopia. We also developed a mathematical model that describes fluid fluxes and the advective-diffusive transport of atRA in choroid and sclera, including atRA synthesis in the choriocapillaris, atRA degradation by scleral cells, and binding of atRA to the carrier protein serum albumin. This model, developed for both mice and humans, showed that atRA produced in the choriocapillaris was able to permeate well into the sclera in both mice and humans at biologically relevant concentrations, and that atRA feeding greatly increased tissue levels of atRA across both the choroid and sclera. We were also able to identify which parameters most influence atRA concentration in ocular tissues, guiding future experimental work. Our findings support atRA’s role in myopigenic signalling
‘Play to the conditions’: optimizing the operating theatre environment through lessons from elite performance domains
Get PDFMapping Use of High Dose or Long‐Term Oral Glucocorticoids and Steroid‐Sparing Strategies in Adults With Chronic Conditions: A Rapid Scoping Review of Reviews
Get PDFPurposeOral glucocorticoids (OGCs) have a broad range of uses and are effective in treating numerous conditions. However, it is commonly acknowledged that OGCs at high doses or over long periods have a burden of toxicity. Despite the use of steroid-sparing therapies, OGCs continue to be prescribed to treat a wide range of immune and inflammatory conditions. We aimed to address the following research questions: (1) what are the contemporary indications for high dose and/or long-term OGCs? (2) what patterns of use are described in the literature for high dose and/or long-term OGCs? (3) which evidence do we have for chronic conditions related to well-established steroid-sparing strategies and tapering regimes for OGCs? (4) what adverse effects have been reported with high dose and/or long-term OGCs?MethodsA rapid scoping review was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines. The Protocol has been published on the Open Science Framework. A systematic search of MEDLINE (Sep 2014 to Sep 2024) identified systematic reviews and scoping reviews involving adults (≥ 18 years) treated with high doses and/or long-term OGCs for chronic inflammatory conditions. Studies involving pregnant women were excluded.ResultsIn total, 137 reviews were included. OGCs were indicated in 47 different conditions in dermatology, respiratory, gastrointestinal, hematology, immunology, rheumatology, and other miscellaneous categories. Across all specialties, OGCs were used either at high doses (at least 20 mg prednisone equivalent per day) or for long durations (for at least 3 months). For types of adverse effects reported in the included reviews, 20 were labeled as endocrine, 13 as immunological, 21 as musculoskeletal, 30 as gastrointestinal, and 16 as cardiovascular. Sixty-four reviews looked for/reported unspecified adverse events. One hundred and fifteen reviews had evidence of steroid-sparing/tapering regimes, indicating the wide use of these strategies to mitigate the harmful effects of OGCs.ConclusionOGCs are used for a broad range of inflammatory conditions across multiple specialties. There is evidence related to a broad range of potential adverse effects across multiple body systems regardless of the indication of use. Further research is needed using a combined cross-condition approach to their measurement and reduction, alongside gaining more insight into the impact of OGCs on patients' quality of life.<br/
The UN 2030 Agenda in the EU Trade Policy:Improving Global Governance for a Sustainable New World
Get PDFThe European Union is proposing herself as a major actor on the international scene by systematically founding her approach to the reform processes of rules and procedures of the global economic governance on the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda. The EU trade policy appears the most articulated, complete and innovative commercial policy at world level, producing most advanced Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) with highly relevant trade and sustainable development chapters combining free trade and investment promotion with environmental, forestry and biodiversity protection, the fight against climate change, the respect of fundamental rights and the attention to gender and cultural diversity issues, while developing unilateral tools as the due diligence directive, the carbon border adjustment mechanism, the deforestation regulation, and tabling most innovative sustainability documents for the WTO reform process. Together with the green transition, the EU is also facing the huge challenges of the economic sanctions against Russia and the energy and food crisis. The Seed Funding Project “ImprovEUorGlobe - The UN 2030 Agenda in the EU Trade Policy: Improving Global Governance for a Sustainable New World”, funded by the Una Europa Alliance, has been implemented in order to provide for a critical interdisciplinary overview and analysis of the SDGs oriented EU trade policy, constantly considering the participation of civil society in the shaping and implementation of the EU trade policy and tools, and the EU ability to play a significant and influential role in the international political debate to promote sustainability values in international relations. ImprovEUorGlobe has involved six Una Europa Universities: Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Freie Universität Berlin, Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie (Jagellonian University in Kraków), University of Edinburgh, Helsingin Yliopisto (The University of Helsinki) and Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The ImprovEUorGlobe Coordinator is Professor Elisa Baroncini (University of Bologna), and the ImprovEUorGlobe Chair is Prof. Filippo Fontanelli (University of Edinburgh). The Academic Leads are Dr. Ana Maria Daza Vargas (University of Edinburgh), Prof. Genia Kostka (Freie Universität Berlin), Prof. Reetta Toivanen (The University of Helsinki), Prof. Piotr Szwedo (Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie), and Prof. Raquel Regueiro Dubra (Universidad Complutense de Madrid). The rich debate and discussion within the ImprovEUorGlobe Research Team and with the speakers selected for the ImprovEUorGlobe Workshop of July 2023 produced the papers presented in this open access publication
Co-designing educational robotic pet concepts with animal welfare educators and children
Get PDFAnimal welfare education could greatly benefit from customised robots to help children learn about pets and their behaviour, and thereby promote positive, safe child-pet interactions. To this end, we ran co-design workshops with animal welfare educators and children to identify key requirements for robotic pets from their perspectives. Our findings encompass a zoomorphic robot’s appearance, behaviour, and features, as well as concepts for a narrative surrounding the robot. Through comparing and contrasting the two groups, we find the importance of: negative reactions to undesirable behaviour from children; using the facial features and tail to provide cues signalling an animal’s internal state; and a natural, furry appearance and texture. We also contribute some novel activities for co-design with children, including branching storyboards inspired by thematic apperception tests and interactive narratives, and reflect on some of the key design challenges of achieving consensus between the groups, despite much overlap in their design concepts.</p
Energy localization and eigenvalue veering induced by local constraints in bolted structures
Get PDFVibrational energy localization, commonly attributed to disorder, periodic defects or weak coupling, can also arise from internal geometric constraints in continuous elastic systems such as those introduced in bolted connections. We investigate how the placement of an internal elastic interface within a segmented beam induces eigenvalue veering and spatial energy confinement. A spectral model based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is developed, incorporating a tunable dimensionless interface parameter to represent variable constraint positioning. Furthermore, an energy-based localization metric reveals confinement regions and tracks modal exchanges across veering regions. The theoretical predictions are validated experimentally using non-contact laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) on a geometrically tunable bolt-nut assembly. Results confirm that the local constraint can be used to understand vibrational spectra and induce strong localization. These results position internal constraint geometry as a practical tuning mechanism for shaping vibrational spectra in continuous elastic systems, with direct relevance to bolted connections, and provide new opportunities for engineered mode control in structural joints and segmented media.</p
Shaping current European mitochondrial haplogroup frequency in response to infection: the case of SARS-CoV-2 severity
Get PDFCoproducing justice in public involvement: impact-led iterative development of a dance based community engagement project building relationships in marginalised communities
Get PDFBackgroundPublic involvement must include people from diverse backgrounds, or it risks exacerbating health inequalities in prioritising the needs of the majority culture. Public involvement as a process tends to exclude people by being tailored to fit the norms of the dominant culture; therefore simply removing barriers to participation is unlikely to be effective as is the case in other areas of science engagement. Rather it is necessary to go beyond redistributive justice (fair distribution of resources, opportunities, and benefits within health research) towards relational justice (developing respectful, reciprocal relationships and fair treatment within the research process and seeking to develop models of involvement that are meaningful and appealing to all groups).MethodsAn action research approach was applied to the iterative development of an arts based participatory community engagement project to engage South Asians in Leicester, particularly women from inter-sectionally deprived neighbourhoods. Seven action research cycles were completed between 2017 and 2024, of which the first five are reported here. Data collection and analysis are summarised in Supplementary Table 01 and a project summary can be seen in Supplementary Fig. 01.ResultsThe impacts of the project were considerably broader than simply developing engagement with, and access to under-represented communities. The project was empowering for participating women and supported the development of social capital. It is emphasised that this is an impact associated with participatory community engagement that moves in the direction of coproduction.DiscussionCommunity engagement using an arts-based approach was effective at engaging under-represented communities in health science involvement. It also offered the potential to build social capital that impacted health inequalities in tangible ways aligned with macro-level policy. Community engagement can also therefore be viewed as an efficient use of investment in offering significant added value
Micromagnetic Simulations of Chemical Remanent Magnetization Acquisition in Single-vortex Magnetite Particles
Get PDFMagnetic minerals can preserve remanent magnetization to provide ancient magnetic field records. Although thermoremanent magnetization (TRM) is well understood, chemical remanent magnetization (CRM) from chemical processes is also prevalent in nature and can complicate TRM records by introducing additional remanence signals. Previous studies show that CRM in single-domain (SD) particles can lead to paleointensity underestimates. However, most natural magnetic particles are non-uniformly magnetized, such as in the single-vortex (SV) states, whose CRM mechanism remains unclear. Using micromagnetic modeling, we investigate CRM acquisition in fine-grained magnetite during grain growth processes. We show that the CRM in SV particles is nearly linear with the external magnetic fields below 100 μT, within typical terrestrial magnetic fields. Unlike SD particles, SV particles show stronger CRM compared to TRM, which could potentially bias to higher paleointensity estimates. These findings highlight the importance of considering non-uniform domain states when interpreting CRM records in paleomagnetic studies
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Edinburgh Research Explorer? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!