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Singlet and triplet harvesting enable efficient NIR-II quantum-dot electroluminescence
Get PDFColloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are promising materials for constructing ‘second-window’ near-infrared (1000–1700 nm) light-emitting diodes (NIR-II LEDs), but their practical application has been hampered by low film external quantum efficiency (EQE). Here, we report a chemical strategy that incorporates photoactive fluorophores—spanning fluorescence, phosphorescence and thermally activated delayed fluorescence—into CQD films to boost NIR-II emission. Energy transfer from fluorophores (via both singlet and triplet pathways) raises the photoluminescence quantum efficiency of CQD to 85% beyond 1000 nm. As a result, these composite films power NIR-II LEDs with a record EQE of 25.3% for emission of >1000 nm, the highest among all LEDs with emission of >1000 nm. We further demonstrate the scalability of the approach by fabricating large-area (30 mm × 30 mm) NIR-II LEDs with uniform high performance
Viability and desirability of financing conservation in Africa through fire management
No full textAdopting early dry season fires in African conservation areas has been proposed as ecologically desired and a means of generating sufficient carbon revenues for their management. We interrogate available peer-reviewed information on the ecology and biogeochemistry of fire in Africa to offer an informed perspective on the full implications of the proposal. We conclude that there is insufficient evidence that a shift to early dry season fires will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that resultant biodiversity and ecosystem service outcomes may not be desired, and that adopting a single burning regime limits the use of fire to achieve a diverse range of goals
Angiotensin receptor blockade modulates resting state functional connectivity in the memory network rather than fear network – implications for posttraumatic stress disorder
Get PDFPopulation-based studies have shown that the intake of Angiotensin-II receptor blockers (ARBs), commonly used to treat high blood pressure, is associated with reduced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. While PTSD development is characterized by maladaptive processing within brain networks associated with fear processing and memory formation during trauma exposure, there is increasing evidence that such aberrations manifest in altered resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) of brain regions in these networks.In this double-blind placebo-controlled study in 45 healthy volunteers with high trait-anxiety, we investigated whether the ARB losartan would affect rsFC in prominent seeds of the fear and memory network, counteracting effects seen in PTSD.Seed selection was informed by established rsFC aberrations seen in PTSD and consisted of the hippocampus and the parahippocampal gyrus (memory network), as well the amygdala and insula (fear network).Our results showed that a single dose of the ARB losartan decreased rsFC in the memory network from modulatory structures in the frontal cortex: losartan decreased rsFC (i) between the hippocampus and the inferior frontal gyrus involved in threat processing and memory intrusion development, and (ii) between the parahippocampal gyrus and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex involved in top-down control. There were no drug effects on the fear network seeds. These findings may imply that ARB preserves adaptive memory function during trauma
Submission of views and options on enhanced policy coherence on biodiversity and climate change from members of academia and research
Get PDFThis is a response to CBD call for submission of views and information on the coherence of biodiversity and climate change policy. It is well established scientifically that the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are deeply interconnected. However, while many climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies offer mutual benefits for nature and climate, others—especially when implemented without robust social and ecological safeguards—can unintentionally undermine biodiversity and the health of ecosystems. This submission is divided into three sections and highlights: 1) Trade-offs and key interactions between biodiversity and climate policy and outcomes; 2) Nature-based solutions for integrated climate-biodiversity-equity benefits; 3) Procedures and mechanisms for greater policy coherence
Spoiled by COVID-19: Geontology, Pathogenesis, and Resistance among the Akawaio
Get PDFThis article examines notions of disease and geontology among the Akawaio people of Guyana within the context of COVID-19. It begins with an ethnographic encounter that one of the authors experienced at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and examines its ramifications through an in-depth analysis of Akawaio concepts concerning pathogenesis in contexts of malevolent human and other-than-human agency, as well as Akawaio histories of resisting encroachments and predations by Europeans and other outsiders in the broader region. Centred around local notions of ‘spoiling’ through sorcery-related interventions or infractions against certain ethical norms, the article considers ontologies that framed and contextualised the COVID-19 pandemic for many Akawaio people in the Upper Mazaruni River basin of Guyana
Generating Sociality through the Senses in Movement and Music Therapy among People with Recurrent Psychosis
Get PDFPsychosis analyzed from a phenomenological orientation is a disembodied experience that involves a constant negotiation of self and reality. For people experiencing recurrent psychoses, its medicalisation and stigmatisation further complicate the relationship of self, medication, and society, as shown by the political economy of psychosis. In these cases where full recovery from the illness may not be possible, I reconceptualise psychosis as a pastime: a strategy to coexist with rather than be defined by the illness experience. Accordingly, I turn towards non-pharmacological interventions; arts-based therapies, such as dance and music, have been shown to benefit people with psychosis by reestablishing their experience of reality within the body and empowering them to regain control over their lives and interpersonal relationships. In my ethnography of the Psychosis Therapy Project (PTP) based in Islington, London, UK, which serves people with recurrent psychoses, I explore how its movement and music therapies work towards re-embodiment using bodily techniques of heat, synchronicity, synesthesia, and the transportive role of music. Thus, I take a sensory anthropological approach to sociality that also decenters vision as the main sense in healing—to be well is to feel well rather than just to look well. Finally, my fieldwork presents a case where a service user, who regularly participates in the movement group, manages psychosis as a pastime through practical and social enskilment. Ultimately, my work strives to demedicalise and destigmatise the lived experience of psychosis and honour the legacy of the PTP
Review of: Annemarie Goldstein Jutel. Putting a Name to It: Diagnosis in Contemporary Society. Second Edition. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press 2024. 216 P. ISBN: 9781421448923
Get PDFBook review of: Annemarie Goldstein Jutel. Putting a Name to It: Diagnosis in Contemporary Society. Second Edition. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press 2024. 216 P. ISBN: 978142144892
Review of: Helen Holmes, The Materiality of Nothing: Exploring Our Everyday Relationships with Objects Review of: Absent and Present. New York: Routledge 2024. 163 P. ISBN: 9780367655570
Get PDFBook review of: Helen Holmes, The Materiality of Nothing: Exploring Our Everyday Relationships with Objects Absent and Present. New York: Routledge 2024. 163 P. ISBN: 9780367655570
Review of: Perig Pitrou. Ce Que Les Humains Font Avec La Vie. Paris: Puf 2024. 536 P. ISBN: 2130863132
Get PDFBook review of: Perig Pitrou. Ce Que Les Humains Font Avec La Vie. Paris: Puf 2024. 536 P. ISBN: 213086313
Establishment of Adamawa Emirate and its Legacies in Northern Cameroon
Get PDFThis paper traces the historical construction of identity in northern Cameroon from early state formations to the Fulani jihad of the nineteenth century. The ecological setting of the Lake Chad and Benue basins encouraged cross-cultural exchanges and the rise of polities such as Borno, Kanem, Mandara, and Kwararafa, which established networks of trade, diplomacy, and assimilation. The decisive transformation, however, came with the Fulani-led jihad of Uthman dan Fodio and the establishment of the Adamawa Emirate in 1809. Fulani pastoral mobility, Islamic scholarship, and institutional innovations fostered a multi-ethnic political system. Through Islamisation, the building of emirate structures, and economic practices like the rumde plantations, Fulani leadership consolidated a regional identity that transcended ethnic boundaries. Later, the Mahdist movement of Shaikh Hayatu Balda sought to radicalise and globalise Islam, but its ambitions were curtailed by European colonial expansion. Overall, identity construction in northern Cameroon emerges as a layered process shaped by ecology, state-building, and Islamic revivalism