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European forest cover during the Holocene reconstructed from pollen records
Get PDFChanges in tree cover influence many aspects of the earth system. Recent regional changes in tree cover, as documented by remote-sensed observations, are insufficient in capturing the response to large climate changes or differentiating the impacts of human activities from natural drivers. Pollen records provide an opportunity to examine the causes of changes in tree cover in response to large climate changes in the past and during periods when human influence was less important than today. Here, we reconstruct changes in tree cover in Europe through the Holocene using fossil pollen records, using the modelled relationship between observed modern tree cover and modern pollen samples. At a pan-European scale, tree cover is low at the beginning of the Holocene but increases rapidly during the early Holocene and is maximal at ca. 6500 cal. BP, after which tree cover declines to present-day levels. The rapidity of the post-glacial increase in tree cover and the timing and length of maximum tree cover varies regionally, reflecting differences in climate trajectories during the early and mid-Holocene. The nature of the subsequent reduction in tree cover also varies, which may be due to differences in climate but may also reflect different degrees of human influence. The reconstructed patterns of change in tree cover are similar to those shown in previous reconstructions. Our approach is relatively simple and only requires readily available data; it could therefore be applied to reconstruct tree cover globally
Dynamic importance Monte Carlo SPH vortical flows with Lagrangian samples
Get PDFWe present a Lagrangian dynamic importance Monte Carlo method without non-trivial random walks for solving the Velocity-Vorticity Poisson Equation (VVPE) in Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) for vortical flows. Key to our approach is the use of the Kinematic Vorticity Number (KVN) to detect vortex cores and to compute the KVN-based importance of each particle when solving the VVPE. We use Adaptive Kernel Density Estimation (AKDE) to extract a probability density distribution from the KVN for the the Monte Carlo calculations. Even though the distribution of the KVN can be non-trivial, AKDE yields a smooth and normalized result which we dynamically update at each time step. As we sample actual particles directly, the Lagrangian attributes of particle samples ensure that the continuously evolved KVN-based importance, modeled by the probability density distribution extracted from the KVN by AKDE, can be closely followed. Our approach enables effective vortical flow simulations with significantly reduced computational overhead and comparable quality to the classic Biot-Savart law that in contrast requires expensive global particle querying
The real impact of the virtual world: The effect of metaverse awareness on the corporate image of hotel businesses
Get PDFTowards a methodological framework for multimodal input in social interaction in virtual reality
Get PDFBridging research and policy: Practical tips for writing policy briefs
No full textAn effective policy brief can bridge the gap between research findings and policymaking, ensuring that evidence is presented succinctly and in a way that is accessible and usable for policymakers and relevant stakeholders. However, many researchers find it hard to communicate the findings of their studies to relevant policymakers, whilst policymakers note that evidence relevant to their needs is not easily accessible and is often not presented in an accessible format. Producing policy briefs is one approach academics can use to get their research noticed by policymakers.
This paper is based on the authors’ collective experience in researching many aspects of health in Nepal and attempting to make our findings relevant to politicians and policy-makers. It outlines some of the trials and tribulations of producing policy briefs, based on real-world research. It offers several recommendations in Box 4 to help improve the writing and dissemination of policy briefs
The Ankle Recovery Trial (ART): clinical outcomes and patient experience of a pragmatic multicentre RCT comparing cast with removable boot for early mobilization after ankle fracture surgical fixation.
Get PDFAIMS: This study compares functional outcomes and patient experience between cast immobilization and early mobilization in a removable boot after ankle fracture fixation, with early weightbearing encouraged in both groups. METHODS: This pragmatic multicentre randomized controlled trial with qualitative component and economic evaluation was conducted across eight UK NHS hospitals. Adults with acute ankle fractures were randomized to receive a plaster cast or removable support boot two weeks post-surgery. The primary outcome was ankle function measured by the Olerud and Molander Ankle Symptom Score (OMAS) seven weeks post-surgery. Secondary outcomes included function at 12 weeks, mechanistic measures, quality of life, complications, and resource use. Subgroup analyses included fracture complexity and age. Patients' views on both treatments were collected through semi-structured telephone interviews. RESULTS: In total, 243 participants consented to be randomized (120 cast; 123 boot), of whom 173 (71.2%) completed the primary outcome. The mean difference in OMAS at seven weeks between groups was 4.9 points favouring the boot (95% CI -1.0 to 10.7), which is below the minimal clinically important difference, and failed to detect a difference between groups. Boot participants had better dorsiflexion, particularly those with comminuted fractures, and better plantarflexion, particularly older patients. Complication rates were low, albeit higher in the boot group (cast eight/112; boot 18/117); all were minor, except one case of deep vein thrombosis in the boot group. Overall, we found low wound complication rates (7%). There were no differences for all other secondary measures. Patients expressed preference for boots at randomization, point of withdrawal from the trial, and during interviews. CONCLUSION: Patients managed in casts and boots had similar functional outcomes following ankle fracture fixation. Boots provided improved dorsiflexion and plantarflexion for some subgroups, but higher complication rates. Treatment modality decisions could therefore be informed by individual patient preference
Flap-necked chameleons change colour to match their background
Get PDFPopular culture leads us to believe that chameleons change colour to match their backgrounds, yet surprisingly, this ability has rarely been demonstrated under controlled conditions. Existing research shows that colour change is primarily used for social signalling and thermoregulation, and that chameleons revert to a generic background-matching colour for camouflage rather than tuning their colour to specific backgrounds. Here, to test the background-matching abilities of flap-necked chameleons (Chamaeleo dilepis), we placed them on backgrounds of various standardized colours and patterns and measured their appearance over time using models of predator vision. We found that chameleons could change their brightness to better match black backgrounds and change colour to match some hues, especially yellow. They did not match background patterns. In demonstrating that flap-necked chameleons use colour and brightness changes to facilitate camouflage, we provide further evidence supporting this function of colour change in chameleons
The Football Association’s 1993 takeover of women’s football – A Hobson’s Choice
Get PDFIn 1993 the Women's Football Association (WFA), the organisation which had run women's football in England for 24 years, ceded control of the sport to the Football Association (FA). This has often been represented as a progressive move for women's football, but the research presented here–grounded in oral history interviews and an analysis of relevant archival documents–disputes this interpretation. The WFA administration was undoubtedly weak and divided, and was unable to cope with the dramatic growth of women's football which occurred in the late 1980s, while WFA members did want more FA recognition of and support for women's football–but not at the expense of an independently-functioning WFA. It was the FA who chose to pursue a total takeover, ignoring the opposition expressed by WFA members in the years between 1990 and 1993. Finally, an examination of the years post-1993 demonstrates that the FA's move came at the detriment of women's football continuing to have a significant voice in governance: the under-representation of women within football governance in the UK needs to be seen as one legacy of the 1993 takeover. Overall, the takeover should be seen as a moment of disempowerment for women's football
Blurry Boundaries, Neutral Spaces: Migration and Forms of Friendship
Get PDFWhile migration provides courage for migrants to rebuild and re-manage their connections with non-kin, we know relatively little about the implications of migration on migrants’ friendships over time and places. This article examines friendship in the context of transnationalism. Drawing upon qualitative interviews with 25 transnational migrants, I aim to grasp the friendship practices ‘here’ and ‘there’ to explore how migrants’ transnational experiences impact their friendship ties. Findings reveal that the diversity and challenges of migrants' relationships within transnational spaces offer opportunities for migrants to define friendship as a range of emotionally embodied activities that migrants negotiate or re-engage in values and expectations in relation to their culture, religion and gender. In this dynamic, friendship can be practised by participants as a critical negotiation process of homophily ties and cosmopolitan ties with non-kin. This study offers an empirical contribution to the understanding of how friendships are practised within and beyond borders, and to a wider sociological discussion on the influence of migration on personal life
Reclaiming hospitality education: A critical reflection
Get PDFThis paper presents a critical reflection on the current state and future of hospitality education, grounded in the philosophical orientation of Biesta and Säfström’s Manifesto for Education. It argues that hospitality education is currently under existential pressure from managerialist logics, academic elitism, and the erosion of its vocational roots. Rather than merely diagnosing the symptoms, this paper speaks for hospitality education. It reconceptualizes the field as an educational space invested in the formation of professional identity and freedom, not only employability. Drawing on a century of educational practice and contemporary pressures within and beyond the Global North, it offers ten propositions as a roadmap to realign hospitality education with its educational interest: the cultivation of the student as a hospitable subject. Through this critical reflection, a reframing of hospitality education that resists instrumentalism and reclaims its unique identity is advocated