32151 research outputs found
Sort by
Exploration of lead-free organic-inorganic metal halides and all-inorganic metal halides for optoelectronic applications
No full textAbstract redacte
Impediments to countering racist pseudoscience
Get PDFAlthough virtually all academics who study human ‘race’ agree that it is a social construct, members of the general public still commonly regard ‘race’ as a biological property (i.e. they think that ‘races’ are genetically distinct). Even though empirical data from genetics and other fields do not support biological conceptions of race, this erroneous viewpoint is widely held, suggesting that there are impediments to effective communication of the relevant science. Here, we suggest five such impediments: (1) belief in genetic determinism, together with an over-reliance on an essentialist view of human groups, (2) overly simplistic interpretation of biological inheritance, (3) belief in the naturalistic fallacy and the associated naturalization of non-biological variation among racialized groups, (4) failure of the academic and educational communities to take responsibility for teaching the science of ‘race’ and racism, and (5) apologism towards racist founders of academic fields, including the evolutionary sciences. We address how and why each of these factors supports the spread of racism and suggest strategies for containing this spread.Peer reviewe
OLED illuminated metasurfaces for holographic image projection
Get PDFFunding: This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK, Grant EP/X018067/1. A.D.F acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 819346).Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are thin film optoelectronic devices that feature simple fabrication, light weight and broad tunability, which makes them widely used in mobile phone and TV displays. As a flat and surface-emitting light source, OLEDs are also used in emerging applications such as optical wireless communications, biophotonics and sensing, where the ability to integrate with other technologies makes them good candidates to realise miniaturised photonic platforms. Control of the OLED far-field emission is increasingly important for both displays and these emerging applications. At present, however, studies mainly focus on tuning the electroluminescence (EL) spectrum and emission directionality. Fine-tuning of the far-field emission is particularly challenging and is limited by the low spatial coherence of OLEDs. In this work, we show that it is possible for a single OLED to project a high-resolution image when combined with a holographic metasurface as a compact projection system. The metasurface-OLED projector allows us to directly manipulate the OLED far-field emission and display holographic images on a screen. Here, we further show how the projected image quality relates to the spatial coherence length and the spectrum of the OLED. We believe our demonstration provides a path towards a miniaturised and highly integrated metasurface display.Peer reviewe
Boult on normative expectations and testimonial injustice
Get PDFBoult has recently suggested that there are two distinct ways in which testimonial injustice is epistemically blameworthy namely (1) when it embodies a kind of culpable irrationality in believing someone less credible than they are; and (2) when it embodies a deficiency of normative epistemic expectations of a speaker. Importantly, he argues that the second is independent of the balance of evidence and so provides a way in which testimonial injustice is blameworthy even in cases of contaminated evidence in which unjust social structures generate misleading evidence regarding the epistemic capacities of marginalised groups. I raise a number of questions about his appeal to deficient normative epistemic expectations including (1) whether it provides an epistemic answer to the question of when we owe it to a speaker to accept their word; (2) whether the kind of wrong involved in it is specifically epistemic; and (3) whether it overgeneralises, characterising the deficient normative expectations of victims of oppression as blameworthy.Peer reviewe
Judgment's aimless heart
Get PDFFunding: This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, grant number AH/W005077/1.It's often thought that when we reason to new judgments in inference, we aim at believing the truth, and that this aim of ours can explain important psychological and normative features of belief. I reject this picture: the structure of aimed activity shows that inference is not guided by a truth-aim. This finding clears the way for a positive understanding of how epistemic goods feature in our doxastic lives. We can indeed make sense of many of our inquisitive and deliberative activities as undertaken in pursuit of such goods; but the evidence-guided inferences in which those activities culminate will require a different theoretical approach.Peer reviewe
Flourishing as an aim of education : some challenges
Get PDFOne need not hold a religious view to think that as well as equipping pupils with knowledge and skills, education might seek to give or enable them to form some conception of the meaning or significance of life. Conjoined with notable failures to provide a credible alternative to traditional forms of moral education such considerations have contributed to a movement from the deontological (rules and principles), to the instrumentally prudential (clarity and coherence), to the axiological (values), to the aretaic (character and virtue), and most recently to the teleological seeing the role of virtue as relating instrumentally and constitutively to leading a flourishing life. This approach faces significant challenges, however, which need to be addressed before it can hope to be adopted across a range of educational contexts but particularly within schooling. These relate to the form and content of statements concerning human flourishing. The appeal to flourishing as an educational aim is difficult first and most abstractly because flourishing is a more logically complex and metaphysically substantial notion than is sometimes recognised; and second, because in the context of contested ends and purposes appeals to flourishing face some of the same challenges as do older educational schemes intended to prepare for life and for death.Peer reviewe
Green revenue generation and sales contribution : are consumers willing to bear the cost of sustainability?
Get PDFThis study examines the strategic implications of environmental activities on firm performance, specifically focusing on contribution per dollar sale and operational cost efficiency within US companies. Using a comprehensive dataset of 17,735 firm-year observations from 2008 to 2023, we find that firms engaging in green revenue generation do not pass the associated costs on to consumers through higher prices, leading to a reduction in contribution per dollar sale. However, these firms enhance their operational cost efficiency to offset this impact and maintain profitability, underscoring the operational efficiencies gained from sustainability initiatives. To address potential endogeneity, we employ two-stage least squares and difference-in-differences approaches. Our results indicate that the relationship between green revenue generation, cost efficiency and profitability remains robust regardless of regulatory pressures, indicating that sustainability efforts are embedded within broader strategic and operational practices. We also find that firms adjust marketing expenditures to absorb costs, illustrating a purposeful alignment of sustainability goals with competitive positioning. This study contributes to the strategic management literature by highlighting the role of environmental activities in shaping firm performance and operational strategy. We offer valuable insights for businesses, policymakers and standard setters seeking to balance sustainability with financial performance.Peer reviewe
Hexosamine biosynthesis disruption impairs GPI production and arrests Plasmodium falciparum growth at schizont stages
Get PDFFunding: This research is part of the ISGlobal Program on the Molecular Mechanisms of Malaria which is partially supported by the Fundación Ramón Areces. We acknowledge support from the grant CEX2023-0001290-S funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033, and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program. LI received support by PID2022-137031OB-I00 grant funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE. The work is supported by a FI Fellowship from the Generalitat de Catalunya supported by Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca de la Generalitat de Catalunya and Fons Social Europeu (2021 FI_B 00470) and an EMBO Scientific Exchange Grant (9474) to MPA. GWR was supported by a Penn State Eberly Research Fellowship and grant R21AI174085 from the NIH. Funding to ML was supported by the Eberly College of Science and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University and NIH grant R21AI174085.UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) is a crucial sugar nucleotide for glycan synthesis in eukaryotes. In the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, UDP-GlcNAc is synthesized via the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) and is essential for glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor production, the most prominent form of protein glycosylation in the parasite. In this study, we explore a conditional knockout of glucosamine-6-phosphate N-acetyltransferase (PfGNA1), a key HBP enzyme. PfGNA1 depletion led to significant disruptions in HBP metabolites, impairing GPI biosynthesis and causing mislocalization of the merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1), the most abundant GPI-anchored protein in the parasite. Furthermore, parasites were arrested at the schizont stage, exhibiting severe segmentation defects and an incomplete rupture of the parasitophorous vacuole membrane (PVM), preventing egress from host red blood cells. Our findings demonstrate the critical role of HBP and GPI biosynthesis in P. falciparum asexual blood stage development and underscore the potential of targeting these pathways as a therapeutic strategy against malaria.Peer reviewe
Quantitative evaluation of a pan-European multi-professional digital training programme for stopping child maltreatment (ERICA)
Get PDFFunding: This work was supported by the European Commission funding (grant agreement number 856760 — ERICA — RDAP-GBW-AG-2018–2 Domestic Violence/European Commission).Child maltreatment is a global public health problem affecting individuals, families, and societies. Although there are a number of programmes aimed at preventing child maltreatment, there is limited information available on their effectiveness or impact. This study aims to quantitively evaluate a recently developed pan-European digital training programme for the identification and prevention of child maltreatment within families—ERICA. Professionals working with children and families who have limited experience in child protection (e.g. healthcare workers, teachers) were recruited for the ERICA training in the seven collaborator countries (England, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Scotland). Participants were 303 professionals who completed online self-evaluation questionnaires. In each collaborator country, trainee skills and knowledge were self-assessed twice via an anonymous online questionnaire, pre- and post-ERICA training. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to summarise questionnaire items into latent components in self-assessed skills and knowledge across all participants (n = 303), and then we compared pre- and post-training factor scores for participants with both pre- and post-responses (n = 185) using mixed-effect regression. For all 52 questionnaire items, we found statistically significant improvements (p < 0.001) between self-evaluated skills and knowledge comparing pre- and post-training. Exploratory analysis using PCA derived eight summary scales based on latent components, which addressed overall expertise, competence, skills, communication with children, engagement with the family, early signs, support, and intervention. The factor scores for the eight summary scales also showed consistent pre–post-training improvements. The findings suggest a likely improvement in trainees’ self-assessed skills and knowledge of child maltreatment after taking the ERICA digital training. Improvement was found across all seven countries, suggesting the training’s transferability across different settings and their unique cultural, legislative, and healthcare contexts.Peer reviewe
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage St Andrews Research Repository? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!