The impact of artificial intelligence and machine learning in organ retrieval and transplantation: A comprehensive review

This narrative review examines the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in organ retrieval and transplantation. AI and ML technologies enhance donor-recipient matching by integrating and analyzing complex datasets encompassing clinical, genetic, and demographic information, leading to more precise organ allocation and improved transplant success rates. In surgical planning, AI-driven image analysis automates organ segmentation, identifies critical anatomical features, and predicts surgical outcomes, aiding pre-operative planning and reducing intraoperative risks. Predictive analytics further enable personalized treatment plans by forecasting organ rejection, infection risks, and patient recovery trajectories, thereby supporting early intervention strategies and long-term patient management. AI also optimizes operational efficiency within transplant centers by predicting organ demand, scheduling surgeries efficiently, and managing inventory to minimize wastage, thus streamlining workflows and enhancing resource allocation. Despite these advancements, several challenges hinder the widespread adoption of AI and ML in organ transplantation. These include data privacy concerns, regulatory compliance issues, interoperability across healthcare systems, and the need for rigorous clinical validation of AI models. Addressing these challenges is essential to ensuring the reliable, safe, and ethical use of AI in clinical settings. Future directions for AI and ML in transplantation medicine include integrating genomic data for precision immunosuppression, advancing robotic surgery for minimally invasive procedures, and developing AI-driven remote monitoring systems for continuous post-transplantation care. Collaborative efforts among clinicians, researchers, and policymakers are crucial to harnessing the full potential of AI and ML, ultimately transforming transplantation medicine and improving patient outcomes while enhancing healthcare delivery efficiency. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.

Developing a positive transport marketing campaign for Canterbury: Workshop report

This report presents key findings from a workshop, convened by Canterbury BID on 8 January 2025. The workshop aimed to support the development of key messages to underpin a positive transport campaign for Canterbury

Humour at the Crab Museum: Funniness, ethics and political activism

This article considers the importance of humour in the Crab Museum, Margate, UK. This unconventional cultural space describes itself as a small, independent science museum and a baffling tourist attraction. It uses joking to educate, engage debate on urgent environmental issues and entertain. We use original research interviews with the museum’s creators, analysis of comedy within the museum’s exhibits and activities, and ethical theorising to explore the functions that humour serves within the museum. We begin by drawing out key functions of humour identified in interviews with the museum’s directors: 1) humour as a means to increase engagement with the museum, especially by building community; 2) humour as a means to communicate distasteful truths, and, 3) humour as a means to engage critical thinking and disrupt habits of thought around existing hierarchies of knowledge. We apply theory on comedy as critique and comic licence to discern the social and political significance of these activities. Finally, we use ethical theorising, exploring the meta-ethics of the crab museum’s joking. We conclude that joking can, itself, form a practice of ethics

Interdisciplinarity and stages in a process of engagement with theatre practice and disability

Interdisciplinary perspectives are crucial in navigating recent shifts in diversity agenda in the theatre industry and ensuring continued moves towards the accurate representation, equal participation, and valued contribution of disabled people on and off stage. Knowledge that is commonplace for disability scholars is still unfamiliar to many involved in day-to-day theatre work. Understanding lived experience perspectives of disability is also lacking, yet this is crucial for making sense of attitudes, structures, and environments experienced in theatre settings. This article considers what aspects of disability studies knowledge are most necessary to share in building, and moving from, disability consciousness in the theatre sector and training. It introduces the concept of Stages in a Process of Engagement with Theatre Practice and Disability for Actors and Directors and A Reflective Tool: Personal Positioning in a Process of Engagement with Theatre Practice and Disability. This article examines how interdisciplinary perspectives support individuals’ processes of exploring new territory, building familiarity across disabled and non-disabled communities, and sharing responsibility for industry-wide change

Early years physical development research paper

This paper presents national and international research evidence on early years physical development, motor competency, play and physical activity. It highlights the importance of early years settings as the key place to support early movement, and of early years practitioners who are critical to enabling movement opportunities as part of children’s learning. Children can spend half of their waking hours within early years settings, therefore early years education is a key place to enable habit forming behaviour and develop excitement for movement. The paper also shares a novel evidencebased approach of connecting primitive reflexes to early years physical development and demonstrates how this can help children progress in their physical development

Early years physical development position paper

oai:repository.canterbury.ac.uk:9q6zxThe first five years of a child’s life are a time of rapid brain development, when the connection of the brain with the body in response to movement stimuli occurs at a quicker rate than at any other age in the lifespan. During this time, children should be exposed to enriching movement opportunities that stimulate neurological development and connect rich neurological pathways so that they learn to move confidently and competently. Physical development in the early years is a vitally important area to focus on to ensure children have a good level of motor competence by the end of reception. Many children fail to meet age-related physical development expectations, not helped by reduced physical activity participation during the pandemic (Huggett & Howells, 2022). Furthermore, children in deprived areas have lower levels of physical development. Early years practitioners clearly need increased support and guidance to help them assess and enhance young children’s physical development so that they can make the most of the movement opportunities provided at school and in the wider environment. These opportunities, alongside adequate time and appropriate teaching approaches help children develop a movement repertoire that acts as the foundation for their current and future engagement in physical activity. Given increasing concerns about the physical development of early years children and the consequences of this for their current and future health and wellbeing, the Association for Physical Education considered it important to develop an evidence-based position paper on this key subject. The content is informed by national and international research (King & Howells, 2024). It aims to enhance early years practitioners’ knowledge and understanding of young children’s physical development and support their practice. Improving children’s movement through physical development interventions, physical education and physical activity will ensure they reach early learning goals and are ‘school ready’

Assessing rice straw availability and associated carbon footprint for methanol production: A case study in India

The necessity of transitioning to clean energy sources is driving a transformative shift towards the utilisation of biofuels as a promising pathway to achieve a future with net-zero emissions and robust energy security. This global imperative has intensified research into biofuels, with bio-methanol emerging as a highly promising candidate. This study conclusively demonstrates the feasibility of producing bio-methanol from rice straw residues in rural India, focusing specifically on Assam. Utilising GIS technology, the research accurately mapped rice straw availability and designed an optimised supply network for efficient collection and transportation. The findings revealed substantial rice straw resources in the region, capable of yielding over 1200 tonnes of bio-methanol annually. Furthermore, the associated carbon footprint was significantly lower than that of conventional methanol production. By evaluating 5480 ha of potential cropland for rice, the study estimated an annual generation of 4411 tonnes of rice straw, translating to an impressive bio-methanol production potential of over 1215 tonnes, or approximately 3.3 tonnes per day. The study calculated the overall carbon footprint to be 421.84 tonnes CO2e per year, equating to just 0.096 kg CO2e per kilogram of rice straw and 0.347 kg CO2e per kilogram of biomethanol, remarkably lower than the footprint of traditional fossil methanol production. The results demonstrate the viability of bio-methanol from rice straw as a sustainable biofuel solution for rural India. Precise biomass assessment, optimised transport networks, and significantly reduced carbon footprint align perfectly with India's clean energy objectives. This robust framework provides policymakers with a powerful tool to harness rural bioenergy, revolutionising the energy landscape and driving sustainable development towards a cleaner future not only in India but in other developing countries as well. This study provides a compelling foundation for further exploration, asserting that biomethanol when blended with fossil fuels, can enhance energy security, foster a circular bioeconomy, and contribute significantly to net-zero emissions targets

“It's that feeling that you can't get away”: Motherhood, gender inequality and the stress process during extreme events

The impacts of extreme events can intersect with pre-disaster systemic inequalities and deficiencies, exacerbating distress. This paper contributes to the existing literature by exploring the psychosocial processes through which stressors become traumatic during an extreme event. It does so by focusing on how mothers of children and/or adolescents in the United Kingdom experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. First, qualitative interviews (N = 15) showed that participants experienced a cluster of stressors stemming from their workplaces, partners, children's behaviours and homeschooling, which caused a sense of overload and captivity, reducing their quality of life. However, individual, interpersonal and collective forms of coping were reported. Second, quantitative survey data (N = 621) showed that the relationship between stressors and perceived stress was mediated by feelings of overload due to excessive identity-related tasks and caregiving responsibilities. Moreover, community identification was associated with reduced overload and perceived stress. Overall, during extreme events, people can experience distress due to being overloaded by and trapped in particular identities and identity-related tasks, unable to perform other aspects of their social selves. We argue that social psychological analyses can be useful in tracing the complex impacts of extreme events across a range of systems and levels of analysis

A novel approach using cyanoacrylate ester fuming on surfaces with anti-climb paint

The use of fingermarks as evidence in forensic science remains indispensable with these being used for identification and/or elimination purposes. A wide array of methods and techniques have been developed to enhance, recover, and preserve fingermarks from various surfaces. However, the forensic community continues to encounter challenges when dealing with certain surfaces, among which is anti-climb paint, which presents unique difficulties due to its non-drying nature. This research introduces a systematic methodology, aligned with current forensic practices, to effectively develop and recover fingermarks from surfaces coated with anti-climb paint, addressing a critical gap in forensic science

Information flows, stock market volatility, and the systemic risk in global finance

Information flows are a theoretical explanation for stock market volatility, but controversy remains regarding how to measure them. Based on cross-sectional and temporal properties of information flows, we decompose total trading volume into four types: cross-country shocks and country-specific shocks due to arrivals of private information, and trading volume shocks and stock volatility shocks due to public information. We then use a Structural Vector Autoregressive model to reconstruct historical trading volume resulted from the four types of information shocks. The evidence shows that the historical trading volumes due to private information flow can explain volatility clustering of stock markets. By analysing sources of information flow, we find private information flow reflects systemic risk in the global financial system. The result conforms to Mixture of Distribution Hypothesis and finds that quality of information content is what differentiates privately informed trading from public information trading. It further suggests the main drivers of stock market volatility are uncertainties about fundamental values of assets and about other investors’ behaviours