Brexit is changing the scenario for private equity in the UK

There are both threats and opportunities for private equity firms and their portfolio companies, write Mike Wright, Kevin Amess, Nick Bacon, John Gilligan and Nick Wilso

Measuring galaxy [OII] emission line doublet with future ground-based wide-field spectroscopic surveys

The next generation of wide-field spectroscopic redshift surveys will map the large-scale galaxy distribution in the redshift range 0.7< z<2 to measure baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO). The primary optical signature used in this redshift range comes from the [OII] emission line doublet, which provides a unique redshift identification that can minimize confusion with other single emission lines. To derive the required spectrograph resolution for these redshift surveys, we simulate observations of the [OII] (3727,3729) doublet for various instrument resolutions, and line velocities. We foresee two strategies about the choice of the resolution for future spectrographs for BAO surveys. For bright [OII] emitter surveys ([OII] flux ~30.10^{-17} erg /cm2/s like SDSS-IV/eBOSS), a resolution of R~3300 allows the separation of 90 percent of the doublets. The impact of the sky lines on the completeness in redshift is less than 6 percent. For faint [OII] emitter surveys ([OII] flux ~10.10^{-17} erg /cm2/s like DESi), the detection improves continuously with resolution, so we recommend the highest possible resolution, the limit being given by the number of pixels (4k by 4k) on the detector and the number of spectroscopic channels (2 or 3).Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Brexit, private equity and management

We analyse the expected impact of Brexit on private equity and its implications for management research. Specifically, we explore the implications for PE funds and funding, and at the portfolio firm level with respect to employment and performance

Supporting circular economy innovation: An analysis of a circular economy intervention in Wales

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently advised that “climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our wellbeing and a healthy planet” (2023, p.6). This threat underlines the importance of developing businesses innovation capabilities and implementing Circular Economy (CE) principles. Organisations that have developed innovation capabilities are most likely to implement CE principles within their organisations. However, the UK has suffered a ‘long tail of productivity’ largely due to the UK’s relatively low levels of innovation across the firm population. In Wales, the location of this study, output per hour worked was almost 16% below the UK average in 2021, suggesting that the levels of innovation capability might hinder CE implementation. Therefore, evidence on programmes that support organisations to develop their innovation capabilities and their CE understanding should be of interest to policymakers, academics, and practitioners. This paper presents data collected from a university designed CE innovation programme, the Cardiff Circular Economy Network, and suggests that the novel approach adopted enhanced the innovation capabilities and CE knowledge of participants

Prediction of near-term climate change impacts on UK wheat quality and the potential for adaptation through plant breeding

Wheat is a major crop worldwide, mainly cultivated for human consumption and animal feed. Grain quality is paramount in determining its value and downstream use. While we know that climate change threatens global crop yields, a better understanding of impacts on wheat end-use quality is also critical. Combining quantitative genetics with climate model outputs, we investigated UK-wide trends in genotypic adaptation for wheat quality traits. In our approach, we augmented genomic prediction models with environmental characterisation of field trials to predict trait values and climate effects in historical field trial data between 2001 and 2020. Addition of environmental covariates, such as temperature and rainfall, successfully enabled prediction of genotype by environment interactions (G × E), and increased prediction accuracy of most traits for new genotypes in new year cross validation. We then extended predictions from these models to much larger numbers of simulated environments using climate scenarios projected under Representative Concentration Pathways 8.5 for 2050–2069. We found geographically varying climate change impacts on wheat quality due to contrasting associations between specific weather covariables and quality traits across the UK. Notably, negative impacts on quality traits were predicted in the East of the UK due to increased summer temperatures while the climate in the North and South-west may become more favourable with increased summer temperatures. Furthermore, by projecting 167,040 simulated future genotype–environment combinations, we found only limited potential for breeding to exploit predictable G × E to mitigate year-to-year environmental variability for most traits except Hagberg falling number. This suggests low adaptability of current UK wheat germplasm across future UK climates. More generally, approaches demonstrated here will be critical to enable adaptation of global crops to near-term climate change

The mysterious morphology of MRC0943-242 as revealed by ALMA and MUSE

© 2016 ESO. We present a pilot study of the z = 2.923 radio galaxy MRC0943-242, where we combine information from ALMA and MUSE data cubes for the first time. Even with modest integration times, we disentangle the AGN and starburst dominated components. These data reveal a highly complex morphology as the AGN, starburst, and molecular gas components show up as widely separated sources in dust continuum, optical continuum, and CO line emission observations. CO(1-0) and CO(8-7) line emission suggest that there is a molecular gas reservoir offset from both the dust and the optical continuum that is located ~90 kpc from the AGN. The UV line emission has a complex structure in emission and absorption. The line emission is mostly due to a large scale ionisation cone energised by the AGN, and a Lya emitting bridge of gas between the radio galaxy and a heavily star-forming set of components. Strangely, the ionisation cone has no Lya emission. We find this is due to an optically thick layer of neutral gas with unity covering fraction spread out over a region of at least ~100 kpc from the AGN. Other less thick absorption components are associated with Lya emitting gas within a few tens of kpc from the radio galaxy and are connected by a bridge of emission. We speculate that this linear structure of dust, Lya and CO emission, and the redshifted absorption seen in the circum nuclear region may represent an accretion flow feeding gas into this massive AGN host galaxy

Rapid circulation of warm subtropical waters in a major glacial fjord in East Greenland

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 182-186, doi:10.1038/ngeo764.The recent rapid increase in mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet is primarily attributed to an acceleration of outlet glaciers. One possible cause is increased melting at the ice/ocean interface driven by the synchronous warming of subtropical waters offshore of Greenland. This hypothesis is largely untested, however, because of the lack of observations from Greenland’s glacial fjords and our limited understanding of their dynamics. Here, we present new ship-based and moored oceanographic data, collected in Sermilik Fjord, a large glacial fjord in East Greenland, showing that subtropical waters are present throughout the fjord and are continuously replenished via a wind-driven exchange with the shelf, where they occur year-round. The temperature and rapid renewal of these waters suggest that, at present, they drive enhanced submarine melting at the terminus. Key controls on the melting rate are the volume and properties of subtropical waters on the shelf and the patterns of the along-shore winds, suggesting the glaciers’ acceleration was triggered by a combination of atmospheric and oceanic changes. These measurements provide evidence of rapid advective pathway for the transmission of oceanic variability to the ice-sheet margins and highlight an important process that is missing from prognostic ice-sheet models.F.S. acknowledges support from WHOI’s Ocean and Climate Change Institute’s Arctic Research Initiative and from NSF OCE 0751896, and G.S.H and L.A.S from NASA’s Cryospheric Sciences Program. Funding for the hooded seal deployments was obtained from the International Governance and Atlantic Seal Research Program, Fisheries and Oceans, Canada, to G. B. S. and to the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources to A. R. A

A randomised controlled trial assessing the use of citalopram, sertraline, fluoxetine and mirtazapine in preventing relapse in primary care patients who are taking long-term maintenance antidepressants (ANTLER : ANTidepressants to prevent reLapse in dEpRession): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Antidepressants are used both for treating acute episodes and for prophylaxis to prevent future episodes of depression, also called maintenance treatment. This article describes the protocol for a randomised controlled trial (ANTLER: ANTidepressants to prevent reLapse in dEpRession) to investigate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in UK primary care of continuing on long-term maintenance antidepressants compared with a placebo in preventing relapse of depression in those who have taken antidepressants for more than 9 months and who are currently well enough to consider stopping maintenance treatment. METHODS/DESIGN: The ANTLER trial is an individually randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in which participants are randomised to remain on active medication or to take an identical placebo after a tapering period of 2 months. Eligible participants are those who: are between the ages of 18 and 74 years; have had at least two episodes of depression; and have been taking antidepressants for 9 months or more and are currently taking citalopram 20 mg, sertraline 100 mg, fluoxetine 20 mg or mirtazapine 30 mg but are well enough to consider stopping their medication. The participants will be followed up at 6, 12, 26, 39 and 52 weeks. The primary outcome will be the time in weeks to the beginning of the first episode of depression after randomisation. This will be measured using a retrospective version of the Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised administered at 12, 26, 39 and 52 weeks. Secondary outcomes will include depressive and anxiety symptoms, adverse effects, withdrawal symptoms, emotional processing tasks, quality of life and the resources and costs used. We will also perform a cost-effectiveness analysis based on results of the trial. DISCUSSION: The ANTLER trial findings will inform primary care prescribing practice by providing a valid and generalisable estimate of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of long-term maintenance treatment with antidepressants in UK primary care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Controlled Trials ISRCTN Registry, ISRCTN15969819. Registered on 21 September 2015