Personalised Interventions - A Precision Approach for the Next Generation of Dietary Intervention Studies

Acknowledgments The research of Baukje de Roos is supported by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS). Lorraine Brennan acknowledges The European Research Council ERC (647783). Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The utility of a digital simulation language for ecological modeling

Dynamic modeling of ecological phenomena has been greatly facilitated by the recent development of continuous system simulator programs. This paper illustrates the application of one of these programs, S/360 Continuous System Modeling Program (S/360 CSMP), to four systems of graduated complexity. The first is a two species system, with one feeding on the other, using differential equations with constant coefficients. The second and third systems involve two competing plant species in which the coefficients of the differential equations are varying with time. The final example considers the management of a postulated buffalo herd in which the dynamics of the herd population and composition by sex and age is combined with various strategies to control its size and to optimize buffalo production

Exploring how a sense of belonging is constructed in the accounts of autistic girls who attend mainstream school in England

Autistic girls’ social motivation and associated desire to fit in, suggests that feeling a sense of belonging is important for the girls. This may be particularly relevant during adolescence, as this period is marked by uncertainty and loneliness due to increasing independence and development of identity. There is evidence that feeling a sense of belonging provides pupils social acceptance and is a protective factor against harmful psychological outcomes. Despite this, limited research has considered autistic girls belonging experiences in mainstream schools and what needs to change to facilitate belonging. Further, the historical underdiagnoses of autistic girls has entailed that their personal stories are mostly absent from autism research. This research prioritises autistic girls’ voices by exploring the girls’ constructs of belonging, including the facilitators of and barriers to feeling a sense of belonging, and the impact on wellbeing. This study included the autistic community in the research process in various ways. An autism advisory group provided consultation on pre-study considerations, data collection and data analysis. Personal constructs and lived experiences of school belonging were explored using semi-structured interviews and personalised activities (e.g. drawings and poetry) with eighteen adolescent autistic girls. Participants were involved in the data analysis process as they commented on emerging codes and themes. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and five themes were identified: (I) autistic girl’s want to be seen and heard, (II) the joys and pains of mutuality, (III) losing myself under the mask, (IV) marginalisation links with invalidation, (V) sensory fatigue. The autistic girls defined belonging from a relational perspective, as they want to be externally valued, heard, and involved in the school community. However, aspects of masking, stigma and sensory experiences limit the girls belonging in school. Implications for schools and Educational Psychologists are discussed using an experience sensitive framework of wellbeing

Towards a strategy for workplace learning: Report to HEFCE by CHERI and KPMG

The study, undertaken between March and November 2005 aimed to inform HEFCE thinking on developing a strategy for workplace learning by: exploring the nature, purposes and outcomes of workplace learning; considering workplace learning within the broader relationships between the worlds of work and learning; exploring emerging changes in higher education which may impact on workplace learning in the future; identifying structural issues that currently enable or inhibit workplace learning, and identify future opportunities

(Half a) Song for Vibius Maximus (Statius Silvae 4.7.1-24)

Scholarships & Prizes Office. University of Sydne

The determination of integral closures and geometric applications

We express explicitly the integral closures of some ring extensions; this is done for all Bring-Jerrard extensions of any degree as well as for all general extensions of degree < 6; so far such an explicit expression is known only for degree < 4 extensions. As a geometric application we present explicitly the structure sheaf of every Bring-Jerrard covering space in terms of coefficients of the equation defining the covering; in particular, we show that a degree-3 morphism f : Y --> X is quasi-etale if and only if the first Chern class of the sheaf f_*(O_Y) is trivial (details in Theorem 5.3). We also try to get a geometric Galoisness criterion for an arbitrary degree-n finite morphism; this is successfully done when n = 3 and less satifactorily done when n = 5.Comment: Advances in Mathematics, to appear (no changes, just add this info

Seasonal progression and differences in major floral resource use by bees and hoverflies in a diverse horticultural and agricultural landscape revealed by DNA metabarcoding

12 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, supporting information .-- Data Availability Statement: Raw sequence data are available on the Sequence Read Archive at PRJNA763761. Data available via the Dryad Digital Repository https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rjdfn2z9s (Lowe et al., 2022). All code is available at https://github.com/colford/nbgw-plant-illumina-pipelineGardens are important habitats for pollinators, providing floral resources and nesting sites. There are high levels of public support for growing ‘pollinator-friendly’ plants but while plant recommendation lists are available, they are usually inconsistent, poorly supported by scientific research and target a narrow group of pollinators. In order to supply the most appropriate resources, there is a clear need to understand foraging preferences, for a range of pollinators, across the season within horticultural landscapes. Using an innovative DNA metabarcoding approach, we investigated foraging preferences of four groups of pollinators in a large and diverse, horticultural and agricultural landscape, across the flowering season and over 2 years, significantly improving on the spatial and temporal scale that can be achieved using observational studies. Bumblebees, honeybees, non-corbiculate bees and hoverflies visited 191 plant taxa. Overall floral resources were shared between the different types of pollinators, but significant differences were seen between the plants used most abundantly by bees (Hymenoptera) and hoverflies (Diptera). Floral resource use by pollinators is strongly associated with seasonal changes in flowering plants, with pollinators relying on dominant plants found within each season, with preferences consistent across both years. The plants identified were categorised according to their native status to investigate the value of native and non-native plants. The majority of floral resources used were of native and near-native origin, but the proportion of horticultural and naturalised plants increased during late summer and autumn. Synthesis and applications. Plant recommendation lists for pollinators should distinguish between bees and hoverflies and provide evidence-based floral recommendations throughout the year that include native as well as non-native plants for use in the United Kingdom and Northern Europe. Specific management recommendations include reducing mowing to encourage plants such as dandelion Taraxacum officinale and buttercups Ranunculus spp., and reducing scrub management to encourage bramble Rubus fruticosusN.d.V., L.J. and A.L. have received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014–2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government. A.L. was supported by a Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS2), part-funded by the Welsh Government's European Social Fund (ESF). Pollinator icons contained in the plant recommendation list were created by Thomas McBride. We acknowledge the support of the Supercomputing Wales project, which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via Welsh GovernmentWith the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)Peer reviewe

Polyploidy breaks speciation barriers in Australian burrowing frogs Neobatrachus

Polyploidy has played an important role in evolution across the tree of life but it is still unclear how polyploid lineages may persist after their initial formation. While both common and well-studied in plants, polyploidy is rare in animals and generally less understood. The Australian burrowing frog genus Neobatrachus is comprised of six diploid and three polyploid species and offers a powerful animal polyploid model system. We generated exome-capture sequence data from 87 individuals representing all nine species of Neobatrachus to investigate species-level relationships, the origin and inheritance mode of polyploid species, and the population genomic effects of polyploidy on genus-wide demography. We describe rapid speciation of diploid Neobatrachus species and show that the three independently originated polyploid species have tetrasomic or mixed inheritance. We document higher genetic diversity in tetraploids, resulting from widespread gene flow between the tetraploids, asymmetric inter-ploidy gene flow directed from sympatric diploids to tetraploids, and isolation of diploid species from each other. We also constructed models of ecologically suitable areas for each species to investigate the impact of climate on differing ploidy levels. These models suggest substantial change in suitable areas compared to past climate, which correspond to population genomic estimates of demographic histories. We propose that Neobatrachus diploids may be suffering the early genomic impacts of climate-induced habitat loss, while tetraploids appear to be avoiding this fate, possibly due to widespread gene flow. Finally, we demonstrate that Neobatrachus is an attractive model to study the effects of ploidy on the evolution of adaptation in animals