The fibre of a pinch map in a model category

In the category of pointed topological spaces, let F be the homotopy fibre of the pinching map X ∪ CA → X ∪ CA/ X from the mapping cone on a cofibration A → X onto the suspension of A. Gray (Proc Lond Math Soc (3) 26:497–520, 1973) proved that F is weakly homotopy equivalent to the reduced product (X, A)∞. In this paper we prove an analogue of this phenomenon in a model category, under suitable conditions including a cube axiom.Web of Scienc

Haemogregarina bigemina (Protozoa : Apicomplexa : Adeleorina) – Past, present and future

This paper reviews past, current and likely future research on the fish haemogregarine, Haemogregarina bigemina Laveran et Mesnil, 1901. Recorded from 96 species of fishes, across 70 genera and 34 families, this broad distribution for H. bigemina is questioned. In its type hosts and other fishes, the parasite undergoes intraerythrocytic binary fission, finally forming mature paired gamonts. An intraleukocytic phase is also reported, but not from the type hosts. This paper asks whether stages from the white cell series are truly H. bigemina. A future aim should be to compare the molecular constitution of so-called H. bigemina from a number of locations to determine whether all represent the same species. The transmission of H. bigemina between fishes is also considered. Past studies show that young fish acquire the haemogregarine when close to metamorphosis, but vertical and faecal-oral transmission seem unlikely. Some fish haemogregarines are leech-transmitted, but where fish populations with H. bigemina have been studied, these annelids are largely absent. However, haematophagous larval gnathiid isopods occur on such fishes and may be readily eaten by them. Sequential squashes of gnathiids from fishes with H. bigemina have demonstrated development of the haemogregarine in these isopods. Examination of histological sections through gnathiids is now underway to determine the precise development sites of the haemogregarine, particularly whether merozoites finally invade the salivary glands. To assist in this procedure and to clarify the internal anatomy of gnathiids, 3D visualisation of stacked, serial histological sections is being undertaken. Biological transmission experiments should follow these processes

Exploring coaching style preference through conversations about coaching and personality

This paper presents the results of a mixed method study exploring coachees’ perspectives on the impact and helpfulness of personality theory and assessments in applying different coaching styles. Participants included 20 individuals who had been coached in the past, of different nationalities and from various industries, who took part in both the qualitative and the quantitative studies. The following consistent themes emerged from the qualitative study: the importance of personality validity, the impact of the coaching relationship, the perceived effectiveness of coaching, reflecting on past experiences and moving forward toward the future, while the quantitative results showed that individuals with certain Big Five personality traits preferred certain coaching styles over others. The study provides preliminary insights for coaches seeking to apply personality theory and personality assessments in their coaching practices and may assist them to make informed decisions about the coaching style to adopt in order to improve coaching relationships and coaching effectiveness

Perceptions and Attitudes Pertaining to the Uptake of Paternity Leave in the United Arab Emirates

This paper investigates how management attitudes within companies influence the uptake of Paternity Leave (PL) and the request for flexible working arrangements among men, contributing to family care. It explores the flexibility stigma and gender stereotypes that act as barriers to men taking PL, referencing global examples to underscore the relevance of incentivized leaves and supportive leadership. The study focuses on balancing work-life responsibilities and challenges the notion that effective fatherhood equates to financial provision alone. It also examines the phenomenon of pluralistic ignorance, where men\u27s perceptions of colleagues\u27 attitudes impact their decisions about PL

Hardware, software, and applications of super-resolution microscopy

Modern microscopy techniques can image beyond the diffraction limit, in three spatial dimensions, and capture sub-cellular resolution videos, providing new biological insight and assisting in drug development. However, such advanced instruments typically require expert engineers and physicists to operate them, limiting their throughput and practicality for answering biological questions. Moreover, analysis of the raw data is complicated and there are significant barriers to publishing and sharing the data with others. This thesis addresses these problems, presenting two tools designed to reduce the level of expertise required to acquire and publish modern microscopy data. The development of a structured illumination microscope (SIM) is described, with a particular emphasis on control and reconstruction software designed to make SIM accessible to biologists who are new to super-resolution microscopy. The microscope's ease-of-use has led to a wide variety of biological investigations, which are presented as case studies to assist readers of this thesis in designing their own SIM experiments. The current practice for publishing 3D data is to show 2D intensity projections or fly-through videos, which present the data only from the author's perspective and do not give readers the opportunity to explore the results themselves. To solve this problem, Chapter 3 introduces my new volumetric rendering program, FPBioimage, which runs in a web browser. By creating a tool that is intuitive and easy to use, FPBioimage enables researchers around the world to immediately view their colleagues' experimental results, even when separated by thousands of miles. Two biological studies are discussed in detail to highlight the ability of these tools to answer the latest questions in cell biology. SIM's combination of high speed and high resolution video capture reveals a pinching phenomenon in the endoplasmic reticulum which was previously unknown, responsible for active flow of luminal proteins. FPBioimage is used to show metal organic frameworks successfully delivering sensitive drugs to cells, establishing a new method of cancer treatment. All software presented in this thesis is freely available, and has been carefully written to be reusable by other researchers. This is evidenced by OMERO, an online microscopy data repository, adopting FPBioimage as their default volumetric renderer. The open-source license under which the software is distributed means that developers can continue to build on the programs, extending the capabilities as new technology becomes available.Integrated Photonic and Electronic Systems Centre for Doctoral Training (IPES CDT

Enabling accurate and fast large-scale battery simulation using only a 9-cell model with variance based parameters

For grid-connected batteries consisting of upwards of tens of thousands of cells, it can be challenging to produce an effective electrical model. Two methods are commonly seen in literature to model large packs, either represent the pack with a single cell model, or represent the pack with a cell model for every cell. The former is computationally efficient and suitable for real-time applications but lacks individual cell-level behaviour across the pack, whilst the latter offers this, due to the model size, it is unsuitable for real-time applications. Thus, a novel model is presented that can represent any size of battery pack using up to nine cell-models. A method for identifying the parameters for the nine cell models is offered, focused on ensuring the capacity limiting “weakest cell” is accounted for. This is verified experimentally with two lab-scale tests and a method for identifying parameters for a large sample of cells using the parameter distribution is evaluated. For a 48 cell pack under 1C charge/discharge cycles, modelling all cells was identical to the proposed model, with an accuracy of >99.4 % compared to experimental testing whilst being >20 times faster to simulate. The simulation time for the proposed model to provide 10 real-time hours of data was 3.7 s, compared to modelling all 48 cells in the pack requiring 79.6 s. Finally, using the parameter distribution or variance is shown to be a viable technique to estimate the achievable pack capacity, with a 1C cycle test experimentally achieving an accuracy of >98.9 % when identifying model parameters using the variance of a sample of cells

A new online tool for visualization of volumetric data

This work was sponsored by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) UK, the Medical Research Council (MRC) UK and the Wellcome Trust

Adaptive control method to manage SOC for energy storage in DC electric railways

Incorporating energy storage systems (ESSs) into electric railways has been shown to be advantageous for energy saving and power quality enhancement. For DC railways, the connection method of the ESS to the track may impose restrictions on charging and discharging the ESS to control the state of charge (SOC). Without management of the SOC, the ESS is shown in this study to reach minimum or maximum limits, reducing its effectiveness due to unavailability. Whilst it is possible to oversize the capacity of ESS, this incurs increased costs and requires more physical space. The main objective of this study is to propose and validate a control algorithm that prevents the ESS from reaching the maximum or minimum SOC limits whilst maintaining the benefits of the system. The main concept of the proposed control method is to dynamically update the voltage and current setpoints of the ESS to manage its SOC. The control algorithm is implemented in the MATLAB software and the simulation results are validated against experimental results, using a track emulator and supercapacitor. The findings demonstrate that, with appropriate dynamic charge/discharge control, the SOC levels can be adequately managed and no external load or source is required

Computer-aided discovery of a metal-organic framework with superior oxygen uptake.

Current advances in materials science have resulted in the rapid emergence of thousands of functional adsorbent materials in recent years. This clearly creates multiple opportunities for their potential application, but it also creates the following challenge: how does one identify the most promising structures, among the thousands of possibilities, for a particular application? Here, we present a case of computer-aided material discovery, in which we complete the full cycle from computational screening of metal-organic framework materials for oxygen storage, to identification, synthesis and measurement of oxygen adsorption in the top-ranked structure. We introduce an interactive visualization concept to analyze over 1000 unique structure-property plots in five dimensions and delimit the relationships between structural properties and oxygen adsorption performance at different pressures for 2932 already-synthesized structures. We also report a world-record holding material for oxygen storage, UMCM-152, which delivers 22.5% more oxygen than the best known material to date, to the best of our knowledge

Design of a Functionalized Metal-Organic Framework System for Enhanced Targeted Delivery to Mitochondria.

Mitochondria play a key role in oncogenesis and constitute one of the most important targets for cancer treatments. Although the most effective way to deliver drugs to mitochondria is by covalently linking them to a lipophilic cation, the in vivo delivery of free drugs still constitutes a critical bottleneck. Herein, we report the design of a mitochondria-targeted metal-organic framework (MOF) that greatly increases the efficacy of a model cancer drug, reducing the required dose to less than 1% compared to the free drug and ca. 10% compared to the nontargeted MOF. The performance of the system is evaluated using a holistic approach ranging from microscopy to transcriptomics. Super-resolution microscopy of MCF-7 cells treated with the targeted MOF system reveals important mitochondrial morphology changes that are clearly associated with cell death as soon as 30 min after incubation. Whole transcriptome analysis of cells indicates widespread changes in gene expression when treated with the MOF system, specifically in biological processes that have a profound effect on cell physiology and that are related to cell death. We show how targeting MOFs toward mitochondria represents a valuable strategy for the development of new drug delivery systems