From social interactions to private environmental behaviours: The case of consumer food waste

Consumer food waste, like many environmental behaviours, takes place in private, and is not directly subject to social monitoring. Nevertheless, social interactions can affect private opinions and behaviours. This paper builds an agent-based model of interactions between consumers heterogeneous in their sociability, their initial opinions and behaviours related to food waste, and their willingness to consider different opinions, in order to assess how social interactions can affect private behaviours. Compared to existing models of opinion dynamics, we innovate by including a range of “cognitive dissonance” between stated opinions and actual behaviours that consumers are willing to accept before changing one of the two. We calibrate the model using questionnaire data on household food waste in Italy. We find that a limited degree of mixing between different socio-demographic groups, namely adult and young consumers, is enough to trigger change, but a certain openness of mind is required from more wasteful individuals. Equally, a small group of environmentally committed consumers can attract a sizeable share of the population towards low-waste behaviours if they show a certain variability of opinions and are willing to compromise with individuals in their close neighbourhood in terms of opinions. These findings can help design effective interventions to promote pro-environmental behaviours, taking advantage of the beneficial network effects while anticipating negative externalities

EGFR is required for Wnt9a-Fzd9b signalling specificity in haematopoietic stem cells.

Wnt signalling drives many processes in development, homeostasis and disease; however, the role and mechanism of individual ligand-receptor (Wnt-Frizzled (Fzd)) interactions in specific biological processes remain poorly understood. Wnt9a is specifically required for the amplification of blood progenitor cells during development. Using genetic studies in zebrafish and human embryonic stem cells, paired with in vitro cell biology and biochemistry, we determined that Wnt9a signals specifically through Fzd9b to elicit β-catenin-dependent Wnt signalling that regulates haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell emergence. We demonstrate that the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is required as a cofactor for Wnt9a-Fzd9b signalling. EGFR-mediated phosphorylation of one tyrosine residue on the Fzd9b intracellular tail in response to Wnt9a promotes internalization of the Wnt9a-Fzd9b-LRP signalosome and subsequent signal transduction. These findings provide mechanistic insights for specific Wnt-Fzd signals, which will be crucial for specific therapeutic targeting and regenerative medicine

Existing evidence on the use of participatory scenarios in ecological restoration: a systematic map

Background and context: The scale of land degradation worldwide has led to nearly one billion hectares committed to restoration globally. However, achieving such restoration targets will necessitate complex trade-offs against limited time, competing knowledge, costs, resources and varying stakeholder and societal preferences. Participatory scenarios allow a way to identify collaborative solutions for restoration planning and implementation best suited for the local cultures and societies they are tied to. They can be used to navigate uncertainties surrounding future trajectories of restored areas by evaluating trade-offs in outcomes. This research aims to systematically map the evidence on the use of participatory scenarios in restoration planning. We use the following research question: What evidence exists on the use of participatory scenarios in ecological restoration? This is answered by examining the characteristics of the evidence base, types of study design, types of outcomes, trade-offs in outcomes, and the role of participants. Methods: A comprehensive and reproducible search strategy was followed using bibliographic databases, web-based searches, and targeted searching. Search results underwent a two-step screening process according to eligibility criteria. Metadata on key areas of interest were extracted from included texts and were narratively synthesised alongside data visualisations to answer the research questions. Review findings:18,612 records were initially identified, and 106 articles were included in the final map. Most studies were conducted in Europe and North America, focusing on restoring agricultural land or forests. Most texts used mixed methods and explored multiple outcome types, but environmental outcomes were the most assessed. Within environmental outcomes, indicators for ecological function were assessed more frequently than structural or compositional indicators. The most common reason for choosing outcomes and indicators was stakeholder interest. Trade-offs in social, ecological, and economic outcomes were mainly examined across space using mapping techniques, while far fewer studies looked at trade-offs across stakeholders and time. Participants were mostly included in the scenario creation step and were usually chosen purposefully by the research team. Conclusions: It is difficult to understand how useful scenarios are for restoration planning because few texts reported how scenarios fed into the process. Despite this, the range of outcomes used and different method types adopted suggests participatory scenarios allow for integrating different knowledge and approaches, alongside facilitating the use of qualitative or semi-quantitative data when this is more appropriate or quantitative data is not widely available. To better use participatory scenarios as a tool for ecological restoration planning, decision-makers can push for greater levels and definitions of participation from the offset of restoration projects with specified, regular, and structured communication and participation channels. We also recommend more systematic methods of participant selection, such as stakeholder analysis. Further research is needed to understand the effectiveness of participatory scenarios in restoration planning and whether the participation of stakeholders was successful in meeting objectives. To improve the evidence base, future studies should clearly evaluate their effectiveness in the restoration planning process and their success in meeting their participatory objectives

Validation of the GRAPE single view aerosol retrieval for ATSR-2 and insights into the long term global AOD trend over the ocean

The Global Retrieval of ATSR Cloud Parameters and Evaluation (GRAPE) project has produced a global data-set of cloud and aerosol properties from the Along Track Scanning Radiometer-2 (ATSR-2) instrument, covering the time period 1995�2001. This paper presents the validation of aerosol optical depths (AODs) over the ocean from this product against AERONET sun-photometer measurements, as well as a comparison to the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) optical depth product produced by the Global Aerosol Climatology Project (GACP). The GRAPE AOD over ocean is found to be in good agreement with AERONET measurements, with a Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.79 and a best-fit slope of 1.0±0.1, but with a positive bias of 0.08±0.04. Although the GRAPE and GACP datasets show reasonable agreement, there are significant differences. These discrepancies are explored, and suggest that the downward trend in AOD reported by GACP may arise from changes in sampling due to the orbital drift of the AVHRR instruments

The 2019 Raikoke volcanic eruption - Part 1: Dispersion model simulations and satellite retrievals of volcanic sulfur dioxide

Abstract. Volcanic eruptions can cause significant disruption to society, and numerical models are crucial for forecasting the dispersion of erupted material. Here we assess the skill and limitations of the Met Office's Numerical Atmospheric-dispersion Modelling Environment (NAME) in simulating the dispersion of the sulfur dioxide (SO2) cloud from the 21–22 June 2019 eruption of the Raikoke volcano (48.3∘ N, 153.2∘ E). The eruption emitted around 1.5±0.2 Tg of SO2, which represents the largest volcanic emission of SO2 into the stratosphere since the 2011 Nabro eruption. We simulate the temporal evolution of the volcanic SO2 cloud across the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and compare our model simulations to high-resolution SO2 measurements from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) and the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) satellite SO2 products. We show that NAME accurately simulates the observed location and horizontal extent of the SO2 cloud during the first 2–3 weeks after the eruption but is unable, in its standard configuration, to capture the extent and precise location of the highest magnitude vertical column density (VCD) regions within the observed volcanic cloud. Using the structure–amplitude–location (SAL) score and the fractional skill score (FSS) as metrics for model skill, NAME shows skill in simulating the horizontal extent of the cloud for 12–17 d after the eruption where VCDs of SO2 (in Dobson units, DU) are above 1 DU. For SO2 VCDs above 20 DU, which are predominantly observed as small-scale features within the SO2 cloud, the model shows skill on the order of 2–4 d only. The lower skill for these high-SO2-VCD regions is partly explained by the model-simulated SO2 cloud in NAME being too diffuse compared to TROPOMI retrievals. Reducing the standard horizontal diffusion parameters used in NAME by a factor of 4 results in a slightly increased model skill during the first 5 d of the simulation, but on longer timescales the simulated SO2 cloud remains too diffuse when compared to TROPOMI measurements. The skill of NAME to simulate high SO2 VCDs and the temporal evolution of the NH-mean SO2 mass burden is dominated by the fraction of SO2 mass emitted into the lower stratosphere, which is uncertain for the 2019 Raikoke eruption. When emitting 0.9–1.1 Tg of SO2 into the lower stratosphere (11–18 km) and 0.4–0.7 Tg into the upper troposphere (8–11 km), the NAME simulations show a similar peak in SO2 mass burden to that derived from TROPOMI (1.4–1.6 Tg of SO2) with an average SO2 e-folding time of 14–15 d in the NH. Our work illustrates how the synergy between high-resolution satellite retrievals and dispersion models can identify potential limitations of dispersion models like NAME, which will ultimately help to improve dispersion modelling efforts of volcanic SO2 clouds. </jats:p

Ultra High Energy Cosmology with POLARBEAR

Observations of the temperature anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) lend support to an inflationary origin of the universe, yet no direct evidence verifying inflation exists. Many current experiments are focussing on the CMB's polarization anisotropy, specifically its curl component (called "B-mode" polarization), which remains undetected. The inflationary paradigm predicts the existence of a primordial gravitational wave background that imprints a unique B-mode signature on the CMB's polarization at large angular scales. The CMB B-mode signal also encodes gravitational lensing information at smaller angular scales, bearing the imprint of cosmological large scale structures (LSS) which in turn may elucidate the properties of cosmological neutrinos. The quest for detection of these signals; each of which is orders of magnitude smaller than the CMB temperature anisotropy signal, has motivated the development of background-limited detectors with precise control of systematic effects. The POLARBEAR experiment is designed to perform a deep search for the signature of gravitational waves from inflation and to characterize lensing of the CMB by LSS. POLARBEAR is a 3.5 meter ground-based telescope with 3.8 arcminute angular resolution at 150 GHz. At the heart of the POLARBEAR receiver is an array featuring 1274 antenna-coupled superconducting transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers cooled to 0.25 Kelvin. POLARBEAR is designed to reach a tensor-to-scalar ratio of 0.025 after two years of observation -- more than an order of magnitude improvement over the current best results, which would test physics at energies near the GUT scale. POLARBEAR had an engineering run in the Inyo Mountains of Eastern California in 2010 and will begin observations in the Atacama Desert in Chile in 2011.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, DPF 2011 conference proceeding

The quorum sensing transcription factor AphA directly regulates natural competence in Vibrio cholerae

Many bacteria use population density to control gene expression via quorum sensing. In Vibrio cholerae, quorum sensing coordinates virulence, biofilm formation, and DNA uptake by natural competence. The transcription factors AphA and HapR, expressed at low and high cell density respectively, play a key role. In particular, AphA triggers the entire virulence cascade upon host colonisation. In this work we have mapped genome-wide DNA binding by AphA. We show that AphA is versatile, exhibiting distinct modes of DNA binding and promoter regulation. Unexpectedly, whilst HapR is known to induce natural competence, we demonstrate that AphA also intervenes. Most notably, AphA is a direct repressor of tfoX, the master activator of competence. Hence, production of AphA markedly suppressed DNA uptake; an effect largely circumvented by ectopic expression of tfoX. Our observations suggest dual regulation of competence. At low cell density AphA is a master repressor whilst HapR activates the process at high cell density. Thus, we provide deep mechanistic insight into the role of AphA and highlight how V. cholerae utilises this regulator for diverse purposes

Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are present in healthy gingiva tissue

Hematopoietic stem cells reside in the bone marrow, where they generate the effector cells that drive immune responses. However, in response to inflammation, some hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) are recruited to tissue sites and undergo extramedullary hematopoiesis. Contrasting with this paradigm, here we show residence and differentiation of HSPCs in healthy gingiva, a key oral barrier in the absence of overt inflammation. We initially defined a population of gingiva monocytes that could be locally maintained; we subsequently identified not only monocyte progenitors but also diverse HSPCs within the gingiva that could give rise to multiple myeloid lineages. Gingiva HSPCs possessed similar differentiation potentials, reconstitution capabilities, and heterogeneity to bone marrow HSPCs. However, gingival HSPCs responded differently to inflammatory insults, responding to oral but not systemic inflammation. Combined, we highlight a novel pathway of myeloid cell development at a healthy barrier, defining a gingiva-specific HSPC network that supports generation of a proportion of the innate immune cells that police this barrier