Poor choices: the limits of competitive markets in the provision of essential services to low-income consumers

A major study of the problems faced by the poor in the market for seven essential services in the UK - energy, food, housing, water, telecoms, transport, and financial services. Together these represent 60% of spending by the poorest 30% of households

Wearables or infrastructure: contrasting approaches to collecting behavioural data in the home

This paper examines and contrasts two approaches to collecting behavioural data within the home. The first of these involves filming from static video cameras combined with network logging to capture media consumption activities across multiple screens. The second utilises wearable cameras that passively collect still images to provide insights into food related behaviours. The paper compares the approaches from the perspective of the researchers and participants, and outlines the key benefits and challenges of each, with the aim of further mapping the space of possibilities now available when studying behaviour in the home

Livelihoods, Craft and Heritage: Transmissions of Knowledge in Cornish Fishing Villages

In response to a sense of ‘crisis’ in global fisheries, contemporary policies and social science accounts have tended to approach fishery ‘problems’ in terms of models derived from biology and resource-economics. Through a study of the fishing industry in Cornwall, UK, this thesis contributes an alternative perspective – examining how knowledges and meanings attached to the work of fishing are reproduced in the context of wider social relations and economies. Processes of European rural re-structuring, increasing costs and restricted access, have recently exacerbated more long-term trends of decline in Cornish fisheries. However social change and new media for knowledge transmission also contribute to the remaking and reinvention of fishing livelihoods and ideologies. The study is based on a historical ethnographic methodology which included archival research, participant observation, unstructured interviews and life-histories. From the late nineteenth century the marginalisation of Cornwall’s fishing and maritime economy accompanied the ‘discovery’ and idealisation of Cornish fishing villages through art and tourism. Social distance and inequality in fishing villages grew but so also did new forms of co-dependency. More recently conflict has emerged around the politics of the environment, and fishers’ knowledges point to the unpredictability of fishing ecologies and economies, suggesting the potential for alternative management models. Narratives about skill, craft and expertise play a role in how some producers in Cornwall reproduce themselves as independent fishermen and reflect a concern that such skills and dispositions are passed on to future generations. Others have diversified into forms of art and craft production – activities which shape memory and sense of place whilst replicating notions of self- sufficiency. I argue for the potential constructiveness of forms of heritage practice which can be both a source of critical nostalgia and an imaginative approach to the past as a resource for the regeneration of regional maritime economies. Whilst meanings and ideologies attached to the work of fishing in Cornwall may serve as markers of loss or of conflicts around knowledge production, or may mask systemic inequalities, they can also be a source of innovation, reward and creativit

Wearables or infrastructure: contrasting approaches to collecting behavioural data in the home

This paper examines and contrasts two approaches to collecting behavioural data within the home. The first of these involves filming from static video cameras combined with network logging to capture media consumption activities across multiple screens. The second utilises wearable cameras that passively collect still images to provide insights into food related behaviours. The paper compares the approaches from the perspective of the researchers and participants,and outlines the key benefits and challenges of each, with the aim of further mapping the space of possibilities now available when studying behaviour in the home

An anti-inflammatory reliever algorithm approach to asthma management in adults: an open-label, single-arm trial

BackgroundThe stepwise approach to asthma management is a key feature of guidelines, yet knowledge of its implementation in clinical practice is limited. Our objective was to evaluate the implementation of an anti-inflammatory reliever (AIR) stepwise algorithm.MethodsBetween December 2020 and July 2022, we conducted a 52-week, open-label, single-arm trial of 100 adults aged 18-75 with asthma, with 25 patients each on Global Initiative for Asthma 2018 treatment steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 at baseline. Patients were assigned to an AIR algorithm, with budesonide-formoterol 200/6 μg, one actuation as-needed (Step 1), one actuation twice-daily plus as-needed (Step 2), or two actuations twice-daily plus one as-needed (Step 3), depending on baseline treatment. Treatment steps were adjusted in response to participant reported reliever use and asthma attacks, according to the AIR algorithm. The primary outcome was Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM-II) Global Satisfaction score. Secondary outcomes assessed the TSQM-II Global Satisfaction minimal clinically important difference (MCID), efficacy, safety, patterns of medication use, and patient flow through treatment steps. The trial was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12620001010987).Findings100 participants were assigned an AIR treatment step, 68 were female and the mean age was 48 (range 19-75). There was a significant increase in TSQM-II Global Satisfaction at week 52 compared with baseline, mean (SD) 84.3 (18.6) compared to 78.1 (14.7); difference 6.3 (95% CI 1.7-10.9), p = 0.007. The estimated MCID for this variable was 3.0 (95% CI 0.2-5.7). There was a transition to lower treatment steps, with 60% (56/94), 31% (29/94), and 10% (9/94) on Steps 1, 2, and 3 at week 52 compared with 25% (25/100), 50% (50/100), and 25% (25/100) at baseline, respectively. There was a reduction in Asthma Control Questionnaire-5 at week 52 compared with baseline, mean (SD) 0.8 (0.7) compared to 1.0 (0.8); difference -0.22 (95% CI -0.39 to -0.05). There were four serious adverse events unrelated to treatment, including one death due to an acute cardiac event.InterpretationThe adoption of the AIR Algorithm in adults with asthma was associated with enhanced patient satisfaction and asthma control.FundingMedical Research Institute of New Zealand (Independent Research Organisation funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand [IRO grant 18/002]) and AstraZeneca

Cephalopod genomics : a plan of strategies and organization

© The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Standards in Genomic Sciences 7 (2012): 175-188, doi:10.4056/sigs.3136559.The Cephalopod Sequencing Consortium (CephSeq Consortium) was established at a NESCent Catalysis Group Meeting, “Paths to Cephalopod Genomics- Strategies, Choices, Organization,” held in Durham, North Carolina, USA on May 24-27, 2012. Twenty-eight participants representing nine countries (Austria, Australia, China, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Spain and the USA) met to address the pressing need for genome sequencing of cephalopod molluscs. This group, drawn from cephalopod biologists, neuroscientists, developmental and evolutionary biologists, materials scientists, bioinformaticians and researchers active in sequencing, assembling and annotating genomes, agreed on a set of cephalopod species of particular importance for initial sequencing and developed strategies and an organization (CephSeq Consortium) to promote this sequencing. The conclusions and recommendations of this meeting are described in this White Paper.The Catalysis Group Meeting was supported by the National Science Foundation through the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) under grant number NSF #EF-0905606

Cephalopod genomics: a plan of strategies and organization

The Cephalopod Sequencing Consortium (CephSeq Consortium) was established at a NESCent Catalysis Group Meeting, "Paths to Cephalopod Genomics-Strategies, Choices, Organization," held in Durham, North Carolina, USA on May 24-27, 2012. Twenty-eight participants representing nine countries (Austria, Australia, China, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Spain and the USA) met to address the pressing need for genome sequencing of cephalopod mollusks. This group, drawn from cephalopod biologists, neuroscientists, developmental and evolutionary biologists, materials scientists, bioinformaticians and researchers active in sequencing, assembling and annotating genomes, agreed on a set of cephalopod species of particular importance for initial sequencing and developed strategies and an organization (CephSeq Consortium) to promote this sequencing. The conclusions and recommendations of this meeting are described in this white paper

Cephalopod genomics : A plan of strategies and organization

The Cephalopod Sequencing Consortium (CephSeq Consortium) was established at a NESCent Catalysis Group Meeting, “Paths to Cephalopod Genomics- Strategies, Choices, Organization,” held in Durham, North Carolina, USA on May 24–27, 2012. Twenty-eight participants representing nine countries (Austria, Australia, China, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Spain and the USA) met to address the pressing need for genome sequencing of cephalopod mollusks. This group, drawn from cephalopod biologists, neuroscientists, developmental and evolutionary biologists, materials scientists, bioinformaticians and researchers active in sequencing, assembling and annotating genomes, agreed on a set of cephalopod species of particular importance for initial sequencing and developed strategies and an organization (CephSeq Consortium) to promote this sequencing. The conclusions and recommendations of this meeting are described in this white paper.journal articl

Cephalopod genomics: a plan of strategies and organization

The Cephalopod Sequencing Consortium (CephSeq Consortium) was established at a NESCent Catalysis Group Meeting, "Paths to Cephalopod Genomics-Strategies, Choices, Organization," held in Durham, North Carolina, USA on May 24-27, 2012. Twenty-eight participants representing nine countries (Austria, Australia, China, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Spain and the USA) met to address the pressing need for genome sequencing of cephalopod mollusks. This group, drawn from cephalopod biologists, neuroscientists, developmental and evolutionary biologists, materials scientists, bioinformaticians and researchers active in sequencing, assembling and annotating genomes, agreed on a set of cephalopod species of particular importance for initial sequencing and developed strategies and an organization (CephSeq Consortium) to promote this sequencing. The conclusions and recommendations of this meeting are described in this white paper

Gene expression throughout a vertebrate's embryogenesis

Abstract Background Describing the patterns of gene expression during embryonic development has broadened our understanding of the processes and patterns that define morphogenesis. Yet gene expression patterns have not been described throughout vertebrate embryogenesis. This study presents statistical analyses of gene expression during all 40 developmental stages in the teleost Fundulus heteroclitus using four biological replicates per stage. Results Patterns of gene expression for 7,000 genes appear to be important as they recapitulate developmental timing. Among the 45% of genes with significant expression differences between pairs of temporally adjacent stages, significant differences in gene expression vary from as few as five to more than 660. Five adjacent stages have disproportionately more significant changes in gene expression (> 200 genes) relative to other stages: four to eight and eight to sixteen cell stages, onset of circulation, pre and post-hatch, and during complete yolk absorption. The fewest differences among adjacent stages occur during gastrulation. Yet, at stage 16, (pre-mid-gastrulation) the largest number of genes has peak expression. This stage has an over representation of genes in oxidative respiration and protein expression (ribosomes, translational genes and proteases). Unexpectedly, among all ribosomal genes, both strong positive and negative correlations occur. Similar correlated patterns of expression occur among all significant genes. Conclusions These data provide statistical support for the temporal dynamics of developmental gene expression during all stages of vertebrate development