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The text is a preface to the proceedings of the 19th International Workshop on Plasma Edge Theory in Fusion Devices, which took place in Hefei, China in September 2023. The workshop focused on the field of edge plasma physics, which is crucial for fusion research. The workshop included 93 participants from various research organizations, with contributions categorized into three topics: basic plasma edge theory, models of special phenomena and edge control, and integrated plasma modeling. The preface highlights the importance of collaboration and intellectual exchange in advancing the field of edge plasma physics and fusion research. [Extracted from the article]

The text discusses various developments in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and other industries. It highlights the launch of the International Centre for Enzyme Design in the UK, partnerships between companies for cancer treatment research, and merger agreements in the ophthalmic pharma sector. It also covers collaborations for more sustainable chemical production, the establishment of a new injectables manufacturing facility, and the sale of a business unit. The text provides information on investments, expansions, collaborations, new facilities, and acquisitions by various companies. Additionally, it mentions the approval of a German measure to support a semiconductor manufacturing company and the relocation of a company. [Extracted from the article]

Whistler‐mode hiss waves are crucial to the dynamics of Earth's radiation belts, particularly in the scattering and loss of energetic electrons and forming the slot region between the inner and outer belts. The generation of hiss waves involves multiple potential mechanisms, which are under active research. Understanding the role of hiss waves in radiation belt dynamics and their generation mechanisms requires analyzing their temporal and spatial evolutions, especially for strong hiss waves. Therefore, we developed an Imbalanced Regressive Neural Network (IR‐NN) model for predicting hiss amplitudes. This model addresses the challenge posed by the data imbalance of the hiss data set, which consists of predominantly quiet‐time background samples and fewer but significant active‐time intense hiss samples. Notably, the IR‐NN hiss model excels in predicting strong hiss waves (>100 pT). We investigate the temporal and spatial evolution of hiss wave during a geomagnetic storm on 24–27 October 2017. We show that hiss waves occur within the nominal plasmapause, and follow its dynamically evolving shape. They exhibit intensifications with 1 and 2 hr timescale similar to substorms but with a noticeable time delay. The intensifications begin near dawn and progress toward noon and afternoon. During the storm recovery phase, hiss intensifications may occur in the plume. Additionally, we observe no significant latitudinal dependence of the hiss waves within |MLAT| < 20°. In addition to describing the spatiotemporal evolution of hiss waves, this study highlights the importance of imbalanced regressive methods, given the prevalence of imbalanced data sets in space physics and other real‐world applications. Plain Language Summary: Whistler‐mode hiss waves play a crucial role in understanding the dynamics of Earth's radiation belts, particularly scattering and loss of energetic electrons and the formation of the slot region. The underlying generation mechanisms of hiss wave sources remain an active area of research, which needs to quantify the global evolution of these waves, especially powerful ones. We developed an Imbalanced Regressive Neural Network (IR‐NN) model, which excels at accurately predicting strong hiss wave activity, that is of particular interest in radiation belt studies. We analyzed the evolution of hiss waves during a geomagnetically active period in October 2017. We found that these waves predominantly occur within the plasmapause boundary and exhibit dynamics that follow the plasmapause's changes. These waves strengthen on timescales similar to those of magnetospheric substorms, with a slight delay, and move to different local times during different phases of the storm. These waves maintain uniform intensity across low to mid‐latitudes. This study underlines the importance of imbalanced regressive methods in handling imbalanced data sets, a common challenge in space physics and related physical science fields. This approach is not only significant for advancing our understanding of space weather phenomena but also has broader implications in other areas. Key Points: An imbalanced regressive neural network model of hiss amplitude developed that predicts quiet‐time background and active‐time intense wavesHiss waves are well organized inside the plasmapause and follow its dynamic shape, evolving from dawn toward later local time during a stormModeled hiss evolution correlates with chorus, supporting the hypothesis that hiss is generated by evolving chorus waves [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthesizing the extensive and ever‐growing climate change literature is becoming increasingly challenging using conventional review processes, yet is crucial to understand key trends, including knowledge and policy related gaps, managing widespread impacts, and prioritizing future efforts. Here, we employ a systematic approach to interrogate ~130,000 international peer‐reviewed climate change articles published between 1990 and 2021. We examine the time–space evolution of research topics and international collaborations, providing insights into broad scale climate change research themes, how they are developed and/or are interconnected. Our analyses indicate that significant thematic adjustments have occurred over the past three decades. Whilst all major areas of climate research have grown in output metrics, there has been a relative shift from understanding the physical science basis toward evaluating climate change impacts, adaptation, and mitigation. There has also been a significant internationalization of climate research with the ratio of international over domestic research increasing from 0.05 in 1990 to nearly 0.60 in 2021. These findings reveal a growing need for collective and coupled adaptation‐mitigation actions to address climate change. The repeatable method and overall results presented herein can help to complement existing large‐scale literature assessments, such as future IPCC reports. This article is categorized under:Climate, History, Society, Culture > Disciplinary PerspectivesIntegrated Assessment of Climate Change > Methods of Integrated Assessment of Climate Change [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The given text provides a collection of news articles covering various scientific and technological advancements. The articles touch on topics such as antibiotic development, renewable energy, sustainable packaging, and electric vehicle batteries. [Extracted from the article]

Molecular chirality plays a pivotal role across the disciplines of chemical and physical sciences, as well as holding significant implications in the realms of medicine and technology. Chiral macrocycles have attracted recent interests in synthetic chemistry, material science, and supramolecular chemistry. Due to the cyclic arrangements of stereogenic elements or special orientations confined in the rigid structures, π‐conjugated chiral macrocycles are expected to be highly luminescent, and configurationally stable, and thus serve to develop high‐performance chiroptical materials. Given the rapid progress achieved in this new area in recent years, it is significant to highlight new concepts and breakthroughs. This minireview will offer the overview of a wide range of π‐conjugated chiral macrocycles from traditional molecules which include the axially, helically, and planar chiral skeletons to the new chiral nanobelts with a focus on the structure‐function relationship between chiral molecules and the unique chiroptical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change is often thought of as a steady and approximately predictable physical response to increasing forcings, which then requires commensurate adaptation. But adaptation has practical, cultural and biological limits, and climate change may pose unanticipated global hazards, sudden changes or other surprises–as may societal adaptation and mitigation responses. These poorly known factors could substantially affect the urgency of mitigation as well as adaptation decisions. We outline a strategy for better accommodating these challenges by making climate science more integrative, in order to identify and quantify known and novel physical risks including those arising from interactions with ecosystems and society. We need to do this even–or especially–when they are highly uncertain, and to explore risks and opportunities associated with mitigation and adaptation responses by engaging across disciplines. We argue that upcoming climate assessments need to be more risk‐aware, and suggest ways of achieving this. These strategies improve the chances of anticipating potential surprises and identifying and communicating "safe landing" pathways that meet UN Sustainable Development Goals and guide humanity toward a better future. Plain Language Summary: Global risks may arise from many places, not all of which are being considered at the moment in the usual projections of future climate. Some risks are being overlooked, sometimes by most of the physical science community itself, or else by others who need information about future climate. We think physical climate sciences can do a lot to remedy this situation by looking more systematically at a broader array of risks and possible futures, narrowing them down, and collaboratively seeking better ways to express them. In this perspective we argue why this is important and explain a few ways it can be done. Key Points: Climate science needs to adjust to account systematically for low‐likelihood, high‐impact risks and comprehensive pathway interactionsAchieving this requires new strategies; several are outlined here, including increased model coupling and scenario explorationSuccess will require collaboration between physical sciences and other disciplines [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document provides a summary of various news articles highlighting scientific advancements and collaborations in different industries. Some notable topics include a partnership between Kaerus Bioscience and Neurolentech for research on rare genetic neurodevelopment syndromes, the launch of a bio-based acetonitrile for pharmaceutical production by INEOS Nitriles, and Syensqo's achievement of carbon neutrality in their production facility. Other articles cover collaborations for cardiovascular disease treatments, the inauguration of a demonstration plant for electrically heated steam cracking furnaces, and agreements for feedstock supply and hydrogen production. The document also includes articles on research collaborations, AI-powered search tools, green hydrogen supply, gene therapy development, and advancements in chemical and biotech industries. [Extracted from the article]

The Gaia hypothesis is often used as the basis for demonstrating environmental integrity in current arguments within the field of ecological philosophy. However, when citing the Gaia hypothesis, people are often vague when defining its connotations and extensions. By analysing the controversies surrounding the Gaia hypothesis, we can achieve an appropriate conception of its ontology, including the blindness of the strong theoretical approach and the rationality of the weak one. Gaia's naturalistic epistemology, holistic methodology and systematic values can thus be discriminated. Gaia has strong significance for allowing human beings to understand the Earth's ecological environment and is an effective ecological holistic theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on supported atomically dispersed palladium (Pd) catalysis for direct alkoxylation and allylic alkylation, emphasizing the catalyst's efficiency and unique mechanism. It discusses the utilization of atomically dispersed Pd on titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanosheets for direct allylic alkylation from allylic alcohols, highlighting the role of hydrogen bonding at the organic-inorganic interface in facilitating the reaction.

This study presents and explains the phenomenon of indexjacking, which involves the systematic infiltration of hijacked journals into international indexing databases, with Scopus being one of the most infiltrated among these databases. Through an analysis of known lists of hijacked journals, the study identified at least 67 hijacked journals that have penetrated Scopus since 2013. Of these, 33 journals indexed unauthorized content in Scopus and 23 compromised the homepage link in the journal's profile, while 11 did both. As of September 2023, 41 hijacked journals are still compromising the data of legitimate journals in Scopus. The presence of hijacked journals in Scopus is a challenge for scientific integrity due to the legitimization of unreliable papers that have not undergone peer review and compromises the quality of the Scopus database. The presence of hijacked journals in Scopus has far‐reaching effects. Papers published in these journals may be cited, and unauthorized content from these journals in Scopus is thus imported into other databases, including ORCID and the WHO COVID‐19 Research Database. This poses a particular challenge for research evaluation in those countries, where cloned versions of approved journals may be used to acquire publications and verifying their authenticity can be difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an editorial from the journal ChemCatChem titled "Special Collection: Catalysts and Reactors under Dynamic Conditions for Energy Storage and Conversion." The editorial discusses the importance of power-to-chemical, power-to-fuel, and power-to-gas processes in decarbonizing the industry and achieving CO2 neutrality. It highlights the challenges of storing large amounts of fluctuating renewable energy and the role of catalysis in transforming electrical energy and low-energy molecules into high-energy reactive molecules. The editorial emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary scientific approaches and the development of new materials and catalytic processes. The document also mentions a topical collection of research articles on the dynamics of catalysts and reactors, as well as upcoming conferences on the topic. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses a study that examines the factors contributing to tree mortality in tropical forests. The research finds that the traits of trees in current forests are more important for predicting changes in forest health than climate projections or rising CO2 levels. The study emphasizes the importance of understanding the trait composition of forests, particularly in tropical regions. The findings suggest that future forest health may depend more on existing traits than on climate change. The study also highlights the need for collaboration between field ecology and vegetation model development. [Extracted from the article]

The article is a response to a letter discussing the limitations of using global warming potential (GWP) as a metric for reporting greenhouse gases. The authors argue that GWP is a political tool rather than a scientifically robust metric, and that it should not be used to evaluate the climate impact of volatile anaesthetics. They also challenge the claim that reducing emissions of one volatile anaesthetic will not lead to increased emissions of another. The authors suggest that anaesthetists should use their personal judgment to make decisions about anaesthetics, and focus on reducing major greenhouse gas emissions to zero. [Extracted from the article]

Coupled human-water systems (CHWS) are diverse and have been studied across a wide variety of disciplines. Integrating multiple disciplinary perspectives on CHWS provides a comprehensive and actionable understanding of these complex systems. While interdisciplinary integration has often remained elusive, specific combinations of disciplines might be comparably easier to integrate (compatible), and/or their combination might be particularly likely to uncover previously unobtainable insights (complementary). This paper systematically identifies such promising combinations by mapping disciplines along a common set of topical, philosophical, and methodological dimensions. It also identifies key challenges and lessons for multidisciplinary research teams seeking to integrate highly promising (complementary) but poorly compatible disciplines. Applied to eight disciplines that span the environmental physical sciences and the quantitative and qualitative social sciences, we found that promising combinations of disciplines identified by the typology broadly reproduce patterns of recent interdisciplinary collaborative research revealed by a bibliometric analysis. We also found that some disciplines are centrally located within the typology by being compatible and complementary to multiple other disciplines along distinct dimensions. This points to the potential for these disciplines to act as catalysts for wider interdisciplinary integration. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Methods Human Water > Methods Science of Water > Methods [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the need for proactive environmental management of offshore aquaculture. The aquaculture industry is expanding due to increasing demand for aquatic food, but the current coastal fish farming activities are constrained by various factors. These constraints include limited space, interactions with other users of inshore waters, and the ability of the seafloor to assimilate farm waste. The article suggests that expanding fish farms into deeper offshore waters can help mitigate these constraints. It emphasizes the importance of environmental monitoring and predictive modeling to ensure sustainable operations. The article also discusses the limitations and challenges of implementing proactive management strategies. Overall, the article highlights the need for a comprehensive approach to environmental management in aquaculture. [Extracted from the article]

Rietveld refinements are widely used for many purposes in the physical sciences. Conducting a Rietveld refinement typically requires expert input because correct results may require that parameters be added to the fit in the proper order. This order will depend on the nature of the data and the initial parameter values. A mechanism for computing the next parameter to add to the refinement is shown. The fitting function is evaluated with the current parameter value set and each parameter incremented and decremented by a small offset. This provides the partial derivatives with respect to each parameter, along with information to discriminate meaningful values from numerical computational errors. The implementation of this mechanism in the open‐source GSAS‐II program is discussed. This new method is discussed as an important step towards the development of automated Rietveld refinement technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the debate surrounding the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The economist William Nordhaus, who received the Nobel award for his work on integrating climate into economic theory, estimated that the best benefit-cost ratio was associated with a warming of 2.5 degrees Celsius. However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) set a target of 1.5 degrees Celsius without providing a justification in terms of costs and benefits. The article argues that the target may not be a sensible choice and suggests that governments should consider implementing a pricing system for carbon dioxide emissions instead. The article also highlights the potential side effects of government regulation on innovation and economic performance. [Extracted from the article]

The Bowei Research Conference (BRC) series, established by Mr. Bowei Lee in Taiwan, provides a platform for young scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students to network and exchange ideas. The article highlights past conferences, such as BRC-2 and BRC-3, and the upcoming BRC-4 conference with the theme "The Magic of Synthesis - New Frontiers of Molecular Architecture." The LCY Group and the LCY Education Foundation organize and sponsor the BRC series. The opening ceremony of BRC-4 featured distinguished guests, a buffet dinner, and traditional Chinese music, emphasizing the importance of chemistry in solving global challenges and promoting innovation. Keynote lectures covered topics like sustainable chemistry, natural product synthesis, and molecular machines, providing valuable insights into advancements in the field. The conference also included a poster session and retreat activities, and the next conference, BRC-5, will focus on "The Magic of Chemical Biology." [Extracted from the article]

This article explores the concept of the Anthropocene, a term used to describe the period in which human activities have significantly impacted the Earth's environment. It discusses the "Great Acceleration," which encompasses processes like climate change, urbanization, and species extinction. The recognition of the Anthropocene as a geological unit is a topic of ongoing debate, and geographers play a crucial role in understanding and defining this concept. The article also highlights the challenges in determining the beginning of the Anthropocene and the importance of using various datasets to study the Great Acceleration. Geographers are encouraged to contribute papers that offer conceptual frameworks and solutions for addressing the challenges of the Anthropocene, with the Covid-19 pandemic serving as a template for studying this phenomenon. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the concepts of convergence research and actionable science in the context of environmental risk assessment and management. Convergence research involves integrating different disciplines to solve complex research problems, while actionable science focuses on producing useful information that informs actions and involves collaboration with end users. The article suggests that these concepts are particularly relevant when viewed through the lens of an adaptive management framework, which involves iterative decision-making and the evaluation of management options. The article provides an example of how these concepts have been applied in efforts to address climate change impacts in Charleston, SC. [Extracted from the article]

Lévy processes are useful tools for analysis and modeling of jump‐diffusion processes. Such processes are commonly used in the financial and physical sciences. One approach to building new Lévy processes is through subordination, or a random time change. In this work, we discuss and examine a type of multiply subordinated Lévy process model that we term a deep variance gamma (DVG) process, including estimation and inspection methods for selecting the appropriate level of subordination given data. We perform an extensive simulation study to identify situations in which different subordination depths are identifiable and provide a rigorous theoretical result detailing the behavior of a DVG process as the levels of subordination tend to infinity. We test the model and estimation approach on a data set of intraday 1‐min cryptocurrency returns and show that our approach outperforms other state‐of‐the‐art subordinated Lévy process models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse if and how the characteristics of grant research panels affect the applicants' likelihood of obtaining funding and, especially, if particular types of panels favour particular types of applicants. We use the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) award decisions to test the similar‐to‐me hypothesis for the first time in the grant context. Our main results indicate that panel members tend to favour more (or penalise less) applicants with similar characteristics to them, as the similar‐to‐me hypothesis suggests. We show, for instance, that the quality of the applicants is more critical for panels of high quality than for panels of relatively lower quality, that basic‐oriented panels tend to penalise applied‐oriented applicants, and that panels with fewer female members tend to penalise teams with more female applicants. As a whole, we show that similar‐to‐me effects are simultaneously at work for a wide variety of functional, job‐related research characteristics as well as for more well‐known demographic attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a new process developed by researchers at MIT and Harvard University that converts carbon dioxide into formate, a material that can be used like hydrogen or methanol to power a fuel cell and generate electricity. Topics include the two-stage process of converting carbon dioxide into fuel, the high efficiency of the new process, and the potential applications of the process.

This review is a critical analysis of the current state-of-the-art in core spun yarn textile triboelectric nanogenerators (CSY-T-TENGs) for self-powered smart sensing applications. The rapid expansion of wireless communication, flexible conductive materials, and wearable electronics over the last ten years is now demanding autonomous energy, which has created a new research space in the field of wearable T-TENGs. Current research is exploring T-TENGs made from CSYs as stable and reliable energy harvesters and sensing devices for modern wearable IoT platforms. CSY-TENGs are emerging as an important technology due to its simple structure, low cost, and excellent performance in converting mechanical energy into electrical energy and due to its sensing ability. This paper provides a critical review on current progress, it analyzes the unique advantages of CSYs T-TENGs over conventional T-TENGs, it describes fabrication techniques and discusses the materials used along with their properties and electrical performance characteristics, and it highlights the recent advancements in their integration with self-excitation circuits, charge storage devices and IoT-enabled smart sensing applications, such as environmental and health monitoring. In the conclusion, it discusses the challenges and future directions of CSYs T-TENGs and it provides a future road map for optimization, upscaling, and commercialization of the technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics, Wittgenstein notes that he has 'not yet made the role of miscalculating clear' and that 'the role of the proposition: "I must have miscalculated"...is really the key to an understanding of the "foundations" of mathematics.' In this paper, I hope to get clear on how this is the case. First, I will explain Wittgenstein's understanding of a 'foundation' for mathematics. Then, by showing how the proposition 'I must have miscalculated' differentiates mathematics from the physical sciences, we will see how this proposition is the key to understanding the foundations of mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the application of computer simulations in various scientific and engineering domains, including meteorology, cosmology and quantum chemistry. By utilizing simulations, researchers gain insights into complex phenomena, such as weather patterns, the formation of galaxies driven by dark matter and molecular interactions, thus advancing our understanding of the natural world.

The highest annual temperatures in northwestern Iran are associated with the mid-tropospheric ridge building caused by the development of a cyclonic circulation over the Mediterranean Sea and a northward shift of the subtropical jet stream. The analysis of the daily observed temperature at five stations in northwestern Iran indicates an increasing trend in the highest annual temperature during the period 1980-2018. The data of the synoptic stations were obtained from the Meteorological Organization of Iran. gl We first used the daily observed data at five synoptic stations in northwestern Iran to identify the values and the days of occurrence of the lowest and highest annual temperatures during the period 1980-2018. To the authors' knowledge, previous investigations have not elucidated the driving mechanisms of the occurrence of extreme weather events in northwestern Iran, although some studies focused on the identification of extreme weather events and their long-term changes in Iran (e.g. Alizadeh-Choobari and Najafi, [4]). [Extracted from the article]

The article addresses the challenge posed by George Ritzer's conclusion in his McDonaldization thesis by showing how social research can empower people to improve society by empowering on its institutions as social models, equivalence to theories in the physical sciences. Topics discussed include the McDonald's model as social knowledge, theories in natural and social science, and layers of social analysis as exemplified by fast-food chain McDonald's.

At manually read rain gauges the observer will measure precipitation equivalent of fresh snow fallen at 0900 UTC, whereas at automatic rain gauges any snow collected will be recorded when it subsequently melts; quality control of these data may then re-apportion this precipitation to previous days. It may also influence any trend in overall UK rainfall if this varies spatially between climatologically wetter and drier parts of the UK. However, it means that climatologically wetter areas of the UK have a greater influence on the overall UK summary statistic than the drier areas, rather than all equal-sized areas having equal influence (as would be the case using an areal average of the rainfall anomaly field). This report provides a summary of the UK's weather and climate through the calendar year 2022, alongside the historical context for a number of essential climate variables. [Extracted from the article]

A bold, visionary, transforming, systemic, holistic, integrated, caring, inclusive, equitable, sustainable, and resilient paradigm for fast transitions toward a clean energy and decarbonized future is imperative and urgently needed. Business as usual and silo approaches are not viable with the changes that are occurring. These changes are linked and interacting systems of physical, natural, health, social, economic, finance, governance, and institution. The effects and impacts are dire, existential, and pervasive. The 2021 IPCC Report Physical Science Basis: Summary for Policymakers, in clear language stated "it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans and land". The scientific communities in the US, Europe, Asia and other regions all subscribe to this situation. Well documented global empirical evidence is also confirming the profound systems and systemic transformations that are occurring. Business, industry, and the general public, in particular youths, worldwide are all increasingly demanding actions – that transcend words of what needs to be done to deeds of how and now. In the US, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, would allocate US 370 billion for combating climate change and clean energy production. The IRA is the largest climate spending package ever. President Biden has called for 100% clean electricity by 2035 and pledged to cut carbon emissions by 50%–52% below 2005 levels by the end of this decade, doubling the previous target. A decarbonized future was endorsed by Leaders at the 2021 G‐7 Carbis, UK Summit. There is growing realization that the global climate change crisis requires strengthened and expanded global cooperation with new, innovative and non‐bureaucratic mechanisms for collaboration. The 2021 IPCC Report summarized that global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least the mid‐ century under all emissions' scenarios considered. "Global warming of 1.5 and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades." The UNEP and IEA contends reducing anthropogenic methane emissions will help mitigate climate change and is a cost‐effective proposition. The release of methane and micro‐organisms from melting of permafrost needs to be better studied and understood., The confluence of increased heat, humidity, fine particulates air pollution, water contaminants and the COVID pandemic, will exacerbate health burdens. This will have serious consequences for human wellbeing, and cascading into national and global security. With climate change, therapeutics and vaccines will not work. The article provides a brief overview of the unprecedented climate related hurricanes, storms, floods and wildfires disasters occurring in all regions of the world. It highlights of some of the key effects, impacts and consequences with current policies and practices with regard to the energy‐climate conundrum. There is an imperative to change course toward a decarbonized future. A number of systemic expeditious interventions are delineated. These include actions by all on: The* fundamental need to change behavior; *afforestation, reforestation, rehabilitation of wetlands, mangroves, wastelands and coral reefs to restore ecosystem functions which would also create significant number of employment and livelihoods' opportunities; *retrofitting existing structures to be more energy efficient, incorporate increasing renewable energy, sustainability and resiliency criteria, – to "build back better" and provide jobs; *the life cycle of food and agriculture practices need to be systemically examined to reduce adverse impacts on climate, Energy, environment and health. There are difficulties and challenges. The commensurate opportunities and benefits of a decarbonized paradigm include clean and safe jobs; healthy quality of life; and a sustained and resilient future for current and future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses recent advancements in the field of artificial organs. One development is the use of "perforation-type anchors" to attach skin equivalents to robotic surfaces, allowing for reliable fixation while still allowing flexibility in motion. Another breakthrough is the world's first awake kidney transplantation, which was performed on a patient with Crohn's disease using neuraxial anesthesia. Additionally, there have been successful genetically modified porcine liver transplants and kidney xenografts in living humans. Finally, a double hand transplant recipient received plasma exchange treatment to prevent rejection of the transplanted organs. These advancements highlight the progress being made in the field of artificial organs and offer hope for patients in need of transplants. [Extracted from the article]

The article highlights the thriving condition of the British life sciences sector, recognizing its historical prowess in innovation and manufacturing, notably with recent expansions by companies like Biosynth. Topics discussed include the ramifications of Brexit on the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) industry, the British Government's Life Sciences Vision post-Covid, and the growing significance of peptide therapeutics in the global market.

This means an increased likelihood of more frequent instances of high tunnel temperatures, or higher peak tunnel temperatures, which have implications for both human health and the operation of the LU network. As the climate is changing, Transport for London (TfL), which owns and operates the London Underground network, is faced with operational challenges during periods of extreme weather, especially with heat, on its assets. The warmest LU lines at present (Bakerloo and Central) estimated daily maximum tunnel temperatures on both lines to exceed 30°C throughout the year in both scenarios by the 2080s, including some stations experiencing several months frequently exceeding daily maximum tunnel temperatures of 35°C in the RCP 8.5 scenario. This requires combining reliable, daily spatiotemporal weather data (in this case, St. James's Park weather station data), such as daily minimum, mean and maximum temperatures across an area with fault data, then normalising across the study area by the frequency of temperature intervals and number of assets at that location (Fisher, [10]). [Extracted from the article]

We propose a simple MCDA approach for a panel-based weight elicitation of selected indicators and evaluation of the results of the LCIA studies. How Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is aiding Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in results interpretation. To enable sustainable growth in housing provision, the socioeconomic impacts of social housing regeneration schemes alongside their life cycle environmental impacts should be assessed. [Extracted from the article]

However, recognition of this would be eased, not hindered, by formal recognition of an Anthropocene epoch justified by our present assessment that the Earth System state has decisively exceeded Holocene norms but not yet those of the Quaternary (Waters et al., [21]). As Zalasiewicz et al. ([28]) pointed out, defining a base for the Anthropocene will provide completeness for our understanding of the highly stable Holocene, with both top and base defined, in contrast with the uncertain planetary boundary conditions that characterise the Anthropocene. Swindles et al. ([15]) correctly point out that there are many conceptions of the "Anthropocene" in use, and they argue that this flexibility in terminology is desirable. [Extracted from the article]

This section offers news briefs related to applied chemistry and advanced materials, as of April 1, 2023. Japanese scientists have reported a safe, one-pot homogenous direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide. Researcher have used the cell wall of an algae to sustainably harvest biogenic calcite for the mass production of nanostructured perovskites.

Over several months, representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science and National Institutes of Health (NIH) had a number of meetings that lead to the conclusion that innovations in the Nation’s health care could be realized by more directed interactions between NIH and DOE. It became clear that the expertise amassed and instrumentation advances developed at the DOE physical science laboratories to enable cutting-edge research in particle physics could also feed innovation in medical healthcare.To meet their scientific mission, the DOE laboratories created advances in such technologies as particle beam generation, radioisotope production, high-energy particle detection and imaging, superconducting particle accelerators, superconducting magnets, cryogenics, high-speed electronics, artificial intelligence, and big data. To move forward, NIH and DOE initiated the process of convening a joint workshop which occurred on July 12th and 13th, 2021. This Special Report presents a summary of the findings of the collaborative workshop and introduces the goals of the next one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are a conservation initiative that offer payments to people who own or manage lands that provide desired ecosystem services. Utilizing mixed methods, I examine how PES in the form of government‐issued forestry incentives interact with land tenure to affect carbon storage in Guatemala's Western Highlands. Land tenure is a larger determining factor for carbon storage than payments, as communal forests managed by Indigenous Maya K'iche' communities have significantly higher carbon stocks than private landholdings in these same communities. No statistically significant differences were found in carbon stocks between incentivized and non‐incentivized plots, and participants enrolled only a fraction of their land, likely prioritizing enrollment of degraded plots. These results indicate the importance of using both social and physical science methods to understand the physical outcomes and social context of forest management. I also reflect on why carbon storage is often prioritized, drawing on a critical physical geography framework to analyze carbon accounting methods. Measuring carbon storage gives us the tools to describe the success of communal forest management, yet I also caution relying on the quantification of ecosystem services as a method for landscape valuation and suggest avoiding prioritizing carbon storage and sequestration. Key Messages: Communal forests contain more standing carbon than private forests in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.No statistically significant differences were found in carbon stocks between incentivized and non‐incentivized plots.Measuring carbon can be a tool to describe ecosystems but should not lead to the prioritization of carbon storage or sequestration over other values of forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2014, an intervention paper was published in I The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien i , calling for greater integration of physical and critical human geography, through an intellectual practice termed I critical physical geography i (Lave et al., [16]). Bruce Rhoads, one of the authors of the original CPG Intervention piece (Lave et al., [16]), phrased this critique clearly in a recent paper: [T]he extent to which CPG differs fundamentally from political ecology ... remains unclear. In doing so, the authors advance CPG scholarship by (1) creating new trading zones and creoles distinctive to CPG, and (2) developing and applying their own interactional expertise in ways that contribute to the fuller realization of CPG's three core tenets. Almost a decade after the publication of the initial CPG intervention piece, CPG is expanding into new topics (e.g., predator reintroduction, urban climatology), new methodologies (e.g., dendroprovenancing, network analysis), and new conversations with allied fields (e.g., Black Geographies, Indigenous Geographies, Queer Ecologies). [Extracted from the article]

The vast majority of empirical hypotheses in psychology, or in the social sciences more generally, are directional whereas in other sciences, such as the physical sciences, there are more point or narrow‐interval empirical hypotheses. Characteristics of theories and auxiliary assumptions play a role in the difference. Given that psychology research strongly features directional predictions, it is important to question the extent to which these provide convincing tests of theories that they are designed to test. The present work aims to provide a nuanced view that considers the complex interaction between the obviousness of directional predictions, the obviousness of the theory from which they derive, and the quality of the auxiliary assumptions that push towards directional predictions. Then, too, there is the related issue of vulnerability of directional predictions to alternative explanations and how to address them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major parasites with relevance to the blood supply Parasites that pose a risk of transfusion-transmission are largely confined to I Plasmodium i (malaria), I Trypanosoma cruzi i (Chagas disease), and I Babesia i (babesiosis). Keywords: climate change; environment; health system preparedness; parasites; vectors EN climate change environment health system preparedness parasites vectors 638 645 8 03/23/23 20230301 NES 230301 INTRODUCTION A variety of pathogenic agents, including viruses, bacteria, and parasites pose a threat to blood transfusion safety. We concluded that filariasis poses low transfusion risk and did not recommend strategies against filarial transfusion transmission.[27] How climate change affects local ecosystems Climate change can introduce periodic or permanent local changes in ambient temperature, rainfall patterns, and humidity. While it may be too early to provide specific recommendations to blood operators, we can offer a general recommendation to remain vigilant to climate change, its associated effects on the epidemiology of vector-borne parasites, and how this might impact blood transfusion safety. [Extracted from the article]

This section offers news briefs on the biochemical industry as of March 2023. A study from the University of Calgary in Alberta showed the potential of vitamin D supplements to stave off dementia. The role of environmental pollution in antimicrobial resistance is highlighted in a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report. A database resulting from the Pest Genome Initiative involving Rothamsted Research, Syngenta and Bayer details the genomes of 19 global crop pests.

X‐ray diffraction from a solid crystal shows the wave nature of photons. It is an important electromagnetic (EM) physics process when X‐ray photons interact with a crystal. Bragg diffraction, often called Bragg reflection, is a special case of the general form of X‐ray diffraction, known as Laue diffraction. When the Bragg's law is met, the incident photon beam is reflected from the crystal plane behaving as a specular reflection at the Bragg angle. However, the Bragg reflection physical process has not been integrated into the general‐purpose Monte Carlo simulation toolkit Geant4 for particle physics. In the current study, we developed a new EM physical process class "G4CrystalBraggReflection" and a new EM physical model class "G4DarwinDynamicalModel" for modeling the Bragg reflection physical process within a crystal. We added the Bragg reflection physical process to the EM physics category of Geant4. The preliminary results of photon tracking in a silicon crystal slab have shown the feasibility of simulating the Bragg reflection process in addition to the standard EM processes in the framework of Geant4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanically interlocked molecules have found extensive applications in areas all across the physical sciences, from materials to catalysis and sensing. However, introducing mechanical bonds and entanglements at the molecular level is still a significant challenge due to the inherent restriction in entropy needed to preorganize strands before interlocking. Over the last decade, dynamic covalent chemistry has emerged as one of the most efficient methods of forming rotaxanes, catenanes and molecular knots. By using reversible bonds such as imines, disulfides and boronate esters, one can use the inherent error‐correction in these linkages to form interlocked architectures with high fidelity and often in excellent yields. This review reports on recent advances in the use of dynamic covalent chemistry to make mechanically interlocked molecules, systematically surveying clipping, capping and templating approaches with dynamic bonds. Furthermore, it is also discussed how dynamic bonds can be used to control motion, co‐conformational expression and catalytic activity in mechanically interlocked molecular machinery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

However, due to late dropouts, the Ghana Cocoa team lost its African representative and a UK Post-Doctoral Research Associate, so was very unbalanced, and we ended up with the two Ghana teams merging into one larger-than-ideal team (GhanaAg team). The Leeds Africa Climate Hackathon aimed to generate user-relevant narratives of possible future climate in East and West Africa relevant to hydroelectric power generation and agriculture respectively. Analysis of CMIP5 models suggests West Africa will see shorter wet seasons, increasing rainfall intensity, and decreasing rainfall frequency under climate change (Dunning I et al i ., [6]). The team hypothesised that the dam would not be able to retain these higher intensity rains and would have to release them downstream, which in turn could increase periods when dam levels were low even if decadal rainfall were similar to today. [Extracted from the article]

Other phytohormones or phytohormone-like molecules produced by plants or microbes that act as plant growth and immune regulators and defence hormones also carry great potential to be used in crop microbiome manipulation for climate change adaptation. These tools will likely focus initially on employing metabolites, including volatile compounds, or even small RNAs, involved in plant-microbe/microbe-microbe crosstalk that have likely played a role in the adaptative evolution of the holobiont to many environmental selection pressures (Padje et al., [25]; Yan & Ham, [39]). MANIPULATING CROP MICROBIOME IN SITU USING PLANT-MICROBE COMMUNICATION AND METABOLITES The plant rhizosphere is a critical interface where plant roots interact intimately with soil microbial communities. The application of microbial inoculants is a way to manipulate the plant microbiome in situ, even if only temporarily, as it aims to increase the abundance of beneficial biocontrol and/or plant growth-promoting microbes. [Extracted from the article]