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The provision of sustainable housing should factor energy efficiency, the use of sustainable building methods and materials and address the current associated barriers. This consideration triggered an ongoing study in UK which has so far conducted a bibliometric analysis of 275 papers using the VOSviewer software. More papers have been published in the last 5 years compared to the previous 15, and the UK is less engaged in successful collaborations in comparison to other economically developed nations. The lesser use of innovation in the UK has been identified. Also, the uses of sustainable methods and materials in residential housing are not fully exploited for achieving energy efficiency. A future research direction emerging is the potential to study the combined impact of using innovative materials and methods to achieve greater energy efficiency in UK housing provision. Through technological innovations and the need to move from fossil fuels (for example, through the use of heat pumps) a new approach can move the UK closer to achieving net-zero in housing provision and operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The move away from transmission-based lecturing toward a more student-centred active learning approach is well evidenced in STEM higher education. However, the examination of active learning has generally remained confined to formal timetabled contexts, with assumptions made that students independently manage the transition between timetabled and non-timetabled learning. This paper introduces research findings from a mixed methods study that used an ecological approach when investigating student transitions between a formal lecture theatre and adjacent informal breakout space in a UK STEM university. Using quantitative occupancy monitoring data to analyse usage patterns of both spaces, in combination with qualitative ethnographic observations and field interviews, permitted a purposeful exploration of student engagement with transitions within and between the two learning spaces. The ecological approach aided the discovery of spatial, pedagogic and agentic transitions and tensions, which subsequently informed strategic modification of space across the institution to facilitate the adoption of active learning pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs the scientific econometric analysis approach to review 705 academic publications related to Fintech from 2006 to 2021. The historical evolution, latest status and development trend of FinTech research are identified by co-authorship networks, co-citation networks and timeline evolution. CiteSpace software is applied to conduct the literature analysis. The results show that the scientometric analysis based on CiteSpace is a practical approach to review the development of financial technology. The rapidly increasing number of publications confirms the vitality of the FinTech field. China, the USA, the UK, Australia and South Korea are the most productive countries in the FinTech field. In contrast, the UK is the country with the highest degree of inter-country cooperation. The analysis results of citation bursts and timeline evolution on FinTech research provide the trends of FinTech research in discipline categories and keywords. Finally, four frontier research streams of FinTech are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat pumps are a solution for decarbonising home heating in the UK. However, the readiness of UK homes for heat pumps is an area of concern regarding the policies aimed at increasing heat pump adoption. This work combines multiple perspectives in evaluating the technical readiness of homes with the market readiness of installers and homeowners to proceed with installing heat pumps. The effectiveness of past heating and energy efficiency policies in the UK are reviewed, along with building regulations, incentives to promote energy efficiency and the effectiveness of heat pump technology in heating homes. Current policies support the cost of a heat pump but home improvements to make homes 'heat pump-ready' can be necessary to achieve optimal heat pump system performance. This paper suggests the UK will face three major challenges. First, analysis highlights an 'eligibility-readiness gap' describing the difference between homes 'eligible' (50%) for the Government's Boiler Upgrade Scheme—a subsidy for heat pump installations—and the likely level of homes that are heat pump-ready (11%) for successful heat pump installations. Second, semi-structured interviews with heat pump installers identified gaps in capacity to deliver the necessary works to make homes heat pump-ready. As small or medium enterprises, the majority of installers do not currently see adding home improvement services to their existing business model as beneficial. All installers highlighted the need for Government to address the cost of electricity relative to gas. Third, a national survey of homeowners in England with gas boilers (n = 1,021) revealed low awareness of the necessary work to make homes heat pump-ready and low willingness to spend money on them unless supported by Government. This paper shows that the processes and costs involved in making homes heat pump-ready before successful design and installation are underappreciated by homeowners, inadequately served by industry, and insufficiently supported by Government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With many of the world's governments committing to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by mid-century, with well-defined milestones along the road, it is important to investigate how each sector can contribute towards achieving this global goal. The manufacturing sector, with its energy-intensive processes, large amounts of wastes, and hazardous and harmful emissions, is one of the main contributors to global GHG emissions, as well as other sustainability aspects, and, thus, it has great potential to contribute substantially to achieve net-zero objectives. This paper presents a techno-environmental-economic analysis of technologies that can play a key, enabling and leading role in the quest towards net-zero. Such technologies typically bring modest improvement in the environmental performance; however, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate how such small changes, when implemented in an industrial setting, can contribute significantly to the collective improvement in the environmental performance. In order to put the potential improvements into perspective, a real case study from the UK aerospace manufacturing sector is conducted. In the case study, metrics measuring potential improvements from the installation of a low-to-medium waste heat recovery system, and the upgrade of electric motors in the shopfloor to more energy efficient ones, are calculated through environmental and economic models. The models are then subject to a series of sensitivity analyses experiments to help understand the impact of different sources of uncertainty on the perceived GHG emissions, and economic and energy savings. The techno-environmental-economic analysis results revealed that these small changes, when implemented in an industrial setting, can indeed bring valuable improvements in the environmental performance of a manufacturing institute. Further, the sensitivity analysis experiments demonstrated how the environmental and economic performances are not adversely affected by different levels of fluctuations in key, likely to fluctuate, input parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, a design for detecting harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS) was developed in the framework of the LifeWatch project using Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) loggers. In 2018, the network of deployments fully matured, and eight locations across the BPNS are presently housed with a C-POD (Chelonia Ltd., UK), a PAM logger moored on the seafloor using a multi-use platform. The PAM logger continuously listens for harbor porpoise click trains, but only stores the click parameters. This paper presents the generated data series of harbor porpoise click trains at a minute-resolution and the details on the individual click trains. The field recordings, methodology and processing are described, along with its data curation, integration and quality control. The data are annually published online in a standardized format, accompanied with the metadata description, and labelled with a digital object identifier for traceability. Data are published under a CC-BY license, allowing the use of data under the condition of providing reference to the original source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brundtland report has significantly influenced and guided sustainable development since its publication. There is abundant literature on how and to what degree the report and its incarnations (e.g. Agenda 21, Millennium Development Goals, Sustainable Development Goals) have been implemented at all spatial and governance scales. However, there is lesser literature on a quantitative determination and evaluation of the sustainability outcomes of implementing the report at a specified spatial–temporal scale. Therefore, this paper seeks to contribute towards remedying this, by determining and evaluating the indicated levels, nature, and dynamics of sustainability of the UK, for the period 2000–2018 from a Brundtland perspective. This is achieved by the application of the Sustainability Dynamics Framework to the results of the Sustainable Society Index. The results indicate that the sustainability of the UK improved from very weak to weak sustainability over the period. This was due to improvements in energy-related indicators which had a significant positive influence and impact upon sustainability outcomes. However, both the indicators of Population Growth and Public Debt were indicated as having a significant negative influence and impact upon the obtained levels and nature of sustainability. Furthermore, the Consumption indicator levels also had a significant detrimental influence upon the other indicators and sustainability over the period. The dynamics of sustainability occurring in the UK indicates the development of a more disturbed cycle of impacts upon the nature of the environment–human system and relationship. Therefore, unless corrective measures are taken through a fundamental transformational shift, then there is the realistic possibility of a systemic crisis occurring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The use of point of care ultrasound (PoCUS) in the management of musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders is a diverse area of PoCUS practice. Its use by clinicians, such as physiotherapists, can occur across a wide range of roles and care pathway configurations; however, professional, educational and regulatory uncertainties can leave clinicians, managers and patients at risk. Main body: A PoCUS framework approach (previously applied to support PoCUS consolidation and expansion) is used to frame these proposals. Central to this is the defining of (clinical and sonographic) scope of practice (ScoP). A number of indicative ScoPs are described to both (i) illustrate application of the principles and (ii) provide templates for ScoP derivations for individual services or clinicians. Image-guided MSK interventions are increasingly an aspect of MSK physiotherapy PoCUS. Given the utility of physiotherapists drawing upon their imaging to fully inform the selection (and performance) of such techniques, we present a rationale for competency in undertaking sonographic differentials as a pre-cursor to performing ultrasound image-guided MSK interventions. Alignment of ScoP with the relevant education and formal competency assessments are a cornerstone of the PoCUS framework approach; as such, key aspects of MSK PoCUS education and competency assessment are outlined. Strategies for addressing such requirements in healthcare settings where formal provision is not accessible, are also presented. Governance considerations are aligned with the regulatory environment, including those pertaining to professional guidance and insurance considerations. In addition, generic quality assurance elements are emphasised, as core aspects of high-quality service provision. Whilst the paper clarifies the situation for MSK physiotherapists using PoCUS in the UK, prompts are provided to support other professional groups working in MSK services in the United Kingdom (UK) and MSK physiotherapists/physical therapists in other countries—to facilitate their application of the principles. Conclusion: Acknowledging the breadth of MSK physiotherapy PoCUS practice, this paper draws upon a framework approach to provide integrated ScoP, education/competency and governance solutions, along with mechanisms for other professions working with MSK PoCUS—and physiotherapists/physical therapists outside of the UK—to consolidate and expand their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation intermediaries (IIs) have gained more attention in both industry and academia since they are recognized as crucial actors that can facilitate the innovation process. This paper presents a systemic review of the academic research on IIs and suggests future research directions. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of 556 documents from the Web of Science with Bibliometrix. The results show that IIs have experienced a surge of publications over the past three decades, with the UK and the US leading in productivity and influence. Although research on IIs occurs globally, cross-national collaboration is lacking, especially between authors of developed and developing countries. Our keyword co-occurrence analysis identified three major research clusters represented by innovation performance, knowledge networks, and technology transfer, which are also reflected in different stages of thematic evolution. Furthermore, we conducted a content analysis of the most influential articles across multiple disciplines and different time slices to identify the key discipline interests and provide a comprehensive picture of research themes over the years. We conclude by suggesting four potential avenues for future research. Our work provides an essential overview for understanding this critical field and serves as a valuable resource for policymakers and practitioners interested in IIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seafood fraud is commonly reported on food fraud databases and deceptive practices are highlighted by numerous studies, with impacts on the economy, health and marine conservation. Food fraud assessments are a widely accepted fraud mitigation and prevention activity undertaken to identify possible points of deception within a supply chain. This study aims to understand the food fraud vulnerability of post-harvest seafood supply chains in the UK and determine if there are differences according to commodity, supply chain node, business size and certification status. The SSAFE food fraud vulnerability assessment tool was used to assess 48 fraud factors relating to opportunities, motivations and controls. The analysis found seafood supply chains to have a medium vulnerability to food fraud, with the highest perceived vulnerability in technical opportunities. Certification status was a stronger determinant of vulnerability than any other factor, particularly in the level of controls, a factor that also indicated a higher perceived level of vulnerability in smaller companies and the food service industry. This paper also reviews historic food fraud trends in the sector to provide additional insights and the analysis indicates that certain areas of the supply chain, including uncertified prawn supply chains, salmon supply chains and food service companies, may be at higher risk of food fraud. This study conducts an in-depth examination of food fraud vulnerability relating to the UK and for seafood supply chains and contributes to a growing body of literature identifying areas of vulnerability and resilience to food related criminality within the global food system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have studied political ideology and polarization in many different contexts since their effects are usually closely related to aspects and actions of individuals and societies. Hence, being able to estimate and measure the changes in political ideology and polarization is crucial for researchers, stakeholders, and the general public. In this paper, we model the ideology and polarization of 28 countries (the 27 EU member states plus the UK) using Facebook public posts from political parties' Facebook pages. We collected a three-year dataset from 2019 to 2021 with information from 234 political parties' Facebook pages and took advantage of the EU parliament elections of May 2019 to create our models. Our methodology works across 28 countries and benefits from being a low-cost running process that measures ideology and polarization at a high-resolution time scale. The results show our models are pretty accurate when validating them against 19 individual countries' elections as ground truth. Moreover, to make our results available to the research community, stakeholders, and individuals interested in politics, the last contribution of our paper is a website including detailed information about the political parties in our dataset. It also includes the temporal evolution of our ideology and polarization estimations. Therefore, our work delivers a novel tool that uses Facebook public data to create country metrics useful for different purposes. To the best of our knowledge, there is no prior work in the literature offering a solution that measures the ideology and polarization of all EU + UK countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerial image data are becoming more widely available, and analysis techniques based on supervised learning are advancing their use in a wide variety of remote sensing contexts. However, supervised learning requires training datasets which are not always available or easy to construct with aerial imagery. In this respect, unsupervised machine learning techniques present important advantages. This work presents a novel pipeline to demonstrate how available aerial imagery can be used to better the provision of services related to the built environment, using the case study of road traffic collisions (RTCs) across three cities in the UK. In this paper, we show how aerial imagery can be leveraged to extract latent features of the built environment from the purely visual representation of top-down images. With these latent image features in hand to represent the urban structure, this work then demonstrates how hazardous road segments can be clustered to provide a data-augmented aid for road safety experts to enhance their nuanced understanding of how and where different types of RTCs occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of remote measurement technologies (RMTs) across mobile health (mHealth) studies is becoming popular, given their potential for providing rich data on symptom change and indicators of future state in recurrent conditions such as major depressive disorder (MDD). Understanding recruitment into RMT research is fundamental for improving historically small sample sizes, reducing loss of statistical power, and ultimately producing results worthy of clinical implementation. There is a need for the standardisation of best practices for successful recruitment into RMT research. The current paper reviews lessons learned from recruitment into the Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse- Major Depressive Disorder (RADAR-MDD) study, a large-scale, multi-site prospective cohort study using RMT to explore the clinical course of people with depression across the UK, the Netherlands, and Spain. More specifically, the paper reflects on key experiences from the UK site and consolidates these into four key recruitment strategies, alongside a review of barriers to recruitment. Finally, the strategies and barriers outlined are combined into a model of lessons learned. This work provides a foundation for future RMT study design, recruitment and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many surveys ask participants to retrospectively record their location of birth. This paper examines the accuracy of such data in the UK Biobank using a sample of full siblings. Comparison of reported birth locations for siblings with different age gaps allows us to estimate the probabilities of household moves and of misreported birth locations. Our first contribution is to show that there are inaccuracies in retrospective birth location data, showing a sizeable probability of misreporting, with 28% of birth coordinates, 16% of local districts and 6% of counties of birth being incorrectly reported. Our second contribution is to show that such error can lead to substantial attenuation bias when investigating the impacts of location-based exposures, especially when there is little spatial correlation and limited time variation in the exposure variable. Sibling fixed effect models are shown to be particularly vulnerable to the attenuation bias. Our third contribution is to highlight possible solutions to the attenuation bias and sensitivity analyses to the reporting error. Many surveys ask participants to retrospectively record their location of birth. Here, the authors find misreporting in retrospective birth location data in UK Biobank using data from siblings, which can lead to bias in estimates of the impact of location-based exposures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the globe, governments are developing policies and strategies to reduce carbon emissions to address climate change. Monitoring the impact of governments' carbon reduction policies can significantly enhance our ability to combat climate change and meet emissions reduction targets. One promising area in this regard is the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in carbon reduction policy and strategy monitoring. While researchers have explored applications of AI on data from various sources, including sensors, satellites, and social media, to identify areas for carbon emissions reduction, AI applications in tracking the effect of governments' carbon reduction plans have been limited. This study presents an AI framework based on long short-term memory (LSTM) and statistical process control (SPC) for the monitoring of variations in carbon emissions, using UK annual CO2 emission (per capita) data, covering a period between 1750 and 2021. This paper used LSTM to develop a surrogate model for the UK's carbon emissions characteristics and behaviours. As observed in our experiments, LSTM has better predictive abilities than ARIMA, Exponential Smoothing and feedforward artificial neural networks (ANN) in predicting CO2 emissions on a yearly prediction horizon. Using the deviation of the recorded emission data from the surrogate process, the variations and trends in these behaviours are then analysed using SPC, specifically Shewhart individual/moving range control charts. The result shows several assignable variations between the mid-1990s and 2021, which correlate with some notable UK government commitments to lower carbon emissions within this period. The framework presented in this paper can help identify periods of significant deviations from a country's normal CO2 emissions, which can potentially result from the government's carbon reduction policies or activities that can alter the amount of CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For efficient operation, solar power operators often require generation forecasts for multiple sites with varying data availability. Many proposed methods for forecasting solar irradiance / solar power production formulate the problem as a time-series, using current observations to generate forecasts. This necessitates a real-time data stream and enough historical observations at every location for these methods to be deployed. In this paper, we propose the use of Global methods to train generalised models. Using data from 20 locations distributed throughout the UK, we show that it is possible to learn models without access to data for all locations, enabling them to generate forecasts for unseen locations. We show a single Global model trained on multiple locations can produce more consistent and accurate results across locations. Furthermore, by leveraging weather observations and measurements from other locations we show it is possible to create models capable of accurately forecasting irradiance at locations without any real-time data. We apply our approaches to both classical and state-of-the-art Machine Learning methods, including a Transformer architecture. We compare models using satellite imagery or point observations (temperature, pressure, etc.) as weather data. These methods could facilitate planning and optimisation for both newly deployed solar farms and domestic installations from the moment they come online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes recent developments in the British and European government bond markets with reference to the UK's decision to leave the European Union. The two main goals of the study are, firstly, to examine whether the Brexit referendum result has affected the risk premium and, secondly, whether there are any changes in risk pricing following the referendum. The paper finds a significant impact of the Brexit referendum on the risk premium in selected economies. Furthermore, the results suggest that there is a considerable change in risk pricing after the announcement of the referendum result. Credit default risk and the risk aversion play a much important role in the post-referendum period than they did prior to the vote, particularly in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the behaviour of the ubiquitous twisted pairs at high frequencies and wideband excitation of twisted pairs up to 12 GHz. Higher carrier frequencies on twisted pairs can enable the data rates required by the future communication networks; hence, the existing copper infrastructure can be utilised on the last mile complementing the fibre networks. In this paper, we show a fundamental limit on the operating frequency of twisted pairs beyond which twisted pairs start to radiate and behave like an antenna. To validate our theoretical derivations through measurements, we designed a microstrip balun to excite the differential mode on the twisted pairs. At the end, we demonstrate that the standard twisted pairs used in the UK can be used up to 5 GHz carrier frequency without any radiation effect and this upper-bound can be moved to higher frequencies by decreasing the twist lengths. This paper establishes a physical limit on the ability of the ubiquitous twisted pairs to support high speed internet. This limit due to radiation from the wire is theoretically explained as well as numerically simulated and experimentally measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests whether visual nudges help direct attention towards existing instructions designed to increase waste sorting accuracy. The study was conducted in a quasi-experimental setting over a period of 9 weeks in two buildings of a large UK university campus. Two treatments on recycling behaviour were tested against a control group: one considered the impact of visual nudges in the form of human eyes; the other one combined human eye with pre-existing sorting instructions. Results show that for mixed recycling the combination of visual and information nudges decreased sorting errors by 7 percentage points. In contrast, visual nudges alone increased sorting errors by 4.5 percentage points. These findings indicate that, when combined, information and a visual nudge are cost-effective tools to significantly improve waste sorting behaviour. This paper adds to existing experimental evidence based on neuroscientific theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies intergenerational links in home ownership, an increasingly important wealth marker and a measure of economic status in itself. Repeated cross sectional UK data show that home ownership rates have fallen rapidly over time, most markedly amongst younger people in more recent birth cohorts. Evidence from British birth cohorts data supplemented by the Wealth and Assets Survey show a significant rise through time in the intergenerational persistence of home ownership, as home ownership rates shrank disproportionately among those whose parents did not own their own home. Given the close connection between home ownership and wealth, these results on strengthening intergenerational persistence in home ownership are therefore also suggestive of a fall in intergenerational housing wealth mobility over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine the challenges of preventing internal identity theft related crimes (IIDTRC) in the UK retail sector. Using an in-depth multiple case studies of a selected number of cross-functional management teams in the UK retail companies, management roles were analysed. We used semi-structured interview as a qualitative data collection technique and used Nvivo aided thematic analysis and interpretivism underpinned by Role-Based Framework (RBF) for analysis. Our findings revealed that vagueness of roles and lack of clarity in sharing data security responsibilities are the major challenges of preventing IIDTRC in UK retail companies. We suggest an application of RBF which provides a conceptual analysis for cross-functional management team to address the challenges of preventing IIDTRC. RBF enables clarity of shared roles where both information security and crimes prevention teams work in unison is required to prevent IIDTRC to maximise internal data security. Contributions for policymakers are offered in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today many parties interact with members and supporters outside their national borders. One way parties do so is by establishing transnational party branches. However so far, there is a lack of theoretical and empirical research exploring this transnational aspect of party activity. This paper provides a first insight into why parties develop transnational branches, and how it affects their organization. It argues that the development of party branches abroad differs across countries due to the incentives provided by the national legal framework on voting and donations from abroad. In turn, the role and functions of the transnational branches vary depending on this legal framework. Looking at the two transnational branches of the two mainstream parties in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, this paper first briefly outlines the different national legal frameworks and the scope and size of transnational party branches. It then focuses on how they are organized, their role and function, and how this shapes their relationship to their homeland party. This explorative research is mainly based on legal and secondary data. The paper finds that the parties studied differ substantially in location, number and membership size for their transnational branches. Furthermore, the organizational links and the control by the national party over transnational party branches is the highest where parties have the most to gain in terms of votes in national elections and donations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is known that researchers need to contend with increasing demands in the evolving landscape of higher education in the UK, few studies have examined how academic researchers discursively construct their struggles. This paper explores the valuation discourses that academic researchers draw upon to construct and account for their struggles in the process of establishing themselves as academics. It strives to answer the question: What kinds of struggles do academics face when positioning themselves and their research in relation to disciplines? What kinds of valuation discourses do academic researchers draw upon to position themselves as academics working in certain disciplines? The data comes from my PhD research, where I conducted 30 qualitative interviews with academic researchers ranging from PhD students, early career researchers to Professors Emeriti, who work in applied linguistics and language-related fields in UK universities. This paper focuses on two case studies of academics who positioned themselves as "mavericks" or who resist being pigeonholed in one discipline. In order to provide some comparative basis, the two case studies come from two ends of the academic career spectrum. I examine how they constructed their struggles with positioning themselves in relation to disciplines, and the kinds of valuation discourses evoked in the process. The paper proposes a model that conceptualizes how disciplinary positioning struggles are constructed by discursive acts and in the process, produce and reinforce valuation discourses about academic disciplines. Embedded in these disciplinary positioning struggles, researchers employed academic categories (Angermuller, 2017. High Educ 73(6):963–980) and evoked valuation discourses. The paper illustrates how academics hold valuation discourses about the kinds of disciplinary positioning practices that are valued, which may sometimes differ from the valuation discourses of fellow researchers, institutions and other stakeholders in higher education. The paper argues that such incongruence in valuation discourses between the individual and others result in positioning struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training automated trading agents is a long-standing topic that has been widely discussed in artificial intelligence for the quantitative finance. Reinforcement learning (RL) is designed to solve the sequential decision-making tasks, like the stock trading. The output of the RL is the policy which can be presented as the probability values of the possible actions based on a given state. The policy is optimized by the reward function. However, even if the profit is considered as the natural reward function, a trading agent equipped with an RL model has several serious problems. Specifically, profit is only obtained after executing sell action, different profits exist at the same time step due to the varying-length transactions and the hold action deals with two opposite states, empty or nonempty position. To alleviate these shortcomings, in this paper, we introduce a new trading action called wait for the empty position status and design the appropriate rewards to all actions. Based on the new action space and reward functions, a novel approach named Transaction-aware Inverse Reinforcement Learning (TAIRL) is proposed. TAIRL rewards all trading actions for avoiding the reward bias and dilemma. TAIRL is evaluated by backtesting on 12 stocks of US, UK and China stock markets, and compared against other state-of-art RL methods and moving average trading methods. The experimental results show that the agent of TAIRL achieves the state-of-art performance in profitability and anti-risk ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a new dataset combining the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and Understanding Society (UKHLS), this paper examines the current state of intergenerational income mobility in the UK. This extends previous evidence in several directions, with a focus on younger cohorts of individuals born between 1973 and 1992. I find evidence of considerable intergenerational persistence in the transmission of resources at the household level with an intergenerational elasticity of 0.26 and a rank coefficient of 0.30. This picture of mobility remains at the individual level and under a range of robustness tests that address traditional methodological concerns. While mobility is relatively low at the national level, I find meaningful differences in income mobility rates across the country. More generally, regions with lower income in the North of England display substantially lower levels of both relative and absolute income mobility than regions in the South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Besides far-reaching public health consequences, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant psychological impact on people around the world. To gain further insight into this matter, we introduce the Real World Worry Waves Dataset (RW3D). The dataset combines rich open-ended free-text responses with survey data on emotions, significant life events, and psychological stressors in a repeated-measures design in the UK over three years (2020: n = 2441, 2021: n = 1716 and 2022: n = 1152). This paper provides background information on the data collection procedure, the recorded variables, participants' demographics, and higher-order psychological and text-derived variables that emerged from the data. The RW3D is a unique primary data resource that could inspire new research questions on the psychological impact of the pandemic, especially those that connect modalities (here: text data, psychological survey variables and demographics) over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective public health surveillance requires consistent monitoring of disease signals such that researchers and decision-makers can react dynamically to changes in disease occurrence. However, whilst surveillance initiatives exist in production animal veterinary medicine, comparable frameworks for companion animals are lacking. First-opinion veterinary electronic health records (EHRs) have the potential to reveal disease signals and often represent the initial reporting of clinical syndromes in animals presenting for medical attention, highlighting their possible significance in early disease detection. Yet despite their availability, there are limitations surrounding their free text-based nature, inhibiting the ability for national-level mortality and morbidity statistics to occur. This paper presents PetBERT, a large language model trained on over 500 million words from 5.1 million EHRs across the UK. PetBERT-ICD is the additional training of PetBERT as a multi-label classifier for the automated coding of veterinary clinical EHRs with the International Classification of Disease 11 framework, achieving F1 scores exceeding 83% across 20 disease codings with minimal annotations. PetBERT-ICD effectively identifies disease outbreaks, outperforming current clinician-assigned point-of-care labelling strategies up to 3 weeks earlier. The potential for PetBERT-ICD to enhance disease surveillance in veterinary medicine represents a promising avenue for advancing animal health and improving public health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Mental health problems are a leading and increasing cause of health-related burden in children across the world. Peer support interventions are increasingly used to meet this need using the lived experience of people with a history of mental health problems. However, much of the research underpinning this work has focused on adults, leaving a gap in knowledge about how these complex interventions may work for different children in different circumstances. Realist research may help us to understand how such complex interventions may trigger different mechanisms to produce different outcomes in children. This paper reports on an important first step in realist research, namely the construction of an embryonic initial programme theory to help 'focus' realist evaluation exploring how children's peer support services work in different contexts to produce different outcomes in the West Midlands (UK). Methods: A survey and preliminary semi-structured realist interviews were conducted with 10 people involved in the delivery of peer support services. Realist analysis was carried out to produce context-mechanism-outcome configurations (CMOC). Results: Analysis produced an initial programme theory of peer support for children's mental health. This included 12 CMOCs. Important outcomes identified by peer support staff included hope, service engagement, wellbeing, resilience, and confidence; each generated by different mechanisms including contextualisation of psychoeducation, navigating barriers to accessing services, validation, skill development, therapeutic relationship, empowerment, and reducing stigma. Conclusion: These data lay the groundwork for designing youth mental health realist research to evaluate with nuance the complexities of what components of peer support work for whom in varying circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing interest in the nature and possible extent of de-globalization. This paper explores the impact that protectionist measures have on multinational enterprise (MNE) reshoring back to the UK. Besides taking into account the global trends indicating a return to protectionism, the existing literature highlights various firm-level and structural country-level determinants of reshoring decisions. We test a conceptual model with parent-subsidiary firm-level data for the period 2009 to 2017. We conclude that firms that are more sensitive to wage costs in their overseas subsidiaries were more likely to reshore. We did not find that more capital-intensive firms had a higher propensity to reshore. We find that our results are mostly driven from UK MNEs with subsidiaries in EU. This result has clear implications for a potential Brexit effect. Theoretically, we base our findings in transactional cost economics to help explain why different types of firms behave in the way they do, and why different types of firms may respond in quite different ways to the same mix of institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the knowledge and information needed for enabling high-quality clinical research is stored in free-text format. Natural language processing (NLP) has been used to extract information from these sources at scale for several decades. This paper aims to present a comprehensive review of clinical NLP for the past 15 years in the UK to identify the community, depict its evolution, analyse methodologies and applications, and identify the main barriers. We collect a dataset of clinical NLP projects (n = 94; £ = 41.97 m) funded by UK funders or the European Union's funding programmes. Additionally, we extract details on 9 funders, 137 organisations, 139 persons and 431 research papers. Networks are created from timestamped data interlinking all entities, and network analysis is subsequently applied to generate insights. 431 publications are identified as part of a literature review, of which 107 are eligible for final analysis. Results show, not surprisingly, clinical NLP in the UK has increased substantially in the last 15 years: the total budget in the period of 2019–2022 was 80 times that of 2007–2010. However, the effort is required to deepen areas such as disease (sub-)phenotyping and broaden application domains. There is also a need to improve links between academia and industry and enable deployments in real-world settings for the realisation of clinical NLP's great potential in care delivery. The major barriers include research and development access to hospital data, lack of capable computational resources in the right places, the scarcity of labelled data and barriers to sharing of pretrained models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused fluctuations in electricity demand, altering people's lifestyles and electricity usage patterns, thereby affecting the accuracy of demand predictions. However, existing studies on electricity forecasting have not adequately considered the incorporation of COVID-19-related features and the analysis of electricity usage characteristics across different regions of the UK. Therefore, this paper, based on data of the UK's national electricity demand, conducts an analysis around the scenario of a large-scale health emergency in society. We explore the changing patterns and regional characteristics of electricity consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic, comparing the forecast results before and during the pandemic to illustrate its impact on the UK's electricity demand. By introducing COVID-19-related features into the models, we compare the forecast results before and after their inclusion. The results indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a certain impact on the electricity prediction in the UK, leading to a 22.8% decrease in prediction accuracy. However, the models' correlation improved with the inclusion of COVID-19-related features, resulting in a 13.2% enhancement in prediction accuracy compared to the previous models. Additionally, the study summarizes other factors influencing electricity demand, such as power imports/exports and clean energy usage, as considerations for electricity distribution planning. This contributes to improving the accuracy of predicting the UK's electricity demand during COVID-19 pandemic, enabling the government to adjust power dispatching plans reasonably based on relevant factors, achieving rational distribution and efficient scheduling of power resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out the rationale and process for the interviewing methodology utilized during a 3-year research pilot, 'Moving Health Upstream in Urban Development' (UPSTREAM). The project had two primary aims: firstly, to attempt to value economically the health cost benefits associated with the quality of urban environments and secondly, to engage with those in control of urban development in the UK in order to determine what are the barriers to and opportunities for creating healthy urban environments, including those identified through the utilisation of economic valuation. Engagement at senior level with those who have most control over key facets of planning and development implementation-such as land disposal, investment, development delivery and planning permission-was central to the approach, which encompassed the adoption of 'elite interviewing', a method developed in the USA in the 1950s and used in the political sciences but relatively unutilized in the health and environmental sciences [1]. Two rounds of semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 15 senior decision-makers from the UK's main urban development delivery agencies, both public and private. The 'elite interviewing' approach successfully enabled the UPSTREAM project to capture and analyse the information received from the interviewees, all of whom held influential or leadership posts in organisations that are important actors in the process of planning, developing and constructing the built environment in the UK. Having academic and practitioner research leads on an equal footing created some minor tensions, but it also appeared to strengthen the rigor of the approach through a broad knowledge of context 'in-house'. This form of co-production at times challenged academic traditions in qualitative analysis, but it also appeared to build trust with interviewees and provided greater clarity of the real-world context under investigation. Findings from this study are written up in a separate paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out the main findings from two rounds of interviews with senior representatives from the UK's urban development industry: the third and final phase of a 3-year pilot, Moving Health Upstream in Urban Development' (UPSTREAM). The project had two primary aims: firstly, to attempt to value economically the health cost-benefits associated with the quality of urban environments and, secondly, to interview those in control of urban development in the UK in order to reveal the potential barriers to, and opportunities for, the creation of healthy urban environments, including their views on the use of economic valuation of (planetary) health outcomes. Much is known about the 'downstream' impact of urban environments on human and planetary health and about how to design and plan healthy towns and cities ('midstream'), but we understand relatively little about how health can be factored in at key governance tipping points further 'upstream', particularly within dominant private sector areas of control (e.g. land, finance, delivery) at sub-national level. Our findings suggest that both public and private sector appeared well aware of the major health challenges posed by poor-quality urban environments. Yet they also recognized that health is not factored adequately into the urban planning process, and there was considerable support for greater use of non-market economic valuation to help improve decision-making. There was no silver bullet however: 110 barriers and 76 opportunities were identified across a highly complex range of systems, actors and processes, including many possible points of targeted intervention for economic valuation. Eight main themes were identified as key areas for discussion and future focus. This findings paper is the second of two on this phase of the project: the first sets out the rationale, approach and methodological lessons learned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenges of weak economic growth, population decline, and labour shortages led many countries across the world to introduce immigration policy changes in order to attract foreign migrants. This paper focuses on Japan (Tokyo) and the UK (Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow) given common concerns over long term demographic trends and the burgeoning lack of labour supply in particular sectors of the economy through use of foreign labour. The paper shifts the focus from efforts focused on attracting and selecting foreign labour to the retention of such individuals. Drawing on research with EU migrants in Japan and the UK, the paper highlights how staying may occur after a period of mobility, rather than only being of relevance to those who never left their home region. The paper develops a new conceptual framework, which helps to identify different dimensions that shape migrant staying as a temporal process. It is highlighted how staying is shaped incrementally and facilitated or undermined over time in relation to the reciprocal importance of diverse assets, anchors and the changing biographies of migrants and the places in which they live – as well as the relational aspects of migrants' 'linked lives'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of convergent media and the film, Windrush Betrayal (2020), in representing and challenging borders, mobilities and UK government immigration policies. Print and digital news provide important contexts for exploring media geographies of current events. Documentary film is also a provocative medium for investigative analyses that go beyond more general headline reporting. This study seeks to expand on earlier studies by examining how complementary mediums such as digital news media and film can respond to each other and become part of dynamic transnational conversations around place and identity. Media formats have been pushed to incorporate new settings and styles as Covid-19 restrictions have been implemented and alternative approaches utilised in media production. Adopting innovative techniques for filming in response to pandemic restrictions, Windrush Betrayal illustrates the ongoing impacts of immigration policies on Caribbean Diaspora populations in the UK. This paper provides a timely opportunity to tease out the ways in which changes in government immigration policies, media work practices and the production of migration narratives can highlight hidden geographical stories and marginalised voices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National COVID-19 Chest Imaging Database (NCCID) is a centralized UK database of thoracic imaging and corresponding clinical data. It is made available by the National Health Service Artificial Intelligence (NHS AI) Lab to support the development of machine learning tools focused on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). A bespoke cleaning pipeline for NCCID, developed by the NHSx, was introduced in 2021. We present an extension to the original cleaning pipeline for the clinical data of the database. It has been adjusted to correct additional systematic inconsistencies in the raw data such as patient sex, oxygen levels and date values. The most important changes will be discussed in this paper, whilst the code and further explanations are made publicly available on GitLab. The suggested cleaning will allow global users to work with more consistent data for the development of machine learning tools without being an expert. In addition, it highlights some of the challenges when working with clinical multi-center data and includes recommendations for similar future initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we characterize the performance of linear models trained via widely-used sparse machine learning algorithms. We build polygenic scores and examine performance as a function of training set size, genetic ancestral background, and training method. We show that predictor performance is most strongly dependent on size of training data, with smaller gains from algorithmic improvements. We find that LASSO generally performs as well as the best methods, judged by a variety of metrics. We also investigate performance characteristics of predictors trained on one genetic ancestry group when applied to another. Using LASSO, we develop a novel method for projecting AUC and correlation as a function of data size (i.e., for new biobanks) and characterize the asymptotic limit of performance. Additionally, for LASSO (compressed sensing) we show that performance metrics and predictor sparsity are in agreement with theoretical predictions from the Donoho-Tanner phase transition. Specifically, a future predictor trained in the Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative for asthma can achieve an AUC of 0. 63 (0.02) and for height a correlation of 0. 648 (0.009) for a Taiwanese population. This is above the measured values of 0. 61 (0.01) and 0. 631 (0.008) , respectively, for UK Biobank trained predictors applied to a European population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Point of care ultrasound (PoCUS) has the potential to provide a step change in the management of patients across a range of healthcare settings. Increasingly, healthcare practitioners who are not medical doctors are incorporating PoCUS into their clinical practice. However, the professional, educational and regulatory environment in which this occurs is poorly developed, leaving clinicians, managers and patients at risk. Main body: Drawing upon existing medical and non-medical literature, the authors present a proposed framework for the use of PoCUS. Throughout, mechanisms for applying the principles to other professionals and healthcare settings are signposted. Application of the framework is illustrated via one such group of healthcare practitioners and in a particular healthcare setting: respiratory physiotherapists in the UK. In defining the point of care LUS scope of practice we detail what structures are imaged, differentials reported upon and clinical decisions informed by their imaging. This is used to outline the educational and competency requirements for respiratory physiotherapists to safely and effectively use the modality. Together, these are aligned with the regulatory (professional, legal and insurance) arrangements for this professional group in the UK. In so doing, a comprehensive approach for respiratory physiotherapists to consolidate and expand their use of point of care LUS is presented. This provides clarity for clinicians as to the boundaries of their practice and how to train in the modality; it supports educators with the design of courses and alignment of competency assessments; it supports managers with the staffing of existing and new care pathways. Ultimately it provides greater accessibility for patients to safe and effective point of care lung ultrasound. For clinicians who are not respiratory physiotherapists and/or are not based in the UK, the framework can be adapted to other professional groups using point of care LUS as well as other point of care ultrasound (PoCUS) applications, thereby providing a comprehensive and sustainable foundation for PoCUS consolidation and expansion. Conclusion: This paper presents a comprehensive framework to support the use of point of care LUS by respiratory physiotherapists in the UK. Mechanisms to adapt the model to support a wide range of other PoCUS users are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the economic conditions (the "shocks") behind currency movements and show how that analysis can help address a range of questions, focussing on exchange rate pass-through to prices. We build on a methodology previously developed for the UK and adapt this framework so that it can be applied to a diverse sample of countries using widely available data. The paper provides three examples of how this enriched methodology can be used to provide insights into pass-through and other questions. First, it shows that exchange rate movements caused by monetary policy shocks consistently correspond to significantly higher pass-through than those caused by demand shocks in a cross-section of countries, confirming earlier results for the UK. Second, it shows that the underlying shocks (especially monetary policy shocks) are particularly important for understanding the time-series dimension of pass-through, while the standard structural variables highlighted in the previous literature are most important for the cross-section dimension. Finally, the paper explores how the methodology can be used to shed light on the effects of monetary policy and the debate on "currency wars": it shows that the role of monetary policy shocks in driving the exchange rate has increased moderately since the global financial crisis in advanced economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the nature of a curriculum as presented in formal curriculum documents, and the inherent difficulties of representing formal disciplinary knowledge in a prescription for teaching and learning. The general points are illustrated by examining aspects of a specific example, taken from the chemistry subject content included in the science programmes of study that are part of the National Curriculum in England (an official document published by the UK government). In particular, it is suggested that some statements in the official curriculum document are problematic if we expect a curriculum to represent canonical disciplinary knowledge in an unambiguous and authentic manner. The paper examines the example of the requirement for English school children to be taught that chemical reactions take place in only three different ways (i.e., proton transfer; electron transfer; electron sharing) and considers how this might be interpreted in terms of canonical chemistry and within the wider context of other curriculum statements, in order to make sense of neutralisation and precipitation reactions. It is argued that although target knowledge that is set out as the focus of teaching and learning cannot be identical to disciplinary knowledge, the English National Curriculum offers a representation of chemistry which distorts and confuses canonical ideas. It is suggested that the process of representing the disciplinary knowledge of chemistry as curriculum specifications is worthy of more scholarly attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an analysis of two independent, qualitative interview data sets: the first containing semi-structured interviews with mid-senior academics from across a range of disciplines at two research-intensive universities in Australia and the UK, collected between 2011 and 2013 (n = 51); and the second including pre- (n = 62), and post-evaluation (n = 57) interviews with UK REF2014 Main Panel A evaluators, this paper provides some of the first empirical work and the grounded uncovering of implicit (and in some cases explicit) gendered associations around impact generation and, by extension, its evaluation. In this paper, we explore the nature of gendered associations towards non-academic impact (Impact) generation and evaluation. The results suggest an underlying yet emergent gendered perception of Impact and its activities that is worthy of further research and exploration as the importance of valuing the ways in which research has an influence 'beyond academia' increases globally. In particular, it identifies how researchers perceive that there are some personality traits that are better orientated towards achieving Impact; how these may in fact be gendered. It also identifies how gender may play a role in the prioritisation of 'hard' Impacts (and research) that can be counted, in contrast to 'soft' Impacts (and research) that are far less quantifiable, reminiscent of deeper entrenched views about the value of different 'modes' of research. These orientations also translate to the evaluation of Impact, where panellists exhibit these tendencies prior to its evaluation and describe the organisation of panel work with respect to gender diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive Cities, a university led knowledge exchange initiative works in collaboration with six UK city administrations facilitating the development of their strategic and practical approach to the inclusion of newcomers in the city. The paper places this case study into the context of the UK's centralized asylum reception and resettlement policy framework, contrasting it with the increasing recognition of the importance of the local level in integration and inclusion policy and the intersections between these differing modes of governance and competencies. The paper explores emerging learning from the programme in relation to the leadership role of local government, its ability to act as a place shaper in relation to inclusion and integration and it role in convening partners through horizontal, place-based, networks as well as the ways in which this case study can contribute to wider learning on the role of knowledge exchange in facilitating social change and policy framing at the city level and learning on the multi-level governance of reception and integration. The paper explores how mutual knowledge exchange may create space for a broadening out of the policy framing in relation to reception – in particular how a 'newcomer' frame may support increased innovation at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates a methodology for flexible, dynamic systems modelling relevant to urban rail decarbonisation. Decarbonisation of urban rail is a vital component of policy and strategy to minimize anthropogenic emissions. Decarbonisation is a systems problem, however, that needs to reflect the interaction between components and processes. Dynamic computer modelling of systems for decarbonisation involves interfacing multiple models together and running them in parallel in order to observe and predict systems-level effects. This is challenging due to the diverse nature of models, achieving parallel model integration and concerns around intellectual property (IP). One solution is the multi-modelling paradigm, which supports integrated, diverse, secure interfacing of models. This paper demonstrates the application of the multi-modelling approach, using the INTO-CPS tool chain. A multi-model was developed comprising key components required for urban rail decarbonisation problems. This multi-model was tested for power consumption in four different scenarios with an example drawn from the Tyne and Wear Metro in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the United Kingdom. These scenarios compared combinations of decarbonisation intervention (baseline rolling stock versus lightweight, regenerative braking rolling stock and baseline driving style versus energy-efficient defensive driving style), generating different power consumption profiles for each. As such, this serves as a proof of the application of the multi-modelling approach and demonstrates a number of benefits for flexible and rapid systems modelling. This paper fills a knowledge gap by demonstrating a potentially valuable tool for future systems-level decarbonisation challenges in urban rail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a brief survey of the Series of Scientific Monographs "Stability and Control: Theory, Methods and Applications" published during 1995–2002 at the Gordon and Breach Science Publishers (UK) and the Taylor and Frances Publisher (USA). The Series comprises 22 volumes and is encyclopedic in the field of stability and control theories. Moreover, the history of appearance and realization of the idea of publishing the Series is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper simulates the likely fiscal and employment effects of a vast public annual investment programme of free universal high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) services in the UK. It examines the extent to which it would pay for itself fiscally for different scenarios of pay increases. Investing in high-quality universal ECEC benefits all children by improving their life chances, especially for those living in lower income families. It also generates larger employment effects than other more typical investment policies such as construction projects and fosters gender equality in employment: not only it provides many high-quality jobs for women, it also allows many mothers to improve their lifetime earnings prospects by freeing up their childcare constraints. This in turn has beneficial fiscal revenue effects for the government. Estimations of annual public expenditure for a system of highly qualified and well-paid childcare staff with low child-to-staff ratios are performed, with universal coverage for all pre-school children aged 6 months to 4.5 years. Labour demand and matching supply effects are also simulated using input–output methods, for different take-up rates of the programme. A microsimulation tool is used to calculate increases in household income and tax liabilities and decreases in social security benefits spending. This results in a net annual funding requirement of between 28 and 39% of the gross investment. Two funding methods are then explored: raising taxation in a progressive way and recouping the cost over time from persistent mothers' increased earnings. The former would entail a net additional contribution by the richest 20% of households of at most 0.4% of their income; the latter would require 21 to 31 years to offset the programme on average, which is within a typical working life-course following a first child's birth, of 35 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gender wage gap and the gender work gap are sizable, persistent and well documented for many countries. The result of the gender wage and gender work gap combined is an income gap between men and women. A small literature has begun to examine how the tax-benefit system contributes to closing gender income gaps by redistributing between men and women. In this paper, we study the effect of tax-benefit policy on gender differences in income in the EU27 countries and the UK. We use microsimulation models linked to survey data to estimate gender gaps in market income (before taxes and transfers) and disposable income (after taxes and transfers) for each country. We then decompose the difference between the gender gap in market income and the gender gap in disposable income into the relative contribution of taxes and benefits in each country. We also isolate the relative contributions of the gender wage gap and the gender work gap to the overall gap in income between men and women in two of these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vehicle emissions testing programme was conducted by the UK Department of Transport in 2016 in response to emissions tampering exposed in the Volkswagen (VW) emissions scandal. The programme identified large emissions discrepancies between real-world and in-lab testing across a range of Euro 5 and Euro 6 diesel passenger vehicles. The large vehicle test fleet reflects the current challenges faced in controlling vehicle emissions. This paper presents the following findings: NOx emissions are altered due to exhaust gas recirculation mismanagement. A new Real-Life Emissions methodology is introduced to improve upon the current Real Driving Emissions standard. A large and concerning emissions divergence was discovered between the achieved NOx improvement and deterioration of CO2. The findings act as catalysts to improve vehicle emissions testing beyond standards established since the VW scandal, aiding in the development of better climate change mitigation strategies and bring tangible air quality improvements to the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve sustainable development worldwide, the United Nations set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for humanity to reach by 2030. Society is involved in the challenge, with firms playing a crucial role. Thus, a key question is to what extent firms engage with the SDGs. Efforts to map firms' contributions have mainly focused on analysing companies' reports based on limited samples and non-real-time data. We present a novel interdisciplinary approach based on analysing big data from an online social network (Twitter) with complex network methods from statistical physics. By doing so, we provide a comprehensive and nearly real-time picture of firms' engagement with SDGs. Results show that: (1) SDGs themes tie conversations among major UK firms together; (2) the social dimension is predominant; (3) the attention to different SDGs themes varies depending on the community and sector firms belong to; (4) stakeholder engagement is higher on posts related to global challenges compared to general ones; (5) large UK companies and stakeholders generally behave differently from Italian ones. This paper provides theoretical contributions and practical implications relevant to firms, policymakers and management education. Most importantly, it provides a novel tool and a set of keywords to monitor the influence of the private sector on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green Infrastructure (GI) research tends to focus on the need for GI to enhance ecological processes, its potential to provide health and economic benefits, and on the barriers preventing its uptake. Yet there has been inadequate focus on the social aspects of GI. In the United Kingdom (UK) the need for GI is well established, such that policymakers and planners are now turning to the question of how GI should be implemented. Drawing on a mixed method research approach centring on practitioner experience, this paper identifies potential social principles that underpin GI and questions the extent to which these are being implemented in the UK. Results highlight the hitherto unexplored complexities of GI maintenance, the effects of austerity politics, and the role of local-level power dynamics on the implementation of GI. Findings have implications for international literature on GI as well as nature-based solutions more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against a long trend decline in the membership of political parties in Western democracies, there has been an unexpected surge in the UK since 2015. Interestingly, this phenomenon has also been observed amongst British expatriates, despite their historically very low levels of engagement. Our paper explores this development using a multi-methods approach to investigate its impact across the three main parties, comparing the relative importance of supply-side and demand-side factors in each case. We show that the creation and development of British parties abroad are the result of two contrasting dynamics: a top-down one, which gives legitimacy and structure and in some cases, resources, and a bottom-up one, which gives purpose but also networks. Our survey of British expatriate party members reveals a diversity of triggers and motivations for membership, making an original contribution to the wider literature on party membership and on the political engagement of emigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]