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A collaborative partnership is developing a values-based indicator framework for use by civil society organizations (CSOs). A key sub-study on the relevance and usability of such indicators was carried out through an action research process with a CSO and it was found that: 1) it was, indeed, possible to develop useful and relevant indicators for the presence of CSO values; 2) it was not useful to tie each indicator to only one value; 3) the indicators were more ‘universal’ than the values for which they had been derived; 4) these indicators were not considered valid by the user CSO without being ‘localized’; 5) the use of our values-based framework caused substantive transformational learning within this CSO. The importance of these findings to studies on values and to design issues central to formal values-based measurement work, such as face validity and catalytic validity, is drawn out. The principles of emancipatory action research used are shown to be key to the results, which themselves form foundational elements that led to key and significant understandings and modifications of the values-based framework. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Birth weight within the normal range is associated with a variety of adult-onset diseases, but the mechanisms behind these associations are poorly understood1. Previous genome-wide association studies identified a variant in the ADCY5 gene associated both with birth weight and type 2 diabetes, and a second variant, near CCNL1, with no obvious link to adult traits2. In an expanded genome-wide association meta-analysis and follow-up study (up to 69,308 individuals of European descent from 43 studies), we have now extended the number of genome-wide significant loci to seven, accounting for a similar proportion of variance to maternal smoking. Five of the loci are known to be associated with other phenotypes: ADCY5 and CDKAL1 with type 2 diabetes; ADRB1 with adult blood pressure; and HMGA2 and LCORL with adult height. Our findings highlight genetic links between fetal growth and postnatal growth and metabolism.

Transformative learning is considered a cornerstone for advances in sustainability, because transformative shifts in perspective will be necessary for humankind to transition towards it. The theory of transformative learning (TL) has been considered in hundreds of applied studies in diverse fields, yet it remains descriptive and unable to prescribe which conditions and processes could reliably produce TL outcomes. Here an in-depth case study is used to investigate a candidate process from another field and unknown to TL researchers (called WeValue InSitu) which has been reported to regularly produce some forms of informally denoted 'transformative outcomes'. The goal is to determine if these formally qualify, because this would imply the standard WeValue InSitu process could be a reliable way to produce, and investigate, TL and TL outcomes (TLOs). Using grounded thematic open-coding of full transcripts of three sets of post-event interviews, compared against statements made prior to the event, it is shown unambiguously that four outcomes have formal TL nature, as shifts in meaning schemes, one of which developed into a wider shift of meaning perspective over three weeks. These findings indicate that the WeValue InSitu process can likely produce TLOs regularly and identifiably, offering a 'pedagogical laboratory' which can be used for systematic studies to link its sub-processes in detail to the TL outcomes it produces, allowing step-wise progress in theory-building. It also indicates that WeValue InSitu can be prescriptively applied, within its limitations such as maximum group sizes and specialist facilitators, to trigger TL in local groups of villagers, governance officers, environmental enthusiasts, community-based organizations and/or government committees, to become more focused and self-aware and more mobilized towards sustainability actions. This study thus opens the door to new research agenda in theory-building and applications of TL towards sustainability. • Transformative Learning nature of WeValue outcomes is demonstrated. • Evidence of significant prior reports of TLOs from WeValue processes. • WeValue can be a 'TL-laboratory' for systematic series of TL studies. • WeValue can assist studies of TL processes, context, and durability. • A limitation is WeValue 's current need for a specialist facilitator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International development work involves external partners bringing expertise, resources, and management for local interventions in LMICs, but there is often a gap in understandings of relevant local shared values. There is a widespread need to better design interventions which accommodate relevant elements of local culture, as emphasised by recent discussions in global health research regarding neo-colonialism. One recent innovation is the concept of producing 'cultural protocols' to precede and guide community engagement or intervention design, but without suggestions for generating them. This study explores and demonstrates the potential of an approach taken from another field, named WeValue InSitu, to generate local culturally-informed protocols. WeValue InSitu engages stakeholder groups in meaning-making processes which 'crystallize' their envelope of local shared values, making them communicable to outsiders. Our research context is understanding and reducing child stunting, including developing interventions, carried out at the Senegal and Indonesia sites of the UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub. Each national research team involves eight health disciplines from micro-nutrition to epigenetics, and extensive collection of samples and questionnaires. Local culturally-informed protocols would be generally valuable to pre-inform engagement and intervention designs. Here we explore generating them by immediately following the group WeValue InSitu crystallization process with specialised focus group discussions exploring: what local life practices potentially have significant influence on the environments affecting child stunting, and which cultural elements do they highlight as relevant. The discussions will be framed by the shared values, and reveal linkages to them. In this study, stakeholder groups like fathers, mothers, teachers, market traders, administrators, farmers and health workers were recruited, totalling 83 participants across 20 groups. Themes found relevant for a culturally-informed protocol for locally-acceptable food interventions included: specific gender roles; social hierarchies; health service access challenges; traditional beliefs around malnutrition; and attitudes to accepting outside help. The concept of a grounded culturally-informed protocol, and the use of WeValue InSitu to generate it, has thus been demonstrated here. Future work to scope out the advantages and limitations compared to deductive culture studies, and to using other formative research methods would now be useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary In recent decades, development discourse has increasingly acknowledged the importance of participation and ownership of development programs at the local level. As the discourse has advanced, terms such as community-driven development and community capacity-building (CCB) have become widely used and attracted significant funding. Yet, despite the prominent place CCB has come to occupy in development discourse and practice, relatively little attention has been given to the process of capacity-building at the level of the community, particularly as it is understood by key protagonists. The authors present a descriptive case-study of two CCB programs in Yunnan, China, examining how capacity is understood by the key protagonists at the level of individuals, institutions, and communities, and which capacities are identified as built at each level. The authors show that while there are expected differences in the perceptions of the CCB process and outcomes at different levels, there are also clear overlaps, and that capacities develop simultaneously at different levels, in an interactive and mutually reinforcing manner. The results suggest that the interconnection across levels may be very important to study further. This study helps fill a gap in the CCB literature and contributes insights that could improve the effectiveness of community development projects. In addition, it provides insight into the specific case of CCB in China, where literature has tended to focus on institutional capacity and relationships between civil society organizations and the government rather than process and outcomes at the community level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an easily obtained organic waste, by-product acetic acid could be an appropriate co-substrate with blue algae wastes (increase C/N ratio of substrates) for co-fermentation of PHA production. However, there are still acrylic acid and other chemicals in by-product acetic acid, which could cause severe inhibition for fermenting microorganisms during PHA production process. The current study represented that alkali pretreatment (pH level of 12) is a more favorable method compared with thermal pretreatment (80 ℃ for 30 min) for breaking cell walls of blue algae. It seemed that there was no synergistic effect of the combination of thermal and alkali pretreatment methods (temperature of 80 ℃ and pH level of 12). Optimal parameters during electro-fenton process for removal of inhibitors in by-product acetic acid were under current of 0.5 A, pH level of 3 and reaction time of 120 min. Both the highest dry weight of PHA and PHA concentration were achieved by applying blue algae and by-product acetic acid (after pretreatment) as co-substrates (mixed ratio of 3:1, stirring speed of 200 r/min, 24 h), indicating that using by-product acetic acid (after pretreatment) as co-substrate could increase C/N ratio and promote PHA production successfully. The current study could offer new insights for improving PHA production by co-fermentation. [Display omitted] • Alkali pretreatment is a more favorable method compared with thermal pretreatment. • There was no synergistic effect of the combination of thermal and alkali pretreatment. • Optimal parameters for removal of inhibitors in by-product acetic acid were determined. • By-product acetic acid (after pretreatment) as co-substrate could promote PHA production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although food loss and waste (FL&W) is high on China's national policy agenda, there is still little scientific information published about how much FL&W exists in China, what its impacts are, and what needs to be done to reduce it. Furthermore, what is known about FL&W across the various hotspots of China's food supply chain is not accessible in one place due to the tendency of scholars to focus on one part of the food chain depending on their disciplinary backgrounds, thereby making it difficult to obtain a 'comprehensive whole supply chain perspective'. Thus, this review provides an interdisciplinary collation of what is already known about FL&W in China. A systematic review of both English and Chinese databases followed PRISMA guidelines further complemented with a qualitative content analysis process uncovered 57 articles. The view revealed confounding factors such as an inconsistency of the definitions and calculation methods used to measure FL&W, and research gaps such as a lack of focus on the behavioral factors pertaining to waste, and the limited range of social innovations studied to reduce it. Thus, this review will help in the development of research agendas designed to advance efforts in this field. • 57 papers are reviewed to determine what is known about food loss and waste (FL&W). • There is scarce data on FL&W in the processing, distribution, and retail sectors. • Social norms impact waste generation but could be used to enact positive change. • The role of government interventions in various settings needs further analysis. • Multiple food supply chain actors must take action to measure and reduce FL&W now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Intangible local shared values were elicited and crystallized using WeValue InSitu. • Indicators effectively integrated into the SuRF-UK assessment framework. • Approach overcame challenges e.g. of intangibility, measurability and completeness. • WeValue InSitu provides clear audit trail of the localized indicator generation. • The need is shown for veto mechanism when scenarios cross acceptability boundaries. Sustainable development is a global aim, aided in its application by the use of social, environmental and economic indicators for monitoring, planning, and assessment. However, several significant weaknesses are reported which reveal the need for improvement of the social indicators such as problems of being difficult to localize; to measure, and to be complete; being less commonly used; and thus, leading to assessments which are unbalanced across the three domains. Here we demonstrate that a values-based approach called WeValue InSitu, previously known to reliably 'crystallize' local shared values, can be successfully used as a bolt-on process to produce localized social indicators for direct insertion into the SuRF-UK process. SuRF-UK is a widely used decision-support framework for sustainable remediation of brownfield sites, and we apply it here to a hypothetical scenario analysis for a real community in villages near a derelict Salt Lake in Nigeria. Results show the WeValue InSitu approach resolves the reported challenges of localized social indicators, does not introduce any new issues, and in addition provides a route for wider participation and auditability. The study shows that a mechanism of red-flag boundaries may need to be introduced into SuRF-UK to allow veto of unacceptable breaches of social issues by proposed scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, greater acknowledgement has been given to climate change as a cultural phenomenon. This paper takes a cultural lens to the topic of climate change, in which climate-relevant understandings are grounded in wider cultural, political and material contexts. We approach climate-relevant accounts at the level of the everyday, understood as a theoretically problematic and politically contested space This is in contrast to simply being the backdrop to mundane, repetitive actions contributing to environmental degradation and the site of mitigative actions. Taking discourse as a form of practice in which fragments of cultural knowledge are drawn on to construct our environmental problems, we investigate citizens' accounts of climate-relevant issues in three culturally diverse emerging economies: Brazil, South Africa and China. These settings are important because greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are predicted to significantly increase in these countries in the future. We conducted semi-structured interviews with a range of citizens in each country using a narrative approach to contextualise climate-relevant issues as part of people's lifestyle narratives. Participants overwhelmingly framed their accounts in the context of locally-salient issues, and few accounts explicitly referred to the phenomenon of climate change. Instead, elements of climate changes were conflated with other environmental issues and related to a wide range of cultural assumptions that influenced understandings and implied particular ways of responding to environmental problems. We conclude that climate change scholars should address locally relevant understandings and develop dialogues that can wider meanings that construct climate-relevant issues in vernacular ways at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflective practices (RPs) are recognized as fundamental for the conception, development, implementation and improvement of community-based development in international development. Despite acknowledgement that RPs are needed, the ways in which reflection can take place within Community Development (CD) contexts remains under-examined. In this study, the authors conduct a grounded thematic analysis of a values-based elicitation and articulation approach with three community organizations in order to: (i) identify specific elements in the processes of reflection; (ii) explore how identified themes relate to existing concepts within RPs literature, and any useful insights to CD contexts; (iii) explore the ways in which values-based elicitation approaches facilitate RPs. UK organisations are used for convenience, but the study is for transferable learning to international development. In their analysis, the authors identify four main themes: Reasoning (justification, articulation, recall), Active listening (nuanced expansion, replication), Collective articulation (semantic cooperation, semantic negotiations, semantic disagreements), and Tension (confusion, resistance). These highlight the multi-dimensional, non-linear nature of RPs, the importance of productive tensions, and the need for the facilitators enabling processes of RPs to develop skills such as active listening, working with tensions and deep semantic negotiations. Findings indicate this approach can open up new lines of investigation of mechanisms underlying RPs which could assist in planning reliably for them. Challenges and opportunities for further research are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A clean dataset tests recycling participation variation with distance. • Participation rates of recycling vary with distance: small, negative, significant. • Frequency of (non-zero) participation does not vary with distance. • Results are inconsistent with cost/benefit models and widespread assumptions. • Results suggest recycling field should use non-static models incorporating phases. The distance of recycling bins from households is often considered important by practitioners, but published evidence for this uses only indirect and self-reported data. This study aims to provide such evidence by obtaining a clean test using measured distances in a walled community with 1200 households with the same building types, local governance, recycling and waste arrangements. The number of deposits each month of food waste for recycling at a designated site are logged via smart-cards allocated per household. The number of days per month that each household deposits showed a highly significant - but small - negative correlation with distance of the bin: fewer householders participate if further away, accounting for 3% of the variation. Surprisingly, there is no variation with distance among those who do participate: their recycling frequency does not vary. This second result is not consistent with the first in terms of cost/benefit concepts assumed by government planners, nor with the static theories of behaviour currently used in waste management research. We recommend that recycling practitioners note the smallness of the contribution of distance to recycling performance, and not overrate it. And we recommend that researchers make better use of non-static models (which model different stages towards behaviour change), which our second result appears to call for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interdisciplinary research is called for to model integrated urban resilience across separate urban subsystems (infrastructure, governance, resources, socio-economic), and for chartering pathways toward an urban 'desirable state'. A core challenge is to determine the linkages between the subsystems. In this work, we demonstrate a novel approach by first constructing profiles of a desirable state, based on human shared values obtained empirically, and then use those to identify linkages naturally occurring between associated subsystems. We demonstrate the approach in two contrasting cities, Shanghai and Vienna, using WeValue InSitu methods to crystallize shared values and explore perspectives of urban disruption. The Desirable States of both cities provide elements with intrinsic strong linkages between urban subsystems, which can be represented with system dynamics mapping. These results reveal that this values-based approach contributes to modeling and studies of integrated urban resilience, for theory building and for applications. Construction of 'desirable states' (profiles) for urban resilience from group shared values in Vienna and Shanghai. [Display omitted] • A novel approach to produce integrated urban resilience subsystems is presented. • WeValue InSitu methods generate shared values-based profiles of 'desirable states'. • Elements of values-based desirable states have intrinsic linkages across subsystems. • Applications in contrasting cities of Shanghai and Vienna suggest transferability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Brownfield regeneration to soft reuse such as recreation and amenity has become increasingly common due to the demand for the potential environmental, social and economic benefits that it can deliver. This has led in turn to an increased demand for improved tools to support decision-making for this style of regeneration: tools which are simple to use, based on robust scientific principles and preferably which can ultimately link to quantitative or semi-quantitative cost-benefit analyses. This work presents an approach to assessing and comparing different scenarios for brownfield regeneration to soft reuse and other end-points. A "sustainability linkages" approach, based on sustainability assessment criteria produced by the UK Sustainable Remediation Forum (SuRF-UK), is developed and used in a refined qualitative sustainability assessment, and applied to develop a conceptual site model of sustainability, for a specific case study site (Port Sunlight River Park, U.K., a public leisure park established and maintained on a capped and managed former landfill site). Ranking, on an ex post basis, highlighted the clear sustainability advantages that the establishment of the Port Sunlight River Park has compared with a hypothetical non-development scenario. The conceptual site model provides a clearer basis for understanding cause and effect for benefits and disbenefits and a rationale for grouping individual effects based on their ease of valuation, providing a road map for cost-benefit assessments by (1) being able to match specific linkages to the most appropriate means of valuation, and (2) transparently connecting the sustainability assessment and cost benefit assessment processes. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • SuRF-UK published a framework and indicators for sustainable remediation 2010/11. • The SuRF-UK approach was applied retrospectively to a landfill reuse project. • Qualitative assessment shows benefits in developing the park on the former landfill. • Sustainability linkages were used to develop a site specific sustainability model. • This conceptual site model facilitates both qualitative and quantitative valuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethical values such as trust, compassion and equality are core to the way many pro-environmental organizations function, whether or not they claim these are key to their success. Mainstream sustainability indicators do not, however, explicitly acknowledge this values dimension. In this paper we describe a replicable approach that has successfully been used to develop values-based indicators and assessment tools within an emancipatory research paradigm, in an EU-funded project characterized by close partnership between civil society organizations (CSOs) and university-based research groups. We outline the methodology used to develop values-based indicators, and then demonstrate how the resulting indicators were used systematically to evaluate a national program of youth leadership within a large Mexican civil society organization promoting reforestation. We reflect on this illustrative example in relation to wider conversations about values and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PHAs are a form of cellular storage polymers with diverse structural and material properties, and their biodegradable and renewable nature makes them a potential green alternative to fossil fuel-based plastics. PHAs are obtained through extraction via various mechanical, physical and chemical processes after their intracellular synthesis. Most studies have until now focused on pure cultures, while information on mixed microbial cultures (MMC) remains limited. In this study, ultrasonic (US) disruption and alkaline digestion by NaOH were applied individually and in combination to obtain PHAs products from an acclimated MMC using phenol as the carbon source. Various parameters were tested, including ultrasonic sound energy density, NaOH concentration, treatment time and temperature, and biomass density. US alone caused limited cell lysis and resulted in high energy consumption and low efficiency. NaOH of 0.05–0.2 M was more efficient in cell disruption, but led to PHAs degradation under elevated temperature and prolonged treatment. Combining US and NaOH significantly improved the overall process efficiency, which could reduce energy consumption by 2/3rds with only minimal PHAs degradation. The most significant factor was identified to be NaOH dosage and treatment time, with US sound energy density playing a minor role. Under the semi-optimized condition (0.2 M NaOH, 1300 W L-1, 10 min), over 70% recovery and 80% purity were achieved from a 3 g L−1 MMC slurry of approximately 50% PHAs fraction. The material and thermal properties of the products were analyzed, and the polymers obtained from US + NaOH treatments showed comparable or higher molecular weight to previously reported results. The products also exhibited good thermal stability and rheological properties, compared to the commercial standard. In conclusion, the combined US and NaOH method has the potential in real application as an efficient process to obtain high quality PHAs from MMC, and cost-effectiveness can be further optimized. [Display omitted] • Ultrasonic (US) and alkaline digestion used to recover PHB from a mixed culture. • US disruption had limited effect of cell lysis and high energy consumption. • NaOH digestion was more efficient but led to PHA degradation under high temperature. • US + NaOH showed synergetic effect, reduced treatment time and energy consumption. • US + NaOH can be cost-effective after optimization, showing potential of scaling-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This work scopes the potential for existing common feedstocks to be used in existing types of anaerobic digester units to produce biogas in Bangladesh. A preliminary study identified three commonly occurring scenarios of smallholdings with cattle, poultry farms and daily cattle markets, which produce dung, poultry litter, and dung mixed with rice straw, respectively. This third feedstock is proposed as a novel and significant newly recognised prevalent source. The main study involved carrying out surveys of representative samples of each of these (N=125, 125, and 30) for the district of Gazipur in order to determine the distribution of herd and flock sizes, and thus the relevant biogas plant types and potential yields. The results were scaled up for nationwide figures, which approximated the total potential biogas energy from these feedstock types at 240×106 MJ (240TJ) per day, or 66.7×106 kWh, which in principle could meet the current cooking energy requirements of 30 million people in Bangladesh. Of this, 70% of the potential energy from AD could come from cattle feedstock (with 87% of this from domestic-sized plant); 16% from poultry feedstock (with 63% of this from medium-sized plant); and 14% from rice straw bedding from cattle markets (all requiring very large or extremely large plant). There is potential for around 2 million domestic units, 340,000 medium units and 19,000 large units, as well as 500 very large units that might be more suited for larger users such as businesses, schools or hospitals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Household and municipal solid waste (MSW) are difficult problems worldwide, but nowhere more than in the rapidly growing cities and super-cities where over half of the world's population now lives. An important mitigation is the diversion of reusable materials through sorting “at source” in the household, and in countries where most meal preparations occur at home, this includes sorting out food waste. In this paper we examine results from an early pilot scheme for food waste recycling in 100 communities in the metropolis of Shanghai, China, that has had limited success (28% diversion rates on average) and is ready for reflective changes. We consider different approaches in the literature designed to support sorting and reduction of MSW, such as law enforcement, top-down policies, community involvement and financial investment, and then explore which of these are present and missing in Shanghai. We find that there is considerable government support and willingness to make financial investment – about 1.37 million yuan per distract – but this is not as effective as it could be, apparently because of a traditional lack of rigorous use of data, of clarification of roles, and of supporting enforcement legislation. Even though financial investment is important and significant for the household waste sorting and reduction, it cannot produce results on its own. It should be targeted to appropriate stakeholders in the context of wider considerations to produce an overall environment for food waste recycling to become mainstream. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In trajectory tracking and interaction control of robots, two fundamentally different concepts define the boundaries within which most nonlinear model-based approaches can be located. On the one hand controllers such as the PD+ preserve the natural inertia and avoid feedback of external forces and torques. On the other hand controllers based on feedback linearization, as used in most inverse dynamics approaches, enforce linear closed-loop dynamics by means of external force/torque feedback. Here, these two basic concepts of keeping and shaping of the natural inertia are investigated and compared including aspects such as interaction behavior, tracking performance, tuning parameters, influence of modeling errors, and effective feedback gains. Exemplary case studies on a standard torque-controlled robot are performed. The understanding of these features and differences is of major importance for the proper selection and deployment of interaction and tracking controllers in practice. • Inertia shaping in robot control influences tracking and interaction performance. • Comparison between preservation and modification of the robot inertia is performed. • Experimental case studies demonstrate the effects of inertia shaping in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transformative learning is highly sought by practitioners and academics in sustainable development, education for sustainable development, and adult education, because it involves shifts in perspectives which can potentially underpin significant changes in worldviews and ways of learning. A practice-based design process for crystallizing local shared values, called WeValue InSitu , is already reported to regularly produce transformative learning (TL), but its lack of discipline- or theory-based origins means there are currently no ways to formalise its mechanisms. There is thus a need to conceptualize the sub-processes within it in order to provide a theoretical underpinning, and to extract key contributions to the production of transformative learning (TL). Here, Polanyi's fine-toothed micro-processes are used to analyse discourses from transcripts of a WeValue InSitu event to reveal patterns of meaning-making and meaning-checking cycles. Also identified are key facilitator actions of: redirecting, challenging, refocusing, reflecting back, and disentangling concepts. These findings allow a self-consistent conceptualization of the WeValue InSitu sub-processes and thus a formal methodology. Furthermore, these will lead to more widespread transferability and scaling-up of WeValue InSitu in the field, to meet demand for its known uses e.g. in climate change adaptation planning, sustainability assessments, and education. The reconceptualized sub-processes also contribute to wider TL research, since it will enable reliable TL production to replace fortuitous case studies. With that, there can now be a new TL research agenda for systematic studies e.g. of TL learning mechanisms and contextual influences on TL. • WeValue InSitu's Transformative Learning (TL) sub-processes are revealed. • TL sub-processes are shown to be collective meaning-making, -checking cycles. • Facilitator techniques which are key, are identified specifically. • Design steps are formally reconceptualized and articulated for use in training. • This conceptualization opens doors to accelerated theory-building in TL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) is an integral part of research, programme and policy development and implementation. However, MEL methods used to monitor and evaluate interdisciplinary research projects are often informal and under-reported. This article describes the MEL protocol of the UKRI GCRF Action Against Stunting Hub (AASH)., Methods and Analysis: The AASH conducts interdisciplinary research into childhood stunting in India, Indonesia and Senegal across 23 distinct work packages. Project-specific MEL framework and methods will be implemented. A logframe will be developed to monitor and evaluate the research activities across the field sites including the number of participants recruited, questionnaires, measurements and procedures completed. MEL dashboards using Tableau and Glasscubes will be used to track and report progress, milestones and outcomes of the project. Dashboard outputs will be reported as numbers and percentages, with additional graphs/charts for easy visualisation. A 'learning' framework will be developed to outline appropriate pipelines for the dissemination of the research findings. This includes a theory of change explicating the overarching ambitions of the project in influencing policy, practice and research, and strategic engagement of relevant stakeholders to evaluate knowledge, attitudes and best practices for impactful engagement and dissemination of the research findings., Ethics and Dissemination: Ethical approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (17915/RR/17513); National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR)-Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India (CR/04/I/2021); Health Research Ethics Committee, University of Indonesia and Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (KET-887/UN2.F1/ETIK/PPM.00.02/2019); and the National Ethics Committee for Health Research (CNERS), Senegal (Protocole SEN19/78). Findings from this work will be published in peer-reviewed journals, presented in conferences and disseminated to policy makers and research communities., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)

Introduction: Stunting is a significant and growing global problem that is resisting scientific attempts to understand it in terms of direct nutrition-related determinants. In recent years, research included more complex, indirect and multifactorial determinants and expanded to include multisectoral and lifestyle-related approaches. The United Kingdom Research Initiative Global Challenges Research Fund's (UKRI GCRF) Action Against Stunting Hub starts on the premise that dominant factors of stunting may vary between contexts and life phases of the child. Thus, the construction of a typology of clustered factors will be more useful to design effective programmes to alleviate it.The Shared Values theme seeks to build a bottom-up holistic picture of interlinked cultural contextual factors that might contribute to child stunting locally, by first eliciting shared values of the groups closest to the problem and then enquiring about details of their relevant daily activities and practices, to reveal links between the two. We define shared values as what groups consider 'valuable, worthwhile and meaningful' to them., Methods and Analysis: We will recruit 12-25 local stakeholder groups in each site (in India, Indonesia and Senegal) involved in children's food and early learning environments, such as mothers, fathers, grandmothers, teachers, market vendors and health workers. The WeValue InSitu process will be used to assist them to collectively elicit, negotiate and self-articulate their own shared values through exploration of shared tacit knowledge. Focus group discussions held immediately subsequently will ask about daily activities relevant to the children's environment. These contain many examples of cultural contextual factors potentially influencing stunting locally, and intrinsically linked to shared values articulated in the previous session., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)

Reduction of environmental problems needs durable transformative changes in behaviour, and developments in Transformative Learning are increasingly called for, to achieve them. Only recently has a method been demonstrated to routinely produce transformations in behaviour - a significant step forward - but they are not focused in specific thematic directions, and rarely environmental, which leaves the research need still unanswered. Here, we present an exploration of the use of that method (which involved values-crystallization of groups) with prior Nudging, with the aim of increasing the environmentally-themed transformed behaviours. The Nudging used was one open question about the environment in participants' current roles, plus a short questionnaire about current environmental behaviours, which also provided baseline data. Comparison with 3-4-days post-event interviews revealed most of the reported transformative behaviours were indeed environmental , such as waste sorting, water and electricity conservation, found retained via further 14-56-days post-event interviews. These results, from two separate groups of participants, suggest that the Nudging_Plus_Values-crystallization approach may be useful for pro-environmental practitioners in sustainability. Furthermore, the process involved of influencing choice spaces via Nudging, in values-crystallization events, deserves further studies to confirm causation and understand linkages between Nudging, reflection, values-crystallization, and Transformative Learning because it is likely that the process can be easily transferred to many different types of behaviour change programs, which will be of interest to a wide range of researchers and practitioners., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Sensitivity in FlowNMR spectroscopy for reaction monitoring often suffers from low levels of pre-magnetisation due to limited residence times of the sample in the magnetic field. While this in-flow effect is tolerable for high sensitivity nuclei such as 1 H and 19 F, it significantly reduces the signal-to-noise ratio in 31 P and 13 C spectra, making FlowNMR impractical for low sensititvity nuclei at low concentrations. Paramagnetic relaxation agents (PRAs), which enhance polarisation and spin-lattice relaxation, could eliminate the adverse in-flow effect and improve the signal-to-noise ratio. Herein, [Co(acac) 3 ], [Mn(acac) 3 ], [Fe(acac) 3 ] , [Cr(acac) 3 ] , [Ni(acac) 2 ] 3, [Gd(tmhd) 3 ] and [Cr(tmhd) 3 ] are investigated for their effectiveness in improving signal intensity per unit time in FlowNMR applications under the additional constraint of chemical inertness towards catalytically active transition metal complexes. High-spin Cr(III) acetylacetonates emerged as the most effective compounds, successfully reducing 31 P T 1 values four- to five-fold at PRA concentrations as low as 10 mM without causing adverse line broadening. Whereas [Cr(acac) 3 ] showed signs of chemical reactivity with a mixture of triphenylphosphine, triphenylphosphine oxide and triphenylphosphate over the course of several hours at 80° C, the bulkier [Cr(tmhd) 3 ] was stable and equally effective as a PRA under these conditions. Compatibility with a range of representative transition metal complexes often used in homogeneous catalysis has been investigated, and application of [Cr(tmhd) 3 ] in significantly improving 1 H and 31 P{ 1 H} FlowNMR data quality in a Rh-catalysed hydroformylation reaction has been demonstrated. With the PRA added, 13 C relaxation times were reduced more than six-fold, allowing quantitative reaction monitoring of substrate consumption and product formation by 13 C{ 1 H} FlowNMR spectroscopy at natural abundance., (© 2023 The Authors. Chemistry - A European Journal published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Although physical activity and sedentary behavior are moderately heritable, little is known about the mechanisms that influence these traits. Combining data for up to 703,901 individuals from 51 studies in a multi-ancestry meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies yields 99 loci that associate with self-reported moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity during leisure time (MVPA), leisure screen time (LST) and/or sedentary behavior at work. Loci associated with LST are enriched for genes whose expression in skeletal muscle is altered by resistance training. A missense variant in ACTN3 makes the alpha-actinin-3 filaments more flexible, resulting in lower maximal force in isolated type II A muscle fibers, and possibly protection from exercise-induced muscle damage. Finally, Mendelian randomization analyses show that beneficial effects of lower LST and higher MVPA on several risk factors and diseases are mediated or confounded by body mass index (BMI). Our results provide insights into physical activity mechanisms and its role in disease prevention., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of Melanocortin-4 Receptor (MC4R) mutations in a cohort of children and adolescents with overweight or obesity and to determine whether treatment responses differed between carriers and noncarriers., Methods: Using target region capture sequencing, an MC4R mutation screen was performed in 1261 Danish children and adolescents enrolled at a tertiary multidisciplinary childhood obesity treatment center. Measurements of anthropometrics, blood pressure, fasting blood biochemistry including lipid and hormone levels, and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry were performed at baseline and throughout treatment., Results: Of 1209 children and adolescents that met all criteria to be included in the described analyses, 30 (2.5%) carried damaging or unresolved MC4R mutations. At baseline, mutation carriers exhibited higher concentrations of plasma thyroid-stimulating hormone (p = 0.003), and lower concentrations of plasma thyroxine (p = 0.010) compared to noncarriers. After a median of 1 year of treatment (range 0.5-4.0 years), body mass index (BMI) standard deviation score (SDS) was reduced in noncarriers but not in carriers, and this difference in treatment response was statistically significant (p = 0.005). Furthermore, HDL cholesterol was reduced in carriers, a response significantly different from that of noncarriers (p = 0.017)., Conclusion: Among Danish children and adolescents with overweight or obesity entering a tertiary lifestyle intervention, 2.5% carried damaging or unresolved MC4R mutations. In contrast to noncarriers, carriers of damaging or unresolved MC4R mutations failed to reduce their BMI SDS during obesity treatment, indicating a need for personalized treatment based on the MC4R genotype.

Background: The weight loss after bariatric surgery shows considerable individual variation. Twin studies of response to dietary interventions and studies of bariatric surgery patients suggest that genetic differences may play a role. This study aimed to examine the effect of three genetic risk scores on the inter-individual variation in excess body mass index loss (EBMIL) after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Furthermore, we searched among known adiposity-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for genetic determinants of the inter-individual variation in EBMIL., Methods: Patients with morbid obesity underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and were genotyped (n = 577). Two genetic risk scores for weight loss after bariatric surgery and a genetic risk score for body mass index were calculated. Associations between the genetic risk scores and EBMIL were evaluated. Lasso regression was performed on 126 SNPs known to be associated with adiposity., Results: The average EBMIL was 76.9% (range 21.7-149.2%). EBMIL was 81.1% (SD 20.6) and 73.9% (SD 21.7) in the high and low tertile groups of a genetic risk score for weight loss. Patients with a low genetic risk score for body mass index (in the lowest 5% percentile) had an EBMIL of 68.8% (SD 20.6, p = 0.018). Thirteen adiposity-related SNPs were identified to associate with EBMIL through lasso regression., Discussion: A genetic risk score was associated with EBMIL after bariatric surgery, but may not yet be applicable to clinical practice. Patients genetically predisposed to low body mass index had lower weight loss after bariatric surgery.

Physical activity (PA) may modify the genetic effects that give rise to increased risk of obesity. To identify adiposity loci whose effects are modified by PA, we performed genome-wide interaction meta-analyses of BMI and BMI-adjusted waist circumference and waist-hip ratio from up to 200,452 adults of European (n = 180,423) or other ancestry (n = 20,029). We standardized PA by categorizing it into a dichotomous variable where, on average, 23% of participants were categorized as inactive and 77% as physically active. While we replicate the interaction with PA for the strongest known obesity-risk locus in the FTO gene, of which the effect is attenuated by ~30% in physically active individuals compared to inactive individuals, we do not identify additional loci that are sensitive to PA. In additional genome-wide meta-analyses adjusting for PA and interaction with PA, we identify 11 novel adiposity loci, suggesting that accounting for PA or other environmental factors that contribute to variation in adiposity may facilitate gene discovery.

There have been recent calls for a shift to an evidence-based paradigm in environmental management, grounded in systematic monitoring and evaluation, but achieving this will be complex and difficult. Evaluating the educational components of environmental initiatives presents particular challenges, because these programs often have multiple concurrent goals and may value 'human outcomes', such as value change, which are intangible and difficult to quantify. This paper describes a fresh approach based on co-creating an entirely new values-based assessment framework with expert practitioners worldwide. We first discuss the development of a generic framework of 'Proto-Indicators' (reference criteria constituting prototypes for measurable indicators), and then demonstrate its application within a reforestation project in Mexico where indicators and assessment tools were localized to enhance context-relevance. Rigorously derived using unitary validity, with an emphasis on relevance, practicability and logical consistency from user perspectives, this framework represents a step-wise advance in the evaluation of non-formal EE/ESD programs. This article also highlights three important principles with broader implications for evaluation, valuation and assessment processes within environmental management: namely peer-elicitation, localizability, and an explicit focus on ethical values. We discuss these principles in relation to the development of sustainability indicators at local and global levels, especially in relation to post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals., (Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)