Senior Researchers Research Articles

The role of digital technologies for the LCA empowerment towards circular economy goals: a scenario analysis for the agri-food system

PurposeThis paper aims to develop a scenario analysis on the experts’ perceptions of benefits and barriers related to adopting digital technologies for the life cycle assessment (LCA) to catalyse a circular economy transition in the agri-food system.MethodsA literature review was performed to identify LCA’s digital technologies that can be implemented within the agri-food system. Furthermore, an in-depth interview with a panel of senior researchers was conducted to establish a set of items and assess the perceived benefits and barriers associated with an “empowered LCA”, i.e. a future-oriented LCA based on digital technologies. To this end, a two-stage exploratory factor analysis relying on the principal component analysis technique was carried out to refine the set of items. Finally, a covariance-based structural equation model was performed, built on a confirmatory factor analysis, to test the measurement model.Results and discussionThe study’s findings provide five constructs to explore the potential benefits and barriers related to adopting a digital technologies-based LCA (empowered LCA) for a circular economy transition in the agri-food system. More specifically, the benefits can be assessed using the following constructs: “benefits for the data collection and analysis”, “benefits for the LCA analysts”, “benefits for the management” and “benefits for traceability”. In addition, the barriers have been evaluated using a single construct labelled “general barriers”.ConclusionsThe study highlights the relevance of digital technologies for a circular economy transition to develop a more reliable LCA, enhancing legislative compliance and supporting the traceability processes in the agri-food system. The associated implications for LCA experts, agri-food managers and policymakers are presented. Furthermore, limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

Meeting report - Cell size and growth: from single cells to the tree of life.

In April 2022, The Company of Biologists hosted their first post-pandemic in-person Workshop at Buxted Park Country House in the Sussex countryside. The Workshop, entitled 'Cell size and growth: from single cells to the tree of life', gathered a small group of early-career and senior researchers with expertise in cell size spanning a broad range of organisms, including bacteria, yeast, animal cells, embryos and plants, and working in fields from cell biology to ecology and evolutionary biology. The programme made ample room for fruitful discussions and provided a much-needed opportunity to discuss the most recent findings relating to the regulation of cell size and growth, identify the emerging challenges for the field, and build a community after the pandemic.

Challenges of promoting open science within the NI4OS-Europe project in Hungary

National Initiatives for Open Science in Europe (NI4OS-Europe) is a Horizon 2020 project, one of whose objectives is to promote the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and open science in 15 Central and East European EU states and EU associated countries.
 This paper describes the variety of NI4OS-Europe promoting activities carried out in Hungary by the Governmental Agency for IT Development (KIFÜ). All these activities aim at different, and sometimes overlapping groups and involve: 
 ▸ publishing researcher interviews on research data management and open science practices for early career researchers;▸ open science news feed for open science practitioners;▸ publishing an e-learning course on EOSC and open science for graduate and PhD students;▸ testing research data management (RDM) tools for the Hungarian research community;▸ organising various events, including the Hungarian Open Science Forum targeting senior researchers and stakeholders;▸ an EOSC Champion programme at three major Hungarian universities. 
 Identifying good practices will give us the chance to find the best communication channels andmethods to promote open science and to manage expectations of funders, researchers, and librarians. 
 We will analyse audience diversity at six NI4OS events organised as part of the project. The anonymized dataset based on registration forms will be filtered by affiliation and profession. We will attempt to identify the main event features that mostly attract librarians or researchers. We will test the hypothesis that open science is generally more welcomed by research institutions’ librarians than, researchers, whose interests are more attached to funds and applications.
 We will also study usage data of open science news feeds. Having around 200 posts and 5000 visitors from May 2021 to April 2022 gives us the chance to learn more about the characteristics of the most visited, event-related posts, followed by posts related to national policies, which are visited more frequently than international ones.
 The paper will also argue that bottom-up and top-down approaches of promoting EOSC need to be used in a delicate balance to reach out to the widest audience possible.

Molecular Markers in Breeding of Crops: Recent Progress and Advancements

A convectional plant breeder faces the challenge of how to more effectively and efficiently perform selection and accelerate breeding progress to satisfy the requirements of changing demands for crop cultivars. However, with the development and advancement of molecular marker technology, the fate of plant breeding has shifted from year to year. Recently, different types of molecular markers have been developed, and advancements in sequencing technologies have greatly increased plant improvement. To further our understanding of molecular markers, several reviews have been published in recent decades. However, with the advancement of newly emerging technologies and techniques, the reviewers did not discuss several recently emerged technologies and techniques in plant breeding. Therefore, this article is intended to be reviewed as an overview of recent breakthroughs in DNA markers and their applications in breeding of crops for early and senior researchers with little or no experience with molecular markers. The progress made in molecular plant breeding, genetics, genomic selection, gene pyramiding, MAS, and gene mapping has contributed to a deeper understanding of molecular markers, provided deeper insights into the variability available for crops, and considerably supplemented current breeding techniques. Next-generation sequencing technologies assist in the identification of novel molecular markers for complex and unstructured populations through genotyping-by-sequencing, gene mapping, QTL mapping, and association mapping. Altogether, the classification of molecular markers and their potential application in plants are discussed.

Emerging approaches for biocatalysis supporting a sustainable future: Enzymes wanted, dead or alive

In this Activity article, Daniel Volke (tenure-track researcher), Antonin Cros (PhD student), and Ditte H. Welner and Pablo I. Nikel (senior researchers and group leaders) at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability of the Technical University of Denmark exchange views on the importance of selecting a suitable system for next-generation biocatalysis—exposing the pros and cons of whole-cell approaches, enzymatic cascades assembled from purified components, or cell-free bioproduction. The advantages and disadvantages of these systems are discussed against key application examples, such as fluorine biocatalysis. In this Activity article, Daniel Volke (tenure-track researcher), Antonin Cros (PhD student), and Ditte H. Welner and Pablo I. Nikel (senior researchers and group leaders) at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability of the Technical University of Denmark exchange views on the importance of selecting a suitable system for next-generation biocatalysis—exposing the pros and cons of whole-cell approaches, enzymatic cascades assembled from purified components, or cell-free bioproduction. The advantages and disadvantages of these systems are discussed against key application examples, such as fluorine biocatalysis.

In vivo fluorine biocatalysis: Six enzymes in search of a cell factory

In this Activity article, Pablo I. Nikel, Ditte H. Welner (senior researchers and group leaders), Antonin Cros (PhD student), Daniel Volke (tenure-track researcher) at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, discuss the need of expanding catalysis in vivo for organofluorine biosynthesis. Building on the inherent advantages of soil bacteria from the genus Pseudomonas , the authors also contend that P . putida could be an ideal platform to host the six enzymes that convert mineral fluoride into fluorinated building-blocks to pave the way to fluorine biocatalysis. In this Activity article, Pablo I. Nikel, Ditte H. Welner (senior researchers and group leaders), Antonin Cros (PhD student), Daniel Volke (tenure-track researcher) at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, discuss the need of expanding catalysis in vivo for organofluorine biosynthesis. Building on the inherent advantages of soil bacteria from the genus Pseudomonas , the authors also contend that P . putida could be an ideal platform to host the six enzymes that convert mineral fluoride into fluorinated building-blocks to pave the way to fluorine biocatalysis.

Sharing Research Design, Methods and Process Information in and out of Academia

AbstractAn interview study of (N=) 16 senior researchers at a major Canadian research university shows that researchers use a broad range of means to share information about research process, methods and design to different audiences. The purpose of sharing information on these aspects of research is to enable redoing and replicating earlier studies, to preserve knowledge of how studies were conducted, to understand data, and because of the social pressure to share. Time as a barrier and distance to overcome, disciplinary and contextual variation have a major impact on sharing. In the light of the findings, a one size fits all approach is unlikely to succeed. It is critical to choose appropriate methods that help to focus on what is relevant to share in particular disciplinary contexts, and for specific audiences and goals of transparency.

Historical and contemporary factors that influenced the emergence and continuity of WANEL: Lessons for sustainable HPSR network formation in LMICs.

To explore historical and contemporary factors and processes that influenced the emergence of WANEL and analyse how the formation process has influenced the network's continued existence and sustainability and lesson for sub-regional health policy and systems research (HPSR) networking in Low -and -Middle -Income Countries (LMICs). Qualitative explanatory case study which used process tracing to chart the formation and development of WANEL. Data was obtained through document reviews, semi-structured interviews, group discussions, and participant observation. Data was analysed using thematic content analysis. The emergence of WANEL was made possible by several factors, including support from a network of senior HPSR champions and institutions across West Africa; sustained funding from IDRC Canada, a reputable funder with a track record in supporting research capacity development in LMICs; learning and networking opportunities provided by CHEPSAA Emerging Leaders and the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp Emerging Voices for Global Health initiative. Its formation followed a mix of emergent and engineered processes. WANEL is the first and currently the only sub-regional network for early and mid-career health policy and systems researchers and practitioners in West Africa. To ensure its long-term sustainability, the network needs to put in place mechanisms to constantly attract and develop the next generation of early and mid-career researchers, maintain links with senior researchers, strengthen its capacity for coordination and facilitation, and develop a plan for its long-term financial sustainability. The study is funded by IDRC Canada Project 108237-001: Popularly known as the Consortium for Mothers, Newborn, Children, Adolescents and Health Policy and Systems strengthening in West and Central Africa. (COM-CAHPSS).

How to write and develop your astronomy research paper

Writing is a vital component of a modern career in scientific research. But how to write correctly and effectively is often not included in the training that young astronomers receive from their supervisors and departments. We offer a step-by-step guide to tackle this deficiency, published as a set of two Perspectives. In the first, we addressed how to plan and outline your paper and decide where to publish. In this second Perspective, we describe the various sections that constitute a typical research paper in astronomy, sharing best practice for the most efficient use of each of them. We also discuss a selection of issues that often cause trouble for writers from sentence to paragraph structure—the ‘writing mechanics’ used to develop a manuscript. Our two-part guide is aimed primarily at MSc- and PhD-level students who face the daunting task of writing their first scientific paper, but more senior researchers or writing instructors may well find the ideas presented here useful.

Preprints in Chemistry: a Research Team's Journey.

The benefits of publishing research papers first in preprint form are substantial and long-lasting also in chemistry. Recounting the outcomes of our team's nearly six-year journey through preprint publishing, we show evidence that preprinting research substantially benefits both early career and senior researchers in today's highly interdisciplinary chemical research. These findings are of general value, as shown by analyzing the case of four more research teams based in economically developed and developing countries.

Island Grids: Testing Grounds for Decarbonization [From the Editor

In the most recent issues of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">IEEE electrification Magazine</i> , two technologies at the component level for inverter-based renewable grid integration have been examined: large-scale battery energy storage and grid-forming inverter control. In this September 2022 issue, Andy Hoke and Vahan Gevorgian, two senior researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, will offer a system-level examination on the planning and operation of island grids with extremely high renewable penetrations.

An Inaugural Address by the Committee

An Inaugural Address by the Committee Anthony Madrid (bio) 1 The purpose of this feature will be to present to the public the recent findings of ABR's Society for the Unearthing of Treasurable Literary Relics. We are calling our series "Lost and Found" to get across our feeling of recovery, in the legal sense of the word—the getting back what was always ours, but which had been misplaced. We also wanted to evoke a sense of motley. I, the President of the Society, am delighted to report that our 2022 Expedition into the Interior has been exceptionally successful, so far. We've spared no expense, whether in terms of money, time, or spirit, to read texts that no one has read in thousands of years, and to extract therefrom whatever might compel you to read them. Or at least put 'em on your list. The present "episode" is only an introduction, sketching our methods and aims. Starting with the next issue of ABR, you'll hear from one of our Senior Researchers on a literary artifact that's been lost to view for a long time but which has nonetheless enchained his attention. I'm about to "hand over the mic" to that researcher, but before I do, I wish to take a moment to invite readers of ABR to send the Society suggestions, care of Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Di Leo, for "Lost and Found" reading projects. These suggestions needn't be reasonable. None of this is going to be reasonable. 2 Our President has just mentioned we are open to suggestions. To give you some idea of the parameters involved, let me reveal to you some teaser highlights of materials already in our queue. This will help you identify the kind of thing we have in our sights. [End Page 75] • The special file that James Boswell kept on Samuel Johnson, called the "Tacenda" file, detailing Johnson's frustrated erotic energies when he was first married, as reported by Elizabeth Desmoulins, who had been his (and his wife's) servant. • The Salernitan Questions—a set of unanswerable-at-the-time scientific questions that circulated among medical students in Renaissance Italy. The collection is only a few pages long, and is strikingly poetic. Aristotle and his students produced a vast book of these things, and started a tradition … • The history of translations into English of the pre-Islamic Muʿallaqat, a set of seven "odes" that are among the most famous poems in Arabic. No English translation of any of them is even tolerable. Why. • Medieval Irish Dishonoring Law and its relation to certain satirical Irish-Gaelic quatrains preserved in manuscript. Mockery considered as an aesthetic and moral category. • The particular English version of Lucretius's De Rerum Natura (the 1717 edition of the Thomas Creech translation) used by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The special significance of Creech's handling of the material and the prosody. • The American poet Sara Teasdale and her relation to the Italian arts power couple Eleonora Duse and Gabriele D'Annunzio, with special reference to the most narcissistic novel ever written in any language, D'Annunzio's Il Fuoco (1900). • Classic Shakespeare reference books, like Abbott's A Shakespearian Grammar (1870) and Tilley's Dictionary of the Proverbs in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeen Centuries (1950), which, though old, are still cited in every single college edition of the plays, and are themselves literature, if anyone but knew it. • Pearl Buck's translation of the Ming dynasty romance Shui Hu Zhuan (All Men Are Brothers, 1937), compared to various modern treatments. Get the picture? We actually did come on this show to make friends. We're out here, every minute, air tanks strapped to our backs, reading stuff that one [End Page 76] might see casually quoted by somebody like Jorge Luis Borges. We basically want to come off like him. And we want to bring you along, if you're into it. Melville's epic poem Clarel. Nobody, but nobody, has read that. You can be a pretty big Melville fan and not even know what happens in Clarel. It would be cool to be able to weigh in...

XLIV Brazilian Workshop on Nuclear Physics

The XLIV Brazilian Workshop on Nuclear Physics was held in remote format, Brazil, from 9th to 11th of November, 2021, due to restrictions imposed by the COVID19 pandemic. This event was the 44th in a series of annual meetings organized by the Brazilian Physical Society (SBF) since its first edition in 1978. The main objectives of these meetings are to improve both basic and applied nuclear physics research, stimulating and strengthening collaboration between nuclear physicists, presenting recent advances and scientific results attained in this research field. In this edition we had the participation of about 230 scientists including senior researchers and students from all the five regions of Brazil together with experienced researchers from Argentina, Spain, Australia, Belgium England, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and USA. We had a fruitful atmosphere with a balanced perspective between the experimental and the theoretical work that currently is undergoing in each research line. In this edition there were three lectures on Scientific Outreach and also a session devoted to Women in Science.The XLIV Brazilian Workshop on Nuclear Physics was sponsored by the Brazilian funding agencies: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia - Física Nuclear e Aplicações (INCT-FNA).

Women in sustainability research: Examining gender authorship differences in peer-reviewed publications

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been undertaking considerable efforts to embed sustainability into their system; however, there have been limited studies on the incorporation of sustainability into research. In parallel, it has been found that women have an important role in contributing to sustainability since they are more engaged and have a more holistic perspective on sustainability than men. These two phenomena have resulted in limited studies about the contribution of women to sustainability research (i.e., in scientific publishing). A bibliometric analysis of more than 39,000 documents (with 147,090 authorships) was done to fill this gap, focusing on sustainability peer-review publications in Europe between 2015 and 2020. The results show that women's presence in sustainability research has been increasing during the last years; however, there are still few female authorship publications, even in fields that have been traditionally women-oriented. In addition, their publications have been less recognized by the scientific community. The results also show substantial gender differences in terms of author leadership, where female senior researchers are more likely to mentor female junior researchers than men. Female researchers tend to collaborate nationally, but they could improve their international collaboration since this can improve their research and impact. More support should be provided to female researchers to help foster women's sustainability engagement and holistic perspectives, reduce existing negative feedback loops, and increase positive ones. Achieving gender equality is sine qua non in achieving sustainable societies.

Enzymatic and Microbial Electrochemistry: Approaches and Methods.

The coupling of enzymes and/or intact bacteria with electrodes has been vastly investigated due to the wide range of existing applications. These span from biomedical and biosensing to energy production purposes and bioelectrosynthesis, whether for theoretical research or pure applied industrial processes. Both enzymes and bacteria offer a potential biotechnological alternative to noble/rare metal-dependent catalytic processes. However, when developing these biohybrid electrochemical systems, it is of the utmost importance to investigate how the approaches utilized to couple biocatalysts and electrodes influence the resulting bioelectrocatalytic response. Accordingly, this tutorial review starts by recalling some basic principles and applications of bioelectrochemistry, presenting the electrode and/or biocatalyst modifications that facilitate the interaction between the biotic and abiotic components of bioelectrochemical systems. Focus is then directed toward the methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of enzyme/bacteria-electrode interaction and the insights that they provide. The basic concepts of electrochemical methods widely employed in enzymatic and microbial electrochemistry, such as amperometry and voltammetry, are initially presented to later focus on various complementary methods such as spectroelectrochemistry, fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy, and surface analytical/characterization techniques such as quartz crystal microbalance and atomic force microscopy. The tutorial review is thus aimed at students and graduate students approaching the field of enzymatic and microbial electrochemistry, while also providing a critical and up-to-date reference for senior researchers working in the field.

Road safety lead agency challenges of three decades of intervention for road safety in Iran: implications for policy-makers

BackgroundRoad traffic crashes and associated injuries and mortalities are one of the big public health challenges, especially in low/middle-income countries. Road safety lead agency (RSLA) is a vital factor in...

“We should be at the table together from the beginning”: perspectives on partnership from stakeholders at four research institutions in sub-Saharan Africa

BackgroundGlobal health research partnerships have been scrutinised for how they operate and criticised for perpetuating inequities. Guidance to inform fair partnership practice has proliferated and the movement to decolonise global health has added momentum for change. In light of this evolving context, we sought in this study to document contemporary experiences of partnership from the perspective of stakeholders in four sub-Saharan African research institutions.MethodsWe conducted qualitative interviews with 20 stakeholders at research institutions in four countries in anglophone eastern and southern Africa. Interview questions were informed by published guidance on equitable research partnerships. Data was analysed through an iterative process of inductive and deductive coding, supported by NVivo software.ResultsEarly-career, mid-career and senior researchers and research administrators from four sub-Saharan African research institutions described wide-ranging experiences of partnership with high-income country collaborators. Existing guidelines for partnership provided good coverage of issues that participants described as being the key determinants of a healthy partnership, including mutual respect, role clarity and early involvement of all partners. However, there was almost no mention of guidelines being used to inform partnership practice. Participants considered the key benefits of partnership to be capacity strengthening and access to research funding. Meanwhile, participants continued to experience a range of well-documented inequities, including exclusion from agenda setting, study design, data analysis and authorship; and relationships that were exploitative and dominated by high-income country partners’ interests. Participants also reported emerging issues where their institution had been the prime recipient of funds. These included high-income country partners being unwilling to accept a subordinate role and failing to comply with reporting requirements.ConclusionsInsights from stakeholders in four sub-Saharan African research institutions suggest that contemporary global health research partnerships generate considerable benefits but continue to exhibit longstanding inequities and reveal emerging tensions. Our findings suggest that long-term support targeted towards institutions and national research systems remains essential to fulfil the potential of research led from sub-Saharan Africa. High-income country stakeholders need to find new roles in partnerships and stakeholders from sub-Saharan Africa must continue to tackle challenges presented by the resource-constrained contexts in which they commonly operate.

The New Zealand Parkinson’s progression programme

ABSTRACT We describe the New Zealand Parkinson’s Progression Programme (NZP3), its goals, findings, and future plans. To date, 354 people with Parkinson’s disease and 89 healthy older controls have participated over a 14-year period. A major focus of the programme has been the characterisation of current cognitive impairment, and the identification of biomarkers for its future emergence in people with Parkinson’s. The programme has made significant contributions to the concept of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Parkinson’s and the development and validation of standardised criteria for it. Brain imaging, both MRI and PET, has also been a focus, showing associations between increasing brain pathology and declining cognitive function. Additional biomarkers such as genetics, fluid biomarkers, eye movement, speech, and quantitative electroencephalography (EEG) are also under investigation. The programme has become a platform supporting many other avenues of research, from investigating the personal impacts of caregiver burden through to national-level epidemiology. To date, the programme has led to multiple journal publications and 17 completed and 9 ongoing PhDs, and many other postgraduate theses. It has led to the development of a skilled core of early-career through to senior researchers and clinicians. We discuss the future directions for the programme.

The dementia research career pipeline: Gender disparities in publication authorships and grant funding outcomes at different career stages.

Multiple studies have analysed gender disparities in academic research. Here we study the gender composition of the dementia research field at different stages in the career pipeline. We use various data sources to gain insights about the gender ratio across career stages: conference attendance data as a proxy for the field as a whole; bibliometric data to know who publishes, and who occupies positions of seniority among the listed authors; and Alzheimer's Research UK's (ARUK) internal grant funding data to understand who obtains funding. We also analyse the scoring of grant applications based on the gender of the reviewers. Our results confirm that female researchers leave dementia academic research at higher rates than men, before transitioning into senior positions. In 2020, they comprised over 60% of the field, produced 54% of first authorships, but only accounted for 38% of last authorships. Overall, women received 37% of ARUK's competitive grants, with significant differences between grant schemes awarded for early career researchers (64% female awardees) compared to grant schemes aimed at senior researchers (33% female awardees). Men and women applied for and obtained grants at significantly different rates depending on the career stage at which the grant was aimed.Finally, we also observed that male and female reviewers apply evaluation criteria differently, with men giving better scores than women on average. Our study adds to the evidence that shows that women get published less, receive less funding, and transition into senior academic positions at disproportionally lower rates than men do. We briefly discuss potential reasons why gender disparities arise as researchers progress into senior positions, and offer interventions ARUK can implement in its application and evaluation process to address those disparities.

Assessment of English Teaching Post Competency Relying on K-Means Clustering Computing Algorithm

Post competency assessment has become an important part of modern recruitment, and teaching is one of the indispensable occupations. Assessing the competence of teachers in teaching positions has become a hot topic. This paper takes English teachers as the research object and uses K-means clustering algorithm to evaluate the competence of teachers. This paper first analyzes the references related to this research and finds suitable materials for this research and then mainly describes in detail the main point of English teaching post competency. Next, this paper uses the formula to illustrate the K-means clustering algorithm used in this paper. Finally, it uses experiments to verify the influencing factors of the four dimensions of English job competency. And the final survey results show that the influencing factors have different significant differences on the four dimensions. And the experiment proves the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithm in evaluating the competence of English teaching positions. In addition, from the perspective of the composition of professional titles, it is consistent with the age structure, accounting for 63.3% of the total. Associate senior researchers are the backbone of colleges and universities. This research provides a theoretical basis and reference for measurement tools for college English teacher recruitment and selection, vocational training, performance evaluation, salary reform, and other related educational practices.