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The Praxis Project, established at University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, in 2018, seeks to assess possible models of best practice with regard to the integration of global citizenship and development education (GCDE) into a cross-disciplinary, cross-campus, interwoven set of subject area pedagogies, policies and practices. This study--the first part of an eventual three-part framework--asserts that the themes, theories, values, skills, approaches and methodologies relevant to transformative pedagogical work are best underpinned by ongoing staff dialogue in order to build communities of support around such systemic pedagogical change. This article is based on a collaborative study with the first cohort of UCC staff (2020-1), which demonstrates many ways in which staff and students realised that smaller actions and carefully directed attention to specific issues opened doors to transformative thinking and action in surprising ways. From this viewpoint, the striking need emerged for taking a strategic approach to how GCDE is, and should be, integrated into learning across subject areas.

Medical insoles are used to correct patient’s foot malpositions or to relieve certain foot areas from pressure. The required insole type depends largely on the presenting clinical picture and the individual’s needs. Accurate fit of medical insoles is critical to wearer acceptance, which is a necessary precondition where further serious injury is to be prevented. An end-to-end digital process offers the potential to better adapt insoles to the personalized patients’ foot geometry and pressure load. Furthermore, the whole gait-cycle could be included in the digitalization process and the adaption could consider special needs of different gait phases. This hasn’t been done, yet. For this purpose, a digital process chain was developed and prototypically tested in collaboration with an orthopaedist. 3D scans of the foot geometry in various loaded conditions were compiled and the corresponding gait analysis images were mapped. Both results were overlaid in a CAD program to create a model and identify the clinical picture. Adapted to the geometry of the foot, a volumetric model of the medical insole was built, individual stress zones were separated and filled with lattice structures of different parameters. The insole was 3D printed. The results of the present examination show benefits in using the loaded foot scan to model insoles, as malpositions can be checked automatically via standard (digital) tests. While it is possible to model and print medical insoles in one piece with differing strengths, there is limited information about the influence of the designed lattice structure on a specific printing result (i. e. the material behaviour).

Cloud properties are strongly influenced by ice formation; hence, we need to understand the sources of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) around the globe. Boreal forests are known as sources of bioaerosol, and recent work indicates that these dominate the INP spectra above - 24 °C. To quantify the INP population at temperatures below - 24 °C , we deployed a portable cloud expansion chamber (PINE) in a Finnish boreal forest from 13 March 2018 to 11 May 2018. Using the 6 min time resolution PINE data, we present several lines of evidence that INPs below - 24 °C in this location are also from biological sources: (i) an INP parameterization developed for a pine forest site in Colorado, where many INPs were shown to be biological, produced a good fit to our measurements; a moderate correlation of INPs with aerosol concentration larger than 0.5 µm and the fluorescent bioaerosol concentration; (ii) a negative correlation with relative humidity that may relate to enhanced release of bioaerosol at low humidity from local sources such as the prolific lichen population in boreal forests; and (iii) the absence of correlation with ultra-fine particles (3.5 to 50 nm), indicating that new particle formation events are not sources of INPs. This study should motivate further work to establish whether the commonality in bioaerosol ice-nucleating properties between spring in Finland and summer in Colorado is more generally applicable to different coniferous forest locations and times and also to determine to what extent these bioaerosols are transported to locations where they may affect clouds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ice nucleating particles (INPs) play a crucial role in initiating ice crystal formation in clouds, influencing the dynamics and optical properties of clouds and their impacts on precipitation and the climate system. Despite their importance, there is limited knowledge about the vertical distribution of INPs. This study focuses on aircraft measurements conducted during spring 2018 above the boreal forest of Hyytiälä, Finland. Similarities between INP concentrations, activated fractions, particle concentrations, and size distributions observed at ground level and in the boundary layer aloft indicate that surface particles and INPs are efficiently transported and mixed within the boundary layer. INP concentrations observed in the boundary layer are best predicted by a parameterization describing near-surface INP concentrations driven by the abundance of biogenic aerosol in the Finnish boreal forest, suggesting that biogenic INPs are dominant in the boundary layer above the same environment. Most of the INP concentrations and activated fractions observed in the free troposphere are notably lower than in the boundary layer, and the distinct particle size distributions suggest that different aerosol populations, likely resulting from long-range transport, are present in the free troposphere. However, we show one case where higher INP concentrations are observed in the free troposphere and where a homogeneous particle population exists from the surface to the free troposphere. This indicates that surface particles and INPs from the boreal forest can occasionally reach the free troposphere, which is particularly important as the INPs in the free troposphere can further travel horizontally and/or vertically and impact cloud formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants are directly exposed to several biotic factors. Among these, mite species belonging to the superfamilies Eriophyoidea and Tetranychoidea stand out due to their ability to injure or even transmit viruses to their host plants. In response to infestations by these organisms, reactive oxygen species (ROS), regulated by enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants (homeostasis), can act as signaling molecules to induce defenses or even acclimatization in attacked plants. However, depending on the severity of the stress, there can be an imbalance between ROS and antioxidants that can result in oxidative stress, leading to membrane damage by lipid peroxidation, organelle inactivation, and even cell death. In this review, we outline for the first time the current state of understanding regarding the role of cellular processes in ROS metabolism, such as signaling, the potential damage induced by ROS, and the defense role of enzymatic antioxidant systems involved in the plant–mite relationship. Furthermore, we identify several gaps between redox metabolism and plant defense against phytophagous mites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]