Regression is a fundamental prediction task common in data-centric engineering applications that involves learning mappings between continuous variables. In many engineering applications (e.g., structural health monitoring), feature-label pairs used to learn such mappings are of limited availability, which hinders the effectiveness of traditional supervised machine learning approaches. This paper proposes a methodology for overcoming the issue of data scarcity by combining active learning (AL) for regression with hierarchical Bayesian modeling. AL is an approach for preferentially acquiring feature-label pairs in a resource-efficient manner. In particular, the current work adopts a risk-informed approach that leverages contextual information associated with regression-based engineering decision-making tasks (e.g., inspection and maintenance). Hierarchical Bayesian modeling allow multiple related regression tasks to be learned over a population, capturing local and global effects. The information sharing facilitated by this modeling approach means that information acquired for one engineering system can improve predictive performance across the population. The proposed methodology is demonstrated using an experimental case study. Specifically, multiple regressions are performed over a population of machining tools, where the quantity of interest is the surface roughness of the workpieces. An inspection and maintenance decision process is defined using these regression tasks, which is in turn used to construct the active-learning algorithm. The novel methodology proposed is benchmarked against an uninformed approach to label acquisition and independent modeling of the regression tasks. It is shown that the proposed approach has superior performance in terms of expected cost—maintaining predictive performance while reducing the number of inspections required.

The relevance of education and outreach (E&O) activities about the Antarctic Treaty has been recognized at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCM) and at the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP). This study examines the key topics and the target audiences detailed in papers submitted to the ATCM on E&O. Since the Antarctic Treaty entered into force in 1961, a total of 216 ATCM papers on E&O have been produced. The number of papers has increased substantially since the mid-1990s. ‘Science’ (76.9%) and ‘Wildlife/Biodiversity/Environment’ (75.5%) were the most addressed topics in these papers, while the ‘Public’ (81.0%) and those attending ‘Schools’ (69.0%) are the main target audiences. ‘Science’ in ATCM papers increased ~120-fold from 1961–1997 to 2015–2023, while ATCM papers discussing engagement with the ‘Public’ increased ~40-fold during the same period. ‘Climate change’ was first mentioned in 2006, and the number of papers per year increased fourfold by 2015–2023. This study shows the increasing interest in E&O through time, addressing key topics to relevant audiences related to the Antarctic region. From an educational perspective, attention should be paid to emerging topics (e.g. equity, diversity and inclusion), and the engagement of early-career professionals and educators should be made a priority.

Private practice is the fastest growing employment sector for dietitians in Australia, including for new graduates(1). There is an anecdotal concern that current graduate cohorts are not adequately prepared for private practice. The present study aims to assess the existing literature relevant to workforce development specific to private practice dietetics, including areas such as workforce size, distribution, competency, practices and global challenges. The secondary aim is to identify gaps in the literature to inform future priority areas and to inform private practice dietetics workforce development research. Five databases were systematically searched from inception to August 2023 and grey-literature was searched using the Google search engine using key search terms to identify studies for inclusion. Of the 2361 peer-reviewed publications and 1800 grey literature, eighty were included. Directed content analysis and qualitative constant comparison technique were used to deductively extract data from eligible private practice literature. Intelligence sources covering the following themes proved to be limited: workforce size, distribution, attributes, demography, supply/preparation, competencies, continued professional development and challenges. However, clear structural issues present workforce challenges for private practice dietitians. There is an overwhelming paucity of comprehensive literature on the private practice dietetics workforce across the world. Private practice dietetics workforce development research is warranted to address current research gaps in a coordinated, collaborative approach to ensure this rapidly expanding workforce is well supported.

The Sinya Beds of the Amboseli Basin in Tanzania and Kenya consist largely of carbonate rocks and Mg-rich clays that are intensely deformed where exposed in and near former meerschaum mines. The carbonate rocks consist of limestone and dolomite in Tanzania, but only dolomite has been identified in Kenya. Sepiolite and mixed-layered kerolite/stevensite (Ke/St) are subordinate constituents of the carbonate rocks. The carbonate rocks and overlying bedded sepiolite were deposited in a semiarid lake basin at the foot of the large volcano Kilimanjaro. Calcite and dolomite of the carbonate rocks have δ18O values 4–6‰ lower than calcite and dolomite of the late Pleistocene Amboseli Clays, suggesting that the Sinya Beds were deposited in the middle or early Pleistocene under a different climatic regime when meteoric water had lower δ18O values than at present.

Mg-rich clay minerals form veins and fill cavities in the Sinya Beds. The principal clay minerals are sepiolite and Ke/St, some of which contains substantial Al and Fe (Al-Ke/St). NEWMOD® modeling and other X-ray diffraction (XRD) data suggest that most of the Ke/St contains 25–50 percent kerolite layers, but minor amounts of kerolite-rich Ke/St are present in some samples. Illite with an inferred high content of Fe or Mg is a minor constituent of the samples with Al-Ke/St. The cavity-filling clays were chemically precipitated, as shown by field relationships and SEM study. The early-deposited clays of veins and cavities are principally Ke/St with minor sepiolite, and the latest clay is sepiolite (meerschaum), generally with minor Ke/St.

The δ18O values of cavity-filling Ke/St range from 22.5–25.6‰ and correlate with mineral composition, with the highest values associated with the highest content of stevensite and the lowest values with the highest content of kerolite. This relation suggests that high salinities favored stevensite and low salinities favored kerolite. δ18O values of sepiolite (meerschaum) fall in the middle of the range for Ke/St, suggesting that salinity was not the main control on sepiolite precipitation. High values of $a_{Si{O}_2}/a_{M{g}^{2+}}$ may have been a major factor in sepiolite precipitation.

Different mixtures of dilute ground water and saline, alkaline lake water in pore fluids may largely account for the differences in clay mineralogy of cavity-filling clays. Sepiolite is the dominant clay mineral in lacustrine sediments of the Amboseli Basin, and the cavity-filling sepiolite may reflect a high proportion of lake water. The low-Al Ke/St may have formed from fluids with a higher proportion of ground water. Detrital clay was very likely a factor in forming the Al-Ke/St, for which δ18O values suggest a saline environment.

We recently reported on the radio-frequency attenuation length of cold polar ice at Summit Station, Greenland, based on bi-static radar measurements of radio-frequency bedrock echo strengths taken during the summer of 2021. Those data also allow studies of (a) the relative contributions of coherent (such as discrete internal conducting layers with sub-centimeter transverse scale) vs incoherent (e.g. bulk volumetric) scattering, (b) the magnitude of internal layer reflection coefficients, (c) limits on signal propagation velocity asymmetries (‘birefringence’) and (d) limits on signal dispersion in-ice over a bandwidth of ~100 MHz. We find that (1) attenuation lengths approach 1 km in our band, (2) after averaging 10 000 echo triggers, reflected signals observable over the thermal floor (to depths of ~1500 m) are consistent with being entirely coherent, (3) internal layer reflectivities are ≈–60$\to$–70 dB, (4) birefringent effects for vertically propagating signals are smaller by an order of magnitude relative to South Pole and (5) within our experimental limits, glacial ice is non-dispersive over the frequency band relevant for neutrino detection experiments.

Homeless shelter residents and staff may be at higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, SARS-CoV-2 infection estimates in this population have been reliant on cross-sectional or outbreak investigation data. We conducted routine surveillance and outbreak testing in 23 homeless shelters in King County, Washington, to estimate the occurrence of laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and risk factors during 1 January 2020–31 May 2021. Symptom surveys and nasal swabs were collected for SARS-CoV-2 testing by RT-PCR for residents aged ≥3 months and staff. We collected 12,915 specimens from 2,930 unique participants. We identified 4.74 (95% CI 4.00–5.58) SARS-CoV-2 infections per 100 individuals (residents: 4.96, 95% CI 4.12–5.91; staff: 3.86, 95% CI 2.43–5.79). Most infections were asymptomatic at the time of detection (74%) and detected during routine surveillance (73%). Outbreak testing yielded higher test positivity than routine surveillance (2.7% versus 0.9%). Among those infected, residents were less likely to report symptoms than staff. Participants who were vaccinated against seasonal influenza and were current smokers had lower odds of having an infection detected. Active surveillance that includes SARS-CoV-2 testing of all persons is essential in ascertaining the true burden of SARS-CoV-2 infections among residents and staff of congregate settings.

In June 2019 the Health Protection Team in Yorkshire and Humber, England, was notified of cases of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection in staff at a secondary school. Investigation revealed that an earlier case worked as a food handler in the school kitchen. Indirect transmission through food from the canteen was considered the most likely route of transmission. Cases were described according to setting of exposure. Oral fluid was obtained from students for serological testing. Environmental investigations were undertaken at settings where food handling was considered a potential transmission risk. Thirty-three confirmed cases were linked to the outbreak. All of those tested (n = 31) shared the same sequence with a HAV IB genotype. The first three cases were a household cluster and included the index case for the school. A further 19 cases (16 students, 3 staff) were associated with the school and consistent with indirect exposure to the food handler. One late onset case could not be ruled out as a secondary case within the school and resulted in vaccination of the school population. Five cases were linked to a bakery where a case from the initial household cluster worked as a food server. No concerns about hygiene standards were noted at either the school or the bakery. Oral fluid samples taken at the time of vaccination from asymptomatic students (n = 219, 11–16 years-old) showed no evidence of recent or current infection. This outbreak included household and foodborne transmission but limited (and possibly zero) person-to-person transmission among secondary school students. Where adequate hygiene exists, secondary transmission within older students may not occur.

Over the last 25 years, radiowave detection of neutrino-generated signals, using cold polar ice as the neutrino target, has emerged as perhaps the most promising technique for detection of extragalactic ultra-high energy neutrinos (corresponding to neutrino energies in excess of 0.01 Joules, or 1017 electron volts). During the summer of 2021 and in tandem with the initial deployment of the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland (RNO-G), we conducted radioglaciological measurements at Summit Station, Greenland to refine our understanding of the ice target. We report the result of one such measurement, the radio-frequency electric field attenuation length $L_\alpha$. We find an approximately linear dependence of $L_\alpha$ on frequency with the best fit of the average field attenuation for the upper 1500 m of ice: $\langle L_\alpha \rangle = ( ( 1154 \pm 121) - ( 0.81 \pm 0.14) \, ( \nu /{\rm MHz}) ) \,{\rm m}$ for frequencies ν ∈ [145 − 350] MHz.

In November 2019, an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 was detected in South Yorkshire, England. Initial investigations established consumption of milk from a local dairy as a common exposure. A sample of pasteurised milk tested the next day failed the phosphatase test, indicating contamination of the pasteurised milk by unpasteurised (raw) milk. The dairy owner agreed to immediately cease production and initiate a recall. Inspection of the pasteuriser revealed a damaged seal on the flow divert valve. Ultimately, there were 21 confirmed cases linked to the outbreak, of which 11 (52%) were female, and 12/21 (57%) were either <15 or >65 years of age. Twelve (57%) patients were treated in hospital, and three cases developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome. Although the outbreak strain was not detected in the milk samples, it was detected in faecal samples from the cattle on the farm. Outbreaks of gastrointestinal disease caused by milk pasteurisation failures are rare in the UK. However, such outbreaks are a major public health concern as, unlike unpasteurised milk, pasteurised milk is marketed as ‘safe to drink’ and sold to a larger, and more dispersed, population. The rapid, co-ordinated multi-agency investigation initiated in response to this outbreak undoubtedly prevented further cases.

Substantial progress has been made in the standardization of nomenclature for paediatric and congenital cardiac care. In 1936, Maude Abbott published her Atlas of Congenital Cardiac Disease, which was the first formal attempt to classify congenital heart disease. The International Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Code (IPCCC) is now utilized worldwide and has most recently become the paediatric and congenital cardiac component of the Eleventh Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). The most recent publication of the IPCCC was in 2017. This manuscript provides an updated 2021 version of the IPCCC.

The International Society for Nomenclature of Paediatric and Congenital Heart Disease (ISNPCHD), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), developed the paediatric and congenital cardiac nomenclature that is now within the eleventh version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). This unification of IPCCC and ICD-11 is the IPCCC ICD-11 Nomenclature and is the first time that the clinical nomenclature for paediatric and congenital cardiac care and the administrative nomenclature for paediatric and congenital cardiac care are harmonized. The resultant congenital cardiac component of ICD-11 was increased from 29 congenital cardiac codes in ICD-9 and 73 congenital cardiac codes in ICD-10 to 318 codes submitted by ISNPCHD through 2018 for incorporation into ICD-11. After these 318 terms were incorporated into ICD-11 in 2018, the WHO ICD-11 team added an additional 49 terms, some of which are acceptable legacy terms from ICD-10, while others provide greater granularity than the ISNPCHD thought was originally acceptable. Thus, the total number of paediatric and congenital cardiac terms in ICD-11 is 367. In this manuscript, we describe and review the terminology, hierarchy, and definitions of the IPCCC ICD-11 Nomenclature. This article, therefore, presents a global system of nomenclature for paediatric and congenital cardiac care that unifies clinical and administrative nomenclature.

The members of ISNPCHD realize that the nomenclature published in this manuscript will continue to evolve. The version of the IPCCC that was published in 2017 has evolved and changed, and it is now replaced by this 2021 version. In the future, ISNPCHD will again publish updated versions of IPCCC, as IPCCC continues to evolve.

In order to maximize the utility of future studies of trilobite ontogeny, we propose a set of standard practices that relate to the collection, nomenclature, description, depiction, and interpretation of ontogenetic series inferred from articulated specimens belonging to individual species. In some cases, these suggestions may also apply to ontogenetic studies of other fossilized taxa.

The SPARC tokamak is a critical next step towards commercial fusion energy. SPARC is designed as a high-field ($B_0 = 12.2$ T), compact ($R_0 = 1.85$ m, $a = 0.57$ m), superconducting, D-T tokamak with the goal of producing fusion gain $Q>2$ from a magnetically confined fusion plasma for the first time. Currently under design, SPARC will continue the high-field path of the Alcator series of tokamaks, utilizing new magnets based on rare earth barium copper oxide high-temperature superconductors to achieve high performance in a compact device. The goal of $Q>2$ is achievable with conservative physics assumptions ($H_{98,y2} = 0.7$) and, with the nominal assumption of $H_{98,y2} = 1$, SPARC is projected to attain $Q \approx 11$ and $P_{\textrm {fusion}} \approx 140$ MW. SPARC will therefore constitute a unique platform for burning plasma physics research with high density ($\langle n_{e} \rangle \approx 3 \times 10^{20}\ \textrm {m}^{-3}$), high temperature ($\langle T_e \rangle \approx 7$ keV) and high power density ($P_{\textrm {fusion}}/V_{\textrm {plasma}} \approx 7\ \textrm {MW}\,\textrm {m}^{-3}$) relevant to fusion power plants. SPARC's place in the path to commercial fusion energy, its parameters and the current status of SPARC design work are presented. This work also describes the basis for global performance projections and summarizes some of the physics analysis that is presented in greater detail in the companion articles of this collection.

In order to inform core performance projections and divertor design, the baseline SPARC tokamak plasma discharge is evaluated for its expected H-mode access, pedestal pressure and edge-localized mode (ELM) characteristics. A clear window for H-mode access is predicted for full field DT plasmas, with the available 25 MW of design auxiliary power. Additional alpha heating is likely needed for H-mode sustainment. Pressure pedestal predictions in the developed H-mode are surveyed using the EPED model. The projected SPARC pedestal would be limited dominantly by peeling modes and may achieve pressures in excess of 0.3 MPa at a density of approximately 3 × 1020 m−3. High pedestal pressure is partially enabled by strong equilibrium shaping, which has been increased as part of recent design iterations. Edge-localized modes (ELMs) with >1 MJ of energy are projected, and approaches for reducing the ELM size, and thus the peak energy fluence to divertor surfaces, are under consideration. The high pedestal predicted for SPARC provides ample margin to satisfy its high fusion gain (Q) mission, so that even if ELM mitigation techniques result in a 2× reduction of the pedestal pressure, Q > 2 is still predicted.

As the primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension is the leading cause of preventable, premature mortality globally. Hypertension, or elevated blood pressure (BP), has a number of well-established risk factors, including genetics. A common C677T polymorphism in the gene encoding the folate metabolising enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) affects 10–12% of UK and Irish populations and has been linked with 24–87% increased risk of hypertension globally. Evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) conducted at this Centre has shown BP to be highly responsive (by 5–13 mmHg) to supplementation with riboflavin (MTHFR co-factor), an effect confined to homozygous individuals (TT genotype). To date, our trials have focused on peripheral BP; however, additional measures of vascular health such as central pressure are reported to be more closely correlated with CVD risk. Investigation of central BP, augmentation index (AIx) and pulse pressure amplification (PPA) may thus offer further insight into the role of this gene-nutrient interaction in blood pressure. The present study aims to investigate BP, and measures of vascular health in healthy adults stratified by MTHFR 677 genotype. Apparently healthy adults aged 18–60 years were recruited from workplaces across Northern Ireland and screened for MTHFR genotype via buccal swab. Clinic BP, anthropometry and blood sample were measured in TT individuals (n 209) and age and sex-matched CC (n 98) and CT (n 102) controls. AIx and central BP were assessed using SphygmoCor® (AtCor Medical, Australia). Preliminary results demonstrate higher BP in individuals with the MTHFR 677TT genotype compared to non-TT controls (systolic BP 134.7 ± 13.8 mmHg vs 129.7 ± 12.4 mmHg, P < 0.001; diastolic BP 81.6 ± 9.5 mmHg vs 79.7 mmHg ± 8.9 mmHg, P = 0.023, respectively). The MTHFR 677TT genotype group had significantly higher central systolic BP (119.4 ± 11.8 vs 116.7 ± 10.9 mmHg, P = 0.018), central pulse pressure (P = 0.006) and central mean pressure (P = 0.011) compared to the non-TT group. No significant differences for central diastolic BP, pulse pressure amplification, pulse pressure ratio and augmentation index were observed. This study confirms the phenotype of elevated BP in individuals with the C677T polymorphism in the gene encoding MTHFR. For the first time, this study reports that individuals with the MTHFR 677TT genotype have higher central systolic BP, central mean pressure and pulse pressure. Further investigations through RCTs investigating the effect of the MTHFR cofactor, riboflavin, on central blood pressure in these genetically at-risk adults are warranted.

Gut microbiota data obtained by DNA sequencing are not only complex because of the number of taxa that may be detected within human cohorts, but also compositional because characteristics of the microbiota are described in relative terms (e.g., “relative abundance” of particular bacterial taxa expressed as a proportion of the total abundance of taxa). Nutrition researchers often use standard principal component analysis (PCA) to derive dietary patterns from complex food data, enabling each participant's diet to be described in terms of the extent to which it fits their cohort's dietary patterns. However, compositional PCA methods are not commonly used to describe patterns of microbiota in the way that dietary patterns are used to describe diets. This approach would be useful for identifying microbiota patterns that are associated with diet and body composition. The aim of this study is to use compositional PCA to describe gut microbiota profiles in 5 year old children and explore associations between microbiota profiles, diet, body mass index (BMI) z-score, and fat mass index (FMI) z-score. This study uses a cross-sectional data for 319 children who provided a faecal sample at 5 year of age. Their primary caregiver completed a 123-item quantitative food frequency questionnaire validated for foods of relevance to the gut microbiota. Body composition was determined using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and BMI and FMI z-scores calculated. Compositional PCA identified and described gut microbiota profiles at the genus level, and profiles were examined in relation to diet and body size. Three gut microbiota profiles were found. Profile 1 (positive loadings on Blautia and Bifidobacterium; negative loadings on Bacteroides) was not related to diet or body size. Profile 2 (positive loadings on Bacteroides; negative loadings on uncultured Christensenellaceae and Ruminococcaceae) was associated with a lower BMI z-score (r = -0.16, P = 0.003). Profile 3 (positive loadings on Faecalibacterium, Eubacterium and Roseburia) was associated with higher intakes of fibre (r = 0.15, P = 0.007); total (r = 0.15, P = 0.009), and insoluble (r = 0.13, P = 0.021) non-starch polysaccharides; protein (r = 0.12, P = 0.036); meat (r = 0.15, P = 0.010); and nuts, seeds and legumes (r = 0.11, P = 0.047). Further regression analyses found that profile 2 and profile 3 were independently associated with BMI z-score and diet respectively. We encourage fellow researchers to use compositional PCA as a method for identifying further links between the gut, diet and obesity, and for developing the next generation of research in which the impact on body composition of dietary interventions that modify the gut microbiota is determined.

A synapse is a junction between two biological neurons, and the strength, or weight of the synapse, determines the communication strength between the neurons. Building a neuromorphic (i.e. neuron isomorphic) computing architecture, inspired by a biological network or brain, requires many engineered synapses. Furthermore, recent investigation in neuromorphic photonics, i.e. neuromorphic architectures on photonics platforms, have garnered much interest to enable high-bandwidth, low-latency, low-energy applications of neural networks in machine learning and neuromorphic computing. We propose a graphene-based synapse model as a core element to enable large-scale photonic neural networks based on on-chip multiwavelength techniques. This device consists of an electro-absorption modulator embedded in a microring resonator. We also introduce an encoding protocol that allows for the representation of synaptic weights on our photonic device with 15.7 bits of resolution using current control hardware. Recent work has suggested that graphene-based modulators could operate in excess of 100 GHz. Combined with our work, such a graphene-based synapse could enable applications for ultrafast and online learning.