University of Reading

Biomass Burning in Australia: No Evidence for Carbonyl Sulfide (OCS) Enhancement in Fire Plumes From In‐Situ Measurements During SouthTRAC

Abstract Determining the atmospheric abundance and the emission sources of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) plays a crucial role for the sulfur budget in the atmosphere. In addition to its main anthropogenic and biogenic sources, biomass burning is assumed to be an essential, but not well...

Unemployment Insurance for All? Social Preferences Evolution in Europe Since the Lifting of the Iron Curtain

ABSTRACT This paper examines the evolution of social preferences over government unemployment insurance in Europe. We find an ‘East‐West divide’ in attitudes towards this role of government policy, with lower support in Eastern Europe for government action to correct adverse labo...

Reassessment of the morphological evidence for hominin hybrids in the Levant

The Levantine hominin fossil and archaeological records have played a central role in long‐standing palaeoanthropological debates over origin models and possible interbreeding between Neanderthals ( Homo neanderthalensis ) and Homo sapiens . Recent research has provided a strong...

Summertime ozone sensitivity to temperature in China: observational evidence and mechanistic attribution in urban and rural areas in the Yangtze River Delta region

Abstract. As climate change increases frequency and intensity of hot extremes, understanding how elevated temperatures influence surface ozone (O3) across different chemical regimes is critical. We combine observations from summer 2022 in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) with target...

EnviFlux (v1.0): a simplified surface flux inversion tool based on four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4D-Var)

Abstract. This paper introduces EnviFlux, which is a software tool (written in C++) to study the inverse problem of estimating the distribution of fluxes of a trace gas at the Earth's surface. This is done using a four-dimensional variational technique, which combines information...

Super Warm Early Eocene Simulations With HadGEM3‐GC31‐LL

Abstract The early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO; 53.3–49.1 million years ago) represents the period of greatest sustained warmth in the Cenozoic (last 66 million years), with proxy‐data indicating global‐mean temperatures 10–16°C above preindustrial and atmospheric concentration...

Exploring Human Coach Distinctiveness in an Age of AI: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Roles of Values

Objective: This study examined how professional coaches understand the role of values in their practice and why they see these as central to what human coaches offer compared with AI coaching agents. Method: Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used with semi-structured i...

Hazard or ‘hack’? Exploring risk perceptions of intended and unintended product use among UK regulators and consumers

Consumers frequently engage in unintended uses of products—referred to as ‘hacks’—such as using an oven to heat a room. While these practices are widely shared within consumers, they may introduce significant risks. This quantitative study (N = 206) examined differences in risk p...

Pollinator risks and recovery from air pollutant interactions during the fossil‐fuel transition

By altering the composition and concentration of floral scents, air pollutants such as ozone (O 3 ) and nitrogen oxides (NO x ) disrupt the ability of insect pollinators to locate flowers, threatening biodiversity and crop production. We examine the impact of these pollutants on...

Billable Hours and Work Flexibility: Navigating the Paradox in Law Firms

ABSTRACT Flexible work promises control over where and when work is performed, yet organisations still need credible performance evidence at a distance. Drawing on 30 interviews with women lawyers in UK‐based international firms, we examine how billable hours mediate these demand...

Detecting clear-air turbulence via beam broadening in a Rayleigh-scattering lidar system

The volume of clear-air turbulence (CAT) in the atmosphere at flight cruising altitudes is increasing rapidly, posing a growing problem for civil aviation and resulting in reduced confidence in aviation safety. There are limited remote detection capabilities for CAT, since clear...

Does Gender Matter? Gender Signals in a UK Equity Crowdfunding Experiment

Abstract While research shows that women entrepreneurs often struggle to secure funding from traditional loan institutions, crowdfunding offers a unique channel to bypass traditional loan gatekeepers and directly access funds from the public. This study explores whether the gende...

One light to rule them all: photodynamic inactivation of diverse Campylobacter

Campylobacter , the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide, routinely contaminates UK poultry products, often destined for the kitchens of the general public who risk infection through improper handling. Alongside rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the sheer abu...

Non-market strategies and environmental management: Framework for effective sustainable transformation

As environmental concerns intensify, businesses are increasingly adopting non-market strategies (NMS) to navigate regulatory pressures and improve environmental performance (EP). However, there has been no systematic effort to synthesise existing studies on the environmental bene...

Feasibility and reliability of farmer-recorded plant diversity indicators in European grasslands

European grasslands are biodiversity hotspots but face ongoing threats from intensification and abandonment. Monitoring is essential for evaluating policies that promote grassland biodiversity, but conventional expert-led surveys are costly and difficult to scale. Farmer-led biod...

A month's worth of rain in a day?

Abstract Phrases like ‘a month’s worth of rain in a day’ make for dramatic news headlines. But how often do such events occur? Are they more likely in certain locations or seasons? And can we expect more in the future? Here we examine these questions for the UK using observations...

Interactions of land use and climate change disproportionately impact Lepidoptera of the five major insect orders

Abstract Land use and climate change are two major environmental pressures that interact to impact insect biodiversity. The wide ecological diversity, including life histories, among insects suggests that some groups will be more sensitive to these pressures than others, and it i...

CEO Inherited Altruism, Firm Corporate Social Responsibility, and Shareholder Returns

Abstract We examine the impact of CEOs’ inherited altruistic inclination on firm corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and shareholder returns. Specifically, we look at U.S. CEOs’ altruism as an inherited value of the CEOs’ ancestral cultural origin that shapes their...

Active Ingredients in Quantitative Dosage for Children With Phonological Impairment: A Scoping Review

BACKGROUND: Speech Sound Disorder (SSD) reduces speech intelligibility, affecting a child's ability to make themselves understood. If SSD is not resolved in the early years it will negatively impact children's education and general well-being. Effective and efficient speech and l...

Similar weapons play different roles in bacterial competition

Many bacteria are aggressive organisms that inhibit and kill their competitors using a diverse range of molecular weapon systems. Strikingly, strains commonly carry multiple similar weapons that appear to perform the same function. Here we investigate the evolutionary benefits of...