University of the West of England

Abstract Understanding the weather and climate of Mesoamerica and the Caribbean remains challenging due to complex hydroclimate interactions, limited observations, and poor representation of regional processes in global models. We introduce the Mesoamerica Affinity Group (MAAG), a National Science Foundation (NSF) National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and community initiative that fosters research collaboration to advance weather and climate science, develop convection-permitting datasets, and promote knowledge exchange. MAAG’s first major contribution is a 2-week convection-permitting simulation of Hurricane Maria (2017) using Model for Prediction Across Scales–Atmosphere (MPAS-A), featuring a novel regional 15- to 3-km variable-resolution mesh over the region. Initial evaluation shows that MPAS-A captures key features like precipitation patterns, the intertropical convergence zone, and low-level jets. Some biases remain, particularly in enhanced land convection and slight deviations in Maria’s track. This novel dataset, now publicly available through NCAR’s Data Archive, supports studies of other extreme events and mesoscale convective systems active during the same period. It offers a valuable resource for the research community. MAAG is a new but rapidly growing initiative achieving notable milestones in a short time. It serves as a collaborative platform for codesigning high-resolution modeling experiments aimed at producing actionable weather and climate information. We invite the community to join MAAG, explore this initial dataset, and advance regional weather and climate research. Significance Statement The Mesoamerica Affinity Group (MAAG), a National Science Foundation (NSF) National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and community initiative, aims at addressing the complex challenges of understanding weather and climate in Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. MAAG’s first major achievement is a 2-week convection-permitting simulation of Hurricane Maria (2017) using a novel 15- to 3-km variable-resolution mesh. This dataset accurately captures key regional features and is publicly available through NCAR’s Data Archive. By fostering collaboration through data production and sharing, monthly group meetings that serve as a platform for networking and knowledge exchange, and the development of advanced high-resolution datasets, MAAG provides a vital resource for advancing regional weather and climate science. The initiative is rapidly growing, serving as a platform for codesigned modeling experiments aimed at producing actionable climate information for academia and different sectors. We invite the scientific community to join MAAG and advance research in this critical region.

Service-dominant logic proposes that value is co-created through a process of resource integration. However, this assumes that actors (care providers and patients) possess, and are willing and able to apply, resources. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of tensions on resource integration and outcomes in a private healthcare setting. Adopting a theoretical framework combining value co-creation and paradox theory, this article draws on semi-structured interviews with 22 practitioners in independent, for-profit, optometry. We identify three levels of tension - micro (organisational tensions), meso (practitioner-patient interactional tensions) and macro (system tensions). We identify six tensions and show their potential negative effect on patient and/or practitioner resource application and outcomes. Finally, we reveal practitioner responses to tensions, including strategies that allow them to accommodate both poles of a tension or to combine poles and produce a synergistic result. Research was limited to a single, private healthcare sector. Given that co-creation and competing demands are ubiquitous, further research could investigate the nature of tensions, their impact and practitioner coping mechanisms, in other contexts, both private and public. Tensions should not be ignored because they cause frustration, anxiety and sub-optimum care. Management teams need to engage with paradoxes and design coping strategies. Studies combining co-creation and paradox theory are scarce. This article contributes to the literature by revealing how competing demands influence provider and patient resource integration and, consequently, outcomes.

With the ever-increasing realisation that measures against climate change have to be local, many cities opted to become NetZero (i.e., CO2-Neutral, emissions compensated) in the near future. Especially within the EU, a large-scale project takes place driven in close collaboration between the EU and cities. The “EU Cities Mission” facilitates urban transition via supporting actions and strategies towards neutrality by offering official labelling to cities that create successful climate city contracts and commit to achieve CO2-Neutrality by 2030. The Horizon project CLMS-Cities targets to support cities with quantifying and trenching their CO2 emissions based on existing and freely available Copernicus Services, in particular within CLMS (Copernicus Land Monitoring Service Cities) and in-situ data such as GNSS based mobility data. Within CLMS-Cities a CO2 exchange model for local-scale scope 1 CO2 emissions is developed at 10m resolution at hourly scale for the five sectors: mobility, buildings, industrial sources, AFOLU (Agriculture, Forestry and other land uses), and human respiration following closely typical city inventories. We here present first results and the background of the model for the case study city Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain (Tier 1 city). The model is mainly based on the Urban Atlas and produces estimates of CO2 exchange by integrating relevant Copernicus services, satellite products and third-party mobility data. To ensure robustness, the model is paired with local-scale eddy covariance observations in the city centre of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Following this validation process, the model will be extended and rolled out to ten additional EU Mission cities to ensure that it accommodates a wide range of spatial, urban and environmental contexts, that is seen across the real cities in the EU. A co-design approach underpins this work, with continuous engagement with cities to ensure that their requirements are fully integrated in the design, development and operationalisation of the model.

Abstract The dark side of leadership has been employed as an umbrella term to cover an array of concepts typically concerned with the dysfunctionality and/or toxicity of individual leaders. As the field of leadership studies moves towards ‘post‐heroic’ perspectives, we apply the same ontological positioning, adopting a ‘post‐villainous’ perspective in order to explore the wider network of influence that facilitates and enables the dark side of leadership to emerge and thrive. Through analysis of four high profile case studies of corporate bankruptcies attributed to the dark side of leadership (Enron, Purdue Pharma, Theranos and Wirecard), this paper takes a subjective collective approach that reveals the dark side of leadership as a multi‐faceted phenomenon with varying perceptions and interpretations. We propose a three‐dimensional, dark pyramid comprising internal (f)actors (similar to the original framework), external (f)actors, regulatory (f)actors and outcomes (the word ‘(f)actors’ is used to denote the potential for the influence to be an actor or another factor). By conceptualizing the dark side of leadership as a multidimensional phenomenon, we offer new ways of theorizing, researching and/or addressing the factors that contribute towards the dark side of leadership in organizations.

University students increasingly face pressures related to mental health, cognitive fatigue, and reduced nature connectedness, challenges intensified by global concerns such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Evidence shows that greenspaces can help mitigate these pressures by supporting restoration, social interaction, and everyday wellbeing. Although research highlights the importance of flexibility, sensory richness, and user agency in greenspace design, less is known about how these dynamics operate in university settings. This study addresses this gap by examining how students use campus greenspaces and introducing a new concept to explain these behaviours. This study synthesises existing literature into a three-part activity framework, necessary, individual, and social activities, and applies it to observations of greenspaces at two universities in Bristol, England. Findings show that students engage in all three activity types, shaped by spatial attributes such as location, vegetation, and the availability of flexible or movable seating. The study also introduces the term “guerrilla use,” describing students’ informal appropriation of edges, steps, lawns, and movable furniture to optimise comfort, privacy, shade, or sociability. By foregrounding guerrilla use as a distinct pattern and linking it to spatial conditions, the study expands understanding of how design features shape student engagement with campus environments. It offers an empirical contribution by showing how students adapt and personalise greenspaces, and a theoretical contribution through the introduction of guerrilla use as an interpretive concept. The findings provide practical insights for planners and designers seeking to create campus environments that encourage lingering, support wellbeing, and foster interaction with nature.