21649 research outputs found
Sort by
A Pilot Project to Create Awareness of Clinical Research Funding Streams Among Nurses and Allied Health Professionals in England
Get PDFBackground: A culturally diverse research workforce benefits patients, the community and the population as patients see health and care professionals who are like them and can build trusting relationships. From our experience, ethnic minority group nurses are less likely to attend research-related workshops and have significantly less awareness about clinical research funding and career pathways. This pilot project aimed to create awareness of clinical research terminology, methods and funding streams among ethnic minorities cardiothoracic nurses and allied health professionals (NAHPs) across specific geographical locations in England. Methods: Participants were invited using social media platforms to attend a research masterclass at various locations across England and 211 were registered but 92 attended. They were also invited to complete a pre- and postworkshop questionnaire to determine their understanding of the topics being taught during the masterclass. Data were collected and then compared before and after the masterclass. Results: A total of 63 out of 92 participants completed the workshop evaluation. There were 88% female and 11% male participants, aged 18 to 60+ years with different educational backgrounds. The participant’s pre- and postresearch theory and skills knowledge demonstrated some significant changes after attending the Masterclass on understanding research terminologies (p<0.001), how study aims, and objectives determine the study methodology (p<0.001) and the difference between qualitative and quantitative research (p=0.012). We also asked about the overall experience (98% said 10 out of 10), structure of the workshop (98% said 9 out of 10), venue, food and drinks (95% said 8 out of 10), communication/organisation (98% said 10 out of 10) and relevance of the workshops (100% said 10 out 10). Conclusions: Our study findings suggest that raising awareness about research careers, local/national funding opportunities and research masterclasses can improve NAHPs awareness of opportunities to gain skills and confidence in leading their own research to answer pertinent clinical and care questions related to their practice and ultimately improve patient care. In addition, this study identifies the gap in clinical research and funding among clinical staff, which is crucial for advancing evidence-based practice. Encouraging clinical healthcare staff to engage in clinical research will help foster an evidence-based culture
A New Hybrid Wavelet Decomposition-based Networks for Script Identification in Scene Images
Get PDFScript identification is challenging because of the unpredictable nature of the scene text. This paper presents a new model for achieving accurate script identification irrespective of intra and inter-class variations. The distinct features that represent the scene text of different scripts uniquely are extracted by fusing inception, which captures multi-scale features, and dense network, which captures fine-grained features. To strengthen the feature extraction, the proposed work uses wavelet decomposition, which enhances the fine details like edges in the images. Furthermore, for extracting text style, we propose a soft style attention module, which captures the unique style of scene text. The above modules are integrated as a hybrid model for accurate script identification. To evaluate the proposed model, we conducted comprehensive experiments on benchmark datasets, namely CVSI2015, SIW-13, and MLe2e, and combined datasets (combining distinct classes of all three benchmark datasets). The results of the proposed model on different datasets show that the performance is superior to the state-of-the-art methods in terms of accuracy
Editorial - LTEC Post-Festival Publication
Get PDFThe third annual Festival of Learning and Teaching (2-3rd September 2024) was held in Salford’s New Adelphi Building. It provided an opportunity for Salford’s learning and teaching community (L&T) community to come together to share best practice, network, and celebrate our achievements in the L&T sphere. Almost 200colleagues attended across the two days, which was the largest University of Salford Learning and Teaching Festival to-date. It provided a wonderful opportunity for us to come together as an institution to explore the theme of ‘Future Horizons in Learning and Teaching Practice’. The Festival featured: three keynotes, twenty-nine presentations and lightning talks, four workshops, and eleven poster presentations, with seventy individual contributors. Over the course of the two days, we explored the overarching theme through three distinct lenses of: • community, collaboration and networking,• future curriculum and student experience,• digital enablement
Enhancing Laboratory Education through Collaborative Online International Learning: A Case Study between USA and UK Students
Get PDFCollaborative Online International Learning (COIL) has emerged in recent years as an effective and viable alternative to increase the international opportunities within taught curricula. Through recent innovations in online collaboration tools, and elevated demand for international opportunities, there has been a global increase in the development of COIL opportunities across a range of health aligned disciplines. This style of learning has been described to positively develop student’s internationality and enhance their transferable skills. However, there have been no reported COIL opportunities described in the fields of laboratory medicine and biomedicine, likely due to the emphasis on practical techniques associated with the subjects making them difficult to disseminate virtually. This study therefore aimed to develop a COIL project that incorporates practical laboratory elements and evaluates the efficacy of this teaching and learning approach. A laboratory-based COIL was developed and delivered across two days between the University of Salford, United Kingdom, and Wayne State University, United States of America. Day one was composed of asynchronous livestreamed laboratory demonstrations, micro-teaching sessions of practical activities, with day two focused on the completion of a time-dependent team-based task. The pedagogical impact of this laboratory-based COIL was evaluated through 1) pre and post surveys and 2) an overall survey utilising Likert scales to evaluate experience, transferable skill enhancement and international development. The laboratory-based COIL was well received among students with most students stating they enjoyed the session (94.1%) and learnt a lot by participating in it (94.1%). COIL learning opportunity also produced highly positive benefits to student confidence (97.1%), teamworking (100%), and communication (97.1%). Pre and Post-analysis revealed significant enhancement of students’ international medical practice knowledge (p<0.0001), cultural intelligence (p<0.0001), social initiative (P=0.0373), and work-based flexibility (P=0.0047). Further stratification based on participants’ international institution revealed significant differences in questions relating to cultural intelligence (P=0.0062) and their confidence of working with cultures unfamiliar to themselves (P=0.0390). We are the first to report that implementation of laboratory-based COIL opportunities enhances students' international, cultural and transferable competencies within medical laboratory and biomedicine education. These data suggest that practical-based COIL is an effective method for preparing students to thrive in a globalized healthcare environment
Simplified Research Proposal
No full textA Step-by-Step Guide for Students, Academics, and Professionals to Write Research Proposals with ConfidenceWhether you're an undergraduate, master's student, or starting your PhD, Simplified Research Proposals will guide you step-by-step through the process of crafting a clear, focused, and academically sound proposal. - Choose a meaningful and career-aligned research topic - Write strong research aims and SMART objectives - Frame research questions that flow logically from your goals - Select and justify your methodology (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed) - Apply the 4Ps framework (Place, People, Product, Process) to build powerful titles - Structure your scope, limitations, and timeline professionally - Avoid common mistakes that frustrate supervisors and delay approvalPacked with real student examples, templates, sentence starters, and worksheets, this is your complete toolkit for writing a winning research proposal
The Experience of People With Urinary Incontinence Using Invasive Devices in Pelvic Floor Muscle Training: A Qualitative Study
Get PDFBackground and Purpose: Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) is a first‐line conservative treatment for urinary incontinence (UI), often involving invasive devices such as vaginal or anal biofeedback. However, these devices can cause discomfort, negatively impacting PFMT engagement. We aimed to explore the experiences of individuals with UI regarding the use of invasive devices during PFMT. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using semi‐structured interviews. Participants were recruited through purposive sampling and interviews were conducted online. Data were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Results: Fourteen participants (50% women; 50% men; age: 58 ± 17 years) who underwent PFMT involving invasive devices were interviewed. Four themes were generated: (1) ‘A Tool for Pelvic Floor Muscles: From Obligation to Acceptance’ as participants initially expressed discomfort and anxiety, which gradually evolved into acceptance. (2) ‘Building Trust Through Gradual Exposure and Tailored Guidance’ since supportive, patient‐centred communication and gradual exposure were key elements to alleviating discomfort. (3) ‘A Compact Trainer for PFMT’ since devices enhanced pelvic floor muscle awareness and self‐management through biofeedback, fostering independence and adherence. (4) ‘”Users” Needs: Privacy, Accessibility, Usability, and Autonomy’ emphasising barriers like lack of privacy, high costs, and need for user‐friendly designs to enhance accessibility and integration into daily life. Discussion: The study highlights the journey of individuals using invasive devices during PFMT: from discomfort to acceptance. Gradual introduction, empathetic communication, and tailored rehabilitation approaches by physiotherapists seemed to improve user engagement and adherence with the devices. Participants emphasised the need for accessible, user‐friendly devices to overcome logistical and psychological barriers
Thermo-Magnetic Bioconvection Flow in A Semi-Trapezoidal Enclosure Filled With A Porous Medium Containing Oxytactic Micro-Organisms: Modelling Hybrid Magnetic Bio-Fuel Cells
Get PDFHybrid fuel cells are becoming increasingly popular in 21st century energy systems engineering. These systems combine multiple features including various geometries, electromagnetic fluids, bacteria (micro-organisms), thermo-solutal convection and porous media. Motivated by these developments in the present work we simulate the two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) natural triple convection flow in a semi-trapezoidal enclosure saturated with electrically conducting water containing oxytactic microorganisms and oxygen species. Darcy?s model is deployed for porous media drag effects. The primitive governing partial differential conservation equations for mass, momentum, energy, oxygen species and motile micro-organism species density are transformed using a vorticity-stream function formulation and non-dimensional variables into a nonlinear boundary value problem. A numerical solution is obtained using a finite difference method with incremental time steps. The mathematical model features a number of controlling parameters i.e. Prandtl number, Rayleigh number, Bioconvective Rayleigh number, Darcy parameter, Hartmann (magnetic body force) number, Lewis number, Péclet number, Oxygen diffusion ratio, fraction of consumption oxygen to diffusion of oxygen parameter. Transport characteristics (streamlines, isotherms, oxygen iso-concentration and motile micro-organism concentration) are computed for several of these parameters. Microorganisms? impact on the rate of heat transfer at the boundaries is found to be beneficial or destructive, depending on combination of other parameters in the simulations. Additionally, Nusselt number and oxygen species Sherwood number are computed at the hot vertical wall. The simulations are relevant to hybrid electromagnetic microbial fuel cells
Opioid stewardship
Get PDFDeborah Robertson provides an overview of recently published articles that may be of interest to non-medical prescribers. Should you wish to look at any of the papers in more detail, a full reference is provide
An Evaluation of the Effect of Dimple Insoles on Foot Temperature in Diabetic Patients
Get PDFObjective: Insoles play a crucial role in foot comfort, with their effect on foot temperature being a key factor. This study aims to evaluate and compare the effect of walking with two different insole types—dimple insoles versus a conventional insole—on foot temperature changes in patients with diabetic neuropathy. Methods: Thermal imaging was used to measure the foot temperature of nine participants immediately before and after walking 250 m in each insole. Temperature variations were analyzed for the whole foot across four specific regions to assess and compare the effect of each insole on foot temperature. Results: The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test revealed that contralateral temperature differences between the left and right feet after walking (∆TAfter) were significantly (p<0.05) lower in dimple insoles compared to the conventional insoles. This effect was particularly strong in the midfoot and toe regions. Conclusions: The results indicate that insole type can influence foot contralateral temperature differences after walking. These findings provide valuable insights for selecting insoles based on thermal data and can have implications in improving patient outcomes
An Improved Optimized Link State Routing Protocol for Optimum Quality of Service Device-to Device Routing and Energy Efficiency
Get PDFThe Fifth generation (5G) and Beyond 5G (B5G) cellular network's traffic load is certain toexpand significantly in the near future as a result of its flexibility, high speed, increasedbandwidth, better connectivity and low latency. One such technique is D2D communication inD2D cellular network, which allows two or more devices to communicate with each otherdirectly without transversing the cellular network. The trio optimized link state routing protocol(OLSR) functionalities that are responsible for the challenges when implementing OLSR arelink state processing, unsuitable multipoint relay (MPR) nodes and information baseshousekeeping. This research presents structured and energy efficient link sensing, MPRselection mechanism and database maintenance techniques. The research also considers theclassification of the nodes using a supervised machine learning (ML) algorithm. The researchconsiders the contributions (weights) of all four parameters and develops a mathematical modelfor the relay selection process. It replaces OLSR’s HELLO, HELLO, and TC message sequencewith a new sequence that interweaves HELLO and TC messages with three database (DB)chores and LISTEN states. The new message sequence is DB_SELF, LISTEN, HELLO,DB_NEIGHBORS_RCVD, HI, DB_NEIGHBORS_BOTH, TC and DB_ROUTES sequence.LISTEN sequence occurs when new nodes are about to join the network, such nodes listen forongoing communication before emitting a HELLO message. DB_CHORE sequence aredurations during which nodes refrain from any form of broadcast, this period is used tocomplete necessary database updates. The proposed modification mandated nodes to alwaysrespond to a HELLO message with the new non-forwarding HI message. Multi-point relays(MPRs) are expected to immediately forward TC messages on behalf of their selectors afterthe expiration of DB_NEIGHBORS_BOTH. MPRs nodes are not mandated to broadcast TCmessages if the number of nodes and their OLSRv2 addresses remain unchanged aftersubsequence broadcasts of HELLO and HI messages, or if no node reported 2-hops symmetricconnections. In addition, this research proposes MPR selection mechanism that allows nodesto consider four (4) parameters, namely nodes battery level (BL), mobility speed (MB), nodesdegree (ND) and connection to base station (CBS) for optimum relay selection. The MPRselection mechanism combines the multiple criteria into a single metric to reduce controloverhead and energy dissipation. The proposed scheme was implemented in NS-3 simulatorand validated using mathematical model where both results shows that the proposed routingprotocol performs better than OLSR and OLSRv2 in terms of energy consumption, routingoverhead, packet delivery ratio and end-to-end delay
Data sources:
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage University of Salford Institutional Repository? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!