26207 research outputs found
Sort by
Urban placemaking and human wellbeing in post-pandemic planning: Implications from case study of Wapping Wharf, Bristol
Get PDFThe way in which the living environment is designed has profound influences on inhabitants’ well-being; unfortunately, the search for leverage points for the socio-spatial assemblages of human wellbeing and the (re)configuration of their living environment is messy. This paper investigates how the project development of Wapping Wharf in Bristol impacted the dwellers’ well-being in emotional, physiological, and social aspects and to what extent they shaped their living environment. It affirms the significances of some contributors to human wellbeing enhancement in urban placemaking including greenspaces, walkability, and healthy eating, etc. Upon confirming the profound impacts of urban placemaking on dwellers’ wellbeing, the paper points out the relationship between urban placemaking and dwellers’ wellbeing is not just constitutive as suggested in existing literature review, but also mutually reinforcing. While previous research on the assemblage of placemaking and wellbeing has largely focused the former (placemaking), the future assemblage work should extend to the later (dweller wellbeing). In particular, sincere communications between the producers and the users of urban places are proved to help better placemaking and resident wellbeing enhancement; the paper thus suggests that any factors that can or have the potential to facilitate sincere communications should be prioritized in post-pandemic placemaking
'You educate yourself on what you should be’: Digital citizenship and young people in England and Poland
No full textEffectiveness of infection prevention and control interventions in health care facilities in Africa: A systematic review
No full textBackground Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) are a major threat to patient safety and quality care. However, they are avoidable by implementing evidence-based infection prevention and control measures. This review evaluated the evidence of the effectiveness of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) interventions in reducing rates of HAIs in healthcare settings in Africa. Method We searched several databases: CENTRAL, EMBASE, PUBMED, CINAHL, WHO IRIS and AJOL for primary studies reporting rates of the four most frequent HAIs: surgical site infections, central line-associated blood stream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, ventilator-associated pneumoniae and increase in hand hygiene compliance. Two reviewers appraised the studies and PRISMA guidelines were followed. Results Out of 4,624 studies identified from databases and additional sources, 15 studies were finally included in the review. Majority of studies were of pre and post-test study design. All the studies implemented a combination of interventions and not as stand-alone components. Across all included studies, an improvement was reported in at least one primary outcome. Conclusion Our review highlights the potential of IPC interventions in reducing HAIs and improving compliance with hand hygiene in healthcare facilities in Africa. However, the certainty of evidence was low for majority of the outcomes. For future research, we recommend more pragmatic study designs with improved methodological rigor
Attenuated-total-reflection Fourier-transformed spectroscopy as a rapid tool to reveal the molecular structure of insect powders as ingredients for animal feeds
No full textUnsustainable agriculture contributes to disastrous global effects – insect-based feed shows potential due to their sustainable, nutritional, and waste upcycling properties. Current EU legislation restricts insect-based meals to fish, pork, and poultry feed; but the near-future shows a great potential for wider acceptance in livestock feed. Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), mealworm (MW), field cricket (FC), and banded cricket (BC) were sourced within three consecutive weeks – each batch was prepared, freeze-dried, then milled, and stored at −20 °C. Chemical composition of whole-insect meals was analysed for ether extract (EE), crude ash, and nitrogenic contents using standard wet chemistry protocols. Monogastric in vitro digestibility was determined through replicating gastric and full intestinal digestion; during this, R-amino acid content was determined through protein hydrolysis kinetics. Additionally, ATR-FTIR was used for molecular analysis, including identification of nutrient-associated functional spectral bands – structural differences were compared through principal component analysis. Insect-based ATR-FTIR analysis demonstrates notable differences in Amide regions, suggesting distinct protein secondary structures, but overall, FC and BC contain the highest crude protein (CP) levels. The lowest CP content was in BSFL; however, BSFL contained the highest ash content – likely consequence of high calcium. Dry matter (DM) yielded lowest in the crickets (FC-28.6; BC-26.9 g/100 g), and highest in MW-38.5 g/100 g; the sum of CP + EE in MW represented >80% DM, but with higher EE contents-CP: EE = 2.45. Data shows greater chitin content in crickets than BSFL + MW. Crickets showed greater neutral detergent fibre (NDF) than BSFL + MW; however, acid-detergent fibre (ADF) was similar among all species, suggesting NDF may include amalgams of interlinked nutrients released by acid digestion. This first study shows for the first time evidence that rearing conditions and substrates influences molecular structure. Exponential solubilisation was observed during pepsin + pancreatin digestion for all, but BSFL exhibited the highest degree-of-hydrolysis during the pancreatin phase, surpassing others. Analysis indicates protein hydrolysis differences are linked to trypsin activity susceptibility
IL-6 knockdown in a model of the human bone marrow, abrogates DNA damage induction in bystander cells post-chemotherapy induced cytokine release syndrome
Get PDFFollowing infection or exposure to therapeutic agents, an aggressive immune response may result, termed cytokine storm (CS) or cytokine release syndrome. Here the innate immune system becomes uncontrolled, leading to serious consequences including possible death. Patients surviving CS are at greater risk for de novo tumorigenesis, but it is unclear if any specific cytokines are directly responsible for this outcome. De novo tumorigenesis has been observed in donated cells exposed to CS following haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). Modelling HSCT, we firstly demonstrated the release of CS levels from the HS-5 human bone marrow stromal cell line, post-exposure to chemotherapy. We then exposed the TK6 lymphoblast cell line to healthy and storm doses of IL-6 and measured increased genotoxicity via the micronucleus assay. During HSCT, haematopoietic cells are exposed to a complex mix of cytokines, so to determine if IL-6 was integral in a chemotherapy-induced bystander effect, we attempted to inhibit IL-6 from HS-5 cells using resatorvid or siRNA, treated with chlorambucil or mitoxantrone, and then co-cultured with bystander TK6 cells. Whilst resatorvid did not reduce IL-6 and did not reduce micronuclei in the bystander TK6 cells, siRNA inhibition reduced IL-6 to healthy in vivo levels, and micronuclei aligned with untreated controls. Our data suggests that exposure to high IL-6 (in the absence of inflammatory cells) has potential to induce genetic damage and may contribute to de novo tumorigenesis post-CS. We suggest that for individuals with a proinflammatory profile, anti-IL-6 therapy may be an appropriate intervention to prevent complications post-CS
Securing multi-client range queries over encrypted data
No full textOrder-revealing encryption (ORE) allows secure range query processing over encrypted databases through a publicly accessible comparison function, while keeping other details concealed. Since parameter-hiding ORE (ASIACRYPT 2018) demonstrated improved privacy preservation at the cost of O(n2) comparison operations, where n is the bit length of plaintexts, Lv et al. (ESORICS 2021) introduced an efficient ORE scheme that reduced the comparison operations to O(n), all while accommodating multiple clients. In this paper, we identify a vulnerability in Lv et al.’s ORE scheme, which we refer to as “Query Reusability.” Exploiting this vulnerability, we develop an optimal query recovery attack. According to our experiment on the real-world datasets, our attack can recover a 64-bit plaintext query within a mere 83ms. We then propose msq-ORE, a multi-client secure range query ORE scheme that effectively mitigates the vulnerability while maintaining computational costs comparable to the state-of-the-art ORE scheme. Lastly, our performance analysis results show that the proposed scheme achieves efficacy
Factors influencing microplastic abundances in the sediments of a seagrass-dominated tropical atoll
Get PDFSeagrass meadows are one of the world's most diverse ecosystems offering habitats for an extensive array of species, as well as serving as protectors of coral reefs and vital carbon sinks. Furthermore, they modify hydrodynamics by diminishing water flow velocities and enhancing sediment deposition, indicating the potential for microplastic accumulation in their sediments. The build-up of microplastics could potentially have ecological impacts threatening to ecosystems, however little is known about microplastic abundance and controlling factors in seagrass sediments. Here we investigated microplastic characteristics and abundances within sediments underlying four seagrass meadow sites on the Turneffe Atoll, Belize. Sediment cores were collected and sub-sampled to include a range of replicate surface sediments (0-4 cm) and depth cores (sediment depths 0-2, 2-5, 5-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm). These were analysed using 25 μm resolution μFTIR, with spectral maps processed using siMPle software. Microplastics were prevalent across the sites with an abundance range (limit of detection (LOD) blank-corrected) of < LOD to 17137 microplastics kg dw found on the east side of the atoll. However, their abundances varied greatly between the replicate samples. Polyethylene and polypropylene were the most commonly detected polymers overall, although the dominant polymer type varied between sites. There were no differences in the abundance of microplastics between sites, nor could abundance distributions be explained by seagrass cover. However, abundances of microplastics were highest in sediments with lower proportions of fine grained particles (clay, <4 μm) suggesting that hydrodynamics override seagrass effects. Additionally, no patterns were seen between microplastic abundance and depth of sediment. This suggests that microplastic abundance and distribution in seagrass meadows may vary significantly depending on the specific geographical locations within those meadows, and that more complex hydrodynamic factors influence spatial variability at a localised scale
The impact of the initial teacher education reaccreditation process on teacher educator identity
Get PDFThis article reports initial findings from a research project that focused on the impact of the reaccreditation process and its outcomes on teacher educators in four institutions in England where Qualified Teacher Status accreditation was removed, despite leading successful programmes as detailed in Ofsted inspections and National Student Survey data. Whilst the outcomes of the reaccreditation process were mentioned in the mainstream press, the impact of this policy on teacher educators had only been reported anecdotally. This research fills a research gap to document impact on teacher educator identity and provides an evidence base to inform teacher education policy debates. Data were gathered through focus groups using a triad collaborative enquiry approach, based on the lesson study model, where researchers took on different roles: clarifier, observer, and questioner. This method formed part of a constructed focus group and built on a process of semi-structured and unstructured creative tasks. Initial findings identified the shifting context university educators perceived in relation to policy constraints, including a greater top-down, centralisation that negated the opportunity for teacher educators to provide a contextualised, evidence informed approach to teacher preparation. This contributed to the impact of the reaccreditation process on teacher educators’ professional identity, self-efficacy and agency
Strengthening of reinforced concrete slabs using carbon fiber reinforced polymers rods and concrete jacket with a mechanical anchorage system
Get PDFThis study presented the development of a new method for strengthening of Reinforced Concrete (RC) slabs using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer rods (CFRP) and an Ultra-High Performance Fiber Reinforcement Concrete (UHPFRC) external jacket with a Mechanical Anchorage System (MAS). The mechanical anchorage system includes two components: high-carbon steel plates and the Mechanical Expansion Anchorage Bolt System (MEABS), and it's employed to prevent any premature de-bonding between the existing concrete surface and the externally strengthening layers (CFRP rods and UHPFRC jacket). The efficiency of the proposed strengthening method was evaluated through conducting an experimental test on a few fortified slabs by applying cyclic loads using a dynamic actuator. For this purpose, three distinct concrete slabs were tested to assess various design parameters, including a control slab, a strengthened slab with the UHPFRC jacket only, and a strengthened slab with CFRP bars at the bottom of the slab with an external UHPFRC jacket. The results of experimental tests reveal that the proposed strengthening system significantly enhanced the load capacity of the slab and prevented premature debonding failures between the old concrete of the slab and the new UHPFRC layer until the stage of slab failure. Accordingly, the new proposed strengthening system played a crucial role in enhancing the tension zone of the slabs and delaying the occurrence of diagonal crack loads. On the other hand, embedding CFRP bars within the UHPFRC jacket in the strengthened slab led to a notable enhancement of 82 % in the ultimate load capacity of the slab. The FE and analytical models were developed to predict the behavior of the specimens. The models' outcomes were in good agreement with the experimental data. Consequently, the new proposed strengthening system emerges as a reliable technique for enhancing the performance of reinforced concrete slabs, eliminating the risk of debonding between old and new parts
From mandate to co-create: Leading the development of inclusive performance evaluation criteria
Get PDFPurposeAnnual performance evaluations of faculty are a routine, yet essential, task in higher education. Creating (or revising) performance criteria presents an opportunity for leaders to work with their teams to co-create evaluation metrics that broaden participation and minimise inequity. The purpose of this study was to support organisational leaders in developing equitable performance criteria.Design/methodology/approachWe adopted the “dual-agenda” dialogues training that draws on concepts of collective self-efficacy and intersectionality for department leaders to co-create annual review criteria with their faculty members at one university. We used qualitative and quantitative data to assess the training and conducted an equity audit of the resulting annual review criteria.FindingsSurvey results from faculty members and departmental leaders (n = 166) demonstrated general satisfaction with the process used to create new criteria, perceptions that their criteria were inclusive and optimism about future reviews. Those with greater familiarity with the dialogues process had more positive perceptions of the inclusivity of their department’s criteria and more positive expectations of future reviews. The examination of eight indicators of equity illustrated that the resultant criteria were transparent and holistic.Originality/valueThis study builds on the relatively little research on faculty members’ annual performance evaluations, focussing on inclusive dialogues that centre equity and diversity. Results highlight the value of providing department leaders with evidence-based tools to foster system-level change through equitable evaluation policies. A toolkit is available for adaptation of the “dual-agenda” leadership training to both co-create annual review criteria and improve equity and inclusion