30793 research outputs found
Sort by
Scarcity, Cognition, and Health Decision-Making: Evidence from a Lab-in-the-Field Experiment in Rural China
No full textA preprint version of the article is available on Research Square at https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7321300/v1 under a CC BY 4.0 License. It has not been certified by peer review....This work was supported by the University Research Studentship from Loughborough University
A survey to investigate approaches, methods, contents and objectives in education for sustainable design
Get PDFLimited research has explored the delivery of sustainable design in higher education globally. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate educational practices on the topic. Through an online survey, we investigated numerous aspects of units of study exposing topics related to sustainable design with a focus on contents, teaching methods and educational objectives. The survey was accessed by almost 400 educators in the field of sustainable design. The data show that a variety of teaching methods are used, with a critical role played by project-based learning in addition to traditional lectures. Most respondents rated all investigated intended learning outcomes as relevant or very relevant. In terms of contents and methods treated by the respondents, product eco-design and design for X are the most frequently taught methods. Educational approaches and teaching objectives are poorly affected by the discipline of the degree in which units of study are taught. In terms of contents, design degrees include approaches to sustainable design at the spatio-social level more frequently than engineering degrees do.The participation of the co-author Aurora Berni is funded by the European Social Fund Plus, Project code ESF2_f3_0005, CUP: B56F24000100001, Research projects on strategic topics for South Tyrolean economy executed by research assistants (AR)
Evaluation of a prospective interdisciplinary assessment of return to play in male professional rugby union following lower-limb injury: A pilot study
Get PDFSupplementary data are available online at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772696725000298#appsec1 .The return-to-play process is multifactorial, requiring input from multiple disciplines for rehabilitation. This pilot study used a prospective interdisciplinary approach to assess male professional Rugby Union players' (n = 7) rehabilitation following a non-contact lower-limb injury. Kinetic and self-efficacy assessments were conducted across three rehabilitation phases (acute, middle, late). Biomechanical changes (p < 0.05) were observed across all phases; alongside self-efficacy increases. Moderate-to-strong positive relationships (r = 0.77–0.80) were found between kinetic and self-efficacy changes. Practitioners should incorporate both measures throughout rehabilitation, as each offers distinct insights into recovery despite their high correlation. An interdisciplinary approach ensures a comprehensive assessment, enhancing players’ rehabilitation outcomes.Funding from the Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS) via the European Social Fund (Welsh Government)
Approaching improvisation through maqam practices
No full textThis thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThis study explores the differences between the Ottoman/Turkish, Anatolian, Persian,
Arabic and Azerbaijani maqams, and how improvisation works in the maqam tradition.
The concept of maqam varies from area to area, and this study has examined four
different maqam traditions to try to find similarities that can create community and
understanding. It refers to thinking from a broader perspective instead of thinking only
about a single maqam tradition. This study also considers ideas about improvisation
and demonstrates that there are always rules in maqam and improvisation does not
mean just playing freely and musicians must know the rules. This work includes some
comparisons with Indian music, especially with raga and improvisation, as there are
similarities with the maqam tradition.
Researching improvisation in maqam music is unusual but I have chosen to focus on
this through observations and discussions and observations from different maqam
areas to gain a broad perspective. The project also includes a series of my own
improvisations from different maqam areas
Agent-Based Socio-Spatial Modelling of Coupled Human-Flood Interactions along the UK Coast
Get PDFData availability statement:
The data cannot be made publicly available upon publication because no suitable repository exists for hosting data in this field of study. The data that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request from the authors.Accepted manuscript published early online on 30 May 2025. Final version published on 10 June 2025.This study uses agent-based modelling (ABM) to assess the socio-hydrological impacts of structural coastal flood protections (SCFPs) under different climate change scenarios considering three contrasting UK case studies: Southport, Weston-super-Mare, and Portsmouth. By integrating extreme coastal water level (ECWL) projections and population dynamics, the ABM simulations reveal five distinct phases: Design, Implementation, Latency, Flood, and Post-Flood. The results highlight that the Latency phase, whereby SCFP initially stabilises affected population (AfP), inadvertently encourages population growth in residual risk areas. This process exacerbates long-term flood exposure, leading to significant increases in AfP when ECWL exceeds the SCFP crest height, negating gains in flood protection from the initial construction/upgrade. As such, Southport and Weston-super-Mare saw a significant increase in coastal population within protected floodplains, with these populations potentially having limited experience with flooding, preparedness, and consequently heightened vulnerability. Conversely, Portsmouth, with limited residential development near SCFPs, demonstrated how existing land-use and high population density can reduce the unintended socio-hydrological consequences of SCFPs in densely-populated coastal settings. These findings reveal two key pathways that influence coastal population in response to SCFPs: Land-use Driven, where non-residential land-use limits population increase, and Population Driven, where high-density areas limit further growth. This study advances our understanding of the coupled human-flood dynamics by evaluating how SCFPs can increase flood impacts in the long-term by influencing socio-spatial distribution over the short- to medium-term. Moreover, it demonstrates how ABMs can provide valuable insights by simulating complex coupled human-flood dynamics; critical for supporting adaptive, resilient coastal management strategies in a changing climate.This research was funded by the EPSRC grant number EP/T518116/1
Catalytic Pyrolysis of Bio-waste in Synthesis of Value-added Products: A Systematic Review
Get PDFData availability:
No data has been generated in this work.Bio-waste is a natural waste with significant potential to contribute to net zero emissions targets. However, its efficient valorisation remains a global challenge. Various conversion pathways, including biochemical and thermochemical processes, offer opportunities to produce value-added products that can serve as alternative energy sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Among these, pyrolysis stands out due to its versatility in feedstock compatibility, shorter processing times, and ability to generate a broad spectrum of valuable products with minimal environmental impact. Integration of catalysts into pyrolysis has emerged as a promising strategy for enhancing bio-waste valorisation. This review explores recent advancements and challenges in catalytic pyrolysis of bio-waste, focusing on key process parameters and reactor design. It examines the influence of temperature, heating rate, and reaction time on product characteristics and discusses the latest developments in improving product yield and quality. Catalysts such as zeolites, alkaline earth metals, mesoporous silicas, and biochar are reviewed for their roles in enhancing the pyrolytic process. Environmental benefits include waste reduction, greenhouse gas mitigation, and renewable energy generation, particularly when powered by renewable sources. Challenges such as catalyst deactivation, feedstock variability, and potential environmental risks are addressed, alongside future directions in catalyst design and digital process optimisation.The authors would like to acknowledge the support from UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Community (UKCCSRC) in facilitating research workshops and seminars for early career researchers, which have been beneficial to communicate research topics, share research ideas and explore research gaps as identified and scrutinised in this work. Equally, the authors would like to acknowledge the support of International Association for Carbon Capture (IACC), UK, whose workshops and seminars have been highly beneficial to the early career researchers involved in this work
Trends in the sea ice and snow cover extent: a fractional integration analysis.
No full textJEL Classification: C220, Q540.A preprint version of the article is available online at Caporale, Guglielmo Maria and Romero-Rojo, Maria Fatima and Gil-Alana, Luis A., Trends in the Sea Ice and Snow Cover Extent: A Fractional Integration Analysis (November 01, 2024). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 11475, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5046240 or https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5046240. The preprint has not been certified by peer review. The preprint version is also available at https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/308371 and at https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp11475.pdf .This paper analyses monthly data on sea ice cover extent from January 1979 to April 2024 and on snow cover extent from January 1967 to April 2024 for various regions of the world using fractional integration methods. A statistically significant time trend is found when the errors in the regression model are incorrectly assumed to exhibit short memory. However, this evidence vanishes when the errors are allowed instead to follow an I(d) process with d different from zero and thus to be characterised by long memory (a well-known property of most climatological series) – in this case, the time trend becomes insignificant for all series. This implies that previous findings suggesting an irreversible decline in both sea ice and snow cover extent might be misleading because of an incorrect model specification.This work was supported by the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria and the ‘Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad’ (MINEIC), ‘Agencia Estatal de Investigación' (AEI) Spain and `Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional' (FEDER), in the framework of the MINEIC-AEI-FEDER PID2020-113691RB-I00 project, and PID2023-149516NB-IOO
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DEEP CO-AXIAL CLOSED LOOP AND U-SHAPED WELLBORE GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
Get PDFUntil recently, geothermal energy has been limited to regions with favorable subsurface conditions. Most installed geothermal systems are open, using two wells for fluid injection and extraction. Closed-loop systems have historically been used in low-depth installations as ground source heat pumps. However, climate changes and energy market volatility have catalyzed the development of deep-borehole heat exchangers (DBHE) - a potentially cost-competitive technology for direct heat applications and electricity generation. The closed-loop systems can be built in any area with a sustainable geothermal gradient, while millions of abandoned wells worldwide offer low-cost repurposing as closed-loop DBHEs, producing revenue without the large cost linked with drilling. This study provides a technical assessment of coaxial and U-shaped DBHE systems, with a primary focus on the effects of pipe insulation. Results indicate that the installation of proper insulation is a vital part of the system, with a particular emphasis on the return line insulation of U-shaped systems
Information Theoretic Learning for Diffusion Models with Warm Start
Get PDFNeurIPS 2025 poster. Primary Area: Deep learning (e.g., architectures, generative models, optimization for deep networks, foundation models, LLMs).A version of the conference paper is available at arXiv:2510.20903v1 [cs.IT], https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.20903. Comments: NeurIPS 2025. Submission history: From: Yirong Shen [view email]. [v1] Thu, 23 Oct 2025 18:00:59 UTC (2,267 KB)Generative models that maximize model likelihood have gained traction in many practical settings. Among them, perturbation-based approaches underpin many state-of-the-art likelihood estimation models, yet they often face slow convergence and limited theoretical understanding. In this paper, we derive a tighter likelihood bound for noise-driven models to improve both the accuracy and efficiency of maximum likelihood learning. Our key insight extends the classical Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence–Fisher information relationship to arbitrary noise perturbations, going beyond the Gaussian assumption and enabling structured noise distributions. This formulation allows flexible use of randomized noise distributions that naturally account for sensor artifacts, quantization effects, and data distribution smoothing, while remaining compatible with standard diffusion training. Treating the diffusion process as a Gaussian channel, we further express the mismatched entropy between data and model, showing that the proposed objective upper-bounds the negative log-likelihood (NLL). In experiments, our models achieve competitive NLL on CIFAR-10 and state-of-the-art results on ImageNet across multiple resolutions, all without data augmentation, and the framework extends naturally to discrete data
Data sources:
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Open Research Online? Become a CORE Member to access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard! 👇