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Supporting families to ‘make the most’ of the relationship between their companion dogs and children with autism spectrum condition::A qualitative exploration of the ‘Family Dog Service’
Get PDFThe short form 6 dimensions (SF-6D): development and evolution
Get PDFThis paper considers the development and evolution of the short-form 6 dimensions (SF-6D), a generic preference-weighted measure consisting of a health classification with accompanying value set that was developed from one of the widest used health related quality of life measures, the SF-36 health survey. This enabled health state utility values to be directly generated from SF-36 and SF-12 data for a range of purposes, including to produce quality adjusted life years for use in economic evaluation of healthcare interventions across a range of different conditions and treatments. This paper considers the rationale for the development of the measure, the development process, performance and how the SF-6D has evolved since its conception. This includes the development of an updated version, SF-6D version 2 (SF-6Dv2), which was generated to deal with some criticisms of the first version, and now includes a standalone version for inclusion in studies without relying on use of SF-36 or SF-12. Valuation methods have also evolved, from standard gamble in-person interviews to online discrete choice experiment surveys. International work related to the SF-6Dv1 and SF-6Dv2 is considered. We also consider recommendations for use, highlighting key psychometric evidence and reimbursement agency recommendations
Efficient state identification for finite state machine-based testing
Get PDFThe practice of testing software systems modelled as Finite State Machines (FSMs) has garnered significant attention owing to its simplicity. In FSM-based testing, the tester derives a test suite from the FSM model representing the system’s specification. Subsequently, this test suite is executed against the implementation, and the tester uses the output to decide whether the implementation conforms to the specification. Often, a test suite generation technique requires input sequences to check whether the FSM is in the intended state. This task is referred to as state identification and is often carried out using a set of input sequences called a characterising set. Even though the use of characterising sets simplifies testing, they require a reliable reset or reset sequence and additional transfer sequences. Unfortunately, resetting the underlying system can be costly or may entail manual configuration. In addition, transfer sequences do not directly contribute to testing. This work introduces a class of characterising sets (Ordered Characterising Sets (OWSets)) that avoid using resets or transfers by design. We show that checking the existence of such a characterising set is NPcomplete. We introduce the notion of bounded O-WSets (BOWSets), which are types of O-WSets that limit transfer usage, and give an algorithm that constructs these. In experiments, on average, the proposed approach led to reductions in the number of resets (95% for real FSMs; 99.73% for synthetic FSMs), the number of transfer inputs (53% for real FSMs; 63.3% for synthetic FSMs) and the number of inputs in state identification sequences (50% for real FSMs; 66.6% for synthetic FSMs). Additionally, the proposed algorithm reduced the time and memory required to derive state identification sequences by 85% and 23%, respectively. Finally, the approach led to test suites with 49.3% fewer sequences and 33.3% fewer inputs on average
Evaluating the efficacy and impact of a pilot programme for FAIR data stewardship at a UK university
Get PDFIncreasingly, funders, publishers, and institutions expect researchers to comply with the FAIR principles to ensure that data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. In an institutional context, however, questions remain as to how organisations can move beyond a broad commitment to FAIR, coupled with support for researchers to comply nominally with related grant conditions, to a more embedded and sustainable approach with a meaningful and pervasive impact on the FAIRness of research outputs. A data stewardship model offers one way to achieve this, yet in contrast to universities in mainland Europe and especially in the Netherlands, the UK is substantially lacking in such infrastructure at an institutional level, hampering efforts to evidence its potential impact within UK institutions and thereby advocate for its adoption. This article examines efforts to address this challenge via a recent project at the University of Sheffield to establish a pilot support service around FAIR data stewardship. It also provides a case study of how the benefits and impact of such an intervention might be identified and articulated through an evidence-led evaluation
Agent-based modelling of the early stages of actin polymerisation required to drive endocytosis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Get PDFEndocytosis is critical. Its complexity means that many aspects remain poorly understood. We have developed an agent-based model covering key components of actin filament generation in endocytosis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The model incorporates realistic values for rates, affinities, concentrations, and mobilities, and reproduces essential features of endocytosis, from the arrival of WASp/Las17 and its inhibitor Sla1 at the membrane up to the burst of actin polymerisation. The model yields relative rates and affinities for interactions that cannot be measured experimentally, and places limitations on plausible scenarios. Specifically, it reveals three novel findings. First, Las17 must form multimeric complexes. Second, de novo F-actin nucleation occurs in two stages, involving the slow formation of linear trimers, followed by rapid polymerisation once an additional actin monomer is positioned at the side of the aligned monomers. Third, competition between SH3 domains and other factors, including actin, is critical to ensure on/off switching. This requires: (1) tandem domains binding to adjacent polyproline sites outcompeting single domains; (2) these tandem domains being weakened in overall affinity through a reduction in avidity by competition with single SH3 domains. We conclude with a pathway that proposes how controlled actin polymerisation occurs, and raises implications for further testing
Baseline isotopic variability in plants and animals and implications for the reconstruction of human diet in 1 st century AD Pompeii
Get PDFWhile Pompeii has long captured the imagination with its history and tragic end, recent efforts have shifted towards unveiling everyday lifeways. Our study seeks to explore agricultural and husbandry practices in Pompeii, aiming to explore isotopic variability of different food categories available to the Romans within this unique "snapshot" scenario. To do so, we deploy stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of plants and animals. Our findings suggest a diversity of practices, with isotopic variation in C 3 cereals and legumes pointing to the use of a greater variety of cultivation techniques compared to arboreal crops. We highlight distinct management regimes utilised for different animal species and we uncover a spectrum of aquatic environments, indicative of diversity of fishing practices. These findings provide direct support of archaeological evidence and textual interpretations of Roman food systems in Pompeii. However, our dataset also reveals the limitations of bulk isotope approaches in detecting this dietary diversity when we use it to interpret the local human diet through mixing models. Together, our results show that a broad and well-contextualised isotopic baseline can help us understanding ancient food systems, while also revealing the challenges of disentangling dietary complexity using bulk stable isotope data alone
Ensembling synchronisation-based and face–voice association paradigms for robust active speaker detection in egocentric recordings
Get PDFAudiovisual active speaker detection (ASD) in egocentric recordings is challenged by frequent occlusions, motion blur, and audio interference, which undermine the discernability of temporal synchrony between lip movement and speech. Traditional synchronisation-based systems perform well under clean conditions but degrade sharply in first-person recordings. Conversely, face-voice association (FVA)-based methods forgo synchronisation modelling in favour of cross-modal biometric matching, exhibiting robustness to transient visual corruption but suffering when overlapping speech or front-end segmentation errors occur. In this paper, a simple yet effective ensemble approach is proposed to fuse synchronisation-dependent and synchronisation-agnostic model outputs via weighted averaging, thereby harnessing complementary cues without introducing complex fusion architectures. A refined preprocessing pipeline for the FVA-based component is also introduced to optimise ensemble integration. Experiments on the Ego4D-AVD validation set demonstrate that the ensemble attains 70.2% and 66.7% mean Average Precision (mAP) with TalkNet and Light-ASD backbones, respectively. A qualitative analysis stratified by face image quality and utterance masking prevalence further substantiates the complementary strengths of each component
Legionnaires’ disease outbreak linked to a cold-water source in Yorkshire, 2022
Get PDFWe describe an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease linked to an exclusive cold-water source in a private residential setting in Yorkshire. The cold-water source was identified following microbiological testing of clinical and environmental samples. Legionella pneumophila was only detected in the cold-water system. Three cases were identified over the course of the outbreak: two confirmed and one probable. Conditions favourable to bacterial growth included system ‘dead legs’ and significant heat transfer to the cold-water system. We describe challenges in implementing control measures at the venue and highlight the importance of using enforcement powers, where necessary, to reduce risk
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