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A fractional Adams method for Caputo fractional differential equations with modified graded meshes
Get PDF© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).In this paper, we introduce an Adams-type predictor–corrector method based on a modified graded mesh for solving Caputo fractional differential equations. This method not only effectively handles the weak singularity near the initial point but also reduces errors associated with large intervals in traditional graded meshes. We prove the error estimates in detail for both 0<α<1 and 1<α<2 cases, where α is the order of the Caputo fractional derivative. Numerical experiments confirm the convergence of the proposed method and compare its performance with the traditional graded mesh approach.Unfunde
Usability testing of VR reconstructions for museums and heritage sites: A case study from 14th century Chester (UK)
No full textThis paper reports research on the usability of a 3D Virtual Reality (VR) model of the interior of St. John’s Church, Chester, as it probably appeared in the 14th Century. A VR visualization was created in Unity, based on archive data and historical records. This was adapted for use with Oculus Quest 2 VR headsets. Participants took part in usability tests of the experience, providing both qualitative and quantitative usability data. Although created with modest time and financial resources, the experience received a good overall usability rating, and numerous positive comments, including from novice VR users. Negative comments mainly related to the experience of wearing a VR headset. This paper concludes by suggesting further work, with thoughts on highly immersive VR in heritage contexts, especially combined with recent developments in generative artificial intelligence.AHRC Follow on Funding for Impact and Engagement 'The Mobility of Objects Across Boundaries 1000-1700 (MOB)'; QR-funded project ‘Virtuality and Materiality: Examining, Exploring and Extending the Use and User Experience of VR in Regional Museum Settings for the Public, Educators and Curators’ (in collaboration with Dr. Katherine Wilson in History & Archaeology)
Handbook of Dental Education Technology
Get PDF© 2025 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Tertiary education or further education which is often synonymously used for higher education is to be found not only in universities but also in vocational or technical training schools, institutes, and colleges. Hence, all tertiary education is not equivalent to what is known as university education, but all university education is tertiary education. From this definition, dental education is university education. Therefore, the philosophical domains of dental education is vast and overwhelmingly numerous with great complexity and social significance in line with the philosophy of education as well as philosophy of higher education. Dentistry has evolved from a description of decaying teeth to a comprehensive program of independent professional discipline. Albeit, how dental schools are structured or how dental education is being offered within the university is not universal. Mostly the relationship between dental schools and medical schools and mode of offering dental education and medical education in relation to the overall healthcare system varies significantly. This chapter touches upon the philosophical issues of education in general with focused attention to dentistry as a university education.Unfunde
Do Demographic and Clinical Characteristics Predict Utilisation of a Community Based Musculoskeletal Triage Service? A Retrospective Cohort Study
No full textThis is the peer reviewed version of the following article, Doran, A., Doyle, L., O'Sullivan, R., & Lafferty, M. (2025). Do Demographic and Clinical Characteristics Predict Utilisation of a Community Based Musculoskeletal Triage Service? A Retrospective Cohort Study. Musculoskeletal Care, 23(3), e70180, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/msc.70180. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.Introduction: In the United Kingdom, 20 million people are affected by musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. To reduce the burden on GP surgeries, there are now MSK triage services where patients are diagnosed and managed by allied health professionals. There is limited research exploring the sociodemographic characteristics and reasons for attendance of those using the MSK triage service. Aim: To explore the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of adult patients accessing an MSK triage service within Northwest England. Method: This is a retrospective cohort study using secondary data collected between 1st January 2022 and 31st December 2024. Data were extracted from an NHS electronic patient record system, including sociographic data as well as the number of consultations and diagnosis. Results: The sample included data on 6398 patients, of which 2826 (44%) were male and 3571 female (66%). The mean age was 56.9 years, the majority (83.1%) identified as White British and 28.4% of the sample resided in areas of low deprivation. Compared with lower body diagnoses, individuals with spine‐related diagnoses had 28.7% fewer consultations and those with upper‐body diagnoses had 19.2% fewer consultations. Both differences were highly significant (p < 0.001). Conclusions: These findings suggest that establishing more clearly defined clinical pathways may enhance the efficiency of service utilisation. Improving the accessibility of the MSK triage service has the potential to enhance access for both patients and referring clinicians, thereby optimising the timeliness of care delivery. This study adds to the evolving understanding of how MSK triage services can be enhanced in the NHS primary care setting.The SORT IT Programme under which this protocol has been developed and is funded by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Non-epileptic attack disorder (NEAD): Trauma and life events, context and meaning
Get PDF© 2025 Published by Elsevier Ltd.This paper makes the case for a re-consideration of the role of trauma and life events – and crucially, their social and political context – in relation to non-epileptic attack disorder (NEAD). Trauma and adverse life events have well established links with many health conditions and whilst they are acknowledged to play a part in NEAD, more recent research suggests that such events are not ubiquitous. Currently, when events are seen as salient this is most commonly interpreted in relation to properties of the individual and their agency. Context – social and political factors - are seldom integrated or considered.
This paper presents findings from a study which examined how trauma and life events were understood by participants, how frequently trauma and life events were present in participants’ accounts and in what ways they may be salient as predisposing, precipitating or perpetuating factors in NEAD. Employing a validated a life history questionnaire to purposively sample participants with high and low levels of self-reported trauma, we deployed a narrative interview approach which elicited rich descriptions of life experiences.
We found that descriptions of trauma or adverse life events were present in all our participants and that these events were shaped by social contexts of their lives. We propose that the method used to collect trauma data is central to what is found and that a recognition of the social and political context, and their meanings, results in a more nuanced understanding of the place of trauma and life events.This work was funded by the Ryder-Briggs Foundation and research development funding from the University of Huddersfield
Assessing the role of the oil market in rising food prices: Strategic implications for food security in Gulf Cooperation Council countries
Get PDFThis study examines the relationship between oil prices and food prices, with a focus on key agricultural commodities in the United States, including corn, soybeans, wheat flour, meat, and milk. Using a regime-switching cointegration approach, the research investigates both the long-term and short- term dynamics of oil’s impact on food prices. The findings indicate that oil prices exert an asymmetric influence on the food market. While oil prices play a relatively limited role in determining certain production costs, particularly for meat, compared to other economic factors, they nonetheless hold strong predictive power for food price forecasts. Notably, any short-term disequilibria in prices prompt a rapid adjustment back to equilibrium, contributing to market stability. The study suggests that Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which rely heavily on food imports, can leverage their energy resources to alleviate the inflationary pressures in food markets resulting from global demand increases. A key long-term strategy involves investing in energy-intensive agricultural technologies, such as desalination for water supply and controlled-environment agriculture (e.g., greenhouses), underscoring the need for strategic foresight and comprehensive planning in agricultural investments.Unfunde
Effect of the baseline Y93H resistance-associated substitution in HCV genotype 3 for direct-acting antiviral treatment: real-life experience from a multicenter study in Sweden and Norway
Get PDFBackground: The NS5A resistance-associated substitution (RAS) Y93H is found quite frequently (5-10%) at baseline in direct-acting antiviral agents (DAA) treatment-naïve genotype (GT) 3a patients when studied by the population-sequencing method (cut-off 20%). This RAS may impair HCV DAA treatment response, since it possesses a high fold in vitro resistance to daclatasvir (DCV) and velpatasvir (VEL) in GT 3. We investigated the effect of baseline Y93H in patients with GT 3a infection on treatment outcome, with or without resistance-based DAA-treatment during 2014-2017. Patients/Methods: Treatment in the intervention group (n = 130) was tailored to baseline resistance-findings by population-sequencing method. Detection of baseline Y93H above 20% prompted a prolonged treatment duration of NS5A-inhibitor and sofosbuvir (SOF) and/or addition of ribavirin (RBV). Patients without baseline Y93H in the intervention group and all patients in the control group (n = 78) received recommended standard DAA-treatment. Results: A higher sustained virologic response rate (SVR) in the intervention group was shown compared to the control group at 95.4% (124/130) and 88.5% (69/78), respectively (p = .06). All five patients with baseline Y93H in the intervention group achieved SVR with personalised treatment based on results from resistance testing; either with the addition of RBV or prolonged treatment duration (24w). In the control group, 2/4 patients with Y93H at baseline treated with ledipasvir/SOF/RBV or DCV/SOF without RBV, failed treatment. Conclusion: The results from this real-life study are in accordance with the findings of the randomised controlled trials in 2015 and the EASL-guidelines of 2016, thus, baseline Y93H impacts on DCV and VEL treatment outcome.N/
Comparative genome analysis of Alkhumra hemorrhagic fever virus with Kyasanur forest disease and tick-borne encephalitis viruses by the in silico approach
No full textAlkhumra hemorrhagic fever virus (AHFV), a relatively new member of the Flaviviruses, was discovered in Saudi Arabia 23 years ago. AHFV is classified in the tick-borne encephalitis virus serocomplex, along with the Kyasanur forest disease virus (KFDV) and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). Currently, very little is known about the pathologies of AHFV. In this study, using the available genome information of AHFV, KFDV and TBEV, we have predicted and compared the following aspects of these viruses: evolution, nucleotide and protein compositions, recombination, codon frequency, substitution rate, N- and O-glycosylation sites, signal peptide and cleavage site, transmembrane region, secondary structure of 5' and 3' UTRs and RNA-RNA interactions. Additionally, we have modeled the 3D protease and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase structures for AHFV, KFDV and TBEV. Recombination analysis showed no evidence of recombination in the AHFV genome with that of either KFDV or TBEV, although single break point analysis showed that nucleotide position 7399 (in the NS4B) is a breakpoint location. AHFV, KFDV and TBEV are very similar in terms of codon frequency, the number of transmembrane regions, properties of the polyprotein, RNA-RNA interaction sequences, NS3 protease and NS5 polymerase structures and 5' UTR structure. Using genome sequences, we showed the similarities between these closely- related viruses on several different areas.N/
Implications of baseline polymorphisms for potential resistance to NS3 protease inhibitors in Hepatitis C virus genotypes 1a, 2b and 3a
No full textThe future interferon-free treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection could include NS3 protease inhibitors (PIs) for potent pan-genotypic effect. We studied the prevalence of pre-existing PI resistance associated amino acid variants (RAVs) in 126 treatment-naive patient samples of HCV genotypes 1a, 2b and 3a, the most common genotypes in Sweden. The NS3 genes were each amplified by nested PCR method with degenerated primers to enable a broad genotype analysis. Population sequencing method was used, and the sequences were aligned with the NS3 sequence from HCV genotype 1a H77 strain. Interpretation of fold-change resistance to NS3 candidate drugs were done from already published phenotypic resistance data. The prevalence of known PI RAVs at baseline in genotype 1a was 28% (15/53), either single (V36L or Q80K/R) or combinations (T54A/S and V55A/I) of mutation(s). In genotype 2b, specific mutations like V36L, Q80G and S122R of viral NS3 protease gene were found in 100% (11/11). These may be the natural polymorphisms unique to genotype 2b. Similarly, specific mutations like V36L and D168Q were found uniquely in all 3a samples (30/30). The natural PI RAVs found in genotype 1a, although with relatively weak resistance, could still render up to 10-fold-resistance to the approved (boceprevir and telaprevir) and the 2nd generation PIs (faldaprevir and simeprevir). Moreover, the natural polymorphisms in genotype 2b (i.e. S122R) and 3a (i.e. D168Q), with inherent PI drug resistance of up to 20 and 700 fold respectively, would explain why current PIs are primarily directed against genotype 1.N/
Reducing quiet quitting in the contemporary workplace: Four focus areas
Get PDFThis author accepted manuscript is deposited under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC) licence. This means that anyone may distribute, adapt, and build upon the work for non-commercial purposes, subject to full attribution. If you wish to use this manuscript for commercial purposes, please contact [email protected]: This viewpoint paper aims to provide four recommendations to improve belonging and reduce quiet quitting in the contemporary workplace.
Design/methodology/approach: This paper synthesises recent academic and contextual literature regarding remote teams, organisational belonging and quiet quitting coupled with the authors’ practical experience as leaders within a multinational organisation and in a university setting.
Findings: Four focus areas related to leaders as the lynchpin to improved socialisation, connection and belonging in the workplace and therefore reduced quiet quitting.
Originality/value: In the continued contemporary working landscape of remote working, wider workforce demographics and declining organisational engagement, this paper contributes to literature by presenting key focus areas coupled with four practical recommendations for human resource professionals, leaders and organisations to focus on to reduce the risk of quiet quitting.Unfunde
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