Open Research Exeter - University of Exeter
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Resource-Efficient Collaborative Training and Inference of Foundation Models in Edge-AI
No full textThe convergence of Edge Artificial Intelligence (Edge-AI) and foundation models marks a transformative paradigm shift in the design of intelligent systems. Edge-AI enables computation to be performed closer to data sources and across distributed network edges, offering significant benefits in latency reduction, privacy preservation, and real-time decision-making. Meanwhile, foundation models, pre-trained on large-scale and diverse datasets, exhibit unprecedented generalization capabilities across a wide range of downstream tasks, including natural language processing, computer vision, and multimodal applications. The integration of foundation models into Edge-AI environments promises to unlock tremendous potential for intelligent applications such as autonomous driving, smart cities, and Industry 4.0. However, the substantial computation, memory, and communication demands of deploying foundation models in Edge-AI networks present critical challenges for resource-constrained edge environments. These challenges necessitate the development of resource-efficient, system-level methodologies for collaborative model training and inference.
This thesis addresses the aforementioned challenges by investigating how heterogeneous edge devices and edge servers can jointly train and leverage foundation models under resource constraints. The research identifies three core research problems: 1) how to collaboratively train large-scale foundation models without overwhelming edge device resources, 2) how to effectively coordinate self-interested edge devices in the process of federated foundation model fine-tuning, and 3) how to deliver personalized, low-latency synergistic edge inference services from the perspective of the Edge-AI market.
To address the first research problem, this thesis proposes DeepFusion, a scalable federated knowledge distillation framework that enables heterogeneous edge devices to transfer lightweight local model knowledge into a global Mixture of Experts-based foundation model. This approach removes the burden of hosting entire foundation models on resource-limited devices, while still aggregating diverse local expertise into a unified global foundation model.
To address the second research problem, this thesis introduces PRINCE, a novel incentive mechanism tailored for multi-tenant Split Federated Learning (SFL), enabling resource-efficient fine-tuning of foundation models across multiple downstream tasks. By modeling self-interested device participation as a multi-leader multi-follower Stackelberg game, PRINCE allows SFL tenants to strategically allocate incentives, thus attracting high-quality edge contributions while ensuring bias-resilient aggregation and provable convergence of the global foundation model.
To address the third research problem, this thesis develops AERIA, a market-oriented on-demand synergistic edge inference framework for foundation models. Leveraging auction-driven resource allocation, AERIA regulates market interactions among AI service providers, users, and edge infrastructure operators, thereby ensuring fairness, incentive compatibility, and revenue competitiveness in auction outcomes, while simultaneously accommodating the personalized inference demands of diverse AI users.
Collectively, these methodologies address distinct stages of the Edge-AI lifecycle and form an end-to-end pipeline encompassing foundation model training, fine-tuning, and inference service provisioning. The proposed approaches are validated through extensive real-world simulation and trace-driven experiments, demonstrating significant improvements in system scalability and resource efficiency compared to state-of-the-art solution approaches. Overall, this thesis contributes novel system designs for resource-efficient collaborative training and inference of foundation models in Edge-AI, advancing the development of scalable, adaptive, and trustworthy intelligent services at the network edge.</p
Under Pressure: A Joint Analysis of Disability Inclusion in Clinical Psychology Training
No full textIntroduction: While the inclusion of trainees with disabilities (TwDs) is a stated priority for UK Clinical Psychology (CP) programmes, TwDs often report access barriers and stigma. There is little understanding of the experiences of TwDs in the UK or effective strategies to enhance their inclusion. While their views and those of their trainers are often absent from discussions on inclusion changes.
Methods: A mixed-methods survey, involving both closed and open-ended questions, was developed to collect experiences of disabled trainees. Adopting a critical realist approach, the study examined these experiences through a participatory process. Joint Analysis (JA) sessions brought together trainers, TwDs and the research team as co-researchers to jointly interpret the survey data. Analytic foci were collaboratively selected for each group, with three iterative sessions facilitating collaborative meaning-making of preselected data. This process enabled the co-production of outcomes and robust best-practice recommendations.
Results: Co-researchers identified delays and inconsistencies in implementing reasonable adjustments, that necessitated repeated disclosures and self-advocacy from TwDs. Findings indicated inconsistent national processes or structural support for embedding disability inclusion in CP programmes. Analysts co-developed evidence-based recommendations to address these challenges. JA sessions demonstrated the value of participatory research and co-production, enhancing the credibility of outcomes by including stakeholders in the generation of recommendations.
Conclusion: The study highlights inequities faced by TwDs and offers evidence-based recommendations for more inclusive CP training delivery. Participatory JA generated actionable insights, and this success demonstrated the potential of collaborative approaches to inform systemic reforms in the future that require the careful integration of diverse perspectives, such as co-producing inclusive curricula.</p
The Mystery of Christ, the Mystery of the Church: Christocentrism in the Theological Visions of Georges Florovsky and Henri de Lubac
No full textThis thesis examines the theologies of Georges Florovsky (1893-1979) and Henri de Lubac (1896-1991) and argues that christocentrism functions as a foundational interpretive priority for both thinkers. Rather than just an historical or methodological continuity, I argue that their shared christocentrism is reflective of a deeper theological motivation that seeks to communicate the reality of the Church in modernity. Thus, this thesis argues their christocentrism serves as a key to comprehending how they communicate the theological and ecclesial realities of their understanding of the Christian tradition, that is, within the frameworks of Orthodoxy and Catholicism respectively. I argue, however, that this methodological emphasis reveals an incompleteness in both thinkers’ theological visions, particularly in how their christocentric visions do not account for particularity, contextual difference, and concrete historical circumstance. As leading figures in Orthodox and Catholic theological renewal, Florovsky and de Lubac are renowned for their efforts in historical retrieval. In particular, they both emphasize the importance of theological continuity and articulate a vision of the present moment within the broader stream of the Christian tradition, which is communicated christocentrically. For both Florovsky and de Lubac, this christocentrism is mediated through the Church, which they understand as a christological communion. That is, the Church is a reality that is grounded in, sustained in, and oriented towards Christ. This, for both thinkers, provides for an ecclesial vision that is simultaneously or paradoxically historical and eschatological. This thesis explores three central thematics where their ecclesially mediated christocentrism is particularly evident: ecclesiology, creation and theological anthropology, and Scripture and its interpretation. Each theme situates their theology as operating from a christocentric priority that is mediated in the Church. By exploring these areas, this thesis highlights the shared convictions and differences in Florovsky and de Lubac. While sympathetic to aspects of their christocentric theologies, I critique both thinkers for their limited engagement with contextual diversity, their tendency to treat their respective ecclesial traditions as universally normative, and how their eschatological emphasis can enable indifferentism or escapism. In response, this thesis brings Florovsky and de Lubac into conversation with some influential, though not exhaustive, contextual theological perspectives. Such dialogue shows how attention to historical and cultural particularities can enrich the christocentric visions of Florovsky and de Lubac. This dialogue is reciprocal. Just as Florovsky and de Lubac can benefit from insights of contextual theologians, their shared emphasis on paradox and mystery in the life of the Church—as both an historical and eschatological reality—offers an important corrective to the risk of immanentism or presentism in contextual theology. That is, the tendency to reduce the Church’s identity to a particular historical moment, context, or experience. What emerges is a proposal for a paradoxical ecclesiology rooted in christocentrism. Drawing on Florovsky and de Lubac, this proposal recognizes the weight of the historical moment with an awareness of history’s limitations. Thus, this thesis proposes that an eschatological horizon does not need to neglect the present moment. Rather, this vision insists that the end of history calls us more deeply into it. The Church, as a christocentric reality, is to transfigure the present in light of what lies beyond it.</p
VR for diabetes training, prevention, and treatment in adults, children and clinicians
No full textObjective: Shortages of diabetes specialists often limits effective training for healthcare workers, particularly in rural areas. Additionally, children require engaging tools to understand diabetes management. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) offer promising solutions to bridge these educational gaps. This study aimed to develop a prototype VR simulator for diabetes training, laying the groundwork for future applications in diabetes education and clinical support. Method: A VR prototype was developed to simulate exercise training for individuals with diabetes. The simulator is intended for future expansion to include modules on diet management, daily glucose monitoring, and virtual office consultations. These interactive VR scenarios are designed for use by both healthcare providers and newly diagnosed patients, offering immersive and accessible diabetes training. Result: Current VR applications in diabetes can be grouped into three categories: education, prevention, and treatment. These tools target three main user groups: healthcare professionals, adults with diabetes, and children. In the education domain, gamification within VR environments has shown promise for enhancing diabetes learning experiences. For self-management, AR offers real-time feedback on glycaemic index, supports exercise routines, promotes foot care, and guides capillary glucose testing. Both VR and AR demonstrate potential in improving user engagement and treatment adherence. Conclusion: VR and AR technologies show significant promise in supporting diabetes education, prevention, and treatment across various user groups. Positive outcomes have been documented in all three categories, particularly in enhancing educational experiences for clinicians, adults, and children. While most existing tools are VR-based, AR also plays a valuable role, especially in real-time, context-aware diabetes self-care. Continued development and rigorous evaluation will be essential to maximize the impact of these immersive technologies in diabetes care.</p
Energy equity: A rapid evidence review focused on developed economies
No full textEnergy is a vital requirement for human life. However, procedural, distributive, and structural inequalities exist in its use, production and distribution. While equity through public health, environment, and education lenses are widely established concepts, ‘energy equity’ has not been clearly defined or conceptualised in the same way. To explore this, we conducted a rapid evidence review of articles containing definitions of energy equity and/or indicators for how energy equity may be measured in developed economy contexts. 18 relevant articles were identified.We find no homogeneous definition of energy equity. Most commonly, energy equity definitions consisted of energy poverty, energy access and energy justice conceptual components. Energy equity indicators were very heterogeneous in focus and measurement. Energy equity was particularly discussed in the context of community energy.There is conceptual overlap between energy equity and other terms such as energy poverty, access and justice. That said, energy equity has a very clear meaning when considering general usage of the word ‘equity’, here recognising differentiated needs. Energy equity could therefore have a particular use in energy research and policy making. There might be scope for energy equity as a holistic and more politically neutral term than energy justice that may be more acceptable to key stakeholders. This work also acts as an identifier of avenues for future research. Among other topics, future examination of public, advocacy group, and political actors' views on and support for various energy concepts, including energy equity and energy justice, is one potential avenue for future exploration.</p
Using nonlinear dynamic analysis to differentiate fall status in older women
No full textBackground: Falls are a significant health concern among older adults. Nonlinear dynamic (NLD) analysis of gait offers insight into fall risk by capturing variability and complexity, but variation in methodological approaches has limited translation. This study aimed to identify NLD measures and data sources that best differentiate fallers from non-fallers.Methods: Thirty-four healthy older women (mean age 69.3 ± 5.7 years; 17 fallers, 17 non-fallers) walked on a treadmill at preferred and at ±20 %. Kinematic data were collected using motion capture and a lower-back inertial measurement unit (IMU). Gait complexity and stability were quantified using Multiscale Entropy and Lyapunov Exponents (LyE). Principal component analysis, logistic regression, multivariate tests, ROC curves, and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) identified discriminative features. Results: Fallers reported at least one fall in the past year, walked more slowly, and had a greater chronic disease burden. Short-term LyE (SLyE) from trunk acceleration in the anterior–posterior (AP) direction and sagittal-plane ankle angles best discriminated fall status. ROC analyses showed ankle SLyE provided the highest accuracy (AUC up to 0.88), and AP trunk SLyE had moderate accuracy (AUC up to 0.77). The LDA model achieved 85 % cross-validated accuracy with 82 % sensitivity and 88 % specificity. Conclusions: The short-term Lyapunov exponent from ankle angle sagittal-plane motion and trunk AP acceleration provide robust markers of fall history in older women. Comparable performance of IMU and motion capture supports IMU-based NLD metrics for scalable fall risk screening.</p
Canis Obscura: The Social Construction of New Guinea Singing Dogs at the Intersection of Wild and Domestic
No full textThis dissertation is an in-depth qualitative study of the lives of New Guinea singing dogs (NGSDs) and their humans in North America. NGSDs are often described as unique among canids, viewed by some as ‘wild’ animals, and by others as ‘domestic’ companions. The research and analysis conducted for the thesis demonstrates that when viewed through a framework of social construction, NGSDs are shown to sit in a liminal ontological space between wild and domestic, revealing the epistemological and political scaffolding that underpins classification systems and shapes multispecies lives. This study incorporates a multimodal interpretive and qualitative approach, combining hermeneutics, discourse analysis, multispecies ethnography, digital ethnography, and autoethnography. Across these approaches, this study investigates how beliefs about NGSDs are formed, justified, and enacted in both scientific literature and owner practice, and how categories such as ‘wild’ and ‘domestic’ function as technologies of control, legitimacy, and exclusion. Findings show that dominant discourses, especially those rooted in biological determinism and conservation rhetoric, obscure the lived realities of NGSDs as companion animals and reify colonial hierarchies of knowledge. Owners draw on, resist, or reinterpret these narratives in ways that materially shape care, cohabitation, and emotional relationships. The study reveals that care nor classification is ideologically neutral but mediated by belief systems that carry real consequences for both animal and human lives. This dissertation challenges dominant paradigms in domestication science and animal studies, calling for a more reflexive, situated, and politically accountable understanding of classification. It argues that multispecies relationships demand epistemologies capable of including ambiguity, resisting reduction, and honoring relational complexity.</p
Does the radical left stand up for liberal democracy in the European Parliament? Evidence from 53 debates on the Rule of Law crisis
No full textWhile the radical left has strong connections to the tradition of liberal democracy, they also have associations with authoritarian forms of rule and a tolerance of illiberal transgressions when perpetrated by sister parties. Through an exploration of 53 European Parliamentary debates from 2012-2022, this paper illuminates a hitherto neglected part of the Rule of Law Crisis, namely the extent to which radical left parties defend liberal democracy in the EU. We find that these parties, through the GUE/NGL group in the Parliament, tread a fine line between defending EU intervention in cases of democratic backsliding internal to member states, while retaining a critical outlook on the EU’s own democratic deficits. Our paper shows that the radical left develops a set of arguments that are sharply distinct not only from those of social-democratic parties, but also from radical right MEPs, suggesting that on this issue area at least, the latter two party families do not converge, contrary to what the “horseshoe” model of political ideology would suggest.</p
Circular Design Strategies Unleashed: Competitiveness and the Journey Towards Circular Manufacturing Businesses
No full textThe transition to a circular economy (CE) remains hindered by the lack of practical strategies that simultaneously secure competitiveness and deliver sustainability outcomes for manufacturing organisations. While circular design is often cited as a cornerstone of CE, its concrete role in driving competitive advantage and organisational transformation remains underexplored. This research examines the crucial role of circular design strategies in enhancing competitiveness and facilitating the transition to a CE within manufacturing organisations. Drawing on 42 in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews across eight leading sustainability‐focused manufacturing enterprises, this study sheds light on the practical implications and theoretical underpinnings of circular design strategies. The findings emphasise the potential of circular design strategies, including reconditioning, modularity, adaptability, standardisation and commonality, to disrupt markets, drive continuous innovation, enhance risk management and prioritise customer‐centric approaches, ultimately enhancing business competitiveness. Simultaneously, these strategies contribute to the circular transition by promoting resource efficiency, cost savings, circular supply chain transformation and waste reduction. This research contributes to practice by highlighting the practical relevance of circular design strategies in achieving sustainability, resilience and competitiveness in the manufacturing sector. Moreover, it enriches the theoretical landscape by elucidating the intricate interplay between circular design strategies, circularity and competitive advantage, offering comprehensive insights into their mutual influence. Ultimately, this study highlights the transformative potential of circular design strategies in shaping sustainable business futures.</p
Loss of function variants in the primate-specific gene ZNF808 cause neonatal, transient and adult-onset diabetes
No full textBackground Biallelic loss-of-function ZNF808 variants were recently identified as a cause of pancreatic agenesis characterised by insulin-treated permanent neonatal diabetes (PNDM), low birthweight and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Methods We investigated the phenotypic diversity caused by biallelic loss-of-function ZNF808 variants by screening a cohort of 4699 individuals with genetically undiagnosed monogenic diabetes: 335 with neonatal diabetes (NDM, diagnosed <6 months), 194 with infancy-onset diabetes (diagnosed 6–12 months) and 4170 diagnosed with diabetes between 1 and 60 years of age. Findings Through a combination of genome and targeted next-generation-sequencing, we identified 17 previously unreported individuals with biallelic loss-of-function ZNF808 variants, bringing the total number of cases identified in the Exeter cohort to 31 when combined with previously described cases. 30/31 individuals were born to related parents. Clinically, 19 had PNDM, whilst the remaining 12 had other diabetes phenotypes: 5 with infancy-onset diabetes, 4 with transient diabetes and 3 with diabetes diagnosed aged 10, 14 and 23 years. Individuals with ZNF808-diabetes did not always require insulin treatment, with sulphonylurea treatment reported in 3 individuals. Exocrine pancreatic function was not consistently affected across the cohort, with no clinical features of exocrine insufficiency reported in 17 individuals and normal exocrine function biochemically confirmed in one further individual. Interpretation Biallelic loss of ZNF808 results in a variable pancreatic phenotype ranging from pancreatic agenesis to adult-onset diabetes without exocrine insufficiency. ZNF808 gene testing should be considered in individuals with diabetes diagnosed after the neonatal period, especially if born to related parents.</p