Open Research Exeter - University of Exeter
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The Contested Homeless Body: An Embodied Approach to Researching Women’s Experiences of Homelessness
No full textHomeless women have been underrepresented in research surrounding homelessness, resulting in their experiences and needs being overlooked. This
thesis takes a gendered approach to researching homelessness, using the body as
the conceptual framework to build a deeper understanding of women’s experiences
of homelessness. An embodied approach makes space for the messiness, emotions,
feelings, identities and performances of homelessness to be brought to light;
experiences which have rarely been attended to within geography to date.
This thesis argues that taking an embodied approach allows a richer picture of
women’s homelessness to be built. It considers how homeless women experience
violence, emotions and trauma; and how these experiences are embodied and
shape women’s perceptions of their self and bodies. It explores how homeless
women experience disempowerment and low self-esteem in the lives, considering
the lack of power they have in reproductive decisions; clothing and grooming their
bodies; and the impact this has on their sense of self. The thesis also presents an
additional perspective, presenting homeless women as agentic and resilient. It
considers how this agency might be enacted through particular performances and
presentations of their bodies; and through engaging in different home-making
practices. This thesis deepens understandings of the challenges women face when
experiencing homelessness, whilst also challenging understandings of homeless
women that consider them as powerless victims of their circumstances.
This thesis argues that an embodied approach not only allows for an alternative
reading of homeless women that presents them as agentic and resourceful; but it
opens up exciting opportunities for Geographers to explore new and different
approaches to homelessness
Oceanographic and Biotic Changes in Australia During Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Events (dataset)
No full textThis thesis investigates two key periods of ocean deoxygenation during the mid-Cretaceous: Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE 2, ~94 Ma) and the Mid-Cenomanian Event (MCE, ~96.5 Ma). These events are associated with high global temperatures, elevated CO2, and increased primary productivity, which is recorded in marine sediments as positive δ13C excursions. However, high-latitude Southern Hemisphere records of these events remain scarce, and bulk isotopic analyses often obscure regional differences, complicating global correlations. Moreover, the volcanic sources triggering these events, including potential contributions from various Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), remain debated.
This project addresses these gaps by studying sediment cores from the Mentelle Basin (SW Australia), a key high (palaeo-)latitude Southern Hemisphere site (~62°S in the mid-Cretaceous). Utilising carbon isotopes from bulk carbonate, organic carbon, and benthic foraminifera species, alongside biostratigraphy and a range of other geochemical proxies, both OAE 2 and the MCE were successfully identified. This work presents the first Southern Hemisphere record of the MCE, confirming its global significance. Species-specific carbon isotope data also allowed for detailed correlations of OAE 2 stages with other global records.
Benthic foraminiferal data indicate sustained marine productivity during and beyond the peak of OAE 2, corroborated by proxies for enhanced nutrient runoff and upwelling. Elevated mercury (Hg/TOC) levels, alongside an increasingly radiogenic signal from young source material indicated by Nd and Sr isotopes, suggest significant volcanic activity from the nearby Kerguelen LIP, particularly before and during OAE 2. These findings suggest that submarine volcanic eruptions from the Kerguelen LIP likely played a key role in triggering environmental changes, including productivity-driven ocean deoxygenation caused by an intensified hydrological cycle delivering enhanced nutrient input to the Mentelle Basin.
This thesis provides new insights into the role of Southern Hemisphere volcanism in driving Cretaceous anoxic events, offering a valuable contribution to the global understanding of mid-Cretaceous environmental change
Individual plasticity in response to rising sea temperatures contributes to an advancement in green turtle nesting phenology
No full textPhenological changes (i.e. shifts in the timing of biological events) are among the most frequently reported population-level responses to climate change and are often assumed to be adaptive and increase population viability. These may be driven by both individual-level phenotypic plasticity and population-level evolutionary and demographic changes. However, few studies have explored how individual-level versus population-level processes drive phenological trends. Using a 31-year dataset of over 600 individually marked nesting green turtles (Chelonia mydas), we quantify the population- and individual-level temporal trend in their first nest date. Of the latter, approximately 30% is attributable to individual phenological plasticity in response to sea surface temperature, with females advancing their nesting by 6.47 days for every degree (Celsius) increase. The remaining change is almost entirely explained by individual- and population-level changes in size and breeding experience (correlates of age), as well as the number of clutches laid per season. This is the first study of individual-level phenological change in a marine ectotherm, furthering our understanding of how this and similar species may respond to rising temperatures
The time and temporalities of nuclear waste
No full textThrough a roundtable discussion, this paper focuses on the notions of ‘time’ and ‘temporality’ of nuclear waste, as well as the different time horizons implied by practitioners of nuclear waste storage. In doing so, the paper develops understandings of a key problem defining nuclear waste storage in C21: namely, how to communicate information and memory over the 100,000 years that highly radioactive nuclear matter remains a threat to organic life? This question is notable not least because it involves the proposition of communicating with ‘deep time’ future scenarios in which contemporary representational systems are ineffectual, and even the existence of the ‘human’ is in doubt. The practitioners and researchers in this discussion facilitate understandings of this problem through a number of critical matters of concern for the social sciences – from environmental semiosis, speculative philosophy, post-humanism, new materialism, nuclear semiotics, landscape art and aesthetics, future literacy, to nuclear waste at a regulatory level. Distinctly, the discussion advances not only how environmental things might help establish allies in the communication across vast time scales, but also considers the aesthetic techniques for imagining untimely modes of future-thinking that remain open to recuperation today – including through geo-ontological modes of thought, ecosemiotics, or the associated powers of nuclear environments to mobilize forces of aesthetic expression
Designer gapped and tilted Dirac cones in lateral graphene superlattices
No full textWe show that a planar array of bipolar waveguides in graphene can be used to engineer gapped and tilted two-dimensional Dirac cones within the electronic band structure. The presence of these gapped and tilted Dirac cones is demonstrated through a superlattice tight-binding model and verified using a transfer matrix calculation. By varying the applied gate voltages, the tilt parameter of these Dirac cones can be controlled, and their gaps can be tuned to fall in the terahertz range. The possibility of gate-tunable gapped Dirac cones gives rise to terahertz applications via interband transitions and designer Landau level spectra, both of which can be controlled via Dirac cone engineering. We anticipate that our paper will encourage Dirac cone tilt and gap engineering for gate-tunable device applications in lateral graphene superlattices
Comparison of Bayesian and Frequentist Neural Networks on Air Quality Time-Series Problems
No full textThis paper aims to compare Bayesian and frequentist versions of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural networks via cross validation and bench-marking by addressing a regression problem on a time-series dataset using similar network structures. We compare the model performance using the coefficient of determination (R2) score, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients by varying size of the dense units in the recurrent layers in both deep learning models.</p
Recent and early 20th century destabilization of the subpolar North Atlantic recorded in bivalves
No full textClimate change risks triggering abrupt weakening in two climatically important North Atlantic Ocean circulation elements, the subpolar gyre and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Loss of AMOC stability has been inferred from slowing recovery of temperature and salinity fluctuations over time. However, observational datasets, constructed from records with sparse spatial and temporal coverage, may introduce substantial biases in stability indicators. Alternative records are therefore needed for reliable stability assessments. Here, using bivalve-derived environmental reconstructions, we show that the subpolar North Atlantic has experienced two destabilization episodes over the past ~150 years. The first preceded the rapid circulation changes associated with the 1920s North Atlantic regime shift, suggesting that a tipping point may have been crossed in the early 20th century. The second and stronger destabilization began around 1950 and continues to the present, supporting evidence of recent stability loss and suggesting that the region is moving toward a tipping point.</p
Automated environmental metagenomics using Oxford nanopore sequencing
No full textBackgroundLong-read sequencing has revolutionised metagenomics through improved metagenome assembly, taxonomic classification and functional characterisation. Automation can enhance the throughput, reproducibility, and accuracy of library preparation. However, the validation of automated library preparation protocols remains undetermined for metagenomic workflows, which are particularly sensitive to methodological perturbation. Here, we compare long-read metagenomic sequencing of environmental samples through parallel manual and automated protocols.ResultsAlthough automated library preparation led to minor reduction in read and contig lengths, taxonomic classification rate and alpha diversity was slightly higher than manual libraries, including the detection of more rare taxa. Despite this, no significant difference in microbial community structure was identified between manual and automated libraries.ConclusionsDespite minor differences in sequencing and classification metrics, automated and manual library preparation resulted in comparable characterization of environmental community metagenomes. These findings demonstrate the suitability of automation for high-throughput long-read metagenomics, with broad applicability to automated long-read sequencing for improved efficiency and reproducibility.</p
Reopening the debate on Open Marxism: A Radical Historicist alternative?
No full textThe opportunities and limitations of Open Marxism for understanding structure and agency in capitalist society and political economy has been subject to various debates. Critics assert that, in spite of an auspicious commitment to keeping struggle in view, OM as a theoretical approach nonetheless tends to dialectically intertwine structure and agency in such a way that the latter disappears into the former. Critics argue that this presents an unassailable challenge for empirical work and practical politics. Contributing towards its further development, this article seeks to reopen OM against the possibility of its closure. It does so through using ‘Radical Historicism’, which represents a methodological intervention that treads a different path through the dialectical unity of agency and structure, avoiding closure. We argue that, as a potential modification of OM geared towards methodological operationalizability, Radical Historicism provides a philosophical foundation for both empirical research agendas and political praxis
Quality of life and physical activity in type 1 diabetes
No full textIntroductionT1 Diabetes (T1D) is one of the most common chronic diseases in children and young people [1] with almost 34 000 aged 18 years or less living with T1D [2]. Physical activity is promoted as one of a number of management tools for people living with diabetes, being associated with significant health benefits including improved glycaemic control. The benefits of physical activity on quality of life in children with T1D is unclear with confounding effects of disease duration and co-morbidities in studies.AimTo determine the effect of physical activity interventions on quality of life of children with type 1 diabetes.MethodsA systematic review was conducted and reported in line with PRISMA 2009 guidance. The CINAHL, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Medline, PubMed and PsychINFO databases were searched for the period January 1994 to March 2025. Papers were included in the present review if they included a study intervention in children under 19 years of age that was more than a single exercise session and had a control group (with or without T1D) as a comparator group. The primary outcome measure was Quality of Life (QoL) indicators.ResultsWe assessed 3020 records, of which three randomised controlled trials (RCT) published between 2007 and 2020 met study inclusion criteria. There was significant heterogeneity in study design, methods and reporting. Benefits of physical activity were not consistently seen across studies.ConclusionThere remains limited data on QoL outcomes or even a standardisation for measuring QoL in this cohort as seen by the various validated tools used across studies. There continues to be a need for further work to understand the additional framework (psychological underpinning) to cause longer term impactful changes on both physical and psychological health in children with T1D.</p