224092 research outputs found
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Understanding and mitigating noise in molecular quantum linear response for spectroscopic properties on quantum computers
No full textThe promise of quantum computing to circumvent the exponential scaling of quantum chemistry has sparked a race to develop chemistry algorithms for quantum architecture. However, most works neglect the quantum-inherent shot noise, let alone the effect of current noisy devices. Here, we present a comprehensive study of quantum linear response (qLR) theory obtaining spectroscopic properties on simulated fault-tolerant quantum computers and present-day near-term quantum hardware. This work introduces novel metrics to analyze and predict the origins of noise in the quantum algorithm, proposes an Ansatz-based error mitigation technique, and reveals the significant impact of Pauli saving in reducing measurement costs and noise in subspace methods. Our hardware results using up to cc-pVTZ basis set serve as proof of principle for obtaining absorption spectra on quantum hardware in a general approach with the accuracy of classical multi-configurational methods. Importantly, our results exemplify that substantial improvements in hardware error rates and measurement speed are necessary to lift quantum computational chemistry from proof of concept to an actual impact in the field.</p
Advancing environmental literacy training for instructors of outdoor adventure activities
No full textMany commercially led outdoor adventure activities (OAAs) are expected to increase clients’ environmental connections and pro-environmental behaviours. The reality of sustained environmental outcomes however is uncertain, with previous literature emphasising the need for instructors to have environmental knowledge and skills for outcomes to be successful. Due to a lack of available training for instructors on environmental facilitation, the purpose of this research was to create an evidence-based course for instructors on environmental literacy development, to upskill instructors and increase the potential for sustained environmental outcomes.I used a design-based research (DBR) approach and conducted four phases of iterative research to identify seven design principles in response to the overarching research question; “What are the characteristics of an effective course for outdoor instructors aimed to advance environmental literacy development through outdoor adventure activities (OAAs)?”.Three of the four phases involved empirical research. Phase 1 was informed by theory to produce a first draft of course material based on a framework for environmental literacy pedagogical and andragogical content knowledge (EL-PACK), belief in ability to teach (BiAtT), and the components of environmental literacy. Phase 2 conducted expert appraisals (n=6) to assess the face validity of the course material. Phase 3 involved a pre-course survey and four iterations of course trialling and modification with instructors (n=32). Phase 4 collected evaluative data from a post-course survey (n=17) and interviews (n=8) with instructors. Data were analysed qualitatively and discussed in interim discussions following each empirical phase to influence the development of the design principles and the subsequent phase of research.In addition to underpinning seven characteristics of an effective course, the research contributes to the academic body of literature around (1) the rhetoric reality gap between environmental outcome expectancy and actual long-term pro-environmental outcomes, (2) instructors’ ability (EL-PACK and BiAtT), motivation and opportunity (AMO) for integrating environmental conversations and activities into OAAs, and (3) instructor learning preferences.The development of the environmental literacy course also contributes on a practical level to move the outdoor sector forward towards a more sustainable paradigm. The sector would benefit from such a course being endorsed by National Governing Body (NGB) organisations to supplement qualification progression. This would give rise to more instructors learning how to integrate environmental conversations and activities into OAAs, and a greater likelihood of environmental outcome expectancies being met
Hypergolic performance of dimethylthioformamide and hydrogen peroxide for bipropellant spacecraft propulsion systems
No full textAmong the green hypergolic propellants increasingly explored as less hazardous alternatives to conventional in-space propellants like monomethylhydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide, high-test peroxide (HTP)and novel fuels offer promising reactivity and performance. This study investigates the hypergolicity of green bipropellant combination dimethylthioformamide (DMTF)/HTP. Physical and thermochemicalproperties were determined, and performance metrics estimated by simulation. Drop tests evaluated ignition delay time (IDT), examining the effects of fuel additive concentration, drop height and configuration, and mixture ratio. Adding 6 wt% copper(II) chloride to DMTF significantly reduced IDT(13.71 ± 0.86 ms). Results indicate that DMTF/HTP may be a viable green hypergolic pair
World of ScoreCraft: novel multi-scorer experiment on the impact of a decision support system in sleep staging
No full textManual scoring of polysomnography (PSG) is a time-intensive task, prone to inter-scorer variability that can impact diagnostic reliability. This study investigates the integration of decision support systems (DSS) into PSG scoring workflows, focusing on their effects on accuracy, scoring time and potential biases toward recommendations from artificial intelligence (AI) compared to human-generated recommendations. Using a novel online scoring platform, we conducted a repeated-measures study with sleep technologists, who scored traditional and self-applied PSGs. Participants were occasionally presented with recommendations labelled as either human- or AI-generated. As the goal of this study was to isolate the effect of perceived recommendation sources on scorer behaviour, all recommendations were human-generated. We found that traditional PSGs tended to be scored slightly more accurately than self-applied PSGs, but this difference was not statistically significant. Correct recommendations significantly improved scoring accuracy for both PSG types, while incorrect recommendations reduced accuracy. No significant bias was observed toward or against AI-generated recommendations compared to human-generated recommendations. These findings highlight the potential of DSSs to enhance PSG scoring reliability. However, ensuring the accuracy of the suggestions is critical to maximising its benefits. Future research should explore the long-term impacts of DSS on scoring workflows and strategies for integrating AI in clinical practice.</p
Disability technology: how data and digital assistive technologies can support independent, fulfilled lives
No full textDisabled people face barriers in their everyday lives to work, play, rest and care. Disability is estimated to affect 1.3 billion people or 16% of the world’s population1. In the UK, there are 16 million people reporting a disability, with the prevalence increasing with age2. Digital assistive technologies (DigAT) promise to promote independence for disabled people, potentially reducing or eliminating existing barriers. This report defines DigAT as ‘any technology that processes information to help make people’s lives easier’3. Examples include screen-readers, speech-to-text software, or smartphone applications which support daily living. This definition does not include non-digital assistive technologies (eg white canes or sticks, manual wheelchairs, or magnifying glasses). While this report is focused primarily on the needs of disabled people, disability access is relevant to all as everyone can experience temporary and permanent disability throughout their life. Accessibility can also benefit the whole of society as products designed for disabled people (eg automatic doors, closed captioning and voice assistants) are often valued by all. The physical, emotional and social impact of disability, as well as attitudes towards disabled people, can affect all aspects of disabled people’s lives. This includes impacts on education, employment, wellbeing and life expectancy. DigAT will not be a standalone solution for these challenges and, in some cases, technology itself causes significant challenges for disabled people. However, if designed and deployed appropriately, these technologies can be transformative in helping disabled people live more independent and fulfilled lives. Exemplifying this, the report highlights five case studies of how DigAT can support disabled people across work; gaming; tourism; music; and social care. In addition to exploring the landscape of DigAT, the report is focused on various challenges within the DigAT lifecycle related to measurement, inclusive design and sustainability. Furthermore, it provides an overview of small data methods. These methods, which help researchers derive insights from limited data, present significant potential across a broad range of scientific fields, including the development of DigAT. The nature of disability is inherently diverse and complex. To ensure a more defined focus, the report has generally explored disabilities related to hearing; cognition; mobility; self-care; built-environment; vision; and communication. The report has been guided by an international expert steering committee, many of whom have lived experience of disability. It has been informed by a series of activities undertaken by the Royal Society. These include a survey of more than 800 UK-based disabled people; a nationally representative survey of approximately 2,000 members of the British public; focus groups with UK-based DigAT users; literature reviews on disability data and small data; a case study analysis of DigAT in the UK, US, India and Kenya; and various roundtables and workshops on inclusive design, gaming, social care and technology transience
Hybrid beamforming assisted OTFS-based CV-QKD systems for doubly selective THz channels
No full textContinuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD) maps information onto the quadrature components of electromagnetic waves, so that off-the-shelf wireless transceivers can be utilized. This motivates the move from optical to Terahertz (THz) bands. However, wireless THz channels suffer from severe path loss, while the mobility of wireless users imposes doubly selective fading. Against this background, we propose a new CV-QKD regime that relies on hybrid beamforming (HBF) assisted multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) system, where the channel’s transmissivity and robustness against double selectivity are overcome by HBF and OTFS, respectively. Secondly, in order to provide channel state information (CSI) for both the transmitter (CSI-T) and receiver (CSI-R), practical channel estimation methods are conceived. They operate in the time-frequency domain for OFDM and in the delay-Doppler domain for OTFS. Thirdly, soft-decision detection is devised for our MIMO OFDM/OTFS aided multi-dimensional reconciliation (MDR) scheme. Low-density parity-check (LDPC) coding is invoked for further improving secure CV-QKD transmission distance in the THz band. Our simulation results demonstrate that the proposed HBF MIMO OTFS-based CV-QKD system relying on realistic estimated CSI is capable of achieving an adequate secret key rate (SKR) and secure transmission distance in hostile doubly selective THz channels
Editorial: The migration storm on the horizon
No full textMany governments today seem alarmed by a perceived crisis of migration pressure. Yet, there appears to be little political awareness of the massive global mass-migration pressure that is building because of deadly heat, drought, and associated water shortages and hunger. Heat impacts are felt immediately, while drought impacts accumulate over years to decades. These combined impacts will render large parts of the tropical and subtropical regions uninhabitable within decades, and at the same time seriously threaten global food security. This cocktail will increase migration pressure many times over, both directly and by fueling conflicts
The real effects of Brexit on labour demand
No full textThe implementation of Brexit produced markedly different experiences for Northern Ireland, which effectively remained within the EU’s Single Market for goods, and the rest of the UK. This column exploits this contrast to investigate the impact of Brexit on UK firms. Firms located further from the Irish border, and thus more exposed to the full economic consequences of Brexit, experienced significantly greater negative effects, reducing their workforce by up to 15.7% relative to less exposed firms. These firms also reported lower growth expectations but increased investment in R&D. Importantly, firms with prior international trade exposure could mitigate these adverse effects better. The findings emphasise the critical roles of trade integration and innovation in firms’ adaptation to Brexit-induced disruptions
Changes in carriage and serotype diversity of <i>Streptococcus pneumoniae </i>and other respiratory pathobionts in the UK between pre-PCV13 (2006-10), early-PCV13 (2010-12) and late-PCV13 (2012-23) periods
No full textBackground: the continuing burden of mortality and morbidity associated with Streptococcus pneumoniae infections requires that monitoring of carriage epidemiology continues. Here, we present data from the annual, cross-sectional surveillance study in Southampton UK on serotype epidemiology and diversity, as well as carriage of other frequent colonisers of the respiratory tract in over 7000 children over a period of seventeen years (2006-2023). Methods: children were recruited from two sites: Site 1 - Southampton General Hospital, administered by University Hospital Southampton (UHS) NHS Foundation Trust and Site 2 – a collection of community health care facilities within the Solent NHS Trust region. Recruitment was limited to children <5-years-old. Pneumococcal serotyping was done using whole genome sequence data.Results: a total of 7,686 swabs were collected from which 2,386 (31%) pneumococci were recovered. Carriage of pneumococci has remained consistent (median carriage prevalence 31.4%) even with the almost complete removal of vaccine-type (VT) serotypes. Examining three PCV13 periods separately (pre, early and late), carriage was not significantly different at 27.7%, 35.3% and 39.3% respectively. A decrease in carriage of Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus and Moraxella catarrhalis was seen pre-PCV13 (following PCV7 implementation) but has since stabilised. Continued, low-level persistence of VTs 3, 19A and 19F was noted. PCV13 did not impact the pneumococcal serotype rank abundance despite clear reductions in targeted serotypes and fluctuations in other non-VT serotypes such as 15A, 23B and 23B1. Non-PCV13 PCV20 serotypes 10A and 11A, in addition to paired prevalence of 15B and 15C (15B/C) were in the five most isolated serotypes in the late-PCV13 period (2012 to present). Non-PCV13 PCV20 serotypes now account for approximately 40% of all carriage isolations. By contrast, the serotypes only included in PCV15 (22F and 33F) represented just 7% in the same period.Conclusion: with consistent
carriage prevalence in this UK paediatric population since PCV13 introduction,
serotype epidemiology is now dominated by non-PCV13 serotypes that are in
higher valency vaccines. </p
Day and night nurse staffing levels and hospital-associated disability in older adults in Japan: a retrospective cohort study
No full textBackground: hospital-associated disability (HAD) in older adults often result from preventable factors. Nurse staffing at the ward level is a key modifiable factor in mitigating HAD.Objective: to investigate the relationship between nurse staffing shortfalls during typical day and night shifts and risk of HAD in older adults in acute care hospitals.Design: retrospective cohort study.Setting: general medical or surgical wards in nine acute care hospitals in Japan.Subjects: hospital admissions of patients aged ≥65 years.Methods: Electronic claims data and daily ward-level nursing rosters were used to measure nurse staffing shortfalls based on the patient-to-nurse ratio relative to the annual mean.Results: Among 57,498 hospital admissions [23,981 (41.7%) female, median age 76 (interquartile range [IQR] 71–82) years], 30,507 (70%) were functionally independent at admission. Functional deterioration occurred in 15,458 (26.9%) admissions. The median (IQR) patient-to-nurse ratio across the whole day was 6.11 (5.54–6.59), 3.70 (3.34–3.90) for the day shift, and 9.38 (8.57–10.37) for the night shift. The median (IQR) deviation from typical ward-level staffing was -0.21 (-0.64 to 0.20) for the whole day, -0.23 (-0.56 to 0.09) for the day shift, and 0.01 (-0.51 to 0.49) for the night shift. For each patient above the mean nurse-to-patient ratio, the risk of HAD increased by 7%.Conclusion: attention to the deviations from the usual staffing levels for both day and night shifts may be important in efforts to reduce the risk of HAD in older adults.<br/
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