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Loneliness and social isolation among older informal caregivers: A review of the evidence from longitudinal investigations
Get PDFThis chapter concerns the psychosocial well-being of informal caregivers who provide personal care in later life for their spouse, other family, friends, or neighbours, in frequent need of care. Specifically, in this chapter, I provide a critical review of longitudinal studies from across the world investigating the development of loneliness and social isolation in both representative and non-probabilistic samples of informal caregivers. The contributions of individual caregiver characteristics and specific strains associated with the caregiving role to feelings of loneliness and social isolation are discussed. Pertinent methodological issues are also considered and potential explanatory mechanisms underpinning the observed associations are highlighted. Finally, directions for future research are provided
Valuing the Surplus: Perspectives on Julian Horton's Article ‘On the Musicological Necessity of Music Analysis’, Musical Quarterly, 3/i–ii, pp. 62–104
Get PDFThis Critical Forum has been developed from a round table discussion of Julian Horton’s 2020 article. The original discussion was convened by Ian Pace to conclude the Music in the University conference held at City, University of London in 2022. Representing different perspectives and preoccupations, yet sharing some common concerns, the original participants are joined here by Kofi Agawu and Gurminder Bhogal. It has been my privilege to collate these materials, aiming to retain something of the informal yet considered character of
the original event. Together, these reflective pieces offer a multi-faceted response
to Horton’s seminal contribution, as is appropriate given that – just as in a
Picasso cubist realisation, say The Girl with the Mandolin (1910) – there can be no single or simple view taken of the many issues he raises. This forum commences with a synopsis of the original article by Ian Pace(approved by Horton), followed by the seven commissioned responses. Horton then responds to those contributions, and Jonathan Dunsby, the chair of the conference round table and founding editor of this journal, has the last word. Music Analysis has a distinguished history of debate through Letters to the Editor. Readers are encouraged to add their views to those expressed here
Awareness and perceptions of ethnic restaurant managers towards authenticity and sensory strategies – a case study of Persian ethnic restaurants in London
Get PDFThe present research aims to critically investigate the perceptions of Persian ethnic restaurant managers towards authenticity and to appraise their opinions and awareness towards the application of sensory strategies within their businesses. Semi-structured interviews were used to form rich data by an in-depth exploration of the research topic. The findings revealed that there are inconsistencies in terms of the customers perceptions and expectations which are reported in the literature and the opinions and the experiences of the restaurateurs. This paper also highlights the lack of studies on authenticity and sensory strategies within dining setting with the focus on service providers and unfolds the role of cultural beliefs on the decision making of the business owners
Building energy resilience in a changing climate
Get PDFUniversity campuses and buildings are energy intensive estates that require large amounts of energy
for lighting, heating, cooling and powering teaching and research facilities. The increasing dependence
on grid electricity as the dominant energy source exposes people and the economy to electricity system
failures, particularly in a world of increasing severity and frequency weather extremes as the climate
changes. To build energy resilience, the University of West London has invested in natural low-emission
heating and ventilation systems as energy sources while also improving biodiversity on campus
Year I—Introducing NDT: a new journal on non-destructive testing science, technology and their applications
Get PDFIt is with great pleasure that the journal NDT (ISSN 2813-477X) [1] is being announced here as a new scientific framework for dissemination of international peer-reviewed
research on non-destructive testing science, technology, and their applications. Nondestructive testing is commonly used in a variety of areas, including, but not limited to, archaeology, forensic engineering, geophysics, mechanical engineering, petroleum engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, civil and environmental engineering, systems engineering, aeronautical engineering, data science and artificial intelligence, medicine and biological sciences, and arts [2]. Nowadays, the tremendous and transdisciplinary growth in the use of non-destructive theories and approaches has triggered exciting new research questions and stimulated the research community to find solutions to increasingly complex challenges, including the development of new concepts, theories, and paradigms. The observation of a more vibrant and dynamic international research environment focusing on advancing sectoral science for stand-alone and combined techniques has been the driving factor to conceive and initiate the NDT project.
Besides the advancement in the stand-alone use of conventional and state-of-the-art technologies and methods in the non-destructive testing area of science, the sensing, processing, integration, and fusion of multi-source, multi-scale, and multi-temporal data and information are laying the foundation for future research developments [3]. It is believed that moving in this direction will greatly contribute to enhancing the capabilities of current methods and solve historical and new challenges, as well as unconventional problems that have, so far, not been considered by the scientific community. Along with the observed increase in the pace of research in this field, it is expected that this new multitasked dimension will add novel transdisciplinary developments and greatly advance knowledge across the scientific community in the near future.
With remarkable and rapidly developing research studies, their outcomes will require appropriate and on-time dissemination to picture out these findings from the various aspects of non-destructive testing science in an effective manner [4]. With this in mind, achieving high standards of quality, significance, and impact of research remains an indispensable duty and a milestone. Due to the relatively limited number of specialist scientific journals, it is fair to note that the available capacity for disseminating high-quality international research might struggle to meet the forthcoming demand for peer review of articles and their publication. This includes pioneering studies and research advances arising from established and novel non-destructive testing areas—all of which will deserve international dissemination and recognition in a timely and professional publication fashion.
In this context, NDT will aim at enhancing the capabilities of conventional and emerging technologies in new investigation settings and complex scenarios through the dissemination of more inclusive and interdisciplinary theoretical, numerical, and practical scientific contributions. The journal’s focus covers three major areas: (i) the collection, processing, modelling, fusion, and interpretation of data to enhance research for stand-alone non-destructive methods and their applications; (ii) the development of multisource, multi-scale, and multi-temporal diagnostics and monitoring resources; and (iii) the design and implementation of state-of-the-art technological solutions that exploit new paradigms through the use of different physical and working principles of sensing. It is believed that research for the above areas can be considered as more strictly referring to the following domains:
• Advances in NDT methods, theories, and new developments (stand-alone or combined use of conventional and state-of-the-art NDTs);
• Sensing, processing, integration, and fusion of multi-source, multi-scale, and multitemporal
data and information from NDT technologies;
• Innovation and research for the development of new, fully deployed, and prototype stand-alone or multi-sensing hardware and software technologies;
• ICT for NDT data management and visualisation;
• Contributions of NDTs to the development of new standards, policies, and best practices.
NDT seeks to publish regular research papers (articles), reviews, technical notes, and short communications. An Editorial Board comprising highly accomplished international scientists in the sector will ensure a rigorous peer-review process for the selection of novel and high-quality research. As the Founding Editor-in-Chief of NDT, it is, therefore, with the utmost pleasure for me to announce that this journal will be seeking, peer reviewing, and publishing related work. The journal will aim to establish itself amongst the leading journals in this fascinating and constantly evolving area of science
The effect of ET1-CTGF mediated pathway on the accumulation of extracellular matrix in the trabecular meshwork and its contribution to the increase in IOP
Get PDFPurpose: Excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) in the trabecular meshwork (TM) increases resistance to the outflow of aqueous humor, which inevitably contributes to the elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP) in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). Endothelin 1 (ET-1), a potent vasoconstrictor peptide, is reported to enhance profibrotic processes in multiple organs like liver, lung, and kidney tissues, which also significantly increases aqueous humor in POAG patients. Here we tested the hypothesis that ET-1 plays a key role in excessive accumulation in the trabecular meshwork and increase in IOP.
Methods: To test the effect of ET-1 on expression of fibronectin (FN), collagen type IV (COL-IV) and its receptor pathway, cultured human TM cells (HTMCs) were treated with ET-1, ET-1+ ETAR antagonist (BQ123) or ETBR antagonist (BQ788). The protein expression levels of FN, and COL-IV were evaluated by western-blot. A time course effect of ET-1 on the transcription level of the connective tissue growth
factor (CTGF) was investigated by qRT-PCR. Next, we down regulated the transcription level of CTGF by its antisense oligodeoxynucleotide sequence and then tested the expression levels of FN, and COL-IV. Lastly, we observed the effect of ET1 on IOP changes, expression of FN, and COL-IV in an ex-vivo model of cultured anterior eye segment.
Results: In cultured HTMs, the expression of FN and COL-IV was significantly increased after ET-1 treatment, and this could be blocked by ETAR antagonist (BQ123) but not ETBR antagonist (BQ788). Further, the CTGF mRNA level also
increased significantly and reached the top level at 48h after ET-1 treatment. However, the induced ET-1 increased the expression of FN and COL-IV in HTMCs and could be reversed by the downregulation of CTGF. In an ex-vivo model,
incensement of FN and COL-IV expression were observed too after ET-1 perfusion. Furthermore, IOP significantly increased after ET-1 administration. Nevertheless, this could be decreased by the ETAR antagonist (BQ123) but not the ETBR antagonist (BQ788).
Conclusions: These results indicate that ET-1 in aqueous humor could lead to the abnormal synthesis of FN and COL-IV via the ETA-CTGF pathway which could result in the accumulation of ECM in trabecular meshwork and incensement of IOP
Distributed acoustic sensor systems for vehicle detection and classification
Get PDFIntelligent transport systems (ITS) are pivotal in the development of sustainable and green urban living. ITS is data-driven and enabled by the profusion of sensors ranging from pneumatic tubes to smart cameras which are used to detect and categorise passing vehicles. Simple sensors, such as pneumatic tubes, are successfully deployed for counting passing vehicles but are not useful for vehicle tracking or re-identification. Smart cameras, on the other hand, collect comprehensive information but suffer from occlusion, patchy coverage, and compromised vision in adverse weather and visibility. This work explores a novel ITS data source based on an optical fibre which acts as an uninterrupted length of virtual sensors using a distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) system. Based on real DAS data collected in the field, we first present a study of latent DAS features that uniquely identify a given vehicle, otherwise referred to as the vehicle signature. We formulate a classification problem that examines incoming DAS data to extract vehicle signatures and identify the different types of vehicle. To this end, we implement different classification methods and present a comparative performance analysis that reveals novel insights into the potential role of DAS for ITS applications. This work is a pilot study of DAS for vehicle classification that is driven by real DAS data and validated by promising results where a vehicle’s type is correctly identified with 94% accuracy and the size of a vehicle with 95% accuracy
Classification of Speaking and Singing Voices Using Bioimpedance Measurements and Deep Learning
Get PDFThe acts of speaking and singing are different phenomena displaying distinct characteristics. The classification and distinction of these voice acts is vastly approached utilizing voice audio recordings and microphones. The use of audio recordings, however, can become challenging and computationally expensive due to the complexity of the voice signal. The research presented in this paper seeks to address this issue by implementing a deep learning classifier of speaking and singing voices based on bioimpedance measurement in replacement of audio recordings. In addition, the proposed research aims to develop a real-time voice act classification for the integration with voice-to-MIDI conversion. For such purposes, a system was designed, implemented, and tested using electroglottographic signals, Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients, and a deep neural network. The lack of datasets for the training of the model was tackled by creating a dedicated dataset 7200 bioimpedance measurement of both singing and speaking. The use of bioimpedance measurements allows to deliver high classification accuracy whilst keeping low computational needs for both preprocessing and classification. These characteristics, in turn, allows a fast deployment of the system for near-real-time applications. After the training, the system was broadly tested achieving a testing accuracy of 92% to 94%
Agent Based Simulation of Botnet Volumetric and Amplification Attack Scenarios Applied to Smart Grid Systems
Get PDFAll industries rely on smart grid infrastructures and systems to energy systems to provide power supply to industries and individual users for innovation, economic growth and sustainability as part of SGD goals. However, recent attacks on the smart grid using various attack methods have made it inevitable to provide security implementation for sustainable development infrastructures and economic growth. Agent-based simulation (ABS) considers modelling complex adaptive systems in a heterogeneous environment to detect their interactive behaviours and attacks. Agents can represent people, households, and business entities in a smart grid system. ABSs are created with three core attributes, the declaration of the agent’s architectures and associated agent classes, an agent environment, and the software modules to establish communication protocols between agents. However, threat actors can use these attributes to cause Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and False Data Injection Attacks (FDIA) on the smart grid. The paper presents an agent-based simulation of offensive botnet interactions within a smart grid system and considers amplification attack scenarios of DDoS and FDIA on the smart grid. The contribution of the paper is threefold. First, we explore how botnet agent attacks systems using ABS impact of cooperative defence during DDoS and FDIA attacks. Secondly, we implement attack models using GAMA tool to determine offensive botnet interactions within a smart grid system. Finally, we recommend control mechanisms to prevent offensive botnets on the smart grid network. The results show that ABS could be used to detect offensive botnet interactions within smart grid systems to improve cybersecurity
Evil Twin Attacks on Smart Home IoT Devices for Visually Impaired Users
Get PDFSecuring the Internet of Things (IoT) devices in a smart home has become inevitable due to the recent surge in the use of smart devices by the visually impaired. The visually impaired users rely heavily on these IoT devices and assistive technologies for guidance, medical usage, mobility help, voice recognition, news feeds and emergency communications. However, cyber attackers are deploying Evil Twin and Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, among others, to penetrate the network, establish rogue Wi-Fi access points and trick victims into connecting to it, leading to interceptions, manipulation, exploitation, compromising the smart devices and taking command and control. The paper aims to explore the Evil Twin attack on smart devices and provide mitigating techniques to improve privacy and trust. The novelty contribution of the paper is three-fold: First, we identify the various IoT device vulnerabilities and attacks. We consider the state-of-the-art IoT cyberattacks on Smart TVs, Smart Door Lock, and cameras. Secondly, we created a virtual environment using Kali Linux (Raspberry Pi) and NetGear r7000 as the home router for our testbed. We deployed an Evil Twin attack to penetrate the network to identify the vulnerable spots on the IoT devices. We consider the Kill Chain attack approach for the attack pattern. Finally, we recommend a security mechanism in a table to improve security, privacy and trust. Our results show how vulnerabilities in smart home appliances are susceptible to attacks. We have recommended mitigation techniques to enhance the security for visually impaired users