23343 research outputs found
Sort by
Beyond Single Views: Leveraging Input-Level Diversity for Explainable and Robust Chronic Wound Classification
Full text linkChronic wound classification remains a major challenge in clinical settings due to the subjective nature of visual assessment, inconsistent documentation practices, and the presence of overlapping visual features across wound types. These limitations contribute to delayed or inaccurate diagnosis, which in turn compromises treatment outcomes. Despite the growing use of deep learning in medical imaging, most existing models in wound analysis rely on single-view input, limiting their ability to generalise under real-world clinical conditions. In this study, we present a deep learningbased framework that leverages input-level diversity through ensemble and multi-branch Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). Our approach uses three image variants: original, LabCLAHE, and MaxGreenGsc-CLAHE—processed through identical pre-trained CNNs. We conducted experiments on a combined wound image dataset drawn from the publicly available Advancing the Zenith of Healthcare (AZH) dataset and an independent proprietary dataset, as well as external validation using the Medetec wound image database. Our Input-Diverse Ensemble Framework, based on weighted probability fusion achieved an accuracy of 89.23% and F1-score of 82.95%, outperforming individual model variants and demonstrating strong generalisation during external validation. Comparative analysis also shows that our model meets and exceeds the performance of existing state-of-the-art methods reported on similar classification tasks. The proposed method introduces a lightweight yet effective solution for improving classification consistency across multiple wound types without requiring complex multimodal data or additional clinical metadata. Its design offers a practical step forward for integrating deep learning into clinical workflows, enabling scalable, interpretable, and more reliable wound assessment tools for frontline healthcare professionals
Intangible cultural heritage and the market: Rethinking concepts of authenticity, repertoire and innovation
No full textCraft, traditional medicine, and performances or other practices that are considered intangible cultural heritage (ICH) today have often been closely linked historically to markets for products and services. Gifts, sales and patronage have supported artists and performers for generations. Lack of sufficient remuneration for practitioners can lead to the disappearance of skills and knowledge associated with the ICH, or a narrowing of practitioners’ repertoire. At the same time, there can be many negative effects of market pressures on ICH practice or ‘traditional culture’. Some of these negative effects, often as a result of actions by third parties, have been described as ‘over-commercialization’ or ‘decontextualization’, or as ‘misappropriation’ and ‘misrepresentation’. How can practitioners and their communities benefit equitably from their ICH in the market while mitigating against these harms, and ensuring heritage safeguarding? Discussions have been taking place around these questions in various academic disciplines and in the context of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. However, many of the concepts being used in these contexts remain under-theorised. A ‘conceptual logjam’ in both academic and policy circles has positioned ICH safeguarding and sustainable economic development as either fundamentally at odds, or perfectly compatible. This chapter reviews the debates and conceptual frameworks used in these discussions, and suggests the need for reconsidering and refining concepts of authenticity, innovation and heritage repertoire, and engaging in further conceptual debate. These insights build on work done by the authors in the HIPAMS projects on heritage-sensitive marketing and intellectual property strategies (Deacon et al. 2021) and in the process of developing a UNESCO guidance note on economic dimensions of intangible cultural heritage safeguarding (UNESCO 2023a)
Reverse chronology quota record screening for realist synthesis: Fostering causally rich extrapolations with a diverse and contemporaneous sample of literature
No full textIdentifying studies for inclusion in realist syntheses using title and abstract screening is challenging given the need to unearth explanatory insights to build context–mechanism–outcome configurations. Such insights may only be uncovered through full-text paper reading. To address this issue, a novel approach for identifying studies has been developed called Reverse Chronology Quota Record Screening (RCQRS). Results of database searches are screened in reverse chronology, and in stages, to fill quotas matching the requirements of the review. RCQRS may be beneficial in any of the following circumstances: (a) the timeframe to complete the synthesis is short; (b) the scope of inquiry is not fully defined, (c) the availability of suitable literature is beyond the screening capacity of the reviewers; or (d) the availability of literature is sparse and reviewers seek to extrapolate insights from other areas. In contrast to RCQRS, exhaustive title and abstract screening (i.e., screening entire database results) may hamper study selection due to being overwhelming in volume and time-intensive, resulting in a causally thin cohort of papers for analysis. RCQRS used in stages, and in conjunction with other search strategies (e.g., hand searching, backward citation tracking, and expert solicitation) can support creative, robust analytical insights with causally rich extrapolations. Using the Horizon-EU funded SERENITY study on deprescribing in palliative care as a case example, the benefits and limitations of RCQRS are explored. Finally, a checklist template is offered for teams who wish to reflect on, and transparently report, the use of RCQRS in their realist synthesis
Women, faith, and anti-apartheid activism in late twentieth-century Britain
No full textBetween 1989 and 1990 grassroots members of the Methodist women’s movement in Britain made, displayed, and exchanged an anti-apartheid ribbon. Constructed of hundreds of individual panels made by local groups of Methodist women, this ribbon was used to publicly demonstrate solidarity with women campaigning against apartheid in South Africa. Analysing this ribbon as a local, national, and international object, this article highlights how it simultaneously provided ordinary Methodist women with the opportunity to engage in direct anti-apartheid action and acted as a vehicle for communicating, demonstrating, and practically enacting the identity and role of the Methodist women’s movement in Britain during a period of change and development. By doing so, it contributes to developing academic research into the specificity and complexity of women’s activism and the importance of grassroots contributions to the Methodist women’s movement in Britain
Development of Peptide-Based Positron Emission Tomography Radiopharmaceuticals with Gallium-68 and Fluorine-18
No full textACKR3 (Atypical Chemokine Receptor 3) plays a pivotal role as a receptor in cellular signal transduction across various diseases and cancers. Targeting and imaging ACKR3 expression in tumours facilitate early cancer detection, therapy selection, and improved patient outcomes. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) utilises positron-emitting radiotracers to visualise and quantify biological targets and molecular processes at the cellular level. PET can visualise ACKR3 expression in vivo enhances understanding of its physiological function and supports the development of targeted therapies.While many small molecules have been suggested as effective ACKR3-targeting agents, the only reported PET probe for ACKR3 is an 89Zr-labelled antibody, which necessitates further refinement for clinical use. Peptides offer promise as molecular tools for PET imaging of biological targets. In this thesis, the aim was to develop a peptide-based PET probe. Based on previous research in the Archibald group, the target peptide sequences [(Phe*-D-Ala-Gly-Phe-Met-Arg-Arg-Lys-D-Ala) and (Phe*-D-Ala-Gly-Phe-Met-Arg-Arg-Lys-D-Ala-Lys), Phe*= thioamidated phenylalanine] were identified that was predicted to bind to ACKR3 with high selectivity. Subsequently, 68Ga and 18F-labelled tracers were synthesised by using solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) to assess their potential utility.Incorporating a thioamide, in which a sulphur atom replaces oxygen, into the peptide chain is expected to alter its electronic properties, reduce susceptibility to enzymatic degradation, and thereby enhance metabolic stability. The prepared precursors and non-radioactive [19F]fluorine and [natGa]gallium reference standards were evaluated for binding affinities to ACKR3 by Archibald group collaborators. The proposed structures exhibited selective binding to ACKR3, with particularly strong affinity observed for the fluorine labelled derivative (IC50=0.73nM). However, this peptide compound showed low metabolic stability. Preclinical PET/CT imaging was conducted using the 68Ga radiotracer but no tumour uptake was observed. Future efforts should focus on introducing new modifications to the peptide sequence, to improve in vivo metabolic stability, affinity and optimise both biodistribution and pharmacokinetic properties
The Cultural Production of Flood Injustice: Learnings from Hull, UK and Calgary, Canada
No full textGlobal flood risk is intensifying due to climate change, rapid urbanisation, and population growth. Hull (UK) and Calgary (Canada) are flood-prone cities where these risks intersect with deep-rooted social inequalities. This comparative study examines how flood injustices are culturally produced by analysing the interplay between local authority policies and practices and the lived experiences of minoritised ethnic communities (MECs). This is because MECs are often disproportionately exposed to flood risks yet systematically excluded from decision-making processes that shape flood resilience. The study also advances serious games (games with an objective more than just enjoyment) as an inclusive, participatory method for engaging both institutional actors and MECs in flood resilience.The thesis argues that flood injustice is shaped by cultural assumptions, governance logics, and power relations embedded in flood resilience strategies. It employed a participatory methodology to link MECs’ lived experiences and everyday practices to local authority approaches to flood resilience. Data collection in Hull and Calgary (August 2022–August 2023) included twelve walking interviews, twelve key informant interviews, and a novel serious game—the ‘Just’ Flood Resilience Co-op (JFRC)—co-developed specifically for this study. Using a mixed-methods approach, the JFRC game generated qualitative and quantitative data from seven pilot sessions; 19 in-game discussions, logs, and debrief interviews; 73 post-game and 13 follow-up surveys. Participants included 25 MEC residents, 72 practitioners, academics, and policymakers, and 32 community group representatives across the two cities.Findings reveal that urban flood resilience for MECs is culturally produced through spatial, social, and political dynamics shaped by governance and cultural meaning-making. Both Hull and Calgary are exposed to recurrent, multi-source flooding; Hull primarily from tidal and surface water flooding driven by factors such as its low-lying topography and impermeable urban surfaces, while Calgary faces riverine flooding driven by factors such as snowmelt and extreme rainfall in the Bow and Elbow River basins. Despite these differing hydrological risks, both local authorities reproduce exclusion through dominant, universalising framings, market-oriented constraints, and siloed decision-making. While Hull’s approach to flood resilience is largely constrained by austerity and fragmented institutional responsibilities, Calgary adopts a more integrated yet technocratic approach. The JFRC game proved valuable for surfacing justice issues, though its transformative impact depended on how justice was embedded in practice.In developing and testing the game, this thesis contributes a novel framework for analysing the cultural production of justice in urban flood resilience, offers comparative insights from Hull and Calgary, and identifies key barriers to just resilience. It concludes that addressing the cultural production of flood injustices requires policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to rethink how resilience is conceptualised, operationalised, and governed. This reframing must move beyond technical and individualised framings to recognise resilience as a socially and culturally embedded process shaped by power and justice in place
Equilibrium strategies under model uncertainty in a shareholder–manager differential game for insurance firms
No full textThis paper studies the strategic interaction between shareholders and managers in an insurance company under model uncertainty using a two-player non-cooperative differential game. The firm’s surplus serves as the state variable, with the shareholder choosing dividend and capital-injection policies to maximise the expected discounted value of dividends net of financing costs, while the manager independently selects an excess-of-loss reinsurance strategy to maximise expected utility. To capture heterogeneous ambiguity attitudes, we examine three scenarios: (i) a benchmark case in which both parties fully trust the reference model; (ii) a setting where only the shareholder is ambiguity-averse; and (iii) a case where both agents face model uncertainty, potentially with different beliefs about surplus dynamics. The analysis characterises robust Nash equilibria across these settings and highlights how ambiguity aversion influences risk retention, dividend distribution, and capital support. Numerical results reveal nonlinear and asymmetric effects of managerial risk aversion and capital-injection costs, offering new insights into the role of heterogeneous beliefs in corporate governance and insurance risk management
Algal reorganization in post-crisis Early Triassic oceans revealed by biomarker evidence
Full text linkThe end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) fundamentally reshaped marine ecosystems. However, the long-term response of eukaryotic algae, a key foundation for marine primary production, is poorly understood. To address this limited knowledge, we determine the long-term change in algal communities using molecular fossil steranes. We use samples that span the uppermost Permian to the Lower Triassic from sections that were located in Boreal Sea (Sverdrup Basin, Arctic Canada) as well as the tropical Tethys (Xiakou, South China), and complement these new data with published datasets. Sterane to hopane ratios, reflecting the relative contribution of eukaryotic algal to bacterial sources, vary in absolute values between sites but show no significant decrease in the earliest Griesbachian compared to the pre-crisis Permian. However, Early Triassic ratios changed dramatically. In the Sverdrup Basin, they were stable during the Griesbachian and, following an interval where both hopane and sterane concentrations diminished, became much higher in the late Spathian. This confirms suggestions that there was a major decline in algal productivity after the EPME that may have delayed recovery. Sterane C28/C29 ratios, which monitor algal composition, increase at the EPME level in Meishan and are generally higher in the rest of the Early Triassic in the Sverdrup Basin and Chaohu. The increase shows that algae that preferentially produce C28 over C29 sterols were thriving, possibly including those predominant in modern oceans. It further implies a reorganized marine algal community–apparently in the tropics and in the post-crisis interval in the Boreal realm. Our findings suggest that instead of a simple collapse and recovery, the Early Triassic saw a complicated reorganisation for algae
Optimizing interlayer thickness for enhanced performance and chemical durability in sandwich-structured PEM fuel cells
Full text linkPolymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are a leading technology for clean energy conversion, but their widespread adoption is hindered by the trade-off between high performance and long-term chemical durability. Here, we report an engineered multilayer PEM that sandwiches a gas barrier interlayer between cast Nafion outer layers. A blend of poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinylsulfonic acid) (PVA/PVS) is used as the interlayer material, designed to suppress gas crossover and mitigate chemical attack without sacrificing ionic conductivity. The optimized membrane (designated PVA-100) has an interlayer loading of 100 μg/cm2 and achieves power density equivalent to pristine Nafion at 0.6 V. Crucially, under accelerated stress testing, this membrane exhibits 1.8x higher chemical durability compared with a conventional membrane, maintaining superior voltage stability and superior power output retention at 0.6 V. These findings establish interlayer engineering as a scalable and effective strategy to overcome the durability–performance trade-off in PEM fuel cells
When Do Supply Chain Employees Feel Responsible for Proactively Engaging in Greening Behaviours?
Full text linkEmployees in supply chain (SC) functions are increasingly assigned sustainability-related responsibilities and expected to engage in green behaviours. While prior research distinguishes voluntary from required green behaviours, the SC context suggests that employees perceive varying degrees of voluntariness and obligation. This study investigates why some SC employees engage more proactively than others, particularly in required green behaviours, and how they influence peers. Using semi-structured interviews with managers in SC and sustainability roles across five companies, we adopt a multi-level case study approach to examine proactive employee green behaviours (EGBs). We identify three levels of engagement—proactive, active compliance and passive—and interpret them through self-determination and proactivity theories. Findings indicate that employees with broader role breadth and a combination of internalized and externalized felt responsibility are more likely to engage proactively and influence colleagues. We develop a multi-level theoretical framework depicting how EGBs are co-shaped by individual-level factors (e.g. role breadth, felt responsibility) and external influences from peers and supervisors (external felt responsibility). By adopting a role- and responsibility-based perspective, we provide practical guidance for job design and establish a foundation for future research on the dynamic, multi-level interplay between individual and organizational factors in shaping EGBs