6974 research outputs found
Sort by
Working with an advisory group to co-create innovative intergenerational climate change research
Get PDFThis article discusses the opportunities of working with an Advisory Group on intergenerational climate change research. We co-created creative workshops to explore and articulate climate change perceptions and future imaginaries between younger and older people in Wales, UK. This 12-month programme of research activities led to a bilingual (Welsh and English) and bespoke comic, and a follow-up project that co-created an intergenerational activity book. Using a research diary format, we show how to practically follow the Responsible Research and Innovation dimensions of inclusion, reflexivity, anticipation, and responsiveness during the data collection stage. The opportunities for co-creation discussed here relate to two main areas: imagining and communicating futures through intergenerational workshops; and the extent to which the Advisory Group were co-creators. The voices of four members of the Advisory Group and the work of comic book artist show the benefits of an early involvement of time, resource and trust in a group who are potential critics, advocates, and bridge-builders. We make four recommendations: the importance of time and imagination in intergenerational climate research; the value of Advisory Groups in improving participatory methods; the need for sustained community-university partnerships and that Advisory Groups should be involved from the very beginning of research
Microbial pathogens of edible insects:A growing problem for the insect farming industry
Get PDFInsect farming is widely extolled as a sustainable alternative to the traditional agricultural production of protein for human and animal consumption. However, pathogen contamination endangers insect health, food safety, production yields and market acceptance. Because insect farming is intensive, growth and transmission of pathogens are promoted, elevating the risk of disease outbreaks with severe economic outcomes. Fungal pathogens can invade host insects through their cuticle, reproducing within the nutrient rich haemolymph within the haemocoel until the host’s defences are overwhelmed and the insect dies. Other pathogens, such as viruses, oomycetes and bacteria, enter the host orally before penetrating the midgut wall to infect the haemolymph. Even apparently healthy farmed insects carry a diverse array of potentially pathogenic bacteria/fungi within their guts, as well as sub-lethal viral infections, and these covert infections can quickly become epizootic breakouts. Consequently, there is an urgent need to understand the infection and transmission of pathogens in insect farms, as well as to develop strategies to prevent and treat infections/outbreaks. This review collates information about the susceptibility of farmed insects to infection by fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes and other parasites, current pathogen detection methods, and possible control measures, with the aim of making this information accessible to practitioners and researchers of insect farming. We suggest that prophylactics/treatments are urgently needed by insect farms, alongside improvements in infection control, to ensure the long-term viability and acceptance of edible insects as a sustainable alternative protein source.</p
Working with an advisory group to co-create innovative intergenerational climate change research
No full textThis article discusses the opportunities of working with an Advisory Group on intergenerational climate change research. We co-created creative workshops to explore and articulate climate change perceptions and future imaginaries between younger and older people in Wales, UK. This 12-month programme of research activities led to a bilingual (Welsh and English) and bespoke comic, and a follow-up project that co-created an intergenerational activity book. Using a research diary format, we show how to practically follow the Responsible Research and Innovation dimensions of inclusion, reflexivity, anticipation, and responsiveness during the data collection stage. The opportunities for co-creation discussed here relate to two main areas: imagining and communicating futures through intergenerational workshops; and the extent to which the Advisory Group were co-creators. The voices of four members of the Advisory Group and the work of comic book artist show the benefits of an early involvement of time, resource and trust in a group who are potential critics, advocates, and bridge-builders. We make four recommendations: the importance of time and imagination in intergenerational climate research; the value of Advisory Groups in improving participatory methods; the need for sustained community-university partnerships and that Advisory Groups should be involved from the very beginning of research
A Digital, Self-Management Behavior Change Intervention for People With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease:Cohort Study
No full textBackground: People with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (pwCOPD) experience a range of limitations, which have a significant effect on their health. Self-management and pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) are key treatments for pwCOPD, however, barriers often limit their uptake and adherence. To overcome these barriers, a digital self-management intervention called PocketMedic (PM) was developed and evaluated in pwCOPD alongside, and in addition, to PR.Objective: To use a parallel-group design to investigate the effectiveness of PocketMedic at increasing self-management in comparison, and in addition, to standard PRMethods: 53 participants were recruited to one of three groups: PM and PR, PM, or PR. Data was collected at baseline and 7 weeks (after the interventions had finished). Questionnaires on health-related quality of life, self-management knowledge, and disease knowledge were collected. MANOVAs and ANOVAs were used to analyse the data.Results: The analyses found that the improvements from those receiving PM were not statistically significantly different to those receiving PR, indicating that PM may replicate the benefits underpinning self-management behaviours seen by those attending PR. However, there were no additional benefits when participants received PM and PR in combination.Conclusions: PM may be a useful treatment to support COPD self-management, especially when barriers prevent pwCOPD receiving traditional services such as PR. The quantitative results suggest that PM may be less beneficial when delivered alongside PR. Feedback from participants indicated that they would prefer to receive PM whilst they were on the waiting-list for PR, to support them during this time and alleviate the apprehensions associated with attending PR. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed. <br/
Designing a Virtual Toolkit for Analysing Planetary Science Data in Virtual Reality
Get PDFTo understand the surface evolution and potential habitability of other planets we must analyse their geology – the 3D structure and chemistry of the rocks that are exposed at the surface. Although rovers capture this 3D structure using stereo camera systems and other instruments, when we present this information to mission scientists for analysis it is generally confined to the 2D plane of a computer screen, and the spatial information is lost at the point when it is needed most. To address this problem, we design, develop, and evaluate a prototype Virtual Environment to present geological data in the 3D form in which it was originally captured, and users are supplied with a toolkit for measurement and annotation of data. We observed that users were inspired by the environment and felt more connected to it because they could move within the data; they valued the tools but did not trust the scale and therefore did not always trust the results. We conclude with recommendations for others working in this application area, and pose a series of questions for future research
Leveraging ensemble clustering for privacy-preserving data fusion:Analysis of big social-media data in tourism
Get PDFDiscovering knowledge from social media becomes a trend in many domains such as tourism, where users' feedback and rating are the basis of recommendation systems. In this context, cluster analysis has been a major tool to disclose user groups by which the process of collaborative filtering can better determine a personalised suggestion. Matching this to the curse of big data is a challenge with previous studies either implementing conventional techniques on a distributed system or making use of data sampling. Specific to ensemble clustering, only a few aim to obtain both scalability and privacy preserving that are significant to handling social data. This paper presents a new bi-level framework of ensemble clustering in which an instance-segment based analysis is adopted to ensure data privacy and reduce the complexity of clustering the whole dataset. Unlike existing studies, instead of drawing a single clustering from each segment, multiple clusterings are selected to better represent instances therein. Based on published tourism datasets and different experimental settings, the new approach usually outperforms its baselines whilst being competitive to related methods found in the literature. Additional case studies on simulated big datasets and noisy variations are reported and discussed in addition to the analysis of algorithmic parameters.</p
New Chaotic Reality:Creative Writing Workshops for Long COVID Patients
Get PDFIn a widely cited 2017 study, Robinson et al. (2017) found that ‘emotionally expressive’ writing makes physical wounds heal faster when compared to writing that did not engage the emotions. The Writing Long COVID project at Aberystwyth University engaged similar territory in a recent pilot study. Participants’ writing activities explored how literary production can affect a person’s experience of this new chronic condition, as well as contribute to our understanding of its symptoms. In this short essay, I show how we designed a course of short-duration online workshops that increased accessibility for people with Long COVID-related fatigue. I also argue that future Long COVID creative activities should let their timing, venue, content, and structure be influenced by the preferences of the Long COVID patient. The preliminary study suggests that the traditional parameters of the writing workshop, including its duration, could deter participation in potentially beneficial creative activities.</p
Myxobacteria from soil can substantially reduce the bacterial load in a wound infection model
Get PDFAimsMyxobacteria are non-pathogenic, saprophytic, soil-dwelling predatory bacteria known for their antimicrobial potential. Many pathogenic bacteria form biofilms to protect themselves from antimicrobial agents and the immune system. This study has investigated the predatory activities of myxobacteria against pathogenic bacteria in biofilms. Methods and resultsA total of 50 soil samples were collected in and around Cardiff, South Wales (UK). Using a baiting method with 6 prey organisms, 32 myxobacteria were isolated and identified by 16S rRNA sequencing, of which 18 were Myxococcus spp. and 14 were Corallococcus spp. Predation assays, biofilm inhibition and disruption assays, and a dynamic, polymicrobial wound biofilm model were used with live myxobacteria to assess efficacy of predation. Good activity in predation assays was observed against Escherichia coli, while Enterococcus faecalis was more recalcitrant to myxobacteria. Staphylococcus aureus and Citrobacter freundii were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced in both biofilm inhibition and disruption assays compared to other pathogens. Considerable reductions (>3 log10 CFU) in the wound infection model were seen after 96 h of incubation, particularly for C. freundii and E. coli. ConclusionUsing live predatory bacteria as an alternative therapeutic agent has received attention in the recent past to combat the problem of antimicrobial resistance. Myxobacteria isolated from soil using multiple prey organisms yielded diverse isolates, including strains which exhibited therapeutically promising activities in a variety of infection/biofilm assays.</p
Achieving reliable rainfall forecasting through ensemble deep learning, fuzzy systems, and advanced feature selection
No full textClassical Machine Learning (ML) models, like Random Forests, struggle with weather variability. Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) models, though designed for time-dependent predictions, also face challenges with unseen data and extended rainfall forecasts. To address these, the Fuzzy-Integrated Deep Ensemble for Rainfall Forecasting with advanced Feature Selection (FIDERFFS) is developed, combining LSTM and GRU with Fuzzy Inference Systems to create Fuzzified LSTM and GRU hybrids, integrating them with a Transformer model, and leveraging Fuzzy Rough Feature Selection to improve accuracy, generalisation, and interpretability. Tested on meteorological datasets (Aberystwyth and Bath, UK), the Enhanced Ensemble Model outperforms benchmarks and the Foundational Ensemble Model by 12.26% (MAE), 3.21% (RMSE), and 8.77% (RMSLE), in Aberystwyth’s complex terrain. Results show how topography and maritime proximity influence forecasting and position FIDERFFS as a superior alternative to Classical ML while complementing Numerical Weather Prediction, by reducing computational demands and time lags
Heritability of Humor Production Ability:A Twin Study
No full textSense of humor is a universal human trait, enjoyed daily across cultures. However, little is known about the factors that shape individual differences in humor, particularly what contributes to developing a great sense of humor. While previous studies have identified a significant genetic component for various humor attributes, such as humor appreciation and humor styles, no study has looked at the heritability of humor production ability. This study is the first to assess the genetic and environmental influences on humor production ability using a twin study design. Participants included 448 pairs of monozygotic twins and 196 pairs of dizygotic twins (median age 66 years, mostly female) from the Twins UK registry. Twins self-assessed their humor ability, rated the funniness of their co-twin, and completed an objective humor production task by composing funny captions for captionless cartoons. Additionally, they completed a short cognitive ability test and reported their overall health. Findings revealed that self-rated humor ability was influenced by both additive genetic and nonshared environmental factors. In contrast, objective humor production showed no evidence of additive genetic effects. Instead, all individual differences were shaped by shared and nonshared environmental influences, though a small genetic effect cannot be ruled out. These results suggest that humor production may be more complex and difficult to assess than other cognitive abilities. The study also presents intriguing implications for the evolutionary basis of humor.</p