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Reimagining Empathy in the Digital Era
Full text linkAs the digital transformation in health care advances, a persistent concern within nursing is whether the increasing integration of technology will hinder nurses’ ability to demonstrate empathy toward their patients. The debate takes place regardless of the working nursing environment, including the perianaesthesia care, and can be justified due to the continuous introduction of new innovations and development in care. However, the choice is not, and should not be, between empathy and innovation
A Comparative Analysis of the Spray Cooling Performance Characteristics of Alumina Nanofluids
No full textNanofluids are promising as spray coolants in various thermal management systems where they can enhance the surface heat transfer rate. Generally, cooling performance of spray coolants is experimentally evaluated on a flat or inclined surface with the nozzle arranged in a vertical orientation.In this study, experiments were extended to the case of a hemispherical, curved surface, where the cooling performance was compared between a pure water spray and an Alumina nanofluid spray. A port-fuel injector was utilised to spray a jet of varying Aluminium oxide nanoparticle suspensions, at 3 bar pressure, on to a smooth, curved, heated surface, mimicking the geometry of a bowled combustion chamber. The temperature of the surface was varied in the range of 25 - 180 °C. A Phase Doppler Anemometer was used to measure droplet diameter, axial and radial velocity distributions at various locations with and without spray impingement. High-speed video observations showed that the spray cone angle was reduced by 7° with the addition of nanoparticles compared to the pure water spray. In the heated piston cases, the heat transfer effect was only enhanced in the case of the higher nanoparticle mass concentration, resulting in a 15 °C reduction in surface temperature after approximately 35 seconds, when compared to the water case with the same injection duration and frequency. The transition to single-phase cooling occurred approximately 10 seconds earlier in the pure water case forthe location directly under the impinging spray jet. The deposition of a rough, solid film of Aluminium oxide on the piston surface at the point of spray impact was observed
E-cargo bikes as a personal transport mode in the UK:insights from surveys and suburban trials
Full text linkThis paper explores the potential of e-cargo bikes as a personal transport mode in the UK, reporting on a series of surveys and trials. Hypothesising that early adoption of this niche mode was geodemographically skewed, we carried out a nationally-representative survey which showed that living in London, being aged 18–34 and being a less frequent car user were associated with e-cargo bike use. Additionally, we used an empirical mixed methods approach to understand what level of usage might be achieved via a supported trial in areas outside London which were relatively car-dependent. 49 households were loaned an e-cargo bike for a month in summer 2023, in suburbs of Leeds, Brighton and Oxford. Eleven of these households borrowed e-cargo bikes again the following winter. By Autumn 2024, 10 trial households had bought e-cargo bikes. High usage was achieved in the trials, with summer trial households cycling approximately 8000 km (38–42 km per household per week) with over 50 % of the distance travelled replacing car use. This work revealed a range of advantages of use as well as issues to address, including purchase costs, theft, negative perceptions of battery safety and a lack of e-cargo-bike appropriate infrastructure. The study demonstrated that there are current non-adopter groups of people in the UK for whom e-cargo bikes represent a realistic and desirable form of mobility, with the potential to reduce car use and associated emissions, and with possible benefits for health and family activities
Partitioning of fatty acids between membrane and storage lipids controls ER membrane expansion
Full text linkBiogenesis of membrane-bound organelles involves the synthesis, remodeling, and degradation of their constituent phospholipids. How these pathways regulate organelle size remains poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that a lipid-degradation pathway inhibits expansion of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane. Phospholipid diacylglycerol acyltransferases (PDATs) use endogenous phospholipids as fatty-acyl donors to generate triglyceride stored in lipid droplets. The significance of this non-canonical triglyceride biosynthesis pathway has remained elusive. We find that the activity of the yeast PDAT Lro1 is regulated by a membrane-proximal helical segment facing the luminal side of the ER bilayer. To reveal the biological roles of PDATs, we engineered an Lro1 variant with derepressed activity. We show that active Lro1 mediates retraction of ER membrane expansion driven by phospholipid synthesis. Furthermore, subcellular distribution and membrane turnover activity of Lro1 are controlled by diacylglycerol produced by the activity of Pah1, a conserved member of the lipin family. Collectively, our findings reveal a lipid-metabolic network that regulates endoplasmic reticulum biogenesis by converting phospholipids into storage lipids
Gravity effects on lower limb perfusion observed during a series of parabolic flights
Full text linkThe present observational study simultaneously measured four key factors (arterial oxygenation, superficial tissue oxygenation, peripheral skin temperature, toe systolic pressure) to determine the impact on lower limb perfusion in altered gravity conditions. 24 healthy test subjects (16 male, 8 female) took part onboard a series of parabolic flights. When comparing lower limb perfusion values to 1G (control/Earth’s gravity) the study found: 1) no significant difference between arterial oxygenation values in hyper or microgravity was detected when using a pulse oximeter; 2) a significant difference in superficial tissue oxygenation in hyper and microgravity was detected by white light spectroscopy; 3) a significant difference in skin temperature of the foot was detected by thermography in hyper and microgravity; 4) an insufficient sample could be obtained for toe systolic pressure. Reduction in superficial tissue oxygenation and peripheral skin temperature in microgravity compared to 1G, potentially suggests a reduction in blood flow. White light spectroscopy and thermography devices demonstrated they functioned as usual in altered gravity conditions potentially offering a quick, reliable method of assessing the acute effects of hyper and microgravity on lower limb perfusion. These methods may be useful to predict healing potential when injuries occur and highlight early warning signs of tissue damage due to poor perfusion. However, additional work to further establish the impact on oxygen transport in the superficial tissues in both acute and sustained microgravity would be beneficial
Local Businesses as Boundary Actors in Biosphere Reserves:Capturing the Potential of Business Stakeholders to Communicate and Mediate Biocultural Heritage Tourism Values
No full textThis paper examines the interrelationships between Biosphere Reserves and tourism businesses in the only urban UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (BR) in the United Kingdom, ‘The Living Coast’ (Brighton and Lewes Downs BR). The scope for the role of tourism business stakeholders as ‘boundary actors’ (Guston 2001; Kim and Branwell 2019, Kirsop-Taylor and Russell 2022) is explored, both conceptually and practically, whereby the spatiality of the biosphere both hosts and frames the sustainable activities encouraged within it. Here we conceptualise the key boundaries as those between science, policy, and implementation (hence also including businesses, communities, and visitors) as well as the spatial boundaries inherent in the BR (core area, buffer zones and transition areas) which enable sustainable development approaches to be trialled within the BR boundary. We highlight how tourism businesses act as mediators who convey the values of the biosphere (i.e. sustainable development), or indeed, through a series of processes, are encouraged to align with them for reciprocity of benefits. Nature-based protected areas, such as national parks may find it easier to brand themselves as environmentally sustainable places (Aschenbrand & Michler 2021), while urban BRs often face complex realities around economic and social challenges. The Living Coast BR in Sussex, southern England, encapsulates rural countryside, the city of Brighton and Hove, and a coastal zone, extending from the shore two kilometres out to sea. Its topographic diversity and spatially uneven development present unique characteristics that work as a useful ‘living lab’ through which to explore the challenges that natural and cultural heritage-based tourism or Biocultural Heritage (BCH) tourism faces in relation to policy, practice, and strategic destination development. This paper examines: (i) how to engage with Biocultural Heritage tourism businesses (businesses for whom nature and heritage is a central part of the their value proposition) to promote awareness of the BR’s values, and thereby communicate those values, in turn, to their visitors; (ii) the role of BCHT businesses in curating ‘images of place’ for both place-keeping and practical, value-led biosphere reserve destination marketing in an urban BR; and (iii) the potential for positioning biosphere reserves as ‘living labs’ whereby tourism businesses drive responsible enterprise behaviour change through the creation of a dynamic suite of best practices. Tourism businesses perform in collaboration with a geographically diverse space and other stakeholders, as boundary actors - communicating values, actions, imagery and visitor experiences within and outside the space itself. Bedoya (2012) emphasises the importance of place-keeping, which is of particular relevance to BCHT, noting that places evolve with time – ‘making’ what they need (infrastructure, development, technology) and ‘keeping’ what they value (culture, heritage, traditions). BRs offer a useful way to examine the interplay between protected space, tourism potential and the actors that move within and through the boundaries of that space.This paper discusses work conducted in the Brighton and Lewes Downs BR during a four year European-funded regional development project investigating the potential for expanding BCHT in four BRs in England and France (Price et al. 2022, Wilkinson et al. 2022, Wilkinson and Coles 2023). Tourism businesses in the realm of ‘biocultural heritage’ (Wilkinson, 2019) were defined and classified in the biosphere region for the research sample, in collaboration with the destination management organisation. For awareness-building, they were invited to participate in knowledge-exchange and networking events about the BR, including the creation of a ‘BCHT Academy.’ Subsequently, resources were co-created between the research team, BR staff and businesses at various stages of the project to help businesses align with the biosphere ethos. These resources included a toolkit (containing images and text they could use in marketing), a series of tourist/visitor personas (informed from a large visitor survey), a range of prototype visitor experiences (developed by biosphere staff and tourism experts), and a cross-border business charter with examples of actions they could take. Interviews and coaching sessions were also undertaken with 11 businesses in the Living Coast over the duration of 18 months to closer align them with the ethos of this biosphere. The aim of these combined methodologies was the sequential delivery of biosphere reserve value-communication, engagement, application/uptake of those values and co-creative destination development at multiple scales: businesses, biosphere reserve, and the tourism authority.This paper reports on the experiences and challenges of co-developing tourism products in the Living Coast BR with tourism businesses. Key results show that, by working collaboratively with and creating appropriate materials and messaging to businesses, they can become key boundary actors in helping to (co-)promote the ideals and missions of destinations directly to visitors. Practical outcomes of the research resulted in the creation of a BCH tourism business directory, a master-planning toolkit (decision-support tool for tourism sustainability), and a tangible, digital asset repository of professional images, text, and films to be used by BCHT businesses and the DMO for wider BR destination marketing. The researchers (and an artist) created high-impact visual pictorials to communicate three future scenarios to enhance understanding of engagement/non-engagement for businesses with biosphere values: ‘Business as Usual’, ‘Custodianship’ or ‘No-Control, Profit-Led’. Buy-in for responsible tourism enterprise lies at the heart of the ethos of this research and wider BCHT project itself.Consistent with a living labs approach, the research demonstrates the usefulness of an experimental approach to collaborative BCH tourism implementation (using a suite of different business support, marketing and messaging materials) for increasing buy-in from the business community regarding sustainability and promoting biocultural heritage assets (place-keeping). In this way, businesses play a role as key boundary actors who are in direct communication with visitors and can communicate key sustainability and BR values and messages through their practices and activities (placemaking). The impact of this research speaks to new ways of positioning BRs as ‘living labs’ for tourism businesses. Protected area status, through BR designation, offers enhanced sustainable tourism potential through value-aligned destination marketing. This potential can only begin to be enacted through engagement with the right tourism businesses who deliver products, services, and experiences to visitors from within and outside the borders of the bounded space itself. Boundary actors can therefore absorb, communicate, and produce biospheres’ sustainability agendas if structures and processes enable them to do so.<br/
UoB Photo Competition - People's Prize Winner:Between Air and Water: Where do you belong—above or below?
No full textThe water wraps around skin like a whisper, muffling the world beyond sight. Bubbles escape, shimmering fragments of breath, dissolving into the current. Here, between air and water, sensation takes over—the pressure of liquid against skin, the cool rush of movement, the vibration of sound distorted in an aquatic hush.For those with visual impairments, blue spaces are not simply seen; they are felt, heard, embodied. But what happens when the world assumes nature is only for those who can see its beauty? How does it feel to navigate a space designed without you in mind?This research challenges the romanticized narrative of water as universally freeing, instead asking: who gets to access this freedom? Through the voices of VI individuals, it explores how blue spaces both embrace and exclude, soothe and alienate. It calls for a new way of seeing—one that listens, adapts, and truly includes.<br/