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Collaboration patterns between University of Cambridge and silicon fen firms based on publication analysis
No full textThis research investigates the theory of knowledge transfer through university industry collaboration and seeks to understand the possible collaboration patterns that exist between the University of Cambridge (UoC) and a cluster of high tech firms located in close proximity to the university known as Silicon Fen (SF). Main hypothesis of the research is whether ‗It is possible to establish patterns for collaboration between UoC and SF firms‘. To answer this hypothesis, 18 sub hypotheses are proposed and studied by a positivist deductive quantitative approach to correlate characteristics of firms such as size, sector, and age with various tangible indicators of collaboration, including the number of joint scientific publications (NJSPs) and joint patents (NJPs), as well as the scientific (CSC) and technological collaboration strength (TCS), and the number of women involved in copatenting (NWCP). Out of the 78,873 firms located in SF, more than 100 high tech collaborative firms are found to have JSP or JP with UoC. Accordingly, 5,782 JSPs and 55 JPs were sampled using bibliometric methods to evaluate the collaboration parameters and characteristics of corresponding firms. Among all business sectors, the Biotech/Pharma is found to have the greatest NJSPs, NJPs, CSC, TSC, and NWCP. It is also found that older/larger SF firms have greater NJSPs with UoC and CSC value, while older SF firms have greater NJPs. In contrast, younger SF firms have greater NJPs and TCS with UoC, while older SF firms have a greater NWCP. Therefore, results obtained confirm the main hypothesis of the research and may enable policymakers to provide effective strategies to enhance collaboration between less collaborative SF firms and UoC. The results contribute to the body of knowledge on university industry collaboration by providing evidence for the case of SF UoC as a cluster of high tech firms and a prominent research university located in close geographic proximity.</p
Semi-supervised feature selection of educational data mining for student performance analysis
No full textIn recent years, the informatization of the educational system has caused a substantial increase in educational data. Educational data mining can assist in identifying the factors influencing students’ performance. However, two challenges have arisen in the field of educational data mining: (1) How to handle the abundance of unlabeled data? (2) How to identify the most crucial characteristics that impact student performance? In this paper, a semi-supervised feature selection framework is proposed to analyze the factors influencing student performance. The proposed method is semi-supervised, enabling the processing of a considerable amount of unlabeled data with only a few labeled instances. Additionally, by solving a feature selection matrix, the weights of each feature can be determined, to rank their importance. Furthermore, various commonly used classifiers are employed to assess the performance of the proposed feature selection method. Extensive experiments demonstrate the superiority of the proposed semi-supervised feature selection approach. The experiments indicate that behavioral characteristics are significant for student performance, and the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art feature selection methods by approximately 3.9% when extracting the most important feature.</p
<b>Deliverable 3.3</b> - "Dissemination, Communication activities and Networking"
No full textProject final public outreach and dissemination activities have been planned to reach wider audiences within the target groups of policymaking, scientists and academics and the general public.Communication strategies included a broad range of interconnected tools, to create the best opportunities to disseminate the project outcomes:</p
Heightened interoception in adults with fibromyalgia
No full textPrevious research suggests that the processing of internal body sensations (interoception) affects how we experience pain. Some evidence suggests that people with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) – a condition characterised by chronic pain and fatigue – may have altered interoceptive processing. However, extant findings are inconclusive, and some tasks previously used to measure interoception are of questionable validity. Here, we used an alternative measure – the Phase Adjustment Task (PAT) – to examine cardiac interoceptive accuracy in adults with FMS. We examined: (i) the tolerability of the PAT in an FMS sample (N = 154); (ii) if there are differences in facets of interoception (PAT performance, PAT-related confidence, and scores on the Private Body Consciousness Scale) between an FMS sample and an age- and gender-matched pain-free sample (N = 94); and (iii) if subgroups of participants with FMS are identifiable according to interoceptive accuracy levels. We found the PAT was tolerable in the FMS sample, with additional task breaks and a recommended hand posture. The FMS sample were more likely to be classified as ‘interoceptive’ on the PAT, and had significantly higher selfreported interoception compared to the pain-free sample. Within the FMS sample, we identified a subgroup who demonstrated very strong evidence of being interoceptive, and concurrently had lower fibromyalgia symptom impact (although the effect size was small). Conversely, self-reported interoception was positively correlated with FMS symptom severity and impact. Overall, interoception may be an important factor to consider in understanding and managing FMS symptoms. We recommend future longitudinal work to better understand associations between fluctuating FMS symptoms and interoception.</p
Impacts of pristine, aged and leachate of conventional and biodegradable plastics on plant growth and soil organic carbon
No full textPlastic is an essential component of agriculture globally, becoming a concerning form of pollution. Biodegradable alternatives are gaining attention as a potential replacement for commonly used, non-degradable plastics, but there is little known about the impacts of biodegradable plastics as they age and potential leachates are released. In this study, different types (conventional: polyethylene and polypropylene and biodegradable: polyhydroxybutyrate and polylactic acid) of micro- and meso-films were added to soil at 0.1% (w/w) prior to being planted with Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass) to evaluate the plant and soil biophysical responses in a pot experiment. Root and shoot biomass and chlorophyll content were reduced when soil was exposed to plastics, whether conventional or biodegradable, pristine, aged or when just their leachate was present. The pH and organic matter content of soil exposed to these plastics and their leachates was significantly reduced compared to control samples; furthermore, there was an increase in CO2 respiration rate from soil. In general, meso (> 5 mm) and micro (< 5 mm) plastic films did not differ in the impact on plants or soil. This study provides evidence that conventional and biodegradable plastics have both physical and chemical impacts on essential soil characteristics and the growth of L. perenne, potentially leading to wider effects on soil carbon cycling. </p
A fascinating measure of restoration: using eye-tracking to assess effortless attention during controlled and field-based exposure to outdoor environments
No full textAccording to Attention Restoration Theory (ART; R. Kaplan & S. Kaplan, 1989), environments that capture attention effortlessly, whilst allowing for reflection, provide opportunity to restore fatigued attentional capacities. This visual-attentional process (soft-fascination) has been recorded via fixation and saccade behaviour while viewing nature photographs. However, this has largely compared fascinating nature to unappealing urban environments, lacked restoration measures, focused on laboratory-based exposure, and neglected individual characteristics. The present thesis aimed to overcome previous shortcomings and investigated the usefulness of eye-tracking as a measure of effortless attention during direct and indirect exposure to natural and built environments. In Study 1, 50 participants rated a sample of 400 photographs of natural, built, and mixed environments on soft-fascination. The natural and built photographs rated highest and lowest in soft-fascination were selected. Study 2 investigated the extent to which individual characteristics predicted ratings of soft-fascination in Study 1 and informed the use of control measures in subsequent experiments. Study 3 measured eye-movements of 64 participants while viewing one of four photograph sets (natural/built, high/low-fascination). Attentional capacity and mood were measured before and after 10-minutes of photograph exposure. Study 4 collected soft-fascination ratings across six natural and six built locations from 60 participants. Natural and built locations rated highest and lowest in soft-fascination were selected. Study 5 study followed the same procedure for collecting visual and restoration measures as Study 3, directly exposing 39 participants to high-fascination and low-fascination natural/built environments. Using an independent sample of 83 participants, Study 6 confirmed that fascination manipulations in Study 5 were successful. Findings confirm the effectiveness of using eye-tracking to measure effortless attention during both indirect and direct exposure to outdoor environments. Fixation frequencies and behaviours are particularly capable of distinguishing between attention towards natural and built environments and are found to significantly relate to attentional capacity during direct exposure to natural and built environments. Findings further demonstrate that natural and built environments can be equally attentionally restorative, particularly when considering highly fascinating built environments. Implications for future ART research are considered.</p
What choices of visual correction do people make for recreational running? Raw data file
No full textData file supporting the manuscript 'What choices of visual correction do people make for recreational running?'</p
The impact of high school science pedagogieson students' STEM career interest and on their ratings of teacher quality
No full textThis study examines the often-heard assumption in science teaching that some pedagogies in science classrooms can serve a dual function—improve the student-perceived teacher quality and improve students' affinity to STEM professions. We asked 7507 freshmen from 40 colleges in the United States, selected in a stratified random procedure, to retrospectively report their experiences of a list of 32 pedagogies during high school biology, chemistry, and physics classes. Our survey also asked students to rate each teachers' quality and to report their Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics career interests at the beginning and end of high school. We found that teachers' chosen pedagogies, on the whole, had a stronger impact on how students rated them than on students' career interests. Interestingly, we also found considerable differences between the disciplines. </p
Analyzing Apartment Buildings from a Chronotopic Perspective
No full textTo discover ‘home’, the place where experience is most crystallized and different homes in the apartment buildings with the concept of chronotope working at the intersection of literature and architecture.</p
Measurement invariance and differential item functioning of the Functionality Appreciation Scale (FAS) in Colombia and Spain
No full textThe Functionality Appreciation Scale (FAS) is increasingly used in diverse national and linguistic contexts. However, limited work has assessed the extent to which the instrument demonstrates measurement invariance and differential item functioning (DIF) across nations and respondent characteristics. Here, we examined measurement invariance and DIF of the FAS using archival data from adults in Colombia (Mebarak et al., 2023) and Spain (Zamora et al., 2024). Participants included 1,420 (women n = 804, men n = 616) respondents from Colombia and 838 (women n = 415, men n = 423) respondents from Spain who completed translations of the FAS. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a unidimensional structure of the FAS in both national groups. Additionally, the FAS achieved full measurement invariance (up to latent mean invariance) across both groups. We also found that the FAS lacked DIF as a function of age, body mass index (BMI), and gender identity across both national groups. Older participants (relative to younger participants), men (relative to women), and participants with lower BMIs (relative to those with higher BMIs) had higher FAS scores. These results support the notion that the FAS is measuring a common underlying construct across these national groups and respondent characteristics.</p
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