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Appreciative inquiry in disability and physical education
No full textAppreciative inquiry is a form of action research which focuses on strengths over deficits, in order to enact organisational change. Built around methods of interviewing and the power of the positive question, appreciative inquiry facilitates all parts of an organisation being involved in appreciating the best of what currently works, which can form a foundation for envisioning and realising change in any educational or extra-curricular sport setting. This chapter will use appreciative inquiry projects from physical education (PE) research, and from general education research with disabled children and young people, to outline the methodological design, methods, and potential outcomes. Appreciative inquiry involves sustained planning yet a flexible approach throughout processes of asking positive questions and supporting reflection and innovation to achieve change. The questions that appreciative inquiry prompts, and the way they are asked, generate and shape participants’ responses and the direction of change. In research on dis/ability and PE, it is crucial to listen and respond to the voices of disabled students to understand their perspectives on current practices and future aspirations.<br/
AI-enabled human activity recognition:bridging contact-based and RF-based contactless sensing paradigms — a review
Full text linkHuman Activity Recognition (HAR) underpins applications in healthcare, security, smart environments and industrial safety. This survey examines HAR systems by contrasting contact-based sensing with radio-frequency (RF)-based contactless approaches, highlighting their respective detection mechanisms, performance trade-offs and available datasets. Contact-based methods that use accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers and physiological sensors deliver high precision but face issues related to comfort, portability and long-term compliance. In contrast, RF-based contactless modalities, including WiFi channel state information, radar and radio-frequency identification enable scalable and privacy-preserving monitoring. However, they remain vulnerable to environmental noise, hardware limitations and multipath fading. Although contact-based sensing is discussed for comparative analysis, this review primarily focuses on artificial-intelligence (AI)-driven RF-based contactless HAR, analyzing sensing mechanisms, signal representations, publicly available datasets and associated learning paradigms. Covered applications span healthcare, security, gesture recognition, localization and smart homes. It also discusses challenges such as robustness, data scarcity, interpretability and ethics, concluding with future directions in multimodal sensing, edge efficiency, federated learning and explainable AI for transparent and reliable HAR systems.</p
Assessing the impact of automated devices for enhancing health and reducing medication errors in older adults with long-term health conditions (ADHERE):a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes, UK
Full text linkINTRODUCTION: Medication non-adherence in older adults with long-term conditions contributes to significant morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. While adherence support tools exist, many interventions fail to reach those most at risk. Automated medication dispensers (AMDs) show promise in improving adherence and health outcomes, but their integration into routine community pharmacy practice remains underexplored. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of an AMD intervention with SMS reminders in enhancing medication adherence among older adults and to evaluate how this technology can be integrated into community pharmacy workflows.METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This randomised controlled trial involves 144 participants recruited from eight community pharmacies who will be randomised to receive either the AMD intervention or usual care. Primary outcomes include medication adherence, measured through pharmacy records and self-report at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Secondary outcomes include Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, health-related quality of life (SF-12), and healthcare resource use. A nested mixed methods process evaluation will explore uptake, acceptability and implementation.ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol has been approved by the University of Bedfordshire Institute for Health Research Ethics Committee (IHREC1039), the NHS and the local authority Research Governance and Research Ethics Committee (NHS REC reference: 25/EE/0026). The findings will be disseminated via a final report, peer-reviewed journal publications and presentations at relevant conferences.TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN18849739.</p
Proportional-derivative control for nonlinear robot dynamics using adaptive finite-time approach
No full textPersonal Academic Tutors and student continuation: the importance of establishing relationships
No full textStudents studying in higher education (HE) in the UK are reported to be increasingly facing challenges concerning their studies. Personal Academic Tutoring (PAT) systems are widely used in the UK HE sector since research has shown the importance of having an academic mentor to guide students throughout their learning journey. This study contributes to the literature by establishing the relationship between the PAT system, at an English university with a diverse student body, and continuation rates. As such, it responds to the requirement that HE institutions investigate factors that affect student continuation in contexts where there is increasing scrutiny from regulatory bodies. Conducted in 2023, this study explores PAT practices in low and highcontinuation courses using a mixed-method approach. Data was collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with 47 academics and 18 students, triangulated with additional sources. The analysis includes descriptive and comparative assessments of quantitative data and thematic analysis of qualitative data. Findings indicate that academics and students recognised that effective support is contingent on good personal relationships. PATs acknowledged their limitations in addressing both academic and personal difficulties that students face, as well as the implications of safeguarding and data protection. Comparisons between low and high-continuation courses revealed significant differences in student allocation numbers and clarity about the PAT role and notable differences in strategies adopted to enhance support. The study concludes with an acknowledgment of its limitations, points to recommendations that have been taken forward by the University and the relevance for other universities
ViMIC 2.0: an updated database of human disease-related viral mutations, integration sites, and multi-omics data
Full text linkViMIC 2.0 is an updated database that provides comprehensively curated data on virus mutations (VMs), viral integration sites (VISs), and multi-omics datasets related to human diseases. Leveraging expanding public data, ViMIC 2.0 significantly enhanced data scale, diversity, and analytical capabilities compared to the previous version. In terms of data volume, the number of virus types has increased from 8 to 28, VM entries have grown from 31 712 to 64 168, virus-related diseases expanded from 77 to 177, literature rose from 2539 to 6433, and omics datasets have substantially increased from 28 sets of single expression profile data to 255 sets of multi-omics data. In addition, ViMIC 2.0 has updated 9409 VISs, 173 048 sequences, newly incorporated sequencing types such as single-cell transcriptomic sequencing (scRNA-seq), and genome binding/occupancy profiling. Regarding the visualization module, ViMIC 2.0 now provides results of differential gene expression analysis for bulk RNA-seq or array, cell type annotation and gene feature plot for scRNA-seq data, and differential methylation analysis for methylation profiling, as well as peak annotation for ChIP-seq/ChIP-on-chip/ATAC-seq data. In summary, ViMIC 2.0 serves as a user-friendly, up-to-date, and well-maintained resource for the virology research community. ViMIC 2.0 is freely accessible at http://www.biomedinfo.cn/ViMIC2.0/index.php.<br/
Evidence-based practice attributes among specialist nurses in acute care:a cross-sectional study
Full text linkBACKGROUND AND AIMS: Evidence-based practice (EBP) is central to high-quality acute care, yet evidence on how specialist nurses engage with EBP remains limited. This study aimed to examine EBP beliefs, organisational culture, and self-reported implementation among specialist nurses working in acute care, and to assess associations with professional characteristics, including specialist certification and academic qualifications.DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional study.METHODS: Data were collected between June and November 2023. Participants were specialist nurses employed in acute care roles, including critical care, emergency and urgent care, specialist medical and surgical units, and advanced practice positions. Validated instruments were used to measure EBP beliefs, organisational culture, and implementation. Analyses included descriptive statistics, group comparisons, and multivariable regression models.RESULTS: A total of 510 specialist nurses were included. Overall, nurses reported strong beliefs in EBP, moderately positive perceptions of organisational culture, and variable levels of implementation. Specialist certification was consistently associated with higher EBP implementation (standardised β = 0.24, 95% CI 0.15-0.33) and more positive organisational culture perceptions (β = 0.19, 95% CI 0.07-0.31), independent of experience and academic qualification. A clear pattern across clinical areas was observed, with higher EBP engagement reported in adult critical care and advanced practice roles, and lower organisational culture scores in emergency care settings.CONCLUSION: Among specialist nurses working in acute care, positive beliefs about EBP are widespread, but implementation varies and is associated with specialist certification and organisational context rather than years of experience or academic attainment. These findings highlight the importance of certification pathways and supportive organisational environments in strengthening EBP in high-acuity settings.</p
Human-centered Digital Twins in hospitality: how employee perceptions and system design shape adoption
No full textThe digital transformation of hospitality is increasingly driven by technologies that integrate human and operational elements of service work. Within this evolution, human-centered Digital Twins leverage both human-related and operational data to digitally represent employees within their work contexts, enabling real-time feedback and data-informed decision making for both employees and organizations. Despite their potential, little is known about how hospitality employees perceive these systems or what shapes their willingness to use them. This study examines the individual perceptual factors that influence employees' intention to use a human-centered Digital Twin, focusing on performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and trust in the system. In addition, the study explores the role of gamification as a system design feature that may shape how these perceptions translate into adoption intentions. Data were collected from 141 customer-facing hotel employees across Europe using a structured survey based on validated scales. An Exploratory Factor Analysis confirmed the reliability and structural validity of the measurement model, and multiple linear regression analysis was used to test both the baseline and the extended models. Results show that all three perceptual factors significantly and positively influence intention to use, with performance expectancy emerging as the strongest predictor. Gamification moderates the relationship between effort expectancy and intention to use in a non-reinforcing manner: when gamification is higher, the positive effect of effort expectancy becomes weaker. These findings suggest that interaction design can alter how employees experience the ease of using advanced digital systems. This study provides empirical evidence on the perceptual determinants that influence front-line employees' intention to use a human-centered Digital Twin in hospitality settings, highlighting the role of both core adoption beliefs and system design features in shaping adoption intentions
Light- induced electrode scanning microscopy
No full textPatch clamps and microelectrode arrays have been widely used to detect the electrical properties of cells in biomedicine. Yet, both technologies can record signals only in an invasive manner or at fixed positions. Based on the resolution (LAPS) and optically induced dielectrophoretic, we present a novel light-induced electrode scanning microscopy. It works like a “radar”, scans the whole area with living cells in culture, and detects the electrical signals of single cells on a photosensitive chip. In the system, a light pattern projected onto the chip is used to form the corresponding light-induced electrode, and the electrode scanning mode is implemented by moving the light pattern or the chip position for the measurement of the electrical characteristics of biological cells and cell localizations. It provides a new tool for the detection of cell electrical properties and is expected to become the next generation of electrophysiological detection technology
LGBTQ+ leadership in education : visibility, vision, and voice
No full textThe distinct nature of LGBTQ+ Leadership in Education is often misunderstood, overlooked, and undervalued. This groundbreaking book explores the contributions and transformative potential of LGBTQ+ educational leaders, weaving together personal stories, strategic insights, and critical analysis. Across job functions, contexts, and career stages, it explores the challenges, priorities, and contributions of LGBTQ+ leaders—including educators with multiple marginalised identities.Grounded in the realities of the UK education sector, LGBTQ+ Leadership in Education highlights the vital role of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in leadership, recognising the advocacy work of LGBTQ+ leaders and the transformative power of queer networks in shaping institutional cultures. Chapter authors offer a nuanced appreciation of authenticity, visibility, influence, and leadership development, while engaging with queer theory to challenge dominant models that perpetuate inequality.An essential resource for educators at all levels, it empowers leaders to reexamine, refine, and strengthen their own leadership practice, fostering inclusive and effective educational environments for all
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