Digital Commons Network^™

A Quantum Natural Language Processing Approach To Musical Intelligence, Er Miranda, R Yeung, A Pearson, K Meichanetzidis, B Coecke

School of Art, Design and Architecture

No abstract provided.

Health And Wellbeing Outcomes And Social Prescribing Pathways In Community‐Based Support For Autistic Adults: A Systematic Mapping Review Of Reviews, Charlotte Featherstone, Richard A. Sharpe, Nick Axford, Sheena Asthana, Kerryn Husk

Peninsula Medical School

Adults on the autism spectrum are affected by health disparities which significantly reduce life expectancy and experience barriers to accessing healthcare. Social prescribing is a holistic approach that diverts patients from primary care to health-enhancing activities in communities. However, there has been a lack of research attention to how autistic people navigate the social prescribing pathway and the ability of these approaches to address existing disparities. This mapping review aimed to synthesise features of non-medical, community-based interventions for autistic adults to assess their suitability for a social prescribing approach. A systematic search and screening process was used to identify literature …

Health And Wellbeing Outcomes And Social Prescribing Pathways In Community‐Based Support For Autistic Adults: A Systematic Mapping Review Of Reviews, C Featherstone, Ra Sharpe, N Axford, S Asthana, K Husk

Peninsula Medical School

No abstract provided.

The Forgotten Ocean: Why Cop26 Must Call For Vastly Greater Ambition And Urgency To Address Ocean Change, Dan Laffoley, John M. Baxter, Diva J. Amon, Joachim Claudet, Craig A. Downs, Sylvia A. Earle, Kristina M. Gjerde, Jm Hall‐Spencer, Heather J. Koldewey, Lisa A. Levin, Chris P. Reid, Callum M. Roberts, Rashid U. Sumaila, Michelle L. Taylor, Torsten Thiele, Lucy C. Woodall

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In People With Intellectual Disability: Statistical Approach To Developing A Bespoke Screening Tool, Indermeet Sawhney, Bhathika Perera, Paul Bassett, Asif Zia, Regi T. Alexander, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Background

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is common among people with intellectual disability. Diagnosing ADHD in this clinically and cognitively complex and diverse group is difficult, given the overlapping psychiatric and behavioural presentations. Underdiagnoses and misdiagnoses leading to irrational polypharmacy and worse health and social outcomes are common. Diagnostic interviews exist, but are cumbersome and not in regular clinical use. Aims We aimed to develop a screening tool to help identify people with intellectual disability and ADHD.

Method

A prospective cross-sectional study, using STROBE guidance, invited all carers of people with intellectual disability aged 18-50 years open to the review of …

Excitotoxic Lesions Of The Perirhinal Cortex Leave Intact Rats’ Gustatory Sensory Preconditioning, Jasper Robinson, Peter M. Jones, Emma J. Whitt

School of Psychology

We report findings from two sensory preconditioning experiments in which rats consumed two flavoured solutions, each with two gustatory components (AX and BY), composed of sweet, bitter, salt, and acid elements. After this pre-exposure, rats were conditioned to X by pairing with lithium chloride. Standard sensory preconditioning was observed: Consumption of flavour A was less than that of B. We found that sensory preconditioning was maintained when X was added to A and B. Both experiments included one group of rats with lesions of the perirhinal cortex, which did not influence sensory preconditioning. We discuss our findings in the light …

Social And Safety Monitoring For Pandemic With Yolo, Cl Chung, H Samani, Ly Yu, Cy Yang

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

During the pandemic of COVID-19, people have been suggested to keep social distance from the others. It is also beneficial to pay attention to the individuals with motion irregularities. In this research, we propose a visual anomaly analysis system based on deep learning with the aim to identify individuals with various types of anomaly which are specifically important during the pandemic. Based on the proposed monitoring system it would be easier to keep tracking the environment changes, and it would also be beneficial to the safety guard to reallocate resources accordingly to relieve the threat of anomaly. Types of the …

Uk B.1.1.7 (Alpha) Variant Exhibits Increased Respiratory Replication And Shedding In Nonhuman Primates, Kyle Rosenke, F Feldmann, Atsushi Okumura, Frederick Hansen, Tsing Lee Tang-Huau, Kimberly Meade-White, Benjamin Kaza, Julie Callison, Matthew C. Lewis, Brian J. Smith, Patrick W. Hanley, Jamie Lovaglio, Michael A. Jarvis, Carl Shaia, H Feldmann

School of Biomedical Sciences

The continuing emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants calls for regular assessment to identify differences in viral replication, shedding and associated disease. In this study, we compared African green monkeys infected intranasally with either the UK B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant or its contemporary D614G progenitor. Both variants caused mild respiratory disease with no significant differences in clinical presentation. Significantly higher levels of viral RNA and infectious virus were found in upper and lower respiratory tract samples and tissues from B.1.1.7 infected animals. Interestingly, D614G infected animals showed significantly higher levels of viral RNA and infectious virus in rectal swabs and gastrointestinal tissues. Our …

Position Statement Of The International Network For Child And Family Centered Care: Child And Family Centred Care During The Covid19 Pandemic, Mohammad Al-Motlaq, Sarah Neill, Mandie Jane Foster, Imelda Coyne, Davina Houghton, Charlotte Angelhoff, Malin Rising-Holmström, Maureen Majamanda

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

Terrestrial Borne Litter In The Marine Environment – Evidence Review And Quantifying The Issue, W Courtene-Jones, R Thompson

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Does A Ceo's Private Reputation Impede Corporate Governance?, G Yang, R Huang, Y Shi, Z Jia

Plymouth Business School

The CEO's reputation is a valuable intangible resource for a firm. This study investigates the effect of a CEO's reputation on corporate governance efficiency. Using a sample of 3504 Chinese listed companies from 2002 to 2018, we find that the CEO's reputation built through corporate donations reduces the probability of their forced turnover. This effect is stronger when a firm/CEO has more media exposure and weaker when a firm's peer companies donate more. The mechanism of this effect is that the CEO's reputation is a valuable resource that makes it difficult for firms to find a substitute in a short …

Ecosystem Approach To Fisheries Management Works—How Switching From Mobile To Static Fishing Gear Improves Populations Of Fished And Non‐Fished Species Inside A Marine‐Protected Area, Bede F.R. Davies, Luke Holmes, Adam Rees, Martin J. Attrill, Amy Y. Cartwright, Emma V. Sheehan

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Designated using a Statutory Instrument in 2008, Lyme Bay marine-protected area (MPA) is the UK's first and largest example of an ambitious, whole-site approach to management, to recover and protect reef biodiversity. The whole-site approach applies consistent management, in this case excluding bottom towed fishing, across the full 206 km2 extent of the MPA, thus protecting a mosaic of reef-associated habitats from regular damage, while still allowing less destructive fishing methods, such as static gear, rod and line, and diving.To assess the effectiveness of this management strategy for mobile taxa and the sustainability for those taxa that continue to be …

People With Epilepsy And Intellectual Disability: More Than A Sum Of Two Conditions, Fm Snoeijen-Schouwenaars, C Young, C Rowe, Et Al

Peninsula Medical School

BACKGROUND: Around 25% of people with Intellectual Disability (PwID) have comorbid epilepsy with seizures in up to two-thirds being drug-resistant. Little is known of the general characteristics and prescribing practices to this population. AIM: Describe and compare characteristics of two cohorts of PwID and epilepsy in two different countries to inform clinical practice better. METHOD: An explorative, retrospective, case-note review in a specialist ID community service in England and in an expert center for PwID and epilepsy in the Netherlands was conducted. Information on ID severity, medical/behavioral/psychiatric/neurodevelopmental/genetic comorbidities, psychotropic, and antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) for each cohort was collected. FINDINGS: The …

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In People With Intellectual Disability: Statistical Approach To Developing A Bespoke Screening Tool, I Sawhney, B Perera, P Bassett, Et Al

Peninsula Medical School

Background Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is common among people with intellectual disability. Diagnosing ADHD in this clinically and cognitively complex and diverse group is difficult, given the overlapping psychiatric and behavioural presentations. Underdiagnoses and misdiagnoses leading to irrational polypharmacy and worse health and social outcomes are common. Diagnostic interviews exist, but are cumbersome and not in regular clinical use. Aims We aimed to develop a screening tool to help identify people with intellectual disability and ADHD. Method A prospective cross-sectional study, using STROBE guidance, invited all carers of people with intellectual disability aged 18–50 years open to the review of …

A Digital Self-Management Program (Help To Overcome Problems Effectively) For People Living With Cancer: Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial, H Wright, F Martin, W Clyne, Cct Clark, Et Al

Peninsula Medical School

Background: We present the results of a feasibility, randomized waitlist control group (CG) parallel design study with a 1:1 allocation ratio. Participants were randomized into an intervention group (IG) or a waitlist CG. The intervention was a 6-week digital self-management program, Help to Overcome Problems Effectively (HOPE), for people with cancer. Objective: This study aims to test the feasibility of a digitally delivered self-management program for people with cancer. This will inform the design of a definitive randomized controlled trial. In addition, a preliminary assessment of the impact of the HOPE program via secondary outcomes will be used to assess …

User-Centered Design Of Companion Robot Pets Involving Care Home Resident-Robot Interactions And Focus Groups With Residents, Staff, And Family: Qualitative Study, Hannah Louise Bradwell, Katie Edwards, Deborah Shenton, Rhona Winnington, Serge Thill, Ray B. Jones

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Abstract Background: Globally, pressure is increasing on health and social care resources due to the aging population and growing prevalence of dementia. Companion robots, such as Paro, demonstrate strong potential for helping reduce this pressure through reported benefits including reduced agitation, depression, loneliness, care provider burden, and medication use. However, we previously identified that user-centered design of robot pets is both essential and understudied. We observed that commonly used robot pets are poorly matched to end-user requirements, and that end users and developers of robot pets differ significantly in their perception of appropriate design. This may explain some of the …

3d Printed Mechanically Modular Two-Degree-Of-Freedom Robotic Segment Utilizing Variable-Stiffness Actuators, Alfred Wilmot, Ian S. Howard

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Stress-Testing And Credit Risk Revisited: A Shipping Sector Application, Anna Merika, Ioannis Negkakis, Henry Penikas

Plymouth Business School

Conventional stress-testing in credit risk management may considerably underestimate economic losses associated with the most negative scenarios. In this paper, we show that in order to properly stress-test credit risk, we need to derive initially the default correlation among assets or companies. Then a risk measure needs to be applied to the stressed default rate distribution, in order to obtain default rates attached to the most negative scenarios. We find that the application of both the stressed default correlation and the risk measure deliver considerable deviations from the conventional approach. To illustrate our approach we use 192 publicly listed shipping …

Chos Gas/Fluid‐Induced Reduction In Ureilites, Ad Langendam, Ag Tomkins, Ka Evans, Nc Wilson, Et Al

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Ureilite meteorites contain regions of localized olivine reduction to Fe metal widely accepted to have formed by redox reactions involving oxidation of graphite, a process known as secondary smelting. However, the possibility that other reductants might be responsible for this process has largely been ignored. Here, 17 ureilite samples are investigated to assess whether, instead of smelting involving only solid reactants, a CHOS gas/fluid could have caused much of the smelting. Features consistent with gas- or supercritical fluid-driven reduction were found to be abundant in all ureilites, such as fracture-focused smelting, plume-like reaction fronts, and addition of sulfur. Many of …

Evolution Of Group-Theoretic Cryptology Attacks Using Hyper-Heuristics, Matthew J. Craven, John R. Woodward

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Abstract In previous work, we developed a single evolutionary algorithm (EA) to solve random instances of the Anshel–Anshel–Goldfeld (AAG) key exchange protocol over polycyclic groups. The EA consisted of six simple heuristics which manipulated strings. The present work extends this by exploring the use of hyper-heuristics in group-theoretic cryptology for the first time. Hyper-heuristics are a way to generate new algorithms from existing algorithm components (in this case, simple heuristics), with EAs being one example of the type of algorithm which can be generated by our hyper-heuristic framework. We take as a starting point the above EA and allow hyper-heuristics …

Synthesis Of Thresholds Of Ocean Acidification Impacts On Decapods, John I. Spicer, Nina Bednaršek

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Assessing decapod sensitivity to regional-scale ocean acidification (OA) conditions is limited because of a fragmented understanding of the thresholds at which they exhibit biological response. To address this need, we undertook a three-step data synthesis: first, we compiled a dataset composed of 27,000 datapoints from 55 studies of decapod responses to OA. Second, we used statistical threshold analyses to identify OA thresholds using pH as a proxy for 13 response pathways from physiology to behavior, growth, development and survival. Third, we worked with the panel of experts to review these thresholds, considering the contributing datasets based on quality of the …

Guest Editorial: Advances In Wave Energy Conversion Systems, B Guo, S Zheng, J Ringwood, J Henriques, D Zhang

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Ocean waves are a largely untapped energy resource, and the global wave energy potential is estimated at about 32,000 TWh/year. Due to its great potential to provide renewable and sustainable electricity without carbon dioxide emission, wave energy conversion technology has attracted extensive attention from multi-disciplinary communities. Compared with wind and solar power, power from ocean waves is characterised by high power density and high spatio-temporal availability. However, the levelised cost of energy (LCoE) from ocean waves is higher than that from wind and solar radiation. The LCoE of wave energy can be reduced by technical innovations, especially in novel concepts, …

How Might We Simulate A Riverside Experience Through Virtual Collaboration?, Z Latham, Linda Ward

School of Art, Design and Architecture

In this paper we explore convergences between personal experiences with water and film-making. Employing a cross-disciplinary collaborative dialogue, Latham and Ward create a virtual stream, that explores the language of each other’s praxis, in architecture and film. McLuhan’s notion that: “The reader is the content of any poem or of the language [s]he employs, and in order to use any of these forms, [s]he must put them on,” (McLuhan 1971, 520) provides a signpost for the immersive experience we seek in our understandings of river, and in our approaches to disciplinary practice.During lockdown in the UK, a displaced, virtual riparian …

Dynamical Analysis Of Diversity In Rule-Based Open Source Network Intrusion Detection Systems, H Asad

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Diverse layers of defence play an important role in the design of defence-in-depth architectures. The use of Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) are ubiquitous in this design. But the selection of the “right” IDSs in various configurations is an important decision that the security architects need to make. Additionally, the ability of these IDSs to adapt to the evolving threat-landscape also needs to be investigated. To help with these decisions, we need rigorous quantitative analysis. In this paper, we present a diversity analysis of open-source IDSs, Snort and Suricata, to help security architects tune/deploy these IDSs. We analyse two types of …

Managing Clinical Uncertainty In Older People Towards The End Of Life: A Systematic Review Of Person-Centred Tools, C Ellis-Smith

Peninsula Dental School

Background Older people with multi-morbidities commonly experience an uncertain illness trajectory. Clinical uncertainty is challenging to manage, with risk of poor outcomes. Person-centred care is essential to align care and treatment with patient priorities and wishes. Use of evidence-based tools may support person-centred management of clinical uncertainty. We aimed to develop a logic model of person-centred evidence-based tools to manage clinical uncertainty in older people. Methods A systematic mixed-methods review with a results-based convergent synthesis design: a process-based iterative logic model was used, starting with a conceptual framework of clinical uncertainty in older people towards the end of life. This …

Proposing A Core Outcome Set For Physical Activity And Exercise Interventions In People With Rare Neurological Conditions, Gita Ramdharry, Valentina Buscemi, Annette Boaz, Helen Dawes, Thomas Jaki, Fiona Jones, Jonathan Marsden, Lorna Paul, Rebecca Playle, Elizabeth Randell, Michael Robling, Lynn Rochester, Monica Busse

School of Health Professions

Rare neurological conditions (RNCs) encompass a variety of diseases that differ in progression and symptoms but typically include muscle weakness, sensory and balance impairment and difficulty with coordinating voluntary movement. This can limit overall physical activity, so interventions to address this are recommended. The aim of this study was to agree a core outcome measurement set for physical activity interventions in people living with RNCs. We followed established guidelines to develop core outcome sets. Broad ranging discussions in a series of stakeholder workshops led to the consensus that (1) physical well-being; (2) psychological well-being and (3) participation in day-to-day activities …

A New Family Of “Megaphages” Abundant In The Marine Environment, S Michniewski, B Rihtman, R Cook, Ma Jones, Wh Wilson, Dj Scanlan, A Millard

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

AbstractMegaphages, bacteriophages harbouring extremely large genomes, have recently been found to be ubiquitous, being described from a variety of microbiomes ranging from the animal gut to soil and freshwater systems. However, no complete marine megaphage has been identified to date. Here, using both short and long read sequencing, we assembled >900 high-quality draft viral genomes from water in the English Channel. One of these genomes included a novel megaphage, Mar_Mega_1 at >650 Kb, making it one of the largest phage genomes assembled to date. Utilising phylogenetic and network approaches, we found this phage represents a new family of megaphages. Genomic …

Neural Implementation Of Computational Mechanisms Underlying The Continuous Trade-Off Between Cooperation And Competition, Ma Pisauro, E Fouragnan, D Arabadzhiyska, Maj Apps, Mg Philiastides

School of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Legislative Budgetary Power And Fiscal Discipline In The Euro Area, Moira Catania, Mark J. Baimbridge, Ioannis Litsios

Plymouth Business School

PurposeThe objective of this study is to understand the budgetary role of national legislatures in euro area (EA) countries and to analyse implications for fiscal discipline.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on the budget institutions literature, a legislative budgetary power index for all the 19 euro area (EA) countries is constructed using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and European Commission data as well as data generated from questionnaires to national authorities. A two-way fixed effects panel data model is then used to assess the effect of legislative budgetary power on the budget balance in the EA during 2006–2015.FindingsOverall, in the EA, formal legislative …

Plasmid Fitness Costs Are Caused By Specific Genetic Conflicts Enabling Resolution By Compensatory Mutation, Jpj Hall, Rct Wright, E Harrison, Kj Muddiman, Aj Wood, S Paterson, Ma Brockhurst

School of Biomedical Sciences

Plasmids play an important role in bacterial genome evolution by transferring genes between lineages. Fitness costs associated with plasmid carriage are expected to be a barrier to gene exchange, but the causes of plasmid fitness costs are poorly understood. Single compensatory mutations are often sufficient to completely ameliorate plasmid fitness costs, suggesting that such costs are caused by specific genetic conflicts rather than generic properties of plasmids, such as their size, metabolic burden, or gene expression level. By combining the results of experimental evolution with genetics and transcriptomics, we show here that fitness costs of 2 divergent large plasmids in …