Digital Commons Network^™

A Classroom-Based Intervention For Reducing Sedentary Behavior And Improving Spinal Health: Pragmatic Stepped-Wedge Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial, Dominic Fisher, Rentia Maart, Lehana Thabane, Quinette Louw

School of Health Professions

Background: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) resulting from sedentary behavior (SB) are adding a further strain on the South African health system, which is already struggling to manage infectious diseases. Some countries have enabled children to reduce SB at school by substituting traditional furniture with sit-stand classroom furniture, allowing learners to interrupt prolonged bouts of sitting with standing without interrupting their school work. Alternating between sitting and standing also benefits spinal health by interrupting prolonged periods of high spinal loading, but no such intervention has been trialed in South Africa. The potential to reduce strain on the health system by reducing the …

Australian And Uk Perspectives On Social Prescribing Implementation Research: Theory, Measurement, Resourcing And Discovery To Ensure Health Equity, Genevieve A. Dingle, Christina Aggar, Nikita Arslanovski, Thomas Astell-Burt, J. R. Baker, Ruthanne Baxter, Michelle Bissett, Mhairi Bowe, Eric Brymer, Alexandra Burton, Richard Byng, Julian Elston, Daisy Fancourt, Xiaoqi Feng, Emmanuel Fino, Rosanne Freak-Poli, Lydia Harkin, Daniel Hayes, Emma Hazeldine, Blerina Kellezi, Niamh Mcnamara, Leah Sharman, Clifford Stevenson, Juliet Wakefield, Katey Warran, Leanne Wells, Laura Wright, Yvonne Zurynski, Kerryn Husk

Peninsula Medical School

There has been a rapid increase in the delivery of social prescribing globally in recent years. However, a lack of theoretical framework, the diversity of social prescribing interventions and outcome measures, a lack of ongoing resources to provide services equitably and a lack of coordinated research agenda make it challenging for practitioners to know how best to put social prescribing into practice. This paper summarises perspectives from 29 UK and Australian authors and sets a course for future social prescribing implementation in four key areas: theory, measurement, resourcing and equity, and discovery (big questions on the research agenda). Eight recommendations …

Unlocking Opportunities To Transform Patient Care: An Expert Insight On Limitations And Opportunities In Patient Monitoring, Maurizio Cecconi, Ana L. Hutanu, John Beard, Patricio Gonzalez-Pizarro, Marlies Ostermann, Anna Batchelor, Jos M. Latour, Jörn Grensemann, Michele Giovanni Mondino, Jesus Caballero, Manfred Blobner, Finn M. Radtke

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Background: Current patient monitoring technologies are crucial for delivering personalised and timely care and are critical in achieving the best health outcomes while maintaining high care standards. However, these technologies also present several challenges affecting patients and healthcare professionals. Information overload: Healthcare providers often deal with excess data, making it challenging to identify the most critical patient information quickly. This may lead to delays in necessary interventions and potentially poorer patient outcomes. Alarm fatigue: Many patient monitoring systems trigger frequent false alarms. This high incidence can cause healthcare providers to become desensitised, potentially leading to slower response times or overlooked …

Future Climate-Driven Habitat Loss And Range Shift Of The Critically Endangered Whitefin Swellshark (Cephaloscyllium Albipinnum), Kerry Brown, Robert Puschendorf

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Climate change is driving many species to shift their geographical ranges poleward to maintain their environmental niche. However, for endemic species with restricted ranges, like the Critically Endangered whitefin swellshark (Cephaloscyllium albipinnum), endemic to southeastern Australia, such dispersal may be limited. Nevertheless, there is a poor understanding of how C. albipinnum might spatially adjust its distribution in response to climate change or whether suitable refugia exist for this species in the future. Therefore, to address this gap, this study utilised maximum entropy (MaxEnt) modelling to determine the potential distribution of suitable habitat for C. albipinnum under present-day (2010–2020) climate conditions …

Enhancing Diagnostic Accuracy Of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis On Chest X-Rays Using Data-Efficient Image Transformers, Joan Mnyambo, Amir Aly, Shang-Ming Zhou, Yinghui Wei, Stephen Mullin, Emmanuel Ifeachor

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease with increasing fatalities around the world. The diagnosis of the diseaseis a major challenge to its control and management due to the lack of adequate diagnostic tools, contributingsignificantly to the prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) modelshave recently been developed to detect drug-resistant tuberculosis by analyzing chest radiograph images fromthe TB portal, but the classification results are low. This is because CNNs struggle to capture complex globaland overlapping features in medical imaging, such as chest radiographs of drug-resistant tuberculosis. Incontrast, transformers excel in these areas by utilizing self-attention mechanisms that detect inherent subtle …

Coastal And Rural Digital Exclusion - The Case For Voice Ai, Rory Baxter, Oksana Hagen, Amir Aly, Ray Jones, Katharine Willis

School of Nursing and Midwifery

The adoption of digital platforms for health and social resources disadvantages vulnerable populations, including older adults and those living in remote or deprived areas. This could be remediated using voice-based conversational AI (Voice AI) systems delivered via landline phone, bypassing the requirement for digital device access or digital skills. British rural and coastal regions often have poorer digital infrastructure and pockets of deprivation, and consequently higher levels of digital exclusion. This study explores digital exclusion in Southwest England and the suitability of Voice AI systems for supporting digital inclusion. Seventeen participants aged 50 years or over were interviewed by telephone …

Gender And Sexuality: Lgbtq+ Youth Experiences, Lauren B. Mcinroy, Kathryn Macapagal, Oliver Beer, Claire Coyne

School of Health Professions

Internet-enabled information and communication technologies (ICTs) pose simultaneous risks and opportunities for contemporary lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or otherwise sexual and/or gender diverse (LGBTQ+) adolescents and young adults—a population who may be particularly active users of ICTs. This chapter provides a brief overview of LGBTQ+ youths’ lived experiences and barriers to care, followed by a review of extant knowledge regarding the ICT experiences of this population with a particular focus on the context of the United States. Significant gaps in knowledge regarding LGBTQ+ youths’ engagement with ICTs persist and proposed areas of inquiry for future research are provided. As …

Techno-Economic Analysis For Floating Offshore Wind And Offshore Green Hydrogen, David Pegler, Deborah Greaves, Robert Rawlinson-Smith, Simone Michele, Daniel Conley, James Benhin

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

This paper describes a techno-economic model for exploiting the Celtic Sea wind resource through direct productionof hydrogen offshore. The model conceives a modular approach with eight 510 MW floating windfarms,each with an electrolyser system and export compressor mounted on a jacket. The model ensures an uninterruptedhydrogen supply to an industrial cluster (16.4 te.H2/h) by incorporating salt cavern hydrogen storage.During periods of no power generation, baseload power is provided from hydrogen fuel cells. The base-casemodel with a Discount Rate of 6% returned an Levelised Cost of Hydrogen (LCoH) of £7.25 per kg of hydrogen in2023. The LCoH shows strong sensitivity to …

Physiotherapists’ And Occupational Therapists’ Experiences Of Working With People With Atypical Parkinson’S Conditions, Kate Blandford, Tanja Križaj

School of Health Professions

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain deeper understanding of the experiences of occupational therapists and physiotherapists, working with those with atypical Parkinson’s conditions, within the UK. A literature review identified that research into these roles is limited and unrepresentative. Materials and methods: A qualitative approach, informed by hermeneutic phenomenology was used to guide the study design. Semi-structured, online interviews, focussed on therapists’ experiences of success and challenge, were completed with six physiotherapists, and three occupational therapists, experienced in working within this area of practice. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and were analysed using Braun and …

Exploring Health Conditions: Learning Beyond The Textbook, Casper Jonker, Wendy Smith, Vehid Salih

Peninsula Dental School

No abstract provided.

Implementing Identity-Based Signature Schemes For Secure Data Transfer In Cloud Computing Environments, Paul Osinuga, Ji-Jian Chin, Terry Shue Chien Lau

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

In this paper, we present the implementation of the Cha-Cheon Identity-Based Signature (IBS) scheme to enhance secure data transfer in cloud computing environments. Cloud computingrely on traditional Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) systems, which is burdened by certificate management infrastructure. The primary focus of this research to simplify key and certificate management by leveraging identity-based elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) within the Cha-Cheon IBS framework. We show that the proposed IBS solution integrates seamlessly with Amazon Web Services (AWS), utilizing services like S3 for secure data storage and KMSfor key management. By applying ECC, the Cha-Cheon scheme achieves efficient cryptographic operations with …

Social Comfort And Attractiveness Perception: Impact Of Prosthetics, Physical Disability And Comfort Distance On Interpersonal Interactions, Farid Pazhoohi, Samantha Wing, Alan Kingstone

School of Psychology

Derived from the disease-avoidance model is the hypothesis that people may direct negative cognitive and behavioural responses towards individuals with physical disfiguring conditions, including physical disabilities. According to the behavioral immune system, physical disability—a non-contagious physical disfigurement—may falsely activate cognitive disease-avoidance processes, resulting in prejudicial or negative responses toward individuals with physical disabilities. For the first time this hypothesis is put to the test by investigating whether ratings of attractiveness and comfort for a social interaction vary systematically with physical disability (Studies 1 and 2). In addition, we tested whether these ratings were associated with individual differences in pathogen disgust …

Exploring Experience Of Autism Among School Staff And Parents Of Autistic Children, And The Relevance Of Totalising And Non-Totalising Approaches To Facilitate Understandings., Emin Cetinbas

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Theses

This thesis explored how the parents and school staff (teachers and teaching assistants) of primary aged autistic children understand and experience autism, including observation of the children they care for and educate. Totalising was used as a framework for conceptualising their understanding and use of non-totalising approaches such as externalising was also explored. Specific questions centred on a) how parents and teaching staff understand and experience autism in terms of the child being similar or different to other children, b) how relevant totalising is as a concept to aid in understanding of how the parents and teaching staff view autistic …

Mapping The Numbers Of Dementia In Brazil: A Delphi Consensus Study, Márlon Juliano Romero Aliberti, Claudia Kimie Suemoto, Jerson Laks, Paulo Caramelli, Sonia Maria Dozzi Brucki, Nicolas Farina, Daniel Apolinario, Einstein Francisco Camargos, Eleonora D'Orsi, Gilberto Sousa Alves, Karolina Gouveia César-Freitas, Luís Fernando Rangel, Márcia Lorena Fagundes Chaves, Marcos Antonio Lopes, Marcus Vinicius Della Coletta, Matheus Ghossain Barbosa, Norberto Anizio Ferreira Frota, Ricardo Nitrini, Cleusa Pinheiro Ferri

Peninsula Medical School

OBJECTIVES: As the global dementia crisis intensifies, especially in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), there is a pressing need for comprehensive prevalence data across diverse regions, including Brazil, where studies have been predominantly limited to affluent urban centers. This study aimed to conduct an expert consensus to determine the prevalence of all-cause dementia in Brazil, considering various age groups, sexes, and geographical areas.

METHODS: A Delphi consensus process with clinical and academic experts from across Brazil was conducted to provide dementia prevalence estimates in people aged ≥ 60 years living throughout Brazil for 2019. Each round consisted of answering structured questionnaires …

Overview Of Findings From The North Devon World Surfing Reserve Focus Group, Kizzy Beaumont, Greg Borne

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The North Devon World Surfing Reserve (NDWSR) focus group, held on the 19th June, 2024,brought together members of the Local Stewardship Council and key community representatives to reflect on past achievements, discuss current challenges, and envision future opportunities for the region. The focus group is part of a collaborative research project developed and run by researchers from the University of Plymouth and Falmouth University. Discussions revolved around technological advancements, community engagement, environmental concerns, and the socio-economic impacts of surfing tourism. This interim summary presents a high-level summary of initial findings, emphasising participant perspectives and the implications for future strategies.

Editorial: Health And Illness Interactions, Tracey Collett, Gayle Letherby, Louise Owusu-Kwarteng, Tanisha Spratt

Peninsula Medical School

No abstract provided.

Dissemination Strategies Of Clinical Practice Guidelines—Mixed Methods Evidence Synthesis Protocol, Sumanth Kumbargere Nagraj, Tandekile Lubelwana Hafver, Ameer Hohlfeld, Emmanuel Effa, Denny Mabetha, Gertrude Kunje, Yan Jiao Shen, Carlos Zaror, Suzgika Lakudzala, Talitha Mpando, Stijn Van De Velde, Thomas Agoritsas, Nicolas Delvaux, Per Olav Vandvik

Peninsula Dental School

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are shared through various dissemination strategies using a range of dissemination products and channels. However, users may have different needs for accessing and understanding them. Patients and carers from low- and middle-income countries might face challenges in accessing CPGs such as inadequate systems for printed book distribution and insufficient and substandard photocopies. Many organizations offer lengthy documents, but busy healthcare workers may prefer shorter, digital versions. Digital CPGs can be sent through different channels such as email, newsletters, or social media. How users feel about these products (e.g., clinical protocol, educational material or decision aids) and …

Experiences Of The Management Of Uncertainty Amongst Musculoskeletal First Contact Practitioners Working In Primary Care, Sue May, Matt Parselle

School of Psychology

Aim: To develop a deeper understanding of strategies used to manage uncertainty by Musculoskeletal First Contact Practitioners (MSK FCPs), including barriers to and facilitators for these strategies. Background: MSK FCP services provide patients with an alternative to seeing their GP regarding MSK complaints. Research suggests that the role demands different skills and attributes from traditional physiotherapy roles, including the ability to deal with greater clinical uncertainty. There is a lack of research evaluating the strategies FCPs find most helpful for managing uncertainty. Method: A qualitative study using semi‐structured online interviews. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling. Data was analysed using …

Plymfit Pilot -A Study To Investigate The Feasibility Of Wrist-Worn Smartwatch Use In Perioperative Care, Alex Hunter

Faculty of Health Datasets

Extended data for a protocol manuscript submission.

What Podcasting Taught Me About Writing: Revelations From Behind The Mic, Alicja Syska

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

This chapter explores the transformative impact of podcasting on writing, drawing on the author’s experimentations with technology during the pandemic when new communication methods with students became necessary. The analysis reveals a series of lessons and revelations applicable to both teaching and scholarly development. Key insights include: the significance of voice and audience in writing; developing effective writing strategies; shifting focus from product to process; navigating the permanence of written work; addressing vulnerability in self-expression; and cultivating resilience and consistency in writing practice. Through reflexive analysis, the chapter demonstrates how these revelations at the intersection of podcasting and writing can …

The Influence Of Climate On The Invasion Of The Asian Hornet (Vespa Velutina) To Guernsey, Channel Islands: Citizen Science And Misidentified Aliens, Laura C. Wade, Francis J. Russell, Ashwitha L. Aranha, Mairi E. Knight, Jonathan S. Ellis

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Vespa velutina is an Asian bee-hawking hornet that has rapidly colonised continental Europe since its accidental introduction in 2004. Its range continues to expand with the first confirmed sightings in Guernsey in 2017. This study aimed to analyse local weather variables over three years to assess their importance for predicting Asian hornet occurrences. We also investigated citizen science reporting to ascertain which species the public most commonly misidentify as Asian hornets. Weather analysis using zero-inflated negative binomial regression showed that Asian hornet observations are more likely in warmer weather (air temperature > 12 °C). The year 2019 significantly affected the likelihood …

How Managers ‘Make Meaning’ Of Business Tournament Rituals, David Sarpong, Shadrack Asante, Christopher Agyapong Siaw, Nicholas O'Regan, Derrick Boakye

Plymouth Business School

In this paper, we examine how managers ‘make meaning’ of business tournament rituals (BTRs)— recognition-based contests in which participating firms get social endorsements and winners receive prestigious awards. In exploring two UK BTRs, we found that managerial orienting systems, made up of beliefs about the identity of their firm, competitors, and customers, and what it takes to compete in their environments, drive managers to compete in BTRs. Their interpretive view of BTRs as sources of strategic capabilities and hard market power, we argue, is constructed, and projected to the viewing public through a set of four distinct but ‘durationally indivisible’ …

A Micro-Computed Tomographic Evaluation Of Dentine Thicknesses Of First Molar Roots: A Review Of The Literature With Illustrative Cases, Marisca Meyer, Casper Jonker, Sandeepa Rajbaran-Singh, Anna Catherina Oettlé

Peninsula Dental School

Thin dentinal walls of first molars can significantly impact the success and outcomes of endodontic procedures, including root canal treatment. Root canal treatment is commonly performed on first molars, which are prone to decay due to their early eruption and complex occlusal structure. The treatment entails a series of mechanical and chemical disinfection techniques where the root canal spaces are enlarged and can be compromised by perforations leading to infection, inflammation, and eventual tooth loss. The thinner the dentine, the greater the likelihood of perforation. ‘Danger zones’ have been identified as the distal aspect of mesial/mesiobuccal roots and the mesial …

Approaches To Post-Tsunami Coastal Reconstruction: Comparisons Across Indonesia, Thailand, And Japan, Alison Raby, A Pomonis, Anawat Suppasri, Keith Adams, Nurullah Açikgoz, Marco Baiguera, Yunita Idris, Panon Latcharote, Francesca Marafini, David Mcgovern, Ella Meilianda, Harsh Mistry, Sukiman Nurdin, Eyitayo Opabola, Teraphan Ornthammarath, Nattapon Trumikaborworn, Tiziana Rossetto

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Natural hazards pose significant challenges to affected communities worldwide, yet there remains a lack of comprehensive studies comparing recovery efforts across different countries and cultures. This study addresses the gap by investigating the impact of three devastating tsunami events on four distinct locations: Banda Aceh (Sumatra, Indonesia) and Southern Thailand, both affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the 20th anniversary of which provided the initial motivation for the study; the Tohoku region of Japan, affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami; and Palu Bay (Sulawesi, Indonesia) affected by the Palu-Central Sulawesi Earthquake and consequent triple disaster. …

Understanding The Risk Factors For Student Attrition Across Pre-Registration Nursing And Midwifery Programmes In A United Kingdom University: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Study, Francis Thompson, Gary Hodge, Danielle Edge, Sarah Howes, Caroline Jamison, Margaret Fisher, Aled Jones

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Background: The World Health Organization estimates a global shortage of 4.5 million nurses and 0.31 million midwives by 2030, which presents a significant problem for workforce planning. Despite aspirational United Kingdom (UK) government policy targets and ongoing efforts, the number of nursing and midwifery vacancies continues to increase. One contributing factor is student nurse and midwife attrition. Aim: To identify risk factors that contribute to nursing and midwifery students interrupting or withdrawing from pre-registration programmes. Design: Sequential explanatory mixed-methods design. Setting: A University School of Nursing and Midwifery in the Southwest of England. Participants: 534 pre-registration nursing and midwifery student …

Instrument Adaptation For Measuring Early Child Language Development Across Multilingual And Sociocultural Diverse Settings, Heather Brookes, Frenette Southwood, Martin Mössmer, Patricia Makaure, Michelle J. White, Carmen Coetsee, Sefela L. Yalala, Helena Kruger, Mikateko Ndhambi, Sibusiso Ndlangamandla, Monicca T. Bhuda, Nina Brink, Nomfundo Buthelezi, William Jiyana, F. Portia Khumalo, Babalwa Ludidi, Muzi Matfunjwa, Lufuno Miriri, Nomsa Skosana

School of Psychology

This article describes the adaptation of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) for South Africa’s 11 official spoken languages. The CDI is a parent-report tool that measures early language development from 8 to 30 months. We developed cross-linguistically comparable CDIs, representing two distinct language families, West Germanic and southern Bantu, using a common protocol. We describe our approach to item construction and harmonization across languages and to obtaining sociodemographic information in different cultural settings. Issues such as language contact and variation, sampling, data collection, and quality control are discussed as well as item selection and instrument reliability and validity. This …

The Awareness, Attitudes And Knowledge Of Pediatricians In Tamil Nadu India Of Sudden Unexpected Death In Epilepsy (Sudep) And Epilepsy Related Risks: A Cross-Sectional Study, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) in epilepsy is recognised to be equally common in adults and in children and young people (CYP). There is higher prevalence of epilepsy in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared to high income countries (HIC) however research in SUDEP is limited in LMICs such as India particularly in CYP. Objective: To explore SUDEP awareness and attitudes to communication to CYP and their carers/parents by pediatricians in Tamil Nadu, India, one of the 28 states, with 80 million population. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of Likert response questions using validated themes, was circulated among …

Ai And Mental Healthcare - Ethical And Regulatory Considerations, Hannah Gardiner, Natasha Mutebi

School of Health Professions

OverviewIn recent years the number of AI tools available for mental healthcare and wellbeing purposes has increased. This builds from a burgeoning digital health sector in which 20,000+ wellbeing apps are reportedly available on the app store. These apps are distinct both from AI tools which have been purpose-built for NHS use, and from unintended uses of companion chatbot apps – which were never intended for mental health purposes. All the cases of severe harm identified through this research were from unintended uses of general companion chatbot apps. But there are ethical considerations around the use of all AI tools …

Ai And Mental Healthcare - Opportunities And Delivery Considerations, Hannah Gardiner, Natasha Mutebi

School of Health Professions

Overview• Mental healthcare provision in the UK faces rising demand and workforcecapacity issues. Evidence indicates artificial intelligence (AI) could supportadministrative tasks and provide direct support to service users.• Innovations within ‘precision psychiatry’ appear to show promise for precisediagnosis, monitoring, and risk prediction of mental health conditions.• Trials and use of AI are ongoing across the UK and internationally, withimportant distinctions between: AI tools built for mental healthcare in theNHS that are subject to standards and regulation; consumer products forwellbeing with less regulatory oversight; and AI tools not intended formental health but used by people with mental health challenges.• Stakeholders suggest …

One Health Investigation Following A Cluster Of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever, North Macedonia, July To November 2023, Dejan Jakimovski, Pavle Banović, Katerina Spasovska, Goran Rangelov, Marija Cvetanovska, Fadil Cana, Verica Simin, Ivana Bogdan, Dragana Mijatović, Aleksandar Cvetkovikj, Igor Djadjovski, Iva Christova, Eleftherios Meletis, Polychronis Kostoulas, Brigitta Zana, Zsófia Lanszki, Tamás Görföl, Zsófia Tauber, Gábor Kemenesi

School of Biomedical Sciences

Background: Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever(CCHF) is a severe illness characterised by fever,bleeding and high case-fatality rates. The disease iscaused by CCHF virus (CCHFV), transmitted by ticksand infectious body fluids and tissues. Aim: After CCHFwas diagnosed in three persons in 2023, we aimed toinvestigate the presence of antibodies against CCHFVin healthcare workers (HCW), sheep and goats, andof CCHFV in ticks, in an area in North Macedonia andcharacterise virus strains. Methods: In 2023, we collected blood samples from HCWs involved in treating CCHF patients and sera and ticks from sheep andgoats in the village in North Macedonia where theindex case resided. The blood …