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Sea Swimming During Pregnancy And Matrescence: Embodiment, Experiences And The Environment, Eva Mcgrath, Jill Shawe Nov 2025

Sea Swimming During Pregnancy And Matrescence: Embodiment, Experiences And The Environment, Eva Mcgrath, Jill Shawe

School of Nursing and Midwifery

There is a knowledge gap around pregnant women's experiences of sea swimming both within the social research sphere and wider public health communications. Using creative methods, this cross-disciplinary research focuses upon the embodiment and experiences of 13 pregnant and 5 matrescent women who sea swam during winter in the UK. Findings document the women's perceived health and wellbeing benefits of cold water swimming through pregnancy including a protected space for mothers to create time for themselves. Cold water immersion was reported as easing aches and pains associated with pregnancy. Some women used the controlled breath of entering cold water as …


’We Are Teachers Too’: Reclaiming Professionalism In Early Childhood Education From Within, Vicky Bamsey, Lewis Fogarty Nov 2025

’We Are Teachers Too’: Reclaiming Professionalism In Early Childhood Education From Within, Vicky Bamsey, Lewis Fogarty

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

The professionalisation of Early Childhood Education and Care(ECEC) has gained international prominence due to its role infostering children’s lifelong learning and contributing to societaleconomic growth. This paper explores professionalism in the ECECworkforce in England, focusing on tensions between policy, qualificationsand the experiences of early years educators. Drawing oncritical pedagogy and Bernstein’s pedagogic device, we explorehow power dynamics and inequalities have led to the deprofessionalisationof early years educators, positioning them assubordinate to teachers in compulsory education. Through narrativeinquiry with 15 participants, we highlight the challenges andopportunities for early years educators to reclaim agency, fostercriticality and transform their professionalism. The findings highlighta …


Spatial And Temporal Variation In Wave Overtopping Across A Coastal Structure Based On One Year Of Field Observations, Jennifer Brown, Gerd Masselink, Margaret Yelland, Christopher Stokes, Timothy Poate, Robin Pascal, David Jones, John Walk, Christopher Cardwell, Barry Martin, Peter Ganderton, Julie Gregory, Ruth Adams, Joseff Saunders Nov 2025

Spatial And Temporal Variation In Wave Overtopping Across A Coastal Structure Based On One Year Of Field Observations, Jennifer Brown, Gerd Masselink, Margaret Yelland, Christopher Stokes, Timothy Poate, Robin Pascal, David Jones, John Walk, Christopher Cardwell, Barry Martin, Peter Ganderton, Julie Gregory, Ruth Adams, Joseff Saunders

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Coastal managers worldwide must prepare for changes in annual wave overtopping events due to climate change and sea-level rise. Research often assesses overtopping discharges by extreme events at a sea wall crest, typically using data from physical models or empirical rules based on scaled experiments. Here, we analyse a unique 1-year field dataset of coastal wave overtopping, from SW England, to determine the number of individual waves, regardless of their size, overtopping two locations across a coastal structure. The coastal conditions causing the most frequent overtopping differ from those driving it landward, complicating hazard communications for multiuse infrastructure. These data …


Evaluating Semantic Representations In Multimodal Word Grounding, Saima Shaukat, Amir Aly, Thomas Wennekers, Angelo Cangelosi Nov 2025

Evaluating Semantic Representations In Multimodal Word Grounding, Saima Shaukat, Amir Aly, Thomas Wennekers, Angelo Cangelosi

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Word grounding tasks aim to associate individual words withcorresponding elements in visual scenes, enabling machines to link language with perception for effective human–machine interaction. However,existing grounding models struggle to generalize to synonyms or unseenlexical variants, limiting their performance in open-domain scenarios. Inthis paper, we present a Bayesian multimodal grounding model that incorporates word embeddings as priors within a probabilistic generativeprocess to improve robustness under lexical variation. We compare theeffects of static FastText and contextual BERT embeddings on grounding accuracy by conditioning word–visual associations on their semanticrepresentations. Experiments use CLEVR-generated 3D scenes pairedwith structured compositional descriptions to test the grounding of …


Artificial Light At Night Alters Seaweed Reproductive Phenology, Emma Moyse, Louise Firth, Tim Smyth, Thomas Davies Nov 2025

Artificial Light At Night Alters Seaweed Reproductive Phenology, Emma Moyse, Louise Firth, Tim Smyth, Thomas Davies

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a growing, globally prevalent environmental stressor. It is known to disrupt biological processes across taxa and biomes, including reproductive phenology in terrestrial plants, but its potential to alter reproductive timings in marine macroalgae remains unexplored. We used reflectance spectrometry to quantitatively assess changes in receptacle ripeness of three fucoid macroalgae species at four field sites along an ALAN gradient in Plymouth Sound, UK over a six-month period. At sites with elevated ALAN (measured using Sky Quality Meters, range 16.15–18.76 mag arcsec −2, equivalent to 3.75 × 10 −2–3.38 × 10 −3 cd/m …


Unveiling Novel Bladder Cancer Associations From Multicentred Primary And Secondary Care Electronic Health Records By Machine Learning: A Case-Control Study, Xu Wang, Andrea Preston, Jonathan Aning, Shang-Ming Zhou Nov 2025

Unveiling Novel Bladder Cancer Associations From Multicentred Primary And Secondary Care Electronic Health Records By Machine Learning: A Case-Control Study, Xu Wang, Andrea Preston, Jonathan Aning, Shang-Ming Zhou

School of Nursing and Midwifery

ObjectiveThe rising incidence and mortality in bladder cancer (BC) underscore the importance of identifying asscociated features. Current reliance on haematuria as a primary indicator for BC proves inadequate. While mining electronic health records (EHRs) offer potential of identifying BC-related signals, traditional data-driven methods struggle with high-dimensional datasets. This study aims to uncover novel BC-associated clinical signals by developing Parsimony-driven cAtegory-balaNced binary Signal extractor for Primary Care EHRs (PanSPICE) tailored to extremely high-dimensional data linked from multi-centres.MethodsWe collected BC cases and control patients (n = 64,884) linked at patient-level from Welsh nationwide databases, yielding 48,261 features in primary care settings. The …


Inspiring The Next Generation Of Dentists: The Impact Of Role Modelling In Dental Education, Casper Jonker, Shaan Mirza Nov 2025

Inspiring The Next Generation Of Dentists: The Impact Of Role Modelling In Dental Education, Casper Jonker, Shaan Mirza

Peninsula Dental School

No abstract provided.


Unveiling The Link Between Leadership Brand Authenticity, Role Clarity And Customer Responsiveness In Islamic Banking: A Two-Source Analysis, Muhammad Adnan Waseem, Waqas Muhammad, Irfan Irfan, Nauman Wajid Nov 2025

Unveiling The Link Between Leadership Brand Authenticity, Role Clarity And Customer Responsiveness In Islamic Banking: A Two-Source Analysis, Muhammad Adnan Waseem, Waqas Muhammad, Irfan Irfan, Nauman Wajid

Plymouth Business School

Purpose – This study aims to address the limited understanding of how leadership brand authenticity (LBA) translates into employee and customer outcomes in Islamic banking, a sector where ethical alignment and trust are critical but underexplored in existing literature. Specifically, it explores how LBA influences role clarity and customer responsiveness. It further examines whether role clarity serves as a key mechanism linking authentic leadership to customer-focused outcomes, and whether the bank’s country of origin (COO) shapes this relationship. By addressing both internal organizational alignment and external perceptions, this study offers a comprehensive view of value-driven leadership in Shariah-compliant financial institutions. …


Collaborative Co-Design For Local Blue Food System Transformation:: The Practicalities And Challenges Of The Uk's (Foodsequal) 'Plymouth Fish Finger' Pilot Study, Louise Hunt, Clare Pettinger, Roussa Tsikritzi, Carol Wagstaff Nov 2025

Collaborative Co-Design For Local Blue Food System Transformation:: The Practicalities And Challenges Of The Uk's (Foodsequal) 'Plymouth Fish Finger' Pilot Study, Louise Hunt, Clare Pettinger, Roussa Tsikritzi, Carol Wagstaff

School of Health Professions

Purpose: UK food system transformation is urgently needed but blue foods (fish) have been only minimally part of this discourse. Informed by community action research in a UK southwest coastal city, fish was identified as a food commodity for food system innovation, leading to local collaborative ‘co-design’ of an iconic British food. The ‘Plymouth Fish Finger’ pilot assessed the practicalities and challenges of this social innovation and its provision into the school meal system. Design: Exploratory creative mixed methods mapped the journey of the Fish Finger as a social innovation. Methods drew on ‘co-production’ approaches, involving Community Food Researchers (CFR), …


Integrating Heritage Assets Into Peatland Restoration: Finding, Assessing And Valuing The Palaeoenvironmental Archive, Heather Davies, Ralph Fyfe Nov 2025

Integrating Heritage Assets Into Peatland Restoration: Finding, Assessing And Valuing The Palaeoenvironmental Archive, Heather Davies, Ralph Fyfe

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Peatland restoration projects aim to improve the delivery of ecosystem services. Cultural heritage and Historic Environment assets are usually identified as co-beneficiaries of restoration but are not commonly well-integrated at the planning or design stages. This paper considers the heritage value of upland peatlands and methods for integrating these values in ecosystem services approaches. Taking Exmoor National Park as a case study, an extensive walkover survey identified 119 small mires and assessed their cultural heritage asset potential. Many were not previously recognised as part of the Historic Environment potential of the upland. A novel valuation system based on proximity of …


Leading Inclusive Education: The Impact Of A City’S Place-Based Pedagogical Partnership With Higher Education On Secondary School Inclusion, Suanne Gibson, Sonia Blandford, George Munn, Jen Shute Nov 2025

Leading Inclusive Education: The Impact Of A City’S Place-Based Pedagogical Partnership With Higher Education On Secondary School Inclusion, Suanne Gibson, Sonia Blandford, George Munn, Jen Shute

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

The focus of this article is leadership for inclusive education. The work presented explores a three-year (2021–2024) place-based pedagogical partnership (PBPP) with schools and higher education (HE) leading change for inclusion and school improvement across Plymouth city’s secondary school network. National and international governments emphasise the role HE has in partnering with its local communities to achieve equal education access, inclusive pupil progress and student equality. The aims of this project and partnership were firstly to build meaningful relationships across secondary school leadership teams, local council, regional government and two city universities, and secondly to develop sustained practices that had …


Entering A Liminal State When Becoming A Social Prescribing Link Worker And How It Affects Retention: Findings From A Uk Qualitative Study, Stephanie Tierney, Lucy Moore, Debra Westlake, Shoba Dawson, Emma Fuller, Kerryn Husk, David Nunan, Pauline Roberts, Lilly Sabir, Jane R. Smith, Obioha C. Ukoumunne, Kamal R. Mahtani Nov 2025

Entering A Liminal State When Becoming A Social Prescribing Link Worker And How It Affects Retention: Findings From A Uk Qualitative Study, Stephanie Tierney, Lucy Moore, Debra Westlake, Shoba Dawson, Emma Fuller, Kerryn Husk, David Nunan, Pauline Roberts, Lilly Sabir, Jane R. Smith, Obioha C. Ukoumunne, Kamal R. Mahtani

Peninsula Medical School

Aim:To explore factors shaping social prescribing (SP) link workers (LWs) experiences of their job, and how they influence decisions about whether or not to leave it.Background:LWs support healthcare delivery by listening to patients’ non-medical concerns and social or relational difficulties, connecting them to ‘community assets’ (groups, organizations, charities) when relevant to help. LWs try to assist people with often complex emotional and/or social issues. This can affect how they feel in their job.Methods:As part of a mixed methods project on LW retention, a qualitative study was conducted. It involved 20 LWs, purposively selected from respondents to a questionnaire; variation in …


Quantifying The Seasonal Dynamics Of A Transitional Ice Cliff-Pond System On A Debris-Covered Glacier, Zhen He, Matthew Westoby, Shaoting Ren, Chuanxi Zhao, Yifei He, Tianzhao Zhang, Wei Yang Nov 2025

Quantifying The Seasonal Dynamics Of A Transitional Ice Cliff-Pond System On A Debris-Covered Glacier, Zhen He, Matthew Westoby, Shaoting Ren, Chuanxi Zhao, Yifei He, Tianzhao Zhang, Wei Yang

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Ice cliffs and supraglacial ponds are key drivers of mass loss on debris-covered glaciers. However, the relationship between melt ponds and adjacent ice cliffs has not been fully explored. We investigated the seasonal drainage patterns of a melt pond on the debris-covered Zhuxi Glacier in southeast Tibet and estimated the mass loss of its adjacent ice cliff during 2023-2024. Using hourly time-lapse photogrammetry we built a series of high-resolution point clouds to quantify the evolution of the ice cliff-pond system. Our findings indicate that subaerial melting and undercutting were the primary mechanisms of ice cliff mass loss during summer. In …


How Do People Use Social Media To Maintain Continuing Bonds In Bereavement? A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis, Molly Price, Edith Maria Steffen, Karina Stengaard Kamp Nov 2025

How Do People Use Social Media To Maintain Continuing Bonds In Bereavement? A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis, Molly Price, Edith Maria Steffen, Karina Stengaard Kamp

School of Psychology

Staying connected with a person who has died is a common phenomenon in bereavement, generally referred to as continuing bonds (CB). This can take multitudinous forms, a novelty being the utilisation of social media to strengthen the connection. This qualitative meta-synthesis collated research on digital CB to identify themes to help us develop an overarching understanding of how digital platforms are used to express CB and what impact this may have. A systematic search of four relevant databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, CINAHL and Web of Science) was conducted. Papers were exported to EndNote for screening; ultimately, seven papers were selected for …


Exploring Children's And Their Parents' Experiences In Urgent Treatment Centres: A Qualitative Study Protocol, Danielle Edge, Sarah Neill, Lucy Bray, Martha Paisi Nov 2025

Exploring Children's And Their Parents' Experiences In Urgent Treatment Centres: A Qualitative Study Protocol, Danielle Edge, Sarah Neill, Lucy Bray, Martha Paisi

School of Nursing and Midwifery

BackgroundYoung children are frequent users of urgent and emergency care (UEC) services (Blair et al., 2025). The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989) highlights children’s rights to healthcare (Article 24), to express their views (Article 12), and to receive information to support participation (Article 13). Existing research in UEC has primarily focused on parental decision-making and help-seeking behaviours when accessing care (Neill et al., 2016). While there is increasing evidence on children’s experiences and involvement in their healthcare, there is limited research which has examined children’s experiences in UTCs and even less which has engaged …


Borrowed Competence: Socially Extending The Mind To Extend Digital Practices, Cordelia R. Stewart, Sheau-Fen (Crystal) Yap, Krzysztof Kubacki Nov 2025

Borrowed Competence: Socially Extending The Mind To Extend Digital Practices, Cordelia R. Stewart, Sheau-Fen (Crystal) Yap, Krzysztof Kubacki

More Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Research

This study extends current understanding of digital competence by exploring alternative skill sets harnessed by digitally disadvantaged groups that enable their practices to continue. By combining practice theory with the socially extended mind framework, we address the research question: What forms of offline competence support the integration of digital practices among a disadvantaged consumer group, and how do these competences influence the cohesion and continuity of their practices? Through an ethnography of a ‘Street Church’ community, we demonstrate how different forms of offline social interaction (i.e., sequential, synchronised, substitutive) and group culture
function as valuable resources for guiding digital practices, …


Optimising Adherence To Inpatient Rehabilitation Trial Protocols: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review, Angie Logan, Jonathan Marsden, Jennifer Freeman, Emma Cork, Bridie Kent Nov 2025

Optimising Adherence To Inpatient Rehabilitation Trial Protocols: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review, Angie Logan, Jonathan Marsden, Jennifer Freeman, Emma Cork, Bridie Kent

School of Health Professions

Background:The results of rehabilitation clinical trials can be negatively affected by adherence to trial protocols. Adherence is multi-factorial, but studies often look at adherence factors separately. Therefore, a systematic review to appraise and synthesise the evidence is warranted to determine the barriers, facilitators and predictors associated with adherence to inpatient rehabilitation trial protocols, whether and how factors interact with one another, and how adherence to rehabilitation protocols can be optimised.Methods:A mixed-methods systematic review was conducted and reported in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Databases searched were PubMed (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL (Ovid), …


Emotional Hypervigilance: Development Of A New Questionnaire And Examining The Importance To Posttraumatic Quality Of Life., Alison Bacon, Alyson Norman Nov 2025

Emotional Hypervigilance: Development Of A New Questionnaire And Examining The Importance To Posttraumatic Quality Of Life., Alison Bacon, Alyson Norman

School of Psychology

Objective: Hypervigilance is a symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder usually defined in terms of behaviours such as environment scanning and planning escape routes. The objective of Study 1 was to develop a new measure to assess the extent to which individuals employ a specifically emotional form of hypervigilance. The aim of Study 2 was to investigate whether emotional hypervigilance is associated with posttraumatic quality of life in addition to the known effects of symptoms and experiential avoidance. Method: Study 1 presents the development and initial testing (N = 275) of the Emotional Vigilance and Awareness Questionnaire (EVAQ). In Study 2, …


A Collaborative Approach To Marine Species Tracking: Insights From The Fish Intel Acoustic Telemetry Network, Alice E. Hall, Tom Stamp, Peter Davies, Mathieu Woillez, Martial Laurans, Marine Gonse, Lydie I.E. Couturier, Olivier Blanpain, Katia Frangoudes, Emmanuelle Quillérou, Eider Graner, Jan Reubens, Carlotta Muñiz, Lucy A. Hawkes, Matthew J. Witt, Thomas W. Horton, Tom Hooper, Ricky Pender, Erwin Quemeneur, Mewen Abjean, Xavier Tetard, Pascal Provost, Silvana Birchenough, Jean Luc Solandt, Colin Trundle, Amy Y. Cartwright, Sian Rees, Ronan Conlon, Shion E.A. Reynell, Ben Ciotti Nov 2025

A Collaborative Approach To Marine Species Tracking: Insights From The Fish Intel Acoustic Telemetry Network, Alice E. Hall, Tom Stamp, Peter Davies, Mathieu Woillez, Martial Laurans, Marine Gonse, Lydie I.E. Couturier, Olivier Blanpain, Katia Frangoudes, Emmanuelle Quillérou, Eider Graner, Jan Reubens, Carlotta Muñiz, Lucy A. Hawkes, Matthew J. Witt, Thomas W. Horton, Tom Hooper, Ricky Pender, Erwin Quemeneur, Mewen Abjean, Xavier Tetard, Pascal Provost, Silvana Birchenough, Jean Luc Solandt, Colin Trundle, Amy Y. Cartwright, Sian Rees, Ronan Conlon, Shion E.A. Reynell, Ben Ciotti

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Acoustic telemetry offers valuable insights into species' spatial and temporal movement patterns, helping to understand habitat use, behaviour and migration timings. The Fish Intel Network established a collaborative cross-English Channel acoustic telemetry network to track multiple species over small and large spatial scales. This network was designed in close alliance with local fishers to incorporate essential local ecological knowledge of target species and habitats, gathered through interviews and workshops. To date, 254 acoustic receivers have been deployed, and 874 animals have been tagged across the Channel. Six species were tracked for this study: European bass (Dicentrarchus labrax), pollack (Pollachius pollachius), …


Measurement Of Soluble Aerosol Trace Elements: Inter-Laboratory Comparison Of Eight Leaching Protocols, Mingjin Tang, Morgane M.G. Perron, Alex R. Baker, Rui Li, Andrew R. Bowie, Clifton S. Buck, Ashwini Kumar, Rachel Shelley, Simon J. Ussher, Robert Clough, Scott Meyerink, Prema P. Panda, Ashley T. Townsend, Neil Wyatt Nov 2025

Measurement Of Soluble Aerosol Trace Elements: Inter-Laboratory Comparison Of Eight Leaching Protocols, Mingjin Tang, Morgane M.G. Perron, Alex R. Baker, Rui Li, Andrew R. Bowie, Clifton S. Buck, Ashwini Kumar, Rachel Shelley, Simon J. Ussher, Robert Clough, Scott Meyerink, Prema P. Panda, Ashley T. Townsend, Neil Wyatt

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

A range of leaching protocols have been used to measure the soluble fraction of aerosol trace elements worldwide, and therefore these measurements may not be directly comparable. This work presents the first large-scale international laboratory intercomparison study for aerosol trace element leaching protocols. Eight widely-used protocols are compared using 33 samples that were subdivided and distributed to all participants. Protocols used ultrapure water, ammonium acetate, or acetic acid (the so-called "Berger leach") as leaching solutions, although none of the protocols were identical to any other. The ultrapure water leach resulted in significantly lower soluble fractions, when compared to the ammonium …


Poo Manager: Co-Designing A Serious Computer Game To Improve Constipation Management Awareness In Carers Of People With Intellectual Disabilities, Rohit Shankar Nov 2025

Poo Manager: Co-Designing A Serious Computer Game To Improve Constipation Management Awareness In Carers Of People With Intellectual Disabilities, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Approximately 2% of the population are people with intellectual disability (PwID). PwID are prone to multimorbidity, polypharmacy and premature mortality. Constipation is a prevalent and life-threatening issue for PwID fostered by iatrogenic harm, ignorance and stigma in family, and health and care settings. Despite its clinical significance, educational tools targeting caregivers’ knowledge of constipation prevention and management in PwID are scarce. Serious games (SGs) offer a novel and engaging platform to educate carers and reduce health stigma. Poo manager was collaboratively designed by a team of clinicians, academics, game developers and people with lived experience. The game involves navigating a …


Survival And Recovery Of Three Shark Species In North-East Atlantic Recreational Fisheries, Francesco Garzon, Ghalia Abel, Ian Burrett, Owen Exeter, Lucy A. Hawkes, Thomas Horton, Mario Lambrette, Alex Plaster, David Righton, Hannah Rudd, Jessica Rudd, Bryce Stewart, Simon Thomas, James Thorburn, Paul Whittaker, Matthew J. Witt Nov 2025

Survival And Recovery Of Three Shark Species In North-East Atlantic Recreational Fisheries, Francesco Garzon, Ghalia Abel, Ian Burrett, Owen Exeter, Lucy A. Hawkes, Thomas Horton, Mario Lambrette, Alex Plaster, David Righton, Hannah Rudd, Jessica Rudd, Bryce Stewart, Simon Thomas, James Thorburn, Paul Whittaker, Matthew J. Witt

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Understanding how sharks respond to catch and release (C&R) recreational fisheries is an important requirement for effective management. Post-release survival and recovery in recreational fisheries can be species- and setting-dependent. Nevertheless, no study on sharks has been conducted in European recreational fisheries, despite their popularity as target. This study presents the first example of biologging to assess C&R effects on blue sharks (Prionace glauca), porbeagle sharks (Lamna nasus) and tope sharks (Galeorhinus galeus) in the UK. Pop-up satellite archival tags (n = 23 blue shark, 20 porbeagle shark, 26 tope shark) revealed high (94.7–96.2%) survival rates in all three species, …


Determining The Accumulation Potential Of Nanoplastics In Crops: An Investigation Of 14C-Labelled Polystyrene Nanoplastic Into Radishes, Nathaniel J. Clark, Astrid C. Fischer, Demelza Carne, George R. Littlejohn, Lee J. Durndell, Anne Plessis, Richard C. Thompson Nov 2025

Determining The Accumulation Potential Of Nanoplastics In Crops: An Investigation Of 14C-Labelled Polystyrene Nanoplastic Into Radishes, Nathaniel J. Clark, Astrid C. Fischer, Demelza Carne, George R. Littlejohn, Lee J. Durndell, Anne Plessis, Richard C. Thompson

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The capacity of crops to accumulate nanoplastics has remained relatively unexplored largely due to analytical constraints. To address this challenge, the present study employed a radiolabelling approach to demonstrate, for the first time, that polystyrene nanoplastics (14C-PS NPs) accumulate and move into the edible tissues of radishes (Raphanus sativus). Radishes were exposed hydroponically for five days, with only their non-fleshy roots in contact with the 14C-PS NPs, while accumulation in the fleshy (edible) roots and shoots was subsequently measured. The radish roots retained nearly 5 % of the 14C-PS NPs from the exposure, either through accumulation …


(Un)Just Transitions For Youth And The Disabled? The Exclusionary Pressures Facing Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics (Stem) Education, Elizabeth Done, Helen Knowler, Irina Lazar, Sylvia Hayes, Joshua Lait, Andrea Perez-Porres Nov 2025

(Un)Just Transitions For Youth And The Disabled? The Exclusionary Pressures Facing Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics (Stem) Education, Elizabeth Done, Helen Knowler, Irina Lazar, Sylvia Hayes, Joshua Lait, Andrea Perez-Porres

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper highlights the under-representation of young people with disabilities in STEM subjects and career pathways, with particular reference to the engineering sector given its prominent role in the design of energy systems related to net-zero policies. We consider the role of physical infrastructure, and pedagogic and representational practices, in facilitating the marginalisation and under-representation of young people with disabilities. Ultimately, we seek a broader understanding of the ‘just transition’ that acknowledges the role of education in ensuring the active participation of all young people, regardless of learning difficulty or disability or social identity, in that transition. The research is …


Risk Factors To Predict Mortality In People With Seizures Reattending Emergency Departments: A Dual-Centre Study, Rohit Shankar, Madeline Dale, Sarah Lennard, William Henley, Brendan Mclean, Mark Jadav, Richard Laugharne, Gurjit Chohan, Sarah Trippier, Laura Sewell, Jamie Ford, Sarah Davis Nov 2025

Risk Factors To Predict Mortality In People With Seizures Reattending Emergency Departments: A Dual-Centre Study, Rohit Shankar, Madeline Dale, Sarah Lennard, William Henley, Brendan Mclean, Mark Jadav, Richard Laugharne, Gurjit Chohan, Sarah Trippier, Laura Sewell, Jamie Ford, Sarah Davis

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Recurrent seizure-related emergency department (ED) attendances are common and associated with poor outcomes. We aimed to identify factors associated with repeated seizure-related ED use and to develop a mortality risk score among individuals re-attending with seizures. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study across two district general hospitals in South-West England, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCH; 2015–2018) and Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Trust (RUH; 2018–2022). Adults (≥18 years) with ≥2 seizure-related ED attendances were included. Negative binomial regression was used to examine demographic and clinical predictors of repeat attendances. A risk score based on these predictors was …


Potentially Toxic Metals, Anthropogenic Microfibres And Other Microplastics In Sediments From A Small, Urban Estuary (Plym, Southwest England), Kwong Ricky Li, Andrew Turner Nov 2025

Potentially Toxic Metals, Anthropogenic Microfibres And Other Microplastics In Sediments From A Small, Urban Estuary (Plym, Southwest England), Kwong Ricky Li, Andrew Turner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Anthropogenic microfibres (AMFs) and microplastics (MPs) are pervasive and ubiquitous environmental contaminants of growing concern. However, their study in geosolids, like sediments, is often conducted in the absence of other important geochemical and anthropogenic markers. In the present study, surface and subsurface sediments from the Plym Estuary, southwest England, have been analysed for AMFs and MPs along with organic matter (as loss on ignition; LOI), calcium, iron, manganese and potentially toxic metals (PTMs). The latter were heterogeneously distributed throughout the estuary because of multiple inputs and variations in sediment granulometry. AMFs were mainly constructed of cellulosic and petroleum-based polymers and …


Epigenetic And Genotoxic Effects Of Tritium In Marine Mussels: Comparing Waterborne And Metal-Associated Forms, Maria Florencia Ferreira, Andrew Turner, Mickaël Payet, Olivier Debellemaniere, Christian Grisolia, Veronique Malard, Michael N. Moore, Awadhesh N. Jha Nov 2025

Epigenetic And Genotoxic Effects Of Tritium In Marine Mussels: Comparing Waterborne And Metal-Associated Forms, Maria Florencia Ferreira, Andrew Turner, Mickaël Payet, Olivier Debellemaniere, Christian Grisolia, Veronique Malard, Michael N. Moore, Awadhesh N. Jha

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Tritium (3H), an isotope of hydrogen, is a by-product of the nuclear industry. Decommissioning and normal operations of nuclear facilities can generate tritiated stainless-steel particles (T-SSPs) that could be unintentionally released into the environment. Considering tritium's physicochemical properties and the proximity of nuclear facilities to water bodies, assessing the behaviour and potential effects of these particles in the aquatic environment is imperative. In the present study, marine mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis, were exposed to: (a) hydrogenated, non-radioactive stainless-steel particles (H-SSPs) (10 mg L−1) (b) T-SSPs (1 and 10 MBq L−1) and (c) tritiated water (HTO) …


Levetiracetam In Epilepsy And Autism Spectrum Disorder: Analysis Of Safety, Tolerability, And Efficacy, Jon Allard, William Henley, Brendan Mclean, Lance Watkins, Mary Parrett, Sanjeev Rajakulendran, Melissa Maguire, Shan Ellawela, Phil Tittensor, Juliet Bransgrove, Arjune Sen, Rajiv Mohanraj, Many Bagary, Sunil Ram, Sarah Pashley, Rohit Shankar Nov 2025

Levetiracetam In Epilepsy And Autism Spectrum Disorder: Analysis Of Safety, Tolerability, And Efficacy, Jon Allard, William Henley, Brendan Mclean, Lance Watkins, Mary Parrett, Sanjeev Rajakulendran, Melissa Maguire, Shan Ellawela, Phil Tittensor, Juliet Bransgrove, Arjune Sen, Rajiv Mohanraj, Many Bagary, Sunil Ram, Sarah Pashley, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Purpose: One in five people with autism spectrum disorder have epilepsy and take Anti-Seizure Medications (ASM). However, the impact of ASM on people with autism is under researched. This study evaluates the efficacy and tolerability of Levetiracetam (LEV) for autistic people and epilepsy. Method: Data was derived from the English Epilepsy Research Database Register which compares ASM responses in those with neurodevelopmental disorders to those without. Age range was 18–50 years as there were no autistic research participants with autism prescribed LEV over 50. Twelve-month ASM data, including withdrawal rate, seizure frequency and adverse effects were compared. Fisher's exact test …


Metabolic Flexibility As A Candidate Mechanism For The Development Of Postoperative Morbidity, Pietro Arina, John Whittle, Maciej R Kaczorek, Davide Ferrari, Nicholas Tetlow, Amy Dewar, Robert Stephens, Daniel Martin, S Ramani Moonesinghe, Evangelos B Mazomenos, Mervyn Singer Nov 2025

Metabolic Flexibility As A Candidate Mechanism For The Development Of Postoperative Morbidity, Pietro Arina, John Whittle, Maciej R Kaczorek, Davide Ferrari, Nicholas Tetlow, Amy Dewar, Robert Stephens, Daniel Martin, S Ramani Moonesinghe, Evangelos B Mazomenos, Mervyn Singer

Peninsula Medical School

BACKGROUND: This study investigates the role of metabolic flexibility in determining perioperative outcomes. Metabolic flexibility, a key feature of metabolic health, is the ability to efficiently switch between different fuel sources (predominantly carbohydrates and fats) depending on energy demands and availability. Given the rapidly changing physiological conditions in the perioperative period, we hypothesized that good metabolic adaptability could mitigate postoperative complications. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective observational study utilizing a prospectively collected, single-center preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) database of patients undergoing a range of major surgeries between 2012 and 2022. On day 3, patients were categorized into 3 groups …


Plastic Or Natural? The Impact Of Marine Debris On The Shell Preference Of A Terrestrial Hermit Crab, Robert Puschendorf, Pete Cotton, Mark Briffa Nov 2025

Plastic Or Natural? The Impact Of Marine Debris On The Shell Preference Of A Terrestrial Hermit Crab, Robert Puschendorf, Pete Cotton, Mark Briffa

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Plastic pollution is one of the main human-induced rapid environmental changes threatening marine organisms. Terrestrial hermit crabs, which inhabit coastal areas where litter accumulates, are increasingly documented using plastic debris as shells, and a recent study hypothesized that this shift may be an adaptive response. They suggested that ‘plastic shells’ may reduce transport costs, provide camouflage in a polluted environment, and may even be favoured by sexual selection. Our study is the first to quantify plastic shell use in a population, to examine shell preference and to test the hypothesis that plastic shells optimize the ratio of weight to volume. …