Digital Commons Network^™

Impaired Updating Of Working Memory Representations In Individuals With High Bmi: Evidence For Dopaminergic Mechanisms, Nadine Herzog, Hendrik Hartmann, Lieneke K. Janssen, Arsene Kanyamibwa, Maria Waltmann, Peter Kovacs, Lorenz Deserno, Sean Fallon, Arno Villringer, Annette Horstmann

School of Psychology

Everyday life requires an adaptive balance between distraction-resistant maintenance of information and the flexibility to update this information when needed. These opposing mechanisms are proposed to be balanced through a working memory gating mechanism. Prior research indicates that obesity may elevate the risk of working memory deficits, yet the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Dopaminergic abnormalities have emerged as a potential mediator. However, current models suggest these abnormalities should only shift the balance in working memory tasks, not produce overall deficits. The empirical support for this notion is currently lacking, however. To address this gap, we pooled data from three studies …

Vulnerability, Resilience And Empowerment: The Tripartite Typology For Addressing Modern Slavery In Global Value Chains, Krzysztof Kubacki, Natalia Szablewska, Dariusz Siemieniako, Linda Brennan

Plymouth Business School

Purpose: Modern slavery in global value chains is an emerging topic of interest across various fields, including in international business, but is often fragmented in its approach. This study aims to provide a practical framework for studying relationships between participants in global value chains by exploring the nexus of three concepts – vulnerability, resilience and empowerment (VRE) – in the context of modern slavery. Design/methodology/approach: This article offers a deductive thematic analysis of 51 empirical and conceptual business research studies on modern slavery in global value chains published until mid-2021 according to the three categories of interest at the micro …

Beyond The Bite: Exploring Mental Health Of Dental Faculty In Pakistan– A Multi-Institutional Study, Kamran Ali, Daniel Zahra, Ulfat Bashir, Alaa Daud, Hina Zafar Raja, Rob Witton, Mahwish Raja

Peninsula Dental School

IntroductionMental health issues are being reported increasingly amongst healthcare staff and students globally. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of common mental health issues amongst dental faculty members at multiple institutions in Pakistan.MethodsFollowing approval from the institutional ethics review board, dental faculty members at 14 dental institutions were invited to participate in an online survey based on globally validated scales for mental health problems including the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Two open-ended questions were included in the survey to identify perceived factors contributing to poor mental health and …

The Socioeconomic And Environmental Niche Of Protected Areas Reveals Global Conservation Gaps And Opportunities, David Mouillot, Laure Velez, Camille Albouy, Nicolas Casajus, Joachim Claudet, Vincent Delbar, Rodolphe Devillers, Tom B Letessier, Nicolas Loiseau, Stéphanie Manel, Laura Mannocci, Jessica Meeuwig, Nicolas Mouquet, Ana Nuno, Louise O'Connor, Valeriano Parravicini, Julien Renaud, Raphael Seguin, Marc Troussellier, Wilfried Thuiller

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The global network of protected areas has rapidly expanded in the past decade and is expected to cover at least 30% of land and sea by 2030 to halt biodiversity erosion. Yet, the distribution of protected areas is highly heterogeneous on Earth and the social-environmental preconditions enabling or hindering protected area establishment remain poorly understood. Here, using fourteen socioeconomic and environmental factors, we characterize the multidimensional niche of terrestrial and marine protected areas, which we use to accurately establish, at the global scale, whether a particular location has preconditions favourable for paestablishment. We reveal that protected areas, particularly the most …

Electron Microscopy Characterization Of King Scallop (Pecten Maximus) Shells From Low-Voltage Sem To 3d-Ebsd Reconstruction, Lise Guichaoua, Benazir Khurshid, Arnaud Benchetrite, Stéphanie Bessette, Bryce Stewart, Natalie Reznikov, Roland Kröger, Raynald Gauvin

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Do Linear Clearings In Boreal Peatlands Recover? Comparing Taxonomic, Phylogenetic, And Functional Plant Diversity, Ellie M. Goud, Scott J. Davidson, Anna Dabros, Kimberly Kleinke, Megan A. Schmidt, Maria Strack

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Land-use changes and anthropogenic disturbances are major threats to biodiversity, affecting ecosystem function and recovery. In boreal Alberta, Canada, petroleum development has led to extensive landscape fragmentation, notably through linear clearings created for seismic exploration that remove surface vegetation and microtopography. Despite partial recovery on forested seismic lines, peatland recovery is often arrested, impacting wildlife and carbon dynamics. Restoration efforts employ silviculture techniques to create microtopography and foster tree growth, but the efficacy of restoration treatments in restoring peatland plant diversity remains uncertain. We compared taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of understory plant communities across treated and untreated seismic lines, …

Buried Ice-Wedge Pseudomorphs As Indicators Of Younger Dryas Climate-Related Lake Evolution, Dali Lake, Inner Mongolia, Xiangge Zhang, Martin Stokes, Xujiao Zhang, Haoyue Zhang, Zexin He, Yifan Wang, Lingyue Wang, Haoshu Rao, Long Deng, Jingmin Guo, Junlei Li, Mingzhong Tian, Junxiang Zhao

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Ice wedges / pseudomorphs (IWPs) are key indicators of cold-climate (periglacial) frozen ground conditions. Their occurrence within the sedimentary sequences of lacustrine landforms can provide important evidence about palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic change. However, research using lake sediments in a geomorphological context to investigate climate change is limited. Here, we use newly discovered IWPs developed within lake sediment sequences to explore climate-related lake-level fluctuations in the Dali Lake region, a key area of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) system that drives Quaternary hydroclimate variability across East Asia. The IWPs penetrate down through clay-silt lake sediments and are overlain by coarser-fossiliferous, …

Knowledge Discovery Of Patients Reviews On Breast Cancer Drugs: Segmentation Of Side Effects Using Machine Learning Techniques, Mehrbakhsh Nilashi, Hossein Ahmadi, Rabab Ali Abumalloh, Mesfer Alrizq, Abdullah Alghamdi, Sultan Alyami

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Breast cancer stands as the most frequently diagnosed life-threatening cancer among women worldwide. Understanding patients' drug experiences is essential to improving treatment strategies and outcomes. In this research, we conduct knowledge discovery on breast cancer drugs using patients’ reviews. A new machine learning approach is developed by employing clustering, text mining and regression techniques. We first use Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) technique to discover the main aspects of patients' experiences from the patients’ reviews on breast cancer drugs. We also use Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm to segment the data based on patients’ overall satisfaction. We then use the Forward Entry Regression …

The Impact Of Virtual Reality Exposure On Ocean Connectedness And Consumer Responses To Single-Use Packaging, Sohvi Nuojua, Sabine Pahl, Kayleigh Wyles, Richard Thompson

School of Psychology

Efforts to mitigate plastic packaging pollution include behavioural strategies aimed at shifting consumer perceptions and behaviour. Connectedness to nature, and more recently ocean connectedness, has been associated with pro-environmental intentions regarding single-use packaging. Two experimental studies were conducted to examine the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies in promoting ocean connectedness and shifting consumer perceptions around packaging and its environmental qualities. To assess the influence of the VR content, in Study 1 (n = 94), participants were briefly exposed to an oceanic VR environment or an urban VR experience. Levels of ocean connectedness, both explicit and implicit, were measured after …

Whole Genome Analyses Of Introgression In British And Irish Apis Mellifera Mellifera, Victoria G. Buswell, J. Vanessa Huml, Jonathan S. Ellis, Andrew Brown, Mairi E. Knight

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The Western honey bee, Apis mellifera (A. mellifera) Linnaeus, is one of the world’s most economically important pollinators. Conserving genetic resources in this species is therefore of significant value. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the potential erosion of locally adapted genetic variants by transhumance of particular subspecies favoured by beekeepers. In particular, introgression and hybridisation by repeated backcrossing can disrupt naturally-selected allele combinations and therefore erode local adaptation. Here we use whole genome sequencing (WGS) to assess levels of introgression in the native subspecies Apis mellifera mellifera (A. m. mellifera) across a wide geographical scale in Britain …

Assessment Of Genetic Diversity By Phenological Traits, Field Performance, And Start Codon Targeted (Scot) Polymorphism Marker Of Seventeen Soybean Genotypes (Glycine Max L.), Mahmoud Abdel-Sattar, Ehab M. Zayed, Mohamed K. Abou-Shlell, Hail Z. Rihan, Ahmed A. Helal, Nabil E.G. Mekhaile, Ghada E. El-Badan

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The Egyptian-farmed soybeans have a wide range of genetic diversity which is most important in plant improvement programs in order to develop new higher yielding soybean genotypes. The present study is designed to determine the genetic variability among seventeen genotypes of cultivated soybean (Glycine max L.) by examining the phenotypic level at the seedling stage, field performance over two years 2022/2023 and genetically using Start Codon Targeted (SCoT) markers. Results indicated that the SCoT markers, 100 seed weight, and tip angle (TA) traits were positively correlated with H2L12, DR 101, H15L5, and H117 genotypes. In addition, the number of branches …

Biogenic Reef Creation And Biodiversity Enhancement By An Offshore Longline Mussel Farm, Llucia Mascorda-Cabre, Philip Hosegood, Martin Attrill, Emma Sheehan

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

As the mussel farming industry moves offshore, there is a need to fill evidence gaps on its ecological impacts. Over eight years, this research presents the results of a long-term monitoring study of the UK’s first large scale offshore mussel farm following a BACI (Before-After Control-Impact) approach to evaluate the temporal and spatial effects of the farm on benthic habitat and epibenthic species assemblages. Situated in historical fishing ground, the farm is located on a degraded seabed ecosystem dominated by soft sediment. After seven years of farming, damaged seabed increased its complexity, with biogenic reef being created (30 % increase). …

Assessing Benthic Recovery Below The United Kingdom's First Large-Scale, Offshore, Longline Mussel Farm, Llucia Mascorda-Cabre, Philip Hosegood, Martin Attrill, Emma Sheehan

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The recent expansion of the aquaculture industry into the offshore marine environment is perceived to have a comparatively low environmental impact coupled with a high growth potential as a sustainable, large-scale source of healthy protein. This study assessed changes in sediment characteristics and infauna assemblages following the development of the first large-scale offshore longline mussel farm in the United Kingdom. By evaluating the effects of the farm on the sediment ecosystem and by studying infaunal sediment environmental parameters along a distance gradient away from the farm, the first before-after control-impact (BACI) study of an offshore shellfish farm is presented. Sediment …

A Geospatial Approach To Landscape Gaze Using Social Media To Evaluate How People Value Landscapes In An Urban Context, Riley Bibaud, Eva Mcgrath, Zoe Sydenham, Richard Yarwood, Tom Mullier, Siân Rees

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Urban park management generally prioritises green spaces and activities within park boundaries, rather than landscape interactions. Understanding how people experience and connect with broader landscapes is essential for improving societal environmental, economic and wellbeing outcomes. A geospatial and discourse analysis of three urban parks was conducted in Plymouth, UK. The predominant landscape gaze at each park revealed strong social ties to blue spaces–namely the coast and sea–indicating an interconnectedness between parks and coastal spaces beyond park boundaries. Textual analysis emphasised the beauty of nature, the expanse of the ocean, and the health and wellbeing benefits of blue and green spaces. …

The Pace Of Life For Forest Trees, Lalasia Bialic-Murphy, Robert M. Mcelderry, Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert, Johan Van Den Hoogen, Pieter A. Zuidema, Oliver L. Phillips, Edmar Almeida De Oliveira, Patricia Alvarez Loayza, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Luciana F. Alves, Vinícius Andrade Maia, Simone Aparecida Vieira, Lidiany Carolina Arantes Da Silva, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Eric Arets, Julen Astigarraga, Fabrício Baccaro, Timothy Baker, Olaf Banki, Jorcely Barroso, Lilian Blanc, Damien Bonal, Frans Bongers, Kauane Maiara Bordin, Roel Brienen, Marcelo Brilhante De Medeiros, José Luís Camargo, Felipe Carvalho Araújo, Carolina V. Castilho, Wendeson Castro

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Tree growth and longevity trade-offs fundamentally shape the terrestrial carbon balance. Yet, we lack a unified understanding of how such trade-offs vary across the world's forests. By mapping life history traits for a wide range of species across the Americas, we reveal considerable variation in life expectancies from 10 centimeters in diameter (ranging from 1.3 to 3195 years) and show that the pace of life for trees can be accurately classified into four demographic functional types. We found emergent patterns in the strength of trade-offs between growth and longevity across a temperature gradient. Furthermore, we show that the diversity of …

Illustrated Stories Of Severe Asthma: A Case Study., John Kilburn, Darren Aoki, Rupert Jones, Alice Inman, Isabel Keen, Devon Tipping, Danielle Glover, Joseph Lanario

School of Art, Design and Architecture

This is a critical account of a project in which Illustration and oral history students developed demonstration graphic medicine artworks in response to interviews with people with severe asthma. The people with severe asthma collaborated with the students to produce the illustrated narratives as comics. The graphic medicine outputs tell the stories of how two lives changed due to new medications. This paper uses the student projects as a case study to explore the novel methodological approach. The comics demonstrate a shift in narrative authority towards the interviewees and the reader, and away from the artists who had no medical …

The Use Of Acupuncture To Manage Dry Mouth Post-Radiotherapy In Head And Neck Cancer Patients, Yen Ming Lin, Claire Forbes-Haley

Peninsula Dental School

At University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UK), patients with xerostomiaafter head and neck radiotherapy for whom local measures have not beensuccessful are referred to the acupuncture clinic. This has been offered for thelast ten years and preliminary data has shown that it can provide symptomaticrelief to patients. This article documents a service evaluation of 45 patientswho attended the acupuncture clinic from August 2020 to August 2021.Treatment was carried out at three points in each ear as well as a point on thedistal radial aspect of each index finger. Each session lasted for 30 minutesand sessions were carried out weekly for …

Tracking Implementation Of Shark-Related Measures And Actions In The Mediterranean Region In The Context Of International Law, Jason Lowther, Lydia Koehler

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

We present national implementation progress on international and regional legal obligations up to 2020 and discuss recent developments in shark conservation management in the region. This study provides insights into the complexity of implemented measures and actions related to shark conservation and fisheries management, governed by various legal instruments. Measures were primarily identified through regional fisheries management organisations (RFMO) reports, reports of Focal Point meetings under the Barcelona Convention, and national reports under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). A total of 208 implemented measures across different categories were found. The most common …

Effects Of Perceived Environmental Quality And Psychological Status On Outdoor Thermal Comfort: A Panel Study In Southern China, Cho Kwong Charlie Lam, Haonan Pan, Weixiao Nie, Xiaohui Li, Jie Wu, Zhe Yin, Jiejie Han

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Urban residents are exposed to multiple environmental stimuli. Past studies have examined the influence of heat stress on outdoor thermal comfort, but the cross-modal effects of various sensory stimuli on outdoor thermal comfort remain unclear. This study used chi-square tests and logistic regression to examine the cross-modal effects of perceived environmental quality (acoustic, visual and air quality) and psychological status (irritability, perceived tiredness) on outdoor thermal comfort. We conducted thermal walk experiments in Guangzhou, China, in September and October 2022. This panel study consisted of mobile environmental sensors and thermal comfort surveys by fourteen university students on three walking routes, …

The Use Of Insect Cell Line Sf21 For Ecotoxicity Testing, Trevor Grigg, Richard D. Handy, Richard A. Billington

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Insect cell lines are finding utility in many areas of biology, but their application as an in vitro tool for ecotoxicity testing has been given less attention. Our study aimed to demonstrate the utility and sensitivity of Sf21 cells to commonly used fungicides: Propiconazole and CuSO₄, as well as dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) an industrial solvent. Sf21 cells were readily cultured from frozen stocks in 3-4 days and showed utility as an invertebrate in vitro acute toxicity test. The data showed the threshold levels of cell survivability against propiconazole and CuSO₄. The EC₅₀ values were 135.1 …

Intertidal Seagrass Extent From Sentinel-2 Time-Series Show Distinct Trajectories In Western Europe, Bede Ffinian Rowe Davies, Simon Oiry, Philippe Rosa, Maria Laura Zoffoli, Ana I. Sousa, Oliver R. Thomas, Dan A. Smale, Melanie C. Austen, Lauren Biermann, Martin J. Attrill, Alejandro Roman, Gabriel Navarro, Anne Laure Barillé, Nicolas Harin, Daniel Clewley, Victor Martinez-Vicente, Pierre Gernez, Laurent Barillé

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Intertidal areas, which emerge during low tide, form a vital link between terrestrial and marine environments. Seagrasses, a well-studied intertidal habitat, provide a multitude of different ecosystem goods and services. However, owing to their relatively high exposure to anthropogenic impacts, seagrasss meadows and other intertidal habitats have seen extensive declines. Remote sensing methods that can capture the spatial and temporal variation of marine habitats are essential to best assess the trajectories of seagrass ecosystems. An advanced machine learning method has been developed to map intertidal vegetation from satellite-derived surface reflectance at a 12-band multispectral resolution and distinguish between similarly pigmented …

A Bee’S-Eye View Of Landscape Change: Differences In Diet Of 2 Andrena Species (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) Between 1943 And 2021, Clare Boyes, Jennifer K Rowntree, Emma Coulthard

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Declines in pollinating insects have been linked to changes in land cover, affecting the availability of nesting sites and floral resources. Our study is the first analysis of changes in pollen load composition of 2 mining bees, Andrena barbilabris (Kirby) and Andrena flavipes (Panzer) (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae), at the same sites in central England, over 75 years. This provides a unique opportunity to remove spatial variation and review temporal changes in pollen diet within the context of landscape change. We analyzed modern-day pollen load composition for these species and compared it with historical data from the same sites. We then examined …

Management Of Jellyfish Outbreaks To Achieve Good Environmental Status, Yolanda Sagarminaga, Stefano Pirano, Christopher P. Lynam, Valentina Leoni, Athanasios Nikolaou, Cornelia Jaspers, Mar Bosch-Belmar, Lara M. Fumarola, Angel Borja, Emanuela Spada, Eva Amorim, Patrizia Borrello, Roberta De Angelis, Antonella Leone, Natalia Montero, Luis Ferrer, Matthew Holland, Thomas K. Doyle, George Tsirtsis, Stelios Katsanevakis

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Jellyfish and gelatinous zooplankton (GZ) in general, fulfill important ecological roles with significant impacts, although they are often oversimplified or misunderstood. This paper reviews the impacts, pressures, monitoring methods and current management strategies for various GZ groups. It also introduces potentially applicable indicators for their assessment in ecosystem-based management approaches, such as the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). This multi-faceted review is primarily envisioned to serve as a state-of-the-art document for scientists and policymakers to foster a holistic assessment and management of GZ across European regional seas. The systematic review on global impacts of GZ shows a notable increase …

Inorganic Phosphorus Availability And Mobility In A Manufactured Soil, H Kate Schofield, Alan D Tappin, Tim R Pettitt, Gavyn K Rollinson, Mark F Fitzsimons

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Manufactured soils, created by combining various organic and inorganic waste materials and byproducts, may be tailored to specific applications, providing an alternative to the extraction of natural soils. It is important for them to be capable of supporting plant growth without the need for significant management or fertiliser applications, the over-application of which can have adverse environmental effects. We examined the dynamics of phosphorus (P) transformations within a manufactured soil and the implications for nutrient cycling. A freshly prepared manufactured soil (32.5 % composted green waste, 32.5 % composted bark, 25 % horticultural grit, and 10 % lignite clay) was …

Sheared Turbulent Flows And Wake Dynamics Of An Idled Floating Tidal Turbine, Lilian Lieber, Shaun Fraser, Danny Coles, Alex Nimmo Smith

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Ocean energy extraction is on the rise. While tides are the most predictable amongst marine renewable resources, turbulent and complex flows still challenge reliable tidal stream energy extraction and there is also uncertainty in how devices change the natural environment. To ensure the long-term integrity of emergent floating tidal turbine technologies, advances in field measurements are required to capture multiscale, real-world flow interactions. Here we use aerial drones and acoustic profiling transects to quantify the site- and scale-dependent complexities of actual turbulent flows around an idled, utility-scale floating tidal turbine (20 m rotor diameter, D). The combined spatial resolution of …

Explainable Ai For Autism Diagnosis: Identifying Critical Brain Regions Using Fmri Data, Suryansh Vidya, Kush Gupta, Amir Aly, Andy Wills, Emmanuel Ifeachor, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Early diagnosis and intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been shown to significantly improve the quality of life of autistic individuals. However, diagnostics methods for ASD rely on assessments based on clinical presentation that are prone to bias and can be challenging to arrive at an early diagnosis. There is a need for objective biomarkers of ASD which can help improve diagnostic accuracy. Deep learning (DL) has achieved outstanding performance in diagnosing diseases and conditions from medical imaging data. Extensive research has been conducted on creating models that classify ASD using resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data. However, …

Air Quality And Mental Illness: Role Of Bioaerosols, Causal Mechanisms And Research Priorities, Kamaldeep Bhui, Marcella Ucci, Prashant Kumar, Simon K. Jackson, Corinne Whitby, Ian Colbeck, Christian Pfrang, Zaheer A. Nasir, Frederic Coulon

School of Biomedical Sciences

BACKGROUND: Poor air quality can both trigger and aggravate lung and heart conditions, as well as affecting child development. It can even lead to neurological and mental health problems. However, the precise mechanisms by which air pollution affect human health are not well understood.

AIMS: To promote interdisciplinary dialogue and better research based on a critical summary of evidence on air quality and health, with an emphasis on mental health, and to do so with a special focus on bioaerosols as a common but neglected air constituent.

METHOD: A rapid narrative review and interdisciplinary expert consultation, as is recommended for …

Miocene Climatic Optimum And Middle Miocene Climate Transition: A Foraminiferal Record From The Central Ross Sea, Antarctica, Iodp Expedition 374 Scientists, Samantha E. Bombard, R. Mark Leckie, Imogen M. Browne, Amelia E. Shevenell, Robert M. Mckay, David M. Harwood, Jeanine Ash, François Beny, Giuseppe Cortese, Laura De Santis, Justin P. Dodd, Oliver M. Esper, Jenny A. Gales, Saki Ishino, Benjamin A. Keisling, Sookwan Kim, Sunghan Kim, Denise K. Kulhanek, Jan Sverre Laberg, Juliane Müller, Molly O. Patterson, Brian W. Romans, Oscar E. Romero, Francesca Sangiorgi, Osamu Seki, Shiv M. Singh, Isabela M. Cordeiro De Sousa, Saiko T. Sugisaki

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The Ross Sea record of the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO; ∼ 16.9–14.7 Ma) and the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (MMCT; ∼ 14.7–13.8 Ma) provides critical insights into Antarctic ocean–cryosphere interactions during a time of extreme warmth and subsequent cooling. Here we report on Lower to Middle Miocene foraminiferal assemblages from the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site U1521 on the outer shelf of the central Ross Sea to identify regional shifts in environmental and water mass conditions and trace continental shelf evolution. We identified seven benthic biofacies clusters, dominated by abundant Globocassidulina subglobosa (a proposed indicator of proto-Circumpolar Deep Water, …

Body, Ritual, And Place: Advancing Their Chronotopic Interrelationship In Design Praxis And Pedagogy Through An Exploration Of Juxtaposed Surfaces, Threshold Sites Of Dialogic Encounter, And Collage, Robert Brown, Zoe Latham

School of Art, Design and Architecture

Echoing philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin’s chronotope, an ‘intrinsic connectedness of temporal and spatial relationships,’ our work explores the interrelation of the body, ritual, and place as a chrontopic site of design and pedagogy. This exploration reaffirms architecture’s grounding in people, their inhabitation of place, and spatial form, an interrelatedness too often underexamined withinarchitectural education. First positioning ritual thematically, our discussion addresses three interrelated issues: the role of juxtaposed ritual surfaces in activating the body, ritual and place; the potential of ritual surfaces as threshold sites of dialogic encounter; and collage as a medium to investigate and communicate the interrelationship of body, …

Drivers Of Coral Reef Benthic Changes And Implications On Ecosystem Functioning And Services, Miriam Reverter

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Increasing anthropogenic stressors will likely result in many coral reefs undergoing compositional and functional benthic changes, including towards non-hard coral dominated communities. The decline of reef building species and the increase of alternative (i.e., non reef-building) organisms profoundly affect the functioning of coral reefs and the services provided, but this remains poorly understood, especially for non-algal alternative communities. Here, we propose a standardised framework to study coral reef benthic changes and review the knowledge on coral reef shifts and their implications on coral reef functioning and service provisioning using this framework, which contains the five following elements: 1) contextual information, …