Digital Commons Network^™

Addressing A Wider Problem: Enhancing Access To Radiographic Imaging Using Point-Of-Care Imaging And Non-Radiographers In Remote And Rural Settings, Samuel Huczmann

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORDS: RESEARCH + ACTION

Improving Electronic Health Charting By Nurses In The Intensive Care Unit: An Evidence Informed Change Project, Dayananda Bittenahalli Omkarappa

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORDS: KNOWLEDGE + ACTION

Mapping Clinical Skills’ Inductions For Allied Health Professions Within An Integrated Care System: A Service Development Project, Sharn Hooper

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORDS: KNOWLEDGE + ACTION

Establishing A Community Of Practice For Nursing Associates Working In Mental Health, Learning Disabilities And Autism Care, Peter Watt

South West Clinical School Journal

#400WORDS: RESEARCH + ACTION

Barriers And Facilitators To Dental Care Services Utilization Among Children With Disabilities: A Systematic Review And Thematic Synthesis, Shiamaa Al-Mashhadani, Mona Nasser, Anas Alsalami, Lorna Burns, Martha Paisi

Peninsula Dental School

BACKGROUND: This systematic review investigates barriers and enablers to dental care utilization by disabled children. Given the high global prevalence of disabilities in children, coupled with poor oral hygiene and a 45% rate of dental caries in this group, developing inclusive oral health strategies is critical. The review aims to synthesize literature on factors affecting oral healthcare improvement for disabled children, identifying barriers, facilitators and knowledge gaps.

METHODS: The review was conducted following the Joanna Briggs Institute's methods and reported according to PRISMA guidelines. A comprehensive search spanned multiple databases, considering perspectives from carers, parents, dentists and health professionals. The …

The Anchoring Policy Perspective On Policy Change: Mechanisms, Applications And Analytical Challenges, Tor Håkon Jackson Inderberg, Ian Bailey

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

How functional relationships between policies influence policy design and policy change has received relatively limited attention within public policy scholarship despite the importance of policy coordination. This article contributes to addressing this gap by introducing the Anchoring Policies Perspective (APP), a framework for analysing interactions between policies in functional policy hierarchies. The APP examines how formal links between anchoring policies (AP) and functionally subordinate policies (SP) generate anchoring effects, whereby the provisions codified in APs generate alignment pressures that channel the design of SPs towards the norms and goals of the AP. In the article, we examine the analytical contribution …

Investigating The Role Of Mental Imagery Use In The Assessment Of Anhedonia, Julie L Ji, Marcella L Woud, Angela Rölver, Lies Notebaert, Jemma Todd, Patrick J F Clarke, Frances Meeten, Jürgen Margraf, Simon E Blackwell

School of Psychology

Anhedonia, or a deficit in the liking, wanting, and seeking of rewards, is typically assessed via self-reported "in-the-moment" emotional and motivational responses to reward stimuli and activities. Given that mental imagery is known to evoke emotion and motivational responses, we conducted two studies to investigate the relationship between mental imagery use and self-reported anhedonia. Using a novel Reward Response Scale (adapted from the Dimensional Anhedonia Rating Scale, DARS; Rizvi et al., 2015) modified to assess deliberate and spontaneous mental imagery use, Study 1 ( N  = 394) compared uninstructed and instructed mental imagery use, and Study 2 ( N  = …

Unless We Confront Antimicrobial Resistance Now, We Risk The Consequences Of A Post-Antibiotic Society, Lovleen Tina Joshi

Peninsula Dental School

The UK government’s five year antimicrobial resistance national action plan will need to tackle the lack of progress and a rapidly declining workforceAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Resistance to commonly used antimicrobial medicines is already disrupting medicine and adversely affecting patient treatment.1 Efforts have been made internationally to reduce overuse of antimicrobials and to preserve them for future generations, but there is still much to be done. The UK will be at the forefront of these efforts nationally and internationally with its national action plan (NAP)2 that sets out five years of …

Post-Movement Beta Synchrony Inhibits Cortical Excitability, Edward Rhodes, William Gaetz, Jonathan Marsden, Stephen D. Hall

School of Health Professions

Background/Objectives: This study investigates the relationship between movement-related beta synchrony and primary motor cortex (M1) excitability, focusing on the time-dependent inhibition of movement. Voluntary movement induces beta frequency (13–30 Hz) event-related desynchronisation (B-ERD) in M1, followed by post-movement beta rebound (PMBR). Although PMBR is linked to cortical inhibition, its temporal relationship with motor cortical excitability is unclear. This study aims to determine whether PMBR acts as a marker for post-movement inhibition by assessing motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) during distinct phases of the beta synchrony profile. Methods: Twenty-five right-handed participants (mean age: 24 years) were recruited. EMG data were recorded from the …

Understanding The Drivers Of Industry 4.0 Technologies To Enhance Supply Chain Sustainability: Insights From The Agri-Food Industry, Guoqing Zhao, Xiaoning Chen, Paul Jones, Shaofeng Liu, Carmen Lopez, Leonardo Leoni, Denis Dennehy

Plymouth Business School

The sustainability of agri-food supply chains (AFSCs) is severely threatened by regional and global events (e.g., conflicts, natural and human-made disasters, climate crises). In response, the AFSC industry is seeking digital solutions using Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies to enhance resilience and efficiency. However, why I4.0 adoption remains stubbornly low in the agri-food industry remains poorly understood. To address this gap, this study draws on middle-range theory (MRT) and uses thematic analysis, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, total interpretive structural modelling, and fuzzy cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification to produce insights from nine case studies in China that have invested …

Integral Ida-Pbc Of Underactuated Mechanical Systems With Actuator Dynamics And Uncertain Coupling, Enrico Franco, Pablo Borja

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

This work investigates the passivity-based control of a class of underactuated mechanical systems with first-order actuator dynamics and constant but uncertain coupling. The main contribution is a new dynamic extension of the interconnection-and-damping-assignment passivity-based control methodology that compensates for the effect of the model uncertainty. The effectiveness of the controller is demonstrated with numerical simulations on a ball-on-beam system.

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 …

Experiences Of Integrating Social Prescribing Link Workers Into Primary Care In England: Bolting On, Fitting In Or Belonging, Stephanie Tierney, Debra Westlake, Geoff Wong, Amadea Turk, Steven Markham, Jordan Gorenberg, Joanne Reeve, Caroline Mitchell, Kerryn Husk, Sabi Redwood, Catherine Pope, Beccy Baird, Kamal R. Mahtani

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Following the 2019 NHS Long-Term Plan, link workers (LWs) have been employedacross primary care in England to deliver social prescribing (SP).Aim: To understand and explain how the LW role is being implemented in primary care in England.Design and setting: Realist evaluation undertaken in England.Method: Focused ethnographies around seven LWs from different parts of England. As part of this,we interviewed 61 patients and 93 professionals from healthcare and the voluntary, community andsocial enterprise (VCSE) sector. We reinterviewed 41 patients, seven LWs and a LW manager 9-12months after their first interview.Results: We developed four concepts around how LWs are integrated (or …

All-Multiplicity Amplitudes In Impulsive Pp-Waves From The Worldline Formalism, Patrick Copinger, James P. Edwards, Anton Ilderton, Karthik Rajeev

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

We use the worldline formalism to derive Bern-Kosower type Master Formulae for the tree-level scattering of a charged particle and an arbitrary number of photons on impulsive PP-waves, where the coupling of the PP-wave to matter is treated fully non-perturbatively. We show that, in a certain kinematic regime characterised by a semi-classical positive energy condition, both off-shell currents and scattering amplitudes exhibit two novel factorisation structures. First, they may be written as currents in vacuum but with a single additional photon, averaged over the momentum of that photon. This converts the all-orders interaction with the PP-wave into a single effective …

A Cross-Sectional Study Of Healthcare Provider Perceptions Of The Management Of Epilepsy In Pregnancy In Sub-Saharan Africa, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Epilepsy prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa is high with a significant treatment gap. In this context,epilepsy presents substantial challenges to effective and safe reproductive and maternal healthcare. To improvethis, it is important to understand the views and perceptions of healthcare professionals delivering epilepsy careto this population.Methods: This study uses an online questionnaire which asked healthcare professionals (both from nursing andmedical backgrounds) who work in sub-Saharan African countries to rate a set of pre-established optionsdesigned with the feedback of a local focus group of epilepsy experts from countries targeted. The questionnaireconsisted of 21 questions and was a mix of multiple choice …

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 …

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, …

Characteristics Of Natural Environment Use By Occupational Therapists Working In Mental Health Care: A Scoping Review, Ruth Bishop, Frazer Underwood, Fiona Fraser, Lisa Burrows, Jill Shawe

School of Health Professions

Objective: The objective of this review was to identify and characterize the use of the natural environment/outdoor space by occupational therapists working in mental health care. This included consideration of the characteristics of the environment used, interventions, mental health conditions being treated, and the outcomes being used. Introduction: Research has demonstrated the link between human health and the environment. The benefits appear to be particularly relevant to people with mental health conditions. Occupational therapists already consider the environment when assessing and developing interventions, and therefore are well placed to consider and use the natural environment in mental health practice. However, …

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, …

Nurturing Well-Being In Dentistry: A Mindshed Approach, Tej Morjaria, Morag Powell

Peninsula Dental School

No abstract provided.

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 …

2024 Uk And Ireland Modified Delphi Consensus On Myopia Management In Children And Young People, Phillip Buckhurst, Hetal Buckhurst

School of Health Professions

Abstract Introduction This work aimed to establish the largest UK and Ireland consensus on myopia management in children and young people (CYP). Methods A modified Delphi consensus was conducted with a panel of 34 optometrists and ophthalmologists with expertise in myopia management. Results Two rounds of voting took place and 131 statements were agreed, including that interventions should be discussed with parents/carers of all CYP who develop myopia before the age of 13 years, a recommendation for interventions to be publicly funded for those at risk of fast progression and high myopia, that intervention selection should take into account the …

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, …

Reflecting On Reflexivity In Realist Evaluation: A Call To Action, John Downey, Sarah Rybczynska-Bunt

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Realist evaluation is increasingly utilised across disciplines due to the value of identifying which mechanisms may explain how, and why, particular outcomes are generated in specific contexts. In theory, realist evaluation provides a tangible way to analyse the inherent complexity in many pressing societal challenges. Realist evaluation encourages a mixed methods approach and choosing a suite of methods that are most relevant within a specific project. Yet, navigating a plurality of methods with abstract philosophical concepts brings operational challenges such that, further methodological guidance is needed. Research processes can be opaque and although the relativist epistemology in realist evaluation is …

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, …

Navigating The Complexities Of End-Stage Renal Disease (Esrd) From Risk Factors To Outcome: Insights From The Uk Biobank Cohort, Debasish Kar, Durjoy Acharjee, Victoria Allgar, Aya El-Wazir, Soon Song, Ashish Verma, Umesh Kadam, Simon De Lusignan, Richard Byng, Aziz Sheikh, Mintu Nath, Bedowra Zabeen, Shubharthi Kar, Shakila Banu, Habibur Rahman, Navid Khan

Peninsula Medical School

SummaryBackgroundThe prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is rising worldwide. Hyperglycaemia, hypertension, and dyslipidaemia are known risk factors. However, despite managing these risk factors optimally, ESRD cases are increasing. This study aims to explore the relationship between different cardiorenal risk factors and ESRD to address this global challenge.MethodsThis cross-sectional study used data from participants recruited between 2006 and 2010 in UK Biobank. Seven multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to analyse the risk factors for ESRD. Results are presented as adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).FindingsAmong 502,408 study participants, 1191 (0.2%) were diagnosed with ESRD. Individuals …

Insights Into The Diet And Feeding Behavior Of Immature Polar Cod (Boreogadus Saida) From The Under-Ice Habitat Of The Central Arctic Ocean, The Mosaic Team Eco, Fokje L. Schaafsma, Hauke Flores, Carmen L. David, Giulia Castellani, Serdar Sakinan, André Meijboom, Barbara Niehoff, Astrid Cornils, Nicole Hildebrandt, Katrin Schmidt, Pauline Snoeijs-Leijonmalm, Julia Ehrlich, Carin J. Ashjian

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Polar cod (Boreogadus saida) is an endemic key species of the Arctic Ocean ecosystem. The ecology of this forage fish is well studied in Arctic shelf habitats where a large part of its population lives. However, knowledge about its ecology in the central Arctic Ocean (CAO), including its use of the sea-ice habitat, is hitherto very limited. To increase this knowledge, samples were collected at the under-ice surface during several expeditions to the CAO between 2012 and 2020, including the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition. The diet of immature B. saida and the taxonomic …

Use Of Emergency Departments By Children And Young People Following Telephone Triage: A Large Database Study, Akshay Kumar, Kerryn Husk, Rebecca Simpson, Graham Johnson, Christopher Burton

Peninsula Medical School

Background Although one objective of NHS 111 is to ease the strain on urgent and emergency care services, studies suggest the telephone triage service may be contributing to increased demand. Moreover, while parents and caregivers generally find NHS 111 satisfactory, concerns exist about its integration with the healthcare system and the appropriateness of advice. This study aimed to analyse the advice provided in NHS 111 calls, the duration between the call and ED attendance, and the outcomes of such attendances made by children and young people (C&YP).Methods A retrospective cohort study was carried out of C&YP (≤17) attending an ED …

Modulational Instability Of Nonuniformly Damped, Broad-Banded Waves: Applications To Waves In Sea Ice, Raphael Stuhlmeier, Conor Heffernan, Alberto Alberello, Emilian Pǎrǎu

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

This paper sets out to explore the modulational (or Benjamin-Feir) instability of a monochromatic wave propagating in the presence of damping such as that induced by sea ice on the ocean surface. The fundamental wave motion is modelled using the spatial Zakharov equation, to which either uniform or nonuniform (frequency-dependent) damping is added. By means of mode truncation the spatial analog of the classical Benjamin-Feir instability can be studied analytically using dynamical systems techniques. The formulation readily yields the free surface and its envelope, giving insight into the physical implications of damping on the modulational instability. The evolution of an …

The Experiences Of Physiotherapists Delivering Pain Science Education Via An Interpreter: A Mixed-Methods Online Survey, Samuel Browne, Patricia Schofield, Cormac G. Ryan

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Objective: To explore physiotherapist’s experiences of delivering Pain Science Education (PSE) via an interpreter to people with persistent pain. Method: A cross-sectional online survey study of UK Physiotherapists. The study protocol was registered on the Open Science Framework Registry. Seventy-seven physiotherapists with experience of delivering PSE via an interpreter completed the survey between January 16, 2023 and May 24, 2023. Feelings of stress and confidence the messages of PSE had been understood when delivering PSE with and without an interpreter were assessed on an 11-point Likert scale. In addition, drop-down, multi-selection lists were presented with barriers and facilitators to delivering …