Digital Commons Network^™

Fire Performance Assessment Of Concrete With Fly Ash As The Supplemental Cementitious Material, Kunjie Fan

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Material properties of concrete at elevated temperatures are imperative to structural fire safety assessment. However, fire performance of concrete at high temperature is extremely complex since concrete is a heterogeneous material with considerable variations. When it is subjected to thermal exposure, such as fire, concrete undergoes a series of significant physicochemical changes. Its mechanical behaviour is not only temperature dependent, but also loading history dependent, during the heating process. Therefore, the characterization of concrete properties at elevated temperatures is very challenging and the development of reliable and accurate constitutive models remains an unaccomplished task. The main aim of this thesis …

Maturity Model For Healthcare Cloud Security, Opeoluwa Ore Akinsanya

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Management of security across eHealth cloud services is a major organizational challenge that healthcare organizations seek to resolve in order to aid their trusts in cloud and increase the adoption of cloud services in healthcare. The organizational challenges regarding implementations of technical security solutions are the major limiting factors for the adoption of the eHealth cloud. As such, the aim of this research will focus on developing a security maturity model, which will help healthcare organizations to provide a description of the application of their cloud security services, and an assessment and improvement of their cloud security services over time, …

Risk Communication Framework For Parental Control In The Digital World, Moneerah N Alotaibi

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

The Internet is growing rapidly and is becoming an essential part of children’s lives. Internet use has many benefits for learning, participation, creativity, entertainment and communication. Along with such benefits, however, Internet use might expose children to a wide range of online risks. Some of those risks, such as bullying, exposure to pornography, and sexual exploitation, are known in the offline world but there are also new ones, such as the invasion of personal data and privacy, geolocation tracking, sexual messaging and harassment. Unfortunately, the existing mechanisms for protecting children online are ineffective. The parental controls currently available focus on …

Multi-Modal Personalisation In Long-Term Human-Robot Interaction, Bahar Irfan

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

While short-term interactions with robots benefit from the novelty effect, long-term interactions can suffer from a decrease in user interest and engagement. Based on the previous research within Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), the thesis presented here is that user experience in long-term human-robot interactions can be improved by personalising the interaction through recognising users and recalling previously learned information. User recognition is the first step towards personalising the interaction, however, there does not exist a reliable user recognition method for fully autonomous user recognition in long- term HRI for real-world applications. Correspondingly, this thesis proposes a Multi-modal Incremental Bayesian Network (MMIBN) …

Synthesis And Manufacture Of High Performance Fa-Ggbs-Hmns Based Geopolymer Concrete, Aissa Bouaissi

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Geopolymer has received great attention in recent years as a new material that could replace Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) for producing concrete. Geopolymer uses the raw materials rich in aluminium and silicon, which are activated by alkaline solutions to formulate the binder. It has been proven that the geopolymer could be a material capable of providing high-quality properties and having less environmental impact. This research project aims to investigate the capability for producing a geopolymer concrete (GPC) mainly based on the combination of various by-product materials (fly ash, (FA), ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) and high-magnesium nickel slag (HMNS)) at …

Coseismic And Monsoon-Triggered Landslide Impacts On Remote Trekking Infrastructure, Langtang Valley, Nepal, J. N. Jones, M. Stokes, S. J. Boulton, G. L. Bennett, M. R.Z. Whitworth

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Masthead

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) In The Uk: A Personality-Based Perspective On Concerns And Intention To Self-Isolate, Alison M. Bacon, Philip J. Corr

School of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Arsenic Concentrations, Distributions And Bioaccessibilities At A Unesco World Heritage Site (Devon Great Consols, Cornwall And West Devon Mining Landscape), Charlotte Braungardt, Xiaqing Chen, Daniel Chester-Sterne, James G.A. Quinn, Andrew Turner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Use Of Preoperative Cone-Beam Computed Tomography To Aid In Establishment Of Endodontic Working Length: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, A Paterson, V Franco, S Patel, F Foschi

Peninsula Dental School

Purpose This study was performed to assess the accuracy of preoperative cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), when justified for other reasons, in locating the apical foramen and establishing the working length. Materials and Methods Six electronic databases were searched for studies on this subject. All studies, of any type, were included if they compared measurements of working length with preoperative CBCT to measurements using an electronic apex locator (EAL) or histological reference standard. Due to the high levels of heterogeneity, an inverse-variance random-effects model was chosen, and weighted mean differences were obtained with 95% confidence intervals and P values. Results Nine …

Nrf2-Interacting Nutrients And Covid-19: Time For Research To Develop Adaptation Strategies, The Aria Group, Jean Bousquet, Jean Paul Cristol, Wienczyslawa Czarlewski, Josep M. Anto, Adrian Martineau, Tari Haahtela, Susana C. Fonseca, Guido Iaccarino, Hubert Blain, Alessandro Fiocchi, G. Walter Canonica, Joao A. Fonseca, Alain Vidal, Hak Jong Choi, Hyun Ju Kim, Vincent Le Moing, Jacques Reynes, Cezmi A. Akdis, Torsten Zuberbier, Amir Hamzah Abdul Latiff, Baharudin Abdullah, Werner Aberer, Nancy Abusada, Ian Adcock, Alejandro Afani, Ioana Agache, Xenofon Aggelidis, Jenifer Agustin

School of Psychology

There are large between- and within-country variations in COVID-19 death rates. Some very low death rate settings such as Eastern Asia, Central Europe, the Balkans and Africa have a common feature of eating large quantities of fermented foods whose intake is associated with the activation of the Nrf2 (Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2) anti-oxidant transcription factor. There are many Nrf2-interacting nutrients (berberine, curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, quercetin, resveratrol, sulforaphane) that all act similarly to reduce insulin resistance, endothelial damage, lung injury and cytokine storm. They also act on the same mechanisms (mTOR: Mammalian target of rapamycin, PPARγ:Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, NFκB: …

Co-Occurrence Across Time And Space Of Drug- And Cannabinoid- Exposure And Adverse Mental Health Outcomes In The National Survey Of Drug Use And Health: Combined Geotemporospatial And Causal Inference Analysis, Albert Stuart Reece, Gary Hulse

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Whilst many studies have linked increased drug and cannabis exposure to adverse mental health (MH) outcomes their effects on whole populations and geotemporospatial relationships are not well understood.

Methods

Ecological cohort study of National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) geographically-linked substate-shapefiles 2010–2012 and 2014–2016 supplemented by five-year US American Community Survey. Drugs: cigarettes, alcohol abuse, last-month cannabis use and last-year cocaine use. MH: any mental illness, major depressive illness, serious mental illness and suicidal thinking. Data analysis: two-stage, geotemporospatial, robust generalized linear regression and causal inference methods in R.

Results

410,138 NSDUH respondents. Average response rate 76.7%. …

Biceps Brachii Muscle Hardness Assessed By A Push-In Meter In Comparison To Ultrasound Strain Elastography, Mitsuyoshi Murayama, Kazunori Nosaka, Takayuki Inami, Norihiro Shima, Tsugutake Yoneda

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020, The Author(s). This study investigated the relationship between push-in meter (PM) and ultrasound strain elastography (USE) for biceps brachii (BB) muscle hardness. BB hardness of 21 young men was assessed by PM and USE during rest and isometric contractions of six different intensities (15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90% of maximal voluntary contraction: MVC) at 30°, 60° and 90° elbow flexion. Muscle hardness (E) was calculated from the force–displacement relationship in PM, and strain ratio (SR) between an acoustic coupler (elastic modulus: 22.6 kPa) and different regions of interest (ROIs) in BB was calculated and converted to Young’s …

Exponential Increase Of Plastic Burial In Mangrove Sediments As A Major Plastic Sink, C. Martin, F. Baalkhuyur, L. Valluzzi, V. Saderne, M. Cusack, H. Almahasheer, P. K. Krishnakumar, L. Rabaoui, M. A. Qurban, A. Arias-Ortiz, Pere Masqué, C. M. Duarte

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 The Authors. Sequestration of plastics in sediments is considered the ultimate sink of marine plastic pollution that would justify unexpectedly low loads found in surface waters. Here, we demonstrate that mangroves, generally supporting high sediment accretion rates, efficiently sequester plastics in their sediments. To this end, we extracted microplastics from dated sediment cores of the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf mangrove (Avicennia marina) forests along the Saudi Arabian coast. We found that microplastics <0.5 mm dominated in mangrove sediments, helping explain their scarcity, in surface waters. We estimate that 50 ± 30 and 110 ± 80 metric tons of plastic may have been buried since the 1930s in mangrove sediments across the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, respectively. We observed an exponential increase in the plastic burial rate (8.5 ± 1.2% year-1) since the 1950s in line with the global plastic production increase, confirming mangrove sediments as long-term sinks for plastics.

No Soldiers Left Behind: An Iot-Based Low-Power Military Mobile Health System Design, James Jin Kang, Wencheng Yang, Gordana Dermody, Mohammadreza Ghasemian, Sasan Adibi, Paul Haskell-Dowland

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2013 IEEE. There has been an increasing prevalence of ad-hoc networks for various purposes and applications. These include Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) and Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) which have emerging applications in health monitoring as well as user location tracking in emergency settings. Further applications can include real-Time actuation of IoT equipment, and activation of emergency alarms through the inference of a user's situation using sensors and personal devices through a LPWAN. This has potential benefits for military networks and applications regarding the health of soldiers and field personnel during a mission. Due to the wireless …

Acute Physiological Responses To High-Intensity Resistance Circuit Training Vs. Traditional Strength Training In Soccer Players, Cristian Marín-Pagán, Anthony J. Blazevich, Linda H. Chung, Salvador Romero-Arenas, Tomás T. Freitas, Pedro E. Alcaraz

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the cardiorespiratory and metabolic responses induced by high-intensity resistance circuit-based (HRC) and traditional strength (TS) training protocols. Ten amateur soccer players reported to the laboratory on four occasions: (1) protocol familiarization and load determination; (2) maximal oxygen consumption test; (3) and (4) resistance training protocols (HRC and TS), completed in a cross-over randomized order. In both protocols, the same structure was used (two blocks of 3 sets × 3 exercises, separated by a 5-min rest), with only the time between consecutive …

Broad Spectrum Epidemiological Contribution Of Cannabis And Other Substances To The Teratological Profile Of Northern New South Wales: Geospatial And Causal Inference Analysis, Albert Stuart Reece, Gary Kenneth Hulse

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020, The Author(s). Background: Whilst cannabis commercialization is occurring rapidly guided by highly individualistic public narratives, evidence that all congenital anomalies (CA) increase alongside cannabis use in Canada, a link with 21 CA’s in Hawaii, and rising CA’s in Colorado indicate that transgenerational effects can be significant and impact public health. It was therefore important to study Northern New South Wales (NNSW) where cannabis use is high. Methods: Design: Cohort. 2008–2015. Setting: NNSW and Queensland (QLD), Australia. Participants. Whole populations. Exposures. Tobacco, alcohol, cannabis. Source: National Drug Strategy Household Surveys 2010, 2013. Main Outcomes. CA Rates. NNSW-QLD comparisons. Geospatial …

One-Year Outcome And Adherence To Pharmacological Guidelines In First-Episode Schizophrenia: Results From A Consecutive Cohort Study, Petros Drosos, Kolbjørn Brønnick, Inge Joa, Jan Olav Johannessen, Erik Johnsen, Rune Andreas Kroken, Helen Joy Stain, Wenche Ten Velden Hegelstad, Tor Ketil Larsen

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. Background Remission in schizophrenia is difficult to achieve. Antipsychotic drugs are critical in the treatment of schizophrenia. International guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia recommend a 3-step algorithm with clozapine being the third-line antipsychotic agent. This study investigated the 1-year outcome and the application of the guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of nonremitted first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients during the first year of follow-up. Methods A sample of 78 FES patients from the Norwegian TIPS (Early Treatment and Intervention in Psychosis) 2 study was assessed at the end of the first year …

Distribution And Evolution Of Fukushima Dai-Ichi Derived 137cs, 90sr, And 129i In Surface Seawater Off The Coast Of Japan, Jennifer A. Kenyon, Ken O. Buesseler, Núria Casacuberta, Maxi Castrillejo, Shigeyoshi Otosaka, Pere Masqué, Jessica A. Drysdale, Steven M. Pike, Virginie Sanial

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 American Chemical Society. The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plants (FDNPPs) accident in 2011 led to an unprecedented release of radionuclides into the environment. Particularly important are 90Sr and 137Cs due to their known health detriments and long half-lives (T1/2 ≈ 30 y) relative to ecological systems. These radionuclides can be combined with the longer-lived 129I (T1/2 = 15.7 My) to trace hydrologic, atmospheric, oceanic, and geochemical processes. This study seeks to evaluate 137Cs, 90Sr, and 129I concentrations in seawater off the coast of Japan, reconcile the sources of contaminated waters, and assess the application of 137Cs/90Sr, 129I/137Cs, and …

Quantifiable Isovist And Graph-Based Measures For Automatic Evaluation Of Different Area Types In Virtual Terrain Generation, Andrew Pech, Chiou Peng Lam, Martin Masek

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2013 IEEE. This article describes a set of proposed measures for characterizing areas within a virtual terrain in terms of their attributes and their relationships with other areas for incorporating game designers' intent in gameplay requirement-based terrain generation. Examples of such gameplay elements include vantage point, strongholds, chokepoints and hidden areas. Our measures are constructed on characteristics of an isovist, that is, the volume of visible space at a local area and the connectivity of areas within the terrain. The calculation of these measures is detailed, in particular we introduce two new ways to accurately and efficiently calculate the …

Eftilagimod Alpha, A Soluble Lymphocyte Activation Gene-3 (Lag-3) Protein Plus Pembrolizumab In Patients With Metastatic Melanoma, Victoria Atkinson, Adnan Khattak, Andrew Haydon, Melissa Eastgate, Amitesh Roy, Prashanth Prithviraj, Christian Mueller, Chrystelle Brignone, Frederic Triebel

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. BACKGROUND: To evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of eftilagimod alpha (efti), a soluble lymphocyte activation gene-3 protein, in combination with the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) antagonist pembrolizumab. METHODS: The study was divided into two parts; parts A and B, where part A was the dose escalation part and part B was an extension part of the study. Patients with metastatic melanoma were treated with efti plus the standard dose of pembrolizumab. Blood samples were assayed to determine …

Contemporary Epidemiology Of Rising Atrial Septal Defect Trends Across Usa 1991–2016: A Combined Ecological Geospatiotemporal And Causal Inferential Study, Albert Stuart Reece, Gary Kenneth Hulse

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020, The Author(s). Background: Cardiovascular anomalies are the largest group of congenital anomalies and the major cause of death in young children, with various data linking rising atrial septal defect incidence (ASDI) with prenatal cannabis exposure. Objectives / Hypotheses. Is cannabis associated with ASDI in USA? Is this relationship causal? Methods: Geospatiotemporal cohort study, 1991–2016. Census populations of adults, babies, congenital anomalies, income and ethnicity. Drug exposure data on cigarettes, alcohol abuse, past month cannabis use, analgesia abuse and cocaine taken from National Survey of Drug Use and Health (78.9% response rate). Cannabinoid concentrations from Drug Enforcement Agency. Inverse …

Brainwave Nets: Are Sparse Dynamic Models Susceptible To Brain Manipulation Experimentation?, Diego C. Nascimento, Marco A. Pinto-Orellana, Joao P. Leite, Dylan J. Edwards, Francisco Louzada, Taiza E.G. Santos

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© Copyright © 2020 Nascimento, Pinto-Orellana, Leite, Edwards, Louzada and Santos. Sparse time series models have shown promise in estimating contemporaneous and ongoing brain connectivity. This paper was motivated by a neuroscience experiment using EEG signals as the outcome of our established interventional protocol, a new method in neurorehabilitation toward developing a treatment for visual verticality disorder in post-stroke patients. To analyze the [complex outcome measure (EEG)] that reflects neural-network functioning and processing in more specific ways regarding traditional analyses, we make a comparison among sparse time series models (classic VAR, GLASSO, TSCGM, and TSCGM-modified with non-linear and iterative optimizations) …

A Sample Weight And Adaboost Cnn-Based Coarse To Fine Classification Of Fruit And Vegetables At A Supermarket Self-Checkout, Khurram Hameed, Douglas Chai, Alexander Rassau

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The physical features of fruit and vegetables make the task of vision-based classification of fruit and vegetables challenging. The classification of fruit and vegetables at a supermarket self-checkout poses even more challenges due to variable lighting conditions and human factors arising from customer interactions with the system along with the challenges associated with the colour, texture, shape, and size of a fruit or vegetable. Considering this complex application, we have proposed a progressive coarse to fine classification technique to classify fruit and vegetables at supermarket checkouts. The image and weight of …

Turnaround Management Of Airport Service Providers Operating During Covid-19 Restrictions, Bassam Buhusayen, Pi-Shen Seet, Alan Coetzer

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Many sectors worldwide have been impacted by government restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, restrictions on travel have resulted in major losses for organizations operating within the aviation sector. This study aims to emphasize the challenges faced by these organizations while they implement turnaround management strategies. The study is based on 30 semi-structured interviews with frontline managers working for airline service providers in three different departments of an airport in Australia. The organization has implemented several turnaround management strategies to survive the crisis caused by COVID-19 restrictions, creating new …

Do Environmental And Financial Performances Affect Environmental Disclosures? Evidence From Listed Companies In Indonesia, Indah Fajarini Sri Wahyuningrum, Mochamad Arief Budihardjo, Fadel Iqbal Muhammad, Hadrian Geri Djajadikerta, Terri Trireksani

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 by author(s) and VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center. The number of companies in Indonesia that have participated in environmental-related activities continues to grow. Some of these companies have also engaged and implemented an assessment program called Program for Pollution Control, Evaluation, and Rating (PROPER). This assessment program was initially launched by the Indonesian Ministry of Environment in 1995 to measure and rate the environmental performance of companies in Indonesia. They have also administered an environmental management system as part of their environmental protection initiatives. However, the level of environmental disclosure by these companies is still low. This may …

Quantifying The Need For Supervised Machine Learning In Conducting Live Forensic Analysis Of Emergent Configurations (Eco) In Iot Environments, Victor R. Kebande, Richard A. Ikuesan, Nickson M. Karie, Sadi Alawadi, Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo, Arafat Al-Dhaqm

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 The Author(s) Machine learning has been shown as a promising approach to mine larger datasets, such as those that comprise data from a broad range of Internet of Things devices, across complex environment(s) to solve different problems. This paper surveys existing literature on the potential of using supervised classical machine learning techniques, such as K-Nearest Neigbour, Support Vector Machines, Naive Bayes and Random Forest algorithms, in performing live digital forensics for different IoT configurations. There are also a number of challenges associated with the use of machine learning techniques, as discussed in this paper.

Identifying The Critical Factors Of Sustainable Manufacturing Using The Fuzzy Dematel Method, Luwei Jiang, Tenghao Zhang, Yanfei Feng

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 Luwei Jiang et al., published by Sciendo 2020. The burgeoning trend of globalization gives rise to the formation of the manufacturing ecosystem. This study aims to identify the critical factors of sustainable manufacturing for countries and regions across the globe finding their unique ecological niches. From the perspective of the ecological niche, we develop an evaluation system of the manufacturing niche. By using the fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method, the critical factors, and its causal relationships of the manufacturing niche can be quantified and visualized. The results indicate that: (1) the evaluation system of the …

Scrambling The Skin: A Psychophysical Study Of Adaptation To Scrambled Tactile Apparent Motion, Tatjana Seizova-Cajic, Sandra Ludvigsson, Birger Sourander, Melinda Popov, Janet L. Taylor

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Copyright: © 2020 Seizova-Cajic et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. An age-old hypothesis proposes that object motion across the receptor surface organizes sensory maps (Lotze, 19th century). Skin patches learn their relative positions from the order in which they are stimulated during motion events. We propose that reversing the local motion within a global motion sequence (‘motion scrambling’) provides a good test for this idea, and present results of the …

Mental Distress And Quality Of Life Following Provision Of Vascular Imaging Results Of The Coronary And Carotid Arteries To Asymptomatic Adults: A Scoping Review Protocol, Reindolf Anokye, Ben Jackson, James Dimmock, Joanne M. Dickson, Lauren C. Blekkenhorst, Jonathan M. Hodgson, Joshua Lewis, Mandy Stanley

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Non-invasive screening for atherosclerosis or asymptomatic cardiovascular disease of the coronary and carotid arteries is commonly undertaken, and research has been focussed on how results from these screenings lead to behaviour change. However, no review has focused on the effects of these results on mental distress and quality of life. This protocol will outline how a scoping review will be conducted to map all available evidence on mental distress or quality of life outcomes following the provision of vascular imaging results of the coronary and carotid arteries.

Methods: Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework will guide the scoping review. Databases …