Digital Commons Network^™

Perceived Nexus Between Non-Invigilated Summative Assessment And Mental Health Difficulties: A Cross Sectional Studies, Amanda Graf, Esther Adama, Ebenezer Afrifa-Yamoah, Kwadwo Adusei-Asante

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly led to changes in the mode of teaching, learning and assessments in most tertiary institutions worldwide. Notably, non-invigilated summative assessments became predominant. These changes heightened anxiety and depression, especially among individuals with less resilient coping mechanism. We explored the perceptions and experiences of mental health difficulties of students in tertiary education regarding non-invigilated alternative assessments in comparison to invigilated assessments. A pragmatic, mixed method cross sectional design was conducted online via Qualtrics. Thematic analysis of text was carried out using NVivo 12. In the quantitative analysis, univariable and multivariable ordinal logistic models were used to examine …

Intake Of Dietary Flavonoids And Incidence Of Ischemic Heart Disease In The Danish Diet, Cancer, And Health Cohort, Benjamin H. Parmenter, Frederik Dalgaard, Kevin Murray, Guillaume Marquis-Gravel, Aedín Cassidy, Catherine P. Bondonno, Joshua R. Lewis, Kevin D. Croft, Cecilie Kyrø, Gunnar Gislason, Augustin Scalbert, Anne Tjønneland, Kim Overvad, Jonathan M. Hodgson, Nicola P. Bondonno

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background/Objectives:

Few studies have investigated the association between dietary flavonoid intake, including all major subclasses, and the long-term risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD). We examined whether dietary flavonoid intake associated with IHD incidence, assessing the possible modifying role of sex and smoking, in participants from the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health study.

Subjects/Methods:

In a cohort study design, 54,496 adults (46.8 % male), aged 50 – 64 years, without a history of IHD, were followed for up to 23 years. Habitual dietary flavonoid intake was estimated from food frequency questionnaires using Phenol-Explorer. Incident cases of IHD were identified within …

Partially Oxidative Torrefaction Of Woody Biomass Pellets: Burning Behaviour And Emission Analysis, Sajid Riaz, Yasir M. Al-Abdeli, Ibukun Oluwoye

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Non-conventional torrefaction under partially oxidative conditions is an emerging cost-effective thermochemical pre-treatment method to improve the quality of biomass for energy applications. The literature lacks data on the combustion of biomass torrefied under oxygen-deficient atmosphere with actual reactor conditions (inevitable non-uniformities in the thermal environment). In this work, a dual mode fixed-bed biomass (torrefaction) reactor and combustor was operated on Australian biomass pellets, to torrefy the fuels at 275 °C for 30 min using partially oxidative atmosphere (O₂: 5 vol %, balance N₂) and then to combust them. Combustion behaviour with a particular focus on gaseous …

The Benefits To Bone Health In Children And Pre-School Children With Additional Exercise Interventions: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Callum Mccaskie, Aris Siafarikas, Jodie Cochrane Wilkie, Vanessa Sutton, Paola Chivers, Nicolas H. Hart, Myles C. Murphy

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Objective: Determine if exercise interventions, beyond what is already provided to children and preschool children, improve bone health and reduce fracture incidence. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis reported using the PRISMA guidelines. Certainty of evidence was assessed using GRADE recommendations. Data sources: Five electronic databases were searched for records: PUBMED; CINAHL; CENTRAL; SPORTDiscus; Web of Science. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies: Randomised, quasi-randomised and non-randomised controlled trials (including cluster-randomised) assessing the impact of additional exercise interventions (e.g., increased physical education classes or specific jumping programs) on bone health in children (6 – 12 years) and pre-school children (2 – 5 …

Summary Of Alcohol And Drug Treatment For Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Australian Indigenous Healthinfonet

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This summary is based on the Review of alcohol and drug treatment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It provides an overview of the available evidence for treatment approaches to help a person reduce or stop substance use. These are treatments for when a person has evidence of either hazardous use or problem alcohol and other drug (AOD) use (see Box 1 for terms used). Some approaches to address substance use are not included in this summary (e.g. for tobacco cessation or volatile substance use). This summary presents information on:

• the available research and other evidence that underpins …

Dietary Counselling Of Children With Food Allergy, Julia Eisenblaetter

School of Health Professions Theses

Background: The management of food allergy is challenging for children and their families. Several international guidelines recommend involving dietitians in the management; however, their tasks remain uncertain, and the effectiveness of dietary counselling has rarely been investigated. Therefore, the aim of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of dietary counselling in children with food allergy regarding food allergy related quality of life (QoL), number of allergic reactions, and growth as indicator of nutritional status and diet diversity. Methods: The project was guided by the Complex Intervention Model by the Medical Research Council. To reach the overall aim there needed …

Investigating Letter Identification For Visual Acuity Measurements In The Paracentral Visual Field, Hatem Barhoom

School of Health Professions Theses

Sloan letters are commonly used optotypes in clinical practice, but they exhibit different relative legibility, which may be attributed to response bias, sensitivity differences, and letter similarity. In this thesis, we employed Luce’s choice model and developed a new noisy template model to investigate the role of response bias, sensitivity differences, and letter similarity in letter identification of Sloan letters at central and paracentral locations. Results show that the best model was the one that accounted for the effects of bias, sensitivity, and similarity, with bias contributing more than sensitivity and similarity. However, when estimating the letter acuity from the …

Efficacy And Acceptability Of Mobilisation And Stretches Of The Foot And Ankle In People With Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy, Vasileios Lepesis

School of Health Professions Theses

People with diabetic peripheral neuropathy and limited joint mobility syndrome (LJMS) can experience increased forefoot peak plantar pressures (PPPs). Elevated PPPs are a risk factor for diabetic neuropathic foot ulceration. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy can also affect balance and increase the risk of falling. This thesis investigated the efficacy and acceptability of foot and ankle mobilisations combined with home stretches in people living at risk of neuropathic diabetic foot ulceration and falling. A systematic review and meta-analysis examined the effects of foot and ankle physical therapy modalities for the management of foot and ankle joint mobility, PPPs, and balance. The review …

Differential Response And The Reduction Of Child Maltreatment And Foster Care Services Utilization In The U.S. From 2004 To 2017, Michelle Johnson-Motoyama, Donna K. Ginther, Rebecca Phillips, Oliver W.J. Beer, Lisa Merkel-Holguin, John Fluke

School of Health Professions

By 2014, the majority of U.S. states had implemented differential response (DR), a system policy that seeks to serve families of low-to moderate-risk for child maltreatment through family engagement, diversion from formal child protective services investigations, and service provision. However, the effects of DR programs on child welfare dynamics have yet to be evaluated nationally using causal methods. Using a quasi-experimental study design with data drawn from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System from 2004 to 2017, we found states with DR programs had approximately 19% fewer substantiated reports, 25% fewer children substantiated for neglect, and a 17% …

Covid-19 And The Physio4fmd Trial: Impact, Mitigating Strategies And Analysis Plans, Louise Marston, Novere M Le, Federico Ricciardi, Irwin Nazareth, Alan Carson, Mark Edwards, Laura H. Goldstein, Jonathan Marsden, Hayley Noble, Markus Reuber, Jon Stone, Rachael M. Hunter, Glenn Nielsen

School of Health Professions

Introduction Functional motor disorder (FMD) is a common cause of disabling neurological symptoms such as weakness and tremor. Physio4FMD is a pragmatic, multicentre single blind randomised controlled trial to evaluate effectiveness and cost effectiveness of specialist physiotherapy for FMD. Like many other studies this trial was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods The planned statistical and health economics analyses for this trial are described, as well as the sensitivity analyses designed to assess the disruption caused by COVID-19. The trial treatment of at least 89 participants (33%) was disrupted due to the pandemic. To account for this, we have extended …

Modelling Nhs England 111 Demand For Primary Care Services: A Discrete Event Simulation, R Pilbery, M Smith, J Green, D Chalk, Ca O'Keeffe

School of Health Professions

ObjectivesThis feasibility study aimed to model in silico the current healthcare system for patients triaged to a primary care disposition following a call to National Health Service (NHS) 111 and determine the effect of reconfiguring the healthcare system to ensure a timely primary care service contact.DesignDiscrete event simulation.SettingSingle English NHS 111 call centre in Yorkshire.ParticipantsCallers registered with a Bradford general practitioner who contacted the NHS 111 service in 2021 and were triaged to a primary care disposition.Primary and secondary outcome measuresFace validity of conceptual model. Comparison between real and simulated data for quarterly counts (and 95% CIs) for patient contact …

Anticipatory Reward Dysfunction In Alcohol Dependence: An Electroencephalography Monetary Incentive Delay Task Study, Mica Komarnyckyj, Chris Retzler, Robert Whelan, Oliver Young, Elsa Fouragnan, Anna Murphy

School of Psychology

A wealth of functional magnetic resonance imaging monetary incentive delay task (MIDT) research has shown alcohol dependency is associated with a hypoactive striatal response during gain anticipation (gain > neutral) and loss anticipation (loss > neutral). Electroencephalography (EEG) holds clinical advantages over fMRI (high temporal resolution, low cost, portable) however its use to study reward processing in alcohol dependence is limited. We aimed to carry out the first EEG MIDT (eMIDT) study in alcohol dependence. 21 abstinent alcohol dependent individuals and 26 controls performed an MIDT while neural activity was recorded using 64-channel EEG. Trial averaged event-related potentials (ERPs) and single-trial machine …

Does Variability In Recognition Memory Scale With Mean Memory Strength Or Encoding Variability In The Uvsd Model?, Rory W. Spanton, Christopher J. Berry

School of Psychology

The unequal variance signal detection (UVSD) model of recognition memory assumes that the variance of old item memory strength (σo) is typically greater than that of new items. It has been suggested that this old item variance effect can be explained by the encoding variability hypothesis. However, Spanton and Berry (2020) failed to find evidence for this account, suggesting that σo may simply scale with mean memory strength ( d) in the UVSD model. Experiments 1 and 2 examined the effects of encoding variability and strength scaling on old item variance by creating conditions in which mean memory strength and …

Standardised Data Collection From People With Dementia Over The Telephone: A Qualitative Study Of The Experience Of Determind Programme Researchers In A Pandemic, Kate Gridley, Josie Dixon, Ben Hicks, Yvonne Birks, Kate Baxter, Eleanor Miles, Louise Robinson, Rotem Perach, Sube Banerjee

More Faculty of Health Research

There is a notable lack of evidence on what constitutes good practice in remote quantitative data collection from research participants with dementia. During the COVID-19 pandemic face-to-face research became problematic, especially where participants were older and more at risk of infection. The DETERMIND-C19 study, a large cohort study of people with dementia, switched to telephone data collection over this period. This paper explores the experiences of researchers who collected quantitative data over the telephone from people with dementia during the first COVID-19 lockdowns in England. The aim was to learn from these experiences, share insights and inform future research practice …

Mouthwashes: Implications For Practice, Zoë L.S. Brookes, Michael Mccullough, Purnima Kumar, Colman Mcgrath

Peninsula Dental School

This is the concluding article in the supplement on the role of mouthwashes in oral care, which summarises the current guidelines across the globe regarding their acceptable adjunctive use for managing caries, gingivitis, and periodontal disease. Based on moderate evidence for clinical effectiveness, most current guidelines suggest fluoride mouthwashes for the management of dental caries, and chlorhexidine for the management of periodontal diseases. However there still appears to be gaps in the literature underpinning these recommendations. Importantly, all evidence supports such mouthwash use “adjunctively,” alongside mechanical oral hygiene measures. Other antimicrobial mouthwashes such as essential oils and cetylpyridinium chloride may …

Enhancing Restaurant Dining Experience: Design And Evaluation Of A Mobile App For Personalized Menu Item Selection In Restaurants, Kimia Tuz Zaman

Computer Science

Picking the right food item from a restaurant menu can be challenging for people, specially for those who are unfamiliar with local cuisine and those with specific dietary requirements. Existing menus often lack essential information, making it difficult for diners to make quick and confident decisions. In this paper, we propose a mobile app that offers a user-friendly interface to allows users rank menu items based on their preferences and concerns. Using personalized ranking algorithms, the app analyzes the ingredients and nutritional content of menu items, providing users with valuable information to make informed choices. Preliminary tests suggest that the …

Taking Persephone: The Rhetoric Of Consent In Rachel Smythe's Webtoon Lore Olympus (2018), Kaitlynn Toay

English

Lore Olympus is a webtoon that reimagines the taking of Persephone in an animated, comic style. In this paper, I discuss the rhetoric of consent through a visual analysis using the intersecting fields of classical reception, feminist rhetoric, and digital humanities. I use two versions of the taking of Persephone for my analysis: Ovid’s Metamorphoses and “The Homeric Hymn to Demeter.” My analysis is split into two parts, with the first being a visual analysis of 4 panels of the webtoon, focusing on how each depicts the rhetoric of consent. The second part of my analysis is focused on the …

The Future Of Accounting Talent: Career Values, Choices And Satisfaction Among Early Career Accountants, Denise Jackson, Julia Richardson, Grant Michelson, Rahat Munir

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Amid a global war for accounting talent, this paper extends our understanding of early career accountants’ (ECAs) career values and the alignment between their career expectations and experiences when entering the profession. Drawing on survey data from 305 ECAs and 165 managers/recruiters of ECAs in Australia, the paper uses social cognitive career theory and person–organisation fit theory to explore the dynamic interplay between individual and contextual factors and career values, career choices and subsequent career satisfaction. The findings emphasise the importance of both intrinsic, and to a lesser extent extrinsic, career values for ECAs, with variations by gender and organisation …

Meaningful Youth Work Careers: Assumptions, Misconceptions, And Realities, John Sutcliffe, Trudi Cooper

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The existing literature pertaining to youth work as a career is sparse, limited, and outdated, with the literature that does exist representing a largely negative image of youth work as a career. What then of those who have had a long-term career in youth work? The authors use a recent phenomenological research study to question assumptions and identify misconceptions about youth work as a career, and to discuss the findings from this research to provide a more realistic and contemporary understanding of long-term youth work careers. The phenomenological study discussed in this paper interviewed ten degree-qualified youth workers in Western …

No Time For Silence, Just Repeat After Me: A Three Study Perspective On Teacher And Child Interactions Over Time, Gillian Kirk, Marianne June Knaus, Beverley Adkin

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper examines data from three separate studies on teacher-child interactions for evidence of verbal and non-verbal semiotic resources across different times and contexts. Each study utilised qualitative methodologies, employing observations guided by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System manual and teacher semi-structured interviews. Sociocultural perspectives frame the examination of teacher-child mediations of socially and culturally derived semiotic notions and are used to conceptualise findings. Critical Discourse Analysis highlighted how language and silences in interactions contribute to power structures. The study found that while time and context cannot be causal to change, they do correlate with an increasing focus on literacy …

Time-Out For Well-Being: A Mixed Methods Evaluation Of Attitudes And Likelihood To Engage In Different Types Of Online Emotional Well-Being Programmes In The Perinatal Period, Jacqueline A. Davis, Amy L. Finlay-Jones, Natasha Bear, Susan L. Prescott, Desiree T. Silva, Jeneva L. Ohan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Positive maternal mental health during the perinatal period contributes to general well-being and positive emotional bonds with the child, encouraging an optimal developmental trajectory. Online interventions to enhance maternal well-being and develop coping skills, such as meditation-based interventions, can be a low-cost way to improve mother and child outcomes. However, this depends on end-user engagement. To date, there is limited evidence about women’s willingness to engage and preferences for online programmes. Objectives: This study explored pregnant women’s attitudes towards and likelihood to undertake minimal online well-being training programmes (mindfulness, self-compassion, or general relaxation), engagement barriers and enablers, and programme …

Sixteen-Year Longitudinal Evaluation Of Blood-Based Dna Methylation Biomarkers For Early Prediction Of Alzheimer's Disease, Fernanda Schäfer Hackenhaar, Maria Josefsson, Annelie Nordin Adolfsson, Mattias Landfors, Karolina Kauppi, Tenielle Porter, Lidija Milicic, Simon M. Laws, Magnus Hultdin, Rolf Adolfsson, Sofie Degerman, Sara Pudas, Australian Imaging Biomarkers And Lifestyle Study

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

BACKGROUND: DNA methylation (DNAm), an epigenetic mark reflecting both inherited and environmental influences, has shown promise for Alzheimer's disease (AD) prediction. OBJECTIVE: Testing long-term predictive ability ( > 15 years) of existing DNAm-based epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) measures and identifying novel early blood-based DNAm AD-prediction biomarkers. METHODS: EAA measures calculated from Illumina EPIC data from blood were tested with linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) in a longitudinal case-control sample (50 late-onset AD cases; 51 matched controls) with prospective data up to 16 years before clinical onset, and post-onset follow-up. Novel DNAm biomarkers were generated with epigenome-wide LMMs, and Sparse Partial Least Squares …

Development Of A 3-D-Printable Device For Continuous Measuring Of Heavy Metal Ion Concentrations, Charl De Villiers, Magdalena Wajrak, Alex Lubansky

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Three-dimensional (3-D) printing offers the potential to create a range of tailored devices within many different industrial facilities. In this article, devices were designed and fabricated using 3-D printing to house electrodes for the testing of heavy metal concentration in hazardous fluids, particularly for biological samples such as urine or blood. The devices, connected to a syringe pump, were shown to be able to be operated without leaking. Proof of concept experiments were performed using Anodic Stripping Voltammetry (ASV) methods, demonstrating that the devices are able to be used for quick, cheap testing, showing the potential of the technique as …

Decline Of Seagrass (Posidonia Oceanica) Production Over Two Decades In The Face Of Warming Of The Eastern Mediterranean Sea, Victoria Litsi-Mizan, Pavlos T. Efthymiadis, Vasilis Gerakaris, Oscar Serrano, Manolis Tsapakis, Eugenia T. Apostolaki

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

* The response of Posidonia oceanica meadows to global warming of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, where the increase in sea surface temperature (SST) is particularly severe, is poorly investigated. * Here, we reconstructed the long-term P. oceanica production in 60 meadows along the Greek Seas over two decades (1997–2018), using lepidochronology. We determined the effect of warming on production by reconstructing the annual and maximum (i.e. August) SST, considering the role of other production drivers related to water quality (i.e. Chla, suspended particulate matter, Secchi depth). * Grand mean (±SE) production across all sites and the study period was 48 …

Public Mental Health During And After The Sars-Cov-2 Pandemic: Opportunities For Intervention, Melissa M Karnaze, Brent M Kious, Lindsay Z Feuerman, Sarah Classen, Jill O Robinson, Cinnamon S Bloss, Amy L Mcguire

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Importance: During the pandemic, the number of United States adults reporting clinically significant symptoms of anxiety and depression sky-rocketed, up from 11% in 2020 to more than 40% in 2021. Our current mental healthcare system cannot adequately accommodate the current crisis; it is therefore important to identify opportunities for public mental health interventions.

Objective: Assess whether modifiable emotional factors may offer a point of intervention for the mental health crisis.

Design setting and participants: From January 13 to 15, 2022, adults living in the United States were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk to complete an anonymous survey.

Main outcomes and …

Community Engagement In Precision Medicine Research: Organizational Practices And Their Impacts For Equity, Janet K Shim, Nicole Foti, Emily Vasquez, Stephanie M Fullerton, Michael Bentz, Melanie Jeske, Sandra Soo-Jin Lee

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Background: In the wake of mandates for biomedical research to increase participation by members of historically underrepresented populations, community engagement (CE) has emerged as a key intervention to help achieve this goal.

Methods: Using interviews, observations, and document analysis, we examine how stakeholders in precision medicine research understand and seek to put into practice ideas about who to engage, how engagement should be conducted, and what engagement is for.

Results: We find that ad hoc, opportunistic, and instrumental approaches to CE exacted significant consequences for the time and resources devoted to engagement and the ultimate impacts it has on research. …

The Iconography Of An All-American Icon: Sailors, Homoeroticism, And Mid-Century Queer Cultural Politics, Kel R. Karpinski

Publications and Research

Through a new critical reading of the relevant images found in The Young Physique and Physique Pictorial, I explore how the sailor has become a homoerotic icon and how the sailor has become an object of gay fetishization and fantasy. Through media (in this instance: magazines), I focus on the time period between World War II through Gay Liberation in the 1970s, showing how the culture of the port cities of New York City and Los Angeles helped to create this homoerotic image of the sailor. Through a reading of three images that demonstrate the homoeroticism of sailor imagery from …

From Surplus To Scarcity: Restaurant Labor Along The Brooklyn Waterfront, 2020-2023, Emily Holloway

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

How Do Higher Education Administrators And Leaders Perceive Academic Persistence And Achievement Of Afro Caribbean Immigrant Students?, Rory T. Richards

Publications and Research

This research looked at Higher Education Leaders’ Perceptions of Persistence and Achievement of Afro Caribbean Immigrant Students. The research was qualitative and took a phenomenological, narrative approach. Sixteen administrators, across three campuses, one private for-profit and two public nonprofits were interviewed. The participants consisted of one President, one Senior Vice President, three Vice Presidents, one Assistant Vice President, three Deans, two Assistant Deans, two Directors, one Department Chair, and one Special Assistant to the President. The participants were also multiethnic, comprising eight Black leaders, five white leaders, two Latino leaders, and one Asian leader. The research found that leaders at …

Smart Offloading Boot System For Remote Patient Monitoring: Toward Adherence Reinforcement And Proper Physical Activity Prescription For Diabetic Foot Ulcer Patients, Catherine Park, Ramkinker Mishra, Davide Vigano, Maurizio Macagno, Stefano Rossotti, Karen D'Huyvetter, Jason Garcia, David G Armstrong, Bijan Najafi

Center on Aging Staff Publications

Background: A critical factor in healing diabetic foot ulcers is patient adherence to offloading devices. We tested a smart offloading boot (SmartBoot) combined with a smartwatch app and cloud dashboard to remotely monitor patient adherence and activity. In addition, the impact of SmartBoot on balance, gait, and user experience was investigated.

Methods: Fourteen volunteers (31.6±8.7 years; 64% female) performed natural activities (eg, sitting, standing, walking) with and without the SmartBoot for approximately 30 minutes. All participants completed balance tests, 10-meter walking tests at slow, normal, and fast pace while wearing the SmartBoot, and a user experience questionnaire. The accuracy of …