Digital Commons Network^™

Transnational Youth And Social Mobility: The Role Of Family Financial Support In Unsettled Lives, Alexandra Lee, Anita Harris, Loretta Baldassar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Transnational mobility is typically seen as an opportunity to break out of fixed class positions and facilitate social mobility. However, the availability of parental support remains a persistent if complex determinant of the social mobility opportunities available to young adults who move abroad. The influence of family support and class background on youth social mobility has been clearly recognised in class scholarship in Australia. Yet, this relationship has remained under-examined in transnational mobility contexts, where social mobility has tended to be examined more in relation to young people’s employment opportunities and visa pathways. Seeking to fill this gap, our paper …

Extending Social Penetration Theory To Online Brand Communities: The Impact Of Perceived Identifiability On Relational Development And Perceived Enjoyment, Stephanie Meek, Claire Lambert, Laureane Du Plessis

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Online brand communities (OBCs) rely on members forming relationships, yet many platforms normalise anonymity. Drawing on Social Penetration Theory (SPT), this study examines whether feeling recognisable to other members (perceived identifiability) shapes relational outcomes and enjoyment in consumer-initiated OBCs. Survey data from 307 members were analysed using structural equation modelling and multi-group analysis. Perceived identifiability significantly increased members’ network ties and sense of belonging but did not directly enhance perceived enjoyment. Instead, belonging mediated the link from identifiability to enjoyment, and network ties strengthened belonging, yielding a serial indirect pathway from identifiability to enjoyment. Comparing lurkers and posters showed that …

Peptidomic Profiling Of In Vitro Digesta From Diverse Microalgae Species, Sara Hamzelou, Damien Belobrajdic, Henri Brook, Wei Chen, Fletcher Hiten, Kim Lee Chang, Diane Purcell, Utpal Bose, Simone Osborne, Cassandra Pegg, Michelle L. Colgrave

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Microalgae are a sustainable protein source, yet few species are used for human nutrition. This study evaluated eight species for protein quality, digestibility, and peptide profiles after simulated gastrointestinal digestion using INFOGEST. Amino acid content, and intestinal-phase peptide mixtures were analysed by mass spectrometry. The methanol precipitation method was used to separate digested (supernatant) and undigested (pellet) peptides following in vitro INFOGEST digestion. The pellet was further separated by molecular weight into 3–10 kDa and >10 kDa fractions to isolate the lower molecular weight peptides from the higher ones. This separation method enabled the identification of potential digested peptides within …

It's The Most Diverse Job I’Ve Ever Had: What Do Registered Nurses Working In Australian Schools Do?, Anita Moyes

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Although nurses have been working in Australian schools for many decades, research has focused primarily on narrow aspects of clinical practice or service delivery in specific regions. The aim of this study was to identify the domains of practice registered nurses report in a typical working day in Australian schools, using interview data from a national sample. Forty-five nurses working in government and nongovernment schools in every state and territory of Australia participated. Interviews were analyzed using inductive content analysis ( Elo & Kyngas, 2008). Six distinct domains of practice characterized nursing work in Australian schools: (i) responding to diverse …

Making Room For ‘Feelings’: What's At Stake For The Theory Of Practice Architectures?, George Variyan, Brad Gobby

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper responds to Thelin, K. [2024. What about feelings? Elaboration on and consideration of the theoretical construct of emotions in practice and practice architectures. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1–14] intriguing proposal that the theory of practice architectures (hereafter TPA) would benefit from an augmentation to its oft-repeated analytical mantra of ‘sayings, doings and relatings’ by adding the notion of feelings. Thelin's work is motivated by the increasing realisation amongst adherents that TPA has thus far been relatively silent on how emotions mediate practice. As such, there are ongoing efforts to think through the place of emotions in …

From Idea To Implementation: Evaluating The Influence Of Large Language Models In Software Development—An Opinion Paper, Sargam Yadav, Asifa Mehmood Qureshi, Abhishek Kaushik, Shubham Sharma, Roisin Loughran, Subramaniam Kazhuparambil, Andrew Shaw, Mohammed Sabry, Niamh St John Lynch, Nikhil Singh, Padraic O'Hara, Pranay Jaiswal, Roshan Chandru, David Lillis

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

The introduction of transformer architecture was a turning point in natural language processing (NLP). Models based on the transformer architecture, such as bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) and generative pretrained transformer (GPT), have gained widespread popularity in various applications such as software development and education. The availability of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Bard to the general public has showcased the tremendous potential of these models and encouraged their integration into various domains such as software development, for tasks such as code generation, debugging, and documentation generation. In this study, opinions from 11 experts regarding their …

En Ritmo: A Praxis In Decolonizing Traditional Dance Spaces, Megan Curet

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

En Ritmo: Praxis in Decolonizing Traditional Dance Spaces is an investigation that explores the intersection of bomba, a traditional Puerto Rican song, music and dance form, and North American contemporary dance. This PhD research aims to decolonize culturally hegemonic dance spaces through a cultural syncretism of contemporary dance and the elements of bomba as foundational principles for training both professional and non-professional dancers. This practice challenges traditional Western dance training paradigms. Therefore it is crucial to clarify that this research is not positioned within the realm of pedagogy; rather, it critically interrogates and deconstructs the distinctions between dance practice and …

Diffusion-Enhanced Nat-Bart Vision Language Transformer For Unified Urdu Word Recognition, Wahid Hussain, Shahbaz Hassan, Isma Ul Hassan, Ahmad Raza Shahid, Asif Naeem, Muhammad Usman Yaseen, Nouman Ashraf

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Handwritten Urdu text recognition remains a very challenging problem due to the cursive and complex nature of the Nastaliq script. Each writer has a unique style, and there is a severe lack of large, well-labeled datasets. These challenges make Urdu text recognition much harder than for many other languages. Here we propose a novel and effective approach for handwritten Urdu word recognition that addresses both data scarcity and feature complexity. We utilized conditional diffusion models to generate synthetic handwritten Urdu word images. These models produce realistic word samples covering a wide range of variations, such as stroke thickness, curves, and …

The Effectiveness Of Digital Therapeutics Intervention In Oral Anticoagulation Management: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Jiayue Guo, Lili You, Lu Liu, Xitong Jiao, Debasish Kar, Jitendra Jonnagaddala

Peninsula Medical School

Objective: To summarize the key intervention characteristics and evaluate the effectivenessand safety of digital therapeutics (DTx) in patients receiving oral anticoagulation, witheffectiveness evaluated using time in therapeutic range (TTR), thromboembolic events (TEE),and mortality, and safety evaluated based on bleeding events.Patients and Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the CochraneLibrary from inception to June 20, 2025, and identified ten randomized controlled trialsinvolving 7,237 patients. The criteria required studies to assess software-based DTxsupporting anticoagulation management and report effectiveness or safety outcomes. Studyquality was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development,and Evaluation (GRADE) framework, and random-effects models were applied.Results: …

Investigating The Impact Of Carboxylated Polystyrene Nanoplastics In The Liver Using Cell Lines And Precision-Cut Liver Slices, Namrata Pandey, Paula Boeira, Nathaniel J. Clark, Eleanor T. Walker, Somaiah Aroori, Jemimah Denson, Richard C. Thompson, Matthew E. Cramp, Shilpa Chokshi, Ashwin Dhanda

Peninsula Medical School

Background and Aims: Increasing reports of plastic accumulation in human tissue have raised concerns about potential adverse health outcomes. Evidence of negative effects of nanoplastics is heterogeneous and provides limited insights into the underlying pathogenic toxicity mechanisms in humans. Methods: In the present study, carboxylate-modified fluorescently labelled polystyrene nanoparticles (PS NPs) were used to investigate uptake and cytotoxicity in three different hepatic models of varying complexity, including HepG2 cells, IHH cells, and human precision-cut liver slices (hPCLS). Results: The results show model- and dose-dependent effects on hepatocytes. 74.2% ± 13.4% of the IHH cells showed PS NPs uptake at 0.1 …

Microplastics, Nanoplastics And Liver Disease: An Emerging Health Concern?, Shilpa Chokshi, Ashwin Dhanda, Matthew E. Cramp, Richard Thompson

Peninsula Medical School

Human liver tissue has been found to contain microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs), with evidence that hepatic MNP accumulation has markedly increased over the past 10 years, prompting critical questions regarding their potential causal role in liver disease. In cell-based and murine models, MNP exposure can trigger oxidative stress, fibrogenesis and inflammation, pathological features that resemble those of advanced liver disease, suggesting shared mechanistic pathways. Furthermore, the capacity for MNPs to act as vectors for microbial pathogens, antimicrobial resistance, endocrine-disrupting chemicals and carcinogenic additives might have important implications for liver pathology. This Perspective examines emerging evidence on the consequences of MNPs …

Designing A Mobile App For Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Insights From Lived Experience And Clinical Practice, Rohit Shankar, Richard Laugharne, Michael Loizou, Marius Varga, Sivia Lin, Bojana Daw Srdanovic, Roger Farrell

Peninsula Medical School

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disabling anxiety disorder precipitated by severe trauma. Many people with this condition have little access to clinical interventions, especially in low-middle-income countries. For the development of any digital health intervention, it is vital to know the opinions of PLE and clinicians to guide the developers. We conducted two focus groups, one with clinicians (n = 5) and one with people with lived experience (PLE) (n = 11), to gain knowledge of their views on the development of a PTSD App. Transcripts of both focus groups were coded and thematically analysed. The key themes that …

Fault Tolerant Adaptive Control Under Actuator Saturation For Robot Manipulators, D. J. López-Araujo, N. Alvarez-Jarquin, P. Borja, A. T. Becker

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

In practice, actuators inherently have natural limitations that are often overlooked by theoretical control strategies, such as bounded output and discrepancies between calculated and actual responses. Consequently, reliable control techniques must be employed to ensure safe and dependable operation. We propose an adaptive control law for global regulation in the case of partial loss of effectiveness due to input faults. The proposed control strategy maintains the system at the desired configuration while accounting for the physical limitations of the actuators. Additionally, it is suitable for dealing with unknown parameters in the vector of gravitational forces, making it robust to these …

Usable Authentication: Are We There Yet?, Nathan Clarke, Steven Furnell

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

With technology increasingly embedded in everyday life, the demand for secure and usable authentication methods has never been greater. Traditional password-based systems continue to dominate, despite well-known usability and security challenges. This paper explores the evolution of user authentication technologies, from secret knowledge and tokens to biometrics and emerging approaches such as Passkeys. It critically evaluates the extent to which usability has been achieved, identifying both successes—such as biometrics integrated into smartphones—and persistent issues, including inconsistent guidance, ecosystem dependence, and accessibility barriers. Drawing on academic and commercial developments, the discussion highlights the growing burden on users who must authenticate across …

Biocompatibility Of Silver And Hydroxyapatite Antimicrobial Nanocoatings On Titanium Alloy Dental Implants With Human Gingival Fibroblasts, S Morgan, R D Handy, V M Salih, R N Salaie, C J Tredwin, A Besinis

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

OBJECTIVES: Peri-implantitis compromises soft and hard tissues around dental implants, often leading to implant failure. Antibacterial nanocoatings offer a promising infection control strategy, but maintaining biocompatibility is essential. This study investigated, through a range of assays and analytical techniques, the biocompatibility of antimicrobial silver and hydroxyapatite (HA) nanocoatings applied to titanium implants with human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs).

METHODS: Silver and hydroxyapatite nanocoatings were applied to the surface of titanium alloy specimens using electroplating, deposition and sintering techniques. The biocompatibility of the nanocoatings with HGFs was assessed by measuring cell metabolic activity (alamarBlue), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, collagen production (Sircol assay), …

The Career Choices Of Final Year Nursing Students In The United Kingdom: A Qualitative Study., Kevin Hambridge, Frazer Underwood, Gosia Bettache, Matt Carey, Halil Kaya, Lisa Burrows, Rachel Tims, Christian Brailsford

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore the career choices of final year under-graduate nursing students in the United Kingdom. Background: Worldwide there is a decreasing number of nurses and in the United Kingdom there is a decreasing amount of nursing students. There is sparce evidence relating to the career's choices of nursing students and reasons for those choices. Obtaining a deeper comprehension of these choices may aid healthcare employers, in partnership with universities, to design the future nursing workforce. Design: A qualitative design was used. Methods: Twenty-one final year under-graduate nursing students from across a range of …

Job Satisfaction, Burnout, And Intent To Stay In Neonatal Nursing In England And Wales: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study, Kathy Chant, Yoko Nishimura, Aviva Petrie, Jos M. Latour, Nicola Booth, Kelly Crofts, Lisa Viola, Katie Gallagher

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Objective: To explore job satisfaction, burnout and intent to stay in neonatal nurses in England and Wales. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey study using the McCloskey Mueller Satisfaction Scale (MMSS) to explore job satisfaction, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) to explore burnout and the Nurse Retention Index (NRI) to measure intent to stay. All neonatal nurses working in England and Wales were eligible to take part. Data were collected between February and September 2024. Results: A total of 1590 neonatal nurses completed the survey. Job satisfaction was neutral. Moderate work burnout was reported, with statistically significant differences in mean score …

Leveraging Consumer Socialisation Agents To Increase Indigenous Student Participation In Higher Education, Melissa Fong-Emmerson, Braden Hill, Claire Lambert, Maria M. Ryan, Rebekah Dougan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose – Socialisation agents, including family, peers, Elders, teachers, mass media and community networks, significantly influence students’ decisions to pursue higher education (HE). This paper aims to further explore how these agents, within the framework of consumer socialisation theory, act as influential forces at the early stages of the decision-making process, shaping perceptions and providing motivation for Indigenous students’ educational choices. Design/methodology/approach – A three-phase narrative inquiry method was used, including autobiographical accounts from students, yarning sessions with peers and one-on-one interviews. This participatory approach centred Indigenous knowledges to inform culturally responsive social marketing strategies. Findings – The study identified …

Co-Design Of An Online Mindfulness Program For Informal Carers Of People Living With Dementia: A Qualitative Study Of Co-Designers’ Experience, Charunya A.K.R. Abeysinghe Mudiyanselage, Seng Giap Marcus Ang, Aisling Smyth, Joanne M. Dickson, Beverley Ewens

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Informal carers face significant challenges related to care provision for people living with dementia. Participating in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program could improve the wellbeing of informal carers. However, engaging in these programs can be difficult for informal carers due to the needs of their care recipients. Purpose: This study aimed to co-design an online mindfulness program in collaboration with a range of stakeholders and those with lived experience as carers. Methods: This co-design study adopted an interpretive descriptive qualitative approach to the development of the program. The stakeholders (co-designers) included people with lived experience as informal carers and …

Sustainable Textiles Through Electrospinning: Addressing Environmental Challenges, Nicole Sharples, Omid Doustdar, Miguel Carmona‐Cabello, Shayan Abrishami, Jose M. Herreros, Ali Sadaghiani, Karl D. Dearn

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The textile industry, known for its significant environmental footprint, faces growing pressure to adopt sustainable practices. This review identifies the textile industry’s sustainability challenges and examines electrospinning as a promising technology to mitigate its environmental impact. Electrospinning enables the production of nanofibers with enhanced properties suitable for various textile applications, offering potential solutions to reduce resource consumption and waste generation. This review discusses the current uses of electrospinning in textile manufacturing and analyses emerging trends in textile recycling, emphasising the role of electrospinning in transforming waste textiles into value-added products. Prospects for advancing electrospinning techniques to achieve efficient textile recycling …

Love Letters To The Self: Building Heart Skills Through Positive Autoethnography, Madalena Grobbelaar, Elizabeth Reid Boyd

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article is an enquiry between two educators, one from social science and the other from counselling psychology, exploring how Positive Autoethnography can be applied in both teaching and therapeutic contexts. An exploration by co-founders of #Love@ECU, a research initiative at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Western Australia, the piece investigates the intersection of emotional learning and educational practice through the emerging framework of Heart Skills, an original format currently used in teaching interpersonal skills at ECU. It integrates personal narrative, embodied experience and emotional insight to consider how student growth and resilience can be cultivated. Central to this exploration …

How Low Can We Go? Quantization Effects On Llm Sparql Generation, Matt Murtagh-White, P. J. Wall, Declan O’Sullivan

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

SPARQL is a powerful but complex language for querying knowledge graphs, motivating research into natural language-to-SPARQL generation using large language models (LLMs). While large, proprietary LLMs excel at this task, their resource requirements can limit practical deployment. This paper evaluates smaller, open-source LLMs (0.5B–9B parameters) with quantization methods (8-bit and 4-bit compression) to balance computational efficiency and query generation performance. Our findings demonstrate that 8-bit quantization can maintain or enhance performance in smaller models, whereas 4-bit quantization leads to notable degradation, especially for larger models. This highlights the potential of quantized, smaller LLMs for SPARQL generation in resource-constrained scenarios and …

Using Drawings To Understand Undergraduates’ Perceptions Of Politics—The Us And Ireland, John Hogan, Sharon Feeney, Paul Kosempel

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Purpose: This article seeks to gain insights from the interpretations of freehand drawings produced by American and Irish students, young voters, in response to the question: “What is American/Irish politics?” Our goal in using freehand drawing is to foster a collaborative and critical learning environment where participants enhance their ability to interpret and engage in self-reflection. Design/methodology/approach: Freehand drawing is a visual representation method that can bypass cognitive verbal processing pathways as part of a critical pedagogy. This approach enables participants to create clear, more critical, and inclusive depictions of their understanding of a topic, regardless of their vocabulary. Over …

When Survival Becomes Politics: Necessity Activism And Identity Work Under Precarity, Lucia Garcia-Lorenzo, Lucia Sell-Trujillo, Paul Donnelly

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Collective action is essential for tackling social, institutional, and environmental challenges, often fueled by shared identities, common norms, and a belief in the possibility of change. However, the impact of participating in collective action on individual identities, and how this knowledge can shape future efforts to maintain engagement and promote positive change, remains underexplored. This study uses a liminal and identity work approach to examine how precarious Spanish activists, involved in long-term struggles against precarity, develop and negotiate their identities as activists through protest participation. Based on a qualitative study spanning over 9 years, this research focuses on the experiences …

Thermal Barrier Coatings And Their Impact On The Mechanical And Thermal Behaviour Of Fused Deposition Modelled Polymers In Harsh Environments, Simon Weait

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Coordinated deployment of thermally protected unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)equipped for active firefighting operations around incidents such as the GrenfellTower fire could have provided substantial support to life-saving efforts. Incurrent practice, UAVs employed in comparable emergencies are largelyconfined to observational and surveillance roles, thereby substantiallyunderutilising their potential. Expanding their use to direct firefighting tasksrequires the integration of advanced thermal protection systems capable ofwithstanding significantly elevated temperatures associated with carbonaceousfire plumes. In particular, the development of a lightweight thermal barrier coatingthat adheres reliably to fused deposition modelled (FDM) polymers, such aspolylactic acid (GTP), is critical for operational viability and the minimisation ofthe …

Leveraging Natural Language Processing Methods For Next Generation Customer Service In Telecommunications Industry, Hesham Abdelmotaleb

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This research explores application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods to better understand and improve customer service feedback in telecom industry. We collect novel reallife datasets of customer reviews and social media comments within British telecommunication industry over one year. Then, we apply three main modelling approaches. First, we study topic modelling for short text: we propose a new evaluation metric for GSDMM model and demonstrate that our metric helps to choose meaningful topics when texts are very brief. Second, we perform an extensive comparative study of word embedding models for text classification: we test nine word embedding and feature …

Investigating The Biocompatibility Of Nanosilver Hydroxyapatite Coatings With Human Gingival Fibroblasts To Enhance Abutment Integrity For Periodontal Health, Sian Morgan

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Dental implants are susceptible to bacterial colonisation, which can initiate peri-implant inflammation and ultimately lead to peri-implantitis and implant failure. Antimicrobial surface modifications represent a promising strategy to mitigate bacterial infection however, such approaches must preserve biocompatibility with peri-implant soft tissue cells to ensure effective mucosal sealing and long-term implant success. In particular, human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs) play a critical role in soft tissue integration at the implant-abutment interface, yet their interactions with antimicrobial silver-based coatings remain insufficiently understood. This thesis investigates the biocompatibility of nano silver-hydroxyapatite (Ag+nHA) coatings deposited on titanium substrates, with the aim of developing an antimicrobial …

Mapping The Uk Commercial Fishing Network: A Knowledge-Based Framework For Sustainable Technology Adoption And Environmental Decision-Making, Matthew Prowse

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

The UK commercial fishing industry operates within a complex web of stakeholders, technologies, and environmental pressures that challenge traditional approaches to sustainability and resource management. This research develops a comprehensive framework for understanding how technological advancement in UK fisheries creates unintended consequences that threaten long-term sustainability. Through a mixed-methods approach combining PESTLE analysis, grounded theory methodology, stakeholder mapping, case study investigation, this study introduces the "By-Product and Excess" theoretical framework to explain how fishing technologies generate two critical outcomes: by-products (undesirable environmental impacts such as CO₂ emissions, microplastics, and ecosystem damage) and excess (enhanced capacity to harvest beyond sustainable limits).The …

A Psychosocial And Psychometric Exploration Of Hikikomori In The Uk, Gregory Gorman

School of Psychology Theses

Hikikomori - originally identified in Japan as a severe form of social withdrawal - has evolved into a global phenomenon mirroring broader transformations in labour, technology, and identity. Once deemed a culture-bound syndrome, it is increasingly understood as a “society-bound” expression of psychosocial strain, existential unease, and retreat from normative life scripts. This thesis advances understanding of hikikomori by developing and validating psychometric tools, identifying subtypes of withdrawal, and situating the phenomenon within wider socio-cultural, digital, and philosophical frameworks.Empirical chapters detail the development of two novel tools: the Hikikomori Risk Inventory-13 (HRI-13) and the expanded Hikikomori Syndrome Behaviour Scale (HSBS). …

Modern Day Saints And The Production Of A Contemporary Pilgrimage Site: Comparative Analysis Of St. Pio Of San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy And Sai Baba Of Shirdi, India, Kiran Shinde, Anna Trono Prof

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Places valorised by saints have attracted pilgrimage for a long time as devotion to saints is a way to achieve both material wellbeing and spiritual growth. Yet, the cult following of modern-day saints in contemporary societies has become a topic for exploration only in recent years (Di Giovine, 2010; Shinde & Pinkney; 2013, Srinivas, 2008). A few excellent hagiographies discuss the material and non-material world created around charismatic modern-day saints with global followership (Waghorne, 2004; Weiss, 2005; Shepherd, 1986). Given the immense popularity of modern-day saints many questions arise- what kind of pilgrimage landscape is created around them? Are they …