Energy harvesting technologies on high-speed railway infrastructure: review and comparative analysis of the potential and practicality

A comprehensive quantitative analysis is provided of the potential applications of energy harvesting (EH) technologies tailored to high-speed railway infrastructure. The study compares the various energy sources within railway infrastructure and identifies suitable EH technologies. Feasible designs and scales of EH are assessed based on the installation location; the overall power availability and energy yield are compared for a notional high-speed railway. For resonant EH devices an assessment is also given of the optimal tuning frequency. Vibration-based EH, when applied to the track or bridge structures, can provide sufficient power for individual low-power sensors; however, its output is insufficient for higher-power applications or for data transmission unless energy storage devices are incorporated. Despite the elevated noise levels generated by high-speed trains, the energy available from this acoustic source is negligible and impractical for EH. Small vertical axis wind turbines installed close to the track and driven by passing trains show great potential, capable of harvesting several orders of magnitude more energy than vibration-based EH. Solar photovoltaic panels can generate significantly more energy than other methods, although their output is confined to daylight conditions and is contingent upon weather conditions

The freedom to become: Henri Bergson’s recovery of the unquantified self

This chapter argues that Henri Bergson—whose philosophy is in large part devoted to locating human freedom outside not only the laws of causality, but the mechanical modes of thinking and habitual modes of acting that define our usual conduct—should be considered a crucial figure in the tradition of modernist self-optimization and in the intellectual history of media theory. Although Bergson regards such freedom as a fundamental and originary characteristic of our being, he equally posits it as able to be realized only through an ongoing inner labor whereby we work to distinguish our true self from the repetition and similitude encrusted upon it. And whilst his account of freedom is often utilized today as an antidote to rampant quantification of ourselves and our experience, it is very much grounded in an ethos of heroic productivism and transgressive spontaneity reflective of and responsive to the industrial culture within which it was formulated

Models for the cohomology of certain polyhedral products

For a commutative ring k with unit, we describe and study various differential graded k-modules and k-algebras as models for the cohomology of polyhedral products (CX, X)K. Along the way, we prove that the integral cohomology H∗((D1, S0)K; Z) of the real moment–angle complex is a Tor module, one that does not come from a geometric setting. As an application, this work sets the stage for studying the based loop space of Σ(CX, X)K

Modelling enzyme electrodes – what do we learn and how is it useful?

There has been an enormous increase in the computational power readily available since the first numerical treatments of electrochemical problems in the early 1960s. This development has been accompanied by the development of powerful, widely available, commercial software modelling tools. Despite this, approximate analytical treatments remain extremely useful in the modelling of coupled diffusion/reaction problems in electrochemistry because of the insights they provide into the different possible behaviours of the system. In this paper we discuss the modelling of amperometric enzyme electrodes, taking as our exemplar redox hydrogel-based enzyme electrodes in which the enzyme is immobilized in a redox active polymer which wires the enzyme to the electrode. In this system the measured current is related to many different experimental variables including substrate concentration and diffusion coefficient, reaction rate constants, and film properties and thickness. The interplay of these factors is described and the role of Case diagrams in understanding coupled diffusion/reaction problems of this type is discussed.</p

Investigating the inflammatory response to cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA-ri)

Background: amyloid (A)-β immunotherapy has been approved as treatment for Alzheimer's patients in some countries. However, clinical trials have highlighted side effects interpreted as brain oedema and microhaemorrhages, named amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA), for which tissue is unavailable to understand the underlying pathophysiomechanisms. Cerebral amyloid angiopathy–related inflammation (CAA-ri) is a condition presenting similarities with ARIA and is seen in a proportion of neurosurgical biopsies, thus presenting an opportunity to study ARIA.Method: eight biopsies of CAA-ri and 11 CAA without inflammation, sourced from BRAIN UK, were immunolabelled for T lymphocytes (CD4 and CD8) and microglia/macrophages (CD68) and the staining quantified.Results: preliminary results show increased intramural and perivascular CD8+ lymphocytes in CAA-ri vs. CAA (p &lt; 0.001 and p = 0.004, respectively). There were also more perivascular CD4+ lymphocytes in CAA-ri (p = 0.006). In CAA-ri, a higher proportion of vessels were associated with CD8+ lymphocytes vs. CD4+ lymphocytes, both intramural and perivascular (p = 0.004 and p = 0.009, respectively). In CAA, more vessels were associated with perivascular CD8+ lymphocytes (p = 0.014), which co-localised with acute haemorrhage on H&amp;E.Conclusion: CAA-ri comprises both CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes, with the latter appearing to be a more prominent component. CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes both were detected in cerebral haemorrhage associated with CAA, which may skew the assessment. CD68 quantification to investigate a microglial/macrophage component is in process and additional biopsies are currently obtained to increase the power of the study. A better comprehension of CAA-ri may aid in understanding ARIA occurring in Alzheimer's patients treated with A-β immunotherapy

Levels of noise pollution in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Integrated Care System (ICS) during nighttime and 24-hour periods based on data from strategic noise mapping. An interactive map application

ACCESS THE INTERACTIVE MAP VIA RELATED URLS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS RECORDLevels of Noise Pollution in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Integrated Care System (ICS) during Nighttime and 24-Hour Periods Based on Data from Strategic Noise Mapping. An Interactive Map Application Recommended Citation: Tsimpida, D., &amp; Tsakiridi, A. (2025). Levels of noise pollution in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Integrated Care System (ICS) during nighttime and 24-hour periods based on data from strategic noise mapping: An interactive map application. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/D3377. License: CC BY – This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. Information about Geographic Location of Data Collection: England Related Projects: Tsimpida, D., Environmental Health and Wellbeing Dynamics: Mapping High-Exposure Neighbourhoods and Assessing Transportation Noise Pollution's Impact on Population Health. This project is funded by the Sustainability &amp; Resilience Institute (SRI), University of Southampton. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of SRI or the University of Southampton. Methodological Information: To quantify noise pollution, we used the new Noise Mapping Geographic Information Systems (GIS) datasets developed by Defra that calculate noise exposure levels and are openly available: Department for Environment, Food &amp; Rural Affairs. Strategic noise mapping (2022) [Internet]. 2024. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strategic-noise-mapping-2022 For our analyses, we used both the day-evening-night level (Lden) and the night level (Lnight). The Lden level is a noise metric used to assess overall annoyance, calculated as the annual average A-weighted sound level over a 24-hour period. This measure includes a 5-decibel (dB(A)) penalty for evening noise (7 pm to 11 pm) and a 10 dB(A) penalty for nighttime noise (11 pm to 7 am). The Lnight is a nighttime noise indicator that reflects the annual average A-weighted sound level during the night period (11 pm to 7 am), representing the total sound energy equivalent to the fluctuating noise levels experienced throughout that period. ________________________________________ Geospatial Analysis Information: All geospatial models in this study used Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) as the unit of analysis. In all analyses, we used the LSOA boundaries published by the Office for National Statistics as of March 21, 2021:...This version of the record, https://doi.org/10.5258/soton/d3377v2, was updated on 2015/02/17. The previous version is available at https://doi.org/10.5258/soton/d3377v

Cognitive authority theory: reframing health inequity, disadvantage and privilege in palliative and end-of-life care

Background: there persist disparities in access to quality palliative and end-of-life care, often based on avoidable injustice. Research and theory to explain this health inequity focuses on structural or individual-based factors, overlooking important relational factors between health professionals, patients and families.Aim: to apply Cognitive Authority Theory in palliative and end-of-life care to explain neglected relational drivers of inequity in access and experience.Methods: cognitive Authority Theory, a middle-range theory of power relations between individuals and authority over knowledge, was developed from empirical and review data. This paper demonstrates its utility in explaining an overlooked component of inequity in palliative care: interactions between health professionals and patients/caregivers.Results: using examples from the palliative care literature, we characterise how people who are socially disadvantaged have fewer resources to exploit during consultations with health professionals which makes it difficult for them to have their voices heard, their choices prioritised by others, and to express their expertise. We examine the implications of health professionals’ judgements of expertise for care access, experience, involvement and appropriateness. We offer a fresh perspective on the mechanisms by which stereotypes, bias and power imbalances between health professionals and patients reinforce existing health inequities, drawing on the role of social privilege in shaping inequity in palliative care.Conclusion: this paper provides a new language to articulate relational drivers of inequity in palliative care. It explains how to use Cognitive Authority Theory to design and interpret research to determine how healthcare interactions reinforce both social privilege and social disadvantage at end-of-life

Laser induced forward transfer imaging using deep learning

A novel approach for improving the accuracy and efficiency of laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT), through the application of deep learning techniques is presented. By training a neural network on a dataset of images of donor and receiver substrates, the appearance of copper droplets deposited onto the receiver was predicted directly from images of the donor. The results of droplet image prediction using LIFT gave an average RMSE of 9.63 compared with the experimental images, with the SSIM ranging from 0.75 to 0.83, reflecting reliable structural similarity across predictions. These findings underscore the model's predictive potential while identifying opportunities for refinement in minimising error. This approach has the potential to transform parameter optimisation for LIFT, as it enables the visualization of the deposited material without the time-consuming requirement of removing the donor from the setup to allow inspection of the receiver. This work therefore represents an important step forward in the development of LIFT as an additive manufacturing technology to create complex 3D structures on the microscale.</p

A hydrokinetic power converter for supercritical flow

Hydrokinetic Power Converters (HKPCs) are a class of hydrokinetic machines that convert the kinetic energy of incoming water flow into useful energy such as electricity. This research pioneers the development of a device to harness the relatively high-power density of supercritical flow, an abundant renewable energy resource currently wasted in energy-dissipating structures such as ramps, stilling basins and other drop structures found in most irrigation systems. The development of such innovative and sustainable technology could have widespread implications in global clean energy transitions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. This thesis describes the design concept development, construction, and testing of a first-of-its-kind HKPC designed to operate in very-low head sites with supercritical flow. The observations and results of performance tests are then studied and analysed to shed light on the working principle of the new technology. A new theoretical framework is developed to quantify the power generation of a straight-bladed stream wheel in supercritical flow on steeply sloping channels, which is found to be in very good agreement with performance measurements obtained from scale model tests. Observations of the hydrodynamics around different blade geometries during model operation have increased our understanding of the energy transfer mechanism that occurs between the blade and the working fluid within the machine. HKPCs performance increased significantly from about 40% to a range of 44.9% to 86.9%. By fundamentally changing the curvature and angle of the blade, the way the water acts within the machine and its performance have altered remarkably. The new technology will offer multiple solutions to enable clean energy production without any greenhouse gas emissions. Distinctive features, including compact size, comparatively high rotational speeds, retrofitting capabilities and low cost, will enable the exploitation of a so far untapped renewable energy source