Sensor System Diagram

This diagram illustrates how a typical sensor system works and who is involved. The source publication is available in ORE at https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/136515Aico-HomeLINKEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR

Detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act: A multi-agency panel review of practice and communication between police officers and mental health professionals

A critical part of police involvement in incidents involving mental ill health in the UK, is the section 136 (S136) of the Mental Health Act 1983. This power allows police officers to detain an individual and take them to a place of safety in order for them to have a mental health assessment. The decision (or not) to use this power is a collaborative multi-agency process. It involves communication and information sharing between police officers, mental health professionals (MHPS), paramedics and the person in crisis. By working closely with people with lived experience we explore how detention under S136 is negotiated and decided between police officers, mental health professionals and paramedics. Methods: A multi-agency panel that examines selected S136 cases (police video footage), has been in place since 2021 and convenes quarterly. It is chaired by a senior police officer and attended by professionals from the Devon and Cornwall Police and Devon and Cornwall Mental Health NHS Trust, e.g., Psychiatry Liaison, Quality Lead, Crisis Team service manager, and Manager of the Mental Health helpline. This pilot study involves the analysis of S136 panel meetings, including meeting minutes and observations of police video footage. Results: Initial findings show disagreements between police and MHPs arise from the confusion over what constitutes a mental-health crisis; instances where MHPs think police may be too quick to exercise S136, disagreements between different professionals sometimes in front of the person in crisis; and lack of ambulance support. Further analysis on verbal and non-verbal communication techniques that are associated with critical actions (e.g., reasoning for detention, de-escalation) that can be targeted in training, will be presented. Conclusions: Understanding what is really happening during multi-agency decision-making we can improve the response, so that it is empathetic yet safe and effective, without resulting to detention unless the risk of harm is substantial.Wellcome Trus

Adaptation and resilience in the performing arts. The pandemic and beyond

This is the final version. Available on open access from Manchester University Press via the DOI in this recordAdaptation and resilience in the performing arts shares important insights into the effects of the pandemic on live performance in the UK. It features eight projects funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council between 2020 and 2022 to undertake research that would address the problems caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The researchers share what they discovered from working with practitioners and companies in the live performing arts (especially theatre and dance) who rapidly adapted their working practices and the spaces in which they were able to connect safely with audiences, whether digital or outdoors. Several chapters provide evidence of the impacts of digital innovations and telepresence technologies on artists and audiences and shed light on how government discourses and the support structures within the industry affected the mental health of creative practitioners. Addressing policymakers and practitioners, others demonstrate how artists and local government events managers approached programming community-based work outdoors. Throughout, the essays are infused with practical energy, inspired by the creativity and dedication of the practitioners, and mindful of how the pandemic exacerbated the structural and financial precariousness of the workforce in live performing arts. They offer evidence-based reflections on values-led practices in the creative sector that model more inclusive, accessible and sustainable ways of working. Adaptation and resilience thus contributes to shaping our understanding of the challenges faced by live performing arts at a time of crisis – and how these may be overcome.Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC

The energy-critical metals: technologies with a human face

This is the author accepted manuscript

Ecological countermeasures to prevent pathogen spillover and subsequent pandemics.

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this record. Substantial global attention is focused on how to reduce the risk of future pandemics. Reducing this risk requires investment in prevention, preparedness, and response. Although preparedness and response have received significant focus, prevention, especially the prevention of zoonotic spillover, remains largely absent from global conversations. This oversight is due in part to the lack of a clear definition of prevention and lack of guidance on how to achieve it. To address this gap, we elucidate the mechanisms linking environmental change and zoonotic spillover using spillover of viruses from bats as a case study. We identify ecological interventions that can disrupt these spillover mechanisms and propose policy frameworks for their implementation. Recognizing that pandemics originate in ecological systems, we advocate for integrating ecological approaches alongside biomedical approaches in a comprehensive and balanced pandemic prevention strategy.National Science FoundationDefense Advanced Research Projects AgencyNational Institutes of HealthNatural Environment Research Council (NERC)Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and ResponseMontpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute On Transition

Lab on a Secchi disk: A prototype open‐source profiling package for low‐cost monitoring in aquatic environments

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordOwing to the high cost of commercial optical sensors, there is a need to develop low-cost optical sensing packages to expand monitoring of aquatic environments, particularly in under-resourced regions. Visual methods to monitor the optical properties of water, like the Secchi disk and Forel-Ule color scale, remain in use in the modern era owing to their simplicity, low-cost and long history of use. Yet, recent years have seen advances in low-cost, electronic-based optical sensing. Here, the designs of a miniaturized hand-held device (mini-Secchi disk) that measures the Secchi depth and Forel-Ule color are updated. We then extend the device by integrating a small electronic sensing package (Arduino-based) into the Secchi disk, for vertical profiling, combining historic and modern methods for monitoring the optical properties of water into a single, low-cost sensing device, that measures positioning (GPS), light spectra, temperature, and pressure. It is charged and transfers data wirelessly, is encased in epoxy resin, and can be used to derive vertical profiles of spectral light attenuation and temperature, in addition to Secchi depth and Forel-Ule color. We present data from a series of deployments of the package, compare its performance with commercially available instruments, and demonstrate its use for validation of satellite remotely sensed data. Our designs are made openly available to promote community-based development and have potential in communicating and teaching science, participatory science, and low-cost monitoring of aquatic environments.UK Research and InnovationGordon and Betty Moore Foundatio

A foundation model enhanced approach for generative design in combinational creativity

This is the final version. Available on open access from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordIn creativity theory, combining two unrelated concepts into a novel idea is a common means of enhancing creativity. Designers can integrate the Additive concept into the Base concept to inspire and facilitate creative tasks. However, conceiving high-quality combinational ideas poses a challenge that combinational creativity itself demands the consideration of conceptual reasoning and synthesis. We propose an AI foundation model enhanced approach for supporting combinational creativity. This approach derives combinational embodiments, and assists humans in verbalising and externalising combinational ideas. Our experimental study demonstrates that the generated combinational ideas by the approach obtained highest scores compared to those ideas generated without an AI foundation model or combinational strategy. We built a combinational creativity tool called CombinatorX based on this approach to generate ideas. In a study with the comparison of an existing combinational creativity tool and Internet search, we validated that our approach improves the effectiveness of combinational idea generation, enables a reduction in labour force, and facilitates the refinement of combinational ideation.National Key R&D Program of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of Chin

Cytoneme-mediated transport of active Wnt5b-Ror2 complexes in zebrafish

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability; Microscopy data reported in this paper and any information required to re-analyse the data reported in this paper are presented within the paper or are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.Chemical signalling is the primary means by which cells communicate in the embryo. The underlying principle refers to a group of ligand-producing cells and a group of cells that respond to this signal because they express the appropriate receptors1,2. In the zebrafish embryo, Wnt5b binds to the receptor Ror2 to trigger the Wnt-planar cell polarity (PCP) signalling pathway to regulate tissue polarity and cell migration3,4. However, it remains unclear how this lipophilic ligand is transported from the source cells through the aqueous extracellular space to the target tissue. In this study, we provide evidence that Wnt5b, together with Ror2, is loaded on long protrusions called cytonemes. Our data further suggest that the active Wnt5b-Ror2 complexes form in the producing cell and are handed over from these cytonemes to the receiving cell. Then, the receiving cell has the capacity to initiate Wnt-PCP signalling, irrespective of its functional Ror2 receptor status. On the tissue level, we further show that cytoneme-dependent spreading of active Wnt5b-Ror2 affects convergence and extension in the zebrafish gastrula. We suggest that cytoneme-mediated transfer of ligand-receptor complexes is a vital mechanism for paracrine signalling. This may prompt a reevaluation of the conventional concept of characterizing responsive and non-responsive tissues solely on the basis of the expression of receptors.Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC)Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)Living Systems Institute, University of ExeterMedical Research Council (MRC

Assessing Resilience in the Northern North Atlantic: Early Warnings from Bivalves

Amidst the ongoing climate crisis, concerns arise regarding the response of various components of the climate system, especially those vulnerable to abrupt shifts once a tipping point is reached. Predicting such behaviour is particularly challenging due to the unnoticeable changes before the transition. A promising alternative to assess the system stability and potentially warn of an incoming tipping point is based on detecting generic symptoms observed as a system gradually approaches the transition. The system experiences a slowdown in recovery from perturbations, or loss of resilience, leading to increased similarity and variability over time. This approach requires long-term, regularly spaced time-series, characteristics that are rare among observational records, especially in the ocean. The recent development of annually-resolved proxy records based on information encoded in bivalve shells offers a unique opportunity for assessing resilience in the marine environment. This thesis explores the potential of bivalve-derived reconstructions to assess changes in stability in the northern North Atlantic through two resilience indicators, lag-1 autocorrelation and variance. These explorations demonstrate the reliability of bivalve records to measure changes in resilience, particularly in autocorrelation, and provide guidelines for this purpose. An exploration of changes in resilience over the last millennium demonstrates that bivalves can effectively encode changes in stability. The analysis reveals that the subpolar gyre circulation system crossed a tipping point into the transition into the Little Ice Age and provides hints on how the input of freshwater from melting glaciers and sea-ice may have contributed to the destabilisation. Shifting the focus to recent times, an assessment of changes in resilience on a compilation of bivalve records across the northern North Atlantic indicates that the regional marine environment has lost resilience over recent decades. This destabilisation is likely linked to the subpolar gyre, warning of a potential incoming regime shift in the regional climate.European Commissio

Transformative (Bio)technologies in Knowledge Societies: Of Patents and Intellectual Commons

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Palgrave Macmillan via the DOI in this recordIt is no longer a science fiction tale. The 21st century saw its first lab-grown beef burger being cooked and eaten at a live press conference in London, making the harvest of animal meat for human consumption without actually killing animals a reality. Transformative biotechnologies, like cell-cultivation, are redefining fundamental elements of our life, and these innovations promise to change the way we perceive, behave and eat in the future. Lab-grown, cell-based or “cultured meat” is now available for consumption in selected outlets in Singapore, and is estimated to become widely available for sale directly to consumers imminently. If its projections realise, the multitrillion global meat market is on the verge of a disruption unlike anything seen in times past, with cultured meat potentially displaying far-reaching effects on climate change, food security and animal welfare. This chapter begins from the proposition that we currently lack an integrated understanding of the nature, causes and implications of regulatory shifts that appropriately deal with transformative biotechnologies in knowledge societies. With the aim of gaining a better understanding of ‘knowledge society’ epistemologies, this chapter explores the role of patents in cellular agriculture, a field of enquiry that uses cell-cultivation technology, as a case study to elucidate the extent to which IP rights can be deployed to generate optimal public welfare. Through a public interest lens, it also seeks to understand whether growing calls for open science can be aligned with the needs of a flourishing innovation ecosystem. If legal systems have the ability to create parameters that will determine whether and to what extent societal change will happen, it stands to reason that the effectiveness of these legal systems will be directly correlated to the level of granularity with which they mirror social realities. In the same vein, the value of a patent, for example, will be determined by its terms of protection. Combining theoretical and doctrinal legal approaches along with insights from political and economic theories on regulation and governance, this chapter looks at some of the legal questions to illuminate how governments, regulators and stakeholders balance and meet the demands of pressing social challenges, such as climate change and food insecurity, with the benefits of transformative biotechnologies to create an intellectual commons. More specifically, this chapter argues that, in order to avoid ‘a tragedy of the intellectual commons’, intellectual property rights (IPR) demand to be governed by agile, responsive regulatory approaches. It does so by engaging with legal interpretations of terms of protection for patents, against a backdrop of rapidly evolving (bio)technologies that continue to test the resilience of current legal frameworks. It will also deliberate whether, as a result, IPR calibration with current public policy imperatives has gained renewed importance to ensure continued rewards for intellectual creation while promoting social progress