Uncertainty quantification of modal properties of Rainbow Bridge from multiple-setup OMA data

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordData availability: Data can be accessed from https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/SCXWLHOperational modal analysis (OMA) has been increasingly applied to identify the modal parameters of a constructed structure, due to its high economy in implementation. However, due to the absence of loading information, the identified modal parameters are often associated with significantly higher uncertainty compared to their counterparts in free or forced vibration tests. Quantifying the identification uncertainty, and hence precision, is therefore especially relevant in OMA. On the other hand, it is also necessary to manage the uncertainty during the planning stage for an ambient vibration test. For example, to achieve a certain identification precision, how long should the data be collected? Contributing to uncertainty quantification and management in OMA, this paper presents work on full-scale vibration testing on a suspension bridge. Eight triaxial accelerometers were deployed for the test. Each was paired with a synchronised data logger capable of storing data locally in a distributed manner. ‘Uncertainty laws’, which are closed-form asymptotic expressions explaining identification uncertainty in terms of test configurations, were applied for planning the test. Four setups were carried out in the ambient vibration test to cover 26 measurement locations. Modal identification is challenged by the low signal/noise level due to the heavy double-deck girder and the first two vertical modes occurring at very close frequencies. A recently developed Bayesian multiple-setup approach is used to identify the modal properties in terms of their most probable value and identification uncertainty. The results are compared with those obtained by a conventional method. The test configuration is also assessed based on the computed uncertainties and uncertainty laws. Lessons learnt are discussed.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Does commercial reform embracing digital technologies mitigate stock price crash risk?

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordOver the recent decade or so, the Chinese government implemented a commercial reform that features governmental application of digital technologies to acquire and process firm information. The core objective of commercial reform is to improve information transparency and monitoring on corporate commercial activities. To explore the economic effectiveness of the reform, we examine how it impacts firms' stock price crash risk. We find robust evidence that the commercial reform that digitalizes government regulatory activities mitigates stock price crash risk and achieves so via enhancing information environment and monitoring for firms. This finding is more prominent for firms with higher levels of digitalization and innovation and those with weaker internal governance. Overall, our findings highlight a potential benefit of applying digital technologies to regulatory reform, encouraging governments to adopt digital tools to improve information environments and monitoring for firms, and thereby promoting a more stable and efficient capital market

Assessing the reporting quality of published qualitative evidence syntheses in the Cochrane Library

This is the author accepted manuscript.Data availability statement: All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.Background Over ten years since the first qualitative evidence synthesis (QES) was published in the Cochrane Library, QES and mixed-methods reviews (MMR) with a qualitative component have become increasingly common and influential in healthcare research and policy development. The quality of such reviews and the completeness with which they are reported is therefore of paramount importance. Aim This review aimed to assess the reporting quality of published QESs and MMRs with a qualitative component in the Cochrane Library. Methods All published QESs and MMRs were identified from the Cochrane Library. A bespoke framework developed by key international experts based on the Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC), Enhancing Transparency in Reporting the Synthesis of Qualitative Research (ENTREQ) and meta-ethnography reporting guidance (eMERGe) was used to code the quality of reporting of QESs and MMRs. Results Thirty-one reviews were identified, including 11 MMRs. The reporting quality of the QESs and MMRs published by Cochrane varied considerably. Based on the criteria within our framework, just over a quarter (8, 26%) were considered to meet satisfactory reporting standards, 10 (32%) could have provided clearer or more detailed descriptions in their reporting, just over a quarter (8, 26%) provided poor quality or insufficient descriptions and five (16%) omitted descriptions relevant to our framework. Conclusion This assessment offers important insights into the reporting practices prevalent in these review types. Methodology and reporting have changed considerably over time. Earlier QES have not necessarily omitted important reporting components, but rather our understanding of what should be completed and reported has grown considerably. The variability in reporting quality within QESs and MMRs underscores the need to develop Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) specifically for QES. Keywords: qualitative evidence synthesis, reporting quality, mixed-methods reviews, quality assessmen

MacaqueNet: Advancing comparative behavioural research through large‐scale collaboration

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this record. Data availability statement: The code for the data standardisation pipeline on the available datasets, along with resources, such as the Glossary, the workflow and the MacaqueNet Terms of Use, are openly accessible in the MacaqueNet GitHub repository (https://github.com/MacaqueNet/). MacaqueNet data can be requested following the requesting protocol through the MacaqueNet website (https://macaquenet.github.io/database/).There is a vast and ever-accumulating amount of behavioural data on individually recognised animals, an incredible resource to shed light on the ecological and evolutionary drivers of variation in animal behaviour. Yet, the full potential of such data lies in comparative research across taxa with distinct life histories and ecologies. Substantial challenges impede systematic comparisons, one of which is the lack of persistent, accessible and standardised databases. Big-team approaches to building standardised databases offer a solution to facilitating reliable cross-species comparisons. By sharing both data and expertise among researchers, these approaches ensure that valuable data, which might otherwise go unused, become easier to discover, repurpose and synthesise. Additionally, such large-scale collaborations promote a culture of sharing within the research community, incentivising researchers to contribute their data by ensuring their interests are considered through clear sharing guidelines. Active communication with the data contributors during the standardisation process also helps avoid misinterpretation of the data, ultimately improving the reliability of comparative databases. Here, we introduce MacaqueNet, a global collaboration of over 100 researchers (https://macaquenet.github.io/) aimed at unlocking the wealth of cross-species data for research on macaque social behaviour. The MacaqueNet database encompasses data from 1981 to the present on 61 populations across 14 species and is the first publicly searchable and standardised database on affiliative and agonistic animal social behaviour. We describe the establishment of MacaqueNet, from the steps we took to start a large-scale collective, to the creation of a cross-species collaborative database and the implementation of data entry and retrieval protocols. We share MacaqueNet's component resources: an R package for data standardisation, website code, the relational database structure, a glossary and data sharing terms of use. With all these components openly accessible, MacaqueNet can act as a fully replicable template for future endeavours establishing large-scale collaborative comparative databases.European Research Council (ERC)Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognitio

Inhomogeneous approximation for systems of linear forms with primitivity constraints

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer Nature via the DOI in this record We study (inhomogeneous) approximation for systems of linear forms using integer points which satisfy additional primitivity constraints. The first family of primitivity constraints we consider were introduced in 2015 by Dani, Laurent, and Nogueira, and are associated to partitions of the coordinate directions. Our results in this setting strengthen a theorem of Dani, Laurent, and Nogueira, and address problems posed by those same authors. The second primitivity constraints we consider are analogues of the coprimality required in the higher-dimensional Duffin–Schaeffer conjecture, posed by Sprindžuk in the 1970s and proved by Pollington and Vaughan in 1990. Here, with attention restricted to systems of linear forms in at least three variables, we prove a univariate inhomogeneous version of the Duffin–Schaeffer conjecture for systems of linear forms, the multivariate homogeneous version of which was stated by Beresnevich, Bernik, Dodson, and Velani in 2009 and recently proved by the second author

The role of acoustic telemetry to assess the effects of offshore wind infrastructure on fish behaviour, populations and predation

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. Data availability: Data will be made available on request.Inshore and offshore coastal regions are becoming increasingly occupied by anthropogenic infrastructure. This trend will continue with the drive for offshore renewable energy development to reduce carbon emissions and provide energy security. The introduction of structures to the marine environment can have direct and indirect effects on benthic and pelagic habitats, and subsequent impacts on species contributing to these ecosystems. Fish are both prey and predators and, therefore, important components to the functioning of food webs in these environments. Should their behaviour, distribution and/or populations be altered by introduced structures then it is important to understand the direction and magnitude of effects, both at local and regional seascape scales, to understand how these effects may influence ecological interactions. The migratory behaviour of some fish species also contributes temporal and spatial variability and uncertainty to observed patterns, which should be characterised to provide a fuller understanding of the consequences of introduced structures. Acoustic telemetry provides insights into the movement and behaviour of individual fish at scales from single wind turbines to regional networks of offshore wind farm developments. Here we review how acoustic telemetry has added to the understanding of fish behaviour around introduced structures and discuss how its use can be (and is being) expanded to provide a wider ecological understanding of the impacts of offshore wind farms through collaborative networks, and integrated research techniques and analyses.Crown EstateScottish Marine DirectorateUniversity of Exete

Indian women rising: Tracing star and screen coordinates of the Hindi film industry post #MeToo

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Routledge via the DOI in this recordUsing the case study of women film professionals’ collective Indian Women Rising and Instagram accounts of film workers, this chapter will locate the origins of the first female-lead cinema collective of the Hindi film industry. In an interview with Anupama Chopra, Guneet Monga stated that less than five percent of the film industry professionals were women. Additionally, the film and media industries in India are increasingly platformised (Athique and Parthasarathi, 2020). As a result, filmmakers, crew members, and film stars need to have an active social media presence. These social media accounts showcase the “glamorous” work in the industry. In 2017, with the MeToo movement finding its feet in film industries of India, Women in cinema collective was found – primarily by the film and media professionals of the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. However, my field interactions in the Hindi film industry at the time suggested that this movement may not work as well for the industry's precarious “portfolio careers”. Unlike the warning listicles of perpetrators created by female news media professionals, the Hindi film industry professionals did not indulge in list making endeavours. The irony of this moment was the duality of the usage of social media accounts. On the one hand, female film professionals capitalised on these platforms to generate glamorous online portfolios; on the other hand, they also shared stories of discrimination in the workplace. This shift in platform appropriation has reorganised stardom in the Hindi film industry – particularly for female film professionals. Thus, this chapter attempts to outline the transitions and setbacks as an outcome of the MeToo movement for the Hindi film industry professionals

Evidence of reduced birth-weight in Ukraine following the full-scale Russian invasion (dataset)

Dataset underlying the associated publication.This is the dataset used for the Arbuzova et al. (2025) article "Evidence of reduced birth-weight in Ukraine following the full-scale Russian invasion"

An Optimized Federation Model for Park-Level Integrated Energy Systems in Industrial Internet of Things

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via the DOI in this recordIn order to achieve energy consumption optimization and decarbonization in the Industrial Internet of Things, this paper establishes a novel framework for optimal scheduling of park-level integrated energy systems. This framework incorporates carbon capture technologies alongside a multi-energy joint supply subsystem model featuring hydrogen storage, complemented by a structured stepped carbon trading mechanism. Furthermore, a novel optimized federation model is developed to balance low carbon emissions and economic performance by federating the carbon capture system into the tiered carbon trading mechanism. The primary objective of this model in the context of the Industrial Internet of Things is to minimize energy procurement costs, wind abandonment costs, and carbon trading expenses while maximizing revenues from carbon dioxide sales. The CPLEX optimization tool is utilized to address this complex challenge. Finally, several scenarios are simulated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the optimized park-level integrated energy systems in reducing the operational costs and minimizing carbon footprint

Is the DST a coherent response to taxing digital services under international obligations and norms? Comparative analysis of DSTs enacted in the United Kingdom and Türkiye

Taxation of the digital economy has long been on the international tax agenda; the delay in the OECD-led multilateral solution on how to allocate income from digital business models motivated countries to take their own unilateral measures to tax revenue from digital services. According to existing international tax rules, digital services supplied in the market cannot be subject to tax in market jurisdictions due to a lack of nexus. This thesis starts from the question of whether users and consumers in the market create a legitimate nexus to allow a tax on the revenue of non-resident digital service suppliers. The Digital Service Tax (DST) is designed with the generic features of being an interim and unilateral tax on revenue from certain types of digital services. It is argued that these features of the DST led to complexity and uncertainty in the current international tax regime, in addition to being obstacles to long-term multilateral solutions. By placing principles of international taxation, which are discussed within the framework of current profit allocation rules, this thesis assesses the adherence of DSTs to commonly accepted tax principles beyond political concerns. The enactment of DSTs is also challenged in terms of international tax and trade norms and obligations. Common criticisms of DSTs concern their discriminatory nature and their adverse impact on businesses, due to the policy on which this tax is based. However, in the assessment of DSTs in terms of non-discrimination provisions of bilateral tax treaties and WTO GATS, it is concluded that DSTs are compatible with non-discriminatory provisions of bilateral tax treaties. Conversely, it is possible to challenge DSTs under the National Treatment provision of WTO GATs as being discriminatory. The main contribution of this thesis is a comparative analysis between the DSTs of the United Kingdom and Türkiye, aiming to understand the extent to which legal and political differences between countries have influenced the development of national tax proposals and their respective DST design. In both countries, this tax measure is called a “Digital Service Tax”; however, the implementations of these measures show differences concerning the legal constraints, political motivation, and design of DSTs within the framework of domestic laws. In order to achieve the policy objectives of DSTs in both countries, it is essential to optimise their respective DSTs. This study concludes that DST is an example of the primacy of national interest over international cooperation, thereby undermining the international solidarity necessary for reaching a multilateral solution to the taxation of the digital economy. This thesis contributes to the ongoing discussion of taxing the digital economy by providing an impartial examination of the extent to which the same tax policies and frameworks differ in their implementation across domestic laws, in particular offering a cautionary tale concerning the adoption of similar unilateral tax measures into domestic law