Seasonal priority effects: Implications for invasion and restoration in California coastal sage scrub

Competition from exotic annual grasses (EAGs) threatens native plant communities in California. Coastal sage scrub communities have substantially diminished in area over the last century, in some instances by greater than 90%, while EAGs continue to proliferate. Several mechanisms may explain the success of EAGs, including the suppression of native seedlings by accumulated litter, exhaustion of soil moisture, and low seed production or dispersal of natives. 
The timing and magnitude of rainfall plays a significant role in determining the survival and reproduction of plant species in Mediterranean ecosystems. Populations of annuals fluctuate greatly from year to year, corresponding with variability in autumn precipitation. EAGs in California germinate quickly following small threshold rain events, whereas native species have more complex germination cues, such that exotic annual grasses become active earlier in the growing season. In this way, EAGs may exhibit a priority effect over native plant species with respect to establishment; however, they may have reduced success if their germination is induced at a time followed by a substantial drought (for instance, in the summer) so that they will not persist. 
The goal of this investigation is 1) to evaluate whether seasonal priority effects contribute to community-level patterns of abundance, and 2) whether late summer watering could be a feasible restoration technique for suppression of exotic annual grasses and weeds in Mediterranean ecosystems

GoWell East Headline Indicators Comparison Report

This report outlines results for our GoWell East study within four separate chapters, that are focused on the Scottish Government, Commonwealth Games legacy themes: 1) Active; 2) Flourishing; 3) Sustainable; and 4) Connected. Results are presented for the longitudinal cohort analysis, wave 1-wave 2, and in addition, within the chapters focusing on the Active and Flourishing themes, data will be presented by gender and age. The findings highlight that the vast majority of people living near the Games venues in the East End continue to be supportive of the fact that Glasgow hosted the Games, and that most of those who experienced inconvenience at the time of the event thought it was worth it

Spatial scale, time and process in mega-events: the complexity of host community perspectives on neighbourhood change

A focus on the ‘mega’ aspect of hallmark events can divert attention from the micro - those local communities who are most impacted by the event. Similarly, attention to the ‘event’ aspect underplays the long process of bidding and preparation before any putative legacy of urban transformation for local people. This paper uses qualitative data to unpack the complex and multi-layered views of local residents, living in a deprived neighbourhood beside the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games site in Scotland. They reflect on five years of intensive urban regeneration, evaluate the experience of ‘lockdown’ at Games time, and consider their hopes and fears for the future of the community. Interviewing a mixture of lifelong, established, new and returning residents, we found considerable common ground across the different groups in terms of hopes for a new, mixed community in the area. However, findings also highlight concerns around urban governance practices and the limitations of a market-led approach to regeneration

The impact of life events on adult physical and mental health and well being: longitudinal analysis using the GoWell Health and Well-being Survey

Background: It is recognised that life events (LEs) which have been defined as incidents necessitating adjustment to habitual life either permanently or temporarily, not only have the potential to be detrimental to health and well-being, but research suggests some LEs may be beneficial. This study aimed to determine the individual and cumulative occurrence of LEs; and to establish their effect on health and well-being. Results: Demographic factors (gender, age and highest educational attainment), LE occurrence and self-reported health data were collected as part of the longitudinal GoWell community health and wellbeing survey (2008–2011). Self-reported health was measured using the SF-12 questionnaire for physical (SF-12 PCS) and mental health (SF-12 MCS) and the Warwick–Edinburgh mental well-being scale (WEMWBS) for well-being. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSSv21 and level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Results showed that the sample was 61.6 % (n = 768) female; 20.4 % (n = 254) were aged 16–39 years, 46.1 % (n = 575) 40–64 years and 33.5 % (n = 418) were over 65 years; 68.8 % (n = 819) had no qualifications/Scottish leaving certificates, with the remaining 31.2 % (n = 372) having their highest educational qualification above Scottish leaving certificates. Health score means were 49.3 SF-12 mental health component score (SF-12 MCS); 42.1 SF-12 physical health component score (SF-12 PCS); and 49.2 WEMWBS. Participants experienced 0–7 LEs over a three year period, with the most common being: housing improvement (44.9 %), house move (36.8 %), health event (26.3 %) and bereavement (25.0 %). Overall, an increase in LEs was associated with a health score decrease. Five LEs (relationship breakdown, health event, bereavement, victimisation and house move) had negative impacts on SF-12 MCS and two (new job/promotion and parenthood) had positive impacts. For SF-12 PCS only three (health event, bereavement and housing improvement) had a negative impact. Six (health event, victimisation, bereavement, relationship breakdown housing move and improvement) had negative impacts on well-being and two (new job/promotion, marriage) had positive effects. Conclusions: Findings from the current study confirm LEs have both detrimental and beneficial impacts on health and well-being. Further research is required to disentangle the complexity of LEs and the ways they affect health and well-being

A Systematic Multidisciplinary Process for User Engagement and Sensor Evaluation: Development of a Digital Toolkit for Assessment of Movement in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Objectives: To describe and critique a systematic multidisciplinary approach to user engagement, and selection and evaluation of sensor technologies for development of a sensor-based Digital Toolkit for assessment of movement in children with cerebral palsy (CP).Methods: A sequential process was employed comprising three steps: Step 1: define user requirements, by identifying domains of interest; Step 2: map domains of interest to potential sensor technologies; and Step 3: evaluate and select appropriate sensors to be incorporated into the Digital Toolkit. The process employed a combination of principles from frameworks based in either healthcare or technology design.Results: A broad range of domains were ranked as important by clinicians, patients and families, and industry users. These directly informed the device selection and evaluation process that resulted in three sensor-based technologies being agreed for inclusion in the Digital Toolkit, for use in a future research study.Conclusion: This report demonstrates a systematic approach to user engagement and device selection and evaluation during the development of a sensor-based solution to a healthcare problem. It also provides a narrative on the benefits of employing a multidisciplinary approach throughout the process. This work uses previous frameworks for evaluating sensor technologies and expands on the methods used for user engagement

Connected Health Living Lab

The school of computing, in collaboration with the institute of nursing and health research and the school of engineering, recently established the connected health living lab (CH:LL) at Ulster University. CH:LL offers a dedicated environment to support user and clinical engagement, access to state-of-the-art technology to assess usability and interaction with innovative technologies, in addition to being a dedicated environment to record user behaviours with new connected health solutions. The creation of such a dedicated environment offers a range of benefits to support multi-disciplinary research in the area of connected health. This paper illustrates the design, development, and implementation of CH:LL, including a description of the various technologies associated with the living lab at Ulster University. To conclude, the paper highlights how these resources have been used to date within various research projects

Public attitudes to, and perceived impacts of 20mph (32 km/h) speed limits in Edinburgh:An exploratory study using the Speed Limits Perceptions Survey (SLiPS)

The ‘Is 20 plenty for health?’ study is funded by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Public Health Research (PHR) grant 15/82/12.Between 2016 and 2018 a policy was implemented to increase the proportion of 20mph (32km/h) streets in Edinburgh, UK from approximately 50% to 80%, providing the opportunity to evaluate how behaviour and public perceptions change over time. This is important as negative public responses have been reported to limit the implementation of transport policies and may reduce the effectiveness of the policy. The Speed Limits Perception Survey (SLiPS) was developed to assess changes in public perceptions from baseline to 6 and 12 months post-implementation. We collected 3,485 individual responses to the survey, 64.6% (n = 2,253) of which included complete perceptions data. Using exploratory factor analysis, the following perception factors were identified: i) Detraction and resistance, ii) Support, iii) Rule following, iv) Child safety, and v) Walking safety. Following the 20mph implementation at 6–12 months: Support (ii) and Rule following (iii) had increased; Detraction and resistance (i) had decreased; and Child safety (iv) and Walking safety (v) had not changed significantly. These findings indicate that the public in Edinburgh became more positive towards the policy once it was implemented. However, more extensive policy or ongoing communication of the safety benefits of 20mph limits are needed to increase perceptions of safety that might lead to increased walking and cycling. Future research should aim to understand how those implementing speed limit interventions can positively influence public perceptions and how public perceptions about speed limits influence behaviour.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Safe Beacon: A Bluetooth Based Solution to Monitor Egress of Dementia Sufferers within a Residential Setting

The global population is ageing, as a consequence of this there will be a greater incidence of ageing related illnesses which cause cognitive impairment–such as Alzheimer’s disease. Within residential care homes, such cognitive impairment can lead to wandering of individuals beyond the boundaries of safety provided. This wandering, particularly in urban areas can be life threatening. This study introduces a novel solution to detect, and alert caregivers of, egress of at-risk inhabitants of a care home. This solution operates through a combination of wearable Bluetooth beacons and beam-formed listening devices. In an evaluation process involving 275 egress events, this solution proved to offer accurate operation with no incidence of false positives. Notably, this solution has been deployed within a real residential care home environment for over 12 months. Proposed future work discusses improvements to this solution