LIG for Use as a Resistive Sensor

Certain species of sagebrush extant in Idaho emit volatile organic compounds. It is of interest to the scientific community to detect these compounds to glean insight into sagebrush and sage-grouse population decline, or possible intraspecies sagebrush communication. Therefore a sensor is devised to exploit the chemiresistive properties of laser-induced graphene to this end, fabricated by means of irradiating a polyimide with coherent infrared radiation. Properties of the sensory material are discussed, including its resistive response to the compounds of interest, resistive response to temperature, signal interference from physical deformation, and long-term material degradation induced by normal use. Initial results are promising and in line with existing literature. Further research is required to fine-tune the fabrication process

A mixed-methods exploration of the factors affecting bike riding participation in Victoria, Australia

Participation rates in Australia remain low compared to other international settings, and gross inequities exist in participation, including for women and people living in low socioeconomic areas [1]. In recognition of the health and environmental benefits of increasing cycling participation, governments in Australia are increasing investment in initiatives to increase bicycling [2]. Recent research found that 78% of people in Greater Melbourne (a major Australian metropolitan region) are interested in riding a bike [3]. This demonstrates an opportunity for considerable modal shift to bike riding. There is, however, insufficient knowledge of the barriers to, and enablers of cycling for transport in this context. Research of barriers and enablers in Australia is very limited, however the majority of what has been conducted bas been quantitative research in groups whom are already cyclists. Existing research explores factors affecting cycling for all purposes, potentially overlooking differences in barriers and enablers reported for either riding a bike for transport, or recreational purposes. Further, quantitative studies often present the prevalence of a particular barrier or enabler, without consideration of the strength of how preventative, or encouraging the factor may be. This has resulted in cycling strategies being largely uninformed by the needs of people who are not current cyclists, and without consideration of the needs of people who ride a bike for transport, compared to recreational ri.ders. To increase cycling participation, it is essential to understand the barriers and enablers of cycling for all people of all ages and abilities, and to understand the nuances of their perception of safety. This requires a mixed-methods approach, with a robust sampling approach, to consider the prevalence and strength of the varying factors that influence people's decision to ride a bike or not. We conducted an online survey and semi-structured interviews with people living in nine selected local government areas across Greater Melbourne. [From: Introduction

BRAHMS: Novel middleware for integrated systems computation

Biological computational modellers are becoming increasingly interested in building large, eclectic models, including components on many different computational substrates, both biological and non-biological. At the same time, the rise of the philosophy of embodied modelling is generating a need to deploy biological models as controllers for robots in real-world environments. Finally, robotics engineers are beginning to find value in seconding biomimetic control strategies for use on practical robots. Together with the ubiquitous desire to make good on past software development effort, these trends are throwing up new challenges of intellectual and technological integration (for example across scales, across disciplines, and even across time) - challenges that are unmet by existing software frameworks. Here, we outline these challenges in detail, and go on to describe a newly developed software framework, BRAHMS. that meets them. BRAHMS is a tool for integrating computational process modules into a viable, computable system: its generality and flexibility facilitate integration across barriers, such as those described above, in a coherent and effective way. We go on to describe several cases where BRAHMS has been successfully deployed in practical situations. We also show excellent performance in comparison with a monolithic development approach. Additional benefits of developing in the framework include source code self-documentation, automatic coarse-grained parallelisation, cross-language integration, data logging, performance monitoring, and will include dynamic load-balancing and 'pause and continue' execution. BRAHMS is built on the nascent, and similarly general purpose, model markup language, SystemML. This will, in future, also facilitate repeatability and accountability (same answers ten years from now), transparent automatic software distribution, and interfacing with other SystemML tools. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Transforming undergraduate education in geriatric medicine:an innovative curriculum at Bristol Medical School

The World Health Organization (WHO) advocates investment in high-quality undergraduate education in geriatric medicine as a means of meeting the future needs of the aging population. However, there is a lack of evidence for the optimal delivery of training in this area. Rigorous pedagogical research is required to determine the most effective way to equip tomorrow’s doctors with the skills and knowledge to care for older adults with complex health and social care needs. The transition between two undergraduate medical curricula meant that Bristol Medical School (BMS) was uniquely positioned to innovate and evaluate undergraduate education in geriatric medicine. This transition marked BMS’ departure from a ‘traditional’ curriculum to case-based learning. The outgoing curriculum included a 4-week unit in geriatrics, whilst the new programme includes an 18-week clerkship titled ‘Complex Medicine in Older People’ (CMOP). CMOP is a clinical clerkship with 18 cases at its core, covering the fundamental aspects of geriatric medicine. The core cases and clinical learning are enhanced with five expert lectures, six tutorials and three journal clubs. Reflective practice is modelled and promoted with Balint groups and a book club. Consolidative workplace-based assessments and clinical portfolio mirror those used in postgraduate training, preparing students for professional practice. CMOP is iteratively improved in real-time using staff and student feedback. This marked shift in mode and duration of teaching affords the opportunity to evaluate the impact of differing education in geriatrics, providing an evidence-based model for teaching on aging. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41999-022-00690-w

Simultaneous localisation and mapping on a multi-degree of freedom biomimetic whiskered robot

A biomimetic mobile robot called “Shrewbot” has been built as part of a neuroethological study of the mammalian facial whisker sensory system. This platform has been used to further evaluate the problem space of whisker based tactile Simultaneous Localisation And Mapping (tSLAM). Shrewbot uses a biomorphic 3-dimensional array of active whiskers and a model of action selection based on tactile sensory attention to explore a circular walled arena sparsely populated with simple geometric shapes. Datasets taken during this exploration have been used to parameterise an approach to localisation and mapping based on probabilistic occupancy grids. We present the results of this work and conclude that simultaneous localisation and mapping is possible given only noisy odometry and tactile information from a 3-dimensional array of active biomimetic whiskers and no prior information of features in the environment