BU Research Blog

Category / REF Subjects

July 19, 2017

Guest talk by Prof. Marina L. Gavrilova from University of Calgary on Biometric Recognition to be held Wednesday 26th of July at 14:30PM in CREATE LT, Fusion Building.

BU research, Events, Fusion, Global engagement, international, PG research, Research communication, Research news xyang

We have the honor to have Prof. Marina L. Gavrilova here on our campus to deliver a talk on Biometric Recognition, recognizing a person by determining the authenticity of a specific characteristic – biometric features, such as Physiological Biometrics (face, fingerprint, hand, ear, Iris, palm print, hand vein, tooth, retina etc.), Behavioural Biometrics (voice, gait, signature, key-stroke dynamics, etc) and Social Biometrics (Twitter, Flickr, etc). The talk will discuss various problems in biometric data acquisition, feature matching, multi-modal fusion, pattern recognition, etc.

Title: The Social Aspects of Biometric Recognition through Human Perception

Speaker: Prof. Marina L. Gavrilova, Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary

Venue: CREATE LT, Fusion Building, Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB

Time: 14:30-15:30 Wednesday 26th July 2017

Abstract: Our society continues to undergo tremendous growth with respect to all aspects of information access and sharing. It had a profound effect on the way we, humans, and the whole society lives, works and interacts in business and social settings. The information being shared through social networks, on-line communities, games, software development tools, e-mails, blogs, posts, etc. is enormous. It also ranges in type: text, images, hyperlinks, likes, network connections, etc. What’s more, human social, behavioral and even cognitive traits are becoming more and more visible through interlinking of heterogeneous communications in on-line and off-line settings and even in our visual preferences. This phenomenon gave rise to the rise of a new concept: Social Biometrics, that attempts to understand and extrapolate trends related to all aspects of human social activities. The talk is devoted to definitions, examples, case studies and very recent research trends in this domain. The introduced concepts will be further illustrated through two case studies: establishing identity of Twitter users through social networks analysis, and gender recognition of Flickr users based on human aesthetic preferences.

Marina L. Gavrilova is a Full Professor in the Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary. Dr. Gavrilova’s research interests lie in the areas of biometric security, cognitive sciences, pattern recognition, social networks, and cyberworlds. Prof. Gavrilova is the founder and co-director of the Biometric Technologies Laboratory and SPARCS lab, with over 200 publications, including the World Scientific Bestseller (2007): Image Pattern Recognition: Synthesis and Analysis in Biometrics and IGI (2013) book Multimodal Biometrics and Intelligent Image Processing for Security System. She is a Founding Editor-in-Chief of Transactions on Computational Science journal, Springer, and an Associate Editor of the Visual Computer and the International Journal of Biometrics. Prof. Gavrilova has given invited lectures at leading international conferences (3AI, CW, WSCG, GRAPHICON, PSC, ICCI*CC, MIT, ICBAKE, etc), and appeared as guest at DIMACS Rutgers University/Bell Labs, USA; Microsoft Research, Redmond, USA; Samsung Research, South Korea; SERIAS Purdue University, USA, among other universities.

http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~marina/HomePHP/index.php

Thanks.

Dr. Xiaosong Yang

http://staffprofiles.bournemouth.ac.uk/display/xyang

July 19, 2017

New publication by FHSS PhD student

BU research, Featured academics, international, open access, PG research, policy, Publishing, Research news, Student Engagement, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) PhD student Folashade Alloh and Dr. Pramod Regmi, newly appointed lecturer in International Health. They just published ‘Effect of economic and security challenges on the Nigerian health sector’ in the journal African Health Sciences. The paper is Open Access and can be found here!

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

July 17, 2017

New maternity research paper on Nepal

BU research, international, PG research, Publishing, Research news, student research, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Preeti Mahato, PhD student in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health, on the publication of her latest paper ‘Factors related to choice of place of birth in a district in Nepal’ in the Elsevier journal Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare [1]. The paper based on her research work in Nawalparasi, southern Nepal. This new paper is the third paper form Preeti’s PhD work [2-3].

Reference:

Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Sheppard, Z., Silwal, R.C. (2017) Factors related to choice of place of birth in a district in Nepal, Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare 13 : 91-96.
Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2016) Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1): 18-30. http://ecommons.aku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=jam
Mahato, P.K., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C., Sathian, B. (2015) Birthing centre infrastructure in Nepal post 2015 earthquake. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 5(4): 518-519. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/14260/11579

July 16, 2017

Dr Tim Breitbarth presents social responsibility and social media research to UEFA

BU research, Business Engagement, Fusion, Global engagement, Impact, international, Knowledge Exchange, REF Subjects, Research communication, Research news tbreitbarth

Sport management researcher Dr Tim Breitbarth (Department of Sport & Physical Activity) was one of only six awardees of the prestigious UEFA Research Grant Programme 2016/17, which supports all 55 UEFA member associations to further develop their own activities and projects. Tim’s project entitled “#SocialResponsibility in #Football: Mapping Perceptions and Expectations through Social Media Conversations across Europe”, is a longitudinal, large-scale analysis of social media across ten languages.

Besides delivery of interim and final reports, Tim was invited to the House of European Football (UEFA’s headquarter) in Nyon, Lake Geneva to present his project’s findings to the UEFA Research Grant Jury chaired by Dr Michel D’Hooghe (amongst other, current chairman of the Medical Committee of FIFA and UEFA and an ex-member of the FIFA Council). The audience comprised of renowned academics, UEFA managers interested in the topic and representatives of the European football federations, so that Tim – for example – has been invited to present to the Croatian Football Association.

Creating more impact

Next will be to promote the new knowledge throughout academia and practice, and to create further impact on the level of international and national federations as well as club level. Set avenues include:

Providing a synopsis of his research and managerial implications to be sent to all 55 national federations;
Contributing an article in UEFA’s official magazine UEFAdirect, a monthly magazine which gets distributed all across Europe and online;
Convening a special workshop and presenting own research findings at the 25^th European Association for Sport Management Conference in September;
Delivering a full-day CSR workshop to Bundesliga managers in November;
Discussing findings with individual national associations throughout the upcoming months/year, such as the German Football Association (the single largest sports federation in the world) since they officially supported his grant application building on earlier reported engagement:
- “Impacting on policy and process: BU Corporate Social Responsibility expert informs discussions at German Football Association’s annual congress”, http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2015/12/17/impacting-on-policy-and-process-bu-corporate-social-responsibility-expert-informs-discussions-at-german-football-associations-annual-congress
- “BU management academic advises German Football Association on CSR”, http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2015/10/26/bu-management-academic-advises-german-football-association-on-csr-2

Tim is a leading expert in corporate social responsibility in sport and, amongst other, the lead guest editor of the European Sport Management Quarterly (ABS 3***) upcoming 2019 special issue “Social Responsibility and the European Sport Context” (http://explore.tandfonline.com/pages/cfp/resm-cfp-social-responsibility-and-the-european-sport-context )

Dr Tim Breitbarth (Principal Academic and Global Engagement Lead, Department of Sport & Physical Activity) is available at tbreitbarth@bournemouth.ac.uk

July 14, 2017

New publication on Community Hospitals

international, Knowledge Exchange, open access, policy, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The Health Services Journal published a commentary this week on Community Hospitals [1]. This online article is written by Dr. Emma Pitchforth who is based at RAND Europe in Cambridge (& BU Visiting Faculty), Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (Faculty of Health & Social Sciences) and Dr. Ellen Nolte based at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

The authors highlight the recently completed NIHR study on Community Hospitals [2]. The notion of a Community Hospital in the UK is evolving from the traditional model of a local hospital staffed by general practitioners and nurses and serving mainly rural populations. Along with the diversification of models, there is a renewed policy interest in community hospitals and their potential to deliver integrated care. However, there is a need to better understand the role of different models of community hospitals within the wider health economy and an opportunity to learn from experiences of other countries to inform this potential.

With ease of access and a sense of homeliness, there is potential for Community Hospitals to be better integrated into NHS in England. The authors suggest that a more strategic role for ‘traditional’ Community Hospitals might be timely within the NHS in England. They further conclude that if challenges around Community Hospitals are addressed and their within the English health system is properly defined, they could provide positive benefits to the health service. It seems that, if done correctly, Community Hospitals could be a traditional solution to help address some of the modern day challenges of the NHS.The full NIHR report is Open Access and can be found here!

Last year the research team had already published a scoping review article from the NIHR study [3].

References:

Pitchforth, E., van Teijlingen, E., Nolte, E. (2017) Community hospitals: a traditional solution to help today’s NHS? Health Services Journal (11 July) https://www.hsj.co.uk/community-services/community-hospitals-a-traditional-solution-to-help-todays-nhs/7020019.article#/scientific-summary
Pitchforth, E., Nolte, E., Corbett, J., Miani., C, Winpenny., E, van Teijlingen, E., Elmore, N,, King, S,, Ball, S,, Miler, J,, Ling, T. (2017) Community hospitals and their services in the NHS: identifying transferable learning from international developments – scoping review, systematic review, country reports and case studies Health Services & Delivery Research 5(19): 1-248.
Wimpenny, E.M., Corbett, J., Miami, C., King, S., Pitchforth, E., Ling, T., van Teijlingen, E. Nolte, E. (2016) Community hospitals in selected high income countries: a scoping review of approaches and models. International Journal of Integrated Care 16(4): 13 http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ijic.2463

July 13, 2017

Global golf business and management book hits the shelves

Global engagement, international, Research news, Research themes tbreitbarth

Golf occupies a prominent place in the global sport community and BU is one of only a few universities offering a full degree course on golf management. Dr Tim Breitbarth (Department of Sport & Physical Activity) is the lead editor of the first book that introduces the fundamentals of golf business and management from a truly international perspective. 30 authors from 6 continents are covering key topics such as media, club management, sponsorship and retail, at elite and non-elite levels. Already, the book has received endorsement from the top of the golf sector, namely Guy Kinnings (Global Head of Golf, IMG) and Martin Slumbers (Chief Executive, The R&A).

With sections exploring the development of golf on every single continent, this book presents the latest thinking on current issues in golf, ranging from sustainability and innovation to global governance. Each chapter incorporates helpful features for students including learning objectives, discussion questions, guides to further reading, recommended websites and insights from industry voices.

Essential reading

This book co-edited together with Sebastian Kaiser-Jovy (Heilbronn University, GER) and Geoff Dickson (AUT, New Zealand) is essential reading for students of any golf-related degree course or professional accreditation programme, and will also be of interest to those studying or working in sport business, sport management and sport tourism. Underpinned by up-to-date literature, golf researchers will also find the book a useful starting point.

Contributors range from internationally renowned academics such as professors David Shilbury (Deakin University, AUS) and Karen Danychuk (Western University, CAN) to a senior vice president at Club Managers Association of America (USA) and managers at PricewaterhouseCoopers (Switzerland) and Brazilian Golf Federation. Also, ex-BU PhD student associate professor Brendon Knott (SA), BU honorary PhD Eddie Bullock (UK) and BSc sport management golf alumni Luke Frary (UK) have contributed their golf expertise.

For more information, including contents, contributors and purchasing options, see: https://www.routledge.com/Golf-Business-and-Management-A-Global-Introduction/Breitbarth-Kaiser-Jovy-Dickson/p/book/9781138957176

Dr Tim Breitbarth (Principal Academic and Global Engagement Lead, Department of Sport & Physical Activity) is available at tbreitbarth@bournemouth.ac.uk

Reviews by Guy Kinnings (Global Head of Golf, IMG) and Martin Slumbers (Chief Executive, The R&A)

“In 1960, a handshake between Mark McCormack and Arnold Palmer became the foundation of not just golf management but modern sport business. In 2017 and beyond, we must all work toward addressing some of the challenges that the sport naturally has to overcome to evolve and remain relevant. With, for example, the re-introduction of golf to the 2016 Olympics, the momentum is on our side. There is great opportunity in global golf.”

“One of the key challenges for the golf industry is to be alive to the changing demands of people’s modern day lifestyles, particularly when research demonstrates that a younger generation of golfers would like to play alternative, shorter forms of the game in a quicker time. It is also important that we educate golf’s current and future executives about effective business and management practices and this book will have an important role to play in that regard.”

July 12, 2017

BSc sport management student succeeds in FC Bayern Munich and Procter & Gamble business case competition

Business Engagement, Global engagement, Impact, innovation, international, Student Engagement tbreitbarth

Final year sport management student Mats Hjertum and his teammate Stian Pettersen from our partner university, the Norwegian School of Sport Science, have been shortlisted in a business competition involving Germany’s most successful football club FC Bayern Munich and global consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble. Teams from as far as New Zealand submitted their innovative ideas around fan experience and mediaisation in football. Mats and Stian are mentored by management academic Dr Tim Breitbarth.

Watch their great team presentation video that prominently features BU by clicking on the below picture.

They are now invited to spend four days with FC Bayern Munich around the Audi Cup at the beginning of August (pre-season competition involving Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Atletico Madrid and Napoli) to meet stakeholders of the business competition, including Bayern executive board members, the general manager of P&G Germany, and the managing partners of Futury, the idea generator and test factory for new and digital business models which brokers the business competition. Importantly, Mats and Stian will pitch their idea for substantial funding and mentorship in the final phase. Amongst other, part of their experience will be an exclusive tour of Allianz Arena and tickets for all matches of the competition.

Unfortunately, the second team led by BU sport management student Sahil Kamble did not make the cut despite a strong business, sports and engineering skills portfolio within their team of three and also an exciting technology-driven proposal.

With the initial lead for the competition coming through Dr Carly Stewart, this is the first time Bournemouth University sport students have been involved in such an international business competition. Besides Tim’s mentorship, Mats and Sahil commented that their approach to this competition and their business thinking benefitted from the experience of the intense multi-day and fast-paced international student management game in Cologne, organised as part of their final year strategic sport management unit.

For more information, contact Dr Tim Breitbarth (Principal Academic and Global Engagement Lead, Department of Sport & Physical Activity) at tbreitbarth@bournemouth.ac.uk

July 10, 2017

Helping surgeons when things go wrong

BU research, conferences, Events, Uncategorized smcdougall

1-day BU conference examining the effect of adverse events on surgeons, 8^th September 2017

A group of BU researchers are working in partnership with Royal Bournemouth Hospital to carry out research examining the consequences of complications and errors on surgeons’ lives. On September 8th 2017 we are holding a one day conference to highlight the effects of dealing with adverse events. We have been fortunate in attracting eminent speakers from around the UK to contribute to the conference which will be held at the Executive Business School on the Lansdowne Campus.

Speakers include:-

Sir Miles Irving (Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Manchester University)
Dr Clare Gerada (Medical Director, NHS Practitioner Health Programme)
Professor Debbie Cohen (Director, Centre for Physician Health, Cardiff University)
Dr Mike Peters (Medical Director, BMA Doctors for Doctors Unit)
Dr Suzanne Shale (Medical ethicist advising national bodies following healthcare harm)

Speakers will present the latest research in the area, share insights from their surgical careers and personal experiences, and consider how better support and training can be provided for surgeons.

If you are interested in attending (attendance is free for BU staff) or would like to know more please visit www.surgeonwellbeing.co.uk or contact Professor Siné McDougall (smcdougall@bournemouth.ac.uk; ext. 61722).

July 9, 2017

Successful Breastfeeding Debate in 2017 Festival of Learning

Events, Festival of Learning, Public engagement, Uncategorized Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday, on the first day of BU’s Festival of Learning, we organised a debate on breastfeeding in society. The debate was structured around the motion “This house believes that: Breastfeeding is over-rated and unpopular.”

In favour of the motion argued Dr. Ann Luce from the Faculty of Media and Communication (FMC) and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen from the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS).

Against the motion argued Dr. Catherine Angell (CMMPH) and Ms. Sue Hurst midwife and lactation advisor at St Mary’s Maternity Hospital which is part of Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Before the debate started Prof. Vanora Hundley (CMMPH) asked the audience to vote on the motion. At this first vote the audience overwhelmingly voted against the motion (86%). After the presentations of the four debaters the audience was asked to vote again and this time the against vote had dropped to 71%. Prof. Hundley then opened up the debate to the wider audience and, after an occasionally heated debate, the audience were asked for their final vote. On this final occasion 85% voted against.

There was a general agreement that breastfeeding beneficial for both mother and baby and hence that it was not over-rated. There appeared to be sympathy for the view that breastfeeding was not popular, or at least not as popular as it should be, considering how good it is!

July 8, 2017

Tenth anniversary PLOS ONE

BRIAN, Featured academics, international, open access, Publishing, Research communication, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

On the tenth anniversary of the international Open Access journal PLOS ONE we received an email to inform us that one of our articles was among the top ten per cent of most cited articles in this journal. The email referred to our paper ‘Factors influencing adherence to antiretroviral treatment in Nepal: A mixed-methods study’ [1]. Not bad considering that PLOS ONE has published over 4,300 articles since its inception.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

July 7, 2017

Xiaosong Yang attends the Computer Graphics International 2017 in Yokohama, Japan

BRIAN, BU research, conferences, Global engagement, international, REF Subjects, Research news, Uncategorized xyang

Thanks to the QR funding from the Faculty of Media and Communication, I recently had the privilege to attend the Computer Graphics International 2017 in Yokohama, Japan. CGI is a prestigious conference in the graphics world for many years and attracts interest from people all over the world. We have one paper presented on the conference, as a full paper, it will be published in the Visual Computer Journal by Springer-Verlag.

We have hosted the CGI2012 at Bournemouth. CGI2017 is held at Keio University, Yokohama chaired by Prof. Issei Fujishiro and Prof. Xiaoyang Mao. The first day (27^th June) events are majorly tutorials and workshops. The shining part is the keynote by Prof. Marina Gavrilova from University of Calgary, discussing how to use machine learning for social data analysis through image and video processing, especially multiple modal biometric data acquisition, feature matching, fusion and recognition. One interesting application is gender prediction using image aesthetics.

The second day’s keynote is “reconstructing reality: from physical world to virtual environments” by Prof. Ming Lin from University of North Carolina. She firstly gave an introduction on the history of VR and AR, then talked about her work on human tissue material property estimation from real surgery videos, virtual dressing, crowd and traffic pattern learning from videos of real world, finally the sound and haptic rendering in VR environment. Daniel Thalmann (chair of the conference) held the panel discussion on the future of machine learning in graphics. There were lots of other paper presentations on the second day covering many topics including image, texture, modelling, rendering, deformation and visualization.

The third day’s keynote is “Studies on Humanlike robots” by Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro. He showed the latest state-of-the-art robot in Japan, the mimic version of himself. Obviously lots of small human robots have been used in some restaurants to entertain guest during food ordering. My student Tao Jiang presented his paper in the morning session.

I chaired a session on the fourth day on papers working on image & example based modelling. There are also some posters presented during the conference.

This is a very good opportunity to network with top experts in the world. I had good chat with many people such as Prof. Henry Fuchs (Guru in the VR world), Prof. Ming Lin, Prof. Marina Gavrilova, Prof. Kwan-Liu Ma (leading expert in the visualization, chaired the top visualization conferences in the world), Prof. Shimin Hu (Tsinghua University), Prof. Enhu Wu (Chinese Academy of Science), and also some other experts from Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, USA and China etc. There is also a discussion with a professor from German about collaboration on 3D living environment reconstruction from old photos for dementia patient/old people. This is a very exciting and intensive experience for four full days, sharing different ideas, building links and research collaborations.

July 6, 2017

Why Yawning is Important in Studying Multiple Sclerosis by Dr Simon Thompson

BRIAN, BU research, conferences, Events, Featured academics, Fusion, innovation, international, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement, Research communication, Research news, Research themes, staff profile pages, Vitae Simon Thompson

What is MS?

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic debilitating and progressive condition that affects the fatty tissue sheath surrounding nerves. Loss of the myelin sheath is largely responsible for uncoordinated movements because the nerves cannot transmit signals smoothly across the complex neural circuitry. A common symptom of MS is excessive yawning together with fatigue.

Research study

Following recent completion of a study at the Osborne Centre, West Parley, we found that people with MS had higher cortisol levels when yawning compared with healthy participants.

Previous research at Bournemouth University

This research follows several years of research by the author at Bournemouth University with the first report on the “yawning envelope”, identifying the electrical trace during yawning (Refs. 1-2), and the first report on the association between yawning and cortisol levels following provoked yawning (Refs. 3-6).

Yawning “envelope”

“Contagious” yawning is seen in animals as well humans; it may involve empathy to perceived social cues in humans.

Yawning: (clockwise) Fox, Pig, Human, Hippopotamus

A series of 3 Q and A events with talks about findings was held at the MS Society local branch which facilitated an interesting and lively debate among participants, researchers and staff at the Centre.

Further research planned

We believe that threshold levels of cortisol trigger the yawn response which lowers brain temperature, particularly important in MS where brain temperatures can be elevated considerably following fatigue. A funding bid is in preparation to examine early detection of MS using these findings.

About the author

Simon B N Thompson is Associate Professor, Bournemouth University; and Visiting Professor, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, France. He has presented to His Excellency Bernard Emié, the French Ambassador at the French Embassy, signalling formation of the Anglo-French International Scientific Council for Research into Multiple Sclerosis.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all volunteers; Alister Coleman and Nicola Williams for assisting in data collection and analysis; Rod Slip, Group Co-ordinator and Kay Bundy, Fundraising Co-ordinator of the MS Society Osborne Centre for providing free facilities.

References

1. Thompson, S.B.N., 2013. How to catch a yawn: initial observations of a randomised controlled trial. WMC Neurology, 4(8), doi: 10.9754/journal.wmc.2013.004371.
2. Thompson, S.B.N., Frankham, C., & Bishop, P., 2014. The art of capturing a yawn using the science of nerve impulses and cortisol levels in a randomized controlled trial. Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis as a potential predictor of neurological impairment. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 7(3), 529-543.
3. Thompson, S.B.N., 2011. Born to yawn? Cortisol linked to yawning: a new hypothesis. Medical Hypotheses, 77, 861-862.
4. Thompson, S.B.N., & Bishop, P., 2012. Born to yawn? Understanding yawning as a warning of the rise in cortisol levels: randomized trial. Interactive Journal of Medical Research, 1(2), e4, 1-9, doi: 10.2196/ijmr.2241.
5. Thompson, S. B. N., Daly, S., Le Blanche, A., Adibi, M., Belkhiria, C., Driss, T., de Marco, G., 2016. fMRI randomized study of mental and motor task performance and cortisol levels to potentiate cortisol as a new diagnostic biomarker. Journal of Neurology & Neuroscience, 7(2); 92: 1-8.
6. Thompson, S.B.N., 2017. Hypothesis to explain yawning, cortisol rise, brain cooling and motor cortex involvement of involuntary arm movement in neurologically impaired patients. Journal of Neurology & Neuroscience, 8(1); 167: 1-5.

July 5, 2017

Performance of Gemmeleg at NIME 2017, Copenhagen

conferences, international, REF Subjects, Uncategorized tdavis

Rehearsal in the Black Diamond

Gemmeleg is a composition by Laura Reid cellist/composer for the performance system The Feral Cello developed by Dr Tom Davis.

This piece was performed at the prestigious Black Diamond concert venue in Copenhagen as part of the international conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, NIME.

The Feral Cello is a performance system developed by Tom Davis that incorporates machine listening and actuated feedback to alter the response of an acoustic cello in real time during a performance. A description of the performance system was also presented as a poster at the conference.

Previous performances have been at NoiseFloor 2017, Staffordshire University.

The Black Diamond Venue

July 5, 2017

Experiences from a Fusion Investment Funded-Student Research Assistant project aiming to improve the quality of local NHS care

mobrien

This year several students have been funded to work as student research assistants on Fusion Funded-projects.

Here, BU MSc student Renuka Balasundaram reflects on her experience of taking part in the scheme and completing the project.

Then, her supervisors Dr Samuel Nyman and Louise Fazakarley share their experiences and encourage staff to participate in the next scheme.

MSc Student reflection

“My experience as a research assistant on the NHS Quality Improvement Project 2017”

Renuka Balasundaram
Department of Psychology
Bournemouth University

My voyage to explore the depths into the field of psychology started when I set off for my Masters in Neuropsychology in Bournemouth University right after my completion of Bachelors in psychology from India. The overwhelming coursework aside, the curriculum of teaching as a whole, felt very different. Three months into my master’s and having adapted myself in totally different environs, I decided to take a leap into the unknown by applying for post of SRA for the fusion funded program project, “NHS Quality Improvement Project”. A week after my successful interview with the project supervisors Dr. Samuel Nyman and Louise Fazakarley, I got a mail about my selection in the project which gave me mixed feelings of exhilaration and apprehension. The mixed emotions were mainly because it was my very first involvement in a practical research project involving hospital setup and interaction with patients. Things gradually settled after my induction with the Christchurch day hospital team and since then it had been a happy workplace with a very helpful and welcoming team at the hospital throughout the project. After a clear briefing of the work to be carried out in the hospital by my supervisors, I made regular visits to the hospital twice a week for almost two months followed by a month of data analysis and report writing. At every step of the project, I got full support from my supervisors which aided in the successful completion of the project. With regards to the project, we aimed to evaluate the Otago exercise training programme in Christchurch day hospital for which I used to regularly interact with the team and patients to get background knowledge and feedback about the training. In spite of having completed research modules in my bachelors and masters, as opposed to theory, it felt completely different when dealing with older patients as participants in a real life setting and collecting data from them through observation and regular interaction.

Personally, this research experience has given me insights into research in a real world and practical setting, enhanced my report writing skills and ultimately putting me firmly in pursuit of my future goal of becoming PhD laureate. It has also given me insight in to the meaning and importance of empirical evidence and scientific backup, for when patients come with a belief and hope of improvement after participation in the study. The project not only had a positive impact on me, but also on the hospital team whereby they implemented many of our suggestions and were pleased with our feedback. As learning and transition is key to growth and development, I strongly feel this project has achieved that, by paving way for an improved quality of training which would ultimately benefit the older population.

Supervisors reflection

We had a Student Research Assistant work with us on a quality improvement project based at Christchurch Day Hospital. Working with the Falls Prevention Team, a student (Renuka) conducted an audit of current practice in the Otago exercise programme with a view to improving patient care. We gained service user feedback, reviewed and analysed the data they had collected, and sought to recommend changes to increase their patients’ exercise practice outside of classes. The project culminated with a report that Renuka presented to the team. Two aspects made this project particularly rewarding:

Learning opportunity for the student
Renuka, a psychology student, had a unique opportunity to work with non-psychology NHS staff as part of a multi-disciplinary team. She was also able to see the importance of research in a real-life context, giving a new depth of understanding to design features. We were also pleased to see our detailed feedback on her draft report transferred to improve her writing in general that she made use with her assignments.

Impact on the Falls Prevention Team
The team praised Renuka for her work and were enthusiastic to implement our recommendations for improving practice, these included changes in the ways they collected data and the inclusion of some behavioural change techniques to increase adherence. The following week we received an email confirming the changes made. It was rewarding to see our work had led to a direct, immediate, and practical, societal impact.

We can recommend the scheme as it provided an opportunity to co-create with the student and an NHS team that has led to a positive outcome that we hope in time will be shown to improve patient care. It also gave new insights into the factors that facilitate implementation of changes in an NHS team.

Dr Samuel Nyman and Louise Fazakarley

July 4, 2017

New paper Dr. Jenny Hall

Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Dr. Jenny Hall in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) on her new published discussion paper ‘Educating student midwives around dignity and respect’ in the international journal Women and Birth (published by Elsevier). The paper, co-authored with Mary Mitchell (University of the West of England), discusses the issue that there is currently limited information available on how midwifery students learn to provide care that promotes dignity and respect.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

Reference:

Hall, J., Mitchell, M. (2017) ‘Educating student midwives around dignity and respect’, Women & Birth 30(3): 214-219.

July 1, 2017

Festival of learning 2017: “Human Psychology: When your mind is in my mind”.

BU research, Events, Festival of Learning javendanodiaz

Evolutionarily, human beings are shaped as social animals and often engage in interpersonal interactions. Recent findings in psychology suggest that one person’s cognition and behaviour could be shaped by another person who performs similar tasks along with that person. The influenced cognitive abilities include memory, attention, face cognition, and action. During this talk, we will introduce some of these scientific findings and the theories behind, along with their potential implications for our everyday life. You will also have the chance to see psychological experiments in action, and to try some of them on-site (if you are willing to volunteer for that :P).

If you are curious about it and want to come along, please try the link below, where you book the tickets for the event and join as on the talk.

Date: Saturday 8 July
Time: 2pm – 3pm
Location: Talbot Campus

https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/events/human-psychology-when-your-mind-is-in-my-mind/

June 27, 2017

Multiple Sclerosis Research in Bournemouth – Dr Simon B N Thompson

BRIAN, BU Challenges, BU research, conferences, EU, Featured, Featured academics, Fusion, Global engagement, Grants Academy, Impact, innovation, international, Public engagement, Research assessment, Research Integritiy, Research news, Research themes, staff profile pages, Vitae Simon Thompson

MS is a chronic debilitating and progressive condition that affects the fatty tissue sheath surrounding nerves. Incomplete innervation due to loss of the myelin sheath is largely responsible for uncoordinated movements. Brain temperature fluctuations are also often seen in people with MS together with fatigue when carrying out mentally or physically demanding tasks. These are commonly associated with excessive yawning yet the cause of fatigue in MS is not well understood.

A recently completed study asked participants to produce saliva into a small tube so that their cortisol levels could be analysed. They were also asked to look at presentations that provoked a yawning response. Results revealed that all of the participants had elevated cortisol levels after yawning and that there was a marked difference in cortisol levels between the healthy participants and those with MS.

Yawning: Pynq Thompson aged 28 days

Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis (Ref.1) proposes threshold levels of cortisol trigger the yawn response which lowers brain temperature. Correlation between brain temperature and cortisol is to be further examined together with comparison between UK and Norwegian participants with MS since the incidence of MS is greater in Scandinavian countries (and Canada and Scotland) possibly due to vitamin D and K reduction with reduced sunlight.

Previous studies have examined electromyograph (EMG) activity during yawning and manipulation of conditions to provoke yawning (Refs. 2,3). Brain regions and cortisol activity has been identified in MS in an international study (Ref. 4); and a new understanding proposed of communication between the motor cortex and brain-stem (Ref.5).

Yawning EMG “envelope” of activity

We have recently completed a trial in Bournemouth that recruited over 80 healthy participants and over 30 people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

A funding bid is being prepared to examine the feasibility of producing the early detection of MS and cortisol-insufficiency syndromes using observed yawning frequency and cortisol levels.

Simon B N Thompson is Associate Professor, Bournemouth University; Visiting Professor, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, France. Member of International Scientific Council for Research into Multiple Sclerosis following presentation to French Ambassador, His Excellency Bernard Emié, French Embassy.

Acknowledgements

Note

The author would welcome interest in collaborating in writing bids for funding international work.

References

1. Thompson, S.B.N., 2011. Born to yawn? Cortisol linked to yawning: a new hypothesis. Medical Hypotheses, 77, 861-862.
2. Thompson, S.B.N., & Bishop, P., 2012. Born to yawn? Understanding yawning as a warning of the rise in cortisol levels: randomized trial. Interactive Journal of Medical Research, 1(2), e4, 1-9, doi: 10.2196/ijmr.2241.
3. Thompson, S.B.N., Frankham, C., & Bishop, P., 2014. The art of capturing a yawn using the science of nerve impulses and cortisol levels in a randomized controlled trial. Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis as a potential predictor of neurological impairment. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 7(3), 529-543.
4. Thompson, S. B. N., Daly, S., Le Blanche, A., Adibi, M., Belkhiria, C., Driss, T., de Marco, G., 2016. fMRI randomized study of mental and motor task performance and cortisol levels to potentiate cortisol as a new diagnostic biomarker. Journal of Neurology & Neuroscience, 7(2); 92: 1-8.
5. Thompson, S.B.N., 2017. Hypothesis to explain yawning, cortisol rise, brain cooling and motor cortex involvement of involuntary arm movement in neurologically impaired patients. Journal of Neurology & Neuroscience, 8(1); 167: 1-5.

June 24, 2017

“New” FHSS paper on obesity published July 2017

BU research, Featured academics, open access, Publishing, Research news, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The American Journal of Men’s Health published our latest paper on obesity prevention in men. The paper ‘Clinical Effectiveness of Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance Interventions for Men: A Systematic Review of Men-Only Randomized Controlled Trials (The ROMEO Project)’ originates from a collaboration between BU and various universities in Scotland, led by the University of Aberdeen [1].

This systematic review paper found that reducing diets produced better weight loss than physical activity alone. The most effective interventions combined reducing diets, exercise, and behaviour change techniques . Group interventions produced favourable weight loss results. The paper reports that once engaged, men remained committed to a weight loss intervention.

The paper concludes that weight loss for men is best achieved and maintained with the combination of a reducing diet, increased physical activity, and behaviour change techniques. Strategies to increase engagement of men with weight loss services to improve the reach of interventions are needed. This paper is the thirteenth paper from a large NIHR grant [2-13].

The American Journal of Men’s Health is an open access, peer-reviewed resource for cutting-edge information regarding men’s health and illness. It is, however worth noting that although our paper is formally published in July 2017 it has been online for two years! The journal’s website states clearly that the article was first published online on June 30, 2015 BUT the issue in which it appears is published is July 1, 2017!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference:

Robertson, C., Avenell, A., Stewart, F., Archibald, D., Douglas, F., Hoddinott, P., van Teijlingen, E., Boyers, D. (2017) Clinical effectiveness of weight loss & weight maintenance interventions for men: a systematic review of men-only randomised controlled trials (ROMEO Project), American Journal of Men’s Health 11(4): 1096-1123. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1557988315587550
Robertson, C, Archibald, D, Avenell, A, Douglas, F., Hoddinott, P., van Teijlingen E, Boyers, D., Stewart, F, Boachie, C, Fioratou E., Wilkins, D, Street, T., Carroll, P., Fowler, C. (2014) Systematic reviews of & integrated report on quantitative, qualitative & economic evidence base for the management of obesity in men. Health Technology Assessment 18(35): 1-424. http://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/118180/FullReport-hta18350.pdf
Stewart, F., Fraser, C., Robertson, C., Avenell, A., Archibald, D., Douglas, F., Hoddinott, P., van Teijlingen, E., Boyers, D. (2014) Are men difficult to find? Identifying male-specific studies in MEDLINE and Embase, Systematics Reviews 3,78.
Archibald, D, Douglas, F, Hoddinott, P, van Teijlingen, E, Stewart, F., Robertson, C., Boyers, D., Avenell, A. (2015) A qualitative evidence synthesis on management of male obesity. BMJ Open 5: e008372. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008372 http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/10/e008372.full.pdf+html
Boyers, D, Stewart, F, Fraser, C, Robertson, C, Avenell, A, Archibald, D, Douglas, F, Hoddinott P, van Teijlingen E. (2015). A systematic review of the cost-effectiveness of non-surgical obesity interventions in men, Obesity Research & Clinical Practice 9(4), 310-327.
Robertson, C, Avenell, A, Boachie, C., Stewart, F., Archibald D., Hoddinott, P, Douglas, F, van Teijlingen E, Boyers D. (2016) Should weight loss and maintenance programmes be designed differently for men? Systematic review of long-term RCTs presenting data for men & women: The ROMEO Project, Obesity Research & Clinical Practice 10: 70-84.
Robertson, C., Avenell, A., Boachie, C., Stewart, F., Archibald, D., Douglas, F., Hoddinott, P., van Teijlingen, E., Boyers, D. (2015) Should weight loss programmes be designed differently for men and women? The ROMEO Project, Appetite 87: 374.
Robertson, C., Avenell, A., Stewart, F., Archibald, D., Douglas, F., Hoddinott, P., van Teijlingen, E., Boyers, D. (2015) A systematic review of long-term weight management randomized controlled trials for obese men. The ROMEO Project, Appetite 87: 374.
Robertson, C., Avenell, A., Stewart, F., Archibald, D., Douglas, F., Hoddinott, P., van Teijlingen, E., Boyers, D. (2015) A systematic review of weight loss interventions in the UK. The ROMEO Project, Appetite 87: 375.
Boyers, D., Avenell, A., Stewart, F., Robertson, C., Archibald, D., Douglas, F., Hoddinott, P., van Teijlingen, E., (2015) A systematic review of the cost-effectiveness of non-surgical obesity interventions in men, Appetite 87: 375.
Archibald, D., Douglas, F., Hoddinott, P., van Teijlingen, E., Boyers, D., Avenell, A., Stewart, F., Robertson, C., (2015) A qualitative evidence synthesis on the management of male obesity. The ROMEO Project, Appetite 87: 381.
Avenell, A., Robertson, C., Boachie, C., Stewart, F Archibald, D., Douglas, F., Hoddinott, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2016) Sex based subgroup differences in randomized controlled trials: empirical evidence from Cochrane meta-analyses BMJ 355:i5826 http://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i5826/rapid-responses
Avenell, A., Robertson, C., Stewart, F., Boyers, D., Douglas, F., Archibald, D., van Teijlingen, E., Hoddinott, P., Boachie, C. (2016) Sex can affect participation, engagement, and adherence in trials, BMJ 355:i6754 http://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/355/bmj.i6754.full.pdf

Category / REF Subjects

Guest talk by Prof. Marina L. Gavrilova from University of Calgary on Biometric Recognition to be held Wednesday 26th of July at 14:30PM in CREATE LT, Fusion Building.

New maternity research paper on Nepal

Dr Tim Breitbarth presents social responsibility and social media research to UEFA

Global golf business and management book hits the shelves

BSc sport management student succeeds in FC Bayern Munich and Procter & Gamble business case competition

Helping surgeons when things go wrong

Successful Breastfeeding Debate in 2017 Festival of Learning

Xiaosong Yang attends the Computer Graphics International 2017 in Yokohama, Japan

Performance of Gemmeleg at NIME 2017, Copenhagen

Experiences from a Fusion Investment Funded-Student Research Assistant project aiming to improve the quality of local NHS care

MSc Student reflection

Supervisors reflection

New paper Dr. Jenny Hall

Festival of learning 2017: “Human Psychology: When your mind is in my mind”.

Other services

Don’t miss a post!

Recent posts

Search by Category

Research Information Network

UKRI

Category / REF Subjects

MSc Student reflection

Supervisors reflection

Other services

Don’t miss a post!

Recent posts

Search by Category

Search by popular post topics