BU Research Blog

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Joseph McMullen (PhD, FMC) with this poster entitled: Particulate matter: Regulating an invisible killer.

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Research indicates that exposure to atmospheric pollutants diminishes immune responses and increases viral penetration and replication. Specifically, particulate matter – microscopic solids and liquids suspended in air – represents an unseen and unregulated threat to global human life and welfare. There is no evidence of a safe level of exposure, and particulate matter is linked to respiratory, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neurological, and paediatric developmental issues. In spite of this, domestic ambient particulate concentrations are unregulated. This work utilises particulate sampling in order to suggest the creation of a proactive regulatory framework informed by science and integrating post-hoc monitoring. Punitive action is suggested for non-compliance with the proposed legal obligations in addition to punitive measures beyond financial penalties.

You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Nurudeen Adesina (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: Effectiveness and Usability of Digital Tools to Support Dietary Self-management of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review.

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A systematic search of Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane library and Web of Science using key search terms identified 1476 papers reporting research studies, of which 16 met specified inclusion criteria. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the ErasmusAGE Quality Score or the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool version 2018. Meta-analysis was not conducted due to the presence of substantial heterogeneity of data across the included studies. Our findings show that adoption of digital tools to support lifestyle improvement relating to healthy diet, health behaviour and adherence to therapy in women with GDM is a usable intervention. However, there was a lack of evidence concerning the effectiveness of the tools to support dietary management of GDM. Our systematic review suggests consideration for ethnic specific dietary advice and evidence-based framework in the development of effective digital tool for dietary management of GDM.

You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Kazeem Balogun (PhD, FST) with this poster entitled: Overview of blackblaze HDD analysis for predictive maintenance.

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With recent studies showing viability of machine learning (ML) among other tools as a better approach in performing Hard Disk Drive (HDD) analysis and enable fault detection models, the adoption of ML in the field of predictive maintenance (PM) becomes more complex. The complexity is not farfetched to the increase in sensor deployment, large volumes of generated data, variances in attributes or parameters and differences in characteristics of data sets. We provide an overview of HDD analysis using Backblaze as a case study and literature review of different ML approaches to HDD analysis for PM. We observed reasonable amount of studies in this direction, but the application of ML towards HDD analysis for PM needs more focus to improve model accuracy and stimulate further work in this area. We shall conclude this study by proposing our ground-breaking state-of-the art HDD analysis and model enhancement.

You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Maureen Kehinde (PhD, BUBS) with this poster entitled: A qualitative inquiry investigation of policy-practice decoupling factors of Environmental sustainability in universities: a case study of North-East Scottish universities.

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This research presents the findings from an investigation of decouplings between policy and practice of environmental sustainability in North East Scottish universities. Embedding environmental sustainability on university campus and into institutional culture requires universities to walk their talks, ensuring that there is strong alignment between policy claims and actual practice. However, the realities of institutional progress suggests that for some universities there continues to be practice discrepancies in the operation of environmental sustainability on campus. This research adopts Institutional theory as underpinning lens and qualitative inquiry multi-case study methodology to address the question what are the factors which further the occurrence of Policy-practice decoupling of environmental sustainability in universities? The research found that bounded rationality, fragmentation of the internal and external environment, outsourcing and centralisation are factors which further the disconnect between policy and practice of environmental sustainability in North East Scottish universities.

You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Taalia Nadeem (PhD, BUBS) with this poster entitled: Understanding the social representation of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs): how public and stakeholder views empower or constrain pathways to adoption.

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UAVs now support various purposes including within healthcare logistics. There are benefits of using UAVs, but their capabilities are challenged by the public. A solid understanding of public acceptance of UAVs is important to develop appropriate regulatory strategies therefore, the following research questions arise: What is the influence of mass media on UAV perception? What attributes and perceived risks of UAVs influence adoption? How do personal attributes affect views of UAVs? A mixed method approach is proposed including a phase of qualitative research to understand concerns and identify segments according to attitudes, behaviours, or values. This will be followed by a large-scale questionnaire.  Studies demonstrate that mainstream media is the main source of information about UAVs, but due to lack of knowledge, the public is unable to make a more informed opinion, and this calls for a deeper understanding of people’s knowledge of UAVs.

You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Zhiqi Li (PhD, FMC) with this poster entitled: Deep learning for scene flow estimation: methods and applications.

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Scene flow estimation aims at obtaining structure information and 3D motion of dynamic scenes. It has long been an interest of research in computer vision and 3D computer graphics. It is a fundamental task for various applications like autonomous driving. Compared to previous methods utilizing image representations, many recent researches build upon the power of deep analysis on point clouds and focus on point clouds representation to conduct 3D flow estimation. In this survey, we comprehensively review the pioneering literature in scene flow estimation based on point clouds, delve in detail into their learning paradigms and present insightful comparison between the state-of-the-art methods using deep learning for scene flow estimation. Furthermore, we introduce various higher-level scene understanding tasks (object tracking, motion segmentation, etc.) which could benefit from the latest progress on scene flow estimation. The paper concludes with an overview of foreseeable research trends for scene flow estimation.

You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Shell Smith (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: Does motorcyclists’ identification, perception, and knowledge towards risk change regarding their motorcycling qualifications and experience?

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Motorcyclists are one of the most vulnerable road user groups in the U.K. with an average of 6 deaths and 94 serious injuries per week. A common collision scenario is a road user driving across the path of a motorcyclist. Consequently, the research questions ask where motorcyclists and car drivers are directing their visual attention and hazard perception and whether there are differences between advanced motorcyclists and advanced car drivers vs standard trained motorcyclists and car drivers. Prior research specifically targeted at motorcycle collision prevention is limited, with only 15 studies using eye-tracking methodology. To target gaps in the literature; this is a mixed methods study using qualitative interviews, questionnaires, and eye-tracking. Initial findings indicate that motorcyclists and car drivers demonstrate different visual attention patterns. Thus, it is possible to change driving and motorcycle test training to teach how to direct visual attention and cognition to hazards.

You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.

The 13th Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, hosted by the Doctoral College.

Rosie Harper (PhD, FHSS) with this poster entitled: Nudging: a theoretical concept for a very practical approach to pelvic floor muscle training.

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A third of women suffer from stress incontinence which affects their physical, mental and social wellbeing. Pelvic floor exercises are the gold standard treatment, but women’s adherence to these exercises is poor. It is suggested behaviour change techniques, including nudge theory, could be used to improve adherence. The research will explore the role of nudge theory in causing predictable changes in behaviour in antenatal women, gain insight into antenatal women’s experience of digital nudges and allow a better understanding of the influence of digital nudges on pelvic floor muscle training adherence. The first phase involves a literature review to explore the effect of digital nudges on exercise adherence in antenatal women. Phase two of the study involves qualitative data collection and analysis to explore women’s experience of digital nudges. The third phase of the study will be a feasibility study which includes a pilot of the intervention – digital nudges.

You can view the full poster exhibition and pre-recorded presentations on the conference webpage.

If this research has inspired you and you’d like to explore applying for a research degree please visit the postgraduate research web pages or contact the Doctoral College dedicated admissions team.