In order to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions for the automotive industry, a novel forming technology Fast light alloy stamping technology (FAST) for high and ultra-high strength aluminium alloy thin wall components (such as AA7075) was developed with experimental studies in this thesis. The process consists of: rapid heating, forming and in-die quenching, and incubation. A hot Stamping Simulator tool set to study FAST was successfully developed and manufactured to work in conjunction...

Embryonic development involves temporal and spatial coordination of epigenetic processes, which are exquisitely sensitive to environmental influences and can have life-long implications for disease if disrupted. In this thesis, I examined the impact of gestational diet, specifically protein restriction, on the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor C1 (Cdkn1c), a gene that is epigenetically regulated through genomic imprinting, during development and post-natally, with an allele-specific bioluminescent reporter mouse model. I showed that in utero low protein...

supplemental materials

The current folder contains the execution script for the cancer classification (CA) algorithm developed in Matlab software (Mathworks Inc., USA), along with exemplary datasets in Excel (Microsoft, USA) format containing real data collected and processed inside the manuscript.
Moreover, the folder contains a sub-folder called "Origin files", where most of the files involved in the generation of the figures for the Results section reside, together with the statistics obtained for Principal Component Analysis (PCA)...

Discomfort under customised hand orthosis has been commonly reported in clinics due to excessive contact pressures, leading to low patient adherence and decreased effectiveness of orthosis. However, the current orthosis adjustment by clinicians to reduce pressures based upon subjective feedback from patients is inefficient and prone to variability. Therefore, a quantitative method to guide orthosis adjustment was proposed here by developing a data-driven method. Firstly, Verbal Protocol Analysis was employed to convert the implicit process...

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) can used to store information in such a way that no individual or organisation can compromise its veracity, contrary to a traditional centralised ledger. This nascent technology has received a great deal of attention from both researchers and practitioners in recent years due to the vast array of open questions related to its design and the assortment novel applications it unlocks. In this thesis, we are especially interested in the design...

This thesis proposes novel algorithm and hardware optimisation approaches to accelerate Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), including both Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Bayesian Neural Networks (BayesNNs). The first contribution of this thesis is to propose an adaptable and reconfigurable hardware design to accelerate CNNs. By analysing the computational patterns of different CNNs, a unified hardware architecture is proposed for both 2-Dimension and 3-Dimension CNNs. The accelerator is also designed with runtime adaptability, which adopts different...

This briefing paper discusses the current knowledge on the effects of tyre wear particles on our health and environment, highlights the need for an ambitious research agenda to build further understanding of the impacts on people and nature and develop solutions, and includes recommendations for policymakers.

Objective To characterise factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake among people with kidney disease in England. Design Retrospective cohort study using the OpenSAFELY-TPP platform, performed with the approval of NHS England. Setting Individual-level routine clinical data from 24 million people across GPs in England using TPP software. Primary care data were linked directly with COVID-19 vaccine records up to 31 August 2022 and with renal replacement therapy (RRT) status via the UK Renal Registry (UKRR)....

Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AHR) is a ligand activated transcription factor, which was initially characterised as an environmental sensor, that mediates toxic effects in response to harmful chemicals. Early research therefore focussed on exogenous ligands such as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), which elicit a sustained activation of the AHR pathway, rather than a transient one associated with natural ligands. More recently, AHR has been implicated in obesity. The incidence of obesity has increased dramatically over recent decades, and...

Morbid obesity can result in life-altering health issues, such as type 2 diabetes. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery has been demonstrated to be one of the most effective treatments for morbid obesity and its co-morbidities in long-term. This aim of this thesis is to investigate the metabolic impact of weight loss intervention (RYGB, caloric restriction, and gut hormone treatment) on urine, plasma, and faecal profiles from morbidly obese patients, and to answer two hypotheses: 1)...

Gaussian 16 (C01) calculation

Gaussian 16 (C01) calculation

Gaussian 16 (C01) calculation

Gaussian 16 (C01) calculation

During its lifetime, an aircraft structure is subjected to impacts from a wide range of sources (e.g. bird strike, tool drop, hail). For composite structures, low velocity impacts may generate Barely Visual Impact Damage (BVID) that is difficult to assess without complex inspection techniques and may significantly reduce the strength of the structure. To reduce the need for costly inspection techniques, there is interest in developing integrated Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems to monitor the...

The ‘Zero by 30’ campaign aims to globally eliminate dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030. Theoretical and empirical studies have shown that annual mass rabies vaccination (MRV) campaigns that vaccinate at least 70% of the dog population in an area can effectively control canine rabies outbreaks and eventually eliminate it. Achieving such coverages in free-ranging dog (FRD) populations, the main source of human infections in rabies-endemic regions, can be a major challenge where most FRDs...

Gaussian 16 calculations

Gaussian 16 (C01) calculation

Pathological tremor is an involuntary oscillation of the body parts around joints. Pharmaceu- ticals and surgical treatments are approved approaches for tremor management; however, their side effects limit their usability. The main objective of this study is, therefore, to design a closed-loop non-invasive electrical stimulation system that could suppress tremor without serious side effects. We started our system design by investigating motor unit (MU) behaviors during postural tremor via decomposition of high-density surface electromyography (EMG)...

Introduction: Pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) is a devastating and rare disease characterised by restricted flow through the pulmonary arterial circulation resulting in increased pulmonary vascular resistance; which ultimately results in right heart failure and death. Vascular remodelling is hypothesised to be caused by chronic inflammation, disrupted metabolism and dysregulated growth factors leading to endothelial and smooth muscle cell proliferation. Iron deficiency is prevalent in PAH and has been associated with reduced exercise capacity and increase...

Supplemental Material for Albumin versus balanced crystalloid for resuscitation in the treatment of sepsis: A protocol for a randomised controlled feasibility study, “ABC-Sepsis” by John Cafferkey, Andrew Ferguson, Julia Grahamslaw, Katherine Oatey, John Norrie, Timothy Walsh, Nazir Lone, Daniel Horner, Andy Appelboam, Peter Hall, Richard Skipworth, Derek Bell, Kevin Rooney, Manu Shankar-Hari, Alasdair Corfield and Alasdair Gray in Journal of the Intensive Care Society

BackgroundPatients presenting with suspected sepsis to secondary care often require fluid resuscitation to correct hypovolaemia and/or septic shock. Existing evidence signals, but does not demonstrate, a benefit for regimes including albumin over balanced crystalloid alone. However, interventions may be started too late, missing a critical resuscitation window.MethodsABC Sepsis is a currently recruiting randomised controlled feasibility trial comparing 5% human albumin solution (HAS) with balanced crystalloid for fluid resuscitation in patients with suspected sepsis. This multicentre...

In the early mammalian embryo cells undergo differentiation into specific lineages, which are assembled into a blueprint for the mature body plan. The coordinated positioning of each tissue involves extensive cell movement and tissue rearrangement, which is ultimately controlled by cytoskeletal remodeling at a cellular level. Examples of two critical early events are migration of the Anterior Visceral Endoderm (AVE) and gastrulation. Both involve epithelial cells undergoing rearrangement and directed cell movement, yet the underlying...

The advent of pathogen deep-sequencing technology provides new opportunities for infec- tious disease surveillance, especially for fast-evolving viruses like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In particular, multiple reads per host contain detailed information on viral within- host diversity. This information allows the reconstruction of partial directed transmission networks, where estimates of who is source and who is recipient are directly available from the phylogenetic ordering of the viruses of any two individuals. This is a new...