Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parameter optimisation for the improved modelling of industrial-scale gas explosions

This thesis presents work on improving the predictive capabilities of a numerical model by parameter optimisation. The numerical model is based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and predicts the consequences of industrial-scale gas explosions. CFD models are, in general, approximate representations of real phenomena of interest; often, the agreement between model output and relevant experimental data can be improved through optimising parameters in the model. In this work, the parameters considered for optimisation are contained in sub-grid models for turbulence and combustion. The doctoral project focuses on the gas explosion module of the commercial CFD tool FLACS. Explosion predictions of the tool are utilised in risk management for safer design of industrial facilities handling combustible gases. The challenge of simulating gas explosions with the CFD tool is that the predictions have to be reliable for many different explosion scenarios in extremely different large-scale geometries. This thesis presents an optimisation approach that considers this wide application range of the CFD model. Four papers constitute the main part of the thesis; they propose a methodology for formulating and solving the optimisation problem (Paper 1, 2 and 4) and present examples of application (Paper 3). Additionally, the thesis comprises scientific contributions that have not been presented in the papers. Amongst several candidates, suitable model outputs are identified as optimisation targets. The problem has first been formulated as a least-squares problem (Paper 4); this formulation did not appear to be appropriate for improving model predictions in gas explosions. Thus, in Paper 2, a problem formulation is developed that assesses underand over-predictions as in model validation processes. This validation-based formulation is shown to be closely connected to another formulation in which the solution is the maximum likelihood estimator in the case of log-normally distributed errors in the measurements. It is shown that in contrast to a traditional least-squares problem formulation, the validation-based formulation yields an overall better improvement of the specific model outputs. The thesis presents three methodologies for selecting gas explosion experiments to be included in one optimisation process. Running simulations is time-consuming. To enable a practical optimisation runtime, the model output is approximated by surrogates, which are fast to evaluate. Surrogates are explicit functions representing parameter-output relations. In Paper 1, surrogates based on neural networks are compared to polynomial response surfaces. Due to the satisfactory overall approximation quality of the neural networks in this application, these are employed as surrogates in subsequent optimisation processes. Furthermore, the smoothness of the surrogates allows for employing gradient-based optimisation routines; the resulting surrogate-based optimisation problem is solved by a trust
Factors Associated with Seclusion Use in Forensic Mental Health Settings: An Integrative Review

Abstract Seclusion is a restrictive practice used to protect the person or others from harm, however can result in trauma-related harm. While interventions to reduce seclusion have been successful, use in forensic mental health remains high. This integrative review aims to explore factors associated with the duration and frequency of seclusion in forensic mental health settings and determine sex differences in seclusion use. Results indicate that common factors associated with the use of seclusion in forensic mental health settings are younger age, diagnosis of psychotic disorder or personality disorder, and previous seclusion. Sex differences are inconsistent. Common reasons for initiating seclusion relate to actual violence and threats of violence. There is a lack of contemporary literature and current research has not considered how sex may affect seclusion use. Further research is required to identify specific risk factors for males and females and test timely and appropriate interventions to help reduce seclusion use in forensic mental health settings.
Effects of Negative Stimulation After Exercise on Frontal Asymmetry in Unregular Exercisers

As a signal to recognize emotion, the electroencephalogram (EEG) is used widely. Frontal asymmetry is not only related to emotion, but also affected by exercise. The purpose of our research is to explore the effects of exercise for negative emotion, and how the activity of the frontal of the college students who did not exercise regularly is. We used the frontal asymmetry between F3 and F4 channels of the alpha band. The result showed that the power of frontal asymmetry increased after exercise compared to that before exercise within 3 seconds after stimulation, and the change of the power during the 2nd second was more obvious. The activity of the frontal of the students without exercise habits can be altered by exercise. The frontal asymmetry is related to emotion, which confirms that exercise has an effect on the students without exercise habits after negative stimulation.
New forms of engagement in third mission activities: a multi-level university-centric approach

ABSTRACT Traditionally, universities have focused on two missions: teaching and research. While the universities still fulfill these missions, a third mission has been added: university research must establish its direct value to society. However, a lingering question is how this third mission should be carried out. While the earliest models focused on the universities operating similarly to an R&D department in a private company – seeking to patent research inventions and then capitalising on intellectual property rights – the focus today is much more nuanced and incorporates both invention- and innovation-oriented activities. This article captures existing knowledge of universities’ third mission activities and identifies five different models of how universities seek to fulfil the third mission. These models are empirically investigated through two multi-level case studies based on insights from universities’ top management, innovation and/or technology transfer offices, and research units within the emerging drone technology area. The findings illustrate how the two universities seek to fulfil the third mission, based on the same starting point but following different models. Moreover, a sixth model is identified, namely the Ecosystem Model, where the universities engage more extensively and with greater responsibility in collaborative efforts with a range of public and private actors on addressing comprehensive industrial and societal challenges through technology development and market insights. In doing so, the university’s role becomes more active in advancing the development of an industry. This emerging way of fulfilling the third mission is discussed with respect to university management and the achievement of societal goals.
Illicit Drug Use and Labor Market Outcomes: A Review of Economic Theory and its Empirical Implications

In this paper, I outline the economic theory pertinent to the analysis of the effect of drug use on labor market outcomes. I argue that the complex behavioral links that underlie the relationship between drug use and labor market outcomes make it necessary to explicitly model the process that determines both of these outcomes. Only then can effective empirical strategies be developed that will yield credible estimates of the causal effect of drug use on labor market outcomes. Economic theory is well suited to this task since at its core it is a behavioral model of individual choice. I also discuss some methodological strategies that can be used to address the empirical problems associated with estimating such a structural model.
Mediatization of a card game: Magic: The Gathering, esports, and streaming

Magic: The Gathering is a household name among analog games. Its publisher, Wizards of the Coast, has experimented with digital adaptations since the late 1990s, however, it was only in 2018–2019 when the company announced a more radical push for the video game market, including a strategy for streaming and esports. By analyzing streaming content, paratextual elements, and online discussions leading up to the first major digital tournament, I explore the attempted and heavily promoted transition of Magic: The Gathering from a primarily analog card game toward a transmedia esports property. Beside conflicting reactions from players and fans to particular aspects of this transformation, this change brings along deepened mediatization of the game as a way to improve the spectator experience by following the media logics of streaming and esports. Professional players in the newly formed esports league along with other sponsored content creators were recruited to serve as advocates for this transition.
Examining the appointment of women to ministerial positions across Europe: 1970–2015

Under which circumstances are women appointed to ministerial positions? In this article, I provide a theoretical framework for the role of gender in ministerial selection by considering the policy, office, and vote-seeking motivations of party leaders. I present an original data set which details, at the party level, the appointment of female cabinet ministers in 30 European countries between 1970 and 2015. Using negative binomial regression models, I find that left-wing party leaders appoint more women than leaders of right-wing parties. Female party leaders appoint more women ministers than their male counterparts. Women are better represented in governments in gender-progressive countries, and survey data analysis shows that party leaders appoint more women when their supporters have more progressive gender attitudes. This analysis provides an original insight into how gender has shaped the partisan dynamics of ministerial selection across Europe over 45 years.
Use of Data Analytics in Supporting the Advising of Undecided Students

Higher education institutions have prioritized supporting undecided students with their major and career decisions for decades. This study used a U.S. public research-focused university’s large-scale institutional data set and undecided student’s retention and graduation rate predictors to demonstrate how to couple student and institutional data with predictive analytics to understand the different demographics, academic characteristics, and the number of major changes between undecided and decided students. This study helps practitioners take the first step in using data analytics to inform decision-making in academic advising and supporting undecided students’ academic success.
Perioperative Intravenous Glucocorticoids in Total Joint Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review

Background: Total joint arthroplasties (TJAs) of the hip and knee are common orthopaedic procedures. Postoperative pain in TJA is managed with opioids, which carry notable adverse effects and are associated with high dependency rates. With newer multimodal pain control regimens, perioperative glucocorticoid administration has shown promise as a means of mitigating postoperative pain. The objective of this review was to identify the effects of perioperative intravenous glucocorticoid administration on postoperative outcomes in TJA. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was done. The EMBASE database was searched from inception through September 1, 2020, to identify studies of perioperative glucocorticoids in TJA. Primary outcomes were postoperative pain, nausea, and vomiting. Secondary outcomes included hospital length of stay, postoperative opioid utilization, antiemetic rescue medication use, and postoperative surgical complications. Results: Our search yielded 429 publications; 14 studies were ultimately included, incorporating 1704 patients. In 13 of 14 studies, pain scores improved with perioperative steroid administration. Regarding postoperative nausea and vomiting, most of the studies found a notable association between steroids and improved VAS-N (visual analogue scale for nausea) and decreased postoperative nausea and vomiting incidence. There were inconclusive data on the effects of perioperative steroids regarding postoperative length of stay, fatigue, and range of motion of the affected joint. In all 14 studies, no notable difference was found between study groups regarding postoperative surgical complications. Conclusion: This systematic review supports the use of perioperative steroids in TJA for mitigating postoperative pain, nausea, and systemic inflammation. Additional randomized trials are needed to form a consensus on optimal dosing, delivery method, and timing of perioperative glucocorticoids in TJA.
Making connections: a conference approach to developing transformative environmental and sustainability education within initial teacher education

Abstract Children today face significant challenges in response to living in a globalised world and the predicted environmental threats to the planet. However, implementing environmental and sustainability education (ESE) within schools can be complex and is often ignored within initial teacher education (ITE). In response, this project aimed to evaluate pedagogies for developing transformative learning for ESE within the context of university-based ITE. We ran a conference for trainee teachers informed by critical, participatory and arts-based pedagogic approaches. Alongside this, we undertook an interpretive case study, collecting data through questionnaires, focus groups and in-conference spoken reflection. Findings suggest trainee teachers gained a more nuanced understanding of the value and nature of ESE, as well as more affective and informed engagement with it, across the conference. Implications for ESE within ITE focus around the potential of pedagogies which provide affective experiences, in particular participatory and arts-based pedagogical approaches, for inspiring and empowering trainee teachers to enter into schools and develop their own ESE practice as classroom teachers.
Identifying People with Depression: The role of ‘Self Rated Health’

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. However, it is under recognized and undertreated. Self-rated health is a one-item question that has been used for population health monitoring. It was aimed to examine the prospect of using ‘self-rated health’ (SRH) in identifying people with depression among adult community-based population in Bangladesh over a one-year period controlling for socio-demographic, chronic diseases and symptoms, physical disability, smoking, and life events. We examined data from 3455 participants aged 18 years and above who participated in the 2015 January and 2016 January Health and Socio-Economic Survey of Independent University, Bangladesh. Using multiple logistic regressions, depression at baseline was examined to predict self-rated health at one-year follow-up adjusting for socio-demographic variables, chronic diseases, risk behaviors, and life events. Respondents with depression at baseline had 35% higher odds of reporting poor SRH in the follow-up round compared to those with no depression (OR=1.35, 95% CI=1.03 1.78, P<0.03). SRH may be used by community health workers as a preliminary indicator to identify people who may have depression followed by further screening and management for depression. South East Asia Journal of Public Health Vol.8(1) 2018: 10-16
Why We Harm the Ones We Love: Proclivity and Predictive factors of Domestic Violence Perpetration

This thesis presents the development and validation of the first gender neutral domestic violence (DV) proclivity and predictors tool, as a contribution to addressing this major global public health concern, by reviewing existing DV tools and providing evidence for the development and validation of a DV proclivity scale. An examination of the literature suggests that there are three potential predictive factors of (DV) proclivity and perpetration (i.e., childhood exposure to DV, angry rumination, implicit theories), that are theoretically related to common DV behavior (i.e., interpersonal aggression). For instance, researchers have observed that angry rumination prolongs aggressive priming (Pedersen et al., 2011) that increases the likelihood of displaced aggression (Vasquez, Denson, Pedersen, Stenstrom & Miller, 2005), which is associated with the pattern of DV behavior. Therefore, the current research was aimed towards the development of a single DV tool that (1) assessed these three predictors; (2) measured DV proclivity; and (3) was gender neutral - i.e., assesses both male and female perpetrators. To this end, seven empirical studies are presented in this thesis. Studies 1 and 2 were conducted to develop, finalise and replicate the final DV Proclivity scale (DVPPT; Ruddle et al., in prep), based on factor analyses and the assessment of its psychometric qualities (i.e., the internal consistency and validity). Studies 3 and 4 were conducted to determine the concurrent validity of the DVPPT by assessing the constructs of the DVPPT alongside measures theoretically suggested to be positively and negatively associated with DV (i.e., displaced aggression). Study 5 explores the role of traditional gender role beliefs in relation to DV proclivity, and DV myth acceptance and victim blame are examined as potential additional predictors of DV proclivity. The last two studies (Study 6 and 7) were conducted to revise the DVPPT to make it more accessible for individuals with literacy difficulties, specifically dyslexia, following participant feedback from the previous studies. Collectively, these results demonstrate the good internal reliability, concurrent validity, and gender neutrality of the DVPPT and the DVPPT (Dyslexia-R). In addition, childhood exposure to DV, angry rumination and implicit theories are shown as predictors of DV, and traditional gender role beliefs as a predictor of DV proclivity. Following this, the findings of the current research are summarised, limitations discussed and the directions of future research are presented.
Using verbal fluency tasks to investigate the lexicon in Greek-speaking children with literacy and language disorders

In this thesis, semantic and phonological fluency tasks were used to investigate the lexicon in sixty-six children with dyslexia and/or DLD (hereafter DDLD group) aged 7-12 years and in 83 typically-developing (TD) children aged 6-12 years, all monolingual Greek speakers. In semantic and phonological fluency tasks, responses are often produced in clusters of semantically- or phonologically-related items, respectively (e.g. “cat-dog” is a semantic cluster; “flag-flower” is a phonological cluster). Once the retrieval of items within a cluster slows down, children tend to switch to another cluster. In both groups, productivity in semantic and phonological fluency tasks correlated strongly with the number of clusters and the number of switches, but not with average cluster size. Regression analyses showed that the DDLD group retrieved significantly fewer correct items in semantic and phonological fluency tasks compared to the TD group, but average semantic and phonological cluster size did not differ significantly in the two groups. Furthermore, the two groups did not differ significantly on the number of correct designs generated in the design fluency task. Poorer semantic fluency performance in children with DDLD is attributed to slower retrieval processes while children’s semantic structure is intact, as proposed by the Slow-Retrieval Model. Consistent with the Deficient Phonological Access Hypothesis, children with DDLD showed impaired explicit access but intact implicit access to phonological representations. For both verbal fluency categories, slower retrieval processes originating from deficient access to intact semantic and phonological representations, and also inferior language and literacy skills, explain poorer verbal fluency performance in children with dyslexia and/or DLD. The specificity of DDLD children’s verbal fluency deficit is supported by evidence showing that children with DDLD showed poorer semantic and phonological fluency performance relative to their TD peers even after design fluency performance was controlled. The underlying causes of slow lexical retrieval still need further investigation.
Mediatory effect of depression in the relations between cognitive reserve and cognitive abilities. Does a CR index matter?

a more detailed self-report component of the CR indicator about both past and current life may correspond to a weaker or insignificant relation between CR and depressive mood as well as between depression and cognitive capacities. Varied approaches to operationalisation of CR result in discrepan-cies regarding the role of resources in the stabilisation and dynamics of cognitive status in ageing people and in clinical groups.
Investigating reading comprehension in English as additional language learners: children's processing of metaphors and internal inconsistencies when reading text

English as an additional language (EAL) learners form a large group of students in UK schools and are known to differ from monolinguals, particularly in vocabulary and reading comprehension, but little is known about the way they process texts when reading. The three experiments presented in this thesis had three overarching objectives: first, to establish how children process different metaphors; second, to investigate how children monitor their comprehension; and third, to compare these reading processes between EAL learners and monolinguals. In Experiments 1 and 2, metaphor processing was compared across metaphor types (nominal and verbal) and between children with varying word knowledge. In Experiment 3, comprehension monitoring was associated with word knowledge and strategic awareness. Across all three experiments, language group differences were identified. Nominal metaphors were more challenging to understand for children than literal controls, a difficulty that stemmed from increased demands on post-lexical processing, as manifest in increased rereading. Children were able to monitor their comprehension on internal inconsistencies, which was demonstrated through selective rereading. Language group differences were evident relative to word knowledge. EAL learners were behind monolinguals in their metaphor processing relative to performance on standardised tests. Given sufficient word knowledge, EAL learners and monolinguals were, however, on a par in comprehension monitoring. For future research, the findings indicate that online tasks of reading processing hold valuable information about EAL learners’ reading comprehension. For teaching, results indicate the importance of supporting word knowledge to close language group differences and to support skilful reading processing.
Increasing parental knowledge through workshops on early childhood programs, home literacy, and technology use

ABSTRACT This experimental study explores the effects of workshops designed to increase directly the knowledge of Latinx parents, and indirectly, their children’s vocabulary knowledge. Thirty-two Latinx mothers were randomly assigned to either attend six workshops in Spanish (n = 17), or to a wait-list control group (n = 15). Workshops included carefully designed strategies to scaffold the information based on parent English language proficiency, early childhood knowledge, and technology skills. Results indicate that mothers who attended the workshops significantly increased their early childhood knowledge, and children whose mothers attended the workshops significantly increased their Spanish expressive vocabulary. We did not find significant effects of the workshops on parental technology knowledge and literacy knowledge, although effect sizes were moderate. We discuss our findings in the context of building parental knowledge to increase their role construction and self-efficacy taking their funds of knowledge into account.