http://hdl.handle.net/1893/2670 This community contains the ePrints and eTheses produced by the Faculty's staff and students. 2026-10-08T10:21:28Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38383 Title: A participatory study of information and presentation priorities for a digital interface for bowel self-management Author(s): Taylor, Andrea; Iyawa, Gloria; Maltinsky, Wendy; Henton, Sally; Lake, Dylan; Medina-Lombardero, Sara; Casson, Alex; Crichton, Michael Abstract: Background Difficulty controlling or emptying the bowel is a common issue with devastating physical and mental health impacts. Digital technologies supporting bowel self-management remain limited. We are exploring a system combining an implanted sensor with a digital interface to support bowel self-management. This paper reports on the digital interface. Objectives To identify the information most valuable to adults living with bowel problems and the best ways to present it on the digital interface, informed by lived experience; secondarily, to gather their views on the sensor and implantation methods. Methods A participatory design approach was employed. Thirteen adults with IBD/IBS attended design sessions; five more with IBD/IBS and eight with other bowel problems attended evaluation sessions. Participants were primarily UK-based, female, and White. Design sessions explored interface priorities and lived experiences; evaluation sessions assessed usability and utility. Views on the sensor were gathered across both phases. Data were analysed using qualitative methods. Results Five themes were identified: balancing discretion, clarity, and stigma in presentation; balancing benefit and burden; encouraging engagement without exacerbating anxiety; supporting the move from data to information to knowledge; and supporting clinical communication and confidence. Ninety-two percent of participants were positive towards sensor implantation. Conclusions This study addresses a gap in the literature on digital interfaces for bowel self-management in combination with implantable sensors. It highlights faecal incontinence as a key patient concern, identifies priorities for information and presentation, and informs future sensor development. The work may have some limited applicability to other implantable/wearable sensors with digital interfaces. 2026-09-28T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38381 Title: Legacy impacts of the pandemic on the recruitment of new participants at parkrun in Scotland Author(s): Gilburn, Andre S Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic reduced physical activity during lockdown and had legacy impacts differentially affecting specific demographics. Key knowledge gaps remain in relation to the legacy impacts on rural communities which can require specific health intervention plans. Active leisure events like parkrun promote community exercise. Participation at parkrun was lower when events resumed after lockdown with disproportionate losses of females and those in deprived areas. It is unclear how the pandemic impacted recruitment at parkrun. This study compared the demographics of new participants at parkrun events in Scotland in the years before and after the pandemic. The study found a significant reduction in new participants, with more populated areas more resilient to losses, suggesting rural communities are engaging in more crowd avoidance post- pandemic. The age of new participants declined post- pandemic and the gender ratio shifted towards males. Prior to the pandemic the finishing time of new participants had been slowing, as parkrun became more inclusive, but the pandemic reversed this trend resulting in disproportionate losses of the least fit. The study also suggests the pandemic could have introduced a new barrier to engaging in physical activity, fear of catching COVID, which disproportionately affected women in rural communities. 2026-09-05T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38380 Title: Management of invasive alien plants in forests: A global perspective Author(s): Keen, Lizzie; Hardwick, James; Novoa, Ana; Gómez, Rocío; Willby, Nigel J; Mill, Aileen C; Pattison, Zarah Abstract: 1. Forests are critical to the provision of goods and services. They experience many threats including the presence of invasive alien plants (IAPs) which can impact native biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. However, there is a lack of synthesis around outcomes and costs of managing IAPs in forests. 2. We conducted a systematic review to identify (i) where IAP management is reported globally, (ii) which IAP species are being managed, (iii) which methods are being used and (iv) which are the most effective, relative to a control or baseline condition, at managing IAPs in forests. 3. Studies assessing outcomes of IAP management in forests were conducted in 26 countries. The United States dominated the evidence base, accounting for 61% of included studies, covering the widest range of IAP species. This likely reflects a combination of extensive forest cover, high IAP prevalence, and research infrastructure and investment. 4. Across 192 studies, 623 combinations of species and management treatments were studied. Chemical application was most popular (41% of methods) and generally had a high success rate. Most methods had mixed outcomes, with the use of animals for grazing being the most varied. Low replication across treatments made it difficult to draw firm conclusions about management effectiveness. 5. Only 15% of included studies evaluated the effect of seasonal timing on management outcomes, despite evidence from these studies that seasonality can influence success. Furthermore, only 6% of studies reported management costs, and reporting was inconsistent among those that did. 6. Synthesis and applications. This review exposes urgent and critical knowledge gaps in forest IAP management, which need addressing to meet global targets for biodiversity and forest health. These gaps include highly uneven global research effort, narrow species focus, limited method replication, overlooked seasonal effects, and inconsistent cost reporting. A strong legacy of using chemical methods may also be deterring efforts to develop non-chemical approaches. Immediate action is needed to develop standardised methodologies and reporting channels to close these gaps and thus aid informed choice of management options by practitioners. 2026-07-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38379 Title: Cross-cultural variation in eye contact comfort Author(s): Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Rokosz, Marta; Kowal, Marta; Misiak, Michał; Malecki, Wojciech P; Sorokowski, Piotr; Roberts, Craig Abstract: Eye contact is one of fundamental components of nonverbal communication, yet affective evaluations of direct gaze are complex and highly context-dependent. Cultural background appears to play a crucial role in shaping the interpretation and social function of gaze behaviors, likely leading to significant cross-cultural variation in preferences for eye contact. However, cross-cultural empirical research on eye contact comfort remains limited. The present study addresses this gap using a large and diverse sample of 10,387 participants (aged 18–73) from 51 study sites, who reported their comfort with direct eye contact when interacting with strangers, acquaintances, and close others. In line with expectations, individuals report feeling most comfortable making eye contact with close others, followed by acquaintances, and finally strangers. Beyond geosocial factors such as socioeconomic status, Human Development Index, and climate, our analyses identify collectivism and gender equality as important predictors of eye contact comfort. These findings suggest that cultural variation in gaze behavior is more multifaceted than commonly assumed and cannot be reduced to simple regional dichotomies. Although the present study is exploratory and based on self-reported assessments of eye contact comfort, it provides one of the first large-scale cross-cultural examinations of this construct and generates novel, testable hypotheses regarding the cultural and socioecological foundations of gaze behavior. Overall, the findings highlight the need to consider both individual-level and contextual variables when examining nonverbal communication across societies and provides a unique, large-scale dataset documenting global variation in eye contact comfort. 2026-09-23T00:00:00Z