Edinburgh Napier University

About: Edinburgh Napier University is a education organization based out in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 2665 authors who have published 6859 publications receiving 175272 citations.

Smoothness, ruggedness and neutrality of fitness landscapes: from theory to application

Abstract: The theory of fitness landscapes has been developed to provide a suitable mathematical framework for studying the evolvability of a variety of complex systems In evolutionary computation the notion of evolvability refers to the efficiency of evolutionary search It has been shown that the structure of a fitness landscape affects the ability of evolutionary algorithms to search Three characteristics specify the structure of landscapes These are the landscape smoothness, ruggedness and neutrality The interplay of these characteristics plays a vital role in evolutionary search This has motivated the appearance of a variety of techniques for studying the structure of fitness landscapes An important feature of these techniques is that they characterize the landscapes by their smoothness and ruggedness, ignoring the existence of neutrality Perhaps, the reason for this is that the role of neutrality in evolutionary search is still poorly understoodIn this chapter some recent results on the spectral properties of the algebraic structures of fitness landscapes are summarized to provide a basis for studying the landscape structure This approach is further employed to introduce an information analysis that characterizes the structure of fitness landscapes in terms of their smoothness, ruggedness and neutrality The findings are finally applied in a study of the fitness landscapes generated by evolving digital circuits using an idealized model of a field-programmable gate array The landscapes of this engineering problem are quite different from many recently studied landscapes that tend to be defined over simplified combinatorial and optimization problems The difference originates from the genotype representation that is a configuration defined over two completely different alphabets This makes the study of the corresponding landscapes much more involved It is shown that the circuit evolution landscapes are products of subspaces with different characteristics They are landscapes with vast neutrality and sharply differentiated plateau

Mature and younger students' reasons for making the transition from further education into higher education

Abstract: This paper reviews findings from a longitudinal study of students making the transition from FE to an ancient university. This paper compares the younger and older students' reasons for higher education study. Our analysis of the quantitative data suggests that the older students had different reasons for entering university. We use the qualitative data to investigate the meanings participants attributed to higher education study in order to make sense of the patterns in the quantitative data, drawing on Wenger's perspectives on identity development as encompassing participants' trajectories in relation to communities of practice. The findings show a positive picture of the motivations of the whole cohort but the mature students seemed to have a particularly rich understanding of the meaning and relevance of their studies. The study therefore has implications for policy-makers and teachers as they seek to make use of the positive aspects of greater diversity.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for inflammatory bowel disease patients: findings from an exploratory pilot randomised controlled trial

Abstract: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic gastrointestinal condition with a relapsing disease course. Managing the relapsing nature of the disease causes daily stress for IBD patients; thus, IBD patients report higher rates of depression and anxiety than the general population. Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an evidence-based psychological program designed to help manage depressive and stress symptoms. There has been no randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing the use of MBCT in IBD patients. The purpose of this pilot study is to test the trial methodology and assess the feasibility of conducting a large RCT testing the effectiveness of MBCT in IBD. The IBD patients, who were recruited from gastroenterology outpatient clinics at two Scottish NHS Boards, were randomly allocated to an MBCT intervention group (n = 22) or a wait-list control group (n = 22). The MBCT intervention consisted of 16 hours of structured group training over 8 consecutive weeks plus guided home practice and follow-up sessions. The wait-list group received a leaflet entitled ‘Staying well with IBD’. All participants completed a baseline, post-intervention and 6-month follow up assessment. The key objectives were to assess patient eligibility and recruitment/dropout rate, to calculate initial estimates of parameters to the proposed outcome measures (depression, anxiety, disease activity, dispositional mindfulness and quality of life) and to estimate sample size for a future large RCT. In total, 350 patients were assessed for eligibility. Of these, 44 eligible patients consented to participate. The recruitment rate was 15 %, with main reasons for ineligibility indicated as follows: non-response to invitation, active disease symptoms, planned surgery or incompatibility with group schedule. There was a higher than expected dropout rate of 44 %. Initial estimates of parameters to the proposed outcomes at post-intervention and follow-up showed a significant improvement of scores in the MBCT group when compared to the control for depression, trait anxiety and dispositional mindfulness. The sample-size calculation was guided by estimates of clinically important effects in depression scores. This pilot study suggests that a multicentre randomized clinical trial testing the effectiveness of MBCT for IBD patients is feasible with some changes to the protocol. Improvement in depression, trait anxiety and dispositional mindfulness scores are promising when coupled with patients reporting a perceived improvement of their quality of life. ISRCTN27934462 . 2 August 2013.

Children with cerebral palsy: severity and trends over time

Abstract: Increasingly, more very-low-birthweight infants in the developed world are now expected to survive the neonatal period than was previously the case. There are concerns that there may be a related increase in the number of infants developing severe sensorimotor impairments. Pooled data from five registers contributing to the UK Network of Cerebral Palsy Registers, Surveys and Databases were used to identify patterns of motor impairment in relation to additional impairments and to birthweight, and to assess whether prevalence of cerebral palsy (CP) by birthweight and by severity of motor impairment had changed over time. Low-birthweight infants are at greater risk of developing CP than larger-birthweight babies. The CP rate amongst children with birthweights = 2500 g, 23% compared with 15% weighing < 1000 g (P < 0.001) were in the most severely motor impaired group. Severe motor impairment is associated with higher levels of additional impairments. CP rates for each motor impairment group in the 1990s were similar to those in the late 1970s. Rates of CP among infants born below normal birthweight are high but have decreased over time. The CP rate for infants weighing 1000-1499 g at birth decreased from around 180 per 1000 livebirths in 1979 to around 50 per 1000 livebirths from the early 1990s onwards.