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.

The effects of intensive, moderate and downhill treadmill running on human blood lymphocytes expressing the adhesion/activation molecules CD54 (ICAM-1), CD18 (β2 integrin) and CD53.

Abstract: This study examined the effects of intensive, moderate and downhill treadmill running on blood lymphocyte expression of adhesion/activation (AA) molecules. Trained subjects completed three treadmill-running protocols of identical duration: (1) an intensive protocol at 80% \( \ifmmode\expandafter\dot\else\expandafter\.\fi{V}_{{{\text{O}}_{{2\max }} }} \) to volitional exhaustion, (2) a moderate protocol at 60% \( \ifmmode\expandafter\dot\else\expandafter\.\fi{V}_{{{\text{O}}_{{2\max }} }} \) and (3) a −10% downhill (eccentric) protocol at 80% \( \ifmmode\expandafter\dot\else\expandafter\.\fi{V}_{{{\text{O}}_{{2\max }} }} \). Blood samples were taken before, immediately after, 1 and 24 h after exercise. Isolated lymphocytes were assessed for expression of the AA molecules CD54, CD18 and CD53 by flow cytometry. Lymphocyte counts increased immediately after all running protocols. Lymphocytopenia was observed 1 h after the intensive and eccentric protocols only. Plasma creatine kinase increased 24 h after the downhill protocol only. Increases in the number and percentage of CD54+, CD18bright and CD53bright lymphocytes were observed immediately after the intensive and eccentric protocols, with the numbers falling below pre-exercise values at 1 h post-exercise for all protocols. No differences were found between the intensive protocol and the eccentric protocol at the same relative intensity. Analysis of lymphocyte subsets showed that the total number of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and CD56+ lymphocytes increased after the intensive protocol before falling below pre-exercise values at 1 h post-exercise. A relatively greater mobilisation of CD56+ and CD8+ cells accounts for the changes in CD54+, CD18bright and CD53bright cell populations. Lymphocytes that enter and exit the circulation following exercise express high levels of AA molecules, which may mediate extravasation and post-exercise lymphocytopenia. This effect appears to be influenced by exercise intensity and not muscle damage.

Embroidered Fully Textile Wearable Antenna for Medical Monitoring Applications

Abstract: Telecommunication systems integrated within garments and wearable products are such methods by which medical devices are making an impact on enhancing healthcare provisions around the clock. These garments when fully developed will be capable of alerting and demanding attention if and when required along with minimizing hospital resources and labour. Furthermore, they can play a major role in preventative ailments, health irregularities and unforeseen heart or brain disorders in apparently healthy individuals. This work presents the feasibility of investigating an Ultra-WideBand (UWB) antenna made from fully textile materials that were used for the substrate as well as the conducting parts of the designed antenna. Simulated and measured results show that the proposed antenna design meets the requirements of wide working bandwidth and provides 17 GHz bandwidth with compact size, washable and flexible materials. Results in terms of return loss, bandwidth, radiation pattern, current distribution as well as gain and effciency are presented to validate the usefulness of the current manuscript design. The work presented here has profound implications for future studies of a standalone suite that may one day help to provide wearer (patient) with such reliable and comfortable medical monitoring techniques.

Identifying the unique challenges of installing cold ironing at small and medium ports – The case of aberdeen

Abstract: Emissions from shipping contribute significantly to both climate change and local air pollution. Cold ironing (onshore power supply) reduces emissions while ships are berthed in port by providing power from shore-side electricity rather than onboard auxiliary generators. Previous research has focused on installing the technology in large ports but if policy goals (particularly in the EU) are to be achieved then smaller ports must also install the technology. Therefore, this study examines the feasibility of installing cold ironing in a medium sized port with several small berths, based on the case of Aberdeen. Vessel call data were analysed to calculate energy demand and a cold ironing system was designed, including separate OPS units for numerous small berths. The total capital cost was £6.6 m (€7.4 m) and the system could save annual emissions of 108 tonnes of NOx, 2.7 tonnes of PM and 4,767 tonnes of CO2 emissions worth £1.3 m (€1.4 m). Payback scenarios were examined via SCBA, based on the external costs of potential emission savings. In the best case scenario, the substantial external cost benefits would return the system capital and operating costs in only 7.0 years, or 3.5 years if subsidised 50% by the EU. Challenges result from several small berths needing individual OPS units, long cables and cable reel storage, as well as the need for several vessels to install the onboard technology, which must be overcome if ports besides the large cruise and container ports are to install cold ironing.

Learning a procedure that can solve hard bin-packing problems: a new GA-based approach to hyper-heuristics

Abstract: The idea underlying hyper-heuristics is to discover some combination of familiar, straightforward heuristics that performs very well across a whole range of problems. To be worthwhile, such a combination should outperform all of the constituent heuristics. In this paper we describe a novel messy-GA-based approach that learns such a heuristic combination for solving one-dimensional bin-packing problems. When applied to a large set of benchmark problems, the learned procedure finds an optimal solution for nearly 80% of them, and for the rest produces an answer very close to optimal. When compared with its own constituent heuristics, it ranks first in 98% of the problems.

What is the role of the accessibility of wood hydroxyl groups in controlling moisture content

Abstract: It has often been claimed that the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of wood is controlled by the available hydroxyl group content and their accessibility, but this has not been proven. In the present study, the accessibility of the hydroxyl groups were analysed by deuterium exchange in a dynamic vapour sorption apparatus, and generally poor correlation with the EMC and hydroxyl group accessibility was found. Therefore, the role of the accessibility of wood hydroxyl groups in relation to exerting sole influence on the EMC is disputable. It is concluded that there has to be an additional mechanism to exercise control over the EMC in addition to hydroxyl group accessibility.