St Edmund Hall Research Expo 2015: Teddy Talks

St Edmund Hall Research Expo 2015: Introduction

Investigating how schools may help improve diet, particularly in low- and middle-income countries In recent decades, Sri Lanka has experienced a social, economic, demographic and environmental transition. Currently it suffers a double burden of under- and over-nutrition. It is important to align health promotion and development. This DPhil, which is part of a larger “Integrating Nutrition Promotion and Rural Development” project, investigates how schools may help improve diet, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This presentation describes findings from qualitative research with school principals and staff (n=55) on perceived barriers to healthy diet choice amongst students. Participants identified barriers at all layers of a socio-ecological framework, supporting the use of multifactorial programmes to promote nutrition.

Promoting nutrition through schools in a lower middle income country, Sri Lanka

This lecture illustrates the ways in which the landscape in Central Asia has been influenced by active faults and earthquakes and will examine the hazard faced at the present-day. Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan are lands of high mountains, faults, and earthquakes in the heart of Asia. The active deformation is due to the collision of India and Asia, which has generated faulting and mountain-building covering a region stretching from the Himalaya to Siberia, and is one of the main testing-grounds for theories of continental tectonics. A feature of many of the regions in which mountains are forming at the present-day - including central Asia - is that they are situated hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometres away from plate boundaries. As well as causing a widespread hazard to local populations, the very wide distribution of faulting within the continents show that they behave rather differently from oceanic plates, in which relative plate motions are accommodated within very narrow plate boundary zones. We still do not understand the rules that govern the distribution, in space and time, of major episodes of mountain building; but an essential first step in understanding these rules, which remains one of the fundamental goals in the study of continental tectonics, is to provide constraints on the distribution, rates, and evolution of deformation.

Past and Future Earthquake Hazard in Asia

The importance of looking at the American colonial period not as the ‘Thirteen Colonies’ but as a British America consisting of twenty-six colonies and provinces. This discussion emphasises the importance of looking at the American colonial period not as the ‘Thirteen Colonies’ but as a British America consisting of twenty-six colonies and provinces. The US founding myth has persisted in part because it is such a big part of American culture and identity that no one questions it, and because it has been reinforced by a Canadian national narrative which emphasised loyalty to King and Empire to distinguish it from the US. Drawing parallels to contemporaneous demonstrations in Britain and the existence of Stamp Act riots in Nova Scotia and the West Indies I will argue that the Stamp Act riots should not necessarily be seen as the start of a revolution, and dispute the image of Loyalists as predominately wealthy merchants and government officials.

Rethinking the American Revolution and the US Founding Myth

How non-invasive brain stimulation techniques might work, and how we have started to use them in stroke survivors. Non-invasive brain stimulation has been around for thousands of years - from the use of electric fish in Ancient Greece to cure headaches, to the modern use of very small electric currents passed through the brain via two electrodes placed on the scalp. Today, we use stimulation to modulate on-going brain activity, with the ultimate aim of improving hand use after stroke. Here I will discuss a little about how these techniques might work, and how we have started to use them in stroke survivors.

The stimulated brain

From predicting the properties of nanotechnological devices to the structural stability of small proteins and dynamics of water. Atomistic computer simulations of matter based on solving quantum mechanical equations is an interdisciplinary area that touches physics, chemistry, and a part of biology. By calculating the electronic structure of an arrangement of atoms, and at the same time predicting the forces acting on the individual nuclei (which are themselves quantum particles), it is possible to calculate a range of properties of known and unknown materials and molecules in a computer. I will illustrate some of the successes of these theories, from predicting the properties of nanotechnological devices to the structural stability of small proteins and dynamics of water.

Can we predict the structure of matter?

Reviewing the methodology surrounding missing data in research and statistical analysis, clarifying why it can contribute to misleading results. Missing data is present in almost all research. However, it is also a well-recognised problem in the analysis and reporting of clinical research due to its potential to introduce bias into the results. Patient-reported outcomes measures, which are increasingly used in clinical research, can be particularly susceptible to missing data. This presentation will review the methodology surrounding missing data in research and statistical analysis, clarifying why it can contribute to misleading results. Guidance for the handling and reporting of missing data in clinical research will be presented, and compared to current practice, with a focus on randomised controlled trials.

Current practice in preventing and handling missing data alongside clinical trials: are we doing well?

How mathematicians think about the puzzle that Christopher Monckton launched in 1999. In 1999 Christopher Monckton launched a new type of puzzle, similar to a jigsaw but with 209 plain green plastic pieces with geometric shapes. To attract interest, and increase sales, he offered a £1,000,000 prize for the first solution if found within a time limit of a few years. I'll describe some of the ideas Alex Selby and I developed to work on this puzzle, and try to explain (without details!) how mathematicians think about such things. I'll also outline where the inventor, who expected the puzzle to be much too hard to be solved, went wrong.

The Eternity Puzzle

How do debt managers decide about the maturity of new public debt? Typical debt management objectives include: cost minimization, economic stabilization and tax smoothing, and adjusting to investor preferences. These objectives cannot be all achieved simultaneously. Theoretical models from the normative literature point to (2) tax smoothing as the optimal strategy. Yet due to scarcity of empirical research, it is not clear whether that is what debt managers actually follow. In this positivist panel data analysis, I operationalize various strategies and apply the system GMM approach. Preliminary findings are that in 1980-2010, OECD debt managers have primarily followed strategies (1) and (3), in contrast to theoretical literature.

What debt management strategies do OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries follow?

Why animals are everywhere in Shakespeare's language. Only two actual animals definitely appear in Shakespeare’s plays: a naughty dog in The Two Gentlemen of Verona and a hungry bear in The Winter’s Tale. But animals are everywhere in Shakespeare’s language. This talk will offer some suggestions as to why that is, and will show that the much-vaunted idea of human specialness in the Renaissance was highly precarious

Shakespeare's Animals

How we need to characterize materials at atomic level in order to understand their macroscopic behaviour. Some components of nuclear reactors, such as steam generators, can weigh over 300 tonnes (4m diameter and 20m tall) and are expected to be safely in service for over 20 years. However, it is not unusual that they suffer from environmental degradation and develop cracks that can ultimately force their replacement (which is very costly to the nuclear industry). In this talk, I will show how we currently need to characterize materials at atomic level in order to understand their macroscopic behaviour. So, in another words, to explain how a crack propagates in a 300 tonne structure, we need to look at the atoms right ahead of the crack tip.

Looking at atoms to understand mega-structures' structural integritySome components of nuclear reactors, such as steam generators, can weigh over 300 tonnes (4m diameter and 20m tall) and are expected to be safely in service for over 20 years. However, it

An introduction to the theory of unreliable narration and outlines two critical approaches: the cognitivist and the rhetorical. Body language experts and polygraph tests can help us to determine when we are being deceived, but how do we know whether the narrator in a literary text is lying to us? This talk provides an introduction to the theory of unreliable narration and outlines two critical approaches: the cognitivist and the rhetorical. Using examples from Günter Grass’s 1959 novel The Tin Drum I demonstrate how we can tell when a narrator is telling tall tales and how that changes the way we read.

How to spot a liar in literature

Using a scenario from the Hollywood film "Hot Shots", how should a compensation payment have been divided up between all those involved in the circumstances of "Dead Meat" Thompson's death? The circumstances of LT “Dead Meat” Thompson’s (from Hot Shots) death are as unfortunate as they are spectacular: during a training flight he crashes into another jet whose pilot, LT “Wash Out” Pfaffenbach, is not allowed to fly. Dead Meat survives the crash without any major injuries, but down on earth at the crash site he is hit by an ambulance. His fellow, LT “Topper” Harley, carries him into the ambulance, hitting his head against the car several times. When they finally arrive at the hospital, the doctor takes a shot of rum before Dead Meat is brought into the emergency room - which he won’t leave alive. Suppose that in the aftermath Dead Meat’s widow (who will not benefit from a life insurance) sues all those responsible for his death. How should a compensation payment have been divided between all those involved?

Who killed "Dead Meat" Thompson?

Demonstrating the pilot and explaining the significance of this digital database. A prolific letter-writer, Catherine II ruled during the high point of the European Enlightenment, when letters were the essential knowledge-transfer medium in government, commerce and intellectual exchange in an increasingly globalised world. She maintained a vast correspondence with fellow crowned heads of state, great thinkers and writers (Voltaire, d'Alembert), and her generals and court. Despite their huge importance, her letters (over 5,000) have not been collected. The project aims to produce a fully searchable online database. This talk will demonstrate the pilot and explain the significance.

A digital database of the correspondence of Catherine the Great of Russia

Our research uses brain imaging techniques such as MRI, to assess changes in brain activity or brain structure. We then try to use this information to design new interventions to improve healthy ageing or boost recovery from stroke. The brain changes when we learn, get older, or recover from damage such as stroke. Our research uses brain imaging techniques such as MRI, to assess changes in brain activity or brain structure. We then try to use this information to design new interventions to improve healthy ageing or boost recovery from stroke

Watching the Brain Change

St Edmund Hall’s inaugural Research Expo took place on 28 February 2015. It was a celebration of the great diversity of research currently being undertaken at the College, and was an opportunity for students and academics to interact, learn and engage with colleagues across all disciplines. The ‘Teddy Talks’, given by St Edmund Hall academics and postgraduate students, were a key part of the Expo. Aimed at a non-specialist audience and lasting around 12 minutes each, they give a quick introduction into a wide variety of research areas.

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St Edmund Hall Research Expo 2015: Teddy Talks

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