Below is a list of all the UROS 2024 projects, each with a summary and a link to their showcase poster.
Comparing Geometries of Reflection Groups
Student Researcher Name: Adam Lear
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Yuri Santos Rego
Coxeter groups give us a way of describing groups with respect to a presentation, however, the same group may have multiple descriptions.
In this project we look to address this by considering how these presentations look when converted to a geometric model – namely Cayley graphs. We consider the standard 2-generator Coxeter presentation of dihedral groups and identify trends in their Cayley graphs. We then discover some issues in 3-generator Coxeter systems of dihedral groups and provide some criteria to ensure these systems can indeed exist.
We conclude the paper by producing the Cayley graphs of these 3-generator
Project Poster
Goal setting practices among health professionals in physical activity promotion
Student Researcher Name: Alice Lawrence
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Rebecca Hawkins and Matthew Bird
Goal setting is a common strategy in health and physical activity settings. However, there is limited evidence regarding how goal setting is utilised by professionals working in these settings. Although common approaches exist, such as the SMART acronym (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound), research evidence has demonstrated problems associated with this approach. Therefore, this project aimed to establish what goal setting strategies are utilised, and how goal setting is implemented by health and physical activity professionals.
Participants were required to complete an online questionnaire about their goal setting practice. The results highlighted a heavy reliance on the SMART approach by professionals working in health and physical activity settings and indicated a variety of practice occurring that is not consistent with current evidence. Such inconsistencies could be impacting the effectiveness of goal setting practices, which may also be contributing to insufficient levels of physical activity evident amongst the population.
Characterising Liquid Bridges for Applications in 3D-printed Nutraceuticals
Student Researcher Name: Ewan Dalgliesh
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Dr Claire McIlroy
This UROS-funded project investigates the curvature of liquid bridges between smooth nonparallel no-slip boundaries.
Liquid bridges are naturally-occurring structures of fluid whose shape is governed by the minimisation of surface energy. Their crystallisation plays a key role in the solidification of colloidal pastes. Such colloidal pastes are a focus in the development of custom 3D-printed nutraceuticals, and issues surrounding adhesion between printed layers has driven research into the formation and structural integrity of the liquid bridges within them.
Using the open-source software “Surface Evolver”, we have been able to calculate the total Gaussian curvature of a family of liquid bridge shapes, revealing a quadratic relation between the angle between boundary surfaces and the resulting bridge’s total Gaussian curvature. This finding is the first step towards improving structural integrity in 3D-printed pastes for custom nutraceuticals.
Optimisation for whole life cycle carbon emissions based on retrospective modelling of existing housing development(s).
Student Researcher Name: Jak Ramsdale, Ethan Stanes, Vina Mohamed & Naomi Cooke
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Rosi Fieldson
This study focuses on optimising the whole life cycle carbon emissions based on retrospective modelling of existing housing development(s). This approach aims to identify and implement strategies that reduce carbon emissions over the entire life span of residential buildings, from construction to demolition, ensuring more sustainable housing practices.
By analysing past developments, the study seeks to provide insights and recommendations for future projects to achieve lower carbon footprints. The team focused on gathering detailed data from existing buildings to develop a comprehensive understanding of their carbon impacts. Key to our strategy was the use of the OneClick LCA tool, which streamlined data analysis and enabled scenario exploration, allowing us to identify effective strategies for reducing carbon footprints in housing developments, leading to practical recommendations for more sustainable future housing developments.
Learning the principles of responsible management through customised card games
Student Researcher Name: Jakub Licbarski
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Davina Bird and David Anderson
Principles of Responsible Management, or PRME, is generally undermined across recent management positions, and especially in higher education with management students. The UN Global Compact identified that future leaders would need to be properly informed of issues such as sustainability, critical thinking, and accountability to lead ethically and effectively.
In this article, I evaluate PRME touching on the Impactful 5, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other ethical frameworks to justify the effectiveness of using customised games to teach students about ethical and responsible management. The integration of these tools in the project will be able to enhance understanding and engagement, ensuring that future leaders are prepared to implement responsible management into practice.
A key takeaway from this project is that with the changing dynamic of management, it is imperative for students to be more informed on PRME through engaging teaching methods to boost exposure and transfer knowledge.
Producing Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus capsids without an infectious virus system
Student Researcher Name: Jayne Morley
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Dr Ashley Roberts
Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus (EEHV) causes acute haemorrhagic disease in elephants, affecting wild, captive, and managed populations of both Asian and African elephants. With only 415,000 African elephants and 40,000-50,000 Asian elephants remaining, EEHV’s 69% mortality rate poses a significant threat, especially to the endangered Asian elephants. Due to the lack of a replication-competent virus-cell system for in vitro studies, cloning is used to produce the necessary proteins.
This project aimed to develop a system that expresses EEHV capsid proteins to facilitate research on capsid formation. In this project we successfully assembled a plasmid to produce EEHV capsid proteins for in vitro studies. Gel electrophoresis confirmed the expected fragments. The next step is sequencing to verify the DNA sequence.
Sustainable Fluorination in a Green Solvent
Student Researcher Name: Kelly Sarginson
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Dr Graham Pattison and Dr Rob McElroy
Chemical solvents are used in a variety of industries on a significant scale, but they are also a large source of environmental pollution. Within pharmaceuticals, substantial quantities of non-renewable, typically toxic solvents are used to conduct fluorination reactions as a part of many different drug syntheses. As a result, the search for renewable, environmentally friendly solvents as a replacement is growing increasingly more important to reduce the negative effects of chemical synthesis.
The project aim was to trial fluorinations using green solvents, including dihydrolevoglucosenone (Cyrene), cyclopentanone and γ-valerolactone (GVL), all of which are derived from biomass. Cyrene showed sensitivity and became increasingly solidified at the higher temperatures, therefore it could not be used. Cyclopentanone showed partial success at 150 ˚C, yielding both the desired product and multiple impurities. GVL demonstrated the most potential with favourable yields for two of the reactants and will therefore continue to be researched.
The Effects of Menstrual Cycle Phase on Muscular Performance in Healthy, Active Females
Student Researcher Name: Lucy Brewer
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Anthony Gorman
The menstrual cycle, typically lasting 28 days in an eumenorrheic woman, is regulated by continual changes in concentrations of sex steroid hormones. Whilst a long-term benefit of elevated oestrogen includes increased muscular strength, the acute effects of fluctuating concentrations within the follicular phases remain unclear.
This study aimed to investigate the impact of the menstrual cycle on muscular performance within healthy and recreationally active females. During both the early and late follicular phases of the menstrual cycle, maximum effort, concentric isokinetic knee extension and flexion exercises were completed at 60, 120, and 180°/s on an isokinetic dynamometer. There were no significant effects of menstrual cycle phase on muscular performance, including peak torque and peak power, and as such, adjustments to strength training programmes for recreationally active females may not need to be made.
Graduate experiences of the jobs market in Lincolnshire
Student Researcher Name: Mikey Hirst
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Dr Luke Turnock and Dr Adam Formby
There has been a steady increase in the number of people graduating university each year, yet there is still a large proportion of graduates in non-graduate work.
The job market in Lincolnshire may be unprepared to deal with large numbers of graduates, leaving many graduates in unemployment or part-time work. Despite many graduates having work experience prior to graduating, they are now in contact with unemployment agencies or had to relocate to find available work.
To investigate the experiences of graduates, five graduates living in Lincolnshire were interviewed and asked about their unique experiences navigating the job market. Their responses were analysed, and common themes were identified, predominantly discussing the difficulty in obtaining a graduate job in Lincolnshire. Different causes and circumstances were also identified that they felt had impacted their employment opportunities. Furthermore, the experiences with employment centres were a key focus for many participants, expressing how these services are not suited to deal with graduates entering the job market.
Rings of integers and automorphisms of matrix groups
Student Researcher Name: Nathan Heather
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Paula Macedo Lins de Araujo
The importance of group theory in modern mathematical research cannot be overstated, due to its wide reach of applications. Combined with key concepts from algebraic number theory, we explore the relationship between the structural properties of rings of integers and a group property known as the R-infinity property. This property has its origins in the Nielsen-Reidemeister theory in algebraic topology, as Reidemeister numbers can provide information on the number of fixed points of self-maps on certain spaces. For this reason, the R-infinity property for groups is of particular interest in mathematical study. This project primarily studies upper-triangular matrix groups related to rings of integers.
Beyond Manning condensation: exploring an infinite ergodicity analysis of the behaviour of counterions around cylindrical molecules
Student Researcher Name: Nick Walton
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Dr Fabien Paillusson
Manning theory describes the interaction between charged particles and there opposing-ly charged “counter-ions”, when either immersed in a solvent or when it is in its liquid form. Manning describes the nature of this theory for charged spheres, cylinders and planes, describing how the shape alone can determine the level of condensation that occurs, with spheres having no condensing counterions, cylinders with some and planes with all counterions condensing. Focussing on cylinders, for counterions to condense, the cylinder’s charge density must be greater than a critical threshold (Manning, 2007).
The aim of this research was to find trends and similarities with the infinite ergodic analysis produced my Aghion (Aghion et al., 2020). To do this, the paper Infinite Ergodic Theory Meets Boltzmann Statistics was used to compare the results found for different potential landscapes, with the interaction of a counterion around a charged cylindrical polymer. The Interaction was comparable to a model produced in the paper with key features such as a power law decay function, with some differences such as when 𝑥 → 0.
This research is preliminary as there is no infinite ergodic analysis produced, only a comparison of models, to definitively analyse the behaviour of counterions in this interaction, further research would be required in the future.
The Impact of Peer Study Group on Students’ Performance in ECO1031 Data Analytics for Business
Student Researcher Name: Rachel Justice and Ryan Chapman
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Dr Erkan Demirbas and Dr Abdul Haque
The Peer Study Group is a student-led, student focused project with the aim of improving students’ academic performance in ECO1031 Data Analytics whilst contributing to the ‘One community’ spirit at the University of Lincoln.
The PSG is formed of volunteer students from different levels of study and courses within the business school, allowing students to interact with people outside of their cohort and course.
Whilst the PSG is open to students of all abilities the main focus of the group is to improve the academic performance of students with PASS plans and late arrivals. As well as students who haven’t studied maths at a level three qualification as ECO1031 Data Analytics is a heavily maths-based module so students without a strong maths background are more likely to struggle with the content. The PSG offers in person and online support session focusing on content that will appear in the modules assessments.
Deposition and cross-linking of quantum dot polymer composite fibres by electrospinning
Student Researcher Name: Spencer Bolton
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Dr Matthew Booth and Dr Claire McIlroy
Wouldn’t it be great to take the guess work out of knowing when food has gone bad? How about packaging that tells you exactly when your food is no longer safe to eat? This, and many other applications could soon be possible due to the findings from this project.
Quantum dots are fluorescent nanoscale objects with crystalline structure. Due to their construction, they are also highly customisable and responsive to external factors e.g. temperature and atmosphere changes. When they respond to these external factors, the colour of light they emit changes. We intend to harness this property to make ‘smart packaging’.
However, before we can do this, we must first find a way to link them with the plastic so they don’t leak into our food (as they are toxic). Herein lies the purpose of our project. We are testing a way to cross-link quantum dots in with polymer fibres using a photoinitiator and cross-linking agent bonded to the surface of the dot. We use RAMAN spectroscopy, as well as qualitative methods, to analyse the polymer samples containing our photoinitiator, before and after UV exposure, as a first step in this process to test the compatibility of our chosen photoinitiator with LDPE (our polymer). This is only the first step of many toward engineering this technology, however, we have made some interesting discoveries along the way.
Condition Monitoring of Li-ion Battery Ageing
Student Researcher Name: William Marriott
Academic Supervisor Name(s): Nikola Chalashkanov
This project explores the use of frequency-impedance spectroscopy to assess the health of commercial INR Lithium-Ion cells.
The electrical characteristics of the cells were tested and analysed in intervals during CCCV discharging and charging cycles. The Bode and Nyquist plots of the cells during different points of its lifespan show varying electrical characteristics which follow trends. A gradual increase in impedance throughout their lifespans. Indicating a correlation between an increase in internal impedance throughout nominal use leading to degradation. Therefore, there is evidence to suggest that frequency-impedance spectroscopy could be used to assess cell deterioration and used as a preventative measure against critical failures; by analysing progressive faults before leading to catastrophic breakdown.
Further research could be conducted to cover a wider range of cell cycles and to assess it’s use within batteries, when cells appear in series and parallel to each other. This would provide an increase in validity of the proposed method for cell analysis.