̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - app

Free online tool calculates risk of COVID-19 transmission in poorly-ventilated spaces

sc604 — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 00:55:09 +0000

̽��ֱ��results, reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A, show that social distancing measures alone do not provide adequate protection from the virus, and further emphasise the vital importance of ventilation and face masks in order to slow the spread of COVID-19.

̽��ֱ��researchers, from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Imperial College London, used mathematical models to show how SARS-CoV-2 �C the virus which causes COVID-19 �C spreads in different indoor spaces, depending on the size, occupancy, ventilation and whether masks are being worn. These models are also the basis of a free online tool, Airborne.cam, which helps users understand how ventilation and other measures affect the risk of indoor transmission, and how that risk changes over time.

̽��ֱ��researchers found that when two people are in a poorly-ventilated space and neither is wearing a mask, prolonged talking is far more likely to spread the virus than a short cough. When speaking, we exhale smaller droplets, or aerosols, which spread easily around a room, and accumulate if ventilation is not adequate. In contrast, coughing expels more large droplets, which are more likely to settle on surfaces after they are emitted.

It only takes a matter of seconds for aerosols to spread over two metres when masks are not worn, implying that physical distancing in the absence of ventilation is not sufficient to provide safety for long exposure times. When masks of any kind are worn however, they slow the breath��s momentum and filter a portion of the exhaled droplets, in turn reducing the amount of virus in aerosols that can spread through the space.

̽��ֱ��scientific consensus is that the vast majority of COVID-19 cases are spread through indoor transmission �C whether via aerosols or droplets. And as was predicted in the summer and autumn, now that winter has arrived in the northern hemisphere and people are spending more time indoors, there has been a corresponding rise in the number of COVID-19 cases.

��Our knowledge of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has evolved at an incredible pace, when you consider that it��s been just a year since the virus was identified,�� said Dr Pedro de Oliveira from Cambridge��s Department of Engineering, and the paper��s first author. ��There are different ways to approach this problem. In our work, we consider the wide range of respiratory droplets humans exhale to demonstrate different scenarios of airborne viral transmission �C the first being the quick spread of small infectious droplets over several metres in a matter of a few seconds, which can happen both indoors and outdoors. Then, we show how these small droplets can accumulate in indoor spaces in the long term, and how this can be mitigated with adequate ventilation.��

̽��ֱ��researchers used mathematical models to calculate the amount of virus contained in exhaled particles, and to determine how these evaporate and settle on surfaces. In addition, they used characteristics of the virus, such as its decay rate and viral load in infected individuals, to estimate the risk of transmission in an indoor setting due to normal speech or a short cough by an infectious person. For instance, they show that the infection risk after speaking for one hour in a typical lecture room was high, but the risk could be decreased significantly with adequate ventilation.

Based on their models, the researchers have now built Airborne.cam, a free, open-source tool which can be used by those managing public spaces, such as shops, workplaces and classrooms, in order to determine whether ventilation is adequate. ̽��ֱ��tool is already in use in several academic departments at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��tool is now a requirement for any higher-risk spaces at the ̽��ֱ��, enabling departments to easily identify hazards and control-measure changes needed to ensure aerosols are not allowed to become a risk to health.

�� ̽��ֱ��tool can help people use fluid mechanics to make better choices, and adapt their day-to-day activities and surroundings in order to suppress risk, both for themselves and for others,�� said co-author Savvas Gkantonas, who led the development of the app with Dr de Oliveira.

��We��re looking at all sides of aerosol and droplet transmission to understand, for example, the fluid mechanics involved in coughing and speaking,�� said senior author Professor Epaminondas Mastorakos, also from the Department of Engineering. �� ̽��ֱ��role of turbulence and how it affects which droplets settle by gravity and which remain afloat in the air is, in particular, not well understood. We hope these and other new results will be implemented as safety factors in the app as we continue to investigate.��

̽��ֱ��continuing development of Airborne.cam, which will soon be available for mobile platforms, is supported in part by Cambridge Enterprise and Churchill College.

Reference:
P?M?de Oliveira et al. ��Evolution of spray and aerosol from respiratory releases: theoretical estimates for insight on viral transmission.�� Proceedings of the Royal Society A (2021). DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2020.0584

̽��ֱ��vital role of ventilation in the spread of COVID-19 has been quantified by researchers, who have found that in poorly-ventilated spaces, the virus can spread further than two metres in seconds, and is far more likely to spread through prolonged talking than through coughing.

̽��ֱ��tool can help people use fluid mechanics to make better choices, and adapt their day-to-day activities and surroundings in order to suppress risk, both for themselves and for others

Savvas Gkantonas

Gauthier DELECROIX - ��

Five senses series - Taste 1/2

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ? ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.? All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways �C as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Computer vision app allows easier monitoring of diabetes

sc604 — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 11:50:28 +0000

̽��ֱ��app uses computer vision techniques to read and record the glucose levels, time and date displayed on a typical glucose test via the camera on a mobile phone. ̽��ֱ��technology, which doesn��t require an internet or Bluetooth connection, works for any type of glucose meter, in any orientation and in a variety of light levels. It also reduces waste by eliminating the need to replace high-quality non-Bluetooth meters, making it a cost-effective solution to the NHS.

Working with UK glucose testing company GlucoRx, the Cambridge researchers have developed the technology into a free mobile phone app, called GlucoRx Vision, which is now available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

To use the app, users simply take a picture of their glucose meter and the results are automatically read and recorded, allowing much easier monitoring of blood glucose levels.

In addition to the glucose meters which people with diabetes use on a daily basis, many other types of digital meters are used in the medical and industrial sectors. However, many of these meters still do not have wireless connectivity, so connecting them to phone tracking apps often requires manual input.

��These meters work perfectly well, so we don��t want them sent to landfill just because they don��t have wireless connectivity,�� said Dr James Charles from Cambridge��s Department of Engineering. ��We wanted to find a way to retrofit them in an inexpensive and environmentally-friendly way using a mobile phone app.��

In addition to his interest in solving the challenge from an engineering point of view, Charles also had a personal interest in the problem. He has type 1 diabetes and needs to take as many as ten glucose readings per day. Each reading is then manually entered into a tracking app to help determine how much insulin he needs to regulate his blood glucose levels.

��From a purely selfish point of view, this was something I really wanted to develop,�� he said.

��We wanted something that was efficient, quick and easy to use,�� said Professor Roberto Cipolla, also from the Department of Engineering. ��Diabetes can affect eyesight or even lead to blindness, so we needed the app to be easy to use for those with reduced vision.��

̽��ֱ��computer vision technology behind the GlucoRx app is made up of two steps. First, the screen of the glucose meter is detected. ̽��ֱ��researchers used a single training image and augmented it with random backgrounds, particularly backgrounds with people. This helps ensure the system is robust when the user��s face is reflected in the phone��s screen.

Second, a neural network called LeDigit detects each digit on the screen and reads it. ̽��ֱ��network is trained with computer-generated synthetic data, avoiding the need for labour-intensive labelling of data which is commonly needed to train a neural network.

��Since the font on these meters is digital, it��s easy to train the neural network to recognise lots of different inputs and synthesise the data,�� said Charles. ��This makes it highly efficient to run on a mobile phone.��

��It doesn��t matter which orientation the meter is in �C we tested it in all types of orientations, viewpoints and light levels,�� said Cipolla, who is also a Fellow of Jesus College. �� ̽��ֱ��app will vibrate when it��s read the information, so you get a clear signal when you��ve done it correctly. ̽��ֱ��system is accurate across a range of different types of meters, with read accuracies close to 100%��

In addition to blood glucose monitor, the researchers also tested their system on different types of digital meters, such as blood pressure monitors, kitchen and bathroom scales. ̽��ֱ��researchers also recently presented their results at the 31^st British Machine Vision Conference.

Gluco-Rx initially approached Cipolla��s team in 2018 to develop a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly solution to the problem of non-connected glucose meters, and once the technology had been shown to be sufficiently robust, the company worked with the Cambridge researchers to develop the app.

��We have been working in partnership with Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� on this unique solution, which will help change the management of diabetes for years to come,�� said Chris Chapman, Chief Operating Officer of GlucoRx. ��We will soon make this solution available to all of our more than 250,000 patients.��

As for Charles, who has been using the app to track his glucose levels, he said it ��makes the whole process easier. I��ve now forgotten what it was like to enter the values in manually, but I do know I wouldn��t want to go back to it. There are a few areas in the system which could still be made even better, but all in all I��m very happy with the outcome.��

Reference:
James Charles, Stefano Bucciarelli and Roberto Cipolla. ��Real-time screen reading: reducing domain shift for one-shot learning.�� Paper presented at the British Machine Vision Conference: https://bmvc2020-conference.com/conference/papers/paper_0512.html

A computer vision technology developed by ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge engineers has now been developed into a free mobile phone app for regular monitoring of glucose levels in people with diabetes.

As someone with diabetes, this app makes the whole process easier. I��ve now forgotten what it was like to enter the values manually, but I do know I wouldn��t want to go back to it

James Charles

Reading diabetes monitor

Yes

New app collects the sounds of COVID-19

sc604 — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 12:31:15 +0000

̽��ֱ��COVID-19 Sounds App is now available as a web app for Chrome and Firefox browsers. Versions for Android and iOS will be available soon.

As COVID-19 is a respiratory condition, the sounds made by people with the condition �C including voice, breathing and cough sounds �C are very specific. A large, crowdsourced data set will be useful in developing machine learning algorithms that could be used for automatic detection of the condition.

"There��s still so much we don��t know about this virus and the illness it causes, and in a pandemic situation like the one we��re currently in, the more reliable information you can get, the better," said Professor Cecilia Mascolo from Cambridge��s Department of Computer Science and Technology, who led the development of the app.

"I am amazed at the speed that we managed to connect across the ̽��ֱ�� to conceive this project, and how Cecilia's team of developers came together to respond to the urgency of the situation," said Professor Pietro Cicuta from Cambridge��s Cavendish Laboratory, a member of the team behind the app��s development. Professor Andres Floto, Professor of Respiratory Biology at the ̽��ֱ��, and Research Director of the Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, has also advised on the clinical aspects of the app.

̽��ֱ��COVID-19 Sounds App collects basic demographic and medical information from users, as well as spoken voice samples, breathing and coughing samples through the phone��s microphone. ̽��ֱ��app will also ask users if they have tested positive for the coronavirus.

In addition, the app will collect one coarse grain location sample. ̽��ֱ��app will not track users, and will only collect location data once when users are actively using it. ̽��ֱ��data will be stored on ̽��ֱ�� servers and be used solely for research purposes. ̽��ֱ��app will not provide any medical advice.

Once they have completed their initial analysis of the data collected by the app, the team will release the dataset to other researchers. ̽��ֱ��dataset could help shed light on disease progression, further relationship of the respiratory complication with medical history, for example.

"Having spoken to doctors, one of the most common things they have noticed about patients with the virus is the way they catch their breath when they��re speaking, as well as a dry cough, and the intervals of their breathing patterns," said Mascolo. "There are very few large datasets of respiratory sounds, so to make better algorithms that could be used for early detection, we need as many samples from as many participants as we can get. Even if we don��t get many positive cases of coronavirus, we could find links with other health conditions."

̽��ֱ��study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Department of Computer Science and Technology, and is partly funded by the European Research Council through Project EAR.

How you can support Cambridge's COVID-19 research effort

Donate to support COVID-19 research at Cambridge

A new app, which will be used to collect data to develop machine learning algorithms that could automatically detect whether a person is suffering from COVID-19 based on the sound of their voice, their breathing and coughing, has been launched by researchers at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

CDC/ Hannah A Bullock; Azaibi Tamin

Transmission electron microscopic image of an isolate from the first US case of COVID-19

Yes

World��s first artificial pancreas app licensed for people with type 1 diabetes in UK

cjb250 — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 00:39:50 +0000

̽��ֱ��CamAPS FX app works with an insulin pump and a glucose monitor to automatically deliver insulin to people living with the condition via a complex algorithm.

Around 400,000 people in the UK are affected by type 1 diabetes, 29,000 of them children. It is a chronic, life-threatening condition that has a life-long impact on those diagnosed with it and their families. Currently, people with type 1 diabetes rely on a routine of finger-prick blood tests and insulin injections or infusions just to stay alive, because their pancreas no longer produces insulin itself.?

̽��ֱ��app - which Professor Hovorka hopes will become available on the NHS in the future - will take over much of the management of the condition. This is particularly important at night, when many people with type 1 diabetes experience potentially dangerous low blood glucose levels.

̽��ֱ��app can also upload the user��s blood glucose measurements seamlessly to Diasend, an online platform, allowing their diabetes team to provide more personalised care.

̽��ֱ��CamAPS FX app is backed by 13 years of clinical research carried out by Professor Hovorka and his research group at the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science. It is licensed for use by both adults and children with the condition and is the first artificial pancreas system to be licensed for use in pregnancy, or by young children aged one and above.

Professor Hovorka said:?��This is a major stepping stone towards providing widely available, clinically proven, and user-friendly artificial pancreas technology to people with type 1 diabetes.

��Our aim is to alleviate the ever-present burden of type 1 diabetes and improve health outcomes. This is the outcome of hard work, with more to come. We are indebted to all who are helping us on this journey.��

At launch, the app will be supported by a small number of UK diabetes clinics. People who wish to use the app will need to confirm which clinic they attend, and must be using a Dana RS pump and a Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitor.?

Professor Hovorka and his research team will work to continue to bring this technology to all who need it, via the NHS. Key to this will be the generation of data to support the case for NHS provision.

̽��ֱ��commercial launch is a milestone in the journey towards a fully automated artificial pancreas for everyone with type 1 diabetes. Such technology will fundamentally change life with the condition by working with a range of insulin pumps and glucose monitors to lift the burden of managing a condition that is relentlessly unpredictable day and night.

Professor Hovorka will continue refining the artificial pancreas through research into mealtime glucose control and improving ease of use.

̽��ֱ��research behind the app has been funded by the type 1 diabetes charity JDRF, Diabetes UK, the National Institute for Health Research, the National Institutes of Health, Horizon 2020, and the Leona M and Harry B Helmsley Charitable Trust.

Karen Addington, UK Chief Executive of JDRF, said: ��JDRF is proud to have supported Professor Hovorka��s artificial pancreas research from the beginning, nearly 15 years ago. This app is a major innovation and a significant milestone on the road to a fully automated and interoperable artificial pancreas.?There��s still more work to do, but this is an exciting step.��

Fiona O��Reilly, who has been using the app as part of a clinical trial, said: ��Overall, it makes me feel free. It is the closest I have been to living without the burden of type 1 diabetes since I was diagnosed, which is a fabulous feeling �C I feel less fearful of hypoglycaemia, and less ashamed of the fact that I find achieving good glycaemic control so tricky.

��And it makes me feel more positive of my future with diabetes, that I have a chance of avoiding all the associated complications. It also makes me feel lucky to live in a time where this technology is possible and really grateful to be given the chance to try it out.��

̽��ֱ��app is now available for UK users to download onto Android phones via the Amazon Appstore.? ̽��ֱ��app is available on a subscription basis starting at ?70 per month.

Adapted from a press release by the JDRF.

̽��ֱ��world��s first licensed, downloadable artificial pancreas app for people with type 1 diabetes launches today, based on over a decade of research by Professor Roman Hovorka at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

This is a major stepping stone towards providing widely available, clinically proven, and user friendly artificial pancreas technology to people with type 1 diabetes

Roman Hovorka

Screenshot from CamAPS FX app

Yes

��Brain training�� app found to improve memory in people with mild cognitive impairment

cjb250 — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 23:05:01 +0000

Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) has been described as the transitional stage between ��healthy ageing�� and dementia. It is characterised by day-to-day memory difficulties and problems of motivation. At present, there are no approved drug treatments for the cognitive impairments of patients affected by the condition.

Cognitive training has shown some benefits, such as speed of attentional processing, for patients with aMCI, but training packages are typically repetitive and boring, affecting patients�� motivation. To overcome this problem, researchers from the Departments of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences and the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge developed ��Game Show��, a memory game app, in collaboration with patients with aMCI, and tested its effects on cognition and motivation.

̽��ֱ��researchers randomly assigned forty-two patients with amnestic MCI to either the cognitive training or control group. Participants in the cognitive training group played the memory game for a total of eight one-hour sessions over a four-week period; participants in the control group continued their clinic visits as usual.

In the game, which participants played on an iPad, the player takes part in a game show to win gold coins. In each round, they are challenged to associate different geometric patterns with different locations. Each correct answer allows the player to earn more coins. Rounds continue until completion or after six incorrect attempts are made. ̽��ֱ��better the player gets, the higher the number of geometric patterns presented �C this helps tailor the difficulty of the game to the individual��s performance to keep them motivated and engaged. A game show host encourages the player to maintain and progress beyond their last played level.

Screenshot from Game Show. Credit: Sahakian?Lab

̽��ֱ��results showed that patients who played the game made around a third fewer errors, needed fewer trials and improved their memory score by around 40%, showing that they had correctly remembered the locations of more information at the first attempt on a test of episodic memory. Episodic memory is important for day-to-day activities and is used, for example, when remembering where we left our keys in the house or where we parked our car in a multi-story car park. Compared to the control group, the cognitive training group also retained more complex visual information after training.?

In addition, participants in the cognitive training group indicated that they enjoyed playing the game and were motivated to continue playing across the eight hours of cognitive training. Their confidence and subjective memory also increased with gameplay. ̽��ֱ��researchers say that this demonstrates that games can help maximise engagement with cognitive training.

��Good brain health is as important as good physical health. There's increasing evidence that brain training can be beneficial for boosting cognition and brain health, but it needs to be based on sound research and developed with patients,�� says Professor Barbara Sahakian, co-inventor of the game: ��It also need to be enjoyable enough to motivate users to keep to their programmes. Our game allowed us to individualise a patient��s cognitive training programme and make it fun and enjoyable for them to use.��

Dr George Savulich, the lead scientist on the study, adds: ��Patients found the game interesting and engaging and felt motivated to keep training throughout the eight hours. We hope to extend these findings in future studies of healthy ageing and mild Alzheimer��s disease.��

̽��ֱ��researchers hope to follow this published study up with a future large-scale study and to determine how long the cognitive improvements persist.

̽��ֱ��design of ��Game Show�� was based on published research from the Sahakian Laboratory at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��study was funded by Janssen Pharmaceuticals/J&J and Wellcome.

In 2015, Professor Sahakian and colleagues showed that another iPad game developed by her team was effective at improving the memory of patients with schizophrenia, helping them in their daily lives at work and living independently. ̽��ֱ��Wizard memory game is available through PEAK via the App Store and Google Play.

Reference
George Savulich, Thomas Piercy, Chris Fox, John Suckling, James Rowe, John O'Brien, Barbara Sahakian. Cognitive training using a novel memory game on an iPad in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). ̽��ֱ��International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology; 3 July 2017; DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyx040

A ��brain training�� game developed by researchers at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge could help improve the memory of patients in the very earliest stages of dementia, suggests a study published today in ̽��ֱ��International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.

There's increasing evidence that brain training can be beneficial for boosting cognition and brain health, but it needs to be based on sound research

Barbara Sahakian

Sahakian Lab

Screenshot of Game Show

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Physical activity, even in small amounts, benefits both physical and psychological well-being

sc604 — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 10:54:03 +0000

A new study, based on reports from more than 10,000 individuals, has found that physical activity, whether or not it is classified as exercise, can have a positive effect on emotional well-being. ̽��ֱ��results, by researchers from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and the ̽��ֱ�� of Essex, are reported in the journal PLOS ONE, and demonstrate how smartphones can be used to collect large-scale data to examine psychological, behavioural and health-related phenomena as they occur in everyday life.

Using data gathered from users of a mood tracking app for Android phones, the researchers found that modest levels of physical activity �C even if it couldn��t be classified as exercise �C can increase a person��s reported emotional well-being, regardless of their baseline level of happiness. They also found that people reported being happier when they were physically active.

Earlier studies in this area have focused on the relationship between exercise and happiness, with mixed results. Some studies have found that happier people report exercising more, while others have found no relationship between happiness and exercise. Much of this past research has relied solely on retrospective self-reports, on data collected at only one time period, and on small samples.

For the new study, data on physical activity was passively gathered from smartphone accelerometers, and participants were also sent a short survey at two random intervals throughout the day which asked questions about their emotional state. Users reported their emotional state on a grid, based on how positive or negative, and how energetic or sleepy, they were feeling. Users were also asked a handful of questions about how their mood compared to normal.

̽��ֱ��activity data was then averaged over the course of the day, so while the researchers could not pinpoint what participants were doing at any given time, they found that participants who had higher levels of activity throughout the day reported a more positive emotional state.

��Our data show that happy people are more active in general,�� said the paper��s senior author Dr Jason Rentfrow, from Cambridge��s Department of Psychology and a Fellow of Fitzwilliam?College. ��However, our analyses also indicated that periods of physical activity led to increased positive mood, regardless of individuals�� baseline happiness. There have been many studies about the positive psychological effects of exercise, but what we��ve found is that in order to be happier, you don��t have to go out and run a marathon �C all you��ve really got to do is periodically engage in slight physical activity throughout the day.��

��Most of us don��t keep track of all of our movements during the day,�� said study co-author Dr Gillian Sandstrom from the Department of Psychology at the ̽��ֱ�� of Essex. ��A person might track whether they went for a walk or went to the gym, but when asked, most of them probably wouldn��t remember walking from the desk to the photocopier, or from the car to the office door.��

��This study shows how mobile and wearable technology really can allow social psychologists to perform large longitudinal studies as well as open a direct and permanent connection with the users for advice and intervention,�� said study co-author Professor Cecilia Mascolo from Cambridge��s Computer Laboratory.

̽��ֱ��research was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Research Council��s UBhave (Ubiquitous and Social Computing for Positive Behaviour Change) project.

Reference:
Lathia, N. Sandstrom, G.M., Mascolo, C., & Rentfrow, P.J. ��Happier people live more active lives: Using smartphones to link happiness and physical activity.�� PLOS ONE (2016). https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0160589

̽��ֱ��largest-ever smartphone-based study examining the relationship between physical activity and happiness has found that even minimal levels of activity can have a positive effect on happiness.?

In order to be happier, you don��t have to go out and run a marathon.

Jason Rentfrow

Walking

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Cambridge app maps decline in regional diversity of English dialects

sjr81 — Thu, 26 May 2016 09:26:27 +0000

̽��ֱ��English Dialects App (free for Android and iOS) was launched in January 2016 and has been downloaded more than 70,000 times. To date, more than 30,000 people from over 4,000 locations around the UK have provided results on how certain words and colloquialisms are pronounced. A new, updated version of the app �C which attempts to guess where you��re from at the end of the quiz �C is available for download from this week.

Based on the huge new dataset of results, researchers at Cambridge, along with colleagues at the universities of Bern and Zurich, have been able to map the spread, evolution or decline of certain words and colloquialisms compared to results from the original survey of dialect speakers in 313 localities carried out in the 1950s.

One of the major findings is that some features of regional accents, such as pronouncing the 'r' in words like 'arm' �C?a very noticeable pronunciation feature which was once normal throughout the West Country and along much of the south coast �C?are disappearing in favour of the pronunciations found in London and the South-East (see map slideshow).

Lead researcher Dr Adrian Leemann, from Cambridge��s Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, said: ��When it comes to language change in England, our results confirm that there is a clear pattern of levelling towards the English of the south-east; more and more people are using and pronouncing words in the way that people from London and the south-east do.

Professor David Britain from the ̽��ֱ�� of Bern added: ��People in Bristol speak much more similarly to those in Colchester now than they did fifty years ago. Regional differences are disappearing, some quite quickly. However, while many pockets of resistance to this levelling are shrinking, there is still a stark north-south divide in the pronunciation of certain key words.��

Dialect words are even more likely to have disappeared than regional accents, according to this research. Once, the word ��backend�� instead of ��autumn�� was common in much of England, but today very few people report using this word (see map slideshow).

However, the research has shown some areas of resistance to the patterns of overall levelling in dialect. Newcastle and Sunderland stood out from the rest of England with the majority of people from those areas continuing to use local words and pronunciations which are declining elsewhere. For example, many people in the North-East still use a traditional dialect word for 'a small piece of wood stuck under the skin', 'spelk' instead of Standard English 'splinter'.

Other dialect words, like ��shiver�� for ��splinter��, are still reported in exactly the same area they were found historically��although they are far less common than they once were (see map slideshow).

̽��ֱ��data collected to date shows that one northern pronunciation has proved especially robust: saying words like 'last' with a short vowel instead of a long one. In this case, the northern form actually appears to have spread southwards in the Midlands and the West Country compared with the historical survey.

In other cases, new pronunciations were found to be spreading. Pronouncing words like 'three' with an 'f' was only found in a tiny region in the south east in the 1950s, but the data from today show this pronunciation is much more widespread �C?15% of respondents reported saying 'free' for 'three', up from just 2% in the old Atlas.

Cambridge PhD student Tam Blaxter, who worked alongside Dr Leemann to map the 30,000 responses supplied by the public, suggests that greater geographical mobility is behind the changes when compared to the first systematic nationwide investigation of regional speech, the Survey of English Dialects from the 1950s.

��There has been much greater geographical mobility in the last half century,�� said Blaxter. ��Many people move around much more for education, work and lifestyle and there has been a significant shift of population out of the cities and into the countryside.

��Many of the results have confirmed what language experts might predict �C but until now we just didn��t have the geographical breadth of data to back up our predictions. If we were to do the survey in another 60-70 years we might well see this dialect levelling expanding further, although some places like the north-east seem to have been especially good at preserving certain colloquialisms and pronunciations.��

When the app was originally launched in January, users were quizzed about the way they spoke 26 different words or phrases. ̽��ֱ��academics behind the app wanted to see how English dialects have changed, spread or levelled out since the Survey of English Dialects. ̽��ֱ��1950s project took eleven years to complete and captured the accents and dialects of mainly farm labourers.

Perhaps one of the most surprising results of the data provided so far is how the use of ��scone�� (to rhyme with ��gone�� rather than ��cone��) is much more common in the north of England that many might imagine (see map slideshow).

Adrian Leemann said: ��Everyone has strong views about how this word is pronounced but until we launched the app in January, we knew rather little about who uses which pronunciation and where. Our data shows that for the North and Scotland, ��scone�� rhymes with ��gone��, for Cornwall and the area around Sheffield it rhymes with ��cone�� C?while for the rest of England, there seems to be a lot of community-internal variation. In the future we will further unpick how this distribution is conditioned socially.��

̽��ֱ��launch of the English Dialects App in January has also allowed language use in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to be compared with language use in England (the original 1950s survey was limited to England and similar surveys of the other parts of the UK were not undertaken at the same time or using the same methods).

̽��ֱ��huge levels of feedback have also meant the team have improved the prediction of where users might be from. ̽��ֱ��app now correctly places 25 per cent of respondents within 20 miles, compared with 37 miles for the old method.

Regional diversity in dialect words and pronunciations could be diminishing as much of England falls more in line with how English is spoken in London and the south-east, according to the first results from a free app developed by Cambridge researchers.

More and more people are using and pronouncing words in the way that people from London and the south-east do.

Adrian Leemann

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Does nature make you happy? Crowdsourcing app looks at relationship between the outdoors and wellbeing

cjb250 — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 08:00:44 +0000

NatureBuzz, which is available to download free on iOS and Android platforms, asks participants three times per day to answer questions about how they feel, whether they are outside or indoors, who they are with, and what they are doing. At the same time, it records their location using GPS data.

NatureBuzz also provides information about UK nature reserves and ��protected areas�� and will provide users with feedback on how their happiness has fluctuated, where it was highest, with whom and during which activities.

��Apps provide a great way of collecting data from thousands �C possibly tens of thousands �C of users, a scale that is just not possible in lab experiments,�� explains research associate Laurie Parma from the Department of Psychology, who coordinates the study. ��We��ll use this data to answer some fascinating and potentially very important questions about our relationship with nature.��

Studies have suggested that people are happier and reinvigorated when living in more natural settings. For example, a 2011 study from the United States found that people who live in inner cities were the least happy, while those who live in rural areas are the happiest. However, it is not clear whether all green spaces promote happiness equally.

Diversity �C the number and abundance of different species in particular systems �C is thought to be important in increasing the resilience of some so-called ecosystem services? - such as climate regulation and pest control �C that underpin human wellbeing. However, the more immediate role that biodiversity may play in affecting happiness is unclear.

��We know that people quickly become familiar with �C and immune to �C happiness-inducing stimuli and one potential way to combat this phenomenon is to provide new and varied stimuli,�� adds Professor Andrew Balmford from the Department of Zoology. ��Natural environments with greater biodiversity �C different flowers, different birds, for example �C present a rich variety of stimuli, so it��s possible they will keep the ��happiness factor�� fresh for visitors.��

̽��ֱ��researchers hope that by crowdsourcing data, they will be able to answer questions such as whether the type of green space �C gardens, city parks, countryside or nature reserves, for example �C have the same impact on an individual��s wellbeing, and whether someone needs to be interested in nature to benefit more from the natural environment. They believe their findings may have important consequences for how policymakers promote biodiversity and how reserve managers enable people to make the most of the happiness-improving potential of access to nature.

̽��ֱ��app is part of a broader study of happiness and nature developed by the Departments of Psychology and Zoology, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, RSPB, UNEP-WCMC and Cardiff ̽��ֱ��. It is funded by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and is part of a research programme on human happiness.

NatureBuzz is available to download from the iPhone App Store and from Google Play.

A new app will crowdsource data to help scientists understand the relationship between biodiversity and wellbeing. ̽��ֱ��app, developed at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, maps happiness onto a detailed map that includes all the UK��s nature reserves and green spaces.?

Apps provide a great way of collecting data from thousands �C possibly tens of thousands �C of users, a scale that is just not possible in lab experiments

Laurie Parma

Leonard Domnguez

La felicit�� nella luce della sera

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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