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University of Cambridge Research Outputs

The mission of the University of Cambridge is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. This collection contains the latest research outputs of the University's academic staff and students.

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  • ItemOpen Access
    Transcription and Translation of "Draft of Index to 'Iter lapponicum' (1732-1735)
    (Karolinska Institutet, Hagströmer Library, 2024-10-18) Mueller-Wille, Staffan Erik Wilhelm; Mueller-Wille, Staffan Erik Wilhelm [0000-0003-4929-8373]
  • ItemOpen Access
    The Write & Improve Corpus 2024: Error-annotated and CEFR-labelled essays by learners of English
    (2024-10-23) Nicholls, Diane; Caines, Andrew; Buttery, Paula; Caines, Andrew [0000-0001-9647-4902]
    We present a new annotated corpus of written learner English, derived from essays submitted to the learning platform Write & Improve (W&I). Users of W&I are presented with automated scoring and feedback on grammatical errors, and are encouraged to act on their error feedback, submitting multiple versions of their essays for any given prompt. We build the corpus on this interplay between users and prompts, collecting sets of essays submitted by users for a selected list of 50 popular prompts. The prompts include 20 aimed at beginner learners of English, 20 aimed at intermediate learners, and 10 at advanced learners. This distribution reflects the greater use of W&I by beginner and intermediate learners of English. We ensured that the prompts were not likely to elicit personal information and covered a broad range of tasks and topics. This list of prompts enabled us to identify 5050 essay sets written by 766 users, forming the basis for the Write & Improve Corpus, which is being made available for non-commercial use on the ELiT website. We describe the steps we took to ensure the corpus contains appropriate texts, does not include personal information, and will come with annotations relating to Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) level and grammatical errors. All essays were submitted between 2020 and 2022 by registered users of W&I who have supplied their first language (L1) in an optional questionnaire. In total, there are more than 23K essays containing more than 3.5 million word tokens. The final versions of each essay set amount to 762K word tokens. There are 22 different L1s in the corpus, with the most common being Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Arabic and Vietnamese. We present some descriptive statistics for the corpus, and consider some research use cases.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The conservation of Shanidar Z at a glance
    López-Polín, Lucía; Pomeroy, Emma; Theodoraki, Katerina; Holman, James; Hunt, Chris; Bennett, Paul; Reynolds, Tim; Twyman, Jessica; Barker, Graeme; Pomeroy, Emma [0000-0001-6251-2165]
    Shanidar Cave (Iraqi Kurdistan) was excavated in two phases. In the first stage (1951-1960), the team led by Ralph Solecki recovered 10 Neanderthal individuals [1-2]. They have been assigned to two periods: Shanidar 1, 3, and 5 to 46-50 ka, and Shanidar 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, to around 75 ka. In 2015, excavations were resumed by a new team, and new Neanderthal remains were recovered, including some belonging to Shanidar 5 [3], an individual currently named Shanidar Z [4], and further adult elements presented at the 2023 ESHE meeting. Here we give the first report on the conservation of Shanidar Z, the largely complete upper body of an adult recovered in 2018-2019 [4]. The Shanidar Z remains were directly adjacent to the block of sediment that Solecki’s team lifted to recover Shanidar 4, probably truncating Shanidar Z in the process. The skull of Z was superimposed on the left upper limb and the thoracic elements. Though severely distorted and flattened, the skull was recognisable. Underneath, the bones of the upper left limb were delicate, but more visible and less crushed. Below, the ribs and spine were articulated, with some ribs slightly displaced, but all the bones extremely crushed and friable. After careful excavation and consolidation with Paraloid B72 in situ, the bones were lifted in numerous small blocks with some of the sediment. Only a few hand elements were lifted individually. The blocks were wrapped in aluminium foil. Once at the University of Cambridge facilities on loan from the General Directorate of Antiquities & Heritage, Iraqi Kurdistan, the blocks were microCT scanned without opening them, and preserved in a cold and stable environment until the physical conservation of the skeleton could begin. The general steps for the conservation treatment were: 1) collection of the field documentation and visualization of the 3D reconstruction of the bones before opening the packages; 2) photography of the blocks and elements before treatment; 2) microexcavation of the blocks; cleaning, and stabilisation of the recovered fragments; and bonding of fragments contained in the same package; 3) reconstruction of the elements recovered in different blocks; 4) final documentation; 5) packing. Conservation techniques were similar to those used for another hominin find [5]. In short, the work was carried out with small manual tools (e.g., soft brushes, wooden sticks, scalpels and dental picks) to remove the sedimentary matrix and clean the bones. Consolidation and bonding of fragments was performed with Paraloid B72 dissolved in acetone (5-25%). We also used fibreglass cloth strips impregnated with Paraloid, both to temporarily hold the pieces in place, and as a final bond reinforcement for some of the elements. The final packing of the bones used clean polyethylene plastic bags, foam blocks and boxes, adapted to each element. After this conservation treatment, the Shanidar Z bones are clean, stable and prepared. Most upper limb elements are well reconstructed, but additional reconstruction work may improve some of the elements, particularly the highly fragmented thoracic bones. The skull is reshaped, but the lack of physical contact among some cranial elements does not allow a complete physical reconstruction, so virtual reconstruction is also underway. The conservation took over a year. The main challenges were the bones’ significant fragmentation and friability. Hundreds of tiny pieces needed to be cleaned and consolidated before attempting the reconstruction. That posed a challenge resolved by exhaustive documentation to keep track of the fragments. This documentation, crucial to the conservation work, will also be a useful legacy for future research on these remains.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The Sensorium of The Drone and Communities: Book Review
    (European Network for Cinema and Media Studies, 2024-06-26) Gaeta, Amy; Gaeta, Amy [0000-0002-9114-2957]
    In Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, and Performance (2003), seminal literary critic and queer theorist Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick coins the term ‘paranoid reading’ to describe the tendency of critics to see their objects of study as having some inherent awe that the critic must unmask. This paranoid reading, contended Sedgwick, deeply prevents critics’ capacity to sense and explore the other sides of an object of study, and most importantly to be open to being surprised by one. In turn, Sedgwick advocates for reparative reading as a mode of reading wherein the critic pushes aside their paranoia and stays open to the internal contradictions and surprises of an object of study. While Kathrin Maurer does not explicitly cite Sedgwick as part of her methodology in The Sensorium of the Drone and Communities (MIT Press, 2023), Maurer certainly captures the spirit of it by providing a rich, compelling reparative reading of drone technology and the communities they enable.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Aviation Impact Accelerator, 2024. Five Years to Chart a New Future for Aviation: The 2030 Sustainable Aviation Goals
    (2024-09-23) Miller, Robert J; Whittington, Eliot; Gabra, Samuel; Hodgson, Paul; Green, Jay; Kho, Jia Wei; Smith, Jessie R; Singh, Deepanshu; Smith, Jessie [0000-0002-7422-4045]
    The aviation sector is at a pivotal moment in its history. Currently, only about 10% of the global population flies, a figure expected to grow as incomes rise. Yet, aviation already accounts for around 2.5% of global CO2 emissions, and when non-CO2 effects are included, its contribution to climate warming increases to approximately 4%. Despite ambitious pledges from governments and industry to achieve a net-zero aviation sector by 2050, the sector remains dangerously off track. Without swift and decisive action, we risk missing the opportunity to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and delaying the crucial technological and business transformations needed. While global leaders have endorsed a vision of net-zero carbon emissions for the aviation sector, current efforts fall short in both scope and speed. In some cases, proposed solutions could exacerbate the crisis, such as relying too heavily on biomass for jet fuel without managing its environmental impact. It is also crucial to address aviation’s broader climate effects, including the formation of persistent contrails. The stakes have never been higher: urgent action is needed to shift the sector onto a sustainable path. This report outlines an ambitious five-year plan to chart that course. It establishes four pivotal 2030 Sustainable Aviation Goals, each targeting key leverage points within the sector. If these goals are not implemented immediately and achieved by 2030, the opportunity for transformation will slip away, leaving the world to face the escalating climate impacts of a rapidly growing aviation sector, which is projected to at least double by 2050.
  • ItemOpen AccessPublished version Peer-reviewed
    Oued Beht, Morocco: A new complex early farming society in northwest Africa and its implications for western Mediterranean interaction during later prehistory
    (Cambridge University Press) Broodbank, Cyprian; Lucarini, Giulio; Bokbot, Youssef; Benattia, Hamza; Bigoulimen, Aïcha; Farr, Lucy; Garcia-Molsosa, Arnau; Hachami, Hassan; Laoutari, Rafael; Lombardi, Lorena; Marsilio, Adelaide; Martin, Louise; Morales, Jacob; Radi, Moad; Rega, Francesco Michele; Wilkinson, Toby; Broodbank, C [0000-0002-2176-9666]; Lucarini, G [0000-0003-4722-1065]; Bokbot, Y [0009-0005-9983-6530]; Benattia, H [0000-0002-4929-6290]; Bigoulimen, A [0009-0008-0842-738X]; Farr, L [0000-0002-9687-4364]; Garcia-Molsosa, A [0000-0001-5416-2986]; Hachami, H [0009-0007-4325-7083]; Laoutari, R [0009-0006-0154-2102]; Lombardi, L [0009-0008-3716-7329]; Marsilio, A [0009-0005-4317-0389]; Martin, L [0000-0002-2083-813X]; Morales, J [0000-0002-6781-2121]; Radi, M [0009-0008-4441-3882]; Michele Rega, F [0009-0002-2427-9774]; Wilkinson, T [0000-0002-4905-0522]
    Knowledge of the later prehistoric Maghreb is critically slight yet, without it, explanations of long-term Mediterranean and African social dynamics and interactions remain incomplete. Least understood is the period 4000-1000 BC, following the introduction of domesticates, prior to Phoenician networks, and contemporary with dramatic changes elsewhere around the Mediterranean. New evidence from Oued Beht in northwest Morocco reveals a hitherto unknown farming society at ca. 3400-2900 BC, the earliest known in Africa beyond the Nile and with connections to Iberia. Surface investigations define pottery and lithics over 9-10 ha. Excavations identify numerous pits, one confirmed to contain remains of domesticated crops and animals.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Digitalisation and AI for public value
    (2024-09-09) Bastidas, Viviana; Oti-Sarpong, Kwadwo; Schooling, Jennifer; Oti-Sarpong, Kwadwo [0000-0002-3756-9212]
    This report is based on discussions at a successful workshop held on 4 June with representatives from seven councils in the Cambridgeshire area of England. The workshop entailed presentations on and discussions about the DC2 Digital Innovation Process and Competency Framework, and explored the ethical issues arising from Digitalisation in general, and with the use of AI.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Ghosts in the classroom: interpreting Taiwan’s bilingual education filtering through the hauntological prism
    (Global Education Linkages, 2024-07-23) Peng, Sheng-Hsiang; Peng, Sheng-Hsiang [0000-0003-1825-6146]
    This is a personal reflection piece that uses hauntology to interpret a study authored by Graham and Yeh (2023), which examines teachers’ perceptions of challenges and their influence on the execution of Taiwan’s bilingual education. Hauntology, a concept originating from Derrida’s philosophy (2012), refers to the exploration of spectres or ghosts—entities that are neither fully present nor absent but linger in a liminal state, influencing the present through their unresolved past presence. In the context of academic enquiry and cultural analysis, hauntology involves exploring how past events, ideologies, or traumas continue to exert an unseen influence on contemporary realities. Applying hauntology to Graham and Yeh’s paper on bilingual education encourages me to uncover obscured dynamics, shedding light on how these spectral influences shape education and perpetuate challenges in bilingual education initiatives. Throughout, I offer my own interpretations from a hauntological perspective, juxtaposed with Graham and Yeh’s viewpoints and findings.
  • ItemOpen AccessAccepted version Peer-reviewed
    An hiPSC-Derived In Vitro Model of the Blood-Brain Barrier.
    (Springer Nature, 2022) Goodwin-Trotman, Mary; Patel, Krushangi; Granata, Alessandra; Granata, Alessandra [0000-0001-5051-8201]
    Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) offer a tractable system to model the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Here we detail the assembly of a triple co-culture hiPSC-BBB model, using hiPSC-derived brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMEC), astrocytes, and mural cells (MC). Transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) and sodium fluorescein (NaFl) permeability can be used to test the barrier properties. The model has applications in studying BBB-related pathology and for drug screening.
  • ItemOpen AccessUnder Review Peer-reviewed
    Beyond Cultural Entanglements: Experiencing the New Kingdom Colonization of Nubia 'from Below'
    (Gorgias Press, 2024-08-09) Lemos, Rennan; Lemos, Rennan [0000-0002-1803-7173]
    This volume provides a timely corrective to this outlook, centering Nubian history and archaeology and presenting research from postcolonial and anti-racist perspectives.
  • ItemOpen AccessPublished version Peer-reviewed
    The Land Organism: On the Multispecies Commons and its Enclosure
    (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024) Nally, David; Anderl, Felix; Nally, David [0000-0002-7769-3314]
  • ItemOpen AccessPublished version Peer-reviewed
    Tobacco Industry Engagement in the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee E-Cigarettes Inquiry
    (Maad Rayan Publishing Company) Hawkins, Benjamin; Hawkins, Benjamin [0000-0002-7027-8046]
    Background: A now extensive literature has documented political strategies of health-harming industries (HHIs), but little is known about their engagement with parliamentary select committees. Recent investments by trans-national tobacco corporations (TTCs) in electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has raised concerns that industry actors may be using these to re-engage policy-makers in ways precluded by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 5.3. Methods: This article examines tobacco industry engagement with the United Kingdom House of Commons Science and Technology Committee (STC) inquiry into e-cigarettes. It draws on a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with committee members and support staff (n=4) triangulated against written and oral evidence submissions. Results: TTCs featured prominently in the STC inquiry via written and oral submissions. Opportunities existed for industry engagement, and potential influence, at each stage of the process. There was an absence of oral testimony from those sceptical about the potential health benefits of ENDS. The governance mechanisms in place for select committees appear inadequate for protecting committee work from industry influence. As it relates to TTCs, this has implications for the UK’s commitments under FCTC Article 5.3, yet understanding of the FCTC and the requirements of Article 5.3 compliance within the committee were limited. Conclusion: The governance of select committees requires urgent reform in order to balance norms of openness and participation with the need to protect their work from power of economic actors with conflicts of interest (COI). This is particularly the case in relation to TTCs and adherence to FCTC Article 5.3. These findings are of relevance to other select committees whose work affects the interests of HHIs. Further research is needed on other committees and sectors.
  • ItemOpen AccessPublished version Peer-reviewed
    What is Structural Injustice?
    (Oxford University PressOxford, 2024-01-04) Browne, Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies Jude; Browne, Jude; McKeown, Maeve; Browne, Jude; McKeown, Maeve; Browne, Jude [0000-0003-2492-2627]
    Abstract What Is Structural Injustice? is the first edited collection to bring together the voices of leading structural injustice scholars from politics, philosophy, and law to explore the concept of structural injustice, which has now become a central feature of all three disciplines and is considered by many to be a ‘field of study’. The volume features specially selected original and essential works on structural injustice. The volume provides a range of disciplinary, ontological, and epistemological perspectives on what structural injustice is and includes feminist and postcolonial theories to interrogate how structural injustice exacerbates and reproduces existing inequalities and relations of power. This book is a touchstone text for those interested in the different ways we can understand structural injustice, how it manifests, how it relates to other forms of injustice, who is responsible for its redress, and the different ways we might go about it. This book will appeal to a wide audience of students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, as well as the general academic population, experts on structural injustice, interested practitioners in politics, and members of the public.
  • ItemOpen AccessPublished version Peer-reviewed
    Visual Strategies of Antiabortion Activism and Their Feminist Critique: The Public Fetus in the United States
    (Boydell and Brewer, 2024-12-31) Hopwood, Nick; Hopwood, Nick [0000-0001-7069-7497]
  • ItemOpen AccessAccepted version Peer-reviewed
    Medieval Clerical Culture: The Sociology of Scripts and the Significance of Scribal Quirks
    (University of Chicago Press, 2024-07-01) Da Rold, Orietta
    The past twenty years have seen a considerable advance in the investigation of close links between activity in administrative spheres and the writing of medieval literary manuscripts.
  • ItemOpen AccessAccepted version Peer-reviewed
    Of Howling Jackals and Village Scenes A Lament
    (SUNY Press, 2023-03) Peleg, Yaron; Ranen Omer-Sherman
    An evaluation of the literary legacy of Israeli writer Amos Oz that highlights his central role in the cultural life of Israel in the 20th century and notes the undermining of that legacy at the dawn of the twenty first century.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Design spaces and creativity: playing with LEGO® bricks
    Paravizo, Esdras; Crilly, Nathan; Paravizo, Esdras [0000-0001-6579-0531]
    This workshop pack is intended to be used as an open educational resource by educators in research in engineering, design, creativity and related areas. The workshop was developed as part of a PhD research project on design spaces, design creativity and computer games carried out by Esdras Paravizo under the supervision of Prof. Nathan Crilly at the University of Cambridge, UK. The workshop was first run at the Design Computing and Cognition conference (DCC’24) in Montreal, Canada in July 2024. The workshop pack contains the following materials: - Workshop presentation (with an introduction of the topic, overview of the task and discussion slides provided as a .pptx file); - Intructors guide (with detailed instructions for educators that want to host the workshop); - Task template (that participants will use during the workshop). Besides the provided materials, the workshop requires educators to have certain physical materials (LEGO bricks, precision scale, rulers and sticky notes). All of the materials are provided as-is, under a Creative Commons license CC-BY
  • ItemOpen Access
    Sixteenth-Century England: A View From the Trusts Cases
    (The Selden Society, 2023-06-30) Jones, Neil
  • ItemOpen AccessAccepted version Peer-reviewed
    Tinkerable Augmentative and Alternative Communication for Users and Researchers
    (Springer International Publishing, 2023) Yang, B; Kristensson, PO; Yang, Boyin [0000-0002-5601-5119]; Kristensson, Per Ola [0000-0002-7139-871X]
    Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) users are highly diverse as their communication needs depend on many factors, such as motor ability, cognition, age, education level, and overall preferences. This chapter introduces the concept of tinkerability for AAC. We conjecture that Tinkerable AAC (TAAC) has the potential to empower AAC users, developers, and researchers to fine-tune, adapt, and explore better communication solutions in tandem with the system. We present a framework for tinkerable AAC that concretely links its qual-ities to AAC research and development areas and subareas. To demonstrate the viability of tinkerable AAC, we present a tinkerable predictive text entry system for it. It allows users to adjust many aspects of the system during use, ranging from the text prediction algorithms in the back end to the parameters underpinning the keyboard layout in the front end. In addition, it also allows AAC system devel-opers to adopt state-of-the-art language models and enables AAC researchers to carry out in-situ research experiments. We discuss the design space opened up by tinkerable AAC and its potential in empowering the AAC community to co-design individually tailored solutions for users.