Proceedings of Abstracts Engineering and Computer Science Research Conference 2019

© 2019 The Author(s). This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For further details please see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Note: Keynote: Fluorescence visualisation to evaluate effectiveness of personal protective equipment for infection control is © 2019 Crown copyright and so is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Under this licence users are permitted to copy, publish, distribute and transmit the Information; adapt the Information; exploit the Information commercially and non-commercially for example, by combining it with other Information, or by including it in your own product or application. Where you do any of the above you must acknowledge the source of the Information in your product or application by including or linking to any attribution statement specified by the Information Provider(s) and, where possible, provide a link to this licence: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/This book is the record of abstracts submitted and accepted for presentation at the Inaugural Engineering and Computer Science Research Conference held 17th April 2019 at the University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK. This conference is a local event aiming at bringing together the research students, staff and eminent external guests to celebrate Engineering and Computer Science Research at the University of Hertfordshire. The ECS Research Conference aims to showcase the broad landscape of research taking place in the School of Engineering and Computer Science. The 2019 conference was articulated around three topical cross-disciplinary themes: Make and Preserve the Future; Connect the People and Cities; and Protect and Care

Whose Heritage?

This edited collection challenges and re-imagines what is ‘heritage’ in Britain as a globalised, vernacular, cosmopolitan ‘post-nation’. It takes its inspiration from the foundational work of public intellectual Stuart Hall (1932-2014). Hall was instrumental in calling out embedded elitist conceptions of ‘The Heritage’ of Britain. The book’s authors challenge us to reconsider what is valued about Britain’s past, its culture and its citizens. Populist discourses around the world, including Brexit and ‘culture war’ declarations in the UK, demonstrate how heritage and ideas of the past are mobilised in racist politics. The multidisciplinary chapters of this book offer critical inspections of these politics, and dig deeply into the problems of theory, policy and practice in today’s academia, society and heritage sector. The volume challenges the lack of action since Hall rebuked ‘The Heritage’ twenty years ago. The authors featured here are predominantly Black Britons, academics and practitioners engaged in culture and heritage, spurred by the killing of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement to contest racist practices and structures that support them. The primary audience will be academics, but it will also attract culture sector practitioners and heritage institutions. However, the book is particularly aimed at scholars and community members who identify as Black, who are centrally concerned with questions of identity and race in British society. Its Open Access status will facilitate access to the book by all groups in society

Whose Heritage?

This edited collection challenges and re-imagines what is ‘heritage’ in Britain as a globalised, vernacular, cosmopolitan ‘post-nation’. It takes its inspiration from the foundational work of public intellectual Stuart Hall (1932-2014). Hall was instrumental in calling out embedded elitist conceptions of ‘The Heritage’ of Britain. The book’s authors challenge us to reconsider what is valued about Britain’s past, its culture and its citizens. Populist discourses around the world, including Brexit and ‘culture war’ declarations in the UK, demonstrate how heritage and ideas of the past are mobilised in racist politics. The multidisciplinary chapters of this book offer critical inspections of these politics, and dig deeply into the problems of theory, policy and practice in today’s academia, society and heritage sector. The volume challenges the lack of action since Hall rebuked ‘The Heritage’ twenty years ago. The authors featured here are predominantly Black Britons, academics and practitioners engaged in culture and heritage, spurred by the killing of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement to contest racist practices and structures that support them. The primary audience will be academics, but it will also attract culture sector practitioners and heritage institutions. However, the book is particularly aimed at scholars and community members who identify as Black, who are centrally concerned with questions of identity and race in British society. Its Open Access status will facilitate access to the book by all groups in society

Improving intrapartum fetal monitoring in India: is training the answer?

Introduction: Although intrapartum fetal monitoring is a fundamental aspect of intrapartum care worldwide, research on its use in LMIC is lacking. This thesis uses a multi-methods approach to evaluate an intrapartum FM training and quality improvement package in a government hospital in India, informed by staff and patient perspectives. Methods: This research was conducted in two Government hospitals in central India. The qualitative study involved eight clinician/researcher focus groups and 53 semi-structured interviews with high-risk women before and after labour induction; data was analysed using a framework approach to thematic analysis. A FM training programme was implemented and evaluated using a fixed, parallel, convergent design based on Kirkpatrick’s four-stage evaluation model and reflective diary. The prospective cohort data were analysed to evaluate risk factors, outcomes and FM practices. We then outlined an evidence-based theory of change for FM training, that is adaptable to the local context. Results: The qualitative study developed six themes (in bold). 1. Women preferred vaginal birth as it was "trouble for two hours [rather than] trouble for two months”. 2. Women gained knowledge through experience. 3. FM was part of a positive birthing experience [and women] "felt good by hearing the beats”. 4. Interactions with women, relatives and clinicians were important. 5. Clinicians felt FM as per guidelines was "practically not possible", and 6. FM and risk were linked. "Trying for normal" birth without good FM was considered "too risky”. Clinicians felt that more FM training and equipment would help. Clinicians enjoyed the FM training and gained knowledge and confidence. Post-training, they could quantify and describe how cases were managed differently. Of 84 clinicians, 77 (86%) engaged with one session or more. The interactions between the training, co-interventions, relationships, systems and context were paramount. The pre-and post-intervention groups included 2,272 women (2,319 babies) and 1,881 women (1,920 babies), respectively. The mean fetal heart rate (FHR) documentation count during labour increased significantly from 5 to 7.5 (p=<0.001); the mean time between the last FHR and delivery fell significantly from 60 to 50 minutes (p=<0.001). There were non-significant trends toward increased operative birth rates (42.9% vs 45.5%) and reduced perinatal mortality (4.6% vs 3.7%). Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission rates fell significantly (16.7% vs 10.2%), as did NICU admissions for asphyxia (1.2% vs 0.6%). The CS rate was 42.5% in this very high-risk population. Fetal indications were the most common indication for operative birth (15.4% of all births), and 13.7% were admitted to NICU. Only 3.4% of NICU admissions were for birth asphyxia and 1.2% for meconium aspiration syndrome. The total perinatal mortality rate, using the Indian definition, was 68.7/1000 (459/6682), of whom 58 were possible/confirmed in-facility intrapartum fresh stillbirths (8.9/1000 WHO definition) and 25 neonatal deaths due to asphyxia. Conclusion: Women want a healthy baby and “normal” birth, but clinicians feel vaginal birth is unsafe with inadequate FM, and this drives high operative birth rates. "Hearing the beats" and kind communication promotes a positive birth experience for women. FM training is a complex intervention that can improve FM process indicators and some neonatal outcomes. Clinicians enjoyed the training, gained knowledge and confidence, and changed their practice. However, the interaction between training, co-interventions, context, people and systems is essential. For change to occur, training must be embedded within wider interventions so that barriers to implementation are identified and overcome

Representing and Redefining Specialised Knowledge: Medical Discourse

This volume brings together five selected papers on medical discourse which show how specialised medical corpora provide a framework that helps those engaging with medical discourse to determine how the everyday and the specialised combine to shape the discourse of medical professionals and non-medical communities in relation to both long and short-term factors. The papers contribute, in an exemplary way, to illustrating the shifting boundaries in today’s society between the two major poles making up the medical discourse cline: healthcare discourse at the one end, which records the demand for personalised therapies and individual medical services; and clinical discourse the other, which documents research into society’s collective medical needs

Anthropologies of Global Maternal and Reproductive Health

This open access edited book brings together new research on the mechanisms by which maternal and reproductive health policies are formed and implemented in diverse locales around the world, from global policy spaces to sites of practice. The authors – both internationally respected anthropologists and new voices – demonstrate the value of ethnography and the utility of reproduction as a lens through which to generate rich insights into professionals’ and lay people’s intimate encounters with policy. Authors look closely at core policy debates in the history of global maternal health across six different continents, including: Women’s use of misoprostol for abortion in Burkina Faso The place of traditional birth attendants in global maternal health Donor-driven maternal health programs in Tanzania Efforts to integrate qualitative evidence in WHO maternal and child health policy-making Anthropologies of Global Maternal and Reproductive Health will engage readers interested in critical conversations about global health policy today. The broad range of foci makes it a valuable resource for teaching in medical anthropology, anthropology of reproduction, and interdisciplinary global health programs. The book will also find readership amongst critical public health scholars, health policy and systems researchers, and global public health practitioners