Expertise and collaborative design (abstract)

published_or_final_versio

Integrating the promotion of physical activity within a smoking cessation programme: Findings from collaborative action research in UK Stop Smoking Services

Background: Within the framework of collaborative action research, the aim was to explore the feasibility of developing and embedding physical activity promotion as a smoking cessation aid within UK 6/7-week National Health Service (NHS) Stop Smoking Services. Methods: In Phase 1 three initial cycles of collaborative action research (observation, reflection, planning, implementation and re-evaluation), in an urban Stop Smoking Service, led to the development of an integrated intervention in which physical activity was promoted as a cessation aid, with the support of a theoretically based self-help guide, and self monitoring using pedometers. In Phase 2 advisors underwent training and offered the intervention, and changes in physical activity promoting behaviour and beliefs were monitored. Also, changes in clients’ stage of readiness to use physical activity as a cessation aid, physical activity beliefs and behaviour and physical activity levels were assessed, among those who attended the clinic at 4-week post-quit. Qualitative data were collected, in the form of clinic observation, informal interviews with advisors and field notes. Results: The integrated intervention emerged through cycles of collaboration as something quite different to previous practice. Based on field notes, there were many positive elements associated with the integrated intervention in Phase 2. Self-reported advisors’ physical activity promoting behaviour increased as a result of training and adapting to the intervention. There was a significant advancement in clients’ stage of readiness to use physical activity as a smoking cessation aid. Conclusions: Collaboration with advisors was key in ensuring that a feasible intervention was developed as an aid to smoking cessation. There is scope to further develop tailored support to increasing physical activity and smoking cessation, mediated through changes in perceptions about the benefits of, and confidence to do physical activity

A Graph-Based Semantics Workbench for Concurrent Asynchronous Programs

A number of novel programming languages and libraries have been proposed that offer simpler-to-use models of concurrency than threads. It is challenging, however, to devise execution models that successfully realise their abstractions without forfeiting performance or introducing unintended behaviours. This is exemplified by SCOOP---a concurrent object-oriented message-passing language---which has seen multiple semantics proposed and implemented over its evolution. We propose a "semantics workbench" with fully and semi-automatic tools for SCOOP, that can be used to analyse and compare programs with respect to different execution models. We demonstrate its use in checking the consistency of semantics by applying it to a set of representative programs, and highlighting a deadlock-related discrepancy between the principal execution models of the language. Our workbench is based on a modular and parameterisable graph transformation semantics implemented in the GROOVE tool. We discuss how graph transformations are leveraged to atomically model intricate language abstractions, and how the visual yet algebraic nature of the model can be used to ascertain soundness.Comment: Accepted for publication in the proceedings of FASE 2016 (to appear

Factors associated with study attrition in a pilot randomised controlled trial to explore the role of exercise-assisted reduction to stop (EARS) smoking in disadvantaged groups.

BACKGROUND: Study attrition has the potential to compromise a trial's internal and external validity. The aim of the present study was to identify factors associated with participant attrition in a pilot trial of the effectiveness of a novel behavioural support intervention focused on increasing physical activity to reduce smoking, to inform the methods to reduce attrition in a definitive trial. METHODS: Disadvantaged smokers who wanted to reduce but not quit were randomised (N = 99), of whom 61 (62 %) completed follow-up assessments at 16 weeks. Univariable logistic regression was conducted to determine the effects of intervention arm, method of recruitment, and participant characteristics (sociodemographic factors, and lifestyle, behavioural and attitudinal characteristics) on attrition, followed by multivariable logistic regression on those factors found to be related to attrition. RESULTS: Participants with low confidence to quit, and who were undertaking less than 150 mins of moderate and vigorous physical activity per week at baseline were less likely to complete the 16-week follow-up assessment. Exploratory analysis revealed that those who were lost to follow-up early in the trial (i.e., by 4 weeks), compared with those completing the study, were younger, had smoked for fewer years and had lower confidence to quit in the next 6 months. Participants who recorded a higher expired air carbon monoxide reading at baseline were more likely to drop out late in the study, as were those recruited via follow-up telephone calls. Multivariable analyses showed that only completing less than 150 mins of physical activity retained any confidence in predicting attrition in the presence of other variables. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that those who take more effort to be recruited, are younger, are heavier smokers, have less confidence to quit, and are less physically active are more likely to withdraw or be lost to follow-up

Towards an Efficient Finite Element Method for the Integral Fractional Laplacian on Polygonal Domains

We explore the connection between fractional order partial differential equations in two or more spatial dimensions with boundary integral operators to develop techniques that enable one to efficiently tackle the integral fractional Laplacian. In particular, we develop techniques for the treatment of the dense stiffness matrix including the computation of the entries, the efficient assembly and storage of a sparse approximation and the efficient solution of the resulting equations. The main idea consists of generalising proven techniques for the treatment of boundary integral equations to general fractional orders. Importantly, the approximation does not make any strong assumptions on the shape of the underlying domain and does not rely on any special structure of the matrix that could be exploited by fast transforms. We demonstrate the flexibility and performance of this approach in a couple of two-dimensional numerical examples

A prospective key informant surveillance system to measure maternal mortality – findings from indigenous populations in Jharkhand and Orissa, India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In places with poor vital registration, measurement of maternal mortality and monitoring the impact of interventions on maternal mortality is difficult and seldom undertaken. Mortality ratios are often estimated and policy decisions made without robust evidence. This paper presents a prospective key informant system to measure maternal mortality and the initial findings from the system.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a population of 228 186, key informants identified all births and deaths to women of reproductive age, prospectively, over a period of 110 weeks. After birth verification, interviewers visited households six to eight weeks after delivery to collect information on the ante-partum, intra-partum and post-partum periods, as well as birth outcomes. For all deaths to women of reproductive age they ascertained whether they could be classified as maternal, pregnancy related or late maternal and if so, verbal autopsies were conducted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>13 602 births were identified, with a crude birth rate of 28.2 per 1000 population (C.I. 27.7–28.6) and a maternal mortality ratio of 722 per 100 000 live births (C.I. 591–882) recorded. Maternal deaths comprised 29% of all deaths to women aged 15–49. Approximately a quarter of maternal deaths occurred ante-partum, a half intra-partum and a quarter post-partum. Haemorrhage was the commonest cause of all maternal deaths (25%), but causation varied between the ante-partum, intra-partum and post-partum periods. The cost of operating the surveillance system was US$386 a month, or US$0.02 per capita per year.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This low cost key informant surveillance system produced high, but plausible birth and death rates in this remote population in India. This method could be used to monitor trends in maternal mortality and to test the impact of interventions in large populations with poor vital registration and thus assist policy makers in making evidence-based decisions.</p

High Resolution Spectroscopy of Two-Dimensional Electron Systems

Spectroscopic methods involving the sudden injection or ejection of electrons in materials are a powerful probe of electronic structure and interactions. These techniques, such as photoemission and tunneling, yield measurements of the "single particle" density of states (SPDOS) spectrum of a system. The SPDOS is proportional to the probability of successfully injecting or ejecting an electron in these experiments. It is equal to the number of electronic states in the system able to accept an injected electron as a function of its energy and is among the most fundamental and directly calculable quantities in theories of highly interacting systems. However, the two-dimensional electron system (2DES), host to remarkable correlated electron states such as the fractional quantum Hall effect, has proven difficult to probe spectroscopically. Here we present an improved version of time domain capacitance spectroscopy (TDCS) that now allows us to measure the SPDOS of a 2DES with unprecedented fidelity and resolution. Using TDCS, we perform measurements of a cold 2DES, providing the first direct measurements of the single-particle exchange-enhanced spin gap and single particle lifetimes in the quantum Hall system, as well as the first observations of exchange splitting of Landau levels not at the Fermi surface. The measurements reveal the difficult to reach and beautiful structure present in this highly correlated system far from the Fermi surface.Comment: There are formatting and minor textual differences between this version and the published version in Nature (follow the DOI link below

Nitrogen forms affect root structure and water uptake in the hybrid poplar

The study analyses the effects of two different forms of nitrogen fertilisation (nitrate and ammonium) on root structure and water uptake of two hybrid poplar (Populus maximowiczii x P. balsamifera) clones in a field experiment. Water uptake was studied using sap flow gauges on individual proximal roots and coarse root structure was examined by excavating 18 whole-root systems. Finer roots were scanned and analyzed for architecture. Nitrogen forms did not affect coarse-root system development, but had a significant effect on fine-root development. Nitrate-treated trees presented higher fine:coarse root ratios and higher specific root lengths than control or ammonium treated trees. These allocation differences affected the water uptake capacity of the plants as reflected by the higher sapflow rate in the nitrate treatment. The diameter of proximal roots at the tree base predicted well the total root biomass and length. The diameter of smaller lateral roots also predicted the lateral root mass, length, surface area and the number of tips. The effect of nitrogen fertilisation on the fine root structure translated into an effect on the functioning of the fine roots forming a link between form (architecture) and function (water uptake)

Local Thermometry of Neutral Modes on the Quantum Hall Edge

A system of electrons in two dimensions and strong magnetic fields can be tuned to create a gapped 2D system with one dimensional channels along the edge. Interactions among these edge modes can lead to independent transport of charge and heat, even in opposite directions. Measuring the chirality and transport properties of these charge and heat modes can reveal otherwise hidden structure in the edge. Here, we heat the outer edge of such a quantum Hall system using a quantum point contact. By placing quantum dots upstream and downstream along the edge of the heater, we can measure both the chemical potential and temperature of that edge to study charge and heat transport, respectively. We find that charge is transported exclusively downstream, but heat can be transported upstream when the edge has additional structure related to fractional quantum Hall physics.Comment: 24 pages, 18 figure

A pilot randomised trial to assess the methods and procedures for evaluating the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Exercise Assisted Reduction then Stop (EARS) among disadvantaged smokers

types: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tPlease cite the published version which is available via the DOI link in this record.There have been few rigorous studies on the effects of behavioural support for helping smokers to reduce who do not immediately wish to quit. While reduction may not have the health benefits of quitting, it may lead smokers to want to quit. Physical activity (PA) helps to reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms, and also reduces weight gain after quitting, but smokers may be less inclined to exercise. There is scope to develop and determine the effectiveness of interventions to support smoking reduction and increase physical activity, for those not ready to quit.NIHR Health Technology Assessment programm