Visualisation Tools for Multi-Perspective, Cross-Sector, Long-Term Infrastructure Performance Evaluation

Across different infrastructure sectors there are systems that help to monitor the current and near-future operation and performance of a particular system. Whilst Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are critical to maintaining acceptable levels of functionality, they do not provide insights over the longer timescales across which strategic investment decisions play out. To understand how individual or multiple, interdependent, infrastructure sectors perform over longer timescales, capacity/demand modelling is required. However, the outputs of such models are often a complex high-dimensionality result-set, and this complexity is further compounded when crosssector evaluation is required. To maximise utility of such models, tools are required that can process and present key outputs. In this paper we describe the development of prototype tools for infrastructure performance evaluation in relation to different strategic decisions and the complex outputs generated from capacity and demand models of five infrastructure sectors (energy, water, waste water, solid waste, transport) investigated within the UK Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium (ITRC). By constructing tools that expose various dimensions of the model outputs, a user is able to take greater control over the knowledge discovery process

Multilocus sequence typing identifies an avian-like Chlamydia psittaci strain involved in equine placentitis and associated with subsequent human psittacosis

No abstract available

‘The Addiction Was Making Things Harder for My Mental Health’: A Qualitative Exploration of the Views of Adults and Adolescents Accessing a Substance Misuse Treatment Service

The relationship between substance use and mental health is complex, and both constitute a global public health burden. In the UK, the estimated annual financial costs of alcohol-related harm and illicit drug use are GBP 21.5 billion and GBP 10.7 billion, respectively. This issue is magnified in the North East of England, where treatment access is low and a large proportion of individuals experience socioeconomic deprivation. The present study aimed to explore the experiences of adults and adolescents accessing a substance misuse treatment service in the North East, in order to inform policy makers, commissioners, and providers of substance misuse treatment and prevention. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with an opportunistic sample of n = 15 adult participants (aged 18 years and over) and n = 10 adolescent participants (aged between 13 and 17 years). Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, anonymised, and analysed thematically. Five key themes were identified: (1) initiation of substance use, (2) early life experiences, (3) the bi-directional relationship of mental health and substance use, (4) cessation of substance use, and (5) accessing treatment. Future preventative interventions should focus on providing support to individuals who have been exposed to adverse childhood experiences, with treatment provision for individuals experiencing co-occurring mental health and substance use issues taking a more holistic approach

Is There a General Motor Program for Right Versus Left Hand Throwing in Children?

The purpose of this study was to determine if a general motor program controlled some or all aspects of overhand throwing. Using a 12 camera Vicon motion analysis system to record data from body markers, a group of 30 Australian Aboriginal children 6-10 years of age threw with maximal effort into a large target area. Data were reduced and analysed for numerous variables and correlations were calculated between dominant and non-dominant side variables that were deemed reliable. Results indicated that five variables showed significant dominant to non-dominant correlations. However, only two of the five were entered into both multiple regressions to predict horizontal ball velocity for the dominant vs. non-dominant sides. The variables entered suggested that more gross aspects of the movement (stride distance and pelvis flexion) were both correlated from dominant to non-dominant sides and predicted horizontal ball velocity. Thus, the general motor program does not appear to control the more complex and coordinated parts of the throwing motion

Revitalising audit and feedback to improve patient care

Healthcare systems face challenges in tackling variations in patient care and outcomes. Audit and feedback aim to improve patient care by reviewing clinical performance against explicit standards and directing action towards areas not meeting those standards. It is a widely used foundational component of quality improvement, included in around 60 national clinical audit programmes in the United Kingdom. Ironically, there is currently a gap between what audit and feedback can achieve and what they actually deliver, whether led locally or nationally. Several national audits have been successful in driving improvement and reducing variations in care, such as for stroke and lung cancer, but progress is also slower than hoped for in other aspects of care (table 1). Audit and feedback have a chequered past.6 Clinicians might feel threatened rather than supported by top-down feedback and rightly question whether rewards outweigh efforts invested in poorly designed audit. Healthcare organisations have limited resources to support and act on audit and feedback. Dysfunctional clinical and managerial relationships undermine effective responses to feedback, particularly when it is not clearly part of an integrated approach to quality assurance and improvement. Unsurprisingly, the full potential of audit and feedback has not been realised

Ethical and methodological issues in engaging young people living in poverty with participatory research methods

This paper discusses the methodological and ethical issues arising from a project that focused on conducting a qualitative study using participatory techniques with children and young people living in disadvantage. The main aim of the study was to explore the impact of poverty on children and young people's access to public and private services. The paper is based on the author's perspective of the first stage of the fieldwork from the project. It discusses the ethical implications of involving children and young people in the research process, in particular issues relating to access and recruitment, the role of young people's advisory groups, use of visual data and collection of data in young people's homes. The paper also identifies some strategies for addressing the difficulties encountered in relation to each of these aspects and it considers the benefits of adopting participatory methods when conducting research with children and young people

Fluctuation-driven capacity distribution in complex networks

Maximizing robustness and minimizing cost are common objectives in the design of infrastructure networks. However, most infrastructure networks evolve and operate in a highly decentralized fashion, which may significantly impact the allocation of resources across the system. Here, we investigate this question by focusing on the relation between capacity and load in different types of real-world communication and transportation networks. We find strong empirical evidence that the actual capacity of the network elements tends to be similar to the maximum available capacity, if the cost is not strongly constraining. As more weight is given to the cost, however, the capacity approaches the load nonlinearly. In particular, all systems analyzed show larger unoccupied portions of the capacities on network elements subjected to smaller loads, which is in sharp contrast with the assumptions involved in (linear) models proposed in previous theoretical studies. We describe the observed behavior of the capacity-load relation as a function of the relative importance of the cost by using a model that optimizes capacities to cope with network traffic fluctuations. These results suggest that infrastructure systems have evolved under pressure to minimize local failures, but not necessarily global failures that can be caused by the spread of local damage through cascading processes

Sexual exploitation in children: Nature, prevalence and distinguishing characteristics reported in young adulthood

The aim of this study was to explore the nature and extent of sexual exploitation in a university student sample, whilst being clear that sexual exploitation is sexual abuse. Overall, 47% of participants (96 out of 204) reported having been approached by an adult in a sexual manner when they were under the age of 16. The study predicted that a number of individual characteristics would increase a young person’s vulnerability for sexual exploitation. These included low self-esteem, external locus of control, social loneliness and insecure attachment. Results indicated lower levels of self-esteem among those who had been approached sexually, although it is not clear in terms of causality. There were no differences in scores for locus of control or loneliness. Relationship anxiety was significantly linked with children having engaged in sexual behaviours with an adult. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of emerging individual characteristics relating to a risk of sexual exploitation

Young children's research: children aged 4-8 years finding solutions at home and at school

Children's research capacities have become increasingly recognised by adults, yet children remain excluded from the academy, with reports of their research participation generally located in adults' agenda. Such practice restricts children's freedom to make choices in matters affecting them, underestimates children’s capabilities and denies children particular rights. The present paper reports on one aspect of a small-scale critical ethnographic study adopting a constructivist grounded approach to conceptualise ways in which children's naturalistic behaviours may be perceived as research. The study builds on multi-disciplinary theoretical perspectives, embracing 'new' sociology, psychology, economics, philosophy and early childhood education and care (ECEC). Research questions include: 'What is the nature of ECEC research?' and 'Do children’s enquiries count as research?' Initially, data were collected from the academy: professional researchers (n=14) confirmed 'finding solutions' as a research behaviour and indicated children aged 4-8 years, their practitioners and primary carers as 'theoretical sampling'. Consequently, multi-modal case studies were constructed with children (n=138) and their practitioners (n=17) in three ‘good’ schools, with selected children and their primary carers also participating at home. This paper reports on data emerging from children aged 4-8 years at school (n=17) and at home (n=5). Outcomes indicate that participating children found diverse solutions to diverse problems, some of which they set themselves. Some solutions engaged children in high order thinking, whilst others did not; selecting resources and trialing activities engaged children in 'finding solutions'. Conversely, when children's time, provocations and activities were directed by adults, the quality of their solutions was limited, they focused on pleasing adults and their motivation to propose solutions decreased. In this study, professional researchers recognised 'finding solutions' as research behaviour and children aged 4-8 years naturalistically presented with capacities for finding solutions; however, the children's encounters with adults affected the solutions they found