Void growth in high strength aluminium alloy single crystals : a CPFEM based study

The author thankfully acknowledges the financial support of EPSRC funding (EP/L021714/1).Peer reviewedPostprin

Issues and Challenges in Managing Catering and Food Retail Business in Karachi: Study of Tikka Inn Caterers

Catering Business is one of the fastest growing businesses hence managing this with limited resources in tough market conditions is a big challenge for entrepreneurs. Same is valid for Pakistan where the industry is dominated by giants like Hanif Rajput Caterers and United Caterers etc. Tikka-Inn is treated as one of the new and fastest growing parts of the industry. Therefore this study has been purposively designed on Tikka-Inn, in order to demonstrate the challenges pertaining to new entrepreneurs. Hence in order to validate findings of the case, data achieved through systematic interviews has been linked with the company’s records and available research literature. After all the association and validation findings of the study indicated that scarcity of financial resources is still a major issue for the entrepreneurs coupled with the intense level of competition, conditions of the city and regularity issues which entails entrepreneurs to device proper mechanism to overcome these hurdles especially in the category of catering and food retail business

A CPFEM based study to understand the void growth in high strength dual-phase Titanium alloy (Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al)

Author is thankful to University of Aberdeen for the award of Elphinstone Scholarship which covers the tuition fee of PhD study of author. Thanks are also due to Professor R.M. McMeeking for useful discussions.Peer reviewedPostprin

A Multiscale Constitutive Model for Metal Forming of Dual Phase Titanium Alloys by Incorporating Inherent Deformation and Failure Mechanisms

This work was supported through a University of Aberdeen Elphinstone Scholarship which covered the tuition fee for PhD study.Peer reviewedPostprin

Crystal Plasticity based Study to Understand the Interaction of Hydrogen, Defects and Loading in Austenitic Stainless Steel Single Crystals

Acknowledgements We express our appreciation to Apache North Sea and the University of Aberdeen for their support.Peer reviewedPostprin

Modelling Hydrogen Induced Stress Corrosion Cracking in Austenitic Stainless Steel

The authors are thankful to the University of Aberdeen and Apache North Sea for their support for this project.Peer reviewedPostprin

Real world patterns of antimicrobial use and microbiology investigations in patients with sepsis outside the Critical Care Unit: Secondary analysis of three nation-wide point prevalence studies

Recent description of the microbiology of sepsis on the wards or information on the real-life antibiotic choices used in sepsis is lacking. There is growing concern of the indiscriminate use of antibiotics and omission of microbiological investigations in the management of septic patients. We performed a secondary analysis of three annual 24-h point-prevalence studies on the general wards across all Welsh acute hospitals in years 2016–2018. Data were collected on patient demographics, as well as radiological, laboratory and microbiological data within 48-h of the study. We screened 19,453 patients over the three 24 h study periods and recruited 1252 patients who fulfilled the entry criteria. 775 (64.9%) patients were treated with intravenous antibiotics. Only in 33.65% (421/1252) of all recruited patients did healthcare providers obtain blood cultures; in 25.64% (321/1252) urine cultures; in 8.63% (108/1252) sputum cultures; in 6.79% (85/1252) wound cultures; in 15.25% (191/1252) other cultures. Out of the recruited patients, 59.1% (740/1252) fulfilled SEPSIS-3 criteria. Patients with SEPSIS-3 criteria were significantly more likely to receive antibiotics than the non-septic cohort (p < 0.0001). In a multivariable regression analysis increase in SOFA score, increased number of SIRS criteria and the use of the official sepsis screening tool were associated with antibiotic administration, however obtaining microbiology cultures was not. Our study shows that antibiotics prescription practice is not accompanied by microbiological investigations. A significant proportion of sepsis patients are still at risk of not receiving appropriate antibiotics treatment and microbiological investigations; this may be improved by a more thorough implementation of sepsis screening tools

Four consecutive yearly point-prevalence studies in Wales indicate lack of improvement in sepsis care on the wards

The ‘Sepsis Six’ bundle was promoted as a deliverable tool outside of the critical care settings, but there is very little data available on the progress and change of sepsis care outside the critical care environment in the UK. Our aim was to compare the yearly prevalence, outcome and the Sepsis Six bundle compliance in patients at risk of mortality from sepsis in non-intensive care environments. Patients with a National Early Warning Score (NEWS) of 3 or above and suspected or proven infection were enrolled into four yearly 24-h point prevalence studies, carried out in fourteen hospitals across Wales from 2016 to 2019. We followed up patients to 30 days between 2016–2019 and to 90 days between 2017 and 2019. Out of the 26,947 patients screened 1651 fulfilled inclusion criteria and were recruited. The full ‘Sepsis Six’ care bundle was completed on 223 (14.0%) occasions, with no significant difference between the years. On 190 (11.5%) occasions none of the bundle elements were completed. There was no significant correlation between bundle element compliance, NEWS or year of study. One hundred and seventy (10.7%) patients were seen by critical care outreach; the ‘Sepsis Six’ bundle was completed significantly more often in this group (54/170, 32.0%) than for patients who were not reviewed by critical care outreach (168/1385, 11.6%; p < 0.0001). Overall survival to 30 days was 81.7% (1349/1651), with a mean survival time of 26.5 days (95% CI 26.1–26.9) with no difference between each year of study. 90-day survival for years 2017–2019 was 74.7% (949/1271), with no difference between the years. In multivariate regression we identified older age, heart failure, recent chemotherapy, higher frailty score and do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation orders as significantly associated with increased 30-day mortality. Our data suggests that despite efforts to increase sepsis awareness within the NHS, there is poor compliance with the sepsis care bundles and no change in the high mortality over the study period. Further research is needed to determine which time-sensitive ward-based interventions can reduce mortality in patients with sepsis and how can these results be embedded to routine clinical practice