Developing Literary Glasgow: Towards a Strategy for a Reading, Writing and Publishing City

Since the 1990s, urban cultural policy in the UK has been bound to the cause of urban regeneration. Much has been written in examination and critique of this relationship, but what happens when the direction of strategic attention is reversed and civic leadership seeks to regenerate culture itself? The city of Glasgow, having made capital of culture over many decades, has moved towards a strategy for the development of literary Glasgow. This thesis documents a search for those factors crucial to that strategy. The research focuses on literary Glasgow as one aspect of the city’s cultural sector; identifies and examines gaps in the relationship between the civic cultural organisation and literary communities; and highlights those elements vital to the formation of a strategy for development of the literary in Glasgow. An extended period of participatory ethnographic research within the Aye Write! book festival and Sunny Govan Community Radio, is supplemented with data from interviews conducted across the literary sector and analysis of organisational documentation. Through these a gap has been identified between the policies and operations of a civic cultural organisation, and the desires of those engaged within the literary community. This gap is caused, in part, by the lack of a mechanism with which to reconcile contrasting narratives about the cultural essence of the city, or to negotiate the variations in definitions of value in relation to cultural engagement. The interdisciplinary approach builds upon insights from existing work within publishing studies, cultural policy, complexity theory and organisational studies to construct an understanding of the dynamics of Glasgow’s literary sector. This reveals the need for a framework in support of a landscape of practice, a desire for the placement of boundary objects to facilitate engagement, and the significance of value in relation to participation in literary activity. This work informs a strategy for literary Glasgow and contributes to conversations on strategies for cultural development in other cities

Building a Movement: Community Development and Community Resilience in Response to Extreme Events

There are gaps in understanding what community resilience is and means to those working in communities, academia, practice and policy and how it is currently enacted in Scotland. Greater understanding of existing experiences can be used to encourage development of community resilience. By enhancing resilience, those affected by extreme events are better able to cope; communities are given a voice; and risk and vulnerability on local, national and global scales are reduced.Document also available on the Project web site at: https://extremeevents.stir.ac.uk/files/2020/01/CR2EE-Policy-Brief-Jan-2020.pd

A graphical method for practical and informative identifiability analyses of physiological models: A case study of insulin kinetics and sensitivity

peer reviewedBackground: Derivative based a-priori structural identifiability analyses of mathematical models can offer valuable insight into the identifiability of model parameters. However, these analyses are only capable of a binary confirmation of the mathematical distinction of parameters and a positive outcome can begin to lose relevance when measurement error is introduced. This article presents an integral based method that allows the observation of the identifiability of models with two-parameters in the presence of assay error. Methods: The method measures the distinction of the integral formulations of the parameter coefficients at the proposed sampling times. It can thus predict the susceptibility of the parameters to the effects of measurement error. The method is tested in-silico with Monte Carlo analyses of a number of insulin sensitivity test applications. Results: The method successfully captured the analogous nature of identifiability observed in Monte Carlo analyses of a number of cases including protocol alterations, parameter changes and differences in participant behaviour. However, due to the numerical nature of the analyses, prediction was not perfect in all cases. Conclusions: Thus although the current method has valuable and significant capabilities in terms of study or test protocol design, additional developments would further strengthen the predictive capability of the method. Finally, the method captures the experimental reality that sampling error and timing can negate assumed parameter identifiability and that identifiability is a continuous rather than discrete phenomenon

Parameter Identification Methods in a Model of the Cardiovascular System

To be clinically relevant, mathematical models have to be patient-specific, meaning that their parameters have to be identified from patient data. To achieve real time monitoring, it is important to select the best parameter identification method, in terms of speed, efficiency and reliability. This work presents a comparison of seven parameter identification methods applied to a lumped-parameter cardiovascular system model. The seven methods are tested using in silico and experimental reference data. To do so, precise formulae for initial parameter values first had to be developed. The test results indicate that the trust-region reflective method seems to be the best method for the present model. This method (and the proportional method) are able to perform parameter identification in two to three minutes, and will thus benefit cardiac and vascular monitoring applications

DISTq: An Iterative Analysis of Glucose Data for Low-Cost, Real-Time and Accurate Estimation of Insulin Sensitivity

Insulin sensitivity (SI) estimation has numerous uses in medical and clinical situations. However, highresolution tests that are useful for clinical diagnosis and monitoring are often too intensive, long and costly for regular use. Simpler tests that mitigate these issues are not accurate enough for many clinical diagnostic or monitoring scenarios. The gap between these tests presents an opportunity for new approaches

Overcoming barriers to engaging socio-economically disadvantaged populations in CHD primary prevention: a qualitative study

<p><b>Background:</b> Preventative medicine has become increasingly important in efforts to reduce the burden of chronic disease in industrialised countries. However, interventions that fail to recruit socio-economically representative samples may widen existing health inequalities. This paper explores the barriers and facilitators to engaging a socio-economically disadvantaged (SED) population in primary prevention for coronary heart disease (CHD).</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> The primary prevention element of Have a Heart Paisley (HaHP) offered risk screening to all eligible individuals. The programme employed two approaches to engaging with the community: a) a social marketing campaign and b) a community development project adopting primarily face-to-face canvassing. Individuals living in areas of SED were under-recruited via the social marketing approach, but successfully recruited via face-to-face canvassing. This paper reports on focus group discussions with participants, exploring their perceptions about and experiences of both approaches.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> Various reasons were identified for low uptake of risk screening amongst individuals living in areas of high SED in response to the social marketing campaign and a number of ways in which the face-to-face canvassing approach overcame these barriers were identified. These have been categorised into four main themes: (1) processes of engagement; (2) issues of understanding; (3) design of the screening service and (4) the priority accorded to screening. The most immediate barriers to recruitment were the invitation letter, which often failed to reach its target, and the general distrust of postal correspondence. In contrast, participants were positive about the face-to-face canvassing approach. Participants expressed a lack of knowledge and understanding about CHD and their risk of developing it and felt there was a lack of clarity in the information provided in the mailing in terms of the process and value of screening. In contrast, direct face-to-face contact meant that outreach workers could explain what to expect. Participants felt that the procedure for uptake of screening was demanding and inflexible, but that the drop-in sessions employed by the community development project had a major impact on recruitment and retention.</p> <p><b>Conclusion:</b> Socio-economically disadvantaged individuals can be hard-to-reach; engagement requires strategies tailored to the needs of the target population rather than a population-wide approach.</p&gt

The effect of the oil resin on the properties of solution of the petroleum wax treated in an ultrasonic field

It was found that the complex treatment of ultrasonic followed by the addition of 0.3% by weight. petroleum resins, a more efficient method of inhibiting sedimentation processes than just ultrasonic or addition of 0,3% by weight. petroleum resins. According to the obtained data, fragments of aliphatic petroleum resins are adsorbed on the high molecular hydrocarbons of normal structure and prevent their aggregation thus the inhibition of sedimentation occurs