Advanced Reprocessing – The Potential for Continuous Chromatographic Separations

This concept paper, discusses the challenges and opportunities for an extractive chromatographic process for the separation of fission products and minor actinides from uranium and plutonium isotopes in irradiated nuclear fuel. The paper highlights the constraints of the PUREX process, a process that is universally accepted for reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel now and for GEN IV reactor systems. It also identifies the challenges that a new separation process would have to overcome to dislodge its acceptance by both the operators and regulators. Although the concept of using a chromatography technique for this separation is challenging, recent developments of continuous chromatography such as simulated moving bed (SMB) and/or continuous annular chromatography (CAC) provides a degree of encouragement. Equally the development of new stationary phases in particular inorganic exchangers, many of which have not been examined for this application enhances confidence that an alternative to the PUREX process is possible

Pragmatic development of service based real-time change data capture

This thesis makes a contribution to the Change Data Capture (CDC) field by providing an empirical evaluation on the performance of CDC architectures in the context of realtime data warehousing. CDC is a mechanism for providing data warehouse architectures with fresh data from Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) databases. There are two types of CDC architectures, pull architectures and push architectures. There is exiguous data on the performance of CDC architectures in a real-time environment. Performance data is required to determine the real-time viability of the two architectures. We propose that push CDC architectures are optimal for real-time CDC. However, push CDC architectures are seldom implemented because they are highly intrusive towards existing systems and arduous to maintain. As part of our contribution, we pragmatically develop a service based push CDC solution, which addresses the issues of intrusiveness and maintainability. Our solution uses Data Access Services (DAS) to decouple CDC logic from the applications. A requirement for the DAS is to place minimal overhead on a transaction in an OLTP environment. We synthesize DAS literature and pragmatically develop DAS that eciently execute transactions in an OLTP environment. Essentially we develop effeicient RESTful DAS, which expose Transactions As A Resource (TAAR). We evaluate the TAAR solution and three pull CDC mechanisms in a real-time environment, using the industry recognised TPC-C benchmark. The optimal CDC mechanism in a real-time environment, will capture change data with minimal latency and will have a negligible affect on the database's transactional throughput. Capture latency is the time it takes a CDC mechanism to capture a data change that has been applied to an OLTP database. A standard definition for capture latency and how to measure it does not exist in the field. We create this definition and extend the TPC-C benchmark to make the capture latency measurement. The results from our evaluation show that pull CDC is capable of real-time CDC at low levels of user concurrency. However, as the level of user concurrency scales upwards, pull CDC has a significant impact on the database's transaction rate, which affirms the theory that pull CDC architectures are not viable in a real-time architecture. TAAR CDC on the other hand is capable of real-time CDC, and places a minimal overhead on the transaction rate, although this performance is at the expense of CPU resources.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Poetry and symmetry as organizing forces in music

Aspects of poetry and symmetry are taken to represent the tension within the compositional process between spontaneous impulses and intuitive insights on the one hand, and more consciously imposed structure and organization on the other. These forces are not viewed as contradictory but as necessary and complementary elements of music; the need for balance between the two is considered essential.Intuition plays a significant role in bringing together the disparate elements of the compositional process into a musical whole. Structure, both formal and otherwise, has a large part to play, but neither logical organization nor inspired themes will automatically create a satisfying piece of music. For the composer, accessing the intuitive sense can be aided by holding in mind a particular poem, picture or mood-tone as an overall organizing principle. Thus poetry, in its broadest sense, has guided the overall form of many of the compositions as well as providing initial stimuli.For the purposes of analysis and discussion, this dissertation divides the pieces of the accompanying portfolio into three main groups in order to describe the particular role of poetical stimulus, symmetrical pitch organization and intuitive integrating forces. The final Nocturne is used to illustrate how all of these aspects are brought together in one piece.Amongst the most influential composers on the author are Bartók, Lutosławski and Ligeti. Specific approaches to pitch organization used in the portfolio are drawn from their music, ideas and the theories of subsequent analysts. The music and writings of Schoenberg, Henze, Dutilleux, Copland and Rautavaara have also had a significant impact on the composer through their insights into the compositional process and the wider role of music in society

The experience of caring for patients with dementia within a general hospital setting:a meta-synthesis of the qualitative literature

Objectives: The optimal care of people with dementia in general hospitals has become a policy and practice imperative over recent years. However, despite this emphasis, the everyday experience of staff caring for this patient group is poorly understood. This review aimed to synthesise the findings from recent qualitative studies in this topic published prior to January 2014 to develop knowledge and provide a framework to help inform future training needs. Method: A systematic search of the literature was conducted across five academic databases and inclusion/exclusion criteria applied to the retrieved papers. A meta-ethnographic approach was utilised to synthesise the resulting 14 qualitative papers. Results: Five key themes were constructed from the findings: overcoming uncertainty in care; constraints of the environmental and wider organisational context; inequality of care; recognising the benefits of person-centred care; and identifying the need for training. These themes explore the opportunities and challenges associated with caring for this group of patients, as well as suggestions to improve staff experiences and patient care. Conclusion: The synthesis highlighted a lack of knowledge and understanding of dementia within general hospital staff, particularly with regard to communication with patients and managing behaviours that are considered challenging. This limited understanding, coupled with organisational constraints on a busy hospital ward, contributed to low staff confidence, negative attitudes towards patients with dementia and an inability to provide person-centred care. The benefits of dementia training for both ward staff and hospital management and peer discussion/support for ward staff are discussed

Methyl tetra-O-acetyl-α-d-glucopyranuronate: crystal structure and influence on the crystallisation of the β anomer

Methyl tetra-O-acetyl-β-d-glucopyranuronate (1) and methyl tetra-O-acetyl-α-d-glucopyranuronate (3) were isolated as crystalline solids and their crystal structures were obtained. That of the β anomer (1) was the same as that reported by Root et al., while anomer (3) was found to crystallise in the orthorhombic space group P212121 with two independent molecules in the asymmetric unit. No other crystal forms were found for either compound upon recrystallisation from a range of solvents. The α anomer (3) was found to be an impurity in initially precipitated batches of β-anomer (1) in quantities <3%; however, it was possible to remove the α impurity either by recrystallisation or by efficient washing, i.e. the α anomer is not incorporated inside the β anomer crystals. The β anomer (1) was found to grow as prisms or needles elongated in the a crystallographic direction in the absence of the α impurity, while the presence of the α anomer (3) enhanced this elongation

The use of the truth and deception in dementia care amongst general hospital staff

Objectives: Deceptive practice has been shown to be endemic in long-term care settings. However, little is known about the use of deception in dementia care within general hospitals and staff attitudes towards this practice. This study aimed to develop understanding of the experiences of general hospital staff and explore their decision-making processes when choosing whether to tell the truth or deceive a patient with dementia. Method: This qualitative study drew upon a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006) to analyse data gathered from semi-structured interviews with a range of hospital staff. A model, grounded in participant experiences, was developed to describe their decision-making processes. Findings: Participants identified particular triggers that set in motion the need for a response. Various mediating factors influenced how staff chose to respond to these triggers. Overall, hospital staff were reluctant to either tell the truth or to lie to patients. Instead, ‘distracting’ or ‘passing the buck’ to another member of staff were preferred strategies. The issue of how truth and deception are defined was identified. Conclusion: The study adds to the growing research regarding the use of lies in dementia care by considering the decision-making processes for staff in general hospitals. Various factors influence how staff choose to respond to patients with dementia and whether deception is used. Similarities and differences with long-term dementia care settings are discussed. Clinical and research implications include: opening up the topic for further debate, implementing staff training about communication, and evaluating the impact of these processes