Microwave based monitoring system for corrosion under insulation

This thesis presents the work undertaken by the author within the institute of Signals, Sensors and Systems in the school of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. The main aim of the research was to design and develop a non-destructive sensor capable of monitoring the onset of corrosion under insulation. The development of the sensor has involved the design of a complete system to stabilise and control the sensor, the development of a COMSOL model to understand the progression of corrosion to determine the remaining useful life of the asset, and an investigation into horn antenna design to inform the design of the optimal sensor head. The designed sensor system was tested with a variety of samples to benchmark the effectiveness of the sensor and prove the concept viability as a product. Experiments proved the concept of sensing defects in metallic surface with or without insulation layers. Samples simulating real life corrosion were tested to prove the resilience of the sensor when defects were less guaranteed. Remaining useful life estimations were conducted on simulated defects to show the sensor ability to become a smart sensor using prognostic health management techniques. Finally the environmental tests were conducted to ensure the sensor was indeed nondestructive, confirming that all aspects of the research had been successfully completed

Anxiety in Children Undergoing VCUG: Sedation or No Sedation?

Background. Voiding cystourethrograms are distressing for children and parents. Nonpharmacological methods reduce distress. Pharmacological interventions for VCUG focus on sedation as well as analgesia, anxiolysis, and amnesia. Sedation has cost, time, and safety issues. Which agents and route should we use? Are we sure that sedation does not influence the ability to diagnose vesicoureteric reflux? Methods. Literature search of Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Database. Review of comparative studies found. Results. Seven comparative studies including two randomised controlled trials were reviewed. Midazolam given orally (0.5-0.6 mg/kg) or intranasally (0.2 mg/kg) is effective with no apparent effect on voiding dynamics. Insufficient evidence to recommend other sedating agents was found. Deeper sedating agents may interfere with voiding dynamics. Conclusion. Midazolam reduces the VCUG distress, causes amnesia, and does not appear to interfere with voiding dynamics. Midazolam combined with simple analgesia is an effective method to reduce distress to children undergoing VCUG

John Ashbery’s Humane Abstractions

This article considers John Ashbery’s articulation of space in The Double Dream of Spring. Ashbery’s fourth volume is presented not within the trajectory of his own development, but in the light of Charles Olson’s poetics. In recalling the prominence of Olson’s spatial poetics, the article proposes a new account of Ashery’s relation to Giorgio de Chirico, from whose  work he took the title of his book. What emerges from this account is a counter?poetics of space predicated, as Ashbery notes, on the fact of de Chirico’s status as a displaced person,  but more broadly, as he suggests, on displacement as a condition of Twentieth?Century aesthetics. Key to Ashbery’s articulation of space is what he terms that ‘banality which … is our/ Most precious possession’. ‘Banality’, the article argues, affords a way of relating to environments which is not grounded in a sense of origin and long acquaintance but which  instead takes account of dislocation. Amplifying the implications of this shift, the article moves from a Heideggerean sense of poetic space to an understanding of space informed by  Arendt and Agamben. Ashbery’s poetry, the article concludes, affords a means of contemplating space in which movement, not settlement, is the shaping condition

The Preparation of Living Corpses: Immigration Detention and the Production of Non-Persons

In the light of the increased use of detention as a globalized response to human movement, this essay looks to recover political and ethical languages that comprehend the human costs of such detention. To do so, the essay addresses two moments: the emergence in the UK and the USA, at the beginning of the twentieth century, of immigration legislation that first granted powers to detain; the development, in the years following the Second World War, of a discourse intended to recognize and counter juridical non-personhood. The argument concludes by observing how, in contemporary asylum regimes, detention constitutes an attack on personhood itself

Afterword: The Refugee Tales Walking Inquiry into Immigration Detention

The purpose of this afterword is to provide an update on the recent actions of the Refugee Tales project against the background of new developments in UK policies on asylum and immigration. The afterword reports on the parliamentary launch of the Refugee Tales Walking Inquiry into Immigration Detention. It then considers the implications of the UK government’s proposal to offshore asylum processing to Rwanda and, more broadly, of the new powers to detain and deport established by the Illegal Migration Bill. The afterword details the development, process, and findings of the Walking Inquiry and shows how those findings relate to and extend the remit of the official Public Inquiry into ‘the mistreatment of individuals who were detained at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre in 2017’. In conclusion, it comments on the importance of Refugee Tales’ practice of walking, as a process of collective action and deliberation, and as counter to the politics of hostility

“So he who strongly feels, behaves”: Marianne Moore’s ethical detail

In August 1943, Marianne Moore delivered a lecture at the then displaced annual international symposium Entretiens de Pontigny. Hosted at Mount Holyoke College and convened by the exiled French philosopher Jean Wahl, "Pontigny-en-Amérique" was a highly charged occasion at which the relation of intellectual life to global political crisis was unavoidably at issue. Moore's contribution to the proceedings, "Feeling and Precision,"proved a defining statement of her compositional principles. Situating Moore's statement in relation to the inquiry Wahl set out to develop through the symposium, this essay uses the terms established in "Feeling and Precision" to recalibrate the ethical turn Moore's poetry took during and after the Second World War. Drawing on the lecture's emphasis on the "compulsion to unbearable accuracy," the essay traces the transition from the commitment to "fastidiousness" that characterized her early poetry, to the conscious detail, ethics, Jean Wahl, Pontigny, witness. development of a capacity for witness that became her postwar concern

Nurse practitioner administered point-of-care ultrasound compared with X-ray for children with clinically non-angulated distal forearm fractures in the ED: A diagnostic study

Paediatric distal forearm fractures are a common ED presentation. They can be diagnosed with point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) as an alternative to X-rays. Given that ED nurse practitioners (NPs) are relied on for the diagnosis of paediatric fractures, it is important to describe the diagnostic accuracy of NP-conducted POCUS versus X-ray.This prospective diagnostic study was conducted in a tertiary paediatric hospital in Queensland, Australia, between February 2018 and April 2019. Participants were children aged 4-16 years with a clinically non-angulated, suspected distal forearm fracture. Diagnosis from 6-view NP-administered POCUS of the distal radius and ulna was compared against the reference standard of 2-view X-ray. Each patient received both imaging modalities. Overall forearm diagnosis was classified as 'no', 'buckle' or 'other' fracture for both modalities. The primary outcome was diagnostic accuracy for 'any' fracture ('buckle' and 'other' fractures combined). Secondary outcomes included diagnostic accuracy for 'other' fractures versus 'buckle' and 'no' fractures combined, and pain, imaging duration and preference for modality.Of 204 recruited patients, 129 had X-ray-diagnosed forearm fractures. The sensitivity and specificity for NP-administered POCUS were 94.6% (95% CI 89.2% to 97.3%) and 85.3% (95% CI 75.6% to 91.6%), respectively. 'Other' fractures (mostly cortical breach fractures), when compared with 'buckle'/ 'no' fractures, had sensitivity 81.0% (95% CI 69.1% to 89.1%) and specificity 95.9% (95% CI 91.3% to 98.1%). Pain and imaging duration were clinically similar between modalities. There was a preference for POCUS by patients, parents and NPs.NP-administered POCUS had clinically acceptable diagnostic accuracy for paediatric patients presenting with non-angulated distal forearm injuries. This included good sensitivity for diagnosis of 'any' fracture and good specificity for diagnosis of cortical breach fractures alone. Given the preference for POCUS, and the lack of difference in pain and duration between modalities, future research should consider functional outcomes comparing POCUS with X-ray in this population in a randomised controlled trial

‘Keeping the Children Close’: Towards an Understanding of Therapeutic Provision at the Mulberry Bush School

UEL Qualitative Research Repor

Systematic review of patients’ and healthcare professionals’ views on patient‐initiated follow‐up in treated cancer patients

Background: Current follow‐up models in cancer are seen to be unsustainable and inflexible, and there is growing interest in alternative models, such as patient‐initiated follow‐up (PIFU). It is therefore important to understand whether PIFU is acceptable to patients and healthcare professionals (HCPs). Methods: Standard systematic review methodology aimed at limiting bias was used for study identification (to January 2022), selection and data extraction. Thematic synthesis was undertaken for qualitative data, and survey findings were tabulated and described. Results: Nine qualitative studies and 22 surveys were included, mainly in breast and endometrial cancer. Women treated for breast or endometrial cancer and HCPs were mostly supportive of PIFU. Facilitators for PIFU included convenience, control over own health and avoidance of anxiety‐inducing clinic appointments. Barriers included loss of reassurance from scheduled visits and lack of confidence in self‐management. HCPs were supportive of PIFU but concerned about resistance to change, unsuitability of PIFU for some patients and costs. Conclusion: PIFU is viewed mostly positively by women treated for breast or endometrial cancer, and by HCPs, but further evidence is needed from a wider range of cancers, men, and more representative samples. A protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020181412)