Fatigue characteristics of bonden post-tensioned concrete I.-beams

Imperial Users onl

There and back again : an engineers (autoethnographic) tale

As a factory worker, who became a motor mechanic, an electronics technician, process engineer, university course director, associate dean and more recently a PhD student in education, I have an extremely varied experience of education and lifelong learning. As my research aim was to bring a different perspective to education, I also needed to take a different approach to research. So I began my PhD with a grounded theory style approach, and a reflexive autoethnography of my life of learning. An autoethnography exploring thirty years of my life was bound to uncover many themes, but one that stood out was my experience of a significant disconnect between engineering education and practice. This paper discusses the autoethnographic journey that concluded with me questioning how this disconnect is maintained. I conclude by briefly summarising how intend to explore this question in the latter stages of my Ph

Unexpected journey: from autoethnography to a Bourdieusian analysis of engineering education

Who am I? I am a factory worker, who became a motor mechanic, an electronics technician, chartered engineer, project manager, university course director, associate dean and more recently a PhD student in education. I have a story to tell about lifelong learning from the perspective of the student, and a perspective on engineering education that is very different from many of my colleagues in academia. As my original research aim was to bring a different perspective to education, I also needed to take a different approach to research, and so I began my PhD with a grounded theory style approach, and a reflexive autoethnography of lifelong learning. Through my attempt to explore and justify my arguments for the autoethnographic method, I entered an epistemological rabbit hole that took me far away from the objective, quantitative world of engineering academia. However, through the autoethnographic process, I started to realise that my earlier experience of actually being a practising engineer was often qualitative and subjective, and seemed at odds with the quantitative, objective and theoretical world of engineering academia. I began to question why there was such an apparent disconnect between engineering education and practice, and this became the focus of part 2 of this thesis. This PhD thesis is in two distinct parts. Part 1 contains the autoethnographic elements described above, that led unexpectedly to the focus on engineering education through a Bourdieusian lens, via a number of other possible themes including motivation, social class, and distance learning. I begin part 2 by connecting my autoethnographic description of the disconnect between engineering education and practice, to similar accounts in academic, industrial and institutional literature. My main contribution to knowledge is the application of Bourdieu’s theories of social reproduction to an exploration of how this disconnect has been maintained. As Bourdieu has positioned habitus as embodied history, I explore how the historic development of engineering has led to the separation of education and practice into distinct fields, which have in turn influenced the habitus of the agents within those fields. My main argument is that the habitus of the engineering academic is formed within a field where the valued forms of capital are based on scientific research and academic reputation, and this predisposes the academic to doxic beliefs about the nature of engineering that are not reflective of professional practice. However, I also contend that the engineering profession, in response to perceptions of societal attitudes to occupations and professions, also contributes to social reproduction through the cultural capital associated with academia and science

Spectroscopy and Time Variability of Absorption Lines in the Direction of the Vela Supernova Remnant

We present high resolution (R~75,000), high signal-to-noise (S/N~100) Ca II $\lambda$3933.663 and Na I $\lambda\lambda$5889.951, 5895.924 spectra of 68 stars in the direction of the Vela supernova remnant. The spectra comprise the most complete high resolution, high S/N, optical survey of early type stars in this region of the sky. A subset of the sight lines has been observed at multiple epochs, 1993/1994 and 1996. Of the thirteen stars observed twice, seven have spectra revealing changes in the equivalent width and/or velocity structure of lines, most of which arise from remnant gas. Such time variability has been reported previously for the sight lines towards HD 72089 and HD 72997 by Danks & Sembach (1995) and for HD 72127 by Hobbs et al. (1991). We have confirmed the ongoing time variability of these spectra and present new evidence of variability in the spectra of HD 73658, HD 74455, HD 75309 and HD 75821. We have tabulated Na I and Ca II absorption line information for the sight lines in our sample to serve as a benchmark for further investigations of the dynamics and evolution of the Vela SNR.Comment: 8 pages of text, 4 tables, 16 pages of figures Accepted and to be published in ApJ

Operationalising kangaroo Mother care before stabilisation amongst low birth Weight Neonates in Africa (OMWaNA): protocol for a randomised controlled trial to examine mortality impact in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: There are 2.5 million neonatal deaths each year; the majority occur within 48 h of birth, before stabilisation. Evidence from 11 trials shows that kangaroo mother care (KMC) significantly reduces mortality in stabilised neonates; however, data on its effect among neonates before stabilisation are lacking. The OMWaNA trial aims to determine the effect of initiating KMC before stabilisation on mortality within seven days relative to standard care. Secondary objectives include exploring pathways for the intervention's effects and assessing incremental costs and cost-effectiveness between arms. METHODS: We will conduct a four-centre, open-label, individually randomised, superiority trial in Uganda with two parallel groups: an intervention arm allocated to receive KMC and a control arm receiving standard care. We will enrol 2188 neonates (1094 per arm) for whom the indication for KMC is 'uncertain', defined as receiving ≥ 1 therapy (e.g. oxygen). Admitted singleton, twin and triplet neonates (triplet if demise before admission of ≥ 1 baby) weighing ≥ 700-≤ 2000 g and aged ≥ 1-< 48 h are eligible. Treatment allocation is random in a 1:1 ratio between groups, stratified by weight and recruitment site. The primary outcome is mortality within seven days. Secondary outcomes include mortality within 28 days, hypothermia prevalence at 24 h, time from randomisation to stabilisation or death, admission duration, time from randomisation to exclusive breastmilk feeding, readmission frequency, daily weight gain, infant-caregiver attachment and women's wellbeing at 28 days. Primary analyses will be by intention-to-treat. Quantitative and qualitative data will be integrated in a process evaluation. Cost data will be collected and used in economic modelling. DISCUSSION: The OMWaNA trial aims to assess the effectiveness of KMC in reducing mortality among neonates before stabilisation, a vulnerable population for whom its benefits are uncertain. The trial will improve understanding of pathways underlying the intervention's effects and will be among the first to rigorously compare the incremental cost and cost-effectiveness of KMC relative to standard care. The findings are expected to have broad applicability to hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, where three-quarters of global newborn deaths occur, as well as important policy and programme implications. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02811432. Registered on 23 June 2016

Physical and psychiatric comorbidities among patients with severe mental illness as seen in Uganda

While psychiatric and physical comorbidities in severe mental illness (SMI) have been associated with increased mortality and poor clinical outcomes, problem has received little attention in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study established the prevalence of psychiatric (schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, and recurrent major depressive disorder) and physical (HIV/AIDS, syphilis, hypertension and obesity) comorbidities and associated factors among 1201 out-patients with SMI (schizophrenia, depression and bipolar affective disorder) attending care at two hospitals in Uganda. Participants completed an assessment battery including structured, standardised and locally translated instruments. SMIs were established using the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview version 7.2. We used logistic regression to determine the association between physical and psychiatric comorbidities and potential risk factors. Bipolar affective disorder was the most prevalent (66.4%) psychiatric diagnoses followed by schizophrenia (26.6%) and recurrent major depressive disorder (7.0%). Prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity was 9.1%, while physical disorder comorbidity was 42.6%. Specific comorbid physical disorders were hypertension (27.1%), obesity (13.8%), HIV/AIDS (8.2%) and syphilis (4.8%). Potentially modifiable factors independently significantly associated with psychiatric and physical comorbidities were: use of alcohol for both syphilis and hypertension comorbidities; and use of a mood stabilisers and khat in comorbidity with obesity. Only psychiatric comorbidity was positively associated with the negative outcomes of suicidality and risky sexual behaviour. The healthcare models for psychiatric care in LMICs such as Uganda should be optimised to address the high burden of psychiatric and physical comorbidities

Physical and sexual victimization of persons with severe mental illness seeking care in central and southwestern Uganda

PurposeThis study established the prevalence of physical and sexual victimization, associated factors and psychosocial consequences of victimization among 1,201 out-patients with severe mental illness at Butabika and Masaka hospitals in Uganda.MethodsParticipants completed structured, standardized and locally translated instruments. Physical and sexual victimization was assessed using the modified adverse life events module of the European Para-suicide Interview Schedule. We used logistic regression to determine the association between victimization, the associated factors and psychosocial consequences.ResultsThe prevalence of physical abuse was 34.1% and that of sexual victimization was 21.9%. The age group of &gt; = 50 years (aOR 1.02;95% CI 0.62–1.66; p = 0.048) was more likely to have suffered physical victimization, while living in a rural area was protective against physical (aOR 0.59; 95% CI 0.46–0.76; p = &lt;0.001) and sexual (aOR 0.48, 95% CI 0.35–0.65; p &lt; 0.001) victimization. High socioeconomic status (SES) (aOR 0.56; 95% CI 0.34–0.92; p = &lt;0.001) was protective against physical victimization. Females were more likely to have been sexually victimized (aOR 3.38; 95% CI 2.47–4.64; p = &lt;0.001), while being a Muslim (aOR 0.60; 95% CI 0.39–0.90; p = 0.045) was protective against sexual victimization. Risky sexual behavior was a negative outcome associated with physical (aOR 2.19; 95% CI 1.66–2.90; p = &lt;0.001) and sexual (aOR 3.09; 95% CI 2.25–4.23; p &lt; 0.001) victimization. Mental health stigma was a negative outcome associated with physical (aOR 1.03; 95% CI 1.01–1.05; p &lt; 0.001) and sexual (aOR 1.03; 95% CI 1.01–1.05; p = 0.002) victimization. Poor adherence to oral anti-psychotic medications was a negative outcome associated with physical (aOR 1.51; 95% CI 1.13–2.00; p = 0.006) and sexual (aOR 1.39; 95% CI 0.99–1.94; p = 0.044) victimization.ConclusionThere is a high burden of physical and sexual victimization among people with SMI in central Uganda. There is need to put in place and evaluate complex interventions for improving detection and response to abusive experiences within mental health services. Public health practitioners, policymakers, and legislators should act to protect the health and rights of people with SMI in resource poor settings