The Absence of Vortex Lattice Melting in a Conventional Superconductor

The state of the vortex lattice extremely close to the superconducting to normal transition in an applied magnetic field is investigated in high purity niobium. We observe that thermal fluctuations of the order parameter broaden the superconducting to normal transition into a crossover but no sign of a first order vortex lattice melting transition is detected in measurements of the heat capacity or the small angle neutron scattering (SANS) intensity. Direct observation of the vortices via SANS always finds a well ordered vortex lattice. The fluctuation broadening is considered in terms of the Lowest Landau Level theory of critical fluctuations and scaling is found to occur over a large H_{c2}(T) range

Protocol of Taste and See: A Feasibility Study of a Church-Based, Healthy, Intuitive Eating Programme

Obesity treatment remains a high global priority. Evidence suggests holistic approaches, which include a religious element, are promising. Most research is from the USA, but recent evidence suggests a need within the UK population. The aim of this study is to explore the feasibility of running and evaluating a Christian-based, healthy, intuitive-eating programme, in a UK church. This is the protocol of a mixed-methods single-group feasibility study of a ten-week programme. The programme focuses on breaking the “diet and weight regain” cycle using principles from intuitive eating uniquely combined with biblical principles of love, freedom, responsibility, forgiveness, and spiritual need. We will recruit at least ten adult participants who are obese, overweight, or of a healthy weight with problematic eating behaviours. Participants can be from any faith or none. Robust measures of physical, psychological and spiritual outcomes will be used. Results are not yet available. Findings will be used to design a cluster-randomised controlled trial to test efficacy through many churches. If weight reduces by a small amount, there will be substantial benefits to public health. With a strong association between obesity and mental-ill health, a holistic intervention is particularly important. Using churches addresses religious and spiritual health, and uses existing social structures and a voluntary workforce that are sustainable and cost-effective

A Feasibility Study of Taste & See: A Church Based Programme to Develop a Healthy Relationship with Food

Holistic approaches which include a religious element are a promising intervention within obesity, but have not been explored in the UK. Objective: To conduct a feasibility study of a three-month, Christian-based intuitive-eating programme in a church. Methods: A total of 18 adults participated. Ethical approval was granted by Coventry University Ethics Committee. Participant and facilitator experience was investigated qualitatively. Results showed participants accepted the programme and engaged well with its spiritual component. Lay facilitators managed to adequately run the programme, although some difficulties identified training needs. Clinical, psychological and spiritual measures were analysed using intention to treat; baseline observation carried forward to input missing data. Mental well-being, anxiety, depression, quality of life, pain/discomfort uncontrolled-eating, emotional-eating, cognitive-restrained-eating, intuitive-eating and Body Mass Index (BMI) improved significantly post-intervention. There were improvements in spiritual well-being, and reductions in energy, fat and saturated fat intake. Between the end of the intervention and a six-month follow-up, there were no statistically significant changes. However, the extent that weight and BMI returned to baseline levels meant that the reduction from baseline was no longer significant or clinically important. Mean changes in other variables, including uncontrolled eating, emotional eating, mental well-being and anxiety remained statistically improved from baseline. At six-month follow-up, improvements in intuitive eating were fully sustained at this time point and total fat, saturated fat and sugar intake had reduced further even though these values did not reach statistical significance. Conclusion: It is feasible to recruit to, deliver and evaluate Taste & See in a UK church, with lay volunteers. Clinical outcomes were positive, but a larger, controlled study is needed

Examining perceptions of agility in software development practice

This is the post-print version of the final published article that is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 ACM.Organizations undertaking software development are often reminded that successful practice depends on a number of non-technical issues that are managerial, cultural and organizational in nature. These issues cover aspects from appropriate corporate structure, through software process development and standardization to effective collaborative practice. Since the articulation of the 'software crisis' in the late-1960s, significant effort has been put into addressing problems related to the cost, time and quality of software development via the application of systematic processes and management practices for software engineering. Early efforts resulted in prescriptive structured methods, which have evolved and expanded over time to embrace consortia/ company-led initiatives such as the Unified Modeling Language and the Unified Process alongside formal process improvement frameworks such as the International Standards Organization's 9000 series, the Capability Maturity Model and SPICE. More recently, the philosophy behind traditional plan-based initiatives has been questioned by the agile movement, which seeks to emphasize the human and craft aspects of software development over and above the engineering aspects. Agile practice is strongly collaborative in its outlook, favoring individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan (see Sidebar 1). Early experience reports on the use of agile practice suggest some success in dealing with the problems of the software crisis, and suggest that plan-based and agile practice are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, flexibility may arise from this unlikely marriage in an aim to strike a balance between the rigor of traditional plan-based approaches and the need for adaptation of those to suit particular development situations. With this in mind, this article surveys the current practice in software engineering alongside perceptions of senior development managers in relation to agile practice in order to understand the principles of agility that may be practiced implicitly and their effects on plan-based approach

Moving Forward in Their Journey: Participants’ Experience of Taste & See, A Church-Based Programme to Develop a Healthy Relationship with Food

Quantitative evidence is beginning to document the successful outcomes achieved from holistic interventions that include a spiritual element as an approach to self-manage obesity in the community. However, qualitative research, which helps us understand the reasons behind their success, is scarce. Our aim was to explore participants’ acceptance of and engagement with the Taste & See programme. Semi-structured interviews were carried out after participants had completed the Taste & See programme. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using deductive thematic analysis. Themes showing that ‘God and food issues had been kept separate’ at the start of the programme and that participants then ‘Began to use faith as a resource’ were identified. Also, while ‘Eating freely was a challenge’ initially, participants later found ‘empowerment and enjoyment in freedom’. ‘Addressing more than just a weight problem’ was valued highly and there were benefits and difficulties that arose from ‘Coping with other group members’. The rich level of evaluation provided through this study identifies that the participants found the programme a novel experience. The intervention was acceptable and participants engaged well with the programme content

'Datafication': Making sense of (big) data in a complex world

This is a pre-print of an article published in European Journal of Information Systems. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available at the link below. Copyright @ 2013 Operational Research Society Ltd.No abstract available (Editorial

Development and validation of a self-report measure of practical barriers to medication adherence: The medication practical barriers to adherence questionnaire (MPRAQ)

AIM: This study reports the development and validation of a new self-report measure (MPRAQ) that assesses practical barriers to medication adherence. METHODS: MPRAQ comprises fifteen statements describing practical barriers. Responses are scored on a 5-point Likert scale; higher scores indicate more practical barriers. Initial face validity was evaluated by cognitive testing with patients from a diabetes support group. Following refinement, internal reliability and construct validity were assessed in two samples: patients recruited via Amazon mTurk and the Nivel Dutch Healthcare Consumer Panel (COPA). Respondents completed the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ - general and specific), and Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS-5). The mTurk sample also completed the Perceived Sensitivity to Medicines questionnaire (PSM), and repeated MPRAQ two weeks later to assess test-retest reliability. RESULTS: Face validity was evaluated in 15 patients (46% female; mean (SD) age 64(12) years). A total of 184 mTurk participants completed the questionnaire (in English) and 334 in COPA (in Dutch). Internal reliability was acceptable (mTurk α=0.89; COPA α=0.94). Construct validity was confirmed, with significant correlation between MPRAQ and BMQ-Specific Concerns (mTurk r=0.546, p<0.0001; COPA r=0.370, p<0.0001); BMQ-General Harm (mTurk r=0.504, p<0.0001; COPA r=0.219, p<0.0001); BMQ-General Overuse (mTurk, r=0.324, p<0.0001; COPA r=0.109, p=0.047), and PSM (mTurk only, r=0.463, p<0.0001), and a negative correlation with MARS-5 (mTurk r=-0.450, p<0.0001; COPA r=-0.260, p<0.0001). MPRAQ did not correlate with BMQ-Specific Necessity or BMQ-General Benefit. Correlation between MPRAQ baseline and 2-week follow-up scores confirmed test-retest reliability (r=0.745, p<0.0001; n=52). CONCLUSION: MPRAQ is a reliable and valid self-report measure of practical adherence barriers

The role and value of ethical frameworks in software development

Software development is notorious for failure, typically defined as over budget, late delivery and/or poor quality of new information systems (IS) on project completion. The consequences of such failure can be enormous, particularly financially. As such, there is consensus by practitioners and academics alike that this practice is unacceptable. Yet with a variety of accepted development methods and tools available for use by software developers and project managers, there is still no significant reduction in the size or frequency of failure reported. In an attempt to understand the conflicts which arise in the development environment in which developers and project managers must operate, the research area is the role and value of ethics in the development of managed software projects. A definition of ethics in this context was provided by the IEEE/ACM Code of Ethics. Research was additionally conducted to understand how other professions and business areas define and enforce ethics in their respective working environments. These were (UK) Law, Finance, Retail and, law practice in the European Union. Interpretive research was then conducted to enable software development practices to be understood from the view of developers and project managers in industry. Unethical practices were then identified in a large IT company based in west London via a single, six month in-depth case study, with the data collected analysed via a series of repertory grids. Analysis and triangulation of the data collected via interviews, document analysis and observations led to an improved understanding of the causes of the unethical practices found. Conclusions and recommendations are then provided relating to implications for (a) the company participating in the research, (b) the application of the IEEE/ACM Code in industry (c) theory for ethicists.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Changing Patient and Public Beliefs About Antimicrobials and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Using a Brief Digital Intervention.

BBackground: A key driver of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is patient demand for unnecessary antibiotics, which is driven by patients’ beliefs about antibiotics and AMR. Few interventions have targeted beliefs to reduce inappropriate demand. Objective: To examine whether a brief, online algorithm-based intervention can change beliefs that may lead to inappropriate antibiotic demand (i.e. perceptions of antibiotic necessity and lack of concern about antibiotic harm). Design: Pre- and post-intervention study. Participants: Participants were 18 years or older, and residing in the United Kingdom, who self-selected to participate via Amazon mTurk, an online survey plaform, and via research networks. Intervention: Participants were presented with a hypothetical situation of cold and flu symptoms, then exposed to the intervention. The online intervention comprised: 1) a profiling tool identifying individual beliefs (antibiotic necessity, concerns, and knowledge) driving inappropriate antibiotic demand; 2) messages designed to change beliefs and knowledge (i.e. reduce antibiotic necessity, and increase antibiotic concerns and knowledge), and 3) an algorithm linking specific messages to specific beliefs and knowledge. Main measures: The profiling tool was repeated immediately after the intervention and compared with baseline scores to assess change in beliefs. A paired samples t-test was used to determine intervention effect. Key Results: A total of 100 respondents completed the study. A significant change in beliefs relating to inappropriate demand was observed after the intervention, with a reduction in beliefs about antibiotic necessity (t = 7.254; p < 0.0001), an increase in antibiotic concerns (t = −7.214; p < 0.0001), and increases in antibiotic and AMR knowledge (t = −4.651; p < 0.0001). Conclusion: This study is the first to demonstrate that patient beliefs about antibiotics and AMR associated with inappropriate demand can be changed by a brief, tailored online intervention. This has implications for the design of future interventions to reduce unnecessary antimicrobial use

Concertacion y seguridad social : de la legitimidad social a la legitimidad tecnocrática

El estudio aborda la concertación, un análisis de las políticas de seguridad social constatando su evolución desde una legitimidad social a una legitimidad tecnocrática en la crisis del welfare state y en la crisis económica con particular referencia al sistema español. Desde la normalización de la acción política de los sindicatos y agentes sociales en sus diversas manifestaciones, como la participación institucional y la "legislación negociada" en la búsqueda del consenso y el negociado de intercambios en el marco político frente a la imposición unilateral. La frustración de la concertación social se produce cuando el gobierno interpreta la democracia como algo puramente aritmético de mayorías que ejercen sin más el poder, en épocas de debilidad sindical, de debilidad del estado nación, de dificultades para las políticas redistributivas, de reforzamiento de los planteamientos neoliberales. La búsqueda de legitimidad en el pacto social no se ve en estas ocasiones como necesaria sino que la legitimidad se traslada al discurso economicista y tecnocrático, no político. Se vuelve a la búsqueda de una legitimidad a través del mercado y del intercambio entre particulares.L'estudi aborda la concertació, una anàlisi de les polítiques de seguretat social constatant la seva evolució des d'una legitimitat social a una legitimitat tecnocràtica en la crisi del welfare state i en la crisi econòmica amb particular referència al sistema espanyol. Des de la normalització de l'acció política dels sindicats i agents socials en les seves diverses manifestacions, com la participació institucional i la "legislació negociada" en la cerca del consens i el negociat d'intercanvis en el marc polític enfront de la imposició unilateral. La frustració de la concertació social es produeix quan el govern interpreta la democràcia com alguna cosa purament aritmètic de majories que exerceixen sense més el poder, en èpoques de feblesa sindical, de feblesa de l'estat nació, de dificultats per a les polítiques redistributives, de reforçament dels plantejaments neoliberals. La cerca de legitimitat en el pacte social no es veu en aquestes ocasions com a necessària sinó que la legitimitat es trasllada al discurs economicista i tecnocràtic, no polític. Es torna a la cerca d'una legitimitat a través del mercat i de l'intercanvi entre particulars.The study addresses the conclusion an analysis of policies of social security noting exposing its evolution from a social legitimacy to a technocratic legitimacy in the crisis of the welfare state and the economic crisis with particular reference to the Spanish system. Since the normalization of the political action of the trade unions and social partners in its various manifestations, such as institutional participation and negotiated "legislation" in the search for consensus and the Bureau of exchanges in the political framework against the unilateral imposition. The frustration of the social agreement occurs when the Government interprets the democracy as something purely arithmetic of majorities that exercise without more power, in times of Union weakness, weakness of the State nation, of difficulties for redistributive policies, strengthening of neoliberal approaches. The search for legitimacy in the social pact is not on these occasions as necessary but that legitimacy is moved to the economistic and technocratic, non-political speech. Turns to the search for legitimacy through the market and the exchange between individuals