Integrating the liberal arts into the body of knowledge for civil engineering systems engineers

The paper outlines the case for a body of knowledge for civil engineering systems engineers to include, alongside its primary focus on engineering and technology, supplementary strands from the liberal arts. A case is made for future thought leaders in civil engineering systems to be exposed to a body of knowledge that goes well beyond current UK engineering undergraduate content, providing the formation for a lifetime career in the design, planning, development and administration of infrastructure and cities systems. This would equip systems engineers with empathy and understanding of the social, economic, governance, cultural, philosophical, historic, and business context behind complex civil engineering systems and enhance skills in analysis, synthesis, collaboration, leadership, and communication skills. A set of exemplar modules is provided to complement the engineering and technology content of post-graduate systems courses

Harbinger II: Deployment and Evolution of Assertive Community Treatment in Michigan

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is now recognized as the model proven to be most successful in working with clients with long-term, severe mental illness. The first documented research replication study of ACT was Harbinger of Grand Rapids, in Kent County, Michigan. The Harbinger program influenced significant programmatic changes throughout the public mental health system in Michigan. This paper describes this evolution in community mental health locally and why these changes came about. The state-level strategy to implement replications of Harbinger is described, as well as funding and monitoring mechanisms that have now resulted in over 100 successful ACT programs in Michigan. For mental health administrators, the implications discussed include the future of ACT promotion and implementation, within the reality of a managed care framework.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44094/1/10488_2004_Article_414562.pd

Enhancing Wireless Video Transmissions in Virtual Collaboration Environments

This paper introduces the virtual collaboration environment and discusses the problems encountered in wireless video transmissions of the participating users. Different schemes are proposed and evaluated to address various problems encountered in the wireless access links of the virtual collaboration system for enhancing the perceived visual quality. The schemes include radio network resource optimization, optimal joint source and channel rate allocation and error resilience enhancement using SVC-MDC. These schemes have been shown to offer a strong potential to be incorporated in a virtual collaboration system for quality enhancement

Harbinger I: The Development and Evaluation of the First PACT Replication

While Assertive Community Treatment (originally known as the PACT program) is now recognized around the world as an effective model for rehabilitation of persons with severe mental illness, this was not the case 20 years ago. Harbinger of Grand Rapids, in Kent County, Michigan, was the first replication of the PACT model which sought fidelity and included an experimental design for assessing effectiveness. The design and results are presented from an initial 30-month and a follow-up 66-month evaluation of Harbinger. The 30-month evaluation showed significant differences favoring Harbinger vs. the control group on independent living, employment, and client functioning. At 66-months, there were fewer experimental-control group differences. The differences in results are analyzed in terms of design and data collection problems, changes in the treatment environment for the control group, and the longitudinal course of mental illness. The discussion focuses on next steps in ACT research, utilizing program theory to better establish the mechanisms for successful intervention models.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44093/1/10488_2004_Article_414561.pd

Antibiotic cycling versus mixing: the difficulty of using mathematical models to definitively quantify their relative merits.

Published PDF version deposited in accordance with SHERPA RoMEO guidelines.We ask the question Which antibiotic deployment protocols select best against drug-resistant microbes: mixing or periodic cycling? and demonstrate that the statistical distribution of the performances of both sets of protocols, mixing and periodic cycling, must have overlapping supports. In other words, it is a general, mathematical result that there must be mixing policies that outperform cycling policies and vice versa. As a result, we agree with the tenet of Bonhoefer et al. [1] that one should not apply the results of [2] to conclude that an antibiotic cycling policy that implements cycles of drug restriction and prioritisation on an ad-hoc basis can select against drug-resistant microbial pathogens in a clinical setting any better than random drug use. However, nor should we conclude that a random, per-patient drug-assignment protocol is the de facto optimal method for allocating antibiotics to patients in any general sense

Challenges for drug checking services in Scotland: a qualitative exploration of police perceptions.

Background The impact of policing practices on the engagement of people who use drugs (PWUD) with harm reduction services is well evidenced. Although the police have traditionally taken an enforcement role in responding to drug use, it is increasingly clear that they can play an important part in multiagency delivery of harm reduction interventions. Despite this, there have been no studies exploring police officer perceptions of drug checking services (DCS), which provide analytical testing of client drug samples alongside harm reduction support and advice. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 police officers to explore the policing and legal challenges which could be encountered in the delivery of DCS in Scotland. Results Participants expressed general support for DCS and described this support as part of a wider organisational shift towards public health-oriented policing. Participants also discussed different potential approaches to the policing of areas surrounding DCS including: formal limits on police presence around the service and/or stop and search powers in relation to personal possession; the effective decriminalisation of personal possession within a specified boundary around the service; and informal agreements between local divisions and DCS outlining expected policing practices. Any formal limitation on the capacity of police officers to respond to community concerns was viewed as problematic and as having the potential to erode public confidence in policing. Participants also highlighted the potential for frontline officers to utilise discretion in ways which could undermine public health goals. Legislative change, or national strategic guidance from relevant stakeholders, was seen as a means of providing 'cover', enabling local divisions to support the operation of drug checking. Conclusions Despite a small sample of participants, this study summarises key challenges to be addressed in the implementation and operation of DCS in Scotland, and more widely. The paper concludes with suggested opportunities to develop approaches to policing that can facilitate rather than impede implementation and operation of these services

Planning and implementing community-based drug checking services in Scotland: a qualitative exploration using the consolidated framework for implementation research

Background: Drug checking services (DCS) provide harm reduction support and advice to individuals based on chemical analysis of submitted substances of concern. Whilst there are currently no DCS in Scotland, community-based services are being planned in three cities. Methods: In this paper, we report qualitative findings based on interviews with 43 participants, focused on perceptions of DCS and their implementation. Participants were relevant professionals, those with experience of drug use, and family members of those with experience of drug use. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) was used to inform data collection and analysis. We report findings under nine constructs/themes across the five CFIR domains. Results: Participants noted the importance of DCS being implemented in low-threshold, trusted services with a harm reduction ethos, and outlined a range of further service design considerations such as speed of testing, and information provided through the analysis process. In relation to the ‘inner setting’, a key finding related to the potential value of leveraging existing resources in order to expand both reach and effectiveness of drug trend communication. The approach of local and national police to DCS, and the attitudes of the public and local community, were described as important external factors which could influence the success (or otherwise) of implementation. Bringing together a range of stakeholders in dialogue and developing tailored communication strategies were seen as ways to build support for DCS. Overall, we found high levels of support and perceived need for DCS amongst all stakeholder groups. Conclusions: Our findings present initial implementation considerations for Scotland which could be further explored as DCS are operationalised. Further, our focus on implementation contexts is relevant to research on DCS more generally, given the minimal consideration of such issues in the literature

A realist review of how community-based drug checking services could be designed and implemented to promote engagement of people who use drugs

With rising numbers of drug-related deaths in the UK and globally, exploration of interventions that seek to reduce drug-related harm is essential. Drug checking services (DCS) allow people to submit drug samples for chemical analysis and receive feedback about the sample, as well as harm reduction advice. The use of DCS is often linked to festival and/or nightlife settings and to so-called ‘recreational’ drug use, but research has also shown the potential of community-based DCS as an intervention serving more varied demographics of people who use drugs, including more marginalised individuals and those experiencing drug dependence. Whilst there is a growing evidence base on the effectiveness of drug checking as a harm reduction intervention, there is still limited evidence of the underlying mechanisms and processes within DCS which may aid implementation and subsequent engagement of people who use drugs. This presents a challenge to understanding why engagement differs across types of DCS, and how best to develop and deliver services across different contexts and for different populations. To explore the contexts and mechanisms which impact engagement in community-based DCS, a realist review was undertaken to synthesise the international evidence for the delivery and implementation of DCS. There were 133 sources included in the review. From these sources the underlying contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes relating to DCS implementation and engagement were developed and refined into seven programme theories. The findings of this review are theoretically novel and hold practical relevance for the design of DCS, with implications for optimisation, tailoring, and implementing services to reach individuals in different settings

“It would really support the wider harm reduction agenda across the board”: A qualitative study of the potential impacts of drug checking service delivery in Scotland

Drug checking services (DCS) enable individuals to voluntarily submit a small amount of a substance for analysis, providing information about the content of the substance along with tailored harm reduction support and advice. There is some evidence suggesting that DCS may lead to behaviour and system change, with impacts for people who use drugs, staff and services, and public health structures. The evidence base is still relatively nascent, however, and several evidence gaps persist. This paper reports on qualitative interviews with forty-three participants across three Scottish cities where the implementation of community-based DCS is being planned. Participants were drawn from three groups: professional participants; people with experience of drug use; and affected family members. Findings focus on perceived harm reduction impacts of DCS delivery in Scotland, with participants highlighting the potential for drug checking to impact a number of key groups including: individual service users; harm reduction services and staff; drug market monitoring structures and networks; and wider groups of people who use and sell drugs, in shaping their interactions with the drug market. Whilst continued evaluation of individual health behaviour outcomes is crucial to building the evidence base for DCS, the findings highlight the importance of extending evaluation beyond these outcomes. This would include evaluation of processes such as: information sharing across a range of parties; engagement with harm reduction and treatment services; knowledge building; and increased drug literacy. These broader dynamics may be particularly important for evaluations of community-based DCS serving individuals at higher-risk, given the complex relationship between information provision and health behaviour change which may be mediated by mental and physical health, stigma, criminalisation and the risk environment. This paper is of international relevance and adds to existing literature on the potential impact of DCS on individuals, organisations, and public health structures

Synthesis of iron-doped TiO2 nanoparticles by ball-milling process : the influence of process parameters on the structural, optical, magnetic, and photocatalytic properties

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) absorbs only a small fraction of incoming sunlight in the visible region thus limiting its photocatalytic efficiency and concomitant photocatalytic ability. The large-scale application of TiO2 nanoparticles has been limited due to the need of using an ultraviolet excitation source to achieve high photocatalytic activity. The inclusion of foreign chemical elements in the TiO2 lattice can tune its band gap resulting in an absorption edge red-shifted to lower energies enhancing the photocatalytic performance in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this research work, TiO2 nanoparticles were doped with iron powder in a planetary ball-milling system using stainless steel balls. The correlation between milling rotation speeds with structural and morphologic characteristics, optical and magnetic properties, and photocatalytic abilities of bare and Fedoped TiO2 powders was studied and discussed.This work was partially financed by FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia-under the project PTDC/FIS/120412/2010: "Nanobased concepts for Innovative & Eco-sustainable constructive material's surfaces.