Vertical Veins: Digital Commons Reflection

The SOM High Rise Studio was a collaboration between 3rd year Architecture students and primarily 4th year Architectural Engineering students. The studio consisted of 20 weeks, with consistent check points marked by SOM partner reviews. The overall aim of the collaboratory nature of the studio was to expose each discipline to the decision-making process of the other to better facilitate understanding of the overall system and narrative of the high-rise tower. Each quarter had a distinct goal that was the focus of submittals and reviews. Winter Quarter was primarily focused on the form finding aspect of our design through means of precedent studies, physical modeling, and simplified studies on tall building behavior analyses. At the end of Winter Quarter, teams had the general structural system for their tower set and had begun looking at massing for wind mitigation and programming. Spring Quarter was more focused on specific components of the tower, though the exact components differed it can be generalized as performative envelope studies, structural connections and compatibility, tower behavior, and simplified member sizing for idealized wind and seismic conditions. At the end of Spring quarter, teams were expected to have a functioning performative envelope, both architecturally and structurally, details showing working connections, and a functioning computer model

Extra- and intra-cellular accumulation of platinum group elements by the marine microalga, Chlorella stigmatophora.

To better understand the marine biogeochemistry of the platinum group elements (PGE), Rh(III), Pd(II) and Pt(IV) were added in combination and at ppb concentrations to cultures of the marine microalga, Chlorella stigmatophora, maintained in sea water at 15 °C and under 60 μmol m(-2) s(-1) PAR. The accumulation of PGE was established in short-term (24-h) exposures, and under varying conditions of algal biomass and PGE concentration, and in a longer-term exposure (156-h) by ICP-MS analysis of sea water and nitric acid digests and EDTA washes of the alga. In short-term exposures, and under all conditions, the extent of accumulation by C. stigmatophora was in the order: Rh > Pd >> Pt; and Pd was internalised (or resistant to EDTA extraction) to a considerably greater extent than Rh and Pt. Accumulation isotherms were quasi-linear up to added PGE concentrations of 30 μg L(-1) and all metals displayed a significant reduction in accumulation on a weight-normalised basis with increasing density (biomass) of C. stigmatophora, an effect attributed to the production of exudates able to stabilise metals in sea water through complexation. In the longer-term exposure, kinetic constraints on the reactivities of Rh and, in particular, Pt, resulted in final degrees of accumulation and internalisation by C. stigmatophora that were greatest for Rh and similar between Pd and Pt. Among the PGE, therefore, Rh is predicted to participate in biological removal and transport processes in the marine environment to the greatest extent while decoupling in the biogeochemistries of Pd and Pt is predicted in shorter-term or more transient processes

Applications of Machine Learning to the Monopole & Exotics Detector at the Large Hadron Collider

MoEDAL is the Monopole and Exotics Detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The Moedal Experiment uses Passive Nuclear Track Detector foils (NTDs) to look for magnetic monopoles, and other heavily ionising exotic particles at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Heavy particle radiation backgrounds at the Large Hadron Collider make image analysis of these NTD foils non-trivial compared to NTD image analysis under lower background conditions such as medical ion beam calibration or nuclear dosimetry. This thesis looks at multichannel and multidimensional Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Fully Convolutional Neural Network (FCN) based image recognition for identifying anomalous heavily ionising particle (HIP) etch pits within calibration NTD foils that have been exposed to both a calibration signal (heavy ion beam), and real LHC background exposure, serving as detector research and development for future MoEDAL NTD analyses. Image data was collected with Directed-Bright/Dark-Field illumination, parametrised at multiple off-axis illumination angles. Angular control of the light intensity distri- bution was achieved via a paired Fresnel lens and LED array. Information about the 3D structure of the etch pits is contained in these parametrised images which may as- sist in their identification and classification beyond what is possible in a simple 2D image. Convolutional Neural Network etch pit classifiers were trained using Xe, and Pb ion data with differing levels of LHC background exposure. An ensemble approach of combining classifiers trained on different objects, and data-channels is shown to improve classification performance. Transfer learning was used to generate Fully Convolutional Neural Networks for identifying HIP etch-pit candidates from wide area foil scan images. The performance of the FCN algorithm is evaluated using a novel MoEDAL R&D foil stack, in order to obtain blinded estimates of the signal acceptance and false prediction rate of an ML based NTD analysis. Additionally a method for pixel to pixel alignment of NTD foil scans is demonstrated that can be used for the training of U-Net FCN architectures

'They've invited me into their world': a focus group with clinicians delivering a behaviour change intervention in a UK contraceptive service.

Although teenage conceptions rates in the United Kingdom (UK) have seen a downward trend recently, it remains imperative that contraceptive services for young people continue to improve. To ensure that evidence-based interventions are sustained in clinical practice, it is useful to assess the experiences of those delivering them. This study explores the experiences of sexual health clinicians who were trained to deliver a one-to-one behaviour change intervention aiming to improve contraceptive use in young women. The intervention was set in a UK NHS contraceptive and sexual health service and involved clinicians' facilitating (within one-to-one consultations) the formation of implementation intentions (or 'if-then' plans) that specified when, where and how young women would use contraception. A focus group was conducted with seven clinicians who had delivered the intervention. A thematic analysis of the focus group revealed three overall themes: (1) How the intervention worked in practice; (2) barriers and benefits to delivering the intervention; and (3) positive changes to individual consultation style and wider 'best practice' within the clinic. Our findings show that, with support, clinical staff would be in favour of incorporating if-then planning as a strategy to help promote contraceptive adherence in young women

Workplace emotion through a psychological contract lens.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify how psychological contract perceptions are used as a lens through which employees make sense of their workplace emotions. Applying Rousseau’s (1995; 2011) conceptualisation of psychological contracts it examines how the emotions linked to both promise perceptions (broken/exceeded) and regulation are made sense of in relation to perceptions of contract type.\ud Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes a unique perspective into the role perceptions of psychological contract type play in the process of emotional sensemaking using qualitative thematic analysis of thirty in-depth interviews. A range of occupations are represented and all participants worked in a full-time capacity.\ud Findings – The paper identifies how the predominant relationship frame (transactional/relational) is used by employees when making sense of the emotions recalled during specific psychological contract events, as well as the emotions they feel are necessary to regulate while at work. \ud Research limitations/implication – The mean age of the study sample was 26 years, comparatively young in terms of the span of the employment age bracket. Taking a lifespan approach would potentially broaden our understanding of how employees use their predominant relationship frame in the process of emotional sensemaking at different stages of their life and careers.\ud Originality/value – This paper identifies an important work-related cue used in the active regulation of specific emotions whilst at work, contributing to both the psychological contract and emotion literature

Understanding the impact of diet and nutrition on symptoms of Tourette Syndrome: A Scoping Review

This document is the accepted manuscript version. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Journal of Child Health Care, December 2017, published by SAGE Publishing, doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1367493517748373.Anecdotal reports frequently suggest some dietary involvement in the maintenance of tics in children with Tourette syndrome (TS). This scoping review aimed to (1) understand the possible influence of diet as a trigger of tics and (2) map out the existing studies documenting dietary interventions in children with TS. Current evidence suggests no single diet to benefit individuals with TS. However, reports from parents of children with TS suggest that certain allergens in food may exacerbate tic-related symptoms. For example, an increase in tics has been related to the consumption of caffeine and refined sugar. Moreover, oligoantigenic diets and sugar-free diets have been identified as significantly reducing tics. More research is urgently needed to develop more accurate guidance for parents and children with TS, as many have reported using dietary and nutritional supplements, despite the lack of evidence detailing any benefits, side effects and recommended doses.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio