Non-technical skills learning in healthcare through simulation education: Integrating the SECTORS learning model and Complexity theory

Background: Recent works have reported the SECTORS model for non-technical skills learning in healthcare. The TINSELS programme applied this model, together with complexity theory, to guide the design and piloting of a non-technical skills based simulation training programme in the context of medicines safety. Methods: The SECTORS model defined learning outcomes. Complexity Theory led to a simulation intervention that employed authentic multi-professional learner teams, included planned and unplanned disturbances from the norm and used a staged debrief to encourage peer observation and learning. Assessment videos of non-technical skills in each learning outcome were produced and viewed as part of a Non-Technical Skills Observation Test (NOTSOT) both pre and post intervention. Learner observations were assessed by two researchers and statistical difference investigated using a student’s t-test Results: The resultant intervention is described and available from the authors. 18 participants were recruited from a range of inter-professional groups and were split into two cohorts. There was a statistically significant improvement (P=0.0314) between the Mean (SD) scores for the NOTSOT pre course 13.9 (2.32) and post course 16.42 (3.45). Conclusions: An original, theoretically underpinned, multi-professional, simulation based training programme has been produced by the integration of the SECTORS model for non-technical skills learning the complexity theory. This pilot work suggests the resultant intervention can enhance nontechnical skills

Performance of a Functionalised Polymer-Coated Silica at Treating Uranium Contaminated Groundwater from a Hungarian Mine Site

The performance of an active material for treating uranium contaminated groundwater within a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) is reported. This material, called PANSIL, has a tailored ligand system that selectively removes the uranyl (UO22+) cation from solution. The active uranyl ligand in PANSIL is a polyacryloamidoxime resin derived from polyacrylonitrile, which is deposited from solution onto the surface of quartz sand to form a thin film coating. PANSIL is effective at sequestering cationic and neutral uranyl species when the solution pH is above 4, due to the stability of the polyacryloamidoxime-uranyl complex formed. However the rate of sequestration decreases rapidly when the pH exceeds about 8 where neutral uranyl species are present only at very low concentrations. It can preferentially sequester UO22+ in the presence of typical divalent groundwater cations. In mildly alkaline conditions the sequestration performance in groundwater is sensitive to the concentration of uranyl complexing ligands, such as bicarbonate. Such behaviour has important consequences for PRB design as it will determine the barrier thickness required to treat a particular groundwater flow rate

An interferometric method for the simultaneous measurement of heat and mass transfer

M.S.William Z. Blac

Studying the effects of in-vehicle information systems on driver visual behaviour – implications for design

In-vehicle information systems (IVIS) are a common feature in modern vehicles. The interaction of drivers with IVIS when driving must be considered to minimise distraction whilst maintaining the benefits provided. This research investigates the glance behaviours of drivers, assessed from video data, when using two functions – a personal navigation device (study 1) and a green driving advisory device (study 2). The main focus was to establish the number of glances of 2 seconds or more to the IVIS and relate this to driver safety (as stipulated in new guidelines for use of IVIS proposed by NHTSA). In study 1, the percentage of eyes- off-road time for drivers was much greater in the experimental (with device) condition compared to the baseline condition (14.3% compared to 6.7%) but, whilst glances to the personal navigation device accounted for the majority of the increase, there were very few which exceeded 2 seconds. Drivers in study 2 spent on average 4.3% of their time looking at the system, at an average of 0.43 seconds per glance; no glances exceeded 2 seconds. The research showed that ordinary use of IVIS (excluding manual interaction) does not lead to driver visual distraction and therefore the impact on safety is minimal. The results of the study have important design implications for future in-vehicle information systems

Polarimetric properties of radar echoes from features on the ocean surface.

This thesis presents the results of an investigation of the polarimetric properties of radar echoes from features on the sea surface, including freely-propagating gravity and capillary waves, breaking waves and ship wakes. Analysis and interpretation of the data is based mainly on the Cloude-Pottier H/A/ᾱ decomposition of the coherence / covariance matrix. Variations in the distribution of polarimetric entropy, scattering alpha and anisotropy of radar echoes are examined in the in the H-ᾱ , H-A and H-A-ᾱ spaces to catergorise the dominant scattering mechanisms. First, a review of the concepts and theory of polarimetric scattering from point and distributed targets is given. A detailed examination of the theory and techniques developed to calibrate polarimetric radar systems follows, focussing on the need to calibrate in the field as opposed to the ideal laboratory environment. A new calibration scheme is described that employs a parabolic dish antenna with a dual linear feed horn with two delay lines to perform the radio metric callibration, while a rotating dihedral corner reflector is used to perform the phase callibration; this design achieves stable, accurate calibration to ±0.5 dB in magnitude and 4° in phase. Radar scattering from the sea surface is then discussed in the context of the hydrodynamic problem of describing the sea surface and the electromagnetic problem of finding an approximate solution to Maxwell's equations. The X-Bragg model is applied to predict variations in the polarimetric parameters for progressive and breaking waves. The problem of validating polarimetric measurements of the sea surface is discussed and the possibility of exploiting a quasi-deterministic surface, in the form of a Kelvin wake generated by a moving ship, is proposed and assessed by experiment. Investigations of the polarimetric characteristics of the near shore wave field are then reported and a comparison with the results predicted by the X-Bragg model given. Polarimetric wake measurements are analysed using (i) eigen-decomposition of the coherency matrix, and (ii) a novel method based on the distribution of the cross-polar nulls. These approaches are compared with the scattering predictions obtained using numerical wake prediction codes, combined with the Bragg scattering model. The application of wakes as a tool for studying highly nonlinear hydrodynamic processes is demonstrated using the interaction between the wake produced by a boat and ambient swell to initiate wave breaking events.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 200

Measuring and Managing Answer Quality for Online Data-Intensive Services

Online data-intensive services parallelize query execution across distributed software components. Interactive response time is a priority, so online query executions return answers without waiting for slow running components to finish. However, data from these slow components could lead to better answers. We propose Ubora, an approach to measure the effect of slow running components on the quality of answers. Ubora randomly samples online queries and executes them twice. The first execution elides data from slow components and provides fast online answers; the second execution waits for all components to complete. Ubora uses memoization to speed up mature executions by replaying network messages exchanged between components. Our systems-level implementation works for a wide range of platforms, including Hadoop/Yarn, Apache Lucene, the EasyRec Recommendation Engine, and the OpenEphyra question answering system. Ubora computes answer quality much faster than competing approaches that do not use memoization. With Ubora, we show that answer quality can and should be used to guide online admission control. Our adaptive controller processed 37% more queries than a competing controller guided by the rate of timeouts.Comment: Technical Repor

Health Effects of Indoor-Air Benzene in Anchorage Residences: A Study of Indoor-Air Quality in Houses with Attached Garages

Benzene is a known carcinogen. It affects white blood cells; it causes leukemia and aplastic anemia. It may also affect the immune system which is dependent on white blood cells.1 It has been removed from all household products, but it is still present in gasoline. Alaskan gasoline is particularly high in benzene (>5%). Gasoline refined in Alaska has high concentrations of benzene and other the aromatic compounds as much as 50% aromatics by volume. Leaving the aromatics in the gasoline helps cars start in the cold, but it also puts high concentrations of benzene in both the ambient and indoor air. We already knew from previous work done in Alaska by Bernard Goldstein in Valdez2 and the Anchorage Department of Health and Human Services in Anchorage3 that people were exposed to high ambient levels of benzene in the winter, and that there were high indoor benzene concentrations in homes with attached garages if the garage was used to store gasoline or gasoline powered engines. Benzene does not bioaccumulate in the body as dioxin or some pesticides do. But are its effects cumulative? Does a little dose of benzene everyday have the same effect as a large dose over less time? Benzene reduces CD4 cells in a dose-response manner at workplace concentrations less than 1 ppm (OSHA 8-hour exposure limit) in workers.4 People who live in homes with high benzene concentrations may be exposed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There have been no studies of health effects of such environmental exposure to benzene. This study was done to determine three things: 1. What percentage of Anchorage homes with attached garages had high levels of indoor benzene? 2. Were the high levels of indoor benzene affecting the health of the residents? 3. Were residents more likely to develop asthma in homes with high levels of indoor benzene?Municipality of AnchorageIntroduction / Methods / Recruitment / Results / Laboratory Results / Smoking / Health Results / Demographics / Determining Risk Levels / Asthma Outcomes / Children / Work and Hobby Exposure / General Health / Conclusions / Bibliography / Appendice

Synthesis of zeolites using the ADOR (Assembly-Disassembly-Organization-Reassembly) route

R.E.M. thanks the Royal Society and the E.P.S.R.C. (Grants EP/L014475/1, EP/K025112/1 and EP/K005499/1) for funding work in this area. J.Č. acknowledges the Czech Science Foundation for the project of the Centre of Excellence (P106/12/G015) and the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/ 2007-‐‐2013) under grant agreement n°604307.Zeolites are an important class of materials that have wide ranging applications such as heterogeneous catalysts and adsorbents which are dependent on their framework topology. For new applications or improvements to existing ones, new zeolites with novel pore systems are desirable. We demonstrate a method for the synthesis of novel zeolites using the ADOR route. ADOR is an acronym for Assembly, Disassembly, Organization and Reassembly. This synthetic route takes advantage of the assembly of a relatively poorly stable zeolite which can be selectively disassembled into a layered material. The resulting layered intermediate can then be organized in different manners by careful chemical manipulation and then reassembled into zeolites with new topologies. By carefully controlling the organization step of the synthetic pathway, new zeolites with never before seen topologies are capable of being synthesized. The structures of these new zeolites are confirmed using powder X-ray diffraction and further characterized by nitrogen adsorption and scanning electron microscopy. This new synthetic pathway for zeolites demonstrates its capability to produce novel frameworks that have never been prepared by traditional zeolite synthesis techniques.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Sequence effects in the categorization of tones varying in frequency

In contrast to exemplar and decision-bound categorization models, the memory and contrast models described here do not assume that long-term representations of stimulus magnitudes are available. Instead, stimuli are assumed to be categorized using only their differences from a few recent stimuli. To test this alternative, the authors examined sequential effects in a binary categorization of 10 tones varying in frequency. Stimuli up to 2 trials back in the sequence had a significant effect on the response to the current stimulus. The effects of previous stimuli interacted with one another. A memory and contrast model, according to which only ordinal information about the differences between the current stimulus and recent preceding stimuli is used, best accounted for these dat

Investigating what level of visual information inspires trust in a user of a highly automated vehicle

The aim of this research is to investigate whether visual feedback alone can affect a driver’s trust in an autonomous vehicle, and in particular, what level of feedback (no feedback vs. moderate feedback vs. high feedback) will evoke the appropriate level of trust. Before conducting the experiment, the Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) were piloted with two sets of six participants (before and after iterations), to ensure the meaning of the displays can be understood by all. A static driving simulator experiment was conducted with a sample of 30 participants (between 18 and 55). Participants completed two pre-study questionnaires to evaluate previous driving experience, and attitude to trust in automation. During the study, participants completed a trust questionnaire after each simulated scenario to assess their trust level in the autonomous vehicle and HMI displays, and on intention to use and acceptance. The participants were shown 10 different driving scenarios that lasted approximately 2 minutes each. Results indicated that the ‘high visual feedback’ group recorded the highest trust ratings, with this difference significantly higher than for the ‘no visual feedback’ group (U = .000; p = <0.001 < α) and the ‘moderate visual feedback’ group (U = .000; p = <0.001 < α). There is an upward inclination of trust in all groups due to familiarity to both the interfaces and driving simulator over time. Participants’ trust level was also influenced by the driving scenario, with trust reducing in all displays during safety verses non-safety-critical situations