THAWS: automated wireless sensor network development and deployment

This research focuses on the design and implementation of a tool to speed-up the development and deployment of heterogeneous wireless sensor networks. The THAWS (Tyndall Heterogeneous Automated Wireless Sensors) tool can be used to quickly create and configure application-specific sensor networks. THAWS presents the user with a choice of options, in order to characterise the desired functionality of the network. With this information, THAWS generates the necessary code from pre-written templates and well-tested, optimized software modules. This is then automatically compiled to form binary files for each node in the network. Wireless programming of the network completes the task of targeting the wireless network towards a specific sensing application. THAWS is an adaptable tool that works with both homogeneous and heterogeneous networks built from wireless sensor nodes that have been developed in the Tyndall National Institute

Suspected sepsis: summary of NICE guidance

The UK Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman inquiry “Time to Act” found failures in the recognition, diagnosis, and early management of those who died from sepsis, which triggered this guidance. In sepsis the body’s immune and coagulation systems are switched on by an infection and cause one or more body organs to malfunction with variable severity. The condition is life threatening. Although most people with infection do not have and will not develop sepsis, non-specific signs and symptoms can lead to late recognition of people who might have sepsis. We would like clinicians to “think sepsis” and recognise symptoms and signs of potential organ failure when they assess someone with infection, in a similar way to thinking “Could this chest pain be cardiac in origin?”This guidance provides a pragmatic approach for patients with infection who are assessed in the community, emergency departments, and hospitals by a wide range of general and specialist healthcare professionals. It includes guidance on assessment of risk factors followed by a detailed structured assessment of potential clinical signs and symptoms of concern.Definitions of sepsis have been developed, but these offer limited explanation on how to confirm or rule out the diagnosis in general clinical settings or in the community. Current mechanisms to diagnose sepsis and guidelines for use largely apply to critical care settings such as intensive care. We recognised a need for better recognition of sepsis in non-intensive settings and for the diagnosis to be entertained sooner.While sepsis is multifactorial and rarely presents in the same way, the Guideline Development Group considered that use of an easy, structured risk assessment may help clinicians identify those most severely ill who require immediate potentially lifesaving treatment. This guideline ensures that patients defined as having sepsis by recent definitions are, as a minimum, assessed as moderate-high risk. This guidance is also about appropriate de-escalation if sepsis is unlikely and broad spectrum antibiotics or hospital admission are not appropriate.This article summarises recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline for the recognition, diagnosis, and management of sepsis in children and adults. Recommendations and the clinical pathway are available via the NICE website, and the UK Sepsis Trust tools are being revised to align with this guidance. This article is accompanied by an infographic, which displays the NICE guideline as a decision making tool

Learning strategies, study habits and social networking activity of undergraduate medical students

Objectives: To determine learning strategies, study habits, and online social networking use of undergraduates at an Irish medical school, and their relationship with academic performance. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Year 2 and final year undergraduate-entry and graduate-entry students at an Irish medical school. Data about participants’ demographics and educational background, study habits (including time management), and use of online media was collected using a self-report questionnaire. Participants’ learning strategies were measured using the 18-item Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory (ALSI). Year score percentage was the measure of academic achievement. The association between demographic/educational factors, learning strategies, study habits, and academic achievement was statistically analysed using regression analysis. Results: Forty-two percent of students were included in this analysis (n=376). A last-minute “cramming” time management study strategy was associated with increased use of online social networks. Learning strategies differed between undergraduate- and graduate-entrants, with the latter less likely to adopt a ‘surface approach’ and more likely adopt a ‘study monitoring’ approach. Year score percentage was positively correlated with the ‘effort management/organised studying’ learning style. Poorer academic performance was associated with a poor time management approach to studying (“cramming”) and increased use of the ‘surface learning’ strategy. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that effort management and organised studying should be promoted, and surface learning discouraged, as part of any effort to optimise academic performance in medical school. Excessive use of social networking contributes to poor study habits, which are associated with reduced academic achievemen

Effect of Harvest Timing and Soil Moisture Content on Compaction, Growth and Harvest Yield in a Miscanthus Cropping System

peer-reviewedHarvesting Miscanthus × giganteus (J.M. Greef & Deuter ex Hodkinson & Renvoize) after shoot emergence is known to reduce yields in subsequent seasons. This research was conducted in Miscanthus to assess the effects on crop response and soil compaction of annually repeated traffic, applied both before new growth in the rhizomes (early harvest) and after shoot emergence (late harvest), at two different soil moisture contents. While an annual early harvest, yields more than a late harvest, because damage to new shoots is avoided, soil compaction may be increased following repeated harvests. Five treatments were tested: (a) An untrafficked control, (b) early-traffic on soil with typical soil moisture content (SMC) (early-normal), (c) early-traffic on soil with elevated SMC (early-elevated), (d) late-traffic on soil with typical SMC (late-normal) and (e) late-traffic on soil with elevated SMC (late-wet). The experiment was conducted on a Gleysol in Co. Dublin, Ireland during 2010 and 2011. Crop response effects were assessed by measuring stem numbers, stem height, trafficked zone biomass yield (November) and overall stem yield (January). Compaction effects were assessed by measuring penetration resistance, bulk density and water infiltration rate. Trafficked zone biomass yield in the early-dry and early-wet treatments was, respectively, 18% and 23% lower than in the control, but was, respectively, 39% and 31% higher than in the late-dry treatment. Overall, stem yield was significantly lower in the late-normal and late-wet treatments (10.4 and 10.1 tdm ha−1 respectively) when compared with the control (12.4 tdm ha−1), but no significant difference was recorded in overall stem yield between both early-traffic treatments and the control. Penetration resistance values were significantly higher in all trafficked treatments when compared with the control at depths of 0.15 m (≥54–61%) and 0.30 m (≥27–57%) and were significantly higher in 2011 when compared with 2010 at depths of 0.15 and 0.30 m. Baler system traffic in Miscanthus significantly reduced yields and significantly increased compaction annually. Miscanthus harvested early, on a dry soil, yielded 1.1 tdm ha−1 more than when harvested late on a dry soil. The yield advantage increased to 1.3 tdm ha−1 when early harvesting on a soil with 40–43% moisture content was compared with late harvesting on a wetter soil (51–52% moisture content). In this study, the magnitude of yield losses from compaction or other causes in early harvests was substantially lower than the yield losses, which resulted from shoot damage in late harvests. It is likely in similar climates that the results of this study would also apply to other perennial crops growing in similar soil type

Endoscopic Management of an Internal Laryngopyocele Presenting with Acute Airway Obstruction

Statement of Problem. Laryngocele is a rare laryngeal disease, where there is an abnormal dilatation of the saccule of the laryngeal ventricle. It can either be internal or external, and a laryngopyocele is a rare complication of this anomaly. Internal laryngopyoceles can prove difficult to manage, as they often present with airway compromise. Method of Study. Case Report. Results. We present a case of a laryngopyocele that was successfully managed with suspension laryngoscopy and endoscopic marsupialisation and resection. To our knowledge, this is the first such case described in the literature. Conclusions. Surgical drainage of a laryngopyocele via the external approach is well documented in the literature. We feel that endoscopic resection of laryngopyoceles in an emergency situation is a viable alternative and also prevents the associated surgical morbidity

GENESI: Wireless sensor networks for structural monitoring

The GENESI project has the ambitious goal of bringing WSN technology to the level where it can provide the core of the next generation of systems for structural health monitoring that are long lasting, pervasive and totally distributed and autonomous. This goal requires embracing engineering and scientific challenges never successfully tackled before. Sensor nodes will be redesigned to overcome their current limitations, especially concerning energy storage and provisioning (we need devices with virtually infinite lifetime) and resilience to faults and interferences (for reliability and robustness). New software and protocols will be defined to fully take advantage of the new hardware, providing new paradigms for cross-layer interaction at all layers of the protocol stack and satisfying the requirements of a new concept of Quality of Service (QoS) that is application-driven, truly reflecting the end user perspective and expectations. The GENESI project will develop long lasting sensor nodes by combining cutting edge technologies for energy generation from the environment (energy harvesting) and green energy supply (small form factor fuel cells); GENESI will define models for energy harvesting, energy conservation in super-capacitors and supplemental energy availability through fuel cells, in addition to the design of new algorithms and protocols for dynamic allocation of sensing and communication tasks to the sensors. The project team will design communication protocols for large scale heterogeneous wireless sensor/actuator networks with energy-harvesting capabilities and define distributed mechanisms for context assessment and situation awareness. This paper presents an analysis of the GENESI system requirements in order to achieve the ambitious goals of the project. Extending from the requirements presented, the emergent system specification is discussed with respect to the selection and integration of relevant system components.The resulting integrated system will be evaluated and characterised to ensure that it is capable of satisfying the functional requirements of the projec