An exploration of involvement in the co-design of mammography machines : the power of the user’s voice

Aim This study aimed to explore and analyse the co-design of medical equipment in order to make recommendations, by gaining an understanding of the involvement and aspects of the group that influence involvement in the process of co-design. Method This qualitative study followed one group made up of mammography machine users, mammographic practitioners and mammography clients through a process of co-design. Data was collected through individual interviews with group members and video footage of co-design meetings. An iterative exploratory approach was implemented using Framework Analysis (FA) as a tool to manage data and structure the argument presented in this thesis. Findings The knowledge each user held was found to influence their involvement in the design process. Experiential knowledge of both the practitioner and client was considered valuable and important in understanding the current problem. However, clinical knowledge, held primarily by the mammographic practitioner, was used to make decisions and evaluate ideas. The findings highlight the power of clinical knowledge in idea evaluation and decision-making. The thesis found that practitioners and clients need to re-negotiate their roles during co-design in order for both to actively participate in the development and selection of ideas and solutions. The time spent together had an impact on the user co-design group’s dynamics as they moved through stages of development. This study has added to the existing theories on co-design between health professionals and clients, identifying power issues between client and practitioner sub-groups as well as instances in which they are likely to occur throughout the design process. This study has also added a unique contribution of studying co-design in the context of medical equipment design, as the majority of literature lies in the redesign of services. Recommendations Recommendations in the form of group member and support, along with suggestions for facilitators to consider, are specified for future design practitioners, when implementing the co-design of medical equipment

Formation of Ultracold Molecules by Merging Optical Tweezers

We demonstrate the formation of a single RbCs molecule during the merging of two optical tweezers, one containing a single Rb atom and the other a single Cs atom. Both atoms are initially predominantly in the motional ground states of their respective tweezers. We confirm molecule formation and establish the state of the molecule formed by measuring its binding energy. We find that the probability of molecule formation can be controlled by tuning the confinement of the traps during the merging process, in good agreement with coupled-channel calculations. We show that the conversion efficiency from atoms to molecules using this technique is comparable to magnetoassociation

Composite Right/Left-Handed Leaky-Wave Antennas for Wide-Angle Beam Scanning with Flexibly Chosen Frequency Range

© 2019 IEEE. A composite right/left-handed (CRLH) leaky-wave antenna (LWA) can effectively scan the radiation beam from backward-to-forward direction. However, in most cases, a large range of frequency sweep is required to achieve a wide-angle beam scan, which could limit their applications. An in-depth study is conducted on an equivalent circuit model for a CRLH LWA unit cell to find the controlling parameters on the frequency sweeping range. A systematic design guideline is given for a CRLH LWA for a wide-angle beam scan in a flexibly chosen frequency range. It is shown that beam scanning by sweeping frequency in a target range can be achieved by systematically designing the unit cell parameters. To verify our approach, a novel CRLH unit cell is developed and used to design an LWA for a wide-angle beam scan in a narrow frequency range. Finally, the concept is validated through realization of the antenna and its measurement. The measured results show that the antenna prototype can scan its beam from -56° to +51° when frequency sweeps from 5.1 to 6.11 GHz (i.e., 18.02% of fractional bandwidth)

Wave attenuation at a salt marsh margin: A case study of an exposed coast on the Yangtze estuary

To quantify wave attenuation by (introduced) Spartina alterniflora vegetation at an exposed macrotidal coast in the Yangtze Estuary, China, wave parameters and water depth were measured during 13 consecutive tides at nine locations ranging from 10 m seaward to 50 m landward of the low marsh edge. During this period, the incident wave height ranged from <0.1 to 1.5 m, the maximum of which is much higher than observed in other marsh areas around the world. Our measurements and calculations showed that the wave attenuation rate per unit distance was 1 to 2 magnitudes higher over the marsh than over an adjacent mudflat. Although the elevation gradient of the marsh margin was significantly higher than that of the adjacent mudflat, more than 80% of wave attenuation was ascribed to the presence of vegetation, suggesting that shoaling effects were of minor importance. On average, waves reaching the marsh were eliminated over a distance of similar to 80 m, although a marsh distance of >= 100 m was needed before the maximum height waves were fully attenuated during high tides. These attenuation distances were longer than those previously found in American salt marshes, mainly due to the macrotidal and exposed conditions at the present site. The ratio of water depth to plant height showed an inverse correlation with wave attenuation rate, indicating that plant height is a crucial factor determining the efficiency of wave attenuation. Consequently, the tall shoots of the introduced S. alterniflora makes this species much more efficient at attenuating waves than the shorter, native pioneer species in the Yangtze Estuary, and should therefore be considered as a factor in coastal management during the present era of sea-level rise and global change. We also found that wave attenuation across the salt marsh can be predicted using published models when a suitable coefficient is incorporated to account for drag, which varies in place and time due to differences in plant characteristics and abiotic conditions (i.e., bed gradient, initial water depth, and wave action).

Current undergraduate dental implantology teaching in UK

Dental Implants are a popular treatment option for tooth replacement, with documented long-term success and survival rates of more than 95% over a period of 10 years. However, incorporating dental implantology into an undergraduate dental curriculum has issues associated. Therefore, the aim of this research was to examine and evaluate current undergraduate dental implantology education in the UK, investigate the amount of time allocated to this subject and analyse the barriers that are currently impeding the development of the programmes. An online questionnaire hosted by Online Surveys was designed, piloted, and sent to 16 dental schools providing undergraduate education in the UK. Ethical approval was gained from The University of Salford to conduct the study. Out of the 16 dental schools contacted, eight questionnaire responses were received, hence a response rate of 50% was achieved. The hours dedicated to the implant teaching programme varied from 3 h to 25 h, with a mean average of 11 h. It was identified from the results that no teaching of dental implantology was conducted in year 2; 12% of the schools responded that the subject was taught in year 1, 37% in year 3, 75% in year 4 and 50% in year 5. The methods used to deliver the programme were mainly lecture-based teaching, with only one dental school allowing students to place implants on patients. The main barriers to progression of the programme were financial (75%), followed by time limitations imposed by the curriculum (37%) and liability insurance (37%). However, there appears to be a consensus that further training beyond bachelor's degree level is required to teach implantology effectively.</b

How functional programming mattered

In 1989 when functional programming was still considered a niche topic, Hughes wrote a visionary paper arguing convincingly ‘why functional programming matters’. More than two decades have passed. Has functional programming really mattered? Our answer is a resounding ‘Yes!’. Functional programming is now at the forefront of a new generation of programming technologies, and enjoying increasing popularity and influence. In this paper, we review the impact of functional programming, focusing on how it has changed the way we may construct programs, the way we may verify programs, and fundamentally the way we may think about programs

Epigenetics and obesity: the devil is in the details

Obesity is a complex disease with multiple well-defined risk factors. Nevertheless, susceptibility to obesity and its sequelae within obesogenic environments varies greatly from one person to the next, suggesting a role for gene × environment interactions in the etiology of the disorder. Epigenetic regulation of the human genome provides a putative mechanism by which specific environmental exposures convey risk for obesity and other human diseases and is one possible mechanism that underlies the gene × environment/treatment interactions observed in epidemiological studies and clinical trials. A study published in BMC Medicine this month by Wang et al. reports on an examination of DNA methylation in peripheral blood leukocytes of lean and obese adolescents, comparing methylation patterns between the two groups. The authors identified two genes that were differentially methylated, both of which have roles in immune function. Here we overview the findings from this study in the context of those emerging from other recent genetic and epigenetic studies, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the study and speculate on the future of epigenetics in chronic disease research

Zinc-Regulated DNA Binding of the Yeast Zap1 Zinc-Responsive Activator

The Zap1 transcription factor of Saccharomyces cerevisiae plays a central role in zinc homeostasis by controlling the expression of genes involved in zinc metabolism. Zap1 is active in zinc-limited cells and repressed in replete cells. At the transcriptional level, Zap1 controls its own expression via positive autoregulation. In addition, Zap1's two activation domains are regulated independently of each other by zinc binding directly to those regions and repressing activation function. In this report, we show that Zap1 DNA binding is also inhibited by zinc. DMS footprinting showed that Zap1 target gene promoter occupancy is regulated with or without transcriptional autoregulation. These results were confirmed using chromatin immunoprecipitation. Zinc regulation of DNA binding activity mapped to the DNA binding domain indicating other parts of Zap1 are unnecessary for this control. Overexpression of Zap1 overrode DNA binding regulation and resulted in constitutive promoter occupancy. Under these conditions of constitutive binding, both the zinc dose response of Zap1 activity and cellular zinc accumulation were altered suggesting the importance of DNA binding control to zinc homeostasis. Thus, our results indicated that zinc regulates Zap1 activity post-translationally via three independent mechanisms, all of which contribute to the overall zinc responsiveness of Zap1