Relation Between Particle Mass and Number for Submicrometer Airborne Particles

The relationship between particle mass and the number of ambient air particles for the submicrometer size range was examined using a Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance to determine the mass concentration, and a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer to determine the volume concentration and total number of particles. After validating the techniques through their application to the estimation of submicrometer particle density for two laboratory generated aerosols of known bulk density (Sodium Chloride and Di-2-ethylhexyl-sebacate), the submicrometer fraction of laboratory generated Environmental Tobacco Smoke and ambient air were examined and an estimate of the average submicrometer particle densities for these aerosols found to be 1.18 g cm-3 and 1.7 g cm-3 respectively

Everyday experiences of migrant families with No Recourse to Public Funds

Increasing poverty rates in the UK have been at the forefront of much debate in recent years, particularly as poverty can have long term, negative consequences for those embroiled within it. In order to support people on low income, the UK have a welfare system that provides money to cover basic living expenses, free healthcare and housing support. However, there are families residing in the UK with no access to such support due to the little-known visa stipulation, no recourse to public funds (NRPF), which prevents families who have moved to the UK from outside of the European Union from accessing welfare support. To date, research into the impacts of NRPF is limited. The aim of the current study was therefore to qualitatively investigate the everyday experiences of migrants living in the UK with NRPF. Interviews with 6 black African participants revealed that NRPF is not well understood. It leaves people fearful of accessing support despite facing extreme financial hardship, and they are forced to make challenging lifestyle choices to survive within a strict, changeable system. Findings are discussed in relation to literature on health and wellbeing. Future directions for research are also outlined

Azamba publics: containment, care and curating in the “expanded private sphere”

The lack of space, movement and even breath afforded to many communities cuts across seemingly mobile life trajectories, constraining and constricting even (and often especially) the movement of people across and within transnational borders. How do arts organisations and projects explicitly work against the violence of these forms of constraint? Where liberal models of the public sphere have underpinned many ideas of art in public space—particularly those based in the notions of appearance and the “general” public—it is from situated praxes originating from what Stahl and Stoecker have described as the “expanded private sphere” that poignant lessons can be learned of a community and curatorial practice dedicated to solidarity and support. In this paper, we elaborate a notion of art in public that refuses a division from the “private”, without straying unproblematically into the terrain of the personal or exploitative economies of care. We draw from our collaborative experiences in using creative strategies for countering the narrative containment of refugee groups in the face of UK media racism through the project Conflict, Memory, Displacement as well as the limitations we encountered. Using the concept of Azamba—a Malawan practice of community care and midwifery recently adopted by the women’s group Global Sistaz United in Nottingham, UK—we further elaborate how practices and narrations of care and community support might reconfigure our relation to ideas of art, curating and publics

Mortality from head injury over four decades in Scotland

Although the causes of head injury, the population at risk and approaches to prevention and treatment are continually evolving, there is little information about how these are reflected in patterns of mortality over time. We used population based comprehensive data uniquely available in Scotland to investigate changes in the total numbers of deaths from 1974 to 2012, as well as the rates of head injury death, from different causes, overall and in relation to age and gender. Total mortality fell from an annual average of 503 to 339 with a corresponding annual decrease in rate from 9.6 to 6.4 per 100,000 population, the decline substantially occurring between 1974 and 1990. Deaths in children fell strikingly but rose in older people. Deaths in males fell to a greater extent than females but remained at a higher rate overall. Initially, a transport accident accounted for most deaths but these fell by 80%, from 325 per year to 65 per year over the 39 year period. Deaths from falling and all other causes did not decline, coming to outnumber transport accident deaths by 1998, which accounts for the overall absence of change in total mortality in recent years. In order to reduce mortality in the future, more effective measures to prevent falls are needed and these strategies will vary in younger adults (where alcohol is often a factor), and in older adults where infirmity can be a cause. In addition, measures to sustain reductions in transport accidents need to be maintained and further developed

SURVIVING POVERTY: Stress and Coping in the Lives of Housed and Homeless Mothers

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73602/1/h0080357.pd

Effectiveness of interventions to enhance shared decision making in wound care: A systematic review

Aims: To explore the effectiveness of interventions to enhance patient participation in shared decision making in wound care and tissue viabilityBackground: Caring for people living with a wound is complex due to interaction between wound healing, symptoms, psychological wellbeing, and treatment effectiveness. To respond to this complexity, there has been recent emphasis on the importance of delivering patient centred wound care and shared decision making to personalise health care. However, little is known about the effectiveness of existing interventions to support shared decision making in wound care.Design: Systematic review of interventional studies to enhance shared decision making in wound care or tissue viability. This was reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines 2020.Methods: Interventional primary research studies published in English up to January 2023 were included. Screening, data extraction and quality appraisal were undertaken independently by two authors.Data sources: Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trails (trials database), CINAHL, British Nursing Index (BNI), WorldCat (thesis database), Scopus and registries of ongoing studies (ISRCTN registry and clinicaltrials.gov).Results: 1,063 abstracts were screened, and eight full-text studies included. Findings indicate, interventions to support shared decision making are positively received. Goal or need setting components may assist knowledge transfer between patient and clinician, and could lower short term decisional conflict. However, generally findings within this study had very low certainty due to the inconsistencies in outcomes reported, and the variation and complexity of single and multiple interventions used.Conclusions: Future research on shared decision making interventions in wound care should include the involvement of stakeholders and programme theory to underpin the interventions developed to consider the complexity of interventions.Registration: The review protocol was prospectively registered (PROSPERO database: CRD42023389820).No Patient or Public Contribution: Not applicable as this is a systematic review

SOX2 Functions to Maintain Neural Progenitor Identity

Neural progenitors of the vertebrate CNS are defined by generic cellular characteristics, including their pseudoepithelial morphology and their ability to divide and differentiate. SOXB1 transcription factors, including the three closely related genes Sox1, Sox2, and Sox3, universally mark neural progenitor and stem cells throughout the vertebrate CNS. We show here that constitutive expression of SOX2 inhibits neuronal differentiation and results in the maintenance of progenitor characteristics. Conversely, inhibition of SOX2 signaling results in the delamination of neural progenitor cells from the ventricular zone and exit from cell cycle, which is associated with a loss of progenitor markers and the onset of early neuronal differentiation markers. The phenotype elicited by inhibition of SOX2 signaling can be rescued by coexpression of SOX1, providing evidence for redundant SOXB1 function in CNS progenitors. Taken together, these data indicate that SOXB1 signaling is both necessary and sufficient to maintain panneural properties of neural progenitor cells

Online conditional anomaly detection in multivariate data for transformer monitoring

Retrofitting condition monitoring systems to aging plant can be problematic, since the particular signature of normal behavior will vary from unit to unit. This paper describes a technique for anomaly detection within the context of the conditions experienced by an in-service transformer, such as loading, seasonal weather, and network configuration. The aim is to model the aged but normal behavior for a given transformer, while reducing the potential for anomalies to be erroneously detected. The paper describes how this technique has been applied to two transmission transformers in the U.K. A case study of 12 months of data is given, with detailed analysis of anomalies detected during that time