Trainee and supervisor experience of the Academic Foundation Programme

BACKGROUND: The Academic Foundation Programme (AFP) is often the initial step along the Integrated Academic Training pathway in the UK. It is relatively new and research as to its effectiveness is limited. Our objective was to evaluate the AFP in terms of its impact on academic career aspirations and to explore trainees' expectations and experience of the programme and investigate the enablers and barriers to success. METHOD: Seven supervisors of Academic Foundation trainees were interviewed over a 5-month period in 2014. AFP trainees' views were sought by way of an online questionnaire that covered six areas: demographics, expectations, academic time, experience, research and achievements. RESULTS: Thirty-four trainees completed online questionnaires. The majority of trainees (94%) did not proceed directly along the Integrated Academic Training pathway to complete Academic Clinical Fellowships, but those who applied to do so were often successful (nine applicants, six successful). Free-text comments revealed an expectation of a more course-like structure to the programme, this is in contrast to the authentic experience of clinical academia, along with its associated challenges, that some of the supervisors reported. The importance of planning and preparation for success was a recurring theme from the supervisor interviews. CONCLUSIONS: The programme is achieving some success in encouraging academic careers. There are several areas that can be improved. Improving the availability of information and guidance for supervisors and facilitating Academic Foundation Doctors to network are both feasible changes that could lead to improvement

Insight into the unsteady aerodynamics of floating wind turbines with Tension Leg Platforms (TLP) using a Blade Element Momentum (BEM) based model

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.Floating wind turbines are subject to more complex dynamic behaviour than those mounted on fixed foundations. Such behaviour is dictated by the interaction of the hydrodynamic forces on the floater, the aerodynamic loads on the turbine as well as the gravitational and inertia loads. Numerical simulation tools provide a valuable aid for obtaining further insight about the aerodynamics of floating wind turbines. A full-scale 5MW floating wind turbine model has been analyzed using a commercial numerical tool The unsteady aerodynamic effects were simulated using a BEM- based model modified to account for dynamic inflow effects. Simulations under normal operation were conducted for a range of different wind speeds and tip speed ratios of the turbine rotor. One-directional water wave conditions were used in all simulations. Various parameters predicted by the simulation as a function of time where analyzed. These included the power output, power coefficient, and rotor axial thrust together with local blade parameters (including the angle of attack, velocities, lift and drag coefficients). Relationships were highlighted between the varied loading conditions. Furthermore, the results for the oscillating wind turbine were compared with those for the same turbine operating in a steady environment (i.e. with a rigidly fixed foundation).dc201

A decision consequence-based model to understand the phenomena in motorcycle engineering design from a human factor's perspective

Research has shown that motorcycle riders' persona and posture have a large impact on motorcycle safety, bringing these challenges into the domain of human factors. Besides these aspects, motorcycle designers must consider the emotional values of such artefacts for it to be successful in the market. Indeed, motorcycle designers must take into account multitude of factors when developing such artefacts. These all pose challenges to designers whilst carrying out motorcycle design. A study was carried out with motorcycle designers to investigate their current design practices, and challenges faced during motorcycle design. A critical literature review revealed that there is a research gap in decision consequence models which do not take a holistic view of the underlying phenomena during design decision-making of motorcycle designers. The gap in literature together with the outcome of the study, collectively led to the development of a decision consequence-based phenomena model during motorcycle design. The model is validated with two case studies from the motorcycle industry through the use of a comparative-validation approach.peer-reviewe

Motion and performance analysis of an experimental model floating wind turbine

Laboratory measurements of the motion and rotor performance of a model floating wind turbine were undertaken under simple wind and wave conditions. The model consisted of a 40cm diameter rotor mounted on a fully submerged cylinder supported vertically by four arms to form a tension leg floater. The laboratory facility involved a low-wind speed straight-through wind tunnel assembled on the water wave generator. The turbine was connected to a DC generator and an electrical variable-resistance load to vary the rotor speed. Tests were undertaken for one fixed wind speed, varying the rotor tip speed ratio and wave conditions. Four different one-dimensional wave conditions were considered, each with a different wavelength and frequency. Sensors were installed to measure the unsteady wave height and surge of the turbine platform. Other sensors were installed to measure the rotor speed and the generator output power. The measurements show the effects of rotor tip speed ratio and wave condition on the surge motion of the floater. The presence of aerodynamic damping due to the turbine was evident for certain wave conditions. The rotor experienced considerable deviations in the power coefficient characteristics when subjected to waves. The deviations were larger at and above the optimal tip speed ratio. Good agreement was obtained when the measurements for the power coefficient and surge displacement were compared with those from a simplified mathematical model. The model was based on the Blade-Element Momentum theory for rotor aerodynamics and on the Morison equation for the hydrodynamic forces on the floater.peer-reviewe

Designing for human factors : development and evaluation of a harmonistic knowledge-based design decision support tool

Dual ontological products are a physical construction and an emotional construction. Multitude of human factors must be considering when designing dual ontological products. To increase the product’s impact and reach, designers should also understand the requirements of potential users. A design stage conflict exists between the emotional construction and the physical construction of a product when considering human factors. Designers find it difficult to achieve the right compromise between these constructions and hence, the balancing of the two is crucial. This research therefore contributes a novel harmonistic knowledge-based framework which makes designers aware of design stage conflicts and consequences of commitments made on human factors in the use-phase of the artefact. This approach was implemented in a machine learning based computational tool which exploits harmonistic knowledge and information collected from potential users to proactively assist, guide, and motivate product designers. This paper also presents a descriptive study for the evaluation of the framework and its implementation as a computer-based prototype tool. Results show the necessity and beneficial use of the tool for design engineering practice.peer-reviewe

Economic Policy Department Ministry for Finance

The Short-Term Quarterly Econometric Forecasting Model for Malta (STEMM) is the basis for the official macroeconomic projections, the fiscal projections and the fiscal targets of the Government of Malta. STEMM is a Keynesian model where aggregate demand determines output in the presence of price rigidities in the short-term. The model was originally developed in 2001 by the Economic Policy Department through the assistance of Cambridge Econometrics (UK). The model is medium-scale, consisting of six main blocks. It is composed of 47 identity equations and 69 behavioural equations, most of them specified as an error correction model specification estimated on quarterly European System of Accounts (ESA) 2010 chain-linked data from 1995 to 2016 in accordance with the Engle-Granger two-stage approach. Moreover, there are 47 exogenous variables, consisting of economic variables related to our trading partners, exchange rates, commodity prices, fiscal variables and dummy variables.peer-reviewe

Systematic review of interventions to encourage careers in academic medicine

Aims: Academic medicine is a career route that historically struggles to recruit and retain suitable doctors. The aim of this paper is to review the evidence for interventions to encourage careers in academic medicine by way of a descriptive systematic review. Methods: Key databases were searched in February 2017. Studies that evaluated interventions to encourage careers in academic medicine and that used a pre–post analysis or included a comparison group were included. Interventions reporting only learner satisfaction were excluded. The review was specific to medical students and graduates. Results: Twenty-four studies were identified for inclusion within the review. The included studies identified interventions across five domains: postgraduate funding, postgraduate training, mentoring, undergraduate interventions, and institutional change. The papers varied in terms of strength of conclusion and method of analysis with broad, structured, well-funded programs having the most palpable results. Conclusions: The five domains identified offer a framework that can be used by institutions who wish to develop similar programs. It also offers a body of research on which an evidence base can be built

Quantitative Models of the Mechanisms That Control Genome-Wide Patterns of Transcription Factor Binding during Early Drosophila Development

Transcription factors that drive complex patterns of gene expression during animal development bind to thousands of genomic regions, with quantitative differences in binding across bound regions mediating their activity. While we now have tools to characterize the DNA affinities of these proteins and to precisely measure their genome-wide distribution in vivo, our understanding of the forces that determine where, when, and to what extent they bind remains primitive. Here we use a thermodynamic model of transcription factor binding to evaluate the contribution of different biophysical forces to the binding of five regulators of early embryonic anterior-posterior patterning in Drosophila melanogaster. Predictions based on DNA sequence and in vitro protein-DNA affinities alone achieve a correlation of ∼0.4 with experimental measurements of in vivo binding. Incorporating cooperativity and competition among the five factors, and accounting for spatial patterning by modeling binding in every nucleus independently, had little effect on prediction accuracy. A major source of error was the prediction of binding events that do not occur in vivo, which we hypothesized reflected reduced accessibility of chromatin. To test this, we incorporated experimental measurements of genome-wide DNA accessibility into our model, effectively restricting predicted binding to regions of open chromatin. This dramatically improved our predictions to a correlation of 0.6–0.9 for various factors across known target genes. Finally, we used our model to quantify the roles of DNA sequence, accessibility, and binding competition and cooperativity. Our results show that, in regions of open chromatin, binding can be predicted almost exclusively by the sequence specificity of individual factors, with a minimal role for protein interactions. We suggest that a combination of experimentally determined chromatin accessibility data and simple computational models of transcription factor binding may be used to predict the binding landscape of any animal transcription factor with significant precision

European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps 2020

The European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps 2020 is the update of similar evidence based position papers published in 2005 and 2007 and 2012. The core objective of the EPOS2020 guideline is to provide revised, up-to-date and clear evidence-based recommendations and integrated care pathways in ARS and CRS. EPOS2020 provides an update on the literature published and studies undertaken in the eight years since the EPOS2012 position paper was published and addresses areas not extensively covered in EPOS2012 such as paediatric CRS and sinus surgery. EPOS2020 also involves new stakeholders, including pharmacists and patients, and addresses new target users who have become more involved in the management and treatment of rhinosinusitis since the publication of the last EPOS document, including pharmacists, nurses, specialised care givers and indeed patients themselves, who employ increasing self-management of their condition using over the counter treatments. The document provides suggestions for future research in this area and offers updated guidance for definitions and outcome measurements in research in different settings. EPOS2020 contains chapters on definitions and classification where we have defined a large number of terms and indicated preferred terms. A new classification of CRS into primary and secondary CRS and further division into localized and diffuse disease, based on anatomic distribution is proposed. There are extensive chapters on epidemiology and predisposing factors, inflammatory mechanisms, (differential) diagnosis of facial pain, allergic rhinitis, genetics, cystic fibrosis, aspirin exacerbated respiratory disease, immunodeficiencies, allergic fungal rhinosinusitis and the relationship between upper and lower airways. The chapters on paediatric acute and chronic rhinosinusitis are totally rewritten. All available evidence for the management of acute rhinosinusitis and chronic rhinosinusitis with or without nasal polyps in adults and children is systematically reviewed and integrated care pathways based on the evidence are proposed. Despite considerable increases in the amount of quality publications in recent years, a large number of practical clinical questions remain. It was agreed that the best way to address these was to conduct a Delphi exercise. The results have been integrated into the respective sections. Last but not least, advice for patients and pharmacists and a new list of research needs are included.Peer reviewe