On the investigation of a novel x-ray imaging techniques in radiation oncology

Radiation therapy is indicated for nearly 50% of cancer patients in Australia. Radiation therapy requires accurate delivery of ionising radiation to the neoplastic tissue and pre-treatment in situ x-ray imaging plays an important role in meeting treatment accuracy requirements. Four dimensional cone-beam computed tomography (4D CBCT) is one such pre-treatment imaging technique that can help to visualise tumour target motion due to breathing at the time of radiation treatment delivery. Measuring and characterising the target motion can help to ensure highly accurate therapeutic x-ray beam delivery. In this thesis, a novel pre-treatment x-ray imaging technique, called Respiratory Triggered 4D cone-beam Computed Tomography (RT 4D CBCT), is conceived and investigated. Specifically, the aim of this work is to progress the 4D CBCT imaging technology by investigating the use of a patient’s breathing signal to improve and optimise the use of imaging radiation in 4D CBCT to facilitate the accurate delivery of radiation therapy. These investigations are presented in three main studies: 1. Introduction to the concept of respiratory triggered four dimensional conebeam computed tomography. 2. A simulation study exploring the behaviour of RT 4D CBCT using patientmeasured respiratory data. 3. The experimental realisation of RT 4D CBCT working in a real-time acquisitions setting. The major finding from this work is that RT 4D CBCT can provide target motion information with a 50% reduction in the x-ray imaging dose applied to the patient

A Lyman Alpha Galaxy at Redshift z=6.944 in the COSMOS Field

Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies can be used to study cosmological reionization, because a neutral intergalactic medium scatters Lyman-alpha photons into diffuse halos whose surface brightness falls below typical survey detection limits. Here we present the Lyman-alpha emitting galaxy LAE J095950.99+021219.1, identified at redshift z=6.944 in the COSMOS field using narrowband imaging and followup spectroscopy with the IMACS instrument on the Magellan I Baade telescope. With a single object spectroscopically confirmed so far, our survey remains consistent with a wide range of IGM neutral fraction at redshift seven, but further observations are planned and will help clarify the situation. Meantime, the object we present here is only the third Lyman-alpha selected galaxy to be spectroscopically confirmed at redshift seven, and is 2--3 times fainter than the previously confirmed redshift seven Lyman alpha galaxies.Comment: 15 pages including 3 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter

The Contribution of Medical Research Funding by Charities to the Scottish Economy

Third sector medical research plays an important role both in the Scottish economy and society. Medical research makes huge contributions to society through developing new treatments, improving existing ones and advancing technologies that can help save lives, such as vaccines that help to fight against infectious diseases like Covid-19.  Charities are major funders of medical research in Scotland. Medical research funding by charities has been estimated to be 46% of all third sector and public funding of medical research in Scotland, with active research funding of £122m in 2018. Without charities funding medical research and development in Scotland, the government and other public bodies would need to increase direct funding by 73%to make up for the shortfall.  Our findings in the accompanying report show that medical research funded by charities has grown since 2014 in Scotland, with a fall in funding in 2020 due to the pandemic

The Economic Contribution of the Pharmaceuticals Sector in Northern Ireland

The pharmaceutical sector is critical to the life sciences ecosystem in Northern Ireland, and the economy as a whole. This is recognised in a wide range of government strategies including New Decade, New Approach, the Rebuilding a Stronger Economy recovery plan and in the wider economic vision for innovation, the 10X Economy Strategy, where Life and Health Sciences is identified as a priority cluster in Northern Ireland. As the Northern Ireland economy continues its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, the government is now looking further ahead and implementing frameworks that aim to put Northern Ireland in a stronger position to withstand crises like the current one in the future. The report was commissioned in June 2021 by The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) Northern Ireland

The Contribution of Medical Research Funding by Charities to the Northern Ireland Economy

Third sector medical research plays an important role both in the Northern Ireland economy and society. Medical research makes huge contributions to society through developing new treatments, improving existing ones and advancing technologies that can help save lives such as vaccinations that can help fight against infectious diseases such as Covid-19. Charities are major funders of medical research in Northern Ireland. Medical research funding by charities has been estimated to be 35% of all third sector and public funding of medical research, with active research funding of £9m in 2018

The Contribution of Medical Research Funding by Charities to the UK Economy

Third sector medical research plays an important role both in the UK economy and in society.  Medical research makes huge contributions to society through developing new treatments, improving existing ones and advancing technologies that can help save lives such as vaccines that help to fight against infectious diseases such as Covid-19.  Charities are major funders of medical research in the UK. Medical research funding by charities has been estimated to be 14% of all public funding of medical research in the UK, providing £1.2bn in2018.  Without charity funding, the U KGovernment and public bodies would need to increase their direct funding1 of health-related research by 85% to cover the shortfall. Our findings in the accompanying report show that whilst medical research has grown substantially since 2014, medical research funding by charities fell in 2020

Scottish Business Monitor : 2020 Q4

This report summarises the key results from our latest Fraser of Allander (FAI) Scottish Business Monitor, published in partnership with Addleshaw Goddard. The survey sampled over 500 firms in January from across the Scottish economy. The results examined business sentiment in the final quarter of 2020, and their outlook and expectations through 2021. Our survey results show that business sentiment remained poor in the fourth quarter, with the majority of net balances across metrics such as volume of business, employment and turnover, negative for the entirety of 2020

Fraser of Allander Institute : Economic Commentary [March 2020] - Coronavirus Special Edition

The world is in the middle of a global health crisis and in addition to the human impact of COVID-19, financial markets have tumbled. Companies across every sector and industry are anticipating significant operational disruption. It’s clear that the situation will cause a severe hit to economic activity in both the UK and at a global level. The hope is this disruption to activity is relatively temporary and the economy rebounds in the second half of the year. During the latest of Deloitte’s weekly ‘Responding to COVID-19’ webinars1 on 19 March, which was joined by c.4,000 people from businesses and other organisations, almost three-quarters of participants expected activity to come back in the second half of this year

Orkney Islands Economic Review

Orkney is a unique economy within Scotland and has a number of significant economic strengths. It performs well on key measures of aggregate economic performance, with low levels of unemployment and relatively high levels of household income (compared to the Scottish average). It has key strengths in a number of important sectors, from tourism to the marine sector through to food and drink. Across the 70 islands that make up Orkney there is world-class renewable energy potential. Looking at what is best for Orkney’s economy, both at a local level and how national policy will impact upon local outcomes, is therefore crucial. The aim of this report, by the Fraser of Allander Institute, is to inform discussions on the future priorities of Orkney both locally and nationally

The Impact of a Reduction in Scotch Whisky Tariffs in India on the UK Economy

Scotch Whisky is the world’s most internationally traded spirit with exports worth almost £5bn annually. The Scotch Whisky Association (2018) estimates that Scotch supported £5.5 billion of gross value added (GVA) in the UK economy in 2018. Some of the biggest Scotch whisky importers include the US and France, in both value terms and the number of bottles. Exports of Scotch to India have grown significantly over the decade and India is now the 7th largest export destination in terms of value in 2019. In recent years, Scotch Whisky has also become one of the most tariffed products traded on the global market