Thermodynamic Alerter for Microbursts (TAMP)

The following subject areas are covered: microburst detection, location and measurement; thermal alerter for microbursts prototypes (TAMP); sensor-transmitters (Senstrans) design; TAMP installation; and DAPAD software

Bordism Groups of Immersions and Classes Represented by Self-Intersections

We prove a geometrical version of Herbert's theorem by considering the self-intersection immersions of a self-transverse immersion up to bordism. This generalises Herbert's theorem to additional cohomology theories and gives a commutative diagram in the homotopy of Thom complexes. The proof uses Koschorke and Sanderson's operations and the fact that bordism of immersions gives a functor on the category of smooth manifolds and immersions.Comment: 16 page

Double point self-intersection surfaces of immersions

A self-transverse immersion of a smooth manifold M^{k+2} in R^{2k+2} has a double point self-intersection set which is the image of an immersion of a smooth surface, the double point self-intersection surface. We prove that this surface may have odd Euler characteristic if and only if k is congruent to 1 modulo 4 or k+1 is a power of 2. This corrects a previously published result by Andras Szucs. The method of proof is to evaluate the Stiefel-Whitney numbers of the double point self-intersection surface. By earier work of the authors these numbers can be read off from the Hurewicz image h(\alpha ) in H_{2k+2}\Omega ^{\infty }\Sigma ^{\infty }MO(k) of the element \alpha in \pi _{2k+2}\Omega ^{\infty }\Sigma ^{\infty }MO(k) corresponding to the immersion under the Pontrjagin-Thom construction.Comment: 22 pages. Published copy, also available at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/gt/GTVol4/paper4.abs.htm

Best interests, dementia and the Mental Capacity Act (2005)

The Mental Capacity Act (2005) is an impressive piece of legislation that deserves serious ethical attention, but much of the commentary on the Act has focussed on its legal and practical implications rather than the underlying ethical concepts. This paper examines the approach that the Act takes to best interests. The Act does not provide an account of the underlying concept of best interests. Instead it lists factors that must be considered in determining best interests, and the Code of Practice to the Act states that this list is incomplete. This paper argues that this general approach is correct, contrary to some accounts of best interests. The checklist includes items that are unhelpful. Furthermore, neither the Act nor its Code of Practice provides sufficient guidance to carers faced with difficult decisions concerning best interests. This paper suggests ways in which the checklist can be developed and discusses cases that could be used in an updated Code of Practice

Can the collective intentions of individual professionals within healthcare teams predict the team's performance : developing methods and theory

Background: Within implementation research, using theory-based approaches to understanding the behaviours of healthcare professionals and the quality of care that they reflect and designing interventions to change them is being promoted. However, such approaches lead to a new range of methodological and theoretical challenges pre-eminent among which are how to appropriately relate predictors of individual's behaviour to measures of the behaviour of healthcare professionals .The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between the theory of planned behaviour proximal predictors of behaviour (intention and perceived behavioural control, or PBC) and practice level behaviour. This was done in the context of two clinical behaviours – statin prescription and foot examination – in the management of patients with diabetes mellitus in primary care. Scores for the predictor variables were aggregated over healthcare professionals using four methods: simple mean of all primary care team members' intention scores; highest intention score combined with PBC of the highest intender in the team; highest intention score combined with the highest PBC score in the team; the scores (on both constructs) of the team member identified as having primary responsibility for the clinical behaviour. Methods: Scores on theory-based cognitive variables were collected by postal questionnaire survey from a sample of primary care doctors and nurses from northeast England and the Netherlands. Data on two clinical behaviours were patient reported, and collected by postal questionnaire survey. Planned analyses explored the predictive value of various aggregations of intention and PBC in explaining variance in the behavioural data. Results: Across the two countries and two behaviours, responses were received from 37 to 78% of healthcare professionals in 57 to 93% practices; 51% (UK) and 69% (Netherlands) of patients surveyed responded. None of the aggregations of cognitions predicted statin prescription. The highest intention in the team (irrespective of PBC) was a significant predictor of foot examination Conclusion: These approaches to aggregating individually-administered measures may be a methodological advance of theoretical importance. Using simple means of individual-level measures to explain team-level behaviours is neither theoretically plausible nor empirically supported; the highest intention was both predictive and plausible. In studies aiming to understand the behaviours of teams of healthcare professionals in managing chronic diseases, some sort of aggregation of measures from individuals is necessary. This is not simply a methodological point, but a necessary step in advancing the theoretical and practical understanding of the processes that lead to implementation of clinical behaviours within healthcare teams

Developing and evaluating interventions to reduce inappropriate prescribing by general practitioners of antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections: a randomised controlled trial to compare paper-based and web-based modelling experiments

Background: Much implementation research is focused on full-scale trials with little evidence of preceding modelling work. The Medical Research Council Framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions has argued for more and better theoretical and exploratory work prior to a trial as a means of improving intervention development. Intervention modelling experiments (IMEs) are a way of exploring and refining an intervention before moving to a full-scale trial. They do this by delivering key elements of the intervention in a simulation that approximates clinical practice by, for example, presenting general practitioners (GPs) with a clinical scenario about making a treatment decision. Methods: The current proposal will run a full, web-based IME involving 250 GPs that will advance the methodology of IMEs by directly comparing results with an earlier paper-based IME. Moreover, the web-based IME will evaluate an intervention that can be put into a full-scale trial that aims to reduce antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory tract infections in primary care. The study will also include a trial of email versus postal invitations to participate. Discussion: More effective behaviour change interventions are needed and this study will develop one such intervention and a system to model and test future interventions. This system will be applicable to any situation in the National Health Service where behaviour needs to be modified, including interventions aimed directly at the public. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials (NCT): NCT0120673

Development of Conceptual Motivation Framework to Enhance Construction Labour Productivity in the UK

Motivation is essential because labour performance depends on motivation. The study presents vital motivation factors influencing labour productivity and the relationship between social compliance, motivation, and productivity for decision-making. The construction industry in the U.K. is to become the largest construction market by 2030. However, construction productivity in the U.K. is low relative to other industries, resulting in a skilled labour shortage and low productivity growth. Hence, the opportunities for research to improve productivity in constructing for the future through motivation by social compliance. The study conducts a critical literature review of 32 significant motivation and productivity articles from construction and other industries in an online database to identify 31 factors. The findings indicate that motivation mediates social compliance and productivity. The study developed a conceptual motivation framework that indicates a positive relationship with motivation, social compliance, and productivity. The next stage is empirically testing the framework on sites