LCOGT Network Observatory Operations

We describe the operational capabilities of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network. We summarize our hardware and software for maintaining and monitoring network health. We focus on methodologies to utilize the automated system to monitor availability of sites, instruments and telescopes, to monitor performance, permit automatic recovery, and provide automatic error reporting. The same jTCS control system is used on telescopes of apertures 0.4m, 0.8m, 1m and 2m, and for multiple instruments on each. We describe our network operational model, including workloads, and illustrate our current tools, and operational performance indicators, including telemetry and metrics reporting from on-site reductions. The system was conceived and designed to establish effective, reliable autonomous operations, with automatic monitoring and recovery - minimizing human intervention while maintaining quality. We illustrate how far we have been able to achieve that.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

Designing Technologies for Community Policing

Community policing faces a combination of new challenges and opportunities due to both citizens and police adopting new digital technologies. However, there is limited scholarly work providing evidence for how technologies assist citizens’ interactions with the police. This paper reports preliminary findings from interviews with 13 participants, both citizens and police officers, in England. We recognize four key types of actors in the current practice of community policing, alongside existing technologies and challenges faced by citizens and the police. We conclude with three design implications for improving citizen-police engagement

Towards Citizen Forensics: Improving Citizen-Police Collaboration

Pervasive digital technologies are increasingly used to record different aspects of citizens’ lives, from activity and location tracking, to social interactions and video recordings of life experiences. However, effective use of these technologies to strengthen collaborations between citizens and police requires a fresh examination of the creation and use of evidence. We extend the concept of Citizen Forensics to denote this new model of citizen-police collaboration. By drawing on the literature on citizen science and community policing, we identify the challenges that must be addressed to meet the important societal need of improving citizen-police collaborations

SABRE: a multicentre randomised control trial of nebulised hypertonic saline in infants hospitalised with acute bronchiolitis

Aim Acute bronchiolitis is the commonest cause for hospitalisation in infancy. Supportive care remains the cornerstone of current management and no other therapy has been shown to influence the course of the disease. It has been suggested that adding nebulised hypertonic saline to usual care may shorten the duration of hospitalisation. To determine whether hypertonic saline does have beneficial effects we undertook an open, multi-centre parallel-group, pragmatic RCT in ten UK hospitals. Methods Infants admitted to hospital with a clinical diagnosis of acute bronchiolitis and requiring oxygen therapy were randomised to receive usual care alone or nebulised 3% hypertonic saline (HS) administered 6-hourly. Randomisation was within 4 h of admission. The primary outcome was time to being assessed as ‘fit’ for discharge with secondary outcomes including time to discharge, incidence of adverse events together with follow up to 28 days assessing patient centred health related outcomes. Results A total of 317 infants were recruited to the study. 158 infants were randomised to HS (141 analysed) and 159 to standard care (149 analysed). There was no difference between the two arms in time to being declared fit for discharge (hazard ratio: 0−95, 95% CI: 0.75−1.20) nor to actual discharge (hazard ratio: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.76−1.23). There was no difference in adverse events. One infant in the HS group developed bradycardia with desaturation. Conclusion This study does not support the use of nebulised HS in the treatment of acute bronchiolitis over usual care with minimal handlings. ClinicalTrials.gov registration number NCT01469845

Attitudes towards Online Community Support Initiatives during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey in the UK

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed unexpected hardship on the health, environment, economic, and social-political governance of the entire human population. Local communities have adopted new ways of communicating and connecting to support each other. This paper reports people's attitudes towards online community support initiatives (OCSIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic based on a survey conducted in the UK. Our analysis of responses from 699 participants suggests the increased use of social media sites and OCSI engagement since the pandemic, and that people had positive attitudes towards the OCSIs, but improvements were still required. We suggest four design implications to alleviate the challenges of using OCSIs

STAAR: a randomised controlled trial of electronic adherence monitoring with reminder alarms and feedback to improve clinical outcomes for children with asthma

Background Suboptimal adherence to inhaled steroids is common in children with asthma and is associated with poor disease control, reduced quality of life and even death. Previous studies using feedback of electronically monitored adherence data have demonstrated improved adherence, but have not demonstrated a significant impact on clinical outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine whether introduction of this approach into routine practice would result in improved clinical outcomes. Methods Children with asthma aged 6–16 years were randomised to the active intervention consisting of electronic adherence monitoring with daily reminder alarms together with feedback in the clinic regarding their inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) use or to the usual care arm with adherence monitoring alone. All children had poorly controlled asthma at baseline, taking ICS and long-acting β-agonists. Subjects were seen in routine clinics every 3 months for 1 year. The primary outcome was the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) score. Secondary outcomes included adherence and markers of asthma morbidity. Results 77 of 90 children completed the study (39 interventions, 38 controls). Adherence in the intervention group was 70% vs 49% in the control group (p≤0.001). There was no significant difference in the change in ACQ, but children in the intervention group required significantly fewer courses of oral steroids (p=0.008) and fewer hospital admissions (p≤0.001). Conclusions The results indicate that electronic adherence monitoring with feedback is likely to be of significant benefit in the routine management of poorly controlled asthmatic subjects

HLA-DQA1*05 carriage associated with development of anti-drug antibodies to infliximab and adalimumab in patients with Crohn's Disease

Anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies are the most widely used biologic drugs for treating immune-mediated diseases, but repeated administration can induce the formation of anti-drug antibodies. The ability to identify patients at increased risk for development of anti-drug antibodies would facilitate selection of therapy and use of preventative strategies.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on Publisher URL to access the full-text

Railway Systems Engineering in Action

ABSTRACT One of the ways that Atkins Rail has recently been delivering real benefits to the rail industry has been through the application of Systems Engineering -this paper describes how, using a number of practical examples to illustrate our successes. One high-profile example is the Concept Design developed for the Victoria Line Upgrade (VLU) Service Control Centre (SCC) that required the deployment of an integrated, multi-disciplined team. Our approach is based on the rigorous application of a set of basic Systems Engineering principles, and the use of a novel method of managing requirements. Our technique engages the whole team in the triage of source documentation and then in tagging the location of requirements. We have demonstrated how engaging the whole team in the practice of Systems Engineering results in a deep collective understanding of the problem, produces results very quickly, and we avoid the need to rewrite requirements to comply with accepted norms of requirements language. The paper outlines the benefits of using a requirements management tool (DOORS™) and Atkins iProNET, a web-based collaborative working environment. Our approach has been employed on projects that were completed successfully, within demanding time scales; they provide a real illustration of the benefits that Systems Engineering can bring to a challenging and complex project