Better Gene, Better Beer

Investigating the flocculation gene, Flo11, in different brewing yeast strains to determine variations that could be contributing to the different levels of flocculation in beer

Do the characteristics of seconded or sponsored social work students in England differ from those of other social work students? -A quantitative analysis using national data

Amongst initiatives by social work employers in the United Kingdom (UK) to resolve recruitment difficulties is the use of secondment and sponsorship to attract entrants to the profession; commonly known as Grow Your Own Schemes. This paper reports on part of a mixed-method research study that asked ‘What works in Grow Your Own (GYO) schemes?’ in England. One important research question for this study was whether the characteristics of seconded or sponsored social work students differ from those of other social work students. To explore this, the researchers analysed around 41,000 students’ anonymous data records supplied by the General Social Care Council covering enrollments on social work programmes from 1998 to 2007. The findings indicate that GYO schemes have facilitated the participation of men, Asian groups and older applicants in social work qualifying programmes when compared to the general population of social work students. However, students from Black ethnic backgrounds and those with disabilities have been more likely to be under-represented in such schemes. The findings are discussed within the wider study remits and messages for educationalists and social work employers are drawn out

Using QFD As A Method To Develop Functional Medical Products For Children With Cancer.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a recognised method of translating customer needs into appropriate technical requirements to inform ergonomic design development. This paper details how QFD has been used to develop a tactile advanced product for a medical application. The project has undertaken innovative experimental and industrial research which has led to the design of a child-focused “Wiggle Bag” which will be used to safely harness and reduce infection at the site of a venous catheter placed in the chest wall of long-term child cancer sufferers. Children with cancer regularly have long term central venous catheters inserted through their upper chest wall to deliver medication. They can result in medical issues, particularly infections or accidental removal, but also discomfort for the children, particularly when sleeping. The research uses an inductive approach, triangulating various research strategies including questionnaires, focus groups and interviews from parents, carers and medical personnel. QFD was used to bring together the key findings from the primary data analysis to establish design criteria and inform the product development. The outcome of the research was a functional product ergonomically designed for maximum comfort and safety, with the added unique selling point of having antibacterial properties

Improving everyday life experiences for young children with cancer

Children with cancer regularly have long term central line catheters inserted in the chest to deliver medication. Often termed ‘Hickman Lines’, they result in tubing protruding from the chest, which can result in medical issues including infections, but also discomfort for the child, particularly when sleeping. A team of researchers, led by Dr Jess Power, including Professor David Leaper and Joanne Marie Harris, has been investigating the design and development of a product to contain these external lines, providing greater comfort and safety for the child whilst also meeting the needs of the medical communit

Model-based Cooperative Acoustic Navigation and Parameter Identification for Underactuated Underwater Vehicles

This thesis reports novel theoretical and experimental results addressing two increasingly important problems in underwater robotics: model-based cooperative acoustic navigation for underwater vehicles (UVs) lacking a Doppler velocity log (DVL) and dynamic-model parameter estimation for underactuated UVs, such as the now-ubiquitous class of torpedo-shaped UVs. This thesis reports an extension of a method to identify simultaneously UV dynamical plant model parameters (parameters for critical terms such as mass, added mass, hydrodynamic drag, and buoyancy) and control-actuator parameters (control-surface models and thruster model) in 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) to tolerate simulated sensor measurement noise representative of representative of real-world sensor data, as well as extensive numerical simulations to evaluate the sensitivity of the approach to sensor noise. The current state-of-the-art in one-way travel time (OWTT) combined acoustic communication and navigation (cooperative acoustic navigation) is to utilize purely kinematic, constant-velocity plant process models together with an on-board bottom-lock DVL to provide frequent, high-accuracy velocity corrections. However, DVLs are expensive, power consumers, physically large, and limited to acoustic bottom-lock range, which restricts their use to O(10-100m) above the sea floor or beneath surface ice. Simulation and experimental results reported herein indicate the submerged UV position estimate from cooperative acoustic navigation with a kinematic model is poor and even unstable in the absence of DVL velocity observations. These simulation and experimental results also show that cooperative acoustic navigation with a dynamic plant model performs well without a DVL and outperforms DVL-based dead reckoning, at least in the situation presented herein where the magnitude of the ambient water-current velocity is small. The performance of the UV dynamic model, i.e., its ability to predict the vehicle's state, depends primarily on the accuracy of the model structure and model parameters. Accurate estimates of these parameters are also required for model-based control, fault detection, and simulation of UV. While the general form of dynamical plant models for UVs is well understood, accurate values for dynamic-model parameters are impossible to determine analytically, are not provided by UV manufacturers, and can only be determined experimentally. Moreover, oceanographic UVs are subject to frequent changes in physical configuration, including changes in ballasting and trim, on-board equipment, and instrumentation (both external and internal), which may significantly affect the vehicle dynamics. Plant-model parameter estimation is generally more difficult for underactuated, torpedo-shaped UVs than for fully actuated UVs with thrusters because: 1) the reduced actuation available on underactuated UV limits the plant excitation that can be induced from the control inputs, and 2) torpedo-shaped vehicles are often actuated with control surfaces (e.g., fins, wings, rudders, etc), which are difficult to characterize independently of the plant model parameters. For these reasons, we seek an approach to parameter estimation for underactuated UVs in 6 DOF that simultaneously estimates plant and actuator parameters and can be performed routinely in the field with minimal time and effort by the vehicle operator. The goals of this thesis are to advance the state-of-the-art of (1) model-based state estimation for cooperative acoustic navigation of UVs and (2) dynamic plant-model parameter identification for underactuated UVs. The first goal is addressed with the evaluation of a dynamic UV plant model in cooperative acoustic navigation and a comparative analysis of the dynamic UV model and kinematic UV model without a DVL. The second goal is addressed in a collaborative effort comprising: (1) the development of the nullspace-based least squares (NBLS) algorithm for underactuated UV plant-parameter and actuator-parameter estimation in 6 DOF, and (2) the extension of an AID algorithm, and corresponding stability proof, to estimate simultaneously plant-model and actuator parameters for underactuated UVs with diagonal mass and drag matrices in 6 DOF with realistic sensor measurement noise. These capabilities were verified by in situ vehicle experiments with the JHU Iver3 AUV and by simulation studies

Does age matter in the social care workforce?

Context: With the population in England ageing, more people are living with complex physical and mental health needs and need care and support. As a result demand for care workers is increasing. Objective: This paper presents findings from qualitative research in England that aimed to explore the perspectives of frontline care workers, their managers and service users about what difference the age of the care workforce potentially makes at an individual, organisational or workforce level. Method: Interviews, semi-structured and face to face, in four local authority sites in England. Findings: Age plays a role in the perceived character of the care workforce. A commonly-held view is that life experience is one of the most valuable qualities a care worker brings to their role. While experience is generally valued, it may be framed as experience in care work, or more generally as life experience. Younger care workers may be often seen by older colleagues and service users as less reliable until they prove themselves. However, managers often identify enthusiasm and ability to accommodate change among younger care staff. Managers are interested in having an ‘age mix’ of staff beyond retention and sustainability issues. Limitations: The authors acknowledge the risk that the interview data may not be generalisable or totally representative of staff or care users; the study did not include directly employed care workers nor collect health-related information or personal narratives. Those employers who agreed to participate may be more committed to workforce development and value their staff. Nonetheless data are sector-wide and there are sizeable numbers of participants. Moreover, the views of users of social care and family carers are also included. Implications: The article provides views from a range of stakeholders in social care on whether age matters in this workforce. Instances of age discrimination or stereotypes affecting different ages were reported but also the opportunities in social care work for people to work in later life and to move to this work after other work or family experiences. The age of the social care workforce needs to be considered as part of workforce planning, tailoring skills development and value-based work commitment among all age groups, reducing physical demands, and providing flexible working conditions

DNA methylation-associated colonic mucosal immune and defense responses in treatment-naïve pediatric ulcerative colitis

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are emerging globally, indicating that environmental factors may be important in their pathogenesis. Colonic mucosal epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation, can occur in response to the environment and have been implicated in IBD pathology. However, mucosal DNA methylation has not been examined in treatment-naïve patients. We studied DNA methylation in untreated, left sided colonic biopsy specimens using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array. We analyzed 22 control (C) patients, 15 untreated Crohn’s disease (CD) patients, and 9 untreated ulcerative colitis (UC) patients from two cohorts. Samples obtained at the time of clinical remission from two of the treatment-naïve UC patients were also included into the analysis. UC-specific gene expression was interrogated in a subset of adjacent samples (5 C and 5 UC) using the Affymetrix GeneChip PrimeView Human Gene Expression Arrays. Only treatment-naïve UC separated from control. One-hundred-and-twenty genes with significant expression change in UC (> 2-fold, P < 0.05) were associated with differentially methylated regions (DMRs). Epigenetically associated gene expression changes (including gene expression changes in the IFITM1, ITGB2, S100A9, SLPI, SAA1, and STAT3 genes) were linked to colonic mucosal immune and defense responses. These findings underscore the relationship between epigenetic changes and inflammation in pediatric treatment-naïve UC and may have potential etiologic, diagnostic, and therapeutic relevance for IBD