278177 research outputs found
Sort by
National PROMs data and the National Joint Registry. A report on the data quality and completeness
No full textAims:Since April 2009, patients receiving NHS funded primary elective hip or knee replacements (THR or TKR) should be invited to complete Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs). The aim of this descriptive study was to use National Joint Registry (NJR) data to identify patient and demographic differences between those with complete versus those with missing PROMs.Methods:Patients undergoing publicly funded elective primary THR or TKR between April 2009 and December 2018 recorded in the NJR were eligible. NJR data was linked to the English Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), and PROMs data. Oxford Hip/Knee scores (OHS/OKS) were eligible for inclusion if recorded up to 18 weeks preoperatively (Q1) and 6-12 months postoperatively (Q2). Proportions were used to describe the completeness of PROMs data. The following variables were assessed to determine associations with PROM data completeness: age, gender, ASA grade, body mass index, socioeconomic deprivation, baseline (Q1) OHS/OKS, hospital trust. Results:Of 570,449 eligible TKRs and 507,962 eligible THRs, complete preoperative and postoperative PROMs were available for 229,794 TKRs (40.3%) and 210,929 THRs (41.5%). No differences were observed in patient and demographic factors between those with and without complete PROMs. Patients with complete PROMs had a higher preoperative PROMs score (less pain and functional limitations) than those with preoperative but no postoperative PROMs (TKR: median OKS=19 versus 15; THR: median OHS=17 versus 14). For Q2 PROMs the median trust-level completeness was 71% OKS (60%-76%) and 72% OHS (62%-77%), with little variation between high and low volume trusts. In contrast, Q1 completeness varied between trusts (69% high volume centres vs. 57% low). Conclusion:Up to 60% of patients did not have complete preoperative and postoperative PROMs. However, these patients were similar to those with complete PROMs in terms of patient and demographic factors as well as revision and mortality outcomes. PROMs that are collected are likely generalisable to the wider eligible THR and TKR population.</div
TRADE POLICY LINKAGES AND DISCONNECTS:Drivers, governance and effects of integrated trade policies in a fragmenting world economy
No full text[No abstract
Comparing the Evaporation Kinetics and Dried Morphologies of Particles Generated by Spray Dryers and Single-Particle Techniques
No full textUnderstanding the fundamental processes that govern the morphology development of particles in spray dryers is crucial for optimising product quality and process efficiency. Previous attempts at utilising single droplet drying (SDD) studies to recreate spray dried powder morphologies have failed to account for the large temperature gradients present in an industrial drying chamber. Furthermore, only simple dairy-based solutions have been investigated.Here we present a novel method for reproducing the morphologies of a bench-top spray dryer using an SDD approach, by parameterising the drying regime of droplets in a spray dryer and recreating limits of that drying regime in a falling droplet column (FDC).A matrix of complex, fat free, dairy-based solutions were produced to observe the effect of carbohydrate content, protein type and fibre content on the drying behaviour and morphology of the resultant particles. It was observed that the casein content had the largest affect on both droplet evaporation rate and particle morphology, making the particles more buckled. Fibre content had no effect on the particle morphology.</div
Rolling contact bistable passive and active metamaterials
No full textNegative stiffness and bistability are desirable properties to improve the speed and power of actuators, dissipate energy in shock absorbers, and provide stable switching mechanisms. However, most negative stiffness mechanisms cannot deliver large strain capacity, high force density and long fatigue life simultaneously due to plastic strain accumulation. We propose a new class of metamaterial featuring rolling flexible beam deformation that enables control over strain responses in architected materials. In addition, multiple rolling beams can be incorporated in a unit cell to significantly amplify the force density and metamaterials with rolling beams can be used as passive flexible structures or bistable actuators. The elastic properties of these metamaterials are examined through tensile tests and finite element analysis. Negligible changes in the force-displacement response are observed after more than 10,000 cycles. The performance of electroactive rolling versions are evaluated using dielectrophoretic liquid zipping actuation, demonstrating power amplification through snapping. Moreover, the rolling mechanism enables this bistable design to facilitate both linear and rotational motions, or a combination of both. This is demonstrated in applications including an efficient perching mechanism for drones and rapid-response grippers, illustrating the wide potential impact of this rolling contact metamaterial mechanism
Shakespeare’s forged will, 1790-1931
No full textThis essay describes a strange and genuinely forgotten appropriation of a Shakespeare work – or at least, of a Shakespeare work of a sort. It takes the form of an explicitly Catholic rewriting of William Shakespeare’s will; it was first recorded in 1820, though its origins lie thirty years earlier; and it was for some years decades the version of the will actually seen by visitors to Stratford-upon-Avon. This document went on to feature at the edge of many nineteenth-century arguments about Shakespeare and Catholicism, both in Britain and around Europe, before being “rediscovered” in 1901, at which point it made newspaper headlines around the planet. Thereafter, though, it was ignored again, so thoroughly that no Shakespeare scholar, or anyone else, seems even to have mentioned it since 1931. Partially transcribed by three early viewers, it is worth investigating, but not because it might have been genuine. It was certainly forged, in ways which will be explored in more detail in what follows, and from a purist Shakespeare biographer’s point of view it is a dead end, with nothing to say about it. On the other hand, it is a fascinating case study in Shakespearean appropriation, as its long and hitherto unexplored life runs like a thread through numerous disparate aspects of Shakespeare’s reception: the Stratford activities of John Jordan, forger-poet, and Mary Hornby, curator of Shakespeare’s relics; the Protestant “cult of Shakespeare” in Victorian Britain, and its continental rival, the attempts to naturalize him as a Catholic European; and the global newsworthiness of Shakespeare in the media ecosystem of the early twentieth century. It gives rise too, I would argue, to an unexpected and interesting early example of what would now be categorized as Shakespeare fandom
The notion of certainty in the development of mathematics teacher educators' practices
No full textMathematics teacher educators’ (MTE) practices draw from experiences of learning to teach mathematics teachers. We use a self-study methodology to analyse one MTE’s experience designing and enacting instructional activities to support prospective teachers’ development of learning from teaching. Study data included critical friend conversations, MTE journals, and reflection on teaching. Critical friend conversations focused on developing one instructional activity served as data and an analytical tool. Analysis produced a description of the development of certainty in instructional activity design and implementation. We argue MTEs’ experiences of uncertainty and certainty inform instructional activity design and implementation in supporting PTs learning to teach mathematics
Class, Race and Lifestyles in the US:A Play of Spaces
No full textPierre Bourdieu’s famous thesis on the homology between class and lifestyles has been accused of overlooking or downplaying race and ethnicity. The most sophisticated tests and updates of his thesis in statistical research have so far done little to counteract this, even though recent advances in theorising ethno-racial domination and its intersection with class have been inspired by Bourdieu’s field theory. This paper attempts to bring the divergent threads of scholarship together by conceiving and exploring the relationship between class, race and lifestyles in terms of intersecting spaces. Using survey data from the US and multiple correspondence analysis, I build models of the US ‘social space’ and lifestyle space and examine the position and dispersion of ethno-racial categories in both. I then use regression analysis to document the relative autonomy of race in differentiating lifestyles and where in the class structure it makes the most difference. While race has a cross-class effect on lifestyles, this is nonetheless modulated by capital holdings. For some groups, money is a more accessible route to dominant culture than Eurocentric highbrow taste and consumption
Cool cities:The value of urban trees
No full textAs urban populations grow, more people face extreme heat, increasing demand for natural cooling. Urban trees offer various amenities, including cooling benefits, yet their economic value is hard to quantify. This paper estimates the implicit value of urban trees by exploiting the Emerald Ash Borer infestation caused by an invasive beetle that kills ash trees in Toronto as an exogenous shock. We find that a one percentage-point increase in a postcode’s tree cover raises property prices by 1.16% and reduces exposure to extreme heat, pollution, and energy consumption. These findings underscore trees as a cost-effective, practical strategy for mitigating urban warming
Geodesic trees in last passage percolation and some related problems
No full textFor the exactly solvable model of exponential last passage percolation on Z2 , it is known that given any non-axial direction, all the semi-infinite geodesics starting from points in Z2 in that direction almost surely coalesce, thereby forming a geodesic tree which has only one end. It is widely understood that the geodesic trees are important objects in understanding the geometry of the LPP landscape. In this paper we study several natural questions about these geodesic trees and their intersections. In particular, we obtain optimal (up to constants) upper and lower bounds for the (power law) tails of the height and the volume of the backward sub-tree rooted at a fixed point. We also obtain bounds for the probability that the sub-tree contains a specific vertex, e.g. the sub-tree in the direction (1, 1) rooted at the origin contains the vertex −(n, n), which answers a question analogous to the well-known midpoint problem in the context of semi-infinite geodesics. Furthermore, we obtain bounds for the probability that a pair of intersecting geodesics both pass through a given vertex. These results are interesting in their own right as well as useful in several other applications