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Functional oil price expectations shocks and inflation
Get PDFThis paper investigates the inflation effects of oil price expectations shocks constructed as functional shocks, i.e. as shifts in the entire oil futures term structure (both standard and risk-adjusted). The latter are then included in a vector autoregressive model with exogenous variables (VARX) to examine the US case. Counterfactual analysis is also carried out to investigate second-round effects on inflation through the inflation expectations channel. These are found to be significant, in contrast to earlier studies based on standard oil price shocks. Additional nonlinear local projections including a shock decomposition exercise show that inflation and inflation expectations are primarily driven by changes in the curvature (level and slope) factor when the latter are anchored (unanchored). These findings provide useful information to policymakers concerning the impact of oil price expectations on inflation and inflation expectations
Challenges to the real-world delivery of brief alcohol interventions in the custody suite: qualitative study
Get PDFAims and method
The aim was to evaluate an innovative pathway in police custody suites that aimed to specifically address alcohol-related health needs through screening and brief interventions by police custody staff. This paper presents a qualitative investigation of challenges involved in implementing the pathway. Qualitative interviews were carried out with 22 staff involved with commissioning and delivering the pathway; thematic analysis of interview data was then undertaken.
Results
An overarching theme highlights the challenges and uncertainties of delivering brief alcohol interventions in the custody suite. These include challenges related to the setting, the confidence and competence of the staff, identifying for whom a brief intervention would be of benefit and the nature of the brief intervention.
Clinical implications
Our findings show that there is a lack of clarity over how alcohol-related offending can be identified in police custody, whose role it is to do that and how to intervene
The Quiet Project: A national environmental noise survey undertaken during lockdown
Get PDFThe COVID-19 lockdown created a new kind of environment both in the UK and globally. A time-critical working group was formed with the aim of gathering crowd-sourced baseline noise levels and other supporting information across the UK and Ireland during lockdown. The acoustics community was mobilised through existing networks, engaging private companies, public organisations, and academics to gather data. A website was designed and developed to advertise the project, provide instructions and to formalise the uploading of high-quality noise data, observations, photos, and video. More than one thousand days of data was collected at one hundred and two locations. This data has been analysed to provide Day, Evening and Night-time noise levels using four acoustic parameters for three types of environments: Urban, Rural and Suburban. The dataset has been compared to the previous England and Wales National Noise Survey. The databank will be made publicly available to assist future research
End-Users Leading, Capturing, and Mitigating Risk in a DSDM Project
Get PDFThe study aimed to assess the suitability of Dynamic System Development Methodology (DSDM) for managing strategic risk and incorporating the end user's perspective in developing a Business Risk Strategy. Additionally, it sought to outline the elements and processes of the DSDM risk strategy, devise an end-user-cantered DSDM risk strategy, and evaluate the effectiveness of the model in capturing the end user's voice. It was discovered that the DSDM serves as an agile software development tool aimed at enhancing the efficiency and productivity of software development projects. Traditionally, project teams have relied on conventional methods for assessing and mitigating risks in software development. However, the agile approach has emerged as a solution to common challenges encountered in these projects. While it can enhance project workflow and productivity, agile processes may not always effectively address customers' needs and involve them in the development process. To address this gap, it is essential to align customers' requirements with the technical capabilities and skills of the project team, particularly as team structures evolve. To facilitate this alignment, researchers have developed various techniques, tools, and processes to aid subject matter experts, end-users, and developers in making informed decisions. This approach simplifies the complex process of integrating customers' perspectives into software development, ultimately enhancing the overall success of the project. In this study theories of compliance and stakeholder are foundational in extracting associated element for the development of further strategy. Both theories offer valuable insights for examining the research questions, thereby enhancing the research motivation and contribution. By leveraging compliance theory, the study can analyse how regulatory requirements and standards influence risk management strategies. Stakeholder theory, on the other hand, provides a framework for understanding the diverse interests and perspectives of stakeholders involved in the project, which is crucial for effective risk management. Integrating these theories into the research methodology can enrich the analysis and contribute to more comprehensive and insightful findings. The study adopts a qualitative approach, integrating a case study with qualitative interviews conducted in two organizations within the United Kingdom. It combines secondary data from the organizations, such as risk management records and lessons learned, with primary data collected through in-depth interviews and focused group discussions. Through a detailed analysis of the empirical evidence, the study identifies the central phenomenon of responsiveness as fundamental for mitigating risks and uncertainties in a DSDM project environment. Furthermore, the research uncovers a gap between the potential impact of end-user involvement in risk management and their current capabilities, including skills, knowledge, tools, and approaches. This realization leads to the development of the End User Framework (ERF), which stands as the primary contribution of the study. The ERF is formulated by synthesising key elements from interviews and case studies to bolster risk management in DSDM projects. Drawing on principles from stakeholder theory and compliance theory, which advocate for end-user involvement in the process, the ERF emphasis continuous collaboration between project development managers and product owners. Additionally, it 8 C2 General leverages the Organizational Project Management (OPM) structure to establish a hierarchical framework for risk management. Overall, the study underscores the significance of both primary and secondary data sources in informing the development of the ERF and advancing understanding of risk management in DSDM projects. A total of 26 in-depth interview questions were posed to focus group interviewees from various project contexts. The focus group comprised 14 individuals from different levels of project management. Data collection was distributed as follows: 50% through interviews, 20% through archival data, and 30% through focus groups. Structured interviews, including a pilot interview with five participants, were conducted with 20 key figures within the software development community (refer to Table 5 for details regarding their roles, years in the organization, and employment status, whether full-time, contractor, or line manager). Before conducting the interviews, NVivo was employed for data analysis. The raw data was transformed into transcriptions, each representing an interview session alongside corresponding rationales for the new model. The resulting End User Framework (ERF) comprises three key steps. The thesis makes a multifaceted contribution. Firstly, it offers a solution to mitigate the inherent uncertainty in DSDM projects by emphasizing responsiveness to end-users' voices. Secondly, it introduces the End User Framework (ERF) to capture the end user's perspective throughout the project lifecycle. This framework integrates Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and Customer, Actor, Transformation, Worldview, Owner, and Environment (CATWOE) approaches in the Environment step, Process step focusing on three levels of organizational view, technical view, and risk analysis, and Product step consisting of iterative cycles of 2-4 weeks. By following these steps, ERF ensures end-user involvement across risk analysis, compliance, and planning and control stages. The significance of ERF lies in its ability to replace existing measures of capabilities (such as skills, knowledge, tools, and approaches) with the end-user voice. However, further testing of ERF's impact in live projects is necessary to validate its effectiveness
Work-life Balance in Architecture
Get PDFThis book examines work-life balance in architecture to enhance the lives and wellbeing of architects. It seeks to improve the work lives of architects of diverse demographics who do not fit, or want to replicate, the traditional white-male architect lifestyle of working a 24-7 work life. It is written to support changing work life for an assorted range of architectural students, educators and practitioners of different gender, race/ethnicity, class, and age to enable them to sustain and flourish in their professional life by offering their design and practice voice to enhance a built environment for all
Theoretical and experimental investigations on conformal polishing of microstructured surfaces
Get PDFMicrostructured surfaces play a pivotal role in various fields, notably in lighting, diffuser devices, and imaging systems. The performance of these components is intricately related to the accuracy of their shapes and the quality of their surfaces. Although current precision machining technologies are capable of achieving conformal shapes, the post-machining surface quality often remains uncertain. To appropriately address this challenge, this paper introduces a novel conformal polishing methodology, specifically designed to enhance the surface quality of microstructured surfaces while maintaining their shape accuracy. As part of the investigations, specialized tools, namely the damping tool and profiling damping tool, are methodically developed for polishing rectangular and cylindrical surfaces. A shape evolution model is established based on the simulation of individual microstructures, incorporating the concept of finite-slip on the microstructured surface. The findings reveal that principal stresses and velocities experience abrupt variations at the convex and concave corners of rectangular surfaces as well as at the ends of cylindrical surfaces. The numerically predicted surface shape errors after polishing demonstrate reasonably good agreement with experimental results such that their discrepancies are less than 1 μm. Additionally, this method is able to successfully eradicate pre-machining imperfections such as residual tool marks and burrs on the microstructured surfaces. The arithmetic roughness (Ra) of the rectangular surface is measured to be an impressively low 0.4 nm, whereas the cylindrical surface exhibits Ra = 6.2 nm. These results clearly emphasize the effectiveness of the conformal polishing method in achieving high-quality surface finishes
Related Metacognitions, Desire Thinking and Identity Differentially Predict Compulsion and Withdrawal Symptoms in Problematic Instagram Use
Get PDFWork has identified that metacognitive thought results in desire-based thinking and perpetuates the magnitude and severity of maladaptive behaviour including problematic social media use, and also that one’s ingroup identity is related to increasing problematic behaviour. No evidence has ascertained the relative contribution of these as related differential factors in the experience of problematic social media use. The current study explored the comparative importance of components of desire thinking, positive and negative metacognitions and dimensions of ingroup identity on degree of problematic use among 147 current Instagram users. Results showed that for predicting general problematic Instagram use negative metacognitive beliefs and the verbal perseverance component of desire-based thinking were significant. Importantly, however, different factors appeared to be important for predicting distinct aspects of problematic Instagram. For compulsivity indicators, negative metacognitions and verbal perseveration were essential, whereas for the withdrawal component identity centrality (and no other dimensions of identity) and imaginal prefiguration emerge as the sole independent predictors
Microstructure, Precipitation and Micro-segregation in Inconel 825 Weldments: A Comparative study between GTAW and EBW
Get PDFInconel 825 is a Ni-Fe-Cr alloy which is widely used in engineering due to its exceptional corrosion resistance and high-temperature strength. Welding (joining) of Inconel 825 has attracted strong research attention over the past few years. In this work, the effects of heat input leading to precipitation and micro segregation of Inconel 825 weldments were examined in light of comparing them while using two popular welding techniques namely, Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) and Electron beam welding (EBW). It was discovered that excessive heat input during GTAW can lead to root cracking and solidification cracking; while EBW demonstrated better control over undercut and maintains consistent weld quality even for higher heat inputs. Both GTAW and EBW samples exhibit dendritic grain morphologies with distinctive grain boundaries. Precipitates, such as Al4C3 and TiN were observed in both processes, contributing to improved mechanical properties. While GTAW weldments show some degree of segregation for Mo, Cu, Ti, and Al, EBW weldments demonstrate negligible segregation for major alloying elements but micro-segregation of Ti and Al. In general, the mechanical properties of EBW weldments was better as the average hardness, tensile strength, and ductility was much better compared to the GTAW weldments. This can be attributed to lower heat input, faster cooling rates, and a reduced rate of elemental segregation during EBW. Finally, the fractographic analysis revealed the presence of voids and micro-voids, indicating a ductile mode of failure for both GTAW and EBW samples. These findings offer invaluable insights for selecting the appropriate environment and welding method to join Inconel 825 for critical safety applications
Effectiveness of an online intervention for parents/guardians of children aged 4-7 years who are concerned about their child's emotional and behavioural development: protocol for an online randomised controlled trial (EMERGENT study).
Get PDFThe demand for resources to support emotional and behavioural development in early childhood is ever increasing. However, conventional interventions are lacking in resources and have significant barriers. The Embers the Dragon programme helps address the growing unmet need of children requiring support. The delivery of the current project seeks to help support parents, reduce the burden placed on pressed services (eg, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and to help improve the emotional and behavioural development of children. This project aims to investigate the efficacy and acceptability of Embers on parenting and children's psychosocial outcomes. 364 parents/guardians of children aged between 4 and 7 will be recruited via the internet, schools and general practitioners (GPs). This is an online waitlist-controlled trial with three arms: (1) control arm, (2) access to Embers arm and (3) access to Embers+school. Participants will be randomised (1:1) into (1) or (2) to evaluate the use of Embers at home. To evaluate scalability in schools, (3) will be compared with (2), and (1) to test efficacy against treatment as usual (not receiving the intervention). Qualitative interviews will also be conducted. Primary outcomes are the Parental Self-efficacy Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and qualitative interviews. Outcomes will be compared between the three groups at baseline, 8, 16 and 24 weeks. Ethical approval has been granted by the London South Bank University ethics panel (ETH2324-0004). To recruit via GPs, NHS ethical approval has been applied for, and the IRAS (331410) application is under consideration by the Central Bristol REC. The results of the project will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Parents/guardians will provide informed consent online prior to taking part in the study. For the interviews, assent will be taken from children by the researchers on the day. ISRCTN58327872. [Abstract copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Strain‐Promoted Cycloadditions in Lipid Bilayers Triggered by Liposome Fusion
Get PDFDue to the variety of roles served by the cell membrane, its composition and structure are complex, making it difficult to study. Bioorthogonal reactions, such as the strain promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC), are powerful tools for exploring the function of biomolecules in their native environment but have been largely unexplored within the context of lipid bilayers. Here, we developed a new approach to study the SPAAC reaction in liposomal membranes using azide- and strained alkyne-functionalized Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) dye pairs. This study represents the first characterization of the SPAAC reaction between diffusing molecules inside liposomal membranes. Potential applications of this work include in situ bioorthogonal labeling of membrane proteins, improved understanding of membrane dynamics and fluidity, and the generation of new probes for biosensing assays