Sleep disruption and domestic violence: exploring the interconnections between mothers and children

This paper argues that sleep disruption is both a strategy and an effect of violence and abuse which profoundly affects the lives of women and children. This paper traces the interconnections between the patterns of sleeping (not sleeping) for women and children living with and recovering from the effects of violence and abuse. It highlights the threat to the emotional and physical well-being of children and women and provides a non-pathologizing route into an exploration of one of the symptoms of trauma. It is based on a pilot study which interviewed 17 women, 14 of whom were mothers to 28 children. Mothers reported that many of their children experienced nightmares, bed-wetting, night panics and disrupted sleep patterns. Recovery of the ability to sleep was often slow and uneven with interactive effects between women and children slowing progress.

The impact of leadership and quality climate on hospital performance

Objective. To explore the relationship between leadership effectiveness and health-care trust performance, taking into account external quality measures and the number of patient complaints; also, to examine the role of care quality climate as a mediator. Design. We developed scales for rating leadership effectiveness and care quality climate. We then drew upon UK national indices of health-care trust performance—Commission for Health Improvement star ratings, Clinical Governance Review ratings and the number of patient complaints per thousand. We conducted statistical analysis to examine any significant relationships between predictor and outcome variables. Setting. The study is based on 86 hospital trusts run by the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. The data collection is part of an annual staff survey commissioned by the NHS to explore the quality of working life. Participants. A total of 17 949 employees were randomly surveyed (41% of the total sample). Results. Leadership effectiveness is associated with higher Clinical Governance Review ratings and Commission for Health Improvement star ratings for our sample (ß = 0.42, P < 0.05; ß = 0.37, P < 0.05, respectively), and lower patient complaints (ß = –0.57, P < 0.05). In addition, 98% of the relationship between leadership and patient complaints is explained by care quality climate. Conclusions. Results offer insight into how non-clinical leadership may foster performance outcomes for health-care organizations. A frequently neglected area—patient complaints—may be a valid measure to consider when assessing leadership and quality in a health-care context.

Metrics and models to support the development of hybrid information systems

The research described here concerns the development of metrics and models to support the development of hybrid (conventional/knowledge based) integrated systems. The thesis argues from the point that, although it is well known that estimating the cost, duration and quality of information systems is a difficult task, it is far from clear what sorts of tools and techniques would adequately support a project manager in the estimation of these properties. A literature review shows that metrics (measurements) and estimating tools have been developed for conventional systems since the 1960s while there has been very little research on metrics for knowledge based systems (KBSs). Furthermore, although there are a number of theoretical problems with many of the `classic' metrics developed for conventional systems, it also appears that the tools which such metrics can be used to develop are not widely used by project managers. A survey was carried out of large UK companies which confirmed this continuing state of affairs. Before any useful tools could be developed, therefore, it was important to find out why project managers were not using these tools already. By characterising those companies that use software cost estimating (SCE) tools against those which could but do not, it was possible to recognise the involvement of the client/customer in the process of estimation. Pursuing this point, a model of the early estimating and planning stages (the EEPS model) was developed to test exactly where estimating takes place. The EEPS model suggests that estimating could take place either before a fully-developed plan has been produced, or while this plan is being produced. If it were the former, then SCE tools would be particularly useful since there is very little other data available from which to produce an estimate. A second survey, however, indicated that project managers see estimating as being essentially the latter at which point project management tools are available to support the process. It would seem, therefore, that SCE tools are not being used because project management tools are being used instead. The issue here is not with the method of developing an estimating model or tool, but; in the way in which "an estimate" is intimately tied to an understanding of what tasks are being planned. Current SCE tools are perceived by project managers as targetting the wrong point of estimation, A model (called TABATHA) is then presented which describes how an estimating tool based on an analysis of tasks would thus fit into the planning stage. The issue of whether metrics can be usefully developed for hybrid systems (which also contain KBS components) is tested by extending a number of "classic" program size and structure metrics to a KBS language, Prolog. Measurements of lines of code, Halstead's operators/operands, McCabe's cyclomatic complexity, Henry & Kafura's data flow fan-in/out and post-release reported errors were taken for a set of 80 commercially-developed LPA Prolog programs: By re~defining the metric counts for Prolog it was found that estimates of program size and error-proneness comparable to the best conventional studies are possible. This suggests that metrics can be usefully applied to KBS languages, such as Prolog and thus, the development of metncs and models to support the development of hybrid information systems is both feasible and useful.

Translation and quality

This volume deals with the translation quality assessment from the perspective of a functionalist approach to translation. This approach is illustrated by examples from real translation assignments, and it is argued that quality in translation is something to be negotiated between the client and the translator. Consequences of such understanding for translator training are critically reflected upon.

Process improvement and quality management systems in the financial services industry:the case for the OPEX quality management system and framework

DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

Professionalism and quality in European business courses:utilising research to enhance student learning and promote employability - a pan-European study

This..paper provides a comparative analysis of Quality Management and standards in four European countries, (the UK, Austria, Slovenia and Romania) and in doing so addresses the gap in academic knowledge about how the introduction and implementation of Quality Management Strategies can both facilitate and enhance student learning within Universities.

A critical evaluation of the volume, relevance and quality of evidence submitted by the tobacco industry to oppose standardised packaging of tobacco products

OBJECTIVES: To examine the volume, relevance and quality of transnational tobacco corporations' (TTCs) evidence that standardised packaging of tobacco products 'won't work', following the UK government's decision to 'wait and see' until further evidence is available. DESIGN: Content analysis. SETTING: We analysed the evidence cited in submissions by the UK's four largest TTCs to the UK Department of Health consultation on standardised packaging in 2012. OUTCOME MEASURES: The volume, relevance (subject matter) and quality (as measured by independence from industry and peer-review) of evidence cited by TTCs was compared with evidence from a systematic review of standardised packaging . Fisher's exact test was used to assess differences in the quality of TTC and systematic review evidence. 100% of the data were second-coded to validate the findings: 94.7% intercoder reliability; all differences were resolved. RESULTS: 77/143 pieces of TTC-cited evidence were used to promote their claim that standardised packaging 'won't work'. Of these, just 17/77 addressed standardised packaging: 14 were industry connected and none were published in peer-reviewed journals. Comparison of TTC and systematic review evidence on standardised packaging showed that the industry evidence was of significantly lower quality in terms of tobacco industry connections and peer-review (p<0.0001). The most relevant TTC evidence (on standardised packaging or packaging generally, n=26) was of significantly lower quality (p<0.0001) than the least relevant (on other topics, n=51). Across the dataset, TTC-connected evidence was significantly less likely to be published in a peer-reviewed journal (p=0.0045). CONCLUSIONS: With few exceptions, evidence cited by TTCs to promote their claim that standardised packaging 'won't work' lacks either policy relevance or key indicators of quality. Policymakers could use these three criteria-subject matter, independence and peer-review status-to critically assess evidence submitted to them by corporate interests via Better Regulation processes.

Visual and quality outcomes following bilateral implantation of a trifocal intraocular lens

Purpose: To examine visual outcomes following bilateral implantation of the FineVision trifocal intraocular lens (IOL; PhysIOL, Liège, Belgium). Methods: 26 patients undergoing routine cataract surgery were implanted bilaterally with the FineVision Trifocal IOL and followed up post-operatively for 3 months. The FineVision optic features a combination of 2 diffractive structures, resulting in distance, intermediate (+1.75 D add) and near vision (+3.50 D add) zones. Apodization of the optic surface increases far vision dominance with pupil aperture. Data collected at the 3 month visit included uncorrected and corrected distance (CDVA) and near vision; subjective refraction; defocus curve testing (photopic and mesopic); contrast sensitivity (CSV-1000); halometry glare testing and a questionnaire (NAVQ) to gauge near vision function and patient satisfaction. Results: The cohort comprised 15 males and 11 females, aged 52.5–82.4 years (mean 70.6 ± 8.2 years). Mean post-operative UDVA was 0.22 ± 0.14 logMAR, with a mean spherical equivalent refraction of +0.02 ± 0.35 D. Mean CDVA was 0.13 ± 0.10 logMAR monocularly, and 0.09 ± 0.07 logMAR binocularly. Defocus curve testing showed an extensive range of clear vision in both photopic and mesopic conditions. Patients showed high levels of satisfaction with their near vision (mean ± 0.9 ± 0.6, where 0 = completely satisfied, and 4 = completely unsatisfied) and demonstrated good spectacle independence. Conclusion: The FineVision IOL can be considered in patients seeking spectacle dependence following cataract surgery, and provide good patient satisfaction with uncorrected vision.

Neural activity during object perception in schizophrenia patients is associated with illness duration and affective symptoms

Background - Abnormalities in visual processes have been observed in schizophrenia patients and have been associated with alteration of the lateral occipital complex and visual cortex. However, the relationship of these abnormalities with clinical symptomatology is largely unknown. Methods - We investigated the brain activity associated with object perception in schizophrenia. Pictures of common objects were presented to 26 healthy participants (age = 36.9; 11 females) and 20 schizophrenia patients (age = 39.9; 8 females) in an fMRI study. Results - In the healthy sample the presentation of pictures yielded significant activation (pFWE (cluster) < 0.001) of the bilateral fusiform gyrus, bilateral lingual gyrus, and bilateral middle occipital gyrus. In patients, the bilateral fusiform gyrus and bilateral lingual gyrus were significantly activated (pFWE (cluster) < 0.001), but not so the middle occipital gyrus. However, significant bilateral activation of the middle occipital gyrus (pFWE (cluster) < 0.05) was revealed when illness duration was controlled for. Depression was significantly associated with increased activation, and anxiety with decreased activation, of the right middle occipital gyrus and several other brain areas in the patient group. No association with positive or negative symptoms was revealed. Conclusions - Illness duration accounts for the weak activation of the middle occipital gyrus in patients during picture presentation. Affective symptoms, but not positive or negative symptoms, influence the activation of the right middle occipital gyrus and other brain areas.

The effect of Me2SO overexposure during cryopreservation on HOS TE85 and hMSC viability, growth and quality

With the cell therapy industry continuing to grow, the ability to preserve clinical grade cells, including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), whilst retaining cell viability and function remains critical for the generation of off-the-shelf therapies. Cryopreservation of MSCs, using slow freezing, is an established process at lab scale. However, the cytotoxicity of cryoprotectants, like Me2SO, raises questions about the impact of prolonged cell exposure to cryoprotectant at temperatures >0 °C during processing of large cell batches for allogenic therapies prior to rapid cooling in a controlled rate freezer or in the clinic prior to administration. Here we show that exposure of human bone marrow derived MSCs to Me2SO for ≥1 h before freezing, or after thawing, degrades membrane integrity, short-term cell attachment efficiency and alters cell immunophenotype. After 2 h's exposure to Me2SO at 37 °C post-thaw, membrane integrity dropped to ∼70% and only ∼50% of cells retained the ability to adhere to tissue culture plastic. Furthermore, only 70% of the recovered MSCs retained an immunophenotype consistent with the ISCT minimal criteria after exposure. We also saw a similar loss of membrane integrity and attachment efficiency after exposing osteoblast (HOS TE85) cells to Me2SO before, and after, cryopreservation. Overall, these results show that freezing medium exposure is a critical determinant of product quality as process scale increases. Defining and reporting cell sensitivity to freezing medium exposure, both before and after cryopreservation, enables a fair judgement of how scalable a particular cryopreservation process can be, and consequently whether the therapy has commercial feasibility.

Model and performance of a no-reference quality assessment metric for video streaming

Video streaming via Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) networks has become a popular and highly demanded service, but its quality assessment in both objective and subjective terms has not been properly addressed. In this paper, based on statistical analysis a full analytic model of a no-reference objective metric, namely pause intensity (PI), for video quality assessment is presented. The model characterizes the video playout buffer behavior in connection with the network performance (throughput) and the video playout rate. This allows for instant quality measurement and control without requiring a reference video. PI specifically addresses the need for assessing the quality issue in terms of the continuity in the playout of TCP streaming videos, which cannot be properly measured by other objective metrics such as peak signal-to-noise-ratio, structural similarity, and buffer underrun or pause frequency. The performance of the analytical model is rigidly verified by simulation results and subjective tests using a range of video clips. It is demonstrated that PI is closely correlated with viewers' opinion scores regardless of the vastly different composition of individual elements, such as pause duration and pause frequency which jointly constitute this new quality metric. It is also shown that the correlation performance of PI is consistent and content independent. © 2013 IEEE.