Forensic examination of ink by high-performance thin layer chromatography - The United States Secret Service Digital Ink Library

Forensic examinations of ink have been performed since the beginning of the 20th century. Since the 1960s, the International Ink Library, maintained by the United States Secret Service, has supported those analyses. Until 2009, the search and identification of inks were essentially performed manually. This paper describes the results of a project designed to improve ink samples' analytical and search processes. The project focused on the development of improved standardization procedures to ensure the best possible reproducibility between analyses run on different HPTLC plates. The successful implementation of this new calibration method enabled the development of mathematical algorithms and of a software package to complement the existing ink library.

Consultant Terms and Conditions of Service (Northern Ireland) 2004 (PDF 267 KB)

Consultant Terms and Conditions of Service (Northern Ireland) 2004

EORTC Radiation Oncology Group quality assurance platform: establishment of a digital central review facility.

OBJECTIVE: Quality assurance (QA) in clinical trials is essential to ensure treatment is safely and effectively delivered. As QA requirements have increased in complexity in parallel with evolution of radiation therapy (RT) delivery, a need to facilitate digital data exchange emerged. Our objective is to present the platform developed for the integration and standardization of QART activities across all EORTC trials involving RT. METHODS: The following essential requirements were identified: secure and easy access without on-site software installation; integration within the existing EORTC clinical remote data capture system; and the ability to both customize the platform to specific studies and adapt to future needs. After retrospective testing within several clinical trials, the platform was introduced in phases to participating sites and QART study reviewers. RESULTS: The resulting QA platform, integrating RT analysis software installed at EORTC Headquarters, permits timely, secure, and fully digital central DICOM-RT based data review. Participating sites submit data through a standard secure upload webpage. Supplemental information is submitted in parallel through web-based forms. An internal quality check by the QART office verifies data consistency, formatting, and anonymization. QART reviewers have remote access through a terminal server. Reviewers evaluate submissions for protocol compliance through an online evaluation matrix. Comments are collected by the coordinating centre and institutions are informed of the results. CONCLUSIONS: This web-based central review platform facilitates rapid, extensive, and prospective QART review. This reduces the risk that trial outcomes are compromised through inadequate radiotherapy and facilitates correlation of results with clinical outcomes.

Northern Ireland's Fire and Rescue Service - Consultation Paper

Northern Ireland's Fire and Rescue Service - Consultation

Feasibility Study On A Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) For The Island Of Ireland

A feasibility study on the costs and benefits associated with the introduction of dedicated Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) was commissioned by the Department of Health and Children, Dublin and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Belfast. The study was commissioned on foot of advice by the Cross Border Working Group on Pre-Hospital Care Working Group, one of the Groups established under the “Good Friday Agreement”.

The Recovery of Health Service Costs in Cases Involving Personal Injury Compensation (205KB)

A Consultation Document

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety Service Delivery Agreement (SDA) 2002-03. (PDF 80 KB)

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety Service Delivery Agreement (SDA) 2002-03.

Accounting for Big City Growth in Low Paid Occupations: Immigration and/or Service Class Consumption

Growth of 'global cities' in the 1980s was supposed to have involved an occupational polarisation, including growth of low paid service jobs. Though held to be untrue for European cities, at the time, some such growth did emerge in London a decade later than first reported for New York. The question is whether there was simply a delay before London conformed to the global city model, or whether another distinct cause was at work in both cases. This paper proposes that the critical factor in both cases was actually an upsurge of immigration from poor countries providing an elastic supply of cheap labour. This hypothesis and its counterpart based on growth in elite jobs are tested econometrically for the British case with regional data spanning 1975-2008, finding some support for both effects, but with immigration from poor countries as the crucial influence in late 1990s London. Keywords: regional labour markets; wages; employment; international migration; consumer demand JEL Codes: J21, J23, F22, R12

Le service public au XXIème siècle : identités et motivations au sein de l'après-fonctionnariat

Les multiples réformes qui ont touché les administrations publiques ont profondément transformé l'environnement de travail des employés, les projetant dans une ère nouvelle appelée ici "l'après-fonctionnariat". Ils font actuellement face à de nouvelles conditions d'emploi et manières de travailler ayant pour objectif de rendre le service public davantage performant. Avec quels impacts sur leurs identités et leurs motivations au travail ? Voici les résultats d'une recherche réalisée en Suisse.

Health and Health Service Use in Northern Ireland

Social Variations

Partnerships in Caring - Standards for Service (PDF 96KB)

Health and Social Services are undergoing significant change and challenge as we move into a new millennium. The review of Regional Palliative Care Services, ‘Partnerships in Caring’ builds on the significant work already undertaken. The review highlights in particular the need for partnership with patients and their families – between the variety of care providers and with service planners and commissioners, as it is only in working together, in a co-ordinated way that we can hope to provide consistently high quality services. åÊ

Revised Service Framework for Respiratory Health and Wellbeing Consultation

The Service Framework for Respiratory Health and Wellbeing was originally launched in June 2009. It has recently been subject to a fundamental review and also to an independent review by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA). The revised Framework includes 56 standards, which relate to a number of specific conditions, as well as communication and patient and public involvement, health improvement and protection, social emotional support, information, training, medicines management, and palliative and end of life care. åÊ