Layers of Listening: Qualitative Analysis of the Impact of Early Intervention Services for First-episode Psychosis on Carers' Experiences

Background Early intervention services (EIS) comprise low-stigma, youth-friendly mental health teams for young people undergoing first-episode psychosis (FEP). Engaging with the family of the young person is central to EIS policy and practice. Aims By analysing carers' accounts of their daily lives and affective challenges during a relative's FEP against the background of wider research into EIS, this paper explores relationships between carers' experiences and EIS. Method Semi-structured longitudinal interviews with 80 carers of young people with FEP treated through English EIS. Results Our data suggest that EIS successfully aid carers to support their relatives, particularly through the provision of knowledge about psychosis and medications. However, paradoxical ramifications of these user-focused engagements also emerge; they risk leaving carers' emotions unacknowledged and compounding an existing lack of help-seeking. Conclusions By focusing on EIS's engagements with carers, this paper draws attention to an urgent broader question: as a continuing emphasis on care outside the clinic space places family members at the heart of the care of those with severe mental illness, we ask: who can, and should, support carers, and in what ways?

Partition alignment in three dimensional unstructured mesh multi-physics modelling

Unstructured mesh codes for modelling continuum physics phenomena have evolved to provide the facility to model complex interacting systems. Parallelisation of such codes using single Program Multi Data (SPMD) domain decomposition techniques implemented with message passing has been demonstrated to provide high parallel efficiency, scalability to large numbers of processors P and portability across a wide range of parallel platforms. High efficiency, especially for large P requires that load balance is achieved in each parallel loop. For a code in which loops span a variety of mesh entity types, for example, elements, faces and vertices, some compromise is required between load balance for each entity type and the quantity of inter-processor communication required to satisfy data dependence between processors.

From policy development to effectiveness and alignment: An analysis of the UK’s Higher Education Open Access policy landscape

The number of Open Access (OA) policies that have been adopted by universities, research institutes and research funders has been increasing at a fast pace. The Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies (ROARMAP) records the existence of 724 OA policies across the world, of which 512 have been adopted by universities and research institutions. The UK is one of the leading countries in terms of OA policy development and implementation with a total of 85 institutional1 and an estimated 35 funder2 OA policies. In order to understand and contextualise how OA policies are developed and how they can be effectively implemented and aligned, this brief looks at two areas. The first section provides an overview on the processes evolving around policy making, policy effectiveness and policy alignment. In particular, it summarises the criteria and elements generally specified in OA policies, it points out some of the relevant steps informing the development, monitoring and revision of OA policies, it outlines what OA policy elements contribute to policy effectiveness, and highlights the benefits in aligning OA policies. The second section revisits the issues previously discussed within the context of the UK institutional (universities) OA policy landscape.

Quantitative characterization of physico-chemical properties of the active layers of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes, and their relation to membrane performance

The main objectives of this dissertation were: (i) to develop experimental and analytical procedures to quantify different physico-chemical properties of the ultra-thin (~ 100 nm) active layers of reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes and their interactions with contaminants; (ii) to use such procedures to evaluate the similarities and differences between the active layers of different RO/NF membranes; and (iii) to relate characterization results to membrane performance. Such objectives were motivated by the current limited understanding of the physico-chemical properties of active layers as a result of traditional characterization techniques having limitations associated with the nanometer-scale spatial resolution required to study these ultra-thin films. Functional groups were chosen as the main active layer property of interest. Specific accomplishments of this study include the development of procedures to quantify in active layers as a function of pH: (1) the concentration of both negatively and positively ionized functional groups; (2) the stoichiometry of association between ions (i.e., barium) and ionized functional groups (i.e., carboxylate and sulfonate); and (3) the steric effects experienced by ions (i.e., barium). Conceptual and mathematical models were developed to describe experimental results. The depth heterogeneity of the active layer physico-chemical properties and interactions with contaminants studied in this dissertation was also characterized. Additionally, measured concentrations of ionized functional groups in the polyamide active layers of several commercial RO/NF membranes were used as input in a simplified RO/NF transport model to predict the rejection of a strong electrolyte (i.e., potassium iodide) and a weak acid (i.e., arsenious acid) at different pH values based on rejection results at one pH condition. The good agreement between predicted and experimental results showed that the characterization procedures developed in this study serve as useful tools in the advancement of the understanding of the properties and structure of the active layers of RO/NF membranes, and the mechanisms of contaminant transport through them.

Nanofiltration membranes modified with aromatic polyamide dendrimers active layers

This thesis describes the modification of the commercial TFC-S nanofiltration membrane with shape-persistent dendritic architectures. Amphiphilic aromatic polyamide dendrimers (G1-G3) are synthesized via a divergent approach and used for membrane modification by direct percolation. The permeate samples collected from the percolation experiments are analyzed by UV-Vis spectroscopy to instantly monitor the influence of dendrimer generations on percolation behaviors and new active layer formation. The membrane structures are further characterized by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques, suggesting a low-level accumulation of dendrimers inside the TFC-S NF membranes and subsequent formation of an additional aramide dendrimer active layer. Thus, all the modified TFC-S membranes have a double active layer structure. A PES-PVA film is used as a control membrane showing that structural compatibility between the dendrimer and supports plays an important role in the membrane modification process. The performance of modified TFC-S membrane is evaluated on the basis of rejection abilities of a variety of water contaminants having a range of sizes and chemistry. As the water flux is inversely proportional to the thickness of the active layer, we optimize the amount of dendrimers deposited for specific contaminants to improve the solute rejection while maintaining high water flux.

Spatial and temporal measurements using polyoxometalate, enzymatic and biofilm layers on a CMOS 0.35 μm 64 X 64-pixel I.S.F.E.T. array sensor

This thesis presents the achievements and scientific work conducted using a previously designed and fabricated 64 x 64-pixel ion camera with the use of a 0.35 μm CMOS technology. We used an array of Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistors (ISFETs) to monitor and measure chemical and biochemical reactions in real time. The area of our observation was a 4.2 x 4.3 mm silicon chip while the actual ISFET array covered an area of 715.8 x 715.8 μm consisting of 4096 ISFET pixels in total with a 1 μm separation space among them. The ion sensitive layer, the locus where all reactions took place was a silicon nitride layer, the final top layer of the austriamicrosystems 0.35 μm CMOS technology used. Our final measurements presented an average sensitivity of 30 mV/pH. With the addition of extra layers we were able to monitor a 65 mV voltage difference during our experiments with glucose and hexokinase, whereas a difference of 85 mV was detected for a similar glucose reaction mentioned in literature, and a 55 mV voltage difference while performing photosynthesis experiments with a biofilm made from cyanobacteria, whereas a voltage difference of 33.7 mV was detected as presented in literature for a similar cyanobacterial species using voltamemtric methods for detection. To monitor our experiments PXIe-6358 measurement cards were used and measurements were controlled by LabVIEW software. The chip was packaged and encapsulated using a PGA-100 chip carrier and a two-component commercial epoxy. Printed circuit board (PCB) has also been previously designed to provide interface between the chip and the measurement cards.

Comparison of adhesion layers of gold on silicate glasses for SERS detection

Gold is one of the most widely used metals for building up plasmonic devices. Although slightly less efficient than silver for producing sharp resonance, its chemical properties make it one of the best choices for designing sensors. Sticking gold on a silicate glass substrate requires an adhesion layer, whose effect has to be taken into account. Traditionally, metals (Cr or Ti) or dielectric materials (TiO2 or Cr2O3 ) are deposited between the glass and the nanoparticle. Recently, indium tin oxide and (3-mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (MPTMS) were used as a new adhesion layer. The aim of this work is to compare these six adhesion layers for surface- enhanced Raman scattering sensors by numerical modeling. The near-field and the far-field optical responses of gold nanocylinders on the different adhesion layers are then calculated. It is shown that MPTMS leads to the highest field enhancement, slightly larger than other dielectric materials. We attributed this effect to the lower refractive index of MPTMS compared with the others.

The accuracy of protein structure alignment servers

Background: Protein structural alignment is one of the most fundamental and crucial areas of research in the domain of computational structural biology. Comparison of a protein structure with known structures helps to classify it as a new or belonging to a known group of proteins. This, in turn, is useful to determine the function of protein, its evolutionary relationship with other protein molecules and grasping principles underlying protein architecture and folding. Results: A large number of protein structure alignment methods are available. Each protein structure alignment tool has its own strengths andweaknesses that need to be highlighted.We compared and presented results of six most popular and publically available servers for protein structure comparison. These web-based servers were compared with the respect to functionality (features provided by these servers) and accuracy (how well the structural comparison is performed). The CATH was used as a reference. The results showed that overall CE was top performer. DALI and PhyreStorm showed similar results whereas PDBeFold showed the lowest performance. In case of few secondary structural elements, CE, DALI and PhyreStorm gave 100% success rate. Conclusion: Overall none of the structural alignment servers showed 100% success rate. Studies of overall performance, effect of mainly alpha and effect of mainly beta showed consistent performance. CE, DALI, FatCat and PhyreStorm showed more than 90% success rate.

Low‑cost origami fabrication of 3D self‑aligned hybrid microfluidic structures

[EN] 3D microfluidic device fabrication methods are normally quite expensive and tedious. In this paper, we present an easy and cheap alternative wherein thin cyclic olefin polymer (COP) sheets and pressure sensitive adhesive(PSA) were used to fabricate hybrid 3D microfluidic structures, by the Origami technique, which enables the fabrication of microfluidic devices without the need of any alignment tool. The COP and PSA layers were both cut simultaneously using a portable, low-cost plotter allowing for rapid prototyping of a large variety of designs in a single production step. The devices were then manually assembled using the Origami technique by simply combining COP and PSA layers and mild pressure. This fast fabrication method was applied, as proof of concept, to the generation of a micromixer with a 3D-stepped serpentine design made of ten layers in less than 8 min. Moreover, the micromixer was characterized as a function of its pressure failure, achieving pressures of up to 1000 mbar. This fabrication method is readily accessible across a large range of potential end users, such as educational agencies (schools,universities), low-income/developing world research and industry or any laboratory without access to clean room facilities, enabling the fabrication of robust, reproducible microfluidic devices.

Bayesian alignment of continuous molecular shapes using random fields

Statistical methodology is proposed for comparing molecular shapes. In order to account for the continuous nature of molecules, classical shape analysis methods are combined with techniques used for predicting random fields in spatial statistics. Applying a modification of Procrustes analysis, Bayesian inference is carried out using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods for the pairwise alignment of the resulting molecular fields. Superimposing entire fields rather than the configuration matrices of nuclear positions thereby solves the problem that there is usually no clear one--to--one correspondence between the atoms of the two molecules under consideration. Using a similar concept, we also propose an adaptation of the generalised Procrustes analysis algorithm for the simultaneous alignment of multiple molecular fields. The methodology is applied to a dataset of 31 steroid molecules.