Assessment of temporal data for hospital admissions for asthma patients in comparison with ambient nitrogen dioxide levels in Guernsey, Channel Islands

There are some significant parallels between the environment in the island of Guernsey and that of coastal and island environments in Scotland. Although Guernsey enjoys milder temperatures in the summer months, the winter season experiences stormy weather fronts from the Atlantic and heavy rainfall.This research examines the temporal variation in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in Guernsey and the hospital admissions of pre-existing asthmatics. Whilst air quality in Guernsey is generally good, the levels of NO2 exceed Scottish standards in several locations.The evidence indicates that people suffering from asthma have exacerbation of their symptoms if exposed to elevated levels of NO2, although this research has never been carried out in Guernsey before.For the first time in Guernsey, this research has examined NO2 levels in correlation with asthma patient admissions to hospital. The data showed a temporal correlation between NO2 levels and the number of hospital admissions. Statistical analysis of the data shows a direct correlation for both these variables.The relationships established should aid our understanding and serve as a base for directing future studies in this research area of improving health outcomes for asthmatics, and the respiratory health of the wider population

Simple traffic measures significantly reduce the exposure of primary school children to NO₂

According to Public Health England (PHE, 2019) air quality is the largest environmental health risk in the UK; long-term exposure to air pollution claims some 28-36,000 premature deaths each year. It shortens lives and contributes to chronic illness. Health can be affected both by short-term, high-pollution episodes and by long-term exposure to lower levels of pollution. Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) are directly involved in managing and monitoring local air quality, but often direct action is only taken when there are exceedances of statutory limits and standards. A previous publication, REHIS Journal Autumn 2018, makes the case that long term exposure to lower than limit levels of air pollution can have significant health impacts in later life and that the developing lungs of children are at risk. PHE goes on to state that ‘effective communication of health messages about air pollution and appropriate action can save lives and improve quality of life for many’ (PHE, 2019)

Problem based learning in practice:listening to lecturers - an investigation of academics’ perceptions and practice concerning problem based learning

SHEER2 Final report S. MacAndrew et al October 2008 This report is aimed at a general readership. It will be of interest to lecturers, educational developers and senior managers in universities. The further reading section provides more specific detail on background literature and context. Aim The study investigates academics’ perceptions and practice concerning problem based learning. Our aims are best summarised by our research questions. These were: 1. How do lecturers perceive problem based learning? 2. What is lecturers’ working definition of problem based learning? 3. What are lecturers’ opinions on the effectiveness or otherwise of problem based learning? 4. What are lecturers’ observations concerning the student experience of problem based learning? 5. What materials do lecturers typically use during problem based learning sessions? Method Twenty-one academics at the Abertay University, the University of Dundee and the University of the West of Scotland and two academics from Temple University, Philadelphia USA volunteered to participate in open ended participant-led discussions about the nature of problem based learning and its use in teaching. The sessions included both group and individual discussions arising from a predetermined set of facilitating questions (see Appendix 1). The disciplines represented included biology, chemistry, contemporary science, construction and the environment, creative technology, engineering, food technology, nursing, nutrition, physical activity and health, psychology, and sport and sport coaching. A university careers advisor and the business director of a multimedia teaching space also participated. The lecturers ranged in experience from newly appointed lecturers at the start of their teaching careers to experienced lecturers to lecturers in senior management positions. Participants were willing to have their comments paraphrased or quoted verbatim. Findings This report is based on written records of the data collection sessions. Specific topics raised by participants are summarised and structured below. Consideration of all of the responses reveals six approaches adopted by academics when preparing problem based learning material. These approaches are as follows: • Operational focus • Knowledge focus • Graduate attribute focus • Relative contribution focus • Student engagement focus • Student self-monitoring focus Appendix 2 details methodological considerations of relevance to this report. Implications The specific comments of the participants provide a unique window into academics’ current thinking concerning the use of problem based learning. The seven approaches detailed here could provide a template for designing PGCert material to facilitate academics. This material could be focused to assist lecturers in developing their own individual approach to creating problem based learning material in their teaching. Executive summar

Structural performance of steel-concrete sandwich beams with carbon nanofiber reinforcement

Cementitious materials such as concrete are typically characterised as quasi-brittle with low tensile strength and low strain capacity, which hence affect the long-term durability of the structure. One of the most important issues in designing and maintaining massive concrete structures like offshore and nuclear power plants is concrete cracking, which is due to the low tensile strength of concrete. This can destroy the structural aesthetic and lead to deterioration of the structure. The addition of fibers to concrete has been proven to be a good mean to control its crack behaviour and maintain its ductility in tension. Further, since the discovery of carbon nanotubes/fibers (CNT/CNF), they have been also considered as efficient fibers for construction materials such as concrete. This study presents the structural performance of steel-concrete (SC) elements with a fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) core using both single and hybrid fibers (i.e. consisting of two types of fibers). For this study carbon nanofibers, and steel fibers which are conventionally used in practice, are used for the FRC. Static tests were conducted on eight SC beams with different concrete types. The paper reports on the experimental results obtained from four-point flexural loading of the SC beams. The study shows considerable improvement for both the strength and ductility of the tested specimens. The research laid the groundwork for additional in-depth studies on using carbon nanofiber reinforced concrete within structural members

Optimizing Multi Modal Transportation Networks for Sustainable Urban Freight Delivery, Case Study Southwest Nigeria

Urban freight transportation enables economic productivity but contributes to congestion, emissions, and safety issues degrading livability. This paper investigates optimizing urban freight in Lagos, Nigeria using a multivariate regression model analyzing survey data on delivery costs across varying vehicles, routes, distances and frequencies. The model had low explanatory power, indicating complex contextual interactions impact costs. Spatial network analysis and logistics simulation are proposed to further evaluate infrastructure, vehicle technology, routing, coordination and policies holistically. Transitioning to electric vehicles, leveraging real-time traffic data, freight consolidation and policy incentives can balance efficiency, sustainability and equity in urban freight systems

Life cycle costing methodology for sustainable commerical office buildings

The need for a more authoritative approach to investment decision-making and cost control has been a requirement of office spending for many years now. The commercial offices find itself in an increasingly demanding position to allocate its budgets as wisely and prudently as possible. The significant percentage of total spending on buildings demands a more accurate and adaptable method of achieving quality of service within the constraints on the budgets. By adoption of life cycle costing techniques with risk management, practitioners have the ability to make accurate forecasts of likely future running costs. This thesis presents a novel framework (Artificial Neural Networks and probabilistic simulations) for modelling of operating and maintenance historical costs as well as economic performance measures of LCC. The methodology consisted of eight steps and presented a novel approach to modelling the LCC of operating and maintenance costs of two sustainable commercial office buildings. Finally, a set of performance measurement indicators were utilised to draw inference from these results. Therefore, the contribution that this research aimed to achieve was to develop a dynamic LCC framework for sustainable commercial office buildings, and by means of two existing buildings, demonstrate how assumption modelling can be utilised within a probabilistic environment. In this research, the key themes of risk assessment, probabilistic assumption modelling and stochastic assessment of LCC has been addressed. Significant improvements in existing LCC models have been achieved in this research in an attempt to make the LCC model more accurate and meaningful to estate managers and high-level capital investment decision makers A new approach to modelling historical costs and forecasting these costs in sustainable commercial office buildings is presented based upon a combination of ANN methods and stochastic modelling of the annual forecasted data. These models provide a far more accurate representation of long-term building costs as the inherent risk associated with the forecasts is easily quantifiable and the forecasts are based on a sounder approach to forecasting than what was previously used in the commercial sector. A novel framework for modelling the facilities management costs in two sustainable commercial office buildings is also presented. This is not only useful for modelling the LCC of existing commercial office buildings as presented here, but has wider implications for modelling LCC in competing option modelling in commercial office buildings. The processes of assumption modelling presented in this work can be modified easily to represent other types of commercial office buildings. Discussions with policy makers in the real estate industry revealed that concerns were held over how these building costs can be modelled given that available historical data represents wide spending and are not cost specific to commercial office buildings. Similarly, a pilot and main survey questionnaire was aimed at ascertaining current level of LCC application in sustainable construction; ranking drivers and barriers of sustainable commercial office buildings and determining the applications and limitations of LCC. The survey result showed that respondents strongly agreed that key performance indicators and economic performance measures need to be incorporated into LCC and that it is important to consider the initial, operating and maintenance costs of building when conducting LCC analysis, respondents disagreed that the current LCC techniques are suitable for calculating the whole costs of buildings but agreed that there is a low accuracy of historical cost data

Assessment of temporal data for hospital admissions for asthma patients in comparison with ambient nitrogen dioxide levels in Guernsey, Channel Islands

There are some significant parallels between the environment in the island of Guernsey and that of coastal and island environments in Scotland. Although Guernsey enjoys milder temperatures in the summer months, the winter season experiences stormy weather fronts from the Atlantic and heavy rainfall.This research examines the temporal variation in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in Guernsey and the hospital admissions of pre-existing asthmatics. Whilst air quality in Guernsey is generally good, the levels of NO2 exceed Scottish standards in several locations.The evidence indicates that people suffering from asthma have exacerbation of their symptoms if exposed to elevated levels of NO2, although this research has never been carried out in Guernsey before.For the first time in Guernsey, this research has examined NO2 levels in correlation with asthma patient admissions to hospital. The data showed a temporal correlation between NO2 levels and the number of hospital admissions. Statistical analysis of the data shows a direct correlation for both these variables.The relationships established should aid our understanding and serve as a base for directing future studies in this research area of improving health outcomes for asthmatics, and the respiratory health of the wider population

Is Opportunistic Investing Rewarding? – A Study of United Kingdom Unlisted Funds

This study primarily investigates the impact of extreme financial leverage on UK unlisted property fund performance over a 11 year period, 2004 to 2014; accordingly the research problem is addressed applying a panel auto regression to an extended sample provided by the IPD Property Fund Vision Handbook covering funds information over a complete property cycle from 2004 to 2014. The results provide strong evidence in support of the traditional theory of capital structure asserting that financial leverage is a significant determinant of firm performance. A significant positive relationship is found between Leverage and performance of core and value added funds over the cycle but interestingly a significant negative association is seen for opportunistic funds as they underperformed through the cycle. Consequently, it is concluded that fund value may be enhanced by debt finance but must be kept at minimal levels, as an optimal debt finance level seems to exist considering the behaviour of Opportunistic funds over the investigated period. Key to the deduction is that irrespective of investment style (gearing intensity) through the cycle, performance persistence seems to sum the success or failure of UK unlisted property funds as lagged return showed a significant positive relationship in all regression results. Therefore the question of whether an unlisted fund persists in performance becomes even more decisive in determining how investors should select funds and develop investment strategies. Keywords: Performance, Leverage, Value added, Opportunistic, Unlisted fund

Road deposited sediment:implications for the performance of filter drains servicing strategic trunk roads

This study investigates the contribution of road deposited sediment (RDS) to clogging and the operational lifecycle of Highway Filter Drains (HFDs). RDS samples were collected from 9 Scottish trunk roads and fractionated into grain size classes to determine their particle size distributions (PSD). Results show that RDS PSDs, and the percentage of each grain size fraction, are highly variable. However, despite being collected from different trunk roads, PSD trends are similar, with individual RDS particles ranging in size from <63 μm to >10,000 μm. Medium sand, coarse sand, fine gravel and medium gravel make up 84.1% of the total particle mass concentration, with particles >1,000 μm mostly mineral or asphalt. The study also reveals that the dynamic nature of a trunk road catchment dictates that grading envelopes are essentially instantaneous values. These findings indicate that large particles from the road surface, contribute to clogging and have the potential to reduce the operational lifecycle of HFDs. The study also demonstrated that assuming a single RDS PSD profile for filter drain asset management purposes is unlikely to be representative of a trunk road catchment profile