Greater Belfast Area Research Articles

Real-Time Anomaly Detection in Cold Chain Transportation Using IoT Technology

There are approximately 88 million tonnes of food waste generated annually in the EU alone. Food spoilage during distribution accounts for some of this waste. To minimise this spoilage, it is of utmost importance to maintain the cold chain during the transportation of perishable foods such as meats, fruits, and vegetables. However, these products are often unfortunately wasted in large quantities when unpredictable failures occur in the refrigeration units of transport vehicles. This work proposes a real-time IoT anomaly detection system to detect equipment failures and provide decision support options to warehouse staff and delivery drivers, thus reducing potential food wastage. We developed a bespoke Internet of Things (IoT) solution for real-time product monitoring and alerting during cold chain transportation, which is based on the Digital Matter Eagle cellular data logger and two temperature probes. A visual dashboard was developed to allow logistics staff to perform monitoring, and business-defined temperature thresholds were used to develop a text and email decision support system, notifying relevant staff members if anomalies were detected. The IoT anomaly detection system was deployed with Musgrave Marketplace, Ireland’s largest grocery distributor, in three of their delivery vans operating in the greater Belfast area. Results show that the LTE-M cellular IoT system is power efficient and avoids sending false alerts due to the novel alerting system which was developed based on trip detection.

The Association between Scholastic Measures, Alcohol Outcome Expectancies and Alcohol Use: A Cross-sectional Study in Northern Ireland

Alcohol use among adolescents is associated with both short-term (truancy, illness, trouble with police) and long-term (dependence, unemployment) negative consequences. Moreover, because of its developmental nature, adolescent drinking behaviour is difficult to accurately assess. Individual-level scholastic variables and alcohol outcome expectancies have been found to be associated with drinking behaviours. This study used a cross-sectional design to investigate: the relationship between alcohol use and individual-level scholastic variables, namely academic motivation and academic self-efficacy; and the relationship between alcohol use and alcohol outcome expectancies, while controlling for a wide range of other variables. Participants were post-primary (high) school pupils in the greater Belfast area of Northern Ireland. They completed a range of questionnaires including measures assessing academic self-efficacy, academic motivation, alcohol outcome expectancies, and a composite measure of alcohol use. Results showed that, controlling for the hierarchical nature of the data, socio-demographic variables and other possible confounders, lower reported scores on the individual-level scholastic measures, higher reported scores on positive alcohol outcome expectancies, and lower reported scores on negative alcohol outcome expectancies remained significantly associated with more problematic drinking. Results are discussed in the context of contemporaneous school-related research.

The relationship between alcohol use and peer pressure susceptibility, peer popularity and general conformity in Northern Irish school children

This cross-sectional study investigated the bivariate and more fully controlled (with socio-demographic measures) relationship between self-reported drinking behaviour and peer pressure susceptibility, desire for peer popularity and general conformity in a sample of 11–16-year-old school children in Northern Ireland. Self-reported drinking behaviour was assessed using a composite measure of drinking behaviour, the Adolescent Alcohol Involvement Scale (Mayer, J., & Filstead, W.J. (1979). The adolescent alcohol involvement scale. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 40, 291–300). Post-primary (High) schools in the Greater Belfast Area were targeted and 629 participants were recruited of whom 610 (97%) successfully completed a set of questionnaires. Bivariate and more fully controlled regression analyses revealed that problematic alcohol use was predicted by higher peer pressure susceptibility, lower desire for popularity and lower general conformity. More problematic drinking was also predicted by being in Middle versus Junior school, and by being female. Despite the suggestion that alcohol use among adolescents is normative behaviour, these results suggest that increasing levels of drinking, assessed by a composite measure are associated with the social risk factors assessed, namely greater susceptibility to peer pressure, less conformity and lower levels of desire for peer popularity.

COPD, smoking behaviour, and the importance of teachers as role-models for adolescents

COPD, smoking behaviour, and the importance of teachers as role-models for adolescents

Community and Confluence: Undoing the Clinch of Oppression (1990/1994/2002), by Philip Lichtenberg Community and Confluence: Undoing the Clinch of Oppression

Research Article| January 01 2011 Community and Confluence: Undoing the Clinch of Oppression (1990/1994/2002), by Philip Lichtenberg Community and Confluence: Undoing the Clinch of Oppression Bríd Keenan, M.A., MBACP Bríd Keenan, M.A., MBACP b.keenan70@ntlworld.com Bríd Keenan, M.A., MBACP (Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy), has been working as a Gestalt pyschotherapist, primarily in the greater Belfast area, since 1966. Her particular interest is in developmental and transgenerational trauma. In 2005, she received the Somatic Experience Practitioners Certificate from the Foundation for Human Enrichment. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Gestalt Review (2011) 15 (1): 46–58. https://doi.org/10.5325/gestaltreview.15.1.0046 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Bríd Keenan; Community and Confluence: Undoing the Clinch of Oppression (1990/1994/2002), by Philip Lichtenberg Community and Confluence: Undoing the Clinch of Oppression. Gestalt Review 1 January 2011; 15 (1): 46–58. doi: https://doi.org/10.5325/gestaltreview.15.1.0046 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectivePenn State University PressGestalt Review Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2011 The Pennsylvania State University2011The Pennsylvania State University Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

A self-reported work-sampling study in community pharmacy practice: a 2009 update

Using a self-reported work sampling methodology this study investigated how community pharmacists utilised their time, and quantified how much time pharmacists devoted to specific activities. Community pharmacies (n = 30) in the Greater Belfast area. A classification system was developed to define all activities (professional, semi-professional, and non-professional tasks) which could potentially be performed by a community pharmacist in the course of a normal working day (from 9.00 to 6.00 pm). A random bleeper device was used which was programmed to bleep randomly approximately 13 times per day (over 12 days) at which time the pharmacist recorded their precise activity (using the classification system) at that time on a proforma. All completed data sheets for each pharmacy were entered into an Excel spreadsheet, where the number of observations for each activity was expressed as a proportion of the total number of observations per day. Statistical analysis was carried out in SPSS, comparing these data to similar data which had been collected in 1998. Pharmacists in this study were found to spend approximately 49% of their time engaged in professional activities, 31% in semi-professional activities and 20% involved in non-professional activities which was similar to that reported in 1998. Most time was spent on assembly and labelling of products, whilst staff training occupied the least amount of pharmacists' time. Pharmacists with a prescription volume of less than 1,499 per month spent significantly more time counselling patients on OTC medicines and responding to symptoms than those dispensing 1,500 items/month or more (P = 0.027). Pharmacists who employed a pre-registration student apportioned less time to the assembly and labelling of products compared to those without a student (P = 0.08). Pharmacists with three or more staff spent less time on coding and endorsing of prescriptions compared to those with less staff (P = 0.086). Pharmacists in this study are spending more time checking prescriptions (essential component of pharmaceutical care) and are still managing to spend only 20% of their time on non-professional activities. However, there had been relatively little change in the way in which pharmacists in this sample spent their time compared to a previous study.

The demographics of trauma cases over 6 years in a regional trauma centre

Introduction: Many indicators suggest that an aging population will in turn lead to more fragility fractures. As a result, trauma centres must make plans to provide the adequate care for these patients in the future. The RVH provides fracture services for most of the greater Belfast area, and is also the Regional Trauma Centre for Northern Ireland. With the changing environment in Northern Ireland, it is also predicted that assaults etc will have decreased over the last number of years. A review of how the demographics and modes of injury have changed over the past 6 years will help us draw conclusions useful for future service provision. Methods: A Regional Fracture Outcome Unit has been working since 2002. We have information on 19,000 admissions to our unit from 2002 to 2006. A review of admissions per year comparing age of patient and mode of injury (as per ICD 10 coding) was performed. Results: Fragility fractures have shown a gradual rise over the 6 years. This is evidenced by the increase in admissions from 543 in 2002 to 666 in 2007 in the over 80 age group admitted after a simple fall. This is an average of 20 per year increase. Overall admissions in the 80+ age group also show a rising trend from 632 to 776 over the same time period. Admissions to the fracture unit for Gun Shot Wounds have decreased from 43 and 54 in 2002 and 2003 down to 11 and 3 for 2006 and 2007. Assaults have shown no marked variation. Discussion: The increasing elderly population and subsequent increasing rate of admission of this group provides challenges in managing resources during the inpatient stay in hospital. Interestingly, this may well be offset somewhat by the decrease in gun crime injuries now clearly evidenced in Northern Ireland.

Evaluating a community-based dental registration program for preschool children living in areas of high social deprivation

This was to evaluate the effectiveness of a community-based program to promote dental registration and access to dental services for preschool children residing in areas of high social deprivation using monthly registration data provided by the Central Services Agency (CSA). A quasi-experimental non-equivalent two group comparison. Areas of high social deprivation in the greater Belfast area. The dental registration program was conducted by community-based nurses (health visitors). The health visitors provided oral health education and distributed registration vouchers to mothers of new babies during home visits. The mothers exchanged the vouchers for motivational materials from the participating dental practices. Preschool child registration data were obtained from the CSA to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The registration rates were significantly greater 5 months after the program for 0-2-year old children residing in the intervention wards compared with control wards. During the program the rate of change in registration for the 0-2-year-old group residing in the intervention wards was significantly greater compared with those residing in the control wards (t [DF:21]=4.26: p<0.001). There was a significant increase in registration rate 5 months after the program compared with 6 months before the study started for the 0-2 year old group residing in the intervention wards compared with those residing in the control wards (t [df: 21]=3.33: P=0.003). There were no equivalent effects for the 3-5-year old group. The adoption of a community-based approach assisted in promoting dental registration and access to dental services for preschool children residing in areas of high social deprivation.

Informal justice in the city

The use of violence by paramilitaries to punish and to discipline members of their own respective communities is an established practice developed throughout the course of the ‘Troubles’ and continues in the post-conflict period. Paramilitary ‘punishments’ are primarily an urban phenomenon with the bulk of recorded ‘punishments’ occurring within the greater Belfast area. This paper, drawing upon the authors' own database of such attacks, examines the on-going nature of paramilitary ‘punishments’ including the ‘punishment’ process, their frequency and location. Using GIS, it also explores the geographical distribution of ‘punishments’ in the greater Belfast area.

The prevalence of obstructive lung disease in a general population sample: The NICECOPD study

There are little data available on the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the United Kingdom. The Northern Ireland Cost and Epidemiology of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (NICECOPD) study is a two-stage survey to examine the prevalence of obstructive lung disease in a general population sample in the Greater Belfast area. In stage one 4000 subjects aged 40-69 years were selected at random from the general population. They were posted a short screening questionnaire concerning respiratory symptoms. Respondents were divided into 'symptomatic' and 'asymptomatic' groups according to their responses. In stage two, a sample of symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects completed a more intensive assessment that included a detailed questionnaire on medical history, spirometry, skin allergy testing and serial peak flow measurements. Spirometric criteria for airflow obstruction were FEV1/FVC ratio of <70% with FEV1 < 80% predicted. Subjects were assigned diagnoses according to a pre-arranged protocol. The survey was conducted from May 1999 to May 2001. There was a 67% response rate to the stage 1 screening questionnaire and 1330 responders were identified as being eligible to take part in stage 2. In total, 722 subjects completed a detailed assessment (50.8% Male, symptomatic, n = 326; asymptomatic, n = 396). COPD was diagnosed in 12.3% (8.8, 15.8) of the symptomatic and 2.2% (0.8, 3.6) of the asymptomatic group. The estimated prevalence of obstructive lung disease in the total population age 40-69 years was 14.4%: 6.3% COPD; 7.2% asthma; 0.9% with indeterminate airflow obstruction. In men, the prevalence of COPD varied from 4.9% in those aged 40-49 years to 12.3% in those aged 60-69 years and in women, varied from 1.4% in 40-49 years of age to 4.5% in 60-69 years. The data suggest that COPD and asthma are common conditions in the general population and should inform future plans to address the burden of disease.

Supernumerary status: definition, operationalisation and its effect in practice.

This paper presents an evaluation of the implementation of supernumerary status in intensive care units in the Greater Belfast area. The evaluation focused on three questions, what did staff understand by the term supernumerary status. How was supernumerary status implemented in the Trusts? What effect did supernumerary status have on the staff/Trusts involved? The results of the evaluation are presented here and issues for further development identified. The study was qualitative in nature and used semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews to collect data. Participants were purposefully selected by virtue of their experience of supernumerary status. Interviews and focus groups were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. These transcripts were then analysed line-by-line and coded. Data analysis described 10 common themes. In general, the concept of supernumerary status was well received and was supported by all involved who believed that its goal of producing adequately trained and skilled practitioners in an intensive care environment was a worthwhile exercise that benefited both staff and patients. Overall, exploring the operationalisation of a supernumerary status programme helps us to explore the challenges of supporting neophyte nurses in all areas of practice and challenges service providers to consider creative approaches to providing such support. However, whilst making a positive contribution to the recruitment and development of nurses new to the intensive care environment, further study is required to gauge the long-term effect of this programme on retention of staff.

Children with Autism Attending Preschool Facilities: The experiences and perceptions of staff

Increasing numbers of children are being identified from age 2 years onwards as having autistic spectrum disorders. The majority of parents aspire for their child to attend mainstream education facilities, and many already do so. However, there is limited knowledge about the needs of preschool personnel if they are to support the inclusion of children with autistic spectrum disorders. In particular, what are their experiences of taking such children, what supports are available to them and what help do they require? This survey of fiftysix staff working in thirty-eight preschools of various types in the Greater Belfast area found that a sizeable number had the experience of taking with children with autistic spectrum disorders and that staff do receive some advice and support from a range of professionals. Nearly all were committed to enrolling such children in the future but they felt that a lack of staffing could preclude this. A majority of staff felt they have had inadequate or no training to equip them to meet the children's particular needs, and they report a lack of knowledge and skills to help these children. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of the specific skills required by staff to manage these children and promote their learning; the professional support required and the contribution this could make to the preschool and the training requirements of staff working on these setting in either a paid or voluntary capacity.

Quitting and restarting smoking: cohort study of patients with angina in primary care

Smoking is the most important modifiable risk factor for coronary heart disease and its reduction is a target for primary health care.1 The participants in most studies of the smoking...

Molecular genotyping of human cryptosporidiosis in Northern Ireland: epidemioiogical aspects and review

Cryptosporidium parvum is the most common of the protozoal pathogens associated with gastrointestinal disease in Northern Ireland. Genotyping techniques are valuable in helping to elucidate sources and modes of transmission of this parasite. There have been no reports on the prevalence of genotypes in Northern Ireland, mainly due to a lack of discriminatory genotyping techniques, which recently have become available. To investigate the genotype of C. parvum oocysts isolated from human faeces in sporadic cases of cryptosporidiosis in Northern Ireland. Thirty-nine isolates of C. parvum, representing 79.6% of the total 1998 laboratory reports for the Eastern Health and Social Services Board, were investigated. Following DNA extraction from oocysts the thrombospondin-related adhesive protein 2 (TRAP-C2) locus was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subsequently sequenced. The majority of isolates (87.2%) were classified as bovine genotype II with the remainder (12.8%) being the human genotype I. There is a high prevalence of the bovine genotype II parasite in sporadic cases around the greater Belfast area. Epidemiologically, this suggests that the most frequent mode of transmission may be from animals to humans, but does not suggest a high proportion of human to human spread.

Group care in Northern Ireland: A survey of residents problems

Despite its troubled history, residential care continues to play a much needed role in the child care continuum. A key issue, however, is the apparent lack of agreement over the practice knowledge required to guide practitioners in their day to day work with young people. This article begins to address this issue by outlining the findings of a small quantitative study of young people's presenting behaviours and problems in children's homes in the greater Belfast area in Northern Ireland. The findings indicate a high prevalence of emotional, social and behavioural difficulties among the young people. The implications of these findings for social work practice are discussed with reference to three areas: perspectives on practice; models of intervention; and the development of explanatory theory

Promoting inclusive play and leisure opportunities for children with disabilities

Children and teenagers with disabilities are often unable to access mainstream play and leisure activities. This paper reports the results of two studies aimed at identifying ways of improving this. Study 1 was a postal survey of over 130 summer schemes and play and leisure facilities in the Greater Belfast area. This identified that around one-third schemes had experience of taking a child with some form of disabling condition. However the biggest obstacles to inclusion of these children were the lack of training; insufficient staff and resources.Study 2 was the evaluation of a model service aimed at supporting five mainstream summer schemes to enrol children with severe learning disabilities and complex needs, such as autism and multiple disabilities. This showed that such schemes are feasible with most children attending regularly and taking part in a range of activities. Family reactions were also positive as were those of the volunteer helpers and other people involved in the schemes. Few problems were reported but many benefits were cited especially for the other children attending the scheme. The study confirmed the importance of training, the use of dedicated volunteer helpers and the need for a co-ordinator to liaise with families and to support and advise summer scheme and centre staff.Strategies are discussed for making inclusive play and leisure opportunities more widely available.

A self-reported work sampling study in community pharmacy practice.

Lack of time to implement pharmaceutical care has been cited as a barrier to the routine provision of this extended patient-care service. Using self-reported work sampling methodology, this study investigated how community pharmacists utilise their time. Pharmacists working in community pharmacies in the Greater Belfast area were found to spend approximately 49% of their time engaged in professional activities, 29% in semi-professional activities and 22% involved in non-professional activities. The activity to which pharmacists devoted the majority of their time was product assembly and labelling, this being a task which can be performed by trained technical staff. Only 9.5% of community pharmacists' time was devoted to counselling patients on their prescription medicines. Wide variation in the amount of time apportioned to each activity was observed between the participating community pharmacists (n = 30). Staffing levels within the community pharmacy were found to significantly influence pharmacists' involvement in a number of activities, with pharmacists who worked in pharmacies employing multiple pharmacists devoting more time to the assembly and labelling of products and less time to administrative tasks, non-professional encounters and to miscellaneous professional activities. Pharmacists working in pharmacies with a high prescription turnover were found to devote significantly less time to counselling patients regarding OTC products and in responding to patient symptoms.

IS THE PHENOTYPIC COMBINATION AlB8Cw7DR3 A MARKER FOR MALE LONGEVITY?

To the Editor: With surprise we read the paper by Drs Rea and Middleton on the association between Human Leucocyte Antigens (HLA) and longevity.1 Although we agree that previous studies on this subject have yielded conflicting results, we think that the methodological difficulties of these studies are not adequately addressed by Drs Rea and Middleton. In our opinion, it is not possible to draw valid conclusions from the data because the number of subjects is too small, the geographic background of the subjects is not scrutinized, and the meta-analysis techniques are not correctly applied. As in the previous studies, the number of the subjects in the study of Drs Rea and Middleton is too small. The sample size of studies on HLA and longevity (including the study by Rea and Middleton) varies from 452 to 3823 persons. According to power calculations, however,4 a minimum size of 320 persons for each sample is required to detect the difference in frequency if an antigen occurs, for example, in 5% of sample A and in 15% of sample B. To detect the difference between frequencies of 20% and 25%, respectively, samples of about 2400 persons each are required. In these calculations, the power of the study is set at 0.9 and the significance level at .005. The significance level is lower than the usual .05 because the number of comparisons is mostly large in HLA studies. In the previous studies, the number of antigens (and so the number of comparisons) varies from 142 to 49.5 Drs Rea and Middleton performed at least 174 statistical tests. Since they apply the Bonferroni method to adjust for multiple comparisons, the significance level should be set at .0003 and, consequently, the required sample is even larger than calculated in the examples above. In conclusion, the increase in frequency of the phenotype AlB8Cw7DR3 in nonagenarian males is far from statistically significant in the paper of Drs Rea and Middleton (P = .05), and their study on HLA and longevity is too small to give reliable results. To our knowledge there are two studies with numbers of subjects that are large enough to draw sound conclusions about the association between HLA and longevity.6, 7 Unfortunately, however, these are omitted from the listing in the paper of Drs Rea and Middleton. We question if the young blood donors are really comparable to the nonagenarians inasmuch as the young donors are resident in Northern Ireland, whereas the elderly subjects are resident in the greater Belfast area. More important, data on the migration and geographic origin of the subjects are not reported. In our opinion, such a report is necessary because the frequencies of HLA antigens can be different between geographic areas. Therefore, differences in migration between age groups might lead to differences in antigen frequency. Many factors may lead to changes in antigen frequency.8 One example is a major epidemic. If the population's history is not scrutinized for such factors, it is not justified to conclude that there is an association between HLA and longevity. A found association may be merely the outcome of unique historical and local events. We think that a more detailed analysis of the data of Drs Rea and Middleton is also needed in this aspect. Meta-analysis, or systematic review, is an efficient scientific technique9 that might be of value in the field of HLA and longevity. We think however, that it is not correct to combine results from two studies “by meta-analysis techniques” as is done by Drs Rea and Middleton. To preclude bias, reviews need a clear design and should include an exhaustive search of the literature.10 Among others, the criteria used to select studies for inclusion in their analysis are not clearly specified by Drs Rea and Middleton, and their list of previous studies on the subject is not exhaustive. Although data on the phenotype AlB8Cw7DR3 are only reported by Proust,11 we suggest that other authors of previous HLA studies would be willing to supply their data for a new analysis. Therefore, we feel that the conclusion of Drs Rea and Middleton is not valid and that there is no evidence for an association between the phenotype AlB8Cw7DR3 and aging. In summary, we appreciate the work that is done by Drs Rea and Middleton, but we think that their primary goal of addressing the difficulties of previous studies is not fulfilled.

Abnormal distribution of ABO blood groups in infantile pyloric stenosis.

All infants with pyloric stenosis from the Greater Belfast area who are treated surgically must be seen at one of three hospitals, viz, the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Belfast City Hospital, and the Ulster Hospital. The medical records of these hospitals for the two decades 1950-69 were examined, and attempts made to trace the 526 patients submitted to Rammstedt's operation. Patients treated medically were excluded on the grounds that the diagnosis had not been completely proven; but they form a relatively small number because the local medical custom is to operate in the great majority of cases. A total of 480 patients were traced, a follow-up rate of 91-3%. Thirty of the 46 patients remaining untraced are known to have emigrated. In the course of subsequent examination, blood samples were taken from each patient either by venepuncture or heel stab after the parents' consent had been obtained. Blood group data from a further 6 were available from the hospital records. Saliva was obtained from 465 patients for determination of the ABO secretor status. Control blood group data were obtained from the Serological Population Genetics Laboratory (A. C. Kope6, personal communication), and these were used in the preliminary communication (Dodge, 1967). These data were derived from retrospective study of the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion register of blood donors up to 1960, and as far as Belfast is concerned included 27,757 individuals. In spite of the large size of this series, it was felt to be unsatisfactory in as much as the former policy of using group 0 Rhesus-negative blood for patients of other groups could have led to an excess of 0 Rhesus-negative donors being retained upon the, register. A smaller series, confined to current donors was used by Macafee (1964) and by Johnson et al (1964) as control data for studies of blood groups in diabetes mellitus and gastric ulcers respectively. This series

Feasibility Of Potential Radial Corridors ForGuided Urban Transport Technologies InGreater Belfast

This case study reviews part of a 15 month evaluation of guided urban transit for the Greater Belfast area carried out by a joint Universities land-use transportation unit (JULUTU) from the two universities named above. The existing transport scene is set by considering some basic parameters such as current public transport ridership, car ownership and central area parking in the private and public domain. Recent and future short term infrastructure changes in transportation are described and the effects on transportation patterns of changing land use within the Laganside city river development are forecast. Three radial corridors were screened positive for guided transit from the first stage of the economic and ridership evaluation. The methodology for establishing these three potential guided transit corridors is considered and discussed in the light of the changing political climate.