Workshop In London Research Articles

How to ensure a chronometer’s accuracy. Josiah Emery timekeepers and their users

ABSTRACT Precision was not a quality expected from ordinary watches in the eighteenth century, which required specific maintenance to function correctly. The precautions to be taken to ensure the accuracy of pocket chronometers, whose going would influence navigation or the results of scientific activities, were even more vital. However, the remarkable attention that horological studies have devoted to the origins of chronometry has neglected these aspects. It has erroneously assumed that the success of chronometers was guaranteed by their innovative impact and technological advancement. To illustrate the importance to examine the birth of chronometry from the point of view of manipulating technology and the user experience, my paper will discuss the case of the small series of pocket chronometers manufactured between 1782 and 1794 by the London workshop of the Swiss watchmaker Josiah Emery. The article shows that not all the users possessed the necessary technical knowledge nor training to handle and employ chronometers appropriately and that the instructions given by the artisan to his clients played a fundamental role.

Applying Digital Health in Cancer and Palliative Care in Europe: Policy Recommendations from an International Expert Workshop (MyPal Project).

Background: Digital health interventions are becoming increasingly important for adults, children, and young people with cancer and palliative care needs, but there is little research to guide policy and practice. Objectives: To identify recommendations for policy development of digital health interventions in cancer and palliative care. Design: Expert elicitation workshop. Setting: European clinical (cancer and palliative care, adult and pediatric), policy, technical, and research experts attended a one-day workshop in London, England, in October 2022, along with MyPal research consortium members. Methods: As part of the European Commission-funded MyPal project, we elicited experts' views on global, national, and institutional policies within structured facilitated groups, and conducted qualitative analysis on these discussions. Results/Implementation: Thirty-two experts from eight countries attended. Key policy drivers and levers in digital health were highlighted. Global level: global technology regulation, definitions, access to information technology, standardizing citizens' rights and data safety, digital infrastructure and implementation guidance, and incorporation of technology into existing health systems. National level: country-specific policy, compatibility of health apps, access to digital infrastructure including vulnerable groups and settings, development of guidelines, and promoting digital literacy. Institutional level: undertaking a needs assessment of service users and clinicians, identifying best practice guidelines, providing education and training for clinicians on digital health and safe digital data sharing, implementing plans to minimize barriers to accessing digital health care, minimizing bureaucracy, and providing technical support. Conclusions: Developers and regulators of digital health interventions may find the identified recommendations useful in guiding policy making and future research initiatives. MyPal child study Clinical Trial Registration NCT04381221; MyPal adult study Clinical Trial Registration NCT04370457.

Understanding Online and Offline Social Networks in Illness Management of Older Patients With Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Mixed Methods Study Using Quantitative Social Network Assessment and Qualitative Analysis.

BackgroundIndividuals’ social networks and social support are fundamental determinants of self-management and self-efficacy. In chronic respiratory conditions, social support can be promoted and optimized to facilitate the self-management of breathlessness.ObjectiveThis study aimed to identify how online and offline social networks play a role in the health management of older patients with chronic respiratory conditions, explore the role of support from online peers in patients’ self-management, and understand the barriers to and potential benefits of digital social interventions.MethodsWe recruited participants from a hospital-run singing group to a workshop in London, the United Kingdom, and adapted PERSNET, a quantitative social network assessment tool. The second workshop was replaced by telephone interviews because of the COVID-19 lockdown. The transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsA total of 7 participants (2/7, 29%, men and 5/7, 71%, women), with an age range of 64 to 81 years, produced network maps that comprised between 5 and 10 individuals, including family members, health care professionals, colleagues, activity groups, offline and online friends, and peers. The visual maps facilitated reflections and enhanced participants’ understanding of the role of offline and online social networks in the management of chronic respiratory conditions. It also highlighted the work undertaken by the networks themselves in the self-management support. Participants with small, close-knit networks received physical, health, and emotional support, whereas those with more diverse and large networks benefited from accessing alternative and complementary sources of information. Participants in the latter type of network tended to communicate more openly and comfortably about their illness, shared the impact of their illness on their day-to-day life, and demonstrated distinct traits in terms of identity and perception of chronic disease. Participants described the potential benefits of expanding their networks to include online peers as sources of novel information, motivation, and access to supportive environments. Lack of technological skills, fear of being scammed, or preference for keeping illness-related problems for themselves and immediate family were reported by some as barriers to engaging with online peer support.ConclusionsIn this small-scale study, the social network assessment tool proved feasible and acceptable. These data show the value of using a social network tool as a research tool that can help assess and understand network structure and engagement in the self-management support and could be developed into an intervention to support self-management. Patients’ preferences to share illness experiences with their online peers, as well as the contexts in which this can be acceptable, should be considered when developing and offering digital social interventions. Future studies can explore the evolution of the social networks of older people with chronic illnesses to understand whether their willingness to engage with online peers can change over time.

An Invitation to Dance

An Invitation to Dance

Commemorating the Silver Anniversary of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer International Workshop on Intrathoracic Staging

Commemorating the Silver Anniversary of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer International Workshop on Intrathoracic Staging

Dendrochronological analysis of an English chest: Contributing to knowledge about wood supply and chest production in 16th century England

Historic furniture has a great ethnographic and historical value, as styles and designs responded to specific uses, fashion trends and the social status of the buyer or the commissioner. Placing it in an exact chronological and geographical production context increases our knowledge about preferences for materials, designs, and woodworking practices for household commodities. Here we present the results of dendrochronological research carried out on an English chest from a private collection. The chest is of a hybrid construction, with boarded sides and back, and a joined front with four carved linenfold panels. It had been described as made of Baltic oak and dating to the mid-16th century, a crucial transition period for which only a few early chests have been analysed. Our results demonstrate, however, that the wood from the lid, side boards and back originates from the south of England. Heartwood/sapwood border in the left side board has allowed an estimated felling date for the tree of between 1520 and 1552. Terminus post quem dates of the rest of the elements pre-dating this interval indicate that the chest was likely made in the second quarter of the 16th century, as initially described. Three linenfold panels show typical features of Baltic wood, whereas the fourth one has different characteristics and could have been made with English oak, but the lack of access to the tree-ring patterns hampers verifying this hypothesis. Mixture of provenances suggests a production workshop in London, although other town in the south with a major timber market cannot be discarded. The construction features are described, and two distinct marks found in the chest are discussed in the regional context of its production. To allow the compilation and inventory of such marks, the ‘Marks on Wood’ community has been created in Zenodo and is presented here.

Toward Better Estimates of the Cost of Climate Change Mitigation: Guidelines for Studying Potential Health Benefits.

Toward Better Estimates of the Cost of Climate Change Mitigation: Guidelines for Studying Potential Health Benefits.

A constructive role for social science in the development of automated vehicles

Automated vehicles (AVs) have the potential to cause profound shifts across a wide range of areas of human life, including economic structures, land use, lifestyles and personal well-being. Most current social science on AVs is narrowly framed. Research on public attitudes has focused on whether people are likely to accept and use AVs. We contend that failing to anticipate a wider range of profound social implications may have serious negative consequences, and that social scientists from a range of disciplinary perspectives can provide invaluable insights. Our conclusions are the product of a workshop in London held in 2018 to discuss the place of social science research in relation to the development of AVs. This paper summarises a core selection of our concerns, interests, theoretical and substantive points of reference and aspirations for a constructive role in this field of research and development.

Building Practices: The Infrastructure of Materials Research

Materials testing is fundamental to multidisciplinary collective Assemble's practice. Trialling large‐scale prototypes in the South London workshop space which they share with various other craft makers and artists allows further cross‐disciplinary pollination of ideas through mutual observation. Assemble member Jane Hall sets out how they achieve innovation at low cost through mixing standard components with bespoke elements. Their recent project for the facade cladding of the nearby Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art serves as an example.

Harmonization in preclinical epilepsy research: A joint AES/ILAE translational initiative.

Among the priority next steps outlined during the first translational epilepsy research workshop in London, United Kingdom (2012), jointly organized by the American Epilepsy Society (AES) and the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), are the harmonization of research practices used in preclinical studies and the development of infrastructure that facilitates multicenter preclinical studies. The AES/ILAE Translational Task Force of the ILAE has been pursuing initiatives that advance these goals. In this supplement, we present the first reports of the working groups of the Task Force that aim to improve practices of performing rodent video-electroencephalography (vEEG) studies in experimental controls, generate systematic reviews of preclinical research data, and develop preclinical common data elements (CDEs) for epilepsy research in animals.

Embroidery as a Means of Diplomacy: The Artisans’ Part in a Royal Marriage Proposal, 1560–1561

The use of fashionable dress played an important part in early modern dynastic politics. In this paper, the diplomatic efforts to engineer a marriage between Erik XIV of Sweden and Elizabeth I of England are used as an example of the interrelations of textiles and diplomacy. Parallel to their negotiations in London, the Swedes organised the production of luxury goods and set up temporary workshops on the spot. The study looks at the Swedish embroidery workshop in London, using written records to investigate its organisation and production, and to discuss artisanal skills and the transnational element in employment in a royal workshop. It is suggested that the entire enterprise was a diplomatic practice, designed to enable the Swedes to draw attention to their presence in London and make their consumption visible on all possible levels.

Research Network on Regional Economic and Policy History

ABSTRACTIn the spring of 2017, the Research Network on Regional Economic and Policy History organized its inaugural workshop in London. The network aims to stimulate research in relation to regional economic development and planning challenges, by exploring the importance of historical approaches and methodologies whilst uncovering linkages between historical science and regional studies. The added value of an historical perspective is that it assists in revealing path dependencies in a region’s economy. Moreover, it can provide learnings in terms of the successes and failures of policy instruments, strategies, and institutions that are responsible for the implementation of regional policy. Furthermore, history can provide much-needed ‘thick’ descriptions which highlight contingencies. This contribution first explores the perspectives for interdisciplinary exchange between the study of history and the fields of regional and planning studies. Subsequently, it provides an outline of the aims and objectives, key activities, and participants of the network.

TRTH-06. CHILDREN’S BRAIN TUMOUR DRUG DELIVERY CONSORTIUM

INTRODUCTION: Whilst there is an urgent need to expedite the development of new or repurposed drugs for children’s cancer, the additional challenge in the developing brain is to ensure the drug is delivered to the tumour at therapeutic and non toxic concentrations for sufficient duration to achieve the biological effect. This is the necessary focus for personalised medicine agendas in children’s brain tumours as they account for over 20% of childhood cancer and differ significantly in their biological characteristics from their adult counterparts. METHODS: The authors took part in an international CNS drug delivery London workshop funded by the charity Children with Cancer UK (CwC) in February 2016 where different experimental techniques aimed at optimising CNS drug delivery in children’s brain tumours were presented and discussed. RESULTS: The workshop was reported (1) and promoted through e-cancer (2). We were encouraged to develop a proposal, to establish an international research consortium to raise awareness and promote collaboration in the field. This is now to be funded for two years by Children with Cancer. The Children’s Brain Tumour Drug Delivery Consortium will organise and host discussions between an international, multi-disciplinary network of clinicians and researchers within pharma and academia as well as a range of funders and stakeholders. This Consortium seeks to strengthen collaborative developments by working closely with the international children’s brain tumour community. CONCLUSION: We present this abstract to the SNO Pediatric conference to launch this initiative in North America and invite collaborators to promote this research priority for children across the world and to consider joining the consortium, which will be presented at the conference.

The London Workshop on the Biogeography and Connectivity of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

Recent years have seen a rapid increase in survey and sampling expeditions to the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) abyssal plain, a vast area of the central Pacific that is currently being actively explored for deep-sea minerals (ISA, 2016). Critical to the development of evidence-based environmental policy in the CCZ are data on the biogeography and connectivity of species at a CCZ-regional level. The London Workshop on the Biogeography and Connectivity of the CCZ was convened to support the integration and synthesis of data from European Union (EU) CCZ projects, supported by the EU Managing Impacts of Deep-Sea Resource Exploitation (MIDAS) and EU Joint Programming Initiative Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans (JPI Oceans) projects. The London Workshop had three clear goals: (1) To explore, review and synthesise the latest molecular biogeography and connectivity data from across recent CCZ cruises from both contractor and academia-funded projects; (2) To develop complementary and collaborative institutional and program-based academic publication plans to avoid duplication of effort and ensure maximum collaborative impact; (3) To plan a joint synthetic data publication highlighting key results from a range of planned molecular biogeography/connectivity publications. 32 participants attended the workshop at the Natural History Museum in London from 10-12 May 2016. Presentations and discussions are summarised in this report covering (1) overviews of current CCZ environmental projects, (2) policy and industry perspectives, (3) synthesis of DNA taxonomy and biogeography studies, (4) summaries of the latest population genetic studies, (5) summaries of the latest broader morphological context, (6) an overview of publication and proposal plans to maximise collaborative opportunities and finally a series of workshop recommendations.

Documenting attacks on health workers and facilities in armed conflicts.

During armed conflicts, international humanitarian law (which regulates the conduct of parties engaged in war) protects health-care workers and health facilities, the wounded and the sick. In the first half of 2016, however, the international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reported several attacks on health facilities and workers in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen. (1) These events have attracted media attention to a phenomenon of contemporary armed conflict that has important ramifications for the health, humanitarian, legal and security sectors. (2) In December 2015, the Stockholm Peace Research Institute and the Conflict and Health Research Group at King's College London convened a workshop in London on Eliminating violence against health workers: from theory to practice. Participants from MSF, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Medical Aid for Palestinians and academic organizations discussed current trends in violence against health workers and attacks on health facilities, presented research findings and highlighted key debates and research gaps in evidence. Some important lessons can be drawn from ICRC's Health Care in Danger campaign, MSF's Medical Care Under Fire campaign, as well as other organizations such as Physicians for Human Rights, which has recently documented mass atrocities in the Syrian Arab Republic as well as the impact of the Syrian conflict on the health sector. (3-5) There is a perception Of an increase in the number of health workers being killed and facilities being accidentally destroyed (so-called collateral damage) or deliberated targeted during armed conflicts. Comprehensive databases have been set up by independent research organizations to record major incidents of violence against aid workers, such as the Aid Worker Security Database of Humanitarian Outcomes and the Security in Numbers Database from Insecurity Insight. (6) However, even these do not currently provide health-specific data. The absence of baseline and routine data relating to attacks on health workers and health facilities makes it difficult to identify actual rising trends. Most of the available data sources do not capture violence on local health workers, who seem to bear the brunt of most attacks. Data disaggregated by sex are also lacking. (6) Box 1 Key needs for documenting attacks on health workers and health facilities in armed conflicts * Analysis of trends of attacks on patients and health-care workers, facilities and transport during armed conflict and other violent incidents. * Collection of systematic routine data, prospective and retrospective, which are disaggregated by sex. * Examination of the context of each conflict to understand the dynamics and motives for attacks. * Disaggregation of data on humanitarian databases to distinguish between types of aid workers, including local and international health-care workers. * Public availability of anonymized data collected by humanitarian organizations to support a global response on prevention and accountability. * Assessment of open threats and impact on health facilities and health-care personnel by security staff both before deployment and immediately after conflict. * Systematic analysis of the immediate and longer-term impact of violence on the providers of health care. These gaps in the evidence seem incongruous in an era of increasingly accessible and globalized data. Yet there are many factors that inhibit systematic data collection: poor or non-existent data collection by those in the field (for a variety of reasons ranging from security risks to insufficient research capacity); bias in data collection; insufficient research funding for the topic; and a lack of developed method. Some efforts have been made to monitor and study attacks (both quantitatively and qualitatively), particularly by the ICRC and MSF. However, multidisciplinary, collaborative, long-term retrospective and prospective studies are absent--often for valid reasons. …

Preface to the special issue on “Thin films and fluid interfaces”

Free-surface problems, where the boundary of a moving body of fluid evolves as part of the dynamics, are one of the most interesting and challenging areas in the field of fluid dynamics. Such problems are ubiquitous in natural settings over a wide range of physical scales, from the propagation of surface waves on oceans to the spreading of raindrops on plant leaves. These systems exhibit intricate behaviors and have inspired many different types of applied studies in physics and engineering such as using fluid wetting to test substrate material properties, improving transport in designs of microfluidic devices, and investigating self-assembly of patterned materials. Likewise, free-surface problems have been a long-standing source of fundamental mathematical questions on how to formulate models, analyze systems of nonlinear partial differential equations, and compute efficient numerical simulations. Within the broad spectrum of free-surface problems, one of the most developed branches concerns the behaviors produced by slender bodies of fluids, such as jets and thin sheets [1]. These problems are fundamental to many physical situations including coating processing that involve the spreading of thin films of fluids on solid substrates [2]. The governing equations for these flows are derived through the use of longwave asymptotics and lubrication theory. The resulting mathematical models are higher-order nonlinear partial differential equations that include the influences of surface tension and the geometry of the problem. Some notable papers have given overviews of physical [3–10], mathematical [11–14], and computational [15,16] aspects of this field. Contributing to this rich and active field of research, the motivation for this special issue of the Journal of Engineering Mathematics came from the workshop on “Thin Liquid Films and Fluid Interfaces: Models, Experiments and Applications” held at the Banff International Research Station (BIRS) on December 9–14, 2012 [17]. The workshop added to the growing list of focused meetings organized by various members of this research community. Some of the other conferences in the field were held at BIRS in 2003–2010 [18–21], UCLA’s IPAM center in 2006 [22], the EUROMECH 490 workshop in London in 2007 [23], two meetings at ICMS in Edinburgh in 1999 and 2009 (EUROMECH 497) [24,25], at the Fields Institute in 2012 [26], and the 2013 programme at the Newton Institute at Cambridge University [27]. Several of these meetings have inspired special issues of journals containing new research results on thin film problems [28–32]. An international and interdisciplinary array of researchers in physics, engineering, and applied mathematics attended the 2012 BIRS workshop. Physical problems discussed at the meeting spanned applications from nanoscale to geophysical settings and physiological to industrial contexts. Mathematical questions on modeling of complex fluids and fluid–structure interactions also led to spirited interactions among the conference participants.

T.P.35: Developing the SMA REACH UK database: A combined effort to improve standards of care and translational research in Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Exciting developments in the field of SMA mean there are potential therapeutic treatments on the horizon for this debilitating disease. Such advancements require robust valid outcome measures for clinical trials and agreed standards of care. A number of functional scales have been used in the last few years for SMA; while they capture important aspects of SMA function, each have shortcomings evident both clinically and by Rasch analysis. A new study SMA REACH UK (SMA REsearch And Clinical Hub) aims to form a national UK network, with robust links to other international networks, to establish and implement optimal functional assessment tools and standards of care for patients with SMA, thereby facilitating translational research. At inception SMA REACH UK organised a workshop in London (December 2013) with Physicians and Physiotherapists from the UK, Italy and USA. The workshop centred on clinically reported functional scales in SMA types 2 & 3 – HFMSE, NSAA for SMA, 6MWT, PUL and ULM for SMA. Each scale was discussed regarding clinical trial readiness, lessons learnt from SMA Europe, Rasch analysis, clinical meaningfulness, and sensitivity to change. This resulted in the creation of an Exploratory HFMSE and revised ULM for SMA. The Exploratory HFMSE and revised PUL for SMA have been prospectively tested together with the original HFMSE, NSAA for SMA and 6MWT in London, Newcastle and Rome since January 2014. In addition patient/parent reported outcome measures have been piloted in London and Newcastle. We present findings from SMA REACH UK on the clinical trial readiness of these novel outcome measures. Future work as part of this study will address functional scales in type 1 SMA, and the use of patient/parent reported outcome measures in SMA. This work will be an invaluable tool for centres likely to be involved in upcoming multicentre randomised controlled trials in SMA but also as a clinical platform for centres involved in the management of these patients.

Epilepsy therapy development: Technical and methodologic issues in studies with animal models

The search for new treatments for seizures, epilepsies, and their comorbidities faces considerable challenges. This is due in part to gaps in our understanding of the etiology and pathophysiology of most forms of epilepsy. An additional challenge is the difficulty in predicting the efficacy, tolerability, and impact of potential new treatments on epilepsies and comorbidities in humans, using the available resources. Herein we provide a summary of the discussions and proposals of the Working Group 2 as presented in the Joint American Epilepsy Society and International League Against Epilepsy Translational Workshop in London (September 2012). We propose methodologic and reporting practices that will enhance the uniformity, reliability, and reporting of early stage preclinical studies with animal seizure and epilepsy models that aim to develop and evaluate new therapies for seizures or epilepsies, using multidisciplinary approaches. The topics considered include the following: (1) implementation of better study design and reporting practices; (2) incorporation in the study design and analysis of covariants that may influence outcomes (including species, age, sex); (3) utilization of approaches to document target relevance, exposure, and engagement by the tested treatment; (4) utilization of clinically relevant treatment protocols; (5) optimization of the use of video-electroencephalography (EEG) recordings to best meet the study goals; and (6) inclusion of outcome measures that address the tolerability of the treatment or study end points apart from seizures. We further discuss the different expectations for studies aiming to meet regulatory requirements to obtain approval for clinical testing in humans. Implementation of the rigorous practices discussed in this report will require considerable investment in time, funds, and other research resources, which may create challenges for academic researchers seeking to contribute to epilepsy therapy discovery and development. We propose several infrastructure initiatives to overcome these barriers.

Epilepsy biomarkers

SummaryA biomarker is defined as an objectively measured characteristic of a normal or pathologic biologic process. Identification and proper validation of biomarkers of epileptogenesis (the development of epilepsy) and ictogenesis (the propensity to generate spontaneous seizures) might predict the development of an epilepsy condition; identify the presence and severity of tissue capable of generating spontaneous seizures; measure progression after the condition is established; and determine pharmacoresistance. Such biomarkers could be used to create animal models for more cost‐effective screening of potential antiepileptogenic and antiseizure drugs and devices, and to reduce the cost of clinical trials by enriching the trial population, and acting as surrogate markers to shorten trial duration. The objectives of the biomarker subgroup for the London Workshop were to define approaches for identifying possible biomarkers for these purposes. Research to identify reliable biomarkers may also reveal underlying mechanisms that could serve as therapeutic targets for the development of new antiepileptogenic and antiseizure compounds.

School food research: building the evidence base for policy.

Following an international workshop on developing the evidence base for policy relating to school food held in London, UK, in January 2012, the objectives of the present paper were (i) to outline a rationale for school food research, monitoring and evaluation in relation to policy and (ii) to identify ways forward for future working. The authors analysed presentations, summaries of evidence, and notes from discussions held at the international workshop in London in 2012 to distil common themes and make recommendations for the development of coherent research programmes relating to food and nutrition in schools. International, with an emphasis on middle- and high-income countries. Overviews of existing school food and nutrition programmes from the UK, Hungary, Sweden, the USA, Australia, Brazil, China, Mexico and other countries were presented, along with information on monitoring, evaluation and other research to demonstrate the impact of school feeding on health, attainment, food sourcing, procurement and finances, in the context of interactions between the evidence base and policy decisions. This provided the material which, together with summaries and notes of discussions, was used to develop recommendations for the development and dissemination of robust approaches to sustainable and effective school food and nutrition programmes in middle- and high-income countries, including policy guidelines, standards, cost-effectiveness measures and the terms of political engagement. School food and nutrition can provide a cohesive core for health, education and agricultural improvement provided: (i) policy is appropriately framed and includes robust monitoring and evaluation; and (ii) all stakeholders are adequately engaged in the process. International exchange of information will be used to develop a comprehensive guide to the assessment of the impact of school food and nutrition policy and supporting infrastructure.