Research Ltd Research Articles

Working with Gordon Pask: some personal impressions

Gives some personal impressions about Gordon from the author’s time working for him at System Research Ltd and from time working together in the Department of Cybernetics, Brunel University.

Some memories of Gordon

The author worked with Gordon for many years in the early days of System Research Ltd and before and knew him later at Brunel University and the Cybernetics Society. Here are some memories.

Parsons Plastics (Research and Development) Ltd v Purac Ltd

Parsons Plastics (Research and Development) Ltd v Purac Ltd

Long-term intraocular pressure–lowering efficacy and safety of timolol maleate gel-forming solution 0.5% compared with timoptic XE 0.5% in a 12-month study

PURPOSE: To evaluate the long-term intraocular pressure–lowering efficacy and safety of timolol maleate gel-forming solution 0.5% (Timolol GFS 0.5%, Alcon Research Ltd, Fort Worth, Texas) compared with Timoptic XE 0.5% (Merck, Inc, West Point, Pennsylvania) in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. METHODS: Two hundred forty-one patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, who had intraocular pressure between 22 and 36 mm Hg in at least one eye, were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive either Timolol GFS 0.5% once daily or Timoptic XE 0.5% once daily, in a 12-month randomized, multicenter, double-masked, prospective study. The primary efficacy variable was mean trough intraocular pressure measured at 8:00 am, approximately 24 hours after dosing. RESULTS: The Timolol GFS 0.5% group produced significant trough intraocular pressure reductions from a baseline of 4.5 to 5.2 mm Hg ( P = .0001), compared with reductions of 4.1 to 5.3 mm Hg ( P = .0001) in the Timoptic XE 0.5% group. The difference in mean intraocular pressure between the two treatments was 0.9 mm Hg or less, and the upper 95% confidence limit between groups was 0.92 mm Hg or less at all time points, demonstrating both clinical and statistical equivalence. A similar percentage of patients in the Timolol GFS 0.5% group (71%) and Timoptic XE group (72%) had clinically relevant reductions in intraocular pressure. There was no significant difference in the safety profiles of the two treatments. CONCLUSION: Both treatments were clinically effective in lowering intraocular pressure and maintaining the reductions over long-term use. Timolol GFS 0.5% is a safe and effective therapy for open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension and is both clinically and statistically equivalent to Timoptic XE 0.5% in reducing intraocular pressure.

UKWIR initiatives for implementing expert group recommendations to minimise Cryptosporidium risk in water treatment—a summary review

The UK Expert Group on Cryptosporidium in Water Supplies provided recommendations to the Water Industry on optimising water treatment for the removal of oocysts. UK Water Industry Research Ltd (UKWIR), on behalf of the UK Water Utilities, commissioned research to facilitate the implementation of these recommendations. This involved extensive pilot plant trials, the results of which were disseminated through research reports and workshops. The findings of the research were also included in a water treatment manual which provided more detailed operational guidance to supplement the Expert Group recommendations. A brief overview of this research is provided, with examples of the findings to illustrate thenature of the operational guidance in the manual.

Book review

Book review

New graphical user interface for lighting analysis software

The Ove Arup Partnership Ltd LIGHT program has been developed and applied over many years for the analysis of complex artificial and dayliglting designs. This poster paper reviews a new graphical user interface for the program that has been designed and implemented by Peters Research Ltd.

Effect of intracorporeal-extracorporeal instrument length ratio on endoscopic task performance and surgeon movements.

Better endoscopic task performance and more ergonomic movements of a surgeon's dominant upper limb can be achieved within a certain range of intracorporeal-extracorporeal instrument length ratio. Investigating the effect of 3 intracorporeal-extracorporeal instrument length ratios (240:120 mm, level 1; 180:180 mm, level 2; and 120:240 mm, level 3) on efficiency and quality of a standardized endoscopic task (intracorporeal surgeon's knot). Ten surgeons tied 360 knots inside a trainer in a random sequence. Task efficiency was measured by the execution time, which was recorded for each knot. Task quality was measured by the knot quality score, derived from the force-extension curves obtained by distraction of each knot in a tensiometer. Motion analysis parameters were obtained at the elbow and shoulder joints using a 3-dimensional motion analysis system (Kinemetrix Model 5.0-3D/3MBM; Medical Research Ltd, Leeds, England). The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used for analysis. The level 3 ratio had the lowest knot quality score (P = .07) and longest execution time (P<.05). The range of movement at the elbow was significantly greater with the level 3 ratio than with the level 1 ratio (P<.05). The level 3 ratio also resulted in the widest range of movement at the shoulder (P<.05 for level 2 vs 3; P = .06 for level 1 vs 3). The median angular velocity was 329.5 degrees/s, 360 degrees/s, and 530 degrees/s for levels 1, 2, and 3, respectively (P = .10). Intracorporeal-extracorporeal instrument length ratio below 1.0 degrades task performance and is associated with a wider range of movement at the elbow and shoulder and a higher angular velocity at the shoulder.

HGSYSTEM 1Program: HGSYSTEM version 3.0, 1995 with enhancements, 1997. Source: HGSYSTEM Custodian, Shell Research Ltd, Shell Research Centre Thornton, PO Box 1, Chester, CH1 3SH, UK, e-mail: HGSYSTEM@OPC.shell.com. System: a 486 or faster microprocessor runs in DOS3.3 or later. Calculations require about 3 MB in hard drive and 4 MB of RAM. Cost: free downloading from http://www.users.virtual-chester.com/hgsystem. Documentation: a user's

Abstract HGSYSTEM is a package of computer models for modeling release and atmospheric dispersion of hazardous substances, which has capabilities that may not be found together elsewhere (e.g., hydrogen fluoride/air/water thermodynamics, aerosol release, release and dispersion of mixtures, multi-component evaporation, downward vertical jets, plume lift-off, deposition, and street-canyon). There are, however, some shortcomings in its spill models and in the transition from a spill to a dispersion model. The model's strong and weak points and limited comparisons with ALOHA and DEGADIS are discussed herein.

Macrobenthic colonisation of disturbances on an intertidal sandflat:the influence of season and buried algae

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 191:163-174 (1999) - doi:10.3354/meps191163 Macrobenthic colonisation of disturbances on an intertidal sandflat: the influence of season and buried algae R. B. Ford1,*, S. F. Thrush2, P. K. Probert1 1Department of Marine Science, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand 2National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd, PO Box 11-115, Hamilton, New Zealand *E-mail: rbf@st-and.ac.uk ABSTRACT: This study examines whether macrofaunal colonisation differs seasonally in an intertidal sandflat. Frozen cores were placed in the sandflat within each season and colonisation of these cores was followed for 50 d. This study shows a previously untested effect of buried algal mats on colonisation. A change in the sediment organic content can increase or decrease macrofaunal densities. Community colonisation rates of defaunated plugs were slower in winter compared to summer because of the higher numbers of rare macrofauna in winter. Community colonisation of plugs with algal additions were also dependent on the seasonally varying response of the corophiid amphipod Paracorophium excavatum, the most abundant species in this community. The strongest effect of the experiments was linked to critical densities of P. excavatum, irrespective of season. A mechanism for this linkage is suggested. This study also emphasises the importance of post-settlement movement as the mechanism by which most species on this sandflat colonised in either season. KEY WORDS: Intertidal sands · New Zealand · Buried algae · Colonisation · Community ecology · Paracorophium excavatum · Seasonal effects Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 191. Publication date: December 30, 1999 Print ISSN:0171-8630; Online ISSN:1616-1599 Copyright © 1999 Inter-Research.

THE GLAXO WELLCOME MEDICINES RESEARCH CENTRE: CONCEPT DESIGN TO DETAIL DESIGN.

Everybody has won and all must have prizes, said the Dodo in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This quote, used by Sir Michael Latham in his report Constructing the Team, 1994, describes a 'win-win' situation. The £500 million project for Glaxo Wellcome Group Research Ltd in Stevenage has set the example of a win-win project. Opened by the Queen in April 1995, the new laboratories are one of the world's most advanced pharmaceutical research facilities. They contain more than 130 000 m 2 state-of-the-art laboratories and pilot plants, plus support facilities for some 2000 scientific staff engaged in novel product discovery. Anticipating many of Latham's recommendations, aspects of this project's realization could be considered as 'models' through which to show the construction industry a means of achieving the highest standards, on time, within budget and in a non-adversarial working environment. Its execution has challenged the traditional organization of the building team, pioneered methods of design control and applied computer technology on an extensive scale. The creative results of these efforts point to ways in which the building industry can improve the quality and efficiency of its products and processes to the benefit of its clients and all those who work within it.

THE GLAXO WELLCOME MEDICINES RESEARCH CENTRE: DETAIL DESIGN TO CONSTRUCTION.

Much of Sir Michael Latham's report, Constructing the Team, 1994, revolves around the issue of moving the whole construction industry forward. He suggests that better informed clients and non-adversarial contracts could unite the many participants in the construction process into a mutually educative team. The £500 million project for Glaxo Wellcome Group Research Ltd in Stevenage, opened in April 1995, tackled many of the points raised in Latham's report. The new laboratories are one of the world's most advanced pharmaceutical research facilities, containing more than 130 000 m 2 state-of-the-art laboratories and pilot plants, plus support facilities for 2000 scientific staff engaged in novel product discovery. The project shows how high-level information systems were developed to control every stage of the process and made it possible to foresee problems and avoid irretrievable situations. This attitude of prevention rather than cure produced positive knock-on effects at all levels. The methods employed to address health and safety anticipated much of the Health and Safety Executive's 1994 Construction (Design and Management) Regulations. The Glaxo Wellcome Medicines Research Centre project demonstrates that the implementation of many of Latham's recommendations on large-scale building projects is achievable and were in fact fundamentally part of the project's philosophy.

The accuracy and sensitivity of infrared differential absorption lidar measurements of hydrocarbon emissions from process units

Shell Research Ltd has been using an infrared DIAL (differential absorption lidar) facility for two and a half years to measure hydrocarbon emissions to the atmosphere from petroleum industry process units. This paper describes the procedures used for measurement, emission rate calculation and data display, and then discusses the factors that affect the accuracy and detection limits of column content and emission rate measurements under practical operating conditions.

Gough, A. (1997). Education and the Environment. Policy, Trends and the Problems of Marginalisation. Melbourne: The Australian Council for Research Ltd, 204 pages.

Gough, A. (1997). Education and the Environment. Policy, Trends and the Problems of Marginalisation. Melbourne: The Australian Council for Research Ltd, 204 pages.

A New System for Catalytic Asymmetric Epoxidation Using Iminium Salt Catalysts.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVNoteNEXTA New System for Catalytic Asymmetric Epoxidation Using Iminium Salt CatalystsPhilip C. Bulman Page, Gerasimos A. Rassias, Donald Bethell, and Mark B. SchillingView Author Information Department of Chemistry, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, England, Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Oxford Street, Liverpool L69 3BX, England, and GlaxoWellcome Research & Development Ltd, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG1 2NY, England Cite this: J. Org. Chem. 1998, 63, 8, 2774–2777Publication Date (Web):March 25, 1998Publication History Received18 December 1997Published online25 March 1998Published inissue 1 April 1998https://doi.org/10.1021/jo972289hCopyright © 1998 American Chemical SocietyRIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views819Altmetric-Citations70LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit Read OnlinePDF (53 KB) Get e-AlertsSupporting Info (1)»Supporting Information Supporting Information SUBJECTS:Amines,Catalysts,Hydrocarbons,Organic reactions,Salts Get e-Alerts

Coupled groundwater flow and transport: 1. Verification of variable density flow and transport models

This work examines variable density flow and corresponding solute transport in groundwater systems. Fluid dynamics of salty solutions with significant density variations are of increasing interest in many problems of subsurface hydrology. The mathematical model comprises a set of non-linear, coupled, partial differential equations to be solved for pressure/hydraulic head and mass fraction/concentration of the solute component. The governing equations and underlying assumptions are developed and discussed. The equation of solute mass conservation is formulated in terms of mass fraction and mass concentration. Different levels of the approximation of density variations in the mass balance equations are used for convection problems (e.g. the Boussinesq approximation and its extension, fully density approximation). The impact of these simplifications is studied by use of numerical modelling. Numerical models for nonlinear problems, such as density-driven convection, must be carefully verified in a particular series of tests. Standard benchmarks for proving variable density flow models are the Henry, Elder, and salt dome (HYDROCOIN level 1 case 5) problems. We studied these benchmarks using two finite element simulators - ROCKFLOW, which was developed at the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Computer Applications in Civil Engineering and FEFLOW, which was developed at the Institute for Water Resources Planning and Systems Research Ltd. Although both simulators are based on the Galerkin finite element method, they differ in many approximation details such as temporal discretization (Crank-Nicolson vs predictor-corrector schemes), spatial discretization (triangular and quadrilateral elements), finite element basis functions (linear, bilinear, biquadratic), iteration schemes (Newton, Picard) and solvers (direct, iterative). The numerical analysis illustrates discretization effects and defects arising from the different levels of the density of approximation. We contribute new results for the salt dome problem, for which inconsistent findings exist in literature. Applications of the verified numerical models to more complex problems, such as thermohaline and three-dimensional convection systems, will be presented in the second part of this paper.

Toxkit technology and New Zealand water quality guidelines

Toxkits are a relatively new generation of microbiotests developed by the research teams of Professor Guido Persoone at the University of Ghent, Belgium. They are an effective and cost-efficient way to perform, for example, regulatory acute aquatic toxicity screening tests of effluents, aimed at maintaining water quality and protecting biota of receiving waters. To date there are seven Toxkits on the market with different test species of different phylogenetic groups. The protocols for several of these kits (e.g., DaphtoxkitTM and the AlgaltoxkitTM) adhere to national or international guidelines for toxicity testing. Supported by the Sustainable Management Fund (SMF) of the Ministry for the Environment (New Zealand), research into the development of ecotoxicity test protocols using native indicator species has been underway since 1995 at the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd. NZ (NIWA). The Resource Management Act of 1991 requires local authorities and industry to apply for consent to discharge effluent to water or land. Ecotoxicity testing is now being included in these consent requirements. Also supported by a grant from the SMF, Wellington Polytechnic has begun comparative sensitivity tests, using split effluent samples, with Toxkit organisms and native species. NIWA is contracted to carry out the toxicity testing with native species. Six Toxkit protocols and the IQ Toxicity TestTM (rapid microbiotest using fluorescing enzyme split substrate) marketed by Aqua Survey USA are being used in the comparison. In addition a round-robin intercalibration exercise will be carried out using selected Toxkits, in regional diagnostic laboratories. Information from the comparative sensitivity tests and the intercalibration exercise will be used to determine overall effectiveness and cost-efficiency of the Toxkits, under New Zealand conditions, and to make recommendations to regional authorities about their potential role as Tier I ecotoxicity screening tests in consents to discharge effluent. The research design is explained, preliminary results are presented, and an update of recent advances in Toxkit technology and their increased application in European countries is given. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Environ Toxicol Water Qual 13: 337–345, 1998

WAY100635 and latent inhibition in the rat: selective effects at preexposure

The influence of the selective, silent 5HT1a antagonist WAY100635 (Wyeth Research Ltd) on the latent inhibition effect was examined in a within-subject, on-baseline conditioned suppression procedure in rats. WAY100635 was found to enhance the latent inhibition effect, producing a retardation in the acquisition of conditioned suppression following a level of stimulus preexposure known to be insufficient to produce a latent inhibition effect in control animals. This influence of the drug was restricted to its actions during the preexposure phase of the experiment, and the drug also abolished the unconditioned suppression of lever pressing that occurs on the first presentation of a novel auditory stimulus. These findings are discussed in terms of the possible influence of serotonergic manipulations on contextual processing, and also have important implications for current animal models of schizophrenia which stress the role of dopaminergic mechanisms in latent inhibition.

Strategies in selecting an agent for clinical trials.

Annals of the New York Academy of SciencesVolume 823, Issue 1 p. 319-327 Strategies in Selecting an Agent for Clinical Trials RICHARD W. PECK, Corresponding Author RICHARD W. PECK Clinical Pharmacology GlaxoWellcome Research & Development Ltd. Greenford Road Greenford, Middlesex UB6 0HE, England Tel: +44 (0)181-966-2664; fax: +44 (0)181-426-4363; e-mail: rp47789@ggr.co.uk.Search for more papers by this author RICHARD W. PECK, Corresponding Author RICHARD W. PECK Clinical Pharmacology GlaxoWellcome Research & Development Ltd. Greenford Road Greenford, Middlesex UB6 0HE, England Tel: +44 (0)181-966-2664; fax: +44 (0)181-426-4363; e-mail: rp47789@ggr.co.uk.Search for more papers by this author First published: 17 December 2006 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb48406.xCitations: 3Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume823, Issue1Neuropsychiatric Manifestations of Systemic Lupus ErythematosisAugust 1997Pages 319-327 RelatedInformation

Managing creativity, maintaining control: a study in pharmaceutical research

This paper examines how managers of scientific researchers in a major UK pharmaceutical company attempt to cope with the demands of generating creative research while exercising control over highly-qualified workers. The paper considers some models applicable to HRM in research before turning to research management at Glaxo Research and Development Ltd. Focusing on the management of working time and performance-related pay as control devices, and drawing on labour process perspectives, the authors examine the impact of these on the research process. As there is a high level of indeterminacy in research work, the operation of these controls by line managers is necessarily subjective. This may encourage behaviour which runs counter to the organisational goal of developing new chemical entities. It is suggested, in conclusion, that a fundamental tension between creativity and control characterises the management of commercial research, and is exacerbated by the dynamic nature of the firm's environment.