Middlesbrough College

Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare neurological condition. Research has increased our understanding of the etiology, prognosis, and effective medical treatment of the illness. There is a lack of understanding regarding the psychological effects and what could help patients. This study aimed to begin to address this using constructivist grounded theory. Eleven interviews were conducted with participants who had received a diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome in the preceding 4years. The model that emerged identified two key processes: "Loss, determination, and adjustment" and "The unknown." "Receiving support," "Obtaining knowledge," and "Experiencing hope" assist in navigating these psychological effects. The findings emphasize the all-encompassing effects of Guillain-Barré syndrome, illustrating the need for rehabilitation professionals to alleviate uncertainty and foster practices that could facilitate patients' navigation through the illness. Recommendations for further research are provided.

Deep Learning algorithms, such as those used in Reinforcement Learning, often require large quantities of data to train effectively. In most cases, the availability of data is not a significant issue. However, for some contexts, such as in autonomous cyber defence, we require data efficient methods. Recently, Quantum Machine Learning and Boltzmann Machines have been proposed as solutions to this challenge. In this work we build upon the pre-existing work to extend the use of Deep Boltzmann Machines to the cutting edge algorithm Proximal Policy Optimisation in a Reinforcement Learning cyber defence environment. We show that this approach, when solved using a D-WAVE quantum annealer, can lead to a two-fold increase in data efficiency. We therefore expect it to be used by the machine learning and quantum communities who are hoping to capitalise on data-efficient Reinforcement Learning methods.

Textbook of Otitis Media: The Basics and Beyond M V Goycoolea, S Selaimen da Costa, C de Souza, M M Paparella (eds) Springer, 2023 Hardcover: ISBN978-3-031-40948-6 pp 730 Price Hardcover £139.99 eBook: ISBN 978-3-031-40949-3 - Volume 138 Issue 8

Health inequalities are where we see differences in health across the population, and between different groups in society, that are systematic, unfair and avoidable (1). They need a long-term systemic response to support people to value their health and wellbeing (2). These social, economic environmental, cultural and commercial factors, known as the wider determinants of health, are unequally distributed across the UK population (3). This is despite numerous attempts to address them at a local, national and internationally (4, 5).

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Objective To use a standardised reporting tool to identify potential eligible candidates for cochlear implant (CI) referral and quantify the proportion of adults who had a CI referral discussion after presenting with an audiogram within United Kingdom (UK) audiometric criteria. Design Retrospective multicentre 6-month audit of Audiology clinic databases. Study sample A total of 810 adults from five geographically diverse UK Audiology sites. Results Data were collected in late 2019 after UK CI audiometric candidacy criteria changed; one site collected only 3 months of data. The proportion of potential eligible adults (based only on audiometry) considered for CI referral was 64% (521 out of 810) and varied by site (from 50% to 83%). About 24% of patients (123 out of 521) declined CI referral; this also varied across sites (12–45%). The median age of patients where CI referral was not considered was 80 years – significantly higher than the group where CI referral was considered (73 years). Conclusions CI referral is dependent on where adults live, and how old they are. Older adults are significantly less likely to be considered for CI referral by Audiologists. Audiology clinics need more support to empower staff to talk to patients about CI referral.

Induction motors are the most widely adopted alternating current machines in industry. Requirements for precise and efficient control of such motors has led to developments in high performance drives, namely direct torque control. The induction motors parameters must be ascertained to accurately tune the drive to its optimum performance, failing to do so would result in an inadequate response from the drive, leading to sluggish dynamics and premature deterioration of the motor and drive. The process of optimizing the drive parameters is laborious, costly and time consuming. MathWorks provides software to model and modify the parameters of a direct torque control drive, however the trial and error retuning methods are tedious. This paper presents the development of an AC induction motor and direct torque control drive parameter retuning app which can accurately predict the motor and drive parameters and then simulate its performance using solely the motor nominal power rating. The app utilises the AC4 block and pre-set induction motor models from within the Math Works Specialised Power Systems library. The effectiveness of the app was first tested with known data points and then at random query points and operating conditions, all of which produced satisfactory results in significantly reduced time.

Abstract The demand for sustainable energy sources has increased owing to environmental concerns, such as climate change, rising energy demand and rapid industrialization. Biomass utilization for bioenergy and value‐added chemical production has become essential for creating a circular low‐carbon bioeconomy and sustainable waste management techniques. This review focuses on thermochemical processes and analyzes the trends of biomass utilization for energy production in the EU over the last decade. It discusses the current state‐of‐the‐art of gasification, pyrolysis, advanced combustion and liquefaction technologies, and presents the individual challenges and prospects of each process. A comprehensive overview of previous studies related to each conversion technology is provided to pave the way for future thermochemical, biochemical and integrated biomass valorization studies. Additionally, the review discusses biomass thermochemical conversion processes, which are combined with carbon capture, such as gasification, liquefaction and pyrolysis. These processes offer the potential to achieve negative net atmospheric carbon emissions, which can contribute to global warming mitigation efforts.

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The postoperative management of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is variable with favourable surgical outcomes. Yet there is no evidence on the efficacy of hydrotherapy in athletes undergoing hip arthroscopy for FAI. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role and the impact of hydrotherapy on return to sports following hip arthroscopy for symptomatic FAI. 2 cohorts of mixed level of athletes from various sports: a hydrotherapy group that followed land-based exercises in combination with hydrotherapy exercises and a control group that followed solely the same land-based exercises. Pre- and postoperative pain and hip-specific outcome scores were completed, and patient satisfaction was rated. A total of 88 hip arthroscopies were included with a minimum of 2 years follow-up; the hydrotherapy group comprised of 36 hips and the control group, 52 hips. There was a significant improvement in time to return to previous performance (HR 1.91, 95% CI, 1.21-3.01; p = 0.005) in the hydrotherapy group compared with the control. The hip-specific scores and patient satisfaction were considerably improved in the hydrotherapy group. The analysis of our data indicates that the incorporation of hydrotherapy into postoperative rehabilitation for hip arthroscopy for FAI accelerates the return of athletes to their pre-injury performance, since recovery time decreased significantly.