Regional innovation in arts provision spawned by COVID-19: ‘It became a lifeline for a lot of people who are stuck at home’

Although the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and cultural sector due to the closure of galleries, museums, arts venues, and other cultural assets represents a significant health risk, new opportunities for arts and cultural engagement have arisen. Interviews with 24 representatives including service providers and creative practitioners from 15 arts and cultural organizations within the Liverpool City Region were conducted. The aim was to examine the impact of COVID-19 on arts and cultural provision and on organizations and people providing these services, as well as to understand the perceptions of service providers and practitioners of the effects on those whom arts and cultural organizations serve, including those who would usually access arts through formal healthcare routes (e.g., through collaboration with health partners). Interview data were analyzed using framework analysis. Four overarching themes were identified: Response: Closures, adaptations, and new directions; Challenges of online provision; Value of online provision; and the future of the arts. The arts and cultural sector has innovated rapidly, notably with accelerated digitalisation. Alternative provision has been “a lifeline” for vulnerable groups, such as those with mental health difficulties. Arts organizations have been most effective in reaching vulnerable, isolated and disadvantaged populations when they have worked in close collaboration with health and social care providers. The implementation of hybrid provision is an important move forward for the sector in light of our findings that alternative modes of provision are advantageous additions to service as usual. Given the increasing concerns about the mental health sequelae of the pandemic in the UK, arts and cultural engagement could play a pivotal role in the future recovery period

Back to live: Returning to in-person engagement with arts and culture in the Liverpool City Region

On July 19th 2021, the UK government lifted the COVID-19 restrictions that had been in place since March 2020, including wearing masks, social distancing, and all other legal requirements. The return to in-person events has been slow and gradual, showing that audiences are still cautious when (and if) they resume engaging in arts and culture. Patterns of audience behavior have also changed, shifting toward local attendance, greater digital and hybrid engagement, and openness to event format changes. As the arts and cultural industry recovers from the pandemic, it is important to adopt an audience-oriented approach and look at the changing patterns of engaging in arts and culture. This study aims to better understand the impact of the pandemic on the patterns of cultural and arts engagement. Eight qualitative interviews were conducted to explore the changes in arts and cultural engagement since the restrictions were lifted, focusing particularly on the audience’s experiences of returning to in-person arts and cultural events in the Liverpool City Region (LCR). Using framework analysis, three themes were identified from the data: The new normal: reframing pre-pandemic and pandemic experiences of arts and culture, Re-adjusting to in-person provision, and Moving forward: online and blended provision. The findings show that the pandemic altered the ways that people engage in arts and culture. The “new normal,” a blend of pandemic and pre-pandemic experiences, illustrates how the pandemic has highlighted and reconfigured the importance of arts and culture, in terms of personal and cultural identity. Resuming in-person engagement after a long break, participants noted that they were able to feel more like themselves again. Arts and culture were perceived to be beneficial in rebuilding personal resilience and confidence. Engaging in arts and culture, following the isolating experience of the pandemic, has also helped participants feel reconnected to others through their shared experiences. Finally, the findings suggest that online provision remains vital for many, ensuring wider inclusivity, particularly for vulnerable audiences. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge the barriers to online inclusion and the possibility of this resulting in a growing digital divide

Billy Elliot The Musical: visual representations of working-class masculinity and the all-singing, all-dancing bo[d]y

According to Cynthia Weber, ‘[d]ance is commonly thought of as liberating, transformative, empowering, transgressive, and even as dangerous’. Yet ballet as a masculine activity still remains a suspect phenomenon. This paper will challenge this claim in relation to Billy Elliot the Musical and its critical reception. The transformation of the visual representation of the human body on stage (from an ephemeral existence to a timeless work of art) will be discussed and analysed vis-a-vis the text and sub-texts of Stephen Daldry’s direction and Peter Darling’s choreography. The dynamics of working-class masculinity will be contextualised within the framework of the family, the older female, the community, the self and the act of dancing itself

Cyclic cycle systems of the complete multipartite graph

In this paper, we study the existence problem for cyclic $\ell$-cycle decompositions of the graph $K_m[n]$, the complete multipartite graph with $m$ parts of size $n$, and give necessary and sufficient conditions for their existence in the case that $2\ell \mid (m-1)n$

Hydrodynamics of the stream-disk impact in interacting binaries

We use hydrodynamic simulations to provide quantitative estimates of the effects of the impact of the accretion stream on disks in interacting binaries. For low accretion rates, efficient radiative cooling of the hotspot region can occur, and the primary consequence of the stream impact is stream overflow toward smaller disk radii. The stream is well described by a ballistic trajectory, but larger masses of gas are swept up and overflow at smaller, but still highly supersonic, velocities. If cooling is inefficient, overflow still occurs, but there is no coherent stream inward of the disk rim. Qualitatively, the resulting structure appears as a bulge extending downstream along the disk rim. We calculate the mass fraction and velocity of the overflowing component as a function of the important system parameters, and discuss the implications of the results for X-ray observations and doppler tomography of cataclysmic variables, low-mass X-ray binaries and supersoft X-ray sources.Comment: 16 pages, including 8 figures. 1 color figure as a jpeg. ApJ, in pres

Defining interactions: a conceptual framework for understanding interactive behaviour in human and automated road traffic

Rapid advances in technology for highly automated vehicles (HAVs) have raised concerns about coexistence of HAVs and human road users. Although there is a long tradition of research into human road user interactions, there is a lack of shared models and terminology to support cross-disciplinary research and development towards safe and acceptable interaction-capable HAVs. Here, we review the main themes and findings in previous theoretical and empirical interaction research, and find large variability in perspectives and terminologies. We unify these perspectives in a structured, cross-theoretical conceptual framework, describing what road traffic interactions are, how they arise, and how they get resolved. Two key contributions are: (1) a stringent definition of “interaction”, as “a situation where the behaviour of at least two road users can be interpreted as being influenced by the possibility that they are both intending to occupy the same region of space at the same time in the near future”, and (2) a taxonomy of the types of behaviours that road users exhibit in interactions. We hope that this conceptual framework will be useful in the development of improved empirical methodology, theoretical models, and technical requirements on vehicle automation

Identification of Arcanobacterium pyogenes isolated by post mortem examinations of a bearded dragon and a gecko by phenotypic and genotypic properties

The present study was designed to identify phenotypically and genotypically two Arcanobacterium (A.) pyogenes strains isolated by post mortem examinations of a bearded dragon and a gecko. The A. pyogenes strains showed the typical biochemical properties and displayed CAMP-like synergistic hemolytic activities with various indicator strains. The species identity could be confirmed genotypically by amplification and sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene and, as novel target gene, by sequencing of the beta subunit of RNA polymerase encoding gene rpoB, of both strains and of reference strains representing nine species of the genus Arcanobacterium. The species identity of the two A. pyogenes strains could additionally be confirmed by PCR mediated amplification of species specific parts of the 16S-23S rDNA intergenic spacer region, the pyolysin encoding gene plo and by amplification of the collagen-binding protein encoding gene cbpA. All these molecular targets might help to improve the future identification and further characterization of A. pyogenes which, as demonstrated in the present study, could also be isolated from reptile specimens

Role of orexin A signaling in dietary palmitic acid-activated microglial cells

AbstractExcess dietary saturated fatty acids such as palmitic acid (PA) induce peripheral and hypothalamic inflammation. Hypothalamic inflammation, mediated in part by microglial activation, contributes to metabolic dysregulation. In rodents, high fat diet-induced microglial activation results in nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NFκB), and increased central pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). The hypothalamic neuropeptide orexin A (OXA, hypocretin 1) is neuroprotective in brain. In cortex, OXA can also reduce inflammation and neurodegeneration through a microglial-mediated pathway. Whether hypothalamic orexin neuroprotection mechanisms depend upon microglia is unknown. To address this issue, we evaluated effects of OXA and PA on inflammatory response in immortalized murine microglial and hypothalamic neuronal cell lines. We demonstrate for the first time in microglial cells that exposure to PA increases gene expression of orexin-1 receptor but not orexin-2 receptor. Pro-inflammatory markers IL-6, TNF-α, and inducible nitric oxide synthase in microglial cells are increased following PA exposure, but are reduced by pretreatment with OXA. The anti-inflammatory marker arginase-1 is increased by OXA. Finally, we show hypothalamic neurons exposed to conditioned media from PA-challenged microglia have increased cell survival only when microglia were pretreated with OXA. These data support the concept that OXA may act as an immunomodulatory regulator of microglia, reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines and increasing anti-inflammatory factors to promote a favorable neuronal microenvironment

Experimental measurement of the isolated magnetic susceptibility

The isolated susceptibility $\chi_{\rm I}$ may be defined as a (non-thermodynamic) average over the canonical ensemble, but while it has often been discussed in the literature, it has not been clearly measured. Here, we demonstrate an unambiguous measurement of $\chi_{\rm I}$ at avoided nuclear-electronic level crossings in a dilute spin ice system, containing well-separated holmium ions. We show that $\chi_{\rm I}$ quantifies the superposition of quasi-classical spin states at these points, and is a direct measure of state concurrence and populations.Comment: 9 pages, & figure