Effect of Stubborn Agents on Bounded Confidence Opinion Dynamic Systems: Unanimity in Presence of Stubborn Agents

In this paper, various bounded confidence opinion dynamic algorithms are examined to illustrate the effect of a stubborn minority groups on opinion dynamics. A notion of variable opinion stubborn agent is defined and it is shown that stubborn minorities are able to fully control the opinions of a Hegselmann-Krause opinion dynamic system through deliberate slow variation in the opinions of stubborn agents. Furthermore, an upper bound for the change rate of stubborn agents to preserve connectivity and control other flexible agents is given. Moreover, a method based on population and growing confidence bound is presented to achieve both unanimity and stubborn opinion rejection. To support the proposed method simulation results are provided

Sustainable development : the reflexive governance of risk

In the face of increase global environmental phenomena such as global warming, social, political and knowledge structures are being reformulated in order to better accommodate these events into governance frameworks. For Ulrich Beck, increased risk has created a World Risk Society which is defined by a state of 'reflexive' modernity (RM) where the central tenets of modernity are re-examined and current developmental patterns are drawn into question. In political and social discourse increased risk has created the need to achieve a sustainable development (SD). In light of criticisms that Beck makes broad and unsubstantiated theoretical assertions, this thesis examines the proposition that the discursive rise of the concept of SD in political and social governance structures is evidence of a reflexive modernity. The above proposition is examined at both the global and the local scales accessing the dimensions of politics, and sub politics outlined by Beck. At the global scale, discursive representations of sustainable development were examined within the United Nations during the 57th United Nations General Assembly. At the local sub political level a partnership governance structure is examined which was designed to enhance sustainable lifestyles. Findings suggest that whilst a significant relationship does exist between SD and RM, this relationship alters considerably from the global to the local scales of analysis. Further, the process of exploring this relationship provides important insights into the way that SD is being articulated in broad governance structures

Memorial landscapes: a phenomenology of grief

Roadside memorials are rebel spaces situated outside normative locations for sites of commemoration. The lived experience of grief opens the gaze of the inquirer toward the poesis of death and traces of sorrow found in the most ordinary of landscapes. A place that initially appears commonplace becomes, under a phenomenological gaze, a location that provides revelatory insights into the relationship between people and landscape. Grounded in the existential phenomenological methodology of Max van Manen (1990), themes emerging from this inquiry into the relationship between grief, death, and landscape align with existential lifeworld themes of spatiality, corporeality, temporality, and relationality. These in turn evolve into a series of experiential strategies of utility to landscape architects interested in expressing the lived experience of grief, death, and landscape in commemorative sites. The experience of reenchantment is advanced as an overarching theme within the inquiry. In the first instance, reenchantment is directed towards the restoration of the lived world following the experience of traumatic death. Reenchantment is also directed towards the development of an expanded field of knowledge that acknowledges the importance of experience in designing memorial landscapes. Finally, reenchantment refers to the reciprocal relationship between people and landscape. Grief brings attention to the redemptive capacity of landscape in the wake of tragic death. Memorial landscapes demonstrate extensive phenomenological breadth -- existing as physical region, an imaginary space of depth and darkness, and a cosmological location of lightness and unification. This spatial complexity allows the commemorative site to host fluctuating conditions within the lifeworld of the bereaved and to provide potentially significant experiences for casual visitors to a given site. Mind, body, and spirit are invited to enter into a state of intertwining -- ecstatic, redemptive, or otherwise -- within the reenchanted memorial landscape

The role of NK₁ and NK₂ neurokinin receptors in the acute and sustained nociceptive activation of dorsal horn neurons

The tachykinins substance P (SP) and neurokinin A (NKA) can be released from fine somatosensory afferents into the spinal cord by noxious cutaneous stimuli. This study assessed the role of their respective NKj and NK2 receptors and some putative intracellular mediators in both acute and sustained nociceptive inputs to dorsal horn neurons:(a) In anaesthetised rats, extracellular recordings were made from laminae III-V multireceptive neurons. The ionophoretic administration of NK₁ antagonists L-668,169, GR 82334 and [D-Pro⁴,D-Trp⁷,⁹,¹⁰Phe¹¹]substance P-(4-ll) failed to influence neuronal responses to noxious pinch or heat, but often enhanced responses to innocuous brush, whilst the NK₂ antagonist L-659,874 inhibited responses to noxious heat, but not pinch or brush. Selective NK₁ and NK₂ receptor agonists, [N-acetyl-Arg⁶,Sar⁹,Met(O₂)¹¹]SP₆₋₁₁ and GR 64349 respectively, both excited dorsal horn neurons. The contribution of NK₁ and NK₂ receptors to sustained neuronal activity induced by peripheral application of the Cfibre selective algogen mustard oil was then investigated. The mustard oilinduced activity was inhibited by the selective NK₂ receptor antagonist L-659,874 but not by the selective NK₁ antagonists L-668,169 or GR 82334. The role of NK₁ and NK₂ receptors was further examined in the central neuronal sensitisation of both innocuous and noxious inputs, induced by mustard oil. Prior to mustard oil application, the NK₁ antagonists RP 67580 and GR 82334 selectively enhanced neuronal responses to innocuous brush, whilst NK₂ antagonists SR 48968 and L-659,874 selectively inhibited responses to noxious heat, however, following repeated mustard oil application, the facilitated neuronal responses to brush and heat were blocked by both selective NK₁ and NK₂ antagonists.(b) Evidence for a role of protein kinase C (PKC) in mediating sustained nociceptive responses of rat dorsal horn neurons was provided by the blockade of mustard oil-, but not brush-evoked neuronal activation by the PKC inhibitors GF 109203X and chelerythrine and by SR 48968-sensitive subcellular translocation of [³H]phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate binding sites ipsilateral to mustard oil stimulation.(c) In Situ hybridisation histochemistry (ISHH) demonstrated that expression of c-fos mRNA, induced in the superficial dorsal horn by peripheral application of mustard oil was inhibited by systemic administration of both RP 67580 and SR 48968.(d) The effects of intrathecally-applied NK\ and NK2 antagonists were assessed on thermally-evoked tail-flick and paw-flick behavioural responses. GR 82334 and L-659,874 had no effect alone, but in combination inhibited paw-flick. After inflammation induced by intraplantar injection of carrageenan, each was effective individually.These results provide evidence that spinal NK₂ receptors are involved in mediating both acute and sustained nociceptive transmission, probably acting through phosphoinositide hydrolysis and stimulation of protein kinase C (PKC). However, evidence for NK₁ receptor involvement was only obtained in sustained or inflammatory models of nociceptive transmission in the spinal dorsal horn

Reconstruction of distal femoral fractures with fixed-angled or polyaxial technology; a prospective randomised controlled trial.

The management of fractures of the distal femur varies depending on the patient’s functional demands, fracture pattern, the availability of appropriate implants and the skill-set of the operating surgeon. It is widely accepted that the treatment of these fractures are challenging due to its prevalence amongst the elderly, a group with confounding co-morbidities, a high percentage of joint prosthesis and osteoporosis, which increase the technical demands on the surgeon and the selected implant. Locking osteosynthesis devices have been shown to provide superior stability to axial loading compared with traditional, unlocked osteosynthesis plate-screw constructs, blade plates and intra-medullary nails.. However, the outcome following fixation with first-generation, fixed-angle, locking plates and the newer, poly-angled locking plates remains obscure. This prospective multi-centre prospective pilot study was undertaken to investigate this issue. Forty patients with distal femoral fractures were randomised into two locking osteosynthesis device groups, the fixed-angled, Less Invasive Stabilisation System (LISS) group and the multi-angled, POLYAX plate group, in a 1:1 ratio. Operative, functional and radiological outcomes including; operation time, length of hospital stay, radiological union rates, Oxford knee scores and Quality of life measures (EQ-5D) were investigated and analysed within a 12 month follow-up period. The results showed an overall mortality rate of 12.5%. The rate of fracture union was 72.5 % at 6 months and 77.5% there after, with 3 patients requiring secondary procedures for non-union. One patient in the LISS group and 1 patients in the Polyax group required revision surgery for implant failure. Statistically analysis of the data showed no significant differences in both primary (fracture union) and secondary outcomes between either plating system. Based on our findings, we conclude that patient factors and surgical technic carry more weight in determining the outcome of these injuries rather than the choice of locking osteosynthesis implant, be it mono or poly-angled

Journeys towards well-being: men, meditation and mental health

There is a prominent discourse in academic literature, and society at large, that presents men as ‘damaged and damage doing’ (Mac an Ghaill and Haywood, 2012: 483). Incorporated within this idea is the notion that ‘masculinity’ itself is problematic and represents a ‘risk factor’ for health (Gough, 2006). For example, traditional masculine norms, like ‘toughness,’ have been linked to poor emotional management skills in men, which in turn are implicated in mental health problems (Aldao et al., 2010). However, it is increasingly acknowledged that there is diversity within and across men and masculinities, and that men are capable of positively managing their well-being, although little research exists exploring how they do so. To address this deficit, this study sought to find men – meditators – who were likely to have found ways to positively manage well-being to examine factors relating to this engagement. Meditation was selected as it is associated with positive outcomes on a range of mental health indicators (Mars and Abbey, 2010). Thirty male meditators, mainly from one organisation in London, were selected using principles of maximum variation sampling. The study employed a longitudinal mixed methods design, including in-depth narrative interviews analysed using a modified constant comparison approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1998), and also a cognitiveneuroscience component, involving EEG measurement across a battery of cognitive tasks and a meditation sitting. All participants were interviewed and tested twice,1 a year apart, between 2009 and 2010. Drawing on various theories, including Connell's (1995) notion of hegemonic (i.e. dominant) masculinity, and Mayer and Salovey's (1997) model of emotional intelligence, the analysis explored themes relating to men’s involvement with meditation, including how engagement came about, and its impact upon well-being.2 The findings suggested that men negotiated difficult journeys towards meditation: for example, they came up against traditional and other hegemonic forms of masculinity, and most described subsequent strategies to be emotionally 1 One participant did not complete the cognitive neuroscience component. 2 Pollard and Davidson (2001: 10) define well-being as ‘a state of successful performance across the life course integrating physical, cognitive and social-emotional function.’ However, well-being is a contested concept, used in diverse ways according to different theoretical frameworks (De Chavez et al., 2005). The range of meanings attached to the concept is discussed in the theoretical review. tough and/or disconnect from difficult emotions. Meditation itself was linked to well-being in various ways, notably through the cultivation of emotional intelligence via the development of attention – this was indicated by emergent themes in the qualitative analysis, and results from the cognitive neuroscience component. Overall, the analysis was unusual in exploring masculinities and meditation, as well as the wider social context of practice, and how the social dimensions of meditation also impacted upon well-being. For example, many men meditated within a ‘community of practice’ (Lave and Wenger, 1991), which influenced their behaviour, e.g. reducing alcohol use. The findings also highlighted various problems linked to meditation that have received less attention in the literature, including mental health disorders, and ostracism from peers. In summary, the study discusses implications for helping men to better manage their well-being

Archaeology of the Voice: Exploring Oral History, Locative Media, Audio Walks, and Sound Art as Sitespecific Displacement Activities

This thesis develops a notion of an archaeology of the voice that is situated between three principal areas of research and practice: oral history, locative media, and sound art. The research takes place in the context of contested urban space in Holbeck, Leeds one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the U.K. Through a reiterative and reflexive process of extensive interviewing, soundwalking and field recording the area is deep mapped and material gathered in order to produce a percipient led sitespecific presentation of oral history I term 'phonoscape'. Although the technology exists to connect oral history to place via locative media within a database aesthetic, a practical and conceptual gap is identified between these technologies for those working with audio interview material. In this context a purpose-built app is developed to enable oral history audio archives to be distributed geospatially, becoming navigable aurally on foot. In order to distribute a polyvocal sampling of an archive in time-space, techniques and principles from contemporary sound art are introduced, in particular a form of field composition involving an understanding of constitutive silence, soundscape, and voice editing techniques. Research into contemporary audio walk and memoryscape practice confirms that non-linear, fragmented narrative forms are used the construction of polyvocal understandings of place, and this is taken forward within a conception of the embodied hypertextual affordance of locative technology. The findings are then brought together in a transdisciplinary manoeuvre that introduces Displacement Activities, a translocational form of site-specific participatory performance art, providing a public vehicle that draws attention to phonoscape, its oral history content, and the archive itself. As an open work that is generative and reflexive, Displacement Activities extend the notion of site-specificity, finding global analogues before returning to the original site to begin the work again