44 research outputs found

    Re-presenting the Paralympics: (contested) philosophies, production practices and the hypervisibility of disability

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    Studies that have engaged para-sport broadcasting, particularly through a narrative lens, have almost exclusively relied on textual and/or content analysis of the Paralympic Games as the source of cultural critique. We know far less about the decisions taken inside Paralympic broadcasters that have led to such representations. In this study – based on interviews with senior production and promotion staff at the UK’s Paralympic broadcaster, Channel 4 – we provide the first detailed examination of mediated para-sport from this vantage point. We explore the use of promotional devices such as athletes’ backstories – the “Hollywood treatment” – to both hook audiences and serve as a vehicle for achieving its social enterprise mandate to change public attitudes toward disability. In so doing, we reveal myriad tensions that coalesce around representing the Paralympics; with respect to the efforts made to balance the competing goals of key stakeholders and a stated desire to make the Paralympics both a commercial and socially progressive success

    Geometric Properties Of W-Algebras And The Toda Model

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    The W-algebra minimal models on hyperelliptic Riemann surfaces are constructed. Using a proposal by Polyakov, we reduce the partition function of the Toda field theory on the hyperelliptic surface to a product of partition functions: one of a free field theory on the sphere with inserted Toda vertex operators and one of a free scalar field theory with antiperiodic boundary conditions with inserted twist fields

    Public Response to Community Engagement Patrols in High Crime Areas

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    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an experiment to improve residents’ opinions of the police in Portland, Oregon. Officers conducted community engagement patrols (CEPs) in 60 high-crime areas. The CEPs prioritized non-investigative contacts with community members to build trust and promote positive police–community interactions in designated high-crime locations. It is hypothesized that community members living in/near intervention sites would report greater exposure to officers, more positive interactions and feel more positively about police than residents in control areas. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 90 crime hot spots were identified using crime reports and calls for service. Locations were randomized into three groups: 2 CEPs/day (n=30), 4 CEPs/day (n=30), and control (i.e. no supplemental patrols, n=30). Officers were dispatched to treatment locations via the computer-aided dispatch system for 90 consecutive days, resulting in 16,200 scheduled CEPs. Surveys were mailed to 11,760 households immediately after the intervention ended and 1,537 were returned (13.1 percent). Findings: Residents from intervention areas reported a higher number of positive police contacts, whereas contacts that residents perceived as negative did not differ between the three conditions. Community attitudes, including perceived police legitimacy, were generally unaffected by CEP dosage. Originality/value: This paper documents the outcomes of a large-scale field experiment seeking to improve public attitudes toward police using directed CEPs in crime hot spots. Whereas the intervention succeeded in providing more opportunities for positive contact with police, attitude change may necessitate longer-term strategies

    Prospective multicentre randomised trial comparing the efficacy and safety of single-anastomosis duodeno-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (SADI-S) versus Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB): SADISLEEVE study protocol

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    International audienceINTRODUCTION: Despite the non-negligible weight loss failure rate at midterm, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) remains the reference procedure in the treatment of morbid obesity with metabolic comorbidities. A recently emerged procedure, the single anastomosis duodeno-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (SADI-S), could be more effective on weight loss with similar morbidity and lower weight loss failure rate than RYGB. We propose the first randomised, open, multicentre superiority trial comparing the SADI-S to RYGB (SADISLEEVE). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The main objective is to demonstrate the superiority at 2 years after surgery of the SADI-S compared with RYGB in term of excess weight loss percentage. The secondary objectives are the evaluation of nutritional status, metabolic outcomes, overall complication rates and quality of life, within 2 years after surgery. Key inclusion criteria are obese patients with body mass index (BMI) ≥40 kg/m(2) or ≥35 kg/m(2) with at least one comorbid condition and candidate to a first bariatric procedure or after failure of sleeve gastrectomy. Patients randomised by minimisation in two arms, based on centre, surgery as a revisional procedure, presence of type 2 diabetes and BMI \textgreater50 kg/m(2) will be included over 2 years.A sample size of 166 patients in each group will have a power of 90% to detect a probability of 0.603 that excess weight loss in the RYGB arm is less than excess weight loss in the SADI-S arm with a 5% two-sided significance level. With a drop-out rate of 10%, it will be necessary to include 183 patients per group. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study was approved by Institutional Review Board of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Morvan (CPP1089-HPS1). Study was also approved by the French national agency for drug safety (2018061500148). Results will be reported in peer-reviewed scientific journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03610256
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