Performance in the Anglo-Saxon poetic imagination

This thesis proposes a distinct, poetic conception of ‘artistry’ (the collective term incorporating performer, performance, and musical instrument used in the thesis) in early medieval England. Through stylistic and aesthetic analysis of Old English poetry, informed by oral-formulaic and post-oral-formulaic theory, and theoretical strands such as Peter Clemoes on the relationship between thought and language and Michael Drout on tradition, the thesis accepts that representations of artistry are principally idealised, generalised, symbolic constructs. They reveal concepts significant in the Anglo-Saxon poetic imagination. Cultural understanding of artistry is expressed in wisdom poems from the period, and reflected in narrative poems. In Beowulf, artistry is shown to be intrinsic to the poem’s construction, interperformativity, and narrative cultural contexts. In addition to brief, oblique depictions, in which singing and harp-playing is commonly referred to, the dominant type of artistry is storytelling. The thesis thus challenges the primacy typically afforded the ‘oral poet’, questioning the supposition that the poems routinely represent the performance of analogous poetic material. Idealisation is challenged in non-poetic material, indicating that the significance and popularity in society of the kinds of secular artistry represented in poetry is influencing Anglo-Saxon cultural behaviour, leading to admonition among certain members of the clergy. The extant literature of a closely related culture, Old Norse Eddic poetry, does not contain such representation, which appears unique to the Anglo- Saxon poetic imagination in the early medieval period. After the demise of Old English poetic form, aspects of this this distinct representation lingered, a sub-tradition of which is discernible in Laȝamon’s Brut. Artistry in post-Conquest poetry is disconnected from a poem’s wider narrative events and its architectonics. It becomes a crystallised, formulaic component with routinised referentiality, partly the result of the transition from oral to textual transmission. Artistry becomes a tradition of the archaising, retrospective poetic imagination

Design validation of future ballistic neck protection through the development of novel injury models

The primary aim of this thesis was to develop more acceptable methods of ballistic neck protection that could replace the existing OSPREY ballistic neck collar. Clinical and post mortem injury analysis, computed tomography interpretation and ergonomics assessments were undertaken, resulting in the recommendation of two prototype designs to the Ministry of Defence. These two prototypes have subsequently been renamed the Enhanced Protection Under Body Armour Combat Shirt and the Patrol collar, and are now issued to all UK armed forces personnel deploying on operations overseas. The secondary aim of this thesis was to develop methods to validate the potential medical effectiveness of future body armour designs. Two new novel injury models have been developed using an anthropometrically accurate three- dimensional representation of cervical anatomical structures. Penetration of representative fragment simulating projectiles through skin and muscle was determined experimentally using physical and animal simulants. The Coverage of Armour Tool is being used in the current Ministry of Defence VIRTUS procurement programme to rule out future body armour designs on medical grounds, thereby greatly reducing the number of prototypes requiring ergonomics assessment

All-optical hyperpolarization of electron and nuclear spins in diamond

Low thermal polarization of nuclear spins is a primary sensitivity limitation for nuclear magnetic resonance. Here we demonstrate optically pumped (microwave-free) nuclear spin polarization of $^{13}\mathrm{C}$ and $^{15}\mathrm{N}$ in $^{15}\mathrm{N}$-doped diamond. $^{15}\mathrm{N}$ polarization enhancements up to $-2000$ above thermal equilibrium are observed in the paramagnetic system $\mathrm{N_s}^{0}$. Nuclear spin polarization is shown to diffuse to bulk $^{13}\mathrm{C}$ with NMR enhancements of $-200$ at room temperature and $-500$ at $\mathrm{240~K}$, enabling a route to microwave-free high-sensitivity NMR study of biological samples in ambient conditions.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Performance in the Anglo-Saxon poetic imagination

This thesis proposes a distinct, poetic conception of ‘artistry’ (the collective term incorporating performer, performance, and musical instrument used in the thesis) in early medieval England. Through stylistic and aesthetic analysis of Old English poetry, informed by oral-formulaic and post-oral-formulaic theory, and theoretical strands such as Peter Clemoes on the relationship between thought and language and Michael Drout on tradition, the thesis accepts that representations of artistry are principally idealised, generalised, symbolic constructs. They reveal concepts significant in the Anglo-Saxon poetic imagination. Cultural understanding of artistry is expressed in wisdom poems from the period, and reflected in narrative poems. In Beowulf, artistry is shown to be intrinsic to the poem’s construction, interperformativity, and narrative cultural contexts. In addition to brief, oblique depictions, in which singing and harp-playing is commonly referred to, the dominant type of artistry is storytelling. The thesis thus challenges the primacy typically afforded the ‘oral poet’, questioning the supposition that the poems routinely represent the performance of analogous poetic material. Idealisation is challenged in non-poetic material, indicating that the significance and popularity in society of the kinds of secular artistry represented in poetry is influencing Anglo-Saxon cultural behaviour, leading to admonition among certain members of the clergy. The extant literature of a closely related culture, Old Norse Eddic poetry, does not contain such representation, which appears unique to the Anglo- Saxon poetic imagination in the early medieval period. After the demise of Old English poetic form, aspects of this this distinct representation lingered, a sub-tradition of which is discernible in Laȝamon’s Brut. Artistry in post-Conquest poetry is disconnected from a poem’s wider narrative events and its architectonics. It becomes a crystallised, formulaic component with routinised referentiality, partly the result of the transition from oral to textual transmission. Artistry becomes a tradition of the archaising, retrospective poetic imagination

Measuring Up : International Case Studies on the Teaching of Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences

Measuring Up is a review of 16 social science departments across three continents, examining case studies of excellence in implementing quantitative methods in social science undergraduate teaching. This report is a helpful guide for UK higher education leaders to act and ensure social science remains at the cutting edge of global research

The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children - A resource for COVID-19 research:Antibody testing results, April – June 2021

The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) is a prospective population-based cohort which recruited pregnant women in 1990-1992 and has followed these women, their partners (Generation 0; G0) and their offspring (Generation 1; G1) ever since. The study reacted rapidly and repeatedly to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, deploying multiple online questionnaires and a previous home-based antibody test in October 2020. A second antibody test, in collaboration with ten other longitudinal population studies, was completed by 4,622 ALSPAC participants between April and June 2021. Of 4,241 participants with a valid spike protein antibody test result (8.2% were void), indicating antibody response to either COVID-19 vaccination or natural infection, 3,172 were positive (74.8%). Generational differences were substantial, with 2,463/2,555 G0 participants classified positive (96.4%) compared to 709/1,686 G1 participants (42.1%). Of 4,199 participants with a valid nucleocapsid antibody test result (9.2% were void), suggesting potential and recent natural infection, 493 were positive (11.7%); 248/2,526 G0 participants (9.8%) and 245/1,673 G1 participants (14.6%) tested positive, respectively. We also compare results for this round of testing to that undertaken in October 2020. Future work will combine these test results with additional sources of data to identify participants’ COVID-19 infection and vaccination status. These ALSPAC COVID-19 serology data are being complemented with linkage to health records and Public Health England pillar testing results as they become available, in addition to four previous questionnaire waves and a prior antibody test. Data have been released as an update to the previous COVID-19 datasets. These comprise: 1) a standard dataset containing all participant responses to all four previous questionnaires with key sociodemographic factors; and 2) individual participant-specific release files enabling bespoke research across all areas supported by the study. This data note describes the second ALSPAC antibody test and the data obtained from it

Data sharing in neuroimaging research

Significant resources around the world have been invested in neuroimaging studies of brain function and disease. Easier access to this large body of work should have profound impact on research in cognitive neuroscience and psychiatry, leading to advances in the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric and neurological disease. A trend toward increased sharing of neuroimaging data has emerged in recent years. Nevertheless, a number of barriers continue to impede momentum. Many researchers and institutions remain uncertain about how to share data or lack the tools and expertise to participate in data sharing. The use of electronic data capture (EDC) methods for neuroimaging greatly simplifies the task of data collection and has the potential to help standardize many aspects of data sharing. We review here the motivations for sharing neuroimaging data, the current data sharing landscape, and the sociological or technical barriers that still need to be addressed. The INCF Task Force on Neuroimaging Datasharing, in conjunction with several collaborative groups around the world, has started work on several tools to ease and eventually automate the practice of data sharing. It is hoped that such tools will allow researchers to easily share raw, processed, and derived neuroimaging data, with appropriate metadata and provenance records, and will improve the reproducibility of neuroimaging studies. By providing seamless integration of data sharing and analysis tools within a commodity research environment, the Task Force seeks to identify and minimize barriers to data sharing in the field of neuroimaging

Population neuroimaging:generation of a comprehensive data resource within the ALSPAC pregnancy and birth cohort

Neuroimaging offers a valuable insight into human brain development by allowing in vivo assessment of structure, connectivity and function. Multimodal neuroimaging data have been obtained as part of three sub-studies within the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a prospective multigenerational pregnancy and birth cohort based in the United Kingdom. Brain imaging data were acquired when offspring were between 18 and 24 years of age, and included acquisition of structural, functional and magnetization transfer magnetic resonance, diffusion tensor, and magnetoencephalography imaging. This resource provides a unique opportunity to combine neuroimaging data with extensive phenotypic and genotypic measures from participants, their mothers, and fathers

Childhood socioeconomic position and objectively measured physical capability levels in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis

<p><b>Background:</b> Grip strength, walking speed, chair rising and standing balance time are objective measures of physical capability that characterise current health and predict survival in older populations. Socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood may influence the peak level of physical capability achieved in early adulthood, thereby affecting levels in later adulthood. We have undertaken a systematic review with meta-analyses to test the hypothesis that adverse childhood SEP is associated with lower levels of objectively measured physical capability in adulthood.</p> <p><b>Methods and Findings:</b> Relevant studies published by May 2010 were identified through literature searches using EMBASE and MEDLINE. Unpublished results were obtained from study investigators. Results were provided by all study investigators in a standard format and pooled using random-effects meta-analyses. 19 studies were included in the review. Total sample sizes in meta-analyses ranged from N = 17,215 for chair rise time to N = 1,061,855 for grip strength. Although heterogeneity was detected, there was consistent evidence in age adjusted models that lower childhood SEP was associated with modest reductions in physical capability levels in adulthood: comparing the lowest with the highest childhood SEP there was a reduction in grip strength of 0.13 standard deviations (95% CI: 0.06, 0.21), a reduction in mean walking speed of 0.07 m/s (0.05, 0.10), an increase in mean chair rise time of 6% (4%, 8%) and an odds ratio of an inability to balance for 5s of 1.26 (1.02, 1.55). Adjustment for the potential mediating factors, adult SEP and body size attenuated associations greatly. However, despite this attenuation, for walking speed and chair rise time, there was still evidence of moderate associations.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Policies targeting socioeconomic inequalities in childhood may have additional benefits in promoting the maintenance of independence in later life.</p&gt