The Quay brothers: choreographed chiaroscuro, enigmatic and sublime

Twins Stephen and Timothy Quay are among the most accomplished animation filmmakers to emerge from under the umbrella of Britain's Channel 4, which funds independents. The Street of Crocodiles, made in 1986, is their best-known animation film and has a puppet as its central character. Besides puppet films, the Quays' work includes animated shorts, biographical documentaries, and TV station breaks. They also design sets for theater and opera productions on various European stages and can count pop videos among their commissions. The combination of striking decors and unique puppets used in their films, their attention to the ?liberation of the mistake,? and their casual and lingering close-ups produce an ingenious alchemy of animated cinema.

Comparison of sleep and physical activity metrics from wrist-worn ActiGraph wGT3X-BT and GT9X accelerometers during free-living in adults

Background: ActiGraph accelerometers can monitor sleep and physical activity (PA) during free-living, but there is a need to confirm agreement in outcomes between different models. Methods: Sleep and PA metrics from two ActiGraphs were compared after participants (N = 30) wore a GT9X and wGT3X-BT on their nondominant wrist for 7 days during free-living. PA metrics including total steps, counts, average acceleration—Euclidean Norm Minus One (ENMO) and Mean Amplitude Deviation, intensity gradient, the minimum acceleration value of the most active 10 and 30 min (M10, M30), time spent in activity intensities from vector magnitude (VM) counts, and ENMO cut points and sleep metrics (sleep period time window, sleep duration, sleep onset, and waking time) were compared. Results: Excellent agreement was evident for average acceleration-Mean Amplitude Deviation, counts, total steps, M10, and light PA (VM counts) with good agreement evident from the remaining PA metrics apart from moderate–vigorous PA (VM counts) which demonstrated moderate agreement. Mean bias for all PA metrics were low, as were the limits of agreement for the intensity gradient, average acceleration-Mean Amplitude Deviation, and inactive time (ENMO and VM counts). The limits of agreement for all other PA metrics were >10%. Excellent agreement, low mean bias, and narrow limits of agreement were evident for all sleep metrics. All sleep and PA metrics demonstrated equivalence (equivalence zone of ≤10%) apart from moderate–vigorous PA (ENMO) which needed an equivalence zone of 16%. Conclusions: Equivalent estimates of almost all PA and sleep metrics are provided from the GT9X and wGT3X-BT worn on the nondominant wrist

The experiences and perspectives of overseas trained speech and language therapists working in the United Kingdom

There is a growing body of research which has investigated the experience of the migrant health worker. However, only one of these studies has included speech and language therapists thus far, and then only with extremely small numbers. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and perspectives of migrant speech and language therapists living in the UK. Twenty-three overseas qualified speech and language therapists living in the UK completed an online survey consisting of 36 questions (31 closed question, 5 open-ended questions). The majority of participants came from Australia or the USA and moved to the UK early in their careers. Participants reported a range of benefits from working in another country and more specifically working in the UK. The findings were consistent with other research on migrant health workers regarding known pull factors of travel, finance, and career. This study suggests additional advantages to working in the UK were realised once participants had started working in the UK, such as the UK job lifestyle. Finally, the migrant speech and language therapists were similar in profile to other migrant health workers in terms of age and country of origin previously reported in the literature

Comparing the activPAL CREA and GHLA algorithms for the classification of postures and activity in free-living children

The activPAL accelerometer has been used extensively in research to assess sedentary behaviour (SB) and physical activity (PA) outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the comparability of PA and SB outcomes from two automated algorithms (CREA and GHLA) applied to the activPAL accelerometer. One hundred and twenty participants aged 8–12 years wore an activPAL accelerometer on their right thigh continuously for seven days on two occasions, providing valid data from 1058 days. The PALbatch software downloaded the data after applying the CREA and GHLA (latest) algorithms. The comparability of the algorithms were assessed using the mean absolute percent error (MAPE), intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), and equivalence testing. Comparisons for daily wear time, primary lying, sitting and standing time, sedentary and stepping time, upright time, total number of steps, sit–stand transitions and stepping time ≤ 1 min revealed mainly small MAPE (≤2%), excellent ICCs (lower bound 95% CI ≥ 0.97), and equivalent outcomes. Time spent in sitting bouts > 60 min and stepping bouts > 5 min were not equivalent with the absolute zone needed to reach equivalence (≥7%). Comparable outcomes were provided for wear time and postural outcomes using the CREA or GHLA algorithms, but not for time spent in sitting bouts > 60 min and stepping bouts > 5 min

What difference does ("good") HRM make?

The importance of human resources management (HRM) to the success or failure of health system performance has, until recently, been generally overlooked. In recent years it has been increasingly recognised that getting HR policy and management "right" has to be at the core of any sustainable solution to health system performance. In comparison to the evidence base on health care reform-related issues of health system finance and appropriate purchaser/provider incentive structures, there is very limited information on the HRM dimension or its impact. Despite the limited, but growing, evidence base on the impact of HRM on organisational performance in other sectors, there have been relatively few attempts to assess the implications of this evidence for the health sector. This paper examines this broader evidence base on HRM in other sectors and examines some of the underlying issues related to "good" HRM in the health sector. The paper considers how human resource management (HRM) has been defined and evaluated in other sectors. Essentially there are two sub-themes: how have HRM interventions been defined? and how have the effects of these interventions been measured in order to identify which interventions are most effective? In other words, what is "good" HRM? The paper argues that it is not only the organisational context that differentiates the health sector from many other sectors, in terms of HRM. Many of the measures of organisational performance are also unique. "Performance" in the health sector can be fully assessed only by means of indicators that are sector-specific. These can focus on measures of clinical activity or workload (e.g. staff per occupied bed, or patient acuity measures), on measures of output (e.g. number of patients treated) or, less frequently, on measures of outcome (e.g. mortality rates or rate of post-surgery complications). The paper also stresses the need for a "fit" between the HRM approach and the organisational characteristics, context and priorities, and for recognition that so-called "bundles" of linked and coordinated HRM interventions will be more likely to achieve sustained improvements in organisational performance than single or uncoordinated interventions