A Proposal To Support Wellbeing in People With Borderline Personality Disorder: Applying Reminiscent Theory in a Mobile App

In this paper the research draws upon reminiscence therapy, which is used in treating dementia, as an applied theory to promote well being in people who experience low moods. The application proposed here aims to promote wellbeing for people suffering from mood disorders and dementia but could potentially be used to enhance wellbeing for many types of users. Use of the application is anticipated to improve mood in a group of users where severe emotional problems are prevalent. The research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a reminiscence based application in promoting well being in people specifically with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The long term objective of this research is to establish the effectiveness of reminiscence theory on user groups aside from dementia, particularly other mental illnesses. The research advocates involving end users within the design process both to inform and evaluate the development of a mobile and tablet application.Comment: Conference pape

Shostakovich's Cello sonata : its genesis related to socialist realism

textDmitri Shostakovich wrote his Cello Sonata in 1934, a crucial date regarding developments in Soviet cultural history, Shostakovich’s compositional style, and his personal life. Stalin’s government had begun to promote the artistic doctrine of Socialist Realism, which, in typically vague bureaucratic language, called for accessible musical styles that resonated with everyday experiences of Soviet citizens. In response to official demands, Shostakovich had started to experiment with a new simplicity which would not, however, regress into unoriginal, old-fashioned styles. At the same time, Shostakovich was attracting international fame with his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, which enjoyed a certain succès de scandale in Russia and the West because of its shocking subject matter and explicit musical depiction of adultery. This success was abruptly curtailed, however, after the publication in 1936 of a notorious article in the national journal Pravda, whose anonymous author, rumored to be Stalin or a close associate, denounced Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District as “chaos instead of music.” This article had a devastating effect on Shostakovich’s livelihood. His compositions were quietly removed from concert programs, most of his friends were too afraid to defend him, and his promising career as an opera composer was over. While Stalin’s officials harshly criticized almost all Shostakovich’s compositions from the mid-1930s, the Cello Sonata was, interestingly, never suppressed. This treatise will investigate why. Was it because chamber music, having no plot or text, is less scandalous than opera? Or did the Cello Sonata contain some evidence of the elusive principles of Socialist Realism? This treatise has four chapters. The first two will introduce the historical and cultural situation in Russia in the 1930s, detailing the problematic challenges Soviet composers faced in trying to incorporate Socialist Realist requirements into their music. The third chapter presents an analytical overview of the four movements of the Cello Sonata, discussing their form and stylistic features in relation to Socialist Realism. The final chapter addresses whether the Cello Sonata is truly representative of Socialist Realist philosophy, and why, during the cultural purges of Stalin’s Terror, the Cello Sonata never attracted negative official comment.Musi

Self-tests for influenza: an empirical ethics investigation

Background In this article we aim to assess the ethical desirability of self-test diagnostic kits for influenza, focusing in particular on the potential benefits and challenges posed by a new, mobile phone-based tool currently being developed by i-sense, an interdisciplinary research collaboration based (primarily) at University College London and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Methods Our study adopts an empirical ethics approach, supplementing an initial review into the ethical considerations posed by such technologies with qualitative data from three focus groups. Results Overall, we map a range of possible considerations both for and against the use of such technologies, synthesizing evidence from a range of secondary literature, as well as identifying several new considerations previously overlooked. Conclusions We argue that no single consideration marks these technologies as either entirely permissible or impermissible but rather tools which have the potential to incur certain costs and benefits, and that context is important in determining these. In the latter stages of the article, we explain how developers of such technologies might seek to mitigate such costs and reflect on the possible limitations of the empirical ethics method brought out during the study

Industrial structural geology : principles, techniques and integration : an introduction

The authors wish to acknowledge the generous financial support provided in association with this volume to the Geological Society and the Petroleum Group by Badley Geoscience Ltd, BP, CGG Robertson, Dana Petroleum Ltd, Getech Group plc, Maersk Oil North Sea UK Ltd, Midland Valley Exploration Ltd, Rock Deformation Research (Schlumberger) and Borehole Image & Core Specialists (Wildcat Geoscience, Walker Geoscience and Prolog Geoscience). We would like to thank the fine team at the Geological Society’s Publishing House for the excellent support and encouragement that they have provided to the editors and authors of this Special Publication.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Systematic review and meta-analysis of pre-hospital diagnostic accuracy studies

Introduction: Paramedics are involved in examining, treating and diagnosing patients. The accuracy of these diagnoses is evaluated using diagnostic accuracy studies. We undertook a systematic review of published literature to provide an overview of how accurately paramedics diagnose patients compared with hospital doctors. A bivariate meta-analysis was incorporated to examine the range of diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Methods :We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, AMED and the Cochrane Database from 1946 to 7 May 2016 for studies where patients had been given a diagnosis by paramedics and hospital doctors. Keywords focused on study type (‘diagnostic accuracy’), outcomes (sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio?, predictive value?) and setting (paramedic*, pre-hospital, ambulance, ‘emergency service?’, ‘emergency medical service?’, ‘emergency technician?’ Results: 2941 references were screened by title and/or abstract. Eleven studies encompassing 384 985 patients were included after full-text review. The types of diagnoses in one of the studies encompassed all possible diagnoses and in the other studies focused on sepsis, stroke and myocardial infarction. Sensitivity estimates ranged from 32% to 100% and specificity estimates from 14% to 100%. Eight of the studies were deemed to have a low risk of bias and were incorporated into a meta-analysis which showed a pooled sensitivity of 0.74 (0.62 to 0.82) and a pooled specificity of 0.94 (0.87 to 0.97. Discussion: Current published research suggests that diagnoses made by paramedics have high sensitivity and even higher specificity. However, the paucity and varying quality of studies indicates that further prehospital diagnostic accuracy studies are warranted especially in the field of non-life-threatening conditions