J. S. Bach in Everyday Life: The ‘Choral Identity’ of an Amateur ‘Art Music’ Bach Choir and the Concept of ‘Choral Capital’

This thesis presents research on an amateur composer-oriented Bach choir. Its main purpose is to study the development of musical identities and musical preferences of choir members as they take shape through the collective learning process of rehearsing and performing large-scale choral music. The study analyses how the choral participation and performance creates a certain type of ‘choral capital’ (a combination of social and cultural capital within the choral setting) and how the choristers reconstruct and relate to the composer (J.S. Bach) by creating ‘choral identities’ linked to the composer-orientation of their choir. This study is based on an interdisciplinary approach, seeking concepts and ideas from different fields of study – primarily sociology and music sociology (music in everyday life and the concepts of social and cultural capital in the amateur choral setting) but also music psychology regarding concepts of musical and vocal identities, history of music (especially Bach scholars, previous biographical writings about J.S. Bach), music and education (choral singing as informal music education) and interdisciplinary studies on music, health and well-being. The methodological approach of this research consists of a grounded theory based, single case study where the case was the Croydon Bach Choir in London performing J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor, using participant observation (where I sang with the choir for one semester) and qualitative interviews as main research methods and gathering demographic background data on choir members via paper-based survey. Whereas significant research on music performances has been conducted, so far choral research, where the direct participation of the researcher as a member of the choir is used as one of the main research methods, is still quite rare. Results indicate that participants develop socio-musical identity both through their choral participation in general, performance experiences and early music consumption in the family household and the emphasis of the importance of choral singing as a fulfilment instead of pursuing a professional career. Through choral singing, participants developed ‘choral capital’ through a) the effects of collective learning on their musical taste and preferences (thus broadening their musical taste and preferences and reconstructing the composer) and b) the well-being factor of collective singing and communal learning through the process of rehearsing and performing the Mass in B Minor. Furthermore, findings indicated that participants construct Bach as a genius and a devout Lutheran, an image that relates to the romantic image of Bach presented in the late 19th – early 20th century biographical writings on the composer. Thus in general, their choral activities form a valuable addition to their social and cultural capital (´choral capital´), which they use as a source of well-being in everyday life. In addition, participants create a certain ‘choral identity’ by relating to the composer-orientation of their choir; the promotional label of Bach as a synonym for quality choral singing and the emphasis of challenging repertoire

Culture as "Women's Work"?

This paper presents the findings from an online survey among 694 cultural managers in Iceland. The purpose was to map the organisational environment of Icelandic cultural and arts managers, as well as portraying the demographic environment. The findings confirm that women are in the majority within the profession, with a ratio of 63% to 36%, although men outnumber women in private sector cultural institutions (53% to 46%) which is noteworthy since top management positions worldwide, both in public and private sectors, are predominantly occupied by men (OECD, 2022; World Economic Forum, 2022). It further confirms that the female cultural managers are better educated than their male counterparts, with 90% of the women boasting a university degree compared to 80% of the men. Additionally, and which makes Iceland perhaps an exceptional case, women dominate at every level of management, and not only in middle and lower management roles. Finally, our figures also indicate that over 75% of those studying cultural management in Iceland are female. The paper presents some possible explanations for this development in light of both the increased participation of women in the labour market in general and the increased professionalisation and standardisation of the role of cultural manager, while seeking to be aware of gendered biases in research and literature about management. This is put into perspective with the possible future development of cultural policy, the instrumental and target-driven nature of which frequently dress it up as a profitable enterprise, whilst most of its idealogical underpinnings render it more akin to a public service, such as healthcare and education. Speculating that cultural activity might be viewed as unpaid labour, which has traditionally been carried out by women, goes some way to explaining not only the developing gender divide but also what has been a major source of friction within cultural policy between marketised policy making and non-economic values. These differences may have been underlined during the COVID-19 pandemic with the state offering extra support to culture which was seen to perform the vital task of keeping people‘s spirits up and connecting them to one another, without a clear commercial or transactional agenda to be exploited.Peer reviewe

Coping with stress and surviving the male-oriented organisational culture : The case of exemplary Icelandic female leaders

Previous research haas demonstrated that the corporate ladder is more slippery for women than men. Furthermore, women are more likely than men to shoulder responsibilities in their personal life (the third shift), even if they earn more than their spouses and this is even the case with women in top management positions. Iceland is renowned for its position at the top of the Gender Equality Index for 12 years in a row. Even so, Icelandic women are still a minority of managers and CEOs and until early 2021, no company registered in the Icelandic Stock Market was governed by a woman. Now they are two. This paper presents the experience of nine exemplary women leaders and their experience in dealing with male-oriented corporate culture and coping with gender-based obstacles, stress and challenges related to the gender-based third shift. Findings demonstrate that participants all had their horror stories and bad experiences of toxic management styles, mansplaining and gender-based harassment, and having to deal with ,,organisational housework“ in order to prove their worth. Findings also emphasized that coping with stress is an important factor in preventing burnout and help prospective female leaders to reach their potential in top management positions. Other factors like support network, family-based support, healthy lifestyle, having a ,,good husband“ and other general support in their private life played an important role in their careers. Findings also indicate that toxic masculinity and male-oriented company culture make the corporate ladder more slippery for women.Peer reviewe

The effect of a short educational intervention on the use of urinary catheters: a prospective cohort study.

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked FilesTo assess the effectiveness of implementation of evidence-based recommendations to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs).Prospective cohort study, conducted in 2010-12, with a before and after design.A major referral university hospital.Data were collected before (n = 244) and 1 year after (n = 255) the intervention for patients who received urinary catheters.The intervention comprised two elements: (i) aligning doctors' and nurses' knowledge of indications for the use of catheters and (ii) an educational effort consisting of three 30- to 45-minute sessions on evidence-based practice regarding catheter usage for nursing personnel on 17 medical and surgical wards.The main outcome measures were the proportion of (i) admitted patients receiving urinary catheters during hospitalization, (ii) catheters inserted without indication, (iii) inpatient days with catheter and (iv) the incidence of CAUTIs per 1000 catheter days. Secondary outcome measures were the proportion of (i) catheter days without appropriate indication and (ii) patients discharged with a catheter.There was a reduction in the proportion of inpatient days with a catheter, from 44% to 41% (P = 0.006). There was also a reduction in the proportion of catheter days without appropriate indication (P < 0.001) and patients discharged with a catheter (P = 0.029). The majority of catheters were inserted outside the study wards.A short educational intervention was feasible and resulted in significant practice improvements in catheter usage but no reduction of CAUTIs. Other measures than CAUTI may be more sensitive to detecting important practice changes.Icelandic Nurses' Association Research Fund Landspitali University Hospital Research Fund Ministry of Welfare in Icelan

Deficiency of SARS-CoV-2 T-cell responses after vaccination in long-term allo-HSCT survivors translates into abated humoral immunity

Recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) for hematological diseases are at risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19. To determine the safety and immunogenicity of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccines, samples from 50 infection-naive allo-HSCT recipients (median, 92 months from transplantation, range, 7-340 months) and 39 healthy controls were analyzed for serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) against the receptor binding domain (RBD) within spike 1 (S1) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; anti–RBD-S1 IgG) and for SARS-CoV-2–specific T-cell immunity, reflected by induction of T-cell–derived interferon-g in whole blood stimulated ex vivo with 15-mer SI-spanning peptides with 11 amino acid overlap S1-spanning peptides. The rate of seroconversion was not significantly lower in allo-transplanted patients than in controls with 24% (12/50) and 6% (3/50) of patients remaining seronegative after the first and second vaccination, respectively. However, 58% of transplanted patients lacked T-cell responses against S1 peptides after 1 vaccination compared with 19% of controls (odds ratio [OR] 0.17; P 5 .009, Fisher’s exact test) with a similar trend after the second vaccination where 28% of patients were devoid of detectable specific T-cell immunity, compared with 6% of controls (OR 0.18; P 5 .02, Fisher’s exact test). Importantly, lack of T-cell reactivity to S1 peptides after vaccination heralded substandard levels (,100 BAU/mL) of anti–RBD-S1 IgG 5 to 6 months after the second vaccine dose (OR 8.2; P 5 .007, Fisher’s exact test). We conclude that although allo-HSCT recipients achieve serum anti–RBD-S1 IgG against SARS-CoV-2 after 2 vaccinations, a deficiency of SARS-CoV-2–specific T-cell immunity may subsequently translate into insufficient humoral responses

Burnout and masculine organizational culture : Stress and gender-based obstacles of women in management positions

A conservative, male-oriented company culture makes the corporate ladder more slippery for women than their male counterparts. The lessons drawn from the experience of women who have achieved unusual success as top directors in their organizations are important guidelines for improving management by controlling stress-load and employing coping techniques against burnout. This paper reports the primary findings of an Icelandic study on the characteristics of exemplary Icelandic female managers and their leadership styles. Data was collected through qualitative, semi-structured interviews (from October 2019 to February 2020) with nine women who had reached the top of their organizations. Participants provided various narratives on their experiences of gender-based obstacles (placed mainly in their way by men in management positions). The more experienced interviewees had felt pressured at times during their careers to assimilate themselves to the male culture in their corporations, saying that the glass ceiling was indeed manifest when they tried to break through it by pushing for positions of power. A majority of the interviewees had experienced tunnel vision, narrow-mindedness, and resistance to change among their male counterparts; they had seen tendencies toward old-fashioned, top-down management that were marked by arrogance and pride, and these had resulted in incompetent, old-fashioned modes of communication, weaker, non-professional decision-making, a lack of diversity and open dialog, and ultimately in worse results for the organizations concerned. Findings indicated that unacceptable working conditions, gender obstacles, stress, and much too heavy workloads can increase burnout. There is a need for countermeasures in organizational culture.Non peer reviewe

J.S. Bach in everyday life : the 'choral identity' of an amateur 'art music' Bach choir and the concept of 'choral capital'

This thesis presents research on an amateur composer-oriented Bach choir. Its main purpose is to study the development of musical identities and musical preferences of choir members as they take shape through the collective learning process of rehearsing and performing large-scale choral music. The study analyses how the choral participation and performance creates a certain type of ‘choral capital’ (a combination of social and cultural capital within the choral setting) and how the choristers reconstruct and relate to the composer (J.S. Bach) by creating ‘choral identities’ linked to the composer-orientation of their choir. This study is based on an interdisciplinary approach, seeking concepts and ideas from different fields of study – primarily sociology and music sociology (music in everyday life and the concepts of social and cultural capital in the amateur choral setting) but also music psychology regarding concepts of musical and vocal identities, history of music (especially Bach scholars, previous biographical writings about J.S. Bach), music and education (choral singing as informal music education) and interdisciplinary studies on music, health and well-being. The methodological approach of this research consists of a grounded theory based, single case study where the case was the Croydon Bach Choir in London performing J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor, using participant observation (where I sang with the choir for one semester) and qualitative interviews as main research methods and gathering demographic background data on choir members via paper-based survey. Whereas significant research on music performances has been conducted, so far choral research, where the direct participation of the researcher as a member of the choir is used as one of the main research methods, is still quite rare. Results indicate that participants develop socio-musical identity both through their choral participation in general, performance experiences and early music consumption in the family household and the emphasis of the importance of choral singing as a fulfilment instead of pursuing a professional career. Through choral singing, participants developed ‘choral capital’ through a) the effects of collective learning on their musical taste and preferences (thus broadening their musical taste and preferences and reconstructing the composer) and b) the well-being factor of collective singing and communal learning through the process of rehearsing and performing the Mass in B Minor. Furthermore, findings indicated that participants construct Bach as a genius and a devout Lutheran, an image that relates to the romantic image of Bach presented in the late 19th – early 20th century biographical writings on the composer. Thus in general, their choral activities form a valuable addition to their social and cultural capital (´choral capital´), which they use as a source of well-being in everyday life. In addition, participants create a certain ‘choral identity’ by relating to the composer-orientation of their choir; the promotional label of Bach as a synonym for quality choral singing and the emphasis of challenging repertoire.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

From Watsons Bay, New South Wales, ca. 1880 [picture] /

Part of collection: Collection of photographs of New South Wales, ca. 1876-1897.; Title devised by cataloguer based on inscription on image.; "C. Bayliss Photo Sydney" -- photographer's blind stamp lower left.; Inscriptions: "P.S. 'Captain Cook' I"--In pen on verso.; Condition: Edge tear upper left.; Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4193075

Vaccination of patients with haematological malignancies who did not have transplantations: guidelines from the 2017 European Conference on Infections in Leukaemia (ECIL 7)

Patients with haematological malignancies are at high risk of infection because of various mechanisms of humoral and cell-mediated immune deficiencies, which mainly depend on underlying disease and specific therapies. Some of these infections are vaccine preventable. However, these malignancies are different from each other, and the treatment approaches are diverse and rapidly evolving, so it is difficult to have a common programme for vaccination in a haematology ward. Additionally, because of insufficient training about the topic, vaccination is an area often neglected by haematologists, and influenced by cultural differences, even among health-care workers, in compliance to vaccines. Several issues are encountered when addressing vaccination in haematology: the small size of the cohorts that makes it difficult to show the clinical benefits of vaccination, the subsequent need to rely on biological parameters, their clinical pertinence not being established in immunocompromised patients, scarcity of clarity on the optimal timing of vaccination in complex treatment schedules, and the scarcity of data on long-term protection in patients receiving treatments. Moreover, the risk of vaccine-induced disease with live-attenuated vaccines strongly limits their use. Here we summarise guidelines for patients without transplantations, and address the issue by the haematological group-myeloid and lymphoid-of diseases, with a special consideration for children with acute leukaemia