Desperately constructing ethnic audiences: Anti-immigration discourses and minority audience research in the Netherlands

This article examines how minority ethnic audiences are measured, and thus constructed, in the Netherlands today. The analysis shows that this process is tightly woven into the dominant assimilationist and neoliberal discourse. This discourse portrays specific minority groups as deviant in relation to an essentialized notion of Dutchness. Furthermore, it presents social inclusion as an opportunity that is limited to well-adjusted, profitable consumers. Different attempts to represent minority audiences – including efforts to promote a more just minority representation in Dutch media – are compelled to accommodate to this dominant discourse. The article underscores the limited scope for contesting current hegemonic representations of minority groups and national belonging in the Netherlands

'Moving life stories tell us just why politics matters’: personal narratives in tabloid anti-austerity campaigns

This article examines the use of personal narratives in two tabloid newspaper campaigns against a controversial welfare reform popularly known as the ‘bedroom tax’. It aims firstly to evaluate whether the personal narratives operate as political testimony to challenge government accounts of welfare reform and dominant stereotypes of benefits claimants, and secondly to assess the potential for and limits to progressive advocacy in popular journalism. The study uses content analysis of 473 articles over the course of a year in the Daily Mirror and Sunday People newspapers, and qualitative analysis of a sub-set of 113 articles to analyse the extent to which the campaign articles extrapolated from the personal to the general, and the role of ‘victim-witnesses’ in articulating their own subjectivity and political agency. The analysis indicates that both newspapers allowed affected individuals to express their own subjectivity to challenge stereotypes, but it was civil society organisations and opinion columnists who most explicitly extrapolated from the personal to the political. Collectively organised benefits claimants were rarely quoted, and there was some evidence of ventriloquization of the editorial voice in the political criticisms of victim-witnesses. However, a campaigning columnist in the Mirror more actively empowered some of those affected to speak directly to politicians. This indicates the value of campaigning journalism when it is truly engaged in solidarity with those affected, rather than instrumentalising victim-witnesses to further the newspapers’ campaign goals

Analysis of a sprint ski race and associated laboratory determinants of world-class performance

This investigation was designed to analyze the time-trial (STT) in an international cross-country skiing sprint skating competition for (1) overall STT performance and relative contributions of time spent in different sections of terrain, (2) work rate and kinematics on uphill terrain, and (3) relationships to physiological and kinematic parameters while treadmill roller ski skating. Total time and times in nine different sections of terrain by 12 world-class male sprint skiers were determined, along with work rate and kinematics for one specific uphill section. In addition, peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak), gross efficiency (GE), peak speed (Vpeak), and kinematics in skating were measured. Times on the last two uphill and two final flat sections were correlated to overall STT performance (r = ~−0.80, P < 0.001). For the selected uphill section, speed was correlated to cycle length (r = −0.75, P < 0.01) and the estimated work rate was approximately 160% of peak aerobic power. VO2peak, GE, Vpeak, and peak cycle length were all correlated to STT performance (r = ~−0.85, P < 0.001). More specifically, VO2peak and GE were correlated to the last two uphill and two final flat section times, whereas Vpeak and peak cycle length were correlated to times in all uphill, flat, and curved sections except for the initial section (r = ~−0.80, P < 0.01). Performances on uphill and flat terrain in the latter part were the most significant determinants of overall STT performance. Peak oxygen uptake, efficiency, peak speed, and peak cycle length were strongly correlated to overall STT performance, as well as to performance in different sections of the race

Severe loss of mechanical efficiency in COVID‐19 patients

Background: There is limited information about the impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the muscular dysfunction, despite the generalized weakness and fatigue that patients report after overcoming the acute phase of the infection. This study aimed to detect impaired muscle efficiency by evaluating delta efficiency (DE) in patients with COVID-19 compared with subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), ischaemic heart disease (IHD), and control group (CG). Methods: A total of 60 participants were assigned to four experimental groups: COVID-19, COPD, IHD, and CG (n = 15 each group). Incremental exercise tests in a cycle ergometer were performed to obtain peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak). DE was obtained from the end of the first workload to the power output where the respiratory exchange ratio was 1. Results: A lower DE was detected in patients with COVID-19 and COPD compared with those in CG (P ≤ 0.033). However, no significant differences were observed among the experimental groups with diseases (P > 0.05). Lower VO2 peak, peak ventilation, peak power output, and total exercise time were observed in the groups with diseases than in the CG (P < 0.05). A higher VO2 , ventilation, and power output were detected in the CG compared with those in the groups with diseases at the first and second ventilatory threshold (P < 0.05). A higher power output was detected in the IHD group compared with those in the COVID-19 and COPD groups (P < 0.05) at the first and second ventilatory thresholds and when the respiratory exchange ratio was 1. A significant correlation (P < 0.001) was found between the VO2 peak and DE and between the peak power output and DE (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Patients with COVID-19 showed marked mechanical inefficiency similar to that observed in COPD and IHD patients. Patients with COVID-19 and COPD showed a significant decrease in power output compared to IHD during pedalling despite having similar response in VO2 at each intensity. Resistance training should be considered during the early phase of rehabilitation

The impact of early life nutrition and housing on growth and reproduction in dairy cattle

Contentious issues in calf rearing include milk feeding practices and single versus group housing. The current study was performed on a high producing 170 Holstein cow dairy farm, to investigate the impact of nutrition and housing on growth and reproduction. Heifer calves (n = 100) were allocated in birth order to one of two commonly used management strategies. All calves received 3-4 litres of dam specific colostrum within 6 hours of birth. Group A calves were group housed from birth and fed milk replacer (MR) ad libitum via a computerised machine utilising a single teat, with weaning commencing at 63 days of age. Group R calves were initially housed in individual pens and received 2.5 litres of MR twice daily via a bucket until 21 days of age when they were group housed and fed 3 litres of MR twice daily via a group trough with weaning commencing at 56 days. From 12 weeks of age onwards, calves in both dietary groups were subject to common nutritional and husbandry protocols. All breeding of heifers was via artificial insemination with no hormonal intervention. Calves were weighed, body condition scored and morphometric measures recorded weekly up till 12 weeks of age then monthly until conception. Pre-weaning growth rates (kg/day) were significantly higher in Group A calves compared to Group R (0.89, 95% CI 0.86-0.93 vs 0.57, 95% CI 0.54-0.6 kg/day P 0.050) in any of the mean values of measured reproductive parameters, multivariable Cox regression suggested that there was a weak trend (P = 0.072) for Group A animals to achieve first service earlier than their Group R counterparts (62.6 weeks versus 65.3 weeks). Irrespective of dietary group, the hazard for achievement of all measured reproductive parameters, apart from time to puberty, was 20-40% less for heifers borne from multiparous dams compared to heifers from primiparous dams

Suboptimal herd performance amplifies the spread of infectious disease in the cattle industry

Farms that purchase replacement breeding cattle are at increased risk of introducing many economically important diseases. The objectives of this analysis were to determine whether the total number of replacement breeding cattle purchased by individual farms could be reduced by improving herd performance and to quantify the effects of such reductions on the industry-level transmission dynamics of infectious cattle diseases. Detailed information on the performance and contact patterns of British cattle herds was extracted from the national cattle movement database as a case example. Approximately 69% of beef herds and 59% of dairy herds with an average of at least 20 recorded calvings per year purchased at least one replacement breeding animal. Results from zero-inflated negative binomial regression models revealed that herds with high average ages at first calving, prolonged calving intervals, abnormally high or low culling rates, and high calf mortality rates were generally more likely to be open herds and to purchase greater numbers of replacement breeding cattle. If all herds achieved the same level of performance as the top 20% of herds, the total number of replacement beef and dairy cattle purchased could be reduced by an estimated 34% and 51%, respectively. Although these purchases accounted for only 13% of between-herd contacts in the industry trade network, they were found to have a disproportionately strong influence on disease transmission dynamics. These findings suggest that targeting extension services at herds with suboptimal performance may be an effective strategy for controlling endemic cattle diseases while simultaneously improving industry productivity