At the Intersection of Functionality and Beauty: A Study of the Carrara Herbal

The Carrara Herbal is a manuscript that sits at the cusp between medieval and early Renaissance work in Padua, Italy. With medical “simples,” or singular ingredients to be combined, as its primary focus, the Herbal is heavily illustrated and illuminated (the process of decorating a manuscript with color and even precious metals like gold), demonstrating the commissioner’s intentions and establishing him as a leader in the field of botanical medical knowledge. However, the intent and practical use seem to be at odds in the case of the Carrara Herbal. As six centuries passed, the manuscript was actively used and revised as a reference guide for students and practitioners alike. These readers unknowingly created a practical-pedagogical community that modernized medical knowledge as it was learned. This is evidenced by the variety of marginalia left by generations of readers in a plethora of handwritings. Using these notes as clues, historians and manuscript scholars can chronicle the life of this relatively unstudied illustrated herbal, reveal critical information about its users, and discover new information about medieval Italian medical practices

The Biggest Hoax? Investigating the Work-Life Balance of Veteran Secondary Teachers in North Mississippi Public Schools

This thesis investigates the struggle with work-life balance among veteran secondary teachers in public North Mississippi schools. Primary research questions include a) How do veteran teachers describe the struggle with work-life balance, b) What coping strategies over their career seem helpful?, and c)What changes could be made to the educational system to better support public school teachers in their pursuit of work-life balance? At what level should those changes occur? Qualitative data was collected by interviewing five teachers from middle and high schools in the North Mississippi region and analyzed to understand emergent themes from the interviews. This research found common experiences, beliefs, and recommendations for change among the five participants concerning the ability to achieve work-life balance as educators in Mississippi public schools

Scottish television comedy audiences

This study explores how Scottish people feel about representations of Scottishness in contemporary television comedy. The thesis is in two related parts, articulating an exploration of genre, comedy and Scottish television texts with the theory, methodology and analysis of empirical audience research. The thesis begins by exploring how current television comedy is poorly served by critical literature beyond notions of genre although this field of study too fails to indicate significant contemporary permeabilities between comedy sub-genres, and between comedy and other kinds of leisure shows. The second chapter explores historical approaches to Scottish cultural criticism and literary myths (Tartanry, Kailyardism, Caledonian anti-syzygy, Clydesidism) and sets these against contemporary mythologising by individual Scottish comedy practitioners. The second half of the thesis marks a shift from textual studies toward audience research, and in particular develops a discussion about the problematics of researching comedy and audiences qualitatively. The first part of the second half is a literature survey of selected examples of audience research which is translated from theory and epistemology, to methodology and technique in the next section which comprises a discussion of the model for the empirical data collection. The next section presents data from a quantitative survey and qualitative focus-group discussions. The last part of the second section interprets the data through triangulation although this is limited by lack of comparable critical materials. The whole attempts to explore concepts of national identity in Scottish television comedy with audiences, but also develops the additional problematic of empirical quantitative research and comedy themes

Inclusion in the City: setting the agenda for the first years of the Inclusion Initiative at LSE

In November 2020 The Inclusion Initiative (TII) will launch at LSE. TII aims to bring behavioural science insights to firms to allow them to enhance the inclusion of all talent, and simultaneously produce academically rigorous and relevant research that links directly to TII’s purpose. TII also aims to produce research that has practical implications at the level of the firm. TII’s research agenda has three main aims. First, to propose a viable proxy measure of inclusion. Second, to quantify the direct link between inclusion and the core business outcomes it should theoretically improve, such as innovation, creativity and risk assessment both within and across firms. Third, to propose to firms a menu of cost effective interventions that could improve inclusion of all talent from pipeline to boardroom. We put emphasis on could because TII insists that all interventions should be rolled out and linked to an outcome the firm cares about, so firms are confident there is a positive net present value to their investment. Via executive training TII will provide the methodology to do just that. To set the research agenda for the first phase of TII, we embarked on a piece of qualitative research that involved interviewing senior leaders in TII’s first priority area, Financial and Professional Services, to learn their beliefs about best practice in terms of improving inclusion at the firm level, and the obstacles that stand in the way of progress. With these insights at hand, we set a research agenda for TII that will tackle the most commonly cited obstacles, drawing on current insights from the behavioural science literature. The Inclusion in the City paper outlines what this agenda is. The primary aim being to inspire firms to adopt some of the ideas in this paper for their own in-house inclusion agendas, with their own people

Altered sleep and EEG power in the P301S Tau transgenic mouse model

OBJECTIVE: Sleep disturbances are prevalent in human tauopathies yet despite the importance of sleep, little is known about its relationship with tau pathology. Here, we investigate this interaction by analyzing sleep and tau pathology throughout tauopathy disease progression in P301S human tau transgenic mice. METHODS: P301S and wild‐type mice were analyzed by electroencephalography (EEG)/electromyography at 3, 6, 9, and 11 months of age for sleep/wake time, EEG power, and homeostatic response. Cortical volume and tau pathology was also assessed by anti‐phospho‐tau AT8 staining. RESULTS: P301S tau mice had significantly decreased rapid eye movement (REM) sleep at 9 months of age and decreased REM and non‐REM (NREM) sleep as well as increased wakefulness at 11 months. Sleep loss was characterized by fewer wake, REM, and NREM bouts, increased wake bout duration, and decreased sleep bout duration. Decreased REM and NREM sleep was associated with increased brainstem tau pathology in the sublaterodorsal area and parafacial zone, respectively. P301S mice also showed increased EEG power at 6 and 9 months of age and decreased power at 11 months. Decreased EEG power was associated with decreased cortical volume. Despite sleep disturbances, P301S mice maintained homeostatic response to sleep deprivation. INTERPRETATION: Our results indicate that tau pathology is associated with sleep disturbances that worsen with age and these changes may be related to tau pathology in brainstem sleep regulating regions as well as neurodegeneration. Tau‐induced sleep changes could affect disease progression and be a marker for therapeutic efficacy in this and other tauopathy models

The City Quantum Summit: a briefing on Diversity and Inclusion in the quantum sector

Workplaces are changing rapidly, with an increasingly diverse workforce and a lack of talent to fill all the roles, which is why companies across all industries are tackling Diversity & Inclusion within their organisations

Covid-19 and Child Criminal Exploitation in the UK: Implications of the Pandemic for County Lines

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.open access articleIn March 2020, the UK was placed in lockdown following the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Just as legitimate workplaces made changes to enable their employees to work from home, the illicit drugs trade also made alternative arrangements, adapting its supply models to ensure continuity of operations. Based upon qualitative interviews with 46 practitioners, this paper assesses how front-line professionals have experienced and perceived the impact of Covid-19 on child criminal exploitation and County Lines drug supply in the UK. Throughout the paper, we highlight perceived adaptations to the County Lines supply model, the impact of lockdown restrictions on detection and law enforcement activities aimed at County Lines, and on efforts to safeguard children and young people from criminal exploitation. Our participants generally believed that the pandemic had induced shifts to County Lines that reflected an ongoing evolution of the drug supply model and shifts in understanding or attention because of the Covid-19 restrictions, rather than a complete reconstitution of the model itself. Practitioners perceived that Covid-19 has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on some young people’s vulnerability to exploitation, on the way in which police and frontline practitioners respond to County Lines and child criminal exploitation and on the way illegal drugs are being moved and sol