Concert recording 2013-04-06

[Track 01]. Cello suite no. 5 in F minor, BWV 101. Prelude / Johann Sebastian Bach -- [Track 02]. Sonata in G minor for cello and piano. III, Andante / Sergei Rachmaninoff -- [Track 03]. Conversation for tenor and brass trombone / Charles Small -- [Track 04]. Concerto for bass trombone. II, Andante expressive ; I, Andante con motto-allegro vivace / Eric Ewazen

Hearing through your eyes: neural basis of audiovisual cross-activation, revealed by transcranial alternating current stimulation

Some people experience auditory sensations when seeing visual flashes or movements. This prevalent synaesthesia-like ‘visual-evoked auditory response’ (vEAR) could result either from over-exuberant cross-activation between brain areas, and/or reduced inhibition of normally-occurring cross-activation. We have used transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to test these theories. We applied tACS at 10Hz (alpha-band frequency) or 40Hz (gamma-band), bilaterally either to temporal or occipital sites, while measuring same/different discrimination of paired auditory (A) versus visual (V) 'Morse code' sequences. At debriefing, participants were classified as vEAR or non-vEAR depending on whether they reported 'hearing' the silent flashes. In non-vEAR participants, temporal 10Hz tACS caused impairment of A performance, which correlated with improved V; conversely under occipital tACS, poorer V performance correlated with improved A. This reciprocal pattern suggests that sensory cortices are normally mutually inhibitory, and that alpha-frequency tACS may bias the balance of competition between them. vEAR participants showed no tACS effects, consistent with reduced inhibition, or enhanced cooperation between modalities. In addition, temporal 40Hz tACS impaired V performance, specifically in individuals who showed a performance advantage for V (relative to A). Gamma-frequency tACS may therefore modulate the ability of these individuals to benefit from recoding flashes into the auditory modality, possibly by disrupting cross-activation of auditory areas by visual stimulation. Our results support both theories, suggesting that vEAR may depend on disinhibition of normally-occurring sensory cross-activation, which may be expressed more strongly in some individuals. Furthermore, endogenous alpha and gamma-frequency oscillations may function respectively to inhibit or promote this cross-activation

Concert recording 2013-04-18a

[Track 01]. Concerto for trombone, I. Moderato assai ma molto maestoso, II. Quasi una leggenda / Launy Grondahl -- [Track 02]. Conversation for tenor and bass trombone / Charlie Small -- [Track 03]. Elegie op. 3, no. 1 / Sergei Rachmaninoff -- [Track 04]. Marietta\u27s Lied from Die tote Stadt / Erich Wolfgang Korngold -- [Track 05]. Concerto for trombone, I. Adagio ; [Track 06]. II. Allegro assai / Georg Christoph Wagenseil

The noncommutative Lorentzian cylinder as an isospectral deformation

We present a new example of a finite-dimensional noncommutative manifold, namely the noncommutative cylinder. It is obtained by isospectral deformation of the canonical triple associated to the Euclidean cylinder. We discuss Connes' character formula for the cylinder. In the second part, we discuss noncommutative Lorentzian manifolds. Here, the definition of spectral triples involves Krein spaces and operators on Krein spaces. A central role is played by the admissible fundamental symmetries on the Krein space of square integrable sections of a spin bundle over a Lorentzian manifold. Finally, we discuss isospectral deformation of the Lorentzian cylinder and determine all admissible fundamental symmetries of the noncommutative cylinder.Comment: 30 page

A Comparative Analysis of Drug Use Policies: A Global Guide to Prevention and Treatment

In recent years, drug usage has increased on a global scale, and with this has come an array of responses from various countries suffering the effects. This study will compare and contrast the approaches of Norway, The Philippines, and the United States. The Norwegian approach focuses on harm reduction, preventative measures, and accessible treatment. The Philippines declared an all-out war on drugs, creating human rights violations and a lethal environment for those suffering from addiction. The United States varies by state in their responses, with many aiming to dismantle harmful federal policy from the 1970s “War On Drugs.” Through these comparisons, this study will identify best practice to ensure quality treatment and prevention measures around the world

Systematic review of dietary salt reduction policies: Evidence for an effectiveness hierarchy?

Background: Non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention strategies now prioritise four major risk factors: food, tobacco, alcohol and physical activity. Dietary salt intake remains much higher than recommended, increasing blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and stomach cancer. Substantial reductions in salt intake are therefore urgently needed. However, the debate continues about the most effective approaches. To inform future prevention programmes, we systematically reviewed the evidence on the effectiveness of possible salt reduction interventions. We further compared “downstream, agentic” approaches targeting individuals with “upstream, structural” policy-based population strategies. Methods: We searched six electronic databases (CDSR, CRD, MEDLINE, SCI, SCOPUS and the Campbell Library) using a pre-piloted search strategy focussing on the effectiveness of population interventions to reduce salt intake. Retrieved papers were independently screened, appraised and graded for quality by two researchers. To facilitate comparisons between the interventions, the extracted data were categorised using nine stages along the agentic/structural continuum, from “downstream”: dietary counselling (for individuals, worksites or communities), through media campaigns, nutrition labelling, voluntary and mandatory reformulation, to the most “upstream” regulatory and fiscal interventions, and comprehensive strategies involving multiple components. Results: After screening 2,526 candidate papers, 70 were included in this systematic review (49 empirical studies and 21 modelling studies). Some papers described several interventions. Quality was variable. Multi-component strategies involving both upstream and downstream interventions, generally achieved the biggest reductions in salt consumption across an entire population, most notably 4g/day in Finland and Japan, 3g/day in Turkey and 1.3g/day recently in the UK. Mandatory reformulation alone could achieve a reduction of approximately 1.45g/day (three separate studies), followed by voluntary reformulation (-0.8g/day), school interventions (-0.7g/day), short term dietary advice (-0.6g/day) and nutrition labelling (-0.4g/day), but each with a wide range. Tax and community based counselling could, each typically reduce salt intake by 0.3g/day, whilst even smaller population benefits were derived from health education media campaigns (-0.1g/day). Worksite interventions achieved an increase in intake (+0.5g/day), however, with a very wide range. Long term dietary advice could achieve a -2g/day reduction under optimal research trial conditions; however, smaller reductions might be anticipated in unselected individuals. Conclusions: Comprehensive strategies involving multiple components (reformulation, food labelling and media campaigns) and “upstream” population-wide policies such as mandatory reformulation generally appear to achieve larger reductions in population-wide salt consumption than “downstream”, individually focussed interventions. This ‘effectiveness hierarchy’ might deserve greater emphasis in future NCD prevention strategies

Review of Tidal Lagoon Technology and Opportunities for Integration within the UK Energy System

The number of distributed resources for renewable energy installed worldwide has been increasing rapidly in the last decade, and the great majority of these installations consist of solar panels and wind turbines. Other renewable sources of energy are not exploited to the same level: for instance, tidal energy is still a minute portion of the global energy capacity, in spite of the large amount of potential energy stored in tidal waves, and of the successful experience of the few existing plants. The world’s second largest tidal range occurs in the UK but at the moment tidal installations in this country are limited to a few prototypes. More recently, there has been a renewed interest in harnessing tidal energy in the UK, and a few tidal lagoon projects have been evaluated by the UK government. This paper provides an overview of the historical and current developments of tidal plants, a description of operation of tidal lagoons, challenges and opportunities for their integration within the UK energy systems and solutions to improve the dispatchability of tidal energy. The concepts described in the paper are applied to a tidal project proposed for South Wales

Reaching out: Golden Key local evaluation phase 1 full report

This report presents a preliminary analysis of the evidence collated for Phase 1 of the local evaluation of Bristol Golden Key. Evidence has been collected between November 2014 and March 2016 through a variety of means, including interviews with around 40 key stakeholders, observation at over 25 key meetings and events, and review of documentation.Golden Key is a long-term, complex initiative and at this relatively early stage the evaluation is primarily formative in focus – providing observations and reflections on how Golden Key has developed since inception and emerging indicators of how it is perceived and experienced by different stakeholders. The main aim of this report is to ‘capture the learning’ so far and to raise issues and questions that should inform further development as Golden Key progresses. It does not purport to give an objective assessment of progress against project aims given the paucity of quantitative data to support such an analysis at this stage.The report is informed by the evaluation framework developed to support this investigation, which uses a realist approach to identifying how behaviours, processes, outcomes and impacts develop in relation to three main pathways: client engagement; the Golden Key partnership and processes; and citywide engagement and systems change. Chapters are presented for each of these areas, concluding with a set of key learning points and discussion questions

Reaching out: Golden Key local evaluation phase 1 summary report

This report summarises the findings from Phase 1 of the local evaluation of Golden Key though the first 18 months of initial development, progress towards delivery and operational services delivery from Autumn 2014 to Spring 2016.Bristol Golden Key is one of 12 programmes across the UK to have received funding from the Big Lottery Fund Fulfilling Lives programme to support the development and provision of services for people with multiple complex needs