Their memory:exploring veterans’ voices, virtual reality and collective memory

This paper focuses on the virtual reality (VR) project Their Memory and details the development and evaluation of virtual reality environments and experiences with respect to its impact on young people (14-35 demographic) with the narratives of veterans in Scotland. As part of the AHRC Immersive Experiences program, Their Memory was created to explore how game design techniques and immersive technology could be used to enhance existing historical research and enrich narratives to bring expansive experiences to hard-to-reach audiences. The project worked directly with the veterans’ charity, Poppyscotland, to create an environment and experience that would resonate with new audiences, and explore documentary and storytelling techniques for the commemoration of war and conflict. The design of the project evolved through co-design sessions with veterans and young people and culminated in the creation of a short, thought-provoking, narrative-driven experience. The VR experience enabled players to connect with the memories of veterans in Scotland and exploring the different conflicts or situations they experienced and how they make sense of them. The project brought together cross-sector expertise to research how immersive experiences can help memory-based organizations in engaging with wider audiences, raise awareness, and diversify current learning outputs. The paper details the design and development of the Virtual Reality project, through co-design, and how this engaged the audience and evolved the experience created. The paper includes a summative evaluation of events conducted with schoolchildren to assess the project and concludes with how the project evidences impact upon audiences and the potential for both technology and the experience

Assessing climate change risks to the natural environment to facilitate cross-sectoral adaptation policy

Climate change policy requires prioritization of adaptation actions across many diverse issues. The policy agenda for the natural environment includes not only biodiversity, soils and water, but also associated human benefits through agriculture, forestry, water resources, hazard alleviation, climate regulation and amenity value. To address this broad agenda, the use of comparative risk assessment is investigated with reference to statutory requirements of the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment. Risk prioritization was defined by current adaptation progress relative to risk magnitude and implementation lead times. Use of an ecosystem approach provided insights into risk interactions, but challenges remain in quantifying ecosystem services. For all risks, indirect effects and potential systemic risks were identified from land-use change, responding to both climate and socio-economic drivers, and causing increased competition for land and water resources. Adaptation strategies enhancing natural ecosystem resilience can buffer risks and sustain ecosystem services but require improved cross-sectoral coordination and recognition of dynamic change. To facilitate this, risk assessments need to be reflexive and explicitly assess decision outcomes contingent on their riskiness and adaptability, including required levels of human intervention, influence of uncertainty and ethical dimensions. More national-scale information is also required on adaptation occurring in practice and its efficacy in moderating risks. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Advances in risk assessment for climate change adaptation policy’.</jats:p

Arousal, disociación y cognición en el juego normal y problemático

The aim of this report was to study the involvement of arousal and dissociative states as factors that trigger and maintain normal and problem gambling. Furthermore, alexithymia was reviewed as a possible vulnerability trait of pathological gambling or as consequence of the same.El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido estudiar la implicación del arousal y de los estados disociativos como factores desencadenantes y mantenedores en el juego normal y problemático. Asimismo, se revisa la alexitimia como posible rasgo de vulnerabilidad al juego patológico o como consecuencia del mismo

Anti-protease gene therapy in the lung

Previous work has demonstrated the importance of neutrophil derived proteolytic enzymes in the pathogenesis of acute pulmonary inflammation. The protease/anti-protease balance theory of lung disease relies on the presence of substances within the lung which inhibit these enzymes. These include alpha-1-antiprotease, secretory leukoprotease inhibitor (SLPI) and elafin. Indeed these inhibitors have been used to modulate the inflammatory response both in vitro and in vivo. Whilst only limited data currently exists in relation to the ovine orthologs of these inhibitors the potential of this species as an intermediate model for lung-directed gene therapy has recently been highlighted and warrants further applied research. This thesis is directed towards this aim.The first section details the cloning and characterisation of the ovine forms of SLPI and elafin. The ovine orthologs show many characteristics in common with the human forms of these proteins including distributions at mucosal sites and activity against neutrophil elastase in vitro. The identification of the sequences of the genes encoding ovine SLPI and elafin has expanded the current knowledge based on members of the whey acidic protein (WAP) and Trappin families of protein.The ovine elafin sequence facilitated the construction of a replication-deficient adenovirus (Ad-oelafin) for use as an efficient vector in lung-directed gene therapy in the context of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated direct lung injury. The data demonstrates that local lung administration of Ad-o-elafin up-regulates the innate immune response to intra-pulmonary LPS both within areas of the lung directly exposed to the virus and also in spatially disparate lung segments not receiving adenovirus. Additionally, the endobronchial administration of Ad-o-elafin abrogates the circulating leukocytosis seen as a result of intra-pulmonary LPS instillation when compared to control adenovirus. This suggests a role for local elafin up-regulation in the stimulation of the innate immune response with a concomitant decrease in the systemic response.These data expand a relatively narrow knowledge base in relation to lung-directed adenoviralmediated gene therapy in large animal models. In particular the extent of influence of a local gene delivery has been highlighted and is potentially of direct relevance to the design of applied protocols aimed at modulating the inflammatory response in the lung