Challenges of mentorship

Mentorship is the fourteenth series of ‘Midwifery basics’ targeted at practising midwives. It aims to provide information to raise awareness of the impact of the work of midwives on student learning and ultimately on women’s experience and encourage midwives to seek further information through a series of activities. In this sixth article Charlotte Kenyon, Stephen Hogarth and Joyce Marshall consider some of the challenges to mentorship and possible solutions to these

The Rapture at the World’s End: Non-optional Choice and Libertarian Idealism in New Media

Central to the experience of new media is the idea of interactivity, even though this dovetails problematically with both arguments for grassroots agency and neo-liberal economic philosophies alike. This paper examines the 2007 computer game Bioshock in relation to its thematic employment of the ideals of market libertarianism as depicted in the novels of Ayn Rand and its strategic use and withholding of agency at critical moments in the gameplay. It argues that Bioshock not only uses the techniques of traditional narrative forms to address the culturally significant issue of the impossible alliance between traditionalism and libertarianism under a conservative banner but also uses the interactive medium to generate a genuinely new aesthetic experience in which the logic of free choice in the narrative, ideology, and medium are simultaneously brought into juxtaposition. This moment marks a landmark development in digital narrative and opens new possibilities for the art form

Video Games in Transmedia Storyworlds: The Witcher and the Mothership Problem

This article looks at the impact of video games on transmedia fantasy worlds using The Witcher as a primary example. While Hollywood-centred franchises tends to follow a “mothership” model of transmedia, with one dominant platform surrounded by ancillary texts, The Witcher demonstrates an alternate model in which the video game series plays just as central a role as the TV adaptation. The article introduces the concept of “dual industrial core” transmedia to describe this type of franchise and explains its implications for fantastic storyworlds. Whereas mothership transmedia attempts to offer high levels of completeness and consistency, particularly in relation to the storyworld’s mythos and topos, dual industrial core transmedia favours greater flexibility. The key platforms for the storyworld maintain distinct differences between each other, often deliberately choosing to diverge in terms of character and storyworld representation, with the video game praised for its Slavic character while the TV series aims for a more generic fantasy environment reminiscent of Game of Thrones or The Lord of the Rings. What holds the fantasy world together is less a coherent mythos and topos than a particular kind of ethos, allowing creators in different media to expand the storyworld by creating “Witcher-esque” situations that are accepted as authentic if they remain true to the storyworld’s bleak, morally ambiguous worldview. As dual industrial core franchises become more common, we may also expect to see more fantastic storyworlds bound primarily by ethos with significantly less emphasis on a complete, consistent mythos and topos

Induction of chronic migraine phenotypes in a rat model after environmental irritant exposure

Air pollution is linked to increased emergency department visits for headache and migraine patients frequently cite chemicals or odors as headache triggers, but the association between air pollutants and headache is not well understood. We previously reported that chronic environmental irritant exposure sensitizes the trigeminovascular system response to nasal administration of environmental irritants. Here, we examine whether chronic environmental irritant exposure induces migraine behavioral phenotypes. Male rats were exposed to acrolein, a transient receptor potential channel ankyrin-1 (TRPA1) agonist, or room air by inhalation for 4 days before meningeal blood flow measurements, periorbital cutaneous sensory testing, or other behavioral testing. Touch-induced c-Fos expression in trigeminal nucleus caudalis was compared in animals exposed to room air or acrolein. Spontaneous behavior and olfactory discrimination was examined in open-field testing. Acrolein inhalation exposure produced long-lasting potentiation of blood flow responses to a subsequent TRPA1 agonist and sensitized cutaneous responses to mechanical stimulation. C-Fos expression in response to touch was increased in trigeminal nucleus caudalis in animals exposed to acrolein compared with room air. Spontaneous activity in an open-field and scent preference behavior was different in acrolein-exposed compared with room air-exposed animals. Sumatriptan, an acute migraine treatment blocked acute blood flow changes in response to TRPA1 or transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor-1 agonists. Pretreatment with valproic acid, a prophylactic migraine treatment, attenuated the enhanced blood flow responses observed after acrolein inhalation exposures. Environmental irritant exposure yields an animal model of chronic migraine in which to study mechanisms for enhanced headache susceptibility after chemical exposure

Respecting corpses: : The ethics of grave re-use

The paper argues that grave re-use cannot be ethically evaluated simply by adverting to cognate issues, such as archeological and medical ethics, since grave re-use comprises a very specific type of disturbance. Whilst there is no general ethical prohibition against disturbing the dead, a more detailed analysis is required in the case of English Victorian ‘perpetuity graves’. It is argued that, even granted that posthumous harms exist, on a proper understanding of what motivated purchase of perpetuity graves their re-use does not constitute a prohibitive posthumous harm. Objections to grave re-use on the grounds of the wellbeing of the living are then considered. Repugnance towards grave re-use is grounded in solicitous attitudes towards the dead and ontological anxiety about the fate of our own and our loved one’s bodies. Nonetheless, repugnance should not be a weighty consideration in the policy debate. Finally, major pragmatic considerations in favour of grave re-use are reiterated. In sum, arguments against grave re-use are weak, and pragmatic arguments for grave re-use are strong, so re-using graves is ethically permissible

THE EFFECTS OF THE DEFLECTION POINT AND SHAFT MASS ON SWING AND LAUNCH PARAMETERS IN THE GOLF SWING

This study determined whether a higher dynamic deflection point (DDP) was evident when using a driver fitted with a stiff shaft of greater mass and whether between-shaft differences were evident in swing and launch parameters. Twelve elite male golfers had three shots analysed for each of two drivers fitted with “stiff” shafts of different mass (56 g and 78 g). Six swing and launch parameters were measured by a real-time launch monitor and the (DDP) was measured using a motion analysis system. Between-shaft differences were evident for the DDP at maximum, but not at ball impact. Between-shaft differences in swing and launch parameters for the heavier shaft resulted in; lower launch angles (

The Importance Of Combining Basic And Applied Literature In Determining International Monetary Policy

This article is a discussion of the current state of knowledge about optimal monetary policy.  The authors contrast basic and applied literatures. The basic literature is explicit about the frictions that generate a positive value for money and make it socially beneficial. The applied literature concentrates on ad hoc constructs.  The authors discuss monetary policy lessons from each type of literature, as well as how the two distinct approaches may be usefully combined

The Effects of the Deflection Point and Shaft Mass on Swing and Launch Parameters in the Golf Swing

This study determined whether a higher dynamic deflection point (DDP) was evident when using a driver fitted with a stiff shaft of greater mass and whether between-shaft differences were evident in swing and launch parameters. Twelve elite male golfers had three shots analysed for each of two drivers fitted with “stiff” shafts of different mass (56 g and 78 g). Six swing and launch parameters were measured by a real-time launch monitor and the (DDP) was measured using a motion analysis system. Between-shaft differences were evident for the DDP at maximum, but not at ball impact. Between-shaft differences in swing and launch parameters for the heavier shaft resulted in; lower launch angles (p\u3c0.001), increased spin rates (p\u3c0.001) and steeper attack angles (p\u3c0.001). The findings show the importance of DDP and optimising swing and launch parameters