Children’s theatre in the UK: representing cultural diversity on stage through the practices of interculturalism, multiculturalism and internationalism

The UK is a diverse society. It has had a colonial past and is now part of an interconnected global world. Past and present immigration have continuously shaped and re-shaped the ethnical, racial and cultural made up of its people. Children’s theatre can be understood as a theatrical dialogue between the adult practitioner and the child as an audience member that takes place at a specific time and place, while set in a wider social historical context. As such, it is important to understand how this diversity, found within the society, is represented on stage and how it informs this theatrical communication between adult and child. This thesis will therefore focus on the related practices of interculturalism, multiculturalism and internationalism, to discuss the importance but also the problems associated with representing cultural diversity. It will specifically focus on interculturalism which, in short, attempts to stage the interaction between multiple cultural influences. Understanding children’s theatre as a dialogue, this practice is particularly interesting as the cultural interaction between the representation on stage and the cultural background of the young audience members should also be considered. The central argument of this thesis is that intercultural productions can acknowledge and contribute to the cultural diversity found in the UK and offer children and young people from a range of different backgrounds, cultural representation and an opportunity to feel included in what is presented on stage. This in turn counters the desire to construct national identities as homogeneous, authentic and superior, excluding the cultural ‘other’ not just from the theatrical experience but denying access and participation in the ‘nation’s culture’. The thesis will discuss the problems associated with interculturalism, as staging the 3 ‘other’ culture might risk stereotypical and exotic representations as well as cultural appropriation and exploitation to underline creative processes. It will also take into account the increasingly negative perception of the terms ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘globalisation’ that generally inhibits the attempts of representing cultural diversity on stage. Overall, this research highlights the difficulties of cultural representation on the stage, but also focuses on the reasons and benefits of creating theatrical productions that more accurately represents the UK’s ‘globalised’ and ‘diverse’ society

Head Exposure to Cold during Whole-Body Cryostimulation: Influence on Thermal Response and Autonomic Modulation

Recent research on whole-body cryotherapy has hypothesized a major responsibility of head cooling in the physiological changes classically reported after a cryostimulation session. The aim of this experiment was to verify this hypothesis by studying the influence of exposing the head to cold during whole-body cryostimulation sessions, on the thermal response and the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Over five consecutive days, two groups of 10 participants performed one whole-body cryostimulation session daily, in one of two different systems; one exposing the whole-body to cold (whole-body cryostimulation, WBC), and the other exposing the whole-body except the head (partial-body cryostimulation, PBC).10 participants constituted a control group (CON) not receiving any cryostimulation. In order to isolate the head-cooling effect on recorded variables, it was ensured that the WBC and PBC systems induced the same decrease in skin temperature for all body regions (mean decrease over the 5 exposures: -8.6°C±1.3°C and -8.3±0.7°C for WBC and PBC, respectively), which persisted up to 20-min after the sessions (P20). The WBC sessions caused an almost certain decrease in tympanic temperature from Pre to P20 (-0.28 ±0.11°C), while it only decreased at P20 (-0.14±0.05°C) after PBC sessions. Heart rate almost certainly decreased after PBC (-8.6%) and WBC (-12.3%) sessions. Resting vagal-related heart rate variability indices (the root-mean square difference of successive normal R-R intervals, RMSSD, and high frequency band, HF) were very likely to almost certainly increased after PBC (RMSSD:+49.1%, HF: +123.3%) and WBC (RMSSD: +38.8%, HF:+70.3%). Plasma norepinephrine concentration was likely increased in similar proportions after PBC and WBC, but only after the first session. Both cryostimulation techniques stimulated the ANS with a predominance of parasympathetic tone activation from the first to the fifth session and in slightly greater proportion with WBC than PBC. The main result of this study indicates that the head exposure to cold during whole-body cryostimulation may not be the main factor responsible for the effects of cryostimulation on the ANS

Pre-Existing Isoniazid Resistance, but Not the Genotype of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Drives Rifampicin Resistance Codon Preference in Vitro

Both the probability of a mutation occurring and the ability of the mutant to persist will influence the distribution of mutants that arise in a population. We studied the interaction of these factors for the in vitro selection of rifampicin (RIF)-resistant mutants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We characterised two series of spontaneous RIF-resistant in vitro mutants from isoniazid (INH)-sensitive and -resistant laboratory strains and clinical isolates, representing various M. tuberculosis genotypes. The first series were selected from multiple parallel 1 ml cultures and the second from single 10 ml cultures. RIF-resistant mutants were screened by Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) or by sequencing the rpoB gene. For all strains the mutation rate for RIF resistance was determined with a fluctuation assay. The most striking observation was a shift towards rpoB-S531L (TCG→TTG) mutations in a panel of laboratory-generated INH-resistant mutants selected from the 10-ml cultures (p<0.001). All tested strains showed similar mutation rates (1.33×10−8 to 2.49×10−7) except one of the laboratory-generated INH mutants with a mutation rate measured at 5.71×10−7, more than 10 times higher than that of the INH susceptible parental strain (5.46–7.44×10−8). No significant, systematic difference in the spectrum of rpoB-mutations between strains of different genotypes was observed. The dramatic shift towards rpoB-S531L in our INH-resistant laboratory mutants suggests that the relative fitness of resistant mutants can dramatically impact the distribution of (subsequent) mutations that accumulate in a M. tuberculosis population, at least in vitro. We conclude that, against specific genetic backgrounds, certain resistance mutations are particularly likely to spread. Molecular screening for these (combinations of) mutations in clinical isolates could rapidly identify these particular pathogenic strains. We therefore recommend that isolates are screened for the distribution of resistance mutations, especially in regions that are highly endemic for (multi)drug resistant tuberculosis

Assessing the importance of car meanings and attitudes in consumer evaluations of electric vehicles

This paper reports findings from a research study which assesses the importance of attitudinal constructs related to general car attitudes and the meanings attached to car ownership over evaluations of electric vehicles (EVs). The data are assessed using principal component analysis to evaluate the structure of the underlying attitudinal constructs. The identified constructs are then entered into a hierarchical regression analysis which uses either positive or negative evaluations of the instrumental capabilities of EVs as the dependent variable. Results show that attitudinal constructs offer additional predictive power over socioeconomic characteristics and that the symbolic and emotive meanings of car ownership are as, if not more, effective in explaining the assessment of EV instrumental capability as compared to issues of cost and environmental concern. Additionally, the more important an individual considers their car to be in their everyday life, the more negative their evaluations are of EVs whilst individuals who claim to be knowledgeable about cars in general and EVs in particular have a lower propensity for negative EV attitudes. However, positive and negative EV attitudes are related to different attitudinal constructs suggesting that it is possible for someone to hold both negative and positive assessments at the same time

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

RehabMove 2018: Biomechanical effects of rocker shoes in patients with plantar fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is one of the most frequently occurring overuse injury of the foot and characterized by pain under the foot which aggravates during standing, walking and running. A frequently used treatment option for plantar fasciitis is the rocker shoe. The rocker shoe has a proximal apex position and a stiff insole. The rocker shoe is assumed to unload the plantar fascia during gait because it minimizes peak achilles tendon forces and dorsiflexion angles of the toes. However whether a proximal apex position and a stiff insole minimize the strain on the plantar fascia and how these two parameter interact has not been investigated yet. A musculoskeletal model similar to a previously published study and data from a cadaver study was used to estimate the strain of the plantar fascia in ten healthy young adults and nine patients diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. The participants walked for 60 seconds on their comfortable speed on a treadmill. Four different shoe conditions were randomly applied by varying sole stiffnes and the apex position of the shoe. Plantar fascia strain remained unaffected by shoe condition, but peak Achilles tendon force, peak MTP1 angle and peak plantarflexion moment were significantly lower when walking with with a proximal apex position and a stiff insole. Rocker shoes with a stiff insole positively affect peak dorsiflexion angles of the toes and plantar flexion moments but not PA strain during gait. Possibly more proximal apex positions should be used in patients with plantar fasciitis to minimize plantar fascia strain during gait and facilitate healing processes