Symposium: Sport, Clothing & Fashion

Sports history is a growing field however the development of the design of sportswear has been overlooked. It is of central importance, not only to performance, but also to notions of personal, local and team identity and fundamentally to social attitudes. The joint symposium allowed a preliminary exploration of these themes and ideas. Funded by the Pasold Research Fund it brought together researchers who had worked on aspects of the design, production, advertising, retailing or performance of sportswear over the past 100 years. Hosted jointly by the International Football Institute (IFI), University of Central Lancashire, the National Football Museum (NFM) and International Fashion Institute (IFI), University of Central Lancashire an emphasis was placed on encouraging academics, designers, archivists and curators to attend

Basics Fashion Design 08: Styling

Basics Fashion Design 08: Styling is the first comprehensive illustrated text book on fashion styling. The publication covers: a brief history of the origins of fashion styling, key stylists past and present, aspects of the job, essential research, a description of the sectors within styling, preparation and production of a shoot, and the presentation of fashion online within retail, fashion shows and blogs. Writing is supported by case studies by both graduates and practitioners

EEG analysis of the visual motion activated vection network in left- and right-handers

Visually-induced self-motion perception (vection) relies on interaction of the visual and vestibular systems. Neuroimaging studies have identified a lateralization of the thalamo-cortical multisensory vestibular network, with left-handers exhibiting a dominance of the left hemisphere and right-handers exhibiting a dominance of the right hemisphere. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we compare the early processing of a vection-consistent visual motion stimulus against a vection-inconsistent stimulus, to investigate the temporal activation of the vection network by visual motion stimulation and the lateralization of these processes in left- versus right-handers. In both groups, vection-consistent stimulation evoked attenuated central event-related potentials (ERPs) in an early (160–220 ms) and a late (260–300 ms) time window. Differences in estimated source activity were found across visual, sensorimotor, and multisensory vestibular cortex in the early window, and were observed primarily in the posterior cingulate, retrosplenial cortex, and precuneus in the late window. Group comparisons revealed a larger ERP condition difference (i.e. vection-consistent stimulation minus vection-inconsistent stimulation) in left-handers, which was accompanied by group differences in the cingulate sulcus visual (CSv) area. Together, these results suggest that handedness may influence ERP responses and activity in area CSv during vection-consistent and vection-inconsistent visual motion stimulation

Thyroid autoimmunity and function among Ugandan children and adolescents with type-1 diabetes mellitus

Introduction: Up to 30% of type-1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients have co-existent thyroid   autoimmunity with up to 50% of them having associated thyroid dysfunction. Routine screening for  thyroid autoimmunity and dysfunction is recommended in all T1DM patients. However, this was not  currently practiced in Ugandan paediatric diabetes clinics. There was also paucity of data regarding   thyroid autoimmunity and dysfunction in African children and adolescents with diabetes mellitus. The objective of this study was to quantify the magnitude of thyroid autoimmunity and dysfunction in Ugandan children with TIDM.Methods: This was a cross sectional descriptive study to determine the prevalence of thyroid  autoantibodies and describe thyroid function among children and adolescents aged 1-19 years with  diabetes mellitus attending the paediatric diabetes clinic at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kampala, Uganda. Following enrollment, we obtained details of clinical history and performed physical examination. Blood (plasma) was assayed to determine levels of antibodies to thyroid peroxidase (antiTPO), free  thyroxine (FT4) and thyrotropin (TSH). Results: The prevalence of thyroid autoimmunity was 7.3% (5/69). All antiTPO positive subjects were post pubertal, aged between 13-17 years with females comprising 3/5 of the antiTPO positive subjects. All study subjects were clinically euthyroid; however, 7.3% (5/69) of the study subjects had subclinical hypothyroidism. Conclusion: These data strengthen the argument for routine screening of all diabetic children and  adolescents for thyroid autoimmunity (particularly anti-TPO) as recommended by  international  guidelines. We also recommend evaluation of thyroid function in diabetic children and  adolescents to minimize the risk of undiagnosed thyroid dysfunction.Key words: Thyroid, autoimmunity, type 1 diabetes mellitus, childre

Different EEG brain activity in right and left handers during visually induced self-motion perception

Visually induced self-motion perception (vection) relies on visual-vestibular interaction. Imaging studies using vestibular stimulation have revealed a vestibular thalamo-cortical dominance in the right hemisphere in right handers and the left hemisphere in left handers. We investigated if the behavioural characteristics and neural correlates of vection differ between healthy left and right-handed individuals. 64-channel EEG was recorded while 25 right handers and 25 left handers were exposed to vection-compatible roll motion (coherent motion) and a matched, control condition (incoherent motion). Behavioural characteristics, i.e. vection presence, onset latency, duration and subjective strength, were also recorded. The behavioural characteristics of vection did not differ between left and right handers (all p > 0.05). Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis revealed significant decreases in alpha power during vection-compatible roll motion (p < 0.05). The topography of this decrease was handedness-dependent, with left handers showing a left lateralized centro-parietal decrease and right handers showing a bilateral midline centro-parietal decrease. Further time-frequency analysis, time locked to vection onset, revealed a comparable decrease in alpha power around vection onset and a relative increase in alpha power during ongoing vection, for left and right handers. No effects were observed in theta and beta bands. Left and right-handed individuals show vection-related alpha power decreases at different topographical regions, possibly related to the influence of handedness-dependent vestibular dominance in the visual-vestibular interaction that facilitates visual self-motion perception. Despite this difference in where vection-related activity is observed, left and right handers demonstrate comparable perception and underlying alpha band changes during vection

Girlfans 1: Liverpool FC Edition

‘Girlfans’ is an ethnographic study of female football supporters. The photo-zine is in response to the Football Association statistics from the 2013/14 season which stated that 23% of football supporters attending games were female. ‘Girlfans’ documents who they are and how they dress

Network Reliability: A Fresh Look at Some Basic Questions

In this paper, the general problem of comparing the performance of two communication networks is examined. The standard approach, using stochastic ordering as a metric, is reviewed, as are the mixed results on the existence of uniformly optimal networks (UONs) which have emerged from this approach. While UONs have been shown to exist for certain classes of networks, it has also been shown that no UON network exists for other classes. Results to date beg the question: Is the problem of identifying a Universally Optimal Network (UON) of a given size dead or alive? We reframe the investigation into UONs in terms of network signatures and the alternative metric of stochastic precedence. While the endeavor has been dead, or at least dormant, for some twenty years, the findings in the present paper suggest that the question above is by no means settled. Specifically, we examine a class of networks of a particular size for which it was shown that no individual network was universally optimal relative to the standard metric (the uniform ordering of reliability polynomials), and we show, using the aforementioned alternative metric, that this class is totally ordered and that a uniformly optimal network exists after all. Optimality with respect to "performance per unit cost" type metrics is also discussed

Establishing Process Improvement Capability in an HE environment

Process improvement activity is increasing in UK universities, partly in response to calls for increased effectiveness and efficiency but also as a response to today’s rapidly changing political and economic environment. This guide seeks to evidence what higher educational organisations are currently doing to embed process improvement capability and to support those considering undertaking such activity or those already doing s

Establishing Process Improvement Capability in an HE environment

Process improvement activity is increasing in UK universities, partly in response to calls for increased effectiveness and efficiency but also as a response to today’s rapidly changing political and economic environment. This guide seeks to evidence what higher educational organisations are currently doing to embed process improvement capability and to support those considering undertaking such activity or those already doing s