Variation in acceptability of neologistic English pronouns

This acceptability-judgment survey of English neopronouns, including xe, fae, ey, and ze, shows that while neopronouns are not fully ungrammatical for most English speakers, they are rated as less grammatical than canonical third-person singular pronouns like she, he, and they. We found that several social variables correlated with ratings of neopronouns in sentences, including age, gender, and sexual orientation. The neopronouns that bear orthographic resemblance to canonical pronouns were rated highest, and metalinguistic comments from participants identified that analogy was an important factor in whether they found neopronouns grammatical

Educating for professional competency and continuing professional development: Implications for undergraduate curriculum and lifelong learning

Background - For public safety, at initial registration Australian pharmacy graduates are expected to practice to minimum standards outlined by the National Competency Standards Framework for Pharmacists in Australia (NCS) (1, 2). Ongoing development of practice should then be guided by the NCS and the continuing professional development standards (3). There has been little research nationally to investigate how well pharmacists follow these standards and what educational preparation is required to encourage this process. Objectives - Explore Australian Pharmacist’s: 1. Understanding of their CPD standards. 2. How they use the NCS to inform their CPD practice Methodology - Using a pragmatist frame and mixed methods approach the authors combined their data from two separate surveys; one focussed on CPD, the other on NCS. Both surveys were administered to Australian pharmacists between 2012 and 2013. Results - The research identified that many pharmacists do not fully understand the CPD standards, including the process of self-directed learning. Furthermore, whilst 86% of pharmacists surveyed knew of the NCS, very few of them utilised them to guide their CPD. Discussion - The results demonstrated that Australian Pharmacists have found difficulty engaging in the CPD process, require better preparation for self-directed learning tasks and the use of the NCS in the CPD process. As pharmacy education in Australia aims to produce graduates with the required knowledge and skills for internship, we should consider whether it is currently providing enough guidance for these skills (2). Do our undergraduate curriculum and assessment methods encourage optimal CPD processes for our future Pharmacists? 1.Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. 1.4 Requisite knowledge, skills and attributes. 2010. In: National Competency Standards Framework for Pharmacists in Australia [Internet]. [4]. Available from: https://www.psa.org.au/download/standards/competency-standards-complete.pdf 2.Australian Pharmacy Council. Accreditation standards for pharmacy programs in Australia and New Zealand (effective from 1 January 2014) 2012 [cited 2013 April 25]. Available from: https://www.pharmacycouncil.org.au/media/1032/accreditation-standards-pharmacy-programs-aunz-2014.pdf 3.Pharmacy Board of Australia. Pharmacy Continuing Professional Development Registration Standard 2010 [cited 2011 Jan 20]. Available from: http://www.pharmacyboard.gov.au/Registration-Standards.aspx</i

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar 2003: Invasive Species

The class of 2003 was the first to graduate with Environmental Studies degrees from the University of Richmond. At that time, the Senior Seminar was a two-semester class, ENVR 391 and 392. It was taught by a pair of professors; Stephen P. Nash, Journalism, and Peter D. Smallwood, Biology. Students chose the problem of invasive species for their focus. With tremendous help from the staff of the Virginia chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and from Delegate James Dillard, the students proposed legislation to help Virginia deal with this environmental problem. Students wrote opinion pieces for local papers throughout Virginia in support of the bill, and spoke to several organizations (e.g., Virginia Master Gardeners Club, Virginia Master Naturalists). Students and faculty lobbied members of the Virginia General Assembly for this bill, eventually securing its passage. It was signed into law by Governor Mark Warner in April 2003. After the bill was passed, the class spent the rest of the semester researching volunteer programs for early detection of invasive species. One of the more pernicious problems of invasive species is that once they have spread far enough, eradication becomes extremely difficult. Thus the best hope for controlling invasive species is to detect them as early as possible. Each student found a particular volunteer program, investigated its strengths and weaknesses, and wrote up their findings in a manual, meant as a resource for land managers in Virginia and other states. As of this writing, the manual is still available through the National Invasive Species Council (here) Included in this folder are: Virginia Code Chapter 433 (the text of the act as signed into law by Governor Warner) Virginia Invasive Species 2003 (a poster describing the work to pass the bill) Early Detectives – Invasive Species 2003 (the manual describing volunteer programs for early detection of invasive species)

Interaction of preimplantation factor with the global bovine endometrial transcriptome

Preimplantation factor (PIF) is an embryo derived peptide which exerts an immune modulatory effect on human endometrium, promoting immune tolerance to the embryo whilst maintaining the immune response to invading pathogens. While bovine embryos secrete PIF, the effect on the bovine endometrium is unknown. Maternal recognition of pregnancy is driven by an embryo-maternal cross talk, however the process differs between humans and cattle. As many embryos are lost during the early part of pregnancy in cattle, a greater knowledge of factors affecting the embryo-maternal crosstalk, such as PIF, is needed to improve fertility. Therefore, for the first time, we demonstrate the effect of synthetic PIF (sPIF) on the bovine transcriptome in an ex vivo bovine endometrial tissue culture model. Explants were cultured for 30h with sPIF (100nM) or in control media. Total RNA was analysed via RNA-sequencing. As a result of sPIF treatment, 102 genes were differentially expressed compared to the control (Padj<0.1), although none by more than 2-fold. The majority of genes (78) were downregulated. Pathway analysis revealed targeting of several immune based pathways. Genes for the TNF, NF-κB, IL-17, MAPK and TLR signalling pathways were down-regulated by sPIF. However, some immune genes were demonstrated to be upregulated following sPIF treatment, including C3. Steroid biosynthesis was the only over-represented pathway with all genes upregulated. We demonstrate that sPIF can modulate the bovine endometrial transcriptome in an immune modulatory manner, like that in the human endometrium, however, the regulation of genes was much weaker than in previous human work

Changing nurses' views of the therapeutic environment: randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Although patients value evidence-based therapeutic activities, little is known about nurses' perceptions.AimsTo investigate whether implementing an activities training programme would positively alter staff perceptions of the ward or be detrimental through the increased workload (trial registration: ISRCTN 06545047). METHOD: We conducted a stepped wedge cluster randomised trial involving 16 wards with psychology-led nurse training as the intervention. The main outcome was a staff self-report measure of perceptions of the ward (VOTE) and secondary outcomes measuring potential deterioration were the Index of Work Satisfaction (IWS) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Data were analysed using mixed-effects regression models, with repeated assessments from staff over time. RESULTS: There were 1075 valid outcome measurements from 539 nursing staff. VOTE scores did not change over time (standardised effect size 0.04, 95% CI -0.09 to 0.18, P = 0.54), neither did IWS or MBI scores (IWS, standardised effect size 0.02, 95% CI -0.11 to 0.16, P = 0.74; MBI standardised effect size -0.09, 95% CI -0.24 to 0.06, P = 0.24). There was a mean increase of 1.5 activities per ward (95% CI -0.4 to 3.4, P = 0.12) and on average 6.3 more patients attended groups (95% CI -4.1 to 16.6, P = 0.23) following training. Staff feedback on training was positive. CONCLUSIONS: Our training programme did not change nurses' perceptions of the ward, job satisfaction or burnout. During the study period many service changes occurred, most having a negative impact through increased pressure on staffing, patient mix and management so it is perhaps unsurprising that we found no benefits or reduction in staff skill.Declaration of interestNone

Enabling Polyvocality in Interactive Documentaries through ‘Structural Participation’

Recent innovations in online, social and interactive media have led to the emergence of new forms of documentary, such as interactive documentaries (‘i-Docs’), with qualities that lend themselves to more open and inclusive production structures. Still, little is known about the experience of making and/or participating-in these kinds of documentary. Our two-year in-the-wild study engaged a large community-of-interest in the production of an i-Doc to explore the ethically-desirable yet challenging aim of enabling multiple subjects to have agency and control over their representation in a documentary. Our study reveals insights into the experiences of participating in an i-Doc and highlights key sociotechnical challenges. We argue that new sociotechnical infrastructure is needed, that frames both ‘executory’ and ‘structural’ forms of participation as symbiotic elements of a co-design process

Improving patient experiences of mental health inpatient care : a randomised controlled trial

Poorer patient views of mental health inpatient treatment predict both further admissions and, for those admitted involuntarily, longer admissions. As advocated in the UK Francis report, we investigated the hypothesis that improving staff training improves patients’ views of ward care.Cluster randomised trial with stepped wedge design in 16 acute mental health wards randomised (using the ralloc procedure in Stata) by an independent statistician in three waves to staff training. A psychologist trained ward staff on evidence-based group interventions and then supported their introduction to each ward. The main outcome was blind self-report of perceptions of care (VOICE) before or up to 2 years after staff training between November 2008 and January 2013.In total, 1108 inpatients took part (616 admitted involuntarily under the English Mental Health Act). On average 51.6 staff training sessions were provided per ward. Involuntary patient's perceptions of, and satisfaction with, mental health wards improved after staff training (N582, standardised effect −0·35, 95% CI −0·57 to −0·12, p = 0·002; interaction p value 0·006) but no benefit to those admitted voluntarily (N469, −0.01, 95% CI −0.23 to 0.22, p = 0.955) and no strong evidence of an overall effect (N1058, standardised effect −0.18 s.d., 95% CI −0.38 to 0.01, p = 0.062). The training costs around £10 per patient per week. Resource allocation changed towards patient perceived meaningful contacts by an average of £12 (95% CI −£76 to £98, p = 0.774).Staff training improved the perceptions of the therapeutic environment in those least likely to want an inpatient admission, those formally detained. This change might enhance future engagement with all mental health services and prevent the more costly admissions

Uptake of diagnostic tests by livestock farmers: a stochastic game theory approach

Game theory examines strategic decision-making in situations of conflict, cooperation, and coordination. It has become an established tool in economics, psychology and political science, and more recently has been applied to disease control. Used to examine vaccination uptake in human medicine, game theory shows that when vaccination is voluntary some individuals will choose to “free-ride” on the protection provided by others, resulting in insufficient coverage for control of a vaccine-preventable disease. Here, we use game theory to examine farmer uptake of a new diagnostic ELISA test for sheep scab—a highly infectious disease with an estimated cost exceeding £8M per year to the UK industry. The stochastic game models decisions made by neighboring farmers when deciding whether to adopt the newly available test, which can detect subclinical infestation. A key element of the stochastic game framework is that it allows multiple states. Depending on infestation status and test adoption decisions in the previous year, a farm may be at high, medium or low risk of infestation this year—a status which influences the decision the farmer makes and the farmer payoffs. Ultimately, each farmer's decision depends on the costs of using the diagnostic test vs. the benefits of enhanced disease control, which may only accrue in the longer term. The extent to which a farmer values short-term over long-term benefits reflects external factors such as inflation or individual characteristics such as patience. Our results show that when using realistic parameters and with a test cost around 50% more than the current clinical diagnosis, the test will be adopted in the high-risk state, but not in the low-risk state. For the medium risk state, test adoption will depend on whether the farmer takes a long-term or short-term view. We show that these outcomes are relatively robust to change in test costs and, moreover, that whilst the farmers adopting the test would not expect to see large gains in profitability, substantial reduction in sheep scab (and associated welfare implications) could be achieved in a cost-neutral way to the industry