One, Two, Three! Can everybody hear me? : Acoustics of Roman contiones : case studies of the Capitoline Hill and the Temple of Bellona in Rome

Retoryka była jednym z fundamentów rzymskiej edukacji a wystąpienia publiczne esencją bycia rzymskim politykiem. Mówcy starali się oczarować publiczność swoim stylem i przekonać ich do swoich argumentów. Badanie publiczności jest zatem równie ważne, jak badanie mówców i ich przemówień. Celem tego artykułu jest oszacowanie liczby osób, które mogły w zrozumiały sposób usłyszeć mówcę wygłaszającego przemówienie z dwóch mównic znajdujących się w Rzymie: podium Świątyni Bellony na Polu Marsowym (w okresie późnej republiki i późnej Augusta) oraz Świątyni Kapitolińskiej. W tym celu zbudowaliśmy wirtualne rekonstrukcje obu miejsc zgodnie z aktualnym stanem wiedzy na ich temat, biorąc pod uwagę geometrię przestrzeni, a także materiały, z których zostały zbudowane. Na tak przygotowanych modelach przeprowadziliśmy symulacje akustyczne dla trzech różnych poziomów szumu tła (36, 49 i 55 dBA), uzyskując mapy współczynnika transmisji mowy (STI). Wyniki stały się podstawą do oszacowania wielkości maksymalnego potencjalnego tłumu, który mógł słyszeć mowę w sposób zrozumiały, przy użyciu dwóch metod opartych na zachowaniu współczesnego tłumu. Następnie porównaliśmy nasze wyniki z wynikami wcześniejszych badań dotyczących innych mównic w Rzymie.Rhetoric was one of the cornerstones of Roman education and public speaking, the essence of being a Roman politician. The speakers attempted to captivate the audience with their style and convince them of their arguments. Studying the audience is therefore just as important as investigating the speakers and their speeches. The aim of this article is to estimate the number of people who could intelligibly hear a speaker delivering a speech from two speaking platforms located in the city of Rome: the podium of the Temple of Bellona in the Campus Martius (in the Late Republican and Late Augustan periods) and the Capitoline Temple. To do this, we built virtual reconstructions of both venues according to the current state of knowledge about them, taking into account the geometry of the space as well as the materials from which they were built. On the models thus prepared, we carried out acoustic simulations for three different levels of background noise (36, 49, and 55 dBA), resulting in Speech Transmission Index maps. The results became the basis upon which we estimated the size of the maximum potential crowds that could hear speech intelligibly, using two methods based on the behaviour of contemporary crowds. We further compared our results with those of previous studies that concern other speaking platforms in Rome

Facilitators and barriers to stakeholder engagement in advance care planning for older adults in community settings: a hybrid systematic review protocol [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]

Background: Poor stakeholder engagement in advance care planning (ACP) poses national and international challenges, preventing maximisation of its potential benefits. Conceptualisation of advance care planning as a health behaviour highlights the need to design innovative, evidence-based strategies that will facilitate meaningful end-of-life care decision-making. Aim: To review systematically and synthesise quantitative and qualitative evidence on barriers and facilitators to stakeholders` engagement in ACP for older adults (≥ 50 years old) in a community setting. Methods: A hybrid systematic review will be conducted, identifying studies for consideration in two phases. First, databases will be searched from inception to identify relevant prior systematic reviews, and assess all studies included in those reviews against eligibility criteria (Phase 1). Second, databases will be searched systematically for individual studies falling outside the timeframe of those reviews (Phase 2). A modified SPIDER framework informed eligibility criteria. A study will be considered if it (a) included relevant adult stakeholders; (b) explored engagement in ACP among older adults (≥50 years old); (c) employed any type of design; (d) identified enablers and/or barriers to events specified in the Organising Framework of ACP Outcomes; (e) used either quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods methodology; and (f) evaluated phenomena of interest in a community setting (e.g., primary care or community healthcare centres). Screening, selection, bias assessment, and data extraction will be completed independently by two reviewers. Integrated methodologies will be employed and quantitative and qualitative data will be combined into a single mixed method synthesis. The Behaviour Change Wheel will be used as an overarching analytical framework and to facilitate interpretation of findings. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Reviewers` Manual and PRISMA-P guidelines have been used to inform this protocol development. Registration: This protocol has been submitted for registration on PROSPERO, registration number CRD42020189568 and is awaiting review

Perspective-taking influences attentional deployment towards facial expressions of pain: An eye-tracking study

Observer eEmpathetic perspective-taking (PT) may be critical in modulating observer attention and associated caregiving responses to another’s pain. However, the differential effects of imagining oneself to be in the pain sufferer’s situation (‘Self-perspective’) or imagining the negative impacts on the pain sufferer’s experience (‘Other-perspective’) on attention have not been studied. The effects of observer PT (Self vs. Other) and level of facial pain expressiveness (FPE) upon attention to another person’s pain was investigated. Fifty-two adults were assigned to one of three PT conditions; they were instructed to view pairs of pain expressions and neutral faces and either 1) consider their own feelings (Self-perspective), 2) consider the feelings of the person in the picture (Other-perspective), or 3) received no further instructions (Control). Eye movements provided indices of early (probability and duration of first fixation) and later (total gaze duration) attentional deployment. Pain faces were more likely to be fixated upon first. A significant first fixation duration bias towards pain was observed, which increased with increasing levels of FPE, and was higher in the Self-PT than the Control condition. The proportion of total gaze duration on pain faces was higher in both experimental conditions than the Control condition. This effect was moderated by FPE in the Self-PT condition; there was a significant increase from low to high FPE. When observers attend to another’s facial display of pain, top-down influences (such as PT) and bottom-up influences (such as sufferer’s FPE) interact to control deployment and maintenance of attention

Designing an e-learning tool to support health practitioners caring for patients taking multiple medications

Background: Population ageing and improvements in healthcare mean the number of people living with two or more chronic conditions, or ‘multimorbidity’, is rapidly increasing. This presents a challenge to current disease-specific care delivery models. Adherence to prescribed medications appears particularly challenging for individuals living with multimorbidity, given the often-complex drug regimens required to treat multiple conditions. Poor adherence is associated with increased mortality, as well as wasted healthcare resources. Supporting medication adherence is a key priority for general practitioners (GPs) and practice nurses as they are responsible for much of the disease counselling and medication prescribing associated with chronic illnesses. Despite this, practical resources and training for health practitioners on how to promote adherence in practice is currently lacking. Informed by the principles of patient and public involvement (PPI), the aim of this research was to develop a patient informed e-learning resource to help GPs and nurses support medication adherence. Method: Utilising collective intelligence (CI) and scenario-based design (SBD) methodology, input was gathered from key stakeholders in medication adherence to gain insights into barriers to supporting people with multimorbidity who are receiving polypharmacy, strategies for overcoming these barriers, and user needs and requirements to inform the design of the e-learning tool. Results: In total, 67 barriers to supporting people who are taking multiple medications were identified across 8 barrier categories. 162 options for overcoming the identified barriers were then generated. This data was used in the design of a flexible e-learning tool for continuous professional development, that has been integrated into general practice and clinical education programmes as a supportive tool. Conclusions: Using CI and SBD methodology was an effective way of facilitating collaboration, idea-generation, and the co-creation of design solutions amongst a diverse group of stakeholders. This approach could be usefully applied to address other complex healthcare-related challenges

Phantom motor execution as a treatment for phantom limb pain:protocol of an international, double-blind, randomised controlled clinical trial

Introduction Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a chronic condition that can greatly diminish quality of life. Control over the phantom limb and exercise of such control have been hypothesised to reverse maladaptive brain changes correlated to PLP. Preliminary investigations have shown that decoding motor volition using myoelectric pattern recognition, while providing real-time feedback via virtual and augmented reality (VR-AR), facilitates phantom motor execution (PME) and reduces PLP. Here we present the study protocol for an international (seven countries), multicentre (nine clinics), double-blind, randomised controlled clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of PME in alleviating PLP. Methods and analysis Sixty-seven subjects suffering from PLP in upper or lower limbs are randomly assigned to PME or phantom motor imagery (PMI) interventions. Subjects allocated to either treatment receive 15 interventions and are exposed to the same VR-AR environments using the same device. The only difference between interventions is whether phantom movements are actually performed (PME) or just imagined (PMI). Complete evaluations are conducted at baseline and at intervention completion, as well as 1, 3 and 6 months later using an intention-to-treat (ITT) approach. Changes in PLP measured using the Pain Rating Index between the first and last session are the primary measure of efficacy. Secondary outcomes include: frequency, duration, quality of pain, intrusion of pain in activities of daily living and sleep, disability associated to pain, pain self-efficacy, frequency of depressed mood, presence of catastrophising thinking, health-related quality of life and clinically significant change as patient's own impression. Follow-up interviews are conducted up to 6 months after the treatment. Ethics and dissemination The study is performed in agreement with the Declaration of Helsinki and under approval by the governing ethical committees of each participating clinic. The results will be published according to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials guidelines in a peer-reviewed journal

Personalised Nutrition for Older Adults: CI Paper

Personalised Nutrition for Older Adults: Design Challenges, SME barriers, and Options and Competencies for Innovatio