Holy Island: A demographic, genetic and medical population study

The thesis consists of three chapters, concerned with demographic genetic and medical population studies respectively. In the first chapter the social history of the island is outlined and the historical demography, as deduced principally from census and parish records is considered. Thus the demographic composition of the present day islanders is established in detail and these data provide the bases for genetic studies. The second chapter provides detailed genetic parameters for the contemporary population. These include the following: blood groups, serum proteins, isoenzymes, PTC tasting, dermatoglyphics and BAIB excretion. Possible explanations for the observed gene frequencies are sought, frequencies which, in toto, render the population of Holy Island unique. These explanations involve both geographical and historico-demographic factors. In the third chapter the results obtained by population screening procedures are outlined. These include: red cell haemoglobin, serum uric acid, serum cholesterol and blood sugar levels, and their significance within the population is discussed. Major themes which run through the thesis and which serve to unify its constituent sections include: the use of surnames, a series of island sub-populations and the use of interrelationships

‘Joining a group was inspiring’: a qualitative study of service users’ experiences of yoga on social prescription

Background Yoga is becoming an increasingly popular holistic approach in the West to manage long-term health conditions. This study presents the evaluation of a pilot yoga intervention, Yoga4Health, that was developed for the NHS to be socially prescribed to patients at risk of developing specific health conditions (risk factors for cardiovascular disease, pre-diabetes, anxiety/depression or experiencing social isolation). The aim of this qualitative study was to explore service users’ experiences of Yoga4Health and the acceptability of the programme. Methods Qualitative data were collected from three sources: 1. Open-ended questions on questionnaires completed by services users at three different time-points (baseline, post intervention and 3 months); 2. Interviews and focus groups with a subset of participants (n = 22); 3. interviews with yoga teachers delivering Yoga4Health (n = 7). Each data source was analysed thematically, then findings were combined. Results Of participants completing baseline questionnaires (n = 240), 82.5% were female, 50% White, with a mean age of 53 (range 23–82) years. Baseline questionnaires revealed key motivations to attend Yoga4Health were to improve psychological and physical health, and believing Yoga4Health would be accessible for people with their health condition. Post-intervention, participants reported a range of benefits across psychological, physical and social domains from Yoga4Health. Increased confidence in self-management of health was also reported, and a number of participants described making positive lifestyle changes after attending the programme. Unanticipated benefits of yoga emerged for participants, such as enjoyment and social connectedness, which facilitated ongoing attendance and practice. Also key to facilitating practice (during and after the intervention) were suitability of the classes for those with health conditions, practising with a group and qualities of the yoga teacher. Home practice was supported by course materials (manual, videos), as well as the teaching of techniques for everyday application that offered immediate benefits, such as breathing practices. Follow-up questionnaires revealed a key challenge was continuation of practice once the intervention had finished, with the structure of a class important in supporting practice. Conclusions Yoga4Health was a highly acceptable intervention to services users, which brought a range of biopsychosocial improvements, suggesting yoga is an appropriate intervention to offer on social prescription

Segmenting Speech without a Lexicon: Evidence for a Bootstrapping Mode l of Lexical Acquisition

Infants face the difficult problem of segmenting continuous speech into words without the benefit of a fully developed lexicon. Several information sources in speech—prosody, semantic correlations, phonotactics, and so on—might help infants solve this problem. Research to date has focused on determining to which of these information sources infants might be sensitive, but little work has been done to determine the usefulness of each source. The computer simulations reported here are a first attempt to measure the usefulness of distributional and phonotactic information in adult- and children directed speech. The simulations hypothesize segmentations of speech into words; the best segmentation hypothesis is selected using the Minimum Description Length paradigm. Our results indicate that while there is some useful information in both phoneme distributions and phonotactic rules, the combination of both sources is most useful. Further, this combination of information sources is more useful for segmenting childdirected speech than adult-directed speech. The implications of these results for theories of lexical acquisition are discussed

Not throwing out the baby with the bathwater: Bell's condition of local causality mathematically 'sharp and clean'

The starting point of the present paper is Bell's notion of local causality and his own sharpening of it so as to provide for mathematical formalisation. Starting with Norsen's (2007, 2009) analysis of this formalisation, it is subjected to a critique that reveals two crucial aspects that have so far not been properly taken into account. These are (i) the correct understanding of the notions of sufficiency, completeness and redundancy involved; and (ii) the fact that the apparatus settings and measurement outcomes have very different theoretical roles in the candidate theories under study. Both aspects are not adequately incorporated in the standard formalisation, and we will therefore do so. The upshot of our analysis is a more detailed, sharp and clean mathematical expression of the condition of local causality. A preliminary analysis of the repercussions of our proposal shows that it is able to locate exactly where and how the notions of locality and causality are involved in formalising Bell's condition of local causality.Comment: 14 pages. To be published in PSE volume "Explanation, Prediction, and Confirmation", edited by Dieks, et a