NFTs: The Latest Technology Challenging Copyright Law\u27s Relevance Within a Decentralized System

Non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) redefine society’s understanding of digital ownership and transform how creators distribute original works to consumers. This unique and often misunderstood technol- ogy has the potential to yield extraordinary value for both creators and consumers. While NFTs have existed for some time now, the recent frenzy caused by several high-value sales of NFTs exposed a number of unanswered legal questions, particularly in copyright law. NFTs also raise ideological concerns over how much, if any, government oversight and regulation should exist over the “open” internet. This Note explores copyright law’s application to NFTs and seeks to address a number of unanswered copyright law ques- tions, including who has the right to mint a copyrighted work into an NFT. This Note then seeks to address how extending application of copyright law to the decentralized system can support the ideals of a free and open internet

Systolic blood pressure reactions to acute stress are associated with future hypertension status in the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort Study

These analyses examined the association between blood pressure reactions to acute psychological stress and subsequent hypertension status in a substantial Dutch cohort. Blood pressure was recorded during a resting baseline and during three acute stress tasks, Stroop colour word, mirror tracing and speech. Five years later, diagnosed hypertension status was determined by questionnaire. Participants were 453 (237 women) members of the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort. In analysis adjusting for a number of potential confounders, systolic blood pressure reactivity was positively related to future hypertension. This was the case irrespective of whether reactivity was calculated as the peak or the average response to the stress tasks. The association was strongest for reactions to the speech and Stroop tasks. Diastolic blood pressure reactivity was not significantly associated with hypertension. The results provide support for the reactivity hypothesis. \ud \u

Taking Stock of Common Core Math Implementation: Supporting Teachers to Shift Instruction: Insights from the Math in Common 2015 Baseline Survey of Teachers and Administrators

In spring 2015, WestEd administered surveys to understand the perspectives on Common Core State Standards-Mathematics (CCSS-M) implementation of teachers and administrators in eight California school districts participating in the Math in Common (MiC) initiative. From this survey effort, we were able to learn from over 1,000 respondents about some of the initial successes and challenges facing California educators attempting to put in place and support new -- and what some consider revolutionary -- ideas in U.S. mathematics education

Service user experience of the Norfolk youth service

Purpose: There is an international drive to improve mental health services for young people. This study aims to investigate service user experience of a youth mental health service in Norfolk, UK. In addition to suggesting improvements to this service, recommendations are made for the development of youth mental health services in general. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach was used. Quantitative data from satisfaction questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics and compared between two time points. A semi-structured interview was used to generate qualitative data. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes in the interview transcripts and triangulation was used to synthesise quantitative and qualitative data. Findings: Service users appeared satisfied with the service. Significant improvements in satisfaction were found between two time points. Qualitative analysis identified three main themes that were important to service users, including support, information and personhood. Practical implications: Recommendations for the development of youth mental health services are provided. Although these are based on findings from the Norfolk youth service, they are likely to apply to other mental health services for young people. Originality/value: Mental health care for young people requires significant improvement. The Norfolk youth service is one of the first services of its kind in the UK. The findings from this study might be helpful to consider in the development of youth mental health services across the world

Development of a composite model derived from cardiopulmonary exercise tests to predict mortality risk in patients with mild-to-moderate heart failure

Objective: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is used to predict outcome in patients with mild-to-moderate heart failure (HF). Single CPET-derived variables are often used, but we wanted to see if a composite score achieved better predictive power. Methods: Retrospective analysis of patient records at the Department of Cardiology, Castle Hill Hospital, Kingston-upon-Hull. 387 patients [median (25th-75th percentile)] [age 65 (56-72) years; 79% males; LVEF 34 (31-37) %] were included. Patients underwent a symptomlimited, maximal CPET on a treadmill. During a median follow up of 8.6 ± 2.1 years in survivors, 107 patients died. Survival models were built and validated using a hybrid approach between the bootstrap and Cox regression. Nine CPET-derived variables were included. Z-score defined each variable's predictive strength. Model coefficients were converted to a risk score. Results: Four CPET-related variables were independent predictors of all-cause mortality in the survival model: the presence of exertional oscillatory ventilation (EOV), increasing slope of the relation between ventilation and carbon dioxide production (VE/VCO2 slope), decreasing oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES), and an increase in the lowest ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide (VEqCO2 nadir). Individual predictors of mortality ranged from 0.60 to 0.71 using Harrell’s C-statistic, but the optimal combination of EOV + VE/VCO2 slope + OUES + VEqCO2 nadir reached 0.75. The Hull CPET risk score had a significantly higher area under the curve (0.78) when compared to the Heart Failure Survival Score (AUC=0.70;

Co-designing resources for knowledge based self-reflection for people living with Parkinson’s disease to better enable independent living [abstract only]

Summary Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex progressive neurodegenerative disease. Individuals experience PD in a variety of ways, leading to difficulty in diagnosis, acceptance and on-going management. Service provision is complex, with provider variation, often lacking ‘joined up’ provision between acute hospital and community care. This project utilised a co-design methodology to identify patient and provider needs for PD services in the Plymouth NHS Trust and develop tools, resources and service structures to meet these needs. The application of co-design in healthcare settings is fraught by challenges of power dynamics between healthcare professionals and ‘patients’. We were mindful of this throughout our process. Further, the tools and resources were intended to facilitate independent living for people with PD, yet importantly, enable them to do so from an informed position. This resulted in resources facilitating both the mobilisation of complex knowledge and self-reflection. Method Participants included: People living with Parkinson’s and their families and carers, Parkinson’s Specialist Nurses, Community care teams, Therapy Specialists, Consultant Neurologists, Finance officer, Parkinson’s Charity representatives and health services researchers from Plymouth and Exeter Universities. The co-design process was structured around five co-design workshops. 1. Initiating the collaboration: Lego Serious Play 2. Understanding the Service: Service Journey Mapping, Personas, Disease Trajectory Models, Ideal Service Maps 3. Ideas, Development, Prioritisation and Prototyping: Ideation Games, Mock-ups, Body Storming, Role Plays, Prioritisation 4. Design ‘Hack’: Prototyping 5. Presentation of prototypes, testing and planning Prior to, between and after each workshop, design studio activities were: 1. Planning and preparation 2. Data recording and analysis: interrogating the data as designers 3. Reflection: reflecting on the data and workshop as design researchers 4. Making: making resources, data collection tools and prototypes 5. Communication: ongoing communication with participants Results Five concepts developed were: a Parkinson’s Patient passport, New service and local information; a media campaign; a card deck to support self-reflection; a self-management support and general information package. Of these, the media campaign was paused awaiting national charity support. The other four concepts became the Home-based care pathway through a process of four further co-design workshops. They are being trialled with 150 patients in the South West region. Discussion Within healthcare, one of the biggest challenges is getting new ideas into practice (Greenhalgh and Wieringa, 2011). Coproduction is offered as a possible mechanism for addressing issues that cause this (Greenhalgh et al, 2016). However, the predominant epistemology in health services research devalues the voices of professionals and patients. It is questionable whether ‘real’ coproduction can happen whilst such hierarchies of evidence exist (Rose & Kalathil, 2019). We have suggested that the creative practices of design (Langley et al, 2018) used within co-design processes reduce or even remove these hierarchies, enabling effective embodiment (within prototypes) of experiential knowledge of professionals and patients and the latest scientific research knowledge. Since outputs of co-design processes embody these different forms of knowledge (Rycroft-Malone et al., 2004), they become easier to implement; reducing the translation gap. Framing design and co-design in this way (as a knowledge creation and mobilization process) has been effective for the authors, enabling them to work easily with healthcare professionals and health services researchers. It is a ‘lens’ they understand and appreciate the value of. We encourage other designers working in this space to consider framing their work in this way. Designers using co-design are also encouraged to consider their process in this way; as one of eliciting and embodying experiential knowledge of users, and service providers along with contextual knowledge and the latest research evidence from the relevant field. This can support ‘evidence-informed’ design outputs without stifling creativity and imagination

Flexible use of a dynamic energy landscape buffers a marine predator against extreme climate variability

Animal migrations track predictable seasonal patterns of resource availability and suitable thermal habitat. As climate change alters this 'energy landscape', some migratory species may struggle to adapt. We examined how climate variability influences movements, thermal habitat selection and energy intake by juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) during seasonal foraging migrations in the California Current. We tracked 242 tuna across 15 years (2002-2016) with high-resolution archival tags, estimating their daily energy intake via abdominal warming associated with digestion (the 'heat increment of feeding'). The poleward extent of foraging migrations was flexible in response to climate variability, allowing tuna to track poleward displacements of thermal habitat where their standard metabolic rates were minimized. During a marine heatwave that saw temperature anomalies of up to +2.5 degrees C in the California Current, spatially explicit energy intake by tuna was approximately 15% lower than average. However, by shifting their mean seasonal migration approximately 900 km poleward, tuna remained in waters within their optimal temperature range and increased their energy intake. Our findings illustrate how tradeoffs between physiology and prey availability structure migration in a highly mobile vertebrate, and suggest that flexible migration strategies can buffer animals against energetic costs associated with climate variability and change

Changes in neuromuscular structure and functions of human colon during ageing are region-dependent

Objective: To determine if human colonic neuromuscular functions decline with increasing age.Design: Looking for non-specific changes in neuromuscular function, a standard burst of electrical field stimulation (EFS) was used to evoke neuronally mediated (cholinergic/nitrergic) contractions/relaxations in ex vivomuscle strips of human ascending and descending colon, aged 35–91 years (macroscopically normal tissue; 239 patients undergoing cancer resection). Then, to understand mechanisms of change, numbers and phenotype of myenteric neurons (30 306 neurons stained with different markers), densities of intramuscular nerve fibres (51 patients in total) and pathways involved in functional changes were systematically investigated (by immunohistochemistry and use of pharmacological tools) in elderly (≥70 years) and adult (35–60 years) groups.Results: With increasing age, EFS was more likely to evoke muscle relaxation in ascending colon instead of contraction (linear regression: n=109, slope 0.49%±0.21%/year, 95% CI ), generally uninfluenced by comorbidity or use of medications. Similar changes were absent in descending colon. In the elderly, overall numbers of myenteric and neuronal nitric oxide synthaseimmunoreactive neurons and intramuscular nerve densities were unchanged in ascending and descending colon, compared with adults. In elderly ascending, not descending, colon numbers of cell bodies exhibiting choline acetyltransferase immunoreactivity increased compared with adults (5.0±0.6 vs 2.4±0.3 neurons/mm myenteric plexus, p=0.04). Cholinergically mediated contractions were smaller in elderly ascending colon compared with adults (2.1±0.4 and 4.1±1.1 g-tension/gtissue during EFS; n=25/14; p=0.04); there were no changes in nitrergic function or in ability of the muscle to contract/relax. Similar changes were absent in descending colon.Conclusion: In ascending not descending colon, ageing impairs cholinergic function

Building visualization skills through investigating the Journal of the Medical Library Association coauthorship network from 2006–2017

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to explore different dimensions of Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) authorship from 2006-2017. Dimensions that were evaluated using coauthorship networks and affiliation data included collaboration, geographical reach, and relationship between Medical Library Association (MLA) member and nonmember authors. A secondary objective was to analyze the practice and practical application of data science skills. Methods: A team of librarians who attended the 2017 Data Science and Visualization Institute used JMLA bibliographic metadata extracted from Scopus, together with select MLA membership data from 2006-2017. Data cleaning, anonymization, analysis, and visualization were done collaboratively by the team members to meet their learning objectives and to produce insights about the nature of collaborative authorship at JMLA. Results: Sixty-nine percent of the 1,351 JMLA authors from 2006-2017 were not MLA members. MLA members were more productive and collaborative, and tended to author articles together. The majority of the authoring institutions in JMLA are based in the United States. Global reach outside of the United States and Canada shows higher authorship in English-speaking countries (e.g., Australia, United Kingdom), as well as in Western Europe and Japan. Conclusions: MLA support of JMLA may benefit a wider network of health information specialists and medical professionals than is reflected in MLA membership. Conducting coauthorship network analyses can create opportunities for health sciences librarians to practice applying emerging data science and data visualization skills