Sundance London 2014

This report on the Sundance Film Festival in London in April 2014 includes seven film reviews and observations on the religious themes in them, as well as how the films connect to the notion of place

Homeric Heroes in Ethan and Joel Coen\u27s The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998) and No Country for Old Men (2007)

This paper explores how the Homeric trope of the ‘hero’ appears in three films by the writer/directors Ethan and Joel Coen – The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998) and No Country for Old Men (2007). It will identify the classical traits of hero and anti-hero, mapping them onto characters in these movies. The paper concludes by examining how the ways in which the Coen brothers\u27 play with the notion of the \u27hero\u27 connects with recent thinking on culture and myth in the work of Graham Ward, William A. Dyrness and Robert N. Bellah

Sensemaking, metaphor and mission in an Anglican context

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN025344 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

X-ray time lags and non-linear variability in the ultraluminous X-ray sources NGC 5408 X-1 and NGC 6946 X-1

We present our analysis of the X-ray variability of two ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) based on multiple XMM–Newton observations. We show that the linear rms–flux relation is present in eight observations of NGC 5408 X-1 and also in three observations of NGC 6946 X-1, but data from other ULXs are generally not sufficient to constrain any rms–flux relation. The presence of this relation was previously reported in only two observations of NGC 5408 X-1; our results show that this is a persistent property of the variability of NGC 5408 X-1 and extends to at least one other variable ULX. We speculate this is a ubiquitous property of ULX variability, as it is for X-ray variability in other luminous accreting sources. We also recover the time delay between hard and soft bands in NGC 5408 X-1, with the soft band (1 keV) by up to ∼10 s (∼0.2 rad) at frequencies above ∼few mHz. For the first time, we extend the lag analysis to lower frequencies and find some evidence for a reversal of the lag, a hard lag of ∼1 ks at frequencies of ∼0.1 mHz. Our energy-resolved analysis shows that the time delays are energy dependent. We argue that the lag is unlikely to be a result of reflection from an accretion disc (‘reverberation’) based on the lack of reflection features in the spectra, and the large size of the reflector inferred from the magnitude of the lag. We also argue that associating the soft lag with a quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) in these ULXs – and drawing an analogy between soft lags in ULXs and soft lags seen in some low-frequency QPOs of Galactic X-ray binaries – is premature

Cooperation, social selection, and language change: an experimental investigation of language divergence

In this thesis, I use an experimental model to investigate the role of social pressures in stimulating language divergence. Research into the evolution of cooperation has emphasised the usefulness of ingroup markers for swiftly identifying outsiders, who pose a threat to cooperative networks. Mechanisms for avoiding cheats and freeriders, which tend to rely on reputation, or on (explicit and implicit) contracts between individuals, are considerably less effective against short-term visitors. Outsiders, moreover, may behave according to different social norms, which may adversely affect cooperative interactions with them. There are many sources of markers by which insiders and outsiders can be distinguished, but language is a particularly impressive one. If human beings exploit linguistic variation for this purpose, we might expect the exploitation to have an influence on the cultural evolution of language, and to be involved in language divergence, since it introduces a selective pressure, by which linguistic variants are selected on the basis of their social significance. However, there is also a neutral, mechanistic model of dialect formation that relies on unconscious accommodation between interlocutors, coupled with variation in the frequency of interaction, to account for divergence. In studies of real-world communities, these factors are difficult to tease apart. The model described in this thesis put real speakers in the artificial environment of a computer game. A game consisted of a series of rounds in which players were paired up with each other in a pseudo-random order. During a round, pairs of players exchanged typed messages in a highly restricted artificial "alien language". Each player began the game with a certain number of points, distributed between various resources, and the purpose of sending messages was to negotiate to exchange these resources. Any points given away were worth double to the receiver, so, by exchanging resources, players could accumulate points for their team. However, the pairings were anonymous: until the end of a round, players were not told who they had been paired with. This basic paradigm allowed the investigation of the major factors influencing language divergence, as well as the small-scale individual strategies that contribute to it. Two major factors were manipulated: frequency of interaction and competitiveness. In one condition, all players in a game were working together; in another condition, players were put into teams, such that giving away resources to teammates was advantageous, but giving them to opponents was not. This put a pressure on players to use variation in the alien language to mark identity. A combination of this pressure and a minimum level of interaction between teammates was found to be sufficient for the alien language to diverge into "dialects". Neither factor was sufficient on its own. The results of these experiments suggest that a pressure for the socially based selection of linguistic variants can lead to divergence in a very short time, given sufficient levels of interaction between members of a group

Fibrin Matrices as (Injectable) Biomaterials: Formation, Clinical Use, and Molecular Engineering

This review focuses on fibrin, starting from biological mechanisms (its production from fibrinogen and its enzymatic degradation), through its use as a medical device and as a biomaterial, and finally discussing the techniques used to add biological functions and/or improve its mechanical performance through its molecular engineering. Fibrin is a material of biological (human, and even patient's own) origin, injectable, adhesive, and remodellable by cells; further, it is nature's most common choice for an in situ forming, provisional matrix. Its widespread use in the clinic and in research is therefore completely unsurprising. There are, however, areas where its biomedical performance can be improved, namely achieving a better control over mechanical properties (and possibly higher modulus), slowing down degradation or incorporating cell‐instructive functions (e.g., controlled delivery of growth factors). The authors here specifically review the efforts made in the last 20 years to achieve these aims via biomimetic reactions or self‐assembly, as much via formation of hybrid materials

The deposition of metal nanoparticles on carbon surfaces: the role of specific functional groups

The enormous complexity of a typical heterogeneous catalyst makes understanding the development and properties of any active nanoparticles present extremely challenging. In the case of carbon based catalysts that difficulty is compounded by the variability of the carbon powders used. We have previously developed a strategy that addresses these problems by mimicking the catalyst preparation conditions very closely but using highly ordered pyrolytic graphite crystals (HOPG) as a model surface. This enables us to examine the effects of specific functional groups on nanoparticle formation. We report here an extension of our work characterising functional groups on the HOPG surface, using XPS and AFM to explore the deposition of gold from aqueous solution onto HOPG surfaces treated in a variety of ways to alter the surface functionality. The structure and oxidation state of the resulting nanoparticles depend critically on the nature of the functional groups present and offers some insight into the development of catalysts based on these materials. Hydroxyls are identified as key functional species, reducing gold ions to their metallic state whilst being oxidised themselves to carbonyls. Carbonyls meanwhile promote the nucleation of Au3+, creating a network of islands at the HOPG surface. The results have relevance not only to catalysts using activated carbons but also the new generation of materials based on graphene and carbon nanotubes

Patients' reports or clinicians' assessments: Which are better for prognosticating?

BACKGROUND: The Prognosis in Palliative care Scale (PiPS) predicts survival in advanced cancer patients more accurately than a doctor's or a nurse's estimate. PiPS scores are derived using observer ratings of symptom severity and performance status. The purpose of this study was to determine whether patient-rated data would provide better prognostic estimates than clinician observer ratings. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 1018 subjects with advanced cancer no longer undergoing tumour-directed therapy were recruited to a multi-centre study. Prognostic models were developed using observer ratings, patient ratings or a composite method that used patient ratings when available or else used observer ratings. The performance of the prognostic models was compared by determining the agreement between the models' predictions and the survival of study participants. RESULTS: All three approaches to model development resulted in prognostic scores that were able to differentiate between patients with a survival of 'days', 'weeks' or 'months+'. However, the observer-rated models were significantly (p<0.05) more accurate than the patient-rated models. CONCLUSIONS: A prognostic model derived using observer-rated data was more accurate at predicting survival than a similar model derived using patient self-report measures. This is clinically important because patient-rated data can be burdensome and difficult to obtain in patients with terminal illnesses

Economic evaluation of an exercise-counselling intervention to enhance smoking cessation outcomes: The Fit2Quit trial

Background: In the Fit2Quit randomised controlled trial, insufficiently-active adult cigarette smokers who contacted Quitline for support to quit smoking were randomised to usual Quitline support or to also receive ≤10 face-to-face and telephone exercise-support sessions delivered by trained exercise facilitators over the 24-week trial. This paper aims to determine the cost-effectiveness of an exercise-counselling intervention added to Quitline compared to Quitline alone in the Fit2Quit trial. Methods: Within-trial and lifetime cost-effectiveness were assessed. A published Markov model was adapted, with smokers facing increased risks of lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. Results: Over 24 weeks, the incremental programme cost per participant in the intervention was NZ$428 (US$289 or €226; purchasing power parity-adjusted [PPP]). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for seven-day point prevalence measured at 24-week follow-up was NZ$31,733 (US$21,432 or €16,737 PPP-adjusted) per smoker abstaining. However, for the 52% who adhered to the intervention (≥7 contacts), the ICER for point prevalence was NZ$3,991 (US/ce:para,695 or €2,105 PPP-adjusted). In this adherent subgroup, the Markov model estimated 0.057 and 0.068 discounted quality-adjusted life-year gains over the lifetime of 40-year-old males (ICER: NZ$4,431; US/ce:para,993 or €2,337 PPP-adjusted) and females (ICER: NZ/ce:para,909; USce:para,965 or €1,534 PPP-adjusted). Conclusions: The exercise-counselling intervention will only be cost-effective if adherence is a minimum of ≥7 intervention calls, which in turn leads to a sufficient number of quitters for health gains