A comparison of intramuscular diamorphine and intramuscular pethidine for labour analgesia: a two-centre randomised blinded controlled trial.

Intramuscular (i.m.) pethidine is used worldwide for labour analgesia and i.m. diamorphine usage has increased in the UK in the last 15 years. This trial aims to ascertain the relative efficacy and adverse effects of diamorphine and pethidine for labour pain

In Search of the Solar Wind Nitrogen Isotope Composition: Analysis of a Gold Plate from the Genesis Spacecraft Concentrator

We report N isotope analysis of a gold plate from the Genesis spacecraft concentrator. We did not find evidence for a light N component in the solar wind

Learning from Live Coding

The pace of engagement with new digital technologies in music education is proving to be slow. A key issue - and a major barrier to entry - is teacher skills and confidence to work with technology creatively. Following a concerted campaign from the technology industry, in spring 2013 the UK government agreed to introduce the subject of computing into the national curriculum for all children at the age of five. This chapter describes, interprets and theorises the digital skills and engagement with live coding performance in music

The development of Sonic Pi and its use in educational partnerships: Co-creating pedagogies for learning computer programming

Sonic Pi is a new open source software tool and platform originally developed for the Raspberry Pi computer, designed to enable school children to learn programming by creating music. In this article we share insights from a scoping study on the development of Sonic Pi and its use in educational partnerships. Our findings draw attention to the importance of collaborative relationships between teacher and computer scientist and the value of creative pedagogies for learning computer programming as a live-coded participatory enterprise.We would like to thank Broadcom Foundation and Raspberry Pi Foundation for their funding of this scoping study

Identifying new parameters informing the relationship between silence and sound in diverse musical performance practices and perception

While it was Cage who foregrounded the significance of silence as an act in his ground-breaking composition 4'33", it was Miles Davis who made the performative value of the silent space or absence of sound even more explicit when he drew attention to the notes one does not play. This article examines the significance and role of silence in music. However, a number of questions remain about how musicians use, perform and understand silence in relation to sound and how silence potentially plays a role in the listener's perception of the player's authorial or expressive voice. The aims of the study reported in the article were threefold: (i) to identify how silence is manifest in performance practice; (ii) to identify whether silence in a musical excerpt can affect the listener's perception; and (iii) to further our understanding of the role of silence as a parameter of performance creativity. We explored the ways in which two musicians perform silence in relation to sound, Miles Davis in Round Midnight and Glenn Gould in the Aria from Bach's Goldberg Variations. We made qualitative analyses of transcriptions of their recordings and conducted an online survey of listeners' perceptions of the difference between two recordings of the same piece played by the same performers. Converging evidence from an interdisciplinary literature review and the empirical studies identifying new parameters informing the relationship between silence and sound in diverse musical performance practices and perceptions will be discussed along with implications for new conceptualisations about how silence acts relationally to sound in performance practice

Expert improvisers in Western classical music learning pathways

Despite a growing interest in Western classical improvisation among researchers, educators and musicians in recent decades, research insights on expert improvisers' learning pathways are scarce. In order to further understanding this phenomenon, we formulated the following research question: “What characterizes the learning pathways of Western classical music expert improvisers?” Addressing this question, we designed an exploratory case study, conducting open-ended semi-structured videoconference interviews with a purposeful sampling of N = 8 Western classical music expert improvisers. The participants are international classically trained musicians who are recognized as expert improvisers by their peers and who have improvised on professional albums and in established concert halls. In-depth analysis of our data revealed two distinct learning pathways among the participants: (1) native improvisers, who have improvised since the very beginning of their instrumental learning; and (2) immigrant improvisers, who started to improvise at a later age, during their graduate studies or at the beginning of their professional career. Native improvisers began to improvise spontaneously, without apparent extrinsic incentive, while immigrant improvisers started to improvise in order to attempt to fill a gap in their musical practice. Various factors motivated the immigrant improvisers interviewed to themselves dedicate to this practice, including seeing improvisation as a means to experience (i) a ‘getting back’ to oneself; (ii) an authentic human encounter; (iii) a sense of immediacy characterizing the creative process; and (iv) an equalitarian musical practice. Lastly, a ‘learn-unlearn’ process appears to underlie improvisational expertise development. Implications of these findings for expertise development and skill acquisition will be discussed

Understanding the threats posed by non-native species: public vs. conservation managers.

Public perception is a key factor influencing current conservation policy. Therefore, it is important to determine the influence of the public, end-users and scientists on the prioritisation of conservation issues and the direct implications for policy makers. Here, we assessed public attitudes and the perception of conservation managers to five non-native species in the UK, with these supplemented by those of an ecosystem user, freshwater anglers. We found that threat perception was not influenced by the volume of scientific research or by the actual threats posed by the specific non-native species. Media interest also reflected public perception and vice versa. Anglers were most concerned with perceived threats to their recreational activities but their concerns did not correspond to the greatest demonstrated ecological threat. The perception of conservation managers was an amalgamation of public and angler opinions but was mismatched to quantified ecological risks of the species. As this suggests that invasive species management in the UK is vulnerable to a knowledge gap, researchers must consider the intrinsic characteristics of their study species to determine whether raising public perception will be effective. The case study of the topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva reveals that media pressure and political debate has greater capacity to ignite policy changes and impact studies on non-native species than scientific evidence alone

The transcription and notation of Elizabeth Fry's journal 1780-1845

This thesis proposes to explain the production of Fry's journal and make available to researchers a full transcription of the autobiographical journal of Elizabeth Fry. This journal tells Fry's life story in an episodic diary format that encapsulates the last forty-eight years of her life. The justification for the production of the transcription and the motivation behind It: The thesis will investigate the importance of Fry's Journal in the evolution of the diary genre. It will justify the huge undertaking entailed in making a full transcription of Fry's journal and will discuss the condition of the journal books and their different locations. How these factors contributed to the delay in producing a transcription earlier will be considered. What motivated Fry to write her journal and what influenced her to continue the process unabated for all her adult life? The reasons Fry had originally given for her journal production changed as her journal evolved and her life priorities changed. I will investigate the destruction of Fry's early journal books and her reasoning behind such editorial interference and her motivation for keeping others. Finally this section will close with an analysis of Fry's journal in order to establish what class within the diary genre it belongs. Dyslexia and its effect on Fry's journal text and the editorial procedures adopted: This part of this thesis discusses the indicators of dyslexia within the journal text and their effect on the journal's production. I explain the resulting methodology adopted to alleviate the destructive effect that dyslexia had on the journal text. I have limited the editorial interventions undertaken when producing the transcription as I wished to maintain the integrity of Fry's journal. The final part of the thesis evaluates Fry's journal by making a comparison with a contemporary journal. The journal I used for comparison was written by Deborah Darby, a woman who shared many of Fry's life experiences. This thesis will establish Fry's journal as belonging to that elite group of great diarists that includes Pepys. The appendices: these consist of a short biography of Fry with a published work explaining her role in the founding of modern nursing. A glossary of Quakers and the Gurney family terminology and finally a bibliography and the first two books, from Fry's journal with notes.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Molecular evidence of Chlamydia pecorum and arthropod-associated Chlamydiae in an expanded range of marsupials

© 2017 The Author(s). The order Chlamydiales are biphasic intracellular bacterial pathogens infecting humans and domesticated animals. Wildlife infections have also been reported, with the most studied example being Chlamydia pecorum infections in the koala, an iconic Australian marsupial. In koalas, molecular evidence suggests that spill-over from C. pecorum infected livestock imported into Australia may have had a historical or contemporary role. Despite preliminary evidence that other native Australian marsupials also carry C. pecorum, their potential as reservoirs of this pathogen and other Chlamydia-related bacteria (CRBs) has been understudied. Mucosal epithelial samples collected from over 200 native Australian marsupials of different species and geographic regions across Australia were PCR screened for Chlamydiales. Previously described and genetically distinct C. pecorum genotypes and a range of 16S rRNA genotypes sharing similarity to different CRBs in the broader Chlamydiales order were present. One 16S rRNA Chlamydiales genotype recently described in Australian ticks that parasitise native Australian marsupials was also identified. This study provides further evidence that chlamydial infections are widespread in native fauna and that detailed investigations are required to understand the influence these infections have on host species conservation, but also whether infection spill-over plays a role in their epidemiology