276 research outputs found
Migration and Opera Old and New : Repertoire Revivals and Eva Noer Kondrup’s Den Rejsende
This article uses Eva Noer Kondrup’s chamber opera Den Rejsende (Copenhagen 2018) to examine the challenges and opportunities provoked by the operatic form when attempting to create socially responsible theatre. Focusing on how opera reflects and contributes to contemporary discourse on migration, it examines how opera’s unusual performance and reception demands differentiate it from, for example, spoken verbatim theatre. The article first considers the most common way opera companies today engage with migration – through productions of existing operas – in which socially responsible decisions are primarily in the hands of directors and designers and relate mostly to interpretation, and it explores some of the risks and opportunities of engaging with migration in recent revivals of repertoire works. It then analyses how questions of social responsibility in new operas extend to structural issues that are the field of the composer and librettist. The article examines Kondrup’s decisions as librettist-composer of Den Rejsende, demonstrating the potential for opera to use non-realist operatic techniques to engage with some of the issues with which spoken verbatim theatre has wrestled, including questions of authority, authenticity and authorship, and of empathy, engagement, and identification. The production, performed by two Swedish singers from non-refugee backgrounds in multiple roles, favoured distanciation techniques over “authenticity effects” and avoided tensions between giving voice to and speaking for contemporary refugees that can arise in spoken verbatim theatre. While the libretto contained found text, this was from historical refugee situations, and from the words of Inger Støjberg in her role as Danish Minister for Immigration, Integration and Housing. By throwing a spotlight on the words of an elected representative, Den Rejsende indicated an area in which audience members of what is often thought of as an affective theatrical form might have some influence in effecting practical change
Factors influencing the seasonal changes in primary productivity of the photosynthetic bacteria of Crawford Lake, Ontario
A naturally occurring population of photosynthetic bacteria,
located in the meromictic Crawford Lake, was examined during two
field seasons (1979-1981). Primary production, biomass, light
intensity, lake transparency, pH and bicarbonate concentration were
all monitored during this period at selected time intervals.
Analysis of the data indicated that (l4C) bacterial photosynthesis
was potentially limited by the ambient bicarbonate
concentration. Once a threshold value (of 270 mg/l) was reached a
dramatic (2 to 10 fold) increase in the primary productivity of the
bacteria was observed. Light intensity appeared to have very little
effect on the primary productivity of the bacteria, even at times
when analyses by Parkin and Brock (1980a) suggested that light
intensity could be limiting (i.e., 3.0-5.0 ft. candles). Shifts
in the absorption maxima at 430 nrn of the .bacteriochlorophyll
spectrum suggested that changes in the species or strain
composition of the photosynthetic bacteria had occurred during the
summer months. It was speculated that these changes might reflect
seasonal variation in the wavelength of light reaching the bacteria.
Chemocline erosion did not have the same effect on the population
size (biomass) of the photosynthetic bacteria in Crawford Lake
(this thesis) as it did in Pink Lake (Dickman, 1979). In Crawford
Lake the depth of the chemocline was lowered with no apparent loss
in biomass (according to bacteriochlorophyll data). A reverse
current was. proposed to explain the observation.
The photosynthetic bacteria contributed a significant
proportion (10-60%) of the lake1s primary productivitya Direct
evidence was obtained with (14C) labelling of the photosynthetic
bacteria, indica.ting that the zooplankton were grazing the photosynthetic
bacteria. This indicated that some of the photosynthetic
bacterial productivity was assimilated into the food chain of the
lake. Therefore, it was concluded that the photosynthetic bacteria
made a significant contribution to the total productivity of
Crawford Lake
Comparative Judgement Modeling to Map Forced Marriage at Local Levels
Forcing someone into marriage against their will is a violation of their
human rights. In 2021, the county of Nottinghamshire, UK, launched a strategy
to tackle forced marriage and violence against women and girls. However,
accessing information about where victims are located in the county could
compromise their safety, so it is not possible to develop interventions for
different areas of the county. Comparative judgement studies offer a way to map
the risk of human rights abuses without collecting data that could compromise
victim safety. Current methods require studies to have a large number of
participants, so we develop a comparative judgement model that provides a more
flexible spatial modelling structure and a mechanism to schedule comparisons
more effectively. The methods reduce the data collection burden on participants
and make a comparative judgement study feasible with a small number of
participants. Underpinning these methods is a latent variable representation
that improves on the scalability of previous comparative judgement models. We
use these methods to map the risk of forced marriage across Nottinghamshire
thereby supporting the county's strategy for tackling violence against women
and girls.Comment: Submitted. 31 pages, 8 figure
Traction forces generated during studded boot‐surface interactions on third‐generation artificial turf: A novel mechanistic perspective
The traction forces generated during studded boot–surface
interactions affect player performance and injury risk. Over
20 years of empirical research into traction on third
generation (3G) artificial turf has met with only limited
success in supporting the development of safer surfaces and
boots. Thus, the purpose of this perspective article is to
present a conceptual framework for generating scientific
understanding on 3G turf traction through a novel
mechanistic approach. A three-stage framework is
proposed. Firstly, the hypothesized traction mechanisms
and related analytical equations are identified, namely:
friction between the boot outsole and surface; shear
resistance of the performance infill layer to the outsole; and
compressive resistance of the performance infill layer to
horizontal stud displacement. Secondly, a Concept Map is
generated to visually represent the contribution of the thirtynine variables identified as directly affecting the traction
response. Finally, a Research Roadmap is constructed to
guide the direction of future traction studies towards the
development of safer surfaces and boots as well as improved
mechanical tests to assess surface safety. The proposed
framework represents the first attempt to deconstruct bootsurface interactions and hypothesize the science behind the
mobilization of traction forces
Ex vivo culture of adult CD34+ stem cells using functional highly porous polymer scaffolds to establish biomimicry of the bone marrow niche
Haematopoiesis, the process of blood production, occurs from a tiny contingent of haematopoietic stem cells (HSC) in highly specialised three-dimensional niches located within the bone marrow. When haematopoiesis is replicated using in vitro two-dimensional culture, HSCs rapidly differentiate, limiting self-renewal. Emulsion-templated highly porous polyHIPE foam scaffolds were chosen to mimic the honeycomb architecture of human bone. The unmodified polyHIPE material supports haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) culture, with successful culture of erythroid progenitors and neutrophils within the scaffolds. Using erythroid culture methodology, the CD34+ population was maintained for 28 days with continual release of erythroid progenitors. These cells are shown to spontaneously repopulate the scaffolds, and the accumulated egress can be expanded and grown at large scale to reticulocytes. We next show that the polyHIPE scaffolds can be successfully functionalised using activated BM(PEG)2 (1,8-bismaleimido-diethyleneglycol) and then a Jagged-1 peptide attached in an attempt to facilitate notch signalling. Although Jagged-1 peptide had no detectable effect, the BM(PEG)2 alone significantly increased cell egress when compared to controls, without depleting the scaffold population. This work highlights polyHIPE as a novel functionalisable material for mimicking the bone marrow, and also that PEG can influence HSPC behaviour within scaffolds
Using Available Information in the Assessment of Diagnostic Protocols
A new binary screening or diagnostic test may be combined sequentially with an existing test using either a believe the positive or believe the negative protocol. Interest then lies in estimating the properties of the new combined protocol and in comparing the new protocol with the existing test via sensitivity, specificity, or likelihood ratios that capture the trade-o between sensitivity and specificity. We consider a paired assessment study with complete verification via a gold standard. Our goal is to quantify the gain in precision for the estimators of the sensitivity, specificity and the ratio of likelihood ratios in protocols when baseline information on the performance of the existing test is available. We find maximum likelihood estimators of the quantities of interest and derive their asymptotic standard deviations. The methods are illustrated using previously published mammography and ultrasound test results from a cohort of symptomatic women. We find that incorporating baseline information has a large impact on the precision of the estimator for the specificity of the believe the positive protocol and of the sensitivity of the believe the negative protocol. Including available baseline information can improve the precision of estimators of the sensitivity, specificity, and the ratio of likelihood ratios and/or reduce the number of subjects needed in an assessment study to evaluate the protocol.This research was supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
No overall change in the rate of weight gain after switching to an integrase-inhibitor in virologically suppressed adults with HIV
OBJECTIVE: Excessive weight gain has been reported with integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs). We evaluated weight changes in virologically-suppressed adults with HIV who switched from non-INSTI regimens to raltegravir- or dolutegravir-containing antiretroviral therapy. DESIGN: Retrospective single-centre cohort. METHODS: Adults who switched to raltegravir or dolutegravir before or between January-2015 and October-2017 were identified. Virologically-suppressed, treatment-experienced (≥2 years) individuals, ≥6 months on INSTI, with weight measurements ≤2years pre- and post-switch were included. Our analysis used a random effects model with linear slope pre- and post-INSTI with adjustment for age, gender, ethnicity, pre-switch-regimen (protease inhibitor vs. non-protease inhibitor), and raltegravir vs. dolutegravir use. RESULTS: 378 individuals, 81.2% male, 70.1% white ethnicity, median age of 49 years, median of four weight measurements per participant, and median weight and body mass index (BMI) at switch, of 76.6 kg, and 25.3 kg/m respectively were included. Weight increased by an average of 0.63 kg/year (95% CI 0.17-1.09) pre-switch with no overall change in rate of weight gain post-switch [+0.05 kg/year (-0.61-0.71, p = 0.88)]. In our adjusted model, a transition from minimal weight change to weight gain post-switch was isolated to older individuals though this lacked statistical significance [e.g. +1.59 kg/year (-0.26-3.45) if aged 65 years]. Our findings did not differ by gender, ethnicity, pre-switch regimen, or raltegravir vs. dolutegravir. Similar results were seen for BMI and after adjusting for fixed nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor backbone. CONCLUSION: We found no clear evidence of an overall increase in rate of weight gain following switch to INSTI in virologically-suppressed individuals
The use of a pre-operative scoring system for the prediction of phacoemulsification case difficulty and the selection of appropriate cases to be performed by trainees
Background:
To establish whether a previously validated scoring system (Habib) for the prediction of risk or likelihood of posterior capsule rupture during phacoemulsification surgery could be used to: 1. Predict the difficulty of a phacoemulsification case, and 2. Select appropriate phacoemulsification cases for trainees.
Methods:
The study sample was consecutive phacoemulsification cases undertaken by senior surgeons at a single ophthalmic unit over a three-week period (170 cases). Each case was scored using a potential difficulty scoring system. Immediately post-operatively, each case was given two scores by the operating surgeon (who was masked with regard to the potential complication score). The first score indicated the perceived difficulty of the case, and the second score, the degree of experience that they thought a trainee would require in order to have performed the same case without complication.
Results:
Using Cuzick's non-parametric test for trend, there was evidence for a trend of increasing perceived difficulty with increasing potential difficulty score (p = 0.05), and of increasing experience required with increasing potential difficulty score (p < 0.001)
Conclusion:
The authors advocate that Habib's potential difficulty scoring system can be used to inform the surgeon of the likely difficulty of a phacoemulsification case and to aid selection of appropriate cases for trainees prior to surgery
Follicle-stimulating hormone in postmenopausal women living with HIV: a prevalence study
OBJECTIVES: We examined follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels in women living with HIV aged > 45 reporting ≥ 12 months' amenorrhoea, and investigated correlation with menopausal symptoms. METHODS: A cross-sectional substudy of 85 women from the Positive Transitions through the Menopause (PRIME) Study who reported irregular periods at entry into the PRIME Study and ≥ 12 months' amenorrhoea at recruitment into this substudy. Serum FSH was supplemented with clinical data and menopausal symptom assessment. Serum FSH > 30 mIU/mL was defined as consistent with postmenopausal status. Associations between FSH and menopausal symptom severity were assessed using Pearson's correlation and the Kruskal-Wallis test. RESULTS: Median age was 53 years [interquartile range (IQR): 51-55]; all were on antiretroviral therapy, three-quarters (n = 65) had a CD4 T-cell count > 500 cells/μL and 91.8% (n = 78) had an HIV viral load (VL) 30 mIU/mL (40.8 vs. 30.5 kg/m2 ). Over a quarter (28.2%) reported severe menopausal symptoms, with no correlation between FSH and severity of menopausal symptoms (p = 0.21), or hot flushes (p = 0.37). CONCLUSIONS: Four women in this small substudy had low FSH despite being amenorrhoeic; all had BMI ≥ 35 kg/m2 . We found that 95% of women with HIV aged > 45 years reporting ≥ 12 months' amenorrhoea had elevated FSH, suggesting that menopausal status can be ascertained from menstrual history alone in this group
Interdisciplinary content, contestations of knowledge and informational transparency in engineering curriculum
This article is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Teaching in Higher Education, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13562517.2013.836089With the introduction of key information sets (KIS) for all university programmes in the UK from 2012, the character, content and delivery of university degrees may be increasingly used by potential students to differentiate between degree programmes. Therefore, developments in curricula and the relationship to the profession are of growing importance. In this paper, we explore the role of programme content in prospective students’ decision-making and describe the prevalence of interdisciplinary content in civil engineering curricula. Following this, we detail student perceptions of interdisciplinary content. It is found that universities currently operate a varied approach to transparency regarding curriculum; students pay little attention to programme content before embarking on their chosen degree; and engineering students view interdisciplinary content in the curriculum with ambivalence, usually ascribing its necessity in the preparation for post-university employmen
- …