Alfonso I d'Este: music and identity in Ferrara

Although a great deal of documentation on the patronage of Alfonso I d'Este has already been published, music historians and cultural historians have given little attention to Alfonso's style and importance as a patron of the arts. This study aims to marshal the already-available information to examine Alfonso as a patron of music, placing his interest in music firmly within the context of both his other artistic interests and his role in the turbulent political circumstances of his reign. In so doing it adopts analytical tools developed within the fields of cultural and critical theory and current within literary and art history, although thus far only rarely brought to bear on the history of music in what was once called the High Renaissance. In particular, this study looks at Alfonso's patronage through the thematic of identity, seeking to understand the tasks achieved in the construction of the ruler as a princely persona by both large chapel choirs and private music-making. These concerns will be aligned with the demands placed upon Alfonso by the dynastic, political, military and physical context of his reign. In addressing private music-making at Alfonso's court, this study will seek to make unusually extensive use of the decorations of private courtly spaces - which will be found to offer a frame designed quite self-consciously to give meaning to the musical recreations undertaken therein. The resulting picture will substantially revise our current, somewhat haphazard and uncritical view of Alfonso's music patronage, whilst at the same time proposing new ways to read music's meaning at court. Chapters I and II were presented in abridged form at the Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference 2009 in Utrecht. Parts of Chapters III, IV and VI were presented at the Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference 2008 in Bangor, the Royal Music Association's Research Students' Conference 2009 at King's College, London, and the bodies/music conference, Cork, April 2010. Chapter V, in different versions, was presented at the RMA Annual Conference 2006 in Nottingham and the Association of Art Historians' Annual Conference 2008 in London

Alfonso I d'Este: music and identity in Ferrara

Although a great deal of documentation on the patronage of Alfonso I d'Este has already been published, music historians and cultural historians have given little attention to Alfonso's style and importance as a patron of the arts. This study aims to marshal the already-available information to examine Alfonso as a patron of music, placing his interest in music firmly within the context of both his other artistic interests and his role in the turbulent political circumstances of his reign. In so doing it adopts analytical tools developed within the fields of cultural and critical theory and current within literary and art history, although thus far only rarely brought to bear on the history of music in what was once called the High Renaissance. In particular, this study looks at Alfonso's patronage through the thematic of identity, seeking to understand the tasks achieved in the construction of the ruler as a princely persona by both large chapel choirs and private music-making. These concerns will be aligned with the demands placed upon Alfonso by the dynastic, political, military and physical context of his reign. In addressing private music-making at Alfonso's court, this study will seek to make unusually extensive use of the decorations of private courtly spaces - which will be found to offer a frame designed quite self-consciously to give meaning to the musical recreations undertaken therein. The resulting picture will substantially revise our current, somewhat haphazard and uncritical view of Alfonso's music patronage, whilst at the same time proposing new ways to read music's meaning at court. Chapters I and II were presented in abridged form at the Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference 2009 in Utrecht. Parts of Chapters III, IV and VI were presented at the Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference 2008 in Bangor, the Royal Music Association's Research Students' Conference 2009 at King's College, London, and the bodies/music conference, Cork, April 2010. Chapter V, in different versions, was presented at the RMA Annual Conference 2006 in Nottingham and the Association of Art Historians' Annual Conference 2008 in London

On the need to consider wood formation processes in global vegetation models and a suggested approach

Dynamic global vegetation models are key tools for interpreting and forecasting the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to climatic variation and other drivers. They estimate plant growth as the outcome of the supply of carbon through photosynthesis. However, growth is itself under direct control, and not simply controlled by the amount of available carbon. Therefore predictions by current photosynthesis driven models of large increases in future vegetation biomass due to increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 may be significant over-estimations. We describe how current understanding of wood formation can be used to reformulate global vegetation models, with potentially major implications for their behaviour

Monitoring surveying students’ environmental attitudes as they experience higher education in New Zealand

We investigate the environmental attitudes (EA) of New Zealand’s land surveying students and how they change during a four-year programme. We implemented a multi-cohort survey and developed a longitudinal statistical model of change. Findings suggest that although the EA scores of groups of students vary at different times within and between cohorts, there are no significant general trends when genders are combined. But females tend to start their studies with higher mean EA scores than males and this difference declines overtime. This occurs consistently across the four cohorts studied. This is discussed in relation to women’s role within the profession

Seeking learning outcomes appropriate for ‘education for sustainable development’ and for higher education

This article shares and extends research-based developments at the University of Otago, New Zealand, that seek to explore how students’ worldviews change as they experience higher education with us. We emphasise that sustainability attributes may be described in terms of knowledge, skills and competencies but that these are underpinned by affective attributes such as values, attitudes and dispositions; so that ‘education for sustainable development’ is substantially a quest for affective change. We describe approaches to categorise affective outcomes and conclude that ‘education for sustainable development’ objectives comprise higher order affective outcomes (leading to behavioural change) that are challenging for higher education to address. Our own work emphasises the need for student anonymity as these higher order outcomes are assessed, evaluated, monitored, researched or otherwise measured using research instruments that focus on worldview. A longitudinal mixed-effects repeat-measures statistical model is described that enables higher education institutions to answer the question of whether or not ‘education for sustainable development’ objectives are being achieved. Discussion links affect to critical reasoning and addresses the possibility of documenting and assessing the development of lower and mid-order affective outcomes. We conclude that ‘education for sustainable development’ objectives need to be clearly articulated if higher education is to be able to assess, or evaluate, their achievement

A proof of concept pilot trial of probiotics in symptomatic oral lichen planus (CABRIO)

Objective To preliminary evaluate the clinical effects of probiotics in individuals with symptomatic oral lichen planus and the possible mechanisms of action. Subjects and Methods A group of 30 individuals with symptomatic oral lichen planus were recruited in a randomised double-blind parallel group controlled (1:1) proof-of-concept pilot trial of probiotic VSL#3 vs placebo. Efficacy outcomes included changes in pain numeric rating scale, oral disease severity score and the chronic oral mucosal disease questionnaire. Adverse effects, home diary and withdrawals were assessed as feasibility outcomes. Mechanistic outcomes included changes in salivary and serum levels of CXCL10 and IFN-γ and in oral microbial composition. Results The probiotic VSL#3 was safe and well tolerated. We observed no statistically significant change in pain, disease activity, quality of life, serum/salivary CXCL10 or oral microbial composition with respect to placebo. Salivary IFN-γ levels demonstrate a trend for a reduced level in the active group (p = 0.082) after 30 days of probiotic consumption. Conclusions The present proof-of-concept study provides some weak not convincing indication of biological and clinical effects of probiotic VSL#3 in individuals with painful oral lichen planus. Further research in this field is needed, with the current study providing useful information to the design of future clinical trials

Walking ability during daily life in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee or the hip and lumbar spinal stenosis: a cross sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Degenerative musculoskeletal disorders are among the most frequent diseases occurring in adulthood, often impairing patients' functional mobility and physical activity. The aim of the present study was to investigate and compare the impact of three frequent degenerative musculoskeletal disorders -- knee osteoarthritis (knee OA), hip osteoarthritis (hip OA) and lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) -- on patients' walking ability.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study included 120 participants, with 30 in each patient group and 30 healthy control individuals. A uniaxial accelerometer, the StepWatch™ Activity Monitor (Orthocare Innovations, Seattle, Washington, USA), was used to determine the volume (number of gait cycles per day) and intensity (gait cycles per minute) of walking ability. Non-parametric testing was used for all statistical analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both the volume and the intensity of walking ability were significantly lower among the patients in comparison with the healthy control individuals (p < 0.001). Patients with LSS spent 0.4 (IQR 2.8) min/day doing moderately intense walking (>50 gait cycles/min), which was significantly lower in comparison with patients with knee and hip OA at 2.5 (IQR 4.4) and 3.4 (IQR 16.1) min/day, respectively (p < 0.001). No correlations between demographic or anthropometric data and walking ability were found. No technical problems or measuring errors occurred with any of the measurements.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Patients with degenerative musculoskeletal disorders suffer limitations in their walking ability. Objective assessment of walking ability appeared to be an easy and feasible tool for measuring such limitations as it provides baseline data and objective information that are more precise than the patients' own subjective estimates. In everyday practice, objective activity assessment can provide feedback for clinicians regarding patients' performance during everyday life and the extent to which this confirms the results of clinical investigations. The method can also be used as a way of encouraging patients to develop a more active lifestyle.</p

Modelling Conditions and Health Care Processes in Electronic Health Records : An Application to Severe Mental Illness with the Clinical Practice Research Datalink

BACKGROUND: The use of Electronic Health Records databases for medical research has become mainstream. In the UK, increasing use of Primary Care Databases is largely driven by almost complete computerisation and uniform standards within the National Health Service. Electronic Health Records research often begins with the development of a list of clinical codes with which to identify cases with a specific condition. We present a methodology and accompanying Stata and R commands (pcdsearch/Rpcdsearch) to help researchers in this task. We present severe mental illness as an example. METHODS: We used the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, a UK Primary Care Database in which clinical information is largely organised using Read codes, a hierarchical clinical coding system. Pcdsearch is used to identify potentially relevant clinical codes and/or product codes from word-stubs and code-stubs suggested by clinicians. The returned code-lists are reviewed and codes relevant to the condition of interest are selected. The final code-list is then used to identify patients. RESULTS: We identified 270 Read codes linked to SMI and used them to identify cases in the database. We observed that our approach identified cases that would have been missed with a simpler approach using SMI registers defined within the UK Quality and Outcomes Framework. CONCLUSION: We described a framework for researchers of Electronic Health Records databases, for identifying patients with a particular condition or matching certain clinical criteria. The method is invariant to coding system or database and can be used with SNOMED CT, ICD or other medical classification code-lists

Investigating SOcial Competence and Isolation in children with Autism taking part in LEGO-based therapy clubs In School Environments (I-SOCIALISE) : study protocol

INTRODUCTION: Social skills training interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically focus on a skills deficit model rather than building on existing skills or encouraging the child to seek their own solutions. LEGO-based therapy is a child-oriented intervention to help improve social interactional skills and reduce isolation. The therapy is designed for school-age children with ASD and uses group-based play in a school setting to encourage peer relationships and social learning. Despite the reported potential benefits of LEGO-based therapy in a prior randomised controlled trial (RCT) and its adoption by many schools, the evidence to support its effectiveness on the social and emotional well-being of children with ASD is limited and includes no assessment of cost-effectiveness. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This multicentre, pragmatic, cluster RCT will randomise 240 participants (aged 7-15 years) with a clinical diagnosis of ASD to receive usual care or LEGO-based therapy with usual care. Cluster randomisation will be conducted on a school level, randomising each school as opposed to each individual child within a school. All prospective participants will be screened for eligibility before assenting to the study (with parents giving informed consent on behalf of their child). All participants will be followed up at 20 and 52 weeks after randomisation to assess for social, emotional and behavioural changes. The primary outcome measure is the social skills subscale of the Social Skills Improvement System completed by a teacher or teaching assistant associated with participating children at the 20-week follow-up time point. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval has been obtained via the University of York Research Ethics Committee. The results of the trial will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and will be disseminated to participating families, education practitioners and the third sector including voluntary and community organisations. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN64852382; Pre-results