Elected Mayors: Leading Locally?

The directly elected executive mayor has been with us in England for more than a decade. Drawing inspiration from European and American experience (see Elcock and Fenwick, 2007) the elected mayor has appealed to both Labour and Conservative commentators in offering a solution to perceived problems of local leadership. For the Left, it offered a reinvigoration of local democracy, a champion for the locality who could stand up for the community: in one early pamphlet, a Labour councillor envisaged that an elected mayor could “...usher in a genuinely inclusive way of doing civic business as well as giving birth to an institution that encourages and values people” (Todd, 2000: 25). For the Right, it offered the opportunity to cut through the lengthy processes of local democratic institutions by providing streamlined high-profile leadership. Although inconsistent in their expectations of what the new role of executive mayor would bring, Left and Right shared a view that leadership of local areas was failing. Despite the very low turnout in referendums on whether to adopt the system, and the very small number of local areas that have done so, the prospect of more executive mayors, with enhanced powers, refuses to exit the policy arena

The Validity of the Six Minute Walk Test in Determining VO2peak in Cancer Survivors: A Pilot Study

Peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) is critical for developing and implementing an exercise prescription to guide a cancer survivor’s rehabilitative exercise program, which will improve physiological and psychological values in cancer survivors. Many clinicians choose a submaximal protocol, the 6 Minute Walk Test (6MWT) to determine VO2peak. The University of Northern Colorado Cancer Rehabilitation Institute’s (UNCCRI) treadmill protocol is cancer-specific and accurately determines VO2peak. PURPOSE: To determine the validity of VO2peak obtained from the 6MWT compared to the VO2peak obtained by the UNCCRI treadmill protocol. METHODS: 34 cancer survivors completed the UNCCRI treadmill protocol and the 6MWT in randomized order one week apart. VO2peak derived from the four commonly used equations for the 6MWT were compared to VO2peak obtained from the UNCCRI treadmill protocol. RESULTS: All four 6MWT’s equation mean differences significantly underestimated VO2peak compared to the UNCCRI treadmill protocol (p \u3c0.001). Cancer survivors also exercised at a higher intensity executing the UNCCRI treadmill protocol. CONCLUSION: The 6MWT significantly underestimates VO2peak, inhibits cancer survivors from training at a higher intensity level, and should not be used in formulating an exercise prescription. Clinicians should utilize the UNCCRI treadmill protocol

The Accuracy in the 6-Minute Walk Test in Determining V02peak in Cancer Survivors

Peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) is critical for developing and implementing an exercise prescription to guide a cancer survivor’s rehabilitative exercise program. The Rocky Mountain Cancer Rehabilitation Institute’s (RMCRI) treadmill protocol is cancer-specific and accurately determines VO2peak; yet many clinicians are choosing a less strenuous protocol, the 6 Minute Walk Test (6MWT), to determine VO2peak. However, the 6MWT may yield inaccurate measurements. Purpose: To determine the accuracy of the VO2peak value from the 6MWT compared to the VO2peak value from the RMCRI treadmill protocol for cancer survivors. Methods: Thirty cancer survivors from RMCRI participated. Each participant engaged in the RMCRI’s Treadmill Protocol and the 6MWT in randomized order one week apart. VO2peak values derived from four commonly used equations for the 6MWT were compared to the VO2peak value obtained from the RMCRI Treadmill Protocol. Results: A Repeated Measures ANOVA Test with p \u3c 0.05 will be used to test differences between VO2peak values derived from the 6MWT and the RMCRI Treadmill Protocol. Conclusion: Preliminary findings demonstrate the 6MWT significantly underestimates VO2peak and should not be used in formulating an exercise prescription for the cancer population. The RMCRI treadmill protocol should be the standard protocol for determining VO2peak in the cancer population. Accurate VO2peak values for exercise prescriptions are critical because exercise has been shown to decrease fatigue and to improve strength and overall quality of life in cancer survivors

The Future of Digital Rights Management in Digital Video

The rise in the popularity of internet-based digital video has created a major revolution in the way consumers acquire content. Users no longer need to watch a television show live or obtain a physical disc in order to view a movie. However, this transition comes with a price: Digital Rights Management (DRM). Every digital video file requires a user to be locked into a particular combination of software, hardware, and business plan in order to be authorized for viewing purchased content. DRM was just as prevalent during the introduction of digital audio, but DRM was abolished from the format within four years. The goal of this paper is to attempt to divine the future of DRM and digital video by comparing the current marketplace to the case study of digital audio. In order to estimate the lifespan of video DRM, this paper first examined the history of audio DRM and the factors that led to its demise. Two key factors were discovered: technological innovations that helped push audio piracy into the mainstream and the market forces that forced the copyright holders to relax their DRM requirements. Those factors were used to analyze the current state of video DRM. While disruptive technologies are still being developed to compete against DRM, a combination of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act\u27s stifling of innovation and the rise of online streaming content has prevented the creation of a universal technological solution that would push for DRM-free video. As for the market forces, users treat video content differently than audio. Video content is more disposable, with users preferring to rent content for a single viewing while digital audio lends itself to an ownership culture. This difference in how users treat their content does not create the level of piracy necessary to make DRM-free digital video a reality. The paper concludes that despite the internet\u27s massive ability for the free dissemination of data, digital video DRM will be a factor in the foreseeable future

High New York: The Birth of a Psychedelic Subculture in the American City

The consumption of LSD and similar psychedelic drugs in New York City led to a great deal of cultural innovations that formed a unique psychedelic subculture from the early 1960s onwards. Historians and other commentators have offered conflicting views on this phenomenon by using either an epidemiological approach or by giving drug users more agency. The present study sides with the latter category to offer a new social history of LSD, but problematizes this topic in a sophisticated way by understanding psychedelic drug use as a social fact that in turn produces meaning for its consumers. It analyses the multiple cultural features of psychedelia through the lenses of politics, science, religion, and art, but also looks at the utopian and radical off-shoots of that subculture. To balance this thematic approach, it historicises the subculture by analysing its early days and discussing its origins, and then by pointing to the factors that led to its metamorphosis towards the end of the 1960s. In order to give LSD consumers a clearer voice, this dissertation is based on memoirs, correspondence and interviews that are used to balance press coverage gleaned from archival collections. With this wide array of primary sources supplemented by up-to-date secondary literature, it argues that the use of LSD and psychedelics led to a rich subculture that can be explained by the inherent complexity of the psychedelic experience. In turn, the plurality of opinions regarding the meaning and purposes of the experience led to tensions and polarisations within the large subculture, as well as with other drug subcultures and outsiders leery of illicit drug use. In doing so, this dissertation contributes to the social history of illicit substance consumption and adds to the fields of urban history and the history of subcultures, and makes a case for understanding LSD and psychedelics as a unique category of forbidden drugs that differ vastly in their cultural meaning from other drugs

HYSTERESIS IN METHYLAMMONIUM LEAD IODIDE PEROVSKITE SOLAR CELLS: THE EFFECT OF CHANGING ELECTRON TRANSPORT LAYERS ON OBSERVED HYSTERESIS

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have developed to the point where, currently, power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) in excess of 20% have been reported. This in contrast to the first PSC which was reported in 2009 with an efficiency of 3.8 %. This increase in PCE has helped to position PSCs as a photovoltaic technology which could potentially be commercialized. However, hysteretic current-density – voltage (J-V) behaviour has posed a challenge in the development of PSCs. When determining the efficiency of a PSC, their J-V characteristics are measured. However, their J-V response is sensitive to the voltage scan direction used when carrying out J-V tests. During these tests, measurement starts at 0V and ends at a suitable positive value. The direction in which the voltage was initially applied is then reversed during a second voltage scan. The resulting PCEs from each scan differs. This calls into question which value should be taken as correct. This variation in J-V response could also pose power quality issues when used in real world situations. This work explores the origins of hysteresis in PSCs which use Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) as an electron transport layer (ETL) and PSCs which use [6,6]-Phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Devices illustrated in this work which were fabricated with a compact TiO2 ETL, demonstrated more pronounced hysteresis when compared to devices which were fabricated using a mesoporous TiO2 ETL. Hysteresis was minimal in the PSC which made use of the PCBM ETL. This difference in hysteretic behaviour is attributed to differences in the built-in electric fields present in devices using compact, and/or mesoporous TiO2 as an ETL

Teaching conceptual issues through historical understanding

In this paper we argue that the topic area of Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology is a well crafted one, in that historical analysis is an invaluable tool in teaching the conceptual issues that must be appreciated to gain a full understanding of psychology. Using selected teaching examples we discuss how the history of psychology can illuminate and inform an understanding of not only specific issues and debates in psychology, but also the nature of psychology as a reflexive, socially embedded discipline. We then go on to present a case study of a recent curriculum re-design at the University of Gloucestershire that put Conceptual and Historical Issues at the core of first-year teaching, with the intention that the insights gained will provide a firm foundation for understanding the remainder of the syllabus. Early indications are that introducing students to this perspective while they are new to university study encourages them to see it as a form of thinking differently that is inherent to Higher, versus Further, Education; whereas previous practice of covering it in a final-year capstone module resulted in some students treating it as a marginal topic

Teaching conceptual issues through historical understanding

In this paper we argue that the topic area of Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology is a well crafted one, in that historical analysis is an invaluable tool in teaching the conceptual issues that must be appreciated to gain a full understanding of psychology. Using selected teaching examples we discuss how the history of psychology can illuminate and inform an understanding of not only specific issues and debates in psychology, but also the nature of psychology as a reflexive, socially embedded discipline. We then go on to present a case study of a recent curriculum re-design at the University of Gloucestershire that put Conceptual and Historical Issues at the core of first-year teaching, with the intention that the insights gained will provide a firm foundation for understanding the remainder of the syllabus. Early indications are that introducing students to this perspective while they are new to university study encourages them to see it as a form of thinking differently that is inherent to Higher, versus Further, Education; whereas previous practice of covering it in a final-year capstone module resulted in some students treating it as a marginal topic