Pride, shame, and the civic imaginary : Hull as UK City of Culture and Brexit

This thesis investigates how civic pride and shame have shaped the political cultures and cultural behaviours of Kingston Upon Hull between 2010-2020. In 2016, Hull voted ‘overwhelmingly’ to leave the European Union - a decision interpreted by many as inward looking and protectionist (eg. Bevington, 2018). In 2017, Hull hosted the UK City of Culture (UKCoC), an event promoted by policy makers as signifying the openness and cosmopolitanism of the host city. For some, a ‘Brexit’ city hosting UKCoC was paradoxical (Clavane, 2017), and that Hull’s political and cultural behaviours have been somehow contradictory. Through the conceptual and methodological framework of the civic imaginary, this study investigates that assumed paradox to develop multi-perspective views of Hull and its changing sense of self in response to Brexit and UKCoC.Taking a multidimensional, mixed methods – though primarily ethnographic - approach, this interdisciplinary project analyses Hull’s civic imaginaries in relation to the wider political cultures and cultural behaviours locally and nationally. Discussion is also drawn from the critical analysis of key Hull2017 events and the critical discourse analysis of materials such as speeches, interviews and reports produced by Hull2017 decision makers and by key local and national figures in the Brexit debates. It examines how civic pride and civic shame are entwined within the Hull civic imaginary, furthering understandings of how these feelings, key to our sense of place and belonging, are felt, mobilised and put to work through multiple policy realms, modes and levels of governance, and ultimately, how they are lived and enacted through everyday political cultures.I argue that Hull’s recent history has been marked by diverse, and diversely formulated modes of emotional governance that have influenced, and at times exploited local political cultures and feelings. Such strategies have contributed to the sometimes problematic re-imagining of residents’ senses of place and belonging. The thesis makes new observations about the role of civic pride and shame in the contemporary political culture and cultural behaviours of Hull, a relatively unresearched and under-represented city. It develops new understandings of Brexit at the scale of the city and nuances existing understandings of localised identities and political behaviours in ‘left-behind’ places. It presents new insights into the processes of production and reception of a UKCoC in a dynamic period of political change – finding that Hull’s status as both ‘Brexit’ city and UK City of Culture were not so paradoxical at all

Eurovision 2023 Cultural Relations Snapshot: A snapshot from the forthcoming cultural relations, soft power and shared values research

About this research In May 2023, Liverpool and the BBC hosted the Eurovision Song Contest on Ukraine’s behalf. This was the first time since 1980 that Eurovision has not been hosted in the previous winning country, and the first time a winner has ever been unable to host because the country is under attack. Researchers at the University of Hull with consultants from the University of Brighton, University of Glasgow, and Royal Holloway, University of London are investigating the cultural relations and ‘soft power’ impact of Eurovision for a study commissioned by the British Council in partnership with Liverpool City Council and DCMS. The study has three pillars: • A literature review surveying the state of the art in research on Eurovision and other largescale cultural and competitive events. • A tracker survey exploring the impact of Eurovision on members of the public in 5 European countries. • Interviews exploring how stakeholders co-operated to create the narrative of Liverpool, the BBC and the UK hosting Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine. We’ve prepared this snapshot ahead of the publication of the full research in January 2023 for the upcoming event ‘Liverpool Calling – And the results are in!’

Culture, Place and Partnership: The Cultural Relations of Eurovision 2023

No abstract available

Soft Power, Cultural Relations and Conflict through Eurovision and Other Mega-events: A Literature Review

No abstract available

Observation of Muon Neutrino Disappearance with the MINOS Detectors in the NuMI Neutrino Beam

This Letter reports results from the MINOS experiment based on its initial exposure to neutrinos from the Fermilab NuMI beam. The rates and energy spectra of charged current ν_μ interactions are compared in two detectors located along the beam axis at distances of 1 and 735 km. With 1.27×10^(20) 120 GeV protons incident on the NuMI target, 215 events with energies below 30 GeV are observed at the Far Detector, compared to an expectation of 336±14 events. The data are consistent with ν_μ disappearance via oscillations with Δm_(32)^2|=2.74_(-0.26)^(+0.44)×10^(-3)  eV^2 and sin^2(2θ_(23))>0.87 (68% C.L.)

First observations of separated atmospheric ν_μ and ν̅ _μ events in the MINOS detector

The complete 5.4 kton MINOS far detector has been taking data since the beginning of August 2003 at a depth of 2070 meters water-equivalent in the Soudan mine, Minnesota. This paper presents the first MINOS observations of ν_μ and ν̅ _μ charged-current atmospheric neutrino interactions based on an exposure of 418 days. The ratio of upward- to downward-going events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation in the absence of neutrino oscillations, giving R^(data)_(up/down/R^(MC)_(up/down) = 0:62^(+0.19)_(0:14)(stat.) ± 0.02(sys.). An extended maximum likelihood analysis of the observed L/E distributions excludes the null hypothesis of no neutrino oscillations at the 98% confidence level. Using the curvature of the observed muons in the 1.3 T MINOS magnetic field ν_μ and ν̅ _μ interactions are separated. The ratio of ν̅ _μ to ν_μ events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation assuming neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate in the same manner, giving R^(data)_(ν_μ/ν̅ _μ) / R^(MC)_(ν_μ/ν̅ _μ) = 0.96^(+0:38)_(0.27)(stat.) ± 0.15(sys.), where the errors are the statistical and systematic uncertainties. Although the statistics are limited, this is the first direct observation of atmospheric neutrino interactions separately for ν_μ and ν̅ _μ

First measurement of muon-neutrino disappearance in NOvA

This paper reports the first measurement using the NOvA detectors of ν_μ disappearance in a ν_μ beam. The analysis uses a 14 kton-equivalent exposure of 2.74×10^(20) protons-on-target from the Fermilab NuMI beam. Assuming the normal neutrino mass hierarchy, we measure Δm^2_(32) =(2.52^(+0.20)_(−0.18))×10^(−3) eV^2 and sin^2 θ_(23) in the range 0.38–0.65, both at the 68% confidence level, with two statistically degenerate best-fit points at sin^2 θ_(23) =0.43 and 0.60. Results for the inverted mass hierarchy are also presented

Games used with serious purposes: a systematic review of interventions in patients with cerebral palsy

The purpose of the present systematic review was to examine extant research regarding the role of games used seriously in interventions with individuals with cerebral palsy. Therefore, PubMed, PsyINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, and IEEE databases were used. Search terms included: "serious games" OR "online games" OR "video games" OR "videogame" OR "game based" OR "game" AND "intervention" AND "cerebral palsy." After the full reading and quality assessment of the papers, 16 studies met the inclusion criteria. The majority of the studies reported high levels of compliance, motivation, and engagement with game-based interventions both at home and at the clinical setting intervention. Regarding the effectiveness of the use of games, the results of the studies show both positive and negative results regarding their effectiveness. The efficacy was reported to motor function (i.e., improvements in the arm function, hand coordination, functional mobility, balance and gait function, postural control, upper-limbs function) and physical activity. Findings of this review suggest that games are used as a complement to conventional therapies and not as a substitute. Practitioners often struggle to get their patients to complete the assigned homework tasks, as patients display low motivation to engage in prescribed exercises. Data of this review indicates the use of games as tools suited to promote patients' engagement in the therapy and potentiate therapeutic gains.This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). SL and AP were supported by a Ph.D. fellowship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). PM was supported by a Post-Doctoral fellowship from the Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi), University of Minho. JM was supported by a research scholarship from the Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi), University of Minho

Search for the disappearance of muon antineutrinos in the NuMI neutrino beam

We report constraints on antineutrino oscillation parameters that were obtained by using the two MINOS detectors to measure the 7% muon antineutrino component of the NuMI neutrino beam. In the Far Detector, we select 130 events in the charged-current muon antineutrino sample, compared to a prediction of 136.4 ± 11.7(stat)^(+10.2)_(-8.9)(syst) events under the assumption │Δm^2│ = 2.32 X 10^(-3) eV^2, sin^2(2θ) = 1.0