The Stained Glass Island: analytical commentary

The portfolio of compositions and the present commentary are the fulfilment of my research degree in Composition as a part-time distance learning student from 2004 to 2011 at the Birmingham Conservatoire. My research is entitled The Stained Glass Island and it includes five works for different instrumentations, from large orchestra to solo instrument. The two main works are for large orchestra: The Stained Glass Island I and The Stained Glass Island II. The supporting chamber works are for quintet (Oskar’s Circus), for trio (Oskar’s Dance) and for solo instrument (Oskar’s Dream). A number of musical materials coming from the orchestral works flow into the chamber works and vice versa, with the aim to explore their expressive and musical possibilities through different instrumental forces. The portfolio also includes a CD with recordings of my works premièred in the US, Spain, Italy and the UK, on the occasion of international composition competitions and concert series. The initial inspiration for my research comes from The Dreaming Youths (Die träumenden Knaben), eight colour lithographs and a poetic text by Oskar Kokoschka, the expressionist painter and poet. Kokoschka’s narration of a fantastic journey, his use of stylisation, the deformed figures, the emphasis on intense contrasting inner moods and the allusive and hallucinated poetic language impressed me greatly, 4 creating powerful visual and emotional suggestions for the composition of this series of works. This commentary begins with a short background focusing on a number of compositions by other composers that were particularly influential on my work. The next chapter explains my harmonic technique and how it tries to express in music the main aspects of Kokoschka’s work. After a short analysis of Die traümenden Knaben lithographs and poetic text the following chapters analyse my works in greater detail. The conclusion looks at the motivation of this research, its development and outcomes, in light of the whole work, its performances and achievements during these years

Simultaneous Excisions and Extemporary Skin Plastics: New Reconstructive Techniques after Tumor Surgery

Occurrence of two or more skin tumors closely situated to each other is not so rare in clinical dermasurgical practice. Excision of multiple contiguous skin lesions can represent a major dermasurgical problem that can be solved in different surgical times. However, in our opinion, the best therapeutic solution is to carry out the removal in a single surgical session; this choice allows saving time, an easier plastic reconstruction, and better esthetic results. Many different reconstructive procedures can be designed and applied, to achieve the best result. The simplest Burow’s triangle flap permits excision of two contiguous lesions with less tension compared to two fusiform cuts, but many other plastic solutions can be chosen to satisfy the needs of different anatomical sites and according to skin features. In the author’s personal experience, of about 8000 patients who have undergone dermatologic surgery over the past 20 years, the presence of multiple contiguous lesions occurred in about 200 cases. In all of these, triangle, rotation, advancement, or transposition flaps allowed simultaneous removals, saving time and money and giving better esthetic results compared to multiple direct excision carried out at successive times. In this chapter, the different techniques are described and illustrated in detail

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multi-national data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar was found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-negligible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics

Social and moral psychology of COVID-19 across 69 countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all domains of human life, including the economic and social fabric of societies. One of the central strategies for managing public health throughout the pandemic has been through persuasive messaging and collective behaviour change. To help scholars better understand the social and moral psychology behind public health behaviour, we present a dataset comprising of 51,404 individuals from 69 countries. This dataset was collected for the International Collaboration on Social & Moral Psychology of COVID-19 project (ICSMP COVID-19). This social science survey invited participants around the world to complete a series of moral and psychological measures and public health attitudes about COVID-19 during an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (between April and June 2020). The survey included seven broad categories of questions: COVID-19 beliefs and compliance behaviours; identity and social attitudes; ideology; health and well-being; moral beliefs and motivation; personality traits; and demographic variables. We report both raw and cleaned data, along with all survey materials, data visualisations, and psychometric evaluations of key variables

Author Correction: National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Correction to: Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9, published online 26 January 2022

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.publishedVersio