WhatILike - Position Paper

FoaF has been a phenomenally successful activity. Individuals around the world have generated more ontologically-powered metadata, possibly by several orders of magnitude, than any other activity or tool. FoaF is primarily fuelled by the excitement of people who are pleased to publish facts about themselves in a form that allows other people and tools to process them. FoaF publishes against a fixed ontology, to which many extensions exist that allow virtually any information about oneself to be coded. FoaF primarily enfranchises people who understand what is happening; this is because the tools to build FoaF descriptions are generally rather limited. The utilities that use the FoaF descriptions are restricted because they can only use FoaF data. It is interesting to explore what might be considered a next step. How might we allow a more fluid ontological framework? How would we enfranchise people who understand less about what is happening, against a more fluid ontological framework? How do we simply encourage people to produce even more metadata

Use of a Sensory Room on an Intensive Care Unit

In recent years there has been an increasing use of sensory rooms in psychiatric settings internationally, with suggestions that sensory rooms can reduce seclusion rates. In this study, we explore the use of a sensory room on an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) (known as a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in the UK), with a particular focus on the impact on seclusion rates and staff and patients’ experiences of using the sensory room. A mixed method research design was used, with the collection of seclusion data before and after a sensory room was introduced followed by qualitative interviews with staff and patients. There was no significant reduction of seclusion rates with the introduction of the seclusion room. However, the interviews revealed a perception among staff that there had been a reduction in seclusion rates. Other findings from the interviews were that staff and patients viewed the sensory room as a positive therapeutic intervention and that using the sensory room had improved staff-patient communication and patients’ overall experience of the ICU. In conclusion, the use of a sensory room improved both staff and patients’ experience of the ICU and should be an intervention considered by other ICUs and inpatient psychiatric settings

Effect of exposure to natural environment on health inequalities: an observational population study

<b>Background:</b> Studies have shown that exposure to the natural environment, or so-called green space, has an independent effect on health and health-related behaviours. We postulated that income-related inequality in health would be less pronounced in populations with greater exposure to green space, since access to such areas can modify pathways through which low socio-economic position can lead to disease.<p></p> <b>Methods:</b> We classified the population of England at younger than retirement age (n=40 813 236) into groups on the basis of income deprivation and exposure to green space. We obtained individual mortality records (n=366 348) to establish whether the association between income deprivation, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality (circulatory disease, lung cancer, and intentional self-harm) in 2001—05, varied by exposure to green space measured in 2001, with control for potential confounding factors. We used stratified models to identify the nature of this variation.<p></p> <b>Findings:</b> The association between income deprivation and mortality differed significantly across the groups of exposure to green space for mortality from all causes (p<0·0001) and circulatory disease (p=0·0212), but not from lung cancer or intentional self-harm. Health inequalities related to income deprivation in all-cause mortality and mortality from circulatory diseases were lower in populations living in the greenest areas. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) for all-cause mortality for the most income deprived quartile compared with the least deprived was 1·93 (95% CI 1·86—2·01) in the least green areas, whereas it was 1·43 (1·34—1·53) in the most green. For circulatory diseases, the IRR was 2·19 (2·04—2·34) in the least green areas and 1·54 (1·38—1·73) in the most green. There was no effect for causes of death unlikely to be affected by green space, such as lung cancer and intentional self-harm.<p></p> <b>Interpretation:</b> Populations that are exposed to the greenest environments also have lowest levels of health inequality related to income deprivation. Physical environments that promote good health might be important to reduce socio-economic health inequalities.<p></p&gt

Mobility and Maternal Position during Childbirth in Tanzania: An Exploratory Study at Four Government Hospitals.

Emerging research evidence suggests a potential benefit in being upright in the first stage of labour and a systematic review of trials suggests both benefits and harmful effects associated with being upright in the second stage of labour. Implementing evidence-based obstetric care in African countries with scarce resources is particularly challenging, and requires an understanding of the cumulative nature of science and commitment to applying the most up to date evidence to clinical decisions. In this study, we documented current practice rates, explored the barriers and opportunities to implementing these procedures from the provider perspective, and documented women's preferences and satisfaction with care. This was an exploratory study using quantitative and qualitative methods. Practice rates were determined by exit interviews with a consecutive sample of postnatal women. Provider views were explored using semi-structured interviews (with doctors and traditional birth attendants) and focus group discussions (with midwives). The study was conducted at four government hospitals, two in Dar es Salaam and two in the neighbouring Coast region, Tanzania. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Practice rates for mobility during labour and delivery position; women's experiences, preferences and views about the care provided; and provider views of current practice and barriers and opportunities to evidence-based obstetric practice. Across all study sites more women were mobile at home (15.0%) than in the labour ward (2.9%), but movement was quite restricted at home before women were admitted to labour ward (51.6% chose to rest with little movement). Supine position for delivery was used routinely at all four hospitals; this was consistent with women's preferred choice of position, although very few women are aware of other positions. Qualitative findings suggest obstetricians and midwives favoured confining to bed during the first stage of labour, and supine position for delivery. The barriers to change appear to be complicated and require providers to want to change, and women to be informed of alternative positions during the first stage of labour and delivery. We believe that highlighting the gap between actual practice and current evidence provides a platform for dialogue with providers to evaluate the threats and opportunities for changing practice

Cherenkov emission‐based external radiotherapy dosimetry: I. Formalism and feasibility

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149332/1/mp13414.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149332/2/mp13414_am.pd

Discourse revisited : dimensions and employment of first-order strategy discourse during institutional adoption

Despite decades of research on strategy, we still know little about what the concept of strategy means to actual strategists and how they use it in practice. Working at the intersections of institutional and practice theories, we use exploratory interviews with strategy directors and a longitudinal case study to uncover four dimensions of first-order strategy discourse: functional, contextual, identity, and metaphorical. We also reveal three phases in the interrelation between first-order strategy discourse and institutional work: shaping, settling, and selling and a differential emphasis (selective focusing) on dimensions of the first-order strategy discourse during the institutional adoption process. We contribute to a deeper understanding of the concept of strategy in practice, the process of institutional adoption, and of the role of discourse in this process

Internationalism, Regionalism, and National Culture: Music Control in Bavaria, 1945–1948

For many Germans in the immediate postwar period, all that remained of their country was its art. Subjugation, destruction, the pain of unfathomable guilt: these had ripped away at the national psyche, severing nation from nationalism, person from people, the present from the past. “We are,” wrote Wolfgang Borchert in 1946, “a generation without a homecoming, because we have nothing to which we can return.” Nation: what would that word now mean? An occupied state no longer possessing statehood, a conquered people starved even of the moral strength that might come from resisting. Even if the institutions of national governance could be recreated, they could have no historical legitimacy; if Bonn were not to be Weimar, it would equally not be the kaisers’ or the Führer’s Berlin. For many, refuge from the shaming of the nation lay, as Theodor Heuss reflected, in a “decentralizing of the emotions,” in a “flight” to those fields “where the violence of the great political world shake-up is not felt so directly.” This drove literate Germans back to Goethe and music lovers to the endlessly-performed postwar symphonic cycles of Brahms and Beethoven. And yet, escaping into what Jost Hermand aptly termed “the protective wall of self-absorption” did not completely preclude connection to the national community of Germans. In fact, a powerful communion with the whole might still come through the personal enjoyment of a shared art or culture. In art might reside the essence of the national community, a stateless collectivity, without territories perhaps, but with borders and guardians nonetheless

College Students’ Responses to Antismoking Messages: Denial, Defiance, and Other Boomerang Effects

Despite the success of antismoking campaigns that aim to prevent young teens from smoking, this qualitative study provides strong evidence that different initiatives are needed for college students, particularly those who already smoke. When asked for responses to current antismoking messages, nonsmokers generally championed the cause; however, smokers often responded with anger, defiance, denial, and other negative responses. Consumers who respond in this manner are not well served by existing strategies, and money used for such campaigns could be better spent. New strategies are offered in hopes that antismoking campaigns can communicate more effectively with one high-risk group—college student smokers