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Characters and locations in a digital age: indistinct ideas or elucidated Expressions?
Get PDFDuring lockdown, unauthorised online interactions with cultural goods such as memes and fanfiction increased in importance as authorised interactions became unavailable. This article uses an analysis of recent case law to argue that some characters and locations reused in these works should attract copyright protection as expressions rather than ideas, bringing UK law into line with the US law
Review of Patricia Bickers' The ends of art criticism
No full textFor a long time, there was only the scantiest literature on art criticism, as if, despite its prevalence in the artworld, the topic merited little academic consideration or could only be practiced rather than discoursed upon. That situation has been gradually altering over the last few years, as evidenced by books published by Jarrett Earnest and Isabelle Graw, and now Patricia Bickers’ The Ends of Art Criticism. Bickers’ book, then, cogently reflects upon art criticism’s history and lucidly examines its philosophical underpinnings. Does it succeed in showing criticism’s present-day relevance and strength
Context is key: normalization as a novel approach to sport specific preprocessing of KPI’s for match analysis in soccer.
Get PDFKey Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been investigated, validated and applied in multitude of sports for recruiting, coaching, opponent, self-analysis etc. Although a wide variety of in game performance indicators have been used as KPIs, they lack sports specific context. With the introduction of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) in sports, the need for building intrinsic context into the independent variables is even greater as AI/ML models seem to perform better in terms of predictability but lack interpretability. The study proposes domain specific feature preprocessing method (normalization) that can be utilized across a wide range of sports and demonstrates its value through a specific data transformation by using team possession as a normalizing factor while analyzing defensive performance in soccer. The study performed two linear regressions and three gradient boosting machine models to demonstrate the value of normalization while predicting defensive performance. The results demonstrate that the direction of correlation of the relevant variables changes post normalization while predicting defensive performance of teams for the whole season. Both raw and normalized KPIs showing significant correlation with defensive performance (p < 0.001). The addition of the normalized variables contributes towards higher information gain, improved performance and increased interpretability of the models
Analysis of the evidence to support the definition of Specific Protection Goals for bumble bees and solitary bees
Get PDFIn the context of the definition of Specific Protection Goals for bees, risk managers asked EFSA to provide the scientific background to support the decision-making process about what needs to be protected and to what extent. In this document, information, data and tools have been investigated to support the risk managers in deciding on the Specific Protection Goals for bumble bees and solitary bees. In particular, EFSA summarised the relevant information on biology and ecology and investigated the possibility of performing an analysis of background variability to support the definition of a threshold of acceptable effects. Accounting for the current level of knowledge, EFSA concluded that this analysis is complex, and it would require information that is not yet available and tools that have not yet been fully evaluated. Nevertheless, based on the limited data available, represented by the control groups of few experimental field studies, an analysis of variability of different relevant endpoints was provided. By taking into account the results of this analysis, the biology and ecology of bumble bees and solitary bees, as well as the impact for risk assessment, EFSA illustrated possible approaches that could be followed by risk managers
Assessing Eccentric Hamstring Strength using the Nordbord: Between-Session Reliability and Inter-limb Asymmetries in Professional Soccer Players
Get PDFThe aims of the current study were to: 1) determine between-session reliability of peak force during the Nordic hamstring exercise (NHE) in professional soccer players during the pre-season, and 2) determine the subsequent magnitude and direction of peak force asymmetry from the NHE between all test sessions. The NHE was used as a weekly monitoring tool in 14 professional soccer players, throughout a 6-week pre-season period to record peak force from the Nordbord device (in Newtons – N) across an average of six repetitions for the dominant and non-dominant limbs. The first two weeks were used as familiarization sessions, with four data collection sessions thereafter. When considering relative reliability, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) showed moderate levels of between-session reliability across the 4-weeks on both limbs (dominant = 0.54-0.73; non-dominant = 0.68-0.73) and for the sum total (0.69-0.73). For absolute reliability, both limbs showed coefficient of variation (CV) values < 10% across all 4-weeks, with the exception of the dominant limb between sessions 1-2 (10.06%). When determining systematic bias, no meaningful changes were evident in peak force on either limb (g = -0.59 to 0.40) or for the magnitude of asymmetry (g = -0.24 to 0.35). However, when assessing consistency in the direction of asymmetry, levels of agreement ranged from 43-57% across the data collection period, indicating substantial variation in the superior performing limb from session to session. The findings from this study indicate that two familiarization sessions is enough to elicit reliable peak force data during the NHE in professional soccer players during pre-season, despite a very small learning effect across the testing period
Nursing students’ attitudes on caring for people living with HIV/AIDS. A European Multicentre Study
Get PDFBackground and aim: Caring for people with HIV/AIDS is a challenging issue for nursing students, involving sometimes misconceptions due to different cultural, political and religious views. The aim of this project was to investigate nursing students’ attitudes on caring for people with HIV/AIDS.
Methods: A convenient sample of undergraduate nursing students enrolled in four European universities was recruited. Data were collected by administering the AIDS Attitude Scale (AAS). Statistical analysis included the ANOVA test, the t–test for independent variables, and the Kruskal-Wallis test with a confidence level P <0.05.
Results: The sample consisted of 594 students of which 162 (27.3%) were English, 246 (41.4%) Italian and 186 (31.3%) Greek. Study findings demonstrated that students’ attitudes toward HIV/AIDS patients were relatively positive, although the majority of them indicated fear of contracting HIV through clinical practice. Nursing students’ positive feelings for HIV/AIDS patients were also correlated with the strong willingness to take care of them.
Conclusions: Despite being exposed to different teaching and learning experiences, a significant part of the participants believe that HIV/AIDS make nursing a high-risk profession. Furthermore, students’ misconceptions are not limited to clinical practice areas as they expressed concerns in sending their children in a class along with a child affected by AIDS and/or in dining in a restaurant where a chef affected by AIDS works. Students are in general well-disposed towards this patients’ population but there is still stigma associated with this condition. A new teaching and learning approach may help redefining students’ attitudes and in limiting the negative impact of misconceptions on the quality of nursing care. Further investigation in this area would help in shading light on the reasons why students are still biased in approaching AIDS/HIV patients. The use of a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews and/or focus group would be recommended
Fair dealing in a fandemic: how pastiche can be used to clarify the position of user-generated content
Get PDFDuring the recent COVID-19 pandemic, amateur writers have increasingly been reusing characters, locations, and plotlines from commercially successful works to bring alternative viewpoints and storylines to life. This type of user-generated content is called fanfiction, produced mostly for free online on websites such as Fanfiction.Net as a method of escapism and communication. This is one of many uses of the Internet which raises issues in relation to copyright in a digital market, and how it interacts with freedom of expression. Copyright theory tells us that by protecting the author’s natural rights to control their works, we also protect that author’s ability to express themselves. Yet, by limiting what can be done with their work, we are limiting the freedom of expression of later authors. This article attempts to clarify the balance that is struck between these two ideals, using a case study approach of fanfiction and the fair dealing exceptions such as parody or pastiche. Clarity in this area was vital during a lockdown, when more cultural interactions were undertaken online, and standard methods of income generation were blocked to creators. This article analyses the fair dealing exceptions as they stand in UK law after the recent Pelham/Funke Median cases, and suggests a potential test for the pastiche exception in UK law in s30A CDPA 1988
Allied health professionals: a promising ally in the work against health inequalities- a rapid review
Get PDFObjectives: Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) have a crucial role in reducing health inequalities. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding the ways they can fulfil this role. This rapid review explores the ways in which AHPs can decrease health care or health outcome inequalities; address inequalities in the social determinants of health; and support disadvantaged groups at an individual, organisational and system level.
Study design: Rapid review following Cochrane criteria and narrative synthesis.
Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science and AMED were searched combined with grey literature, to identify quantitative or qualitative review articles published between January 2010 and February 2021.
Results: From 8727 references, 36 met the inclusion criteria. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed with the AMSTAR tool and was generally low. Meta-analysis was not possible due to the heterogeneity of the studies, and a narrative synthesis was produced. Three themes emerged at patient and organisational level: 1) access to AHP services; 2) quality of care; and 3) social determinants of health. Two themes emerged at system level: 1) unequal workforce distribution and 2) lack of inclusive clinical guidelines.
Conclusions: This rapid review offers a broad range of evidence on the ways AHPs can contribute to the reduction of inequalities in health care, both in terms of access and quality of care and in health outcomes. More research is needed to further understand the impact of AHPs on inequalities affecting specific groups and their contribution to equitable distribution of social determinants of health
Neurobiological effects of yoga on stress reactivity
No full textUnderlines the science behind the pathophysiological effects of stress including the neural changes. This chapter outlines the pathophysiological effects of stress, including neral changes. It covers the stress response, the impact of persistent stress, yoga asana and stress regulation, yoga asana and autonomic measures, cytokines and cortisol
Patient feedback on hospital pharmacists’ consultation skills: A feasibility study using the Interpersonal Skills Questionnaire (ISQ)
Get PDFBackground
Improvement in practitioners’ consultation skills (CSs) can be driven by patient feedback, however, to date, no study has been conducted with reference to pharmacy consultations. The Interpersonal Skills Questionnaire (ISQ) is potentially appropriate for collecting patient feedback on pharmacists’ CSs. This study aims to explore the feasibility of collecting patient feedback on hospital pharmacists’ CSs using the ISQ, to identify the acceptability of the feedback process, and to identify methods to enhance the process in the future.
Methods
The study was conducted in a teaching hospital, United Kingdom, between 2018 and 2019. A diverse sample of pharmacists with patient-facing roles was purposively selected. The study comprised three phases. Pharmacists collected feedback from patients following their consultation using the ISQ utilising a third person whenever possible (phase-1). Data analysis and individual report writing was conducted by a private company. Interviewing a sample of patient participants by telephone (phase-2), and interviewing pharmacists face-to-face after receiving feedback reports (phase-3). All interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. The study received approval by the NHS Health Research Authority.
Results
Six pharmacists were included. Of the 119 distributed ISQs, 111 were returned (response rate 93%). Patients were mostly recruited by their consulting pharmacists (72%, n=80). All pharmacists and 14 patients were interviewed. Participants were positive about patient feedback and its role in enhancing CSs. Most did not encounter any problem with the process, however, some pharmacists struggled to find a third person. The ISQ was mostly viewed suitable to assessing pharmacy consultations. Some reports highlighted areas to improve (e.g. protecting patient’s privacy).
Conclusions
Collecting feedback is feasible, acceptable and may enhance CSs, however, the process was associated with challenges such as finding a third person. Several measures should be considered to make the process more feasible within the hospital pharmacy setting