6664 research outputs found
Sort by
The portrayal of gender in Marvel and Star Wars media targeted towards children
Get PDFAn abundance of previous research has investigated how gender has been portrayed within feature length films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, particularly those within the Disney princess franchise. However, the Disney corporation acquired the Marvel and Star Wars franchises in 2009 and 2012, respectively, which was likely a strategy for the corporation to obtain characters that would capture the imagination of boys and men. The current qualitative study explored how gender is portrayed by leading protagonists in these texts, utilising thematic analysis, which was necessary considering little is currently known in this domain. The researchers analysed series one of Avengers Assemble and series one of Star Wars Rebels. Interpretation of the data led to the development of several themes and subthemes based on the gendered portrayals within each series. Overall, the findings suggest that there was more overt gender stereotyping in Avengers Assemble when compared with Star Wars Rebels, meaning that the former could be particularly problematic for children who may replicate its messages. The current study has facilitated a greater understanding of the gendered messages that may be consumed by children who engage with Marvel and Star Wars media. Future research is needed to assess the relationship between such messages and children’s behaviour
Malinche unveiled: a Spanish Megamusical in English, appropriating the tapestry of Mexican history
No full text“You think you’re going to get better”: a creative-relational inquiry into long Covid and physical activity
Get PDFThis creative-relational inquiry explores the lived experience of people suffering from Long Covid. Responding to calls for a publicly oriented qualitative inquiry, we collaborate across an extended project team to develop and share an accessible and engaging performance text which advocates for and supports those who live precariously as a result of contracting Long Covid. We offer our performance text as a resource to inform and guide personal, professional, public, and policy responses to Long Covid. We propose that creative-relational inquiries such as this beneficially extend understanding beyond what is possible through traditional evidence-based medicine alone
Racialising the intersections
No full textIn European Cities, Noa K Ha and Giovanni Picker say their aim is to build up a race-conscious archive of European cities in the nexus of modernity and colonialism. I congratulate them on compiling this record of race and urbanity in the many cities featured in this book
Copla: A Spanish Cabaret - A personal invitation to discover Copla
Get PDFEvery time someone asks me what Copla is, I struggle
to answer. How can I describe in a few words an art
form that is so nuanced, cultural, historical, social,
and at the same time, so personal? Without being
asked to, I feel compelled to take on the challenge
of making people understand and appreciate the
little gem that is Copla. This is why I have created
Copla: A Spanish Cabaret, a project that’s not just
a performance but a heartfelt exploration of iden tity, culture, and the timeless power of music
Predictive Models for Mechanical Properties of Hybrid Fibres reinforced Concrete Containing Bamboo and Basalt Fibres
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to investigate hybrid fibre reinforced concrete containing natural Bamboo and basalt fibres and forecasting the effect of these fibres on Mechanical properties. The contents of Basalt fibres were (0%, 0.25%, 0.50%, 0.75% and 1.00%). The mechanical performance of the hybrid fibre-reinforced concrete was studied in terms of compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strengths. All the samples were tested at the ages of 7, 14, and 28 days. The results showed that an increase in fibre percentages led to a reduction in the concrete slump. It was also found that 0.75% Basalt fibres with 1% bamboo fibres resulted in the optimum performance of the mechanical properties of the concrete. Based on regression models, it was found that bamboo fibres have negative impact on the compressive and splitting tensile strength while basalt fibres enhanced this strength, however, the negative effect of bamboo fibres reduces with the age of concrete. While the effect of bamboo fibres on flexural strength was positive and basalt fibres have negative impact on it. It was concluded that the bamboo and basalt fibre have good relation in overall improving the mechanical properties of hybrid fibre reinforced concrete
Strategy for Vertical Deformation of Railway Bridge Monitoring using Polarimetric Ground-based Real Aperture Radar System
Get PDFThe health monitoring of infrastructure is vital for ensuring the safety and structural integrity of bridges. Recently, ground-based real aperture radar (GB-RAR) systems have been successfully utilized in the dynamic and static monitoring of bridges. In this study, a comprehensive and innovative approach is presented to monitor the vertical deformation of a long-span metallic railway bridge and a reinforced concrete Shinkansen bridge in Japan using a polarimetric GB-RAR system. Distinct from conventional signal processing procedures, the proposed method omits the coherent scatterer selection step. Instead, polarization analysis is employed to evaluate the properties of scatterers and identify those corresponding to bridge sections requiring monitoring, while considering the structural characteristics of the bridge. Simultaneously, the signal-to-noise ratio for monitoring is enhanced by combining co-polarization responses from scatterers.
Furthermore, the radar look angle is determined by accounting for the spatial configuration of the survey and
the polarization orientation angle. Lastly, vertical deformation is assessed by projecting line of sight deformation in the vertical direction. The findings reveal the dynamic responses of the two bridges under diverse loading conditions, which include the transit of a low-speed train and a high-speed Shinkansen bullet train. The results demonstrate that the polarimetric GB-RAR interferometry technique, coupled with the developed algorithms, can be effectively applied to monitor any type of bridge with unparalleled spatial and temporal resolutions
A psychosocial goal-setting and manualised support intervention for independence in dementia (NIDUS-Family) versus goal setting and routine care: a single-masked, phase 3, superiority, randomised controlled trial
Get PDFSummary
Background Although national guidelines recommend that everyone with dementia receives personalised post-diagnostic support, few do. Unlike previous interventions that improved personalised outcomes in people with dementia, the NIDUS-Family intervention is fully manualised and deliverable by trained and supervised, non-clinical facilitators. We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of home-based goal setting plus NIDUS-Family in supporting the attainment of personalised goals set by people with dementia and their carers.
Methods We did a two-arm, single-masked, multi-site, randomised, clinical trial recruiting patient–carer dyads from community settings. We randomly assigned dyads to either home-based goal setting plus NIDUS-Family or goal setting and routine care (control). Randomisation was blocked and stratified by site (2:1; intervention to control), with allocations assigned via a remote web-based system. NIDUS-Family is tailored to goals set by dyads by selecting modules involving behavioural interventions, carer support, psychoeducation, communication and coping skills, enablement, and environmental adaptations. The intervention involved six to eight video-call or telephone sessions (or in person when COVID-19-related restrictions allowed) over 6 months, then telephone follow-ups every 2–3 months for 6 months. The primary outcome was carer-rated goal attainment scaling (GAS) score at 12 months. Analyses were done by intention to treat. This trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN11425138. Findings Between April 30, 2020, and May 9, 2021, we assessed 1083 potential dyads for eligibility, 781 (72·1%) of whom were excluded. Of 302 eligible dyads, we randomly assigned 98 (32·4%) to the control group and 204 (67·5%) to the intervention group. The mean age of participants with dementia was 79·9 years (SD 8·2), 169 (56%) were women, and 133 (44%) were men. 247 (82%) dyads completed the primary outcome, which favoured the intervention (mean GAS score at 12 months 58·7 [SD 13·0; n=163] vs 49·0 [14·1; n=84]; adjusted difference in means 10·23 [95% CI 5·75–14·71]; p<0·001). 31 (15·2%) participants in the intervention group and 14 (14·3%) in the control group experienced serious adverse events. Interpretation To our knowledge, NIDUS-Family is the first readily scalable intervention for people with dementia and their family carers that improves attainment of personalised goals. We therefore recommend that it be implemented in health and care services
Active Learning for Left Ventricle Segmentation in Echocardiography
Get PDFBackground and Objective: Training deep learning models for medical image segmentation requires large annotated datasets, which can be expensive and time-consuming to create. Active learning is a promising approach to reduce this burden by strategically selecting the most informative samples for segmentation. This study investigates the use of active learning for efficient left ventricle segmentation in echocardiography with sparse expert annotations.
Methods: We adapt and evaluate various sampling techniques, demonstrating their effectiveness in judiciously selecting samples for segmentation. Additionally, we introduce a novel strategy, Optimised Representativeness Sampling, which combines feature-based outliers with the most representative samples to enhance annotation efficiency. Results: Our findings demonstrate a substantial reduction in annotation costs, achieving a remarkable 99% upper bound performance while utilizing only 20% of the labelled data. This equates to a reduction of 1680 images needing annotation within our dataset. When applied to a publicly available dataset, our approach yielded a remarkable 70% reduction in required annotation efforts, representing a significant advancement compared to baseline active learning strategies, which achieved only a 50% reduction. Our experiments highlight the nuanced performance of diverse sampling strategies across datasets within the same domain. Conclusions: The study provides a cost-effective approach to tackle the challenges of limited expert annotations in echocardiography. By introducing a distinct dataset, made publicly available for research purposes, our work contributes to the field’s understanding of efficient annotation strategies in medical image segmentation