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Do uniforms influence perceptions of advanced nurse practitioners? A national survey in Scotland
Get PDFBackground:
The NHS Scotland uniform policy, introduced in 2009, standardised colour-coded uniforms to ensure clear identification of NHS staff roles. However, advanced nurse practitioners were not allocated a unique colour, leading to concerns about misidentification and frequent interruptions during critical decision making.
Aims:
This study aims to provide guidance on potential standardisation of advanced nurse practitioner uniforms in Scotland and explore people's understanding of nursing uniforms.
Methods:
A national mixed methods cross-sectional survey was conducted across all health boards in Scotland, involving healthcare staff, patients and carers (n=1017).
Results:
The survey revealed a clear preference for a navy tunic with red trim, associated with seniority and professionalism, over the current cornflower blue uniform.
Implications for practice:
The study findings have been shared with key Scottish Government stakeholders and will inform policy considerations, though implementing a new uniform may involve cost, supply renegotiations, resistance to change, and the need to consider impacts across advanced practice roles and professions.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that differentiating advanced nurse practitioner uniforms from other registered nurses could enhance public confidence and staff morale
A linear collider vision for the future of particle physics
Get PDFIn this paper we review the physics opportunities at linear e+e− colliders with a special focus on high centre-of-mass energies and beam polarisation, take a fresh look at the various accelerator technologies available or under development and, for the first time, discuss how a facility first equipped with a technology that is mature today could be upgraded with technologies of tomorrow to reach much higher energies and/or luminosities. In addition, we discuss detectors, alternative collider modes, as well as opportunities for beyond-collider experiments and R&D facilities as part of a linear collider facility (LCF). The material of this paper supports all plans for e+e− linear colliders and the additional opportunities they offer, independently of technology choice or proposed site, as well as R&D for advanced accelerator technologies. This joint perspective on the physics goals, early technologies and upgrade strategies has been developed by the LCVision team based on an initial discussion at LCWS2024 in Tokyo and a follow-up at the LCVision Community Event at CERN in January 2025. It heavily builds on decades of achievements of the global linear collider community, in particular in the context of CLIC and ILC
Who benefits from science experiences beyond the teacher-led? A study of the perceptions and experiences of children and young people (aged 8-14) in Scotland
Get PDFA children’s rights-based approach to participatory research was used to explore the perceptions of children and young people in Scotland (1043 participants, aged 8–14) of science experiences beyond the teacher-led. Data was collected to understand how science experiences beyond the teacher-led can help children and young people learn and enjoy science more. This paper explores what has emerged from the data and considers who benefits from science experiences beyond the teacher-led. In particular, the data offers insight into the differences in experiences of children and young people, depending on whether they like or do not like learning science in school, and on their perceptions of their science abilities. This paper presents important considerations for policy makers and funders and for those working to encourage more children and young people to be involved in science, to improve scientific literacy and to encourage consideration of science-based careers
Weakly supervised segmentation with cross-feature learning for fine scale land cover map updating
Get PDFHigh-resolution (HR) land-cover mapping is an important task for surveying the Earth’s surface and supporting decision-making in sectors such as agriculture, forestry and smart cities. However, it is impeded by the scarcity of HR high-quality labels, complex ground details and high computational cost. To address these challenges, we propose VCNet, a weakly supervised end- to-end deep learning network for large-scale HR land-cover mapping. It leverages easy-access low-resolution (LR) land-cover products as the sole guidance of supervision, fully eliminating the need for manual annotation. In VCNet, we propose a cross-feature learning backbone to learn complete details of various land objects for fine-scale land cover mapping. Besides, it is hybridized with a high-resolution maintaining module and label refining strategies to constantly refine coarse LR labels for guiding the framework training. Extensive experiments in the Chesapeake Bay dataset demonstrate the superiority of VCNet in generating HR land-cover maps from LR labels. Furthermore, we constructed the Tokyo dataset to analyze VCNet’s sensitivity to different LR labels. To verify its practical application potential, VCNet was utilized to produce a 1 m resolution land-cover map for Shanghai (China’s economic epicenter) from a lower resolution (10-m) product, greatly enriching complex ground details. Besides, due to the importance of transportation networks for highly urbanized region, we introduced road category in the practical mapping of Shanghai, which fills a critical gap in traditional land cover classification systems. This contribution offers a scalable solution for evidence-based decision-making in comparable developed regions
Frailty, polypharmacy and the case for pragmatic prescribing in primary care
Get PDFNo abstract available
Women Musicians’ Experiences of Sexual Violence and Harassment in Scottish Folk Music
No full textThe purpose of this research was to gather the views and experiences of women musicians, to develop better understanding and awareness about the nature and extent of sexual violence and harassment encountered when working or participating in the Scottish folk scene. The research took place from May to December 2025. It involved three phases of data collection: an online survey (n=409); follow-up interviews with 14 participants; and action learning sets undertaken with key stakeholders to generate ideas and feedback for the report recommendations. The findings reveal that while the folk scene was described as welcoming and nurturing, for many women, positive experiences of music-making coexist with experiences of inequality, harm, and exclusion. More than four in five survey participants (81%) disclosed personally experiencing sexual violence and harassment while working or participating in the folk scene. Experiences disclosed included: intrusive sexualised comments and advances, pressure to engage in sexual activities, harassment and stalking, domestic abuse, sexual assault and rape. Most first-hand experiences of sexual violence and harassment mentioned in the survey took place in social settings related to the folk scene, such as ‘sessions’ or, commonly, when socialising after a performance (72%). Other frequently reported locations included formal performance contexts, such as at music festivals (37%), gigs (35%) or concerts (27%), as well as during rehearsals (25%), whilst on tour (20%), and in educational (20%) and residential (7%) music programme settings. The majority of participants identified the individuals responsible for the sexual violence and harassment as being their fellow musicians – with 72% of survey participants disclosing personal experiences involving music colleagues or peers, and 53% involving prominent musicians occupying positions of power. For many women musicians who participated in this study, experiences of misogyny, sexual harassment, and violence caused significant, sustained, and far-reaching harm. These harms are not rare, isolated, or historical. They are ongoing, often known about informally, and frequently go unchallenged. For many women, this has direct consequences for their safety, relationships, personal wellbeing, and their ability to participate fully in the scene. The impacts of sexual violence and harassment directly affected participants’ employment, career, and earning opportunities; many described limiting their participation in the folk scene while some left it altogether. Gendered power differentials and the existence of a ‘boys club’ not only facilitated sexual harassment and violence but also constrained women’s ability to challenge or report it. Perpetration of harm by men of high status and who hold power and influence in the Scottish folk scene can be particularly difficult to challenge. Whilst women of all ages raised similar concerns and reported comparable experiences, age emerged as a key intersecting factor in those experiences, with younger women facing additional challenges in disclosing or reporting. Without clear safeguarding mechanisms or formal accountability processes in place, women are compelled to manage risk and the harms they experience informally and individually. An overwhelming 92% of participants felt that more needs to be done to make the Scottish folk scene a safer and more supportive space for women. Participants emphasised the need for action across the scene as a whole, including from the musical community (87%), as well as from key folk-related institutions, including education providers (85%), event organisers (84%), folk societies (82%), and the Musicians’ Union (78%). The Scottish folk scene is not alone in facing the challenges of sexual violence and harassment. However, participants’ accounts clearly underscore the need for structural, collective responses that move beyond informal coping strategies and individualised risk management, towards accountability, safeguarding, and cultural change across the Scottish folk music scene. Addressing the issues identified in this report requires more than individual resilience or informal warnings. It requires collective responsibility, accountability, and structural change so that the Scottish folk music scene can be safe and inclusive for everyone. Despite the challenges encountered by women participating and working within the scene, some participants described positive and improving responses to sexual violence and harassment. These included experiences of supportive responses from organisers, venues, or organisations, where meaningful action following disclosure helped participants feel safer and more supported. We offer a set of 18 recommendations (see p. 32) based on the views and experiences of women musicians and consultation with the Scottish folk scene stakeholders with whom we engaged. The recommendations include a range of actions that we consider are required to address the issues identified in this report. If realised, these recommendations could make meaningful improvements to the experiences of, and outcomes for women working in the folk scene
A Bayesian analysis of finerenone in heart failure with mildly reduced and preserved ejection fraction: a pre-specified analysis of FINEARTS-HF
No full textBackground:
The non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor agonist (MRA) finerenone, reduced heart failure events and cardiovascular death in patients with heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction (HFmrEF/HFpEF) in a frequentist analysis of the FINEARTS-HF trial. We applied Bayesian methods including prior information to provide probabilistic estimates of efficacy and safety.
Objective:
To estimate the probability of different magnitudes of treatment benefit with finerenone versus placebo using Bayesian analysis of FINEARTS-HF.
Methods:
In this pre-specified Bayesian analysis, we estimated treatment efficacy incorporating prior information in a robust meta-analytic predictive (MAP) prior using data from two finerenone trials (FIDELIO-DKD and FIGARO-DKD) and a steroidal MRA spironolactone (TOPCAT). We compared results using vague priors and informative MAP priors. The primary outcome was cardiovascular death and total heart failure events.
Results:
Among 6,001 patients, Bayesian analysis with vague priors confirmed the frequentist results of a reduction in the rate of the primary outcome (RR 0.83; 95% credible interval (CrI) 0.74-0.94). Incorporating prior evidence increased the posterior probability of a ≥10% reduction in the primary event rate from 90% to 92%. The probability that finerenone reduced cardiovascular death was 80% (HR 0.93, 95% CrI: 0.79-1.10), and all-cause mortality was 85% (HR 0.94, 95% CrI: 0.83-1.06). Finerenone increased the probability of hyperkalaemia and decreased the probability of hypokalaemia.
Conclusion:
The non-steroidal MRA finerenone reduced the rate of cardiovascular death and total heart failure events under both frequentist and Bayesian inference methods. The probability of benefit exceeded 80% for both cardiovascular and all-cause mortality with finerenone
DRL-based accurate prediction of network latency for personal devices under cost-aware sampling
No full textThe prediction of network latency with partial measurements is of importance for ever-increasing personal devices to ensure their Quality of Service (QoS). However, the current matrix-factorization-based efforts, as a promising paradigm, for network latency prediction have failed to intelligently exploit inherent factors hidden in networks to accurately infer the unknown network latency. Furthermore, it is more complicated to execute extensive network measurements on pervasive personal devices due to unstable communication environments. To alleviate these problems, in this paper, a novel accurate network latency prediction (DALP) solution via Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) is proposed for personal devices under cost-aware sampling. Specifically, we first alternately implement cost-aware latency measurement based on temporal correlation, and model it as a network latency matrix, in which unmeasured and missing elements need to be inferred. In order to achieve accurate prediction performance, the DRL-based Matrix Factorization with Double Weights (DWMF) is designed to exploit the potential network factors and multiple rules of matrix factorization, which can be alternatively executed, to minimize the prediction errors. Furthermore, an angle-loss-based reward strategy is designed to enhance the quality of model training. Simulation results on real-world datasets illustrate that DALP outperforms the previous approaches with quicker convergence and lower prediction errors
First observation of the B¯s0 → Λc+Λ¯c− decay and evidence for the B¯0 → Λc+Λ¯c− decay
No full textA search is presented for the two-body charmed baryonic decays, B ¯ ( s ) 0 → Λ c + Λ ¯ c − , using a data sample collected by the LHCb experiment during 2011–2012 and 2015–2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb − 1 . The first observation of the B ¯ s 0 → Λ c + Λ ¯ c − decay is reported with 6.2 σ significance along with 4.3 σ evidence for the B ¯ 0 → Λ c + Λ ¯ c − decay. The branching fractions are measured to be B ( B ¯ 0 → Λ c + Λ ¯ c − ) = ( 1.0 1 − 0.28 + 0.27 ± 0.08 ± 0.15 ) × 10 − 5 and B ( B ¯ s 0 → Λ c + Λ ¯ c − ) = ( 5.0 ± 1.3 ± 0.5 ± 0.8 ) × 10 − 5 , where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic, and the third due to external inputs. These results provide novel experimental inputs for the theoretical framework describing two-body baryonic decays of B mesons via W -emission and W -exchange mechanisms
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