Towards a model for measuring holistic performance of professional Football clubs

This paper introduces an experimental model to measure the holistic performance of professional football clubs. The model utilizes a selection of established financial and sporting indicators, which are weighted in accordance with their perceived relative importance and in relation to components of financial management and governing body regulations. The paper uses data pertaining to clubs competing in the English Premier League to demonstrate the outputs of the model. The authors argue that although the model is experimental, it still provides a useful platform to analyse performance of football clubs through further scientific investigation

An investigation of home advantage in the Summer Paralympic Games

Purpose: There is a paucity of home advantage research set in the context of para-sport events. It is this gap in the knowledge that this paper addresses by investigating the prevalence and size of home advantage in the Summer Paralympic Games. Methods: Using a standardised measure of success, we compared the performances of nations when competing at home with their own performances away from home in the competition between 1960 and 2016. Both country level and individual sport level analysis was conducted for this time frame. A Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to determine whether there was a genuine difference in nations' performance under host and non-host conditions. Spearman's rank-order correlation was run to assess the relationship between nation quality and home advantage. Results: Strong evidence of a home advantage effect in the Summer Paralympic Games was found at country level (p 0.10). Conclusion: While our results confirm that home advantage is prevalent in the Summer Paralympic Games at an overall country level and within specific sports, they do not explain fully why such an effect does exist. Future studies should investigate the causes of home advantage in the competition and also draw comparisons with the Summer Olympic Games in order to explore any differences between para-sport events and able-bodied events

A pilot randomised controlled trial of cognitive behavioural therapy for antenatal depression

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Few trials have evaluated the effectiveness of psychological treatment in improving depression by the end of pregnancy. This is the first pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) of individual cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) looking at treating depression by the end of pregnancy. Our aim was to assess the feasibility of delivering a CBT intervention modified for antenatal depression during pregnancy. METHODS: Women in North Bristol, UK between 8-18 weeks pregnant were recruited through routine contact with midwives and randomised to receive up to 12 sessions of individual CBT in addition to usual care or to continue with usual care only. Women were eligible for randomisation if they screened positive on a 3-question depression screen used routinely by midwives and met ICD-10 criteria for depression assessed using the clinical interview schedule - revised version (CIS-R). Two CBT therapists delivered the intervention. Follow-up was at 15 and 33 weeks post-randomisation when assessments of mental health were made using measures which included the CIS-R. RESULTS: Of the 50 women assessed for the trial, 36 met ICD-10 depression criteria and were randomised: 18 to the intervention and 18 to usual care. Thirteen of the 18 (72%) women who were allocated to receive the intervention completed 9 or more sessions of CBT before the end of pregnancy. Follow-up rates at 15 and 33 weeks post-randomisation were higher in the group who received the intervention (89% vs. 72% at 15 weeks and 89% vs. 61% at 33 weeks post-randomisation). At 15 weeks post-randomisation (the end of pregnancy), there were more women in the intervention group (11/16; 68.7%) who recovered (i.e. no longer met ICD-10 criteria for depression), than those receiving only usual care (5/13; 38.5%). CONCLUSIONS: This pilot trial shows the feasibility of conducting a large RCT to assess the effectiveness of CBT for treating antenatal depression before the end of pregnancy. The intervention could be delivered during the antenatal period and there was some evidence to suggest that it could be effective. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN44902048

The glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor as a potential treatment target in alcohol use disorder: evidence from human genetic association studies and a mouse model of alcohol dependence

The hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) regulates appetite and food intake. GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) activation also attenuates the reinforcing properties of alcohol in rodents. The present translational study is based on four human genetic association studies and one preclinical study providing data that support the hypothesis that GLP-1R may have a role in the pathophysiology of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Case–control analysis (N=908) was performed on a sample of individuals enrolled in the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) intramural research program. The Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment (SAGE) sample (N=3803) was used for confirmation purposes. Post hoc analyses were carried out on data from a human laboratory study of intravenous alcohol self-administration (IV-ASA;N=81) in social drinkers and from a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in alcohol-dependent individuals (N=22) subjected to a Monetary Incentive Delay task. In the preclinical study, a GLP-1R agonist was evaluated in a mouse model of alcohol dependence to demonstrate the role of GLP-1R for alcohol consumption. The previously reported functional allele 168Ser (rs6923761) was nominally associated with AUD (P=0.004) in the NIAAA sample, which was partially replicated in males of the SAGE sample (P=0.033). The 168Ser/Ser genotype was further associated with increased alcohol administration and breath alcohol measures in the IV-ASA experiment and with higher BOLD response in the right globus pallidus when receiving notification of outcome for high monetary reward. Finally, GLP-1R agonism significantly reduced alcohol consumption in a mouse model of alcohol dependence. These convergent findings suggest that the GLP-1R may be an attractive target for personalized pharmacotherapy treatment of AUD

Role of Oral Lesions in Diagnosing Generalised Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa- A Rare Case Report

Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a heterogeneous group of genetically determined, vesiculo-bullous disorders char­acterized by blister formation in response to mechanical trauma. Three major subgroups, simplex, junctional, and dystrophic EB, contain more than 20 genetically and clini­cally distinct subtypes. In the present case, we described a patient diagnosed with a milder variant of generalised recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa with specific oral and cutaneous lesions, which was previously named as non-Hallopeau-Siemans subtype

Role of stage gates in effective knowledge sharing during the product development process

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2002."February 2002."Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-139).Premise of the thesis is that in today's knowledge economy, competitive advantage comes from effective use of corporate knowledge. This thesis compares and contrasts current practices for knowledge sharing in Xerox with an idealized model of best practices for knowledge sharing. The study explores the hypothesis that stage gates in a product development process are important for sharing corporate knowledge across functions and organizations, and that the product development process itself serves as an infrastructure for knowledge sharing. This study involved an analysis of knowledge sharing practices during stage gates reviews and how they evolved over time after stage-gate reviews. To develop an idealized model of best practices for knowledge sharing, experts of knowledge management in academia and industry were interviewed, and an extensive literature review was completed. This served as a backdrop for analysis in the case study at Xerox. The case study at Xerox utilized a personal interview approach complemented by a survey through electronic mail, and assessment was done against the idealized model of best practices for knowledge sharing. Twenty-six senior managers at Xerox were interviewed/surveyed. Strengths of Xerox in knowledge sharing and areas of improvements were identified. Using open ended questions, a holistic view for the scope of Xerox efforts, as well as the depth and quality of the best practices during the product development process was compiled. Using Carlile's knowledge boundary framework and boundary objects, attempt was done to transform engineering knowledge from one domain to another. This framework also served as a basis for suggestions for future improvements in knowledge sharing at Xerox in the areas of improvements identified through the interviews/surveys. Though any single company has not discovered the mantra for knowledge management and sharing; several good practices, which were consistently enablers of perceived success, were identified. The effective enablers towards knowledge sharing were a synergistic gathering of "common sense" items such as morale, trust, common goals, value and criticality of knowledge, diversity, and structure, rewards/recognition, support and knowledge initiatives along multiple fronts. It was discovered, that the product managers perceive that Xerox has considerable success in promoting a knowledge culture and has an effective product development process. It was also found that knowledge boundary framework and boundary objects serve as a good vehicle to explain the difficulty of knowledge sharing across functional and organizational boundaries. Engineering tools such as critical parameter management could benefit by a uniform, standardized approach to bringing together subject matter experts from various domains and creating the environment for creating new knowledge and innovations. Systems processes like the Xerox platform approach, where the systems architecture is composed of common platform elements, and core competencies in the development of reusable components for the platform elements are the basis for the Xerox product development process. Using the knowledge acquired through practical experience and education and taking a holistic view of the product development process as the boundary framework for knowledge transfer, we used the eCPM (Engineering Critical Parameter Management Tool) to translate knowledge from a domain expert in mechanical engineering to a common semantic base for transformation into the domain of software engineering. Specific tacit knowledge on what makes a parameter critical and how it plays a role in mechanical aspects in the design of Xerox devices, such as the system itself, media and motion path, marker path and the control and image path, as well as how to control these designs is to be transformed into the domain of software engineering. It was found that use of the eCPM tool to develop similar meaning of parameters for tuning software resources such as CPU speeds, memory utilization and performance is possible. Attempt to create new knowledge in the domain of software will be proceeding with a larger number of domain experts. Specific new knowledge in establishment of which software parameters to be labeled as critical (versus design parameters allocated and controlled via Input /Output/ Constraint values), which parameters should be system control parameters (those which span over multiple subsystems, and have latitudes within which to be tweaked in various sub-systems), the failure modes and latitudes for the failure modes will be part of future work. This will be part of a knowledge sharing and management framework proposed in the thesis because of the diagnostic analysis done of the current state at Xerox.by Tulsi D. Ramchandani.S.M

Doll Play narratives about starting school in children of socially anxious mothers, and their relation to subsequent child school-based anxiety

Background: Child social anxiety is common, and predicts later emotional and academic impairment. Offspring of socially anxious mothers are at increased risk. It is important to establish whether individual vulnerability to disorder can be identified in young children. Method: The responses of 4.5 year-old children of mothers with social phobia (N = 62) and non-anxious mothers (N = 60) were compared, two months before school entry, using a Doll Play (DP) procedure focused on the social challenge of starting school. DP responses were examined in relation to teacher reports of anxious-depressed symptoms and social worries at the end of the child’s first school term. The role of earlier child behavioral inhibition and attachment, assessed at 14 months, was also considered. Results: Compared to children of non-anxious mothers, children of mothers with social phobia were significantly more likely to give anxiously negative responses in their school DP (OR = 2.57). In turn, negative DP predicted teacher reported anxious-depressed and social worry problems. There were no effects of infant behavioral inhibition or attachment. Conclusion: Vulnerability in young children at risk of anxiety can be identified using Doll Play narratives

Feasibility trial of a psychoeducational intervention for parents with personality difficulties: the Helping Families Programme

The Helping Families Programme is a psychoeducational parenting intervention that aims to improve outcomes and engagement for parents affected by clinically significant personality difficulties. This is achieved by working collaboratively with parents to explore ways in which their emotional and relational difficulties impact on parenting and child functioning, and to identify meaningful and realistic goals for change. The intervention is delivered via one-to-one sessions at weekly intervals over a period of 16 weeks. This protocol describes a two arm parallel RCT in which consenting parents are randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to either the Helping Families Programme plus the usual services that the parent may be receiving from their mental health and/or social care providers, or to standard care (usual services plus a brief parenting advice session). The primary clinical outcome will be child behaviour. Secondary clinical outcomes will be child and parental mental health, parenting satisfaction, parenting behaviour and therapeutic alliance. Health economic measures will be collected on quality of life and service use. Outcome measures will be collected at the initial assessment stage, after the intervention is completed and at 6-month follow-up by research staff blind to group allocation. Trial feasibility will be assessed using rates of trial participation at the three time points and intervention uptake, attendance and retention. A parallel process evaluation will use qualitative interviews to ascertain key-workers’ and parent participants' experiences of intervention delivery and trial participation. The results of this feasibility study will determine the appropriateness of proceeding to a full-scale trial

Randomised feasibility trial of the helping families programme-modified: an intensive parenting intervention for parents affected by severe personality difficulties

Background: Specialist parenting intervention could improve coexistent parenting and child mental health difficulties of parents affected by severe personality difficulties. Objective: Conduct a feasibility trial of Helping Families Programme-Modified (HFP-M), a specialist parenting intervention. Design: Pragmatic, mixed-methods trial, 1:1 random allocation, assessing feasibility, intervention acceptability and outcome estimates. Settings: Two National Health Service health trusts and local authority children’s social care. Participants: Parents: (i) primary caregiver, (ii) 18 to 65 years, (iii) severe personality difficulties, (iv) proficient English and (v) capacity for consent. Child: (i) 3 to 11 years, (ii) living with index parent and (iii) significant emotional/behavioural difficulties. Intervention: HFP-M: 16-session home-based intervention using parenting and therapeutic engagement strategies. Usual care: standard care augmented by single psychoeducational parenting session. Outcomes: Primary feasibility outcome: participant retention rate. Secondary outcomes: (i) rates of recruitment, eligibility and data completion, and (ii) rates of intervention acceptance, completion and alliance (Working Alliance Inventory-Short Revised). Primary clinical outcome: child behaviour (Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory). Secondary outcomes: child mental health (Concerns About My Child, Child Behaviour Checklist-Internalising Scale), parenting (Arnold-O’Leary Parenting Scale, Kansas Parental Satisfaction Scale) and parent mental health (Symptom-Checklist-27). Quantitative data were collected blind to allocation. Results: Findings broadly supported non-diagnostic selection criterion. Of 48 participants recruited, 32 completed post-intervention measures at mean 42 weeks later. Participant retention exceeded a priori rate (HFP-M=18; Usual care=14; 66.7%, 95% CI 51.6% to 79.6%). HFP-M was acceptable, with delivery longer than planned. Usual care had lower alliance rating. Child and parenting outcome effects detected across trial arms with potential HFP-M advantage (effect size range: 0.0 to 1.3). Conclusion: HFP-M is an acceptable and potentially effective specialist parenting intervention. A definitive trial is feasible, subject to consideration of recruitment and retention methods, intervention efficiency and comparator condition. Caution is required in interpretation of results due to reduced sample size. No serious adverse events reported. Trial registration number: ISRCTN1457323