Prologue: Zeinab's Moonshot -- Introduction: kindling the flame -- Part one. Ten survival skills -- How to take back control -- How to be curious -- How to find purpose -- How to find your voice -- How to find, grow and mobilise your community -- How to coexist -- How to be kind -- How to live with technology -- How to be global -- How to be a good ancestor -- Part two. Begin it now -- Education's sliding door moment -- Renaissance 2.0 -- Humanifesto -- The thirty-nine survival steps you can start to take today.
Introduction to the paperback edition -- Preface : the diplomat who arrived too late -- Introduction to the first edition : here lies diplomacy, RIP? -- Early diplomacy : from cavemen to consuls -- Diplomacy by sea : from Columbus to copyboys -- Diplomacy's finest century -- From telephone to television -- From e-mail to e-nvoys -- What makes a good diplomat? -- iDiplomacy : devices, disruption and data -- The end of secrecy? Assange, Snowden and the death of Bond -- Building new power : bombs, books and Beckham -- Using new power : only connect -- Selling ladders for other people to climb down -- A naked diplomat -- Envoy 2025 -- Who runs the digital century? -- The battle for digital territory -- The case for optimism -- A progressive foreign policy 'to do' list -- Citizen diplomacy -- Epilogue : valedictory.
Preface : the diplomat who arrived too late -- Introduction : here lies diplomacy, RIP? -- Early diplomacy : from cavemen to consuls -- Diplomacy by sea : from Columbus to copyboys -- Diplomacy's finest century -- From telephone to television -- From e-mail to e-nvoys -- What makes a good diplomat? -- iDiplomacy : devices, disruption and data -- The end of secrecy? Assange, Snowden and the death of Bond -- Building new power : bombs, books and Beckham -- Using new power : only connect -- Selling ladders for other people to climb down -- A naked diplomat -- Envoy 2025 -- Who runs the digital century? -- The battle for digital territory -- The case for optimism -- A progressive foreign policy 'to do' list -- Citizen diplomacy -- Epilogue : valedictory
The epidemic of Ebola virus disease in west Africa in 2014–16 was the largest and most complex the world has ever seen. The four pillars of Ebola response include: case management, case finding and contact tracing, safe and dignified burial, and social mobilisation and community engagement. These four pillars are being implemented in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is further complicated by its location in a conflict zone.1 Increased understanding of disease pathogenesis and the evaluation of novel therapeutics and vaccine candidates has informed current control measures, while access to survivors and their contacts in west Africa has also provided a unique opportunity to research filovirus transmission.
In: International review for the sociology of sport: irss ; a quarterly edited on behalf of the International Sociology of Sport Association (ISSA), Band 54, Heft 4, S. 495-511
Much research in the past decade has assessed what motivates people to volunteer at sport events. Given that volunteering has become integral to the delivery and staging of sporting events, it is important that research not only considers reasons and motivations for volunteering, but how participants cope and manage once their volunteer journey ends. The paper considers the notion of 'role exit' and contributes insight based on interviews with participants after an event to understand their feelings and emotions. The significance of this research is understanding exiting emotions and experiences, but because a lot of emphasis is placed on preparing volunteers ahead of an event, the end of the volunteer journey is often abrupt and therefore left underexplored. To ensure that the needs of contemporary volunteers are adequately managed, it is important to consider how individuals are impacted by volunteering and also how they reflect on experiences afterwards. Three themes that emerge from this study include: (1) sadness and loss; (2) transitioning emotions; and (3) coping and coming to terms. A discussion framing the post-event volunteer as 'the bereaved' addresses the need to better manage the final stages of the volunteer journey, which represents a challenge given the liminality of sport event volunteering.
The combination of personal protective equipment (PPE) together with donning and doffing protocols was designed to protect British and Canadian military medical personnel in the Kerry Town Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) in Sierra Leone. The PPE solution was selected to protect medical staff from infectious risks, notably Ebola virus, and chemical (hypochlorite) exposure. PPE maximized dexterity, enabled personnel to work in hot temperatures for periods of up to 2h, protected mucosal membranes when doffing outer layers, and minimized potential contamination of the doffing area with infectious material by reducing the requirement to spray PPE with hypochlorite. The ETU was equipped to allow medical personnel to provide a higher level of care than witnessed in many existing ETUs. This assured personnel working as part of the international response that they would receive as close to Western treatment standards as possible if they were to contract Ebola virus disease (EVD). PPE also enabled clinical interventions that are not seen routinely in West African EVD treatment regimens, whilst providing a robust protective barrier. Competency in using PPE was developed during a nine-day pre-deployment training programme. This allowed over 60 clinical personnel per deployment to practice skills in PPE in a simulated ETU and in classrooms. Overall, the training provided: (i) an evidence base underpinning the PPE solution chosen; (ii) skills in donning and doffing of PPE; (iii) personnel confidence in the selected PPE; and (iv) quantifiable testing of each individual's capability to don PPE, perform tasks and doff PPE safely.
Background Identifying latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in people migrating from TB endemic regions to low incidence countries is an important control measure. However, no prospective longitudinal comparisons between diagnostic tests used in such migrant populations are available. Objectives To compare commercial interferon (IFN)-gamma release assays (IGRAs) and the tuberculin skin test (TST) for diagnosing LTBI in a migrant population, and the influence of antecedent TST and LTBI treatment on IGRA performance. Materials and Methods This cohort study, performed from February to September 2012, assessed longitudinal IGRA and TST responses in Nepalese military recruits recently arrived in the UK. Concomitant T-SPOT.TB, QFT-GIT and TST were performed on day 0, with IGRAs repeated 7 and 200 days later, following treatment for LTBI if necessary. Results 166 Nepalese recruits were prospectively assessed. At entry, 21 individuals were positive by T-SPOT.TB and 8 individuals by QFT-GIT. There was substantial agreement between TST and T-SPOT.TB positives at baseline (71.4% agreement; κ = 0.62; 95% CI:0.44–0.79), but only moderate concordance between positive IGRAs (38.1% agreement; κ = 0.46; 95% CI:0.25–0.67). When reassessed 7 days following TST, numbers of IGRA-positive individuals changed from 8 to 23 for QFT-GIT (p = 0.0074) and from 21 to 23 for T-SPOT.TB (p = 0.87). This resulted in an increase in IGRA concordance to substantial (64.3% agreement; κ = 0.73; 95% CI:0.58-0.88). Thus, in total on day 0 and day 7 after testing, 29 out of 166 participants (17.5%) provided a positive IGRA and of these 13 were TST negative. Two hundred days after the study commenced and three months after treatment for LTBI was completed by those who were given chemoprophylaxis, 23 and 21 participants were positive by T-SPOT.TB or QFT-GIT respectively. When individual responses were examined longitudinally within this population 35% of the day 7 QFT-GIT-positive, and 19% T-SPOT.TB-positive individuals, were negative by IGRA. When the change in the levels of secreted IFN-γ was examined after chemoprophylaxis the median levels were found to have fallen dramatically by 77.3% from a pre-treatment median concentration of IFN-γ 2.73 IU/ml to a post-treatment median concentration IFN-γ 0.62 (p = 0.0002). Conclusions This study suggests differences in the capacity of commercially available IGRAs to identify LTBI in the absence of antecedent TST and that IGRAs, in the time periods examined, may not be the optimal tests to determine the success of chemoprophylaxis for LTBI.
