bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Public Sociology and the Sociological Imagination: Revisiting Burawoy's Sociology Types
Authors: Tamdgidi Mohammad H.
Published: March 2012

Reflecting on Michael Burawoy's classification of sociology into professional, critical, policy, and public types, and the adoption of the latter as the theme of the ASA's 99th Annual Meeting, in this paper I argue that the drive toward public sociologies of new global realities may prove hazardous in the absence of a parallel emphasis on the development of reflexive private sociologies. This requires critical reconsideration of our basic definitions of society and sociology in order to develop theoretical frameworks that meet the challenges of understanding and practicing the dialectics of public and private social processes devoid of rigid pre-determinist frameworks. Proposing an alternative reconsideration of Burawoy's sociology types away from a formal logical framework and in favor of the part-whole dialectic, I argue that even though personal troubles can best be understood in relation to broader public issues, the latter themselves can most effectively be recognized, understood, and practically addressed through the actions of specific agencies who champion the need for broader socio-historical knowledge and change as deeply personal exercises in self-knowledge and self-transformation. As C. Wright Mills emphasized, what sparks the sociological imagination is the intersection of history and biography.
Boos, Bans, and other Backlash: The Consequences of Being an Activist Athlete
Authors: Kaufman Peter
Published: March 2012

Athletes today are often criticized for their aberrant and deviant behavior; however, when activist athletes act with integrity and sincerity by promoting social and political justice, they often face a hate-filled backlash of scorn and contempt. In this paper I explore the negative consequences of being an activist athlete. Using in-depth interview data and secondary accounts, I examine reactions to athletes who engaged in social or political protest. I focus specifically on athletes who have protested against war, sweatshop labor, and racism. The study of activist athletes is important to sociologists for a number of reasons: It highlights the significance of analyzing sport sociologically, it makes explicit the connection between sport and politics, it identifies some of the personal consequences to activists as a result of their protests, and it has the potential to reshape our understanding of sport as a vehicle for progressive social change.
Fundamentalist Atheism and its Intellectual Failures
Authors: Nall Jeff
Published: March 2012

A new breed of atheism has emerged which seeks to obliterate religion: fundamentalist atheism. Differing from more mainstream atheism, fundamentalist atheism has been fueled by a rise in the power of the Religious Right in the United States, codified with the election of George Bush and his subsequent support for various government sponsored religious initiatives and the proliferation of violent organizations which often identify with a particular religious sect. In addition to seeking to bolster secularism, particularly principles of separation of church and state, appreciation of scientific truth, and respect for fundamental human rights, fundamentalist atheists have grown to perceive religion as a fundamental threat to civilization. In this paper I document fundamentalist atheism's salient characteristics, specifically its tendency to narrowly define and stereotype religion in order to bolster its claim that religion is civilization's greatest threat. I make the argument that, because its apocalyptical view of religion is based on faulty reasoning, fundamentalist atheism, although a response to fundamentalist religion, constitutes a dangerous intellectual failure within the ranks of atheism. Indeed, fundamentalist atheism results in an illogically-founded fanaticism that pits itself against pluralism and tolerance.
The Skills of Poverty Survival: One Woman's Life and Stories
Authors: Friedman Jennifer , Graham Laurel D.
Published: March 2012

Previous research has determined that American women living in poverty depend upon resources such as kinship networks, employment, and agency assistance in order to get by. However, researchers have not given much attention to the actual skills that enable poor women to access these resources. This paper is a life story-centered ethnography of a woman named “Millie,” a middle-aged, Puerto Rican, dark complexioned, former heroin user who has become an experienced poverty survivor living in a southern U.S. city. By accompanying Millie and talking with her regularly over a ten-year period, the first author, Jennifer Friedman, observed her using four categories of skills (conservation, observation, network-building, and performance), sometimes in illegal ways, to obtain resources. Millie's stories about her life enhance our understanding of these skills while also casting doubt on popular cultural stereotypes about “non-working” poor women.
Reflections on Lupus and the Environment in an Urban African American Community
Authors: Williams Edith M. , Zayas Luis E. , Anderson Judith , Ransom Adrianne , Tumiel-Berhalter Laurene
Published: March 2012

Exposure to environmental hazards is hypothesized to play an important role in the development of autoimmune diseases such as lupus. The Buffalo Lupus Project examined the relationship between a high incidence of disease and exposure to a toxic waste site in a poor, urban minority neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, U.S.A. The purpose of this study is to explore patients' experiences and concerns with their living environment and their perceptions of environmental effects on their health and disease status in an urban African American community with a high burden of lupus and other autoimmune diseases. To this end, we conducted two focus groups with a total of 13 community participants diagnosed with lupus. Participants were recruited through mail invitations and a semi-structured interview guide was used to gather information. Data analysis followed a theory-driven immersion-crystallization approach. Findings shed light on the following issues: 1) Environmental impact on illness; 2) Exposure to environmental hazards; 3) Community awareness about lupus; 4) Environmental determinants of lupus; and 5) Strategies for environmental action. The participants' experiences highlighted areas for improvement in environmental conditions as well as strategies for raising awareness of lupus and other autoimmune diseases in at-risk urban minority communities.
Existing on a Boundary: The Delivery of Socially Uninsured Health Services to Aboriginal Groups in Canada
Authors: Quiñonez Carlos R. , Lavoie Josée G.
Published: March 2012

Aboriginal people in Canada suffer persistent health inequalities as a result of individual and structural uncertainty. While in some nations indigenous groups remain uncounted and marginalised, in others, rationing services via an administered identity is an established process, and can result in negative health outcomes. This paper describes such outcomes, concentrating on the delivery of state-financed commercial social goods to Aboriginal groups in Canada. Two case studies are presented: the first focuses on the pharmaceutical care available to state-recognised and -eligible Aboriginal groups; and the second on Aboriginal organisations and their administrative control over programming involving commercial and non-commercial social goods. It is argued that in Canada, health inequalities maintain, in part, due to the socially unclear status of both Aboriginal individuals as citizens with specific rights, and Aboriginal authority as governance with specific decision-making power. As a result, access to health services such as pharmaceutical and dental care can be compromised. In short, individual and structural uncertainty leads to contradictions in jurisdictional oversight and governance, complicating the rights and responsibilities of all parties, hindering service delivery and potential improvements to Aboriginal health.
Primary Care and Equity in Health: The Importance to Effectiveness and Equity of Responsiveness to Peoples' Needs
Authors: Starfield Barbara
Published: March 2012

A consensus exists that health systems undergirded by primary health care principles achieve better health and greater equity in health than systems with a specialty care orientation. Primary Health Care (as a set of principles and policies) and Primary Care (as a set of clinical functions) are now sufficiently well understood to define their components and facilitate measurement and evaluation. A key component is recognition, by the health system and by clinical practitioners, of the health related needs and problems of populations and patients, respectively. While “patient-centered” is touted as an important goal, there is little agreement on what it is, how it should be achieved, or how it is related to population health services. This paper reviews evidence for the benefits of primary care-oriented health systems and shows how “patient-focus” and “problem recognition” are key to successful primary health care. I argue for focusing on meeting peoples' needs, as expressed by them, rather than by professionals, in their own terms. Several high-profile attempts to improve services appear to run counter to this principle, and deserve attention by those who would frame the health services reform debate only as an issue of access to disease-oriented technical quality of care.
The Elephant in the Room: The Invisibility of Poverty in Research on Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Chaufan Claudia , Weitz Rose
Published: March 2012

Over two hundred years of anecdotal, epidemiological, and experimental evidence indicate that poverty breeds disease. This holds true for type 2 diabetes, which both in the United States and other developed nations disproportionately occurs, cripples, and kills among the poor. In this article we examine rhetorical strategies used in 30 journal articles indexed under type 2 diabetes and poverty. As we show, poverty is rarely highlighted in this literature as a causal factor. Instead, explanations for diabetes among poor people overwhelmingly emphasize features of patients—their biology, behaviors, psychology, culture, or other “risk factors”—while ignoring, reframing or neglecting the links between poverty and disease. By so doing, these discursive strategies naturalize higher rates of diabetes among poor persons, legitimize relations of domination in the larger society, and encourage only research projects, treatment practices and health and social policies that do not challenge existing social relations. We discuss the implications of these discursive practices for medical research and care, and for social and public health policies.
Welfare State Regimes and the Political Economy of Health
Authors: Bambra Clare
Published: March 2012

International research on the social determinants of health has increasingly integrated a welfare state perspective, comparing and explaining the differing health outcomes of developed countries through reference to the concept of welfare state regimes. Although this is to be welcomed, to date the empirical research has been conducted without reference to much in the way of welfare state theories. In this paper, I situate welfare state regimes and health within the context of political economy theories of the development of the welfare state. Theoretical explanations of the initial emergence of post-war welfare state capitalism are described and the international variants (welfare state regimes) are outlined and compared. The crisis and reform of developed welfare states is examined and contextualised within the wider economic structural shifts from Fordism to post-Fordism. The emergence of new forms of welfare state regimes (post-Fordist workfare state regimes) is also described. Finally, these theories are related to what is already known from the empirical social epidemiology literature about differences in population health by welfare state regime.
Social Inequalities, Public Policy, and Health
Authors: Bryant Toba
Published: March 2012

Social inequalities are a key issue for modern welfare states in the post-industrial globalized economy. The extent of social inequalities within nations is directly related to the size and nature of the welfare state. The welfare state was the mechanism by which governments in developed economies intervened in health and social public policy areas to ensure access to health care and social services. Public policy has a significant impact on social and health inequalities. The specific public policies that influence these are government provision of income and housing security, program support for individuals and families, and poverty reduction. Much of this involves governmental transfers of national wealth among the citizenry. This paper presents and discusses some of the key differences among advanced nations in terms of governmental transfers in broad policy areas as well as the specific areas of health care, old age, incapacity, and families. These issues tie into the political ideology of governments, the nature of the political and electoral systems of countries, and how public policies can reduce inequalities between different groups.
Practicing Social Activism through Problem-Based Learning
Authors: Hormel Leontina M.
Published: March 2012

This article proposes a problem-based group project that encourages students to make connections between classroom and community. The project fosters transformative education; social activism becomes more tangible to students who learn to strategize around social issues. The following discussion highlights the goals and process of teaching with an assignment that simulates the creation of a social movement and describes examples of student actions in introductory social movements courses. The class project forges creative and effective social activism.
Official Frames and Corporate Environmental Pollution
Authors: Messer Chris M. , Shriver Thomas E. , Kennedy Dennis
Published: March 2012

This paper examines a contentious environmental dispute surrounding a decommissioned zinc smelter facility in Blackwell, Oklahoma. The environmental conflict stems from potential health effects associated with lead, cadmium, and arsenic contamination. The company that owns the former zinc smelter facility argues that they are in compliance with all environmental health and safety standards and city residents praise their ongoing remediation efforts. Based on in-depth interviews, observation, and thematic content analysis, we examine the company's establishment of an official frame to characterize their role in the environmental case. This frame is based on corporate citizenship, the diffusion of responsibility, and the multiplicity of contamination sources. We examine the salience of this frame within the broader community and address challenges to the official frame by local community activists. The results of the study indicate that local community residents are at a tremendous disadvantage when challenging large corporate polluters.
New Direction and Discovery on the Hunger Front: Toward a Sociology of Food Security/Insecurity
Authors: Scanlan Stephen J.
Published: March 2012

In this paper I examine themes for sociological inquiry on food security/insecurity and the expanded role of sociology in a new discovery of this issue that connects research, teaching, and action. I establish the sociological significance of food security/insecurity through a number of interconnected, specialized thematic clusters including population, environment, and ecology; technology, development, and infrastructure; politics and the global political economy; stratification, poverty, and inequality; and conflict, war, and militarization. It is within these clusters that sociology can strongly influence new directions in research on food security/insecurity while concurrently exploring the issue in the classroom and community. Humanist sociology and social justice perspectives taking a critical perspective on food security/insecurity extend logically to teaching and action. In this regard, the discipline can move toward what a sociology of food security/insecurity should be, including a greater role in addressing threats to the human condition and I offer ideas to implement such practices.
Gender Matters. So Do Race and Class: Experiences of Gendered Racism on the Wal-Mart Shop Floor
Authors: Weissinger Sandra E.
Published: March 2012

This article demonstrates how biography shapes the experiences and testimonies of the women who participated in the Dukes v. Wal-Mart class action lawsuit. Using content analysis of 110 legal declarations, this study addresses three themes observed within court documents: gender discrimination, race relations between employees, and class differences among plaintiffs. The results confirm that women who participated in the ongoing class action lawsuit experienced varying forms of abuse and empowerment due to their positions as raced, classed, and gendered employees. The employees were forced to waste resources navigating relationships to power—energy which could have been used to improve themselves and empower those in their immediate communities. Therefore, the experiences of these women, as representatives of larger social groups, are telling of the nature of work for the millions of women that work for Wal-Mart stores and elsewhere.
Civil Society Leaders and Northern Ireland's Peace Process: Hopes and Fears for the Future
Authors: Thiessen Chuck , Byrne Sean , Skarlato Olga , Tennent Pauline
Published: March 2012

This article explores the interview narratives of 98 Northern Irish participants (consisting of NGO and community group leaders, development officers, and civil servants responsible for funding grassroots peacebuilding work) regarding their hopes and fears for the future. These civil society leaders expressed a wide variety of hopes and fears addressing both the micro grassroots and the macro political levels of society. An analysis of these expressed hopes and fears is both instructive and significant. Civil society peacebuilding actors have been given significant voice in the Northern Ireland peace process. The findings reveal significant hope that reconciliation work at the grassroots level will be successful, but conversely, they also reveal noticeable fear regarding the political peace process and the resumption of political violence.
Meltdown of the Public Interest and the Need for an Engaged Public Sphere: A Critical (Re-) Interpretation of the Nuclear Accident at Three Mile Island
Authors: Cunningham Ken , Angelique Holly
Published: March 2012

We argue the need for a national public debate re-assessing the nuclear industry in light of recent Bush Administration initiatives for expansion of the nuclear industry in the US, and expressed support for nuclear power by Barack Obama. Specifically, we use a critical theoretical lens to re-examine the worst nuclear accident in US history at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant in 1979. Our three-part argument includes a focus on the conflicting imperatives in institutional and economic spheres; critique of the ideology of nuclear science and technology; and a discussion of processes by which the public sphere is de-politicized and, potentially, re-politicized. Through the critical re-interpretation of the TMI accident, we assert the essential importance of a deliberative, engaged public sphere.
The Nature of Humans: Costa Rica Exemplary
Authors: McGuire Steve
Published: March 2012

This paper presents a report on Costa Rica, a country that disbanded its army in 1948 and has not formed one since. How can that be? Does Costa Rica have enemies who might attack, and if so what happens then? Do its citizens feel secure? Is Costa Rica's Civil Guard an army for all intents and purposes? Are there private armies and militias coordinated with the Guard? Has Costa Rica become a client state of recent United States regime forces? I argue that Costa Rica provides a noteworthy albeit flawed model of one aspect of peacemaking, civilian-based defense. The paper begins and ends by situating un-imagined history into a re-envisioned model of the nature of humans. Doing so should amplify our idea of that which is possible. The socially constructed can be re-constructed, re-shaped.
Advice to Action Research Activists: Negotiating Successful Action Research-Community Based Social Change Partnerships
Authors: Mandell Joyce
Published: March 2012

Little has been written about how to negotiate successful partnerships between the action researcher and the community partner. This article describes two action research case studies. Although both case studies highlight a partnership with a community development corporation, one partnership was highly contentious while the other operated more smoothly and produced fruitful outcomes. These case studies are compared to draw conclusions about how successful researcher—community partnerships are developed. The activist sociologist must learn that trust between the researcher and community partner is primarily built with time, rigorous self-examination and communication.
Essentialist Stereotypes in Textbooks on Hispanic Studies
Authors: Zaidi Ali Shehzad
Published: March 2012

This essay examines essentialist representation of Hispanic peoples and cultures in three textbooks, Spanish for Secondary Schools (1961), Mi Historia Universal (1978), and Civilización y Cultura (1993). Those textbooks tend to portray Hispanics as one-dimensional characters that are defined by their essences rather than by their historical and sociological context. The stereotypes found in the textbooks tend to naturalize privilege, perpetuate economic inequalities, and conceal the exploitative aims of imperialism. These stereotypes are less prevalent now thanks in part to the contributions of postcolonial theorists such as Edward Said.
Doing Change Work: The Many Paths That Come Together AS AHS
Authors: Pennell James R.
Published: March 2012

This article, presented as the presidential address at the 2009 Association for Humanist Sociology Annual Meeting, in New Orleans, LA, describes different ways AHS serves as a resource for doing change work, drawing heavily on the author's experiences with the association since 1993. It concludes by calling for members to fully utilize these different resources the Association offers, and to reach out to colleagues and students and, in the process, expand the Association's potential as a resource for doing change work.
Conceptualizing and Theorizing Terrorism in the Historical and Global Context
Authors: Jalata Asafa
Published: March 2012

This article defines and theorizes terrorism by focusing on five important and central issues: lack of balance in current terrorism studies, blurred boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate violence of state and non-state actors, the multiplicity and complexity of terrorism, terrorism as a contested and understudied aspect of the modern world system, and terrorism in the name of money, God, and civilization. It also emphasizes the significances of economic, historical, cultural, political, ideological, and religious factors in facilitating the development of this lethal problem. In its attempt to overcome the current dilemma of terrorism studies, the article proposes a single intellectual, legal, moral, and political position to critically and comprehensively study and understand all forms of terrorism in order to seek an appropriate policy measure to deal with this dark side of human civilization.
Where Are Your Data? A Critique of Secondary Data Analysis in Sociological Research
Authors: Murphy John W. , Schlaerth Christian A.
Published: March 2012

Secondary data analysis has become central to the research experience of many, if not the majority, of sociologists. The problem with this approach to research is the subtle, but powerful, message that is conveyed about the nature of the social world. Social existence is portrayed in an abstract and somewhat dehumanizing manner. Additionally, due to this social imagery, researchers are not encouraged to enter communities to conduct research. As a result, many methodological skills that used to be learned, almost by osmosis, are no longer emphasized during the research enterprise.
Wielding the Camera Pen: Teaching Sociology through Filmmaking
Authors: Tabachnick David
Published: March 2012

This paper describes the philosophy, structure and results of a course, Visual Sociology, in which students are taught sociology through filmmaking. Students develop a sociologically aware visual literacy from discussing documentary films that inquire into issues of social justice and inequality. After thinking through problems of sociological narrative and of research methods, students make their own films and write about their research process. Students address, in their films and papers, research issues such as a) the development of a research question, b) ethics of filming, c) problems of rapport with persons filmed, d) interviewing techniques and e) editing raw footage into a sociologically meaningful story. With the groundwork laid by this course, students have gone on to make sociological films for their capstone thesis. Student work is evaluated to discover the quality of sociological understanding resulting from experiential learning through filmmaking.
“One Person's Apostate is Another Person's Convert”: What Terminology Tells Us about Pro-Religious Hegemony in the Sociology of Religion
Authors: Cragun Ryan T. , Hammer Joseph H.
Published: March 2012

This paper analyzes terminology in the sociology of religion to illustrate proreligious hegemony and the construction of deviant identities for the non-religious. The paper begins by analyzing the current terminology used to refer to the non-religious and makes suggestions for less-biased terminology. The article then uses the “found” terminology to illustrate how language and definitions function to marginalize the non-religious and turn them into a deviant, denigrated category in the sociology of religion.
Consumptive Labor: The Increasing Importance of Consumers in the Labor Process
Authors: Koeber Charles
Published: March 2012

In this article I demonstrate that consumers not only consume, but the work-like tasks they perform while consuming constitute an increasingly important part of production. To theoretically explore the labor of consumers, I introduce the term consumptive labor and three ideal types of consumptive laborers: (1) consumer as quasi-employee, (2) consumer as quasi-supervisor, and (3) consumer as quasi-marketer/advertiser. Those espousing a management perspective argue that the use of consumers in the labor process improves customer service. Alternatively, using a labor process perspective, I demonstrate that organizations use consumptive labor to maximize the production of surplus value from paid employees and tighten control over the labor process. Although consumptive labor may yield benefits for consumers and especially business organizations, it also raises cause for concern. When organizations use consumers as quasi-employees, they may reduce the employment of service workers. By using consumers as quasi-supervisors, organizations may reduce supervisory employment and/or increase levels of stress in the work environment. When using consumers as quasi-marketers and advertisers, organizations perpetuate an excessively materialistic culture that values brands, products, and services over the well-being and needs of people.
Image Isn't Everything: Contemporary Systemic Racism and Antiracism in the Age of Obama
Authors: Ostertag Stephen F. , Armaline William T.
Published: March 2012

In order to be properly addressed or assessed, racism must be appropriately and consistently defined. We employ critical race theory to challenge the popular notion that the election of Barack Obama and other images of diversity signify racism's decline, end, or reversal. Further, we illustrate the utility and accuracy of critical race theory and the persistence of contemporary systemic racism through a brief analysis of the U.S. criminal justice system. In the interest of theoretically grounded antiracism, we suggest why and how activists, scholars, and mobilized communities might challenge and dismantle the U.S. War on Drugs and failed project of mass incarceration as devastating manifestations of contemporary systemic racism. We conclude with specific suggestions for both ourselves and our colleagues.
Police Culture and the Perpetuation of the Officer Shuffle: The Paradox of Life behind “The Blue Wall”
Authors: Shockey-Eckles Martha L.
Published: March 2012

A rich and well documented body of research continues to indicate U.S. citizens have long voiced concerns about The Blue Wall and the self-regulating nature of police work. Of little concern has been a phenomenon referred to as the officer shuffle, a practice by which discredited officers are allowed to remain in police work merely by moving from one department to another. The focus of this study is the paradox that defines The Blue Wall for those serving behind its walls. While much research exists regarding police work and law enforcement in general, to date no studies exist that examine the effects of the officer shuffle on those working beside the one who has moved from one department to another due to prior acts of misconduct. This ethnographic study, based in St. Louis and the ninety-one surrounding municipalities, examines just that. In so doing it draws from the work of legal scholars who have suggested mechanisms for ending the nationwide officer shuffle. But, the findings emanating from interviews with, and observations of, local police officers lead to additional suggestions for change in the existing laws that currently guide the hiring practices among those in law enforcement. The information and findings presented here derive from those most affected by the officer shuffle—those in law enforcement who find themselves working side-by-side with the gypsy cop who sustains and maintains the officer shuffle. While The Blue Wall promotes loyalty among officers, those who fear the presence of the gypsy cop express difficulty in honoring that long held tradition. Herein lies the paradox of The Blue Wall.
Feedlots of the Sea: Movement Frames and Activist Claims in the Protest over Salmon Farming in the Pacific Northwest
Authors: Ladd Anthony E.
Published: March 2012

In the face of declining oceanic fisheries throughout the world, industrial aquaculture and corporate fish farming have become the fastest growing sector of the global food industry, accounting for nearly half of all the fish and shellfish consumed by humans today. Despite its contribution to food production, however, the rapid growth of aquaculture has launched an anti-fish farming movement composed of scientists, environmental NGOs, fishers, native peoples, and coastal residents who oppose the industry's negative socio-environmental effects on marine habitats, indigenous fish stocks and cultures, as well as commercial and recreational fisheries. This article examines the growing environmental controversy over the collapse of wild salmon populations and the rise of salmon farming production in the Pacific Northwest, as well as the negative impacts of the aquaculture industry on the region. Drawing on movement literature and documents, as well as interviews with local stakeholder activists in Washington State and British Columbia, I provide a qualitative analysis of the collective action frames of the anti-salmon farming movement and the degree to which the diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational frames identified in movement discourse are aligned with the individual frames of movement activists. I conclude with some sociological implications of these findings for the usefulness of frame analysis research, the dynamics of the protest over salmon farming, and the future direction of ocean aquaculture and wild salmon.
“What Is It that these People Want? Are We Part of Some Kind of Experiment?”
Authors: Lempert Lora Bex , LaRose Christina , Freeman Laura , Liss Lesia
Published: March 2012

Utilizing a “layered” account that overlies personal experience with feminist, sociological, and pedagogical theory, this article explores the material reality of student mentors assisting in college-level courses offered in a prison site to incarcerated women. The authors present analyses of their developing understandings of theory-in-action as they engaged in symbolic interactions within the carceral environment. The authors offer reflective representations of their experiences mentoring incarcerated women and they explicate a variety of epistemological positions. The article draws attention to structural boundaries and barriers, both physical and emotional; to the construction and maintenance of “safe” classroom space; and to mirror reflections, that is, to seeing self in the “other.”
Self-Service in the Labor Process
Authors: Koeber Charles S. , Wright David W. , Dingler Elizabeth
Published: March 2012

Consumers not only consume. They are increasingly being used by retail and service organizations to perform work-like tasks in the manner of quasi-employees. To explore this role of consumers in the labor process, we use the term consumptive labor and focus on one prevalent form of consumptive labor: self-service. Business organizations obviously benefit from self-service, primarily through increasing the amount of labor during the workday, without incurring additional labor costs. However, it is less apparent why consumers so willingly participate in self-service given that, unlike employees, they are not bound by a contractual agreement or compensated with a wage. What is the perceived benefit of self-service to consumers? We propose a theory of the labor process that synthesizes the works of Michael Burawoy and George Ritzer and suggests that organizations manufacture consent of consumers to self-service by appealing to their desires for a “McDonaldization” of consumer experience. From this theory, we derive and test hypotheses using data from a survey of 519 college students. Results lend support to this theory. The majority of the sample preferred to use self-service when it was available. Moreover, the stronger their belief that self-service enables them to put into practice the principles of McDonaldization, the stronger respondents’ preference to use self-service and the greater their actual use of self-service. We conclude by critically analyzing issues relating to self-service, illuminating problems and issues associated with the essence of the social relations of self-service but which consumers do not easily recognize in its ostensibly favorable appearance.
Top-K data source selection for keyword queries over multiple XML data sources
Authors: Nguyen Khanh , Cao Jinli
Published: March 2012

With the proliferation of XML data, searching XML data using keyword queries has attracted much attention. However, most of the current approaches focus on keyword-based searches over a single XML document. Searching over a system integrating hundreds or even thousands of data sources by sequentially querying every single source is extremely costly, and thus may be impractical. In this article we propose a novel approach for selecting the top-K data sources by relying on their relevance to a given query, to avoid the high cost of searching in numerous, potentially irrelevant data sources. Our approach summarizes the data sources as succinct synopses for the rapid filtering of non-promising sources. We maintain both structural and value distribution information of each data source, and propose a novel ranking function to measure effectively the relevance of the data source to the given query. We conducted experiments with real datasets, and results show that our approach achieves high performances in all evaluation metrics: recall, precision and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient with different experimental parameters.
Nursing Home Deficiency Citations for Physical Restraints and Restrictive Side Rails
Authors: Wagner Laura M. , McDonald Shawna M. , Castle Nicholas G.
Published: March 2012

This article examines whether nursing home facility-level characteristics are associated with the likelihood of receiving deficiency citations for physical restraints, including restrictive side rails. Data from the On-Line Survey Certification of Automated Records were used to calculate odds ratios for facility-level characteristics associated with these deficiency citations. Repeat records from 2000 to 2007 were combined to produce longitudinal data. The results of this study show that restraint/side rail deficiency citations were negatively associated with higher staffing levels of registered nurses and licensed practical nurses ( p ≤ .001) and higher Medicaid reimbursement rates ( p ≤ .01). Citations were positively associated with greater nurse aide staffing ( p ≤ .01) and higher quality-of-care deficiency citation percentiles ( p ≤ .001). The extent of physical restraint and restrictive side rail misuse within nursing homes appears to vary according to various facility characteristics. It is less clear how internal processes within a facility bring about these observed patterns of variation.
Evidence of Oxidative Injury of the Spinal Cord in 2 Horses With Equine Degenerative Myeloencephalopathy
Authors: Wong D. M. , Ghosh A. , Fales-Williams A. J. , Haynes J. S. , Kanthasamy A. G.
Published: March 2012

The cervical spinal cords of 2 horses with equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (EDM) were evaluated for evidence of oxidative damage to the central nervous system (CNS) using immunohistochemical staining for 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) and 4-hydroxynonenol (4-HNE). Neurons of the CNS from horses with EDM had positive immunohistochemical staining, whereas control samples did not, thus supporting the theory that oxidative damage is a potential underlying factor in horses with EDM. In addition, serum vitamin E concentration was low in both EDM-affected horses, and vitamin E concentration was also deficient in the cerebrospinal fluid in 1 EDM horse, further supporting the association between low vitamin E concentrations and oxidative damage to the CNS. Continued research is necessary to further define the pathophysiologic mechanisms of EDM.
Fatal Rectal Perforation Following Boar-to-Boar Mounting
Authors: Ulrich R. , Philipp U. , Buck B. C. , Distl O. , Beineke A.
Published: March 2012

Although abnormal sexual behavior, including boar-to-boar mounting with anal penetration, is recognized in pubescent pigs, reports of the pathologic consequences are scarce. A 7-month-old male minipig, housed with age-matched males, died within 1 day of the onset of lethargy and reluctance to rise. At necropsy, 2 rectal tears were identified as the cause for fibrinous peritonitis, and spermatozoa were identified in the pelvic and peritoneal cavity by light and transmission electron microscopy. According to DNA typing results, using 11 porcine microsatellites, the intraperitoneal semen was from at least 2 pen mates. The prohibition of castration of fattening pigs, implemented or planned in multiple European countries, could increase the risk of rectal perforation in co-housed pigs.
Pumping possibility: Agricultural expansion through desert reclamation in Egypt
Authors: Barnes Jessica
Published: March 2012

This paper examines the role played by pumps as a technology of water access. In the desert that borders Egypt’s cultivated zone, pumps provide the water vital for reclamation, transforming desert into fields. Using two case studies of agricultural expansion into the desert margins, the paper explores the different ways in which farmers employ pumps to tap into the waters of the Nile. The pump is, as other scholars of science and technology studies have demonstrated, a prototypical nonhuman actor. Yet I argue that we cannot see the pump in isolation, but have to look at the passage of water through the pump and the interaction between multiple pumps in the landscape. Pumps rework the flow of water, redistributing the possibilities of agricultural production. At the same time, the flow of water in one direction shapes the possibilities for pumping in another. As some farmers pump water to irrigate the desert, they divert water away from others. As new fields emerge, old fields are rendered unproductive, generating new points of tension, resistance, and inequality within and between communities. The paper demonstrates, therefore, how situating an artifact in its material context brings to light new relations between that technology and the society that it both shapes and is shaped by.
Alterations in Internal Rotation and Alpha Angles Are Associated With Arthroscopic Cam Decompression in the Hip
Authors: Kelly Bryan T. , Bedi Asheesh , Robertson Catherine M. , Dela Torre Katrina , Giveans M. Russell , Larson Christopher M.
Published: March 2012

Background: Symptomatic labral tears of the hip are associated with bony abnormalities of the femoral head and acetabulum, resulting in impingement. These patients have characteristic internal rotation limitations, which can result in compensatory athletic injury patterns around the hip, pelvis, and lumbar spine.

Hypothesis: Patients undergoing arthroscopic cam decompression will have improvement in internal rotation after decompression. Patients with decreased femoral neck anteversion will have decreased preoperative internal rotation of the hip and show less improvement after cam decompression.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods: Patients undergoing arthroscopic decompression of cam and pincer lesions of the hip and treatment of labral injury were evaluated for range of motion and bony anatomy by preoperative computed tomography and pre- and postoperative radiographs. Patients were excluded for age older than 40 years, arthritic changes of the joint, and revision setting.

Results: Fifty-five patients (56 hips) were treated with selective labral debridement with functional labral preservation (33/56) or selective labral debridement with labral refixation (23/56) and cam decompression. Fifty-one of the 56 had resection of associated pincer lesions. Patients were divided into femoral anteversion subgroups: normal (5°-20°, 34 patients), increased (>20°, 8 patients), and decreased (<5°, 13 patients). Mean patient age was 24.7 ± 6.3 years (range, 14-39 years). Alpha angle, a measure of the head-neck offset, decreased from 68.0° ± 10.0° preoperatively to 43.4° ± 4.0° after decompression ( P < .001). Internal rotation of the hip increased from 9.9° ± 6.6° preoperatively to 27.6° ± 6.4° after decompression ( P < .001) and 30.1° ± 5.3° at 3 months ( P < .001). Hip flexion was not significantly different immediately after decompression but was significantly improved from 115.7° ± 13.3° preoperatively to 127.9° ± 6.6° at 3 months postoperatively ( P < .003). Although improvement in internal rotation after decompression increased independent of femoral version, patients with abnormal version had altered internal rotation with increased values associated with increased anteversion (15.7° ± 5.4°/34.3° ± 6.7°) and decreased with relative retroversion (7.1° ± 8.3°/25.2° ± 4.9°; P < .05).

Conclusion: Arthroscopic decompression results in improvement of the radiographic alpha angle and normalization of internal rotation in impingement-related disease of the hip. Internal rotation improvements can be achieved even in the setting of femoral retroversion.
Outcome of Anatomic Transphyseal Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in Tanner Stage 1 and 2 Patients With Open Physes
Authors: Hui Catherine , Roe Justin , Ferguson Duncan , Waller Alison , Salmon Lucy , Pinczewski Leo
Published: March 2012

Background: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are being seen with increasing frequency in children. Treatment of the ACL-deficient knee in skeletally immature patients is controversial.

Purpose: To determine the outcome of all-arthroscopic transphyseal anatomic single-bundle ACL reconstruction in Tanner stage 1 and 2 patients at a minimum of 2 years after surgery.

Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

Methods: Between 2007 and 2008, 16 prepubescent patients underwent ACL reconstruction using soft tissue grafts. All patients were Tanner stage 1 and 2. Outcomes were assessed at a minimum of 2 years after surgery and included limb alignment, limb length, instrumented testing with the KT-1000 arthrometer, and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score.

Results: Mean age at the time of surgery was 12 years (range, 8-14 years). Graft choices included the following: living donor–related hamstring tendon allograft (n = 14), hamstring tendon autograft (n = 1), and fresh-frozen allograft (n = 1). Mean IKDC subjective score was 96 (range, 84-100). All patients had a stable knee postoperatively. Eleven patients had a negative Lachman test result, and 14 had a negative pivot-shift test result. The remainder had grade 1 Lachman and pivot-shift test findings, respectively. At 2 years after surgery, all patients had returned to strenuous activities, and normal or nearly normal overall IKDC score was documented in 94% of patients. There were no cases of limb malalignment or growth arrest.

Conclusion: We present a case series of transphyseal anatomic single-bundle ACL reconstruction in Tanner stage 1 and 2 patients at a minimum of 2 years after surgery. Excellent clinical outcomes were obtained with high levels of return to desired activities. Importantly, no growth disturbances were seen in this series of patients.
Effect of angiostatin on 1,2-dimethylhydrazine-induced colon cancer in mice
Authors: Ertekin Tolga , Ekinci Nihat , Karaca Omur , Nisari Mehtap , Canoz Ozlem , Ulger Harun
Published: March 2012

Antiangiogenic therapy is supposed to be an attractive approach for antitumor treatment. Human plasminogen-derived angiostatin K1-3 is one of the most potent antiangiogenic agents known currently. However, it is unclear whether angiostatin has got protective effects on colon cancer. So we investigated the protective effects of angiostatin on 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced colon cancer in mice. Thirty Balb/C male mice, weighing 25–30 g and 8 weeks of age, were used. Twenty of the mice were treated with DMH subcutaneously (20 mg/kg) once a week for 12 weeks. Six mice died during the DMH injection and surviving mice were divided into two groups (7 mice in DMH and 7 mice in DMH + angiostatin groups). In the angiostatin group, 6 weeks after the last DMH injection the animals were first treated with angiostatin (20 μg/mouse) intraperitoneally and then subcutaneously every 48 h (5 μg/mouse) throughout a period of 12 weeks. The animals were killed after 30 weeks for histopathological examination. When we look at the distribution of lesions in the colon, they mainly occurred in the distal colon. The incidence of mean colonic lesions in a tumor-bearing mouse was 9.85 ± 4.91 in those treated with DMH and 8.71 ± 3.49 in those treated with angiostatin. The incidence of colon tumors was not significantly affected by low dose of angiostatin, and we noticed that the number of lesions decreased by 12% in DMH + angiostatin group compared to the number of the lesions in DMH group, but this decrease was not statistically significant ( p > 0.05). The administration period of angiostatin corresponds to the precancerous period and the reduction in the number of lesions could be important for the protective function of angiostatin in DMH + angiostain group. We assume that therapeutic effects of angiostatin are related to its doses, route of administration, frequency and administration period. In addition, we believe that combination of high doses of angiostatin with radiation, gene therapy or chemotherapy might be successful in proper tumor model.