bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Advancing the Use of Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance Data, New York City, 2012-2016
Authors: Lall Ramona , Abdelnabi Jasmine , Ngai Stephanie , Parton Hilary B. , Saunders Kelly , Sell Jessica , Wahnich Amanda , Weiss Don , Mathes Robert W.
Published: November 2017

Introduction:

The use of syndromic surveillance has expanded from its initial purpose of bioterrorism detection. We present 6 use cases from New York City that demonstrate the value of syndromic surveillance for public health response and decision making across a broad range of health outcomes: synthetic cannabinoid drug use, heat-related illness, suspected meningococcal disease, medical needs after severe weather, asthma exacerbation after a building collapse, and Ebola-like illness in travelers returning from West Africa.

Materials and Methods:

The New York City syndromic surveillance system receives data on patient visits from all emergency departments (EDs) in the city. The data are used to assign syndrome categories based on the chief complaint and discharge diagnosis, and analytic methods are used to monitor geographic and temporal trends and detect clusters.

Results:

For all 6 use cases, syndromic surveillance using ED data provided actionable information. Syndromic surveillance helped detect a rise in synthetic cannabinoid-related ED visits, prompting a public health investigation and action. Surveillance of heat-related illness indicated increasing health effects of severe weather and led to more urgent public health messaging. Surveillance of meningitis-related ED visits helped identify unreported cases of culture-negative meningococcal disease. Syndromic surveillance also proved useful for assessing a surge of methadone-related ED visits after Superstorm Sandy, provided reassurance of no localized increases in asthma after a building collapse, and augmented traditional disease reporting during the West African Ebola outbreak.

Practice Implications:

Sharing syndromic surveillance use cases can foster new ideas and build capacity for public health preparedness and response.
Perceived Quality of Life Among Adults With Hearing Loss: Relationships With Amplification Device and Financial Well-Being
Authors: Michael Rinat , Attias Joseph , Raveh Eyal
Published: November 2017

The current study explored the relationship between perceived quality of life and financial well-being among adult cochlear implant (CI) users as compared with hearing aid (HA) users. Participants were 66 adults: 30 CI users and 36 HA users. They completed the Perceived Quality of Life for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) scale, the In Charge Financial Distress/Financial Well-Being scale, and a background questionnaire. Significant differences were found between the two study groups in two perceived quality-of-life factors: participation, t(58) = 1.71, p < .05, and perceived stigma, t(58) = −1.80, p < .05. CI users reported higher levels of participation and lower levels of perceived stigma as compared with HA users. In addition, financial well-being was a significant predictor of participation (β = .32, p < .05), and CI users who used their device for a longer time reported higher levels of financial well-being ( r = .35, p < .05). Research findings emphasize the possible contribution that both CIs and financial well-being may have on the perceived quality of life of DHH adults. In addition, time since implantation may be an important variable when measuring improvements after cochlear implantation, especially when evaluating long-term processes, such as changes in financial well-being.
How to Be Modern? The Social Negotiation of ‘Good Food’ in Contemporary China
Authors: Zhang Joy Y
Published: November 2017

Developing safe and sustainable food production for its population has been central to China’s ‘Modernisation Project’. Yet recent fieldwork in three Chinese cities suggests that there are two conflicting views on what a ‘modern’ agriculture should look like. For the government, modernisation implies a rational calculation of scale and a mirroring of global trends. But an alternative interpretation of modernity, promoted by civil society, has been gaining ground. For this camp, good food production is then established through a ‘rhizomic’ spread of new practices, which are inspired by world possibilities but are deeply rooted in the local context. Based on 14 interviews and five focus groups, this article investigates the ongoing social negotiation of ‘good food’ in China. It demonstrates how a non-western society responds to the twin processes of modernisation and globalisation and provides insights on the varieties of modernity in the making.
Ecology, Economy and Culture : An anthropological profile of the Meena, a Scheduled Tribe of Rajasthan
Authors: Misra Pramod , Kapoor A. K.
Published: November 2017

In this profile of the Meena-a Scheduled Tribe of Rajasthan, the authors depict how the ecological setup of the Meena characterises their multi-occupational economic organisation. They also enumerate the inextricable links that exist in a state of symbolic and mutually reinforcing relationship between ‘way of life’ and habitat. These are inferred from their observation and careful questioning. Finally they show how the change evidenced among the Meena is an outcome of the interplay of several factors, which include deforestation, increased cultural contacts, modern transport, communication and the developmental schemes introduced by the government.
Zenana system of education-Its impact on women's education in Western India in the 19th century
Authors: Srivastava Gouri
Published: November 2017

The Zenana system of education along with day schools and orphanages was the third most significant form of education which the Christian Missionaries promoted in all the presidencies. This kind of education was meant for the upper caste women who due to social customs could not receive formal schooling. It was also meant for Muslim girls and women who had no formal schooling. Rudimentary education and learning western manners which their husbands wanted was done in the Zenana or the women's apartment. This kind of education became very successful in the 18th and 19th centuries. Gradually regular examination were held behind the purdah. It was the Zenana education which made women conscious of medical and other professional education. Perhaps, in the long run this kind of education helped in raising the literacy level of women in western and the whole of India.
Impact of women's employment on family and marriage: A survey of literature
Authors: Philip Tomy
Published: November 2017

The number of married women entering the work force has been on the rise in the last few decades with the result that dual-earner families have been on the rise. Studies of such families point to disturbances in the role functioning, leadership pattern, cohesion and communication dimensions of family functioning. Similarly, researchers have also found qualitative changes in the marital life of dual earner couples. High career commitment of spouses, high role segregation between spouses, lack of companionship activities, increased independence of women, status competition between spouses, lack of role complementarity, wife's occupational superiority, female work-role strain etc. have been implicated as important consequences. There are also a good number of studies that indicate the positive impact of women's employment on marriage.
Female infanticide in India: A review of literature
Authors: Saravanan Sheela
Published: November 2017

In spite of the legal provisions to prevent female infanticide and foetieide, it continues to occur in many parts of the country. While infanticide was first known to be recorded in British rule, in some States like Tamil Nadu, it is essentially a post-Independence occurrence. Data from Bihar shows that it started among the high castes and now cuts across all castes and classes. In Tamil Nadu also, there are indications that the practice cuts across social groups, and also, that there has been a core area of occurrence, from where it is slowly spreading to the surrounding areas.

Female infanticide is supported by sanctions and pressures from the family. It is fueled by the evil of the dowry system, which places demands on the girl's family. Sometimes, mothers kill their female babies to save them from abuse and violence later in life. Birth order also is an important factor-after two girls are born, the next girl is at high risk, according to a study from Tamil Nadu. It is believed also that killing a girl child increases the probability of a male child born in the family. Female infanticide is reported to occur also due to a lack of scanning centres, as an alternative to foetieide. Another factor implicated infanticide is the decline in the status of women due to the modernisation of agriculture. The new agricultural technology makes the traditional agricultural knowledge of women redundant, and due to the constraints on their free movement in the public space, it is the men who visit government offices to get loans and information on new varieties of seeds, pesticides and so on. In this context, women become liabilities and dowry becomes important. A change in the status of women for the worse in the wake of the modernisation of agriculture has been reported from Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, where there is a high incidence of female infanticide.

Female infanticide and foeticide need to be dealt with by mobilising people to get together and work against this social evil and bring about changes in the society.
Value creation, Sarvodaya and participatory democracy-Three legacies for a creative and democratic world order through the process of education
Authors: Sharma Namrata
Published: November 2017

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, Mahatma Gandhi and John Dewey stressed the inter-related oneness of life and its environment as also the potentiality of every individual, whose unique value-creating ability (as Makiguchi called it) was to be nurtured through an integrated plan of learning woven around the home, school and community. Education was not just for the child-it was a life-long activity, and the coming together of the institutions of society for the all-round growth of each of its members, the true test of ‘participatory democracy’. The development of the human being was to be the source of social, economic, industrial and all other forms of development; it was to foster what Gandhi called sarvodaya-development for the welfare of all.
Democratic decentralisation and civil society
Authors: Aziz Abdul
Published: November 2017

The purpose of this paper is to address two questions: One, in what way have decentralised governments promoted civil society in our country ? Second, under the aegis of decentralisation, to what extent has the civil society promoted an integrative and cohesive social system for augmenting the welfare of the people? It is intended here to answer these questions in the field context by drawing from the studies carried out by the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore. These studies were not specifically focused on civil society as such. However, the information collected have been fruitfully used here for developing a view as to how far the local governments have supported civil society and how far the latter have promoted an integrative and cohesive social system for advancing the well-being of the people.
The aged – A social development perspective: Implications for Social Work practice
Authors: Raju M. Lakshmipathi , Venkateswarlu V.
Published: November 2017

Researchers and demographers have indicated that the aged population throughout the world is going to increase significantly. The aged persons are often labeled as economically “unproductive” and “socially dependent” on their families and the community. The capacities and the contribution of elderly are not recognised due to labeling. To comment on the situation of the elderly, we report on micro data collected from all the 40 aged persons in GoIIapalem village, West Godavari district, A.P. The majority of the respondents face adjustment problems, deterioration of health and psychological problems of “alienation” and “psychic isolation”. The Social Policy programmes for the aged should include financial support, educational programmes, legal action and rural development schemes. There is need for Social Work intervention to help the aged in their families, in the institutions for the aged and in the hospital settings.
Managing tank cascades in Southern India: Conditions for collective action
Authors: S. Saravanan. V.
Published: November 2017

While there is growing consensus within the international development circles that sustainable development should be based on local-level solutions derived from community initiatives, there is an equally growing perception that the practical implementation of what is often termed ‘community-based natural resource management’ or co-management, often falls short of expectations. This paper seeks to throw some light on issues in this area by examining the case of tank irrigation systems as a common-pool resource in Tamil Nadu.
People's participation in decentralised multilevel planning and development
Authors: Sethy Sitakanta
Published: November 2017

After enactment of the Constitution 73rd Amendment Act, 1993, the weaker, excluded and disadvantaged sections of society are empowered to participate in the local level development decision-making process. People's participation in local level decision-making and development process has become a challenging task for the stakeholders because here both the actors and the agencies participate in different capacities. This article is an attempt to analyse the issues in the context of decentralised multilevel planning and development.
Literacy, education and the weaker section in Bihar: Issues and perspectives
Authors: Louis Prakash
Published: November 2017

Various schemes and policies have been implemented by the ruling elite in the name of the wellbeing and upliftment of the weaker sections, but a major segment of the population is still lagging behind. This is even more so in the case of a backward state like Bihar. In this paper, an attempt is made to sketch the educational standing of the weaker sections in Bihar, probe some of the internal differences and make suggestions about what needs to be done for the upliftment of these communities.
Health care at the grassroots: Village Health Guides and community participation in rural Punjab
Authors: Nanda Aswini Kumar
Published: November 2017

Village Health Guides are meant to act as link between government health systems and the rural population. A sample survey in Bhatinda and Kapurthala districts, in which VHGs and village leaders were selected as respondents in a multistage sampling procedure, shows the services of the VHGs have not entirely been in tune with the needs of changing times and demands of the community. The mismatch has arisen because of poor recruitment procedures, lack of proper training, insufficient support in terms of medicines and equipment, absence of suitable incentives, inadequate and irregular monitoring and evaluation, and deficient interlinking with existing institutions of community leadership.
Government initiatives for persons with disabilities in India: Contemporary trends, problems & issues
Authors: Venkatesan S.
Published: November 2017

This paper addresses contemporary initiatives undertaken by Central and State Governments for persons with disabilities in India. The Government initiatives cover a wide range of policy formulations, programmes plans, execution of schemes and legal enactments related to persons with disabilities and impairments in the country. While the zeal is appreciable and welcome for a long neglected section of our society, there are several teething troubles which need to be addressed in the overall coordinated establishment of a social system for the protection of the disabled. It is argued that private institutions could be encouraged and the government should take up more of a monitoring and supervisory role. A corporate culture in disability rehabilitation is called for. Evaluation and accrediting of qualified professionals is also important. Apart from special provisions for disabled in normal schools, the focus on alternatives to formal schooling for children with disabilities is to be encouraged. There is need to coordinate the efforts of various departments of the government in order to avoid duplication. Lacunae in the legal rights of disabled also need to be addressed urgently.
Women in agriculture : Findings from a sample survey in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh
Authors: Sobha I.
Published: November 2017

A micro survey in the drought prone Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh showed that notwithstanding the enormous burden of agricultural work shouldered by women and their on-hands experience of agricultural activities, they had little say in farm-management decisions. They had more of a say in purchase of equipment and the purchase and sale of land, but this was due to the jewelry or land in their name, which was a source of finance. Women here not only spent long hours on farm work, they also spent hours every day on household chores and child care. Early marriages and frequent pregnancies, low literacy, unsafe working conditions (such as standing for hours in ankle deep waters), and little or no rest were among the adverse influences on their health and nutrition status. Apart from the need for radical land reform to promote joint land holdings or equal partnership in land, there is a need for appropriate technology, credit and extension services, training programmes, support services, especially for child care, and policies to ensure food security for poor women.
Improving forest governance: Experience of Joint Forest Management in India
Authors: Saigal Sushil
Published: November 2017

There is an increasing interest in community-based forest management as a potential approach for improving forest governance. India is among the few countries in the world where such an approach-called Joint Forest Management (JFM)-has not only been successfully introduced but also achieved large-scale implementation, covering 18% of all state forests. Forests cover 23% of India's geographical area and almost all are under state ownership. However, over half the forests are in a degraded condition. Forests also provide livelihood support to a large proportion of the population, especially the poor. Around 147 million people live in and around forests. But until the 1980s, the focus was on commercial forestry and people were excluded from forest management. This led to forest degradation on the one hand, and conflicts between the Forest Department and local communities on the other. A new policy in 1988 stressed forest management for ecosystem services and meeting local communities’ needs. Under this policy, Joint Forest Management promoted agreements between the Forest Department and village communities to jointly protect and manage adjacent forest land and to share responsibilities and benefits. JFM has had several positive impacts on forest governance in the form of improved forest condition, increased income and livelihood opportunities for participating communities and, most importantly, a dramatic change in the attitude of communities and the Forest Department towards each other and toward forests. Although challenges still remain, if implemented in its true spirit, JFM can be a viable long-term strategy for contributing towards the goals of sustainable livelihoods and forest management.
Waste-handlers and recycling in urban India: Policy, perception and the law
Authors: Chaturvedi Bharati
Published: November 2017

All recycling in India is undertaken by (and via) the informal sector. This sector includes waste-pickers, small middlemen, transporters, larger middlemen and Anally, reprocessors. These self-employed people play a very important role in urban waste management as they provide a service which the urban municipalities cannot provide given their current institutional framework.

Although the sector of informal waste managers is critical to solid waste-handling in India, the sector is unable to optimise its work due to lack of social legitimacy or legal rights over waste-processing, which makes it vulnerable to intimidation. Additionally, due to lack of awareness and specific skills, as well as very poor working conditions and poor access to basic facilities, this sector has so far been unable to make its recycling efficient and profitable. With certain changes in the policies relating to recycling and ownership of waste, there can be a synergetic relationship between the recycling sector, the existing relevant laws, and waste-handling in India that can significantly improve the efficiency of the sector and enhance financial returns to the waste-pickers and reprocessors. Such policy changes as provision of legal rights over solid waste to waste-pickers and organisation of waste-pickers into cooperative groups, can further the interests of these marginalised groups and maximise their profits, in addition to substantially improving solid waste management in the city.
Rethinking urban waste in India: Creating a community paradigm
Authors: Agarwal Ravi , Gupta Sanjay K.
Published: November 2017

Urban India is likely to face a massive waste disposal problem in the coming years. Traditionally, the problem of waste has been seen simply as one of cleaning and disposing. But a closer look at the current and future scenarios reveals that waste needs to be treated holistically, recognising its natural resource roots as well as its health impacts. Waste has not only tremendous potential for generating livelihoods for the urban poor but also for enriching the earth. Escalating rural-to-urban migration and density of population will make waste management an increasingly difficult issue to handle in the near future, if new management approaches are not developed. A possible new paradigm of waste management is the ‘cradle-to-grave’ approach with responsibility for waste management being shared by many stakeholders, including product manufacturers, consumers and communities, the recycling industry, traders, municipalities and the urban poor. This paradigm is being experimented with by community-based waste management projects in pockets of the city that have been doing door-to-door collection on a service fee, segregating the waste and reducing a substantial amount of waste through recycling and composting. This approach is in stark contrast to the prevalent municipal system of managing waste in a centralised fashion where waste is collected by the municipality and dumped into land-fills. It is estimated that today 80 to 90% of city waste is currently dumped into open land-fill sites.
A national plan, built from below ? — The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, India
Authors: Kohli Kanchi , Kothari Ashish
Published: November 2017

The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), formulated from 2000 to 2003, was envisaged as a comprehensive action plan for conserving biodiversity in India, that would adequately reflect the aspirations of the hitherto marginalised peoples who have a direct stake in biodiversity conservation. For the first time, a truly participatory approach was adopted for environmental conservation and planning in India. For a country of India's size, biological and cultural diversity and immense social and economic divides, this has been no easy task for Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group, the NGO with whom the Government of India is collaborating to formulate the NBSAP. In this article, the process and products of the NBSAP are reviewed, outlining its aims, the extent to which these have been met and the limitations in the process of its formulation. Through 33 state-level, 18 local-level and 10 inter-state level plans, the draft National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) recommends a series of bold measures to ensure that the country's ecological security is ensured. These measures call for a major reorientation of the process of economic development and of governance of natural resources, such that the health of the environment, and the livelihoods of biomass-dependent communities become central to all planning. The NBSAP process has been highly successful with respect to degree of involvement of local communities, development of linkages with ongoing conservation action, integration of cross-cutting issues such as globalisation and livelihood into conservation planning, and comprehensive assessment of various aspects of biodiversity. Implementation of the NBSAP has already begun in parts of nine states without external support, showing the high level of impact it has had on active citizens’ groups and governmental bodies. However, the planning process suffered from a number of inadequacies such as ineffective networking with some critical sections of the public such as religious leaders and corporate houses and unsatisfactory degree of involvement of women.
Bridging the gap: Sharing responsibility for ecological restoration and wildlife conservation on private lands in the Western Ghats
Authors: Shankar T. R. , Mudappa Divya
Published: November 2017

A major conservation issue, particularly in the tropics, is habitat loss and fragmentation due to developmental activities and increasing human populations. Ecologiste today recognise that much of the once-pristine forests that are now secondary forests, as well as large areas outside existing conservation reserves, harbouring significant levels of biological diversity need to be targeted for long-term conservation. Governmental agencies such as the Forest Department and the conservation community have come to accept that the conventional patrol-and-protect method has its limitations in addressing the increasing threats to such conservation areas. A complementary strategy is to develop conservation plans for protection and improvement by ecological restoration of forests, particularly isolated fragments and degraded areas on private lands. This requires bridging gaps between private landowners, governmental agencies, and nongovernmental conservation organisations and fostering efforts based on mutual cooperation and collaboration as well as developing positive incentives for private landholders involved in conservation of forests and biological diversity. In this paper, we discuss one of the first examples of such an effort of sharing responsibility for long-term conservation in a highly disturbed tropical rainforest region of the Western Ghats.
Ecological sustainability of forest management practices: The case of the regenerating sal forests of south-western West Bengal, India
Authors: Shahabuddin Ghazala
Published: November 2017

Under the Joint Forest Management (JFM) programme in south-western West Bengal, regenerating deciduous forests are being managed for the extraction of numerous plant products, both for commercial benefits and subsistence-level use, on a large scale. However, there has been little serious evaluation of the long-term biological sustainability of forest produce extraction in these forests or the accompanying ecological impacts. On the other hand, observational evidence indicates biological impoverishment of forest ecosystems and soils as a result of the forest management practices prevalent in the region such as clearfelling, extraction of understorey vegetation and monocultural plantations. The present review brings together the available scientific information on the ecological sustainability of the forest management practices currently prevalent in south-western West Bengal in an attempt to delineate the lacunae in our knowledge regarding the issue and draw up a research strategy that can be used to design long-term management plans for the forests of this region. It was found that currently there is little or no scientific data on the ecological impacts of forest produce extraction either at the species-or at the ecosystem-level. In view of the status of current knowledge on the ecological sustainability of JFM in the study area, (1) critical areas of research, (2) generalised research strategies, and (3) ways to expand the ongoing initiatives in participatory vegetation monitoring for long-term forest monitoring, are delineated for this region, based on interventions carried out in other parts of India and the rest of the world.
Sustainable use of wild plant species: A research bibliography
Authors: Shahabuddin Ghazala
Published: November 2017

During the last few decades, there has been a growing realisation that biodiversity conservation cannot be successful without the active involvement of the people living close to and dependent on natural ecosystems for their survival and livelihoods. Consequently, there has been a gradual broadening of the global conservation agenda from strict nature protection to include the sustainable use of natural resources, which is now reflected in governmental policy the world over. However, as conservationists strive today towards the harmonisation of people's needs with biodiversity conservation, one of the most elusive, yet critical, goals for them has been the sustainable extraction of plant resources from the wild. Hundreds of plant species continue to be extracted from natural habitats for use as food, medicine, fuel and fodder in households and for commercial sale, both legally and illegally. As a consequence of unmonitored extraction and over-exploitation, many plant species populations are reported to be declining in the wild. In the face of increasing pressure on forest resources, it has become more important than ever before to devise quantitative management policies for sustainable plant use so that both forests and the livelihoods of millions of rural people who are dependent on them, can be sustained. One of the major stumbling blocks for conservationists in developing countries, who are attempting to design and implement sustainable forest management systems, is the lack of information on the state-of-the-art in this field, especially that relating to field methods, data analysis, data recording and monitoring systems. In order to fill this lacuna, a comprehensive bibliography of studies undertaken so far in the science of sustainable use from terrestrial ecosystems is presented here. The scope of this bibliography includes sustainable
Maternal and fetal outcomes of emergency obstetric referrals to a Nigerian teaching hospital
Authors: Akaba Godwin O , Ekele Bissallah A
Published: November 2017

Our study sought to determine the maternal and fetal outcomes of emergency obstetric referrals to a Nigerian teaching hospital as well as assess reasons for these referrals.

We enrolled women referred or who presented themselves to the emergency obstetric unit for management of complications of pregnancy, labour, delivery or the puerperium.

The majority presented late, their mean duration of stay at the referring facility being 22.25 h. Only nine (7.3%) were transported by ambulance. Severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (in 33, 26.8%) were the commonest obstetric indications for referral. Stillbirths occurred in 20/122(16.4%). There were eleven maternal deaths, giving an emergency referral fatality rate of 8.9%. Both maternal and fetal outcomes of these emergency obstetric referrals were poor owing mainly to late presentation, this being the result, among other factors, of an inefficient referral system.
Caesarean section wound infections and antibiotic use: a retrospective case-series in a tertiary referral hospital in The Gambia
Authors: Aulakh Alex , Idoko Patrick , Anderson Suzanne T , Graham Wendy
Published: November 2017

Ours is the first published study to examine post-Caesarean section (CS) wound infections in The Gambia. We explored risk factors and clinical management retrospectively at a large referral hospital over a 12-month period. A total of 777 cases were identified and records for 682 (88%) were retrieved. The CS rate was 21.8% and the wound infection rate 13.2%. Risk factors included: length of labour; decision-to-incision time and stillbirth. Only 7.4% of women received preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis, but all women received multiple-dose, postoperative antibiotics. The wound infection rate found is likely to be an underestimate owing to loss to follow-up. The adherence to international guidelines regarding preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis needs to be improved.
And yet, we were modern. The paradoxes of Iberian science after the Grand Narratives
Authors: Pimentel Juan , Pardo-Tomás José
Published: November 2017

In this article, we try to explain the origin of a disagreement; the sort that often arises when the subject is the history of early modern Spanish science. In the decades between 1970 and 1990, while some historians were trying to include Spain in the grand narrative of the rise of modern science, the very historical category of the Scientific Revolution was beginning to be dismantled. It could be said that Spaniards were boarding the flagship of modern science right before it sank. To understand this décalage it would be helpful to recall the role of the history of science during the years after the Franco dictatorship and Spain’s transition to democracy. It was a discipline useful for putting behind us the Black Legend and Spanish exceptionalism.
Too much to tell: Narrative styles of the first descriptions of the natural world of the Indies
Authors: Leitão Henrique , Sánchez Antonio
Published: November 2017

Describing a Mundus Novus was a very singular task in the sixteenth century. It was an effort shaped by a permanent inherent tension between novelty and normality, between the immense variety of new facts (some extraordinary) and the demand of credibility. How did these inner strains affect the narrative style of the first descriptions of the natural world of ‘the Indies’? How were the first European observers of the nature of America able to simultaneously transmit the idea of immensity and regularity ( mundus), and that of novelty ( novus)? How did they attempt to describe new worlds knowing that there was a lot – perhaps too much – to tell? This paper focuses not on the much-discussed epistemological issues related to those questions, but on their narrative and stylistic consequences. We argue that the first Europeans meeting the new realities of the Americas or India had to meet new challenges, and these translated into texts with specific characteristics. Thus, their first descriptions are essentially different from the texts about the natural world that were written before or after the ‘discovery’. We show that they adopted very specific discursive approaches, and were deeply influenced by the credibility strategies of the medical profession in which they had been trained.
The Invisible Hand of Friedrich Hayek: Submission and Spontaneous Order
Authors: Whyte Jessica
Published: November 2017

Friedrich Hayek’s account of “spontaneous order” has generated increasing interest in recent decades. His argument for the superiority of the market in distributing knowledge without the need for central oversight has appealed to progressive democratic theorists, who are wary of the hubris of state planning and attracted to possibilities for self-organization, and to Foucaultians, who have long counseled political theory to cut off the King’s head. A spontaneous social order, organized by an invisible hand, would appear to dispense with arbitrary power and foster creativity and individual liberty. This article challenges this view by highlighting the centrality of submission to Hayek’s account of spontaneous order. It shows that Hayek struggles to obscure the providentialism underpinning the account of social order he derives from Adam Ferguson and the Scottish Enlightenment. Nonetheless, his own account of spontaneous order relies on faith in the workings of the market, and submission to unintelligible market forces.
Screening for depression in Andean Latin America: Factor structure and reliability of the CES-D short form and the PHQ-8 among Bolivian public hospital patients
Authors: Schantz Karolina , Reighard Chelsea , Aikens James E , Aruquipa Amparo , Pinto Bismark , Valverde Helen , Piette John D.
Published: November 2017

Objective

We assessed the validity and reliability of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) short form and the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) (two measures of depressive symptoms) among urban, low-income patients from a heavily indigenous area of Andean Latin America. This is a patient population that is in many ways culturally distinct from the populations that have been included in previous Spanish language validation studies of these instruments.

Methods

We administered the CES-D Yale version short form and the PHQ-8 to 107 outpatients at public hospitals in La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia. We conducted exploratory factor analysis, checked internal reliability, and examined concordance between the two measures in identifying patients with clinically significant depressive symptoms.

Results

Internal reliability was high for both scales: PHQ-8 (Cronbach’s α = 0.808) and CES-D (α  = 0.825). A one-factor solution for the PHQ-8 was maintained after the removal of one poorly loading item. The CES-D showed a two-factor solution, with items for somatic symptoms and interpersonal problems loading on the same factor as negative affect. Using both the cutoff for depression recommended in prior studies and a sample specific cutoff of ≥1 standard deviation above the mean, the two scales demonstrated only moderate agreement (κ = 0.481–0.486).

Conclusions

The PHQ may be more appropriate for clinical use in the Andean region, given its greater specificity; however, lower than expected agreement between the scales suggests that they also measure different elements of depression. Irregularities with the factor structure of both scales suggest that further research with this population is needed to better understand depressive symptomology and improve screening in the region.
Cognitive Decline as a Result of Incarceration and the Effects of a CBT/MT Intervention: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Umbach Rebecca , Raine Adrian , Leonard Noelle R.
Published: November 2017

This study primarily tests whether incarceration negatively affects cognitive functioning; namely, emotion regulation, cognitive control, and emotion recognition. As a secondary interest, we test protective effects of a cognitive behavioral therapy/mindfulness training (CBT/MT) intervention. Dormitories containing 197 incarcerated males aged 16 to 18 years were randomly assigned to either a CBT/MT program or an active control condition. A cognitive task was administered pretreatment and again 4 months later, upon treatment completion. Performance on all outcome variables was significantly worse at follow-up compared with baseline. There were marginally significant group by time interactions. While the control group performance significantly declined in both cognitive control and emotion regulation, the CBT/MT group showed no significant decline in either outcome. This is the first study to probe the effects of incarceration on these three processes. Findings suggest that incarceration worsens a known risk factor for crime (cognitive functioning), and that a CBT/MT intervention may help buffer against declines.
Identifying Predictors of Substance Use and Recidivism Outcome Trajectories Among Drug Treatment Court Clients
Authors: Wilson John L. , Bandyopadhyay Sanjukta , Yang Hongmei , Cerulli Catherine , Morse Diane S.
Published: November 2017

Drug treatment court (DTC) is a diversion program for individuals with drug-related crimes. However, the DTC literature is conflicting with regard to substance use and recidivism outcomes. This study examines factors associated with improved client outcome trajectories among a multisite, national DTC sample. We conducted a secondary analysis of 2,295 participants using the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs assessment tool. Participants in community-based treatment comprised a nonequivalent comparison group. Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression examined client sociodemographics in relation to substance use and rearrest at 6-month follow-up. Employed DTC clients were more likely to abstain from substances, but among all study participants, higher baseline use, male gender, and employment predicted substance use. Similarly, among DTC clients, older age and employment predicted no rearrests, but among all study participants, older and employed individuals had worse arrest outcome trajectories. Future work is needed to better understand how client characteristics may inform individualized treatment approaches.
Evaluating the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment in an Australian Frontline Police Setting
Authors: Lauria Ilana , McEwan Troy E. , Luebbers Stefan , Simmons Melanie , Ogloff James R. P.
Published: November 2017

This article describes a prospective validation of the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment (ODARA) in an Australian sample of 854 family violence cases presenting to police over a 5-month period in 2015. Two hundred cases met inclusion criteria for administration of the ODARA (male-to-female intimate partner violence with a history of assault and cohabitation). The ODARA performed well in predicting further intimate partner physical assault (area under the curve [AUC] = .68), and in predicting the outcome of any further police contact for nonphysical intimate partner abuse (AUC = .72). Despite these positive results, the instrument’s restrictive inclusion criteria meant that it could be appropriately applied in only 23% of family violence cases reported to police during the data collection period, limiting its practicality in this setting.
Racial Mixing and National Integration in Latin America: The Return of Racial Differences in Mexico and Brazil
Authors: Torre Cantalapiedra Eduardo
Published: November 2017

The importance of racial differences in the configuration of Latin American societies has for decades been overshadowed by ideologies of racial mixing and social-class-based approaches to the analysis of the region’s societies. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century increased attention has been devoted to racial differences both in public policy and in social science research. Government affirmative action designed to reverse social inequalities due to racial differences in Brazil and the results of research on racial differences and racial mixing in Mexico indicate that, as Rodolfo Stavenhagen argued 50 years ago, racial mixing does not contribute to national integration.

La transcendencia de las diferencias raciales en la configuración de las sociedades latinoamericanas ha sido poco atendida durante décadas; inicialmente, fue opacada por las ideologías del mestizaje, y posteriormente ensombrecida por el predominio de las clases sociales como forma de analizar a las sociedades de esta región. Desde a comienzos del siglo XXI, las diferencias raciales han adquirido notoriedad en Latinoamérica, tanto en las investigaciones en ciencias sociales como en las políticas públicas. Las políticas públicas de acción afirmativa conducidas por el gobierno brasileño y los hallazgos de las investigaciones más recientes en cuestiones referidas a las diferencias raciales y al mestizaje en el caso de México indican que, como dijo Rodolfo Stavenhagen hace cincuenta años, el mestizaje no contribuye a la integración nacional.
Basic characteristics and accumulation mechanism of Sinian−Cambrian giant highly mature and oil-cracking gas reservoirs in the Sichuan Basin, SW China
Authors: Luo Bing , Yang Yu , Zhou Gang , Luo Wenjun , Shan Shujiao , Xia Maolong
Published: November 2017

Old Mesoproterozoic−Cambrian successions have been regarded as an important frontier field for global oil and gas exploration in the 21st century. This has been confirmed by a recent natural gas exploration breakthrough in the Sinian and Cambrian strata, central Sichuan Uplift, Sichuan Basin of SW China. However, the accumulation mechanism and enrichment rule of these gases have not been well characterized. This was addressed in this work, with aims to provide important guidance for the further exploration while enriching the general studies of the oil and gas geology in the old Mesoproterozoic–Cambrian strata. Results show that the gas field in the study area is featured by old target layers (Sinian–Lower Cambrian), large burial depth (>4500 m), multiple gas-bearing intervals (the second and fourth members of the Sinian Dengying Formation and the Lower Cambrian Longwangmiao Formation), various gas reservoir types (structural type and structural–lithologic type), large scale (giant), and superimposing and ubiquitous distribution. The giant reserves could be attributed to the extensive intercalation of pervasive high quality source rocks and large-scale karst reservoirs, which enables a three-dimensional hydrocarbon migration and accumulation pattern. The origin of natural gas is oil cracking, and the three critical stages of accumulation include the formation of oil reservoirs in Triassic, the cracking of oil in Cretaceous, and the adjustment and reaccumulations in the Paleogene. The main controlling factor of oil and gas enrichment is the inherited development of large-scale stable paleo-uplift, and the high points in the eastern paleo-uplift are the favorable area for ​natural gas exploration.
Diagenetic facies quantitative evaluation of low-permeability sandstone: A case study on Chang 82 reservoirs in the Zhenbei area, Ordos basin
Authors: Ma Baoquan , Yang Shaochun , Zhang Hong , Kong Qingdong , Song Chunting , Wang Ya , Bai Qinglin , Wang Xidong
Published: November 2017

Quantitative characterization of diagenetic facies has great significance for reservoir evaluation and prediction. In order to find out the method to evaluate diagenetic facies, the author took Chang 82 reservoir low-permeability sandstone in Zhenbei area of Ordos basin as research object and divided the reservoir into six types of diagenetic facies by analysis of casting thin section, scanning electron microscope, cathode luminescence, and physical property. According to 14 quantitative evaluating parameters which were related with petrology characteristic, diagenesis strength, pore structure, etc. quantitative evaluation of diagenetic facies of low-permeability sandstone reservoir was done by data envelopment analysis. The result showed that in the Chang 82 reservoir low-permeability sandstone in Zhenbei area of Ordos basin, quantitative representative indexes of diagenetic facies ranged from 0 to 1.00. Various diagenetic facies and their indexes had interval corresponding relation. The diagenetic facies of weak corrosion with chlorite mat and the diagenetic facies of corrosion of unstable components had the best reservoir quality. Their diagenetic facies indexes ranged from 0.66 to 1.00. The reservoir quality of the diagenetic facies filled with kaolinite was not as good as the former. The indexes ranged from 0.50 to 0.66. The diagenetic facies of quartz secondary enlargement and the diagenetic facies of clay mineral cementation replacement had poor reservoir quality. Their diagenetic facies indexes ranged from 0.30 to 0.40. The diagenetic facies of carbonate cementation had the poorest reservoir quality. It hardly possessed fluid storage capability. After comparing diagenetic facies indexes, absorption strength and remaining oil saturability, the perfect corresponding relation between quantitative evaluation results and reservoir quality could be verified.