bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Challenging Prison Officers’ Discretion: “Good Reasons” to Treat Courteously Mafiosi in Custody in Italy
Authors: Gariglio Luigi
Published: January 2018

Prison ethnography has long touched on the central role of prison officers’ discretion. Nowadays, a large number of sociologists and criminologists share the assumption that prison officers have de facto to resort to discretional decisions continuously to be able to translate the law into practice as they go about their job. This paper addresses the topic of prison officers’ discretion differently by adopting analytic autoethnography and Carolyn Ellis’ emotional recall. It outlines four officers’ “good reasons” for cooperating with mafiosi in custody—treating them with good manner—rather than showing neutrality as they would do with “ordinary” prisoners. The main good reasons that ground mafiosi–officers relationships are (1) reciprocal institutional recognition that Italian criminal justice and high-ranking mafia prisoners recognize one another; (2) mafioso capacity to help officers to “govern” fellow prisoners in practice; (3) the social embeddedness of the mafia both inside and outside prison; and, lastly, (4) prison officers’ fear of retaliation.
Challenging the Gendered Entrepreneurial Subject: Gender, Development, and the Informal Economy in India
Authors: Boeri Natascia
Published: January 2018

The World Bank’s premise that “gender equality is good business” characterizes the current gender and economic development model. Policymakers and development practitioners promote and encourage women’s entrepreneurialism from the conviction that increasing women’s market-based opportunities is key to lifting women, their families, and communities out of poverty, resulting in the construction of a gendered entrepreneurial subject. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with home-based garment workers in Ahmedabad, India, this article questions the portrayal of women informal workers as entrepreneurs. Employing a social reproduction framework, I argue that the exploitative characteristics of informal work (i.e., paying for the costs of production and its temporal/spatial characteristic) are falsely interpreted as features of entrepreneurialism (i.e., investment and autonomy). Because work is completed in the worker’s own home, work and care become a mutual burden in which woman’s sense of providing for her family is impeded by both these roles. A feminist social reproduction framework of embodied labor links women’s responsibility for and contribution to family well-being with women’s marginalized economic position. Examining home-based work through this lens reveals the contradiction of the entrepreneurialism discourse.
Effects of microcrystalline cellulose on the mechanical properties of low-density polyethylene composites
Authors: Mubarak Yousef Ahmad , Abdulsamad Raghda Talal
Published: January 2018

This work was intended to provide an understanding of the effect of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) on the mechanical properties of low-density polyethylene (LDPE). The impact resistance and the tensile properties of low-density LDPE/MCC composites were investigated. The weight fraction of MCC was varied at (0, 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, and 30 wt%). The obtained blends were then used to prepare the required tensile and impact testing samples by hot compression molding technique. It has been found that MCC has a strong influence on the mechanical properties of LDPE. At a low MCC weight fraction, there was a little improvement in the ultimate strength, fracture stress, and elongation at break, but at a high MCC weight fraction, the tensile properties were deteriorated and reduced significantly. The addition of 1 wt% MCC to LDPE enhanced the mentioned properties by 10, 25, and 6%, respectively. While at 30 wt% MCC, these properties were lowered by 36, 25, and 96%. The elastic modulus of LDPE composites was improved on all MCC weight fractions used in the study, at 20 wt% MCC, an increase in the elastic modulus by 12 folds was achieved. On the other hand and compared with the impact strength of pure LDPE, the addition of MCC particles enhanced the impact strength, the highest value obtained was for LDPE composites filled with 10 wt% MCC where the impact strength enhanced by two folds.
Wave propagation analysis of magnetostrictive sandwich composite nanoplates via nonlocal strain gradient theory
Authors: Ebrahimi Farzad , Dabbagh Ali
Published: January 2018

In this study, the survey of the wave dispersion behaviors of sandwich composite nanoplates is carried out by considering the magnetostriction phenomenon. The nanoplate is assumed to be made up of a central magnetostrictive core in addition to two composite face sheets. The scale influences are covered based on the nonlocal strain gradient theory. Moreover, the equations of plate motion are derived according to the classical plate theory. Afterward, the magnetization effects are considered by introducing a feedback control system. Then, Hamilton’s principle is introduced to obtain the Euler–Lagrange equations of the magnetostrictive sandwich composite nanoplate. Also, by relating the achieved equations with those of the nonlocal strain gradient theory, the nonlocal governing equations of magnetostrictive sandwich composite nanoplate are developed. The wave frequency and phase velocity values are computed by the application of an analytical solution. Finally, the effects of participant coefficients are illustrated separately through certain figures.
Steady and unsteady numerical investigation of flow interaction between low-pressure turbine blade, intermediate turbine duct and power turbine vane
Authors: Gao Jie , Liu Xuezheng , Zhao Xudong , Fu Weiliang , Yue Guoqiang , Zheng Qun
Published: January 2018

Flows in an intermediate turbine duct connecting low-pressure turbines and power turbines are very complex, affected by the upstream low-pressure turbine flow structures. Non-uniformities originating from the duct with struts also affect the power turbine inflow conditions, resulting in reduced efficiency. The present investigation is done to clarify the flow and loss mechanisms within the intermediate turbine duct and the power turbine. Steady and unsteady numerical investigations of the flow interaction between low-pressure turbine blade, intermediate turbine duct and power turbine vane were conducted. Effects of upstream low-pressure turbine blade on intermediate turbine duct flow fields and loss characteristics, and that of intermediate turbine duct with big and small struts on power turbine aerodynamics are explored. The generation and propagation of wake and secondary flows through the whole configuration are described. The fast Fourier transformation analyses of the flow in the low-pressure turbine blade, intermediate turbine duct and power turbine vane are also presented. Results from the steady and unsteady investigations show complex flow patterns resulted from blade–strut–vane flow interactions, which are not obtainable from intermediate turbine duct-only or power turbine-only simulations. The intermediate turbine duct has a great amplifying influence on the distorted inflow, and the inlet flow with upstream wakes and secondary flows introduces a high-loss area along the casing at intermediate turbine duct exit. Detailed results are presented and discussed for the flow physics and loss mechanisms as well as the unsteady flow evolution through the low-pressure turbine blade, intermediate turbine duct and power turbine vane.
A novel energy efficient powered ankle prosthesis using four-bar controlled compliant actuator
Authors: Sahoo Saikat , Pratihar Dilip Kumar , Mukhopadhyay Sudipta
Published: January 2018

A powered ankle prosthesis has the ability to replace a biological ankle, also it can remove the difficulties faced due to the usage of passive ankle prosthesis. However, the energy consumption of the set-up, weight and portability of the motor, and its electronics are still the issues to be addressed. This study is solely focused on the reduction of power consumption of the motor during the stance phase of locomotion. Thus, a compliant actuator controlled by the four-bar mechanism with a special rocker arrangement is proposed, which eventually can reduce the power consumption by a significant amount. The reduction of power consumption not only expands the run time, but also reduces the weight and cost of the prosthesis indirectly. An optimization problem is also formulated to optimize the links’ lengths and spring stiffness in order to mimic the behavior of a normal ankle joint and solved using a genetic algorithm. Finally, the analytical and simulation results of the proposed model in terms of energy consumption and required peak motor power are compared with that of some renowned powered ankle prosthesis developed using the widely used screw transmission mechanism, a popular compliance actuation technique and an existing four-bar mechanism.
Reframing race in the Maghreb
Authors: Treacy Corbin
Published: January 2018

Clandestine migration across the Mediterranean is often discussed for its agitating effects on Europe’s racial anxieties; less acknowledged is the growth of intra-African racism in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Officials in these countries have increasingly demonised sub-Saharan Africans who arrive in the Maghreb en route to Europe, and now even black North Africans describe a climate of heightened racial tension. This article analyses the ways in which black Africans are represented in the contemporary Maghreb. Specifically, I look at print and on-line journalism, novels and films that foreground questions of race to argue that Maghrebi journalists, social media activists, authors and filmmakers are critiquing racism and exposing its neo-colonial underpinnings. Their work is calling for a disciplinary realignment in North African cultural studies that focuses the field as much on ‘Africa’ as it does on ‘North’.
La migration des œuvres françaises en Asie
Authors: Kang Mathilde
Published: January 2018

Le présent article propose d’examiner la problématique de la migration des œuvres de la littérature française vers le continent d’Asie. Il tentera d’établir l’origine de cette migration, le parcours migratoire des œuvres ainsi que les conditions de leur accueil dans les pays asiatiques notamment en Chine et au Japon. Parmi les nombreux aspects reliés au transfert des œuvres vers leurs nouveaux lectorats, le rôle de vecteur que joue la traduction sera analysé. Sera aussi mis en relief le rôle de tremplin et d’intermédiaire du Japon dans l’accomplissement du transfert des œuvres françaises. Enfin Madame Chrysanthème tout comme La Dame aux camélias sera étudiée sous l’angle de leur rencontre avec la littérature locale.
Mobile objects in Sophie Calle’s Fantômes and Prenez soin de vous
Authors: Edwards Natalie
Published: January 2018

The mobility of people and objects is a central motif in the work of contemporary artist Sophie Calle. In this article, I compare two of Calle’s exhibitions that take a particularly unusual approach to mobility. In Fantômes and Prenez soin de vous, the objects are an email and works of art and their mobility arises from their displacement. In both exhibitions, Calle obliges the spectator to look at other people looking at the artefacts, which I refer to as the ‘double look’. In this article, I analyse how this technique serves to question the notion of a unitary, individual artist behind each work of art, how it questions the parameters of spectatorship, and how it challenges understandings of intimacy in contemporary culture.
Introduction: Mobility across media in the Francophone world
Authors: Edwards Natalie , Hogarth Christopher , King Gemma
Published: January 2018

This introduces the special issue on mobility across media in various areas of the Francophone world. Articles treat the notion of mobility as understood in film, literature, visual art and advertising and explore how genres as well as national traditions intersect. They explore a range of representations of mobility, such as the mobility between people, between genres, between languages, between artistic forms and between texts across historical periods. We show that the terminology regarding movement is constantly mobile itself, having undergone significant slippage in recent decades. Overall, this volume does not seek to arrest, but to add to, the understanding of the diverse modes of mobility present in the contemporary world.
Measuring society's temporal synchronization via days of importance
Authors: Vihalemm Triin , Harro-Loit Halliki
Published: January 2018

This article approaches public holidays, anniversaries and other days of importance as temporal synchronization mechanisms of society through generating pauses and interrupting the routines and schedules of the daily lives of large groups of people. The authors explain the possibilities of the empirical measurement of the synchronization of pauses in society via sociological surveys, by asking about the personal celebration of particular days of importance and about celebration activities. The authors introduce two possible measurement methods of the pause synchronizing effect of days of importance. The first method is based on the people who celebrate a particular day of importance and the differences in the celebration across socio-demographic groups in society. The second method is based on the activities of celebration: how many people perform a particular activity and how socio-demographically differentiated the performance of that particular activity is. The authors also explain the framework for selecting days of importance based on different layers of the Gregorian calendar and the framework for categorizing celebration activities based on the estimation of the scope of the pause and interruption of daily routine they create. The methods are demonstrated based on the case of Estonian society and its calendar of days of importance, and the results of empirical analysis and discussion are considered in light of the desynchronization thesis of late modern societies and the disintegration of societies into temporal ghettos.
Cardiac mesothelial papillary hyperplasia in four dogs
Authors: Kirejczyk Shannon G. , Burnum Anne L. , Brown Corrie C. , Sakamoto Kaori , Rissi Daniel R.
Published: January 2018

Mesothelial papillary hyperplasia (MPH) has been described as an incidental finding on the epicardial surface of clinically normal laboratory Beagle dogs. We describe MPH in 4 dogs diagnosed with acute cardiac tamponade (1 case) or chronic cardiac disease (3 cases). Cardiac MPH appeared as distinct, soft, irregular villous plaques on the epicardial surface of the auricles and occasionally the ventricles. Histologically, areas of MPH were composed of multiple papillary fronds arising from the epicardial surface and projecting into the pericardial space. Fronds were covered by cuboidal and occasionally vacuolated mesothelial cells and were supported by loose fibrovascular stroma with various degrees of edema and inflammation. Although these may represent incidental findings with no clinical significance, the gross appearance warrants differentiation from other conditions. Additional insight into the pathogenesis of MPH is needed to fully understand its significance in the face of concurrent cardiac disease.
School Nurse Perceptions of Student Anxiety
Authors: Muggeo Michela A. , Ginsburg Golda S.
Published: January 2018

Anxiety disorders are common in youth. Because somatic complaints are a hallmark feature of anxiety, these students frequently visit their school nurse, creating an ideal opportunity for nurses to identify and assist them. In an effort to better understand current practices, we surveyed a large sample ( N = 93) of school nurses. Results indicated that the majority of nurses perceived anxiety as the most prevalent mental health issue in their students. Moreover, the majority of nurses reported that they did not use any formal screening tool or intervention protocol and stated wanting to expand their training in anxiety intervention. These data suggest that school nurses identify anxiety as a top problem but do not receive adequate training to address it. Data from this survey may be used to plan how best to fill gaps in nurse training and practices that can enhance nurses’ capacity to optimize outcomes for anxious students.
Clinical Trial Transparency: The FDA Should and Can Do More
Authors: Kapczynski Amy , Kim Jeanie
Published: January 2018

The Blueprint for Transparency at the FDA recommends that the FDA proactively release more clinical trial data. We show that the FDA possesses the legal authority to act on this recommendation, and describe several reasons that the agency should do so. In particular, the primary existing route for researchers to obtain access to this data, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), has important limits, as our own recent experience shows.
A Randomized Trial of Home Visitation for CPS-Involved Families: The Moderating Impact of Maternal Depression and CPS History
Authors: Jonson-Reid Melissa , Drake Brett , Constantino John N. , Tandon Mini , Pons Laura , Kohl Patricia , Roesch Scott , Wideman Ellie , Dunnigan Allison , Auslander Wendy
Published: January 2018

Home visitation (HV) interventions may hold promise to improve parenting and prevent child maltreatment recidivism in families reported to child protective services (CPS) with young children, but this has rarely been studied. Findings are presented from an 18-month randomized controlled trial in which intact families ( N = 122) with at least one CPS report were provided with a facilitated connection to a paraprofessional evidence-based HV program or usual care services from child protection. Results are reported for changes in maternal stress, depression, and social support outcomes and repeat reports to CPS. No significant changes were found in maternal outcomes by group. Among nondepressed mothers or families without multiple CPS reports prior to study enrollment, HV was associated with a significantly lower likelihood of CPS report recidivism. These results indicate potential for HV to prevent maltreatment recidivism but suggest that higher intensity intervention is warranted for mothers exhibiting significant depressive symptoms or families with extensive CPS histories.
Fostering Transformation by Hearing Voices: Evaluating a 6-Second, Low-Fidelity Simulation
Authors: Marshall Brenda , Bliss Julie , Evans Benjamin , Dukhan Oksana
Published: January 2018

BACKGROUND: The stigma of psychosis, with the accompanying symptoms of auditory and visual hallucinations, can affect a nurse’s ability to provide safe, effective care. Increasing knowledge of the patient’s perspective during auditory hallucinations can increase the nurse’s ability to be empathetic and engage in a therapeutic alliance. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of a six-second auditory hallucination simulation to increase empathy in preclinical undergraduate nursing students. DESIGN: This descriptive, content analysis, qualitative study evaluated narratives written by students in a pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing student population, assessing empathy, insight, knowledge, and therapeutic communication. Students experienced the 6-second auditory hallucination simulation as part of preclinical instruction, and then they wrote a self-reflection. RESULTS: More than 200 self-reflections were collected, with a randomized final sample of 82 narratives evaluated. CONCLUSION: Self-reflections indicated that the experience of the 6-second hearing voices simulation increased efficacy, insight, knowledge, and intention to use therapeutic communication.
Case Report of a Small Gastric Neuroendocrine Tumor in a Deep Layer of Submucosa With Diagnosis by Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration and Treatment With Laparoscopic and Endoscopic Cooperative Surgery
Authors: Igarashi Ryo , Irisawa Atsushi , Shibukawa Goro , Soeta Nobutoshi , Sato Ai , Yamabe Akane , Fujisawa Mariko , Arakawa Noriyuki , Yoshida Yoshitsugu , Ikeda Tsunehiko , Abe Yoko , Maki Takumi , Yamamoto Shogo , Oshibe Ikuro , Saito Takuro , Hojo Hiroshi
Published: January 2018

Gastric neuroendocrine tumors (GNETs) are rare lesions characterized by enterochromaffin-like cells of the stomach. Optimal management of GNETs has not yet been definitively determined. Endoscopic resection is approximately recommended for small GNETs associated with hypergastrinemia. However, endoscopic resection might present risk of perforation or positive vertical margin because neuroendocrine tumors occur in the deep mucosa, with some invading the submucosa. In this case, a patient with type A chronic atrophic gastritis had a small subepithelial lesion in a deep submucosal layer, and we diagnosed it as GNET using endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy using a forward-viewing and curved linear-array echoendoscope. Moreover, our results show that laparoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery with regional lymph node dissection is a safe and feasible procedure for GNETs, especially those that cross to the muscularis propria. We suggest this approach as one therapeutic option for GNETs because it safely minimizes resection and is less invasive.
Improvising to learn
Authors: Wall Michael Patrick
Published: January 2018

This study explored how and what a group of six fifth-grade instrumental music students learned during group improvisation activities over eight sessions together with the researcher as participant observer. Students’ learning was investigated through the lenses of musical fluency and collaborative emergence. Findings related to multiple understandings of students’ musical fluency and students’ rhythmically driven displays of collaborative emergence. Implications of this study include the ideas that (a) students’ musical fluency is individual and personal in nature and improvisation gives students a space to explore these personal decisions; (b) young improvisers can be overwhelmed by free improvisation and may create boundaries to aid their playing; (c) without teacher direction, young improvisers can make pedagogical and music making decisions relevant to their interests; and (d) young improvisers can successfully create a collaborative emergent during group improvisation.
Capitalizing intimacy
Authors: Raun Tobias
Published: January 2018

This article is a redevelopment of my previous studies, characterizing the media genre of – and community building through – transgender video blogging. Focusing on one of the most famous video bloggers at the moment, the Canadian Julie Van Vu, I investigate new forms of transgender vlogging that embrace money making/self-commodification in a degree not seen before. Here, activism/advocacy co-exists with and goes through an explicit self-commodification. Drawing on existing research, I explore the mechanisms and characteristics of Vu as a micro-celebrity within YouTube as a platform. I suggest the concept of ‘subcultural microcelebrity’ to nuance, diversify and specify micro-celebrity as a concept and a practice. The article departs from – but also redevelops – the concept and characteristics of micro-celebrity to specify the ‘affective labour’. Micro-celebrities are expected to perform various kinds of labour, many of which are time and energy consuming but not necessarily economically profitable. Micro-celebrities must signal accessibility, availability, presence, and connectedness – and maybe most importantly authenticity – all of which presuppose and rely on some form of intimacy. I propose that intimacy as genre and as capital is deeply ingrained in the strategies, dynamics and affective labour of micro-celebrities. Intimacy is an important and necessary signifier in relation to both the form and content of the videos and the relation between the creators and their audience. Furthermore, intimacy works as an important currency within social media; thus, intimacy can be capitalized in manifold and intersecting ways, for example, for monetary purposes, social recognition and as a tool in advocacy work. The article hereby contributes to existing research on YouTube by redeveloping the concept of micro-celebrity in relation to affective labour and intimacy, analysing how these play out in new forms of transgender vlogging.
The real terror of Instagram: Death and disindividuation in the social media scopic field
Authors: Crano Rd
Published: January 2018

In a 1980 interview, Roland Barthes attests that ‘what is terrible about a photograph is that there is no depth in it, that it is clear evidence of what was there’. In the social media age, photographic equivalents of sound bites pass between users and groups for mere seconds before they leave forever one’s field of vision. To what extent is it still possible to be wounded by a photograph in the ways Barthes famously described? This essay proposes to explicate some of the psychological and sociopsychological effects of networked images, specifically as they have come to play an increasingly essential role in peer-to-peer and small group communications. As smartphone technologies and data-processing speeds have improved, virtual communities have come to form around and communicate largely through photographs. This essay first considers the evolving nature of subjectivity and otherness in this new era of selfies and self-spun spectacle; it then revisits Lacan’s dialectic of eye and gaze to further assess the radical reconfiguration of self and society at stake in the social media imagescape. Platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram force us to rethink some of psychoanalysis’ long heralded heuristics for understanding vision and visuality; at the same time, however, these same heuristics can provide a critical groundwork for recognizing what, indeed, is so ‘terrible’ – and terrifying – about this new cult of the image.
Primary and secondary factors in language maintenance in a medium-sized community language: Catalan in Spain
Authors: Casesnoves Raquel , Mas Josep-Àngel , Tudela Anna
Published: January 2018

Aims and objectives:

The main aim of this study is to find out which social and ideological factors determine the maintenance of Catalan language in public contexts, and particularly the relative weight each factor contributes to the choice. The question is which of the socio-demographic and ideological factors determines to a greater extent the use of Catalan.

Methodology:

Participants completed a survey, which consisted of a sociolinguistic questionnaire and an attitudinal test based on the matched-guise technique. Sociolinguistic inferences concerning the relationship between different factors and language use were made using statistical methods.

Data:

Six hundred university students from the cities of Valencia, Palma and Barcelona answered the same survey. University students are a very interesting research group, since they are going to become part of the most influential social groups.

Findings:

Results from the analysis support the importance of social networks in understanding language maintenance, apart from making some differences between the territories clearer: this relative importance of social networks is very high in Valencia and Palma, but not in Barcelona.

Originality:

This study shows the first comparison between the influence of different kinds of factors in the use of the Catalan language, as well as the comparison between the behaviour of the three major Catalan-speaking cities. Furthermore, the focus on the factors related to university students’ language use is not a much-visited field.

Significance and implications:

The use of Catalan seems to be naturalized in Barcelona, whereas in Palma and Valencia the use of this language is more ideologized – and minor. The coincidence in the same territory, Catalonia, of the major language use in all situations and the more incisive and inclusive language policy should point out the direction that campaigns to promote Catalan in the other two regions should take.
Crowdfunding: Designing an effective reward structure
Authors: Wei Shi Savannah
Published: January 2018

Many crowdfunding platforms allow developers maximum flexibility in terms of the number and types of rewards offered in a project. However, designing an effective reward structure continues to be a major challenge. This article empirically examines consumers’ responsiveness to different factors related to reward structures on crowdfunding platforms. We collected data from 2,262 rewards programs across 219 projects and applied a mixed Tweedie model to investigate the impact of various reward structures on the number of backers and the revenue generated at each reward tier. The results revealed a significant effect of reward limit setting on backers’ interest, but this effect varies by reward tiers. Higher tiers attenuate price sensitivity. The reward type matters as well: material rewards are better received than symbolic ones on crowdfunding platforms, but only in lower reward tiers. These findings have direct implications for launching crowdfunding projects that will be more effective in creating buzz and reaching their fundraising goals.
Leptin/adiponectin ratio in overweight patients – gender differences
Authors: K Selthofer-Relatić , R Radić , A Stupin , V Šišljagić , I Bošnjak , N Bulj , R Selthofer , D Delić Brkljačić
Published: January 2018

Objective:

Obesity-related atherosclerosis is a systemic disease with a background connected to multiple metabolic-neurohumoral pathways. The leptin/adiponectin ratio has been suggested as an atherosclerotic marker in obese patients. The aim of this study was to assess (1) the significance of the L/A ratio in overweight subjects, (2) the relation with anthropometric/metabolic parameters and (3) gender difference.

Method:

The study included 80 adult males and females, overweight, non-diabetic patients. Biochemical blood analysis and anthropometric and cardiovascular measurements were performed. Serum leptin levels were measured with a radioimmunoassay test and total adiponectin levels with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Leptin/adiponectin ratios were calculated as ratios between total serum concentrations of leptin and adiponectin.

Results:

Differences between leptin, adiponectin serum levels and leptin/adiponectin ratios are presented in overweight persons, where females have a significantly higher leptin/adiponectin ratio than men ( p < 0.001). In men, the leptin/adiponectin ratio showed a positive correlation with total cholesterol levels ( p = 0.011), low-density lipoprotein ( p = 0.013) and triglycerides ( p = 0.032). In females, the leptin/adiponectin ratio correlated with anthropometric parameters of visceral obesity: waist circumference ( p = 0.001) and waist-to-hip ratio ( p = 0.025).

Conclusion:

The leptin/adiponectin ratio could represent an atherosclerotic risk marker of the early stage of obesity. Gender plays a significant role in pathophysiological changes, with different clinical manifestations, where sex hormones have a crucial effect on neurohumoral adipose tissue activity.
The Role of Researcher in Participatory Inquiry: Modeling Intra-Active Reflexivity in Conversational Reflections
Authors: Call-Cummings Meagan , Dennis Barbara , Martinez Sylvia
Published: January 2018

This article presents intimate conversations among three colleagues around ethical considerations of ethnographic inter-racial qualitative inquiry. It draws on an ethnographic research project conducted at a high school in rural Idaho, USA. Focusing on the question, “Why are our teachers racist?” the collective worked together to challenge subtle inequity at this particular school. The authors come together in a dialogue to reflect on the role of the researcher within this specific project, but end up illustrating reflexivity, an often hidden aspect of the research process, opening an entangled, unresolved, and yet meaningful set of interpellations around practical methodological concepts.
The Status of Decoding Tests in Instructional Decision-Making
Authors: Kern Amanda M. , Hosp Michelle K.
Published: January 2018

The purpose of this study was to analyze published decoding tests, at the item level, to determine what decoding skills and discrete letter-patterns are assessed, and identify potential instructional implications of these measures. Twenty published word list decoding tests, either used in research or within a Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) framework, were included for analysis. Test items were coded at the syllable level to identify discrete letter-patterns that represent common decoding skills. Frequency of these skills, along with administration features, were analyzed to identify commonalities and differences between published decoding tests. Results show the published decoding tests analyzed vary in the number of decoding skills they measure. All tests showed potential for providing some diagnostic information to inform instructional practices. Implications for practice, directions for future research, and limitations are discussed.
The Goniometer Device: Special Equipment Designed for Symmetric Mammoplasty Planning and Photo-Symmetry Analysis Technique
Authors: Görgülü Tahsin
Published: January 2018

Introduction. Preoperative planning is an essential prerequisite for the success of plastic surgery. In procedures such as breast reduction, freehand drawings may be associated with a number of challenges during the determination of axes vertical and parallel to the surgical site. Furthermore, many procedures involve subjective maneuvers, such as attempts aimed at positioning both nipples on the same line and transferring nipple-areola complexes in a well-matched manner. Our newly designed instrument, that is, the goniometer (TG), aims to ensure metric measurements appropriate for the axes, and it may also be used in circumstances that require angle measurements. Moreover, it incorporates a canal system to facilitate surgical designing of the area, to which the nipple-areola complex will be transferred. Method. From April 2013 to September 2015, TG device was used in superior pedicle breast reduction operation of 96 patients and 50 of them were randomly selected for the purpose of study analyses. An additional randomly selected 50 patients, in whom surgical planning was based on conventional techniques were served as controls. At postoperative 1 year, symmetry analysis was carried out on patient photographs. Results. No partial or total necrosis occurred at the nipple-areola complex, and symmetrical volume and shape could be achieved in all cases. TG device exhibited superiority in all criteria used for postoperative symmetry analyses (P < .05). Conclusion. We believe that this device may effectively accelerate the planning process in various types of plastic and aesthetic operations and may help ensure symmetry, especially in reduction mammoplasty and mastopexy.
Overweight and Obesity Among Chinese College Students: An Exploration of Gender as Related to External Environmental Influences
Authors: Jiang Shuhan , Peng Sihui , Yang Tingzhong , Cottrell Randall R. , Li Lu
Published: January 2018

While many studies have examined factors associated with overweight and obesity among college students, no study has yet compared gender differences influencing overweight and obesity using a multilevel framework. The present study examines different influences on overweight and obesity between men and women at both individual and environmental levels. Participants were 11,673 college students identified through a multistage survey sampling process conducted in 50 Chinese universities. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 9.5% (95% CI [7.7, 11.3]) in the overall study sample, 13.9% (95% CI [11.5, 16.7]) in males and 6.1% (95% CI [4.1, 8.1]) in females, respectively. We found that higher family income, perceived life stress, home region GDP, and university city unemployment were associated with higher overweight and obesity levels in males, independent of other individual- and city-level covariates. However, unlike male students, only unemployment was associated with overweight and obesity among females. Our research indicates Chinese males are more susceptible to overweight and obesity, and are more easily influenced by external variants than Chinese females. This information should be considered in formulating gender-specific policies and designing and implementing effective interventions to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity among young adult male college students.
Operationalizing and Conceptualizing Quality in Mixed Methods Research: A Multiple Case Study of the Disciplines of Education, Nursing, Psychology, and Sociology
Authors: Fàbregues Sergi , Paré Marie-Hélène , Meneses Julio
Published: January 2018

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study is to describe and compare how researchers in the education, nursing, psychology, and sociology disciplines operationalize and conceptualize the quality of mixed methods research (MMR). An international sample of 44 MMR researchers representing these four disciplines were interviewed. The study findings point to (a) two perspectives from which the quality of MMR is understood, one contingent and flexible and the other universal and fixed; (b) a relationship between these two perspectives and the participants’ discipline; and (c) a similar occurrence, both in terms of nature and frequency, of the MMR quality criteria most mentioned by the participants across disciplines. Implications of the findings for the field of MMR are discussed.
The Fogarty Catheter
Authors: Ellis Harold
Published: January 2018

In the fifth article of his series, Professor Ellis recalls the introduction of an innovative catheter, and looks at the life of the surgeon behind its design, Thomas J Fogarty.
An Audit of Intermittent Pneumatic Compression (IPC) in the Prophylaxis of Asymptomatic Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
Authors: Illingworth Clare , Timmons Stephen
Published: January 2018

This paper reports a prospective audit, against an existing baseline standard, for intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) in the prophylaxis of asymptomatic deep vein thrombosis (DVT). This was done via a structured questionnaire, using the methodology of total population sampling, encapsulating all theatre staff within one NHS trust. With regards to the standard, performance is good, as IPC is DVT prophylaxis of choice in the perioperative area and is used frequently on most patients. The findings of the audit do, however, highlight the need for appropriate local DVT risk assessment guidelines, essential to ensure that prophylaxis is administered to the correct at risk groups, as prevention may be unjustified in low risk groups and possibly inappropriate for the same regimen to be used for all patients.
Sharing values to safeguard the future: British Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration as epideictic rhetoric
Authors: Richardson John E
Published: January 2018

This article explores the rhetoric, and mass mediation, of the national Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) commemoration ceremony, as broadcast on British television. I argue that the televised national ceremonies should be approached as an example of multi-genre epideictic rhetoric, working up meanings through a hybrid combination of genres (speeches, poems, readings), author/animators and modes (speech, music, light, movement and silence). Epideictic rhetoric has often been depreciated as simply ceremonial ‘praise or blame’ speeches. However, given that the topics of praise/blame assume the existence of social norms, epideictic also acts to presuppose and evoke common values, in general, and a collective recognition of shared social responsibilities, in particular. My methodology draws on the Discourse-Historical Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis, given, first, its central prominence in analysing argumentative strategies in discourse and, second, the ways it facilitates a reflexive ‘shuttling’ between text-discursive features, intertextual relations and wider contexts of society and history. Here, I examine how a catastrophic past is invoked in speech and evoked through image and music, in response to the demands that uncertainty of the future ‘places upon one’s conscience’.
Unpacking a political icon: ‘Bike lanes’ and orders of indexicality
Authors: Yoder Michael Miller , Johnstone Barbara
Published: January 2018

Indexicality, the ability of language to evoke the context in which it usually occurs, is a concept commonly drawn upon in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology. This article applies the framework of orders of indexicality to political discourse about a controversial topic in Pittsburgh, United States, the construction of bike lanes. A concordance analysis of the term bike lanes in news media, blogs and online news comments helps to explain the variation in the indexical meanings of bike lanes between those who oppose and those who support bike lanes. We argue that the orders of indexicality approach helps explain how groups with different interests can reinforce or challenge the possible discursive associations of a loaded political term.
Topographical Variation of Human Femoral Articular Cartilage Thickness, T1rho and T2 Relaxation Times Is Related to Local Loading during Walking
Authors: Van Rossom Sam , Wesseling Mariska , Van Assche Dieter , Jonkers Ilse
Published: January 2018

Objective

Early detection of degenerative changes in the cartilage matrix composition is essential for evaluating early interventions that slow down osteoarthritis (OA) initiation. T1rho and T2 relaxation times were found to be effective for detecting early changes in proteoglycan and collagen content. To use these magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods, it is important to document the topographical variation in cartilage thickness, T1rho and T2 relaxation times in a healthy population. As OA is partially mechanically driven, the relation between these MRI-based parameters and localized mechanical loading during walking was investigated.

Design

MR images were acquired in 14 healthy adults and cartilage thickness and T1rho and T2 relaxation times were determined. Experimental gait data was collected and processed using musculoskeletal modeling to identify weight-bearing zones and estimate the contact force impulse during gait. Variation of the cartilage properties (i.e., thickness, T1rho, and T2) over the femoral cartilage was analyzed and compared between the weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing zone of the medial and lateral condyle as well as the trochlea.

Results

Medial condyle cartilage thickness was correlated to the contact force impulse ( r = 0.78). Lower T1rho, indicating increased proteoglycan content, was found in the medial weight-bearing zone. T2 was higher in all weight-bearing zones compared with the non-weight-bearing zones, indicating lower relative collagen content.

Conclusions

The current results suggest that medial condyle cartilage is adapted as a long-term protective response to localized loading during a frequently performed task and that the weight-bearing zone of the medial condyle has superior weight bearing capacities compared with the non-weight-bearing zones.
Broken data: Conceptualising data in an emerging world
Authors: Pink Sarah , Ruckenstein Minna , Willim Robert , Duque Melisa
Published: January 2018

In this article, we introduce and demonstrate the concept-metaphor of broken data. In doing so, we advance critical discussions of digital data by accounting for how data might be in processes of decay, making, repair, re-making and growth, which are inextricable from the ongoing forms of creativity that stem from everyday contingencies and improvisatory human activity. We build and demonstrate our argument through three examples drawn from mundane everyday activity: the incompleteness, inaccuracy and dispersed nature of personal self-tracking data; the data cleaning and repair processes of Big Data analysis and how data can turn into noise and vice versa when they are transduced into sound within practices of music production and sound art. This, we argue is a necessary step for considering the meaning and implications of data as it is increasingly mobilised in ways that impact society and our everyday worlds.
Changing the World Starts with Interpreting It
Authors: Hoffer Frank
Published: January 2018

This article is the Second Godbole Memorial Lecture delivered at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and focuses on the challenges before progressive movements in the wake of growing inequalities and rise of neoliberal market fundamentalism.* It addresses the dilemmas faced by social democracy and contends that the imagination of revolutionary change must be combined with radical incrementalism to bring about positive changes in the lives of the working people. The essay identifies four areas in which interventions are needed by a united left-leaning labour movement to combat the rise of right-wing forces, namely, reigning in globalization, democratizing societies and economies, democratizing our organizations and thinking justice globally.
Public Preferences for Targeted and Universal Preschool
Authors: Greenberg Erica H.
Published: January 2018

For the past half century, debate over income-targeted and universal approaches to American preschool policy has divided advocates, policymakers, and practitioners. This is the first paper to inform the debate with evidence from public opinion. It begins with the design and fielding of a nationally representative poll of preferences for targeted and universal preschool (N = 1,000). This poll yields rich data with which to assess the causes and correlates of support for each approach. Results indicate that preschool preferences are conditioned by financial self-interest and egalitarian values and that a savvy policymaker should not necessarily endorse universal over targeted preschool. In fact, Americans facing the possibility of tax increases to fund public preschool and those who prioritize equality of opportunity prefer a targeted approach.
Listening Is Essential: An Experiential Exercise on Listening Behaviors
Authors: Schmidt Gordon B.
Published: January 2018

Listening has been identified as an important part of the communication process. Despite this recognition, it is still undertaught in the undergraduate management classroom. This article presents an exercise for introductory organizational behavior classrooms that helps illustrate the importance of listening behaviors (both verbal and nonverbal) to undergraduate students. Students communicate in pairs where restrictions are placed on both the speaker and the listener. Through this experience, and class discussion around the exercise, students are helped to see the value of listening behaviors. The exercise fits well as a way of introducing the topics of listening and listening behaviors. Potential variations of the exercise are discussed, based on instructor preference and course needs.
Data Science in the Research Domain Criteria Era: Relevance of Machine Learning to the Study of Stress Pathology, Recovery, and Resilience
Authors: Galatzer-Levy Isaac R. , Ruggles Kelly V. , Chen Zhe
Published: January 2018

Diverse environmental and biological systems interact to influence individual differences in response to environmental stress. Understanding the nature of these complex relationships can enhance the development of methods to (1) identify risk, (2) classify individuals as healthy or ill, (3) understand mechanisms of change, and (4) develop effective treatments. The Research Domain Criteria initiative provides a theoretical framework to understand health and illness as the product of multiple interrelated systems but does not provide a framework to characterize or statistically evaluate such complex relationships. Characterizing and statistically evaluating models that integrate multiple levels (e.g. synapses, genes, and environmental factors) as they relate to outcomes that are free from prior diagnostic benchmarks represent a challenge requiring new computational tools that are capable to capture complex relationships and identify clinically relevant populations. In the current review, we will summarize machine learning methods that can achieve these goals.