bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Creative work and affect: Social, political and fantasmatic dynamics in the labour of musicians
Authors: Hoedemaekers Casper
Published: December 2017

How can we understand contradictory identifications within work to which one is passionately attached? This article explores how seemingly competing accounts of the self at work can not only appear side by side within the self-presentation of creative workers, but also how dominant patterns within the daily socio-economic realities of creative work are reproduced through faux-contestations of them. Following Glynos and Howarth, I will argue that such transgressive notions often recall earlier historical arrangements that have been displaced by current dominant social grammars, or were vital components of the institution of current social hegemony. In a study of musicians, I analyse how alongside dominant logics of employability and virtuosity, traditional notions of artists’ craft and autonomy drive counter-identifications that allow dominant social logics to fill the gaps in the indeterminacy and ambiguity of everyday lived experience. By applying an understanding of discursive logics to creative work, this article seeks to contribute to literatures spanning work in the cultural industries, identification, affect and transgression at work, and commons and immaterial labour.
Living environment and its relationship to depressive mood: A systematic review
Authors: Rautio Nina , Filatova Svetlana , Lehtiniemi Heli , Miettunen Jouko
Published: December 2017

Background and aims:

The notion that environment affects mental health has a long history; in this systematic review, we aimed to study whether the living environment is related to depressive mood.

Methods:

We searched databases of PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science for population-based original studies prior to October 2016. We included studies that measured depressive symptoms or depression and had measures of urbanization, population density, aesthetics of living environment, house/built environment, green areas, walkability, noise, air pollution or services.

Results:

Out of 1,578 articles found, 44 studies met our inclusion criteria. Manual searches of the references yielded 13 articles, resulting in 57 articles being included in the systematic review. Most of the studies showed statistically significant associations with at least one of the characteristics of living environment and depressive mood. House and built environment with, for example, poor housing quality and non-functioning, lack of green areas, noise and air pollution were more clearly related to depressive mood even after adjustment for different individual characteristics. On the contrary, the results in relation to population density, aesthetics and walkability of living environment, and availability of services and depressive mood were more inconsistent.

Conclusion:

Adverse house/built environment, including poor housing quality and non-functioning, lack of green spaces, noise and air pollution are related to depressive mood and should be taken into account during planning in order to prevent depressive mood.
Older female Iraqi refugees in the United States: Voices of struggle and strength
Authors: Nashwan Ayat , Cummings Sherry M , Gagnon Kara
Published: December 2017

A particularly vulnerable subgroup of refugees are older adults. This qualitative study examined experiences of 22 older Iraqi refugee women. Employing the Conservation of Resources framework, stressors experienced and resiliency demonstrated are explored. Narratives emphasized challenges faced prior to and post entry; participants’ expectations and actual experiences of life in the United States; and coping strategies employed. Common themes included expectations shaped by media; loss of homeland, culture, and loved ones; and importance of personal and environmental resources for adaptation. Despite commonalities, variations emerged. Findings highlight the importance of individualized assessment of older refugees and tailored responses to promote acculturation and healthy functioning.
Hearing the Connections in Children's Oral and Written Discourse
Authors: Michaels Sarah
Published: December 2017

This paper is a case study of two occasions of teacher response, shaping, and evaluation of students' texts. In one case, the text is oral — a “sharing time” contribution by a first grader. In the second case the text is written — a sixth grader's composition about a favorite circus act. The two examples are taken from different classrooms at different grade levels. Nonetheless, they evidence striking parallels in regard to teacher-assigned task, text structure, and teacher–student interaction.

Both students attempt to introduce personal knowledge or experience into a simple descriptive account. In doing so, they use complex associative strategies which entail shifts in topic, time, and focal characters. In both cases, the teachers have difficulty interpreting the students' texts, which lack lexical or graphic markers of the associative shifts, and which are not organized in the way the teachers were expecting. In the end both teachers fail to expand on and clarify the students' complex communicative goals. Moreover, in their push for simpler texts which “stick to one topic” the teachers fail to appreciate the logic and complexity of the students' initial attempts.

Following a detailed description of the tasks, texts, and outcomes of these classroom encounters, explanations are proposed which may account for the similarities found in the two examples. The proposed explanations focus both on schools as institutions (with institutionalized practices and values for teaching literacy skills) and on the complex interpretive processes at work in urban, multiethnic classrooms, processes which add significantly to the sociolinguistic demands on teachers.
Petra: Learning to Read at 45
Authors: Rigg Pat
Published: December 2017

This case study of a middle-aged Mexican migrant women trying to learn to read and write is not a success story; instead, it is a personal account of the tutor's discovery of some of the social and psychological factors that kept Petra illiterate.
Lingua patientis: new words for patient communication and history taking
Authors: Weaver Donald F
Published: December 2017

The English language sometimes fails in its ability to describe the severity or complexity of medical symptoms and complaints. In frustration, patients (or families) occasionally create new words to convey the subtleties of their medical history. Although medicine has created a comprehensive technical lexicon for physicians, we have failed to develop a corresponding patient-centric vocabulary (lingua patientis) that provides more accurate symptom description. The social networking of lingua patientis words might enhance history taking and afford improved appreciation of disease impact on individual patients. The English language is renowned for its capacity for flexibility and adaptability – we need to exploit this capacity for the benefit of our patients.
Engagement of portfolio manager in assessing relative priority of project activities: Authority or perspective matter?
Authors: Laslo-Roth Roni , Hadad Yossi , Keren Baruch , Laslo Zohar
Published: December 2017

Authority struggles are mostly coincident with relational conflicts that impede rational solutions and have destructive impacts on performance. This study revealed that disagreements with the portfolio manager about relative priority of project activities seem, to the project managers, to be groundless and are therefore suspected as authority matters. The results from implementation of a developed multiple-criteria decision-making simulation on a realistic field scenario showed that such conflicts may result from the wider perspective of the portfolio manager. Project managers’ awareness of this insight may reduce the intensity of such conflicts and by that, decrease their negative effect on the performance.
Leader Survival Strategies and the Onset of Civil Conflict: A Coup-Proofing Paradox
Authors: Powell Jonathan
Published: December 2017

It is paradoxical that authoritarian leaders often hold power for long periods of time, despite their states being plagued with rebellion. Scholarship has argued the practice of coup-proofing is potentially responsible for this trend. However, though regular armed forces are often allowed to whither when coup-proofing, states often retain substantial capabilities in the form of well-armed and well-trained coup-proofing units. This article argues that coup-proofing is more likely to contribute to rebellion when leaders are hesitant to deploy their coup-proofing units: when coup risk is high. Using a global sample of authoritarian regimes for the years 1971–2011, tests indicate that heavily coup-proofed regimes do in fact see a considerable increase in civil war likelihood when the risk of a coup is high but see no change in conflict propensity when coup risk is low.
Military Service and Physical Capital: Framing Musculoskeletal Disorders Among American Military Veterans Using Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Cultural Capital
Authors: Hinojosa Ramon , Hinojosa Melanie Sberna , Nguyen Jenny
Published: December 2017

There are 22 million veterans in the U.S. Armed Forces. Past research on the musculoskeletal health of military veterans has explored the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) but largely avoids situating findings within a theoretical framework. This article uses Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital to contextualize veteran’s greater rates of MSDs compared to nonmilitary civilians. Cultural capital consists of objectified, institutional, and embodied capital that can be transubstantiated to capital in other areas. Embodied or physical capital is central to military service, and military veteran status is beneficial in accessing social and institutional capital. Using the 2012–2014 National Health Interview Survey, we show veterans are more likely to report activity-limiting MSDs, and at younger ages, compared to nonveterans. Physical capital is central to, and impaired by, status as a veteran.
“The Servant Campaigns”: African American Women and the Politics of Economic Justice in Washington, D.C., in the 1930s
Authors: Murphy Mary-Elizabeth
Published: December 2017

When Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, was elected president in 1932, most African Americans did not support him since they were still loyal to the Republican Party. Moreover, New Deal policies, especially the Social Security Act in 1935, excluded farmers and domestics, and thus, most African Americans. One of the people who encouraged black voters to switch to the Democratic Party was Elizabeth McDuffie, a black servant in the Roosevelt White House. In the 1936 election, McDuffie went on the campaign trail and toured Chicago, Cleveland, Springfield, and St. Louis. As a domestic servant, McDuffie was a familiar face to southern migrants, and she convinced many black voters to switch to the Democratic Party. After her campaign tour concluded, McDuffie became acquainted with the large black population in Washington, D.C. McDuffie worked alongside middle-class activists to increase economic opportunities for women workers by sponsoring training programs for servants. But, as this article demonstrates, most black servants did not want training programs; they desired higher wages, better jobs, and inclusion in the Social Security Act. Working-class women in Washington wrote letters to the newspaper and in 1938, 10,000 rioted for jobs as federal charwomen, jobs that paid higher wages and offered savings for retirement. After McDuffie witnessed these events, she became a vocal critic of the limitations of New Deal programs while continuing to praise Roosevelt and the Democratic Party. This article argues that Elizabeth McDuffie’s career in Washington illuminates the contradictions of New Deal politics for black women workers.
Active disturbance rejection controller design for stable walking of a compass-like biped
Authors: Song Sumian , Tang Chong , Wang Zidong , Yan Gangfeng
Published: December 2017

This paper aims to develop an active disturbance rejection controller design scheme for compass-like biped robots. In the previous study, with a special designed mechanical structure on compass-like biped, we have generated a high-efficient walking gait. The original controller applied linearization approximation based on the method transverse coordinate control, with which the ability of disturbance rejection is insufficient. We introduce the active disturbance rejection controller method into the control scheme, which only requires the information of angular momentum and has the ability to compensate the model error and the external disturbance. With the new control strategy, the linearization approximation method is replaced by an active disturbance rejection controller and the robustness is improved. In order to further apply this control method, a switching control strategy has been proposed and a series of numerical simulations show that active disturbance rejection controller has a good disturbance rejection effect.
The Changes of Urban Structure and Commuting: An Application to Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the United States
Authors: Yao Zhiyuan , Kim Changjoo
Published: December 2017

While urban structures have been delineated at the regional level, few works have explored the impact of urban structures on commuting at this same level. This article studies how urban structures affect commuting from 2000 to 2010. It applies a spatial statistical tool, standard deviation ellipses, to capture spatial patterns of jobs and residential workers for metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Two urban structure indexes are constructed to illustrate different decentralization levels of employment with reference to the distribution of residential workers; one illustrates the spatial decentralization of high job density nodes, while the other shows the spatial decentralization of moderate job density nodes. Commuting times of two modes by private cars and public transit are analyzed along with the number of commuters. The results highlight three findings: (1) MSAs become more compact in terms of employment distribution, (2) more decentralized high-density nodes lead to less total commuting times, and on the other hand, more decentralized moderate job density nodes contribute to longer commuting times, and (3) the decentralization of high job density nodes is associated with less commuting time of private cars, while they have insignificant effect on commuting time of public transit.
STEM Excellence and Leadership Program: Increasing the Level of STEM Challenge and Engagement for High-Achieving Students in Economically Disadvantaged Rural Communities
Authors: Ihrig Lori M. , Lane Erin , Mahatmya Duhita , Assouline Susan G.
Published: December 2017

High-achieving students in economically disadvantaged, rural schools lack access to advanced coursework necessary to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational and employment goals at the highest levels, contributing to the excellence gap. Out-of-school STEM programming offers one pathway to students’ talent development. Using a concurrent triangulation mixed-methods research design, this study was conducted to evaluate the experiences of 78 high-achieving students and their 32 teachers, participating in an extracurricular, school-based, STEM talent development program for rural students from economically disadvantaged communities. Findings suggest that students and teachers expressed satisfaction with program participation and that they thought more creatively and critically about their work. Results also showed that students’ perceptions of the mathematics and science activities were significantly different, which informs ways to improve programming for future high-achieving, rural students. These findings expand the literature supporting the use of informal STEM education environments for underserved gifted populations to increase engagement in and access to challenging curricula.
Left ventricular free wall rupture after surgery for ventricular septal rupture
Authors: Uchimuro Tomoya , Osako Motohiko , Gotou Tetsuya , Yamada Toshiyuki , Yoon Ryogen
Published: December 2017

A 67-year-old man presented with late left ventricular free wall rupture 1 month after an extended sandwich technique through a right ventricular incision for ventricular septal rupture following an inferoposterior acute myocardial infarction. We found that residual infarcted myocardium had led to left ventricular aneurysm formation. A pericardial patch on the left ventricular side at the initial operation should have been secured further from the septal defect using a larger needle. A patch on the left ventricular side is important for complete exclusion of a free wall infarction and for decreasing the stress on the suture line securing the patch.
Combined exercise training reduces climacteric symptoms without the additive effects of isoflavone supplementation: A clinical, controlled, randomised, double-blind study
Authors: Costa Juliene G , Giolo Jéssica S , Mariano Igor M , Batista Jaqueline P , Ribeiro Ana Luiza A , Souza Tállita Cristina F , de Oliveira Erick P , Resende Ana Paula M , Puga Guilherme M
Published: December 2017

Background:

Exercise and supplementation with isoflavones are therapies used to prevent and treat climacteric symptoms.

Aim:

To verify the effects of 10 weeks of combined aerobic and resistance training and isoflavone supplementation on climacteric symptoms in postmenopausal women.

Methods:

A randomised, double-blind, controlled clinical trial was performed. A total of 32 postmenopausal women, aged 54.4 ± 5.4 years, with a body mass index of 26.6 ± 3.0 kg/m2 and 5.6 ± 4.6 years after menopause, were randomly assigned to groups: placebo and exercise (PLA + EXE, n = 15) or 100 mg of isoflavone and exercise (ISO + EXE, n = 17). At the beginning and after 10 weeks of aerobic + resistance (20 min each, moderate intensity) training, climacteric symptoms were evaluated using the Blatt–Kupperman Menopausal Index, Cervantes Scale and Menopause Rating Scale. ANCOVA was used for analysis between groups and at different times, with the covariate adjusted by the pre-value. The level of significance considered was p < 0.05.

Results:

A reduction in climacteric symptoms was observed in both groups, without differences between the interventions. The reductions were 45% and 50% for the Blatt–Kupperman Menopausal Index, 41% and 52% for the MRS and 39% and 39% for the Cervantes Scale in the ISO + EXE and PLA + EXE groups, respectively. In the descriptive analysis of the Blatt–Kupperman Menopausal Index values, there was an increase in the absence of symptoms from 48−77% in the ISO + EXE group and 24−58% in the PLA + EXE group.

Conclusions:

A period of 10 weeks of combined training was effective in improving climacteric symptoms in post-menopausal women. However, isoflavone supplementation did not promote additional effects in improving symptoms.
Weight gain changes in patients with aripiprazole monotherapy compared with aripiprazole–antidepressant polypharmacy in an outpatient sample
Authors: Nguyen Charles , Novac Andrei , Hazen Jessica , Howard Pamela , Tieu Ryan , Bota Robert G
Published: December 2017

Objective:

This study seeks to evaluate the weight gain effect within a community-based population of patients with diagnoses of depression, mood disorder, and schizophrenia receiving aripiprazole over a period of at least 6 months.

Method:

The four million members of Kaiser Permanente of Southern California (KPSC) were queried for a four-year period between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2013. The initial cohort comprised 25,682 KPSC members who received at least one dispense of aripiprazole. This initial cohort was split into those who received aripiprazole as a monotherapy (“Alone” group) and those who were given aripiprazole as part of a combination therapy. The group of patients that received aripiprazole and antidepressant with high serotonin reuptake inhibition we called “High” group while the group receiving aripiprazole and bupropion combination we called “Low” serotonin group. We compared the primary endpoint of mean percent weight change from baseline after 180 days of continuous treatment between the three groups. Three pairwise comparisons were made: High versus Alone, Low versus Alone, and Low versus High, using adjusted and unadjusted linear regression models.

Results:

Within this population, patients on aripiprazole monotherapy showed statistically significant weight gain in all three groups. However, there was no statistically significant difference in weight gain between the aripiprazole monotherapy, the high serotonergic combination group, and the low serotonergic combination group. This finding applied even within the subset of patients who were considered obese (body mass index > 30).

Conclusions:

The results suggest that weight gain is unchanged by combination treatments, but further research is required.
Apolipoprotein E4 mediates insulin resistance-associated cerebrovascular dysfunction and the post-prandial response
Authors: Johnson Lance A , Torres Eileen Ruth , Weber Boutros Sydney , Patel Esha , Akinyeke Tunde , Alkayed Nabil J , Raber Jacob
Published: December 2017

Metabolic dysfunction, commonly a result of diets high in saturated fats and sugar, is associated with impaired cognitive function and an increased risk of age-related cognitive decline (ACD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Compared to the E3 isoform of apolipoprotein (apoE), the E4 isoform is a major genetic risk factor for ACD, AD, and for developing cognitive impairments following various environmental challenges, including dietary challenges such as a high-fat diet (HFD). Both insulin resistance (IR) and E4 are associated with metabolic and vascular impairments. Deficits in cerebral metabolism and cerebrovascular function have been proposed as initiating events leading to these impairments. In the current study, we employed a model of human apoE targeted replacement mice and HFD-induced obesity to study the potential link between E4 and IR, at rest and following a postprandial challenge. HFD-induced IR was associated with impaired cognition, reduced cerebral blood volume and decreased glucose uptake. These effects were more profound in E4 than E3 mice. Furthermore, the cognitive, metabolic and cerebrovascular responses to an exogenous glucose load showed an apoE isoform-dependent response, with E4, but not E3 mice, acutely benefiting from a spike in blood glucose.
Aperture Synthesis Shows Perceptual Integration of Geometrical Form Across Saccades
Authors: Schreiber Kai , Morgan Michael
Published: December 2017

We investigated the perceptual bias in perceived relative lengths in the Brentano version of the Müller-Lyer arrowheads figure. The magnitude of the bias was measured both under normal whole-figure viewing condition and under an aperture viewing condition, where participants moved their gaze around the figure but could see only one arrowhead at a time through a Gaussian-weighted contrast window. The extent of the perceptual bias was similar under the two conditions. The stimuli were presented on a CRT in a light-proof room with room-lights off, but visual context was provided by a rectangular frame surrounding the figure. The frame was either stationary with respect to the figure or moved in such a manner that the bias would be counteracted if the observer were locating features with respect to the frame. Biases were reduced in the latter condition. We conclude that integration occurs over saccades, but largely in an external visual framework, rather than in a body-centered frame using an extraretinal signal.
Ethnocide, science, ethnosuicide, and the historians of the vanishing: The extirpation of idolatries in the colonial Andes and a few contemporary variants
Authors: Cuelenaere Laurence , Rabasa José
Published: December 2017

This article addresses the participation of Indians in cultural genocide or ethnocide. We call the participation in the destruction of one's culture ethnosuicide. This article pays particular attention to the contradictions “salvage anthropology” incurs in its aim to write histories of the vanishing while training research collaborators to objectify their own culture, thereby capturing them (not necessarily successfully) in forms of thought that lead to ethnosuicide. Whereas the intent of the evangelical practices such as the confession clearly calls forth the annihilation of one's culture, the practice of science might have unintended destructive effects. We imagine a hypothetical graduate seminar in which an indigenous student would face the requirement to make sense of his or her world according to categories and forms of interpretation and explanation favored by anthropology. The readings range from Malinowski's initial definition of anthropological salvaging to Vivieros de Castro recent call for an ontological turn. We close with a reading of the Huarochiri manuscript (Peru 1609) that exemplifies the use of native collaborators to produce knowledge for extirpation campaigns in the colonial Andes.
The catalytic role of emotions in sensemaking: Evidence from the blogosphere
Authors: Kataria Niyati , Kreiner Glen , Hollensbe Elaine , Sheep Mathew L , Stambaugh Jeff
Published: December 2017

We examine the role of emotions in the sensemaking and related processes engaged during a period of change in a worldwide network of organizations—the Anglican Communion (global religion of nearly 75 million members of the Anglican faith). We studied and qualitatively analyzed text from blogs of members in multiple countries as they commented on issues and actions by the Anglican Communion following a controversial decision. Our findings revealed how manifesting discrete emotions can affect the sense processes by catalyzing them or providing motivation for them. Emotions were also found to be a product of such sense processes.
Serratiopeptidase reduces the invasion of osteoblasts by Staphylococcus aureus
Authors: Selan Laura , Papa Rosanna , Ermocida Angela , Cellini Andrea , Ettorre Evaristo , Vrenna Gianluca , Campoccia Davide , Montanaro Lucio , Arciola Carla Renata , Artini Marco
Published: December 2017

Finding new strategies to counteract periprosthetic infection and implant failure is a main target in orthopedics. Staphylococcus aureus, the leading etiologic agent of orthopedic implant infections, is able to enter and kill osteoblasts, to stimulate pro-inflammatory chemokine secretion, to recruit osteoclasts, and to cause inflammatory osteolysis. Moreover, by entering eukaryotic cells, staphylococci hide from the host immune defenses and shelter from the extracellular antibiotics. Thus, infection persists, inflammation thrives, and a highly destructive osteomyelitis occurs around the implant. The ability of serratiopeptidase (SPEP), a metalloprotease by Serratia marcescens, to control S. aureus invasion of osteoblastic MG-63 cells and pro-inflammatory chemokine MCP-1 secretion was evaluated. Human osteoblast cells were infected with staphylococcal strains in the presence and in the absence of SPEP. Cell proliferation and cell viability were also evaluated. The release of pro-inflammatory chemokine MCP-1 was evaluated after the exposure of the osteoblast cells to staphylococcal strains. The significance of the differences in the results of each test and the relative control values was determined with Student’s t-test. SPEP impairs their invasiveness into osteoblasts, without affecting the viability and proliferation of bone cells, and tones down their production of MCP-1. We recognize SPEP as a potential tool against S. aureus bone infection and destruction.
Legitimating reason or self-created uncertainty? Public opinion as an observer of modern politics
Authors: Corsi Giancarlo
Published: December 2017

Theoretical approaches to public opinion are hard to find in the sociological literature, with the exception of the seminal work of Jürgen Habermas. One important alternative, although almost unknown in the English-speaking world, is offered in a few contributions by the systems theoretician Niklas Luhmann. Both critical theory and systems theory start from a historical analysis of the conditions that led to the rise of a public sphere and understand its function as the limitation and control of the arbitrariness of power. Critical theory considers the public sphere as a social space where citizens can (or should) participate and discuss freely and without constraints. Thus, it legitimizes political power. Systems theory presents a completely different concept of the public sphere and conceives of it in terms of second-order observation. Through public opinion the modern political system observes itself and stimulates as well as limits its decision-making processes. This paper argues that both approaches share the idea that the political system, like every other social subsystem, must generate a system-specific uncertainty (i.e. specific conditions that it cannot control) in order to limit its own arbitrariness and to be able to develop its decision-making potential. Both approaches locate this uncertainty in the sphere of public opinion. But they radically differ in the way they conceptualize public opinion’s effects on modern politics. Such differences between critical theory and systems theory are illustrated by an analysis of recent political events.
Notes on Luhmann, Adorno, and the critique of neoliberalism
Authors: Dias Minhoto Laurindo
Published: December 2017

This article discusses some possibilities for a critical interpretation of Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory. On the one hand, this theory could provide a sophisticated new sociological account of well-known modern social pathologies, such as alienation and reification; on the other, it could be considered a crypto-normative model for the reciprocal mediation between system and environment in which neither blind tautologies nor colonizations would take place. I argue that as a normative model this theoretical matrix seems to resonate with aspects of Adorno’s negative dialectics between subject and object and that the involuntary promise it contains could be fully realized only under other social conditions. The article also presents a preliminary critique of neoliberalism reconceptualized in systems theoretical terms as a dedifferentiation machinery that aims at establishing the primacy of economic rationality and the formation of ‘industries’ in different social spheres.
Brazil’s movement of the landless at the cutting edge of conflicted modernity
Authors: Ireland Rowan
Published: December 2017

Brazil’s Movement of the Landless (MST) emerges from this collection as one of the great social movements of modernity. In historical chapters we see its evolution from confrontations with landowners and police in land invasions in the South of Brazil in the 1970s to become a multi-faceted movement with a presence throughout Brazil. More than a pressure group for Land Reform, it turned to mount a comprehensive challenge, on linked legal, cultural, political and economic fronts to Brazil’s dominant model of development. Its ‘social movement approach’, conjoining challenge to Brazil’s massive inequalities with the formation of active citizens among the marginalised rural poor, has become a model for movements in the urban scene. We see this not just through the rich descriptive accounts of MST actions, but because the contributing editor, Miguel Carter, has pointed the action portraits with theoretical acumen, and, with other contributors, placed them in historical context.
Sustainable recovery of valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries using DL-malic acid: Leaching and kinetics aspect
Authors: Sun Conghao , Xu Liping , Chen Xiangping , Qiu Tianyun , Zhou Tao
Published: December 2017

An eco-friendly and benign process has been investigated for the dissolution of Li, Co, Ni, and Mn from the cathode materials of spent LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 batteries, using DL-malic acid as the leaching agent in this study. The leaching efficiencies of Li, Co, Ni, and Mn can reach about 98.9%, 94.3%, 95.1%, and 96.4%, respectively, under the leaching conditions of DL-malic acid concentration of 1.2 M, hydrogen peroxide content of 1.5 vol.%, solid-to-liquid ratio of 40 g l-1, leaching temperature of 80°C, and leaching time of 30 min. In addition, the leaching kinetic was investigated based on the shrinking model and the results reveal that the leaching reaction is controlled by chemical reactions within 10 min with activation energies (Ea) of 21.3 kJ·mol-1, 30.4 kJ·mol-1, 27.9 kJ·mol-1, and 26.2 kJ·mol-1 for Li, Co, Ni, and Mn, respectively. Diffusion process becomes the controlled step with a prolonged leaching time from 15 to 30 min, and the activation energies (Ea) are 20.2 kJ·mol-1, 28.9 kJ·mol-1, 26.3 kJ·mol-1, and 25.0 kJ·mol-1 for Li, Co, Ni, and Mn, respectively. This hydrometallurgical route was found to be effective and environmentally friendly for leaching metals from spent lithium batteries.
Heffernan v. City of Paterson (2016): A New Element in Constitutional Tort Law—It’s Not Necessarily What the Public Employer Did, but What It Intended to Do That Counts
Authors: Rosenbloom David H.
Published: December 2017

Heffernan v. City of Paterson, Mayor Jose Torres, Police Chief James Wittig, and Police Director Michael Walker modified and expanded constitutional tort law by (a) authorizing suits against public officials, employees, and municipalities for unconstitutionally retaliating against personnel on the mistaken belief that they engaged in constitutionally protected speech and (b) allowing such suits to proceed even when those personnel deny having exercised First Amendment rights. Heffernan also affords procedural protection to public employees disciplined for what was incorrectly considered protected speech. The implications for public personnel administration are (a) potentially greater difficulty for personnelists and managers to receive qualified immunity in summary judgments, (b) potential liability for a new type of constitutional tort with uncertain boundaries, and (c) and, unexpectedly, judicial intrusion into personnel administration by judges’ second-guessing the reasonableness of managerial actions based on erroneous assessments of the constitutionality of employees’ speech. Consequently, public personnelists and managers should closely follow Heffernan’s progeny to protect rights and avoid suits.
Down but Not Out: The National Education Association in Federal Politics
Authors: Marianno Bradley D.
Published: December 2017

This research provides new evidence on the political activity and policy-setting agenda of the largest national teachers’ union during a time of political change. Using a longitudinal dataset comprised of election outcomes and campaign contributions for all candidates for federal office and the National Education Association’s (NEA) official federal policy positions, I find that NEA Democrat allies have decreased precipitously over time with the election of a Republican majority in Congress. Nonetheless, the NEA still experiences considerable success in congressional roll call votes partly because of the election of a growing contingent of Republican allies in the House and Senate.
Fuckbuddy partnerships among men who have sex with men – a marker of sexually transmitted infection risk
Authors: Cornelisse Vincent J , Fairley Christopher K , Phillips Tiffany , Walker Sandra , Chow Eric PF
Published: December 2017

‘Fuckbuddies’ are a type of regular sexual partner with whom men have ongoing sexual contact, generally in the absence of romantic attachment. We surveyed 989 men who have sex with men (MSM) at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Australia, with the aim of determining the frequency of ‘fuckbuddy’ partnerships among sexual health clinic attendees and assessing their sexual risk. The majority (60%) of 1139 regular partnerships were described as ‘fuckbuddies’. Most MSM (63%) with a ‘fuckbuddy’ had multiple ‘fuckbuddies’. MSM with ‘fuckbuddies’ were more likely to also have casual sexual partners (odds ratio [OR] 5.7; 95% confidence interval 3.6–8.9) and had more casual sexual partners (median of 4 versus 1, p < 0.001) and more rectal chlamydia (12.4% versus 5.7%; adjusted OR 2.3; p < 0.05) than MSM without ‘fuckbuddies’, and this risk persisted after adjusting for total numbers of sexual partners. Our findings suggest that patients with ‘fuckbuddies’ are at particular risk of sexually transmitted infections. We argue that clinicians should specifically ask about ‘fuckbuddy’ partnerships as part of their risk assessment during patient interviews, as these patients may benefit from HIV prevention strategies such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Holocene history of landscape development in the catchment of Lake Skogstjern, southeastern Norway, based on a high-resolution multi-proxy record
Authors: Wieckowska-Lüth Magdalena , Kirleis Wiebke , Doerfler Walter
Published: December 2017

A high-resolution multi-proxy record from sediments of a small-sized lake situated in Telemark, southeastern Norway, was used to reconstruct the local landscape development of the past c. 10,500 years. Our data demonstrate that changes in vegetation composition and structure in the first two-thirds of the Holocene are principally attributable to climatic changes and high erosion rates, as deduced from geochemical and physical (loss-on-ignition) proxy analyses. The highest signals of erosional inputs to the lake (c. 8030–5760 cal. BP) can be correlated with the first part of the Holocene Thermal Maximum. Nevertheless, evidence from pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and microscopic charcoal analyses indicates the presence of nutrient-rich and disturbed environments already during the middle Mesolithic (c. 10,050–9400 cal. BP). It also shows traces of animal husbandry (c. 5580 cal. BP) and small-scale cereal cultivation (c. 5520 cal. BP) in the early Neolithic. In subsequent periods, human impact remains at a relatively low level and does not generate significant palaeo-environmental changes. Not until the second half of the Bronze Age (c. 2840 cal. BP) is some intensification in animal husbandry recorded, whereas crop cultivation continues to play a minor role in the second millennium BP. The establishment of a full farming economy took place during the Roman Iron Age (c. 1790 cal. BP), characterised by extensive forest clearance and local fires, crop cultivation in permanent fields and the presence of open pastures. This establishment is associated with advanced soil degeneration and increased erosion rates.
Holocene Artemisia-Chenopodiaceae-dominated grassland in North China: Real or imaginary?
Authors: Li Nannan , Sack Dorothy , Gao Guizai , Liu Lidan , Li Dehui , Yang Xiuyun , Jie Dongmei , Liu Hongyan , Shi Jichen , Leng Chengcheng
Published: December 2017

The Songnen grasslands were traditionally thought to be dominated by Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae plants as early as the late Pleistocene. However, increasing evidence has called that interpretation into question. To shed new light on the paleovegetation evolution of the arid and semi-arid steppe in North China, phytolith assemblages preserved in the region’s sand-paleosol sequence (section Daike) are used as a proxy for paleovegetation structure. Results show that both the sand and paleosol layers in the Songnen grassland sections contain well-preserved phytoliths attributed to different families of grass. This is the first direct evidence of the nature of the vegetation that existed during the sandy layer episodes. Moreover, the phytolith evidence represented in the samples indicates that plant successions happened within the subfamilies of Poaceae through the time. Referring to phytoliths in modern plants and topsoils, and using statistical analyses, we propose that phytolith assemblages in the section Daike originated from Poaceae-dominant communities rather than an Artemisia-Chenopodiaceae ecosystem. The phytoliths, and evidence from the historical and modern pollen-vegetation relationships, lead to rejection of the hypothesis of a past widespread Artemisia-Chenopodiaceae ecosystem in the Songnen grasslands. Using published radiocarbon and thermoluminescence data, it is proposed that the present Poaceae-dominated grasslands developed as early as the early Holocene. This study also highlights the usefulness of phytolith analysis in paleovegetation reconstruction in arid and semi-arid lands.
MicroRNA-150 protects against cigarette smoke-induced lung inflammation and airway epithelial cell apoptosis through repressing p53: MicroRNA-150 in CS-induced lung inflammation
Authors: Xue H , Li MX
Published: December 2017

Cigarette smoke (CS) exposure is an important risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). MicroRNA-150 (miR-150) is involved in several inflammatory diseases. However, little is known about the role of miR-150 in the pathogenesis of COPD. In this study, we established a CS-related mouse model of COPD and evaluated the impact of miR-150 on CS-induced lung inflammation. We further investigated the effects of miR-150 overexpression on pro-inflammatory cytokine production and apoptosis in airway epithelial cells exposed to CS extract (CSE). It was found that miR-150 was significantly ( p < 0.05) downregulated in the lungs of CS-exposed mice, compared to control mice under normal air. The CSE-exposed BEAS-2B airway epithelial cells displayed a four- to six-fold reduction in miR-150 levels, compared to control cells ( p < 0.05). Delivery of miR-150 mimic attenuated CS-induced lung inflammation and accumulation of neutrophils, lymphocytes, and macrophages in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Moreover, miR-150 overexpression prevented the induction of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin-8 expression and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) transcriptional activity in BEAS-2B cells by CSE. Additionally, miR-150 protected BEAS-2B cells from CSE-induced apoptosis, which was associated with reduced p53 expression. Co-expression of p53 restored apoptotic response to CSE in miR-150-overexpressing BEAS-2B cells. Collectively, miR-150 suppresses CS-induced lung inflammation and airway epithelial cell apoptosis, which is causally linked to repression of p53 expression and NF-κB activity. Restoration of miR-150 expression may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for CS-related COPD.
Racism in the Structure of Everyday Worlds: A Cultural-Psychological Perspective
Authors: Salter Phia S. , Adams Glenn , Perez Michael J.
Published: December 2017

Theory and research in cultural psychology highlight the need to examine racism not only “in the head” but also “in the world.” Racism is often defined as individual prejudice, but racism is also systemic, existing in the advantages and disadvantages imprinted in cultural artifacts, ideological discourse, and institutional realities that work together with individual biases. In this review, we highlight examples of historically derived ideas and cultural patterns that maintain present-day racial inequalities. We discuss three key insights on the psychology of racism derived from utilizing a cultural-psychology framework. First, one can find racism embedded in our everyday worlds. Second, through our preferences and selections, we maintain racialized contexts in everyday action. Third, we inhabit cultural worlds that, in turn, promote racialized ways of seeing, being in, and acting in the world. This perspective directs attempts at intervention away from individual tendencies and instead focuses on changing the structures of mind in context that reflect and reproduce racial domination.
Transport Infrastructure and Economic Growth: New Evidence from Tunisia an ARDL Bounds Testing Approach
Authors: Amairia Radhia , Amaira Bouzid
Published: December 2017

The achievement of an effective infrastructure, reliable and fair, is essential for economic growth. Indeed, the transport infrastructure is essential to the prosperity of regions. To investigate the relationship between transport infrastructure and economic growth, we use the autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL), we find that transport infrastructure is cointegrated with economic performance, indicating the affirmed presence of long-run equilibrium relationships among them. We use annual data for the period from 1980 to 2013. The study found that the transport infrastructure and investment in transport infrastructure in Tunisia have a significant positive contribution to growth, which shows that each impact is strong and statistically significant. The Tunisian experience suggests that it is necessary to design an economic policy that will improve the transport infrastructure and to increase investment made to the sector for sustainable economic growth in Tunisia. It is necessary to improve the existing road and rail networks.

JEL Classification: F63, L91, R41
ASR glove: A wearable glove for hand assistance and rehabilitation using shape memory alloys
Authors: Hadi Alireza , Alipour Khalil , Kazeminasab Saber , Elahinia Mohammad
Published: December 2017

To date, various hand exoskeleton devices have been proposed. Most of them, however, contain linkage mechanisms which are relatively weighty. This research presents a novel lightweight hand exoskeleton robot, which is called Advanced Service Robots laboratory (ASR) glove. The glove is shape memory alloy tendon-based actuated which can be utilized for both rehabilitation exercises and assistance for people with hand disability. To realize the proposed glove, after the conceptual design of the proposed robot, the kinematics and force analysis of the system are elaborated analytically and also verified using an experimental prototype of the proposed device. The study shows that the proposed system can flex and extend fingers in their range of motion and grasp objects efficiently. The resulted tool is capable to exert extremely high force levels to grasp objects in various hand configurations. Also, using a 0.25-mm shape memory alloy wire, an angular movement of 80°, 90°, and 70° can be generated at the distal interphalangeal, metacarpophalangeal, and proximal interphalangeal joints of a finger, respectively. In addition, the total grasping force more than 40 N can be produced at the tip of the fingers.
Factors Determining Efficacy of NSAIDS
Authors: Porter R. Stephen
Published: December 2017

This article reviews the efficacy of NSAIDs and their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. The assumption that classic pharmacokinetic dose/plasma concentration response relationships can be applied to NSAIDs has tenuous support in the biomedical literature. Comparative efficacy studies, using ASA and indomethacin as the standards for comparison, ignore the fact that the major outcome variables are subjective responses among patients, not among drugs. Comparing inhibition of platelet malonyldialdehyde, synovial drug concentrations, urinary prostaglandin metabolites, and plasma free and total concentration with the clinical outcome provides no guidelines to serve as predictors of response. The individual agents, indomethacin, salicylates, sulindac, piroxicam, and naproxen, illustrate the complexities of NSAID pharmacotherapy. Recent proliferation of newer NSAIDs will not add significantly to the efficacy of these agents in the treatment of pain and inflammatory disease states. However, knowledge of pharmacokinetic population parameters for the individual NSAIDs will increase the likelihood of therapeutic success and diminish the possibilities for adverse reactions.