bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Measuring Social Support From Mother Figures in the Transition From Pregnancy to Parenthood Among Mexican-Origin Adolescent Mothers
Authors: Toomey Russell B. , Umaña-Taylor Adriana J. , Jahromi Laudan B. , Updegraff Kimberly A.
Published: January 2013

Social support for adolescent mothers, particularly from mother figures, can buffer risks and promote well-being. To date, no longitudinal research has investigated how the dimensions of social support may change during the transition from pregnancy to parenthood for adolescent mothers. This study examined stability and change in dimensions of social support from the third trimester of pregnancy to 2 years postpartum among 191 dyads of Mexican-origin adolescent first-time mothers and their mother figures. Perceptions of social support received from a mother figure shifted from a single dimension (i.e., global support) to three distinct factors (instrumental, emotional, and companionship support) during this transition; however, social support provision as reported by mother figures remained stable. Measurement equivalence was established across interview language (English and Spanish) and across two time points postpartum. Bivariate correlations provided support for the convergent and divergent validity of these measures. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Heat Stroke in an Infant With Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia
Authors: Ray Sanghamitra , Sharma Suvasini , Maheshwari Anu , Aneja Satinder , Kumar Atin
Published: January 2013

We describe the magnetic resonance imaging findings of a 4 month old infant with hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia who developed heat stroke. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed signal alteration with restricted diffusion in the splenium of corpus callosum, cerebral peduncles and cerebellar dentate nuclei.
How Victimized Drug Traders Mobilize Police
Authors: Jacques Scott , Wright Richard
Published: January 2013

Illicit drug traders are more likely to be victimized because they cannot report crimes committed against them to the police. Their inability to access law is seen as a major precipitating factor in retaliatory violence. But, as we demonstrate, sometimes victimized drug traders do ask for formal mediation. Based on evidence from prior research combined with experiences recounted to us in the course of interviewing twenty-five unincarcerated drug dealers, we propose a typology of how this happens. We suggest that victimized drug traders mobilize the police in four conceptually distinct ways: “BSing”; getting over; criminal concealment; and criminal disclosure. Our typology provides the empirical grounding for future work aimed at theorizing this behavior and for reducing retaliatory violence by enhancing victimized criminals’ access to law. We conclude by discussing the relevance of our “inconvenient” results for the broader ethnographic audience.
Marital Satisfaction and Physical Health
Authors: South Susan C. , Krueger Robert F.
Published: January 2013

Marital distress and conflict are linked to poor physical health. Here, we used behavior genetic modeling to determine the etiology of this association. Biometric moderation models were used to estimate gene-by-environment interaction in the presence of gene-environment correlation between marital satisfaction and self-reported health. Using a sample of 347 married twin pairs from the Midlife in the United States study, we found that genetic influences on the variation in self-reported health were greatest at both high ( h2 = .30) and low ( h2 = .38) levels of marital satisfaction, with the lowest levels of heritability estimated for participants at the average level of marital satisfaction ( h2 = .10). These findings are evidence of the orchid effect: the idea that genetic influences on a phenotype such as physical health are enhanced in nonnormative—both unusually positive and unusually negative—environmental contexts.
The Château-Rouge and the Père Lunette: Insights into the ‘slumming’ culture of late nineteenth-century France
Authors: Griffiths Richard
Published: January 2013

In the late nineteenth century, in the old medieval streets remaining behind the façades of the great new ‘haussmannised’ thoroughfares of central Paris, many low bouges still harboured criminals of all kinds, and served as refuges for the ‘misérables’ at the lower end of the social scale. Two of these bouges, the Château-Rouge and the Père Lunette, in the area between the place Maubert and the boulevard Saint Michel, are known to modern readers mainly through J.-K. Huysmans’ description of them in La Bièvre et Saint-Séverin (1898). It turns out, however, that they were very well known at the time, and had been frequented and/or described over the years by many contemporary writers and artists such as Maurice Barrès, Rachilde, Oscar Méténier, Jean Lorrain, Albert Wolff, Rodolphe Darzens, Aristide Bruant, Marcel Schwob, Will Rothenstein, Robert Sherard and Oscar Wilde, as well as by journalists from France, Britain and the United States. Viewed through these writings, these places present us with a typical progression from authentic ‘misère’ to the status of inauthentic ‘tourist attractions’. In the process, we gain some insight into the characteristics of late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Parisian ‘slumming’.
Authorising a tradition: Theory, criticism and (self-)canonisation in French Caribbean writing
Authors: McCusker Maeve
Published: January 2013

As many critics have noted, Antillean literature has developed in tandem with a strong (self-)critical and theoretical body of work. The various attempts to theorise Antillean identity since the 1930s ( négritude, antillanité, créolité, relation) have hugely enriched the literary scene and have put Antillean writing firmly on the world map. They have also undoubtedly contributed to a field that can be characterised as explosive, incestuous and highly self-referential. This article begins by examining the kinds of writing privileged in the postcolonial canon, both francophone and anglophone, and argues that the French-language field continues to favour writers who are associated with theoretical or speculative writing (Césaire, Glissant, Chamoiseau). From this perspective Maryse Condé appears to offer a particularly interesting counter-example. Undoubtedly a canonical Antillean writer, she is openly dismissive of theory, claiming to operate outside its boundaries. Yet she too is heavily involved in the work of criticism and in shaping readers’ responses, as well as her own self-image, through criticism and theory. I argue that Condé, like Chamoiseau (who is often viewed as the more ‘theoretical’ writer), tends to supply the tools for analysis of her own writing through a strong awareness of, and ongoing contribution to, the critical field in which her work is read. Both authors thus work to consolidate their own, and often in turn each other’s, position as canonical authors.
Breaking the silence or using it to speak? An exploration of silence as a literary device in four Harki narratives
Authors: Moser Keith
Published: January 2013

In their extremely diverse collecto-biographies, Rahmani, Besnaci-Lancou, and Kerchouche systematically attempt to break both the institutional and paternal silence that has scarred the Harki community in French and Algerian society for nearly half a century. These renowned female writers struggle to give voice to a misunderstood and marginalised group of people that still continue to suffer the devastating effects of ethnocentrism, ignorance and acute poverty on both sides of the Mediterranean. Conversely, in the absence of a space for public discourse that would directly address an open wound that is still visible in contemporary society, the relatively unknown short story L’Enfant de sous le pont by the 2008 Nobel Laureate in Literature, J. M. G. Le Clézio, uses silence as a communicative filter to expose the diasporic trauma of first-generation Harkis.
Sarkozy-de Gaulle: Recycling the Resistance myth
Authors: Raymond Gino
Published: January 2013

The Resistance myth in France was consciously crafted by Charles de Gaulle and his supporters, during World War II and afterwards, to create a coherent narrative of national unity to help carry the country through the period of conflict and the reconstruction that followed. The consensus underpinning the viability of the myth began to fracture from the 1970s onwards and has reached the point of becoming, according to some historians, ‘balkanised’. This article will evoke the genesis of the Resistance myth and address the present-day paradox of a myth that has never been both more contested and more ubiquitous, and the reasons why, in spite of his initial disinclination to do so, Nicolas Sarkozy found himself increasingly obliged to resort to that myth in the attempt to bolster the credibility of his leadership.
The spectacular anus of Joseph Pujol: Recovering the Pétomane’s unique historic context
Authors: Moore Alison
Published: January 2013

Joseph Pujol, the ‘Pétomane’ performed to packed audiences at the Moulin Rouge in the early 1890s. By 1906 one of his contemporaries would remark that ‘this artist’s specialty was no longer in fashion’. When legal battles occurred between Pujol and the Moulin Rouge, newspaper commentaries were filled with hilarity that a man whose anus was the source of his income was now trying to gain a fortune from it. What might the spectacular anus of Pujol, and its pecuniary trials and tribulations, tell us about bodily imagination in late nineteenth-century France? Pujol’s idiosyncratic career has rarely been considered as an historical object; and when it has, the gaze has been light-hearted and filled with puns, much like those that surrounded him in his lifetime. But if the temptation to giggle is resisted for a moment, the Pétomane can teach us much about symbolic meanings that were ascribed to the anus in late nineteenth-century Paris.
Towards the managerialization of trade unions? Recent trends in France and Germany
Authors: Thomas Adrien
Published: January 2013

This article focuses on recent changes in internal trade union organizational practices in France and Germany, drawing on interviews and internal union documents. Whereas the union renewal literature has emphasized the introduction of elements from the action repertoire of social movements into trade unions, this article finds that union officials and leaders are also transferring private sector managerial rhetoric and practices into trade unions. The extent and dynamics of this process termed ‘managerialization’ are discussed, as well as its effects on role definitions of union leaders, officials and members, comparing two trade unions: in France the Fédération Chimie Energie and in Germany the Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft. The resulting tensions between trade unionism’s administrative and representative rationalities are highlighted.
Employers and collectively negotiated occupational pensions in Sweden, Denmark and Norway: Promoters, vacillators and adversaries
Authors: Trampusch Christine
Published: January 2013

This article develops an analytical model of how and why the political-economic context affects employers’ preferences in using collective agreements to finance and regulate pension schemes. It argues that these preferences are influenced by three domains, the labour market and industrial relations system, public policies and the financial market. The study compares and contrasts three Nordic countries, and reveals how these three mechanisms have generated distinctive trajectories of employer preferences.
Intracardiac thrombus formation induced by carbon monoxide poisoning
Authors: Ryoo SM , Sohn CH , Kim HJ , Kwak MK , Oh BJ , Lim KS
Published: January 2013

Introduction:

Carbon monoxide (CO) is one of the leading causes of poisoning; it inhibits oxygen delivery, subsequently causing ischemic changes and ultimately death by multiorgan failure. Furthermore, thromboembolic episodes due to CO poisoning have been reported. However, intracardiac thrombus formation following exposure to CO has been very rarely described. Here, a case of right atrial large thrombus formation after CO poisoning is presented.

Case presentation:

A previously healthy 24-year-old woman was referred for CO poisoning. She has attempted suicide, and her initial mental status was drowsy with focal memory loss. Her initial CO fraction was 16%, and initial laboratory data showed creatinine kinase-myocardial bound of 90.6 ng/mL (upper limit 5 ng/mL) and troponin I of 1.899 ng/mL (upper limit 1.5 ng/mL). A transthoracic echocardiography was performed 24 h after the accident, revealing a 30 × 15 mm nodular echogenic mass in the right atrium. Anticoagulation with low-molecular-weight heparin was started along with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. After 7 days of heparinization, the large thrombus in right atrium had resolved.

Conclusion:

This report describes an intracardiac thrombus formation induced by CO poisoning. Because intracardiac thrombus can result in pulmonary embolism and cerebral embolic infarction, its consideration following CO poisoning is important.
Quercetin vs chrysin
Authors: Sirovina D. , Oršolić N. , Končić M. Z. , Kovačević G. , Benković V. , Gregorović G.
Published: January 2013

Effects of flavonoids quercetin and chrysin on lipid peroxidation and histopathological changes in liver of diabetic mice were studied and compared with the antioxidant and reducing ability of quercetin and chrysin and their ability to chelate Fe2+ ions in vitro. Diabetes was induced in Swiss albino mice with a single intravenous injection of alloxan (75 mg kg−1). Two days after alloxan injection, flavonoid preparations (50 mg kg−1 per day) were given intraperitoneally for 7 days in diabetic mice. The lipid peroxidation was evaluated by measuring the malondialdehyde production using the 2-thiobarbituric acid test. Administration of quercetin and chrysin to diabetic mice resulted in a significant decrease in lipid peroxidation level in liver tissue. Treatment of diabetic mice with flavonoids solutions results in decreased number of vacuolated cells and degree of vacuolization of the liver tissue. The protective role of flavonoids against the reactive oxygen species–induced damages in diabetic mice gives a hope that they may exert similar protective action in humans.
Periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges (PLEDs) in cerebral lupus correlated with white-matter lesions in brain MRI and reduced cerebral blood flow in SPECT
Authors: Aye SMM , Lim KS , Ramli NM , Tan CT
Published: January 2013

This is a case report on an uncommon correlation between periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges (PLEDs) and white-matter lesions in cerebral lupus, and with a reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF) in single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). A 47-year-old woman with a long-term history of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) presented with a seizure followed by frontal lobe dysfunction clinically. An electroencephalogram (EEG) showed bilateral independent PLEDs in the frontal region. A magnetic resonance image of the brain showed white-matter changes in the frontal periventricular region. Cerebral angiogram did not reveal any evidence of vasculitis. A cerebral SPECT with tracer injected during the EEG showing PLEDs showed a reduction in CBF in the frontal regions. Clinical recovery was observed with intravenous immunoglobulin. This case shows that PLEDs can be seen with white-matter changes in SLE.
The role of genes in talking about overweight: An analysis of discourse on genetics, overweight and health risks in relation to nutrigenomics
Authors: Komduur Rixt , te Molder Hedwig
Published: January 2013

This study examines whether the assumptions embedded in nutrigenomics, especially the alleged relation between information about personal health risks and healthy behaviour, match how people account for the relation between food, health and genes in everyday life. We draw on discourse analysis to study accounts of overweight in six group interviews with people who are and who are not overweight. The results show potentially contradictory normative orientations towards behavioural explanations of (over)weight. Overt gene accounts are interactionally problematic (in contrast to more indirect accounts such as ‘build’), indicating that participants treat ‘behaviour’ as the normatively appropriate explanation for overweight. At the same time, however, healthy behaviour is an accountable matter, i.e. it is dealt with in interaction as behaviour that is not self-evidently right but requires an explanation. It is discussed how bringing these interactional concerns to the surface is essential for understanding future users’ response to nutrigenomics and emergent technologies more in general.
Adolescent Tobacco Use and Its Determinants
Authors: Kabir M. A. , Goh Kim-Leng , Khan M. M. H.
Published: January 2013

Adolescent tobacco use (ATU) is on the rise worldwide and the problem is particularly severe in developing countries. Based on nationally representative data, this study aims to investigate the association between ATU and its possible correlates for Bangladesh, where the prevalence rate of ATU is high. The data set is extracted from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey for Bangladesh conducted in 2007. The survey collected information from a total of 3113 students from 52 schools, with a response rate of 100% at the school level, while a response rate of 88.9% was achieved from the students. Students covered in the survey were in grades 7, 8, 9, and 10, with age ranging from 11 to 17 years. The prevalence rate of ATU at the time of the survey was 8.4%, while 35.6% of the students had used at least a type of tobacco products before. Logistic regressions were used to obtain the odds ratios (ORs) in favor of ATU for each of the possible determinants and the confidence intervals (CIs) of these ratios. Use of tobacco among friends (OR = 3.46; CI = 2.37-5.05), the experience of seeing others smoking at home (OR = 2.10; CI = 1.36-3.22) or other places (OR = 1.6; CI = 1.02-2.57), receiving pocket money (OR = 7.6; CI = 4.59-13.28), receiving free tobacco from vendors (OR = 2.3; CI = 1.44-3.78), and exposure to advertisements and promotions of tobacco products (OR = 1.83; CI = 1.23-2.79) were associated with a higher likelihood of ATU. Increased awareness of health hazards of tobacco use through education in schools helped mitigate the problem of ATU. The findings of this study have ramifications for tobacco control prevention strategies in Bangladesh.
The Role of Parental, School, and Peer Factors in Adolescent Bullying Involvement
Authors: Erginoz Ethem , Alikasifoglu Mujgan , Ercan Oya , Uysal Omer , Alp Zeynep , Ocak Suheyla , Oktay Tanyildiz Gulsah , Ekici Baris , Yucel Ilker Kemal , Albayrak Kaymak Deniz
Published: January 2013

The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between involvement in bullying behaviors and school, family, and peer factors. Health Behavior in School Age Children survey questionnaire was used. Of the students surveyed, 20% were both bully and victim, 11% were bully, and 21% were victim. Being male, poor parental support, and poor monitoring by the father were found to be risk factors for being both bully and victim. Poor academic achievement, having peers at different ages, poor quality of friendship, poor communication with parents, and not being isolated by peers were found to be risk factors for being bully. Not liking school, feeling pressured by school work, poor quality of friendship, poor monitoring by the father, close bonding with mother, and poor status of the peer group were found to be risk factors for being victim. These findings highlight the importance that bullying intervention programs should include country-specific and culture-specific influences for success.
Heterologous and Homologous Perspectives on the Relation Between Morality and Organization
Authors: Shadnam Masoud
Published: January 2013

Organization studies of morality have paid scant attention to theorizing the relation between morality and organization before engaging in empirical work, which has resulted in inconsistent and incompatible theories implicitly entailed in different empirical studies. In this article, I distinguish between two theoretical perspectives regarding this relation—heterologous and homologous—based on whether morality and organization are viewed as distinct and independent from one another or orders of intertwined constitution. I discuss the implications of taking each perspective for research question and design, and show how the choice of theoretical perspective leads to starkly different conclusions about a single phenomenon. I also illustrate these arguments in the case of studying the recent rise of private military and security industry. To conclude, I highlight the theoretical and methodological contributions of the distinction between heterologous and homologous perspectives and discuss future avenues that it opens for organization research on morality.
Thymolipoma With Sebaceous Differentiation
Authors: Ajaz Bushra , Tran Tien Anh Nguyen , Truong Tuan , Manoucheri Manoucher
Published: January 2013

Thymolipoma is a very rare anterior mediastinal mass of thymic origin, accounting for only 2% to 10% of all thymic neoplasm. Histologically, the tumor is usually composed of adipose tissue interspersed with thymic tissues. We report a case of a 58-year-old man who presented with a few weeks history of shortness of breath, cough, and chest pain, found to have a retrocardiac infiltrate on chest X-ray. Computed tomography scan of the chest showed a large anterior mediastinal mass. Surgical excision revealed an ovoid fatty mass, which on histological examination displayed thymic tissue intermixed with lipomatous tissue consistent with a thymolipoma. Of note was the presence of a microscopic nodule of thymic epithelial proliferation with sebaceous differentiation and focal cylindroma-like architecture. Although sebaceous tissue has been rarely reported in thymic tissue, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of sebaceous differentiation in a thymolipoma.
Torsional Problems in Cerebral Palsy
Authors: King Howard A. , Staheli Lynn T.
Published: January 2013

Lower limb rotational problems in the patient with cerebral palsy represent a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to the clinician. A literature review suggests that increased muscle tone may be the cause of these problems. This article proposes a simple diagnostic plan and discusses the various treatment plans and options.
Cavus Foot in Cerebral Palsy
Authors: Eilert Robert E.
Published: January 2013

In the child between 4 and 12 years of age presenting with cavus deformity associated with spastic cerebral palsy, symptomatic feet may be improved by soft tissue release of plantar structures followed by appropriate tendon lenthenings or transfers and good cast correction. It is more common for the deformity to present in teenage patients, however, with a more rigid foot usually complicated by some degree of varus and equinus. In these situations, triple arthrodesis is often necessary and is a predictable procedure for correction and stabilization of the deformity.
Invasive Retrocalcaneal Bursitis: A Report of Three Cases
Authors: Ippolito Ernesto , Ricciardi-Pollini Pier Tommaso
Published: January 2013

The authors describe three cases of retrocalcaneal bursitis, characterized by considerable local clinical symptomatology. The diagnosis was made clinically and confirmed histopathologically. In none of these cases, even after several years, did systemic rheumatic disease develop. Removal of the bursa brought about clinical cure.
Unusual Involvement of the Feet in Hemochromatosis
Authors: Baker Nancy D. , Jahss Melvin H. , Leventhal Gerald H.
Published: January 2013

The arthropathy of hemochromatosis mimics aspects of both rheumatoid arthritis and degenerative joint disease. The negative latex fixation, involvement of weightbearing and non-weightbearing joints, as well as the peculiar involvement of the second and third metacarpophalangeal joints serve to distinguish this rare arthropathy from other inflammatory and degenerative arthritides. The purpose of this paper is to present a case of hemochromatosis arthritis with unusual bilateral involvement of the naviculocuneiform and tarsometatarsal joints. Only two cases of hemochromatosis of the foot have been previously reported, and those had involvement limited to the first metatarsophalangeal joint.
Uterotrophic Assay of Percutaneous Lavender Oil in Immature Female Rats
Authors: Politano Valerie T. , McGinty Danielle , Lewis Elise M. , Hoberman Alan M. , Christian Mildred S. , Diener Robert M. , Api Anne Marie
Published: January 2013

The estrogenic potential of lavender oil was evaluated in a percutaneous uterotrophic bioassay in immature female rats. Four groups of 10 immature female rats each were randomly selected on postpartum day (PPD) 16. During the 3-day treatment period (PPDs 19-21), the immature rats were separated from the dams, caged in groups of 5 in a litter box for 6 hours, and administered the vehicle control article (corn oil) or lavender oil at 20 or 100 mg/kg per day. All dosages were administered as a 5 mL/kg volume in a Hilltop Chamber (25 mm diameter; absorbent material removed) placed on the shaved back of each immature rat, and secured with micropore tape and Vetrap. A positive control group was gavaged twice daily with 2.5 μg/kg per day of 17α-ethinyl estradiol. Daily observations included viability, clinical signs, body weights, and body weight gains. All rats were euthanized 24 hours after the third and final treatment, the uteri and ovaries were removed, and the paired ovaries and wet and blotted uterine weights were recorded. No unscheduled deaths occurred. No skin reactions were observed. Both dosages of lavender oil significantly reduced body weight gains after the third day of treatment, but terminal body weights and mean absolute and relative uterine weights did not differ significantly from vehicle control values. Positive controls showed significant increases in body weight and increased mean absolute and relative uterine weights as expected. Based on these data, lavender oil, at dosages of 20 or 100 mg/kg, was not active in the rat uterotrophic assay and gave no evidence of estrogenic activity.
Using conference submission data to uncover broad trends in language teaching: A case study of one conference over 30 years
Authors: Stapleton Paul
Published: January 2013

Submissions to conferences can provide rich material for analysing characteristics and trends within a conference’s history and that of similar conferences, as well as the associated field at large. The present study uses data gathered over 30 years from a language teachers’ conference in Japan (JALT National) to expound upon patterns related to (1) strands and themes, (2) methodological and topical trends over time, (3) influential researchers, and (4) how JALT compares to other major language teaching conferences. The findings emerged from frequency counts, keyword searches and a detailed analysis of JALT’s digital archive, which focused on presenters’ abstract titles and abstracts consisting of a one-million-plus-word corpus. Beyond the content analysis of the conference under study, the use of the review study as a method for a broader understanding of how conferences both reflect and impact the field is discussed.
Childhood suicide attempts with acetaminophen in Denmark: Characteristics, social behaviour, trends and risk factors
Authors: Hedeland Rikke Lindgaard , Jørgensen Marianne H. , Teilmann Grete , Thiesen Line R. , Valentiner Mette , Iskandar Amne , Morthorst Britt , Andersen Jesper
Published: January 2013

Aims: To explore: (1) The relationship between children admitted to our paediatric department as a result of suicide attempts with acetaminophen and their parents and friends. (2) The extent to which the children had attempted to speak to their parents about their problems before their suicide attempts. (3) The frequency of self-mutilation among children with suicidal behaviour. (4) The purposes and reasons for childhood suicide attempts. Methods: A retrospective case-control study based on medical records and in-hospital child psychiatric assessments at the Paediatric Department, Hillerød Hospital, Denmark, 2006–2011. Study group: 107 children, 11 to 15 years old. Control group: 59 age- and gender-matched children. Results: 43.5% experienced a dissociated parental relationship characterized by the inability to speak to their parents about any problems, compared with 2% in the control group. There was a significant association between a dissociated parental relationship and ‘the feeling of not being heard’ ( p = 0.004), the discovery of the suicide attempt ( p = 0.008), the reasons for the suicide attempt ( p = 0.006), academic school problems ( p = 0.03), and the child’s relationships with friends ( p = 0.02). Prior to their suicide attempts, 41.5% of the children had attempted to speak to their parents about their problems but felt that they were not heard. There was a significant association among ‘the feeling of not being heard’ and the purpose of the suicide attempt ( p = 0.002) and self-mutilation ( p = 0.002). Forty percent mutilated themselves repeatedly. Conclusions: A consistently impaired parent-child relationship, ‘the feeling of not being heard’, and self-mutilation are identifiable early risk factors that require increased concern and attention among professionals who work with children.
Ideological congruency and decision-making speed: The effect of partisanship across European Union institutions
Authors: Klüver Heike , Sagarzazu Iñaki
Published: January 2013

How does ideological congruency affect the speed of legislative decision-making in the European Union? Despite the crucial importance of actor preferences, the effect of partisan alignments and ideological composition of the European institutions has largely been neglected. However, we argue that the ideological congruence between legislative bodies has an important effect on the duration of policy-making. We test our theoretical expectations based on a large new dataset on decision-making speed in the European Union using event history analysis. The findings confirm our theoretical claim indicating that the ideological distance between the European institutions slows down policy-making which has important implications for the problem-solving capacity of political systems more generally.
Associations of genetic polymorphisms in the renin-angiotensin system with central aortic and ambulatory blood pressure in type 2 diabetic patients
Authors: Ljungberg Liza U , Östgren Carl Johan , Nyström Fredrik H , Länne Toste
Published: January 2013

Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are at high risk of developing hypertension and related cardiovascular disease. The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays a central role in regulation of blood pressure (BP). Accordingly, each component of this system represents a potential candidate in the etiology of hypertension. This study investigated the impact of polymorphisms within the RAS on ambulatory and central BP in T2D subjects. A cohort of 761 subjects (55–65 years) with T2D was studied. Ambulatory and central BP were measured, and ACE I/D genotype, angiotensinogen M235T, renin rs6693954 and ATR1-A1166C polymorphisms were analyzed. Women carrying the AA-genotype had lower 24-hour and day-time systolic and diastolic BP ( p<0.05), and lower night-time and central diastolic BP ( p<0.05), compared to T allele carriers. In men, the AA-genotype was instead associated with higher central diastolic BP ( p=0.018) and higher augmentation index ( p=0.016). Further, the associations between the renin rs6693954 SNP and diastolic BP were strongly gender dependent ( p≤0.001). In T2D patients, there is a gender-dependent association of the renin rs6693954 SNP with central and ambulatory BP. Women carrying the renin rs6693954 AA-genotype may be protected against the higher BP seen in men with the same genotype.
Contractarian ethics and Harsanyi’s two justifications of utilitarianism
Authors: Moehler Michael
Published: January 2013

Harsanyi defends utilitarianism by means of an axiomatic proof and by what he calls the ‘equiprobability model’. Both justifications of utilitarianism aim to show that utilitarian ethics can be derived from Bayesian rationality and some weak moral constraints on the reasoning of rational agents. I argue that, from the perspective of Bayesian agents, one of these constraints, the impersonality constraint, is not weak at all if its meaning is made precise and that generally it even contradicts individual rational agency. Without the impersonality constraint, Harsanyi’s two justifications of utilitarianism on the grounds of Bayesian rationality fail. As an alternative, I develop a contractarian framework that is compatible with individual rational agency and Harsanyi’s central assumptions, and that allows the derivation of moral conclusions on the grounds of Bayesian rationality. The developed framework offers a novel justification of contractarian ethics and may best be described as a combined version of Harsanyi’s equiprobability model and Rawls’s original position.
Automatic tourist attraction and representative icon determination for tourist map generation
Authors: Lin Chao-Hung , Chen Jyun-Yuan , Hsu Shun-Siang , Chung Yun-Huan
Published: January 2013

Tourist maps are designed to direct tourists to tourist attractions in unfamiliar areas. A well-designed tourist map can provide tourists with sufficient and intuitive information about places of interest. Thus, providing up-to-date information on places of interest and selecting their representative icons are fundamental and important in automatic generation of tourist maps. In this article, approaches for determining places of interest and for determining their representative icons are introduced. In contrast to general digital tourist maps that use text, simple shapes, or three-dimensional models, we use photos that offer abundant visual features of places of interest as icons in tourist maps. The photos are automatically extracted from a repository of photos downloaded from photo-sharing communities. Tourist attractions and their corresponding image icons are determined by means of photo voting and photo quality assessment. Qualitative analyses, including a user study and experiments in several areas with numerous tourist attractions, indicated that the proposed method can generate visually pleasant and elaborate tourist maps. In addition, the analyses indicated that the map produced by our method is better than maps generated by related methods and is comparable to hand-designed tourist maps.
The art studio as archive: tracing the geography of artistic potentiality, progress and production
Authors: Sjöholm Jenny
Published: January 2013

Despite artistic practices, sites and modes of production and expression being in constant flux, and artistic production being of fragmented and temporal, often precarious status, this article emphasizes how the studio is and remains an important instrument and base of contemporary artistic performance. Based on qualitative research on contemporary visual artists’ work practices in London, this study presents accounts on how artists come to perceive but also construct the work and studio environment in which they are located; how they recognize the potential opportunities of this relation as well as how they actively react in order to practice and use such space. The artist’s studio is a space from which the alchemy of an art form cannot be completely revealed. Yet, with all its material, the studio is a space whose materialities are manifestations, documentations and traces of studio processes and visual artists’ work. The studio represents collections of clues and traces of the artists’ working lives and, for the artists, the studio is not only a space for work in progress but also for storage and creative resources. It is a space where they filter, sort, store and appropriate active actants, remnants and traces of their working lives inside the studio as well as their inspirational journeys outside. The studio is a space where objects and documents are placed as a way to mark an end to a process, but it is also a space where things originate or are reinvented – it is a space where things begin. However, in its particular set-up there is a creative limitation; there is a limiting order of the material collected that can authorize and command the future development of artistic work. There is an archival notion of the making and thinking in the modern art studio.
Least said, soonest mended?: Responses of primary school teachers to the perceived support needs of bereaved children
Authors: Potts Shirley
Published: January 2013

Every 22 minutes in the United Kingdom, a child is bereaved of a parent, making up some 24,000 a year. An even greater number experience the loss of a grandparent. There is a limited, but growing, body of research into the impact of grief and bereavement on young children and how their support needs might be met. This article expands upon research with primary school teachers articulating something of their knowledge and experience in encountering bereaved children. The mixed methodology research includes quantitative and qualitative data that incorporate teachers’ responses to the fictionalised narrative of a bereaved 6-year-old. The discussion elucidates teachers’ confidence – or reluctance – in broaching the topic, highlighting the lack of specific training within teacher education for understanding and supporting bereaved children. Compassionate understanding is offered to some children, but many others detect a wall of silence, which, when encountered in early childhood, can have detrimental consequences for their personal, social and academic development. The article calls for policy and practice that will ameliorate this situation.
Working with gender pedagogics at 14 Swedish preschools
Authors: Sandström Margareta , Stier Jonas , Sandberg Anette
Published: January 2013

In Sweden, gender pedagogics has been on the political agenda the last decade. Consequently, gender matters have been given much attention in Swedish preschools, and specialized pedagogues have also been trained to counteract socially constructed gender distinctions. Therefore, we have explored the enactment of gender pedagogics. We asked 17 preschool teachers to describe the situations revolving around gender issues that they have experienced, using the critical incident method. In all, 34 critical incidents were described and subsequently discussed in groups of 6–10 individuals. Afterward, the data were analyzed qualitatively, with the objective to explore the preschool teachers’ understanding of gender approaches. The analysis led us to single out four “ideal type approaches,” that is, “instrumental,” “co-productive,” “facilitative,” “proactive,” and “agitative” gender approach. The gender approaches were made up by the different ways of interacting with the children as regards gender described by the preschool teachers and by the different ways of reflecting over the described situations. We argue that the four different types of gender interaction emanate from corresponding underlying conceptions of gender, and that they may exercise influence on the children’s identity process.
Understanding influences of play on second language learning: A microethnographic view in one Head Start preschool classroom
Authors: Piker Ruth A
Published: January 2013

With dual language learners falling behind their same-age peers at the beginning of kindergarten, understanding how school experiences can enhance language learning is critical. This study demonstrates how play among preschool-aged children can foster English language learning. Using an ethnographic approach, one classroom composed of two teachers and 17 four- to five-year-old children was observed and videotaped during Free Play. Interactional analyses of four Spanish-speaking children’s play scenarios with their same-language peers and English-speaking peers illustrate how through these social interactions their oral English language was supported and, at times, hindered. The implications for play as an avenue for supporting English language learning in the classroom are discussed.
Austerity policing: Is visibility more important than absolute numbers in determining public confidence in the police?
Authors: Sindall Katy , Sturgis Patrick
Published: January 2013

The recent deep cuts to police force budgets in the United Kingdom have reawakened longstanding debates about the effect of police numbers and organization on the crime rate and public confidence in the police. Whereas some claim that a reduction in numbers is likely to have a deleterious effect, others argue that raw numbers are less important than how the police are organized and deployed. By cutting red tape and focusing staffing reductions on ‘back-office’ functions, the argument goes, it should be possible to maintain a consistent ‘frontline’ presence, which is a key aspect of policing for maintaining citizen confidence in the service. In this article we use administrative data linked to the British Crime Survey in order to assess the relative importance of police numbers and police visibility in determining public confidence in the police. We find, as expected, that visibility has a significant and positive effect on confidence. However, we also find a significant and positive effect of police numbers over and above the effect of visibility. Moreover, because the extent to which police are visible in local areas is itself a function of the number of police employed, we find that the number of police has an additional indirect influence on public confidence through its direct effect on visibility. By implication, reducing police numbers is likely to erode public confidence in the police, even if frontline visibility is maintained through organizational efficiency.
New method to measure compression stockings transparency
Authors: Laplanche Marie-Astrid , Drean Emilie , Convert Reynald , Schacher Laurence
Published: January 2013

Compression stockings are one of the best known therapies for venous disorders. This treatment is efficient as long as the stockings are worn by the patient. In order for them to be worn, they will have to fit the patient, in terms of comfort and appearance. The aim of this work is to develop a measurement technique adapted to stretchable textile items to evaluate stockings transparency. Our approach is to measure some of the colorimetric parameters of the stocking. Five commercial compression stockings claimed by the suppliers as supposed to present special transparency characteristics have been analyzed and compared. In order to compare stockings of different colours, a “transparency value” has been set. The developed method can help designing more transparent stockings which may be better “accepted” by patients.
Not (Yet) a New Era of Minimal Effects
Authors: Shehata Adam , Strömbäck Jesper
Published: January 2013

In recent years, profound media environmental changes have sparked a controversy regarding whether we are entering a new era of minimal effects. Focusing on one of the most important media effect theories, agenda setting, this study combines a panel survey and a media content analysis to test three claims derived from the new era of minimal effects discussion: (1) that recent media environmental changes have reduced the agenda setting influence of traditional news media to non-significance, (2) that increased opportunities for media choice have made partisan selective exposure the key mechanism behind media effects, and (3) that the availability of alternative online news sources reduces susceptibility to agenda setting effects from the traditional news media. Among other things, the results show that traditional news media still exert agenda-setting influence on both the aggregate and individual levels, but that these effects are weakened by use of multiple online news media. Overall, the results suggest that a generalized “we” have not (yet) entered a new era of minimal effects, and that certain media system characteristics are likely to condition the pace of any potential transition to a new minimal effects era.
Networked Gatekeeping and Networked Framing on #Egypt
Authors: Meraz Sharon , Papacharissi Zizi
Published: January 2013

Using prior seminal work that places emphasis on news framing and its relevance to sociocultural context, this study describes, maps, and explains evolving patterns of communication on Twitter through the events of the 2011 Egyptian uprisings, which led to the resignation of President Mubarak. Using a multimethodological approach, we conducted a network, content, and discourse analysis of randomly sampled tweets from approximately one million tweets over a month-long time period to study broadcasting and listening practices on Twitter. The findings suggested networked framing and gatekeeping practices that became activated as prominent actors and frames were crowdsourced to prominence. Quantitative findings underscored the significant role of ordinary users who both rose to prominence and elevated others to elite status through networked gatekeeping actions. In depth, discourse analysis of prominent actors and frames highlighted the fluid, iterative processes inherent in networked framing as frames were persistently revised, rearticulated, and redispersed by both crowd and elite. The ambience and affect afforded by the platform further supported conversational practices that enabled combined processes of networked framing and gatekeeping. The findings point to new directions for hybrid and fluid journalisms that rely on subjective pluralism, cocreation, and collaborative curation.
Community pharmacists’ knowledge and perceptions about adverse drug reactions and barriers towards their reporting in Eastern region, Alahsa, Saudi Arabia
Authors: Khan Tahir M.
Published: January 2013

Objective:

The present study aims to analyze community pharmacists’ current knowledge and perceived barriers to adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting systems in the Eastern region, Alahsa, Saudi Arabia.

Method:

A cross-sectional study was planned from 1 June 2012 to 15 July 2012 among the community pharmacies in the Eastern region, Alahsa. A total of 70 community pharmacists were approached using a cluster sampling method. A self-administered, 28-item questionnaire was used to attain the objectives of the study. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Science version 13. Relative index ranking was used to identify the top five barriers to the ADR reporting process.

Results:

Response to the survey was 71.43%. In terms of knowledge about ADRs, very few (four, 8.0%) pharmacists were unable to differentiate between the right and wrong definition of ADRs. About 42 (84.0%) pharmacists mentioned that patients often report adverse events. However, 45 (90.0%) were not aware of the ADR reporting system in Saudi Arabia. A deficient professional environment was the main barrier to the ADR reporting process. In addition, unavailability of the reporting forms and poor understanding of the reporting process were common barriers to the reporting process.

Conclusion:

Most of the community pharmacists were unaware of the ADR reporting system in Saudi Arabia. Logistic issues were the main barriers to the ADR reporting process.