bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
High prevalence of health and social risk behaviours among men experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviour: The imperative to undertake holistic assessments
Authors: Armstrong Gregory , Haregu Tilahun , Caine Eric D , Young Jesse T , Spittal Matthew J , Jorm Anthony F
Published: May 2020

Objective:

We aimed to examine whether suicidal thoughts and behaviour were independently associated with a wide range of health and social risk behaviours.

Methods:

We conducted cross-sectional analyses of data collected from 13,763 adult males who participated in The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health. We fit generalised linear models to estimate the relative risk of engaging in a range of health and social risk behaviours across several domains by suicidal thoughts and behaviour status.

Results:

Men with recent suicidal ideation (relative risk range, 1.10–5.25) and lifetime suicide attempts (relative risk range, 1.10–7.65) had a higher risk of engaging in a broad range of health and social risk behaviours. The associations between suicidal thoughts and behaviour and health and social risk behaviours were typically independent of socio-demographics and in many cases were also independent of depressive symptoms.

Conclusion:

Suicidal thoughts and behaviour overlaps with increased risk of engagement in a wide range of health and social risk behaviours, indicating the need for an alignment of broader public health interventions within clinical and community-based suicide prevention activities. The experience of suicidality may be an important catalyst for a broader psychosocial conversation and assessment of health and social risk behaviours, some of which may be modifiable. These behaviours may not carry an imminent risk of premature death, such as from suicide, but they carry profound health and social consequences if left unaddressed.
Counseling Competencies for the English-Speaking Caribbean
Authors: Forbes Antonia , Hutchison Ashley N.
Published: May 2020

The present study utilized the Delphi method to develop a list of competency areas for counseling professionals practicing with residents of the English-Speaking Caribbean. Thirty-seven counseling experts, predominately those working in school settings in the Bahamas, completed one to three rounds of an interactive survey in which they provided an initial 272 competency suggestions and ranked the importance of each competency area. Through thematic analysis, these competencies collapsed into the tripartite model of multicultural competence: Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills. Final competency lists included importance ratings via Likert-type scale responses to 11 Knowledge areas, 13 Awareness and Attitudes areas, and 24 Skills areas. The cultural and professional significance of these competency areas are analyzed and described. Last, we present strengths and limitations of the current study, alongside implications for practice, advocacy, education/training, and research.
Measuring the Temporal Stability of Near-Repeat Crime Patterns: A Longitudinal Analysis
Authors: Hatten David , Piza Eric L.
Published: May 2020

This study investigates the temporal stability of identified near-repeat robbery patterns in Newark, New Jersey. With one noteworthy exception, scholars have yet to explore the temporal stability of identified spatiotemporal crime clusters. Furthermore, researchers have yet to measure the near-repeat phenomenon longitudinally. To fill this gap, this study employs a longitudinal design to measure variation in effect size and significance of identified near-repeat crime patterns across 13 “rolling” one-year time periods within a 2-year study period (January 2015–December 2016). Temporal instability was found within two out of six spatiotemporal crime clusters. Results are reported in the form of formalized descriptive statistics and visualizations of temporal trends.
The novel and the myth of the epic: Balestrini, Lukács, and the cathartic experience
Authors: Castaldo Achille
Published: May 2020

In this article, I address the critical reception of Nanni Balestrini's narrative work, focusing in particular on the novel Vogliamo tutto (1971). I compare the interpretative model, which sees this text as overcoming the novelistic form and moving toward the epic, with a similar model in György Lukács' foundational text The Theory of the Novel (1916), which sets up an opposition between the novel, understood as an expression of the irrelevance of private existence in our society, and the idea of a “rebirth” of the epic as a redemptive collective dimension. In order to investigate the textual mechanisms that generate a reading experience that has been defined resorting to the cliché of the epic, I draw on Lukács' later Aesthetics (1962). In this work, he offers a response to the impasses of his earlier thought by using the concept of catharsis, which explains the effects of a work of art on the reader/viewer through the pathetic energy generated by the dissolution of the subjective perspective. Through a close reading of key passages from Vogliamo tutto, I show how the rhetorical structure of the text is grounded in a repeated dissolution of the narrative point of view (the narrator's voice) in the collective voice of the workers. I argue that the “pathetic intensity” produced by this loss of subjectivity inscribes the communal existence of the political struggles of the time in the immediacy of the reading experience.
Differences in Using the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) 7 Nonverbal Battery Versus the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) 2 to Identify the Gifted/Talented
Authors: Carman Carol A. , Walther Christine A. P. , Bartsch Robert A.
Published: May 2020

The two most commonly used nonverbal tests for gifted identification, the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) and the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) nonverbal battery, have not been compared in their newer versions to explore the effects of their use on the identification of underserved populations. Additionally, the effects of the use of various norming groups and cutoff scores on both instruments’ identification abilities has not been compared. This study compared 15,733 CogAT7 nonverbal battery scores and 14,421 NNAT2 scores of kindergartners between 2013 and 2015 from one large urban school district to explore the differences between how each test relates to major demographic variables and examine the effects on who is selected for participation in gifted programming based on which instrument, which norming group, and which cutoff scores are used. Both instruments were less likely to identify students from demographic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented than students from traditionally overrepresented demographic groups, but identification varied based on the type of norming plan used and which instrument was taken. Suggestions are made as to the best instrument for use with various demographic groups and norming plans.
Differentiating Among High-Achieving Learners: A Comparison of Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory on Above-Level Testing
Authors: LeBeau Brandon , Assouline Susan G. , Mahatmya Duhita , Lupkowski-Shoplik Ann
Published: May 2020

This study investigated the application of item response theory (IRT) to expand the range of ability estimates for gifted (hereinafter referred to as high-achieving) students’ performance on an above-level test. Using a sample of fourth- to sixth-grade high-achieving students ( N = 1,893), we conducted a study to compare estimates from two measurement theories, classical test theory (CTT) and IRT. CTT and IRT make different assumptions about the analysis that impact the reliability and validity of the scores obtained from the test. IRT can also differentiate students based on the student’s grade or within a grade by using the unique string of correct and incorrect answers the student makes while taking the test. This differentiation may have implications for identifying or classifying students who are ready for advanced coursework. An exploration of the differentiation for Math, Reading, and Science tests and the impact the different measurement frameworks can have on classification of students are explored. Implications for academic talent identification with the talent search model and development of academic talent are discussed.
The affective extension of ‘family’ in the context of changing elite business networks
Authors: Bika Zografia , Frazer Michael L
Published: May 2020

Drawing on 49 oral-history interviews with Scottish family business owner-managers, six key-informant interviews, and secondary sources, this interdisciplinary study analyses the decline of kinship-based connections and the emergence of new kinds of elite networks around the 1980s. As the socioeconomic context changed rapidly during this time, cooperation built primarily around literal family ties could not survive unaltered. Instead of finding unity through bio-legal family connections, elite networks now came to redefine their ‘family businesses’ in terms of affectively loaded ‘family values’ such as loyalty, care, commitment, and even ‘love’. Consciously nurturing ‘as-if-family’ emotional and ethical connections arose as a psychologically effective way to bring together network members who did not necessarily share pre-existing connections of bio-legal kinship. The social-psychological processes involved in this extension of the ‘family’ can be understood using theories of the moral sentiments first developed in the Scottish Enlightenment. These theories suggest that, when the context is amenable, family-like emotional bonds can be extended via sympathy to those to whom one is not literally related. As a result of this ‘progress of sentiments’, one now earns his/her place in a Scottish family business, not by inheriting or marrying into it, but by performing family-like behaviours motivated by shared ethics and affects.
Workdays are not created equal: Job satisfaction and job stressors across the workweek
Authors: Pindek Shani , Zhou Zhiqing E , Kessler Stacey R , Krajcevska Alexandra , Spector Paul E
Published: May 2020

Are your workdays created equal? Common wisdom suggests that employees experience Mondays differently from Fridays. However, few studies distinguish among workdays, inherently assuming that the employee experience is uniform across the workweek. In the current study, we examined the trajectories of employees’ experiences of job satisfaction and job stressors across the workweek. We proposed two competing theoretical perspectives that result in opposite predictions as to whether job dissatisfaction and perceived job stressors will be higher (“Monday blues”) or lower (“rested and recharged”) at the beginning of the workweek rather than later in the week. Employing a daily diary design with 139 employees (681 matched daily observations) working the traditional workweek, we found that employees reported experiencing lower levels of job satisfaction and perceived more job stressors (i.e., incivility and organizational constraints) at the beginning of the workweek as opposed to later in the week. Additionally, the relationship between perceived incivility and job satisfaction was stronger at the beginning of the workweek. Our findings were consistent with the “Monday blues” perspective and suggest that workdays are not created equal.
Regression analysis on correlation of China’s export via cross-border e-commerce
Authors: Ding Hong-Chao , Wang Gang , Zhong Zuchang , Xu Qunmin , Wu Qianru , Zhong Yuanyuan , Zhan Yanting , Li Miaoting
Published: May 2020

In the Chinese national strategic context of “Internet Plus”, innovation of internet technologies and business models play crucial roles in driving economic growth. The research shows that gross domestic product (GDP), logistics infrastructure and internet penetration of the target countries rank the top 3 of factors that influence export scale via cross-border e-commerce, while the distance to China and tariff constitute negative roles. It is on this assumption that logistics information database of cross-border e-commerce export and foreign infrastructure construction is proposed to expedite trade between China and countries along the Belt and Road.
Creep behavior of polyetherimide semipreg and epoxy prepreg composites: Structure vs. property relationship
Authors: Reis Ana Karoline dos , Monticelli Francisco Maciel , Neves Roberta Motta , de Paula Santos Luis Felipe , Botelho Edson Cocchieri , Luiz Ornaghi Jr Heitor
Published: May 2020

In the present study, the creep behavior of polyetherimide semipreg and epoxy prepreg composites was studied using dynamic mechanical analyzer and focused on structure vs. property relationships in glassy, glass transition, and elastomeric regions. The main contribution to the field is to study pre-impregnated materials concerning creep behavior, mainly based on different analytical models, and microstructure. Two different reinforcements were used (carbon fiber and glass fiber) for each matrix. Findley, Burger, and Weibull analytical models were applied with an excellent fit for the most of them. The impregnation quality, verified by C-scan and the void content by acid digestion, shows different impregnation behaviors, mainly for epoxy/CF, which also influenced molecular motion behavior. The creep behavior was mainly influenced by matrix type than reinforcement architecture and void content. In addition, the creep was higher for epoxy in the glassy region; however, in the glass transition region, higher deformation was found for polyetherimide composites. Previous behavior is mainly attributed to higher energy storage in the glassy region which plays a significant role in the dissipation (glass transition energy), resulting in the energy loss or the drop of storage modulus in a narrow temperature range – more abrupt. This behavior was corroborated by time-temperature superposition curves in which the low deformation obtained for polyetherimide composites at low temperatures is maintained only until the glass transition temperature. Epoxy composites showed a higher initial creep deformation, but the values were almost constant with temperature, even when the temperature passes by the glass transition temperature.
Synergistic effect of carbon nanoparticles on the mechanical and thermal properties of poly(lactic acid) as promising systems for packaging
Authors: Caroline da Silva Rocha Anne , Rodrigues Menezes Lívia , Silva Emerson Oliveira da , Pedrosa Maria Clara Guimarães
Published: May 2020

Due to the high demand of the use of food packaging in the present day, the waste from the material disposal has become a problem of high environmental impact. In this perspective, biodegradable polymers can represent a viable alternative as they degrade after their disposal, thus reducing their environmental impact. The poly(lactic acid) or polylactide is a biodegradable, biocompatible, and compostable polymer, being considered by many authors as one of the most promising biopolymers in industrial applications. However, its low thermal and mechanical properties make it an unfeasible option to replace synthetic polymers. Consequently, polymer nanocomposites containing carbon nanoparticles are products of relevant interest currently, mainly due to the thermal, mechanical, electrical, and optical properties these materials can present. Therefore, carbon nanoparticles (carbon nanotubes, graphene, and fullerene) modified with octadecylamine in their isolated state and in ternary systems in concentrations of 0.01%, 0.03%, and 0.09% were obtained from poly(lactic acid) polymer nanocomposites. After obtaining them, these systems were analyzed by TGA, DSC, FTIR, XRD, SEM, DMA, and NMR techniques. The presence of the octadecylamine modified carbon nanoparticles was able to increase the thermal and mechanical resistance of the poly(lactic acid) matrix. The systems with 0.03% of the nanostructures showed better results in both analyses. In the system with 0.09%, agglomeration occurred, and in ternary systems, the application of these particles results in a greater impact on the molecular mobility exhibiting a synergistic effect that may come from a better dispersion.
Role of thermal conductivity in controlling the tribo-performance of non-asbestos organic brake-pads
Authors: Mahale Vishal , Bijwe Jayashree
Published: May 2020

The range of thermal conductivity of friction materials is a critical issue since lower thermal conductivity leads to accumulation of frictional heat on the working surface, which results in excessive fade, while higher thermal conductivity leads to excessive heat flow towards back-plate resulting to “spongy brakes”. Therefore, thermal conductivity of the friction materials across the brake-pads should not be high while along the length of brake-pad; it should be high. To enhance the thermal conductivity, metals in the form of powder or fibres are used in the friction materials. Apart from improvement in thermal conductivity, strength and structural integrity, metals get actively involved in controlling the tribo-performance. Their role as improver of thermal conductivity and hence indirectly tribo-performance can never be known clearly. Keeping this in view, it was proposed to design a bulk of pad rather than the surface. Three types of pads with identical composition but differing in the bulk/body were designed by placing a thin fabric layer of Cu (2 mm away from surface) in one pad and two layers in other pad. The third pad did not contain any fabric. The developed pads were characterized for physical, chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties. Tribo-performance was evaluated on full-scale inertia dynamometer by following the JASO C 406 testing standard. It was concluded that Cu fabric inclusion led to improvement in thermal conductivity and heat exaction capacity, which in turn, improved the tribo-performance of pads significantly.
Racial Disparities in Emotional Well-Being during Pregnancy
Authors: Hartnett Caroline Sten , Brantley Mia
Published: May 2020

In light of persistent racial disparities in maternal and child health, it is important to understand the dynamics shaping outcomes for black mothers. We examine racial patterns in women’s emotional well-being regarding pregnancy (i.e., women’s reported happiness to be pregnant), which has been shown to have health consequences. Using the 2002–2017 National Survey of Family Growth (N = 6,163 pregnancies ending in birth), we find that black women are less happy about their pregnancies than white women both for intended and mistimed pregnancies. The happiness gap in intended pregnancies is partially attributable to differences in economic strain and partner support. In addition, child gender shapes happiness differently by race: Black women who previously had sons are unhappier about current intended pregnancies than those who did not (with no difference for white women). We argue there are pregnancy- and parenthood-related stressors that disproportionately impact black women, with potential implications for mothers and children.
Beyond Net Worth: Racial Differences in Wealth Portfolios and Black–White Health Inequality across the Life Course
Authors: Boen Courtney , Keister Lisa , Aronson Brian
Published: May 2020

A large body of research links wealth and health, but most previous work focuses on net worth. However, the assets and debts that comprise wealth likely relate to health in different and meaningful ways. Furthermore, racial differences in wealth portfolios may contribute to racial health gaps. Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and mixed effects growth curve models, we examined the associations between various wealth components and multiple health outcomes. We also investigated whether black–white differences in wealth portfolios contributed to racial health inequality. We found that savings, stock ownership, and homeownership consistently improve health, but debt is associated with worse health, even after adjusting for total net worth. We found little evidence that home equity is associated with health. Findings also revealed differential health returns to assets by race. These findings provide new insights into the complex relationship among race, wealth, and health.
Singing Away the Social Distancing Blues: Art Therapy in a Time of Coronavirus
Authors: Gupta Nisha
Published: May 2020

This essay explores the abundance of art flourishing as a therapeutic antidote to the COVID-19 pandemic and panic arising across the world. Specifically, I discuss how the act of viewing, making, and sharing music, street art, paintings, graphic art, cinema, and digital videos can serve as a therapeutic vehicle for empowerment, solidarity, and collective action as most human beings strive to adopt practices of extreme social distancing as the recommended community mitigation strategy to help save lives before a vaccine is developed. This essay explores how therapeutic art-making can promote physical, mental, and social health at a time in history when all of these are under threat by COVID-19. I root these claims in theoretical literature from art therapy, as well as in inspiring and heart-warming examples of the beautiful coronavirus art that has already begun to fill our digital landscape with motivation, resiliency, and hope, though the crisis is still in its early stages.
Who Needs Global Citizenship Education? A Review of the Literature on Teacher Education
Authors: Estellés Marta , Fischman Gustavo E.
Published: May 2020

Given the seemingly ever-increasing scholarly production about the ideas and ideals of global citizenship education (GCE), it is not surprising those discussions started to gain influence in teacher education (TE) debates. In this study, we examine the discourses that tacitly shape the meanings of GCE within the contemporary academic literature on TE. After analyzing the peer-reviewed scholarship published from 2003 to 2018, we identified patterns in how GCE for TE was described and defended, beyond the differences in their conceptual frameworks. The dominant trend found is to frame GCE as a redemptive educational solution to global problems. This framing requires teachers to embrace a redemptive narrative following a model of rationality based on altruistic, hyperrationalized and overly romanticized ideals. Ultimately, TE literature contributes to the configuration of an excessively naïve discourse that tends to ignore the neoliberal context in which both GCE and TE take place today.
Health Care Professionals’ Perceptions of Pay-for-Performance in Practice: A Qualitative Metasynthesis
Authors: Martin Barbara , Jones Jacqueline , Miller Matthew , Johnson-Koenke Rachel
Published: May 2020

Incentive-based pay-for-performance (P4P) models have been introduced during the last 2 decades as a mechanism to improve the delivery of evidence-based care that ensures clinical quality and improves health outcomes. There is mixed evidence that P4P has a positive effect on health outcomes and researchers cite lack of engagement from health care professionals as a limiting factor. This qualitative metasynthesis of existing qualitative research was conducted to integrate health care professionals’ perceptions of P4P in clinical practice. Four themes emerged during the research process: positive perceptions of the value of performance measurement and associated financial incentives; negative perceptions of the performance measurement and associated financial incentives; perceptions of how P4P programs influence the quality/appropriateness of care; and perceptions of the influence of P4P program on professional roles and workplace dynamics. Identifying factors that influence health care professionals’ perceptions about this type of value-based payment model will guide future research.
Between Constituent Power and Political Form: Toward a Theory of Council Democracy
Authors: Popp-Madsen Benjamin Ask
Published: May 2020

This essay goes beyond the dominant conception of constituent power developed by Emmanuel Sieyès and Carl Schmitt by excavating an alternative through the practices of twentieth-century workers’ councils and the interpretations of council democracy by Cornelius Castoriadis and Hannah Arendt. Interpreters of the constituent power often agree on its fundamentally antagonistic relation to constituted power, hereby making constituent politics a momentary experience, which cannot be sustained in constituted politics. Council democracy, instead, discloses a modality of politics, which bridges the gap between constituent power and political form in order to provide institutional means through which the spirit of revolution can survive the founding moment. With this alternative concept of council democratic constituent power, this essay contributes to radical democratic theory by stipulating ways in which institutions can be rethought radically democratic as a way in which constituent power (creativity, novelty, freedom) can be institutionally approximated and continually reexperienced.
Employer Perceptions of Hiring Juveniles With Criminal Records
Authors: Clark Heather Griller , Mathur Sarup R. , Ott Molly , Mctier Terrence S.
Published: May 2020

A key determinant of reentry success for justice-involved youth is productive engagement in school or work. Lack of employment for this population is often tied to inadequate vocational training, work experience, job opportunities, or the stigma attached to incarceration. Although very few studies have been conducted on employers’ perceptions of juveniles with criminal records, research suggests that views related to hiring may vary according to crime type. The purpose of this study was to explore how likely employers would be to grant an interview to a juvenile with a criminal background, and what experience, training, or skills employers seek when hiring juveniles with criminal backgrounds. The results indicate that, all else being equal, a juvenile record might penalize an applicant’s opportunities, and also, offense type matters. The implications of this study are discussed in relation to employment preparation and reentry services and supports for justice-involved youth.
Exploring Coercive Control, PTSD, and the Use of Physical Violence in the Pre-prison Heterosexual Relationships of Incarcerated Women
Authors: Jones Melissa S.
Published: May 2020

Although coercive control has been recognized over the past few decades as a form of intimate partner violence (IPV), researchers have often overlooked the role of coercive control in criminal behavior. Moreover, little is known about the effects of coercive control in the lives of incarcerated women. Using data from the 2014 Oklahoma Study of Incarcerated Women and Their Children ( n = 337), this study utilizes a feminist pathways theoretical framework to explore the relationships between coercive control, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomology, and the use of physical violence in the preprison heterosexual relationships of incarcerated women. Results indicate that coercive control is significantly related to PTSD. Moreover, the relationship between coercive demands and women’s use of physical violence was partially mediated by PTSD symptoms suggesting that PTSD may play a significant role in women’s pathways to using physical violence in their intimate relationships.
Precariousness on the Green: The Labor Situation of Chinese Golf Trainers
Authors: Aurélien Boucher , Xueyun Shao
Published: May 2020

By analyzing a national survey and with ethnographic observations, this article sheds light on the precarious working conditions of Chinese golf trainers. We argue that due to the adequacy of income package, certainty about the continuity of employment, control over labor process, and effectiveness of labor market regulation, golf trainers face more uncertainty than other workers with a similar social background (age and cultural capital). By doing so, this essay also addresses the specifics and segmentation of the sport labor market.
Primary Care Clinic Nurse Activities with a Telehealth Monitoring System
Authors: Howland Chelsea , Despins Laurel , Sindt Jeri , Wakefield Bonnie , Mehr David R.
Published: May 2020

The purpose of this study was to evaluate differences in the types of nursing activities and communication processes reported in a primary care clinic between patients who used a home-based monitoring system to electronically communicate self-monitored blood glucose and blood pressure values and those who assumed usual care. Data were extracted from electronic medical records from individuals who participated in a randomized controlled trial comparing in-home monitoring and usual care in patients with Type 2 diabetes and hypertension being treated in a primary care clinic. Data about nursing activities initiated by primary care clinic nurses were compared between groups using descriptive statistics and independent t-tests. Significant differences between groups were identified for the direct care nursing activities of providing lifestyle and health education, medication adjustments, and patient follow-up. This study provides evidence of greater nursing activity reported in a primary care clinic in patients who utilized a home-based monitoring system.
Intervention Design and Trial Protocol: Mindfulness-based Exposure for PAP-associated Claustrophobia
Authors: Gawrysiak Michael J. , Baime Michael , King Tonya S. , Watach Alexa J. , McPhillips Miranda V. , Kolanowski Ann , Schutte-Rodin Sharon , Sawyer Amy M.
Published: May 2020

Positive airway pressure (PAP) associated claustrophobia is common among obstructive sleep apnea patients and plays a prominent role in low adherence and treatment failure. As there are no evidence-based interventions for PAP-associated claustrophobia, the objective of the present research is to pilot test Mindfulness-based Exposure for PAP-associated Claustrophobia, in sleep apnea adults that present with treatment non-adherence and claustrophobia. This approach combines Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction with exposure-based treatment components to target this treatment-associated claustrophobia. The present article outlines the mindfulness exposure intervention design and methods and reports the pilot trial study protocol. Trial findings are intended to: (a) develop a preliminary effect size of the intervention on PAP-associated claustrophobia; (b) explore differences in treatment adherence by group (intervention vs control); and (c) establish feasibility for expanded protocol implementation, delivery, and participant acceptability of the intervention to support subsequent design of a fully powered randomized controlled trial.
Using Functional Ability Measures to Assess Fall Risk in Acute Care
Authors: Bassett Alaina M. , Siu Ka-Chun , Honaker Julie A.
Published: May 2020

Currently, it is not known whether integration of functional performance measures is sensitive and feasible for use in acute care settings. This cross-sectional study explored the subjective and objective measures of the risks of falling, falls efficacy, and functional abilities for inpatients in an adult acute care unit. The Morse Fall Scale ( n = 30) and Timed Up and Go (TUG; n = 10) had excellent sensitivity (100%) for identifying participants with prior fall histories, while the St. Thomas Risk Assessment Tool in Falling Elderly Inpatients only had good sensitivity (87.5%). Study findings suggest that implementation of feasible functional ability measures in conjunction with subjective fall risk measures could enhance accuracy and performance in identifying inpatient risks of falling in acute care settings.
Achieving patient-centred goals in oncology: A retrospective analysis of a domestic activities of daily living group
Authors: Udovicich Anthea , Edbrooke Lara , Brown Ted , Marston Celia
Published: May 2020

Introduction

This retrospective study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a domestic activities of daily living group on the occupational performance and satisfaction of adult inpatients with cancer.

Method

A retrospective analysis was completed with an initial cohort of patients who participated in the group during their acute inpatient oncology admission. As part of their routine care, patients completed the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure before and after their participation in the group. The occupational performance and satisfaction scores of 31 adults (mean age 71.61 years, 19 females) were reported descriptively and within-group changes analysed using one-sample t-test analyses and bootstrapping.

Results

Most (71%) of the 31 patients were discharged home following their inpatient stay. Canadian Occupational Performance Measure mean (SD) change scores were 3.44 (3.90) for performance and 2.04 (2.16) for satisfaction following participation in one domestic activities of daily living intervention group session. Statistically significant improvements in patients’ Canadian Occupational Performance Measure performance and satisfaction scores were demonstrated in the one-sample t-test ( p < .002) and bootstrapping sampling ( p < .002).

Conclusion

Acute oncology inpatients who attended a domestic activities of daily living intervention group reported a positive change in Canadian Occupational Performance Measure occupational performance and satisfaction. This study highlights the potential benefit of a group-based domestic activities of daily living intervention in an acute oncology setting.
Remote Home Visit: Exploring the feasibility, acceptability and potential benefits of using digital technology to undertake occupational therapy home assessments
Authors: Read Jennifer , Jones Natalie , Fegan Colette , Cudd Peter , Simpson Emma , Mazumdar Suvodeep , Ciravegna Fabio
Published: May 2020

Introduction

Home assessments are integral to the occupational therapy role, providing opportunities to personalise and integrate care. However, they are resource intensive and declining in number. A 3-month service development within one United Kingdom National Health Service acute hospital setting explored the concept of using digital technology to undertake remote home assessments.

Methods

Four work streams explored the concept’s feasibility and acceptability: real-world testing; user consultations; narrative case study collection; traditional visit resource use exploration. Project participants were occupational therapists and patient and public representatives recruited via snowball sampling or critical case sampling. Qualitative data were thematically analysed identifying key themes. Analysis of quantitative data provided descriptive statistics.

Findings

The remote home visit concept was feasible within four specific contexts. Qualitative themes suggest acceptability depends on visitor safety, visitor training, visitor induction and standardisation of practice. Consultees perceived the approach to have potential for resource savings, personalisation and integration of care. Barriers to acceptance included data security, data governance, technology failure and threat to occupational therapists’ role and skills.

Conclusion

Applying digital technology to occupational therapy home assessment appears feasible and acceptable within a specific context. Further research is recommended to develop the technology, and test and investigate perceived benefits within wider contexts and stakeholder groups.
It’s not just action but also about reflection: Taking stock of agency research to develop a future research agenda
Authors: Hirst Giles , Yeo Gillian , Celestine Nicole , Lin Shen-Yang (Sonya) , Richardson Alex
Published: May 2020

Agency is the human capability to exert influence over one’s actions and environment, such as through forethought, self-regulation and self-reflection. We focus on six prominent agency constructs, including goal orientation, regulatory focus, proactivity, fear of failure, core self-evaluations and psychological capital, and review what we have learned from each construct. By adopting an overarching multidisciplinary perspective, we identify key research agendas for the six prominent constructs: (1) incorporating self-reflection into research on agentic disposition; (2) how agency dispositions equip employees for workplaces of the futures, yet also how such behaviours may challenge societal and corporate mechanisms of control; and (3) well-being and health-related consequences of agency. In addition, we highlight the importance of understanding the interface between agency scholarship and developments in technology, medicine and sociology.

JEL Classification: M10, M14
A case report of a transient splenial lesion related to HaNDL syndrome
Authors: Smail Ruaridh Cameron , Baird-Gunning Jonathan , Drummond James , Ng Karl
Published: May 2020

Background

Transient lesions in the splenium of the corpus callosum have been identified in many clinical cases, and often correspond to a metabolic insult to the brain. The syndrome of transient headache and neurological deficits with cerebrospinal fluid lymphocytosis (HaNDL syndrome) is a rare but under-recognised headache syndrome.

Case

A 47-year-old man presented to our hospital with a 2-week history of intermittent headache, and acute right sided hemisensory deficit. A CSF lymphocytosis was found and a diagnosis of HaNDL was made. A lesion in the splenium of the corpus callosum was identified on MRI. CSF lymphocytosis and the splenial lesion resolved on follow up 4 weeks later.

Conclusion

These two entities are uncommon but increasingly recognised. The co-incidence in this patient raises the possibility of similar underlying pathological mechanisms, including vasomotor changes in blood vessels, cortical spreading depression and glutamate excitotoxicity leading to intra-myelinic oedema. Awareness of these entities will allow prompt diagnosis, preventing unnecessary tests and treatment, and allow appropriate patient management.
Primitive Socialist Accumulation in China: An Alternative View on the Anomalies of Chinese “Capitalism”
Authors: Cheng Sam-Kee
Published: May 2020

China’s economic system has yet to be adequately explained by any models. China’s export-led industries were initially viewed as a source of cheap labor but its economy has now emerged as a serious competitor to advanced capitalism. However, after decades of market reform, China’s state sector, rather than disappearing or being marginalized, has become a leader in strategic sectors and the driver of its investment-led growth. Heterodox political scientists and economists have long argued that China is at best a variant within global capitalism. This paper discusses heterodox theories that position China as part of global capitalism or regard it as a variety of capitalism. It then examines the anomalies of Chinese “capitalism” and suggests that primitive socialist accumulation—operating in conflict with capitalist accumulation—offers a more appropriate theoretical framework for studying China’s development.
Planning beyond Mass Incarceration
Authors: Simpson Sheryl-Ann , Steil Justin , Mehta Aditi
Published: May 2020

The policing and penal systems play an oversized role in shaping the built environment and budgets of cities, alongside the lives of urban residents. Law enforcement systems are also deeply inequitable with poor residents, and communities of color disproportionately harmed by the violences of the system. Planning’s contribution to the creation of durable spatial stratification in the built environment implicates planning in the class and race disparities in law enforcement systems. Planning research and theory has also supported this inequity by largely neglecting the relationships between policing and penal systems and planning. The articles in this volume address this neglect and employ a wide variety of core theories, methods, and methodologies from planning to engage with the relationships between planning and law enforcement. The articles are connected through attention to racial justice including analyzing moments where planning supported and produced injustice, and identifying opportunities to support greater equity, decarceration and even abolition where planning practice, education and research support the creation of systems of safety and care beyond mass incarceration.
A Durometer (Mammometer) for Objective Measurement Capsular Contraction Following Breast Implant Surgery
Authors: Murphy Tracey , Brown Stephen , Brown Tim
Published: May 2020

The importance of measuring breast firmness reproducibly to monitor postsurgical progress has been appreciated for many years. This study ascertains whether a durometer can be used to quantify capsular contraction and to provide an objective, reproducible measure of fibrosis around an implant. Patients with clinically detected Baker 3 or 4 capsules following breast augmentation underwent firmness measurements using a durometer prior to corrective surgery. Durometry was undertaken on both breasts by an operator who was blinded to the clinical diagnosis. Firmness measurements were taken in each breast quadrant and directly over the nipple-areolar complex on each side. In the study, 16 patients were included. Capsules presented 16 to 714 weeks following surgery (mean 217, standard deviation (STD) 205.4 weeks). Differences in pressure were demonstrated in all quadrants of the breast and at the nipple-areolar complex except the lower inner quadrant. All significant differences demonstrated a higher pressure in the encapsulated breast. The mean pressure in an encapsulated breast was 0.66 kPa (STD 0.25) and 0.46 kPa (STD 0.16) in the normal breast. The durometer can reproducibly describe changes in pressure associated with capsular contraction compared with the contralateral breast. It provides a means of objectively describing capsular contraction following breast augmentation surgery for research and patient care.
Fabrication of sliver nanoparticles/polyvinyl alcohol/gelatin ternary nanofiber mats for wound healing application
Authors: Amer Somaya , Attia Noha , Nouh Samir , El-Kammar Mahmoud , Korittum Ahmed , Abu-Ahmed Howaida
Published: May 2020

Purpose

In this study, we aimed to determine the regenerative and antimicrobial impact of the electrospun nanofiber mats, with/without silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), on full-thickness skin wounds in rabbits.

Methods

Polyvinyl alcohol was combined with gelatin to provide biocompatible electrospun binary nanofiber mats. AgNPs were added to the polyvinyl alcohol/gelatin mixture to obtain ternary nanofiber-AgNPs mats. Binary and ternary nanofiber mats were characterized by scanning electron microscopy before being applied as wound dressings in vivo. Subsequently, wound healing was evaluated.

Results

Both nanofiber/nanofiber-AgNPs mats improved the microscopic quality of the healed skin, albeit without obvious acceleration of the healing rate. As well, both types of nanofiber mats were able to combat microbial invasion into the wound bed.

Conclusions

Both binary polyvinyl alcohol/gelatin and ternary polyvinyl alcohol/gelatin/AgNPs nanofiber mats developed in the present study depicted similar regenerative and antimicrobial potential when applied as full-thickness wound dressing. However, in comparison to the binary nanofiber mats, no obvious synergistic effect was observed after loading nanofibers with AgNPs.
Jail Visitation: An Assessment of Alternative Modalities
Authors: Sitren Alicia H. , Smith Hayden P. , Andersen Tia Stevens , Bookstaver Megan R.
Published: May 2020

The existing research on inmate visitation disproportionately focuses on the social ties between mother and child within a traditional face-to-face engagement at state prisons. This overreliance on a certain type of visit has limited empirical assessments of the visitation process. The current study features a purposive sample of 47 ( n = 47) visitors to a remote visitation center linked to a county jail. Qualitative responses indicate that respondents held positive perceptions of staff and the facility itself. Visiting sessions were complex, with visitors displaying an assortment of individual needs, previous visitation experiences, and goals for the visit. Participants did experience a loss of privacy and they employed strategies to retain a personal sense of privacy. Technology was highly valued by visitors, with frustrations being common when technology failed. However, the use of a remote visitation coupled with technology served as a positive and effective modality for jail visitation.
Neoliberalization, De-democratization, and Populist Responses in Western Europe, the US, and Latin America
Authors: Brown John
Published: May 2020

This article argues that multipronged de-democratization processes over the course of neoliberal projects fostered unstable democratic equilibria in Western and Latin American democracies, opening space for populist leaders and parties to emerge. To comprehend the variation in the nature of populists that gained support, the form of neoliberalization process in each region and the consequent impacts on traditional party systems is accounted for. Moreover, the impact of region-specific factors on populist forms such as economic crises, immigration levels, and the existence of progressive social movements are accounted for. The conflux of neoliberal de-democratization, austerity, and immigration fostered a conservative nativist-populism in Western cases. In Latin America, neoliberal de-democratization and austerity, in the presence of powerful popular movements, witnessed the emergence of a more progressive populism.
Influence of Cloisite® 20B on mechanical properties of S-glass fiber-reinforced polymer composite
Authors: Woldemariam Mulugeta H , Belingardi Giovanni , Beyene Alem T , Reda Daniel T , Koricho Ermias G
Published: May 2020

In this work the effect of nanoclay, Cloisite 20B inclusion on the mechanical behavior of a woven-type glass fiber reinforced polymer composite was experimentally investigated. Specifically, the study examined the effect of nanoclay with various weight percentages on the tensile, compressive strengths, and modulus of elasticity of glass fiber reinforced polymers in both weft and warp directions. Results showed that depending on the warp and weft directions, the inclusion of nanoclay, Cloisite 20B, significantly improved the mechanical behavior of glass fiber reinforced polymers. A better understanding of nanoclay fillers and their contribution to mechanical behaviors can lead to better design of novel structural composites.
Study of bolted joint axial stiffness using finite element analyses, experimental tests, and analytical calculations
Authors: Cardoso Raphael Calazans , Nascimento Brenno Lima , Thompson Felipe de Freitas , Griza Sandro
Published: May 2020

The bolted joints sizing procedures shall adequately match the conditions imposed on the joint in service, to ensure high reliability designs. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the load distributions on the bolt when applying external load on bolted joints. Finite element and extensometry analyses as well as analytical calculations were performed in order to compare the magnitude of the joint overall stiffness, with respect to several available theories. The results acquired through the analytical method prescribed in the VDI 2230 standard as well as the finite element and extensometry analyses obtained great accordance. These results indicate that VDI 2230 standard adequately represents the mechanical behavior of the joint and should be used as a guideline for the reliable design of bolted joints subjected to the loading conditions of the present paper.