bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Utility of fragility fracture prediction tools in a group of postmenopausal women
Authors: Amarowicz Jarosław , Krawczyk Agnieszka , Kumorek Anna
Published: September 2021

Introduction

Fractures are a common complication of osteoporosis. The main aim of our study was to assess the relation between fractures identified as low energy fractures (fragility), bone mineral density (BMD), trabecular bone score (TBS), and handgrip in a group of postmenopausal women. An additional aim was to determine the relation between fragility fractures and age, height loss, and falls (reported in the last 12 months and 5 years).

Material and methods

The study was conducted in a group of 120 (mean age 69 years; 59–81, SD 5.3) postmenopausal patients who were referred to the Medical Centre for an osteoporosis screening appointment by their general practitioner. All patients were interviewed (with a questionnaire containing questions on fracture risk factors and highest height), had their anthropometric measures taken (current height and weight) as well as TBS analysis following their DXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan and handgrip measure.

Results

Sixty patients from the study group had a history of fractures (with a total of 92 fractures), of whom 39 women (76 fractures) were identified as those with a low-energy fracture. Fragility fractures were more likely to be reported in older patients (Me 71 vs. 68 years, p < 0.05). Differences observed between TBS, handgrip and BMD in reference to fragility fractures were not statistically significant. Analysis showed significant correlations between BMD (neck and L1–L4) and TBS fracture risk categories. Falls reported in the last 5 years and height loss were factors which correlated with fragility fractures (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Risk of fragility fractures increases with age. Bone mineral density is insufficient as a fracture risk assessment tool. Information on falls and height loss may provide additional data on fracture risk assessment.
Currículo Nacional de Educación Básica: Incorporación de la competencia argumentativa en el Perfil de egreso.
Authors: Pérez Castillo Sara Noemí , Apolaya Sotelo José Pascual
Published: September 2021

Cada vez cobra mayor fuerza en los contextos educativos, la importancia de la argumentación como recurso esencial para que los estudiantes desarrollen habilidades comunicativas dialógicas, sean capaces de participar en intercambios orales de discusión, sostener sus ideas de manera escrita en relación a tópicos significativos de la cotidianidad, así como acceder a mejores aprendizajes al interactuar estratégicamente con la información a la que accede por los diferentes medios, entre ellas, las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación. En suma, se trata del desarrollo de la competencia comunicativa. En ese sentido, el presente artículo de revisión de literatura científica tiene como objetivo establecer una visión global de la argumentación y la competencia argumentativa en los diferentes niveles de la educación. La metodología aplicada se realizó en base al análisis documental y la hermenéutica. Se concluye en que, es imperativo el incluir a la argumentación dentro de las estrategias de enseñanza-aprendizaje orientadas a su desarrollo progresivo como competencia, con carácter transversal, previa revisión del currículo, a nivel general, o en su defecto los instrumentos de gestión institucional.
Las políticas públicas como garantía de los derechos fundamentales.
Authors: López Moya Daniela Fernanda
Published: September 2021

Las políticas públicas son generadas según el tipo de estado adoptado por un país, sea este de Derecho Social de Derechos o Constitucional de Derechos y Justicia, dentro de este último, en el Ecuador, se han implementado planes nacionales de desarrollo, los cuales orientan la actuación a nivel de gobierno para la eficacia de los derechos fundamentales, con los que se articulan interinstitucionalmente dentro del ámbito público y cuentan con respaldo del sector privado y la participación ciudadana. Dichas políticas públicas pretenden solventar problemas latentes que ameritan la diligencia de los actores antes descritos, sea para su formulación, ejecución, evaluación y control en favor de los derechos constitucionalmente reconocidos y el interés general del mandante. Por lo que el presente artículo tiene como objetivo: Analizar la evolución de las políticas públicas en el Ecuador según los tipos de estado asumidos, y su actual aplicación, a fin de garantizar los derechos fundamentales, con enfoque en los grupos de atención prioritaria. Para lo cual se ha realizado una investigación documental de revisión bibliográfica, aplicando los métodos histórico – lógico e inductivo – deductivo que apuntan a identificar el despliegue obligatorio y de responsabilidad del estado, para garantizar el respeto de los derechos a manera de una garantía constitucional.
Los principios del Derecho Administrativo: su positivización
Authors: Haro Salas María Fernanda , Villacrés Salas María Paula
Published: September 2021

En el Derecho Administrativo, al ser una rama que se originó tardíamente en relación con otras y considerada como una rama en formación, los principios cumplieron un papel fundamental en su surgimiento y desarrollo. Históricamente, los principios sirvieron para originar las normas positivas, sin ser enunciados o definidos en estas normas. La incorporación de los principios a los diferentes tipos de normas que componen el ordenamiento jurídico es un fenómeno relativamente nuevo. La enunciación de los principios en normas escritas se originó en instrumentos internacionales, posteriormente se incorporó en las constituciones y recientemente en las leyes. Finalmente, el ordenamiento jurídico no solamente los nombró, sino que los definió, es el caso del Código Orgánico Administrativo ecuatoriano que, en su contenido, enuncia y define varios principios. Los principios son generales y gozan de una gran capacidad de abstracción, lo que les permite desempeñar su función fundamentadora, interpretativa e integradora de la norma. Este trabajo, a través del método cualitativo, histórico-lógico e inductivo-deductivo, con base en la revisión bibliográfica de varios autores y normativa histórica, analiza si su positivización garantiza la seguridad jurídica en la aplicación de los principios o limita su alcance hasta desvirtuar su esencia.
El derecho a la salud de las personas con enfermedades catastróficas o degenerativas
Authors: Dutan Yunga Jaime Manuel , Quinche Lavanda Darwin Jeovanny
Published: September 2021

El presente trabajo de investigación tiene por objetivo el análisis jurídico del acceso y justiciabilidad del derecho a la salud para las personas con enfermedades degenerativas o catastróficas, con énfasis en el caso del síndrome de Laron. Para su cumplimiento se realizó un estudio descriptivo con enfoque cualitativo de tipo revisión bibliográfica, sistematizado a través de los métodos analítico-sintético, exegético y de construcciones jurídicas. Los hallazgos evidencian fisuras en torno al acceso y justiciabilidad del derecho a la salud en  Ecuador, en particular el derecho de las personas con este síndrome.
Teachers' understanding and implementation of the design process as it relates to teaching Technology Education in the intermediate and senior phases (Grades 4-9) in the General Education and Training Band in KwaZulu-Natal
Authors:   , De Jager Maria Louisa Elizabeth
Published: September 2021

Outcomes-based education compelled South African teachers to make an important paradigm shift in education from a teacher-centred approach to a learner-centred approach. This paradigm shift in teaching and learning emphasised an active participation of learners which necessitated Technology Education (TE) teachers to restructure their teaching strategies in terms of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). Conducted within a constructivist paradigm, this study was based on Shulman‟s (1986, 2004) theory of pedagogical and content knowledge, and Vygotsky‟s (1978) zone of proximal development within social constructivism. Using a mixed method approach, this study investigated teachers‟ understanding and implementation of the design process as it relates to teaching TE in the intermediate and senior phases (Grades 4–9) of the General Education and Training Band in KwaZulu-Natal. The study also considered the training of TE teachers in a bid to facilitate teaching and learning in the classroom and to enable learners to become creative and critical problem solvers. Analysis of the questionnaire and semi-structured responses revealed that teachers were interpreting and implementing policy differently and that they were not adequately trained to teach TE. As a result, classroom practice in terms of teaching and learners‟ experience of the design process in TE also differed. Valuable lessons were learned in this study for the structuring of training programmes for teachers in Technology Education to enhance teaching and learning in the classroom. Therefore, based on the findings, this study makes recommendations regarding teaching, learning, assessment, and training of teachers in TE.
Towards the biochemical nature of learning and its implication for learning, teaching and assessment : a study through literature and experiences of learners and educators
Authors:   , Timm Delysia Norelle
Published: September 2021

In this study I have explored scientific insights towards establishing how the biochemistry of the human being could have a significant impact on human learning in a number of different ways. I have discovered that the biochemistry within the whole human being is triggered by the molecules of emotion occurring in a psychosomatic network active throughout the whole being. The molecules of emotion are neuropeptides such as endorphins, linked to their receptors, such as opiate receptors. This triggering of the molecules of emotion constitutes the pleasure principle which enables and encourages learning. In addition, the growth of myelin ensheathing all the neurons, through a process of myelination, also informs human learning biochemically. These biochemical processes make human learning ‘active’. These biochemical processes also constitute a network of subtle energies operating in the viscera of all human beings, and so account for the anthropology of learning, viz. what is common to all human learning, regardless of ethnic group, language, economic circumstances, religious belief system, level of education, social class, age, gender, rural or urban location, inter alia. I have then drawn on my own learning experiences – my autobiography - and the experiences of others – an autoethnography - for evidence of the operation of the biochemistry in my and their learning. I have presented evidence of the emotions of joy, love and fun activating whole-being-learning that occurs in all of personal, spiritual and educational human learning. I have described my living spiritual and living educational theory as one where human learning happens when there is joy-filled love and love-filled joy within a safe community of practice. Within this safe community of practice, at least three aspects are argued to be features of whole-being-learning:  the relationships between the learners, their teachers and the subject are characterised by joy-filled love and love filled joy.  the talents and gifts of both the learners and the teachers are explored, celebrated, and used for inclusive benefit.  the knowledges of, about, and between, learners and teachers become integrated and coherent. My original contributions to the body of scholarly knowledge evidenced by my study include the following :  I have established the link between human learning as a biochemical process and the efficiency of games as a learning tool, thereby showing the link between learning and fun.  I have explored the holistic, organic intrinsic connections between personal, spiritual and educational human learning.  I have contributed to a growing understanding of the study of self as a subject and object in terms of my ways of human knowing (my epistemology), my ways of being human (my ontology) and my values (my axiology) which (in)form my attitudes of joy-filled love and love filled joy in all that I do.
Telling tales : pictograms as a visual voice
Authors:   , Scott Lee
Published: September 2021

In this critically reflective self-study I have illustrated how my research in the field of Graphic design has been purposeful in creating a visual voice to express myself, improve my practice as an artist, teacher, and visual activist and in turn create an alternate voice for others. My study includes the conceptualization of the pictographic cards that I have named PicTopics, their value as an educational tool and their pertinence as visual prompts. My research questions have included exploring the role of the PicTopics in communicating a story or message, and how they could be pertinent to my practice as an artist, researcher, teacher and social being. My methodology, under the umbrella of self-study, has explored the living social, educational, and artistic values associated with fun, playing, creativity and wellbeing as a way to improve my practice. I used the PicTopic in a variety of settings - with the public at an art gallery to record their stories, in the classroom as creative prompts and as a way to inspire and conceptualize the practical artistic component of this study. I believe that the PicTopics when used as prompts can trigger and cultivate storytelling, enable engagement between people and open communication channels between the educator, and students. The PicTopics have become a thread between my living theories which are linked with my values and beliefs, my practice as an artist and my role as an educator and social transformer.
Afectación familiar de la enfermedad de Hansen en Costa Rica.
Authors: Rivera-Chavarría Ana , Sánchez Hernández Germana , Espinoza Aguirre Azálea
Published: September 2021

Objetivo: el contagio familiar de la enfermedad de Hansen es un hecho bien establecido;aunque la transmisibilidad es baja, los contactos intradomiciliarios de personas enfermassin tratamiento son un grupo con alto riesgo. El objetivo del estudio fue identificar lascaracterísticas sociodemográficas, culturales y clínicas comunes en grupos familiares, conantecedente de enfermedad de Hansen, como insumo para mejorar el tratamiento de la lepra.
Metodología: se realizó un estudio cualitativo, empleando la técnica de entrevista enprofundidad semiestructurada, basándose en una guía de entrevista elaborada, y tomandocomo referencia factores sociodemográficos, sociales y culturales relacionados con eldiagnóstico y tratamiento. Se seleccionaron 25 personas adultas entre 23 y 88 años de edad, deambos sexos atendidos por el sistema de salud público costarricense. Se utilizaron genogramaspara identificar miembros de la familia con antecedentes de la enfermedad.
Resultados: el estudio mostró que 12 participantes provenían de 3 grupos familiares; dosgrupos con tres generaciones afectadas. Los participantes fueron diagnosticados en edadeseconómicamente activas de vida. Además, realizan ocupaciones manuales, con niveleseducativos bajos y de religión cristiana. Al momento de la entrevista conocían el antecedentefamiliar. La forma de presentación clínica en los tres grupos familiares fue Lepra lepromatosa.Se identificó un caso de lepra conyugal y una participante de 15 años de edad al diagnóstico.
Conclusiones: el estudio identificó características sociodemográficas, culturales y clínicascomunes de grupos familiares, que evidenciaron la necesidad de fortalecer la vigilancia decontactos en familias con nuevos casos.
Descriptores: Lepra, prevención, relaciones familiares, Costa Rica.
PENURUNAN KADAR BILIRUBIN TOTAL SERUM YANG DIENCERKAN PADA PENDERITA TUBERKULOSIS
Authors: Putri Widaninggar Rahma , Widada Subrata Tri , Setiawan Budi
Published: September 2021

Pemeriksaan tes fungsi hati dianjurkan untuk dilakukan terlebih dahulu sebelum dilakukan pengobatan TBC dan pada saat pengobatan. Peningkatan kadar bilirubin total lima kali lipat dari batas normal merupakan salah satu dari 3 kriteria pasien tuberkulosis paru menderita cedera hati akibat penggunaan obat. Salah satu penanganan serum pekat akibat penggunaan OAT (Obat Anti Tuberkulosis) adalah dengan perlakuan pengenceran. Pengencernan dilakukan dengan penambahan NaCL fisiologis perbandingan. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui penurunan kadar bilirubin total setelah dilakukan pengenceran pada serum penderita tuberkulosis. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian Pre-experimental Design dengan desain penelitian One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design. Sampel penelitian sebanyak 30 sampel serum pasien tuberkulosis dengan kadar Bilirubin Total serum lebih dari 6,0 mg/dL. Data yang diperoleh dianalisis secara deskriptif dan menggunakan Uji Paired Sample T-Test. Penelitian ini memperoleh hasil bahwa terjadi penurunan kadar rerata selisih kadar Bilirubin total serum pasien tuberkulosis sebesar 0.29 mg/dL (2,70%) pada serum dengan pengenceran dengan nilai signifikansi sebesar 0,000 (<0,05) yang berarti ada perbedaan kadar Bilirubin total pada serum pasien tuberkulosis dengan dan tanpa pengenceran. Pada serum penderita TBC yang pekat sebaiknya dilakukan pengenceran untuk mengurangi kesalahan kadar tinggi palsu yang berakibat pada kesalahan penghentian pengobatan.
DETERMINAN YANG BERPENGARUH TERHADAP PEMANTAUAN MUTU EKSTERNAL (PME) BAKTERI TAHAN ASAM (BTA) DI WILAYAH KOTA ADMINISTRASI JAKARTA TIMUR
Authors: Yansen Aturut
Published: September 2021

Jakarta Timur belum semua faskes yang melakukan pemeriksaan mikroskopik BTA menurut data tahun 2016 dari total 61 faskes yang melakukan pemeriksaan mikroskopis BTA baru 13 Puskesmas, 16 Rumah Sakit (21%) yang mengikuti program PME. Dengan hasil 6 faskes mikroskopis yang ikut PME 4 Triwulan dan dari 6 faskes mikroskopis belum ada satupun yang menghasilkan kualitas ujisilang yang baik (0%). Untuk itu Suku Dinas Kesehatan Jakarta Timur dituntut untuk membina, mengawasi dan mengendalikan fasilitas pelayan kesehatan mikroskopis untuk mampu meningkatkan hasil PME yang baik. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mempelajari dan menjelaskan determinan yang mempengaruhi hasil PME dari laboratorium yang melaksanakan pemeriksaan Mikroskopis sedian dahak diwilayah Kota Administrasi Jakarta Timur. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah Cross Secsional Study Yaitu variabel dependen dan independen diamati pada periode yang sama dan metode yang digunakan adalah metode survey. Analisa data menggunakan uji chi-square dan regression logistic. Dari 60 responden yang diuji ada pendidikan diploma yaitu 62%, pernah dilatih <2 tahun yaitu 95%, memiliki 2 tenaga yaitu 100%, menganggarkan tiap tahun yaitu 96%, sarana dan prasarana yang baik yaitu 79%. Determinan anggaran yang sangat berhubungan dengan pelaksanaan PME BTA yaitu 96%. Artinya determinan anggaran yang mempunyai hubungan yang sangat signifikan dengan pelaksanaan PME BTA dimana variabel ini memiliki p value kurang dari 0.05 dan memiliki OR 99.24. Kesimpulan dari hasil ini bahwa Suku Dinas Kesehatan Jakarta Timur dapat memastikan semua faskes menganggarkan tiap tahun walaupun sementara ini masih ada bantuan dari luar negeri untuk pelaksanaan PME BTA.
ISOLASI BAKTERI Salmonella paratyphi DAN Shigell dysentriae PADA AIR SUMUR YANG TERDAPAT DI DESA PAYA BAKUNG KECAMATAN HAMPARAN PERAK TAHUN 2021
Authors: Sinaga Eka Margareta , Siahaan Maniur , Mahyudi Mahyudi
Published: September 2021

Air merupakan bahan alam yang diperlukan untuk kehidupan manusia sebagai media pengangkutan zat-zat makanan, juga merupakan sumber energi serta berbagai keperluan lainnya. Pemeriksaan Salmonella paratyphi dan Shigella dysentriae pada air sumur dilakukan karna dapat menyebabkan demam thipoid dan diare, yang disebabkan karena masyarakat membuat sumur terlalu dekat dengan septic tank dan kandang hewan sehingga air sumur yang digunakan untuk keperluan rumah tangga bisa terkontaminasi oleh bakteri tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengisolasi bakteri Salmonella typhi dan Shigella dysentriae dari 20 sampel air sumur yang  diambil di Desa Paya Bakung Kecamatan Hamparan Perak. Sampel diisolasi dengan Media yang digunakan yaitu Thioglycholat broth, Salmonella Shigella Agar (SSA) dan  Mac Conkey Agar (MCA). Hasil identifikasi terhadap 20 sampel air sumur yang  diambil di Desa Paya Bakung Kecamatan Hamparan Perak yaitu: dari 20 sampel terdapat 5 sampel yang tercemar bakteri Salmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi dan Shigella dysentriae. Saran Bagi masyarakat diharapkan untuk menjaga ke higenisan pada saat menggunakan air sumur dan sebaiknya pembuatan sumur gali lebih jauh dari sumber pencemaran yang berjarak sekitar 15 meter.
Tribal’s Perception on Governance of Village Council (Dorbar) System: A Case Study of West Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya State
Authors:   Department of Political Science, William Carey University, Shillong, Nongrum Rubenker , Dash Dr Trilochan
Published: September 2021

The traditional local governance system is as old as the history of humanity but only recently it has entered into the broad academic discourse due to different societal setting exist in different societies. The author tries to argue that due to the presence of illiteracy, poverty, inaccessibility of communication facilities, the so called tribal elites are governing the society as according to their own will and at the same devoid of traditional customary laws. Therefore, the author tries to address the issues and at the same time provide the suggestive measures for reform in order to have a better governance at the Village council (Dorbar) system in the State of Meghalaya.
Technical note: Effects of iron(II) on fluorescence properties of dissolved organic matter at circumneutral pH
Authors: Jia Kun , Manning Cara C. M. , Jollymore Ashlee , Beckie Roger D.
Published: September 2021

Abstract. Modern fluorescence spectroscopy methods, including excitation–emission matrix (EEM) spectra parsed using parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) statistical approaches, are widely used to characterize dissolved organic matter (DOM) pools. The effect of soluble reduced iron, Fe(II), on EEM spectra can be significant but is difficult to quantitatively assign. In this study, we examine the effects of Fe(II) on the EEM spectra of groundwater samples from an anaerobic deltaic aquifer containing up to
300 mg L−1 Fe(II), located a few kilometres from the ocean and adjacent to the Fraser River in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. We added varying quantities of Fe(II) into groundwater samples to evaluate Fe(II)–DOM interactions. Both the overall fluorescence intensity and the intensity of the primary peak, a humic-like substance at excitation and emission wavelengths of 239 and 441–450 nm (peak A), respectively, decreased by approximately 60 % as Fe(II) concentration increased from 1 to 306 mg L−1. Furthermore, the quenching effect was nonlinear and proportionally stronger at Fe(II) concentrations below 100 mg L−1. This nonlinear relationship suggests a static
quenching mechanism. In addition, DOM fluorescence indices are substantially influenced by the Fe(II) concentration. With increasing Fe(II), the fluorescence index (FI) shifts to higher values, the humidification index (HIX) shifts to lower values, and the freshness index (FrI) shifts to higher values. Nevertheless, the 13-component PARAFAC model showed that the component distribution was relatively insensitive to Fe(II) concentration; thus, PARAFAC may be a reliable method for obtaining information about the DOM composition and its redox status in Fe(II)-rich waters. By characterizing the impacts of up to 300 mg L−1 Fe(II) on EEMs using groundwater from an aquifer which contains similar Fe(II) concentrations, we advance previous work which characterized impacts of lower Fe(II) concentrations (less than 2 mg L−1) on EEMs.
Mechanical characterization of multiphasic Pcl microfiber hydrogel composites for articular cartilage
Authors:   , Braig Johannes Julian
Published: September 2021

Polymer processing represents the backbone for Biofabrication, here two technologies are advanced to solve key limitations. The first project explores multiphasic scaffolds printed via melt electrowriting to create hydrogel composites that mimic the unique mechanical properties of articular cartilage. The constructs confirmed the biomechanics of native tissue on a global and local scale, representing a promising alternative to current approaches limited by inadequate mechanical properties. In the second project a printhead performing light guide assisted in situ photocrosslinking was developed and established for extrusion-based bioprinting. This novel crosslinking concept offers a solution to the contradicting shape fidelity and biological functionality.
"GO BACK IN YOUR FETUS CAVE": HOW PREDATORY INFLUENCERS MANIPULATE AUDIENCES THROUGH PLATFORM RETREATS
Authors: Berge PS
Published: September 2021

In the summer of 2020, dozens of high-profile influencers in videogaming entertainment were accused of sexual harassment and predatory behavior. Among these, popular gaming YouTuber Craig Thompson (username 'Mini Ladd') confessed on Twitter to grooming minors but resumed uploading content to his YouTube channel one month later, resulting in public outcry. Thompson’s return to YouTube provides a case study in how predatory influencers can manipulate affordances across platforms, especially on YouTube, to insulate themselves from accountability and maintain their platform. Using scraped data from Twitter (34k tweets) and YouTube (62k comments and video network data), this article uses a mixed-methods social network analysis (Burgess and Matamoros-Fernández 2016) to map the public effort to deplatform Mini Ladd. This case study raises questions about cross-platform insulation and audience manipulation, by demonstrating how a predatory influencer 1) censored keywords in his comments to obfuscate criticism 2) gamed YouTube’s video algorithms to avoid references to his scandal and 3) redirected harassment onto his own fanbase. Ultimately, I argue that predatory influencers manipulate YouTube’s platform affordances to insulate themselves from accountability in the absence of moderation.
WHAT IS BEHIND THE (GLASS)DOOR? EXAMINING TOXIC WORKPLACE CULTURES VIA AN EMPLOYMENT REVIEW SITE
Authors: Bergstrom Kelly
Published: September 2021

Launched in 2008 as a site to collect the anonymous perspectives of current and former employees as well as their self-reported salaries, Glassdoor.com has grown to be a top destination for American job seekers wanting to learn more about the work environment of particular companies. Using reviewed posted by current and former Riot Games employees (the developer behind League of Legends) as a case study, I argue that Glassdoor is an easily accessible yet underutilized public yet anonymous resource for scholars interested in a peek ‘behind the curtain’ of industries reliant on non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements, such as the games industry. In this paper I report on my ongoing analysis of 740 current and former employee reviews of Riot posted to Glassdoor between October 2009 and March 2021. Riot is a particularly fruitful case study as it is a company that has been criticized for creating a toxic work environment, with sexual harassment and a lack of promotions for women being frequently discussed in the games media. As a result of this analysis, I argue it provides ample evidence to indicate that Glassdoor can be a fruitful venue for media industry scholars interested in better understanding employee perspectives about 'notorious' companies while mitigating potential harm to informants who might otherwise be reluctant to speak ‘on the record’ about an industry that remains resistant to change.
GIRLS, GADGETS AND GATEKEEPERS: HOW GENDER AND CLASS ASPIRATIONS SHAPE ADOLESCENT ACCESS TO MOBILE PHONES IN MUMBAI, INDIA
Authors: Bhallamudi Isha
Published: September 2021

Within a patriarchal, caste-based and restrictive family setup, how do gender and class work together to shape adolescent girls’ access to mobile phones in Mumbai, India? How do adolescent girls mediate their own independent aspirations and desires to variously fit within or subvert these frameworks of class stability and social morality? This paper addresses these question by using a mixed-methods study of 59 group interviews and 278 surveys with adolescents aged 13-15 in Mumbai. Taking an intersectional analytical framework, the findings show how gender and class together, create varying standards of respectable femininity and class distinction that families aspire to and cultivate in adolescent girls. The mobile phone can be seen as both a threat and a necessity to the maintenance of these standards of respectability, resulting in families variously enabling or constraining access to mobile phones by girls. Rather than interpreting the findings through binaries of lower-class/upper-class or empowered/constrained, I instead consider how classed ideals of respectable femininity create different aspirational conditions for girls belonging to each class group, and form the cultural frames of everyday life. I explore what implications this might have for adolescents girls’ understandings and enactments of independence, and how they use the site of the mobile phone to make these enactments.
HOW WE ARE (NOT)COPING UNDER THE NEW GAMING PUBLIC: AN EXISTENTIAL-MATERIALIST ETHNOGRAPHY OF LIFEWORLDS WITHIN (AND AGAINST) GAMER HEGEMONY
Authors: Butt Mahli-Ann
Published: September 2021

This paper argues that existential-materialism is a useful generative tool for feminist games, media, internet, and cultural researchers to investigate how people cope (or do not cope) with the hegemony of the new gaming public as it crucially apprehends the medium of videogames as part of people’s lifeworlds embedded in materiality rather than separate from everyday life. Contributing to the emerging field of Feminist Game Studies, this research seeks to intervene into the hegemonic culture fostered and maintained by the ‘new gaming public’ which has become tied to the persistent imaginary of ‘Gamers’ as predominantly young males. Using qualitative mixed-methods to gather empirical data through fieldwork, surveys, and semi-structured interviews, this research presents a sociological examination of everyday struggles within (and against) hegemonic systems of oppression, reporting on how people are coping (or not coping) with exacerbated forms of sexism, racism, and homophobia pervasive across their digitally entangled and materially embedded lifeworlds. In the discipline of Game Studies, the methods of investigation are frequently configured around the study of play, players, or the creation of play; however, we must take greater stock of people’s lifeworlds, including non-players, non-play relationship dynamics, and non-play centric spaces in our intersubjective relations to videogames and beyond the hegemonic new gaming public.
VIRTUALLY AMISH: PRESERVING COMMUNITY AT THE INTERNET’S MARGINS
Authors: Ems Lindsay
Published: September 2021

My forthcoming book (MIT Press), Virtually Amish, is an ethnographic study of the adoption, design and use of digital communication technologies among members of Old Order Amish communities. This paper explores a section of the book focusing on Amish strategies for internet management. These strategies are in place to protect Amish communities from perceived negative impacts of technologically mediated connectivity. Today it is increasingly common for the Amish to adopt computers, the internet and mobile devices in calculated ways to remain competitive in business. Often the use of these devices blends into the personal sphere as well. This research is notable for its empirical observations that show shared values are key to determining patterns of technology use in Amish communities. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews with thought-leaders (business and religious leaders) in Indiana Amish settlements. Findings show that the Amish consider their own cultural, social, political and religious autonomy in deciding how to engage with a broader social and economic system as technologies are essential to the mediation of these relationships.
NO CLOUD WITHOUT SKY: SPECTRUM SOVEREIGNTY AND ETHEREAL REFUSAL
Authors: Gagnon Jeff
Published: September 2021

This paper will present the theoretical frameworks, research questions, and preliminary findings from $2 , a new study of movements for spectrum sovereignty. This foundational overview is a preliminary step toward a multi-year, international survey and case-study based project that aims to convene a space for the advancement of decolonized internet and communications networks predicated on the production of relational knowledges and the promotion of international solidarities. Centering the materiality of cyberspace necessarily reveals the relationships between the internet and settler colonialism. Such an acknowledgement is foundational to a decolonialist ethical point of view from which I argue for an understanding of space as relational practice, as resource, and as source of identity. A genuinely decolonized cyberspace that promotes the independence of colonized peoples is one that is subject to Indigenous spatial practices including territorial claims and treaty rights and so is one that is recognized as existing within space in a material way.
WHEN ‘HOMELAND’ IS NO LONGER ‘HOME’, THE IDENTITY CRISIS, THE LOSS OF MOBILITY, AND THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN ——A STUDY OF SOCIAL MEDIA TESTIMONIOS BY CHINESE TRANSNATIONAL WORKERS UNDER COVID-19 GLOBAL PANDEMIC
Authors: GUO Jing
Published: September 2021

In this article, I apply narrative analysis to draw a picture on the life of Chinese transnational workers under Covid-19 global pandemic in 2020. I try to explore the identity, space, and emotion of Chinese transnational workers under the pandemic crisis through their testimonios on WeChat public space, which is their first-person written narratives on their bitter, and even traumatic experiences of being a transnational worker in countries under severe pandemic conditions but unable to find their way home. With Chinese government’s policy setting broad limitations on international flights, requirements of Corona virus nucleic acid testing before boarding, unaffordable flight tickets and the forced, self-financed 14-day quarantine after landing, China, as the homeland of Chinese transnational workers, closed its door and turned them away. However, their sufferings and stories are less covered by the media and known by the public. By posting testimonios in virtual space on WeChat, Chinese transnational workers from various destination countries tried to voice themselves and appeal for supports.
PASSION, PIPELINES, AND PRECARITY: WORKING LIVES IN GAMES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Authors: Harvey Alison
Published: September 2021

For years, academics and journalists have proclaimed a crisis of gameswork, detailing the ‘destruction’ of the lives of those in this creative workforce, and wondering when the ‘breaking point’ of professional game design, premised on crunch, work limbo, and churn, would come. Still it was only at the March 2018 Game Developers Conference, typically a heavily corporatized event, that a large-scale discussion of unionization was staged, leading to the formation of Game Workers Unite. While collective organizing in games is going global, with branches forming from France to Australia to South Korea, these developments are outpaced by increasingly transnational dynamics of outsourcing and automation, threatening to devalue and even eliminate already highly-competitive jobs in ‘cool industries’ of ‘passionate’ workers. This paper considers these global contradictions and tensions through analysis of a group heavily implicated in visions of the future of gameswork- students in formal games education. While within game studies there has been sustained interest in the production of this form and labour relations therein, the shape and role of games higher education remains underexplored. The existing scholarship indicates that these formal sites of training tend to cultivate the still-largely young, male, and passionate fan-workforce on which games depend. Furthermore, these contexts are vital in the formation of future gamesworker identities that are conservative, uncritical, and risk-adverse, despite pervasive discourses of creativity and innovation linked to them. Vitally, however, the question of how these norms relate to shifting work realities has yet to be explored.
“DO YOUR RESEARCH”: COVID-19, POST-SOCIALIST EXPERIENCE AND THE NARRATIVE OF INFORMATION INDEPENDENCE AMONG CZECH INSTAGRAM INFLUENCERS
Authors: Hermanova Marie
Published: September 2021

The COVID-19 pandemics highlighted the role of social media influencers as political communicators and drew attention to the question of accountability of influencers and their overall role in the media ecosystem. The aim of the paper is to analyze the role of lifestyle Instagram influencers in shaping the public narrative about COVID-19 as an orchestrated political event aimed at curbing civic freedom in the Czech Republic with focus on two key elements: 1) the politicization of the domestic (space) on Instagram and its gendered nature and 2) the framing of the role of influencers as democratic public voices offering an alternative to mainstream media, within the context of the post-socialist historical experience of totalitarian past. The presented analysis builds on digital ethnography among Czech female lifestyle influencers and content analysis of selected Czech influencers profiles.
CHOICE AND CONTROL: AN ANALYSIS OF PRIVACY VALUES AND PRIVACY CONTROLS
Authors: Horne Chelsea Leigh
Published: September 2021

There is incredible and intrinsic, though hidden, power in technology settings, including those set by online platforms. The hidden levers of control embedded within the default settings influence users’ overall experience on platforms and with technology, especially in regard to issues of privacy and security. This paper examines the embedded assumptions and implications of technology and technical design on society. To this end, this study addresses the role and power of social media platforms in developing and applying privacy and security policies and norms for their users. The privacy and security choices by social media platforms affect billions of users worldwide. Further, this study will consider how platforms’ public-facing rhetoric aligns or differs with the actual implementation of privacy policies and privacy and security user settings. The implications of this research may have profound impact in the governance, policy, and regulation of platforms.
TRANSNATIONAL VISUAL INQUIRY: ARAB WOMEN’S INTERDEPENDENT/INDEPENDENT MOVES ON TIKTOK AND INSTAGRAM
Authors: Hurley Zoe
Published: September 2021

This study addresses the complex matrix of gendered visual interdependence/ independence of Arab women social media influencers, defined as micro-celebrities generating digital incomes. It takes Instagram and TikTok, image and video sharing platforms, as a case to illustrate examples of Arab women’s curated visual identities. The study synthesises feminist transnationalism and visual inquiry. Transnationalism refers not only to the movement and exchanges of consumer items, languages, practices and peoples across national borders, but it is also a research agenda concerned with the situated perspectives of social actors backgrounded by mainstream scholarship. Feminist transnationalism is synthesised with ‘inquiry graphics’ as a semiotic move to ask critical questions about images. This offers a unique contribution to feminist visual social media scholarship, both contextually and theoretically. The study reveals Arab women’s positionalities as occurring in simultaneously interdependent and independent relationships to commercial Western practices. Examples include the influencer @amyroko, from Saudi Arabia with 1.5 million followers, who wears a niqab (facial veil) as she promotes make-up brands while never showing her face online. @amyroko’s posts are mediated via TikTok and Instagram’s affordances for synthetic embodiment and involve remixing American rap, hip-hop, reggaeton beats, her own dance moves and defiant stance of Arab feminist positionality. However, this is not a form of cultural appropriation but a reconfiguration of localised subjectivities. Overall, theorising reveals Arab women’s curatorial identities as consecutively interdependent/ independent within broader hyper-inequalities, systemic and local patriarchal oppression. This disrupts fixed conceptions of Arab women’s positionalities and goes beyond theoretical essentialism.
ON BROWN BOXES: HIDDEN INTERDEPENDENCE IN UNBOXING VIDEOS
Authors: Li Zizi
Published: September 2021

This paper sheds light on the hidden interdependence in unboxing videos by examining brown cardboard boxes and the mechanism of “brown-boxing” through one extravagant unboxing video by makeup influencer Roxette Arisa on YouTube. I use brown boxes to illustrate the entanglement between digital influencer media and supply chain. Brown boxes are integral sites to explore the operating mechanisms and aesthetics of digital capitalism. Similar to how black-boxing signals the practice of hiding information/labor, and masking operation in technology, brown-boxing points to the mechanisms of concealment across capitalist sectors along the supply chain. Although supply chain is rarely discussed, logistical labor and/as infrastructure do unexpectedly show up in influencer media. These linkages sometimes unintentionally seep into audiovisual media. Perhaps the most unexpected scene takes place when Arisa’s filming of the unboxing video is interrupted by a doorbell ring with the delivery of more boxes by a UPS worker. From the off-frame interaction captured and remain visible briefly in this unboxing video, we feel the presence of the delivery worker. Examining brown boxes and the process of brown-boxing is to think through the containerization of supply chain capitalism. Brown boxes and black boxes are typically discussed in separate spaces, with the former attracting scholars of logistics/supply chains whereas the latter appealing to scholars of digital media/communication. My analysis of the materialities of unboxing video adds to the conversation around the overlapping of infrastructures and the labor that sustain the operation of these infrastructures.
CRITICAL CARE & THE EARLY WEB: ETHICAL DIGITAL METHODS FOR ARCHIVED
YOUTH DATA
Authors: Mackinnon Katherine
Published: September 2021

This paper demonstrates an ethico-methodological approach to
researching archived web pages created by young people throughout 1994-2005 that was
collected and stored by the Internet Archive. Rather than deploying a range of computational
tools available for collecting web data in the Internet Archive, my approach to this
material has been to start with the person: I recruited participants through social media
who remembered creating websites or participating in web communities when they were younger
and were interested in attempting to relocate their digital traces. In a series of
qualitative, online semi-structured interviews, I guided participants through the Wayback
Machine’s interface and directed them towards where their materials might be stored. I
adapted this approach from the walkthrough method, where I position the participant as
co-investigator and analyst of web archival material, enabling simultaneous discovery,
memory, interpretation and investigation. Together, we walk through the abandoned sites and
ruins of a once-vibrant online community as they reflect and remember the early web. This
approach responds to significant ethical gaps in web archival research and engages with
feminist ethics of care (Luka & Millette, 2018) inspired by conceptual framing of data
materials in research on the "right to be forgotten” (Crossen-White, 2015; GDPR, 2018;
Tsesis, 2014), digital afterlives (Sutherland, 2020), indigenous data sovereignty and
governance (Wemigwans, 2018), and the Feminist Data Manifest-No (Cifor et al, 2019). This
method re-centers the human and moves towards a digital justice approach (Gieseking, 2020;
Cowan & Rault, 2020) for engaging with historical youth data.
TOWARDS AN INFRASTRUCTURE-BASED SOCIOLOGY OF DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY
PRACTICES: THE 'PILOT CASE' OF RUSSIA
Authors: Musiani Francesca
Published: September 2021

"Digital sovereignty" is the idea that states should “reaffirm” their
authority over the Internet and protect their citizens, institutions, and businesses from
the multiple challenges to their nation’s self-determination in the digital sphere.
According to this principle, sovereignty depends on more than supranational alliances or
international legal instruments, military might or trade: it depends on locally-owned,
controlled and operated innovation ecosystems, able to increase states’ technical and
economic independence and autonomy. Presently, digital sovereignty is understood primarily
as a legal concept and a set of political discourses. As a consequence, it is predominantly
analysed by political science, international relations and international law. However, the
study of digital sovereignty as a set of infrastructures and socio-material practices has
been largely neglected. In this proposal, I argue that the concept of (digital) sovereignty
should also be studied via the infrastructure-embedded “situated practices” of various
political and economic projects which aim to establish autonomous digital infrastructures in
a hyperconnected world. Although this contribution is also a call for a wider and
comparative research programme, I will focus here on the “pilot case” of Russia, which is
the subject of an ongoing research project. Ultimately, the analysis of
infrastructure-embedded digital sovereignty practices in Russia shows how the Russian
discourse on Internet sovereignty as a centralized and top-down apparatus paradoxically open
up technical and legal opportunities for mundane resistances and the existence of “parallel”
Runets, where particular instantiations of informational freedom are still
possible.
BORED GHOSTS AND ANXIOUS TEXT GAMES: HOW DATING APPS ALGORITHMICALLY
CHANNEL THE DESIRE FOR INTIMACY INTO ANXIOUS ENGAGEMENT
Authors: Narr Gregory
Published: September 2021

This article presents two findings from 50 in-depth interviews of
daters using OkCupid, Tinder, and Bumble. The first finding shows that respondents began
using dating apps like Tinder and Bumble because they wanted to engage in dialogical
exchanges to get to know their matches, something they felt the elaborate essays on OkCupid
rendered redundant. The second finding shows that the intimate exchanges they sought on
dating apps were hard to find. Instead of intimacy, they encountered anxious text games
exacerbated by the widespread practice of ghosting. These findings indicate how the distinct
algorithms employed by OkCupid, Tinder, and Bumble cultivate particular feelings, moods, and
modes of subjectivity. While OkCupid’s algorithm cultivated entrepreneurs of themselves
seeking to optimize their intimate relationships, dating apps cultivate the digital unbored:
users compelled to swipe away the angst-inducing boredom of waiting for texts that always
may never come. Dating apps render searches for intimacy fraught with anxiety and
substantial connections hard to find. But they are well calibrated to the exigencies of
platform capitalism, where social relations are as likely to be sold as things, especially
when they vanish as quickly as they appear – like ghosts.