bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
E-beam sterilizable thermoplastics elastomers for healthcare devices: Mechanical, morphology, and in vivo studies
Authors: Balaji Ananad Bellam , Ratnam Chantara Thevy , Khalid Mohammad , Walvekar Rashmi
Published: January 2018

The effect of electron beam radiation on ethylene–propylene diene terpolymer/polypropylene blends is studied as an attempt to develop radiation sterilizable polypropylene/ethylene–propylene diene terpolymer blends suitable for medical devices. The polypropylene/ethylene–propylene diene terpolymer blends with mixing ratios of 80/20, 50/50, 20/80 were prepared in an internal mixer at 165°C and a rotor speed of 50 rpm/min followed by compression molding. The blends and the individual components were radiated using 3.0 MeV electron beam accelerator at doses ranging from 0 to 100 kGy in air and room temperature. All the samples were tested for tensile strength, elongation at break, hardness, impact strength, and morphological properties. After exposing to 25 and 100 kGy radiation doses, 50% PP blend was selected for in vivo studies. Results revealed that radiation-induced crosslinking is dominating in EPDM dominant blends, while radiation-induced degradation is prevailing in PP dominant blends. The 20% PP blend was found to be most compatible for 20–60 kGy radiation sterilization. The retention in impact strength with enhanced tensile strength of 20% PP blend at 20–60 kGy believed to be associated with increased compatibility between PP and EPDM along with the radiation-induced crosslinking. The scanning electron micrographs of the fracture surfaces of the PP/EPDM blends showed evidences consistent with the above contentation. The in vivo studies provide an instinct that the radiated blends are safe to be used for healthcare devices.
Xicanisma/o and Education
Authors: Lechuga-Peña Stephanie , Lechuga Chalane E.
Published: January 2018

Latina/os experience some of the lowest academic outcomes and youth of Mexican-origin are among the most educationally disadvantaged of all Latina/o subgroups. These disparities impact many Latina/o students including our family. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Chicana/o Movement focused on fighting for equality and access to quality education for Chicana/o students. Our parents were among the students who participated in and benefited from this fight. This set their children on the path to educational success. This is the story of how they broke down the educational barriers and set their children up as projectiles that pelted against an inferior educational system and unequal access. Through the lens of critical race theory (CRT) and Latina/o CRT, we use counter storytelling and narratives to demonstrate the parallels between the barriers and facilitators to educational success we experienced and those of Latina/o students. Barriers include socioeconomic hardships and racial discrimination in school. Facilitators include access and opportunities provided through social activism in the Chicana/o Movement, participation in college pipeline programs, mentorship and authentic caring, culturally relevant curriculum, and familism. We provide recommendations for serving and supporting Latina/o students through the educational pipeline.
The Carrot or the Stick? Investigating the Functional Meaning of Cash Rewards and Their Motivational Power According to Self-Determination Theory
Authors: Thibault Landry Anaïs , Forest Jacques , Zigarmi Drea , Houson Dobie , Boucher Étienne
Published: January 2018

As much debate exists concerning the beneficial effect of using financial incentives to motivate employees in the scientific and practitioner literature, the current research explored employees’ perceptions of the cash rewards they receive at work to better understand their motivational impact. A model based on self-determination theory and its postulates concerning the functional significance of rewards was tested in two studies, one with Canadians and another with international workers. Results from path analysis indicate that through their impact on employees’ psychological needs, cash rewards perceived as informational lead to healthier forms of motivation, greater psychological health, and better overall work intentions than cash rewards perceived as controlling. These findings suggest that compensation plans must be carefully studied, designed, and implemented with the workforce to avoid overemphasizing the reward contingencies in employees’ eyes, having a deleterious impact on their motivation, and giving rise to unwarranted consequences on their psychological health and work behaviors.
Evidence from the ‘Frontline’? An Ethnographic Problematisation of Welfare-to-Work Administrator Opinions
Authors: Jordan John David
Published: January 2018

Researchers both supportive and critical of welfare schemes regularly explore the influence, legitimacy and effects of welfare administrator opinions. However, the ‘origins’ of those opinions are generally less well considered. This article explores and problematises the use of welfare-to-work administrator testimony in social science and social policy research. Rejecting both Foucauldian models of ‘elite conceptual download’, and approaches that take administrator views at face value, it argues that the material circumstances of day-to-day working may constitute the most significant influence on administrator views. This both supports a more materialist, less idealist and/or positivistic approach, and also suggests the pressing need for more contextualised, ethnographic analysis of data in welfare-to-work debates.
Effects of the decline in social capital on college graduates’ soft skills
Authors: Andreas Sarah
Published: January 2018

Both businesses and recent college graduates in the United States attribute the lack of soft skills in recent college graduates to the colleges’ inability to prepare students for the workforce. This article explores the literature on social capital, human capital and social learning theory, offering an alternative hypothesis for why recent graduates are missing soft skills: namely, that it is the decline in social capital that is influencing the graduates’ ability to master those skills. Through the process of building social capital, college students gain the cultural and behavioural information and sensitivity they need to learn soft skills. College graduates are no longer accessing this experience; as a result, businesses and graduates are suffering the consequences of a decline in social capital. Therefore, the results of this study give rise to the hypothesis that the decline in social capital at the macrosocial level is negatively influencing recent college graduates’ formation of soft skills. This may be due to the decrease in building social capital through face-to-face interaction, rather than due to colleges not preparing graduates for success in the business environment.
Interaction of tip vortex and laminar separation bubble over wings with different aspect ratios under low Reynolds numbers
Authors: Genç Mustafa Serdar , Özkan Gökhan , Özden Mustafa , Ki˙ri˙ş Mehmet Sadik , Yi˙ldi˙z Rahime
Published: January 2018

In present study, aerodynamics of a NACA4412 wings with aspect ratio of 1 and 3 was considered experimentally at Reynolds numbers of 2.5 × 104, 5 × 104 and 7.5 × 104. Studies for AR = 1 wing showed that stall was delayed and extra (vortex) lift was obtained, because separation bubble got smaller in both chordwise and spanwise axes with effect of wing-tip vortices. Oil-flow experiments at higher angles of attack clarified the reason for vortex lift obtained from AR = 1 wing. However, there was an increase in drag coefficient as well as vortex lift, and stall delayed due to tip vortex. Turbulence intensity distributions pointed out location of the transition to turbulence; Reynolds stress and turbulence kinetic energy distributions indicated shear layer. Furthermore, in experiments of AR = 3 wing, the viscous forces and leading edge vortices were effective at Re = 2.5 × 104 and Re = 5 × 104, but flow over the wing at Re = 7.5 × 104 acted as a 2D flow. After α = 12°, bubble burst and stall consisted abruptly because effectiveness of 3D flow decreased over wing. Strouhal (St) numbers of vortex shedding frequencies in wake of AR = 3 wing had a certain difference from St = 0.17/sinα curve at lower angle of attack (α = 0° − 10°) due to separation bubble, but AR = 1 wings showed that St numbers were near St = 0.17/sinα curve.
Improving the performance of finite element simulations on the wheel–rail interaction by using a coupling strategy
Authors: Ma Yuewei , Markine Valeri L , Mashal Abdul Ahad , Ren Mingfa
Published: January 2018

Over the past few years, a number of implicit/explicit finite element models have been introduced for the purpose of tackling the problems of wheel–rail interaction. Yet, most of those finite element models encounter common numerical difficulties. For instance, initial gaps/penetrations between two contact bodies, which easily occur when realistic wheel–rail profiles are accounted for, would trigger the problems of divergence in implicit finite element simulations. Also, redundant, insufficient or mismatched mesh refinements in the vicinity of areas in contact can lead to either prohibitive calculation expenses or inaccurate implicit/explicit finite element solutions. To address the abovementioned problems and to improve the performance of finite element simulations, a novel modelling strategy has been proposed. In this strategy, the three-dimensional explicit finite element analysis is seamlessly coupled with the two-dimensional geometrical contact analysis. The contact properties in the three-dimensional finite element analyses, such as the initial “Just-in-contact” point, the exact wheel local rolling radius, etc., which are usually a priori unknown, are determined using the two-dimensional geometrical contact model. As part of the coupling strategy, a technique has been developed for adaptive mesh refinement. The mesh and mesh density of wheel–rail finite element models change adaptively depending on the exact location of the contact areas and the local geometry of contact bodies. By this means, a good balance between the calculation efficiency and accuracy can be achieved. Last, but not least, the advantage of the coupling strategy has been demonstrated in studies on the relationship between the initial slips and the steady frictional rolling state. Finally, the results of the simulations are presented and discussed.
Non-cooperative autonomous rendezvous and docking using artificial potentials and sliding mode control
Authors: Li Xuehui , Zhu Zhibin , Song Shenmin
Published: January 2018

In this paper, the problem of autonomous rendezvous and docking with a non-cooperative target spacecraft is studied. A coupled translational and rotational dynamics of the spacecraft is used, where the rotation matrix is used to represent the attitude of spacecraft to overcome the drawbacks related to the unwinding. An asymptotically stable autonomous rendezvous and docking collision-free controller is proposed based on a novel designed sliding surface. Then, a new nonsingular terminal sliding surface is given, based on which the developed autonomous rendezvous and docking collision-free controller can make the tracking errors converge into a small bounded area near the origin in a finite time. Using artificial potential function and virtual obstacles model established based on cissoid, both controllers ensure the chaser spacecraft strictly remains in the safety area to avoid the collision with the target spacecraft. The effectiveness of the proposed controllers is demonstrated by numerical simulation.
A continuum of perceived urban risk – from the Gorkha earthquake to economic insecurity
Authors: Ruszczyk Hanna A
Published: January 2018

Global discussions of risk in the disaster risk reduction literature do not necessarily reflect the range of risk as understood by residents in the urban South. This intra-urban comparison from Bharatpur, Nepal, where the Gorkha earthquake struck in 2015, shows how residents in two different wards perceive risks related to themselves, their families and their urban environment. The continuum of perceived urban risk includes events such as the Gorkha earthquake and the administrative change, as well as everyday concerns such as poor quality of infrastructure provision and economic insecurity. By contrasting the views of these residents of an “ordinary” city in the urban South, and comparing them also with the views of the local authority, this paper allows for an enriched understanding of how risk is understood, highlighting the breadth of concerns involved, and the tensions in understandings of the full spectrum of urban risk. Understandings and definitions of risk matter. If perceptions of risk from the local level are not included within the broader disaster risk reduction discourse, this shapes and in effect limits the risks that are actually managed through policy and practice.
Non-Citizen Rights in ASEAN
Authors: Iskandar Pranoto
Published: January 2018

As an ancien régime, East Asia has been considered a region that bucks the trend of the so-called ‘humanization of international law’, where the primacy of the interests of individual has become the norm. As such, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the only institutionalized transnational body in the region, not only embodies a political statement against the Western backed liberal order, but also harkens back to the decolonization era, summoning Bandung’s post-colonial ideals where the state is the only and, thus, ultimate expression in international affairs through the espousal of equality and non-interference paramountcy. This article argues that this post-colonial arrangement has failed to serve its supposed ultimate beneficiary, that is, subaltern groups such as the persecuted Rohingya. The Rohingya have been denied their human rights even by their post-colonial fellows. To bring sobriety into the fold, the article uses the ingenuity of the Malaysian Human Rights Commission Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia Malaysia (SUHAKAM), as a node to cross-cultural legitimation, as a call for an ‘indigenized pragmatism’ embracing universal human rights that transcend the boundaries of nationalism-based political discourse rather than refugee rights due to their evocation of foreignness.
Process Mechanisms for Academic Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Insights from a Case Study in China
Authors: Yi Gaofeng , Uyarra Elvira
Published: January 2018

This research explores how a research university develops its academic entrepreneurial ecosystem (AEE) through building up process mechanisms, thereby improving the academic entrepreneurship efficiency. We propose an individual-organisation-environment-process model, which we illustrate with the case study of Zhejiang University. Our findings pinpoint the importance of identifying the three basic mechanisms driving the AEE model, incentive, collaboration and capability mechanisms. The incentive mechanism is the driving force that could change the organisational framework, as well as individual research goals through the reform of the personnel assessment system and the entrepreneurial income distribution system. The collaboration mechanism is the vehicle of the AEE model that enables new entrepreneurial models and business start-up by improving university’s governance structures and building up entrepreneurial networks. The capability mechanism is the element for sustainable academic entrepreneurship through a combination of different entrepreneurial capabilities in a university.
A new algorithm for suspected stroke patient management with NT-proBNP POCT platform in the emergency department: A new algorithm for suspected stroke patient
Authors: He Ming-feng , Cai Wei-dong , Zhao Ming-ming , Jiang Chong-hui , Qin Feng-zhou , Zhou Jian-yi , Liang Sina , Li Ying-ying , Wu Zhi-xin , Zeng Hong-ke
Published: January 2018

Introduction:

Stroke is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in China. Of the different subtypes of ischemic stroke, cardioembolic stroke is of particular importance because it is potentially preventable. This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of measuring N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide in the emergency department in early recognition of patients with cardioembolic stroke.

Methods:

This was a multicenter prospective cohort study conducted from 1 June 2015 to 30 June 2016 in four emergency departments. Adult patients with acute ischemic stroke were recruited. Plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide was measured in the emergency department. Discharge diagnosis was determined by neurologists according to the Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment criteria. The diagnostic performance of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide was assessed by measuring the sensitivity, specificity, receiver operating characteristic curve, and the area under curve.

Results:

In all, 258 patients were analyzed. Of them, 17.9% were diagnosed with cardioembolic stroke. The optimal cut-off concentration, sensitivity, specificity, and the area under the curve of the plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide concentration suitable to distinguish cardioembolic stroke from other subtypes of stroke were 501.2 pg/mL, 82.6%, 80.2%, and 0.87 (95% confidence interval: 0.83–0.92), respectively.

Conclusion:

Emergency physicians should strongly consider cardioembolic stroke in patients presented with acute ischemic stroke with an N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide level over 501.2 pg/mL. However, it must be considered in context with clinical assessment and judgment before making treatment decisions.
Secondary Dentition Characteristics in Children With Nonsyndromic Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate
Authors: Tan Elaine Li Yen , Kuek Meaw Charm , Wong Hung Chew , Ong Serene Ai Kiang , Yow Mimi
Published: January 2018

Objective:

Children with cleft lip and palate are reported to be commonly associated with higher prevalence of dental anomalies such as hypodontia, supernumeraries, and abnormalities in tooth size, shape, and position. This study investigated the prevalence of dental anomalies in a longitudinal cohort of children with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP).

Design:

The study was a retrospective analysis of radiographs, study models, and treatment notes.

Patients:

Sixty patients with repaired UCLP aged 13 years old with complete dental records dating from 5 years of age were included.

Methods:

Study casts, dental panoramic, anterior maxillary occlusal, and periapical radiographs of the patients were examined for cleft-sidedness, congenitally missing permanent teeth, supernumerary teeth, microdontic, and macrodontic teeth in the anterior maxillary region, presence of malformed permanent cleft-sided lateral incisor and its morphology (peg-shaped, conical shaped, canine-formed), positions of the permanent lateral incisors relative to the cleft side and presence of rotated cleft-sided central incisors.

Results:

Of the 60 patients studied, 63.3% had hypodontia, 21.7% had supernumerary teeth, 69.6% had microdontia, and 12.5% had macrodontia. All of the cleft-sided permanent lateral incisors had associated anomalies, with a large proportion (43.1%) missing; and when present in 31 subjects, the majority (90.3%) was positioned distal to the cleft. Most of the cleft-sided permanent central incisors were rotated if present, and prevalent at 86.7%.

Conclusion:

A high prevalence of dental anomalies was observed in this sample of children with UCLP.
Vibration response of viscoelastic sandwich plate with magnetorheological fluid core and functionally graded-piezoelectric nanocomposite face sheets
Authors: Ghorbanpour Arani A. , BabaAkbar Zarei H. , Haghparast E.
Published: January 2018

In this research, vibration analysis of a viscoelastic sandwich plate rested on a visco-Pasternak foundation is investigated. Sandwich plate consists of a magnetorheological (MR) fluid core and viscoelastic nanocomposite face sheets which include piezoelectric matrix and functionally graded carbon nanotubes (FG-CNTs) fiber. Core and face sheets are affected by applying magnetic and electric fields, respectively. The elastic medium is simulated by a visco-Pasternak model which is considered in terms of the effects of springiness, shear and damping of foundation. At first, the constitutive equations of sandwich plate are expressed by employing the geometric continuity conditions. Then, the equations of motion are derived by applying the energy method and Hamilton’s principle and an appropriate analytical approach is proposed to solve them. This approach can be considered as the different boundary conditions. Finally, the influences of various parameters such as the type of MR material, core to face sheets thickness ratio, volume fractions and symmetric distributions of CNTs in face sheets, magnetic and electric fields, viscoelastic constant of face sheets and elastic medium on the dimensionless natural frequencies of sandwich plate are studied. The results show that increasing core-to-face sheet thickness ratio leads to a decrease in the natural frequencies because the MR fluid core is softer than nanocomposite face sheets. Thus, the MR fluid core acts like a damper. Also, the loss factor of the MR fluid core decreases with increasing magnetic field intensity, and consequently, the natural frequency grows. In addition, increasing the volume fraction of CNTs causes the stiffness of the structure to increase. The results of this research can be utilized to realize applicable semi-active devices with controllable stiffness.
Systemic anticancer therapy in the last 30 days of life: Retrospective audit from an Australian Regional Cancer Centre
Authors: Gilbar Peter J , McPherson Ian , Aisthorpe Genevieve G , Kondalsamy-Chennakes Srinivas
Published: January 2018

Background

Cessation of chemotherapy at an appropriate time is an important component of good quality palliative care. Published studies looking at administration of chemotherapy at the end of life vary widely.

Objective

To retrospectively determine the rate of death occurring within 14 and 30 days of chemotherapy and use this to benchmark against other cancer centres as a quality of care measure.

Method

All adult patients who received systemic anticancer therapy for solid tumours and haematological malignancies at an Australian Regional Cancer Centre between 2011 and 2015 were included.

Results

Over a five-year period, 1215 patients received systemic anticancer therapy. Of these, 23 (1.89%) died within 14 days following systemic anticancer therapy and 68 (5.60%) within 30 days. All patients who died had been treated with palliative intent. Mean time to death was 17.7 days. The majority were female (61.8%) and the mean age was 62.3 years. The most common cause of death was disease progression (80.9%). Nearly half died at the Regional Cancer Centre, including 30.9% who lived in rural or remote localities.

Conclusion

The rate of death observed in this study is at the lower end of the range seen in published studies for both the last 14 and 30 days post-systemic anticancer therapy. It is important to routinely collect data to enable benchmarking against other institutions, determine factors potentially associated with higher risks of mortality at the end of life and improve clinical decision making.
Is Exercise Training Appropriate for Patients With Advanced Heart Failure Receiving Continuous Inotropic Infusion? A Review
Authors: Amiya Eisuke , Taya Masanobu
Published: January 2018

Exercise-based rehabilitation programs have been reported to have beneficial effects for patients with heart failure. However, there is little evidence about whether this is the case in patients with more severe heart failure. In particular, there is a question in the clinical setting whether patients with advanced heart failure and continuous inotropic infusion should be prescribed exercise training. In contrast, many studies conclude that prolonged immobility associated with heart failure profoundly impairs physical function and promotes muscle wasting that could further hasten the course of heart failure. By contrast, exercise training has various effects not only in improving exercise capacity but also on vascular function, skeletal muscle, and autonomic balance. In this review, we summarize the effectiveness and discuss methods of exercise training in patients with advanced heart failure receiving continuous inotropic agents such as dobutamine.
These Boardwalks Were Made for Bushwalking: Disentangling Grounds, Surfaces, and Walking Experiences
Authors: Vannini Phillip , Vannini April
Published: January 2018

What matter is walking ground made of? And how does such ground matter? What is the relationship between walking surfaces and people’s experience of natural landscapes? And how do different ground surfaces enact different meshworks of conservation politics, mobility, and tourism infrastructure? Drawing from nonrepresentational theory and from audiovisual fieldwork conducted in and around Australia’s Cradle Mountain, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, this article and its accompanying video focus on the materials of walking trails to understand the relations among walking, the built environment, and the sensory and affective experience of place. Arguing that trails and trail surfaces—and boardwalks in particular—serve as influential material conduits for variously contested outdoor recreation mobilities, this article develops the argument that pathways are elements in the world’s transformation of itself.
A National Flower’s Symbolic Value During the Tang and Song Dynasties in China
Authors: Ying Wang
Published: January 2018

The concept of a national flower was an important part of the culture and poetry of the imperial courts of the Tang and Song dynasties. Li Bai and other poets in the Tang period used the tree peony as an icon of the imperial concubine Yang Yuhuan’s beauty. Later Tang poetry, however, also includes undertones of disquiet, using this flower-image as a sign of unhappiness at the state of the country. With the advent of the Song dynasty, the poetic focus exalts the plum blossom, a very different kind of flower than the tree peony. I argue that this reflects the Song dynasty’s different mentality. Writers of this age emphasized refinement, rationality, and introspection. For example, Lin Bu felt wedded to his plum tree. Su Shi developed a theory of the plum blossom’s character. The shift in government from North to South may have also contributed to the shift. The tree peony suited the northern climate; the plum tree thrived in the South.
Old versus new politics
Authors: Hutter Swen , Kriesi Hanspeter , Vidal Guillem
Published: January 2018

The article focuses on the party political spaces in four Southern European countries (i.e. Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) since the onset of the Euro crisis. To understand the emerging conflict structures, it argues for the need to consider that these countries simultaneously face an economic crisis and a political crisis and that both crises have strong domestic and European components. Moreover, the major driving forces of change tend to be social movements and political parties that forcefully combine opposition to austerity and to “old politics.” This leads to a complex conflict structure shaped by struggles over austerity and political renewal. In this structure, divides over economic and political issues are closely aligned with each other. While this pattern emerges everywhere, there are distinct country differences. Empirically, the article relies on original data from a large-scale content analysis of national election campaigns in the four countries in the period 2011 to 2015.
The political contestation of European integration in Southern Europe
Authors: Charalambous Giorgos , Conti Nicolò , Pedrazzani Andrea
Published: January 2018

The ways in which political actors form positions on European integration in the face of exogenous shocks, such as the financial crisis that spilled over to the Eurozone countries, have become a key question in studies of politics in Europe. In the article, we show that party system polarization over European integration has increased during the crisis, but only with respect to the parties’ public stance. Instead, the crisis does not appear to pose a real threat to the consensus on the European Union among party elites serving in public office, which remains almost as strong as before. Hence, a so far unconsidered consequence of the crisis may concern a mounting tension inside political parties, between a leadership that is more sensitive to popular pressures and to Euroscepticism and public office holders that reiterate the traditional elite consensus on Europe.
‘Helping Workless Families’: Cultural Poverty and the Family in Austerity and Anti-welfare Discourse
Authors: Lehtonen Aura
Published: January 2018

The notion of ‘cultural poverty’ has a long history in the United Kingdom. The argument that there is something culturally distinct about poor, working-class, and/or benefit recipient populations that sets them apart from the rest of society, and moreover, that these cultures are self-perpetuating, has tended to be deployed in the service of a politics that blames the cultures of the poor for poverty and economic disadvantage. The most recent resurgence of such arguments can be found in the austerity and anti-welfare agendas of the Coalition Government (2010–2015) and the post-Coalition Conservative Government(s) (2015–present). This article examines the 2017 Department for Work and Pensions policy paper ‘Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families’ that sets out the Government’s vision for tackling poverty and engrained disadvantage and argues, first, that the policy paper reproduces the cultural poverty argument. Second, I argue that the paper positions the family as the location in which the cultures of the poor and disadvantaged are reproduced, and consequently also as the proper site for government action to interrupt the cycle of reproduction, highlighting familial gender dynamics, reproductive arrangements, and parenting practices as key aspects of the discursive framing of poverty within austerity and anti-welfare politics.
Communities being well for family well-being: Exploring the socio-ecological determinants of well-being in an Inuit community of Northern Quebec
Authors: Fraser Sarah L. , Parent Valérie , Dupéré Véronique
Published: January 2018

Inuit communities of Canada experience many disparities in health and psychosocial context. Research in community psychology has shown associations between such socio-ecological factors and individual well-being. The objective of the study was to explore how community-level determinants of well-being influence family well-being in a northern community of Nunavik, Quebec. A total of 14 participants were interviewed. A thematic inductive analysis was conducted to extract community determinants of family well-being from the data. A system science approach was used to explore the associations between determinants and larger psychosocial dynamics. A community workshop was held to discuss the results and their meaning. A total of 25 determinants were coded, 16 of which were community-level. Community-level stressors were highly interrelated, whereas community supports were generally disconnected and superimposed on narratives of stressors. Participants spoke of desired supports. In their narratives, these supports were connected to a variety of determinants of well-being, suggesting the need to connect, redefine and support existing resources rather than simply add on new ones. We discuss intricate links between family and community well-being in small and geographically isolated communities.
Indigenous perspectives on violence risk assessment: A thematic analysis
Authors: Shepherd Stephane M , Willis-Esqueda Cynthia
Published: January 2018

Violence risk instruments are widely employed with at-risk minority clients in correctional and forensic mental health settings. However, the construction and subsequent validation of such instruments rarely, if at all, incorporate the perceptions, worldviews, life experiences, and belief systems of non-white communities. This study utilized a culturally informed qualitative approach to address the cross-cultural disparities in the forensic risk literature. Cultural perspectives on violence risk assessment were elicited from a sample of 30 American Indian and First Nations professionals from health, legal, and pedagogical sectors following an inspection of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth instrument. Generally, participants believed that the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth instrument was not culturally appropriate for use with American Indian and First Nations youth in its current form. Recurrent themes of concern included the instrument’s negative labeling capacity, lack of cultural contextualization, individualized focus, and absence of cultural norms and practices. Recommendations to improve the cross-cultural applicability of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth are discussed within.
Space and ethnic identification in a Danish prison
Authors: Haller Mie B , Kolind Torsten
Published: January 2018

Ethnicity has come to play an increasing role in contemporary Danish prison life. This development not only reflects the growing number of prisoners in Danish prisons with ethnic minority backgrounds. It also reflects changes in prison spatial policy and institutional classifications. Based on seven months of fieldwork in a Danish high security prison, we investigate how such changes at the institutional level and at the level of policy have affected prisoner’s everyday ethnic identifications. We focus especially on the way prisoners reinforce and essentialize ethnic differences by reference to institutional spatial divisions; particularly the division between regular wings and drug treatment wings. We find that ethnic Danish prisoners spending time in a treatment wing are often viewed as ‘soft’ and ‘weak’ by prisoners with ethnic minority backgrounds in regular wings, whereas these prisoners in regular wings are in turn perceived as troublemakers and chaotic by the ethnic Danish prisoners in drug treatment. We also show how ethnic categories are at times blurred in actual practice. We conclude by discussing the implication for policy and practice; especially, we debate whether new spatial prison policies may unintentionally partake in accentuating ethnic stereotypical thinking.
The production of narrative through static imagery: examples from a peculiar medieval illustration
Authors: Peterson Matthew
Published: January 2018

Certain images perform upon and with their readers. Among the performative capabilities of imagery is narrative function, where the reader actively constructs a sense of time from an otherwise static surface. An extraordinary medieval illustration of Saint Margaret’s emergence from the belly of a dragon is used to demonstrate a range of narrative imagery. Consideration is given to the original conditions of this ‘Margaretene’, especially its medieval readership. This exemplar then contributes to a form of creative analysis, where other extant narrative strategies are utilized to visually ‘tell’ the same story. The result – a series of illustrations rendered by artist James Wisdom – permits a most direct comparison of six narrative strategies. The strategies outlined are graphic projective, partitioned, graphic repetitive, natural repetitive, intrafigural, and evidentiary. Certain trends emerge when the strategies are arranged in an axis based on naturalism. The reader must be more astute as strategies utilize more naturalistic scenes and thus become less dependent upon learned conventions and the repetition of figures.
Make-Believing Animated Films Featuring Digital Humans: A Qualitative Inquiry Using Online Sources
Authors: Hetherington Richard , McRae Rachel
Published: January 2018

A qualitative inquiry of reviews of films featuring digital humanlike characters was performed by sampling user comments from three online reviewer aggregator sites: the Internet Movie Database, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. The films chosen for analysis were: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (dir. Hironobu Sakaguchi and Motonori Sakakibara, 2001), The Polar Express (dir. Robert Zemeckis, 2004), and Beowulf (dir. Robert Zemeckis, 2007), all produced using CGI animation, together with A Scanner Darkly (dir. Richard Linklater, 2006) whose visuals are depicted by rotoscoping using Bob Sabiston’s Rotoshop software. The authors’ analysis identified individual differences in the viewing experience, particularly in relation to the uncertain ontology of the humanlike characters created using CGI (CGI-Humans). They found examples of reviews indicating an inability to distinguish between real and CGI-Human actors, observations of characters transiently exhibiting realism before returning to their artifice, and of characters being viewed as eerie (analogous to the uncanny valley), thus illustrating a complex and dynamic response to this phenomenon. In some situations, character uncanniness was related to the presence of an atypical feature such as movement of the eyes. Whilst specifically for Beowulf, perceptions became more problematic when there was familiarity with the actor playing the CGI-Human character, with some reviewers describing difficulties in categorizing the character as either real or animated. CGI-Human performances were also characterized by a lack of, or inappropriate, social interaction. Online reviewers did not perceive characters depicted using Rotoshop (Rotoshop-Humans) as eerie; rotoscoping was found to preserve, and possibly enhance, the natural social interactions between actors recorded from the live-action film which was used as the source material for the animation. The authors’ inquiry also identified user motivations for viewing these films and the importance placed by reviewers on the form of display when viewing the CGI films. They situate their interpretation of these findings in relation to Walton’s make-believe theory ( Mimesis as Make-Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts, 1990).
Disorienting the Past, Cripping the Future in Adam Elliot’s Claymation
Authors: Greenberg Slava
Published: January 2018

Acclaimed Australian animator Adam Elliot dedicated his career to illustrating the experiences of people with disabilities. Elliot’s first trilogy – Uncle (1996), Cousin (1999) and Brother (2000) – is a black and white claymation accompanied by narration reminiscing beloved family members with disabilities. The article intersects disability studies, phenomenology and film studies in an analysis of the disabled body in Elliot’s claymations and the crip ethics they may evoke in spectators. The author argues that Elliot’s clayographies disorient the past by yearning for it and crip the future by criticizing the marginalization of people with disabilities, and focusing on the desire for life ‘out-of-line’. The hybridity of the trilogy is an infusion of documentary ‘domestic ethnography’ or home videos, centering familial ‘others’ with fictional film-noir that allows entrance into the dark realm of recollection. The viewers are offered bodily experiences that emphasize the body’s vulnerability and perishability, presented not in a tragic or inspirational fashion, but as inseparable from human existence. By conjuring these oppositional cinematic styles and genres in clay, disability is represented as the definition of the human experience through an ethical remembrance.
How to do health services research in stroke: A focus on performance measurement and quality improvement
Authors: Cadilhac Dominique A , Fisher Rebecca , Bernhardt Julie
Published: January 2018

The objective of this “How to” research series article is to provide guidance on getting started in Health Services Research. The purpose of health services research is to contribute knowledge that can be used to help improve health systems and clinical services through influencing policy and practice. The methods used are broad, have varying levels of rigor, and may require different specialist skills. This paper sets out practical steps for undertaking health services research. Importantly, use of the highlighted techniques can identify solutions to address inadequate knowledge translation or promote greater access to evidence-based stroke care to optimize patient outcomes.
New social bandits? A comparative analysis of gangsterism in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa
Authors: Petrus Theodore , Kinnes Irvin
Published: January 2018

Gang violence has been extensively highlighted as an issue of national concern in South Africa. Gangs also pose concerns about the social contexts of the communities in which they are found. The Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces have had the most prolific occurrences of gangsterism. Here gangs have demonstrated unique characteristics that set them apart from gangs in other areas. This article examines the context of gangsterism in the selected provinces by means of a comparative analysis. The purpose is to provide some strategies for effective intervention. The discussion also interrogates how or why intervention efforts may have failed and what could be improved in order to strengthen the chances of success of future interventions in affected communities.
Contagion, counterterrorism and criminology: The Case of France
Authors: Hamilton Claire , Berlusconi Giulia
Published: January 2018

In the burgeoning criminological literature on security, risk and preventive justice which has followed the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers, ‘contagion’ or the deleterious effect of counterterrorist policies on the ordinary criminal law has been the subject of some discussion, mostly in the context of the threat which such ‘exceptional’ policies pose to mainstream procedural values. This article seeks to build on this literature through an examination of the impact of post 9/11 counterterrorism law and policy on the ordinary criminal justice system in France. Given the extent to which counterterrorist law now encroaches on various aspects of French criminal law, the argument is made for greater criminological attention to be paid to the ‘trickle-down’ effect of extraordinary law on the ordinary business of the criminal justice system.
Spatiotemporal dynamics during the transition to thermoacoustic instability: Effect of varying turbulence intensities
Authors: George Nitin B , Unni Vishnu R , Raghunathan Manikandan , Sujith RI
Published: January 2018

An experimental study on a turbulent, swirl-stabilized backward facing step combustor is conducted to understand the spatiotemporal dynamics during the transition from combustion noise to thermoacoustic instability. By using a turbulence generator, we investigate the change in the spatiotemporal dynamics during this transition for added turbulence intensities. High-speed CH* images of the flame (representative of the field of local heat release rate fluctuations ([Formula: see text]( x, y, t))) and simultaneous unsteady pressure fluctuations ([Formula: see text]( t)) are acquired for different equivalence ratios. In the study, without the turbulence generator, as the equivalence ratio is reduced from near stoichiometric values, we observe an emergence of coherence in the spatial dynamics during the occurrence of intermittency, enroute to thermoacoustic instability. As the turbulence intensity is increased using the turbulence generator, we find that there is an advanced onset of thermoacoustic instability. Spatial statistics and the instantaneous fields of [Formula: see text] show that during the transition from combustion noise to thermoacoustic instability, the emergence of coherent spatial structures in the instantaneous fields of [Formula: see text] for the experiments with higher turbulence intensities is advanced. However, as the equivalence ratio is reduced further, we notice that higher turbulence intensities result in the reduction of the strength of the pressure oscillations during the state of thermoacoustic instability. We find that, at these low equivalence ratios, there is a decrease in the coherence due to the dispersal of [Formula: see text], which explains the reduction in the strength of the pressure oscillations.
The Need to Calculate Target Glucose Levels When Measuring Changes in Insulin Sensitivity During Interventions for Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Othman Nor Azlan , Docherty Paul D. , Krebs Jeremy D. , Bell Damon A. , Chase J. Geoffrey
Published: January 2018

Background:

Physiological models that are used with dynamic test data to assess insulin sensitivity (SI) assume that the metabolic target glucose concentration ( GTARGET) is equal to fasting glucose concentration ( G0). However, recent research has implied that irregularities in G0 in diabetes may cause erroneous SI values. This study quantifies the magnitude of these errors.

Methods:

A clinically validated insulin/glucose model was used to calculate SI with the standard fasting assumption (SFA) G0 = GTARGET. Then GTARGET was treated as a variable in a second analysis (VGT). The outcomes were contrasted across twelve participants with established type 2 diabetes mellitus that were recruited to take part in a 24-week dietary intervention. Participants underwent three insulin-modified intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IM-IVGTT) at 0, 12, and 24 weeks.

Results:

SIVGT had a median value of 3.36×10−4 L·mU−1·min−1 (IQR: 2.30 – 4.95×10−4) and were significantly lower ( P < .05) than the median SISFA (6.38×10−4 L·mU−1·min−1, IQR: 4.87 – 9.39×10−4). The VGT approach generally yielded lower SI values in line with expected participant physiology and more effectively tracked changes in participant state over the 24-week trial. Calculated GTARGET values were significantly lower than G0 values (median GTARGET = 5.48 vs G0 = 7.16 mmol·L−1 P < .001) and were notably higher in individuals with longer term diabetes.

Conclusions:

Typical modeling approaches can overestimate SI when GTARGET does not equal G0. Hence, calculating GTARGET may enable more precise SI measurements in individuals with type 2 diabetes, and could imply a dysfunction in diabetic metabolism.