bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Crafting one’s leisure time in response to high job strain
Authors: Petrou Paraskevas , Bakker Arnold B
Published: October 2015

The present study addresses employee leisure crafting as the proactive pursuit and enactment of leisure activities targeted at goal setting, human connection, learning and personal development. Study 1 developed a measure for leisure crafting and provided evidence for its reliability and validity. In study 2, we followed 80 employees over the course of three weeks. We hypothesized that weekly leisure crafting would be more likely during weeks of high job strain (i.e. high quantitative job demands and low job autonomy) combined with sufficient autonomy at home, and during weeks of high activity at home (i.e. high quantitative home demands and high home autonomy). Furthermore, we predicted that weekly leisure crafting would relate positively to weekly satisfaction of basic human needs. Results indicated that leisure crafting was pronounced during weeks with high job strain combined with high home autonomy. However, an active home condition (i.e. high home demands and high home autonomy) was unrelated to leisure crafting. Weekly leisure crafting further related positively to weekly satisfaction of relatedness and autonomy (but not competence) needs. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings for the job crafting and leisure literatures.
Distinct Excitation to Pulpal Stimuli between Somatosensory and Insular Cortices
Authors: Nakamura H. , Shirakawa T. , Koshikawa N. , Kobayashi M.
Published: October 2015

Somatosensory information from the dental pulp is processed in the primary (S1) and secondary somatosensory cortex (S2) and in the insular oral region (IOR). Stimulation of maxillary incisor and molar initially induces excitation in S2/IOR, rostrodorsal to the mandibular incisor and molar pulp-responding regions. Although S1 and S2/IOR play their own roles in nociceptive information processing, the anatomical and physiological differences in the temporal activation kinetics, dependency on stimulation intensity, and additive or summative effects of simultaneous pulpal stimulation are still unknown. This information contributes not only to understanding topographical organization but also to speculating about the roles of S1 and S2/IOR in clinical aspects of pain regulation. In vivo optical imaging enables investigation of the spatiotemporal profiles of cortical excitation with high resolution. We determined the distinct features of optical responses to nociceptive stimulation of dental pulps between S1 and S2/IOR. In comparison to S1, optical signals in S2/IOR showed a larger amplitude with a shorter rise time and a longer decay time responding to maxillary molar pulp stimulation. The latency of excitation in S2/IOR was shorter than in S1. S2/IOR exhibited a lower threshold to evoke optical responses than S1, and the peak amplitude was larger in S2/IOR than in S1. Unexpectedly, the topography of S1 that responded to maxillary and mandibular incisor and molar pulps overlapped with the most ventral sites in S1 that was densely stained with cytochrome oxidase. An additive effect was observed in both S1 and S2/IOR after simultaneous stimulation of bilateral maxillary molar pulps but not after contralateral maxillary and mandibular molar pulp stimulation. These findings suggest that S2/IOR is more sensitive for detecting dental pulp sensation and codes stimulation intensity more precisely than S1. In addition, contra- and ipsilateral dental pulp nociception converges onto spatially closed sites in S1 and S2/IOR.
The Scriptural Economy, the Forbes Figuration and the Racial Order: Everyday Life in South Africa 1850–1930
Authors: Stanley Liz
Published: October 2015

Social change and large-scale transformations are as important to everyday life sociology as to macro sociology approaches. South Africa has been a ‘hotspot’ of change with a number of such transitions occurring in a condensed time-period, in particular regarding ‘race’ matters. A large South African family collection, concerning the Forbes family, is used to explore how the processes of change regarding the racial order can be analysed within an everyday sociology framework, focusing on the period 1850 to 1930. A range of documents throwing light on ‘the space of the day’, ‘the world and the word’ and other aspects of everyday experience are discussed.
A Day at the Beach: Rising Sea Levels, Horseshoe Crabs, and Traffic Jams
Authors: Moore Lisa Jean
Published: October 2015

The North American Horseshoe Crab ( Limulus polyphemus) spawns on Plumb Beach, a New York City and National Park Service park that borders the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, New York. This sociological research article examines my experiences of joining a biological research team studying the reproductive practices of horseshoe crabs at different shoreline habitats. This article tracks how engaging in multispecies ethnography and intraspecies mindfulness changes my everyday life considerations as a human, sociologist, commuter and resident of New York City. Using contemporary social theories, I demonstrate the crabs, humans, cars, sand, eggs, water, wind live in a mesh with connections to ecologists, politicians, pharmaceutical companies, and geomorphology. I am sharing a revelatory moment of understanding my place as a researcher within the mesh, interconnected with the site of research, the objects of research, as well as global variables that are beyond human control (and possibly understanding).
Everyday Experiences of Sexism in Male-dominated Professions: A Bourdieusian Perspective
Authors: Powell Abigail , Sang Katherine JC
Published: October 2015

The under-representation of women in the UK engineering and construction sectors seems resolute. Using a Bourdieusian lens, this article examines the persistence of everyday sexism and gender inequality in male-dominated professions. Bringing together findings from three research projects with engineering and construction industry students and professionals, we find that women experience gendered treatment in everyday interactions with peers. Patterns of(mis)recognition and resistance are complex, with some women expressing views which reproduce and naturalise gender inequality. In contrast, other women recognise and resist such essentialism through a range of actions including gender equity campaigning. Through a Bourdieusian analysis of the everyday, this article calls into question existing policy recommendations that argue women have different skills that can be brought to the sector. Such recommendations reinforce the gendered nature of the engineering and construction sectors’ habitus and fail to recognise how the underlying structures and practices of the sector reproduce gendered working practices.
Object Relations in Accounts of Everyday Life
Authors: Rinkinen Jenny , Jalas Mikko , Shove Elizabeth
Published: October 2015

Theories of social practice routinely acknowledge the significance of the material world, arguing that objects have a constitutive role in shaping and reproducing the practices of which daily life is made. Objects are also important for those who approach ‘everyday life’ as an ontology, a tradition in which scholarly interest in the material reaches beyond the somewhat pragmatic concerns of practice theory. In this article we identify traces of both schools of thought in the ways in which people describe their immediate material environments. By drawing on an archive of diary material, we illustrate multi-faceted object relations with reference to the example of keeping warm. We conclude that in keeping warm, diarists weave together encounters, tactics and judgements, encountering objects in ways that extend beyond the ‘mere’ enactment of social practice. In analysing these encounters we explore ways of conceptualising the object-world that are especially relevant for studies of everyday life.
Migrant Urbanisms: Ordinary Cities and Everyday Resistance
Authors: Hall Suzanne M
Published: October 2015

This article expands on the quotidian perspectives of ‘ordinary cities’ and ‘everyday resistance’ and explores the migrant urbanisms that emerge out of movement, mixing and exchange. The article argues for a shift beyond a focus on encounter across racial and ethnic difference, to engage with whether everyday social practice can effectively contaminate political practice. The question is raised within the understanding that everyday life is rooted in inequality, and extends to an analysis of migrant participation in city life as creative expression and everyday resistance. Against a pernicious migrancy problematic in the UK that defines migration as an external force assaulted on national integrity from the outside, I explore migrant urbanisms as participatory practices of reconfiguration within ordinary cities, where diversity and innovation intersect. At the core of this exploration is how migrants are active in the making of urban space and urban politics.
‘Snowed in!’: Offbeat Rhythms and Belonging as Everyday Practice
Authors: Bennett Julia
Published: October 2015

Belonging is usually seen as a taken-for-granted, and perhaps ill-defined, aspect of everyday life. Through looking at the weather, family life and the local neighbourhood, this article argues that belonging should be recognised as an active and rhythmic practice, creating and recreating relationships, or an ‘ethic of care’, between people, place and history. Using elements of Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis, the article employs a diary written during a week of inclement weather to illustrate how belonging is done through the rhythms and activities of everyday life, such as being a neighbour. This demonstrates how belonging as a way of being-in-the-world, an ‘ontological belonging’, is practical, material and tangible. Repositioning the ‘sense’ of belonging as an everyday activity with tangible consequences brings with it associated responsibilities (an ‘ethic of care’) for place and the people who live there.
Connective-Collective Action on Social Media: Moderated Mediation of Cognitive Elaboration and Perceived Source Credibility on Personalness of Source
Authors: Nekmat Elmie , Gower Karla K. , Zhou Shuhua , Metzger Miriam
Published: October 2015

Taking the logic of online connective action from an information-processing viewpoint, an online experiment ( N = 208) was done to examine whether individuals’ cognitive elaboration on messages received from different sources (personal: friends, family, vs. impersonal: organization) mediates their willingness to engage in connective-type collective activities on social media (e.g., commenting, “Liking”); and whether this indirect influence is biased by perceived source credibility. Results revealed significant influence from personal sources. Cognitive elaboration positively mediates this influence and was conditionally affected by high source credibility. Direct influence from personal issue involvement and perceived self and technological efficacy was also observed. Theoretical contributions (i.e., cognitive demands at individual level) and practical implications (i.e., enhancing organizational credibility, popularity of easy-to-do acts) are discussed.
Sowing seeds for future generations
Authors: Jia Fanli , Soucie Kendall , Alisat Susan , Pratt Michael
Published: October 2015

In this longitudinal study, we examined the relationship between the trajectory of generative concern measured at ages 23, 26 and 32 and environmental narrative identity at age 32. Canadian participants completed a questionnaire on generative concern at ages 23, 26 and 32 and were then interviewed about their personal experiences with the environment at age 32 ( N = 112). Narratives were coded by independent raters for meaning, vividness and impact, with higher levels indicating a more salient environmental narrative identity. Latent growth models revealed significant individual variability in the trajectories of generative concern from ages 23 to 32. This variability was associated with the salience of environmental narrative identity at age 32 through two different developmental processes: (1) having a higher level of generative concern at age 23 predicted a more salient environmental narrative identity at age 32; and (2) those who developed higher levels of generative concern during the course of emerging adulthood (from ages 23 to 32) also appeared to display a more salient environmental narrative identity at age 32. Implications of these findings are also discussed.
“I Don’t Want Them to Be a Statistic”
Authors: Verduzco-Baker Lynn
Published: October 2015

U.S. discourse on low-income mothers frames them as social problems and this presumption of deficiency is reflected in studies of parenting logics and practices. Scholars often underestimate the sophistication of low-income mothers’ parenting logic and do not recognize that these mothers work as hard as and use (appropriately) different parenting logics than those of middle-class mothers. I investigate parenting logics of African American and White low-income mothers. These women demonstrate a logic that follows many of the same premises of middle-class parenting strategies but additionally seeks to address obstacles that prevent low-income youth from reaching goals: addiction, drug dealing, pregnancy, and “the street.” This logic leads to strategies that may appear to be inexpensive adaptations of middle-class practices, however, analysis of mothers’ narratives reveals they are not derivative but are intended to prepare children to avoid perils of their social context. This study illuminates a previously misunderstood version of intensive mothering.
Articulating ‘public interest’ through complexity theory
Authors: Chettiparamb Angelique
Published: October 2015

The ‘Public interest’, even if viewed with ambiguity or scepticism, has been one of the primary means by which various professional roles of planners have been justified. Many objections to the concept have been advanced by writers in planning academia. Notwithstanding these, ‘public interest’ continues to be mobilised, to justify, defend or argue for planning interventions and reforms. This has led to arguments that planning will have to adopt and recognise some form of public interest in practice to legitimise itself. This paper explores current debates around public interest and social justice and advances a vision of the public interest informed by complexity theory. The empirical context of the paper is the poverty alleviation programme, the Kudumbashree project in Kerala, India.
Standard setting in specific-purpose language testing: What can a qualitative study add?
Authors: Manias Elizabeth , McNamara Tim
Published: October 2015

This paper explores the views of nursing and medical domain experts in considering the standards for a specific-purpose English language screening test, the Occupational English Test (OET), for professional registration for immigrant health professionals. Since individuals who score performances in the test setting are often language experts rather than domain experts, there are possible tensions between what is being measured by a language test and what is deemed important by domain experts. Another concern is a lack of qualitative research on the process of the standard setting. To date, no published qualitative work has been identified about the contributions of domain experts in the standard setting for healthcare communication. In this study, a standard-setting exercise was conducted for the speaking component of the OET, using judgements of nursing and medical clinical educators and supervisors. In all, 13 medical and 18 nursing clinical educators and supervisors rated medical and nursing candidate performances respectively. These performances were audio-recorded OET role-plays that were selected across a range of proficiency levels. Domain experts were invited to comment on the basis of their decisions and the extent of alignment between these decisions and the criteria used to assess performance on the OET. Nursing and medical domain experts showed that they attended to all of the OET criteria in making their decisions about standards. However, clinical scenario simulation also invited judgements of clinical competence from participants, even where they knew that clinical competence should be excluded from their decision-making. Another concern related to the authenticity limitations of the role-play tasks as evidence of readiness to handle communication in the workplace. Overall, findings support the value of qualitative evidence from the standard setting in providing insight into the factors informing and impeding decision-making.
Emotional Clarity as a Mechanism Linking Emotional Neglect and Depressive Symptoms During Early Adolescence
Authors: Jessar Allison J. , Hamilton Jessica L. , Flynn Megan , Abramson Lyn Y. , Alloy Lauren B.
Published: October 2015

The present study examined whether emotional abuse and neglect differentially predicted decreases in emotional clarity, and whether emotional clarity, in turn, predicted increases in depressive symptoms. Participants included 204 early adolescents (52% African American; 54% female; M age = 12.85 years) who completed four assessments with measures of depressive symptoms, emotional clarity, and emotional abuse and neglect. Hierarchical linear regressions indicated that emotional neglect significantly predicted decreases in emotional clarity, whereas emotional abuse did not. Further, mediational analyses revealed that decreases in emotional clarity mediated the relationship between emotional neglect and increases in depressive symptoms. The current study suggests that emotional neglect (more so than emotional abuse) may hinder an individual’s ability to identify his or her own emotions, which may increase the risk of depressive symptoms during adolescence. These findings have significant implications for the development of intervention and prevention programs for depression.
Host and Potential Vector Susceptibility to an Emerging Orbivirus in the United States
Authors: Ruder M. G. , Stallknecht D. E. , Allison A. B. , Mead D. G. , Carter D. L. , Howerth E. W.
Published: October 2015

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease viruses (EHDVs) are orbiviruses transmitted by Culicoides biting midges to domestic and wild ruminants. EHDV-1 and EHDV-2 are endemic in the United States, where epizootic hemorrhagic disease is the most significant viral disease of white-tailed deer (WTD; Odocoileus virginianus) and reports of epizootic hemorrhagic disease in cattle are increasing. In 2006, a reassortant EHDV-6 was isolated from dead WTD in Indiana and has been detected each subsequent year over a wide geographic region. Since EHDV-6 is not a historically endemic serotype in the United States, it is important to understand infection outcome in potential hosts. Specifically, we aimed to evaluate the pathogenicity of the virus in 2 primary US ruminant hosts (WTD and cattle) and the susceptibility of a confirmed US vector ( Culicoides sonorensis). Five WTD and 4 cattle were inoculated with >106 TCID50 EHDV-6 by intradermal and subcutaneous injection. All 5 WTD exhibited moderate to severe disease, and 3 died. Viremia was first detected 3 to 5 days postinfection (dpi) with surviving animals seroconverting by 10 dpi. Two of 4 inoculated cattle had detectable viremia, 5 to 10 dpi and 7 to 24 dpi, respectively. No clinical, hematologic, or pathologic abnormalities were observed. Antibodies were detected by 10 dpi in 3 of 4 cows. C. sonorensis were fed on WTD blood spiked with EHDV-6 and held for 4 to 14 days postfeeding at 25°C. From 4 to 14 days postfeeding, 19 of 171 midges were virus isolation positive and 6 of 171 had ≥102.7 TCID50 EHDV-6. Although outcomes varied, these studies demonstrate the susceptibility of ruminant and vector hosts in the United States for this recently emerged EHDV serotype.
Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Expression Profiles in Canine Cutaneous and Subcutaneous Mast Cell Tumors
Authors: Thompson J. J. , Morrison J. A. , Pearl D. L. , Boston S. E. , Wood G. A. , Foster R. A. , Coomber B. L.
Published: October 2015

The receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) KIT is a major focus of current research into canine mast cell tumors (MCTs). Little is known about the role of other RTKs, such as vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFRs) and platelet-derived growth factor receptors (PDGFRs). These RTKs are dysregulated in many human and animal cancers and are key regulators of tumor angiogenesis. The aims of this study were to assess the expression and activation (phosphorylation) status of KIT, VEGFR2, and PDGFR (α and β) in canine MCTs and to examine associations with various clinical outcomes. c- KIT mutational status and KIT cellular localization pattern were also evaluated for these tumors. Twenty-seven MCTs, consisting of 5 subcutaneous and 22 cutaneous tumors, from 25 dogs were evaluated. MCT biopsies, cultured mast cells, and skin from the surgical margin were analyzed through Western blotting. MCT biopsies were also used for KIT immunohistochemical labeling and polymerase chain reaction for c- KIT mutational analysis. MCT had heterogeneous expression profiles for all 3 RTKs, which varied in intensity and activation status. Statistical analyses showed phosphorylated KIT, VEGFR2, and KIT cellular localization to be predictive of decreased survival time, disease-free interval, and increased metastatic rate. Expression of VEGFR2 and KIT diffuse cytoplasmic labeling were also significantly associated with increased rate of local recurrence. The results of the study show that phosphorylated KIT, KIT, VEGFR2, and PDGFRβ, in addition to KIT localization, may be valuable prognostic determinants in MCTs and should be further studied to improve diagnostic and therapeutic modalities.
Self-reported neck and shoulder pain in adolescents is associated with episodic and chronic migraine
Authors: Landgraf Mirjam N , von Kries Rüdiger , Heinen Florian , Langhagen Thyra , Straube Andreas , Albers Lucia
Published: October 2015

Aim

The aim of this study was to verify the association between self-reported neck/shoulder pain and migraine and to compare findings of chronic and episodic migraine in adolescents.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, 601 secondary-school students filled in questionnaires about headache appearance, type and frequency, neck and shoulder pain and lifestyle factors.

Results

The adjusted strength of the association between reported neck and shoulder pain and migraine (assessed in multinomial regression models) increased with the frequency of migraine: less than once a week (OR = 1.40; 95% CI = (0.85–2.30)), weekly (OR = 2.14; 95% CI = (1.42–3.24)), and at least 15 days/month (OR = 7.27; 95% CI = (3.42–15.44)).

Conclusion

In adolescents the association between self-reported neck and shoulder pain and migraine is most pronounced in migraine with a high attack frequency.
Leukocyte-Reduced Platelet-Rich Plasma Normalizes Matrix Metabolism in Torn Human Rotator Cuff Tendons
Authors: Cross Jessica A. , Cole Brian J. , Spatny Kaylan P. , Sundman Emily , Romeo Anthony A. , Nicholson Greg P. , Wagner Bettina , Fortier Lisa A.
Published: October 2015

Background:

The optimal platelet-rich plasma (PRP) for treatment of supraspinatus tendinopathy has not been determined.

Purpose:

To evaluate the effect of low- versus high-leukocyte concentrated PRP products on catabolic and anabolic mediators of matrix metabolism in diseased rotator cuff tendons.

Study Design:

Controlled laboratory study.

Methods:

Diseased supraspinatus tendons were treated with PRP made by use of 2 commercial systems: Arthrex Autologous Conditioned Plasma Double Syringe System (Llo PRP) and Biomet GPS III Mini Platelet Concentrate System (Lhi PRP). Tendon explants were placed in 6-well plates and cultured in Llo PRP, Lhi PRP, or control media (Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium + 10% fetal bovine serum) for 96 hours. Tendons were processed for hematoxylin-eosin histologic results and were scored with the modified Bonar scale. Group 1 tendons were defined as moderate tendinopathy (Bonar score <3); group 2 tendons were assessed as severely affected (Bonar score = 3). Transforming growth factor β–1 (TGFβ-1), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and matrix metalloproteinase–9 (MMP-9) concentrations in PRP media were measured by use of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay after 96 hours of culture with diseased tendon. Tendon messenger RNA expression of collagen type I ( COL1A1), collagen type III ( COL3A1), cartilage oligomeric matrix protein ( COMP), MMP-9, MMP-13, and IL-1β was measured with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

Results:

Leukocytes and platelets were significantly more concentrated in Lhi PRP compared with Llo PRP. Increased IL-1β was present in Lhi PRP after culture with group 1 tendons. IL-6 was increased in Lhi PRP after culture with group 2 tendons. Both TGFβ-1 and MMP-9 were increased in Lhi PRP after culture with either tendon group. In Llo PRP cultures, IL-1Ra:IL-1β in PRP used as media and COL1A1:COL3A1 gene expression were increased for group 1 tendon cultures. Gene expression of MMP-9 and IL-1β was increased in group 2 tendons cultured in Llo PRP. There was no significant difference in the expression of MMP-13 or COMP in either group of tendons cultured in Llo PRP or Lhi PRP.

Conclusion:

Llo PRP promotes normal collagen matrix synthesis and decreases cytokines associated with matrix degradation and inflammation to a greater extent than does Lhi PRP in moderately degenerative tendons. In severely degenerative tendons, neither PRP preparation enhanced matrix synthesis.

Clinical Relevance:

Llo PRP may promote healing in moderately degenerative rotator cuff tendons.
Elusive revolt
Authors: Tuğal Cihan
Published: October 2015

What lies behind the amalgam of liberalism, elitism, anti-capitalism, and fascistic elements in today’s street politics? This essay analyzes this mixture in light of the shifting class locations of middle strata. Intensified business dominance has not only proletarianized some middle strata but has led to a dry life for even the privileged ones. Middle classes are now taking to the streets to reclaim their specialness. Their exact agendas might not be identical throughout the globe, but a kindred spirit of creativity and aestheticized occupation unites disparate geographies of revolt. Liberal and radical analyses of the wave of revolt miss its most significant characteristics, which only a re-theorization of the new petty bourgeoisie can capture. The essay outlines a research agenda that would explore the multiple dimensions of middle-class formation, as well as the post-capitalist trajectories that might (or might not) result from further politicization.
Local Networks
Authors: Asomani-Boateng Raymond
Published: October 2015

Indigenous open-air markets in Ghana’s urban areas generate significant quantities of market waste, which the present “collect and dispose” system is unable to handle. Waste accumulates in markets, which degrades the market environment and creates health hazards. Waste management planners in Ghana have failed to adopt a participatory and an inclusive approach to managing waste in open air markets in Ghanaian cities by overlooking the potential role of indigenous institutions and networks in the management of waste. This research found that networks of market stakeholders can effectively manage market waste when empowered to do so.
Sociological Methodology - BMS & RC33 - News from Historical and Comparative Sociology in Japan
Authors: Onaka Fumiya
Published: October 2015

The International Sociological Association’s Research Committee “Logic and Methodology” (RC33), under the direction of President Nina Baur, has begun to concentrate on sociological methodology developments in world regions other than Europe and North America. This is the first “Regional Report” to be jointly published by the BMS and this issue’s RC33 Newsletter. This paper attempts to briefly outline the status of historical and comparative sociology in Japan by a retrospective study focusing on methodological aspects. It reveals that methodology has been and will be the philosopher’s stone in a series of disputes.
Sociological Methodology - BMS & RC33 - News from Latin America
Authors: Andrade Adriana García
Published: October 2015

The International Sociological Association’s Research Committee “Logic and Methodology” (RC33), under the direction of President Nina Baur, has begun to concentrate on sociological methodology developments in world regions other than Europe and North America. This is the first “Regional Report” to be jointly published by the BMS and this issue’s RC33 Newsletter, and it concerns Latin America.
Neurocutaneous Syndromes and Brain Tumors
Authors: Ullrich Nicole J.
Published: October 2015

The etiology of most childhood cancer remains largely unknown, but is likely attributable to random or induced genetic aberrations in somatic tissue. However, a subset of children develops cancer in the setting of an underlying inheritable condition involving a germline genetic mutation or chromosomal aberration. The term “neurocutaneous syndrome” encompasses a group of multisystem, hereditary disorders that are associated with skin manifestations as well as central and/or peripheral nervous system lesions of variable severity. This review outlines the central nervous system tumors associated with underlying neurocutaneous disorders, including neurofibromatosis type 1, neurofibromatosis type 2, schwannomatosis, tuberous sclerosis complex, Von Hippel Lindau, and nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome. Recognizing the presence of an underlying syndrome is critically important to both optimizing clinical care and treatment as well as genetic counseling and monitoring of these affected patients and their families.
Stigma Among Survivors of Sexual Violence in Congo: Scale Development and Psychometrics
Authors: Murray Sarah McIvor , Robinette Katie L. , Bolton Paul , Cetinoglu Talita , Murray Laura K. , Annan Jeannie , Bass Judith K.
Published: October 2015

Stigma related to sexual violence (SV) is associated with many negative physical and social outcomes. We sought to create a contextually relevant measure of SV-related stigma for women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and assess itspsychometrics and validity. Using baseline screening data from two randomized controlled trials of services for female SV survivors in Eastern DRC ( n = 1,184), we conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to test the measurement model. Cronbach’s alphas and Kuder–Richardson 20 (KR-20) statistics were used to evaluate internal consistency. Logistic and linear regressions of the stigma measures with related constructs were used to assess construct validity. Two distinct but related scales were developed based on factor analyses: a four-item scale of discrimination-related stigma (i.e., enacted stigma) and an eight-item scale of combined perceived and internalized stigma (i.e., felt stigma). Both scales showed good internal consistency (KR-20 = .68; α = .86). A higher felt stigma score was associated with significant increases in combined depression and anxiety and trauma symptoms, as well as functional impairment ( p < .001). Having a child as a result of SV was associated with both significantly higher enacted and felt stigma ( p < .001). Neither SV stigma scale was associated with medical care seeking. To address harmful ramifications of stigma among SV survivors, locally relevant quantitative measures are necessary to understand the nature and severity of stigma they experience. Our process of scale creation and evaluation can serve as an example for developing locally relevant SV-related stigma measures.
Class Discourse in Croatia
Authors: Grdešić Marko
Published: October 2015

This article summarizes recent trends in Croatia with regard to class analysis and class discourse. It traces the main currents both in academic debate as well as more broadly in the public sphere. Issues of class were sidelined with the outbreak of war and the rise of nationalism in the 1990s. Later, neoliberalism further weakened class and leftist discourse. Research on class has been sporadic and rare. New developments among a younger generation of leftist activists and scholars have begun to challenge the silence on class, but the main trends have not been reversed.
Beyond Anticommunism
Authors: Ban Cornel
Published: October 2015

The debate about socio-economic inequalities and class has become increasingly important in mainstream academic and political debates. This article shows that during the late 2000s class analysis was rediscovered in Romania both as an analytical category and as a category of practice. The evidence suggests that this was the result of two converging processes: the deepening crisis of Western capitalism after 2008 and the country’s increasingly transnational networks of young scholars, journalists, and civil society actors. Although a steady and focused interest in class analysis is a novelty in Romania’s academia, media, and political life and has the potential to change the political conversation in the future, so far the social fields where this analysis is practiced have remained relatively marginal.
Russia
Authors: Crowley Stephen
Published: October 2015

Class structure, class inequality, and class analysis are central to understanding contemporary Russian politics and society. And yet Russians themselves—from social scientists, to political leaders, to everyday Russians—have struggled to come to grips with the concept of class, which became a taboo topic following the collapse of communism. In recent years, that has started to change. Russian social scientists have placed great emphasis on defining the Russian “middle class,” in a search both for a non-Marxist conception of class and for a social group with the potential to lead Russia toward a more liberal future. Yet the middle class concept remains fuzzy, and the political aspirations for the group have been only partially realized. Meanwhile, much of the rest of Russian society retains a more traditional view of class and class conflict, as reflected in various political struggles and even in popular culture, such as Russian film.
Class and Social Structure in Hungarian Sociology
Authors: Gagyi Ágnes , Éber Márk Áron
Published: October 2015

The article follows changes in the paradigms and institutional context of Hungarian sociology of social structure, as formed by Hungary’s double dependence on Soviet and Western cores throughout the second part of the twentieth century. It demonstrates that as a result of those changes, the concept of class has been absent from the sociology of social structure from the early 1970s on. Thinking towards a possible reconstruction of twentieth-century Hungarian social formation in a class-sensitive perspective embedded in the dynamics of the capitalist world system, we point at a typical effect of global hierarchies on the description of local social structure: the tendency to identify a “double structure” in local society. This gesture places various characteristics of local society on two different ontological levels—for example, Western versus Eastern, future versus past. We argue that in order to conceive of local social formation as part of an integrated global history, this internalized effect of global hierarchies needs to be transcended.
The Lingering Constituency
Authors: Meszmann Tibor T.
Published: October 2015

Tracing the political and academic treatment of the notion of class, in this article I emphasize overlapping continuities and discontinuities from the socialist period. I argue that in Serbia, class preserved its policy relevance at least until the mid-1990s, since there was a peculiar melding of nation and class in public discourse. Key to these developments was the rise of Milošević as a reformed communist already in the late 1980s. Milošević’s agenda was heavily reliant on class-based appeals and the mobilization of workers for its legitimacy. Even though formal democratization began in 1990, with an accompanying mobilization of nationalism, the category of workers remained politically relevant, present in the patronizing rhetoric of most political sides. Only after 2000, with renewed democratization and neoliberal reforms, did public discourses begin to downplay class in the conventional sense, while young scholars took up issues of class in new, more critical ways.
Inequality in Poverty
Authors: Boyadjieva Pepka , Kabakchieva Petya
Published: October 2015

The paper analyzes the variety of discourses on social inequalities in postcommunist Bulgaria. The focus is on academic discourse, but political and everyday interpretations are presented as well. Politicians generally avoid talking about social differences and prefer instead the dichotomy of “elite” versus “the people,” whose interests the politicians vow to protect. In popular consciousness, the main division is between “the rich” (mafia, politicians, ex-nomenklatura) and “the honest poor.” In sociology, three main research trajectories have emerged: from class-based to status-based stratification; from one-dimensional to multidimensional stratification; and from a Marxist class model to a social network model. Perhaps the most important characteristic of Bulgarian society is its high level of poverty, according both to income indicators and self-perception. In this context of a pervasive sense of poverty, status differences lose their significance. This in turn prevents the establishment of group or class solidarity, as everyone feels she or he is competing with all others. Starting in 2013, a new trend can be observed: of social protests organized by those who say they feel powerless and manipulated by corrupt elites. As they try to initiate new types of economic negotiations with the government, sociologists have a responsibility both to study this new movement and to push the problems it raises into public debate.
Stuck in the Past and the Future
Authors: Ost David
Published: October 2015

Class became virtually a taboo topic in Poland after the fall of the communist system, and a discourse of “normality” took hold. Social scientists and journalists considered new market institutions natural and inescapable and urged people to adapt. Sociologists were more interested in the identity of the new elites than the social consequences of the new capitalism, and a cult of a not-yet-existing “middle class” quickly grew. Inequality and poverty, previously understood as systemic, were now presented as due to individual pathology. That class talk became so marginalized despite the historical robustness of Polish sociology as a discipline is explained by the dominance of a functionalist stratification paradigm, which kept questions relevant to the new system, about emerging class relations and power, from even being raised. Polish sociology thus appeared stuck in the past and in the future—thinking about stratification without power, and imagining an individualist meritocracy as already in effect—but not ready to ask about the class formation and new economic relations of the present. The paucity of class analysis allowed illiberal populist nationalism to grow, blaming economic problems on internal “anti-Polish” enemies. New kinds of class thinking has revived in the new millennium, promoted by a new generation raised in a capitalist society and trained in western universities, and legitimized in part by class analyses of postcommunism by scholars from abroad. Though hobbled, class analysis is making a modest comeback.
Estonia
Authors: Helemäe Jelena , Saar Ellu
Published: October 2015

In postcommunist Estonia, the topic of inequality was considered “embarrassing.” The dominant popular assumption was that inequalities just happen naturally. Class and inequality discourse was effectively marginalized due to long-lasting success in focusing attention on nationalizing issues. A “transition culture” that lionized the capitalist future has also contributed to the marginalization of class discourse. Because of this marginalization, and the power of national/ethnic discourse and transitional culture, those most economically vulnerable were deprived of the cultural and discursive resources to resist the most extreme market-oriented policies. Sociologists did discuss inequality more seriously, but mostly according to a gradational and functional stratification paradigm: the central focus has been on individual attributes that divide people into classes. The analysis focusing on relations of exploitation and domination have been virtually absent in postcommunist Estonia. We conclude that the main challenge for Estonian social science is to incorporate concepts of power, exploitation, and domination perspective into study of inequality.
Reconstruction of Holocene vegetation dynamics at Lac de Bretaye, a high-mountain lake in the Swiss Alps
Authors: Thöle Lena , Schwörer Christoph , Colombaroli Daniele , Gobet Erika , Kaltenrieder Petra , van Leeuwen Jacqueline , Tinner Willy
Published: October 2015

A deeper understanding of past vegetation dynamics is required to better assess future vegetation responses to global warming in the Alps. Lake sediments from Lac de Bretaye, a small subalpine lake in the Northern Swiss Alps (1780 m a.s.l.), were analysed to reconstruct past vegetation dynamics for the entire Holocene, using pollen, macrofossil and charcoal analyses as main proxies. The results show that timberline reached the lake’s catchment area at around 10,300 cal. BP, supporting the hypothesis of a delayed postglacial afforestation in the Northern Alps. At the same time, thermophilous trees such as Ulmus, Tilia and Acer established in the lowlands and expanded to the altitude of the lake, forming distinctive boreo-nemoral forests with Betula, Pinus cembra and Larix decidua. From about 5000 to 3500 cal. BP, thermophilous trees declined because of increasing human land use, mainly driven by the mass expansion of Picea abies and severe anthropogenic fire activity. From the Bronze Age onwards ( c. 4200–2800 cal. BP), grazing indicators and high values for charcoal concentration and influx attest an intensifying human impact, fostering the expansion of Alnus viridis and Picea abies. Hence, biodiversity in alpine meadows increased, whereas forest diversity declined, as can be seen in other regional records. We argue that the anticipated climate change and decreasing human impact in the Alps today will not only lead to an upward movement of timberline with consequent loss of area for grasslands, but also to a disruption of Picea abies forests, which may allow the re-expansion of thermophilous tree species.
Myth of Equity Mutual Fund Performance
Authors: Panda Brahmadev , Mahapatra Rudra Prasanna , Moharana Samson
Published: October 2015

Mutual Fund Investment: is it a panacea or a peril? The fascination about mutual fund investment has attracted many investors since its inception due to its perfect arbitration between risk and return. Till December 2013, the total investment in mutual fund industry stood at ₹8,765,220 million and is growing at a rate of around 11 per cent every year. Whether these investment made into mutual fund are giving better return or are the fund managers efficient? This article has made an effort to understand and analyze the risk and return performance, stock selection ability and market timing ability of the fund managers for the period January 2008 to December 2013. Five Indian asset management companies were selected and their equity fund’s performance were tested by applying certain statistical measures like beta, Treynor ratio, Jensen’s alpha, Henriksson–Merton model. From a sample size of 41 equity funds, we found very few funds with superior return while average stock selection ability and almost no market timing ability found.
Development of a Model for Successful Implementation of Supply Chain Management Information System in Indian Automotive Industry
Authors: Seth Manisha , Goyal D.P. , Kiran Ravi
Published: October 2015

Supply chain management information system (SCMIS) has gained a lot of importance because of its ability to reduce costs and increase responsiveness in the supply chain. The implementation of SCMIS is a complicated process with significant risk since disparate systems spanning across companies are being integrated. A review of literature has revealed that the success in implementing SCMIS is not very encouraging. Against this backdrop, this paper identified 18 critical success factors and proposes a model for successful implementation of the system that can give the organization an edge over their competitors. The proposed model confirms that following factors play a significant role during implementation of SCMIS—top management support, user involvement, pre-implementation analysis, user training, change management, data accuracy and communication. The process model and critical success factors will provide a useful guide for industry practitioners who are planning to implement SCMIS in their organization. The study can help them gain an understanding of the complexities intrinsic in implementing these systems, improve decision-making for successful implementation of the system right from inception and subsequent realization of the enormous benefits, such as, reduction of inventories, minimization of bullwhip effect and cost reduction, that will accrue with right implementation.
A theory of expert leadership (TEL) in psychiatry
Authors: Goodall Amanda H
Published: October 2015

Objective:

Leaders’ technical competence – ‘expert knowledge’ – has been shown in many settings to be associated with better organizational performance. In universities, for example, there is longitudinal evidence that research-focused scholars make the best leaders; results from a hospital study show that doctors instead of professional managers are most closely associated with the best performing institutions. To explain these patterns, and raise hypotheses, a theory of expert leadership (TEL) has been developed that might explain these patterns. In this paper the framework for expert leadership is applied to psychiatry.

Conclusions:

The TEL proposes that psychiatric leaders, as opposed to non-expert managers, improve organizational performance through several channels. First, experts’ knowledge influences organizational strategy. Second, having been ‘one of them’, a psychiatrist understands how to create the optimal work environment for psychiatric teams, through appropriate goal-setting, evaluation and support. These factors are positively associated with workers’ wellbeing and performance. Third, exceptional psychiatrist-leaders are likely to set high standards for hiring. Fourth, leaders’ credibility extends their influence among core workers, and also signals organizational priorities to stakeholders. Finally, a necessary prerequisite of TEL is that expert leaders have direct executive power inclusive of budgetary and strategic oversight.
Translating research knowledge in dementia care organisations
Authors: Alyami Hussain , Peri Kathy , Vanderpyl Jane , Cheung Gary
Published: October 2015

Objective:

To evaluate dementia care organisations’ capacity to acquire, assess, adapt and apply dementia research.

Methods:

We used the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation’s survey, ‘Is research working for you?’ by inviting the members of the New Zealand National Dementia Cooperative to participate in the online survey.

Results:

A total of 146 (32%) members responded and indicated that, although the workforce had the skills to engage in research and implement evidence into practice, there was limited organisational support in terms of the time, resources and access to external support.

Conclusions:

We propose a number of strategies to improve knowledge translation in dementia care.