bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The effect of graphene and graphene oxide on defective single lap adhesively bonded joints
Authors: Abdi Esmaeil , Khabaz-Aghdam Ata , Hasan-nezhad Hosein , Behjat Bashir , Marques EAS , Yang Yongming , da Silva LFM
Published: May 2022

The addition of nano-additives provides a path to improve joint performance. However, it is not clear if the use of these materials can alter the susceptibility of bonded joints to the presence of defects. This work aims to shed some light on this matter, by testing the performance of defective joints bonded with adhesives modified with nano-additives. Two different kinds of carbon-based nano-platelets, including graphene (G) and graphene oxide (GO), were used in this work as additives for adhesives used to bond single lap joints (SLJs). Bulk specimens, as well as three geometrically different SLJs were manufactured and tested. One configuration was manufactured without defects (WO), another with a disbond defect in the middle of the overlap, and another with a disbond defect on the edge of the overlap, known as a side defect (SD). These specimens were bonded with a neat epoxy adhesive and with the same adhesive modified with the addition of 0.3 wt% of G and GO. The addition of G and GO was found to improve Young’s modulus and the strength of the epoxy adhesive, while also decreasing its toughness. Dual effect of G and GO addition on improving the strength of the neat epoxy and WO SLJs while reducing the strength of some defective SLJs is also discussed using FT-IR and Raman spectrometry as well as scanning electron microscope pictures of the fracture surfaces.
Experimental investigation and multiscale simulation on the bending fatigue of SiCf/SiC composite vanes
Authors: Zhang Long , Cheng Jun , Liu Chunhui , Qiu Rongkai , Liu Bingbin , Liao Wenlin
Published: May 2022

Plain woven composites are widely used in aerospace structures where vibration bending fatigue triggered by uneven airflow is the major failure mode, such as fan blades, turbine vanes, exhaust nozzle seals and etc. In this work, the multiscale fatigue simulation framework validated with composite coupons in previous studies, was investigated for the application to plain woven SiCf/SiC composite vanes. In order to validate the multiscale simulation results, bending fatigue test of the composite vanes was conducted on the basis of a vibration table upgraded with specially designed fixtures, where the in-situ damage images and natural frequency variations of the composite vanes were recorded through the whole fatigue testing process. The macroscopic and mesoscopic damage evolutions revealed by multiscale simulation were in good agreement with the in-situ observed images. Moreover, fatigue life was predicted based on the criterion of natural frequency descending 20%. As a result, the comparison between predicted and experimental fatigue life exhibits a scatter band of ±3.27. This study proves that the developed multiscale simulation method possesses good capability for the bending fatigue damage investigation and life prediction of plain woven composite structures.
Supervisor Undermining, Social Isolation and Subordinates’ Problematic Drinking: The Role of Depression and Perceived Drinking Norms
Authors: Montal-Rosenberg Ronit , Bamberger Peter A. , Nahum-Shani Inbal , Wang Mo , Larimer Mary , Bacharach Samuel B.
Published: May 2022

Findings regarding the mechanism underlying the impact of supervisor incivility on subordinate alcohol misuse remain equivocal. Specifically, some studies indicate that stress mediates the impact of supervisor incivility on subordinate alcohol misuse, while others, find no evidence for such an effect, suggesting the need to investigate other mechanisms. Extending Conservation of Resource (COR) theory and employing a longitudinal study design, this study examines two alternative mechanisms grounded on social isolation. The first suggests drinking as a resource-mobilizing response, with social isolation eliciting the perception of more permissive injunctive drinking norms, thus facilitating problematic drinking. The second suggests problematic drinking as a mode of coping with a negative emotional state elicited by social isolation, namely depression. Findings indicate that supervisor undermining’s association with subsequent subordinate problematic drinking is serially mediated by social isolation and depression, with no support found for the first mechanism. Implications for research, practice and policy are discussed.
Exercise as an Intervention for Individuals With Attention Problems
Authors: Brenner Sarah B. , Hartshorne Timothy S. , Klunejko Samantha , Jaklic Jordan
Published: May 2022

Individuals with attention problems often exhibit more off-task behaviors and less engagement in classroom settings, and exercising has demonstrated positive effects in decreasing disruptive behaviors and increasing on-task behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of physical activity on academic engaged time for individuals with attention problems in a classroom setting. Results indicate that the average percentage of on-task behaviors were higher on days of exercise compared to days without exercise, though visual inspection of the data suggests physical activity has no effect on on-task behavior.
Unions and collective bargaining in Australia in 2021
Authors: Gavin Mihajla
Published: May 2022

This article reviews the year across collective bargaining, union policy and strategy, as well as industrial responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the industrial environment rebounded slightly from the initial impact of the pandemic in 2020, similar themes persisted throughout 2021, including declining coverage of employees under collective agreements, a difficult bargaining environment in ‘essential’ industries, limited cooperation of the industrial relations parties during developments in the pandemic response and a continued pattern of low wages growth. While trade unions achieved isolated ‘wins’ on key matters, at a system level there continues to be enduring issues of low wages, insecure work and frustrations with the collective bargaining system, while the nation attempts to recover from the impact of the pandemic.
The Australian labour market in 2021
Authors: Birch Elisa Rose , Preston Alison
Published: May 2022

This article provides a review of the Australian labour market in 2021. It describes patterns of employment, unemployment and other key labour market outcomes in the year, including wages. In the year to September 2021, total employment increased by 2.6% for males and 2.2% for females, driven by a growth in full-time employment. While most labour market indicators returned to their pre-pandemic levels in 2021, young adults, particular men, casual employees and the self-employed were most disadvantaged by COVID-19. New South Wales and Victorian residents were similarly adversely affected. Notwithstanding inflationary fears, in the year to September 2021, headline inflation increased by 3.0% and the wage price index by 2.2%, rendering a fall in real wages during the year. Despite record low unemployment at year's end and a positive economic outlook for 2022, the future remains unclear.
Citizen Complaints as an Accountability Mechanism: Uncovering Patterns Using Topic Modeling
Authors: Olivos Francisco , Saavedra Patricio , Dammert Lucia
Published: May 2022

Objectives

Citizen complaints are considered by policing researchers as an indicator of police misconduct, and a proxy of police-community relations. Nevertheless, US and EU-based studies tend to focus on sustained complaints as reported by official agencies and officer-based correlates. Using the case of Carabineros, the Chilean militarized police force, this study examines (a) latent topics contained in a large set of complaints against the police on a digital platform, and (b) the change of those topics across time and (c) by complainants’ educational level.

Methods

We use novel computational natural language processing techniques to identify latent themes across the corpus of complaints ( N = 1,623), hosted on an online forum from 2013 to 2020.

Results

Our findings show eight latent themes across the corpus. Among others, these themes were related to police effectiveness, police misbehavior, and a master frame of institutional crisis that has significantly grown over the last year. Additionally, differences in the prevalence of topics by complainants’ educational level were also found.

Conclusions

Our findings contribute to the enterprise of opening the black box of complaints against the police and highlighting opportunities for social accountability in a developing country.
Echoes of Past Contact: Venetian Influence on Cretan Greek Intonation
Authors: Baltazani Mary , Coleman John , Passoni Elisa , Przedlacka Joanna
Published: May 2022

Prosodic aspects of cross-linguistic contact are under-researched, especially past contact that has subsequently ceased. In this paper, we investigate declarative and polar question tunes of contemporary Cretan Greek, a regional variety of Greek whose speakers were in contact with Venetian speakers during the four and half centuries of Venetian rule on the island, from 1204 to 1669. The F0 contours of the Cretan tunes and alignment of peaks and troughs of interest with the nuclear vowel are compared to the corresponding tunes in Venetian dialect and Venetian Italian and to those in Athenian (Standard) Greek, which are used as control. The data (1610 declarative utterances and 698 polar questions) were drawn from natural speech corpora based on pragmatic criteria: broad focus for declaratives, broad focus, and information-seeking interpretation for polar questions. The pitch contour shapes of the tunes are modeled using polynomial basis functions, and the F0 alignment points are determined analytically. The results show the robustness of contact effects almost three and a half centuries after regular contact ceased and indicate that the shapes of the F0 contours of Cretan and Venetian declarative and polar question tunes are similar. In addition, Cretan alignment patterns are similar to Venetian and significantly different from Athenian. Insights are gained from research into how long prosodic characteristics may persist in a recipient language—decades or even centuries after the cessation of contact.
Experiences and Support Needs of Bereaved Students in Higher Education
Authors: Hay Ashton , Howell Joel A , Rudaizky Daniel , Breen Lauren J
Published: May 2022

Bereavement is commonly experienced by students in higher education and is associated with negative health and academic consequences. We conducted a systematic review of the literature to identify how grief affects students in higher education and the types of support they seek and/or find beneficial. A search of Health Collection, Medline, CINAHL Plus, Web of Science, Taylor and Francis online, ProQuest, and Open Grey resulted in 30 articles that met inclusion criteria. A narrative synthesis resulted in 11 themes focused on the university experience following bereavement (six themes) and supports following bereavement (five themes). Our review highlights how grief symptoms can have a negative impact on bereaved students’ academic and social experiences. These difficulties are exacerbated by barriers to accessing grief supports, and unhelpful responses from staff and peers. Students’ grief is often disenfranchised and so students learn to avoid grief related emotions, communications, and support-seeking.
The Institutionalization of Kübler-Ross’s Five-Stage Model of Death and Dying
Authors: Bernau John A.
Published: May 2022

Kübler-Ross’s five-stage model of death and dying—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—is one of the most popular theoretical models to come out of the 20th century. How did an obscure theory of the dying process come to dominate our understanding of emotional processes altogether? Building on previous work in the sociology of knowledge, I analyze the diffusion and institutionalization of Kübler-Ross’s five-stage model in scientific and journalistic fields. Specifically, I analyze all 3216 citations of Kübler-Ross in the New York Times and the Web of Science database using qualitative and quantitative text analysis. I demonstrate how early scientific interest and commercial promotion led to adoption in popular culture, and document how the five-stage model expanded to cover everything from rent prices to COVID-19. I also argue that renewed interest in Kübler-Ross’s work may signal contemporary attempts to mine the tradition for meaningful understandings of death and dying.
Illness Experiences of Advanced Cancer Patients in Taiwan
Authors: Hsu Min-Tao , Ko Hsun-Kuei
Published: May 2022

The illness experiences of advanced cancer patients are discussed in a Taiwanese cultural context, using an interpretive ethnographic approach (interviews and participant observations) emphasizing holism and symbolic interactionism. A total of 23 advanced cancer patients from different counties in Taiwan were recruited over a 42-month period. The researcher followed their progress as they approached death to better understand their terminal cancer experiences. An interpretive analysis guided by Agar’s hermeneutic cycle approach revealed five emic dimensions: feeling the oppression of death, fighting alongside family, intensifying bodily healing efforts, settling unfinished business, and ending the struggle to control pain. Implications for caregivers are discussed.
Grief Trajectories of Bereaved Parents of Adolescents and Young Adults With Advanced Cancer: A Qualitative Analysis Using Phenomenology
Authors: Kingsley Jenny , Taylor Mallory , Bogetz Jori F. , Trowbridge Amy , Rosenberg Abby R. , Barton Krysta S.
Published: May 2022

Different parents grieve differently. However, research directed at understanding the important contextual or individual factors that influence the path each bereaved parent takes is lacking. In this qualitative analysis we seek to understand the array of bereaved parent experiences more completely. By deeply diving into one parent dyad using interpretive phenomenology analysis and situating that story within the conventional content analysis of 13 other bereaved parents of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) who died from advanced cancer, we illustrate the roles of religion/spirituality, maintaining a connection, and fulfilling parental roles as elements of grief processing. Clinicians and investigators should consider similar individualized approaches to understanding and supporting the grief experiences of bereaved parents before and after the death of a child.
Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Inventory of Complicated Grief
Authors: Yousefi Shahab , Mayeli Peyman , Ashouri Ahmad
Published: May 2022

The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Inventory Complicated Grief (ICG) including reliability, validity and factorial structure. In this cross-sectional study, 332 women and men bereaved at least 6 months from the adult population of Iran. The results showed Cronbach’s alpha was found to be 0.94 for the scales overall score. Inventory Complicated Grief found a positive and significant correlation between the beck depression inventory (BDI) (r = .62, p < .001) and grief experience questionnaire (r = .74, p < .001). Still, he also found that there was a negative correlation between adult hope scale (r = −.44, p < .001). Furthermore, the results of the EFA result showed four factors on this scale. Overall, ICG showed good reliability and validity in Iranian population and it could be applied for assessing their Complicated Grief.
Exercise Dependence and Anxiety in Cross-Trainers, Bodybuilders and Gym Exercisers During COVID19
Authors: Salvador Rogério , Frontini Roberta , Ramos Catarina , Lopes Pedro , Oliveira Janete , Maia Joana , Monteiro Diogo
Published: May 2022

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic an international public health emergency in January 2020, and, soon thereafter, a worldwide adoption of quarantine and physical isolation measures restricted regular practitioners of indoor group physical exercise from many of their usual practices. Some, with exercise dependence (ED), may have experienced exercise withdrawal symptoms that triggered unhealthy anxiety levels. In February 2021, during Portugal’s second COVID-19 lockdown, we characterized and compared ED and anxiety levels among different groups of indoor exercise practitioners (cross trainers [CG], bodybuilders [BG] and gym practitioners [GG]). In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 234 adult participants through the internet. To assess participants’ ED and anxiety levels, we used Portuguese versions of the ED Scale-21 (EDS-21) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-State; STAI-Trait). ED symptoms were evident in all participant subgroups, and we found no gender differences in ED. Anxiety was higher among women than men in CG and GG groups, and there were significant differences in ED between groups such that BG practitioners showed higher ED than GG and CG practitioners (small effect size). Bodybuilders reported most ED behavior, followed by CG and regular gym exercisers, but on some criteria BG and CG groups had similar ED levels. Our results are in line with prior ED prevalence reports conducted before COVID-19 restrictions among regular GG, but these are the first data to report a higher ED prevalence among BG and CG, relative to GG.
Henri-Michaelis-Menten kinetics of reversible enzymic reactions, and the determination of rate constants from kinetic constants
Authors: Barnsley Eric A.
Published: May 2022

The Michaelis constants derived for two reversible uni-reactant - uni-product reaction models, given originally by Haldane, are corrected. In the direction starting with the reactant having the lower binding constant, the steady state is one in which the enzyme-reactant intermediate has a concentration approximating the final equilibrium concentration., Consequently, the Haldane relationship is generally invalid, and kinetic analyses to validate the use of the kinetic constant ratio (kcat/Km) as a measure of specificity are also generally invalid. This correction of Michaelis constants is pertinent to attempts to back calculate rate constants from experimental values: the Michaelis constant used must be correct.
Deciphering Two-minute Magic: Men, Women and Children in Maggi Advertisements Aired in Indian Television
Authors: Sankar Amal
Published: May 2022

This article discusses how men, women and children have been represented in Maggi television advertisements aired at different periods in India. The analysis attempts to interpret the similarities and differences in representation and symbolisation of different characters, elements and acts at different periods. As per the analysis, Maggi was hiding its industrial food characteristics behind some of the explicit representations rooted in Brahmanical patriarchy. Maggi started showing their noodles as food for happy and hungry children made by non-working upper-caste-class mothers. Men in Maggi advertisements never cooked. The advertisements included the symbolisation of ritualistic purification in many ways. These representations cover up Maggi’s industrial food characteristics such as reproduction of taste, simplicity to make and convenience. However, Maggi’s advertisements became realistic after India’s food regulator had banned Maggi in 2015. They started to show people from different classes and caste groups, men cook and Maggi being served on streets and started to claim itself as an industrial food through its advertisements.
Where Does Ascribed Privilege Get You in? Structural and Net Effects of Caste and Religious Belonging in India
Authors: Ferry Mathieu
Published: May 2022

Socio-economically advantaged upper castes tend to claim that Indian society is ‘post-caste’, suggesting that individuals from historically marginalized castes and religious groups do not face specific social barriers when attempting to move into white-collar positions. Alleged intergenerational mobility and the emergence of a ‘new middle class’ related to the growth of the private sector is widely used to counter affirmative action initiatives in higher education and public-sector recruitment. In this article, I test these claims by examining Brahmin, lower caste Dalit and Muslim patterns of intergenerational class and educational mobility of father–child pairs. I point to the strong role of caste and religion in shaping one’s destination, particularly when accessing top occupational positions in the private sector. These results question the meritocratic and casteless claims of the Indian ‘new middle class’ in post-liberalization India, and they call for more encompassing policies reducing origin-based inequality.
Sunday morning Eucharists: a defence
Authors: Grumett David
Published: May 2022

Jesus was resurrected on Sunday morning. Scripture describes both the Last Supper and early Christian gatherings taking place close to the beginning of the day, according to the differing Jewish and Roman understandings of when this was. The resurrection is associated with light and life, and morning celebration with worshippers facing east amplifies this. Against this norm, evening celebration may be theologically or pastorally justified on particular occasions. The Eucharist makes the Church, bringing Christians together as Christ’s body into an organic spiritual unity. It engages the senses, including by means of movement and symbolism, and promotes active participation in worship and potentially in wider church and social life.
Difficult texts: the Christology of the Centurion’s words in Luke 23.47
Authors: James Rob
Published: May 2022

The words uttered by the Centurion present at the death of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel represent a deliberate change to Luke’s inherited material. The choice of whether to understand the key word in Luke’s phrasing as ‘innocent’ or ‘righteous’ has huge implications for the weight which we might give to this rephrased exclamation. It is suggested that Luke intended this word to be understood as ‘righteous’. Understood in this way, the Centurion’s words become a Christological statement about the divinity that is present in Jesus.
Triage Strategies for COVID-19 Cases: A Scope Review
Authors: Roque Mazoni Simone , Andrade Juliane , da Silva Antonio Priscila , Baraldi Solange , Frates Cauduro Fernanda Leticia , Fernandes dos Santos Paulo Henrique , Ribeiro de Sousa Pablo , Moura Pinho Diana Lucia
Published: May 2022

In the midst of the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), researchers and governmental and non-governmental institutions are mobilizing to implement strategies to face cases of COVID-19. Aim: This study aimed to map the triage strategies for cases of COVID-19, with the purpose of identifying sources in the literature that make it possible to explore the understanding of the strategies in different contexts. A scope review was conducted with searches in the CINAHL Database, PubMed, LILACS and hand-search, considering studies carried out with users of health services and documents published by governmental and non-governmental institutions, between the years 2019 and 2020, resulting in 40 articles for full reading. To explore the key concept, thematic analysis was carried out at two levels: (1) triage strategies, (2) forms and experiences of triage. Five triage strategies were mapped: health services triage; digital triage by remote use of technologies; community triage; home visit triage and airport and port triage. The forms and experiences of mapped triages involved risk classification, diagnosis and definition of conducts or combined. The use of strategies with remote technological resources stands out, as well as the adaptation of existing scales with simple algorithms as a tendency.
Prevalence of Physical Activity Among Healthcare Students in King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. An Observational Study
Authors: Samarkandi Osama A
Published: May 2022

Background and Objective

Physical inactivity is 1 of the most important cardiovascular risk factors causing higher morbidity and mortality rate worldwide. Thus, the promotion of physical activity (PA) is 1 of the fundamental pillars in the primary prevention of heart disease. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of Physical Activity among healthcare Students in the Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia.

Methods

An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study using paper-based printed questionnaires was conducted among Emergency medical students (EMS) from the Prince Sultan College for Emergency Medical Services King Saud University. To evaluate the physical activity, Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (16-items) developed by the World health organization was used. The questionnaires talk about activity at work (6 items), travel to and from places (3-items), recreational activities (6- items), and sedentary behavior (1-item). Both binary answers (Yes\No) and continuous scales were used to collect the data. Data were descriptively analyzed using a statistical package for social science version 26 (SPSS).

Results

The prevalence of PA among students was 69.9% (n = 123). The most common type of physical activity was walking, accounted for 51.7% (n = 91), followed by Gym/bodybuilding 25% (n = 44), running 24.4% (n = 43). A total of 7.16 mean hours (SD = 11.23) were spent by students doing vigorous-intensity activities on a typical day, while 4.93(SD = 8.84) of mean hours were spent on moderate-intensity activities. Additionally, more than half of the students 55.7% (n = 98) performed vigorous-intensity sports, fitness, or recreational activities that cause large increases in breathing or heart rate (for at least 10 minutes continuously). The mean time spent by the students in this study performing vigorous-intensity sports, and fitness activity were 4.60(SD = 10.22) mean hours per day. The sedentary behavior, like constant sitting, was reported to be 7.33 (SD = 4.24) mean hours per day.

Conclusion

In conclusion, about 3 in ten EMS students are physically inactive, which could be due to study-related actions. Future research among undergraduates should focus on approaches to increase PA is needed.
Tourisation Theory and the Pandiscipline of Tourism
Authors: Weaver David B.
Published: May 2022

It is argued in this letter that tourism studies, as an autonomous field of academic study, can better position itself in the COVID-19 era as a “pandiscipline” which synthesizes concepts and theories from other disciplines to better describe and explain tourism-related phenomena. Universal core tourism structures and processes, in turn, are captured in “tourisation theory,” which describes the increasing embeddedness of tourism in places as manifested in six tentative propositions and associated impulse, amplification, ubiquity, ascendancy, concentration, and endorsement effects.
A Language-Based Method for Assessing Symbolic Boundary Maintenance between Social Groups
Authors: Bhatt Anjali M. , Goldberg Amir , Srivastava Sameer B.
Published: May 2022

When the social boundaries between groups are breached, the tendency for people to erect and maintain symbolic boundaries intensifies. Drawing on extant perspectives on boundary maintenance, we distinguish between two strategies that people pursue in maintaining symbolic boundaries: boundary retention—entrenching themselves in pre-existing symbolic distinctions—and boundary reformation—innovating new forms of symbolic distinction. Traditional approaches to measuring symbolic boundaries—interviews, participant-observation, and self-reports are ill-suited to detecting fine-grained variation in boundary maintenance. To overcome this limitation, we use the tools of computational linguistics and machine learning to develop a novel approach to measuring symbolic boundaries based on interactional language use between group members before and after they encounter one another. We construct measures of boundary retention and reformation using random forest classifiers that quantify group differences based on pre- and post-contact linguistic styles. We demonstrate this method's utility by applying it to a corpus of email communications from a mid-sized financial services firm that acquired and integrated two smaller firms. We find that: (a) the persistence of symbolic boundaries can be detected for up to 18 months after a merger; (b) acquired employees exhibit more boundary reformation and less boundary retention than their counterparts from the acquiring firm; and (c) individuals engage in more boundary retention, but not reformation, when their local work environment is more densely populated by ingroup members. We discuss implications of these findings for the study of culture in a wide range of intergroup contexts and for computational approaches to measuring culture.
Constitutional Struggle in Sri Lanka
Authors: Gomez Mario
Published: May 2022

Sri Lanka has alternated between authoritarian politics and constitutional democracy over the past 70 years. For 25 years after independence, the country functioned as a constitutional democracy with regular elections and power alternating between the two main political parties. Since 1972, political elites have used constitution-making as a method of consolidating their hold on political power. In 2015, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution trimmed the powers of the President and provided for a balanced form of power-sharing between executive and legislature. It enhanced the independence of the courts and the fourth-branch institutions. However, these gains were reversed by the 20th Amendment, passed in 2020. Against the backdrop of an intense competition for political power and the manipulation of constitutions to retain power, this contribution discusses three recurring sites of constitutional struggle and debate in Sri Lanka: struggles over presidentialism, power-sharing and the place of Buddhism in the constitution. This paper contends that a return to constitutional democracy will require, at a minimum, a revisitation of the first two issues, even if the third — the place of Buddhism — remains untouched. The paper concludes by arguing that while all three constitutional struggles have a different historical trajectory and different dynamics, they are all part of a larger struggle — the struggle to transform Sri Lanka from a Buddhist-majoritarian state into a plural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society in law and in practice.
“The Prison System Doesn’t Make It Comfortable to Visit”: Prison Visitation From the Perspectives of People Incarcerated and Family Members
Authors: Boppre Breanna , Dehart Dana , Shapiro Cheri J.
Published: May 2022

While extensive research documents the causes and impacts of incarceration, the effects on families are under discussion. Prison visitation is one mechanism to help families communicate and bond, yet the institutions and restrictive policies often create distinct barriers and stressors. This qualitative descriptive study examines experiences and perceptions of visitation through focus groups with 77 people incarcerated and interviews with 21 family members in one southeastern U.S. state. Using thematic analysis, three major themes were developed through qualitative coding of participants’ responses: financial and time-related burdens, stress from rules and regulations, and familial interactions. Our findings highlight that although visitation can help maintain social bonds among families, the barriers, processes, and procedures overshadow the visit itself. The weight of such stressors is especially felt by immediate family members and women who visit. The findings are discussed in light of implications for correctional policy and future visitation research.
The crosslinking and mechanical properties of SBR compounds with the addition of carburized pine nut cone ash
Authors: Bülbül Şaban , Büyük Seyda Süleyman
Published: May 2022

In this study, four different pulps were prepared by adding 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% carburized pine nut cone ash to a reference rubber compound based on styrene butadiene rubber (SBR). After vulcanization, the hardness, density, tensile strength, percentage elongation, tearing strength, and crosslink density of the compound were measured. In addition, the effects of the crosslink density on the mechanical properties were examined. The properties of the carburized pine nut cone ash compounds were evaluated both among themselves and comparatively with the physical and mechanical properties of the reference compound. In addition, it increased the hardness as well as the crosslink density, and it was shown to provide advantages in terms of its density, tensile strength, tearing strength, and percentage elongation properties. Furthermore, the fracture surfaces of the compounds were characterized via scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersion spectroscopy to explain the change in mechanical properties.
How Afghanistan Influenced the Content of Armed Forces & Society: An Editor’s Reflection
Authors: Shields Patricia M.
Published: May 2022

This commentary examines the influence of the Afghanistan war on the content of Armed Forces & Society. My 20-year tenure as editor of Armed Forces & Society overlaps completely with the war. Using the lenses of the postmodern or post-Cold War military, I reflect on how the articles of this journal were influenced by the war. The postmodern military relies more heavily on volunteers, is more likely to engage in unconventional missions, and more likely to use multinational forces. I found an increase in articles devoted to reserve forces and contractors. In addition, many articles investigated the unique management challenges of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The multiple deployments and brutal nature of the war led to a large increase in health/mental health articles and also contributed to changes in the scope of the military family and veterans’ literature. The limited civil–military relations literature was affected indirectly.
Soft sensor of iron tailings grade based on froth image features for reverse flotation
Authors: Zhang Dingsen , Gao Xianwen , Qi Wenhai
Published: May 2022

In the iron reverse flotation production process, the amount of flotation agent and the quality of flotation products are usually judged according to the grade of tailings, so it is essential to measure the grade of tailings froth. This research applies computer vision and image feature extraction technology to the soft sensor of tailings froth grade. An adaptive selection method for the image target region is proposed. The relationship between RGB (Red, Green, Blue), HSI (Hue, Saturation, Intensity), and Lab color space and tailings grade of reverse flotation in iron mine has been analyzed. A new image feature is proposed to characterize the degree of froth mineralization. The RGB and HSI dual color space feature values and froth mineralization degree values are determined as input, and the tailing grade soft sensor model is established by the multilayer feedforward perceptrons and VGG-19 neural network. A tailings grade soft sensor system has been developed and applied in a flotation workshop. The results of industrial tests show that this method is efficient and reliable.
Lessons on Pedagogy in the Carceral System and Teacher Education
Authors: Milner H. Richard , Bennett Jacob S.
Published: May 2022

Background/Context:

Prison settings present some of the deepest democratic contradictions in the United States.

Purpose/Objective:

In this study, we investigate how and what teacher education programs can learn from and support teaching practices in prison settings and pre-K–12 contexts.

Population/Participants:

This study draws from interview data collected from two experienced directors of prison education programs in the United States.

Research Design:

This study employs in-depth qualitative interviews.

Data Collection:

Participants were asked questions related to ideals and mindsets they have observed as most effective for teachers to adopt when working in prison settings.

Findings/Results:

Analytic induction of interviews reveals both similarities and differences between “free world” and prison educational settings. Such findings provide nuanced understandings of the types of knowledge, understanding, and skills teacher education programs might support in prison settings as well as teaching experiences within prison settings from which teacher educators could learn.

Conclusions/Recommendations:

Teachers in prison settings tend to have rich content knowledge but not robust pedagogical knowledge and skill. Teacher education programs have a chance to not only support teachers in prison education as they build pedagogical knowledge and skills but also be front and center in the fight to dismantle an unjust carceral system.
Increasing On-Task Behavior Using Technology-Based Self-Monitoring: A Meta-Analysis of I-Connect
Authors: Scheibel Gretchen , Zimmerman Kathleen N. , Wills Howard P.
Published: May 2022

Self-monitoring is a promising evidence-based intervention for students who benefit from supplemental supports to stay on-task during academic periods. I-Connect, a technology-based self-monitoring intervention with a substantial body of research, allows students to discretely recognize and record their behavior on a mobile or desktop app at scheduled intervals, to improve positive behavior and increase inclusion opportunities. This meta-analytic review examined the effect of I-Connect on the on-task behavior of students with or at risk for disabilities to determine the omnibus effect of using I-Connect across students and intervention packages. Students received 20–45 minutes of training before using I-Connect and most students monitored their on-task behavior every 30-seconds during 10-minute monitoring sessions. Under these conditions, I-Connect was found to demonstrate strong functional relations, an abrupt increase in on-task behavior and consistently positive parametric effects across all 14 elementary and secondary students receiving special education.
Survival strategies: Shakespeare and Renaissance truth-telling
Authors: Greenblatt Stephen
Published: May 2022

Shakespeare repeatedly grappled with a question that haunted him but that could not be openly discussed with reference to any of the key figures in contemporary English affairs: why do communities of free men and women, people who have every reason to look out for their own interests, succumb to those who have no regard for the common good? Master of the oblique angle, the playwright prudently projected his imagination away from his immediate circumstances and explored in ancient Rome or pre-Christian Sicily or medieval England the territory he could not safely enter in his own world.
‘I Am on a Family Planning Program, but I Have Not Told My Husband’: Contraceptive Decision-Making of Child Brides in Ghana
Authors: Gyan Sylvia E , Domfe George , Tsiboe-Darko Antoinette
Published: May 2022

This study explores the factors that influence child bride’s decision making, either independently or jointly on modern contraceptive use in Ghana. The findings of this study are based on qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews with 15 child brides aged 15–24 years from four administrative regions in Ghana. It was observed that knowing about contraceptives, quality of the knowledge, attitude and sociocultural influences affected child brides’ decision to use contraception. Thus, autonomy in decision making requires first, making the decision to access contraceptives and secondly, whether the decision can be implemented alone or with permission or in consultation with their spouses. It can be concluded from this study that child brides are not always as vulnerable and unable to exercise agency as is sometimes suggested because they sometimes used contraceptives without informing their partners although there is the possibility of a negative backlash from their partners when it is known.
Covid-19, Fiscal Policies, and Small-and-Medium-Sized Firm Survival: Evidence From the Cross-Country Matching Analysis
Authors: Doruk Ömer Tuğsal
Published: May 2022

Objective

The present study examines the effect of fiscal policies on firm survival for small-and-medium-sized enterprises in the cross-country level firm-level data.

Research Design

A propensity score matching analysis is utilised for the post-COVID-19 period firms by using the World Bank Enterprise Follow-up Surveys for the pandemic period. Small-and-medium-sized enterprises are essential to the economy; firm failures can increase in a pandemic.

Results

The obtained findings show that the effect of fiscal policies has an essential effect on small-and-medium-sized enterprises survival in the COVID-19 pandemic period by using a cross-country heterogenous firm-level sample.

Conclusions

In this context, the present study shed new light on the link between COVID-19-related fiscal policies and small-and-medium-sized firm survival in developing countries.
Building Critical Infrastructures: Evaluating the Roles of Governance and Institutions in Infrastructural Developments in Sub-Sahara African Countries
Authors: Appiah Michael , Onifade Stephen T. , Gyamfi Bright A.
Published: May 2022

Background

The Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region has notably been in the limelight of infrastructural deficit discussions over the decades. Although the region’s infrastructural development is gradually improving, the levels and pace of development remain generally poor compared to the rest of the world.

Objectives

This study thus aims to empirically examine the roles of governance and institutions in infrastructural developments in the Sub-Sahara African (SSA) region toward addressing the pressing needs for critical infrastructures for the region.

Research Designs

The empirical strategies utilized in the study include the Common Correlated Efficient Mean Group (CCEMG) and Dynamic CCEMG methods among others. These empirical approaches were applied to analyze data on governance and institutional quality proxies for the SSA region to achieve the study’s objectives while controlling for the effects of industrial value-added, foreign capital inflow (FDI), and overall economic growth for the understudied period (1990–2019).

Results

The results reflect the essence of governance and institutional quality as these variables significantly boost infrastructural development in SSA. In addition, industrialization and growth also show a favorable impact on the development of infrastructure thus reflecting that the transition from agrarian to industrial economies occurs in parallel with infrastructure development in the SSA. However, FDI inflows were not found to be significantly instrumental to infrastructural development in the region.

Conclusions

Hence, the SSA must strive to strengthen institutions and harmonize their industrial and economic push with infrastructural developments while encouraging potential foreign investors to diversify investments to infrastructural projects beyond the usual primary sector/resource-based activities.
Ethnic Wage Penalty and Human Capital Transferability: A Comparative Study of Recent Migrants in 11 European Countries
Authors: Cantalini Stefano , Guetto Raffaele , Panichella Nazareno
Published: May 2022

This article examines the ethnic wage penalty among migrants in 11 Western European countries. It aims to extend the literature on the models of migrant occupational inclusion in European labor markets by studying the wage gap and to disentangle whether the gross wage penalty experienced by foreign-born residents can be explained by human capital-related factors and/or by migrants’ occupational segregation. Estimating probit models with sample selection on European Labour Force Survey data (2009–2016), we find that both male and female migrants experienced a larger gross wage penalty in Southern Europe, where they had lower education levels and faced stronger occupational segregation. In the other countries under study, we find a smaller gross wage penalty among foreign-born women. Results show that migrants from Eastern Europe were not systematically less penalized than migrants from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, except for men in Italy and Greece. Wage penalties were higher among tertiary-educated migrants, compared to their less-educated counterparts, only in Mediterranean countries, where the former were mainly concentrated at the bottom of the occupational structure. Finally, the acquisition of the highest education after migration reduced migrants’ wage penalty, thanks to a better match between educational credentials and job allocation, especially in Southern Europe. Focusing on the ethnic wage penalty and on both human capital- and occupation-related factors of ethnic penalization highlights cross-country differences not yet explored by existing comparative research, allowing a new and more comprehensive picture of migrants’ penalization in Europe.
Archaeology of Marginalization in Indian History
Authors: Selvakumar V.
Published: May 2022

It is possible to identify developments from the prehistoric period onward in India that led to the formation of agro-pastoral communities, state society, and a reduction in, as well as transformation of, the hunting-gathering modes of life. The formation of caste societies saw forest dwellers, called Ādivāsis or Scheduled Tribes today, being categorized as outsiders, residing in the fringes of the habitats of caste-based settled communities and complex relationships of exchange and labour developed among them. Within caste societies, the communities that formed the labour class, now categorized as Scheduled Castes, were relegated to the bottom of the social hierarchy. Throughout history, communities such as the forest people and the labouring classes have been marginalized in the process of social formation, with little or no access to political and economic power and resources. Their histories constitute the subject of the archaeology of the margins. This article focuses on the role archaeological sources can play in the reconstruction of the histories of such marginalized communities, and also on the importance of anthropological field methods to understand their material life and culture.
Prognostic value of circulating macrophage inhibitory cytokine 1-growth differentiation factor 15 (MIC-1/GDF15) in obesity: Relation with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and markers of oxidative stress
Authors: Parvaneh Roghayeh Rahbar , Vajdi Mahdi , Shiraz Ata Nikfam , Khani Mohammad , Farshbaf Sara Ebadpour , Farhangi Mahdieh Abbasalizad
Published: May 2022

Background: Macrophage inhibitory cytokine 1-Growth differentiation Factor 15 (MIC-1/GDF15) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are novel regulators of obesity and energy homeostasis and food intake. Aims: In the current cross-sectional study, we aimed to evaluate MIC-1 and VEGF concentrations and their association with serum lipids and biomarkers of oxidative stress in obese individuals. Methods: Fifty six obese subjects, aged between 20–50 years old, participated in the current study. Anthropometric and nutritional parameters were assessed and serum and blood concentrations of MIC-1/GDF15, VEGF, markers of oxidative stress and serum lipids were evaluated. Results: Serum VEGF was strongly associated with serum lipids and MIC-1/GDF15 concentrations while serum MIC-1/GDF15 was associated with total cholesterol (TC) and VEGF levels. In multivariate regression analysis, serum VEGF, appetite and GPX were potent determinants of MIC-1/GDF15 concentrations while VEGF was only associated with serum MIC-1/GDF15. Conclusion: The findings of the current study demonstrated the association between MIC-1/GDF15 and VEGF. Moreover, a positive association between these cytokines and serum lipids, was also observed. The results suggest that MIC-1/GDF15 and VEGF might be considered as prognostic markers in obesity-related metabolic disorders. Although further mechanistic studies are needed to better clarify the underlying mechanism.