bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stimulating the Quasi-statistical Organ
Authors: Hayes Andrew F. , Matthes Jörg , Eveland William P.
Published: December 2011

We test an uninvestigated proposition from spiral of silence theory that fear of social isolation (FSI) prompts people to seek out information about the climate of public opinion. Taking a trait-based individual difference perspective, the authors develop and validate a measure of FSI that is less likely to produce the interpretational problems that plague existing measures. Then, using data from eight countries spread across four continents, the authors examine whether those who fear social isolation to a greater extent are more likely to attend to a particular source of information in the social environment about public opinion—mass media reports of public opinion polls. Study results support spiral of silence theory’s prediction—FSI does appear to motivate people to ascertain what the public thinks. However, there may be some cultural boundaries to this process.
Black Thoughts, Black Activism
Authors: Saunders Tanya L.
Published: December 2011

A study of the symbols employed by the Cuban underground hip-hop movement based on ethnographic data gathered in Havana from 1998 to 2006 situates the movement as one of a number of transnational Afro-diasporic cultural movements for social equality. Afro-Cuban young people’s commitment to socially conscious hip-hop links them to a larger history of African and Afro-diasporic activism in the arts.

Un estudio de los símbolos utilizados por el movimiento underground del hip-hop cubano, basado en datos recolectados en la Habana de 1998 a 2006, sitúa dicho movimiento dentro de una serie de corrientes culturales que, producidas por la diáspora africana transnacional, se desenvuelven a favor de la igualdad social. La entrega de la juventud afrocubana a la conciencia social del hip-hop se articula a una historia más amplia de activismo africano y la diaspora africana en las artes.
Women’s Managerial Aspirations
Authors: Hoobler Jenny M. , Lemmon Grace , Wayne Sandy J.
Published: December 2011

Some authors have explained the dearth of women leaders as an “opt-out revolution”—that women today are making a choice not to aspire to leadership positions. The authors of this article present a model that tests managers’ biased evaluations of women as less career motivated as an explanation for why women have lower managerial aspirations than men. Specifically, they hypothesize that day-to-day managerial decisions involving allocating challenging work, training and development, and career encouragement mean women accrue less organizational development, and this is one explanation for their lower managerial aspirations. The authors’ model is based on social role theory and is examined in a sample of 112 supervisor–subordinate dyads at a U.S. Fortune 500 firm.
Developmental Initiatives and Sericulture in a South Indian Village
Authors: Eswarappa Kasi
Published: December 2011

This article demonstrates that certain developmental initiatives have been playing an important role in the socio-economic progress of rural masses in South India and typically involve a number of focused projects. Development of sericulture is shown as a key strategy for supporting backward regions. With particular reference to Kotha Indlu village of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh, this article explains the increased returns from sericulture as a result of development programmes. The article concludes with some suggestions to improve the long-term feasibility of sericulture.
Bengali Masculinity and the National-Masculine
Authors: Chattopadhyay Saayan
Published: December 2011

This article examines how Bengali masculinity has been negotiated between national and ethnic/local notions of identity and suggests a new way of understanding this issue. Within the specific historiography of Bengali masculinity, concerns regarding physical strength, courage and virility of the Bengali male have been central tropes, challenged by the colonially constructed stereotype of the effeminate Bengali. The present article maps mainly nineteenth century discourses regarding Bengali masculinity and focuses on one particular strategy of three, namely, construction of a mode of mythic-historical discourse to reclaim a supposedly more masculine past for Bengali men. This suggests the notion of national-masculine as a gendered materialisation of the compensatory agency of Bengali masculinity. Shown to occur through the articulation of buddhibal in contrast with bahubal that negotiates with the hegemonic national-masculine, this throws new light on the emerging prominence of the bhadralok concept of a sophisticated Bengali gentleman.
Suttee Sainthood through Selflessness
Authors: Roye Susmita
Published: December 2011

The immolation of Hindu widows has generated much horror while remaining tenaciously mixed with clandestine admiration. Reported in many eyewitness accounts and literary works, the topic has given rise to highly contested sociocultural, legal and ideological debates, strongly linked to women’s rights. But the root question has not gone away: is suttee/sati just painful female victimisation or can it also reflect powerful female agency and the power of devotion? This article examines two literary works, Maud Diver’s Lilamani, in which an Englishwoman unreservedly idolises a suttee, and Krupabai Satthianadhan’s Kamala, where an Indian woman expresses deep pride in sutteehood. Engaging in a search for deeper meanings, this article asks what makes these two women writers revere a suttee so totally. Can one really be a suttee-saint through selflessness, or are there some deeper meanings yet to be uncovered? A wider political interpretation is suggested to re/present the root meaning of suttee.
From a Biopolitical ‘Will to Life’ to a Noopolitical Ethos of Death in the Aesthetics of Digital Code
Authors: Munster Anna
Published: December 2011

In a range of digital creative productions and digital culture, questions of how to deal with finitude are on the rise. On the one hand, sectors of the digital entertainment industry – specifically computer games developers – are concerned with the question of how to manage `death' digitally. On the other hand, death and suicide have become the impetus for humorous artistic expression. This article tracks the emergence of a digital ethos that is cognizant of consequence, finitude and even death. Rather than pit a 1990s `will to life' against an emerging `death drive', I argue that the shift to an ethos in which dark consequences ensue from digital actions must be understood by working through digital code's technicity and unfolding this relation of technics to both ethics and politics. Although Bernard Stiegler's analysis of technicity goes some way toward unfolding a political analysis of the aesthetics of digital code, his articulation of noopolitics fails to provide us with a way to conduct ourselves digitally in an era of cognitive capitalism. I look to critical software practices and their provisional networked publics, with potential lines of flight for contemporary technoculture via novel digital `codings'.
Codes and Codings in Crisis
Authors: Mackenzie Adrian , Vurdubakis Theo
Published: December 2011

The connections between forms of code and coding and the many crises that currently afflict the contemporary world run deep. Code and crisis in our time mutually define, and seemingly prolong, each other in ‘infinite branching graphs’ of decision problems. There is a growing academic literature that investigates digital code and software from a wide range of perspectives –power, subjectivity, governmentality, urban life, surveillance and control, biopolitics or neoliberal capitalism. The various strands in this literature are reflected in the papers that comprise this special issue. They address topics ranging from social networks, mass media, financial markets and academic plagiarism to highway engineering in relation to the dynamics and diversity of crises. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this essay is to highlight and explore some of the underlying themes connecting codes and codings and the production and apprehension of ‘crisis’. We analyse how the ever-increasing intermediation of contemporary life by codes of various kinds has been closely shadowed by a proliferation of crises. We discuss three related aspects of the coupling of code and crisis (signification, performativity and excess) running across these seemingly diverse topics. We and the other contributors in this special issue seek to go beyond the restricted (and often restricting) understanding of code as the language of machines. Rather, we view code qua programs and algorithms as epitomizing a much broader phenomenon. The codes that we live, and that we live by, also tell us about the ways in which the ‘will to power’ and the 'will to knowledge' tend to be enacted in the contemporary world.
A systematic evaluation of the effect of thumb opponens splints on hand function in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy
Authors: Ten Berge Sabine R , Boonstra Anne M , Dijkstra Pieter U , Hadders-Algra Mijna , Haga Nienke , Maathuis Carel GB
Published: December 2011

Objective: To examine the effects of a neoprene thumb opponens splint on hand function during a self-selected activities of daily living task in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy with thumb-in-palm position of the affected hand.

Design: Systematic evaluation of seven cases using a multiple baseline design across individuals.

Setting: Outpatient clinic.

Subjects: Seven children with unilateral cerebral palsy (2–7 years old), Manual Ability Classification System level 2–3 participated in the study.

Interventions: Neoprene thumb opponens splints (McKie splint) were used. Children were followed for about four months. Baseline period ranged from 4 to 9 weeks, intervention period was two months and duration of follow-up one month.

Main measures: Hand function was assessed using goal attainment scaling and visual analogue scales. Data was assessed visually.

Results: In four children goal attainment scaling and/or visual analogue scale scores increased after introducing the splint. These effects remained when splints were not worn. Two children only benefited from the splint when it was worn. Thumb opponens splints were tolerated well by all children who participated in this study.

Conclusions: Thumb opponens splints may have a positive effect on hand function in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy.
UNESCO and the ‘right’ kind of culture: Bureaucratic production and articulation
Authors: Nielsen Bjarke
Published: December 2011

There has been much debate on ‘culturespeak’ and the politics of culture, but the bureaucratic articulation of specific representations of culture has not received much attention. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this article presents a double take on bureaucracy. On the one hand, I focus on the outcome of UNESCO’s bureaucracy: UNESCO promotes an all-inclusive culture perspective for ‘We the Peoples of the United Nations’, but there are limits to tolerance in this culture ideology. On the other hand, I focus on the social and pragmatic adaptation to the bureaucratic field and towards UNESCO’s keywords, as they are embedded with institutional authority in everyday practice. In conclusion, I briefly situate UNESCO’s culture ideology in relation to questions of recognition and redistribution.
Discursive strategies of the Maori tribal elite
Authors: Rata Elizabeth
Published: December 2011

The Maori tribal elite are identified and their political and economic ambitions discussed with reference to recent strategic documents. Framing and supporting those ambitions is an indigenous discourse that has been crucial to the elite’s success. Five discursive strategies are analysed: (1) constructing the indigenous collective as tribal Maori; (2) constructing indigeneity as ‘the logic of the gift’ in contrast to the ‘“Western” logic of the commodity’; (3) promoting indigeneity as an ahistorical primordial category to counter the social reality of ethnic fluidity in New Zealand; (4) promoting a vocabulary in order to control the meaning of key ideas; and (5) constructing indigeneity as a polity in opposition to the nation. A Treaty of Waitangi ‘partnership’ is promoted as the means by which the indigenous–colonizer dualism is brokered. Despite its efficacy to date, the discourse is undermined by inherent contradictions, including the elite’s privileged position as a capitalist class, the growing inequalities within the tribal collective and the incarceration of indigenous people in an ahistorical timelessness.
Exploring Body Comparison Tendencies
Authors: Franzoi Stephen L. , Vasquez Kris , Sparapani Erin , Frost Katherine , Martin Jessica , Aebly Megan
Published: December 2011

This study examined similarities and differences in women’s and men’s comparison tendencies and perfection beliefs when evaluating their face, body shape, and physical abilities, as well as how these tendencies and beliefs relate to their body esteem. College students (90 women and 88 men) completed the Body Esteem Scale and answered questions concerning their social comparison and temporal comparison tendencies related to face, body shape, and physical abilities evaluations as well as personal perfection body beliefs. As predicted, women were more likely than men to compare their face and bodies to other same-sex persons whom they perceived as having either similar or better physical qualities than themselves in those body domains, with their most likely comparison tendency being upward social comparison. More men than women held body perfection beliefs for all three body domains, and men were most likely to rely on future temporal comparison when evaluating their body shape. Comparison tendencies and perfection beliefs also were differentially related to women’s and men’s body esteem: Whereas women relied on self-critical social comparison strategies associated with negative body esteem, men’s comparison strategies and perfection beliefs were more self-hopeful. Implications for practitioners treating body image issues are discussed.
Scale effect of the tensile strength of flax-fabric-reinforced polymer composites
Authors: Andersons J. , Spārniņš E. , Nyström B. , Joffe R.
Published: December 2011

The development of UD natural fiber composites, considered for application as structural materials, necessitates evaluation of the scale effect of their strength. Alignment of the fibers in flax bast fiber composites can be achieved by employing textile reinforcement, such as yarns and fabrics. Cutting specimens for mechanical tests out of such textile-reinforced composite plates results in a complex non-uniform reinforcement structure at their edges, which may affect the strength of specimens. Scale effect of the tensile strength in the fiber direction of flax-fabric-reinforced composites is studied in the current work. A model accounting for both volume and edge effect of the specimens on their tensile strength is proposed.
Natural fiber-based reinforcements in epoxy composites processed by filament winding
Authors: Lehtiniemi Päivi , Dufva Kari , Berg Tommi , Skrifvars Mikael , Järvelä Pentti
Published: December 2011

Single natural fibers have rather high mechanical properties; especially, Young’s modulus can be as high as for E-glass fibers. However, the good properties of natural fibers are not exploited efficiently in existing applications. Continuous fibers are required for high-performance applications. Filament winding is a method to produce aligned technical composites which have high fiber content. This work studied the mechanical properties of natural fiber yarn-reinforced composites. Flax and viscose fiber tubular composite samples were produced by filament winding and their properties were compared with the properties of E-glass fiber composites. The flax fiber yarn could be wound to produce a relatively stiff composite tube but poor adhesion between the matrix and fibers affected the properties. The properties of the E-glass fiber composites were superior in comparison to the flax fiber composites. However, the results from the split disk tensile test were competent, although they were only 25–29% of the properties of the E-glass fiber composites. Water absorption and impact strength were notably the weakest properties of the flax fiber composites. The viscose yarn could be wound into a composite tube but the composite was too brittle for machining specimens. In order to develop the structural natural fiber composites, the adhesion and the wet-out of the fibers should be improved.
Neurologic Presentation, Diagnostics, and Therapeutic Insights in a Severe Case of Adenylosuccinate Lyase Deficiency
Authors: Jurecka Agnieszka , Opoka-Winiarska Violetta , Rokicki Dariusz , Tylki-Szymańska Anna
Published: December 2011

Epilepsy in adenylosuccinate lyase deficiency may be difficult to treat, and there is no standardized therapy. The authors describe a case of severe adenylosuccinate lyase deficiency resulting from a heterozygous mutation of the ADSL gene (p.D215H/p.I351T). The patient presented with tonic-clonic seizures, opisthotonus, tremor, and myoclonus in the 4th day of life. The seizures were refractory on various combinations of antiepileptic treatment. A ketogenic diet was introduced at the age of 2 resulting in a seizure-free period. The patient, however, developed a metabolic hyperchloremic acidosis with Fanconi syndrome, which disappeared a month after cessation of the diet at the age of 5. Since the withdrawal of the ketogenic diet, seizures have returned to a frequency of several times a day. In conclusion, a ketogenic diet could be considered a valid therapeutic option in patients with intractable seizures in a course of adenylosuccinate lyase deficiency; however, it requires a formal study.
What Might Socialism Look Like?
Authors: Friedman Samuel R
Published: December 2011

One current slogan is ‘Another world is possible’, but Marxists have written relatively little about what this new world might look like. Marx himself shied away from this topic as leading to utopias delivered by top-down saviors, whereas his vision of socialism would be built by the victorious working class in line with its needs and desires. This article, on the other hand, takes a different approach. It discusses objections people have to seeing socialism as possible, rooting this discussion not in a utopian vision but rather in thinking through the problems and struggles the working class will face when and if it succeeds in becoming the revolutionary-democratic rulers of the world. I think readers will agree that this is a vision of continued struggle – but also of a much better world to live in.
The Influence of Major Life Cycle Events on Volunteering
Authors: Nesbit Rebecca
Published: December 2011

Volunteering motivations and patterns change over the course of a person’s life cycle. This paper tests hypotheses about the relationship between volunteering and four specific life events—the birth of a child, divorce, widowhood, and the death of another household member. I find that having a child decreases a person’s likelihood of volunteering and hours spent in volunteer work. Divorced males were more likely to volunteer and to increase the number of hours volunteered when compared to divorced females. Divorcees with children are also more likely to volunteer and increase the number of hours spent volunteering. Thus, gender and the presence of children in the home are important pathways to volunteering for divorced individuals. Overall, being widowed decreases the likelihood of volunteering and volunteering hours, but older widows tend to increase their volunteering activities. Having another (non-spouse) member of the family pass away is not related to volunteering.
Analysis of the elastic and plastic roll bending of sheet metal on a rubber pad
Authors: Mehrara M , Nategh M J
Published: December 2011

The roll bending of sheet metals which rest on a rubber pad has only recently been studied scientifically and is dealt with in the present work. In this process, three different zones can be distinguished along the sheet metal profile, including the undeformed zone, the elastic zone, and the plastic zone. The governing differential equations of the deformation zones were investigated for the elastic and plastic bending of the sheet. The equations were solved analytically for elastic bending and analytically–numerically for plastic bending. The effects of the process parameters were then investigated. The elastic–plastic bending solution was verified by experiments.
Dynamics of virial stress in gold lattice after crack initiation
Authors: Kumar N , Pochiraju K
Published: December 2011

Virial stress measures in atomistic models obtained by appropriate spatial and temporal averaging are known to be representations of continuum stresses in bulk materials. Using molecular dynamics simulations, this effort shows that some local and dynamic features of the continuum stress exist in the dynamic response of the virial stress. The spatially averaged but temporally fluctuating behaviour of the hydrostatic component of the virial stress is observed in both time and frequency domains at a mean stress-free state for a nanostructure at a target temperature. An atomistic-scale model with one finite dimension and two infinite dimensions was utilized to represent a thin single crystal film. Numerical simulations were performed with force fields and lattice parameters corresponding to gold. The initial temperature, pressure, and volume states for the material were determined using two equilibrium procedures that produced convergent energy and stress states. The dynamics of the virial stresses in atomistic ensembles show several dynamic and local characteristics of the continuum stresses.
Oil temperature influence on friction torque characteristics in hydraulic pumps
Authors: Inaguma Yoshiharu
Published: December 2011

This article presents a practical approach to the investigation of the influence of oil temperature on the friction torque in various types of hydraulic pumps using a mathematical model. Currently, an external gear, an internal gear or a vane pump is commonly used for an automatic transmission. These pumps have their own friction torque characteristics, which depend not only on pump-operating conditions such as operating pressures, pump speeds and oil temperature but also on structures and dimensions of the pumps. For various pumps, however, the friction torque characteristics can be represented by an identical mathematical model. In the pump-operating conditions, the oil temperature significantly and complicatedly affects them. The pump should be operated under conditions to obtain a higher mechanical efficiency, and the mathematical model is helpful to analyse how the oil temperature influences the friction torque. It is found that with an increase in oil temperature, the friction torque at a high pump speed decreases in a low oil temperature region, but it would not decrease in a high oil temperature region for all the tested pumps. This fact suggests that the pump overall efficiency would not improve at a high oil temperature, even if the volumetric efficiency does not go down.
The climatic significance of artefacts related to prehistoric reindeer hunting exposed at melting ice patches in southern Norway
Authors: Nesje Atle , Pilø Lars Holger , Finstad Espen , Solli Brit , Wangen Vivian , Ødegård Rune Strand , Isaksen Ketil , Støren Eivind N. , Bakke Dag Inge , Andreassen Liss M
Published: December 2011

The main aim of this study is to describe consequences of climate change in the mountain region of southern Norway with respect to recently exposed finds of archaeological remains associated with reindeer hunting and trapping at and around ice patches in central southern Norway. In the early years of the twenty-first century, warm summers caused negative glacier mass balance and significant glacier retreat and melting of ice patches in central southern Norway. As a result, prehistoric remains lost and/or left by past reindeer hunters appeared at ice patches in mountain areas of southern Norway. In the warm summer and autumn of 2006 the number of artefact recoveries at ice patches increased significantly because of melting of snow and ice patches and more than 100 objects were recovered in the Oppland county alone. In 2009, detailed multidisciplinary investigations were carried out at the Juvfonne ice patch in Jotunheimen at an elevation of c. 1850 metres. A well-preserved Iron Age hunting station was discovered and in total c. 600 artefacts have been documented at the Juvfonne site alone. Most of the objects were recovered and brought to the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo for conservation, exhibition and storing. Thirteen so called ‘scaring sticks’ recovered from the recently exposed foreland of Juvfonne were radiocarbon dated, yielding ages that group in two separate time intervals, ad 246–534 and ad 804–898 (±1 sigma). By putting the temporal distribution of the radiocarbon-dated artefacts into the context of late-Holocene glacier-size variations in the Jotunheimen and Jostedalsbreen regions, we conclude that the most extensive reindeer hunting and trapping associated with snow/ice patches was related to periods with prevailing warm summers when the reindeer herds gathered on high-altitude, contracted glaciers and ice patches to avoid insect plagues. The ‘freshness’ of the fragile organic finds strongly indicates that at least some of the artefacts were rapidly covered by snow and ice and that they may have been more-or-less continuously covered by snow and ice since they were first buried.
Renal transplantation in lupus nephritis: a Brazilian cohort
Authors: Oliveira CS , d`Oliveira I , Bacchiega ABS , Klumb EM , Albuquerque EMM , Souza E , Suassuna JHS , Ribeiro FM
Published: December 2011

Objective: To determine the epidemiological profile and outcome of patients with lupus nephritis (LN) undergoing renal transplantation. Methods: The archival records of 50 patients with LN and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) treated by kidney transplantation from March 1992 to December 2010 were reviewed. All patients met the American College of Rheumatology criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Results: Fourteen patients were included in the study. The majority were women (85.7%) and non-Caucasian (85.7%); the mean age at diagnosis of SLE and LN was 24 ± 8 and 25 ± 8 years, respectively. Renal biopsy was performed in 12 patients, with 75% of them showing proliferative lesions (class III and IV according to the World Health Organization and International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society classification). Thirteen patients (93%) underwent intermittent hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis before transplantation. The median time between the start of dialysis and transplantation was 30 months (range 3–103 months); 67% of the procedures involved deceased donors and 33% involved living-related donors. The graft survival rates were 93.3%, 90.9%, and 85.7% at 1, 5 and 10 years, respectively. Post-transplant immunosuppressive agents were mycophenolate mofetil (84%), azathioprine (17%), tacrolimus (25%), sirolimus (58%) and cyclosporine (8%). Eight episodes of acute rejection were noted in six patients. There was a graft loss due to renal vein thrombosis in the one patient with secondary antiphospholipid syndrome. The mean SLICC by the time of kidney transplantation was 5 ± 2. In total, 13 patients (92.8%) developed at least one infectious event during the follow-up, with one dying in the immediate post-transplant period because of sepsis. Two patients (14%) had a lupus flare. There was no clinical or histological evidence of LN recurrence. Conclusion: LN is the major cause of morbidity in SLE, with progression to ESRD in 10–22% of cases. Despite concerns about LN recurrence after renal transplantation, the data obtained in our sample indicate this procedure as a safe alternative therapy for ESRD in this population.
Comparison of QuantiFERON-TB Gold test and tuberculin skin test for the identification of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in lupus patients
Authors: Yilmaz N , Zehra Aydin S , Inanc N , Karakurt S , Direskeneli H , Yavuz S
Published: December 2011

The tuberculin skin test (TST) has low sensitivity for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-G) is an IFN-gamma-release assay that measures the release of interferon-gamma after stimulation in vitro by Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens using ELISA. The main advantage of this assay compared with TST is the lack of cross-reaction with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) as well as most of non-tuberculous mycobacteria. The aim of our study is to compare QFT-G with TST for the detection of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: Seventy-eight patients with SLE and 49 healthy subjects (HCs) participated in the study. All patients and controls were interviewed for a history of TB then BCG vaccinations were recorded and chest X-rays were examined for a sign of TB infection. QTF-G and TST were performed on both patients and controls. QTF-G results were recorded as positive, negative or indeterminate. A positive TST for SLE was defined as ≥5 mm.

Results: Seventy-six SLE patients (97.4%) had been BCG vaccinated. Similar to the HC (28.5%), 19 of 78 (24.3%) SLE patients had positive QTF-G. Two patients had an indeterminate result. The agreement between QTF-G and TST was 49/76 (64.4%) (κ = 0.33). There were fewer positive QFT-G test results than positive TST results (24.3% vs. 50%; p < 0.01). Twenty-two (28.9%) patients were TST(+)/QTF-G(−) while only 3(3.9%) patients were TST(−)/QTF-G(+). When the positive TST was defined as ≥10 mm indurations, which is the cut-off in screening for LTBI in Turkey, the agreement between two tests increased up to 58/76 (76.3%) with a κ value of 0.47. The mean TST measurements was higher in QTF-G positive patients (13.4 ± 8.8 mm) than the QTF-G negative patients (4 ± 5.3 mm) ( p < 0.001).

Discussion: In a TB-endemic and BCG vaccinated population, the QuantiFERON-TB Gold assay seemed to be a more accurate test for the detection of LTBI in SLE patients. Although 5 mm is usually accepted to be the standard cut-off for TST in immunocompromised patients such as SLE, the level of agreement between QTF-G and TST was better with a 10 mm cut-off in our population.
The challenge of integrating justice and care in neonatal nursing
Authors: Hall Elisabeth O C , Brinchmann Berit S , Aagaard Hanne
Published: December 2011

The aim of this study was to explore neonatal nurses’and mothers of preterm infants’experiences of daily challenges. Interviews took place asking for good, bad and challenging experiences. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis and findings were clustered in two categories: good and challenging experiences, each containing three themes. The good experiences were: managing with success as a nurse, small things matter for mothers, and a good day anyhow for mothers and nurses. The challenging experiences were: mothering in public, being pulled between responsibilities, and adverse things stick under the nurses’skin. The study shows that small daily clinical matters become big issues and could lead to moral distress, and that nurses integrate ethics of justice and ethics of care while mothers are concerned about health and well-being of their specific infant only. The challenge for nursing to integrate fairness and sensitive care in family-oriented neonatal care is discussed.
Morality in the mundane
Authors: Dauwerse Linda , van der Dam Sandra , Abma Tineke
Published: December 2011

Ethics support is called for to improve the quality of care in elderly institutions. Various forms of ethics support are presented, but the needs for ethics support remain unknown. Using a mixed-methods design, this article systematically investigates the specific needs for ethics support in elderly care. The findings of two surveys, two focus groups and 17 interviews demonstrate that the availability of ethics support is limited. There is a need for ethics support, albeit not unconditionally. Advice-based forms of ethics support are less appropriate as they are removed from practice. Ethics support should be tailored to the often mundane and easily overlooked moral issues that arise in long-term care. Attention should also be given to the learning styles of nurses who favour experiential learning. Raising awareness and developing a climate of openness and dialogue are the most suitable ways to deal with the mundane moral issues in elderly care.
The experience of lying in dementia care
Authors: Tuckett Anthony G
Published: December 2011

This analysis examines the practice of care providers in residential aged care lying to residents with dementia. Qualitative data were collected through multiple methods. Data here represents perceptions from registered and enrolled nurses, personal care assistants, and allied health professionals from five residential aged care facilities located in Queensland, Australia. Care providers in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) lie to residents with dementia. Lying is conceptualized as therapeutic whereby the care provider’s intent is to eliminate harm and also control behaviour. Care providers of residents with dementia in RACFs need guidance around lying. An ethical framework cognisant of an ethical theory of good and ethical theory of right supplemented by a theory of virtue is proposed. A complimentary four stage communication strategy that promotes truth telling as a first option while also recommending the lie as a suitable strategy is also promoted.
Kula and relation capital: Rational reinterpretation of primitive gift institution
Authors: Lee Jaehyuck
Published: December 2011

We take the view that social institution can be interpreted as equilibrium outcomes from the rational conduct of social exchanges. ‘Relation capital’ captures the idea that people make an optimal choice in their tie-makings as well as individual acts. We reinterpret from a rational choice perspective the well-known gift institution of primitive society documented by classical anthropological studies, the kula. We provide a detailed analysis of kula in terms of relation capital accumulation and fame building. The dynamic optimization perspective is applied to reinterpret various aspects of this ceremonial exchange. A formal model of the kula economy is provided to show the unstable nature of the gift equilibrium. Optimal time paths of consumption and gift-giving are derived, and a sufficient condition for the instability of the steady state is formally provided. Many qualitative discussions are characterized in terms of formal results, including the reason for the specific form of kula.
Public Confidence in the British Police
Authors: Kautt Paula
Published: December 2011

Although research on public confidence in the police is rapidly growing in the United States, progress is comparatively slow in the United Kingdom, leaving researchers and policy makers to rely heavily on the U.S. literature base in devising policy. Yet, despite surface similarities, potentially important differences remain, making direct theory and policy transfer between these and other countries tenuous. The current study aims to assess the generalizability and integrate theoretical perspectives from both countries (e.g., Signal Crimes and Negotiated Order), using British Crime Survey (BCS) data from the 2001/02 through 2007/08 sweeps along with a sophisticated analytical strategy to test the derived expectations. The results reveal an intriguing combination of similarities and differences that seem largely to be explained by national context. The risks of theory, research, and policy transfer from the United States to the United Kingdom are highlighted.
A Review of Measles
Authors: Dardis Melissa R.
Published: December 2011

Measles, once a common childhood illness that many older school nurses could recognize without difficulty, needs review again after reemerging from Europe and other continents. A highly contagious disease, which has been referenced since the seventh century, the virus can cause serious illness and death, despite the fact that it is vaccine preventable. School nurses are wise to review the pathogenesis, occurrences, incubation, and communicability as well as methods to diagnose and treat measles in order to prevent an outbreak.
Managing Encopresis in the Elementary School Setting
Authors: Garman Kimberly , Ficca Michelle
Published: December 2011

Encopresis is a medical condition that is associated with incontinence in children. It leads to frustration and anxiety in both parents and children due to the presenting symptoms and the inability to control elimination patterns. There is overwhelming concern among families that a child with encopresis will be ostracized from peers and will suffer long-term psychological effects. It is therefore important to define encopresis to include the etiology, prevalence, and treatment measures in order to ensure a positive outcome. In addition, as a child enters elementary school, the school nurse plays a vital role in assisting the child to reach educational goals and managing health concerns. This article will guide the reader through the origin and diagnosis of encopresis as well as the principles of management. It will also delineate the school nurse role in managing encopresis in the school setting.
Buying Policy? The Effects of Lobbyists’ Resources on Their Policy Success
Authors: McKay Amy
Published: December 2011

This study tests the common assumption that wealthier interest groups have an advantage in policymaking by considering the lobbyist’s experience, connections, and lobbying intensity as well as the organization’s resources. Combining newly gathered information about lobbyists’ resources and policy outcomes with the largest survey of lobbyists ever conducted, I find surprisingly little relationship between organizations’ financial resources and their policy success—but greater money is linked to certain lobbying tactics and traits, and some of these are linked to greater policy success.
Hospital Domestics
Authors: Brown Hannah
Published: December 2011

In Kenya, as elsewhere in Africa, it is common for caregivers to live alongside patients who are admitted to hospital. Ethnographic material from the wards of a district hospital in western Kenya shows that in this context proper care for patients required the mobilization of the extended family and the care and attention of hospital staff. Caring practices created biomedical and domestic ward spaces, with patients the objects of two divergent models of care, which the author calls “familial” and “biomedical,” aligned to these spaces. Caregivers and hospital staff emphasized the boundary between these models of care to comment on and (re)produce concepts of responsibility and obligation to others and to legitimate restrictions that they placed on the care they gave. The author argues that it is helpful to think about this hospital as an institutional space produced through a composite of mobile spatial practices, including both biomedical and domestic practice.
Embracing essentialism: A realist critique of resistance to discursive power
Authors: O’Mahoney Joe
Published: December 2011

This article argues that, contrary to its detractors, essentialism is a necessary concept in understanding resistance to managerial discourses. The article first suggests that essentialism, under a critical realist framing, need not suffer from the reductionism or determinism found in many 19th and 20th Century essentialized accounts of the self, arguing instead that the concept adds analytical power to explanatory theorizing. Next, taking three common post-Foundational presentations of resistance to managerialist discourses, the article proposes that, despite protestations to the contrary, each relies on essentialist representations of both discourse and the self. The article then seeks to tackle the ‘problem’ of essentialism head-on by showing its potential for both framing resistance and building bridges between the post-Foundational, realist and natural worlds.
Ethnic identification in response to perceived discrimination protects well-being and promotes activism: A longitudinal study of Latino college students
Authors: Cronin Tracey J. , Levin Shana , Branscombe Nyla R. , van Laar Colette , Tropp Linda R.
Published: December 2011

Using structural equation modeling and cross-lagged analyses, this longitudinal study investigates ethnic identification, a group-based coping strategy, as a mediator of the influence of perceived discrimination on psychological well-being and willingness to engage in activism on behalf of one’s ethnic group among Latino students in both their first and fourth years of college. We found cross-sectional evidence for the rejection–identification model (RIM) during both years of college. Further, multiple step bootstrapping analyses of the longitudinal data showed that the relationships between perceived discrimination during Year 1 and both well-being and activism during Year 4 were sequentially mediated by activism during Year 1 predicting ethnic identification during Year 4. These data extend the RIM by including activism as an additional outcome variable that has important implications for Latino students across time.
Effects of home-based stress management training on primary caregivers of elderly people with dementia in South Korea
Authors: Lee Yoon-Ro , Sung Kyu-taik , Kim Yang-E
Published: December 2011

Concern about dementia among families caring for frail elderly is at an all-time high in South Korea wherein the number of seniors has greatly increased. Dementia disorders create considerable stress and cost to caregivers due to cognitive impairment, behavioral disorders, and rapid decreases in the functional capacities of patients. Families of dementia patients must be provided with an opportunity to deal effectively with their highly stressful situation. Currently available clinical services for caregivers, however, are strikingly sparse in South Korea. This study examines the effects of stress management training for Korean primary caregivers of dementia patients. Stress management training was provided in the homes of individual caregivers. Taking into consideration Korean caregivers’ strong tendency to provide care for elderly with dementia within the family setting, emphasis was placed on home-based individual training. Meeting caregivers in their own homes makes it possible to acquire great insight into and understanding of the caregiver on the stress-inducing situation in the home setting. The stress level for the experimental group was reduced significantly. Theoretical and practice implications of home-based training and cultural relevance of this type of training are discussed.
Metaphors, stigma and the ‘Alzheimerization’ of the euthanasia debate
Authors: Johnstone Megan-Jane
Published: December 2011

This paper reports the findings of an unobtrusive research inquiry investigating the possible use and misuse of Alzheimer’s disease in public policy debate on the legalization of euthanasia. The component of the study being reported identified the problematic use of five key metaphors: the Alzheimer metaphor, which in turn was reinforced by three additional metaphors – the epidemic metaphor, the military metaphor, and the predatory thief metaphor; and the euthanasia metaphor. All metaphors were found to be morally loaded and used influentially to stigmatize Alzheimer's disease and mediate public opinion supporting the legalization of euthanasia as an end-of-life ‘solution’ for people with the disease. It is contended that, in the interests of promoting intellectual honesty and giving proper recognition to the extraordinary complexity of the issue, the problematic use and influence of metaphoric thinking in the public debate about Alzheimer's disease and euthanasia needs to be made transparent, questioned and challenged.
The supreme emergency exemption: Rawls and the use of force
Authors: Roberts Peri
Published: December 2011

Both Rawls and Walzer argue for a supreme emergency exemption and are commonly thought to do so for the same reasons. However, far from ‘aping’ Walzer, Rawls engages in a reconstruction of the exemption that changes its focus altogether, making clear its dependence on an account of universal human rights and the idea of a well-ordered society. This paper is therefore, in the first instance, textual, demonstrating that Rawls has been misinterpreted in the case of supreme emergency. In the second instance the approach is reconstructive, providing a reinterpretation of Rawls that fits his treatment of supreme emergency with his broader commitments in just war and international relations. This reinterpretation enables us to draw out a pattern of argument that Rawls appears to share with a much more strident liberal cosmopolitanism.
Captions On, Off, on TV, Online
Authors: Ellcessor Elizabeth
Published: December 2011

This article considers the current state of closed captioning for online videos, in the U.S. context. As media access is foundational to cultural citizenship, captions and similar accessibility features are essential to forming an inclusive participatory culture, online and off. Drawing on the history of television closed captioning and theatrical film captioning, it argues that captions and deafness have long been associated with the private, complicating their advancement under civil rights laws concerned with the public sphere and facilitating advancement through telecommunications laws and notions of consumer choice. This article cautions that such neoliberal solutions cannot be relied on to meet the needs—and civil rights—of deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans, and might in fact damage the coalitional identity politics on which civil rights for people with disabilities depend, unless such politics can be reinvigorated through emphasis on unification around shared goals.
Need for Speed
Authors: DeJong Stacey L. , Schaefer Sydney Y. , Lang Catherine E.
Published: December 2011

Background. Although slow and insufficient muscle activation is a hallmark of hemiparesis poststroke, movement speed is rarely emphasized during upper-extremity rehabilitation. Moving faster may increase the intensity of task-specific training, but positive and/or negative effects on paretic-limb movement quality are unknown. Objective. To determine whether moving quickly instead of at a preferred speed either enhances or impairs paretic-limb task performance after stroke. Methods. A total of 16 people with poststroke hemiparesis and 11 healthy controls performed reach–grasp–lift movements at their preferred speed and as fast as possible, using palmar and 3-finger grip types. The authors measured durations of the reach and grasp phases, straightness of the reach path, thumb–index finger separation (aperture), efficiency of finger movement, and grip force. Results. Reach and grasp phase durations decreased in the fast condition in both groups, showing that participants were able to move more quickly when asked. When moving fast, the hemiparetic group had reach durations equal to those of healthy controls moving at their preferred speed. Movement quality also improved. Reach paths were straighter, and peak apertures were greater in both groups in the fast condition. The group with hemiparesis also showed improved efficiency of finger movement. Differences in peak grip force across speed conditions did not reach significance. Conclusions. People with hemiparesis who can perform reach–grasp–lift movements with a 3-finger grip can move faster than they choose to, and when they do, movement quality improves. Simple instructions to move faster could be a cost-free and effective means of increasing rehabilitation intensity after stroke.