bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES OF MICROBIOCENOSIS OF THE SKIN OF MAMMARY GLANDS AND VAGINA IN PREGNANT WOMEN WITH THREAT OF PRETERM LABOR
Authors: Ivankiv V. Ya. , Malanchyn I. M. , Tkachuk N. I.
Published: December 2017

Background. The threat of preterm birth is one of the most topical issues in the world medicine. According to the statistics, from 12-13 to 25-35 % of all pregnancies end prematurely. One of the causes of preterm labour is chronic inflammatory processes of female genital organs and disorder of microbiocenosis. Timely diagnosis and adequate treatment will reduce the risk of premature labour and avoid perinatal loss.Objective. We examined and analysed the microflora of the skin of mammary glands and mucous membrane of vagina in healthy pregnant women and patients with threat of preterm labour.Materials and methods. The examination of the pregnant was conducted at the TRMPC “Mother and Child” in several stages. First of all, we rinsed the skin of mammary glands and smeared from mucous membrane the posterior vault of vagina with sterile swabs pre-moistened in physiological solution. After that, the tampons were placed in sterile tubes and delivered to laboratory. Sowing was carried out on Petri dishes with sterile medium: ZHSA, bloods MPA, Endo, Saburo, thioglycolic medium.Conclusions. As a result of the research we found saprophytic Gram-positive and Gram-negative microorganisms (in women with a physiological course of pregnancy). In pregnant women with preterm labour, there was the increase in the number of St. haemolyticus from 13% to 87%, appearance of representatives of pathogenic flora – St. aureus (in 20%).
AGE-RELATED MORPHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF REMODELING OF ARTERIAL BED OF HIND LIMBS IN WHITE RATS WITH EXPERIMENTAL HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA
Authors: Yuryk I. I. , Bodnar Ya. Ya. , Voloshyn V. D. , Yuryk Ya. I.
Published: December 2017

Background. The human organism is constantly affected by metabolic risk factors. All of them for a long time are asymptomatic and often form in early childhood long before clinical manifestations. However, morphogenesis and morphofunctional features of age-related structural changes in blood vessels of different sites are poorly studied.Objective. To evaluate the morphometric characteristics of arterial bed remodeling of hind limbs in white rats of PRA and RA with experimentally induced hypercholesterolemia.Methods. The tissues biopsies from femoral, knee and shin areas were studied by means of histological and morphometric methods.Results. Experimental hypercholesterolemia caused remodeling of vessels with increasing thickness of medial and endothelial layer of vessels in the investigated parts of the rats’ body. In this case, the external diameter of vessels increased only in femoral area in the reproductive group of rats. In the group of pre-productive animals, the external diameter of the vessels studied was more or less unaffected. Thus, increased thickness of intima and media led to a decrease in arteries capacity. The depth of vascular lesions and the decrease in functional capacity of blood vessels were directly proportional to the duration of the experiment. In the group of reproductive rats, the changes in vascular bed were more evident.Conclusions. Objective study of the processes allows providing a scientific basis for further research and understanding of the pathomorphism of vascular diseases in humans.
LEFT VENTRICULAR DIASTOLIC DYSFUNCTION AND OXYGEN SUPPLY OF LOWER EXTREMITIES IN PATIENTS WITH STABLE ISCHEMIC HEART DISEASE AND CONCOMITANT TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS
Authors: Yarema N. I. , Pasyechko N. V. , Khomitska A. I. , Savchenko I. P. , Smachylo I. V. , Naumova L. V. , Radetska L. V. , Bob A. O. , Havrylyuk M. E. , Bob O. O. , Havrylyuk N. M. , Kotsyuba O. I.
Published: December 2017

Background. The peculiarities of diastolic heart failure and indices of arterial and venous blood oxygenation in patients with stable ischemic heart disease and concomitant type 2 diabetes mellitus are presented in the article. Obvious left ventricular diastolic dysfunction with the increased levels of natriuretic peptide, uric acid and decreased indices of arterial and venous blood oxygenation in the presence of comorbid type 2 diabetes mellitus have been revealed.Objective. The research was aimed to study the peculiarities of left ventricular diastolic function disorders, levels of NT-proBNP, uric acid and indices of arterial and venous blood oxygenation in patients suffering from stable exertional angina with underlying comorbid type 2 diabetes mellitus.Methods. 70 patients with IHD: stable exertional angina of the ІІІ functional class, were examined. The first group comprised 39 patients with stable exertional angina of the ІІІ functional class with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction; the second group – 31 patients with stable exertional angina of the ІІІ functional class with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and concomitant type 2 diabetes mellitus. All the examined patients underwent BD- echocardioscopy, with the detailed evaluation of left ventricular diastolic function, NT-proBNP and uric acid levels in venous blood were determined by immunoenzyme method, indices of arterial and venous blood oxygenation were evaluated too.Results. The correlation between left ventricle diastolic function and oxygen volume consumed by the tissues of lower extremities in patients with stable ischemic heart disease and concomitant type 2 diabetes mellitus was determined.Conclusions. In patients with stable IHD, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and concomitant type 2 diabetes mellitus the levels of NT-proBNP, uric acid and oxygen supply of lower extremities are significantly higher as compared to patients with IHD without type 2 diabetes mellitus.
CHOICE OF TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR CYSTIC LYMPHSTIC MALFORMATIONS IN THE HEAD AND NECK REGION: TREATMENT EXPERIENCE OF 81 CHILDREN
Authors: Benzar I. M.
Published: December 2017

Background. Surgery has previously been the only treatment for lymphatic malformations (LMs), but in the head and neck region is challenging due to the risk of scarring, nerve damage, recurrence. Sclerotherapy may be a perfect alternative.Objective. The aim of the study is to determine the efficacy and safety of the OK-432 sclerotherapy in the children with craniofacial LMs.Methods. 81 children with head and neck LM between December 2010 and March 2017were involved into the study. The follow-up period was from 6 to 79 months. According to the size of cysts, LMs were classified into macrocystic, microcystic, and mixed. The result of the treatment of LMs was determined by the percentage of reduction in size as excellent (decrease by more than 90%), good (by 50%-89%), satisfactory (by 20%-49%) and none (by less than 20%).Results. The macrocystic LMs diagnosed in 41.97% of patients, microcystic - in 12.35%, and mixed – in 45.68% of children. OK-432 sclerotherapy only was performed for 83.9% of patients and in 12.3% in combination with surgery. The range of sclerotherapy sessions was from 1 to 11. An excellent result in 96.97% of cases was evidenced in the patients with macrocystic LM. Poor result was proved in the patients with microcystic LMs; the most of them (55.56%) had satisfactory result. In the patients with mixed LM, an excellent and good result was evidenced in 83.33%. After 198 sessions of OK-432 sclerotherapy, complications associated with the treatment occurred in 5 (2.52%) cases.Conclusions. OK-432 sclerotherapy is a safe and effective treatment of head and neck LMs in children. Macrocystic LMs proved the best response to OK-432 treatment.
The Nixon Doctrine and U.S. Relations with the Republic of Afghanistan, 1973–1978: Stuck in the Middle with Daoud
Authors: Winger Gregory
Published: December 2017

The overthrow of the monarchy in Afghanistan in 1973 was a seminal moment in the country's history and in U.S. policy in Central Asia. The return of Mohamed Daoud Khan to power was aided by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA, the Communist party) and military officers trained in the Soviet Union. Even as Communism was making its first substantive gains in Afghanistan, the United States was wrestling with how best to pursue its strategy of containment. Stung by the experience of Vietnam, President Richard Nixon concluded that the United States could not unilaterally respond to every instance of Communist expansion. In the turbulent years that followed, U.S. diplomacy and Daoud's desire for nonalignment combined to mitigate Soviet influence in Afghanistan. However, the U.S. triumph was fleeting insofar as Daoud's shift toward nonalignment triggered the erosion of Soviet-Afghan relations, culminating in the overthrow of his government and the final ascension of the PDPA.
The Paradox of Trans-American Solidarity: Gender, Race, and Representation in the Guatemalan Refugee Camps of Mexico, 1980–1990
Authors: Todd Molly
Published: December 2017

In the 1970s and 1980s the Guatemalan government's counterinsurgency tactics prompted nearly 2 million people to abandon their homes. Drawing on heretofore unexamined documentation produced by North American solidarity groups, this article examines how Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. grassroots organizations represented the approximately 200,000 Guatemalans who crossed the border into Mexico. It traces the gendered and racialized victim portrayals that celebrated refugee men's voices and agency while reducing refugee women to silent symbols of trauma. A close reading of new sources reveals a paradox of solidarity work in the 1980s: North American activists promoted a new social order of justice and equality, but they did so from positions both privileged and hindered by Cold War geopolitics. As a result, even as “northern” solidarists provided very real succor to “southern” people, their actions continued to be based on uneven (colonial/imperial) power relations and assumptions about an exotic Other.
Depictions of Social Dissent in East German Television Detective Series, 1970–1989
Authors: Lorke Christoph
Published: December 2017

This article discusses the processing of social dissent and its media relevance in East German society in the 1970s and 1980s. The Gegenwartskriminalfilm (contemporary crime movie) Polizeiruf 110 and the courtroom television show Der Staatsanwalt hat das Wort are fruitful film sources for analyzing the specific ways in which social reality and social inequality were constructed and negotiated in the Communist state. Social images as mirror and manifestation of effective public attention to and the perception of social problems shed light on the social symbolic order: They reveal the opposition of “good” and “bad” behavior, with a contrast in their symbolic representations.
A New Dedication from Olbia and the Problems of City Organization and of Greco-Barbarian Relations in the 1st Century ad
Authors: Ivantchik Askold I.
Published: December 2017

This article contains a publication of a dedication by strategoi to Augustus, his heir Gaius Iulius Caesar and to the People, which was found in Olbia in 2006 and dates from the period between the year 1 bc and the year ad 4. It is the earliest inscription from post-Getic Olbia to have been discovered. Analysis of it makes it possible to suggest that Olbia was rebuilt after the rout by Burebistas in the last years bc under Roman control. The state organization of Olbia, which took shape after the city had been restored, reproduced certain features of the Roman constitution. Despite suggestions often voiced to the effect that Scythians or Sarmatians were included among its citizens, they were only granted the status of Olbian citizens later on – in the years 50-80 ad. The city was restored by Greeks who, at least in part, had come from Asia Minor and Thrace.
Father Włodzimierz Ledóchowski (1866–1942): Driving Force behind Papal Anti-Communism during the Interwar Period
Authors: Chenaux Philippe
Published: December 2017

Włodzimierz Ledóchowski, superior general of the Society of Jesus, wielded great influence in the battle against Communism. His belief that there was a link of some degree between Jews and Communism, his work to establish a secretariat in Rome to counter atheistic Communism, and his influence in the development of the papal encyclical, Divini redemptoris, are explored in this article. Convinced that the Russian Revolution was a satanic force out to eradicate Christian society, Ledóchowski made it his life’s work to expose the lies and threats of Bolshevism, culminating in his penultimate Congregation (in 1938) where the superior general discussed techniques that could be used to combat the spread of Communism.
“Russia’s Misfortune Offers Humanitarians a Splendid Opportunity”: Jesuits, Communism, and the Russian Famine
Authors: Trythall Marisa Patulli
Published: December 2017

Using archival documentation, this article discusses the beginning of the first grand international aid mission of the Catholic Church (1922–23), undertaken to assist the starving children of Bolshevik Russia. Under the auspices of the American Relief Administration (ara), the Papal Relief Mission to Russia fed approximately 158,000 persons a day. The pivotal figure between American Catholics and the Roman Curia, and subsequently between the Vatican and the Bolsheviks, was Edmund Aloysius Walsh, S.J., founder of the first us school of diplomacy, at Georgetown University. Walsh served as papal emissary in charge of this mission, which, among other duties, entailed liaising with the ara, keeping the Vatican informed, and negotiating with the Bolsheviks regarding the church’s position within a communist society. Walsh’s experience provides a firsthand view of the “Bolshevik world” and insight into the manner in which the Bolshevik Revolution was understood by the Vatican. The actions of the protagonists (Włodzimierz Ledóchowski, Jesuit superior general; Pietro Cardinal Gasparri, Vatican secretary of state; Mgr. Giuseppe Pizzardo, Vatican substitute secretary of state; Col. William Haskell, director of the ara’s Russian Relief Program; Mgr. Lorenzo Lauri, apostolic nuncio to Poland; and Walsh), are revealed through their own words, which show the difficulties encountered within both the Christian and Bolshevik spheres and clarify that common objectives were often shared only in appearance. Notwithstanding the good will that the mission’s success earned for the Vatican, the attempt to establish diplomatic relations was destined to fail, due in large part to the events narrated herein.
Decentering American Jesuit Anti-Communism: John LaFarge’s United Front Strategy, 1934–39
Authors: Gallagher Charles R.
Published: December 2017

In 1934, the Society of Jesus was asked to respond at global and regional levels to the increasing threat of world Communism. In North America, the Jesuits initiated plans to meet the twin threats of Communism and atheism. Between 1934 and 1939, two separate streams of Jesuit anti-Communism began to emerge. The first was a macro-style vision grounded in social reconstruction, which the Jesuits called “Establishing a Christian Social Order,” known colloquially as the “xo” program. The other plan was put forward as early as 1934, and elaborated in July 1936 at the Jesuit meeting in West Baden, Indiana, by the writer and editor John LaFarge. LaFarge’s plan, known as the United Front, has never been evaluated by historians. It was a localized program of reactive initiatives meant to meet the gains of the cpusa with effective Catholic counter-Communist public attacks. LaFarge aimed to recruit students, pastors, and fellow Jesuits to see to it that cpusa gains in labor, culture, education, government, and churches were met with equal and effective public counterattacks. In 1937, the publication of the papal encyclical Divini redemptoris signaled that social reconstruction could become a part of authentic Catholic anti-Communism, indicating the eclipse of LaFarge’s United Front. After 1939, when the Jesuit general Włodzimierz Ledóchowski called for an adoption of the “positive message” of social reconstruction as the dominant means of Jesuit anti-Communism, LaFarge’s more bumptious and militaristic plan began to fade for good. This article chronicles the heretofore unknown struggle between these two antipodes.
A Meta-Analysis on the Relationship Between Character Education and Student Achievement and Behavioral Outcomes
Authors: Jeynes William H.
Published: December 2017

An extensive meta-analysis, including 52 studies, was undertaken on the relationship between character education and student achievement and behavioral outcomes. Additional analyses were done to determine whether the effects of character education differed by student grade level, locale, race, and so on. The results indicated that character education is associated with higher levels of educational outcomes, no matter what type of standardized or nonstandardized measure was employed. Character education was also related to higher levels of expressions of love, integrity, compassion, and self-discipline. Overall, character education had somewhat greater effects for children in high school rather than those who were in elementary school. The effects of character education did not differ by the race of the children. The significance of these results is discussed.
Elimination of contaminating amplified short tandem repeat products by autoclaving and ultraviolet irradiation
Authors: Ohta Jun , Tanaka Atsunori
Published: December 2017

DNA contamination can result in false interpretation of short tandem repeat (STR) DNA typing. Proper decontamination is particularly required in forensic DNA laboratories where probative value of the evidence may be affected. The aim of this study was to establish an effective DNA decontamination procedure for amplified STR products focusing on laboratory-related contamination. We verified the effectiveness of thermally and temporally extended autoclaving and ultraviolet irradiation for the elimination of contaminating amplified STR products. STR amplification products were prepared using a control genomic DNA template and generated using the AmpFℓSTR® Identifiler® Plus and Yfiler® polymerase chain reaction amplification kits. In this study, the contaminants were dried before decontamination treatment, which resembles actual contamination situations. One microlitre of amplified STR products was eliminated by a combination of autoclaving (128°C, 420 min) and UV irradiation (60 J/cm2). Our results reveal that the combination treatment represents an effective DNA decontamination procedure and a practicable method in standard level laboratories. Finally, we propose a comprehensive approach for forensic DNA laboratories to implement to minimise contamination issues and guarantee provision of authentic results.
Twenty-three years (1993–2015) of homicide trends in the Transkei region of South Africa
Authors: Banwari Meel
Published: December 2017

Background

Transkei is regarded as a rural part of South Africa. It was one of the black homelands where rigorous apartheid was practised. The incidence of firearm-related deaths used to be very high, but after the implementation of the Firearm Control Act in 2002, the trend changed. However, the murder rate is still a major public-health problem in this region of South Africa.

Objective

The aim of this study was to investigate 23 years (1993–2015) of homicide trends in the Transkei region of South Africa.

Method

A review of records of medico-legal autopsies performed at Mthatha Forensic Pathology Laboratory from 1993 to 2015 was undertaken.

Results

Between 1993 and 2015, the number of autopsies performed on people who had died unnatural deaths was 24,693. The records of 12,618 (51%) autopsies on victims of homicide between 1993 and 2015 were available for study. The average rate of murder was 85/100,000 of the population in this region. Of these deaths, on average 34/100,000 were caused by sharp-edged instruments, 30/100,000 by gunshot wounds and 21/100,000 by blunt trauma. The rate of murder of males was significantly higher than that of females, with a ratio of 5.7:1, and over the period of 23 years covered by this study, the incidence was highest (30.5/100,000) in the young age group between 21 and 30 years.

Conclusion

The rate of homicide is very high in the Transkei region of South Africa. It needs urgent intervention to curb unnecessary deaths.
“How Come You Are Here?” Considering the Context in Research on Travel Decisions
Authors: Beritelli Pietro , Reinhold Stephan , Luo Jieqing
Published: December 2017

Travel decision research still struggles to explain a large portion of the variance in travel choices. We argue that advances in this domain must originate from a shift in the kinds of questions we ask travelers to understand what triggers their decisions. The proposed shift from “Why did you . . . ?” to “How come . . . ?” changes the emphasis from retrospective sense giving to a contextual understanding of travel choice, focusing in particular on the constellations that produce actual travel behavior. This shift opens research avenues of a new theoretical and methodological nature and has fundamental implications for consumer research as well as destination marketing practices.
John Smeaton and the vis viva controversy: Measuring waterwheel efficiency and the influence of industry on practical mechanics in Britain 1759–1808
Authors: Morris Andrew M. A.
Published: December 2017

In this paper, I will examine John Smeaton’s contribution to the vis viva controversy in Britain, focusing on how the hybridization of science, technology, and industry helped to establish vis viva, or mechanic power, as a measure of motive force. Smeaton, embodying the ‘hybrid expert’ who combined theoretical knowledge and practical knowhow, demonstrated that the notion of vis viva possessed a greater explanatory power than momentum, because it could be used to explain the difference in efficiency between overshot and undershot waterwheels. Smeaton’s conclusions were correct since waterwheel efficiency was already measured in terms that were proportional to vis viva, not momentum, as a result of the industrial applications of waterwheel technology, which favored measuring efficiency by the product of mass and vertical displacement. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the loss of motive force in the inelastic collision driving the undershot wheel began to be seen as equivalent to the expenditure of labor in the manufacture of commodities, further underlining how strictly scientific conclusions about motive force could have their origin in industrial practices.
Drug Problematizations and Politics
Authors: Bacchi Carol
Published: December 2017

This article puts in question the usefulness of the concept of “problem” or “problems” in alcohol and drug research and theory. A focus on problematizations is defended as a more effective political intervention. Particular attention is directed to the place of problematization as a mediating concept in understanding how practices constitute “objects” and “subjects,” a proposition commonly linked to “the ontological turn.” To access and analyze problematizations, the article puts forward a Foucault-influenced poststructural analytic strategy called “What’s the Problem Represented to be?” (WPR approach). Previously applied to the policy field, this article illustrates the usefulness of the WPR approach to interrogate the full range of governmental and knowledge practices. Examples of application of WPR from the alcohol and other drug field are highlighted throughout. The article extends this work by directing particular attention to the forms of politics facilitated through such an analytic strategy and to the importance of applying this form of questioning to one’s own propositions and policy proposals.
Molecular characterization of perivascular drainage pathways in the murine brain
Authors: Hannocks Melanie-Jane , Pizzo Michelle E , Huppert Jula , Deshpande Tushar , Abbott N Joan , Thorne Robert G , Sorokin Lydia
Published: December 2017

Perivascular compartments surrounding central nervous system (CNS) vessels have been proposed to serve key roles in facilitating cerebrospinal fluid flow into the brain, CNS waste transfer, and immune cell trafficking. Traditionally, these compartments were identified by electron microscopy with limited molecular characterization. Using cellular markers and knowledge on cellular sources of basement membrane laminins, we here describe molecularly distinct compartments surrounding different vessel types and provide a comprehensive characterization of the arachnoid and pial compartments and their connection to CNS vessels and perivascular pathways. We show that differential expression of plectin, E-cadherin and laminins α1, α2, and α5 distinguishes pial and arachnoid layers at the brain surface, while endothelial and smooth muscle laminins α4 and α5 and smooth muscle actin differentiate between arterioles and venules. Tracer studies reveal that interconnected perivascular compartments exist from arterioles through to veins, potentially providing a route for fluid flow as well as the transport of large and small molecules.
Sociodemographic Information, Aversive and Traumatic Events, Offence-Related Characteristics, and Mental Health of Delinquent Women in Forensic-Psychiatric Care in Switzerland
Authors: Krammer Sandy , Eisenbarth Hedwig , Fallegger Carole , Liebrenz Michael , Klecha Dorothee
Published: December 2017

The present study describes a much understudied group—namely, female prisoners under forensic-psychiatric care in the German-speaking part of Switzerland—to improve understanding of their risks and their needs. Data were derived from internal databases of a Forensic-Psychiatric Service. Data were collected in the form of their sociodemographic characteristics, prevalence of aversive and traumatic events, type of offence committed, and mental health conditions. Based on a full-sample approach, a total of 1,571 files were analysed. Results reveal that two thirds of the participants were not in a stable relationship, more than half did not complete a school degree, and three quarters were without stable employment prior to their incarceration. Two thirds were mothers and about one third did not grow up with their parents. Almost half grew up with an alcohol abusing parent, about half experienced violence and/or neglect in childhood, and about a quarter of the cases sexual abuse. About 95% had a mental health diagnosis according to International Classification of Diseases–Version 10 (ICD-10), and the most prevalent mental and behavioural disorder was due to psychoactive substance abuse. The most frequent offence type was drug-related crimes. Women convicted for drug-related crimes were more likely to have an ICD-10 F1 disorder compared with those convicted for other crimes. Conversely, women with violent offences were less likely to suffer from ICD-10 F1 disorder than those who had committed nonviolent offences. Findings have implications for practitioners and policy makers, and contribute to the cycle of violence theory discussion. In conclusion, future research areas are suggested.
You have to (Br)enter to (Br)exit: The EU collaboration space
Authors: Rigby David
Published: December 2017

Co-inventor data gathered from EU patents are used to measure collaboration in knowledge production between all pairs of nuts2 regions in the EU15 between 1980 and 2005. Gower’s similarity index is employed to visualize the inter-regional collaboration space. National borders exert a strong influence on inter-regional collaboration in the first period examined as regions within countries tend to cluster together. Over time, these national border effects relax especially for continental partners. UK inventors are relatively isolated over both periods. The data imply that (Br)exit might have little impact on the geography of collaboration for UK inventors.
The Challenges of Idealized Mothering
Authors: Keefe Robert H. , Brownstein-Evans Carol , Polmanteer Rebecca S. Rouland
Published: December 2017

Being a good mother is the highest calling for many women. However, the demands of being a “good mother” can be stressful, especially during pregnancy and the first 2 years postpartum. For many low-income mothers from marginalized groups facing multiple responsibilities with limited resources, the stress of new mothering can lead to postpartum depression (PPD). Although PPD affects roughly 12% of all white mothers, at least 3 times as many mothers of color (38%) have been found to experience PPD. In this study, 30 low-income mothers of color with histories of PPD were interviewed about how they viewed being a good mother while living with PPD. Their views of “good mother” emerged during the interviews, which uncovered four major themes: being strong mothers, juggling responsibilities, being self-sustaining, and taking care of self. Using these themes and drawing on research on mothering informed by feminist perspectives, this article examines how the mothers strive to be good mothers while coping with PPD. Social workers working with new mothers of color who have PPD can benefit from understanding these mothers’ experiences with PPD while striving to achieve well-being for themselves and for their children.
Past Year Technology-Involved Peer Harassment Victimization and Recent Depressive Symptoms and Suicide Ideation Among a National Sample of Youth
Authors: Mitchell Kimberly J. , Jones Lisa M. , Turner Heather A.
Published: December 2017

This article aims to better understand the complex role of technology in peer victimization events with recent depressive symptomatology and suicide ideation (SI). Telephone interviews were conducted with a national sample of 791 youth in the United States, aged 10 to 20 years, collected from December 2013 to March 2014. Rates of any peer harassment victimization varied by past month depressive symptomatology and SI —28% of youth with no/low depressive symptomatology reported past year peer harassment as did 43% of youth with high depressive symptomatology without SI, and 66% of youth with SI. When examining the role of technology in peer harassment, youth experiencing any mixed harassment (i.e., those incidents that occurred both in-person and through technology) were almost 4 times more likely to report past month depressive symptoms without SI (RRadj = 3.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.5, 10.0], p ≤ .01) and 7.5 times (95% CI = [1.9, 28.9], p ≤ .01) more likely to report past month SI compared with youth who had no past year peer harassment. Given the multilayered relationships among these variables, schools, medical, and mental health professionals might screen youth who are involved in higher risk peer victimization situations, for depressive symptoms and SI to improve their access to appropriate mental health services.
Good Choice, Bad Judgment: How Choice Under Uncertainty Generates Overoptimism
Authors: Tong Jordan , Feiler Daniel , Ivantsova Anastasia
Published: December 2017

We examine a fundamental feature of choice under uncertainty: Overestimating an alternative makes one more likely to choose it. If people are naive to this structural feature, then they will tend to have erroneously inflated expectations for the alternatives they choose. In contrast to theories of motivated reasoning, this theory suggests that individuals will overestimate chosen alternatives even before they make their choice. In four studies, we found that students and managers exhibited behavior consistent with naïveté toward this relationship between estimation error and choice, leaving them overoptimistic about their chosen alternatives. This overoptimism from choosing positive error is exacerbated when the true values of the alternatives are close together, when there is more uncertainty about the values of alternatives, and when there are many alternatives to choose from. Our results illustrate how readily overoptimism emerges as a result of statistical naïveté, even in the absence of a desire to justify one’s decision after the choice.
A Chance to Reimagine Punishment and Penality?
Authors: Dockley Anita
Published: December 2017

The Howard League for Penal Reform has recently been trying to answer a hard question – What is Justice? (see www.howardleague.org/research/ ). This work was underpinned by the notion that how societies respond to crime, and punish lawbreakers, cannot and should not be separated from wider considerations to do with the social and political arrangements of those societies. The relationship between penality and justice is two-way and complex. Justice and the system for delivering (criminal) justice are often criticized but rarely is there a credible, achievable challenge to the status quo proposed: most want to tinker around the edges. Closely allied to the concept of justice is that of punishment and what this means if justice is to be achieved.
Career Decision Ambiguity Tolerance and Career Decision-Making Difficulties in a French Sample: The Mediating Role of Career Decision Self-Efficacy
Authors: Storme Martin , Celik Pinar , Myszkowski Nils
Published: December 2017

In the current work, we investigated the relationship between career decision ambiguity tolerance (CDAT) and career decision-making difficulties among French-speaking university students. In a preliminary validation study ( N = 246), we examined the psychometric properties of the CDAT Scale. Our results showed that the French CDAT Scale had satisfactory levels of scale score reliability, that its factor structure was consistent with the original three-factor structure, and that it had incremental predictive power over general ambiguity tolerance when predicting career decision self-efficacy and career adaptability. In a second study ( N = 412), building on social cognitive career theory, we hypothesized that career decision self-efficacy mediates the relationship between CDAT and career decision-making difficulties. Results were consistent with our hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.
Sex Ed to Go: A Content Analysis of Comprehensive Sexual Education Apps
Authors: Kalke Kerstin M. , Ginossar Tamar , Shah Sayyed Fawad Ali , West Andrew J.
Published: December 2017

Mobile applications (“apps”) designed for sexual health education have the potential to reach teens and young adults that are hard to reach through traditional platforms; however, little is known about availability of these apps and their adherence to existing guidelines. Following a search on the two major app stores, data from 2,693 apps were analyzed. Only 697 (25%) addressed sexual health, and only 15 (1%) of apps met inclusion criteria for comprehensive programs and their content was further analyzed. The content of most of these apps narrowly focused on sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy prevention and lacked information on puberty, sexual identity, and personal safety. Theoretically grounded strategies including self-efficacy and modeling behavior to strengthen behavior change efforts were largely absent. Last, we identified significant shortcomings in the literate design of these apps, including limited use of interactive features, such as videos, quizzes, or games. These findings indicate that the potential of apps as sexual health promotion tools has not yet been fully realized. We outline recommendations for developing theory- and evidence-based sexual education apps and provide suggestions for health educators on how to select relevant apps when working for youth.
Numerical analysis of lateral displacement of beam-column joints in concrete frame structures subjected to fire
Authors: Wu Bo , Liu Jinsong , Chen Xiaomei
Published: December 2017

In this article, numerical analysis has been conducted for multi-story reinforced concrete frames under different fire scenarios to investigate the time-dependent lateral displacement of beam-column joint, which is almost the same as the lateral displacement at column end. Based on the numerical results, an empirical model has been proposed to approximately determine the time-dependent lateral displacement of the beam-column joint, and the calculated results using this model are compared with the numerical and test results provided by other researchers. Finally, the fire performance of axially-and-rotationally restrained reinforced concrete columns with time-dependent sidesway is numerically analyzed and compared with that without sidesway. It is found that (1) when the target floor is on fire, the influence of its non-adjacent floors’ exposure to fire on the lateral displacement of the joints at the target floor can be neglected, and the biggest error induced by this neglect is less than 10%; but the exposure of its adjacent floor(s) to fire leads to larger lateral displacement of these joints; and (2) fire endurance of the restrained reinforced concrete column with high nominal axial load ratio (e.g. 0.6) decreases significantly with the increasing of the column’s sidesway.
What do police do and where do they do it?
Authors: Wuschke Kathryn E , Andresen Martin A , Brantingham Paul J , Rattenbury Christopher , Richards Andrew
Published: December 2017

Recent research in the economics of policing has been concerned with what the police do and how much time they spend on those activities. Some of this research has highlighted that, based on the number of incidents, “crime” comprises only ∼ 20% of the police workload with much of the remaining 80% addressing public safety concerns. In this article, we deconstruct the nature of police incidents within a suburban city. We show that police expenditures, relative to the entire municipal budget, have been relatively constant over 30 years and that the volume of police activity has also remained relatively constant, although with a slight increasing trend. We show that the most of the decrease in crime can be attributed to population growth in this suburban city and that the places in which the police undertake different activities vary.
Under the bridge: An in-depth examination of online trolling in the gaming context
Authors: Cook Christine , Schaafsma Juliette , Antheunis Marjolijn
Published: December 2017

Trolling is a subject of apparent academic confusion; the few studies conducted thus far yielded a variety of conflicting definitions regarding what constitutes trolling behaviour and little information regarding trolling motivations. In order to shed further light on this phenomenon, the present study aimed to (1) determine which behaviours actual trolls consider as trolling, (2) explore the motivations behind trolling, and (3) examine the online community’s response to trolling as perceived by the troll. After performing semi-structured interviews with 22 self-confessed trolls, we found that there is a variety of behaviours trolls consider trolling which can now be put in clear categories based on target and method. Three key motivations to troll emerged: personal enjoyment, revenge, and thrill-seeking. Trolling also appears to be a cyclical, self-perpetuating phenomenon enabled by the online community at large. Theoretical implications for future trolling research are also discussed.
Book review: Harcourt, W., editor, 2016: The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Development: Critical Engagements in Feminist Theory and Practice
Authors: Mateer Jennifer
Published: December 2017

Harcourt, W., editor, 2016: The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Development: Critical Engagements in Feminist Theory and Practice. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 660 pp. $210 (hardcover), $159 (digital). ISBN: 978-1-137-38272-6 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-1-137-38273-3 (digital).
Moving through predeath grief: Psychological support for family caregivers of people with dementia
Authors: Meichsner Franziska , Köhler Stefanie , Wilz Gabriele
Published: December 2017

When caring for a family member with dementia, continuous losses and predeath grief can adversely affect the caregivers’ physical and mental health. Interventions for caregivers should therefore also aim at coping with loss and managing predeath grief. It was the objective of the present study to describe sources of grief caregivers report during therapy and to investigate how therapists can support caregivers. Two caregivers who participated in a randomized controlled trial were selected for this case study. Both caregivers received an intervention based on the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy with grief-focused content that consisted of 12 sessions within six months. Three therapy sessions per participant were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results illustrate that both caregivers experienced a loss of companionship with their respective care recipient and ambiguous loss that resulted in intense grief that they found difficult to manage. Therapists responded by supporting the caregivers to acknowledge their losses and identify individual ways to cope with and accept loss and grief. Both caregivers reported higher well-being and an increased ability to manage their grief-related emotions after the therapy ended. The identified intervention strategies fit well into a theoretical framework for grief interventions for dementia caregivers, i.e. the dementia grief model.
Conceptual frameworks in didactics – learning and teaching: Trends, evolutions and comparative challenges
Authors: Ligozat Florence , Almqvist Jonas
Published: December 2017

This special issue of the European Educational Research Journal presents a series of research papers reflecting the trends and evolutions in conceptual frameworks that took place within the EERA 27 ‘Didactics – Learning and Teaching’ network during its first ten years of existence. Most conceptual tools used in this field were elaborated in different socio-historical contexts for education and schooling delineated by nations and/or linguistic regions in Europe. This issue suggests possible integrative paths between certain frameworks debated in the Network 27 through co-authored papers. Crossed perspectives on the papers highlight certain important foci in the study of learning and teaching processes: (i) ‘Bildung’ discussed within didactics as a European research field; (ii) Educational goals, content and teaching methods expressed in curricula; (iii) Curriculum making processes; (iv) Teaching qualities, teaching (joint) actions and classroom discourses; and (v) Collaborative practices in teacher professional development. Finally, two strands of comparative research in didactics are sketched for increasing synergies in the field.
Revelations of a White Settler Woman Scholar-Activist: The Fraught Promise of Self-Reflexivity
Authors: D’Arcangelis Carol Lynne
Published: December 2017

Based on a metanarrative analysis of the self-reflexive process I undertook during my research into the “solidarity encounter” between Indigenous women and White women in a contemporary Canadian context, I argue that self-reflexivity is a fraught mechanism for grappling with and dismantling structural privilege. I recount how, despite my best self-reflexive efforts and expectations to the contrary, I could not completely forestall some of the ways in which my subjectivity and hence power would infuse the research—specifically, in how the specter of the liberal subject would haunt it. This haunting, I contend, is indicative of the limits of self-reflexivity when it is underpinned by modernist/liberal ideologies of subjectivity. In short, I convey the perils and promises of self-reflexivity as a mechanism for revealing researcher impact on and for leveling power relations in social justice research (and beyond). Specifically, I identify in my own practice elements of the “validated reflexive strategies” critiqued by Wanda S. Pillow. I conclude that self-reflexivity is most valuable when approached as a window into structural oppression and privilege and not only into the power of researchers as individuals. Building on Sara Ahmed’s reflexive “double turn,” I argue that radical reflexivity is a better model for avoiding the vortex of a self-reflexivity performed by modernist/liberal subjects. I propose that radical reflexivity can assist researchers to identify the ways in which our structural positions overdetermine (though never absolutely or seamlessly) the contours of our scholarly and political commitments.
Having another child without intellectual disabilities: Comparing mothers of a single child with disability and mothers of multiple children with and without disability
Authors: Kimura Miyako , Yamazaki Yoshihiko
Published: December 2017

To investigate how having a child without a disability is related to maternal mental health and its predictors, we compared mothers of a single child with intellectual disabilities (single-child group, n = 117) and mothers of children with and without intellectual disabilities (multiple-children group, n = 457), in Japan. Compared to the multiple-children group, the single-child group had lower hope and social capital and poorer mental health; furthermore, 42.5% of them had decided not to have another child, despite desiring one. Hope was the strongest predictor of mental health in both groups but was more positively related to mental health in the multiple-children group. The fear of the possibility of the next child having a disability and receiving inadequate support were the obstacles for mothers who had decided not to have another child. Thus, greater support and more opportunities for obtaining adequate information about the implications of having another child may be needed.
Balloon pulmonary angioplasty for inoperable patients with chronic thromboembolic disease
Authors: Wiedenroth Christoph B. , Olsson Karen M. , Guth Stefan , Breithecker Andreas , Haas Moritz , Kamp Jan‐Christopher , Fuge Jan , Hinrichs Jan B. , Roller Fritz , Hamm Christian W. , Mayer Eckhard , Ghofrani Hossein A. , Meyer Bernhard C. , Liebetrau Christoph
Published: December 2017

Symptomatic patients with residual pulmonary perfusion defects or vascular lesions but no pulmonary hypertension at rest are diagnosed with chronic thromboembolic disease (CTED). Balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) is an emerging treatment for patients with inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), but data regarding the safety and efficacy of BPA in patients with CTED are lacking. We report a prospective series of ten consecutive patients with CTED who underwent 35 BPA interventions (median of four per patient) at two German institutions. All patients underwent a comprehensive diagnostic workup at baseline and 24 weeks after their last intervention. BPA was safe, with one pulmonary vascular injury and subsequent self‐limiting pulmonary bleeding as the only complication (2.9% of the interventions, 10% of the patients). After the procedures, World Health Organization functional class, 6‐min walking distance, pulmonary vascular resistance, and pulmonary arterial compliance improved, and NT‐proBNP concentrations declined in 9/10 patients. BPA may be a new treatment option for carefully selected patients with CTED. A larger, prospective, international registry is required to confirm these results.