bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Generalized Information Measures and the Analysis of Brain Electrical Signals
Authors: Plastino A. , Martin M. T.
Published: November 2020

The traditional way of analyzing brain electrical activity, on the basis of electroencephalogram (EEG) records, relies mainly on visual inspection and years of training. Although it is quite useful, of course, one has to acknowledge its subjective nature that hardly allows for a systematic protocol. In order to overcome this undesirable feature, a quantitative EEG analysis has been developed over the years that introduces objective measures. These reflect not only characteristics of the brain activity itself, but also clues concerning the underlying associated neural dynamics. The processing of information by the brain is reflected in dynamical changes of the electrical activity in (i) time, (ii) frequency, and (iii) space. Therefore, the concomitant studies require methods capable of describing the qualitative variation of the signal in both time and frequency. In the present work we introduce new information tools based on the wavelet transform for the assessment of EEG data. In particular, different complexity measures are utilized…. The traditional electroencephalogram (EEG) tracing is now interpreted in much the same way as it was 50 years ago. More channels are used now and much more is known about clinical implication of the waves, but the basic EEG display and quantification of it are quite similar to those of its predecessors. The clinical interpretation of EEG records is made by a complex process of visual pattern recognition and the association with external and evident characteristics of clinical symptomatology. Analysis of EEG signals always involves the queries of quantification, i.e., the ability to state objective data in numerical and/or graphic form that simplify the analysis of long EEG time series. Without such measures, EEG appraisal remains subjective and can hardly lead to logical systematization [36]. Spectral decomposition of the EEG by computing the Fourier transform has been used since the very early days of electroencephalography. The rhythmic nature of many EEG activities lends itself naturally to this analysis. Fourier transform allows separation of various rhythms and estimation of their frequencies independently of each other, a difficult task to perform visually if several rhythmic activities occur simultaneously. Spectral analysis can also quantify the amount of activity in a frequency band.
Networks and Flows in Organizational Communication
Authors: Monge Peter R. , Contractor Noshir
Published: November 2020

Communication networks are the patterns of contact that are created by the flow of messages among communicators through time and space. The concept of message should be understood here in its broadest sense to refer to data, information, knowledge, images, symbols, and any other symbolic forms that can move from one point in a network to another or can be cocreated by network members. These networks take many forms in contemporary organizations, including personal contact networks, flows of information within and between groups, strategic alliances among firms, and global network organizations, to name but a few. This book offers a new multitheoretical, multilevel perspective that integrates the theoretical mechanisms that theorists and researchers have proposed to explain the creation, maintenance, dissolution, and re-creation of these diverse and complex intra- and interorganizational networks (Monge & Contractor, 2001). This focus provides an important new alternative to earlier reviews of empirical literature, organized on the basis of antecedents and outcomes (Monge & Eisenberg, 1987) or research themes within organizational behavior (Krackhardt & Brass, 1994). Although examining the emergence of communication networks is in itself an intellectually intriguing enterprise, the inexorable dynamics of globalization provide an even more compelling impetus for communication researchers and practitioners (Held, McGrew, Goldblatt, & Perraton, 1999). This chapter begins by underscoring the rationale for studying the emergence of communication networks and flows in a global world. The chapter also situates the contributions of this book in previous communication perspectives on formal and emergent communication networks in organizations as well as current philosophical perspectives on the study of emergence in structures. Communication networks and the organizational forms of the twenty-first century are undergoing rapid and dramatic changes (Fulk & DeSanctis, 1999). What is unfolding before our collective gaze is being driven by spectacular advances and convergences in computer and communication technology and by the collective economic, political, societal, cultural, and communicative processes collectively known as globalization (Grossberg, Wartella, & Whitney, 1998; Monge, 1998; Robertson, 1992; Stohl, 2001; Waters, 1995). While many of the changes brought about by globalization are beneficial to humankind, others are clearly detrimental (Scholte, 2000).
Isotope Geochemistry
Authors: Bianchi Thomas S.
Published: November 2020

There is a broad spectrum (approximately 1700) of radioactive isotopes (or radionuclides) that are useful tools for measuring rates of processes on Earth. The term nuclide is commonly used interchangeably with atom. The major sources of radionuclides are: (1) primordial (e.g., 238U, 235U, and 234Th-series radionuclides); (2) anthropogenic or transient (e.g., 137Cs, 90Sr, 239Pu); and (3) cosmogenic (e.g., 7Be, 14C, 32P). These isotopes can be further divided into two general groups, the particle-reactive and non-particle-reactive radionuclides. Transport pathways of non-particle-reactive radionuclides in aquatic systems are more simplistic and primarily controlled by water masses. Conversely, particle-reactive radionuclides adsorb onto particles, making their fate inextricably linked with the particle. Consequently, these particle-bound radionuclides are very useful in determining sedimentation and mixing rates, as well as the overall fate of important elements in estuarine and coastal biogeochemical cycles. Radioactivity is defined as the spontaneous adjustment of nuclei of unstable nuclides to a more stable state. Radiation (e.g., alpha, beta, and gamma rays) is released in different forms as a direct result of changes in the nuclei of these nuclides. The general composition of an atom can simply be divided into the atomic number, which is the number of protons (Z) in a nucleus. The mass number (A) is the number of neutrons (N) plus protons in a nucleus (A = Z + N). Isotopes are different forms of an element that have the same Z value but a different N. Instability in nuclei is generally caused by having an inappropriate number of neutrons relative to the number of protons. Some of the pathways by which a nucleus can spontaneously transform are as follows: (1) alpha decay, or loss of an alpha particle (nucleus of a 4He atom) from the nucleus, which results in a decrease in the atomic number by two (two protons) and the mass number by four units (two protons and two neutrons); (2) beta (negatron) decay, which occurs when a neutron changes to a proton and a negatron (negatively charged electron) is emitted, thereby increasing the atomic number by one unit; (3) emission of a positron (positively charged electron) which results in a proton becoming a neutron and a decrease in the atomic number by one unit; and (4) electron capture, where a proton is changed to a neutron after combining with the captured extranuclear electron (from the K shell)—the atomic number is decreased by one unit.
Phosphorus and Silica Cycles
Authors: Bianchi Thomas S.
Published: November 2020

Phosphorus (P) is one of the most well-studied nutrients in aquatic ecosystems because of its role in limiting primary production on ecological and geological timescales (van Capellen and Berner, 1989; Holland, 1994; Tyrell, 1999; van Cappellen and Ingall, 1996). Other key linkages to biological systems include the role of P as an essential constituent of genetic material (RNA and DNA) and cellular membranes (phospholipids), as well as in energy-transforming molecules (e.g., ATP, etc.). Consequently, marine P has received considerable attention in recent decades, with particular emphasis on source and sink terms in budgets (Froelich et al., 1982; Meybeck, 1982; Ruttenberg, 1993; Sutula et al., 2004). Excessive loading of N to estuarine waters can result in P limitation in systems that are generally considered to be N limited. In such cases where primary production is limited by P, N:P ratios are expected to exceed the Redfield value of 16:1 but can be replenished by sediment efflux of P due to redox changes. For example, after the initial N loading of a system there will be an increase in primary production, which can cause the system to become P limited. Then, the phytodetritus from these early stages of N loading can be remineralized in sediments resulting in anoxic conditions in surface sediments, which can then enhance P release from sediments to the overlying waters where primary production is once again enhanced. Evidence for the role of sediment-derived P on primary production in estuaries with high N loading has been shown to occur particularly in shallow water systems (Timmons and Price, 1996; Cerco and Seitzinger, 1997). On the other hand, many coastal areas have also been subjected to high P loading from anthropogenic sources, where in some cases inputs of P are 10 to 100 times greater than in preindustrial times (Caraco et al., 1993). In many cases, P and N loading to estuarine systems will occur simultaneously and decoupling or isolating their individual effects can be difficult (e.g., HELCOM, 2001). The cycling and availability of P in estuaries is largely dependent upon P speciation.
Palmyra and Petra
Authors: Fagan Brian
Published: November 2020

Syria is a palimpsest of antiquity, a country scattered with evocative ruins from a tumultuous past. “This kingdom hath suffered many alterations,” wrote the Scottish traveler William Lithgow, who wandered through the country in 1612. The landscape teems with Crusader castles, Roman ruins, traces of Byzantium. Early travelers found a strange incongruity, with magnificent temples rising among “hovels,” and with what the nineteenth-century English artist William H. Bartlett called “the shapeless structures of the peasantry.” He added, “It is a strange irony to find baths and theatres in such a country, or triumphal avenues down which only a flock of ragged goats are driven out and back at dawn and sunset.” Bartlett visited Bostra, 9 miles (14 kilometers) south of Damascus, which was once a great desert caravan city and the capital of Roman Arabia before Palmyra came into prominence. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Bostra was the first Byzantine city to fall to Islam, and it became an important stop on the pilgrimage route to Mecca. Today, Bostra is most famous for its Roman amphitheater with its perfect acoustics and seating for 15,000 people. Bartlett observed the city from miles away: Bostra stood up, black and imposing, before us for miles before we arrived, a mass of columns and triumphal arches with the castle dominating the whole. I went up the square tower of the minaret and looked out over the town—columns and black square towers over every ruined church and mosque, and the big castle, and the countless masses of fallen stone. . . . Such a spectacle of past magnificence and present squalor it would be difficult to conceive. There were inscriptions everywhere, Latin, Greek, Cufic and Arabic, built into the walls of the Fellahin houses, topsy turvy, together with the perforated slabs that were once windows, and bits of columns and capitals of pillars. . . . At last he [the Mamur, Bartlett’s self-appointed guide] took me to the top of the castle and introduced me to the head of the soldiers, who produced chairs and coffee on his roof-top, and subsequently glasses of arack [commonly “arrack,” a strong alcoholic drink made of fermented palm sap, rive, or molasses] and water in his room below.
Cadmium Accumulation in Browse Vegetation, Alaska — Implications for Animal Health
Authors: Gough L.P. , Day W.C.
Published: November 2020

We conducted biogeochemical investigations of Cd transport and uptake by vegetation over a metamorphic and intrusive terrane in the Fortymile River watershed and Mining District, east-central Alaska. The occurrence of Cd in eolian-dominated sub-arctic soils developed over five major rock units was examined, as well as its relative bioaccumulation in willow. Although the bioaccumulation of Cd by willow (Salix spp.) has been known for some time (Gough 1991), the connection to adverse animal health, under natural (geogenic) conditions, has only recently been demonstrated (Larison et al. 2000, Mykelbust and Pederson 1999). We present Cd data for three soil horizons and the leaf and twig material of Salix glauca L. (grayleaf willow) collected at sites within defined rock units. The cycling of Cd and its bioaccumulation in willow are compared among rock types and soil horizons. Cadmium in study area soils is derived from aeolian dust (loess) and the weathering of the primary bedrock. Plots of rare earth elements (REE, normalized to chondrite abundance’s) in samples of A, B, and C soil horizon soils were similar to REE patterns in regional loess samples and did not correspond to bedrock patterns. Not surprisingly, therefore, we found essentially no difference in the concentration of Cd in soils developed over different lithologic units. In addition, the anthropogenic input (from mining) at sites we sampled was found to be minimal. Cadmium levels in soil are generally higher than that found in the study area rock types (~2ppm)(Day2000). In our acidic soils (pH 4.5-6.0), Cd should be mobile (readily leached), and should tend to form complexes with carbonates, hydroxides, and phosphates. Interestingly, Cd concentrations decrease with increasing soil depth — a trend directly proportional to soil organic matter content. Enrichment factors (EF), a measure of the relative uptake by a plant of an element from its substrate — a sort of “bioavailability” assessment, are presented in Figure 12.2 for Cd in willow leaf material. This procedure normalizes the data, with respect to a geochemical reference element (in this case Ce), for each of the soil horizons developed over the five major rock units.
Some Environmental Problems of Geomedical Relevance in East and Southern Africa
Authors: Davies T. C.
Published: November 2020

Medical geology studies the influence of geo-environmental factors on the geographical distribution of diseases of humans and animals. In the east and southern African subregion, there has been little attention paid to date on the extent to which these factors may be important in disease causation, even though developing countries in general can be shown to hold tremendous promise for specific research in this field. This chapter highlights some problems of geomedical relevance in the subregion and submits that interdisciplinary research among scientists can help provide practical solutions. The iodine deficient regions of east and southern Africa have been identified and the widespread occurrence of goiter and related conditions, collectively referred to as iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), firmly established (e.g., Davies 1994, Jooste et al. 1997). These are serious and debilitating consequences, particularly for poor populations, as the capacity of children is severely restricted and they become a burden to the family. The reported geographical distribution of endemic goiter in East Africa is shown in Figure 22.1. Many aid agencies and governments have attempted to solve the problem by increasing dietary intake of iodine via the introduction of iodized salt and iodized oil programs. Despite these interventions, IDD remain a major problem in the subregion. It is likely that IDD are multi-causal diseases involving factors such as trace element deficiencies, goiter-inducing substances in foodstuffs (known as goitrogens), and genetics (Fordyce 2000). However, geochemists have an important role to play in determining the environmental cycling of iodine and its uptake into the food chain if levels of dietary iodine are to be enhanced successfully. It has now been established that excessive fluorine (mainly in the form of fluoride) is present in parts of the hydrological system of Kenya as well as other countries in the subregion, particularly those that are associated with rift formation (Gaciri and Davies 1993). Fluoride in minor amounts (around 1.3 ppm) reduces dental decay and enhances the proper development of the bone. A similar level of fluoride intake may also be beneficial to animals.
Readers’ Guide: Definitions, Questions, and Useful Functions: Where to Find Things and What to Do
Authors: Hibbert D. Brynn , Gooding J. Justin
Published: November 2020

This chapter is called Readers’ Guide because chapter 1 is clearly the proper start of the book, with introductions and discussions of what measurement really is and so on. This chapter was compiled last, and attempts to be the first stop for a reader who does not want the edifying discourse on measurement, but is desperate to find out how to do a t-test. In the glossary, we define terms and concepts used in the book with a section reference to where the particular term or concept is explained in detail. If you half know what you are after, perhaps the memory jog from seeing the definition may suffice, but sometime return to the text and reacquaint yourself with the theory. There follows ‘‘frequently asked questions’’ that represent just that—questions we are often asked by our students (and colleagues). The order roughly follows that of the book, but you may have to do some scanning before the particular question that is yours springs out of the page. Finally we have lodged a number of Excel spreadsheet functions that are most useful to a chemist faced with data to subdue. The list has brought together those functions that are not obviously dealt with elsewhere, and does not claim to be complete. But have a look there if you cannot find a function elsewhere. The definitions given below are not always the official statistical or metrological definition. They are given in the context of chemical analysis, and are the authors’ best attempt at understandable descriptions of the terms.
Statistics for the Quality Control Laboratory
Authors: Hibbert D. Brynn
Published: November 2020

Because volumes are devoted to the statistics of data analysis in the analytical laboratory (indeed, I recently authored one [Hibbert and Gooding 2005]), I will not rehearse the entire subject here. Instead, I present in this chapter a brief overview of the statistics I consider important to a quality manager. It is unlikely that someone who has never been exposed to the concepts of statistics will find themselves in a position of QA manager with only this book as a guide; if that is your situation, I am sorry. Here I review the basics of the normal distribution and how replicated measurements lead to statements about precision, which are so important for measurement uncertainty. Hypothesis and significance testing are described, allowing testing of hypotheses such as “there is no significant bias” in a measurement. The workhorse analysis of variance (ANOVA), which is the foundational statistical method for elucidating the effects of factors on experiments, is also described. Finally, you will discover the statistics of linear calibration, giving you tools other than the correlation coefficient to assess a straight line (or other linear) graph. The material in this chapter underpins the concept of a system being in “statistical control,”which is discussed in chapter 4. Extensive coverage of statistics is given in Massart et al.’s (1997) two-volume handbook. Mullins’ (2003) text is devoted to the statistics of quality assurance. Berzelius (1779–1848) was remarkably farsighted when he wrote about measurement in chemistry: “not to obtain results that are absolutely exact— which I consider only to be obtained by accident—but to approach as near accuracy as chemical analysis can go.” Did Berzelius have in mind a “true” value? Perhaps not, and in this he was being very up to date. The concept of a true value is somewhat infra dig, and is now consigned to late-night philosophical discussions. The modern approach to measurement, articulated in the latest, but yet-to-be-published International Vocabulary of Basic and General Terms in Metrology (VIM; Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology 2007), considers measurement as a number of actions that improve knowledge about the unknown value of a measurand (the quantity being measured). That knowledge of the value includes an estimate of the uncertainty of the measurement result.
Quality Control Tools
Authors: Hibbert D. Brynn
Published: November 2020

Although thoroughly convinced that no laboratory can function without proper regard to quality in all its myriad forms, the question remains, What do we do? As a quality control manager with a budget and the best aspirations possible, what are the first steps in providing your laboratory or company with an appropriate system (other than buying this book, of course)? Each laboratory is unique, and what is important for one may be less important for another. So before buying software or nailing control charts to your laboratory door, sit down and think about what you hope to achieve. Consider how many different analyses are done, the volume of test items, the size of the operation, what level of training your staff have, whether the laboratory is accredited or seeking accreditation, specific quality targets agreed upon with a client, and any particular problems. This chapter explains how to use some of the standard quality tools, including ways to describe your present system and methods and ongoing statistical methods to chart progress to quality. Being in “statistical control” in an analytical laboratory is a state in which the results are without uncorrected bias and vary randomly with a known and acceptable standard deviation. Statistical control is held to be a good and proper state because once we are dealing with a random variable, future behavior can be predicted and therefore risk is controlled. Having results that conform to the normal or Gaussian distribution (see chapter 2) means that about 5 in every 100 results will fall outside ± 2 standard deviations of the population mean, and 3 in 1000 will fall outside ± 3 standard deviations. By monitoring results to discover if this state is violated, something can be done about the situation before the effects become serious (i.e., expensive). If you are in charge of quality control laboratories in manufacturing companies, it is important to distinguish between the variability of a product and the variability of the analysis. When analyzing tablets on a pharmaceutical production line, variability in the results of an analysis has two contributions: from the product itself and from the analytical procedure.
Metrological Traceability
Authors: Hibbert D. Brynn
Published: November 2020

The ability to trace a measurement result to a reference value lies at the heart of any measurement. Traceability is part of standards governing laboratory practice, such as ISO/IEC 17025 and Good Laboratory Practice (see chapter 9), as a mandatory property of a measurement result, yet as a concept, traceability of a chemical measurement result is poorly understood. It is either taken for granted, often without much foundation, or ignored altogether. Why is traceability so important? How have we been able to ignore it for so long? The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has applied itself to this problem and a definitive discussion on metrological traceability in chemistry will be published. In this chapter I use the term “metrological traceability” to refer to the property of a measurement result that relates the result to a metrological reference. The word “metrological” is used to distinguish the concept from other kinds of traceability, such as the paper trail of documentation, or the physical trail of the chain of custody of a forensic sample. When the term “traceable standard” is used to refer to a calibration material, for example, the provenance of the material is not at issue, but the quantity value embodied in the standard. In explaining the importance of metrological traceability, I return to the discussions about chemical measurement (chapter 1). The concentration of a chemical is never measured for its own sake, but for a purpose, which often involves trade, health, environmental, or legal matters. The ultimate goal is achieved by comparing the measurement result with another measurement result, with a prescribed value, a legal or regulatory limit, or with values amassed from the experience of the analyst or client. In trading grain, for example, if exported wheat is analyzed by both buyer and seller for protein content, they should be confident that they will obtain comparable measurement results; in other words, results for the same sample of wheat should agree within the stated measurement uncertainties. If the results do not agree, then one party or the other will be disadvantaged, the samples will have to be remeasured, perhaps by a third-party referee, at cost of time and money.
World Meteorological Organization and Agricultural Droughts
Authors: Sivakumar Mannava V.K.
Published: November 2020

Adaptation strategies for coping with agricultural droughts must be based on a better understanding of the climatic conditions of the location or region under consideration. As the United Nations’ specialized agency with responsibility for meteorology and operational hydrology, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), since its inception, has been addressing the issue of agricultural droughts. This chapter presents a short overview of the various initiatives undertaken by WMO in this respect. The fight against drought receives a high priority in the long-term plan of WMO, particularly under the Agricultural Meteorology Programme, the Hydrology and Water Resources Programme, and the Technical Cooperation Programme. WMO actively involves the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), regional and subregional meteorological centers, and other bodies in the improvement of hydrological and meteorological networks for systematic observation, exchange and analysis of data for better monitoring of droughts, and use of medium- and long-range weather forecasts, and assists in the transfer of knowledge and technology. Following is a brief description of various activities undertaken by WMO in the combat against drought. WMO has been in the forefront of research on interactions of climate, drought, and desertification from its beginnings in the mid-1970s, when it was suggested that human activities in drylands could alter surface features that would lead to an intensification of desertification processes and trends. WMO has been in the forefront of research on interactions of climate, drought, and desertification from its beginnings in the mid-1970s, when it was suggested that human activities in drylands could alter surface features that would lead to an intensification of desertification processes and trends. Human-induced changes in dryland surface conditions and atmospheric composition can certainly have an impact on local and regional climate conditions because they directly affect the energy budget of the surface and the overlying atmospheric column. These changes to the energy balance have been simulated in many numerical modeling studies covering almost all dryland areas of the world.
Fifty Web Sites You Should Know
Authors: Pournelle Jerry
Published: November 2020

Ain’t It Cool News http://www.aicn.com/ Rabid fans gossip, preview, and review movies. The Internet in microcosm: unruly, but ultimately rewarding. Arts & Letters Daily http://www.artsandlettersdaily.com/ A continuously revised collection of links to thoughtful articles on thinking subjects. AskOxford http://www.askoxford.com/ Oxford University Press offers the best answers to common language-related questions, free words-of-the-day e-mails, and tools for better writing. B3ta http://www.b3ta.com/ British site with goofy images, hilarious image-editing contests, and endless punter commentary in the forums. Babel Fish http://babelfish.altavista.com/ Translate text and web sites to and from dozens of languages. Not perfect, but as good as it gets for free. Bartleby http://www.bartleby.com/ As an impressive collection of scholarly reference works and classic literature, and a site you can quote with certainty and authority. Blogdex http://blogdex.net/ Keeps track of the most-linked new content on the Internet: memes, news, jokes, videos, whatever. BoingBoing http://www.boingboing.net/ A counter-culture group blog, presenting novel and interesting items from the front edge of pop culture.
Promoting Community and Economic Development
Authors: Green Yvonne
Published: November 2020

The previous five chapters describe major program components of Children’s Aid Society (CAS) community schools, all designed to contribute to the learning and healthy development of individual children and their families. This chapter describes a different kind of programmatic focus—one that moves beyond individual child and family well-being to influence the health and welfare of the entire community. The central questions to be addressed in this chapter are: How do community schools contribute to community and economic development? How is the community schools strategy both intentional and responsive in making these broader kinds of contributions? How has CAS’s community and economic development work evolved over the past decade in response to changing needs and opportunities? According to John P. Kretzmann, a leading scholar and advocate of community development, schools are ideal partners for community development because they have tremendous assets. They have facilities for meetings and neighborhood celebrations and space for incubating small businesses; they have materials and equipment, purchasing power, the ability to raise funds, employment power, learning opportunities, skilled staff, energetic young people with ideas, and the capacity to attract adult involvement. This analysis is consistent with CAS’s original vision about the potential of community schools to achieve broader outcomes and also consistent with our experience over the past decade in implementing a wide variety of community and economic development strategies, first in the Washington Heights area and more recently in the South Bronx. The central idea of contributing to community and economic development in specific neighborhoods requires a long-term vision and commitment. Just as the early Progressive Era reformers understood the importance of “settling” into neighborhoods to achieve maximum impact, CAS’s leadership perceived the value of committing the organization’s resources to specific neighborhoods over a long term. In another similarity to the Progressive Era, CAS understood the importance of working on several levels or dimensions of activity at the same time. It is true that the original vision of community schools focused on improving outcomes for children and youth by addressing non-academic needs in the context of schools, families, and communities.
The Power of Two or More: Partnership from a School Administrator’s Perspective
Authors: Malavé Luis A.
Published: November 2020

I always had a partnership; I have one now; and I always will. Because what we have at Intermediate School (IS) 218—our partnership with The Children’s Aid Society (CAS)—is the right thing for children. And despite the challenges, doing the right thing is what is going to take precedence. We have a common mission and a clear sense that we have issues we have to tackle together. What inspired me to call this chapter “The Power of Two or More” is a video about an inclusion program—an effort designed to take kids out of special education—that demonstrates the power of two teachers teaming in the classroom for the good of children. Their collaboration is unquestionably powerful, and it reminded me of what we (CAS and the Department of Education) do at IS 218 on a larger scale. Our partnership makes the school much stronger than one entity trying to do the work by itself. We often use the analogy of a marriage without the possibility of divorce, a long-term commitment that we must make work, whatever it takes, because it is best for children. When I was thinking about writing this chapter, I wondered, What can I say to convince other principals and other leaders of the advantages of a partnership like ours? Why would it be in their best interest to do something like this? For me it makes a lot of sense to join forces with a community partner as lead agency, but to some other people it may look like simply more work. To those reluctant reformers I would say that a functional partnership builds value, in spite of the challenges. The person who relishes the position as principal of a community school really needs to believe in the partnership’s potential, to believe that a collaborative effort can exponentially multiply the benefits to students. This partnership has taken me to another level as administrator and leader. I am always learning how to do this job—I am constantly creating it. Even when I must deal with Department of Education regulations, which sometimes create roadblocks to the partnership, I do not see this as an impediment to progress.
National and International Adaptations of the Children’s Aid Society Model
Authors: Chu-Zhu Janice
Published: November 2020

When the CAS community schools first opened in New York City in 1992, they attracted many visitors interested in learning about and adapting our model. In response CAS created its National Technical Assistance Center for Community Schools (NTACCS) in 1994 to handle the increasing number of requests for information, coordinate the large number of visitors to the schools, and provide technical assistance in the process and operations involved in creating a community school. People who wish to adapt our model can now tour the various components of our program and meet with our staff to ask questions and learn about the implementation of our program. This chapter will explore the core components of the CAS model and how adaptation sites in the United States and other countries have been able to incorporate elements that represent their signature style and reflect the needs of their individual communities. An immediate dilemma occurs when program planners seek to learn from the experience of others—should they try to replicate the model precisely or should they try to adapt it to their own local circumstances? Replicators often speak of the importance of “program fidelity,” while adaptors talk about differing needs among various communities and populations. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) astutely assesses the dilemma: “While individual tailoring may account for success at a given location, there is pressing need for theoretically grounded interventions that will be effective in a wide range of communities. Therein lies a challenge. On the one hand, ‘replication’ implies fidelity to the original while, on the other hand, ‘community-based and culturally sensitive’ implies expectation of variation and sensitivity to that variation. The need to vary interventions is widely accepted, but systematically developed and articulated only occasionally.” The NIMH study found two key components that improved the effectiveness of HIV prevention programs as they were implemented in multiple sites around the country. One component was that they were “community-based,” designed with the input and skills of the particular communities in which they were implemented. The second was that the programs were “culturally sensitive”—that is, they reflected the needs and cultures of the individuals expected to participate in the intervention and used media and messages relevant to those individuals and their lives.
Zambia: Settler Colonialism and Corporate Paternalism
Authors: Freidberg Susanne
Published: November 2020

For many years, urban planners’ description of the Zambian capital Lusaka as a “garden city” seemed a cruel and even preposterous misnomer. Potholed and polluted, the city was more colloquially described as a pit. Indeed, parts of town rang with the sounds of a quarry, though the country’s main mineral wealth lay several hours drive to the north. Lusaka’s roadside rockbreakers, men and women who hammered limestone into gravel, epitomized to foreign journalists the disintegration of Zambia’s once-booming economy. But by the year 2000, the old planners’ term for Lusaka had taken on an unanticipated truth. The rock-breakers were still there, and probably not earning much more than the eight dollars a week they earned several years before. But now the roads they worked alongside led, in fact, to vast gardens—thousands of verdant acres producing the down-sized vegetables found in London’s upscale supermarkets: baby corn, baby carrots and baby patty pan squash; miniature chilies, mangetout peas, and, of course, fine-grade green beans. Lusaka had become a garden city on an industrial scale. Agriculture on the margins of Lusaka was by no means new (Sanyal 1987), but now that it contributed to export earnings rather than simply the urban food supply, it fueled new hopes for economic recovery. Even though the horticultural sector (encompassing roses and fruits as well as vegetables) comprised only a small part of the national economy, it was by far the most dynamic part, growing at 20 percent a year. Zambians had witnessed double-digit growth rates before, when postwar demand for the country’s copper fueled what some observers saw as the African Industrial Revolution, a period of economic and social change “not seen in thousands of years” (Mitchell 1951, 21). The reversal of Copperbelt fortune from the mid-1970s onward gave cause for skepticism about any kind of boom, and the successes of the horticultural sector appeared particularly fragile. Apart from the intrinsic fragility of the commodities themselves, Zambia’s vegetable export firms had to contend with supermarket clients who demanded much and brooked no slipups.
Britain: Brands and Standards
Authors: Freidberg Susanne
Published: November 2020

In February 2002, the Financial Times ran a full-page article on the dangers posed by excessive “food miles.” It was written by the editor of Country Life, a magazine dedicated to the preservation of “the British way of life.” Like many critics of food globalization, the author argued that the cheap food policies that originally drove the United Kingdom to import much of its food had hidden costs and posed grave risks both at home and abroad. The article noted that the United Kingdom, despite its experience of mad cow and foot-and- mouth diseases, still imported meat from countries known to be “breeding grounds for killer plagues”—in particular, species-jumping pathogens such as AIDS and the Ebola virus. Despite Britain’s capacity to produce many kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables, supermarkets imported them from countries where, the article said, export farming “deprived” hungry people of land for their own food crops. The airfreight transport of such foods consumed huge quantities of fossil fuel, which drove global warming, which might, the article implied, hasten the onset of geopolitical conflict over increasingly scarce farmland. To avert this dark future, the author called on “concerned shoppers” to use their buying power to “force supermarkets” to purchase and promote more local foods. And, to make perfectly clear who was to blame for burning all these food miles, the accompanying illustration featured two cartoonish characters, one a businesslike carrot wearing the brand of Tesco, the country’s biggest food retailer, and the other a Zambian green bean dressed as an ugly tourist (Aslet 2001). In turn-of-the-21st-century Britain, countryside preservationists were among the many activists who saw the African green bean and “baby veg” as symbolic of food globalization gone wrong, and who called on shoppers to help make things right. The supermarkets that stocked these petite, prepackaged vegetables intended, of course, a very different message—namely that convenient, novel fresh foods belonged in the British way of life, ideally 365 days a year. Yet this marketing strategy had a paradoxical payoff.
Conclusion
Authors: Freidberg Susanne
Published: November 2020

Seven years after Britain’s government in 1996 admitted to the potentially catastrophic human health risks of mad cow disease, fears of the deadly pathogen had faded. Scientists had neither a vaccine nor a cure for nCJD, but in early 2003 they downgraded the projected infection rates; tens of thousands of cases of nCJD now appeared unlikely. The domestic beef market had recovered, and even long-critical media commentators said it was time for beef “to have a revival” (Lawrence 2003a). Whether for reasons of safety, taste or patriotism, market surveys indicated that consumers now preferred British beef to imported meats (Mintel 2003). They also worried rather less about overall food safety. According to the government’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) annual Consumer Attitudes Survey, the percentage of consumers who described themselves as “very” or “quite” concerned about food safety had dropped to 68 percent in 2002 down from 71 percent the year before.1 This is still a lot of concern, but the government nonetheless concluded that it had “made some headway” in its efforts to win back public trust. At the international level, however, longstanding food controversies still simmered and sometimes flared. Zambia, for example, set off a round of transatlantic name-calling in late 2002 when, despite impending famine, it refused to distribute genetically modified (GM) food aid from the United States. The U.S. trade secretary accused the “Luddite” Europeans of forcing Africans to go hungry because the Zambians, like other southern African agro-exporters, feared losing access to the European market if American GM corn contaminated their own crops. European NGOs, meanwhile, condemned the United States for using food aid to establish an African beachhead for the biotech industry (Vidal 2002; Teather 2003). Media analysis of this controversy gave little attention to Zambian citizens’ views of GM food, emphasizing instead the striking rift between American and European perspectives on GM foods and food quality more generally. As in past coverage of the transatlantic GM battle, the explanation was partly cultural (Europeans simply care more about taste than shelf life), partly social psychological. The trauma of recent food scares, in other words, had left Europeans suspicious of “unnatural” foods even if “science” insisted they were safe.
Psychological and Social Effects of Surviving Childhood Cancer
Authors: Marsland Anna L. , Ewing Linda J.
Published: November 2020

Children diagnosed with cancer confront a series of unusually stressful life circumstances. These stressors include change from apparent health to illness, threat to the future, hospitalization, clinic visits, medical investigations and procedures, adverse side effects of treatment (e.g., hair loss, weight gain or loss, nausea, vomiting), financial strain, and the disruption of school, social supports and routines. The uncontrollable and unpredictable nature of this disease makes it the provider of a particularly potent series of stressors that may tax the coping resources of even the most resilient people. Stressors associated with childhood cancer do not stop at the end of treatment. Indeed, there is a large body of literature demonstrating that childhood cancer survivors are at substantial risk of adverse health status and physical sequelae, including neurocognitive dysfunction, cardiopulmonary toxicity, endocrinopathy, and second malignancy (Dreyer, Blatt, & Bleyer, 2002; Hudson et al., 2003). In contrast to well-documented late physical effects, the psychosocial consequences of childhood cancer are less well understood. Although the body of literature has grown considerably, inconsistent findings and inadequate methodologies have made it difficult to draw robust conclusions. In contrast to studies showing that children with chronic physical disorders are at increased risk for psychological and social adjustment problems (Lavigne & Faier-Routman, 1993; Wallander, Varni, Babani, Banis, & Wilcox, 1988), reviews of the childhood cancer literature focusing on normative adjustment show no evidence of long-term maladjustment when compared with healthy peers or population norms and therefore conclude that the majority of survivors cope well with the stress of their disease and treatment (Eiser, Hill, & Vance, 2000; Kazak, 1994). In fact, some investigators have gone as far as to suggest that childhood cancer may play a protective role and may be associated with better-than-typical emotional health or an improvement in psychological adjustment from pre- to postdiagnosis (e.g., Gray et al., 1992; Kupst et al., 1995). Other studies have focused their attention on the significant subset of survivors (10%–20%) who do show ongoing symptoms of psychological maladjustment and social difficulties (e.g., Hobbie et al., 2000; Stuber et al., 1997).
Palliative Care at the End of Life
Authors: Bearison David J.
Published: November 2020

Consider the following advice given to parents whose children are dying in hospitals: “If your child has to die, he can die peacefully. You can make sure he is free of pain. You can make sure that everyone has a chance to say good-bye” (Hilden & Tobin, 2003, p. 3). To offer parents this kind of unconditional assurance (i.e., “You can make sure . . . ”) dismisses the confusing and disturbing realities of actually having to care for a child when it becomes increasingly apparent that curative intent is failing and staff begin to question how best to proceed. The complexity of symptom control in various clinical conditions sometimes precludes children from having peaceful deaths. However, when you read findings from the few palliative care studies that exist (and there are few that consider children as participants), issues of pain management and psychosocial support at the end of life do not seem to be so difficult to resolve. These findings promote ideas that, when satisfactory end-of-life care is not achieved, it is because mistakes were made, staff were inadequately trained, and children thereby were made to suffer unnecessarily. Such ways of thinking in turn lead bereft parents to feel guilty at not having empowered themselves to have taken greater control in the care of their child and to have done the right thing for their child. Although mistakes occur, staff can be better trained, and children might unnecessarily suffer, there are very few guarantees of a comfortable way of dying from medical causes. Most textbooks and studies about end-of-life care simply ignore the messy realities and uncertainties, particularly as they pertain to children and their families. The Report to the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Association from its Working Group on Assisted Suicide and End-of-Life Decisions (2003) raised a clarion call to document publicly what it is like, in practical day-by-day terms, for people who die in hospitals and how it affects endof- life decisions for the staff, patients, and families. We all prefer to die quickly, without protracted suffering and pain and without humiliation. Deaths during sleep are particularly preferred.