bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of a Clinical Decision Support System for Pointing Device Prescription
Authors: Danial-Saad Alexandra , Kuflik Tsvi , Weiss Patrice L. , Schreuer Naomi
Published: February 2015

OBJECTIVE. We present a novel, knowledge-driven approach to prescription of pointing devices that uses the Ontology-Supported Computerized Assistive Technology Recommender (OSCAR), a clinical decision support system (CDSS).

METHOD. Fifty-five occupational therapists were divided into four groups: two assistive technology (AT) expert groups and two novice groups. Novice Group 1 used the OSCAR CDSS for the prescription process, and Novice Group 2 used the conventional method. OSCAR’s effectiveness and its impact on users were evaluated.

RESULTS. The ability of Novice Group 1 to make suitable pointing device prescriptions was similar to that of the two expert groups and was significantly better than that of Novice Group 2. The system positively affected Novice Group 1’s learning of the prescription process.

CONCLUSION. The structure and organized framework for clinical reasoning of the OSCAR CDSS appear to enable occupational therapy practitioners inexperienced in AT to achieve performance levels comparable to those of experts.
Yolngu Studies: A case study of Aboriginal community engagement
Authors: Christie Michael
Published: February 2015

The Yolngu studies program at Charles Darwin University has been active in the teaching of Yolngu (East Arnhemland Aboriginal) languages and culture, in collaborative transdisciplinary research, and in community engagement for well over ten years. The original undergraduate teaching program was set up under the guidance of Yolngu elders. They instituted key principles for the tertiary level teaching of Yolngu languages and culture, which reflected protocols for knowledge production and representation derived from traditional culture. These principles ensured the continuation of an ongoing community engagement practice that enabled the flourishing of a collaborative research culture in which projects were negotiated; these projects remain faithful to both western academic standards, and ancestral Aboriginal practices. The paper gives details of the program, the underlying Aboriginal philosophy, and some of the research projects. The success of the whole program can be seen to derive from the co-constitutivity of community engagement, research and teaching. In 2005 the program won the Prime Minister's award for Australia's best tertiary teaching program.
Through an activity theory lens: Conceptualizing service learning as 'boundary work'
Authors: McMillan Janice
Published: February 2015

Michael Gibbons (2005) has spoken about the need to re-imagine the relationship between higher education and society and he calls for the emergence of a ‘new social contract’. In particular he highlights three elements of this new form of engagement: contextualization, boundary objects, and transaction spaces or boundary zones. It is here that my paper is located – in the conceptualization of the ‘boundary zone’ at the nexus of higher education and society, with a focus on service learning as practice. In the literature on higher education there appears to be little evidence describing ways of conceptualizing and understanding the boundary zone itself. Most of the service learning research literature for instance, looks either at the university side of the relationship or at the impact on the community (and even then only in very few cases).

In order to better understand the ‘push and pull’ of service learning, we need to better understand better what happens in the transaction/boundary zone in the first instance. In order to do this, we need to develop conceptual tools to illuminate the complex practices that occur at this nexus. Drawing on situated learning, post Vygotskian theory and activity theory in particular, I develop a framework for service learning conceived as ‘boundary work’. This framework illuminates inherent contradictions in these trans-boundary practices, and the argument is therefore that unless we understand these practices better and in more nuanced ways, we are in no position to improve them and consequently our understandings of this form of educational practice remain unaltered. Finally, by raising a number of questions about boundary practices at the end of the paper, I provide some ways of taking this conceptualization project further.
Crafting Disaster Risk Science: Environmental and geographical science sans frontières
Authors: Holloway Ailsa
Published: February 2015

In keeping with the University of Cape Town’s commitment to social responsiveness (http://www.socialresponsiveness.uct.ac.za/), this article traces the process that underpinned the development and introduction of a postgraduate programme in Disaster Risk Science (DRS). It foregrounds the programme’s conceptualisation within the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science (EGS) at the University of Cape Town (UCT), with particular emphasis on examining how disciplinary and theoretical coherence was balanced with cross-disciplinary application and social responsiveness. The article begins by describing the contextual conditions external to UCT’s formal teaching and learning environment that provided the necessary impetus for the new programme. It also traces the iterative relationship between context and curriculum that occurred over the period 1998–2008. This engagement was facilitated and mediated by the Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme (DiMP), an interfacing research and advocacy unit, located within UCT’s Department of Environmental and Geographical Science. An explanation of subsequent content and sequencing of the postgraduate curriculum then follow. They illustrate the programme’s articulation with South Africa’s newly promulgated disaster management legislation, as well as its relevance and rigour in relation to the complex risk environment of South Africa’s Western Cape. The article specifically applies a transdisciplinary lens to the new programmme, in which Disaster Risk Science is conceptualized as a Mode 2 knowledge, but one that draws theoretically and methodologically on environmental and geographical science as its foundation or Mode 1 domain. It concludes by examining the DRS programme’s positive contributions both to scholarship and local risk management practices as well as the obstacles that constrained the new programme and continue to challenge its institutional sustainability.
Quality partnerships: The community stakeholders' view
Authors: Netshandama Vhonani
Published: February 2015

Since 1997 universities in South Africa have been encouraged to be responsive to the needs of communities, to encourage broader participation and to address issues of access in higher education (Department of Education 1997). This transformative agenda was found to be especially compelling in the case of rural-based South African universities, which often serve historically disadvantaged black populations in areas that are both under-resourced and underdeveloped (Nkomo & Sehoole 2007, pp. 235–36). In 2006 the traditional leadership of a local community approached the University of Venda to propose a partnership. This prompted the researcher to conduct a qualitative study, which sought to explore and describe community members’ views of what they understood to be a quality partnership. Thirty-seven community representatives were engaged in individual as well as focus group interviews. These representatives were identified first through a stakeholder analysis procedure that sought to determine who in the community would have valuable input for the university-community partnership. As a point of departure, the following two questions were asked consecutively: What are your needs and expectations of a partnership with the university and what would you regard as a quality partnership between the HEI and the community? The sample selection was purposive, utilising the snowball technique. Data was transcribed and analysed using Tesch’s eight-step method (Tesch 1990, in Creswell 1994, p. 155). Interview data and field notes were co-coded, crosschecked and triangulated. Feedback workshops were conducted with the community to confirm the findings. A consensus was reached that four main requirements emerged from the data:

—Balance the partnership objectives of both parties

—Ensure an unexploitative partnership

—Share power and control in the partnership

—Maintain and monitor the partnership.

This article provides a brief overview of the national and regional context to university-community engagement and considers what it means to partner with communities facing urgent and pressing needs. It then looks in detail at what the study revealed about community members’ understanding of quality partnerships with a Higher Education Institution, and provides some thoughts on how to facilitate a quality partnership in a similar context.

Key words: Community, stakeholders, quality partnership
Who organises the community? The university as an intermediary actor
Authors: Fehren Oliver
Published: February 2015

For more than 25 years the Institut für Stadtteilentwicklung, Sozialraumorientierte Arbeit und Beratung (ISSAB) (‘Institute for community development, social space orientation and counselling’) of the University Duisburg-Essen, Germany, has been engaged in the development of disadvantaged urban communities. Increasingly, however, there is a need for intermediaries to bridge the gap between the community and the municipality because of the polarisation of the complex institutional world on the one hand and the increasing fragmentation of the life-world on the other. Based on a long-term cooperation contract with the municipality of Essen, this university institute plays a continuing and active role in local neighbourhood renewal projects. The article reflects on the prospects, challenges and ambivalences of the specific task of the university institute within these community development processes: to take on a mediating role – a moderating intermediary function – between the everyday life-world of the community and the political and administrative municipal system in order to support and enhance community development.

Key words: Community development, university-community partnership, intermediary function, integrated approach, civic engagement
Sustainable Engagement? Reflections on the development of a creative community-university partnership
Authors: Shea Jennifer
Published: February 2015

Recognising the untapped potential of multiple discrete community-university partnerships (CUPs) in San Francisco, San Francisco’s Neighborhood Empowerment Network (NEN) and the Institute for Civic and Community Engagement at San Francisco State University are in the midst of creating a collaborative community-university partnership called NEN University (NENu),which includes other Bay Area institutions of higher education as well as city agencies, non-profit organisations, businesses and neighbourhood resident leaders. This article reflects on the author’s experiences and observations in the ‘doing’ of engaged scholarship as it relates to NENu over the past two years. It contributes to the discussion of how best to build sustainable (in that they have staying power beyond the commitment of a few key individuals) and effective (in terms of building or strengthening communities) CUPs. In so doing it offers a framework for understanding possible threats to the sustainability of CUPs and applies that framework to an account of NENu’s partnership development process. The article concludes with implications for research and practice.

Keywords

community-university partnership; engaged scholarship; leadership; sustainability
Culture, regeneration and community: Reinventing the city
Authors: Hyslop Donald
Published: February 2015

It is just over 12 years since the doors of Tate Modern in London were opened. In converting Gilbert Giles Scott’s Bankside Power Station into a museum we planned for two million visitors in the first year but received over five million – a number exceeding our wildest expectations. Year after year the high levels of attendance continues and now we are very much part of the cultural landscape, not only in the UK but across the world. This article explores the development, challenges and successes of what has become known as the Tate Modern ‘project’. While the museum and its collection is undoubtedly at the project's heart, it also involves a comprehensive strategy to utilise creative organisations and creative thinking in the development, regeneration and reinvention of a key area of a major world city. Central to this model of engaged working are a series of basic challenges:

—how can the various needs of local communities, workers and tourists be balanced when developing an area?

—how can cultural organisations and other businesses work together, and can culture be good for business?

—what is the best way to engage and encourage political leadership and advocacy?

—what is the best way to develop an organisation which not only works within local, national and international contexts but makes connections between them?

—what are the opportunities to bring artists, creative forces and ideas into urban development and the places and spaces in which we live our everyday lives?

It is hoped that this article will help us think about, imagine and practically develop the neighbourhoods and communities that we aspire to create.

Keywords: Creative thinking, culture, urban regeneration and reinvention
Western Sydney is hot! Community arts and changing perceptions of the West
Authors: Ho Christina
Published: February 2015

Can the arts change how we view cities? How can we evaluate the broad social impacts of arts programs, particularly in elusive areas such as the local image of urban communities? This article examines the cultural renaissance of Western Sydney, long considered a crass, working-class cultural wasteland. In the last two decades, the region has experienced a proliferation of new artistic initiatives, and advocates now hail Sydney’s West as the true face of multicultural Australia’s cultural vitality. This article also documents how community arts and development programs have contributed to these shifting perceptions, analysing these contributions in terms of social impact evaluation. It argues that evaluating social impact expands the parameters of conventional evaluation techniques, which typically focus on program-level outputs and outcomes. It presents a case study of a Western Sydney community organisation, Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE), which, for 20 years, has delivered community cultural development and professional development programs for Western Sydney artists. Engaging with historically disadvantaged communities, the organisation has specialised in art forms that have resonated with the region, including hip hop, digital storytelling, and filmmaking, and in the process has played a key role in re-imagining Western Sydney as a cutting edge, multicultural hub of creative vibrancy.

Keywords: Western Sydney, community arts, evaluation, social impact
Forms of engagement and the heterogenous citizen: Towards a reflexive model for youth workshops
Authors: Arvanitakis James , Hodge Bob
Published: February 2015

This article focuses on the challenges confronted by contemporary universities when they undertake ‘community engagement’ activities through the lens of an active citizenship workshop we have designed and implemented. We begin by concentrating on the very concept of ‘engagement’, unpicking its ambiguities and returning its complexities to where they belong – in social experience. As both practitioners and researchers involved in many years of ‘engagement’, we reflect on the aim, purpose and outcomes of such activities. Drawing on the theoretical traditions of educator Paulo Freire and philosopher Martin Heidegger, we apply our engagement activities and citizenship workshops to the aspiration of transformational change: both for those who participate in the activities and for us, as educators. We thus use ‘engagement’ as a guide to making better and more strategic interventions in the three sets of relationships inextricably involved in ‘active citizenship’ projects: ‘engaged research’ with academic and other partners; our own ‘engagement’ with the young people we work with; and finally, their ‘engagement’ as citizens with the rest of society.

Keywords: Citizenship, engagement, active citizens, threshold, transformative change
Building equitable community-academic research collaborations: Learning together through tensions and contradictions
Authors: Nichols Naomi , Anucha Uzo , Houwer Rebecca , Wood Matt
Published: February 2015

This article explores the findings from a multi-method study of a community-university research alliance (Assets Coming Together for Youth) that brings together multidisciplinary academics, graduate student research assistants, community stakeholders and youth research interns. The project undertook evaluative and reflexive research to better understand how these different partnership group members experienced the collaborative process. The article draws on focus group discussions with the four stakeholder groups, in-depth interviews with youth research interns and an online partnership assessment survey of partnership group members. Data highlight people’s ambivalence toward the partnership process. Despite a shared desire to collaborate, it is difficult to maintain a process that mobilises the outcomes of collaboration for the mutual benefit of all stakeholders. In this article, we explore three key factors that shape people’s perspectives on the partnership process: historical and institutional relations; structures for communicating across difference; and opportunities for learning. A close examination of these three factors suggests that ongoing opportunities for communication about, and learning from, people’s ambivalence (that is, uncertainty or hesitation) supports a positive and productive partnership process. Keywords: Community-academic research, collaboration, process, equity, learning, youth
Every teacher is a language teacher: Preparing teacher candidates for English language learners through service-learning
Authors: Fan Yanan
Published: February 2015

Secondary school teachers in the United States are facing urgent challenges in their increasingly heterogeneous classrooms where the presence of English language learners (ELLs) is becoming the norm. This study reports preliminary findings of a qualitative, interpretive case study of secondary school teacher candidates learning to teach English language learners through service-learning in Northern California. In a semester-long tutoring project, candidates focused on individual ELLs in their inquiry into language learning, in which they (re)constructed their sociolinguistic knowledge of English and their tutees’ home languages in context. Moreover, the mutually beneficial relationships among members of the language community encouraged candidates’ critical reflections on language learning. The study offers instructional experiences for teachers and teacher educators to develop sociolinguistic and pedagogical tools while supporting, and being supported by, the ELL communities.

Keywords: teacher education, service-learning, sociocultural perspective, English language learners, secondary schools, teacher knowledge
Access to health services in Western Newfoundland, Canada: Issues, barriers and recommendations emerging from a community-engaged research project
Authors: Hippe Janelle , Maddalena Victor , Heath Sara , Jesso Beulah , McCahon Marion , Olson Kim
Published: February 2015

Research indicates that people living in rural and remote areas of Canada face challenges to accessing health services. This article reports on a community-engaged research project conducted by investigators at Memorial University of Newfoundland in collaboration with the Rural Secretariat Regional Councils and Regional Partnership Planners for the Corner Brook–Rocky Harbour and Stephenville–Port aux Basques Rural Secretariat Regions of Newfoundland and Labrador. The aim of this research was to gather information on barriers to accessing health services, to identify solutions to health services’ access issues and to inform policy advice to government on enhancing access to health services. Data was collected through: (1) targeted distribution of a survey to communities throughout the region, and (2) informal ‘kitchen table’ discussions to discuss health services’ access issues. A total of 1049 surveys were collected and 10 kitchen table discussions were held. Overall, the main barriers to care listed in the survey included long wait times, services not available in the area and services not available at time required. Other barriers noted by survey respondents included transportation problems, financial concerns, no medical insurance coverage, distance to travel and weather conditions. Some respondents reported poorer access to maternal/child health and breast and cervical screening services and a lack of access to general practitioners, pharmacy services, dentists and nurse practitioners. Recommendations that emerged from this research included improving the recruitment of rural physicians, exploring the use of nurse practitioners, assisting individuals with travel costs,  developing specialist outreach services, increasing use of telehealth services and initiating additional rural and remote health research.Keywords: rural, remote, healthcare, health services, social determinants of health
Shared voices, different worlds: Process and product in the Food Dignity action research project
Authors: Porter Christine M. , Herrera Hank , Marshall Daryl , Woodsum Gayle M.
Published: February 2015

Diversity of perspective makes for greater depth when painting a portrait of community life. But embracing the idea of representing true diversity in a formal research project is a whole lot easier than putting it into practice. The three dozen members of the Food Dignity action research team, now entering the fourth year of a five-year project, are intimately familiar with this challenge. In this article, four of the collaborators explore the intricacies of navigating what it means to bring together a genuine cross-section of community-based activists and academics in an effort to draw on one another’s professional and personal strengths to collect and disseminate research findings that represent the truth of a community’s experiences, and are ultimately disseminated in a way that brings tangible benefit to the heart and soul of that community. The authors include Food Dignity’s principal investigator (Porter) and three community organisers (Marshall, Herrera and Woodsum) in organisations that have partnered with Food Dignity. Two of the organisers (Herrera and Woodsum) also serve project-wide roles. These collaborators share their personal and professional hopes, struggles, concerns, successes and failures as participants in this cutting-edge effort to equalise community and university partnerships in research. Keywords: community-based participatory research (CBPR), food justice, equitable community-campus partnerships, food sovereignty, case study, action research
What have we learnt? A year on from the first UK Community Partner Summit
Authors: Aumann Kim , Hart Angie , Duncan Sophie
Published: February 2015

Following an observed need to build community partner infrastructure and support to enhance community-university partnerships, a successful bid was made to the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. This funding provided an opportunity for community partners to come together with engaged academics at the first ever UK Community Partner Summit. They resolved to set up a community partner network to help build capacity for effective community-university partnerships, and to influence the policy environment which supports this work. This article reflects on the activity of the working group in seeking to establish the network, and introduces some of the concepts that have proved critical to its development. Drawing on a wealth of perspectives from a range of sources including academic and grey literature, community partner experiences, and international work, we open up some of the challenges that we have faced, and explore some of the implications of our first year’s work together. We reflect on the time it takes to establish any form of network, the need to be clear about definitions and boundaries, and the challenge of changing cultures. We conclude that the progress with the network to date is encouraging, and we look forward to building on our learning thus far, to develop stronger community-university partnerships of the future.Keywords: community partner infrastructure and networks, partnership resilience, community-university partnership
Impact of updated traffic emissions on HONO mixing ratios simulated for urban site in Houston, Texas
Authors: Czader B. H. , Choi Y. , Li X. , Alvarez S. , Lefer B.
Published: February 2015

Abstract. Recent measurements in Houston show that HONO traffic emissions are 1.7% of NOx emissions, which is about twice the previously estimated value of 0.8% based on tunnel measurements in 2001. The 0.8% value is widely used to estimate mobile emissions of HONO for air quality modeling applications. This study applies the newly estimated HONO / NOx ratio in the WRF–SMOKE–CMAQ modeling system and estimates the impact of higher HONO traffic emissions on its mixing ratios. Since applied emission inventory resulted in overestimates of NOx mixing ratios and because HONO emissions and chemical formation depend on the magnitude of NOx, thus, before proceeding with HONO emission modifications emissions of NOx were adjusted to reflect current emission trends. The modeled mixing ratios of NOx were evaluated against measured data from a number of sites in the Houston area. Overall, the NOx mean value dropped from 11.11 ppbv in the base case to 7.59 ppbv in the NOx-adjusted case becoming much closer to the observed mean of 7.76 ppbv. The index of agreement (IOA) is improved in the reduced NOx case (0.71 vs. 0.75) and the absolute mean error (AME) is lowered from 6.76 to 4.94. The modeled mixing ratios of HONO were evaluated against the actual observed values attained at the Moody Tower in Houston. The model could not reproduce the morning HONO peaks when the low HONO / NOx ratio of 0.008 was used to estimate HONO emissions. Doubling HONO emissions from mobile sources resulted in higher mixing ratios, and the mean value increased from 0.30 to 0.41 ppbv becoming closer to the observed mean concentrations of 0.69 but still low; AME was slightly reduced from 0.46 to 0.43. IOA for simulation that used the 2001 emission values is 0.63 while for simulation with higher HONO emission it increased to 0.70. Increased HONO emissions from mobile sources resulted in a 14% increase in OH during morning time at the location of the Moody Tower and 3% when averaged over an urban area. The increase calculated for daytime was 7 and 1% for the Moody Tower and the urban area, respectively. The impact on ozone was found to be marginal. This study results shed light on the underestimated HONO and OH in the morning from global/regional chemical transport models with the typical emission of 0.8% HONO emission out of the total NOx emissions.
Evaluation of CALIOP 532 nm aerosol optical depth over opaque water clouds
Authors: Liu Z. , Winker D. , Omar A. , Vaughan M. , Kar J. , Trepte C. , Hu Y. , Schuster G.
Published: February 2015

Abstract. With its height-resolved measurements and near global coverage, the CALIOP lidar onboard the CALIPSO satellite offers a new capability for aerosol retrievals in cloudy skies. Validation of these retrievals is difficult, however, as independent, collocated and co-temporal data sets are generally not available. In this paper, we evaluate CALIOP aerosol products above opaque water clouds by applying multiple retrieval techniques to CALIOP Level 1 profile data and comparing the results. This approach allows us to both characterize the accuracy of the CALIOP above-cloud aerosol optical depth (AOD) and develop an error budget that quantifies the relative contributions of different error sources. We focus on two spatial domains: the African dust transport pathway over the tropical North Atlantic and the African smoke transport pathway over the southeastern Atlantic. Six years of CALIOP observations (2007–2012) from the northern hemisphere summer and early fall are analyzed. The analysis is limited to cases where aerosol layers are located above opaque water clouds so that a constrained retrieval technique can be used to directly retrieve 532 nm aerosol optical depth and lidar ratio. For the moderately dense Sahara dust layers detected in the CALIOP data used in this study, the mean/median values of the lidar ratios derived from a constrained opaque water cloud (OWC) technique are 45.1/44.4 ± 8.8 sr, which are somewhat larger than the value of 40 ± 20 sr used in the CALIOP Level 2 (L2) data products. Comparisons of CALIOP L2 AOD with the OWC-retrieved AOD reveal that for nighttime conditions the L2 AOD in the dust region is underestimated on average by ~26% (0.183 vs. 0.247). Examination of the error sources indicates that errors in the L2 dust AOD are primarily due to using a lidar ratio that is somewhat too small. The mean/median lidar ratio retrieved for smoke is 70.8/70.4 ± 16.2 sr, which is consistent with the modeled value of 70 ± 28 sr used in the CALIOP L2 retrieval. Smoke AOD is found to be underestimated, on average, by ~39% (0.191 vs. 0.311). The primary cause of AOD differences in the smoke transport region is the tendency of the CALIOP layer detection scheme to prematurely assign layer base altitudes and thus underestimate the geometric thickness of smoke layers.
Early deglacial Atlantic overturning decline and its role in atmospheric CO2 rise inferred from carbon isotopes (δ13C)
Authors: Schmittner A. , Lund D. C.
Published: February 2015

Abstract. The reason for the initial rise in atmospheric CO2 during the last deglaciation remains unknown. Most recent hypotheses invoke Southern Hemisphere processes such as shifts in midlatitude westerly winds. Coeval changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) are poorly quantified, and their relation to the CO2 increase is not understood. Here we compare simulations from a global, coupled climate–biogeochemistry model that includes a detailed representation of stable carbon isotopes (δ13C) with a synthesis of high-resolution δ13C reconstructions from deep-sea sediments and ice core data. In response to a prolonged AMOC shutdown initialized from a preindustrial state, modeled δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC) decreases in most of the surface ocean and the subsurface Atlantic, with largest amplitudes (more than 1.5‰) in the intermediate-depth North Atlantic. It increases in the intermediate and abyssal South Atlantic, as well as in the subsurface Southern, Indian, and Pacific oceans. The modeled pattern is similar and highly correlated with the available foraminiferal δ13C reconstructions spanning from the late Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~19.5–18.5 ka BP) to the late Heinrich stadial event 1 (HS1, ~16.5–15.5 ka BP), but the model overestimates δ13CDIC reductions in the North Atlantic. Possible reasons for the model–sediment-data differences are discussed. Changes in remineralized δ13CDIC dominate the total δ13CDIC variations in the model but preformed contributions are not negligible. Simulated changes in atmospheric CO2 and its isotopic composition (δ13CCO2) agree well with ice core data. Modeled effects of AMOC-induced wind changes on the carbon and isotope cycles are small, suggesting that Southern Hemisphere westerly wind effects may have been less important for the global carbon cycle response during HS1 than previously thought. Our results indicate that during the early deglaciation the AMOC decreased for several thousand years. We propose that the observed early deglacial rise in atmospheric CO2 and the decrease in δ13CCO2 may have been dominated by an AMOC-induced decline of the ocean's biologically sequestered carbon storage.
How to govern the urban hydrosocial cycle: archaeo-genealogy of hydromentalities in the Swiss urban water sector between 1850 and 1950
Authors: Rattu P. , Véron R.
Published: February 2015

Abstract. Switzerland appears to be a privileged place to investigate the urban political ecology of tap water because of the specificities of its political culture and organization and the relative abundance of drinking water in the country. In this paper, we refer to a Foucauldian theorization of power that is increasingly employed in the social sciences, including in human geography and political ecology. We also implement a Foucauldian methodology. In particular, we propose an archaeo-genealogical analysis of discourse to apprehend the links between urban water and the forms of governmentality in Switzerland between 1850 and 1950. Results show that two forms of governmentality, namely biopower and neoliberal governmentality, were present in the water sector in the selected period. Nonetheless, they deviate from the models proposed by Foucault, as their periodization and the classification of the technologies of power related to them prove to be much more blurred than Foucault's work, mainly based on France, might have suggested.
Brief Communication: Contrast-stretching- and histogram-smoothness-based synthetic aperture radar image enhancement for flood map generation
Authors: Nazir F. , Riaz M. M. , Ghafoor A. , Arif F.
Published: February 2015

Abstract. Synthetic-aperture-radar-image-based flood map generation is usually a challenging task (due to degraded contrast). A three-step approach (based on adaptive histogram clipping, histogram remapping and smoothing) is proposed for generation of a more visualized flood map image. The pre- and post-flood images are adaptively histogram equalized. The hidden details in difference image are enhanced using contrast-based enhancement and histogram smoothing. A fast-ready flood map is then generated using equalized pre-, post- and difference images. Results (evaluated using different data sets) show significance of the proposed technique.
Modelling of the hydrological connectivity changes in the Minjiang Upstream after the Wenchuan earthquake using satellite remote sensing and DEM data
Authors: Zhang H. Z. , Chi T. H. , Fan J. R.
Published: February 2015

Abstract. The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake-induced landslides destroyed larger areas of mountain vegetation and produced large volume of landslide-debris, which made the vegetation's hydrological adjusting function diminished and made the hydrological progresses in slopes changed, resulting in severe erosion and catastrophic debris flows for a rather long time. Since 2008, the landslide-damaged vegetation and its hydrological function have been recovering. In this paper, the Minjiang Upstream watersheds around Yingxiu Town were selected. First, the landslide-damaged vegetation was identified and monitored via multi-temporal (2001–2014) satellite images. Then, the slope materials stability was assessed through topographic analysis of the vegetation survival environments. Then, the hydrological connectivity index (HCI) was defined to describe the upstream sediment production and downstream transport pathway. Finally, results indicated that HCI decreased annually with the vegetation recovery after the obvious increases during the earthquakes. While, analysis of 2008–2013 debris flow events indicated that the areas, the vertical drop to river <1000 m and the horizontal distance to river <2500 m, have high HCI increases and are more susceptible for debris flow formation. Monitoring the landslide-damaged vegetation recovery processes can contribute to assess the hydrological connectivity changes and understand the debris flow formation.
Landslide susceptibility analysis by means of event-based multi-temporal landslide inventories
Authors: Tseng C. M. , Lin C. W. , Hsieh W. D.
Published: February 2015

Abstract. This study uses landslide inventory of a single typhoon event and Weight of Evidence (WOE) analysis to establish landslide susceptibility map of the Laonung River in southern Taiwan. Eight factors including lithology, elevation, slope, slope aspect, landform, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), distance to geological structure, and distance to stream are used to evaluate the susceptibility of landslide. Effect analysis and the assessment of grouped factors showed that lithology, slope, elevation, and NDVI are the dominant factors of landslides in the study area. Landslide susceptibility analysis with these four factors achieves over 90% of the AUC (area under curve) of the success rate curve of all eight factors. Four landslide susceptibility models for four typhoons from 2007 to 2009 are established, and each model is cross validated. Results indicate that the best model should be constructed by using landslide inventory close to the landslide occurrence threshold and should reflect the most common spatial rainfall pattern in the study region for ideal simulation and validation results. The prediction accuracy of the best model in this study reached 90.2%. The two highest susceptibility categories (very high and high levels) cover around 80% of the total landslides in the study area.
The Use of Common Carriers to Control Internal Capacity:
Authors: Saunders Lance W. , Bell John E. , Sawhney Rapinder (Rupy)
Published: February 2015

The use of common carriers to supplement private and dedicated resources has increasingly become a strategy that many transportation providers are utilizing to control internal capacity. This problem has been addressed in the literature, but primarily from a cost perspective. We utilize a survey of industry participants to gather data on the maturity of this process in practice, as well as the drivers that are most influencing the decision of what routes to assign to private/dedicated resources versus common carriers. The results show a primarily manual process, as decision models do not currently incorporate the customer service and asset utilization factors that practitioners say are driving this decision. We then discuss how this is an opportunity to develop analytic solutions that allow transportation providers the ability to improve implementation of this very important decision.
Prevenção da doença invasiva neonatal precoce pelo Streptococcus agalactiae: experiência de um hospital escola
Authors: Norcia Bruna Maria de Moraes , Belei Renata Aparecida , Moraes Uiara Rodrigues de Oliveira , Reda Camilo Carvalho , Capobiango Jaqueline Dario
Published: February 2015

Streptococcus agalactiae ou Streptococcus do grupo B (SGB) é um importante patógeno responsável por infecções bacterianas invasivas em neonatos, como a sepse, pneumonia e meningite. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a adesão as medidas de prevenção de infecção neonatal precoce pelo SGB, conforme recomendado pelo Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), em dois períodos, antes e após o envolvimento da Comissão de Controle de Infecção Hospitalar (CCIH) como uma rotina do serviço e avaliar se houve impacto na morbidade e mortalidade neonatal no segundo período analisado. Trata-se de um estudo de coorte, de caráter retrospectivo, realizado no Hospital Universitário de Londrina (HU), PR. Foram analisadas 800 fichas da CCIH de parturientes, 107 do período de 2008 a 2009 e 693 do período de 2011 a 2012. Após envolvimento da CCIH na implantação do protocolo do CDC, houve incremento de 88,2% na coleta de swabs vaginal e retal das parturientes, aumento de 95,7% de realização de uroculturas e aumento de 86,4% na realização de antibioticoprofilaxia intraparto. Em relação aos recém-nascidos sintomáticos, foram diagnosticados 7/107 (6,5%) no período de 2008 a 2009 e 49/693 (7,0%) no período de 2011 a 2012. Recém-nascidos sintomáticos evoluíram para óbito: 1/107 (0,9%) no período de 2008 a 2009 e 12 (1,7%) no período de 2011 a 2012. Concluiu-se que o envolvimento da CCIH na implantação do protocolo do CDC, foi fundamental na obtenção de uma maior adesão às medidas de profilaxia de doença invasiva precoce pelo SGB, porém não houve impacto na morbidade e mortalidade neonatal.
A família e o familiar cuidador de pacientes fora de possibilidades terapêuticas: uma revisão integrativa
Authors: Encarnação Juliana Fiorim da , Farinasso Adriano Luiz da Costa
Published: February 2015

O presente artigo objetiva identificar o impacto das repercussões emocionais diante da impossibilidade terapêutica, relatando os sentimentos e o processo de luto vivenciados pelo núcleo familiar, considerando as publicações latino-americanas existentes sobre o assunto. Trata-se de uma pesquisa integrativa de literatura realizada mediante a busca de artigos existentes nas bases de dados da Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde – LILACS e SciELO. Contemplaram-se artigos datados de 2003 à 2013 que abordavam as palavras-chave: família, cuidados paliativos, terminalidade e aspectos psicológicos. Foram analisadas 21 publicações existentes que demonstraram que, quando um dos indivíduos encontrara-se com uma doença fora de possibilidades terapêuticas, a necessidade de reorganização familiar fica evidente e, diante a uma enfermidade terminal, muitas vezes, um cuidador familiar se torna responsável pelo paciente, sofrendo impactos inerentes ao cuidar. Nestas condições, a família e o cuidador reagem, sofrem, enfrentam situações que afetam as suas vidas nos aspectos pessoais, emocionais, sociais e financeiros. Esses resultados enfatizam a importância da equipe de saúde voltar sua atenção aos familiares para que este período ocasione o menor número de prejuízos possíveis.
Pesquisa epidemiológica da saúde do trabalhador: uma reflexão teórica
Authors: Martins Julia Trevisan , Ribeiro Renata Perfeito , Bobroff Maria Crsitina Cescatto , Marziale Maria Helena Palucci , Robazzi Maria Lucia do Carmo da Cruz
Published: February 2015

Uma das formas de se intervir nos riscos que provocam agravos e doenças nos trabalhadores é por meio de pesquisas que investiguem as reais causas e soluções desses problemas. Este estudo de natureza reflexiva tem como objetivo demonstrar os métodos de pesquisas utilizados em epidemiologia. A aplicação de métodos epidemiológicos é fundamental para as diversas áreas da saúde e imprescindível para a investigação relacionada à saúde dos trabalhadores, quer seja em saúde pública, na gestão em saúde ou na prática clinica. Os principais métodos para essa investigação são as pesquisas ou estudos epidemiológicos, os estudos descritivos e analíticos, experimental, coorte, caso-controle, transversal, ecológico, caso, grupos, survey, bibliográfico e documental.
Simultaneidade de comportamentos negativos relacionados à saúde em portadores de diabetes
Authors: Bortoletto Maira Sayuri Sakay , Loch Mathias Roberto , Andrade Selma Maffei de , Haddad Maria do Carmo Lourenço , González Alberto Durán
Published: February 2015

O presente estudo buscou identificar a prevalência isolada e simultânea de comportamentos negativos relacionados à saúde entre indivíduos com diabetes, segundo sexo e classe econômica. Trata-se de estudo transversal, no qual foram entrevistados 337 indivíduos com diabetes em duas unidades básicas de saúde de Londrina, PR. Consideraram-se comportamentos negativos relacionados à saúde o consumo abusivo de álcool, tabagismo, inatividade física no lazer e não realização de dieta. Entre os entrevistados, a inatividade física esteve presente em 69,1%, o consumo abusivo de álcool em 21,1%, a não realização da dieta em 30,6% e o tabagismo em 10,7%. Diferenças dos comportamentos entre os sexos foram observadas no comportamento inatividade (p=0,008), maior entre as mulheres, e no tabagismo (p<0,001) e no consumo abusivo de álcool (p<0,001), maior entre os homens. Diferenças entre as classes econômicas e os comportamentos não foram observadas. A simultaneidade de comportamentos relacionados à saúde teve o predomínio da ocorrência da soma de dois comportamentos negativos, e o acúmulo de comportamentos negativos foi mais prevalente entre os homens. Verificou-se uma elevada prevalência isolada ou simultânea dos quatro comportamentos negativos relacionados à saúde entre os diabéticos.
Aféra Nagygate mezi korupcí a organizovaným zločinem: korupční sítě a jejich možný vliv na kvalitu demokracie v České republice
Authors: Kupka Petr , Mochťak Michal
Published: February 2015

The paper addresses the question of what sort of influence organized crime may have on democratic performance in the Czech Republic and which dimensions of its political system (if any) are endangered most. We define organized crime narrowly in terms of corruption networks, questioning in effect the predominant understanding of these two concepts as distinct or even exclusive phenomena. The paper thus construes corruption and organized crime as concepts referring to transgressive acts (i.e. behaviour that involves a violation of moral or social boundaries that do not have to be legally codified), rather than in terms of legal norms. The influence of corruption networks is demonstrated on the case of the "Nagygate" scandal, which is analysed by utilising the framework of possible harms, as developed by Michael Maltz. We argue that the debate on organized crime in the Czech Republic is, in fact, inherently tied to the study of corruption, since corruption constitutes an integral part of organized criminal activities. Our findings show that transgressive behaviour has mostly negative impacts that include the loss of trust, widespread beliefs that injustice goes unpunished, a weakening of the political system, and the overall degeneration of the democratic regime. Moreover, the Nagygate scandal provides evidence that democratic institutions are not solely the victim of organized crime but also a possible source of transgressive activities.
Miloš Brunclík, Miroslav Novák a kol.: Internetové volby. Budoucnost, nebo slepá ulička demokracie?
Authors: Macková Alena
Published: February 2015

Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství 2014, 291 pages, ISBN 9788074191688
Hemoglicoteste: influência dos locais de punção sobre os níveis de glicose e intensidade de dor
Authors: Bornhausen Ana Paula , Reginatto Cleiton Jonei , Subtil Vinicius Mazzetti , Subtil Eduardo Mazzetti , Zanotto Lourenço Duarte , Krieger Denise , Goetz Everly Rosane , Valenti Vitor Engrácia , Abreu Luiz Carlos de , Sousa Fernando Henrique de , Grassi Roberto Odair , Frizon Rafael , Petenusso Márcio
Published: February 2015

Introdução: O monitoramento da glicose pelo portador de diabetes melito é importante na prevenção de complicações clínicas. Objetivo: Comparar a intensidade de dor nas punções em lóbulo da orelha e polpa digital e a interferência do local de punção sobre os valores do exame de glicemia capilar. Método: Estudo exploratório, descritivo e quantitativo. Participaram 70 portadores de diabetes melito. A monitorização foi realizada ao acaso, com glicosímetro G-TECH Free 1®. Para avaliação da intensidade da dor, utilizou-se uma escala numérica graduada em 0 (ausente), 1 (muito leve), 2 (leve), 3 (moderada) e 4 (intensa). Resultados: Para os portadores de diabetes melito Tipo 1, a glicemia média foi de 274,38±22,64 mg/dL para lóbulo da orelha e de 298,33±4,58 mg/dL para polpa digital. Para DM Tipo 2, os valores foram 187,19±9,85 mg/dL para lóbulo da orelha e 195,41±10,47 mg/dL para polpa digital. Houve correlação entre as glicemias encontradas nos dois locais de punção. Para os portadores de diabetes melito Tipo 1, observou-se ausência de dor (0) em lóbulo da orelha e polpa digital com 1,86±0,12. Para portadores de diabetes melito Tipo 2, obteve-se que a média de intensidade de dor para lóbulo da orelha foi de 0,06±0,03 e para polpa digital, 1,75±0,09. Conclusão: Houve diferença estatística quanto ao índice glicêmico gerado pelos diferentes locais. Menor intensidade de dor foi observada quando o teste é realizado no lóbulo da orelha, sendo uma boa opção para o local de exame.