bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluating Different Measures of Low Back Pain Among U.S. Manual Materials Handling Workers: Comparisons of Demographic, Psychosocial, and Job Physical Exposure
Authors: Tang Ruoliang , Kapellusch Jay M. , Hegmann Kurt T. , Thiese Matthew S. , Wang Inga , Merryweather Andrew S.
Published: December 2020

Objective

To examine differences in demographic, psychosocial, and job physical exposure risk factors between multiple low back pain (LBP) outcomes in a prospective cohort of industrial workers.

Background

LBP remains a leading cause of lost industrial productivity. Different case definitions involving pain (general LBP), medication use (M-LBP), seeking healthcare (H-LBP), and lost time (L-LBP) are often used to study LBP outcomes. However, the relationship between these outcomes remains unclear.

Method

Demographic, health status, psychosocial, and job physical exposure risk factors were quantified for 635 incident-eligible industrial workers. Incident cases of LBP outcomes and pain symptoms were quantified and compared across the four outcomes.

Results

Differences in age, gender, medical history, and LBP history were found between the four outcomes. Most incident-eligible workers (67%) suffered an LBP outcome during follow-up. Cases decreased from 420 for LBP (25.4 cases/100 person-years) to 303 for M-LBP (22.0 cases/100 person-years), to 151 for H-LBP (15.6 cases/100 person-years), and finally to 56 for L-LBP (8.7 cases/100 person-years). Conversely, pain intensity and duration increased from LBP to H-LBP. However, pain duration was relatively lower for L-LBP than for H-LBP.

Conclusion

Patterns of cases, pain intensity, and pain duration suggest the influence of the four outcomes. However, few differences in apparent risk factors were observed between the outcomes. Further research is needed to establish consistent case definitions.

Application

Knowledge of patterns between different LBP outcomes can improve interpretation of research and guide future research and intervention studies in industry.
Synodality and the Australian Plenary Council: Listening to and Looking at those who are Living in the Spirit
Authors: McGregor Peter John
Published: December 2020

In response to Pope Francis’s call for greater synodality in the Church, the Catholic Church in Australia has been preparing for a plenary council. Both Pope Francis and those preparing for the council have especially stressed the need to listen to the Holy Spirit through listening to each other. It is the burden of this article that while such ‘listening’ is necessary it is not sufficient. Using the plenary council as an example, and engaging with the work of the International Theological Commission and Ormond Rush on the sensus fidelium and synodality, it will be argued that although ‘listening’ is an essential prerequisite for success, for true synodality to occur we must also be ‘looking’ in order to see what the Holy Spirit is already ‘doing’ in the Church. This argument will be supported by examining the biblical meaning of koinonia (communion) and homothumadon (of one accord). These are essential for discerning what the Spirit wishes to say at this time to the Church.
Names, Naming and the Code of Cultural Denial in a Contemporary Nigerian Society: An Afrocentric Perspective
Authors: Mensah Eyo O. , Inyabri Idom T. , Nyong Benjamin O.
Published: December 2020

This article explores the rejection of indigenous African (first) names and the preference for European and westernized names by some Nigerian youth, especially those living in Calabar metropolis, Cross River State, South-eastern Nigeria. The article investigates the personal, cultural and social motivations for foreign names adoption and the subjective interpretations of both rejected and adopted first names. The study is rooted in the Afrocentric paradigm which is grounded in the historical and cultural reality of the African experience to express its core principles of cultural assertion, self-pride and Africa-centered identity. Data for the study was sourced through participant observations, semi-structured interviews and metalinguistic conversations with participants who have been involved in name-changing practices in the last 5 years. The study discovers that young people adopt foreign (first) names to challenge their stereotyped ethnic identities and to contest existing traditional norms about naming. This phenomenon tends to be propelled by additional social, personal and religious factors including, style, personal taste, creativity, religious conversion and the flow of other social capital. This often results in a dramatic drift in African traditional naming practices which tends to erase or subjugate African naming protocol and identities.
Irish Criminal Trials and European Legal Culture: A Backdrop to Brexit
Authors: Heffernan Liz
Published: December 2020

This paper explores select themes relating to legal culture in European criminal justice post-Brexit by focusing on aspects of the common law trial process in the Irish courts. The incorporation of EU law and the ECHR within the domestic legal order has necessitated the nurturing of a constructive co-existence with the country’s longer standing constitutional and common law traditions. Ireland and the United Kingdom have collaborated closely as common law Member States and the departure of the UK from the EU will affect Ireland’s position in EU criminal justice in many and varied ways. Using the examples of victim participation in criminal trials and pre-trial access of suspects to legal assistance, the paper seeks to illuminate trends of consonance and dissonance in Ireland’s relationship with European law. Drawing on the shared commitment to the protection of fundamental rights in the EU and the ECHR, the discussion reflects on some of the longer term implications of Brexit for the common law presence in European criminal legal culture.
Pandemic Considerations on Essential Oral Health Care
Authors: Benzian H. , Beltrán-Aguilar E. , Mathur M.R. , Niederman R.
Published: December 2020

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic revealed a lack of consensus on the concept of essential oral health care. We propose a definition of essential oral health care that includes urgent and basic oral health care to initiate a broader debate and stakeholder alignment. We argue that oral health care must be part of essential health care provided by any health system. Essential oral health care covers the most prevalent oral health problems through an agreed-on set of safe, quality, and cost-effective interventions at the individual and community level to promote and protect oral health, as well as prevent and treat common oral diseases, including appropriate rehabilitative services, thereby maintaining health, productivity, and quality of life. By default, essential oral health care does not include the full spectrum of possible interventions that contemporary dentistry can provide. On the basis of this definition, we conceptualize a layered model of essential oral health care that integrates urgent and basic oral health care, as well as advanced/specialist oral health care. Finally, we present 3 key reflections on the essentiality of oral health care. First, oral health care must be an integral component of a health care system’s essential services, and by implication, oral health care personnel are part of the essential health care workforce. Second, not all dental care is essential oral health care, and not all essential care is also urgent, particularly under the specific risk conditions of the pandemic. Third, there is a need for criteria, evidence, and consensus-building processes to define which dental interventions are to be included in which category of essential oral health care. All stakeholders, including the research, academic, and clinical communities, as well as professional organizations and civil society, need to tackle this aspect in a concerted effort. Such consensus will be crucial for dentistry in view of the Sustainable Development Goal’s push for universal health coverage, which must cover essential oral health care.
Building an Effective and Empowered Community Advisory Board for Veterans
Authors: Brown Kimberly M. , Walker Lorrie , Kaminstein Dana S.
Published: December 2020

Although many successful Community Advisory Boards (CABs) are discussed in the literature, some articles report that community members feel they are treated as token participants, or that their voices are not heard. This article describes the initial steps we took in designing an effective and empowered CAB, the underlying group dynamics principles we employed to formulate this CAB, and the structure and processes we instituted. We focused on how to build decision-making procedures that support and enhance the group’s function and effectiveness over the long term. Additionally, we considered how we might intervene when these features become out of balance. Though the literature on CABs often talks about power dynamics, explanations of what is meant by this label are rare. We resolved to explore these dynamics and to design a CAB that would operate successfully in full recognition of power dynamics.
Sound Beginnings: Learning, Communicating, and Making Sense with Sound
Authors: Thumlert Kurt , Harley Daniel , Nolan Jason
Published: December 2020

The ongoing work by educators responding to calls for equity, diversity, and inclusion in music education shows the breadth of difficult work that has been accomplished as well as the challenging work that lies ahead. Our work explores efforts to rethink music education—for all—from the ground up, which requires disrupting many of the norms through which music education has been conventionally understood. In this article, we bring together lessons learned to offer five recommendations for music pedagogy and sound-based inquiry that support a more inclusive understanding of music—one that situates aural/sound/music learning experiences as actively critical and collaborative practices. We suggest that by developing a contextualized, community-based, learner-oriented model, we might be better equipped to create opportunities for all learners.
Using Synchronous Formative Feedback to Facilitate Student Growth
Authors: Martin Lisa
Published: December 2020

Music educators regularly provide students with real-time formative feedback in the classroom, but there are frequent opportunities to improve its utility and effectiveness. This article presents a model for examining synchronous formative feedback (SFF), offering music teachers tools to explore and enhance the feedback they share with students. In considering dimensions such as timing, specificity, and valence, music teachers can examine their own practice to refine SFF, improve efficiency, and enrich student learning.
Food Worry in the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Engelman Alina , Paludneviciene Raylene , Wagner Kathryn , Jacobs Katja , Kushalnagar Poorna
Published: December 2020

Objective

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID) pandemic has highlighted preexisting health disparities, including food insecurity, in the deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) population. We examined factors associated with food worry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

We collected survey data on worry about food shortages, worry about contracting COVID-19, and concerns about DHH people staying home and being lonely from April 17 through May 1, 2020, via a bilingual American Sign Language/English online survey platform. The sample consisted of 537 DHH adults living in the United States. We examined the relationship between demographic characteristics and food worry. We used logistic regression and model fitting to predict the likelihood of experiencing food worry.

Results

The mean (SD) age of survey respondents was 47 (16), and 25% of the sample identified as people of color. Forty-two percent of survey respondents had a high level of food worry. Increased worry about contracting COVID-19 and concerns about DHH people staying home and being lonely among DHH younger adults or those without a college degree predicted food worry. Gender and race/ethnicity did not contribute to the model for food worry.

Conclusions

Food worry was explained by multiple, intersecting factors, including demographic variables, worry about contracting COVID-19, and concerns about loneliness. Interventions or programs implemented by DHH-serving organizations as well as government programs, social service providers, and food banks should be fully accessible to subgroups of DHH young adults without a college degree who are at risk for food insecurity.
The spiritual transformation of giving: Generosity’s constitution of the self and community in post-religious society
Authors: Tuğal Cihan
Published: December 2020

How has the ‘benevolent self’s relation to others changed as a result of (first) the liberalization of monotheisms and (then) the uneven transition to post-religious spiritual formations? The apparent (and misleading) effacement of the self in traditional monotheistic generosity has ultimately given way to a ‘liberal’ glorification of the self. In advanced liberalism (typically dubbed ‘neoliberalism’), the glorification intensifies, but paradoxically becomes self-critical. Post-religious spiritualities interact with these advanced liberal dynamics to open up new possibilities for self- and community-formation. Even though the contradictions between self-centeredness and self-criticism are most acutely experienced within American post-religious spirituality, a suggestive discussion of Egypt demonstrates that these trends are not exclusively ‘Western.’ In both contexts, the corporate takeover of spirituality confines alternative forms of generosity.
Neither laziness nor workaholism: The Protestant ethic and economic prosperity among young urban Christians in contemporary China
Authors: Yoo Wonji
Published: December 2020

Focused on the religious and economic practices of young Chinese Christian in Beijing, this article examines how Chinese Christians confront and resolve the post-socialist challenges in relation to hard-work culture, economic prosperity, and the neoliberal ethic of self-development. Young Chinese Christians in Beijing internalize the idea of a God-centered life as their life motto. This new outlook on life leads them to criticize the prevalence of workaholism, materialism, and success-seeking lifestyles, which they believe threatens Christian belief. At the same time, they develop an alternative view of work and wealth, which encourages them to glorify the Christian God through secular economic acts. As such, they reconfigure the logic of work, success, and prosperity through their own understandings of Christian faith. This article shows how Protestant Christianity provides opportunities for Christian believers to create new narratives and agential possibilities to negotiate their faiths and secular economic activities.
Yogendra Singh: Remembering the Sociologist (1932–2020)
Authors: Mukhopadhyay Amites
Published: December 2020

Yogendra Singh, the sociologist and the Professor emeritus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) passed away in May this year. Professor Singh’s demise is not only a loss to the sociology fraternity, but also to the scholarship on and more importantly, to the tradition of critical studies in India. The article remembers Yogendra Singh and reflects on his career as a teacher, an academic and institution builder. Yogendra Singh was not simply a professor of JNU, but he collaborated with his colleagues in the late sixties in making possible the school of social sciences of JNU. The paper remembers him as a fine human being careful with his words and committed to the society he made the subject of his study. His sociology taught him to be critical about his ascriptive ancestry. In spite of being born in a zamindar family in Uttar Pradesh, Singh made caste, hierarchy and privileges an object of his critical analysis. The paper looks at Professor Singh’s contribution to different domains of sociology and Indian society, particularly modernizing India, Indian tradition, caste, class and hierarchies. He is also remembered for his works on historical roots of Indian sociology and institutions of science and critical learning.
Book review: T. K. Oommen, Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs: Life and Times of a Sociologist
Authors: Mummidi Thanuja
Published: December 2020

T. K. Oommen, Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs: Life and Times of a Sociologist. Konark Publishers Pvt Ltd, 2018, 304 pp., ₹695/-(hardback). ISBN: 978-93-220-0888-8.
Realigning Dispossession and Negotiating Development: The Konda Reddis’ ‘Capacity to Aspire’
Authors: Mummidi Thanuja
Published: December 2020

Culture for long has been undermined in development planning by setting it in opposition to future thinking development. Through the concept of cultural ‘capacity to aspire’, Appadurai offers a method of intervention in bringing culture to the forefront of development. The paper uses this method in explicating the Konda Reddis’ (Andhra Pradesh state, South India), capacity to aspire through their engagement with the state’s development policy envisaged and implemented for them. In the process, the paper questions, can the Adivasi; or have the Adivasis; or do the Adivasis; engineer the capacity to aspire within and outside the rhetoric of poverty and development. The conversations and group discussions carried out with the Konda Reddis show their ‘capacity for voice’, how they build ‘consensus through dissensus’ and negotiate development by altering their ‘terms of recognition’. These three aspects which together reflects their capacity to aspire, voices a counter knowledge production to the dominant, the state, that they have been keenly observing and engaging with, and concluding as a system of promises without the will to deliver. Through conviction, and compliance, the Konda Reddis negotiate development.
Diverse and Contra-Sectional Subjectivities in Social Movement Unionism: A Study of Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (Mazdoor Karyakarta Samiti)
Authors: Dash Dillip Kumar
Published: December 2020

Social movement unionism is one of the experiments of bringing together different issues and struggles associated with workers. The idea has been critiqued by different scholars because of different confrontations associated with issues and strategies. The paper argues that such discomfort arises from a monolithic understanding of social movements and their subjects. Assumption of ideological uniformity restricts analysis of the confronting nature of subjects and subjectivities as well as factions and fragmentation of movements. Here, the attempt is to understand diversity in movements through ‘contra-sectionality’. The ethnography for research was conducted on a movement named Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (Mazdoor Karyakarta Samiti) in Chhattisgarh. Through a contra-sectional analysis, the article reflects on fragmented consciousness and its implication for the movement.
Urbanising migration policy-making: Urban policies in support of irregular migrants in Geneva and Zürich
Authors: Kaufmann David , Strebel Dominique
Published: December 2020

Cities worldwide develop a variety of urban policies that address the precarious situation of irregular migrants. By doing so, cities intervene in a policy-making realm that is commonly perceived as the prerogative of national states and they thereby challenge the national state as the only regulatory body over immigration and citizenship. We compare policy-making in support of irregular migrants in the two biggest Swiss cities of Geneva and Zürich. Whereas Genevan authorities and local societal actors established a successful regularisation programme (called Operation Papyrus), actors in Zürich aim to create an urban ID card programme (called Züri City Card). We find that the institutional setting of the two cities (as a city-state or as a city in a state), the presence or absence of multilevel governance networks as well as societal actors’ different venue shopping strategies are key for explaining these different urban policy-making processes. Cities formulate place-based urban policy responses, but these specific urban policies can be viewed within the global struggles to improve the precarious situations of irregular migrants and to fight exclusionary national politics. In essence, this article documents and explains how cities contest national state sovereignty over immigration and citizenship and it thereby calls for an urbanisation of migration theory and practice.
Examining the Moderating Effect of Perceived Benefits of Maintaining Social Distance on E-learning Quality During COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Saxena Charu , Baber Hasnan , Kumar Pardeep
Published: December 2020

Technology has influenced every aspect of our living, and education is not an exception. During the current pandemic period of COVID-19, the latent motive of maintaining social distancing is leading to be one of the prime reasons for the students to get enrolled in online courses. Although the benefits of e-learning have been discussed in various previous studies, it is important to understand the quality of e-learning and the satisfaction level of learners during this forceful shift toward e-learning amid the pandemic of COVID-19. This research proposes a conceptual model for understanding the variables influencing e-learning quality (ELQ) and learner satisfaction under the moderating effect of maintaining social distancing. The model is empirically validated by means of the partial least square approach through structural equation modeling based on 435 responses of university students in India. The results suggest that assurance, reliability, responsiveness, and website content are the factors that influence the ELQ of the online courses during the pandemic. ELQ also strongly influences the learner’s satisfaction. Interestingly, perceived benefits of maintaining social distancing have a significant negative moderating effect only between empathy and ELQ, which leads to the satisfaction of the learners.
Book review: Venita Kaul and Suman Bhattacharjea (Eds.), Early Childhood Education and School Readiness in India: Quality and Diversity
Authors: Bhatty Kiran
Published: December 2020

Venita Kaul and Suman Bhattacharjea (Eds.), Early Childhood Education and School Readiness in India: Quality and Diversity. Singapore: Springer Nature, 2019, 262 pp., EUR 93.08, ISBN: 9789811370069 (E-Book).
Review Article: Seema Mustafa (Ed.) Shaheen Bagh and the Idea of India and Zia Us Salam and Uzma Ausaf Shaheen Bagh: From a Protest to a Movement
Authors: Manchanda Rita
Published: December 2020

Seema Mustafa (Ed.) Shaheen Bagh and the Idea of India. New Delhi: Speaking Tiger, 2020, 294 pp., ₹450. ISBN 978-93-89958 (Paperback)

Zia Us Salam and Uzma Ausaf Shaheen Bagh: From a Protest to a Movement. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020, 254 pp., ₹599. ISBN978-93-90077-92-2 (Paperback)
Integrating the history of science into broader discussions of research integrity and fraud
Authors: Roberts Lissa L. , Sibum H. Otto , Mody Cyrus C. M.
Published: December 2020

This introductory article frames our special issue in terms of how historicizing research integrity and fraud can benefit current discussions of scientific conduct and the need to improve public trust in science.
Teaching Law and Society in the Sociology Classroom: Writing Assignments for Engaging the Sociolegal Imagination
Authors: Kadowaki Joy
Published: December 2020

A common learning goal of law-related courses taught in sociology classrooms is for students to gain an understanding of the sociological approach to law. This approach emphasizes viewing law as a social process and studying law by analyzing both legal and nonlegal phenomena. A challenge to students’ achievement of this learning goal is their preconceived notions of law as an inherently impartial and closed system. This note details a series of writing assignments that guide students to analyze law from varying perspectives and to reflect on how differing perspectives impact differing approaches to sociolegal problems. A review of assessment data and student feedback suggests that these assignments increase students’ understanding of the sociological approach to law, strengthen their ability to critically evaluate analytical approaches, and solidify their ability to bridge connections between law and other sociological concepts and theories.
The Relationship Between Self-Esteem, Gender, Criminal Attitudes, and Recidivism in a Youth Justice Sample
Authors: Thapa Shreena , Brown Shelley L. , Skilling Tracey A.
Published: December 2020

The Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model deems criminal attitudes a high-priority criminogenic target for both genders while self-esteem is considered noncriminogenic, hence low priority. In contrast, self-esteem is afforded greater priority among gender-responsive researchers, while the construct of criminal attitudes is afforded lesser priority. We examined whether self-esteem and gender moderated the relationship between criminal attitudes and recidivism among 300 justice-involved youth (200 males, 100 females). Contrary to the hypothesis, high self-esteem (≥72.15th percentile) magnified the relationship between criminal attitudes (Pride in Delinquency Scale) and recidivism in females only; self-esteem levels evidenced no impact on the relationship between criminal attitudes and recidivism among males. Results suggest that prioritizing self-esteem as a treatment target among justice-involved female youth without simultaneously considering whether or not pride in criminal conduct is also present may inadvertently increase reoffending. Implications for exploring whether high self-esteem may in reality represent falsely inflated self-esteem are discussed.
Consensus stability in multi-agent systems with periodically switched communication topology using Floquet theory
Authors: Maadani Mohammad , Butcher Eric A
Published: December 2020

The stability of consensus in linear and nonlinear multi-agent systems with periodically switched communication topology is studied using Floquet theory. The proposed strategy is illustrated for the cases of consensus in linear single-integrator, higher-order integrator, and leader-follower consensus. In addition, the application of Floquet theory in analyzing special cases such as switched systems with joint connectivity, unstable subsystems, and nonlinear systems, including the use of feedback linearization and local linearization in the Kuramoto model, is also studied. By utilizing Floquet theory for multi-agent systems with periodically switched communication topologies, one can simultaneously evaluate the effects of each subsystem’s convergence rate and dwell time on overall behavior. Numerical simulation results are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach in stability analysis of all these cases.
Uniform robust exact differentiator-based output feedback adaptive robust control for DC motor drive systems
Authors: Xu Zhangbao , Liu Qingyun , Hu Xiaolei
Published: December 2020

This paper studies a high-accuracy motion control method named output feedback adaptive robust control for a dc motor with uncertain nonlinearities and parametric uncertainties, which always exist in physical servo systems and deteriorate their tracking performance. As only position signal is measurable, a uniform robust exact differentiator (URED) for the unmeasurable states and adaptive control for the parametric uncertainties are integrated in the model compensation term; and the robust control is applied to handle uncertain nonlinearities and stabilize the system. Then, the stability of the closed-loop system is proved theoretically. Finally, simulation and experimental results are studied for a dc motor system to prove the control performance of the proposed control method.
A novel order reduction method for linear dynamic systems and its application for designing of PID and lead/lag compensators
Authors: Prajapati Arvind Kumar , Prasad Rajendra
Published: December 2020

This paper proposes a new model order reduction technology for the simplification of the complexity of large scale models. The proposed technique is focused on the Mihailov stability approach that guarantees the stability of the reduced model constrained that the complex system is stable. In this scheme, the denominator coefficients of the approximated simplified system are computed by using the Mihailov stability algorithm and the truncation method is used for the determination of coefficients of the numerator polynomial. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach are illustrated by comparing the step responses of the given system and approximated lower order models. The error indices such as integral square error (ISE), relative integral square error (RISE), integral absolute error (IAE) and integral time weighted absolute error (ITAE) are used as performance indices for comparing the proposed scheme with other existing standard reduced order modeling methods. The obtained reduced model is used for the designing of controllers for the original complex system. A new scheme for the determination of controllers is also proposed for the large scale models with help of reduced order modeling. The proposed technique is validated by applying it to an eighth order flexible-missile control system and a third order fuel control system. The simulation results show the dominance of the proposed methodologies over the latest model diminution techniques available in the literature.
Anosmia: A Clinical Indicator of COVID-19 Reinfection
Authors: Jain Avani , Kaur Jasleen , Rai A. K. , Pandey A. K.
Published: December 2020

COVID-19, an ongoing world pandemic, is caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). Many organizations have recognized that COVID-19 patients may have sudden loss of smell or taste and have included these symptoms in their diagnostic guidelines. However, the occurrence of anosmia and dysgeusia in COVID-19 reinfection is yet to be ascertained.
Trustworthiness and Ideological Similarity (But Not Ideology) Promote Empathy
Authors: Stevens Samantha M. , Jago Carl P. , Jasko Katarzyna , Heyman Gail D.
Published: December 2020

The current highly polarized U.S. political culture impedes people’s ability to live and work together effectively. Here we examine one factor that may play a role: selective empathy based on shared political ideology. Across seven studies ( N = 3,476), participants read about a hypothetical politician and his political ideology, trustworthiness, or both. Participants reported their empathy for the politician after learning he was fined (Studies 1–6) or injured (Study 7). When trustworthiness alone was manipulated, liberals and conservatives expressed similar levels of empathy, with greater empathy for the more trustworthy politician. However, when the politician’s ideology alone was manipulated, participants reported greater empathy for the politician who shared their ideology. When trustworthiness and ideology were manipulated, selective empathy was observed when the politician was trustworthy. Participant ideology alone had little effect on empathy. The results suggest that empathy is sensitive to both trustworthiness and ideological match, but not ideology itself.
City and County Governments in the Time of COVID-19 and the Recession: The Long and Winding Road
Authors: Benton J. Edwin , Rissler Grant E. , Wagner Spencer
Published: December 2020

The unprecedented double blow of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing steep recession challenges local governments in profound ways, from managing public health responses, ensuring the safety of workers, and balancing budgets in the midst of extreme uncertainty. How are local governments in the U.S. navigating these turbulent times? What impacts on revenues and services are they seeing? How does all of this impact their relationships with federal and state levels of government? Through in-depth interviews with thirty top local leaders (mayors or city/county managers), this article provides an insightful snapshot that begins to answer these questions.
A strong defence of democracy: Introduction to a symposium on Cristina Lafont’s Book ‘Democracy without Shortcuts’
Authors: Kreide Regina
Published: December 2020

The democratic world, the one in which the claim that all those affected by decisions should also be equally involved in the process of legislation on which these decisions are based prevailed, is vanishing. This historical legacy, as we are dramatically reminded in the light of the current economic, financial and pandemic developments could be lost for ever. Cristina Lafont’s book “ Democratic Shortcuts” seems to have been written in this spirit. It is concerned with nothing less than defending an idea of democracy that can be described as normatively desirable and empirically feasible. The introduction briefly introduces the current debate and the book and highlights some points of criticism.
Relationship Between Parental Intolerance of Uncertainty and Decisional Conflict in Pediatric Otolaryngologic Surgery
Authors: Cleveland Chelsea , Patel Vijay A. , Steinman Shari A. , Razdan Reena , Carr Michele M.
Published: December 2020

Objective

To assess the relationship between depression, anxiety, stress, worry, intolerance of uncertainty (IU), and shared decision making (SDM) in parents of pediatric otolaryngology surgical patients with their perceptions of decisional conflict (DC).

Study Design

Cross‐sectional.

Setting

Academic pediatric otolaryngology outpatient clinic.

Methods

Participants were legal guardians of pediatric patients who met criteria for otolaryngologic surgery. Participants completed a demographic survey as well as validated Decisional Conflict Scale (DCS); Shared Decision‐Making Scale (SDMS); Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale–21 (DASS‐21); Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ); and short form of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS‐12).

Results

A total of 114 participants were enrolled. Respondents were predominantly female (93.0%) and married (60.5%). Most guardians had not consented previously for otolaryngologic surgery for their child (69.3%). Participants reported low levels of DC and depression as well as moderate levels of anxiety and stress. DC scores were not significantly correlated to DASS‐21, PSWQ, or SDM. IUS‐12 Total and subscale IUS‐12 prospective negatively correlated with Total DC. DC was not related to age, sex, education level, previous otolaryngologic surgery, or type of surgery recommended.

Conclusion

In this group, an association was found between IU and DC. Clinicians should be aware that DC is not modified by previous surgical experience. Interventions aimed at addressing parental IU related to surgery may reduce DC. Further research efforts could help us understand how mental health relates to surgical decision making.
Preoperative Radiographic Predictors of Hearing Preservation After Retrosigmoid Resection of Vestibular Schwannomas
Authors: Ren Yin , Tawfik Kareem O. , Mastrodimos Bill J. , Cueva Roberto A.
Published: December 2020

Objective

To identify preoperative radiographic predictors of hearing preservation (HP) after retrosigmoid resection of vestibular schwannomas (VSs).

Study Design

Retrospective case series with chart review.

Setting

Tertiary skull base referral center.

Methods

Adult patients with VSs <3 cm and word recognition scores (WRSs) ≥50% who underwent retrosigmoid resection and attempted HP between February 2008 and December 2018 were identified. Pure tone average (PTA), WRS, and magnetic resonance imaging radiographic data, including tumor diameter and dimensional extension relative to the internal auditory canal (IAC), were examined.

Results

A total of 151 patients were included. The average tumor size was 13.8 mm (range, 3‐28). Hearing was preserved in 41.7% (n = 63). HP rates were higher for intracanalicular tumors than tumors with cerebellopontine angle (CPA) components (57.6% vs 29.4%, P =. 03). On multivariate analysis, maximal tumor diameter (odds ratio [OR], 0.892; P <. 001) and preoperative PTA (OR, 0.974; P =. 026) predicted HP, while mediolateral tumor diameter predicted postoperative PTA (OR, 1.21; P =. 005) and WRS (OR, –1.89; P <. 001). For tumors extending into the CPA, younger age (OR, 0.913; P =. 012), better preoperative PTA (OR, 0.935; P =. 049), smaller posterior tumor extension (OR, 0.862; P =. 001), and smaller caudal extension relative to the IAC (OR, 0.844; P =. 001) all predicted HP.

Conclusion

Rates of HP are highest in patients with small intracanalicular VSs and good preoperative hearing. For tumors extending into the CPA, greater posterior and caudal tumor extension relative to the IAC may portend worse hearing outcomes.
Protocol of a Community-Based Intervention on Mental Health in Kashmir
Authors: Bashir Aadil , McDonald Margaret , Egan James , Hawk Mary E.
Published: December 2020

Introduction:

Mental health issues are on an exponential rise in Kashmir due to varied reasons including political instability, eco fragility, the growing lag in the provision of education and employment, and several other reasons. Impediments such as the overwhelming stigma and the cultural sensitivity associated with mental health issues both sustain and perpetuate mental ill health and also prevent any treatment and rehabilitation. This article describes the protocol of a research project, funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research, which aims to address this issue.

Aim:

To screen the population for mental health issues and to provide community-based intervention for the identified cases also to train community health workers for sustainable mental health support.

Methods:

We will conduct a household survey using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25) for the identification of the clients. A multi-stage random sampling shall be used to select the villages and the households from the marginalized communities. A sample of 500 respondents shall be screened using HSCL-25. Those who screen positive for mental health issues will be offered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) by a qualified clinical psychologist. The research will be able to address the diagnosis of depression and anxiety-related cases and the subsequent intervention. Additionally, we will utilize the facilitator’s manual for Mental Health Training Program for Community Health Workers to build sustainable mental health services in community settings.

Discussion:

The study shall present a roadmap focusing on the indispensability of a comprehensive community-based intervention on mental health utilizing a non-pharmacological method. Assessing and analyzing the dynamics of mental health illness first hand, the study shall move ahead to offer a culturally tailored counseling program at the community level. The study also aims to highlight the role of the indigenous human resource (community health workers) and how its participation leads to a more scientific and sustainable intervention for more effective results, with an increased level of awareness and sensitization in a conventional society like Kashmir.
Managing Depression in Diabetes Mellitus: A Multicentric Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Effectiveness of Fluoxetine and Mindfulness in Primary Care: Protocol for DIAbetes Mellitus ANd Depression (DIAMAND) Study
Authors: Chandra Mina , Raveendranathan Dhanya , Johnson Pradeep R.  , Patra Suravi , Rushi  , Prasad Konasale , Brar Jaspreet S
Published: December 2020

Background:

Suboptimal management of depression in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) often translates into poor glycemic control, medical complications, and impaired quality of life. Feasibility and effectiveness of collaborative care models of depression in diabetes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remain unexplored. DIAbetes Mellitus ANd Depression (DIAMAND) study, a multicentric single-blind randomized controlled trial (SBRCT) comparing effectiveness of fluoxetine and mindfulness in primary care settings, addresses this gap in scientific literature.

Methods:

This trial conducted in diverse geographic settings of New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Bhubaneswar will comprise module-based training of primary care providers (PCPs) for screening, diagnosing, and managing depression in diabetes in phase I. Phase II will involve four-arm parallel group RCT on 350 participants with T2DM with comorbid depressive episode randomly allocated to receive fluoxetine, mindfulness therapy, fluoxetine plus mindfulness therapy, or treatment as usual at primary care settings. Interventions would include fluoxetine (up to 60 mg/day) and/or sessions of mindfulness for 16 weeks. Primary outcomes on standardized rating scales include depression scores (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale), treatment adherence (Adherence to Refill and Medication Scale), self-care (Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire), diabetes-related distress (Diabetes Distress Scale), and glycemic control. Secondary outcomes include quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief version [WHO-QOL BREF]) and mindfulness (Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire).

Discussion:

This RCT will investigate the effectiveness of module-based training of PCPs and feasibility of collaborative care model for managing depression in T2DM in primary care settings in LMICs and effectiveness of fluoxetine and/or mindfulness in improving diverse outcomes of T2DM with major depression.
Community-Based Rehabilitation for Persons with Severe Mental Illness in a Rural Community of Karnataka: Methodology of a Randomized Controlled Study
Authors: Sivakumar Thanapal , Thirthalli Jagadisha , Kumar C. Naveen , Basavarajappa Chethan
Published: December 2020

Background:

Task shifting has been recommended as a strategy to reach out to persons with mental illness and bridge the treatment gap. There is a need to explore task-shifting using existing health staff like Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs).

Aim and Context:

ASHAs are involved in ongoing community-based rehabilitation (CBR) program run with a public–private partnership over the last 5 years at Jagaluru Taluk (an administrative block) in Davanagere district (Karnataka, India). This article aims to summarize a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to examine whether CBR delivered by ASHAs is more effective than treatment as usual (TAU) control group in reducing disability associated with severe mental illness (SMI).

Method:

A group of proactive ASHAs is already working with us for a follow-up of persons with SMI. For the study, we would allocate areas that are currently not being covered proactively by ASHAs randomly in a 1:1 ratio via computer-generated randomization list to receive either ASHAs delivered CBR arm or TAU control group. A sample size of about 100 in each arm is enough to identify an effect size of 0.5 in total IDEAS score between the intervention and control arms with a power of 90% and an alpha of 0.05. We use the SPIRIT (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials) statement to describe the methods of the trial.

Result:

The study has been approved by the institute ethics committee and registered with CTRI (CTRI/2019/08/020585 dated 6th August 2019). The recruitment of subjects is ongoing. The patients will be followed up for 1 year and assessed. The trial is funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research, Government of India.

Discussion:

The results of the study will be helpful from a public health perspective in delivering cost-effective and replicable CBR for persons with SMI through ASHAs. If the model turns successful, this could be expanded throughout the state/country. This would go a long way in bridging the huge treatment gap.
Development of a Supported Education Program for Students with Severe Mental Disorders in India
Authors: Annapally Sadananda Reddy , Jagannathan Aarti , Kishore Thomas , Daliboyina Muralidhar , Kumar Channaveerachari Naveen
Published: December 2020

Background:

The onset of severe mental disorders (SMDs) is during adolescence or young adulthood, which affects the well-being and the educational aspirations of the students. Models of supported education practiced in the West are not culturally suitable for Indian students or the Indian education system. This study aimed to develop a Supported Education Program (SEP) for students with SMDs to help them with academic reintegration in an Indian context.

Methods and Material:

To develop the SEP, a realist review was done, followed by an in-depth interview with eight mental health professionals (MHP) and nine lecturers, using a validated interview script. After each interview, interim analysis and modifications were done to improve the rigor of the interview. After all interviews, the SEP was circulated for a second round of iteration for consensual validation by four mental health experts. The outcome of the entire process was the final version of SEP for students with SMDs.

Results:

The final SEP had two broad themes and 18 subthemes from the qualitative thematic analysis: theme 1 included issues and strategies relevant to the client or caregivers, and theme 2 was pertinent to the education system.

Conclusion:

The SEP developed and validated for people with SMDs has distinctive components: one for the individual and caregiver and the other for the educational system.
Individuation, Sexuation, Technicity
Authors: Seely Stephen D.
Published: December 2020

Within the context of questions raised by gender and sexuality studies about the relationship between sex and technics, I develop a theory of sexuation derived from Gilbert Simondon’s philosophy of individuation. First, I provide an overview of Simondon’s philosophy of individuation, from the physical to the collective. In the second section, I turn to the question of sexuality, outlining an ontogenetic account in which sexuation is conceived as a process of both individuation and relation that is fundamental to certain living beings. Then, drawing on Simondon’s theorization of technics in its mediating function between humans and the world, I resituate understandings of the relation between sex and technics. While each section – Individuation, Sexuation, Technicity – argues for the significance of these concepts to feminist and queer theory, overall the essay uses Simondon’s work as a new paradigm for gender and sexuality studies and calls for the invention of a sexuate culture.
In defense of ‘copying and restructuring’
Authors: Schwartz Bonnie D , Sprouse Rex A
Published: December 2020

In her keynote article advocating the Linguistic Proximity Model for third language (L3) acquisition, Westergaard (2021) presents several arguments against ‘copying and restructuring’ in nonnative language acquisition, mechanisms central to Schwartz and Sprouse’s (1996) Full Transfer/Full Access model of second language (L2) acquisition. In this commentary, we seek to counter her arguments and also show that the results of a large body of studies on nonnative language acquisition are explained only by ‘copying and restructuring’.
Adequate anticoagulation and ECMO therapy in COVID-19 patients with severe pulmonary embolism
Authors: Gaisendrees Christopher , Walter Sebastian G , Elderia Ahmed , Vollmer Mattias , Kaya Süreyya , Djordjevic Ilija , Eghbalzadeh Kaveh , Sabashnikov Anton , Kahlert Heike Anelie , Deppe Antje-Christin , Böll Boris , Madershahian Navid , Wahlers Thorsten
Published: December 2020

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infections have been recently shown to be associated with a high rate of thromboembolic events due to pro-coagulative mechanisms that have not yet been fully understood. This paper reports on a 55-year-old female COVID-19 patient with severe ARDS and pulmonary embolism (PE) complicated by cardiogenic shock after 12 days of hospitalization under initial prophylactic anticoagulation with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH). An ultima-ratio va (veno-arterial) ECMO implantation and subsequent rapid upgrade to vvaECMO due to insufficient oxygenation was performed. The patient developed severe coagulopathy with intrapulmonary bleeding. The present report aims to highlight and discuss the pros and cons of various anticoagulation strategies in COVID-19 patients focusing on current scientific debates to address this frequently observed complication in the current situation worldwide.