bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analog Downscaling of Seasonal Rainfall Forecasts in the Murray Darling Basin
Authors: Charles Andrew , Timbal Bertrand , Fernandez Elodie , Hendon Harry
Published: October 2012

Seasonal predictions based on coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation models (GCMs) provide useful predictions of large-scale circulation but lack the conditioning on topography required for locally relevant prediction. In this study a statistical downscaling model based on meteorological analogs was applied to continental-scale GCM-based seasonal forecasts and high quality historical site observations to generate a set of downscaled precipitation hindcasts at 160 sites in the South Murray Darling Basin region of Australia. Large-scale fields from the Predictive Ocean–Atmosphere Model for Australia (POAMA) 1.5b GCM-based seasonal prediction system are used for analog selection. Correlation analysis indicates modest levels of predictability in the target region for the selected predictor fields. A single best-match analog was found using model sea level pressure, meridional wind, and rainfall fields, with the procedure applied to 3-month-long reforecasts, initialized on the first day of each month from 1980 to 2006, for each model day of 10 ensemble members. Assessment of the total accumulated rainfall and number of rainy days in the 3-month reforecasts shows that the downscaling procedure corrects the local climate variability with no mean effect on predictive skill, resulting in a smaller magnitude error. The amount of total rainfall and number of rain days in the downscaled output is significantly improved over the direct GCM output as measured by the difference in median and tercile thresholds between station observations and downscaled rainfall. Confidence in the downscaled output is enhanced by strong consistency between the large-scale mean of the downscaled and direct GCM precipitation.
Cingulate biochemistry in heroin users on substitution pharmacotherapy
Authors: Verdejo-García Antonio , Lubman Dan I , Roffel Kim , Vilar-López Raquel , Bora Emre , MacKenzie Trudi , Yücel Murat
Published: October 2012

Objective:

High doses of opiate substitution pharmacotherapy are associated with greater treatment retention and lower illicit drug consumption, although the neurobiological bases of these benefits are poorly understood. Dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is associated with greater addiction severity and mood dysregulation in opiate users, such that the beneficial effects of substitution pharmacotherapy may relate to normalisation of ACC function. This study aimed to investigate the differential impact of methadone compared with buprenorphine on dorsal ACC biochemistry. A secondary aim was to explore the differential effects of methadone and buprenorphine on dorsal ACC biochemistry in relation to depressive symptoms.

Methods:

Twenty-four heroin-dependent individuals stabilised on methadone ( n=10) or buprenorphine ( n=14) and 24 healthy controls were scanned using proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and compared for metabolite concentrations of N-acetylaspartate, glutamate/glutamine, and myo-inositol.

Results:

(1) Methadone was associated with normalisation of dorsal ACC biochemistry (increased N-acetylaspartate and glutamate/glutamine levels, and decreased myo-inositol levels) in a dose-dependent manner; (2) buprenorphine-treated individuals had higher myo-inositol and glutamate/glutamine levels than methadone-treated patients in the right dorsal ACC; and (3) myo-inositol levels were positively correlated with depressive symptoms in participants stabilised on buprenorphine.

Conclusions:

These findings point to a beneficial role of high-dose methadone on dorsal ACC biochemistry, and suggest a link between elevated myo-inositol levels and depressive symptoms in the context of buprenorphine treatment.
Incidence and risk factors for suicide attempts in a general population of young people: A Danish register-based study
Authors: Christiansen Erik , Larsen Kim Juul , Agerbo Esben , Bilenberg Niels , Stenager Elsebeth
Published: October 2012

Objective:

To estimate the Danish epidemiological long-term incidence rates for suicide attempts in the general population of children and adolescents, and to analyze the impact from single and multiple risk factors on the risk of suicide attempts.

Method:

We used longitudinal register data from a total cohort of all individuals born between 1983 and 1989 and living in Denmark to calculate incidence rates. From the cohort, we identified all who have attempted suicide, and matched 50 controls to each case. A nested case–control design was used to estimate the impact from risk factors on the risk for index suicide attempts. We established a link to the biological parents and identified risk factors for two generations. Risk factors were analyzed in a conditional logistic regression model.

Results:

We identified 3718 suicide attempters and 185,900 controls (189,618 individuals, aged 10–21 years). We found increasing incidence rates during the period 1994–2005, and higher incidence rates for girls and the oldest adolescents. Mental illness was the strongest independent risk factor (IRR = 4.77, CI = (4.35–5.23), p < 0.0001), but parental mental illness (psychopharmacological drugs: IRR = 1.27, CI = (1.18–1.37), p < 0.0001) and socio-demographic factors (parents not living together: IRR = 1.38, CI = (1.28–1.48), p < 0.0001) were also significant independent risk factors. Exposure to multiple risk factors increased the risk significantly.

Conclusions:

Suicide attempt is a multi-factorial problem, and a problem on the increase in the period studied. Individuals exposed to multiple risk factors are at the highest risk for suicide attempts, and when spotted or in contact with authorities they should be given proper care and treatment to prevent suicide attempts and death.
Adaptation of a Psycho-Oncology Intervention for Black Breast Cancer Survivors
Authors: Lechner Suzanne C. , Ennis-Whitehead Nicole , Robertson Belinda Ryan , Annane Debra W. , Vargas Sara , Carver Charles S. , Antoni Michael H.
Published: October 2012

Black women are traditionally underserved in all aspects of cancer care. This disparity is particularly evident in the area of psychosocial interventions where there are few programs designed to specifically meet the needs of Black breast cancer survivors. Cognitive-behavioral stress management intervention (CBSM) has been shown to facilitate adjustment to cancer. Recently, this intervention model has been adapted for Black women who have recently completed treatment for breast cancer. We outline the components of the CBSM intervention, the steps we took to adapt the intervention to meet the needs of Black women (Project CARE) and discuss the preliminary findings regarding acceptability and retention of participants in this novel study.
Anglican Political Thought
Authors: Gorringe Timothy
Published: October 2012

There is no one Anglican Political Theology but perhaps different styles might be identified. I suggest one centred on order, whose classic representative is Hooker, and contemporary is Oliver O’Donovan; one centred on individual freedom, whose representatives are Locke and Andrew Shanks; and one centred on justice, whose representatives are Stewart Headlam and Ken Leech. A tradition which is a debate is arguably a tradition in continuity with Scripture.
Effects of a 2.5-year campus-wide intervention to reduce college drinking
Authors: Seo Dong-Chul , Owens Dee , Gassman Ruth , Kingori Caroline
Published: October 2012

Objective:

The present study reports on the results of a 2.5-year college-wide, coordinated intervention that was implemented from June 2007 to December 2009 to reduce the amount and frequency of students’ alcohol consumption.

Design:

Quasi-experimental study using a one-group (freshmen living on campus) pretest/posttest design ( N = 6,815 in 2007–2008 and N = 7,550 in 2008–2009) with a pseudo comparison group (non-freshmen living off campus).

Setting:

Indiana University-Bloomington, USA.

Method:

The social-ecological framework, a multi-tiered strategy that considers the individual, the social milieu, and the environment, was used to guide the selection and implementation of interventions in a university setting to target individuals, the student population, the college, and the surrounding community to reduce high-risk drinking. Freshmen, who were mandated to live on campus, comprised the intervention group while non-freshmen living off campus comprised the pseudo comparison group that received only the environmental-level intervention.

Results:

A larger decrease was observed in the amount and frequency of alcohol consumption in freshmen than in non-freshmen for the intervention period (mean drinks consumed per week: −15.9% versus −7.5%; percentage of students who drank at least once a week: −17.5% versus −6.7%; and binge drinking: −12.2% versus −1.0%).

Conclusion:

An ecologically guided campus-wide intervention that is multi-tiered appears to be effective in reducing drinking behaviour.
Preparation and properties of the polyimide thin films reinforced by acylchloride-functionalized multiple-walled carbon nanotubes
Authors: He Guowen , Zhong Tongsheng , Long Liping , Wen Jiebin , Li Hengfeng
Published: October 2012

A series of polyimide composites with various mass fractions of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were prepared by in situ polymerization. To increase the chemical compatibility of carbon nanotubes with the polyimide matrix, MWNTs were treated with an acid mixture and sulfoxide chloride in turn. The modified MWNTs are dispersed homogeneously in the matrix while the structure of the PI and MWNTs are stable in the preparation process. The composite films hold preferable thermal stability the same as the pure PI. The composite films exhibited good thermomechanical properties. The storage modulus increased significantly by increasing MWNT content and decreasing the enhancement of temperature. The films’ glass transition temperature increased with enhancing of MWNTs frictions. The dielectric constants of the composites decrease with increasing frequency and increase sharply with the adding of MWNTs, which is favorable for practical use in anti-static materials and embedded capacitors.
Effect of surface treatment on bond of embedded carbon fiber-reinforced polymer plates
Authors: Ohu RB , Jaafar MS , Aznieta FN , Alwathaf AH
Published: October 2012

In this study, experimental bond investigations through pullout and split tensile testing were carried out for the possible application of embedded fiber reinforced polymer laminates/plates as internal reinforcements as an alternative form of reinforcement to fiber reinforced polymer rods. The effect of different surface treatments and two concrete compressive strengths on the bond behavior are the main parameters investigated. Results showed that the bond strength of the embedded carbon fiber reinforced polymer plates increased as the concrete compressive strength increased and that the surface condition of the embedded carbon fiber reinforced polymer plate enhanced the bond behavior. An in-depth visual examination of the test specimens after failure indicated that bond failure occurred in both the concrete and at the resin layer of the embedded carbon fiber reinforced polymer plate. In addition, the tensile bond strength of the concrete-fiber reinforced polymer interface for different surface conditions is determined. The failure mode and bond strengths of embedded carbon fiber reinforced polymer plates was found to depend on the relative shear strengths of the concrete and resin layer interfaces.
Ernst Röhm versus General Hans Kundt in Bolivia, 1929–30? The Curious Incident
Authors: Hancock Eleanor
Published: October 2012

The role of German officers in the Bolivian military was domestically and internationally controversial in the interwar period. The most prominent of these officers, General Hans Kundt, played a major role in Bolivian history and politics. From 1929–30 the later Nazi leader Ernst Röhm was a military adviser in Bolivia. Historians of Bolivia have suggested that Röhm was the major force behind a coup that took place in Bolivia in June 1930. This article demonstrates that there is no credible evidence to support these claims. The claims are based on a misconception of Röhm’s politics and political activities in Germany. Röhm’s lack of political activity in Bolivia is further evidence that he was not the revolutionary figure many historians have suggested.
Re-territorializing the ‘Guilty City’: Nationalist and Right-wing Attempts to Nationalize Budapest during the Interwar Period
Authors: Vari Alexander
Published: October 2012

In addition to successive Hungarian governments’ revisionist agenda and the re-education of the population in a Christian and national spirit, the symbolic takeover of Budapest spaces was another priority of Hungarian nationalist policy during the interwar period. From 1920 nationalist and right wing groups in Hungary demonized the capital and attempted to erase its previous associations with communism, cosmopolitanism, liberalism and unbridled consumerism by re-rooting it in the national soil. In order to achieve this effect they limited the autonomy of the municipality of Budapest, erected new monuments and re-wrote the meaning of old ones as well as periodically organizing the spatial takeover of Budapest by Magyar villagers. From the later 1920s on it was the annual celebration of St Stephen in a two-week long festival which became the fulcrum of nationalist efforts to take over the public spaces of the city. However, economic concerns related to the development of urban tourism limited their effectiveness. This article argues that due to the spread of consumerism and tourism propaganda concerns within the festival, by the 1930s it was rather Budapest that was urbanizing nationalism instead of the right wingers nationalizing the city.
‘Serve to Save’: Gender, Citizenship and Civil Defence in Britain 1937–41
Authors: Noakes Lucy
Published: October 2012

In the 1930s the British government developed a system of air raid precautions as a measure against the aerial warfare which was increasingly becoming a feature of contemporary conflict. The air raid precautions system devised by the British government entailed, amongst other measures, the creation of a range of organizations such as the Auxiliary Fire Service and the Warden’s Service which depended upon the voluntary enrolment of British civilians for their success. This article traces the history of these organizations between 1937 and 1941, examining the discourse of citizenship which was drawn upon in their creation, recruitment campaigns and structure. Drawing on a range of primary sources, including government papers, parliamentary debates, press coverage and Mass Observation surveys, the article argues that the discourse of citizenship which was apparent in air raid precautions was complicated by issues of gender. The article concludes that the articulation of air raid precautions as an example of active citizenship had the potential to compromise the continuity of gendered identities in wartime and that the attempts visible within civil defence planning, representation and organization to preserve these identities should be understood as representing the threat that air raids, and defence against them, posed to the relationship between masculinity and femininity.
A Cross-National Comparison of Risk and Protective Factors for Adolescent Drug Use and Delinquency in the United States and the Netherlands
Authors: Oesterle Sabrina , Hawkins J. David , Steketee Majone , Jonkman Harrie , Brown Eric C. , Moll Marit , Haggerty Kevin P.
Published: October 2012

The present study compared the associations between risk and protective factors (RPFs) and adolescent drug use and delinquency in the Netherlands and the United States. Data were collected from students between the ages of 12 and 17 using the same school-administered survey instrument in both countries. Levels of exposure to RPFs were generally similar in both countries. The same RPFs shown to be associated with U.S. adolescents’ drug use and delinquency were related significantly to Dutch youth’s drug use and delinquency. One important exception was that Dutch students perceived their parents’ attitudes to be more favorable toward alcohol use; these attitudes were also more predictive of adolescents’ regular drinking in the Netherlands compared with the United States. The findings indicate that the RPFs measured in this study can be important targets for prevention of health-compromising behaviors among young people in the Netherlands and the United States.
Characterizing Unintentional Nonillicit and Illicit Drug-Related Deaths
Authors: Merrill Ray M. , Johnson Erin M. , Sloan Arielle , Lanier William A.
Published: October 2012

This study characterized individuals dying from illicit and nonillicit drug overdoses in Utah. Data were gathered from medical examiner records, death certificates, and next-of-kin interviews, 2008-2009. Among 374 decedents, 92 (25%) involved illicit drugs, 244 (65%) involved nonillicit drugs, and 38 (10%) involved a combination of both as the cause of death. Nonillicit compared with illicit drug-related decedents were more likely older, married, and of normal or overweight, and had a history of chronic pain. Nonillicit drug-related decedents were less likely to have had a history of alcohol and/or illicit drug use. Nevertheless, most decedents in both drug categories had a history of alcohol drinking and illicit substance use. Several psychological maladies characterized both illicit and nonillicit decedent cases, with a majority experiencing past anxiety, sadness, pain, insomnia, mood swings, irritability, hopelessness, and excessive daytime sleepiness. Impulsive tendencies and mood swings were more common in illicit drug-related deaths.
Privacy as a Human Right: A Sociological Theory
Authors: Baghai Katayoun
Published: October 2012

Drawing on Durkheim, Simmel, and Luhmann, this article grounds the polysemic character of privacy and its contingent legal determination in the functional differentiation of social communication systems. It demonstrates a previously overlooked common denominator among privacy conflicts and an emergent principle for their legal resolution. Case-law examples from the US Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights show how functional relevance turns ‘private’ events into ‘public’ ones, or ‘reasonable limitations’ of privacy into ‘unwarranted violations’, and vice versa.
On the Sociology of Human Rights: Theorising the Language-structure of Rights
Authors: O’Byrne Darren
Published: October 2012

This article defends the claim that human rights is a legitimate subject of inquiry for sociologists, and proceeds to present the case for a particular application of sociological theory to the understanding of gross human rights violations. Sociology, it claims, is equipped to study the dynamics of social institutions – socially constructed language-structures within which social action is framed – and since the mid-20th century, human rights has become such an institution. The article advocates an intellectual project for the sociology of rights, drawing on a diverse range of sources, that recognises how human rights abuses are made possible when the very concept of the ‘human’ is subtly redefined through these language-structures.
Human Rights, Movements and Law: On Not Researching Legitimacy
Authors: Nash Kate
Published: October 2012

This article explores the relationship between social movements, human rights and law at different scales. I compare ‘global constitutionalism’ and ‘subaltern cosmopolitanism’ as approaches to movements, rights and law. As sociologists, we are especially well placed to address certain assumptions on which these inter-disciplinary approaches rely. I argue that assumptions about the relationship between social movements and human rights that are fundamentally normative limit our understanding of the diversity of organisational forms through which human rights are being defined, and of the complexity of multi-scalar law through which claims to justice are being made. In particular, the importance of the state and national law for institutionalising human rights norms should not be neglected by privileging either local or international law as the legitimate focus of democratic claims for justice.
‘Putting Cruelty First’: Interpreting War Crimes as Human Rights Atrocities in US Policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Authors: Riga Liliana , Kennedy James
Published: October 2012

This article contributes to an understanding of the role of agency in a sociology of human rights by examining how a small group of individuals interpreted, defined, and instantiated ‘hard’ human rights, or those atrocities associated with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Using political theorist Judith Shklar’s perpetrator-focused framework of ‘putting the prevention of cruelty first’, we explore the role of agency in the construction of human rights through the empirical lens of US war crimes policies around the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords for Bosnia-Herzegovina. We draw on US State Department documents, and on interviews with key participants in the Accords, to argue that a richer sociology of human rights – seen as socially situated and embedded – requires a fuller appreciation of the experiences of key social actors in those social locations in which human rights are articulated, interpreted, and actualized.
Asia, Enforceable Benevolence and the Future of Human Rights
Authors: Woodiwiss Anthony
Published: October 2012

What happens to human rights discourse in Asia will be of critical importance to the future of the whole human rights project. There are at least three possible scenarios: acceptance, rejection and transformation. Majority western opinion hopes for the first but expects the second. This article argues for the third, transformation. Central to the argument is the construction of an ideal type – enforceable benevolence – of a distinctively Asian human rights regime. Although this ideal type has been constructed on the basis of a consideration of Asian thought and practice, it has yet to be fully realized anywhere. In the meantime it represents a sociologically appropriate standard against which to judge the progress or not of Asian societies towards the realization of what I argue is their own vision of human dignity.
Integrating Children’s Human Rights and Child Poverty Debates: Examples from Young Lives in Ethiopia and India
Authors: Morrow Virginia , Pells Kirrily
Published: October 2012

There are few attempts to link human rights discourses and child poverty debates, though the field is expanding. Within sociology, both the study of rights and of childhood are marginal. This article utilises a sociological approach to bridge rights and poverty debates in relation to children and explore why there are barriers to implementing children’s rights in specific instances. Drawing on Young Lives research, a longitudinal study of children growing up in poverty, the article explores how discourses of children’s rights play out in local contexts and how a narrowly legal perspective fails to engage with children’s experiences of poverty. The article concludes by proposing that a broader, sociological approach to rights as not only rules, but also as structures, relationships and processes (Galant and Parlevliet, 2005) can better engage with the causes and consequences of poverty, while also developing locally relevant responses.
The Creation of New Rights by the Food Sovereignty Movement: The Challenge of Institutionalizing Subversion
Authors: Claeys Priscilla
Published: October 2012

This article analyses the creation of new human rights by a contemporary transnational agrarian movement, Vía Campesina. It makes the case that the movement’s assertion of new rights contributes to shaping a cosmopolitan, multicultural, and anti-hegemonic conception of human rights. It discusses the advantages and constraints of the human rights framework and analyses the creation of new rights by the movement as a way to overcome the limitations of the ‘rights master frame’. It concludes with a discussion of some of the challenges involved in the institutionalization of new rights.
Constructing Rights and Wrongs in Humanitarian Action: Contributions from a Sociology of Praxis
Authors: Hilhorst Dorothea , Jansen Bram J
Published: October 2012

Human rights entered the language and practice of humanitarian aid in the mid-1990s, and since then they have worked in parallel, complemented or competed with traditional frameworks ordering humanitarianism, including humanitarian principles, refugee law, and inter-agency standards. This article positions the study of rights within a sociology of praxis. It starts from a premise that interpretation and realisation of international norms depends on actors’ social negotiation. We seek to contribute to the sociology of rights with insights from legal pluralism and to analyse human rights as a semi-autonomous field in a multiplicity of normative frameworks. Based on cumulative research into humanitarian aid in disaster response, refugee care and protracted crises, the article explores how humanitarian agencies evoke different normative frameworks to legitimate their presence and programmes. How aid is shaped through the ‘rights speak’ of aid workers and recipients alike is illuminated by cases of programmes promoting women’s rights against sexual abuse from Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Comparison of microwave absorbing properties of chloroprene rubber composites containing carbon black and nickel/cobalt powder
Authors: Al-Hartomy Omar A , Al-Ghamdi Ahmed , Dishovsky Nikolay , Shtarkova Rossitsa , Iliev Vladimir , El-Tantawy Farid
Published: October 2012

In this study, the influence of hybrid combination of fillers (carbon black in concentrations from 0 to 100 phr and conducting nickel (Ni) or cobalt particles in concentration 10 phr on the dielectric (dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss angle tangent)) and microwave (reflection coefficient, attenuation coefficient, and shielding effectiveness) properties of chloroprene rubber composites has been investigated in the wide frequency range (1–12 GHz). The results achieved showed that the hybrid combination of Ni powder and active furnace carbon black gives an opportunity of considerable increase in the dielectric permittivity and also a possibility for its adjustment varying carbon black content. The comparison in the behavior of prepared composites can be explained by the differences in some characteristics of two metals and influence of these differences on the real and imaginary parts of the complex dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability.
Conspiracy Theory Reconsidered
Authors: deHaven-Smith Lance , Witt Matthew T.
Published: October 2012

This article criticizes recent proposals for covert government operations against conspiracy-theory groups and networks. The article argues that fear of secret plots by political insiders is intrinsic to America’s civic culture, legal traditions, and political institutions. The appropriate government response to conspiracy theories is not to try to silence mass suspicions but instead to establish procedures for ensuring that suspicious events are thoroughly and credibly investigated. As it stands, investigations of assassinations, defense failures, election breakdowns, and other political events with grave implications for America and the world fail to meet basic standards for transparency, independence, and objectivity.
Automatic detection of micro-crack in solar wafers and cells: a review
Authors: Israil Mohd , Anwar Said Amirul , Abdullah Mohd Zaid
Published: October 2012

This paper presents a review of the machine detection systems for micro-crack inspection of solar wafers and cells. To-date, there are various methods and procedures that have been developed at various laboratories around the world to inspect solar wafers and solar cells for manufacturing defects. This paper on micro-crack detection offers a comprehensive and an up-to-date review of different detection strategies, describing the main features of each technique together with its strengths as well as weaknesses. This paper will benefit researchers and practitioners, especially those who want to develop automatic inspection systems for inspecting solar wafers or solar cells for micro-cracks.
A Comprehensive Review of Multimarket Competition Research
Authors: Yu Tieying , Cannella Albert A.
Published: October 2012

Our study summarizes the state of knowledge on the topic of multimarket competition. We classify the current research into four broad themes: (1) the antecedents of multimarket contact (MMC), (2) the outcomes of MMC, (3) the contingencies that moderate the mutual forbearance hypothesis, and (4) extensions beyond traditional multimarket competition research. We also highlight several areas and research questions that we believe will be particularly promising for future research.
Bidirectional relations between temperament and parenting styles in Chinese children
Authors: Lee Erica H. , Zhou Qing , Eisenberg Nancy , Wang Yun
Published: October 2012

The present study examined bidirectional relations between child temperament and parenting styles in a sample ( n = 425) of Chinese children during the elementary school period (age range = 6 to 9 years at Wave 1). Using two waves (3.8 years apart) of longitudinal data, we tested two hypotheses: (1) whether child temperament (effortful control and anger/frustration) at Wave 1 predicts parenting styles (authoritative and authoritarian parenting) at Wave 2, controlling for Wave 1 parenting; and (2) whether parenting styles at Wave 1 predict Wave 2 temperament, controlling for Wave 1 temperament. We found support for bidirectional relations between temperament and authoritarian parenting, such that higher effortful control and lower anger/frustration were associated with higher authoritarian parenting across time and in both directions. There were no significant cross-time associations between children’s temperament and authoritative parenting. These findings extend previous tests of transactional relations between child temperament and parenting in Chinese children and are consistent with cultural values toward effortful control and control of anger/frustration in Chinese society.
Amusing Ourselves to Life
Authors: Millington Brad
Published: October 2012

Against the common perception that media consumption engenders inactivity, in recent years the technology sector has developed an extensive catalogue of games for bodily and cognitive exercise. Despite their popularity, however, and despite their potential ability to affect perceptions and experiences of health and fitness, there remains a shortage of academic research on video games of this kind. Drawing from earlier studies, the central contribution of this article lies in the introduction of “bio-play” and “bio-games” as terms for conceptualizing these new fitness products. The former term refers to the conjoining of self-care—specifically, self-assessments, surveillance, and discipline—and entertainment in games such as Nintendo’s Wii Fit; the latter refers to the technological genre as a whole that is characterized by such activity. The prefix “bio” in each case reflects the contribution of new fitness technologies to the broader conjuncture in which they are located—namely, their discursive and material support of the (neoliberal) presumption that biological “self-improvement” is achievable through the marketplace. Acknowledging their possible benefits, in this analysis I also highlight concerns associated with the arrival of bio-games. These include the relations underlying the production of these technologies, their manner of proffering fitness services, and their representations of the “ideal” body and brain. I close by outlining challenges for researchers, educators, and policymakers that follow from industry’s newfound promise that, with the help of new media, we can amuse ourselves to life.
Adoption of Electronic Technologies in Local U.S. Governments
Authors: Li Meng-Hao , Feeney Mary K.
Published: October 2012

Local governments in the United States have adopted and implemented e-government as a means of delivering services to the public and encouraging citizen participation. We use data from a national random survey of 902 government managers from 500 local governments in the United States to examine factors that explain the adoption of two types of e-government technologies: e-services, which enable electronic delivery of services, and communication technologies, which enable one- and two-way communication with citizens. We find that managerial perceptions of the organization, such as personnel constraints and organizational centralization, are negatively related to the adoption of e-services while citizen demands are positively associated with the adoption of e-services. In comparison, we find that public managers perceiving higher levels of external influences and citizen demands report increased adoption of communication technologies. The results contribute to the e-government literature by indicating the importance of distinguishing between communication technologies and e-services and the factors that explain the adoption of these technologies.
Motivation, Change, and Stability
Authors: Oberfield Zachary
Published: October 2012

Although public-sector motivation is conceived of as dynamic, and responsive to organizational stimuli, few empirical works have treated it as such. As a result, we have little understanding about how bureaucrats’ motivations change over time or about the relative impacts of intra- and extraorganizational influences. This study contributes by examining an entering group of police officers during the first 2 years of their employment. Its findings show modest change across a variety of motives over the course of the study. At each time they were contacted, the strongest predictors of an entrant’s motivations were his or her entering motivations. However, formal and informal organization influences were also associated with entrants’ motives and the amount of change appeared to increase over time. The article concludes by considering the implications of these findings for public management research and practice.
Work Valence as a Predictor of Academic Achievement in the Family Context
Authors: Porfeli Erik , Ferrari Lea , Nota Laura
Published: October 2012

This study asserts a theoretical model of academic and work socialization within the family setting. The presumed associations between parents’ work valences, children’s work valences and valence perceptions, and children’s academic interest and achievement are tested. The results suggest that children’s perceptions of parents mediate the relationship between parents’ and children’s self-reported work valences and children’s work valences are, in turn, associated with academic interest and achievement. The results also demonstrate the moderating role of gender, with an indication of parental socialization to work occurring within same-sex parent–child dyads that is not reflected in cross-sex dyads. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed with a special emphasis on the relatively weak association between parents’ self-reported work valence and their children’s perception of them.
Translation and Focus Group Testing of the WHOQOL Spirituality, Religiousness, and Personal Beliefs Module in Norway
Authors: Berg Torskenæs Kristina , Kalfoss Mary H.
Published: October 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the Norwegian translation of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Spirituality, Religiousness, and Personal Beliefs module. Design: This is an exploratory study using convenience sampling. Method: Translation has followed the World Health Organization’s standardized protocol. Six focus groups were recruited from six geographical regions in southeastern Norway: three groups of health professionals ( n = 18) and three groups of patients ( n = 15). Results: All facets and items were found to be culturally relevant. The facet awe underwent three literary changes, spiritual strength two, and meaning, inner peace, and faith underwent one change each. The facets spiritual connection, wholeness, and integration and hope and optimism did not undergo any changes. The facets spiritual connection, meaning in life, experiences of awe, and wholeness and integration displayed the strongest discriminatory power. Internal consistency reliability of the overall module tested with Cronbach’s alpha was high (α = .93). Conclusion: Translating questionnaires and adapting them in comprehensible forms, while maintaining the meaning of the original items, is a challenge in holistic nursing. Even though certain difficulties in comprehension were revealed, the results of this study indicate that all facets and items on the Spirituality, Religiousness, and Personal Beliefs module were equally important.
Nursing Student Anxiety as a Context for Teaching/Learning
Authors: Hutchinson Terri L. , Janiszewski Goodin Heather
Published: October 2012

Experiential learning in nursing programs includes role-play, simulation, and live clinical experiences. Anxiety levels can heighten during experiential learning as students attempt to gain psychomotor skills and transfer knowledge into critical thinking. Nursing students may experience anxiety that can interfere with learning and critical thinking. However, the presence of student anxiety can be used to initiate a purposeful caring transaction between nursing faculty and student. The caring transaction is a way for faculty to model both caring and presence, create experiential learning of caring by students, and lead students to initiate self-care interventions to manage anxiety through the nursing program and beyond. Multiple learning outcomes can be achieved as the students integrate faculty-modeled concepts of caring and presence into simulated or real clinical situations, reduce or manage their anxiety, and improve their clinical judgment and critical thinking skills.
Job preferences and the intrinsic quality of work: the changing attitudes of British employees 1992–2006
Authors: Gallie Duncan , Felstead Alan , Green Francis
Published: October 2012

The value that employees attach to the intrinsic aspects of work is important for whether or not job quality issues should have a central place on the social agenda. This article examines whether the importance that British employees attach to intrinsic job quality changed between 1992 and 2006. It uses two nationally representative surveys of employees. It finds no evidence to support the view that there has been a shift towards instrumental job preferences. On the contrary, it shows that intrinsic job preferences rose over the period. The growth in importance of intrinsic orientations is associated with rising levels of education and parental encouragement in education, the improvement of people’s jobs with respect to skill, learning opportunities and employee involvement and higher incomes and security.
Who rides the glass escalator? Gender, race and nationality in the national nursing assistant study
Authors: Price-Glynn Kim , Rakovski Carter
Published: October 2012

Evidence for Christine Williams’s ‘glass escalator’ effect documents how professional men entering female-dominated occupations may advance more quickly toward authority positions and higher salaries. However, studies of men’s benefits from occupational segregation have neglected low-wage and diverse groups of workers. Using the representative US National Nursing Assistant Study (NNAS), the article examines organizational measures of inequality and discrimination – wages, benefits and working conditions – to understand whether a glass escalator exists among nursing assistants and how it is affected by gender, race, citizenship and facility characteristics. Though gender inequalities were present, citizenship, race, facility type and size emerged as the most important factors in determining advantages for workers, suggesting a revision of the glass escalator metaphor may be in order. NNAS results imply that identity characteristics like nationality and contextual factors like workplace matter and underscore the importance of using an intersectional approach to examine inequality.
Confucian HRM or unitarism with Chinese characteristics? A study of worker attitudes to work reform and management in three state-owned enterprises
Authors: Danford Andy , Zhao Wei
Published: October 2012

This article addresses the changing nature of factory regimes in China. It analyses worker attitudes to management control and workplace change in three state-owned automotive enterprises. In the context of the diffusion of new management methods that, for some writers, are seen to contain the potential for blending western concepts of unitarism with traditional Chinese values centred on harmony and loyalty, the article provides case study evidence of tightly controlled and highly disciplined work environments which generate a countervailing pattern of interest dissonance between workers and their managers. This raises the possibility of a broader underlying dynamic of disharmony and conflict in the Chinese economy.
De-collectivization and employment problems: the experiences of minority ethnic workers seeking help through Citizens Advice
Authors: Holgate Jane , Pollert Anna , Keles Janroj , Kumarappan Leena
Published: October 2012

This article draws on a study of the experiences of (primarily non-unionized) minority ethnic workers in seeking advice and support for employment problems in the context of the de-collectivization of employment relations in Britain. It focuses on one of the main recourses identified in the research, the Citizens Advice Bureau, its relationship with community organizations and with trade unions. Workers’ testimonies about their experiences of help with workplace grievances are supplemented with views of advice providers, community-based organizations and trade unionists. Findings illuminate the specific experiences of minority ethnic workers, as well as similarities with majority ethnic non-unionized workers and highlight the paucity of individual employment advice and a growing crisis for workers’ rights with the decline in collective union representation.
Self-employment, work-family time and the gender division of labour
Authors: Craig Lyn , Powell Abigail , Cortis Natasha
Published: October 2012

Does being self-employed, as opposed to being an employee, make a difference to how parents with young children can balance work and family demands? Does self-employment facilitate more equal gender divisions of labour? This article uses the Australian Time Use Survey to identify associations between self-employment and mothers’ and fathers’ time in paid work, domestic labour and childcare and when during the day they perform these activities. The time self-employed mothers devote to each activity differs substantially from that of employee mothers, while fathers’ time is relatively constant across employment types. Working from home is highly correlated with self-employment for mothers, implying the opportunity to be home-based is a pull factor in mothers becoming self-employed. Results suggest mothers use self-employment to combine earning and childcare whereas fathers prioritize paid work regardless of employment type. Self-employment is not associated with gender redistribution of paid and unpaid work, although it facilitates some rescheduling.
Political Congruence and Trade Union Renewal
Authors: Upchurch Martin , Croucher Richard , Flynn Matt
Published: October 2012

The concept of political congruence is introduced as predictor or explanatory factor of trade union renewal. Strategic change is more likely to succeed when political congruence exists between the values, expectations and intended outcomes of the three sub-sets of leaders, activists and members in a union. Political congruence (P/c) is defined as convergence of shared political values and vision. For P/c to occur a particular chemistry of independent factors needs to coalesce. The authors note, in particular, that there have been exceptional periods of individual union growth, measured in terms of membership, density and effectiveness. These episodes of exceptional growth need to be studied and understood, if one is to make sense of debates on union ‘renewal’.
Too old to work, or too young to retire? The pervasiveness of age norms in Western Europe
Authors: Radl Jonas
Published: October 2012

The ageism debate has pointed to the persistence of negative age stereotypes that hinder the prolongation of working lives. However, the actual holders of discriminatory norms have remained largely anonymous because there is limited understanding of the pervasiveness of age norms. This article discusses arguments derived from life course and social norms theory regarding the degree of internalization of age-related norms. The focus is on individual differences in terms of social class and gender. Using 2006 data from the European Social Survey, the article gathers empirical evidence on attitudes towards the timing of retirement in 14 Western European societies. A set of tobit models examines the determinants of retirement age norms for men and women. The results suggest that social class has a strong impact on retirement age norms. Moreover, the analysis reveals a complex pattern of gendered norms concerning the timing of retirement.
Government reforms, performance management and the labour process: the case of officers in the UK probation service
Authors: Gale Jenny
Published: October 2012

Taking a labour process perspective, this article investigates the impact of government reforms and performance management on officers in the National Probation Service (England and Wales). Based on a case study involving two Probation Service Areas and interviews with national and local trade union officers, insights are gained into changes for probation work and the workforce that perform it. The findings illustrate how reforms of probation practice, implemented locally through performance management, have led to probation work becoming increasingly ‘Taylorized’ with implications for the division of labour based on labour substitution, deskilling and degradation. As the Probation Service was entering a new political era under the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition, these findings provide insights into its trajectory under previous governments. They also invoke questions regarding the implications of reforms for the Probation Service and public services generally.
Knowledge work: gender-blind or gender-biased?
Authors: Truss Catherine , Conway Edel , d’Amato Alessia , Kelly Gráinne , Monks Kathy , Hannon Enda , Flood Patrick C
Published: October 2012

Knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs) have been the subject of growing interest from researchers. However, investigations into the comparative experiences of men and women in KIFs remain sparse, and little is known about women’s participation in the processes of innovation and knowledge exchange and combination that are core features of KIFs. The article reports on the findings of a study in the UK and Ireland involving 498 male and female knowledge workers in KIFs. Despite equal levels of qualification and experience, women are more likely to be in lower status and less secure jobs. They also predominantly occupy roles featuring less variety and autonomy than men and, despite comparable levels of knowledge exchange and combination, are less likely to be in a position to translate this into the innovative work behaviours necessary for career advancement. The findings suggest that women’s experiences of and participation in knowledge processes within KIFs differ fundamentally from men’s.