scholarly journals Oedipus-Inspired Pintos: The Plague of Prisons in Two Chicano Takes on the Prototypical Myth of Crisis

2020 ◽  
pp. 79-95
Author(s):  
Aikaterini Delikonstantinidou ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
The Self ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
The Us ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
American Prison ◽  
As If ◽  
Poor Communities

This article discusses two revisions of the tragic myth of Oedipus in the light of recent studies on the American prison crisis. In 2010, Luis Alfaro’s “Oedipus el Rey,” a play that draws on Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus, addressed the national prison crisis which has encroached on barrio life with dreadful repercussions. One year later, Ernest Drucker employed the term “plague of prisons” to describe the phenomenon of mass incarceration in the US and shed light on its effects on poor communities of color, such as barrio communities. As if responding to Drucker’s study and Alfaro’s play, Law Chavez’s “Señora de la Pinta,” presented in 2012, gets its inspiration from the myth of Oedipus to dramatize US prison experience as a plague threatening the self and the barrio. The two plays are examined for what they reveal about the impact of the prison crisis on Chicano barrio life and Chicanidad.

The effect of Medicare Part D on prescription drug composition and demand

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Zimmer
Keyword(s):  
Prescription Drug ◽  
Medicare Part D ◽  
Medicare Part ◽  
Part D ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Upper Respiratory ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Shed Light

Purpose – The US Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 introduced optional prescription drug coverage, beginning in 2006, widely known as Medicare Part D. This paper uses up-to-date nationally representative survey data to investigate the impact of Part D not only on drug spending and consumption, but also on the composition of drug consumption. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Specifically, the paper investigates whether Part D impacted the number of therapeutic classes for which drugs were prescribed, and also whether Part D lead to increased usage of drugs for specific medical conditions that typically receive drug-intensive therapies. Findings – In addition to confirming findings from previous studies, this paper shows that Part D increased the number of therapeutic classes to which seniors receive drugs by approximately four classes. Part D also lead to increased usage of drugs used to treat upper respiratory disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Originality/value – While mostly concurring with previous studies on the spending impacts of Part D, this paper is the first to shed light on other impacts of Part D, specifically with respect to its impact on therapeutic classes for which drugs are prescribed.

scholarly journals Frail Males on the American Frontier: The Role of Environmental Harshness on Sex Ratios at Birth across a Period of Rapid Industrialization

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 319
Author(s):  
Ryan Schacht ◽  
Mike Hollingshaus ◽  
Heidi Hanson ◽  
Shane J. Macfarlan ◽  
Douglas Tharp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Social Variables ◽  
American Frontier ◽  
The Us ◽  
Rapid Industrialization ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Shed Light

While sex ratios at birth (SRB) have been shown to vary within and across populations, after over a century of research, explanations have remained elusive. A variety of ecological, demographic, economic, and social variables have been evaluated, yet their association with SRB has been equivocal. Here, in an attempt to shed light on this unresolved topic within the literature, we approach the question of what drives variation in SRB using detailed longitudinal data spanning the frontier-era to the early 20th century in a population from the US state of Utah. Using several measures of environmental harshness, we find that fewer boys are born during challenging times. However, these results hold only for the frontier-era and not into a period of rapid economic and infrastructure development. We argue that the mixed state of the literature may result from the impact and frequency of exogenous stressors being dampened due to industrialization.

scholarly journals The Evolution of Professionalism as a Mode of Regulation: Evidence from the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 095001702110352
Author(s):  
Ian Kirkpatrick ◽  
Sundeep Aulakh ◽  
Daniel Muzio
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Self ◽  
Increasing Returns ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
The Us ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mode Of Regulation

Opinion is divided on how far and in what ways professionalism as a mode of regulation has evolved. To date, attention has focused on the impact of neoliberal political and economic ideologies that challenge the idea that professions should be trusted to regulate themselves. This article further examines the impact of these attacks on professionalism and assesses whether they have triggered a process of decline. Drawing on a range of documentary sources from the US, it suggests that, while professional modes of regulation are evolving, the dominant pattern is one of continuity. The analysis also draws attention to the path-dependent nature of professionalism and how it is associated with increasing returns for key stakeholders: producers, government regulators and employers. The article’s main contribution is to highlight these trends empirically and raise questions about the accuracy and value of grand narratives that over-emphasise change and understate the self-reinforcing nature of professional modes of regulation.

scholarly journals Monitoring of seven industrial anaerobic digesters supplied with biochar

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Heitkamp ◽  
Adriel Latorre-Pérez ◽  
Sven Nefigmann ◽  
Helena Gimeno-Valero ◽  
Cristina Vilanova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Diversity ◽  
Methanogenic Archaea ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Anaerobic Digesters ◽  
Metabolic Route ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract Background: Recent research articles indicate that direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) is an alternative metabolic route for methanogenic archaea that improves microbial methane productivity. It has been shown that multiple conductive materials such as biochar can be supplemented to anaerobic digesters to increase the rate of DIET. However, the industrial applicability, as well as the impact of such supplements on taxonomic profiles, has not been sufficiently assessed to date. Results: Seven industrial anaerobic digesters were supplemented with biochar for one year. A positive effect was observed for the spectrum of organic acids as the concentration of acetic, propionic, and butyric acid decreased significantly. Quantification of the cofactor F420 using fluorescence microscopy showed a reduction in methanogenic archaea. 16S-rRNA gene amplicon sequencing showed a higher microbial diversity within biochar particles as well as an accumulation of secondary fermenters and halotolerant bacteria. Taxonomic profiles indicate microbial electroactivity, and show the frequent occurrence of Methanoculleus , which has not been described in this context before. Conclusions: Our results shed light on the interplay between biochar particles and microbial communities in anaerobic digesters. Both the microbial diversity and the absolute frequency of the microorganisms involved were significantly changed between sludge samples and biochar particles. This is particularly important against the background of microbial process monitoring. In addition, it could be shown that biochar is suitable for reducing the content of inhibitory, volatile acids on an industrial scale.

scholarly journals Fighting Covid-19 Pandemic: Analysis of the Swedish Model vs. Lockdown Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Turkistani Fatema ◽  
Sawad Aseel Bin
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Swedish Model ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Shed Light

Many countries resorted to the lockdown model that includes shutting down all non-essential activities to avoid the spread of COVID-19. Comparatively, Sweden applied the herd immunity model. The aim of this study is to analyze the Swedish model compared to the lockdown model based in other countries to understand the impact of these models on public health, health economics and overall economy of the respective countries. Based on the findings, the paper aims to shed light on which model proves to be more effective to cope with the pandemic and provide recommendations for other countries to follow accordingly. Our methodology was a narrative review that synthesizes current literature obtained from searches on various databases, authoritative texts, and hand searches. While it is too early to determine the long term effects of both models, it seems that Sweden’s herd immunity model is more effective considering aspects of overall public health, health economic factors, and the overall economy. The major cons of the Swedish model was a failure in controlling infection spread in elderly nursing homes, as half the death toll comprises individuals belonging to this community. While Sweden was able to soften the effect of COVID-19 impact on its economy without a lockdown, the manufacturing industry was impacted due to lack of availability of required parts to be supplied by other countries. Thus from our review , we found that Herd-immunity model is more effective, but it depends on other factors of the country such as population density, as it is not plausible for countries such as Spain, the US or Germany, which need to expose high numbers of people to COVID-19 to attain herd immunity.

scholarly journals Mass incarceration and the impact of prison release on HIV diagnoses in the US South

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. e0198258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bisola O. Ojikutu ◽  
Sumeeta Srinivasan ◽  
Laura M. Bogart ◽  
S. V. Subramanian ◽  
Kenneth H. Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Us South ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Negotiating Identity Across Boundaries Arab-American: An Identity in the Making

1970 ◽  
pp. 65-75
Author(s):  
Ghia Osseiran
Keyword(s):  
American Culture ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Arab American ◽  
Discursive Formation ◽  
American Experience ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Shed Light

“Once I claimed a past, spoke my history, told my name, the walls of incomprehension and hostility rose, brick by brick: unfunny ‘ethnic’ jokes, jibes about terrorists and Kalashnikovs, about veiled women and camels … Searching for images of my Arab self in American culture I found only unrecognizable stereotypes,” says Lisa Suhair Majaj (1994, p. 67), depicting her experience of what it is like to be a Palestinian living in the US. This paper strives to shed light on precisely this search for the self in the “Other,” focusing on the discursive formation of an anti-essentialist Arab-American subjectivity entrenched in the Arab-American experience, through a close analysis of the delineation of the individual and communal selves in the works of three Arab-American writers: Suheir Hammad, Mohja Kahf, and Diana Abu-Jaber.

Impact of media multitasking on executive function in adolescents: behavioral and self-reported evidence from a one-year longitudinal study

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiutong Luo ◽  
Pui-Sze Yeung ◽  
Hui Li
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Chinese Adolescents ◽  
The Self ◽  
Media Multitasking ◽  
Longitudinal Impact ◽  
Content Type ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe longitudinal impact of media multitasking on the development of executive function has been understudied, as most of the existing studies are cross-sectional. This longitudinal study addresses this research gap and uses multiple measures, i.e. behavioral and self-reported, to explore the impact of media multitasking on the executive function of Chinese adolescents.Design/methodology/approachThis study followed 99 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 14.41, SD = 1.10; 42 boys and 57 girls) for one year using both behavioral (2-back, Stroop Color and Number-letter tasks) and self-reported (questionnaire) measures. The adolescents were categorized as either heavy/high media multitaskers (HMMs; 19 boys and 29 girls) or light/low media multitaskers (LMMs; 23 boys and 28 girls). They were tested at baseline, 6 months later and 12 months later.FindingsThe results indicated that the accuracy scores for all cognitive tasks differed with age, but the switch-cost in the shifting task and the self-reported measures of executive function did not. And there were consistent differences between the HMMs and LMMs in the self-reported measures and 2-back accuracy. However, the interaction effect was found only in shifting ability, indicating a decline in the LMMs' self-reported problematic shifting behavior in daily life.Originality/valueThis study used behavioral and self-reported measures to confirm the longitudinal impact of media multitasking on executive function. The impact of media multitasking on executive function is more apparent in daily-life behavior than in cognitive task performance.

Decentering the Self, Seeing Like the Other: Toward a Postcolonial Approach to Ontological Security

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmina Yu Untalan
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ontological Security ◽  
Late Modernity ◽  
The Us ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Do So

Abstract This article advances a critical outlook on dominant interpretations of ontological security in international relations. It suggests that the preoccupation with state- and identity-centric analyses diminishes the value of the Other to an archetype of ontological insecurity and a source of ontological insecurity for the Self. It argues that seeing ontological security from the postcolonial perspective expands the self-referential understanding of ontological security to a Self-Other relation of mutual coexistence. To do so, the article proposes a framework that loosely intersects Giddens’ work on late modernity with postcolonial notions of interstitiality and hybridity. Postcolonial ontological security foregrounds the emergence of a “third hybrid Other” from an ontologically insecure status through three interrelated conditions of reflexivity, resourcefulness, and resistance. It aims to shed light on creative, nondestructive ways of confronting ontological insecurity and to encourage a view of the postcolonial Other as a learning source for the Self. These arguments are illustrated with the case of Okinawan “Otherness” vis-à-vis the US and Japanese selves, with particular attention to antimilitary base movements.

Self-Compassion and Quality of Life in Adults Who Stutter

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 2097-2108
Author(s):  
Robyn L. Croft ◽  
Courtney T. Byrd
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
The Self ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Adults Who Stutter ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify levels of self-compassion in adults who do and do not stutter and to determine whether self-compassion predicts the impact of stuttering on quality of life in adults who stutter. Method Participants included 140 adults who do and do not stutter matched for age and gender. All participants completed the Self-Compassion Scale. Adults who stutter also completed the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering. Data were analyzed for self-compassion differences between and within adults who do and do not stutter and to predict self-compassion on quality of life in adults who stutter. Results Adults who do and do not stutter exhibited no significant differences in total self-compassion, regardless of participant gender. A simple linear regression of the total self-compassion score and total Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering score showed a significant, negative linear relationship of self-compassion predicting the impact of stuttering on quality of life. Conclusions Data suggest that higher levels of self-kindness, mindfulness, and social connectedness (i.e., self-compassion) are related to reduced negative reactions to stuttering, an increased participation in daily communication situations, and an improved overall quality of life. Future research should replicate current findings and identify moderators of the self-compassion–quality of life relationship.

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