scholarly journals Data for Surf's Sake - Illustrating a subculture through interactive data visualisation and action sports trackers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Matthew Everitt
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Data Visualisation ◽  
Specific Data ◽  
Action Sports ◽  
Interactive Data ◽  
Interactive Visualisation ◽  
The Waves

<p>Over the last two years action sports trackers have emerged for those seeking thrills in risk-taking sports (Mitchell, 2014). The data generated by these trackers is creating digitised representations of communities participating in action sports such as surfing. The surfing database comprises of activity all over the globe, and due to its size and complexity it can be categorised as big data. Understanding this complex database requires specific data visualisation methods which visually map relationships and patterns. This research asked: can an interactive data visualisation illustrate hierarchical, nomadic, and experiential aspects of the surfing subculture?  This thesis is based on ethnographic research which focuses on exploring qualitative visualisations of the quantitative databases generated by action sports trackers for surfing. The research focused on the design of data visualisations which explored contemporary methods and principles of data visualisation and their applicability to communicate aspects of the surfing subculture. This manifested in the design of an interactive web application, Gone Surfing, which focused on global, local, and personal views which communicate Stranger’s (2011) substructure model of the surfing subculture.  The hierarchical, nomadic, and experiential aspects of the surfing subculture are only known from long term immersion in the subculture itself. This design made these aspects explicit through the visualisation of the database. For example, pilgrimage’s to revered surfing locations and hierarchy within local communities, and a surfer’s relationship with the waves are forms of implicit knowledge which were made explicit. The final creative output, Gone Surfing, visualises these aspects in an interactive web application consisting of global, local, and personal views to each communicate an aspect effectively. The interactive visualisation allows non-surfers to explore the subculture while enhancing a surfer’s understanding of their position within the surfing nation.</p>

scholarly journals Data for Surf's Sake - Illustrating a subculture through interactive data visualisation and action sports trackers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Matthew Everitt
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Data Visualisation ◽  
Specific Data ◽  
Action Sports ◽  
Interactive Data ◽  
Interactive Visualisation ◽  
The Waves

<p>Over the last two years action sports trackers have emerged for those seeking thrills in risk-taking sports (Mitchell, 2014). The data generated by these trackers is creating digitised representations of communities participating in action sports such as surfing. The surfing database comprises of activity all over the globe, and due to its size and complexity it can be categorised as big data. Understanding this complex database requires specific data visualisation methods which visually map relationships and patterns. This research asked: can an interactive data visualisation illustrate hierarchical, nomadic, and experiential aspects of the surfing subculture?  This thesis is based on ethnographic research which focuses on exploring qualitative visualisations of the quantitative databases generated by action sports trackers for surfing. The research focused on the design of data visualisations which explored contemporary methods and principles of data visualisation and their applicability to communicate aspects of the surfing subculture. This manifested in the design of an interactive web application, Gone Surfing, which focused on global, local, and personal views which communicate Stranger’s (2011) substructure model of the surfing subculture.  The hierarchical, nomadic, and experiential aspects of the surfing subculture are only known from long term immersion in the subculture itself. This design made these aspects explicit through the visualisation of the database. For example, pilgrimage’s to revered surfing locations and hierarchy within local communities, and a surfer’s relationship with the waves are forms of implicit knowledge which were made explicit. The final creative output, Gone Surfing, visualises these aspects in an interactive web application consisting of global, local, and personal views to each communicate an aspect effectively. The interactive visualisation allows non-surfers to explore the subculture while enhancing a surfer’s understanding of their position within the surfing nation.</p>

scholarly journals African seaports and development in historical perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayodeji Olukoju
Keyword(s):  
Path Dependence ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Transport Systems ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
The Waves ◽  
Technological Flexibility

This article presents a long-term explanation of port evolution in Africa. It focuses on the economic, political and social characteristics that influenced the development of maritime infrastructures and their interaction with inland transport systems. This article demonstrates how seaport evolution in Africa has been heavily affected by path-dependence patterns. In addition, this study provides evidence of the insertion of the African economy into the waves of globalization through the modernization of seaports and the necessary institutional and technological flexibility.

Gaining access to the field in medical ethnography: Reflections on ethical, methodological, and structural challenges in the study of long-term care facilities

2021 ◽  
pp. 136345932098887
Author(s):  
Neta Roitenberg
Keyword(s):  
Long Term Care ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Medical Institutions ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Access To The Field ◽  
Medical Ethnography

The article extends the discussion on the challenges in gaining access to the field in medical ethnographic research, focusing on long-term care (LTC) facilities. Medical institutions have been documented to be difficult sites to access. The reference, however, is to the recruitment of patients as informants. The challenges of recruiting practitioners as informants have not been investigated at all. The article presents the key issues that emerged in the process of gaining social access at the sites of two LTC facilities as part of a study on care workers’ identities. The main obstacles encountered during the fieldwork were organizational constraints and negotiating control over the process of recruiting the lower occupational tier of care workers with gatekeepers. The article presents the coping strategies implemented to overcome the ethical and methodological obstacles: continually reassessing the consent and cooperation of participants and developing a rapport with nurse’s aides during interviews.

Obstetric Violence in Their Own Words: How Women in Mexico and South Africa Expect, Experience, and Respond to Violence

2021 ◽  
pp. 107780122110373
Author(s):  
Vania Smith-Oka ◽  
Sarah E. Rubin ◽  
Lydia Z. Dixon
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Powerful Method ◽  
Obstetric Violence ◽  
The World ◽  
Core Feature ◽  
Temporal Model ◽  
Women's Stories ◽  
Structural Inequalities

This article, based on ethnographic research in Mexico and South Africa, presents two central arguments about obstetric violence: (a) structural inequalities across diverse global sites are primarily linked to gender and lead to similar patterns of obstetric violence, and (b) ethnography is a powerful method to give voice to women's stories. Connecting these two arguments is a temporal model to understand how women across the world come to expect, experience, and respond to obstetric violence—that is, before, during, and after the encounter. This temporal approach is a core feature of ethnography, which requires long-term immersion and attention to context.

scholarly journals Nextstrain: real-time tracking of pathogen evolution

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Hadfield ◽  
Colin Megill ◽  
Sidney M. Bell ◽  
John Huddleston ◽  
Barney Potter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Data Types ◽  
Bioinformatics Pipeline ◽  
Public Health Importance ◽  
Viral Genomes ◽  
Effective Public Health ◽  
Interactive Visualisation

AbstractSummaryUnderstanding the spread and evolution of pathogens is important for effective public health measures and surveillance. Nextstrain consists of a database of viral genomes, a bioinformatics pipeline for phylodynamics analysis, and an interactive visualisation platform. Together these present a real-time view into the evolution and spread of a range of viral pathogens of high public health importance. The visualization integrates sequence data with other data types such as geographic information, serology, or host species. Nextstrain compiles our current understanding into a single accessible location, publicly available for use by health professionals, epidemiologists, virologists and the public alike.Availability and implementationAll code (predominantly JavaScript and Python) is freely available from github.com/nextstrain and the web-application is available at nextstrain.org.

scholarly journals Freshly Thawed Cryobanked Human Neural Stem Cells Engraft within Endogenous Neurogenic Niches and Restore Cognitive Function Following Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Badner ◽  
Emily K. Reinhardt ◽  
Theodore V. Nguyen ◽  
Nicole Midani ◽  
Andrew T. Marshall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Stem Cells ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Neural Stem Cells ◽  
Spatial Learning ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Mechanisms Of Action ◽  
Human Neural Stem Cells ◽  
Risk Taking Behavior

AbstractHuman neural stem cells (hNSCs) have potential as a cell therapy following traumatic brain injury (TBI). While various studies have demonstrated the efficacy of NSCs from on-going culture, there is a significant gap in our understanding of freshly thawed cells from cryobanked stocks – a more clinically-relevant source. To address these shortfalls, the therapeutic potential of our previously validated Shef-6.0 human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived hNSC line was tested following long-term cryostorage and thawing prior to transplant. Immunodeficient athymic nude rats received a moderate unilateral controlled cortical impact (CCI) injury. At 4-weeks post-injury, 6×105 freshly thawed hNSCs were transplanted into six injection sites (2 ipsi- and 4 contra-lateral) with 53.4% of cells surviving three months post-transplant. Interestingly, most hNSCs were engrafted in the meninges and the lining of lateral ventricles, associated with high CXCR4 expression and a chemotactic response to SDF1alpha (CXCL12). While some expressed markers of neuron, astrocyte, and oligodendrocyte lineages, the majority remained progenitors, identified through doublecortin expression (78.1%). Importantly, transplantation resulted in improved spatial learning and memory in Morris water maze navigation and reduced risk-taking behavior in an elevated plus maze. Investigating potential mechanisms of action, we identified an increase in ipsilateral host hippocampus cornu ammonis (CA) neuron survival, contralateral dentate gyrus (DG) volume and DG neural progenitor morphology as well as a reduction in neuroinflammation. Together, these findings validate the potential of hNSCs to restore function after TBI and demonstrate that long-term bio-banking of cells and thawing aliquots prior to use may be suitable for clinical deployment.Significance StatementThere is no cure for chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI). While human neural stem cells (hNSCs) offer a potential treatment, no one has demonstrated efficacy of thawed hNSCs from long-term cryobanked stocks. Frozen aliquots are critical for multisite clinical trials, as this omission impacted the use of MSCs for graft versus host disease. This is the first study to demonstrate the efficacy of thawed hNSCs, while also providing support for novel mechanisms of action – linking meningeal and ventricular engraftment to reduced neuroinflammation and improved hippocampal neurogenesis. Importantly, these changes also led to clinically relevant effects on spatial learning/memory and risk-taking behavior. Together, this new understanding of hNSCs lays a foundation for future work and improved opportunities for patient care.

Between the Waves: Building Power for a Public Option

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob S. Hacker
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Public Health Insurance ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Key Steps ◽  
The Waves

Abstract Given the close division of power in D.C., how might health reformers pursue their bolder aims? In particular, how might they pursue the robust public option that is a centerpiece of Joe Biden’s reform proposal? This ambitious plan, which would allow all Americans to enroll in subsidized public health insurance, is not in the cards right now. However, I argue for conceiving of it as an inspiring vision that can structure immediate initiatives designed to make its achievement more feasible. First, I explain just how far-reaching the mainstream vision of the public option now is. Second, I describe a self-reinforcing path to that endpoint that involves what I call “building power through policy”—using the openings that are likely to exist in the near term to reshape the political landscape for the long term. This path has three key steps: (1) pursuing immediate improvements in the ACA that are tangible and traceable yet do not work against the eventual creation of a public option; (2) building the necessary policy foundations for a public option, while encouraging progressive states to experiment with state public plan models; and (3) seeding and strengthening movements to press for more fundamental reform.

Entrepreneurial Grit: Insights and Applications for New Ventures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
New Ventures ◽  
New Venture ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Venture Performance ◽  
Entrepreneurial Passion ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Entrepreneurial Careers

The pursuit of entrepreneurship is often characterized by high levels of struggle and adversity, and even those who ultimately succeed in their entrepreneurial endeavors routinely experience failures and setbacks along the way. Therefore, it is likely that individuals who are more skilled at coping with, and conquering, such obstacles in their quest for success are more apt to enter, and be successful at, entrepreneurial careers. While several factors contribute to an individual’s ability to persevere through adversity and to continue to work to accomplish long-term goals, individual grit has garnered an increasing level of attention as a key element in such persistence, particularly in entrepreneurial contexts. Grit, conceptualized as an individual’s passion and perseverance in the pursuit of accomplishing long-term goals, can play several roles in the entrepreneurial process. While grit is a potential outcome of entrepreneurial passion, it also has important associations with several key entrepreneurial outcomes. For instance, given that entrepreneurship is linked with risk-taking, grit is an asset for individuals who chase entrepreneurial opportunities. Higher levels of risk incur a greater likelihood of failure, and the ability to persist with entrepreneurial initiatives in the face of failures is potentially bolstered by high levels of grit. Furthermore, persistence against adversity can often translate into improved venture performance as a result of entrepreneurs’ continued, focused efforts at developing and improving their new venture. Furthermore, grit may play an even more important role for individuals who face heightened levels of adversity during their entrepreneurial careers. Women and younger individuals often experience unique challenges that their counterparts who are men or older do not have to face. Therefore, having high levels of grit may be an advantage in women and youth. While the relationship between grit and entrepreneurship has gained considerable momentum as a topic of scholarly interest, there are important avenues available for future research to further develop understanding of the topic.

Long COVID—The New “Invisible” Illness: How School Nurses Can Support the Nursing and Educational Teams for Student Success

2021 ◽  
pp. 1942602X2110594
Author(s):  
Megan Roesler ◽  
Patricia Fato ◽  
Barbara Obst
Keyword(s):  
School Nurses ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Return To School ◽  
School Age ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Persistent Symptoms ◽  
School Based ◽  
School Based Interventions ◽  
The Waves

School-age children are not immune to COVID-19 or the pronounced and persistent symptoms associated with a long-COVID diagnosis. Students may present with a variety of symptoms affecting their physical, cognitive, and mental health. The school community should be educated on the school-based interventions and recommendations for creating an individualized safe and successful return to school plan. As we await approval for vaccinations in school-age children younger than 12 years and continue to reposition ourselves to the waves of this pandemic and new variants of the virus, understanding the medical and educational long-term effects on our students may be a long-term need.

"To Be a Little More Realistic": The Ethical Labour of Suspension among Nightclub Hostesses in Southeast China

2021 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-328
Author(s):  
Jiazhi Fengjiang
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Life Goals ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Ethical Judgement ◽  
Women Migrants ◽  
Ethical Conflict ◽  
Southeast China ◽  
Conscious Effort ◽  
Ethical Conflicts

This article explores the "ethical labour" of suspension––the conscious effort of deferring one's ethical judgement and reflections in order to avoid irreconcilable ethical conflicts between one's present activities and long-term goals. While people engage in ethical judgement and reflections in everyday social interactions, it is the laborious aspect of regulating one's ethical dispositions that I highlight in the concept of "ethical labour." Although it cannot be directly commodified, ethical labour is a form of labour as it consumes energy and is integral to the performance of other forms of labour, particularly intimate and emotional ones. This formulation of ethical labour draws on my long-term ethnographic research with a group of young women migrants working as hostesses in high-end nightclubs in southeast China. Many of them perform socially stigmatized work with the goal of contributing to their family and saving money for a dignified life in the future. Ethical labour is essential to their hostess work because it enables them to juggle multiple affective relationships and defer the fundamental ethical conflict. They express ethical labour through the phrase "to be a little more realistic," making sure that they obtain what they want at a particular moment. But ethical labour does not simply mean pushing ethical questions aside. It is sustained by conscious effort and is overshadowed by fears of ageing and failure to achieve long-term life goals. Prolonged ethical labour often fails to resolve ethical conflict and may intensify one's stress. My analysis of these women migrants' situation contributes to the sex-as-work debate regarding women's agency in work and their subjection to exploitation.

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