Ability as ‘performance’: analyzing the able-ness of ‘life’ through a critical study of The Shawshank Redemption and The Dark Knight

This article deals closely with the relation between the ability and state of being alive. It asks an elemental question: what does the word ‘life’ remind us of? While ‘life’ may generically be defined as the ability to do all that signifies the act of living, a more political way of defining ‘life’ would be to consider it as the medium of being alive as human or, an individual person’s existence. The generic definition of ‘life’ given above may suffer from reductionism if ‘ability’ is interpreted as a thing-in-itself, natural to mankind as an inherent, embedded process. This article, therefore, aims to analyze life by stepping out of this biological method of understanding and concentrates on the socio-economic and cultural nexus in which the ability to do is produced. It has chosen cinema as a medium of analysis because cinema does not dwell in a (cinematic) utopian space of its own, but it represents reality as much as it affects reality through the audio-visual experience of the audience.

There and back again, an organic carbon journey: mapping pathways and loops

Understanding and determining where organic carbon (OC) ends up in the ocean and how long it remains there is one of the most pressing tasks of our time, as the fate of OC in the ocean links to the climate system. To provide an additional tool to accomplish this and other related tasks, we map and conceptualize OC pathways in a qualitative model. The model is complementary to existing concepts of OC processes and pathways which are based mainly on quantifications and observations of current states and dominant processes. Our model, on the contrary, presents general pathway patterns and embedded processes without focusing on dominant processes or pathways or omitting rare ones. By mapping, comparing, and condensing pathways and involved spatial scales, we define three remineralization and two recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon loops that close within the marine systems. Pathways that exit the marine system comprise inorganic atmospheric, OC atmospheric, and long-term sediment loops. With the defined loops and the embedded process options, the model is flexible and can be adapted to different systems, changing understanding or changing mechanisms. As such, it can help tracking pathway changes and assessing the impact of human interventions on pathways, marine ecosystems, and the oceanic organic carbon cycle.

Protocol for a feasibility study incorporating a randomised pilot trial with an embedded process evaluation and feasibility economic analysis of ThinkCancer!: a primary care intervention to expedite cancer diagnosis in Wales

Background Compared to the rest of Europe, the UK has relatively poor cancer outcomes, with late diagnosis and a slow referral process being major contributors. General practitioners (GPs) are often faced with patients presenting with a multitude of non-specific symptoms that could be cancer. Safety netting can be used to manage diagnostic uncertainty by ensuring patients with vague symptoms are appropriately monitored, which is now even more crucial due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its major impact on cancer referrals. The ThinkCancer! workshop is an educational behaviour change intervention aimed at the whole general practice team, designed to improve primary care approaches to ensure timely diagnosis of cancer. The workshop will consist of teaching and awareness sessions, the appointment of a Safety Netting Champion and the development of a bespoke Safety Netting Plan and has been adapted so it can be delivered remotely. This study aims to assess the feasibility of the ThinkCancer! intervention for a future definitive randomised controlled trial. Methods The ThinkCancer! study is a randomised, multisite feasibility trial, with an embedded process evaluation and feasibility economic analysis. Twenty-three to 30 general practices will be recruited across Wales, randomised in a ratio of 2:1 of intervention versus control who will follow usual care. The workshop will be delivered by a GP educator and will be adapted iteratively throughout the trial period. Baseline practice characteristics will be collected via questionnaire. We will also collect primary care intervals (PCI), 2-week wait (2WW) referral rates, conversion rates and detection rates at baseline and 6 months post-randomisation. Participant feedback, researcher reflections and economic costings will be collected following each workshop. A process evaluation will assess implementation using an adapted Normalisation Measure Development (NoMAD) questionnaire and qualitative interviews. An economic feasibility analysis will inform a future economic evaluation. Discussion This study will allow us to test and further develop a novel evidenced-based complex intervention aimed at general practice teams to expedite the diagnosis of cancer in primary care. The results from this study will inform the future design of a full-scale definitive phase III trial. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04823559.

Entrepreneurial Intentions: Moving the Field Forwards

The purpose of this article is to articulate reasoning as to why there is a pressing need for a contextually based temporal approach towards the study of entrepreneurial intentions. Having done so, a potential means by which this can be achieved is put forth through assuming a socially situated perspective that links intentions, the entrepreneurial process of new venture creation, and a model of action abstractness. A conceptual model is proposed taking into consideration the entrepreneurial intention domain ‘as is’, ‘as should be’ and ‘as could be’. Value of current practice is assessed and challenged in a bid to stimulate new thinking in the area. The dynamic model provided contributes to contemporary scholarship through aligning entrepreneurial intentions with the accepted conception of entrepreneurship as a temporally embedded process. It moves beyond the artificial closure of an inherently open phenomenon.

Protocol for a Feasibility study incorporating a Randomised Pilot Trial with an Embedded Process Evaluation and Feasibility Economic Analysis of ThinkCancer!: A primary care intervention to expedite cancer diagnosis in Wales

ABSTRACTBackgroundRelative to the rest of Europe, the UK has relatively poor cancer outcomes, with late diagnosis and a slow referral process being major contributors. General practitioners (GPs) are often faced with patients presenting with a multitude of non-specific symptoms that could be cancer. Safety netting can be used to manage diagnostic uncertainty by ensuring patients with vague symptoms are appropriately monitored, which is now even more crucial due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and its major impact on cancer referrals. The ThinkCancer! Workshop is an educational behaviour change intervention aimed at the whole general practice team, designed to improve primary care approaches to ensure timely diagnosis of cancer. The workshop will consist of teaching and awareness sessions, the appointment of a Safety Netting Champion and the development of a bespoke Safety Netting Plan, and has been adapted so it can be delivered remotely. This study aims to assess the feasibility of the ThinkCancer! Intervention for a future definitive randomised controlled trial.MethodsThe ThinkCancer! study is a randomised, multisite feasibility trial, with an embedded process evaluation and feasibility economic analysis. Twenty-three to 30 general practices will be recruited across Wales, randomised in a ratio of 2:1 of intervention versus control who will follow usual care. The workshop will be delivered by a GP educator and will be adapted iteratively throughout the trial period. Baseline practice characteristics will be collected via questionnaire. We will also collect Primary Care Intervals (PCI), Two Week Wait (2WW) referral rates, conversion rates and detection rates at baseline and six months post-randomisation. Participant feedback, researcher reflections and economic costings will be collected following each workshop. A process evaluation will assess implementation using an adapted Normalisation Measure Development (NoMAD) questionnaire and qualitative interviews. An economic feasibility analysis will inform a future economic evaluation.DiscussionThis study will allow us to test and further develop a novel evidenced-based complex intervention aimed at general practice teams to expedite the diagnosis of cancer in primary care. The results from this study will inform the future design of a full-scale definitive phase III trial.Trial registratiointended registry: clinicaltrials.gov

Bridging the Gap between Electoral and Participatory Democracy: The Electoral Motivations behind Participatory Budgeting in Chicago

This paper explores the electoral dynamics of participatory budgeting projects in Chicago, IL, a topic neglected in the participatory democracy literature. Combining qualitative fieldwork with electoral data, I argue participatory budgeting is more likely to be adopted by elected officials who identify as progressive, face strong electoral competition, and are non-incumbents. These officials mobilize support for participatory budgeting to enhance their democratic legitimacy and build their constituency networks. In contrast to research focused on participatory budgeting as a non-partisan deliberative initiative, I attribute the uneven emergence of participatory budgeting projects in Chicago to the strategic electoral interests of aldermen, suggesting explanations of participatory budgeting focused on the drivers of the process should assign a greater role to electoral interests. More broadly, this research suggests approaching policy transfer as a contextually embedded process that precludes normative assumptions about particular policies absent a consideration of the institutional and social environment.

Post-socialist transition and serial displacement in the Czech movie Horem Pádem (Up and Down) (2004)

This article analyses the way Horem Pádem (Up and Down, 2004) registers the neo-liberalizing effects of the post-socialist transition on urban space and urban sociality in its representation of Prague. The transition involved an ideological and ethical reorientation that challenged definitions of value and worth. Moreover, through the remaking of the urban environment, neo-liberalization is a contextually embedded process that restructures the conditions of the everyday. Post-transition, Prague was claimed by the logic of post-industrial capital accumulation, with investment in retail and tourist facilities transforming the urban core into a new consumption landscape. I argue that the film’s exploration of the relationship between urban space and identity maps the dislocations produced by the insertion of the periphery of Europe into the neo-liberal space of flows, and the serial displacements that are its effects. Rebordering, de-territorialization and displacement are the key metaphors through which the film captures the emotional horizons of the characters caught up in the multi-scalar reconfiguration of economy, society and space. The narrative presents itself as an allegory of Czech nationhood, whose insertion into a rescaled, capitalist Europe the ‘little people’ populating Hrejbek’s film meet with an admixture of opportunism, disaffection, tribalism and defensive localism.

Defending Multimedia Content Embedded in Online Social Networks (OSNs) Using Digital Watermarking

In global internet usage, increasing multimedia message, which includes video, audio, images, and text documents, on the web raised a lot of consequences related to copyright. For copyright protection, authentication purpose and forgery detection digital watermarking is the robust way in social network content protection. In this technique, the privacy information is embedded inside the multimedia content like image and video. The protected content embedded inside multimedia content is called watermark-enabled information. To make more effective the process of watermarking, the content encrypted before embedding to the image. Basically, the digital watermarking embedded process implemented in two different domains called spatial and frequency domain. In spatial domain digital watermarking, the watermark information is embedded in the least significant bit of the original image on the basis of bit plane selected and on the basis of the pixels of image, embedding, and detection is performed.

Transformation of the Dissertation

To increase success and graduation rates, research shows that doctoral programs must adapt to changes in how instruction is managed and delivered, and must include options that recognize and facilitate discipline mastery without compromising their integrity or the quality of their degrees. This chapter explains a new path to doctoral degree completion, one that minimizes arbitrary time-frames and emphasizes discipline mastery through rigorous coursework and graduate-level research. The authors recommend a new model for successful completion of the dissertation within the Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) through evidence-based practice. This model implements structured mentoring and the transformation of dissertation research from an end-of-program destination to a program-embedded process. This chapter will provide a discussion of four evidence-based strategies for improved success for doctoral students following this type of pathway to dissertation completion.