Race and Policing: An Agenda for Action

This paper is organized into two parts -- Strategic Voice and Tactical Agency. Strategic Voice argues that problems of race in policing cannot be resolved by the police alone. Other people must help by understanding and ameliorating the social conditions that cause race to be associated with crime and hence become a dilemma for American policing. Rather than accepting these conditions as givens, police leaders with their powerful collective voice should actively call attention to what needs to be changed. Tactical Agency outlines what the police can do on their own initiative to deal with the operational dilemmas of race -- in the communities they serve and in their own organizations

Whose difference? Whose 'multiculturalism'?

Does the language of ‘multiculturalism’ reinforce or transcend difference? And whose purpose do such discourses serve? Whilst a number of writers have sought to refine the the discussion by suggesting alternative terms such as ‘inter-cultural’ or ‘trans-cultural’, few have problematised the notion of ‘culture’ in this particular context (notwithstanding the extensive literature on ‘culture’ as a concept more broadly). Specifically, in relation to music, there is a relatively new and growing ethno-musicological literature documenting collaborative projects of various kinds, mostly based – and led and funded by musicians and organisations - in the cosmopolitan urban centres of the ‘global north’. Such collaborations are not new, of course, but have received added impetus by factors such as the emergence of the ‘world music’ industry from the 1980s, the rise of digital communications technologies, and increased human mobilities of various kinds. Like the broader lay and marketing discourses, much of this scholarly work is celebratory in tone; relatively little of it engages critically with issues such as the power relations involved in such cultural ‘exchanges’. In particular, the language of multiculturalism - including talk about exploring the spaces ‘between’ cultures - is predicated on a view of culture as relatively stable and bounded, rather than as a fluid and ongoing process. Viewed from the latter perspective, all cultures are arguably ‘multi’. This paper will explore these questions with reference to several ‘cross-cultural’ projects, including Ukranian singer Mariana Sadovska’s collaborations with the Kronos Quartet and German percussionist Christian Thomé; and Iranian musician Kayhan Kalhor’s work with the Kronos Quartet and the Silk Road Ensemble. We explore the discourses by which these musicians and others position their work in relation to perceived cultural boundaries and ask whether those participating in such ‘multicultural’ projects are not in fact often from the same cultural formation (Turino 2003) sharing more culturally than the discourses of ‘multiculturalism’ allow for, and reinforcing an essentialised privileging of difference over shared commonalities (Agawu 2003)

Effect of expectoration on inflammation in induced sputum in α-1-antitrypsin deficiency

SummaryIt is unclear how chronic expectoration influences airway inflammation in patients with chronic lung disease. The aim of this study was to investigate factors influencing inflammation in induced sputum samples, including, in particular, chronic sputum production. Myeloperoxidase, interleukin-8, leukotriene B4 (LTB4), neutrophil elastase, secretory leukoprotease inhibitor (SLPI) and protein leakage were compared in induced sputum samples from 48 patients (36 with chronic expectoration) with COPD (with and without alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency; AATD), 9 individuals with AATD but without lung disease and 14 healthy controls. There were no differences in inflammation in induced sputum samples from healthy control subjects and from AATD deficient patients with normal lung function but without chronic expectoration (P>0.05). Inflammation in induced sputum from AATD patients with airflow obstruction and chronic sputum expectoration was significantly greater than for similar patients who did not expectorate: Interleukin-8 (P<0.01), elastase activity (P=0.01), and protein leakage (P<0.01). The presence of spontaneous sputum expectoration in AATD patients with airflow obstruction was associated with increased neutrophilic airway inflammation in induced sputum samples. The presence of chronic expectoration in some patients will clearly complicate interpretation of studies employing sputum induction where this feature has not been identified

A Delphi Study on Research Priorities for Trauma Nursing

Objectives: To identify and prioritize research questions of importance to trauma patient care and of interest to trauma nurses. Methods: A three-round Delphi technique was used to solicit, identify, and prioritize problems for trauma nursing research. In round 1, experienced trauma nurses (N = 208) generated 513 problems, which were analyzed, categorized, and collapsed into 111 items for subsequent rounds. Round 2 participants rated each research question on a 1 to 7 scale on two criteria: impact on patient welfare and value for practicing nurses. Group median scores provided by 166 round 2 respondents and respondents\u27 individual round 2 scores were indicated on the round 3 questionnaire. Subjects rated the questions again on the same criteria and indicated whether nurses, independently or in collaboration with other health professionals, should assume responsibility for that research. Median and mean scores and rank order were determined for each item. Results: Respondents who completed all three rounds (n = 137) had a mean of 8.3 years of trauma experience. Nine research questions ranked within the top 20 on both criteria. The two research questions that ranked highest on both criteria were: What are the most effective nursing interventions in the prevention of pulmonary and circulatory complications in trauma patients? and What are the most effective methods for preventing aspiration in trauma patients during the postoperative phase? The third-ranked question regarding patient welfare was: What psychological and lifestyle changes result from traumatic injury? Regarding value for practicing nurses, What are the most effective educational methods to prepare and maintain proficiency in trauma care providers? ranked third. Conclusion: These research priorities provide impetus and direction for nursing and collaborative investigation in trauma care

Effects of boundary conditions on irreversible dynamics

We present a simple one-dimensional Ising-type spin system on which we define a completely asymmetric Markovian single spin-flip dynamics. We study the system at a very low, yet non-zero, temperature and we show that for empty boundary conditions the Gibbs measure is stationary for such dynamics, while introducing in a single site a $+$ condition the stationary measure changes drastically, with macroscopical effects. We achieve this result defining an absolutely convergent series expansion of the stationary measure around the zero temperature system. Interesting combinatorial identities are involved in the proofs

Imaging fictive locomotor patterns in larval Drosophila.

We have established a preparation in larval Drosophila to monitor fictive locomotion simultaneously across abdominal and thoracic segments of the isolated CNS with genetically encoded Ca(2+) indicators. The Ca(2+) signals closely followed spiking activity measured electrophysiologically in nerve roots. Three motor patterns are analyzed. Two comprise waves of Ca(2+) signals that progress along the longitudinal body axis in a posterior-to-anterior or anterior-to-posterior direction. These waves had statistically indistinguishable intersegmental phase delays compared with segmental contractions during forward and backward crawling behavior, despite being ∼10 times slower. During these waves, motor neurons of the dorsal longitudinal and transverse muscles were active in the same order as the muscle groups are recruited during crawling behavior. A third fictive motor pattern exhibits a left-right asymmetry across segments and bears similarities with turning behavior in intact larvae, occurring equally frequently and involving asymmetry in the same segments. Ablation of the segments in which forward and backward waves of Ca(2+) signals were normally initiated did not eliminate production of Ca(2+) waves. When the brain and subesophageal ganglion (SOG) were removed, the remaining ganglia retained the ability to produce both forward and backward waves of motor activity, although the speed and frequency of waves changed. Bilateral asymmetry of activity was reduced when the brain was removed and abolished when the SOG was removed. This work paves the way to studying the neural and genetic underpinnings of segmentally coordinated motor pattern generation in Drosophila with imaging techniques.S.R.P. was supported by a Newton International Fellowship (Royal Society) and a Junior Fellowship (Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute). T.G.B. was supported by a Medical Research Council (UK) PhD grant. J.B. was supported by a Henry Dale Fellowship (Royal Society and Wellcome Trust). M.B. was supported by the Isaac Newton Trust.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the American Physiological Society via http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.00731.201

The longitudinal development of emotion regulation capacities in children at risk for externalizing disorders

The development of emotional regulation capacities in children at high versus low risk for externalizing disorder was examined in a longitudinal study investigating: a) whether disturbances in emotion regulation precede and predict the emergence of externalizing symptoms; and b) whether sensitive maternal behavior is a significant influence on the development of child emotion regulation. Families experiencing high (n=58) and low (n=63) levels of psychosocial adversity were recruited to the study during pregnancy. Direct observational assessments of child emotion regulation capacities and maternal sensitivity were completed in early infancy, at 12 and 18-months, and at 5-years. Key findings were as follows. First, high risk children showed poorer emotion regulation capacities than their low risk counterparts at every stage of assessment. Second, from 12-months onwards, emotion regulation capacities showed a degree of stability, and were associated with behavioral problems, both concurrently and prospectively. Third, maternal sensitivity was related to child emotion regulation capacities throughout development, with poorer emotion regulation in the high risk group being associated with lower maternal sensitivity. The results are consistent with a causal role for problems in the regulation of negative emotions in the etiology of externalizing psychopathology, and highlight insensitive parenting as a potentially key developmental influence

Conformational changes of calmodulin upon Ca2+ binding studied with a microfluidic mixer

A microfluidic mixer is applied to study the kinetics of calmodulin conformational changes upon Ca2+ binding. The device facilitates rapid, uniform mixing by decoupling hydrodynamic focusing from diffusive mixing and accesses time scales of tens of microseconds. The mixer is used in conjunction with multiphoton microscopy to examine the fast Ca2+-induced transitions of acrylodan-labeled calmodulin. We find that the kinetic rates of the conformational changes in two homologous globular domains differ by more than an order of magnitude. The characteristic time constants are ≈490 μs for the transitions in the C-terminal domain and ≈20 ms for those in the N-terminal domain of the protein. We discuss possible mechanisms for the two distinct events and the biological role of the stable intermediate, half-saturated calmodulin

Influence of Stream Location in a Drainage Network on the Index of Biotic Integrity

The index of biotic integrity (IBI) has become a widely used tool for assessing the condition of stream fish communities and the overall biological status of streams. Because the location of a stream in a drainage network can influence the species richness offish communities and because species richness is an important component of the IBI, we examined the influence of stream spatial location on the IBI. We found that IBI scores for headwater streams in three Illinois drainage basins were significantly lower than those calculated for tributary streams of similar size connecting directly to larger streams. This difference in IBI was related to the increased species richness and to a greater number of sucker and darter species in tributaries that drain into larger, main‐channel streams. Because of the influence of tributary location on the IBI, expected values for headwater tributary streams should be developed independently from those developed for main‐channel tributary streams. Failure to do so can result in a substantial underestimation of the IBI of headwater tributary streams or an overestimation of main‐channel tributaries.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142315/1/tafs0635.pd