Banal nationalism and the imagining of politics

Banal nationalism and the imagining of politic

‘We’re not all dangerous and crazy’. Negotiating the voice hearing identity: A critical discursive approach

A critical discursive approach examined how the voice hearing identity is negotiated. Conflicting constructions identified voice hearing not only as distressing but also as a normal experience. The discursive strategies reveal that when individuals who hear voices construct their identity, they must either disavow their own distress to avoid stigma or accept the stigmatising accounts of their identity imposed on them if they are to have their distress recognised. The study points to the value and importance of discursive approaches in uncovering unspoken distress in individuals and society, and towards the need to address identity issues in clinical and social interventions

Final design of the SLAC P2 Marx klystron modulator

The SLAC P2 Marx has been under development for two years, and follows on the P1 Marx as an alternative to the baseline klystron modulator for the International Linear Collider. The P2 Marx utilizes a redundant architecture, air-insulation, a control system with abundant diagnostic access, and a novel nested droop correction scheme. This paper is an overview of the design of this modulator. There are several points of emphasis for the P2 Marx design. First, the modulator must be compatible with the ILC two-tunnel design. In this scheme, the modulator and klystron are located within a service tunnel with limited access and available footprint for a modulator. Access to the modulator is only practical from one side. Second, the modulator must have high availability. Robust components are not sufficient alone to achieve availability much higher than 99%. Therefore, redundant architectures are necessary. Third, the modulator must be relatively low cost. Because of the large number of stations in the ILC, the investment needed for the modulator components is significant. High-volume construction techniques which take advantage of an economy of scale must be utilized. Fourth, the modulator must be simple and efficient to maintain. If a modulator does become inoperable, the MTTR must be small. Fifth, even though the present application for the modulator is for the ILC, future accelerators can also take advantage of this development effort. The hardware, software, and concepts developed in this project should be designed such that further development time necessary for other applications is minimal

Cooling effect in emissions of 103mRh excited by bremsstrahlung

Nonlinear characteristic emissions of K alpha, K beta and gamma with a significant triplet splitting at room temperature are observed from the long-lived nuclear state of 103mRh excited by bremsstrahlung irradiation. A pronounced phase-transition-like narrowing of the emission profiles occurs immediately after the sample is cooled down to 77 K. The room temperature profiles reappear again abruptly and almost reversibly as the temperature drifts freely back to approximately the ice point after the filling of liquid nitrogen is stopped. These emission properties at 300 K and at low temperature may indicate that the 103mRh nuclei are in collective states

Prime beef cuts : culinary images for thinking 'men'

The paper contributes to scholarship theorising the sociality of the brand in terms of subject positions it makes possible through drawing upon the generative context of circulating discourses, in this case of masculinity, cuisine and celebrity. Specifically, it discusses masculinity as a socially constructed gender practice (Bristor and Fischer, 1993), examining materialisations of such practice in the form of visualisations of social relations as resources for 'thinking gender' or 'doing gender'. The transformative potential of the visualisations is illuminated by exploring the narrative content choreographed within a series of photographic images positioning the market appeal of a celebrity chef through the medium of a contemporary lifestyle cookery book. We consider how images of men 'doing masculinity'are not only channelled into reproducing existing gender hierarchy and compulsory heterosexuality in the service of commercial ends, but also into disrupting such enduring stereotyping through subtle reframing. We acknowledge that masculinity is already inscribed within conventionalised representations of culinary culture. In this case we consider how traces of masculinity are exploited and reinscribed through contemporary images that generate resources for rethinking masculine roles and identities, especially when viewed through the lens of stereotypically feminised pursuits such as shopping, food preparation, cooking, and the communal intimacy of food sharing. We identify unsettling tensions within the compositions, arguing that they relate to discursive spaces between the gendered positions written into the images and the popular imagination they feed off. Set against landscapes of culinary culture, we argue that the images invoke a brand of naively roughish "laddishness" or "blokishness", rendering it in domesticated form not only as benign and containable, but fashionable, pliable and, importantly, desirable. We conclude that although the images draw on stereotypical premeditated notions of a feral, boisterous and untamed heterosexual masculinity, they also set in motion gender-blending narratives

How do “mental health professionals” who are also or have been “mental health service users” construct their identities?

“Mental health professionals” are increasingly speaking out about their own experiences of using mental health services. However, research suggests that they face identity-related dilemmas because social conventions tend to assume two distinct identities: “professionals” as relatively socially powerful and “patients” as comparatively powerless. The aim of this study was, through discourse analysis, to explore how “mental health professionals” with “mental health service user” experience “construct” their identity. Discourse analysis views identity as fluid and continually renegotiated in social contexts. Ten participants were interviewed, and the interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Participants constructed their identity variously, including as separate “professional” and “patient” identities, switching between these in relation to different contexts, suggesting “unintegrated” identities. Participants also demonstrated personally valued “integrated” identities in relation to some professional contexts. Implications for clinical practice and future research are explored. Positive identity discourses that integrate experiences as a service user and a professional included “personhood” and insider “activist,” drawing in turn on discourses of “personal recovery,” “lived experience,” and “use of self.” These integrated identities can potentially be foregrounded to contribute to realizing the social value of service user and other lived experience in mental health workers, and highlighting positive and hopeful perspectives on mental distress

Dissecting the Mechanisms Underlying Short-Interval Intracortical Inhibition Using Exercise

Recently, 2 physiologically distinct phases of short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) have been identified, a larger phase at interstimulus interval (ISI) 3 ms and a smaller phase at ISI 1 ms. While the former is mediated by synaptic processes, the mechanisms underlying the first phase of SICI remain a matter of debate. Separately, it is known that fatiguing hand exercise reduces SICI, a measure of cortical excitability. Consequently, the present study assessed effects of fatiguing hand exercise on the 2 SICI phases, using threshold tracking transcranial magnetic stimulation techniques, to yield further information on underlying mechanisms. Studies were undertaken on 22 subjects, with SICI assessed at baseline, after each voluntary contraction (VC) period of 120 s and 5, 10, and 20 min after last VC, with responses recorded over abductor pollicis brevis. Exercise resulted in significant reduction of SICI at ISI 1 ms (SICIbaseline 9.5 ± 2.7%; SICIMAXIMUM REDUCTION 2.5 ± 2.5%, P < 0.05) and 3 ms (SICIbaseline 16.8 ± 1.7%; SICIMAXIMUM REDUCTION 11.6 ± 2.1%, P < 0.05), with the time course of reduction being different for the 2 phases. Taken together, findings from the present study suggest that synaptic processes were the predominant mechanism underlying the different phases of SICI

Developing an online learning community for mental health professionals and service users: a discursive analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is increasing interest in online collaborative learning tools in health education, to reduce costs, and to offer alternative communication opportunities. Patients and students often have extensive experience of using the Internet for health information and support, and many health organisations are increasingly trying out online tools, while many healthcare professionals are unused to, and have reservations about, online interaction.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We ran three week-long collaborative learning courses, in which 19 mental health professionals (MHPs) and 12 mental health service users (MHSUs) participated. Data were analysed using a discursive approach to consider the ways in which participants interacted, and how this contributed to the goal of online learning about using Internet technologies for mental health practice.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>MHSUs and MHPs were able to discuss issues together, listening to the views of the other stakeholders. Discussions on synchronous format encouraged participation by service users while the MHPs showed a preference for an asynchronous format with longer, reasoned postings. Although participants regularly drew on their MHP or MHSU status in discussions, and participants typically drew on either a medical expert discourse or a "lived experience" discourse, there was a blurred boundary as participants shifted between these positions.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The anonymous format was successful in that it produced a "co-constructed asymmetry" which permitted the MHPs and MHSUs to discuss issues online, listening to the views of other stakeholders. Although anonymity was essential for this course to 'work' at all, the recourse to expert or lay discourses demonstrates that it did not eliminate the hierarchies between teacher and learner, or MHP and MHSU. The mix of synchronous and asynchronous formats helped MHSUs to contribute. Moderators might best facilitate service user experience by responding within an experiential discourse rather than an academic one.</p

Neonicotinoids target distinct nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and neurons, leading to differential risks to bumblebees

This research was funded jointly by BBSRC, DEFRA, NERC, the Scottish Government and The Wellcome Trust, under the Insect Pollinators Initiative (UK) grant BB/1000313/1(CNC).There is growing concern over the risk to bee populations from neonicotinoid insecticides and the long-term consequences of reduced numbers of insect pollinators to essential ecosystem services and food security. Our knowledge of the risk of neonicotinoids to bees is based on studies of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam and these findings are extrapolated to clothianidin based on its higher potency at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. This study addresses the specificity and consequences of all three neonicotinoids to determine their relative risk to bumblebees at field-relevant levels (2.5 ppb). We find compound-specific effects at all levels (individual cells, bees and whole colonies in semi-field conditions). Imidacloprid and clothianidin display distinct, overlapping, abilities to stimulate Kenyon cells, indicating the potential to differentially influence bumblebee behavior. Bee immobility was induced only by imidacloprid, and an increased vulnerability to clothianidin toxicity only occurred following chronic exposure to clothianidin or thiamethoxam. At the whole colony level, only thiamethoxam altered the sex ratio (more males present) and only clothianidin increased queen production. Finally, both imidacloprid and thiamethoxam caused deficits in colony strength, while no detrimental effects of clothianidin were observed. Given these findings, neonicotinoid risk needs to be considered independently for each compound and target species.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

From Big Society to Shared Society? Geographies of social cohesion and encounter in the UK’s National Citizen Service

This article explores and expands debates on the geographies of social cohesion and encounter, specifically in relation to young people and informal citizenship training. Three questions drive our agenda in this paper. First, how do certain youth spaces get enrolled into wider political discourses, functioning as geographical expressions of government visions to create a political legacy? Second, how are these spaces engineered and operate on-the-ground? Finally, how do young people understand their experiences of such spaces? To address these questions, we use the example of ‘National Citizen Service’ – a youth programme operating in England and Northern Ireland – to raise critical questions about the wider politics of spaces of informal education and attempts by the state to ‘make’ citizens and future neighbours. The article examines the rationale for this growing scheme, targeted at 15–17 year olds and designed to foster a ‘more cohesive, responsible and engaged society’. Drawing on original fieldwork with key architects, stakeholders and young people, we analyse the narratives that underlie NCS and its expansion – specifically around social cohesion and citizenship education. We explore the idea of ‘social mix’ as one of NCS’ guiding principles and its place as part of state narratives about the ‘Big Society’ and ‘Shared Society’