Symbolic Franco: Spain’s Dictator in the American Conservative Imagination, 1950-1980

In the postwar period in the United States, conservative political ideology shifted its primary focus from isolationism and New Deal opposition to strict anti-communism. The conservatism of the 1920s through the 1940s, under the leadership of Robert Taft, would give way to a more modern conservatism influenced by a variety of Catholic and anti-communist intellectuals. As a result of the effort to demonstrate fervent anti-communist sentiments, modern conservatives highlighted and supported anti-communist leaders and figures across the US and worldwide. One particular anti-communist leader that American conservatives openly supported was the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. The new catholic conservatives identified Franco as a counterrevolutionary, firm in his convictions and devout in his Catholic faith, who rescued Spain from the clutches of communism, atheism, and the left. Against this backdrop, the new conservatives in the US likewise fashioned themselves as morally just arbiters of the true soul and identity of the United States, who would resist any vestiges of Marxist or socialist strongholds among the US political elite. In this essay, I argue that Franco was utilized as a symbolic figure for the American conservative movement to underscore key themes of modern conservatism and instill them into American politics. They highlighted Franco as a hero of Western Civilization, a religiously significant figure, and an anti-communist bulwark. In doing so, they sought to distinguish themselves from the American left, whom they believed held significant influence in American media and academia. To show this, I will examine a variety of articles published by National Review (hereafter NR) under the influence of founding editor William F. Buckley Jr. that described Franco and the Spanish Civil War. Significantly, the effort to portray Franco in this manner in NR imported Francoist propaganda and historiography of the Spanish Civil War and revealed the extent to which American conservatives interpreted the Spanish Civil War in much the same way as Franco; as a religious crusade

The way it really happened: competing narratives in the political process of technological change

Corporate narratives concerning technological change are often constructed around a linear series of events that show the organization in a positive light to internal and external observers. These narratives often sanitize the change process, and present data from which commentators can formulate neat linear prescriptions on how to implement new technology. In contrast, this paper draws on processual-contextual theoretical perspectives to argue that technological change is a more complex political process represented by multiple ongoing narratives which compete with each other for dominance as definitive change accounts. A central aim of this paper, therefore, is to demonstrate the analytical significance of identifying and unpacking the multiple frameworks of interpretation that are utilized in organizational struggles over technology and change at work. Understanding how change narratives are managed highlights political processes, and draws attention to the ways in which power is exercised through the construction of tacit explanations. The paper thus argues for the more widespread use of the concept of competing narratives in theories that seek to explain the process of technological change from contrasting perspectives

A pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial of an oral health intervention for people with serious mental illness (three shires early intervention dental trial).

People with mental illness have poor oral health compared to those without due to medication side effects, issues with self-care, barriers to treatment and poor recognition of dental problems. Guidelines recommend giving oral health advice and monitoring oral health for people with mental illness, but this is not reflected in current practice and Cochrane reviews found no existing randomised trials of these interventions

Controlled Thiol-ene Polymer Microsphere Production Using a Low-Frequency Acoustic Excitation Coaxial Flow Method

A novel technique for the production of thiol-ene microspheres using acoustic resonance and coaxial flow is reported. The method utilizes low-frequency acoustically driven mechanical perturbations to disrupt the flow of a thiol-ene liquid jet, resulting in small thiol-ene droplets that are photochemically polymerized to yield thiol-ene microspheres. Tuning of the frequency, amplitude, and monomer solution viscosity are critical parameters impacting the diameter of the microspheres produced. Characterization by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering reveal microspheres of diameters \u3c10 mu m, with narrow particle distributions. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Periods, Organized (PeriodO): A gazetteer of period assertions for linking and visualizing periodized data

The PeriodO project seeks to create an online gazetteer of authoritative assertions about the chronological and geographic extent of historical and archaeological periods. Starting with a trial dataset related to Classical antiquity, this gazetteer will combine period thesauri used by museums and cultural heritage bodies with published assertions about the dates and locations of periods in authoritative print sources. These assertions will be modeled in a Linked Data format (JSON-LD, a serialization of RDF). They will be given Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) and served from a public GitHub repository, where they can act as a shared reference point to describe data in datasets with periodized information. We will also create a search and visualization tool to view the temporal and geographic extent of an assertion and compare it with others. Authoritative users will be able to add their own period assertions

Process outcomes from a randomized controlled trial comparing tailored mammography interventions delivered via telephone versus DVD

Objective Tailored, interactive mammography-promotion interventions can increase adherence if women are exposed to and find them usable. We compare exposure to and usability of interventions delivered via telephone vs. DVD. Methods Process evaluation measures from 926 women randomly assigned to telephone or DVD intervention and completing post-intervention surveys. Results ∼83% of each group reported exposure to all content. Partial exposure was higher for DVD (9% vs. 0.4%; p < .01); no exposure was higher for phone (15% vs. 8%; p < .01). There were no differences in exposure by age or race. Full phone exposure was less likely for women who already made mammography appointments. Usability rating was higher for DVD (p < .05), driven by ratings of understandability and length. Usability of both interventions was correlated with lower baseline barriers, and higher fear, benefits, and self efficacy. Higher ratings for phone were associated with lower knowledge and contemplating mammography. Non-whites rated DVD better than whites. Conclusion Both tailored interactive interventions had wide reach and favorable ratings, but DVD recipients had greatest exposure to at least partial content and more favorable ratings, especially among non-white women. Practice implications This first evaluation of a tailored, interactive DVD provides promise for its use in mammography promotion

El coipo (Myocastor coypus) en el noroeste de Santa Cruz (República Argentina): ¿Evidencias de recuperación por el control del visón americano (Neogale vison)?

El coipo Myocastor coypus se distribuye ampliamente en Argentina. En Patagonia austral habita la subespecie M. c. melanops asociada a sistemas de humedales y valles de grandes ríos. Si bien la caza es reconocida como una de las causas de disminución poblacional a nivel regional, también se ha mencionado al visón americano (Neogale vison) como una amenaza. A través de monitoreos (más de 7.000 horas de observaciones) y entrevistas a pobladores locales de la cuenca superior del río Deseado (12 estancias), noroeste de la provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina, discutimos las potenciales causas de recuperación poblacional. Los resultados sugieren que la recuperación que se evidencia en esta cuenca puede deberse a dos factores principales: la disminución de la presión de caza y el plan de control del visón americano que se lleva adelante desde el año 2013. Es fundamental considerar y analizar las causas de amenaza, para poder realizar acciones de manejo de impacto para las comunidades.The coypu Myocastor coypus is widely distributed in Argentina. In southern Patagonia the subspecies M. c. melanops is associated to large wetlands and river valleys. Although, hunting has been recognized as one of the causes of population decline at a regional level, the American mink Neogale vison has been also mentioned as a threat. Through monitoring (more than 7,000 hours of observations) and interviews with local inhabitants of the upper basin of the Deseado River (12 estancias), northwestern Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, we examine the potential causes of population recovery. The results suggest that the evident recovery in this basin seems to be due to two main factors: the reduction of hunting pressure, and the American mink control plan that has been carried out since 2013. It is essential to consider and analyze the threats, in order to carry out management actions of great impact for the communities.Fil: Buchanan, Patrick I.. Programa Patagonia Aves Argentinas y Proyecto Macá Tobiano; ArgentinaFil: Fasola, Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Dirección Regional Patagonia Norte de la Administración de Parques Nacionales; ArgentinaFil: Roesler, Carlos Ignacio. Fundación Bariloche; Argentina. The Zoological Society of London; Reino Unido. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Doubly Robust Inference when Combining Probability and Non-probability Samples with High-dimensional Data

Non-probability samples become increasingly popular in survey statistics but may suffer from selection biases that limit the generalizability of results to the target population. We consider integrating a non-probability sample with a probability sample which provides high-dimensional representative covariate information of the target population. We propose a two-step approach for variable selection and finite population inference. In the first step, we use penalized estimating equations with folded-concave penalties to select important variables for the sampling score of selection into the non-probability sample and the outcome model. We show that the penalized estimating equation approach enjoys the selection consistency property for general probability samples. The major technical hurdle is due to the possible dependence of the sample under the finite population framework. To overcome this challenge, we construct martingales which enable us to apply Bernstein concentration inequality for martingales. In the second step, we focus on a doubly robust estimator of the finite population mean and re-estimate the nuisance model parameters by minimizing the asymptotic squared bias of the doubly robust estimator. This estimating strategy mitigates the possible first-step selection error and renders the doubly robust estimator root-n consistent if either the sampling probability or the outcome model is correctly specified