Computational Complexity and Sour-Grapes-Like Patterns

In this paper, we claim that attested sour-grapes-like patterns of featural and tonal spreading differ meaningfully from what we call the 'true' sour grapes spreading pathology. We propose that the 'false' sour grapes processes attested in some tonal systems are computationally less complex than the unattested true sour grapes pathology, due to the presence of what we refer to as 'zones of predictability' local to potential triggers of spreading. In particular, the false sour grapes spreading patterns can be shown to fall into the class of weakly deterministic mappings, while the true sour grapes spreading pattern does not

Corporeality and positionality in J.M. Coetzee’s In the heart of the country AND Making America great again: Trump’s rhetoric of nation-building and American exceptionalism

“I am among other things a farmgirl living in the midst of the hurlyburly or such paltry hurlyburly as we have in the desert, not unaware that there is a hole between my legs that has never been filled, leading to another hole never filled either” (Coetzee 41). J.M. Coetzee writes In the Heart of the Country as the diary of his main character, Magda. She is a single, white, South African woman who lives at home with her father. My paper, “Corporeality and Positionality in J.M. Coetzee’s In the Heart of the Country” explores Coetzee’s descriptions of bodies, space, and place in the text. By grounding these descriptions in the historical role of white women in pastoral, apartheid-era South Africa, I demonstrate that Coetzee’s descriptions of physical bodies and the actions they perform reflect their place in the colonial order and the spaces they are allowed to occupy. Through this reading, Magda’s refusal to acknowledge the black servant characters as individuals despite her own criticism of the place and space she and other single, white women are allowed to inhabit becomes legible. This illuminates Coetzee’s larger claims about the failure of the colonial project. AND.The United States 2016 presidential election left citizens of the U.S. and the world bewildered, regardless of political affiliation. The Republican candidate, Donald J. Trump, was marketed as a viable option because of his lack of political experience. He continually referred to himself as a candidate from “outside of the establishment.” Tangentially, U.S. liberals frequently referred to Trump’s rhetoric about people of color, immigrants, women, and the disabled as unprecedented. Many Democrats in the United States discussed Trump as someone who was unqualified because of that same lack of political experience and wrote him off as an unintelligent person who did not use his words with intention (this argument is frequently used by those who read his Twitter). In my essay, “Making America Great Again: Trump’s Rhetoric of Nation-Building and American Exceptionalism,” I examine Trump’s campaign rhetoric and argue that it does have historical precedent. I first turn to the work of Jeremy Engels to examine the ways Thomas Jefferson used rhetoric to write rebellious slaves in the U.S. as enemies to the unified nation. He repeatedly used tactics of fear to make white U.S. citizens view black people as the dangerous Other. Similarly, Donald Trump’s campaign named many enemies who threatened the essence of great and safe Americanness. He eventually named his political/public opposition as the dangerous enemy, too. I explore this creation of enemies through Donald Trump’s naming of women, Hispanic people (particularly Mexicans), black Americans, and Muslims. Throughout the course of his campaign and beyond it, Trump mobilized his largely white supporters by instilling fear, denying animacy to his enemies, and insisting on the validity of United States exceptionalism. I rely on Mel Y. Chen’s theory of animacy and Jasbir K. Puar’s work on U.S. exceptionalism and homonationalism to make the historical precedent for Trump’s strategy legible

Editors' note

This note provides details about the programme of the 2016 Annual Meeting on Phonology, including submission statistics and the review process

A qualitative feasibility study to inform a randomised controlled trial of fluid bolus therapy in septic shock

© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. Objective The Fluids in Shock (FiSh) Trial proposes to evaluate whether restrictive fluid bolus therapy (10 mL/ kg) is more beneficial than current recommended practice (20 mL/kg) in the resuscitation of children with septic shock in the UK. This qualitative feasibility study aimed to explore acceptability of the FiSh Trial, including research without prior consent (RWPC), potential barriers to recruitment and participant information for a pilot trial. Design Qualitative interview study involving parents of children who had presented to a UK emergency department or been admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit with severe infection in the previous 3 years. Participants Twenty-one parents (seven bereaved) were interviewed 16 (median) months since their child’s hospital admission (range: 1–41). results All parents said they would have provided consent for the use of their child’s data in the FiSh Trial. The majority were unfamiliar with RWPC, yet supported its use. Parents were initially concerned about the change from currently recommended treatment, yet were reassured by explanations of the current evidence base, fluid bolus therapy and monitoring procedures. Parents made recommendations about the timing of the research discussion and content of participant information. Bereaved parents stated that recruiters should not discuss research immediately after a child’s death, but supported a personalised postal’opt-out’ approach to consent. conclusions Findings show that parents whose child has experienced severe infection supported the proposed FiSh Trial, including the use of RWPC. Parents’ views informed the development of the pilot trial protocol and site staff training. trial registration number ISRCTN15244462—results

Associations between the COVID-19 pandemic and women’s fertility intentions: a multi-country, cross-sectional (I-SHARE) study

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic, together with the subsequent social distancing measures, could lead to shifts in family and fertility planning. This study aimed to explore the associations between the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in fertility intentions among an international sample of reproductive-aged women. Methods A multi-country, cross-sectional study based on data from 10 672 women aged 18–49 years who participated in the International Sexual Health And REproductive Health (I-SHARE) study, which organised an international online survey between July 2020 and February 2021. Factors associated with changes in fertility intentions were explored using multinomial probit regression models. Cluster-robust standard errors were used to calculate model parameters. Results Of 10 672 included reproductive-aged women, 14.4% reported changing their fertility intentions due to the pandemic, with 10.2% postponement and 4.2% acceleration. Women who had ever been isolated/quarantined were more likely to postpone their fertility intentions (adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=1.41; 95% CI 1.18 to 1.69) compared with those who had not; women who lived with a steady partner were more likely to want children sooner (AOR=1.57; 95% CI 1.10 to 2.23) compared with those who did not; and those who reported a higher frequency of getting angry, feeling frustrated, or worrying about their finances were more likely to postpone their fertility intentions. The main findings were robust in the sensitivity analyses. Conclusions Most women who changed fertility intentions because of the pandemic have postponed intentions to expand their families. The pandemic-induced exposures were associated with these postponements

Acid (H₂S0₄) production, persistence, and functional importance of the annual, brown seaweed Desmarestia viridis in Newfoundland, Canada

Current models of shallow rocky community organization and stability in the northwestern Atlantic (NWA) emphasize kelps and their vulnerability to grazers and other mortality agents. This paradigm may overshadow the possible contribution of other groups of less studied seaweeds with overlapping distribution to ecosystem resilience. The annual, brown seaweed Desmarestia viridis is one of only a few species of fleshy seaweeds commonly found in urchin barrens in the NW A. The exceptional ability of D. viridis sporophytes to produce and store sulfuric acid (H₂S0₄) in intracellular vacuoles makes the species a compelling model for studies of controls and importance of acid production in seaweeds at the individual, population, and community levels. This research used laboratory experiments and surveys of individuals and populations throughout an entire growth season (February to October 2011) at two subtidal sites on the southeastern tip of Newfoundland (Canada) to determine controls of acid production in, as well as the functional importance and persistence of, D. viridis sporophytes. Results showed that light, grazing, and epibionts have no perceptible effects on intracellular acidity, whereas temperature and wave action exert strong, synergistic effects. Mortality rates and sea temperature from March to late June were relatively low, whereas the onset of increasing mortality in mid-August coincided with marked increases in sea temperature. The quick development of "Desmarestia beds" in urchin barrens created biological structure for major recruitment pulses in characteristic invertebrate and fish assemblages. These findings provide novel insights into the ecological and evolutionary causes and consequences of acid production in Desmarestiales, while elevating the importance of D. viridis as a foundation species in urchin barrens in the NWA

Using social media to determine the affective and cognitive components of tweets about sunburn

Background: The relationship between social media usage and the public's expressions of sunburn remains unexplored. This study is a content analysis of Twitter that was performed to identify the public's expressions, perceptions, and attitudes towards sunburn. Methods: Qualitative content analysis was conducted on tweets by Australian Twitter users during January 2007 and January 2016. Out of 2,000 tweets available, in-depth content analysis of 200 random tweets was performed. Results: Tweets in this study were categorised into 10 distinct themes, three of which were cognitive (fact based) and seven affective (emotional), while one was miscellaneous. Results reveal that tweets about sunburn overwhelmingly contained affective as opposed to cognitive components. In addition, the sentiments contained in the affective tweets were frequently positively (68.9%) rather than negatively valanced (31.1%). While humour was the most common theme (n = 68 tweets), many tweets also expressed a link between Australian national identity and sunburn (n = 25 tweets). Conclusion: Many of the tweets analysed contained positive affective sentiments such as joy, rather than worry or concern, suggesting an avenue for further health promotion research

Unintended sunburn after sunscreen application: an exploratory study of sun protection

Issue addressed This study explores the experiences of adults aged 18 years and older who received an unintended sunburn while wearing sunscreen and examines why the application of sunscreen as a sun protection measure did not work as intended. Methods Qualitative content analysis was conducted on 11 interviews with people living in Australia who had received an unintended sunburn. Data were collected from July 2017 to January 2018. Twelve participants took part in individual semi-structured interviews either face-to-face or over the telephone, and 11 participants met the eligibility criteria and were included for analysis. Results The themes that emerged included experience of disbelief after sunburn; sunburn after water-based activity; inaccurate sunscreen application; sunscreen acceptability and trust; discomfort in application, opportunistic sun exposure; aesthetically motivated behaviour; normative beliefs; and lack of awareness of recent sun safety campaigns. Conclusion Participants perceived themselves as well protected from sun exposure and were surprised they received a sunburn. We found that participants did not reapply sunscreen often enough, especially before and during water activities and overestimated the amount of time they could be safely exposed to the sun. So what? The findings of this study suggest a greater need for sun protection education on how to effectively use and apply sunscreen to avoid sunburn and skin cancer. This study explores the experiences of adults aged 18 years and older who received an unintended sunburn while wearing sunscreen and examines why the application of sunscreen as a sun protection measure did not work as intended. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on 11 interviews with people living in Australia who had received an unintended sunburn

The Effects of Acute Dopamine Precursor Depletion on the Reinforcing Value of Exercise in Anorexia Nervosa

This study investigated whether dopaminergic systems are involved in the motivation to engage in behaviours associated with anorexia nervosa (AN), specifically, the drive to exercise. Women recovered from AN (AN REC, n = 17) and healthy controls (HC, n = 15) were recruited. The acute phenylalanine/tyrosine depletion (APTD) method was used to transiently decrease dopamine synthesis and transmission. The effect of dopamine precursor depletion on drive to exercise was measured using a progressive ratio (PR) exercise breakpoint task. Both groups worked for the opportunity to exercise, and, at baseline, PR breakpoint scores were higher in AN REC than HC. Compared to values on the experimental control session, APTD did not decrease PR breakpoint scores in AN REC, but significantly decreased scores in HC. These data show that women recovered from AN are more motivated to exercise than HC, although in both groups, activity is more reinforcing than inactivity. Importantly, decreasing dopamine does not reduce the motivation to exercise in people recovered from AN, but in contrast, does so in HC. It is proposed that in AN, drive to exercise develops into a behaviour that is largely independent of dopamine mediated reward processes and becomes dependent on cortico-striatal neurocircuitry that regulates automated, habit- or compulsive-like behaviours. These data strengthen the case for the involvement of reward, learning, habit, and dopaminergic systems in the aetiology of AN