Mermaids as market creators:Cultural entrepreneurship in an emerging practice

With the example of the emergence of professional mermaids, this article shows how primarily young, female enterprising performers developed a new aesthetic category, generated employment from it, and in that way created a market for their services and products. To conceptualize this development, the article employs the Callonian program in market studies into research on cultural entrepreneurship, highlighting that markets are constantly in-the-making and innovation processes cannot be ascribed to the activities of singular “hero figures.” This adds to the existing literature on cultural entrepreneurship by calling attention to collective entrepreneurial practices taking place on the fringes of the cultural sector

The weight-inclusive vs. weight-normative approach to health: Evaluating the evidence for prioritizing well-being over weight

Using an ethical lens, this review evaluates two methods of working within patient care and public health: the weight-normative approach (emphasis on weight and weight loss when defining health and well-being) and the weight-inclusive approach (emphasis on viewing health and well-being as multifaceted while directing efforts toward improving health access and reducing weight stigma). Data reveal that the weight-normative approach is not effective for most people because of high rates of weight regain and cycling from weight loss interventions, which are linked to adverse health and well-being. Its predominant focus on weight may also foster stigma in health care and society, and data show that weight stigma is also linked to adverse health and well-being. In contrast, data support a weight-inclusive approach, which is included in models such as Health at Every Size for improving physical (e.g., blood pressure), behavioral (e.g., binge eating), and psychological (e.g., depression) indices, as well as acceptability of public health messages. Therefore, the weight-inclusive approach upholds nonmaleficience and beneficience, whereas the weight-normative approach does not. We offer a theoretical framework that organizes the research included in this review and discuss how it can guide research efforts and help health professionals intervene with their patients and community

Modeling the Fate of Toluene in a Chamber with Alfalfa Plants: 1. Theory and Modeling Concepts

A model was developed to investigate the fate of organic contaminants in soils in the presence of vegetation. The model has two modules. The first module simulates the soil-water and root-water pressure heads under the influence of water extraction by the roots of growing vegetation. Evapotranspiration due to alfalfa plants is an outflux boundary condition at the soil surface for this model. The distributions for water and air contents and Darcy water flux are obtained from the soil-water pressure heads. The second module simulates the fate of soil constituents in the porous medium using the Darcy water flux. The constituents assumed to be present in vegetated soil were contaminant, biomass, oxygen, and root exudates. A Galerkin finite element method was used to solve the model equations in two dimensions to enable comparison with an experimental system. The domain simulating the experimental chamber was assumed to be comprised of rectangular elements with bilinear shape functions which represented the variations within each element. Convergence to solution for the non-linear equations was accomplished using the Picard iterative algorithm. The time derivative was approximated using an implicit Crank-Nicholson scheme

Modeling the Fate of Toluene in a Chamber with Alfalfa Plants: 2. Numerical Results and Comparison Study

Investigations were conducted in a chamber to study the role of alfalfa plants in bioremediating toluene. Modeling and experimental results indicate that in situ bioremediation of toluene in the presence of plants is feasible and economical. This is primarily due to evapotranspiration which greatly enhances the vertical transport of dissolved contaminants from the saturated zone to the rhizosphere, thereby increasing the possibility of aerobic degradation. The fate of toluene was simulated and monitored for groundwater contaminated with toluene at saturated concentrations. FT-IR instrumentation was used to monitor toluene in the headspace gas of the vegetated chamber. Overall mass balance, based on groundwater and headspace measurements, indicated about 75% loss or biodegradation of toluene from the chamber during steady state. Evolution of significant amounts of CO2 accounted for mineralization of toluene. Simulation results predicted toluene biodegradation in the unsaturated zone where both oxygen and toluene were present. Dispersion processes in the soil were characterized by bromide tracer analysis. Predictions from simulations were compared with the water content and toluene concentrations measured in the chamber

The Determinant Representation for a Correlation Function in Scaling Lee-Yang Model

We consider the scaling Lee-Yang model. It corresponds to the unique perturbation of the minimal CFT model M(2,5). This is not a unitary model. We used known expression for form factors in order to obtain a closed expression for a correlation function of a trace of energy-momentum tensor. This expression is a determinant of an integral operator. Similar determinant representation were proven to be useful not only for quantum correlation functions but also in matrix models.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, no figure

Ripple oscillations in the left temporal neocortex are associated with impaired verbal episodic memory encoding

Background: We sought to determine if ripple oscillations (80-120Hz), detected in intracranial EEG (iEEG) recordings of epilepsy patients, correlate with an enhancement or disruption of verbal episodic memory encoding. Methods: We defined ripple and spike events in depth iEEG recordings during list learning in 107 patients with focal epilepsy. We used logistic regression models (LRMs) to investigate the relationship between the occurrence of ripple and spike events during word presentation and the odds of successful word recall following a distractor epoch, and included the seizure onset zone (SOZ) as a covariate in the LRMs. Results: We detected events during 58,312 word presentation trials from 7,630 unique electrode sites. The probability of ripple on spike (RonS) events was increased in the seizure onset zone (SOZ, p<0.04). In the left temporal neocortex RonS events during word presentation corresponded with a decrease in the odds ratio (OR) of successful recall, however this effect only met significance in the SOZ (OR of word recall 0.71, 95% CI: 0.59-0.85, n=158 events, adaptive Hochberg p<0.01). Ripple on oscillation events (RonO) that occurred in the left temporal neocortex non-SOZ also correlated with decreased odds of successful recall (OR 0.52, 95% CI: 0.34-0.80, n=140, adaptive Hochberg , p<0.01). Spikes and RonS that occurred during word presentation in the left middle temporal gyrus during word presentation correlated with the most significant decrease in the odds of successful recall, irrespective of the location of the SOZ (adaptive Hochberg, p<0.01). Conclusion: Ripples and spikes generated in left temporal neocortex are associated with impaired verbal episodic memory encoding

Developing and Selecting Auditory Warnings for a Real-Time Behavioral Intervention

Real-time sensing and computing technologies are increasingly used in the delivery of real-time health behavior interventions. Auditory signals play a critical role in many of these interventions, impacting not only behavioral response but also treatment adherence and participant retention. Yet, few behavioral interventions that employ auditory feedback report the characteristics of sounds used and even fewer design signals specifically for their intervention. This paper describes a four-step process used in developing and selecting auditory warnings for a behavioral trial designed to reduce indoor secondhand smoke exposure. In step one, relevant information was gathered from ergonomic and behavioral science literature to assist a panel of research assistants in developing criteria for intervention-specific auditory feedback. In step two, multiple sounds were identified through internet searches and modified in accordance with the developed criteria, and two sounds were selected that best met those criteria. In step three, a survey was conducted among 64 persons from the primary sampling frame of the larger behavioral trial to compare the relative aversiveness of sounds, determine respondents\u27 reported behavioral reactions to those signals, and assess participant’s preference between sounds. In the final step, survey results were used to select the appropriate sound for auditory warnings. Ultimately, a single-tone pulse, 500 milliseconds (ms) in length that repeats every 270 ms for three cycles was chosen for the behavioral trial. The methods described herein represent one example of steps that can be followed to develop and select auditory feedback tailored for a given behavioral intervention

The effect of dietary intervention on the metabolic and behavioural impairments generated by short term high fat feeding in the rat

AbstractPrevious studies have shown that rats fed a high calorie diet rich in saturated fat for 12weeks exhibit peripheral insulin resistance and impairments of behavioural flexibility when switched from an operant delayed matching to place (DMTP) schedule to a delayed non-matching to place (DNMTP) schedule. However, the metabolic changes evoked by feeding a high fat (HF) diet can be observed within two weeks of commencing the diet. The current study has confirmed that 4weeks exposure to an HF diet resulted in increased body weight, peripheral insulin resistance and plasma leptin. Studies performed during weeks 3 and 4 on the HF diet revealed suppressed lever pressing rates and impaired behavioural flexibility in the operant DMTP/DNMTP task. When animals fed the HF diet were then returned to a standard chow (SC) diet for 5weeks their weight and blood biochemistry no longer differed from those measured in animals that had never been exposed to the HF diet. The animals restored to the SC diet exhibited a clear ability to acquire the DNMTP schedule of reinforcement although these animals continued to lever press at a lower rate when compared with animals that received the SC diet throughout. The data suggest that exposure to an HF diet diminishes the motivation to respond for a reward and, thus, the capacity to adapt behavioural performance. This deficit was ameliorated, but not totally reversed, by the dietary intervention. If also true for humans, the results suggest that deficits in behavioural flexibility develop after only a short period on a high calorie diet but may be largely reversible through simple dietary intervention, at least in the early stages of deficit development. However, the putative effects of short-term exposure to an HF diet on behavioural motivation may persist for some time after switching to a healthier low fat diet and remain a problem for those seeking to adopt a healthier diet