2,100 research outputs found
Social Justice and the Arts
This document is designed to provide a concise, but representative sampling of the many arts programs, projects, networks, and individuals involved in creative, progressive change in their diverse communities. The purpose of this examination is to provide information to enhance the creative work of the Open Buffalo Arts Network as the initiative moves forward. Not meant as an exhaustive list of relevant places to study, this report represents a variety of small and large organizations that are currently addressing issues of justice and opportunity, worker equity, and high road economic development, and similar topics. The programs or policy organizations in this document are arranged by listing first those potentially the most useful to Open Buffalo or like-minded organizations. However, all the programs listed have interest as creative, purposeful, and sometimes “out of the box” ways to advance social justice and the arts
Longer-term effects of monetary growth on real and nominal variables, major industrial countries, 1880-2001
Abstract: We study how fluctuations in money growth correlate with fluctuations in real and nominal output growth and inflation. We pick cycles from each time series that last 2 to 8 (business cycles) and 8 to 40 (longer-term cycles) years, using band-pass filters. We employ a data set from 1880 to 2001 for eleven countries, without gaps. Fluctuations in money growth do not play a systematic and important role at the business cycle frequency. However, money growth leads or contemporaneously affects nominal output growth and inflation in the longer run. This result holds despite differences in policies and institutions across countries. JEL Classification: E32 to 8 year cycles, 8 to 40 year cycles, Band-pass filters
Structural breaks, cointegration and the Fisher effect
There is scant empirical support in the literature for the Fisher effect in the long run, though it is often assumed in theoretical models. We argue that a break in the cointegrating relation introduces a spurious unit root that leads to a rejection of cointegration. We applied new break tests and tested for nonlinearity in the cointegrating relation with post-war data for 15 countries. Our empirical results support cointegration, after accounting for breaks, and a linear Fisher relation in the long run. This is in contrast to several recent studies that found no support for linear cointegration. JEL Classification: E43, C32Fisher effect, linear and nonlinear cointegration, Structural change
In Response: The Usefulness of Neutrality
The term neutrality as used in psychoanalysis has multiple meanings, each carrying major emotional significance. In that sense neutrality is a term which evokes the metaphor of the Six Blind Men and the Elephant.
In her paper, The Usefulness of Neutrality, Julia Jones Zawatsky uses the term to express a variety of issues related to a complex and difficult clinical situation. Neutrality includes the therapist taking an equidistant position from the various forces involved in the compromise formation used to solve psychic conflict. She also uses the term to acknowledge the multiple facets of the therapist\u27s conscious and unconscious instinctual life, and responsiveness to patients, as well as the capacity to observe and acknowledge one\u27s own countertransferences. The term describes a therapeutic position serving to understand the dynamic processes involved in a patient\u27s symptomatic behavior, and to recognize that no matter how distressing or painful a patient\u27s behavior may be, it still serves a significant unconscious psychological function. The author contrasts neutral therapeutic behavior and understanding by the therapist and the hospital staff with over-sympathetic, seductive or gratifying patterns and with the assumption of responsibility for the patient\u27s distress, as well as for making progress
Quasideuteron configurations in 46V and 58Cu
The data on low spin states in the odd-odd nuclei 46V and 58Cu investigated
with the 46Ti(p,ngamma)46V, 32S(16O,pn)46V and 58Ni(p,ngamma)58Cu reactions at
the FN-TANDEM accelerator in Cologne are reported. The states containing large
quasideuteron components are identified from the strong isovector M1
transitions, from shell model calculations and from experimental data for
low-lying states.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the "Nuclear Structure 2000"
conference, East Lansing, Michigan, USA, August 15-19, 2000; to appear in
Nucl. Phys.
Low-Spin Spectroscopy of 50Mn
The data on low spin states in the odd-odd nucleus 50Mn investigated with the
50Cr(p,ngamma)50Mn fusion evaporation reaction at the FN-TANDEM accelerator in
Cologne are reported. Shell model and collective rotational model
interpretations of the data are given.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to be published in the proceedings of the
"Bologna 2000 - Structure of the Nucleus at the Dawn of the Century"
Conference, (Bologna, Italy, May 29 - June 3, 2000
Abnormal synergies and associated reactions post-hemiparetic stroke reflect muscle activation patterns of brainstem motor pathways
Individuals with moderate-to-severe post-stroke hemiparesis cannot control proximal and distal joints of the arm independently because they are constrained to stereotypical movement patterns called flexion and extension synergies. Accumulating evidence indicates that these synergies emerge because of upregulation of diffusely projecting brainstem motor pathways following stroke-induced damage to corticofugal pathways. During our recent work on differences in synergy expression among proximal and distal joints, we serendipitously observed some notable characteristics of synergy-driven muscle activation. It seemed that: paretic wrist/finger muscles were activated maximally during contractions of muscles at a different joint; differences in the magnitude of synergy expression occurred when elicited via contraction of proximal vs. distal muscles; and associated reactions in the paretic limb occurred during maximal efforts with the non-paretic limb, the strength of which seemed to vary depending on which muscles in the non-paretic limb were contracting. Here we formally investigated these observations and interpreted them within the context of the neural mechanisms thought to underlie stereotypical movement patterns. If upregulation of brainstem motor pathways occurs following stroke-induced corticofugal tract damage, then we would expect a pattern of muscle dependency in the observed behaviors consistent with such neural reorganization. Twelve participants with moderate-to-severe hemiparetic stroke and six without stroke performed maximal isometric torque generation in eight directions: shoulder abduction/adduction and elbow, wrist, and finger flexion/extension. Isometric joint torques and surface EMG were recorded from shoulder, elbow, wrist, and finger joints and muscles. For some participants, joint torque and muscle activation generated during maximal voluntary contractions were lower than during maximal synergy-induced contractions (i.e., contractions about a different joint), particularly for wrist and fingers. Synergy-driven contractions were strongest when elicited via proximal joints and weakest when elicited via distal joints. Associated reactions in the wrist/finger flexors were stronger than those of other paretic muscles and were the only ones whose response depended on whether the non-paretic contraction was at a proximal or distal joint. Results provide indirect evidence linking the influence of brainstem motor pathways to abnormal motor behaviors post-stroke, and they demonstrate the need to examine whole-limb behavior when studying or seeking to rehabilitate the paretic upper limb
E(5), X(5), and Prolate to Oblate Shape Phase Transitions in Relativistic Hartree Bogoliubov Theory
Relativistic mean field theory with the NL3 force is used for producing
potential energy surfaces (PES) for series of isotopes suggested as exhibiting
critical point symmetries. Relatively flat PES are obtained for nuclei showing
the E(5) symmetry, while in nuclei corresponding to the X(5) case, PES with a
bump are obtained. The PES corresponding to the Pt chain of isotopes suggest a
transition from prolate to oblate shapes at 186-Pt.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX, including 14 .eps figure
Neural Constraints Affect the Ability to Generate Hip Abduction Torques When Combined With Hip Extension or Ankle Plantarflexion in Chronic Hemiparetic Stroke
Stroke lesions interrupt descending corticofugal fibers that provide the volitional control of the upper and lower extremities. Despite the evident manifestation of movement impairments post-stroke during standing and gait, neural constraints in the ability to generate joint torque combinations in the lower extremities are not yet well determined. Twelve chronic hemiparetic participants and 8 age-matched control individuals participated in the present study. In an isometric setup, participants were instructed to combine submaximal hip extension or ankle plantarflexion torques with maximal hip abduction torques. Statistical analyses were run using linear mixed effects models. Results for the protocol combining hip extension and abduction indicate that participants post-stroke have severe limitations in the amount of hip abduction torque they can generate, dependent upon hip extension torque magnitude. These effects are manifested in the paretic extremity by the appearance of hip adduction torques instead of hip abduction at higher levels of hip extension. In the non-paretic extremity, significant reductions of hip abduction were also observed. In contrast, healthy control individuals were capable of combining varied levels of hip extension with maximal hip abduction. When combining ankle plantarflexion and hip abduction, only the paretic extremity showed reductions in the ability to generate hip abduction torques at increased levels of ankle plantarflexion. Our results provide insight into the neural mechanisms controlling the lower extremity post-stroke, supporting previously hypothesized increased reliance on postural brainstem motor pathways. These pathways have a greater dominance in the control of proximal joints (hip) compared to distal joints (ankle) and lead to synergistic activation of musculature due to their diffuse, bilateral connections at multiple spinal cord levels. We measured, for the first time, bilateral constraints in hip extension/abduction coupling in hemiparetic stroke, again in agreement with the expected increased reliance on bilateral brainstem motor pathways. Understanding of these neural constraints in the post-stroke lower extremities is key in the development of more effective rehabilitation interventions that target abnormal joint torque coupling patterns
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