An online life like any other: identity, self-determination, and social networking among adults with intellectual disabilities

Research focusing on online identity and the personal experiences of adults with Intellectual disabilities (ID) is currently limited. Eleven adults with Intellectual disabilities were interviewed regarding personal experiences of being online and using social media. Data were analyzed qualitatively using thematic network analysis. Two global themes of ‘Online Relatedness and Sharing’ and ‘Online Agency and Support’ highlighted the positive potential of social media in enabling the development and maintenance of social bonds, valued social roles and feelings of enjoyment, competence, autonomy and self-worth. Participants reported sharing various expressed online identities, which did not focus on or hide impairment, challenging notions of dependency, with participants both providing support and being supported online

Internet Access by People with Intellectual Disabilities: Inequalities and Opportunities

This review gives an overview of the societal inequalities faced by people with intellectual disabilities, before focusing specifically on challenges people face accessing the Internet. Current access will be outlined along with the societal, support and attitudinal factors that can hinder access. Discussion of carer views of Internet use by people with intellectual disabilities will be covered incorporating consideration of the tension between protection, self-determination and lifestyle issues and gaining Internet access. We will address how impairment related factors may impede access and subsequently discuss how supports may be used to obfuscate impairments and facilitate access. We will move on from this to critically describe some of the potential benefits the Internet could provide to people with intellectual disabilities, including the potential for self-expression, advocacy and developing friendships. Finally, strategies to better include people with intellectual disabilities online will be given along with future research suggestions

"You have to know how to live with it without getting to the addiction part": British young adult experiences of smartphone over-reliance and disconnectivity

Smartphone usage offers undeniable upsides (e.g. social connectivity and increased productivity). However, the ever-expanding utilities of smartphones have prompted debate around device over-reliance, which has prompted interest in ‘digital detox’, ‘technology pushback’ and ‘disconnectivity’. We report an in-depth qualitative exploration of perceptions of smartphone over-reliance and experiences of attempting to modify usage (i.e., efforts to disconnect) among fourteen 18-30-year-old university students. Semi-structured interview transcripts were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). A first theme – ‘It’s like an addiction’ – concerned the drift from valuing the convenience/productivity afforded by smartphones into feeling over-reliant on devices. Over-reliance could hinder meeting basic needs, limit time for valued pastimes and could unsettle feelings of agency. A second theme – ‘It’s difficult to maintain abstinence’ - concerned barriers to modification efforts, including fearing possible social repercussions, transferring attention to other Internet-affording devices, and self-deception. This article highlights how modifying habitual usage patterns may be challenging and encourages debate around how ‘smartphone over-reliance’ could be framed

Evolution in bioinformatic resources: 2009 update on the Bioinformatics Links Directory

All of the life science research web servers published in this and previous issues of Nucleic Acids Research, together with other useful tools, databases and resources for bioinformatics and molecular biology research are freely accessible online through the Bioinformatics Links Directory, http://bioinformatics.ca/links_directory/. Entirely dependent on user feedback and community input, the Bioinformatics Links Directory exemplifies an open access research tool and resource. With 112 websites featured in the July 2009 Web Server Issue of Nucleic Acids Research, the 2009 update brings the total number of servers listed in the Bioinformatics Links Directory close to an impressive 1400 links. A complete list of all links listed in this Nucleic Acids Research 2009 Web Server Issue can be accessed online at http://bioinfomatics.ca/links_directory/narweb2009/. The 2009 update of the Bioinformatics Links Directory, which includes the Web Server list and summaries, is also available online at the Nucleic Acids Research website, http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/

Problematic shopping behavior: an item response theory examination of the seven-item bergen shopping addiction scale

There has been an increasing amount of research examining problematic shopping behavior (PSB), often referred to in the psychological literature as “compulsive buying” or “shopping addiction.” A popular scale for assessing the risk of PSB is the seven-item Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale (BSAS). To expand our knowledge of the psychometric properties of this instrument, the present study employed Item Response Theory (IRT) and differential item functioning analyses (DIF) while concurrently attempting to determine a preliminary cut-off point. A relatively large community sample completed the BSAS online (N = 968, Mage = 29.5 years, SDage = 9.36, 32.5% women). IRT analyses showed differences regarding the BSAS items’ discrimination, difficulty, and precision, with a raw score exceeding 23 (out of 28) indicating a higher risk of shopping addiction. Finally, while most BSAS items operated equally among males and females, Item 2 (mood modification) required a higher level of shopping addiction behaviors to be endorsed by males. The BSAS functions as a reliable assessment of the risk of shopping addiction, particularly between average and high levels of the trait. Clinical implications are discussed in light of these findings

The Black Feminist Mixtape: A Collective Black Feminist Autoethnography of Black Women\u27s Existence in the Academy

Seven Black women graduate students from across different functional areas of higher education work in solidarity to write a collective Black Feminist Autoethnography (BFA) (Griffin, 2012) about our experiences at our respective colleges and universities. BFA is a theoretical and methodological means for Black female academics to critically narrate the pride and pain of Black womanhood (Griffin, 2012, p. 1). This article centers Black feminist scholarship as a framework to reflexively interpret how we as seven Black women navigate within, against, and beyond the academy to address dominant narratives that affect our professional and personal experiences. We use contemporary music lyrics and poems by Black women to actively illustrate and interrogate our individual and collective positionalities to promote critical literacy. Together, we are seven Black sista scholars who reclaim our voice as legitimized epistemologies in academic spaces. Hear Our Voices

Put on a Smiley Face: Textspeak and Personality Perceptions

With the emergence of web 2.0 there has been a dramatic surge in user-generated content. Although the Internet provides greater freedom in self-presentation, computer-mediated communication is characterised by a more relaxed attitude to grammar, spelling and punctuation. The language of the Internet, or textspeak, may be suitable for casual interactions but inappropriate in professional contexts. We tested participant perceptions of an author’s personality in two distinct contexts (formal vs. informal) and manipulated the written information under three levels of textspeak: none, low and high. Participants judged the author as less conscientious and less open, but more emotionally stable when textspeak was used, however context had no impact. Personality perceptions of textspeak users differ to those who write in standard English and this is likely to extend to informal impression management contexts (e.g. online dating). These findings also have a number of implications, for example in terms of screening applicants via social media

GIVE: portable genome browsers for personal websites.

Growing popularity and diversity of genomic data demand portable and versatile genome browsers. Here, we present an open source programming library called GIVE that facilitates the creation of personalized genome browsers without requiring a system administrator. By inserting HTML tags, one can add to a personal webpage interactive visualization of multiple types of genomics data, including genome annotation, "linear" quantitative data, and genome interaction data. GIVE includes a graphical interface called HUG (HTML Universal Generator) that automatically generates HTML code for displaying user chosen data, which can be copy-pasted into user's personal website or saved and shared with collaborators. GIVE is available at: https://www.givengine.org/

New possibilities for research on reef fish across the continental shelf of South Africa

[From introduction] Subtidal research presents numerous challenges that restrict the ability to answer fundamental ecological questions related to reef systems. These challenges are closely associated with traditional monitoring methods and include depth restrictions (e.g. safe diving depths for underwater visual census), habitat destruction (e.g. trawling), mortality of target species (e.g. controlled angling and fish traps), and high operating costs (e.g. remotely operated vehicles and large research vessels. Whereas many of these challenges do not apply or are avoidable in the shallow subtidal environment, the difficulties grow as one attempts to sample deeper benthic habitats. This situation has resulted in a paucity of knowledge on the structure and ecology of deep water reef habitats around the coast of South Africa and in most marine areas around the world. Furthermore, the inability to effectively survey deep water benthic environments has limited the capacity of researchers to investigate connectivity between shallow and deep water habitats in a standardised and comparable fashio

A Surgical Cryoprobe for Targeted Transcorneal Freezing and Endothelial Cell Removal

PURPOSE: To examine the effects of transcorneal freezing using a new cryoprobe designed for corneal endothelial surgery. METHODS: A freezing console employing nitrous oxide as a cryogen was used to cool a series of different cryoprobe tip designs made of silver for high thermal conductivity. In vitro studies were conducted on 426 porcine corneas, followed by preliminary in vivo investigations on three rabbit corneas. RESULTS: The corneal epithelium was destroyed by transcorneal freezing, as expected; however, the epithelial basement membrane remained intact. Reproducible endothelial damage was optimally achieved using a 3.4 mm diameter cryoprobe with a concave tip profile. Stromal edema was seen in the pre-Descemet's area 24 hrs postfreeze injury, but this had been resolved by 10 days postfreeze. A normal collagen fibril structure was seen 1 month postfreeze, concurrent with endothelial cell repopulation. CONCLUSIONS: Transcorneal freezing induces transient posterior stromal edema and some residual deep stromal haze but leaves the epithelial basement membrane intact, which is likely to be important for corneal re-epithelialization. Localized destruction of the endothelial monolayer was achieved in a consistent manner with a 3.4 mm diameter/concave profile cryoprobe and represents a potentially useful approach to remove dysfunctional corneal endothelial cells from corneas with endothelial dysfunction