B-Boy and Buuz: A Study of Mongolian Hip-Hop Culture

When walking down the streets of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, passersby will find countless material traits of hip-hop culture surrounding them, including snapback hats, skateboards, and tattoos. A powerful combination of urban growth, democracy, and a booming market economy has invited and stimulated contemporary forms of hip-hop, creating an active but unorganized Mongolian hip-hop sub-culture and community. In this explorative and analytical paper, I examine what Mongolian hiphop artists express about present-day Mongolia through hip-hop mediums and why they are a unique critical voice. While there are several facets of hip-hop, I focus on three modes of traditional hip-hop culture: oral (rapping), physical (breakdancing), and visual (graffiti). My primary research was conducted via interviews with Mongolian rappers, hip-hop dancers, and graffiti artists that are currently active in producing art. In total, I interviewed three graffiti/street artists, four rappers, and four hip-hop dancers who illuminated the foundation of Mongolian hip-hop’s cultural themes and values. I complemented these interviews with an analysis of selected Mongolian hip-hop art pieces to better understand the uniqueness of Mongolian hip-hop culture and how hiphop artists convey hip-hop values and commentaries through their creative work. Additionally, I analyzed academic readings, news articles, and documentaries concerning global hip-hop culture, the history of hip-hop culture, and hip-hop in Mongolia. My findings convey the unique aesthetic and cultural characteristics of Mongolian hip-hop, and upon further discussion and analysis, I identify key underlying commentaries and values that hip-hop artists express through their work and hip-hop lifestyle—a life dedicated primarily to the production of hip-hop art. The multitude of artists’ values and ideals create a unique Mongolian hip-hop sub-culture, and they act as a critical voice because of their defiance to comply solely with traditional Mongolian values, giving them a partially “outside” perspective of Mongolia. I conclude that Mongolian hip-hop artists have no single explicit criticism of Mongolian society; rather, they actively choose to embody hip-hop culture and its values through the “alternative” hip-hop lifestyle. Through their actions and creative work, hip-hop artists highlight certain values to their audience that larger Mongolian culture fails to emphasize. These key values include individuality, authenticity, and freedom. Hip-hop artists continue to teach and represent these ideals to (primarily young) Mongolians through their artwork and hip-hop lifestyle, breaking the popular skeptical mindset that hip-hop cannot be Mongolian and empowering Mongolian youth to craft their own identities. Warning: In dealing with “real” Mongolian hip-hop, this essay includes profane language and ideas

Screening for ROP.

Screening babies for ROP is very important. Unless ROP is detected early and promptly treated, it can lead to blindness and permanent visual impairment. This article describes who to screen, when and where to screen, how to screen, and what to do next

Treating ROP: how and when.

Laser treatment of ROP is highly effective. However, special care should be taken when treating preterm or newborn infants, and long-term follow-up is essential. There are also new treatments on the horizon, particularly in cases where laser treatment is not possible or has failed

Validating the use of intrinsic markers in body feathers to identify inter-individual differences in non-breeding areas of northern fulmars

Acknowledgments We thank Claire Deacon, Gareth Norton and Andrea Raab for help with laboratory work at the University of Aberdeen, and Barry Thornton and Gillian Martin for running stable isotope analysis at the James Hutton Institute. Thanks to all involved in the collection and processing of dead fulmars through the North Sea plastic pollution project at IMARES, with special thanks to Jens-Kjeld Jensen, Bergur Olsen and Elisa Bravo Rebolledo for samples from the Faroe Islands and Susanne Kühn for those from Iceland. Thanks to Orkney Islands Council for access to Eynhallow and to all the fieldworkers involved in deployment and recovery of the GLS tags. All ringing work was carried out under permit from the BTO, and feather sampling was carried out under licence from the Home Office. We are grateful to James Fox of Migrate Technologies for recovering data from GLS loggers which would not download, and Richard Phillips and Janet Silk of BAS for advice on GLS analysis. We thank Deborah Dawson of the NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, University of Sheffield and Stuart Piertney of University of Aberdeen for molecular sexing of the fulmars. Lucy Quinn was supported by a NERC Studentship and additional funding to support fieldwork was gratefully received from Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd. We thank Yves Cherel and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Occurrence rate of delirium in acute stroke settings

Background and Purpose— Delirium is associated with increased mortality, length of stay, and poor functional outcome following critical illness. The epidemiology of delirium in stroke is poorly described. We sought to collate evidence around occurrence (incidence or prevalence) of delirium in acute stroke. Methods— We searched multiple cross-disciplinary electronic databases using a prespecified search strategy, complemented by hand searching. Eligible studies described delirium in acute (first 6 weeks) stroke. We compared delirium occurrence using random-effects models to describe summary estimates. We assessed risk of bias using the Newcastle-Ottawa tool, incorporating this in sensitivity analyses. We performed subgroup analyses for delirium diagnostic method (confusion assessment method scoring, clinical diagnosis, other), duration and timing of delirium assessment (>1 or <1 week), and performed meta-regression based on the year of publication. Results— Of 8822 titles, we included 32 papers (6718 participants) in the quantitative analysis. Summary estimate for occurrence of delirium was 25% (95% CI, 20%–30%; moderate quality evidence). Limiting to studies at low risk of bias (22 studies, 4422 participants), the occurrence rate was 23% (95% CI, 17%–28%). Subgroup summary estimates suggest that delirium occurrence may vary with assessment method: confusion assessment method, 21% (95% CI, 16%–27%); clinical diagnosis, 27% (95% CI, 19%–38%); other, 32% (95% CI, 22%–43%) but not with duration and timing of assessment. Meta-regression suggested decline in occurrence of delirium comparing historical to more recent studies (slope, 0.03 [SE, 0.004]; P<0.0001). Conclusions— Delirium is common, affecting 1 in 4 acute stroke patients. Reported rates of delirium may be dependent on assessment method. Our estimate of delirium occurrence could be used for audit, to plan intervention studies, and inform clinical practice. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/. Unique identifier: CRD42015029251

High-Reliability Computing For The Smarter Planet

As computer automation continues to increase in our society, the need for greater radiation reliability is necessary. Already critical infrastructure is failing too frequently. In this paper, we will introduce the Cross-Layer Reliability concept for designing more reliable computer systems

Breeding status influences timing but not duration of moult in the Northern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis

We thank Orkney Islands Council for access to Eynhallow and all the fieldworkers involved in deployment and recovery of the GLS tags and colony monitoring. All ringing work was carried out under permit from the BTO. We are grateful to James Fox of Migrate Technologies for recovering data from GLS loggers which would not download, and Richard Phillips and Janet Silk of BAS for advice on GLS analysis. Lucy Quinn was supported by a NERC Studentship and additional funding to support fieldwork was gratefully received from Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd. Additional support for loggers and analysis was provided through the SEATRACK project, which is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association.Peer reviewedPostprin

Survey of Childhood Blindness and Visual Impairment in Botswana

Background/aims In terms of blind-person years, the worldwide burden of childhood blindness is second only to cataracts. In many developing countries, 30–72% of childhood blindness is avoidable. The authors conducted this study to determine the causes of childhood blindness and visual impairment (VI) in Botswana, a middle-income country with limited access to ophthalmic care. Methods This study was conducted over 4 weeks in eight cities and villages in Botswana. Children were recruited through a radio advertisement and local outreach programmes. Those ≤15 years of age with visual acuity \u3c6/18 in either eye were enrolled. The WHO/Prevention of Blindness Eye Examination Record for Children with Blindness and Low Vision was used to record data. Results The authors enrolled 241 children, 79 with unilateral and 162 with bilateral VI. Of unilateral cases, 89% were avoidable: 23% preventable (83% trauma-related) and 66% treatable (40% refractive error and 31% amblyopia). Of bilateral cases, 63% were avoidable: 5% preventable and 58% treatable (33% refractive error and 31% congenital cataracts). Conclusion Refractive error, which is easily correctable with glasses, is the most common cause of bilateral VI, with cataracts a close second. A nationwide intervention is currently being planned to reduce the burden of avoidable childhood VI in Botswana