Disability in intergalactic environments : the representation of disability issues in Star Trek

The science fiction series Star Trek is peopled with various humanoid species living and working together, reflecting the philosophy of its creator, Gene Rodenderry, that diversity is a strength to be celebrated. This is reflected in the Vulcan philosophy of 'Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations'. Among the issues of diversity that feature in many episodes there are those related to disabled people. On the whole, the representation of disability in Star Trek encourages the viewer to challenge stereotypes about people with disability and to see them not simply in terms of their impairments, but as people who go about their work in ways which are sometimes different from the norm; simply beings with ”differing abilities“. This is especially the case for people with sensory or mobility impairments. They may see in a different way, communicate in a different way or move around in a different way, but they still give a valid contribution, and in some episodes it is their very difference that saves the day. When it comes to intellectual disability, however, the representation takes on a more negative turn. This paper considers these different representations of disability in four episodes of Star Trek: The Masterpiece Society, Melora, Loud as a Whisper and Samaritan Snare.peer-reviewe

Impact of Interprofessional Student Teams at a Remote Area Medical Event in Rural Appalachia

Introduction: Education in interprofessional collaboration is vital to expand healthcare access, especially in areas of higher disparity. To address this need, interprofessional faculty collaborators incorporated undergraduate and graduate health profession students into teams at an annual Remote Area Medical event in rural Appalachia between 2017 and 2020. Purpose: This article evaluates the impact of an interprofessional student teams model on both patient care experience and students’ interprofessional collaboration attitudes and behaviors. Methods: Student volunteers completed pre- and post-event surveys containing questions about demographics, open-ended questions, and questions from two instruments: the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised Instrument, Version 2 (SPICE-R2) and the Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Scale-Revised (ICCAS-R). Quantitative data were analyzed statistically; qualitative data thematically. Tally forms collected patient care interventions that were compared to regional health disparities. Two years of survey data and four years of intervention data were analyzed. Results: There was an increase (p \u3c 0.001) in the post-event survey SPICE-R2 factors (teamwork, healthcare outcomes, and roles and responsibilities) in 2020 but not in 2019. ICCAS-R mean post-event composite scores increased (p \u3c 0.05) in both 2019 and 2020. Qualitative coding of open-ended responses revealed interprofessional competency themes and provided event feedback. Over 5,900 health-disparity-focused interventions were completed between 2017 and 2020. Implications: Students participating in interprofessional teams demonstrate changes in attitudes towards the interprofessional approach to care, an improved ability to collaborate interprofessionally, and a positive impact on patient care interventions. The findings allow educators to understand how experiential interprofessional education influences students’ interprofessional attitudes and beliefs while benefitting patient care

Collective and single cell behavior in epithelial contact inhibition

Control of cell proliferation is a fundamental aspect of tissue physiology central to morphogenesis, wound healing and cancer. Although many of the molecular genetic factors are now known, the system level regulation of growth is still poorly understood. A simple form of inhibition of cell proliferation is encountered in vitro in normally differentiating epithelial cell cultures and is known as "contact inhibition". The study presented here provides a quantitative characterization of contact inhibition dynamics on tissue-wide and single cell levels. Using long-term tracking of cultured MDCK cells we demonstrate that inhibition of cell division in a confluent monolayer follows inhibition of cell motility and sets in when mechanical constraint on local expansion causes divisions to reduce cell area. We quantify cell motility and cell cycle statistics in the low density confluent regime and their change across the transition to epithelial morphology which occurs with increasing cell density. We then study the dynamics of cell area distribution arising through reductive division, determine the average mitotic rate as a function of cell size and demonstrate that complete arrest of mitosis occurs when cell area falls below a critical value. We also present a simple computational model of growth mechanics which captures all aspects of the observed behavior. Our measurements and analysis show that contact inhibition is a consequence of mechanical interaction and constraint rather than interfacial contact alone, and define quantitative phenotypes that can guide future studies of molecular mechanisms underlying contact inhibition

Rhythm and Vowel Quality in Accents of English

In a sample of 27 speakers of Scottish Standard English two notoriously variable consonantal features are investigated: the contrast of /m/ and /w/ and non-prevocalic /r/, the latter both in terms of its presence or absence and the phonetic form it takes, if present. The pattern of realisation of non-prevocalic /r/ largely confirms previously reported findings. But there are a number of surprising results regarding the merger of /m/ and /w/ and the loss of non-prevocalic /r/: While the former is more likely to happen in younger speakers and females, the latter seems more likely in older speakers and males. This is suggestive of change in progress leading to a loss of the /m/ - /w/ contrast, while the variation found in non-prevocalic /r/ follows an almost inverse sociolinguistic pattern that does not suggest any such change and is additionally largely explicable in language-internal terms. One phenomenon requiring further investigation is the curious effect direct contact with Southern English accents seems to have on non-prevocalic /r/: innovation on the structural level (i.e. loss) and conservatism on the realisational level (i.e. increased incidence of [r] and [r]) appear to be conditioned by the same sociolinguistic factors

Using mixed methods for analysing culture : The Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion project

This paper discusses the use of material generated in a mixed method investigation into cultural tastes and practices, conducted in Britain from 2003 to 2006, which employed a survey, focus groups and household interviews. The study analysed the patterning of cultural life across a number of fields, enhancing the empirical and methodological template provided by Bourdieu’s Distinction. Here we discuss criticisms of Bourdieu emerging from subsequent studies of class, culture and taste, outline the arguments related to the use of mixed methods and present illustrative results from the analysis of these different types of data. We discuss how the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods informed our analysis of cultural life in contemporary Britain. No single method was able to shed light on all aspects of our inquiry, lending support to the view that mixing methods is the most productive strategy for the investigation of complex social phenomena

A Streamlined, Bi-Organelle, Multiplex PCR Approach to Species Identification: Application to Global Conservation and Trade Monitoring of the Great White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias

The great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, is the most widely protected elasmobranch in the world, and is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN and listed on Appendix III of CITES. Monitoring of trade in white shark products and enforcement of harvest and trade prohibitions is problematic, however, in large part due to difficulties in identifying marketed shark parts (e.g., dried fins, meat and processed carcasses) to species level. To address these conservation and management problems, we have developed a rapid, molecular diagnostic assay based on species-specific PCR primer design for accurate identification of white shark body parts, including dried fins. The assay is novel in several respects: It employs a multiplex PCR assay utilizing both nuclear (ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2) and mitochondrial (cytochrome b) loci simultaneously to achieve a highly robust measure of diagnostic accuracy; it is very sensitive, detecting the presence of white shark DNA in a mixture of genomic DNAs from up to ten different commercially fished shark species pooled together in a single PCR tube; and it successfully identifies white shark DNA from globally distributed animals. In addition to its utility for white shark trade monitoring and conservation applications, this highly streamlined, bi-organelle, multiplex PCR assay may prove useful as a general model for the design of genetic assays aimed at detecting body parts from other protected and threatened species

Performing heritage: the use of live 'actors' in heritage presentations

This paper investigates the phenomenon of 'living history' presentations of heritage, using live 'actors' to portray historical characters. Its aim is to discuss these presentations in the context of what may be understood as 'heritage', and of the nature of 'performance'. Four case studies of heritage sites, each important as a tourist attraction, have been selected for detailed study, together with a number of other examples of heritage performance. It is clear from the empirical work that different performance strategies are employed within the heritage industry and by individual 'actors'. Most of the performers take part as a leisure activity, and many do not consider themselves to be 'performing' at all. The greatest concern of participants lies in the degree of authenticity of the performance. Through 'living history', the 'actors' are drawn into an experience of heritage which has real meaning for them, and which may contribute both to a sense of identity and to an enhanced understanding of society, past and present. The popularity of such presentations with visitors also indicates that similar benefits are perceived by the 'audience'

The architectures of media power: editing, the newsroom, and urban public space

This paper considers the relation of the newsroom and the city as a lens into the more general relation of production spaces and mediated publics. Leading theoretically from Lee and LiPuma’s (2002) notion of ‘cultures of circulation’, and drawing on an ethnography of the Toronto Star, the paper focuses on how media forms circulate and are enacted through particular practices and material settings. With its attention to the urban milieus and orientations of media organizations, this paper exhibits both affinities with but also differences to current interests in the urban architectures of media, which describe and theorize how media get ‘built into’ the urban experience more generally. In looking at editing practices situated in the newsroom, an emphasis is placed on the phenomenological appearance of media forms both as objects for material assembly as well as more abstracted subjects of reflexivity, anticipation and purposiveness. Although this is explored with detailed attention to the settings of the newsroom and the city, the paper seeks to also provide insight into the more general question of how publicness is material shaped and sited

Phase Space Dissimilarity Measures for Structural Health Monitoring

A novel method for structural health monitoring (SHM), known as the Phase Space Dissimilarity Measures (PSDM) approach, is proposed and developed. The patented PSDM approach has already been developed and demonstrated for a variety of equipment and biomedical applications. Here, we investigate SHM of bridges via analysis of time serial accelerometer measurements. This work has four aspects. The first is algorithm scalability, which was found to scale linearly from one processing core to four cores. Second, the same data are analyzed to determine how the use of the PSDM approach affects sensor placement. We found that a relatively low-density placement sufficiently captures the dynamics of the structure. Third, the same data are analyzed by unique combinations of accelerometer axes (vertical, longitudinal, and lateral with respect to the bridge) to determine how the choice of axes affects the analysis. The vertical axis is found to provide satisfactory SHM data. Fourth, statistical methods were investigated to validate the PSDM approach for this application, yielding statistically significant results

The Potential and Beneficial Use of Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) Systems Integrated with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems for Characterizing Disposal of Waste Debris to Optimize the Waste Shipping Process

ABSTRACT The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) system provides a portable and/or semi-portable means of accurately weighing vehicles and its cargo as each vehicle crosses the scales (while in motion), and determining (1) axle weights and (2) axle spacing for vehicles (for determination of Bridge Formula compliance), (3) total vehicle/cargo weight and (4) longitudinal center of gravity (for safety considerations). The WIM system can also weigh the above statically. Because of the automated nature of the WIM system, it eliminates the introduction of human errors caused by manual computations and data entry, adverse weather conditions, and stress. Individual vehicles can be weighed continuously at low speeds (approximately 3-10 mph) and at intervals of less than one minute. The ORNL WIM system operates and is integrated into the Bethel Jacobs Company Transportation Management and Information System (TMIS, a Radio-Frequency Identification [RFID] enabled information system). The integrated process is as follows: Truck Identification Number and Tare Weight are programmed into a RFID Tag. Handheld RFID devices interact with the RFID Tag, and Electronic Shipping Document is written to the RFID Tag. The RFID tag "read" by an RFID tower identifies the vehicle and its associated cargo, the specific manifest of radioactive debris for the uniquely identified vehicle. The weight of the cargo (in this case waste debris) is calculated from total vehicle weight information supplied from WIM to TMIS and is further processed into the Information System and kept for historical and archival purposes. The assembled data is the further process in downstream information systems where waste coordination activities at the Y-12 Environmental Management Waste Management Facility (EMWMF) are written to RFID Tag. All cycle time information is monitored by Transportation Operations and Security personnel