The Production of the Depressed Subject: A Foucauldian analysis of conflict, power, and the discourse of diagnosis in teachers' narratives of their depression

Being classified as depressed raised questions for me about how I had become a mentally ill teacher. Reading Foucault had led me to reflect on the veracity of the psycho/medical model that had classified my emotions as evidence of depression. So, rather than asking ‘What is wrong with the person and how can they be healed?’, this thesis sought to interrogate the psycho/medical account by deploying Foucault’s analytical attitudes of being sceptical, transformational, and experimental, addressing the question of ‘How is the subject of the depressed teacher produced within discourses of good teaching and a medicalised model of depression?’. A narrative method was employed to elicit eight life histories from teachers who identified as being depressed. Viewed through the Foucauldian lenses of truth, discourse, power/knowledge, and subjectivity, three overarching findings were traceable in the narratives. First, there were contradictory accounts of the causes of depression, rendering its diagnosis problematic. Second, the teaching world was described as riven with conflicts over what constitutes good teaching, how to assess good teaching, and how to be a good teacher. Third, the classroom observation stood out as a site amplifying these conflicts, described as one of the most emotionally intense encounters in schools. The conclusion drawn from this analysis was that the emotions indicative of depression could be considered a normal, if problematic, part of teaching. The accountability practices in contemporary schools, framed by policies that require teachers to view themselves as never good enough, contextualise these expressed emotions within a tyranny of continuous improvement. A psycho/medical diagnosis can be seen as a means of managing these problematic emotions and maintaining a particular discourse of the ‘good teacher’. The thesis, therefore, constitutes an argument for de-pathologising teacher emotions and a recognition that it is not necessarily the teacher that is abnormal but work environments

Conservation Practices for Landlords

This Ag Decision Maker publication, A1-41, describes different conservation practices, their cost and where they can be used most effectively, followed by a short discussion of how landowners can set conservation goals for their land. Its production was supported by the Leopold Center Policy Initiative and Iowa Learning Farms

Morphological Differences Align with Habitat Partitioning Among Three Species of \u3ci\u3ePercina\u3c/i\u3e (Percidae: Actinopterygii) in the Roanoke River, Virginia

The upper Roanoke River has three species of Percina (P. nevisense, Chainback Darter; P. roanoka, Roanoke Darter; and P. rex, Roanoke Logperch). Resource partitioning appears to be a key component of maintaining diverse fish assemblages with habitat and food partitioning cited as especially important in communities containing members of the same family. Some aspects of the diets of these species have been documented in the literature with only modest differences among them. Microhabitat data for adults of these species have also been published revealing differences in habitat occupied by each with P. roanoka living in the fastest, shallowest water and P. nevisense in the deepest, slowest water. In an effort to investigate morphological features that may be adaptations to these different microhabitats, 18 body measurements were taken from specimens of each species. Fineness ratios were calculated and compared among species. Natural-log transformed raw measurements were also included in a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Measurements that loaded heavily in the PCA were tested for differences among species. Principal component (PC) two loaded heavily for body width, body depth, and dorsal fin height, while PC three loaded heavily for anal fin length and caudal fin depth. All of these measurements were different among at least two of the three species examined. The highest mean fineness ratio and thinnest body width was found in P. nevisense. The lowest fineness ratio and thickest body width was found in P. roanoka with P. rex having intermediate values. A taller spinous dorsal fin is found in P. nevisense, and a longer anal fin was found in P. roanoka. Percina rex had the largest caudal fin and smallest anal fin

Exercise induced skeletal muscle metabolic stress is reduced after pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD

SummaryIn COPD, skeletal muscle ATP resynthesis may be insufficient to meet demand during exercise due to excessive anaerobic and reduced oxidative (mitochondrial) energy production, leading to metabolic stress. We investigated the effect of outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on the metabolic response (measured by exercise-induced accumulation of plasma ammonia) and determined whether this response predicted functional improvement following PR.25 subjects with stable COPD [mean (SD) age 67 (8)years and FEV1 47 (18)% predicted] performed maximal cycling ergometry before and after PR. Plasma ammonia was measured at rest, during exercise and 2 min post-exercise.Following PR, there were significant increases in peak cycle WR and ISWT performance (Mean (SEM) changes 13.1 (2.0) W and 93 (15) m respectively, p < 0.001). Mean (SEM) rise in plasma ammonia was reduced at peak (Pre vs Post-PR: 29.0 (4.5) vs 20.2 (2.5) μmol/l, p < 0.05) and isotime (Pre vs Post-PR: 29.0 (4.5) vs 10.6 (1.7) μmol/l, p < 0.001) exercise. Improvements in exercise performance after PR were similar among subgroups who did versus those who did not show a rise in ammonia at baseline.The results suggest that muscle cellular energy production was better matched to the demands of exercise following PR. We conclude that a pragmatic outpatient PR programme involving high intensity walking exercise results in significant adaptation of the skeletal muscle metabolic response with a reduction in exercise-related metabolic stress. However, the outcome of PR could not be predicted from baseline metabolic response

Case Study in Collaboration: Educational and Industrial Partnerships

The purpose of this study was to describe, analyze and interpret how an institution of higher education collaborates. A case study using Resource Dependency Theory as the analytical lens was conducted, whereby a community college collaborated with the local school district and area business and industry that led to the construction of an Advanced Technology Center. Seventeen stakeholders from the from these entities were interviewed. Individual survival, funding, the opportunity to share programs, equipment and facilities, location and the fact that it just made sense to do so were outlined by the stakeholders as reasons to collaborate. Elements of Resource Dependency Theory were present in this study, a collaborative culture was found to exist in this area. This culture proved to be of more significance when establishing partnerships than a reduction in revenue from governmental funding sources.School of Teaching and Curriculum Leadershi

Ensuring Payload Safety in Missions with Special Partnerships

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV) payload space flight missions involve cooperative work between NASA and partners including spacecraft (or payload) contractors, universities, nonprofit research centers, Agency payload organization, Range Safety organization, Agency launch service organizations, and launch vehicle contractors. The role of NASA's Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Directorate is typically fairly straightforward, but when a mission's partnerships become more complex, to realize cost and science benefits (e.g., multi-agency payload(s) or cooperative international missions), the task of ensuring payload safety becomes much more challenging. This paper discusses lessons learned from NASA safety professionals working multiple-agency missions and offers suggestions to help fellow safety professionals working multiple-agency missions

Using HIV-attributable mortality to assess the impact of antiretroviral therapy on adult mortality in rural Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: The Tanzanian national HIV care and treatment programme has provided free antiretroviral therapy (ART) to HIV-positive persons since 2004. ART has been available to participants of the Kisesa open cohort study since 2005, but data to 2007 showed a slow uptake of ART and a modest impact on mortality. Additional data from the 2010 HIV serological survey provide an opportunity to update the estimated impact of ART in this setting. METHODS: The Kisesa Health and Demographic Surveillance Site (HDSS) has collected HIV serological data and demographic data, including verbal autopsy (VA) interviews since 1994. Serological data to the end of 2010 were used to make two estimates of HIV-attributable mortality, the first among HIV positives using the difference in mortality between HIV positives and HIV negatives, and the second in the population using the difference between the observed mortality rate in the whole population and the mortality rate among the HIV negatives. Four time periods (1994-1999, 2000-2004, 2005-2007, and 2008-2010) were used and HIV-attributable mortality estimates were analysed in detail for trends over time. A computer algorithm, InterVA-4, was applied to VA data to estimate the HIV-attributable mortality for the population, and this was compared to the estimates from the serological survey data. RESULTS: Among HIV-positive adults aged 45-59 years, high mortality rates were observed across all time periods in both males and females. In HIV-positive men, the HIV-attributable mortality was 91.6% (95% confidence interval (CI): 84.6%-95.3%) in 2000-2004 and 86.3% (95% CI: 71.1%-93.3%) in 2008-2010, while among women, the HIV-attributable mortality was 87.8% (95% CI: 71.1%-94.3%) in 2000-2004 and 85.8% (95% CI: 59.6%-94.4%) in 2008-2010. In the whole population, using the serological data, the HIV-attributable mortality among men aged 30-44 years decreased from 57.2% (95% CI: 46.9%-65.3%) in 2000-2004 to 36.5% (95% CI: 18.8%-50.1%) in 2008-2010, while among women the corresponding decrease was from 57.3% (95% CI: 49.7%-63.6%) to 38.7% (95% CI: 27.4%-48.2%). The HIV-attributable mortality in the population using estimates from the InterVA model was lower than that from HIV sero-status data in the period prior to ART, but slightly higher once ART became available. DISCUSSION: In the Kisesa HDSS, ART availability corresponds with a decline in adult overall mortality, although not as large as expected. Using InterVA to estimate HIV-attributable mortality showed smaller changes in HIV-related mortality following ART availability than the serological results

What makes stroke rehabilitation patients complex? Clinician perspectives and the role of discharge pressure

Background: Approximately 80% of people who survive a stroke have on average five other conditions and a wide range of psychosocial issues. Attention to biopsychosocial issues has led to the identification of ‘complex patients’. No single definition of ‘patient complexity’ exists, therefore applied health researchers seek to understand ‘patient complexity’ as it relates to a specific clinical context. Objective: To understand how ‘patient complexity’ is conceptualized by clinicians, and to position the findings within the existing literature on patient complexity. Methods: A qualitative descriptive approach was utilized. Twenty-three rehabilitation clinicians participated in four focus groups. Results: Five elements of patient complexity were identified: medical/functional issues, social determinant factors, social/family support, personal characteristics, and health system factors. Using biopsychosocial factors to identify complexity results in all patients being complex; operationalization of the definition led to the identification of systemic elements. A disconnect between acute, inpatient rehabilitation and community services was identified as a trigger for increased complexity.Conclusions: Patient complexity is not a dichotomous state. If applying existing complexity definitions, all patients are complex. This study extends the understanding by suggesting a structural element of complexity from manageable to less manageable complexity based on ability to discharge. Journal of Comorbidity 2016;6(2):35–4