Advancing the Measurement of Violence: Challenges and Opportunities

Our understanding of the causes and consequences of violence depends on accurately defining and measuring the constructs we study. Although the methods used most often in violence research have led to a wealth of important findings, the field is ripe for both reflection and innovation. The purpose of this special issue is to highlight critical measurement issues in the study of violence and to describe innovative approaches that will move this research forward. In this Introduction to the special issue, we identify 3 challenges for the valid measurement of violence—defining constructs, accurately capturing responses in scoring, and diversifying measurement methods—and discuss how the 8 studies that constitute the issue address these challenges and identify promising directions for future work

An experimental investigation of the recirculation zone formed downstream of a forward facing step

An experimental investigation of the recirculation zone formed downstream of a forward facing step immersed in a turbulent boundary layer has been undertaken using particle image velocimetry. Bluff body flow is observed with the fixed separation point located at the leading edge of the step. The recirculation region dimensions are characterised over a range of Reynolds numbers (1400–19 000), with Reh based on the step height and the free stream velocity. Turbulent perturbations are produced in the free shear layer which develops between the recirculating flow close to the step and the free stream flow. Contour maps of amplification factor, streamwise perturbation velocity and Reynolds stresses are constructed, providing insight into optimal placement of structures within such topographical features. The mechanisms affecting the reattachment distance, namely the turbulent mixing within the boundary layer and the velocity deficit in the boundary layer, are discussed

New Working-Class Studies

In this book, contributors trace the origins of the new working-class studies, explore how it is being developed both within and across fields, and identify key themes and issues. Historians, economists, geographers, sociologists, and scholars of literature and cultural studies introduce many and varied aspects of this emerging field. Throughout, they consider how the study of working-class life transforms traditional disciplines and stress the importance of popular and artistic representations of working-class

Characterisation of a horizontal axis wind turbine’s tip and root vortices

The vortical near wake of a model horizontal axis wind turbine has been investigated experimentally in a water channel. The objective of this work is to study vortex interaction and stability of the helical vortex filaments within a horizontal axis wind turbine wake. The experimental model is a geometrically scaled version of the Tjæreborg wind turbine, which existed in western Denmark in the late 1980s. Here, the turbine was tested in both the upwind and downwind configurations. Qualitative flow visualisations using hydrogen bubble, particle streakline and planar laser-induced fluorescence techniques were combined with quantitative data measurements taken using planar particle image velocimetry. Vortices were identified using velocity gradient tensor invariants. Parameters that describe the helical vortex wake, such as the helicoidal pitch, and vortex circulation, were determined for three tip speed ratios. Particular attention is given here to the root vortex, which has been investigated minimally to date. Signatures of the coherent tip vortices are seen throughout the measurement domain; however, the signature of the root vortex is only evident much closer to the rotor plane, irrespective of the turbine configuration. It is postulated that the root vortex diffuses rapidly due to the effects of the turbine support geometries

Health Effects of Adverse Childhood Events: Identifying Promising Protective Factors at The Intersection of Mental and Physical Well-Being

Research documents how exposure to adversity in childhood leads to negative health outcomes across the lifespan. Less is known about protective factors – aspects of the individual, family, and community that promote good health despite exposure to adversity. Guided by the Resilience Portfolio Model, this study examined protective factors associated with physical health in a sample of adolescents and adults exposed to high levels of adversity including child abuse. A rural community sample of 2565 individuals with average age of 30 participated in surveys via computer assisted software. Participants completed self-report measures of physical health, adversity, and a range of protective factors drawn from research on resilience. Participants reporting a greater burden of childhood victimization and current financial strain (but not other adverse life events) had poorer physical health, but those with strengths in emotion regulation, meaning making, community support, social support, and practicing forgiveness reported better health. As hypothesized, strengths across resilience portfolio domains (regulatory, meaning making, and interpersonal) had independent, positive associations with health related quality of life after accounting for participants’ exposure to adversity. Prevention and intervention efforts for child maltreatment should focus on bolstering a portfolio of strengths. The foundation of the work needs to begin with families early in the lifespan

Design Education: Process Versus System

The observation. that curriculum innovation involves the importation of ";new"; practices into pre-existing contexts is a banal one. Similarly, to indicate that many of the practical problems connected with innovation derive from an incompatibility of purpose between the ";new"; practice and the setting into which it is being introduced, is only to indicate the obvious. Such points may be trite enough in themselves, but they are still worth bearing in mind, and I propose to utilise them here as starting points for a consideration of the relationship between design as a process and school ing as a system of instruction and learning. It is hoped that what such an analysis will yield is, on the one hand, some insight into the requirements of ";design education"; and, on the other hand, a theoretical perspective for the articulation of what is problematic about its implementation in the classroom

Resilience Portfolios and Poly-Strengths: Identifying Protective Factors Associated with Thriving After Adversity

Objective: Interest in protective factors for adversity has burgeoned, but the set of examined protective factors remains limited and most studies have focused on a single or narrow set of adversities. Using the resilience portfolio model as a conceptual framework, this study seeks to identify promising protective factors for individuals exposed to violence and other adversities. We include strengths drawn from the positive psychology literature in addition to established protective factors. We also explore the utility of the concept of poly-strengths, or the number of different types of protective factors an individual has. Method: Participants were 2,565 adolescents and adults from a rural, low-income community in southern Appalachia (64% female). Three kinds of adversity were assessed (victimization, stressful life events, financial strain) along with 23 protective factors representing 3 broader domains that are the focus of the resilience portfolio model: self-regulation, interpersonal strengths, and meaning-making. Results: The combination of strengths and adversities accounted for 42% of the variance in trauma symptoms, 50% of the variance in posttraumatic growth, and 58% of the variance in subjective well-being. Strengths associated with thriving included purpose, optimism, religious involvement, emotional regulation, emotional awareness, psychological endurance, compassion, generativity, and community support. Poly-strengths was uniquely associated with well-being after controlling for other protective factors. Conclusions: Expanding the range of studied protective factors and considering poly-strengths hold considerable promise to better understand resilience. A more strengths-based approach to prevention and intervention could improve outcomes in individuals who have experienced adversity

Strengths, Narrative, and Resilience: Restorying Resilience Research

Objective: To envision a path toward a more strengths-based approach to violence research, prevention, and intervention—a path that focuses on thriving and resilience. Key Points: Both the content and the process of research need to change if we are to transform our efforts to understand and overcome adversity. Greater focus on strengths and the achievement of well-being despite adversity is 1 important avenue; focusing on the narrative and the power of story is another important path. However, merely shifting the focus of traditional research and scholarly efforts is not enough. At another level of analysis, the field needs communication across the fragmentary subdisciplines of social science (“silo busting,” as we informally call it). We must also do more to encourage experimentation and innovation with regard to research question and design, community–practitioner–researcher partnership, and approaches to dissemination. Implications: Existing challenges in innovation and experimentation call for trying new approaches. Specific suggestions for adapting conference formats are provided. The commentaries in this special section offer feasible actions that could improve violence research, including incorporating measures of well-being in addition to symptoms as outcome measures; involving a wider variety of stakeholders in research design and dissemination; taking advantage of new insights from positive psychology and narrative research; and incorporating aspects of community and culture into research, assessment, prevention and intervention

The complexity paradigm for studying human communication: a summary and integration of two fields

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Hamlet (Act 1, Scene 5). This popular quote from Hamlet might be recast for the field of communication as “There are more things in science than are dreamt of in our philosophies”. This article will review several new and strange ideas from complexity science about how the natural world is organized and how we can go about researching it. These strange ideas, (e.g., deterministic, but unpredictable systems) resonate with many communication phenomena that our field has traditionally had difficulty studying. By reviewing these areas, we hope to add a new, compelling and useful way to think about science that goes beyond the current dominant philosophy of science employed in communication. Though the concepts reviewed here are difficult and often appear at odds with the dominant paradigm; they are not. Instead, this approach will facilitate research on problems of communication process and interaction that the dominant paradigm has struggled to study. Specifically, this article explores the question of process research in communication by reviewing three major paradigms of science and then delving more deeply into the most recent: complexity science. The article provides a broad overview of many of the major ideas in complexity science and how these ideas can be used to study many of the most difficult questions in communication science. It concludes with suggestions going forward for incorporating complexity science into communication