WFOT special issue

In May 2018, the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) held its congress in Cape Town, South Africa. The discipline of occupational science has a longstanding relationship with occupational therapy and the congress was an exciting opportunity to come together to showcase diverse perspectives on a shared occupational lens framing our understanding of the world, and our collaboration with the communities with which we research and work. Increasingly there has been a call within occupational science to consider more diverse perspectives; therefore, the timing was right to hear prominent, contemporary and highly relevant voices from the Global South, specifically those from the African continent

Special issue: Illuminating occupations at the heart of social problems

As this special issue of the Journal of Occupational Science goes to press, the timing seems particularly pertinent to consider the intersection between how society and the rise of social problems impact upon and are influenced by the occupational lives that people, as individuals and collectives, lead. It seems that in all domains of life - work, school, home, leisure, and others - people are having to navigate the challenges of adapting their current occupations or adapting to new occupations as they seek to maintain the health and well-being of themselves and those around them. It is in times of such uncertainty that the complexity of occupation, as central to social life, becomes more visible to a range of societal actors. Drawing on liberatory pedagogical theory in occupation-based learning, Simaan illuminates a classroom activity using his research on occupations associated with olive growing in Palestine

Forces and trauma associated with minimally invasive image-guided cochlear implantation

Objective. Minimally invasive image-guided cochlear implantation (CI) utilizes a patient-customized microstereotactic frame to access the cochlea via a single drill-pass. We investigate the average force and trauma associated with the insertion of lateral wall CI electrodes using this technique. Study Design. Assessment using cadaveric temporal bones. Setting. Laboratory setup. Subjects and Methods. Microstereotactic frames for 6 fresh cadaveric temporal bones were built using CT scans to determine an optimal drill path following which drilling was performed. CI electrodes were inserted using surgical forceps to manually advance the CI electrode array, via the drilled tunnel, into the cochlea. Forces were recorded using a 6-axis load sensor placed under the temporal bone during the insertion of lateral wall electrode arrays (2 each of Nucleus CI422, MED-EL standard, and modified MED-EL electrodes with stiffeners). Tissue histology was performed by microdissection of the otic capsule and apical photo documentation of electrode position and intracochlear tissue. Results. After drilling, CT scanning demonstrated successful access to cochlea in all 6 bones. Average insertion forces ranged from 0.009 to 0.078 N. Peak forces were in the range of 0.056 to 0.469 N. Tissue histology showed complete scala tympani insertion in 5 specimens and scala vestibuli insertion in the remaining specimen with depth of insertion ranging from 360° to 600°. No intracochlear trauma was identified. Conclusion. The use of lateral wall electrodes with the minimally invasive image-guided CI approach was associated with insertion forces comparable to traditional CI surgery. Deep insertions were obtained without identifiable trauma. © American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2014

Decolonising the curriculum is an ongoing and collective effort: Responding to Townsend (2020) and Gibson and Farias (2020)

This paper responds to Townsend (2020), and Gibson and Farias (2020), who were invited to write commentaries regarding Simaan’s (2020) ‘Decolonising occupational science education through learning activities based on a study from the Global South’. My reply acknowledges work done by scholars in the Global North and South, both in and outside occupational science, that critiques Western-centric hegemony in academia. It recognises the multiple aspects of decolonial work in occupational science education, and its collective and continuous nature. I argue that my objective of stimulating reflections and discussion about decolonising occupational science education and knowledge has been achieved by this collective effort to extend this discourse. Future reflections, research, and activism in this area are of paramount importance if we are to truly decolonise occupational science

Closed Loop Static Control of Multi-Magnet Soft Continuum Robots

This letter discusses a novel static control approach applied to magnetic soft continuum robot (MSCR). Our aim is to demonstrate the control of a multi-magnet soft continuum robot (SCR) in 3D. The proposed controller, based on a simplified yet accurate model of the robot, has a high update rate and is capable of real-time shape control. For the actuation of the MSCR, we employ the dual external permanent magnet (dEPM) platform and we sense the shape via fiber Bragg grating (FBG). The employed actuation system and sensing technique makes the proposed approach directly applicable to the medical context. We demonstrate that the proposed controller, running at approximately 300 Hz, is capable of shape tracking with a mean error of 8.5% and maximum error of 35.2%. We experimentally show that the static controller is 25.9% more accurate than a standard PID controller in shape tracking and is able to reduce the maximum error by 59.2%

Decolonising occupational science education through learning activities based on a study from the Global South

If occupational science education is to become more globally relevant, it must highlight more voices and practices from diverse communities. Learning about occupational justice from the perspectives of Global South communities addresses cognitive injustice and the need to decolonise occupational science education. This paper offers some critical reflections concerning the author’s pedagogic approach, and the ways his research about olive growing in Palestine (Simaan, 2018) informed students’ learning about occupational justice. It focuses on the processes in which students and lecturers engaged within a decolonising approach to occupational science education. A learning activity based on pedagogical processes of ‘conscientization’ (Freire, 1996), critical reflexivity (Whiteford & Townsend, 2011) and intercultural translation (Santos, 2014) is discussed, and lessons learnt by lecturer and students about themselves, their communities, and occupational science are reflected upon. Selected students’ reflections, which illustrate how they positioned themselves in relation to the community studied, and how they interrogated their own reactions to learning about daily lives in Palestine, are discussed. These processes demonstrate the benefits of highlighting local knowledge on occupational justice produced by Global South groups, and how this knowledge might begin to address cognitive injustice and the need to decolonise occupational science pedagogy. More empirical and theoretical work is needed in occupational science education regarding intercultural translations concerning occupational justice, and means of doing and knowing from diverse Global South perspectives

Two-photon parametric pumping versus two-photon absorption: A quantum jump approach

Published versio

Copper-catalyzed diastereo- and enantioselective desymmetrization of cyclopropenes: Synthesis of cyclopropylboronates

This document is the accepted manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Journal of American Chemical Society 136.45, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see DOI: 10.1021/ja510419zA novel Cu-catalyzed diastereo- and enantioselective desymmetrization of cyclopropenes to afford nonracemic cyclopropylboronates is described. Trapping the cyclopropylcopper intermediate with electrophilic amines allows for the synthesis of cyclopropylaminoboronic esters and demonstrates the potential of the approach for the synthesis of functionalized cyclopropanesWe thank the European Research Council (ERC-337776) and MINECO (CTQ2012-35957) for financial support. M. T. and A. P. thank MICINN for RyC and JdC contract