Methodism: A Religion for Plain People

The article argues that Methodism\u27s appeal to plain people lies in its simple, practical theology, its governance, its interest in social service, and its active clergy

Occupational Noise Dose Reduction via Behavior Modification Using In-Ear Dosimetry among United States Air Force Personnel Exposed to Continuous and Impulse Noise

In-ear dosimetry and noise exposure feedback were used to modify worker attitude and behavior regarding hearing protection use. The study specifically addressed whether providing in-ear noise exposure data to workers resulted in a reduction in average noise dose rate equivalent continuous levels. Nineteen combat arms instructors (impulse noise group) and heavy equipment operators (continuous noise group) working for the United States Air Force volunteered to participate in a six-month field study using in-ear dosimeters to collect daily noise level data. Participants served as their own control group, receiving periodic noise exposure feedback reports in the latter half of the study only. The control and feedback phase noise exposure data were examined using analysis of variance for differences that could be indicative of more effective hearing protection device use. Additionally, a 7-point Likert survey was used to monitor worker attitude towards hearing protection use, and worker medical histories were examined for evidence of previous hearing loss. Overall, this research found a significant reduction in noise dose rate equivalent continuous level (-2.5 dB with p = 0.019) for the continuous noise group following periodic noise exposure feedback on in-ear noise levels. This effect was not detected at the individual level due to limited samples. No effect was detected in the impulse noise population, likely due to limitations of dosimeter technology in response to impulse noise. No correlation between worker attitudes towards hearing protection and noise dose rate equivalent continuous level was detected for either group (continuous p = 0.249; impulse p = 0.478). While workers reported that in-ear dosimeters and noise exposure feedback helped them control their exposures, few reported using immediate feedback functions to control noise exposures within a work shift. These results indicate that in-ear dosimetry and noise exposure feedback could provide an effective tool to reduce worker noise exposures over time. However, advances in dosimeter technology are necessary before it can be evaluated for impulse noise. Additionally, further research is necessary to understand the link between worker attitude and hearing protection device use

Health Belief Effects on Preventive Health among Hispanic Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFWs) are the unhealthiest workers in the United States and experience barriers to preventive healthcare. While faced with numerous health risks, many Hispanic MSFWs may not seek preventive health services or have access to them when they need them. The purpose of this study, guided by the rural nursing theory, was to understand the beliefs/health seeking behaviors of MSFWs and how they described usage of preventive health services. Fourteen Hispanic farmworkers volunteered to do telephone or in person interviews. The codes and categories were reviewed to identify patterns and make connections between the data using Saldana’s cycle coding. Four main themes were revealed: definition of health, health beliefs, health behaviors, and usage of preventive health. Definition of health is a collection of phrases that farmworkers used to define what health meant to them individually. Health beliefs are phrase(s) that define how they saw the importance of health in their everyday life. Health behaviors are the activities they used to keep themselves healthy. Usage of preventive health services are explanatory phrases that described their health care choices and experiences. Nurses and other health care professionals can use the findings of this study to tailor healthcare strategies to reflect farmworker healthcare beliefs. Additional studies are needed in U.S. rural locations to gather more information about MSFW\u27s healthcare needs and beliefs on which to form evidence-based interventions. Positive social change may occur when farmworkers have routine preventive care improving patient-provider relationships, decreasing healthcare costs, and enhancing patient outcomes

An Abbreviated NAGPRA Inventory of the North Carolina Archaeological Collection

The Research Laboratories of Archaeology's inventory of human skeletal remains and associated and unassociated funerary objects from Native American sites in the North Carolina Archaeological Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Distance Dependence of Electron Transfer Kinetics for Azurin Protein Adsorbed to Monolayer Protected Nanoparticle Film Assemblies

The distance dependence and kinetics of the heterogeneous electron transfer (ET) reaction for the redox protein azurin adsorbed to an electrode modified with a gold nanoparticle film are investigated using cyclic voltammetry. The nanoparticle films are comprised of nonaqueous nanoparticles, known as monolayer-protected clusters (MPCs), which are covalently networked with dithiol linkers. The MPC film assembly serves as an alternative adsorption platform to the traditional alkanethiolate self-assembled monolayer (SAM) modified electrodes that are commonly employed to study the ET kinetics of immobilized redox proteins, a strategy known as protein monolayer electrochemistry. Voltammetric analysis of the ET kinetics for azurin adsorbed to SAMs of increasing chain length results in quasi-reversible voltammetry with significant peak splitting. We observed rate constants (k°ET) of 12−20 s−1 for the protein at SAMs of shorter alkanethiolates that decays exponentially (β = 0.9/CH2 or 0.8/Å) at SAMs of longer alkanethiolates (9−11 methylene units) or an estimated distance of 1.23 nm and is representative of classical electronic tunneling behavior over increasing distance. Azurin adsorbed to the MPC film platforms of increasing thickness results in reversible voltammetry with very little voltammetric peaks splitting and nearly negligible decay of the ET rate over significant distances up to 20 nm. The apparent lack of distance dependence for heterogeneous ET reactions at MPC film assemblies is attributed to a two-step mechanism involving extremely fast electronic hopping through the MPC film architecture. These results suggest that MPC platforms may be used in protein monolayer electrochemistry to create adsorption platforms of higher architecture that can accommodate greater than monolayer protein coverage and increase the Faradaic signal, a finding with significant implications for amperometric biosensor design and development

Monte-Carlo calculation of longitudinal and transverse resistivities in a model Type-II superconductor

We study the effect of a transport current on the vortex-line lattice in isotropic type-II superconductors in the presence of strong thermal fluctuations by means of 'driven-diffusion' Monte Carlo simulations of a discretized London theory with finite magnetic penetration depth. We calculate the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics for various temperatures, for transverse as well as longitudinal currents I. From these characteristics, we estimate the linear resistivities R_xx=R_yy and R_zz and compare these with equilibrium results for the vortex-lattice structure factor and the helicity moduli. From this comparison a consistent picture arises, in which the melting of the flux-line lattice occurs in two stages for the system size considered. In the first stage of the melting, at a temperature T_m, the structure factor drops to zero and R_xx becomes finite. For a higher temperature T_z, the second stage takes place, in which the longitudinal superconducting coherence is lost, and R_zz becomes finite as well. We compare our results with related recent numerical work and experiments on cuprate superconductors.Comment: 4 pages, with eps figure

Breadwinners and Homemakers: Migration and Changing Conjugal Expectations in Rural Bangladesh

The literature on marriage norms and aspirations across societies largely sees the institution as static – a tool for the assertion of masculinities and subordination of women. The changing meanings of marriage and conjugality in the contemporary context of globalisation have received scant attention. Based on research in rural Bangladesh, this article questions the usefulness of notions of autonomy and dependence in understanding conjugal relations and expectations in a context of widespread migration for extended periods, especially to overseas destinations, where mutuality is crucial for social reproduction, though in clearly genderdemarcated domains

Encounters with the moral economy of water: convergent evolution in Valencia

[EN] This article presents the results of comparative fieldwork on the huerta of Valencia in Spain, a successful community-managed irrigation system of medium scale, one governed collectively by thousands of small farmers organized into 10 autonomous but highly interdependent irrigator groups. The study tested a model identified previously in research on successful systems of much smaller scale in Peru, a set of principles of operation that, when affirmed by farmers and obeyed as collective-choice rules, interact to create equity among water rights and transparency in water use in an unusual way. The authors show that a nearly identical set are at work in all 10 communities of Valencia, revealing the unique manner in which these work together to promote successful and sustainable cooperation, both within and between the user groups, and arguing that their presence in Spain and the Andes is indicative, not of diffusion from one continent to another, but of independent invention. These principles together laid the foundations for separate Andean and Islamic hydraulic traditions, which were often manifested locally in robust and equitable systems of the same general type, here called the moral economy of water. This kind of communal system appears to have emerged repeatedly, and often independently, in a great many other locales and settings throughout the world; its adaptive dynamics are shown to be of great relevance to small farmers today as they face the growing scarcity of water being induced by population growth and by climate change.Trawick, P.; Ortega Reig, MV.; Palau-Salvador, G. (2014). Encounters with the moral economy of water: convergent evolution in Valencia. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water. 1(1):87-110. doi:10.1002/wat2.1008S871101

Differentiated legitimacy, differentiated resilience: beyond the natural in ‘natural disasters’

This paper starts with a flood in southern Malawi. Although apparently a ‘natural’ event, those most affected argued that it was made much worse by the rehabilitation of a nearby irrigation scheme. We use this example to interrogate the current interest in resilience from a perspective informed by political ecology and political economy, arguing that a focus on resilience should not be at the expense of understanding the conditions that shape vulnerability, including the ways in which ‘communities’ are differentiated. Complex factors are at play – and the ways in which these combine can result in a ‘perfect storm’ for some individuals and households. These factors include the effects of history combining with ethnicity, of legitimacy influencing voice, and of the interplay of political dynamics at different levels. In particular, processes of commodification have played an important role in shaping how some may benefit at the cost of catastrophic harm to others