Multimodal textbook design : analyzing the construction of the discourses of pharmacology

Includes bibliographical references.The aim of the research is to contribute to a pedagogy of Multiliteracies in the context of Health Sciences. A Multiliteracies approach sees text in terms of a process of 'redesigning' meaning from a range of available resources. These include multimodal semiotic resources such as visual and verbal modes, as well as particular discursive and social practices that the text draws upon. The study originates from a disagreement over which Pharmacology textbook fourth year medical students should use. The founding argument is that a Pharmacology textbook can be seen as constructing the discourses of the 'prescribing physician' As such, it simultaneously constructs and bears imprints of particular ideologies, discursive formations and social relations which are relevant in the field of medicine and science, as well as those from private and public life-worlds. As a teacher, I am interested in how the textbooks' ideologies contribute to or contest that of the new problem-based medical curriculum. I also analyze the respective designs in terms of their accessibility and suitability specifically for undergraduate medical students. The theoretical framework is provided by Fairclough's notion of 'orders of discourse' together with Halliday's metafunctional view of text, and is operationalized through a social semiotic analysis of sections of two textbooks. The textbooks analyzed are 'Pharmacology' by Rang et al ('Rang'), and 'the Oxford Textbook of Clinical Pharmacology and Drug therapy' ('Oxford'). I focus on the grammatical system of transitivity to construct the respective textbooks' views of social reality, and I use an analysis of modality in the texts to construct the social relations between writers, readers and the subject of Pharmacology. The analytical 'toolkit' includes verbal as well as visual semiotic resources within a framework of textual coherence. The study concludes that while Rang constructs social relations and identities that resonate with a contemporary society, its interest in Pharmacology is scientific rather than clinical. Furthermore, its design features may limit access specifically for undergraduate medical students. Oxford, on the other hand, is dominated by the discourses of clinical medicine and medical education. It constructs the subject of Pharmacology in terms of therapy or 'process', rather than in terms of drugs or 'products', and in this sense may be more suitable as a 'tutor'. However, it does not prepare the student for critical engagement with the changing social realities and relations of power in a post-Fordist society. The value of the study is two-fold. Firstly, it reiterates the importance of critical reflection on the various aspects of a curriculum. This includes reflection on alignment between the ideologies of textbooks and that of the new curriculum, and between curricular objectives, activities and assessment practices. Secondly, it has led to the operationalizing of a metalanguage of design, specifically in a Health Sciences context. This metalanguage may be used not l ' only for improving the communicative value of students' assignments, but also to expand their cultural perspectives through critical engagement with aspects of social identities and relations

I’m Bringing Notice Back: Registration Alone Is Not Enough to Prompt Accrual of a Copyright Claim

On November 14, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held, in Wilson v. Dynatone Publishing Co., that copyright registration alone is not enough to trigger accrual of an ownership claim. In so doing, the Second Circuit concluded that mere registration does not put a rational and attentive copyright owner on notice of adverse claims. The Second Circuit determined that holding otherwise would impose an onerous and impractical burden on authors to investigate the Copyright Office registry continuously to insure against registered illegitimate claims of authorship. Furthermore, the Second Circuit reasoned that such a holding would run counter to the purpose of § 205 of the Copyright Act. Thus, the Second Circuit joined the Third, Sixth, and Seventh Circuits in a split from the First Circuit, which interpreted § 205(c) to mean that registration is enough to put others on constructive notice of the author’s ownership. As a result of the First Circuit’s ruling, an author would be time-barred from asserting competing claims more than three years after another registered for sole ownership. This Comment argues that the Second Circuit’s approach is correct because it furthers the legislative intent of the Copyright Act and distinguishes the unique facts of the First Circuit case. The Second Circuit’s approach also promotes the protections of the copyright registration system by encouraging authors to register their creative works, while not imposing unrealistic obligations upon copyright owners that actually could deter registration

The Body of the Collective and the Changing Fortunes of Utopia in the New Cuban Art

The ‘New Cuban Art’ counted among its practitioners collectives whose work enacted various forms of quasi-utopian schemes during the decades from the 1980s-2000s. this article discusses some of those projects

The relationship between restaurant attribute satisfaction and return intent in theme restaurants

Theme restaurants were designed to provide their customers with a meal coupled with an entertaining experience (Bagli, 1998). After a rapid rise in popularity in the early to mid 1990\u27s, theme restaurants began to experience a decline in market share. As the theme restaurant segment experiences the downsizing of many once popular brands, it is imperative that the industry segment investigate customer satisfaction with restaurant attributes in order to assess which areas are in need of improvement. Although much research has been conducted on customer satisfaction in the service industries, none has focused on the theme restaurant industry in particular. Expectancy disconfirmation theory has been adopted in order to assess customer satisfaction with theme restaurant attributes. This study adds to the existing body of customer satisfaction literature by examining four theme restaurant attributes and their influence on return intent. The restaurant attributes of interest in this study are food quality, service quality, atmosphere, and novelty; Findings and conclusion. This study has provided empirical results indicating that customer satisfaction with the theme restaurant attributes food quality and atmosphere is influential in determining return intent. These findings support previous research showing a link between customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The present research provides a contribution to the field by providing insight into the repeat purchase behavior of theme restaurant patrons. It expands the current body of literature on customer satisfaction by examining an industry segment that has not been previously researched

The Forfeiture Forecast After \u3cem\u3eTimbs\u3c/em\u3e: Cloudy with a Chance of Offender Ability to Pay

On February 20, 2019, the United States Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision in Timbs v. Indiana by unanimously holding that the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause applies to states as incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. In so doing, the Court armed state litigants with a seemingly powerful constitutional protection against civil asset forfeiture. In reality, however, the Timbs decision raised far more questions than it resolved. Justice Ginsburg’s majority opinion implicitly endorsed Court precedent that would limit forfeiture assessment to a gross disproportionality standard. Yet the opinion also chronicled the history of civil forfeiture to emphasize the long-established practice of considering a defendant’s ability to pay when imposing fines. In practice, these two metrics—the Court’s past treatment of forfeitures and customary Anglo-American safeguards in assessing individual fines—conflict with one another. Thus, the Timbs decision provides little guidance for practitioners with respect to the manner in which state courts will apply the U.S. Constitution’s Excessive Fines Clause to civil in rem forfeitures. By affording state courts the option to consider an offender’s financial capability in an Excessive Fines Clause analysis, without outlining a concrete test for how to do so, the Court only has exacerbated the existing widespread divergence among lower courts. This Note argues that the Supreme Court missed a critical opportunity to right the sinking ship of civil forfeiture, by failing to anchor its analysis squarely within the Eighth Amendment framework and leaving unchecked the significant power of this prosecutorial tool. Given the renewed doctrinal confusion that is likely to emerge from Timbs, now is an optimal time for litigants to challenge civil forfeiture actions. Through precise legal actions, individuals finally may compel the Court to adopt a clear and holistic Excessive Fines Clause analysis, in which an offender’s ability to pay is rightfully recognized

Call Me Golden: A Short Film

CHARLOTTE BRAWN is a freshman in college who struggles with an undiagnosed anxiety and depression. After CHARLOTTE and her best friend LILY from high school come to college together and LILY gets romantically involved with a boy, CHARLOTTE is left by herself to find out who she truly is in this modern coming-of-age short film. With the guidance and encouragement of her philosophy professor, she is able to learn more about her identity, resources and coping mechanisms and starts to branch out beyond her comfort zone

Stable, Affordable Housing Supports Young Children's Health in Philadelphia

Children's HealthWatch researchers analyzed survey data collected from caregivers in Phildelphia between 2005 and 2011. In the sample of 4,500 families, Children's HealthWatch found that about 56% of families were housing insecure. Housing insecurity is associated with poor health outcomes in very young children. Short-and long term interventions that help stabilize families in affordable housing will improve the health and development of Philadelphia's youngest children

Video capture virtual reality as a flexible and effective rehabilitation tool

Video capture virtual reality (VR) uses a video camera and software to track movement in a single plane without the need to place markers on specific bodily locations. The user's image is thereby embedded within a simulated environment such that it is possible to interact with animated graphics in a completely natural manner. Although this technology first became available more than 25 years ago, it is only within the past five years that it has been applied in rehabilitation. The objective of this article is to describe the way this technology works, to review its assets relative to other VR platforms, and to provide an overview of some of the major studies that have evaluated the use of video capture technologies for rehabilitation