Journal club — a forum of discussion for scientific dialectics

In the sometimes hectic routines of daily academic work, it can be difficult to find opportunities for naturally creative encounters with our colleagues, where we can jointly focus methodological issues in research. Where do we find the time and place for constructive discussions on published research? And how can we foster such meetings? As a senior lecturer and researcher, I have a strong interest in research seminars in the field of clinical activity, as well as long-standing experience of coordinating and leading such seminars. I also gained extensive knowledge of seminar dynamics from my doctoral studies at the University of Linköping. Over the years, I have developed a particular way of working with seminars, aiming to contribute to the establishment of interdisciplinary research groups at the School of Health and Social Science, at Halmstad University. One of my ideas was to take advantage of the privileged position of our university, and the fact that it hosts a scientific journal and its Editor-in-Chief, Professor Lillemor Hallberg. This is why I started the Journal Club in 2006—the same year that the International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being was launched. Initially, I simply sent an invitation to my fellow researchers at the School of Health and Social Science, explaining the purpose of the meetings. The idea was to use the Journal Club to discuss selected articles from the International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, and critically examine them. It is essential that the articles are distributed to participants well in advance, and that participants have had time to read the contents, so they are prepared to critically examine the aims, methods and results of the discussed articles. My vision with the meetings at the Journal Club was to give added impetus to scientific dialectics at the School, to develop a critical approach and deepen methodological understanding. We need a continuous reflection concerning qualitative research approaches and various standpoints with respect to research ethics, in order to increase methodological awareness in our research. In this way, the monthly seminars contribute to developing our competencies as researchers, as well as keeping our knowledge up-to-date. Another aim of the Journal Club is to be a discussion forum for interdisciplinary research issues, relating to health, life-styles, well-being and the quality of life. Uniting a critical mass at our school, and bringing about an engaging discussion, allows us to test our ideas in a stimulating dialogue with colleagues. It also provides an opportunity to widen and deepen our understanding of current issues. The Journal Club has met since the autumn term 2006, always on the same day of the week, at the same time and place, at the School of Health and Social Science. The objective is to give these encounters a “club feeling”, and to shape a tradition of a recurrent event at the School. Before each seminar at the Journal Club, an invitation is sent to all teaching and research staff at the School. The availability of the most recent articles from the International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, combined with the Editor-in-Chief's contribution to the seminars, gives the meetings an additional dimension, and strengthens the impact that the Journal Club has at Halmstad University. The role of the Club is also strengthened by the important position that the International Journal of Qualitative Studies occupies on our own nursing programmes, both at junior and senior levels. The articles are widely used and discussed on our Nursing science and Methods courses

After WikiLeaks: lessons for journalism (guest blog)

Some reflections on our After Wikileaks panel discussion at the POLIS Journalism Conference: Media & Power By Svenja Ziegert The “After WikiLeaks” panel discussion at the Polis Journalism Conference was inspiring in many ways. Firstly, because it dealt with questions of journalistic challenges that have resulted from the information leaks. And secondly, because it became clear that the value of studying media at university is growing

The Role of Ethnic Enclaves on the Integration Process of Modern Immigrants: Case Studies in Columbus, Ohio and France

Today\u27s modern world is experiencing a great exchange of people, which has implications for the immigrant identity as well as the national identity of the countries to which they move. Ethnic enclaves are neighborhoods in urban areas that have a high ethnic population and/or a specific cultural identity. Enclaves are predominately composed of immigrant populations and can provide them with networks of social capital, knowledge, economics, and culture and may impact their integration process into a new host society. This research study explores the influence of ethnic enclaves on the immigrant integration process and immigrants\u27 navigation of personal and national identity through case studies in Columbus, Ohio and France. The research focuses on the degree of immigrants\u27 integration based on six factors of the immigrant life experience: level of language proficiency of the host country, employment status, education level, income level, specific attachment to certain racial and/or ethnic groups, and amount of time spent in the host country. This study seeks to understand the diversity of the immigrant integration process and critically analyzes the differences of this process between the United States and France. By utilizing data collected through seven interviews, the present study indicates that not all immigrants need to rely on ethnic enclaves for such support, specifically those immigrants with high levels of educational attainment or skill as entrepreneurs

Digital campaigning: day of reckoning

With the rise of the Tea Party and the decline in President Obama’s ratings, the upcoming US mid-term elections are going to be crucial. So two years after the triumph of Obama’s Internet-fuelled campaign it is a good time to debate the role of digital politics. Polis brought together ePolitics founder Colin Delany, a veteran of 15 years in the digital politics space, and UK political analyst, Anthony Painter, who has written a book about the US 2008 campaign, too

Structure-dynamics relations in mixtures of highly charged polymer colloid dispersions

In this work structure-dynamics relations in mixtures of highly charged, spherical polymer colloids are investigated. Experimental access is provided by light scattering experiments, that enable a selective determination of partial structure factors and intermediate scattering functions by index-matching. To adjust the refractive index of water/glycerol mixtures to that of the polymer particles, a new class of copolymer particles is developed as model system. Integral equations and Brownian Dynamics are employed for a theoretical description and compared to experimental light scattering data

Hybrid Command Issuing in a 2-Dof Servomechanism Operated Under Vision-Based Feedback Control

This paper presents a new method for generating motion commands in a 2 degree-of-freedom (DOF) vision-based position control system. The control system uses a fixed digital camera to direct-observe the multi-dimensional position of a known target displayed on an Liquid Cristal Display (LCD) and determines the position of the tool based on this information. This system, implemented on an XY-stage, was first introduced in Wong [1], and further investigated in Montes & Ziegert [2] and Montes et al. [3]. Previous results demonstrated sensor resolutions on the order of 3 µm; however the resolution of motion commands was constrained to values on the order of hundreds of microns due to the physical characteristics of the LCD picture elements (or pixels). The new method presented here overcomes this constraint and allows generation of motion commands as small as 3 µm. Simulation results are provided

BOOK REVIEW

Developing grounded theory. The second generation is a very useful and clarifying book arisen from a one-day symposium on advances in qualitative methods in Alberta, 2007. The conference was sponsored by the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology (IIQM). For the first time, the students of Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss, “the second generation” of grounded theory researchers, met to discuss grounded theory and its developments. With the exception of Janice Morse, the authors of this book worked directly with Anselm Strauss and Barney Glaser. In this volume they provide a description of the history, principles and practice of the grounded theory methods