Can mHealth Improve Risk Assessment in Underserved Populations? Acceptability of a Breast Health Questionnaire App in Ethnically Diverse, Older, Low-Income Women.

Background: Use of mobile health (mHealth) tools has expanded rapidly but little research has been done on its acceptability by low-income, diverse, older patient populations. Objective: To assess the attitudes of a diverse group of underserved women on the acceptability and usability of mHealth tools in a clinical setting using a breast health questionnaire application (app) at a public hospital mammography clinic. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted in a breast-imaging center of an urban safety net institution from July-August 2012. Interviews included pre- and post-questions. Women completed the Athena breast health questionnaire app on an iPad and were asked about their experience and ways to improve the tool. Results: Fifteen women age 45-75 years from diverse ethnic and educational backgrounds were interviewed. The majority of women, 11 of 15, preferred the Athena app over a paper version and all the women thought the app was easy to use. Two Spanish-speaking Latinas preferred paper; and two women, with limited mobile phone use, did not have a preference. Many women indicated that it would be necessary to have staff available for instruction and assistance if the app were to be implemented. Conclusions: mHealth tools are an acceptable, if not preferred, method of collecting health information for diverse, older, low-income women. Further studies are required to evaluate the reliability and accuracy of data collection using mHealth tools in underserved populations. mHealth tools should be explored as a novel way to engage diverse populations to improve clinical care and bridge gaps in health disparities

‘A Chain of Creation, Continuation, Continuity’ : Feminist dramaturgy and the matter of the sea

This article considers what remnants of the imaginary link established between the maternal and the sea might still be useful in feminist performance practice and theory. It does so by discussing a practice-as-research experiment that adapted strategies from Hélène Cixous’s écriture féminine–which performs a liquification of ordering structures in prose writing–into a dramaturgical form based on the logic of waves. The article goes on to suggest that such a dramaturgy recasts creation as a fluid state of becoming ex tempore, resisting the masculine-connoted vision of creation as an act of the singular genius ex nihilo. It further argues that drawing on a non-human phenomenon, the sea, to describe and theorise a type of dramaturgical composition might be read as a twofold attempt on the hegemony of patriarchal culture: through its associative link with the maternal body the creative potential of the feminine is revalued while at the same time the generative capacity of the non-human is recognised via Gaston Bachelard’s notion of the material imagination. The article concludes by proposing that the sea, together with its analogic association to the maternal, can be instated as a figure that gives temporary shape to an alternative vision of cultural production

Forschungsexzellenz in der Architektur: Standards zur Bewertung und Förderung der Forschung in den Architekturfachbereichen der Technischen Universitäten in Deutschland (TU9)

Vor dem Hintergrund großer gesellschaftlicher Herausforderungen ist die Profession und akademische Forschungsdisziplin Architektur aufgerufen, eine wesentliche Rolle im ökologi-schen Umbau des Bausektors und für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung lebenswerter gebauter Umwelten einzunehmen. Es besteht dabei großer Bedarf an grundlegender Forschung und an Innovation, die interdisziplinäre Zusammenarbeit und gesellschaftliche Wirkung im Einklang mit den Zielen für nachhaltige Entwicklung (SDGs) stärken können. Dieser Artikel zielt auf eine aggregierte Grundlage - vorderhand für die Architektur- fachbereiche der Technischen Universitäten (TU9) -, um innovative Forschungsleistungen in der Architektur fachbezogen und evidenzbasiert beurteilen zu können und um die Qualität und Exzellenz der Forschung in der Disziplin zu fördern. Ausgehend von der Analyse aktueller internationaler wissenschaftli-cher Debatten zu Forschung in der Architektur, erarbeitet die Studie Evidenz für Bewertungs-standards durch einen Vergleich von Praktiken in anderen großen europäischen Ländern und prominenten deutschen Förderorganisationen. Auf diese Weise können die gemeinsamen Herausforderungen der TU9-Architekturfachbereiche bei der Förderung von Forschung, für die allgemeine strategische Entwicklung und für das Argumentieren von Forschungsstärken innerhalb und außerhalb ihrer Universitäten auf einer soliden Bewertung aufgebaut werden. Die im Artikel dafür vorgeschlagenen Standards sind qualitative Peer-Review-Verfahren, in-formiert durch fachspezifische Aktivitätsindikatoren (activity indicators) und aufbauend auf einer Qualifizierung der für die Architektur charakteristischen großen Bandbreite an For-schungsoutputs (wie Ausstellungen, Performances, materielle/digitale Artefakte und Designs) und Publikationspraktiken. Die in der Fachkultur angelegte Ausrichtung auf kreative, experi-mentelle und kooperative Innovationsprozesse auch mit außeruniversitären Akteuren sowie die Fokussierung auf gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen und Kultur legen nahe, sowohl wissenschaftliche Qualität als auch gesellschaftlichen Impact als Kategorien in der Evaluie-rung anzusprechen. Darüber hinaus wird in dem Artikel argumentiert, dass zur Steigerung der Forschungsexzellenz in der Architektur verbesserte nationale und europäische Förder-schemen erforderlich sind. Angepasste Bewertungen und spezielle Programme für die Archi-tektur, die eine Brücke zwischen Ingenieurwesen, Design und Kunst schlagen, müssen mit der Förderung der Grundlagenforschung verbunden werden. Der Artikel fordert, dass innova-tive Forschungsbereiche in der Architektur als problemorientierte Grundlagenforschung zu betrachten sind, die im deutschen akademischen Umfeld noch nicht positioniert, strategisch entwickelt und angemessen evaluiert worden sind. Problemorientierte Grundlagenforschung in der Architektur erreicht Innovation durch die methodische Verbindung von erkenntnisorien-tierter, transferfähiger und praxisbezogener Forschung. In diesem Zusammenhang fordert der Beitrag auch eine Neujustierung der bestehenden Fächersystematik in der Forschungs-förderung. Der Artikel soll auch als Statement in der Diskussion für eine Reform der For-schungsbewertung in Europa dienen, die die Europäische Kommission 2021 angestoßen hat

Fighting the Other Within and Without: Confrontation as the Driving Force in the Work of Lydie Salvayre

Although the novels of the French writer Lydie Salvayre tend to be soliloquic, they are far from being mono-logical: founded on the clashes of different logics and systems of value, discourses and desires, they embody the protagonists' inherent antagonism and rage, reflecting the violence of the outside world. This study analyses some common matrixes underlying Salvayre’s prose. It focuses on the manifestations of resistance to either external or self-imposed oppressions, restrictions and mystifications. It aims to demonstrate that Salvayre’s novels not only represent subjects in permanent and incurable crises, but also challenge the very imperative of the subject's constitution through the foreclosure of the other, of what is outside the self.Salvayre’s texts are typically monologues in which an individual strives to affirm his or her distinct unicity and separation from the rest of the universe. These discourses are defensive, since the protagonists present themselves as endangered by an external element, oppressed in a relationship or socially marginalized. At the same time, they are sarcastic and often (self)destructive. In those cases where the word is given to more than one character, the interaction does not result in a dialogue but in a series of speeches which do not intersect. The subjects blindly plead their cause and recognize only aggression and malevolence in the others’ discourse. The most obvious example can be found in the novel The Cintegabelle Conference (La Conférence de Cintegabelle): a local intellectual delivers a lengthy, pompous and heavy lecture on what he calls the lost art of conversation—cultural heritage which was once preeminently French, and is today sadly abandoned. Ironically, he who speaks out as a defender of the conversational virtue, remains blatantly monological; although very careful not to lose his listeners, he does not leave them any time even to answer his questions, showing interest in nothing but his own voice. Another irony resides in his confession that he used to be bored by the conversations with his wife while she was alive, whereas now that she is dead, he converses with her regularly and with great satisfaction

Vaccination against Human Influenza A/H3N2 Virus Prevents the Induction of Heterosubtypic Immunity against Lethal Infection with Avian Influenza A/H5N1 Virus

Annual vaccination against seasonal influenza viruses is recommended for certain individuals that have a high risk for complications resulting from infection with these viruses. Recently it was recommended in a number of countries including the USA to vaccinate all healthy children between 6 and 59 months of age as well. However, vaccination of immunologically naïve subjects against seasonal influenza may prevent the induction of heterosubtypic immunity against potentially pandemic strains of an alternative subtype, otherwise induced by infection with the seasonal strains. Here we show in a mouse model that the induction of protective heterosubtypic immunity by infection with a human A/H3N2 influenza virus is prevented by effective vaccination against the A/H3N2 strain. Consequently, vaccinated mice were no longer protected against a lethal infection with an avian A/H5N1 influenza virus. As a result H3N2-vaccinated mice continued to loose body weight after A/H5N1 infection, had 100-fold higher lung virus titers on day 7 post infection and more severe histopathological changes than mice that were not protected by vaccination against A/H3N2 influenza. The lack of protection correlated with reduced virus-specific CD8+ T cell responses after A/H5N1 virus challenge infection. These findings may have implications for the general recommendation to vaccinate all healthy children against seasonal influenza in the light of the current pandemic threat caused by highly pathogenic avian A/H5N1 influenza viruses

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure