Social Constructionism

The core tenet of the social constructionist approach is that how we understand and even perceive the world and the objects (including people) and events within it does not necessarily reflect the nature of that world but rather is a product of how the world is represented or produced through language. Thus, for example, what we perceive as a tree is, from the social constructionist’s perspective, largely a consequence of how classifications (such as ‘flowers’, ‘shrubs’ and ‘weeds’) are produced through language rather than being a natural consequence of our perceptual capabilities. This is not to suggest that trees do not have various “natural” characteristics that could be identified and charted, but rather that what are deemed to be the defining characteristics of trees are primarily a product of language. This argument is perhaps best exemplified by the use of social rather than naturally occurring phenomena. Take, for example, the current preoccupation in the media, and perhaps society more generally, with body size and what counts as thin versus fat. While it is probably the case that society has noted differences in body size from time immemorial, its salience or importance as a primary defining characteristic of individuals is more recent. Hence, while all objects (including people) in the world have definite properties, for social constructionists, what is more interesting is why certain properties assume importance and, critically, are then used as the basis for social or scientific evaluation (we will return to this idea below)

Discipline and punish? Strategy discourse, senior manager subjectivity and contradictory power effects

Responding to calls for a more localized and dispersed conceptualization of power in the study of strategy discourse and its power effects, this paper examines how such effects undermine and contradict each other in a mundane, routine interaction: a research interview between a corporate elite actor and one of the authors. Using a Foucauldian inspired discursive psychology approach to provide a critical analysis of brief stretches of talk in a research interview, we expose the inherent instability and contingency of strategy discourse as it is used to construct accounts of corporate success, failure and senior manager subjectivity. Our core contribution is to show that resistance to strategy discourse is discernible not only through how lower level or other actors contest or undermine this discourse, but also by observing the efforts of corporate elites to manage temporary breakdowns (Sandberg and Tsoukas, 2011) which disrupt the background consensus which ordinarily provides strategy discourse with its “taken-for-granted” quality. Resistance, we argue, is not only an intentional and oppositional practice but inheres within the fine grain of strategy discourse itself, manifested as a “hindrance and stumbling block” (Foucault, 1978) in the highly occasioned and local level of mundane interaction

The social construction of policing : discourse, gender and identity.

The aim of this thesis was to examine how male and female police officers constitute policing as both a profession and an identity through discourses, and to provide a theoretical explanation both of the act of self-constitution and of how discourses are reproduced, maintained or changed during the construction of accounts of work experiences. A second aim was to explain why policewomen express contentment with a status quo that is often culturally constructed as oppressive. Using a form of discourse analysis based on Foucauldian principles, it is argued that the nature of policing as a profession and an identity is a contested and highly political domain, and these tensions are revealed in the ways individuals attempt to construct their identities within the web of discursive resources available. Dominant constructions of policing do prevail, but there is a hegemonic struggle at the individual and relational levels of discourse (Fairclough, 1992) that opens up spaces where the position of female officers, with regards to promotion and retention, may be facilitated over time. It is suggested that because female officers are targeted with a host of discrediting discourses concerning their motivation, ambitions and credibility, this motivates them to construct positive accounts of their experiences in order to enable them to take up subject positions in dominant discourses of liberal democracy: specifically, those that emphasise the autonomy and integrity of the self. It is therefore argued that selfconstitution at the level of identity reproduces hegemonic discourses at the ideational level (Fairclough, 1992) mediated by the relational operation of discourse within the interactional context

The Question of Safety: An Exploration of Errors among Undergraduate Nursing Students Placed on Clinical Learning Contracts

This study was conducted to understand patient safety from an educationsystems perspective (Gregory, Guse, Davidson Dick, Russell, 2007). Within the health care system, addressing patient safety from a systems perspective is receiving increasing attention and action. In contrast, nursing education has primarily addressed patient-safety matters from an individual student, rather than a systems-based perspective. Understanding the impact of nursing education systems on students, with respect to patient safety, remains significantly under-researched. A systems perspective entails “looking within” and reviewing how existing program structures and processes (eg., curriculum, sequencing of courses, student access to skills labs, clinical practice models, math calculation tests, etc.) foster or undermine patient safety among nursing students. The findings from this study revealed that patient safety was narrowly understood by the majority of stakeholder groups as “safe patient care.” With few exceptions among the participants, patient safety was equated to safe medication administration (notably, the Five Rights).The Manitoba Institute for Patient Safety (MIPS). Faculty Endowment Fund, Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba. In addition, the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) provided a research studentship to support one of the research assistants (Katherine Egan)

Non-conformance with regulatory codes in the non-profit sector: accountability and the discursive coupling of means and ends

The concept of means-ends decoupling has recently been suggested as one consequence of the problems organizations face in trying to comply with institutional rules in contexts of institutional complexity. Such decoupling is characterised by the adoption, implementation and scrutiny of particular codes of practice which tend not to deliver the outcomes they were developed to produce. Recent scholarship focusing on this issue has suggested that such decoupling is a consequence of the “trade-off” organizations need to make between compliance and goal achievement most especially when the latter is difficult to evaluate. While recent scholarship has suggested that this tension might be mitigated by the activities of developers of compliance rules, in this paper, we explore how actors internal to an organization, in this case, two charitable organizations mitigate this tension via non-conformance with particular codes. We focus on how the process of accounting for non-conformance results in the discursive coupling of means and ends as actors creatively develop vocabularies of motive which respond to anticipated social criticism

Further investigation of confirmed urinary tract infection (UTI) in children under five years: a systematic review.

Background: Further investigation of confirmed UTI in children aims to prevent renal scarring and future complications. Methods: We conducted a systematic review to determine the most effective approach to the further investigation of confirmed urinary tract infection (UTI) in children under five years of age. Results: 73 studies were included. Many studies had methodological limitations or were poorly reported. Effectiveness of further investigations: One study found that routine imaging did not lead to a reduction in recurrent UTIs or renal scarring. Diagnostic accuracy: The studies do not support the use of less invasive tests such as ultrasound as an alternative to renal scintigraphy, either to rule out infection of the upper urinary tract (LR- = 0.57, 95%CI: 0.47, 0.68) and thus to exclude patients from further investigation or to detect renal scarring (LR+ = 3.5, 95% CI: 2.5, 4.8). None of the tests investigated can accurately predict the development of renal scarring. The available evidence supports the consideration of contrast-enhanced ultrasound techniques for detecting vesico-ureteric reflux (VUR), as an alternative to micturating cystourethrography (MCUG) (LR+ = 14.1, 95% CI: 9.5, 20.8; LR- = 0.20, 95%CI: 0.13, 0.29); these techniques have the advantage of not requiring exposure to ionising radiation. Conclusion: There is no evidence to support the clinical effectiveness of routine investigation of children with confirmed UTI. Primary research on the effectiveness, in terms of improved patient outcome, of testing at all stages in the investigation of confirmed urinary tract infection is urgently required

Histological basis of laminar MRI patterns in high resolution images of fixed human auditory cortex

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of the auditory region of the temporal lobe would benefit from the availability of image contrast that allowed direct identification of the primary auditory cortex, as this region cannot be accurately located using gyral landmarks alone. Previous work has suggested that the primary area can be identified in magnetic resonance (MR) images because of its relatively high myelin content. However, MR images are also affected by the iron content of the tissue and in this study we sought to confirm that different MR image contrasts did correlate with the myelin content in the grey matter and were not primarily affected by iron content as is the case in the primary visual and somatosensory areas. By imaging blocks of fixed post-mortem cortex in a 7 Tesla scanner and then sectioning them for histological staining we sought to assess the relative contribution of myelin and iron to the grey matter contrast in the auditory region. Evaluating the image contrast in T2*-weighted images and quantitative R2* maps showed a reasonably high correlation between the myelin density of the grey matter and the intensity of the MR images. The correlation with T1-weighted phase sensitive inversion recovery (PSIR) images was better than with the previous two image types, and there were clearly differentiated borders between adjacent cortical areas in these images. A significant amount of iron was present in the auditory region, but did not seem to contribute to the laminar pattern of the cortical grey matter in MR images. Similar levels of iron were present in the grey and white matter and although iron was present in fibres within the grey matter, these fibres were fairly uniformly distributed across the cortex. Thus we conclude that T1- and T2*-weighted imaging sequences do demonstrate the relatively high myelin levels that are characteristic of the deep layers in primary auditory cortex and allow it and some of the surrounding areas to be reliably distinguished

Structural and effective connectivity reveals potential network-based influences on category-sensitive visual areas

Visual category perception is thought to depend on brain areas that respond specifically when certain categories are viewed. These category-sensitive areas are often assumed to be modules (with some degree of processing autonomy) and to act predominantly on feedforward visual input. This modular view can be complemented by a view that treats brain areas as elements within more complex networks and as influenced by network properties. This network-oriented viewpoint is emerging from studies using either diffusion tensor imaging to map structural connections or effective connectivity analyses to measure how their functional responses influence each other. This literature motivates several hypotheses that predict category-sensitive activity based on network properties. Large, long-range fiber bundles such as inferior fronto-occipital, arcuate and inferior longitudinal fasciculi are associated with behavioural recognition and could play crucial roles in conveying backward influences on visual cortex from anterior temporal and frontal areas. Such backward influences could support top-down functions such as visual search and emotion-based visual modulation. Within visual cortex itself, areas sensitive to different categories appear well-connected (e.g., face areas connect to object- and motion sensitive areas) and their responses can be predicted by backward modulation. Evidence supporting these propositions remains incomplete and underscores the need for better integration of DTI and functional imaging

Human subcortical brain asymmetries in 15,847 people worldwide reveal effects of age and sex

The two hemispheres of the human brain differ functionally and structurally. Despite over a century of research, the extent to which brain asymmetry is influenced by sex, handedness, age, and genetic factors is still controversial. Here we present the largest ever analysis of subcortical brain asymmetries, in a harmonized multi-site study using meta-analysis methods. Volumetric asymmetry of seven subcortical structures was assessed in 15,847 MRI scans from 52 datasets worldwide. There were sex differences in the asymmetry of the globus pallidus and putamen. Heritability estimates, derived from 1170 subjects belonging to 71 extended pedigrees, revealed that additive genetic factors influenced the asymmetry of these two structures and that of the hippocampus and thalamus. Handedness had no detectable effect on subcortical asymmetries, even in this unprecedented sample size, but the asymmetry of the putamen varied with age. Genetic drivers of asymmetry in the hippocampus, thalamus and basal ganglia may affect variability in human cognition, including susceptibility to psychiatric disorders

Fc Effector Function Contributes to the Activity of Human Anti-CTLA-4 Antibodies.

With the use of a mouse model expressing human Fc-gamma receptors (FcγRs), we demonstrated that antibodies with isotypes equivalent to ipilimumab and tremelimumab mediate intra-tumoral regulatory T (Treg) cell depletion in vivo, increasing the CD8+ to Treg cell ratio and promoting tumor rejection. Antibodies with improved FcγR binding profiles drove superior anti-tumor responses and survival. In patients with advanced melanoma, response to ipilimumab was associated with the CD16a-V158F high affinity polymorphism. Such activity only appeared relevant in the context of inflamed tumors, explaining the modest response rates observed in the clinical setting. Our data suggest that the activity of anti-CTLA-4 in inflamed tumors may be improved through enhancement of FcγR binding, whereas poorly infiltrated tumors will likely require combination approaches