Levels Of Analysis Research Articles

(Co)meta-reflection as a method for the professional development of academic middle leaders in higher education

The professional development of middle leaders in higher education is little considered in existing research, though there are general concerns being raised about the suitability of the professional development opportunities currently available. This article develops and explores the use of meta-reflection as a method for professional development, particularly of academics with direct responsibilities for courses and programmes such as course leaders, directors and co-ordinators. As an extension of reflective practice, (co)meta-reflection is proposed as a joint activity involving two or more people, seeking to develop their thought and practice by moving from descriptive to analytical levels of reflection. We provide an example of a (co)meta-reflective exercise and identify it as an approach with considerable potential to address the problems that middle leaders face, and call for further exploration of it as a method for professional development.

Assessing the Power of China: Insights from the Conceptual Thinking about Power

The paper seeks to enrich the discussion of China’s power by critically engaging with existing literature on the topic, presenting a conceptual analysis of power, and suggesting a framework for future research. Firstly, it is shown that only a few scholarly publications approach China’s power in a more comprehensive and conceptually rigorous way, and even these still contain spaces for improvement. It is argued that the main fault of the existing literature on China’s power is confusion surrounding the concept of power. For this reason, secondly, the article presents a conceptual analysis of power and it puts forward a comprehensive framework suitable for analytical use in international relations. In this place, the article argues that an exhaustive assessment of state power should contain an analysis of state’s intentions, its sources of power on (at least) three analytical levels, and outcomes of interactions. Thirdly, an analysis of Chinese policies in the South China Sea is offered as an example of applying the framework to a concrete issue. Finally, the article identifies further directions for researching China’s power and foreign policy using the presented model of power.

Task Variation Within Occupations

This paper investigates trends in task usages within and between occupations, and the validity of assigning job task usages based on occupation code alone. Using data from the German Qualification and Career Survey, I assign analytical, interactive, and manual task usage levels to workers independent of their occupation. Task usages within occupation shifted nontrivially between the surveys considered, and individual characteristics such as age, education, gender, and hierarchical level differentially affect individual task usages and occupation‐mean task usages. Individual task usages are predictors of income, even when controlling for mean occupational task usages as well as worker and job characteristics.

Towards a typology of discourse-based approaches to language attitudes

This paper reviews discourse-based approaches to language attitudes in terms of their contributions to understanding the creation of socio-indexical meaning in metalinguistic discourse. It proposes a five-level typology of approaches which includes topic-oriented, linguistic, cognitive, interactional, and rhetorical analyses. The article discusses the ways in which different types of analyses expose various aspects of social-semiotic and meta-semiotic processes involved in constructions of sociolinguistic indexical relations in the local interactional and larger contextual frames. The paper argues in favor of integrated discourse-based approaches and illustrates the potential of a rhetorical approach to serve as a unifying framework for blending analytical levels.

Agreement between factor XIII activity and antigen assays in measurement of factor XIII: A French multicenter study of 147 human plasma samples.

Factor XIII (FXIII) deficiency is a rare hemorrhagic disorder whose early diagnosis is crucial for appropriate treatment and prophylactic supplementation in cases of severe deficiency. International guidelines recommend a quantitative FXIII activity assay as first-line screening test. FXIII antigen measurement may be performed to establish the subtype of FXIII deficiency (FXIIID) when activity is decreased. The aim of this multicenter study was to evaluate the analytical and diagnostic levels of performance of a new latex immunoassay, K-Assay® FXIII reagent from Stago, for first-line measurement of FXIII antigen. Results were compared to those obtained with the Berichrom® FXIII chromogenic assay for measurement of FXIII activity. Of the 147 patient plasma samples, 138 were selected for analysis. The accuracy was very good, with intercenter reproducibility close to 7%. Five groups were defined on FXIII activity level (<5% (n = 5), 5%-30% (n = 23), 30%-60% (n = 17), 60%-120% (n = 69), above 120% (n = 24)), without statistical differences between activity and antigen levels (P value >0.05). Correlation of the K-Assay® with the Berichrom® FXIII activity results was excellent (r = 0.919). Good agreement was established by the Bland and Altman method, with a bias of +9.4% on all samples, and of -1.4% for FXIII levels lower than 30%. One patient with afibrinogenemia showed low levels of Berichrom® FXIII activity but normal antigen level and clot solubility as expected. The measurement of FXIII antigen using the K-Assay® is a reliable first-line tool for detection of FXIII deficiency when an activity assay is not available.

La metáfora del lazo social en Jean-Jacques Rousseau y Émile Durkheim

Este artículo es un aporte teórico para la comprensión de la metáfora del lazo social. En sentido amplio, esta remite a la unión entre los individuos y a las diferentes formas que asume la identidad colectiva (“Estado”, “nación”, “pueblo”, etc.) en el seno de una sociedad determinada. En las últimas décadas ha llegado a convertirse en un tropo central en el ámbito de las ciencias sociales y las humanidades, aunque sus primeras apariciones se remontan a varios siglos atrás. En el artículo nos proponemos los siguientes objetivos: por un lado, analizar comparativamente los distintos usos y significados de esta metáfora en los discursos pioneros de Jean-Jacques Rousseau y Émile Durkheim —dos autores que además de haberla utilizado con frecuencia, le asignaron un papel fundamental en sus respectivas teorías—; y por otro lado, indagar en las implicaciones más generales de esta metáfora en tres planos de análisis diferenciados: el axiológico o valorativo, el epistemológico y el ontológico.

Hizb ut-Tahrir i Danmark og Storbritannien: Samtidige transnationale og nationale tendenser

This article discusses national and transnational tendencies in the global Islamist enterprise Hizb utTahrir. In the article, it is argued that one can find simultaneous national and transnational tendencies Hizb ut-Tahrir depending on what level of the organisation one studies. Thus, the article distinguishes between four analytical levels: an ideological level, an organisational level, a practical memberoriented level and finally a media-related level. On the ideological level, Hizb ut-Tahrir is transnational, and this is also reflected in self-perceptions among members. However, on the organisational and practical levels, the tendency is that national branches are becoming more and more different according to their different contexts. And also the media-related level of the organisation – internet activities and websites which by definition are not tied to territory and can address audiences world wide – turn out to be marked by local and national agendas and preferences to a growing extent.

Introduction

This introduction offers an initial account of the usefulness of an interdisciplinary encounter between the fields of linguistic anthropology and literary/cultural studies and, in doing so, introduces a series of key terms from linguistic anthropology and its way of studying language-in-use as a locus in which culture happens: nonreferential (or social) indexicality, entextualization, and metapragmatics. It establishes a set of common attitudes toward language and cultural production found in work by Bourdieu, Bakhtin, and a number of linguistic anthropologists (Michael Silverstein in particular). It suggests three analytical levels on which such an interdisciplinary encounter might take place: analysis of (1) works that themselves show an interest in language-in-use (for example, novels by writers such as Proust, Eliot, or Dostoevsky); (2) the “interactive text,” of which any given literary artifact could be said to be a precipitate (one construal of Bourdieu’s approach to an author like Flaubert); and (3) the role of the ongoing uptake of given language-based artifacts in maintaining and altering their meanings and values.

Nutrient Values for Ground Beef Products Ranging from 3 to 30% Fat for 4 Cooking Methods, from USDA Research Study

ObjectivesA research study was designed by the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) to obtain nutrient data for ground beef over a range of fat levels and to establish the relationship between the total fat and various nutrients, to update the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (SR).Materials and MethodsGround beef samples (n = 72) labeled from 3 to 30% fat, covering the range available in the retail market, were purchased from outlets throughout the U.S. according to a sampling plan developed for the National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program by NDL. Ground beef samples were cooked as patties (broiled and pan-broiled), baked loaves, and pan-browned crumbles. Samples were chemically analyzed for 23 nutrient components (proximates, cholesterol, fatty acids, seven vitamins, and ten minerals) by qualified laboratories using approved AOAC methodology and certified reference materials. Data were evaluated using mixed model regression analysis to obtain mean estimates for each of the components. A set of estimates was developed for each nutrient for ground beef products from 3 to 30% analytical raw fat, relating analytical raw fat level to analytical nutrient value after cooking. Nutrient estimates were made for all 4 cooking methods.ResultsValues for each nutrient (g/100 g) varied by cooking method and fat content. For example, among cooking methods, protein values in crumbles ranged from 25.6 to 29.5 (for 3 to 30% analytical raw fat levels) and from 22.9 to 26.0 (for 3 to 30% analytical raw fat levels) in pan-broiled patty. Cooked fat levels among cooking methods, for ground beef with 3 to 30% analytical raw fat levels, ranged from 3.65 to 16.44 in pan-broiled patty and from 4.0 to 16.50 in loaf. Positive linear relationships between analytical raw fat and cooked nutrient values were observed for calcium, sodium, folate, and thiamin, although the only significant linear coefficients (p < 0.05) were for calcium in broiled patty, loaf, and crumbles and for sodium in broiled patty, pan-broiled patty, and loaf. Linear relationships between analytical raw fat and cooked nutrient values were observed for most nutrient components, while these nutrients showed a quadratic relationship between analytical raw fat and cooked values: total fat, moisture, vitamin K, total saturated fatty acids, total monounsaturated fatty acids, and total polyunsaturated fatty acids. The quadratic coefficients were significant (p < 0.05), except for vitamin K and for moisture in loaf. For a few nutrients in specific cooking methods, estimated values were constant across the range of fat levels.ConclusionThe ratio of cooked moisture to cooked fat content differed at lower fat levels compared to higher fat levels, in a complex nonlinear manner. Meat scientists, nutrition professionals, and consumers can now obtain nutrient data for a wide range of cooked ground beef products for use in health research, nutrition policy, labeling, and food purchase and preparation decisions. Full nutrient profiles for retail ground beef for a range of values and cooking methods, which are based on regression analysis using data from these assays, are now available in SR. An interactive Ground Beef Calculator was developed to provide nutrient values for ground beef, raw and for the four specified cooking methods, for fat levels from 3 to 30%. These data are accessible at http://ndb.nal.usda.gov.

Policy learning and policy failure: definitions, dimensions and intersections

Policy failures present a valuable opportunity for policy learning, but public officials often fail to learn valuable lessons from these experiences. The studies in this volume investigate this broken link. This introduction defines policy learning and failure, and then organises the main studies in these fields along the key dimensions of: processes, products and analytical levels. We continue with an overview of the special issue articles, outlining where they sit in the wider literature and how they link learning and failure. We conclude sketching a research agenda linking policy scholars with policy practice.

Neoclassical realism: Realism for the 21st century

The author deals with neoclassical realism, the approach which emerged within the realist school of thought about international relations during the nineties of the last century. The goal of the paper is to consider the establishment and development of the approach during this decade and later in the 21st century, in order to show that it improved the realist school of thought and thus responded to the challenge that the end of the Cold War posed to it. This improvement consists of an integration of systemic level of analysis, on which neorealism insists, with unit level, from which classical realism and other IR schools of thought start. The author illustrates the application of neoclassical realism on the research of the topics relevant for the 21st century through the examples of several significant titles within the approach, but also citing his own application of the approach.

Produção da cidade: quais dados para quais questões?

O artigo é o resultado do seminário “Dinâmicas de urbanismo e representações espaciais: heurística dos dados e contexto”, organizado no âmbito do projeto USP-Cofecub entre as universidades de Lyon e de São Paulo. Propõe-se explorar os métodos e as fontes dos dados utilizados por três doutorandos que tratam da produção da cidade em diferentes trabalhos de campo no Brasil, na Itália e na França. Cada posicionamento é dirigido pela especificidade da pesquisa, do estado da arte no local do trabalho de campo e, sobretudo, pelo nível de análise da produção da cidade escolhido: o ator social envolvido, os meios e o território. Esses níveis possibilitaram estruturar questões específicas a fim de explorar dados diferentes para contribuir para uma compreensão global do fenômeno acerca da produção da cidade.

«Filosofía» de Rubén Darío, emblema de la renovación modernista

«Filosofía» es uno de los poemas más breves y enigmáticos de Rubén Darío. El texto fue publicado por vez primera en Cantos de vida y esperanza (1905). En este artículo se propone una lectura de este poema disidente en la que se atienda a diversos niveles de análisis: configuración métrica, recepción crítica y creativa, estructuras lógicas, simbolismo y sentido.

La autobiografía como aprendizaje esperado y comportamiento lingüístico en niños rurales mexicanos

130 autobiographies from sixth grade children from public countryside schools of the state of Morelos, México, were analyzed (66 male students and 64 female students). Taking as a reference the expected learning “Write an autobiography” which is part of “Text production” competence, from the official curriculum. The autobiographies were analyzed in two levels, as academic achievement (formal level) and as a psychological interaction (functional level). Within the first level, it was observed that only the 23.8% achieved all the curricular standards established. In the functional level of analysis, it was found that the children tend to refer more frequently to events from their scholar activities than from their family life. Furthermore, it was found that the curricular standards of the autobiography and the diversity of events referred by the children do not correlate, which suggests that the official curricular standards must be reviewed with the purpose to include a functional dimension in teaching autobiographical writing competence.

Analytical solutions for determining extreme water levels in surge tank of hydropower station under combined operating conditions

Combined operating condition usually refers to the control operating condition under which the highest and lowest water levels occur in a surge tank of hydropower station. In this paper, with the basic equations of surge analysis and nonlinear vibrational asymptotic method, analytical expressions of the worst superimposition time of surge waves in an upstream surge tank under four typical combined operating conditions (i.e. load-acceptance-then-rejection, successive load rejection, successive load acceptance and load-rejection-then-acceptance) are derived firstly. Then using these expressions, the analytical extreme water levels are determined. The analytical solutions are verified with numerical simulation results. Finally, the effect of the hydraulic resistance coefficient of surge tank on the control operating condition is investigated. The results indicate that: The analytical solutions for determining extreme water levels in surge tank under various combined operating conditions are accurate due to the good agreements between the analytical results and the numerical results. With the increase of the hydraulic resistance coefficient of surge tank, the control operating condition for the highest water level shifts from load-acceptance-then-rejection condition to successive load rejection condition, and the control operating condition for the lowest water level shifts from load-rejection-then-acceptance condition to successive load acceptance condition.

Anthropology and Immigration: Level of Analysis, Museums, and the Internet

Anthropology and Immigration: Level of Analysis, Museums, and the Internet

Spatial Resolution Improvement in GNSS-Based SAR Using Multistatic Acquisitions and Feature Extraction

This paper considers the exploitation of navigation satellite systems as opportunity transmitters for bistatic and multistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The simultaneous availability of multiple satellites over a scene of interest at different viewing angles allows multistatic SAR acquisitions using a single receiver on or near the ground. The resulting spatial diversity could be used to drastically improve image resolution or to enhance image information space. To exploit the availability of multiple satellites, two data fusion approaches are here considered. In the former, point features of the single images obtained from different perspectives are extracted and then combined, whereas in the latter, a multistatic image is first obtained by combining the single channel data at the image level and then the point features are extracted. This is achieved by considering ad hoc CLEAN-like techniques. These techniques have been developed on both the analytical and simulation levels and experimentally verified with real GNSS-based SAR imagery. The techniques described here are not limited to GNSS-based SAR but may be applied to any multistatic SAR system.

Precarious work and precarious workers: Towards an improved conceptualisation

AbstractDiscussion of the implications of precarious work for individual workers remains hesitant and often confused. A clear conceptualisation would separate out five analytical levels: precariousness in employment, precarious work, precarious workers individually and as an emerging class, and precarity as a general condition of social life. To illustrate the need to avoid slippage between the concepts of precarious work and precarious workers, we present one ‘theory-relevant’ example – full-time secondary school students in Australia who hold part-time jobs in the retail sector. Their part-time jobs are indeed precarious but the negative effects on the student-workers are modest, both because participation in precarious work is limited (moderate weekly hours and intermittent work within the framework of a brief stage of the life course) and because many (though not all) of the associated risks are cushioned by structural forces such as access to alternative income sources and career paths. At the same time, however, a longitudinal perspective reveals that the same group of student-workers faces major risks in the future, as a result of increasingly insecure labour markets. Reflections on this example help to identify conceptual tools that can be applied to a wide range of other examples of precarious work.

Exposição e significação: uma análise sobre os retratos de prisioneiros do Camboja

Este artigo busca discutir as diferenças nos modos de exibição de fotografias como produção de formas distintas de compreensão das imagens. O exemplo dos retratos de prisioneiros políticos do Camboja é o ponto de partida para se compreender que as escolhas expográficas relativas a essas imagens podem valorizá-las tanto do ponto de vista estético quanto político. Apresenta-se, portanto, diferentes níveis de análise que organizam melhor a reflexão sobre o sentido das imagens em seu contexto expográfico.

Natural resource industry involvement in collaboration for water governance: influence on processes and outcomes in Canada

Natural resource industries are increasingly significant actors in environmental decision-making. Possessing vast institutional and technical capacity, firms have an important role to play in ‘new’ governance strategies such as collaboration. These strategies are often based upon assumptions of equitable influence. This paper investigates the nature of resource industry participation in collaborative water governance in Canada, and the potential consequences of that participation as investigated using power theory. The study used comparative cases to reveal that resource industries are able to shape collaboration, and the issues collaborated upon, at multiple analytical levels both internal and external to the collaborative process in ways not available to other actors. Analysis also revealed that resource industry participation in collaboration did not reflect a commitment to engage in shared learning and the reexamination of values and interests as presupposed by collaborative theory. Collaboration is thus challenged in producing equitable, representative outcomes when resource industries participate.