Broad Focus Research Articles

Modernizing Composition: Sinhala Song, Poetry, and Politics in Twentieth- Century Sri Lanka by Garrett M. Field

Reviewed by: Modernizing Composition: Sinhala Song, Poetry, and Politics in Twentieth- Century Sri Lanka by Garrett M. Field Eshantha Peiris (bio) Modernizing Composition: Sinhala Song, Poetry, and Politics in Twentieth- Century Sri Lanka. Garrett M. Field. South Asia across the Disciplines. Oakland: University of California Press, 2017. xii + 213 pp., b&w illustrations, music, bibliography, index. ISBN: 9780520294714 (paperback), $34.95. Garrett Field’s monograph Modernizing Composition: Sinhala Song, Poetry, and Politics in Twentieth- Century Sri Lanka is a study of Sinhala- language song and poetry from 1900 to 1964 that examines how male songwriters and poets of Sinhalese ethnicity modernized their creative output in response to colonial and postcolonial formations. This broad focus constitutes an attempt to bridge the artificial compartmentalization in Western academia that relegates the study of South Asian musics to ethnomusicology and the study of texts to South Asian studies. While many Sinhala speakers will be familiar with the examples and narratives discussed in the book—given their inclusion in the Sri Lankan national secondary- school curriculum—Field moves beyond the isolationist tendencies common in Sri Lanka studies to consider the implications of these cultural histories for interpretating the historical rise of nation- states around the world. The arguments made in this book also serve to nuance some of the foundational theories of postcolonial studies and to bring Western academic insights into dialogue with Sinhala scholarly exegeses. Field’s fluency in spoken and written Sinhala makes his textual analyses rich for both specialists and general readers. Prior to the twentieth century, Sinhala poetry in Sri Lanka was presented to the public through sung performance, similar to other poetic/literary traditions found across the premodern world. Memorization of Sinhala verses was enabled by standard poetic meters and rhyme schemes, which in different eras responded to a variety of poetic conventions rooted in the scriptural language traditions of Sanskrit and Pali (Kulatillake 1976). Among the many labels associated with historical Sinhala poetry, the terms gī and sindu are still used today, referring to what we might now call “song.” As noted in Modernizing Composition, practical distinctions between song (as something sung and heard) and poetry (as something written and silently read) can be traced to the global onset of recorded gramophone song at the turn of the twentieth century (2017, 6). [End Page 144] Modernizing Composition progresses chronologically, with part 1 covering the end of the colonial period (1900–1948) and part 2 the years following political independence (1948–64). Although the analyzed texts are contextualized within the broader contexts of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist movements in Sri Lanka, Field is careful not to attribute or reduce the motivations of songwriters and poets to a linear evolution of nationalist discourses, instead considering (in addition to nationalism) the impact of other factors that might have inspired composition—for example, commercialism, cosmopolitan connections within South Asia and the British Empire, the growth of the recording and film industries, and biographical details of social actors. Chapter 1 discusses theater songs, gramophone songs, and moralistic poetry from the early twentieth century, framing them in terms of Partha Chatterjee’s three- stage theory of anticolonial nationalist thought (1986)—departure, maneuver, and arrival—and contextualizing them as part of the Aryan- Sinhalese movement of Buddhist revivalism that had roots in nineteenth- century Orientalist ideologies. Chapter 2 examines radio songs and social commentary poems from the 1940s that were informed by the nationalist movement of Sinhala linguistic purism known as the Hela Havula. This history is framed in terms of Chatterjee’s theory of the “inner domain” (1993), which refers to the cultural reform movements that preceded anticolonial political action. In contrast to Chatterjee, Field tries in chapter 1 to account more for the relationship between cultural nationalism and cultural commodities, and in chapter 2 argues that “inner domains” are not always created in relation to Western hegemony, using the example of how the Hela Havula movement arose in opposition to the cultural dominance of North India. Chatterjee is admittedly a slippery target given how his own ideas have evolved in the decades since his pioneering theories of postcolonialism. But Field’s argument that postcolonial studies needs to account for social phenomena beyond the India- Britain...

Preparing for Disease X: Ensuring Vaccine Equity for Pregnant Women in Future Pandemics.

Disease X represents a yet unknown human pathogen which has potential to cause a serious international epidemic or pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated that despite being at increased risk of severe disease compared with the general population, pregnant women were left behind in the development and implementation of vaccination, resulting in conflicting communications and changing guidance about vaccine receipt in pregnancy. Based on the COVID-19 experience, the COVAX Maternal Immunization Working Group have identified three key factors and five broad focus topics for consideration when proactively planning for a disease X pandemic, including 10 criteria for evaluating pandemic vaccines for potential use in pregnant women. Prior to any disease X pandemic, collaboration and coordination are needed to close the pregnancy data gap which is currently a barrier to gender equity in health innovation, which will aid in allowing timely access to life-saving interventions including vaccines for pregnant women and their infants.

Understanding the implementation of telepractice in speech and language services using a mixed-methods approach.

Background: Telepractice emerged as a solution to overcome the challenges of access issues in the delivery of healthcare. Telepractice in speech language pathology (SLP) has existed for nearly a decade yet there is a significant knowledge gap with respect to the factors influencing the implementation of telepractice as a routine or long-term, sustained effort. This mixed-methods study aimed to identify implementation factors that influence the provision of telepractice in SLP services. Method: A mixed-methods study consisting of a scoping review and semi-structured interviews (SSI) was carried out. Articles that described telepractice in SLP were included based on an operational definition of implementation and a set of inclusion criteria. Results: Data was extracted from 11 studies that were mapped to nine projects in telepractice in SLP. The broad focus areas identified included diagnostics and evaluation, therapeutics and comprehensive assessment, management and follow-up care services. Synchronous/ real-time telepractice methods were always used for the provision of diagnostic testing or when providing therapy services using video conferencing. The ' professional-facilitator-patient' model was used most commonly followed by the ' professional-patient' model. Barriers for long-term sustainability included inadequate initial capital investment, lack of reimbursement and payment options, low internet speed and bandwidth, resistance and hesitancy to use telepractice from the patient's end, lack of organizational policies and uniform regulations. Sustainable source of funding, having a dedicated team of professionals and technicians with clear roles and responsibilities, and inclusion of systematic planning facilitated implementation. Conclusion: In general, telepractice in SLP was not explicitly guided by implementation science or framework. The use of implementation frameworks ensures systematic planning and feasibility assessment to inform the scale-up of implementation. Therefore, it would be worthwhile for program implementers to consider these aspects when exploring telepractice services.

Tracing the Phonetic Space of Prosodic Focus Marking.

Focus is known to be expressed by a wide range of phonetic cues but only a few studies have explicitly compared different phonetic variables within the same experiment. Therefore, we presented results from an analysis of 19 phonetic variables conducted on a data set of the German language that comprises the opposition of unaccented (background) vs. accented (in focus), as well as different focus types with the nuclear accent on the same syllable (broad, narrow, and contrastive focus). The phonetic variables are measures of the acoustic and articulographic signals of a target syllable. Overall, our results provide the highest number of reliable effects and largest effect sizes for accentuation (unaccented vs. accented), while the differentiation of focus types with accented target syllables (broad, narrow, and contrastive focus) are more subtle. The most important phonetic variables across all conditions are measures of the fundamental frequency. The articulatory variables and their corresponding acoustic formants reveal lower tongue positions for both vowels /o, a/, and larger lip openings for the vowel /a/ under increased prosodic prominence with the strongest effects for accentuation. While duration exhibits consistent mid-ranked results for both accentuation and the differentiation of focus types, measures related to intensity are particularly important for accentuation. Furthermore, voice quality and spectral tilt are affected by accentuation but also in the differentiation of focus types. Our results confirm that focus is realized via multiple phonetic cues. Additionally, the present analysis allows a comparison of the relative importance of different measures to better understand the phonetic space of focus marking.

Understanding the implementation of telepractice in speech and language services using a mixed-methods approach

Background: Telepractice emerged as a solution to overcome the challenges of access issues in the delivery of healthcare. Telepractice in speech language pathology (SLP) has existed for nearly a decade yet there is a significant knowledge gap with respect to the factors influencing the implementation of telepractice as a routine or long-term, sustained effort. This mixed-methods study aimed to identify implementation factors that influence the provision of telepractice in SLP services. Method: A mixed-methods study consisting of a scoping review and semi-structured interviews (SSI) was carried out. Articles that described telepractice in SLP were included based on an operational definition of implementation and a set of inclusion criteria. Results: Data was extracted from 11 studies that were mapped to nine projects in telepractice in SLP. The broad focus areas identified included diagnostics and evaluation, therapeutics and comprehensive assessment, management and follow-up care services. Synchronous/ real-time telepractice methods were always used for the provision of diagnostic testing or when providing therapy services using video conferencing. The ‘ professional-facilitator-patient’ model was used most commonly followed by the ‘ professional-patient’ model. Barriers for long-term sustainability included inadequate initial capital investment, lack of reimbursement and payment options, low internet speed and bandwidth, resistance and hesitancy to use telepractice from the patient’s end, lack of organizational policies and uniform regulations. Sustainable source of funding, having a dedicated team of professionals and technicians with clear roles and responsibilities, and inclusion of systematic planning facilitated implementation. Conclusion: In general, telepractice in SLP was not explicitly guided by implementation science or framework. The use of implementation frameworks ensures systematic planning and feasibility assessment to inform the scale-up of implementation. Therefore, it would be worthwhile for program implementers to consider these aspects when exploring telepractice services.

Pivoting Novel Exosome-Based Technologies for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative to meet the needs for COVID-19 diagnostic and surveillance testing, and to speed its innovation in the development, commercialization, and implementation of new technologies and approaches. The RADx Radical (RADx-Rad) initiative is one component of the NIH RADx program which focuses on the development of new or non-traditional applications of existing approaches, to enhance their usability, accessibility, and/or accuracy for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. Exosomes are a subpopulation of extracellular vesicles (EVs) 30–140 nm in size, that are critical in cell-to-cell communication. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has similar physical and molecular properties as exosomes. Therefore, the novel tools and technologies that are currently in development for the isolation and detection of exosomes, may prove to be invaluable in screening for SARS-CoV-2 viral infection. Here, we describe how novel exosome-based technologies are being pivoted for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 and/or the diagnosis of COVID-19. Considerations for these technologies as they move toward clinical validation and commercially viable diagnostics is discussed along with their future potential. Ultimately, the technologies in development under the NIH RADx-Rad exosome-based non-traditional technologies toward multi-parametric and integrated approaches for SARS-CoV-2 program represent a significant advancement in diagnostic technology, and, due to a broad focus on the biophysical and biochemical properties of nanoparticles, the technologies have the potential to be further pivoted as tools for future infectious agents.

Echoes of Past Contact: Venetian Influence on Cretan Greek Intonation.

Prosodic aspects of cross-linguistic contact are under-researched, especially past contact that has subsequently ceased. In this paper, we investigate declarative and polar question tunes of contemporary Cretan Greek, a regional variety of Greek whose speakers were in contact with Venetian speakers during the four and half centuries of Venetian rule on the island, from 1204 to 1669. The F0 contours of the Cretan tunes and alignment of peaks and troughs of interest with the nuclear vowel are compared to the corresponding tunes in Venetian dialect and Venetian Italian and to those in Athenian (Standard) Greek, which are used as control. The data (1610 declarative utterances and 698 polar questions) were drawn from natural speech corpora based on pragmatic criteria: broad focus for declaratives, broad focus, and information-seeking interpretation for polar questions. The pitch contour shapes of the tunes are modeled using polynomial basis functions, and the F0 alignment points are determined analytically. The results show the robustness of contact effects almost three and a half centuries after regular contact ceased and indicate that the shapes of the F0 contours of Cretan and Venetian declarative and polar question tunes are similar. In addition, Cretan alignment patterns are similar to Venetian and significantly different from Athenian. Insights are gained from research into how long prosodic characteristics may persist in a recipient language-decades or even centuries after the cessation of contact.

Why treatment is not an option: Treatment naïve individuals, suffering from alcohol use disorders' narratives about alcohol use and treatment seeking.

Aims: To investigate the narratives of in- and outpatients at mental health and somatic hospitals, who suffer from alcohol use disorders (AUD) but have never sought AUD treatment. More specifically, to understand how the individuals view their alcohol use and explore their reasons for not seeking treatment. Methods: Individuals suffering from AUD were recruited at somatic and mental health hospitals. The study was qualitative, based on semi-structured individual interviews. A narrative analysis was performed. A total of six patients participated: three recruited at a mental health hospital, three from a somatic hospital. Results: The individuals described how heavy alcohol use had always characterised their lives; it was part of their surroundings and it added to their quality of life. Two narrative forms within the individuals’ stories were identified, in which treatment was considered either as a positive option for others but not relevant for themselves, or as representing a threat to the individuals’ autonomy. The participants expressed that they did not believe treatment was relevant for them, and if necessary, they preferred to deal with their heavy drinking themselves. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that a broad focus is needed if relatively more individuals suffering from AUD should seek treatment, since they – in spite of clearly suffering from AUD – nevertheless see themselves as heavy drinkers and have not even thought of seeking treatment. Thus, it is not (only) a question about the attractiveness of the treatment offer or due to lack of knowledge about treatment options that patients suffering from AUD do not seek treatment.

The Fishmeal Revolution: The Industrialization of the Humboldt Current by Kristin A. Wintersteen

Reviewed by: The Fishmeal Revolution: The Industrialization of the Humboldt Current by Kristin A. Wintersteen Kellen Backer (bio) The Fishmeal Revolution: The Industrialization of the Humboldt Current By Kristin A. Wintersteen. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2021. Pp. 246. Kristin Wintersteen's The Fishmeal Revolution tells a transnational story linking the fish of the Humboldt Current to the global food supply. Situated in the Pacific, off the western coast of South America, the Humboldt Current's constant churn of nutrients sustains fish that served as fodder for industrialized meat production in the second half of the twentieth century. Wintersteen's monograph gives both a very broad overview, looking into the longer history of the current from "deep time" to the present, as well as a narrower history of fishing boom towns in Chile and Peru. The story is both local, national, and international, as Wintersteen follows science, capital, regulations, and fishmeal across the world. The Humboldt Current supports a plethora of fish, particularly anchovetas and sardines, small fish that can be made into fishmeal and fish oil. At times, the current supports enormous schools of fish, something naturalists and the people living in the region have long noticed, though climactic events like El Niño dramatically shape fish availability. While many aquatic creatures thrive in the current, the smaller species of fish, which were less desirable as food, became useful in creating products that provided nutrients for the industrialized production of chickens, hogs, and even farmed fish. And yet, few consumers know of the linkages between the ocean and their dinner. After providing a long history of the Humboldt Current and a background to the industrial uses of fish products from 1840–1930, Wintersteen looks closer at the history of the region's fishing industries. Starting in the 1950s, the fishmeal industry exploded in Chile and Peru, and fish from the Humboldt Current likely supplied over half of the world's fish-meal from 1950–2010 (p. 5). Wintersteen follows the rise of fishmeal and fish oil production in Chile and Peru, focusing on how local and global science, capital, regulations, and cultures shaped the nascent fishing and fish processing industries. The differing histories of fishmeal production in Peru and Chile offer a compelling story of the impact of state regulations, technology, and the environment. The Peruvian industry focused on fishing for anchoveta, particularly in the boom town of Chimbote, while Chile's fishing industry utilized several species of fish. The transnational comparison between Peru and Chile is highly useful [End Page 589] for understanding the rise of local industry, the role of national governments in shaping fishing industries, and how various places responded to ecological crises. In many ways, Wintersteen's story bears a remarkable resemblance to histories of mining, with its boom and bust towns. The fish-meal trade, however, dependent on fish, faced very different challenges in predicting outputs and managing resources, particularly in a region where events like El Niño altered ecosystems. The dramatic changes in oceanic life and differing responses in Chile and Peru, also under various governments, offer lessons for dealing with environmental crises. To tell this story, Wintersteen draws on an impressive array of evidence from archives in eight countries, including corporate, government, and scientific sources that paint a multi-level, transnational picture of fishing, regulations, and industry. Wintersteen argues that the story of the region is "translocal," and by utilizing such diverse sources, the monograph highlights many interconnections between different places. With such a broad focus, many topics are left out, including a close analysis of fish processing and the uses of fishmeal in industrialized food production. Technology's role in the story is mentioned briefly, such as in the histories of nylon nets or the use of steam to create fishmeal. While the focus on multiple sites helps to make the story translocal, many parts of the history are therefore very short. The Fishmeal Revolution will appeal to many scholars, particularly those interested in envirotechnical history and transnational history. Scholars interested in scientific uncertainty, particularly around the environment, will learn much from this volume. By telling a story that includes businesses, fishers, scientific researchers, and government officials across the globe...

Legume nutrition is improved by neighbouring grasses

BackgroundCombinations of grasses and nitrogen-fixing legumes are ubiquitous in most natural and derived pastoral grasslands. This was not formerly the case in New Zealand’s unique indigenous grasslands that are now frequently impacted by exotic pasture grasses and legumes. Understanding the co-existence of native and exotic plants is the broad focus of this research.AimsSpillover of nitrogen (N) from clovers to grasses in diverse pasture is well known. We question whether grasses provide reciprocal nutritional benefits to legumes. Does the mutual exploitation of soil biogeochemistry by legumes and grasses help to explain their coexistence and, if so, does this have implications for biodiversity in NZ’s novel native grassland communities?MethodsCombinations of grasses and legumes, including a native tussock grass, were grown in a nutrient-poor (low P, S, Ca, Mg, Mn, and B) high country soil in a pot experiment, quantifying the foliar acquisition of nutrients from soil. Field data were obtained by sampling foliage of clover in single- and mixed-species patches in a more fertile lowland pasture.ResultsBenefits of legume and grass growing together were reflected in enhanced productivity and higher uptake of a range of key nutrients. This was most evident but not restricted to a combination of two exotic species: cocksfoot and white clover. In the nutrient-poor soil, legumes grew better in combination with different species of introduced grasses. Uptake of key elements from soil to plants significantly differed with combinations of legumes and grasses compared to individual species. Elevated concentrations of P, K and S were recorded in clover when growing with grasses, although Ca uptake was lower. Expected reciprocal reduction of clover N or enhanced grass N were not recorded. Mass balance data (total extraction of key nutrients from the soil pool) showed that combination of grasses and legumes exploit soil nutrients (particularly P, Zn, Mn and Mo) more effectively than single species alone. In grasses, only tissue concentrations of K, S and Zn significantly increased when growing with legumes, but native tussock grass procured less nutrients when growing with the exotic legumes. Field sampling of clover from the more fertile lowland soil showed significantly higher foliar concentrations of K, Mn, Cu and B, but less Ca.ConclusionsThe findings are indicative of a mutualistic relationship: legumes derive nutritional benefits from growing with grasses. Native tussock grass contained less N when growing with the exotic legumes, suggesting less compatibility and a lack of adaptation to coexistence.

A broad focus on additional programmes prior to bariatric surgery: A systematic review.

Additional preoperative programmes may be beneficial for candidates who seek bariatric surgery, but there is no consensus on the optimal preparation. This systematic review aimed to summarize the effects of a preoperative programme on weight loss. A literature search was performed for Embase, Cinahl, PubMed and Cochrane Library. Studies on preoperative exercise, behaviour and/or diet programmes administered in adult patients in a bariatric trajectory measuring weight loss were included. Initial results yielded 2148 titles, 70 of which were thoroughly analysed and 37 articles were included, comprising 10 333 patients. Eleven out of 37 studies included postoperative weight loss as an outcome in interventions focused on diet (n=5), behaviour (n=2), exercise (n=2) and a combination of interventions (n=2). Only one study (9%) which administered exercise as a preoperative programme showed a significant effect on postoperative weight loss. In total, 33 studies included preoperative weight loss as an outcome, which was significant in 64% of the cases. It is difficult to draw conclusions from the investigated data as it was extremely heterogeneous concerning the intensity, duration and administration of a programme. Nevertheless, it seems that a preoperative weight loss programme seems beneficial in terms of preoperative weight loss, postoperative physical activity and improved mental health postinterventional. The use of a core outcome set is recommended for future studies.

Word order and information structure in heritage and L2 Russian: Focus and unaccusativity effects in subject inversion

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions:The study’s main objective is to investigate the effects of information structure and verb type on the acceptability of canonical and non-canonical word order patterns in baseline, heritage, and L2 Russian in a controlled experimental setting. In particular, the study examines the bilinguals’ sensitivity to extralinguistic (subject focus) and intralinguistic (unaccusativity) triggers of subject–verb inversion in Russian.Design/methodology/approach:The study employs a contextualized acceptability judgment task with unaccusative, unergative, and transitive predicates. In each condition, ratings for SV(O) and (O)VS structures are elicited in broad-focus and narrow-subject-focus contexts.Data and analysis:Data come from adult English-Russian bilinguals: heritage speakers at two proficiency levels ( n = 27) and L2 learners ( n = 15), compared to monolingual Russian speakers ( n = 15). Welch’s unequal variances t-tests are utilized in the statistical analysis of the results.Findings/conclusions:Bilinguals generally under-accept inverted structures. With intransitive predicates, heritage speakers in the higher proficiency group are sensitive to the effects of unaccusativity, but not focus, on the occurrence of VS orders. However, with transitive predicates, higher proficiency heritage speakers demonstrate a target-like contrast in their ratings of OVS structures under broad and narrow focus. No clear effects of unaccusativity or focus are attested in the lower proficiency heritage or L2 speakers’ judgments of inverted orders.Originality:This is the first study to compare the effects of unaccusativity and focus on word order variation in baseline, heritage, and L2 Russian and to examine subject focus in both intransitive and transitive structures.Significance/Implications:The differential effects of subject focus obtained in the intransitive and transitive conditions indicate that heritage speakers do not experience a generalized difficulty with information-structure marking through word order. While intralinguistic word order cues seem more accessible to early bilinguals than extralinguistic cues, heritage speakers are able to attend to the latter when their visibility is enhanced in discourse.

Understanding the implementation of telepractice in speech and language services for children and adults using a mixed-methods approach.

Background: Telepractice emerged as a solution to overcome the challenges of access issues in the delivery of healthcare. Telepractice in speech language pathology (SLP) has existed for nearly a decade yet there is a significant knowledge gap with respect to the factors influencing the implementation of telepractice as a routine or long-term, sustained effort. This mixed-methods study aimed to identify implementation factors that influence the provision of telepractice in SLP services. Method: A mixed-methods study consisting of a scoping review and semi-structured interviews (SSI) was carried out. Articles that described telepractice in SLP were included based on an operational definition of implementation and a set of inclusion criteria. Results: Data was extracted from 11 studies that were mapped to nine projects in telepractice in SLP. The broad focus areas identified included diagnostics and evaluation, therapeutics and comprehensive assessment, management and follow-up care services. Synchronous/ real-time telepractice methods were always used for the provision of diagnostic testing or when providing therapy services using video conferencing. The ' professional-facilitator-patient' model was used most commonly followed by the ' professional-patient' model. Barriers for long-term sustainability included inadequate initial capital investment, lack of reimbursement and payment options, low internet speed and bandwidth, resistance and hesitancy to use telepractice from the patient's end, lack of organizational policies and uniform regulations. Sustainable source of funding, having a dedicated team of professionals and technicians with clear roles and responsibilities, and inclusion of systematic planning facilitated implementation. Conclusion: In general, telepractice in SLP was not explicitly guided by implementation science or framework. The use of implementation frameworks ensures systematic planning and feasibility assessment to inform the scale-up of implementation. Therefore, it would be worthwhile for program implementers to consider these aspects when exploring telepractice services.

A Study on Nuclear Stress in Elementary English Textbooks in Korea

This study considered how nuclear stress is addressed in elementary English textbooks. For this, elementary English textbooks were surveyed to identify activities for nuclear stress, and teacher’s guides to see if they offered adequate linguistic and pedagogical tips for nuclear stress. Nuclear stress identified in the textbooks was analyzed in terms of informational focus in English. The findings were: 1) In two textbooks, nuclear stress was addressed concerning question/sentence reading and presented with key expressions mostly in question-answer pairs; 2) Questions mainly consisted of wh-questions with a broad focus, while answers with a broad focus outnumbered those with a narrow focus; 3) Nuclear stress in questions and answers with a broad focus was placed on the last content words excluding a few marked or erroneous cases; 4) All the erroneous nuclear stress placements in the two textbooks were those with a broad focus; 5) The teacher’s guides of one series of textbooks alone provided linguistic and pedagogical tips for nuclear stress, however the tips were often inaccurate and insufficient.

A ciência da nutrição em um mundo sob a influência das redes sociais

The aim was to evaluate the influence of social networks on the food environment. This is a narrative review, where the inclusion of articles from the last five years was prioritized and the databases that were consulted are Scientific Electronic Library Online and Google Scholar. Detailing food and its broad focus on subjects sought in social networks, which are capable of generating beneficial and harmful effects. The development of this study made it possible to look at the new junction created by the modern world, of food associated with social networks. Allowing perceiving the impacts generated to the nutritionist profession, as well as in the lives of those who interact and are influenced by the so present virtual life.

Drivers and Barriers to the Circular Economy Transition: the Case of Recycled Plastics in the Automotive Sector in the European Union

The circular economy aims to decouple growth from environmental impacts by optimizing resource use, minimizing waste and pollution. The European Union (EU) has the ambition to lead a circular economy transition on a global level. Realizing the transition is complex, because it requires substantial and interconnected changes in the current system. Previous literature has identified the main drivers and barriers to a circular economy, categorizing them as technical, economic, regulatory and cultural. Despite its relevance, this literature has a broad focus, not taking into account the characteristics of specific industry sectors. More granular insight is essential to overcome barriers, while leveraging drivers. To this end, research focusing on these drivers and barriers within specific sectors is emerging. However, to date, this research is recent and limited, leaving a large and critical knowledge gap still to be addressed. In this study, we focus on the EU automotive sector. Specifically, in the context of the on-going review of the end-of-life vehicles (ELV) directive, we are carrying out an investigation into the barriers and drivers for increasing the uptake of recycled plastics embedded in new vehicles put on the EU market. Through the analysis of literature and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders (including vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, recyclers, experts and industry associations) we outline the value chain of plastics in the sector, while identifying and explaining specific drivers and barriers to recycling. In this paper we present some initial results of this ongoing effort. From a practice perspective, these results contribute to a better understanding on how to advance circularity in the EU automotive sector. From a theory perspective, the results illustrate how circularity barriers and drivers may be identified at a sectoral level. This may provide future studies with a methodological blueprint to replicate this work in other sectors, as a way to continue addressing the aforementioned knowledge gap.

Engineered Nanoparticulate Vaccines to Combat Recurring and Pandemic Influenza Threats.

Reoccurring seasonal flu epidemics and occasional pandemics are among the most severe threats to public health. Current seasonal influenza vaccines provide limited protection against drifted circulating strains and no protection against influenza pandemics. Next-generation influenza vaccines, designated as universal influenza vaccines, should be safe, affordable, and elicit long-lasting cross-protective influenza immunity. Nanotechnology plays a critical role in the development of such novel vaccines. Engineered nanoparticles can incorporate multiple advantageous properties into the same nanoparticulate platforms to improve vaccine potency and breadth. These immunological properties include virus-like biomimicry, high antigen-load, controlled antigen release, targeted delivery, and induction of innate signaling pathways. Many nanoparticle influenza vaccines have shown promising results in generating potent and broadly protective immune responses. This review will summarize the necessity and characteristics of next-generation influenza vaccines and the immunological correlates of broad influenza immunity and focus on how cutting-edge nanoparticle technology contributes to such vaccine development. The review will give new insights into the rational design of nanoparticle universal vaccines to combat influenza epidemics and pandemics.

Virtual machines pre-copy live migration cost modeling and prediction: a survey

Live migration is an essential feature in virtual infrastructure and cloud computing datacenters. Using live migration, virtual machines can be online migrated from a physical machine to another with negligible service interruption. Load balance, power saving, dynamic resource allocation, and high availability algorithms in virtual data-centers and cloud computing environments are dependent on live migration. Live migration process has six phases that result in live migration cost. Several papers analyze and model live migration costs for different hypervisors, different kinds of workloads and different models of analysis. In addition, there are also many other papers that provide prediction techniques for live migration costs. It is a challenge for the reader to organize, classify, and compare live migration overhead research papers due to the broad focus of the papers in this domain. In this survey paper, we classify, analyze, and compare different papers that cover pre-copy live migration cost analysis and prediction from different angels to show the contributions and the drawbacks of each study. Papers classification helps the readers to get different studies details about a specific live migration cost parameter. The classification of the paper considers the papers’ research focus, methodology, the hypervisors, and the cost parameters. Papers analysis helps the readers to know which model can be used for which hypervisor and to know the techniques used for live migration cost analysis and prediction. Papers comparison shows the contributions, drawbacks, and the modeling differences by each paper in a table format that simplifies the comparison. Virtualized Data-center and cloud computing clusters admins can also make use of this paper to know which live migration cost prediction model can fit for their environments.

Passion for science and the pursuit of scientific studies: The mediating role of rigid and flexible persistence and activity involvement

This paper presents a new perspective on persistence and how it relates to passion and outcomes in the field of education. Based on the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand, 2015), we propose the existence of two types of persistence – flexible and rigid that are specific to the activity one is passionate about. Flexible persistence takes origin in harmonious passion and entails pursuing activity goals with an open and broad focus that allows reaching the desired activity goals and outcomes while also attaining other life outcomes. Conversely, rigid persistence takes root mostly in obsessive passion and entails pursuing activity goals with a narrower focus that facilitates reaching some activity goals and outcomes, but not other benefits in life, generally. Results from two cross-sectional studies conducted with postsecondary science students (Study 1, N = 591 and Study 2, N = 198) provided support for this new perspective on persistence. Both types of persistence mediated the relationship between passion for science and academic performance (Studies 1 and 2), which in turn led to intentions to pursue in a scientific field at university (Study 1) and actual applications in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) university programs (Study 2). Additionally, students who persisted flexibly also experienced positive outcomes outside of the school environment in both studies. Theoretical and practical implications of academic persistence are discussed within the perspective of the DMP.

I Left Venus and Came Back to Mars: Temporal Focus Congruence in Dyadic Relationships Following Maternity Leave

Temporal focus on past, present, and future of contributions to work is critical to understanding how employees and their line managers navigate career disruptions and minimize their potential for negative impact. This paper reframes temporal focus using a dyadic, relational perspective to explore how temporal focus (in)congruence shapes resocialization experiences for returners and their line managers following maternity leave disruption. Our qualitative study draws on 54 interviews across 27 organizations and demonstrates that a congruent, broader temporal focus—that embraces the past, present, and future—is associated with more positive relational and career outcomes than an incongruent focus, where one dyadic partner holds a narrow temporal focus. Our findings explicate how the adoption of a broad versus narrow temporal focus creates a perception of maternity leave as either a brief interlude or a major disruption. A congruent, broader temporal focus allows returners and their line managers to reduce their reliance on typical motherhood biases and instead, consider the woman’s past, present, and potential future contributions over the course of her career. We highlight the importance of temporal focus congruence at a dyadic level and the value of adopting a broader temporal focus on careers while offering new insights regarding the temporal dynamics inherent to maternity leave transitions for both returners and their managers.