Framing Questions Research Articles

Using participatory action research to operationalize critical systems thinking in social-ecological systems

Eelderink, M., J. M. Vervoort, and F. van Laerhoven. 2020. Using participatory action research to operationalize critical systems thinking in social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society 25(1):16. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11369-250116

On the Violence of Self-Determination: The Palestinian Refugee as the Ontological Other

The discourse on migration and refugee studies continues to be framed around two main principles: sovereignty and identity. In contemporary politics, however, the refugee subject is defined and managed from a universal framework where the language of rights elevates the potency of liberalism as both a discourse and an instrument of domination. This article examines refugeehood from a framework that transcends the sovereignty/identity dichotomy. It offers a more nuanced contextual approach through which this mass socio-political phenomenon can be better understood. To validate the article's new methodology, it sets out to examine the Palestinian refugee question, the oldest unresolved refugee problem in the history of the modern Middle East. The article makes visible the performative role of question framing by giving particular attention to historical transfigurations in the conceptualization of the people's right to self-determination. As a discourse-based analysis, the article demonstrates how current discursive formations produce colonial knowledge that can facilitate the development of new social and political tools of population control. The article concludes by showing how conceptual transfiguration of the right to self-determination incited the orientalist scholarship on the Palestinian refugee question in the interest of legitimizing and normalizing Israel as a Western colonial establishment.

DROIDS 3.0—Detecting Genetic and Drug Class Variant Impact on Conserved Protein Binding Dynamics

The application of statistical methods to comparatively framed questions about the molecular dynamics (MD) of proteins can potentially enable investigations of biomolecular function beyond the current sequence and structural methods in bioinformatics. However, the chaotic behavior in single MD trajectories requires statistical inference that is derived from large ensembles of simulations representing the comparative functional states of a protein under investigation. Meaningful interpretation of such complex forms of big data poses serious challenges to users of MD. Here, we announce Detecting Relative Outlier Impacts from Molecular Dynamic Simulation (DROIDS) 3.0, a method and software package for comparative protein dynamics that includes maxDemon 1.0, a multimethod machine learning application that trains on large ensemble comparisons of concerted protein motions in opposing functional states generated by DROIDS and deploys learned classifications of these states onto newly generated MD simulations. Local canonical correlations in learning patterns generated from independent, yet identically prepared, MD validation runs are used to identify regions of functionally conserved protein dynamics. The subsequent impacts of genetic and/or drug class variants on conserved dynamics can also be analyzed by deploying the classifiers on variant MD simulations and quantifying how often these altered protein systems display opposing functional states. Here, we present several case studies of complex changes in functional protein dynamics caused by temperature, genetic mutation, and binding interactions with nucleic acids and small molecules. We demonstrate that our machine learning algorithm can properly identify regions of functionally conserved dynamics in ubiquitin and TATA-binding protein (TBP). We quantify the impact of genetic variation in TBP and drug class variation targeting the ATP-binding region of Hsp90 on conserved dynamics. We identify regions of conserved dynamics in Hsp90 that connect the ATP binding pocket to other functional regions. We also demonstrate that dynamic impacts of various Hsp90 inhibitors rank accordingly with how closely they mimic natural ATP binding.

A citizens' jury on euthanasia/assisted dying: Does informed deliberation change people's views?

Euthanasia or assisted dying (EAD) remains a highly contentious issue internationally. Although polls report that a majority New Zealanders support EAD, there are concerns about the framing of the polling questions, and that those responding to the questions do not know enough about the situations described, the options available and the potential implications of EAD policy. One way to address these concerns is through a citizens' jury, which is a method of learning how a group of people view an issue following informed deliberation. This citizens' jury was conducted to learn whether a group of 15 New Zealanders thought the law should be changed to allow some form of EAD and the reasons for their view, having been informed about the issue, heard arguments for and against, and having deliberated together. The jury met for two and a half days. They did not reach a consensus, but become polarized in their positions, with several changing their positions to either strong opposition or strong support. The reasons why people support or oppose EAD were not reducible to particular principles or arguments, but reflected an integrated assessment of a range of considerations, informed by personal priorities and experiences. These results suggest that views on EAD may change in response to informed deliberation that the EAD debate involves a range of value judgments and is not likely to be resolved through deliberation alone. These results may inform international debate on EAD policy.

Systematic review of spell-checkers for highly inflectional languages

Performance of any word processor, search engine, social media relies heavily on the spell-checkers, grammar checkers etc. Spell-checkers are the language tools which break down the text to check the spelling errors. It cautions the user if there is any unintentional misspelling occurred in the text. In the area of spell-checking, we still lack an exhaustive study that covers aspects like strengths, limitations, handled errors, performance along with the evaluation parameters. In literature, spell-checkers for different languages are available and each one possesses similar characteristics however, have a different design. This study follows the guidelines of systematic literature review and applies it to the field of spell-checking. The steps of the systematic review are employed on 130 selected articles published in leading journals, premier conferences and workshops in the field of spell-checking of different inflectional languages. These steps include framing of the research questions, selection of research articles, inclusion/exclusion criteria and the extraction of the relevant information from the selected research articles. The literature about spell-checking is divided into key sub-areas according to the languages. Each sub-area is then described based on the technique being used. In this study, various articles are analyzed on certain criteria to reach the conclusion. This article suggests how the techniques from the other domains like morphology, part-of-speech, chunking, stemming, hash-table etc. can be used in development of spell-checkers. It also highlights the major challenges faced by researchers along with the future area of research in the field of spell-checking.

FIRST RESULTS FROM A STUDY ON THE EFFICACY OF USING VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) TO TEACH TRUSS MECHANICS

In 2018, the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Engineering established a Virtual Reality Teaching and Cloud-based Learning (or ViRTCL) lab featuring three high-performance HTC Vive Pro VR stations that will be used for day-to-day teaching and for pedagogical research. Also during 2018, we worked with local start-up Sprockety Ventures Inc to develop custom VR software (called TrussVR©) that is designed to help students learn about trusses. In the Fall term of 2018, a pilot study began to evaluate the learning efficacy of TrussVR©. This paper conveys the initial quantitative results of the pilot study.
 For this study, TrussVR© existed as a 3-module lab experience. The first module exposed students to various types of trusses, and allowed students to rapidly test the trusses with applied forces of their choice. The trusses “responded” by showing the qualities of their internal forces including intensities of compression and tension, as well as zero-force members (ZFMs). The second module consisted of two parts. The first showed the distribution of forces in the two-force members (2FMs) of a truss and asked students to apply an external load that would create those internal forces. The second did the reverse i.e. it displayed a truss and an external force and asked students to label the 2FMs with C (compression), T (tension), or Z (ZFM). The third module was a design module where students constructed a bridge truss and tested it.
 In September 2018, students were recruited from the first-year GE 124 Engineering Mechanics I (Statics) class to take part in a pilot study on TrussVR©. Ethics clearance had been granted by the Behavioural REB of the University of Saskatchewan. More than 160 students volunteered. They all completed a “pre-survey” before the lecture content on trusses began. The pre-survey explored issues of knowledge, skills, and attitudes as they pertained to trusses and VR. The study participants were then randomly divided into three groups: no truss lab, conventional truss lab (Pasco© construction set), and TrussVR© lab. During the time of the course when study non-participants completed the Pasco© lab, the study participants completed either no lab, the Pasco© lab, or the TrussVR© lab. After the lab sessions for trusses were completed, all study participants completed a “post-survey” that re-examined knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards trusses. Furthermore, exam marks of the study participants for truss and frame questions were examined for statistically significant differences. Finally, in mid-February, study participants redid the post-survey to examine any differences between conditions in shorter- and longer-term changes in knowledge, skills, and attitudes. 
 Initial results focus on any statistically significant differences between pre, post, and distant-post results on the surveys, as well as on exams, between and within experimental groups. Given how the exams were marked, we were also able to look for patterns and differences in different sections of answers in addition to overall scores. We anticipated that there may be differences in attitudes towards trusses between the three experimental groups (no lab, Pasco© lab, TrussVR© lab). There may also be differences in skills and knowledge.

2456. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (SM) Pseudo-outbreak Associated with Bronchoscope

BackgroundStenotrophomonas maltophilia (SM) is a multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative organism that typically impacts patients with long hospital stays or severe immunocompromise. In Q4 2017, an increase in rates of SM from adult bronchoscopic alveolar lavage (BAL) specimens was detected.MethodsThe charts of all patients with SM from BAL specimens during the time frame in question were reviewed for commonalities, clinical symptoms and antibiotic treatment for Stenotrophomonas. Incidence rate ratios for the 21 months prior to, 3 months during and 15 months after the increase were compared using Fisher exact test.ResultsQuarter 4 2017 rates of SM isolated from BALs performed in patients >/ = 18 years of age increased significantly from baseline of 0.46 to 2.22 per 10,000 patient-days. Upon chart review 75% (12/16) of patients with SM during the increase had BALs performed with a specific bronchoscope. Q4 2017, 22 patients had a BAL performed with the scope in question with 16 sent for culture. 75% (12/16) of the BALs done with this scope during Q4 2017 grew SM. The scope was pulled from use once the association was identified. ATP and high-level disinfection records were reviewed with no failures noted. The scope was sent to an independent lab where boroscope evaluation showed epoxy lifting. Cultures from the scope were unrevealing. After the scope was removed from service, rates of SM from adult BALs dropped significantly back to 0.58 per 10,000 patient-days (Figure 1). Upon clinical review, SM was deemed clinically insignificant in all but 1 case, however, 8 of the 12 patients received antibiotic treatment for this pathogen. To date, none of the patients in question had subsequent cultures with SM. No adverse events due to antibiotic therapy have been noted 10 of the patient isolates were retrieved and sent for pulsed-field gel electrophoresis testing. All came back with identical PFGE patterns strongly suggesting a point source.ConclusionWhile the bronchoscope culture did not grow SM, the identical PFGE patterns in patients without evidence of active infection suggested a point source. Return of SM rates to baseline following removal of the scope from service strongly suggest a pseudo-outbreak resulting from a reusable bronchoscope. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

Conceptual Frame Model For The Presentation Of The Concepts And Rules In Natural Language Interface For Database

The article presents a frame model for conceptual description of a subject area by presenting a detailed structure of multiple objects and concepts, knowledge about them, hierarchies of types, rules, specifying classes and relations between them. Include all possible words and word combinations that formalize a subject area. The model itself represents knowledge and reflects the conceptual basis of the organization of the memory of a person, as well as its flexibility and visibility. When creating an appropriate database of accumulating frame models (AFM), frame questions, and at a later stage a frame model for automatic question generation, it is necessary to build an appropriate structure that allows for both flexibility and easier building of the databases of data, as well as efficient retrieval of different types of information when summarizing the results. The publication is part of a study devoted to the application of frame models for the presentation of knowledge and processes in e-learning.

Democratic Governance of Human Germline Genome Editing.

An international regulatory commission convened by scientific academies is a premature and problematic approach to governing human germline genome editing. Given the complex, international landscape of genome editing and significant cross-national differences among regulatory cultures, deferring to a single commission to set the agenda for global governance raises troublesome questions of framing and representation. Rather, democratic governance on a global level demands a new mechanism for active, sustained reflection by scientists on their own practices, conducted in partnership with scholars from other disciplines, as well as public representatives from varied social, political, and religious backgrounds. To be legitimate, ideas of the right form of governance in this emerging and highly consequential area of research need to be opened up to a wider diversity of views and voices.

Conceptualizing context in entrepreneurship education: a literature review

PurposeContext impacts the design and practice of entrepreneurship education, but there is limited focus on context in entrepreneurship education literature. The purpose of this paper is to review the entrepreneurship education literature to understand how context has been addressed, derives contextual elements from prioritized literature and explores how context can be adapted to and designed with in entrepreneurship education.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review is undertaken to explore context in entrepreneurship education literature. Context entrepreneurship education yielded 239 items. After refinement, 232 entrepreneurship education associated publications were reviewed by the team of authors. Using selection criteria, 26 prioritized publications were analyzed and categorized according to a theoretical framework.FindingsContext has been addressed both conceptually and empirically, quantitatively and qualitatively, and can be categorized across three sociological phenomena levels – micro, meso and macro. Within these levels, more specific context elements emerge from the entrepreneurship education literature. The findings assert that while context is highly influential in relation to entrepreneurship education, it is arbitrarily described, and holds a variety of documented and diffuse elements. Educators have a limited span of control in relation to context elements, however, for the most parts elements can be adapted to or designed with. Finally, due to the influence of context it is difficult to identify a universal best practice of entrepreneurship education because there simply is no ceteris paribus.Research limitations/implicationsContextual elements which emerged from the literature consider various subjects, spaces, structures and networks. Context is complex and has had limited treatment in entrepreneurship education literature, thus additional analysis and experimentation is necessary.Practical implicationsContext shapes understanding and influences learning. Addressing entrepreneurship education across three levels – micro, meso and macro – and through four framing questions – who, what, where and when – guides educators in how context influences and can be used when designing education.Originality/valueThe paper gives new insight into how context is addressed in entrepreneurship education literature, and how this can influence educational design.

Assumption of Responsibility: Four Questions

Abstract Although the assumption of responsibility concept pervades the English law of negligence, its meaning remains hazy and its significance contested. While the courts employ the language of assumption of responsibility on a regular basis, no clear judicial definition of it has emerged. And commentators are divided as to whether assumption of responsibility is a distinct ground on which liability is imposed, or merely a foil for policy arguments – or for another, more general, test for the recognition of duties of care. Matters are complicated by the fact that assumption of responsibility does not fit neatly within the orthodox categories of ‘tort’ and ‘contract’, but hovers uncertainly between the two. The aim of this article is to try to bring some clarity to the controversies surrounding assumption of responsibility. Four questions frame the analysis. What does assumption of responsibility mean? When does it matter? Why do we need it? And where does it belong? Although the answers to some of these questions are necessarily tentative, at least one conclusion should become clear, namely that assumption of responsibility is a meaningful and distinctive basis on which to impose negligence liability.

Species in the Age of Discordance

Biological lineages move through time, space, and each other. As they do, they diversify, diverge, and grade away from and into one another. One result of this is genealogical discordance; i.e., the lineages of a biological entity may have different histories. We see this on numerous levels, from microbial networks, to holobionts, to population-level lineages. This paper considers how genealogical discordance impacts our study of species. More specifically, I consider this in the context of three framing questions: (1) How, if at all, does genealogical discordance challenge, modify, or revise how we conceive of species? (2) How has growing appreciation of genealogical discordance impacted scientific practice? Of systematics in particular? (3) How do lineages at different levels diverge and diversify? All told, genealogical discordance enriches and complicates our taxonomic ontology, as well as the practice of reconstructing phylogenies. This presents both challenges and opportunities for the study of divergence and diversification.

Global justice, sovereignty, and the problem of perspective

This article argues that a state-centered theory of global justice exhibits an epistemic problem of perspective, and that this worry exhibits a gendered character. Within a liberal domestic theory of justice, the public/private distinction has been repeatedly shown to be bad for women because it creates a domain for injustice that becomes invisible to public policy and the law. This article argues that state-centered theories of global justice create an analogous space that is cut off from questions of global justice. The article therefore suggests that this way of framing questions of global justice is problematic, and is problematic for women in particular. Just as the public/private distinction in liberal domestic justice leaves cases of injustice outside the vision of the law, the hard distinction between the domestic (state) sphere and the international realm of justice leaves cases of injustice invisible to international law. For the question of global justice, the privileging of sovereignty and non-intervention compromises the ability of the theory to achieve its purported goal of universal justice.

Philosophical Debates about Prostitution: State of the Question

AbstractThis article aims to present “the state of the question” concerning prostitution. It is organized around an analysis of the various questions that current theorists take themselves to be answering when they defend decriminalization, some form of legalization, or the so‐called “Nordic model” of sex equality. By assessing these “framing questions,” as I shall call them, and the arguments stemming from them, we gain a powerful basis for understanding and critiquing the literature as a whole. In the end, I argue that the Nordic Model is superior in both its orienting method and its solution.

Boomers, Millennials—Gen Xers!—and Post-nostalgic American Judaism: A Response to Arnold Eisen’s Sklare Address

In Rethinking Modern Judaism, Arnold Eisen applied five categories of analysis to account for patterns of Jewish observance and non-observance over two centuries. This response applies the same categories to address issues raised in Eisen’s Sklare Award address regarding the Jewish practices of American Jewish millennials. It evaluates the continued validity of Eisen’s categories of analysis, arguing that four of the five still hold. As for the fifth, nostalgia, it suggests that the power of nostalgia to compel American Jewish engagement in Jewish practice may be waning. This response introduces the notion of “post-nostalgic American Judaism,” identifies some of its sources, and frames questions about its possible consequences.

Nutritional Eating; What Do You Know and When Did You Know It? (P04-098-19)

ObjectivesThe World Health Organization (W.H.O.) projects by 2020 chronic disease will account for 73% of deaths worldwide (W.H.O., 2010). In the United States (U.S.) minorities are high risk for chronic diseases. U.S. census projects by 2050 American minorities as the majority (Census, 2000).Purposes of pilot study 1) identify individual knowledge of chronic diseases; 2) when known (time frame); and 3) knowledge implemented to improve health. Important because if projections are correct health of the majority of people worldwide and U.S. society in particular, (Americas’ minority/majority) forecast as: poor health with short healthy life expectancy.Leading chronic diseases causing mortality in America: heart disease, cancer and lower respiratory diseases (Center for Disease Control, 2016). Hispanics are 16% of U.S. population. Leading cause of mortality: cancer. African Americans are 13.6% of U.S. population. Leading cause of mortality: heart disease. Societal challenge: mitigating health issues of a minority/majority. MethodsA convenience sample adults (N = 15) utilized; most minorities. They completed 32 item questionnaire. Some items were Likert scale 5 strongly agree and 1 strongly disagree. ResultsNinety-nine % have family member(s) with health challenges. More than 50% indicate being, “Healthy”. Half indicate being overweight. The majority response to frequency questions: 2–3 weekly. Example, most consume 9 servings of fruits/vegetables (F/V) 2–3 weekly. USDA recommend 9 servings of F/V daily. Time frame questions: ‘when known’. Example, half indicate meat and dairy as a diet necessity. When known, majority indicate over a year ago. Meat/dairy linked with chronic diseases. Majority misidentifies nutrient dense foods. Example, majority indicate white potatoes and iceberg lettuce as nutrient dense. Nutrient dense foods mitigate chronic diseases. Response to Likert type scale items, example, “I work hard to improve my dietary lifestyle”, most indicate ‘agree’. ConclusionsCurrent nutritional information limited. Outdated nutritional information implemented. Nutrient dense diet lacking. The trajectory forecast of a minority/majority with poor health and short healthy life expectancy is on target. Funding SourcesN/A.

The current state of food fraud prevention: overview and requirements to address ‘How to Start?’ and ‘How Much is Enough?’

Food Fraud – intentional deception for economic gain using food – is one of the most urgent and active food research and regulatory areas. The current state of research has expanded to include criminology, public policy, business enterprise risk management, and implementation of a management system. This range of disciplines has been critical since the hazard analysis, and prevention strategies are fundamentally different when addressing an intelligent human adversary. The broad range of literature has been adopted or adapted to Food Fraud prevention including the identification of the next set of urgent questions: ‘How much is enough?’ and ‘How to start?’ A summary of the literature was provided with a summary of seven questions, two concepts, seven critical steps, and one decision. The seven questions provide a gap analysis to calibrate how much has been completed and how much is still to be done. The two concepts are policy level framing questions for the next activity. The seven steps are for a Food Fraud Task Force that uses the previous insight to create a Food Fraud Prevention Strategy proposal including resource-allocation and key task identification. Finally, the ‘One Decision’ is an official acceptance of the proposed strategy and the ongoing monitoring of the successful and thorough implementation of the management system. This overall method is referred to as the Food Fraud Implementation Method (FFIM).

Beyond the brain: A multi-system inflammatory subtype of autism spectrum disorder.

An immune-mediated subtype of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has long been hypothesized. This article reviews evidence from family history studies of autoimmunity, immunogenetics, maternal immune activation, neuroinflammation, and systemic inflammation, which suggests immune dysfunction in ASD. Individuals with ASD have higher rates of co-morbid medical illness than the general population. Major medical co-morbidities associated with ASD are discussed by body system. Mechanisms by which FDA-approved and emerging treatments for ASD act upon the immune system are then reviewed. We conclude by proposing the hypothesis of an immune-mediated subtype of ASD which is characterized by systemic, multi-organ inflammation or immune dysregulation with shared mechanisms that drive both the behavioral and physical illnesses associated with ASD. Although gaps in evidence supporting this hypothesis remain, benefits of this conceptualization include framing future research questions that will help define a clinically meaningful subset of patients and focusing clinical interactions on early detection and treatment of high-risk medical illnesses as well as interfering behavioral signs and symptoms across the lifespan.

The E-Cigarette Debate: What Counts as Evidence?

Two major public health evaluations of e-cigarettes-one from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), the other from Public Health England (PHE)-were issued back to back in the winter of 2018. While some have read these analyses as broadly consistent, providing support for the view that e-cigarettes could play a role in smoking harm reduction, in every major respect, they come to very different conclusions about what the evidence suggests in terms of public health policy. How is that possible? The explanation rests in what the 2 reports see as the central challenge posed by e-cigarettes, which helped to determine what counted as evidence. For NASEM, the core question was how to protect nonsmokers from the potential risks of exposure to nicotine and other contaminants or from the risk of smoking combustible cigarettes through renormalization. A precautionary standard was imperative, making evidence that could speak most conclusively to the question of causality paramount. For PHE, the priority was how to reduce the burdens now borne by current smokers, burdens reflected in measurable patterns of morbidity and mortality. With a focus on immediate harms, PHE turned to evidence that was "relevant and meaningful." Thus, competing priorities determined what counted as evidence when it came to the impact of e-cigarettes on current smokers, nonsmoking bystanders, and children and adolescents. A new clinical trial demonstrating the efficacy of e-cigarettes as a cessation tool makes understanding how values and framing shape core questions and conclusive evidence imperative.

The Ethical Challenges of Field Research in the Syrian Refugee Crisis

In this article, we build on the work of other political scientists who have focused on ethics of participant safety and confidentiality, and data security, particularly in non-democratic or fragile contexts and with vulnerable communities. Moving beyond the “do no harm” principles that form the foundation of much of institutional ethical commitments, research on refugees and forced migrants must confront what Jacobsen and Landau call the “dual imperative”: namely, satisfying the demands and expectations of your academic discipline, while also producing knowledge that improves policy and advances the interests of refugees. We address topics including: Why do researchers have a responsibility to refugees?; the ethics of framing research questions in refugee research; the ethics of conducting field research with refugees; and the ethics of research dissemination.