Loose Way Research Articles

A conceptualisation of whole‐class scaffolding

The concept of scaffolding refers to temporary and adaptive support, originally in dyadic adult–child interaction. It has become widely used, also in whole‐class settings, but often in loose ways. The aim of this paper is to theoretically and empirically ground a conceptualisation of whole‐class scaffolding so that it remains close to the origin of the scaffolding concept, but also provides scope for features not salient in one‐to‐one interaction. Drawing an analogy with Vygotsky's concept of Zone of Proximal Development we argue why the extension to whole‐class settings is justified. We further distinguish three key characteristics for whole‐class scaffolding—diagnosis, responsiveness and handover to independence—and illustrate these with examples from a teaching experiment focusing on whole‐class scaffolding language in a multilingual mathematics classroom (age 10–12). The empirical data led to a metaphorical distinction between online and offline enactment of key characteristics, during respectively outside whole‐class interaction. Diagnoses can namely also be made outside lessons, for instance by reading pupils' work; responsiveness can also be realised in adapting instructional activities; and handover to independence can also be fostered in the design of lessons. In addition to this layered nature (online vs. offline), whole‐class scaffolding is often distributed over time. Finally, whole‐class scaffolding is cumulative with pupils' independence emerging as the cumulative effect of many diagnostic and responsive actions over time. We suggest these three features are at the core of whole‐class scaffolding that is deliberately employed to foster long‐term learning processes.

The Incomplete, Total Work of Modernism

Modernism after Wagner, Juliet Koss's highly anticipated study of the historical and conceptual basis for the Gesamtkunstwerk, identifies and attempts to rectify numerous lacunae in our most enduring narratives about modernism. This book stands as a testament to just how much work there was and remains to be done. In a loose way, it demarcates a vast field that will be mined by scholars for decades to come and it forcefully challenges art historians to acknowledge the urgency of this work. Koss's scrupulously researched book is best appreciated as a valuable addition to the Anglophone literature on nineteenth-century German art, which remains woefully slim. Readers with the inclination to extrapolate the Gesamtkunstwerk to interwar European art, post-Cagean aesthetics, and contemporary art, in contrast, will find substantial fuel for the fire in the heterogeneous anthology assembled by Anke Finger and Danielle Follett, The Aesthetics of the Total Artwork. True...

Discussion

Discussion

Can once lithified rocks later undergo soft-sediment deformation?

Soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDS) have received much attention from sedimentologists, but they use the term ‘SSDS’ commonly in a loose way. In practice, the term is used, as a rule, for deformation structures that were formed before the sediment has become lithified. This usage is unfortunate because lithification is a gradual process, so that no sharp boundary between soft sediments and lithified rocks exists; moreover, cement can be dissolved again, changing a lithified rock back into a soft sediment. The term ‘SSDS’ is also sometimes restricted to deformations in sediments that are in a non-brittle state. This usage is unfortunate, because the nature of the deformation (brittle or plastic) depends on the deformation velocity. The type of deformation depends also, however, on temperature and pressure. An exceptional situation is illustrated by a deformation structure in the Proterozoic Chotanagpur Gneissic Complex in eastern India. The gneisses have been intruded after metamorphism by pegmatitic veins, so that the gneisses became plastic again due to the high temperature of the intruding magma. In this plastic state, they became deformed in the same way as soft sediments. The resulting deformation structures can physically not be distinguished from fluid/gas-escape structures in unconsolidated sediments. It seems therefore advisable to distinguish between SSDS (the ‘classical’ SSDS) and NTDS (non-tectonic deformation structures), which include SSDS formed under extraordinary conditions.

Moving beyond clarity: towards a thin, vague, and useful understanding of spirituality in nursing care

Spirituality is a highly contested concept. Within the nursing literature, there are a huge range and diversity of definitions, some of which appear coherent whereas others seem quite disparate and unconnected. This vagueness within the nursing literature has led some to suggest that spirituality is so diverse as to be meaningless. Are the critics correct in asserting that the vagueness that surrounds spirituality invalidates it as a significant aspect of care? We think not. It is in fact the vagueness of the concept that is its strength and value. In this paper, we offer a critique of the general apologetic that surrounds the use of the language of spirituality in nursing. With the critics, we agree that the term 'spirituality' is used in endlessly different and loose ways. Similarly, we agree that these varied definitions may not refer to constant essences or objects within people or in the world. However, we fundamentally disagree that this makes spirituality irrelevant or of little practical utility. Quite the opposite; properly understood, the vagueness and lack of clarity around the term spirituality is actually a strength that has powerful political, social, and clinical implications. We develop an understanding of spirituality as a way of naming absences and recognizing gaps in healthcare provision as well as a prophetic challenge to some of the ways in which we practise health care within a secular and sometimes secularizing context such as the National Health Service.

Matching opportunities with resources: A framework for analysing (migrant) entrepreneurship from a mixed embeddedness perspective

In this article, an innovative analytical framework for the analysis of (migrant) entrepreneurship is presented. The approach combines the micro-level of the individual entrepreneur (with his or her resources), with the meso-level of the local opportunity structure and links the latter, in more loose way, to the macro-institutional framework. This way, insights on the necessary resources of an (aspiring/nascent) entrepreneur with views on opportunity structures can be combined. A simple typology of the opportunity structure is presented which distinguishes between different kind of openings based, on the one hand, on differences in entry barriers (in terms of human capital), and, on the other, on their dynamics (growing or stagnating). This comprehensive analytical framework relates (shifts in) opportunities, resources and outcomes of immigrant entrepreneurship in a systematic way.

Rectusbanding: a method for the repair of incisional hernias

We report on a new method of incisional hernia repair applicable to any size of hernia and the long-term results of this method. Musculus rectus abdominis is bandaged or partially bandaged in a loose way with a 2-cm-wide band of polypropylene (Prolene) on both sides at a distance of 2 cm, depending on the size of the hernial opening. The aims of this technique, which were defined in 1999 when we started using the method, were to find a simple method for surgeons, a safe mesh fixation and the prevention of a postoperative stiff abdomen. Another aim was to find a method for optimal patient care at reasonable costs. Two hundred and seventeen patients underwent an operation according to this method in our department from June 1999 until December 2007. The first 75 patients of this cohort were treated using a technique in which the musculus rectus abdominis was bandaged in a loose way. One hundred and forty-two patients (since October 2001) were treated using a technique in which the muscle was not entirely bandaged. Instead, the polypropylene bands, which had been placed in sublay position, were penetrating the lateral rim through incisions and were fastened there. We included 124 patients (October 2001 to December 2006) in our further examination with a follow-up of 17-79 months. We found a recurrence rate of 6%, 80.1% of the patients had no trouble, 18.1% of the patients had very rarely any complaint, 0.9% of the patients had problems after exercise and 0.9% had permanent problems. All patients had excellent mobility of the abdomen. This method was proven to give good results in the long run and can be easily learned by any surgeon. This method is a true alternative to all methods which have been published so far.

The old IPE and the new

ABSTRACT The ‘old’ IPE of the 1960s and 1970s explored the political implications of economic interdependence, in an analytically loose but creative way. The ‘new IPE’, as embodied in the open economy politics approach, is more rigorous and has the virtue of integrating comparative and international political economy into a common framework. But it pays too little attention both to how interests are constructed and how policies are subject to processes of international diffusion, and it is remarkably reluctant to focus on major changes taking place in world politics. IPE should come to grips with the fact that genuine economic development is taking place on a global scale; on the role of China, on volatility in financial and energy markets; on the role of actor other than states, and on the implications of the Internet for the analysis of power.

"It's Against Nature"

A couple of years ago, a physician involved in Ashley case launched a presentation about it at a bioethics conference by dismissing one of stupider objections, as he saw it, to interventions Ashley's parents had requested. Ashley is a profoundly cognitively disabled child; her parents sought and obtained interventions, both surgical and pharmacological, that effectively stalled her physical development at a prepubescent stage. The dismissed objection had this form: These interventions are nature, and therefore The presenter did analyze objection; he just said he didn't buy it. I don't either. On other hand, I do find myself swayed by a concern of some sort about what beings do to nature, including to nature. I think it's better to leave great old trees standing than pointlessly to chop them down, better to leave a patch of prairie than to pave it over, better to let species carry on than to bring about their extinction. I take a fairly dim view of breast augmentation, nose jobs, Botox, skin bleaching, and drug-enhanced muscle building. What stops me from saying that those things are against nature, and therefore wrong, is an assortment of complexities that require a much more nuanced and qualified comment. First, a conceptual complexity. To say that an action is against implies that one has a clear understanding of what the is and of how and when action is counter to it, but mostly we lack that. In fact, we use word natural in ways that are sometimes starkly inconsistent with each other. In one use (suggested by examples like felling forests and paving prairies), action is always counter to nature: it always changes world. But we might also hold that action is always it always conforms to laws of nature. In another use, natural refers to how we change world, and whether a given activity is appropriately called natural depends on context in which activity is considered. Chopping down trees looks to be at odds with goals of a preserve, but it might be quite compatible with organic agriculture. This is a looser way of using word natural: calling a state of affairs natural indicates that intervention into it is constrained or absent, but allows that difference between natural and unnatural is a matter of convention, informed by what we know about world and needs, and understood in ways specific to particular contexts--environmental management, agriculture, child-rearing, reproduction, sex, athletic performance, and so on. Lacking any one clear definition of natural, we would have to explain concept by looking at examples, and while some cases might provide touchstones, there might be many cases where terms are underdetermined. Understanding nature and human along these lines means that these concepts do have all baggage of essentialism; there is no thought that in grasping concept we have grasped ultimate truth about a discrete category of things in cosmos--that we know what it really means to be human, or what separates from everything else in universe. There is nothing eternal, immutable, or rationally necessary about them. Indeed, line between natural and not will be fundamentally contestable. People will disagree about many in-between cases, with no definitive resolution in sight. Given these limits, calling an intervention against sounds wrong. For starters, it seems to point to a much more rigid conception of nature. It's also just too cocksure. It does recognize contestability of this concept. The conceptual complexity strikes me as a difficulty even in making sense of a moral concern about nature, but it is chief problem with formulating that concern by saying bluntly, That's nature, and therefore wrong. …

On the Legal Effects of Framework Decisions and Decisions: Directly Applicable, Directly Effective, Self-executing, Supreme?

Abstract: This article seeks to, first, clarify the meaning and scope of an array of ‘legal-effect labels’ which are often used interchangeably or in a loose way in the literature and, second, assess to what extent they can be applied to two kinds of very representative third pillar measures: Framework Decisions and Decisions, defined in Article 34(2) TEU. These ‘labels’ are ‘directly applicable’, ‘directly effective’, ‘self-executing’ and ‘supreme’. The main conclusion is that these are interconnected concepts, in that the way in which we define one of them may prejudge the scope and/or the role played by others. This is particularly so in the case of direct effect, expressly excluded in the Treaty definition of Framework Decisions and Decisions. Arguably, our definition of direct effect will determine whether these measures can develop other effects—especially those emanating from the principle of supremacy (should we accept the latter as applicable to the third pillar). Further, the article argues that even if we adopt a narrow reading of direct effect that would allow for a hypothetical application of the principle of primacy to these third pillar measures, there are powerful reasons to reject the judicial extension of the Simmenthal duty to this area within the current framework of the TEU.

Getting loose: lifestyle consumption in the 1970s

From “getting loose” to “letting it all hang out,” the 1970s were filled with exhortations to free oneself from artificial restraints and to discover oneself in a more authentic and creative life. In the wake of the counterculture of the 1960s, anything that could be made to yield to a more impulsive vitality was reinvented in a looser way. Food became purer, clothing more revealing, sex more orgiastic, and home decor more rustic and authentic. Through a sociological analysis of the countercultural print culture of the 1970s, Sam Binkley investigates the dissemination of these self-loosening narratives and their widespread appeal to America’s middle class. He describes the rise of a genre of lifestyle publishing that emerged from a network of small offbeat presses, mostly located on the West Coast. Amateurish and rough in production quality, these popular books and magazines blended Eastern mysticism, Freudian psychology, environmental ecology, and romantic American pastoralism as they offered “expert” advice—about how to be more in touch with the natural world, how to release oneself into trusting relationships with others, and how to delve deeper into the body’s rhythms and natural sensuality. Binkley examines dozens of these publications, including the Whole Earth Catalog , Rainbook , the Catalog of Sexual Consciousness , Celery Wine , Domebook , and Getting Clear . Drawing on the thought of Pierre Bourdieu, Zygmunt Bauman, and others, Binkley explains how self-loosening narratives helped the middle class confront the modernity of the 1970s. As rapid social change and political upheaval eroded middle-class cultural authority, the looser life provided opportunities for self-reinvention through everyday lifestyle choice. He traces this ethos of self-realization through the “yuppie” 1980s to the 1990s and today, demonstrating that what originated as an emancipatory call to loosen up soon evolved into a culture of highly commercialized consumption and lifestyle branding.

The Supernatural and the Miraculous

Both intention-based and causation-based definitions of the miraculous make reference to the term ‘supernatural’. Philosophers who define the miraculous appear to use this term in a loose way, perhaps meaning the nonnatural, perhaps meaning a subcategory of the nonnatural. Here I examine the aetiology of the term ‘supernatural’. I consider three outstanding issues regarding the meaning of the term and conclude that the supernatural is best understood as a subcategory of the nonnatural. In light of this clarification, I argue that a prominent causation-based definition of the miraculous should be revised so as not refer to the supernatural. I further argue that authors of intention-based definitions of the miraculous need to consider whether or not they should continue to refer to the supernatural, in their definitions of the miraculous, in light of the conclusions discerned here.

Poor politics — poor housing. Policy under the Collor government in Brazil (1990—92)

This paper(1) describes the ways in which clientelism was a factor in the formal structures promoting housing during the Collor government in Brazil, a country where frequent institutional changes have provided the opportunity for new client—patron chains to penetrate the government apparatus. While the institutional and organizational aspects of housing provision are of paramount interest to social scientists and practitioners, it is necessary to go beyond the surface of these formal structures to find out how the system works in practice. This paper analyzes the institutional arrangements that supported housing promotion under the Ministry of Social Action in Brazil during the Collor government and examines their private nature as well as the often loose ways in which the housing authorities actually operated the system.

Binary Ant Colony Evolutionary Algorithm

Every insect is considered,from the viewpoint of biological evolution,to be a neural cell that constitutes a neural network in a casual and loose way of joint．Through simulating the ant swarm intelligence on the basis of human neural network,this paper advances a linear binary network．The binary code expects a low intelligence of each ant,and each path corresponds to a comparatively small storage space,thus considerably improving the efficiency of computation．The test of function optimization and multi-dimensional 0/1 Knapsack proves that the computation has a good speed of convergence,a high stability and a perfect solution．

Base pair motions control the rates and distance dependencies of reductive and oxidative DNA charge transfer

In 1999, Wan et al. [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 6014-6019] published a pioneering paper that established the entanglement between DNA base pair motions and the transfer time of the charge carrier. The DNA assemblies contained an ethidium covalently bound via a flexible alkyl chain to the 5' hydroxyl group of the DNA backbone. Although covalently attached, the loose way in which the ethidium was linked to DNA allowed for large degrees of conformational freedom and thus raised some concern with respect to conformational inhomogeneity. In this letter, we report studies on a different set of ethidium DNA conjugates. In contrast to the "Caltech systems," these conjugates contain ethidium tightly incorporated (as a base pair surrogate) into the DNA base stack, opposite to an abasic site analog. Despite the tight binding, we found that charge transfer from the photoexcited ethidium base pair surrogate across two or more base pairs is several orders of magnitude slower than in case of the DNA systems bearing the tethered ethidium. To further broaden the scope of this account, we compared (oxidative) electron hole transfer and (reductive) electron transfer using the same ethidium chromophore as a charge donor in combination with two different charge acceptors. We found that both electron and hole transfer are characterized by similar rates and distance dependencies. The results demonstrate the importance of nuclear motions and conformational flexibility and underline the presence of a base gating mechanism, which appears to be generic to electronic transfer processes through pi-stacked nucleic acids.

Profile of Giorgio Parisi

Physicist Giorgio Parisi has no problem stretching the conventions of mathematics if it helps him solve a difficult physics problem. Once, while struggling to develop a mathematical model for a complicated system, he found that turning basic concepts inside-out was the only way to crack the puzzle. Parisi explains that it was as if he needed to figure out the number of distinct ways that a handful objects could be placed in a row. The mathematics would not budge, until he decided to introduce the idea of a “half-object.” “Now, a half-object is something that does not make sense,” Parisi admits. “When physicists use mathematics, they use it in a looser way.”

Small-angle neutron scattering study of aqueous solutions of 1,7-heptanediol

We report results of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements on aqueous solutions of 1,7-heptanediol in the molarity range 0.11–1.5 mol dm −3 at room temperature. The experimental data show aggregation of the diol molecules within the whole studied concentration range. The scattering curves could be accurately described by the structural model of random concentration fluctuations. The results suggest that 1,7-heptanediol molecules in aqueous solution aggregate in a rather loose way.

History Theory Design: a pedagogy of persuasion

Architecture students tell stories about their work. These stories are meant to convey information regarding their convictions about design, the motivating concept for a specific design, and the intended meaning of the design. Such stories are calculated to have something to do with the work presented. Often, though, what is said is put forward and accepted as valid simply because it is said. Scrutiny of the relationship between such accounts and the visual or physical evidence frequently reveals a wide gap between intention and result. Credulity of such incongruity encourages a loose way of thinking that fosters a separation of thought (theory) from doing (practice). Concurrently, architecture students at the earliest stages of their education seem to require skill development above all else. But overemphasis on technique undervalues developing conceptual depth. If students are not introduced to design as an ill-defined problem, akin to formulating effective and persuasive arguments, their propensity is to produce work that tends to be ineffectively developed or represented while lacking theoretical sophistication.

L’enseignement de la traduction japonais-français : une formation à l’analyse

Most Western translators of Japanese do not have quite a perfect understanding of the language. Some linguistic features of the Japanese language and its use by the Japanese also make it more difficult to translate than most other languages : its elliptic nature, its less than explicit logic, its grammar which provides few indications as to relations between nouns and noun clauses and few indications regarding time, its rapidly changing vocabulary and the rather loose way in which the Japanese tend to pose problems in translation . A third major problem for translators working from Japanese in the West is the lack of Japanese documentation and the difficulties encountered whenever they try to find Japanese resource persons to help them out with difficulties. Consequently, analysis is a must in translation from Japanese. Lexical analysis is mainly morphological in the case ofKango and phonological in the case of Gairaigo. Logical analysis of texts is necessary in testing meaning hypotheses, as the apparent "linguistic" meaning of text segments may be quite different from their true meaning. For complex, long or seemingly "agrammatical" or "illogical" sentences, the so-called "block analysis", which consists in identifying "blocks" encompassing noun phrases, identifying relationships between them, then streamlining sentences structurally and semantically until problems are pinpointed or solved, is an efficient analysis tool.

Rectusbanding by polypropylene-mesh--a new method for incisional hernia repair

We report on a new method of incisional hernia repair applicable to any size. With exception of an area 1 cm medial of the m. rectus abdominis where the strip penetrates the anterior wall of the rectus sheath for a better fixation, the muscle ist looped in a loose way with a 2 cm wide band of polypropylene (Prolene(R)) on both sides at a distance of 2 cm depending on the size of the hernial opening. Different models of strips were used in 27 % of the cases adapted to anatomical particularities of the hernial opening. Anterior and posterior wall of the rectus sheath are closed by a continuous panacryl suture which covers the strip. Because of the wide subcutaneous excavation extending to the lateral margin of the rectus sheath an extensive drainage by Redon-Drainages as well as compression bandages are important therapeutical procedures until formation of seromas has finished. For perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis we used Cefuroxime (3 x 1,5 i. v.). From 07/1999 until 10/2001 75 patients underwent an operation in our department. The direct postoperative complications observed were: Seroma formation up to 300 ml after discharge in 5 patients (6,6 %) and wound infections in 2 patients (2,8 %). In none of the cases the mesh had to be removed. In a follow-up period of 6 to 24 months we found 2 recurrences in 60 patients (3,3 %). These were related to technical failures of the beginning. 64.9 % of the patients were free of complaints after 6 months and almost 96 % after one year. Only 3 patients (4 %) had to take analgetic drugs occasionally. With regard to the mobility of the abdominal wall we found no measurable limitation. The method of Rectusbanding is easy to learn for every surgeon and with little material the mesh-strip can be fixed safely. It can be cut to individual sizes and shapes adapted to the fascial proportions of the hernial opening.