Mutual Insights Research Articles

On heritage pharmacology: Rethinking ‘heritage pathologies’ as tropes of care

This article develops the concept of heritage pharmacology as an encompassing critical framework in order to radically recast the interactions and efficacies of heritage as a particularly potent pharmacology of care. I critically engage with Stiegler's philosophic reflections On Pharmacology, which builds on Derrida's work and recasts pharmacology – a term usually reserved for that branch of the biomedical sciences dealing with drugs and their interactions and efficacies – in order to draw out the ‘curative-toxic’ dimensions at play in wider care tropes. By placing core concepts and practices of heritage and pharmacology in critical dialogue, my aim as heritage critic is to gain mutual insights into ‘care’, as that which links together the two domains of heritage and health, as otherwise distinct discourses, concepts, technics, and practices. My specific intervention rethinks the crucial role of ‘heritage pathologies’ and the underpinning memory-work at play within these tropes while grounding these in a case study of Jerusalem Syndrome (JS). I argue that it is the dynamic of heritage pathologies, best crystallized in JS debates, that invests us in the wider Stieglerian quest/ion of ‘pharmacology’, as a concern with ‘what makes life worth living’. Such quests ultimately take this article into the realpolitik of Palestine.

Second Language Acquisition and Language Education—Bidirectional Synergies between Research and Practice

This Special Issue brings together the fields of second language acquisition (SLA) and language education in an attempt to offer a venue for exploring mutual insights into classroom language learning [...]

Strain Engineering in Perovskites: Mutual Insight on Oxides and Halides.

Perovskite materials have garnered significant attention over the past decades due to their applications, not only in electronic materials, such as dielectrics, piezoelectrics, ferroelectrics, and superconductors but also in optoelectronic devices like solar cells and light emitting diodes. This interest arises from their versatile combinations and physiochemical tunability. While strain engineering is a recognized powerful tool for tailoring material properties, its collaborative impact on both oxides and halides remains understudied. Herein, strain engineering in perovskites for energy conversion devices, providing mutual insight into both oxides and halides is discussed. The various experimental methods are presented for applying strain by using thermal mismatch, lattice mismatch, defects, doping, light illumination, and flexible substrates. In addition, the main factors that are influenced by strain, categorized as structure (e.g., symmetry breaking, octahedral distortion), bandgap, chemical reactivity, and defect formation energy are described. After that, recent progress in strain engineering for perovskite oxides and halides for energy conversion devices is introduced. Promising methods for enhancing the performance of energy conversion devices using perovskites through strain engineering are suggested.

The Self-Pattern and Buddhist Psychology

In this paper, we address core insights from Buddhist psychology about mind-body phenomena and the self, and we relate such insights to the notion of the self-pattern developed in the pattern theory of self. We emphasize the dynamic, temporal and enactive characteristics of the self-pattern, consistent with the core Buddhist notion of non-self. Although there is no one-to-one mapping of Buddhist psychological concepts onto the pattern theory of self, there are important similarities among such concepts and the various processes and dynamical relations that constitute a pragmatic self-pattern that can explain both experiences of self and non-self. Buddhist psychology and the notion of the self-pattern offer mutual insight into the processes, the dynamics, and the implications for questions about well-being and a flexibility that avoids anxiety and reduces attachment, craving, and suffering.

At the feet of storytellers: Implications for practicing early relational health conversations.

A family- and culturally-centered approach to conversations about early relational health (ERH) can open up opportunities for universal family engagement. The appraisal of family-baby relational health is more trustworthy and useful when there is attunement to family voice and facilitator bias. Early Relational Health Conversations (ERH-C) is a model for ERH promotion and intervention. This model has eight components: preparing and entering the ERH-C space, accessing strength and knowledge in a healing-centered space, pausing and co-creating, storytelling, witnessing, mutual reflection, affirming, and claiming their relationship narrative, and mutual insight. It is a paradigm shift in working with African American families and possibly other historically marginalized families who are also impacted by structural racism. The eight components are explained, and examples are given from the perspective of an Africentric worldview. The importance of cultural humility, attuning to and honoring family culture is emphasized. Insights for implementation in primary care and other settings are provided. Healing-centered engagement practices embedded in ERH-C have the potential to move ERH work into the social justice arena. The ERH-C is a family reflection model. Ideas for future directions for ERH-C are discussed.

ASSESSMENT OF PATIENTS’ SAFETY CULTURE AND QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN HOSPITALS OF PAKISTAN: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Humanoid errors are reality of life and happen in normal routine in any working conditions by individuals. Culture of safety is combination of mutual values, behaviors and insights of safety within a healthcare organization in the direction of decreasing harm to the patients. Safety culture consists of various components including identification of high risk settings prone to errors in nature, blame free working conditions, allocation of safety concern resources by administration and strong association of various arms of healthcare to find solutions. Patients’ safety culture is not very well evaluated nor focused yet in most of the developing countries including Pakistan. Objectives: Aim of this study was establish a baseline data on awareness about Patients’ safety culture among nurses, physicians and other healthcare staff from public and private hospitals of Pakistan. Study Settings and Methods: This cross sectional study was undertaken in Department of Nursing, The University Of Lahore in collaboration with various public and private hospitals of Pakistan during January 2020 to April 2020. Conclusion: Patients’ safety culture in healthcare system of Pakistan is not well evaluated nor ideally practiced. Few components of safety attitude questionnaire are adapted in excellence while other are practiced in average or below average. Improvements in patients’ safety are necessary as in developing counties. Gender has not been supposed to be a pre-determined factor associated with patients’ safety whereas private sector has been found to be a predictor and negatively associated with patients’ safety. Age, ethnicity and category of healthcare staff may be potential factors but desired more studies to explore properly.

Intimate Technology and Alien Science

The article presents the results of a study of the interaction between tDCS-users and scientists on reddit.com. The forum observation and interviewing of the most active members of the Internet community were conducted during 2020–2021 by the methods of digital ethnography. The obtained results are intended to deepen the understanding both the exchange processes between scientists and non-professional, and the space in which such coordination takes place. A suitable tool for such work is the “trading zone” concept, which is defined by the lack of consensus on a scientific fact; the presence of local subcultures separated by disciplinary or practice boundaries; pidginization or creolization of language occurring on the basis of non-monetary exchange forms, without mutual values insight. TDCS is a technology with unproven effectiveness, and therefore scientific discussions are still being held around it. Unlike scientists, users present an alternative approach to the effectiveness of these devices, which analysis allows considering tDCS-technology as a “boundary object”. The central element of interaction at the “trading zone” is the exchange of “anecdotal data”, which determines the features of the emerging pidgin, aimed at describing the individual perception of a user’s experience. The forum interaction, involving the exchange of anecdotal data, leads to the formation of skill to discriminate a variety of tDCS-types, as well as types of scientific expertise. The ability for discrimination becomes the basis of interactional expertise. The user’s right to undertake expertise arise not from the basis of formal membership in scientific institutions, or personal contribution to the development of a scientific discipline, but on the property of “interactional experience”. The article notes that the attempts of users to extend interactional expertise beyond the boundaries of the trading zones, as well as the participation of academic scientists in the activities of the forum, may be associated with risks for scientific research.

Photoemission Spectra from the Extended Koopman's Theorem, Revisited.

The Extended Koopman’s Theorem (EKT) provides a straightforward way to compute charged excitations from any level of theory. In this work we make the link with the many-body effective energy theory (MEET) that we derived to calculate the spectral function, which is directly related to photoemission spectra. In particular, we show that at its lowest level of approximation the MEET removal and addition energies correspond to the so-called diagonal approximation of the EKT. Thanks to this link, the EKT and the MEET can benefit from mutual insight. In particular, one can readily extend the EKT to calculate the full spectral function, and choose a more optimal basis set for the MEET by solving the EKT secular equation. We illustrate these findings with the examples of the Hubbard dimer and bulk silicon.

Facilitating Care of Children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Orofacial Pain, and Dysfunction: An Interview Study of Specialized Health Professionals.

(1) To deepen knowledge on how specialized health care professionals (HCPs) reflect on encounters with children diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and (2) to outline a theory for orofacial care. Grounded theory was used to discover the psychosocial processes involved in communication between HCPs, children, and parents, and this information was used to develop a theory about these processes. Using classic grounded theory, a total of 20 interviews with HCPs were analyzed. One main concern, "secure health and biopsychosocial development," permeated all care. A core category was identified as "create a responsive interaction with the child and family." The data that supported this core category helped to explain how the HCP responded to a patient to promote orofacial health. Based on the dentist's responses to the child, eight subcategories were identified: (1) secure confidential relationships; (2) convey disease-specific knowledge; (3) communicate healthy findings and form mutual insights at examination; (4) encourage health-promoting behaviors; (5) ensure follow-up; (6) share perspectives; (7) guide parenting; and (8) improve knowledge and networks. How the dentist shall best understand the needs of a child diagnosed with JIA requires further evaluation. To promote oral health, the child must feel safe, confirmed, and supported with knowledge. Also, further studies are needed on the dentist's collaboration with the pediatrician and the physiotherapist for contributing to overall health.

Microbiota and microRNAs in lung diseases: mutual influence and role insights.

Trillions of microbial cells colonize human body both internally and externally. The prevalent amount of these reside in the gastrointestinal tract (gut microbiome). Gut microflora support the transformation of food nutrients. The products of this modification processes both modulate gastro-intestinal immunity, and influence other organs such as lung and brain. Recently, it was reported the role of micro-RNAs (miRNAs) as regulators in different pathways of the innate and/or adaptive immune responses. Latest studies discussed the aptitude of probiotics strains to balance the host immune response at a post-transcriptional level by controlling miRNAs expression. We speculated a model of lung immune regulation driven by the axis microbiota-microRNAs, involving asthma, acute injury, cancer and COPD. Based on this axis, we propose a novel approach based on the modification of microRNAs expression centered not exclusively on antagomiRs but also on microbiota modification in order to further potentiate their therapeutic effects.

Extracting Problem Linkages to Improve Knowledge Exchange between Science and Technology Domains using an Attention-based Language Model

Science and technology activities can be considered problem-solving activities, and scientific papers and patent publications can be viewed as providing explicit knowledge gained from the problem-solving of academia and industry respectively. However, even in the same field, the approach to the same problem is not consistent between a paper and the patented technology. The creation of information silos in science and technology generates inefficiency in human intellectual production. Therefore, this study examines whether insights from technical problems can be shared with academics to solve scientific problems. We propose a concept to link the problems between these two domains using a linguistic approach for knowledge discovery that connects science and technology. We extracted scientific papers from the Association for Computational Linguistics dataset, and patent literature from the Derwent Innovation platform. From these, pairs of problem defining sentences were identified and extracted using an attention-based language model. For example, we were able to extract examples of issues that do not necessarily arise from scientific papers, such as annotation difficulties in the analysis of social network data, but can be hinted at by patented techniques prior to the paper. These results suggest that scientific problems and industrial solutions can provide mutual insight. This knowledge discovery approach is recommended not only for benefiting corporate activities but also for grasping research trends.

578 Childhood Burn Injuries: The Parent Perspective

Abstract Introduction Interventions for burn-injured children (BIC) largely focus on the child with the physical injury while consideration for family systems appears incidental. This study aimed to gain insight into the perspectives and needs of parents/caregivers of pediatric burn patients (PPBP). When considering BIC within the context of a family system, it is reasonable to expect the injury to engulf everyone. The literature emphasizes the acute and lasting physical and emotional impact of burns. Moreover, research suggests PPBP experience an emotional response to the incident that is often complicated by physical absence from their other uninjured children. Thus, this exploratory study fills a gap by engaging the unique perspective of the PPBP and posits direct implications for essential program enhancement/development. Methods PPBP attending a family program participated in semi-structured interviews (N=11) guided by the research question: What are the experiences of PPBP? Participants’ self-identified as African American (n=4), Caucasian (n=5), and Latino (n=2). Age ranged from 29 to 48 (M=38.36, SD=6.14). Interviews involved queries regarding the burn incident, from injury to present (M=7.12 years, SD=4.61), including support received, what they wish people understood about the experience, and ideas for programming. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed using van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Results Findings supported PPBP’s unique experience coalescing into one theme—the never-ending trip from hell—conceptualized as, “I didn’t mean to get here—none of this is familiar and I can’t find anyone I know. What’s going on and when will it be over?” Mutual painful insights were parental guilt, sensory experiences related to the acute incident and aftercare, unknown prognosis and medical treatment expectations, physical/emotional health problems, family members insensitivity, managing the cruelty of others, isolation, marital strains, and sibling tensions. Families also reported positive outcomes: strength of informal support networks, empowerment through educating others, and creating new allies. PPBP emphasized the benefits associated with meeting other families who also endured a burn injury and the importance of mutual support. Conclusions Programs should address the needs of all family members, not just BIC. In order to mitigate the impact of burn trauma, the family system impact remains a critical primary consideration for research and interventions. Applicability of Research to Practice Findings can contribute to program planning with increased consideration of the family system. As a result of findings from this study, siblings are now included in a summer camp program historically serving only BIC.

Modular service provision for heterogeneous patient groups: a single case study in chronic Down syndrome care

BackgroundService modularity could be promising for organizing healthcare delivery to heterogeneous patient groups because it enables cost reductions while also being responsive towards individual patients’ needs. However, no research on the applicability of modularity in this context exists. To this end, we conducted a qualitative single-case study on chronic healthcare provision for Down syndrome patients, delivered by multidisciplinary pediatric Downteams in the Netherlands, from a modular perspective.MethodsWe conducted six semi-structured interviews with coordinators of multidisciplinary Downteams in six hospitals. In addition, we gathered data by means of observations and analysis of relevant documentation. We transcribed, coded, and analyzed the interviews utilizing the Miles and Huberman approach. The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) were applied in this study.ResultsIn all six Downteams studied, the modular package for Down syndrome patients (i.e. the visit to the Downteams) could clearly be divided into modules (i.e. the separate consultations with the various professionals), and into different components (i.e. sub-elements of these consultations). These modules and components were linked by different types of customer-flow and information-flow interfaces. These interfaces allowed patients to flow smoothly through the system and allowed for information transfer, respectively.ConclusionOur study shows a modular perspective is applicable to analyzing chronic healthcare for a heterogeneous patient group like children with Down syndrome. The decomposition of the various Downteams into modules and components led to mutual insight into each other’s professional practices, both within and across the various Downteams studied. It could be used to increase transparency of delivered care for patients and family. Moreover, it could be used to customize care provision by mixing-and-matching components. More detailed research on chronic modular care provision for patients with DS is needed to explore this.

Mutual Involvement in Families Living with Type 2 Diabetes: Using the Family Toolbox to Address Challenges Related to Knowledge, Communication, Support, Role Confusion, Everyday Practices and Mutual Worries

Family involvement plays a key role in diabetes management. Challenges related to type 2 diabetes (T2D) often affect the whole family, and relatives are at increased risk of developing diabetes themselves. Creating family involvement in families living with T2D is a complex matter. This article studies potential effects of working with dialogue tools specifically developed to create family involvement. The data consist of 18 semi-structured family interviews. The data were analyzed using radical hermeneutics and theories on family identity and healthcare authenticity. The analysis revealed five themes: (1) Working with the tools created better and broader intra-familial involvement; (2) the tools enabled new roles and self-understandings for all family members; (3) the tools facilitated mutual insights into each other’s thoughts and worries; (4) after working with the tools, it was easier to discover potential challenges and possible behavior change; and (5) gaining new knowledge and the motivation to seek more knowledge was easier after working with the tools. Working with the tools changed how the families perceive themselves and the ways in which they can affect their own T2D-related health behavior together. This has direct implications for healthcare practitioners working with people with T2D.

A 3-variable PDE model for predicting fungal growth derived from microscopic mechanisms

In this work, we present a new PDE model of the growth of Postia placenta, a species of brown rot fungus. The formulation was derived mainly from the biological mechanisms embedded in our discrete model, validated against experimental data. In order to mimic the growth mechanisms, we propose a new reaction-diffusion formulation, based on three variables: the concentration of tips, the branch density and the total hyphal density. The evolution of tips obeys a reaction-diffusion model, with constant diffusivity, while the evolution of the two other variables results from time integrals. The numerical solution is in excellent agreement with the averaged radial tip/hyphal densities of the mycelial network obtained by the discrete model. Thanks to the efficient exponential Euler method with Krylov subspace approximation, the solution needs only 3.5 s of CPU time to simulate 104-day of mycelium growth, in comparison with 8 hours for the discrete model. The great reduction of the RAM memory and computing time gives the possibility to upscale the simulation. The novelty of the PDE system is that the spatial colonization is formulated as a diffusion mechanism, which is self-standing, contrary to models based on an advection term. The continuous model can also reproduce the radial densities when the growth parameters in the discrete model are varied to adapt to different growth conditions. The correlation constructed between the two models provides us a tool for mutual insights between local biological mechanisms to the global biomass distribution, especially when analyzing experimental data.

The Language of Philosophy and the Philosophy of Language: a Symbiotic Paradigm

This paper was focused on the relationship between the discipline of Philosophy and Language: an interplay that has been found to be a sublime in terms of the conceptual methodological and classificatory values. The logic, objectivity, analytics, symbolism and universalism that have informed the study of language draw on the legacies of philosophy while on the other hand, philosophical studies gain ascendancy in elucidation from the expository, referential and concextual resources of language. It is recommended that experts on the two subjects should carry out more collaborative studies to explore the mutual insights available in the domains.

A Comparative Study of the Concepts of Torah in the Hebrew Bible and Li in Zuozhuan

The ancient Israelite concept of Torah as law developed from its initial reference to legal stipulations into a system representing almost everything of social-political and cosmic significance in the postexilic period. Likewise, the ancient Chinese notion of li (禮) transformed from reference to specific rituals into an abstract, all-inclusive, collective concept of cosmic dimensions. This study compares the notions of Torah in the Hebrew Bible (particularly in the Psalms) and li in Zuozhuan (particularly in “Lord Zhao 25”). These concepts share similarities but also differ. They provide mutual insights from perspectives of kingship, the public, and natural order.

Setting a new framework for co-operation between the Commonwealth and the European Union

This paper proposes a new approach to understanding the relations between the European Union (EU) and the Commonwealth. There has been a long-standing lack of mutual insight between the Commonwealth and the EU, chiefly due to a general lack of knowledge of the modern-day Commonwealth and its role on the international stage. The relations between both organisations are currently limited, despite the fact that there are areas of common interest, where cooperation would not only be feasible, but also beneficial. An agreement, such as that proposed in this paper could contribute significantly in the fight to eradicate poverty and uphold human rights.

Entre agora e outrora: a escrita da história no cinema de Eduardo Coutinho

Resumo A cinematografia contemporânea de Eduardo Coutinho é marcada pela centralidade da entrevista como forma dramática e pelo registro do encontro presente entre o diretor e os sujeitos filmados. “Arte do presente”, na expressão de Consuelo Lins (2002), esse cinema abriga, entretanto, um projeto mais raro, mas muito denso, de escrita da história. Propomos investigá-lo a partir do cotejo entre dois documentários separados por 20 anos – Cabra marcado para morrer (1984) e Peões (2004). Eles nos permitem, em suas semelhanças e diferenças, observar as iluminações recíprocas (entre passado e presente) ensejadas pela diacronia de Coutinho, que em nossa hipótese elabora “o presente como história” (YSHAGPOUR, 2000, p. 110).

An approach to curriculum grace.

Through the ‘Principle of Coherence’, The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) recommends teachers make connections between and within school subjects. Further, the NZC Vision seeks to connect pupils to the land. Such goals could be approached through E.O.Wilson’s notion of consilience: a biological interpretation of culture and behaviour that includes seeking interdisciplinary patterns and cross-pollination between arts and sciences for mutual insight and the fostering of an affinity for Nature. Senior foreign language classes treat a wide range of interdisciplinary topics including the environment and the arts and may be fruitful contexts for consilience. A consilient unit of work was designed for a French class at a New Zealand (NZ) secondary school. Twelve lessons were observed, audio-recorded, and transcribed using conversational analysis conventions. Conversations revealing idea development of two pupils were interpreted using inference to the best explanation as supported by questionnaires, observational and teacher-researcher debrief notes. Panarchy, a model of complex ecosystem adaptive change, was used as a metaphor to frame and describe the development of two students’ ideas. This model provided a means to identify instances of conceptual change and a new vocabulary to describe them. An appropriate artwork was sought as a source of insight into the development of the metaphor and in the interpretation of the data. Ernest Hemingway’s short story Big Two-Hearted River was chosen for its metaphorical relevance as a study of adaptive change. Gregory Bateson’s concept of ‘grace’ is a sense of oneness with Nature and a non-technical solution to the environmental crisis. Grace is approached through the pursuit of unifying natural patterns across the disciplines, emotional engagement with beauty through art, awareness of one’s nestedness in a holarchy of complex systems, and of one’s co-evolution with the ‘other’. Approaching grace through consilience in the NZC we call ‘curriculum grace’.