Narrative Account Research Articles

Expected and Realized Inflation in Historical Perspective

This paper provides historical context for the relationship between expected and realized inflation. We begin with a discussion of early theoretical thought about how inflation expectations are formed. Then, we discuss survey- and asset- based measures of inflation expectations and assess their empirical relationship with realized inflation. Expected and realized inflation are strongly correlated over long samples, but over short samples the correlations can weaken. Lastly, to better understand the subtleties of the interaction between expected and realized inflation over short-lived but important events, we provide a narrative account of the relationship during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Great Inflation of the 1970s, the Great Recession of 2008–2009, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. These episodes offer compelling evidence of the importance of expectations and policy regime changes in inflation dynamics.

Religious Freedom in English Schools: Neoliberal Legality and the Reconfiguration of Choice

This paper considers how the longstanding liberal principle of freedom of religion in education in England was recontextualised within a marketised system of school choice. First, the potential conflict between the right to freedom of belief and to education is outlined. The notion of neoliberal legalism is explored, first in identifying and defining neoliberalism as a model of regulation by market forces, then in outlining ‘neoliberal legality’, as the manifestation of this approach in law. Next, the paper presents a narrative account of the development in England of the principle of religious freedom in education up to the Education Act 1944. The neoliberal turn is considered, in the 1988 Education Reform Act and subsequent legislation, showing how while the provision remains, religion is effectively one marker of school choice and strategic school selection, rather than purely a fundamental personal freedom. This is discussed in relation to neoliberal recontexualisation of existing law, and the neoliberal governance of religions.

Co-producing Desistance Opportunities with Women in Prison: Reflections of a Sports Coach Developer

The following paper provides a sport coach developer’s reflective narrative account of his first experience of delivering a football-based development programme within a women’s prison. The account highlights the notion that initial ‘up-front’ desistance work can be a process of co-production where all those involved engage in a journey of discovery in which the seeds of desistance are planted and begin to take root. The interplay between practitioners and service users involved navigating issues including vulnerability, trust and the impact of environmental factors, and highlights the idea that initial desistance efforts result from co-produced efforts between the person initiating change and those tasked with supporting this process. The paper calls for greater attention to the lived experience of facilitating early desistance transitions, as this will result in furthering our understanding of desistance processes.

TEMPLE AS PLACE: THE PATHARS AND THEIR DEVASTHANAM AS A UNIT OF ANALYSIS

Arulmigu Kamatchi Amman Devasthanam in Penang is the sole Vishwakarma community temple in Malaysia, and it marks an entry into the world of Pathars; the traditional Tamil goldsmiths, a sub-ethnic group within the local Indian diaspora. The conception of this temple as “devasthanam” or “place of God”, by the Pathars, implores this study to explore this community temple as a place. This study frames the temple and the lived experience a person has in it as a unit of analysis. The primary data comes from ethnographic study that involves participant observation and spatial study. The secondary data is drawn from document and photo reviews alongside the writings of pioneering Indian art historians. The findings of this study are chronicled as a narrative account to reveal this temple as a dimension of the local Pathar community’s lifeworld and to understand how it develops into a locus that gathers human experience, insideness and identity formation through the conception of Hindu temple as a synergy of form, meaning and use. The findings of this study not only record this temple as a space of specific cultural continuity, but highlights the need to recognize the diversity and differences within Indian diaspora

Roles of Fatty Acids in Microglial Polarization: Evidence from In Vitro and In Vivo Studies on Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Microglial polarization to the M1 phenotype (classically activated) or the M2 phenotype (alternatively activated) is critical in determining the fate of immune responses in neurodegenerative diseases (NDs). M1 macrophages contribute to neurotoxicity, neuronal and synaptic damage, and oxidative stress and are the first line of defense, and M2 macrophages elicit an anti-inflammatory response to regulate neuroinflammation, clear cell debris, and promote neuroregeneration. Various studies have focused on the ability of natural compounds to promote microglial polarization from the M1 phenotype to the M2 phenotype in several diseases, including NDs. However, studies on the roles of fatty acids in microglial polarization and their implications in NDs are a rare find. Most of the studies support the role of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in microglial polarization using cell and animal models. Thus, we aimed to collect data and provide a narrative account of microglial types, markers, and studies pertaining to fatty acids, particularly PUFAs, on microglial polarization and their neuroprotective effects. The involvement of only PUFAs in the chosen topic necessitates more in-depth research into the role of unexplored fatty acids in microglial polarization and their mechanistic implications. The review also highlights limitations and future challenges.

EFL Students' Experience in Speaking Practice on Discord Application

Being fluent in a foreign language requires many practices. However, Indonesian EFL learners might find it challenging to find a speaking partner to practice with as English is not widely used in the society. Moreover, the outbreak of Covid-19 has restricted people to communicate face to face, thus they seek for alternative modes of communication utilizing technology. This study was conducted in order to provide a detailed account and explanation of how learning English informally through a social media called Discord could be a better alternative to practice speaking English. The study involved two EFL students with different background based on their reason of joining the application. Narrative inquiry was used as the method of the study with data collected from interviews and observations to gather the stories on how they practiced their English in the application. The stories were then retold in a narrative account which then validated by the participants. The result includes a detailed account of the experience of practicing English in informal settings with an explanation of how these experiences reflected on the factors affecting speaking skill and ways to develop the three main aspects of speaking. With the results, Discord application shows the possibility to be an alternative for EFL students in finding a place and partners to practice their speaking.

Commentary on “Research priorities relating to communication and swallowing for individuals with learning disabilities across the lifespan”

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on the article by Chadd et al. The commentary sets out the key principles of good support and considers how the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists research priorities impact on the practice of a team of Speech and Language Therapists who support people with learning disabilities, including autistic people and those with complex needs who display behaviour described as challenging. The commentary considers how the research priorities fit within current policies and frameworks and reflects on areas that could be considered further.Design/methodology/approachThis commentary provides a narrative account of the reflections of a team of Speech and Language Therapists on the impact that the research priorities have had on their work.FindingsThe Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) team are all keen to be involved in research but identify barriers to this relating to time within their current roles and challenges in meaningfully involving people they support. The research priorities have provided a broad framework for them to use to consider areas for research, and the focus on measuring outcomes is welcome. The research priorities largely fit within the frameworks that support current social care practice; however, they are not written in a way that is accessible for most people with a learning disability, and some do not fully reflect the social model of disability. The wider involvement of people with lived experience may have led to different research priorities identified.Originality/valueThe commentary provides an account of the impact that the research priorities have had on a team of Speech and Language Therapists working within a social care setting. It encourages readers to consider the wider context for people with learning disabilities and the role SLT plays within the social model of support for improving quality of life.

A Limbo Between Beckett and Kafka: The Tartar Steppe

ABSTRACT The Tartar Steppe, Dino Buzzati’s most famous work, is not simply a narrative account of an officer serving in a remote fortress overlooking a vast northern desert; it oscillates between the chronicle and fantastic realism throughout. Anguish and malaise are expressed in the narrative in a manner similar to existentialist philosophy and Kafka’s fiction. Based upon the comparison to his Masters, I will attempt at reinterpreting Buzzati’s novel as a journey to the afterlife, as a transcendental roaming to a spiritual limbo where all objects, people, and landscapes are but individual projections.

Negotiating Indigenous higher education policy analysis at the cultural interface in the Northern Territory, Australia

ABSTRACT Policy analysis can be useful for learning about ‘what works’ in policy. Contemporary policy studies literature highlight that such learning is influenced by power relations in government that shape our ways of knowing the world. This paper offers a critically reflexive narrative account of power relations present during Indigenous higher education policy analysis research conducted in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia to shed light on how to effectively negotiate policy analysis. We reflect on tensions that arose by applying Nakata’s concept of the ‘cultural interface’, which accounts for the complexity of meaning making across diverse knowledge spaces. Narratives from an Indigenous Project Reference Group member are included to provide a perspective on these tensions from an Indigenous standpoint. The paper concludes by describing enabling conditions and strategies that were necessary for effective policy analysis, and considers implications for Indigenous higher education policy analysis in the NT.

The Recent Surge in Money Growth: What Would Milton Friedman Say?

The M2 money supply has grown by almost 40% since 2019. This number by itself raises the strong possibility that we have entered a new and remarkable era in United States monetary history. But what would Milton Friedman say?Friedman's most famous work, his Monetary History of the United States, co‐authored with Anna Schwartz, provides a narrative account of events that links volatility in the money supply to economic instability, particularly during the Great Depression of the 1930s. And many of his subsequent articles focused on the role played by excessive money growth in generating the inflationary, boom‐bust cycles of the 1970s. An examination of these writings leaves little doubt that Friedman would be quite concerned about the recent surge in M2.Toward the end of his career, however, Friedman saw that the tight statistical links between money, output, and inflation that formed the basis for his lifetime's work had started to weaken. These same shifting correlations led other monetary economists and Federal Reserve policymakers to downplay the importance of changes in the money supply and to emphasize instead the role of interest rates in transmitting the effects of monetary policy to the broader economy.This paper takes a fresh look at the data, extended through the present, with the help of insights gleaned from Friedman's writings. It finds that when the sharp reduction in the velocity of money is accounted for, the historical relationships between money, output, and inflation that Friedman originally discovered reappear, even in the most recent data. These findings confirm what surely would be Friedman's concern: that unless the Federal Reserve moves decisively to wind down and reverse its large‐scale asset purchases and raise its target for the federal funds rate, higher inflation will persist.

Visualizing the Knowledge Domain in Health Education: A Scientometric Analysis Based on CiteSpace.

Objectives: This study aimed to visualize the evidence in the global research on health education to better improve the nation’s health literacy and to guide future research. Method: We searched the Web of Science (Core Collection) electronic databases. The search strategies: topic: (“Health Education” OR “Education, Health” OR “Community Health Education” OR “Education, Community Health” OR “Health Education, Community”) AND document: (Article) AND language:(English). Articles of evidence from January 2011 to December 2021 with those words in the title or abstract or keywords will be included in this review. We used the Citespace 5.6.R5 (64-bit) to investigate and determine the thematic patterns, and emerging trends of the knowledge domain, and presented a narrative account of the findings. Result: We analyzed 10,273 eligible articles. It showed that BMC Public Health displays the most prolific journals. Author MARCO PAHOR is highlighted in health education. The University of Sydney has published the most studies about health education. The USA plays an important role in these studies. Specifically, the visualization shows several hotspots: disease prevalence surveys and a specific population of knowledge, attitude and practice surveys, health intervention, chronic and non-communicable management, youth-health action, sexual and reproductive health, and physical activity promotion. Furthermore, document co-citation analysis indicated that there are 10 main clusters, which means the research front in health education. Meanwhile, by the citation detected, COVID-19, has achieved universal health coverage in related studies, however, public health education and the health workforce might be more popular in the coming years. Conclusion: Health education is an effective measure to shift the concept of public health and improve healthy living standards. The present study facilitates an extensive understanding of the basic knowledge and research frontiers that are pivotal for the developmental process of health education and allows scholars to visualize the identification modes and tendencies.

Thermaldesorptionambientionizationmass spectrometryforemergencytoxicology.

In the emergency department, it is important to rapidly identify the toxic substances that have led to acute poisoning because different toxicants or toxins cause poisoning through different mechanisms, requiring disparate therapeutic strategies and precautions against contraindicating actions, and diverse directions of clinical course monitoring and prediction of prognosis. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry, a state-of-the-art technology, has been proved to be a fast, accurate, and user-friendly tool for rapidly identifying toxicants like residual pesticides on fruits and vegetables. In view of this, developing an analytical platform that explores the application of such a cutting-edge technology in a novel direction has been initiated a research program, namely, the rapid identification of toxic substances which might have caused acute poisoning in patients who visit the emergency department and requires an accurate diagnosis for correct clinical decision-making to bring about corresponding data-guided management. This review includes (i) a narrative account of the breakthrough in emergency toxicology brought about by the advent of ambient ionization mass spectrometry and (ii) a thorough discussion about the clinical implications and technical limitations of such a promising innovation for promoting toxicological tests from tier two-level to tier one level.

I Didn’t Ask for Any of This: (White) Privilege, the American (Dream) Family, and Health Care

As a cisgendered White male who emerged from a decidedly working-class family, the national fantasy of achieving the prototypical “American Dream” (i.e., working a white-collar job, getting married and raising children in “good” neighborhoods, and an opportunity at a better quality of life for our offspring) has long been socialized into my life. However, as I have reached the supposed mountaintop both personally and professionally to become part of what Stewart terms the “New American Aristocracy”—that is, the so-called 9.9%—so too have I become increasingly discomfited by that which it represents. In this autoethnographic narrative accounting, I offer a critical yet necessarily confessional look back at the concessions, complications, and privileges my family’s subjective performances of Whiteness have revealed about the ever-growing toxic class divide in the United States. The results of our exchange will and cannot be perfect, but, hopefully, a step in a better direction.

Knowledge Communication

This paper is a thoroughly revised version of the manuscript of my inaugural professorial lecture delivered on March 16th of 2018, when I was called upon to take up the position as full professor at the department of Culture and Learning, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Aalborg in Denmark. As this is a revised version of a talk given four years ago almost to the date, the reader will probably be able to spot remnants of its oral origins. But not only that. As much of what I envisioned in 2018 has been published one way of the other since then, the reader will also be invited to join me on a text archeological expedition. Much like Norman Mailer’s use of (rhetorical) “Time Machines” in his The Naked and the Dead, so will I be making extensive use of references and footnotes as rhetorical wormholes allowing the reader to oscillate between 2018 and today, 2022. This paper is an integration of ideas harvested from over a decade’s worth of research publications within the field that I have labelled Knowledge Communication. Basically, my interest in Knowledge Communication grew out of a curiosity as to the conceptual interfaces between communication and knowledge. As a point of entry suffice it to say that – as seen from the helicopter perspective – what sets Knowledge Communication apart from other related fields of communication studies is the fact that it takes its point of departure in the knowledge society. I.e., not in any specific discourse, neither in any one particular knowledge domain, and not even in communication per se, but in the context encompassing all of this, i.e., the knowledge society. 
 Structurally, this paper is divided into four sections. In the first section, I will sketch out my personal Bildungsweg and give a brief, narrative account of how my scholarly interests progressed from lexeme to communication. A Bildungsweg that eventually gave rise to a perspectivist outlook. In section 2, I will be presenting my take on the formative force of perspective as well as of interruptions of regress. The results, as it were, of applying interruptions of regress to the disciplines that I was socialized into, i.e., Language for Specific Purpose, Public Understanding of Science, and Knowledge Management, allows me to establish the three Cs of the Knowledge Communication research programme, i.e., communication, convergence, and constructivism, respectively. In section 3, I will present, discuss, and evaluate three widely acknowledged understandings of communication. My critical evaluation of existing understandings of what communication ‘is’ and what it ‘does’ serves as a stepping-stone for conceptualizing a novel take on communication as co-actional. An understanding of communication that is able to encompass the three Cs. In the final section, section 4, I propose fruitful avenues of research stemming from the Knowledge Communication research programme.

Past-Oriented Foreign Policy: Japanese State-Identity and South Korea Discourse 2009-2012

Upon its 2009 General Elections victory, the Democratic Party of Japan defined the Republic of Korea as the core of its Asia-focused foreign policy. Despite initial enthusiasm, the resurgence of controversies like the Dokdo/Takeshima dispute and the Comfort Women issue pulled bilateral relations down to historic lows. This paper contributes to the research on Japan-South Korea relations by adopting a relational constructivist perspective, and offers a comprehensive account of DPJ state-identity narratives vis-à-vis South Korea, until now little discussed in existing literature. An analysis of the foreign policy discourse of Japan's DPJ prime ministers and their cabinet will show that what neutralises successful cooperation is a resilient narrative of superiority against the South Korean other.

Recollections of Sir George Williams University

This essay offers a narrative account of events at Sir George Williams University between the years 1966 and 1970. Recounted here are stories of student life as well as recollections of various faculty members who were on staff during the complex political moment of the late 1960s. These stories of university life are also framed within the happenings and cultural-political shifts in the city of Montreal. This essay uses first person recollection to reorient some of the historical perspectives on such events as the 1967 World’s Fair, the civil rights protests in the US, anti-Vietnam war movements, anti-colonial movements and wars of the 1960s, the movement for Quebec independence, and the Sir George Williams University protests.

Methodology of Measuring Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome-Focusing on Slow Gait Speed: Protocol for a Systematic Review.

IntroductionOlder adults with motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome are at high risk of developing dementia. Although the definition of MCR is well recognized and consensus, previous studies did not reach an agreement on diagnostic criteria and measurement methods/tools for slow gait speed, which is one of four components of MCR diagnosis. The substantial heterogeneity in the methodology of slow gait speed diagnosis for MCR limits comparability and meta-analysis of studies.ObjectiveThe study aims to conduct systematic and standardized integration for diagnostic criteria and methods of slow gait speed diagnosis for MCR based on previous evidence that may improve comparability between future studies.MethodsA systematic literature review will be undertaken by searching the following electronic databases (until February 1, 2022): PUBMED, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science. Additional studies will be identified by checking the reference lists of included studies or relevant reviews, manually searching the internet search engine Google Scholar, and searching the authors' personal files, if necessary. Two researchers will perform data extraction independently, and discrepancies will be resolved by discussion, which will include a third researcher if requires. The paper selection will perform in duplicate. Finally, a narrative account will synthesize the findings to answer the objectives of this review.DiscussionThis is the first study on systematic and standardized integration for diagnostic criteria and measurement methods/tools for slow gait speed in diagnosing MCR. The findings of this study will be convenient for medical staff to examine the intended use and applicability of each instrument/tool for evaluating the gait speed, and provide insight into developing uniform guidelines for MCR.Systematic Review RegistrationPROSPERO registration number: CRD42021232671.

Motherhood Experiences of Visually Impaired and Normally Sighted Women

The present study explores the characteristics of visually impaired mothers’ personal identities as reflected in their individual representations of motherhood taking account of the impact of the specific social context on these representations. The sample included 20 visually impaired (VI) and 21 normally sighted (NS) mothers. In line with the narrative psychological approach to motherhood, each participant gave a narrative account of her related experiences in a semi-structured interview. The transcribed responses were subjected to a thematic analysis aimed at comparing the narratives of visually impaired and normally sighted mothers’ for thematic composition in order to identify shared and impairment specific themes of motherhood experiences. The motherhood experiences were sorted into eight thematic categories: Emotions; Continuity; Personal Development; Connectedness; Challenges; Partner; Roles and Principles; and Calling/Career. While in some categories VI and NS mothers showed similar patterns of experience, such as finding a new purpose in life and developing a new role in the family with the advent of pregnancy (Personal Development), in other categories motherhood experiences were thematized differently, such as VI mothers focused on challenges posed by day-to-day situations, NS mothers were rather concerned with their children’s future (Challenges). The study presents the shared and non-shared aspects of disabled and non-disabled women’s motherhood experiences with the primary aim of demonstrating the potential impact of the prevailing sociocultural norms, and attitudes considering visually impaired mothers on their motherhood experiences.

WHO’s first scientific review of medicinal Cannabis: from global struggle to patient implications

Background“Cannabis” and “cannabis resin” are derived from the Cannabis plant, used as herbal medications, in traditional medicine and as active pharmaceutical ingredients. Since 1961, they have been listed in Schedule IV, the most restrictive category of the single convention on narcotic drugs. The process to scientifically review and reschedule them was launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 2 December 2016; it survived a number of hindrances until finally being submitted to a delayed and sui generis vote by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs on 2 December 2020, withdrawing “cannabis” and “cannabis resin” from Schedule IV.Design/methodology/approachTo evaluate WHO’s scheduling recommendations, the process leading to the Commission vote and subsequent implications at global, national and patient/clinician levels. Narrative account of the four-year proceedings; review of the practical implications of both rejected and accepted recommendations.FindingsThe process was historically unprecedented, of political relevance to both medical Cannabis and evidence-based scheduling generally. Procedural barriers hampered the appropriate involvement of civil society stakeholders. The landscape resulting from accepted and rejected recommendations allow countries to continue creating decentralised, non-uniform systems for access to and availability of “cannabis” and “cannabis resin” for medical purposes.Originality/valuePerspective of accredited observers; highlight of institutional issues and the lay of the land; contrast of stakeholders’ interpretations and engagement.

Taken Away by the Green Butterfly: A Critical Autobiographical Narrative Study of Shock Therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy, also known as shock therapy and electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment that sends electricity into the brain of the patient with the purpose of inducing a seizure in that patient’s brain. A brief overview of relevant literature introduces an autobiographical narrative account of what it is to experience shock therapy. The author, a woman who had been given a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder to explain her natural and expected responses to trauma and adversity, concludes with a critically reflective commentary on ECT.