New Framework For Analysis Research Articles

Children with medical complexity: creating a framework for care based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health.

Children with medical complexity (CMC) comprise a growing sector of the pediatric population. They are characterized by having severe chronic multiple system conditions, functional limitations, and family needs. While CMC comprise 0.4% to 0.7% of children, they have high healthcare costs and resource utilization, and are thus a key population of interest in health reform efforts. Despite the growth in the development of complex care delivery models, there is little available information to guide the training of diverse professionals in the provision of care that CMC and their families need. We propose a new framework for analysis and discussion based on the components of the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health, with augmentation of further areas of common need identified in this unique population of children. This framework can be used to delineate necessary professional team areas of expertise, guide improvement in care and provider training, and, potentially, to reduce cost as best practices for care are developed and researched.

Securing Methods, Practicing Critique: A Review of Methods and Critical Security Studies

Laura J. Shepherd, ed. (2013). Critical Approaches to Security: An Introduction to Theories and Methods . Routledge, London and New York, 304 pp., $160.00 hardcover (ISBN-13 978-0-415-68017-2), $54.95 paperback (ISBN-13 978-0-415-68016-5). Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu, eds. (2013). Research Methods in Critical Security Studies: An Introduction . Routledge, London and New York, 256 pp., $150.00 hardcover (ISBN-13 978-0-415-53539-7), $51.95 paperback (ISBN-13 978-0-415-53540-3). Jacob L. Stump and Priya Dixit. (2013). Critical Terrorism Studies: An Introduction to Research Methods . Routledge, London and New York, 208 pp., $145.00 hardcover (ISBN-13 978-1-415-62046-8), $46.95 paperback (ISBN-13 978-0-415-62047-5). Claudia Aradau, Jef Huysmans, Andrew Neal, and Nadine Voelkner, eds. (2014). Critical Security Methods: New Frameworks for Analysis . Routledge, London and New York, 230 pp., $150.00 hardcover (ISBN-13 978-0-415-71294-1), $44.95 paperback (ISBN-13 978-0-415-71295-8). “There is a point at which methods devour themselves” (Fanon 1952, 12). Almost 20 years since the publication of Krause and Williams's edited volume Critical Security Studies: Concepts and Cases (1997), critical security studies (CSS) has reached a moment in which critiques of more traditional or mainstream modes of studying the politics of war, security, and violence are supplemented by a great deal of explicit attention to their methods and methodologies for doing so. The last few years have witnessed a sudden proliferation of textbooks on methods for critical security studies that have attempted to chart the field and provide guidance for students or newcomers on methods for conducting research consistent with its values and goals. The four volumes discussed in this review essay follow on the heels of numerous other textbooks that attempt to map the terrain of security studies, such as Hansen and Buzan (2009), Peoples and Vaughan-Williams’s edited compilation of key and illustrative works (2010), Jarvis and Holland (2014), and the second edition of Karin Fierke’s Critical Approaches to International Security (2015 [2007]). In recent years, the establishment of several journals, including Critical Security Studies and particularly Security Dialogue , as well as Journal of Global Security Studies (an ISA journal) and European Journal of International Security (a BISA journal), that are dedicated to pluralistic studies of security have also suggested the popularity and continued innovation of diverse strands of scholarship that can be grouped as “critical security studies.” Furthermore, the selection of “Methods, Methodologies, and Innovation” to frame the 2014 Millennium conference and subsequent special issue also suggests a great deal of both interest and tension around the question of method and methodology for critical, interpretative, and pluralistic scholars, including the question of whether or not issues of “method” should be … lw487{at}cam.ac.uk

How to combine lean and safety management in health care processes: A case from Spain

Resource reduction and need to assure high quality levels in healthcare have induced hospitals to develop projects that report multiple performances. In order to pursue patient safety and efficiency improvements simultaneously, “lean & safety” projects (L&S projects) could be implemented, combining Health Lean Management (HLM) and Clinical Risk Management (CRM). This research aims to understand how L&S projects can be implemented. The analyzed case is an exemplary one, as it has been triggered by who is in charge of patient safety and required firstly to reduce incidents and secondly to obtain efficiency improvements. Using an interview protocol grasped from literature, data have been collected conducting semi-structured interviews, analyzing relevant archival documentation and executing observations on the field. A new framework of analysis has been created answering the research purpose.This research represents one of the first studies that investigate characteristics of an HLM project adopted to solve CRM issues. The results suggest HLM and CRM should be considered in a new synergic methodology. First indications about how developing it are provided boosting future research.The outcomes of this research is valuable for hospital units and health organizations that need to achieve efficiency enhancement, improving patient safety at the same time. For managing clinical processes properly, hospital managers could consider the results of this research to solve their CRM problems. The emerged evidences contribute to the development of guidelines for the implementation of “L&S” projects, pursuing multiple objectives and contributing to the growth of more safe and sustainable health care systems.

The Mutuality of Challenges Facing Human Rights and Human Security: A New Framework of Analysis

The interrelationship between Human Rights and “related fields” such as Human Security, Development, Democracy and Good Governance was emphasised at the United Nations Millennium Summit, which resulted in a declaration that affirmed global commitments to the protection of the vulnerable, the alleviation of poverty, and the rectification of corrupt structures and processes— particularly in those countries in which there is a lack of “rule of law” and good governance. The world’s leaders resolved to spare no effort to promote democracy and strengthen the rule of law, as well as respect for all internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to Human Security. This paper intends to analytically discuss Human Rights and Human Security with a focus on the interrelationship between human rights and concepts such as the right to development, conflict prevention, peace-making and peace-building, poverty reduction and good govcernance.

A New Framework for Analysis on Stability and Bifurcation in a Class of Neural Networks With Discrete and Distributed Delays.

This paper studies the stability and Hopf bifurcation in a class of high-dimension neural network involving the discrete and distributed delays under a new framework. By introducing some virtual neurons to the original system, the impact of distributed delay can be described in a simplified way via an equivalent new model. This paper extends the existing works on neural networks to high-dimension cases, which is much closer to complex and real neural networks. Here, we first analyze the Hopf bifurcation in this special class of high dimensional model with weak delay kernel from two aspects: one is induced by the time delay, the other is induced by a rate parameter, to reveal the roles of discrete and distributed delays on stability and bifurcation. Sufficient conditions for keeping the original system to be stable, and undergoing the Hopf bifurcation are obtained. Besides, this new framework can also apply to deal with the case of the strong delay kernel and corresponding analysis for different dynamical behaviors is provided. Finally, the simulation results are presented to justify the validity of our theoretical analysis.

Dynamic architecture of a protein kinase.

Protein kinases are dynamically regulated signaling proteins that act as switches in the cell by phosphorylating target proteins. To establish a framework for analyzing linkages between structure, function, dynamics, and allostery in protein kinases, we carried out multiple microsecond-scale molecular-dynamics simulations of protein kinase A (PKA), an exemplar active kinase. We identified residue-residue correlated motions based on the concept of mutual information and used the Girvan-Newman method to partition PKA into structurally contiguous "communities." Most of these communities included 40-60 residues and were associated with a particular protein kinase function or a regulatory mechanism, and well-known motifs based on sequence and secondary structure were often split into different communities. The observed community maps were sensitive to the presence of different ligands and provide a new framework for interpreting long-distance allosteric coupling. Communication between different communities was also in agreement with the previously defined architecture of the protein kinase core based on the "hydrophobic spine" network. This finding gives us confidence in suggesting that community analyses can be used for other protein kinases and will provide an efficient tool for structural biologists. The communities also allow us to think about allosteric consequences of mutations that are linked to disease.

Mendelssohn Perspectives Edited by Nicole Grimes and Angela R. Mace (review)

Reviewed by: Mendelssohn Perspectives Edited by Nicole Grimes and Angela R. Mace Siegwart Reichwald Mendelssohn Perspectives. Edited by Nicole Grimes and Angela R. Mace. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2012. Pp. xxii + 368. Cloth £65.00. ISBN 978-1409428251. 2005 and 2009 were important Mendelssohn years, as they marked the 200th birthdays of the siblings Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn. Many events took place in those years, creating a flurry of new scholarship. This collection of essays falls into the category of conference proceedings, as it is the end result of the international conference “Mendelssohn in the Long Nineteenth Century” at Trinity College, Dublin, in July 2005. In the introduction, editors Nicole Grimes and Angela R. Mace list the impressive achievements of Mendelssohn scholarship over the last half century that have rehabilitated the composer’s distorted image caused by rising antisemitism soon after Mendelssohn’s death. This volume, therefore, is free “to celebrate multifaceted and engaging perspectives on Mendelssohn studies” (1). The wide range of topics “is informed by critical engagement with a wide range of source materials,” including “not only traditional musical analysis-based studies, but also … lines of inquiry that are crucial to other areas of the humanities, bringing these approaches to bear on historical and interpretative studies of the Mendelssohns” (3). The resulting sixteen essays by scholars from North America, Germany, the UK, Italy, and France cover a wide range of topics organized in five parts: Mendelssohn’s Jewishness, Between Tradition and Innovation, Mendelssohn and the Stage, Style and Compositional Process, and Contemporary Views and Posthumous Perspectives. This sensible categorization works well to give the reader a sense of continuity and homogeneity despite the diverse contributions. The level of scholarship of this volume is high, as the majority of contributors are seasoned Mendelssohn scholars. The non-Mendelssohnians, nevertheless, offer fresh insights by exploring new contexts. The extensive use of a variety of source materials is impressive, and they underline the originality of most contributions. Editors Grimes and Mace were able to strike the right balance of creating a uniform style without squelching the scholar’s individual voice. The first part on Mendelssohn’s Jewishness might seem at odds with the editors’ claim that Mendelssohn scholarship has gotten past image repair, as the four chapters trace elements of public perception of the composer’s Jewish identity. A closer reading, however, reveals new and different perspectives that are unconcerned about rehabilitation. Sinéad Dempsey-Garrat’s reevaluation of Wagner’s smear campaign against Mendelssohn, for example, argues surprisingly against its success, offering more potent reasons for the composer’s quickly faltering image around 1850. And just as Nicole Grimes seems to wade dangerously into recent controversies of Jewish perspectives in the interpretation of Mendelssohn’s works, she effectively broadens the discussion through her careful reading of Eduard Hanslick’s review of Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht. Marian Wilson Kimber’s “Never Perfectly Beautiful: Physiognomy, Jewishness, and Mendelssohn Portraiture” is the most esoteric of the [End Page 659] group. Yet Kimber is able to not only ask broader cultural questions, but her fascinating research takes the reader beneath the surface of public perception through her exploration of portrayal of Jewishness in drawings, paintings, and caricatures throughout the nineteenth century. In doing so, Kimber strips away at our still simplistic image of the composer. While Colin Eatock’s “Mendelssohn’s Conversion to Judaism: An English Perspective” would seem to offer the least novel ideas, his contribution to Mendelssohn’s reception history is outstanding. Eatock shows convincingly how Mendelssohn’s Jewishness hinges on the question of race or religion—a question whose answers shift dramatically during the second half of the nineteenth century. The pairing of the second part of the book, Between Tradition and Innovation, seems at bit forced, as its three essays are quite different in scope and approach. That does not lessen the excellent content of these chapters, however. “Norm and Deformation in Mendelssohn’s Sonata Forms” by Paul Wingfeld and Julian Horton might be the most groundbreaking chapter of the book. Their excellent survey and discussion of Mendelssohn’s approach to sonata form offers not only fascinating insights into his compositional strategies, but they provide a new framework for analysis...

Beyond the bilateral balance: moving toward a new framework for analysis of Chinese nuclear strategy

This article expresses reservations about the conventional wisdom that the dyadic framework of the Sino-US nuclear balance adequately accounts for the nuclear choices of the People’s Republic of China. I argue that a possible new analytical approach – one that moves beyond dyadic parsimony – could yield a more thorough understanding of Chinese nuclear policy. In moving toward this novel framework for analysis, I not only consider neighboring nuclear states – Russia, and especially India – but I also provide a fresh rationale for the timing of China’s nuclear force modernization.

Political Parties and Power: A New Framework for Analysis

Political parties are both vehicles for the pursuit of power and specific sites in which it is produced, organised, fought over, captured and lost. However, the literature on parties has not kept up with theoretical developments and largely lacks an explicit, systematic theorisation of power. To address this, a framework of power is proposed in this article that introduces some of the more nuanced and sophisticated insights of political theory to the analysis of parties without dismissing the benefits of more established approaches. Power is approached as a rich, multilayered concept, derived from diverse intellectual traditions. The framework acts as a heuristic which encapsulates individual agency, the strategic mobilisation of rules and norms, rationalisation and bureaucracy, the constitution of agents and the micro-level discipline of bodies. This provides a more satisfying framework for analysing power in parties than has previously been offered.

(In)security in Post-Soviet Eurasia: Contributions from Critical Security Studies

Since the 1990s, (in)security in post-Soviet Eurasia has been conceptualized by International Relations scholars as being mainly connected to the permanence of regional violent conflicts and the challenges of fragile sovereignty. After 9/11, terrorism as a broad category has also been added to the lexicon. These views place state security at the centre of analysis, and focus mainly on military aspects of security. This article addresses the limitations of analyses of post-Soviet Eurasian security shaped by these two trends and puts forwards critical alternatives to analyse insecurity in this region. Building on insights from critical security studies, namely Ken Booth’s work and his central concept of emancipation, as well as the nexus between human rights and security – human security –, this paper presents a new framework of analysis for regional (in)security in post-Soviet Eurasia. The main goal is to reflect on the innovative aspects of this approach in terms of understanding increasingly complex (in)security dynamics in this region, and overcome what have been mainly realist and realpolitik views of regional security.

Microregionalism and intercolonial relations: the case of the Danish West Indies, 1730–1830

AbstractThis article proposes a new framework of analysis for studying inter-imperial spaces in global history. The analytical construct developed here – that of the inter-imperial microregion – highlights the density of networks and interactions found in certain areas with multiple competing polities. It provides a relational approach to the study of transnational and inter-polity exchanges that challenges traditional imperial narratives and suggests a more direct engagement between global, regional, and local histories. After discussing the theoretical and historiographical implications of this model, the article goes on to look at empirical evidence from the case of the Danish West Indies. It analyses the role that these Caribbean colonies played within the inter-imperial microregion of the Leeward Islands during the century from 1730 to 1830. The case study is structured around three central elements of colonial life – geography, security, and commerce – showing how these created the conditions for a high level of interdependence between colonies of multiple empires in the region.

Deconstructing the National Security State – Towards a New Framework of Analysis

The concept of national security is merely an elite tool, which causes human insecurity at home and abroad. Our perception of what and from whom we need to be secured is not based on the actual threats that exist, but on the threats that we are told to perceive by the state. Thus, terrorists, drugs, illegal immigrants, “Third World” dictators, rogue states, blacks, non-Christians, and the Other, are considered as threats to the national security apparatus, and consequently, as threats to the individual American. This state construction of threats pervades our minds, causing a trickle-down effect that encourages a culture of fear, where the only limit to the coming danger is our imagination. Thus, national security and human security are contrary to one another, and we need a paradigm shift in our notions of security, which squarely places the individual and civil society at the center of the security framework.

The changing role of indigenous lay midwives in Guatemala: New frameworks for analysis

Objectivesto examine the present-day knowledge formation and practice of indigenous Kaqchikel-speaking midwives, with special attention to their interactions with the Guatemalan medical community, training models, and allopathic knowledge in general. Design/participantsa qualitative study consisting of participant-observation in lay midwife training programs; in-depth interviews with 44 practicing indigenous midwives; and three focus groups with midwives of a local non-governmental organization. SettingKaqchikel Maya-speaking communities in the Guatemalan highlands. Findingsthe cumulative undermining effects of marginalization, cultural and linguistic barriers, and poorly designed training programs contribute to the failure of lay midwife-focused initiatives in Guatemala to improve maternal–child health outcomes. Furthermore, in contrast to prevailing assumptions, Kaqchikel Maya midwives integrate allopathic obstetrical knowledge into their practice at a highlevel. Conclusions and implicationsas indigenous midwives in Guatemala will continue to provide a large fraction of the obstetrical services among rural populations for many years to come, maternal–child policy initiatives must take into account that: (1)Guatemalan midwife training programs can be significantly improved when instruction occurs in local languages, such as Kaqchikel, and (2)indigenous midwives' increasing allopathic repertoire may serve as a productive ground for synergistic collaborations between lay midwives and the allopathic medical community.

A new framework for analysis of laterally loaded piles

A new analysis framework is presented for calculation of the response of laterally loaded piles in multi-layered, heterogeneous elastic soil. The governing differential equations for the pile deflections in different soil layers are obtained using the principle of minimum potential energy after assuming a rational soil displacement field. Solutions for the pile deflection are obtained analytically, while those for the soil displacements are obtained using the finite difference method. The input parameters needed for the analysis are the pile geometry, soil profile and the elastic constants of the soil and pile. The method produces results with accuracy comparable to that of a three-dimensional finite element analysis but requires much less computation time. The analysis can take into account the spatial variation of soil properties along vertical, radial and tangential directions.

Evolutionary Squeaky Wheel Optimization: A New Framework for Analysis

Squeaky wheel optimization (SWO) is a relatively new metaheuristic that has been shown to be effective for many real-world problems. At each iteration SWO does a complete construction of a solution starting from the empty assignment. Although the construction uses information from previous iterations, the complete rebuilding does mean that SWO is generally effective at diversification but can suffer from a relatively weak intensification. Evolutionary SWO (ESWO) is a recent extension to SWO that is designed to improve the intensification by keeping the good components of solutions and only using SWO to reconstruct other poorer components of the solution. In such algorithms a standard challenge is to understand how the various parameters affect the search process. In order to support the future study of such issues, we propose a formal framework for the analysis of ESWO. The framework is based on Markov chains, and the main novelty arises because ESWO moves through the space of partial assignments. This makes it significantly different from the analyses used in local search (such as simulated annealing) which only move through complete assignments. Generally, the exact details of ESWO will depend on various heuristics; so we focus our approach on a case of ESWO that we call ESWO-II and that has probabilistic as opposed to heuristic selection and construction operators. For ESWO-II, we study a simple problem instance and explicitly compute the stationary distribution probability over the states of the search space. We find interesting properties of the distribution. In particular, we find that the probabilities of states generally, but not always, increase with their fitness. This nonmonotonocity is quite different from the monotonicity expected in algorithms such as simulated annealing.

Market and Welfare Effects of Mandatory Country‐of‐Origin Labeling in the U.S. Specialty Crops Sector: An Application to Fresh Market Apples

This study provides a new framework of analysis of the market and welfare effects of mandatory country‐of‐origin labeling (MCOOL) for fruits and vegetables that accounts for heterogeneous consumer preferences, differences in producer agronomic characteristics, and retailer market power. The market and welfare effects of MCOOL are shown to be case‐specific and dependent on the labeling costs at the farm and retail levels, the strength of consumer preference for domestic products, the market power of retailers, the marketing margin along the supply chain, and the relative costs of imported and domestic products. Simulation results for the U.S. market of fresh apples indicate that domestic producers are the most likely beneficiaries of MCOOL, followed by domestic consumers. Being unable to exercise market power on consumers or suppliers of fresh apples, retailers will lose if the implementation of MCOOL entails fixed costs. Imports of fresh apples decline after MCOOL introduction.

Towards full integration: eProcurement implementation stages

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify different maturity stages of eProcurement adoption. eProcurement (i.e. electronic purchase of indirect goods), is a growing reality and it is spreading among companies. However, even inside a growing trend, no and low adopters can still be found, and those already using eProcurement go through many intermediate levels. According to the literature, there can be many factors influencing eProcurement adoption but clear approaches and maturity stages are still not defined.Design/methodology/approachThis paper proposes a general framework in which eProcurement maturity is measured by three components: level of adoption, technology and organizational objectives. The framework was applied to 13 case studies of information technology purchases of companies in different sectors; thus, indentifying different approaches that have been clustered in three maturity stages.FindingsFirst of all, a quite strong relationship is found between eProcurement adoption and technology in place. As far as organizational objectives are concerned, some interesting linkages are found with both the adoption and technological functionalities. These patterns of adoption are grouped into three clusters, named basic, intermediate and advanced.Practical implicationsThe results of this paper can be useful for practitioners trying to position a company into a maturity model and verify the coherence of the adoption with the technological and organizational choices.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper lies in a new framework of analysis of the eProcurement strategies that allows the identification of different maturity stages.

The Growth of Organizational Variety in Market Economies: The Case of Social Enterprises

Institutional and organizational variety is increasingly characterising advanced economic systems. While traditional economic theories have focussed almost exclusively on profit-maximizing (i.e. for-profit) enterprises and on publicly-owned organizations, the increasing relevance of non-profit organizations, and especially of social enterprises, requires scientists to reflect on a new comprehensive economic approach for explaining this organizational variety. The paper examines the main limitations of the orthodox and institutional theories and comes to assert the need for creating and testing a new theoretical framework, which considers the way in which diverse enterprises pursue their goals, the diverse motivations driving actors and organizations, and the different learning patterns and routines within organizations. The new framework of analysis proposed in the paper draws upon recent developments in the theories of the firm, institutional evolution, and motivational complexity to explain the presence of diverse types of organizations on a continuum ranging from purely for-profit and commercial forms to socially-oriented entrepreneurial ones.

International terrorism as a force of homogenization? A constructivist approach to understanding cross-national threat perceptions and responses

Has the emergence of international jihadist terrorism led to common threat perceptions and responses in Europe? The article argues that the homogenization thesis is based around a misguided functionalist notion of a single ‘optimal response’ to an alleged new and potentially catastrophic kind of threat with uniform consequences for all ‘Western’ countries. Drawing on insights from different bodies of literature, the article elaborates a theoretical framework to understand variations in threat perceptions vis-à-vis international terrorism and enrich the socio-linguistic securitization approach of Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde (Security: a new framework for analysis, London: Lynne Reinner, 1998). The article then empirically examines the rise and fall of threat perceptions among selected European publics between 2000 and 2008. Threat perceptions did converge in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, but soon afterward started diverging. The article considers the reasons for this finding as well as the implication for the evolution of counter-terrorist policies in the European Union.

NATURE'S PLACE? PROPERTY RIGHTS, PROPERTY RULES AND ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP

The role of rules in the conservation of nature the unowned environment raises a number of interesting questions, operty is a malleable concept that fulfils a number of differing social and legal functions. It may encompass legal structures associated with the ownership of objects or land or (in the case of rules) denote abstract sources of legitimate entitlement to property. Modern scholars have, on the other hand, stressed that property is not a thing, but rather the relationship that one has with a thing,1 and emphasise its role as a mechanism for allocating access to material resources such as land. Waldron, for example, argues that rules are, properly defined, social rules adopted to resolve conflicts over access to and control of resources.2 As such, they define not only the relationship of power that one asserts over a resource such as land, but also one's relationship with other individuals who claim (or wish to use or exercise over) that resource. In the case of land, this interpretation would require us to consider how the bundle of abstract rights that the law recognises will in turn define, distribute and reflect different elements of resource utility that accrue to the owner of the right in question. This article will examine the role of institutions in protecting living natural resources and promoting biodiversity, and will consider the theoretical basis for a new framework of analysis for property. It will argue that a resource allocation model of is essential to an understanding of their role in environmental regulation. Environmental disputes are typically disputes about access to an economic resource. This is certainly true of the law of nature conservation, where disputes will commonly involve a conflict between the desire of a landowner to use land for