Separate Pieces Research Articles

Characterization of typologies of representation through virtual Ethnography. The Purépecha roads in the Patzcuaro lake region as a heritage corridor

Roads have recently begun to be valued as a heritage resource that transcends being considered solely as an infrastructure linked to the anthropization of the territory. Currently, there are few methodological proposals for their heritage characterization. Therefore, this article shows the design and application of an interdisciplinary methodology supported by Virtual Ethnography and based on a historical-cartographic analysis that allows recording and categorizing representation typologies associated with the evolution of roads. The lake region of Patzcuaro, Mexico, is taken as a case study. Its historical-cartographic analysis through virtual ethnography allows identifying typologies of representation associated not only with the historical evolution of roads but also with their ties to the anthropization of the lake setting. The cartography, in the contemporary period, shows roads as a mere infrastructure and makes the lake villages visible as separate pieces for cultural tourism. With the application of this methodology, it is confirmed that cartography is a strategic tool and that its evolution has made it possible to establish that, historically, roads have been a backbone in the management and development of this territory in different historical processes. Its validity is a reflection of the fact that this region is still valid, given its current transfer to cultural tourism. It is important to make visible that it is these populations as a whole that confer a cultural identity to the lake region and that the roads are the means that have allowed this territory to evolve historically considering the needs of its population, a situation that justifies its consideration as a heritage corridor.

The Understanding Abilities of Real Number Concepts For Primary School Student

The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of relational elementary students in understanding the concept of real numbers. This research is an exploration of the research subject. The subjects of this study were students of MIN 2 Bengkulu Selatan. There is one realistic student in this research. The researcher is the main instrument in this research which is supported by an interview guide and an assignment sheet on the concept of real numbers. The data were analyzed qualitatively. The results of this study are that students with relational abilities can combine separate pieces of information to produce the completion of a task. Therefore it is suggested to teachers and researchers of mathematics education to explore students' mathematical cognitive processes before determining the learning strategies to be carried out.

Activation of Ca2+ transport in cardiac microsomes enriches functional sets of ER and SR proteins

The importance of sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+-handling in heart has led to detailed understanding of Ca2+-release and re-uptake protein complexes, while less is known about other endoplasmic reticulum (ER) functions in the heart. To more fully understand cardiac SR and ER functions, we analyzed cardiac microsomes based on their increased density through the actions of the SR Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) and the ryanodine receptor that are highly active in cardiomyocytes. Crude cardiac microsomal vesicles loaded with Ca oxalate produced two higher density subfractions, MedSR and HighSR. Proteins from 20.0 μg of MV, MedSR, and HighSR protein were fractionated using SDS-PAGE, then trypsinized from 20 separate gel pieces, and analyzed by LC–MS/MS to determine protein content. From 62,000 individual peptide spectra obtained, we identified 1105 different proteins, of which 354 were enriched ≥ 2.0-fold in SR fractions compared to the crude membrane preparation. Previously studied SR proteins were all enriched, as were proteins associated with canonical ER functions. Contractile, mitochondrial, and sarcolemmal proteins were not enriched. Comparing the levels of SERCA-positive SR proteins in MedSR versus HighSR vesicles produced a range of SR subfraction enrichments signifying differing levels of Ca2+ leak co-localized in the same membrane patch. All known junctional SR proteins were more enriched in MedSR, while canonical ER proteins were more enriched in HighSR membrane. Proteins constituting other putative ER/SR subdomains also exhibited average Esub enrichment values (mean ± S.D.) that spanned the range of possible Esub values, suggesting that functional sets of proteins are localized to the same areas of the ER/SR membrane. We conclude that active Ca2+ loading of cardiac microsomes, reflecting the combined activities of Ca2+ uptake by SERCA, and Ca2+ leak by RyR, permits evaluation of multiple functional ER/SR subdomains. Sets of proteins from these subdomains exhibited similar enrichment patterns across membrane subfractions, reflecting the relative levels of SERCA and RyR present within individual patches of cardiac ER and SR.

Amelioration, inclusion, and legal recognition: On sex, gender, and the UK's Gender Recognition Act

Amelioration, inclusion, and legal recognition: On sex, gender, and the <scp>UK</scp>'s Gender Recognition Act

The Free Medial Sural Artery Perforator Flap (MSAPF): An Indispensable Tool for Head and Neck Reconstruction.

Modern head and neck surgery is characterized by its emphasis on three important objectives of reconstructive and rehabilitative procedures-cosmesis, function and coverage of vital structures. Reconstruction with free flaps is a necessity when the defects become too large for more simple reconstruction options such as skin grafting and local flaps. The medial sural artery perforator flap (MSAPF) is a thin flap with a long pedicle. It has tremendous potential for applications in small-to-moderate soft tissue defects. Furthermore, chimeric MSAPF includes a skin paddle and a separated piece of medial gastrocnemius muscle, allows more freedom for flap insetting especially in 3-D reconstruction. The aim was to study the assessment of feasibility of MSAPF for head and neck reconstruction. Prospective case study from January 2019 to December 2019 was carried out in oral cancer patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, buccal mucosa and floor of the mouth which was reconstructed using MSAPF after oncologic resection. We reconstructed 20 patients using MSAPF. It was designed according to the size and site of the defect. Donor site was primarily closed in all cases. Great results were obtained. Out of 20 MSAP, 19 flaps survived. Flap failed in one case due to venous thrombosis. The thickness of the flap ranged from 4-9 mm, pedicle length ranged from 8-13mm, number of perforators ranged from 1-2, arterial diameter ranged from 1.5-2 mm and venous diameter ranged from 1-3mm. MSAPF is a good alternative for head and neck reconstruction with the advantages of thin and pliable skin, a long and reliable vascular pedicle, straightforward intramuscular dissection, the possibility of chimeric flap design and minimal donor site morbidity.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL MAP OF BARROW BURIALS WITH OCHRE OF CORDED WARE CULTURE

The article is devoted to burials with ochre of the Corded Ware culture, held under the barrows. Based on the analysis of the source base, it was established that in the distribution area of CWC, they appear exclusively on the territory of the southeastern region of the spread of the culture, within the limits of western Ukraine. Today, there are 12 barrow cemeteries known here, where this mineral substance has been found. It is noted that the largest number of sites is located on the territory of the right bank of the Dnister River, within the borders of the Drogobych (Kulchytsi, Velyka Ozymyna, Bolekhivtsi, Kolpets, Nyzhni Gai), less often – Morshyn (Dashava) and Prylukva (Krylos) uplands. It has been established that the most south-eastern point on the right bank of the Dnister River is located on the territory of the Dnister Pokuttya region (Hvizdets). On the left bank of the Dnister River burials with ochre are sporadic. The barrow in Koropuzh is located in the eastern part of the Syan-Dnister upland, the barrow cemetery in Pidgorod is on the territory of Opillya, and the easternmost burial is near Zavadyntsi, which is located between the Dnister, Zbruch, and Southern Bug rivers. It is claimed that ochre is recorded under about 30 barrows. We do not mention the site in Glyna Place in Krylos, because the exact number of barrows with ochre is not known. It was established that there are seven (1–4, 7, 8, 12) barrows in Krylos, eight mounds in Bolekhivtsi (barrows 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14), four mounds in Kolpets (barrows 2, 3, 5, 7), in Nyzhniy Gai – two (8, 10) barrows. Ochre was recorded both at the level of the ancient surface and inside burials: it was used to cover the body of the deceased and separate pieces were placed inside the graves. Cases were found when ceramic dishes were filled with an ochre. The appearance of the custom of using an ochre during funeral rites is associated with the population of the Yamna culture. In addition, one of the ways of penetration of the Yamna/Catacomb population into Central Europe passed through the territory north of the Carpathians, which probably impacted the borrowing of such a custom by the population of CWC on the periphery of its spreading. Keywords: Corded Ware culture, Yamna culture, barrow, burial, ochre, wooden flooring, Dnister River

Assyrian history of Herodotus : the missing and the extant logos

Herodotus wrote down a very brief account of the history of Assyria in his Histories, but he promised to deliver a complete logos as well. We can find two remarks on this future project that (possibly) never materialized in the end. In the preserved text, there are only several mentions of Assyrian kings, history, and customs, but it seems he planned to expand the narrative further, potentially in a separate piece of work. The result was a mysterious Assyrian logos. In this article, I will explore the possible influence of Herodotus' account on the Greek tradition about this eastern land through either one of these logoi, if, in fact, he had any at all. In the first part, I will examine the sources, whether they refer to his more detailed treatise on Assyria, and what can be said about this work in general. In the second part, I will focus on his extant Assyrian logos, whether any later author (most notably Ctesias and Berossus) could have used his work as a source, and who became the authorities on the history of Assyria, considering the changes in the narratives.

Nieokiełznane opowieści-kłącza. Mo Dao Zu Shi i Chen Qing Ling jako przykład transmedialności na gruncie chińskim

Despite the academic efforts in making it more known and familiar, Chinese cinema is still sometimes considered to a certain degree as „an outlandish”. Is it the case? I decided to examine it on the example of work, which was divided with time into separate pieces, and then underwent the process of transmedia storytelling – a form of media narration forgotten after Matrix by Wachowski’s siblings. As a primary role in my reflection serves The Untamed – 50-episodes Chinese historical drama (guzhuang) shared via Tencent platform in 2019. At this point the series is rather known, but at the same time it stays away from mainstream – located slightly at the edge of global awareness, somewhere between popular and niche culture. Thanks to transformation into transmedia story, and also being entangled in the Internet second circuit, the original plot, depicted by the series, received recognition and opened itself for the farther interpretations and metamorphosis.

Learning history by composing synthesis texts: Effects of an instructional programme on learning, reading and writing processes, and text quality

It's possible that reading and writing are two of the most effective ways to learn about a subject. The incorporation of these procedures into what are now commonly known as "hybrid activities" has been shown in earlier research to have significant educational benefits. Instead of reading first and then writing, these activities demand interaction between reading and writing on the part of the individual. These assignments' reader and writer roles can be utilized to show how they have epistemic potential. By adopting techniques that teach students to analyze and synthesize texts, the current study aimed to encourage text-based learning. To do this, students were instructed to finish the two of the duties that were specified above. Such writings demand interaction between reading and writing with a purpose in mind, and in order to be digested, this interaction must take place. There were 62 students who took part in the study during the sixth grade. Of those students, 33 were given roles in the experimental group, while 29 were given roles in the control group. The results of an experiment-l program were analyzed by employing a pretest-posttest design with a control group in order to evaluate (a) the amount of learning that was reached, (b) the quality of the written texts that were produced, and (c) the synthesis text-processing activities (in a sub- sample of 32 participants). The experimental group was given instruction in the techniques required in writing a synthesis using two expository texts about the narrative via a strategy-oriented software. In contrast, the control group worked on the same material using the more conventional assignments in their normal text book. Both groups were given the same amount of time to complete their work. The students were provided with two separate pieces of expository writing on the topic as part of the curriculum so that they could learn how to put together a synthesis. According to the results of the study, the experimental group fared significantly better than the control group on a test of deep learning content processing. Additionally, the experimental group created better written sentences and demonstrated habits of processing material in a more complicated manner.

Implementing unexplained wealth orders in South Africa – what are the options?

PurposeThis paper aims to focus on the use of unexplained wealth orders (UWOs) in South Africa as a civil method to act upon lifestyle audit results that have indicated wealth from unknown, possibly unlawful, sources.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applied a comparative methodology. Legislation and the application of UWOs in Ireland, the UK and Australia were compared with the situation in South Africa.FindingsIt is proposed that South Africa includes UWO legislation within its Prevention of Organised Crime Act or be established as a separate piece of legislation. Also, South Africa should follow both the civil and criminal route to target the proceeds of crime.Originality/valueCorruption in South Africa is rampant and, without the necessary legislation, impossible to fight. For these purposes, this paper proposes measures to be used from a civil forfeiture perspective.

Creating optimal nutrient conditions in soil and plants during the flower induction process of sweet lime (Citrus limettioides) under calcareous soil conditions to increase the yield

A study was conducted on 6-year-old sweet lime trees on the Mexican lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) rootstock in a randomized complete block design with ten treatments and three replications in southern Fars to determine the appropriate time of plant supplementary feeding to increase flower production and the yield in calcareous soils. In 2016 and 2017, 40 trees that had the same planting and growing conditions, were selected to determine the flower induction time. Ten times (22nd of October, 1st, 11th, and 20th November, December, and January), four branches that had a length of 120 cm and a diameter of half a centimeter were selected on each tree in four geographical directions. At each time, the branches of three trees were ringed at a distance of 120 cm from the tip of the branch, and all the leaves were removed. At the time of flower emergence, the number of flowers was counted. The results showed that the flower induction in these trees was in early December. Based on the results of this experiment and previous research in this field, in September 2017, the 7-year-old trees grafted on the Mexican lime rootstock were treated with the foliar application of nitrogen as urea [CO(NH2)2] and zinc as zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) at three concentrations including 0, 3, and 5 g∙L–1, alone and by combination in two separate pieces in a randomized complete-block factorial design including nine treatments and three replications to increase the yield using elements involved in the flowering. At the harvest time, fruit juice, TSS, TA, vitamin C, average fruit weight, and single tree yield were measured. According to the results, the combination of urea and zinc sulfate at a concentration of 5 g∙L–1 led to an increase in the average fruit weight (58 g) and the yield (68 kg) compared to the control.

Audio signals and artificial neural networks for classification of plastic resins for recycling

Given the increase in the consumption of packaging and plastic products that generate great amounts of municipal waste, efforts are needed to recycle these materials correctly. For the process to be accessible and environmentally friendly, it is crucial to separate the different types of resins before feeding the recycling chain. This classification is usually carried out manually by the employees of the cooperatives. However, most of the time, it is difficult to identify the separated plastic pieces due to the lack of the symbology of the resin used. The plastic ends up having an inappropriate destination. All usual techniques, such as density and burning tests, and others more refined, require specific equipment, such as Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and image and color identification. Standard methods may fail to provide flexibility, and sophisticated ones may be expensive. The present study proposes to establish a methodology to separate the types of plastic through sound when they are crushed. Audio signals and sound waves differ from one resin to another. Therefore, the audio signals from the crumpled plastic samples of each category were recorded using a smartphone, to create a database. The audio data characteristics were extracted using the Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) technique. Two types of neural networks were used for the classification of the coefficients: the convolutional neural network (CNN) and the recurrent network Long short-term memory (LSTM). The performance of both networks was analyzed through the metrics, accuracy, loss, confusion matrix, and inserting new data not seen in the training to observe if the class correctly classified. The LSTM network performed better than the CNN network, reaching an accuracy of 85% due to working with sequential data. However, when inserting new data in the data set crumpled more slowly than the training data, simulating an unfavorable condition and very likely to occur in the day-to-day cooperatives, the performance of the LSTM network dropped significantly, while CNN reached a still acceptable percentage, proving to be better in these situations.

Repurposing the Archive: Unmade Films,Vampirellaand Adaptation

The Hammer Script Archive is held at De Montfort University in Leicester and was opened to researchers in 2012. Primary materials held in the Archive include screenplays, treatments, financial documentation, correspondence, posters, production stills and press books. This article will utilise specifically the material held in the Archive that relates to Hammer’s unmade films. The archive currently holds files on exactly 100 unmade television and film projects, with 185 separate pieces of ephemera directly related to these unmade works.This article examines how archival materials on unmade or unreleased films not only provide valuable evidence for revisionist film histories but can also be repurposed as events and media that imaginatively reconstitute unrealised projects. While archives are valued by film historians for the contextual evidence that they provide, and are often the only sources of information about films that are lost, when it comes to films that never were, they hold potential beyond the circumstantial.Unmade films have also been used to frustrate and complicate existing methodologies. But here, papers on unmade films in the Hammer Script Archive provide the point of departure for an examination of the unproduced project Vampirella, which was developed in the mid-1970s, and its subsequent adaptation as a script read live in 2019. As such, documentation in the Archive will be used to provide the production contexts for the original unmade film from which the script was adapted, and then studied to see how these primary materials were repurposed in the subsequent publicly read script. By examining this public event and two other live readings of scripts adapted from unmade Hammer projects, this article will explore the appeal and cultural function of this phenomenon. In doing so it will pose questions about the scripts’ status as adaptations (part-augmentations, part-simulacra?) and fan response (nostalgia for that which never was). What can the film historian recover from such creative plundering of the archive that might be useful methodologically?

Review of "Mathematical Muffin Morsels - Nobody wants a small piece by William Gasarch, Erik Metz, Jacob Prinz, and Daniel Smolyak World Scientific, 2021 210 pages, Softcover, $59.99."

You have 5 muffins and 3 (as usual) hungry students. They ask that you divide the muffins equitably between them. Do you cut every muffin into 3 parts, and give 5 separate pieces of size 1/3 to each student? Well no, because that's too easy, and more importantly no student wants any piece that's less than a third of a muffin. Can this be done? Indeed it can! It turns out you can guarantee that everyone gets a piece of size at least 5/12. Can everyone be guaranteed a bigger piece than that? Alas, the answer is no. That's the bad news. The good news is that one could write a book about it, and these guys wrote a great one.

Strength reduction of foam-core sandwich structures with core mismatches

Discontinuities in foam-core composite sandwich panels are challenging to assess, in part due to shortcomings in the fundamental understanding of failure processes occurring in the foam. Extensive testing and analysis are frequently required to overcome this lack of understanding when evaluating large-scale structures. This integrated experimental and analytical study investigates the effect of core thickness mismatches on the load carrying capabilities of composite sandwich structures. These mismatches are commonly found in large composite components in aerospace, marine, automotive and other industries and can cause major reductions in sandwich shear strength. Mismatches result from joints between separate pieces of foam core within the sandwich, becoming potential failure initiation sites. Quantifying the reduction in shear strength is difficult due to the complex interaction between the facesheets, butt-joints and core. Sandwich structures containing butt joints are investigated through a research effort that included fabrication, testing, analysis, and nondestructive evaluations. The strength reduction of sandwich beams due to the presence of butt joints is quantified via three-point bend (3PTB) testing for various types of mismatches such as height and thickness of the butt joint. Key mechanical properties of the foam and the lamina are measured through testing and incorporated into analytical models. A stress area approach is proposed as a failure criterion, as test results show this to be promising in predicting the strength reductions measured in the 3PTB testing and the failure initiation site.

Study on Numerical Algorithm of the N-S Equation for Multi-Body Flows around Irregular Disintegrations in Near Space

There has been a concern that the accurate numerical simulation of multi-body flow, which is caused by the multiple disintegrations of expired spacecraft re-entering into the near space, has a critical bottleneck impact on the falling area of the disintegrated debris. To solve this problem, an O-type grid topology method has been designed for the multi-body flow field of irregular debris formed by multiple disintegrations in near space, and a finite-volume implicit numerical scheme has been constructed for the Navier-Stokes equations to solve the aerodynamic interference characteristics of irregular multi-body flow, and further the N-S equation numerical algorithm has been established for the irregular multi-body flows in near space. The reliability of the method has been verified by the comparison of the present computation and the experiment of the low-density wind tunnel for the two-body flow of sphere, cylinder and square scripts. The objects of this study are from the multiple disintegrations of the Tiangong-1 spacecraft during uncontrolled re-entry into the atmosphere, including propelling cylinders and low-temperature lock cabinets. A series of simulations of multi-body flow mechanisms around different combinations have been carried out with varied shapes and spacing. As a result, it is found that when the distance of irregular debris (e.g., two propelling cylinders) in the near space is in the range of Δy &lt; 3D or Δx &lt; D, there is an obvious multi-body interference between debris, and the flow characteristics are obviously changed. When the distance between the debris in near space reaches a certain level, the influence of mutual interference can be ignored. For example, when the y-direction distance between multiple bodies is greater than 3D, the flow interference tends to be small and can be ignored, and we can regard them as two separate pieces to be carried out by the numerical prediction of flight track and falling area in engineering application. The results provide a practical design criterion for the integrated simulation platform which is used to simulate the multi-physics complex aerodynamics of space vehicles from the free-molecule flow of the outer space to the near-ground continuum flow.

Модальність та переконання у рекламі: перекладацький а

The range of linguistic means and communication techniques used in advertising to influence the target group is extremely wide. The relevance of the study is in the growing interest of linguists to the problem of translation of advertising texts and slogans and the in the need of conducting of analysis of a significant number of existing translations. Advertising is a presentation of purposeful information about services and goods that has the character of persuasion. One of the most important aspects of advertising is the awakening in a potential audience of the desire to buy a product. Therefore, the vast majority of advertising must be convincing in nature in order to attract new buyers and customers to the product or idea. The purpose of our study is to analyze the features of the translation of advertising texts on the example of advertising of definite products. The following methods were used in the course of the work: 1) comparison, which allows the reader to establish the adequacy of word translation; 2) descriptive method used to show the successful translations and failures of translators. Speaking about the peculiarities of using the modality of persuasion in the advertising text, there are two ways to express it: 1) the imperative; 2) the use of statements with general motivational semantics, which is represented either in the lexical meanings of specific words, or at the level of general semantics of expression. Advertising performs several main functions, including the following ones: the central function – is the function of influence and also important communicative functions, which are divided into primary: communicative, regulatory and generalizing ones, and secondary: emotional, aesthetic, contact ones. In the group of advertising texts with the modality of persuasion, there are three subgroups: the selection criterion will be the form of expression of motivation and the role of this component in a particular ad. The attention should be paid to the advertising text in determining the role of a fragment often play a role not language but design tools, such as the location of blocks of information about each other, font size and shape, underlining, etc. All these factors help to understand which opinion is key for the author of the text. The persuasion can be defined as one of the most important ways of psychological advertising influence. The essence of this method is to convince the buyer of the benefits of the advertised product, to convince of the need to purchase it, it is aimed at the rational sphere of consciousness of the potential buyer, ie advertising appeals to his mind. Argumentation is a way of reasoning, in the process of which a benefit of the product is put forward as a thesis. And the need for an advertising thesis is proved by a system of arguments. Argument – is a separate piece of evidence that is part of the belief system, which proves the thesis. The most common method of addressing or advice is to save money or get a better service or product. The feeling that you are making a profitable purchase is a powerful means of motivation when you decide to buy something. This is such an effective method that price lists with inflated prices are often issued, and prices are much lower in advertising. In order to influence the recipient or in other words to implement the above-mentioned functions, the creators of advertising texts use various stylistic means of expression: phonetic (alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhyme), lexical (epithet, metaphor, personification, pun, hyperbole and allusion), syntactic (simple nominative propositions, parcelling, parallel constructions). Stylistic means add expressiveness to advertising, draw the recipient`s attention to the product, which is the main task of the advertising slogan.

Evidence based spinal surgery or the “journal of anecdotal medicine?” Using qualitative interviews with spinal surgeons to understand how the drivers of orthopaedic decision making can influence the creation and adoption of surgical trial evidence

BackgroundThere is uncertainty regarding the best available treatment for stable thoracolumbar fractures without spinal cord injury. We explore what influences surgical decision making for the treatment of stable thoracolumbar fractures in the UK and discuss the implications of variation in spinal surgical work on the creation and adoption of future evidence. MethodsQualitative semi-structured interviews with 19 spinal surgeons from 13 UK hospitals. Data were collected as part of a mixed methods randomised pilot study (PRESTO). A conceptual framework of drivers of variation in orthopaedic surgical work informed how we analysed and reported our findings. ResultsWe identified various patient, surgeon, organisational and cultural factors to influence surgical decision making and variation in the treatment of stable thoracolumbar fractures. We then use our findings to present the ‘cycle of uncertainty,’ to illustrate how a lack of evidence is a justification for a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) and the reason why a trial is not deemed feasible. ConclusionSurgical decision-making is complex, particularly in the absence of robust evidence. The reliance on informal sources to inform decision making and the limited role of evidence, have implications for the likelihood that RCT evidence will be created and/or adopted. To break this cycle of uncertainty we suggest focussing earlier in the research cycle to develop context-specific strategies that are designed to avoid equipoise from deeming future surgical trials unfeasible and high quality evidence being created. This could include separate pieces of implementation research and/or targeted qualitative research conducted prior to RCTs to encourage evidence based surgical decision-making.

Manufacture and use: bone and tooth objects from the Late Bronze Age ‘shaman's grave’ at Przeczyce, Poland

The microscopic analysis of tool marks on objects from the Late Bronze Age ‘shaman's grave’ at Przeczyce, Poland, has demonstrated that two wild boar tusk pendants, a bone disc and a set of bone tubes were manufactured exclusively using metal tools. We argue that the tubes were a musical instrument that originally consisted of several separate pieces, rather than a pan flute, as has previously been suggested.

Assessments of Digital Client Representations: How Frontline Workers Reconstruct Client Narratives from Fragmented Information

Abstract Street-level bureaucrats assess increasing amounts of digital, often text-based, client representations. These representations have been criticized for oversimplification. However, frontline workers have also been known to develop simplified perceptions, or “shortcuts,” in their work. This study explores frontline workers’ assessments of digital client representations using observations of 15 needs assessments and 7 follow-up interviews from the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NAV). Based on simple information garnered from an online registration, workers decide how much assistance clients need from NAV to find work. Findings show that the online registration deconstructs client narratives into separate pieces of information, which the workers attempt to reconstruct back into coherent narratives. Using a street-level perspective, this article argues that the reconstructions are coping responses to fragmented information. Unlike traditional simplification responses, the workers complicate their perceptions of clients in the assessments. That is, street-level bureaucrats take “detours” to provide responsive services and manage the limitations of electronic government. Thus, this article provides an empirical contribution that also forms the basis for abductive theorization and suggests that the conceptual boundaries of coping strategies should be expanded to include “complication responses.” In contrast to the emphasis on face-to-face meetings in street-level literature, this article highlights the importance of texts.