Shift In Representation Research Articles

Performance and surveillance in an era of austerity: schooling the reflexive generation of Muslim young men

The last 15 years have seen a remarkable shift in the educational representation of British-born Muslim young men. In the media-led reclassification of them, from South Asian to Muslim, they have moved from ideal student to potential jihadist. This article draws upon a three-year ethnographic study with young Muslim men located within the West Midlands. A shared emphasis on structural issues across critical theoretical frameworks on neoliberalism, government discourses, such as Prevent, and counter narratives on Islamophobia serves to underplay young Muslim men’s subjectivity, and in so doing limits their self-authorization. We argue that at a time of intense state/institutional surveillance as a ‘suspect community’ and the criminalization of ethnic and religious difference, Muslim young men are in the process of negotiating late-modern urban masculine identities. Simultaneously, deploying a methodological reflexivity indicates that a re-reading of their narratives provides insights into recent political changes and national belonging.

The Power of Parties: Evidence from Close Municipal Elections in Norway

AbstractWe show that small shifts in representation can affect policy in proportional election systems. Using data from Norway, we find that a larger left‐wing party leads to more property taxation, higher childcare spending, and lower elderly care spending, while local public goods appear to be a non‐partisan issue. These effects are partly due to shifts in bloc majorities, and partly due to changes in the left–right position of the council, keeping the majority constant. The estimates on spending allocations are rather imprecise, but they are consistent with evidence on politicians' fiscal preferences and patterns in media attention.

‘A feeling you cannot resist’: Shah Rukh Khan, affect, and the re-scripting of male stardom in Hindi cinema

ABSTRACT While Shah Rukh Khan is considered to be the cinematic representation of Indian neoliberalism and global capitalism, the gendered dimensions of his stardom and personae are still thin on the ground. This paper theorizes the particular role of affect, emotion, and feeling in the gendered construction of Shah Rukh Khan as star text. Though affective masculinity has been central to male stardom in Hindi cinema, SRK shifted the focus from anger (Amitabh Bachchan’s Angry Young Man) to vulnerability, sensitivity, and the ability to feel and endure pain. While these traits are still seen as constituent of the 'feminine,' SRK deployed them with great effect to craft a new style of middle-class masculinity that shifted the accepted terms of masculinity without losing its heteronormative privilege. The paper explores three intertwined ideas: SRK's self-confessed 'hammy' tearful performances; his onscreen physical vulnerability, and sexual availability; and consequential to the above, how SRK signaled shifts in the cinematic representation of Indian middle-class masculinity. While the plots of SRK’s films frequently reinforce heteronormative patriarchy, moments in his performance, along with the filmic representation of his body and face, contradict the linear inevitability of the triumph of patriarchal masculinity.

Massive cortical reorganization is reversible following bilateral transplants of the hands: evidence from the first successful bilateral pediatric hand transplant patient.

In this repeated measures case study, we show that sensory deafferentation after limb amputation leads to changes in cortical somatotopic maps which are reversible after restoration of sensory input. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we observed in a child with bilateral hand transplants large‐scale shifts in somatosensory lip cortical representation from anatomic hand area to anatomic face region. After recovery of tactile sensation in the digits, responses to finger stimulation were localized to orthotopic sensory cortex, but with atypical electrophysiologic features (amplitude and frequencies).

‘Buff boys’ with brooms: shifting representations of masculinity in Canadian men’s curling

ABSTRACTThis paper explores a shift in masculine sporting identities associated with the sport of curling in Canada. We argue that as curling has become increasingly professionalized, there has been a corresponding shift to representations of male curlers that valourize youth, strength and aggression, in contrast to a previous emphasis on maturity and sportsmanship. After a review of the history and context of curling’s popularity as a sport in Canada, we recount these representational shifts, drawing on official documents of curling associations and media coverage of the sport. At the same time, we suggest that extending conventional forms of sporting masculinity to curling sits uneasily beside new initiatives to encourage lifelong participation in sport. We draw on critical masculinity studies and sport studies to argue that age needs to be taken into account when mapping the diversity of masculinities. We further argue that sport is an important context for understanding complex intersections of age and gender, especially as physical activity is increasingly posited as essential to ‘successful aging.’ We suggest that curling provides an instructive and under-studied example of how these issues conjoin in constructing aging male embodiment, and suggest some directions for further study.

Corak Representasi Identitas Ustadz dalam Proses Transmisi Pendidikan Karakter di Pesantren

Pesantren is as educational institution has Tafaqquh fi Al-din- oriented has been long known as an educational Institution whose main purpose form of moral. In the process of transmission can’t be denied the role of ustadz in learning process, both in side and outside classroom. The process of transformation and modernization are all lines require the figure of ustadz in Pesantren to make accommodation, concessions for the transformation of education and learning system in pesantren. Pesantren is as part of the nation's community and also inseparable from the influences of ongoing National dynamics today. It is caught in a wave of globalization with all its positive and negative values. Similarly, ustadz of pesantren which also certainly, cannot be separated from the transformation so that there is a shift in identity representation in the form of mental or language representation. Based on the results of the research was found the figure of ustadz in the framework of accommodation and concessions transformed the representation of identity both as the teacher represented in school such as personality competence competition, social, professional competence, organizational culture skills, both in oral, written form, and personal branding abilities.

Taking up the baton? New campaigning organisations and the enactment of representative functions

Political parties have historically provided a key means by which citizens gain representation in the state, with parties enabling participation, integration, aggregation, conflict management, and linkage. Over recent years, parties’ representative credentials have declined and new organisations have emerged as vehicles of representation. What is, however, unclear is the extent to which these new organisations have taken on the representative functions parties are traditionally seen to have performed. In this article, we examine Citizens UK and 38 Degrees as indicative examples to argue that, while opportunities for participation and integration can be found, aspects of aggregation, conflict management and linkage are no longer being performed. Diagnosing this change, we argue that these shifts in representation are having significant but as yet unrecognised consequences for how citizens relate to and engage with contemporary politics.

De “turistas” y “peregrinos”: identificaciones, territorialidades y fronteras en la construcción del cuerpo devoto del culto a la Virgen del Cerro en la ciudad de Salta, Argentina

<p>Este trabajo intenta abordar las representaciones sociales que se construyen desde la prensa local alrededor de las personas que participan del culto a la Virgen del Corazón Eucarístico de Jesús, más conocida como la Virgen del Cerro, en la ciudad de Salta (Argentina). Desde una mirada sociosemiótica, interesa pensar la manera en la que se produce un corrimiento representacional en la categorización de los cuerpos que pasan de nominarse primero como “turistas” para luego, también, ser “peregrinos”. Este proceso encuentra algunas respuestas en la configuración cultural, histórica, política y religiosa en el que se emplaza el culto y que inscriben los significados de los discursos analizados. Al mismo tiempo, la forma en la que se nominan los cuerpos devotos habla de fronteras (simbólicas y materiales) que implican una tensión territorial e identitaria por el monopolio religioso y, en otros momentos, por aspectos económicos. Las disputas de significación pasan necesariamente por cómo se van construyendo los cuerpos dentro del culto y cómo se configuran determinados sistemas representacionales en una advocación que posee una visibilidad y legitimidad nacional (e internacional) más que local.</p><p>La indagación se constituye en una primera aproximación que busca contribuir a los estudios sobre religiosidad y, en especial, a los que ponen foco en apariciones marianas en diálogo con aportes que provienen de la comunicación/cultura.</p>

S110 Phantom limb pain – A correlate of maladaptive neural plasticity

Objectives The majority of limb amputees complain of phantom limb pain (PLP). The primary somatosensory cortex (S1) appears to play a key role in the perception of PLP. However, there is an ongoing debate whether (a) dysfunctional S1 reorganization or (b) preservation of S1 limb representation reflects the more valid correlate of PLP. Methods We tested groups of arm amputees perceiving or not perceiving PLP, implementing tactile stimulation of the lip (testing for reorganization) and executed phantom movements (testing for preserved representation). We further assessed prosthesis use and the users‘ experiences related to the prosthesis. Neural activity in S1 was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results Amputees with PLP exhibited larger shift of S1 lip representation compared to amputees without PLP. We found no significant S1 activity differences for the execution of phantom movements. Only for lip representation, we found that amputees using a prosthesis showed significantly less dysfunctional reorganization compared to non-users. Perceiving the prosthesis as part of the body was associated with less PLP and dysfunctional reorganization. Discussion Our results support the hypothesis that dysfunctional S1 reorganization reflects a neural correlate of PLP. Prosthesis use in general and prosthesis experiences in particular predict the presence of both dysfunctional reorganization and PLP. Conclusions Maladaptive plasticity processes are associated with PLP. Whether or not dysfunctional S1 reorganization is causally linked to PLP remains open. Significance Our findings contribute to the ongoing scientific debate on the nature of S1 alterations and its importance for the presence or absence of PLP.

Uncivility on the web

Abstract This paper explores the connection between the rise of new types of online uncivil discourses and the recent success of populism. While discussions on the upsurge of populism have centred on institutionalised politics and politicians, only limited attention has been paid to how the success of the former and the latter was propelled by developments outside of the political realm narrowly conceived. Our interest is therefore in the rise of uncivil society, especially on the web, and in its ‘borderline discourse’ at the verge of civil and uncivil ideas, ideologies and norms. Those discourses – showcased here on the example of the language on immigration/refugees in Austria and Sweden – have been using civil-to-uncivil shifts in the discursive representations of society and politics. They have progressively ‘normalised’ the anti-pluralist views across many European public spheres on a par with nativist and exclusionary views now widely propagated by right-wing populist politics in Europe and beyond.

Serotonergic Modulation of Sensory Representation in a Central Multisensory Circuit Is Pathway Specific

SUMMARYMany studies have explored how neuromodulators affect synaptic function, yet little is known about how they modify computations at the microcircuit level. In the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN), a region that integrates auditory and multisensory inputs from two distinct pathways, serotonin (5-HT) enhances excitability of principal cells, predicting a generalized reduction in sensory thresholds. Surprisingly, we found that when looked at from the circuit level, 5-HT enhances signaling only from the multisensory input, while decreasing input from auditory fibers. This effect is only partially explained by an action on auditory nerve terminals. Rather, 5-HT biases processing for one input pathway by simultaneously enhancing excitability in the principal cell and in a pathway-specific feed-forward inhibitory interneuron. Thus, by acting on multiple targets, 5-HT orchestrates a fundamental shift in representation of convergent auditory and multisensory pathways, enhancing the potency of non-auditory signals in a classical auditory pathway.

New(s) Readers: Multimodal Meaning-Making in AJ+ Captioned Video

New(s) Readers: Multimodal Meaning-Making in AJ+ Captioned Video

Contemporary Employer Interest Representation in the United Kingdom

Focusing on employers’ organizations in the United Kingdom, this article contributes to the literature on employer interest representation by advancing three interrelated arguments, which reflect how the methods, structure and interests of employer representation have evolved. First, the primary method of collective interest representation has shifted from collective bargaining, nowadays only pursued by a minority of employers’ organizations, to political representation, now the most frequent form of collective interest representation. Second, the structure of employer interest representation has evolved and is fragmented between a small number of large, general employers’ organizations, a large majority of sectoral employers’ organizations, regional interest representation in the devolved nations, which has become more important, and a new type of employer body, the employer forum, which focuses on corporate social responsibility. Third, the shift in collective interest representation is complemented by a broadening of individual interest representation, with employers’ organizations having developed a wide range of services.

Intuitive proportion judgment in number-line estimation: Converging evidence from multiple tasks

How children’s understanding of numerical magnitudes changes over the course of development remains a key question in the study of numerical cognition. In an ongoing debate about the source of developmental change, some argue that children maintain and access different mental representations of number, with evidence coming largely from common number-line estimation tasks. In contrast, others argue that a theoretical framework based on psychophysical models of proportion estimation accounts for typical performance on these tasks. The current study explored children’s (n=71) and adults’ (n=27) performance on two number-line tasks: the “number to position” (or NP) task and the inverse “position to number” (or PN) task. Estimates on both tasks are consistent with the predictions of the proportion estimation account and do not support the hypothesis that a fundamental shift in mental representations underlies developmental change in numerical estimation and, in turn, mathematical ability. Converging evidence across the tasks also calls into question the utility of bounded number-line tasks as an evaluation of mental representations of number.

Developing intercultural communicative competence: An example of the New College English textbook series

The development of intercultural communication has received renewed attention in the professional literature in the past decade. In response to changes brought about by a globalizing world and educational industry, our understanding of culture – and its role in language teaching - has changed. This is clearly indicated by the emerging 21st century educational frameworks that put inter- and cross-cultural skills as one of the core competencies for students to be successful in a rapidly changing world. Research on language teaching materials has found that there has been a shift in cultural representations, moving from mono-cultural portrays to more dynamic, inter-cultural, even hybrid cultural depictions. Yet, two areas need further consideration: a) While the above might be true for materials developed for international markets, how is culture represented in locally produced English language textbooks? b) What tasks are used in the materials to develop the skills, attitudes, and knowledge needed for successful intercultural communication? This paper set out to examine a widely used and locally published English language textbook series by using Byram’s (1997a) framework and found that although the material has a potential to develop intercultural competence, it does not provide tasks that would engage students in such learning.

Developing intercultural communicative competence: An example of the New College English textbook series

The development of intercultural communication has received renewed attention in the professional literature in the past decade. In response to changes brought about by a globalizing world and educational industry, our understanding of culture – and its role in language teaching - has changed. This is clearly indicated by the emerging 21 st century educational frameworks that put inter- and cross-cultural skills as one of the core competencies for students to be successful in a rapidly changing world. Research on language teaching materials has found that there has been a shift in cultural representations, moving from mono-cultural portrays to more dynamic, inter-cultural, even hybrid cultural depictions. Yet, two areas need further consideration: a) While the above might be true for materials developed for international markets, how is culture represented in locally produced English language textbooks? b) What tasks are used in the materials to develop the skills, attitudes, and knowledge needed for successful intercultural communication? This paper set out to examine a widely used and locally published English language textbook series by using Byram’s (1997a) framework and found that although the material has a potential to develop intercultural competence, it does not provide tasks that would engage students in such learning.

Measuring, Predicting and Visualizing Short-Term Change in Word Representation and Usage in VKontakte Social Network

Language in social media is extremely dynamic: new words emerge, trend and disappear, while the meaning of existing words can fluctuate over time. This work addresses several important tasks of visualizing and predicting short term text representation shift, i.e. the change in a word's contextual semantics. We study the relationship between short-term concept drift and representation shift on a large social media corpus — VKontakte collected during the Russia-Ukraine crisis in 2014 — 2015. We visualize short-term representation shift for example keywords and build predictive models to forecast short-term shifts in meaning from previous meaning as well as from concept drift. We show that short-term representation shift can be accurately predicted up to several weeks in advance and that visualization provides insight into meaning change. Our approach can be used to explore and characterize specific aspects of the streaming corpus during crisis events and potentially improve other downstream classification tasks including real-time event forecasting in social media.

Suppression of V1 Feedback Produces a Shift in the Topographic Representation of Receptive Fields of LGN Cells by Unmasking Latent Retinal Drives.

In awake monkeys, we used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to focally inactivate visual cortex while measuring the responsiveness of parvocellular lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) neurons. Effects were noted in 64/75 neurons, and could be divided into 2 main groups: (1) for 39 neurons, visual responsiveness decreased and visual latency increased without apparent shift in receptive field (RF) position and (2) a second group (n = 25, 33% of the recorded cells) whose excitability was not compromised, but whose RF position shifted an average of 4.5°. This change is related to the retinotopic correspondence observed between the recorded thalamic area and the affected cortical zone. The effect of inactivation for this group of neurons was compatible with silencing the original retinal drive and unmasking a second latent retinal drive onto the studied neuron. These results indicate novel and remarkable dynamics in thalamocortical circuitry that force us to reassess constraints on retinogeniculate transmission.

Primary Motor Cortex Organization Is Altered in Persistent Patellofemoral Pain.

Reorganization of the primary motor cortex (M1) may be a feature of persistent patellofemoral pain (PFP), but no studies have investigated M1 organization in this condition. Here we aimed to examine the organization of the M1 representation of the quadriceps muscles in people with PFP and healthy controls. Using a cross-sectional design, the M1 representation of the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, and vastus medialis was mapped using transcranial magnetic stimulation in 11 individuals with PFP and 11 controls. Measures of pain severity were also made. Individuals with PFP had reduced map volumes (P < 0.001) and an anterior shift in the M1 representation (P = 0.03) across all three quadriceps muscles compared with controls. Greater overlap of the M1 representation (P = 0.02) and a reduction in the number of discrete cortical peaks (P = 0.009) across all three quadriceps muscles were also observed in individuals with PFP compared with controls. There was no relationship between altered M1 organization and pain in PFP. These findings provide evidence of altered M1 organization in individuals with PFP compared with healthy controls. Notably, no difference in M1 organization was observed for the medial and lateral heads of the quadriceps in PFP. These data have relevance for our understanding of the pathophysiology of PFP and for the design of future treatments that aim to target M1 in this condition.

Effect of predatory bacteria on the gut bacterial microbiota in rats

Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Micavibrio aeruginosavorus are Gram-negative proteobacteria that are obligate predators of other Gram-negative bacteria and are considered potential alternatives to antibiotics. Most studies focusing on predatory bacteria have been performed in vitro, thus the effect of predatory bacteria on a live host, including the impact on the ecology of the native microbiota, has yet to be fully examined. In this study, intrarectal inoculations of Sprague-Dawley rats with predatory bacteria were performed. Additionally, feces were collected for seven days post-inoculation to determine the effect on gut bacterial diversity. Rat colonic tissue exhibited no abnormal histopathological effects due to predatory bacteria. A modest increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines was measured in the colons of rats inoculated with predatory bacteria by 24 and 48 hours, with all but IL-13 returning to baseline by seven days. V4 16S rRNA gene sequencing of fecal DNA demonstrated minimal shifts in taxonomic representation over the week due to predatory bacteria. Changes in bacterial populations due to exposure to B. bacteriovorus are predicted to contribute to health, however, an overgrowth of Prevotella was observed due to exposure to M. aeruginosavorus. This study further addresses safety concerns associated with the potential use of predatory bacteria to treat infections.