Tightrope Walkers Research Articles

Virtual Citizenship and Revolutionary Transatlantic Republicanism in the Musical Lives of Exiled United Irishmen

Virtual Citizenship and Revolutionary Transatlantic Republicanism in the Musical Lives of Exiled United Irishmen

Romanticizing the Raj Through Tales of the Royal Kitchens

Raj has always been a fascinating study for the West. East was that mystical land of snake charmers and tight rope walkers, of bejeweled Maharajas riding on elephants and naked fakirs performing their rope tricks. It has been debated that the Orient was romanticized for the West's own interests—to lure the West to the East, to make postings to India more palatable, to find charm in an alien culture and civilization. The present article aims to explore how writings on the royal kitchen have added to the image of the exotic Orient and inspired interest both in India and in the Indian cuisine.

From high-flying trapeze to highly infectiousdisease: The history of dermatology in the circus

There is fascination with the bright lights and high-risk stunts of circus performances that originated in 18th-century Paris. The idea began as a way to display the impressive horsemanship skills of trick-riders. In London, England, former cavalry Sergeant-Major Philip Astley (1742-1814) created a grand performance of horseback riders by adding several unique acts to distinguish his show. Astley’s original riding school would later become his own circus, the Amphitheatre Anglais. By 1782, the Amphitheatre Anglais could boast of performances by acrobats, jugglers, gymnasts, and tight-rope walkers. Since then, the circus, as the concept became formally known, has grown worldwide. With its development, however, several unanticipated occurrences have followed, including various dermatologic pathologies. High physical demands on circus performers and close physical contact led to cellulitis, pyoderma, callosities, and various other soft tissue manifestations. However, some members of the circus family were, in fact, chosen due to their genetic and acquired aesthetic abnormalities: the more grotesque, the more sought after.

Directions of concertmaster activity of Oleksandr Nazarenko

Directions of concertmaster activity of Oleksandr Nazarenko

Радянський кінодетектив: історія створення та особливості жанру

The article is devoted to the issue of formation and development of the detective genre on the Soviet cinema screen. Detective is one of the favorite genres of the mass audience. It came from literature in the intriguing story of the American writer Edgar Allan Poe — “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841). It is there that the author formulates the main features of the detective genre. The detective shows a person “strained to the limit” of his mental and physical capabilities. Another peculiarity of the detective is an appeal to the logical capabilities of the recipient. Cinema has turned its attention to the detective since its early years. The founder of this genre was the French director V. Jasset, who directed a series about detective Nick Carter in 1908-1909. “The Rumyantsev Case” (1955) is considered to be the first Soviet detective movie. Probably, this film laid the foundation of the Soviet detective film: psychologically in-depth image of the protagonist, that often weakened the plot, dramaturgical content of other characters, including negative, understanding and desire to support a missteped person, emphasized the moral aspect. The times of the “Khrushchev Thaw” especially accentuated the problem of choosing between the official law of society and the human individual conscience. In 1966, the film “Beware of the Car” was released. It was probably one of the latest outbreaks of the “thaw” era in a desperate desire to defend one’s dreams and ideals, to adjust the system by conscience. The end of the 1960s was marked by the coming of the so-called “Stagnation”. Cinematographers, like tightrope walkers, balance on a thin and sometimes dangerous line between the laws of the genre and the efforts of editors (they were also ideological censorship), because the Soviet detective had to not only entertain but also educate both aesthetically and morally, because no one is allowed to break the law, the thief will always be found and punished. Cinema, as it could, delighted its viewers with not frequent, but such desired detectives. In the late 1960s, purely Soviet detectives appeared: “The Master of the Taiga”, “Village Detective”, and their sequels. In the 1970s, everyone’s favorite series, “Investigations Held by ZnaToKi”; a trilogy about our Commissioner Maigret – Colonel Zorin (“The Return of Saint Luke”, “The Black Prince”, “The Colonel Zorin’s Hypothesis”), appeared on television. Ukrainian film studios also did its part in the development of the detective genre: “Born to a Revolution”, “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”, “The Man in the Courtyard”, “Criminal Inspector”, “Inspector Losev”, “Criminal Investigation Weekdays”, “Vertical Race” and others. The Soviet film detective had its disadvantages, but it also had its advantages. There was not much blood, brutal killings, loud shootings, and breathtaking persecution. However, there were psychologically filled, interesting images with their history, life experience, faith in man, though a kind of naive, but sincere attempts to correct it, to help in difficulties.

Biometrics and citizenship: Measuring diabetes in the United States in the interwar years.

In 1936, the journalist Hannah Lees published "Two Million Tightrope Walkers," drawing attention to the significant number of people in the United States estimated to have diabetes. Focusing on how people with diabetes should live, she emphasized the importance of recording the exact values of everything they ate and avoiding all "riotous living" lest they be unable to keep careful measurements of calories, insulin, and sleep. Employing two meanings of measured - as counted and as moderate - Lees was doing more than communicating how someone might control their disease; she was also calling for a "controlled and self-reliant citizenry." Indeed, Lees insisted that diabetics who followed a regime of measurement "make a good deal better citizens than the average." Drawing on the writings of Lees and other social commentators, I explore the link between biometrics, citizenship, and diabetes in the United States in the interwar years. In particular, I look at how this disease came to symbolize both the regimes of discipline thought to be necessary in a society moving to consumption as its economic motor, and the fears of what could happen if consumption ran amok. Biometrics, I argue, offered clinicians and patients a potent tool for measuring deviance and, potentially, for restoring a person to the "norm."

Jugglers and tightrope walkers: The challenge of delivering quality community pharmacy services.

IntroductionThis is the first exploration of service providers’ attitudes and beliefs of quality and quality improvement in the community pharmacy setting in the UK.Materials and methodsA series of interviews and focus groups was conducted with stakeholders from the pharmacy profession in the UK. Interviews were semi-structured and conducted face-to-face or by telephone. Focus groups were conducted with naturally-occurring groups i.e. at pharmacy conferences. Interviews and focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed systematically using an interpretive approach.ResultsForty-two individuals participated across four focus groups and four interviews. A maximum variation sample was achieved in terms of pharmacist and pharmacy characteristics. Participants were generally positive about the need for quality and quality improvement and provided multifaceted and interlinked interpretations of quality and acknowledged its dynamic nature “quality moves forward”. The challenge of standardising practice whilst providing person-centred care emerged: “you don’t want to lose the personal touch, but you can’t have people having a variable experience and one day it’s fantastic and the next day it isn’t”. A variety of quality measurement methods were identified including direct observation (by internal and external agents) and feedback (mystery shoppers, colleagues, regulatory inspectors, service users), suggesting that standardisation was also needed in terms of future quality measurement. There was a tendency to report negative events as triggers for improvement. Future initiatives could adopt more positive approaches including positive deviants “There’s nothing more powerful than people who’ve come up with something really good sharing it with their other colleagues”.DiscussionThe results are being used to develop and evaluate future quality improvement initiatives in this sector. These are likely to be targeted at organisational, team and individual levels.

Misery Has Company: The Shared Emotional Consequences of Everwork Among Women and Men

Everwork—defined as a combination of overwork, face time, constant availability, and unpredictability—is becoming an increasingly common form of work, especially among highly skilled service workers. While such an environment would seem to disadvantage mothers in particular, I find that employees of all genders and parental statuses suffer in such intensive work environments. Through 50 in‐depth interviews with management consultants, I examine how employees reconcile their personal lives with the realities of everwork. I characterize young childless men and women as “quit intenders,” mothers as “tightrope walkers,” and fathers as “reluctant sacrificers.” This article offers new insight into the tensions employees face between their parenthood ideals and everwork expectations, the strategies they engage in to manage those tensions, and the emotional impacts they experience as a result. Because employees use career–life strategies that accommodate rather than challenge the fundamental nature of everwork, everwork environments may persist despite the negative consequences.

A balancing act: a grounded theory study of the professional judgement of child protection social workers

ABSTRACTThis paper explores professional judgement of social workers working to protect children. Based on 22 in-depth interviews with social workers, a grounded theory methodology is adopted. The policy context for child protection practice is outlined and analysed. This study then explores how information, responsibility and in particular anxiety, are transacted between social workers and other professionals. Additionally, this study explores the delicate balances social workers are required to negotiate, focussing on two elements of the findings, ‘closeness- distance’ and ‘power over- power together’. The delicacy of the balances negotiated by social workers leads to a powerful analogy of social workers as tightrope walkers, and strategies to seek balance are identified. The implications for practice are explored. The internal mental processes of social workers require closer attention, a cautious approach should be taken to rational-technical solutions and social workers should be better prepared to respectfully challenge other professionals.

A Trip to the Circus

A trip to the circus is so much fun. You will see elephants, tightrope walkers, lions, tigers, and more! But did you know that you could also learn math while you are there? Let's see how much we can learn at the circus.

Straßburger Mummenschanz im russischen Pleskau im Jahre 1644? Eine deutsche Schaustellertruppe versucht ihr Glück im Zarenreich

This interdisciplinary study deals with an unusual German-Russian cultural encounter: a group of strolling German artists who crossed the border of Russia in the summer of the year 1644, on an extensive tour that had brought them to the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and the Baltic littoral (Reval and Dorpat). In Pleskau/Pskov, in the northwest part of the Muscovite state, they asked for permission to stay for some time, apparently in order to entertain the inhabitants and earn some money.Our primary focus is on a broadside – an advertisement for a group of tightrope walkers, illustrated with a copper etching – that has survived in the Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents (RGADA) in Moscow. The anonymous and undated broadside provides a great deal of indirect information about the performers, both through its large hand-coloured copper illustration and a detailed explanatory text in German. Thanks to the fact that we also found some additional documents, kept at the same archive – albeit not together with the advertisement – that we could link together with the broadside, we were in the lucky situation of being able to identify the strolling troupe and date the broadside to the year 1644 or a few years earlier. The principal of the troupe, Simon Dannenfels, was born in Strassburg in 1594; the other performers were his own children and three additional acrobats, mentioned by name in the Russian documents although we were not able to identify them further. In the article, Dannenfels’ life as a strolling artist is described on the basis of both published research and primary archival documents, above all from Strassburg, Stockholm, and Moscow. The Russian documents show that the German troupe was not welcome in Muscovy. As soon as the letter by the Pskov authorities, asking for advice on handling these foreigners, had been delivered to the tsar, the Russian court ordered that the comedians should be expelled from Muscovite territory. The documents do not tell us whether the troupe had any opportunities to show their artistic talents during the time it took for the Pskov authorities’ letter to be sent to Moscow and the tsar's answer to be sent back to Pskov (about one month). Although foreign artists had been employed at the tsars’ courts prior to Dannenfels, the Strassburg-born artist and his troupe were the first for whom we can show that they came to the country on their own initiative, without any invitation by the Russian authorities whatsoever.The article is relevant not only for the field of German and Russian cultural history, but also for the study of art history and more particularly the history of printed broadsides that were used as advertisements for artistic programmes. The ‘Moscow’ broadside is in all likelihood not only a unique copy of the Dannenfels troupe's advertisement, but possibly also the oldest dated (or dateable) broadside with a copper etching from the German-speaking territories that advertises an artistic performance.

Tightrope walkers suffering in silence: A qualitative study into the experiences of older parents who have an adult child with cancer

BackgroundGiven the worldwide ageing of the population and the changes in the structure of society and family, the likelihood increases that older parents face a serious illness in an adult child and will even outlive their child. ObjectivesTo gain insight into older parents’ experiences, concerns, and dilemmas regarding their position and role as a parent of an adult child with cancer. DesignQualitative interview design. SettingA geriatric ward and four oncology wards of a university hospital, several nursing homes, local health service agencies. ParticipantsTwenty-five parents (age range 65–91 years) of 22 adult children with cancer (age range 33–66 years) of differing stages and types (with a preponderance of breast cancer). MethodsUsing a qualitative research methodology underpinned by grounded theory, we conducted semi-structured interviews with a fairly open framework. ResultsSuffering in silence emerged as the core category encapsulating three interrelated balancing acts: (1) shielding their child while being shielded by their child, (2) being involved while keeping an adequate distance, and (3) shifting attentional priorities between their child, themselves, and others. The emotional interconnectedness between older parents and their adult child with cancer becomes tangible in the transformational process of their parental role and position described in the three balancing acts. ConclusionsFaced with their child's illness and possible death, older parents experience overwhelming feelings often underestimated by their (close) environment. Nurses need to be susceptible for the needs and experiences of these older parents. For care by nurses to make a difference, their attention must be directed to how older parents can be invigorated in their parenthood while respecting the child's autonomy.

The Tightrope Walkers by David Almond (review)

The Tightrope Walkers by David Almond (review)

Movement strategies and sensory reweighting in tandem stance: Differences between trained tightrope walkers and untrained subjects

Does skill with a difficult task, such as tightrope walking, lead to improved balance through altered movement strategies or through altered weighting of sensory inputs? We approached this question by comparing tandem stance (TS) data between seven tightrope walkers and 12 untrained control subjects collected under different sensory conditions.All subjects performed four TS tasks with eyes open or closed, on a normal firm or foam surface (EON, ECN, EOF, ECF); tightrope walkers were also tested on a tightrope (EOR). Head, upper trunk and pelvis angular velocities were measured with gyroscopes in pitch and roll. Power spectral densities (PSDs) ratios, and transfer function gains (TFG) between these body segments were calculated. Center of mass (CoM) excursions and its virtual time to contact a virtual base of support boundary (VTVBS) were also estimated.Gain nonlinearities, in the form of decreased trunk to head and trunk to pelvis PSD ratios and TFGs, were present with increasing sensory task difficulty for both groups. PSD ratios and TFGs were less in trained subjects, though, in absolute terms, trained subjects moved their head, trunk, pelvis and CoM faster than controls, and had decreased VTVBS. Head roll amplitudes were unchanged with task or training, except above 3Hz. CoM amplitude deviations were not less for trained subjects. For the trained subjects, EOR measures were similar to those of ECF.Training standing on a tightrope induces a velocity modification of the same TS movement strategy used by untrained controls. More time is spent exploring the limits of the base of support with an increased use of fast trunk movements to control balance. Our evidence indicates an increased reliance on neck and pelvis proprioceptive inputs. The similarity of TS on foam to that on the tightrope suggests that the foam tasks are useful for effective training of tightrope walking.

Jugglers, tightrope walkers, and ringmasters: Priority setting, allocation, and reducing moral burden

Health system leaders, engaged in priority setting and resource allocation activities, seek means to make and justify good decisions. Values and ethics considerations can assist, but the work of developing coherent, useful ethics frameworks is just beginning. Ethical foundations underlay substantive and procedural considerations, including the need for genuine citizen involvement in priority setting activities. Difficult decisions that affect citizens, staff, and organizational partners can result in moral burden for health system leaders. Decision making based on co-determined values and inclusive processes can be expected to reduce some of that burden.

Tight-Rope Walkers: The Experience of Foreign Charity Workers in the PRC

Tight-Rope Walkers: The Experience of Foreign Charity Workers in the PRC

Walking the tightrope

Most Canadians have long-standing familiarity with images of Jean Francois Gravelet crossing the Niagara River (Niagara, Ontario) on a tightrope on June 30, 1855. Pictures of the famous incident show the ‘Great Blondin’, as he was known, balanced precariously over the Niagara River Gorge. In fact, the Great Blondin made many crossings of ever increasing difficulty, either by walking, running or cycling. On one occasion, he pushed a wheelbarrow to the centre of the rope where he stopped, cooked and ate an omelette made on a small stove. The culmination of his efforts came with carrying his manager across in a special shoulder harness. We have chosen Blondin’s feats as a metaphor for the hazards of drug prescribing for children. How good is this metaphor? Even funambulists, or tightrope walkers, do not venture forth without some substantial aids. For starters, they have the fundamental support of a stout rope or wire, and a balancing bar that serves to distribute the risk. Often they enjoy the additional security afforded by a safety net. Those who prescribe drugs for infants and children enjoy far less tangible support and, in many cases, lack the safety net that might be provided through research. It is a fact almost as astonishing as the achievements of Blondin that, 100 years into the modern medical era, children are still treated in most parts of the world without the benefit of adequate scientific evidence to support therapeutic decisions. Unfortunately, prescribers have been left to be guided by anecdotal advice and their own therapeutic intuition. Not only are prescribers deprived of new therapeutic guidance, they must frequently fall back on knowledge acquired at an earlier time, which is almost certainly past its ‘best before date’. Many have estimated that medical knowledge expires at a rate of 25% per decade after the time that it is acquired. Of course, some might argue that at least an additional 25% of medical knowledge is incorrect at the moment when teaching occurs. Can we do more to protect infants and children who require modern therapy? Daredevilry in therapeutics is not an admirable activity, but neither is therapeutic nihilism defensible. All practitioners who serve childhood populations can and must contribute to the creation of new knowledge that will guide future treatment guidelines. Their impact will come through participation in clinical trials addressing major therapeutic questions, and through careful objective reporting of adverse events in keeping with the approaches highlighted by two of the articles in the present theme issue. Two common scenarios of therapeutic interventions in children are also addressed in the present issue. One is vaccination pain management, where we learn that pharmacological intervention is effective, but even more effective if combined with non-pharmacological approaches. The other is the use of acetaminophen. In fact, it makes us nervous to know that we know so little about this old remedy. Above all, physicians and pharmacists who care for children must become more effective advocates for their charges. One hundred years of waiting for improvements in the environment for a choice in childhood therapies is simply too long. A society that can afford billions of dollars for the purchase of fighter jets can surely afford to provide better evidence-based care for its children, and indirectly for the more than two billion children living outside our borders. The continuing feat of attempting to walk the paediatric therapeutic tightrope will not be applauded by future generations who will be left deprived of safe and effective treatments.

Couples’ thoughts about and expectations of their future life after the patient’s hospital discharge following acute myocardial infarction

To describe and interpret couples' thoughts and expectations about their future life after the patient's discharge following acute myocardial infarction. An acute myocardial infarction is a challenge for both the patient and his/her partner, as it can disrupt family functioning and dynamics. Earlier research has generally focused on either the patient or the partner, and few studies have explored the experiences of the couple. Qualitative descriptive and interpretative. Fifteen couples took part in individual interviews, 4-8 weeks after discharge. Data were analysed in two phases using qualitative content analysis. The first phase of the analysis revealed two categories: 'an active approach to the future' and 'a wait-and-see approach to the future', both of which described the participants' thoughts about the future. In the second phase, the couples' stories were interpreted and grouped into four positions: 'the life companions', 'the tightrope walkers', 'the pathfinders' and 'the observers', which illustrated their visions of the future. Our results reveal differences in the couples' thoughts about and expectations of their future life, most of them managed the situation by having a positive attitude to life and their future. The couples discovered their resources and compensated for or balanced each other in the early recovery period. The results indicate the importance of giving both partners the opportunity to express their views of the situation, as this increases nurses' understanding of the impact of the illness on their life and relationship. However, the results also highlight the significance of seeing the couple and showing them consideration both as individuals and as a unit.

Tightrope walkers and solidarity sisters: critical workplace educators in the garment industry

This article focuses on the complex negotiations of critical workplace educators positioned amongst contradictory agendas and discourses in the workplace. While philosophically aligned with critical pedagogical agendas of transformation and collective action for workplace change, these educators perform an array of pedagogic articulations in everyday practice to secure their continued presence in the workplace. What becomes evident in these seemingly opposing articulations are various strategic political positionings of educators alongside their juggling of demands, attachments and inter‐identifications with both learners and managers. The pedagogy that emerges challenges conventional binaries of ‘transformative’ and ‘reproductive’ learning. Dynamics of transformation and liberation as well as reproduction and subjugation appear to be interlinked, along with expanding nets of social relations that blur power hierarchies and spatial boundaries, in a pedagogy that ultimately appears to mobilise hope and agency among workers. The workplace educator works a delicate balance of these dynamics to survive. The argument is based on a case study of a garment factory in Canada in which an adult education programme managed to thrive for 17 years: both workers and educators were interviewed in depth.

“Tightrope Walkers on the Border Between Religion and Magic”. A Study of the Attitudes of Catholic Clerics North of the Linguistic Frontier within the Southern Netherlands Towards Superstition and the Crime of Witchcraft (1550-1650)

The attitude of clerics towards the crime of witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries within the Southern Netherlands has not been investigated, in historical terms, in sufficient depth. This article is an attempt to fill in this gap. The article is divided into two main parts. The first part deals with the theological and theoretical background of witchcraft. The institution of the Church, and the Church Fathers and other theologians first defined the theories on superstition and magic. The second part concerns the main object of this study, i.e., the attitude of the Catholic clergy at various levels towards the crime of witchcraft, particularly in the Flemish speaking parts of the Southern Netherlands. The religious world consisted of a heterogeneous group of people, having their own views and motives — like the secular world. Therefore it is hardly surprising that they did not all perceive magic, superstition and witchcraft in the same way. With regard to their attitude towards witchcraft, the views of the clergymen of the Southern Netherlands differed as greatly as possible: some were actively involved in magic and witchcraft, while others actively renounced those activities. The regular clergy and the parish priests can be associated with the first option. Like their parishioners, the lower clergy operated under a syncretic system of belief in which religion and magic were complementary. The degree of literacy demonstrated by the clergy was higher at higher ecclesiastical ranks. The more literate a priest was, the more he tended to want to distance himself from the popular belief in magic. The top of the ecclesiastical pyramid, e.g. the Bishops Torrentius, Lindanus and Triest, tried to define the line between religion and superstition, but history reveals time and time again a gap between the official clerical norm and the facts in the daily life of the parishioner. We see that the personality of the clergymen in question is a necessary element when analysing the events. Even within the same order one could support opposing views, as in the case which opposed the Jesuits Spee and Del Rio.