Unsettled Relationship Research Articles

Ways of (Virtual) Seeing: Applying a Bergerian Lens in a Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE)

Ways of (Virtual) Seeing: Applying a Bergerian Lens in a Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE)

Factors associated with unsettled relationships between residents and care staff in long-term care facility

IntroductionUnsettled relationships (UR) understood as open or covert conflicts among residents or between residents and staff play a significant role in patient's well-being in long-term care facility (LTCF) as well as in staff's job satisfaction. Material and methodsThe aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and identify factors associated with UR among residents (RR), URs between residents and staff (RS) and staff's frustration in contact with resident (SF). This cross-sectional study was conducted over 288 residents in one of the biggest Polish LTCF, using the interRAI-LTCF questionnaire and logistic regression analysis. Results and conclusionsIn our study, UR were observed in 28.8% of LTCF residents, with the highest frequency of RR (20.5%), followed by RS (19.4%) and SF (17.4%). We found that men demonstrated higher than women risk of the analyzed UR. Interestingly, moderate to severe cognitive impairment decreased the odds of RR and SF. We used to think that dementia and psychiatric diseases are the main predictors of conflict behaviors in LTCF setting. However, our findings show that behavioral, psychotic and depressive symptoms are the major factors which enhance the risk of UR in LTCF. Hence, we recommend clinicians to focus on better detecting, monitoring and controlling these symptoms to prevent the URs in LTCF. The second important study results is that some somatic diseases may also independently increase the risk of UR between the residents and the staff.

Predicting Adverse Outcomes After Discharge From Complex Continuing Care Hospital Settings to the Community.

The purpose was to identify risk and protective factors assessed at complex continuing care (CCC) admission that were associated with three adverse outcomes (death, readmission, and incidence of or failure to improve possible depression) for persons discharged from CCC to the community with home care services. CCC, home care, community. The sample included all CCC patients in Ontario assessed with the Resident Assessment Instrument-Minimum Data Set 2.0 between January 2003 and December 2010 and who were subsequently assessed with the Resident Assessment Instrument-Home Care within 6 months of discharge to the community (n = 9,940). Separate multivariable logistic regression models were developed for each outcome. Within 6 months, 4.9% of the sample had died, 6.5% were readmitted to any Ontario CCC facility, and 13.7% showed symptoms of new possible depression or failure to improve possible depression. Heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), health instability, intravenous/tube feed, and pressure ulcer were associated with increased risk of death. Difficulty with comprehension, possible depression, COPD, unstable conditions, acute episode or flare-up, short-term prognosis, worsening self-sufficiency, and having either patient or caregiver optimistic about discharge were associated with increased risk of readmission. Existing depressive symptoms or depression, unsettled relationships, multimorbidity, and polypharmacy were associated with risk for incidence of or failure to improve possible depression. Optimism about rehabilitation potential and high social engagement were protective against readmission and depressive outcomes, respectively. Person-level clinical data collected on admission to CCC can be used to identify high-risk patients and trigger early discharge planning processes and other in-home interventions. These results support the sharing of information between settings, and highlight key areas in which care teams in CCC and case managers in home care organizations can work together to support the transition to home and potentially reduce adverse postdischarge outcomes.

The Bracquemond-Rousseau Table Service of 1866

Inspired by Japanese art and French eighteenth-century porcelain, the Rousseau-Bracquemond ceramic table service of 1866 blurred the line between the decorative and the fine arts. Exhibited at the 1867 World’s Fair in Paris, the service met with exceptional critical and commercial success. This paper focuses on the Rousseau-Bracquemond service to propose that cross-cultural encounters unsettled hierarchical relationships among media in nineteenth-century France. Through a visual and historiographical analysis of this case study, the paper offers a re-evaluation of the interrelationships among ceramics and modern painting. Challenging Eurocentric art historical narratives, the paper explores how the Rousseau-Bracquemond service connected Japonisme, historicism, and Republican thought. Politically charged and technically innovative, the service exemplified a new type of cross-media collaborations among a network of artists, dealers, critics, and collectors. At the intersection of ornament and realism, their radical work marked a major change in the relation between art and design.

On the potential benefits of marine spatial planning for herring spawning conditions—An example from the western Baltic Sea

Fisheries and marine spatial planning (MSP) still have a widely unsettled relationship. This paper reports on the potential benefits of MSP for the management of herring (Clupea harengus L.) stocks in the Greifswalder Bodden, a major spawning ground for western Baltic spring-spawning herring. The various pressures that have potential impacts on spawning conditions are identified based on a systematic literature review. Those anthropogenic activities that affect spawning conditions and could underlie MSP regulations are then analysed on the basis of the pressure maps to assess their importance for recruitment success in comparison to other pressures which are not subject to MSP by-laws, e.g. eutrophication. The results confirm that MSP could potentially improve the management of certain fish stocks and help to close existing gaps in European fisheries policy.

Blood borne catecholamines and Takotsubo syndrome: An unsettled relationship

Blood borne catecholamines and Takotsubo syndrome: An unsettled relationship

Jokes in Iran

This study touches upon the main targets and functions of jokes in Iran. To this end, a corpus of 1000 Persian jokes was randomly selected from different online websites and classified based on their targets. A survey was also administered to 200 university students from around the country to investigate their opinions on the characteristics and functions, or what these jokes may reflect or perpetuate in the Iranian society. The analysis of the collected data revealed that the targets of Persian jokes are mostly ethnic and political issues, which violate the social and political taboos and censorship to achieve their end. The prevalence of ethnic jokes could highlight the unsettling relationship and competition between ethnic groups and the established majority for better socio- economic and socio-political opportunities in this multi-ethnic and multilingual society. This study concludes with a call for further interdisciplinary research into the various factors and forces that may influence the dynamics of jokes in this context.

Daytime sleepiness: a risk factor for poor social engagement among the elderly

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between social engagement and daytime sleepiness among aged residents of a veterans' housing facility in Taiwan. A total of 597 men were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Each subject was assessed with the Resident Assessment Instrument-Minimum Data Set, Geriatric Depression Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Mini-Mental State Examination. Social engagement was measured with the Index of Social Engagement (ISE), and daytime sleepiness was defined according to the relevant Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index subcomponent. Subjects were divided into two groups according to their ISE levels. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to examine the association between ISE and other variables. The sample's mean age was 80.8 ± 5.0 years (range: 65-99 years). Mean ISE score was 1.5 ± 1.3 (range 0-5), with 52% of participants reporting poor social engagement (ISE = 0-1). Mean Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index global score was 5.6 ± 3.6 (range: 0-18), and 31% of participants reported daytime sleepiness. The analysis was adjusted for level of depression, cognitive impairment, dependence in activities of daily life, unsettled relationships, and illiteracy. After adjustment, daytime sleepiness was found to be independently associated with subjects' level of social engagement (odds ratio: 2.5; 95% confidence interval: 1.7-3.8; P < 0.001). Daytime sleepiness and poor social engagement are common among aged residents of a veterans' housing facility. Subjects experiencing daytime sleepiness but not poor general sleep quality were at increased risk of poor social engagement. The clinical care of older residents must focus on improving daytime sleepiness to enhance their social engagement.

The Unsettled Relationship between International Investment Arbitration and the Developing World: A Critical Appraisal

The general attitude of the developing world, towards international law, as exemplified by the TWAIL school of thought, is replicated in their attitude toward international dispute settlement mechanisms such as international investment arbitration. The attitude towards international arbitration on the investment-front has been for the developing world a roller coaster experience. In the waning days of colonialism, a key economic goal of newly emergent developing countries was the need to boost their participation in the international economic system. The wave of decolonization that swept the globe after World War II led to a desire for the new States to create their own development strategies as sovereign states, and to oust foreign interference that threatened to hinder this objective. From this manifested a general disapproval towards international dispute settlement in the developing World. However, coming out of colonialism many new States lacked the capital to jump start local economies. They lacked domestic manufacturing capacity and were left reliant mostly on trade in raw materials and dependent on foreign capital to extract these raw materials.

Unfair Consumer Contract Terms Under Macedonian Law: How the Old and the New Function in Practice

This article analyses the functioning in practice of the system of substantive regulation of unfair terms in consumer contracts, introduced into Macedonian law as part of the harmonization obligations of the EU accession process. Specifically, the article seeks to establish the possible reasons for the absence of substantial evidence of application of the rules on unfair contract terms in consumer contracts in Macedonian practice. In providing an explanation, the focus is on the transposition of the consumer acquis and the Unfair Contract Terms Directive into national law, the enforcement structure for consumer law, and the relationship with the pre-existing civil law. In sum, the inconsistencies and incompleteness of the transposition, the weak and complex enforcement structure, as well as the unsettled relationship with the already existing civil law rules on similar topics have all contributed to weaken the practical significance of the special law on unfair contract terms.

Trusting the Enemy: Confidence in the State Among Ex-Combatants

War-torn societies are often racked with generalized distrust, both among citizens and between citizens and the state. Even long after conflict ends, former combatants who participated in violence and challenged the state’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force may have an especially unsettled relationship with the state. After demobilization, their potential relapse into armed struggle is thought to pose a severe risk to security and stability. What factors determine ex-combatants’ degree of trust in the state after their demobilization? We present the first empirical examination of this question through a survey of 1,485 former members of paramilitary and guerrilla groups in Colombia. We find limited support for social theories of trust: our analysis indicates that participation in civic and association life has no discernible impact on ex-combatants’ trust in the state. However, contrary to the warnings of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) practitioners, continuing connection between former fighters has a neutral to positive impact on trust, especially for former guerrilla. We find that intense socialization within the armed group during wartime has a corrosive impact on trust in the state, even years after demobilization. This finding suggests that the formation of “anti-social capital” may be difficult to reverse. With respect to institutional theories of trust, ex-combatants who perceive that the state performs well in important policy areas, such as the protection of civil and political rights, exhibit stronger trust. However, while conventional wisdom holds that ex-combatants are principally interested in material benefits we find no relationship between individual measures of well-being, including unemployment, and lower levels of trust in the state.

Enacting children’s citizenship: Developing understandings of how children enact themselves as citizens through actions and Acts of citizenship

Children have an unsettled relationship with the status of citizenship, being given some rights, responsibilities and opportunities for participation, and being denied others. Yet if citizenship is conceived of as a practice, children can be firmly seen as citizens in the sense that they are social actors, negotiating and contributing to relationships of social interdependence. This article develops understandings of children’s agency in citizenship and some of the different ways in which children’s actions enact them as interdependent citizens. It presents one aspect of the understanding of citizenship generated from research with six groups of marginalized children, aged 5–13, in Wales and France. Synthesizing the research groups’ descriptions of activities they associated with the component parts of citizenship with citizenship theory, these children can be seen to engage in actions of citizenship that include making rules of social existence, furthering social good and exercising freedoms to achieve their own rights. Their activities also transgress the boundaries of existing balances of rights, responsibilities and statuses, through their (mis)behaviour, in ways that can be interpreted as Acts of citizenship. In children’s everyday activities, however, the distinction between actions and Acts of citizenship can at times be blurred. This is because recognizing aspects of children’s practices as citizenship is a challenge to dominant definitions of citizenship, and claims a new status for children. Exploring children’s citizenship in these ways has the potential to widen understandings of participation and appreciation of broader aspects of children’s agency in citizenship.

The post-queer dystopia of The Mudge Boy (Michael Burke, 2003)

Abstract Michael Burke’s The Mudge Boy (2003) is a film about an American farm boy, Duncan Mudge, who befriends a chicken following the death of his mother. The chicken, which is a source of comfort to him and ridicule to others, is a constant reminder of his late mother who, it transpires, taught him how to orally ‘becalm’ chickens. This unsettling relationship is offset by an equally disturbing sadomasochistic relationship that Duncan develops with a similarly aged male neighbour, Perry Foley. Distinguishing between gay, queer and post-queer, this article suggests that The Mudge Boy provides a new template for queer cinema and, in fact, queer theory in the twenty-first century.

The Unsettled Relationship of Economic and Social Rights and the West: A Response to Whelan and Donnelly

This article responds to Daniel Whelan and Jack Donnelly’s argument challenging narratives about Western opposition to economic and social rights. Their narrative on the foundational role of Western elites in creating economic and social rights does not sufficiently demonstrate the centrality of economic and social rights. Their argument lacks a clear explanation of how postwar elite commitments relate to broader Western domestic normative acceptance. I draw on international norms and legal theory to show how the domestic political context of the United States, labor rights, the welfare state, and other international institutions provide evidence against their claims.

Depression is the Strongest Independent Risk Factor for Poor Social Engagement Among Chinese Elderly Veteran Assisted-living Residents

Social engagement prolongs the lifespan and preserves cognition in the elderly. However, most studies concerning social engagement have been conducted in Western countries; few have been performed in the Chinese population. This study attempted to identify the risk factors for poor social engagement among elderly veterans in Taiwan. A total of 597 male veterans were enrolled, with a mean age of 80.8 +/- 5.0 years. This cross-sectional study employed the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) Minimum Data Set (MDS), the Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form (GDS-SF), and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was done to investigate significant independent risk factors for poor social engagement, which were identified using the MDS Index of Social Engagement (ISE). Mean ISE score was 1.5 +/- 1.3 (range, 0-5); 52% of subjects had poor levels of social engagement (ISE < 2; 312/597). Regression analyses suggested that depression (OR, 6.6; 95% CI, 2.7-16.1; p < 0.001), illiteracy (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.3-3.8; p = 0.003), the presence of unsettled relationships (OR, 3.6; 95% CI, 1.5-8.7; p = 0.004), and cognitive impairment (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.1-3.9; p = 0.03) were significant independent risk factors for poor social engagement, after controlling for age, marital status, level of daily living activity and degree of sensory impairment. Poor social engagement is common among Chinese assisted-living veteran home residents. Depression is the greatest risk factor of poor social engagement in this population.

The Ambivalent Ally: Norway in the New NATO

NATO's future has long been in question, with the core of the debate revolving around America and other great powers. This article finds comparable tensions among smaller members. Examining the case of Norway, it argues that since the end of the Cold War, Norway has lacked a clear mandate for its role in NATO, and as such should be considered an ambivalent ally. This ambivalence is seen when Norway reluctantly follows through on NATO policy. NATO's readiness to act in the High North also is questioned. This article examines Norway's NATO relations in four dimensions, collective defence and collective security, position and values, influence and national priorities, scepticism and reliability. Here realism and constructivism can provide us with an analytical backdrop to explain Norwegian ambivalence. International power structures create and constrain windows of opportunity for Norway, but national and international norms and identity should not be left out of the analysis. Norway is entangled in realist politics, but the legacy of neutrality and the perception of Norway as a peaceful nation cannot be ignored. The result of this tension is Norway's unsettled relationship with the new NATO.

Discoursive Alibis: Human rights, millennium development goals and poverty reduction strategy papers

Susan Mathews examines the complex and largely unsettled relationship between the millennium development goals (MDGs), poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) and human rights discourse, partly through analysing the proposal that PRSPs be aligned to MDGs. A major risk is that the MDGs and PRSPs aligned create an amalgam of policy formulae that bring together the goal stringency of the former and the macroeconomic and structural reform orthodoxy of the latter, which could seriously hamper poverty reduction and disempower low-income countries and its poor peoples.

Use of antipsychotics among nonagenarian residents in long-term institutional care in Finland

There is a paucity of information about the use of antipsychotic medication in long-term care, especially among the oldest-old residents. To analyse the factors associated with the use of antipsychotic medication among nonagenarian residents in long-term institutional care. A retrospective study was designed from cross-sectional data, gathered in the period 1 January 2003 to 30 June 2003, in Finland. Data were extracted from the Resident Assessment Instrument database, based on Minimum Data Set 2.0 assessments. Data were provided by 23 hospital-based institutions and 43 residential homes. Residents aged >or=90 years were included, consisting of 1,334 resident assessments. Almost a third of the residents received one or more antipsychotic medication. In the logistic regression analysis, factors associated with the use of antipsychotics among nonagenarian residents were as follows: socially inappropriate or disruptive behavioural symptoms [odds ratio (OR) 1.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.36-2.54], concomitant anxiolytic medication (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.39-2.42), recurring anxious complaints (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.17-2.22), recurring physical movements (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.08-1.91) and unsettled relationships (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.15-1.57). A good sense of initiative or involvement was significantly less likely to be associated with antipsychotics (OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.80-0.94). There were no associations between any psychiatric diagnoses or symptoms and the use of antipsychotics. Antipsychotic medication use in nonagenarians in long-term institutions was common and seemed in many cases to be associated with residents' negative attitudes to others. Querulous residents received antipsychotics more commonly than those with good social skills. Clearly defined indications may not be fulfilled in many cases, and an evaluation of treatment may be lacking. These may indicate that in Finland, there could be a considerable gap between antipsychotic medication recommendations and actual clinical practice.

Immunoaffinity chromatographic and immunoprecipitation methods combined with mass spectrometry for characterization of circulating transthyretin

Transthyretin (TTR) is a small serum protein that is involved in distinct phenotypes of amyloidosis with different tissue localization, age of onset, and rate of progression. Some types of TTR-amyloidosis (such as familial amyloid polyneuropathy) are associated with various amino acid point mutations, while cardiac amyloid myopathy may also be associated with precipitation of the wild-type molecules, e.g., in senile systemic amyloidosis. Because of the unsettled relationship between circulating and precipitated TTR we here explore on-line immunoaffinity (IA) chromatography-MS and immunoprecipitation (IP)-MS methods for characterizing the circulating TTR population in normal individuals and in patients with known TTR-amyloidosis. It was found necessary to reduce the samples, e.g., with DTT, prior to ESI-TOF-MS. This reversed oxidative modifications to sufficiently resolve the two mass peaks isolated from sera of heterozygous patients. A simple IP technique without the use of centrifugal filtration was found to be convenient for the assessment of the TTR population in serum as demonstrated for both normal and variant (the Met111Leu mutation) TTR. This approach also readily allowed the identification of oxidation, S-sulfation, and S-cysteinylation in unreduced samples, while these modifications were less well resolved in the on-line IA chromatography-MS approach.

Análise de Conteúdo e Análise do Discurso: aproximações e afastamentos na (re)construção de uma trajetória

O presente artigo foca a construção de uma perspectiva discursiva à luz das insuficiências do trabalho desenvolvido pela Análise do Conteúdo. Seus objetivos giram em torno de duas questões centrais: "A que insuficiências uma perspectiva discursiva procurou responder?"; e "Em que sentido as práticas da Análise de Conteúdo contribuíram para as reflexões desenvolvidas por uma abordagem discursiva". Como conclusão, indica-se a pertinência de um debate sobre a problemática relação existente entre texto e contexto.