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Adi Ophir has suggested that the political realm is an order of evils, producing and managing regular forms of suffering and violence rather than eliminating them. Thus, the political is always to some extent a corrupted order of justice. Emmanuel Levinas’ work presents in its focus on the face-to-face relationship a means of rethinking how to make the political more open to compassionate justice. Though Levinas himself doesn’t sufficiently take on this question, I argue that his work facilitates a way of thinking about commiserative shame that provides a means to connect the face-to-face to its potential effects in the political sphere. If such shame isn’t ignored or bypassed, it produces an unsettling relation to the other that in its adversity motivates a kind of responsibility and care for the other that can alter the public sphere.

Areal precipitation estimation directly affects the accuracy of reservoir runoff inflow forecasts and flood dispatching decision-making. Because of the heterogeneous spatial and temporal precipitation distributions in large basins, inadequate precipitation stations normally have a negative impact on forecast accuracy. Using the Panjia-kou reservoir runoff inflow forecast as the research subject, this paper adopts the Thiessen polygon block, square grid computing, and DEM (digital elevation model) methods to estimate average regional areal precipitation. Based on the estimation, a model for the Panjia-kou reservoir runoff forecast is developed. The results indicate that different areal precipitation estimation methods have significantly different effects on the accuracy of the reservoir runoff inflow forecast. When the average regional precipitation estimation from the DEM method is used as an input to the model, the simulation results are accurate and are much better than those from the other two average regional precipitation estimation methods.

My story began when I was 49 years young and told I had Stage IV colorectal cancer. That was almost 12 years ago, and today I am one of the fortunate ones—not only has it been almost 12 more years of living, but my oncologist has used the word “cured”. Like most cancer patients and …

The article explores the practical uses of Eastern Orthodox indulgences as certificates of absolution with a dual function (as mnemonic tools and as public certificates of good standing with the church) in the early modern period. © KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2018

This special issue takes up urgent questions about how we education scholars might think and do policy and methodology in what has come to be known as the post-truth era. The authors in this special issue grapple with questions about the roles and responsibilities of educational researchers in an era in which research and policy have lost their moorings in T/truth. Collectively they reconceptualize educational research and policy in light of post-truths, anti-science sentiment, and the global rise of right-wing populism. At the same time we editors wonder whether post-truth is given a bad rap. Could post-truth have something productive to offer? What does post-truth open up for educational research and policy? Or, is the real issue of this special issue a collective despair of our own insignificance and obsolescence in the wake of post-truth. Whatever we editors and authors aimed to do, this special issue will not be heard by post-truth adherents and partisans. Perhaps its only contribution is encouragement to stay with the troubles of a post-truth era, even as we despair the consequences of our research and policy creations. © 2018, Arizona State University. All rights reserved.

A wheelchair basketball showcase was hosted at a state university in New England. Student surveys revealed that the event had a positive effect on students’ views of both individuals with disabilities and adapted sports. Using Allport’s (1954) contact theory as a lens, the author demonstrates how the event met the four positive features that Allport believed should be present in order to reduce negative feelings toward another group: (a) equal status between the groups, (b) common goals, (c) intergroup cooperation and (d) the support of authorities. This exploratory study argues that adapted sports can be an effective method to positively impact stereotypical views of people with disabilities.Subscribe to PALAESTRA

Background: Older adults often report difficulty hearing in background noise which is not completely attributable to peripheral hearing loss. Although age-related declines in cognition and hearing in back-ground noise occur, the underlying age-related changes in processing of auditory stimuli in background noise has yet to be fully understood. The auditory P300 has the potential to elucidate the effects of age on auditory and cognitive processing of stimuli in background noise, but additional research is warranted. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate age-related differences in cognitive processing of auditory stimuli by evoking the auditory P300 at multiple signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Research Design: A two-group, repeated measures study design was used. Study Sample: A convenience sample of 35 participants, 15 older adults (mean age of 66.4 yr) and 20 younger adults (mean age of 21.1 yr), participated in the study. All participants had negative otologic and neurological histories. Data Collection and Analysis: The auditory P300 was evoked using an oddball paradigm with 500 (frequent) and 1000 Hz (target) tonal stimuli in quiet and in the presence of background noise at +20, +10, and 0 SNRs. P300 amplitudes and latencies were measured in each condition for every participant. Repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted for the amplitude and latency measures of the P300 for each group. Results: Results from this study demonstrated P300 latencies were significantly longer in older adults in noise at the most challenging condition (0 SNR) compared with the quiet condition and between the +10 SNR and 0 SNR conditions. Although older adults had significantly longer P300 latencies compared with younger adults, no significant group by listening condition interaction existed. No significant P300 amplitude differences were found for group, noise, or group x listening condition interactions. Conclusions: Results provide evidence that auditory cortical processing, regardless of age, is poorer at more difficult SNRs. However, results also demonstrate that older adults perform significantly poorer than younger adults. This supports the notion that some degree of age-related decline in synchronous firing and rate of transmission of the auditory cortical neurons contributing to the auditory P300 exists. Studies are needed to further understand the impact of noise on auditory cortical processing across populations.

Design of a serial fusion based multi-biometric verification system requires fixing several parameters, such as reject thresholds at each stage of the architecture and the order in which each individual verifier is placed within the multi-stage system. Selecting the order of verifier is a crucial parameter to fix because of its high impact on verification errors. A wrong choice of verifier order might lead to tremendous user inconvenience by denying a large number of genuine users and might cause severe security breach by accepting impostors frequently. Unfortunately, this design issue has been poorly investigated in multi-biometric literature. In this paper, we address this design issue by performing experiments using three different serial fusion based multi-biometric verification schemes. We did our experiments on publicly available NIST multi-modal dataset. We tested 24 orders—all possible orders originated from four individual verifiers—on a four-stage biometric verification system. Our experimental results show that the verifier order “best-to-worst”, where the best performing individual verifier is placed in the first stage, the next best performing individual verifier is placed in the second stage, and so on, is the top performing order. In addition, we have proposed a modification to the traditional architecture of serial fusion based multi-biometric verification systems. With rigorous experiments on the NIST multi-modal dataset and using three serial fusion based multi-biometric verification schemes, we demonstrated that our proposed architecture significantly improves the performance of serial fusion based multi-biometric verification systems.

In consideration of Richard Daniel’s alarmed discourse found in the text accompanying his map of the English empire in America (1679), one must investigate the supposedly offending French, English, and Dutch maps of the second half of the seventeenth century for North America and, in particular, the region of the Atlantic coastline and the rhetorical devices of possession found on or in these geographical works. In addition to looking at territorial boundaries, one should also make note of armorial bearings, ships with naval ensigns, toponyms and their placement on the territory, dedicatory cartouches, legends with geographical or historical information, native scenes, and symbols for settlement. In addition to attention to possible constraints on or from the map trade, one must consider the correspondence between colonial officials and their respective governments regarding boundaries, encroachment, sovereignty, or the need for maps with a particular focus on the North American coastline. This correspondence reflects the state’s point of view, which in turn was often manifested on maps and in geographical works. Interestingly intertwined with this outspoken sense of rightful possession were the contemporary claims from some quarters that the cartographic enterprise of the late seventeenth century now embraced an empirical approach, as well as the seemingly opposing thread of the economic realities of the print trade, which often used old copper plates with little to no cartographic revision, so that long after political, economic, or military actions resulted in an “adjustment” in possession, printed maps, atlases, and other geographical works still reflected earlier circumstances. © University of Toronto Press

Secondary school administrators increasingly include students with disabilities in general education classrooms with coteaching models. Theoretically, coteaching enables two educators to attend to the learning needs of students with disabilities while exposing them to grade-level content area instruction. However, our study on teachers’ perceptions of coteaching found that teachers often viewed their schools’ leadership decisions as adversely affecting their ability coteach effectively. The purpose of this article is to provide administrators with an overview of common coteaching models, summarize findings from our study on teachers’ perceptions of how their schools’ leadership influenced their coteaching practices, and provide a set of guiding questions to consider when seeking to support coteaching. © 2018 SAGE Publications.

The accurate identification of the human brain tumor boundary and the complete resection of the tumor are two essential factors for the removal of the glioma tumor in brain surgery. We present a visible resonance Raman (VRR) spectroscopy technique for differentiating the brain tumor margin and glioma grading. Eighty-seven VRR spectra from twenty-one human brain specimens of four types of brain tissues, including the control, glioma grade II, III, and IV tissues, were observed. This study focuses on observing the characteristics of new biomarkers and their changes in the four types of brain tissue. We found that two new RR peaks at 1129 cm-1 and 1338 cm-1 associated with molecular vibrational bonds in four types of brain tissues are significantly different in peak intensities of VRR spectra. These two resonance enhanced peaks may arise from lactic acid/phosphatidic acid and adenosine triphosphate (ATP)/nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, respectively. We found that lactic acid and ATP concentrations vary with glioma gratings. The higher the grade of malignancy, the more the increase in lactic acid and ATP concentrations. These two RR peaks may be considered as new molecular biomarkers and used to evaluate glioma grades and identify the margin of gliomas from the control tissues. The metabolic process of lactic acid and ATP in glioma cells based on the VRR spectral changes may reveal the Warburg hypothesis. © 2018 Author(s).

Background The benefits of human milk for the preterm infant are well established. Preterm infants have lower breastfeeding rates and often face breastfeeding challenges. It is important that feeding practices for preterm infants optimize their chances of breastfeeding. Objective The purpose of this integrated review is to synthesize and critically analyze research related to the safety and efficacy of cup feeding as an alternative, supplemental feeding method for breastfed infants. Data Sources The electronic data bases of PubMed, CINAHL and were used to identify studies published in English from 1998- 2017. Design Using inclusion and exclusion criteria, 27 articles were initially assessed. After further screening 19 articles were included in the full review and of these 5 more were excluded. Lastly, an in-depth review of these 14 studies resulted in 2 more exclusions, for a total of 12 studies that met full inclusion and exclusion criteria. Review Methods Studies were examined for information on safety and efficacy of cup feeding as an alternative, supplemental feeding method for preterm breastfed infants. Studies were grouped into categories of outcomes that included (a) safety and physiologic properties; (b) breastfeeding outcomes. Results Use of cup feeding resulted in more stable heart rate and oxygen saturation than bottle feeding with similar weight gain. Additionally, breastfeeding rates were higher at discharge with continued higher rates at 3 and 6 months post-discharge for cup fed infants. Conclusions Premature infants face more breastfeeding obstacles than term infants. The potential for cup feeding as an alternative to bottle-feeding for breast fed preterm infants is positively supported by these results It is fundamentally important for NICU professionals to establish a protocol, education and training for the potential use of this feeding method for this vulnerable population.

We present a measurement of inclusive J/ψ production at mid-rapidity (|y|¡1) in p+p collisions at a center-of-mass energy of s=200 GeV with the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The differential production cross section for J/ψ as a function of transverse momentum (pT) for 0¡pT¡14 GeV/c and the total cross section are reported and compared to calculations from the color evaporation model and the non-relativistic Quantum Chromodynamics model. The dependence of J/ψ relative yields in three pT intervals on charged-particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity is measured for the first time in p+p collisions at s=200 GeV and compared with that measured at s=7 TeV, PYTHIA8 and EPOS3 Monte Carlo generators, and the Percolation model prediction.

Despite great advances that have been made in the understanding and treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs), fewer than 11% of eligible patients seek treatment. Few studies have explored the roles of facilitators and barriers in treatment seeking from the perspectives of addiction-focused clinicians working in developing countries. This descriptive study used a mixed-methods research design with concurrent strategies. Research participants were addiction-focused clinicians (N = 112) working in India. Primary research questions examined (1) key facilitators that motivate patients to seek treatment, (2) major barriers in treatment seeking, and (3) critical strategies for enhancing treatment seeking with the support of family, friends, and community. Key facilitators of treatment seeking included informed and caring family members, friends, and community. The most common barriers were patients’ denial of the problem of SUDs, shame in admitting the problem, and belief and confidence that they can quit using substances by themselves anytime. A systemically focused public awareness creation strategy, implemented simultaneously at various key sectors in society, was recommended for facilitating treatment seeking and removing barriers. Implications for clinicians, patients, public health personnel, community leaders, and regional, national, and global policy makers are reviewed. © 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis.

The Affordable Care Act aims to increase affordable coverage, reduce overall costs, and improve health outcomes. To achieve these aims, new knowledge and skills must be built within the existing workforce. The purpose of this article is to examine the behavioral and organizational changes brought about by an educational program that aimed to retool the healthcare workforce for the implementation of integrated primary and behavioral healthcare models, with an added emphasis on prevention. Sixty-three participants of an Advanced Certificate Program completed 1 or more evidence-informed learning modules centered on integrated primary and behavioral health care. The vast majority of students who completed each of the 5 modules of the program reported acquiring new knowledge and skills. Student satisfaction of the program met or exceeded overall expectations. In addition, program participation has resulted in not only students’ intentions to change workplace practices but also actual implementation of workplace changes related to integrated care models. The Advanced Certificate Program appears to be a promising platform for service providers to align their knowledge and skills with the premises of current healthcare reform. © 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis.

Recent speckle observations performed at the Discovery Channel Telescope, the Gemini North Telescope, and the Special Astrophysical Observatory 6 m Telescope have permitted us to calculate the visual orbit of SB2 HD 114882 for the first time and to improve the visual orbits of two other SB2 systems, HD 30712 and HD 183255, using algorithms published by the authors of this research. Recently, new high-quality spectroscopic orbits have been obtained for these binaries by other authors. We determine their 3D orbits, individual masses, and orbital parallaxes, and present them in this paper. The parallaxes are compared with those available from the Gaia mission, and a comparison between the values confirms the precision of the results obtained here. © 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

This comic essay engages trans embodiment and temporality, representation and identity, passing, and drawing as a form of thinking. Although uncommon, comics have been established in academia as a genre worthy of literary study as well as scholarly inquiry in the broader humanities, social sciences, and the arts (Bukatman, 2012; Chute, 2010; Howard & Jackson, 2013; Cox, 2016). Recently, scholars have also studied the use of comics making as an analytical tool in qualitative research (Katz, 2013; Sousanis, 2015; Weaver-Hightower, 2013; Flowers, 2017; Henningsen, 2017; Johnson, 2018). This comic essay invites communication scholars to consider transgender embodiment and mobility through a visual medium that can illustrate complex problems of precarity, passing, and the crossing of both material and symbolic borders and boundaries. As a genre, comics allow for dense and layered information to be conveyed very quickly, and its affordances lend themselves well to portraying the tensions in and between trans and gender-nonconforming experiences. The speech bubble and the thought bubble, for example, can juxtapose in a single panel what two characters are saying to one another and what they are thinking and feeling as well as how they are interacting and communicating non-verbally. This graphic scholarship demonstrates why the unique genre of comics is particularly apt in rendering instances of microagression or passing. I argue that comics as a form enable a shift from abstract concepts back into the body, the materiality of which can get lost in academic discourse.