Notes from the Balkans Green, Sarah F
2016, 2005., 20160926, 2005, 2005-01-01, 20050101, Letnik:
20
eBook
Maps and borders notwithstanding, some places are best described as "gaps"--places with repeatedly contested boundaries that are wedged in between other places that have clear boundaries. This book ...explores an iconic example of this in the contemporary Western imagination: the Balkans. Drawing on richly detailed ethnographic research around the Greek-Albanian border, Sarah Green focuses her groundbreaking analysis on the ambiguities of never quite resolving where or what places are. One consequence for some Greek peoples in this border area is a seeming lack of distinction--but in a distinctly "Balkan" way. In gaps (which are never empty), marginality is, in contrast with conventional understandings, not a matter of difference and separation--it is a lack thereof.
Notes from the Balkans represents the first ethnographic approach to exploring "the Balkans" as an ideological concept. Green argues that, rather than representing a tension between "West" and "East," the Balkans makes such oppositions ambiguous. This kind of marginality means that such places and peoples can hardly engage with "multiculturalism." Moreover, the region's ambiguity threatens clear, modernist distinctions. The violence so closely associated with the region can therefore be seen as part of continual attempts to resolve the ambiguities by imposing fixed separations. And every time this fails, the region is once again defined as a place that will continually proliferate such dangerous ambiguity, and could spread it somewhere else.
Introduction Objective, observational measures of nutrition environments are now well established and widely used. Individuals’ perceptions of their nutrition environments may be equally or more ...important, but are less well conceptualized, and comprehensive measures are not available. This paper describes the development of the Perceived Nutrition Environment Measures Survey (NEMS-P), its test–retest reliability, and its ability to discern differences between lower- and higher-SES neighborhoods. Methods This research involved five steps: (1) development of a conceptual model and inventory of items; (2) expert review; (3) pilot testing and cognitive interviews; (4) revising the survey; and (5) administering the revised survey to participants in neighborhoods of high and low SES on two occasions to evaluate neighborhood differences and test–retest reliability. Data were collected in 2010 and 2011 and analyzed in 2011 and 2012. Results The final survey has 118 items. Fifty-three core items represent three types of perceived nutrition environments: community nutrition environment, consumer nutrition environment, and home food environment. Test–retest reliability for core constructs of perceived nutrition environments was moderate to good (0.52–0.83) for most measured constructs. Residents of higher-SES neighborhoods reported higher availability scores in stores, stronger agreement that healthy options were available in nearby restaurants, and higher scores for accessibility of healthy foods in their homes. Conclusions The NEMS-P has moderate to good test–retest reliability and can discriminate perceptions of nutrition environments between residents of higher- and lower-SES neighborhoods. This survey is available and ready to be used.
As the opioid crisis continues to escalate, the management of patients with opioid use disorder has crossed over to the care of patients with chronic infectious diseases, specifically HIV, HBV, and ...HCV, typically managed in the primary care setting. Consensus guidelines recommend testing for HIV and hepatitis in persons who inject drugs at least annually, but high-risk sexual activity may put other patients at risk as well. Significant barriers to robust care of these patient populations include low rates of HIV and hepatitis testing, limited access to methadone treatment programs, lack of widespread knowledge of how to prescribe office-based opioid treatment, and ongoing stigma surrounding prescribing of HIV treatment and prophylaxis medications. Clinical pharmacists across ambulatory, infectious diseases, and opioid stewardship specialties have the opportunity to play a key role in the implementation and support of harm reduction and medication for opioid use disorder services in the outpatient setting. The goal of this article is to discuss the rationale and evidence for these services and provide a framework for implementation.
The consensus that humans are causing recent global warming is shared by 90%-100% of publishing climate scientists according to six independent studies by co-authors of this paper. Those results are ...consistent with the 97% consensus reported by Cook et al (Environ. Res. Lett. 8 024024) based on 11 944 abstracts of research papers, of which 4014 took a position on the cause of recent global warming. A survey of authors of those papers (N = 2412 papers) also supported a 97% consensus. Tol (2016 Environ. Res. Lett. 11 048001) comes to a different conclusion using results from surveys of non-experts such as economic geologists and a self-selected group of those who reject the consensus. We demonstrate that this outcome is not unexpected because the level of consensus correlates with expertise in climate science. At one point, Tol also reduces the apparent consensus by assuming that abstracts that do not explicitly state the cause of global warming ('no position') represent non-endorsement, an approach that if applied elsewhere would reject consensus on well-established theories such as plate tectonics. We examine the available studies and conclude that the finding of 97% consensus in published climate research is robust and consistent with other surveys of climate scientists and peer-reviewed studies.
We analyze the evolution of the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming (AGW) in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, examining 11 944 climate abstracts from 1991-2011 matching the ...topics 'global climate change' or 'global warming'. We find that 66.4% of abstracts expressed no position on AGW, 32.6% endorsed AGW, 0.7% rejected AGW and 0.3% were uncertain about the cause of global warming. Among abstracts expressing a position on AGW, 97.1% endorsed the consensus position that humans are causing global warming. In a second phase of this study, we invited authors to rate their own papers. Compared to abstract ratings, a smaller percentage of self-rated papers expressed no position on AGW (35.5%). Among self-rated papers expressing a position on AGW, 97.2% endorsed the consensus. For both abstract ratings and authors' self-ratings, the percentage of endorsements among papers expressing a position on AGW marginally increased over time. Our analysis indicates that the number of papers rejecting the consensus on AGW is a vanishingly small proportion of the published research.
A series of novel highly water-soluble neutral BODIPY dyes have been obtained by functionalization of BODIPY dyes with branched oligo(ethylene glycol)methyl ether groups at positions 8, 2 and 6 or 4 ...and 4′. Use of an ortho-substituent group of branched oligo(ethylene glycol)methyl ether on the meso-phenyl ring of BODIPY dyes and replacement of the fluorine atoms of BODIPY dyes at positions 4 and 4′ with methyloxy or ethynyl subunits significantly enhance fluorescence quantum yields of BODIPY dyes.
Boston Harbor Green, Sarah
Ploughshares,
12/2023, Letnik:
49, Številka:
4
Journal Article
The Winter 2023-24 Issue. Ploughshares is an award-winning journal of new writing. Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated the freshest voices in contemporary American literature, and ...now provides readers with thoughtful and entertaining literature in a variety of formats. Find out why the New York Times named Ploughshares "the Triton among minnows." The Winter 2023-24 Issue, edited by Ladette Randolph, features poetry and prose by Richard Bausch, Jesse Lee Kercheval, Ian Stansel, Ariana Benson, Rebecca Morgan Frank, Marie Howe, and more.
If there is one thing that contemporary borders are supposed to do, it is to clearly separate things out, clearly demarcate the difference between here and somewhere else. It is obvious that this is ...not always, or perhaps even often, successfully achieved: the world is full of unfinished, contested and overlapping political borders. Drawing first from examples provided by the European Union and Brexit, and then from the past and present experiences of migration and the movement of peoples to and from the island of Lesvos, the paper suggests that understanding borders as being entangled, both with contemporary and past relations and separations from other places, can help in understanding contemporary border dynamics.
Sulfur is an underused by‐product of the petrochemicals industry. Recent research into inverse vulcanization has shown how this excess sulfur can be transformed into functional polymers, by ...stabilization with organic crosslinkers. For these interesting new materials to realize their potential for applications, more understanding and control of their physical properties is needed. Here we report four new terpolymers prepared from sulfur and two distinct alkene monomers that can be predictively tuned in glass transition, molecular weight, solubility, mechanical properties, and color.
Strengthening, altering and controlling the properties of inverse vulcanized sulfur polymers is of great importance. Over 60 million tons of sulfur are produced in excess by the petrochemical industry, and the potential applications of sulfur polymers are widespread. We investigate the mechanical properties and create a library of sulfur terpolymers.
This study examines relationships between perceived and observed nutrition environments, diet, and BMI, in order to examine the criterion validity of the Nutrition Environment Measures ...Survey–Perceived (NEMS–P).
In a cross-sectional study, perceived nutrition environments were assessed (NEMS-P) among 221 adults from four neighborhoods in the Philadelphia area in 2010 and 2011. A total of 158 food store environments were observed using the NEMS–Stores. Data analyses were conducted in 2016. Bivariate Spearman rank correlations were used to examine relationships between perceived and observed availability, quality, and price of fruits and vegetables in respondents’ neighborhoods. Linear regression models were used to examine relationships between perceived neighborhood and home food environments and daily fruit and vegetable consumption and BMI.
A significant, positive relationship was found between perceived and observed availability of fruits and vegetables in the neighborhood (r = 0.36, p<0.001). A similar relationship was seen between perceived and observed quality of fruits and vegetables (r = 0.34, p<0.001). Perceived availability and quality of fruits and vegetables in the neighborhood, and availability and accessibility of fruits and vegetables in the home, were significantly related to daily fruit and vegetable consumption. Perceived price of food in the neighborhood was significantly associated with BMI.
Responses to a self-reported survey to assess perceived food environments related to fruits and vegetables were significantly associated with observed nutrition environments, fruit and vegetable consumption, and BMI. The perceived prices of fruits and vegetables were modestly associated with BMI and warrant further testing in prospective studies. When observations of food environments are not feasible, residents’ survey responses are an acceptable indicator, with reasonable criterion validity.
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