Intersectionality, rural criminology, and re-imaging the boundaries of critical criminology

One of the significant shortcomings of the criminological canon, including its critical strands – feminist, cultural and green – has been its urbancentric bias. In this theoretical model, rural communities are idealised as conforming to the typical small-scale traditional societies based on cohesive organic forms of solidarity and close density acquaintance networks. This article challenges the myth that rural communities are relatively crime free places of ‘moral virtue’ with no need for a closer scrutiny of rural context, rural places, and rural peoples about crime and other social problems. This challenge is likewise woven into the conceptual and empirical narratives of the other articles in this Special Edition, which we argue constitute an important body of innovative work, not just for reinvigorating debates in rural criminology, but also critical criminology. For without a critical perspective of place, the realities of context are too easily overlooked. A new criminology of crime and place will help keep both critical criminology and rural criminology firmly anchored in the sociological and the criminological imagination. We argue that intersectionality, a framework that resists privileging any particular social structural category of analysis, but is cognisant of the power effects of colonialism, class, race and gender, can provide the theoretical scaffolding to further develop such a project.

Milling and diffusion extraction : theory and practice

AN ENGINEERING Workshop was held from 21 to 24 November 2006 in Veracruz, Mexico. Forty delegates from 12 countries attended the workshop on theory and practice of milling and diffusion extraction. This report provides a general overview of activities undertaken during that workshop which consisted of five technical sessions over two days with presentations and discussions plus two days of field and factory visits. Topics covered during the technical sessions included: power transmissions, cane preparation, diffusers, mills, and a comparison of milling and diffusion.

A two-stage item recommendation method using probabilistic ranking with reconstructed tensor model

In a tag-based recommender system, the multi-dimensional correlation should be modeled effectively for finding quality recommendations. Recently, few researchers have used tensor models in recommendation to represent and analyze latent relationships inherent in multi-dimensions data. A common approach is to build the tensor model, decompose it and, then, directly use the reconstructed tensor to generate the recommendation based on the maximum values of tensor elements. In order to improve the accuracy and scalability, we propose an implementation of the -mode block-striped (matrix) product for scalable tensor reconstruction and probabilistically ranking the candidate items generated from the reconstructed tensor. With testing on real-world datasets, we demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the benchmarking methods in terms of recommendation accuracy and scalability.

A tag-based personalized item recommendation system using tensor modeling and topic model approaches

This research falls in the area of enhancing the quality of tag-based item recommendation systems. It aims to achieve this by employing a multi-dimensional user profile approach and by analyzing the semantic aspects of tags. Tag-based recommender systems have two characteristics that need to be carefully studied in order to build a reliable system. Firstly, the multi-dimensional correlation, called as tag assignment , should be appropriately modelled in order to create the user profiles [1]. Secondly, the semantics behind the tags should be considered properly as the flexibility with their design can cause semantic problems such as synonymy and polysemy [2]. This research proposes to address these two challenges for building a tag-based item recommendation system by employing tensor modeling as the multi-dimensional user profile approach, and the topic model as the semantic analysis approach. The first objective is to optimize the tensor model reconstruction and to improve the model performance in generating quality rec-ommendation. A novel Tensor-based Recommendation using Probabilistic Ranking (TRPR) method [3] has been developed. Results show this method to be scalable for large datasets and outperforming the benchmarking methods in terms of accuracy. The memory efficient loop implements the n-mode block-striped (matrix) product for tensor reconstruction as an approximation of the initial tensor. The probabilistic ranking calculates the probabil-ity of users to select candidate items using their tag preference list based on the entries generated from the reconstructed tensor. The second objective is to analyse the tag semantics and utilize the outcome in building the tensor model. This research proposes to investigate the problem using topic model approach to keep the tags nature as the “social vocabulary” [4]. For the tag assignment data, topics can be generated from the occurrences of tags given for an item. However there is only limited amount of tags availa-ble to represent items as collection of topics, since an item might have only been tagged by using several tags. Consequently, the generated topics might not able to represent the items appropriately. Furthermore, given that each tag can belong to any topics with various probability scores, the occurrence of tags cannot simply be mapped by the topics to build the tensor model. A standard weighting technique will not appropriately calculate the value of tagging activity since it will define the context of an item using a tag instead of a topic.

Leader vision and diffusion of HR policy during change

Purpose – This paper utilizes diffusion of innovation theory in order to investigate and understand the relationships between HR policies on employee change-related outcomes. In addition, the aim is to explore the role of leader vision at different hierarchical levels in the organization in terms of the relationship of HR policy with employee change-related outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – This quantitative study was conducted in one large Australian government department undergoing major restructuring and cultural change. Data from 624 employees were analyzed in relation to knowledge of HR policies (awareness and clarity), leader vision (organizational and divisional), and change-related outcomes. Findings –Policy knowledge (awareness and clarity) does not have a direct impact on employee change-related outcomes. It is the implementation of policies through the divisional leader that begins to enable favorable employee outcomes. Research limitations/implications – Future research should employ a longitudinal design to investigate relationships over time, and also examine the importance of communication medium and individual preferences in relation to leader vision. Originality/value - This research extends the application of diffusion of innovation theory and leader vision theory to investigate the relationship between HR policy, leader vision, and employees’ change-related outcomes.

Functional magnetic resonance brain imaging of executive cognitive performance in young first-episode schizophrenia patients and age-matched long-term cannabis users

Converging evidence from epidemiological, clinical and neuropsychological research suggests a link between cannabis use and increased risk of psychosis. Long-term cannabis use has also been related to deficit-like “negative” symptoms and cognitive impairment that resemble some of the clinical and cognitive features of schizophrenia. The current functional brain imaging study investigated the impact of a history of heavy cannabis use on impaired executive function in first-episode schizophrenia patients. Whilst performing the Tower of London task in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, event-related blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) brain activation was compared between four age and gender-matched groups: 12 first-episode schizophrenia patients; 17 long-term cannabis users; seven cannabis using first-episode schizophrenia patients; and 17 healthy control subjects. BOLD activation was assessed as a function of increasing task difficulty within and between groups as well as the main effects of cannabis use and the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Cannabis users and non-drug using first-episode schizophrenia patients exhibited equivalently reduced dorsolateral prefrontal activation in response to task difficulty. A trend towards additional prefrontal and left superior parietal cortical activation deficits was observed in cannabis-using first-episode schizophrenia patients while a history of cannabis use accounted for increased activation in the visual cortex. Cannabis users and schizophrenia patients fail to adequately activate the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, thus pointing to a common working memory impairment which is particularly evident in cannabis-using first-episode schizophrenia patients. A history of heavy cannabis use, on the other hand, accounted for increased primary visual processing, suggesting compensatory imagery processing of the task.

Positive magnetic resonance imaging findings in the asymptomatic wrist

BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is being increasingly utilized to define pathology and guide treatment in patients presenting with wrist pain. The clinical relevance of MRI identified or confirmed pathology has not been established, and the prevalence of asymptomatic MRI pathology is not known. METHODS: Twenty volunteers with no previous wrist injury or symptoms underwent bilateral MRI wrist studies in this exploratory diagnostic study. The scans were reported by an experienced musculoskeletal radiologist and an experienced wrist surgeon, with a consensus reached on each report. RESULTS: There were 3.15 positive MRI findings per wrist. There were 126 positive findings (range 1-6 per wrist). Sixty-eight ganglia were identified. Eleven ligament tears or perforations were also identified. Increased joint fluid was seen at many sites, most frequently adjacent to the piso-triquetral joint. CONCLUSION: The accuracy of MRI in identifying triangular fibrocartilage complex tears, intercarpal ligament tears and carpal bone osteonecrosis is rapidly being refined. Positive MRI findings are common and may be coincidental in patients with wrist pain. MRI findings need to be correlated closely with clinical examination and history.

The potential for new understandings of normal and abnormal cognition by integration of neuroimaging and behavioral data : Not an exercise in carrying coals to Newcastle

Discovering the means to prevent and cure schizophrenia is a vision that motivates many scientists. But in order to achieve this goal, we need to understand its neurobiological basis. The emergent metadiscipline of cognitive neuroscience fields an impressive array of tools that can be marshaled towards achieving this goal, including powerful new methods of imaging the brain (both structural and functional) as well as assessments of perceptual and cognitive capacities based on psychophysical procedures, experimental tasks and models developed by cognitive science. We believe that the integration of data from this array of tools offers the greatest possibilities and potential for advancing understanding of the neural basis of not only normal cognition but also the cognitive impairments that are fundamental to schizophrenia. Since sufficient expertise in the application of these tools and methods rarely reside in a single individual, or even a single laboratory, collaboration is a key element in this endeavor. Here, we review some of the products of our integrative efforts in collaboration with our colleagues on the East Coast of Australia and Pacific Rim. This research focuses on the neural basis of executive function deficits and impairments in early auditory processing in patients using various combinations of performance indices (from perceptual and cognitive paradigms), ERPs, fMRI and sMRI. In each case, integration of two or more sources of information provides more information than any one source alone by revealing new insights into structure-function relationships. Furthermore, the addition of other imaging methodologies (such as DTI) and approaches (such as computational models of cognition) offers new horizons in human brain imaging research and in understanding human behavior.

Imaging intracellular protein dynamics by spinning disk confocal microscopy

The palette of fluorescent proteins (FPs) has grown exponentially over the past decade, and as a result, live imaging of cells expressing fluorescently tagged proteins is becoming more and more mainstream. Spinning disk confocal (SDC) microscopy is a high-speed optical sectioning technique and a method of choice to observe and analyze intracellular FP dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolution. In an SDC system, a rapidly rotating pinhole disk generates thousands of points of light that scan the specimen simultaneously, which allows direct capture of the confocal image with low-noise scientific grade-cooled charge-coupled device cameras, and can achieve frame rates of up to 1000 frames per second. In this chapter, we describe important components of a state-of-the-art spinning disk system optimized for live cell microscopy and provide a rationale for specific design choices. We also give guidelines of how other imaging techniques such as total internal reflection microscopy or spatially controlled photoactivation can be coupled with SDC imaging and provide a short protocol on how to generate cell lines stably expressing fluorescently tagged proteins by lentivirus-mediated transduction.

Canards in advection-reaction-diffusion systems in one spatial dimension

This thesis contains a mathematical investigation of the existence of travelling wave solutions to singularly perturbed advection-reaction-diffusion models of biological processes. An enhanced mathematical understanding of these solutions and models is gained via the identification of canards (special solutions of fast/slow dynamical systems) and their role in the existence of the most biologically relevant, shock-like solutions. The analysis focuses on two existing models. A new proof of existence of a whole family of travelling waves is provided for a model describing malignant tumour invasion, while new solutions are identified for a model describing wound healing angiogenesis.