The 'silent dilemma' of transitional justice:silencing and coming to terms with the past in Serbia

This article explores the intersections of silence and transitional justice in Serbia, where, it is often suggested, the general public is silent and indifferent about human rights abuses that took place during the former Yugoslav conflicts. It considers both the 'silent' public and the ways in which transitional justice may be complicit in silencing it. Based on scholarship that suggests silences are not absences but rather sites of silent knowledge or a result of silencing, the article explores some of the dynamics hidden within the public's silence: shared knowledge, secret practices and inability to discuss violence. It also considers the ways in which audiences subvert and resist organized transitional justice initiatives or are caught up in a 'silent dilemma' in which they are unable to speak about the past under the discursive conditions created by transitional justice practitioners.

Oxidiative lipidomics coming of age:advances in analysis of oxidized phospholipids in physiology and pathology

Significance: Oxidized phospholipids are now well-recognized as markers of biological oxidative stress and bioactive molecules with both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects. While analytical methods continue to be developed for studies of generic lipid oxidation, mass spectrometry (MS) has underpinned the advances in knowledge of specific oxidized phospholipids by allowing their identification and characterization, and is responsible for the expansion of oxidative lipidomics. Recent Advances: Studies of oxidized phospholipids in biological samples, both from animal models and clinical samples, have been facilitated by the recent improvements in MS, especially targeted routines that depend on the fragmentation pattern of the parent molecular ion and improved resolution and mass accuracy. MS can be used to identify selectively individual compounds or groups of compounds with common features, which greatly improves the sensitivity and specificity of detection. Application of these methods have enabled important advances in understanding the mechanisms of inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, steatohepatitis, leprosy and cystic fibrosis, and offer potential for developing biomarkers of molecular aspects of the diseases. Critical Issues and Future Directions: The future in this field will depend on development of improved MS technologies, such as ion mobility, novel enrichment methods and databases and software for data analysis, owing to the very large amount of data generated in these experiments. Imaging of oxidized phospholipids in tissue MS is an additional exciting direction emerging that can be expected to advance understanding of physiology and disease.

The Specialist: Coming Soon To Your Local Hotel

In an article entitled - The Specialist: Coming Soon To Your Local Hotel - by Stan Bromley, Regional Vice President and General Manager, Four Seasons Clift Hotel, San Francisco, the author’s introduction states: “An experienced hotelier discusses the importance of the delivery of a high “quality-to-value” ratio consistently to guests, particularly as the hotel market becomes specialized and a distinction is drawn between a “property” and a “hotel.” The author’s primary intention is to make you, the reader, aware of changes in the hospitality/hotel marketplace. From the embryo to the contemporary, the hotel market has consistently evolved; this includes but is not limited to mission statement, marketing, management, facilities, and all the tangibles and intangibles of the total hotel experience. “Although we are knocking ourselves out trying to be everything to everyone, I don't think hotel consumers are as interested in “mixing and matching” as they were in the past,” Bromley says. “Today's hotel guest is looking for “specialized care,” and is increasingly skeptical of our industry-wide hotel ads and promises of greatness.” As an example Bromley makes an analogy using retail outlets such as Macy’s, Saks, and Sears, which cater to their own unique market segment. Hotels now follow the same outline, he allows. “In my view, two key factors will make a hotel a success,” advises Bromley. “First, know your specialty and market to that segment. Second, make sure you consistently offer a high quality-to-value ratio. That means every day.” To emphasize that second point, Bromley offers this bolstering thought, “The second factor that will make or break your business is your ability to deliver a high "quality/value" ratio-and to do so consistently.” The author evidently considers quality-to-value ratio to be an important element. Bromley emphasizes the importance of convention and trade show business to the hotel industry. That business element cannot be over-estimated in his opinion. This doesn’t mean an operator who can accommodate that type of business should exclude other client opportunities outside the target market. It does mean, however, these secondary opportunities should only be addressed after pursuing the primary target strategy. After all, the largest profit margin lies in the center of the target. To amplify the above statement, and in reference to his own experience, Bromley says, “Being in the luxury end of the business I, on the other hand, need to uncover and book individuals and small corporate meetings more than convention or association business.

Lesbians nuns, Rosemary Curb (speaking) and Nancy Manahan talk at gay book store about their "coming out" to the church

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Leaving and Coming Back to Canada : Evidence from Longitudinal Data (Working Paper 32)

The paper exploits the unique strengths of Statistics Canada's Longitudinal Administrative Database ("LAD"), constructed from individuals' tax records, to shed new light on the extent and nature of the emigration of Canadians to other countries and their patterns of return over the period 1982-1999. The empirical evidence begins with some simple graphs of the overall rates of leaving over time, and follows with the presentation of the estimation results of a model that essentially addresses the question: "who moves?" The paper then analyses the rates of return for those observed to leave the country - something for which there is virtually no existing evidence. Simple return rates are reported first, followed by the results of a hazard model of the probability of returning which takes into account individuals' characteristics and the number of years they have already been out of the country. Taken together, these results provide a new empirical basis for discussions of emigration in general, and the brain drain in particular. Of particular interest are the ebb and flow of emigration rates observed over the last two decades, including a perhaps surprising turndown in the most recent years after climbing through the earlier part of the 1990s; the data on the number who return after leaving, the associated patterns by income level, and the increases observed over the last decade.

A World without Causation: Big Data and the Coming of Age of Posthumanism

Advocates of Big Data assert that we are in the midst of an epistemological revolution, promising the displacement of the modernist methodological hegemony of causal analysis and theory generation. It is alleged that the growing ‘deluge’ of digitally generated data, and the development of computational algorithms to analyse them, has enabled new inductive ways of accessing everyday relational interactions through their ‘datafication’. This paper critically engages with these discourses of Big Data and complexity, particularly as they operate in the discipline of International Relations, where it is alleged that Big Data approaches have the potential for developing self-governing societal capacities for resilience and adaptation through the real-time reflexive awareness and management of risks and problems as they arise. The epistemological and ontological assumptions underpinning Big Data are then analysed to suggest that critical and posthumanist approaches have come of age through these discourses, enabling process-based and relational understandings to be translated into policy and governance practices. The paper thus raises some questions for the development of critical approaches to new posthuman forms of governance and knowledge production.

Que(e)rying the Closet in Diversity Management: "Coming-Out" as an Authentic (and Successful) LGBT Employee

This paper will "que(e)ry" "coming-out" as constructed by LGBT-diversity experts to advance our understanding of the relation between the social justice and business case for equality, diversity, and inclusion.

The millennium; or, The coming of Christ to reign, in the spirit and power of his gospel.

Mode of access: Internet.

The interpersonal and mental health implications of the coherence of coming out narratives for a sample of gay men in committed romantic relationships

The coming out process has been conceptualized as a developmental imperative for those who will eventually accept their same-sex attractions. It is widely accepted that homophobia, heterosexism, and homonegativity are cultural realities that may complicate this developmental process for gay men. The current study views coming out as an extra-developmental life task that is at best a stressful event, and at worst traumatic when coming out results in the rupture of salient relationships with parents, siblings, and/or close friends. To date, the minority stress model (Meyer, 1995; 2003) has been utilized as an organizing framework for how to empirically examine external stressors and mental health disparities for lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals in the United States. The current study builds on this literature by focusing on the influence of how gay men make sense of and represent the coming out process in a semi-structured interview, more specifically, by examining the legacy of the coming out process on indicators of wellness. In a two-part process, this study first employs the framework well articulated in the adult attachment literature of coherence of narratives to explore both variation and implications of the coming out experience for a sample of gay men (n = 60) in romantic relationships (n = 30). In particular, this study employed constructs identified in the adult attachment literature, namely Preoccupied and Dismissing current state of mind, to code a Coming Out Interview (COI). In the present study current state of mind refers to the degree of coherent discourse produced about coming out experiences as relayed during the COI. Multilevel analyses tested the extent to which these COI dimensions, as revealed through an analysis of coming out narratives in the COI, were associated with relationship quality, including self-reported satisfaction and observed emotional tone in a standard laboratory interaction task and self-reported symptoms of psychopathology. In addition, multilevel analyses also assessed the Acceptance by primary relationship figures at the time of disclosure, as well as the degree of Outness at the time of the study. Results revealed that participant’s narratives on the COI varied with regard to Preoccupied and Dismissing current state of mind, suggesting that the AAI coding system provides a viable organizing framework for extracting meaning from coming out narratives as related to attachment relevant constructs. Multilevel modeling revealed construct validity of the attachment dimensions assessed via the COI; attachment (i.e., Preoccupied and Dismissing current state of mind) as assessed via the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was significantly correlated with the corresponding COI variables. These finding suggest both methodological and conceptual convergence between these two measures. However, with one exception, COI Preoccupied and Dismissing current state of mind did not predict relationship outcomes or self-reported internalizing and externalizing symptoms. However, further analyses revealed that the degree to which one is out to others moderated the relationship between COI Preoccupied and internalizing. Specifically, for those who were less out to others, there was a significant and positive relationship between Preoccupied current state of mind towards coming out and internalizing symptoms. In addition, the degree of perceived acceptance of sexual orientation by salient relationship figures at the time of disclosure emerged as a predictor of mental health. In particular, Acceptance was significantly negatively related to internalizing symptoms. Overall, the results offer preliminary support that gay men’s narratives do reflect variation as assessed by attachment dimensions and highlights the role of Acceptance by salient relationship figures at the time of disclosure. Still, for the most part, current state of mind towards coming out in this study was not associated with relationship quality and self-reported indicators of mental health. This finding may be a function of low statistical power given the modest sample size. However, the relationship between Preoccupied current state of mind and mental health (i.e., internalizing) appears to depend on degree of Outness. In addition, the response of primary relationships figures to coming out may be a relevant factor in shaping mental health outcomes for gay men. Limitations and suggestions for future research and clinical intervention are offered.

Synthesis of innovative polyelectrolytes using monomers coming from renewable sources

240 p.

Study of risky situations using experimental data coming from an instrumented bicycle

The aim of this master’s thesis is to study the risky situations of the cyclist when they interact with road infrastructure and other road users as well as the influence of speed on safety. This research activity is linked with the SAFERUP (Sustainable, Accessible, Resilient, and Smart Urban Pavement) European funded project where one of the doctoral candidate has performed experiments on the bicycle simulation at the Gustave Eiffel university in the PICS-L laboratory (Paris) and instrumented bicycle at the Stockholm (Sweden). The approach of the experiment was to hire a number of people who have participated in the riding of the Instrumented bicycle (Stockholm) and bicycle simulator (PICS-L) which were developed by attaching different sensors and devices to measure important parameters of the bicycle riding and their data was collected to analysis in order to understand the behavior of the cyclist to improve the safety. In addition, a mobile eye tracker wore by participants to record the real experiment scenario, and after the end of the trip, each participant shared their remarks regarding their experience of bicycle riding according to different portions of the road infrastructure. In this research main focus is to analyze the relevant data such as speed profiles, video recordings and questionnaire surveys from the instrumented bicycle experiment. In fact, critical situations, where there was a higher probability, were compared with the subjective evaluation of the participant to be conscious of the issues related to the safety and comfort of the cyclist in different road characteristics.

The Burden Of Eclampsia: Results From A Multicenter Study On Surveillance Of Severe Maternal Morbidity In Brazil.

Maternal mortality (MM) is a core indicator of disparities in women's rights. The study of Near Miss cases is strategic to identifying the breakdowns in obstetrical care. In absolute numbers, both MM and occurrence of eclampsia are rare events. We aim to assess the obstetric care indicators and main predictors for severe maternal outcome from eclampsia (SMO: maternal death plus maternal near miss). Secondary analysis of a multicenter, cross-sectional study, including 27 centers from all geographic regions of Brazil, from 2009 to 2010. 426 cases of eclampsia were identified and classified according to the outcomes: SMO and non-SMO. We classified facilities as coming from low- and high-income regions and calculated the WHO's obstetric health indicators. SPSS and Stata softwares were used to calculate the prevalence ratios (PR) and respective 95% confidence interval (CI) to assess maternal characteristics, clinical and obstetrical history, and access to health services as predictors for SMO, subsequently correlating them with the corresponding perinatal outcomes, also applying multiple regression analysis (adjusted for cluster effect). Prevalence of and mortality indexes for eclampsia in higher and lower income regions were 0.2%/0.8% and 8.1%/22%, respectively. Difficulties in access to health care showed that ICU admission (adjPR 3.61; 95% CI 1.77-7.35) and inadequate monitoring (adjPR 2.31; 95% CI 1.48-3.59) were associated with SMO. Morbidity and mortality associated with eclampsia were high in Brazil, especially in lower income regions. Promoting quality maternal health care and improving the availability of obstetric emergency care are essential actions to relieve the burden of eclampsia.