Hepatitis C : a socio-cultural perspective on the effects of a new virus on a community’s health

Since the emergence of diagnostic medical tests in Australia in 1990, hepatitis C (HCV) has been shown to account for over 90 percent of all non-A non-B hepatitis, revealing it to be a widespread and major public health problem. The diagnosis of HCV involves a diverse range of issues for affected persons, introducing identity and lifestyle changes, which are commonly articulated through psychological concepts. In this article we argue that it is important to examine the broader social and cultural contexts that contribute to the experiences of persons affected by HCV. The thematic analysis of qualitative data from six individuals diagnosed with HCV is included to exemplify some of the processes that are involved in the changing identity of a person following a positive diagnosis. The theoretical framework for the interpretation of these processes is interpretive interactionism. In this research, we are attempting to extend the understanding of the effects of HCV diagnoses beyond internal, psychological processes by examining how these diagnoses transform some of the processes of self-formation and expression. The participants’ experiences indicate that there are at least four dimensions of self that were significant to their changing sense of self: relationship of self to others; the emotional self; self-stories and identity; and self-scrutiny and relationships. We conclude that a socio-cultural perspective contributes to the explanation of the transition period following a HCV-positive diagnosis and the redefinition of self towards a HCV status.

The value of books : the fantastic flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore and the social hieroglyphic of reading

The late eighteenth century witnessed the emergence of new technologies of subjectivity and of the literary. Most obviously, “the novel as a literary form appeared to embody and turn into an object the experience of life itself” (Park), and the novel genre came to both reflect and shape notions of interiority and subjectivity. In this same period, “A shift was taking place in the way people felt and thought about children and the accoutrements of childhood, including books and toys, were implicated in this change” (Lewis). In seeking to understand the relationships between media (e.g. books and toys), genres (e.g. novels and picture books), and modes of subjectivity, Marx’s influential theory of commodity fetishism, whereby “a definite social relation between men, that assumes, in their eyes, the fantastic form of a relation between things”, has served as a productive tool of analysis. The extent to which Marx’s account of commodity fetishism continues to be of use becomes clear when the corollaries between the late eighteenth-century emergence of novels and pictures books as technologies of subjectivity and the early twenty-first century emergence of e-readers and digital texts as technologies of subjectivity are considered. This paper considers the literary technology of Apple’s iPad (first launched in 2010) as a commodity fetish, and the circulation of “apps” as texts made available by and offered as justifications for, this fetish object. The iPad is both book and toy, but is never “only” either; it is arguably a new technology of subjectivity which incorporates but also destabilises categories of reading and playing such as those made familiar by earlier technologies of literature and the self. The particular focus of this paper is on the multimodal versions (app, film, and picture book) of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, which are understood here as a narrativisation of commodity fetishism, subjectivity, and the act of reading itself.

The "new advocacy" and the ermergence of lawyer representatives in ADR

This article traces the emergence of “the new advocacy” role for lawyers, that of “dispute resolution advocacy”, describing the role of legal practitioners when representing clients in negotiation, mediation and conciliation processes. The dispute resolution models they may encounter and the different types of assistance that lawyers can provide to their clients in such contexts will be discussed. Whether “dispute resolution advocacy” falls under the umbrella of “non-adversarial practice” or is a separate and distinct role will also be explored, in light of the professional obligations of lawyer representatives, particularly the duty of loyalty to their clients.

Place psychology: Engaging with notions of 'home'

Psychology of place is theoretical territory shared by a wide range of disciplines. Currently, while environmental psychology addresses such questions as how people interact with and make meaning in places, clinical psychology has paid scant attention to the role of place in mental health. This paper focuses on two concepts from place psychology - place attachment and place identity. Place attachment is here defined as a sense of positively-valanced emotional connection to a familiar place (Morgan 2010). Place identity implies a stronger sense of belonging: the person as part of the place and the place as part of the person (Memmot & Long 2002). Both place attachment and place identity can be seen as relating to notions of ‘home’. My PhD is a work of interdisciplinary practice-based research using creative writing as a methodology to explore how place attachment, place identity and notions of home may support recovery from psychological trauma. A novel provides a site of imaginative encounter between author and reader, in which the two parties collaboratively create place and character through the medium of language. This paper links theory with practice by outlining some choices involved in exploring psychological constructs through narrative fiction.

The rise of government in Early Childhood Education and Care following the Child Care Act 1972 : the lasting legacy of the 1990s in setting the reform agenda for ECEC in Australia

Less than twenty years on from the proclamation of the Child Care Act 1972, and introduction of funding for not-for-profit child care centres, a series of market-driven public policies paved the way for the emergence of Australia’s current ECEC quasi-market. Seeking to respond to increasing demand for work-related child care in the 1990s, and to manage associated costs, a succession of Australian Governments turned to market theory and New Public Management (NPM) principles to inform ECEC policy. Reflecting on an era of high policy activity within ECEC, this paper examines a series of policy events and texts that set the course for the reform agenda that was to ensue in ECEC.

Justifications and limits in the politically motivated lawbreaking of environmental activist groups

In recent events, notions of political protest, civil disobedience, extremism, and criminal action have become increasingly blurred. The London Riots, the Occupy movement, and the actions of hacking group Anonymous have all sparked heated debate about the limits of legitimate protest, and the distinction between an acceptable action and a criminal offence. Long before these events, environmental activists were challenging convention in protest actions, with several groups engaging in politically motivated law-breaking. The emergence of the term ‘eco-tage’ (the sabotage of equipment in order to protect the environment) signifies the important place environmental activists hold in challenging the traditional boundaries between illegal action and legitimate protest. Many of these groups establish their own boundaries of legitimacy, with some justifying their actions on the basis of civil disobedience or extensional self-defence. This paper examines the statements of environmental activist organisations that have engaged in politically motivated law breaking. It identifies the parameters that these groups set on their illegal actions, as well as the justifications that they provide, with a view to determining where these actions fit in the vast grey area between legal protest and violent extremism.

Out of control : Emergent cultural landscapes and political change in urban Vietnam

This paper plots the recent changes in the uses of public space in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is argued that the economic and social changes in contemporary Vietnam have paved the way for a dramatic transformation in the ways in which streets, pavements and markets are experienced and imagined by the populace. The efflorescence of individual mobility, street-trading and public crowding around certain popular events has led to the emergence of a distinct public sphere, one which is not immune from state control and censure but which is a flagrant rebuttal of the state's appeal. The immediate struggles over space herald a new discursive arena for the contest over Vietnamese national imagery as represented in cultural heritage and public space, memorials and state-controlled events which the public are rapidly deserting. The paper concludes by suggesting that the everyday cultural practices that have created a bustling streetlife in urban Vietnam will inevitably provide the vitality and spectacle for the destabilisation of state control in a struggle for meanings in public space.

The future of power in the network era

This article asks questions about the futures of power in the network era. Two critical emerging issues are at work with uncertain outcomes. The first is the emergence of the collaborative economy, while the second is the emergence of surveillance capabilities from both civic, state and commercial sources. While both of these emerging issues are expected by many to play an important role in the future development of our societies, it is still unclear whose values and whose purposes will be furthered. This article argues that the futures of these emerging issues depend on contests for power. As such, four scenarios are developed for the futures of power in the network era using the double variable scenario approach.

Metastability and emergent performance of dynamic interceptive actions

Objectives: Adaptive patterning of human movement is context specific and dependent on interacting constraints of the performer–environment relationship. Flexibility of skilled behaviour is predicated on the capacity of performers to move between different states of movement organisation to satisfy dynamic task constraints, previously demonstrated in studies of visual perception, bimanual coordination, and an interceptive combat task. Metastability is a movement system property that helps performers to remain in a state of relative coordination with their performance environments, poised between multiple co-existing states (stable and distinct movement patterns or responses). The aim of this study was to examine whether metastability could be exploited in externally paced interceptive actions in fast ball sports, such as cricket. Design: Here we report data on metastability in performance of multi-articular hitting actions by skilled junior cricket batters (n = 5). Methods: Participants’ batting actions (key movement timings and performance outcomes) were analysed in four distinct performance regions varied by ball pitching (bounce) location. Results: Results demonstrated that, at a pre-determined distance to the ball, participants were forced into a meta-stable region of performance where rich and varied patterns of functional movement behaviours emerged. Participants adapted the organisation of responses, resulting in higher levels of variability in movement timing in this performance region, without detrimental effects on the quality of interceptive performance outcomes. Conclusions: Findings provide evidence for the emergence of metastability in a dynamic interceptive action in cricket batting. Flexibility and diversity of movement responses were optimised using experiential knowledge and careful manipulation of key task constraints of the specific sport context.

An ecological dynamics approach to skill acquisition : implications for development of talent in sport.

This paper proposes how ecological dynamics, a theory focusing on the performer-environment relationship, provides a basis for understanding skill acquisition in sport. From this perspective, learners are conceptualized as complex, neurobiological systems in which inherent self-organisation tendencies support the emergence of adaptive behaviours under a range of interacting task and environmental constraints. Intentions, perceptions and actions are viewed as intertwined processes which underpin functional movement solutions assembled by each learner during skill acquisition. These ideas suggest that skill acquisition programmes need to sample information from the performance environment to guide behaviour in practice tasks. Skill acquisition task protocols should allow performers to use movement variability to explore and create opportunities for action, rather than constraining them to passively receiving information. This conceptualisation also needs to characterize the design of talent evaluation tests, which need to faithfully represent the perception-action relationships in the performance environment. Since the dynamic nature of changing task constraints in sports cannot be predicted over longer timescales, an implication is that talent programmes should focus on developing performance expertise in each individual, rather than over-relying on identification of expert performers at specific points in time.

Characteristics of Bangladeshi corporate networks

Over the past 40 years, Bangladesh has been undergoing economic reforms and institutional transitions to a market economy. An important product of this strategic transition has been the emergence of interlocking directorates, where a director sits on multiple directorate boards of corporations. Given this background, this thesis seeks to examine the attributes of the corporate network of interlocking directorships in Bangladesh. To date, the study of interlocking directorates has concentrated on Western economies. This study provides the results from a systematic exploration of the corporate network of Bangladesh based on data drawn from 100 largest listed companies in 2010.

Mapping the conditions of penal hope

This article examines the conditions of penal hope behind suggestions that the penal expansionism of the last three decades may be at a ‘turning point’. The article proceeds by outlining David Green’s (2013b) suggested catalysts of penal reform and considers how applicable they are in the Australian context. Green’s suggested catalysts are: the cycles and saturation thesis; shifts in the dominant conception of the offender; the global financial crisis (GFC) and budgetary constraints; the drop in crime; the emergence of the prisoner re‐entry movement; apparent shifts in public opinion; the influence of evangelical Christian ideas; and the Right on Crime initiative. The article then considers a number of other possible catalysts or forces: the role of trade unions; the role of courts; the emergence of recidivism as a political issue; the influence of ‘evidence based’/‘what works’ discourse; and the emergence of justice reinvestment (JR). The article concludes with some comments about the capacity of criminology and criminologists to contribute to penal reductionism, offering an optimistic assessment for the prospects of a reflexive criminology that engages in and engenders a wider politics around criminal justice issues.

Differential entrainment of neuroelectric delta oscillations in developmental dyslexia

Oscillatory entrainment to the speech signal is important for language processing, but has not yet been studied in developmental disorders of language. Developmental dyslexia, a difficulty in acquiring efficient reading skills linked to difficulties with phonology (the sound structure of language), has been associated with behavioural entrainment deficits. It has been proposed that the phonological ‘deficit’ that characterises dyslexia across languages is related to impaired auditory entrainment to speech at lower frequencies via neuroelectric oscillations (<10 Hz, ‘temporal sampling theory’). Impaired entrainment to temporal modulations at lower frequencies would affect the recovery of the prosodic and syllabic structure of speech. Here we investigated event-related oscillatory EEG activity and contingent negative variation (CNV) to auditory rhythmic tone streams delivered at frequencies within the delta band (2 Hz, 1.5 Hz), relevant to sampling stressed syllables in speech. Given prior behavioural entrainment findings at these rates, we predicted functionally atypical entrainment of delta oscillations in dyslexia. Participants performed a rhythmic expectancy task, detecting occasional white noise targets interspersed with tones occurring regularly at rates of 2 Hz or 1.5 Hz. Both groups showed significant entrainment of delta oscillations to the rhythmic stimulus stream, however the strength of inter-trial delta phase coherence (ITC, ‘phase locking’) and the CNV were both significantly weaker in dyslexics, suggestive of weaker entrainment and less preparatory brain activity. Both ITC strength and CNV amplitude were significantly related to individual differences in language processing and reading. Additionally, the instantaneous phase of prestimulus delta oscillation predicted behavioural responding (response time) for control participants only.

Contemporary comment : is it time for Australia to adopt Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA)?

Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) - an innovative process for reintegrating child sex offenders into the community after a period of incarceration - have not yet been firmly established in any Australian jurisdiction. This is the case despite their widespread use in Canada, the United Kingdom. and parts of the United States of America, and despite a growing body of research evidence that demonstrates their efficacy in reducing recidivism among child sex offenders. This Contemporary Comment outlines the emergence of COSA and the existing evidence in support of COSA. It argues that COSA should be piloted in Australia.

Experiencing information across the phenomenon of health information literacy

Interest in the concept of information literacy in different contexts is a topic that has steadily gained increased attention in information literacy discourse and research efforts over recent years. In particular the emergence of the term ‘health information literacy’ attests to this interest and has elevated awareness about the importance and relevance of information literacy in a health context. This paper reports on research that has taken a relational perspective to explore how people experience health information literacy. Initially established by Bruce (1997) the relational perspective draws from an experiential framework that emphasizes the relationship between users and information when learning in different contexts. This approach seeks outcomes that are deeply embedded in users’ informational life worlds and complements experiential phenomenological perspectives that have been used in health research. In keeping with the relational approach this research interprets health information literacy as being the different ways in which people experience using information to learn about health. Using interpretive phenomenography, this research explored variation in the lived experience of how people use information to learn about their health, and variation in what is constituted as information when learning about their health. Participants included 23 males and females aged between 45 and 64 years. All participants were residents from the Greater Brisbane area of Queensland, Australia. The research used semi-structured interviews for data collection. The types of questions posed during interviews included ‘Can you describe a time when you used information to learn about your health?’ and ‘What kinds of information have you used to learn about your health?’. This paper will focus on presenting one element of research findings that concerns the differences in ‘what’ participants experienced as information. Analysis of interview data identified significant variation in the experienced nature of information, specifically the different qualities or elements that comprised the ‘object’ of information, or in other words, what was perceived as ‘informing’. Illustrations of this variation include information experienced as traditional information sources, facts and experiences, something exhibiting particular qualities, physical or psychological changes, other people and role models. These findings provide new insights into what people may experience as information, and build upon existing literature regarding information as a theoretical construct. In addition the potential implications of these findings with respect to the design and delivery of health information literacy education will also be discussed. These research findings contribute to the emergence of information literacy investigations in everyday life and community. Although such settings have long been identified as a significant gap for exploration, research to date in this field has predominantly focused on educational and workplace environments. In this way the knowledge gained from this research has further revealed the contextual nature of information literacy, as well as its complexity as a phenomenon and focus of study.