现代主义、台湾文学和全球化趋势对文学体制的冲击

现代主义和台湾文学是我多年关注的课题,两者都在全球化加速的21世纪初受到不小冲击,产生了一些质变,使得许多旧有的研究典范不再适用,鞭策我们去探寻更具诠释力的分析框架.比如说,以东亚为范畴的比较文学框架.全球化和区域整合是一体的两面;近20年来的全球化趋势下,东亚地区茁生了一个强劲的、生气盎然的文化市场,区域内部的文化交易量骤增,学者们也开始用心思索这个地区所呈现的、有别于西方的现代性样貌.全球化趋势下新的文化生态逐渐成形,随之而来的是文类位阶的调整和美学意识的转变.或许回溯一下文学当初被型构成一个现代性体制时的历史状态,可以提供一些有用的线索,帮助我们透视正在发生的诸多看来颇为陌生的文化现象.     

Service user participation in diverse child protection contexts: principles for practice

Promoting the participation of children and parents in child protection practice is one of the most complex and sensitive areas of social work practice. Increasingly, child protection legislation and policy in many parts of the world enshrines ideals of service user participation. Yet, with the exception of extensive discussion about family group conferencing, the principles and methods for achieving participatory practices in child protection work remain underdeveloped. We use the term 'child protection' to refer to a broad spectrum of child and family welfare services aimed at prevention of (or intervention to address) child abuse and neglect. This spectrum of services includes intensive family support, family support, domestic violence, statutory child protection and child and family advocacy services. In this paper, we present findings from the first phase of a 3-year study into participatory practice in child protection. In this paper, we present findings from a qualitative analysis of interviews with 28 child protection practitioners across five domains of child protection work. Our analysis reveals three core principles of participatory practice underpinning these practitioners' accounts as well as contextual differences among them. We conclude with a discussion of the educational implications of our findings.     

#WE SPEAK: exploring the experience of refugee youth through participatory research and poetry

Despair and a sense of hopelessness have been uninvited fellow travellers for many refugees. Despite the myriad challenges facing refugee populations there are numerous barriers to accessing services in a South African context. This is especially true for refugee youth who often fall through the gap of support given to adults or children. This paper explores the benefits of following a narrative, reflexive approach to participatory action research with refugee youth living in Durban, South Africa. We conducted a series of workshops with a focus on creating safe dialogical spaces, identity and values, agency, social connection and performativity using a Critical Reflexive Framework. What emerged early in the research was a sense of despair due to challenges like poverty and xenophobia, making daily life stressful and unsafe. This was coupled with feelings of hopelessness in a future lacking in possibilities. When these feelings are not dealt with it can result in psychological distress and involvement in a range of antisocial behaviours. However, by following a strength-based methodology in creative interventions to re-member abilities, opportunities can be created for rendering hope and agency. The experience is explored through the voices of participants using narrative dialogical analysis and poetic inquiry.     

Giving birth: Expectations of first time mothers in Switzerland at the mid point of pregnancy

Problem and background

Despite a generally affluent society, the caesarean section rate in Switzerland has steadily climbed in recent years from 22.9% in 1998 to 33.7% in 2014. Speculation by the media has prompted political questions as to the reasons. However, there is no clear evidence as to why the Swiss rate should be so high especially in comparison with neighbouring countries.

The role of sex steroid hormones in benign prostatic hyperplasia

Introduction: The etiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) remains a mystery to scientists; estrogen/androgen imbalance in aged men has been implicated.

Methods: Thirty (30) apparently healthy men and newly diagnosed BPH patients were recruited from the Ghana Police Hospital. Lower urinary tract syndrome (LUTS) and prostate volume were assessed via the prostate symptom score sheet (IPSS) and abdominopelvic scan, respectively. Laboratory assays for total prostate specific antigen (tPSA) and hormones [androstenedione (AED), testosterone (T), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), androstanedioladiol (3α-adiol), androstanediol (3β-diol), estrone (E1) and estradiol (E2)] were performed via ELISA techniques. Non-parametric analyses were employed. p?Results: AED was significantly higher in controls compared to the BPH patients. AKRIC2 (3α-diol/DHT) was significantly higher in the BPH group (p?p=?0.029). Age correlated negatively with T, while a negative correlation was observed between TIPSS and 3β-diol and AKRIC1. Also, prostate volume correlated negatively with fT.tPSA correlated positively with E2 and aromatase activity (E2/T) and negatively with fT. On multiple linear regression, DHT and 3β-diol remained independent predictors for TIPSS and fT for tPSA.

Conclusion: Estrogens and androstanediols seem to play a role in BPH development.     

Some factors involved in alcohol consumption of first-year undergraduates.

Three studies were conducted with samples of first-year undergraduates in order to assess relationships among college drinking, adjustment, recent life-changing events, interpersonal factors, self-control, and perceived risk. Significant correlations were found between alcohol use and life-change, but not between alcohol use and college adjustment. In addition, several significant findings linked alcohol use to social factors. Responses to open-ended interview questions suggest that self-control and risk may play a role in students' decisions regarding consumption, after initial experience with alcohol use. Non-social factors, namely stressful events, appear to play a role in consumption behavior; however, students more frequently report on social factors as motivating their decisions regarding alcohol intake.     

Conservation Management of EU Priority Habitats after Collapse of Traditional Pastoralism: Navigating Socioecological Transitions in Mountain Rangeland

Agricultural abandonment is a major driver of change in rural landscapes. Assumed to provide beneficial results to the environment and the conservation of biota, rural abandonment triggers landscape and biotic homogenization and loss of valuable species and habitats. This article focuses on the ecological effects and conservation challenges of shifts in extensive grazing regimes on marginal pastureland of Mediterranean mountains. We conceptualize a navigated socioecological transition toward conservation‐oriented management after the collapse of historical land systems. The article provides examples from the LIFE+ project “Higro,” developed in mountainous protected areas in Portugal, of how management for conservation could sustain disturbance‐dependent habitats. We argue that actively and regularly managing large habitat areas should be envisaged as a short‐term approach to limit the immediate effects of rural abandonment. A gradual integration of conservation targets with other activities in changing rural economies is necessary to foster long‐term conservation of species and habitats, building on the link between conservation‐oriented habitat management and ecosystem services in rural landscapes. Conservation goals should run alongside recovery of social systems and innovation applied to traditional sources of income. This parallel development would contribute to building up social‐ecological resilience by maintaining a diversity of social and ecological capital in rural areas.     

Challenges and Coping Strategies of Children with Parents Affected by Schizophrenia: Results from an In-Depth Interview Study

This article presents results from an in-depth interview study investigating challenges and coping strategies of children with parents affected by schizophrenia. Thirty-four qualitative interviews of children were conducted and evaluated by content analysis. The interviewees spoke of a wide range of challenges that they must deal with daily. A variety of available coping strategies, social and personal resources were identified in the study. The results show that there is a need for professional support, especially on a low-threshold basis, that helps affected children to develop appropriate and diverse forms of coping.     

Intra-firm Adoption Decisions:: Role of Inter-firm and Intra-firm Variables

The subject of this paper is intra-firm adoption decisions, a relatively unexplored research area in the marketing literature. We develop a conceptual model in which two sets of independent variables are hypothesized to influence the intra-firm adoption decisions, i.e. (1) variables known from the inter-firm diffusion literature, (2) variables specifically relevant for intra-firm analyses of innovation acceptance. Hypotheses are developed and tested in an application in the domain of finance: the intra-firm adoption decisions regarding the common European currency by the treasury, purchasing and sales departments of European companies. Data were obtained from treasury, purchasing and sales managers (441 respondents in total) from companies located in five different European countries. The results of logistic regression show that the proposed intra-firm variables are indeed important explanatory variables that should be included in intra-firm analyses. Moreover, for the inter-firm variables we found differences in the effects between departments, which demonstrates the very need for an intra-firm analysis.