Exclusion of HIV-positive people with disabilities in the media

This current issue piece aims to address the harmful exclusion of people with disabilities in the Iranian media. In a case study, this author collected news related to statistics of HIV-positive people covered by popular news websites written in the Persian language between June 2011 and June 2012. Within the analysed electronic texts, no reference was made to the number of HIV-positive people with disabilities. Under the rubric of critical discourse analysis, one can argue that this lack of representation may also be linked to a more general level of discourse that constitutes the marginalization of people with disabilities. This damaging exclusion both legitimizes and reproduces the ideology that people with disabilities are social minorities who can be excluded to the benefit of powerful people. This current issue piece also discusses the potential negative consequences of excluding HIV-positive people with disabilities from the discourse of HIV/AIDS in the media. Ultimately, the conceivable reasons for the Iranian government failure or refusal to publish the statistics of HIV-positive people with disabilities will be provided. Studies from various countries could shed more light on the exclusion of HIV-positive people with disabilities in the media and the interplay between HIV/AIDS and disability issues.     

Performance-Related Reliability Analysis Methodology of Computer Networks

Based on the bottlenecks in current performance-related network reliability (PRNR) research, this article selects network time delay as PRNR evaluation foundation, and defines PRNR measure as the probability that the actual network delay is no bigger than the required value during network long-term operating under the specified conditions of resource allocation and network operating environment. To obtain PRNR, a novel threshold-optimization-based network traffic model is proposed to model real network traffic. In this model, the actual network traffic is divided into two different parts—a-traffic with burst characteristic, and b-traffic with steady characteristic—according to the optimized threshold value obtained with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Analysis to PRNR is carried out in two different time levels—macro-time level and micro-time level—to avoid the difficulties resulting from the great difference in reliability and performance dimension. In the macro-time level, the number of the operational network workstations varying with random failures is obtained. In the micro-time level, the packet delay is analyzed with the number of the operational workstations as a parameter. Combing the analysis in these two time levels together, the integrated PRNR model is established, and influences of different parameters are analyzed.     

Y1—10B型溢流阀启闭特性试验中的噪声分析与研究

本文对Ｙ１－１０Ｂ型溢流阀启闭特性试验中噪声及其频率进行了测试和分析。结果表明其噪声主要是由于液压泵流量脉动和溢流阀共振所致。文中提出了改进意见。     

Radical/Critical Social Work with Young Offenders: Challenges and Possibilities

In the UK, particularly in England, youth crime is perceived as a serious social problem, which is always near the top of the political agenda. Since the early 1990s, ‘populist punitiveness’ (Bottoms, 1995), amounting to varying degrees of punishment and control, has been key for addressing the problem. This culminated in New Labour's flagship Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and thereafter increasing concern with anti-social behaviour. The Conservative-led coalition is continuing in this vein. It is a ‘get tough’ approach in which the role of social work has been sidelined. In this article, I argue that such an approach is counterproductive as evidenced by the riots of August 2011 in London and other major cities. Rather than notions of punishment and control being to the fore, attention should be paid to the social and economic conditions that shape young people's lives and behaviour. For social workers, this involves relationship building with young offenders and their families and this is where a radical/critical work practice comes in. It is an emancipatory practice, which resists the neoliberal present and has some vision of a more socially just and equal future world.     

Stratified structural and epistemic aspects of the care manager's discretion—a theoretical approach to social work related to older people's potential relocation to a residential home

By applying a theoretical point of departure, the overarching aim of this article is to describe, analyze, and try to understand why care managers in their everyday occupational practice normalize the restrictive approach when older people consider relocation to a residential home. While earlier research to a large extent has drawn attention to how the care managers carry out the restrictive approach, this article pays attention to the circumstances paving its way. The focus is on influences from different sociological levels, thereby ‘stratified’, and from two aspects of discretion, where ‘structural aspects’ refer to choices between permitted alternatives and ‘epistemic aspects’ to practical reasoning under conditions of indeterminacy. With this combination, a multitude of circumstances contributing to the restrictive approach is revealed. Thus, the theoretical model includes levels as well as discretionary powers where formulas constitute the foundation at each level, subsequently related to multidisciplinary references in order to get the practice into perspective. The findings show that the priority given to home-based care in contrast to residential care is repeated and confirmed at each level and besides in an interchange between structural and epistemic aspects.     

Variation in Associations Between Family Dinners and Adolescent Well‐Being

Empirical evidence and conventional wisdom suggest that family dinners are associated with positive outcomes for youth. Recent research using fixed‐effects models as a more stringent test of causality suggests a more limited role of family meals in protecting children from risk. Estimates of average effects, however, may mask important variation in the link between family meals and well‐being; in particular, family meals may be more or less helpful based on the quality of family relationships. Using 2 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 17,977), this study extended recent work to find that family dinners have little benefit when parent–child relationships are weak but contribute to fewer depressive symptoms and less delinquency among adolescents when family relationships are strong. The findings highlight the importance of attending to variation when assessing what helps and what hurts in families.     

Pro/E课程改革实践

传统的Pro/E课程教学过程存在诸多问题。因此,在教学过程中,更要侧重于培养学生的职业能力和职业素质,本文主要阐述本人对于这门课的改革方向以及具体措施的思考和探索。     

From personal troubles to public compassion: charity shop volunteering as a practice of care

This article analyses charity shop volunteering in the UK as an instance of individual commitment towards organizations devoted to combating suffering. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews focused on motives, the paper argues that some respondents found in volunteer work a way of regaining meaning, structure and belonging after experiences of social dislocation such as retirement and bereavement. The transition from social dislocation to ontological security via volunteering illustrates the way in which ‘the social’ – as expressed in fellowship, laughter, work, organizations and institutions – moderates charitable practice. From this perspective, volunteering appears as a relational, processual and affective practice of care; and as a sympathy catalyst – an institution that facilitates interpersonal sympathy exchanges and support for compassionate goals. The paper endorses a view of human subjectivity which takes seriously both human vulnerability and resilience – victimhood and agency – as well as the relevance of suffering and flourishing for social action. In so doing, the paper sheds light on the link between individual biographies and the institutionalized efforts to alleviate strangers' suffering that Natan Sznaider has termed ‘public compassion’.     

计算机中介写作同伴互评的对比研究

同伴互评是写作教学和研究中的一大热点,而互评中介对于同伴互评的质量和效果有着重要影响。通过一项为期一学期的计算机中介写作同伴互评活动,对以Microsoft Word和博客为中介的同伴互评进行了对比研究。研究发现,学生对于基于计算机中介的写作互评活动普遍持积极态度,但相对而言,学生更喜欢Microsoft Word中介环境下的同伴互评活动,互评评语的质量和数量也要高于博客中介互评。整体上,博客中介互评更具有开放性、互动性和交际性,而Microsoft Word中介互评则更具私密性、针对性和有效性。     

Monitoring and evaluating transition and sustainability of donor-funded programs: Reflections on the Avahan experience

PurposeIn low and middle-income countries, programs funded and implemented by international donors frequently transition to local funding and management, yet such processes are rarely evaluated. We reflect upon experience evaluating the transition of a large scale HIV/AIDS prevention program in India, known as Avahan, in order to draw lessons about transition evaluation approaches and implementation challenges.ResultsIn terms of conceptualizing the transition theory, the evaluation team identified tensions between the idea of institutionalizing key features of the Avahan program, and ensuring program flexibility to promote sustainability. The transition was planned in three rounds allowing for adaptations to transition intervention and program design during the transition period. The assessment team found it important to track these changes in order to understand which strategies and contextual features supported transition. A mixed methods evaluation was employed, combining semi-structured surveys of transitioning entities (conducted pre and post transition), with longitudinal case studies. Qualitative data helped explain quantitative findings. Measures of transition readiness appeared robust, but we were uncertain of the robustness of institutionalization measures. Finally, challenges to the implementation of such an evaluation are discussed.ConclusionsGiven the scarceness of transition evaluations, the lessons from this evaluation may have widespread relevance.