Participatory Graffiti as Invitational Rhetoric: The Case of O Machismo

This article engages the Brazilian O Machismo graffiti project as an example of invitational visual rhetoric. Although most understandings of graffiti as communication consider it to be a persuasive artistic form, O Machismo invites viewers to respond to its invitation to help complete the art project and collectively share in co-creating its message. Through an examination of the responses to the invitation that emerge to resist machismo and promote non-patriarchal understandings, the article offers some ideas about how an invitational visual rhetoric expands our previous understandings of graffiti.     

Legal implications of profiling students for violence

Predicting violent activity with a youth violence profile in schools raises a host of legal concerns focusing on the validity and use of profiles as social science evidence: the impact of potential discrimination, search and seizure, and the implications for privacy. Schools differ from airports or other settings where profiles are used. Profiles are useful if they properly establish reasonable suspicion to stop an individual. They raise more problematic constitutional issues when they support referring a student to alternative educational services. Where a profile identifies students based on race, gender, or proxies for these characteristics, it is invalid. It can also be invalid if it is not a reasonable method of achieving the government's interest in safe schools. In addition, profiles present significant problems for confidentiality. These issues rest on fundamental concerns about the general validity of profiles as scientific tools: their objectivity, accuracy, sensitivity, overinclusiveness, and general scientific acceptance. Consequently, the use of profiles in a school setting is highly problematic and controversial. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

‘A shock of electricity just sort of goes through my body’: physical activity and embodied reflexive practices in young female ballet dancers

Participation in physical activities, in and out of school, remains heavily influenced by social constructions of gendered behaviour. In addition, the body plays a significant part in the presentation of legitimate performances of physical practice and the construction of a physical ‘identity’. The consequence is that in formalized activities many girls (and boys) are provided little chance to experience the pleasurable aspects of physical activity, as well as the added benefits of bodily confidence and knowledge. We suggest that the association of dance with other artistic forms of expression provides an opportunity to contest taken for granted assumptions about sport and physical education. The material for this paper was drawn from observations and interviews conducted with young, female dancers, aged between 9‐ and 11‐years‐old, at an internationally renowned ballet school in London.     

Reproducing Traditional Femininities? The Social Relations of 'Special Educational Needs' in a Girls' Comprehensive School

The charity/tragedy discourse of disability and traditional versions of femininity bear some striking resemblances. Both are associated with dependence and helplessness, and with resultant practices that are implicated in the enduring reproduction of social and material inequalities. This article looks at the 'identity work' of a group of girls, all of whom had been identified as having 'special educational needs', in a mainstream school in the UK. Using findings from an ethnographic study, the article explores how the girls position themselves in relation to the subject 'special needs student'. The findings suggest that historical meanings associated with femininity and disability combine with contemporary schooling practices to produce a constrained range of subject positions around which the girls have limited room for manoeuvre.     

The Twin Cities biomedical consortium.

Twenty-eight health science libraries in the St. Paul-Minneapolis area formed the Twin Cities Biomedical Consortium with the intention of developing a strong network of biomedical libraries in the Twin Cities area. Toward this end, programs were designed to strengthen lines of communication and increase cooperation among local health science libraries; improve access to biomedical information at the local level; and enable the Consortium, as a group, to meet an increasing proportion of its members' needs for biomedical information. Presently, the TCBC comprises libraries in twenty-two hospitals, two county medical societies, one school of nursing, one junior college, and two private corporations.     

A Multifactor Approach to Candidate Image

Decades of communication research have demonstrated that political candidate images are important predictors of electoral success and that campaign communication influences these image perceptions. However, questions remain about the relative importance of various facets of candidate image, how electoral context and partisanship influence the salience of these facets, and whether privileged classes enjoy presumption in image facets that reinforce their dominant position in politics. These questions require a new approach to image research. We propose a multifactor approach that explores the relative importance of six image traits: character, intelligence, leadership, benevolence, homophily, and charm. The benefits of this approach are illustrated through application to two electoral contexts, the 2012 U.S. presidential election and the 2014 U.S. midterm elections.     

Perception of effort in Exercise Science: Definition,measurement and perspectives

Perception of effort, also known as perceived exertion or sense of effort, can be described as a cognitive feeling of work associated with voluntary actions. The aim of the present review is to provide an overview of what is perception of effort in Exercise Science. Due to the addition of sensations other than effort in its definition, the neurophysiology of perceived exertion remains poorly understood. As humans have the ability to dissociate effort from other sensations related to physical exercise, the need to use a narrower definition is emphasised. Consequently, a definition and some brief guidelines for its measurement are provided. Finally, an overview of the models present in the literature aiming to explain its neurophysiology, and some perspectives for future research are offered.