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James Darsey has argued that a primitive source of reform rhetoric in America is the Old Testament. We argue that the discourse of American reform has another rhetorical ancestor that originates from the prophetic tradition of the American Religion, a scholarly term for the democratic religiosity of nineteenth-century America. By performing a comparative analysis of three theophanies, recorded in the personal narrative accounts of Emanuel Swedenborg, Joseph Smith, and Ellen G. White, we present a theory of the rhetoric of theophany. We then analyze Eugene V. Debs’s “How I Became a Socialist” as the reformer equivalent of a theophanic conversion myth, discussing how the experientialism, polarization, and subversiveness of theophanic rhetoric enables prophets and reformers to launch their careers, even from places of marginalization.

Between the Restoration and the rise of the Oxford Movement, a burgeoning literature of commentaries upon the Book of Common Prayer were produced and circulated in England. This article traces the emergence and development of this little-studied commentary tradition in order to explore the role of the Book of Common Prayer in private devotion. It groups the literature into three primary categories based on genre and function: descriptive, historical and biblical commentaries; devotional commentaries; annotated Books of Common Prayer. I argue that this literature sought not only to defend the prayer book from criticism or inform users of its history and function but to encourage devotional engagement with the prayer book itself. Exploring the devotional strategies that this literary tradition teaches and models deepens our understanding of how the leaders of the Church of England during the long eighteenth century sought to encourage private engagement with the Book of Common Prayer.

Background England operates a National Data Opt-Out (NDOO) for the secondary use of confidential health data for research and planning. We hypothesised that public awareness and support for the secondary use of health data and the NDOO would vary by participant demography and healthcare experience. We explored patient/public awareness and perceptions of secondary data use, grouping potential researchers into National Health Service (NHS), academia or commercial. We assessed awareness of the NDOO system amongst patients, carers, healthcare staff and the public. We co-developed recommendations to consider when sharing unconsented health data for research. Methods A patient and public engagement program, co-created and including patient and public workshops, questionnaires and discussion groups regarding anonymised health data use. Results There were 350 participants in total. Central concerns for health data use included unauthorised data re-use, the potential for discrimination and data sharing without patient benefit. 94% of respondents were happy for their data to be used for NHS research, 85% for academic research and 68% by health companies, but less than 50% for non-healthcare companies and opinions varied with demography and participant group. Questionnaires showed that knowledge of the NDOO was low, with 32% of all respondents, 53% of all NHS staff and 29% of all patients aware of the NDOO. Recommendations to guide unconsented secondary health data use included that health data use should benefit patients; data sharing decisions should involve patients/public. That data should remain in close proximity to health services with the principles of data minimisation applied. Further, that there should be transparency in secondary health data use, including publicly available lists of projects, summaries and benefits. Finally, organisations involved in data access decisions should participate in programmes to increase knowledge of the NDOO, to ensure public members were making informed choices about their own data. Conclusion The majority of participants in this study reported that the use of healthcare data for secondary purposes was acceptable when accessed by NHS. Academic and health-focused companies. However, awareness was limited, including of the NDOO. Further development of publicly-agreed recommendations for secondary health data use may improve both awareness and confidence in secondary health data use. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40900-021-00281-2., Plain English summary Health data from routine care can be pseudonymised (with a link remaining to the patient but identifying features removed) or anonymised (with identifying features removed and the link to the patient severed) and used for research and health planning; termed “secondary use”. The National Health Service (NHS) is a single publicly-funded health service for the United Kingdom (UK). The NHS supports secondary data use with a National Data opt-out system. The potential benefits of data secondary use are clear but concerns have been raised. Although the Data Opt-Out is publicised, it is unclear how much public awareness there is of this scheme. We report a patient and publicly created and delivered series of activities including > 350 people; with young adults, patients, NHS staff and the public; to assess concerns, knowledge and acceptance of data sharing. Perceptions of and support for secondary health data use varied depending on who was asked (by age, gender) and their experience of health services (Staff member, patient, member of the public). Knowledge of schemes to limit secondary data use (such as the UK National Data Op-Out) was low, even among NHS staff. The main concerns of sharing health data included onward data use, the potential for discrimination and exploitation and commercial gain from data use with no benefit to patients. Despite this, most participants agreed with health data sharing with NHS, academic and commercial health-based entities. Agreed, co-created themes to increase the acceptability of health data secondary use included education about ‘Opt-out’ schemes, health service oversight of data use (as the most trusted partner), public and patient involvement in data sharing decisions and public transparency. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40900-021-00281-2.

This essay argues that the successful political careers of certain populist leaders rhetorically enact what scholars have long recognized in art, literature, and entertainment as the grotesque. The...

GETSI (GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues) is a US National Science Foundation-funded program that develops, tests, and disseminates data-rich and societally relevant curriculum for undergraduate field and classroom teaching. GETSI has published 13 modules (~2-3 weeks of class time each) co-authored by faculty at varied colleges and universities (serc.carleton.edu/getsi). The dissemination plan for the 2020-21 academic year was originally entirely in-person workshops. When the COVID19 pandemic necessitated the postponement and/or cancellation of essentially all face-to-face activities, the project pivoted to an online dissemination model for the 2020-21 academic year and convened a GETSI Virtual Mini Short Course Series and a virtual short course: Teaching in the field with SfM and RTK GPS/GNSS.The Virtual Mini Short Course Series was October 2020-April 2021 and included 9 mini-courses. Unlike a webinar, the majority of the mini-course consisted of time for participants to work individually and collaboratively through portions of the student exercises, discuss teaching ideas, and develop a plan for implementation. The series attracted a wider range of participants from a broader range of institutions than many in-person events. Participants could choose to attend one or more of the mini-courses, depending on their area(s) of interest. Each 2-hour mini-course, co-led by a GETSI PI and module co-author(s), highlighted a different GETSI module and offered participants a small stipend for completing an implementation plan for using GETSI materials in their classroom. We used a variety of active learning strategies during the mini courses, including think-pair-shares, polling, report-outs, gallery tours, and jigsaws.The two virtual short courses "Teaching in the Field with SfM and GPS" brought together graduate students and college/university faculty into an online learning cohort. Each institutional team received an RTK GPS receiver pair to practice with for several weeks and the cohort worked through similar field tasks separately, while periodically reconvening online to share challenges and accomplishments.The lessons learned from this unanticipated shift to virtual professional development have implications moving forward for designing high-quality, interactive professional development for the whole STEM community.

Background Healthcare professionals’ use of technology-enabled communication has increased during the COVID19 pandemic, due to social distancing restrictions. Currently, there is little published data about the experience of specialist palliative care teams using this technology, or how these tools can help to support care beyond the pandemic. This project aimed to evaluate the implementation of digital communication technology, in a hospital specialist palliative care team, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method During the months of September and October 2020, an online survey was distributed to staff in the specialist palliative care team at the Royal Liverpool University Hospitals. The following information was collected: purpose, scope, location of use of technological tools, barriers, and future opportunities. Results The survey was completed by 14 healthcare professionals. Microsoft Teams and Zoom were the most commonly used tools, with team updates (n= 14, 100%), multidisciplinary team meetings (n=14, 100%), education (n=12, 85.7%) and cross-site working (n=9, 64.3%) identified as the most common reasons for use. All participants used the tools on-site (n=14, 100%) with some also connecting at home (n=8, 57.1%) or at an alternative work location (n=2, 14.3%). Twelve (85.7%) reported that meetings were abandoned due to technical barriers. These barriers included: problems with logging in (n=12, 85.7%), connectivity issues (n=12, 85.7%), video/audio quality (n=8, 57.1%) and lack of training (n=8, 57.1%). Identified opportunities included the potential to use technology to support integrated palliative care, by improving communication between hospital and community teams and education. These findings have been used to identify local practice recommendations. Conclusion Technology has the potential to improve specialist palliative care delivery; however, it is important to identify, and address, several issues (technical, process, and training) in order to overcome barriers to adoption in clinical practice.

Objectives This review aims to summarize the outcomes used to describe effectiveness of treatments for paediatric wrist fractures within existing literature. Method We searched the Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Ovid Medline for studies pertaining to paediatric wrist fractures. Three authors independently identified and reviewed eligible studies. This resulted in a list of outcome domains and outcomes measures used within clinical research. Outcomes were mapped onto domains defined by the COMET collaborative. Results Our search terms identified 4,262 different papers. Screening of titles excluded 2,975, leaving 1,287 papers to be assessed for eligibility. Of this 1,287, 30 studies were included for full analysis. Overall, five outcome domains, 16 outcome measures, and 28 measurement instruments were identified as outcomes within these studies. 24 studies used at least one measurement pertaining to the physiological/clinical outcome domain. The technical, life impact, and adverse effect domains were recorded in 23, 20, and 11 of the studies respectively. Within each domain it was common for different measurement instruments to be used to assess each outcome measure. The most commonly reported outcome measures were range of movement, a broad array of “radiological measures” and pain intensity, which were used in 24, 23, and 12 of the 30 studies. Conclusion This study highlights the heterogeneity in outcomes reported within clinical effectiveness studies of paediatric wrist fractures. We provided an overview of the types of outcomes reported in paediatric wrist fracture studies and identified a list of potentially relevant outcomes required for the development of a core outcome set.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia in the western world. Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is frequently conducted to treat AF. However, current PVI procedures for lesion formation are guided only with indirect information, which may lead to non-transmural lesions, and contribute to the high recurrence of AF. Therefore, direct lesion quality feedback may potentially improve PVI efficacy. To study the real-time direct guidance capability of polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography (PSOCT), a custom-designed integrated PSOCT-RFA catheter was prototyped and tested in RFA procedures in the left atria of living swine.

Background: Healthcare professionals’ use of video communication technology has increased during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, due to infection control restrictions. Currently there is little published data about the experiences of specialist palliative care teams who are using technology to communicate during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this evaluation was to describe the experience of a UK based hospital specialist palliative care team, who were using video communication technology to support care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: An online survey was distributed to the specialist palliative care team at a University teaching hospital in the North West of the UK. We asked participants to provide their views on the scope of use, barriers and future opportunities to use technology for communication in hospital palliative care. Results: The survey was completed by 14 healthcare professionals. Participants indicated that the most common reasons for using the technology was to receive team updates (n= 14, 100%), participate in multidisciplinary team meetings (n=14, 100%), for education (n=12, 86%) and to facilitate cross-site working (n=9, 64%). We identified barriers to using the technology, which were summarised as: (1) user-based difficulties; (2) inadequate technological infrastructure; (3) data security, privacy and ethical concerns; and (4) concerns regarding staff wellbeing. Participants stated that technology can potentially improve care by improving communication with hospital and community teams and increasing access to education. We have used these findings to develop recommendations to help palliative care teams to implement this technology better in clinical practice. Conclusion: Video communication technology has the potential to improve specialist palliative care delivery; however, it is essential that healthcare organisations address the existing barriers to using this technology, to ensure that these systems work meaningfully to improve palliative care for those who are most vulnerable beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2008, two of the leading presidential candidates emerged from controversial, outsider religious groups—Mormonism and the black church tradition. Dogged by ongoing questions from the media, each candidate produced a high-profile public address. In this article, I argue that Mitt Romney’s “Faith in America” and Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” craft competing visions for American civic piety. Drawing on recent literature in the area of practical piety, I read the speeches as evidence that civic piety may be more than a subordinating, pragmatic agreement between church and state. It may instead be read as a spiritually substantive space of cultural identity formation. I further conclude that the 2008 election reveals a contested piety in the midst of transition, and that this transition points in a relatively well-defined direction for American civil-religious culture.

This essay explores how the powerful system of cultural references in the architecture of Alexandria is disrupted by Roman visual rhetoric. Specifically, the essay closely analyzes Diocletian’s Victory Column, a monument to the third-century Roman ruler who put down an Alexandrian uprising. The authors argue that Rome employed a visual rhetoric of spectacular disruption as a means to insert itself into the city’s historical identity even after its siege created widespread disease and starvation. The essay builds on the substantial scholarship on public memory by describing a kind of rhetoric that poses a political, existential challenge to a reigning cultural identity. As rhetorical scholars continue to study public memory and the persuasive powers of designed space, the concept of megethos appears to be uniquely and increasingly relevant.

Traditionally, kairos is defined by its transience. Scholars assume that in order to capitalize on the rhetorical power of kairos, a speaker must capture the “opportune moment” before it passes. This article makes the case that the kairic moment can be sustained indefinitely through the sacralization of physical space. Linking rhetorical theories of kairos as “God's time” to Mircea Eliade's discussion of “sacred hierophanies,” the article performs an analysis of the National Cathedral in Washington DC and concludes that rhetoric can circumvent traditional contingencies when deployed within kairic space.

Mitt Romney's Mormon faith has been a topic of suspicion and debate among Christian conservatives. Romney addressed the issue in a 2007 address titled “Faith in America.” This article argues that Romney's use of paralipsis helps to explain the divergent popular and academic responses to the speech. Paralipsis may be used as more than a mere stylistic device; it may also be employed as a comprehensive rhetorical strategy in an increasingly polarized political culture.

It is no great surprise among conservatives that Jon Huntsman was unable to crack double digits in any national poll during the 2011-2012 Republican primaries. Before he dropped out in January 2012, he was well known as the "moderate" in the race (Zeleny, par. 4). Some conservative bloggers went so far as to call him a "liberal" for his willingness to serve as ambassador under President Obama and his acknowledgment of the science behind climate change (e.g. Kaplan, par. 1; see also Condon). Indeed, Huntsman's name was on the short list for potential third-party candidates being considered by the independent group Americans Elect (e.g., Meyerson). How Huntsman came to be labeled so problematically is a complicated question. As any consideration of his record and policy positions will reveal, Huntsman was, in practice, a very serious and committed conservative. His record brimmed with Republican staples, including strict pro-life values and legislation, free-market-driven economics, and an air-tight alliance with the NRA (e.g., Scarborough). Why, therefore, was Huntsman treated as an apostate? Perhaps it was simply a matter of rhetorical style. Seth Mandel argues that Huntsman's transparent efforts to ingratiate himself with the "cool" crowd turned off conservatives (par. 6). Huntsman repeatedly tried to distance himself from the core constituencies within conservatism, often tweeting sardonic comments about how backwards his opponents were, or showing off his international experience during debates (e.g., Williamson qtd. in Mandel; "Huntsman Speaks"). However, it was Huntsman's refusal to sign pledges that suggests his most dramatic break with rhetorical orthodoxy. National elections from 2010 to 2012 saw a profusion of conservative pledges, all being circulated to Republican candidates as a way of binding them to certain ideological positions on a range of issues, including taxes, "gay marriage," and abortion. Every other viable candidate signed all or most of the pledges, but Jon Huntsman refused to sign any. Drawing on Huntsman as a case, and his refusal to sign one pledge in particular, the Pro-Life Leadership Presidential Pledge (hereafter the PLPP), this essay considers the uniquely powerful rhetoric of oaths to construct relationships of inclusion and exclusion such that the contingencies of policy making are displaced by the demands of ideological membership. I conclude that, rather than to address the material exigencies of policy, oath rhetoric functions to obscure individual identity, consolidate cultural allegiance, and redraw the boundaries of public debate. These functions suggest hegemonic impulses that go well beyond the isolated interests of certain policies. I should acknowledge up front that I do not argue Huntsman's refusal to sign pledges is solely or even primarily to blame for his poor showing. Though his refusal was certainly a key element in a failed rhetorical strategy, I am primarily interested in its heuristic value. The interchange between Huntsman and the Susan B. Anthony List, the organization that sponsored the PLPP, is illustrative of the way oath rhetoric creates intractable divisions in identity, even though such divisions are belied by evidence that the two parties share the same practical concerns. Off-the-cuff comments in a debate, interview, or tweet can be excused as gaffes or atonalities. When one declines an oath, or pledge, one permanently reinforces her or his own alienation from a particular group. The difference becomes not merely one of style; it becomes a difference of values, and, as I intend to show, ideological membership. The essay proceeds in three sections. First, I provide an overview of the definitions and premises of oaths, with particular focus on the use of oaths in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Second, I perform a textual analysis of a representative artifact (the PLPP), focusing primarily on the way it works to cut off debate and excommunicate those who would engage in debate. …

This essay examines how three of the most popular public speaking textbooks address rhetorical invention. The essay argues that textbooks minimize the discursive space shared by speakers and audiences in public speaking classrooms. As a consequence, topic and argument invention is framed largely as an internal affair that occurs prior to the speaker's interaction with the audience. The essay concludes with recommendations for teaching invention by reframing the public speaking classroom as a protopublic space.

The purpose of this article is to advance the discussion of kairos by developing it as a theory of divine timing. While some critics have noted kairos' potential for understanding “God's time,” we lack a grounding of this interpretation in the close analysis of religious texts. This paper does so and asserts that kairos can be understood not only as a hermeneutic for considering temporal constraints, but also as a theory for the production of revelatory discourse and its political implications. Ultimately, the article tries to enrich our comprehension of kairos (a figure we thought we had understood) by examining an unknown text from Martin Luther King Jr. (an orator we thought we had read) as a foray into an area of our discipline that we have neglected to develop: the rhetoric of revelation.