The Impact Of Voter Suppression Laws On African American Participation In Florida And North Carolina From 1988 To 2012

A rich body of research presents conflicting accounts describing how contemporary voter suppression laws impact political participation. This study process traces the political development of North Carolina and Florida from 1988 to 2012 to assess four competing explanations of this process. This study compares three measures of participation that strongly support the discouraging voter hypothesis, which finds that voter suppression laws depress black participation. This study finds that state officials in Florida adopted a much stricter voter suppression regime than those in North Carolina for the period under study. As a result, the two states developed differing levels of democratization. In North Carolina, longstanding racial disparities in participation were mitigated by 2012. However, during this same period, black participation in Florida was suppressed. Despite high levels of African American mobilization for recent elections, this study finds that voter suppression negatively impacted participation

Testing of disability identification tool for schools

There has been an ongoing concern about the lack of reliable data on disabled children in schools. To date there has been no consistent way of identifying and categorising disabilities. Schools in England are currentlyrequired to collect data on children with Special Educational Need (SEN), but this does not capture information about all disabled children. The lack of this information may seriously restrict capacity at all levels of policy and practice to understand and respond to the needs of disabled children and their families in line with Disability Discrimination Act (2005) and the single Equality Act (2010). The aim of the project was to test the draft tools for identifying disability and accompanying guidance in a sample of all types of maintained schools in order to assess their usability and reliability and whether they resulted in the generation of robust and consistent data that could reliably inform school returns for the annual School Census

The Impact of Impression Management Over Time

The purpose of these studies was to investigate how the repeated use of impression management (IM) tactics is related to supervisor perceptions in newly formed supervisor-subordinate dyads. Two studies were conducted – a lab study in which participants evaluated a confederate who performed an accounting task while using different types of IM across five trials, and a field study examining the IM tactics of new employees and their supervisors’ ratings of likability and performance at two points in time. In the lab study, the repeated use of ingratiation had an increasingly positive effect on performance ratings, whereas repeated apologies had an increasingly negative effect on evaluations of performance. Theinfluence of IM tactics on ratings of subordinate likability did not change with repeated use. In the field study, subordinates’ use of apologies and justifications was more strongly associated with supervisor evaluations of likability and performance in earlier stages of their relationship. Employees need to be mindful that IM tactics may vary in their effectiveness depending on the timing and frequency of their use. Furthermore, supervisors should consider the initial influence that IM has on their ability to objectively evaluate new subordinates. This research is unique in that it examined how the repeated use of both assertive (i.e. ingratiation and self-promotion) and defensive (i.e. apologies and justifications) IM tactics are related to both evaluations of likability and performance ratings at multiple points in time

Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the isiZulu 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale : preliminary findings.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.According to prevalence studies, 1 in 3 South Africans will present with a diagnosable mental disorder throughout the course of their lifetime, whilst over a given period of 12 months, 1 in 6 South Africans will likely present with a mental disorder that is clinically diagnosable. Given the alarming rates of mental illness in South Africa much attention within the literature has focussed on further understanding both its determinants and associated risk factors. Due to its significant associations with several psychiatric and medical conditions, the subject of alexithymia has advanced these aims in the global literature. However, little research on the subject has been undertaken in South Africa, most likely due to the lack of a validated psychometric assessment for detecting and further investigating the issue of alexithymia among patients. Additionally, research also indicates that the measurement of alexithymia is impacted by sociocultural factors that shape it in part. Consequently, this research aimed to address these issues by undertaking a cross-cultural adaptation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) for an isiZulu-speaking sample of university students and evaluating its psychometric properties. This was achieved through three objectives: (1) cultural adaptation and translation of the TAS-20 into isiZulu; (2) evaluating the psychometric properties of the isiZulu translation of the TAS-20; and (3) exploring variation in scores on the isiZulu TAS-20 by gender. The results of the confirmatory factor analyses suggested best global fit for the standard oblique three-factor model with an additional specified covariance between two indicators. Evaluation of local fit supported meaningful parameter estimates, as well as the convergent and discriminant validity for the DIF and DDF latent factors of the model, but failed to support the validity of the EOT latent factor. Reliability analyses similarly demonstrated acceptable reliability for the total isiZulu TAS-20 scale and the DIF and DDF subscales, but failed to do so for the EOT subscale. Lastly, there was tentative indication of significantly elevated levels of alexithymia among female Zulu participants as compared to male Zulu participants. In conclusion, the psychometric evaluation confirmed the factor structure, but failed to fully support the underlying theoretical relationships in the Zulu culture. In convergence with other studies, these findings suggest that sociocultural factors significantly impact upon the construct and assessment of alexithymia. The study suggests the need for a theoretical reconceptualization of alexithymia, factoring in the role of sociocultural factors

Laser and electron deflection from transverse asymmetries in laser-plasma accelerators.

We report on the deflection of laser pulses and accelerated electrons in a laser-plasma accelerator (LPA) by the effects of laser pulse front tilt and transverse density gradients. Asymmetry in the plasma index of refraction leads to laser steering, which can be due to a density gradient or spatiotemporal coupling of the laser pulse. The transverse forces from the skewed plasma wave can also lead to electron deflection relative to the laser. Quantitative models are proposed for both the laser and electron steering, which are confirmed by particle-in-cell simulations. Experiments with the BELLA Petawatt Laser are presented which show controllable 0.1-1 mrad laser and electron beam deflection from laser pulse front tilt. This has potential applications for electron beam pointing control, which is of paramount importance for LPA applications

Grounded in Relationships of Support: Indigenous Teacher Mentorship in the Rural West

This article explores the power of Indigenous teacher mentorship as essential to address “the change in point of view” long called for in Indigenous education. Drawing from a longitudinal, ethnographic study of an Indigenous teacher education program in a predominantly rural, high need region, we examine the basic questions: What do Indigenous master teachers uniquely bring to teacher education? In what ways do Indigenous master teachers support the development of socially, culturally, linguistically, and place-responsive teachers? Using the theoretical frameworks of Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribalCrit) and situated learning, our findings elucidate the importance of Indigenous mentorship for re-membering and re-claiming Indigenous epistemologies, ontologies, and axiologies in relational and intergenerational learning—practices that interrupt coloniality in teacher education and school leadership. Discussion of Indigenous teacher mentorship centers the importance of relationships between people and place in teaching and learning and asks educators and school leaders to conceptualize Indigenous teacher education as a long-term project of tribal nation building and community wellbeing