Housing Discrimination and Negative Attitudes Towards Ex-Offender Parents

While the Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination because of race, gender, religion, sex, disability, family status, and national origin, it allows housing providers to discriminate on the basis of criminal history. Prior research shows that housing providers disproportionately deny housing to ex-offender applicants and single parent applicants with young children. An ex-offender parent’s inability to acquire safe and affordable housing decreases the potential for reunification with their children and increases the risk of lost custody or parental rights termination. This dissertation consisted of two experiments that examined the effects of negative attitudes towards ex-offender parents on those parents’ ability to access safe and affordable housing. Experiment 1 was an experimental audit study which collected data in response to inquiries from an alleged single parent ex-offender rental applicant. Posing as an interested applicant, I emailed housing providers in cities across the U.S. with variations in criminal history (yes vs no) and family status (living alone vs living with an adult sibling vs living with a child) to ostensibly inquire about an apartment to rent. The housing providers took longer to respond, were more likely to respond negatively, and were less likely to send an application to an applicant with a criminal history than one who did not disclose a prior offense. They were also significantly less likely to respond, but more likely to respond negatively, to applicants with a child than those who lived alone or with an adult sibling. In a two-phase online experimental community survey, Experiment 2 measured the participants’ implicit and explicit attitudes towards ex-offenders and single parents before employing a fractional factorial design to assess how individuals acting as rental agents weighed the applicant’s race, gender, income, criminal history, and family status in the decision-making process. Participants were more likely to rent to an unknown applicant over a target applicant with a prior felony conviction (compared to no felony conviction). Explicit, but not implicit, attitudes towards both ex-offenders and single parents also predicted the rental decision

Behavioral Pharmacy

In the text that follows, the development of a coherent and recognizable teaching and research field devoted to the development of the behavioral and social sciences in pharmacy is proposed. It is important for teachers and researchers in this field to establish a common and recognizable identity; to share basic definitions, purposes and criteria; and to develop forums (such as scientific meetings ·and perhaps a journal) for the exchange and nourishment of the behavioral science knowledge that they generate. It is suggested that this field be called behavioral pharmacy. This title is suggested primarily because Of recent· participant agreement and NIH legitimization given to the title behavioral medicine for a closely allied field concerned with behavior and health

Seeing motion and apparent motion

In apparent motion experiments, participants are presented with what is in fact a succession of two brief stationary stimuli at two different locations, but they report an impression of movement. Philosophers have recently debated whether apparent motion provides evidence in favour of a particular account of the nature of temporal experience. I argue that the existing discussion in this area is premised on a mistaken view of the phenomenology of apparent motion and, as a result, the space of possible philosophical positions has not yet been fully explored. In particular, I argue that the existence of apparent motion is compatible with an account of the nature of temporal experience that involves a version of direct realism. In doing so, I also argue against two other claims often made about apparent motion, viz. that apparent motion is the psychological phenomenon that underlies motion experience in the cinema, and that apparent motion is subjectively indistinguishable from real motion

The Changing Role of Pharmacists as Evidenced by the Strong Vocational Interest Blank

The Strong Vocational Interest Blank/Strong Campbell Interest Inventory-Merged Form, or simply Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB), is widely used to determine the suitability of a student\u27s interests to a particular field. In the process of norming the instrument, data concerning the satisfaction of practitioners of a field and their responses on the instrument are gathered. Such data lend themselves to analysis of trends in the characteristics of those practitioners both over time and over the satisfaction spectrum. Hence changes in the field and characteristics lending themselves to satisfaction can be ascertained

Impact of human bladder cancer cell architecture on autologous T-lymphocyte activation

To investigate the influence of tumor cell architecture on T-cell activation, we used an autologous human model based on 2 bladder tumor cell lines as targets for cytotoxic tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). These tumor cell lines were grown in vitro as either standard 2-dimensional (2D) monolayers or 3-dimensional (3D) spheroids. T-cell activation was determined by measuring the production of three major cytokines (tumor necrosis factor, granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interferon-gamma), known to be secreted by most activated TILs. Changes in the architecture of target cells from 2D to 3D induced a dramatic decrease in their capacity for stimulating TILs. Interestingly, neither TIL infiltration nor MHC class I, B7.1 costimulatory or lymphocyte function-associated factor-3 adhesion molecule downregulation played a major role in this decrease. These findings demonstrate that tumor architecture has a major impact on T-cell activation and might be implicated in the escape of tumor cells from the immune system

Generation of folk song melodies using Bayes transforms

The paper introduces the `Bayes transform', a mathematical procedure for putting data into a hierarchical representation. Applicable to any type of data, the procedure yields interesting results when applied to sequences. In this case, the representation obtained implicitly models the repetition hierarchy of the source. There are then natural applications to music. Derivation of Bayes transforms can be the means of determining the repetition hierarchy of note sequences (melodies) in an empirical and domain-general way. The paper investigates application of this approach to Folk Song, examining the results that can be obtained by treating such transforms as generative models

Standing by our principles: Meaningful guidance, moral foundations, and multi-principle methodology in medical scarcity

Background Several quantitative surveys have been conducted internationally to gather empirical information about physicians’ general attitudes towards health care rationing. Are physicians ready to accept and implement rationing, or are they rather reluctant? Do they prefer implicit bedside rationing that allows the physician–patient relationship broad leeway in individual decisions? Or do physicians prefer strategies that apply explicit criteria and rules? Objectives To analyse the range of survey findings on rationing. To discuss differences in response patterns. To provide recommendations for the enhancement of transparency and systematic conduct in reviewing survey literature. Methods A systematic search was performed for all English and non-English language references using CINAHL, EMBASE, and MEDLINE. Three blinded experts independently evaluated title and abstract of each reference. Survey items were extracted that match with: (i) willingness to ration health care or (ii) preferences for different rationing strategies. Results 16 studies were eventually included in the systematic review. Percentages of respondents willing to accept rationing ranged from 94% to 9%. Conclusions The conflicting findings among studies illustrate important ambivalence in physicians that has several implications for health policy. Moreover, this review highlights the importance to interpret survey findings in context of the results of all previous relevant studies

A Spitzer IRAC Imaging Survey for T Dwarf Companions Around M, L, and T Dwarfs: Observations, Results, and Monte Carlo Population Analyses

We report observational techniques, results, and Monte Carlo population analyses from a Spitzer Infrared Array Camera imaging survey for substellar companions to 117 nearby M, L, and T dwarf systems (median distance of 10 pc, mass range of 0.6 to \sim0.05 M\odot). The two-epoch survey achieves typical detection sensitivities to substellar companions of [4.5 {\mu}m] \leq 17.2 mag for angular separations between about 7" and 165". Based on common proper motion analysis, we find no evidence for new substellar companions. Using Monte Carlo orbital simulations (assuming random inclination, random eccentricity, and random longitude of pericenter), we conclude that the observational sensitivities translate to an ability to detect 600-1100K brown dwarf companions at semimajor axes greater than ~35 AU, and to detect 500-600K companions at semimajor axes greater than ~60 AU. The simulations also estimate a 600-1100K T dwarf companion fraction of < 3.4% for 35-1200 AU separations, and < 12.4% for the 500-600K companions, for 60-1000 AU separations.Comment: 35 pages, 6 figure

Pharmacists in Pharmacovigilance: Can Increased Diagnostic Opportunity in Community Settings Translate to Better Vigilance?

The pharmacy profession has undergone substantial change over the last two to three decades. Whilst medicine supply still remains a central function, pharmacist’s roles and responsibilities have become more clinic and patient focused. In the community (primary care), pharmacists have become important providers of healthcare as Western healthcare policy advocates patient self-care. This has resulted in pharmacists taking on greater responsibility in managing minor illness and the delivery of public health interventions. These roles require pharmacists to more fully use their clinical skills, and often involve diagnosis and therapeutic management. Community pharmacists are now, more than ever before, in a position to identify, record and report medication safety incidents. However, current research suggests that diagnostic ability of community pharmacists is questionable and they infrequently report to local or national schemes. The aim of this paper is to highlight current practice and suggest ways in which community pharmacy can more fully contribute to patient safety