Global Awakening in Genetic Counseling

The article by Ricki Lewis, Nature, Volume 449,October 18, 2007, correctly points out that the genetic counseling profession is on the "verge of being discovered by the rest of the world". The rapid recognition of genes associated with single-gene disorders and complex conditions has deepened our understanding of the role of genetics in health and illness. The impact of genetic conditions on individuals and families, particularly in ethical, legal and psychosocial arenas, requires specially trained professionals to work in this unique and growing dimension of healthcare. The Transnational Alliance for Genetic Counseling (TAGC) represents fifteen countries currently providing genetic counselor education across five continents

Taking into Account the Variations of Neighbourhood Sizes in the Mean-Field Approximation of the Threshold Model on a Random Network

We compare the individual-based \'threshold model\' of innovation diffusion in the version which has been studied by Young (1998), with an aggregate model we derived from it. This model allows us to formalise and test hypotheses on the influence of individual characteristics upon global evolution. The classical threshold model supposes that an individual adopts a behaviour according to a trade-off between a social pressure and a personal interest. Our study considers only the case where all have the same threshold. We present an aggregated model, which takes into account variations of the neighbourhood sizes, whereas previous work assumed this size fixed (Edwards et al. 2003a). The comparison between the aggregated models (the first one assuming a neighbourhood size and the second one, a variable one) points out an improvement of the approximation in most of the value of parameter space. This proves that the average degree of connectivity (first aggregated model) is not sufficient for characterising the evolution, and that the node degree variability has an impact on the diffusion dynamics. Remaining differences between both models give us some clues about the specific ability of individual-based model to maintain a minority behaviour which becomes a majority by an addition of stochastic effects.Aggregate; Individual-Based Model; Innovation Diffusion; Mean Field Approximation; Model Comparison; Social Network Effect

Investigating the Causes of Repeated Presidential Failure in South America

This dissertation examines the issue of presidential failure — any instance in which a president fails to complete his/her term in office without a break in the democratic regime. South America stands as an anomaly for having faced an uncommonly high rate of presidential failure, as eleven elected presidents have failed to complete their terms in office since the third wave of democratization. This phenomenon presents an interesting puzzle for scholars because it allows for inquiries into governmental stability as well as executive accountability. I evaluate the causes of presidential failure in South America through a multi-method approach that looks at the phenomenon from three different levels of analysis. First, I examine the cross-national trends that explain why presidents are removed from office in South America. Various scholars have analyzed the reasons that presidents fail in Latin America. This assessment builds on those past arguments in order to perform a comprehensive analysis of South American presidential failure. I focus on variables that have not consistently been utilized in the past. More than that, this analysis uses a new technique, survival modeling, to identify those factors that increase or decrease the likelihood that a president will complete his or her term in office. Through this analysis, I identify the importance of minority legislative support, inflation, prolonged recession, executive wrongdoing, and protest in increasing the likelihood that a president will fall. Second, I perform two national assessments of repeated presidential failure. The cross-national statistical analysis shows that certain factors put presidents at risk. The qualitative analyses of Argentina and Ecuador, two countries with repeated failure, allow for process-tracing in order to identify how presidents are removed. I draw from the importance of protest and legislative opposition, which are found significant in the survival model, to explain presidential failure in these two countries. I show that political actors with poder de convocatoria (power to convoke/rallying power) can use that power to challenge a president when he/she faces other performance-related issues, like scandal or economic problems. The study of Argentina highlights how the Peronist Party maintains this power through a variety of connections to its organized base. This relationship to base support changes over time and is visible in each instance of presidential failure. On the other hand, Ecuador demonstrates the importance of the indigenous movement in explaining mobilization against presidents. The Argentine story shows how presidential failure flows from an actor with power, a top-down process. Ecuadorian presidential failure shows the bottom-up path of failure that occurs when actors who have lacked traditional access to politics oppose presidents. Third, I analyze survey responses from Argentine and Ecuadorian citizens in order to identify why individuals in these countries choose to protest. I assess what demographic, organizational, and attitudinal factors influence the likelihood of failure. As protest is instrumental to the process of failure, this final assessment demonstrates the importance of civil society organizations and unions in pushing individuals into the street, supporting the findings of the previous two sections. Thus, the causal mechanisms of failure can be witnessed at cross-national, national, and individual levels of analysis. In conclusion, I discuss the important implications of this research for Latin American politics. I provide predictions for the future of presidential stability in the region, and I assess how recent protests differ from those of the past

The Understandings and Human Cost of ‘Prevention Through Deterrence,’ as seen amongst advocates in the United States and Mexico

In the last two years of President Donald Trump and his administration, immigration and border regulations between the United States (US) and Mexico has become one of the most decisive and hottest political issues. This political struggle has brought into question US border practices and strategies such as physical barriers, denial of entry, detention, and, most importantly, how the US should respond to immigration. In reality, though, this question has existed since immigration along the US-Mexico border began. In this paper, I examine a 1994 US Border Strategy, first introduced under President Bill Clinton, called ‘Prevention Through Deterrence.’ This border strategy was one of the first stances that the US government took to begin curbing immigration and closing the border. My research question focused on the understandings and ramifications of this US border strategy amongst advocates in the US and Mexico. Using interview data and existing literature, I demonstrate that ‘Prevention Through Deterrence’ is: (1) the driving force behind recent policies such as family separation, detention, and criminalization; (2) a strategy founded on false choices; and (3) an imprisonment of non-criminal spaces. Overall, my findings came together to question the legality of ‘Prevention Through Deterrence’ and highlight the human cost, personal narratives, and cruelty attached to this border strategy

Confidence in Initiation of Breastfeeding

Background: Breastfeeding confers health and social benefits on both mother and baby and is thus a key global public health priority, with exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months recommended. A variety of factors can influence a woman’s decision to initiate breastfeeding but a short duration of breastfeeding appears to be common in developed countries. In the UK, promotion of breastfeeding has been government policy since 1974 and gradually the incidence has increased. In Scotland in 2010 the incidence was 74% but by one week 17% of women had given up. A minority of women find that their babies attach easily at birth and more than half report problems at this time. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding falls sharply in the first few weeks and the introduction of formula is associated with a shorter duration. It is therefore crucial to understand what happens at this time to enable women to continue breastfeeding effectively. Study Aim: To use Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) to explore and help explain the expectations, knowledge and experiences of women and midwives with regard to breastfeeding initiation. Methods: A systematic review of qualitative studies synthesised using thematic analysis and SCT was conducted and afforded insight into what had been known before and highlighted further aspects that needed to be explored with a qualitative study. The qualitative study was comprised of five focus groups with ten antenatal women, eight postnatal women and eighteen midwives. Photographs included in a leaflet “Feeding cues at birth”, and the chart of “Feeding cues after the first few hours” were developed and used as focussing exercises during the focus groups and interviews. The focus groups and interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using a hybrid process of inductive and deductive thematic analysis which integrated data driven codes with theory driven codes based on SCT. Results: Twenty one studies were included in the systematic review and identified clear differences in the experiences of women when breastfeeding was going well as compared to when it was going wrong at the start. There were also differences in the midwives’ knowledge, experience and confidence when breastfeeding was going well in contrast to when it was going wrong. The synthesis did not identify any qualitative studies relevant to initiation which explored skin contact, instinctive behaviour or strategies to resolve failure to attach in the first few days after birth, from the perspectives of mothers and midwives. These topics were therefore explored in detail in the qualitative study. Few mothers recruited to my study experienced instinctive behaviour and successful attachment (in SCT enactive behaviour) at birth. The majority of mothers did not experience attachment at birth and struggled to persist and maintain their motivation to enable breastfeeding initiation in an unfamiliar environment. Midwives’ social expectations and environmental circumstances made women centred care difficult. Midwives considered that sleepy babies who were unable to feed were normal, but women were unprepared for this, compounding the difficulties in initiating breastfeeding. The triangulation of the findings from the systematic review and the qualitative study provide a more complete picture of contributory factors to understanding of difficulties in breastfeeding initiation. Conclusion: It is recognised that behaviour interacts with emotions, perceived abilities and the environment, as in triadic reciprocal causation, which affects peoples’ decisions, experiences and abilities to enable the successful initiation of breastfeeding. Social Cognitive Theory could be used as a framework to develop strategies and materials to enhance women’s confidence both antenatally and in the postnatal period. In a minority of women, breastfeeding goes well and is more likely when the baby is an active participant and the midwife a knowledgeable and confident supporter. This is not the case for the majority of women and babies or their midwives. There is a need to consider strategies to develop appropriate skills and environmental changes that would in turn lead to changes in behaviour and successful interventions. More emphasis should be made clinically on facilitating instinctive behaviour. The current position where babies’ sleepy behaviour is considered normal in this particular environment could be challenged. Social Cognitive Theory could be utilised in research to develop strategies to increase women’s and midwives’ confidence specifically in initiation

Creating An “Invitational Classroom” In The Online Educational Milieu

Parker Palmer, a scholar who studied effective face-to-face teaching, introduced the term the “invitational classroom” (1993, p. 71). In particular Palmer emphasized that “an air of hospitality” facilitated an inviting educational environment (p. 71). Hospitality in Palmer’s words means “receiving each other, our struggles, our newborn ideas, with openness and care” (p. 74). Palmer concludes that both teachers and learners experience positive consequence when the class environment is invitational. This paper explores a category of innovative teaching strategies, called artistic pedagogical technologies (APTs) that facilitate the experience of an invitational classroom in online courses (Perry & Edwards, 2010). APTs are teaching strategies founded in the arts. APTs described in this paper include photovoice, parallel poetry, and conceptual quilting. A study of the effect of these APTs on graduate students and instructors from a Canadian online university is described. The data collection and data analysis processes used in the study are detailed. Both students and instructors found the online classroom environment changed in a positive way in part because of APTs. Research participants reported that APTs initiated, sustained, and enhanced interactions among students and between students and the instructors (Perry & Edwards, 2010). These findings are analyzed using Palmer’s concepts of hospitality and the invitational classroom and Wenger’s Social Theory of Learning (1990). Practical ideas for educators regarding the use of APTS in teaching and course design are reviewed.

Women's higher education in Japan: Family background, economic factors, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Law

Since the mid-1980s there has been a striking increase in the propensity of young Japanese women to attend four-year universities. During this same period, the Japanese Diet, in 1985, passed the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, which focused on improving women's access to career employment. This paper uses micro data from the Japanese Panel Survey on Consumers (JPSC) to investigate the importance of socioeconomic and demographic factors, as well as the EEO Law, in determining the higher education decisions of young women in Japan. We find that one of the most important factors for determining whether or not a young woman attends university is whether or not her mother attended university. Other important factors we identify include whether or not her father attended university, whether or not the young woman attended juku in high school, family income, and attendance at private secondary school. Data limitations prevent drawing strong conclusions about the role of the passage of the EEO Law, but our results suggest that the passage of the law was associated with an increase in the propensity of young women to choose university over junior college

Two dimensional Hotelling model : analytical results and numerical simulations

We present an analytical solution to a two dimensional Hotelling model with quadratic transportation costs for two stores in a square city. We assume that the consumers choice as to which store to patronize is tempered by a logit function. As in the one-dimensional case, stores are led to aggregate spatially as the disorder introduced by the logit increases. This solution is confirmed by numerical simulations

"What's Going On in There?": How Users Are Using Resources for Collaboration in Reservable Group Study Rooms in the University Libraries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

In an era where students rely on the academic library much more often for study space and services than for locating books, libraries have had to increase focus on what students need to successfully study. With a rise in collaborative assignments, one thing students need is collaborative group study space, but it is often difficult for library staff to discern what exactly students need from these necessarily private areas. This study sent surveys to group study room users at The University Libraries at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and observed group study room sessions to learn how students use the resources in these spaces. Findings indicate that convenience is an important factor for resource use, remote collaboration and interviews occur in the spaces, and Google Documents are important parts of the student collaboration process. Use based on factors such as department affiliation is also discussed.Master of Science in Library Scienc