Unlocking the Latino Vote: Civic Organizations As Tools for Latino Voter Mobilization and Participation

For decades now, politicians, pollsters and pundits have tried to define, unite and persuade Latino voters. Presidential campaigns dating as far back as the 1960s have made efforts to appeal to the Latino electorate in order to win elections. In 1983 Ronald Reagan concerned himself with winning over Latinos voters during his reelection bid. Today, the diversifying electorate has placed Latinos at the center of twenty-first century American politics. It is no secret that Latinos are the largest minority population in the United States. Their share of the electorate increases daily, along with their importance in winning national elections. Now more than ever, the Latino voting bloc is the apple of every presidential campaign’s eye. Part of the appeal is that Latino voters are largely undecided about their political party affiliations. They have supported both Democratic and Republican candidates in the past, and have taken both liberal and conservative stances on a variety of social issues. Another factor is that a good number of Latinos live in important swing districts across the country in states such as Colorado, Virginia and Florida. Their votes are critical to winning any presidential campaign. For these reasons, the “Latino vote” has become one of the most talked about topics among politicos and strategists. However, absent from the discussion is whether or not a homogenous Latino vote actually exists. The diverse backgrounds and experiences among Latinos in the United States suggest that they share little in common with one another. So far, there is no indication of a pan-ethnic Latino identity or culture. On the other hand, there is evidence to suggest that Latinos in the United States are beginning to band together to push for common causes and agendas that are particular to their communities. Does increased unity among Latinos mean they will all vote in the same way? This thesis weighs competing theories on the Latino vote through the lens of Latino civic organizations. Through two case studies of Latino civic institutions that operate at the local and national levels, and in suburban and urban communities, this thesis concludes that civic organizations are mainstays in Latino communities and provide important resources to Latinos of all backgrounds to participate in civic life. They are gradually becoming the primary places where Latinos can learn civic skills and mobilize to participate in political and nonpolitical activities. Due to their nonpartisan nature, though, they alone are not enough to confirm the existence of a Latino vote. By examining Latino civic organizations, this thesis contributes to theoretical discussions of Latino politics and draws conclusions about the feasibility and future of a homogenous Latino vote

Alcohol treatment policy 1950-1990 : from alcohol treatment to alcohol problems management.

The thesis draws on historical and social policy perspectives to examine the factors influencing development and change in alcohol treatment policy between 1950 and 1990. The study uses data from primary and secondary documentation and from taped interviews. Three themes are highlighted as particularly relevant to an examination of policy trends. The first of these is the emergence and evolution of a `policy community'. Spearheaded by psychiatrists in the 1960s, the `policy community' broadened to include other professional groups and the voluntary sector by the 1990s. The second theme concerns the role of research in influencing the nature and direction of treatment policy. The study indicates increasing use of research as the rationale for policy and illustrates the move towards a `contractor' relationship between research workers and policy makers. The final theme deals with the influence on policy of ideological frames and changing conceptualisations of the alcohol problem. Two major shifts were important for treatment, the re-discovery of the disease concept of alcoholism in the 1950s and the emergence of a new public health model of alcohol problems in the 1970s. Within these broad themes, the study includes an examination of tensions - between different professional perspectives, between government departments with differing responsibilities, between different ideologies - and of moves to secure consensus in the formulation and implementation of treatment policy. The final chapter addresses shifts in thinking from the re-emergence of a `disease' model of alcoholism in the 1950s, to a `consumptionist' (population-based) model in the 1970s, towards a `harm reduction' approach to alcohol problems management in the 1990s. The thesis concludes that over the past forty years competing paradigms of the alcohol problem have emerged and gained policy salience within particular historical-social contexts in the search for policy consensus to manage the problematic aspects of alcohol consumption

Incidence of pregnancy among women accessing antiretroviral therapy in urban Malawi: a retrospective cohort study.

Although previous studies investigated pregnancy rates among women on antiretroviral therapy (ART), incidence of, and factors associated with pregnancy among these women remain poorly understood. We, therefore, conducted a retrospective cohort study at a large public HIV clinic in Lilongwe, Malawi, between July 2007 and December 2010. At each clinic visit, pregnancy status was assessed. Time to event analysis was conducted using Poisson regression. Among 4,738 women, 589 pregnancies were observed. Pregnancy incidence was 9.3/100 person-years. After 6 months on ART, women on ART had similar total fertility rates to women in the urban population. In multivariable analysis, increasing age and advanced WHO clinical stage were associated with decreased probability of becoming pregnant while higher body mass index and longer time on ART were associated with increased probability of becoming pregnant. We recommend that ART clinics integrate comprehensive family planning services to address reproductive health needs among women on ART

Application of Fluorous Polymer Matrixes in Ion-Selective Elcetrodes

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation.August 2016. Major: Chemistry. Advisor: Philippe Buhlmann. 1 computer file (PDF); xviii, 207 pages.Polyperfluoro(4-vinyloxy-1-butene), which is also known as Cytop, and poly[4,5-difluoro-2,2,-bis (trifluoromethyl)-1,3-dioxole]-co-poly(tetrafluoroethylene) copolymers with dioxole monomer contents of 65% or 87% (known as Teflon AF1600 and Teflon AF2400, respectively) were plasticized with four fluorous compounds. While plasticization of all polymers with perfluoroperhydrophenanthrene, perfluoro(1-methyldecalin), a perfluorotetraether with three trifluoromethyl side groups and one hydrogen atom, and a linear perfluorooligoether with an average of 14.3 ether groups per molecule was successful, these four plasticizers affected the twelve blends very differently. A threshold of plasticization beyond which further increases in the plasticizer volume fraction did not further affect the glass transition temperature, Tg, was observed for some blends. Also, the limit of miscibility ranged from as low as 20% plasticizer content to complete miscibility at all volume fractions. The blends of Teflon AF2400 or Teflon AF1600 with high contents of the linear perfluorooligoether provided Tg values as low as –114 ºC, lower than for any other fully miscible blend. The occurrence of two glass transitions in an intermediate range of plasticizer volume ratios for these two types of blends can be explained by distinct local environments rather than macroscopic phase separation, as anticipated by the Lodge-McLeish model. In spite of the widespread use of perfluorinated solvents with amino and ether groups in a variety of application fields, the coordinative properties of these compounds are poorly known. It is generally assumed that the electron withdrawing perfluorinated moieties render these functional groups rather inert, but little is known quantitatively about the extent of their inertness. This chapter reports on the interactions between inorganic monocations and perfluorotripentylamine and 2H-perfluoro-5,8,11-trimethyl-3,6,9,12-tetraoxapentadecane, as determined with fluorous liquid-membrane cation-selective electrodes doped with tetrakis[3,5-bis(perfluorohexyl)phenyl]borate salts. The amine does not undergo measurable association with any ion tested, and its formal pKa is shown to be smaller than –0.5. This is consistent with the nearly planar structure of the amine at its nitrogen center, as obtained with density functional theory calculations. The 2HPFTE interacts very weakly with Na+ and Li+. Assuming 1:1 stoichiometry, formal association constants were determined to be 2.3 and 1.5 M-1, respectively. This disproves an earlier proposition that the Lewis base character in such compounds may be non-existent. Due to the extremely low polarity of fluorous solvents and the resulting high extent of ion pair formation, a fluorophilic electrolyte salt with perfluoroalkyl substituents on both the cation and the anion had to be developed for these experiments. In its pure form, this first fluorophilic electrolyte salt is an ionic liquid with a glass transition temperature, Tg, of -18.5 ºC. Interestingly, the molar conductivity of solutions of this salt increases very steeply in the high concentration range, making it a particularly effective electrolyte salt. Fluorous media are the least polar and polarizable condensed phases known. Their use as membrane materials considerably increases the selectivity and robustness of ion-selective electrodes (ISEs). In this research, a fluorous amorphous perfluoropolymer was used for the first time as a matrix for an ISE membrane. Electrodes for pH measurements with membranes composed of poly[4,5-difluoro-2,2,-bis(trifluoromethyl)-1,3-dioxole]-co-poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (known as Teflon AF) as polymer matrix, a linear perfluorooligoether as plasticizer, sodium tetrakis(3,5-bis(perfluorohexyl)phenyl)borate providing for ionic sites, and bis[(perfluorooctyl)propyl]-2,2,2-trifluoroethylamine as H+-ionophore were investigated. All electrodes had excellent potentiometric selectivities, showed Nernstian responses to H+ over a wide pH range, exhibited enhanced mechanical stability and maintained their selectivity over at least four weeks. For membranes of low ionophore concentration, the polymer affected the sensor selectivity noticeably at polymer concentrations exceeding 15%. Also, the membrane resistance increased quite strongly at high polymer concentrations, which cannot be explained by the Mackie-Meares obstruction model. The selectivities and resistances depend on the polymer concentration because of a functional group associated with Teflon AF2400, with a concentration of one functional group per 854 monomer units of the polymer. In the fluorous environment of these membranes, this functional group binds to Na+, K+, Ca2+, and the unprotonated ionophore with binding constants of 103.5, 101.8, 106.8 and 104.4 M–1, respectively. Potentiometric and spectroscopic evidence indicates that these functional groups are COOH groups formed by the hydrolysis of carboxylic acid fluoride C(꞊O)F groups originally present in Teflon AF2400. The use of higher ionophore concentrations removes the undesirable effect of these COOH groups almost completely. Alternatively, the C(꞊O)F groups can be eliminated chemically. In this work we demonstrate the remarkable stability of fluorous-based ion-selective electrode (ISE) membranes by exposing them to a cleaning-in-place treatment, CIP, as it is used in many industrial processes. The sensing membranes were made up of a linear perfluoropolyether as membrane matrix, 0.5 mmol/kg ionic sites (tetrakis[3,5-bis(perfluorohexyl)phenyl]borate), 2 mmol/kg ionophore (tris[(perfluorooctyl)propyl]amine or tris[(perfluorooctyl)pentyl]amine), and Teflon AF2400. To mimic a typical CIP treatment, the electrodes were repeatedly exposed for 30 min to 3.0% NaOH solution at 90 ºC (pH ≈12.7). After ten exposures and a total of 5 h at 90 ºC, the fluorous sensing membranes doped with the more selective ionophore still showed the ability to respond with a theoretical (Nernstian) slope without loss in selectivity. Addition of a fluorophilic electrolyte salt reduced the membrane resistance by an order of magnitude

Repeat prenatal corticosteroid prior to preterm birth: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis for the PRECISE study group (prenatal repeat corticosteroid international IPD study group: assessing the effects using the best level of evidence) - study protocol

Background The aim of this individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis is to assess whether the effects of repeat prenatal corticosteroid treatment given to women at risk of preterm birth to benefit their babies are modified in a clinically meaningful way by factors related to the women or the trial protocol. Methods/Design The Prenatal Repeat Corticosteroid International IPD Study Group: assessing the effects using the best level of Evidence (PRECISE) Group will conduct an IPD meta-analysis. The PRECISE International Collaborative Group was formed in 2010 and data collection commenced in 2011. Eleven trials with up to 5,000 women and 6,000 infants are eligible for the PRECISE IPD meta-analysis. The primary study outcomes for the infants will be serious neonatal outcome (defined by the PRECISE International IPD Study Group as one of death (foetal, neonatal or infant); severe respiratory disease; severe intraventricular haemorrhage (grade 3 and 4); chronic lung disease; necrotising enterocolitis; serious retinopathy of prematurity; and cystic periventricular leukomalacia); use of respiratory support (defined as mechanical ventilation or continuous positive airways pressure or other respiratory support); and birth weight (Z-scores). For the children, the primary study outcomes will be death or any neurological disability (however defined by trialists at childhood follow up and may include developmental delay or intellectual impairment (developmental quotient or intelligence quotient more than one standard deviation below the mean), cerebral palsy (abnormality of tone with motor dysfunction), blindness (for example, corrected visual acuity worse than 6/60 in the better eye) or deafness (for example, hearing loss requiring amplification or worse)). For the women, the primary outcome will be maternal sepsis (defined as chorioamnionitis; pyrexia after trial entry requiring the use of antibiotics; puerperal sepsis; intrapartum fever requiring the use of antibiotics; or postnatal pyrexia). Discussion Data analyses are expected to commence in 2011 with results publicly available in 2012

Larval consumption and growth in host-shifted herbivorous insects: a test with the eastern tent caterpillar, Malacosoma americanum

General EcologyLaboratory experiments were conducted to analyze the ability of Malacosoma americanum, the eastern tent caterpillar, to consume, digest, convert, and grow on the leaves of non-host tree species found in close proximity to M. americanum populations in northern Michigan. Test tree species included Acer saccharum (sugar maple), Acer pensylvanicum (striped or moose maple), Fagus grandifolia (American beech), Quercus rubra (red oak),Elaeagnus angustifolia (Russian olive), and Prunus serotina (black cherry). Findings showed significant differences in relative growth rate, relative consumption rate, approximate digestibility, and efficiency of conversion of digestive matter in all test species aside from Q. rubra when compared to the specialized host P. serotina. No significant difference was found in comparing the same factors in test caterpillars fed Q. rubrawith those fed P. serotina. These results suggest possible existence of alternate available host species for M. americanum. This finding is consistent with previous observations of M. americanum feeding on oak species in nature during later instars.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61462/1/Carson_Gondalia_Schwartz_Thom_2008.pd

Implementation and Evaluation of an Intervention for Children in Afghanistan at Risk for Substance Use or Actively Using Psychoactive Substances

The present study examined the impact of a novel intervention for children at risk for substance use or actively using substances that was provided to 783 children between 4 and 18 years of age in Afghanistan. They received the Child Intervention for Living Drug-free (CHILD) protocol while in outpatient or residential treatment. CHILD included age-appropriate literacy and numeracy, drug education, basic living safety, and communication and trauma coping skills. A battery of measures examined multiple child health domains at treatment’s start and end and 12 weeks later. For younger children, there were no significant Gender or Gender X Time effects (all p’s > .16 and .35, resp.). The time main effect was significant for all outcomes (all p’s < .00192, the prespecified per-comparison error rate). Post hoc testing showed significant improvements from residential treatment entry to completion for all scales. For older children, a time main effect was significant for (all p’s < .00192, the prespecified per-comparison error rate) all but one outcome. Community follow-up means were significantly lower than residential treatment entry means. CHILD had a positive impact on children, and treatment impact endured from posttreatment to follow-up assessment

The woods around the ivory tower: A systematic review examining the value and relevance of school forests in the United States

Throughout the United States, many institutions of higher education own forested tracts, often called school forests, which they use for teaching, research, and demonstration purposes. These school forests provide a range of benefits to the communities in which they are located. However, because administration is often decoupled from research and teaching, those benefits might not always be evident to the individuals who make decisions about the management and use of school forests, which may undervalue their services and put these areas at risk for sale, development, or over-harvesting to generate revenue. To understand what messages are being conveyed about the value and relevance of school forests, we conducted a systematic literature review and qualitatively coded the resulting literature content using an ecosystem services framework. While school forests provide many important benefits to academic and local communities, we found that most of the existing literature omits discussions about cultural ecosystem services that people may receive from school forests. We discuss the implications of this omission and make recommendations for addressing it

Some general properties of the renormalized stress-energy tensor for static quantum states on (n+1)-dimensional spherically symmetric black holes

We study the renormalized stress-energy tensor (RSET) for static quantum states on (n+1)-dimensional, static, spherically symmetric black holes. By solving the conservation equations, we are able to write the stress-energy tensor in terms of a single unknown function of the radial co-ordinate, plus two arbitrary constants. Conditions for the stress-energy tensor to be regular at event horizons (including the extremal and ``ultra-extremal'' cases) are then derived using generalized Kruskal-like co-ordinates. These results should be useful for future calculations of the RSET for static quantum states on spherically symmetric black hole geometries in any number of space-time dimensions.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, RevTeX4, references added, accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitatio