Managing the Socially Marginalized: Attitudes Towards Welfare, Punishment and Race

Welfare and incarceration policies have converged to form a system of governance over socially marginalized groups, particularly racial minorities. In both of these policy areas, rehabilitative and social support objectives have been replaced with a more punitive and restrictive system. The authors examine the convergence in individual-level attitudes concerning welfare and criminal punishment, using national survey data. The authors\u27 analysis indicates a statistically significant relationship between punitive attitudes toward welfare and punishment. Furthermore, accounting for the respondents\u27 racial attitudes explains the bivariate relationship between welfare and punishment. Thus, racial attitudes seemingly link support for punitive approaches to opposition to welfare expenditures. The authors discuss the implications of this study for welfare and crime control policies by way of the conclusion

Factors Associated with Revision Surgery after Internal Fixation of Hip Fractures

Background: Femoral neck fractures are associated with high rates of revision surgery after management with internal fixation. Using data from the Fixation using Alternative Implants for the Treatment of Hip fractures (FAITH) trial evaluating methods of internal fixation in patients with femoral neck fractures, we investigated associations between baseline and surgical factors and the need for revision surgery to promote healing, relieve pain, treat infection or improve function over 24 months postsurgery. Additionally, we investigated factors associated with (1) hardware removal and (2) implant exchange from cancellous screws (CS) or sliding hip screw (SHS) to total hip arthroplasty, hemiarthroplasty, or another internal fixation device. Methods: We identified 15 potential factors a priori that may be associated with revision surgery, 7 with hardware removal, and 14 with implant exchange. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses in our investigation. Results: Factors associated with increased risk of revision surgery included: female sex, [hazard ratio (HR) 1.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.50; P = 0.001], higher body mass index (fo

The UK: From Consensus to Confusion

When COVID-19 was found to be present in the UK, it was emerging from three years of political instability led by a government who had just acquired a significant majority on the platform of getting Brexit done. After some initial vacillation on the extent of the threat posed and how to minimise impact on the economy, the UK went into full lockdown with a clear, consistent message largely unchallenged. The lack of preparedness for a pandemic was obvious; however, the systems coped. It was only when it was revealed that the prime minister’s special adviser had broken lockdown rules that cracks in the consensus emerged. The relaxation of lockdown proceeded to be more chaotic, with U-turns on schools and face coverings, but the sense of national purpose and unity remains strong

From Consensus to Dissensus: The UK's Management of a Pandemic in a Divided Nation

This Chapter conducts a thematic content analysis of the 92 daily coronavirus press briefings conducted by the UK government in 2020. It examines these within the context of the early months of the pandemic, the public and media response, and the intrusion of partisan politics, including the development of local, regional and national narratives that challenged the Westminster story. What vision of national leadership was presented? How did the briefings represent national identity? How successful were the government’s attempts to convey consensus, unity and equality? Three distinct phases are identified: 1. 2nd March to 27th March – establishing the lockdown led by Boris Johnson. 2. 27th March to 26thApril – Johnson’s absence with Coronavirus 3. 27th April to date – Johnson’s ‘bounceback’. As astonishing as the government’s volte face, was the extent to which the opposition, public and media rallied round the flag during the first two phases. This did not last, but why? We argue that the answer will help us to identify the essential ingredients of public trust in government and governing politicians

Map of the study region, showing the four main study sites in South-east Queensland as well as the additional survey sites in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia.

<p>Map of the study region, showing the four main study sites in South-east Queensland as well as the additional survey sites in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia.</p

Under the ‘weather linked <i>Bd</i> proliferation hypothesis’, chytridiomycosis dynamics are largely driven by pathogen proliferation (growth) under suitable climatic conditions.

<p>This hypothesis predicts that modelled pathogen growth (GI_W, averaged over the 30 days prior to sampling; GI₃₀) should be positively related to a) disease prevalence in the population (R² = 0.247, F_1,39 = 12.79, p<0.001) (Prediction 3) and c) infection intensity of infected individuals (R² = 0.186, F_1,39 = 8.91, p = 0.005) (Prediction 1) because frogs are ectothermic growth media and disease/transmission dynamics will be dependent on the number of dispersing zoospores. This hypothesis thus also predicts that b) population prevalence should be positively related to infection intensity of infected individuals (R² = 0.284, F_1,39 = 15.49, p<0.001) (Prediction 2).</p

Variable importance plot from the Random Forest (RF) framework for predicting infection status in adult male <i>Litoria pearsoniana</i> captured at four study sites across three years of study (2006–2009).

<p>To assess importance of each variable: after growing the kth tree, the values of the target variable among all out-of-bag (OOB) cases are randomly permuted and the OOB cases are run down the tree. The decrease in the number of votes for the correct class due to permuting is averaged over the forest. RH.minT₃₀ is the average maximum relative humidity in the 30 days prior to sampling, Rain when sampling is the amount of rain (in mm) on the day swabs were taken in the field, T.max₃₀ is the average maximum temperature in the 30 days prior to sampling, Year is the year in which samples were taken, Body size is measured as snout-urostyle length (SUL; measured in mm).</p

Partial dependence plot from the Random Forest (RF) framework showing the relationship between probability of <i>Bd</i> infection and month of the active season for adult male <i>L. pearsoniana</i>.

<p>This seasonal pattern of infection is now considered typical in forest frogs in subtropical south-east Queensland (see e.g., Kriger and Hero 2007).</p