Legal Barriers in Child Abuse Investigations: State Powers and Individual Rights

This article addresses the legal dimensions of an important and difficult problem sometimes faced by social workers employed with child protection agencies: noncooperation with investigations. This problem can arise when the child\u27s family denies access to the home or the child, or when others, such as schools and health providers, decline to cooperate with the investigation. This article identifies the constitutionally based procedural requirements that are applicable to child abuse investigations. It then proposes specific legislative reforms consistent with these constitutional requirements. The discussion of procedural requirements for child protection proceedings necessarily considers whether existing criminal and administrative procedures apply to the child welfare context. The article covers three related areas in child abuse investigations: First, methods for gaining access to the child\u27s residence and to other places where evidence regarding child abuse may be found; second, methods for gaining access to the child for an interview, for observation, or for lay or medical examination; and third, methods for obtaining records or other information relevant to the investigation. The focus of the article is limited to the period of time prior to the drastic step of filing a child abuse petition or placing a child away from home

Legal Barriers in Child Abuse Investigations: State Powers and Individual Rights

This article addresses the legal dimensions of an important and difficult problem sometimes faced by social workers employed with child protection agencies: noncooperation with investigations. This problem can arise when the child\u27s family denies access to the home or the child, or when others, such as schools and health providers, decline to cooperate with the investigation. This article identifies the constitutionally based procedural requirements that are applicable to child abuse investigations. It then proposes specific legislative reforms consistent with these constitutional requirements. The discussion of procedural requirements for child protection proceedings necessarily considers whether existing criminal and administrative procedures apply to the child welfare context. The article covers three related areas in child abuse investigations: First, methods for gaining access to the child\u27s residence and to other places where evidence regarding child abuse may be found; second, methods for gaining access to the child for an interview, for observation, or for lay or medical examination; and third, methods for obtaining records or other information relevant to the investigation. The focus of the article is limited to the period of time prior to the drastic step of filing a child abuse petition or placing a child away from home

Differential expression analysis for multiple conditions

As high-throughput sequencing has become common practice, the cost of sequencing large amounts of genetic data has been drastically reduced, leading to much larger data sets for analysis. One important task is to identify biological conditions that lead to unusually high or low expression of a particular gene. Packages such as DESeq implement a simple method for testing differential signal when exactly two biological conditions are possible. For more than two conditions, pairwise testing is typically used. Here the DESeq method is extended so that three or more biological conditions can be assessed simultaneously. Because the computation time grows exponentially in the number of conditions, a Monte Carlo approach provides a fast way to approximate the $p$-values for the new test. The approach is studied on both simulated data and a data set of {\em C. jejuni}, the bacteria responsible for most food poisoning in the United States

A Chorus Line: Does It Abide By Rules Established By Actors\u27 Equity Association For The Audition Process?

I have been cast as Bobby in A Chorus Line at Orlando Broadway Dinner Theatre in Orlando. I will use this opportunity as my thesis role. As part of my thesis defense, I will combine an analysis of the character of Bobby in A Chorus Line with an assessment of Actors\u27 Equity Association\u27s audition policies from 1970 to the present, and investigate whether the audition held in the show abides by the policies established by AEA for Broadway calls. Bobby has an interesting arc of development as he actually gives the director what he (the director) does not want, yet is still cast in the fictitious Broadway show. Why he would choose to stray from the director\u27s instructions is an interesting question and demanding study. To facilitate my research on the character (aside from script and score analysis), I will interview Thommie Walsh (about for whom the role was written and the original Bobby on Broadway) as well as other men who have played the role to get insights into the character that will enhance my performance. Mr. Walsh will also elaborate on his real-life relationship with Michael Bennett and how that compares and contrasts with the relationship between Bobby and Zach. I also will interview as many of the original cast members as possible (namely Baayork Lee) to get contributing memories and anecdotal evidence from the original production. A Chorus Line captures the one element all performers experience the audition. The audition process has changed over the years, and I will focus on the development of protocol from the early 1970\u27s (when A Chorus Line takes place) to the present. I will explore the manner in which the process has evolved and what A Chorus Line\u27s contribution was (if any) to that process. This show has become so much a part of the musical theatre vernacular that historical exploration of procedures would also clarify how this work was structured. Were actors subjected to that intense style of audition on a huge stage in the early 1970s? Are they still today? My research will trace the history and rules governing auditions, performers and staff as delineated by Actors\u27 Equity Association. I will also include a comparison of Equity to the variety of non-Equity auditions. Other sources will include rulebooks from AEA and interviews with dancers (past and present), AEA staff and Patrick Quinn, President of AEA

Mutations to the caveolin scaffolding domain reduces Caveolin-1 targeting of glycolytic enzymes to lymphocyte membranes [abstract]

Abstract only availablePreviously, we found caveolin (CAV-1) expressed by transfection in cultured lymphocytes induced caveolae formation and targeted the glycolytic enzyme phosphofructokinase (PFK) to the membrane. We also found CAV-1 targets other glycolytic enzymes such as aldolase (ALD)and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) to the plasma membrane in the CAV-1 transfected lymphocytes. Here we hypothesized that if a mutant CAV-1 (which has essential aromatic residues in the caveolin scaffolding domain (CSD) mutated) is expressed in the lymphocyte then colocalization of the glycolytic enzyme PFK with CAV-1 will be reduced. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the colocalization of CAV-1 with the glycolytic enzymes PFK, ALD and GAPDH in lymphocytes which expressed either a wild type CAV-1 (WT) or a mutant CAV-1 which had either one mutation (SM) or two mutations (DM) in the CSD. Colocalization analysis by confocal microscopy of cells immunoassayed for CAV-1 and ALD was 76.59% in lymphocytes transfected with CAV-1 WT, 23.96% in lymphocytes transfected with CAV-1 SM, and 58.74% in the lymphocytes transfected with CAV-1 DM. Analysis of colocalization of the enzymes PFK, GAPDH, and ALD with CAV-1 averaged 65.17% for the CAV-1 WT cells, 49.29% for the CAV-1 SM cells and 50.81% for the CAV-1 DM cells. The shift in distribution of glycolytic enzymes and CAV-1 in the CAV-1 WT, the CAV-1 SM or DM CAV-1 types indicates that a single mutation to the CSD reduces membrane targeting of glycolytic enzymes, and two mutations in the CSD produces retention of CAV-1 in the cytosol. These results suggest that an intact CSD domain is essential to the CAV-1 targeting of glycolytic enzymes to the membrane

Establishing Effective Global Virtual Student Teams

Research problem: In the educational arena, virtual teams made up of students who are located in more than one country are becoming increasingly commonplace. However, studies of the technological, social, and organizational factors that contribute to the success of these global virtual student teams (GVSTs) have yet to be systematically identified and discussed. In this paper, we seek to address this gap in our knowledge, drawing on several years of experience with GVSTs and addressing the following research question: How can university instructors establish effective GVST projects? Situating the case: The cases that we explore in this paper involve GVSTs with team members located variously in Hong Kong (all four cases), the USA (two cases), the UK (one case), and Singapore (one case). Students are a mix of undergraduate and graduate. How the case was studied: Our pedagogical purpose for running the GVST projects was to expose students to international communication and negotiation practices. The case designs involved situations where the student team members had to work collaboratively on a variety of tasks. We collected observational data and survey data, and required the team members to submit individual reflective reports about their learning experiences. About the case: We examine cultural differences among teams. We also note how issues of time and space vary across these teams, and consider how sufficient trust may be developed between team members to ensure productive work. Conclusion: From the four cases, we elicit 10 pertinent operational factors that should be of value to educators planning GVST projects

Formative versus reflective measurement: Comment on Marakas, Johnson, and Clay (2007)

In a recent issue of the Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Marakas, Johnson, and Clay (2007) presented an interesting and important discussion on formative versus reflective measurement, specifically related to the measurement of the computer self-efficacy (CSE) construct. However, we believe their recommendation to measure CSE constructs using formative indicators merits additional dialogue before being adopted by researchers. In the current study we discuss why the substantive theory underlying the CSE construct suggests that it is best measured using reflective indicators. We then provide empirical evidence demonstrating how the misspecification of existing CSE measures as formative can result in unstable estimates across varying endogenous variables and research contexts. Specifically, we demonstrate how formative indicator weights are dependent on the endogenous variable used to estimate them. Given that the strength of formative indicator weights is one metric used for determining indicator retention, and adding or dropping formative indicators can result in changes in the conceptual meaning of a construct, the use of formative measurement can result in the retention of different indicators and ultimately the measurement of different concepts across studies. As a result, the comparison of findings across studies over time becomes conceptually problematic and compromises our ability to replicate and extend research in a particular domain. We discuss not only the consequences of using formative versus reflective measures in CSE research but also the broader implications this choice has on research in other domains