Lesbian Mothers & Gay Fathers: Overt and Subconscious Homophobic Biases Concerning Parental Fitness

Disputes in family law, particularly in child custody and access cases, often involve emotionally charged parties. These parties, when pitted against one other in an adversarial system, often seek to discredit, impugn or malign the opposing party in an effort to influence an outcome in their favour. The judiciary, as the triers of fact and arbiters in these cases, must consider the often widely divergent positions of each party, and apply an impartial analysis and judgment that considers the best interests of the children at the centre of these disputes. Despite the presumption of judicial impartiality, it is reasonable to assume that as participating members of society, and often as parents themselves, members of the judiciary will rely upon their own senses of morality in applying the law, assessing the merits of each party’s positions, and ultimately rendering a decision in each case. The assessment of parenting capability and skill (or lack thereof) in a custody and access dispute is a highly contextualized analysis and is dependent upon the fact scenarios of each case. When the issue of a parent’s sexuality is raised, the dynamics of overt and subconscious homophobic bias are introduced into the dispute. Typically one of the litigants has raised the issue, and the judge is then compelled to address it in the decision-making process. In considering the subject matter of this article – child custody and access disputes – it is worthy to note the definition of homophobia: “irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals.” While the litigants in child custody and access cases are often not on the friendliest of terms, homophobia does not generally present itself as hateful speech or violent actions as these are often manifested in other contexts. Rather, homophobia, in the form of overt statements about or subconscious bias towards the parenting capabilities of a gay or lesbian parent, if present in the minds of the litigants or the judiciary, can result in influence on the final outcome of these disputes. The question of parenting capability, fitness, and developmental impacts upon children of gay and lesbian parents is much broader than the context of custody and access disputes where one of the parents is alleged, or acknowledged, to be gay or lesbian. Same sex couples and gay and lesbian single adults who have become or wish to become parents endure many of the same biases, stereotypes, and resistance with respect to their abilities to parent and raise children in a healthy and supportive environment. This paper focuses only on the issue as it arises in context of litigation over child custody and access cases where one or both of the litigants is alleged or acknowledged to be gay or lesbian. Specifically, this article attempts to elucidate primary differences in perceived parenting fitness of lesbian mothers and gay fathers, provide insight into factors fueling these perceptions, and discuss effects upon custody and access decisions in family law. In support of this objective, a qualitative case review of Canadian custody and access disputes in the last 30 years was undertaken with the goal of identifying the extent to which overt or subconscious homophobic attitudes or bias affects the tone and outcomes of these cases. Additionally, the paper will consider whether bias is different toward gay fathers and lesbian mothers and whether there has been any discernable change in these biases over time

Frontline Providers of Mental Healthcare: The Role of Police Officers in Involuntary Psychiatric Assessments Under the Mental Health Care and Treatment Act

This article advances the proposition that police officers in Newfoundland and Labrador are, and should be, viewed as frontline providers of mental healthcare services. A frontline provider of mental healthcare service could be defined as any person who in the performance of employment acts as a facilitator of initial delivery of mental healthcare for a consumer in need of such service. The central proposition requires qualification and context and is advanced through pursuit of the following research objectives: to assess the extent that variability in police officer mental health training programs may impact upon the performance of statutory duties of police officers under the Newfoundland Mental Health Care and Treatment Act; to provide insightful commentary; and, where possible, to highlight counterproductive issues in the advancement of the quality of service that police officers provide to consumers of mental healthcare services, particularly within the context of initial psychiatric assessments as provided for under the Act. The MHCTA is a broad and expansive piece of legislation governing the entire spectrum of involuntary mental healthcare, including initial assessment, involuntary admission, treatment, review and release of persons back into the community. The scope of this article is limited primarily to the role prescribed to police officers under the Act. As such, the article centres on the process and procedures surrounding apprehension and conveyance of a person to a medical facility for initial psychiatric assessment

Promoting fair and equitable research partnerships to respond to global challenges

This report presents the findings from a programme of strategic research funded by UKRI through the GCRF. The research sought to elicit a 'partners' perspective' on participation in UKRI-funded research by generating data from three groups of partner: i) academics based in the global South; ii) civi society practitioners based in the global South; and iii) international NGOs and research capacity providers based in the UK. Drawing on this data, the report identifies eight principles for understanding and improving fair and equitable research collaboration which form the basis of a series of targeted learning modules for 6 groups of stakeholders: UK-based research funders; UK-based academics; research brokers and capacity providers; international NGOs; academics based in the global South; and civil society practitioners based in the global South

Quantifying Ant Populations to Measure Biodiversity in Morehead, KY

To effectively conduct conservation efforts, we can use biodiversity to assess the condition of our environment. Biodiversity has been commonly defined as the variety and variability among living organisms within an area. When our ecosystems are at their best, they clean water, purify air, maintain soil, regulate climate, recycle nutrients, and provide food. Everything within an ecosystem is interdependent, so biodiversity is an important factor and indicator of environmental health. Indicators help us to measure and monitor pressures or threats in land and water use, habitat loss or invasive species, the state of species and ecosystems, the conservation response, and the benefits to people. Many different organisms have been used to assess biodiversity, such as plants, mammals, birds, butterflies, beetles, etc. Ants are a great candidate for biodiversity research, as they are found in many types of habitats, are diverse, extremely numerous, fulfill a variety of ecological roles, are sensitive to environmental change, and are conveniently easy to collect. Our most used method of collection is sorting through leaf litter. We collected leaf litter from three sites in Rowan County: Eagle Lake, Stony Cove, and Rodburn Hollow. We used Berlese funnels to extract the specimens from the litter, organized, identified, and counted them in order to analyze the biodiversity. Over the past three years we have collected almost 7,000 ants, including 18 genera. We plan to use the Shannon and Simpson indices to better evaluate alpha and beta diversity among our three study sites using ants.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2022/1030/thumbnail.jp

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Complex for First and Second Line Drugs by Broth Dilution in a Microtiter Plate Format

The rapid detection of antimicrobial resistance is important in the effort to control the increase in resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of Mtb has traditionally been performed by the agar method of proportion or by macrobroth testing on an instrument such as the BACTEC (Becton Dickinson, Sparks, MD), VersaTREK (TREK Diagnostics, Cleveland, OH) or BacT/ALERT (bioMérieux, Hazelwood, MO). The agar proportion method, while considered the “gold” standard of AST, is labor intensive and requires calculation of resistance by performing colony counts on drug-containing agar as compared to drug-free agar. If there is ≥1% growth on the drug-containing medium as compared to drug-free medium, the organism is considered resistant to that drug. The macrobroth methods require instrumentation and test break point ("critical") drug concentrations for the first line drugs (isoniazid, ethambutol, rifampin, and pyrazinamide). The method described here is commercially available in a 96 well microtiter plate format [MYCOTB (TREK Diagnostics)] and contains increasing concentrations of 12 antimicrobials used for treatment of tuberculosis including both first (isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol) and second line drugs (amikacin, cycloserine, ethionamide, kanamycin, moxifloxacin, ofloxacin, para-aminosalicylic acid, rifabutin, and streptomycin). Pyrazinamide, a first line drug, is not included in the microtiter plate due to its need for acidic test conditions. Advantages of the microtiter system include both ease of set up and faster turn around time (14 days) compared with traditional agar proportion (21 days). In addition, the plate can be set up from inoculum prepared using either broth or solid medium. Since the microtiter plate format is new and since Mtb presents unique safety challenges in the laboratory, this protocol will describe how to safely setup, incubate and read the microtiter plate

Post-exercise management of exertional hyperthermia in dogs participating in dog sport (canicross) events in the UK

Exercise is a common trigger of heat-related illness (HRI) events in dogs, accounting for 74% of canine HRI cases treated under primary veterinary care in the United Kingdom. However, few empirical studies have evaluated the effectiveness of differing cooling methods for dogs with exertional hyperthermia or HRI. This study aimed to prospectively evaluate effects of ambient conditions and post-exercise management practices (cooling methods and vehicular confinement) on the post-exercise temperature change of dogs participating in UK canicross events. Canine temperature was recorded at three intervals post-exercise: as close as possible to 0- (immediately post-exercise), 5-, and 15-min post-exercise. Ambient conditions and post-exercise management were recorded for 115 cooling profiles from 52 dogs. In 28/115 (24.4%) profiles, the dog's temperature increased during the first 5-min post-exercise. Overall, 68/115 (59.1%) profiles included passive cooling (stood or walked outside), 35 (30.4%) active cooling (cold-water immersion or application of a cooling coat), and 12 (10.4%) involved no cooling and were immediately housed in vehicles. No dogs developed hypothermia during the study and no adverse effects were observed from any cooling method. In hyperthermic dogs, overall post-exercise body temperature change was significantly negatively associated (i.e. the dogs cooled more) with 0-min post-exercise body temperature (β = −0.93, p &lt; 0.001), and not being housed in a vehicle (β = −0.43, p = 0.013). This study provides evidence cold-water immersion (in water at 0.1–15.0 °C) can be used to effectively and safely cool dogs with exertional hyperthermia. Progressive temperature increases in many dogs - even after exercise has terminated - supports the message to “cool first, transport second” when managing dogs with HRI. When transporting dogs post-exercise or with HRI even after active cooling, care should be taken to cool the vehicle before entry and promote air movement around the dog during transport to facilitate ongoing cooling and prevent worsening of hyperthermia during travel.</p

Progress towards identification of a pheromone of the asparagus beetle, Crioceris asparagi (Coleoptera; Chrysomelidae)

The asparagus beetle, Crioceris asparagi L. (Coleoptera; Chrysomelidae) has become a widespread pest of asparagus, Asparagus officinalis (asparagus). There are no known attractants for C. asparagi and much of its biology is unknown. Volatiles were collected from individual beetles and a candidate pheromone component was detected in collections from some individuals of the first generation but not the second. This compound elicited an electroantennographic response from C. asparagi and the mass spectrum indicated it is a 19-carbon hydrocarbon with four double bonds. Complete structural elucidation and synthesis are in progress