A New International Human Rights Court for West Africa: The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice (ECCJ) is an increasingly active and bold international adjudicator of human rights violations in West Africa. Since acquiring jurisdiction over human rights issues in 2005, the ECCJ has issued several path-breaking judgments, including against the Gambia for the torture of journalists, against Niger for condoning modern forms of slavery, and against Nigeria for failing to regulate the multinational oil companies that polluted the Niger Delta. This article explains why ECOWAS member states authorized the ECCJ to review human rights suits by individuals but did not allow private actors to complain about violations of regional economic rules. In addition to explaining the ECCJ’s striking transformation, the article makes several other contributions. It illustrates how an existing international institution can be redeployed for new purposes; it highlights the contributions of civil society, supranational officials, and ECOWAS judges to expanding the Court’s mandate; it analyzes the ECCJ’s distinctive jurisdiction and access rules; and it shows how the ECCJ has survived challenges to its authority. Our analysis is based on original field research in Nigeria, including more than two-dozen interviews with judges, government officials, attorneys, and NGOs. We also draw upon the first-ever coding of all ECCJ decisions through 2010. The ECCJ’s transformation is also theoretically significant. The article’s final section and conclusion reassesses theories of regional integration, institutional change, and transnational legal mobilization in light of the ECCJ’s experience to demonstrate the implications of our findings for international institutions beyond West Africa

A New International Human Rights Court for West Africa: The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice (ECCJ) is an increasingly active and bold international adjudicator of human rights violations in West Africa. Since acquiring jurisdiction over human rights issues in 2005, the ECCJ has issued several path-breaking judgments, including against the Gambia for the torture of journalists, against Niger for condoning modern forms of slavery, and against Nigeria for failing to regulate the multinational oil companies that polluted the Niger Delta. This article explains why ECOWAS member states authorized the ECCJ to review human rights suits by individuals but did not allow private actors to complain about violations of regional economic rules. In addition to explaining the ECCJ’s striking transformation, the article makes several other contributions. It illustrates how an existing international institution can be redeployed for new purposes; it highlights the contributions of civil society, supranational officials, and ECOWAS judges to expanding the Court’s mandate; it analyzes the ECCJ’s distinctive jurisdiction and access rules; and it shows how the ECCJ has survived challenges to its authority. Our analysis is based on original field research in Nigeria, including more than two-dozen interviews with judges, government officials, attorneys, and NGOs. We also draw upon the first-ever coding of all ECCJ decisions through 2010. The ECCJ’s transformation is also theoretically significant. The article’s final section and conclusion reassesses theories of regional integration, institutional change, and transnational legal mobilization in light of the ECCJ’s experience to demonstrate the implications of our findings for international institutions beyond West Africa

Performance Anxiety Amongst Middle School-Aged Wind Instrumentalists as Influenced by Variations in Delivery of Instructional Script Given by Adjudicators During Sight Reading

The primary purpose of this research paper was to study performance anxiety among middle school students during a sight-reading audition. Furthermore, this sutdy asks whether the manner in which directions are presented by the sight-reading adjudicator during the course of an audition has significant impact on the performance outcome. Participants (n=75) were middle school students attending a highly rated band program in the Miami-Dade County (Miami, FL) area. By use of investigator-derived surveys, levels of trait and state anxiety were determined before and after the sight-reading performance. Means and standard deviations were calculated for perceived anxiety and for the resulting scores of the performance. A t-testcompared the control and experimental groups perceived level of anxiety, where statistically significant results were found at the p

Theoretically and empirically-informed narrative descriptions of competency development

Background: Determining whether a student has demonstrated readiness to enter their profession, particularly in professions where semi-autonomous practice is required on graduation, is challenging. Discourse regarding performance assessment has moved from measurement and psychometric validity towards the value of qualitative approaches and narratives to support sound judgement of readiness for practice. The objective of this study was to develop narrative descriptions of competency development. The research questions were: (i) how do experienced clinicians describe students who are developing their clinical competency, and (ii) how do they describe a student who is ready for semi-autonomous professional practice? We investigated these questions within the profession of clinical exercise physiology (CEP). CEP is a role emerging health profession in Australia and therefore is in the early stages of articulating its understanding of readiness for practice and related assessment of performance. Summary of Work: A social constructivist theoretical perspective informed the methodology. Across three focus groups, 17 CEP clinicians with clinical educator experience were asked to describe (i) what students who are developing their clinical competency 'look like' and (ii) what students who were ready for professional practice 'look like'. Data saturation was reached at the third focus group. A thematic analysis identified the behavioural constructs describing competency development which were then used to write three narrative descriptions of points along a competency continuum. These narrative descriptions were further evaluated and refined through semi-structured interviews. Summary of Results: The behavioural constructs which informed the narrative descriptions included: consistency, managing complexity, flexibility, safe practice, independence and insight into own performance. Participants considered the narrative descriptions to accurately describe the continuum of competency development and a student who is ready for professional practice. Discussion and Conclusions: The narrative descriptions fit with contemporary discourse on assessment in clinical workplace settings. The narrative descriptions may be useful in providing support for quality judgements of students' performances in the workplace setting. That is, the narrative descriptions could be used as reference points by those constructing their judgements of student performances. Take-home Messages: The broad behavioural constructs in the narratives may be relevant to other health professionals' practice

Impact of Cardiorespiratory Fitness on Markers of Cardiovascular Disease in Professional Firefighters

Higher cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) levels (V̇O2max) are associated with lower oxidative stress and inflammatory markers in addition to lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk; however, there are a lack of data examining this relationship among firefighters. CVD is the leading cause of mortality among firefighters and correlates with low CRF. PURPOSE: To examine differences in markers of CVD risk between firefighters classified as having either high or low levels of CRF. METHODS: Forty-six professional firefighters performed a maximal graded exercise test (GXT; Bruce Protocol), where V̇O2max was estimated from the Foster equation using time to exhaustion. Fasted blood samples were also taken to assess traditional and non-traditional biomarkers of CVD risk: HDL, LDL, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Body fat percentage (BF%) was determined via Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA),V̇O2max values were categorized based on American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) guidelines to establish a high fitness group (n=19; V̇O2max = 44.7 ± 5.2 ml·kg-1·min-1; age = 35.94 ± 9.73 yrs; height = 178.86 ± 7.28 cm; waist circumference = 35.5 ± 2.73 cm; BF% = 19.9 ± 2.66) and a low fitness group (n=27; V̇O2max = 28.2 ± 4.9ml·kg-1·min-1; age = 38.5 ± 9.33 yrs; height = 179.21 ± 8.48 cm; waist circumference = 40.06 ± 4.29 cm; BF% = 27.2 ± 5.07). Non-parametric Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess differences in CVD risk markers between the high and low fitness groups. Effect sizes were calculated as Cohen’s d (i.e., small [0.2-0.5], medium [0.5-0.8], large [\u3e 0.8]). RESULTS: Participants classified as high fitness had significantly (p \u3c 0.05) higher V̇O2max and HDL concentrations coupled with significantly lower BF%, cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, insulin, HOMA-IR, CRP, and AOPP. Half of the observed differences demonstrated a medium effect size (LDL, insulin, HOMA-IR, CRP, and AOPP), while large effect sizes were noted for V̇O2max, BF%, cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, LDL/HDL risk ratio. CONCLUSION: The high fitness group exhibited lower CVD risk levels and higher HDL levels compared to the low fitness group. Considering the results, firefighters are encouraged to maintain high CRF as well as lower BF% in an effort to reduce the risk of CVD and on-duty cardiac events

Sustaining remote-area programs: retinal camera use by Aboriginal health workers and nurses in a Kimberley partnership

Objective: to describe how a novel program of diabetic retinopathy screening was conceived, refined and sustained in a remote region over 10 years, and to evaluate its activities and outcomes. Design: program description; analysis of regional screening database; audit of electronic client registers of Aboriginal community controlled health services (ACCHSs). Setting and participants: 1318 Aboriginal and 271 non-Aboriginal individuals who underwent retinal screening in the 5 years to September 2004 in the Kimberley region of north-west Australia; 11 758 regular local Aboriginal clients of Kimberley ACCHSs as at January 2005. Main outcome measures: characteristics of clients and camera operators, prevalence of retinopathy, photograph quality, screening intervals and coverage. Results: among Aboriginal clients, 21% had diabetic retinopathy: 19% with nonproliferative retinopathy, 1.2% with proliferative retinopathy, and 2.8% with maculopathy. Corresponding figures for non-Aboriginal clients were 11%, 11%, 0 and 0.4%, respectively. Photograph quality was generally high, and better for non-Aboriginal clients, younger Aboriginal clients and from 2002 (when mydriatic use became universal). Quality was not related to operator qualifications, certification or experience. Of 718 regular Aboriginal clients with diabetes on local ACCHS databases, 48% had a record of retinal screening within the previous 18 months, and 65% within the previous 30 months. Conclusions: Screening for diabetic retinopathy performed locally by Aboriginal health workers and nurses with fundus cameras can be successfully sustained with regional support. Formal certification appears unnecessary. Data sharing across services, client recall and point-of-care prompts generated by electronic information systems, together with policies making primary care providers responsible for care coordination, support appropriate timely screening

An assessment tool to judge exercise physiology student performance in a clinical placement setting

Introduction/background: Assessment in clinical settings has historically been problematic due to lack of standardisation and objectivity. This had led to calls to look at assessment in the clinical setting differently. Aim/objectives: The overall aim of this research is to develop a competency assessment tool for use by clinical educators to make valid judgments of exercise physiology students' performances in clinical placement settings. This presentation reports on the design of the assessment tool and considers the features that will support quality judgments. The research question is: What are the elements required in the assessment tool that will support quality judgments? Methods: An educational design based research model was used to design and develop the assessment tool. Focus groups exploring the continuum of competency development and the required design features, and educational theory were used to develop an initial prototype. Results: The prototype uses a visual analogue scale to record judgments of student performance against 19 elements related to exercise physiology professional and clinical competencies. A rich description of the developmental continuum towards entry-level competence, which draws on the language used by exercise physiologists, is designed to support clinical educators to make meaning of the multiple observations they make of student performance. Conclusions: An educational design based research model has been used to design an assessment tool prototype aimed at supporting quality judgements of student performance. The design principles generated by the focus groups and literature have led to a prototype that is less measurement focussed than traditional workplace based assessment tools

Bringing plant-based veterinary vaccines to market: Managing regulatory and commercial hurdles

AbstractThe production of recombinant vaccines in plants may help to reduce the burden of veterinary diseases, which cause major economic losses and in some cases can affect human health. While there is abundant research in this area, a knowledge gap exists between the ability to create and evaluate plant-based products in the laboratory, and the ability to take these products on a path to commercialization. The current report, arising from a workshop sponsored by an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Co-operative Research Programme, addresses this gap by providing guidance in planning for the commercialization of plant-made vaccines for animal use. It includes relevant information on developing business plans, assessing market opportunities, manufacturing scale-up, financing, protecting and using intellectual property, and regulatory approval with a focus on Canadian regulations

Birth weight and stuttering:Evidence from three birth cohorts

Purpose Previous studies have produced conflicting results with regard to the association between birth weight and developmental stuttering. This study sought to determine whether birth weight was associated with childhood and/or adolescent stuttering in three British birth cohort samples. Methods Logistic regression analyses were carried out on data from the Millenium Cohort Study (MCS), British Cohort Study (BCS70) and National Child Development Study (NCDS), whose initial cohorts comprised over 56,000 individuals. The outcome variables were parent-reported stuttering in childhood or in adolescence; the predictors, based on prior research, were birth weight, sex, multiple birth status, vocabulary score and mother's level of education. Birth weight was analysed both as a categorical variable (low birth weight, <2500 g; normal range; high birth weight, ≥ 4000 g) and as a continuous variable. Separate analyses were carried out to determine the impact of birth weight and the other predictors on stuttering during childhood (age 3, 5 and 7 and MCS, BCS70 and NCDS, respectively) or at age 16, when developmental stuttering is likely to be persistent. Results None of the multivariate analyses revealed an association between birth weight and parent-reported stuttering. Sex was a significant predictor of stuttering in all the analyses, with males 1.6 to 3.6 times more likely than females to stutter. Conclusion Our results suggest that birth weight is not a clinically useful predictor of childhood or persistent stuttering

Who Will Volunteer? Religiosity, Everyday Racism, and Social Participation Among African American Men

This study explores the relative importance of everyday racism, empathic concern, communalism, and religiosity as predictors of pro-social involvement (i.e., volunteerism and membership in political/social justice organizations) among a sample of African American men ( N = 151). Church involvement emerged as a positive predictor of the likelihood that these men were involved in volunteer work as well as the number of hours that men dedicated to volunteer work. Communalism positively predicted the amount of time (in hours per year) that men were involved in volunteer work. Subjective religiosity and the stress of everyday racism were associated with a greater likelihood of being a member of a political–social justice organization. Implications of these findings are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44632/1/10804_2004_Article_496119.pd