The New Zealand Civil Union Act: New Challenges for Private International Law

This article discusses private international law issues which arise as a result of the Civil Union Act 2004, which came into force in 2005.  The author first discusses what kind of recognition New Zealand may extend to foreign unions, including both civil union type relationships and same sex marriages.  This discussion considers recognition under the Civil Unions (Recognised Overseas Relationships) Regulations 2005, recognition as marriage and other possible avenues of recognition.  This includes a consideration of currently recognised and unrecognised relationships, and the desirability of the current approach. It also includes a discussion of the issues surrounding the recognition of these types of relationships generally; for example, validity, status and public policy. The author then considers what kind of recognition the New Zealand civil union may receive in foreign jurisdictions

Attitudes and Beliefs of Counselor Educators Toward Gatekeeping

The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes and beliefs of counselor educators toward gatekeeping, which become overt in gatekeeping decisions in the context of stringent and less stringent decisions made at seven gates that counselors-in-training must pass though to graduate, and factors extraneous to counselor-in-training competence that may influence gatekeeping decisions. A total of 84 counselor educators participated in this study. Results showed that counselor educators are most stringent at the admissions gate; that less stringent gatekeeping decisions are made by counselor educators who have experience as a professional counselor prior to becoming a counselor educator at the admissions and internship gates; objectivism of counselor educators predicts more stringent decisions at the admissions gate, and when objectivism and primary theoretical orientation of counselor educators are combined more stringent gatekeeping decisions were made at the admissions, relationship, and ethics gates. Four out of seven gates examined were associated with factors that are extraneous to the competence of counselors-in-training

Talk brokers : an analysis of the work of counsellors at a New Zealand secondary school

The guidance counsellor position has become a feature of New Zealand secondary schools since the mid-1960s. This thesis is concerned with issues of power and control within a school and, in particular, with the form of power and control exercised by its guidance counsellors. Guidance counsellors have presented their work as 'helping teachers to teach and students to learn', while appealing to discourses of equal opportunity and 'at riskness' among the student body. A consequence of guidance counsellor work is a trade-off between therapy and discipline in some schools, creating new points of tension within the school organisation. Another consequence of counsellor work has been the redrawing of the boundaries of 'schooling' In regard to 'family' and 'community'. While there is ongoing debate within the sociology of education concerning forms of power and control which operate in schools, there is a definite gap in British, American and Australasian sociology of education literatures in regard to analyses of guidance counselling practices, and the forms of control set up through counsellors' work with students in schools. Many debates have focused on curriculum issues, or relationships between teachers and students in the school. In order to address the gap in the literature, this thesis has adopted an ethnographic approach and incorporated analytical concepts from the work of Michel Foucault. Within the sociology of education, ethnographic research documents the problems of controlling students and securing their commitment to schooling. However, despite the interactionist understanding of classroom events as 'negotiated process', much ethnography ultimately presents a repressive narrative of power relations. In contrast with these narratives, Michel Foucault's work is used in the thesis to argue that power may be seen in terms of coercion, constraint and enablement. This thesis adopts Foucault's emphasis on 'micropolitics', focusing on the way power may be seen to inscribe identities such as 'at risk' on the student body through the 'pastoral power' work and confessional techniques of school guidance counsellors. Education texts which have used Foucault's concepts tend to emphasise issues of disciplinary, rather than pastoral, power relations in schools, directed towards the control and subjugation of students. It is implied that forms of disciplinary power secure themselves with no, or few, problems and obliterate all tensions within the school. My own material on guidance counselling indicates that this is an oversimplification. There are many more dimensions to power relations. The fieldwork for this thesis was conducted with a particular emphasis on guidance counsellors' work at a large, urban, New Zealand high school. Difficulties and tensions related by counsellors are used to raise issues concerning theoretical understandings of control, both in the sociology of education and Foucault-inspired literatures

Young people with diabetes and their peers

Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is amongst the most common form of chronic illness affecting young people in the UK. Self- management is crucial, but managing their T1D is often difficult for young people

The initiator methionine tRNA drives cell migration and invasion leading to increased metastatic potential in melanoma

The cell's repertoire of transfer RNAs (tRNAs) has been linked to cancer. Recently, levels of the initiator methionine tRNA (tRNAiMet) in stromal fibroblasts have been shown to influence extracellular matrix (ECM) secretion to drive tumour growth and angiogenesis. Here we show that increased tRNAiMet within cancer cells does not influence tumour growth, but drives cell migration and invasion via a mechanism that is independent from ECM synthesis and dependent on α5β1 integrin and levels of the translation initiation ternary complex. In vivo and ex vivo migration (but not proliferation) of melanoblasts is significantly enhanced in transgenic mice which express additional copies of the tRNAiMet gene. We show that increased tRNAiMet in melanoma drives migratory, invasive behaviour and metastatic potential without affecting cell proliferation and primary tumour growth, and that expression of RNA polymerase III-associated genes (which drive tRNA expression) are elevated in metastases by comparison with primary tumours. Thus specific alterations to the cancer cell tRNA repertoire drive a migration/invasion programme that may lead to metastasis

Top Management Team Personal Wealth, Within-Team Diversity and the Implications for Firm-Level Risk Taking

The manager's personal wealth is one of the central building blocks of agency theory, which considers wealth to be an especially important source of individual utility. The managers' financial position, or the portion of their financial well-being that is not dependent on the firm, is also introduced in the original formulation of upper echelons theory. However, despite the importance of executive personal wealth to both theories, it is rarely mentioned, and even more scarcely studied. My research builds on and extends agency and upper echelons theories by focusing on executive personal wealth, defined here as the portion of executive net worth that is not attached to current employment at the firm (i.e., not contingent on current or future earnings). As such, this research provides an initial answer to the following research question: how does the average personal wealth of the top management team as well as within-team differences in wealth influence firm strategic choices with respect to risk? Specifically, I argue that external wealth alters how managers view firm decisions regarding risk; thus, I hypothesize that average top management team (TMT) wealth is negatively related to firm unrelated diversification, positively related to R&D investments, and positively related to firm risk. Next, I propose that two types of within-group diversity ? TMT wealth diversity and TMT pay dispersion ? attenuate the effect of average TMT wealth on these firm outcomes. I test my hypotheses on a panel dataset of over 700 firms/TMTs from the S&P1500 over 2002?2008 using panel tobit and fixed effect models, and conduct multiple robustness checks. Empirical results strongly and consistently support the hypothesized main effects of wealth. However, the results regarding the moderating effect of within-group diversity are weak, as the majority of the moderation hypotheses are not supported. The main conclusion is that wealthier TMTs are less risk averse with respect to firm strategic decisions, which manifests in greater R&D spending, lower unrelated diversification, and higher overall firm risk. Theoretical and empirical implications as well as suggestions for future research are discussed

Socioeconomic factors and other sources of variation in the prevalence of genital chlamydia infections: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The success of chlamydia screening programmes relies on their ability to effectively target those with greatest need. Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds may be at greater need for chlamydia screening, but existing evidence on the variation of prevalence with social position is inconclusive. We carried out a systematic review to examine variation in chlamydia prevalence in populations and possible sources of this variation. METHODS: Studies were eligible if they reported chlamydia prevalence derived from population-based samples that included young people aged 15–24 years from Europe, North America or Australia. Systematic searches of the following databases were undertaken from their inception to November 2014: MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science and PsychINFO. There were no restrictions by language or publication date. Independent screening for eligibility and data extraction were carried out by two reviewers. Where possible, data were pooled in a meta-analysis using a random effects model. Heterogeneity was further investigated using meta-regression techniques. RESULTS: Of 1248 unique titles and abstracts and 263 potentially relevant full texts, 29 studies were eligible for inclusion. There was relatively strong evidence that disadvantaged young people had an increased risk of having a chlamydia infection across multiple measures of disadvantage, including lower educational attainment (OR 1.94, 95 % CI: 1.52 to 2.47), lower occupational class (OR 1.49, 95 % CI: 1.07 to 2.08) and residence in deprived areas (OR 1.76, 95 % CI: 1.15 to 2.71) with an overall OR of 1.66 (95 % CI: 1.37 to 2.02). Socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with chlamydia infection in both men and women. There was weaker evidence that prevalence estimates also varied by gender and age. CONCLUSIONS: This review provides evidence of a consistent association between socioeconomic disadvantage and higher risk of Chlamydia infection. This association may reflect a number of factors including social variation in engagement with Chlamydia control programmes. Chlamydia screening could therefore reduce or increase health inequalities, depending on service provision and uptake by different socioeconomic groups. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2069-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

User Preferences for Content, Features, and Style for an App to Reduce Harmful Drinking in Young Adults:Analysis of User Feedback in App Stores and Focus Group Interviews

BACKGROUND: Electronic screening and brief intervention (eSBI) is effective in reducing weekly alcohol consumption when delivered by a computer. Mobile phone apps demonstrate promise in delivering eSBI; however, few have been designed with an evidence-based and user-informed approach.  OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore from a user perspective, preferences for content, appearance, and operational features to inform the design of a mobile phone app for reducing quantity and frequency of drinking in young adults engaged in harmful drinking (18-30 year olds).  METHODS: Phase 1 included a review of user reviews of available mobile phone apps that support a reduction in alcohol consumption. Apps were identified on iTunes and Google Play and were categorized into alcohol reduction support, entertainment, blood alcohol content measurement (BAC), or other. eSBI apps with ≥18 user reviews were subject to a content analysis, which coded praise, criticism, and recommendations for app content, functionality, and esthetics. Phase 2 included four focus groups with young adults drinking at harmful levels and residing in South London to explore their views on existing eSBI apps and preferences for future content, functionality, and appearance. Detailed thematic analysis of the data was undertaken.  RESULTS: In Phase 1, of the 1584 apps extracted, 201 were categorized as alcohol reduction, 154 as BAC calculators, 509 as entertainment, and 720 as other. We classified 32 apps as eSBI apps. Four apps had ≥18 user reviews: Change for Life Drinks Tracker, Drinksmeter, Drinkaware, and Alcohol Units Calculator. The highest proportion of content praises were for information and feedback provided in the apps (12/27, 44%), followed by praise for the monitoring features (5/27, 19%). Many (8/12, 67%) criticisms were for the drinking diary; all of these were related to difficulty entering drinks. Over half (18/32, 56%) of functionality criticisms were descriptions of software bugs, and over half of those (10/18, 56%) were for app crashing or freezing. Drinksmeter and Alcohol Units Calculator were the most highly praised apps overall (23/57 and 22/57; 39% of praise overall). In Phase 2, two main themes were identified. The meaningfulness theme reflected how young adults thought apps needed to be tailored to the interests and values of their age group, particularly emphasizing content and feedback around broader health and well-being factors such as exercise, diet, and image. The community theme suggested that young adults want to be able to engage with other app users, both in groups of friends and with online users for motivation and support.  CONCLUSIONS: Targeted and relevant information and feedback, in addition to easy-to-use monitoring tools, were found to be important features of a mobile phone app to support a reduction in drinking. Future app development should consider tailoring all app aspects to the needs of young adults, considering broader well-being monitoring tools and online community functions