Economic Manipulation of the Mexican Media

Media plays an important role in the continued process of democratization and opening in Mexico. By corroborating facts and providing analysis, the media is vital to the capacity for, and the validity of, civic participation. Though the Mexican press seems vibrant due to an abundance of news outlets across the three major medias radio, television, and print journalists continue to face physical violence at the hands of drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and, in some cases, members of the local or municipal police. Though less viscerally shocking than physical violence, economic threats and incentives also threaten freedom of the press. Among the lowest paid professionals in Mexico, journalists have historically endured economic manipulation through the institutionalization of press-release journalism, through which political parties and government officials, notably the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), incentivized the rehashing of official statements and government information without due diligence. This research project seeks to determine if Mexican journalists continue to be economically manipulated by their government, specifically in terms of government advertising, hirings and firings, and incentives such a bribes. This paper will also connect the apparent degree of modern press freedom to historical press manipulation, and fortify the deep connection between freedom of press, freedom of information, and democracy

Factors Influencing Police Officer Marksmanship During Qualifying Drills

Police departments across the country are interested in reducing the costs of retraining and improving the rate of retention of the officers they are training. If police officers can be better trained in the skills necessary for marksmanship due to improved evaluative methods by instructors then the rate of progression in skill development could be accelerated. The purpose of this non-experimental, exploratory (comparative) and explanatory (correlational) survey research was to examine the relationships among demographics, handgrip, firearms experience, physiological changes, environmental factors, and psychological state for police officers during qualifying shooting drills, and to determine if Marksmanship during qualifying shooting drills differed among police officers according to those relationships. In addition, to determine if demographics, police experience, firearms experience, handgrip, physiological changes, and environmental factors were significant explanatory variables of the Psychological State of police officers during qualifying shooting drills; and to determine if demographics, police experience, firearms experience, psychological state, handgrip, physiological changes, and environmental factors were significant explanatory variables of Marksmanship during qualifying shooting drills for police officers. Three hundred and three officers agreed to participate in the study. Of the officers who chose to participate, 242 were male and 61 were female, 169 were Hispanic, 133 were non Hispanic, and two did not specify their ethnicity. Independent t-tests or ANOVA with post hoc comparisons to compare differences in marksmanship score and stepwise multiple regression analyses were conducted to answer research questions and hypotheses. In addition, all measures were examined for reliability and validity. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and resulted in three subscales (Calmness, Anxiety, Nervous/Jittery/Indecisive) and a 19 item revised STAI. Findings indicated that (a) the age of police officers provided a trend explanatory variable of the Calmness subscale of the STAI; (b) the demographics of gender and age, in addition to police experience, provided a significant explanatory model of anxiety in police officers. Older male officers with more experience had more anxiety; (c) the demographics of gender and age, in addition to firearms experience (military experience) provided a significant explanatory model of the Nervous/Jittery/lndecisiveness subscale of the STAI; (d) the demographic of age provided a significant explanatory variable of the total 19-item scale. The best explanatory variables of marksmanship included race, handgrip strength, gender, ethnicity, temperature, blood pressure changes, and humidity. The range of variance in the best model was 11.4% to 13.5%. This indicated that white, Hispanic officers, with stronger dominant handgrip, cooler ambient temperature, lower humidity and with smaller changes in systolic blood pressure had higher marksmanship scores during qualifying shooting drills. Future researchers should conduct similar studies with populations from other regions around the country and the world in order to strengthen the external validity of findings

Police Responses to Domestic Violence and Public Perception

Domestic violence, also known as, intimate partner violence (IPV), has become an epidemic in the United States. This research is intended to explain the types of IPV, describe the effects of severe IPV, look at the change in public perceptions of IPV situations, and explore the police responses to such situations. Students at UNLV participated in the “Police Responses to Calls for Service” survey, that was created to determine the public’s level of awareness of IPV situations and whether that awareness increases support for police policies in responding to intimate partner violence calls

Building a case for an International Design Centre in Geelong

Geelong has a long history of design innovation and there exists an opportunity to applaud the achievements of a city and its people whom have been punching well above their weight. The significance of these hidden achievements is currently lost in a city where deindustrialization has changed the landscape forever. This article proposes it is time to affirm Geelong’s role in innovative design, albeit through broad association, and offers ways to celebrate these achievements. It concludes there is an opportunity for a recognized International Design Centre based in Geelong where the past can be showcased but, more importantly, we can open the discussion for future innovation connecting industry and manufacturing with design, creating new opportunities for Geelong

The Adequacy of Prenatal Care in Rural Kansas Related to Distance Traveled

Introduction. Prenatal care is essential for optimizing the health of a woman and her baby. Multiple factors have created barriers in the access to prenatal care in rural Kansas. Over 120 rural hospitals in the United States have closed since 2010, 5 in Kansas. Seventy-seven of the 105 Kansas counties do not have maternity care services. This study investigated differences in prenatal care received by women in rural Kansas counties related to distance traveled. Differences in timing of initiation of care, number of visits, and services received were compared between two cohorts: those who drove < 19 miles and those who drove ≥ 20 miles for prenatal care. Methods.A survey was distributed to women who had delivered a child in the last three years in rural Kansas at participating clinics. Measures of adequacy of prenatal care were determined with questions regarding timing of first prenatal visit, number of prenatal visits, and services received at visits. An index was created using these variables and compared between the two cohorts using two-tailed t-tests for continuous data and chi square analysis for categorical data. Results.Women who traveled ≥ 20 miles for prenatal care received statistically significant less services, and had less prenatal care visits in the second trimester and overall in their pregnancy compared to women who traveled < 19 miles for prenatal care. Rurality did not impact adequacy of prenatal care. Conclusions.Women traveling ≥ 20 miles to receive prenatal care had significantly fewer prenatal visits during their second trimester and overall in pregnancy and self-reported less prenatal care services. These results indicated the importance of lessening barriers to prenatal care in rural Kansas, such as transportation and financial barriers.

Sympathetic nerve-derived ATP regulates renal medullary vasa recta diameter via pericyte cells: a role for regulating medullary blood flow?

Pericyte cells are now known to be a novel locus of blood flow control, being able to regulate capillary diameter via their unique morphology and expression of contractile proteins. We have previously shown that exogenous ATP causes constriction of vasa recta via renal pericytes, acting at a variety of membrane bound P2 receptors on descending vasa recta (DVR), and therefore may be able to regulate medullary blood flow (MBF). Regulation of MBF is essential for appropriate urine concentration and providing essential oxygen and nutrients to this region of high, and variable, metabolic demand. Various sources of endogenous ATP have been proposed, including from epithelial, endothelial, and red blood cells in response to stimuli such as mechanical stimulation, local acidosis, hypoxia, and exposure to various hormones. Extensive sympathetic innervation of the nephron has previously been shown, however the innervation reported has focused around the proximal and distal tubules, and ascending loop of Henle. We hypothesize that sympathetic nerves are an additional source of ATP acting at renal pericytes and therefore regulate MBF. Using a rat live kidney slice model in combination with video imaging and confocal microscopy techniques we firstly show sympathetic nerves in close proximity to vasa recta pericytes in both the outer and inner medulla. Secondly, we demonstrate pharmacological stimulation of sympathetic nerves in situ (by tyramine) evokes pericyte-mediated vasoconstriction of vasa recta capillaries; inhibited by the application of the P2 receptor antagonist suramin. Lastly, tyramine-evoked vasoconstriction of vasa recta by pericytes is significantly less than ATP-evoked vasoconstriction. Sympathetic innervation may provide an additional level of functional regulation in the renal medulla that is highly localized. It now needs to be determined under which physiological/pathophysiological circumstances that sympathetic innervation of renal pericytes is important

Still Innocents Abroad: The Relationship between Anti-Americanism and American Foreign Policy in the Middle East

In this thesis, the author examined the relationship between anti-American sentiment and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. The author first constructed a literature review on anti-Americanism, including sections discussing its definition, conceptualization, measurement techniques, and known sources. From this literature review, the author created her own definition of anti-Americanism and a hypothesis that anti-Americanism is endogenous to U.S. foreign policy—anti-Americanism may increase or decrease depending on changes to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. The author then used a quantitative comparison of survey data and two qualitative case studies to test her hypothesis. The comparison of survey data concluded there is a correlation between anti-Americanism and U.S. foreign policy. Data measuring anti-American sentiment and positive views of American policies had a negative relationship, indicating high anti-American sentiment correlated to disapproval of policies. However, the methods used to show this correlation were not capable of indicating the direction of the relationship. In the case studies, the author showed that spikes in anti-Americanism over time correlated to shifts in American policies that had a real or perceived adverse effect on the populations within the Middle East. The results from the case studies was much more clear, and they indicated both a correlation between the two factors and the endogeneity of anti-Americanism. The author concluded with the results of her research, as well as recommendations for how future research might benefit from her difficulties

Advocate Against Adversity

Our project is focused on the social determinants of maternal healthcare throughout urban areas in the United States and, more specifically, the different wards in DC. This project aims to shed light on how racial and ethnic disparities, in addition to other social determining factors, are contributing to high infant mortality rates in the DC area. It also proposes potential public health initiatives that seeks to address and combat these differences.https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/dchapp/1012/thumbnail.jp