Alcohol and cannabis use among adolescents in Flemish secondary school in Brussels: effects of type of education

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Research regarding socio-economic differences in alcohol and drug use in adolescence yields mixed results. This study hypothesizes that (1) when using education type as a proxy of one's social status, clear differences will exist between students from different types of education, regardless of students' familial socio-economic background; (2) and that the effects of education type differ according to their cultural background.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from the Brussels youth monitor were used, a school survey administered among 1,488 adolescents from the 3rd to 6th year of Flemish secondary education. Data were analyzed using multilevel logistic regression models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Controlling for their familial background, the results show that native students in lower educational tracks use alcohol and cannabis more often than students in upper educational tracks. Such a relationship was not found for students from another ethnic background.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Results from this study indicate that research into health risks should take into account both adolescents' familial background and individual social position as different components of youngsters' socio-economic background.</p

Telling the collective story? Moroccan-Dutch young adults’ negotiation of a collective identity through storytelling

Researchers taking a social constructionist perspective on identity agree that identities are constructed and negotiated in interaction. However, empirical studies in this field are often based on interviewer–interviewee interaction or focus on interactions with members of a socially dominant out-group. How identities are negotiated in interaction with in-group members remains understudied. In this article we use a narrative approach to study identity negotiation among Moroccan-Dutch young adults, who constitute both an ethnic and a religious (Muslim) minority in the Netherlands. Our analysis focuses on the topics that appear in focus group participants’ stories and on participants’ responses to each other’s stories. We find that Moroccan-Dutch young adults collectively narrate their experiences in Dutch society in terms of discrimination and injustice. Firmly grounded in media discourse and popular wisdom, a collective narrative of a disadvantaged minority identity emerges. However, we also find that this identity is not uncontested. We use the concept of second stories to explain how participants negotiate their collective identity by alternating stories in which the collective experience of deprivation is reaffirmed with stories in which challenging or new evaluations of the collective experience are offered. In particular, participants narrate their personal experiences to challenge recurring evaluations of discrimination and injustice. A new collective narrative emerges from this work of joint storytelling

Effects of nitrogen deposition on soil and vegetation in primary succession stages in inland drift sands

Background and aims Primary succession was studied in acid inland drift sands. Main research questions were: 1) How do vegetation and soil change during succession? 2) How are soil parameters and species abundance affected by atmospheric nitrogen deposition? Methods One hundred sixty-five plots were selected in 21 drift sands throughout The Netherlands, divided over eight succession stages from bare sand to dry heath and within a gradient in nitrogen deposition. Vegetation development and soil parameters were described and water-extractable elements measured and differences between high (>30 kg N ha−1 year−1) and lower nitrogen deposition sites calculated. Results Vegetation cover and height increased during succession. Lichens contributed most to plant species diversity. Thickness of Ah horizon increased and pH decreased and concentrations of Fe, Al, S increased. Base cations increased as well, despite the drop in pH. Also, water-extractable ammonium, nitrate and phosphate increased, along with the NH4:NO3 ratio. Sites with high nitrogen deposition had higher NH4:NO3 and Al:Ca ratios, lower pH, higher cover of algae, lower lichen and total species diversity, more Pinus sylvestris seedlings and more species of late succession stages. Conclusions Drift sand succession seems to be mainly driven by an increase in organic matter, but is accelerated by nitrogen deposition

United States Geological Survey Reports

Report describing the geology of the land-pebble phosphate district on the Gulf Coastal Plain of Florida. This district is mapped out and the formation of land-pebble phosphate deposits is shown

Paleotectonic Investigations of the Permian System in the United States

(A) Allegheny region, by Henry L. Berryhill, Jr (B) Gulf Coast region, by Eleanor J. Crosby (C) West Texas Permian basin region, by Steven S. Oriel, Donald A. Myers, and Eleanor J. Crosby (D) Northeastern New Mexico and Texas-Oklahoma Panhandles, by George H. Dixon (E) Oklahoma, by Marjorie E. MacLachlan (F) Central Midcontinent region, by Melville R. Mudge (G) Eastern Wyoming, eastern Montana, and the Dakotas, by Edwin K. Maughan (H) Middle Rocky Mountains and northeastern Great Basin, by Richard P. Sheldon, Earl R. Cressman, Thomas M. Cheney, and Vincent E. McKelvey (I) Western Colorado, southern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico, by Walter E. Hallgarth (J) Arizona and western New Mexico, by Edwin D. McKee (K) West Coast region, by Keith B. Ketner References cited (284pp) This professional paper is a supplementary volume to Paleotectonic Maps of the Permian System by McKee, Oriel, and others (1967), published by the U.S. Geological Survey as Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-450. The I-450 publication consists of 20 plates isopach and lithofacies maps, cross sections to accompany the maps, and interpretive and environmental maps and a summary of available geological information on each part of the Permian Period, an interpretation or reconstruction of Permian history, and brief discussions of environment, tectonics, and other significant features. The present volume explains and documents the maps and conclusions presented there. This study of the Permian System was made by 15 geologists, who were individually responsible for coverage of 18 regions. These authors are: Henry L. Berryhill, Jr. • Walter E. Hallgarth • Vincent E. McKelvey • Thomas M. Cheney • Keith B. Ketner • Melville R. Mudge • Earl R. Cressman • Marjorie E. MacLachlan • Donald A. Myers • Eleanor J. Crosby • Edwin K. Maughan • Steven S. Oriel • George H. Dixon • Edwin D. McKee • Richard P. Sheldon The Permian System of the 18 regions is described in 11 chapters. Each chapter presents an analysis of the basic data used, points out significant trends, and presents an interpretation, as well as alternative explanations where each occur, for the region concerned. The chapters and accompanying illustrations were coordinated and assembled by E. J. Crosby, E. D. McKee, W. W. Mallory, E. K. Maughan, and S. S. Oriel. Descriptive and documentary data are organized according to region, from east to west, and according to chronological sequence. Each chapter discusses, in order, rocks that underlie the Permian, the several intervals or divisions of the Permian (from oldest to youngest (table 1, in pocket)), and, finally, the rock units that directly overlie the Permian. Stratigraphic problems, the nature of contacts, trends in thickness and lithology, possible sources of sediment, environments of deposition, and paleotectonic implications of each interval are treated in that order

Community Health Nursing and Cooperative Extension: A Natural Partnership

Community health nursing and cooperative extension represent two influential and respected disciplines in rural and frontier communities. The history and philosophy of the two disciplines reveal commonalities related to community-based health promotion and dissemination of research. A review of the extension and health sciences literature revealed some evidence of collaboration between extension and health science professionals, however very little documentation specifically of nurses\u27 involvement with extension professionals. An exemplar of a highly effective ongoing cooperation between rural public health nurses and extension educators in one Idaho county is provided. This local interdisciplinary effort has resulted in enhanced community health promotion services, positive interprofessional relationships, and maximization of scarce resources. Nursing-extension collaboration presents creative opportunities for interdisciplinary practice, research, and educational innovations to enhance the health of rural and frontier communities