Lies, Damn Lies and Public Protection: Corporate Responsibility and Breast Cancer Activism

Introduction: The first world conference on breast cancer, held in Kingston, Ontario, in July 1997, provided a unique opportunity for activists, concerned about the possible links between breast cancer and the environment, to share their concerns in an international forum, with oncologists, radiologists, epidemiologists, survivors and alternative therapists. It also clearly exposed the fracture lines between competing discourses of risk and responsibility, between groups charged with a duty to protect and to care - health professionals, epidemiologists, statutory bodies, and those taking on those duties - generally activists, from environmental, feminist and survivor groups. These lines were even more clearly drawn at the second world conference in summer 1999 in Ottawa, particularly by the popular and medical media, which chose to stress the ‘radical’ (i.e. ‘dubious’) claims of many of the papers which considered breast cancer risks from the environment. The fundamental question that concerns me here is an explicitly ethical one: if we must act to prevent harm (and presuming for the moment the not uncontroversial assumption that disease is a harm), that is to say, if we are to act morally, then what counts as necessary and sufficient evidence to act? This, I think, is the ethical dimension to activism neglected or hidden in other formulations; Cuomo, for instance, defines activism as “conscious, purposeful, political activity” (1996:43), which seems to ignore the sense of moral duty and responsibility that characterises confrontational activity from the margins and which I want to consider here

Book Reviews

Reviews of the following books: Unearthed: Storied Artifacts and Remarkable Predecessors of the Saint Joseph’s College Campus by Steven L. Bridge; Creating Acadia National Park: The Biography of George Bucknam Dorr by Ronald H. Epp; The Human Shore: Seacoasts in Historyby John R. Gillis; Orion on the Dunes: A Biography of Henry Beston by Daniel G. Payne

Younger adolescents’ perceptions of physical activity, exergaming, and virtual reality:qualitative intervention development study

Background. Novel strategies to promote physical activity (PA) in adolescence are required. The vEngage study aims to test whether a virtual reality (VR) exergaming intervention can engage younger adolescents (13-15 year old) with physical activity. Objective: This study aimed to gather adolescents’ views of using VR to encourage PA and identify the key features they would like to see in a VR exergaming intervention via interviews. Methods: Participants were recruited through two schools in London, UK. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with adolescents about their views on PA and what might work to increase PA, technology, knowledge and experience of VR, and desired features in a VR exergaming intervention. Data were analysed using Framework Analysis. Results: 31 13-15 year olds (58% female, 62% from non-white ethnicities) participated in this interview study. The vast majority had no awareness of government PA recommendations, but felt they should be more thoroughly informed. All participants were positive about the use of VR in PA promotion. Rewards, increasing challenges and a social/multiplayer aspect were identified by participants as crucial aspects to include in a VR exercise game. Barriers were related to cost of high-end systems. Being able to exercise at home was very appealing. VR exergaming was viewed as a way to overcome multiple perceived social and cultural barriers to PA, particularly for girls. Conclusions: Key elements that should be incorporated into a VR for health intervention were identified and described. These also included the use of rewards, novelty and enjoyment in immersive game play, multi-player options, real-world elements, as well as continual updates and new challenge levels. The use of VR to promote PA in adolescents is promising, but some barriers were raised

“The teachers, they try to understand, they say they understand, but they really don’t”: An exploration into the educational experiences of secondary school pupils from military families

The present study explores how service children and young people (CYP) experience education. Service CYP may experience multiple school transitions throughout their education as a result of frequent family relocations which can affect their academic attainment, emotional wellbeing and friendships. Some service CYP may also experience parental deployment with prolonged periods of separation from their deployed parent. Whilst there is a growing body of literature on the perceived experiences and support needs of service CYP in schools, qualitative research directly exploring the educational experiences of this population is scarce. To acknowledge the voice of service CYP themselves, the present study directly explores the educational experiences of seven service CYP attending secondary schools across England and Wales. Interview data was collected remotely and was analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis which led to the emergence of superordinate themes for each participant. Five overarching themes were then identified across the data set: ‘searching to belong’, ‘the impact of loss and separation’, ‘establishing a sense of self’, ‘adapting to changes’ and ‘the need for empathy and understanding’. Findings were discussed in the context of existing research and relevant psychological theory. Implications for educational professionals working with this group are explored and suggestions for future research are provided

Ladies that UX Leadership and Organization Report

Ladies that UX (LTUX) is an international organization focused on mentoring women in the software industry. In order to explore both the mission and the focus of the international organization and smaller, localized chapters of LTUX, we conducted a series of surveys and interviews. These surveys focused on how local groups of LTUX were formed and structured, what leaders see as the goals and needs of their chapters, and how members interact with both each other and with the broader international organization. Our research goal was to gain some insight into means of formation, communication, and structure of these local chapters and to understand and anticipate what chapter needs are, in order to better grow LTUX as an organization

Evaluating Pedagogy and Practice of Universal Design for Learning in Public Schools

How can education change to meet the demands of effectively educating an increasingly diverse student population with the skills, knowledge, and abilities they need to be productive and successful citizens in the 21st century? One possible solution is to create classrooms, teachers, and schools that embrace the progressive and inclusive practices espoused by Universal Design for Learning (UDL). In addition to being rooted in UDL pedagogy, classrooms designed to meet the challenge of 21st century education need to substantially integrate and utilize advances in technology. The vanguard of literature to date in UDL could be characterized as rhetorical advocacy. That is, UDL literature is in the early stages of introducing and promoting UDL pedagogy, but to date there is not a research base strong enough to establish UDL as a scientifically validated intervention (Edyburn, 2010). UDL might sound like a good idea, but until the research base turns the corner from advocating to assessing and measuring UDL outcomes, the promise of this approach will not be realized. This article describes a study exploring effects and outcomes of a professional development program on the perceptions and practice of UDL principles in K–12 public school inclusive classrooms, and could be one step toward bridging the gap from a good idea to a solidified best practice. Specifically, this study investigated a professional development program’s effect on teachers’ perceptions, conceptualizations, and implementation of UDL principles and practice in their classrooms

BIMAM—a tool for imputing variables missing across datasets using a Bayesian imputation and analysis model

Motivation Combination of multiple datasets is routine in modern epidemiology. However, studies may have measured different sets of variables; this is often inefficiently dealt with by excluding studies or dropping variables. Multilevel multiple imputation methods to impute these ‘systematically’ missing data (as opposed to ‘sporadically’ missing data within a study) are available, but problems may arise when many random effects are needed to allow for heterogeneity across studies. We show that the Bayesian IMputation and Analysis Model (BIMAM) implemented in our tool works well in this situation. General features BIMAM performs imputation and analysis simultaneously. It imputes both binary and continuous systematically and sporadically missing data, and analyses binary and continuous outcomes. BIMAM is a user-friendly, freely available tool that does not require knowledge of Bayesian methods. BIMAM is an R Shiny application. It is downloadable to a local machine and it automatically installs the required freely available packages (R packages, including R2MultiBUGS and MultiBUGS). Availability BIMAM is available at [www.alecstudy.org/bimam]