WOMEN AND WORK IN TRANSITION: THEIR WORK PARTICIPATION, SOCIAL CLASS, SEX ROLE AND POLITICAL ATTITUDES, AND ALIENATION

The focus of this dissertation is the transition of American women\u27s economic positions during the last two centuries. Women\u27s participation in the economy has developed from that of the preindustrial period, in which women were primarily partners in an agricultural economy, through several stages during the development of industrialism and urbanism, when most women were housewives, to the present situation in which over 50% of women are active participants in the labor force of an advanced industrial economy. This transition has been characterized not just by increasing numbers and changing characteristics of women participating in the work force, but by interrelationships between this participation and the social and economic forces of a dynamic social system. Historical and survey analyses are combined in this dissertation in order to detail the social and economic processes to which women have been subjected up to the present. In keeping with this dynamic orientation, a systems analysis of relationships between change in women\u27s participation in the labor force and major social, political, and economic events and ideologies of the last two centuries is presented. In addition, the dissertation includes examination of the attitudes and feelings of contemporary employed women and housewives, in order to reach conclusions on the present condition of women in America. A contemporary assessment of the relationships between the work experience and women\u27s attitudes and feelings is made by comparing characteristics of women who work and women who keep house, using the 1978 NORC GSS data. Three main sets of relationships are examined: between background variables and women\u27s work participation; between women\u27s background characteristics and their sex role and political attitudes and alienation, with and without controlling for work participation; and between the social class (both objectively and subjectively defined) of working women and their sex role and political attitudes and alienation. It is found that women\u27s work participation is related to many demographic charcteristics. It is also shown that differences in women\u27s attitudes concerning active participation by females in the political and economic systems, in their attitudes related to many socio-political issues, and in their alienation, are related to their own participation in the employment sector and to certain other social characteristics

A pilot study of fieldwork rotations vs. year long placements for social work students in a public hospital

A comparison of two types of fieldwork was undertaken with 26 social work students in a large urban hospital. The first group was assigned to a traditional, year long placement. The second group was assigned to three successive placements of approximately 10 weeks each. The impact of these two types of placement on students’ general sense of self-efficacy, self-efficacy regarding specific hospital social work activities and perceptions of the work environment, was assessed. Initial results suggest that both groups produce virtually no change in students’ general sense of selfefficacy, yet produce positive changes in students’ self-efficacy regarding hospital social work. In addition, results suggest that the fieldwork rotation used in the second group may produce somewhat more positive views of the work environment. Final version of the manuscript for citation: Cuzzi, L. C., Holden, G., Rutter, S. Rosenberg, G., & Chernack, P. (1996). A pilot study of fieldwork rotations vs. year long placements for social work students in a public hospital. Social Work in Health Care, 24, 73-91. © by The Haworth Press, Inc

Ex Vivo Expansion of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Defined Serum-Free Media

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are presently being evaluated for their therapeutic potential in clinical studies to treat various diseases, disorders, and injuries. To date, early-phase studies have indicated that the use of both autologous and allogeneic hMSCs appear to be safe; however, efficacy has not been demonstrated in recent late-stage clinical trials. Optimized cell bioprocessing protocols may enhance the efficacy as well as safety of hMSC therapeutics. Classical media used for generating hMSCs are typically supplemented with ill-defined supplements such as fetal bovine serum (FBS) or human-sourced alternatives. Ideally, culture media are desired to have well-defined serum-free formulations that support the efficient production of hMSCs while maintaining their therapeutic and differentiation capacity. Towards this objective, we review here current cell culture media for hMSCs and discuss medium development strategies

Optimal 2,3-Trees

The 2,3-trees that are optimal in the sense of having minimal expected number of nodes visited per access are characterized in terms of their “profiles”. The characterization leads directly to a linear-time algorithm for constructing a K-key optimal 2,3-tree for a sorted list of K keys. A number of results are derived that demonstrate how different in structure these optimal 2,3-trees are from their “average” cousins

Edith Abbott Was Right: Designing Fieldwork Experiences for Contemporary Health Care Practice

Successful social work practice in the contemporary, economically driven, health care environment demands unprecedented levels of technical competence, initiative, creativity and conceptual sophistication. Fieldwork plays a critical role in social work education for such demanding practice by providing interns initial opportunities to apply their newly acquired knowledge, skills and abilities. This article discusses the contribution of fieldwork to the preparation of social work practitioners and presents two programs that may serve as alternative models of fieldwork. Observations of the impact of these models, including a summary of two evaluations of one model are presented. We contend that a fieldwork structure using rotations may increase the value of fieldwork for students both academically and in the employment process. Correct citation for final version of manuscript is: Spitzer, W., Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Chernack, P., & Rosenberg, G. (2001). Edith Abbott was right: Designing fieldwork experiences for contemporary health care practice. Journal of Social Work Education, 37, 79-90

Survey of the Federal Circuit\u27s Patent Law Decisions in 2006: A New Chapter in the Ongoing Dialogue with the Supreme Court

In 2006, the Federal Circuit decided only one portion of one patent case en banc, and that was done mainly as a procedural matter (the entire case was not argued to an en banc court) in order to reconcile prior conflicting precedent on the issue of induced patent infringement with the recent Supreme Court decision in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., involving induced copyright infringement. But in light of the Supreme Court’s much more muscular review of the Federal Circuit’s patent cases—which may not even reflect the full extent of the Court’s interest in the Federal Circuit’s patent decisions—the relative paucity of en banc decisions in 2006 is understandable, and in many ways irrelevant to gaining a better understanding of the Federal Circuit’s patent law jurisprudence. In the pages that follow, we will address these and many other developments reflected in the Federal Circuit’s patent jurisprudence of 2006. And, as we did in our article surveying the Federal Circuit’s year 2000 jurisprudence, we again conclude with an addendum that discusses the statistical output of the Federal Circuit and its judges

Survey of the Federal Circuit\u27s Patent Law Decisions in 2006: A New Chapter in the Ongoing Dialogue with the Supreme Court

In 2006, the Federal Circuit decided only one portion of one patent case en banc, and that was done mainly as a procedural matter (the entire case was not argued to an en banc court) in order to reconcile prior conflicting precedent on the issue of induced patent infringement with the recent Supreme Court decision in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., involving induced copyright infringement. But in light of the Supreme Court’s much more muscular review of the Federal Circuit’s patent cases—which may not even reflect the full extent of the Court’s interest in the Federal Circuit’s patent decisions—the relative paucity of en banc decisions in 2006 is understandable, and in many ways irrelevant to gaining a better understanding of the Federal Circuit’s patent law jurisprudence. In the pages that follow, we will address these and many other developments reflected in the Federal Circuit’s patent jurisprudence of 2006. And, as we did in our article surveying the Federal Circuit’s year 2000 jurisprudence, we again conclude with an addendum that discusses the statistical output of the Federal Circuit and its judges