Women's voices: the presentation of women in the contemporary fiction of south Asian women

This thesis contains a detailed study of the genre of contemporary South Asian women's writings in English. It is still a relatively young literary subculture, and thus the majority of the works here discussed are those produced from the 1980s onwards. The study takes into account the postcolonial legacy of a culturally, racially and religiously diverse South Asia as well as the current social changes and upheavals in the region. The study encompasses the works of those writing both from within and without South Asia, noting the different social patterns emerging as a result of the geographical locations of the authors. The research primarily investigates issues pertinent to these writers; as women writers, as South Asian writers, as South Asian women writers, and as South Asian women writers writing in English. One key issue is the negotiation by these writers between the English language and the South Asian reality. Because it is literature written by the women of a traditionally proudly patriarchal society where the position of women has mostly been one of subservience, another form of negotiation in the literature is that between the centre and the periphery, the Self and the Other. In the course of this study, it will be seen that South Asian women writers have carved out a space for themselves on the literary scene, and staked an intellectual, literary and emotional territory of their own. The thesis focuses in particular on the representation of women, within the genre as well as in other contexts. Their literature creates images and identities of and for South Asia, South Asians, and South Asian women. The diasporic writers in particular play a vital role in the promotion and distribution of these images. The research also considers how readers respond to this literature and how publishers market the same

Addressing the Opioid Epidemic in Minnesota: Improving Health Outcomes by Expanding Harm Reduction Strategies A Prospective Policy Analysis

Background: Morbidity and mortality from opioid misuse is worsening in Minnesota, and synthetic opioids have exacerbated the public health problem for vulnerable communities. People who inject drugs (PWID) due to social, health, economic and environmental factors are experiencing increased fatal overdoses. Minnesota has a broad approach to tackling the opioid crisis, but policies are needed, using new harm reduction strategies, to address the existing gaps. Methods: A prospective policy analysis was conducted using a public health and trauma informed approach using an extensive literature review to understand ways to improve health outcomes in PWID. A Center for Disease Control policy analysis framework was used comparing two policy options: safe consumption sites (SCS) and expansion of Narcan utilizing public health vending machines (PHVM). Results: Both policy options were found to be beneficial, feasible, and cost-effective approaches which would increase enrollment in addiction treatment services and decrease healthcare costs to society. Implementation of a SCS pilot study and PHVM, into areas most affected by the epidemic, would reduce overdose deaths by increasing access and availability of life saving treatments. Three repeating themes appeared in the analysis: language, stigma, and research. Conclusion: A multi-pronged approach can improve MDH opioid epidemic response. Innovative harm reduction policy inclusion and expansion is critical to reduce overdose deaths and must be on Minnesota lawmakers’ policy agenda. Inclusion of affected populations in policy development is vital. Properly framing the issue and use of first-person language is important. Further education and health communication programs are needed to reduce stigma among all stakeholders. Evaluation research of utilization patterns will strengthen evidence for the further expansion of new policy solutions

Gloria Naylor’s colours in the patchwork quilt of African American fiction

The following chapters will explore and identify Naylor's key concerns and the issues she grapples with as a feminist, a novelist, and an African American woman of this time and age. Naylor's writings are juxtaposed with other associated texts, namely the writings of her predecessors and contemporaries. Such comparisons serve to contextualise Naylor's work, and more, to highlight the intertextuality within it, an intertextuality which heretofore had not been possible given the limited availability of literary works by African American women writers before the 1970s.The structure and form of Naylor's work are discussed in this thesis as are also the issues of women bonding, socio-economic oppression of proletarian women, the homogenisation of middle-class African Americans into the wider American society, women's sexuality, the language of women, "de-mythification", and the recasting of female characters in the retelling of tales. Although a feminist, Naylor has taken the unprecedented course of devoting her latest novel to the motivations, limitations and grievances of African American men, and consequently, one chapter in this thesis is also devoted to a study of black men, with emphasis on the male characters in Naylor's five novels. Naylor is as much a product as she is a part of the African American literary tradition, especially that of its women writers. The following is a study of the writings of a true daughter of African American literature, and increasingly, a young mother of the same

Preface: The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business

In writing The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business, Terence Lau and Lisa Johnson had simple aims: To present the often overwhelming legal environment of business in an exciting and relevant way To provide faculty a way of achieving that goal WHAT\u27S NEW IN 2.0: RELEVANT CASES & EXAMPLES With updated information in each chapter, this textbook will continue to illustrate the relevance of law and ethics to the happenings of the present day. NEW AREAS OF COVERAGE: Agency law, ethics, bankruptcy, consumer protection, debtor-creditor relations, and secured transactions. Some of this material may be contained in one or two new chapters, and some of this material may be added as a new section or sections in an existing chapter. This record contains the book\u27s prefac

Introduction: The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business

In writing The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business, the authors have condensed and streamlined the presentation of the key business law topics to ensure that every page is relevant, engaging, and interesting to today’s learners. This highly accessible textbook uses summaries of cases and case excerpts to improve student understanding. Lau and Johnson are focused on getting students to understand the reason for the law rather than just memorizing the law and its key elements. New in This Version: Up-to-date materials relevant to the study of the legal environment. New section on agency added to the chapter on employment law. Added notable events, such as the VW emissions scandal. Video content that help illustrate key points have been added to virtually every section of the text

Developing and evaluating a lay health worker delivered implementation intervention to decrease engagement disparities in behavioural parent training: a mixed methods study protocol.

IntroductionBehavioural parent training (BPT) programmes are effective in preventing and treating early-onset conduct problems and child maltreatment. Unfortunately, pervasive mental health service disparities continue to limit access to and engagement in these interventions. Furthermore, challenges with parental engagement can impede the successful implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in community settings that serve low-income, ethnic minority families. Lay health workers (LHWs)-individuals without formal mental health training-represent an important workforce to increase engagement, as they are members of the communities they serve. However, the mobilisation of LHWs has not been well studied as an implementation strategy to extend the reach or effectiveness of EBPs in the USA. LHW-delivered implementation interventions that specifically support the engagement of Latinx parents in evidence-based BPT programmes have the potential to improve clinical and implementation outcomes.Methods and analysisA community-partnered approach will use the Quality Implementation Framework (QIF) to tailor and implement an LHW-delivered implementation intervention that aims to promote Latinx parent engagement in BPT programmes. Steps from the QIF will guide study activities to (1) conduct a mixed methods needs assessment to fit the implementation intervention to the local context, (2) adapt LHW-delivered implementation strategies to promote parent access to and engagement in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and (3) conduct a hybrid effectiveness-implementation pilot trial to examine the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of the LHW implementation intervention at increasing engagement.Ethics and disseminationStudy procedures have been approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Results will be shared with the community-advisory group, at community-based meetings for other stakeholders involved in the pilot project, and submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals

Interleukin 1 production during accessory cell-dependent mitogenesis of T lymphocytes

We have studied the control and significance of IL-1 production in human leukocyte cultures during accessory cell-dependent, T lymphocyte mitogenesis using sensitive bioassays and immunolabeling techniques. In primary antigen-dependent systems like the MLR, IL-1 production was not detected in accessory cells (monocytes, dendritic cells) or T cells, suggesting that it is not an early product in these responses. However, monocytes could be induced to make IL-1 after interacting with sensitized antigen-specific T cells. Both alloreactive T cell clones or freshly prepared lymphoblasts induced IL-1 provided the monocytes carried the HLA-DR antigens to which the T cells were initially sensitized. Even in these circumstances, dendritic cells and B cells failed to make IL-1. The mechanism whereby activated T cells induce IL-1 in monocytes was explored. Supernatants from cocultures of monocytes and T cells or several recombinant cytokines induced little or no IL-1. A more potent antigen independent pathway of IL-1 induction was identified. IL-1 could be induced in third-party HLA-DR nonspecific monocytes in cocultures of alloreactive T cell clones or blasts and HLA-DRE-specific dendritic cells. The induction was factor independent since dendritic cells and T blasts placed in a chamber separate from third-party monocytes by a semipermeable membrane did not induce monocyte IL-1. These results suggest that a cell contact mechanism rather than an IL-1-inducing factor leads to IL-1 production. The role of IL-1 in T cell proliferation was tested with a polyclonal anti-IL-1 antibody. The antibody failed to block the proliferation of primary T cells, or alloreactive T cell clones and blasts stimulated with HLA-specific monocytes or dendritic cells, even though IL-1 in the medium was neutralized