Guidelines and Best Practices for Large and Mass Tort MDLs (First Edition)

Mass-tort MDLs dominate the federal civil docket, yet they present enormous challenges to transferee judges assigned to manage them. There is little official guidance and no rules specific to the management of mass-tort MDLs, often requiring the transferee judge to develop procedures out of whole cloth. Beginning in 2013, the Bolch Judicial Institute (then the Center for Judicial Studies) sought to address this issue through a series of annual bench-bar conferences. From these conferences came the Guidelines and Best Practices for Large and Mass-Tort MDLs document, which is designed to help judges and legal practitioners understand and efficiently navigate complex MDL procedures. As with any group product of this nature, where some consensus must be reached, the drafters and other participants are not individually responsible for any particular statement or provision, and may or may not agree with any particular statement or provision. The document does not necessarily represent the views of the Duke Law faculty or the Law School or University

Elevinflytande i lärandeprocessen i vuxenutbildningen

Syftet med examensarbetet var att undersöka lärares och elevers syn på elevinflytande i lärandeprocessen i vuxenutbildningens omvårdnadsprogram. För att nå syftet använde jag mig av kvalitativa intervjuer för att skildra fem elevers och tre lärares syn på elevinflytande och hinder för elevers inflytande. Undersökningen visar på att eleverna och lärarna har samma uppfattning om vad elevinflytande är i lärandeprocessen. Elevinflytande innebär möjlighet att påverka sitt lärande i utbildningen. Lärarna och eleverna tycker också att det finns hinder för elevinflytandet i form av elevernas låga engagemang och okunskap om inflytandets innehåll. Vidare tycker de att lärarnas eventuella negativa inställning till elevernas inflytande är ett hinder, samt när lärarna och eleverna har en dålig kommunikation. Det som skiljer elevernas och lärarnas upplevelser av hinder, är att lärarna anser tidsbrist och dålig ekonomi som ett hinder och eleverna ser sitt underläge i relation till lärarna som ett hinder

Birth Characteristics’ Impacton Future Reproduction and Morbidity Among Twins an dSingletons

Globally, in both developed and developing countries, the twinning rates have increased since the early 70’s. A large proportion of twins are born preterm and/or small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and/or with a low birth weight. Several studies have been performed on the long-term effect of these non-optimal birth characteristics on future reproductive performance and morbidity. Yet, most studies exclude twins or higher order pregnancies and thus the findings are based on singleton pregnancies only. The aim of the present thesis was therefore to investigate the impact of non-optimal birth characteristics in terms of preterm birth, small-for-gestational age, and low birth weight, on the reproductive pattern and morbidity among twins and singletons Furthermore, the present thesis attempted to establish whether twins and singletons were affected in the same manner. The studies included in this thesis are prospective population-based register studies, including all men and women, alive and living in Sweden at age 13, who were born between 1973 and 1983 (1,000,037 singletons and 16,561 twins) for the first three studies with follow-up till the end of 2006 and 2009. The last study included all men and women, alive and living in Sweden at age 13, who were born between 1973 and 1993 (2,051,479 singletons and 39,726 twins) with follow-up till the end of 2012. In general, twins were found less likely to reproduce between 13 and 33 years of age compared with singletons. Stratifying data by different birth characteristics, it was found that twins had a lower likelihood of reproducing on several different birth characteristics (appropriate-for-gestational-age, normal birth weight, low birth weight, term birth, preterm birth). However, twins born very preterm had an increased likelihood of reproducing compared with singletons born very preterm. Not taking birth characteristics into account, twinning was associated with a higher degree of hospitalization. However, accounting for the diverging birth characteristics this difference diminished and for some diagnoses the relationship was reversed such that twins were actually less likely to be hospitalized compared with singletons. In terms of the heritability of non-optimal birth characteristics singleton mothers born preterm were more predisposed to give birth to a child that was preterm while singleton mothers born SGA more often gave birth to a child either born preterm or SGA. Among twins this heritability was not as evident. The only difference observed was among twin mothers born SGA who were more likely to give birth to a child born SGA. In the extended cohort comprising those born between 1973 and 1993, male and female twins were found to be less likely to become parents compared with singletons. No difference was found among women in terms of having a second child, while male twins were more likely to have a second child compared with male singletons. It was also found that the likelihood of becoming a first-time parent and second-time parent was positively associated with the number of siblings

Relationships in couples treated with sperm donation -a national prospective follow-up study Relationships in couples treated with sperm donation -a national prospective follow-up study

Abstract Background: Long-term follow-up on relationship quality in couples who use sperm donation is scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse changes over time in satisfaction with relationship in heterosexual couples who were scheduled for treatment with sperm donation and IVF couples treated with their own gametes and to compare the two groups undergoing different treatment for infertility. Method: A prospective follow-up study in which data were collected twice on two groups; couples receiving sperm donation and IVF couples using their own gametes. The ENRICH instrument was used to gain information about the individuals' subjective experience of their relationship at the time of acceptance for treatment and again 2-5 years later

Barns upplevelser av pedagogernas deltagande i leken : "Att man ska leka nåt man vill"

Bakgrund   ”Förskolan ska erbjuda barnen en trygg miljö som samtidigt utmanar och lockar till lek och aktivitet. Den ska inspirera barnen att utforska omvärlden. I förskolan ska barnen möta vuxna som ser varje barns möjligheter och som engagerar sig i samspelet med både det enskilda barnet och barngruppen.” (Lpfö98, 2010)  Med föregående citat intresserade vi oss för hur barnen upplever detta på förskolan. Med utgångspunkt från vår egen praktik och i arbetet med barn och läroplan ville vi synliggöra om barnen verkligen uppfattar oss pedagoger som engagerande och som kan se till varje barns och barngrupps livsvärld.  Syfte  Syftet med studien är att få en inblick i barns upplevelser av pedagogernas medverkan i leken. Vi har satt fokus på barn i åldrarna fyra och fem år, vi använde oss av mindre gruppkonstellationer för intervjuer. Detta gör vi genom tre frågeställningar som behandlar; Barnens upplevelser om pedagogernas medverkan i leken, barnens beskrivningar av pedagogernas roll i leken samt på vilket sätt barnen upplever att de har inflytande och makt över sin lek. Vår studie har ett fenomenologiskt perspektiv.  Metod  Tanken med studien är att undersöka hur barn upplever pedagogernas medverkan i leken. Metoden utgörs av gruppintervjuer med barn samt ljudinspelning under intervjuerna. Vi har sammanställt, analyserat och kategoriserat alla intervjuer genom att lyssna på samtalen och skrivit ut dessa i pappersform. Sammanlagt har 22 barn deltagit i studien. För att alla barn skulle få komma till tals i grupperna minimerade vi grupperna till att vara ca 4-5 barn i varje intervjugrupp. Studien är en kvalitativ studie.  Resultat  Utifrån de resultat som vi kom fram till i studien kan man se att barnen har olika upplevelser av pedagogernas medverkan i leken. En del av barngrupperna menar att pedagogerna var bra på att leka och var involverade i leken samtidigt som de underkastade sig de roller som barnen ville att de skulle ha i en lek. En barngrupp ansåg att pedagogerna absolut inte kunde leka utan hellre gjorde andra saker som att stå vid datorn eller prata med kollegor. Ett tydligt mönster som vi såg från alla intervjugrupper var att barnen upplevde att de fick bestämma när de skulle leka och vilka regler som gällde i leken, men att det även fanns regler på förskolan som bara fanns där

Predictors of educational failure at 16 and 19 years of age—SESBiC longitudinal study

Background Educational attainment is highly associated with future health and independence. Throughout childhood, children are exposed to factors that may promote educational attainment and factors that may be associated with a reduced likelihood of being able to complete their education. The purpose of the current study was to investigate which factors, measured from birth up to finishing upper secondary school, were associated with a lower mean grade point average from lower and upper secondary school as well as eligibility to upper secondary school and college/university. Methods This is a longitudinal study on 1723 children born in 1995/1996 who have been followed until they were 20 years old. Information with respect to maternal sociodemographics, maternal stress factors during pregnancy and childhood, birth characteristics of the child, child behavior at 3 and 12 years of age, and mean grade point average from lower and upper secondary school, including eligibility to upper secondary school and college/university was collected. Results Children exhibiting high problems scores on the child behavior checklist at 12 years of age and children or having other living arrangements (e.g. foster parents or institutional care) were less likely to fulfill the requirements for upper secondary school (OR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.17–0.71 and OR = 0.33 95% CI = 0.17–0.65, respectively). The likelihood of fulfilling the requirements to college/university was lower if the child had divorced parents at three years of age (OR = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.16–0.58) and exhibited externalizing problems at 12 years of age (OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.24–0.86) and if the mother had experienced high level of stress at (OR = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.14–0.77). Conclusion Identifying mothers with high level of stressors as well as children with externalizing behaviour problems to provide guidance and support is very important as these two factors appear to be associated with future study performance in both lower and upper secondary school