The Belfast Youth Development Study (BYDS): A prospective cohort study of the initiation, persistence and desistance of substance use from adolescence to adulthood in Northern Ireland

Background: Substance misuse persists as a major public health issue worldwide with significant costs for society. The development of interventions requires methodologically sound studies to explore substance misuse causes and consequences. This Cohort description paper outlines the design of the Belfast Youth Development (BYDS), one of the largest cohort studies of its kind in the UK. The study was established to address the need for a long-term prospective cohort study to investigate the initiation, persistence and desistance of substance use, alongside life course processes in adolescence and adulthood. The paper provides an overview of BYDS as a longitudinal data source for investigating substance misuse and outlines the study measures, sample retention and characteristics. We also outline how the BYDS data have been used to date and highlight areas ripe for future work by interested researchers. Methods: The study began in 2000/1 when participants (n = 3,834) were pupils in their first year of post-primary education (age 10/11 years, school year 8) from over 40 schools in Northern Ireland. Children were followed during the school years: Year 9 (in 2002; aged 12; n = 4,343), Year 10 (in 2003; aged 13; n = 4,522), Year 11 (in 2004; aged 14; n = 3,965) and Year 12 (in 2005; aged 15; n = 3,830) and on two more occasions: 2006/07 (aged 16/17; n = 2,335) and 2010/11 (aged 20/21; n = 2,087). Data were collected on substance use, family, schools, neighbourhoods, offending behaviour and mental health. The most novel aspect of the study was the collection of detailed social network data via friendship nominations allowing the investigation of the spread of substance use via friendship networks. In 2004 (school year 11; respondents aged 14), a sub-sample of participants’ parents (n = 1,097) and siblings (n = 211) also completed measures on substance use and family dynamics. Results: The most recent wave (in 2010/2011; respondents aged 20/21 years) indicated lifetime use of alcohol, tobacco and cannabis among the cohort was 94, 70 and 45 per cent, respectively. The paper charts the development of drug use behaviour and some of the key results to date are presented. We have also identified a number of key areas ripe for analysis by interested researchers including sexual health and education. Conclusions: We have established a cohort with detailed data from adolescence to young adulthood, supplemented with parent and sibling reports and peer network data. The dataset, allowing for investigation of trajectories of adolescent substance use, associated factors and subsequent long-term outcomes, constitutes an important resource for longitudinal substance misuse research. A planned further wave as the cohort enter their late twenties and potential to link to administrative data sources, will further enrich the datasets

Conservation and Management Planning for the Livingston Land Conservancy

The Livingston Land Conservancy (LLC) is a volunteer-run non-profit based in Brighton, Michigan. Formed in 1995, the Conservancy now protects 612 acres of land in Livingston County through a combination of nature preserves and conservation easements. The Conservancy has a long-term goal to obtain Land Trust Accreditation through the demonstration of certain practices. This Practicum was developed to address two related practices: management planning for natural areas, and selection of lands for conservation. I combined field surveys and GIS data to inventory each property, followed by a written management plan, which recommends specific goals, targets, and methods based on theories of forest ecology, wetland ecology, and ecological restoration. In order to address the need for a decision-making tool for conservation, I used a GIS-based multi-criteria evaluation method to identify the properties with the highest conservation value. This tool can be adapted for changes in values or as more data becomes available. Both the management plans and the evaluation method demonstrate the efficiency and adaptability of using remotely sensed data in order to make conservation decisions. iiMaster of ScienceNatural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111009/1/McLaughlin_Practicum_2015.pd

Soil carbon content, morphology and quality across three levels of pasture quality in the Chariton River Watershed, Iowa

Documenting changes in soil characteristics induced by agricultural practices is important in understanding how different management techniques affect the landscape. Three objectives of the research are: (1) to quantify soil organic carbon (SOC) content (2), to quantify soil morphological properties of the individual pedons, and (3) to determine soil quality relationship across three levels of pasture quality in the Chariton River Watershed, IA. Six pastures were studied in detail with two being each high quality, fair quality, and poor quality. Within each pasture, about ten pedons were collected in a summit-toeslope transect. Significant differences were found between pedons from the different pasture qualities with respect to SOC content, stable aggregate content, thickness of epipedon, and bulk density. SOC content of high quality pastures was 15 kg*m−2*m−1 which was approximately 2 and 4 kg*m−2*m−1 more than fair and poor quality pastures, respectively. Results also indicate that in most cases pedon properties and soil quality are proportional to the level of pasture quality. Overall, these data suggest that pasture quality is a good estimate of SOC content and soil quality

Panel. Daughters and Siblings

Undutiful Daughters: Women and Kinship Beyond Family in Faulkner / Julie Beth Napolin, The New School“It Takes Two People to Make You”: Reading Brotherhood in As I Lay Dying / Josephine Adams, University of VirginiaThis paper addresses the relationship between Vardaman and Darl in As I Lay Dying in order to expose Faulkner’s understanding of the way in which sibling relationships—as opposed to parent-child relationships—can have a profound effect on the younger child’s psychological development. Much of the existing criticism on As I Lay Dying focuses on the Bundren children’s relationship to Addie: how they recognize, comprehend, and confront the loss of their mother. Engaging with the work of John Matthews, Judith Lockyer, and Stephen Ross, I argue that Vardaman creates his identity with and in terms of Darl, and that his interior monologues are a series of desperate, unconscious attempts to fill the void of his now-institutionalized older brother. In other words, Vardaman’s fundamental experience of loss in As I Lay Dying is not Addie’s death, but, rather, Darl’s departure for Jackson.Sibling Psychology and Silences in the Narrative: Racial Memory in The Unvanquished Thomas L. McLaughlin, Jr., Villanova UniversityMy talk argues that Bayard, the narrator of The Unvanquished, possesses a complex racial psychology, especially in how he internalizes his “sibling rivalry” with his enslaved friend and quasi-brother Ringo. Critics have labeled this book a “potboiler,” the bildungsroman aspects juvenile, and the racial psychology generalized and distant; some fault the narrative for failing to encapsulate the Southern reaction to Emancipation. However, the first-person account individualizes the experience of a Southern family left behind by war and faced with the complexities of Emancipation. Faulkner would have been unable to speak to a wider racial consciousness, historically, because of the silences in the archives. Thus, the narrative is not representational but specific, as Bayard is simultaneously both a claimant to and questioner of the Sartoris legacy. This legacy is informed by Bayard’s insecurities about Ringo’s increasingly important role in the family, as well as the ensuing subtle “sibling” power dynamic

White principals examine power, privilege, and identity : the challenge of leading for equity

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experience of white principals in understanding their white identity, privilege, and power as they worked to implement socially-just and culturally proficient schools. The findings offer insights into the following questions: 1) How do white school leaders view white identity and the impact, if any, it has on their leadership? 2) How do white school leaders relate to students of color, their parents, and the community? 3) In what ways do white school leaders engage in race talk and address issues of white identity, privilege, and power? 4) What challenges do white school leaders experience as they attempt to end racism in their schools? The study was set in a mostly white suburban school district in the Pacific Northwest. It involved three male and two female white principals who were previously engaged in equity training. Primary data sources included two individual interviews and two focus group sessions which were audiotaped and transcribed. Data analysis involved several coding cycles to identify themes related to the research questions. The analyses indicated the white principals engaged in a number of actions which demonstrated leadership focused on becoming culturally proficient. The knowledge and understanding principals gained in the equity training contributed to their understanding of white privilege and white identity. Their ability to name this understanding while interacting with parents and students of color helped to build relationships and created allies in their work. Due to their perceived lack of skill and knowledge related to implementing equity efforts around cultural competence, principals shared a hesitancy to lead staff into meaningful race talk and other work around white identity, privilege, and power. Challenges also arose as principals worked to manage competing district initiatives, limited staff training time, and the need for support