Children Affected by AIDS: A Review of the Literature on Orphaned and Vulnerable Children

This paper presents a systematic review of the literature pertaining to orphans and vulnerable children in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on research in countries heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS. Despite study and data limitations, the literature provides evidence of growing orphan-based disparities, difficulties within households providing care, and insufficient capacity among social services. Still, additional research is urgently needed, including better OVC surveillance methods, qualitative data than answers persisting questions, the inclusion of more useful indicators in national household surveys, and longitudinal studies to determine the mechanisms by which parental HIV status and death impacts children, caregiving impacts households, and the orphan epidemic impacts communities and social systems

Cash transfers in an epidemic context : the interaction of formal and informal support in rural Malawi

This paper investigates the short-run consumption expenditure dynamics and the interaction of public and private arrangements of ultra-poor and labor-constrained households in Malawi using an original dataset from the Mchinjii social cash transfer pilot project (one of the first experiments of social protection policies based on unconditional cash transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa). The authors exploit the unique source of exogenous variation provided by the randomized component of the program in order to isolate the effect of cash transfers on consumption expenditures as well as the net crowding out effect of cash transfers on private arrangements. They find a statistically significant reduction effect on the level of consumption expenditures for those households receiving cash transfers, thus leading to the rejection of the perfect risk sharing hypothesis. Moreover, by looking at the effects of cash transfers on private arrangements in a context characterized by imperfect enforceability of contracts and by a social fabric heavily compromised by high HIV/AIDS rates, the analysis confirms the presence of crowding out effects on private arrangements when looking at gifts and (to a lesser extent) remittances, while informal loans seem to be completely independent from the cash transfer's reception. From a policy perspective, the paper offers a contribution to the evaluation of the very recent wave of social protection policies based on (unconditional) cash transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa, suggesting that there might be an important role for public interventions aimed at helping households to pool risk more effectively.Safety Nets and Transfers,Rural Poverty Reduction,Labor Policies,Services&Transfers to Poor,Debt Markets

Diversity Matters: A Case Study of the Cultural Components of Three Ontario College Leadership Development Programs

With the number of international students increasing notably in the Ontario college system, educational leaders in those institutions need to provide culturally sensitive leadership to ultimately support student learning and achievement. In order to investigate how and why leaders need to lead in culturally sensitive ways, an exploratory case study of leadership development programs was undertaken in three Ontario colleges. In all, 17 semi-structured, one-to-one interviews were conducted with leaders from different areas of each college (organizational development, academics, and student services). In addition, the physical settings of the three institutions were observed by the researcher and professional learning documents and annual reports were analyzed from each school. Analysis of the data included open coding and axial coding (Merriam, 2009) to determine the key themes or categories. Findings indicated there is a gap or inconsistency between external and internal perceptions of college values, such as diversity, which needs to be aligned for organizational sustainability. In addition, more leaders who are demographically and culturally diverse need to be evident at all levels of leadership in Ontario colleges. Furthermore, cultural competence learning is important for Ontario college leaders because the term itself and its enactment have layered meanings and potentially significant and positive impacts on the individual leader, their organization, and the larger society. Leadership development is not a one-size-fits-all undertaking, but needs to offer individualized and flexible opportunities for leaders to enhance their cultural competence learning through connecting with each other, building additional professional relationships inside the college, and communicating in organized and strategic ways at the college level. Finally, developing more culturally competent leaders needs to be a priority for all Ontario colleges. As this study showed, Ontario colleges are at a critical decision-making point in terms of addressing straitened government funding as well as the opportunities and challenges that increased diversity brings to an institution. This study offers a proactive approach to addressing these issues via leadership learning and developing an inclusive organizational culture for long-term sustainability and growth of Ontario colleges

Evaluation of the Compartment Bag Test for the Detection of Escherichia coli in Drinking Water

INTRODUCTION: More than 1.8 million diarrheal disease deaths can be attributed to the lack of access to water, sanitation and hygiene. These deaths occur mostly in developing countries where water quality testing resources are limited. Several tests are currently used to detect and quantify E. coli and other fecal coliforms in drinking water, however they can be expensive, complex, and technically demanding. There is a need for a simple, reliable, low-cost water quality test that can be used in resource limited settings. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to perform a rigorous evaluation of the recently developed compartment bag test for detection and quantification of E. coli against the standard method, membrane filtration. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 270 water samples were collected from forty-five various naturally contaminated water sources around metro-Atlanta from August 2011 through April 2012 and processed using the compartment bag test and membrane filtration with mI agar. Concentrations of E. coli were significantly correlated with a correlation coefficient of 0.904 (95% CI 0.859 – 0.950). Sensitivity and specificity were 94.9% and 96.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the compartment bag test produces results consistent with those produced by membrane filtration on mI agar. Based upon its performance, the compartment bag test has the potential to be used as a reliable, low-cost drinking water quality test globally where water quality testing resources are not readily available, and can be implemented in monitoring activities for microbial water quality

The Gender Wage Gap as it Relates to State Partisan Control and Pay Equity Policy

This study offers an explanation to the interstate variation of the gender wage gap in the United States. Looking at political explanations as an answer for the wage gap’s persistence, I hypothesize that Democratically controlled state government positively impacts the state having pay equity policies, and that having these pay equity policies positively impacts the state’s gender wage gap. Using U.S. Census Bureau, National Conference of State Legislatures, and American Association of University Women with U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau data, I find that while there is a correlation between Democratically controlled state legislatures and pay equity policy and a correlation between Democratic majority legislatures and a narrower gender wage gap, there does not appear to be a direct association between pay equity policy and the state’s gender wage gap. The findings suggest that partisanship of the state legislature plays a key role in the wage equity policy of a state, as well as the reasoning that longstanding Democratic majorities have already passed policy to combat the apparent causes of the gap, and that more in depth policy is thus necessary to completely close it.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/durep_podium/1017/thumbnail.jp

The Ursinus Weekly, November 1, 1965

Founders\u27 Day ceremony honors four outstanding women • Homecoming weekend: Parties, pageantry, parades • Alumni initiate 1 year fund drive • Young Democrats help with campaign in Collegeville • Curtain Club presents theater-in-the-round • Senate announces senior women get 1:00 permissions • Editorial: Where have all the writers gone • Students join TV production staff • Letters to the editor • Student concert season opens at the Academy • Coed writes dear grandfather • Intramural corner • UC hockey over Wilson • JV\u27s undefeated • Alfred swamps Bears • Soccer team edged 1-0 • Greek machines promote The candidates • A protest! It\u27s purpose?https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1208/thumbnail.jp

Postdocs’ Lab Engagement Predicts Trajectories of PhD Students’ Skill Development

The doctoral advisor—typically the principal investigator (PI)—is often characterized as a singular or primary mentor who guides students using a cognitive apprenticeship model. Alternatively, the “cascading mentorship” model describes the members of laboratories or research groups receiving mentorship from more senior laboratory members and providing it to more junior members (i.e., PIs mentor postdocs, postdocs mentor senior graduate students, senior students mentor junior students, etc.). Here we show that PIs’ laboratory and mentoring activities do not significantly predict students’ skill development trajectories, but the engagement of postdocs and senior graduate students in laboratory interactions do. We found that the cascading mentorship model accounts best for doctoral student skill development in a longitudinal study of 336 PhD students in the United States. Specifically, when postdocs and senior doctoral students actively participate in laboratory discussions, junior PhD students are over 4 times as likely to have positive skill development trajectories. Thus, postdocs disproportionately enhance the doctoral training enterprise, despite typically having no formal mentorship role. These findings also illustrate both the importance and the feasibility of identifying evidence-based practices in graduate education

Urban Adolescents Readily Comply with a Complicated Asthma Research Protocol

Purpose: Adolescents are often cited as having poor rates of compliance with medical regimens and research protocols. We quantified compliance in a cohort of urban adolescents participating in a complex research protocol in which measures were obtained without direct supervision by research personnel. Methods: A total of 54 early adolescents ages 10–13 were asked to wear a vest containing a personal air pollutant exposure monitor for two 24-hour periods and to perform daily peak expiratory flow (PEF) for six consecutive days. Compliance with wearing the vest was measured by comparing accelerometer data from a device within the vest to one worn continuously on the child's wrist. Daily PEF data were recorded using an electronic meter. Results: A priori definition of compliance was met by 85% of the adolescents by wearing the exposure monitoring vest and 72% by performing PEF. Conclusions: These findings suggest that early adolescents can be compliant with complex research protocols that are needed to help bridge gaps in pediatric asthma research

Surgeons' Volume-Outcome Relationship for Lobectomies and Wedge Resections for Cancer Using Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Techniques

This study examined the effect of surgeons' volume on outcomes in lung surgery: lobectomies and wedge resections. Additionally, the effect of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) on cost, utilization, and adverse events was analyzed. The Premier Hospital Database was the data source for this analysis. Eligible patients were those of any age undergoing lobectomy or wedge resection using VATS for cancer treatment. Volume was represented by the aggregate experience level of the surgeon in a six-month window before each surgery. A positive volume-outcome relationship was found with some notable features. The relationship is stronger for cost and utilization outcomes than for adverse events; for thoracic surgeons as opposed to other surgeons; for VATS lobectomies rather than VATS wedge resections. While there was a reduction in cost and resource utilization with greater experience in VATS, these outcomes were not associated with greater experience in open procedures