Studying Homeless and Incarcerated Persons: A Comparative Account of Doing Field Research With Hard-to-Reach Populations

In diesem Beitrag beschäftige berichte ich von meiner Forschung mit zwei vulnerablen und schwer erreichbaren Personengruppen (obdachlosen und inhaftierte Männern) an drei, durch unterschiedliche Zugangslevel charakterisierten Orten: ein Gefängnis, Straßen in einer Großstadt und ein Wohnheim für obdachlose Männer. Ich zeige, dass trotz der Hemmnisse für eine unabhängige Forschung durch jeweilige Gatekeeper (offizielle Stellen, die den Zugang gestatten oder verhindern können) Forschende aus Bereichen, in denen strikte Zugangsregelungen vorherrschen, auch Nutzen ziehen können. Üblicherweise findet dieser Nutzen in qualitativen Studien und insbesondere in der pönologischen Literatur kaum Erwähnung. Aufgrund meiner Erfahrungen rate ich jedoch dazu, die Vorteile, die z.B. aus Gefängnisstudien erwachsen können, eher aufzugreifen als vor solchen Studien zurückzuschrecken.In this article, I discuss the process of conducting research with two vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations (homeless and incarcerated men) in three research locations characterized by varying levels of gatekeeping: a prison, public streets in an urban city, and a residential facility for homeless men. I argue that, despite the obstacles to independent research that gatekeepers (officials who can grant or deny researchers access to participants) pose, research with vulnerable, hard-to-reach populations in different field sites reveals some of the benefits of using field sites characterized by gatekeeping and strict rules to which researchers must adhere. Many of these benefits, however, go unacknowledged in discussions of access in qualitative studies—especially in the penological literature. I conclude that, instead of shying away from qualitative prison studies, researchers should take advantage of the benefits that prisons offer as field sites

Despite public fear of Islamic radicalization in U.S. prisons, newspaper reports capture the nuanced role of Islam behind bars.

After 2001’s 9/11 attacks, public attitudes towards Muslims worsened, and concern increased about the perceived threat of Islamic radicalization in US prisons. But how has the news media portrayed Muslim prisoners in the US? In new research, which examines news reports over a 25 year period, Janani Umamaheswar finds that despite concerns over radicalization, newspapers tended to be nuanced and balanced in their coverage of Muslim inmates

Spectrophotometric Methods for the Quantitative Estimation of Paliperidone in Formulations

Abstract: Two simple, sensitive and economical spectrophotometric methods have been developed and validated for the determination of paliperidone in pharmaceutical dosage forms. The methods were based on the formation of colored complex of Paliperidone with different reagents. The absorbance of the formed colored complex is measured at the wavelength of maximum absorbance of the complex 665 nm and 555 nm respectively against the reagent blank treated similarly. These methods have different linearity ranges observed in the concentration ranges of 1-6 and 10-60 μg/mL with correlation coefficient of 0.998 for both the methods. Statistical analysis indicates that the proposed methods are reproducible and selective for the estimation of Paliperidone in bulk drug and in its tablet dosage form

Multi-objective optimization of process parameters during friction stir welding of similar AA6061 using MOORA

This work is an attempt to select the optimum process parameters for friction stir welding of similar AA6061 aluminum alloy based on multiple criteria decision-making approach. The friction stir welding experiments have been conducted according to the orthogonal L9 array and the chosen input parameters are tool rotational speed, feed, and tilt angle. The responses measured are tensile strength, hardness, and % of elongation of welded joint. The multi-criteria decision-making technique namely multi-objective optimization based on the ratio analysis (MOORA) is used to find the optimum process parameters combination. The optimum conditions are tool rotational speed of 1120 rpm, feed of 30 mm/rev and tilt angle at 1 o

Profiling the Stromal and Vascular Heterogeneity in Patient-derived Xenograft Models of Head and Neck Cancer: Impact on Therapeutic Response

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) represent a group of epithelial neoplasms that exhibit considerable heterogeneity in clinical behavior. Here, we examined the stromal and vascular heterogeneity in a panel of patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of HNSCC and the impact on therapeutic response. Tumor sections from established tumors were stained for p16 (surrogate for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection), stromal (Masson’s trichrome) and vascular (CD31) markers. All PDX models retained the HPV/p16 status of the original patient tumor. Immunohistochemical evaluation revealed the presence of multiple vessel phenotypes (tumor, stromal or mixed) in the PDX panel. Vascular phenotypes identified in the PDX models were validated in a tissue microarray of human HNSCC. Treatment with a microtubule targeted vascular disrupting agent (VDA) resulted in a heterogeneous antivascular and antitumor response in PDX models. The PDX with the tumor vessel phenotype that exhibited higher CD31+ vessel counts and leaky vasculature on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was sensitive to VDA treatment while the PDX with the stromal vessel phenotype was resistant to therapy. Collectively, our results demonstrate the phenotypic and functional vascular heterogeneity in HNSCC and highlight the impact of this heterogeneity on response to antivascular therapy in PDX models of HNSC