Disproportionality of American Indian Children in Foster Care

The practice of removing American Indian Children from their families, relatives, and communities and placing them in foster care with or adoption by White families is an ongoing problem despite the enactment of the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The purpose of this systematic study is to analyze previous research, examine effective interventions and explore what child welfare system changes and practices must occur to reduce disproportionality of American Indian Children in foster care. Research shows possible causes and contributing factors across the United States, however, no well-founded research definitively validates the reasons. To further understand this chronic social issue, the study will look at what other countries like Canada or Australia, who also experience this social problem, and learn from their research what interventions have been implemented to decrease disproportionality and disparities of Indigenous children in out of home placement

Disproportionality of American Indian Children in Foster Care

The practice of removing American Indian Children from their families, relatives, and communities and placing them in foster care with or adoption by White families is an ongoing problem despite the enactment of the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The purpose of this systematic study is to analyze previous research, examine effective interventions and explore what child welfare system changes and practices must occur to reduce disproportionality of American Indian Children in foster care. Research shows possible causes and contributing factors across the United States, however, no well-founded research definitively validates the reasons. To further understand this chronic social issue, the study will look at what other countries like Canada or Australia, who also experience this social problem, and learn from their research what interventions have been implemented to decrease disproportionality and disparities of Indigenous children in out of home placement

From the Science of Selection to Psychologising Civvy Street: The Tavistock Group, 1939-1948

The work of psychiatrists affiliated with the Tavistock Clinic and Tavistock Institute has been credited with reshaping how workplaces were managed and with psychologising British society, providing British people with a new psychological language for thinking about problems. This thesis provides a history of the Second World War roots of this work. It examines two projects which emerged from a remarkable collaboration between the Tavistock group and the British Army: the War Office Selection Boards (WOSBs) and Civil Resettlement Units (CRUs). These projects, whose scale was vast and unprecedented in British human science, involved the creation and management of processes to choose leaders and to help communities disrupted by war to return to peace. As well as exploring how particular psychological programmes, theories, methods and technologies were devised, this work considers the implications of this work for those who were involved in the wartime work. It provides a history of the co-constitution of psychological expertise, military management strategies, technologies of assessment, and therapeutic intervention. This is achieved by reconstructing the complex negotiations that surrounded the WOSBs and CRUs, by tracing the macro-scale social concerns and the micro-scale personal relationships of individuals that shaped the WOSBs and the CRUs. Historiographical approaches such as actor-network theory and S.L. Star’s work on “boundary objects” are used to examine how psychological theories were balanced with military expectations and demands. The thesis highlights the importance of communication strategies, the negotiation of networks, and administrative structures in the production of science and expertise

Comparing Perspectives on Cause and Reason in Intentional Action: Elizabeth Anscombe\u27s Intention and Donald Davidson\u27s Actions, Reasons and Causes

ABSTRACT Comparing Perspectives on Cause and Reason in Intentional Action: Elizabeth Anscombe’s Intention and Donald Davidson’s “Actions, Reasons and Causes” Victoria White Berger As seen in light of Anscombe’s cause and reason in Intention, Davidson’s “Actions, Causes and Reasons”, offered in large measure as a response to Anscombe’s ideas, suggests a philosophical ‘causal’ alternative to her original defense of the priority of reason in actions which she coined as “intentional”. Davidson’s introduction of reason-as-cause in (intentional) action differs in fundamental respects from the intentional action of Anscombe (despite his public admiration for Intention, the ideas of which he puts on a par with Aristotle’s thoughts on action). Herein, we offer general comments regarding Davidson’s approach to cause and reason in action. We briefly review causal theory in Davidson’s and Anscombe’s thought respectively. We compare to various degree thematic inquiries in Anscombe and Davidson: the description/qualification of intentional action; the role of such as belief and desire in intentional action; objects and intentional action; mental cause and practical reason in intentional action; and the linguistic semantics of ‘cause’ and ‘reason’. We close with a defense of Anscombe’s positions on the limited, if even that, role of cause in intentional action. We conclude that Davidson’s summary arguments, while broadening the discussion in the abstract, do not provide sufficient or effective—whether comprehensive or specific— ‘causal’ alternative(s) to Anscombe’s prior assignment of reason as chief in intentional action

Identification of the underlying factor structure of the Derriford Appearance Scale 24

Background. The Derriford Appearance Scale24 (DAS24) is a widely used measure of distress and dysfunction in relation to self-consciousness of appearance. It has been used in clinical and research settings, and translated into numerous European and Asian languages. Hitherto, no study has conducted an analysis to determine the underlying factor structure of the scale. Methods. A large (n=1265) sample of community and hospital patients with a visible difference were recruited face to face or by post, and completed the DAS24. Results. A two factor solution was found to be the best fit to the data. A main factor, general self consciousness (GSC), was represented by 18 items. Six items comprised a second factor, sexual and body self-consciousness (SBSC). The SBSC scale demonstrated greater sensitivity and specificity in identifying distress for sexually significant areas of the body. Discussion. The factor structure of the DAS24 facilitates a more nuanced interpretation of scores using this scale. Two conceptually and statistically coherent sub-scales were identified. The SBSC subscale offers a means of identifying distress and dysfunction around sexually significant areas of the body not previously possible with this scale

Problematising the concept of 'sustainability' in the supply chain through systematic literature review

The authors contend that there are two broad 'senses' in which 'sustainability' is currently understood in supply chain research and practice – responsibility (in terms of environmental and social practices) and continuity (in the face of twenty-first century uncertainty and disruption). Systematic review is used to illustrate the predominance of the responsibility 'sense' of sustainability in academic literature labelled 'sustainable supply chain.' The authors propose that parallel research into strategies for supply chain continuity (e.g. agility and resilience) be brought within the fold of the 'sustainable supply chain' research label for the sake of clarity of the 'sustainability' concept and the development of a truly sustainable supply chain, because a responsible supply chain might not necessarily be a resilient supply chain in the twenty-first century global environment

Evaluation of a novel assay for detection of the fetal marker RASSF1A: facilitating improved diagnostic reliability of noninvasive prenatal diagnosis

BackgroundAnalysis of cell free fetal (cff) DNA in maternal plasma is used routinely for non invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) of fetal sex determination, fetal rhesus D status and some single gene disorders. True positive results rely on detection of the fetal target being analysed. No amplification of the target may be interpreted either as a true negative result or a false negative result due to the absence or very low levels of cffDNA. The hypermethylated RASSF1A promoter has been reported as a universal fetal marker to confirm the presence of cffDNA. Using methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes hypomethylated maternal sequences are digested leaving hypermethylated fetal sequences detectable. Complete digestion of maternal sequences is required to eliminate false positive results.MethodscfDNA was extracted from maternal plasma (n = 90) and digested with methylation-sensitive and insensitive restriction enzymes. Analysis of RASSF1A, SRY and DYS14 was performed by real-time PCR.ResultsHypermethylated RASSF1A was amplified for 79 samples (88%) indicating the presence of cffDNA. SRY real time PCR results and fetal sex at delivery were 100% accurate. Eleven samples (12%) had no detectable hypermethylated RASSF1A and 10 of these (91%) had gestational ages less than 7 weeks 2 days. Six of these samples were male at delivery, five had inconclusive results for SRY analysis and one sample had no amplifiable SRY.ConclusionUse of this assay for the detection of hypermethylated RASSF1A as a universal fetal marker has the potential to improve the diagnostic reliability of NIPD for fetal sex determination and single gene disorders