Gendered Discourse in the Political Behavior of Adolescents

The roots of adult civic and political participation originate in pre-adult experiences (Verba et al. 1995) and high school extracurricular activities offer students opportunities to develop interpersonal and leadership skills. In this research, we ask whether adolescents also learn gendered norms of political discourse through extracurricular activities. This project assessed gender differences in participation at the 1999 Model United Nations of the Southwest (MUNSW) at the University of Oklahoma. Important differences in participation were observed in the number and character of speaking turns taken by male and female delegates. We find that contextual factors, such as the sex of the committee chair, the issue areas addressed by the committee, and the timing of the session in the conference significantly influence who participates in the discourse, but the percentage of female participants surprisingly does not. The character of the political discourse suggests norms dominated by masculinity.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Identification of six new susceptibility loci for invasive epithelial ovarian cancer.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 12 epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) susceptibility alleles. The pattern of association at these loci is consistent in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers who are at high risk of EOC. After imputation to 1000 Genomes Project data, we assessed associations of 11 million genetic variants with EOC risk from 15,437 cases unselected for family history and 30,845 controls and from 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 8,211 BRCA2 mutation carriers (3,096 with ovarian cancer), and we combined the results in a meta-analysis. This new study design yielded increased statistical power, leading to the discovery of six new EOC susceptibility loci. Variants at 1p36 (nearest gene, WNT4), 4q26 (SYNPO2), 9q34.2 (ABO) and 17q11.2 (ATAD5) were associated with EOC risk, and at 1p34.3 (RSPO1) and 6p22.1 (GPX6) variants were specifically associated with the serous EOC subtype, all with P < 5 × 10(-8). Incorporating these variants into risk assessment tools will improve clinical risk predictions for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers.COGS project is funded through a European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme grant (agreement number 223175 ] HEALTH ]F2 ]2009 ]223175). The CIMBA data management and data analysis were supported by Cancer Research.UK grants 12292/A11174 and C1287/A10118. The Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium is supported by a grant from the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund thanks to donations by the family and friends of Kathryn Sladek Smith (PPD/RPCI.07). The scientific development and funding for this project were in part supported by the US National Cancer Institute GAME ]ON Post ]GWAS Initiative (U19 ]CA148112). This study made use of data generated by the Wellcome Trust Case Control consortium. Funding for the project was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 076113. The results published here are in part based upon data generated by The Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project established by the National Cancer Institute and National Human Genome Research Institute (dbGap accession number phs000178.v8.p7). The cBio portal is developed and maintained by the Computational Biology Center at Memorial Sloan ] Kettering Cancer Center. SH is supported by an NHMRC Program Grant to GCT. Details of the funding of individual investigators and studies are provided in the Supplementary Note. This study made use of data generated by the Wellcome Trust Case Control consortium, funding for which was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 076113. The results published here are, in part, based upon data generated by The Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project established by the National Cancerhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.3185This is the Author Accepted Manuscript of 'Identification of six new susceptibility loci for invasive epithelial ovarian cancer' which was published in Nature Genetics 47, 164–171 (2015) © Nature Publishing Group - content may only be used for academic research

Identification of 12 new susceptibility loci for different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer.

To identify common alleles associated with different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), we pooled data from multiple genome-wide genotyping projects totaling 25,509 EOC cases and 40,941 controls. We identified nine new susceptibility loci for different EOC histotypes: six for serous EOC histotypes (3q28, 4q32.3, 8q21.11, 10q24.33, 18q11.2 and 22q12.1), two for mucinous EOC (3q22.3 and 9q31.1) and one for endometrioid EOC (5q12.3). We then performed meta-analysis on the results for high-grade serous ovarian cancer with the results from analysis of 31,448 BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, including 3,887 mutation carriers with EOC. This identified three additional susceptibility loci at 2q13, 8q24.1 and 12q24.31. Integrated analyses of genes and regulatory biofeatures at each locus predicted candidate susceptibility genes, including OBFC1, a new candidate susceptibility gene for low-grade and borderline serous EOC

The Distance from Public Institutions of Higher Education: Public Perceptions of UW?Madison

Public opinion matters for the administration of public higher education. Yet, we know little about how members of the public conceptualize these institutions in general, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in particular. This study investigates how Wisconsinites think about UW-Madison through investigations of conversations regularly occurring among 36 groups sampled from 27 communities statewide. It reveals a pervasive sense of distance from UW-Madison that is part of a broader sense of disconnection from institutions of authority. The implication is that positive relationships between UW-Madison and the mass public will require innovative means of listening and relationship building

Perspectives from the Public: How Wisconsinites View UW-Madison

What do Wisconsinites think about UW-Madison? How do they think it could better serve their communities? Katherine Cramer Walsh spent a year sitting in on informal gatherings and casual conversations in 23 communities across the state to find out the answers to these questions. She will discuss what she learned and consider the implications for the university and its connection to the public

Making sense of who 'we' are: Giving meaning to tools of political understanding through informal talk.

This dissertation investigates the way people make sense of politics through informal talk. The study shows how, through casual discussion, people collectively develop and define social identities through which they understand and evaluate politics. The argument is based on over two years of participant observation of two groups: a group of retired, white men who meet every morning over coffee in a neighborhood comer store in a mid-sized Midwestern city, and a church craft guild composed of elderly white women, which meets weekly in a nearby church. Survey data from a self-administered questionnaire given to the people in the comer store, three national sample cross-sections and one national sample panel study are used to analyze the effects of participating in informal interaction in voluntary associations and the workplace on political understanding and evaluation. The various sources of data show that although the vast majority of informal interaction is not conducted for political purposes or to consider the public good, it is a site of the development of important tools of political understanding. Opportunities for interaction enable people to clarify their ideas of the kind of people that they are like. These social identities in turn help them make sense of politics. The survey data reveal that people who are exposed to interaction in such sites as voluntary associations and the workplace more closely link their social circumstances, including race, class, and gender, to their evaluation of political issues. Since interaction strengthens attachment to particular social groups, the results caution against concluding that more interaction, through voluntary associations or otherwise, is the solution to a decline in civic life.Ph.D.Political scienceSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/132708/2/9977282.pd

The need to teach rather than translate

Reading and digesting Interpretive Research Design has been an enormously valuable experience in my professional development. I found it reassuring, encouraging, and also challenging. Reading it was like discovering the lost tribe of which I am a part. It gave voice to many of the struggles I have experienced as a political scientist who tends toward interpretive methods. And yet I now find myself torn over whether to fully embrace the language it suggests, as opposed to continuing to use the terms commonly used by the broader discipline with which I try to communicate