Building strong women : addressing the needs of at-risk pre-teen girls

Too many young, pre-teen girls are at risk of consequences including teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, low education levels and more. Many girls find themselves in these situations due to at-risk factors such as the absence of parents, low family income, having disabilities, being retained in school, etc. During my senior year internship at Community Solutions, a non-profit organization in Gilroy, California, I addressed self-esteem issues and lack of life skills and social skills that 10-12 year old girls face on a daily basis. My goal was to reach out and empower them, hoping to build self-esteem and teach important life and social skills necessary for transition into adolescence. Using pre-tests, post-tests, and True/False Trivia quizzes, I compared two curricula to determine which was more beneficial to the girls

Does Menstruation Hinder Women\u27s Empowerment? Working Toward Social Change In South India

With so many challenges facing education today, it is difficult to think about any more potential problems kids around the world have to deal with. However, as I came to realize during a semester abroad in South India – one problem might be messier than all the rest. And, it only affects girls. Menstruation often limits a girl’s ability to go to school for a variety of reasons. This paper documents some of those challenges girls face in regard to cultural taboos and social stigmatization, a lack of knowledge or historical misunderstanding, as well as the fact that for many girls in the developing world (in places like India, where I studied), the cost of sanitary napkins is simply too much. I argue that increased education, through campaigns or active participation in local communities, will help alleviate some of the worries young girls face when managing menstruation and help keep them in school. Evidence for this argument is found in some independent research I completed in Saragur, Karnataka in 2011, with a followup visit in 2013. While the problem may seem grim, solutions are possible – all for the price of a pad

Remembering and Recollecting World War Two: South African Perspectives

Includes bibliographical references.This thesis explores some of the memories and recollections of World War Two in South Africa today. It aims to address an absence of work done on South Africa in relation to World War Two, memory and commemoration. This thesis is as much about the diverse processes of remembrance and recollection as it is about the war itself and assumes that memories of the war can be located in different media. Accordingly the chapters herein are each delegated a media form, from newspapers, literature, memorials, film and photography to oral interviews, in which ‘memories’ of the war are located. The arrangement of the chapters mimics the history of the war’s remembrance in South Africa as it moved from public to private remembrance. This follows the historical context of South Africa from the war period until approximately mid-2013. The white Anglophone experience is given prominence in approaching the subject of commemoration and World War Two in Cape Town. This is motivated by Vivian Bickford- Smith and John Lambert, both of whom recognise it as South Africa’s ‘forgotten identity.’1 Nevertheless other non-white memories of the war are also discussed as important to understanding South Africa’s relationship to it. In particular, the sons and daughters of the Cape Corps briefly feature in this thesis in recognition of a greater Anglophone identity that is not necessarily bound by race. Black recruits are also touched upon as an oft-forgotten group involved in the war. Accordingly this thesis emphasizes that although some experiences and memories were shaped by race, there were others that transcended it. Lastly the different media forms discussed within this thesis are suggestive of technology’s advances and its impact on the way memories are stored and retrieved. Ultimately, despite the fact that the war has fallen out of public remembrance in Cape Town today, this thesis concludes that it remains important to a few groups and individuals for whom it continues to inform a sense of history and identity

Perspectives on the application of technology to enhance learning in an undergraduate nursing degree programme

This paper discusses concepts and practice relating to the use of computer-based technologies for enhancing learning. It draws on examples from a UK nursing degree programme

Issue 13: Syrian Refugee Resettlement and the Role of Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs) in Ontario, Canada

During the peak of the Syrian refugee “crisis” in 2015 and early 2016, the Canadian Federal Government responded with a push to drastically increase the number of Syrian refugees it planned to resettle. The resulting Syrian Refugee Resettlement Initiative (SRRI) put to the test Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs), a form of place-based policy that had been in place since 2008 where communities collaborate in the support, development and execution of local immigration and refugee resettlement plans. This issue of Policy Points discusses a study of three LIPs (Hamilton, Ottawa, and Waterloo Region) and their response to the SRRI. The research provides three policy insights relevant to refugee and immigrant community resettlement. Bringing the community into the fold through multi stakeholder tables such as LIPs can coordinate local responses to the resettlement of refugees (policy insight 1). LIPs must be embedded in the local community and include leaders and personnel able to build and enhance local stakeholder networks (policy insight 2). Finally, it is key to involve LIPs in communication channels during mass resettlement events (policy insight 3). Policy action under points 2 and 3 will in turn enable LIPs to effectively support refugee resettlement at the local level. The experience of the three Ontario LIPs in this study is relevant to existing and potential new LIPs, but it also offers a unique place-based policy approach to engaging local communities in resettlement at other locations and scales

Student-generated e-learning for clinical education

Background Within clinical education, e-learning facilitates a standardised learning experience to augment the clinical experience while enabling learner and teacher flexibility. With the shift of students from consumers to creators, student-generated content is expanding within higher education; however, there is sparse literature evaluating the impact of student-developed e-learning within clinical education. The aim of this study was to implement and evaluate a student-developed e-learning clinical module series within ambulatory care clinical pharmacy experiences. Methods Three clinical e-learning modules were developed by students for use prior to clinical experiences. E-learning modules were created by fourth-year professional pharmacy students and reviewed by pharmacy faculty members. A pre-/post-assessment was performed to evaluate knowledge comprehension before and after participating in the e-learning modules. Additionally, a survey on student perceptions of this educational tool was performed at the end of the clinical experience. There is sparse literature evaluating the impact of student-developed e-learning within clinical education Results Of the 31 students eligible for study inclusion, 94 per cent participated in both the pre- and post-assessments. The combined post-assessment score was significantly improved after participating in the student-developed e-learning modules (p = 0.008). The student perception survey demonstrated positive perceptions of e-learning within clinical education. Discussion Student-generated e-learning was able to enhance knowledge and was positively perceived by learners. As e-learning continues to expand within health sciences education, students can be incorporated into the development and execution of this educational tool

Guiding ‘The Intelligent English Traveller’: The Collaborative and Interactive Victorian Serialized Handbook

Relying on a range of nineteenth-century genres and authorial voices, “Guiding the ‘Intelligent English Traveller’” spotlights John Murray’s Handbooks for Travellers as collaborative, interactive, and multidisciplinary texts. Guidebooks from the Victorian age emerged from epistolary and travelogue genres, cited Romantic poets, depended on contributions from the great minds of the day, and informed contemporary fictional representations of travel. The Handbooks for Travellers were the exemplar of the serial guide. Their multimedia and -modal form, diverse author- and editorship, and commercial brand make them a possibly unique example of material history and publishing practice, as illustrated in my opening chapter, which relies on evidence gathered at the John Murray Archive in the National Library of Scotland. Subsequent chapters tracing “Murrays” in the travel writing and fiction of George Eliot and Henry James underscore the Handbooks’ rhetorical influence and cultural reach. The coda to this project is more experimental, describing the development of an interactive digital map representing Murray’s Handbook series for Europe. This map illustrates the temporal and geographic changes in the Murray series using the first three Handbooks as examples. My application of computational methods for interpreting the Handbooks emphasizes that these texts were tools that anticipate the iterative, interdisciplinary, intertextual, and multivocal processes at the heart of digital humanities work.Doctor of Philosoph

Canagliflozin, a New Sodium-Glucose Co-Transporter 2 Inhibitor, in the Treatment of Diabetes

Purpose. The published evidence on the pharmacology, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy of a promising investigational agent for managing type 2 diabetes is evaluated. Summary. Canagliflozin belongs to a class of agents—the sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors—whose novel mechanism of action offers potential advantages over other antihyperglycemic agents, including a relatively low hypoglycemia risk and weight loss-promoting effects. Canagliflozin has dose-dependent pharmacokinetics, and research in laboratory animals demonstrated high oral bioavailability (85%) and rapid effects in lowering glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values. In four early-stage clinical trials involving a total of over 500 patients, the use of canagliflozin for varying periods was associated with significant mean reductions in HbA1c (absolute reductions of 0.45–0.92%) and fasting plasma glucose (decreases ranged from 16.2% to 42.4%) and weight loss ranging from 0.7 to 3.5 kg. More than a dozen Phase II or III clinical trials of canagliflozin in adults are ongoing or were recently completed, but the final results of most of those studies have not been published. Adverse effects reported in clinical trials of canagliflozin include urinary tract and genital infections, occurring in about 10% of patients. Additional and larger Phase III clinical trials to delineate the potential role of canagliflozin and other SGLT2 inhibitors in the management of diabetes (including studies involving the elderly, children, and patients with renal or hepatic dysfunction) are planned or currently underway. Conclusion. Canagliflozin and other investigational SGLT2 inhibitors have a novel mechanism of action that may offer a future alternative treatment pathway for managing type 2 diabetes