Children, civilianhood, and humanitarian securitization

In this paper, the influence of the construction of children as civilians over the processes of securitization in the US intervention in Somalia is examined. This is done through an analysis of the US print news media coverage of that event. The study employs two key theoretical frameworks: the first is the social understanding of civilianhood; and the second is the Copenhagen School’s theory of securitization. The work concludes that a failure to unpack the value of referent objects of security diminishes the insights that securitization theory can offer. The grammar of securitizing moves cannot be fully comprehended in instances of militarized humanitarian interventions, in particular, without this kind of analysis. Children as suffering civilians draw considerable attention from the world’s media and thus an investigation of their role in securitization can be highly informative

Educational Research in an Introductory Astronomy Course

The lecture is a common method used in college instruction, but many teachers are questioning its effectiveness. For this study, two successive spring semester sections of introductory astronomy for non-science majors were studied. The spring 1999 semester was the instructor’s first attempt to incorporate innovative instructional techniques to include “hands-on, minds-on” instruction within the lecture setting. The educational research involved classroom observations, personal interviews, and pre-instruction/post-instruction administration of the Texas Attitude Survey and the Astronomy Diagnostic Test. During the spring 2000 semester, the instructor modified instruction to respond to student concerns from the previous semester. Student scores for the second course showed significant improvement in astronomy content and the institutional course survey, but not in student self-efficacy

Neuropsychological and quality of life outcome after thalamic stimulation for essential tremor

Objective: To evaluate short-term effects of unilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) on cognition, mood state, and quality of life in patients with essential tremor (ET). Background: Unilateral thalamotomy and thalamic DBS are effective in alleviating refractory tremor contralateral to the side of surgery. Thalamotomy can lead to cognitive morbidity, and DBS might be a preferable surgical intervention given potential avoidance or reversibility of such morbidity. Although unilateral thalamic DBS is cognitively safe and leads to quality of life improvement in PD, its neurobehavioral effects in ET are unknown. Methods: Forty patients with ET were administered a broad neuropsychological test battery, measures of mood state, and generic and disease-specific quality of life measures approximately 1 month before and 3 months after surgery (left hemisphere, 38 patients). Results: Unilateral thalamic DBS was associated with significant improvements in tremor and dominant-hand fine visuomotor coordination. Statistically significant but clinically modest gains were observed on tasks of visuoperceptual and constructional ability, visual attention, delayed word list recognition, and prose recall. Only lexical verbal fluency declined significantly after surgery. Patients rated themselves as less anxious after surgery, and they perceived their quality of life as improved significantly. In particular, patients reported improved quality of life with respect to activities of daily living, stigma, emotional well-being, and communication. Conclusions: Unilateral thalamic DBS for ET is cognitively safe and associated with improvements in anxiety and quality of life in the near term and in the absence of operative complications. Patients were better able to carry out activities of daily living after surgery, and they reported improvement in several psychosocial domains of quality of life

Impact of family relationships on attitudes of the second generation in family business

10.1111/j.1741-6248.2006.00069.xFamily Business Review193175-19