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Kinds of Federal Government Selected AbstractsSimultaneous Chlamydia trachomatis and HPV infection in pregnant womenDIAGNOSTIC CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 6 2010Sônia Maria Miranda Pereira B.Sc. Pregnancy is associated with HPV infection and with Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) infection mostly due to the natural immunosuppression. In addition, pregnancy associated to CT infection can lead to adverse conditions to the woman and fetus, and CT is also believed to be a co-factor in human immunodeficiency virus infection and HPV-induced cervical cancer. The aim of this study was to establish the odds ratios (OR) of CT infection in to HPV-infected pregnant women and vice versa of women stratified by age (<25 years) and marital status. This work is part of a national multicentric transversal study carried out in six Brazilian cities supported by the Ministry of Health of Federal Government of Brazil in 2003. Cervical scrapes of 371 pregnant women were sampled. We performed a hybrid capture-2 technique to diagnose these samples on HPV and CT infection, and the women responded a questionnaire. Significant association was observed between nonstable marital status and hr-HPV infection [OR = 2.61 (1.38,4.97) P = 0.003)], and age <25 years old [OR = 2.26 (1.09,4.71) P = 0.029]. Nonstable marital status was also associated with lr-HPV infection [OR = 2.67 (1.59,4.50) P < 0.001), and age <25 years old [OR = 2.55 (1.51,4.32) P < 0.001). Fifty of the 371 pregnant women were infected with hr-HPV (13.5%) and 111 (30.0%) were infected with lr-HPV. The coinfections of HPV and CT were found in 31 women, that is, 8.36% of the pregnant women (P < 0.001). The high rate of simultaneous CT and HPV infection in pregnant women favors the recommendation to screen pregnant women for both CT and HPV. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Interview with Peter BaumeDRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 1 2002Article first published online: 29 MAY 200 Professor Peter Baume is the Chancellor of the Australian National University. He has been a minister in the Federal Government and in 1977 chaired the Senate Standing Committee on Social Welfare, which conducted a pathfinding enquiry about alcohol and drugs. Prior to his current post he was Professor of Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales. [source] Policies of Extinction: The Life and Death of Canada's Endangered Species LegislationPOLICY STUDIES JOURNAL, Issue 1 2000Raymond A. Rogers This article examines the attempt by the Canadian Federal Government to pass endangered species legislation (1995). It focuses on the constraints which confront the creation of environmental policy in Canada and identifies jurisdictional overlap and stakeholder conflict as the prime source of difficulties which confronted the Federal Government as it moved through the policy process for creating endangered species legislation. The wide-ranging consultation process leading up to the creation of the legislation provided ample opportunity for powerful interests to undermine the protection of endangered species. The article concludes with a discussion of endangered species legislation as an example of the failure of the "crisis management" approach to conservation and sustainability. [source] Profile-based push models in manpower planningAPPLIED STOCHASTIC MODELS IN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY, Issue 1 2008Marie-Anne Guerry Abstract A methodology is presented to deal with heterogeneity due to observable variables in modeling personnel systems. For a manpower system, a model based on personnel profiles is introduced. The proposed algorithm concerns an analysis of the evolution of personnel profiles under time-discrete Markov assumptions. In this way, based on an historical personnel database, the estimation of transition probabilities of profiles as well as the computation of forecasts on the evolution of the manpower system can be found. Based on the presented procedure, a policy supporting software package has been developed for the Belgian Federal Government (research project financed by Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid). Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The impact of the baby bonus on maternity services in New South WalesAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Samantha J. LAIN Background:, In 2004, the Federal Government introduced the baby bonus, a one-off payment upon the birth of a child. Aims:, To assess the impact of an increase in the number of births on maternity services in New South Wales following the introduction of the baby bonus payment in July 2004. Methods:, A population-based study, using NSW birth records, of 965 635 deliveries from 1998 to 2008 was carried out. The difference between the predicted number of births in 2005,2008, estimated from trends in births from 1998 to 2004, and the observed number of births in NSW hospitals in 2005,2008 were calculated. We also estimated the increase in cost to the health system of births in 2008 compared with previous years. Results:, Compared with trends prior to the introduction of the baby bonus, there were an estimated 11 283 extra singleton births per year in NSW hospitals by 2008. There were significant increases in the number of deliveries performed in tertiary, urban and rural public hospitals; however, the number of deliveries in private hospitals remained stable. Compared with predicted estimates, in 2008, there were over 8700 more vaginal deliveries, over 1000 more preterm births and over 45 000 extra infant hospital days each year. Compared with 2004, in 2008, the estimated cost of births in NSW hospitals increased by $60 million, Conclusions:, The increase in births following the introduction of the baby bonus has significantly impacted maternity services in NSW. [source] Public health, political morality and compassionAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 3 2002Gavin Mooney Objective: To put the case that public health professionals have a responsibility to foster a more informed, autonomous community. Method: To argue that the current Australian Federal Government is failing to provide the impetus for building a compassionate society, particularly with respect to social justice for asylum seekers and Aboriginal people. Results: There is a need for public health professionals to assist in promoting an informed debate about what it means to be a minimally decent Australian. Conclusions and implications: Education of the citizenry and by the academy in public debate and public debating is the lifeblood of democracy. This is the ethical goal of public health. [source] Why Current Breast Pathology Practices Must Be Evaluated.THE BREAST JOURNAL, Issue 5 2007A Susan G. Komen for the Cure White Paper: June 200 To this end, the organization has a strong interest and proven track record in ensuring public investment in quality breast health and breast cancer care. Recently, Susan G. Komen for the Cure identified major issues in the practice of pathology that have a negative impact on the lives of thousands of breast cancer patients in the United States. These issues were identified through a comprehensive literature review and interviews conducted in 2005,2006 with experts in oncology, breast pathology, surgery, and radiology. The interviewees practiced in community, academic, and cooperative group settings. Komen for the Cure has identified four areas that have a direct impact on the quality of care breast cancer patients receive in the United States, the accuracy of breast pathology diagnostics, the effects of current health insurance, and reimbursement policies on patients who are evaluated for a possible breast cancer diagnosis, the substantial decrease in tissue banking participation, particularly during a time of rapid advances in biologically correlated clinical science and the role for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, pathology professional societies and the Federal government in ensuring that breast pathology practices meet the highest possible standards in the United States Concerns surrounding the quality and practice of breast pathology are not limited to diagnostic accuracy. Other considerations include, training and proficiency of pathologists who are evaluating breast specimens, the lack of integration of pathologists in the clinical care team, inadequate compensation for the amount of work required to thoroughly analyze specimens, potential loss in translational research as a result of medical privacy regulations, and the lack of mandatory uniform pathology practice standards without any way to measure the degree of variation or to remedy it. [source] HARMONIZING REGULATIONS FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE US AND VENEZUELAN SYSTEMSDEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 3 2008DANNIE DI TILLIO-GONZALEZ ABSTRACT This article aims to compare the national legal systems that regulate biomedical research in an industrialized country (United States) and a developing country (Venezuela). A new international order is emerging in which Europe, Japan and the United States (US) are revising common guidelines and harmonizing standards. In this article, we analyze , as an example , the US system. This system is controlled by a federal agency structured to regulate research funded by the federal government uniformly, either in the US or abroad. In contrast, in Venezuela, a developing country, the creation of a centralized system is a slow process. Different types of ethical committees review research projects using non-uniform criteria. Consequently, various parallel organizations that conduct biomedical research, such as universities, research institutes and private hospitals have diverse regulations operating at a local level. Thus, the most relevant difference between the Venezuelan and the US systems is the degree of standardization. In the US, the review process is performed by institutional review boards (IRBs), which have a similar organization and maintain relationships with a centralized agency, following standard regulations. Although new proposals for establishing national regulations are currently being considered in Venezuela, the success of these initiatives will depend on promoting governmental efforts to create a more structured centralized system supported by a national regulatory framework. This system will need governmental financial support at all levels. This article proposes an integrated system to regulate research with human participants in Venezuela and other developing countries. [source] Elements of Resilience After the World Trade Center Disaster: Reconstituting New York City's Emergency Operations CentreDISASTERS, Issue 1 2003James M. Kendra In this paper we examine the reconstitution of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) after its destruction in the World Trade Center attack, using that event to highlight several features of resilience. The paper summarises basic EOC functions, and then presents conceptions of resilience as understood from several disciplinary perspectives, noting that work in these fields has sought to understand how a natural or social system that experiences disturbance sustains its functional processes. We observe that, although the physical EOC facility was destroyed, the organisation that had been established to manage crises in New York City continued, enabling a response that drew on the resources of New York City and neighbouring communities, states and the federal government. Availability of resources , which substituted for redundancy of personnel, equipment and space , pre-existing relationships that eased communication challenges as the emergency developed and the continuation of organisational patterns of response integration and role assignments were among the factors that contributed to resilience following the attack. [source] The age-21 minimum legal drinking age: a case study linking past and current debatesADDICTION, Issue 12 2009Traci L. Toomey ABSTRACT Background The minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) in the United States (U.S.) has raised debate over the past several decades. During the 1970s many states lowered their MLDAs from age 21 to 18, 19, or 20. However, as a result of studies showing that these lower MLDAs were associated with increases in traffic crashes, state-level movements began in the later1970s to return MLDAs to age 21. A new movement has arisen to again lower the MLDA in the U.S. Aim The aim is to discuss this current MLDA debate within the context of the long history of the U.S. MLDA. Methods A search of research articles, websites, and newspaper articles was conducted to identify key messages and influences related to the MLDA movements. Results The complexity of state movements to change their MLDAs is illustrated by the Michigan experience, where strong political forces on both sides of the issue were involved, resulting in the MLDA returning to 21. Because the 21st Constitutional amendment prevents the federal government from mandating a MLDA for all states, a federal policy was proposed to provide incentives for all states to implement age-21 MLDAs. Due largely to strong research evidence, the National Minimum Legal Drinking Age Act was enacted in 1984, stipulating that states set their MLDA to 21 or face loss of federal highway funds. By 1988, all states had an age-21 MLDA. Conclusion Any current debate about the MLDA should be informed by the historical context of this policy and the available research. [source] The political economy of natural disaster insurance: lessons from the failure of a proposed compulsory insurance scheme in GermanyENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 6 2007Reimund Schwarze Abstract This paper studies the politico-economic reasons for the refusal of a proposed compulsory flood insurance scheme in Germany. It provides the rationale for such a scheme and outlines the basic features of a market-orientated design. The main reasons for the political rejection of this proposal were the misperceived costs of a state guarantee, legal objections against a compulsory insurance, distributional conflicts between the federal government and the German states on the implied administrative costs and the well known charity hazard of ad hoc disaster relief. The focus on pure market solutions proved to be an ineffective strategy for policy advice in this field. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] The Creation of a Vocational Sector in Swiss Higher Education: balancing trends of system differentiation and integrationEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 4 2003Juan-Francisco Perellon The article discusses the establishment of a vocational sector in Swiss higher education as a complement to the existing two-tier system of cantonal Universities and federal Institutes of technology. The origins of this new player, its missions and organisational features are discussed. This overall discussion is placed into the context of changing landscape of Swiss higher education policy characterised by increasing pressures for geographical reorganisation of the higher education sector under the auspices of a more direct role of the federal government. The article makes two points. First, it argues that the creation of a vocational sector in Swiss higher education combines two contradictory trends. On the one hand, this new sector tends to provide differentiation at the system level, through the creation of a new, more marked-oriented sector of higher education. On the other hand, system differentiation at the system level is threatened by increased demands for greater inter-institutional cooperation and system integration, emanating principally from the federal level. Second, the article also argues that the distinction between ,academic/scientific' vs. ,vocational/professional' education generally referred to when studying the emergence of non-university sectors in higher education, is not pertinent for the analysis of the Swiss case. Two reasons are brought forward to sustain this argument. First, this distinction reinforces an artificial binary divide, no longer relevant to assess the evolution of higher education institutions placed in a context of academic and vocational drifts. Second, the ,academic' vs. ,professional' opposition does not take into consideration the political organisation of the country and how this impacts on policy making in higher education; a crucial element in the Swiss context. [source] EXPANSION OF GOLF COURSES IN THE UNITED STATES,GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 1 2008DARRELL E. NAPTON ABSTRACT. Twenty-five million Americans play golf on the nation's 16,000 courses each year. These golf courses constitute a significant national landscape feature. Since 1878, when the game arrived in the United States, golf has filtered down the urban, economic, and social hierarchies to become accepted by and accessible to most Americans. During the ensuing thirteen decades the number, location, and layout of the nation's golf courses have responded to many of the same driving forces that impacted the nation, including decentralization, growth of the middle class, war, economic depression, suburbanization, and the increasing role of the federal government. Four epochs of golf-course growth and diffusion show the growing acceptance of the sport and depict where courses were most likely to be constructed as a result of the prevailing forces of each epoch. [source] Selecting the best and brightest: Leveraging human capitalHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2002Brian S. O'Leary This article provides a brief discussion of the changing nature of work and describes how automation and the Internet are changing the way the U.S. government recruits and hires employees. The authors discuss the validity of various assessment methods used to select and promote employees and the return on investment that can result from using valid assessment techniques. The authors review several illustrative assessment programs used in the federal government. Finally, the authors explore the next generation of assessments. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] The Measurement of Success of Activity-Based Costing and Its Determinants: A Study within Canadian Federal Government Organizations,/L'évaluation Du Succès De La Comptabilité Par Activités Et Ses Déterminants: Étude D'Organismes Du Gouvernement Fédéral Du CanadaACCOUNTING PERSPECTIVES, Issue 3 2007Anne Fortin ABSTRACT This research first measures the success of activity-based costing (ABC) implementation within Canadian federal government organizations along five constructs, which are the use and frequency of use of the ABC information, decision actions taken, financial improvements, evaluation by management as to overall success, and a composite measure of the four constructs. Second, it identifies the determinants of ABC success. The success determinants used in this study are organizational culture, involvement of a champion, change process, commitment, controls, and continuous education. Measures of ABC success and determinants were obtained using a survey of managers who have participated in ABC implementation in Canadian federal government organizations. The study found that the benefits derived from ABC implementation within Canadian public sector organizations do not measure up to the efforts invested, although respondents consider that some financial improvements have resulted from the implementations. Controls and culture proved to be the two variables that significantly relate to ABC success. The results could have implications for policymaking organizations such as the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada and the Office of the Comptroller General (OCG). The latter should question the benefits of investments made in management accounting best practices in the federal government. The OCG could also direct departments and agencies to the right environment (success determinants) to be put in place in order to ensure the success of ABC initiatives. RÉSUMÉ Les auteurs évaluent le succès de la mise en ,uvre de la comptabilité par activités (CPA) au sein d'organismes du gouvernement fédéral du Canada selon cinq paramètres, soit l'utilisation et la fréquence d'utilisation de l'information produite par la CPA, les mesures décisionnelles prises, les améliorations financières, l'évaluation du succès global par la direction et une mesure composite regroupant ces quatre paramètres. Ils définissent ensuite les déterminants du succès de la CPA. Les déterminants utilisés dans la présente étude sont la culture organisationnelle, l'intervention d'un défenseur, le processus de changement, l'engagement, les contrôles et la formation continue. Les auteurs obtiennent les critères d'évaluation et les déterminants du succès de la CPA en procédant à un sondage auprès de cadres ayant participé à la mise en ,uvre de la CPA dans des organismes du gouvernement fédéral du Canada. Ils constatent que les avantages découlant de cet exercice au sein des organismes du secteur public canadien ne sont pas à la hauteur des efforts investis, même si les répondants estiment en avoir tiré certaines améliorations financières. Il semble que les variables des contrôles et de la culture soient celles qui se rattachent de façon significative au succès de la CPA. Les résultats de l'étude pourraient avoir des conséquences pour les organismes responsables de l'élaboration des politiques comme le Secrétariat du Conseil du Trésor du Canada et le Bureau du contrôleur général (BCG). Ce dernier devrait s'interroger sur ce que rapportent les sommes investies par le gouvernement fédéral dans les pratiques de comptabilité de management les meilleures. Le BCG pourrait également orienter les ministères et les organismes gouvernementaux vers l'environnement (ou les déterminants du succès) qu'il convient de mettre en place pour assurer la réussite des projets de CPA. [source] Samuel Huntington and the Geopolitics of American Identity: The Function of Foreign Policy in America's Domestic Clash of CivilizationsINTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 2 2003Emad El-Din Aysha Abstract The clash of civilizations thesis's true origins lie partly in problems Samuel Huntington sees brewing in his own country. His thesis is to a considerable extent an externalization of these troubles,,an attempt to solve them through international means, while serving U.S. national interests in tandem. As a scholar of American exceptionalism Huntington is,,explicitly and openly,,concerned about the political unity and cultural homogeneity of his country in the absence of the existential threat of world Communism. He sees "multiculturalism" and excessive immigration threatening America's dominant Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, English culture and its libertarian political values. Right-wing "anti-federalism" is threatening the authority and very existence of the federal government, while "commercialism," the elevation of commercial interests above all else among economic and political elites, intensifies the class conflict roots of much anti-federalism. The solution to these myriad problems is a foreign threat, whether real or perceived; hence, the clash of civilizations. [source] The treasurer: How to weather our current crisisJOURNAL OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 1 2009Asokan Anandarajan We are enduring the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Traditional sources of liquidity and investments have dried up. And we are living in a state of flux, where the rules can be changed overnight,as the federal government constantly announces new amendments to the bailout plans. So, the role of the treasurer has changed from managing liquidity to managing emergencies. What special hazards must the treasurer now avoid? And what strategies can he or she adopt to weather the current storm? © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] The Influence of the Dartmouth College Case on the American Law of Educational CharitiesJOURNAL OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY, Issue 1 2007ELIZABETH BRAND MONROE One of the important features of American history has been the availability of higher education. Religious toleration, low capitalization costs, few educational impediments, public interest and commitment, and ready corporate status made the foundation of colleges and universities a common event in early nineteenth-century America.1 By the time of the Revolution Americans had founded ten colleges; by 1800, twenty-four; by 1820, thirty-eight; and by the Civil War, 232, of which 104 have survived.2 Although the earliest colleges had religious affiliations, with the founding of the University of Georgia in 1785, states also began providing directly for higher education. But the creation of these institutions led to disputes within them over curricula and governance. How the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with a seemingly minor political dispute involving the governance of a small New Hampshire college would determine not only that college's relationship to state and federal government, but also that of all other corporations.3 [source] The Supreme Court and the Interstate Slave Trade: A Study in Evasion, Anarchy, and ExtremismJOURNAL OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY, Issue 3 2004DAVID L. LIGHTNER Opponents of slavery often argued that the federal government possessed the constitutional authority to outlaw the interstate slave trade. At its founding in 1833, the American Anti-Slavery Society declared that Congress "has a right, and is solemnly bound, to suppress the domestic slave trade between the several States." The idea had been endorsed earlier, during the Missouri controversy of 1819,1820, by both John Jay and Daniel Webster. Later on, in the 1840s and 1850s, it was supported by such prominent politicians as John Quincy Adams, Salmon P. Chase, and Charles Sumner. Defenders of slavery were, of course, horrified by the suggestion that the South's peculiar institution might be attacked in this way, and they vehemently denied that the Constitution permitted any such action. The prolonged debate over the issue focused on two key provisions of the Constitution. One was the Commerce Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3), which says that Congress has the power to "regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." The other was the 1808 Clause (Article I, Section 9, Clause 1), which says that the "Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight." Abolitionists held that the Constitution sanctioned congressional interference in the domestic slave trade both generally, by virtue of the Commerce Clause, and specifically, by virtue of the 1808 Clause. They argued that since slaves were routinely bought and sold, they obviously were articles of commerce, and therefore Congress had unlimited authority over interstate slave trafficking. Furthermore, they said, the words "migration or importation" in the 1808 Clause meant that as of January 1, 1808 Congress had acquired the right not only to ban the importation of slaves, but also to prohibit their migration from one state to another. Defenders of slavery replied that Congress could not interfere in property rights and that the power to regulate commerce did not include the power to destroy it. They also said that the word "migration" in the 1808 Clause referred, not to the domestic movement of slaves, but to the entry into the United States of white immigrants from abroad.1 [source] A New Right to Property: Civil War Confiscation in the Reconstruction Supreme CourtJOURNAL OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY, Issue 3 2004DANIEL W. HAMILTON During the Civil War, both the Union Congress and the Confederate Congress put in place sweeping confiscation programs designed to seize the private property of enemy citizens on a massive scale. Meeting in special session in August 1861, the U.S. Congress passed the First Confiscation Act, authorizing the federal government to seize the property of those participating directly in the rebellion.1 The Confederate Congress retaliated on August 30, 1861, passing the Sequestration Act.2 This law authorized the Confederate government to forever seize the real and personal property of "alien enemies," a term that included every U.S. citizen and all those living in the Confederacy who remained loyal to the Union. [source] The Los Angeles Community Development Bank: The Possible Pitfalls of Public-Private PartnershipsJOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS, Issue 2 2001Julia Sass Rubin In response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the federal government, city and county officials, commercial banks and community leaders established the nonprofit Los Angeles Community Development Bank (LACDB). This public-private partnership was a new development model, designed to spur economic growth in some of Los Angeles' most disadvantaged areas. The LACDB was capitalized with $435 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and ranks as the federal government's largest inner-city lending initiative. By January 2001, however, the bank had experienced unacceptably high losses and was seeking permission to continue operations, after reducing its staff by half and closing most of its offices. This article examines why this innovative public-private economic development partnership confronted such difficulties. Public-private partnerships continue to be an important vehicle for urban economic development. This case study provides a warning of potential pitfalls that can occur from such arrangements. [source] The Legal Context of School Violence: The Effectiveness of Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement Efforts to Reduce Gun Violence in SchoolsLAW & POLICY, Issue 3 2001Richard E. Redding In the wake of recent school shootings, communities and legislatures are searching for law enforcement solutions to the perceived epidemic of school violence. A variety of legal measures have been debated and proposed. These include: the enactment of tougher gun control laws and more vigorous federal and local enforcement of existing gun control laws; the enactment of laws imposing civil or criminal liability on parents for their children's violent behavior; the establishment of specialized courts and prosecution strategies for handling juveniles who are charged with weapons offenses; stricter enforcement of school disciplinary codes; reform of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to make it easier to expel students for weapons violations; and greater use of alternative schools as placements for students who are charged with weapons violations. This article provides a legal and empirical analysis of proposed legislation in these areas as informed by social science research on the patterns of school violence, gun acquisition by juveniles, and the effectiveness of various laws and law enforcement measures. It proposes and discusses recommendations for legal reform. While efforts to reduce school violence will be most effective at the state and local levels, the United States federal government has an important role to play, particularly in federal-state partnerships aimed at disrupting illegal gun markets, and through the formulation of national standards and guidelines. These standards and guidelines are for the enforcement of existing laws; inter-agency law enforcement cooperation and information-sharing (particularly using computer-based analysis); effective school discipline and alternative educational settings for disruptive youth; and psycho-educational interventions designed to detect and prevent school violence in the first place. [source] Justice Excused: The Deployment of Law in Everyday Political EncountersLAW & SOCIETY REVIEW, Issue 2 2006George I. Lovell This paper examines the use of legal claims by government officials and citizens in everyday political encounters involving civil rights. Data come from 580 letters sent to the federal government between 1939 and 1941, and from the replies sent by the newly formed Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department. In almost every case, the department refused to intervene and explained its refusal by making legal claims about federal jurisdiction. These legal claims masked the department's discretionary choices and thus helped depoliticize the encounters. Surprisingly, however, a substantial number of letter writers challenged the government's legal claims by deploying their own legal and moral arguments. The willingness of these citizens to challenge official legal pronouncements cautions against making broad generalizations about the capacity of ordinary people to respond effectively when government officials deploy legal rhetoric. [source] How Do Real Indians Fish?AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 4 2009Contested Indigeneities in the Colorado Delta, Neoliberal Multiculturalism ABSTRACT There has been a growing interest in anthropology regarding how certain political conditions set the stage for "articulations" between indigenous movements and environmental actors and discourses. However, relatively little attention has been paid to how these same conditions can suppress demands for indigenous rights. In this article, I argue that the pairing of neoliberalism and multiculturalism in contemporary Mexico has created political fields in which ethnic difference has been foregrounded as a way of denying certain rights to marginalized groups. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in northern Mexico, I analyze how the arguments of a group of Cucapá for fishing rights in the Colorado Delta have been constrained within these political circumstances. I argue that cultural difference has been leveraged by the Mexican federal government and local NGOs to prevent the redistribution of environmental resources among vulnerable groups such as the Cucapá. [source] Diversity in academic medicine no. 3 struggle for survival among leading diversity programsMOUNT SINAI JOURNAL OF MEDICINE: A JOURNAL OF PERSONALIZED AND TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE, Issue 6 2008A. Hal Strelnick MD Abstract Since efforts to increase the diversity of academic medicine began shortly after the Civil War, the efforts have been characterized by a ceaseless struggle of old and new programs to survive. In the 40 years after the Civil War, the number of minority-serving institutions grew from 2 to 9, and then the number fell again to 2 in response to an adverse evaluation by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For 50 years, the programs grew slowly, picking up speed only after the passage of landmark civil rights legislation in the 1960s. From 1987 through 2005, they expanded rapidly, fueled by such new federal programs as the Centers of Excellence and Health Careers Opportunity Programs. Encompassing majority-white institutions as well as minority-serving institutions, the number of Centers of Excellence grew to 34, and the number of Health Careers Opportunity Programs grew to 74. Then, in 2006, the federal government cut its funding abruptly and drastically, reducing the number of Centers of Excellence and Health Careers Opportunity Programs to 4 each. Several advocacy groups, supported by think tanks, have striven to restore federal funding to previous levels, so far to no avail. Meanwhile, the struggle to increase the representation of underrepresented minorities in the health professions is carried on by the surviving programs, including the remaining Centers of Excellence and Health Careers Opportunity Programs and new programs that, funded by state, local, and private agencies, have arisen from the ashes. Mt Sinai J Med 75:504,516, © 2008 Mount Sinai School of Medicine [source] Differentiating indigenous citizenship: Seeking multiplicity in rights, identity, and sovereignty in CanadaAMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 1 2009CAROLE BLACKBURN ABSTRACT In this article, I examine how citizenship has been legally differentiated and conceptually reconfigured in recent treaty negotiations between the Nisga'a First Nation, the provincial government of British Columbia, and the Canadian federal government. The Nisga'a have sought a form of differentiated citizenship in Canada on the basis of rights that flow from their relationship to their lands and their identity as a political community. They have challenged the state as the sole source of rights and achieved a realignment in the relationship between their rights as aboriginal people, Canadian citizenship, and the Canadian state. [citizenship, aboriginal rights, sovereignty, nation-state, Nisga'a, Canada] [source] Petroleum product scarcity: a review of the supply and distribution of petroleum products in NigeriaOPEC ENERGY REVIEW, Issue 1 2006Osi S. Akpoghomeh Nigeria ranks high among the comity of oil producers both at the world level and among the OPEC eleven. It is, therefore, paradoxical that the supply of all petroleum products is erratic and has declined sharply in the recent past. This paper thus reviews the petroleum product supply and distribution systems in the country to ascertain the extent to which the system may have contributed to the present product scarcity in Nigeria and, by extension, identify the causes of the present regime of petroleum product scarcity. The paper observes that the network density and connectivity of petroleum product distribution pipelines are low and both indicators consequently show the inadequacy/deficiency of the network in ensuring an efficient distribution system. The supply mode, on the other hand, has, over the years, demonstrated its inability to guarantee adequate supply due to factors including sabotage, vandalism, banditry and poorly maintained infrastructure. Further, the federal government and the major and independent marketers could not sustain the importation of petroleum products because of the shortfall between the landed cost of imported products and their selling prices in Nigeria, which made the business unprofitable. Finally, the paper examines the withdrawal by the federal government of subsidies on the price of petroleum products consumed locally. All the above factors together occasioned increases in the cost of products. In conclusion, this paper supports the call for the privatization of refineries and the depot/pipeline system as a viable option to end the supply problems. [source] Bioengineered tissues: the science, the technology, and the industryORTHODONTICS & CRANIOFACIAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2005T Ahsan Structured Abstract Authors ,, Ahsan T, Nerem RM Objective ,, The bioengineering of tissues and organs, sometimes called tissue engineering and at other times regenerative medicine, is emerging as a science, as a technology, and as an industry. The goal is the repair, replacement, and/or the regeneration of tissues and organs. The objective of this paper is to identify and discuss the major issues that have become apparent. Results ,, One of the critical issues is that of cell source, i.e. what will be the source of the cells to be employed? Another critical issue is the development of approaches for the fabrication of substitute tissues/organs and/or vehicles for the delivery of biological active molecules for use in the repair/regeneration of tissues. A third critical issue, one very much related to cell source, is that of immune acceptance. In addition, there are technological hurdles; there are additional issues such as the scale-up of manufacturing processes and the preservation of living-cell products for off-the-shelf availability. Although the initial products have been superficially applied skin substitutes, as this fledgling industry continues to evolve, it is beginning to focus on a wider range of more invasive and complicated products. From a public health perspective, the real opportunity may be in addressing chronic diseases, as well as the transplantation crisis (i.e. the tremendous disparity between patient need for vital organs and donor availability) and, equally important is the challenge of neural repair. Conclusion ,, These are the grand challenges, and the scientific community, business/private sector, and federal government must mobilize itself together in this emerging area to translate the benchtop science to the patient bedside. [source] Reform, Reorganization, and the Renaissance of the Managerial Presidency: The Impact of 9/11 on the Executive EstablishmentPOLITICS & POLICY, Issue 2 2006Richard S. Conley In the wake of 9/11, realigning the human and financial resources of the executive branch to fight the war on terrorism quickly became the defining mission of George W. Bush's transformed presidency. This article assesses the ways in which 9/11 impacted on the executive branch of the U.S. government, using a framework of "punctuated equilibrium" to posit that the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington added considerable force to trends already in motion. September 11 proved a catalyst for significant institutional changes, such as the enhanced role of the vice president in policy making and the reorganization of the federal government and intelligence apparatus. Organizational reforms, driven in a top-down fashion by the White House, reflect President Bush's confidence in the managerial presidency: the notion that preventing future terror threats is effectively a problem of executive control, bureaucratic coordination, and adequate funding. [source] CONGRESSIONAL PARTISANSHIP, BIPARTISANSHIP AND PUBLIC OPINION: AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSISPOLITICS & POLICY, Issue 1 2001Jonathan Morris There has been extensive research concerning Congress and how partisan attachments and attitudes affect views toward it. In addition, a burgeoning area of research has developed concerning how media influences a person's attitudes and beliefs. In our study we test three hypotheses: viewing partisan House rhetoric will increase partisanship, negative attitudes toward Congress, and negative attitudes toward the federal government as a whole. We test these hypotheses with an experimental design in which we manipulate the independent variable at two levels: viewing partisan speeches and viewing bipartisan speeches. We find that direct exposure to congressional partisan rhetoric leads to lower levels of support and increased partisan polarization. Surprisingly, we also find that exposure to bipartisan floor rhetoric, while decreasing party polarization fails to generate increased levels of support for Congress or the government as whole. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||