Challenging sexual violence against girls: A social awareness approach

Most strategies to prevent child sexual abuse rely on therapeutic work with abusers or direct work with children training them to recognize and resist molestation. However, many authors, activists and professionals in this field assert the need to challenge broader social attitudes towards sexuality and violence. In 1992 an attempt at such an intervention was employed by Edinburgh District Council in their “Zero Tolerance Campaign”. This was a public awareness campaign which aimed to increase people's understanding of the extent and nature of violence against women and girls and to emphasize that such crimes should not be tolerated. Through challenging misconceptions, encouraging public discussion and focusing on strategies to prevent such crimes, the campaign organizers hoped to transform the social climate which is conducive to the abuse of women at any age. This article explores public response to the Zero Tolerance Campaign and, in particular, focuses on reactions to the two advertisements which addressed the sexual abuse of girls.     

Bootstrap Estimation of Benchmark Doses and Confidence Limits with Clustered Quantal Data

The benchmark dose (BMD) is an exposure level that would induce a small risk increase (BMR level) above the background. The BMD approach to deriving a reference dose for risk assessment of noncancer effects is advantageous in that the estimate of BMD is not restricted to experimental doses and utilizes most available dose-response information. To quantify statistical uncertainty of a BMD estimate, we often calculate and report its lower confidence limit (i.e., BMDL), and may even consider it as a more conservative alternative to BMD itself. Computation of BMDL may involve normal confidence limits to BMD in conjunction with the delta method. Therefore, factors, such as small sample size and nonlinearity in model parameters, can affect the performance of the delta method BMDL, and alternative methods are useful. In this article, we propose a bootstrap method to estimate BMDL utilizing a scheme that consists of a resampling of residuals after model fitting and a one-step formula for parameter estimation. We illustrate the method with clustered binary data from developmental toxicity experiments. Our analysis shows that with moderately elevated dose-response data, the distribution of BMD estimator tends to be left-skewed and bootstrap BMDL s are smaller than the delta method BMDL s on average, hence quantifying risk more conservatively. Statistically, the bootstrap BMDL quantifies the uncertainty of the true BMD more honestly than the delta method BMDL as its coverage probability is closer to the nominal level than that of delta method BMDL. We find that BMD and BMDL estimates are generally insensitive to model choices provided that the models fit the data comparably well near the region of BMD. Our analysis also suggests that, in the presence of a significant and moderately strong dose-response relationship, the developmental toxicity experiments under the standard protocol support dose-response assessment at 5% BMR for BMD and 95% confidence level for BMDL.     

Community Development and Government Response

The article contrasts two programmes aimed at improving thequality of life for older women in Australia. The CommunityOptions programme is a wellfunded Government initiative directedat personal care within the home. The Older Women's Networkis a grass-roots community development initiative. The articleexamines the relationship between control and resourcing interms of preventative and crisis care.     

Basic humanitarian principles applicable to non-nationals

This article examines the general status in international law of certain fundamental human rights to determine the minimum "no derogation" standards, and then surveys a number of formal agreements between stages governing migration matters, while examining some of the standard-setting work undertaken by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and other institutions. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaims the right of everyone to leave any country, including his or her own. The anti-discrimination provision is widely drawn and includes national or social origin, birth, or other status. Non-discrimination is frequently the core issue in migration matters; it offers the basis for a principles approach to questions involving non-nationals and their methodological analysis, as well as a standard for the progressive elaboration of institutions and practices. As a general rule, ILO conventions give particular importance to the principle of choice of methods by states for the implementation of standards, as well as to the principle of progressive implementation. Non-discrimination implies equality of opportunity in the work field, inremuneration, job opportunity, trade union rights and benefits, social security, taxation, medical treatment, and accommodation; basic legal guarantees are also matters of concern to migrant workers, including termination of employment, non-renewal of work permits, and expulsion. The generality of human rights is due not because the individual is or is not a member of a partucular group, and claims to such rights are not determinable according to membership, but according to the character of the right in question. The individualized aspect of fundamental human rights requires a case-by-case consideration of claims, and the recognition that to all persons now certain special duties are owed.     

The changing character of contemporary migration

"Although the flow of human beings between countries and continents has marked the behaviours of populations for centuries, present international migration is clearly characterized by a number of new factors which make it distinct from international movements of people in the past. This paper aims to identify such new factors relating to the underlying reasons for the international mobility of people, including the motivations of the individuals concerned, and attempts to examine the consequences as they are being faced by the individuals involved, the countries concerned and--in more general terms--the international community." (summary in FRE, SPA)     

做个身心健康的经理人“六法则”

一个合格的经理人身体要好,更重要的是心理要健康当今社会医学越来越发达, 不健康的人却日益增多, 尤其是背负沉重压力的职业经理人,他们不同程度地遭受着形形色色疾病的困扰:身体上的、心理上的,其实后者比前者更为可怕、更难治愈。衡量你的心理机能成熟与否,心理学家阿尔波特归纳出六条标准,可以作为参考。这六条标准是:     

Do Some Students Need Special Protection From Research on Sex and Trauma? New Evidence for Young Adult Resilience in “Sensitive Topics” Research

Institutional review boards (IRBs) have expressed concerns that certain individuals or groups, such as participants who are younger, ethnic minorities, or who have certain psychological or personality traits, may be particularly distressed when participating in “sensitive topics” research. This study examined the effects of several demographic and individual difference factors (i.e., age, sex, ethnicity, religiosity, Big Five personality traits, and baseline psychological distress levels) on reactions to participation in sensitive topics research. Participants were 504 undergraduates who completed an extensive battery of either trauma/sex questionnaires or cognitive tests and rated their positive and negative emotional reactions and the perceived benefits and mental costs of participating. They also compared research participation to normal life stressors. Our findings indicated that individual difference and demographic risk factors do not increase participant distress after participating in sex/trauma research over and above that experienced after participating in traditionally minimal-risk cognitive tasks. Participants generally found research participation less distressing than normal life stressors and even enjoyable.