A modified Lee-Carter model for analysing short-base-period data

This paper introduces a new modified Lee-Carter model for analysing short-base-period mortality data, for which the original Lee-Carter model produces severely fluctuating predicted age-specific mortality. Approximating the unknown parameters in the modified model by linearized cubic splines and other additive functions, the model can be simplified into a logistic regression when fitted to binomial data. The expected death rate estimated from the modified model is smooth, not only over ages but also over years. The analysis of mortality data in China (2000-08) demonstrates the advantages of the new model over existing models.     

Radio Frequency Identification: A Panacea for Governments?

Radio frequency identification (RFID) has been used to improve business supply chain management for over 35 years. As often happens, private sector technology migrates to the public sector where it is adapted for use. RFID use in governments is spreading far and wide at the federal and state levels with virtually no debate or performance analyses to inform adoption decisions. Implementation of RFID technology impacts government efficiency and effectiveness in many areas. Data show that most RFID applications promise enhanced effectiveness but also pose increased costs. A model is constructed to assist state and local managers in choosing to adopt RFID and to discern the status and impacts of this bold new innovation.

Use of Contemporary Film as a Medium for Teaching an Online Death and Grief Course

Online education is becoming commonplace in the academic world. Schools now offer totally online degree programs or provide a hybrid of face-to-face and online courses for fulfilling academic requirements. Developing courses and teaching online requires instructors to rethink the educational paradigms they have relied upon in the past. The Net Generation of learners brings a different set of expectations, styles, and needs to the classroom than those of previous generations; this mandates that instructors redesign courses and use contemporary teaching modalities. This article describes how film was successfully used as the primary medium to teach a graduate online Social Work course, Death and Grief.     

Echoic and Self-Echoic Responses in Children

Eleven typically developing children were assessed on the accuracy of prompted self-echoic responses following a 5-s delay from their initial echoic response, replicating procedures in Esch, Esch, McCart, and Petursdottir (2010) that compared discrepancies between echoic and self-echoic scores of autistic and typically developing children following a 2-s delay. We compared the two studies in terms of age, level tested, and echoic/self-echoic discrepancy scores. Age and test level differences were found to be statistically significant. Results are discussed in terms of discrepant self-echoic performance and self-echoic rehearsal as it relates to participant age, test level, motivating variables, and the development of complex behavior.     

Overseas Field Placement: An Educational Experiment

This paper describes an educational experiment with the placement of second-year students in field settings in the United Kingdom. The practicum assignments were in a rural area of Northern Scotland and in London. The paper also includes a preliminary analysis of the educational goals and the unique personal and professional gains for faculty and students.     

Lesbian Parent Activism and Meaning-Making in the Current Political Environment

This article discusses the impact of lesbian mothers' activism on legislation and personal well-being. Using a meaning reconstruction framework, the activism of lesbian parents is evaluated as a source of resilience and strength in the current political climate. A case history of one community where lesbian mothers formed a local coalition in response to a statewide proposition to ban same-sex marriage in Texas is described. This community example shows how the activism of lesbian parents can transform both community and activists. Implications for community organizers, therapists and LGBT parents/allies are discussed.     

“Anchoring” white community: White women activists and the politics of public schools

This article discusses the political clout wielded by a group of white women who participate in “Presidents’ Committee,” an organization of Parents Association presidents in a New York City Community School District. The school district, like many urban areas, is experiencing an exodus of white families to the suburbs, which are seen as offering better resources and a safe social distance from blacks and other non‐whites. In this context of social change, white mothers who participate in Presidents’ Committee push at gender boundaries in the public sphere by professionalizing motherhood and watching over potentially corrupt political practices. At the same time, their activism can be understood as a key component of local efforts to reproduce “white” community. Through this ethnographic analysis, “whiteness” is unpacked as a construct that is fractured by gender, class, and place of origin, while remaining a resilient idealized resource with which to reproduce a black/white racial binary.     

Emotional Triggers: Listening Barriers to Effective Interactions in Senior Populations

Given the scarcity of scholarly studies on the impact of effective listening and senior populations, this study sought to explore senior participants' interactions especially as they related to emotional triggers and listening effectiveness. Participants with a mean age of 84 participated in one of four focus groups. Results suggest that emotional reactions inhibiting effective listening can be language or behaviorally based. The four primary language triggers gleaned from the data included words that implied false familiarity, made assumptions, indicated poor topic choice, or demonstrated poor grammar. Behavioral triggers included use of pause fillers, repetition, ineffective vocal cues, and poor turn-taking skills.     

Understanding Responses to Foster Care: Theoretical Approaches

Foster children making the transition from birth to foster homes or from foster homes to foster homes often present problematic behaviors. Limitations of attachment theory and reactive attachment disorder are presented, and three alternative approaches for understanding behaviors exhibited in foster settings are presented: conservation of resources, child alienation model, and developmental trauma disorder.     

Breaking free from siloes: intersectionality as a collective action frame to address toxic exposures and reproductive health

ABSTRACT

There has been increasing interest in collaborative approaches between the environmental justice (EJ) and reproductive justice (RJ) movements to address the higher burden of toxic exposures and associated reproductive health outcomes in vulnerable communities. This study examined the collective action frames (CAFs) of advocates at the EJ/RJ nexus. CAFs highlight how advocates identify problems and solutions, and motivate action. The use of intersectionality was identified as a main CAF used in three key ways: breaking free from identity-based, issue-based, and movement-based siloes. First, interviewees described breaking free from identity-based siloes by identifying risks of toxic exposures that result from intersecting social locations (e.g. gender, race/ethnicity, income, immigration status) and by equally prioritizing multiple aspects of their identities as they engage in advocacy. Second, they described breaking free from issue-based siloes by developing multi-issue agendas that address a complex web of interrelated problems impacting health. Third, they described breaking free from movement-based siloes by developing cross-movement collaborations to address issues of mutual concern. Among multiple reasons given for cross-movement collaborations, advocates perceived them as valuable in order to disrupt social, political, and economic power imbalances that shape environmental reproductive health inequities, as well as other health and social inequities. Based on these findings, we suggest that intersectionality is a master frame, and thus may be useful to advocates in other social movements addressing intersectional issues. Understanding an intersectionality frame can help to inform advocacy approaches to promote health and health equity, particularly those focused on policies and structural drivers of health.