The identities and social roles of people with an intellectual disability: challenging dominant cultural worldviews,values and mythologies

Intellectual disability is commonly conceptualised as stigmatised identity with which one has to live. However, within the literature the notion of a damaged identity is contested. The aim of this research was to explore the social construction of intellectual disability, with an emphasis on the identities and social roles of people with an intellectual disability. Informed by a contextualist perspective, this research was conducted within a participatory framework. The co-researchers involved in this research were 18 members of an advocacy agency. Photovoice and conversational interviewing were used to collect data and causal layered analysis was used to deconstruct the data. Analysis of the interactions that emerged across the causal layers revealed a complex dynamic of worldviews which served to construct people with an intellectual disability as incompetent, inherently different and not quite human. For genuine, transformative change to occur, developing an awareness and understanding of social processes, such as dehumanisation, is crucial.     

An exploratory study of multiple distinct gambling trajectories in emerging adults

This study uses data from a four-wave longitudinal survey of emerging adults (18–20 years of age in Wave 1) to examine whether there are multiple distinct trajectories of problem gambling risk severity and whether membership in these trajectory classes can be predicted by certain risk and protective factors. Four trajectory classes of gambling risk severity were identified – nonproblem-diminishing (73.9%), low-risk-stable (16.8%), marginal/nongambler-diminishing (7.1%), moderate-risk-increasing (2.2%) – with most youths' gambling involvement remaining stable or diminishing across the years and only the smallest most at-risk group showing a slight increase in severity across this transitional period. Three risk factors were significant predictors of class membership – being male, scoring higher on alcohol dependence, and escape-avoidance coping were all associated with increased probability of being in one of the more gambling involved trajectory classes, while lower alcohol dependence scores were associated with increased likelihood of being in the marginal/nongambling class.     

A note on mortality in Jamaica

This article analyses briefly various aspects of mortality in Jamaica. After an appraisal of available vital statistics, the mortality trend, as revealed in several measures, is traced and brief comparison with other West Indian colonies made. A discussion of the marked differential between legitimate and illegitimate infant mortality leads to the conclusion that the higher rate of the latter is associated with lower socio-economic status of the parents. Mortality from a few causes of death is also analysed and the possibility of improvement stressed. The probable consequences of declining mortality are illustrated by examining the probable growth of the population to 1951 in three broad age groups.     

Body Weight Distributions for Risk Assessment

Precise age-specific average body weight estimates are necessary for deterministic risk assessments, and an accurate body weight distribution is equally important in probabilistic risk assessments. Age-specific body weight distributions for U.S. residents are estimated using NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) data collected in four surveys over the last 24 years. The weighted mean and standard deviation of natural log-transformed body weights are computed for single-year age groups and population age-specific weight patterns further described using piece-wise polynomial spline functions and nonparametric age-smoothed trend lines. These functions are used to compare distributional changes in age-specific body weight in the United States from the first NHANES survey in 1976-1980 to the most recent in 1999-2002. Analysis demonstrates that age- and sex-specific average body weight changes over this time period are not uniform. Use of these functions to compute body weight distributions for selected child-age categories is demonstrated.     

Public Spaces of Dissent

This article looks at some recent developments in the relationship between public space and dissent. The article does this by firstly distinguishing between dissent and resistance. Dissent is based broadly around disagreements between individuals in particular groups and contexts against a perceived grievance of some sort. As a result dissent can arise in a variety of contexts, especially within everyday life, popular culture, and with small acts of defiance against frustrations one experiences. These acts can also assume more overtly political modes in the form of resistance as when people demonstrate in the streets. The distinction is therefore useful because it helps us understand how the state and other governance mechanisms adopt policies and strategies to pre-empt dissent and thereby prevent dissent from spilling over into resistance located in particular places. The article will examine how the state and governance have changed the way in which they pre-empt the formation of spaces of dissent in order to effectively regulate them in the pre- and post-9/11 climate. Taking examples from the USA and the UK, the paper explores these points through global social movements, law and dissent, planning and designing dissent, and the surveillance of dissent.     

联合国在国际社会中的作用

联合国自创立伊始就成为国际关系中的一项核心制度.从联合国对使用武力的限制、维和和监督行动的迅速扩展、围绕安理会改革的争议及其对国际标准和准则的倡导等四个方面来看,联合国发挥了不可替代的作用,而且仍将在国际社会的转型过程中发挥重要作用.