Believing Not Seeing: A Blind Phenomenology of Sexed Bodies

Vision plays a privileged role in social interaction and the construction of intersubjective reality. Given that one of sociology's tasks is to problematize the taken for granted, research that examines rarely foregrounded non‐visual modes of sensory perception is a powerful resource. This article draws on twenty‐seven interviews that explore blind people's perceptions of male and female bodies. I highlight several distinctive features of non‐visual sex attribution (salience, speed, and diachronicity), and argue that conceptions of sex as “self‐evident” primarily reflect visual perception. These findings suggest the need to explore the sociology of perception as a new approach to the sociology of the body, and more broadly highlight the role of sensory perception in the social construction of reality.     

Potential of decentralized wastewater management for urban development: Case of Bangkok

Decentralized wastewater management (DWWM) has recently gained much attention in wastewater management (WWM) due to its build-as-you-go principal. Rapid urban development and the widespread impact of wastewater require sustainable ways to test the DWWM approach. This paper aims to examine and discuss the potential of Bangkok’s current WWM approaches for urban development, focusing on decentralized management approaches. General WWM approaches were examined using case study research methods. Three WWM cases were selected for detailed investigation. Residential wastewater user surveys and expert interviews were used to support system performance findings of service providers and recipients, as well as to draw lessons learned. Results show that DWWM is economically and technically efficient, demonstrating potential for sustainable urban development (SUD) in the study area. The competitive cost found is a result of less sewer line, simple technology, and limited additional costs, while the high efficiency is a result of good operation and maintenance. Also the reclaimed water has been used for landscape irrigation of the urban greenery. Sustainability of the system lies in social value of public amenity it provides, and the urban planning implication that it could be an option for smart growth. The results also show that even in an inner urban area DWWM does not conflict with any SUD considerations. Thus, the study recommends using DWWM for new development within both public and private properties based on Bangkok’s case as part of long-term urban development.     

The effects of teenage fatherhood on young adult outcomes

This paper uses national longitudinal data and several new empirical strategies to examine the consequences of teenage fatherhood. The key contribution is to compare economic outcomes of young fathers to young men whose partners experienced a miscarriage rather than a live birth. The results suggest that teenage fatherhood decreases years of schooling and the likelihood of receiving a high school diploma and increases general educational development receipt. Teenage fatherhood also appears to increase early marriage and cohabitation, and has mixed short-term effects on several labor market outcomes.     

Revising a medication education program on an inpatient child and adolescent psychiatric unit

Adherence to a medication regimen can be challenging for children and adolescents with mental health disorders. Medication education can be a beneficial tool for nurses to help promote adherence to psychotropic medications. This article describes an initiative to improve medication education offered to children and adolescents and their families on an acute child and adolescent inpatient unit in a mental health facility. Strategies included adding a game to medication education groups, creating and distributing medication education handouts, and developing and implementing medication education sessions for parents. When used by the patients and families, the interventions were appreciated. Having successful interventions in place may help meet the diverse educational needs of this population as nurses seek to improve medication adherence.     

The incidence of metabolic risk factors in an inpatient psychiatric setting

Our study examines risk factors for metabolic syndrome on admission to an acute psychiatric facility and the incidence of medical referrals at discharge. Data on demographics, risk factors for metabolic syndrome, other health risk factors, medications, related diagnoses, and primary care providers and referrals were collected from 125 psychiatric patient charts. Comparison analysis was done for two groups: those with two or more risk factors for metabolic syndrome and those with less than two risk factors. Differences between groups were statistically significant for age, waist circumference, body mass index, high-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, and fasting glucose levels. Few patients were referred to their primary care provider for follow-up care. This study has clinical implications for improving assessment of psychiatric patients at risk for developing metabolic syndrome, for designing interventions to help patients adopt lifestyle changes to mitigate these risks, and for working toward fuller integration of psychiatric and primary care.     

Collaborative evaluation and market research converge: an innovative model agricultural development program evaluation in Southern Sudan

In June and July 2006 a team of outside experts arrived in Yei, Southern Sudan through an AID project to provide support to a local agricultural development project. The team brought evaluation, agricultural marketing and financial management expertise to the in-country partners looking at steps to rebuild the economy of the war ravaged region. A partnership of local officials, agricultural development staff, and students worked with the outside team to craft a survey of agricultural traders working between northern Uganda and Southern Sudan the steps approach of a collaborative model. The goal was to create a market directory of use to producers, government officials and others interested in stimulating agricultural trade. The directory of agricultural producers and distributors served as an agricultural development and promotion tool as did the collaborative process itself.     

An approach to design long-term monitoring and evaluation frameworks in multi-actor systems--a case in water management

Learning-by-doing and adaptive management require careful monitoring and evaluation of the outcomes of environmental policies and programs under implementation. Selecting relevant indicators is difficult, especially when monitoring over a longer period of time. Further challenges arise when policies are developed as a collaborative effort among multiple actors. This paper discusses an approach to design frameworks for long-term monitoring and evaluation in multi-actor systems. It uses Dynamic Actor Network Analysis (DANA) as an actor-sensitive method to reconstruct program theories. This is combined with elements of assumption-based planning to identify critical assumptions and associated indicators to incorporate the dynamic aspects related to long-term monitoring. An application of this approach is described for a case of water management in the Netherlands. Here, mapping multiple perspectives and identifying critical assumptions helped to broaden the scope of monitoring in important ways. Identifying associated indicators and expectations on their development in response to policy implementation proved more difficult. From this case, it can be concluded that the approach is feasible, useful, but also demanding. However, with continuing trends of networked governance and adaptive management, additional efforts to reflect these trends in monitoring and evaluation, through this and similar approaches, are needed.     

Academic Performance of Subsequent Schools and Impacts of Early Interventions: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Head Start Settings

The role of subsequent school contexts in the long-term effects of early childhood interventions has received increasing attention, but has been understudied in the literature. Using data from the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP), a cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted in Head Start programs, we investigate whether the intervention had differential effects on academic and behavioral outcomes in kindergarten if children attended high- or low-performing schools subsequent to the preschool intervention year. To address the issue of selection bias, we adopt an innovative method, principal score matching, and control for a set of child, mother, and classroom covariates. We find that exposure to the CSRP intervention in the Head Start year had significant effects on academic and behavioral outcomes in kindergarten for children who subsequently attended high-performing schools, but no significant effects on children attending low-performing schools. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.     

The relationship of intimate partner aggression to head injury, executive functioning, and intelligence

Measures of head injury, executive functioning, and intelligence were given to a community sample composed of 102 male perpetrators of intimate partner aggression (IPA) and 62 nonaggressive men. A history of head injury and lower mean score on a measure of verbal intelligence were associated with the frequency of male-perpetrated physical IPA as reported by male perpetrators and their female partners. Lower mean scores on a measure of verbal intelligence also predicted frequency of psychological IPA perpetration. Using the perpetrator subtypes outlined by Holtzworth-Munroe et al. (2000), analyses revealed that compared with other groups, the most severely aggressive subtypes (i.e., borderline-dysphoric and generally violent-antisocial) were the most likely to report a history of head injury and to have significantly lower mean scores on a neuropsychological test of verbal intelligence. The possible role of neuropsychological factors in IPA perpetration and implications for prevention and intervention programs are discussed.