Understanding intimate partner violence against women in the rural South

Most U.S. intimate partner violence (IPV) research to date has been limited to women residing in urban areas, with the small body of research focusing on rural populations being primarily qualitative. In this case-control study of Southern rural women, while many factors are consistent with those found in urban settings, unlike findings elsewhere, IPV risk appears to increase with age, and race showed no increased risk. Furthermore, in rural areas where guns are more acceptable than in other parts of the United States, partners of IPV victims are considerably more likely to carry weapons than partners of nonabused women. Given the geographic limitations to police and medical response to severe IPV in a rural setting, an improved understanding of IPV risk among this population can aid health care providers in ascertaining risk before it escalates further.     

Getting hosed: Petty theft in the car wash industry and the fifth suitability criterion in routine activities theory

The present study examines the applicability of routine activities theory to petty theft. Using an experimental field research design, the researchers tested the frequency with which apparently uncounted smaller currency was stolen during full-service car wash cycles. Experimental conditions were varied so that one condition suggested a more deviant driver. A considerable amount of money was removed in thirty percent of all car washes. The number of total thefts and amount of money stolen were higher in the experimental condition in which the driver appeared to be more deviant. Findings suggest that the mere appearance of the victim as more deviant triggers the perception of targets as more suitable, and provide support for social proximity as a suitability criterion.     

Veiled Threats: Decentering and unification in transnational news coverage of the French veil ban

In October 2010, France approved a law banning the Islamic veil in all public areas, asserting the republican principle of laicité. This cross-cultural analysis applies Muhlmann's theoretical framework to French and US news coverage from March 2004 to October 2010 in order to discern whether coverage featured unifying frames invoking shared values; or decentering frames challenging consensual views and presenting alternative contexts.     

Global HIV and AIDS: Calling all Social Work Educators

As the HIV/AIDS global pandemic continues to grow through a third decade, the need for social work educators to prepare social workers in distinct fields of practice with skills to assist those infected with and affected by HIV is of paramount importance. HIV/AIDS holds multi-level and multi-system effects for vulnerable populations. This article features global HIV and AIDS teaching resources beginning with common global practice challenges. Next, five teaching units focus on practice needs and challenges of divergent vulnerable populations including men who have sex with men, women, injecting drug users (IDU), commercial sex workers, and children orphaned by AIDS. Discussion questions, selected readings and electronic resources accompany each unit. The authors close the article with suggested recommendations for content integration into social work courses, and next steps for the profession.     

World Health Organization Regional Assessments of the Risks of Poliovirus Outbreaks

While global polio eradication requires tremendous efforts in countries where wild polioviruses (WPVs) circulate, numerous outbreaks have occurred following WPV importation into previously polio‐free countries. Countries that have interrupted endemic WPV transmission should continue to conduct routine risk assessments and implement mitigation activities to maintain their polio‐free status as long as wild poliovirus circulates anywhere in the world. This article reviews the methods used by World Health Organization (WHO) regional offices to qualitatively assess risk of WPV outbreaks following an importation. We describe the strengths and weaknesses of various risk assessment approaches, and opportunities to harmonize approaches. These qualitative assessments broadly categorize risk as high, medium, or low using available national information related to susceptibility, the ability to rapidly detect WPV, and other population or program factors that influence transmission, which the regions characterize using polio vaccination coverage, surveillance data, and other indicators (e.g., sanitation), respectively. Data quality and adequacy represent a challenge in all regions. WHO regions differ with respect to the methods, processes, cut‐off values, and weighting used, which limits comparisons of risk assessment results among regions. Ongoing evaluation of indicators within regions and further harmonization of methods between regions are needed to effectively plan risk mitigation activities in a setting of finite resources for funding and continued WPV circulation.     

The construction and analysis of a consistent set of input–output tables for the Irish economy

Summary.  We analyse input–output tables to see what structural changes have occurred in the Irish economy over time. First we produce a consistent set of input–output tables by aligning classifications and deriving a sequence of supply tables. The resulting tables are then smoothed to make the underlying distributions symmetric. We then compare the smoothed tables by using biproportional adjustment. We identify and analyse structural change that has taken place in the Irish economy since 1975.     

Culture and classification: A history of the Mozbieker community at the cape

This paper reviews the concept of race as applied in southern Africa, and with particular reference to the idea of the “Negro”. After examining earlier work in the field of physical anthropology, more recent theoretical concepts are applied in a critique of modern practice. It is concluded that the revolution in physical anthropological theory has been largely “silent”, with the consequence that new ideas have not been systematically applied in archaeology. It would seem that there is little firm, and still acceptable, evidence for the identity of early farming communities in southern Africa.