Survival and integration: Kachin social networks and refugee management regimes in Kuala Lumpur and Los Angeles

How do refugees establish social networks and mobilise social capital in different contexts throughout a multi-stage migration process? Migrant social network literature explains how migrants accumulate social capital and mobilise resources in and between origin and destination but provides limited answers regarding how these processes unfold during refugee migrations involving protracted stays in intermediate locations and direct interaction with state agents. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork with Kachin refugees in Kuala Lumpur and Los Angeles, I address these gaps by comparing refugee social networks in two sites of a migration process. Distinguishing between networks of survival and networks of integration, I argue that differences in their form and functions stem from their interactions with local refugee management regimes, which are shaped by broader state regulatory contexts. In both locations, these networks and regimes feed off each other to manage the refugee migration process, with key roles played by hybrid institutions rooted in grassroots adaptation efforts yet linked to formal resettlement mechanisms. Considering the refugee migration process as a whole, I show that Kachin refugees demonstrate their possession of social capital gained during the informal social process of migration to advance through institutionalised political processes of resettlement in each context.     

Navigating a Hostile Terrain: Refugees and Human Rights in Southeast Asia

Countries in Southeast Asia serve as origins, transit routes, and destinations for an increasing number of refugees, asylum seekers, and other people displaced by conflict and persecution. In this article, I consider existing academic literature on refugees and forced migration and situate current trends and processes related to refugees in Southeast Asia within such work. I begin by surveying sociology material on refugees and forced migration processes in general, also drawing from related fields of human geography and interdisciplinary refugee studies. I then review current mixed migration trends and corresponding state responses in the context of globalization and contemporary conflict in Southeast Asia, placing refugee movements within this setting. Finally, using examples from the region, I consider two rough areas of inquiry in need of further sociological exploration – (i) purposive transnational refugee actions and processes and (ii) the dynamic social spaces created and developed out of refugee migration. Human rights implications of these issues are considered throughout, and suggestions to reconsider human rights protection beyond nation‐state‐focused models are given.     

Maximum Likelihood Inference for Multivariate Frailty Models Using an Automated Monte Carlo EM Algorithm

We present a maximum likelihood estimation procedure for the multivariate frailty model. The estimation is based on a Monte Carlo EM algorithm. The expectation step is approximated by averaging over random samples drawn from the posterior distribution of the frailties using rejection sampling. The maximization step reduces to a standard partial likelihood maximization. We also propose a simple rule based on the relative change in the parameter estimates to decide on sample size in each iteration and a stopping time for the algorithm. An important new concept is acquiring absolute convergence of the algorithm through sample size determination and an efficient sampling technique. The method is illustrated using a rat carcinogenesis dataset and data on vase lifetimes of cut roses. The estimation results are compared with approximate inference based on penalized partial likelihood using these two examples. Unlike the penalized partial likelihood estimation, the proposed full maximum likelihood estimation method accounts for all the uncertainty while estimating standard errors for the parameters.     

An Integrated Risk Model of a Drinking-Water – Borne Cryptosporidiosis Outbreak

A dynamic risk model is developed to track the occurrence and evolution of a drinking-water–borne cryptosporidiosis outbreak. The model characterizes and integrates the various environmental, medical, institutional, and behavioral factors that determine outbreak development and outcome. These include contaminant delivery and detection, water treatment efficiency, the timing of interventions, and the choices that people make when confronted with a known or suspected risk. The model is used to evaluate the efficacy of alternative strategies for improving risk management during an outbreak, and to identify priorities for improvements in the public health system. Modeling results indicate that the greatest opportunity for curtailing a large outbreak is realized by minimizing delays in identifying and correcting a drinking-water problem. If these delays cannot be reduced, then the effectiveness of risk communication in preemptively reaching and persuading target populations to avoid exposure becomes important.     

An integrated risk model of a drinking-water-borne cryptosporidiosis outbreak.

A dynamic risk model is developed to track the occurrence and evolution of a drinking-water-borne cryptosporidiosis outbreak. The model characterizes and integrates the various environmental, medical, institutional, and behavioral factors that determine outbreak development and outcome. These include contaminant delivery and detection, water treatment efficiency, the timing of interventions, and the choices that people make when confronted with a known or suspected risk. The model is used to evaluate the efficacy of alternative strategies for improving risk management during an outbreak, and to identify priorities for improvements in the public health system. Modeling results indicate that the greatest opportunity for curtailing a large outbreak is realized by minimizing delays in identifying and correcting a drinking-water problem. If these delays cannot be reduced, then the effectiveness of risk communication in preemptively reaching and persuading target populations to avoid exposure becomes important.     

Partial impulse erogeneity as a function of fixation and object relations

The psychoanalytic theory of adult erogeneity is analyzed with respect to differential sexual and foreplay activities. Psychosexual fixation within any of the basic stages of oral, anal, or phallic development was hypothesized to correlate negatively with adult erogeneity in that respective area. The overall investment in sexuality across the erogenous areas was expected to be a function of the general level of development within the object relations domain, so that the less narcissistic and more other‐oriented a person is, the more investment is to be expected in interpersonal sexuality. Utilizing recently developed psychometric instruments measuring these analytic constructs, self‐report erogeneity data from 56 women were analyzed and compared with fixation and object relations variables. Results confirmed the object relations hypothesis. A comparison of the intercorrelations of the erogeneity and fixation variables showed that although the pattern is in line with the hypothesis, statistical significance was achieved for anality only. Implications of the findings and of the relatively small statistical effect sizes are discussed     

The impact of the "I'm Special" Program on student substance abuse and other related student problem behavior

There has been a proliferation of school-based substance abuse prevention programs geared toward reducing or delaying the onset of student use of illegal drugs. But the field has shown a general absence of evaluation dealing with the behavior consequences of these practices. This article fills this gap by using the case of the "I'm Special" Program (ISP) targeted for fourth grade students. Using a quasi-experimental design, a comparison is made between the substance using and other problem behavior of students who have been exposed to the ISP and those who have not during their later school years in grades 5 through 12. At the aggregate level, the proportions of current substance users and the incidence of their related problem behavior were significantly lower among the ISP graduates than those who have not been exposed to the program. In particular, there were consistently lower proportions of current substance users among the ISP recipients than the non-recipients in grades 5-7. However, the impact of the ISP seems to diminish significantly in and around ninth grade. During the senior high level, the pattern revealed is almost random. And, in some drug categories, it has been speculated that the ISP students were trying to "catch up" with what they may have missed out on during earlier grade levels.