Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Cowl - V. 75 - N. 2 - Sept 16, 2010

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 75 - Number 2 - September 16, 2010. 28 pages.

Why We Don't Understand The Rule Of Law, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

This paper presents an assessment of current theories of law and their continuing failure to account in a convincing way for the rule of law as an ideal that guides and reassures modern democratic societies. It then explores the possibility that emerging understandings of human evolution and brain function may help us understand the process of convention making in a way that could reveal the underlying moral and epistemological context of law and allow us to identify a complete set of standards for the rule of law in human societies.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 85, No. 11, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

What Color Is Your Paratext?, Geoffrey Bilder, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Faculty Publications

In the final vision session of the 2009 NASIG Annual Conference, Geoffrey Bilder from CrossRef discussed the problem of how to identify trustworthy scholarly information on the Internet. This problem is exacerbated by readers’ growing distrust of intermediaries such as publishers and librarians, by the fact that the Internet lacks the traditions that have developed in scholarly communication to ensure trust, and by the sheer amount of information now readily available. Paratext is understood as anything outside of a text that sets expectations about that text. In the past, paratext, for example a publisher logo, provided important clues as to …

New Engagements With Documentary Editions: Audiences, Formats, Contexts, Andrew Jewell

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Conference Presentations and Speeches

This paper is an effort to think about something different than the creation of documentary editions. It is an effort to think about the reading of them. Specifically, I want to think about the ways the reading of documentary editions is changing, or how it might change. First, however, a caveat: much of what I say is speculative and anecdotal. Though others’ research has been consulted, I’m heavily influenced by what I observe is happening with readers of my own editing project, The Willa Cather Archive, a digital thematic research collection dedicated to the life, work, and environs of the …

Evaluating The Performance Of Propensity Scores To Address Selection Bias In A Multilevel Context: A Monte Carlo Simulation Study And Application Using A National Dataset, Jeremy Andrew Lingle

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

When researchers are unable to randomly assign students to treatment conditions, selection bias is introduced into the estimates of treatment effects. Random assignment to treatment conditions, which has historically been the scientific benchmark for causal inference, is often impossible or unethical to implement in educational systems. For example, researchers cannot deny services to those who stand to gain from participation in an academic program. Additionally, students select into a particular treatment group through processes that are impossible to control, such as those that result in a child dropping-out of high school or attending a resource-starved school. Propensity score methods provide …

Poster Introductions Iii--The Lifecourse Of Esophageal Cancer Patients Traced By Means Of The Lifegrid, Ann Novogradec

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Background: The absence of prospective longitudinal studies for certain health outcomes creates the need to collect accurate information retrospectively. In an attempt to minimize recall bias and to better understand the deeper rooted issues involved in the risk factors for esophageal cancer, the adoption of the lifegrid accompanied by supplementary tools was implemented. The objective was to provide a more comprehensive and context-sensitive perspective to the study of the living and working environments of esophageal cancer patients across the lifecourse.

Methods: A sample of 46 esophageal cancer patients were recruited from participating London and Toronto hospitals. This study involved the …

Poster Introductions Iii--Predicting Vulnerability: Pandemic H1n1/09 And Canada’S First Nations, Nicholas Spence, Jerry White

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

The World Health Organization has estimated that as many as 2 billion or between 15 and 45 percent of the population globally will be infected by pandemic H1N1/09. Certain subgroups have been categorized as high risk given the clinical evidence to date. One of these subgroups is Indigenous populations as they experience poor socioeconomic conditions. There is, however, great variability in socioeconomic conditions across First Nations communities in Canada. Rooted in the social determinants of health, we have developed a model to predict vulnerability and institute relevant measures to mitigate the effects of pandemic H1N1/09 in First Nations communities. The …

Poster Introductions Iii--Aging With Long-Term Physical Impairment: The Significance Of Social Support, Rebecca Casey, Sharon Dale Stone

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

As the population ages more people are reaching old age having lived with a long-term physical impairment. This vulnerable group of people has specific needs that are often different from those of someone who reaches old age without a pre-existing physical impairment. This paper focuses on the significance of social support in ameliorating the aging experience when living with long-term physical impairment. It is based on a qualitative study of the aging experiences of eight men and women living in Ontario, Canada who were between the ages of 50 and 68 and had lived with their physical impairment for more …

Poster Introductions Iii--Antipsychotic Utilization In British Columbia From 1997 To 2006, Joseph H. Puyat, Wayne Jones, Elliot M. Goldner

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

This study examined the prevalent use of antipsychotic medication in British Columbia from 1997 to 2006 among individuals aged 20 and above. Utilization data were obtained from BC’s PharmaNet system – a provincially maintained database that contains prescription dispensation records and demographic information for individuals residing in BC. Using the American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Pharmacologic-Therapeutic Classification, claim records for Antipsychotics, Atypical Antipsychotics, Butyrophenones, Phenotiazines, Thioxanthenes, and Miscellaneous Antipsychotics were identified in the PharmaNet dataset. Individuals who filled at least 1 antipsychotic prescription in a given year were counted as prevalent users. Results were examined across gender and several age …

Evolution Of The Barrett Law, Robert Main

Robert S. Main

No abstract provided.

Heroes And Heroines Of Zion: An Oral History Of Utah Peace Activists, Kathryn French, Catherine Mcintyre

Catherine McIntyre

No abstract provided.

Breastfeeding Practices Of Immigrant Mothers In Canada: The Role Of Immigration Status, Length Of Residence, And Ethnic Minority, Gebremariam Woldemicael

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Previous studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between breastfeeding practices and immigration status, length of residence, and ethnic minority. However, it remains unclear to what extent differences in these factors can be explained by cultural influences or other socio-demographic factors. Using the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) data, this study investigates whether immigration status, year of residence, and visible minority status are associated with initiation and duration of exclusive breastfeeding in the context of socio-demographic factors. The findings show that while the relationship between breastfeeding and immigration process is complex, some clear, broad patterns exist that may have important …

Poverty, Neighbourhood Characteristics And Trajectories Of Maternal Depression, Mai Thanh Tu, Mark Daniel, Louise Séguin, Yan Kestens

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Background: Income, education, being an immigrant and residential neighbourhood characteristics are linked to depressive symptoms. To our knowledge, no longitudinal study has examined the joint influence of demographic and neighbourhood characteristics on maternal depressive symptoms.

Objective: To examine the influence of demographic and neighbourhood characteristics on trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms from child age 1.5 to 7 years, in Québec, Canada. METHODS: 1611 mothers from the Québec Longitudinal Study on Child Development, seen regularly since child birth (1998). Maternal depressive symptoms (CES-D), income, and residential neighbourhood characteristics (neighbourhood poverty, unemployment and quality of nearest park) were measured for mothers at …

Poster Introductions Ii--Learning Violence Young, Lihui Zhang

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Two geographically and culturally connected nations, the United States and Canada, have starkly contrasting violent crime rates. Comparable surveys show that American teenagers on average are three times as likely to engage in fights as their Canadian peers and that this cross-country violence gap exists even among children as young as 4-5 years old. Conventional arguments believed to account for this sharp contrast in violence rates prove to have limited explanatory power. The US violence premium remains a puzzle. Using rich information provided by large-scale individual level longitudinal survey data, this study performs a Canada-US comparative analysis with a special …

Poster Introductions Ii--Children’S Health Prior To School Entry And Reading Skills In The First Year Of Primary School: Identifying Protective Factors, Karine Tétreault, Hélène Desrosiers, Jean-François Cardin

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Background: Reading skills at school entry are one of the main determinants of future academic performance.1 Therefore, less than optimal health during the first years of life can affect the capacity for learning,2 which in turn can have an impact on health and social adjustment throughout life. The main goal of this analysis was to examine the impact of young children’s health trajectories on their reading skills in the first year of primary school (Grade 1), as assessed by their teachers.

Methods: The analysis was based on data collected annually during the first eight years of the Québec Longitudinal Study …

Poster Introductions Ii--The Children’S Health And Activity Modification Program (C.H.A.M.P.): Exploring The Impact Of A 4-Week Lifestyle Intervention On Obese Children And Their Families, Erin S. Pearson, Shauna M. Burke, Jennifer D. Irwin

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

C.H.A.M.P., a 4-week day camp for obese children aged 8-14, was held during August 2008. The program included daily physical activity, dietary, and behavioural modification for children, and similarly-themed educational sessions for family members on weekends. The purpose of the present study was to explore the experiences of children and family members who participated in C.H.A.M.P.. Methods: This qualitative study enlisted a trained facilitator to moderate five focus groups immediately following the intervention. Children (n = 12) were allocated to 1 of 2 groups; parents (n = 17) were allocated to 1 of 3 groups. Following a semi-structured interview guide, …

Understanding Requirements And Unmet Needs For Accommodations For Non-Senior Adults With Disabilities Through A Social-Cultural Lens, Aron Spector

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

This paper will provide an overview of how requirements and unmet needs for disability-related aids, devices and human supports changed between 2001 and 2006 using results from Statistics Canada’s Participation and Activity Limitations Surveys. It will illustrate the usefulness of applying a social/cultural model of disability in developing our understanding as to why these changes have taken place. In particular it will show strong relationships between:

· Advances in the inclusion of people with disabilities and related changes in both requirements and unmet need. For example, the period saw tightening of the labour market and a commensurate shift of a …

The ‘Trendiness’ Of Sleep: An Empirical Investigation Into The Cyclical Nature Of Sleep Time, Pierre Brochu, Catherine Deri-Armstrong, Louis-Philippe Morin

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Using Canadian time use data, we exploit exogenous variation in local unemployment rates to investigate the cyclical nature of sleep time and show that for both men and women, sleep time decreases when the economy is doing relatively better. Our results suggest that in a recession Canadians sleep an average of 2 hours and 34 minutes more per week, or 22 minutes more per day. Given the importance of even small changes in sleep time on measures of cognitive functioning such as reaction time and concentration, our findings may help explain the countercyclical nature of mortality. Further, as we find …

Health Over The Life Course: Research And Policy Roundtable Discussion, Valérie Émond

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

At this roundtable discussion, researchers and policy makers talked broadly about the most important questions that had been answered by recent empirical research and which questions remained to be answered. They were asked to consider research and policy related to “Population aging and pressure points in a life course framework: disability and long term care.”

Valérie Émond is an scientific expert at the Quebec Public Health Institute. Over the past 10 years, she has worked at developing chronic disease surveillance for the province of Quebec using administrative data. After developing the model for diabetes surveillance, she is currently working on …

Poster Introductions I--Arduous Access: Does Ses Affect Access To Primary Health Care In Quebec?, Tania M. Jenkins

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

A review of the extant literature indicates that there is an important dearth of research concerning access to primary care in Quebec specifically, given the province’s particularly troublesome number of people without family doctors. Furthermore, while many studies concentrate on the effect of socioeconomic on utilisation rates of services, few studies have considered its impact on the likelihood of having a regular source of care. As such, in order to address some of these gaps in the extant literature, this paper will ask whether there is a positive relationship between SES and the likelihood of having a family physician amongst …

Poster Introductions I--Socioeconomic Inequalities In Health And The Welfare State: A Research Synthesis, Sarah Brennenstuhl, Peggy Mcdonough, Amélie Quesnel-Vallée

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Research on the social determinants of health and health inequalities has drawn increasingly from the comparative social policy literature. Much of this research relies on one welfare regime typology, but there is a need to systematically review the efficacy of this and alternative approaches if we are to advance research in this area and provide state-of-the-art information to policy makers. Our paper presents the findings of a critical review of the public health literature on socioeconomic inequalities in health and the welfare state. In addition to synthesizing existing research, we identify knowledge gaps, and address the research and policy implications …

Poster Introductions I--Productivity Losses Of Chronic Diseases Among Canadian Labour Force From 1994 To 2005: Estimate From The Nationally Representative Samples, Farah Farahati

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Objective: This study estimates the productivity losses from different chronic disorders (e.g., heart conditions, diabetes, cancer) and some measures of risk factors (smoking, drinking) in two period of time, 1994 and 2005, among Canadian labour force.

Methods: Using the data from the National Population Health Survey 1994 and Canadian Community Health Survey2005, the probability of having disability days, number of disability days, and income losses have been estimated and compared in years 1994 and 2005. In each year, a two-part model is used to estimate the impact of DM and other chronic disorders on labour market outcomes. Part one uses …

Welfare Regimes And Social Inequalities In Health Dynamics: A Comparative Analysis Of Panel Data From Britain, Denmark, Germany And The Us, Peggy Mcdonough, Diana Worts, Amanda Sacker

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Objective: To describe average national trajectories of self-rated health over a 7-year period, identify social determinants of cross-sectional and longitudinal health; and compare cross-national patterns.

Design: Prospective nationally representative household panel studies (the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics; British Household Panel Survey; the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey; the Danish panel from the European Community Household Panel Survey).

Setting: The US, Britain, Germany and Denmark

Participants: Household heads and their partners of working age throughout follow-up (US: 4855; Britain: 4365; Germany: 4694; Denmark: 3252).

Main Outcome Measure: Repeated measures of self-rated health (1995 – 2001). Social indicators include education, occupational …

Socioeconomic History And Preventable Disease: A Comparative Analysis Of Fundamental Cause Theory, Andrea Wilson, Amir Erfani

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Fundamental cause theory suggests that because persons of higher socioeconomic status have a range of resources that benefit health, they hold an advantage in warding off whatever particular threats to health exist at a given time. Therefore as risk factors that stratify health are eliminated, socioeconomic disparities in health remain. Accordingly, SES should be more strongly associated with diseases that are more preventable than with less preventable diseases, and SES should have a stronger relationship to health in countries where high economic inequality and no universal health insurance leads to greater competition for resources. Using longitudinal data from Canada (National …

Unequal Health, Health Care Needs And Ses Over The Life Course: The Role Of Health Insurance In A National Health System, Emilie Renahy, Amélie Quesnel-Vallée

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

The association between health and income has been extensively described in the literature. However, accounts of the time dynamics of this relationship are scant, as are studies examining the modifying effect of public policies on this relationship, measured here through health insurance (HI). We used the National Population Health Survey, a cohort study of the general Canadian population spanning almost 10 years, from 1996 to 2004. We considered middle-aged participants (25-56, n=6116) by groups of 10 years.

Structural equation models were employed to assess the impact of HI on the pathway between socioeconomic status, health needs and health status. Regarding …

Keynote Address: Health Over The Life Course, Sylvain Segard

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Sylvain Segard is a public policy manager with over 20 years of experience at the provincial, federal, and international levels in such diverse fields as economic and regional development, social policy, environment and sustainable development, maritime safety, corporate and strategic planning, and federal budget making. Mr. Segard is the Director General of the Center for Health Promotion with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). He oversees a number of programs to promote healthy living among Canadians in general as well as initiatives targeted at reducing health risks among vulnerable populations. Prior to joining PHAC, Mr. Segard was Director General, …

Welcome And Opening Remarks, Roderic Beaujot

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Roderic Beaujot is Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario, Academic Director of the UWO Research Data Centre, and leader the SSHRC Strategic Knowledge Cluster on Population Change and Lifecourse. He holds a PhD from University of Alberta (1975). For 1974-76 he was employed with the Demography Division at Statistics Canada, and has been at University of Western Ontario since 1976. His most noteworthy publications are Population Change in Canada (Oxford University Press, 2004, second edition with Don Kerr) and Earning and Caring in Canadian Families (Broadview, 2000). Most recently, he was the lead author of “Population change …

Welcome And Opening Remarks, Raymond Currie

Health over the Life Course Conference (2009)

Raymond F. Currie is the Executive Director of the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (2002-2010). He is a retired professor of Sociology and Dean Emeritus at the University of Manitoba, were he was Dean of Arts (1991-1999). He served on the Data Liberation Initiative External Advisory Committee and Board of Management. His academic publications were in the area of urban sociology, sociology of religion and methodology. He was co-editor of “Fragile Truths; 25 Years of Sociology and Anthropology in Canada”. He has been invited to 15 Canadian universities to lecture on academic leadership and/or to evaluate undergraduate and graduate academic …

Yes, You Too Can “Win In China”: An Interview With Filmmaker Ole Schell, Dustin Wright

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

There has understandably been no shortage of commentary on China’s rapid economic development. Much like Japan’s economic “miracle” of the last century, this other industrialization in East Asia has generated considerable discussion, both in academia and popular media. No doubt, much of the discussion rests on a healthy crop of skepticism regarding the actual sustainability of China’s growth. However, though export growth has slowed since the boom apex in 2007, the country’s economy is nonetheless continuing to grow and many observers maintain that China is surviving the global recession better than any other major economy.

But as both domestic and …