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After a two-day marathon voting session, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has approved a measure drafted by Democrats that would provide $494 billion for highway, transit and rail programs over the next five years, with an emphasis on reducing carbon emissions and building projects that can better withstand floods and other natural disasters.
The transportation measure, which committee members approved by voice vote, late June 18, would increase highway and transit funding by 46% over current levels and also provide a significant boost for rail funds. [View text of substitute text of bill, before amendments here.]
The measure also is the centerpiece of Democrats’ latest version of a broader $1.5-trillion infrastructure package, which party leaders announced earlier in the day. That wide-ranging measure, similar to a framework that party leaders unveiled in January, also has funds for water, energy, broadband, schools and other sectors.
The transportation legislation—the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation, or INVEST, in America Act—next will move before the full House, where the chamber’s Democratic majority will ensure its passage, though perhaps with more amendments.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated that the entire $1.5-trillion infrastructure package, including the transportation measure, could be on the House floor before July 4.
Congress must pass a new surface transportation measure by Sept. 30, when the current statute, the 2015 Fixing America's Surface Transportation, or FAST, Act expires.
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), the INVEST in America bill's chief architect, called the measure "a transformational bill" that aims to "move our country into the 21st Century with a smarter, safer, more resilient infrastructure."
Funding breakdown
The bill's main elements are $319 billion for highways, $105 billion for transit: $60 billion for rail—mainly passenger rail—and $10 billion for highway safety.
To help states that are struggling with shortfalls in transportation revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic, nonfederal matching funds would not be required to access the bill's $83.1 billion for highway and transit funding in fiscal year 2021.
In addition, it allows state transportation departments and local agencies to use $22 billion of the $83.1 billion for payroll or other operating expenses—applications that are typically prohibited for such funds.
In the Senate, the Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously cleared a $287-billion highway-only measure in July 2019. That funding represents a 27% increase over the FAST Act's level for highways.
The Environment and Public Works' proposal has yet to advance to the Senate floor and still needs provisions from other Senate panels that are responsible for transit and highway safety provisions. Also still to come is a revenue title, from the Finance Committee.
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's top Republican, Sam Graves of Missouri, criticized the INVEST bill for "overreaching and heavy-handed mandates. Graves said the legislation would end up "transforming every single core infrastructure program into a climate change program."
He also slammed Democrats for generally leaving GOP lawmakers out of the drafting of the measure, which he referred to as "the majority's 'my way or the highway' bill."
Graves and his GOP colleagues offered an alternative bill, the Surface Transportation Advanced through Reform Technology and Efficient Review, or STARTER, Act. It includes provisions that focus on such areas as core transportation accounts, rural infrastructure needs and accelerating projects' environmental reviews.
Possible 'pay-fors'
DeFazio has said it will take an estimated $138-billion addition to the Highway Trust Fund to fully fund the INVEST in America bill.
At a press briefing earlier on June 18, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, discussed several sources for paying for infrastructure. Neal said Democrats plan to revive the popular, but now expired, Build America Bonds program, and also use private-activity bonds—which are a current financing tool—and other types of borrowing.
The federally subsidized, taxable Build America Bonds were created in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and were aimed at helping state and local governments gain access to low-cost financing for infrastructure. More than $180 billion worth of the bonds were issued before the program lapsed Dec. 31, 2010.
Pelosi said that borrowing makes sense in the current financial environment. She told reporters that “with the interest rates where they are now, there’s never been a better time for us to go big, to think big, as the head of the Fed has said to us.”
The Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee’s approval of the INVEST in America bill came after the panel considered 177 amendments to what was initially an 864-page piece of legislation.
As lawmakers slogged through the proposals, the committee adopted 34 riders proposed by Republicans and 23 from Democrats, those figures belie the Democrats' stamp on the end product. Indeed, votes on many of the other amendments broke generally along party lines.
AASHTO, AGC, ACEC reactions
Some transportation and construction groups faulted the INVEST bill for not including much Republican input. Jim Tymon, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' executive director, said in a statement, "We are disappointed that the T&I Committee markup did not produce a bill that has bipartisan support." Tymon pointed to the Senate committee's unanimously approved highway bill as evidence that bipartisan legislation is possible.
He did welcome the INVEST bill's provisions aimed at bolstering state DOTs' finances in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, but also said favorable things about the Republicans' STARTER bill, noting that it includes some AASHTO priorities.
Brian Turmail, a spokesman for the Associated General Contractors of America, said via email, "We remain encouraged that House Democrats are committed to increasing investments in our transportation network, but worry that many of the regulatory requirements included in the bill would undermine the benefits of those investments."
For example, Turmail cites the bill's lack of provisions providing further "streamlining" of projects' regulatory reviews.
The American Council of Engineering Companies issued a statement supporting the INVEST bill, noting its "robust" size and help for state DOTs' strained budgets. | https://sfagc.org/news/house-panel-clears-494b-highway-transit-rail-funding-bill |
Meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement will require increasing the current rates of global climate investments by six times by 2030. In cities alone, trillions of dollars will be needed across sectors such as renewable energy, public transportation, water and waste, and green buildings. This infrastructure is often too large for city governments to fund on their own despite the potential for financial and social benefits. Pension funds, which represent USD 56 trillion in assets globally, will be a key source of private capital for climate action in the next decade.
Subnational pension funds, in particular, represent significant sources of untapped capital. As shown in Figure 1, this brief defines subnational pension funds as those that limit membership to a set location beyond the national level (province, region, state, city) or occupation (i.e. healthcare workers or union members). Subnational pension funds are long-term investors willing to prioritize consistency over the possibility of outsized returns and are familiar with local investment conditions and opportunities. With these factors in mind, subnational funds have an opportunity to be leaders in financing a just climate transition.
Figure 1 ES: Diagram of pension funds considered in this report
Subnational pension funds vary widely in their size, membership demographic, and management of assets, even within a country. This brief examines seven countries with varying types of subnational pension funds – Brazil, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, South Africa, United Kingdom, and United States – with an estimated aggregate of at least USD 9.5 trillion in assets under management. In examining the subnational pension funds within each country, this brief identifies several common structural elements of a subnational pension fund and examines how these elements impact a fund’s willingness to invest in urban climate-smart infrastructure.
Subnational pension funds face a variety of barriers to investing in urban climate-smart infrastructure. Most institutional investors face a common set of barriers to these investments, including technology risk (both real and perceived), navigating local and national regulations, and a lack of investment-ready, bankable projects with suitable investment mechanisms. Subnational pension funds face some of these common barriers more acutely due to their size and low-risk appetite, as well as additional challenges to scaling their climate infrastructure investments. Funds with different structural elements and attributes will face each of these barriers to varying degrees.
There are also a variety of opportunities for subnational pension funds to overcome barriers and increase investment in urban climate-smart infrastructure projects. These include opportunities within fund structure, such as changing asset management strategies and directing investment toward local projects, which can increase available capital and reduce risks. There are also financial vehicles that can overcome specific barriers and build capacity, ranging from guarantees and first-loss tranches to green bonds and supply-side aggregation. Some of these opportunities can be pursued by the subnational pension funds themselves while others require the involvement of other actors like public finance institutions and city governments, but all require assistance from enabling environmental factors, such as a strong pipeline of bankable projects.
Looking forward, there are steps that subnational pension funds, city and state governments, infrastructure developers, and public finance institutions can take to facilitate subnational pension fund investment in climate-smart infrastructure.
• Subnational pension funds can make net zero commitments and set interim targets, build internal capacity, and utilize aggregation mechanisms to tap into benefits of scale.
• Local governments can provide long-term regulatory stability and help align priorities, in addition to working with developers to set up project preparation facilities to boost the supply of bankable projects.
• Infrastructure developers can work closely with city governments and subnational pension funds to provide financing options that both appeal to subnational pension fund investment teams and address city infrastructure needs. | https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/pt-br/publication/increasing-subnational-pension-funds-climate-investments/ |
WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 400 National League of Cities (NLC) members sent a letter to Congressional leadership this week urging Congress to pass a comprehensive infrastructure package. Local leaders stressed that eliminating inefficient bureaucratic processes and streamlining investment directly to local governments will ensure that every dollar is quickly used to help build and maintain critical infrastructure.
“Infrastructure is a job worth doing, and local governments are ready to put in the work to rebuild America’s infrastructure,” the letter reads. “America’s cities, towns and villages are ready for Congress to come through with infrastructure programs that partner with local governments to get projects done. We can invest together in transportation, water, broadband and workforce training to keep America moving and create local jobs.”
Specifically, city leaders are calling on Congress to:
- Use all new transportation investments to leverage local and regional efforts to build the modern, safe and technology-forward goals that residents need;
- Provide financing, funding and flexibility to meet the nation’s growing drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure needs and address the impacts of climate change;
- Provide new financing and funding for broadband infrastructure, adoption and affordability that directly reaches communities of all sizes, and remove state legal barriers to local broadband decision-making; and
- Invest in skills training, including short-term occupational training and on-the-job training, that will support a local talent pipeline in building, rebuilding and maintaining our critical American infrastructure.
The letter from local leaders follows NLC’s detailed letter to Congressional leadership earlier this month outlining the top priorities of cities, towns and villages as Congress considers a historic bipartisan infrastructure package.
Read today’s letter signed by more than 400 city leaders here.
###
The National League of Cities (NLC) is the voice of America’s cities, towns and villages, representing more than 200 million people across the country. NLC works to strengthen local leadership, influence federal policy and drive innovative solutions. Stay connected with NLC on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. | https://www.nlc.org/post/2021/07/20/400-city-leaders-call-on-congress-to-take-immediate-action-on-infrastructure/ |
Consultation on local levy launched.
Members of the public, businesses and the tourism sector are being asked for their views on the design of a levy which would let local authorities, who deem it appropriate for their local circumstances, charge visitors a fee for staying overnight in their area.
The money generated by local authorities who decide to introduce a transient visitor levy would be retained by them for reinvesting back into tourism-related activities in that community.
Public Finance Minister Kate Forbes yesterday said:
“The Scottish Government is committed to devolving more power to local authorities as well as taking steps to safeguard the future of Scotland’s vibrant tourism industry.
“That is why we are looking for views from members of the public as well as industry on the principles of a transient visitor levy - often called a tourist tax.
“This will not be a national tax and it will be for individual local authorities to decide whether or not to apply an overnight fee if they consider it appropriate for the local community. Money raised by those local authorities who introduce a levy will be retained by them to invest in local tourism activity, helping to safeguard the sustainability of the industry.
“I hope that as many people as possible respond to this consultation to ensure that the legislation strengthens local decision making and enhances tourism across Scotland.”
The consultation is open until 2 December 2019.
Original article link: https://www.gov.scot/news/empowering-local-communities/
Latest News from
Scottish Government
Investing in Scotland’s entrepreneurs and innovators10/07/2020 15:25:00
£38 million for high growth companies.
Update on HE and FE support10/07/2020 13:15:00
New EU students to start paying for Scottish places from 2021/22
Help for homebuyers and employment support10/07/2020 12:15:00
Finance Secretary announces measures to boost the economy.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) - Further and Higher Education Sustainability Plan10/07/2020 10:05:00
This plan provides a summary of the actions taken and those to be implemented, to help address the immediate issues that colleges and universities in Scotland are facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moving to Phase 3 of lockdown route map10/07/2020 08:05:00
Opening dates confirmed for places of worship, hairdressers, museums and galleries.
Next steps for people shielding09/07/2020 15:05:00
Advice for people who are shielding is to change in the coming month.
Quarantine rule ends for travellers arriving from lower risk countries and territories09/07/2020 10:05:00
Public health measure lifted for some overseas travellers arriving in Scotland.
Call to ease ‘rigid fiscal rules’ to support recovery08/07/2020 12:05:00
Joint message from devolved finance ministers.
Restrictions lifted in Dumfries and Galloway08/07/2020 08:05:00
Local restrictions in Dumfries and Galloway have been lifted following a cluster of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases last week in the Annan and Gretna areas. | https://www.wired-gov.net/wg/news.nsf/articles/Empowering+local+communities+10092019113700?open |
When developer Insomniac Games started to work on the third chapter in the Resistance series, they bravely decided to start from zero and implement a completely new shooting system – a risky move, since the first two titles received much praise. Obviously, it’s crucial to get the shooting system right for a first-person shooter. No matter how good the rest of the game is, an FPS with bad shooting mechanics is doomed. During the development period (2009-2011) dozens of user tests were carried out to investigate the usability of the new shooting system as well as the rest of the game. Researchers had to define what constituted good aiming and later compare their definition with the feedback collected from playtesting sessions and finally implement changes. How tight or loose should the rose of bullets be? How sensitive should the controls be? How was it possible to avoid the terrible situation in which players swung between over-aiming to the left and then over-aiming to the right?
In particular, a method called “grey box testing” was employed: players had to shoot targets in an empty environment – no textures (which is where “grey box” comes from) and no distracting objects except enemies appearing in different positions ready to be shot.
Reference: | https://www.stopguessing.it/portfolio/resistance-3/ |
I was brought onto the Rekkage team as the Lead Designer in my junior year (2012) at DigiPen Institute of Technology . During development, I contributed hands-on work to nearly all disciplines (art, production, design, programming, and PR) including:
- 30+ Concept Prototypes – While the software engineers developed our in-house engine, I led the rapid production and testing of over 30 game mechanic/concept prototypes (paper and digital). The excessive prototyping helped us create a vast possibility space of ideas and mechanics for the team to explore, and by the time we hit the last prototype it was clear that we had finally reached the concept that would foster a passionate community.
- Metrics Collection and Parsing – To aid in the collection of player feedback, I implemented a quantitative metrics collector and wrote a parallel metrics parser program in C++. The parser reads in text files and stores player data in numerous vector objects before organizing and outputing the data aggregates to a master text file.
- 100+ Hours of Playtesting – Solid, professional game design cannot be achieved based exclusively on quantitative data. So in addition to metrics tracking, I’ve also personally attended each Rekkage playtesting session to see what players are most excited about, when players are most likely to hand off the controller (exit points), and how long spectators will watch the game before joining in (roughly 5 minutes).
- Basic AI Scripting – Implemented (using Python) fundamental AI scripting into our prototype engine, allowing us to run automated tests for hours while away from our computers. These tests were compatible with the metrics parser mentioned above, and provided us with AI performance metrics on a per-ship basis.
- Data-Driven Ship Content Loading – With the introduction of different ship “chassis,” we needed a quick and manageable system for loading that content into the game. To help this, I implemented a data-driven serialization pipeline using Python that would load all ship data and store the information in a global data library to be accessed during gameplay.
- Production – Contributed to design, artistic, and technical production. This included daily meetings with core team members and weekly check-ins with other members, all of which kept workflow organized and technical blocks at a minimum. This, along with extensive help from the team’s producer allowed us to ship our alpha milestone almost a month ahead of schedule.
What Went Right
Developing Rekkage was a long and ambitious journey, but we were rewarded with a number of design successes during development:
- Non-stop Playtesting – Rekkage was publicly tested on a once-to-twice-weekly basis, with game balance tweaking and bug fixing prioritized based on our players’ feedback. Why were so many of our players choosing this ship design? Why do people struggle with these controls? Our commitment to constant playtesting ensured we had a steady flow of data and feedback for the changes we implemented.
- Deep Systems Exploration – The amount of customization and engineering involved in vehicle creation affords ample opportunities to explore the virtually-bottomless possibility space of vehicle creation, and the ever-evolving metagame of PVP combat kept the game fresh and interesting for curious players.
- Rapid Prototyping Commitment – Rekkage was not the first game idea we explored. We actually went through approximately 40-50 different ideas before settling down on a single high-promise candidate. Such a high density of prototypes would typically require a studio to spend over 1 year in pre-production, but our approach allowed us to achieve a similar amount of exploration in only 3-6 months.
- Inexpensive Iteration – In addition to our philosophies on efficient prototyping, we were also able to build, test, and evaluate prototype content using an established pre-built engine. Once concepts had been proven out and iterated upon, it was much easier to integrate the logic into our custom engine.
What Went Wrong
This project also suffered some mild setbacks, including:
- New User Experience – Rekkage may have great depth of systems and a high skill bar, but its approachability from a new-user perspective was lacking. In hindsight, it may have been worth investing more resources into making the new user experience as polished as possible in order to communicate the satisfaction of mastery.
- Visual Development – Artists at DigiPen work incredibly hard, and often have limited time to work on their projects. I lost sight of this during our prototyping process, and by the time we had settled on our final game concept, there was very limited time for the art team to really make Rekkage shine to a professional visual caliber.
What I’ve Learned
Working on Rekkage taught me a bounty of valuable lessons about prototyping and production. Our prototyping methodology, while experimental, proved invaluable in efficiently navigating through the possibility space of our game and honing in on the most promising aspects of the experience. I also came to appreciate the importance of those elements we lacked, including a solid new user experience and a polished visual landscape. Both of these elements became instrumental during the development of my next project, Wingman, and I have Rekkage to thank for that.
Overall, developing Rekkage was an amazing and rewarding experience. The game was recognized for excellence by the DigiPen community, featured at PAX East 2013 and PAX Prime 2013, and was a finalist in the “Best Design” category in the Hoplay 2013 International Game competition. | http://kevinkatona.com/rekkage/ |
Communication. Teamwork. Feedback.
I'm specializing in
Game and Level Design.
Game Mechanics
player-centric design
detailed documentation
feedback based iteration
systemic relationships
macro and micro balancing
meta game systems
behaviour trees & states
task managagement
emergent gameplay
combat roles
abilities and skills
encounter design
playtest sessions
gathering feedback
bug tracking/reporting in Jira
creative training and brainstorming methods
feature design in new & established systems
gamejam sessions
analysing and outlining problems
improvement of workflow processes
presenting short and long term solutions
displaying information in effective ways
connection between different departments
clear and profound contributions in meetings
early feedback seeking
following the fun
giving constructive feedback
sharing knowledge with fellow devs
training interns for their design tasks
incorporate externals into the workflow
vision and design pitching to stakeholders
holding talks at game dev events
mission/objective briefings
metrics and affordances
level pacing graphs
2D Layout & 3D Blocking
narrative focused singleplayer beats
combat/encounter design
competitive multiplayer gameflow
events and player interactions
AI behaviours
static and dynamic encounters
dialogue implementation
unit and asset positioning
animation and camera setup
environmental storytelling
terrain & vegetation editing
asset placement & collider passes
hands on in-engine work
several game genres
personal, student, and professional projects
Documentation (Office/Confluence)
prepare, edit, and process data
setting up naming conventions
best practices and guidelines
creating molecular overviews
drafting level layouts
gather references for Level Artists
creating clean level blockouts
solid collision and navigation
highlighting affordances and points of interest
scripting and staging encounters and cutscenes
data driven and nodebased systems
colab with programmers on scripting tools
basic education in computer science programm
small personal and student projects
Monster Menace Matthew (2D Dungeon Crawler)
cancelled
- creating Game Design Documents
- exploring different ideas in narrative and gameplay
- prototyping mechanics and features
- tile based 2D level design
- student representive in the foundation
- enhancing advisory board with student experience
- advocating for gamedev students, graduates and young startups
KING Art Games
(including 6-month internship; bachelor thesis; regular position)
Iron Harvest (PC & Console; 3D RTS)
Releasedate: 1st of September 2020 for PC, TBA for Consoles
- lead design substitute (managing and mentoring)
- contribution to several systems and features in game design
- boss design including narrative work, unit abilities, look & feel
- overseeing production of external level designers/artists
- complete ownership of multiple campaign levels
- layout, blockout, scripting, staging, and polish
- additional support for several levels (team-based iteration)
- technical design work for scripting tools
Unannounced project (PC & Console; under NDA)
cancelled
- 3 C design (character, camera, controls)
- core system and feature design
- level design ownership (modular and custom)
- AI behaviour and encounter design
- technical design and prototype support
I took part in Assessment-Center workshops and advanced courses for using spreadsheet software.
Additionally I was a member of a filmmaking club during my last year.
Co-Founder and Organizer of "alpha" (regular panel discussions and game jams for students),
Member of the study affairs committee (for Media Informatics and Interactive Entertainment)
KING Art Games has won the best studio award at the german developer award and was nominated for 2018 as well.
Organized an alpha game jam with 50 developers and even more people during final presentations.
Presenting our graduation project "Koa Bunga" at the German Dev Days as one of few indiedev exhibitors.
Every year our university chose one of our games for gamescom, to show what you can accomplish as a student team.
An Exhibition for Model Building, Model Railways, Creative Arts and Play.
My name is Justin Zwack and this is my portfolio.
I'm a Game & Level Designer with studio, freelance and lead experience currently working at KING Art Games in Bremen, Germany. | https://justinzwack.de/resume.html |
Learning from the mistakes of Construction Fever – Part 1
Last year we launched a Kickstarter campaign for our fifth game, Construction Fever. Long story short, the project didn’t gather fund so we had to cancel the project midway through. It was difficult for us to realize that the project failed, but we got a lot of feedback and learned a lot of lessons. In the next few posts, I’d like to share the things we learned, and what we’ve been working on.
Giving the game a reason
One of the many feedback I received was that the game mechanically works and is fun, but players didn’t know what they were doing. After a bit of deeper discussions with playtesters and fellow game designers, I figured out that what was missing from the game was a reason to play: who you are, and why you are doing what you are doing. In other words, players are looking for a way to engage with the world that the game builds.
This was an interesting observation for me since I tend to focus on the game mechanics and not care too much about the theme. It didn’t occur to me that I needed to develop the game world more and give characteristics to game objects. So, going back to the drawing board, I spent a few months with my designer to discuss various theme options for the game. We thought about complete re-theme, but instead, we settled on further developing what we had instead.
In this game, players are CEO of mega-corporations. So the first thing I did was to develop corporate identities to give players a sense of what kind of companies there are. The world was set in the future, and these corporations were multi-trillion dollar companies.
Next was to add characteristics to the CEO. What kind of person he/she is, what does he/she looks like, etc. My goal was simple. I wanted players to be a character in the game’s world, and have a sense of actually being part of the game. It was pretty fun to come up with personalities and histories for these CEOs.
I haven’t asked for feedback at large, but from the limited amount of playtesting, I did I hear that players felt more engaged with the game. Interestingly from blind playtesters who played the game a while back, they thought the game was more enjoyable although none of the game mechanics were changed for their play. So this was a really interesting observation for me. Lessons learned!
What are some aspects of the game that you don’t care too much but many others do? | https://ninjastargames.com/learning-from-the-mistakes-of-construction-fever-part-1/ |
Electronic Arts and Marvel announced a three-game partnership yesterday, with Motive Studio’s Iron Man being the first to release under it. Iron Man was previously announced to be in pre-production, but it’s reportedly begun playtesting, according to Insider-Gaming’s Tom Henderson.
Sources speaking to Henderson revealed that playtesting started yesterday and lasts till November 2nd. These are part of Electronic Arts’ “1-on-1” sessions at one of its studios. “Playtesting,” in this case, is a bit of a misnomer as they’re actually feedback sessions for what the developer has planned.
Electronic Arts’ description for 1-on-1 Playtests also reinforces this. “Get an inside look at a game/product and talk through your experience directly with an EA Researcher. They will ask you questions about your experiences, preferences, and other areas of interest. These conversations typically last between 30 and 120 minutes and may happen online or in person at one of our Player Experience Labs.”
It may be a while before the game undergoes playtesting for bugs and other issues. Stay tuned in the meantime for more details.
Other Marvel titles rumored to be in development under Electronic Arts include Black Panther. A new Seattle-based studio run by former Monolith Productions VP Kevin Stephens is allegedly working on the open-world single-player title. It has yet to be officially announced. | https://gamingbolt.com/motives-iron-game-has-begun-1-on-1-playtesting-at-ea-studio-rumor |
Our softs presentations went well this week, with fairly consistent positive feedback coming from the faculty. We presented our most recent prototype, which is nearly complete except for some minor bugs and an incomplete tutorial system. Both of these issues have since been addressed. In general, feedback was centered on the tutorial experience as well as some comments about UI items that remained unclear. One of the biggest things we learned while preparing for these short demo sessions, however, is that due to the complexity of explaining this game to a first-time user it is quite impractical to try and give players a hands-on experience if they do not have the time to invest in learning and playing the game. This is similar to our second playtesting experience in which most evaluators spent greater than twenty minutes playing without the tutorial system and most updated UI. The simple fact is that we have a complicated product that is as friendly as we are able to make it, while still being satisfactorily detailed to fulfill client expectations. As a result of this, we will be inviting the faculty that visited us, back for personalized introductions to the project, giving them a hands-on experience with the game, from registering, walking through the tutorial, and finally, playing the game.
As a result of this feedback we scheduled work time to deal with the few gameplay bugs and glitches that remain, especially around the balancing of expenses, as well as continued revisions to the tutorial system. Both aspects have been progressing well and we look forward to continue to iron out minor problems through the last week.
Also this week, in preparation for softs, we produced two videos, that discuss our project and how we arrived at where we are now, both our available on our project website. We established and added most of our content into our project archive, with more on its way as we conclude work. Finally, other loose ends and remaining deliverables, such as our Game Design Document are well under way. Our clients also got a chance to play the most updated version of our game this week, during our conference call, and were quite pleased with our progress, appreciating how the UI has evolved significantly. Last week they were able to send us some initial feedback from a pre-softs version and we discussed with them what we had tried to address and how, as well as what we were unable to address and why. Overall, they seem to have been quite pleased with how the project has gone. Now, we are looking forward to our final presentation on Monday, May 7. | https://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/factomo/?p=192 |
Obviously the first tester group would be your own group. But beyond that? It would seem to make sense to have at least more than one group test out your game, as different groups want different things and play differently. Fresh eyes find different bugs, etc. etc.
Are there resources out there to help aspiring game designers without a lot of contacts find people willing and eager to test out their game?
Or is this in essence a "find players in general" issue?
To clarify my own situation: I have the mechanics finished. The setting is still under development, but in accordance with the motto "fail faster" I want to go ahead and test the mechanics (in a different setting for now) to see if they work and are fun or if I need to go back to the drawing board. I have a sort-of group, but I don't know them very well and they don't meet often, and so I'm not excited about the prospect of presenting the mechanics to them right now (as I'm sure there are a dozen issues I've overlooked). Also, I'd like to test the game (including the setting, later) on more than one group, as mentioned above. I've put out some feelers among my current friends and acquaintances, but nobody's really been excited about playtesting or even really giving in-depth feedback, and I don't want to be that person who's always shoving their project in your face. I'm willing to run something online as well. I'm also interested in having others run a game without me present, and giving me their feedback.
Also, I'm looking for something of a guide-type answer that might help someone besides just me. | https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/59808/how-do-i-find-playtesters |
After many iterations and much playtesting, Paradise Lost has finally hit Kickstarter as of today!
I had the great opportunity to work with Tom Butler of Green Feet Games and the rest of the team on Paradise Lost, and I gotta’ say: this is a neat little game.
In Paradise Lost, heroes from humanity’s fables have been snatched by the Ice Queen and placed into a new realm. She has also summoned one villain from one of their stories in a bid to destroy the story realms. Players take the roles of these various heroes and attempt to identify which villain has been summoned, what weapon is required to defeat them, and then race to the Ice Queen’s palace to be the first to strike them down.
The game contains many deduction mechanics similar to games like Clue and Tobago, but with twists on how information is generated.
Players travel across the map, stopping at various locations to gather resources, magical scrolls and information. At the end of each realm, an Oracle is encountered, and players will be able to garner information from each other by asking questions (assuming they can pay the price).
I’ve had great joy being a part of the rules and playtesting process. You can find out more information at the following links: | https://greydolphingames.com/2019/04/09/paradise-lost-ks-launch/ |
Nels Anderson shared some of the things he has learnt making Firewatch during 2016th Full Indie summit. Being more of a systems designer, he has learnt a lot working on a narrative exploration.
Unlike puzzle games like the Talos Principle or The witness, narrative exploration games (sadly known as walking simulators) don’t rely on puzzles to keep the player going. Unlike Life is Strange or Tales of Borderlands, the player is the one deciding where he’s taking the adventure.
As a result, Nels had to learn to face five challenges which he shared with us : being shackled by the premises, working in present tense, communicating information to the player, making the game work when narrative is all there is, and playtesting this kind of game.
1 – Shackled by the premises
In narrative exploration games, suspension of disbelief is extremely fragile. In other types of games, you can work backwards, and player will be forgiving if something doesn’t completely make sense.
In walking simulators, they won’t. Things that don’t matter and you can usually skip over can make or break the game in a walking simulator. You can’t handwave stuff away. Optional things become mandatory, specially in an open environment like Firewatch.
Firewatch strongly draws the player on the main path, but despite knowing what you’re showing the player, you can never be sure about when it is going to happen. As a result, the level design needs to be thought out carefully to make sure the player gets what’s happening.
2 – Present tense is hard
It’s easier to tell a story which happened in the past. The player can explore and piece information together from clues about the past. When things happen in the present, the plot is unfolding around the player. How to make sure he’s actually there ? Also, the game takes place over a whole summer. How to fast forward to the interesting bits during the duration of the game ?
Cuts are needed to progress through time, but they often came at surprising moments, discouraging players of exploring outside the main plot line.
3 – Communicating information to the player is hard
There’s nothing in Wyoming, no houses with poeple who wrote stuff on notes, no personal belongings to tell the story of inhabitants… Firewatch relies a lot on Delilah, a radio operator the player can communicate with. But she also has her limits, many things the player needs to know can’t go through her, because it wouldn’t make sense she’d know about them.
The player can give her some information, but even then, you can’t control what dialog options the player is going to use.
4 – Narrative is all there is
Since the game relies solely on narrative, it better be good. How to make it tangible ? A lot of the narrative goes through dialogs here, and Valve’s tech for managing context in dynamic dialogs played a big role in telling a compelling story.
For Firewatch, a lot of context is stored during the game, and dialogs used many weighted possible answers to take in account the context. Lots of the context is never used in the end, but it helps giving the most interesting dialogs.
The fine polish of these interactions requires a lot of creativity, but the good news is : it is still cheaper than to add a new boss to a game in a different genre.
5 – Playtesting is hard
Nels experience of playtesting Firewatch
Firewatch was playtested weekly, one player a week. It was easy for the developers to figure out when something was broken. It was easy to notice when a player didn’t get something, or was having problems.
One of the benefits of playtesting, other than identifying issues and fixing them to improve the player’s experience was that playtesting uncovered ways to add more interactivity to the game.
The big challenge, when something didn’t work as intended was to figure out why ? Understanding and making sense of playtest results was the hard part.
It was also hard because the developers had to test near shipping quality content before knowing if it would work. They made all the content in order.
Now I don’t agree with that last point. If you’re testing the game, so many tiny factors can have a huge effect on player behavior in game that it does need to be quite polished. It is however possible to identify many of the factors before even having a prototype. How ?
My two cents as a games user researcher
What struck me with this conference is the repeated confirmation that developers struggle with testing narrative elements of games. I have contributed to a few interactive stories, worked on an immersive and abstract storytelling installation, text based adventures, tested an interactive book for children on tablet… And I’ve found one opportunity to take some pain out of designing narrative exploration.
Give roleplaying a try on your next narrative exploration game
Table top roleplaying, my friends. LARP or real life simulations can help. I’ve used this method before, and we spared a lot of time, efforts and frustrations thanks to roleplaying. We identified many issues and requirements during the roleplaying sessions. Roleplaying gave us a comprehensive understanding of how players tried to interact with our game, what caught their attention and how to draw it where we wanted it. We had a comprehensive list of audio cues and visual elements to use and where to place them. And we were extremely happy to gain these insights during week 2, not two weeks before the demo was due, when we finally had a playtest-ready prototype.
Here’s some reasons to try out roleplaying in your company
- Roleplaying is cheap: it fully leverages the imagination of players, limiting the production cost to the brainstorming before roleplaying sessions and the time of two persons during the roleplaying sessions : a game master (usually the game designer) and an observer (preferably someone experienced in observation techniques)
- Roleplaying reveals useful information: what motivates players, what they try to do and what information they need or what incentive works best to get them to the next part of the story as soon as there is an idea drafted out.
- Roleplaying allows designers to iterate faster, improvise alternative paths and change a design without any cost between each sessions, or stray from the original path planned for a specific session (which can also be a risk if it happens too early or too often)
The challenges of roleplaying as a user research technique
Roleplaying does require some practice to be an efficient way of uncovering opportunities and anticipating issues before developing anything.
- The game designer needs to practice to tell the tale realistically, as the player would experience it in game. They need to become comfortable in the game master’s role. It’s important to keep in mind the clues that can and can not be given in the game to tell a realistic simulation.
- Although improvisation is one of the strength of roleplaying sessions, the game master needs to have a clear idea that he wants to refine. It’s easy to get side tracked or tell a story that works but can never be implemented the same way in game. Each session should start with a clear path to test, boundaries of what is possible or not in the actual game, hypothesis on player behavior. The output should document viable and non viable solutions tried live and what developments or assets are needed to implement them.
- It’s a two persons job. You can’t run the game and make sense of the player’s behavior at the same time. You need someone experienced in observation techniques to take notes, ask questions, give feedback (both on the game mastering biases and the player experience itself) and discuss the takeaways. It’ll help the gamemaster to deliberately practice his design skills through this method, as much as increase the quality of results you get from the roleplay based playtesting.
What you can expect from “roleplay-testing” your game
Roleplaying won’t make it easier to figure out one way to systematically replicate a certain behavior but it makes experimenting easier, cheaper and faster. It helps
- to identify the conditions for a specific behavior you expect of the player.
- to figure out how to convey information efficiently to encourage or discourage a behavior.
- to understand why something works or doesn’t.
- to anticipate what players will percieve and if they will see the plot unfold around them, or miss the action completely.
- to generate new ideas, use the premises to tell the story and make it believeable.
It will help you to have a structurally sound concept to begin with. You’ll still have to playtest polished versions of the game, but it’s less likely that you need to change whole, costly chucks of the game.
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Game development conference, Full Indie conference, | https://realites-paralleles.com/2017/07/en-fullindie-narrative-exploration/ |
Collect Maja's imagination in a new level
Hello everyone,
with your collected feedback and many play testing sessions, we put our heads together and created a new level!
This does not only include a completely new layout of the world, but we also finally included the Source of Imagination. Explore the new level and collect all four fragments of imagination!
How to play?
We recommend playing the game with a controller. The controls will be unlocked while progressing through the game, however here you can see the full controls:
Why do we publish an unfinished game?
We want to hear from you! Yes, this not final art, and we have a huge list of things we want to improve on, but what are your thoughts about the game? Did you like the concept, mechanics, level design? What would be your next step to improve the game? If you have any questions or comments we are happy to answer them all.
What's coming up next?
- More Art
- Polishing the level
- Map updates
- Polishing the mechanics
Files
Get Falling Awake
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment. | https://no-time.itch.io/falling-awake/devlog/124863/collect-majas-imagination-in-a-new-level |
Tradition …involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence, …This Historical Sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal …(it is) what makes a writer most acutely conscious of his place in time, of his contemporaneity.
T.S. Eliot¹
For Hong Kong’s 1,400 multi-storey industrial buildings, conservation is more than upgrading their physical fabric. For the post-war generation, it also recalls memories that nurtured the city’s growth and the appreciation of the spirit embedded within these structures. Rehabilitating such factories also enriches the continuity of next generation’s growth. This edited book investigates adaptive reuse as a modern conservation practice. Through analysing concepts, contexts and case studies local and overseas, this publication examines how this practice evolves in Hong Kong and its implications.
Chapter 1 traces the emergence of adaptive reuse vis-à-vis shifting concepts of heritage conservation. It goes on to review current adaptive reuse mechanisms in Hong Kong and reflects on the prospect for industrial reuse.
Chapter 2 explores three approaches to adaptive reuse in detail, namely integration, complementarity and association. Examining related discourses of architectural production, heritage conservation and urban development, the chapter reinforces the importance of creative approaches for maintaining heritage values while supporting future development.
Chapter 3 focuses on four overseas cases of adaptive reuse using the interpretive framework of multiple heritage values: historic, aesthetic/architectural, group and social. It also appraises the specific adaptive works, its public engagement, challenges faced and solutions developed during the adaptation process.
Chapter 4 then analyses Hong Kong adaptive reuse cases and reflect on the lessons learnt: Lui Seng Chun for community services; the Blue House Cluster for the consolidation of community network; 7 Mallory Street value-adding for creative industry; and the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) for reanimation of economic production.
Chapter 5 asks how to adaptively reuse Hong Kong style factory buildings? Tracing the evolution of factories for light industries, it proposes eight essential aspects for successful adaptive reuse.
Chapter 6 uses the Luen Tai Industries Building to showcase the process and challenges of its long-haul transformation into a Ginza-style shopping mall, life@KCC.
Chapter 7 concludes by recommending key steps to plan for the sustainable revitalisation of industrial buildings, from considerations of regulatory and technical requirements to professional input and policy updates. In sum, this book offers a valuable bridging of theory and practice as well as workable examples of adapting industrial buidings for sustainable reuse.
Thomas Chung is associate professor at the School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
鍾宏亮為香港中文大學建築學院副教授。
¹ Quoted in Chapter 1, p.26. Elliot, T. S. (1920) “Tradition and Individual Talent”, The Sacred Wood. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Sustainable Revitalisation: Adaptive Reuse of Industrial Buildings. Edited by Tris Kee. | https://hkia-journal.net/towards-sustainable-revitalisation-adapting-industrial-buildings-for-reuse-%E6%9B%B8%E8%A9%95-%EF%BC%9A%E6%B4%BB%E7%8F%BE%E7%AF%89%E8%B9%9F-%E5%B7%A5%E5%BB%88%E6%B4%BB%E5%8C%96/ |
Hamimi, Omar (2013) The Development of Sustainable Cultural Heritage Tourism in Malaysia: Implication for Planning and Management. PhD. thesis, Newcastle University.
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Abstract
This thesis examines the development of cultural heritage tourism in Malaysia, and questions if this tourism development has been managed in a sustainable manner. Recent national tourism policies in Malaysia increasingly have been aimed towards promoting cultural heritage tourism, signifying that cultural heritage tourism could be potentially one of the most important areas in the growth of the country’s tourism industry. While tourism development has contributed to the country’s economic growth, for cultural heritage, the thrust of the tourism industry is to make the most of the country’s non-renewable resources. This thesis identifies three key objectives required for creating sustainable tourism development in Malaysia: meeting the needs of local communities, satisfying the demands of a growing number of tourists, and safeguarding the remaining natural and cultural resources. Knowledge leading to improvements in the development of cultural heritage tourism is important, as knowledge is a primary means of strengthening its positive aspects and simultaneously mitigating its negative aspects, so that development can maintain a long-term viability. This study also explores some of the key management issues relating to the development of cultural heritage tourism at both Federal and State levels. A broad understanding is necessary for providing a firm basis in prescribing a thorough and realistic sustainable development framework. The study employs questionnaires, surveys, and interviews with a range of government officials, local communities, and tourists. The findings indicate that the government has played a major role in shaping the development of sustainable cultural heritage tourism in Malaysia, but at present there are many shortcomings that need to be addressed, such as definitions of the term Cultural Heritage, as well as management issues, including conflicts and bureaucratic barriers. These problems, consequently, hinder a comprehensive management of cultural heritage tourism. Additional findings indicate that local communities are not actively involved in tourism planning or decision-making processes, though they generally are satisfied with development at the locations of this study. The study also calls for higher quality tourist services, and the promotion of other elements of cultural heritage to compliment the already established yet limited elements. Finally, it suggests a Sustainable Cultural Heritage Tourism Framework, incorporating social and cultural elements. This thesis contributes new knowledge to the field of cultural heritage tourism in Malaysia and may serve as a starting point for researchers interested in this area. Furthermore, the results of this study are expected to be useful for guiding policy actions in the future. | http://etd.uum.edu.my/3595/ |
The implementation of the circular model to urban regeneration strategies requires a paradigm shift in which all economic values co-exist and co-evolve with social/human values, thus allowing the implementation of a human-centred strategy. Therefore, the new human-centred circular regeneration strategies must consider the impacts they have not only in terms of the physical transformation of space but also on the social level.
19Sep
Best Practices of Circular Governance in Cultural Heritage Adaptive Reuse
Circular governance is a necessary precondition for sustainable adaptive reuse of cultural heritage. The database of good practices – presented on the final CLIC Conference of the Horizon 2020 project CLIC “Circular models Leveraging Investments in Cultural heritage adaptive reuse” (online on Wednesday and Thursday 22-23 September 2021)
16Sep
19th European Week of Regions and Cities
Under the framework of 19th European Week of Regions and Cities, ICHEC C-SHIP program, the Metropolitan Research Institute, the Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development IRISS-CNR, and the European Research Executive Agency of the European Commission kindly invites you to their joint workshop: Collaborative heritage ecosystems in post-pandemic EU. The workshop will take place on Tuesday 12 October 2021 from 11:30 to 13:00.
05Aug
Ready, NOT-steady, action! Co-creating a new circular life for cultural heritage sites
After a three-year participatory process, the cities of Salerno and Rijeka, Västra Götaland region and Pakhuis de Zwijger cultural organisation have released their Local Action Plans for Adaptive Reuse of Cultural Heritage.
04Aug
Opportunities of cultural heritage adaptive reuse from European cities and regions: CLIC Knowledge & Information Hub
The CLIC Knowledge and Information Hub platform has been renewed! It has been enriched with information about opportunities of cultural heritage adaptive reuse in Europe and a knowledge base of all existing literature and regulations on Adaptive Reuse and Circular Economy topics
03Aug
HUL Workshops in the CLIC cities in a nutshell
In 2011 UNESCO has adopted the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), meant as an addition to existing conservation approaches. The Historic Urban Landscape is an approach that aims to manage urban heritage conservation and sustainable development in a holistic fashion.
Between May 2018 and September 2020, 5 Historic Urban Landscape workshops were carried out in the CLIC pilot cities under the coordination of Eindhoven University of Technology.
02Aug
Enabling hybrid financial instruments to leverage regenerative capital investment in cultural heritage adaptive reuse
Cultural heritage adaptive reuse activities embody circular economy dimensions, which engender social, cultural, environmental and economic regeneration, within the global value chain. Such activities, including adaptive reuse and energy retrofit of built heritage structures, protection of natural eco-systems and cultivation of socio-cultural community enterprise endeavours, involve long-term investment horizons necessitating the integration of sustainable funding mechanisms.
01Aug
CLIC circular financing instruments: leveraging investments in cultural heritage adaptive reuse
INIZIATIVA, partner of CLIC project, has developed a proposal of three circular financing mechanisms, i.e. Hybrid Public-Private-Partnership Approach, Revolving Circular Impact Fund and Investment Readiness Facility, which will be presented in the deliverable 4.2 expected at the end of September 2021.
31Jul
CLIC Participation to the EC Workshop on Complementary Funding for Cultural Heritage
The European Commission, through its Work Plan for Culture 2019-2022, organised a first workshop on 25-26 January 2021 on the economic sustainability of cultural heritage, in which the CLIC project also took part.
30Jul
CLIC contribution to the European Cultural Heritage Green Paper
One of the things we have loved most about our project has been the amazing opportunity it has given us to discuss challenges and solutions for the cultural heritage sector, being involved in pioneering initiatives which are paving the way for a real change. This is the case of the European Cultural Heritage Green Paper “Putting Europe’s shared heritage at the heart of the European Green Deal”, a much awaited document to which CLIC has proudly contributed providing a focus on the circular economy approach to cultural heritage adaptive reuse. | https://www.clicproject.eu/category/home-highlights/ |
Stating that preservation of heritage can only be fulfilled when historical, artistic, sociological and economic aspects are considered, the Ambassador of the European Union Tung-Lai Margue made the opening remarks at the 2019 edition of ‘Living Heritage’ conference.
Bringing together speakers offering valuable perspectives on preserving and valuing cultural living heritage from around the world, the 2019 edition of ‘Living Heritage’ was held in Colombo, on 24 and 25 March in Colombo.
A full-day conference on ‘Valuing Cultural Heritage: A Cross-Cultural Perspective’ offering perspectives from Europe and South Asia was held on 25 March, after a full-day of guided site visits on 24 March. The conference voiced the challenges faced by cities around the world on balancing urban development against cultural heritage conservation.
The Ambassador of European Union Tung-Lai Margue expressed how heritage should be placed high on the EU’s agenda and further explained the importance of developing pragmatic, sustainable and integrative solutions to the challenges faced in preserving cultural heritage, and said education is key in spreading awareness. “Schools and universities have a key role to play in sensitising the value of cultural heritage that is tangible and intangible,” he said.
The Ambassador also said there’s an important connection between heritage and identity in the context of globalisation and rapid economic growth, and that lack of thoughtfulness and inclusiveness in urban development can create worse issues than the challenge of heritage preservation.
“Not only will the very existence of these heritages will be threatened, the residents can face extremely vulnerable situations due to short-sighted city planning and worse, it may lead to displacement, which in turn can create irreversible and critical social environments such as the creation of new forms of ghettos,” he added. The urgent need for new approaches in urban development was called for by Margue, saying the exception to promoting social inclusion in urban planning is local heritage. He further insisted stakeholders to deliver sustainable urban development that serves the principle of ‘by the people, for the people’. He further insisted on the creation of a platform for continuous dialogue between civil society representatives. “There needs to be a natural commitment and nature of this dialogue across the border to make the dialogue more meaningful,” he explained. Addressing the gathering Mayor Rosy Senanayake said, “As the Mayor of Colombo, I welcome this initiative with open arms. The city of Colombo has a lot of heritage to celebrate, to appreciate and to learn from. I have always been determined not to fall into the practice of paying less attention to areas, such as arts and culture, due to the other pressing needs the city has. Yes, I must prioritise other activities at times, but my commitment to preserving and fostering culture and heritage of this city is clear and unwavering, and I offer the fullest support of the Colombo Municipal Council to the efforts of Living Heritage.”
Speakers from Europe and South Asia, including art historians, architects, and urbanists addressed a number of key issues, such as how to regenerate cities through cultural heritage, how to promote smart restoration and adaptive reuse of heritage buildings, as well as how to make cultural tourism sustainable and compatible with natural heritage. The initiative, the third in a series launched in 2016, attracted a very diverse audience including architects, designers, historians, art historians, students and teachers among others. The diversity in the room reflected in itself the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach when looking at cultural heritage. This conversation will continue and further build bridges between Sri Lanka and Europe in an exchange of best practices.
Pix by Ruwan Walpola
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Thursday, 18 July 2019
This is not at all a philosophical discourse on gender differences, or the complementary roles of yin and yang (women and men) in social or biological formation. This is also not to speak about who is superior among the two. This is just an observati
Thursday, 18 July 2019
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Thursday, 18 July 2019
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Foreign Affairs and Defence to be one portfolio? | http://www.ft.lk/news/EU-Ambassador-insists-upon-preservation-of-cultural-heritage-for-growth/56-676216 |
RESEARCH QUESTION: How can adaptive reuse be applied to a historic church in Auckland CBD to protect the cultural and historical values of the building and improve community interaction? ABSTRACT: The importance of conservation in architecture is to preserve the evidence of cultural development and historical values in a particular social context. The lack of awareness and attention to this often leads to a dramatic end, demolition or structural collapse. An increasing number of historic buildings are facing significant issues, and because of the lack of attention, are failing to express their cultural and architectural value to the public. Throughout different eras, architects have made steps to improve the quality and function of buildings, and consequently, this has resulted in changes to the architecture. Due to this, old buildings with architectural and cultural value gradually fall out of favour, and f a c e difficulties with their preservation. Heritage New Zealand is taking steps to conserve historic buildings to save their heritage. Heritage buildings are often conserved but are not always well utilised by the public; and it is only when people engage with the buildings that they become aware of their historic importance. This poses a relevant question, , : is it possible for adaptive reuse to regenerate the depreciated value of the country’s heritage. This project aims to investigate the problems faced by St. David’s Presbyterian Church in Auckland, and to take necessary action to protect the significant church. Since the church is a historic war memorial, protection of the building is essential to respect and honour the men who sacrificed their lives for their country. The project will explore an appropriate design for the adaptive reuse of the heritage building. The building will be reused and given a new programme, a performance centre, art gallery and Art-in-Residency.. Systematic research, study and analysis of the church and its social and cultural dignity will provide information on significant issues. For the required design decisions, the project explores various literature, precedents and site investigations. The design focuses on the creative integration of the old and the new, such as the incorporation of modern technology for strengthening the existing building, contemporary materials, and minimal additions are explored and applied to the building. Creating a functional building that serves the public in order to improve social bondage is required in this situation. | https://researchbank.ac.nz/handle/10652/5005 |
Dr. Amina Al-Hajri, Deputy Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), underlined that the Organization gives great importance to involving local communities in the efforts exerted to safeguard, rehabilitate and invest in rural heritage, through implementing programmes and activities that aim to valorize heritage and promote its role in anchoring cultural identity and achieving socio-economic development.
In the Organization’s address she gave at the opening session of the 19th Annual General Assembly of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), being held in Marrakesh, under the high patronage of King Mohammed VI of Morocco, the Deputy Director General also announced, that ISESCO intends to inscribe no less than 100 historic site before the end of 2019 and 500 sites in 2020.
In this regard, Dr. Al-Hajri maintained that this comes as part of implementing ISESCO’s new strategy, which is based on a more holistic and realistic vision to safeguarding cultural and civilizational heritage in the Islamic world. She added that this strategy has been actively applied since a few months, whose positive outcomes are becoming more evident, which encourages forging ahead to provide more protection to heritage components, at the foremost of which is the cultural and civilizational heritage of Al-Quds Al-Sharif.
Likewise, the Deputy Director General stated that ISESCO had provided the necessary working tools for such task, most notably the Islamic World Heritage Committee (IWHC), whose scope of tasks has been expanded, working mechanisms developed and roles promoted, especially with regard to inscribing more historic sites and elements of intangible, natural and industrial heritage in the Islamic world. She also maintained that the Organization set up the Islamic World Heritage List to inscribe these sites in accordance with applicable standards and criteria; and created IWHC’s Assisting Scientific Commissions and the Heritage Observatory to monitor the situation of heritage in the Islamic world and point out the dangers it is facing. She also added that the Heritage Projects Support Fund was inaugurated so that the Organization can provide necessary support through the competent parties in charge of heritage in Member States.
In the same vein, the ISESCO official called on ministries of culture in the Islamic world and specialized regional and international organizations to support the efforts of applying ISESCO’s new vision to render heritage, with its different elements, a pillar of sustainable development, reaffirming ISESCO’s eagerness and readiness to host a future session of ICOMOS Annual General Assembly at its headquarters in Rabat.
It is worth noting that ICOMOS Annual General Assembly is one of the largest international meetings of specialists in valorizing and safeguarding heritage and experts in restoration. The current session is dedicated to “Rural Heritage, Landscapes and beyond” and the importance of safeguarding and incorporating them in the development of local communities. | https://www.icesco.org/en/2019/10/16/isesco-calls-on-muslim-countries-to-render-heritage-pillar-of-sustainable-development/ |
By Vivian Bangamu
THE GOVERNMENT of Zimbabwe, together with Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the French Public Development Institution, will launch a EUR-3-million project for the rehabilitation and development of the Great Zimbabwe World Heritage site in Masvingo Province this Thursday, June 30.
The project will be launched by President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the Great Zimbabwe World Heritage Site, with His Excellency, Mr. Laurent Chevallier, the French Ambassador to Zimbabwe in attendance.
It aims to promote sustainable and inclusive tourism development by improving the conservation of the world heritage site and strengthening national capacities to manage the site while promoting interlinkages with the local economy.
A cultural hub will be setup to promote the Shona culture and preserve the cultural heritage of Zimbabwe.
The National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) together with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) will implement the three-year project.
Other national partners include the Ministry of Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry (MOETHI), the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), the Great Zimbabwe Board, the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), Masvingo Rural District Council (RDC) and the National Parks and Wildlife Authority Management.
The collaboration between UNOPS and NMMZ and seven other partners will guarantee that the project preserves and safeguards the cultural heritage, ensuring that future generations will get to see the world heritage site with its glory intact.
Great Zimbabwe was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 and it is the largest dry-stone structure in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Great Zimbabwe World Heritage Site represents one of the most spectacular architectural and cultural landscapes in Africa, with the potential to create employment; economic growth and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals for Zimbabwe.
The French Ambassador, Mr. Laurent Chevallier expressed the high regard with which his country holds cultural heritage and its preservation.
Cultural heritage strengthens local identity and can be a key lever for growth and development.
The funding for the rehabilitation and development of the Great Zimbabwe World Heritage site is in line with the Zimbabwe National Development Strategy 1 (2021-2025) under tourism, where the country seeks to look beyond traditional tourism to invest in alternative forms, and places of tourism.
Masvingo Province also has many other local attractions namely: Chamavara caves; Lake Mutirikwi and Sikalo Lion Park, which will give tourists a diverse experience package when packaged together with the World Heritage site Great Zimbabwe. | https://www.zbcnews.co.zw/great-zimbabwe-world-heritage-site-development-project-on/ |
The fate of the Public Safety Building may be determined this morning when the Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development, Heritage and Downtown Development meets at City Hall. Of the more than two dozen items on the committee’s agenda today, the most contentious is what to do with the PSB.
In March, City Councillor Matt Allard questioned findings of the Property and Development, Heritage and Downtown Development Committee. Allard is a committee member along with Councillors Gerbasi, Wyatt and Orlikow (Chair).
A report for the committee prepared by Deloitte Consulting Group through consultation with stakeholders along with directional guidance from the city, recommends the PSB and Civic Centre Parkade be demolished in favour of developing a large public space and selling off the remaining land. Allard motioned to delay any decision until more was known about the heritage value of the PSB.
The report indicates, “reuse of the PSB would limit strategic alternative civic reuse of the former Canada Post Tower” located at 266 Graham Avenue. The report’s attachment, as described within it, is a third and final “iterative” report version that does not contain former Canada Post Tower information but instead presents investigations of other city used properties impacting on the site’s potential use.
The report recommends three development scenarios for the PSB site that would best “maximize the value of the city property.” All three proposals include PSB demolition.
The first option is the development of a civic campus concept with a small public space, the construction of a new building as well as a small, 95-stall parking structure with office space at grade, along with sale of surplus land.
A second plan consists of a large parking structure with a small public space and the construction of a 520-stall parking structure with at grade office space and the sale of surplus land.
The third choice considered best by the committee is the development of a large public space and the sale of surplus land.
Other options are analyzed and considerations, limitations and circumstances are presented in the 117 page report.
The committee sought additional information regarding the PSB’s heritage value, which will be discussed today at City Hall, although some information about the building’s heritage is included in the report.
In a section entitled, “Evaluation for Heritage Listing for Information Only”, the report summarizes five areas of historical and architectural importance when it comes to the Public Safety Building. They include:
1) Unprecedented introduction of an architectural movement “modernism” in Winnipeg by prominent and innovative-practice architects.
2) Exemplification of post World War II development history.
3) PSB’s historical role as headquarters for municipal emergency response divisions in a building described by local press as “second to none on the continent, being well located, well designed, and functionally planned.”
4 ) Excellence in its “Brutalist” style of modernist architecture.
5) Possession of distinct architectural and design characteristics upon its facade.
The report also states the PSB is not listed on the Historical Resources List and has not been nominated for listing. It states “the Historical Buildings and Resources Committee has proposed that ‘Character Defining Elements’ would be worthy of protection (if the building had been nominated to be listed as an Historical Resource). These elements include the building exterior, main floor lobby, and some office ceilings above the fifth floor.”
Regarding the PSB’s heritage concerns, the report concludes: “In general, demolition is not a sustainable approach to deal with heritage buildings.”
Susan Algie of the Winnipeg Architecture Foundation argues the PSB is a sustainable building that no one has said is structurally unsound. She believes the PSB needs to be evaluated for its historical and architectural importance.
Algie says she doesn’t understand why nomination to the list (to await a formal review) hasn’t already occurred; she has asked the city this question and to date has received no response.
Some of Winnipeg’s modernist buildings have received historic list protections, including City Hall and the St. Vital Library. Algie says bylaws require owners agree to the nomination. The PSB is owned by the city.
The report states, “OurWinnipeg objectives and the associated A Sustainable Winnipeg objectives are important to consider in the development of the alternatives and should inform the decision criteria.”
The report also cites Downtown Urban Design Standards, which include the principle of recognizing, celebrating and building upon the best features of the surrounding context.
The PSB was built as part of a cutting edge, harmoniously designed group of structures making up Winnipeg’s showpiece civic and entertainment complex of the 1960’s urban renewal initiative. These buildings make up a prominent part of Winnipeg’s superior and vital collection of modernist buildings described by history professor Serena Keshavjee as a “crucible of Canadian Modernist architecture.”
Since the PSB is at the very boundary and immediately adjacent to the Exchange District, the report highlights the surrounding historic architectural preservation and community development as a key part of Winnipeg’s identity and enhanced livability. Any “future development should build on these existing strengths,” as well as “preserve and protect the area’s heritage elements…” This important concern seems ironic considering their application to options that include PSB demolition.
Councillors have wrestled with the fate of the PSB while assessing the report’s three recommended options, all of which include demolition of the PSB, as well as other alternatives. The report uses assessment criteria formulas to develop a final score and summary description for each option.
The assessment criteria are Needs, Value, Downtown Revitalization and Costs, along with sub-criteria. Heritage concerns are cited in an unrecommended option that includes the revitalization of the PSB. They are listed under two of the four criteria: “Value” and “Downtown Revitalization”.
The criterion of “Value” is affected by heritage concerns since PSB demolition would be seen as a loss of an irreplaceable heritage resource, and revitalization “meets the needs of the heritage community.” Full recladding was mentioned as financially impractical “and thus only minor heritage elements can be conserved.”
The criterion of “Downtown Revitalization” is affected by heritage concerns since a revitalized PSB would begin again to fulfill its once dynamic role within a “civic campus” by centralizing civic personnel. Its redesigned facade treatment would also enhance the area.
“There is a great opportunity for positive change in the area, while redefining an icon with associated stigma,” says the report. It describes the north portion of the building as taking up part of potentially salable land while at the same time disallowing greater flexibility for development.
In general, heritage concerns seem to fit in a small way when compared and weighted among the other factors listed in the overall consideration to “maximize the value of the City property.”
OurWinnipeg (through the direct articulation of Winnipegers) has voiced a concern for sustainability – the pursuit of environmental quality, economic responsibility, cultural enrichment and social equity all at once. In A Sustainable Winnipeg, a directive for OurWinnipeg, the City of Winnipeg is “committed to working with other levels of government on sustainable infrastructure funding strategies and to applying creativity and innovation in addressing infrastructure needs.”
A Sustainable Winnipeg directive that recommends taking action toward a vibrant Winnipeg includes the need to “conserve, protect and celebrate Winnipeg’s heritage.”
In specific, OurWinnipeg calls on municipal leaders to foster a culture of sustainability within the public service, from the water cooler all the way to service delivery, policy development and political decisions.
At present there is no “vision” or planning theme or overarching design idea for the site with its present buildings demolished. Demolition without a plan subverts best practice as public space often remains unrealized without a clear plan and salable land might remain unsold until a vision is developed. Barren, unwelcoming spaces can result.
The report cites there is no proven need for public space in the area, and indicates that at present the area is surrounded by a number of underutilized public spaces.
Many say there is no need to rush. In addition to determining heritage value of the Public Safety Building, there are other things to seek out. This includes municipal leaders seriously considering the potentialities articulated in Winnipeg’s very own OurWinnipeg policy and its directives within A Sustainable Winnipeg, and the tenets of the Downtown Urban Design Policies.
Above all, through OurWinnipeg, citizens have asked for municipal decision-makers to show leadership in bringing Winnipeg into its most creative future. | https://www.communitynewscommons.org/our-city/politics/decision-time-at-city-hall-over-psbs-fate/ |
“Culture is who we are and what shapes our identity. No development can be sustainable without including culture. UNESCO’s work promoting cultural diversity, and UNESCO’s Culture Conventions, are key to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” Shikha Jain, Director, DRONAH and Chairperson, DRONAH Foundation quotes UNESCO, as she writes about how Jaipur has conserved its culture and craft capturing the true essence of sustainable development.
While it is easy to prescribe the applications of SDGs at the policy level, its actual implementation in various cultural heritage sites, cities and settlements specifically in the context of complex Indian cities remains a huge challenge. Jaipur City has achieved two urban-level UNESCO designations as a World Heritage City (2019) and as UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Arts (2015). One of the primary objectives of these inscriptions is that they serve as tools to achieve sustainable development goals for the city.
Jaipur envisions itself as a city that fosters the creativity and imagination of its people using its rich cultural heritage to showcase a model of sustainable development that has continued and adapted since centuries.
While the World Heritage tag for a city often focuses on the conservation of its tangible attributes, urban characteristics, monuments and iconic landmarks; in the case of Jaipur, an extra initiative was taken to recognise it additionally for its intangible value of crafts under criteria (vi). Much before this celebrated inscription for World Heritage in 2019, Jaipur was already a part of the UNESCO Creative City Network in 2015, a designation that is mooted from the Municipal Corporation itself for the entire city to celebrate and sustain its creative economy; the rich repository of crafts and folk arts in case of Jaipur.
Also Read: India’s Digital Evolution: From Bill Notes to DBT
The UNESCO Creative Cities Network was a unique opportunity for Jaipur to highlight its myriad crafts and folk arts and ensure that these traditional forms of creative expression are equipped to meet the needs of the present and the future. In long term, Jaipur’s participation in the network will further the growth and development of local arts and crafts ensuring a direct impact on the socioeconomic sustainability of the city.
Jaipur was conceived as an urban planning model in the early 18th century, and also as a city designed to promote trade and commerce. It has flourished as a centre of arts and crafts since then. Historically, the city is said to have housed ‘chhattis karkhanas’ ( ’36 industries’ ) majority of which included crafts like gemstones, lac jewellery, stone idols, miniature paintings and others each with a specified street and market designed for each craft that continues to date. During the 19th century, the local crafts received further momentum with British period influences in special exhibitions held in the UK, the establishment of institutions such as Rajasthan School of Arts and Albert Hall Museum. While the local traditions of guilds continued, formal institutions for crafts, policies and programmes by Government and private sector further contributed to national and international recognition of Jaipur crafts and folk arts in the 20th and 21st centuries.
As a centre for crafts and folk arts, Jaipur offers a thriving economic environment based on tourism as well as trade and commerce. Crafts, one of the leading industries in Jaipur, contributes significantly to the local economy. It is for this reason that even crafts that were not established during the 18th century in Jaipur have found their way to the city as recently as the 1960s. Jaipur is unique among other creative cities of crafts not only because of the large number of crafts being practised actively but also because crafts as utilitarian products are an intrinsic part of the daily lives of locals and domestic visitors. Jaipur has 53,460 craft units with a total of 1,74,972 artisans and craftspeople.
While informal training of entrepreneurs continues in Jaipur through master craftspersons and guild systems, there are formal educational institutes for degree programmes. The Rajasthan School of Arts was institutionalised by the Government in 1988 to provide Bachelor and Master degrees in visual arts. Indian Institute of Crafts and Design (IICD) in Jaipur is a unique institution that synergises traditional knowledge and craft skills with contemporary needs to evolve methodologies relevant to modern India. It provides undergraduate and postgraduate programmes addressing a range of crafts. It also has special programmes and incentives to encourage children of traditional artists and craftspersons. Institute of Gems and Jewellery provides programmes on Jewellery design. Jawahar Kala Kendra started by the government have allocated spaces to organise short term training programmes in arts and crafts which are used by NGOs to host programmes.
While the World Heritage tag for Jaipur presented an additional commitment of mapping and protecting all crafts streets in the walled city as significant attributes contributing to its Outstanding Universal Value, the Municipal Corporation was already committed to enhancing and upgrading these crafts streets as part of aligning the creative city projects to sustainable planning.
Jaipur Nagar Nigam Heritage for walled city is developing Heritage Walks in specific streets of Jaipur to provide direct access to local craftspersons and their workspace. Chowkri Modikhana Heritage Walk showcasing thatheras (brass utensil craftsmen) and lac bangle making is one such initiative. The walk is being conducted since 2005. Jaipur Municipal Corporation upgraded the walk area in 2014-15 thus improving the living environment for artisans and extended it further under the Smart City program in 2019-20. These works could be monitored through the Heritage Cell of Municipal Corporation to ensure appropriate conservation as per commitment for World Heritage. Furthermore, the Municipal Corporation is committed to enhancing more crafts streets such as the Khazanewalon ka Raasta including havellis and houses of stone craftspeople to be undertaken in the next phase of works under Creative City Projects (2021-24).
Besides this, adaptive reuse of historic buildings such as the Rajasthan School of Arts into a Crafts Museum under Smart City Projects is a good example of collective safeguarding of the tangible-intangible or the living heritage of the city.
Also Read: Sustainable Urban Planning: Delhi Master Plan 2041
Developing major crafts streets of Jaipur as special heritage walks to promote direct access to artists and craftspeople in the walled city along with conservation and up-gradation of these historic settlements and traditional industries aims to establish Jaipur Crafts City as a role model of sustainability. The project will directly benefit artisans living and working in the area, local residents and visitors to Jaipur. It will enhance the overall living environment of the artisans and will give direct access to sales of crafts products once the heritage walks are promoted through tourism. Up-gradation of services in these areas have improved the general living conditions for craftspeople while regular heritage walks by a wide range of visitors provide greater accessibility for direct sales. This when replicated in other crafts streets of Jaipur will greatly enhance socio-economic sustainability for the city. | https://egov.eletsonline.com/2021/10/achieving-sustainability-through-unesco-designations-jaipur/ |
Monday, January 29, 2018 at 09.00 a.m., at the headquarters of IRISS-CNR in Naples, the project CLIC – Circular models Leveraging Investments in Cultural heritage adaptivereuse, funded by the European program Horizon 2020 within the Call Innovative financing, business and governance models for adaptive reuse of cultural heritage (SC5-22-2017), will be publically presented.
The project is coordinated by IRISS-CNR. The 15 project partners and representatives of the European Commission are expected to participate.
Kick-off Meeting of the project will follow.
The CLIC project is part of scientific research activities on innovative financing, business and governance models able to promote and facilitate the reuse of cultural heritage in European cities and cultural landscapes, from the point of view of circular economy as a model of sustainable development.
The project aims to attract new funds that are sustainable from an economic-financial point of view, for the functional reuse of abandoned buildings and landscapes. Furthermore, these investments will be able to generate positive social and environmental impacts, increase employment and promote cultural growth in thepartners’territories through mixed public-private-social partnership models and specific models of governance, financing and business for the functional reuse of cultural heritage.
The research project has a duration of 3 years and involves 15 Partners from ten European countries, including research institutions, local organizations, businesses and governments.
As a pilot test, the cities of Salerno in Italy and Rijeka in Croatia, the VästraGötaland region in Sweden, and the Pakhuis de Zwijger Cultural Foundation in Amsterdam in the Netherlands are involved.
The partners’ goal is to extend the experimentation of the developed circular economy models also to other territories.
For this reason, some potential stakeholders have already been involved in the initial phase, including representatives of national and local administrations, representatives of the business world, and experts in the field of conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage, who will take part in the presentation of the project.
CLIC research is institutionally supported by international organizations such as the United Nations (UN-Habitat) and ICOMOS, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MiBACT), and by local and international companies and organizations, including associations, companies and social cooperatives.
The research will be developed in synergy and as a concrete contribution to the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, promoted by the European Parliament and Council.
Scientific Director: Prof. Luigi Fusco Girard (IRISS-CNR). | https://www.iriss.cnr.it/en/presentation-of-the-project-clic-circular-models-leveraging-investments-cultural-heritage-adaptive-reuse-funded-by-european-program-horizon-2020/ |
Long Beach Heritage invites you to submit nominations for the 32nd annual Preservation Awards, to be presented on March 19, 2020.
The aim of these awards, which have been presented each year since 1988, is to recognize the growing strength and diversity of historic preservation in Long Beach. Membership in Long Beach Heritage is not a requirement to submit a nomination. To be eligible, projects must be located in Long Beach and should conform to the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Projects should also be completed within one year of submission.
Nomination Process
Step 2
Submit nominations by November 1, 2019 by 5pm via email or print and mail to Long Beach Heritage, PO Box 92521, Long Beach, CA 90809
Step 3
An independent jury of preservationists and architects will review nominations and select the most representative examples
Preservation Award Categories (The jury will help to determine appropriate categories)
1. Preservation -includes the process of sustaining the form and extent of a property, as it now exists. Preservation strives to halt further deterioration and provide structural stability but does not involve significant rebuilding, restoration or rehabilitation.
2. Restoration – represents the process of accurately recovering the form, significant features and details of a property as these appeared at a particular period in time by removing later work and reconstructing missing original features. The emphasis is on historic accuracy.
3. Rehabilitation – defined as the act or process of making possible the continued historic use, a compatible new use, or an adaptive reuse of a property through repair, alteration, and additions while preserving those portions or features that convey its historical, cultural or architectural values.
4. Reconstruction – includes the act or process of depicting, by means of new construction, a non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure or object to replicate its appearance at a specific period of time and in its historic location. Emphasis is on historical accuracy, materials and finishes.
5. Contextual In-Fill – includes compatible freestanding new construction, adjacent or in relation to, existing historic structures. Such work should reflect the compatibility of new work with historic structures in regard to matters of massing, size, scale, architectural features of the property’s character and its contextual surroundings.
6. Sustainability – recognizes projects that successfully and compatibly apply innovative technologies, sustainable design and/or practices to historic structures or sites, which promote environmentally friendly design, materials and energy conservation, and an improved quality of life.
7. Cultural Resource Studies – includes creative, innovative and precedent-setting approaches to technological and preservation planning issues, cultural educational awareness or advancement. Projects submitted for this award may include, but are not limited to: architectural or historical inventories and surveys, historic structure reports, register nominations, computer software, planning studies, research papers, film/video/photo documentaries and historic preservation elements of general plans.
8. Craftsmanship/Preservation Technology – recognizes outstanding workmanship carried out in a project such as those specified above and may be submitted under one of those categories, or for the craftsmanship award. This award honors excellence in craftsmanship pertaining to a single element of an overall project such as stained glass restoration, duplication of historic wall finish or mural, wrought iron, carpentry, stonework, etc.
9. Interpretive Exhibits – recognizes projects that provide or integrate exhibits that offer information about an historic feature or site. Eligible projects may include interpretation of features or sites that bring to life the people, construction techniques, materials, or events associated with the subject.
Preservationist of the Year
Awarded to an individual who has demonstrated a sustained commitment to the preservation movement and Long Beach’s cultural heritage.
Excellence in Architecture
Awarded to an architect or architectural firm whose work has had an outstanding influence on Long Beach’s built environment. | https://www.lbheritage.org/submit-nominations/ |
Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified thousands of genetic variants that are associated with many complex traits. However, their biological mechanisms remain largely unknown. Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) have been recently proposed as an invaluable tool for investigating the potential gene regulatory mechanisms underlying variant-trait associations. Specifically, TWAS integrate GWAS with expression mapping studies based on a common set of variants and aim to identify genes whose GReX is associated with the phenotype. Various methods have been developed for performing TWAS and/or similar integrative analysis. Each such method has a different modeling assumption and many were initially developed to answer different biological questions. Consequently, it is not straightforward to understand their modeling property from a theoretical perspective.
Results: We present a technical review on thirteen TWAS methods. Importantly, we show that these methods can all be viewed as two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis, which has been widely applied in GWASs for examining the causal effects of exposure on outcome. Viewing different TWAS methods from an MR perspective provides us a unique angle for understanding their benefits and pitfalls. We systematically introduce the MR analysis framework, explain how features of the GWAS and expression data influence the adaptation of MR for TWAS, and re-interpret the modeling assumptions made in different TWAS methods from an MR angle. We finally describe future directions for TWAS methodology development.
Conclusions: We hope that this review would serve as a useful reference for both methodologists who develop TWAS methods and practitioners who perform TWAS analysis.
Background: Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis has become popular in inferring and estimating the causality of an exposure on an outcome due to the success of genome wide association studies. Many statistical approaches have been developed and each of these methods require specific assumptions.
Results: In this article, we review the pros and cons of these methods. We use an example of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol on coronary artery disease to illuminate the challenges in Mendelian randomization investigation.
Conclusion: The current available MR approaches allow us to study causality among risk factors and outcomes. However, novel approaches are desirable for overcoming multiple source confounding of risk factors and an outcome in MR analysis.
Background: Polygenic risk score (PRS) derived from summary statistics of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) is a useful tool to infer an individual’s genetic risk for health outcomes and has gained increasing popularity in human genetics research. PRS in its simplest form enjoys both computational efficiency and easy accessibility, yet the predictive performance of PRS remains moderate for diseases and traits.
Results: We provide an overview of recent advances in statistical methods to improve PRS’s performance by incorporating information from linkage disequilibrium, functional annotation, and pleiotropy. We also introduce model validation methods that fine-tune PRS using GWAS summary statistics.
Conclusion: In this review, we showcase methodological advances and current limitations of PRS, and discuss several emerging issues in risk prediction research.
Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have succeeded in identifying tens of thousands of genetic variants associated with complex human traits during the past decade, however, they are still hampered by limited statistical power and difficulties in biological interpretation. With the recent progress in expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) studies, transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) provide a framework to test for gene-trait associations by integrating information from GWAS and eQTL studies.
Results: In this review, we will introduce the general framework of TWAS, the relevant resources, and the computational tools. Extensions of the original TWAS methods will also be discussed. Furthermore, we will briefly introduce methods that are closely related to TWAS, including MR-based methods and colocalization approaches. Connection and difference between these approaches will be discussed.
Conclusion: Finally, we will summarize strengths, limitations, and potential directions for TWAS.
Background: The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) Project has collected genetic and transcriptome profiles from a wide spectrum of tissues in nearly 1,000 ceased individuals, providing an opportunity to study the regulatory roles of genetic variants in transcriptome activities from both cross-tissue and tissue-specific perspectives. Moreover, transcriptome activities (e.g., transcript abundance and alternative splicing) can be treated as mediators between genotype and phenotype to achieve phenotypic alteration. Knowing the genotype associated transcriptome status, researchers can better understand the biological and molecular mechanisms of genetic risk variants in complex traits.
Results: In this article, we first explore the genetic architecture of gene expression traits, and then review recent methods on quantitative trait locus (QTL) and co-expression network analysis. To further exemplify the usage of associations between genotype and transcriptome status, we briefly review methods that either directly or indirectly integrate expression/splicing QTL information in genome-wide association studies (GWASs).
Conclusions: The GTEx Project provides the largest and useful resource to investigate the associations between genotype and transcriptome status. The integration of results from the GTEx Project and existing GWASs further advances our understanding of roles of gene expression changes in bridging both the genetic variants and complex traits.
Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been widely adopted in studies of human complex traits and diseases.
Results: This review surveys areas of active research: quantifying and partitioning trait heritability, fine mapping functional variants and integrative analysis, genetic risk prediction of phenotypes, and the analysis of sequencing studies that have identified millions of rare variants. Current challenges and opportunities are highlighted.
Conclusion: GWAS have fundamentally transformed the field of human complex trait genetics. Novel statistical and computational methods have expanded the scope of GWAS and have provided valuable insights on the genetic architecture underlying complex phenotypes.
Background: Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many genetic variants associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These susceptibility loci may effect AD indirectly through a combination of physiological brain changes. Many of these neuropathologic features are detectable via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Methods: In this study, we examine the effects of such brain imaging derived phenotypes (IDPs) with genetic etiology on AD, using and comparing the following methods: two-sample Mendelian randomization (2SMR), generalized summary statistics based Mendelian randomization (GSMR), transcriptome wide association studies (TWAS) and the adaptive sum of powered score (aSPU) test. These methods do not require individual-level genotypic and phenotypic data but instead can rely only on an external reference panel and GWAS summary statistics.
Results: Using publicly available GWAS datasets from the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project (IGAP) and UK Biobank’s (UKBB) brain imaging initiatives, we identify 35 IDPs possibly associated with AD, many of which have well established or biologically plausible links to the characteristic cognitive impairments of this neurodegenerative disease.
Conclusions: Our results highlight the increased power for detecting genetic associations achieved by multiple correlated SNP-based methods, i.e., aSPU, GSMR and TWAS, over MR methods based on independent SNPs (as instrumental variables).
Availability: Example code is available at https://github.com/kathalexknuts/ADIDP.
Background: The direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT) industry has exploded in recent years, initiated by market pioneers from the United States and quickly followed by companies from Europe and Asia. In addition to their primary objective of providing ancestry and health information to customers, DTC-GT services have emerged as a valuable data resource for large-scale population and genetics studies.
Methods: We assessed DTC-GT market leaders in the U.S. and China, user participation in research, and academic reports based on this information. We also investigated DTC-GT end-user value by tracing key updates of companies provided via health risk reports and evaluating their predictive power. We then assessed the replicability of several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) based on a Chinese DTC-GT biobank.
Results: As recent entrants to the market, Chinese DTC-GT service providers have published less academic research than their Western counterparts; however, a larger proportion of Chinese users consent to participate in research projects. Dramatic increases in user volume and resultant report updates led to reclassification of some users’ polygenic risk levels, but within a reasonable scale and with increased predictive power. Replicability among GWAS using the Chinese DTC-GT biobank varied by studied trait, population background, and sample size.
Conclusions: We speculate that the rapid growth in DTC-GT services, particularly in non-Caucasian populations, will yield an important and much-needed resource for biobanking, large-scale genetic studies, clinical trials, and post-clinical applications.
Background: Whole-exome sequencing (WES) studies have identified multiple genes enriched for de novo mutations (DNMs) in congenital heart disease (CHD) probands. However, risk gene identification based on DNMs alone remains statistically challenging due to heterogenous etiology of CHD and low mutation rate in each gene.
Methods: In this manuscript, we introduce a hierarchical Bayesian framework for gene-level association test which jointly analyzes de novo and rare transmitted variants. Through integrative modeling of multiple types of genetic variants, gene-level annotations, and reference data from large population cohorts, our method accurately characterizes the expected frequencies of both de novo and transmitted variants and shows improved statistical power compared to analyses based on DNMs only.
Results: Applied to WES data of 2,645 CHD proband-parent trios, our method identified 15 significant genes, half of which are novel, leading to new insights into the genetic bases of CHD.
Conclusion: These results showcase the power of integrative analysis of transmitted and de novo variants for disease gene discovery. | https://journal.hep.com.cn/qb/EN/current |
Browsing by Subject "Genome-Wide Association Study"
Now showing items 1-20 of 53
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A cellular genome-wide association study reveals human variation in microtubule stability and a role in inflammatory cell death. (Mol Biol Cell, 2014-01)Pyroptosis is proinflammatory cell death that occurs in response to certain microbes. Activation of the protease caspase-1 by molecular platforms called inflammasomes is required for pyroptosis. We performed a cellular ...
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A genome-wide association study identifies susceptibility variants for type 2 diabetes in Han Chinese. (PLoS Genet, 2010-02-19)To investigate the underlying mechanisms of T2D pathogenesis, we looked for diabetes susceptibility genes that increase the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in a Han Chinese population. A two-stage genome-wide association (GWA) ...
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A genome-wide association study of upper aerodigestive tract cancers conducted within the INHANCE consortium. (PLoS genetics, 2011-03-17)Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been successful in identifying common genetic variation involved in susceptibility to etiologically complex disease. We conducted a GWAS to identify common genetic variation involved ...
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A genome-wide association study of variants associated with acquisition of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in a healthcare setting. (BMC Infect Dis, 2014-02-13)BACKGROUND: Humans vary in their susceptibility to acquiring Staphylococcus aureus infection, and research suggests that there is a genetic basis for this variability. Several recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) ...
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A meta-analysis of four genome-wide association studies of survival to age 90 years or older: the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology Consortium. (J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci, 2010-05)BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) may yield insights into longevity. METHODS: We performed a meta-analysis of GWAS in Caucasians from four prospective cohort studies: the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibi...
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Association between novel PLCE1 variants identified in published esophageal cancer genome-wide association studies and risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. (BMC cancer, 2011-06-20)Phospholipase C epsilon 1 (PLCE1) (an effector of Ras) belonging to the phospholipase family plays crucial roles in carcinogenesis and progression of several cancers, including squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck ...
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Birth Cohort, Age, and Sex Strongly Modulate Effects of Lipid Risk Alleles Identified in Genome-Wide Association Studies. (PLoS One, 2015)Insights into genetic origin of diseases and related traits could substantially impact strategies for improving human health. The results of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are often positioned as discoveries ...
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CPAG: software for leveraging pleiotropy in GWAS to reveal similarity between human traits links plasma fatty acids and intestinal inflammation. (Genome Biol, 2015-09-15)Meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have demonstrated that the same genetic variants can be associated with multiple diseases and other complex traits. We present software called CPAG (Cross-Phenotype ...
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Design, recruitment, logistics, and data management of the GEHA (Genetics of Healthy Ageing) project. (Exp Gerontol, 2011-11)In 2004, the integrated European project GEHA (Genetics of Healthy Ageing) was initiated with the aim of identifying genes involved in healthy ageing and longevity. The first step in the project was the recruitment of more ...
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Detectable clonal mosaicism from birth to old age and its relationship to cancer. (Nature genetics, 2012-05-06)We detected clonal mosaicism for large chromosomal anomalies (duplications, deletions and uniparental disomy) using SNP microarray data from over 50,000 subjects recruited for genome-wide association studies. This detection ...
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Dusp3 and Psme3 are associated with murine susceptibility to Staphylococcus aureus infection and human sepsis. (PLoS Pathog, 2014-06)Using A/J mice, which are susceptible to Staphylococcus aureus, we sought to identify genetic determinants of susceptibility to S. aureus, and evaluate their function with regard to S. aureus infection. One QTL region on ...
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Evidence-ranked motif identification. (Genome Biol, 2010)cERMIT is a computationally efficient motif discovery tool based on analyzing genome-wide quantitative regulatory evidence. Instead of pre-selecting promising candidate sequences, it utilizes information across all sequence ...
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Functional annotation signatures of disease susceptibility loci improve SNP association analysis. (BMC Genomics, 2014-05-24)BACKGROUND: Genetic association studies are conducted to discover genetic loci that contribute to an inherited trait, identify the variants behind these associations and ascertain their functional role in determining the ...
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Functional polymorphisms of CHRNA3 predict risks of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer in Chinese. (PloS one, 2012-01)Recently, several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many susceptible single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer which are two closely related ...
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Functional Variants in Notch Pathway Genes NCOR2, NCSTN, and MAML2 Predict Survival of Patients with Cutaneous Melanoma. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev, 2015-07)BACKGROUND: The Notch signaling pathway is constitutively activated in human cutaneous melanoma to promote growth and aggressive metastatic potential of primary melanoma cells. Therefore, genetic variants in Notch pathway ...
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Genetic variant of IRAK2 in the toll-like receptor signaling pathway and survival of non-small cell lung cancer. (International journal of cancer, 2018-11)The toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling pathway plays an important role in the innate immune responses and antigen-specific acquired immunity. Aberrant activation of the TLR pathway has a significant impact on carcinogenesis ...
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Genetic variant of PRKAA1 and gastric cancer risk in an eastern Chinese population. (Oncotarget, 2015-12)Published data on the association between PRKAA1 rs13361707 T > C polymorphism and gastric cancer (GCa) susceptibility were inconclusive. To derive a more precise estimation of the association, we conducted a large-scale ...
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Genetic variants in RORA and DNMT1 associated with cutaneous melanoma survival. (International journal of cancer, 2018-06)Cutaneous melanoma (CM) is considered as a steroid hormone-related malignancy. However, few studies have evaluated the roles of genetic variants encoding steroid hormone receptor genes and their related regulators (SHR-related ...
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Genetic variants in the metzincin metallopeptidase family genes predict melanoma survival. (Molecular carcinogenesis, 2018-01)Metzincins are key molecules in the degradation of the extracellular matrix and play an important role in cellular processes such as cell migration, adhesion, and cell fusion of malignant tumors, including cutaneous melanoma ... | https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/browse?type=subject&value=Genome-Wide%20Association%20Study |
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Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous genetic variants associated with complex diseases, but mechanistic insights are impeded by a lack of understanding of how specific risk variants functionally contribute to the underlying pathogenesis. It has been proposed that cis-acting effects of non-coding risk variants on gene expression are a major factor for phenotypic variation of complex traits and disease susceptibility. Recent genome-scale epigenetic studies have highlighted the enrichment of GWAS-identified variants in regulatory DNA elements of disease-relevant cell types. Furthermore, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-specific changes in transcription factor binding are correlated with heritable alterations in chromatin state and considered a major mediator of sequence-dependent regulation of gene expression. Here we describe a novel strategy to functionally dissect the cis-acting effect of genetic risk variants in regulatory elements on gene expression by combining genome-wide epigenetic information with clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 genome editing in human pluripotent stem cells. By generating a genetically precisely controlled experimental system, we identify a common Parkinson's disease associated risk variant in a non-coding distal enhancer element that regulates the expression of α-synuclein (SNCA), a key gene implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Our data suggest that the transcriptional deregulation of SNCA is associated with sequence-dependent binding of the brain-specific transcription factors EMX2 and NKX6-1. This work establishes an experimental paradigm to functionally connect genetic variation with disease-relevant phenotypes.
National Center for
Biotechnology Information, | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27096366?dopt=Abstract |
Principal Investigator: Dr Edith Le Floch
Institution:
CEA, Evry, FranceTags: 45408, complex phenotypes, copy-number variants, GWAS, heritability, Machine Learning
Summary:
Many associations have been identified by Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) between Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and complex phenotypes. However, these variants only explain a limited amount of the genetic variability of these phenotypes.
Several hypotheses have been suggested to explain this missing heritability such as the additivity of many weak SNP effects not detected in GWAS, which has been partially confirmed by several works on the heritability of complex phenotypes, or the implication of rare variants. Another explanation could be that an important part of the relevant genetic information lies in Copy Number Variations (CNVs) rather than in SNPs.
A large number of papers show that there exists a link between CNVs and some neurodevelopmental diseases like schizophrenia or autism. However, few papers report associations between CNVs and other diseases.
We thus propose to investigate the CNVs involved in complex phenotypes in a similar way to SNPs in GWAS and heritability estimation.
Moreover, we also propose a joint analysis of SNPs and CNVs for heritability estimation and phenotype prediction using machine learning approaches, in order to both assess the proportion of phenotypic variance that can be explained by genetic variants and identify these variants.
We will return to the community the developed methods that allow analyzing simultaneously CNVs and SNPs in the form of articles and programming code (R packages). In addition, we will return a list of significant CNV regions, SNPs, and genes associated with complex diseases or traits, as well as the estimations of global heritabilities.
We will expect to observe a better prediction of the disease status/trait than with classical genetic analyses that use only SNP data. | https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/2019/07/investigation-of-the-role-of-copy-number-variants-in-the-missing-heritability-of-complex-phenotypes/ |
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Bipolar disorder (BD) is a significant neuropsychiatric disorder with a lifetime prevalence of ~1%. To identify genetic variants underlying BD genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been carried out. While many variants of small effect associated with BD have been identified few have yet been confirmed, partly because of the low power of GWAS due to multiple comparisons being made. Complementary mapping studies using murine models have identified genetic variants for behavioral traits linked to BD, often with high power, but these identified regions often contain too many genes for clear identification of candidate genes. In the current study we have aligned human BD GWAS results and mouse linkage studies to help define and evaluate candidate genes linked to BD, seeking to use the power of the mouse mapping with the precision of GWAS. We use quantitative trait mapping for open field test and elevated zero maze data in the largest mammalian model system, the BXD recombinant inbred mouse population, to identify genomic regions associated with these BD-like phenotypes. We then investigate these regions in whole genome data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium's bipolar disorder GWAS to identify candidate genes associated with BD. Finally we establish the biological relevance and pathways of these genes in a comprehensive systems genetics analysis. We identify four genes associated with both mouse anxiety and human BD. While TNR is a novel candidate for BD, we can confirm previously suggested associations with CMYA5, MCTP1, and RXRG. A cross-species, systems genetics analysis shows that MCTP1, RXRG, and TNR coexpress with genes linked to psychiatric disorders and identify the striatum as a potential site of action. CMYA5, MCTP1, RXRG, and TNR are associated with mouse anxiety and human BD. We hypothesize that MCTP1, RXRG, and TNR influence intercellular signaling in the striatum.
CMYA5; MCTP1; RXRG; TNR; anxiety; bipolar disorder; cross-species
National Center for
Biotechnology Information, | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26190982 |
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of the human brain, represent the examination of a complete set of genetic variants in different individuals to determine if any variant is associated with a structural or functional neurological trait. On the other hand, with the recently increased availability of detailed phenotypic data from electronic health records and epidemiological studies, the impact of one or more genetic variants on the phenome is starting to be characterized both in clinical and population-based settings using phenome-wide association studies (PheWAS). These studies reveal a number of challenges that will need to be overcome to unlock the full potential of PheWAS for the characterization of the complex human genome-phenome relationship. The Big Data for Discovery Science Center (BDDS; http://bd2k. ini.usc.edu) - comprised of leading experts in biomedical imaging, genetics, proteomics, and computer science - is taking focused an “-ome to home” approach toward streamlining big data management, aggregation, manipulation, integration, and the modeling of biological systems across spatial and temporal scales. In this SFN Satellite Symposium, featuring members of the BDDS team, we will provide a series of presentations/tutorials on the development of modern data processing workflows to accommodate the “big data” associated with GWAS and PheWAS brain imaging studies, illustrate end-to-end applications in the identification of neuroimaging-related biomarkers, as well as full-scale neuroimaging GWAS and PheWAS solutions.
The Big Data for Discovery Science Center (BDDS) is a unique effort focused on the user experience with big data. Tools that are not only enabling but intuitive and adaptive are being created to directly answer these needs.
LONI Pipeline Fundamentals (30 mins): Here I will provide a presentation on the basics of how to develop and deploy “big data” processing workflows using the LONI Pipeline environment and its connections to cloud computing resources. LONI Pipeline forms the basis for many of the GWAS/PheWAS analyses attendees will see in the following lectures.
Mining Neuroimaging “big data” (30 mins): This presentation will demonstrate a statistical learning approach to explore neuroimaging “big data” in order to derive an association of interest. We will discuss some of the limitations of conventional regression techniques in big data analysis, and will show how statistical learning techniques provide increased inferential power.
GWAS Analyses (30 mins): GWAS of Quantitative Traits: A Semi-Automated Approach. We demonstrate the use of state-of-theart “big data” genomic and neuroimaging workflow tools in reducing the mining of quantitative trait loci to three simple steps. This approach is particularly conducive to “reproducible science” and the flexible visualization of association results.
PheWAS Analyses (30 mins): In this presentation, we will introduce a big data discovery framework for neuroimaging PheWAS, and provide an example of using the approach to identify which brain phenotypes out of 2,000,000’s are influenced by a specific genetic factor. Such analyses provide unique insights into the role of specific genes on brain-specific phenotypes. | http://bd2k.ini.usc.edu/events/sci-knowl-discovery/ |
Hematological traits are important health indicators and are used as diagnostic clinical parameters for human disorders. Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified many genetic loci associated with hematological traits in diverse ethnic groups. However, additional GWAS are necessary to elucidate the breadth of genetic variation and the underlying genetic architecture represented by hematological metrics. To identify additional genetic loci influencing hematological traits (such as hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration, white blood cell count, red blood cell count, and platelet count), we conducted GWAS and meta-analyses on data from 12,509 Korean individuals grouped into population-based cohorts. Of interest is EGF, a factor plays a role in the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitor cells. We identified a novel EGF variant, which associated with platelet count in our study (Pcombined=2.44×10-15). Our study also replicated 16 genetic associations related to five hematological traits with genome-wide significance (P<5×10-8) that were previously established in other ethnic groups. Of these, variants influencing platelet count are distributed across several genes and have pleiotropic effects in coronary artery disease and dyslipidemia. Our findings may aid in elucidating molecular mechanisms underlying not only hematopoiesis but also inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases. | https://pure.fujita-hu.ac.jp/ja/publications/influence-of-genetic-variants-in-egf-and-other-genes-on-hematolog |
This thesis contains a collection of genetic studies that address different neuropsychiatric traits and use different analytic approaches. The main objective of all studies was to identify genetic variants, genes or biological pathways for neuropsychiatric traits. The different chapters of my thesis illustrate the rapid advances made in the research field of neuropsychiatric genetics. In this final chapter, I summarize the findings of my research, followed by a general discussion of several topics that were central in my thesis and future directions in this research field.
1. Summary The first part of this thesis describes two different methods to identify genetic variants, genes and biological pathways for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In chapter 2, we investigated ADHD symptom scores in a large meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in population-based pediatric cohorts. Analyzing these cohorts allowed us to study ADHD related behaviors in a much larger sample than the available samples containing ADHD diagnosed individuals. It has been suggested that a diagnosis of ADHD can be regarded as the extreme end of a continuous distribution of inattentive and hyperactive behaviors. Indeed, we showed that ADHD symptom scores and an ADHD diagnosis have strong genetic overlap (rg = 0.96), suggesting that the same genetic factors underlie both phenotypes. Our GWAS of 17,666 children did not result in genome-wide significant loci, but we did detect three gene-wide significant genes, of which one is involved in neuronal development. Combining data from population-based and clinical cohorts to increase sample size and improve statistical power for GWAS will be a next step to identifying genetic variants for ADHD.
In chapter 3, we applied a different approach to test the hypothesis that synaptic function is involved in ADHD etiology. We performed a functional gene-set analysis to test whether synaptic processes are associated with ADHD. Gene-set analysis tests the joint effect of multiple genetic variants in groups of functionally related genes, in order to increase statistical power compared to conventional GWAS. Nevertheless, we did not identify specific synaptic function categories for ADHD. Given the sample size of the study and the gene sets based on the biological knowledge at that time, our results do not support a large effect of common genetic variants in synaptic genes on ADHD. Larger sample sizes will be required to study a possible role of synaptic genes with smaller effects on ADHD. | https://onwar.nl/pages/PHDtheses/PHD_pages/Hammerschlag_sum.htm |
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 10-13% of the general population and diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). In addition to known demographic, biochemical and lifestyle risk factors, genetics is also contributing to CKD risk. In recent years, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have provided a hypothesis-free approach to identify common genetic variants that could account for the genetic risk component of common diseases such as CKD. The identification of these variants might reveal the biological processes underlying renal impairment and could aid in improving risk estimates for CKD. This review aims to describe the methods as well as strengths and limitations of GWAS in CKD and to summarize the findings of recent GWAS in DN. Several loci and SNPs have been found to be associated with distinct CKD traits such as eGFR and albuminuria. For diabetic kidney disease, several loci were identified in different populations. Subsequent functional studies provided insights into the mechanism of action of some of these variants, such as UMOD or CERS2. However, overall, the results were ambiguous, and a few of the variants were not consistently replicated. In addition, the slow progression from albuminuria to ESRD could limit the power of longitudinal studies. The typically small effect size associated with genetic variants as well as the small portion of the variability of the phenotype explained by these variants limits the utility of genetic variants in improving risk prediction. Nevertheless, identifying these variants could give a deeper understanding of the molecular pathways underlying CKD, which in turn, could potentially lead to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
Keywords: chronic kidney disease; diabetes mellitus; genome-wide association studies.
© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved. | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26209735/ |
Joint influence of small-effect genetic variants on human longevity.
(Aging (Albany NY), 2010-09)
The results of genome-wide association studies of complex traits, such as life span or age at onset of chronic disease, suggest that such traits are typically affected by a large number of small-effect alleles. Individually ...
Puzzling role of genetic risk factors in human longevity: "risk alleles" as pro-longevity variants.
(Biogerontology, 2016-02)
Complex diseases are major contributors to human mortality in old age. Paradoxically, many genetic variants that have been associated with increased risks of such diseases are found in genomes of long-lived people, and do ...
Trade-off in the effects of the apolipoprotein E polymorphism on the ages at onset of CVD and cancer influences human lifespan.
(Aging Cell, 2011-06)
Progress in unraveling the genetic origins of healthy aging is tempered, in part, by a lack of replication of effects, which is often considered a signature of false-positive findings. We convincingly demonstrate that the ...
How genes influence life span: the biodemography of human survival.
(Rejuvenation Res, 2012-08)
BACKGROUND: In genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of human life span, none of the genetic variants has reached the level of genome-wide statistical significance. The roles of such variants in life span regulation remain ... | https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/handle/10161/2841/discover?rpp=10&filtertype_0=affiliation&filtertype_1=subject&filtertype_2=subject&filter_relational_operator_1=equals&filtertype_3=author&filter_relational_operator_0=equals&filtertype_4=affiliation&filter_2=Longevity&filter_relational_operator_3=authority&filtertype_5=affiliation&filter_1=Alleles&filter_relational_operator_2=equals&filtertype_6=author&filter_0=Duke+Population+Research+Institute&filter_relational_operator_5=equals&filtertype_7=affiliation&filter_relational_operator_4=equals&filter_6=0314903&filter_relational_operator_7=equals&filter_5=Duke+Population+Research+Center&filter_relational_operator_6=authority&filter_4=Social+Science+Research+Institute&filter_3=0115822&filter_7=School+of+Medicine&filtertype=author&filter_relational_operator=authority&filter=0512187 |
Genome-wide association studies have identified hundreds of genetic variants associated with complex human diseases and traits, and have provided valuable insights into their genetic architecture. Most variants identified so far confer relatively small increments in risk, and explain only a small proportion of familial clustering, leading many to question how the remaining, ‘missing’ heritability can be explained. Here we examine potential sources of missing heritability and propose research strategies, including and extending beyond current genome-wide association approaches, to illuminate the genetics of complex diseases and enhance its potential to enable effective disease prevention or treatment.
Hindorff, L. A. et al. Potential etiologic and functional implications of genome-wide association loci for human diseases and traits . Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. 106, 9362–9367 (2009)Comprehensive analysis of genomic annotations for disease-associated SNPs defined by GWAS, showing great majority of associated loci in intronic or intergenic regions of unknown function.
Visscher, P. M., Hill, W. G. & Wray, N. R. Heritability in the genomics era–concepts and misconceptions . Nature Rev. Genet. 9, 255–266 (2008)Detailed review of strengths, weaknesses and controversies in estimations of heritability from human, agricultural and experimental studies.
McCarthy, M. I. & Hirschhorn, J. N. Genome-wide association studies: potential next steps on a genetic journey . Hum. Mol. Genet. 17 (R2). R156–R165 (2008)Insightful review of initial findings from GWAS, the heritability that they do and do not explain, and potential for progress from other GWAS, identification of rare variants, and studies of epigenetics and gene expression and function.
Nejentsev, S., Walker, N., Riches, D., Egholm, M. & Todd, J. A. Rare variants of IFIH1, a gene implicated in antiviral responses, protect against type 1 diabetes . Science 324, 387–389 (2009)Four rare variants in IFIH1 independently lowering risk of type 1 diabetes were identified by sequencing exons and splice sites of 10 genes under GWA-defined peaks, demonstrating the power of intensive sequencing to identify potentially causative variants in follow-up of GWAS.
McCarroll, S. A. et al. Integrated detection and population-genetic analysis of SNPs and copy number variation . Nature Genet. 40, 1166–1174 (2008)Initial map of CNVs demonstrating high proportion (>80%) of inter-individual differences in copy number differences due to common CNVs of MAF 5% or greater; >99% of CNVs probably derived from inheritance rather than de novo mutation; and most common diallelic CNVs in strong linkage disequilibrium with common SNPs.
This paper is inspired by the deliberations of an expert working group convened by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) on 2–3 February 2009, to address the heritability unexplained in GWAS. The authors acknowledge the participation of J. C. Cohen, M. Daly and A. P. Feinberg in the workshop.
Author Contributions T.A.M., F.S.C., N.J.C., D.B.G., L.A.H., D.J.H., M.I.M. and E.M.R. planned and participated in the workshop; L.R.C., A.C., J.H.C., A.E.G., A.K., L.K., E.M., C.N.R., M.S., D.V., A.S.W., M.B., A.G.C., E.E.E., G.G., J.L.H., T.F.C.M., S.A.M. and P.M.V. participated in the workshop; T.A.M., P.M.V., G.G., M.I.M., E.E.E., T.F.C.M. and S.A.M. drafted the manuscript; F.S.C., N.J.C., D.B.G., L.A.H., D.J.H., E.M.R., L.R.C., A.C., J.H.C., A.P.R., A.E.G., A.K., L.K., E.M., C.N.R., M.S., D.V., A.S.W., M.B., A.G.C. and J.L.H. critically reviewed and revised the manuscript for content.
Correspondence to Teri A. Manolio.
Genome-wide association studies have identified hundreds of genetic variants associated with complex human diseases, but most confer quite small increments of risk. There seems to be a large component of heritability somehow evading detection. Possible explanations for this 'missing heritability' include great numbers of small-effect variants yet to be found, rare structural or epigenetic variation not detected by current genotyping technology and hard-to-detect gene–gene and gene–environment interactions. Teri Manolio and colleagues examine the research strategies most likely to distinguish between these and other possible explanations. | https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08494?error=cookies_not_supported&code=39884383-d280-4f3b-860b-752b9f8e9197 |
Genome-wide association studies of 146 plasma protein levels in 818 individuals revealed 56 genome-wide significant associations (28 novel) with 47 analytes. Loci associated with plasma levels of 39 proteins tested have been previously associated with various complex traits such as heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, Type 2 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. These data suggest that these plasma protein levels may constitute informative endophenotypes for these complex traits. We found three potential pleiotropic genes: ABO for plasma SELE and ACE levels, FUT2 for CA19-9 and CEA plasma levels and APOE for ApoE and CRP levels. We also found multiple independent signals in loci associated with plasma levels of ApoH, CA19-9, FetuinA, IL6r and LPa. Our study highlights the power of biological traits for genetic studies to identify genetic variants influencing clinically relevant traits, potential pleiotropic effects and complex disease associations in the same locus.
Introduction
Plasma proteins play important roles in numerous biological pathways, contribute to risk for many diseases and have long been used for clinical risk assessment, diagnosis, prognosis and evaluation of treatment efficacy. Protein levels used as a quantitative trait in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) can act as an intermediate phenotype that functionally links genetic variation to disease-predisposing factors and then to complex disease end points1,2. Therefore, studies that link genetic variants with protein traits may provide a means to reveal the underlying mechanisms of the GWAS findings.
Previous case-control studies have associated many loci with various complex diseases. Unfortunately the effect sizes of genetic associations with complex disorders are generally small and the functional information on the underlying biological processes is often unclear or absent, which complicates the interpretation of the results. As a result, the focus of GWAS is now shifting increasingly away from studying associations with disease end points and toward associations with intermediate traits that are known risk factors for disease3,4,5.
A previous study used GWAS data and various commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits to find genetic variants associated with plasma or serum levels of 42 different proteins (such as interleukin 18, insulin and leptin) implicated in various complex diseases (such as lupus, diabetes and obesity)6. They identified several GWAS hits that could help in understanding the biology of those complex traits6. Recent technological developments have made possible the quantification of multiple proteins in a single analytical procedure, allowing both broader and deeper molecular profiling of large cohorts2,7,8,9,10. Genetic analyses of these data have discovered numerous genomic regions associated with clinically relevant proteins, with recent large-scale proteome analyses having identified many loci associated with serum and plasma concentrations of individual proteins2,7,8,9,10. Nevertheless, our understanding of the genetic basis and pathophysiological impact of variations in protein levels remains far from complete. Most of these studies limited analyses to cis variants or focused on candidate regions rather than genome-wide scans2,7,8,9. Recent research suggests the importance of investigating protein phenotypes beyond those used in traditional genetic studies10.
Here we present the results of an unbiased large genetic investigation of protein phenotypes in 818 unrelated individuals from the Washington University Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (KADRC) and Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) who were analyzed for both genome-wide SNP genotypes and for 146 phenotypic measures obtained from multi-analyte panels (Human DiscoveryMAP) of human plasma samples.
Results
Before any genetic analyses we performed extensive quality control (QC) in the genotype and phenotype data. After log transformation and standardization (see materials and methods) we confirmed that the protein levels followed a normal distribution. We also tested the correlation between the analyte values and covariates such as age, gender and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) status (Supplementary Tables S1 and S2). Age, gender, disease status, study and principal components factors (PCs) from population stratification were included as covariates.
We decided to perform a one-stage GWAS rather than a two-stage GWAS because 1) we have GWAS for all the samples and 2) it has been shown that combining data from both stages of a two-stage GWAS to perform a single analysis almost always has increased power to identify genetic association than analyzing the groups separately even though a lower statistical threshold is required to determine significance11. So to maximize our statistical power, we combined the two datasets to perform a joint one-stage GWAS with all 818 individuals from ADNI and KADRC (characteristics shown in Table 1). To verify our results, we followed up with additional analyses stratified by study and performed meta-analyses of the results from each dataset for each analyte and we found that the p-values from the meta-analyses were similar to the joint GWAS p-values (Supplementary Table S3). In order to avoid spurious association and consider a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) as a real signal, we required each genome-wide significant association from the joint analysis to meet additional criteria: 1) the SNP association had to be consistent between the two series, in the same direction and with similar effect size, which represents an internal replication (Supplementary Table S3) and 2) since we were using cohorts from AD studies, we wanted to be sure our results were not confounded by AD status. In addition to using AD status as a covariate in our initial analyses, we performed separate GWAS on cases and controls and found no difference in effect size or direction indicating the associations found in the combined GWAS were not confounded by AD status (Supplementary Table S4).
We decided to use the common threshold for genome-wide significance (p < 5.0 × 10−8) instead of p < 3.42 × 10−10 (Bonferroni multiple test correction taking into account SNPs and phenotypes) because the latter would consider that all the analytes are independent and not correlated. However there is extensive evidence that this is not the case and in a recent study we demonstrated that some analytes are highly correlated12. Additionally five of the associations in this study in the p = 5 × 10−8–3.42 × 10−10 range have been previously reported and others are located in receptors and genes known to regulate levels of the analyte (Table 2 and Supplementary Table S5) which indicate that these are real signals. We also found complex loci and potential pleiotropic effects that support the evidence that not all of the SNPs and analytes act independently of others. These findings suggest that a multiple test correction threshold of p < 3.42 × 10−10 would be too stringent. For this reason we decided to report all the loci with a p < 5.0 × 10−8, but we also highlight on Table 2 those that pass the p < 3.42 × 10−10 threshold.
Genome-wide association study results
After performing the linear regression with each analyte as a phenotype, there were 56 genome-wide significant loci for 47 analytes (Table 2). Twenty-eight of these associations have been reported in the literature previously and 28 (50%) were novel. Thirty-two of the 56 associations (9 novel) pass the p < 3.42 × 10−10 threshold.
Previously reported findings
Twenty-eight of our genome-wide signals replicated associations reported by 14 different genetic studies of plasma or serum protein levels in humans (Table 2 and Supplementary Table S5)6,9,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24. Six of our most significant SNPs were the same SNP reported previously and the remaining SNPs were in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with reported SNPs (Supplementary Table S5). Fifteen of these 28 genome-wide loci had p < 3.42 × 10−10 in our study and five others were in the p = 5 × 10−8 to 3.42 × 10−10 range, indicating that signals in this range in our study constitute strong associations. Twenty-three of these previously reported loci are in cis (within 1MB of the gene that encodes the protein) and five are in trans (Table 2, Fig. 1 and Supplementary Figs S1–26). Twelve (52%) of the cis effects are coding variants (nine missense) and four of the trans effects are coding variants (three missense; Table 2). None of the trans effects are located in untranslated regions (UTR) but two of the analytes had cis effects that are in the UTR (CD40: 5′ UTR of CD40 and HCC4: 3′ UTR of CCL16). All of the trans effects are located within genes (four coding, one intronic) that have interactions with the analyte that are not known or well understood (Table 2). However our results and the previous published studies suggest that these loci in trans proteins play an important role in regulating the levels of CA19-9, CEA, CRP, SELE and ACE in plasma15,17,21,24. More interestingly, some of these loci, like ABO or FUT2, are genome-wide for more than one analyte, which also indicates that these may constitute master regulatory signals (see pleiotropic section).
Novel findings
We found 28 loci associated with 25 analytes that have not been reported previously (Table 2, Fig. 1 and Supplementary Figs S8, S12, S21, S22, S27–36). Of these novel associations nine pass the p < 3.42 × 10−10 threshold (Table 2). All of the associations were highly consistent (same effect size or beta) between the two datasets which represents an internal replication (Supplementary Table S3) and were not confounded by AD status (Supplementary Table S4).
Five of our 28 novel findings were cis effects (one coding variant and four intergenic; Table 2): 1) rs926144 which is 29.7 KB from SERPINA1 was significantly associated with plasma levels of AAT (p = 4.71 × 10−12; Supplementary Fig. S27), 2) rs2015086 within 2 KB upstream of CCL18 was significantly associated with MIP1a levels in plasma (p = 2.56 × 10−15; Supplementary Fig. S38), 3) a missense variant in AGER (rs2070600) was associated with plasma RAGE levels (p = 1.86 × 10−11; Supplementary S40), 4) rs646776 which is located 33.7 KB from SORT1 was significantly associated with Sortilin plasma levels (p = 2.20 × 10−9; Supplementary Fig. S41) and 5) rs409336 located 3.7 KB from CXCL5 was significantly associated with ENA78 plasma levels (p = 1.11 × 10−8; Supplementary Fig. S30).
Twenty-three of our 28 novel findings were trans effects. Twelve analytes were associated with loci that contained only intergenic SNPs and eleven analytes (ANG2, BLC, CEA, F7, FGF4, GROa, MIP1b, MMP7, RAGE, THPO, TNC) were associated with SNPs on intronic regions in gene-rich areas. Interestingly some of these loci contain intronic SNPs that are likely to be regulatory based on RegulomeDB25: SCARA5 (associated with TNC levels) and PARVG (associated with ANG2 levels) contain SNPs with RegulomeDB25 scores lower than 3 (Supplementary Table S6). Plasma MIP1b levels were also associated with a locus that contains SNPs that are likely to be regulatory. We found that rs145617407, located in the intron of CCR3, was significantly associated with MIP1b levels in plasma (p = 2.58 × 10−10) and this SNP is located less than 119 KB from CCR5 which is the receptor for CCL4/MIP1b (Supplementary Fig. S21).
GWAS Conditional on top hits revealed additional signals within same loci
We then performed conditional analyses to determine whether more than one signal in the same loci exists. When we added the most significant SNP to the linear regression model, five analytes (ApoH, CA19-9, FetuinA, IL6r and LPa) still showed independent and genome-wide significant SNPs at the same locus (Fig. 1, Table 3 and Supplementary Fig. S5, S13, S17 and S19). It is interesting to note that three of four of the complex loci we found were in cis with the respective protein whereas the FUT2/FUT6/FUT3 locus was associated with CA19-9 plasma levels. Since we decided to use the traditional genome-wide p-value threshold (p < 5 × 10−8) for the conditional analyses, we may be missing some additional independent signals.
After conditioning on rs2070633, located in an AHSG intron, we found that rs4917, a missense variant also located in AHSG, was still significantly associated with plasma levels of FetuinA (p = 7.27 × 10−9, original p = 2.61 × 10−42; Table 3 and Supplementary Fig. S13). After conditioning on both SNPs no additional signals were found. An intronic variant in IL6R, rs7526131, was still significantly associated with IL6r plasma levels after conditioning on rs12126142, also located in an intron of IL6R (p = 1.43 × 10−10, original p = 4.47 × 10−72; Table 3 and Supplementary Fig. S17). Plasma levels of LPa were significantly associated with rs783147, located in an intron of PLG 506 KB from LPA and after conditioning on this SNP an intronic variant of SLC22A1 approximately 0.4 MB from LPA (rs783147), was still significantly associated with LPa levels (p = 1.64 × 10−9, original p = 9.86 × 10−9; Table 3 and Supplementary Fig. S19).
We found two analytes (ApoH and CA19-9) that the genome-wide locus contained up to three independent signals (Fig. 1, Table 3 and Supplementary Fig. S5). All three signals in the ApoH analyses contained missense variants located in APOH (rs52797880: I141T, p = 1.57 × 10−12; rs1801690: W335S, p = 5.15 × 10−9, original p = 2.77 × 10−11; rs8178847: R154H, p = 2.20 × 10−12, original p = 1.57 × 10−12; Fig. 1). As reported above, the initial signal in the CA19-9 GWAS contained a missense variant in FUT2. After conditioning on the most significant SNP (rs485073, p = 2.12 × 10−23) from the CA19-9 GWAS, the new signal contained a synonymous variant located in FUT6 (rs112313064, p = 3.79 × 10−26, original p = 7.46 × 10−23) and conditioning on the two SNPs resulted in a separate signal upstream of FUT3 (rs2306969, p = 2.78 × 10−9, original p = 6.11 × 10−23; Supplementary Fig. S5). All of these results indicate these protein levels are highly regulated and that different and independent regulation mechanisms, even at the same locus, are in place: some mechanisms may act by affecting cleavage or receptor binding (non-synonymous variants) and others by regulating gene expression (non-coding variants).
Potential pleiotropy
In addition to finding that some proteins have complex regulation within the structural gene (or a different gene in the case of CA19-9), we also found potentially pleiotropic effects with one gene affecting more than one protein. Potential pleiotropic effects were found for three groups of analyte/associations even though the analyte levels were not correlated: ABO associated with plasma levels of SELE, ACE and vWF (p = 1.01 × 10−52, beta = –0.882; p = 1.90 × 10−8, beta = –0.352; p = 8.87 × 10−8, beta = 0.253 respectively; Table 4 and Fig. 2). ABO has been previously reported to be associated with ACE activity26 and SELE plasma and serum levels15,17. ABO has also been associated with vWF plasma levels and although the locus did not reach genome-wide significance in our analysis it was very close27.
FUT2 was associated with plasma levels of CA19-9 and CEA (p = 2.12 × 10−23, beta = −0.509; p = 4.07 × 10−16, beta = −0.406 respectively; Table 4 and Supplementary Fig. S5, S8); and the APOE region was associated not only with plasma levels of ApoE but also CRP (p = 2.76 × 10−26, beta = −0.594; p = 6.69 × 10−9, beta = −0.354 respectively; Table 4 and Supplementary Fig. S4, S10).
Interestingly none of these analyte pairs or trios are highly correlated (r < 0.25; Table 4), which again supports the idea that these loci (ABO, FUT2 and APOE-TOMM40 region) are truly master-regulatory regions, that protein levels are highly and complexly regulated and that studying the genetic architecture of biological traits can lead to a deeper knowledge of the biological processes.
Impact of these findings with complex diseases
Of the 56 loci that we found associated with plasma protein levels, 46 loci have also been reported to be associated with complex traits and diseases including coronary artery disease (ACE and SELE), stroke (ACE and SELE), various cancers (ACE, CA19-9, CEA, RAGE and SELE), age-related macular degeneration (ApoE, CFHR1 and CRP), periodontitis (ApoH), multiple sclerosis (BLC and CD40), inflammatory bowel disease (CD40 and ENA78) and Type 2 diabetes (IL13, MCSF and RAGE) (Table 5; see supplementary results for a complete description). As an example, the AGER variant rs2070600, which in our study was associated with plasma RAGE levels (p = 1.86 × 10−11) has been reported to be associated with pulmonary function28. A recent study of RAGE plasma levels suggests they are a promising biomarker for acute respiratory distress syndrome, supporting our hypothesis29.
Similarly our genetic analysis for BLC revealed a significant association with SNPs located in DDAH1 (rs7541151, p = 6.44 × 10−9; Table 2), a gene that has been associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Interestingly BLC levels have recently been reported to be different between patients with MS and controls30, which further supports BLC as a potential biomarker.
Since levels of CD40 in plasma were associated with the CD40 locus and CD40 variants have been associated with MS in three independent GWAS30,31,32, we hypothesized that plasma levels of CD40 may also be associated with MS status. As a proof of concept, we used a Quantikine sandwich ELISA kit (R&D Systems cat #DCCD40) to measure plasma levels of CD40 in 20 individuals with relapsing remitting MS in remission at time of plasma collection (8 male, 12 female; mean age = 44.45 ± 15.51 years) and 20 healthy controls (8 male, 12 female; mean age = 41.84 ± 11.52 years; Supplementary Table S7). We used linear regression to determine if log values of plasma CD40 levels were significantly different between MS cases and controls, with age and gender as covariates. We found plasma levels of CD40 were significantly higher in MS cases (753.26 ± 235.71 pg/mL) than controls (603.02 ± 139.01 pg/mL; p = 0.041, beta = −1.837; Fig. 3), supporting our hypothesis.
More than half of the loci associated with plasma protein levels in our study have been previously reported to be associated with various complex diseases. Based on the current knowledge for RAGE and BLC and in the concept of Mendelian randomization, we hypothesize that these protein levels constitute informative biomarkers for these complex traits although additional studies would be necessary to validate this hypothesis. More detailed information about potential novel biomarkers for complex traits is included in Supplementary Results and analyte abbreviations with full names are in Supplementary Table S8.
Discussion
GWAS of complex traits have been very successful in identifying novel loci associated with those traits, but these studies require extremely large sample sizes and in some cases it is difficult to interpret the results because the associations are with surrogate tag SNPs which may not be the causal SNPs. Many loci contain multiple genes which also makes it difficult to determine the causal gene or variant. Additionally some loci are located in non-protein coding regions where functional effects are poorly understood. Genetic analyses of biological traits may provide more power than traditional GWAS and may be more informative about the biological effects for specific loci. Using a more unbiased approach than previous genetic studies, we were able to replicate many previously reported associations with various plasma protein levels and uncover several novel associations that could warrant further research. The results from our careful analyses suggest that even though we utilized two datasets from Alzheimer’s disease studies there was no confounding effect due to disease status or dataset. Combining datasets from high-throughput technologies that deliver genome-wide genetic data and quantification of protein levels in a single procedure provides a great deal of power to analyses that may help researchers understand the biology of complex traits including the complex loci involved and pleiotropic effects.
Our results clearly indicate that the protein levels are highly and complexly regulated. We found master regulatory regions (pleiotropic; Table 4, Fig. 2 and Supplementary Fig. S4, S10) as well as several independent regulatory elements in the same locus for the same proteins (Table 3, Fig. 1 and Supplementary Fig. S5, S13, S17 and S19). We found protein levels associated with variants in or near the gene coding that protein (cis effects) as well as variants located elsewhere in the genome (trans effects) demonstrating that protein levels are not only affected by the genes that encode the protein but also by interaction with other proteins as in the case of ABO or FUT2 (Table 4).
Interestingly, we found that for almost half of the cis effects (13 out of 28), the association could be explained by a coding variant but for the trans effects most of the loci (24 out of 28) only contain regulatory variants (Table 2). Although these non-coding signals could be synthetic association and are being driven by low frequency variants, our results and those recently published by ENCODE and the GTEx consortium would suggest that those associations are likely to affect gene expression33,34. For this same reason, it is more likely that the association in cis (more frequently due to a non-synonymous variant) will present a higher effect size and are easier to identify in a genetic study than a trans signal, which is more likely to affect gene expression through regulation.
Table 2 shows that most of the trans effects associated with plasma protein levels had less significant p-values and lower betas than most of the cis effects. This could explain why only three of the trans effects we found were previously reported while the other 24 were novel. It is of vital importance to identify trans effects because that will help us to identify novel biological interactions and pathways. Of the 28 trans effects we found in our study, only one corresponded to a protein that constituted the receptor of the studied analyte or a gene known to interact directly with the analyte (rs145617407 located less than 119 KB from CCR5 which is the receptor for CCL4/MIP1b)35. However, the fact that the associations of SELE, ACE and vWF with the ABO locus or CA19-9 and CEA with FUT2 have been identified in other studies, indicates that these signals are real and some of these novel loci may be implicated in regulating the levels of one or more proteins. Additional work is needed because currently it is not clear how ABO regulates plasma levels of SELE, ACE and vWF or how FUT2 regulates CEA and CA19-9 levels. For the novel loci this can be more complicated because several signals are located in very gene-rich regions and several genes could drive the association (Fig. 1 and Supplementary Fig. S1, S6, S8, S10, S21, S24, S28, 29, S33, S36-S37, S42, S44, 46).
Another important finding related to this study is its implication on complex traits. Proteins play a key role in many complex traits, so understanding the genetic variations associated with protein levels is important in understanding the biological basis of these traits. We used the concepts of Mendelian randomization, our data and the data from the NHGRI GWAS catalog to identify genetic regions that are genome-wide significant for various analyte levels as well as previously associated with complex traits. While most of these loci have been associated with complex traits, the associations of most of the plasma analytes with the complex traits have not been previously reported. Our results suggest that some of these plasma protein levels could be novel biomarkers or even endophenotypes for these complex traits.
As an example of our approach providing information useful for understanding potential pleiotropic effects in promising biomarkers for complex diseases that has been supported by previous research: rs485073 in FUT2 was associated in our study with plasma levels of both CEA and CA19-9, which are only weakly correlated in plasma (r = 0.166, p = 2.98 × 10−6). This potential pleiotropy strongly suggests that rs485073 is part of a master regulatory region. In this case this means that plasma levels of CEA and CA19-9 could be important for understanding gastric cancer because FUT2 variants have also been associated with gastric cancer risk36. This is further supported by the fact that both CEA and CA19-9 have been reported as FDA approved biomarkers for other types of cancer37.
We found several promising plasma biomarkers for complex traits including IL13, ENA78, BLC and CD40. Based on our results, plasma levels of IL13 may be informative in Type 2 diabetes research. We found rs7433647, located near UBE2E2, was associated with IL13 plasma levels (p = 1.21 × 10−8). UBE2E2 has previously been associated with Type 2 diabetes in a large GWAS meta-analysis of more than 26,000 cases and 83,000 controls with varied ancestry38. A recent study using a mouse model for Type 2 diabetes suggests that expression of IL13 plays a key role in adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance, further supporting the idea that IL13 levels may be important in studying Type 2 diabetes39. ENA78/CXCL5 expression is elevated in the inflamed tissues of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease40,41. Several studies have reported association of CXCL5 variants with inflammatory bowel disease and metabolite levels42,43. In our study rs409336, near the CXCL5 gene, showed the strongest effect on plasma ENA78/CXCL5 levels. Because of the similarity in genetic influences on ENA78/CXCL5 levels and inflammatory bowel disease, it is possible that these traits share a common pathophysiological pathway and our findings support further investigation of the involvement of ENA78/CXCL5 in the etiology of inflammatory bowel disease.
We found two promising plasma protein biomarkers for MS: BLC and CD40. In our study rs7541151 in DDAH1 was associated with plasma BLC levels. DDAH1 is responsible for the degradation of ADMA into citrulline and dimethylamine and previous studies showed an association of DDAH1 variants with MS and ADMA levels30,44. Previous studies indicate that CSF levels of BLC/CXCL13 may be an informative biomarker for studying treatment effects in MS45,46,47. Our results indicate plasma BLC/CXCL13 levels may be informative as well. The CD40 locus has been associated with MS30,31,32 but our study appears to be the first to associate CD40 plasma levels with CD40 variants. Plasma levels of CD40 have not been reported as a potential biomarker for MS, but our preliminary data suggests they may be a biomarker for MS. Although we did find a significant difference in CD40 levels in plasma between MS cases and controls, our sample size was small and only contained patients in remission so it would be prudent to evaluate a larger, more varied cohort to determine the possible utility of plasma levels of CD40 as an MS biomarker.
Methods
Ethics Statement
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis approved the study. Research was carried out in accordance with the approved protocol. A written informed consent was obtained from participants and their family members by the Clinical Core of the Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (Knight-ADRC). The approval number for the Knight-ADRC Genetics Core family studies is 93-0006. The MS and control patients have signed the consent for the MS repository, approval number 201104379.
Cohort descriptions
Demographics of the samples included in this manuscript are reported in Table 1.
Washington University Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (KADRC) cohort
The KADRC sample included 124 AD cases and 188 cognitively normal controls. These individuals were evaluated by Clinical Core personnel of Washington University. Cases received a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in accordance with standard criteria and dementia severity was determined using the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR)48. Plasma from all KADRC samples was collected in the morning after an overnight fast, immediately centrifuged and stored at −80°C until assayed according to standard procedures49.
Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) cohort
The ADNI sample included 434 AD cases and 72 cognitively normal controls. Data used in the preparation of this article were obtained from the ADNI database (http://adni.loni.usc.edu/). See Supplementary Methods for further information about ADNI’s methods and for up-to-date information see http://www.adni-info.org/. Plasma was collected in the morning after an overnight fast, immediately centrifuged and stored at −80°C until assayed as described previously9. Genetic and phenotypic data for 506 samples was available for this study.
Genotyping and Quality Control
The ADNI protocol for collecting genomic DNA samples has been previously described50. All ADNI samples were genotyped using the Illumina Human610-Quad BeadChip, which contains over 600,000 SNP markers. KADRC samples were genotyped with the Human610-Quad BeadChip or the Omniexpress chip51. Prior to association analysis, all samples and genotypes underwent stringent QC. Genotype data was cleaned using PLINK v1.07 (http://pngu.mgh.harvard.edu/purcell/plink/)52 by applying a minimum call rate for SNPs and individuals (98%) and minimum minor allele frequencies (MAF = 0.02). SNPs not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P < 1 × 10−6) were excluded. Gender identification was verified by analysis of X-chromosome SNPs. We tested for unanticipated duplicates and cryptic relatedness (Pihat ≥ 0.5) using pairwise genome-wide estimates of proportion identity-by-descent using PLINK v1.07 (http://pngu.mgh.harvard.edu/purcell/plink/)52. When a pair of identical samples or a pair of samples with cryptic relatedness was identified, the sample with a higher number of SNPs that passed QC was prioritized. EIGENSTRAT53 was used for each cohort separately to calculate principal component factors for each sample and confirm the ethnicity of the samples. The 1000 genomes data (June 2011 release) and BEAGLE v3.3.154 were used to impute up to 6 million SNPs. SNPs with a BEAGLE R2 < 0.3, a minor allele frequency (MAF) <0.025, a call rate lower than 95%, a Gprobs score lower than 0.90 and those out of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p < 1 × 10−5) were removed. After imputation, 5,815,690 SNPs passed the QC process.
Assessment of Analyte Profiles and Quality Control
A set of 0.5 mL EDTA plasma samples from ADNI and KADRC participants was selected and shipped to Myriad Rules Based Medicine, Inc. (Myriad RBM, Austin, TX). A set of 190 protein levels from plasma for each selected individual was measured by multiplex immunoassay on the Human DiscoveryMAP panel v1.0 (https://rbm.myriad.com/products-services/humanmap-services/human-discoverymap/) using the Luminex100 platform by RBM. Samples with more than 10% of missing data across analytes were removed, then analytes were excluded if they had missing data for 10% of the samples or values were below the detection limit, in either of the studies. After the QC step, a total of 146 metabolites were included in each dataset of the present study.
Statistical analyses
For each study, prior to the analyses, all analyte values were log-transformed, standardized so the mean for each analyte was equal to zero and outliers were removed as previously described12,51,55,56,57,58,59. Log-transformed, standardized values were tested for significant deviations from a normal distribution using the Shapiro-Wilk test. We performed a single variant analysis for each analyte using PLINK v1.9 (http://pngu.mgh.harvard.edu/purcell/plink/)52, including age, gender, AD status and the first 2 principal components as covariates. The significance threshold for the joint analyses was defined as p < 5.0 × 10−8 based on the commonly used threshold thought to be appropriate for the likely number of independent tests with Bonferroni correction. To approximate an internal replication, all SNPs that passed the genome-wide significance threshold had to pass the threshold p < 0.05 in single variant analyses of the individual datasets and had to have similar effect sizes in the same direction. To ensure that results were not confounded by AD status, single variant analyses were performed on all of the AD cases from both datasets separately from all of the controls from both datasets. All genome-wide significant SNPs from the joint analyses also had to have similar effect sizes in the same direction in the case-control stratified analyses. QQ plots were generated for each analysis to illustrate the distribution of the observed and expected p-values for all eligible SNPs60. Regional plots showing LD and the location of nearby genes were generated for the top ranking SNPs for each metabolite using LocusZoom v1.1, build hg19/1000 Genomes Mar 2012 EUR (http://csg.sph.umich.edu/locuszoom/)61. If more than one significant SNP clustered at a locus, the SNP with the smallest p-value was reported as the sentinel marker. All analyses were performed using BEAGLE v3.3.154, EIGENSTRAT53, SAS v9.2 for Linux (copyright © 2008 by SAS Institute Inc) and PLINK v1.07 and v1.9 (http://pngu.mgh.harvard.edu/purcell/plink/)52 software.
Meta-analyses
We performed the single variant analyses as described above for ADNI and KADRC separately. We used METAL (version released 2011-03-25, http://www.sph.umich.edu/csg/abecasis/Metal/index.html)62 to perform meta-analyses of the two datasets for each analyte by combining p-values across studies, weighting each study by its sample size.
Conditional analyses
To identify additional independent signals in a locus we conducted conditional analyses. We performed a series of sequential conditional analyses by adding the most strongly associated SNP into the regression model as a covariate and testing all remaining regional SNPs for association. This approach was used to determine additional secondary signals and was performed by adding SNPs one at a time until no significance was seen. Consistent with the locus-specific analysis statistical significance for the conditional analysis was defined at p < 5.0 × 10−8.
Annotation of GWAS hits
All significant GWAS SNPs were taken forward for functional annotation. We used SNPnexus (http://www.snp-nexus.org), build GRCh37/hg1963 and ANNOVAR version 2015-03-2264 to perform SNP annotation and to identify the putative functional SNPs. All significant GWAS SNPs were also examined for potential regulatory functions using RegulomeDB (http://regulome.stanford.edu/)25. We searched the National Human Genome Research Institute’s (NHGRI) catalog of genome-wide association studies to identify SNP trait associations for selected analytes.
Additional Information
How to cite this article: Deming, Y. et al. Genetic studies of plasma analytes identify novel potential biomarkers for several complex traits. Sci. Rep. 6, 18092; doi: 10.1038/srep18092 (2016).
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Pfizer and grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01-NS085419; R01-AG044546, P01-AG003991 and R01-AG035083) and the Alzheimer Association (NIRG-11-200110). Dr. Piccio is a Harry Weaver Neuroscience Scholar of the National MS Society (JF 2144A2/1). This research was conducted while CC was a recipient of a New Investigator Award in Alzheimer’s disease from the American Federation for Aging Research. CC is a recipient of a BrightFocus Foundation Alzheimer’s Disease Research Grant (A2013359S). The recruitment and clinical characterization of research participants at Washington University were supported by NIH P50 AG05681, P01 AG03991 and P01 AG026276. Some of the samples used in this study were genotyped by the ADGC and GERAD. ADGC is supported by grants from the NIH (#U01AG032984) and GERAD from the Wellcome Trust (GR082604MA) and the Medical Research Council (G0300429). Data collection and sharing for this project was funded by the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) (National Institutes of Health Grant U01 AG024904) and DOD ADNI (Department of Defense award number W81XWH-12-2-0012). ADNI is funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and through generous contributions from the following: Alzheimer’s Association; Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation; Araclon Biotech; BioClinica, Inc.; Biogen Idec Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Eisai Inc.; Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Eli Lilly and Company; EuroImmun; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and its affiliated company Genentech, Inc.; Fujirebio; GE Healthcare; ; IXICO Ltd.; Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy Research & Development, LLC.; Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC.; Medpace, Inc.; Merck & Co., Inc.; Meso Scale Diagnostics, LLC.; NeuroRx Research; Neurotrack Technologies; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Pfizer Inc.; Piramal Imaging; Servier; Synarc Inc.; and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. The Canadian Institutes of Rev December 5, 2013 Health Research is providing funds to support ADNI clinical sites in Canada. Private sector contributions are facilitated by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (www.fnih.org). The grantee organization is the Northern California Institute for Research and Education and the study is coordinated by the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study at the University of California, San Diego. ADNI data are disseminated by the Laboratory for Neuro Imaging at the University of Southern California. This work was supported by access to equipment made possible by the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders and the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine.
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Deming, Y., Xia, J., Cai, Y. et al. Genetic studies of plasma analytes identify novel potential biomarkers for several complex traits. Sci Rep 6, 18092 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep18092
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Abstract: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) can identify noncoding variants associated with specific traits or phenotypes, but cannot distinguish whether such variants are functional. High-throughput reporter (HTR) assays can be used to experimentally evaluate the impact of genetic variants on gene expression. In this study, our objective was to systematically evaluate the functional activity of 3’-UTR SNPs associated with neurological disorders. We gathered SNPs from the GWAS Catalog that were associated with any neurological disorder trait with p-value < 10-5. For each SNP, we identified the region that was in linkage disequilibrium (r2 > 0.8) and retrieved all the common 3’-UTR SNPs (allele-frequency > 0.05) within that region. We further used an HTR assay to measure the impact of the 3’-UTR variants in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells and a microglial cell line. Of the 13,515 3’-UTR SNPs tested, 400 and 657 significantly impacted gene expression in SH-SY5Y and microglia, respectively. These results were then used to train a deep-learning model to predict the impact of variants and identify features that contribute to the predictions. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that HTR assays combined with advanced machine-learning models can be used to identify causal non-coding variants to further understand the etiology of diseases. | https://indianactsi.org/2020-annual-meeting-poster-andy-chen/ |
3 edition of Analysis of complex disease association studies found in the catalog.
Analysis of complex disease association studies
Eleftheria Zeggini
Published
2011 by Academic Press/Elsevier in London, Burlington, MA .
Written in English
According to the National Institute of Health, a genome-wide association study is defined as any study of genetic variation across the entire human genome that is designed to identify genetic associations with observable traits (such as blood pressure or weight), or the presence or absence of a disease or condition. Whole genome information, when combined with clinical and other phenotype data, offers the potential for increased understanding of basic biological processes affecting human health, improvement in the prediction of disease and patient care, and ultimately the realization of the promise of personalized medicine. In addition, rapid advances in understanding the patterns of human genetic variation and maturing high-throughput, cost-effective methods for genotyping are providing powerful research tools for identifying genetic variants that contribute to health and disease. (good paragraph) This burgeoning science merges the principles of statistics and genetics studies to make sense of the vast amounts of information available with the mapping of genomes. In order to make the most of the information available, statistical tools must be tailored and translated for the analytical issues which are original to large-scale association studies. This book will provide researchers with advanced biological knowledge who are entering the field of genome-wide association studies with the groundwork to apply statistical analysis tools appropriately and effectively. With the use of consistent examples throughout the work, chapters will provide readers with best practice for getting started (design), analyzing, and interpreting data according to their research interests. Frequently used tests will be highlighted and a critical analysis of the advantages and disadvantage complimented by case studies for each will provide readers with the information they need to make the right choice for their research.
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references and index.
|Statement||edited by Eleftheria Zeggini, Andrew Morris|
|Classifications|
|LC Classifications||RB155.5 .A53 2010|
|The Physical Object|
|Pagination||viii, 331, p. of col. plates) :|
|Number of Pages||331|
|ID Numbers|
|Open Library||OL25005939M|
|ISBN 10||012375142X|
|ISBN 10||9780123751423|
|LC Control Number||2011280368|
|OCLC/WorldCa||610157476|
New book offers practical advice for unraveling the genetics of complex human diseases 09/14/ COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. (Sept. 14, ) – Many human diseases—including Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, cancer, and cardiovascular disease—are caused by multiple genetic variants and the interaction of those variants with the environment. Summary. Genetics of Complex Disease examines how the identification of genetic variations that increase or reduce the risk of common, genetically complex, diseases can be used to improve our understanding of the pathology of many common diseases; enable better patient management and care; and help with differential diagnosis. It starts with the questions of "what", "why" and . Therefore, from basic science point of view, the ultimate goal of HLA association studies is to find out how genes cause the disease or modify susceptibility or course of it. In the modern era of HLA association studies, the conceptualization, design, execution and interpretation have gained new . MODEL-FREE METHODS FOR LINKAGE AND ASSOCIATION ANALYSIS Overview of Model-free Methods for Linkage Analysis. Variance Component Methods for Detecting Complex Trait Loci. Linkage and Association with Structural Relationships. The Future of Genetic Case-Control Studies. Cost of Linkage versus Association Methods.
Unlocking the genetics of disease UMKC researcher works to uncover diagnostic biomarkers and new therapeutic targets for complex human diseases In the world of genetics and molecular research, scientists are exploring a phenomenon of gene .
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Analysis of Complex Disease Association Studies will provide researchers with advanced biological knowledge who are entering the field of genome-wide association studies with the groundwork to apply statistical analysis tools appropriately and effectively.
With the use of consistent examples throughout the work, chapters will provide readers. Analysis of Complex Disease Association Studies: A Practical Guide - Kindle edition by Zeggini, Eleftheria, Morris, Andrew.
Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Analysis of Complex Disease Association Studies: A Practical cturer: Academic Press.
Recent advances in genome research technologies, deep sequencing analysis in particular, have led to an explosion of studies and novel results that are re-shaping our views. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are emerging as central players responsible for the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of plant genome epigenetic structure.
Genetic Analysis of Complex Disease $ This title has not yet been released. Second Edition features the latest tools for uncovering the genetic basis of human disease. The Second Edition of this landmark publication brings together a team of leading experts in the field to thoroughly update the by: From the reviews: "This book aims at filling a real gap in the literature.
After three introductory chapters on basic statistical and genetic concepts and association studies, the book deals with the problems of multiple comparison, unknown phase, and model building and predictions in high dimension: topic choices that I find relevant and stimulating.
Introduction. The study of genotype-phenotype relationship in complex disorders represents a great challenge in the field of translational genetics, due to their importance from a public health perspective and to the difficulties involved in their analysis at the genetic level.In contrast to monogenic traits, the phenotypic variance of complex traits is caused by the interplay of Cited by: 1.
Genetic Association Analysis of Complex Diseases Incorporating Intermediate Phenotype Information Article (PDF Available) in PLoS ONE 7(10):e October with 18 Reads How we measure 'reads'. Understanding genetic mechanism of complex diseases is a serious challenge.
Existing methods Analysis of complex disease association studies book neglect the heterogeneity phenomenon of complex diseases, resulting in lack of power or low Cited by: 3. A knowledge-based method for association studies on complex diseases.
Nazarian A(1), Sichtig H, Riva A. Author information: (1)Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and UF Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of by: 1.
For complex diseases which often involve function of multi-genetic variants each with small or moderate effect, linkage analysis has little power compared to association studies.
In this chapter, we give a brief review of design issues related to linkage analysis and association studies with human genetic by: title = "Genetic Analysis of Complex Diseases: Second Edition", abstract = "Second Edition features the latest tools for uncovering the genetic basis of human disease.
The Second Edition of this landmark publication brings together a team of leading experts in the field to thoroughly update the : Jonathan L. Haines, Margaret A Pericak-Vance. JONATHAN L. HAINES is Director of the Program in Human Genetics, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
His research into the localization and identification of genes involved in human disease includes studying Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, autism, macular degeneration.
d Dotted frame highlights the fundamental important role of network studies by linking Complex disease IET Syst.
Biol.,Vol. 6, Iss. 1, pp. 22– 33 23. An epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) is an examination of a genome-wide set of quantifiable epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation, in different individuals to derive associations between epigenetic variation and a particular identifiable phenotype/trait.
When patterns change such as DNA methylation Analysis of complex disease association studies book specific loci, discriminating the phenotypically. SNPs and genome-wide association studies, haplotype analyses, and the evaluation of gene–gene and design and data analysis in studies on common genetic polymorphisms and disease.
A discussion of biases, more complex when the disease susceptibility locus is in LD with multiple SNPs (10).File Size: 1MB. Analysis of Complex Disease Association Studies. Elsevier, * Ziegler A & Koenig IR. A Statistical Approach to Genetic Epidemiology. Wiley, * Human Genome Epidemiology Online Book (CDC, ) * Genetics and Public Health in.
The book’s chapters, written by leading investigators in the field, blend practical information and reviews of each topic, providing both the how and the why of complex disease analysis. Genetics of Complex Human Diseases is an important guide for anyone with an interest in human genetics or who uses genetic techniques in the study of.
In genetics, a genome-wide association study (GWA study, or GWAS), also known as whole genome association study (WGA study, or WGAS), is an observational study of a genome-wide set of genetic variants in different individuals to see if any variant is associated with a trait.
GWASs typically focus on associations between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and. Our aim was to determine whether association studies could be used to fine map this disease locus of interest.
Analysis of a cM region near the telomere of chromosome 3 revealed a statistically significant association between genotypes at 4 markers (B03T, B03T, B03T, and C03R) and the clinical characteristics e, f, h, and by: 1.
Disease cases Indirect association: G A between proxy genotype and phenotype T T C C C C C C T T T T T T r2=1 r2: ranges between 0 and 1 1 when the two markers provide identical information 0 when they are in perfect linkage equilibrium In a typical GWAS, disease-causing SNPs have “proxies” that get high LOD scores Pre-requisite for.
Introduction to Epidemiology, is a comprehensive, reader-friendly introduction to this exciting ed for students with minimal training in the biomedical sciences and statistics, this text emphasizes the application of the basic principles of epidemiology according to person, place, and time factors in order to solve current, often unexpected, and serious public /5.
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have evolved over the last ten years into a powerful tool for investigating the genetic architecture of human disease. In this work, we review the key concepts underlying GWAS, including the architecture of common diseases, the structure of common human genetic variation, technologies for capturing genetic information, study Cited by: We review the different types of association studies and discuss issues that are important to consider when performing and interpreting association studies of complex genetic traits.
Heritable and accurately measured phenotypes, carefully matched large samples, well-chosen genetic markers, and adequate standards in genotyping, analysis, and. • Women: x increased risk for heart disease –Interheartx increased risk for heart disease • Twin and family studies have proven % of susceptibility to CHD is heritable – The frequency of CHD in monozygotic twins is ~ 44% vs 14% in dizygotic twins.
About the Book. Human health is shaped by the interactions between social and ecological systems. In States of Disease, Brian King advances a social ecology of health framework to demonstrate how historical spatial formations contribute to contemporary vulnerabilities to disease and the opportunities for health examines how expanded.
T1 - Pedigree generation for analysis of genetic linkage and association. AU - Bass, M. AU - Martin, Eden R. AU - Hauser, E. PY - /1/1. Y1 - /1/1. N2 - We have developed a software package, SIMLA (simulation of linkage and association), which can be used to generate pedigree data under user-specified by: Bipolar disorder is a common, complex psychiatric disorder characterized by mania and depression.
The disease aggregates in families, but despite much effort, it has been difficult to delineate the basic genetic model or identify specific genetic risk factors. Not only single gene Mendelian transmission and common variant hypotheses but also multivariate threshold Cited by: Epigenetics and Complex Traits provides an overview of basic epigenetic phenomena that influence transmission of genetic traits, including the pivotal roles of epigenetic factors in genome integrity, genetic transmission and phenotypic variation at critical developmental points, interactions between epigenetic marks and genetic variation, as well as a detailed examination.
On the analysis of genome-wide association studies in family-based designs: a universal, robust analysis approach and an application to four genome-wide association studies.
PLoS Genet. 5 Cited by: This book covers multiple aspects of study design, analysis and interpretation for complex trait studies focusing on rare sequence variation. In many areas of genomic research, including complex trait association studies, technology is in danger of outstripping our capacity to analyse and interpret the vast amounts of data generated.
In particular, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) provide an important screening approach to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and pathways that underlie complex diseases and traits without requiring prior knowledge about disease-associated chromosomal loci Author: Yongzhao Shao, Wei Pan, Xiaohua Douglas Zhang.
PLEASE NOTE: We are currently in the process of updating this chapter and we appreciate your patience whilst this is being completed. Small-area analysis (SAA) permits the examination of data for groups, such as towns, which tend to be more homogenous in character compared with larger populations that are likely to be more diverse.
The first, a GWA study of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD), was able to detect an association signal that approached genome-wide significance across chromosome 12q12, including the LRRK2 locus (average p-value= x ), which has Author: Nicole Griffin.
Linkage, association, and haplotype analysis: A spectrum of approaches to elucidate the genetic influences of complex human traitsAuthor: Amy Elizabeth Webb. Preface. Advances in human genetics are expected to play a central role in medicine and public health in the 21 st century by providing genetic information for disease prediction and prevention.
Although human gene discoveries generate excitement and expectations, the translation of gene discoveries into meaningful actions to improve health and prevent disease depends on.
VariFunNet, an integrated multiscale modeling framework to study the effects of rare non-coding variants in genome-wide association studies: Applied to Alzheimer's disease Qiao Liu, Chen Chen, Annie Gao, Hanghang Tong, Lei XieCited by: 3. Complex Analysis. This is a textbook for an introductory course in complex analysis.
This book covers the following topics: Complex Numbers, Complex Functions, Elementary Functions, Integration, Cauchy's Theorem, Harmonic Functions, Series, Taylor and Laurent Series, Poles, Residues and Argument Principle.
Author(s): George Cain. For example, a sample size of more t patients is needed to achieve >80% power to detect a significant OR between and (modest effect) for a polymorphic locus in association with a complex disease.
Meta-analysis is a tool that allows for analysis with the potential for higher power by pooling the results of multiple studies Cited by: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published epidemiological studies to better estimate the effect of caffeine exposure on the incidence of PD.
Data sources searched included Medline, LILACS, Scopus, Web of Science and reference lists, up to September Cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies were by: Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in defined populations.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidence-based practice by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive iologists help with study design. The Center for Disease Analysis (CDA) is a public health firm with expertise in epidemiology and disease modeling.
Our Mission statement Study complex and poorly understood diseases and publish results to help inform the community at large and support decision making. CONTEXT: Parent-child book reading (PCBR) is effective at improving young children’s language, literacy, brain, and cognitive development.
The psychosocial effects of PCBR interventions are unclear. OBJECTIVE: To systematically review and synthesize the effects of PCBR interventions on psychosocial functioning of children and parents.
DATA SOURCES: Cited by: 4.Introduction to NCD Epidemiology. Non-Communicable Disease (NCD): Definition (cont.) • Chronic conditions are characterized by the following: – Do not result from an (acute) infectious process – Are “not communicable” – Cause premature morbidity, dysfunction, and reduced quality of life – Usually develop and progress over long File Size: 1MB. | https://revyhevunos.software-comparativo.com/analysis-of-complex-disease-association-studies-book-7466pt.php |
There has been an enormous effort to use human genomic studies to find sleep genes. Some studies have hundreds of thousands of individuals. But validation and testing in animal models are critical to understanding function.
A new study has achieved that here. Using human genomics, a team of scientists from Texas A&M University, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has identified a new genetic pathway involved in regulating sleep from fruit flies to humans.
The most exciting thing about the study- scientists developed a pipeline starting not with a model organism but with actual human genomics data.
Texas A&M geneticist and evolutionary biologist Alex Keene said, “There is an abundance of human genome-wide association studies (GWAS) that identify genetic variants associated with sleep in humans. However, validating them has been an enormous challenge. Our team used a genomics approach called variant-to-gene mapping to predict the genes impacted by each genetic variant. Then we screened the effect of these genes in fruit flies.”
“Our studies found that mutations in the gene Pig-Q, required for the biosynthesis of a modifier of protein function, increased sleep. We then tested this in a vertebrate model, zebrafish, and found a similar effect. Therefore, in humans, flies, and zebrafish, Pig-Q is associated with sleep regulation.”
“The team’s next step is to study the role of a common protein modification, GPI-anchor biosynthesis, on sleep regulation. In addition, he notes that the human-to-fruit flies-to-zebrafish pipeline the team developed will allow them to functionally assess sleep not only genes but also other traits commonly studied using human GWAS, including neurodegeneration, aging, and memory.”
Penn’s Philip Gehrman said, “Understanding how genes regulate sleep and the role of this pathway in sleep regulation can help unlock future findings on sleep and sleep disorders, such as insomnia. Moving forward, we will continue to use and study this system to identify more genes regulating sleep, which could point in the direction of new treatments for sleep disorders.”
Journal Reference: | https://www.techexplorist.com/new-genetic-pathway-involved-insomnia/55959/ |
From 2007 to 2015, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) resulted in the discovery of over 260 genetic loci associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) (1,2). Although GWAS have validated “old culprits” (e.g., PPARG, KCNJ11), illuminated novel disease-causing biological pathways (e.g., the zinc transporter SLC30A8), and have led to quick translational medicine applications (e.g., hs-CRP as a diagnostic tool for HNF1A maturity-onset diabetes of the young) (3–5), some have questioned their utility (6,7). They argue GWAS are expensive and that GWAS-derived single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) explain only a fraction of the heritability for complex traits (6,7). They propose to focus instead on next-generation sequencing (NGS) studies or post-GWAS experiments (functional studies, animal models, clinical studies) (6,7). This debate has led to skepticism about the benefits of GWAS and hesitancy to fund additional GWAS. With the ever-decreasing costs in NGS technologies, we should seriously address the relevance of funding more GWAS. In this issue of Diabetes, Scott et al. (8) provide some elements of response to this important question.
The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 18 GWAS totalling 26,676 T2D case and 132,532 control subjects. They imputed 12.1 million SNPs using the multiethnic 1000 Genomes Project (1000G) reference panel. Twenty-nine SNPs showing promising associations (P < 10−5) with T2D in the stage 1 GWAS were present in the Metabochip array (9) and were followed up in 14,545 T2D case and 38,994 control subjects from 16 independent studies. Thirteen novel T2D loci in/near the ACSL1, HLA-DQA1, SLC35D3, MNX1, ABO, PLEKHA1, HSD17B12, MAP3K11, NRXN3, CMIP, ZZEF1, GLP2R, and GIP genes reached a genome-wide significant association (P < 5 × 10−8) with T2D in the combined stage 1 and stage 2 analysis. All study participants were of European ancestry, but the authors followed up those with the 13 novel T2D SNPs in the largest trans-ethnic GWAS meta-analysis published to date (10). No significant heterogeneity of allelic effects between major ancestral groups was observed at any of these loci. Conditional analyses within established and novel T2D GWAS loci revealed two novel independent association signals at the ANKRD55 and CCND2 loci. The authors fine-mapped 95 distinct T2D association signals at 82 loci and identified 99% credible sets of less than 10 SNPs at 16 loci. They used an impressive panel of approaches to bring new pathophysiological insights from the 13 novel T2D associations. These analyses highlighted the importance of cell types such as pancreatic islet cells, adipocytes, hepatocytes, and blood cells in T2D etiology. They also highlighted abdominal fat deposition (NRXN3, CMIP), lipid homeostasis (CMIP, ABO), insulin secretion and processing (MNX1, GIP, GLP2R), immunity (HLA-DQA1), and hematopoiesis (ABO) as key mechanisms in the pathophysiology of T2D.
The main strengths of this study include a sample size that exceeds that of the largest previous T2D GWAS meta-analysis in individuals of European ancestry (11). The authors imputed 12.1 million SNPs using the multiethnic 1000G reference panel, a considerable improvement compared with the 2.5 million SNPs classically imputed from the HapMap reference panel. They elegantly complemented the discovery of novel SNP associations with T2D with a thorough investigation of the biological mechanisms involved.
The study also presents several limitations. Only a subset of T2D case subjects and control subjects with normal glucose tolerance were diagnosed using an oral glucose tolerance test, increasing the risk of case control misclassification. Similarly, not requiring an islet cell autoantibody test for T2D case subjects increases the possibility of misclassifying autoimmune forms of diabetes as T2D. Considering that T2D case subjects usually display higher BMI and waist-to-hip ratios than control subjects with normal glucose tolerance, the lack of adjustment for these covariates in the GWAS meta-analysis is questionable. It may explain why the FTO, MC4R, and NRXN3 loci, three important contributors to obesity traits (12), have been associated with T2D at the genome-wide level of significance in this study, likely via their obesogenic effects (13). Considering the large blocks of linkage disequilibrium observed in Europeans, the fine-mapping of T2D loci in this population is unlikely to isolate the causal variant(s). Trans-ethnic fine-mapping has proven more effective in that perspective (14). Despite the improved quality of imputation compared with previous GWAS, the authors were unable to identify low-frequency/rare (minor allele frequency <5%) variants associated with T2D. However, their conclusion that common variants play an overwhelmingly predominant role in T2D genetic susceptibility may be premature. Several factors explain why no novel low-frequency/rare T2D variants were identified in this study. First, the sample size was insufficient to identify low-frequency/rare variants, especially in the context of a hypothesis-free GWAS (15,16). Second, only a fraction of the rare variants carried by T2D case and control subjects were imputed given the limited density (<1 million) of SNPs genotyped in most GWAS arrays used in this study, the limited sample size of the 1000G reference panel (N = 1,092), and the absence of individual whole-genome sequencing data in T2D case and control subjects (17). Third, single variant tests were used instead of cumulative burden association tests, which decreased statistical power (18). Low-frequency/rare variants associated with T2D have been reported in literature (17,19,20), and there is no doubt that future GWAS in larger sample sizes will uncover at least some of them.
Let’s go back to our essential question. In the light of this cutting-edge study, is it relevant to fund more GWAS? The answer, in my opinion, is four times yes with a push on the Golden Buzzer! GWAS are complementary to NGS approaches and represent a reliable, cost-effective, and user-friendly solution that is exceptionally successful in identifying novel genes and underlying biological mechanisms for complex traits in human populations (1). Future GWAS based on millions of samples, with array data imputed to a whole-genome sequencing data reference panel of hundreds of thousands of individuals, will help to crack the DNA code of T2D susceptibility in diverse ethnic groups (1). GWAS in increasingly large sample sizes will continue to be effective, as the magnitude of the genetic effect is not necessarily correlated with the importance of the pathways underlying the genetic signal in T2D etiology. All I am saying is give GWAS a chance.
See accompanying article, p. 2888.
Article Information
Acknowledgments. The author thanks Rita Morassut (McMaster University) for editing the manuscript and the reviewers and the editor for their insightful comments.
Funding. D.M. is supported by a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair.
Duality of Interest. No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported. | https://diabetesjournals.org/diabetes/article/66/11/2741/35212/Give-GWAS-a-Chance |
Motivation: Most genetic variants implicated in complex diseases by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are non-coding, making it challenging to understand the causative genes involved in disease. Integrating external information such as quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of molecular traits (e.g., expression, methylation) is a powerful approach to identify the subset of GWAS signals explained by regulatory effects. In particular, expression QTLs (eQTLs) help pinpoint the responsible gene among the GWAS regions that harbor many genes, while methylation QTLs (mQTLs) help identify the epigenetic mechanisms that impact gene expression which in turn affect disease risk. In this work we propose multiple-trait-coloc (moloc), a Bayesian statistical framework that integrates GWAS summary data with multiple molecular QTL data to identify regulatory effects at GWAS risk loci. Results: We applied moloc to schizophrenia (SCZ) and eQTL/mQTL data derived from human brain tissue and identified 52 candidate genes that influence SCZ through methylation. Our method can be applied to any GWAS and relevant functional data to help prioritize disease associated genes. Availability: moloc is available for download as an R package (https://github.com/clagiamba/moloc). We also developed a web site to visualize the biological findings (icahn.mssm.edu/moloc). The browser allows searches by gene, methylation probe, and scenario of interest. | https://jhu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/a-bayesian-framework-for-multiple-trait-colocalization-from-summa-2 |
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Overview
There is increasing acknowledgment that many health issues such as health disparities and preventive health care are profoundly influenced by factors outside the traditional realm of health and health care. Factors such as poverty, employment, crime, transportation and poor access to healthy foods contribute to disparities in life expectancy as well as to health-related quality of life. Concerns about how to address these factors have led to a focus on “health in all policies,” in which policies in non-traditional sectors such as transportation, economic development, housing, employment, and agriculture ideally would contribute to health and health equity. The Health and Built Environment Committee of the Consortium for a Healthier Miami-Dade is partnering with the Healthiest Weight Division of the Florida Health Department to bring this important training opportunity to Miami-Dade County. | https://www.planning.org/events/eventsingle/3028144/ |
Making sense of the complicated interrelationships between race, ethnicity and socioeconomic conditions which are likely to contribute to healthcare disparities and other related factors that affect quality of access to health care have become front-burner issues for health care providers. The hidden rules that contribute to pervasive healthcare disparities are challenges that must be addressed. Other challenges include the impact of cultural beliefs, linguistic barriers, ability to pay, the trust factor for care providers, the predispositions in groups to seek timely care, and how the assumptions of service providers might frustrate the care seeking behaviors of patients.
We can add value to your quest to target disparities by helping you: | http://betances.com/content.cfm?id=92 |
Interdisciplinary efforts over several decades have provided intriguing information regarding the factors that contribute to racial differences in health status and outcomes. Even with this information on hand, challenges remain regarding improved characterization of these various biological and environmental factors. Advances in genomic studies have provided some of the valuable tools and data needed to move forward in the direction of defining the biologic factors underlying racial differences in disease disposition.
Relationships Between Race, Ethnicity, and Health
Environmental and genetic interactions influence human health and survival. Part of the environment are social factors that can be influenced or defined by the various biological characteristics that determine a person’s response to these environmental factors. It is widely accepted that Black populations from a number of ethnic groups in the U.S. tend to have a higher percentage of individuals that suffer stroke when compared to White populations. For example, Howard et al. found that socioeconomic status may account, in part, for the finding of excess stroke in black males in the U.S. (1). The social and medical science arenas have recognized the role that racism or discrimination plays in the stress levels that can then influence cardiovascular health.
Other diseases with incidences that differ by race include higher rates in whites for skin melanoma and cystic fibrosis (2,3). However, Asians with cystic fibrosis of similar severity as whites have worse outcomes, possibly due to cultural factors and specific cystic fibrosis genotypes (4). These examples highlight the interplay between genetic factors and the socio-cultural environment.
Using the current definitions of race and ethnicity, some genetic factors have been found that contribute to higher incidences of some diseases. Sickle-cell anemia, which has a higher incidence in people of African descent, is caused by a mutation in the hemoglobin-beta gene on chromosome 11. As mentioned previously, cystic fibrosis has a higher incidence in Whites and is caused by mutations in the gene for the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator protein.
Racial Disparities in Healthcare
A major contributor to racial differences in disease predisposition is the existence of racial disparities in healthcare. Disparities in healthcare access, for example, result from social constructs attached to biologic factors that define phenotypic racial and ethnic differences. Stark differences in the availability to and options for healthcare in general often lead to poorer survival rates and health status in underrepresented racial groups (5).
Belief systems (whether political, religious, or social in nature) held by both patients and healthcare providers can significantly affect healthcare delivery. There are still major gaps in the knowledge base of many healthcare providers regarding cultural attributes of the diverse patient population. The resultant lack of cultural competence is a factor that remains an area requiring improvement to affect successful healthcare delivery.
Genomic Data and Discovery of Predisposing Factors in Disease Development
Emerging data from genomic studies are uncovering information that is contributing to a better understanding of how individuals’ genomes determine disease predisposition. Haiman et al. observed that a prostate cancer susceptibility locus at 17q21 is more specific to an African population (6). This is thought to contribute to the higher risk of prostate cancer in African descent men.
The Human Genome Diversity Project collects biological samples from different populations of ethnic groups globally with the objective to build a database of human genetic diversity. The results of the project have the potential to contribute to medical research focused on the differences in disease susceptibility or resistance across ethnic groups. However, there are controversies in regard to the potential for incorrect interpretation or misuse of the data, the application of the data to increase racial disparities in healthcare, and to deny human rights.
The various genomic studies such as those previously mention have yielded record volumes of data due to the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS). This massively parallel sequencing technology has changed the face of medical research. It is used to study common and rare variants associated with diseases such as cancer. This has already been demonstrated with the use of NGS to identify mutations and other genomic factors that contribute to the onset of prostate cancer development (7). This information can potentially be used to determine if there are differences in these genomic sequences across ethnic groups.
Conclusions
Understanding the complex interaction between genetics and environment is benefiting from the newer genomic approaches such as NGS genome-wide association studies. Data is already available that suggests the genomic characteristics and mechanisms that may underlie the observed differences in disease predisposition across racial and ethnic groups. The data can also be harnessed for disease risk prediction, early diagnosis, and the development of effective personalized medical interventions with the goal to eliminate health disparities and overcome the factors leading to disease predisposition.
References
- Howard G, Russell GB, Anderson R, Evans GW, Morgan T, Howard VJ, Burke GL. Role of social class in excess black stroke mortality. Stroke. 1995 Oct;26(10):1759-63.
- U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group. United States Cancer Statistics: 1999–2013 Incidence and Mortality Web-based Report. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Cancer Institute; 2016. Available at: www.cdc.gov/uscs.
- Kosorok MR, Wei WH, Farrell PM. The incidence of cystic fibrosis. Stat Med.1996 Mar 15;15(5):449-62.
- McCormick J, Ogston SA, Sims EJ, Mehta A. Asians with cystic fibrosis in the UK have worse disease outcomes than clinic matched white homozygous delta F508controls. J Cyst Fibros. 2005 Mar;4(1):53-8.
- Yancy CW. Disparate care for acute myocardial infarction: moving beyond description and targeting interventions. Circulation. 2014 Aug 19;130(8):632-3. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.011482.
- Haiman CA, et al. Genome-wide association study of prostate cancer in men of African ancestry identifies a susceptibility locus at 17q21. Nature Genet. 2011; 43:570–573.
- Berger MF, et al. The genomic complexity of primary human prostate cancer. Nature. 2011; 470:214–220.
About the Author:
Dr. Stacy Matthews Branch is a biomedical consultant, medical writer, and veterinary medical doctor. She owns Djehuty Biomed Consulting and has published research articles and book chapters in the areas of molecular, developmental, reproductive, forensic, and clinical toxicology. Dr. Matthews Branch received her DVM from Tuskegee University and her PhD from North Carolina State University. | https://psomagen.com/race-and-predisposition-to-disease/ |
What’s the difference; a commonly asked question when I present statistics about health or healthcare disparities. They seem pretty much the same, but the truth is they are not.
Healthcare disparities are all about the availability or access to care. This could mean the number of available providers in a certain town or even the type of insurance being accepting at a dentist office. So even if you have a great job with great benefits, healthcare disparity says you still won’t have easy access to the preventative care that you need. It means that there are not enough providers to offer the managed care that you are entitled to through your insurance.
Health disparities, on the other hand, is all about defined populations and the rate in which disease occurs based on historic socioeconomic backgrounds. Imagine your grandmother not having health insurance or access to medical care. Imagine her not knowing where to go to find access. How does she teach her child, your mother, how to access something she knows nothing about? How does your mother teach you? Now replace access to medical care with education about nutrition, financing, or seeking advanced education. Combine this factor with a lack of resources, like jobs or afterschool educational programs.
What factors contribute to health disparities?
- Socioeconomic status (SES) measures a person’s social, economic, and work status.
- Access to Health Care Services.
- Social Behaviors.
- Social and Built Environments.
- Exposure.
- Treatment.
(Click here for more information about these factors)
Do you want to learn more about health disparities? Are you looking for someone to provide a presentation? Fill out the contact form below. | https://apostrophe-consulting.com/author/iamnisibennett/ |
About the Lab
Research in the Health Disparities Laboratory in Pediatric Psychology examines aspects of the health system and factors related to children’s physical and family environments that contribute to the health outcomes of children from low-socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds.
The HDL-PP conducts behavioral research to identify and examine promising approaches for improving health outcomes of racial/ethnic minority children that can be delivered in healthcare settings.
The lab also develops and implements research education programs that aim to help increase the diversity of the scientific workforce and that aim to support research training activities in health disparities research.
Current Research Areas
Impacts of COVID-19 on Children's Health
Current projects are examining the impacts of COVID-19 on parents' social and financial well-being and Latinx college students' mental health.
Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Type 1 Diabetes among Youth
Current Research will develop and pilot test a family- and community-based intervention to improve glycemic control among African American and Hispanic school-aged children with type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) in Youth
Current research will explore youth and parent perspectives on self-management of T2D.
Research Education Programs
Our current Research Education Programs focus on increasing participation in health disparities research careers among psychology graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and increasing the participation of scholars from underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds in research related to the mission of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders for a mentoring and leadership development program for scholars who are from groups underrepresented in research careers.
New Studies Now Enrolling!
Our lab has several new studies that are now enrolling participants. Visit the " Projects" section of our site to see what's happening!
Lab News
Stay up-to-date on news from the Health Disparities Laboratory in Pediatric Psychology. | http://bcmd8.bcm.edu/departments/pediatrics/divisions-and-centers/psychology/research/health-disparities-laboratory |
To obtain high-quality care, Americans must first gain entry into the health care system. Measures of access to care tracked in the QDR include having health insurance, having a usual source of care, encountering difficulties when seeking care, and receiving care as soon as wanted. Historically, Americans have experienced variable access to care based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, sex, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and residential location. Access to Health Services | Healthy People 2020 The Access to Health Services topic area encompasses 3 components: coverage, services, and timeliness. Coverage. Health insurance coverage helps patients gain entry into the health care system. Lack of adequate coverage makes it difficult for people to get the health care they need and, when they do get care, burdens them with large medical bills. How does cost affect access to care? - Peterson-Kaiser ...
Health Care essay: Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid most Americans believe that insurance coverage and access to healthcare system are the issues that should be prioritized, and it is the direct responsibility of the federal government to ensure medical care for those citizens that lack insurance, even through raising taxes.The state should ...
The government has done a great job in providing the citizens with healthcare services and this can be improved by allocating more finances to the health sector. With these in play, it is safe to say that the free health care services governments provide have great advantages for their citizens. Healthcare Policy in the US - ukessays.com A healthcare policy covers a range of issue including public health, chronic illness and disability, long-term care, the financing of health care, preventive health care and mental health. There are two models of a healthcare which consist of the single payer and the social insurance system. Disparities in Access to Health Care - news-medical.net Disparities in Access to Health Care. Differences in access to healthcare across different populations is the main reason for existing disparities in healthcare provision. These differences occur for several reasons and some of the main factors that contribute to the problem in the United States are described below.
Healthcare essay. In the 21st century, there appeared a number of problems in the health systems around the world, solutions of whichReplacing paper to electronic medical records allows the access to patient records by authorized medical personnel, both at a single institution (local access) and at...
Whether universal access to health care reduces inequalities in health significantly or not, there is a widespread conviction that it is a requirement of justice. Indeed, the development of a rationale for universal access to health care (as a requirement of justice) has been the traditional focus of philosophical reflection on health and justice. PDF The impact of medical technology on healthcare today
23 Feb 2017 ... “Health care must be recognized as a right, not a privilege. Every man, woman and child in our country should be able to access the health care ...
You are about to see health insurance plans that will be available in 2019. You are not be able to enroll in these plans until Open Enrollment begins on November 1, however you may check out your options and prices right now. If you would like to buy a plan you see for 2019, please come back during open enrollment.
Access Healthcare provides healthcare business process outsourcing, robotic process automation, and IT services to healthcare provider, payers and related service providers.
U.S. Healthcare Costs Essay Example - StudyMoose Check out our essay example on U.S. Healthcare Costs to start writing! ... With cost at an all-time high, the quality of and access to health care are relatively ... United States Health Сare System Essay Example - StudyMoose Lack of universal healthcare system in the country has hindered poor people from accessing quality healthcare. In addition, employees lack freedom of making ... | https://writingxytd.firebaseapp.com/dirocco45601cu/access-of-healthcare-essay-2091.html |
This year’s annual symposium will focus on recent efforts by quantitative scientists to better understand the complex mechanisms that contribute to health disparities and to develop interventions to reduce or eliminate these disparities. Speakers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins, Brown University, Drexel University, and the National Institutes of Health will describe advances that have been made as well as challenges that remain.
Please note, this is an in-person event only (there will be no option to join this symposium virtually).
Speakers:
Incorporating Equity Value Judgements into the Measurement and Causal Decomposition of Racial Disparities in Health and Healthcare
John Jackson, ScD
Assistant Professor, Departments of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Mental Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity
Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions
Using Causal Diagrams to Study and Eliminate Racial Health Disparities
Chanelle Howe, PhD
Associate Professor and Doctoral Program Director, Department of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health
Spatially Varying Racial Inequities in Cardiovascular Health: Individual-level risk factors + Neighborhood-level risk factors + Structural racism = Significant Black-White Inequities
Loni Philip Tabb, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University
Co-Lead, Research and Data Core, Urban Health Collaborative, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University
Health Justice, Critical Science, and the Two-Edged Sword of Data: Structural Problems Require Structural Solutions
Nancy Krieger, PhD
Professor of Social Epidemiology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
A Common Currency of Measurement Utilizing a Cloud Computing Platform to Foster Tech Equity & Advance Health Disparities Research
Deborah Guadalupe Duran, PhD
Senior Advisor-Data Science, Analytics and Systems
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Please check back, as more information will be added. | https://catalyst.harvard.edu/calendar/event/biostatistics-symposium-data-science-and-health-disparities-march-24/ |
Chinese Americans experience certain barriers (e.g., low incomes, diverse languages other than English, lack of insurance, cultural preferences, discrimination) when they seek healthcare services. These barriers may contribute to health disparities by causing reduced utilization of preventive and treatment services. To date, evidence to test hypotheses about these dynamics has been missing or hard to measure. This research takes a modeling approach to develop theory that accounts for dynamic relationships operating at multiple levels: from individuals to families to communities. A multi-level modeling approach allows for the interaction of factors at different levels of aggregation. This research applies methods of spatial statistics and spatially explicit agent-based modeling (ABM) to examine how demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic factors shape access to oral healthcare for low-income Chinese Americans in New York City. The model developed in this research will be used to test different intervention scenarios involving community health workers who facilitate care coordination and health promotion activities. Besides demographic characteristics and socioeconomic factors, this study also considers geographic factors and spatial behavior, such as distance and activity space. The overarching contribution of the research is to provide a complex systems science framework by which to understand access to oral healthcare for urban Chinese Americans and by extension other minority groups, integrating health-seeking behaviors at the individual level, barriers to care at multiple levels, and opportunities for health promotion at the community level. | https://aag.secure-abstracts.com/AAG%20Annual%20Meeting%202019/abstracts-gallery/19580 |
An overview of health disparities across multiple populations with statistics to demonstrate disparities, as well as ideas for reaching health equity.
What Are Health Disparities?
The word “disparity” is defined as “a great difference.” Health disparities refer to the differences in health amongst various demographics, including specific racial groups, ethnicities, sexualities, and more. Some disparities encompass how different groups experience certain health problems in terms of severity, whether certain groups can access healthcare, and how many people within certain groups have complications or die due to a disease.1 These disparities are often linked to socioeconomic and environmental disadvantages.
Examples of health disparities can be found in different groups based on:
- Sex and gender
- Income level
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Immigrant Status
- Disability
- Sexual orientation
- Level of education
Special Population and Health Disparities
Some organizations have made it their goal to raise awareness about health disparities and work towards health equity, or the “highest attainment of health for all people,” according to Healthy People 2020.2 To achieve health equity, we must understand the facts surrounding health inequity.
Recent data indicates people of color tend to fare much worse than their white counterparts regarding health. For people of color, infant mortality is higher, pregnancy-related death rates are higher, chronic illnesses are more prevalent, and overall physical and mental health is worse.3
Influences on Health Disparity
Demographic Factors
Several demographic factors influence health disparity. Race and ethnicity are major factors of health disparities. Black people have a life expectancy that is four years less than white people, and people of color face more health problems overall.4
Gender factors into health disparities as well—although women tend to live longer lives than men, women also tend to face more health problems throughout their lives. Gender bias in medicine can lead to health inequity regarding gender. Pharmaceutical studies have, in the past and present, used primarily men in trials for products that were eventually marketed to men and women, even though the side effects may not be as clear for women.5
Sexual identity and orientation factor into health disparities because people in the LGBQ+ community experience certain health problems at higher rates than the rest of the community. Some of these health challenges include mental illness, substance use, and healthcare disparities, including a lack of access to healthcare.6
Those who are disabled or have special health care needs may also face barriers to sufficient treatment, and those who live in rural areas may have less access to adequate treatment compared to people in urban settings.
Accessibility Factors
Individuals with access to high-quality education experience fewer health problems compared to those who do not have access to such education. Food can also play a part in health inequity—access to nutritious foods positively impacts health, whereas junk foods (which are often more accessible in poorer areas) negatively affect health.
The issue of safe housing and affordable, reliable transportation also plays into healthcare disparities. Low-income people report worse health status than higher-income people.7 The stress that accompanies unsafe housing and unreliable transportation likely contributes to health inequity in lower-income communities.
There are also disparities when it comes to health insurance, healthcare, and racial disparities amongst health professionals. Despite programs like the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that make insurance more accessible, many people remain at risk of being uninsured, particularly people of color and low-income individuals.
Which Population Are Most at Risk for Health Disparities?
Ultimately, the populations who are most at risk for health disparities are minority groups, particularly African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. African Americans are diagnosed with AIDS more often than any other demographic, and the mortality rates associated with AIDS are highest in African Americans.8
The rates of infant mortality and pregnancy-related deaths are highest in the African American population as well. Another disparity is homicide rates, and those are also highest amongst African American men, along with obesity, another health disparity that disproportionally affects the African American population.8 More health disparity examples in the African American population include:9
- 30% more likely to die of heart disease compared to white counterparts
- African American men twice as likely to die from stroke compared to white men
- 44% of African American men and 48% of African American women have some form of cardiovascular disease
Native Americans demonstrate several health disparities due in part to racial inequity. Their overall mortality rates are 50% higher than the mortality rates of the white population. Additionally, research shows that white people experienced an overall decline in mortality rates in the last 20 years, while Native Americans have not experienced such a decline.10 Native Americans also experience significant mental illness, with suicide rates 50% higher than white people. This suicide rate is likely related to the poor treatment they have received and continue to receive as a result of racist colonization.
Health Disparities in the Other Communities
The LGBTQ+ community, veterans, and disabled people face disparities at high rates. Some important facts to demonstrate the health inequity are as follows:
- LGBTQ+ individuals face higher rates of violence compared to cisgender, heterosexual counterparts.
- HIV and AIDS remain major health threats for gay and bisexual men.
- Transgender women are extremely at risk for disparities. They have less success finding employment, leading to higher rates of poverty and unsafe housing and higher rates of sex work and homicide in the community.
- Transgender people also face difficulties accessing compassionate, affordable healthcare, and often cannot afford gender-affirming surgeries.
Which Population Are Most at Risk for Addiction?
Many of the same populations who face health disparities as described above are also most at risk for addiction. Research shows that addiction is a disparity that affects Native Americans at disproportionately higher rates than other groups. The rate of illicit drug use among Native Americans is higher than any other race or ethnicity in the United States.11 Members of the LGBTQ+ community are also more likely to use drugs and alcohol as compared to the cisgender, heterosexual population.
African Americans struggle with addiction less than their white counterparts, but statistics show that incarceration increases drug use among all races. Due to systemic racism and other inequities, African Americans are incarcerated at disproportionate rates as compared to other groups, and thus addiction increases with incarceration.12
What Is Health Equity?Health equity is defined by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as “everyone having a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care.”13 Health equity would decrease racial disparities in health care and other disparities in health and create a world with safer and more healthy people.
Addiction Treatment for Special PopulationsBy being aware of the disparities that affect different communities, rehabilitation centers can more effectively treat patients. This awareness includes sensitivity training regarding different cultural and racial groups as well as implementing LGBTQ+ affirming care. Utilizing sensitivity training and increasing knowledge about healthcare disparities for healthcare professionals could also aid in reaching health equity. | https://headlandsats.com/health-disparities/ |
6 edition of Ethnic minority disparities in cancer treatment: Why the unequal burden? found in the catalog.
Ethnic minority disparities in cancer treatment: Why the unequal burden?
United States
Published
2001
by For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., [Congressional Sales Office]
.
Written in English
|The Physical Object|
|Number of Pages||90|
|ID Numbers|
|Open Library||OL7379983M|
|ISBN 10||0160659531|
|ISBN 10||9780160659539|
|OCLC/WorldCa||48003164|
CDC's Office of Minority Health and Health Equity (OMHHE) aims to accelerate CDC’s health impact in the U.S population and to eliminate health disparities for vulnerable populations as defined by race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, geography, gender, age, disability status, risk status related to sex and gender, and among other populations identified to be at-risk for health disparities. The holistic treatment for cancer should focus on immune system stimulation, correction Pet Essentials for dogs or cats - (Flora, Inc.) Ethnic Minority Disparities In Cancer Treatment: Why The Ethnic Minority Disparities in Cancer Treatment: Why .
theorized to contribute to unequal disease rates; in particular, racial/ethnic minorities have experienced a disproportionate incidence and prevalence of CVD [7, 3]. The literature has illustrated that hypertension, a critical CVD risk factor, is more. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care (with CD)
Racial and ethnic disparities in health care have been well documented among minority groups with respect to access to care, receipt of care, and quality of care. As a result of these disparities, minority populations are often diagnosed with late stage illness and have inferior outcomes likely leading to increased suffering. The Healthy People initiatives call to eliminate racial disparities and the high placement of breast cancer on the national research agenda make this study timely and insightful for health policymakers, clinicians and other health , the study evaluates the effect of other health system and patient related factors such as.
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Even among people of higher socioeconomic status, certain racial/ethnic minority groups may experience cancer disparities. These differences may reflect cultural differences such as mistrust of the health care system, fatalistic attitudes about cancer, or apprehension or embarrassment about having certain kinds of medical procedures.
Get this from a library. Ethnic minority disparities in cancer treatment: why the unequal burden?: hearing before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, Septem [United States.
Congress. House. Committee on. The Unequal Burden of Cancer: An Assessment of NIH Research and Programs for Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved () Chapter: 2 The Burden of Cancer Among Ethnic Minority and the Medically Underserved Populations.
This chapter focuses on the burden of cancer among ethnic minorities and medically underserved populations. These deceptively simple terms conceal the degree of complexity involved in defining the populations and the disease.
The chapter therefore discusses the problems associated with defining ''minorities" and "underserved individuals," the complexity of the disease commonly known as cancer Cited by: 2.
NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care; Smedley BD, Stith AY, Nelson AR, editors.
Unequal Treatment: Cited by: The Institute of Medicine (IoM) Unequal Treatment committee defines healthcare disparities as "racial or ethnic differences in the quality of healthcare that are not due to access-related factors. Cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the USA, poses a unique and multilateral burden to racial/ethnic minorities.
The admixture of comorbid conditions, structural barriers, and psychosocial standing complicates the prevention, diagnosis, and management of cardiovascular disease in racial/ethnic minority populations and requires newer approaches to reduce existing disparities.
In Unequal Treatment, a panel of experts documents this evidence and explores how persons of color experience the health care environment. The book examines how disparities in treatment may arise in health care systems and looks at aspects of the clinical encounter that may contribute to such disparities.
Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care (with CD Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, Brian D.
Smedley, Adrienne Y. Stith, Alan R. Nelson. This book chapter also provides an overview of breast cancer, racial/ethnic disparities in breast cancer, breast cancer incidence and mortality rate linked to hereditary, major risk factors of.
Excerpted from: Sidney D. Watson, Foreword: Unequal Treatment: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, 48 Saint Louis University Law Journal 1 (Fall ) (18 Footnotes) (Full Document) Each year the Saint Louis University Law Journal and the School of Law's Center for Health Law Studies host a Symposium on health law.
NCI addressed unequal patterns of standard health care access through CRCHD’s multisite Patient Navigation Research Program (PNRP). The PNRP focused on developing and testing interventions for follow-up and treatment initiation of four cancers with significant disparity: breast.
The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) as established by law has served as a primary source of ongoing coordination and support of a national health disparities research agenda within the NIH. 16 The Center, now an Institute, serves to continue the legacy of the former Office of Research on Minority Health in.
Racial and ethnic disparities in health care are known to reflect access to care and other issues that arise from differing socioeconomic conditions. There is, however, increasing evidence that even after such differences are accounted for, race and ethnicity remain significant predictors of.
The Unequal Burden of Cancer: An Assessment of NIH Research and Programs for Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved () (Book) Trends in the Healthy of Americans (Health, United States, ) (CDC) Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care () (Book) Wide Disparities in the Income and Assets of.
Leading Causes of Death Heart Disease Cancer Accidents Diabetes 8. Important Indicators of Community Health 1. Health Disparities 2. Health Inequalities 3. Health Inequities 9. Overview of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Murray et al show a difference of 33 years between the longest living and shortest living groups in the U.S.
The term “vulnerable population” has been used in conjunction with health disparity. Flaskerud and colleagues 24 define a vulnerable population as one that experiences health disparities as a direct result of a lack of resources and/or an increased exposure to risk, such as minority populations, the poor, disabled, homosexuals, and immigrants.
According to the NCI's Center to Reduce Health Care Disparities, “the burden of cancer is too often greater for the poor, ethnic minorities, and the uninsured than for the general population.
Many ethnic minorities develop cancer more frequently than the majority of the US white population.”. Disparities in Health and Health Care: Focusing Efforts to Eliminate Unequal Burdens Demographics show that the color of America is changing.
According to the Census data, more than 25% of the U.S. population is composed of ethnic minority groups: % African American, 9% Hispanic, % Asian, and % Native Americans.
Despite therapeutic advancements, disparities in multiple myeloma care exist at several levels affecting optimal patient care and outcomes.
Racial/ethnic disparities in myeloma care are multifactorial with differential utilization of and access to treatments, such as novel drugs and stem cell transplantation, along with the interplay of factors, such as patient age and insurance status.
INTRODUCTION. Racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care recently have received considerable attention. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has issued an annual national health care disparities report since 1,2 Reduction and elimination of disparities is one of the major goals of Healthy People3 part of the strategic plan of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National.Race and health refers to how being identified with a specific race influences health.
Race is a complex concept that changes across time and space and that depends on both self-identification and social recognition.
In the study of race and health, scientists organize people in racial categories depending on different factors such as: phenotype, ancestry, social identity, genetic makeup and. "We know that cancer affects populations differently, including racial and ethnic minority groups bearing an unequal burden of cancer across the United States.
Differences in breast cancer mortality among black and white women are particularly striking," said Laura Makaroff, D.O., senior vice president, Prevention and Early Detection, for the. | https://sawulemabu.pacificwomensnetwork.com/ethnic-minority-disparities-in-cancer-treatment-why-the-unequal-burden-book-2166go.php |
For instance, in the study by Sentell et al. Even under the best of circumstances, intervention efforts to eliminate health disparities remain a challenge. However, for millions of minority Americans, most of them foreign-born, one explanation is readily apparent: It must be acknowledged that the inequities experienced by LEP Americans may not be caused solely by language barriers.
Finally, it is in our best interest to adequately care for LEP populations and other minority groups, to protect the diversity that is one of our greatest economic and cultural assets. The studies in this Supplement provide hopeful advances, but we still have much to learn about how to best address language barriers.
This is important for encouraging action and facilitating accountability to reduce modifiable disparities by using interventions that are effective and scalable. Many of the successful interventions are culturally sensitive, community based, and targeted to specific minority populations.
Inclusion of black Americans in oncology clinical trials: There is no single explanation, and in many cases, we do not have an explanation. To better understand the context of disparities, it is important to understand more about the U. A second barrier that affects most vulnerable populations is a geographic barrier.
Shin HB, Bruno R. Likewise, whereas we say that we want them to integrate into our society, and assimilate into the mainstream U. J Gen Intern Med.
The medical home, access to care, and insurance. A separate chartpack provides data for elderly individuals. Findings for Hispanics are mixed with them faring better than Whites on some measures and worse on others. Improving access to health care for uninsured elderly patients.
The analysis is based on the most recent year of data available from different national data sets see Methods. Health and health care disparities refer to differences in health and health care between population groups.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; April Still, all pharmacists are responsible for the health of their patients and can have a global impact on reducing health disparities through active participation in the health care system. Efforts aimed at ensuring diversity in the health care work force, such as the model above, are integral for mitigating disparities in health.
Sep 15, · Disparities in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and cancer among the sexes and racial groups and possible interventions are discussed. The ongoing process to identify and reduce health disparities has engaged numerous federal agencies as they monitor the nation’s.
Sep 22, · If we want to remedy racial and ethnic disparities in health care, attending to language barriers is basically “low-hanging fruit.” It targets a well-documented source of disparities and a population experiencing dramatic inequities.
Health care disparities occur in the context of broader inequality. There are many sources across health systems, providers, patients and managers that contribute to disparities. Bias, stereotyping, prejudice and clinical uncertainty contribute to disparities.
Free Essay: Barriers and Disparities in Health Care NUR/ June 8, Cynthia Holsen R.N.
– C.W.H.N.P. Barriers and Disparities in Health Care Everyone. Aug 17, · Differences in access to healthcare across different populations is the main reason for existing disparities in healthcare provision.
These differences occur for several reasons and some of 5/5(4). Sep 15, · Disparities in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and cancer among the sexes and racial groups and possible interventions are discussed. | https://syhanypoqubutizuh.tsfutbol.com/barriers-and-disparities-in-health-care-36102rg.html |
Author Affiliations: Center for Bioethics, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (Dr Sankar); Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences (Dr Koenig), Center for Biomedical Ethics (Drs Cho, Koenig, and Lee), Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif; Department of Speech Communication, University of Georgia, Athens (Dr Condit); Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing (Dr Hunt); Department of Bioethics, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (Dr Marshall); and University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver (Dr Spicer).
Alleviating health disparities in the United States is a goal with broad
support. Medical research undertaken to achieve this goal typically adopts
the well-established perspective that racial discrimination and poverty are
the major contributors to unequal health status. However, the suggestion is
increasingly made that genetic research also has a significant role to play
in alleviating this problem, which likely overstates the importance of genetics
as a factor in health disparities. Overemphasis on genetics as a major explanatory
factor in health disparities could lead researchers to miss factors that contribute
to disparities more substantially and may also reinforce racial stereotyping,
which may contribute to disparities in the first place. Arguments that promote
genetics research as a way to help alleviate health disparities are augmented
by several factors, including research funding initiatives and the distinct
demographic patterns of health disparities in the United States.
Sankar P, Cho MK, Condit CM, et al. Genetic Research and Health Disparities. JAMA. 2004;291(24):2985–2989. doi:10.1001/jama.291.24.2985
© 2022
Coronavirus Resource Center
Customize your JAMA Network experience by selecting one or more topics from the list below. | https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/198999 |
Douglass Jackson is the Clinical Professor at the UW Department of Pediatric Dentistry since 2013. Understanding and eliminating health disparities has been an unwavering focus of Dr. Douglass Jackson’s work for well over twelve years. While serving as the Director of the Center for Diversity and Health Equity at Seattle Children’s Hospital, and before that as the Associate Dean for Educational Partnerships and Diversity at the University of Washington School of Dentistry, Dr. Jackson’s work was, and continues to be focused on applying quality improvement strategies to identify and address factors that contribute to health disparities. In addition to focusing on disparities in healthcare quality, he is also involved in work aimed at increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of the health profession’s workforce and advocating for workplace climates in healthcare organizations that value inclusion and cultural competency. This work earned him the Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service Endowed Professorship while at the UW and the directorship of multiple groundbreaking programs sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Josiah Macy Foundation.
Dr. Jackson earned his dental degree and specialty training in anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh, his master’s degree in clinical research design and statistical analysis at the University of Michigan and his doctoral degree in oral biology with an emphasis in pharmacology and neuroscience at the University of Minnesota.
Mr. Jackson has served as a Strategic Advisor to the Planning Committee since 2015. | https://www.phpda.org/about-the-phpda/governing-council/douglass-jackson-dmd-ms-phd |
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Incorporating translational research with clinical research to increase effectiveness in healthcare for better health
Clinical and Translational Medicine volume 3, Article number: 20 (2014)
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3795 Accesses
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7 Citations
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Abstract
Background
The transfer of new scientific discoveries into healthcare interventions requires that basic and clinical researchers work together with health care providers to generate team science. These innovative models require translational teams, and need to extend beyond the academic environment. The future of translational science requires partnerships with the healthcare community as well as the broader, general community. This new integrated model of effective translational teams holds promise for addressing thorny and persistent health disparities, is consistent with the nation’s strategic priority of eliminating health disparities, and bodes well for increasing healthcare effectiveness aimed at better health for all.
Discussion
As part of the 13th Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) International Symposium on Health Disparities, several senior academic leaders joined efforts to hold a workshop to discuss a model that considers the incorporation of two translational research strategies in research career development programs: Comparative effectiveness research (CER) and community-based participatory research (CBPR) for increasing healthcare effectiveness and eliminating healthcare disparities. Discussion included what issues may be most germane to the concept of a unified model for research workforce development through formal training and career development leading to increased effectiveness in healthcare for better health.
Summary
We believe that there is a gap in knowledge and skills in formal research career development programs that will enable physicians, other clinicians, and basic scientists to actively participate in these two translational research strategies. The purpose of this paper is to share the outcomes of these discussions, and encourage further discussion and possible innovation in the formulation of a new model for translational research workforce development.
Background
Clinical and translational research is essential to generate and test interventions to reduce health disparities; however, health disparities within the United States persist. In its 2012 report, ‘How Far Have We Come in Reducing Health Disparities?: Progress since 2000’, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) noted that health disparities persisted both across time as well as the lifespan. The IOM also emphasized the importance of the community’s voice in reducing health disparities.
Support for translational research has increased as many academic programs now grant degrees in clinical research requiring achievement of the new translational competencies defined by National Institutes of Health (NIH) for post-doctoral master level clinical research programs . Collaboration with communities and healthcare systems has increased as well as the recruitment of basic and clinical researchers, healthcare providers, and health professionals. The bidirectional continuum that defines translational research from basic or bench science (T1), transitioning through clinical settings (T2), clinical practice T3) to community/population applications (T4) is well known . There is a need to understand and support the development of a practice and community-based translational research workforce.
Methods
The 13th Research Centers for Minority Institutions (RCMI) International Symposium on Health Disparities was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico during December 2012. As part of this meeting, the Multidisciplinary Training and Career Development Key Function (MTCD) of the Puerto Rico Clinical and Translational Research Consortium (PRCTRC) and the Hispanic Clinical and Translational Research Education and Career Development (HCTRECD) programs collaborated with other academic leaders from minority institutions within a workshop to explore: (1) the role of translational research in clinical research and healthcare, (2) determine if there is a need for a unified model for research workforce development, and (3) ascertain if this intervention would increase the effectiveness of health interventions and reduce health disparities?
Translational Research Workforce Development, Healthcare Disparities, and Health Disparities are the three critical elements that were generated. Each will be discussed in the next section. Comparative effectiveness research (CER) and community-based participatory research (CBPR) were selected as two translational research strategies that have the potential to help transform healthcare and reduce healthcare disparities.
Translational Research Workforce Development is the process of training a new generation of researchers . Proficiency knowledge and skill in conducting translational research is needed to improve health outcomes and eliminate health disparities. The conduct of translational research requires that multiple disciplines and representatives from different sectors work together as teams . Team science is expected to result in the faster transfer of knowledge and other results into health benefits, while decreasing the economic burden of health costs.
In translational research, there is an emphasis on decreasing the time it takes to translate discoveries to practice and healthcare interventions, eliminating the gap that exists between research and practice, while facilitating research studies that focus on clinical practice. Academicians have responded to the lack of qualified investigators with the development of a curriculum that complies with new scientific trends and government policies . These curricula require the skills and competencies that promote the dissemination and transfer of scientific advances, as well as the implementation of new paradigms for effective collaboration and resource sharing.
Healthcare disparities
The 2002 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, ‘Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care’ defined health disparities in healthcare as racial or ethnic differences in the quality of healthcare that were not due to access-related factors or clinical needs, preferences, and appropriateness of intervention . The bases of these inequities included barriers within healthcare systems, complex issues related to patient-provider relationships, and individual challenges within patients and providers separately. Complex and bureaucratic systems, such as the US health care delivery system, are slow to change. The degree to which health disparities exist often reflect the choices made about the allocation of resources. As our nation struggles to reign in the cost of healthcare, health disparities have significant implications of not only the cost of inadequate care but the overall quality of healthcare in the US . Research in health disparities must identify opportunities for appropriate interventions, particularly among groups with the greatest needs.
Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) has been defined by the IOM as the “generation and synthesis of evidence” that compares the benefits and harms of alternative ways to improve care delivery or to “prevent, diagnose, treat, and monitor a clinical condition” . In other words, by directly comparing existing health care interventions, we can determine which works best for which patients, and which poses the greatest benefits, and harms. The core question of CER is which treatment works best, for whom, and under what circumstances? The general importance of CER is reinforced by the evidence that it: (1) provides evidence to inform decisions and help improve health care; (2) helps decide what forms of healthcare interventions are best for a problem; and (3) evaluates which interventions are effective, on average, across a given patient population.
The inclusion of the community in equitable partnerships require sharing power, resources, credit, results and knowledge, as well as mutually appreciating the unique strengths that all parties bring to each stage of the project . These partnerships, of which Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) is an excellent example, should reflect equity in problem definition, research design, the actually conducting of the research project, interpreting the results, and determining how to use results for action. CBPR begins with a research topic of importance to the community and has the aim of combining knowledge with action and achieving social change . CBPR differs from traditional research in several ways, the most striking being that it incorporates research, reflection, and action in a cyclical and iterative process. Unlike traditional ‘research’, CBPR most often seeks understanding through a cyclical process that combines research processes with reflection and action. Because CBPR focuses on issues that are of importance to the community, social inequities that often create and/or support health disparities and may serve as barriers to reducing disparities, are often brought to light during the process.
Results and discussion
For each of these topics, several questions were developed and posed to the invited experts; their responses are based on their perspectives and experiences in clinical and translational research and translational workforce development.
Research workforce development
Which elements of translational research are the most relevant for advancing and improving healthcare practice? Although the concept of translational research may have different meanings to each of us according to our own experience, it is important to note that it has a common goal: to accelerate the transfer of discovery to health benefit. For some, translational research is a term to express the integration of basic sciences and clinical research (“from bench to bedside”); for others, it means to accelerate the transfer of new knowledge to practice. Translational research has been defined in many ways, including fostering the multidirectional and multidisciplinary integration of basic research, patient-oriented research and population–based research; transforming scientific discoveries arising from laboratory, clinical or population studies into clinically relevant applications, and a process for developing evidence-based interventions and implementing them in practice . As shown in Figure 1, some of the most relevant academic features needed for effective translational research education are: communication, community, technology, mentoring and entrepreneurship, and all have in common the goal of improving the health of the public.
Therefore, translational research can be advanced through many pathways leading to a process by which knowledge can travel at a faster pace to practice, thus ensuring that discoveries and innovations reach the patients or populations for whom they are intended. Taking this in consideration, it’s important to understand: what are the major benefits of incorporating translational research with clinical research?
Bringing multiple disciplines and different sectors with increasing diversity to work together as teams is expected to:
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Facilitate a faster transfer of knowledge and scientific findings into health benefits.
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Decrease the economic burden of health cost.
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Eliminate the gap that exists between research and clinical practice.
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Facilitate research studies that address the patient care problems encountered in common clinical practice.
Thus, we aim for a new health workforce that can integrate research efficacy with effectiveness. In order to achieve this aim, what challenges in education have to be surpassed for an effective integration of translational and clinical research? Many challenges have been identified, such as fragmented infrastructure, incompatible databases, regulatory burden, career disincentives, practice limitations and lack of funding. There is a strong movement both in the government and private sector to surpass these challenges. Academicians are working to respond to these challenges with the implementation of new paradigms for effective collaboration and resource sharing . These translational competencies are best achieved in a multidisciplinary learning and working environment where leadership, critical thinking and networking skills are medullar in the education and career development of this new generation of translational researchers.
Healthcare disparities
Why is it important to study healthcare disparities? Ours is a society that continues to wrestle with a legacy of discrimination based on color, educational attainment, income, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation . Facing past and present discrimination poses moral and ethical issues for healthcare providers and administrators, particularly in healthcare systems that have supported unequal distribution of resources. We are also asked to consider healthcare as a resource tied to social justice, opportunities, and the quality of life of individuals and groups (facilitating the advancement of persons economically and professionally).
What are some of the contextual and explanatory factors of racial and ethnic healthcare disparities? A review of racial and ethnic disparities in access to and use of medical care reveals clear and disturbing trends of significant differences in access to and use of medical care by race and ethnicity within certain disease categories and types of healthcare services . Factors such as a patient’s socio-economic status, insurance coverage, health status, disease severity, availability of needed services, and patient preferences do not fully explain racial and ethnic differences in access to medical care. Data indicate that interpersonal factors (e.g., culture, provider bias, cultural perceptions and differences, discrimination, and intentional and unintentional bias) may explain some causes of healthcare disparities. Least is known about healthcare system-level characteristics, although these variables may offer some explanation.
In order to more accurately identify and address those factors that contribute to healthcare disparities, we must ask if we can describe some of the general approaches and strategies for eliminating healthcare disparities and achieving equitable healthcare. One theoretical model of healthcare equity , as shown in Figure 2, would require nine factors for success:
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Continue to increase awareness among providers and decision makers of the importance of equity in “achieving best care”.
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Insure equitable access to preventive and curative health care services.
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Reduce uncertainty in clinical decisions, through real-time patient medical record and clinical laboratory information, evidence-based guidelines and recommended standards of best care.
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Improve efficiency and coordination of all aspects of primary care, ambulatory care, specialty care, and hospital care.
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Eliminate variations in health care, e.g., due to unconscious and conscious cost considerations, reimbursements, and patient insurance coverage or perceived ability to pay.
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Increase the knowledge base to better understand the nature and causes of health care inequities and appropriate interventions to eliminate them.
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Create a culturally competent health care system capable of delivering the highest quality and safest care available to every patient regardless of race, ethnicity, social class, culture, ability to pay, or language proficiency.
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Insure health system accountability in equitable care quality by tracking, monitoring and reporting equity quality measures.
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Integrate eliminating inequities with quality improvement processes.
Comparative effectiveness research
The core question of comparative effectiveness research (CER) is which treatment works best, for which patients, and under what circumstances? The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allocated $1.1 billion for CER , which seeks to inform healthcare decisions by examining evidence on the effectiveness, benefits, and harms of different treatment options. With this information, providers and patients are able to make more informed treatment decisions that improve health outcome, taking into account the patient’s preference, values, and experiences. Its focus on evidence-based comparisons of treatment options, together with the joint decision-making process of patient and provider, makes CER an effective approach to improving healthcare outcomes, but also in reducing healthcare costs and eliminating health disparities.
A factor for consideration in CER is that of treatment heterogeneity or the heterogeneity of treatment effect (HTE). Randomized clinical trials (RCTs), considered the gold standard in clinical research , may produce data indicating that the same treatment may have different levels of impact of different people although outcomes may be reported as an average treatment effect (ATE), implying that treatment outcomes may be similar across populations with shared (heterogeneous) characteristics. As CER seeks improved decision-making among patients and providers, clinicians’ consideration of evidence from RCTs would include information about treatment variations within the study populations.
A correlated concept to CER is that of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR), which evaluates the outcomes of healthcare practices, identifying ways that patients may be more involved with their own healthcare and making informed decisions about their health outcomes . In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) established the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a national program in CER.
Ultimately, CER and PCOR seek to address the complexity of how clinical treatment options are evaluated and applied in a multi-dimensional environment that represents a variety of stakeholders including patients, providers, healthcare organizations, and insurance companies, as well as healthcare policy makers. The future of healthcare and its innovations will require a well-trained workforce capable of conducting comparative effectiveness research which will in turn advance translational science.
Community-Based Participatory Research
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has been defined as research that is conducted as an equal partnership between traditionally trained “experts” and members of a community . In CBPR projects, the project begins with the community and the community participates fully in all aspects of the research process. This collaborative approach to research equitably involves all parties in the research process, recognizing the unique strengths that each brings to the study. Researchers who choose to engage in CPBR should ask themselves, ‘Do you believe that attending to social inequities should be part of a research agenda?’ Some researchers may be concerned that addressing social inequities may cloud the research process, thus reducing objectivity and the overall integrity of the research design. In fact, social inequities must be addressed as these situations where groups or ‘communities’ do not have equal social status, social class, and/or social circles may have created or contribute to a myriad of health disparities. Unaddressed, these divisions (which are often economically based), can lead to social divisions as well as perpetuating discrimination in key issues such as access to healthcare .
The very nature of the CBPR process requires an ecological perspective that examines determinants of health from more than one ecological level (e.g., individual, interpersonal, community, organization or policy). By definition, this would require a more complex research design requiring objectives at more than one ecological level. This characteristic of CBPR may require researchers to ask themselves, ‘Do you question the need to address health – and therefore your research – from an ecological perspective?’ The CBPR researcher must be prepared to understand and navigate the dynamic interrelationships between and among personal, environmental, social, and political factors that shape and define ‘community’.
Before entering the field of CBPR, researchers should ask themselves ‘Do you perceive community participation as exploitative rather than empowering?’ The definition and intent of community-based participatory research is often misinterpreted to be the same as ‘community-oriented’ or ‘community-focused’. These approaches are very different from CBPR as they do not assume a proactively planned partnership relationship with community in the research process. In these models, communities are often used as ‘labs’ where data are collected, analyzed, and reported. But, there is little change within the community’s health, social, or economic status at the end of a research project. Communities in general may be distrustful of ‘outside experts’. Those with negative experiences where they believe the community has been exploited by the ‘expert’ are much less likely to open themselves to any partnership with the research academy. It can be a burden for the researcher to assure the community that the CBPR process is not exploitative. And, these assurances must be validated by actions.
Conclusions
A unified model of training the next generation of clinical and translational research should include: 1) a better understanding of health disparities and approaches to achieve health equity, 2) comparative effectiveness research training to better understand the relative benefits of alternative deliveries of healthcare, 3) community participation in all aspects of research and healthcare decision. What is the need for a unified model of training for this new workforce, and how would such a model for workforce development increase effectiveness in healthcare and reduce health disparities? A few suggested approaches to addressing the challenges of preparing this new generation of translational research workforce are:
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Proactive recruitment and inclusion of healthcare providers in existing academic programs that grant degrees in translational research. Healthcare providers, by the nature of their work, are often unable to attend classes offered in traditional ‘brick and mortar’ environments. As a result, academic programs seeking greater participation of healthcare providers in their degree programs will need to develop more online offerings as well as other types of learning strategies such as team facilitation and field research projects that encourage the cooperative work between non-clinicians and clinicians as well featuring more experiential learning opportunities.
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Develop strategies for teaching how to effectively engage multiple stakeholders across a variety of organizations and environments. Healthcare and community environments feature an array of stakeholders, each representing unique views, interests, and needs. Healthcare administrators’ interest in CER may be primarily linked to cost containment while providers’ interest is likely grounded in the effectiveness of treatment options and improved health outcomes. Both views are valid, given the stakeholders’ role in healthcare. When proposing a CER study, translational researchers will need to not only be aware of these differences, but understand how to work with each so that well-designed studies can be implemented while addressing each stakeholders needs.
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Develop collaborative relationships between translational researchers within the academy and stakeholders in healthcare and community. Effective collaborations are those that reflect full-partnerships between the academy and the healthcare entity or community including a willingness to share decision-making authority, roles in the research study, and publication recognition. In the same way that translational researchers are discouraged from considering communities as ‘research labs’, the same philosophy applies to healthcare.
In conclusion, clinical and translational research is seen as a cornerstone in reducing health disparities, and increasing effectiveness in healthcare for better health. While the need for research as the T1 and T2 stages of the translational research continuum is not diminished, as noted by the IOM clinical care within the healthcare system and the role of communities in reducing health disparities present clear ‘next steps’ in the efforts to reduce health disparities.
Abbreviations
- UPR-MSC:
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University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus
- CBPR:
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Community-based participatory research
- CER:
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Comparative effectiveness research
- US:
-
United States.
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Viswanathan M, Ammerman A, Eng E, Gartlehner G, Lohr KN, Griffith D, Rhodes S, Samuel-Hodge C, Maty S, Lux L, Webb L, Sutton SF, Swinson T, Jackman A, Whitener L: Community-Based Participatory Research: Assessing the Evidence. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment No. 99 (Prepared by RTI—University of North Carolina Evidence-Based Practice Center Under Contract No. 290–02–0016). AHRQ Publication 04-E022–2. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.: Rockville, MD; 2004. July July
Acknowledgements
The Workshop was partially sponsored by the UPR-MSC School of Health Professions and School of Medicine joint NIH funded programs: Hispanics in Research Capability (HiREC) Endowment program and the R25 Hispanic Clinical and Translational Research Education and Career Development (HCTRECD)/post-doctoral Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Research (MSc) program (Award Numbers S21MD001830 and R25MD007607 from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities). The planning of this Workshop was done in close collaboration with the RCMI Translational Research Network (RTRN) Education and Dissemination Subcommittee (NIMHD U54 RR022762), in which there were representatives of the five US minority institutions with clinical research degree programs: UPR-MSC, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, Morehouse School of Medicine and Meharry College of Medicine. Support for the development of this publication was supported by the Puerto Clinical and Translational Research Center, supported by grants from the National Center for Research Resources (U54 RR026139-01A1) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (8U54MD 007587–03) from the National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. We also thank the support in organizing this Workshop of the following academic leaders Margarita Alegria, Ph.D., (Harvard Medical School) that was a presenter at this workshop, speaking on Competitive Effectiveness Research, and Magda Shaheen, MD, Ph.D. (Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science); Lourdes E. Soto, MPHE, Ed.D. (UPR-MSC); Alexander Quarshie, MD, M.S. (Morehouse School of Medicine); and Stephania T. Miller-Hughes, PhD, MSCI (Meharry Medical College) that acted as facilitators of the discussion after the main topic presentations. We also recognize the support of Aracelis Huertas, HiREC Project Manager as Moderator of the Session and Prof. Maria San Martin for her advice on the conceptualization of the design of Figure 1 included in this paper.Permission for the use of Figure 2 by the Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings. Originally published in: Mayberry RM, Mili F, Ofili E. Racial and ethnic differences in access to medical care. Med Care Res Rev 2000, 57(Suppl 1):108–145.
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EE developed the topic on the Research Workforce Development, RH developed the topic on Community-based Participatory Research, RM developed the topic of Health Disparities and MHM synthesized information related to this debate into the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Estape, E.S., Mays, M.H., Harrigan, R. et al. Incorporating translational research with clinical research to increase effectiveness in healthcare for better health. Clin Trans Med 3, 20 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/2001-1326-3-20
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Recent studies suggest that trans people appear to have an increased risk for myocardial infarction and death due to cardiovascular disease when compared to cisgender people. In studies that followed trans people on hormone therapy, the rates of myocardial infarction and stroke were consistently higher in trans women than trans men. Estrogen therapy for trans women has been reported to increase their risk for venous thromboembolism.3 This presents opportunities for screening TGD groups for cardiometabolic risk factors in much the same way as their cisgender counterparts.4 A recent scientific statement from the American Heart Association emphasizes on the importance of screening and risk reduction for cardiovascular disease in TGD people.
In this scientific statement, distal and proximal minority stressors are presented, which may contribute to higher overall stress levels that can increase the risk for poor mental and physical health outcomes in TGD individuals. The Gender and Minority Stress Resilience model is presented and highlights these factors, as well as the presence of resilience factors that may counteract the effects of transphobic violence and stigma, and promote TGD health equity.5 This Scientific Statement is definitely a step in the right direction to address cardiovascular related health disparities for TGD people. It addresses the value of Life’s Simple 7 (tobacco use, physical activity, diet, weight status, blood pressure, glycemic status, and lipids), targeting key risk factors towards the reduction of cardiovascular disease. Other factors such as HIV infection status, vascular dysfunction, alcohol use, lack of sleep, stigma, discrimination, violence, lack of affordable housing and access to health care are also discussed.5
Advancing the cardiovascular health of people who are TGD will require a multifaceted approach that integrates best practices into health promotion, cardiovascular care, and research for this understudied population. This presents opportunities for innovation in areas such as the electronic health record, especially to capture sociocultural factors relevant to heart health among TGD groups. Longitudinal research examining psychosocial, behavioral, and clinical determinants of optimal cardiovascular health in TGD people at the individual, interpersonal, and structural levels is also advocated. Healthcare professionals and clinician training on the proper assessment of sex and gender in healthcare settings, and identification of TGD health disparities will also be necessary to the identification of interventions and the reduction of disparities experience by TGD groups.5
In conclusion, the recent Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association on TGD people highlights the unique, health care needs of TGD individuals. It also highlights opportunities to improve their health status though screening and preventive lifestyle practices incorporating Life’s Simple 7. Clinician education and training on the psychosocial, cultural, behavioral, and biological factors in TGD people may help bridge the gaps in cardiovascular care for these groups.
References:
- S. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Healthy People 2030. LGBT: Goal: Improve the health, safety, and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/lgbt. Published 2020. Accessed July 13, 2021.
- Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health Issues and Research Gaps and Opportunities. The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2011. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64806/ doi: 10.17226/13128. Accessed July 12, 2021. | https://earlycareervoice.professional.heart.org/tag/aha-scientific-statements/ |
Ileana Herrell, Ph.D., Director, Division of Scientific Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, at the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), represented the Center at the most recent meeting of the Commission to End Healthcare Disparities. This prestigious group was formed in response to the 2003 Institute of Medicine report on health disparities.
Established by the American Medical Association, the National Medical Association, the National Hispanic Medical Association and more than 50 other organizations of healthcare professionals, the Commission is charged with developing consensus on strategies and solutions to effectively address health care disparities. Herrell outlined the role federal agencies should play in this process.
Herrell underscored NCMHD’s role in establishing several programs to help build the scientific infrastructure to conduct health disparity research and the Center’s emphasis on research into the “inter-connectivity” of the factors that contribute to health disparities. She said: “In order for us to eliminate health disparities and to achieve equity in health outcomes…it is vital that we study the underlying basis of biology, culture, socio-economics, racism, and politics.”
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Joyce A. Hunter, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) recently represented the Center at the advisory board meeting of the Sister Study, a unique public private partnership that seeks to identify some of the genetic and environmental causes of breast cancer.
The Sister Study is the only long-term study in the United States and Puerto Rico of women ages 35 to 74 whose sisters had breast cancer. Begun in 2003, the study will follow 50,000 women for at least 10 years to learn how the environment and genes may affect a woman’s chances of getting breast cancer.
“NCMHD has been proud to support this research,” said Dr. Hunter. “It was encouraging to hear that the advisory board was especially appreciative of the Center’s efforts to ensure that the study is broadly representative.”
John Ruffin, Ph.D., Director of NCMHD said, “The Sister Study will provide valuable information about the different reasons women get breast cancer. While women from all walks of life may have common experiences that could increase their chances of developing breast cancer, it is important that women from all backgrounds participate so that the results of the study will apply to everyone.”
In FY 2007 NCMHD awarded $2.1 million to the study to assist in the recruitment and retention of a diverse cohort of women - African Americans, Asians, American Indians/Alaska Natives, Hispanics, and Seniors age 65 and older. The Sister Study is conducted by an intramural component of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The private partners include the American Cancer Society, Sisters Network, Inc., the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and Y-Me National Breast Cancer Organization.
Breast cancer will affect 1 in 8 women in the US over their lifetimes. African American women are 10% less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer but 35% more likely to die from it.
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“Social determinants of health” (SDOH) is a hot topic these days and not one that’s likely to go away any time soon. That’s because our healthcare system continues to struggle with healthcare disparities, leaving consumers from adverse socioeconomic scenarios to suffer for it. Think about it. If a person can’t afford fresh fruit, how can he comply with the nation’s healthy eating guidelines? If a mom can’t read, how can she give her child the correct dose of medication?
It’s issues like these that keep health equity advocates up at night. To better understand the situation, let’s look at where health begins. HealthyPeople.gov, a division of the nation’s Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, says: “Health starts in our homes, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities.”
HealthyPeople.gov goes on to say, “Our health is also determined in part by access to social and economic opportunities; the resources and supports available in our homes, neighborhoods and communities; the quality of our schooling; the safety of our workplaces; the cleanliness of our water, food and air; and the nature of our social interactions and relationships.”
No one sees the disparities more clearly than healthcare providers in the trenches. In a New York Times article, Dr. Dhruv Khullar witnessed the inequities firsthand as a medical resident:
“…what strained our abilities was not our patients’ medical complexity, but their social problems: They were poorer, less educated, more isolated, from rougher neighborhoods. We quickly learned that while it’s hard to dose insulin, it’s harder still for a patient who speaks no English, has no refrigerator, and regularly has his medications stolen.”
The status quo must change, but how? For starters, all health institutions must play a part. That includes health plans, healthcare organizations, community resources and medical providers. An article published in the American Journal of Managed Care says, “First, health plans have to recognize that a collaborative approach is absolutely essential to success. No one organization can manage social determinants of health and population health holistically. Rather, health plans and health systems must develop a community accountability model and build coalitions with their community partners.”
HealthyPeople.gov suggests health institutions focus on these five key areas:
- Economic stability — Address employment issues, food scarcity, poverty and housing instability
- Education — Start with early childhood education and development, and provide support for high school graduation, language and literacy and enrollment in higher education
- Social and community context — Eliminate discrimination, lower incarceration rates and encourage civic participation and social cohesion
- Health and healthcare — Make healthcare and primary care accessible and promote health literacy
- Neighborhood and built environment — Lower crime and violence, raise housing quality, improve environmental conditions, and provide access to foods that support healthy eating
Health equity for all people is a lofty goal. We will only achieve it with strategic partnerships, a collaborative effort, and an urgent commitment to closing the gap between the healthcare ecosystem and people in need. It’s critically important to recognize the factors that impact population health in order to create targeted, effective programs that improve health outcomes and drive positive behavior changes.
To learn how BioIQ can help you create a health testing or immunization program that addresses the specific needs of your population, contact (888) 818-1594 or [email protected]. | https://www.bioiq.com/collaboration-key-to-social-determinants-of-health/ |
Did you know that in Kentucky more than 1 in 10 children have had a parent separated from them due to incarceration?
This shared sentence is not only an Adverse Childhood Experience but research also shows that children of incarcerated parents are, on average, six times more likely to become incarcerated themselves. The traumatic experiences of young people who have a parent incarcerated are too often overlooked or misunderstood. Not only does having a parent incarcerated come with long-lasting negative effects for children’s mental, physical, and psychological health, but being incarcerated permanently harms a person’s access to find safe ways to clothe, house, feed, and care for their children.
Whether they live with their other parent at home or with a kinship or fictive kin caregiver, the adults in a young person’s life can play a role in supporting their ability to weather the hardships that come with parental incarceration and nurturing their ability to thrive. The Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation (WJRF) is an organization that works to do just that – bridge gaps, heal justice, and support kids and youth who are impacted by incarceration. Their goals are to educate and raise awareness in their community and those surrounding.
WJRF gave a presentation at the recent Commission On Race and Access to Opportunity meeting – watch the recording via KET.
WJRF co-founders Dale Robinson and Amy Snow gave a run down of the many programs and supports that they have for families of those who have been impacted by incarceration. This includes resources such as visitation for kids with incarcerated parents, host contact visitations in their local county jail, and giving families gas cards to travel to facilities outside of Franklin county. They also provide monthly caregivers support groups, parent cafes, family fellowship events, and provide assistance to help meet families basic needs. Programs for children include Kids Rising Up Through Support and Healing (K.R.U. S. H) school-based groups, high school outreach, life skills classes, college and career exposure, and weekly mentoring.
In the same way that there is a bill of rights for foster children, the WJRF asked the committee to support drafting similar legislation for Kentucky. This would be a Kentucky bill of rights for children of those incarcerated with a goal to help families break generational incarceration cycles. The legislation would include measures for kids of incarcerated parents:
- To be protected from additional trauma at the time of parental arrest.
- To be informed of the arrest in an age-appropriate manner.
- To be here and respected by decision makers when decisions are made about the child
- To be considered when decisions are made about the parent.
- To be cared for in the absence of the child’s parent in a way that prioritizes the child’s physical, mental, and emotional needs.
- To speak with, see and touch the incarcerated parent.
- To be informed about the local services and programs that can provide support to the child.
- To not be judged, labeled, or blamed for the parents incarceration
- To have life long relationships with their incarcerated parents.
There are numerous steps that we can take as individuals, organizations, and communities to support Kentucky families that have been impacted by incarceration. Some steps may feel small, but together we can make a big difference! Get involved this October by:
- Exploring and sharing this guide that offers tips, resources, and conversation starters for parents, caregivers, and community members supporting children with an incarcerated parent.
- Engaging in conversations with your local jails and community advocates to discuss and explore ways to support those impacted by incarceration.
- Learning about local practices to gain an understanding of where there may be a need to step in and support those impacted in your community.
- Watch the recording of a recent webinar to hear fellow Kentuckians share specific ideas that you could consider implementing in your own community to improve outcomes for families impacted by incarceration. The webinar will also include highlights from a new report, Community and Jail Practices Supporting Children with Incarcerated Parents: The Kentucky Landscape, from Kentucky Youth Advocates and the Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation. | https://kyyouth.org/see-us-support-us-october-is-parental-incarceration-awareness-month/ |
Yolanda Fields (Chief Program Officer, Adult Support Network) joined Breakthrough in 2003. Yolanda has been recognized for improving program processes and facilitating growth in individuals. Yolanda is also the Director of Women’s Ministry at New Landmark Missionary Baptist Church and sits on the board of the Advocate Charitable Foundation.
In communities across Chicago, families are thriving, industries are booming, and more opportunities are accessible. There are dozens of neighborhoods in this city being transformed, but there is still work to be done to ensure all neighborhoods and their residents are able to thrive in safe communities. When it comes to addressing the history and frequency of violence, it is important to consider the trauma people are experiencing and how that impacts neighborhood safety.
Trauma is an event or series of physically or emotionally harmful events that have lasting adverse effects on the individual’s mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being. Childhood traumatic experiences have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, as well as lifelong health and opportunity. Per the Center for Disease Control, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been linked to chronic health conditions, low life potential, and early death. The more a child is exposed to trauma, the higher risk they are for these negative health outcomes. In addition to trauma, Breakthrough has found that many individuals experience co-occurring disorders, including substance abuse and mental illness, which makes it that much more difficult to achieve stability.
The effects of trauma on an individual can be devastating, but if you extrapolate those ramifications throughout an entire community, it can be catastrophic.
Because trauma is a prevalent factor in many of the issues challenging our community, Breakthrough implements this four-pronged approach in our interactions, facilities, and services:
- Realizing the prevalence of trauma
- Addressing trauma through prevention and intervention methods
- Resisting re-traumatization
- Ensuring our staff are trained and supported to provide trauma-informed care
Since Breakthrough joined the community in 2000, we have been dedicated to providing services that responded to trauma and were representative of the needs of East Garfield Park residents. With the housing market in disarray, we focused on services that would help our neighbors remain in stable homes and programs for temporary housing. As the price of healthy food grew over the years, we expanded our services to include the Fresh Market, which has distributed over 1 million pounds of fresh food since 2014.
Building on this model of trauma-informed care and listening to the community, Breakthrough convened with eight other community-focused outreach organizations as part of Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P) — a city-wide collaboration aimed at reducing shootings, creating safe spaces, and professionalizing the violence prevention field. It is the first time many organizations and services have joined together to reduce violence in local communities through nonviolence and trauma-informed care.
CP4P targets individuals at highest risk of being perpetrators and victims of violence. Our approach includes creating authentic relationships in communities facilitated by local organizations skilled in and informed by peace, trauma, and wraparound services all facilitated by capable outreach workers who live and work in the communities they serve. This work is only possible with a deep understanding of the trauma that impacts the daily lives of individuals in East Garfield Park.
As members of the local community, we are elated to see our friends and neighbors thrive. We celebrate with them accomplishments like sending their last of three children to college or being elected to the local school council. We also mourn with them when life is lost to gun and street violence and are committed to partnering with them to create a safe, stable, and engaged community.
Through addressing trauma, we are able to help individuals in our community heal, develop new problem solving skills, and feel supported by developing roadmaps that engage, empower, and create supported individuals. This is key to helping people discover wellness at an individual and community level. Only through a trauma-informed lens, collaboration, and the pursuit of community wellness will we see recovery from trauma and revitalized communities.
More: | https://makeitbetter.net/philanthropy/breakthrough-impact-trauma-our-community/ |
Ten economic facts about crime and this high incarceration rate can have profound effects on 6 ten economic facts about crime and incarceration in the. Effects of incarceration mike murray loading evidence-based approaches to alternatives to incarceration: edward latessa,. The impact of incarceration on juvenile offenders the effects of incarceration continue to impact on juvenile offenders after they are released from prison,.
Our incarceration policy is very costly with relatively few benefits and a lot of deleterious effects on our who studies the psychological effects of incarceration. Research on the social and public-health consequences of incarceration usually follows one of two arcs: tracing the adverse mental and physical outcomes for people who have been incarcerated, or else noting “spillover” effects that may include depressive or anxiety symptoms among the partners and children of those behind bars. Children of incarcerated fathers have worse education outcomes and poorer mental health compared to their peers, according to a brief from the center for poverty research at the university of california, davis. Re entry on childre, incarcerated parents - effects of parent's incarceration on children.
The drug war and mass incarceration by the numbers 27 reasons why us shouldn't lead war on drugs 27 reasons why us shouldn'. Arrested development: the effects of incarceration on the development of psychosocial maturity - volume 24 issue 3 - julia dmitrieva, kathryn c monahan, elizabeth cauffman, laurence steinberg. An often overlooked population in discussions of prison reform is the children of inmates how a child is affected depends both on what incarceration does to their parent and what they learn from their parent's experience to overcome endogeneity concerns, we exploit the random assignment of judges. How does a prisoner's incarceration affect family and friends the incapacitating effects of incarceration leave single incarceration profoundly impacts.
A summary of ipr's june 7 policy briefing over the past three decades, the us prison population has skyrocketed, with six times as many people in prison today as in 1972. One thought on “ the effects of mass incarceration on communities of color ” jacob december 10, 2015 at 11:18 pm it is also clear that continued racial residential segregation exacerbates existing inequalities and. In 2010, an estimated 27 million children and one in nine african-american children had an incarcerated parent incarceration creates challenges for inmates’ families.
2015 study in the quarterly journal of economics showing how early incarceration juvenile incarceration and its impact on high school graduation rates and adult. Free essay: running head: effects of incarceration on black families the causes and effects of incarceration on black families jasmine myrick prof marsha. The present study investigates how visitation from parents impacts youths’ mental health in the first two months of incarceration in a secure juvenile facility a diverse sample of 276 male, newly.
Enduring stigma: the long-term effects of incarceration on health jason schnittker andrea john university of pennsylvania journal of health and social behavior 2007, vol 48 (june): 115–130. Incarceration can have multiple profound effects on a person while the goal of incarceration is to rehabilitate the person to follow laws, the result is often isolation and loss of valuable resources that a person needs to maintain a. Juvenile incarceration & adult outcomes: evidence from randomly will include estimates of the effects of juvenile incarceration on high school incarceration,. From prison to home: the effect of incarceration and reentry on children, families, and communities effects of parental incarceration on young children ross d parke university of california, riverside k alison clarke-stewart university of california, irvine december 2001 [ project home page | list of conference papers .
Washington, dc: the national academies press doi: ethnographic work examining the effects of incarceration on parenting focuses primarily on fathers,. Crime and high rates of incarceration impose tremendous costs on society, with lasting negative effects on individuals, families, and communities. The number of women in prison has increased dramatically in the last several decades, yet there is little research into women's experiences in prison and how it.
Mass incarceration is a ongoing issue in the united states, especially within the black community it is actually sad that “there are more african american men incarcerated in the us than the total. A s the overuse of jail becomes more common—although the majority of people are held there pretrial and presumed innocent—its growing impact extends to the children, families, and communities outside its bars, people who must also manage the financial, economic, and emotional effects. Mass incarceration of african americans affects the racial achievement gap — report by valerie strauss march 15, 2017 email the author follow @valeriestrauss.
2018. | http://zxcourseworkynaw.archiandstyle.info/the-effects-of-incarceration.html |
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Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Despite strong economic growth, California continues to struggle with high rates of child poverty. Adverse circumstances faced by young children can have long-term physical, social, and behavioral consequences—negatively affecting their future education and economic well-being. A nuanced... Read more
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Monday, March 13, 2017
The California Community Foundation (CCF) will immediately award $1.4 million in rapid response grants to 19 organizations as part of its coordinated commitment to immigrant inclusion and protection.These grants deliver critical support to organizations providing impacted communities with Know Your... Read more
Friday, March 10, 2017
Over the past few weeks, we've witnessed a new administration work daily to roll back rights our communities have fought hard to win, putting in jeopardy everything from immigrants' rights and economic security to educational equity and women's health.At the same time, and despite the increasingly... Read more
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
This past week saw an event that was a watershed moment in the world of philanthropy and private foundations in the Los Angeles region. We engaged in a full-day conversation about equity, inequality, and inclusion in the promise of America. The catalytic development for this gathering was a “coming... Read more
Friday, March 3, 2017
Dear Colleagues,Just last month, we observed the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which led to the incarceration of tens of thousands of our Japanese-American neighbors during World War II (you can visit the Japanese American National Museum exhibit to learn more). The marking of this... Read more
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Friday, February 10, 2017
What would Measure H do?Measure H is a proposal on the L.A. County ballot that would raise the sales tax by one-quarter (1/4) of a cent. The revenues would go to provide services for the homeless. The tax applies to all the cities within the County of Los Angeles and would be in effect for ten... Read more
Funding Area: | https://www.socalgrantmakers.org/news?f%5B0%5D=field_topics%3A193&page=7 |
Written By: Isha Lodhawala and Emma Bolkovac
The year 2020 is undoubtedly going down in history as one of the most tragic and uncertain times for not just America but the entire world. As the COVID-19 pandemic causes chaos and the Black Lives Matter protests highlight the injustices sought by Black people, a new light has been shone on human rights issues, especially in the area of healthcare. This light has revealed how marginalized groups have a disproportionate access to various social determinants of health, such as quality education, nutrient-rich food, and adequate income which leads to the inability to access proper healthcare. With respect to current events, the lack of these evidently inaccessible amenities puts Black populations at a much higher risk of contracting COVID-19. Thus, the concept of health equity in which everyone has a fair opportunity to live a healthy life is currently an unattainable dream. Unfortunately, this issue is so systemic that it starts in our very own community.
According to a Columbus report, there is an eight year difference in the life expectancy between residents of Hilltop, a Black majority neighborhood, and Upper Arlington, a White majority neighborhood. Having been to both neighborhoods, this is not a shocking statistic. Instead, what is shocking is that these neighborhoods are segregated by race, as depicted in the figure below. As a direct result of the demographics of Hilltop, the available resources and ultimately, the quality of life are compromised and diminished, leading to a lower life expectancy. This is a direct example of how redlining negatively impacts Black health. Although this is just one example of a small neighborhood within a small suburb in Columbus, it illustrates exactly what is happening across our entire country. Redlining, the direct and indirect segregation of minorities, is caused by historically racist policies and the continued stigmas within predominantly white neighborhoods against minority groups. Unfortunately, while redlining continues to play a very debilitating role in every aspect of our Black brothers’ and sisters’ lives, the issue is largely ignored. Although the concept may explain statistics such as why 55% of vulnerable youth in Columbus are people of color, we should never feel okay knowing that Black neighborhoods are more vulnerable to health issues solely because of this historical segregation. Highlighting these issues is the initial step towards fighting systemic racism in the world of healthcare.
Although this is just one example of a small neighborhood within a small suburb in Columbus, it illustrates exactly what is happening across our entire country.
LACK OF QUALITY EDUCATION:
Studying health disparities begins with understanding one of the most fundamental components of a community: education. Lower income neighborhoods, often composed of large Black populations, have a lack of educational opportunities. This is primarily because a school’s funding is dependent on the property taxes it receives from its surrounding area. As a result, a lower income area would have schools that are less funded, leading to less resources for students, such as lack of new technology and textbooks and decreased availability of academic and mental support services. Additionally, low income areas are more likely to have children participate in gang activity and violence. This is largely due to the fact that these children, often minorities, are subject to unique hardships such as poverty, educational setbacks, immigration, drug usage, and an overall lack of resources. These conditions enable gang activity to thrive in these areas and it thus increases victimization rates causing students to avoid going to school entirely, in the fear that doing so may compromise their safety. Thus, this constant fear which students begin to associate with school decreases their likelihood to attend classes, perform well, and eventually graduate.
INSUFFICIENT INCOME:
The combination of the lack of educational resources and high gang violence rates contributes to a lower graduation rate for Black children. In fact, according to the, in Columbus “… the graduation rate in very high vulnerability neighborhoods is 73 percent, compared to 94 percent in very low vulnerability neighborhoods.” The lack of educational opportunities which inturn leads to lower graduation rates makes it extremely difficult for these individuals to make healthy lifestyle decisions in the present and future. Furthermore, these educational hardships prevent upward mobility in employment and financial stability, directly influencing accessibility to healthcare.
These educational setbacks are related to the amount of Black families that live on the poverty line. In fact, according to the Ohio Poverty Report, “At every age, poverty rates are lower – usually much lower – for the majority than for minorities,” This is especially true for zero to five year olds where poverty rates are 42% for minority males and and 15% for non-Hispanic White males, respectively. As a result, these poverty-ridden communities, which have decreased educational and employment opportunities, do not possess jobs which can sustain a family. This requires individuals to travel farther distances to work although transportation is often inaccessible. Furthermore, at these workplaces, Black individuals are likely to suffer economic hardships based on racist hiring practices and their lower qualifications due to predisposed educational disadvantages.
As a combination of all of these difficulties, Black individuals cannot leave to earn money. Instead, they are ‘stuck’ in their situations.
THE UNAVAILABILITY OF HEALTHY FOOD:
These low income areas are also impacted by environmental racism, leading to the formation of food deserts. Food deserts are areas within neighborhoods which have limited access to nutritious food and resources. These areas have increased fast food restaurants and a decreased availability of grocery stores. For example, in Columbus, Franklin county has 92 grocery stores but 588 fast food locations. Because marginalized communities have a lower accessibility to transportation and cannot afford more costly, but healthy groceries, they resort to purchasing the most affordable and conveniently located food options. Unfortunately, these available options are higher in calories and preservatives. Consistently consuming them increases the risk of developing certain health conditions such as diabetes, certain cancers, kidney disease, and hypertension. It is speculated that these health complications may be intensified by the “Slavery Hypertension Hypothesis,” which suggests that African Americans developed an enhanced ability to conserve salts due to the treacherous Atlantic passage. Although the physical concept of slavery has technically been abolished, its impacts are long lived and continue to take major physical tolls on the lives of our Black brothers and sisters.
INABILITY TO ACCESS HEALTHCARE:
The financial barrier created by the lack of educational and employment opportunities has had significant impacts in Black communities’ accessibility to healthcare. Additionally, certain situational issues such as food deserts have increased the need for certain types of preventative care and treatment such as for Hypertension. However, this is unattainable for a large proportion of Black individuals because treatments, prescriptions and check-ups are expensive and therefore, inaccessible. This causes numerous health conditions to go undiagnosed and untreated. Additionally, similar to how schools in underfunded areas have a lack of resources, hospitals work the same way. When patients do not have health insurance or when they are on Medicare, hospitals are reimbursed to only cover the minimal cost of providing care, which is actually not an adequate amount. However, when private payers are covering the costs, hospitals are reimbursed much thoroughly. Unfortunately, Black populations are subject to higher rates of poverty which increase their likelihood of being on government-provided healthcare assistance, if any at all. This decreases the funding of hospitals in high vulnerability areas. As a result, these hospitals may be understaffed, have low quality technology and surgery equipment, and may hold a lower capacity.
INTERSECTION OF COVID-19 AND BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT:
All in all, the consequences of the unequal access to these social determinants of health such as quality education, nutrient-rich food, and adequate income, which are enforced by redlining, are quite devastating. And with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, the past few months have been an eye-opening testament to how this infection essentially targets vulnerable Black populations. In fact, Black individuals are killed from COVID-19 at 2.4 times the rate of White people. In Ohio, African Americans make up 12% of the population but they account for 20% of the COVID-19 cases.
These startlingly mortality and morbidity rates signify how systemic issues left certain populations disproportionately endangered during the time of crisis. Partially, this goes back to the fact that food deserts make it much more feasible to eat foods which can lead to the development of conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. Additionally, the genetics of African American individuals make them more susceptible to becoming immunocompromised. As a result of the increased consequences of these health complications, Black individuals are at a higher risk of contracting and eventually dying from COVID-19.
Additionally, this increased COVID-19 mortality rate in Black populations relates to the previously mentioned point regarding the interconnection between education, employment, and income. Because Black individuals are more likely to come from lower socioeconomic classes with minimal educational qualifications, they were required to pan out their quarantine as an essential employee. These workers did not have the luxury of working from home and they were forced to be exposed to more people in crowded areas therefore increasing their chances of being infected with COVID-19. To exacerbate these already confounding factors, the available medical treatment and testing for the infection is incredibly expensive for the uninsured. This barrier disproportionately impacts Black populations because considering the systemic issues which affect income level, health insurance is disproportionately inaccessible to these populations. Thus, COVID-19 is taking an immense financial burden on these families who are impacted by it.
Lastly, as the Black Lives Matter Protests have brought considerable attention to the unjust policing systems, it is important to understand how the policing and criminal justice system have impacted COVID-19 rates in Black populations. It starts in Black neighborhoods which are policed more heavily than white neighborhoods. Additionally, Black perpetrators are more likely to serve longer sentences in prison, placing them at a disproportionately higher percentage of the incarcerated population. Although 37.6% of the prison population is Black people, they only make up 13.4% of the American population. Due to the overcrowding of prisons as well as the lack of sanitary hygiene products available, COVID-19 spreads much quicker in incarcerated populations.
Some may claim that health disparities are a class issue and not a race issue, but the ample research and statistics presented here confirm that systemic racism and oppression are great contributors to declining Black health.
Thus, all of this data points to the fact that systemic racism and redlining have a negative impact on the lives of Black people, not just in Columbus but throughout America and the entire world. Some may claim that health disparities are a class issue and not a race issue, but the ample research and statistics presented here confirm that systemic racism and oppression are great contributors to declining Black health. The COVID-19 pandemic has simply brought attention to this overlooked systemic issue.
As more people are becoming aware of the health inequalities among Black people, and more information is being spread about historical racism and bigotry, movements towards social change are being mobilized. The Black Lives Matter movement is working to address the unfair treatment of Black people that is supported by our current racist system and past history. In fact, the Columbus community has been very active in this movement. Numerous protests have been held at the Columbus police station, township halls, and many more have been dispersed throughout the suburbs. This grassroot activism is very important and effective in bringing attention to these largely overlooked issues which continue to plague our society today.
HOW YOU CAN MAKE A CHANGE:
SO GET INVOLVED, and catalyze change in our nation.
As the youth of America, it is our individual obligation to help propel the movement through social action in hopes that these issues can finally be brought to light. Although protesting is wonderful, it may be difficult considering the ongoing pandemic. However, there are still a plethora of ways to instill action simply from home! Other ways include signing petitions, donating to Bail Fund, educating yourself on current events and even sharing information on social media. SO GET INVOLVED, and catalyze change in our nation. | https://healthrighters.com/2020/08/02/how-systemic-racism-has-led-to-deteriorating-black-health-in-columbus-ohio/ |
(Daily Montanan) A new report by the Prison Policy Initiative and Western Native Voice examines where inmates in Montana’s state prison system come from, and looks at incarceration rates at the local level – data that has not been routinely collected and compiled.
The report shows that some neighborhoods and areas of Montana’s largest cities contribute disproportionately to the state’s incarceration rates, while some smaller towns and communities have a higher per capita incarceration rate than larger places.
The study, “Where people in prison come from: The geography of mass incarceration in Montana” was released in October, and includes data sets that break down the inmates of Montana’s prison system geographically. The report allows policymakers to use the data to help understand the communities they serve as well as talk about solutions.
Currently, the report states that Montana has an imprisonment rate of 123 per 100,000 residents. And the study also found that prisoners come from all over the state. While the larger cities tend to be represented more heavily, when adjusted for population, it’s not just the larger cities which stand out.
For example, three cities – Billings, Great Falls and Missoula – have imprisonment rates higher than the state average. But, among towns that have at least 1,000 residents, East Helena, Deer Lodge, Butte and Helena have the highest imprisonment rates in the state.
The study drilled down even more deeply, looking at areas within the larger Montana cities to show that imprisonment rates for certain neighborhoods was much higher than others in the same place.
Billings
Billings has an imprisonment rate of 213 per 100,000 people, but the study found that two of the 12 neighborhoods in the city were responsible for 38% of the prisoners.
“The South Side neighborhood is home to 3% of the city’s residents, but 20% of the imprisoned population. Similarly, the East Central neighborhood is home to 13% of the city’s residents but 18% of the city’s imprisoned population,” the report said.
Those translate to incarceration rates more than 15 times higher than average. For Billings’ South Side, it’s nearly 100 times greater than the state average.
“(The rates are) no surprise, given what we know about how race and poverty impact a person’s likelihood of having interactions with the criminal legal system,” the report said. “In addition, we know that these two neighborhoods are some of the poorest areas in the city and that poor people, families and communities are disproportionately impacted by the criminal legal system: 14% of the South Side neighborhood and 24% of the North Side neighborhood live in poverty, compared to less than 10% of all Billings residents living in poverty.”
The City of Billings did not respond to comment for this story.
Missoula
The report also identified three neighborhoods in Missoula that had higher incarceration rates than average. The Northside neighborhood had an imprisonment rate of 393 per 100,000, while the Westside had 666 and the “Franklin to the Fort” area had 191.
Missoula Chief of Police Jaeson White told the Daily Montanan that responding to calls is a matter of where the calls for service are coming from. Moreover, he said that often keeping the entire city safe is a matter of responding to single, discrete incidents in one part of the town or another. Some areas, as in all cities, he said need more policing.
“We’re not looking at the individuals, but we look at where crime occurs in a town. It’s not driven by demographics, it’s driven by data,” White said.
He said in many of those same neighborhoods which have higher incarceration rates, it’s the community members in those places who are asking for more of a police presence.
“Some of these statistics are being driven by the community which has asked us to do more there,” White said.
And, he said that crime prevention units focus on areas where there is more criminal activity, so that an increase in arrests can be the result of more public safety resources being deployed.
He also said what the report may not capture is the recent trend of more robust community policing. For example, a more comprehensive approach may include help from the city’s zoning department which can help improve places where blighted properties may be a nuisance or attract crime. The department also has mobile support teams where social workers instead of police respond.
“It’s not just an enforcement piece,” White said. “We’re trying to address it holistically.”
He said that many Montana communities are also dealing with the rise of aggressive violent crime rising. For example, in 2019 the City of Missoula had 221 aggravated assaults. In 2021, that number had doubled.
“We’re not in a bubble. This is a nationwide trend,” he said.
The study suggested that it’s not just a matter of how many people each city or neighborhood sends to the prison via its criminal justice system. Instead, there’s a greater community impact:
“It’s an unfortunate reality that part of the entire criminal justice system has more representation from certain groups, not because we’re targeting but because we focus on criminal activity,” White said.
However, those statistics don’t account for the mobile crisis units in places like Missoula and Billings – where people in distress see a social worker, not someone with a badge, White said.
“It’s a great model because the team can help and we can be pulled away to another policing need,” he said.
Native Americans in prison
The report also demonstrated that Native American residents are not only incarcerated at higher rates, but those neighborhoods contribute more to the state’s inmate population.
Billings’ Native population is less than 5%, but the South Side neighborhood is 15% and the North Side is 11%.
“Research has shown that policing tends to be concentrated in communities composed predominantly of people of color which results in people living in these communities experiencing disproportionate arrest and incarceration rates,” the study said.
Those trends mirror a statewide trend of disproportionate representation by American Indians.
“American Indian people are disproportionately incarcerated in Montana prisons: In 202, Native people were 23% of the state prison population, but less than 7% of the statewide population,” the report said.
In Billings, for example, Native Americans make up 27% of the arrests, but Natives represent less than 5% of the city’s population. A similar, but less dramatic statistic exists in Missoula where Natives make up less than 2% of the population, but constitute 14% of arrests.
Overall, the study suggests that cities like Billings and Missoula focus more resources on other social programs, not just expect the police to continue to arrest people, only to be sent to prison.
“Our finding suggest that those resources would be better put toward reducing poverty and improving local health, education, and employment opportunities,” the study concluded. | https://missoulacurrent.com/native-americans-prison/ |
Letter to the Editor: Low-income communities of color and increased risk of serious COVID-19
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have illuminated drastic inequalities between low-income communities of color and mid to high-income white communities.
Historically, low-income communities were segregated and redlined, so the socioeconomic status of families living in them has changed little over time. In Boston, the majority of people of color live in the neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan.
A recent study by Mallory Stermon and Chris Lukinbeal of The University of Hawai’i has shown that from 1930 to 2020, Boston has seen “less exposure and more isolation for the minority,” according to the report.
This means people of color are less likely to interact with the white community that benefits from Boston’s economic success. Thus, communities of color have little access to resources that provide a healthy life and stable income, creating inequality with high-income communities not only around obesity, disease and life expectancy rates, but now, severe COVID-19 cases and deaths.
COVID-19 has unequally impacted low-income individuals and people of color financially, along with their ability to seek treatment if they become infected with the virus.
Low-income communities and communities of color, when they contract COVID-19, are more likely to become seriously sick compared to white, wealthy families. Adults under 64 who make over $50,000 a year have a 16% chance of serious illness with COVID-19, according to a study published by the Kaiser Family Foundation. But the risk continues to climb.
Families making under $50,000 a year have 21% risk for serious illness, families earning under $35,000 have a 24% chance, families earning under $25,000 have 30% and families making under $15,000 a year have a 35% chance.
Because people of color are more likely to live in or near poverty due to systemic racism, they are most likely to get seriously sick with COVID-19. According to the KFF, Native Americans have a 34% chance, compared to a 21% for white people. These inequalities inevitably lead to a high death rate among historically marginalized communities.
The inequalities are stark, with living conditions to a lack of resources being part of the reasons why they exist. A family’s income level in the US is proportional with access to healthcare, accessibility to healthy food options, and quality of living conditions. Poor neighborhoods often have a high concentration of unhealthy food sources, such as fast food to convenience stores and a scarcity of healthy food sources, such as grocers or supermarkets — the opposite being true in high-income neighborhoods.
According to a study done by professors for the academic journal “Health & Place,” “Areas of concentrated poverty had higher fast-food access … access was higher across neighborhoods that fell above the 25th percentile of concentration of Black residents.”
This means that communities of color and low-income communities have a much higher access to unhealthy food, which is usually cheaper than healthier options. Because of this, residents and their children will often choose fast food over healthy alternatives.
The higher consumption of fast food leads to health problems such as obesity and heart disease, particularly when individuals cannot access fruits and vegetables. Low-income communities, starting in childhood, have a higher rate of obesity, heart disease and other related issues.
In Boston, “Black (33.3%) and Hispanic (23.5%) participants were more likely to have diabetes than White participants (18.0%),” according to a study in the academic journal “Social Science & Medicine.” Unhealthy food, coupled with lack of healthcare access especially among children, as children from financially secure families are twice as likely to get a health check-up as children from poor ones, has given COVID-19 a running start in disadvantaged communities.
The living conditions of low-income families have played a role in the increased health problems that come with COVID-19.
Low-income areas have increased pollution, climate change impact, population density, crime rates and access to tobacco and alcohol. The low-income population typically works in low-paying jobs with unhealthy working conditions, especially in hard labor or production, and many of them were considered “essential” during the early stages of the pandemic.
Pre-existing health inequalities have exacerbated COVID-19’s effect on low-income communities and communities of color. These communities are still getting hit hard, with lower vaccination rates partly due to the inherent lack of trust that communities of color have in the government in the medical field, thanks to secret studies such as the Tuskegee Experiments, where the US Public Health Service withheld diagnosis and treatment for hundreds of Black men with syphilis in the 1930s-1970s to study the disease’s effects.
COVID-19 Housing Crisis and the Racial Wealth Gap
The UShas a dramatic wealth gap between white families and families of color due to the history of oppression and segregation that also led to low percentages of homeownership among disadvantaged people.
The 2008 housing crisis primarily affected communities of color. Professor Jackelyn Hwang from Stanford University found that “In Boston’s 15 planning districts, over 80 percent of Boston’s foreclosures took place in five of them—Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan, Hyde Park, and East Boston,” according to the article by Jackelyn Hwang in City & Community. “Racialized recovery: Postforeclosure pathways in Boston neighborhoods.”
This decreased homeownership rates and increased the number of renters in these neighborhoods that are heavily populated by people of color, with the majority not returning to homeowner status.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone, especially those renting. It has also exacerbated the wealth gap between Black and white families, the median wealth of Black citizens of Boston being $8 and $247,500 for white citizens, according to Hwang.
“The financial crisis of 2008 saw a dramatic decrease in homeownership with over 8 million homes foreclosed mostly in communities of color,” according to Hwang. Many families impacted by the 2008 crisis were pushed into renting and are mostly still renting today.
According to Pew Research, Black families have a homeownership rate of 42% today, compared to white families who have a rate of 73%.
Homes, according to Brookings Institution, have had a steady increase in value, which leads to generational wealth. This has made homeownership to be the primary way to build wealth for Americans, so the disparity of homeownership increases the racial wealth gap.
COVID-19 has caused unemployment to skyrocket up to 14.8%, affecting primarily customer-facing jobs and the service/hospitality industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unequally impacting people of color. Harvard University research has shown that unemployment has led up to 40% of renters to use their savings(which are less than half of homeowners’ savings, according to the Federal Reserve) to pay their rents. Service and hospitality employment is still not back to pre-COVID levels; studies, such as ones done in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, have hypothesized that this will increase the wealth gap, affecting future generations in communities of color.
Before the pandemic, a 2018 Harvard University study showed that housing costs have been increasing dramatically since the ‘80s, but wages have remained stagnant. This means that families without generational wealth or inherited homes are much less likely to have the ability to buy a home.
During the pandemic, the Federal Reserve noted a sharp increase in housing sales along with a sharp decrease in housing availability, which led to major price increases, similar to what happened during the 2008 crisis. This further affects the wealth distribution because only those with the means to buy or sell their home will be able to do so, while those renting or who cannot afford to move out of an owned house cannot benefit from this.
Even after quarantine has ended in the US, the housing market continues to have shortages, so the federal benefits that might have enabled families to apply for a mortgage would not be enough.
In general, the pandemic has led to a decrease in wealth among communities of color. The pandemic has also made it much more difficult to increase wealth through homeownership and has forced families to continue to rent, which only shifts wealth to mostly affluent white families.
If our government does not do something to address this issue and create programs for more affordable housing, along with opportunities for families of color to become homeowners, the wealth gap between Black and white citizens will continue to widen. If the US continues this trend, communities of color will not have a chance to stand on equal footing and will only be faced with worse hardships in the future. | https://thesuffolkjournal.com/38144/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-low-income-neighborhoods-and-increased-risk-of-serious-covid-19/ |
What Is Recidivism And What Can We Do About It?
From Stand Together.org by Elizabeth Moyer. Read this article online, click here.
What Is Recidivism And What Can We Do About It?
From Stand Together.org by Elizabeth Moyer. Read this article online, click here.
With the highest incarceration rate in the world, the United States is home to an estimated 6.8 million people under supervision in the U.S. adult correctional system, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. That number — 6.8 million — equates to approximately one in 36 (or 2.8%) adults in the United States. Of those, almost 2.8 million have been incarcerated in prison or local jails.
For a system meant to rehabilitate, an alarming number of incarcerated individuals are repeat offenders and returning inmates, an occurrence known as recidivism. Recidivism refers to a person’s relapse into criminal behavior. It’s measured by criminal acts that result in re-arrest, re-conviction, or return to prison. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 67.8 percent of over 400,000 prisoners released in 2005 in 30 states were arrested within three years of release, and 76.6 percent were arrested within five years.
These overwhelming numbers correspond to rising costs that strain the criminal justice system and the economy. More than taxpayer burdens and overcrowded prisons, the effects of a broken criminal justice system are destroying communities, breaking down neighborhoods, and fracturing families.
How can we effectively address the consequences of incarceration in our country?
The Power of a Second Chance
Several societal factors contribute to the high incarceration rates in our nation, and none of them is solved easily or quickly. One of the most significant contributors to these numbers is recidivism. Reducing recidivism rates lessens the burden on incarceration systems, taxpayers, communities, and families. By investing in the needs of individuals exiting the corrections system, we can ensure people return to their communities equipped and motivated to contribute to society in sustainable, mutually beneficial ways.
The question is, how can we do that? The dynamics of recidivism are numerous and complex. Offenders are often undereducated, underemployed, and living in poverty, facing monumental societal and environmental obstacles even before they enter the correctional system. Upon release, most face those same obstacles, compounded by the stigma of a criminal history.
But, there is hope.
Organizations across the country are serving the prison population in creative, long-term ways to help empower individuals to successfully transition back to their communities, while also lowering recidivism rates. By focusing on educating, investing in, and caring for the person, these groups make a lasting difference in individuals, families, and communities.
Effective re-entry services wrap around the individual to address the various obstacles that face someone rejoining society. From educational resources to job training, services help fill the gaps left by the criminal justice system.
S+ Catalyst Root & Rebound provides educational and legal resources to individuals and families navigating the overwhelming and complicated process of re-entry. With over 44,000 legal barriers to reintegrating — housing, financial, employment, and more — people without access to legal resources are set up to fail rather than succeed. With approximately 650,000 people leaving prison and jail a year, the vast majority faces a reality of homelessness, unemployment, and re-arrest. Root & Rebound exists to equip these individuals with the tools and knowledge they need to start over.
S+ Catalyst Defy Ventures transforms the lives of people with criminal histories through entrepreneurship, mentoring, and business training. By leveraging the entrepreneurial skills of individuals to create legal, profitable business, Defy helps incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals shift their perspective and find a sustainable path to success. Their holistic support fosters personal and character development that sets a strong foundation for business success. With a less than three percent recidivism rate for their entrepreneurs, Defy is making a tremendous impact in the lives of men and women, families, and communities.
Prison education is key to giving inmates a chance at rehabilitation so they return to their communities more educated and prepared for the workforce than when they left. Many enter the system at a young age from poor communities, underperforming schools, and hopeless situations. The opportunity to receive an education while in prison provides inmates a chance to change the trajectory of their lives. Programs like Hudson Link partner with colleges to bring degree programs to prison. With less than four percent recidivism for their graduates, Hudson Link is changing the lives of men and women through education, while also lightening the burden of incarceration on states and communities.
Programs like these believe in second chances and prioritize the individual. Single digit recidivism rates result, in stark contrast to the state and national rates of 40, 50, or even 60 percent. But, it’s not just about the numbers. These organizations are changing the lives of individuals who are better equipped to contribute value to society, and the positive effects permeate families, neighborhoods, and communities for the better. | http://www.hudsonlink.org/what-is-recidivism-and-what-can-we-do-about-it/ |
How Addiction Can Affect Families
We may tend to think of the effects of addiction in a physical sense (picture the negative and unhealthy consequences for the body that are well-known), but perhaps the most devastating effects addiction has is on relationships.
English poet John Donne once famously wrote that “no man is an island”. You may have heard the phrase; it means that no one is completely solitary, however alone they may feel at times. Everyone is interconnected. Everyone has relationships of some kind. What we do as individuals does have an impact on the people around us, and on society as a whole. Addiction, then, like any other struggle, is not merely a personal disease and problem.
Poetry is not the only evidence we have for this truth. Research has shown just how devastating the impacts of addiction can be on families, and if you have experienced addiction firsthand (like many of the professionals at the Better Tomorrow Treatment Center), you don’t need it to convince you how peaceful homes can become full of conflict over substance abuse; how trust can erode quickly between parents and children, married couples, and siblings; how communication ends or becomes strained; how aggression or abuse resulting from addiction can ruin relationships; how often families can become estranged or marriages can end because of the pressure addiction puts on a family unit. However, the research is compelling, and telling, particularly around children and spouses of people with addiction.
About 1 in 8 children (8.7 million) lived in households where at least one parent had a substance use disorder between 2009 - 2014. Children who grow up in families where one or both of their parents is addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to develop substance use disorders themselves in adolescence or adulthood. They are three times more likely to be neglected or physically or sexually abused than children who have not grown up in homes where addiction was present. They are more likely to have a lower socioeconomic status and increased social difficulty. Children who witness addiction and the effects of addiction on their family may have delayed learning and development and mental and emotional disorders. Social Services may remove children from homes where addiction is present, and they will either be placed with relatives or in the foster care system. According to U.S. census data, the number of children living with their grandparents increased from 2.4 million to 4.9 million (more than doubled) between 2000 and 2010 (addiction and mental disorders were the primary reasons for this shift).
Marriages also suffer when addiction is present. Divorce rates are significantly higher among people with substance use disorders. In one study of divorced couples, addiction was blamed for 34.6% of divorces, and other studies reveal it to be the third leading cause of divorce (behind money problems and infidelity). It is the third most cited reason for women seeking a divorce, and the eighth most common for men. There are many reasons why addiction can lead to unhappy marriages, some obvious and some that may surprise you. It may be logical that addiction can cause financial problems and problems at work that can lead to money stress, which can cause conflict… and addiction itself can be a source of conflict, mistrust, and broken communication. But did you also know that substance abuse can negatively impact sex drive and cause infertility? Couples in a sexless relationship are less happy and more likely to consider divorce, and infertile couples are three times more likely to divorce. Addiction can also lead to domestic violence, another leading cause of divorce. If the substance abuse causes aggression or anger, it can lead to physical or verbal abuse, which can end the marriage. (It should be noted that divorce also has negative impacts on child development).
The evidence is clear that addiction destroys families if left unchecked, but treatment is available, and healing and freedom are possible. Unhealthy families can become healthy again with counseling and treatment. Many families or individuals struggling with addiction avoid seeking treatment because they are not sure if they can afford it, but federal law requires insurance to cover addiction rehabilitation, and there are many resources available to you. Don’t let addiction become the story of your family! Better Tomorrow is different from other addiction recovery centers because we realize that addiction is a family issue, and when appropriate and wanted, involve the whole family in the recovery process, every step of the way. We want to give you the tools you need to lead a healthy life - physically, and relationally.
Call Better Tomorrow Treatment Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, today for a free conversation about your situation. We can determine if you are a candidate for our program (and if not, do our best to direct you to one that may be a good fit for you). Our program offers safe and supportive housing, personalized plans for each individual, and a lifelong relationship with our addiction professionals. | https://www.bettertomorrowtc.com/blog-post/how-addiction-can-affect-families |
Dismantling the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without a replacement plan is projected to increase the nation’s uninsured population by 18 million in the first year after repeal and by 32 million in 2026, according to recent estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). As lawmakers and the American public consider repealing portions of the ACA, it is an important time to reflect on what limiting access to health insurance might mean for Americans and their communities. If a repeal occurs, not only individuals, but also their communities, could be affected.
Whether we like it or not, health insurance affects our lives in significant ways. Sometimes these effects are very direct, determining whether we can afford to see a doctor when we need to. At other times, health insurance affects us in less direct ways by shaping whether providers hire that extra nurse or relocate to a wealthier area of town.
One of the things we’ve paid a lot less attention to is whether the effects of health insurance go beyond things like health and costs to shape other aspects of our social lives. My new study with Stefan Timmermans of UCLA addresses this gap by examining the consequences of uninsurance for cohesion and trust in Los Angeles communities during the 2000s.
Using longitudinal data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A. FANS), we find that people living in communities with lower levels of insurance are less likely to feel connected to and trust their neighbors, even after controlling for several other neighborhood and individual factors that might affect people’s perceptions of and engagement with their communities.
We also test whether broader access to health insurance through a policy like the ACA could strengthen communities over time. This analysis demonstrates that people’s perceptions of their neighbors and communities improve as more people gain access to insurance in their community.
Consequences Beyond Health Care
How does this work?
When large groups of people don’t have health insurance, this places unique financial and organizational strains on individuals, providers and health care markets. Research demonstrates that a lack of access to health insurance negatively affects health, health care access and quality, utilization of preventative services and out-of-pocket costs for the uninsured.
These effects also frequently spill over to the insured, negatively affecting the health and out-of-pocket costs for people living or receiving care alongside large groups of uninsured. Such spillovers come about as providers try to lower their exposure to a large uninsured population by reducing, dropping or redistributing staff and services that are disproportionately used by the uninsured, such as emergency care.
These provider strategies also go on to affect access to health care, quality of care and trust in health care providers for everyone living in a community, not just the uninsured.
Given the particular pressures that uninsurance places on individuals, providers and health care markets, it’s not surprising that we find the consequences of uninsurance go beyond health and health care.
We specifically measured the consequences of living in a community with high levels of uninsurance on residents’ reports of social cohesion, or their feelings of trust, mutual obligation and reciprocity toward their neighbors. Moving from a community where almost everyone has health insurance to one where more than half are uninsured results in a 34 percent decrease in residents’ perceptions of social cohesion in their community, we found.
We tested many possible explanations for this decrease, including differences in the composition of these communities over time, but this result is persistent. There is a social cost for communities that carry a larger burden of uninsured. This 34 percent difference in social cohesion is a substantial difference that has important consequences for other individual and community outcomes pertaining to health, political engagement and more.
New Tensions Created in Communities
There are two primary ways that a lack of health insurance might affect communities.
First, in battles over state and local budgets, attempts to cover the uninsured through the redistribution of new or existing funds may run into political barriers or be forced to compete with other public services such as education and law enforcement. These battles can create competing interests and goals within a community that contribute to the breakdown of social cohesiveness, trust and reciprocity among community members over time.
In case studies of programs intended to expand coverage to the uninsured in Birmingham, Alabama, and Alameda County (Oakland), California, debates around the provision of care for the uninsured became even more contentious because they intersected with racial and class divides that have historically limited access to insurance and health care institutions among African-Americans and Latinos. Sometimes, community institutions, like churches and schools, are able to develop their own programs to support the uninsured, with varying success.
Second, within communities, higher out-of-pocket costs to the uninsured and their families can exacerbate social and economic inequalities which promote class differentiation, social distance and community disengagement.
Importantly, some uninsured individuals feel this status very acutely, as an indicator that they don’t belong or matter to the broader community or society. When the uninsured do seek care, they frequently report experiencing poorer-quality care, discrimination and depersonalization, which they view as an assault on their personal dignity.
Taken together, these indirect pathways suggest that lack of access to health insurance matters not only for health and costs, but also for the cohesiveness and resilience of communities.
Can Policies Like the ACA Strengthen Communities?
Where local and state governments have made a concerted effort toward including marginal populations into the health care system, as in San Francisco and Massachusetts, we see promising results. Lawmakers, providers and patients are motivated by the importance they place on connectedness, collaboration and feelings of a shared fate.
In our study, we specifically look at how communities might have changed if an ACA-type expansion in insurance coverage had occurred in Los Angeles County during our survey period (2001 and 2007) using a difference-in-difference estimation. This technique takes into account trends in how feelings of trust and reciprocity among community members would have changed during this time period anyway, even without expanding access to health insurance.
To do this, we use individuals’ reports of their actual health insurance status when they were reinterviewed in 2007-2008 by L.A. FANS and estimate who would become eligible for Medicaid and for California state and federal subsidies to buy insurance in the individual marketplace under 2014 ACA eligibility criteria.
We then used these estimates to see how residents’ feelings of trust and reciprocity might have changed if they and their neighbors had gained access to health insurance coverage under an ACA-type expansion in 2007.
We find that the differences between high insurance and low insurance communities on perceptions of social cohesion are significantly smaller when we impose an ACA-type intervention, suggesting that such an intervention could significantly improve individuals’ perceptions of social cohesion in their communities.
It is not yet clear how a repeal of ACA will affect communities. A repeal may undo any gains that communities have experienced over the past few years in terms of increased trust and reciprocity. These changes may take some time to be felt or may be very pronounced if individuals who stand to lose access to insurance through a repeal feel they are being singled out for exclusion.
What we do know is that prior to the implementation of the ACA, a lack of health insurance substantially undermined communities. As health policies increasingly contend with larger issues of social and economic inequality, we expect that health policies such as the ACA — and whatever comes next — will continue to have important consequences for communities that need to be considered alongside effects on health and costs. | https://truthout.org/articles/communities-plagued-by-uninsurance-also-suffer-from-breakdowns-in-trust-social-connection/ |
DIFI Studies Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Well-Being of Families in Qatar
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the lives of millions of families all over the world. Creating unprecedented conditions that can affect a family’s mental well-being, the pandemic disrupted routines, altered family roles, caused employment instability, and precipitated social isolation.
Doha International Family Institute (DIFI), a member of Qatar Foundation, have studied the impact of COVID-19 on the mental well-being of families in Qatar. The findings were presented by DIFI Executive Director Dr Sharifa Al Emadi on the sidelines of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2021 (HLPF 2021) on 12 July 2021.
Titled Building Back Better after COVID-19 through Addressing Health Equity, Mental Health, and Well-being: Contributions of Psychological Science and Practice to Leave No One Behind, the event focused on global resilience and sustainable recovery from COVID-19 by addressing challenges and solutions to achieve physical and mental health equity.
The event included remarks by ambassadors of member states, presentations by scientific experts, and talks from leaders of health and mental health programmes in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal and India.
Dr Al Emadi said that fostering understanding of how COVID-19 has affected the family’s mental well-being and learning from the outcomes of unprecedented conditions this crisis has brought, is critical to creating a better future for families.
As one of the scientific experts at the event, Dr Al Emadi presented the Impact of COVID-19 on Family Mental Health, highlighting the effects of COVID-19 on family cohesion, caregiving, work-family balance, and domestic violence. She also discussed the mental well-being support services families need during COVID-19.
The presentation was based on different research data, including two DIFI studies – Surviving a Crisis: Impact of Coronavirus on Family Cohesion in Qatar and Adolescents Well-being in Qatar.
Families and relationships during the pandemic
The studies showed that 64% of families experienced a positive impact from the pandemic in terms of family cohesion, as they became closer and more connected. In comparison, 15% of Qataris and non-Qataris surveyed for the study noted that the onset of COVID-19 negatively impacted their families and relationships, while 21% stated that their situation had not changed.
Almost half of the parents in the studies also experienced positive results from remote work in terms of parenting, explaining that it gave them more time to spend with family, take care of their children, communicate, and do various activities with them. However, 28% said remote work negatively affected their tasks as parents, as it put them – especially the mothers – under tremendous pressure in balancing work and family responsibilities.
The presentation cited several support systems and practices that can help families preserve mental well-being. Staying connected with others, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and creating a daily schedule can help improve family unity. Alleviating the stresses that come with the responsibility of giving care to a family member include speaking to mental health specialists through hotlines and joining support groups. Dr Al Emadi also stressed the importance of continuing flexible working arrangements after the pandemic for better family and societal cohesion.
To learn more about DIFI, visit difi.org.qa.
Check out Marhaba’s FREE e-Guides for everything you need to know about Qatar. | https://www.marhaba.qa/difi-studies-impact-of-covid-19-on-mental-well-being-of-families-in-qatar/ |
The U.S. holds world leadership in a way that is not enviable—by wielding its power to incarcerate. With less than 5 percent of the world's population, the U.S. accounts for 25% of the planet's prisoners. Currently, there are 2.3 million individuals in this nation's prisons or jails, and another 5 million on probation or parole. Since 1970, the U.S. prison population has multiplied more than six times.
The African American community is disproportionately represented among these numbers. With less than 13% of the nation’s population, nearly one half of those who are incarcerated are African American. 21% of African American males between the ages of 25 and 44, have served a sentence at some point in their lives. At current rates, 33% of all African Americans males will go to jail or prison at some point in their lives. This compares with 16% of Hispanic males and 5% of white males.
Jails are operated by local units of government—municipalities and counties. The traditional role of jails is to provide housing for individuals pending trial, particularly “no show” risks, as well as those sentenced to terms of (usually) less than one year, and those slated to serve their sentence in a prison, but who are awaiting transfer. Prisons, which are operated by State and Federal Government, house those who have been sentenced to terms of sufficient length— making them ineligible for incarceration in a jail.
The jail population is a growing problem. Public attention has been focused on prisons, yielding a marginal slowing of the rate of prison population increase. However, similar attention has not been focused on jails. Between 2001 and 2006, prison populations grew 11%, while jail populations grew almost twice as much at 21%. The growth in the jail population is a direct consequence of its expanded role in support of mass incarceration. Jails are called upon to house State and Federal prisoners, due to overcrowding. In the last five years, there has been a significant increase in housing of drug-related offenders from 10% of inmates to 25%.
Mass incarceration slows down the criminal justice process. As a result, in 2006, 62% of people in jail had not been convicted, representing 85% of total jail population increase since 1996. More than 65% of these individuals were there due to the inability to post bail. Release on own recognizance (ROR) declined from 24% (1992) to 14% (2002). There was a 500% increase in immigration violations in the last five years.
Jails are also called upon to house the mentally ill in lieu of treatment, due to the failure of the policy of shifting responsibility from psychiatric hospitals to community treatment.
Men involved in mental health system are 4 times as likely to be incarcerated, whereas women are 6 times as likely.
Related to the issue of mental illness is the criminalization of homelessness. Many cities are making activities that are incidental to homelessness, such as begging, “camping”, loitering, and laying in public places, a “quality of life” offense:. According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics study, 17% of people in jail were homeless at the time of arrest and suffered from mental illness.
Female incarceration presents a special problem because of the rate of increase. In 2004, the number of incarcerated females was 8 times that of 1980. In 1977, there were 24 male prisoners for each female; in 2004, the ratio was 14:1. The most significant factor in the increase of female incarceration is drug conviction: 33% of convictions versus 20% for men.
A 1992 study, for example, showed that 72% of all of New York State prisoners came from only seven of New York City’s 55 community board districts.
Similarly, 53 percent of Illinois prisoners released in 2001 returned to Chicago, and 34 percent of those were concentrated in 6 of 77 Chicago communities.
A third study, conducted in Maryland, found that Baltimore receives 60% of the individuals released from prisons throughout the state, and that more than one-third reentered 6 out of 55 Baltimore communities.
This pattern, reflecting the geographic clustering of the twin effects of mass incarceration and inmate reentry into society is replicated in urban areas through the U.S. It brings with it a related pattern of pervasively harmful consequences on these communities, as well as on the individuals who constitute the intricately interwoven array of social networks which we term a “community.” The related processes of incarceration and reentry have been termed “enforced mobility.” These two seemingly opposite phenomena can yield a common consequence on the communities where they are disproportionately present.
Research shows that enforced mobility increases crime. Two studies find that incarceration increases crime at the neighborhood-level (Rose, Clear, Waring and Scully 2000; Lynch, Sabol, Planty and Shelley 2001). Rose et al. (2000) also find that reentry increases crime. It is likely that the intervening mechanism is the disruption of social networks, including weakened families and other institutions in the community (Rose, Clear, Waring, Scully 2000; Lynch, Sabol, Planty and Shelley 2001).
Imprisoning numerous residents from a specific community can have a decidedly negative effect of the total community because of the collective consequence of damaging a multiplicity of social networks to which the inmate might belong. Social capital is a derivative of social interaction produced through social networks, which provide the community with the capability of collective understanding and action. Weakened social networks reduce the social capital of a community.
This in turn diminishes the community’s collective efficacy, its confidence in its ability to activate or convert social ties into the achievement of collective outcomes. The decline in collective efficacy, in turn, erodes the informal mechanisms that neighbors use to prevent crime. Thus, mass incarceration promotes the precise social environment, which allows crime to thrive, by undermining the ability of the community to exercise effective social control.
Potential disruption in the maintenance of stable relationships.
Children suffer disproportionately from the burden of incarceration experienced by families. Among incarcerated individuals, 55% of men and 65% of women have minor children, and over half (58%) of the minor children are less than 10 years old.
The cumulative impact of these effects produces a susceptibility to intergenerational patterns of criminal behavior. Two statistics poignantly testify to this propensity. Individuals who, during childhood, had an incarcerated parent are six times as likely to also be incarcerated. In addition, of all juveniles in detention in 2002, half had a parent who had been in jail or prison.
The impact of enforced mobility has cultivated a normalization of prison within the community life of many impoverished urban areas. It has even implanted the prison ethos within certain population segments – particularly youth – in these areas. Imprisonment is now a key social institution in many African American neighborhoods, wielding a pervasive authority relative to the development of norms.
Because nearly all of the children in these communities have some exposure to prisons’ tentacles, and all-to-many may realistically anticipate being grasped by these tentacles at some point in their lives, prisons are a dramatic component of the urban socialization process, a part of some sub-cultural rites of passage. Imprisonment ceases to be an outcome experienced by a few individuals. It translates into the perception of an outcome to which whole segments of the community are subject.
In addition, mass incarceration disproportionately removes men from urban area communities, distorting gender ratios into abnormal dimensions, yielding a disfiguring effect on gender norms. The perceived profound shortage of men reduces the normal sway that women possess in intimate relationships. This in turn may cause some women to adjust their standards in terms of acceptable partners, and can even render them more susceptible to male exploitation. Incarcerated men, on the other hand, have to confront the actuality of a disruption and the possibility of a destruction of family relationships during their period of incarceration.
At the aggregate level, through a seemingly coordinated system of felony disenfranchisement, mass incarceration dramatically constrains the participation of African American communities in the mainstream political economy. Forty-eight states deny inmates voting rights during the time they are incarcerated. Thirty-seven states disenfranchise felons while they are in prison, as well as when they are on probation or parole. In fourteen states, some or all felons who have completed their obligations to the criminal justice system still cannot vote. Three of these states disenfranchise felons for life.
As a consequence, nearly one in seven (13.1%) African American males of voting age were disenfranchised (2000), substantially diluting African American communities’ voting power. This compares with 2.3% among the general population. In all probability, the percentage of disenfranchised African Americans has increased in proportion to the escalation in incarceration since these statistics were garnered.
In 1865, the Civil War ended, and former Confederate States were put under Military rule.
In 1872, there were 324 African Americans elected to legislative offices in former Confederate States.
In 1890, Mississippi led the Southern way of passing laws disenfranchising individuals convicted of crimes thought to be committed by AfricanAmericans.
In 1900, not one African American was elected to legislative office in former Confederate States.
Felony disenfranchisement is just one component caused by the redistribution of political power resulting from mass incarceration. Since the Census Bureau counts inmates in the areas in which the prison is located, the population often increases in predominantly white, rural districts where prisons are located, generating a redistribution of government aid and legislative representation to these areas and away from the African American communities from which most of the inmates come. By denying formerly incarcerated individuals the opportunity to participate in citizen processes (voting, jury service, holding public office), mass incarceration reinforces internal social norms that treat these processes as illegitimate, as well as the external perception of these communities as outside the national polity.
Mass incarceration promotes, within the impacted community, a negative picture of public institutions in general, and the criminal justice system in particular, which heightens communities’ sense of civic isolation. These negative perceptions, in turn, produce a sense of political uselessness because community members become less inclined to function within the civic sphere and are more estranged from the civic community. The tragic consequence is that the political activism, which can remedy the underlying cause of the social malaise, is rendered seemingly out of reach from the affected citizenry.
The tenets of Social Disorganization theory posit that mass incarceration damages social networks and undermines the resources required by communities to positively impact the political process through the organization and utilization of local institutions that challenge repressive or oppressive policies. This tangible obstruction to political capability generates and buttresses social norms that run counter to the perceived efficacy of collective efforts to produce social change. Thus, mass incarceration damages both community structures and social norms that would produce effective resistance to systemic injustice.
The real costs ensuing from the unwarranted and racially differential growth of this country’s rates of incarceration constitutes a deep-seated and premeditated systemic injustice. This has fueled an epiphenomenal growth in U.S. crime control industries over the last four decades, and qualifies for the label “injustice” because it is not supported by objective data reflecting levels of crime.
Those supporting this growth have turned a blind eye – and infected the general public with a corresponding myopia – to the human, economic and social costs of this misdirected public policy, or its specious relationship to public safety. The racial nature of both the cause and consequences of this injustice has exempted this wrong from scrutiny and discussion by the general public, while at the same time disempowering those most negatively affected from the means of protest and redress.
NCVS shows no increases in property crimes [1973 to 1980].
NCVS show no increase in violent crimes between 1973 and in 1993.
UCR data showed a steady increase in violent crimes between 1973 and in 1993.
There is clearly contradictory evidence of a 1970s crime epidemic, which was a major rationale for expanding the use of imprisonment. Prison populations began increasing only after crime rates had already stabilized or, according to the crime victimization surveys, had already began to decline.
However, organized politics has the ability to trump data when public policy decisions are made. Having begun in the 1960s, “law and order” advocates escalated the “war on crime”: Conservative politicians (e.g., Barry Goldwater), religious groups (e.g., the Moral Majority), and a host of rightwing talk-radio personalities began to beat the “war” drums. However, the media was the most essential ingredient, popularizing the “crime problem” idea, and focusing uncompromisingly on crime – the more shocking and astounding, the better.
The relationship of the accelerated “war on crime” to the urban riots of the ‘60’s is not documented by research, but is quite plausible. There is research evidence indicating that cities experiencing riots continued to face white flight – at even higher levels – during this decade. Did this white flight translate into “white fright”, and fuel the “war on crime”? There is also research evidence indicating that cities experiencing riots increased expenditures significantly more in fiscal areas defined as targeting greater control and punishment of “rioters” than areas addressing the issues around which the civil disturbances were centered. This is an inquiry area warranting more substantial research.
Increased penalties for drug offenses, which strongly fueled much of the growth of state prison populations starting in the late 1980s.
A relevant question thusly becomes: “Why Mass Incarceration?” America occupies a singular position among world nations in terms of its polar extreme position on the issue of racial definition and signification as the basis for inter-group reaction and interaction. The mythical bio-moral chasm between black and white – based upon a bizarre admixture of religious misbelief and pseudo-science – that is comfortably embraced by the American white psyche is a stubbornly vicious historic legacy of the specious justification for the extremely cruel form of slavery upon which the American nation was based. This chasm, the anemic attempt to resolve the inherent contradiction between slavery and democratic principles has been indelibly etched into the political, economic, social, psychological and ideational presence of this nation.
Mass incarceration thus serves the function of “verifying” stereotypes about Black criminality that originated in slavery and are part of a belief system premised on the superiority of whites and inferiority of Blacks. A society less desensitized by irrational prejudice would readily have recognized that – even if, as it not the case, current prison policy was justified based upon effective deterrence – the negative consequences of this policy on communities suffering mass incarceration cry out for policy modification.
Consistent with historic American normative values, mass incarceration’s role in crime control is less essential than is its role in controlling the social, economic, and political engagement of African American communities in the national polity. Penal institutions have historically been key components of social policy aimed at governing secondary social groups. The retrenchment enforced upon this nation’s public welfare policies – through a carefully orchestrated process of legislation and public censure of welfare recipients – culminating in the 1996 federal welfare reform legislation, is etiologically related to the expansion of prisons, an expansion which cast an aura of collective shame on urban communities and further isolated them from the majority of the body politic.
The “Matrix Compound” formed by the vestiges of the ghetto and the expanding incarceration system (1968-).
The term “Matrix” is deemed appropriately descriptive because it is something within or from which something else originates, develops, or takes form. The ”Matrix Compound” is rendered necessary by evolving changes in the structure of the American economy. The shift from a production-based and manufacturing economy to a highly specialized service- and information-based economy has led to production efficiencies, which yielded surplus labor, causing a weakened labor movement, resulting in increased income inequities.
Juxtaposition of these elements to the characteristics of a penal environment is illuminating!
The “Matrix Compound” is a result of the fact that the ghetto – ipso facto – has outworn its usefulness as a mechanism for caste control, and needs to be augmented to become a currently effective instrument designed to maintain African Americans (particularly the “unskilled”) “in their place”, (i.e. in a inferior and constrained position in physical, social, and representational space). African Americans, who began their “careers” in this Nation as enforced labor, are regressively becoming the fodder, the raw material for an increasingly insatiable carceral machine.
The institutions that preceded the “Matrix Compound” were destabilized by the intrinsic inconsistency between hierarchal societal composition and the democratic values professed by this nation. Each collapsed under the weight of its evil intent and content. Each chose as its object of oppression a smaller and smaller portion of the subjugated group, while never disturbing the oppressor advantage. Mass incarceration focuses upon the most impoverished segments of urban communities.
Ghettoes and prisons are functional equivalents in that they both are intended to simultaneously apply a badge of dishonor, and hence the constraints of the body politic to African Americans, and are so inextricably interwoven as to form a single institutional matrix. There is vicious resonance between ghettoes and prisons that repositions the historic nexus between race and citizenship into a modern ideational environment that is housed within a public culture predicated upon the denigration and defamation of “criminals”.
Mass incarceration represents history “updated.” The resulting “Matrix Compound” is a most effective – though perverse – foundation for etching long-established obstacles to African American socio-economic and political progress into current community life, while transposing these historic racial obstacles to the succeeding generation. It is ironic that, while some within the African American community are advocating reparations to symbolically provide a modicum of compensation for the residual consequences of slavery, the “Matrix Compound” phenomenon constitutes a form of reverse reparations, through transfers of earnings, wealth, census enumeration, voting power and political representation, as well as government dollars from the former slaves to the former slave masters!
Over a period of time, African Americans have utilized the urban ghetto setting to design and implement esoteric social forms and symbolic interaction patterns, the intent of which is to upturn racial subjugation. The transference of the urban ghetto into “matrix compounds” through the consequences of mass incarceration is intended to dismember the social framework, which heretofore yielded a pattern of social solidarity and formed the basis of political achievement.
Prisons have become enmeshed in the normal way of life in many inner-city communities, making it an integral part of its culture. This problem requires a two-pronged approach. First, affirmative action must reverse the racial consequences deeply and intentionally engrained within the criminal justice system. Second, there must be concerted attention to and massive infusion of financial, human and ideational resources – from both internal and external loci – into inner-city neighborhoods to build local institutions, redefine social norms, facilitate social networks, and engender social citizenship. In summary, both the cause of and the consequences of the existence of “Matrix Compounds” must be thoroughly eradicated.
An essential question which must be asked – and answered: How can Islamic norms and values be infused into and effectively enhance or modify the culture and subculture of areas that suffer social and cultural disorganization as a consequence of historic tendencies exacerbated by mass incarceration? | http://mana-net.org/pages.php?ID=activism&ID2=&NUM=211 |
The Boston NAACP is calling on state and federal officials, clergy, residents, business leaders, activists and anti-violence groups to develop a unified response to the recent fatal shooting of four young women shot on Harlem Street in Dorchester, as well as a rash of shootings dating back to the murder of a Mattapan family in 2010.
“There are efforts underway on the local, state and federal level to stop the drugs and guns flowing into our city, and there are well-intended pockets of advocacy attempting to address the culture of violence that plagues our neighborhoods,” said Lori Nelson, Chair of the Boston NAACP’s Religious Affairs Committee. “But, we are missing a unified strategy that links all these efforts and addresses the root causes of this problem—poverty, unemployment, a flawed public education system, broken families and untreated mental health conditions, like post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Community Anti-Violence Commission
The Boston NAACP is requesting the development of a Community Anti-Violence Commission that will include the various community stakeholders. The Commission will be charged with making violence and the factors that contribute to the violence a primary focus for planning, advocacy and action. The participating groups will also be asked to shift their funding priorities and initiatives to elevate community violence as a specified priority.
Two Phased Approach
The Boston NAACP is requesting a two-phased approach to the anti-violence efforts of the Commission, and of its participating entities and individuals.
Phase 1
Phase 1 involves a coordinated campaign by non-profits, churches, neighborhood associations, and others to address the “culture of violence”.
“Although we are seeing the impact that violent homes, neighborhoods, entertainment and overall culture is having in society, we absolutely are on the front lines of this battle to stop senseless violence in our communities,” says Michael Curry, President of the Boston NAACP. “We have an opportunity with the outrage over these recent murders to begin a cultural shift that needs to reach every child, every adult, every family, every school and every youth program.”
The NAACP’s proposal calls for a campaign to highlight the impact of violence and, most importantly, provide the resources to families on either side of the violence equation—victim or victimizer. “The shooter comes from a family, and some point he or she needed our assistance, and we have failed them.”
President Curry recalls the murders of his nephews Michael and Antoine in Mattapan, his Aunt Grace in New York, as well as the incarceration of three family members for murder. “This issue penetrates multiple generations, and I believe is a product of centuries of forced poverty, neglect, abuse, over-incarceration and unmet needs,” says Curry.
“We now need to recognize that it is going to take a concerted effort to identify the root causes and address them for this generation and the next.” The Boston NAACP has suggested the creation of a “Community Response Team” out of the churches, where congregants with expertise and training in social work, mental health, etc. will be dispatched to homes of potentially violent children or survivors of homicide.
Phase 2
Phase 2 of the Boston NAACP’s proposed campaign involves a coordinated, policy-based effort to address the following:
The availability of guns and drugs in neighborhoods of color
The quality of education in the Boston Public Schools
The impact of unemployment in Boston’s communities of color, with consideration of the impact of
CORI on future employment for black and brown men
The lack of training, treatment and post-release support for those incarcerated from Boston’s
communities of color
The impact that high-arrest and incarceration rates in Boston are having on communities of color
What is Contributing to the Violence?
The Boston NAACP is requesting the Commission take a serious look at policies, practices and attitudes that are contributing to the violence. The Commission and its members would be expected to provide a unified voice for changes in local, state and federal policy.
The Boston NAACP is also requesting the following:
Research on the perpetrators of violent crimes to identify common causes (e.g., family structure, abuse, location, etc.), and potential solutions
Assessment of the drop-out rates and quality of education in the Boston Public Schools and its interrelation to violent offenders
Recruitment, promotion and retention of officers of color, and the assignment of diverse police officers in impacted neighborhoods
Collaboration between the Boston Public Schools, Charter Schools and Youth Programs to invest resources into violence prevention
Development of a parent and youth crisis line that would provide resources for potential victims or violent offenders
Review of the effectiveness of existing violence prevention programs or initiatives, and funding to scale up programs that have proven to curb violence
“Boston was heralded for its miracle two decades ago for its efforts to reduce violent crime, but the strategy lacked longer term solutions,” said Supreme Richardson, Community Coordination Chair for the Boston NAACP. “Locking them up and focusing on just gangs does not address the cycle of violence, and we’re witnessing the resurgence. We’re going to have to dig deeper, pull these young men and their families into the solution and begin a process for reducing violence.”
About Boston's NAACP
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors. The Boston Branch is the first chartered branch, established in 1911.
Contact: | http://www.uphamscornernews.com/naacp-calls-to-law-enforcement-residents-non-profits-and-churches.html |
calculus totally confused
posted by david .
find a first degree polynomial function p(1) whose value and slope agree with the value and slope of f at x=c. i think you use taylor series for this
f(x)=4/sqrt(x), c=1
i'm totally confused on how to do it. i know you find the derivative but how do i get the function. this is number five on my homework so if you help me on this, i will be able to do the rest.
A first degree polynomial is a straight line of the form y = mx + b.
They are asking you for the equation of a line tangent to 4/sqrt(x) = 4 x^-(1/2) at x = 1
The value of y=f(x) at that point is y = 4
The value of the slope is
dy/dx = -2x^(-3/2), and when x=1, that slope is -2.
The equation of the tangent line is
(y-4)/(x-1) = -2
Convert that to y = mx + b form. | https://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1173839082 |
Quick Facts: Probation
Probationary Status means that your cumulative/overall average is below 60.00%, the minimum required by the University for you to continue your studies. When you are placed on probation you must maintain a minimum semester average of 60.00% in order to be allowed to continue your studies at Guelph. If you do not achieve a minimum semester average of 60.00% while you are on probation you will be required to withdraw from the University of Guelph for a minimum of two semesters and will have to re-apply to the University after that period of rustication.
When are you placed on probation?
The initial decision to place a student on probation is based on the student's cumulative average and the number of course attempts the student has. The decision to allow a student to continue on probation once they have completed a semester on probation is based on the student's semester average. For the complete Continuation of Study policy you should refer to Section VIII--Undergraduate Degree Regulations and Procedures in the current Undergraduate Calendar.
When you are on probation does Summer Semester and/or part-time registration count?
Both summer semester and/or part-time registration count. If you register for the summer semester and you are on probation you must achieve a minimum average of 60.00% to be allowed to continue (i.e. if you take one course you need to obtain a minimum grade of 60.00% and if you take 2 or more courses you need a minimum average of 60.00%).
Strategies to Support Academic Success
You are encouraged to take steps to support your academic success at the University of Guelph. Some strategies that have helped students succeed have been:
- Reduce your course load. If you have already reduced your course load (i.e. 2.50 credits to 2.00 credits) and are still having difficulty consider reducing you load to part-time (less than 2.00 credits).
- Contact your instructor and/or teaching assistant for assistance in preparing for the completion of course work. Ask for help with specific concepts or material from lectures which you do not understand. Prepare yourself for meeting with the instructor before you visit him/her so that you are able to effectively discuss your difficulties.
- Use the Learning Commons in the Library early in the semester. Seek assistance through sessions such as essay writing, preparing for multiple choice exams, study habits, organizing your work load.
- Take a Stress Management Course (Stress Management and High Performance Clinic). These courses are very valuable if you have exam anxiety or if you suffer from headaches or a lack of sleep.
- Obtain a tutor. (If you consider this step you may wish to check Tutoring at Guelph (TAG).
- Consistently attend Supported Learning Group (SLG) sessions (email [email protected]).
- Keep yourself healthy, eat a balanced diet, and schedule yearly physicals with Student Wellness Services (John T. Powell Building, extension 52131).
- Contact Counselling Services to make an appointment to discuss any difficulties that you may be dealing with that are of a personal nature.
Bounce Back Program
Bounce Back is a winter semester program for first year students whose first semester was more challenging then they were expecting. Students who register get paired with an upper-year student who can help address challenges and find a path towards success. Please see https://uoguelph.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3qsEZL2bNUL7xgW for more information.
Additional information about probation is available on the UAIC website.
Seek assistance in determining the route of your academic difficulties and address them. | https://www.uoguelph.ca/uaic/quickfacts-prob |
Peer Academic Consultants (PACs) are student leaders, within Academic Services, who are passionate about helping peers develop the academic skills necessary to become successful students. PACs offer study skills support to undergraduate students through one-on-one meetings. Students will work with a Peer Academic Consultant to develop not only effective study habits but also strong time management and organizational skills to help achieve academic and personal success. PACs are available via appointments.
PACs can discuss a variety of academic success topics, such as:
- Understanding Your Syllabus
- Note-Taking & Textbook Reading Strategies
- Learning Styles
- Communicating with Faculty
- Study Strategies & Techniques
- Time Management
- Setting Goals
- Test Preparation
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The achievement any society made is not the function of the building acquired but depends on the capacity of inhabitants who constitute such society. Every society needs a reasonable number of elites to make great achievement. The capacity of the inhabitants is in turn reflected through academic success which is a function of study habits and attitude to study. Any fundamental change in the intellectual and social outlook of any society has to be preceded by effective study habits and positive attitude to studying by its inhabitants.
For students in formal educational institutions to attain successful achievement in their academic pursuit, they need to have good study habits. Each individual needs to understand the pattern of studies to adopt in order to excel in the course of schooling. Most students perform below average due to lack of good study habits (Abdullahi, 2008). Some students usually have problem getting started. They start studying very late. At this time, the work becomes so cumbersome with so much available materials to read and a lot of assignments to be done (Akafa, 2011).
Most students are involved with so many activities aside their studies. They skip reading their note after lessons; they keep postponing their time of studies. All books are piled up to be read at once. Hence, it is pertinent to note that there is need to encourage good study habits among students so as to attain standard and qualitative education. Each individual needs to understand the suitable approaches to consider when studying. In most cases, students are often confused on how to start, what to do within a short limited time, the time required to study in order to comprehend. This shows clearly that there is urgent need to improve the study skills of students if the purpose of learning is to enable the
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learner attains good performance and academic success. It is important to note that there are students who are well focused in their studies and possessed good mental ability needed to attain good academic performance but may end up performing below expectation severally. In such instances, the issue confronting such persons is not low intelligent Quotients (I.Q) but failure to use the most effective methods of studying (Abdullahi, 2008).Lack of acquiring study skills may constitute a stumbling block to someone’s performance.
Study skills are learning strategies that help students organize process and use information effectively. (Kerka, 2007).They can be classified into two, namely broad and specific study skills. The Broad study skills include cognitive based strategies, repetitive strategies, meta-cognitive based strategies and procedural or organizational-based strategies. The specific study skills include reading strategies, time management skills, note taking methods, consultations/help seeking strategies, library use skills and concentration strategies.
It has been observed based on experience of the researcher in classroom teaching for years that a lot of students in Fagge local government area tend to study without knowing the guiding principles or the skills involved in the studying. This means they are lacking the proper study skills to achieve their academic success. The effect of this might result to malpractice during examination or failure. This has been an issue of concern to the educators: Counsellors, Teachers, Parents and government, therefore a lot need to be put in place to enhance study skills of students. To realize this goal, the school not only teaches the students to learn but exposes them to situation through which effective learning could be developed. | https://newprojecttopics.com.ng/effect-of-study-skills-training-on-poor-study-habits-among-senior-secondary-school-students-in-fagge-kano-state-nigeria/ |
“It’s all about learning” is the College’s focus for this year and we aim to provide opportunities for students to achieve their potential. On Tuesday, 3 May the College organised a Study Skills Seminar for Year 7 parents and students to develop effective strategies for personal and academic success through organisational skills to assist with homework and study.
Dr Prue Salter from Enhanced Learning presented the Study Skills Seminar. Prue has specialised for the last 15 years in the area of study skills and is in high demand as a presenter of study skill sessions. During the Study Skills Seminar, Prue shared some simple but powerful strategies to implement at home to help students cope with the academic demands of school and achieve their personal best.
Prue has already presented Study Skills Seminars to Year 11 and Year 12 students and her strategies have proven to be the catalyst for a focused approach to study and balancing the rigours of school work and homework in the preparation for their senior studies.
Good work habits established in Year 7 should ensure a focused and effective study and homework routine for the student’s academic pathway at school and beyond. Prue outlined in her dynamic and interactive seminar strategies to be implemented at home to reinforce positive home school relationships through conversations and starting points.
Some of these strategies included:
- Improving the student’s home study environment
- Being more organised at school and at home
- Organising an individualised study timetable
- Recognising and removing distractions for effective home study
- Managing workload
- Effective study skills
- Independent learning strategies
In conjunction with the Academic Resource Centre, Learning Support, teachers demonstrating effective study skills at school coupled with effective study habits at home, the students at the College have the opportunity to achieve their academic potential. | https://www.maristcollege.com/2016/05/year-7-study-skills-seminar/ |
Author bio: Anna is a Senior Learning Scientist and Data Scientist at Quizlet. Before joining Quizlet, she received her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from Stanford, researching how memories are formed in the brain. Anna grew up in Los Angeles and currently lives in the Bay Area.
True or false: Information you want to remember is more likely to end up in your long-term memory.
According to an expert board of 18 learning scientists and educators, the answer is false.
If you answered “true,” you’re hardly alone. In a 2020 report, only 18 percent of future teachers answered this question correctly. Although it may seem like students will remember what they want to remember, there is no evidence that the desire to know something has a direct impact on memory. However, when you combine that desire with the right learning strategies, then remembering becomes a choice.
While that’s clear to me now (after studying cognitive science for a decade), I actually knew very little about learning strategies as a student. For instance, when I wasn’t yet confident with the material, I thought rereading the textbook was better than quizzing myself. Why test myself, since I couldn’t be sure of the right answers? I swore by taking detailed notes in lectures, rather than pausing to ask questions. Now I know better! And, as a learning scientist at Quizlet, I get to bring robust research findings into our product, while learning more from the billions of study interactions that are happening with Quizlet’s tools weekly.
As a graduate student, I fell in love with teaching and became fascinated by the ways today’s students differ from my generation. I was also keenly aware of the unnecessary stress college students can face without a strong set of learning strategies. When learners try to retain information for a test without effective techniques, their success can feel outside of their control — even if they devote hours to studying.
To put it another way, success in college isn’t just about passion and hard work. It also depends on how well students learn how to learn. This falls under the concept of metacognition – thinking about one’s thinking. In my experience, when students have learned how to learn, that is, when they’re equipped with metacognitive skills, they don’t just learn better — they’re happier. They are more empowered and demonstrate greater confidence in their future.
I joined Quizlet as a data scientist because I saw potential in the platform. The study tools are a more effective and enjoyable way to learn than, say, reading and rereading a textbook, as I did in college. I wanted to bring in academic research on learning to help today’s students with their modern learning needs.
3 characteristics of Gen Z learners
Many of the learners on Quizlet are members of Gen Z, which refers roughly to today’s high school and college-age students. Researchers recognize several traits that set this age group apart from previous generations. Understanding what makes this generation distinct is critical if we want to help them find learning strategies that work.
Members of Gen Z are:
- True digital natives — they have never known a time without widespread internet access, so they’re comfortable absorbing information online. In fact, 96% of those over age 18 own smartphones, which they use for study and entertainment, according to Pew Center Research.
- Devoted to individuality — they place a high value on independence, adaptability and self-expression. They’re well-positioned to own their educational experience as self-learners.
- Realistic —they make pragmatic, analytic life choices, continually evolving their personal definition of success.
A spectrum of learning
Aside from these common values, our observations of patterns within Quizlet’s data reveal marked learning differences among our Gen Z students. Some of these patterns indicate strikingly driven habits that suggest a strong sense of ownership toward learning. Other patterns indicate what we call last-minute learning. Students may use the platform to cram for tests, or pull together materials for an all-night session. Quizlet supports every kind of learning that occurs on the platform. Wherever possible, we want to provide tools that give Gen Z students more choices about how they learn.
When driven learning behaviors appear, it’s likely that a student has learned how to learn. Such practices empower strategic study habits like goal-setting and self-motivation. They offer more choice about how and when learning happens. Quizlet’s customizable tools can further these learning practices in a variety of ways. Personalizing study tools for individual learning needs, for instance, can increase learning effectiveness and deepen a sense of ownership.
Last-minute learning patterns are at the opposite end of the spectrum. These study patterns suggest an ad hoc approach to goals with intermittent cram sessions. Last-minute learning is not necessarily ineffective or accidental. These patterns can show up for many reasons. Perhaps the student is putting more time into courses that matter most to them. Or, maybe they are prioritizing important non-academic pursuits. That’s why Quizlet supports every type of study pattern, with excellent options for learning across the study spectrum.
However, for some, last-minute learning patterns can indicate less ownership. If a student hasn’t been exposed to strategies that help them learn effectively, they might be working hard but learning less. Last-minute learning can create a number of stressors. Students may depend heavily on external sources for motivation. They may feel overwhelmed and need structure that helps them set realistic goals. For this reason, we strive to help students discover strategies that increase their choices about how they learn.
At Quizlet, we want to help learners succeed in any situation. To do this, we have to meet students where they are. For driven learning, we offer increasingly customizable tools that support students’ independence and ambition. We also provide guidance that helps learners make the most of their time and discover new learning strategies. The many means of studying on Quizlet provide ample opportunity to explore new ways of learning and break out of existing habits. The next posts in this series will cover learning strategies I’ve added to my toolkit (and am still working to refine!). My hope is that modern learners can start taking advantage of these strategies a little earlier on in their educational journeys. | https://quizlet.com/blog/gen-z-how-to-learn |
Adolescents who practice religion regularly perform better in school than those adolescents who do not, finds a recent study performed by Dr. Ilana M. Horwitz at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education. Horwitz’s paper explores differences among the grade point averages (GPAs) of public school students based on their levels of religiosity.
Horwitz bucketed the students into five different levels of religious adherence, from most religious to least religious: Abiders, Adapters, Assenters, Avoiders, and Atheists. She found the most religious kids had the highest GPAs. Horwitz defines that group, the “Abiders,” as those who “display high levels across all measured dimensions of religiosity and ‘abide’ by religion in a classic, institutional sense,” while Avoiders, true to their nomenclature, “avoid religious involvement and broader issues of the relevance of religion for their life.” Unlike the Atheist group, they believe in G-d, but participate far less in religious ceremonies and prayer.
Horwitz’s paper focuses exclusively on the “Abider-Avoider” achievement gap, noting that Abiders outperform all the other religious groups, with the exception of Atheists, who performed comparable with Abiders, although the Atheist group size was very small, which affects its reliability. Atheists comprised 3 percent of Horwitz’s sample, and Horwitz makes no conjectures regarding their achievement metrics, saying they are a unique subset of students who most likely differ greatly from their other non-religious counterparts, given the “strong social stigma” attached to claiming G-d does not exist. Therefore, Horwitz directs her research primarily on the remaining four categories, exploring the relationship between varying levels of religious commitment and its impact on academic performance. [This paragraph has been added since publication.]
Horwitz discovered that “Abiders report the highest GPAs while Avoiders report the lowest GPAs, even after controlling for a host of background factors and behaviors.” Based on her own religious research, Horwitz believes religion nurtures two qualities rewarded heavily in school curriculums: “conscientiousness” and “cooperation.” Conservative Protestants comprised the largest religious type within the high-achieving Abiders group, which “run[s] counter to the hypothesis that Conservative Protestants fare worse in terms of academic achievement,” Horwitz wrote.
Faith Keeps Kids Focused on Positive Behavior
Horwitz found that, within each income bracket, Abiders consistently received better grades than Adapters, Assenters, and Avoiders did, while the GPA gap between Abiders and Avoiders was most pronounced. Even after controlling for a host of factors, including “Gender, race/ethnicity, family socioeconomic status, religious affiliation, and region of the country,” Abiders had an average GPA of 3.21, while Avoiders had just a 2.92 GPA. Even more interestingly, Horwitz found that, after instating the same controls, this effect of religiosity on student grades was most profound for middle-income families and least impactful for high-income families.
In conducting her research, Horwitz used survey data collected between 2002 and 2003 by the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), “a longitudinal and nationally representative study.” The survey consisted of 3,290 adolescents (and their families) from public middle schools and public high schools. Horwitz also performed thorough interviews with 30 students for whom religion either played a primary or non-existent role in life in order to understand the qualitative relationship between religiosity and academic achievement.
The qualitative interviews were insightful. Horwitz reports, “I noticed that virtually all Abiders were conscientious and cooperative—two habits linked with academic success.” Horwitz details some of her particularly interesting interviews, noting that the Abiders frequently shared stories of assiduousness and avoidance of rebellion (often related to a sense of guilt), while Avoiders did not.
Horwitz’s description of Avoiders captured this point bluntly: “Avoiders either didn’t tell any stories of conscientiousness and cooperation, or they shared stories of rebelliousness, such as stealing clothes from the mall or making fun of their teachers even though they knew it was wrong.”
It’s Not Just Correlation, It’s Causation
Horwitz discusses the possibility that perhaps conscientious and cooperative adolescents are more drawn to religion, explaining the correlation between academic achievement and strength of religious belief. However, she determines such an explanation is highly unlikely since religion tends to be non-voluntary for most of an adolescent’s life.
How can this study provide insight on improving education outcomes? In education research, much effort has been devoted to the achievement gap between families of higher and lower incomes. Horwitz acknowledges that her paper is unique in its capacity to identify another mechanism that may drive student performance—the habits procured from increased religiosity at home. Given other research showing that kids are more likely to retain their faith when attending religious schools that inculcate a strong and coherent worldview, this suggests religion-centered education as such also can boost student achievement.
The implication of Horwitz’s research is that some achievement gaps are not due to a lack of government funding or economic redistribution, but rather, a lack of proper habits and socially positive beliefs being instilled at home and reinforced in school. While religion is certainly a sufficient vehicle for transmitting certain values, Horwitz does not suggest it is necessary. Her paper does not, however, point to an alternative.
If we are to treat religiosity as just one facet of an adolescent’s home life, Horwitz’s paper speaks to the profound effects that family culture and upbringing may have on a student’s academic performance. In an era when religious commitment is often equated with ignorance, Horwitz’s paper introduces a new perspective to the debate surrounding the importance of religiosity and its ability to increase and maintain social capital.
When we consider what helps children grow and prosper, government interference is not the first mechanism that comes to mind. And indeed, it shouldn’t be. Horwitz’s research reinforces the notion that state intervention is not the primary driver of student performance. Instead, a good deal of education reform starts at home, and in church. | https://thefederalist.com/2018/04/19/stanford-study-religious-kids-best-school/ |
As a pre-medical student, one of my goals as a future physician is to practice patient-centered medicine, focusing on the overall benefit of the patient, rather than simply targeting a disease process in the patient. Similarly, as a peer tutor, my focus is on the overall benefit of the student, rather than simply targeting the transmission of a particularly difficult concept from textbook to brain.
The best physicians get to know their patients, and the best tutors get to know their students. This is a crucial step in demonstrating a genuine personal interest in the student and in their success. This personal interest may be a strong motivating factor for a student who is struggling, discouraged or is perhaps less than one hundred percent committed to academic success.
Physicians ask many diagnostic questions, and tutors too should have a question bank designed to uncover the student’s roadblocks to success. Questions such as, “How are your note taking skills?” and “Do you experience test anxiety?” and “Do you know how to enter scientific notation in your calculator?” may lead to a breakthrough for the student simply by teaching a basic technique to address the area of need.
Patients and students alike often come to their appointments with an expectation of getting all the answers. The tutor’s role, however, is not to give answers but to lead the student down the path toward the answers. The Socratic method of teaching by asking guided questions is an extremely effective tutoring method. It fully engages the student, deepens understanding, and enables the student to leave with a sense of accomplishment. The Socratic method also serves to build independent learners who have learned to draw on existing knowledge to build bridges to new concepts.
The best physicians take pains to explain complex concepts in understandable terms, and so do the best tutors. It is important for the tutor to take a step back, define basic terminology, and lay a solid foundation. For example, a beginning organic chemistry student is likely to need a review of pertinent concepts from general chemistry. Peer tutors are able to think back to a not-so-distant time when they were struggling with the same concepts and fill in the gaps in understanding for their students. They remember the confusion of encountering a nucleus that was not the nucleus of an atom, nor the nucleus of a cell, but a mysterious collection of cell bodies in the nervous system designed to befuddle the unsuspecting student.
The best physician cannot ensure well-being for a patient who does not take personal responsibility for their health, and the best tutor cannot ensure the success of a student who does not take personal responsibility for their education. Tutoring often involves not only content delivery, but coaching in the habits of successful students, such as reading the textbook, doing homework, planning ahead for exams, and going to office hours.
In summary, the best tutor will strive for the best possible outcome for their student by getting to know the student, addressing the student’s roadblocks to success, guiding the student in the quest for answers, taking time to explain foundational concepts and terminology, and mentoring the student in developing strategies that promote academic success. | https://www.ferris.edu/RSS/asc/tutor-your-student.htm |
College Success is designed to assist students in the transition to college. To be effective in college, a career and in life depends on attitude, hard work, personal qualities and knowing the right strategies. This course will focus on practical tips and strategies that will help students succeed – and ways to create a positive mind shift. Emphasis will be on attitude, study habits and time and stress management. In a setting of active and collaborative learning, students will be engaged in a variety of instructional experiences, including discussions with reading, speaking, writing and listening assignments. The course will require the creation of a personal Success Plan that will introduce various aspects of student development, including an awareness of personal learning styles and career options, and will foster the creation of helpful learning strategies through study skills instruction. Students will survey CCRI’s resources and personnel and become familiar with college policies and procedures. This course is also designed to emphasize applications of the Student Success and Library resources, technology, the development of self-efficacy, and provide students opportunities to process and apply information to their academic and personal lives.
Common At Risk Factors
Attention = Presence
Attitude/Effort = Attitude
Exams = Life Challenges
Participation/Homework = Lifelong Learning
Learning Outcomes
|At the end of this course, a student will be able to:||Techniques/Methods||Type(s) of Assessments|
|1.||Demonstrate knowledge of CCRI resources, policies, etc. in order to better function as a team member and an individual with information access skills.||Locate information and complete class work using Pipeline; complete a scavenger hunt involving resources identification; interview a faculty or staff member.||Group presentation presenting results of scavenger hunt; development of student created quizzes; individual written reports on results of interviews.|
|2.||Reflect on developing self awareness that will help him/her recognize, understand and adjust to changes in life, college, and work.||Apply concepts introduced by lecture and reading assignments to personal areas and then contribute to group reflective thinking and responding; set short-term and long-range goals and design a plan of study that assists achievement of short-term goals.||Journal entries; analysis of personality and learning style assessments; participate in discussion on motivation; develop written response to academic plan exercise; develop written response to “5 Reasons to be in LRCT-1020.|
|3.||Utilize study skills to improve academic performance.||Following LASSI inventory assessment, select and apply appropriate strategies in concurrent courses.||Write a self-analysis of study habits for a particular course; assess the relative effectiveness and suggest an alternative plan.|
|4.||Improve communication skills that display clear and correct expression and critical analysis.||Demonstrate collaborative skills and public speaking ability; display an awareness of thoughtful and appropriate written and spoken responses||Oral presentation on assigned topic; collaboration in group presentation; written responses to assignments; development of written academic plan|
|5.||Utilize appropriate college research resources and develop information access skills.||Attend LRC presentation; use print materials, personal communications, observations, and electronic media to locate and retrieve information;understand the ethical, social and legal issues surrounding the use of information; apply technology effectively to locate, interpret, organize and present information||Complete research assignment using HELIN; utilize Pipeline for class assignments; participate in assigned online discussion groups|
|6.||Demonstrate knowledge of career and transfer planning.||Attend Career Services presentation; utilize Discover program; develop educational and/or career options; become familiar with and participate in campus activity, club, etc; create a career portfolio||Analyze Discover results in written report; mid-term and end of semester review of portfolio; oral presentation of benefits of participating in campus life.|
|7.||Display an understanding of her/his role and contribution to workplace and community.||Discuss the importance and responsibility for being an informed, ethical, and active citizen; display an understanding of and respect for other people and cultures by attending a campus or community cultural or social event; attend Service Learning presentation.||Develop and participate in group presentation on diversity participation in group discussion on academic benefits of service learning.|
|8.||Understand her/his role and contribution within a group or organization.||Participation in group projects and presentation; classroom group activities; participation in extracurricular activities; learn to incorporate constructive criticism into study plan; participate in leadership roles.||Develop report on group experience; assess and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of group work; analyze your performance and contribution; develop a list of group “rules” or policies that would strengthen collaborative learning.|
|9.||Utilize goal setting and decision making steps to contribute to achievement; effectively use problem-solving and analytical skills while demonstrating appropriate professional and social skills and behaviors.||Develop semester long success plan; perform regular self-assessments on progress; review process for plan revision; participate in group assignments and presentations.||Display communication and social skills in oral presentations; develop written journal responses regarding self-efficacy and regular self-assessment; review semester activities academic plan at semester end; develop plan for next semester.|
Topics to be Covered
All sections of the course must include Chapters 1-9 in OnCourse as well as the topics listed below.
- Identify reasons for enrolling in the Seminar on Student Success course.
- Describe the results of the LASSI (Learning and Study Skills Inventory) and explain various study skills strategies.
- Evaluate the responses of the learning style and LASSI inventories and develop a personal learning strategies plan.
- Describe the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and list examples of both.
- Identify components of short and long-term goal setting (based on values, interest structure, personality and skills assessments); develop educational plan for upcoming semester.
- Develop Student Success Plan including course materials per directions of instructor.
- Identify several aspects of college academic policies and schedules such as: the Add/Drop period; withdrawal deadlines; grading policies; registration dates; student rights and responsibilities, computer access and responsibilities, etc.
- Participate in a group project that composes a presentation on learning strategies (or topics assigned by instructor).
- Develop the ability to recognize and use specific interpersonal, communication and listening skills through group collaboration and public speaking assignments.
- Write journal entries that discriminate the difference between your previous educational experiences and college and assess the development of personal, career and academic goals.
- Complete a library assignment using HELIN or other identified LRC resource.
- Identify the roles and locations of: the CCRI Success Centers; the Academic Department related to your major, the LRC, Campus Security, the Enrollment Services Office, Advising & Counseling Center, Bursars Office, Co-Operative Education Program, Career Center, Computer Labs, Writing Center, Math Labs, College Bookstore, among others.
- Interview an instructor or staff person and present a brief report of the meeting.
- Through written work and classroom assignments, demonstrate your awareness of the importance of career goal setting and identify relevant campus resources.
- List various student clubs and organizations and describe those you would consider joining.
- Attend one campus-sponsored event OR one campus-sponsored workshop and provide proof of attendance by means of a brochure, playbill, certificate of attendance, etc.
Classroom Assessment
Curriculum Resources
National Resource Center for the First Year Experience
Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education
Teaching Tips Index from Honolulu Community College (one of the more useful instructional web resources available)
Active Learning Site (supports the scholarship of teaching by providing research-based resources designed to help faculty use active learning successfully in college and university classrooms)
Skip Downing’s OnCourse Student Success Strategies
Online resources from Dr. Richard Lyons
Prentice Hall Student Success web site
Online Academic Success Videos
For an archive of success strategies:
http://www.OnCourseWorkshop.com
To access the Internet version of the On Course Self-Assessment:
http://college.hmco.com/ collegesurvival/ downing/on_course/4e/ students/ assess/ index.html
You Tube Vidoes
Jack canfield: The Success principles – Chicken Soup
Assessments/Inventories
One of the main objectives of the LRCT-1020 course will be to develop each student’s Success Plan. The planning should include the opportunity for self-assessment from a number of perspectives (i.e. personality traits, learning styles, career interest inventories and aptitudes, etc.) The links below are sites that provide online assessment tools for your use.
Study Skills and Motivation Inventories
- Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Better Student
- Study Guides and Strategies
- Tools and Strategies for Improved Academic and Social Outcomes
- LASSI – Learning and Study Strategies Inventory
- University of Minnesota/Duluth
- Virginia Polytech Study Skills Survey
- Note Taking Strategies
- Reading and Studying Techniques
- EXAM DAY: Survival Tips
- Effective Writing Strategies
Learning Styles Inventories
Learning Styles – This is a good, easy to use Learning Styles inventory. It provides the user with some fundamental diagnosis, and then it displays a page of very useful, study and classroom strategies and recommendations.
Solomon and Felder’s Index of Learning Styles is a 44-item questionnaire which can becompleted online. Learning style results are returned immediately in four categories: active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal and sequential/global.
VARK is a questionnaire that provides users with a profile of their preferences. These preferences are about the ways that they want to take-in and give-out information whilst learning.
Personality Inventories
Kiersey Tempermant Sorter – personality assessment
Information on Myers-Briggs type personality assessments
Career Interest Inventories
Take the Career Key, a professional career test. It takes about 10 minutes. It measures your skills, abilities, values, interests, and personality. Identify promising jobs and get accurate information about them.
Princeton Review Career Quiz
Links to Professional Organizations
- National Resource Center for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition
- Policy Center on the First Year College
- Lumina Foundation
- The Community College Student Success Project
- California Center for Student Success
- NADE– National Association for Developmental Education
- CRLA– College Reading and Writing Association
- AMATYC– American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges
QUALITIES EMPLOYERS LOOK FOR
What are the traits that the young people are missing and, that employers are looking for. After surveying both employers and recent graduates, I found that the top habits and attitudes that young team members still need develop are:
- Willingness to start at the bottom. Many said they felt entitled to high-level jobs since they had a degree. As a result, they felt some jobs were “beneath” them.
- Patience and tenacity. Graduates assumed they’d be promoted within six months, including raises and perks… without having to expend much effort to get there.
- Submission to authority. A majority reported they struggled with policies and parameters they didn’t understand. They felt systems were confining.
- Sense of initiative. Young staff failed to demonstrate risk-taking abilities. There was apprehension about stepping out and leading the way.
- Work ethic. Grads lacked old-fashioned grit and expressed unwillingness to serve beyond the job description, to do whatever it takes to get a task done.
- Responsibility. They were unable or unwilling to assume sole responsibility for their work. It was as if they wanted to “rent” their job, not own it.
- Conflict resolution skills. Along the way, a majority of young adults failed to learn how to work through conflict, often running from it instead of resolving it. | https://www.ccri.edu/faculty_staff/athl/ksalisbury/courses/student-success-course.html |
You are viewing information for England. Study skills To help students become more effective in college, here are some helpful external links on how to become a better student.
However, these sources often gloss over certain memory-related habits that can really help you remember the material much better. On this page I describe five proven study strategies that every student should know and use to maximize their retention of the material.
Much of my understanding of the best study skills comes from the book Your Memory: Higbee, the study skills you should be using are: Higbee refers to these as "strategies for effective learning". Below I've explained each of these with examples.
In addition to learning about Dr. Higbee's methods below, watch the following video for a visual explanation of the 6 top study habits of the "ANSWER" study method.
These techniques work hand in hand. Higbee describes can help improve your understanding and memory regardless of material. The methods are effective for gradeschool, college, online coursesindependent study, or any other learning environment. Make these five best study skills a part of every study session, and you should be able to recall the information much more Techniques and study skills.
And if you find it hard to motivate yourself to actually sit down and study, check out my tips on how to beat procrastination. If you have trouble staying focused while studying, consider listening to these music genres during your study sessions.
Best Study Skills 1: Reduce Interference One cause of forgetting is something called "interference". Interference occurs when information you have learned previously interferes with gets in the way of new material that is similar.
Interference may cause confusion when the time comes to recall the material. The brain can mix up new information with what was learned before. For example, suppose you met several people at a business conference last week.
Then, you met several more people at a party last night. Interference may cause you to confuse the names of people at the conference with those you met at the party and vice versa. There are several individual strategies you can employ to keep interference to a minimum: The better you know the material, the less likely that interference will occur.
To overlearn, continue studying past the point where you can just barely recall the information. For example, suppose you need to memorize Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, a famous speech given by U.
President Abraham Lincoln in Rather than stopping after you are able to remember the speech just once without mistakes, continue studying it further to achieve better mastery.
Research shows that overlearning strengthens memory for any material, and one of the ways it does this is by reducing possible interference. Another way to reduce interference is to make the information more meaningful. To best remember what you are learning, the material needs to make sense rather than just be learned by rote.
Interference can still happen even with meaningful material, but it will occur less often. Some ways you can make what you are learning more meaningful include: The more you know about a subject the easier it is to learn new material related to it.
For example, experienced chess players are able to memorize new moves more quickly than other people who are not familiar with chess. To my way of thinking, the principle of familiarity is one of the many benefits of being a life-long learner interested in a wide range of subjects. Something you learn today may help you learn related material some time in the future.
If you can convert the information you want to remember into a rhyme, it will be more meaningful and therefore easier to remember. You have probably heard such mnemonic rhymes as "In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue," or "I before E, except after C.1 COUNSELING SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES BASIC COUNSELING SKILLS & TECHNIQUES Benefits of Counseling Tackling the ups, downs, and all around issues that come along with living a.
Techniques, Skills, and Drills One of the most important skills in field hockey is the ability to control the ball while running, a skill that is known as dribbling. Study skills are the skills you need to enable you to study and learn efficiently – they are an important set of transferable life skills.
Our pages provide generic study skills advice – appropriate to learners across all disciplines and in different life circumstances: full and part-time students, those returning to education later in life, those engaged in professional development and.
The following are general study skills guides, tutorials and articles for students, parents and teachers that offer proven tips and strategies for improving study skills habits, effectiveness and learning ability.
This page contains study techniques, test taking tips, how to study guidelines. Studying is only a part of getting good results on your exam. No matter how hard you study as a student if you don't know how to go about taking a test, whether multiple choice or essay, you won't score the highest possible mark. | https://welagacoromemy.rutadeltambor.com/techniques-and-study-skills-5152gw.html |
For details on our other events, check out our Event Calendar page.
The Center for Student Wellbeing provides a variety of workshops throughout the year. We are also glad to accept requests submitted by student organizations, staff, and faculty. Presentations are offered at the Center or in a variety of on campus settings and are faciliated by CSW staff and our peer educators.
To request services, please complete our program request form. Please note that the CSW requires a minimum of two weeks notice to consider requests. All requests will be screened by a CSW staff member within 2-3 business days of the initial request. Approval of requests are contingent upon scheduling, availability of staff and type of request submitted.
Please see our in-house workshop schedules below.
Fall 2022 Wellbeing Workshops
Dates for Fall 2022 Workshops will be added soon
More information about these workshops can be found at the bottom of the page
Links to recorded workshops:
Recorded Graduate/Professional Student and Faculty/Staff Host Responsibility Training:
https://brightspace.vanderbilt.edu/d2l/le/content/165701/viewContent/1953906/View
In order to access the HRT recording you will log on to your Brightspace account and self-enroll in the Center for Student Wellbeing Course. Once you are there click on CSW Workshop Recording, and you will find the Host Responsibility Training recording. When you have watched the recording, it will be marked as completed.
All workshops will be held in the CSW Classroom unless otherwise noted.
January Workshops
February Workshops
March Workshops
April Workshops
Writers’ Accountability Group
Graduate and professional students have an opportunity to support each other through the writing process by attending regular Writers’ Accountability Group (WAG) meetings during Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. Each meeting is facilitated by a CSW coach. Members will meet approximately monthly for one-hour sessions, sharing goals and accountability-not text. Longer write-ins offers participants a committed writing time and space. Participants should be actively writing and able to commit to regular attendance.
Please email [email protected] to register
Surviving & Thriving with ADHD and other Executive Function Concerns
Representatives from the CSW and UCC will facilitate a weekly workshop for students to actively engage in skill-building to improve work completion, time management, and organization and practice cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness interventions. This workshop series will focus on strategies for improving work completion, time management, and organization, as well as touching on cognitive behavioral and mindfulness interventions. A verified diagnosis of ADHD is not required for this workshop; any interested student is welcome! No referral is necessary and attendance is not mandatory, although you will get the most benefit if you make a commitment to attend all sessions in the series. If you have previously participated in Surviving and Thriving with ADHD, you are invited to attend again, as it can be beneficial to hear the information more than one time.
Workshop Location & Time: All meetings take place on Wednesdays, by Zoom, from 4:00-5:00pm
*Please reach out to Frances Niarhos ([email protected]) or Samantha York ([email protected]) for more information about this workshop.
Wellbeing Workshop Descriptions
Overdose Prevention & NARCAN Training
The pandemic has had a profound impact on many of us and nowhere is it clearer than in the number of deaths by overdose. During the 12-month span ending in May 2021, the United States experienced over 100,000 deaths by overdose. The largest number of overdose deaths since they have been recorded. Many of these overdose deaths were unknowingly caused by drugs laced with fentanyl. Davidson County’s Regional Overdose Prevention Specialist, Kaitlynn Jackson, will present a comprehensive look at the opioid epidemic in Tennessee and provide critical training on signals to look for and how to use the overdose reversal agent Narcan. After the training, each participant will receive a free Narcan kit.
Financial Wellbeing
Are you aware of how much money you spent on dining out last month? Do you understand your personal relationship to money? Will your refund check last throughout the semester? Have you started saving for the future? These are all questions college students should be thinking about. College is a time for new experiences and personal growth, and that includes developing strong financial habits. The CSW wants to help ensure you’re prepared to make smart financial decisions during and after your time at Vanderbilt. Students will have the opportunity to assess personal relationships with money and how that impacts financial behaviors, identify connections between mental and financial wellbeing, analyze current spending and saving habits, and become more aware of ways to apply budgeting and money-saving concepts.
Healthy Habits for Healthy Minds
Juggling school, work, a social life, and personal wellness can be challenging during busy semesters. One way to avoid burnout and exhaustion is to manage expectations and protect your needs early on. This workshop will focus on setting healthy boundaries and establishing self-care routines as a busy student.
Host Responsibility Training
Host Responsibility Training is provided by the Center for Student Wellbeing. This alcohol and other drug education presentation will prepare hosts to have safe and successful events through the discussion of Tennessee State Law, Vanderbilt Policy, and DUI prevention strategies. The presentation is approximately 30 minutes in length and is required annually for hosts of events where alcohol is present.
How to Student
Our How to Student workshops (Time Management, Learning Strategies, Ask the Professor, Finals Prep) are designed to assist students who may be having difficulties with classes, wish to improve grade point averages, or who would simply like to enhance study techniques for university work. While these workshops are very helpful to students who are experiencing academic difficulties, including balancing hectic schedules, they are also beneficial to anyone who wishes to become a more efficient learner.
MAPS (Mental Health Awareness and Prevention of Suicide)
MAPS (Mental Health Awareness & Prevention of Suicide) training introduces gatekeepers to the basic statistics, facts, and warning signs of suicide, as well as providing direct instruction on how to best facilitate referrals to trained professionals. From that grounding of basic knowledge and skills, this training will enhance gatekeepers’ ability to establish a more meaningful and positive relationship with individuals in crisis.
Time Management Essentials
Learn practical techniques and strategies to manage your academic, personal, and/or social calendars.
*Imposter Syndrome
This workshop will be an introduction to Imposter Syndrome. Students will learn definitions, identifying characteristics, and first-step responses. Referrals will be provided for students seeking further support.
*Introduction to Mindfulness
Do you ever find your thoughts wandering to your never-ending to do list and five minutes later to that time two weeks ago when you said something embarrassing? Mindfulness is paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, and non-judgmentally in a present moment. Students will become more knowledgeable about mindfulness practices, the science of and research related to mindfulness, exercises that foster a deeper understanding of mindfulness, and relaxation techniques to use when faced with stress. Students will be challenged to think on their own about how to integrate what they learned from the session into their day-to-day life.
*Cultivating Wellbeing
Cultivating Wellbeing focuses on the interdependent relationship of wellness dimensions that can ultimately lead students, over a period of time, to a consistently healthy lifestyle. Students will have the opportunity to explore social wellness, occupational wellness, intellectual wellness, emotional wellness, physical wellness, and spiritual wellness. Throughout the session, students will also self-reflect on how they currently cultivate habits of each of the wellness dimensions, and they will engage in an activity to see where their wellbeing stands. Ultimately, students will become more aware of how they can nurture various relationships, become more accountable for financial decisions, recognize whether or not career ambitions are personally satisfying, face adversity and challenges head on, implement healthy exercise and dietary habits, improve sleep quality, and examine their values, ethics, and core beliefs.
*Indicates workshops are not part of our current schedule but are available upon request. | https://www.vanderbilt.edu/healthydores/activities-and-events/skill-building-workshops/ |
In July, the Joint Commission released Quick Safety, Issue 50 that emphasizes developing resilience to combat nurse burnout. The safety issue was released as a result of numerous surveys indicating that nurse burnout remains an ongoing issue amongst nurses.
According to a national nursing engagement survey released in April 2019, 15.6% of nurses reported feelings of burnout. Emergency room nurses were identified at being at a higher risk for burnout and 20% of ER nurses reported feeling unengaged. Interestingly, 50% of nurses who reported feeling burnout in their current position also reported no immediate plans to leave their organization. Another 41% of nurses reported as being “unengaged”.
The report explained that unengaged nurses are nurses who:
- May not be part of a team with their colleagues
- Have diminished morale
- Feel emotionally checked out from their work
All of these can ultimately affect the quality of patient care.
Another 2019 survey found that nurse burnout was among the leading patient safety and quality concerns in healthcare systems. Unfortunately, only 5% indicated their healthcare organizations were highly effective at helping address nurse burnout. 39% said their organization was slightly effective and 56% were either slightly ineffective or highly ineffective at helping staff address burnout.
Patient satisfaction, patient outcomes, patient safety, and even patient mortality can all be severely impacted by nurse burnout. The Joint Commission found ways to reduce nurse burnout and potential consequences by supporting nurses through administrator supported interventions including resilience training.
First identified in 1960, work stress in nursing was broken into four sources of anxiety among nurses. These included patient care, decision making, taking responsibility, and change. Some of the identified stressors for nurses include,
- Physical labor
- Long working hours
- Short staffing
- Interpersonal relationships
- Human suffering
- Increase in the use in technology
- Rises in health care costs
- Heavy patient assignments
Symptoms Of Nurse Burnout
Nurse burnout is a physical, mental, and emotional state caused by chronic overwork, job dissatisfaction, short staffing, and lack of administrative support.
How do you know if you are experiencing nurse burnout? Professionals identified the following warning signs:
- Always tired
- Overwhelming anxiety
- Physical illness
- Insensitivity
- Lack of appropriate emotions
- Calling out of work when not physically ill
- Dreading going into work
- Lack of personal accomplishment
- Depression
- Depersonalization
- Emotional exhaustion
Nurse burnout has led to adverse health outcomes for nurses, increased turnover thus furthering the current nursing shortage, and decreased patient satisfaction.
Nurses working in high-stress areas such as critical care, oncology, pediatrics, and emergency room report the highest levels of nurse burnout. One study found that 13% of critical care nurses left their positions due to nurse burnout while 5% left the nursing profession altogether. A different study identified 25% of nurses in high-intensity work environments such as the ER and ICU left staff positions due to nurse burnout.
Combating Nurse Burnout
It is important for nurses to have an outlet to combat stress. Reducing stress benefits not only the nurse but also their patients. These outlets can be listening to music, yoga, going to the park, or watching a movie. It is important that a stress outlet is one that is productive. Many professionals recommend the following coping strategies for nurse burnout:
- Take deep breaths
- Identify your stressors
- Say no to overtime
- Learn to say no to coworkers for switches
- Delegate when possible
- Unplug and recharge
- Set boundaries
- Ask for help from professionals
- Practice self-care
- Engage in healthy attitudes regarding physical exercise and eating habits
- Strong coworker relationships
- Create a support network
- Slow down
Nurse Resilience
Resilience helps mitigate moral distress and burnout. It involves utilizing different coping strategies to minimize distress.
A study in 2010 by Cameron and Brownie identified eight themes that impact nurse resilience:
- Experience
- Amount of satisfaction attained
- Positive attitude or sense of faith
- The feeling of making a difference
- Leadership strategies, such as debriefing, validating and self-reflection
- Support from colleagues, mentors, and teams
- Insight in the ability to recognize stressors
- Maintaining work-life balancE
Developing Resilience
The Joint Commission recognized that administrators in health care organizations have a responsibility to take an active role in developing and fostering resilient environments, which can reduce nurse burnout. Leaders should consider the following to help prevent nurse burnout:
- Feeling valued professionally
- Colleague support
- Use of mentors/role models
- The feeling of making a difference
- Team support
- Organizational support
- Use of debriefings
- Feeling competent to meet the needs of the job
- Positive reappraisal
- Empowerment
- Sense of accomplishment
One of the first steps in reducing nurse burnout is acknowledging nurse burnout. A resilient work environment is only possible when nurses have the ability to discuss concerns to hospital administrators to listen, acknowledge, and act on the concerns.
Nurse burnout has long been a hot topic in the healthcare community as it directly affects staff and patients. Through the most recent Joint Commission report, hospital administrators are encouraged to engage and support their nurses through open communication and empowerment.
The ongoing nursing shortage will continue to affect nurse burnout. It’s important to remember to be kind to your co-workers, work together to provide the best patient care, and remember to slow down and take a few deep breaths during long shifts.
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Ready to take your career to the next level? Find out what your next step could be. | https://nurse.org/articles/joint-commission-tackles-nurse-burnout/ |
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Read each statement and decide whether the statement best describes you by answering Yes or No. The statements focus on four areas critical to online success: technology, life and academic skills, learning environment and course expectations.
To be a successful online student, you need to either own a computer with an Internet connection or have ready access to one several days a week for several hours at a time. A high speed Internet connection is recommended. If you plan on using a computer other than your own, be aware that some courses require software installation or computer setting adjustments which may not be possible on a public computer.
If you do not enjoy working with computers and learning new technologies, you may avoid logging in and delay completing online coursework. However, if you are highly motivated to complete the course, this may compensate for your lack of enthusiasm for the technology.
While it is not necessary to be a computer expert, it is important that you feel comfortable using a computer to perform basic tasks. If you are not skilled in the areas mentioned, you may want to consider taking an introductory computer course before taking an online course.
Online courses may require that you download and install specific software, plug-ins and/or players to your computer. You should be comfortable performing these tasks before attempting an online course.
It is important to recognize that everyone runs into problems from time to time, but most difficulties can be worked out. There may not be an immediate solution, so patience and persistence is required.
Most online courses have a large amount of online and printed text materials. You should have good reading comprehension skills in order to understand the material being studied.
Most communication with your instructor and your classmates will occur online through discussion topics, email, and chat. Therefore, you should feel comfortable sharing your written thoughts and ideas with others. The use of "chat lingo" or text message abbreviations are generally not considered appropriate in the online classroom.
Once a student gets behind, it is very difficult to catch up. Successful online students are good self managers. They set aside the necessary time during each week to work on their course and complete assignments by due dates.
While the flexible scheduling of an online course can make it easier for you to complete your education, the courses themselves require just as much hard work and dedication as face-to-face courses. In some cases, students may face more challenges and need to put forth more effort in order to be successful.
One common mistake that first-time students make is underestimating the amount of time that it takes to read their course materials, study, and complete course assignments. With the exception of time saved not having to commute to campus, an online course takes at least as much time as a face-to-face course.
Students who have strong motivation for taking courses and who are focused on their goals have a greater chance of being successful online learners.
Online learning requires students to be self-directed learners capable of independent learning. While the instructor will provide direction and access to learning materials, successful students make a personal commitment and take responsibility for their own learning.
In an online course, the instructor receives no visual clues to know that a student is having a problem. If you experience difficulty with the technology or the course content, you need to communicate this immediately to your instructor.
While you may need to develop or modify study skills and habits specifically for the online environment, having good study habits in general will be a big factor in determining your ability to succeed.
Online learners may find they are challenged with more distractions than they would experience in a physical classroom. It is especially important for online students to set aside a distraction-free study area where they can read and complete their course work.
Many students do not miss face-to-face classroom meetings because they get plenty of online interaction with their instructor and classmates. In most online classes, you will never meet your instructor or classmates in person. If that really bothers you, online learning is probably not a good choice for you.
Online instructors check their courses and respond to student communications within two business days. It is important to keep due dates in mind when working on assignments as questions may come up, and an answer might not be immediate.
It is important to identify and seek out available resources. HACC provides many FREE online and on-campus resources, such as tutoring, to help you succeed. Visit our website or give us a call to learn more.
One of the biggest factors in your ability to succeed will be your belief that you can make it happen. If you believe that you will learn as much or more in the online classroom, then you probably will!
While there is a good bit of flexibility in how and when you complete coursework, you must take the initiative to login to your class and complete course work by the due dates. If you are a procrastinator and cannot overcome this habit, an online course may not be for you. | https://www.hacc.edu/OnlineLearning/FutureOnlineStudents/Self-Assessment.cfm |
Student Success Coaches are professional staff members who work with students in individual and group settings to learn and practice strategies and habits to be a successful student. Success Coaches are knowledgeable of campus resources and personal skills needed to help students connect, learn, and thrive at SIUE.
Common areas Success Coaches address when working with students are:
- Time management
- Overcoming procrastination
- Developing good study habits
- How to access mental health, learning support, or classroom accommodations and student support
- Understanding course expectations
- Navigating online resources
Success Coaches work with Academic Advisors to support students through transitions and rough spots in the college journey. Students can request a Success Coach in Starfish or be referred to one by their Academic Advisor. | https://www.siue.edu/retention/success-coaches/index.shtml |
Rationale: Why study history? Why study the distant past? Why does historical thinking matter? To fully realize history's humanizing qualities, to draw on its ability to, ‘expand our conception and understanding of what it means to be human,’ we need to encounter the distant past -- a past even more distant from us in modes of thought and social organization. It is this past, one that initially leaves us befuddled or, worse, just plain bored, that we need most if we are to achieve the understanding that each of us is more than the handful of labels ascribed to us at birth. The sustained encounter with this less-familiar past teaches us the limitations of our brief sojourn on the planet and allows us to take membership in the entire human race. History provides us with the “invaluable mental power we call judgment.”3 Recent research supports the “basic assumption that history teaches us a way to make choices, to balance opinions, to tell stories, and to become uneasy – when necessary – about the stories we tell.”4 Ultimately, democracy and effective citizenship rests significantly on each generation’s ability to think historically. The Oakland Schools’ curriculum moves students beyond mere events, people, and dates. It encourages students to think like historians, geographers, economists, political scientists, anthropologists, and other social scientists. Such sophisticated thinking is, as some have argued, “unnatural” and often challenging for young students.5 Students whose schools have adopted the MC3/Oakland Schools’ curriculum will have encountered this type of thinking beginning in second grade. Building on discipline-focused thinking, this unit extends students’ understanding of historical thinking as they approach the study of world history. By unpacking historical and geographic thinking, students learn how these disciplines are distinct in how they ask questions and frame problems to organize and drive inquiry. They investigate how these social scientists select, analyze, and organize evidence, and then use that evidence to create accounts that answer questions or problems. These skills would be “useful every time they faced a take-home exam or research paper: how to get started when they lack necessary information, how to prepare their minds to deal with new topics, how to develop a hunch. The benefits would extend far beyond the intellectual.”6 Through the development of the historical habits of mind, students build both social and content literacy. As such, the Common Core State Standards for Literacy are a deliberate focal point of the unit. World Geography: The unit begins by building on students’ prior knowledge of world geography studied in sixth grade. Students review how geographers examine, frame, and reframe the world by using topographical features and big “invented” geographic categories. They explore how maps are representations of places and how representations of the same place can differ based on the purposes, knowledge, and points of view of the cartographer.7 They consider how these differences shape how people create accounts of places and that the names geographers, historians or other people use -- “Europe,” the “Rhine River,” “Indonesia”, “Eastern Hemisphere” or “continents” – are interpretative ideas created by people for specific reasons. Throughout the course students will be using others’ historical accounts or maps. Understanding what went into creating an account or map is a key feature in learning to “read” them. Being able to understand and use these ideas in reading are critical, advanced literacy skills and therefore, these ideas are introduced early in the curriculum and are built upon throughout the course. By examining the perspectives and language of historians and geographers, students enrich their understanding of the past. History as “Events” Versus History as “Accounts”: Students also engage in a deeper understanding of history. Scholars of student thinking in history have demonstrated how vital the distinction between “history as an event” and “history as an account” is for students to understand. If students think that “history” really is “all the events in the past,” then learning history must mean memorizing the events in the past. However, if students can see the distinction between these two uses of the word, and can understand that all studies of history are “accounts” of the past, then that opens students to understand the importance of thinking skills other than memorization – such as selecting events or evidence, or perspective taking, all of which are essential in historical thinking. Accordingly, the distinction of history as events versus accounts is foundational for student understanding. Historical Thinking: Students consider how it is possible for historians to create representations or accounts of events in which they were not present or that happened thousands of years before they were even born. They learn that historians must have some evidence to support the claims they make in their accounts. Therefore, this unit introduces students to some of the content area literacy skills central entailed in teaching people “to do” history and geography. Students review the difference between primary and secondary sources (evidence) and begin to employ methods of analysis using strategies called sourcing and corroborating. They are introduced the ideas of internal and external validity, two forms of corroboration involved in reading primary and secondary sources. Students assess the internal validity by examining whether a source contradicts itself. Determining external validity requires students to explore other sources or other pieces of information that supports or challenges the source under investigation. After learning about the importance of framing a historical problem, students explore four thinking tools that historians use to organize and analyze information: significance, social institutions, temporal frames (time), and spatial scales (space). In determining significance, students consider the characteristics that make an event significant and then apply these characteristics to their own lives. To assist students in analyzing and describing past societies, they identify how societies address their needs through the creation of social institutions (e.g., organizing power = government; producing and distributing resources including food, shelter, and clothing = economy; raising and educating children = family; disseminating culture = education; developing common beliefs and values = religion; and communicating = language). In considering time, students explore a variety of calendar systems. They also learn how historians use eras, periodization schemes, and turning points to organize and analyze information. Students then explore how historians use space to organize and analyze past events. In thinking of places as geographic “containers” in which we place historical events, students are introduced to how some containers can be too big for events and make the events difficult to see. They also explore how geographic containers that are too small for an event cut out features of the event. This is important for people who use others’ historical accounts or maps. Understanding what went into creating an account or map is a key feature in learning to “read” historical accounts and/or maps. In considering how geographers frame and reframe the earth, students refine their use and understanding of these big spatial categories throughout the unit. These are critical and challenging lessons for students and teachers because all historical study builds upon these elements. They are the “invisible” tools that historians use to create historical accounts. Sometimes, teachers and students pay no attention to such things as institutions, or the temporal and spatial organization of the historical accounts they are teaching and learning. Too often, teachers and students simply assume that since something is in the curriculum or the textbook it is significant for some reason, and never consider significance at all. Content Literacy: The development of content literacy skills is a critical component in this course and is integrated throughout the unit. Students are introduced to the features and structure of their history textbook. Comparing the disciplines of history and science reinforces the fact that history has its own ways of thinking, knowing, and using evidence. Students begin to examine some potential limitations of history textbooks by exploring to what extent their textbook reflects the evidentiary, problem-based, and interpretative nature of history. The unit culminates with students challenging the official and ‘unbiased’ version of historical events found in their textbooks. By comparing a textbook account of a historical event with two primary sources, students uncover that the textbook offers one narrow version of history that is often void of the ongoing investigative nature of historical inquiry and practice. Students write reflectively on the benefits of using historical habits of mind in and out of the history classroom. The concluding activity of the unit not only reinforces the big ideas explored throughout the unit, but helps establish classroom rules for small group discussions which will be employed throughout the course.
The focus of this unit is to develop students' fluency with addition and subtraction facts within 10. To do this, students continue to work with number patterns and relationships, including skip counting by 5s and 10s and identifying the relationship between written and spoken number words and written numerals. They order and compare numbers to develop an understanding of their relative sizes. They become more skilled at instantly recognizing the amounts in a patterned set of objects without counting them (subitizing), e.g., dots on dice, dominos, or a ten-frame. These activities engage students in thinking about part-part-total number relationships and aid in learning the number combinations foundational to learning other basic addition and subtraction facts in first grade.Students compose and decompose numbers to ten, which provides experiences with the big mathematical ideas of equivalence and the commutative property for addition. They also learn to use strategies such as adjusting the numbers in a problem to make it easier to solve (e.g., 6 + 4 = 5 + 5; 2 + 4 = 3 + 3). They develop fluency with complements of ten to establish ten as an anchor or benchmark number for future work with addition and subtraction. They solve different types of word problems within sums of 10 that include concretely, pictorially and numerically modeling and explaining their solutions.When reading the standards below, keep in mind that the focus of this unit is developing strategies and fluency for adding and subtracting within 10. Students will work with larger numbers later in the year.
The focus of this unit is on deepening students’ use of mental strategies for facts as fluency with basic addition and subtraction facts is foundational for multi-digit computation. In first grade students explored a variety of reasoning strategies for finding the sum of two one-digit numbers. In second grade students need to become fluent with basic faction order to free up more complex problems including two- and three-digit addition and subtraction problems. As students work to deepen and extend their strategies for facts above ten, they work with place value concepts. The work students do with place value in this unit reviews decomposing numbers into tens and ones. As students explain their thinking and listen to the thinking of others, they expand their understanding of number relationships and properties of operations. For example, one fact strategy for adding 7 + 9 is to think, “7 + 9 = (6 + 1) + 9 = 6 + (1 + 9) = 6 + 10 = 16.” Another strategy for 7 + 9 is to think, “7 + 9 = 7 + 10 - 1 = 17 – 1 = 16.” These are useful strategies that students may also apply when using mental arithmetic to add 8 or 9 ones to a multi-digit number (e.g., 46 + 8 = 8 + 2 + 44 = 10 + 44 = 54 or 46 +10 – 2 = 56 – 2 = 54).
To develop “spatial sense”, students use positional words to describe the location of physical objects in the classroom or school (above, below, beside, in front of, behind, next to).
This introductory unit extends students’ understanding of geographic thinking as they approach the study of world geography and global issues. After exploring several definitions of geography, students review and apply geographic concepts to different spatial scales. They use the expanding environments model of elementary school (self-school-community-state-country) to consider the questions: What is where? and Why is it there?. Students are then introduced to the method for geographic inquiry, using the drying up of the Aral Sea is used as a case study to model the process. They then apply the geographic inquiry process to new geographic issues. Next, students explore the tools and technologies of geographers such as globes, aerial photographs, and satellite images, and learn how new technology such as Global Position System (GPS) and Global Information Systems (GIS) provide geographers with new and detailed information about the Earth. They also review the five themes of geography as an organizing framework for geographic inquiry. Students deepen their knowledge of the five themes through a categorization exercise of global questions related to each theme. Focusing on a global perspective, they then use the five themes to describe the Earth itself.
In this unit, students build the foundational understandings that functions model relationships between quantities. In addition, students build an arsenal of tools to study functions throughout the course including the routine of examining functions with multiple representations. “Students should develop ways of thinking that are general and allow them to approach any type of function, work with it, and understand how it behaves, rather than see each function as a completely different animal in the bestiary” (Grade 8, High School Functionsprogression document, page 7). Specific features of linear, exponential, quadratic, and polynomial functions are each studied extensively in their own units in Algebra 1. Many standards that are introduced in Unit 1 will be further developed and/or utilized across these future units; look for these standards under the Unit Level Standards heading.Contexts are important for developing conceptual understanding. Drawing from contexts, students justify that one quantity depends on another and that each element of the domain corresponds to exactly one element of the range. They can qualitatively describe aspects of functions (e.g., increasing, decreasing) and reason about a function’s domain and range leading to conjectures about additional representations. In addition, students use contexts to make sense of function notation. For example, if the functionhrepresents the height in centimeters of a bean sprout at specified days,t, then students should be able to talk about and/or identify each of the following:h(3), 5=h(t), h(6.5)=13.2,andh(t)=n.When functions are expressed symbolically, students input values into the equations to generate a table of output values and use these corresponding values to graph the function. After manually generating numeric and then graphic representations, students will use technologies such as a graphing calculator to generate both tables of values and graphs of functions. In doing so, they should pause to reflect upon the functional relationship between variables exhibited in these representations and why the representations make sense. By generating and comparing multiple cases, students recognize that functions can be organized by similar and different features like patterns of change, restrictions in the domain/range, and general shape. This organization of functions both serves as as an introduction to the families of functions that they will study throughout the course and equips students with strategies to study and represent functions.Students should not be expected to generate symbolic representations until later units. Likewise, symbolic manipulation of equations to reveal key features of functions (e.g., intercepts, maximum, horizontal asymptote) is included later in specific function units.
The need to reason logically occurs daily. Principles of reasoning are useful whether developing a strategy to win a game or the sequence of steps needed to repair a lamp. Students use coordinates, diagrams including constructions, and language (i.e. precise terms and conditional statements) to solve problems in this unit and establish them as tools to use in reasoning throughout the course., students will move from explaining their reasoning informally to more formal explanations. Using valid arguments and reasoning patterns with correct assumptions and careful explanation of the reasoning is important. Students build flexibility with the forms used to prove theorems. Paragraph proofs, flow chart proof, two-column proofs, transformational proofs, coordinate proofs, arguments affirming the hypothesis, chains of if-then statements, and use of counterexamples are some possible methods students could use to prove a conjecture.
Third graders are welcomed into their reading workshop with an invitation to show off their knowledge, talent and energy for reading. These readers are reading L/M reading levels or higher and will have to think about the kind of reader they are and want to be as they establish themselves inside their new reading community.Concept 1 asks third graders to think of the habits they bring to reading and the habits they want to create to strengthen their reading and make their reading community and their own personal reading growth the best it can be. Creating long term and short term personal reading goals, choosing just right text, and assisting the reading community meet and exceed classroom stamina goals shows readers the habits necessary for success. This concept also demonstrates for readers the need to read at a pace which allows for the greatest number of pages to be read, while still seeing the text in mind and understanding all that has been read.Concept 2 asks readers to understand that every bit of text they read is important to their understanding. Readers enhance their strategies to clear confusion by stopping, rereading, and taking the time to figure out unfamiliar words while still envisioning the text and keeping their appropriate pace. Readers think about their attitudes towards reading and the teaching hopes to influence a growth mindset where readers come to the work seeing it’s importance and the need to read many books across their days and weeks.Concept 3 organizes readers into like-level partnerships. Readers reading the same or about the same levels are paired for thinking and conversation. Readers learn to care for their partner by coming prepared to partnerships, listening well, and keeping an open mind. They come to see that a reading partner is an important person in life, as partners help each other gain reading stamina and focus. Partnersdo except to prove a point or take their partner back to a page to clear confusion. Choral, echo, and reading page by page together aloud are abandoned to allow readers more time for thinking and talking. At these levels, it is more important that readers learn to read silently to themselves during independent reading and read aloud only when needed in partnership, given their conversation or plans. Partners push each other to think about strong habits needed to be strong readers. Looking at reading logs, sharing books read and noticing changes in each other over time helps partnerships bond; building a strong working relationship that moves into the next unit of study.The unit, like all units, ends with a celebration in session 16. Empowering readers to reflect on ways they have changed as readers in a short time is suggested. There certainly could be other ways to celebrate based on the culture built within the reading community and teachers should feel free to celebrate in different ways based on their insights of readers.Differentiating by reviewing the K-2 units may be helpful depending on the levels of readers.
Fourth graders are welcomed into their reading workshop with an invitation to show off their knowledge, talent and energy for reading. These readers are reading P/Q reading levels or higher and will have to think about the kind of reader they are and want to be as they establish themselves inside their new reading community.Concept 1 will ask Fourth graders to think of the habits they bring to reading and the habits they want to create to strengthen their reading and make their reading community and their own personal reading growth the best it can be. Creating long term and short term personal reading goals, choosing just right text, and assisting the reading community meet and exceed classroom stamina goals will show readers the habits necessary for success. This concept also demonstrates for readers the need to read at a pace which allows for the greatest number of pages to be read, while still seeing the text in mind and understanding all that has been read.Concept 2 asks readers to understand that every bit of text they read is important to their understanding. Readers will enhance their strategies to clear confusion by stopping, rereading, and taking the time to figure out unfamiliar words while still envisioning the text and keeping their appropriate pace. Readers will think about their attitudes towards reading and the teaching hopes to influence a growth mindset where readers come to the work seeing its importance and the need to read many books across their days and weeks.Concept 3 organizes readers into like-level partnerships. Readers reading the same or about the same levels, will be paired for thinking and conversation. Part of this thinking uses readers’ previous work with retelling to lift comprehension and conversation by teaching readers to summarize with the author’s message in mind. Readers learn to care for their partner by coming prepared to partnerships, listening well, and keeping an open mind. They will come to see that a reading partner is an important person in life, as partners help each other gain reading stamina and focus. Partnerswill not read aloud to each other except to prove a point or take their partner back to a page to clear confusion. Choral, echo and reading page by page together aloud are abandoned to allow readers more time for thinking and talking. At these levels, it is more important that readers learn to read silently to themselves during independent reading and read aloud only when needed in partnership, given their conversation or plans. Partners will push each other to think about strong habits needed to be strong readers. Looking at reading logs, sharing books read and noticing changes in each other over time will help partnerships bond; building a strong working relationship that will move into the next unit of study.The unit, like all units, ends with a celebration in session 16. Empowering readers to reflect on ways they have changed as readers in short time is suggested. There certainly could be other ways to celebrate based on the culture built within the reading community and teachers should feel free to celebrate in different ways based on their insights of readers.Differentiating by reviewing the K-3 units, may be helpful dependent on levels of readers.
Second graders are welcomed into the world of BIG TIME READERS. These readers are reading I/J/K (Fountas and Pinnell) reading levels or higher and will have to make decisions for sophisticated strategy use with speeded action. They will learn that some of the strategies they once used in kindergarten and first grade aren’t as well suited for their reading growth at current text levels.Concept 1 will ask second grade readers to think of themselves as BIG TIME READERS who make their own decisions. It may feel odd to invite readers, the first day of school to show what they already know about workshop and reading, but the rewards of this invitation will be plentiful. Plan to watch and listen for the kinds of readers in the group. Take notes as readers; settle in, read and flag and jot based on previous experience. They will begin logging reading and setting goals for reading more pages across days and weeks.Concept 2 asks readers to step into thinking about text from the minute the text is picked up and into conversations long after the book is put down. Readers learn to use what is already known about books and text and make BIG predictions about the way text will go. Readers learn that revisiting text by rereading entire books can aide in making more meaningful connections to how all the pieces of the text fit together, which will offer ease with thinking about author's intent or message.Concept 3 organizes readers into like-level partnerships. Readers reading the same or about the same levels, will be paired for thinking and conversation. Readers learn to care for their partner by coming prepared to partnerships, listening well, and helping problem solve. They will come to see that a reading partner is an important person in life, as partners help each other gain reading stamina and focus. Partners will not read aloud to each other, except to reread for fluency, to prove a point or to act out character voices. They certainly can read a favorite part or a part that was important, but choral, echo and reading page by page aloud are pushed aside to allow readers more time for thinking and talking. At these levels, it is more important that readers learn to read silently to themselves and read aloud when needed in partnership, given their conversation or plans.Concept 4 shows readers that they can take speeded action to solve problems. Teachers may want to review first grade strategy charts for alignment but also cross out and revise those strategies that are no longer useful (always pointing to words, reading out loud). Readers will delight in the idea that they are more grown up readers and are using the strategies of BIG TIME READERS. The problem solving lessons emphasize stopping in the midst of text when stuck, being your own problem solver, rereading word parts, and thinking about the meaning of text. Jotting and flagging notes, in the midst of independent reading, where problems aren't solved gives an authentic strategy and elevates the need for partners to help, at times.The unit, like all units, ends with a celebration. Empowering readers to see how far they have come is the theme. Suggestions are listed in session 19.
Unit one in kindergarten is our chance to invite children into the world of reading so that by the end of September, they see themselves as part of a larger reading community and also see themselves as readers in that community. The hope is that readers acquire confidence around selecting books, develop a sense of story and meaning through reading pictures across books and gain information as well as find numerous ways to talk and read with other readers in reading partnerships. These are all habits readers share regardless of age.This unit inspires a love for reading while balancing the teaching of reading process work. In this unit and all that follow, teachers demonstrate that reading is always about thinking about the text while their eyes are busy looking at the text. Over time readers use pictures and words to read their text page by page to build their reading stamina. In narrative text, readers can become the characters through pictures, which adds engagement and liveliness, and also sets kindergarteners in the shoes of their characters ultimately helping them to think about the "meaning making" that runs along narrative print. In informational text, readers learn to acquire as much information as possible about their topics of interest through pictures, photographs and diagrams and in turn teach others all they have learned.Partnerships meet the very first day of reading workshop, however these meetings initially are randomly selected by readers or the teacher (possibly, just partnered by who is sitting nearest). Partnerships may feel short lived and casual within the first weeks of unit one. However, near the third to fourth week, once the teacher has had the time to get to know readers a little deeper, partnerships lift in rigor and importance by having a partnership that lasts across numerous days or weeks. Emphasis is placed on partnerships by having partners meet after the mini-lesson with independent reading following. Readers learn strategies for planning, sustaining and utilizing their partnerships. Readers see that it is essential to share their reading and thinking with others.The conclusion of unit one is marked by a celebration when students reflect and/or share their work and growth as readers. The purpose is to pull this community of readers together and take stock of all the learning before turning a corner toward unit two. Although most of your kindergarteners will not be conventional readers at this time of year, the intent of this unit is that they recognize themselves as people who read, share reading and share their thinking through talk!:As you move through this unit teachers should include instruction about procedures, management and expectations for reading workshop as needed. This instruction could take place during the mid-workshop teach or during the share. This unit does not teach students how to sit on the carpet day one and then on subsequent days teach students how to hold a book and turn the pages. Rather, this unit immerses students into the act of reading and ask teachers observe their students behaviors and make teaching decisions based on these observations.
Launching the reading workshop in first grade is all about the excitement and pressing the importance to do all that readers know to do already as readers. Our roles as teachers will be to gather our class around an inspiring spirit, guided by support and encouragement to become powerful readers. We will want our readers to see that they are already part of a larger reading community. They come to us with literary knowledge and know-how and we’ll want to help them see that they can build on and extend their foundation by reading, thinking and talking.The first concept in this unit isReaders stretch themselves to read with stamina and focus. This line of work will lead teachers and readers to see that each and every day we stretch ourselves to become even better than the previous day. The work at hand will have teachers timing minutes read, and demonstrating ways that readers can stay focused on print and meaning making. You may even decide to challenge another first grade to see which class can increase their minutes read with focus. You will teach readers that daily, we keep records of number of books read and number of minutes spent reading. We will not set demands without thoughtful demonstrations based on readers’ previous experiences with reading workshop classrooms and structures. It will be important to begin quickly by assessing informally. This will help to determine who is already reading above grade level expectations, who needs support with staying focused, and who does or does not understands the routines and procedures. This will allow teachers to keep layering instructional moves, while also differentiating based on reader’s needs.The second concept in this unit isReaders envision the way their books go in their minds, and revise them as they read on. Here we will implore “eyes on the print and minds on making meaning”. The teaching points within this concept will ask readers to consider the pictures the words help make in their minds and push them to see beyond the pictures on the page. Readers will spend time flagging pages with post-its where words created vivid pictures and movies so that they can share their findings with reading partners. This work will help readers see that the words on the page and the readers’ thinking stay closely connected.The last concept in this unit, Readers build stamina and focus by sharing reading and thinking with others,shifts much of the work into beginning partnerships based on quick observations and assessments. It is not necessary to do a formal DRA or Benchmark assessment to assert that “these two readers are reading at similar levels and using similar strategies”. Initially, partnerships may last day by day, a few days, or a week at a time. However, as you near the last concept, consider forming lasting partnerships until the unit concludes based on your informal or formal assessments. This will allow readers to read and think with partners at similar reading levels, adding to the minutes of appropriate reading time across the day and week. We will encourage partnership stamina and focus in ways similar to independent reading time. Teaching readers ways to read with partners, ways to talk with partners and ways to think with partners.
This focus for this unit of study is twofold: writing an effective Small Moment story and readability. First, students will focus on the writing of personal narratives by stretching out a Small Moment. Small Moment stories are when an author takes a true story from his/her life and instead of telling the whole story, s/he tells a small part of the story and stretches it across pages. It is important to teach writers to hold these moments in their heads as they stretch them across a sequence of several pages. Revisiting the strategies for story generation students learned in kindergarten, in addition to learning new strategies, will develop students’ repertoire for gathering story ideas. The unit will emphasize and elaborate upon the qualities of good writing including detail, dialogue, setting, sequence, and answering reader’s questions. Students will be taught the importance of focusing their writing.The expectation is that first graders will write approximately three to four booklets a week during the course of the unit. These three to five page booklets will have two to four sentences on each page. These are rough estimates and will vary based on student need and writing background. Writers will be taught how to make thoughtful decisions about what goes on each page. The idea of quantity versus quality is often brought up in units such as this. In first grade, we are providing students with many opportunities to try out new skills and techniques through writing multiple pieces. When asking students to go back to the same piece, we often find that we are teaching the writing, not the writer. Our focus needs to be on the writer and his/her growth over time.Partnerships play a critical role in the development of young writers. Students will be taught to rehearse and share their pieces with each other like storytellers. Partners will provide compliments and suggestions in a kind way. Along with developing a critical eye, partners need to be taught how to notice and celebrate detailed topics, actions in pictures, dialogue and other qualities of good writing.The second focus of the unit is readability. Young writers will be taught to reread their pieces to see if they are readable and then make adjustments if needed. Partnerships continue to play an important role as we move through this second focus. Partners will review each other’s pieces and suggest ways to make them more readable. During share time, friendly tips, compliments and asking questions will be highlighted so partners learn that feedback includes attention to parts well done.
The Common Core State Standards require Fifth grade students to write narratives in which they orient their reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator or characters with the event sequence unfolding naturally. Additionally, students are expected to use details including dialogue, descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words and phrases to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. The goal of this unit is for students to write personal narrative stories that elaborate the tension or problem and focus upon an important message or heart of the story. Students will immerse themselves in age-appropriate personal narrative mentors to discern how these texts tend to go and to gather possible story ideas from turning points within their life experiences. They will draw on everything they've learned from writing small moment stories from Kindergarten- second grade, as well as personal narrative writing in third grade and fourth grades. Additionally, students revisit qualities of good writing and craft to write personal narratives. They will select their best work to revise, edit, and publish.Lessons are designed to teach writers how to navigate through the process: generating story ideas, rehearsing for writing, drafting, rereading, revising and publishing. Mid- unit, children will choose their best work and revise this more deeply and extensively to share with an audience. Students will begin a second personal narrative piece as an independent writing project guided by previous sessions, anchor charts, conferences and small groups. Students will learn ways to raise the level of their writing within their independent writing project working at their own pace within the writing process. The unit culminates with students surveying their growth, recognizing their growing knowledge of good writing, their increasing repertoires of writing strategies and their success with cycling through the writing process in order to name their strengths but also determine future goals.
The Common Core State Standards require Fourth Grade students to write narratives in which they orient their reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator or characters with the event sequence unfolding naturally. Additionally, students are expected to use details including dialogue, descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words and phrases to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. The goal of this unit is for students to write well-elaborated realistic fiction stories that focus upon an important message or heart of the story. Students will immerse themselves in age-appropriate realistic fiction stories to discern how these texts tend to go and to gather possible story ideas from their lives’ experiences. They will draw on everything they've learned from writing small moment stories from Kindergarten- Second Grade, as well as personal narrative writing in third grade. Additionally, students revisit qualities of good writing and craft to write realistic fiction. They will select their best work to revise, edit, and publish.Lessons are designed to teach writers how to navigate through the process: generating story ideas, rehearsing for writing, drafting, rereading, revising and publishing. Mid-unit, children will choose their best work and revise this more deeply and extensively to share with an audience. Students will begin a second realistic fiction piece as an independent writing project guided by previous sessions, anchor charts and conferences and small groups. Students will learn ways to raise the level of their writing within their independent writing project working at their own pace within the writing process. The unit culminates with students surveying their growth, recognizing their growing knowledge of good writing, their increasing repertoire of writing strategies and their success with cycling through the writing process to name their strengths but also determine future goals.
Students enter Second Grade having spent two years writing about important moments from their lives. Now, it is time for them to revisit and re-energize these small moment stories. The overall goal of this unit is for these students to lift the level of their personal narratives to more fully engage and inform an audience. They’ll learn to incorporate a repertoire of strategies to write more focused and compelling pieces. These “seasoned” young writers will utilize a storyteller’s voice to show, not tell; to paint pictures in readers’ minds through the use of details. They’ll learn to bring the heart of a story alive!Special attention will be given to reviewing routines and rituals in order to develop a community of independent writers. Studentswill learn to build effective partnerships so they can support one another in cycling through the writing process at their own pace, developing increased independence and self-reliance.Lessons are designed to teach writers how to navigate through the process: generating story ideas, rehearsing for writing, drafting, rereading, revising and then starting on another piece. At the end of the unit, children will choose their best work and revise this more deeply and extensively to share with an audience. The unit culminates with a celebration of writing growth, recognizing students’ growing knowledge of good writing, their increasing repertoires of writing strategies and their success with cycling through the writing process.
The Common Core State Standards require third grade students to write narratives in which they establish a situation and introduce a narrator or characters with naturally unfolding sequence of events. Additionally, students are expected to use details including dialogue, descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words and phrases to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. The goal of this unit is for students to write well-elaborated true stories based on students’ experiences. Students will immerse themselves in age-appropriate narrative stories to discern how these texts tend to go and to gather possible true story ideas. They will draw on everything they've learned from writing small moment stories from Kindergarten - Second Grade and their study of craft. Additionally, students revisit qualities of good writing to create their personal narratives or true story pieces. They will select their best work to revise, edit, and publish.Special attention will be given to reviewing routines and rituals in order to develop a community of independent writers.Studentswill learn to work in effective partnerships so they can support one another in cycling through the writing process at their own pace, developing increased independence and self-reliance.Lessons are designed to teach writers how to navigate through the process: generating story ideas, rehearsing for writing, drafting, rereading, revising and then starting on another piece. At the end of the unit, children will choose their best work and revise this more deeply and extensively to share with an audience. The unit culminates with a celebration of writing growth, recognizing students’ growing knowledge of good writing, their increasing repertoire of writing strategies and their success with cycling through the writing process.
This unit extends what students learned in third grade regarding multiplication and division by developing more precise use of mathematical vocabulary and more sophisticated ways of analyzing number patterns (see 4.OA.C.5.). As part of their analysis of number patterns students deepen their understanding of the structure of the base ten system paying particular attention to how the value of a digit changes given its position in a number (e.g., in the number 7,700 the value of the 7 in the thousands place is ten times that of the 7 in the hundreds place). They also notice that numbers have unique characteristics such as prime, composite, and square and they begin to understand why these characteristics can be important when solving problems. Students develop mathematical vocabulary as a tool to describe and reason about the multiplication and division equations they write and solve (e.g., factor, divisor, multiple, quotient). They are an understanding of prime, composite, and square numbers and begin to understand why these are helpful ways to describe numbers . They also describe equations by referencing the numbers the Precise mathematical language includes such terms as equations, factors, product, quotient, multiples, prime, composite and square as they apply to numerical attributes. While the ideas developed in this unit In earlier grades, students use multiplication facts to compose and decompose number into their respective parts (e.g., 7 x 6 can be decomposed into (5 x 6) + (2 x 6)). In fourth grade, students use decomposition to identify all factors for any given number between 1 – 100. As students progress from additive to multiplicative comparisons (i.e. interpret 42 = 6 x 7 as a statement that 42 is 6 times as many as 7 as opposed to 42 is 35 more than 7), they learn to interpret a multiplication equation as a comparison statement. They also represent verbal statements of multiplicative comparisons as equations.As students continue to work with various representations and mathematical models of both multiplication and division problems (including real world and mathematical contexts, multi-step word problems, and equations including those with variables) they build upon their understanding of the inverse relationship between multiplication and division from third grade. Important mathematical generalizations can be made explicit when students build visual representations. For example, the Commutative and Associative Properties of multiplication allow students to rewrite equivalent equations.Throughout fourth grade students will build upon their knowledge of place value and of multiplication/division facts. They begin to use extended multiplication facts (e.g. 4 x 90 = 360, 270 = 3 x 90, 250 ÷ 50 = 5, and 60 = 240 ÷ 4) to solve problems. Working with extended multiplication facts supports students future work with angles and angle measurement as, in Unit Two, students will partition a 360 degree rotation into equal parts. In Unit Three, students will extend their understanding of place value to include tenths and hundredths as they work with decimal fractions. Then in Unit Four, they will use strategies based on place value to multiply two-digit numbers (e.g., partial products).Students will examine the patterns generated from either repeatedly multiplying by ten (e.g., 10 x 10=100, 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000, 10 x 10 x 10 x 10= 10,000) or decomposing powers of ten (1000= 100 x 10 = 10 x 100 = 100 x 1). This exploration allows students to make connections between factors, multiples, and place value.
In Grade 5, students extend their understanding of the base-ten system to decimals to the thousandths place, building on their Grade 4 work with tenths andhundredths. They become fluent with the standard multiplication algorithm with multi-digit whole numbers. They reason about dividing whole numbers withtwo-digit divisors, and reason about adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals to hundredths.(The Common Core State Standards Writing Team, 2012, p.16)The excerpt above, taken from the K-5, Number and Operations in Base Ten progression document, is a summary of what students should learn to do and understand by theendof Grade 5. While this summary provides a sense of the number and operations work at this grade, there are several essential ideas that students should engage with throughout their learning of number and operations across this school year. As such, this unit is the first of four units in Grade 5 that focus on developing students’ understanding of number and operations.Knowing that decimals follow the same base-ten structure as do whole numbers is a foundational concept for students to develop in this unit. With this knowledge students learn to apply strategies they used when working with whole numbers to their work with decimals, an idea that continues throughout later Grade 5 units. As the first of four Grade 5 units devoted to these ideas, students working in this unit explore decimals to the thousandths place. Their work includes reading, writing, rounding, and comparing decimals using a variety of notations (e.g. 167 x 100 = 16,700 = 167 hundreds = 167 x 10 x 10 = 167 x 10In Grade 4 students worked with multiples of ten. Since whole number exponents is a new representation and concept in Grade 5, students are likely to need support making connections between multiples of ten and powers of ten. | https://goopenmichigan.org/browse?f.provider=os-maisa |
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As part of our ongoing efforts to support our homeschooling families, Seton Home Study School recently commissioned a survey to try to discern the factors that contribute to success in the Seton program.
The questions we asked were meant to determine if there are attributes or habits which are shared by families who do very well homeschooling with Seton.
In fact, we did find shared habits and attributes of very successful families. We found that some attributes and habits have a small impact on success, while others have a huge impact.
Among the factors we looked at were
- number of homeschooling students in the family,
- level of support from both parents for homeschooling,
- use of Seton-provided resources,
- organization and scheduling,
- student gender,
- parental supervision, and
- hours per day spent homeschooling.
1. Number of Homeschooling Students
We wondered whether families homeschooling only one student would do better since the parents could focus all their attention on a single student. Or, would several students homeschooling together be able to help each other and so be more successful?
Our study found that families with more students tend to do at least as well as families with only one student enrolled. The spreading of parental attention to several students does not negatively impact homeschooling. In fact, families teaching three children tend to do even better than those teaching only one.
We suspect that teaching more than one child often allows the students to help each other, either because they are at the same grade level, or because an older child might help a younger child.
Whatever the reason, our study suggests that success in homeschooling does not require “starting slowly” with only one child. Parents who start out with two or three children homeschooling can do just as well.
2. Level of Support from Both Parents
Our survey found that strong support of homeschooling from both parents is a critical component to homeschooling success. Our survey found that the mother’s level of support for homeschooling is extremely high in virtually all families.
This makes sense, because in almost all families, it is the mother who does the bulk of the actual schooling. If the mother is not supportive, homeschooling is not likely to start at all.
However, the level of support from the father varies, and is a huge factor in success. The most successful homeschooling families have a father who is very supportive.
It certainly is helpful to the educational process if the father’s support translates to active involvement, such as teaching some of the classes.
However, many mothers reported that simply having the strong support of the father is very important to the process.
If the father does not support homeschooling, this attitude is no doubt passed along, even subconsciously, to the children, who can then use the lack of father’s support to undermine the homeschooling.
Without the support of both parents, homeschooling is less likely to be successful.
There are many reasons why a parent may not be supportive of homeschooling, but we think the main reason is lack of information about homeschooling. Some parents simply don’t have enough information about the impressive track record of homeschooling, and the impressive accomplishments of homeschoolers, over the years.
Whatever the reason, it is crucial that both parents understand and support the homeschooling decision, and at least are united when dealing with the children.
3. Use of Seton-Provided Resources
We found that the use of Seton-provided resources—such as grading services, counseling, online supplemental materials—plays a very large role in homeschooling success. Families who used Seton’s resources the most tended to have the most educational success.
Also, these families viewed the grading services as very important to a student’s motivation and progress.
Insofar as perhaps some families did not know enough about what Seton provides, this finding leads us to the conclusion that Seton needs to do more to put the proper resources in front of families at the proper time.
Seton being more proactive in offering services may lead to more successful enrollments.
4. Gender
We wondered whether the gender of the students, or the gender of the primary teacher—mom or dad—would make a difference to educational outcomes.
It did not. Our survey found that both dads and moms can successfully teach either boys or girls.
5. Organization and Scheduling
We found that having and keeping a schedule is vital to homeschooling success. Besides the homeschooling schedule, it is important to schedule other activities, such as children’s chores. We found that a high level of organization helps families to schedule more activities and get more done.
For example, families who reported a high level of organization are much more likely to have family prayer time, more likely to attend daily Mass, and more likely to participate in parish activities.
The children of very organized families are more likely to have a part-time job and they are more likely to play team sports.
Success in homeschooling is clearly compatible with the scheduling of outside activities. One does not need to be a hermit to homeschool.
However, having and sticking to a schedule is of the utmost importance. In our survey, we asked parents what one piece of advice they would give to other parents and students. Most often, the advice from parents was, “Stick to a schedule.”
6. Parental Supervision
We found that parental supervision, at least as far as keeping track of student work, is important to homeschooling success. Students who are primarily self-supervised tend not to do as well as those students with more parental supervision.
However, we also found that the level of parental supervision needed varies greatly depending on the student. Self-supervision works well in cases when a student is highly motivated and organized, but not so well when a student is lacking in motivation and organization.
Interestingly, we found that the enthusiasm and confidence level of the students in their educational abilities did not affect their performance.
Most students are confident they can succeed, but students without solid study skills are sometimes too confident. It needs to be impressed upon students that when they are struggling, they need to ask for help, either from their parents or from Seton counselors.
Our survey found that some students and families are hesitant to ask the counselors for help, even when they are having significant difficulties.
Does the level of parental education matter to student success? According to our survey, it does not. We found little to no correlation between parental educational achievement and successful homeschooling.
7. Amount of learning time
We wanted to know if more time each day devoted to homeschooling translates to more educational success. While the amount of time needed to homeschool varies widely based upon circumstances and abilities of the students, our survey indicates that more time does make some difference to success.
This may be for two reasons. First, because students may learn more and do better on their assignments, which can lead to higher motivation going forward. Second, the extra time may mean that students are better able to stay on their projected schedule and not fall behind.
However, we did not find any straight line improvements. A twenty-percent increase in time does not always yield twenty-percent greater results. In fact, simply adding more time does not necessarily mean any greater educational achievement. What seems to be important is that families take enough time.
Of course, what is enough time can only be determined in an individual case. Plus, more organization can mean less time is needed to accomplish the same outcome. Because organization and scheduling are so important, we would suggest that a family first look at those aspects before thinking about spending more time homeschooling.
Summary
In summary, we found that the main factors affecting student achievement are:
- Parental support and supervision by both parents
- Scheduling and organization
- Use of Seton support services
- Right amount of time spent on schooling
Families in which both parents are committed to homeschooling, in which the parents take the time to supervise the work, in which a schedule is made and adhered to, who use Seton’s grading and counseling services, and spend a sufficient amount of time each day homeschooling are maximizing their likelihood of success.
We hope that understanding the factors that contribute to success can allow each family to consider its own situation, to see whether any changes might be made to create a better homeschooling experience. | https://www.setonmagazine.com/family/discipline/habits-of-successful-home-schoolers |
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Define coping and differentiate between problem-focused and emotion-focused coping
- Describe the importance of perceived control in our reactions to stress
- Explain how social support is vital in health and longevity
As we learned in the previous section, stress—especially if it is chronic—takes a toll on our bodies and can have enormously negative health implications. When we experience events in our lives that we appraise as stressful, it is essential that we use effective coping strategies to manage our stress. Coping refers to mental and behavioral efforts that we use to deal with problems relating to stress, including its presumed cause and the unpleasant feelings and emotions it produces.
COPING STYLES
Lazarus and Folkman (1984) distinguished two fundamental kinds of coping: problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping. In problem-focused coping, one attempts to manage or alter the problem that is causing one to experience stress (i.e., the stressor). Problem-focused coping strategies are similar to strategies used in everyday problem-solving: they typically involve identifying the problem, considering possible solutions, weighing the costs and benefits of these solutions, and then selecting an alternative (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). As an example, suppose Bradford receives a midterm notice that he is failing statistics class. If Bradford adopts a problem-focused coping approach to managing his stress, he would be proactive in trying to alleviate the source of the stress. He might contact his professor to discuss what must be done to raise his grade, he might also decide to set aside two hours daily to study statistics assignments, and he may seek tutoring assistance. A problem-focused approach to managing stress means we actively try to do things to address the problem.
Emotion-focused coping, in contrast, consists of efforts to change or reduce the negative emotions associated with stress. These efforts may include avoiding, minimizing, or distancing oneself from the problem, or positive comparisons with others (“I’m not as bad off as she is”), or seeking something positive in a negative event (“Now that I’ve been fired, I can sleep in for a few days”). In some cases, emotion-focused coping strategies involve reappraisal, whereby the stressor is construed differently (and somewhat self-deceptively) without changing its objective level of threat (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). For example, a person sentenced to federal prison who thinks, “This will give me a great chance to network with others,” is using reappraisal. If Bradford adopted an emotion-focused approach to managing his midterm deficiency stress, he might watch a comedy movie, play video games, or spend hours on Twitter to take his mind off the situation. In a certain sense, emotion-focused coping can be thought of as treating the symptoms rather than the actual cause.
While many stressors elicit both kinds of coping strategies, problem-focused coping is more likely to occur when encountering stressors we perceive as controllable, while emotion-focused coping is more likely to predominate when faced with stressors that we believe we are powerless to change (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980). Clearly, emotion-focused coping is more effective in dealing with uncontrollable stressors. For example, if at midnight you are stressing over a 40-page paper due in the morning that you have not yet started, you are probably better off recognizing the hopelessness of the situation and doing something to take your mind off it; taking a problem-focused approach by trying to accomplish this task would only lead to frustration, anxiety, and even more stress.
Fortunately, most stressors we encounter can be modified and are, to varying degrees, controllable. A person who cannot stand her job can quit and look for work elsewhere; a middle-aged divorcee can find another potential partner; the freshman who fails an exam can study harder next time, and a breast lump does not necessarily mean that one is fated to die of breast cancer.
CONTROL AND STRESS
The desire and ability to predict events, make decisions, and affect outcomes—that is, to enact control in our lives—is a basic tenet of human behavior (Everly & Lating, 2002). Albert Bandura (1997) stated that “the intensity and chronicity of human stress is governed largely by perceived control over the demands of one’s life” (p. 262). As cogently described in his statement, our reaction to potential stressors depends to a large extent on how much control we feel we have over such things. Perceived control is our beliefs about our personal capacity to exert influence over and shape outcomes, and it has major implications for our health and happiness (Infurna & Gerstorf, 2014). Extensive research has demonstrated that perceptions of personal control are associated with a variety of favorable outcomes, such as better physical and mental health and greater psychological well-being (Diehl & Hay, 2010). Greater personal control is also associated with lower reactivity to stressors in daily life. For example, researchers in one investigation found that higher levels of perceived control at one point in time were later associated with lower emotional and physical reactivity to interpersonal stressors (Neupert, Almeida, & Charles, 2007). Further, a daily diary study with 34 older widows found that their stress and anxiety levels were significantly reduced on days during which the widows felt greater perceived control (Ong, Bergeman, & Bisconti, 2005).
When we lack a sense of control over the events in our lives, particularly when those events are threatening, harmful, or noxious, the psychological consequences can be profound. In one of the better illustrations of this concept, psychologist Martin Seligman conducted a series of classic experiments in the 1960s (Seligman & Maier, 1967) in which dogs were placed in a chamber where they received electric shocks from which they could not escape. Later, when these dogs were given the opportunity to escape the shocks by jumping across a partition, most failed to even try; they seemed to just give up and passively accept any shocks the experimenters chose to administer. In comparison, dogs who were previously allowed to escape the shocks tended to jump the partition and escape the pain ([link]).
Seligman believed that the dogs who failed to try to escape the later shocks were demonstrating learned helplessness: They had acquired a belief that they were powerless to do anything about the noxious stimulation they were receiving. Seligman also believed that the passivity and lack of initiative these dogs demonstrated was similar to that observed in human depression. Therefore, Seligman speculated that acquiring a sense of learned helplessness might be an important cause of depression in humans: Humans who experience negative life events that they believe they are unable to control may become helpless. As a result, they give up trying to control or change the situation and some may become depressed and show lack of initiative in future situations in which they can control the outcomes (Seligman, Maier, & Geer, 1968).
Seligman and colleagues later reformulated the original learned helplessness model of depression (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978). In their reformulation, they emphasized attributions (i.e., a mental explanation for why something occurred) that lead to the perception that one lacks control over negative outcomes are important in fostering a sense of learned helplessness. For example, suppose a coworker shows up late to work; your belief as to what caused the coworker’s tardiness would be an attribution (e.g., too much traffic, slept too late, or just doesn’t care about being on time).
The reformulated version of Seligman’s study holds that the attributions made for negative life events contribute to depression. Consider the example of a student who performs poorly on a midterm exam. This model suggests that the student will make three kinds of attributions for this outcome: internal vs. external (believing the outcome was caused by his own personal inadequacies or by environmental factors), stable vs. unstable (believing the cause can be changed or is permanent), and global vs. specific (believing the outcome is a sign of inadequacy in most everything versus just this area). Assume that the student makes an internal (“I’m just not smart”), stable (“Nothing can be done to change the fact that I’m not smart”) and global (“This is another example of how lousy I am at everything”) attribution for the poor performance. The reformulated theory predicts that the student would perceive a lack of control over this stressful event and thus be especially prone to developing depression. Indeed, research has demonstrated that people who have a tendency to make internal, global, and stable attributions for bad outcomes tend to develop symptoms of depression when faced with negative life experiences (Peterson & Seligman, 1984).
Seligman’s learned helplessness model has emerged over the years as a leading theoretical explanation for the onset of major depressive disorder. When you study psychological disorders, you will learn more about the latest reformulation of this model—now called hopelessness theory.
People who report higher levels of perceived control view their health as controllable, thereby making it more likely that they will better manage their health and engage in behaviors conducive to good health (Bandura, 2004). Not surprisingly, greater perceived control has been linked to lower risk of physical health problems, including declines in physical functioning (Infurna, Gerstorf, Ram, Schupp, & Wagner, 2011), heart attacks (Rosengren et al., 2004), and both cardiovascular disease incidence (Stürmer, Hasselbach, & Amelang, 2006) and mortality from cardiac disease (Surtees et al., 2010). In addition, longitudinal studies of British civil servants have found that those in low-status jobs (e.g., clerical and office support staff) in which the degree of control over the job is minimal are considerably more likely to develop heart disease than those with high-status jobs or considerable control over their jobs (Marmot, Bosma, Hemingway, & Stansfeld, 1997).
The link between perceived control and health may provide an explanation for the frequently observed relationship between social class and health outcomes (Kraus, Piff, Mendoza-Denton, Rheinschmidt, & Keltner, 2012). In general, research has found that more affluent individuals experience better health mainly because they tend to believe that they can personally control and manage their reactions to life’s stressors (Johnson & Krueger, 2006). Perhaps buoyed by the perceived level of control, individuals of higher social class may be prone to overestimating the degree of influence they have over particular outcomes. For example, those of higher social class tend to believe that their votes have greater sway on election outcomes than do those of lower social class, which may explain higher rates of voting in more affluent communities (Krosnick, 1990). Other research has found that a sense of perceived control can protect less affluent individuals from poorer health, depression, and reduced life-satisfaction—all of which tend to accompany lower social standing (Lachman & Weaver, 1998).
Taken together, findings from these and many other studies clearly suggest that perceptions of control and coping abilities are important in managing and coping with the stressors we encounter throughout life.
SOCIAL SUPPORT
The need to form and maintain strong, stable relationships with others is a powerful, pervasive, and fundamental human motive (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Building strong interpersonal relationships with others helps us establish a network of close, caring individuals who can provide social support in times of distress, sorrow, and fear. Social support can be thought of as the soothing impact of friends, family, and acquaintances (Baron & Kerr, 2003). Social support can take many forms, including advice, guidance, encouragement, acceptance, emotional comfort, and tangible assistance (such as financial help). Thus, other people can be very comforting to us when we are faced with a wide range of life stressors, and they can be extremely helpful in our efforts to manage these challenges. Even in nonhuman animals, species mates can offer social support during times of stress. For example, elephants seem to be able to sense when other elephants are stressed and will often comfort them with physical contact—such as a trunk touch—or an empathetic vocal response (Krumboltz, 2014).
Scientific interest in the importance of social support first emerged in the 1970s when health researchers developed an interest in the health consequences of being socially integrated (Stroebe & Stroebe, 1996). Interest was further fueled by longitudinal studies showing that social connectedness reduced mortality. In one classic study, nearly 7,000 Alameda County, California, residents were followed over 9 years. Those who had previously indicated that they lacked social and community ties were more likely to die during the follow-up period than those with more extensive social networks. Compared to those with the most social contacts, isolated men and women were, respectively, 2.3 and 2.8 times more likely to die. These trends persisted even after controlling for a variety of health-related variables, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, self-reported health at the beginning of the study, and physical activity (Berkman & Syme, 1979).
Since the time of that study, social support has emerged as one of the well-documented psychosocial factors affecting health outcomes (Uchino, 2009). A statistical review of 148 studies conducted between 1982 and 2007 involving over 300,000 participants concluded that individuals with stronger social relationships have a 50% greater likelihood of survival compared to those with weak or insufficient social relationships (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010). According to the researchers, the magnitude of the effect of social support observed in this study is comparable with quitting smoking and exceeded many well-known risk factors for mortality, such as obesity and physical inactivity ([link]).
A number of large-scale studies have found that individuals with low levels of social support are at greater risk of mortality, especially from cardiovascular disorders (Brummett et al., 2001). Further, higher levels of social supported have been linked to better survival rates following breast cancer (Falagas et al., 2007) and infectious diseases, especially HIV infection (Lee & Rotheram-Borus, 2001). In fact, a person with high levels of social support is less likely to contract a common cold. In one study, 334 participants completed questionnaires assessing their sociability; these individuals were subsequently exposed to a virus that causes a common cold and monitored for several weeks to see who became ill. Results showed that increased sociability was linearly associated with a decreased probability of developing a cold (Cohen, Doyle, Turner, Alper, & Skoner, 2003).
For many of us, friends are a vital source of social support. But what if you found yourself in a situation in which you lacked friends or companions? For example, suppose a popular high school student attends a far-away college, does not know anyone, and has trouble making friends and meaningful connections with others during the first semester. What can be done? If real life social support is lacking, access to distant friends via social media may help compensate. In a study of college freshmen, those with few face-to-face friends on campus but who communicated electronically with distant friends were less distressed that those who did not (Raney & Troop-Gordon, 2012). Also, for some people, our families—especially our parents—are a major source of social support.
Social support appears to work by boosting the immune system, especially among people who are experiencing stress (Uchino, Vaughn, Carlisle, & Birmingham, 2012). In a pioneering study, spouses of cancer patients who reported high levels of social support showed indications of better immune functioning on two out of three immune functioning measures, compared to spouses who were below the median on reported social support (Baron, Cutrona, Hicklin, Russell, & Lubaroff, 1990). Studies of other populations have produced similar results, including those of spousal caregivers of dementia sufferers, medical students, elderly adults, and cancer patients (Cohen & Herbert, 1996; Kiecolt-Glaser, McGuire, Robles, & Glaser, 2002).
In addition, social support has been shown to reduce blood pressure for people performing stressful tasks, such as giving a speech or performing mental arithmetic (Lepore, 1998). In these kinds of studies, participants are usually asked to perform a stressful task either alone, with a stranger present (who may be either supportive or unsupportive), or with a friend present. Those tested with a friend present generally exhibit lower blood pressure than those tested alone or with a stranger (Fontana, Diegnan, Villeneuve, & Lepore, 1999). In one study, 112 female participants who performed stressful mental arithmetic exhibited lower blood pressure when they received support from a friend rather than a stranger, but only if the friend was a male (Phillips, Gallagher, & Carroll, 2009). Although these findings are somewhat difficult to interpret, the authors mention that it is possible that females feel less supported and more evaluated by other females, particularly females whose opinions they value.
Taken together, the findings above suggest one of the reasons social support is connected to favorable health outcomes is because it has several beneficial physiological effects in stressful situations. However, it is also important to consider the possibility that social support may lead to better health behaviors, such as a healthy diet, exercising, smoking cessation, and cooperation with medical regimens (Uchino, 2009).
While having social support is quite beneficial, being the recipient of prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behaviors is associated with a number of negative outcomes. In their literature review, Brondolo, Brady, Pencille, Beatty, and Contrada (2009) describe how racial prejudice and discrimination serve as unique, significant stressors for those who are the targets of such attitudes and behavior. Being the target of racism is associated with increased rates of depression, lowered self-esteem, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.
Given the complex and pervasive nature of racism as a stressor, Brondolo et al. (2009) point out the importance of coping with this specific stressor. Their review is aimed at determining which coping strategies are most effective at offsetting negative health outcomes associated with racism-related stress. The authors examine the effectiveness of three coping strategies: focusing on racial identity to handle race-related stress, anger expression/suppression, and seeking social support. You’ve learned a bit about social support, so we’ll focus the remainder of this discussion on the potential coping strategies of focusing on racial identity and anger expression/suppression.
Focusing on racial identity refers to the process by which a person comes to feel as if he belongs to a given racial group; this may increase a sense of pride associated with group membership. Brondolo et al. (2009) suggest that a strong sense of racial identity might help an individual who is the target of racism differentiate between prejudicial attitudes/behaviors that are directed toward his group as a whole rather than at him as a person. Furthermore, the sense of belonging to his group might alleviate the distress of being ostracized by others. However, the research literature on the effectiveness of this technique has produced mixed results.
Anger expression/suppression refers to the options available as a function of the anger evoked by racial prejudice and discrimination. Put simply, a target of racist attitudes and behaviors can act upon her anger or suppress her anger. As discussed by Brondolo et al. (2009), there has been very little research on the effectiveness of either approach; the results are quite mixed with some showing anger expression and others showing anger suppression as the healthier option.
In the end, racism-related stress is a complex issue and each of the coping strategies discussed here has strengths and weaknesses. Brondolo et al. (2009) argue that it is imperative that additional research be conducted to ascertain the most effective strategies for coping with the negative outcomes that are experienced by the targets of racism.
STRESS REDUCTION TECHNIQUES
Beyond having a sense of control and establishing social support networks, there are numerous other means by which we can manage stress ([link]). A common technique people use to combat stress is exercise (Salmon, 2001). It is well-established that exercise, both of long (aerobic) and short (anaerobic) duration, is beneficial for both physical and mental health (Everly & Lating, 2002). There is considerable evidence that physically fit individuals are more resistant to the adverse effects of stress and recover more quickly from stress than less physically fit individuals (Cotton, 1990). In a study of more than 500 Swiss police officers and emergency service personnel, increased physical fitness was associated with reduced stress, and regular exercise was reported to protect against stress-related health problems (Gerber, Kellman, Hartman, & Pühse, 2010).
One reason exercise may be beneficial is because it might buffer some of the deleterious physiological mechanisms of stress. One study found rats that exercised for six weeks showed a decrease in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal responsiveness to mild stressors (Campeau et al., 2010). In high-stress humans, exercise has been shown to prevent telomere shortening, which may explain the common observation of a youthful appearance among those who exercise regularly (Puterman et al., 2010). Further, exercise in later adulthood appears to minimize the detrimental effects of stress on the hippocampus and memory (Head, Singh, & Bugg, 2012). Among cancer survivors, exercise has been shown to reduce anxiety (Speck, Courneya, Masse, Duval, & Schmitz, 2010) and depressive symptoms (Craft, VanIterson, Helenowski, Rademaker, & Courneya, 2012). Clearly, exercise is a highly effective tool for regulating stress.
In the 1970s, Herbert Benson, a cardiologist, developed a stress reduction method called the relaxation response technique (Greenberg, 2006). The relaxation response technique combines relaxation with transcendental meditation, and consists of four components (Stein, 2001):
The relaxation response approach is conceptualized as a general approach to stress reduction that reduces sympathetic arousal, and it has been used effectively to treat people with high blood pressure (Benson & Proctor, 1994).
Another technique to combat stress, biofeedback, was developed by Gary Schwartz at Harvard University in the early 1970s. Biofeedback is a technique that uses electronic equipment to accurately measure a person’s neuromuscular and autonomic activity—feedback is provided in the form of visual or auditory signals. The main assumption of this approach is that providing somebody biofeedback will enable the individual to develop strategies that help gain some level of voluntary control over what are normally involuntary bodily processes (Schwartz & Schwartz, 1995). A number of different bodily measures have been used in biofeedback research, including facial muscle movement, brain activity, and skin temperature, and it has been applied successfully with individuals experiencing tension headaches, high blood pressure, asthma, and phobias (Stein, 2001).
Summary
When faced with stress, people must attempt to manage or cope with it. In general, there are two basic forms of coping: problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping. Those who use problem-focused coping strategies tend to cope better with stress because these strategies address the source of stress rather than the resulting symptoms. To a large extent, perceived control greatly impacts reaction to stressors and is associated with greater physical and mental well-being. Social support has been demonstrated to be a highly effective buffer against the adverse effects of stress. Extensive research has shown that social support has beneficial physiological effects for people, and it seems to influence immune functioning. However, the beneficial effects of social support may be related to its influence on promoting healthy behaviors.
Review Questions
Emotion-focused coping would likely be a better method than problem-focused coping for dealing with which of the following stressors?
- terminal cancer
- poor grades in school
- unemployment
- divorce
A
Studies of British civil servants have found that those in the lowest status jobs are much more likely to develop heart disease than those who have high status jobs. These findings attest to the importance of ________ in dealing with stress.
- biofeedback
- social support
- perceived control
- emotion-focused coping
C
Relative to those with low levels of social support, individuals with high levels of social support ________.
- are more likely to develop asthma
- tend to have less perceived control
- are more likely to develop cardiovascular disorders
- tend to tolerate stress well
D
The concept of learned helplessness was formulated by Seligman to explain the ________.
- inability of dogs to attempt to escape avoidable shocks after having received inescapable shocks
- failure of dogs to learn to from prior mistakes
- ability of dogs to learn to help other dogs escape situations in which they are receiving uncontrollable shocks
- inability of dogs to learn to help other dogs escape situations in which they are receiving uncontrollable electric shocks
A
Critical Thinking Questions
Although problem-focused coping seems to be a more effective strategy when dealing with stressors, do you think there are any kinds of stressful situations in which emotion-focused coping might be a better strategy?
Emotion-focused coping would likely be a better coping strategy in situations in which a stressor is uncontrollable, or in which nothing could otherwise be done about it, such as a fatal illness.
Describe how social support can affect health both directly and indirectly.
Social support seems to have a direct effect on immune system functioning. Social support can affect health indirectly by influencing health-related behaviors, such as exercise and eating properly.
Personal Application Question
Try to think of an example in which you coped with a particular stressor by using problem-focused coping. What was the stressor? What did your problem-focused efforts involve? Were they effective? | https://pressbooks-dev.oer.hawaii.edu/psychology/chapter/regulation-of-stress/ |
Studying for the MCAT exam can be daunting, and chances are you’ve typed “How do I study for the MCAT exam?” or “What’s the best way to prepare for the MCAT exam?” into your search engine. You may have even wondered how long you should spend studying.
Whether you are about to begin studying or are currently in the process, it’s likely you are still looking for guidance about where to start, or where to find the best review strategy, or whether you are on the right track with your preparation. To find these answers, you may have searched the web, skimmed online forums, and consulted with friends or family, likely uncovering hundreds of different results, advice, and opinions that can leave your head spinning.
As you study for the MCAT exam, it’s important to remember there’s no right or wrong way to prepare. What works for you depends on your own personal study habits and schedule. But sometimes the best sources of advice come from those who have just gone through the process, and with their recent experience in mind, you may discover different study tips and lessons learned that can work for you.
To help you on your preparation journey, the AAMC has developed a new resource, How I Prepared for the MCAT Exam -- a collection of student profiles that showcase study tips and approaches used by students who were satisfied with their MCAT scores. Each profile includes study schedules, strategies, personal challenges, and dos and don'ts, all narrated by the students themselves. The collection includes 21 different profiles, with stories that highlight the wide variation of ways you can prepare for the exam. Some of their tips may even surprise you.
Keep in mind that these profiles are not designed to be a representative sample of the entire MCAT examinee population, and the students were selected for their different study approaches and unique stories. We hope you will see yourself in some of these stories and learn valuable tips and information to incorporate into your own preparation.
Read the student testimonials. | https://students-residents.aamc.org/prepare-mcat-exam/new-student-success-stories-how-i-prepared-mcat-exam |
30 Universal Strategies For Learning by Terry Heick As teachers, we’re all trying to better understand how people learn–not now they’re taught in terms of teaching strategies, but more so learning strategies–only not really strategies. Learning actions, or cognitive actions. Strategies for learning.
Strategies for Students With Scattered Minds
Imagine a team without a coach guiding players toward working together to execute a winning strategy. Imagine a company without a leader to make sure that employees across departments are equipped and organized to collaborate on continually improving products and increasing sales. Imagine a marching band without a drum major to lead musicians through their complicated maneuvers while staying on beat. The brain’s executive function network performs in the same capacity as a coach, CEO, or drum major: directing one’s thinking and cognitive abilities toward setting goals and planning to achieve them, establishing priorities, getting and staying organized, and focusing attention on the task at hand.
Smart Homework: Can We Get Real?
Here’s the first of a several-part series on smart homework practices, adapted from Rick Wormeli’s seminal book about teaching in the middle grades, Day One & Beyond: Practical Matters for New Middle Level Teachers. What’s most remarkable about Wormeli’s discussion? How relevant and comtemporary it feels, a decade after he wrote it! The homework controversy continues, and Rick continues to offer great advice on this topic in workshops and presentations across North America. We’ve included some additional references for you at the article’s conclusion.
#vto51
Imagine the most extreme stereotypes about computer scientists: They're socially awkward indoor kids. They have an obsessive focus on technology and a closet full of rumpled hoodies. They're male. Cultural perceptions about who is a computer scientist — or an engineer or a physicist — are a big reason why women are still underrepresented in certain science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) fields, according to researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle. "The assumptions about what it takes to be a good computer scientist or engineer are very narrow," said Sapna Cheryan, a UW psychology professor and lead author of a study published this week in the journal Psychological Bulletin.
edutopia
All of us have had major classroom disruptions that try our patience and push our limits. These incidents can threaten our sense of control and generate fear of looking weak to other students. We fear that other students might do the same thing if we don't take a strong stance. Couple these feelings with the possibility of taking the disruption personally, and we have a recipe for disaster. It's important that we divide our response into two parts:
5 Practical Learning Tips Based On How People Do
5 Practical Learning Tips Based On How People Do–And Don’t–Learn by Charlie Chung, Class Central There has been a large body of work in neuroscience, psychology, and related fields offering more and more insight into how we learn.
Women‘s Colleges and the STEM Gender Gap – Association for Psychological Science
Smith College gave me the opportunity to attend the University of Geneva, Switzerland, as a 20-year-old and study with Jean Piaget, Barbel Inhelder, and Hermine Sinclair — an incredible introduction to the field of psychology, which got me hooked. Today, Smith is providing opportunities for many young women to study and practice science and is thus playing a crucial role in diversifying who conducts science. Kathleen McCartney, a developmental psychological scientist and president of Smith College, describes the college’s goals with respect to women and science, including, of course, psychological science. -APS President Susan Goldin-Meadow
Five Movement Strategies in the High School Classroom – Kenny C. McKee
Each day more research confirms the link between movement and learning. Brain researcher David Sousa claims that physical activity increases the amount of oxygen in our blood, and this oxygen is related to enhanced learning and memory. A recent Washington Post article suggests that many student behaviors we associate with ADHD may stem from an overall lack of physical movement — both in and out of school. However, many high school teachers still struggle to integrate movement into the classroom. I know that as a former English teacher, movement found its way into many of my “special” lessons, but it was often a missing ingredient of daily instruction.
Why Homework Matters
As an elementary/middle school teacher, I hear constant complaints about the issue of homework. There are valid points against overdoing it and even studies that suggest, in some cases, it doesn’t always help. There’s a big difference between busy work and assignments that are meaningful.
Closing the STEM gender gap: An opportunity and imperative
When you think ‘engineer’, who comes to mind? When you think ‘scientist’, what are they wearing? When you hear ‘tech entrepreneur’, what are they doing? If you had images of men, white lab coats and geeks writing code, you’re not alone. In fact most people have well entrenched stereotypes when they think of people in STEM careers (science, technology, engineering and maths.) These stereotypes help to explain the underrepresentation of women in STEM.
30 Techniques to Quiet a Noisy Class
One day, in front 36 riotous sophomores, I clutched my chest and dropped to my knees like Sergeant Elias at the end of Platoon. Instantly, dead silence and open mouths replaced classroom Armageddon. Standing up like nothing had happened, I said, "Thanks for your attention -- let's talk about love poems." I never used that stunt again. After all, should a real emergency occur, it would be better if students call 911 rather than post my motionless body on YouTube.
Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Better Student
Good study tips and habits can make a tremendous difference in understanding academic subject matter, and improving test scores. Some students inherently understand these concepts, while others take a bit more time to adapt to these practices. Many successful students create their own personal methods to absorbing classroom material by tweaking already established methods of learning. | http://www.pearltrees.com/u/147681522-research-classroom-tomorrow |
A simple and useful tool to assess your study habits.
September 9, 2018 by James Haupert Student Resources
Are your child’s study habits and strategies today strong enough to support college-level work in the future? Learn how to help your child become a much more effective learner through the use of better evidence-based learning strategies! | https://centerforhomeschooling.com/2018/09/09/study-planning-and-assessment-tool/ |
A tort is a private wrong, a trespass against a person or his property for which a damages award or other judicial remedy may be sought. Most torts arise from either an intentional, wrongful action or from a negligent action.The law of torts is essentially the law of injuries and remedies for those injuries. Torts can thus include assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, invasion of privacy, defamation, fraud or mispresentation, wrongful conversion, trespass, and other wrong, such as product liability.
There are two main categories of torts;
INTENTIONAL TORTS
To constitute an intentional tort, the defendant’s act must be expressly or implicitly intended; the resulting harm need not be intended, but must have been reasonably foreseeable. Examples of intentional torts are assault and battery, false imprisonment, slander, and invasion of privacy.
UNINTENTIONAL TORTS
Unintentional torts such as negligence in a slip and fall case۔Negligence refers to the failure of a person to exercise sufficient care in his or her conduct. When a person’s conduct falls below the reasonable expectation of society and causes foreseeable harm to another, the person has acted negligently. Societies expect known in torts based on negligence as the legal duty of care. The law does not require that the person has intent to cause harm.
CLASSIFICATION OF TORTS
The Classification of Tort is done in the following groups
GROUP A
Safety and freedom:
It is consist of following terms.
1) Assault:
An assault is an act which intentionally causes another person to apprehend the infliction of the immediate, unlawful force on a person.
An assault is any unlawful attempt or offer with force or violence to do bodily harm to another, whether from ill will or extreme carelessness; for example, by striking at or holding up the fist at a person in a threatening or insulting manner, or with other circumstances that evidence an intention, coupled with a present ability, of actual violence against the person, such as by pointing a weapon at him when he is within reach of it.
2) Battery:
Battery is a crime and also the basis for a lawsuit as a civil wrong if there is damage. A battery is any:
a. Willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another; or
b. Actual, intentional and unlawful touching or striking of another person against the will of the other; or
c. Unlawfully and intentionally causing bodily harm to an individual.
3) False Imprisonment:
False imprisonment is defined as consisting of unlawful restraint against the will of an individual's personal liberty or freedom of locomotion. Unlawful detention is the gist of false imprisonment. It is also defined as any intentional detention of the person of another unauthorized by law. False imprisonment is any illegal imprisonment without any process whatever, or under color of process wholly illegal, regardless of whether any crime has been committed, or a debt due.
False imprisonment is confining or physically restraining a person, such as by being locked in a car, being tied to a chair or locked in a closet, with no legal authority to hold the person. It is similar to a charge of kidnapping and it usually occurs in conjunction with a false arrest. False imprisonment is often a crime and if proved is almost always the basis of a lawsuit for damages.
4) Malicious prosecution:
Malicious prosecution refers to filing a lawsuit for purposes of harassing the defendant when there is no genuine basis for the suit. If the defendant in the lawsuit wins and has evidence that the suit was filed out of harassing motives and without any legal or factual foundation, it may be the basis of a claim for damages against the person who filed the original action. If malicious prosecution is clearly proved against the party who brought the original suit, punitive damages may be awarded along with special and general damages.
In some cases, courts have held that an attorney who knowingly assists a client in filing a baseless lawsuit out of malice may also be liable for damages. Before bringing a suit for a malicious prosecution, the original lawsuit must be decided in favor of the victim
PERSONAL RELATION TO FAMILY
Seduction:
Seduction is the act of a man enticing (without the use of physical force) a previously chaste woman to consent to sexual intercourse. In broader usage, the term refers to any act of persuasion and excluding the issue of chastity that leads to sexual intercourse.
Seduction has not as a rule been a criminal offense in most Western countries, but in the United States statutes in most states imposed criminal liability upon the seducing male. The elements of the crime varied, consisting of one or more of the following: intercourse with a female by trickery or under a promise of marriage.
Entice:
To wrongfully solicit, persuade, attract, or seduce. To incite, or persuade a person to do a thing. Enticement of a child is inviting, persuading, or attempting to persuade a child to enter any vehicle, building, room, or secluded place with intent to commit an unlawful sexual act upon or with the person of said child.
Reputation:
Slander:
Slander is a type of defamation. Slander is an untrue defamatory statement that is spoken orally. The difference between defamation and slander is that a defamatory statement can be made in any medium. It could be in a blog comment or spoken in a speech or said on television and slanderous statements are only made orally.
Libel:
Libel is an untrue defamatory statement that is made in writing. Libelous acts only occur when a statement is made in writing (digital statements count as writing)۔A crime to print anything false about the government, Person,institution etc۔A statement against a public figure is libel only if it known to be false or the speaker had a reckless disregard for the truth when making it.
Defamation:
Defamation is a false statement presented as a fact that causes injury or damage to the character of the person it is about. An example is “Tom Smith stole money from his employer.” If this is untrue and if making the statement damages Tom’s reputation or ability to work, it is defamation. The person whose reputation has been damaged by the false statement can bring a defamation lawsuit.
Another crucial part of a defamation case is that the person makes the false statement with a certain kind of intent. The statement must have been made with knowledge that it was untrue or with reckless disregard for the truth (meaning the person who said it questioned the truthfulness but said it anyhow). If the person being defamed is a private citizen and not a celebrity or public figure, defamation can also be proven when the statement was made with negligence as to determining its truth (the person speaking should have known it was false or should have questioned it). This means it is easier to prove defamation when you are a private citizen. There is a higher standard required if you are a public figure.
GROUP B
Trespass to property:
There are two types of trespass: trespass to land and trespass to goods.
Trespass to lands:
Trespass to land is the intentional and unauthorized invasion of real property. The relevant intent for this claim is the intent to enter the property. So, a person who unknowingly crosses from his own property to an adjacent plot may be liable for trespass even if he did not know that the land belonged to another. Trespass to land may occur when a person or object, such as litter, enters the property.
Trespass to goods:
Trespass to goods is an intentional interference with a plaintiff's right of possession to personal property. This may occur if a defendant damages the property or deprives the plaintiff of possession of the property.
Conversion:
The tort of conversion is similar to the tort of trespass to chattel. Both require a defendant to interfere with another's right of possession in personal property. Likewise, a defendant must have intended to exercise control over the property in a manner inconsistent with the owner's rights. It is not required that the defendant know that the property belonged to another. However, for conversion, the interference must be so serious, in terms of duration and extensiveness of use, that it warrants that the defendant pay the personal property's full value.
Interference with right analogous to property:
Trade mark:
Trademarks identify the goods of one manufacturer from the goods of others. Trademarks are important business assets because they allow companies to establish their products' reputation without having to worry that an inferior product will diminish their reputation or profit by deceiving the consumer. Trademarks include words, names, symbols and logos. The intent of trademark law is to prevent consumer confusion about the origin of a product.
Trade name:
Trade names are names associated with a business and its reputation. Business names are not by themselves a trademark. The name that a business uses to identify itself is called a "trade name." This is the name used on its stock certificates, bank accounts, invoices and letterhead. The business name may be given some protection under state and local corporate/ LLC or fictitious business name registration laws (or protected under federal and state unfair competition laws against a confusing use by a competing business), but it is not considered a trademark or entitled to protection under trademark laws unless it is affixed to a product or service. However, if a business uses its name to identify a product or service produced by the business, the name will then be considered a trademark or service mark and be entitled to protection if it is distinctive enough. For instance, Apple Computer Corporation uses the trade name Apple as a trademark on its line of computer products.
A second-comer needs to take care to distinguish their product if they are using a name similar to a predecessor, especially in a competing product or service. Also, a generic term may acquire a preferential right to the use of such a name or word under the doctrine of secondary meaning. In such a case, a duty may be imposed upon a subsequent user to take such precautions as may be necessary to distinguish or identify his goods or business and thus avoid confusion on the part of customers or patrons.
In determining whether relief for unfair competition will be granted, some of the factors considered are the distinctiveness of the name, the similarity or relationship between the subjects involved, whether the goods or services are furnished to different classes of customers, and whether motives of fraud or bad faith intent were involved. Although the ultimate issue is whether the defendant's use of the complaining party's name or symbols results in confusion as to the source or origin of the goods or services.
Copy right:
A copyright is a legal device that gives the creator of a literary, artistic, musical, or other creative work the sole right to publish and sell that work. Copyright owners have the right to control the reproduction of their work, including the right to receive payment for that reproduction. An author may grant or sell those rights to others, including publishers or recording companies. Violation of a copyright is called infringement.
Patents:
Patents grant an inventor the right to exclude others from producing or using the inventor's discovery or invention for a limited period of time. In order to be patented an invention must be novel, useful, and not of an obvious nature. There are three types of patents: a) "utility patent" which includes a process, a machine (mechanism with moving parts), manufactured products, and compounds or mixtures (such as chemical formulas); b) "design patent "which is a new, original and ornamental design for a manufactured article; and c) "plant patent " which is a new variety of a cultivated asexually reproduced plant. The Federal agency charged with administering patent laws is the Patent and Trademark Office. If an application is rejected, the decision may be appealed to the Patents Office's Board of Appeals, with further or alternative review available from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, or in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Manufacture of a product upon which there is an existing patent is "patent infringement" which can result in a lawsuit against the infringer and substantial damages may be granted.
GROUP C
Nuisance:
A nuisance is an unreasonable and substantial interference with the use and/or enjoyment of land that does not involve a physical trespass. Here is an example of a municipal nuisance statute.
Nuisance, in law, a human activity or a physical condition that is harmful or offensive to others and gives rise to a cause of action. A public nuisance created in a public place or on public land, or affecting the morals, safety, or health of the community, is considered an offense against the state. Such activities as obstructing a public road, polluting air and water, operating a house of prostitution, and keeping explosives are public nuisances. A private nuisance is an activity or condition that interferes with the use and enjoyment of neighboring privately owned lands, without, however, constituting an actual invasion of the property. Thus, excessive noise, noxious vapours, and disagreeable odours and vibrations may constitute a private nuisance to the neighboring landowners, although there has been no physical trespass on their lands.
Breach of duty:
The failure of one who owes a duty to perform. Also refers to a person who fails to use due and reasonable care required under the circumstances
Negligence:
Negligent tort means a tort committed by failure to act as a reasonable person to someone to whom she Or he owes a duty, as required by law under the circumstances. Further, negligent torts are not deliberate, and there must be an injury resulting from the breach of the duty. Examples of negligent torts are car accidents, slip and fall accidents and most medical malpractice cases. | https://www.ourprolaw.com/2018/09/systematic-classification-of-tort.html |
In the Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounter case, the defence Monday claimed that there was no evidence to show that the FIR filed stating the encounter to be genuine was not signed by the complainant — accused Rajasthan Police inspector Abdul Rehman. R H Hadia, who filed the first chargesheet in the case against 13 accused as part of the Gujarat CID probe in 2007, was being questioned by the defence.
Advocate Wahab Khan, representing Rehman, claimed that the proforma of the FIR did not have Rehman’s signature to prove that he had lodged the complaint. To this, Hadia responded in the affirmative. The CBI has alleged that a false FIR was filed by Rehman after the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin in Ahmedabad on November 26, 2005. The accused has denied having filed the FIR.
Khan claimed that neither any test identification parade was conducted to identify Rehman during Hadia’s probe, nor was any expert opinion taken on his handwriting to confirm that he had written the FIR. He said statements of ATS officials, in whose office the FIR was allegedly filed, were also not taken. “It is true that there is no evidence to show who had dictated the complaint, who had typed it and where it was taken,” Hadia said.
Further, when cross-examined on an affidavit filed by Nathubha Jadeja, a key eyewitness who has turned hostile before the trial court last year, Hadia said he did not remember.
Jadeja had earlier given a statement claiming that the encounter was genuine but subsequently told the CID that the encounter was false. He had surrendered before the court and filed an affidavit again stating that he was pressurised into giving a false statement against the accused. | https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/sohrabuddin-fake-encounter-case-no-proof-to-show-fir-stating-encounter-to-be-genuine-was-not-signed-by-complainant-5392923/ |
Truth is a property of a statement or belief about a fact, or about a relationship between a number of facts, such that it describes this fact, or this relationship, with sufficient precision and completeness for the purpose of a particular inquiry.
The opposite of truth is falsehood.
Falsehood is a property of a statement or belief about a fact, or about a relationship between a number of facts, such that it describes this fact, or this relationship imprecisely or incompletely for the purpose of a particular inquiry.
In both the above definitions we have qualified the precision and completeness of a statement by the purpose of the inquiry for the purpose of which the statement is made or belief held. This is important, because it is beyond human ability to describe anything with absolute precision and completeness. Nor is such description is ever required. All human inquiries have a purpose, which limits the precision and completeness of information sought by a particular inquiry.
Thus a statement: "It is one o'clock", made when the time was 13:05 would be a true statement if the person asking about the time was interested to know approximate time of day. But, if it was important to know the time to the exact minute, then the same statement would have been false.
Statements containing information which is not necessary for the purpose of the particular inquiry are known as irrelevant to that particular inquiry.
Statements can be made verbally or in writing using a language or can be visual representations of reality like pictures, drawings or photographs. Languages are sets of sounds or symbols combinations of which produce mental images in the mind of a person who understands a particular language. To understand a language a person needs to perceive the symbols of the language correctly and to be able to build in his mind the image intended by the maker of the statement. Failure to understand a statement results either in total ignorance of the facts asserted by the statement or in an incorrect (false) image of the facts asserted by the statements being formed in a person's mind. Thus even if a statement is true, it can still be misinterpreted due to misunderstanding.
People make false statements either unintentionally or deliberately. A false statement made unintentionally is due to a sincere but mistaken belief. A false statement made deliberately is called a lie, and is intended to deceive those for whom such statement is intended.
People also have tendency to self-deception. They easily believe what they want to believe, and tend to deny, ignore, or distort the truth of statements which have unpleasant or undesirable to them consequences.
People who make truthful statements and accept the truth of statements made by others regardless of whether such statements are favorable to them or not are known as honest. People who make deliberate false statements or deny, ignore, or distort the truth of statements which have unpleasant or undesirable to them consequences are known as dishonest.
Reality (Nature, Universe) exists independently of the existence of the individuals who seek to describe it or form an opinion about it. Truth does not exist except as a quality of human statements or beliefs. Reality is what exists, it is the human evaluations of it, that are either "true", or "false". | http://shamsali.org/taj/truth.html |
- Identify the correct words from the brackets: a) (Insulin/Penicillin) is a synthetically prepared anti-diabetic drug. b) Two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the year (1945/1955).
- Write the terms for the following: a) The branch of science that deals with the study of relationships between organisms and their environment. b) Satellite Instruction Television Experiment
- Match the items of Column-1 with those of Column-2. Coulmn-1 Column-2 a) Mechanics i) Green plants b) Circulation of blood ii) Lasers c) Air purification iii) Greek civilisation d) Long distance communication iv) William Harvey
- Which one of the following statements is true and which is false? Write the reason for the statement being true or false. a) Mars has several features that are similar to Earth. b) Nuclear wastes are biodegradable.
- Explain the tradition and social functions of science.
- Describe any five technical devices that were invented or improved upon in Medieval India.
- Citing suitable examples describe the operations involved in the ‘method of science’.
- Detail the techniques and instruments that have helped us in gathering information about the Universe.
- What goals need to be set for the management of water resources? How water can be managed in a scientific manner?
- “There is a mismatch between man’s ability to produce and social incapacity to utilize”. Explain the meaning of this statement.
- Elucidate any five contributions made by the ‘human factor specialists’. | https://www.ignouassignmentguru.com/fst-01-question-papers-and-important-question-selected-questions-notes/ |
Distinguishing and Understanding Defamation in the State of Iowa
It is a significant crime when someone makes false and destructive claims about you, which is known as Defamation. There are two sorts of defamation: “libel,” which refers to a statement that is written or uploaded on the internet, and “slander,” which relates to a remark that is said verbally. Defamation cases must be proven by showing that the libel or slander was published in some form and that the subject’s reputation, future employment possibilities, or even physical or mental health were harmed as a result.
Several people have taken the step of filing a “cease and desist” letter in response to this crime, in which they instruct the person making the false allegations to halt before any further legal action can be taken against them. In this section, you’ll learn more about defamation and how to navigate the laws of the State of Iowa.
What is Considered Defamation?
Slander vs. Libel
Slander and libel are the two elements of defamation, as previously mentioned:
- Libel is also distinguished by the fact that it leaves a permanent record, such as an email, radio or television broadcast, newspaper article, or website posting, among other things.
- False statements or gestures are not recorded in any way, and they can be as simple as a spoken statement or a gesture of the hand.
To prove a defamation claim or determine whether you can send a cease and desist letter, it is necessary to first identify the type of defamation that has taken place.
What Isn’t Counted as Defamation?
Despite the fact that proving defamation appears to be a straightforward and straightforward process, several legal loopholes prevent claims from being classified as slander or libel:
Opinion
-
- A statement of opinion cannot be defamatory because defamation must be proven to be true or false before it can be considered true or false.
- Defamatory statements that are not identified as opinions and are published may give you grounds to file a lawsuit for slander or libel if the statement is not identified as an opinion.
The Right to Free Expression
-
- When it comes to the First Amendment, individuals have the right not to be subjected to falsehoods that cast aspersions on their character.
- In essence, defamation is not illegal in the legal sense of the word. A claim of defamation is simply an excuse for the legal system to compensate those who have been harmed by freedom of expression.
False Light Claims Are Not Defamatory
-
- It is possible to make a false light claim when a defamatory statement about an individual is published in a way that implies that the statement is true when it is not.
- In contrast to defamation, false light is established to “protect the plaintiff’s mental and emotional well-being,” rather than to “protect the plaintiff’s reputation,” which is what defamation does.
Disparagement
- Disparagement serves to protect the financial and economic interests of the plaintiff or the products they are attempting to sell.
- Defamation is intended to protect personal interests, whereas disparagement is intended to protect interests that extend beyond the individual, such as property ownership and non-liquid assets.
The State of Iowa and Online Defamation
In spite of the fact that it is feasible to establish internet defamation, deciding whether or not to take legal action may be very challenging. According to the state of Iowa, defendants who engage in “harassment via computer” may be prosecuted under the state’s “computer-based harassment” statute.
Iowa and Harassment
According to Iowa law, harassment may be classified into three categories:
- First-degree harassment, which is an aggravated misdemeanor
- Second-degree harassment, which is a severe misdemeanor
- Third-degree harassment, which is a straightforward misdemeanor.
- Penalties may be severe and may include jail time as well as monetary penalties.
- In the first or second degree, harassment is a severe crime, and being charged with it is very serious since you are being accused of a felony in which the state asserts that you are threatening death, serious harm, or physical damage to another individual.
- Although having a third-degree harassment conviction on your record is not ideal, having a first- or second-degree harassment conviction on your record may make it more difficult to get some types of work.
- This is due to the fact that the accusations include threatening violence against someone, which is clearly not what an employer is looking for in a candidate for the position.
- When you engage in third-degree harassment, you are being obnoxious to another person without having a valid reason for doing so.
- Furthermore, it includes any other kind of harassment that is not classified as either first- or second-degree harassment.
Suing for Defamation of Character in The State of Iowa
In Iowa, the law states that the elements of a defamation claim are:
|An Intent to Coerce||The person who defamed you had the intention to coerce, bully, intimidate or harass you with ill intent|
|Defamation Occurred||The defamation occurred and there are records of messages, actions, or statements that contained libel or slander and were negative in nature|
|Defamation was Obscene||The defamation made a suggestion or proposal that was obscene, threatened an illegal or immoral act, or was vulgar, profane, lewd, or indecent with respect to your reputation|
|Damages Incurred||You incurred damages as a result of the individual’s actions that served as permanently harmful|
Examples of Defamation Per Se in the State of Iowa
In Iowa, these broad statements are valid defamation per se, so harmful that they will always be considered defamatory and will be always assumed to have incurred substantial damages:
- This implies that a crime was done that was inherently immoral.
- Making the implication that a person suffers from an infectious or humiliating illness that requires them to be isolated from the rest of society
- The inference is made that a person is unsuitable to do a job and lacks fundamental integrity in the execution of their work itself.
- The victim’s trade suffers as a result of the statement’s inflammatory tone.
Deciding How to File a Cease and Desist Letter
- In order to make your argument believable, cease and desist letters must be very detailed and include specific wording.
-
- It is possible that your letter may be ignored or considered inadequate for a legitimate case if it does not correctly describe the damages, injury, and other facts concerning your case using language that is appropriate in a court of law.
- Alternatively, you may hire a lawyer to draft a stop and desist letter on your behalf, but this will be more costly and may take longer than you expect to complete.
- In the state of Virginia, a case like this has a statute of limitations of one year after the event of defamation, which means that you only have a limited amount of time to submit your claim.
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# Truth-bearer
A truth-bearer is an entity that is said to be either true or false and nothing else. The thesis that some things are true while others are false has led to different theories about the nature of these entities. Since there is divergence of opinion on the matter, the term truth-bearer is used to be neutral among the various theories. Truth-bearer candidates include propositions, sentences, sentence-tokens, statements, beliefs, thoughts, intuitions, utterances, and judgements but different authors exclude one or more of these, deny their existence, argue that they are true only in a derivative sense, assert or assume that the terms are synonymous, or seek to avoid addressing their distinction or do not clarify it.
## Introduction
Some distinctions and terminology as used in this article, based on Wolfram 1989 (Chapter 2 Section1) follow. It should be understood that the terminology described is not always used in the ways set out, and it is introduced solely for the purposes of discussion in this article. Use is made of the type–token and use–mention distinctions. Reflection on occurrences of numerals might be helpful. In grammar a sentence can be a declaration, an explanation, a question, a command. In logic a declarative sentence is considered to be a sentence that can be used to communicate truth. Some sentences which are grammatically declarative are not logically so.
A character is a typographic character (printed or written) etc.
A word-token is a pattern of characters. A word-type is an identical pattern of characters. A meaningful-word-token is a meaningful pattern of characters. Two word-tokens which mean the same are of the same word-meaning
A sentence-token is a pattern of word-tokens. A meaningful-sentence-token is a meaningful sentence-token or a meaningful pattern of meaningful-word-tokens. Two sentence-tokens are of the same sentence-type if they are identical patterns of word-tokens characters A declarative-sentence-token is a sentence-token which that can be used to communicate truth or convey information. A meaningful-declarative-sentence-token is a meaningful declarative-sentence-token Two meaningful-declarative-sentence-tokens are of the same meaningful-declarative-sentence-type if they are identical patterns of word-tokens. A nonsense-declarative-sentence-token is a declarative-sentence-token which is not a meaningful-declarative-sentence-token. A meaningful-declarative-sentence-token-use occurs when and only when a meaningful-declarative-sentence-token is used declaratively.
A referring-expression is expression that can be used to pick out or refer to particular entity. A referential success is a referring-expression's success in identifying a particular entity. A referential failure is a referring-expression's failure to identify a particular entity. A referentially-successful-meaningful-declarative-sentence-token-use is a meaningful-declarative-sentence-token-use containing no referring-expression that fails to identify a particular entity.
## Sentences in natural languages
As Aristotle pointed out, since some sentences are questions, commands, or meaningless, not all can be truth-bearers. If in the proposal "What makes the sentence Snow is white true is the fact that snow is white" it is assumed that sentences like Snow is white are truth-bearers, then it would be more clearly stated as "What makes the meaningful-declarative-sentence Snow is white true is the fact that snow is white".
Theory 1a:
All and only meaningful-declarative-sentence-types are truth-bearers
Criticisms of theory 1a
Some meaningful-declarative-sentence-types will be both truth and false, contrary to our definition of truth-bearer, for example, (i) in liar-paradox sentences such as "This sentence is false", (see Fisher 2008) (ii) and in time, place, and person-dependent sentences such as "It is noon", "This is London", and "I'm Spartacus".
Anyone may ..ascribe truth and falsity to the deterministic propositional signs we here call utterances. But if he takes this line, he must, like Leibniz, recognise that truth cannot be an affair solely of actual utterances, since it makes sense to talk of the discovery of previously un-formulated truths. (Kneale, W&M (1962))
Revision to Theory 1a, by making a distinction between type and token.
To escape the time, place and person dependent criticism the theory can be revised, making use or the type–token distinction, as follows
Theory 1b:
All and only meaningful-declarative-sentence-tokens are truth-bearers
Quine argued that the primary truth-bearers are utterances
Having now recognised in a general way that what are true are sentences, we must turn to certain refinements. What are best seen as primarily true or false are not sentences but events of utterances. If a man utters the words 'It is raining' in the rain, or the words 'I am hungry' while hungry, his verbal performance counts as true. Obviously one utterance of a sentence may be true and another utterance of the same sentence be false.
Source: Quine 1970, page 13
Criticisms of theory 1b
(i) Theory 1b prevents sentences which are meaningful-declarative-sentence-types from being truth-bearers. If all meaningful-declarative-sentence-types typographically identical to "The whole is greater than the part" are true then it surely follows that the meaningful-declarative-sentence-type "The whole is greater than the part" is true (just as all meaningful-declarative-sentence-tokens typographically identical to "The whole is greater than the part" are English entails the meaningful-declarative-sentence-types "The whole is greater than the part" is English) (ii) Some meaningful-declarative-sentences-tokens will be both truth and false, or neither, contrary to our definition of truth-bearer. E.g. A token, t, of the meaningful-declarative-sentence-type ‘P: I'm Spartacus’, written on a placard. The token t would be true when used by Spartacus, false when used by Bertrand Russell, neither true nor false when mentioned by Spartacus or when being neither used nor mentioned.
Theory 1b.1
All meaningful-declarative-sentence-token-uses are truth-bearers; some meaningful-declarative-sentence-types are truth-bearers
To allow that at least some meaningful-declarative-sentence-types can be truth-bearers, Quine allowed so-called "eternal sentences" to be truth-bearers.
In Peirces's terminology, utterances and inscriptions are tokens of the sentence or other linguistic expression concerned; and this linguistic expression is the type of those utterances and inscriptions. In Frege's terminology, truth and falsity are the two truth values. Succinctly then, an eternal sentence is a sentence whose tokens have the same truth values.... What are best regarded as true and false are not propositions but sentence tokens, or sentences if they are eternal
Quine 1970 pages 13–14
Theory 1c
All and only meaningful-declarative-sentence-token-uses are truth-bearers
Arguments for theory 1c
By respecting the use–mention distinction, Theory 1c avoids criticism (ii) of Theory 1b.
Criticisms of theory 1c
(i) Theory 1c does not avoid criticism (i) of Theory 1b. (ii) meaningful-declarative-sentence-token-uses are events (located in particular positions in time and space) and entail a user. This implies that (a) nothing (no truth-bearer) exists and hence nothing (no truth-bearer) is true (or false) anytime anywhere (b) nothing (no truth-bearer) exists and hence nothing (no truth-bearer) is true (or false) in the absence of a user. This implies that (a) nothing was true before the evolution of users capable of using meaningful-declarative-sentence-tokens and (b) nothing is true (or false) except when being used (asserted) by a user. Intuitively the truth (or falsity) of ‘The tree continues to be in the quad’ continues in the absence of an agent to asset it.
Referential Failure A problem of some antiquity is the status of sentences such as U: The King of France is bald V: The highest prime has no factors W: Pegasus did not exist Such sentences purport to refer to entitles which do not exist (or do not always exist). They are said to suffer from referential failure. We are obliged to choose either (a) That they are not truth-bearers and consequently neither true nor false or (b) That they are truth-bearers and per se are either true or false.
Theory 1d
All and only referentially-successful-meaningful-declarative-sentence-token-uses are truth-bearers.
Theory 1d takes option (a) above by declaring that meaningful-declarative-sentence-token-uses that fail referentially are not truth-bearers.
Theory 1e
All referentially-successful-meaningful-declarative-sentence-token-uses are truth-bearers; some meaningful-declarative-sentence-types are truth-bearers
Arguments for theory 1e
Theory 1e has the same advantages as Theory 1d. Theory 1e allows for the existence of truth-bearers (i.e., meaningful-declarative-sentence-types) in the absence of users and between uses. If for any x, where x is a use of a referentially successful token of a meaningful-declarative-sentence-type y x is a truth-bearer then y is a truth-bearer otherwise y is not a truth bearer. E.g. If all uses of all referentially successful tokens of the meaningful-declarative-sentence-type ‘The whole is greater than the part’ are truth-bearers (i.e. true or false) then the meaningful-declarative-sentence-type ‘The whole is greater than the part’ is a truth-bearer. If some but not all uses of some referentially successful tokens of the meaningful-declarative-sentence-type ‘I am Spartacus’ are true then the meaningful-declarative-sentence-type ‘I am Spartacus’ is not a truth-bearer.
Criticisms of theory 1e
Theory 1e makes implicit use of the concept of an agent or user capable of using (i.e. asserting) a referentially-successful-meaningful-declarative-sentence-token. Although Theory 1e does not depend on the actual existence (now, in the past or in the future) of such users, it does depend on the possibility and cogency of their existence. Consequently, the concept of truth-bearer under Theory 1e is dependent upon giving an account of the concept of a ‘user’. In so far as referentially-successful-meaningful-declarative-sentence-tokens are particulars (locatable in time and space) the definition of truth-bearer just in terms of referentially-successful-meaningful-declarative-sentence is attractive to those who are (or would like to be) nominalists. The introduction of ‘use’ and ‘users’ threatens the introduction of intentions, attitudes, minds &c. as less-than welcome ontological baggage.
## Sentences in languages of classical logic
In classical logic a sentence in a language is true or false under (and only under) an interpretation and is therefore a truth-bearer. For example, a language in the first-order predicate calculus might include one or more predicate symbols and one or more individual constants and one or more variables. The interpretation of such a language would define a domain (universe of discourse); assign an element of the domain to each individual constant; assign the denotation in the domain of some property to each unary (one-place) predicate symbol.
For example, if a language L consisted in the individual constant a, two unary predicate letters F and G and the variable x, then an interpretation I of L might define the Domain D as animals, assign Socrates to a, the denotation of the property being a man to F, and the denotation of the property being mortal to G. Under the interpretation I of L, Fa would be true if, and only if Socrates is a man, and the sentence ∀ {\displaystyle \forall } x(Fx → {\displaystyle \to } Gx) would be true if, and only if all men (in the domain) are mortal. In some texts an interpretation is said to give "meaning" to the symbols of the language. Since Fa has the value true under some (but not all) interpretations, it is not the sentence-type Fa which is said to be true but only some sentence-tokens of Fa under particular interpretations. A token of Fa without an interpretation is neither true nor false. Some sentences of a language like L are said to be true under all interpretations of the sentence, e.g. ∀ {\displaystyle \forall } x(Fx ∨ {\displaystyle \lor } ¬ {\displaystyle \neg } Fx), such sentences are termed logical truths, but again such sentences are neither true nor false in the absence of an interpretation.
## Propositions
A number of authors use the term proposition as truth-bearers. There is no single definition or usage. Sometimes it is used to mean a meaningful declarative sentence itself; sometimes it is used to mean the meaning of a meaningful declarative sentence. This provides two possible definitions for the purposes of discussion as below
Theory 2a:
All and only meaningful-declarative-sentences are propositions
Theory 2b:
A meaningful-declarative-sentence-token expresses a proposition; two meaningful-declarative-sentence-tokens which have the same meaning express the same proposition; two meaningful-declarative-sentence-tokens with different meanings express different propositions.
(cf Wolfram 1989, p. 21)
Proposition is not always used in one or other of these ways.
Criticisms of theory 2a.
If all and only meaningful-declarative-sentences are propositions, as advanced by Theory 2a, then the terms are synonymous and we can just as well speak of the meaningful-declarative-sentences themselves as the trutbearers - there is no distinct concept of proposition to consider, and the term proposition is literally redundant.
Criticisms of Theory 2b
Theory 2b entails that if all meaningful-declarative-sentence-tokens typographically identical to say, "I am Spartacus" have the same meaning then they (i) express the same proposition (ii) that proposition is both true and false, contrary to the definition of truth-bearer. The concept of a proposition in this theory rests upon the concept of meaning as applied to meaningful-declarative-sentences, in a word synonymy among meaningful-declarative-sentence s. Quine 1970 argues that the concept of synonymy among meaningful-declarative-sentences cannot be sustained or made clear, consequently the concepts of "propositions" and "meanings of sentences" are, in effect, vacuous and superfluous
## Statements
Many authors consider statements as truth-bearers, though as with the term "proposition" there is divergence in definition and usage of that term. Sometimes 'statements' are taken to be meaningful-declarative-sentences; sometimes they are thought to be what is asserted by a meaningful-declarative-sentence. It is not always clear in which sense the word is used. This provides two possible definitions for the purposes of discussion as below.
A particular concept of a statement was introduced by Strawson in the 1950s.,
Consider the following:
I: The author of Waverley is dead J: The author of Ivanhoe is dead K: I am less than six feet tall L: I am over six feet tall M: The conductor is a bachelor N: The conductor is married
On the assumption that the same person wrote Waverley and Ivanhoe, the two distinct patterns of characters (meaningful-declarative-sentences) I and J make the same statement but express different propositions. The pairs of meaningful-declarative-sentences (K, L) & (M, N) have different meanings, but they are not necessarily contradictory, since K & L may have been asserted by different people, and M & N may have been asserted about different conductors.
What these examples show is that we cannot identify that which is true or false (the statement) with the sentence used in making it; for the same sentence may be used to make different statements, some of them true and some of them false. (Strawson, P.F. (1952))
This suggests:
Two meaningful-declarative-sentence-tokens which say the same thing of the same object(s) make the same statement.
Theory 3a
All and only statements are meaningful-declarative-sentences.
Theory 3b
All and only meaningful-declarative-sentences can be used to make statements
Statement is not always used in one or other of these ways.
Arguments for theory 3a
"All and only statements are meaningful-declarative-sentences." is either a stipulative definition or a descriptive definition. If the former, the stipulation is useful or it is not; if the latter, either the descriptive definition correctly describes English usage or it does not. In either case no arguments, as such, are applicable
Criticisms of theory 3a
If the term statement is synonymous with the term meaningful-declarative-sentence, then the applicable criticisms are the same as those outlined under sentence below If all and only meaningful-declarative-sentences are statements, as advanced by Theory 3a, then the terms are synonymous and we can just as well speak of the meaningful-declarative-sentences themselves as the truth-bearers – there is no distinct concept of statement to consider, and the term statement is literally redundant.
## Thoughts
Frege (1919) argued that an indicative sentence in which we communicate or state something, contains both a thought and an assertion, it expresses the thought, and the thought is the sense of the sentence. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth-bearer |
Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who has been busy with his work schedule, reached Chandigarh on November 21 to appear before a Special Investigation Team (SIT). The actor will be likely questioned in connection with the police firing on mobs who protested the 2015 incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab. The Punjab Police SIT had summoned Akshay Kumar to Amritsar circuit house on November 21. But, the SIT gave him the option to appear in Chandigarh instead of Amritsar.
“We have given him (Akshay Kumar) the freedom to appear here (in Chandigarh),” SIT member and Inspector General of Police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh said on November 20.
The case is in connection with 2015 police firing probe. Akshay Kumar has already denied allegations made against him about allegedly arranging a meeting between Former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Dera Sacha Sauda sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The latter is currently serving time in prison for 20 years in two rape cases.
Akshay Kumar had released an official statement regarding the case and denied all the allegations made against him. “It has come to my knowledge that some rumours and false statements are being loosely made on social media about my involvement with a person named Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the context of a fictitious meeting involving Sukhbir Singh Badal. With all humility, I would like to state the following facts. I have never ever met Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in my life, anywhere. I learnt from social media at some point that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh resided for a while at some place in my locality Juhu in Mumbai but we never crossed each other’s paths,” Akshay Kumar had said on Twitter.
— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) November 12, 2018
Prakash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal have been questioned already by Punjab SIT in Chandigarh. Sukhbir denied meeting Akshay outside Punjab when asked if he had met him in Mumbai during the questioning on November 19. | https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/akshay-kumar-appear-punjab-sit-questioning-connection-2015-police-firing-probe/ |
Perjury is the “willful and corrupt taking of a false oath in regard to a material matter in a judicial proceedings. ” It is sometimes called “lying under oath” i.
e. , deliberately telling a lie in a courtroom after having taken an oath to tell the truth. It is important that the false statement be material to case at hand, means that false statement could effect the outcome of the case. It is not considered perjury, for example : to lie about age unless age is a key factor in proving the case. Perjury can be used as a threat.Although, perjury is a very serious crime under state and Federal laws, and while prosecutors often threaten prosecution, the member of actual prosecution for perjury is tiny. The prosecution of perjury stemming from civil law suits are particularly call.
This is because it is difficult to prove that someone is intentionally misstating a material fact, rather than simply testifying honestly from faulty memory. Perjury also known as Forswearing, which means willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth weather spoken or in writing concerning matters material to a judicial proceedings.Means, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the case, for example: that is not considered perjury to lie about ones age unless, age is a a factor in determining a legal result. Perjury is considered a serious offense as it can be used to usurp the power of the courts, resulting in miscarriage of justice. PERJURY IN INDIA Under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), section 191 defines perjury as “giving false evidence” and by interpretation it includes the statements retracted later as the person is presumed to have given a “false statements” earlier r later,whom the statement is retracted.
Section 191 of IPC states perjury as: whoever, being legally bound by an oath or by any express provision of law to state the truth, or being bound by law to make a declaration upon any subject, make any statement which is false, and which he either knows or believes to be false evidence. Statements of interpretation of fact are not perjury because people often make inaccurate statement. Individuals may have honest but mistaken beliefs about certain facts, or their recollection may be inaccurate.Like most other crimes in the common law system, to be convicted of perjury one must have had the intention [Mens Rea] to commit the act, and to have actually committed the act [Actus Reus]. Subordination of perjury, attempting to include another person to perjure themselves, is itself a crime.
WHY IT IS A CRIME? Perjury is a crime because a witness swears, or affirms to tell the truth and, for the credibility of the court, witness testimony must be relied on as being truthful.The rule of perjury also apply when a person has made a statement under penalty of perjury, even if the person has not been sworn as affirmed as a witness before an appropriate official. DEVELOPMENT OF PERJURY IN INDIA Two developments in two sensational criminal cases. The Best Bakery Case, relating to the Gujarat Communal Rights. Jessica Lal’s Murder Case. The Best Bakery Case and murder case of Model Jessica Lal, have brought into sharp focus the issue of “perjury” defined in Indian penal laws as “giving false evidence”.While the Bombay Special Trail Court in the Best Bakery Case has issued notices to Zaheera Sheikh for “Perjury” or “flase evidence” as she had retracted her statement several times, the Delhi High Court has Suo Motu, taken cognizance of the police (prosecution) theory on “Hostile Witness” in the Jessica Lal Murder Case.
Both the cases demonstrate that time has come in India to strictly enforce the law relating “perjury” or “false statement”, which would go a long way in future criminal cases.For a person’s statement an oath, testimony, and in sworn affidavit is regard as truth are vital evidence on which judicial decisions are made. The high rate of acquittals in India in criminal cases are mainly due to witnesses turning hostile. The criminality of “buying” the witnesses by the influential who find themselves in the dock can be handed only by strictly enjoying the penal law on perjury.
The allegation that, Zaheera Sheikh took money to retract her statement is open to judicial scrutiny. Witnesses turning hostile in several cases take not only the courts for a __ but Justice itself.Zaheera Sheikh is not a only example of someone allegedly having committed “perjury” there are majority of cases in which witnesses give false evidence or retract their statements at a later stage, which results in the accused being acquitted. If the Indian courts started taking action against falsehood the case of perjury would outnumber all other categories of cases. But the Best Bakery Case, as indeed the Jessica Lal Murder Case, have become high profile and are therefore being highlighted and discussed in detail.
Under section 191, of the Indian Penal Code, perjury is defined as “giving false evidence”. The person is prosecuted to have given false statement at some point, but hardly anyone, including legal experts, can recall a single case before Best Bakery Case and the Jessica Lal murder case in which a person was prosecuted for making a false statement before the court. Under section 191 of the IPC, an affidavit is evidence and a person swearing to a false affidavit is guilty of perjury, which is punishable of imprisonment which may extend to seven years.However, action against making a false statement should be initiated during the trial itself and not after it has concluded, this may serve as a deterrent to persons who intentionally mislead the court or make false statements under oath or file tainted affidavits much against the public good and fair trial. Late initiation of an action often causes perjury cases to go completely unnoticed, it becomes one more case dragging on for years. ZAHEERA HABIBULLAH H. SKEIKH AND OTHERS. V.
STATE OF GUJARAT AND OTHERS (BEST BAKERY CASE)The Best Bakery Case was a legal case involving the burning down of the Best Bakery on March 1, 2002, in Vadodra, India. The incident which resulted in the deaths of 14 people (including 12 muslims) has came to symbolize the carnage and the alleged complicity of the state government during the 2002 Gujarat violence. The Best Bakery Case, was small outlet in the Hanuman Tekri area of Vadodra which was burned down in communal riots.
This attack was part of the 2002 Gujarat violence sparked by the Godhra train burning incidence, in which 58 “Karsevaks” were burnt to death.The day after the attack, Zaheera Sheikh filed the First Information Report (FIR). Zaheera was a key and notable witness. PERJURY UNDER THE BEST BAKERY CASE: The prosecution declared Zaheera Sheikh to be a hostile witness. A tape by Tehalka claimed that Zaheera had been bribed by an MLA Masjilis-e-Shura, an apex decision making bodies of muslims, consequently declared Zaheera Sheikh, as a “dissembler” effectively ousting her from the muslim community. The organization stated its reason that Zaheera was “tarnishing communiti’s image by making false statements”.Zaheera was sentenced by the Supreme Court of India, 1 Year imprisonment for perjury in the murder, after being found guilty of lying by the court, with fine Rs.
50,000. The judgment called landmark judgment brought the case to an end. The case has the legacy of being “one of the country’s most controversial and high profile trials”. In the US, Perjury law applies to all material statements or information provided under oath to a ‘competent tribunal, officer’ or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered.The Indian position too is almost similar as section 191 makes it clear that “whoever being legally bound by an oath”, makes a statement which is false, that person is said to have given false evidence.
But an application, it lies with the prosecution, which is not as effective in India, as it is in the US. Unlike in the US, which divides perjury into three categories, in India perjury encompasses statement, material or any other form of evidence. The use of false and inconsistent material also fall under the category of “perjury”.For instance in Jessica Lal Murder Case, it has to be seen whether the “Sudden invention of two weapons” having been used constituted false material.
In Zaheera Sheikh’s case it is her inconsistent declarations and retractions. Both the cases have underscored the need for using the existing law against perjury in all criminal trials and as Justice V. N. Khare, former Chief Justice of India observed, it is high time that the perjury law is strictly enforced by all the courts concerned. | https://housecleaningwestpalm.com/essay-perjury/ |
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