‘This accursed child’: the early years of Marie Madeleine Jodin (1741-90) actress,philosophe and feminist

The childhood and early youth of Marie Madeleine Jodin (1741- 90) who later achieved some notoriety as an actress, correspondent of Denis Diderot and feminist, throws light on the lives of an artisan family in mideighteenth-century France and on the experience of one delinquent daughter. This study examines Marie Madeleine Jodin's life in relation to different categories of discrimination which she experienced; as a Protestant child, as a libertine daughter and as an actress. Her experience illustrates the workings of systems of authority employed in the eighteenth century to control young women as it impinged on an individual. It is argued that the violent familial and institutional conflicts of Jodin's early life were later reflected in her feminist treatise, Vues législatives pour les femmes (1790), which called for the establishment of a Women's jurisdiction over women. In particular her proposal to eliminate public prostitution and her attacks on the police des moeurs (morals police) have their origin in the bitter experience of her incarceration in a prison for prostitutes in her late teens. The collusion of authority (la police des moeurs) with les filles publiques came to symbolise for her the corruptions of the ancien régime     

Maternal health care challenges within African immigrant communities

Historically, immigration has had a significant impact on the changing demographic of the Canadian society. Each year more newcomers enter the country. There are more than 45 ethno-cultural associations and more than 100 different ethno-cultural groups residing in Nova Scotia. In the recent past, social science researchers are becoming increasingly involved in identifying ways of effectively addressing the social and health needs of this culturally diverse Canadian population. There is very limited literature on the Nova Scotian experiences of immigrant women especially those of African descent. For the government to develop public policy that ensures the inclusion of vulnerable and high-risk populations in our society such as recent immigrants and black people, their perspectives should be considered. Some steps are being taken by individual researchers to illuminate these perspectives. The paper will discuss the findings of a project that examined the health care experiences of immigrant women in a Canadian province with a goal of illuminating health care needs of recent immigrant women and facilitating community capacity building to create positive change for more accessible health care. The data collection method was primarily focused group meetings and workshops held with the individual immigrant communities. Although the project was conducted with immigrants from five regions of the world, this paper will focus on the experiences of first generation immigrant women of African descent with emphasis on their perspectives on the process mothering in a multicultural society. The paper will discuss their childrearing needs and their attempt to address these needs within the spaces of multiculturalism, the two predominant ones being the Canadian culture and that of their countries of origin. The paper will conclude with some suggestions for change at both the practitioner and policy level in order to effectively address the social and welfare needs of this population.     

The Intergenerational Transmission of Physical Punishment: Differing Mechanisms in Mothers’ and Fathers’ Endorsement?

We examined the intergenerational transmission of physical punishment (PP) and whether marital satisfaction moderated this transmission. Participants were 241 mothers and 107 fathers with a three year-old child who completed a semi-structured interview assessing their endorsement of disciplinary methods and the methods their parents used to discipline them. Marital satisfaction was assessed using the Conflicts and Problem Solving Scales. Different predictive models were obtained for mothers and fathers. For mothers, socioeconomic status (SES) and their own mother’s use of PP significantly predicted their current endorsement of PP. For fathers, SES and perceived harshness of childhood discipline predicted current endorsement of PP. Marital satisfaction moderated the intergenerational transmission of PP for fathers, but not mothers. Results indicated that PP by the same-sex parent and SES are important factors in its intergenerational transmission, and that the effects of childhood PP on current endorsement may be more direct for mothers and indirect for fathers.     

Queer Legal History: A Field Grows Up and Comes Out

This essay examines recent scholarship on the legal history of sexuality in the United States. It focuses on Margot Canaday's The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Modern America (2009) and Marc Stein's Sexual Injustice: Supreme Court Decisions from Griswold to Roe (2010). It also reviews recent work on the history of marriage, including Sarah Barringer Gordon's The Spirit of the Law: Religious Voices and the Constitution in Modern America (2010) and George Chauncey's Why Marriage? The History Shaping Today's Debate Over Gay Equality (2004), and the history of military law Defending America: Military Culture and the Cold‐War Court Martial (2005), by Elizabeth Lutes Hillman. The essay argues that this scholarship is significant because it offers a different view of sex and power than the one derived from the early writing of Michel Foucault. “Queer legal history” treats the liberalism of the 1960s‐1970s as sexually discriminatory as well as liberatory. It underlines the exclusions that were part of public policy under the federal G.I. Bill and the New Deal welfare state.     

An Appraisal of the National Health Insurance Scheme of Nigeria

Clarity is very important in legislative drafting to allow the drafter to eliminate ambiguity and vagueness in the law, which may affect the rights of citizens. Ambiguity occurs when in the law words can be interpreted in more than one way and vagueness occurs when there is doubt to where the words’ boundaries are or when the word has an open textured meaning. It is difficult to attain clarity due to the fact that in legislation ambiguity and vagueness may be caused by insufficient drafting instructions, and it is incumbent on the drafter to seek further clarifications. In pursuing clarity, some tools are needed such as the use of plain language which makes legislation clear and understandable for a lay person, gender-neutral language and the proper structuring or layout of the legislative intent to enhance clarity.     

Development of a Simple and Low‐Cost Enzymatic Methodology for Quantitative Analysis of Carbamates in Meat Samples of Forensic Interest

Abstract: Foods contaminated with a granulated material similar to Temik (a commercial pesticide formulation containing the carbamate insecticide aldicarb) are often involved in accidental ingestion, suicides, and homicides in Brazil. We developed a simple technique to detect aldicarb. This technique is based on the inhibition of a stable preparation of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, and it is specially adapted for forensic purposes. It comprises an initial extraction step with the solvent methylene chloride followed by a colorimetric acetylcholinesterase assay. We propose that results of testing contaminated forensic samples be expressed in aldicarb equivalents because, even though all other carbamates are also potent enzyme inhibitors, aldicarb is the contaminant most frequently found in forensic samples. This method is rapid (several samples can be run in a period of 2 h) and low cost. This method also proved to be precise and accurate, detecting concentrations as low as 40 μg/kg of aldicarb in meat samples.     

Evaluation of a Teen Dating Violence Prevention Intervention among Urban Middle-School Youth Using Youth Participatory Action Research: Lessons Learned from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Start Strong Boston</Emphasis>

Almost half of adolescents aged 11 to 14 have dated and between 10 and 30% report experiencing Teen Dating Violence (TDV). However, there are no evidence-based TDV prevention interventions designed for afterschool, community-based settings with middle-school youth, in high-risk neighborhoods. Start Strong Boston (SSB) is a model that fills all three gaps, founded on partnerships between the Boston Public Health Commission, community afterschool sites, academic experts and evaluators, and youth. Here, we describe the SSB program and discuss how this collaboration built upon successes of this peer-engaged intervention, by developing and implementing a youth participatory action research (YPAR) evaluation study of SSB. Use of the YPAR framework tested the feasibility of employing Peer Researchers in an interdisciplinary evaluation team. We describe how through participation in evaluation research, Peer Researchers improve professional and leadership skills while informing measurement and conceptualization of a program affecting their own neighborhoods. Lessons learned are presented.     

Improving caregiver attendance at forensic service users’ psychiatric clinic appointments

In Singapore, families play an important role caring for mentally disordered offenders. They are particularly important in cases where courts oblige psychiatric assessment, because they provide corroborating information not otherwise volunteered. However, their attendance is generally low. Our quality improvement project sought to increase caregiver attendance at outpatient visits. We followed WHO guidelines for quality improvement, determined the root cause of poor attendance, and devised three Plan–Do–Study–Act cycles over six weeks in late 2013. We followed their impact for 12 months. Case managers and medical social workers implemented three strategies to address issues of poor communication and awareness, which led to poor attendance. Prior to our project, caregivers attended 47% of outpatient visits. Following the implementation of our strategies, rates rose to 70%, sustained over the 12 following months. The entire case management department adopted our strategies. Simple changes to standard operating procedures improved the rate of caregiver attendance at follow-up appointments.