A Racial Impact Analysis of HB 834/SB 449: The Virginia Growth & Opportunity Act

GO Virginia is an economic development initiative that seeks to preempt the harsh effects of federal budget cuts on Virginia’s economy, which is overly dependent on public-sector jobs. It promotes private sector job growth and workforce development through the use of state-based grants to invest in regionally significant capital projects that call for collaboration between localities, businesses, and education. It is important to be intentional in pursuing GO Virginia’s goals, otherwise this legislation may only allocate grants to institutions, organizations, and localities that already have sizeable resources. A critical question rests on how to ensure that low-income and minority communities can maximize the benefits of the legislation. The populations that are most affected by this legislation would depend on how the legislation is implemented. If minority communities are excluded from the process, then it is likely these communities would be insulated from the positive outcomes. It is imperative that minorities are adequately represented in the decision making process. This report explores why minority communities should be represented on the regional councils, which are the catalysts for the proposal process. By being proactive there is an opportunity to provide the same advantages to minority business development. We also explore how to strengthen the minority workforce to better compete for in-demand careers within the emerging industries that this legislation sets out to promote

Concepts of Health in Older Urban African American Women with Chronic Health Conditions: A Focus Group Study

The purpose of this report is to relate the findings of the study ‘Concepts of Health in Older Urban African American Women with Chronic Health Conditions.’ This investigation, undertaken at the request of the Indiana Minority Health Coalition, Inc. (IMHC) is collaboration between IMHC, Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and the community partner, the Black Nurses Association of Indianapolis, Inc. (BNA). The purpose of the study is to gain an understanding of the ways older African American women from medically underserved areas of Indianapolis characterize the various parts of the concept of health; how they understand and interpret the determinants of health status; and to understand how they assess health. Researchers decided to hold focus groups of African American women from Indianapolis ages 50 years and older who had at least one diagnosis of a chronic illness. The Principal Investigator created a moderator’s guide for the focus group. All research partners met to review and redesign the guide to make sure that it was appropriate and would be effective in stimulating discussion to address the three specific aims. The groups, one of currently employed women, two of residents of senior/disabled housing, one group of members of a community church, and one mixed-recruitment group, were held in community settings. Participants received $25.00 gift cards for their involvement. Major findings are that women view ‘health’ as a concept that includes many elements: physical health, mental/emotional health, ability to function through day-to-day activities, and spiritual health. These components work together to produce a state of wholeness or well-being. ‘Health’ is determined through interplay between influences that operate on many levels: the personal, the interpersonal, and the immediate and social/political environment. Specific determinates include health behaviors, state of mind, stress, relationship with God, and the aging process. Women speak at length about their relationship with institutions of healthcare. They express problems in communicating with their healthcare providers, feeling that they are not treated as unique individuals, and they often express distrust of providers. Participants assess their own health through paying attention to their own physical symptoms, their state of mind, and their energy level. Medications are named as determinants of health and markers of health status. Women assess health of their families and friends through observation, intuition, and communication. These women act as facilitators of health status and behaviors for their family members and others in the community. Women are well aware of the importance of positive health behaviors, especially diet and exercise, and they feel strong senses of control over their health. As these women envision ‘health’ as involving many concepts and levels, interventions need to address issues beyond the physical, involving women actively through relationships within communities. Public health professionals need to work with these women in a respectful and collaborative manner. Issues that need further exploration are interplay between mental and physical health through the aging process, patient-provider communication, and women’s understanding of medications in maintaining and improving health

Status of the profession

The number of astronomers has grown by about 40 percent over the past decade. The number of astronomers with jobs in industry, or with long-term, non-tenured, jobs has increased dramatically compared with traditional faculty positions. The increase in the number of astronomers and the declining share of the NSF budget going to astronomy has led to extreme difficulties in the NSF grant program and in support of the National Observatories. In 1989, direct NASA support of astronomers through the grants program exceeds that of NSF, although the total of the NSF grants program over decade far exceeds that of NASA. Access to major new telescopes will be important issue for the 1990s. US astronomers, who once had a monopoly on telescopes larger than 3 meters, will, by the year 2000, have access to just half of the world's optical telescope area

Andreev reflection at QGP/CFL interface

In this letter we address the question of the phenomena of Andreev reflection between the cold quark-gluon plasma phase and CFL color superconductor. We show that there are two different types of reflections connected to the structure of the CFL phase. We also calculate the probability current at the interface and we show that it vanishes for energy of scattering quarks below the superconducting gap.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure. Minor changes in the "Conclusions

Monsters at the End of Time: Alternate Hierarchies and Ecological Disasters in Alaya Dawn Johnson\u27s Spirit Binders Novels

This paper interrogates the connection between entities that hover in the liminal state between life and death (such as vampires and spirits) and the manner in which these entities relate to Alaya Dawn Johnson’s conjurings of alternate political structures and hierarchies in her Spirit Binders series. Johnson’s alternate hierarchies are compelling primarily because they are both flawed and liminal. These hierarchies contain gateways between life and death, between material reality and spiritual reality. An ecoGothic lens is applied to these texts as they deal with climate-related disasters and the ways in which the texts instigate not just heroism but also monstrosity. In Gothic fiction, supernatural tropes such as the Vampire, spirits, and intermediaries are often signposts towards psychological states such as Terror and its relation to the Sublime. In Gothic fiction, very often, vampires, spirits and other similar creatures are connected to a hierarchy or community of sorts. A postcolonial Gothic reading of Gothicized texts, however, interrogates the power relations, the sense of haunting underscoring the text as well as the discourse of Terror in relation to the Other. I argue that Johnson’s writing enables the reader to peer in between the veils of life and death to unearth the darker sides of human nature, but very often these glimpses are not just about personal choices. These glimpses reveal strategies and missteps that guide the ways in which those hierarchies shape those choices, which Johnson then subverts in her tales

Pan African narratives: sites of resistance in the Black diaspora

Africa as a point of reference for Africans dispersed from her shores and their descendants in the Diaspora has perpetuated discourse of longing and ambivalence. For centuries these various sentiments have emerged in Black literary expressions. The quest of this study is to advance Black narrative tradition by proposing a theoretical framework informed by these constructs and predicaments to establish a genre of literature referred to here as Pan African narratives. This work looks at Black response to the dilemma of dispersal and dislocation in the Diaspora from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. More specifically, it examines the emergence of a literary genre at the juncture of the African diaspora and Pan African paradigms. Building on the legacy of slave and migration narratives, Pan African narratives reveal manifestations of Black solidarity and resistance to oppressive forces

miRNA contributions to pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis inferred from GWAS.

ObjectiveOnset of multiple sclerosis (MS) occurs in childhood for approximately 5% of cases (pediatric MS, or ped-MS). Epigenetic influences are strongly implicated in MS pathogenesis in adults, including the contribution from microRNAs (miRNAs), small noncoding RNAs that affect gene expression by binding target gene mRNAs. Few studies have specifically examined miRNAs in ped-MS, but individuals developing MS at an early age may carry a relatively high burden of genetic risk factors, and miRNA dysregulation may therefore play a larger role in the development of ped-MS than in adult-onset MS. This study aimed to look for evidence of miRNA involvement in ped-MS pathogenesis.MethodsGWAS results from 486 ped-MS cases and 1362 controls from the U.S. Pediatric MS Network and Kaiser Permanente Northern California membership were investigated for miRNA-specific signals. First, enrichment of miRNA-target gene network signals was evaluated using MIGWAS software. Second, SNPs in miRNA genes and in target gene binding sites (miR-SNPs) were tested for association with ped-MS, and pathway analysis was performed on associated target genes.ResultsMIGWAS analysis showed that miRNA-target gene signals were enriched in GWAS (P = 0.038) and identified 39 candidate biomarker miRNA-target gene pairs, including immune and neuronal signaling genes. The miR-SNP analysis implicated dysregulation of miRNA binding to target genes in five pathways, mainly involved in immune signaling.InterpretationEvidence from GWAS suggests that miRNAs play a role in ped-MS pathogenesis by affecting immune signaling and other pathways. Candidate biomarker miRNA-target gene pairs should be further studied for diagnostic, prognostic, and/or therapeutic utility

Generational Communications In The New York City Public Sector Workplace

Walden University College of Social and Behavioral Sciences This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation by Nathasha Brooks-Harris has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the review committee have been made. Review Committee Dr. Mark Gordon, Committee Chairperson, Public Policy and Administration Faculty Dr. Michael Knight, Committee Member, Public Policy and Administration Faculty Dr. Michael Brewer, University Reviewer, Public Policy and Administration Faculty Chief Academic Officer Eric Riedel, Ph.D. Walden University 2017 There is a digital divide between Baby Boomers and Millennials in the way they communicate and use technology in the New York City public sector workplace. The purpose of this empirical phenomenological study was to explore the phenomenon of generational communications between Baby Boomers and Millennials in the New York City workplace and to understand their lived experiences of how they communicate and use technology in their job. The conceptual framework consisted of two theories: Cameron & Quinn\u27s competing values framework and Prensky\u27s digital natives/digital immigrants. A total of 21 New York City workers (10 Baby Boomers and 11 Millennials) from various agencies participated in semi structured interviews and answered the DISC Classic Profile, an instrument that showed their communication styles. The data were analyzed using the Stevick-Colazzi method and Dedoose data analysis procedure to find groups of meaning and themes. Research found benefits and challenges of technology that impacted communications; how organizational culture impacted technology use and communications; fears about using and learning technology; differences in relationships affecting Baby Boomers and Millennials; and differences in communication styles affecting management and subordinates. Recommendations for future research include conducting a similar qualitative study on Generation X and a quantitative study on Baby Boomers and Millennials. The findings of this study will contribute to positive social change through the implementation of reverse mentoring, knowledge management and transfer, succession planning, and human resource management