‘It’s better than daytime television’: questioning the socio-spatial impacts of massage parlours on residential communities

It has been shown that street sex work is problematic for some communities, but there is less evidence of the effects of brothels. Emerging research also suggests that impact discourses outlined by residential communities and in regulatory policies should be critiqued, because they are often based on minority community voices, and limited tangible evidence is used to masquerade wider moral viewpoints about the place of sex work. Using a study of residents living in close proximity to brothels in Blackpool, this paper argues that impact is socially and spatially fluid. Impact needs to be evaluated in a more nuanced manner, which is considerate of the heterogeneity of (even one type of) sex work, and the community in question. Brothels in Blackpool had a variety of roles in the everyday socio-spatial fabric; thus also questioning the common assumption that sex work only impacts negatively on residential communities

Air toxics and early childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia in Texas, a population based case control study

BACKGROUND: Traffic exhaust, refineries and industrial facilities are major sources of air toxics identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) for their potential risk to human health. In utero and early life exposures to air toxics such as benzene and 1,3-butadiene, which are known leukemogens in adults, may play an etiologic role in childhood leukemia that comprises the majority of pediatric cancers. We conducted a population based case–control study to examine individual effects of benzene, 1,3-butadiene and polycyclic organic matter (POM) in ambient residential air on acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) diagnosed in children under age 5 years in Texas from 1995–2011. METHODS: Texas Cancer Registry cases were linked to birth records and then were frequency matched by birth month and year to 10 population-based controls. Maternal and infant characteristics from birth certificates were abstracted to obtain information about potential confounders. Modelled estimates of benzene, 1,3-butadiene and POM exposures at the census tract level were assigned by linking geocoded maternal addresses from birth certificates to U.S. EPA National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment data for single and co-pollutant statistical analyses. Mixed-effects logistic regression models were applied to evaluate associations between air toxics and childhood leukemia. RESULTS: In adjusted single pollutant models, odds of childhood leukemia among mothers with the highest ambient air exposures compared to those in the lowest quartile were 1.11 (95 % CI: 0.94–1.32) for POM, 1.17 (95 % CI: 0.98–1.39) for benzene and 1.29 (95 % CI: 1.08–1.52) for 1,3-butadiene. In co-pollutant models, odds ratios for childhood leukemia remained elevated for 1,3-butadiene but were close to the null value for benzene and POM. CONCLUSIONS: We observed positive associations between 1,3-butadiene and childhood leukemia in single and co-pollutant models whereas effect estimates from single pollutant models were diminished for benzene and POM in co-pollutant models. Early life exposure to 1,3-butadiene rather than benzene or POM appears to increase early childhood risk of acute lymphocytic leukemia. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12940-016-0154-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

A study of the effectiveness of an after-school peer tutoring/homework help program

The purpose of this study was to determine if the students in the after-school peer tutoring/homework help club made greater academic gains when compared to students who did not participate in the after-school program as measured by their grade point average. The subjects of this study were 30 fifth, sixth, and seventh grade students from a one school district in a rural southern New Jersey town. Fifteen students were enrolled in the after-school program. Fifteen students did not attend the after-school program. Grade point averages were calculated for both groups at the end of marking periods one and two. A comparison was made both within the treatment group and between the treatment group and the control group to determine the difference in gains made by each group. Results indicate a positive mean gain within the treatment group. Mean grade point averages increased as the number of sessions increased. Although the mean grade point average of the treatment group fell below that of the control group, the control group did not indicate any positive gains. The findings of this study indicate no meaningful difference in the gains made by the treatment group. The treatment group made positive gains with no regression in either group

Evaluation of stretch film behavior during long-term storage under different atmospheric conditions

This study examined the post-application behavior of two 20.3 micron machine stretch films, one categorized as high-performance and one as general-performance, for thirty days while stored at either 23°C or 38°C. For each film type, the stretch film was applied to a simulated unit load to produce neutral and positive applied total stretch scenarios. The relaxation curves developed from each test indicate the relaxation rate of the films varied based on the storage condition. Observed was an average of 41% containment loss for both high-performance and general-purpose films when the simulated loads were stored at 38°C. For simulated loads stored at 23°C, the reported average containment loss for both films was 26%. The application of the film, either neutral or positive, did not greatly affect the percent loss in containment for the film. Additionally, results showed the greatest amount of containment force loss occurred during the initial 2 h of storage for all 23°C treated samples and 38°C general-purpose treated samples, while 38°C high-performance films continued to relax for 7 days until no difference was observed

A basic science pre-test to assess academic risk of first year nursing students

This presentation describes development and use of a 25-item objective test on basic science topics intended to assess academic risk of incoming first year nursing students. Administered to three classes of baccalaureate nursing students, the test was found to be predictive of first year science grades

“A Cathartic Moment in a Man’s Life”: Homosociality and Gendered Fun on the Puttan Tour

Rarely addressed in academic scholarship, the puttan tour is a well-known form of entertainment in Italy where young men drive around in small groups with the aim of spotting street sex workers. On some occasions, the participants will approach the sex workers to strike up a conversation. On others, they will shout out insults from their car then drive away. This article aims to advance a detailed analysis of this underexplored cultural practice drawing on a diverse body of scholarship exploring the intersection of masculinity, leisure, and homosociality. By analyzing stories of puttan tours gathered mostly online, including written accounts and YouTube videos, our aim is to explore the appeal of the puttan tour through an analysis of how homosociality, humor, and laughter operate in this example of gendered fun. To this end, we look at the multiple and often equivocal meanings of this homosocial male-bonding ritual, its emotional and affective dynamics, and the ways in which it reproduces structures of inequality while normalizing violence against sex workers

Time Series Behavior of Occupation Exposure Data

Prior studies have observed that exposure variability increased as a function of sampling duration and attributed this phenomenon to autocorrelation. This study confirmed such behavior in occupational exposure data after controlling for factors likely to contribute to variability and assessed the impact of non-stationarity, as well as autocorrelation, on the results. Consecutive shift-long exposure measurements for 54 workers from five different data sets in 149 time series were analyzed to evaluate the variance as the interval between measurements increased. When the data were combined a clear increasing trend in the variance was observed with lag. However, a breakdown by data set revealed that the trend was present in only one of the five data sets. The effect was further isolated to 42% of the workers who contributed data and to less than 1/3 of the total number of time series analyzed. Autocorrelation and non-stationary behavior explained the increase in 60% of the time series where the trend was evident. Analysis of the entire database revealed that a small percentage of time series produced significant first-order autocorrelation coefficients or were non-stationary over the interval in which sampling was conducted. If these results are typical of other workplaces, sampling strategies may not need to address problems associated with autocorrelation or nonstationarity.Master of Science in Public Healt