How Do Women Who Plan Home Birth Prepare for Childbirth?

In this column, the findings of a secondary analysis of data from a larger qualitative study of the experience of home birth are discussed. The aim was to describe the ways in which women who plan home birth prepare for their births. The findings provide support for the idea of birth preparation and education occurring throughout pregnancy and describe the ways in which women planning to give birth at home develop confidence, plan for support, and make decisions related to the particulars of the labor and birth. Implications of these findings for childbirth education are explored.     

The birth of a breastfeeding baby and mother

In this column, the author describes the way in which the normal, natural process of labor and birth prepares both mother and baby for breastfeeding. Birth practices including induced labor, routine interventions, epidural analgesia, and separation of mother and baby disrupt the process of early breastfeeding for mother and baby. Normal, natural birth sets the stage for uncomplicated breastfeeding.     

Blocking in autoshaped lever-pressing procedures with rats

Rats will approach and contact a lever whose insertion into the chamber signals response-independent food delivery. This “autoshaping” or “sign-tracking” phenomenon has recently attracted considerable attention as a platform for studying individual differences in impulsivity, drug sensitization, and other traits associated with vulnerability to drug addiction. Here, we examined two basic stimulus selection phenomena—blocking and overshadowing—in the autoshaped lever pressing of rats. Blocking and overshadowing were decidedly asymmetrical. Previously reinforced lever-extension conditioned stimuli (CSs) completely blocked conditioning to auditory cues (Exps. 1 and 2), and previously nonreinforced lever-extension CSs overshadowed conditioning to auditory cues. By contrast, conditioning to lever-extension CSs was not blocked by either auditory (Exp. 3) or lever-insertion (Exp. 4) cues, and was not overshadowed by auditory cues. Conditioning to a lever-insertion cue was somewhat overshadowed by the presence of another lever, especially in terms of food cup behavior displayed after lever withdrawal. We discuss several frameworks in which the apparent immunity of autoshaped lever pressing to blocking might be understood. Given evidence that different brain systems are engaged when different kinds of cues are paired with food delivery, it is worth considering the possibility that interactions among them in learning and performance may follow different rules. In particular, it is intriguing to speculate that the roles of simple cue–reinforcer contiguity, as well as of individual and aggregate reinforcer prediction errors, may differ across stimulus classes.     

Becoming learners/teachers in nomadic space

This paper suggests a conjunction between the learning space of educational edge community (EEC) and the Deleuzeguattarian thought regarding the nature of teachers’ becoming. It attends to the emerging subjectivities of teachers/learners within an EEC, a nomadic, open, and smooth space of learning. It is suggested that autonomous learning processes that are enabled in nomadic spaces provide the freedom that is essential for the immanent growth of complexity that leads to creative becomings.     

Specific managerial human capital,firm age,and venture capital financing of biopharmaceutical ventures: A contingency approach

In this article we investigate how specific human capital in biopharmaceutical ventures' management teams impacts the financial commitment of venture capital investors. Further, we explore how this impact changes with the venture's age. We draw on data from 138 VC financing rounds in the US and Europe to show that biopharmaceutical ventures with greater portions of specific managerial human capital in the fields of management, law, medicine, and biosciences acquire more money in venture capital financing rounds, but this effect is contingent on the age of the venture. We discuss the implications of these findings for the literature on VC financing of high technology ventures.     

Mapping the terrain of female education in Ireland, 1830–1910

Education for Irish women and girls developed significantly in the period 1830–1910. During this time, formal state‐funded education systems were established in Ireland by the British government. Some of these systems included females from their inception and some attempted to exclude girls and women. This article charts the opening up of formal schooling and university to Irish girls and women, examining the points at which they were excluded, the alternative educational provision developed by Protestant women and Catholic religious, and the means whereby the case for female education was successfully made. Moving from the public/private paradigm which has dominated much of the discussion around women's education for the period in question, the article focuses on what was occurring in some political and social institutions of the period and identifies women's agency and autonomy within such institutions. Through ‘mapping’ this ground, the article notes women's success in gaining access to institutions previously dominated by men, and highlights areas that require sustained scrutiny by scholars.     

如何写大学书面作业:写作并不神秘

转眼间,塔间道栏目已经一岁了。在过去的一年中,我们在大学生读者们的支持与关注中不断成长;在今后的日子里,塔间道栏目愿意与大学生们分享更多与校园有关的点点滴滴。今年的塔间道栏目将会一如既往地为大家奉上关于校园生活的饕餮盛宴,我们将会呈现四个板块的内容,分别是学业、生活、实践与社交。在第一个板块中,编者为你准备了三个方面的内容:如何写好大学书面作业,如何找到合理的学习方法,以及如何准备大学考试。希望我们的学习小贴士能对你有所帮助!还等什么呢,现在就跟随我们的脚步去探寻写作的秘密吧!     

世事沧桑话鸣鸟

那只是一只在晚上鸣叫的鸟,认不出是什么鸟,当我从泉边取水回来,走过满是石头的牧场,我站得那么静,头上的天空和水桶里的天空一样静。多少年过去,多少地方多少脸都淡漠了,有的人已谢世,     

The cesarean catastrophe

The cesarean rate has reached an all-time high at 29.1% of all births in the United States. In this column, the risks inherent in cesareans are discussed within the context of the current climate of "intervention-intensive" labor and birth, forced cesareans, the precipitate decrease in vaginal births after cesarean, and the alarming increase in primary cesarean, including "patient-choice" cesareans. Strategies to increase women's confidence and to promote, protect, and support normal birth are discussed as ways to decrease the cesarean rate.