Stopping era: A pyrrhic victory

This essay examines the rhetoric of the STOP ERA movement. It traces the elements of a divinely ordained order which STOP ERA advocates perceived in women, families, and societies and explores the contrasting anomalies and anomy which STOP ERA supporters perceive in the opposition. The essay also examines the rhetorical function of the vision offered by STOP ERA to its members and assesses the social impact of the message.     

Stakeholder Identification of Barriers and Facilitators to Sexual Health Education for Female Survivors of Violence: A Mixed Methods Study

There is a strong relationship between experiencing violence and participating in behaviors that increase the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections. Sexual health education (SHE) tailored to the unique needs of female survivors of violence is needed. This paper presents findings from 40 surveys and 33 accompanying interviews with stakeholders representing 31 agencies in the violence advocacy community in Arkansas to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived need of a SHE program for female survivors of violence. Data also explore the role and preferences of community agencies in the design and implementation of such a program. Interviews with stakeholders revealed three themes: intervention concerns, content, and structure.     

The International Baccalaureate Career Programme: a case study of college and career readiness policy goals

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is noted in school reform policy circles as the gold standard of academic excellence. While the presence of IB as a sought-after education vendor has grown in the past decade, the organization has attempted to shake off its image as an elite agency serving only private international schools with its longstanding liberal arts curriculum. As such its turn toward the public sector in the United States with a credential for vocational students appears perplexing and out of step with its product brand, but the newer Career Programme (CP) is marketed as meeting the needs of applied learners in secondary schools. This paper offers a case study of two schools in one US state that adopted the CP, generating IB school enrollments from among talented vocational students while elevating its ranking on the college and career readiness (CCR) score, an annual assessment of postsecondary success. The CCR policy reformers advocate curricular improvements so that all students receive the academic foundations and employability skills needed to thrive in the new economy. Yet the egalitarian discourse of CCR could not be attended to using the CP. In this case study only high-achieving students were advised to participate and enroll in the program.     

The filament forming reactions of vimentin tetramers studied in a serial-inlet microflow device by small angle x-ray scattering

The structural organization of metazoan cells and their shape are established through the coordinated interaction of a composite network consisting of three individual filament systems, collectively termed the cytoskeleton. Specifically, microtubules and actin filaments, which assemble from monomeric globular proteins, provide polar structures that serve motor proteins as tracks. In contrast, intermediate filaments (IFs) assemble from highly charged, extended coiled coils in a hierarchical assembly mechanism of lateral and longitudinal interaction steps into non-polar structures. IF proteins are expressed in a distinctly tissue-specific way and thereby serve to generate the precise plasticity of the respective cells and tissues. Accordingly, in the cell, numerous parameters such as pH and salt concentration are adjusted such that the generation of functional networks is ensured. Here, we transfer the problem for the mesenchymal IF protein vimentin to an in vitro setting and combine small angle x-ray scattering with microfluidics and finite element method simulations. Our approach is adapted to resolve the early assembly steps, which take place in the sub-second to second range. In particular, we reveal the influence of ion species and concentrations on the assembly. By tuning the flow rates and thus concentration profiles, we find a minimal critical salt concentration for the initiation of the assembly. Furthermore, our analysis of the surface sensitive Porod regime in the x-ray data reveals that the formation of first assembly intermediates, so-called unit length filaments, is not a one-step reaction but consists of distinct consecutive lateral association steps followed by radial compaction as well as smoothening of the surface of the full-width filament.     

Child's play! (who am I?)

Martha Ann C. Caffrey is pursuing her interest in teaching early childhood education as a graduate student at the College of St. Rose in Albany, New York.     

COPING WITH FREEDOM AND UNCERTAINTY: PUBLIC OPINION IN HUNGARY, POLAND, AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1989-1992

For the first time in more than four decades, Central and EastEuropeans can openly voice their opinion about everything fromthe price of bread to the performance of the government. Publicopinion has become a dynamic factor in the decision-making processof the new governments of Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakiaand will play an important role in determining what kind ofpost-communist societies develop in these countries. In an effortto explore public sentiment about what kind of society theywant to develop, we analyze results from 14 nationwide, representativepublic opinion polls commissioned by the United States InformationAgency's Office of Research between June 1989 and January 1992in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. After tracing trendsin public opinion over this period, we look at some aspectsof the political culture in these countries. We then reporton our preliminary attempts to understand the determinants ofindividual preferences for either a society that emphasizesindividual freedom and responsibility (‘individual opportunities’society) or one in which the state assumes responsibility forassuring public welfare (‘state guarantees’ society).