Nonresident Father Involvement with Children and Divorced Women's Likelihood of Remarriage

Although remarriage is a relatively common transition, we know little about how nonresident fathers affect divorced mothers’ entry into remarriage. Using the 1979-2010 rounds of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979, we examined the likelihood of remarriage for divorced mothers (n=882) by nonresident father contact with children and payment of child support. The findings suggest that maternal remarriage is positively associated with nonresident father contact but not related to receiving child support.

Father Identity, Involvement and Work–Family Balance: An In-depth Interview Study

Work and family roles have changed considerably in the past number of decades. Fathers are now expected to fulfil the role of 'new father' that involves actively caring and sharing in child rearing and, at the same time, maintain commitment to their occupational role. As a consequence, men are subject to the same pressure that women were when they initially entered the workplace decades ago and indeed still are today. This study aims to explore the meanings fathers attach to their life roles, how these meanings influence behaviour within these roles and how they negotiate the demands of these roles. In-depth interviews were carried out with 15 fathers, and the results were analysed adhering to the principles of grounded theory. The findings show the variability among fathers in both their commitment to fathering and the meanings they attach to that role. A significant tension between new fatherhood ideals and actual fathering practices is also apparent. These findings are discussed drawing upon traditional definitions of masculinity and wider occupational and cultural influences.

The Management of Long-Term Sickness Absence in Large Public Sector Healthcare Organisations: A Realist Evaluation Using Mixed Methods

Purpose The success of measures to reduce long-term sickness absence (LTSA) in public sector organisations is contingent on organisational context. This realist evaluation investigates how interventions interact with context to influence successful management of LTSA. Methods Multi-method case study in three Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland comprising realist literature review, semi-structured interviews (61 participants), Process-Mapping and feedback meetings (59 participants), observation of training, analysis of documents. Results Important activities included early intervention; workplace-based occupational rehabilitation; robust sickness absence policies with clear trigger points for action. Used appropriately, in a context of good interpersonal and interdepartmental communication and shared goals, these are able to increase the motivation of staff to return to work. Line managers are encouraged to take a proactive approach when senior managers provide support and accountability. Hindering factors: delayed intervention; inconsistent implementation of policy and procedure; lack of resources; organisational complexity; stakeholders misunderstanding each other’s goals and motives. Conclusions Different mechanisms have the potential to encourage common motivations for earlier return from LTSA, such as employees feeling that they have the support of their line manager to return to work and having the confidence to do so. Line managers’ proactively engage when they have confidence in the support of seniors and in their own ability to address LTSA. Fostering these motivations calls for a thoughtful, diagnostic process, taking into account the contextual factors (and whether they can be modified) and considering how a given intervention can be used to trigger the appropriate mechanisms.

'O daughter ... forget your people and your father's house': Early Modern Women Writers and the Spanish Imaginary

‘O daughter … forget your people and your father’s house’: Early Modern Women Writers and the Spanish ImaginaryAnne Holloway and Ramona WrayHolloway and Wray consider the perspectives offered by two very different seventeenth-century women (Mary Bonaventure Browne, or Mother Browne (b.1615- and Lady Ann Fanshawe (b.1625) both of whom exchanged Ireland for Spain, and both of whom record journeys both ‘real’ and imagined in their writings. Browne’s deployment of hagiographical tropes in her History of the Poor Clares may reveal the potential impact of Iberian conventual culture; her allusions to the markers of sanctity insistent on the immutability of the body, whilst accepting and anticipating spectral presence in the form of bilocation. Fanshawe’s Memoirs are considered alongside the material legacy of her ‘Booke of Receipts of Physickes, Salues, Waters, Cordialls, Preserues and Cookery.’ Her impressions both in transit and within the domus are similarly marked by receptivity and sensitivity to the host culture. Amidst a backdrop of religious persecution and political uncertainty, in both cases Spain emerges as a potentially enabling context for creativity and self-expression.Keywords: Memoir; Franciscan; Poor Clares; Fanshawe; Mary Bonaventure Browne; hagiography; life-writing; autobiography, women writers

Measuring beta diversity for presence-absence data

1. Little consensus has been reached as to general features of spatial variation in beta diversity, a fundamental component of species diversity. This could reflect a genuine lack of simple gradients in beta diversity, or a lack of agreement as to just what constitutes beta diversity. Unfortunately, a large number of approaches have been applied to the investigation of variation in beta diversity, which potentially makes comparisons of the findings difficult.

2. We review 24 measures of beta diversity for presence/absence data (the most frequent form of data to which such measures are applied) that have been employed in the literature, express many of them for the first time in common terms, and compare some of their basic properties.

3. Four groups of measures are distinguished, with a fundamental distinction arising between 'broad sense' measures incorporating differences in composition attributable to species richness gradients, and 'narrow sense' measures that focus on compositional differences independent of such gradients. On a number of occasions on which the former have been employed in the literature the latter may have been more appropriate, and there are many situations in which consideration of both kinds of measures would be valuable.

4. We particularly recommend (i) considering beta diversity measures in terms of matching/mismatching components (usually denoted a , b and c) and thereby identifying the contribution of different sources of variation in species composition, and (ii) the use of ternary plots to express the relationship between the values of these measures and of the components, and as a way of understanding patterns in beta diversity.

Chronic PEGylated obestatin treatment prevents the onset of high fat diet-induced hypertension and endothelial dysfunction in the absence of metabolic actions

Background: Obestatin is a gastrointestinal peptide with established metabolic actions and emerging vascular effects which involve activation of NO signalling. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of a recently-characterised stable analogue, PEGylated obestatin (PEG-OB), in the setting of diet-induced obesity which is associated with both metabolic and vascular dysfunction. Methods: Male Sprague Dawley rats (6 weeks; n=8) were maintained on standard (SD) or high fat (HF) diet (60% fat) for 8 weeks with once-daily injection of either PEG-OB (50nmol/kg/day) or saline from 2 weeks. Results: HF feeding for 8 weeks resulted in marked body weight gain which was not affected by chronic PEG-OB treatment (HF saline, 175.0±12.2; HF PEG-OB, 190.4±6.4g; P=NS). Similarly, blood glucose, as indicated by HbA1c (HF saline, 6.30±0.15; HF PEG-OB, 6.13±0.36%; P=NS) and insulin tolerance (HF saline, 105.2±52.5; HF PEG-OB, 90.3±45.4mmol/L.min; P=NS), were unaltered by PEG-OB. Despite the apparent lack of metabolic effects, chronic PEG-OB treatment markedly attenuated development of HF-induced hypertension (HF saline, 146.5±4.9mmHg; HF PEG-OB, 123.0±9.7mmHg; P<0.01), assessed by tail-cuff plethysmography. Furthermore, organ bath pharmacology in isolated aortic rings, indicated that HF diet-induced endothelial dysfunction was completely prevented by PEG-OB (acetylcholine, EC50: SD saline, 335±113; HF saline, 758±164; HF PEG-OB, 277±85nmol/L; P<0.05). However, contraction to phenylephrine and relaxation to the NO donor, sodium nitroprusside, were unaltered between groups. Conclusions: PEG-OB exerts beneficial effects on hypertension and endothelial function in diabetes independently of metabolic actions suggesting that obestatin signalling may represent a novel therapeutic target to reduce the risk of associated cardiovascular complications.

The Virgin Father (Revival of 2009 production):The Virgin Father: A Stage Play (Revival of 2009 production)

A stage play touring Cushendall, Down Arts Centre, The Playhouse Derry/Londonderry, with a further one-week run at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.

Caring for the bereaved father in the NICU

This refelctive paper explores the issues surrounding the support of a bereaved father (his wife died during childbirth) whose baby was in the NICU