Estimating the size of the population of persons who inject drugs in the island of Montréal, Canada, using a six-source capture-recapture model

BACKGROUND: To plan and implement services to persons who inject drugs (PWID), knowing their number is essential. For the island of Montréal, Canada, the only estimate, of 11,700 PWID, was obtained in 1996 through a capture-recapture method. Thirteen years later, this study was undertaken to produce a new estimate. METHODS: PWID were defined as individuals aged 14-65 years, having injected recently and living on the island of Montréal. The study period was 07/01/2009 to 06/30/2010. An estimate was produced using a six-source capture-recapture log-linear regression method. The data sources were two epidemiological studies and four drug dependence treatment centres. Model selection was conducted in two steps, the first focusing on interactions between sources and the second, on age group and gender as covariates and as modulators of interactions. RESULTS: A total of 1480 PWID were identified in the six capture sources. They corresponded to 1132 different individuals. Based on the best-fitting model, which included age group and sex as covariates and six two-source interactions (some modulated by age), the estimated population was 3910 PWID (95% confidence intervals (CI): 3180-4900) which represents a prevalence of 2.8 (95% CI: 2.3-3.5) PWID per 1000 persons aged 14-65 years. CONCLUSIONS: The 2009-2010 estimate represents a two-third reduction compared to the one for 1996. The multisource capture-recapture method is useful to produce estimates of the size of the PWID population. It is of particular interest when conducted at regular intervals thus allowing for close monitoring of the injection phenomenon.

Fiscal Year 2013-14 Accountability Report

The University of South Carolina Lancaster reports to the Office of State Budget its annual accountability report that includes an executive summary, a description of the leadership system, customer focus and satisfaction and other performance criteria, mission, and program descriptions and budgets.

Fiscal Year 2013-14 Accountability Report

The University of South Carolina at Union reports to the Office of State Budget its annual accountability report that includes an executive summary, a description of the leadership system, customer focus and satisfaction and other performance criteria, mission, and program descriptions and budgets.

Memorial of the inhabitants of Fairfield District, S. Carolina, praying a revision of the tariff, &c., December 14, 1827

This document contains a memorial, which was written by the citizens of Fairfield district of South Carolina, with a purpose of securing their constitutional right of expressing formal sentiments in regard to excluding tariff on woolen manufactures. It was presented to the president and members of the Senate, and to the speaker and members of the House of Representatives in Congress.

The Contemporary Group, February 14, 1973

Concert program for The Contemporary Group, February 14, 1973

Graduate Recital, April 14, 1979

Concert program for Graduate Recital, April 14, 1979

On absence: society’s return to barbarians

The problem of social exclusion is dealt here through the lens of a particularly radical social theory, that of autopoietic society by Niklas Luhmann. Here, exclusion is included in society, no longer as an issue for care, integration and therapy, but as a mechanism to show the importance of the visibility of exclusion. The inclusion of exclusion in autopoiesis is a far-reaching step that demands a revisiting of the concept of autopoietic society. This article proposes a radicalization of the concept on the basis of an acknowledgment of the impossibility of communication with the excluded. This acknowledgement conditions society from within. It is built upon the Luhmannian description of Barbarism as the included exclusion, and is further conceptualized as its excess, as a 'space of absence'. Within autopoiesis, absence is described as an aporetic rather than a paradoxical structure, a memento vanitas that irritates the system from within, constantly reminding it of its limitations.

"Heart Music", Symphonic Band, February 14, 2008

Concert program for "Heart Music", Symphonic Band, February 14, 2008

UW Opera, La finta giardiniera, May 14, 2008

Concert program for UW Opera, La finta giardiniera, May 14, 16, 18, 2008