scholarly journals Cannabis Cultivator Phenotype and Attribute Preferences in Legal Recreational and Medical Cannabis Cultivation Operations in Oregon and Colorado

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berit Nelsen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cannabis Sativa ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
The United States ◽  
Medical Cannabis ◽  
Plant Structure ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Free List ◽  
Related Data ◽  
Consumer Demographics

Abstract BackgroundAs recreational and medicinal Cannabis sativa production increases across the United States, concerns have arisen regarding declines in cannabis biodiversity. Studies have suggested genetic bottlenecking has occurred primarily because of breeder and cultivator preferences and practices which over-emphasize the selection of strains with high contents of the psychoactive cannabinoid, Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). No study to-date, however, has sought to systematically assess grower and breeder knowledge, preferences, and practices within legal operations within the United States. MethodsTwenty-one licensed recreational and medical cannabis growers in the states of Colorado and Oregon were provided with free lists to ascertain cultural domains of knowledge regarding cannabis phenotypes and attributes within commercial cannabis production operations. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with participants to provide more nuanced explanations of free-list responses, and to clarify responses where necessary. Free-list results were initially ungrouped excepting those variables whose meanings had been triangulated utilizing interview data. Free list data was assessed utilizing Smith’s S formula to ascertain cultural salience for listed attributes and phenotypes. A second analysis was then conducted for grouped terpene-related data. Results Results from the ungrouped free list identified Yield as the most culturally salient category (.29) followed by High THC Content (.26) and Smell (.25). Overall, horticultural characteristics such as yield, plant structure, and morphology garnered were the most frequently listed, followed by chemometrics, economics, and phenology, with some overlap between these categorizations. Though THC content was described as important within commercial operations by most growers both within free-list responses and interviews, growers also expressed that this preference was due to state testing regulations and a misinformed consumer base, rather than grower partialities. Respondents also noted that they believed consumer preferences were changing as consumer demographics were beginning to trend towards “older” consumers. When terpene-related attributes within free-listed results were combined utilizing triangulation from semi-structured interviews to verify the free list data, terpenes became the most cultural-salient attribute listed by growers (.42). Conclusions The results from this study suggest that cannabis biodiversity may indeed be declining due to breeder practices that emphasize THC content, but that these practices are informed by state policies and consumer purchasing metrics rather than grower preferences.

Quality Control of Data in a Large-Scale Cancer Register Program

1966 ◽  
Vol 05 (02) ◽  
pp. 67-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. I. Lourie ◽  
W. Haenszeland
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Quality Control ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Newly Diagnosed ◽  
Related Data ◽  
Cancer Register ◽  
Independent Review ◽  
End Results

Quality control of data collected in the United States by the Cancer End Results Program utilizing punchcards prepared by participating registries in accordance with a Uniform Punchcard Code is discussed. Existing arrangements decentralize responsibility for editing and related data processing to the local registries with centralization of tabulating and statistical services in the End Results Section, National Cancer Institute. The most recent deck of punchcards represented over 600,000 cancer patients; approximately 50,000 newly diagnosed cases are added annually.Mechanical editing and inspection of punchcards and field audits are the principal tools for quality control. Mechanical editing of the punchcards includes testing for blank entries and detection of in-admissable or inconsistent codes. Highly improbable codes are subjected to special scrutiny. Field audits include the drawing of a 1-10 percent random sample of punchcards submitted by a registry; the charts are .then reabstracted and recoded by a NCI staff member and differences between the punchcard and the results of independent review are noted.

scholarly journals Balancing race, gender, and responsibility: Conversations with four black women in educational leadership in the United States of America

2021 ◽  
pp. 174114322199183
Author(s):  
Natasha N Johnson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Educational Leadership ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Hermeneutic Phenomenology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Women's Leadership ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
And Gender

This article focuses on equitable leadership and its intersection with related yet distinct concepts salient to social justice pertinent to women and minorities in educational leadership. This piece is rooted and framed within the context of the United States of America, and the major concepts include identity, equity, and intersectionality—specific to the race-gender dyad—manifested within the realm of educational leadership. The objective is to examine theory and research in this area and to discuss the role they played in this study of the cultures of four Black women, all senior-level leaders within the realm of K-20 education in the United States. This work employed the tenets of hermeneutic phenomenology, focusing on the intersecting factors—race and gender, specifically—that impact these women’s ability and capability to perform within the educational sector. The utilization of in-depth, timed, semi-structured interviews allowed participants to reflect upon their experiences and perceptions as Black women who have navigated and continue to successfully navigate the highest levels of the educational leadership sphere. Contributors’ recounted stories of navigation within spaces in which they are underrepresented revealed the need for more research specific to the intricacies of Black women’s leadership journeys in the context of the United States.

“Why can’t I Have the Office Jobs?”: Immigrant Latinx Transgender Peoples’ Experiences with Seeking Employment

2021 ◽  
pp. 089484532110629
Author(s):  
Roberto L. Abreu ◽  
Kirsten A. Gonzalez ◽  
Louis Lindley ◽  
Cristalís Capielo Rosario ◽  
Gabriel M. Lockett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
The United States ◽  
Disability Benefits ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Positive Experiences

Research has documented the experiences of transgender people in seeking employment. To date, no scholarship has explored the experiences of immigrant Latinx transgender people seeking employment in the United States. Using an intersectionality framework, the present study aimed to uncover the experiences of immigrant Latinx transgender people as they sought employment in the United States. A community sample of 18 immigrant Latinx transgender people from a large metropolitan city in Florida engaged in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis revealed five themes related to participants’ experiences seeking employment, including: (1) discrimination, (2) limited options, (3) positive experiences, (4) momentary de-transition, and (5) disability benefits as financial relief. Future directions such as exploring ways in which immigrant Latinx transgender people resist discrimination while seeking job opportunities are discussed. Implications for practice and advocacy such as advocating for equitable employment policies that acknowledge the intersectional experiences of this community are presented.

“Painful, yet Beautiful, Moments”: Pathways Through Infant Feeding and Dynamic Conceptions of Breastfeeding Success

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973232110321
Author(s):  
Mackenzie D. M. Whipps ◽  
Hirokazu Yoshikawa ◽  
Jill R. Demirci ◽  
Jennifer Hill
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Infant Feeding ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Income ◽  
First Year ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Written Narratives ◽  
Intensive Mothering ◽  
First Time

What is breastfeeding “success”? In this article, we challenge the traditional biomedical definition, instead centering visions of success described by breastfeeding mothers themselves. Using semi-structured interviews, quantitative surveys, and written narratives of 38 first-time mothers in the United States, we describe five common pathways through the first-year postpartum, a taxonomic distinction far more complex than a success–failure dichotomy: sustained breastfeeding, exclusive pumping, combination feeding, rapid weaning, and grinding back to exclusivity. We also explore the myriad ways in which mothers define and experience breastfeeding success, and in the process uncover the ways that cultural narratives—especially intensive mothering—color those experiences. Finally, we discuss how these experiences are shaped by infant feeding pathway. In doing so, we discover nuance that has gone unexplored in the breastfeeding literature. These findings have implications for supporting, promoting, and protecting breastfeeding in the United States and other high-income countries.

scholarly journals Consumer Preferences for Oyster Attributes: Field Experiments on Brand, Locality, and Growing Method

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maik Kecinski ◽  
Kent D. Messer ◽  
Lauren Knapp ◽  
Yosef Shirazi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
Revealed Preference ◽  
The United States ◽  
Dichotomous Choice ◽  
Production Methods ◽  
The Past ◽  
Oyster Aquaculture ◽  
First Time

Oyster aquaculture has experienced tremendous growth in the United States over the past decade, but little is known about consumer preferences for oysters. This study analyzed preferences for oysters with varied combinations of brands, production locations, and production methods (aquaculture vs. wild-caught) using dichotomous choice, revealed preference economic field experiments. Results suggest significant and distinct differences in behavior between first-time and regular oyster consumers. While infrequent oyster consumers were drawn to oysters labeled as wild-caught, experienced oyster consumers preferred oysters raised via aquaculture. These findings will be valuable for growers and policymakers who invest in aquaculture to improve surrounding ecosystems.

Savvy Surrogates and Rock Star Parents: Compensation Provisions, Contracting Practices, and the Value of Womb Work

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 398-431
Author(s):  
Hillary L. Berk
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Symbolic Power ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Selective Abortion ◽  
Medical Risks ◽  
Exchange Relations

Abstract:What is the value of surrogate labor and risks, and how is it negotiated by participants as they contract within an unsettled baby market? This article presents novel data on compensation, fee, and bodily autonomy provisions formalized in surrogacy contracts, and the experiences of actors embedded in exchange relations, as they emerge in a contested reproductive market. It combines content analysis of a sample of thirty surrogacy contracts with 115 semi-structured interviews conducted in twenty states across the United States of parties to these agreements, attorneys who draft them, counselors, and agencies that coordinate matches between intended parents and surrogates. It analyzes the value of services and medical risks, such as loss of a uterus, selective abortion, and “carrier incapacity,” as they are encoded into agreements within an ambiguous field. Surrogacy is presented as an interactive social process involving law, markets, medicine, and a variety of cultural norms surrounding gender, motherhood, and work. Contracts have actual and symbolic power, legitimating transactions despite moral anxieties. Compensation transforms pregnancy into a job while helping participants make sense of the market and their “womb work” given normative flux. Contracts are deployed by professionals without informed policies that could enhance power and reduce potential inequalities.

scholarly journals Developing Workforce Capability in Nonprofits Through Effective Leadership

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Byrnes Smoyer ◽  
Rocky J Dwyer ◽  
Janice K. Garfield ◽  
Brandon D. Simmons
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Full Range ◽  
The United States ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Full Range Leadership ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Nonprofit Leaders

Leaders of nonprofit organizations in the United States must build workforce capabilities to meet increasing demands for services. This single-case study explored strategies nonprofit leaders used to build workforce capability to address increasing service demands. The conceptual lens for this study was the full-range leadership theory. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with senior executives of a single nonprofit organization located in the Midwestern region of the United States, which included internal organizational and workforce performance data, strategy plans, annual reports internal and external financial documents, and publicly available information. Four major themes related to building workforce capacity emerged from a thematic analysis of the data: (1) an emphasis on employee development, (2) the expansion of technology systems, (3) a concentration on developing a culture of autonomy and trust, and (4) the introduction of processes and measurements. The findings from this study might contribute to positive social change by providing nonprofit leaders with strategies and data to support a deeper understanding of how to effectively build workforce capability to address increasing service demands.

scholarly journals “Here in the Bible Belt, It’s Predominantly Negative”: Sexual Identity Stigma in the American South, 50 Years After Stonewall

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph J. Frey ◽  
William J. Hall ◽  
Jeremy T. Goldbach ◽  
Paul Lanier
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Sexual Identity ◽  
Minority Stress ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mental Health Disparities ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
United States South ◽  
The Impact

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and pansexual (LGB+) individuals have disproportionate rates of mental illness. Minority stress and sexual identity stigma are posited as the primary social determinants of LGB+ mental health disparities. Discussions in the literature have questioned the impact of sexual identity stigma in a world increasingly accepting of sexual minorities. Additionally, the LGB+ population in the United States South is often overlooked in American research. This article details a qualitative study exploring experiences related to sexual identity stigma among adults who identify as LGB+ in the United States South. Semi-structured interviews with 16 individuals were analyzed using content analysis. Six thematic categories of stigma emerged from participants’ experiences: (a) navigating an LGB+ identity, (b) social acceptability of an LGB+ identity, (c) expectation of LGB+ stigma, (d) interpersonal discrimination and harassment, (e) structural stigma, and (f) relationship with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Findings suggest that sexual identity stigma remains a common experience among these Southern United States participants. Further, thematic categories and subcategories primarily aligned with extant theory with one exception: Intracommunity stigma, a form of stigma emanating from the LGBTQ community, emerged as a stigma type not currently accounted for in theoretical foundations underpinning mental health disparities in this population.

scholarly journals DISONANCIAS ENTRE EL ENTORNO LOCAL DE LOS NEGOCIOS Y LA CULTURA CORPORATIVA EN UN PAIS LATINOAMERICANO

1995 ◽  
pp. 27-39
Author(s):  
Margalit Berlin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
The Other ◽  
Multinational Company ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Top Managers ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Rules Set

The article analyzes the relationship between the corporate culture of a multinational company headquartered in the United States, which enjoys great prestige worldwide, and the business environment and practices in Venezuela, where it has an operation. The prevailing culture in the corporation is North American and the top managers come from their country of origin. In Venezuela, on the other hand, most of the companies are family-owned, and personal contacts and influences prevail. The research is oriented to the elaboration of a qualitative diagnosis, through rigorous observation and semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that there is resistance on the part of Venezuelan managers to follow the culture of a strict company governed by rules set in a very different economic and political context. The ambiguity between acceptance and low identification with the values of the parent company leads to think of corporate culture as fragmented.

Desert Traffic: The Dynamics of the Drug Trade in Northwestern Mexico

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric P. Perramond
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Cannabis Sativa ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Drug Industry ◽  
Total Output ◽  
Northern Mexico ◽  
Mountainous Regions ◽  
Northwestern Mexico

The semiarid expanses of northern Mexico have long been a haven for drug trafficking and shipment into the southwestern United States. During the past 3 decades, a more specialized and dedicated drug industry has used the long U.S.-Mexican border to move illicit narcotics. Northern Mexico is not a heavily indigenous zone, and yet some native populations have been adversely affected by this recent industry, and not just a few have taken a role in it. Two states in northern Mexico that still have indigenous peoples are Sonora and Chihuahua. Both of these semiarid states are more sparsely populated than the rest of Mexico, yet both share a long, expansive border with the United States. Thus, neither state has escaped the activities of the drug industry, and some of the major drug cartels are located in this region (figure 8.1), the largest in urban areas such as Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua and Culiacán in the state of Sinaloa. Although these urban areas are the economic and logistical centers of two large cartels, an aspect frequently ignored in the literature, and certainly in policy circles, is the variety of scales of production in this industry. Aside from these giant cartels, drug cultivation, production, and transportation are also common at lesser scales, and the difficulties and dangers associated with drug production and trafficking extend to these small farmers. Small plots of marijuana (Cannabis sativa) and poppies (Papaver somniferum) dot the northern Mexican landscape, especially in the foothills and high peaks of the Sierra Madre. Most of the poppy production lies further south, in the states of Michoacan, Guerrero, and Oaxaca. Marijuana (Cannabis) is by far the more common of the two illicit crops grown in Mexico, partly because of its longer history of cultivation in the country’s mountainous regions and partly because of its greater ease of integration into agriculture. Poppy fields are a lot harder to hide, both from neighbors and from more interested authorities. Marijuana is also more easily intercropped with more common agricultural crops. Intercropping is the practice of growing two or more crops in the same field or parcel of land, and it is common when farmers need to maximize total output per unit of area (Wilken 1987: 248). I have seen marijuana integrated with corn, bean, squash, sunflower, and tomato plants.

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