Heat and Light in the City of the Future: A Feasibility Study of Renewable Energy in Lewiston, Maine

Urban energy systems are critical to mitigating and adapting to climate change. Cities demand massive amounts of both heat and electricity, but conventional methods of creating this energy release large amounts of pollutants and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Effectively addressing climate change requires that these energy systems be transitioned to low-carbon alternatives as quickly as possible. Hybrid distributed renewable energy systems can be implemented within the urban framework to produce local renewable energy efficiently and affordably. The proposed system, composed of multiple types of small renewable energy generators located around the city, provides significant reductions in energy cost and greenhouse gas emissions, increases the stability of the local electrical supply, hardens the grid to physical and cyber-attacks, and generates income for the city. This study identifies four types of renewable heat and energy generators suitable to the urban environment of Lewiston, a small city in central Maine. Solar, microhydropower, and conduit hydropower are considered for energy generation, and air-source heat pumps and electric resistance heaters are suggested as ways to sustainably produce heat. The hybrid distributed renewable energy system modeled in the paper can completely heat and power the city’s residential buildings and more than cover our commercial electricity usage at a cost significantly lower than current energy prices and with 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than our baseline energy use. This paper proves that updating urban energy infrastructure is both a feasible and necessary step towards lowering energy costs and fighting climate change

Soul Incarnate

It would come. It would spread its inky blackness before me, dark as any night. So I prayed to God to give me light to see it, strength to fight The unexplainable fear of the unknown..

A Phenomenological Study of Stress and Burnout Experienced by Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors

This phenomenological qualitative study examined the causes and coping strategies associated with personal, occupational, and organizational stress and burnout experienced by 15 Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors (LADC). The review of literature described occupational hazards associated with stress, including interpersonal contacts with clients in emotionally demanding situations and organizational factors, such as leadership, are likely to affect employees’ stress levels. Findings described sources of personal stress as lack of money, caring for family members, aging, and family-work conflicts. Occupational stress included documentation requirements, a lack of time to complete paperwork, and difficulty with clients. Organizational stress included managing relationships with co-workers, adapting to change, working within a complex management structure, lack of diversity within management, and experiences associated with racism. Counselors experienced stress, reporting negative emotions, cognitive or thinking impairment, and poor health. Coping strategies included staying organized, taking short breaks, clinical supervision, professional therapy, thinking positively, relaxation and meditation techniques, humor, teamwork, effective leadership, maintaining cultural identity, establishing boundaries, and successful transition from work to home. Counselors adopted several preventative strategies to reduce the actual or anticipated effects of stress and maintain a healthy lifestyle, including talk therapy, meditation, religious practices, spirituality, physical activity, and taking vacations. Four theoretical frameworks were used to inform research findings: role, self determination, stereotype threat, and social cognitive theory. Recommendations to reduce stress and burnout included improving communication, addressing individual needs, and adopting supportive and inclusive leadership styles

Problematising home education: challenging ‘parental rights’ and 'socialisation'

In the UK, Home Education, or home-schooling, is an issue that has attracted very little public, governmental or academic attention. Yet the number of children home educated is steadily increasing and has been referred to as a 'quiet revolution'. This article neither celebrates nor denigrates home educators, its aim, rather, is to identify and critically examine the two dominant discourses that define the way in which the issue is currently understood. First, the legal discourse of parental rights, which forms the basis of the legal framework, and secondly a psychoanalytical/common-sense 'socialisation' discourse within which school attendance is perceived as necessary for healthy child development. Drawing on historical, doctrinal human rights and psychoanalytical sources and post-structural and feminist perspectives, this article suggests that both discourses function as alternative methods of governance and that the conflicting ‘rights claims’ of parents and children obscure public interests and fundamental questions about the purpose of education

THE CORRELATION BETWEEN COUNTY EXPENDITURES AND AB109 RECIDIVISM: A CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYSIS

In response to a federal mandate, California passed Public Safety Realignment policies in 2011 to reduce its prison population. Popularly known as Assembly Bill 109 (AB109), these policies sought to reform the prison system on multiple fronts. One of these fronts is preventing recidivism among offenders. Most studies on recidivism look at individual factors or specific micro interventions. However, the aim of this research was to examine the relationship between external factors and recidivism rates across 55 California counties. Using Spearman’s Correlation, this study tested the hypothesis that external factors such as county funding/expenditure, poverty level, and unemployment level monotonically correlate with recidivism rate at the statistically significant confidence interval. The findings of this research produced mixed results: the hypothesis was supported for county funding/expenditure, but not for poverty level and unemployment level. The implications of these findings for theory, research, and macro social work practice are discussed

Preschooler II v. Clark County School Board of Trustees: A Closer Look at Application of Qualified Immunity in Public School Districts

During the 2002-2003 school year, the mother of a pre-school aged, non-verbal, autistic child became concerned when her child came home with unexplained bruises and began exhibiting violent behavior. The mother brought an action on behalf of herself and her child seeking relief under the Individuals with Disabilities Act ( IDEA ), Americans with Disabilities Act, and claimed constitutional violations under Section 1983. In Preschooler II v. Clark County School Board of Trustees, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held: 1) teacher\u27s alleged conduct in beating, slapping, and head-slamming child violated Fourth Amendment rights for purposes of a section 1983 claim; 2) teacher allegedly making child walk from school bus without shoes did not involve excessive force or other abuse that was violative of the Fourth Amendment; 3) teacher was not entitled to qualified immunity with respect to hitting and head-slapping claims; 4) supervisory liability claims were stated against school officials; and 5) school officials were not entitled to qualified immunity