Promoting Group Justice: Fiscal Policies in Post-Conflict Countries

In the aftermath of violent conflict, governments have an opportunity to address fundamental inequalities between internal groups. As taxation and expenditure policies are developed to rebuild a functional domestic economy and infrastructure, policies can be designed to lessen divisions and promote equity.The authors assert that good data about the status quo on inequality in a country is the first step to addressing it through policy. They then discuss some options for formulating a tax code that addresses distributional issues and increases progressivity. Expenditure planning can also be designed to help create equity in income and non-income resources, such as public services, employment, health and education. The role of aid donors is discussed, particularly as a source of successful strategies gleaned from other post-conflict countries.This study is part of a series on Public Finance in Post-Conflict Environments, published jointly by PERI and New York University's Center on International Cooperation.inequality; horizontal inequality; post-conflict economies; fiscal policies; taxation incidence; expenditure incidence

The Implications of Horizontal Inequality for Aid

This paper argues that the reduction of horizontal inequalities (HIs) or inequalities between culturally defined groups should inform aid policy in heterogeneous countries with severe HIs. It shows how this would change aid allocation across countries, leading to more aid to heterogeneous countries relative to homogeneous ones, the opposite of the existing bias in aid distribution. It explores how adopting an HI approach would affect the use of particular aid instruments, arguing that different instruments are appropriate according to the attitude and capacity of the government in relation to correcting HIs. Drawing on case studies of Ghana and Nepal it argues that at present there is neglect of HI considerations in aid policy, which can be particularly damaging where aid forms a large part of government resources.aid, horizontal inequality, social exclusion, Nepal, Ghana

Alien Registration- Graham, Frances W. (Fryeburg, Oxford County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/18074/thumbnail.jp

The effects of peer-assisted learning on rhythmic and melodic sight-reading in a middle school chorus

In this research, I investigated the ways that children engaged in collaborative processes with adults and their peers and music sight-reading skill acquisition. Using a quasi-experimental pretest/posttest non-equivalent control group design, I assessed melodic and rhythmic sight-reading among intact groups of sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade choruses at a North Carolina middle school. The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of a teacher-only and two types of peer-assisted learning models on rhythmic and melodic sight-reading in middle school choral students. The instruments I used to evaluate melodic and rhythmic sight-reading included an adapted version of the Vocal Sight-Reading Inventory and a researcher-developed Rhythmic Skills Hierarchy. Composite scores were analyzed using analyses of covariance to compare differences between groups on adjusted posttest scores and to examine the potential benefits of peer-assisted learning (PAL) treatment types. There were significant differences between the teacher-only (T-O) and the symmetrical peer-assisted learning (SPAL) groups when compared to the asymmetrical peer-assisted learning group (APAL). The T-O and SPAL treatment types were both effective learning models for melodic sight-reading achievement but with nonsignificant results on rhythmic sight-reading. Collaborative learning models are not new in the field of education; however, in the field of music education, traditional teacher-directed instruction is predominant. I conclude that teacher modeling encourages the internal music representations necessary for sight-reading in choral students. Also, symmetrical peer-assisted learning strategies improve melodic sight-reading skills and are a suggested practice as a complement to teacher-directed instruction. Furthermore, symmetrical peer-assisted learning is effective in supporting melodic sight-reading. This study contributes to the body of research in music education, rhythmic and melodic sight-reading, and peer-assisted learning strategies in a chorus

Something Rotten in the State of New Jersey: The Tragedy of the Sopranos

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College

a dildo but for your soul

Denim jackets look and feel better over time as they mould to your body. If you’re into the kind of fashion where you pin button badges onto a denim jacket, your badges might cover a range of topics from politics, to dumb humour, to pop culture and even if they seem unconnected at first, there’ll usually be some aesthetic or political connection while also being connected by you/your gross body. The first artwork I made for this project was a series of badges featuring hand drawn, eclectic, joke-work text I’d originally posted online and the practice of transforming text-jokes that cover diverse subject matter into art objects was the primary technique I employed for this project. Since I’ve tried to be funny (sorry) my written dissertation is an extension of the joke-work/art-texts in my creative work that follows the themes of smut and gross bodies (chapter one), common unhappiness (chapter two), reflexive impotence (chapter three), and self-exposure/desiring-machines (chapter four). Overarching is a lightly fictionalised version of myself partly because my miserable love life was a spectre hanging over my creative work but also in line with Cixous’s belief that a dominant feature in women’s writing is a tendency to insert the personal into the historical, with speech that ‘even when “theoretical” or political, is never simple or linear or “objectified,” generalised'. (Hélène Cixous, ‘The Laugh of the Medusa', 881.) Like Mark Fisher’s Ghosts of My Life and Chris Kraus’s I Love Dick, my paper emphasises the interaction between the personal and the academic and I’ve attempted to punctuate a study of my emotions with theoretical dropped pins. I wish I could have used comic sans as the font, but I guess I’ll have to save that for my manifesto

Theological Teflection : Methods

Reviewed by Rev. Susan Conra