Publicly Funded Jobs: An Essential Strategy for Reducing Poverty and Economic Distress Throughout the Business Cycle

The need for direct public job creation efforts is greater today than at any time during the past seven decades. With a national unemployment rate that recently exceeded 10 percent and severe economic distress in hard-hit communities and population groups, a new federal initiative that puts jobless individuals immediately to work must be a central element of any strategy for restoring economic growth and responding to pressing human needs in 2010 and beyond. Public service employment (PSE) and transitional jobs (TJ) programs that use time-limited, paid work as the centerpiece of efforts to assist the unemployed offer tested and urgently needed models for combating the current recession and advancing longer-term workforce development goals

Enhancing augmentative and alternative communication use through collaborative planning and peer modelling : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Educational Psychology, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Communication difficulties are a core feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is estimated that 30-50% of children and adults with ASD do not develop sufficient spoken language to meet their daily communication needs. As well as difficulties with producing spoken language, children with ASD exhibit challenges with social-communication, for example, they may use a limited range of communicative functions and/or have difficulty initiating and responding to social interactions. For children who have difficulty producing spoken language, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems can provide an accessible and functional means of communication. In order for children who are learning to use AAC to become competent communicators, they must have frequent exposure to high quality language interactions with skilled communication partners. While there is an evidence base showing that behavioural, requesting focussed interventions can be effective in some circumstances for children with ASD, concerns about generalisability, and the lack of socio-communicative focus have led to calls for more naturalistic, social communication interventions. This study focused on investigating ways of supporting a child’s social communication using AAC within an interactional activity in the natural environment of his classroom. A descriptive case-study design was used to document the implementation of a four-phase, peer-mediated AAC intervention in an inclusive classroom. The focus was on social communication, and the intervention was developed and enacted in a collaborative partnership with the classroom teacher. In conducting this study, multiple sources of data, including interviews, observations, and data from an AAC system, were collated and analysed. From this analysis, three key themes emerged: a) enhanced participation, b) creation of a communicably accessible environment, and c) increased teacher agency. These themes suggest positive outcomes for a naturalistic, social-communication intervention, adding to the calls for further research development in this area

Risk and Material Conditions of the African American Slaves at Locust Grove

Unfortunately, a static and romanticized image of plantations and slaves in the antebellum South has been created with movies like Gone With The Wind. I call this Taravision. This image, to some degree, has colored archaeologists perceptions of slavery and thus influenced our investigations of plantation life in the South. This image, of course, is not real, and ignores the importance of the roles of the African Americans, slave and free, in the culture of the Old South. In this study, the theory of risk management is used as a context for understanding the special circumstances of African American slaves in the Upland South and those experiences common to all African American slaves during the antebellum period. This framework does not assume that Southern slavery was uniform from colonial times until the Civil War in the United States, nor does it assume uniformity in the populations derived from Africa. Rather, risk minimization allows for an understanding of the variability of the African American experience under the slave regime. More specifically, the archaeology conducted at three slave cabin sites at Locust Grove, Louisville, Kentucky is documented and the material culture of the slaves at this Upland South plantation is reconstructed. A detailed analysis of over 25,000 artifacts recovered in the excavations coupled with a consideration of the documented features provides the basis for a number of conclusions. Through this research it is suggested that the houses and furnishings as well as the diet and health of the slaves at Locust Grove were adequate. This was likely the result of the efforts of the slaves rather than the paternalism of the owners. The slaves at Locust Grove managed to minimize some of their risks by forming strong family and community ties, raising their own livestock and gardens and storing surplus in small pit cellars, and through the use of magic and religion to ward off misfortune and strengthen community bonds. They appeared to have maintained close ties with their African heritage, and used their African traditions to mitigate some of the evils of slavery

International Human Rights Forums: A Means of Recourse for Refugees

This article explores the possibility of using some of the other international agreements to secure the rights of asylum seekers. These treaties belong to the relatively new body of international law- human rights law- which gives broad protection to individuals everywhere regardless of status. In a significant development for international law, 12 institutions and procedures have been established internationally and regionally to monitor the enforcement of these human rights agreements. Several of these institutions, by virtue of treaty or statute, even possess the competence to hear complaints about states\u27 violations of human rights. Insofar as the claims of refugees fall within their jurisdiction, these bodies may address the question of refugees\u27 rights, the state\u27s obligations to grant them, and appropriate measures to ensure their enforcement

Musical Mystique : How Today’s Pop Music Can Be Interpreted by Young Audiences

Music is everywhere and so is its influence. Like all media, music can help us express ourselves, but it also can impact our lives. The following study investigates pop music by female artists and how this genre impacts the lives of young audiences. The research asks what images of women and relational scripts are offered through this genre, but this study also asks what audiences are doing with it. Media studies have taken us from “The Magic Bullet” to “Uses and Gratifications” and almost everywhere in between. Somewhere in the middle of all of these theories lies Hall’s view of encoding and decoding (1980). From a critical/cultural studies background, he describes how audiences can be empowered by their interpretations, or readings, of media. Specifically, he illustrates the value of dominant, negotiated, and oppositional readings. Here we asked which readings are most prevalent and also how audiences can enact and benefit from different readings. We also raised the question of reflexivity within audience members. The results show that young audiences can be reflexive of their consumption and the products, production, and byproducts of media. Specifically, they are aware of both positive and negative images. Though hesitant to admit the influence of media, participants were also able to identify relational scripts within this genre and beyond. The most prevalent readings among all participants were dominant. While this may seem discouraging, we have to remember that many of pop music’s messages are negotiated or oppositional in themselves. Therefore, a dominant reading does not have to be disempowering. The second most prevalent readings were oppositional. It was interesting that these readings outnumbered negotiated readings, but it makes sense when we consider the amount of reflexivity that goes into these processes. We concluded this study with an overview of results, a summation of pop music today, and a look toward the future (both of pop music and media studies). Results indicate that while we should be cautious of the ways in which media influence us, the media and young audiences are moving in the right direction

Slave Subsistence at the Upper South Mabry Site, East Tennessee: Regional Variability in Plantation Diet of the Southeastern United States

Archaeologists have identified patterns in the archaeological record of plantation sites which they attribute to the status differences of the plantation inhabitants; however, most of these investigations have been restricted to the coastal areas of the deep South. Recent excavations at plantations in Tennessee have provided the opportunity to compare this coastal subsistence pattern with data from two plantations in the Upland South. This thesis compared eight faunal assemblages from four plantations, two coastal and two inland contexts, in order to investigate whether inland plantations exhibit the same patterns which have been identified on coastal plantations. Faunal remains were used to compare dietary diversity, to examine habitat exploitation and to investigate skeletal portion utilization. Faunal assemblages from coastal plantations have revealed a fairly consistent pattern in which a lot of wild species of animals from a wide variety of habitats are represented. Slave assemblages contain a lower diversity of species than planter assemblages although both seem to exploit most of the habitats which are locally available. Slave assemblages are comprised mainly of head, back and foot portions of pig and cow while planter assemblages contain meatier portions such as steaks, roasts, hams and chops. The means of analysis used in this thesis suggest a different interpretation of coastal plantation subsistence. Slave and planter assemblages did not differ in terms of the number of species which were exploited but planter assemblages did contain more specimens from more costly habitats. Planter assemblages are not comprised mostly of high yield carcass portions but instead contain a greater proportion of middle yield portions. This analysis also indicated a difference in subsistence patterns between coastal and inland plantations. While coastal plantation residents relied most heavily on aquatic animals such as fish and reptiles, residents of inland plantations relied most heavily on mammals. Differences between the environments do contribute to the differences in animal group use but other things such as the economic base and type of labor system in use on the plantations appear to be contributing factors