Challenges of generating qualitative data with socially excluded young people

Recent perspectives in childhood research have tended to emphasise the use of participatory techniques as a method of reducing the unequal power balance between researcher and researched. Increasingly researchers have been concerned with developing inclusive and participatory young people centred methodologies which place their voices at the centre of the research process. But is the ideal of young people?s active involvement in the research process truly achievable or desirable with socially excluded young people in practice? This paper reflects on a range of ethical, methodological and practical issues arising from a study which tracks the lives of a group of young women who have been excluded from secondary school. The paper concludes with reflections on the necessity to overcome such difficulties for the production of in-depth data on some of the most vulnerable, socially excluded young people

Multiscalar approaches to settlement pattern analysis

This paper has emphasized the highly reflexive approach necessary for the correct identification and interpretation of the processes behind settlement patterns. In our opinion, the key challenges are: (i) to define a sample/study area and its levels of search intensity appropriately (correcting for or exploring “edge effects” statistically where necessary); (ii) to assess and sub-divide site size, function and date range (analysing comparable features only and/or arbitrating uncertain cases statistically); (iii) to account for the resource structure of the landscape (either by only considering environmental homogenous sub-regions or by factoring resource preferences into the significance-testing stage of analysis), and (iv) to use techniques of analysis that are sensitive to detecting patterns at different spatial scales. The latter in particular is an area increasingly well-explored in other disciplines, but as yet with minimal impact on archaeological practice. There remains some value in Clark and Evan’s nearest neighbour function for identifying relationships between sites at one scale of analysis, but it may fail to detect larger-scale patterning. More critically, the dichotomy it encourages between “nucleated” and “dispersed” is at best an overly simplistic model and, at worst, bears little relationship to the reality of settlement organization, which at different scales can show both nucleated and dispersed components. In our Kytheran case study, there is obviously further work to be done, but even with the existing dataset, we have shown that using a combination of Monte Carlo testing, frequency distributions, local density mappings and Ripley’s K function allows a more sensitive assessment of multiscalar patters and therefore a more critical evaluation of the processes underlying settlement distributions

The determination of lead in blood by atomic spectroscopy

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Improving Workplace Wellness at Kaiser Permanente

A sedentary lifestyle is linked to many serious health problems including cardiovascular disease, obesity, and early death. Since the majority of jobs are done at a desk, those in the workforce have become particularly vulnerable to becoming sedentary. Workplace wellness programs are beginning to become a more common practice, and Kaiser Permanente is leading the way. However, they are discovering that simply providing resources is not enough. To enhance their workplace wellness, the Wellness Leaders program was implemented in order to get all departments involved in wellness activities and practices. While the program continues to grow, a shift in the wellness culture is already beginning to occur. Wellness leaders have become dedicated to motivating their coworkers and creating opportunities for wellness activities and events. Even though employees may not be taking advantage of all of the resources that Kaiser Permanente provides, they are finding new ways to bring wellness to all

(C)Omissions of perspective, lens and worldview : what Africa can learn from the 'Western Mind' about the oral tradition of (indigenous) knowledge

Published ArticleSometimes what is not in a text is more significant than what is. This paper examines a variety of texts to establish what is and is not present. The argument presented in this paper demonstrates that skewed perspectives, closed lenses, and distorted worldviews are powerful teachers. Appropriate perspectives and lenses can provide a worldview of complex and sophisticated thought, traditioned through memory, simultaneously stretching back into the past and drawing the past into the present…and pointing a way into the future. The paper examines a well-respected account of the 'Western Mind' and then demonstrates what is not in the text which could contribute to a fuller understanding of human civilization such as is present in the texts of peoples whose knowledge predates and/or precludes scribal alphabetic writing. The paper provides examples of such knowledges from societies which demonstrate sophisticated and complex thinking, both prior to 3000 BCE in theWest and in ancient and present day Africa. The paper demonstrates that the exclusion of evidence of complex and sophisticated thinking which predates or precludes scribal alphabetic writing presents a skewed understanding of the knowledge in such societies, and that Africa can learn from such exclusions to its benefit

A Wesleyan Understanding of Grace As Responsible and Therapeutic: A Path to Transformational Spirituality

The ministry problem addressed in this dissertation is the need for spiritual transformation. Christians are called to transformation into the image of Christ. John Wesley\u27s understanding of grace as both responsible and therapeutic is one pathway to this transformation. He believed that grace was the interaction of God and humanity, where God reaches out to us and we are to respond. The more we respond, the more we are able to respond. This is responsible grace. And as we grow in grace, the result is a growth in holiness, or into the likeness of Christ. This growth is not just something externally applied, but an actual change in our being. This is therapeutic grace. Chapter one is an introduction to the need for transformational spirituality and to the proposed solution of Wesley\u27s understanding of grace as responsible and therapeutic. Chapter two is an overview of John Wesley\u27s life, with the emphasis on the various influences that led him to understand grace as responsible and therapeutic. Chapter three explores Wesley\u27s understanding of the way of salvation and the means of grace. Chapter four follows the threads of responsible, therapeutic grace through one work by each of the following authors: Gerald May, Henri Nouwen, Larry Crabb, Anne Lamott, and Dallas Willard. Chapter five is a curriculum on responsible and therapeutic grace which is built on the foundation of Wesley\u27s Via Salutis and utilizes the works of the five contemporary messengers from chapter four

Exercise of Command

We are all of us vitally concerned with the subject of com­mand. We are all of us interested in the successful commander and the qualities, attributes, and abilities that contributed to his success. Command is our vocation