Arrival of the Fittest

Prometheus, the fifth film of the Alien franchise, maintains narrative connections to the original four films but the inclusion of new aliens—the Engineers—radically shifts the feminist politic of the series. There is a move away from centralising the monster and the repressed feminine, through images of horror and bodily abjection, toward a politic of carnival, seen in representations of multiple grotesque bodies and subversion of the affect of primal scenes. Carnival is a space where the authority and stability of current social powers and orders are challenged and subverted. This article contends that in Prometheus such a process occurs in the deliberate mixing of scientific knowledge and religious cosmologies, the ambivalent relationship of horror and SF genres to science and scientific knowledge, the gendered complexities of the specific bodies of astronauts and of scientists, and disruptions of the notion of gaze and viewer positioning in the opening scenes

Some Spirit Was Pursuing All of Us : Literary Perspectives on Death

This paper will pursue the theme of death as a transgression against the created order through the works of five authors-the Apostle Paul, William Shakespeare, Alfred Telmyson, Dylan Thomas, and J.R.R. Tolkien-while also providing a brief overview of the perspectives on death presented in each author\u27s writings. The paper will demonstrate that although the five authors treat death with varying degrees of positive and negative tone, often in proportion to the orthodoxy of their Christian beliefs, their writings are in agreement that man was not created to die, and that death should not be spoken or written of lightly

Airbnb in New York City: Whose Privacy Rights are Threatened by a Government Data Grab?

New York City regulators have vigorously resisted the rise of Airbnb as an alternative to traditional hotels, characterizing “home sharing” as a trend that is sucking up permanent housing in a city already facing an affordability crisis. However, laws banning short-term rentals have done little to discourage this practice, as Airbnb’s policy of keeping user information private makes it possible for illegal operators to evade law enforcement. Frustrated by this power imbalance, the New York City Council passed Local Law 146, which requires Airbnb to provide city officials with access to the names and information of its home sharing hosts on a monthly basis to assist with law enforcement efforts. Airbnb claims that the ordinance is a flagrant violation of its own privacy rights and the rights of its customers. Local Law 146 is the culmination of the regulatory struggle over Airbnb in New York City, but it is also a flash point for government data-collection efforts generally. Because of the massive potential of using private companies’ data to aid in law enforcement efforts, the implementation of data-collection statutes could be an attractive policing tool. Using Local Law 146 as a lens, this Note examines the privacy issues implicated by datacollection laws and discusses which parties can assert these privacy rights, particularly given recent changes in third-party doctrine jurisprudence. Ultimately, this Note concludes that, while the outcome of Airbnb’s challenge to Local Law 146 will be an important indicator, the suit will not resolve the question of whether individual Airbnb hosts could successfully challenge this law without the support of the company. Individual challenges to sweeping data-collection statutes could be the next frontier in breaking down the third-party doctrine’s barrier to Fourth Amendment protections

Children and poverty across Europe - The challenge of developing child centred policies

Although poor children are often the target of policy, policy itself is rarely informed by their subjective concerns. This article takes a child-centred approach to understanding the lives and experiences of children who are poor and explores how policy interventions aimed at reducing child poverty can have both, positive and negative impacts on children\u27s lives. It discusses one example drawn from recent UK welfare-to-work policies for lone mothers - a key element of the UK state\u27s anti-poverty programme - to explore the tensions that can exist between policies, which seek to alleviate child poverty and the lived experiences of poor children themselves. The key argument of this article is that it is essential to locate and understand children\u27s experiences of poverty in childhood through a direct engagement with low-income children themselves. (DIPF/Orig.)Obwohl arme Kinder oft Gegenstand von Politik sind, ist Politik nur selten über deren subjektive Belange informiert. Um die Lebensweisen und Erfahrungen von Kindern, die arm sind, zu verstehen, wird in diesem Artikel ein kindzentrierter Ansatz benutzt. Es wird herausgearbeitet, dass politische Interventionen, die Kinderarmut reduzieren sollen, sowohl positive wie negative Auswirkungen auf das Leben von Kindern haben können. Am Beispiel von Auswirkungen der aktuellen \u27welfare-to-work\u27 Politik für alleinerziehende Mütter - einem Kernelement des staatlichen Armutsbekämpfungsprogramms in Großbritannien - werden Spannungen untersucht, die zwischen einer Politik, die Kinderarmut verringern will, und den Lebenserfahrungen armer Kinder bestehen können. Das zentrale Argument dieses Artikels ist, dass die Erfahrungen, die Kinder mit Armut machen, nur dann genau bestimmt und verstanden werden können, wenn die Forscher sich mit diesen Kindern selbst befassen. (DIPF/Orig.

Health Maintenance and Goal Setting for Women Joining and Re-joining the Workforce

Abstract Poverty is a major health barrier in the United States which disproportionately affects women, who earn lower wages than men and are often single mothers responsible for the care and wellbeing of their families. Chronic socioeconomic depression is a cyclic, multigenerational problem that can make it difficult for women to adequately engage in healthy behaviors such as eating well and exercising. Poor self-care practices can in turn lead to cycle of poor health outcomes across the board, including depression, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and more. Poor health may subsequently pose a challenge for women trying to find the energy to devote to a career that could potentially break the harmful cycle of poverty. The purpose of this project was to develop an educational module to be included in ongoing curriculum for students enrolled in Vermont Works for Women’s Step In to Work program on nutrition and exercise, using techniques of SMART goal setting and motivational interview to effect empowerment and lasting healthy behavior changes. This educational intervention consisted of a 90 minute PowerPoint presentation and didactic lecture interspersed with group discussion, followed by a 30 minute individual goal setting activity and final goal-based discussion. Participants’ perception of their knowledge relating to nutrition and exercise was measured using a pre- and post-survey, which showed overall improvement. Furthermore, all participants were able to create a SMART goal by the end of this module and most felt confident that they would be able to make the necessary changes to achieve their goal

Paradoxes unbounded: Practising community making

The first section of this paper is a discussion of the paradoxes contained in definitions of the word ‘community’ and deliberately foregrounds and makes problematic conflicting meanings before arguing for a third definition and practice of community. This third definition and practice celebrates and even transcends contradictions within an active learning model of education in the community, aimed at tackling inequality and prejudice. The second section offers an autocritical narrative account of an education in the community project that illustrates how such a practice of community making can be achieved within an educational framework in which pupil is teacher and teacher is pupil and in which an imaginative, creative approach is deployed to construct a community making practice. The paper draws on understandings from community development, inclusive and creative education, emancipatory action research, postcolonial and post-structuralist theory. (DIPF/Orig.

Searching for a feminist voice: Film festivals and negotiating the tension between expectation and intent

International Film Festivals play a vital role in shaping filmmakers’ careers. This paper presents some initial findings from a current major research project, highlighting the significance of particular festival programming of emerging female directors from developing nations. Some filmmakers showcased at festivals actively privilege the voices of women in their films as a means of commenting on pressing cultural and political issues. Ironically, other filmmakers do not subscribe to the label of “feminist” or “woman filmmaker”, even if their respective films represent a strongly coded woman’s point of view. Tensions also arise inevitably when scrutinising women filmmakers from developing nations within a first world film festival context. The expectations of the researcher, the festival, film critics and audiences inevitably must negotiate with the original intentions of the filmmaker. This paper explores the significance of women filmmakers in attendance at the Brisbane International Film Festival (2009) and the International Film Festival Rotterdam (2010)

Practical Modeling of Large-Scale Galactic Magnetic Fields: Status and Prospects

This is a review of the status of efforts to model the large-scale Galactic magnetic field (GMF). Though important for a variety of astrophysical processes, the GMF remains poorly understood despite some interesting new tracers being used in the field. Though we still have too many models that might fit the data, this is not to say that the field has not developed in the last few years. In particular, surveys of polarized dust have given us a new observable that is complementary to the more traditional radio tracers, and a variety of other new tracers and related measurements are becoming available to improve current modeling. This paper reviews: the tracers available; the models that have been studied; what has been learned so far; what the caveats and outstanding issues are; and one opinion of where the most promising future avenues of exploration lie.Comment: Published in Galaxies special issue "New Perspectives on Galactic Magnetism" (with minor formatting differences). v2 fixes some reference

Practice, Skill Mix, and Education: The Evolving Role of Pharmacy Technicians in Great Britain

Pharmacy technicians’ roles are rapidly evolving in Great Britain (GB) as they undertake more extended activities with increased autonomy across the different pharmacy sectors. This paper compares the GB pharmacy regulator initial education and training standards recently introduced (2017) with the qualifications currently used in practice and discusses whether future qualifications will be ‘fit for purpose’. In this context, knowledge, skills, and competence are reviewed to assess whether they will meet the expectations and underpin the evolving pharmacy technician role as integral to healthcare provision. Based on drivers, policy change, and the changing GB healthcare landscape, effectiveness of skill mix is analysed to establish whether this is being optimised to support person-centred pharmacy in response to the challenges and pressures faced within the NHS. On this basis and given there is a limited evidence base, this review has highlighted a need for larger scale research to reassure the pharmacy and wider healthcare professions, and the public, that the evolving pharmacy technician role presents no increased risk to patient safety and contributes significantly to releasing pharmacists time for person-centred clinical activities