Fossil Fuels and Food Security: Analysis and Recommendations for Community Organizers

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the relationship between fossil fuels and food security and makes recommendations for community organizers. During the 20^th century, North America's food system grew critically dependent on oil and natural gas for production, processing, and transportation. The authors argue that numerous petroleum-related factors including supply problems, increasing global demand, and geopolitical tensions may now threaten food security. Various approaches to reducing fossil-fuel dependency and increasing local food production are explored. The authors conclude that community organizers can make important contributions to local food security, and they provide specific recommendations and resources for doing this.     

Homeless Military Veterans and the Intersection of Partner Violence

The objective of this paper was to identify, screen, and assess homeless veterans through outreach for domestic abuse services. This study focuses on 507 homeless veterans, from 2002 to 2007 identified in a homeless shelter and a transitional housing program. Homeless veterans completed the Domestic Violence/Abuse Screen (DV/AS) and psychosocial assessment. The majority were males, African American, divorced, Army, Vietnam, substance-dependent, and homeless, while the minorities had combat-PTSD; were charged and convicted of domestic violence; were on supervised parole or probation; had juvenile records; were victims of domestic violence during rearing; had a perpetrator relative; had prior domestic violence treatment; and were referred for domestic abuse treatment services. There is a lack of research evidence for the effectiveness for screening of homeless veteran partner violence. This sample shows the benefit of integrating domestic abuse screening into homeless programs and more research.     

The Judgments of David Bergelson

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I read the Yiddish author David Bergelson’s statements at his secret trial through the lens of his own earlier fiction about Soviet justice, especially his novel Judgment. I examine Bergelson’s self-fashioning as a Jewish writer and how he uses his own Jewish background as a justification for his failures as a Soviet person. I offer some contextualization of Bergelson’s statements in light of other trials of other writers both before and after 1952, and compare his declaration of love for Yiddish with other, similar expressions. Bergelson does not merely defend himself, he creates a memory about his legacy for the future.     

Chinks in Gender?

This comment argues that differences between clinical and normal populations, between clinical data and sociological data, and differences in social class and cultural settings should be taken into account in order to understand the varying psychological dynamics behind self representations. Research from the Nordic countries indicates that young women's relationships with their mothers and fathers are becoming more similar. The daughters appreciate their mothers' ability to combine independent lives of their own with care for children and family, and fathers are to a higher degree than before perceived as warm and caring figures. This may imply that the gender-differentiated psychological roles of the mother and the father in the heterosexual nuclear family are becoming less distinct. If chinks undermine not only the merged attachment but also gender as such, this question arises: What ways and to what extent are the new psychological dispositions Susie Orbach describes actually gendered?     

A Lesbian Older Adult Managing Identity Disclosure: A Case Study

The aim of this study was to explore the experience of an older lesbian in managing the disclosure of her sexual identity. Specifically, the team wanted to better understand the ways she managed her identity in an assisted living facility. Using a qualitative case study methodology, 2 in-depth interviews were conducted. The following 5 themes were identified in the data: keeping her own counsel, maintaining “family” connection, celebrating second chances, living outside the L box, and staying morally centered. Practice and research implications are offered and the case study is used to expand understanding of disclosure management and resiliency theory.     

Nonparametric standard errors and confidence intervals

We investigate several nonparametric methods; the bootstrap, the jackknife, the delta method, and other related techniques. The first and simplest goal is the assignment of nonparametric standard errors to a real-valued statistic. More ambitiously, we consider setting nonparametric confidence intervals for a real-valued parameter. Building on the well understood case of confidence intervals for the median, some hopeful evidence is presented that such a theory may be possible.     

Maximum-likelihood estimation for constrained- or missing-data models

In statistical models involving constrained or missing data, likelihoods containing integrals emerge. In the case of both constrained and missing data, the result is a ratio of integrals, which for multivariate data may defy exact or approximate analytic expression. Seeking maximum-likelihood estimates in such settings, we propose Monte Carlo approximants for these integrals, and subsequently maximize the resulting approximate likelihood. Iteration of this strategy expedites the maximization, while the Gibbs sampler is useful for the required Monte Carlo generation. As a result, we handle a class of models broader than the customary EM setting without using an EM-type algorithm. Implementation of the methodology is illustrated in two numerical examples.     

Internet lives: social context and moral domain in adolescent development

The author examines the thinking and behavior of adolescents within the digital world. What does all this instant messaging and blogging outside school hours mean? Why do adolescents do it? How much time do they spend doing it? How does it shape their social, emotional, and moral development? Bradley describes the phenomenon and explores some moral development ramifications of a new context of social experience for adolescents. It proposes that the digital world creates its own social context, with a different set of social conventions from the adult-mediated "real" world that adolescents also inhabit. It is a social context that most adults are aware of but do not understand. Adolescents' experiences in the online world influence their experiences in the face-to-face world and play an important role in the development of their social and moral knowledge. This chapter places the discussion within the context of literature on youth ethics that has been developed based on more traditional settings.