Rethinking the concept of professionalism: the case of journalism

Journalists in the UK have always been ambivalent about what form of occupational control to pursue. Although resistant to the structures of the conventional profession, they have embraced the idea of 'professionalism'. As the formations traditionally associated with Anglo-American professions become relevant to fewer and fewer employees and increasingly subject to external regulation it is more relevant, we suggest, to investigate how the discourse of 'professionalism' as a set of values and identities can be mobilized by employers as a form of self-discipline. Journalism, notable for its powerful occupational mythology, provides a vivid example of how this process has eased the imposition of radical changes to the organization of work. Now, ironically, recent changes in the occupation's social composition and training may mean that journalists, who have always cherished a self-image as socially marginal, will aspire to conventional professional respectability.     

Short-Term Dermal Absorption and Penetration of Chemicals from Aqueous Solutions: Theory and Experiment

Dermal penetration of organic chemical-contaminated water from showering and bathing scenarios is a concern of regulatory agencies that have been tasked with determining safe exposure levels. During household showering and bathing, nearly the entire surface area of the body is exposed for short periods of time (5-15 minutes). The primary means of predicting body burden during brief exposures is to estimate total chemical penetrated from the steady-state penetration rate using a skin permeability coefficient. A variety of approaches has been recommended to estimate "body burden." The purpose of this investigation was to collect experimental data from short-term exposures to an organic chemical (dibromomethane [DBM]) in aqueous solution so that methods for estimating body burden could be compared. Rat skins were exposed in vitro to saturated aqueous solutions of DBM for 20 minutes and the amount of chemical in the receptor solution and the skin was analyzed. The total DBM mass in the receptor solution and the skin was taken to represent an in vivo body burden. These results were compared with the estimates of penetration from steady-state calculations, square root of time calculations, and a biologically based mathematical model. Results indicated that the amount of chemical in the skin and its fate during short exposures is important. The square root of time approach predicted total amount of chemical absorbed and penetrated better than did the steady-state approach. The biologically based mathematical model accurately predicted total body burden and could be used to distinguish between the amount of chemical in the skin and the amount of chemical that penetrated through the skin, which would be useful for understanding local toxicity.     

Career Counseling of Chinese American Women: Are They in Limbo?

The voices for political and financial equality as well as freedom in work and family appear persuasive in the United States. The traditional cultural thoughts, however, persist to alienate Chinese American women from their American counterparts and from the world of work. Counselors play a vital role in exploring the cultural values and specific career needs of Chinese American women and in promoting a healthier environment in which Chinese American women can be empowered to fulfill their optimum occupational potential. In this article, the cultural values and vocational barriers of Chinese American women are explored, and suggestions for career counseling approaches are provided.     

Disability and Adult Education - the consumer view

Developments in recent years have shown an increasing interest in the educational needs and aspirations of disabled adults. There is still, however, limited research information representing the disabled person's voice. This paper describes the outcomes from a survey of the educational experiences of 44 physically disabled adults in the North West of England. The findings indicated that, usually, the earlier someone had acquired a disability, the less likely they were, as adults, to have achieved professional or higher qualifications, and that the level of qualifications reached among women being surveyed was particularly low. Barriers to course attendance reflect both attitudinal and practical access issues, with underachievement often the result of oppression from a variety of sources. Both positive and negative experiences from disabled adults form the basis of recommendations for an equal opportunities approach to adult education for disabled people around the themes of integration, self worth, empowerment and consultation.     

Sexual Risk-Taking among High-Risk Urban Women with and without Histories of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Mediating Effects of Contextual Factors

This study investigated the mechanisms of risk for urban women at high risk for HIV with and without childhood sexual abuse histories. Childhood sexual abuse survivors reported more unprotected intercourse and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The association of STI locus of control with frequency of unprotected sex was fully mediated by being intoxicated during sex and engaging in sex work, whereas the association between relational control and unprotected sex was not mediated by contextual factors for the childhood sexual abuse group. The mechanisms of risk are different for those with divergent childhood sexual abuse histories and thus interventions should be developed to educate women with a history of childhood sexual abuse about ways to avoid revictimization, particularly within a context of poverty, prostitution, and drug use.     

Derwent's Doors: Creative Acts

Children's early word learning is not usually considered creative in the same sense as artistic productions of later life. Yet early word learning is a creative response to the intrinsic instability of word meaning. As the child acts to participate in her community, she strives for intersubjectivity, manifest in neologisms and under- and overextensions, commonly characterized as errors. Young children's innovative productions, as those of second-language learners, may raise new possibilities for rich understandings of linguistic creativity, if from dialogical approaches to linguistics the local quality of interpretations is properly incorporated into theory. Language use into adulthood, including for literary functions, continues to interplay routines and innovations; semiotic transformation is a central process of human creativity.

Derwent extends the idea of Door so far that he not only [calls] the Lids of Boxes Doors, but even the Covers of Books/a year & 8 months. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, [1802] as cited in Perry, 2002 Perry, S., ed. 2002. Coleridge's notebooks: A selection, Oxford, , England: Oxford University Press.  [Google Scholar], p. 25)     

Civil society challenges the global food system: the International Monsanto Tribunal

ABSTRACT

The global food system has severe implications for human health, soil quality, biodiversity, and quality of life. This paper provides an analysis on how transnational alliances challenge the global food system. We illustrate this by focusing on the activities and hearings of the International Monsanto Tribunal (IMT), held in the Hague in 2016. The IMT provided a platform for civil society and enabled transnational alliances to demand attention for local struggles and legal disputes in relation to Monsanto’s products. With the involvement of independent and renowned experts, the knowledge exchange between local victims and civil society was enhanced, and the IMT reinforced social movement’s goals towards demanding justice for the negative effects associated with the global food system. The advisory opinion determined that Monsanto’s practices are in violation with human rights standards. The IMT exemplified that there is an immediate need for structural change in the current global food system.