The Brazilianisation of Youth Transitions in Australia and the UK?

A central theme of Beck's argument in The Brave New World of Work (2000) is that labour markets in the developed world are taking on some of the core characteristics that have been associated with less developed labour markets such as employment insecurity, informality and precarity. A process he refers to as Brazilianisation. In this paper we consider whether Beck's thesis can help us understand changes in youth transitions in Australia and the UK by developing a comparative analysis of processes of casualisation in the youth labour markets of the two countries. We assess the extent to which precarious labour market biographies have become entrenched and represent modern forms of engagement with the labour market. While evidence is presented to suggest that young people's labour market experiences have been affected by a trend towards greater casualisation, we argue that the changes are having the greatest impact on those in the weakest positions: in both countries women are more likely to be affected than men and casualisation is most evident in the lowest skilled occupations.     

Trauma and stress among older adults in the criminal justice system: a review of the literature with implications for social work

The purpose of this article was to review the empirical literature that investigated trauma and stress among older adults in the criminal justice system. Nineteen journal articles published between 1988 and 2010 were identified and extracted via research databases and included mixed age samples of adjudicated older and younger adults (n = 11) or older adult only samples (n = 8). Findings revealed past and current trauma and stress, consequences and/or correlates, and internal and external coping resources among aging offenders. The implications and future directions for gerontological social work, research, and policy with older adults in the criminal justice system are advanced.     

Seeking Safety and Humanity in the Harshest Immigration Climate in a Generation: A Review of the Literature on the Effects of Separation and Detention on Migrant and Asylum-Seeking Children and Families in the United States during the Trump Administration

In recent years, families with children from the Northern Triangle countries of Central America constitute a large and growing proportion of migrants and overall filed asylum claims. In an effort to deter overall immigration through the U.S.–Mexico border, the executive branch under the Trump administration has made substantial changes to federal immigration and asylum policy in recent years. Given the sensitive nature of early development and the hardship and trauma that many migrant children have experienced, immigration policies that do not prioritize child wellbeing, and in fact, neglect or harm it, can have lifelong negative consequences on physical and psychological wellbeing. In light of the scope of children and families affected by these policies and potential magnitude of their effects, the present review aimed to: 1) outline federal immigration policies under the Trump administration that primarily impacted migrant children and families; 2) review the research base regarding the effects of these policies on physical safety and health, development, mental health, family wellbeing, and education; and 3) provide policy recommendations to prevent further harm, mitigate the great harm already done, and prioritize child wellness moving forward. Findings from the review indicate that even short experiences of detention, particularly when children are separated from parents and caregivers, are associated with serious, lasting negative effects across every domain of functioning. The practices of separation, detention, and removal to temporary encampments compound traumatic experiences that migrant families are often fleeing, which in turn may set up already vulnerable children for a trajectory of continued marginalization. Future directions for research and implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Cameras and community health

Photography projects are an alternative teaching method that can be easily integrated into community programs with adolescents and children. This article provides a brief review of the use of photography in documenting social and health issues. Two examples of community photography projects with easily ignored populations are described. These projects gave a voice to participants and allowed them to demonstrate their creativity with cameras. An implementation guide is presented to provide concrete suggestions for implementing community photography projects.     

Corporate and managerial characteristics as drivers of social responsibility disclosure by state-owned enterprises

The public administration sector, including state owned enterprises (SOEs), has developed various types of information disclosure practice, in response to stakeholders’ demands, in parallel with developments in the private sector. This paper analyses the corporate social responsibility (CSR) information disclosed by SOEs and the influence exerted by the characteristics of the SOEs themselves (size, industry sector, degree of government ownership and number of years in operation) and by those of their managers (age, gender, CSR education profile and CSR responsibilities in the workplace). To do so, an index of CSR information disclosure was created, based on the responses made to a questionnaire in this respect. An empirical regression model was then applied to test and categorise the factors analysed. According to the results obtained, the size and sector of the SOE, together with the manager’s CSR responsibilities, are the factors that most significantly affect the online disclosure of CSR information.     

Parallel Process of Posttraumatic Stress and Externalizing Problems Among Youth at High Risk for Victimization

Research shows comorbidity between posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and externalizing problems among polyvictimized youth. However, the impact of polyvictimization on the longitudinal co-development of PTSS and distinct forms of externalizing problems remains unclear. Growth trajectory modeling was used to address this gap. At ages 8, 12, and 16, polyvictimization was measured using youth, caregiver, and official records; whereas youth self-reported PTSS and caregivers reported aggression and delinquency. Results demonstrate that changes in PTSS and each externalizing domain were independent. Further, polyvictimization and PTSS/aggression were only associated at concurrent time points. In contrast, polyvictimization and delinquency were generally associated at concurrent and distal time points, suggesting that polyvictimization may have a more enduring impact on youths' delinquent behaviors than other symptoms.     

Reorganizations of Gendered Labor During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review and Suggestions for Further Research

Across a range of countries, analysts have found that adaptations to the COVID-19 pandemic often exacerbated previously existing labor inequalities between men and women in formal employment markets and households. This has been especially true for mothers with children in their households. Drawing on decades of sociological and feminist scholarship on labor, we suggest the following three strategies to strengthen ongoing research concerning pandemic-induced reorganizations of gendered labor. First, ongoing research should expand considerations of gendered labor to account for more types of work and workers. Second, initial findings should be extended through the continued utilization of diverse methodologies to better account for the ambivalent experiences and meanings associated with emergent reorganizations of gendered work during the pandemic. Finally, ongoing research should pursue intersectional analyses of gendered labor that are sensitive to the complex dynamics of place and time. By expanding and strengthening considerations of gendered labor in these manners, ongoing analyses could generate more comprehensive, precise findings that better guide policy interventions meant to address the gendered inequities being sharpened by the pandemic. Foundational theoretical understandings of gendered labor and its associated inequalities could also be extended.     

Bipartite communities via spectral partitioning

Journal of Combinatorial Optimization - In this paper we are interested in finding communities with bipartite structure. A bipartite community is a pair of disjoint vertex sets S, $$S'$$ such...     

Risk ranking of food categories associated with Salmonella enterica contamination in the central region of Mexico

To prevent and control foodborne diseases, there is a fundamental need to identify the foods that are most likely to cause illness. The goal of this study was to rank 25 commonly consumed food products associated with Salmonella enterica contamination in the Central Region of Mexico. A multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) framework was developed to obtain an S. enterica risk score for each food product based on four criteria: probability of exposure to S. enterica through domestic food consumption (Se); S. enterica growth potential during home storage (Sg); per capita consumption (Pcc); and food attribution of S. enterica outbreak (So). Risk scores were calculated by the equation Se*W₁+Sg*W₂+Pcc*W₃+So*W₄, where each criterion was assigned a normalized value (1–5) and the relative weights (W) were defined by 22 experts’ opinion. Se had the largest effect on the risk score being the criterion with the highest weight (35%; IC95% 20%–60%), followed by So (24%; 5%–50%), Sg (23%; 10%–40%), and Pcc (18%; 10%–35%). The results identified chicken (4.4 ± 0.6), pork (4.2 ± 0.6), and beef (4.2 ± 0.5) as the highest risk foods, followed by seed fruits (3.6 ± 0.5), tropical fruits (3.4 ± 0.4), and dried fruits and nuts (3.4 ± 0.5), while the food products with the lowest risk were yogurt (2.1 ± 0.3), chorizo (2.1 ± 0.4), and cream (2.0 ± 0.3). Approaches with expert-based weighting and equal weighting showed good correlation (R² = 0.96) and did not show significant differences among the ranking order in the top 20 tier. This study can help risk managers select interventions and develop targeted surveillance programs against S. enterica in high-risk food products.     

Bear in a Window: Australian children's perspectives on lockdown and experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper examines the reflections of a cohort of Australian children who lived through the 2020–21 COVID-19 pandemic and experienced being in ‘lockdown’; a state of largely being confined to the home for long periods daily. We report how children reflect on their experiences and illustrate how reflections draw on similar topics focused on localised child concerns regarding health, education, family, digital engagement, mealtimes and food. Further, we argue for the importance of including children's own voices of lived experience in reports regarding life during the pandemic since these perspectives may differ from those reported by adults on children's behalf.