Reconstructing War,Reconstructing the Self: Uses of Autobiography in Tomiko Higa s Girl with the White Flag

In reviewing a number of marriage and family textbooks, published in the years 1958 through 1970, it was found that the theoretical orientation toward sex roles was generally normative, and that typically sex roles were bifurcated into artificial classificatory types, with highly polarized role properties. The ideological message implicit in such a value context was conservative, strongly urging conformity to status quo sex roles within a rigid family system.     

The Moderating Role of Spirituality in the Association between Stress and Substance Use among Adolescents: Differences by Gender

Adolescents are exposed to various stressors that may increase the risk for substance use. Due to the detrimental, and potentially long-lasting, effects related to substance use, it is necessary to explore more optimal coping strategies. This study explored the association between substance use and stress among male and female high school students in relation to spirituality as a moderator. To examine these relationships, the study used cross-sectional data collected from 27,874 high school students (Male?=?50.7%, Female?=?49.3%) across 58 high schools in Maryland that included an ethnically diverse sample (49% Caucasian, 30% African American) with an average age of 16 years old. Bivariate results showed differences in substance use, stress, and spirituality between male and female students. Higher rates of substance use were generally found among male students compared to female students; rates tended to be higher among female students for stress and spirituality compared to their male counterparts. Multilevel analyses indicated a positive association between stress and substance use among male and female students after adjusting for demographic and school-level factors. Both male and female students who reported turning to spiritual beliefs when experiencing problems were less likely to use substances. However, the interaction between stress and spirituality was significant for males only. These findings suggest that stress may increase the propensity for substance use and that spirituality might be a viable coping mechanism useful for helping high school students adapt to stressful circumstances and situations.     

Recovering,Restoring, and Renewing the Foundations of American Public Administration: The Contributions of Herbert J. Storing

Public administration continues to face an identity crisis that turns on the question of whether the animating principles of the discipline are to be discovered in the political foundations of a given regime, or whether they are to be found in more universal and transcendent principles of scientific management. Herbert J. Storing reframed the identity crisis as a problem arising from America’s constitutional system of governance. In doing so, he created an important role for public administration in democratic governance. This role took the form of “closet statesmanship” and, in practice, requires the exercise of prudential judgment that looks more like judicial decision making than scientific management. In summarizing Storing’s writings, the authors convincingly argue that he has much to teach us about the ongoing debate regarding the role of the bureaucracy within America’s 87,576 systems of government.     

Chemical, physical and mineralogical characterization of soils from the Curitiba Metropolitan Region for forensic purpose

The objective of this paper is to propose a soil characterization methodology for forensic use, based on physical (textural and spectroscopic analyses), chemical (extractions with hydrofluoric acid, ammonium oxalate, sodium dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate and NaOH solution) and mineralogical (thermal analyses and X-ray diffraction) analyses. The study was carried out in the State of Paraná, Brazil, in three neighborhoods of Curitiba city and in two cities within the Curitiba Metropolitan Region. In order to verify the similarity between samples, four composite samples (repetitions) were prepared in each of the five studied sites. It was obtained a great number of quantitative variables (56) from a reduced amount of soil sample (1g). The variables selected from the chemical extractions (16) were more precise in grouping similar samples (same horizon and sampling site) as well as in separating samples collected in different horizons or sites. Seven distinct groups were formed, each with high intragroup similarity, but the unexpected dispersion of two samples (from a total of 40 samples) reduced the distinction of three other studied groups. The placement of the two samples in a different group and the higher dispersion (24 samples) for samples collected in the city of Curitiba are due to the great pedological homogeneity of this area (physical-chemical horizon characteristics, soil color and parent material). The methodology used in this work (analytical method and data treatment) presents high potential for forensic studies and can be easily validated for other areas.