Words count: taking a count of the changing language of British aid

A word analysis of six UK government White Paper policy statements on aid (selected between 1960 and 2006) compares the top 20 words and key word pairs used in each document. Characteristic sentences are composed of the top 20s to represent the spirit of each paper. Results illuminate changes in the content of White Papers on aid, and point to trends in the history of the UK's approach to international development. A characteristic sentence to illustrate the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness is contrasted with a sentence of words that did not appear in that document. Readers are invited and challenged to identify words they would like to be used and acted on more commonly in development.     

Determinants of Japanese Local Governments' Decisions Concerning Performance-Based Reward Systems for Teachers

This exploratory study asks: What conditions have precipitated or slowed the adoption of a performance-based reward system for teachers by Japanese prefectural governments in charge of human resource management for teachers? Qualitative scrutiny of deliberation processes in two Japanese prefectures suggests that two institutional factors of educational administration—(1) reform orientation and (2) the lack of employee entrenchment—favor the adoption.     

Vacuum metal deposition: visualisation of gold agglomerates using TEM imaging

Vacuum metal deposition (VMD) is a well-established technique that can be used for the development of latent fingermarks on a range of polymer surfaces, including polyethylene (PE) bags exposed to harsh environmental conditions. The technique has also proved to be effective on difficult semi-porous surfaces such as the polymer banknotes in circulation in Australia and in an increasing number of other countries. VMD is a two-stage technique. In the first stage, a small amount of gold is deposited under high vacuum onto the exhibit. This is then followed by the deposition, onto the gold layer, of a much thicker layer of zinc. Normal VMD development is characterised by zinc depositing all over the surface except on the fingermark ridges themselves. A phenomenon of reverse development (zinc on the ridges but not on the surface) has been reported by many authors. Recent studies indicated that this phenomenon might occur on low-density polyethylene (LDPE) when the amount of deposited gold is above an optimum quantity. The results suggested that the size of the gold agglomerates formed on the surface of the polymer plays a critical role. This preliminary study was aimed at visualising, by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the formation of gold agglomerates on polymer surfaces to gain an appreciation of how the density and size of these agglomerates changes with an increasing amount of evaporated gold.     

Experiences of Racism,Racial/Ethnic Attitudes,Motivated Fairness and Mental Health Outcomes Among Primary and Secondary School Students

While studies investigating the health effects of racial discrimination for children and youth have examined a range of effect modifiers, to date, relationships between experiences of racial discrimination, student attitudes, and health outcomes remain unexplored. This study uniquely demonstrates the moderating effects of vicarious racism and motivated fairness on the association between direct experiences of racism and mental health outcomes, specifically depressive symptoms and loneliness, among primary and secondary school students. Across seven schools, 263 students (54.4 % female), ranging from 8 to 17 years old (M = 11.2, SD = 2.2) reported attitudes about other racial/ethnic groups and experiences of racism. Students from minority ethnic groups (determined by country of birth) reported higher levels of loneliness and more racist experiences relative to the majority group students. Students from the majority racial/ethnic group reported higher levels of loneliness and depressive symptoms if they had more friends from different racial/ethnic groups, whereas the number of friends from different groups had no effect on minority students’ loneliness or depressive symptoms. Direct experiences of racism were robustly related to higher loneliness and depressive symptoms in multivariate regression models. However, the association with depressive symptoms was reduced to marginal significance when students reported low motivated fairness. Elaborating on the negative health effects of racism in primary and secondary school students provides an impetus for future research and the development of appropriate interventions.     

Reviews

From Mad Max to Sane Elaine

Elaine Showalter, Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media, New York: Columbia University Press, 1997, £16.39; Picador, 1998, £6.99

But Words Can Never Hurt Me

Judith Butler, Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative, New York and London: Routledge, 1997, £40.

Women in Theatre: Practitioners’ Voices

Lizbeth Goodman, Feminist Stages: Interviews with ‘Women in Contemporary British Theatre, Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1996, £18. Joanne Tompkins and Julie Holledge (eds), Performing Women/Performing Feminisms: Interviews with International Women Playwrights, Australasian Drama Studies Association Academic Publications 2, University of Queensland, 1997. Elaine Aston (ed.), Feminist Theatre Voices, Loughborough Theatre Texts, University of Loughborough, 1997, £7.99.

Heidi Stephenson and Natasha Langridge, (eds), Rage and Reason: Women Playwrights on Playwriting, London: Methuen, 1997, £9.99.

Life and Death in the Next World

Christine Brook‐Rose, Next, Manchester: Carcanet, 1998, £9.95 pbk.     

After the Earthquake: The President's Budget for FY 1996

What changes has the political earthquake of November 1994 wreaked on the federal budget and, in particular, on the president's budget? Are the policy dynamics of federal budgets so entrenched that they transcend politics and are impervious to shocks? Or do the political changes presage radical policy changes, reversing decades of cumulative commitments? Are budgetary institutions and processes flexible enough to accommodate enhanced conflicts while maintaining their integrity and purpose? This article discusses the fate of the 1995 budget and the initial problems faced in the president's budget for 1996.     

The mothers' international: The Women's Co-operative Guild and feminist pacifism

The Women's Co-operative Guild (now the Co-operative Women's Guild), founded in 1983 as an auxilliary of the English Consumer Co-operative Movement, became a strong feminist representative of married working-class women. Its ‘social’ feminism stressed women's maternal, domestic role, deriving from it a series of values seen as lacking in male-dominated public life. Politics was to be transformed by means of women's active involvement, including but extending past their acquisition and use of the vote. The ‘female’ values were nurturant and cooperative; internationally, they focussed on international organization and peace. The Consumer Co-operative Movement provided a reformist ideology supportive of women's activism and pacifism, but the Movement itself as an organization was increasingly hostile to the Guild's feminism both within and outside the Movement. Although relatively uninfluential, the Guild thus embodies a tradition of feminist pacifism that is active and increasingly influential today.