Great Plains harvest: evolution of the US public employment service,transnational labor,and nonimmigrant visas

Government H-2A visa data and employer surveys show that Great Plains custom harvesting operations now rely on the US public employment service (PES) and private labor agencies to hire transnational labor. Wheat harvest labor problems and private labor bureau abuses during the Progressive Era were a driving force in the formation and development of the local, state, and federal PES agencies that are now used to secure foreign workers. The PES addressed harvest labor problems from the late nineteenth century until the 1930s when mechanization and drought sufficiently reduced labor demand. The PES became active in the wheat harvest again during WW II and into the 1950s until mobile custom combining crews eliminated the need for the federal government’s involvement. Beginning in the 1990s, domestic labor scarcity caused custom harvesting employers to hire foreign labor through the H-2A and J-1 visa programs. The PES is part and parcel of the H-2A visa program, but unlike most agricultural employers that use H-2A labor, foreign workers in custom harvesting are from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and numerous European and other countries rather than Latin America. Transnational custom harvesting employees that use H-2A visas occupy a niche within the program and thereby maintain Great Plains harvesting’s unique place in the labor market. This article traces the concurrent evolution of Great Plains harvesting and the PES from the end of the nineteenth century to the 1950s and examines the role of the PES and private labor agencies in today’s global labor market.     

The true extent of global poverty and hunger: questioning the good news narrative of the Millennium Development Goals

The final report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) concludes that the project has been ‘the most successful anti-poverty movement in history’. Two key claims underpin this narrative: that global poverty has been cut in half, and global hunger nearly in half, since 1990. This good-news narrative has been touted by the United Nations and has been widely repeated by the media. But closer inspection reveals that the UN’s claims about poverty and hunger are misleading, and even intentionally inaccurate. The MDGs have used targeted statistical manipulation to make it seem as though the poverty and hunger trends have been improving when in fact they have worsened. In addition, the MDGs use definitions of poverty and hunger that dramatically underestimate the scale likely of these problems. In reality, around four billion people remain in poverty today, and around two billion remain hungry – more than ever before in history, and between two and four times what the UN would have us believe. The implications of this reality are profound. Worsening poverty and hunger trends indicate that our present model of development is not working and needs to be fundamentally rethought.     

Ideology as blocked mourning: Greek national identity in times of economic crisis and austerity

This article approaches the 2010–2014 economic crisis in Greece from the perspective of loss and mourning, critically exploring what questions and insights this provokes. We argue first that the rhetoric of mainstream political and media elites has been instrumental in framing responses to the Greek economic crisis in patriotic terms, a frame subsequently adopted by groups from across the entire political spectrum, whether part of the establishment or not. We then draw on discourse theory and psychoanalysis to argue that attachments to the dominant austerity and anti-austerity responses to the crisis can be understood—at least in part—in terms of a failure (or not) to properly articulate and thus mourn the nationalist-inflected loss associated with economic dislocation. We sketch out two ideological pathways in the discourses of austerity and anti-austerity, which we designate as symptomatic of ‘blocked mourning’: a melancholic pathway that seeks to contain loss through self-blame; and a pathway of ressentiment that seeks to contain loss by attributing its cause to a series of ‘others’. We argue that blocked mourning bears a direct relation to the ideological grip of the austerity and anti-austerity discourses, and that we can better appreciate the character and strength of their affective pull by drawing out the fantasmatic aspects of the narratives expressing Greek national and economic identity. Conversely, we argue that a critique of ideology can be understood in terms of the preconditions for mourning, whose satisfaction would make possible a less invested relation to the fantasmatic guarantees underpinning the austerity/anti-austerity narratives. In this view, a critique of ideology proceeds by bringing to light those factors that could facilitate a more open and deliberative articulation of loss, so as to transform and pluralize collective responses to the economic crisis.     

The Effects of Injury Severity on Jury Negligence Decisions

According to the laws of negligence, jurors' liability decisions are to be influenced by the defendant's conduct, but not by the severity of the plaintiff's injuries. We conducted a jury simulation study to assess whether jurors reason in this manner. We manipulated the conduct of the defendant (reasonable, careless) and the severity of injuries to the plaintiff (mild, severe) in a simulated automobile negligence case. Jurors completed predeliberation questionnaires, deliberated to a verdict, and answered postdeliberation questionnaires. The defendant's conduct had a strong impact on liability judgments, but evidence related to injury severity also had an effect, albeit smaller. We analyze these findings in the context of various cognitive and motivational theories.     

Structural social support: impact on adult substance use and recovery attempts

This study examined the structural social support of 132 men residing in a network of self-run, substance abuse recovery homes. The impact of different types of social relationships on individuals' substance use patterns and recovery attempts was investigated. Results suggest that varying relationship types (i.e., parents, significant other, friends, children, coworkers) have significantly different influences on use and recovery. Additionally, each type of relationship had differential impacts on use versus recovery. Children were the sole relationship type that affected both substance use and recovery attempts in a positive nature, suggesting that children may have a beneficial impact on reducing.     

Economic costs of Oxford House inpatient treatment and incarceration: a preliminary report

The Oxford House model for substance abuse recovery has potential economic advantages associated with the low cost of opening up and maintaining the settings. In the present study, annual program costs per person were estimated for Oxford House based on federal loan information and data collected from Oxford House Inc. In addition, annual treatment and incarceration costs were approximated based on participant data prior to Oxford House residence in conjunction with normative costs for these settings. Societal costs associated with the Oxford House program were relatively low, whereas estimated costs associated with inpatient and incarceration history were high. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The influence of policy on the differential expansion of male and female self-run recovery settings

The present study used archival data to examine the differential growth among self-governed substance abuse recovery homes for men (N = 443) and women (N = 125). The number of these homes increased dramatically across the U.S. from 1988-1999 when state loan funds were made available to states and technical assistance was utilized by organizations developing the houses. State loan programs and the utilization of technical assistance, however, had the strongest impact on the expansion of women's houses compared to men's houses. The implications of these findings in relation to the scarcity of recovery options for women are discussed.     

The influence of site of collection on postmortem morphine concentrations in heroin overdose victims

When assaying for postmortem morphine concentration, significant site sampling variability exists between central and peripheral sampling sites and even within sampling regions of the body. To study the variation, 76 suspected heroin overdoses were identified. Each had femoral artery (FA) and vein (FV), left and right ventricle and pooled heart blood samples obtained at autopsy. Forty-four tested positive for morphine. Morphine concentrations were determined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, with sampling site differences reported as log-transformed ratios and compared by signed rank test.The mean FA to FV ratio for total morphine was 1.2 (range 0-4.5). The ratio for left heart to right heart total morphine was 1.1 (range 0.4-3.2). Left ventricular to FV total morphine ratio was 2.0 (range 0.6-6.9). In these opioid overdose deaths, FA and FV morphine concentrations are usually similar, although up to 4.5-fold differences were noted. Centrally obtained morphine concentrations are on average twice as high compared with peripheral morphine concentrations. Left and right ventricular morphine concentrations were usually similar, although up to 3.2-fold differences were noted (left side higher).     

Accidental deaths involving derringer handguns: a report of three cases

Accidental deaths due to discharge of dropped handguns have been previously reported. In this report, the authors review the history and design of the derringer handgun and describe three cases of accidental death due to discharge of derringer-type handguns. In two of these cases, the gun was dropped, resulting in a fatal discharge. The design of the derringer and the absence of a safety feature are cited as underlying factors. If the alleged weapon can be obtained, testing may demonstrate that discharge could occur if the gun were dropped.     

Forensic genetic analysis of insect gut contents

Entomological evidence is most often used for estimating the postmortem interval, but fly larvae can also be a source of vertebrate DNA. Forensic analysis of DNA recovered from a larva's gut can be used to identify what the larva had been feeding on. During our previous research studies, we used the same DNA extraction for the dual purpose of identifying the insect species and associating a maggot with its last meal. In our experience, we have encountered several situations where this method for associating a maggot with a corpse would have been useful, such as removal of remains from a suspected crime scene, an alternative food source is nearby the scene or the body, and a chain-of-evidence dispute. However, since maggot gut content analysis is a quite brand-new area of study, many of the limitations of the technique have not yet been explored. The results of our most recent research studies suggest that third-instar larvae actively feeding on the corpse can be considered the best source of human DNA, better than postfeeding or starved larvae. In this paper, the state of the art of forensic genetic analysis of maggot gut contents is reviewed.