Review of “Youth Peacebuilding: Music,Gender, and Change,” by Lesley J. Pruitt

Ten countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region joined the European Union in 2004. Two more new members from southeast Europe (Bulgaria and Romania) joined in January 2007. Given the diverse range of political, economic, social, and cultural contexts of these nations, EU enlargement and integration processes have entered a new phase of complexity. In this article, I analyze the cultural policy developments in eight of the new EU member states (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia), examine in detail state and nonstate cultural funding patterns, and assess the influence of EU policy—especially with regard to the Culture Program, Structural Funds, and European cultural cooperation initiatives—for its impact on cultural policy development in the new member states. Next, I discuss the new forms of pan-European cultural cooperation, focusing on the development of networks, foundation initiatives, and observatories. Finally, I explore issues in development of cultural policy in the new member states and conclude with recommendations for the future of the enlarged EU.     

Magister- en doktorale navorsing — Departement Kommunikasiekunde,Unisa, 1991/92

SUMMARY

The visual representation of meaning is an extremely complex activity in computer system design. Apart from a few simple guidelines for screen design, little attention is being paid to the visual construction of meaning by means of illustrations, diagrams, symbols, etc. Also no widely agreed set of icons or symbols exist for use by system designers. Nor are there any proven procedures to improve the effectiveness of screen designs. Current design practices fail to address the underlying problem of the structural analysis of images and the communication of meaning.

This dissertation therefore investigates the nature of visual literacy in computer applications and offers a paradigmatic approach to the analysis and design of computer images as a method to increase the probability that the user will receive and interpret the intended message accurately. The proposed model includes taxonomies of the structure and organisation of visual images and a set of evaluation criteria.     

Forensic mental health assessment in France: Recommendations for quality improvement

The quality of forensic mental health assessment has been a growing concern in various countries on both sides of the Atlantic, but the legal systems are not always comparable and some aspects of forensic assessment are specific to a given country. This paper describes the legal context of forensic psychological assessment in France (i.e. pre-trial investigation phase entrusted to a judge, with mental health assessment performed by preselected professionals called “experts” in French), its advantages and its pitfalls. Forensic psychiatric or psychological assessment is often an essential and decisive element in criminal cases, but since a judiciary scandal which was made public in 2005 (the Outreau case) there has been increasing criticism from the public and the legal profession regarding the reliability of clinical conclusions. Several academic studies and a parliamentary report have highlighted various faulty aspects in both the judiciary process and the mental health assessments. The heterogeneity of expert practices in France appears to be mainly related to a lack of consensus on several core notions such as mental health diagnosis or assessment methods, poor working conditions, lack of specialized training, and insufficient familiarity with the Code of Ethics. In this article we describe and analyze the French practice of forensic psychologists and psychiatrists in criminal cases and propose steps that could be taken to improve its quality, such as setting up specialized training courses, enforcing the Code of Ethics for psychologists, and calling for consensus on diagnostic and assessment methods.     

Issues Surrounding Post-Adoption Contact in Foster Adoption: The Perspective of Foster-to-Adopt Families and Child Welfare Workers

Current research on open adoption gives less consideration to issues surrounding post-adoption contact with birth parents for children adopted from care. Yet, it is widely recognized that the profile of the children and their birth parents, as well as the quality of post-adoption contacts, vary considerably depending on the context in which the adoption takes place. This article is based on interviews with 32 child welfare workers and 16 foster-to-adopt families. It focuses specifically on aspects and conditions that should be taken into consideration when determining whether or how contact between the adopted child and the birth family should be maintained. Our results show that there are distinctive challenges and dilemmas for open adoption in situations where the adopted child comes from a maltreating family, under the responsibility of child welfare services.     

Heterosexual,Cisgender and Gender and Sexually Diverse Adolescents’ Sexting Behaviors: The Role of Body Appreciation

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Sexting has become part of the repertoire of adolescents’ sexual behaviors, especially among those who identify as gender and sexually diverse. Whereas body...     

Blockchain Technology and the Endangered Species Called Humans

Law and Critique - The following lines aim at two goals: firstly, connecting the three blind spots (language, territory and the body) that Katrin Becker's article has identified in the analysis...