The regulation of employment services: Private employment agencies and labour market policy

Public policy relating to the labour market has undergone significant change over recent years. These changes reflect demands for greater flexibility in the labour market, and respond to pressures of growing levels of unemployment and consequent exacerbation of divisions within the labour market. A conflict is apparent, however, in the mix of policies adopted. Accompanying moves towards a more ‘active’ style labour market policy has been a trend towards greater reliance on private means of delivery such that the dividing line between public (CES) and private employment agencies is becoming increasingly blurred. Evidence from a survey of private employment agencies and employers conducted in Brisbane in 1992/93 suggests that such a trend may reduce the capacity to regulate employment services and facilitate a commitment to employers’ interests at the expense of those of many entrants to the labour market.     

Difficillima et Ardua: theory and practice in treatises on the abacus, 950–1150

The abacus is often regarded as a comparatively simple instrument of calculation. Yet the scholars of the tenth to twelfth centuries who wrote the practical manuals on the use of the abacus often went to some lengths to relate their teaching to the work of their contemporaries in the other artes, and to provide theoretical explanations for the principles involved. They sought to elevate the study of the abacus to the status enjoyed by the other arts. This paper attempts to examine the range of their treatment and the limitations imposed on their efforts by their subject-matter.     

The Cultural Queasiness Factor: Intersections of Gender,Sexuality and HIV Prevention in Burma/Myanmar

The Ministry of Health in Burma/Myanmar considers HIV its first priority in disease prevention, and HIV prevention represents a significant element of the work of many of the international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) based in the country (CBI, 2006; Ministry of Health, 2008). Yet inBurma/Myanmar, as elsewhere in Southeast Asia, there is a “cultural queasiness” around HIV. This queasiness is a dis-ease of the emotions, transmitted through the ongoing linking of HIV transmission with “bad behaviour” (resulting, in part, from HIV prevention's own repeated use of a “risk group” approach). Indeed, the mere existence of HIV prevention work, inand of itself, sparks waves of cultural queasiness because it transgresses the norms regarding which topics are considered appropriate for public airing, and which are not. Through reference to empirical research involving in-depth interviews and observation of field work practice, this article demonstrates how the desire to minimise this queasiness can result in disavowal of the experiential and emotional complications so deeply embedded in HIV prevention and HIV transmission. Thus HIV prevention both is affected by, and reinforces, cultural queasiness.     

Hardwood ash nixtamalization may lead to false negatives for the presence of maize by depleting bulk δC in carbonized residues

Among the multiple proxies for detecting maize in precontact economies is the use of δ¹³C analysis of carbonized residues from ceramic cooking vessels. Although maize horticulture was widely established in Eastern North America (ENA) by A.D. 1000, there are carbonized residues from ceramic assemblages after this date that lack the elevated δ¹³C values indicative of the presence of maize. This may be due to the true absence of maize, or other factors including the masking of maize. Prior experimental research by Hart et al. demonstrated that the addition of C₃ plants or consumers to two part mixes with maize can mask maize presence even when maize is the dominant ingredient. Here we investigate the effect of alkali processing of maize (nixtamalization) on δ¹³C using the widespread ENA process of boiling maize kernels with wood ash, a C₃ product, to create hominy. Our experiments test whether or not the process of hardwood ash nixtamalization can mask the presence of maize in adhering carbonized residues by depleting δ¹³C values, and whether there is a reciprocal δ¹³C enrichment effect on the hardwood ash employed in nixtamalization. Overall, there is substantial δ¹³C depletion of residues when maize is cooked with hardwood ash, and hardwood ash cooked with maize shows the reciprocal enrichment. Therefore, the depleted values after the adoption of maize may be false negatives due to the nixtamalization process.     

Reevaluating What We Know About the Histories of Maize in Northeastern North America: A Review of Current Evidence

The adoption of maize in northeastern North America is often seen as a catalyst for the development of settled village life. In this review we develop a theoretical framework centered on shifting-balance theory (SBT) and domesticated landscapes through which to understand the context for the adoption of maize agriculture in the Northeast. We review micro- and macrobotanical evidence and stable carbon isotope data from various sources to reevaluate maize histories and adoption trajectories. These data are coupled with contributions of subregionally significant predecessor plants, such as those constituting the Eastern Agricultural Complex, and wild rice. We find no evidence for rapid transitions to settled village life as a result of maize adoption. Maize was grown for centuries before settled village agricultural systems evolved. It was grown for a sufficiently long time that the potential for local selection leading to Northern Flint is a viable working hypothesis. We call for a refocusing of research questions and a systematic application of contemporary techniques as a means by which to strengthen future inferences based on comparative information sets.