Faith and politics: The rhetoric of church-state separation

Criticism of religiously motivated contributions to public policy debate is largely misconceived. It assumes that the mischief which constitutional separation of church and state is supposed to cure is a domination of the state by the church. This presents only one side of the story. Subservience by the church to the slate should also be avoided. The law of a liberal state is legitimate to the extent that it does not conflict with the basic moral values of its citizens. Therefore, an ongoing conversation about basic values is necessary. Allowing churches and individual believers the freedom to make distinctive 'religious' contributions to this conversation is consistent with the separation of church and state. It is an aspect of the liberal democratic state's obligation to listen to all perspectives on difficult moral issues. A close relationship between church and state, on the other hand, has the capacity to impede the conversation.

Thinking collaboratively about the peer-review process for journal- article publication

In this conversation, Kevin K. Kumashiro shares his reflections on challenges to publishing anti-oppressive research in educational journals. He then invites eight current and former editors of leading educational research journals - William F. Pinar, Elizabeth Graue, Carl A. Grant, Maenette K. P. Benham, Ronald H. Heck, James Joseph Scheurich, Allan Luke, and Carmen Luke - to critique and expand on his analysis. Kumashiro begins the conversation by describing his own experiences submitting manuscripts to educational research journals and receiving comments by anonymous reviewers and journal editors. He suggests three ways to rethink the collaborative potential of the peer-review process: as constructive, as multilensed, and as situated. The eight current and former editors of leading educational research journals then critique and expand Kumashiro's analysis. Kumashiro concludes the conversation with additional reflections on barriers and contradictions involved in advancing anti-oppressive educational research in educational journals. Copyright © by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

The effect of auditory and visual distracters on the useful field of view: Implications for the driving task

PURPOSE. The driving environment is becoming increasingly complex, including both visual and auditory distractions within the in- vehicle and external driving environments. This study was designed to investigate the effect of visual and auditory distractions on a performance measure that has been shown to be related to driving safety, the useful field of view. METHODS. A laboratory study recorded the useful field of view in 28 young visually normal adults (mean 22.6 +/- 2.2 years). The useful field of view was measured in the presence and absence of visual distracters (of the same angular subtense as the target) and with three levels of auditory distraction (none, listening only, listening and responding). RESULTS. Central errors increased significantly (P < 0.05) in the presence of auditory but not visual distracters, while peripheral errors increased in the presence of both visual and auditory distracters. Peripheral errors increased with eccentricity and were greatest in the inferior region in the presence of distracters. CONCLUSIONS. Visual and auditory distracters reduce the extent of the useful field of view, and these effects are exacerbated in inferior and peripheral locations. This result has significant ramifications for road safety in an increasingly complex in-vehicle and driving environment.

A pilot study of online assessment of childhood speech disorders

We investigated the feasibility of assessing childhood speech disorders via an Internet-based telehealth system (eREHAB). The equipment provided videoconferencing through a 128 kbit/s Internet link, and enabled the transfer of pre-recorded video and audio data from the participant to the online clinician. Six children (mean age = 5.3 years) with a speech disorder were studied. Assessments of single-word articulation, intelligibility in conversation, and oro-motor structure and function were conducted for each participant, with simultaneous scoring by a face to face and an online clinician. There were high levels of agreement between the two scoring environments for single-word articulation (92%), speech intelligibility (100%) and oro-motor tasks (91%). High levels of inter- and intra-rater agreement were achieved for the online ratings for most measures. The results suggest that an Internet-based assessment protocol has potential for assessing paediatric speech disorders.

'Nothing good ever came out of Japan': Race-mixing and the limits of diaspora

This paper argues that postcolonial notions of diaspora are premised on immigrant subjectivities and standpoints which do not fully apprehend the mixed-race / bi-racial experience and the local effect of cultural hybridity in Western settings. The paper was prompted by a recent conversation with Dee, the daughter of a Japanese warbride. As a child Dee recalled being told by her friend's mother that 'nothing good ever came out of Japan'. The significance of constant interpolations into 'Asianness' by statements such as these; by the 'where do you come from?' question and by more blatant discriminations are inadequately addressed by traditional and postcolonial notions of diaspora. 'Roots' and 'routes' imagery feature prominently in discussions of diaspora and hybridity which aim to decolonise culture and identity in deconstructive moves that highlight their flexible, multiple, contractedness. While it has been argued that even these conceptualisations are problematic because they privilege orders of explanation, theory and standpoint that are forced back into line with traditional notions of discrete 'races', cultures, ethnicities and identities, cultural studies and postcolonial theorists do not appear to find this contradiction overly troubling. Lodged in bodies that do not easily conflate to neat either/or cultures, politics and genetics, race-mixing also defies and yet return us to culture and biology. However, I argue that their refractions though the same tired old orders of racial, ethnic, cultural and national differentiation prevent us from disregarding the discursive effects of racism and racialisation.

A VERDADE É A CONVERSA: Aproximações inesperadas entre o neo-pragmatismo de Richard Rorty e a Teologia da Libertação em Juan Luis Segundo

Este estudo é uma tentativa de promover uma partilha de perspectivas entre o neo-pragmatismo do filósofo Richard Rorty, mormente a partir das obras Filosofia e o espelho da natureza e Contingência, Ironia e Solidariedade e a Teologia da Libertação, em seu mais proeminente representante, Juan Luis Segundo, com o foco principal nas obras Libertação da teologia e O dogma que liberta. Desenvolve-se aqui uma aproximação de olhares para a verdade e a revelação, concebendo-as como processos pedagógicos. A verdade, como conceito não apenas religioso, do que se busca para dar sentido ao mundo e a vida humana e a revelação, como uma experiência marcada pela linguagem e expectativas religiosas de significado existencial são experiências similares e constituem-se não como o resultado de um processo de aprendizagem, mas como o processo em si mesmo, aberto e em constante renovação. A verdade, assim, não seria aonde se chega, mas os caminhos pelos quais se vai. Encontrar os pontos de contato e as possíveis mútuas contribuições do pensamento do filósofo Richard Rorty, e sua filosofia edificante, e do teólogo Juan Luis Segundo, e sua ideia de revelação como processo pedagógico, será meu esforço de aproximação entre suas proposições e a construção de uma proposta que não fuja à linguagem e condição humanas. O humano, que marcado pela liberdade, tem na contingência de suas construções um limite para as suas conquistas e um espaço para a sua libertação de qualquer processo desumanizador.

ASPECTOS COMUNICATIVOS E CULTURAIS NOS HÁBITOS CULINÁRIOS CAIÇARA DA COMUNIDADE QUILOMBOLA DA FAZENDA PICINGUABA, DE UBATUBA SP

Estudo sobre os processos comunicativos envoltos na transformação dos hábitos culinários da comunidade quilombola da Fazenda Picinguaba de Ubatuba, SP. O objetivo é entender as origens e as causas que provocaram alterações nos hábitos culinários da comunidade do Quilombo da Fazenda, a partir de uma análise comparativa entre os fazeres primitivos e os praticados hoje. Foi analisado também o processo comunicacional desenvolvido para a transmissão da cultura alimentar entre as gerações, identificando as linguagens utilizadas. Como instrumento para o entendimento desses fenômenos, esta pesquisa foi realizada à luz das teorias e conceitos dos estudos culturais; dos conceitos sobre comunidades e identidades, além da teoria da folkcomunicação desenvolvida por Luiz Beltrão. Para tanto, foi realizada pesquisa bibliográfica e estudo de documentos, além de entrevistas utilizando-se a modalidade história oral com os membros da comunidade. Os resultados obtidos apontam uma mudança nos hábitos alimentares da comunidade do Quilombo da Fazenda, devido à facilidade de acesso ao comércio de gêneros alimentícios, decorrente da construção da rodovia Rio-Santos, e a influência trazida pela televisão, a partir da implantação da rede de energia elétrica em 2008. No entanto, observamos que apesar dessa mudança, a base da cultura alimentar quilombola vem mantendo muito dos seus aspectos originais. A comunicação dentro da comunidade quilombola e a transmissão dos saberes e fazeres tradicionais da comunidade ocorrem predominante pela oralidade. Identificamos a presença de dança, música, roda de conversa, culinária, artesanato que correspondem aos gêneros da folkcomunicação.

ENTRE IMIGRANTES E NATIVOS DIGITAIS: USOS E RELAÇÕES COM O COMPUTADOR

Considerando a relevância do tema nas discussões acerca da educação e novas tecnologias na sociedade contemporânea, a presente pesquisa de cunho exploratório, propõe compreender relação dos adultos e crianças com o computador e como ele media (ou não) está relação. Tomando os pais e a educadora como imigrantes e as crianças como nativos digitais do grupo do 1º no do EF I, de uma escola da rede particular de ensino, em São Bernardo do ampo. É uma pesquisa quantitativa na medida em que estuda frequência com que os dados aparecem entre o grupo de participantes e qualitativa uma vez que recorre a estratégias de coleta de dados tais como: roda de conversa com os educandos; questionário, e-mails e grupo de discussão com os pais (pai ou mãe); questionário, e-mails e entrevistas com a educadora. E como aporte teórico para as reflexões desta pesquisa autores como: BABIN & KOULOUMDJIAN (1989); CHAVES & SETZER (1980); HUIZINGA (2001); LÈVY (1993; 1996; 1999); KENSKY (2003; 2007); MORAN (1987; 2007); PAPERT (2008); VALENTE (2002); SANCHO (1998); QUEIROZ (1999), SÁ (2001) que contribuíram na medida em que possibilitaram uma conversa entre suas ideias, concepções e com as vozes dos participantes da pesquisa. Os resultados caminham para compreensão de que o computador para os educandos está atrelado à relação entre: infância, experiência, ludicidade como elementos para a construção do conhecimento; para os pais uma possibilidade ainda em adaptação, mas que requer orientação; e para a educadora a tecnologia parece ainda estar nos limites do campo da resistência, provalvelmente em decorrência da incongruência entre qualificação e políticas de trabalho docente. O trabalho deixa questões, esperando-se incentivar, com isso, novos estudos.

Les Français, les Québécois et la langue de l'autre:relations entre langue, société et culture

Quels sont les rapports entre une culture et une langue? Les Francophones de France et du Québec partagent-ils la même culture? On peut répondre à ces questions en étudiant les discours sur l'autre. L'analyse des discours publics sur la langue de l'autre permet de démontrer des divergences entre les deux groupes. Elles comprennent la valeur relative accordée à chaque variété, l'importance qu'y prend la formalité et la façon qu'on y a de conduire la conversation. Ces différences sont solidaires des stéréotypes sur l'arrogance des uns et la simplicité des autres.

Feminist Post-structuralist discourse analysis: a new theoretical and methodological approach?

This chapter serves three very important functions within this collection. First, it aims to make the existence of FPDA better known to both gender and language researchers and to the wider community of discourse analysts, by outlining FPDA’s own theoretical and methodological approaches. This involves locating and positioning FPDA in relation, yet in contradistinction to, the fields of discourse analysis to which it is most often compared: Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and, to a lesser extent, Conversation Analysis (CA). Secondly, the chapter serves a vital symbolic function. It aims to contest the authority of the more established theoretical and methodological approaches represented in this collection, which currently dominate the field of discourse analysis. FPDA considers that an established field like gender and language study will only thrive and develop if it is receptive to new ways of thinking, divergent methods of study, and approaches that question and contest received wisdoms or established methods. Thirdly, the chapter aims to introduce some new, experimental and ground-breaking FPDA work, including that by Harold Castañeda-Peña and Laurel Kamada (same volume). I indicate the different ways in which a number of young scholars are imaginatively developing the possibilities of an FPDA approach to their specific gender and language projects.

Positioning gender in discourse:a feminist methodology

This book introduces a newly emerging approach to the analysis of talk. FPDA offers a means of analysing the ways in which speakers construct their gender identities within a complex web of power relations. The FPDA approach challenges the traditional feminist view that females are often disempowered within mixed sex settings. This approach shows that both male and female speakers constantly shift between positions of powerfulness and powerlessness - even within the same conversation. The methodology is demonstrated through a study of teenagers' conversations in class and a study of senior managers' discussions in business meetings, concluding with suggestions that while female speakers are often 'silenced' by dominant social discourses, they are far from uniformly powerless.

A structural method for the design of fault tolerant distributed control systems

Distributed digital control systems provide alternatives to conventional, centralised digital control systems. Typically, a modern distributed control system will comprise a multi-processor or network of processors, a communications network, an associated set of sensors and actuators, and the systems and applications software. This thesis addresses the problem of how to design robust decentralised control systems, such as those used to control event-driven, real-time processes in time-critical environments. Emphasis is placed on studying the dynamical behaviour of a system and identifying ways of partitioning the system so that it may be controlled in a distributed manner. A structural partitioning technique is adopted which makes use of natural physical sub-processes in the system, which are then mapped into the software processes to control the system. However, communications are required between the processes because of the disjoint nature of the distributed (i.e. partitioned) state of the physical system. The structural partitioning technique, and recent developments in the theory of potential controllability and observability of a system, are the basis for the design of controllers. In particular, the method is used to derive a decentralised estimate of the state vector for a continuous-time system. The work is also extended to derive a distributed estimate for a discrete-time system. Emphasis is also given to the role of communications in the distributed control of processes and to the partitioning technique necessary to design distributed and decentralised systems with resilient structures. A method is presented for the systematic identification of necessary communications for distributed control. It is also shwon that the structural partitions can be used directly in the design of software fault tolerant concurrent controllers. In particular, the structural partition can be used to identify the boundary of the conversation which can be used to protect a specific part of the system. In addition, for certain classes of system, the partitions can be used to identify processes which may be dynamically reconfigured in the event of a fault. These methods should be of use in the design of robust distributed systems.

Parent-child interaction and road behaviour:An exploratory study

The relationship between parent-child interaction and child pedestrian behaviour was investigated by comparing parent-child communication to road-crossing behaviour. Forty-four children and their parents were observed carrying out a communication task (the Map Task), and were covertly filmed crossing roads around a university campus. The Map Task provided measures of task focus and sensitivity to another's current knowledge, which we predicted would be reflected in road-crossing behaviour. We modelled indices of road behaviour with factor scores derived from a principal-component analysis of communication features, and background variables including the age, sex and traffic experience of the child, and parental education. A number of variables were significantly related to road crossing, including the age and sex of the child, the length of the conversation, and specific conversational features such as the checking and clarification of uncertain information by both parent and child. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.