Over the past three decades, American welfare policy has moved towards ever more restrictive eligibility criteria, reflecting a growing belief that generous benefits encourage dependence. In this essay, I argue that harsher welfare rules actually make it more difficult for low income families to support their children, transition to work and maintain long term financial independence. In some cases such as drug testing, these rules represent an unconstitional intrusion into the lives of citizens and are ultimately a waste of government resources. Moving towards a model of support rather than punishment for families in need would be an ultimately more effective method of poverty alleviation.

The objective of this study was to investigate the mediating role played by youth religiosity in the relationship between the psychosocial factors of parental attachment, peer attachment, and institutional social bonding with positive youth development (PYD). PYD was based on the 5Cs (competence, confidence, connection, character, caring & compassion)model. This study involved a cluster sampling of 677 youths in Malaysian community colleges; their ages ranged from 18 to 23 years (M = 19.47; SD = 3.59). Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires. The findings indicated that youth religiosity fully mediated the relationships of parental attachment, as well as peer attachment with PYD. Religiosity also partially mediated the relationship between institutional social bonding and PYD. Hence the findings suggest that youth religiosity, which comprises ritualistic and prosocial behaviour, contributed considerably to positive youth development.

The mental health needs of displaced persons have traditionally taken the backstage in the conceptualization of the overall medical treatment needs of this population. Despite the intuitive understanding that the trauma experienced by these individuals makes them particularly predisposed to mental illness and substance use disorders, there remains a dearth of scientific data to shed light on this all-important subject. Epidemiologic literature and data consistently fall short in describing the extent of this problem and in particular the attendant alcohol and substance abuse that not only afflict people in humanitarian contexts but also aid workers who attempt to lend a helping hand to these communities. There is little or no documentation on effective, and efficient ways to predict, diagnose and treat alcohol and substance use disorders among displaced persons living in humanitarian regions of the world. This paper describes themultidirectional nature of mental illness and substance abuse, the gaps in knowledge, as well as emerging trends particularly in diagnosis and treatment.

The LAPSSET project is a mega undertaking with heavy investment. Like any other public infrastructure depends entirely on fund availability and proactive involvement of respective governments, particularly Kenya, given its role as the base of the port in Manda. Unfortunately, the mind-set in the region are fixated to believe that hegemonic tendencies of Kenya will divert the initial idea of connecting Africa. Moreover, given the high costs involved compared to most country’s GDP in the region, cooperation with other sub-regions beyond Eastern Africa is indispensable. This article assess the feasibility of the LAPSSET project within the regional political dynamics.

In the context of technology, the organization should be well fitted to implement green practice. Environmental practices have been well studied but only a few studies have presented the green innovation practices of corporate firms in Malaysia. This study focused on the awareness of green practices which were concerted upon organizational (Training Program), environment (Government Regulation & Policies) and individual context (Knowledge). A total of 108 questionnaires were returned out of 200. Reliability analyses were applied to test reliability of the instrument. Meanwhile, regression analysis was applied to determine the predicted factors for green practices towards the awareness of green practices. The results of the analysis indicated knowledge of employees as the most influencing factors to the awareness of green practices. For the practicality of this study, green technology is anticipated to be well implemented when these practices are understood.