<p>A critical anti-racist feminist analysis is used to examine the City of Toronto's current approach to gender equity and to consider how the City can move forward based on the discussion of Toronto's issues and challenges and other cities' successes. Written from the perspective of one member of a 14-member City of Toronto women's advisory committee, it examines the City's approach to diversity in general and gender equity in particular. The analysis finds serious flaws in the City's current approach, related to a lack of gender equity structures and mechanisms, a lack of interest in, and resources allocated to, such structures and mechanisms, and a lack of civic engagement of women, which forms a part of the City's overall democratic deficit. Structures and mechanisms implemented in other cities in order to promote gender equity are explored in order to provide the City with successful possibilities to consider. A proposed six-stage model categorizes various levels of commitment that cities have demonstrated towards achieving gender equity. This model allows cities, such as Toronto, to assess their individual progress on gender equity relative to other cities and to better understand the need to increase their efforts. Lastly, recommendations to the City of Toronto to enhance its gender equity approach are discussed. Despite the limitations of this study, the author believes it was highly necessary to document and disseminate the issues related to the City of Toronto's approach to gender equity in order to open up productive dialogue between the City and the community and to motivate effective, equity-enhancing change in a timely manner.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

The effects of neoliberal practices on social policy decisions continues to favor a form of privatization in which corporatized marketplace practices are the guide for social institutional operations. One effect of this has been an increase of marketplace organizations as operators of social services programs, including welfare-to-work programs. These organizations adhere to the prevailing trends in business community for profit making, while ostensibly following the principles of welfare-to-work regulations for service delivery. However, the practices introduced by pursuing profit can conflict with the recognizing all the goals of workfare as outlined in the federal policy of TANF or the Temporary Aid for Needy Families. Under these regulations, providers are charged with assisting welfare recipients receiving cash support in addressing personal barriers to economic stability and in gaining employment intended to provide a catalyst to economic stability. This research examines a corporate social services provider, the practices instituted by its leaders, and the effects that those practices have on the staff of the welfare-to-work center and their clients. Specifically, this examines how the links between profit making and the statistical performance assessments of state funding agencies influenced an operational model, analogous to the manufacturing center for cheap labor. The emphasis on quick workforce attachment strategies exceeded the state's performance measures and allowed the maximization of profit; however, this research determines that these strategies denied workfare clients the services that they and the state expected them to receive. / Anthropology

Master of Science

<p dir="ltr">Due to increasing legislative and societal demand for humane egg production, an increased production of cage-free eggs is inevitable. Past research has focused on the impact of cage-free housing systems (CFS) on laying hens' performance, health, and space use; however, limited studies have examined the impacts of CFS on the behavioral activities of laying hens, particularly in single-tier floor systems in the U.S. Broadly, this research examined the influence of two housing systems on the behavior of laying hens as they age. Specifically, the study aimed to provide information on how dissimilar cage-free systems meet the behavioral needs of laying hens. </p><p dir="ltr">Two hundred pullets were randomly assigned to either a single-tier floor room (SFR) or a modified multi-tier aviary room (MAR) at 17 weeks of age (WOA), where they remained until 85 WOA. Starting at 55 WOA, thirty focal birds were marked with non-toxic markers for individual identification in each room. The behavior of the birds was recorded continuously over two consecutive days during the mid-laying (55 WOA) and late-laying (85 WOA) phases. The behavioral expressions of the focal birds were annotated using 10-min continuous sampling at 5 time points (10 minutes after lights-on (TOD 1), 4 hr after lights-on (TOD 2), 8hr after lights-on (TOD 3), 12 hr after lights-on (TOD 4), and 10 minutes before lights-off (TOD 5)). At each of these 5 time points, 4 birds were randomly selected for observation. Behavior duration and frequency data were analyzed using PROC GLIMMIX in SAS 9.4, with the main effects of housing system (HS), age, and time of day (TOD). Descriptive statistics were used to present the behavioral time budgets of marked and unmarked birds in MAR and SFR. Further, the behaviors performed in different spatial zones (areas within each room) were presented as the percentage of observed time laying hens spent engaged in a specific behavior over the total time at a particular spatial zone. </p><p dir="ltr">Birds in MAR and SFR spent most of the observed time perching at all ages. The birds (marked and unmarked) performed environmental pecking and foraging for the highest percentage of time in the litter area of SFR and MAR. Similarly, the percentage of time the birds (marked and unmarked) spent preening and performing OCB (wing flapping, stretching, and feather-ruffling) was highest when they occupied the litter zone of MAR and SFR. Housing system influenced the time that both marked and unmarked birds spent performing foraging and environmental pecking (EP) such that marked and unmarked birds in SFR spent more time engaged in these behaviors than marked and unmarked birds in MAR (Marked: SFR vs. MAR, P = 0.043; Unmarked: SFR vs. MAR, P = 0.002). Further, marked and unmarked birds in SFR exhibited a higher frequency of EP than birds in MAR (Marked: SFR vs. MAR, P = 0.02; Unmarked: SFR vs. MAR, P < 0.001). The frequency of locomotion (standing and walking) activity differed between SFR and MAR birds. Birds (marked and unmarked) stood more frequently in SFR than in MAR (Marked: SFR vs. MAR, P = 0.046; Unmarked: SFR vs. MAR, P < 0.001). Further, SFR birds had a higher walking frequency than MAR birds (Marked: P = 0.003; Unmarked: P = 0.02). Birds (marked and unmarked) in MAR perched more frequently than SFR birds (Marked: SFR vs. MAR, P < 0.001; Unmarked: SFR vs. MAR, P = 0.01); however, unmarked birds preened more frequently in SFR than in MAR (P < 0.001). Regarding time of day, both marked and unmarked birds exhibited higher preening frequency 10 mins after lights-on (TOD 1) than at other times of day (P < 0.001). Similarly, marked birds perched for a longer duration early in the morning (TOD 1) and late at night (TOD 5), than at TOD 2 and TOD 3 (P < 0.001). </p><p dir="ltr">This study revealed that MAR and SFR may differ in how they accommodate the behavioral needs of laying hens, with hen activity levels varying between the two types of housing systems. Further research is needed to understand the implications of behavioral outcomes for the welfare of laying hens in different types of CFS.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The Pekin duck, a major poultry product, is an important livestock species that requires further study to understand their physiological needs and welfare. Welfare improvements can be obtainable by measuring a duck’s response to its environment and developing management practices that allow ducks to explore positive natural behaviors and minimize negative affective states. Assessing welfare includes measuring physical and mental states of an animal and how it copes with its environment. This thesis sets out to use established indicators for mental state, such as serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA), to validate methods of measuring duck affective state applied to environment changes. Affective states can be assessed using neurotransmitter concentrations inserted into turnover equations to understand serotonergic and dopaminergic activity within the synapse. Similarly, gene expression can be linked to affective state by investigating the rate-limiting enzyme in 5-HT and DA synthesis. Developing neuroendocrine profiles for the Pekin duck can elucidate how environmental changes affect physiology and welfare. </p><p dir="ltr">Preening cups are a semi open water source placed within duck barns to improve welfare and allow for positive natural behaviors. Since ducks are waterfowl, many believe these birds need access to open water to develop naturally and have positive welfare. Our lab designed an experiment, referenced in Chapter 3, to compare ducks raised with preening cups to ducks raised with only water nipple lines. At Purdue Animal Science Research and Education Center (ASREC), 260 grow-out Pekin ducks were raised to the industry standard. There were 2 pens that had access to preening cups on day 18 and 2 pens had access to only nipple lines. We collected duck brains on day 18 before preening cup placement (PRE, n = 6). On day 43, we collected duck brains from pens with preening cups (PC, n = 6) and from pens without preening cups (CON, n = 6). Then, brains were hemisected and further dissected into caudal mesencephalon (CM), rostral mesencephalon (RM), diencephalon (DI), and forebrain (FB). The right portions of each brain were used to investigate neurotransmitter concentrations and turnover using mass spectrometry. While the left portions were used to investigate gene expression of tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH1, TPH2) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). Our results found no significant differences in 5-HT turnover or 5-HT static levels associated with preening cups across collection days. In the CM, we found a decrease in DA turnovers for PC and CON (p = 0.0067) when compared to PRE. Also, we found a decrease in DA turnover for PC when compared to PRE and CON (p = 0.003) in the RM. In the CM, we found increases in TPH1 expression (p = 0.022) for PC and CON when compared to PRE and in TH expression (p = 0.022) for CON when compared to PRE. There were no significant differences found in the RM and DI brain areas for gene expression. In the FB, we found a decrease in TH gene expression (p = 0.031). Overall, our data highlights an increase in dopaminergic activity within the midbrain. This increase in DA can be correlated with aggressive behavior witnessed from ducks housed with preening cups. Elevated DA is associated with addiction and resource guarding. In this experimental study, we concluded that preening cups placed with a small number of ducks (n = 65 ducks per preening cup) may elicit aggressive behavior and decrease welfare. </p><p dir="ltr">The results of this initial study led us to the question of how a duck affective state is altered by preening cups in a large commercial setting. A commercial Pekin duck barn will place one preening cup for approximately 1,000-1,500 ducks, which means a barn will carry about 3-5 preening cups. Similar methodology was used in Chapter 4 to investigate the ducks affective state using mass spectrometry and qRT-PCR to assess 5-HT and DA activity within the brain. We visited four commercial duck barns with an average of 7,500 ducks on day (d)21 prior to preening cup placement, d28 one week after preening cup placement, and d35 one day prior to processing. We collected litter samples to test moisture content (n = 3/barn/day) and found no differences before or after preening cup placement. We performed a transect walk by moving systematically through each barn and recording the frequency of welfare concerns. All barns showed low percentages of welfare concerns while differences were likely due to natural aging of ducks in a production system. Brains were collected from two locations in the barn including ducks actively using the preening cup (PC) and ducks across the barn not actively performing any behaviors other than standing or sitting (CON). Brains were divided into CM, RM, and DI brain areas and each half was assessed with 5-HT and DA turnover along with TPH1, TPH2, and TH gene expression. No differences were found for 5-HT turnover or static levels. This suggests that preening cups are not altering affective state. DA turnover was decreased in the CM (p < 0.05) and DI (p < 0.001) due to age, but no differences were found between collection location (PC vs CON). We link this increase in dopaminergic activity to natural aging and preparation for puberty as no aggressive behavior was witnessed in commercial barns. Aggression and resource guarding of commercial preening cups is unlikely due to the increased number of ducks per water source and the large space the ducks can access. There was increased TPH1 expression within the RM brain area for d35 ducks when compared to d28 and d21. We conclude that affective state is not variable within the barn based on collection locations. Overall, 5-HT was not affected by preening cups and DA was affected by age. This means that preening cups may not improve affective state and welfare, but they also do not cause determinantal effects either. </p><p dir="ltr">Another major welfare concern associated with environment is transportation for Pekin ducks. To assess how affective state is altered by crating and transportation of hens and drakes, Chapter 5 used similar methodology as the previous studies. Transportation may cause an acutely stressful event while activating a physiological stress response. Chapter 5 measured several central and peripheral physiological parameters to assess responses to transportation. Thirty-six, 23-week-old breeder ducks from a commercial facility were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. The control group (CON) was caught and immediate euthanized in the pen, the crate group (CRA) was caught and crated for 90 minutes before euthanasia, and the transport group (TRA) was caught, crated, and loaded into the back of a truck to be driven on country roads at 55 mph for 90 minutes before immediate euthanasia. Blood was collected for corticosterone ELISA analysis and blood smear heterophil to lymphocyte ratio (HLR) analysis. We found that hens showed an increase in HLR (p = 0.035) and serum corticosterone (p = 0.01) due to CRA. Drakes and hens showed an increase in HLR (p = 0.035) and serum corticosterone (p = 0.0084) for TRA. These results suggest that transportation is a stressor that elicits a sex dependent response where hens increase corticosterone and HLR under CRA unlike drakes who only showed a stress response under TRA. Likewise, a sex difference was shown for 5-HT turnover where hens show a stepwise increase from CON to CRA (p = 0.01) and from CRA to TRA (p = 0.016) in the CM and RM. There were no differences for DA turnover while TPH1 gene expression was decreased (p = 0.03) for TRA hens when compared to CON and CRA hens. Our results suggest that transportation negatively shifts affective state by increasing stress responses in ducks and reducing serotonergic activity in hens. In the future, care should be taken to evaluate stress between sexes and minimize transportation time. </p><p dir="ltr">In conclusion, preening cups and transportation are important aspects of a Pekin ducks’ life that alter affective state and physiology. We recommend proper management of preening cups to ensure positive welfare by placing water sources over open pits to prevent excess accumulation of water in the barn. We recommend that while evaluating stressors, researchers need to assess different sexes and collection time from the onset of the stressor. Future studies can include determining affective state for other enrichments such as environmental enrichment devices or investigating commercial barns without preening cups during the production cycle. Continued research could measure affective state following shorter transportation stress or chronic stress to resolve what timeframes alter 5-HT and DA turnover. Transportation may be minimized by installing on-site processing facilities to stun and process animals without transportation to reduce negative affective states. In an academic setting, pharmaceutical intervention may be interesting to investigate to improve affective state during stressful events.</p>

No / General practices in the UK are increasingly hosting welfare advice services on their premises to address patients' social and economic needs. In this paper, the authors present the outcomes of a service providing welfare advice across 30 general practices in inner-city Bradford. A retrospective study of all patients referred for advice during the initial 24 months of the project was conducted. The following information was collected: patient demographics, source of referrals, advice issues raised and income generated through benefit claims. The advice workers saw 2484 patients dealing with over 4000 welfare advice issues. Demand for the service varied widely across practices, reflecting practice list size and engagement with the service by practice staff. The main source of referrals was general practitioners (28%), and disability-related welfare benefits constituted the largest category of advice issues. Sixty-nine per cent of patients seen for advice were of south Asian ethnic origin. The advice workers raised £2 389 255 in welfare benefit claims for patients, primarily through disability-related benefits. Approximately one in four patients referred for advice benefited financially. It is concluded that the service is an excellent strategy by which primary care organisations address the social, economic and environmental influences on the health of their population.

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

1999 Dozier Award Winner / Welfare reform, in its attempts to order the lives of women on cash assistance, uses time as a means of controlling women. Single mothers living in poverty experience, perceive and use time in ways that the state welfare bureaucracy fails to recognize and/or refuses to work with. Poverty is anchored in a historical and cyclical dynamic based on low valuations of people's time, structured by race, class and gender. This essay shows how specific temporal sequences, orderings and flows are implicated in the etiology of poverty, forming cumulative feedback loops that challenge the linear trajectory of the welfare-to-work model. It argues that the welfare state bureaucracy practices a powerful politics of time, consisting in the imposition of forms of order and rigid temporal structures on the highly contingent and unpredictable lives of the poor. These temporal devices of control, rather than facilitating women's efforts to move from dependence to self-reliance, only exacerbate their struggles to manage the vagaries and irregularities of time in their lives. Time thus constitutes a locus of struggle in the welfare relationship, between women on welfare and the welfare agency.

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