Search results for: gender identity

Authors: B. McGovern, J. F. Luck, A. Gade, I. V. Lake, D. O’Connell, H. C. Cutcliffe, K. P. Shah, E. E. Ginalis, C. M. Lambert, N. Christian, J. R. Kait, A. W. Yu, C. P. Eckersley, C. R. Bass

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Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in the form of post-concussive injuries and attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) share similar cognitive impairments, including impaired working memory and executive function. The memory-guided oculomotor task separates working memory and inhibitory components to provide further information on the nature of these deficits in each pathology. Eleven subjects with ADHD, fifteen control subjects, and ten subjects with recent concussive injury were matched on age, gender, and education (all high school-age males). Eye movements were recorded during memory-guided oculomotor tasks with varying delays using EyeLink 1000 (SR Research). The percentage of premature saccades and the latency of correct response are the analyzed measures for response inhibition and working memory, respectively. No significant differences were found in latencies between controls subjects and subjects with ADHD or post-concussive injuries, in accordance with previous studies. Subjects with ADHD and post-concussive injuries both demonstrated a trend of increased percentages of premature saccades compared to control subjects in the same oculomotor task. This trend reached statistical significance between the post-concussive and control groups (p < 0.05). These findings support the primary nature of the executive function deficits in response inhibition in ADHD and mTBI. The interpretation of results is limited by the small sample size and the exploratory nature of the study. Further investigation into oculomotor performance differences in mTBI and ADHD may help in differentiating these pathologies in consequent diagnoses and provide insight into the interaction of these deficits in mTBI.

Keywords: attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), concussion, diagnosis, oculomotor, pediatrics

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Authors: Yu-Shun Elisa Pong

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Music aesthetics related to phenomenology is rarely discussed and still in the ascendant while multi-dimensional discourses of philosophy were emerged to be an important trend in the 20th century. In the present study, a basic theory of phenomenology from Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) is revealed and discussed followed by the introduction of intentionality concepts, eidetic reduction, horizon, world, and inter-subjectivity issues. Further, phenomenology of music and general art was brought to attention by the introduction of Roman Ingarden’s The Work of Music and the Problems of its Identity (1933) and Mikel Dufrenne’s The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience (1953). Finally, Debussy’s music will be analyzed and discussed from the perspective of phenomenology. Phenomenology is not so much a methodology or analytics rather than a common belief. That is, as much as possible to describe in detail the different human experience, relative to the object of purpose. Such idea has been practiced in various guises for centuries, only till the early 20th century Phenomenology was better refined through the works of Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and others. Debussy was born in an age when the Western society began to accept the multi-cultural baptism. With his unusual sensitivity to the oriental culture, Debussy has presented considerable inspiration, absorption, and echo in his music works. In fact, his relationship with nature is far from echoing the idea of Chinese ancient literati and nature. Although he is not the first composer to associate music with human and nature, the unique quality and impact of his works enable him to become a significant figure in music aesthetics. Debussy’s music tried to develop a quality analogous of nature, and more importantly, based on vivid life experience and artistic transformation to achieve the realm of pure art. Such idea that life experience comes before artwork, either clear or vague, simple or complex, was later presented abstractly in his late works is still an interesting subject worth further discussion. Debussy’s music has existed for more than or close to a century. It has received musicology researcher’s attention as much as other important works in the history of Western music. Among the pluralistic discussion about Debussy’s art and ideas, phenomenological aesthetics has enlightened new ideas and view angles to relook his great works and even gave some previous arguments legitimacy. Overall, this article provides a new insight of Debussy’s music from phenomenological exploration and it is believed phenomenology would be an important pathway in the research of the music aesthetics.

Keywords: Debussy's music, music esthetics, oriental culture, phenomenology

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Authors: Yaou Zhang

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Background: Relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to the production of Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera The Turn of the Screw. As one of Britten’s most remarkable operas. The story of the libretto was from Henry James’s novella of the same name. The novella was created in 1898 and one of the primary questions addressed to people in the story is “how real the ghosts are,” which leads the story to a huge ambiguity in readers’ minds. Aims: This research focuses on the experience of seeing the opera on stage over several decades. This study of opera productions over time not only provides insight into how stage performances can alter audience members' perceptions of the opera in the present but also reveals a landscape of shifting aesthetics and receptions. Methods: To examine the hypotheses in interpretation and reception, the qualitative analysis is used to examine the figures of ghosts in different productions across the time from 1954 to 2021 in the UK: by accessing recordings, newspapers, and reviews for the productions that are sourced from online and physical archives. For instance, the field research is conducted on the topic by arranging interviews with the creative team and visiting Opera North in Leeds and Britten-Pears Foundation. The collected data reveals the “hidden identity” in creative teams’ interpretations, social preferences, and rediscover that have previously remained unseen. Results: This research presents an angle of Britten’s Screw by using the third position; it shows how the attention moved from the stage of “do the ghosts really exist” to “traumatised children.” Discussion: Critics and audiences have debated whether the governess hallucinates the ghosts in the opera for decades. While, in recent years, directors of new productions have given themselves the opportunity to go deeper into Britten's musical structure and offer the opera more space to be interpreted, rather than debating if "ghosts actually exist" or "the psychological problems of the governess." One can consider and reflect that the questionable actions of the children are because they are suffering from trauma, whether the trauma comes from the ghosts, the hallucinating governess, or some prior experiences: various interpretations cause one result that children are the recipients of trauma. Arguably, the role of the supernatural is neither simply one of the elements of a ghost story nor simply one of the parts of the ambiguity between the supernatural and the hallucination of the governess; rather, the ghosts and the hallucinating governess can exist at the same time - the combination of the supernatural’s and the governess’s behaviours on stage generates a sharper and more serious angle that draws our attention to the traumatized children.

Keywords: benjamin britten, chamber opera, production, reception, staging, the turn of the screw

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Authors: Ali Bayram, Remzi Yiğiter

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Objective: Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. At present, diagnosis of AD is rather late in the disease. Therefore, we attempted to find peripheral biomarkers for the early diagnosis of AD. Herein, we conducted a study to investigate the unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase-1 (ULK1) mRNA expression levels in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with Alzheimer's disease. Method: To determine whether ULK1 gene expression are altered in AD patients, we measured their gene expression in human peripheral blood cell in 50 patients with AD and 50 age and gender matched healthy controls by quantitative real-time PCR technique. Results: We found that both ULK1 gene expression in peripheral blood cell were significantly decreased in patients with AD as compared with controls (p <0.05). Lower levels of ULK1 gene expression were significantly associated with the increased risk for AD. Conclusions: Serine/threonine-protein kinase involved in autophagy in response to starvation. Acts upstream of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase PIK3C3 to regulate the formation of autophagophores, the precursors of autophagosomes. Part of regulatory feedback loops in autophagy: acts both as a downstream effector and negative regulator of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) via interaction with RPTOR. Activated via phosphorylation by AMPK and also acts as a regulator of AMPK by mediating phosphorylation of AMPK subunits PRKAA1, PRKAB2, and PRKAG1, leading to negatively regulate AMPK activity. May phosphorylate ATG13/KIAA0652 and RPTOR; however such data need additional evidences. Plays a role early in neuronal differentiation and is required for granule cell axon formation. Alzheimer is the most common neurodegenerative disease. Our results provide useful information that the ULK1 gene expression is decreased in the neurodegeneration and AD patients with, indicating their possible systemic involvement in AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s sisease, ULK1, mRNA expression, RT-PCR

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Authors: Nneka Evelyn Udeh

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Women’s economic participation and empowerment are fundamental to strengthening women’s rights and enabling women to have control over their lives and exert influence in the society. The economic empowerment of women is a prerequisite for sustainable development, pro-poor growth and the achievement of all the millennium development Goals (MDGs). For women to be in development they need to be empowered morally, socially, economically, and financially and this is why women in Udi Local Government Area of Nigeria meet every August, the eighth month of the year to discuss matters relating to the pursuit of women empowerment, community welfare, and national development. This exploratory study depicts how annual august meetings serve as a stimulator for female empowerment with a case study Udi Local Government area of Enugu state, Nigeria. The paper finds that ‘August Meeting’ is a regular annual occurrence in Udi Local Government Area, Enugu State, Nigeria particularly for married women and is designed to better the lot of women, the child, family, the church, and the Community. Through this forum, with its seminars and workshops, women have the opportunity to learn everything about womanhood and how to chart new courses of action and sources of empowerment. The gathering gives women the opportunity to be integrated into their community development projects, and having women as stakeholders and not mere observers helps guarantee a speedy and steady community and overall national development progress. Funds are raised for community development projects through annual dues, levies, donations, fines, sales, income from money-yielding ventures, endowment and investiture. Annual August meeting also known as ‘Mothers Summit’ is indeed a powerful stimulator for female empowerment. Support and invigoration of this women initiative is essential for sustainable emancipation of female gender, not just in Udi Local Government Area of Nigeria but globally.

Keywords: women empowerment, annual august meeting, Udi Lga, mothers' summit, stimulator, emancipation, sustainability, community welfare, national development, millennium development goal

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Authors: Eva Kirzner

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Based on outcome studies published over the past two decades, in 2018, the ACC/AHA published new guidelines for the management of hypercholesterolemia that incorporate the use of coronary artery calcium (CAC) scanning as a decision tool for ascertaining which patients may benefit from statin therapy. This use is based on the recognition that the absence of calcium on CAC scanning (i.e., a CAC score of zero) usually signifies the absence of significant atherosclerotic deposits in the coronary arteries. Specifically, in patients with a high risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), initiation of statin therapy is generally recommended to decrease ASCVD risk. However, among patients with intermediate ASCVD risk, the need for statin therapy is less certain. However, there is a need for new outcome studies that provide evidence that the management of hypercholesterolemia based on these new ACC/AHA recommendations is safe for patients. Based on a Pub-Med and Google Scholar literature search, four relevant population-based or patient-based cohort studies that studied the relationship between CAC scanning, risk assessment or mortality, and statin therapy that were published between 2017 and 2021 were identified (see references). In each of these studies, patients were assessed for their baseline risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) using the Pooled Cohorts Equation (PCE), an ACC/AHA calculator for determining patient risk based on assessment of patient age, gender, ethnicity, and coronary artery disease risk factors. The combined findings of these four studies provided concordant evidence that a zero CAC score defines patients who remain at low clinical risk despite the non-use of statin therapy. Thus, these new studies confirm the use of CAC scanning as a safe tool for reducing the potential overuse of statin therapy among patients with zero CAC scores. Incorporating these new data suggest the following best practice: (1) ascertain ASCVD risk according to the PCE in all patients; (2) following an initial attempt trial to lower ASCVD risk with optimal diet among patients with elevated ASCVD risk, initiate statin therapy for patients who have a high ASCVD risk score; (3) if the ASCVD score is intermediate, refer patients for CAC scanning; and (4) and if the CAC score is zero among the intermediate risk ASCVD patients, statin therapy can be safely withheld despite the presence of an elevated serum cholesterol level.

Keywords: cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, statin therapy, coronary calcium

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Authors: Johanna Sagner, María José Sandoval

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At the early stages of adolescence, young people, regardless of a disability or not, start to establish closer friendship ties. Unlike previous developmental phases, these ties are rather reciprocal, more committed, and require more time. Friendship ties during adolescence allow the development of social and personal skills, specifically the skills to start constructing identity. In an inclusive context that incorporates young people with a disability, friendship among peers also takes place. Nonetheless, the relation is shaped, among others, by the alterity construction about the other with disability. Research about peers’ relation between young people with and without disability in an inclusive context has shown that the relation tends to become a helper-helpee relation, where those with a disability are seen as people in need. Prejudices about the others’ condition or distancing from the other because of his/hers disability are common. In this sense, the helper-helpee relation, as a non-reciprocal and protective relation, will not promote friendship between classmates, but a rather asymmetric alterity. Our research is an explorative case study that wants to know how the relation between peers is shaped within a different inclusive program, were also the integrated group has special educational needs. Therefore, we analyze from a qualitative and quantitative approach the data of an inverted inclusive program. This is a unique case of a special public school for visual disability in Germany that includes young people from a mainstream school who had learning difficulties. For the research, we analyze data from interviews, focal interviews and open-ended questions with an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. The questionnaires include a five point Likert scale, for which we calculate the acceptance rate. The findings show that the alterity relation between pupils is less asymmetrical and represents a rather horizontal alterity. The helper-helpee relation is marked by exchange, since both groups have special educational needs and therefore, those with visual disability and those with learning difficulties help each other indistinctly. Friendship is more present among classmates. The horizontal alterity peers’ relation is influenced by a sort of tie, where none of the groups need more or less help than other groups. Both groups identify that they themselves and the other have special needs. The axiological axe of alterity is not of superiority or inferiority, recognizing each other’s differences and otherness. Another influential factor relates with the amount of time they spend together, since the program does not have a resource room or a teacher who teaches parallel lessons. Two probable causes for that rather equal peer relation might be the constellation of fewer pupils per classroom and the differentiated lessons taught by teachers with a special educational formation.

Keywords: alterity, disability, inverted inclusion, peers’ relation

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Authors: Malihe Aliasgari, Yousef Nejatbakhsh

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The era of Big Data and the immensity of real-life datasets compels computation tasks to be performed in a distributed fashion, where the data is dispersed among many servers that operate in parallel. However, massive parallelization leads to computational bottlenecks due to faulty servers and stragglers. Stragglers refer to a few slow or delay-prone processors that can bottleneck the entire computation because one has to wait for all the parallel nodes to finish. The problem of straggling processors, has been well studied in the context of distributed computing. Recently, it has been pointed out that, for the important case of linear functions, it is possible to improve over repetition strategies in terms of the tradeoff between performance and latency by carrying out linear precoding of the data prior to processing. The key idea is that, by employing suitable linear codes operating over fractions of the original data, a function may be completed as soon as enough number of processors, depending on the minimum distance of the code, have completed their operations. The problem of matrix-matrix multiplication in the presence of practically big sized of data sets faced with computational and memory related difficulties, which makes such operations are carried out using distributed computing platforms. In this work, we study the problem of distributed matrix-matrix multiplication W = XY under storage constraints, i.e., when each server is allowed to store a fixed fraction of each of the matrices X and Y, which is a fundamental building of many science and engineering fields such as machine learning, image and signal processing, wireless communication, optimization. Non-secure and secure matrix multiplication are studied. We want to study the setup, in which the identity of the matrix of interest should be kept private from the workers and then obtain the recovery threshold of the colluding model, that is, the number of workers that need to complete their task before the master server can recover the product W. The problem of secure and private distributed matrix multiplication W = XY which the matrix X is confidential, while matrix Y is selected in a private manner from a library of public matrices. We present the best currently known trade-off between communication load and recovery threshold. On the other words, we design an achievable PSGPD scheme for any arbitrary privacy level by trivially concatenating a robust PIR scheme for arbitrary colluding workers and private databases and the proposed SGPD code that provides a smaller computational complexity at the workers.

Keywords: coded distributed computation, private information retrieval, secret sharing, stragglers

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Authors: Niyi Awofeso, Yunes Gaber, Moyosola Bamidele

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Since most social media platforms are accessible anytime and anywhere where Internet connections and smartphones are available, the invisibility of the reader raises questions about accuracy, appropriateness and comprehensibility of social media communication. Furthermore, the identity and motives of individuals and organizations who post articles on social media sites are not always transparent. In the health sector, through socially networked platforms constitute a common source of health-related information, given their purported wealth of information. Nevertheless, fake blogs and sponsored postings for marketing 'natural cures' pervade most commonly used social media platforms, thus complicating readers’ abilities to access and understand trustworthy health-related information. This purposive sampling study of 120 participants aged 18-35 year in UAE was conducted between September and December 2017, and explored commonly used social media platforms, frequency of use of social media for accessing health related information, and approaches for assessing the trustworthiness of health information on social media platforms. Results indicate that WhatsApp (95%), Instagram (87%) and Youtube (82%) were the most commonly used social media platforms among respondents. Majority of respondents (81%) indicated that they regularly access social media to get health-associated information. More than half of respondents (55%) with non-chronic health status relied on unsolicited messages to obtain health-related information. Doctors’ health blogs (21%) and social media sites of international healthcare organizations (20%) constitute the most trusted source of health information among respondents, with UAE government health agencies’ social media accounts trusted by 15% of respondents. Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and hypertension were the most commonly searched topics on social media (29%), followed by nutrition (20%) and skin care (16%). Majority of respondents (41%) rely on reliability of hits on Google search engines, 22% check for health information only from 'reliable' social media sites, while 8% utilize 'logic' to ascertain reliability of health information. As social media has rapidly become an integral part of the health landscape, it is important that health care policy makers, healthcare providers and social media companies collaborate to promote the positive aspects of social media for young people, whilst mitigating the potential negatives. Utilizing popular social media platforms for posting reader-friendly health information will achieve high coverage. Improving youth digital literacy will facilitate easier access to trustworthy information on the internet.

Keywords: social media, United Arab Emirates, youth engagement, digital literacy

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Authors: Kebron Abich Asnake

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The outbreak of COVID-19 has had far-reaching socio-economic consequences globally, and Ethiopia is no exception. This abstract provides a summary of a research study on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Ethiopia. The study analyzes the health impact, economic repercussions, social consequences, government response measures, and opportunities for post-crisis recovery. In terms of health impact, the research explores the spread and transmission of the virus, the capacity and response of the healthcare system, and the mortality rate, with a focus on vulnerable populations. The economic impact analysis entails investigating the contraction of the GDP, employment and income loss, disruption in key sectors such as agriculture, tourism, and manufacturing, and the specific implications for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), foreign direct investment, and remittances. The social impact section looks at the disruptions in education and the digital divide, food security and nutrition challenges, increased poverty and inequality, gender-based violence, and mental health issues. The research also examines the measures taken by the Ethiopian government, including health and safety regulations, economic stimulus packages, social protection programs, and support for vulnerable populations. Furthermore, the study outlines long-term recovery prospects, social cohesion, and community resilience challenges. It highlights the need to strengthen the healthcare system and finds a balance between health and economic priorities. The research concludes by presenting recommendations for policy-makers and stakeholders, emphasizing opportunities for post-crisis recovery such as diversification of the economy, enhanced healthcare infrastructure, investment in digital infrastructure and technology, and support for domestic tourism and local industries. This research provides valuable insights into the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Ethiopia, offering a comprehensive analysis of the challenges faced and potential pathways towards recovery.

Keywords: impact, covid, ethiopia, health

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Authors: Sadeq Al Yaari, Muhammad Alkhunayn, Aayah Al Yaari, Ayman Al Yaari, Montaha Al Yaari, Sajedah Al Yaari, Fatehi Eissa

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The recent rise of smart educational aids and the move away from traditional listening aids are leading to a fundamental shift in the way in which individuals with attention and listening problems (ALP) manipulate listening inputs and/or act appropriately to the spoken information presented to them. A total sample of twenty-six ALP pupils (m=20 and f=6) between 7-12 years old was selected from different strata based on gender, region and school. In the sample size, thirteen (10 males and 3 females) received the treatment in terms of smart classes provided with smart educational aids in a listening course that lasted for four month-semester while others did not (they studied the same course by the same instructor but in ordinary class). A pretest was administered to assess participants’ levels, and a posttest was given to evaluate their attention and listening comprehension performance, namely in phonetic and phonological tests with sociolinguistic themes that have been designed for this purpose. Test results were analyzed both psychoneurolinguistically and statistically. Results reveal a remarkable change in pupils’ behavioral listening where scores witnessed a significant difference in the performance of the experimental ALP group in the pretest compared to the posttest (Pupils performed better at the pretest-posttest on phonetics than at the two tests on phonology). It is concluded that smart educational aids designed for listening skills help not only increase the listening command of pupils with ALP to understand what they listen to but also develop their interactive listening capability and, at the same rate, are responsible for increasing concentrated and in-depth listening capacity. Plus, ALP pupils become able to grasp the audio content of text recordings, including educational audio recordings, news, oral stories and tales, views, spiritual/religious text and general knowledge. However, the pupils have not experienced individual smart audio-visual aids that connect listening to other language receptive and productive skills, which could be the future area of research.

Keywords: language skills, implementing, listening skill, attention, smart aids

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Authors: Gunilla Dahlgren, Per Liv, Fredrik Öhberg, Lisbeth Slunga Järvholm, Mikael Forsman, Börje Rehn

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Background: Accuracy of risk assessment tools in hand-repetitive work is important. This can support precision in the risk management process and for a sustainable working life for women and men equally. Musculoskeletal disorders, MSDs, from the hand, wrist, and forearm, are common in the working population. Women report a higher prevalence of MSDs in these regions. Objective: The objective of this study was to compare if women and men who performed the identical hand-intensive work task were rated equally using the Hand Activity Threshold Limit Value® (HA-TLV) when self-rated and observer-rated. Method: Fifty-six workers from eight companies participated, with various intensities in hand-repetitive work tasks. In total, 18 unique identical hand-intensive work tasks were executed in 28 pairs of a woman and a man. Hand activity and force levels were assessed. Each worker executed the work task for 15 minutes, which was also video recorded. Data was collected on workers who self-rated directly after the execution of the work task. Also, experienced observers performed ratings from videos of the same work tasks. For comparing means between women and men, paired samples t-tests were used. Results: The main results showed that there was no difference in self-ratings of hand activity level and force by women and men who executed the same work task. Further, there was no difference between observer ratings of hand activity level. However, the observer force ratings of women and men differed significantly (p=0.01). Conclusion: Hand activity and force levels are rated equally in women and men when self-rated, also by observers for hand activity. However, it is an observandum that observer force rating is rated higher for women and lower for men. This indicates the need of comparing force ratings with technical measures.

Keywords: gender, equity, sex differences, repetitive strain injury, cumulative trauma disorders, upper extremity, exposure assessment, workload, health risk assessment, observation, psychophysics

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Authors: Manas Kotepui, Kwuntida Uthaisar, Phiman Thirarattanasunthon, Bhukdee PhunPhuech, Nuoil Phiwklam

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Introduction: Malaria due to Plasmodium vivax has placed huge burdens on the health, longevity, and general prosperity of large sections of the human population. This study aimed at prospectively collecting information on the clinical profile of Plasmodium vivax from subjects acutely infected with P. vivax residing in some of the highest malaria transmission regions in Thailand. Methods: A retrospective study of malaria cases, hospitalized between 2013 and 2015 was performed. Clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and parasitological results on admission, age, and gender were mined from medical records at Phop Phra Hospital located in endemic areas of Tak Province, Thailand. Venous blood samples were collected at the time of admission to the hospital to determine the present of parasite and also parasite count by thick and thin film examination, and also Complete blood count (CBC) parameters. Results: Results showed that patients infected with Plasmodium vivax (276 cases) had a high monocyte count (mean=390 cells/µL) during initial stage of infection and continuously lower during later stage (any stage with gametocyte, mean=230 cells/µL) of infection (P value=0.021) whereas, patients infected with Plasmodium vivax had a low basophil count (mean=20 cells/µL) during initial stage of infection and continuously higher during later stage of infection (mean at stage with gametocyte=70 cells/µL) (P value=0.033). In addition, patients with more than one stage infection tend to have lower lymphocyte count (mean=1180 cells/µL) than patients with only one stage infection (mean=1350 cells/µL)(P value=0.011) whereas, patients with more than one stage infection tend to have lower basophil count (mean=60 cells/µL) than patients with only one stage infection (mean=80 cells/µL) (P value=0.01). Conclusion: This study indicated that patients infected with Plasmodium vivax had high monocyte count and low basophil count during initial stage of infection which was continuously lower during later stage of infection. Patients with more than one stage infection tend to have lower lymphocyte count than patients with only one stage infection whereas, patients with more than one stage infection tend to have lower basophil count than patients with only one stage infection. This information contributes to better understanding of pathological characteristic of Plasmodium vivax infection.

Keywords: plasmodium vivax, Thailand, asexual erythrocytic stages, hematological parameters

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Authors: Khanday Pervaiz Ahmad

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It was in 19th century when the Indian educated class started to reform their socio-religious set up as an imperative to respond to the challenges put forward by the colonial empire. The colonial discourse on India from the very beginning was gendered, as the colonized society was feminized and its ‘effeminate’ character, as opposed to ‘colonial masculinity’ was held to be a justification for its loss of independence. The ‘women health figure’ is prominently in these gender discourses. The women’s health received a much place in the colonial discourse. Lack of health consciousness, illiteracy, and belief in myths, rituals and superstitions were deemed the main factors taken as an indicator of miserable condition of Indian women’s health. As the low position of women caused shame to the natives, reforming the condition of women, its health occupied a major place in their intellectual as well as activist engagements. Magazines (journals) for women began to appear in various Indian languages in the mid to late 19th century with Bengal leading the front. These sources (Magazines) like Harm, Tehzib un Niswan, Saheli, Khatoon etc. are essential for the study of the emergence of an ideology of respectable domesticity in Indian Muslim upper middle class. Similarly for the study of development of Women’s health consciousness, women’s magazines are very essential. These earliest women Urdu magazines were first started by men, and then followed by the women’s own magazines. Various health issues, like pregnancy, child-rearing, menstruation, midwives training, Pardah, and health etc. were discussed at a time when it was impossible to discuss them in public sphere. These women magazines were brave pioneers, expanding the frontiers of women’s roles, and consciousness at a time when those frontiers were severely limited. This paper will try to focus on how women responded to the question of colonial discourse about their bodies. How health consciousness developed among Indian Muslim women and in what way it contributed in the development of feminist consciousness in South Asian Muslim Women community.

Keywords: Ashraf class, khatoon, haram women, feminism

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Authors: Peizhu Liu

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Dual language education, also known as immersion education, differs from traditional language programs that teach a second or foreign language as a subject. Instead, dual language programs adopt a content-based approach, using both a majority language (e.g., English, in the case of the United States) and a minority language (e.g., Spanish or Chinese) as a medium of instruction to teach math, science, and social studies. By granting each language of instruction equal status, dual language education seeks to educate not only meaningfully but equitably and to foster tolerance and appreciation of diversity, making it essential for immigrants, refugees, indigenous peoples, and other marginalized students. Despite the cognitive and academic benefits of dual language education, recent literature has revealed that English is disproportionately privileged across dual language programs. Scholars have expressed concerns about the unbalanced status of majority and minority languages in dual language education, as favoring English in this context may inadvertently reaffirm its dominance and moreover fail to serve the needs of children whose primary language is not English. Through a year-long study of a Chinese-English dual language program, the extensively disproportionate use of English has also been observed by the researcher. However, despite the fact that Chinese-English dual language programs are the second-most popular program type after Spanish in the United States, this issue remains underexplored in the existing literature on Chinese-English dual language education. In fact, the number of Chinese-English dual language programs being offered in the U.S. has grown rapidly, from 8 in 1988 to 331 as of 2023. Using Norton and Darvin's investment model theory, the current study investigates teachers' language use and investment in teaching Chinese and English in a Chinese-English dual language program at an urban public school in New York City. The program caters to a significant number of minority children from working-class families. Adopting an ethnographic and discourse analytic approach, this study seeks to understand language use dynamics in the program and how micro- and macro-factors, such as students' identity construction, parents' and teachers' language ideologies, and the capital associated with each language, influence teachers' investment in teaching Chinese and English. The research will help educators and policymakers understand the obstacles that stand in the way of the goal of dual language education—that is, the creation of a more inclusive classroom, which is achieved by regarding both languages of instruction as equally valuable resources. The implications for how to balance the use of the majority and minority languages will also be discussed.

Keywords: dual language education, bilingual education, language immersion education, content-based language teaching

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Authors: Péricles Maia Andrade, Temístocles Damasceno Silva, Hector Luiz Rodrigues Munaro

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The school physical education is going through several changes over the years, and diversification of its content from specific interests is one of the reasons for these changes, soon, the formality in education do not have to stay out, but needs to open up the possibilities offered by the world, so the Mountain Bike, an adventure sport, offers several opportunities for intervention Its application in the school allows diverse interventions in front of the psychomotor development, besides opening possibilities for other contents, respecting the previous experiences of the students in their common environment. The choice of theme was due to affinity with the practice and experience of the Mountain Bike at different levels. Both competitive as recreational, professional standard and amateur, focus as principle the bases of the Cycling, coupled with the inclusion in the Centre for Studies in Management of Sport and Leisure and of the Southwest Bahia State University and the preview of the modality's potential to help the children’s psychomotor development. The goal of this research was to demonstrate like a pilot project the effects of the Mountain Bike as psychomotor instrument in physical education at one of the psychomotor valences, Balance, evaluating Immobility, Static Balance and Dynamic Balance. The methodology used Fonseca’s Psychomotor Battery in 10 students (n=10) of a brazilian public primary’s school, with ages between 9 and 11 years old to use the Mountain Biking contents. The balance’s skills dichotomized in Regular and Good. Regarding the variable Immobility, in the initial test, regardless of gender, 70% (n = 7) were considered Regular. After four months of activity, the Good profile, which had only 30% (n = 3) of the sample, evolved to 60% (n = 6). As in Static and Dynamic Balance there was an increase of 30% (n = 3) and 50% (n = 5) respectively for Good. Between genders, female evolution was better for Good in Immobility and in Static Equilibrium. Already the male evolution was better observed in the Dynamic Equilibrium, with 66.7% (n = 4) for Good. Respecting the particularities of the motor development, an indication of the positive effects of the MTB for the evolution in the balance perceived, necessitating studies with greater sampling.

Keywords: psychomotricity, balance, mountain biking, education

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Authors: Simone Tedeschi, Francesco Crespi, Paolo Liberati, Massimo Paradiso, Antonio Sciala

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This paper aims at contributing to the understanding of smokers’ responses to cigarette prices increases with a focus on heterogeneity, both across individuals and price levels. To do this, a stated preference quasi-experimental design grounded in a random utility framework is proposed to evaluate the effect on smokers’ utility of the price level and variation, along with social conditioning and health impact perception. The analysis is based on individual-level data drawn from a unique survey gathering very detailed information on Italian smokers’ habits. In particular, qualitative information on the individual reactions triggered by changes in prices of different magnitude and composition are exploited. The main findings stemming from the analysis are the following; the average price elasticity of cigarette consumption is comparable with previous estimates for advanced economies (-.32). However, the decomposition of this result across five latent-classes of smokers, reveals extreme heterogeneity in terms of price responsiveness, implying a potential price elasticity that ranges between 0.05 to almost 1. Such heterogeneity is in part explained by observable characteristics such as age, income, gender, education as well as (current and lagged) smoking intensity. Moreover, price responsiveness is far from being independent from the size of the prospected price increase. Finally, by comparing even and uneven price variations, it is shown that uniform across-brand price increases are able to limit the scope of product substitutions and downgrade. Estimated price-response heterogeneity has significant implications for tax policy. Among them, first, it provides evidence and a rationale for why the aggregate price elasticity is likely to follow a strictly increasing pattern as a function of the experienced price variation. This information is crucial for forecasting the effect of a given tax-driven price change on tax revenue. Second, it provides some guidance on how to design excise tax reforms to balance public health and revenue goals.

Keywords: smoking behaviour, preference heterogeneity, price responsiveness, cigarette taxation, random utility models

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Authors: Sa'ad Ali

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This study explores wasta as an example of a social network and how it impacts business practice in the Arab Middle East, drawing links with social network impact in different regions of the world. In doing so, particular attention will be paid to the socio-economic and cultural influences on business practice. In exploring relationships in business, concepts such as social network analysis, social capital and group identity are used to explore the different forms of social networks and how they influence business decisions and practices in the regions and countries where they prevail. The use of social networks to achieve objectives is known as guanxi in China, wasta in the Arab Middle East and blat in ex-Soviet countries. Wasta can be defined as favouritism based on tribal and family affiliation and is a widespread practice that has a substantial impact on political, social and business interactions in the Arab Middle East. Within the business context, it is used in several ways, such as to secure a job or promotion or to cut through bureaucracy in government interactions. The little research available is fragmented, and most studies reveal a negative attitude towards its usage in business. Paradoxically, while wasta is widely practised, people from the Arab Middle East often deny its influence. Moreover, despite the regular exhibition of a negative opinion on the practice of wasta, it can also be a source of great pride. This paper addresses this paradox by conducting a positional literature review, exploring the current literature on wasta and identifying how the identified paradox can be explained. The findings highlight how wasta, to a large extent, has been treated as an umbrella concept, whilst it is a highly complex practice which has evolved from intermediary wasta to intercessory wasta and therefore from bonding social capital relationships to more bridging social capital relationships. In addition, the research found that Islam, as the predominant religion in the region and the main source of ethical guidance for the majority of people from the region, plays a substantial role in this paradox. Specifically, it is submitted that wasta can be viewed positively in Islam when it is practised to aid others without breaking Islamic ethical guidelines, whilst it can be viewed negatively when it is used in contradiction with the teachings of Islam. As such, the unique contribution to knowledge of this study is that it ties together the fragmented literature on wasta, highlighting and helping us understand its complexity. In addition, it sheds light on the role of Islam in wasta practices, aiding our understanding of the paradoxical nature of the practice.

Keywords: Islamic ethics, social capital, social networks, Wasta

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Authors: Anum Obaid, Bushra Noor, Zoshia Zainab

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In South Asian countries, Pakistan faces significant public health challenges regarding maternal and neonatal health (MNH). Despite global efforts to improve maternal, newborn, child, and health (MNCH) outcomes through initiatives like the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), high maternal and neonatal mortality rates persist. In patriarchal societies, cultural norms, family dynamics, and gender roles heavily influence healthcare accessibility and decision-making processes, often leading to delayed and inadequate maternal care. Addressing these socio-cultural barriers and enhancing healthcare resources is crucial to improving maternal health outcomes in areas like Faisalabad. A qualitative study was conducted involving two groups of informants: gynecologists practicing in private clinics and first-time pregnant women receiving care in government hospitals. Data collection included obtaining institutional permission, conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews, and using non-probability sampling techniques. A proactive strategy to overcome maternal health challenges involves using aversion therapy and disseminating knowledge among family members. This approach aims to foster a deep understanding within the family unit regarding the importance of maternal well-being, thereby creating a supportive environment and facilitating informed decision-making related to healthcare access and lifestyle choices. The findings indicate that maternal health is compromised both physiologically and psychologically, with significant implications for the baby's health. Mental well-being is profoundly affected, largely due to familial behavior and entrenched cultural taboos.

Keywords: maternal health, neonatal health, socio-cultural norms, primigravida women, gynecologist, familial conduct, cultural taboos

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Authors: Yori Gidron, Laura Caton, Irit Ben-Aharon

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Background: Many patients and even certain clinicians attribute cancer development to psychosocial factors. Yet, empirical data supports more the prognostic role, rather than the etiological role, of psychosocial factors in cancer. Part of the inconsistency may result from not considering possible moderating factors in the etiological role of psychosocial factors. One important candidate moderating factor is the vagal nerve, whose activity is indexed by heart-rate variability (HRV). The vagal nerve may prevent cancer since it reduces inflammation on the one hand, and since it increases anti-tumor immunity on the other hand. This study examined the moderating role of the vagus in the relation between life threatening events (LTE) and cancer development. Method: We re-analyzed data from the Lifelines Dutch longitudinal cohort study of over 150,000 people. The present study included 82,751 adults, who initially were cancer-free. We extracted information on background factors (e.g., age, gender, fat consumption), whether they ever experienced LTE, HRV and cancer diagnosis as reported by patients in annual clinic visits. HRV was derived from brief ECGs. Results: Of the full sample, 1011 people developed cancer during a follow-up. In the full sample, LTE significantly predicted cancer development (R.R = 1.063 p < .01) and HRV significantly predicted a reduced risk of cancer development (R.R = .506 p <.001). Importantly, LTE significantly predicted cancer only when HRV was low (R.R = 1.056, 95% CI: 1.007 - 1.108, p < .05) but not when HRV was high (R.R = 1.014; 95% CI: 0.916 - 1.122, p > 0.05), independent of confounders. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study showing in a large sample that LTE predict cancer development, and that this occurs only when vagal nerve activity (HRV) is relatively low. These results could result from lack of vagal modulation of inflammation and also from lack of vagal modulation of stress responses. Results are in line with the cancer-protective role of the vagus. HRV needs to be routinely monitored in the population and future intervention trials need to examine whether vagal nerve activation can prevent cancer in people with LTE and with other cancer risk factors.

Keywords: cancer development, life-events, moderation, vagal nerve

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Authors: Oscar E. Cariceo, Claudia V. Casal

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Machine learning offers a set of techniques to promote social work interventions and can lead to support decisions of practitioners in order to predict new behaviors based on data produced by the organizations, services agencies, users, clients or individuals. Machine learning techniques include a set of generalizable algorithms that are data-driven, which means that rules and solutions are derived by examining data, based on the patterns that are present within any data set. In other words, the goal of machine learning is teaching computers through 'examples', by training data to test specifics hypothesis and predict what would be a certain outcome, based on a current scenario and improve that experience. Machine learning can be classified into two general categories depending on the nature of the problem that this technique needs to tackle. First, supervised learning involves a dataset that is already known in terms of their output. Supervising learning problems are categorized, into regression problems, which involve a prediction from quantitative variables, using a continuous function; and classification problems, which seek predict results from discrete qualitative variables. For social work research, machine learning generates predictions as a key element to improving social interventions on complex social issues by providing better inference from data and establishing more precise estimated effects, for example in services that seek to improve their outcomes. This paper exposes the results of a classification algorithm to predict cyberbullying among adolescents. Data were retrieved from the National Polyvictimization Survey conducted by the government of Chile in 2017. A logistic regression model was created to predict if an adolescent would experience cyberbullying based on the interaction and behavior of gender, age, grade, type of school, and self-esteem sentiments. The model can predict with an accuracy of 59.8% if an adolescent will suffer cyberbullying. These results can help to promote programs to avoid cyberbullying at schools and improve evidence based practice.

Keywords: cyberbullying, evidence based practice, machine learning, social work research

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Authors: Mukhammad Fatkhullah, Ayla Karina Budita, Cut Rizka Al Usrah, Kanita Khoirun Nisa, Muhammad Alhada Fuadilah Habib, Siti Muslihatul Mukaromah

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Batik industry has become one of the leading industries in the economy of Indonesia. Since the recognition of batik as one of cultural wealth and national identity of Indonesia by UNESCO, batik production keeps increasing as a result of increasing demands for batik, whether from domestically or abroad. One of the rapid development batik industries in Indonesia is batik industry in Lawean Village, Solo, Central Java, Indonesia. This batik industry generally uses putting-out system where batik workers work in their own houses. With the implementation of this system, therefore employers don’t have to prepare Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA), social security for workers, overtime payment, space for working, and equipment for working. The implementation of putting-out system causes many problems, starting from environmental pollution, the loss of social rights of workers, and even exploitation of workers by batik entrepreneurs. The data used to describe this reality is the primary data from qualitative research with in-depth interview data collection technique. Informants were determined purposively. The theory used to perform data interpretation is the phenomenology of Alfred Schutz. Both qualitative and phenomenology are used in this study to describe batik workers exploitation in terms of the implementation of putting-out system on home batik industry in Lawean. The research result showed that workers in batik industry sector in Lawean were exploited with the implementation of putting-out system. The workers were strictly employed by the entrepreneurs, so that their job cannot be called 'part-time' job anymore. In terms of labor and time, the workers often work more than 12 hours per day and they often work overtime without receiving any overtime payment. In terms of work safety, the workers often have contact with chemical substances contained in batik making materials without using any protection, such as clothes work, which is worsened by the lack of standard or procedure in work that can cause physical damage, such as burnt and peeled off skin. Moreover, exposure and contamination of chemical materials make the workers and their families vulnerable to various diseases. Meanwhile, batik entrepreneurs did not give any social security (including health cost aid). Besides that, the researchers found that batik industry in home industry sector is not environmentally friendly, even damaging ecosystem because industrial waste disposed without EIA.

Keywords: exploitation, home batik industry, occupational health and safety, putting-out system

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Authors: An-Yi Wang, Wei-Fong Kao, Shin-Han Tsai

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Introduction: Information as patient characteristics, resuscitation scene, resuscitation provider perspectives and families wish affects on resuscitation decision-making for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). There is no consistency consensus on how families and emergency physicians approach this decision. The main purpose of our study is to evaluate the characteristics of withholding resuscitation efforts arrival at the hospital. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients with OHCA without pre-hospital return-of-spontaneous circulation (ROSC) who was sent to our emergency department (ED) between January 2014 and December 2015. Baseline characteristics, pre-hospital course, and causes of the cardiopulmonary arrest among patients were compared. Results: In 2 years, total 155 arrest patients without pre-hospital ROSC was included. 33(21.3%) patients withhold the resuscitation efforts in ED with mean resuscitation duration 4.45 ± 7.04 minutes after ED arrival. In withholding group, the initial rhythm of arrests was all non-shockable. 9 of them received endotracheal intubation before decision-making. None of the patients in withhold resuscitation group survived to discharge. There was no significant difference among gender, underlying cardiovascular disease, malignancy, chronic renal disease, nor witness collapse between withhold and continue resuscitation groups. Univariate analysis showed there was lower percentage of bystander resuscitation (32.3% vs. 50.4%, p=0.071), and the lower percentage of transport via emergency medical service (EMS) (78.8% vs. 91.8%, p=0.054) in withholding group. Multivariate analysis showed old age (adjusted odds ratio=1.06, 95% C.I.=[1.02-1.11], p<0.05), with underlying respiratory insufficiency (adjusted odds ratio=12.16, 95% C.I.=[3.34-44.29], p<0.05), living at home compared with nursing home (adjusted odds ratio=37.75, 95% C.I.=[1.09-1110.70], p<0.05) were more likely to withhold resuscitation. Transport via EMS was more likely to continue resuscitation (adjusted odds ratio=0.11, 95% C.I.=[0.02-0.71], p<0.05). Conclusion: The decision-making for families and emergency physicians to withhold or continue resuscitation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is complex and multi-factorial. Continue resuscitation efforts in nursing home residents is high, and further study among this population is warranted.

Keywords: cardiopulmonary resuscitation, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, termination resuscitation, withhold resuscitation

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Authors: Takaharu Hirai, Yuta Mitobe, Hiromi Hirai

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Introduction: Eating disorders (ED) are serious psychiatric disorders that affect individuals, especially adolescents. It has been suggested that nonclinical ED-like characteristics are related to sleep problems. However, studies exploring the association between potential ED and sleep disorders have primarily been conducted in Europe and the United States. We conducted a survey of Japanese adolescents to investigate this claim. Method: In this cross-sectional study, 398 school-aged adolescents, aged 12–18 years old, matched for gender ratio, responded to a self-administered questionnaire survey. We used the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) and the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) to measure potential ED and sleep problems, respectively. In this study, participants with an EAT-26 total score of 0–19 points were classified as non-ED, while those with scores of 20 points or higher were classified as potential ED. Result: Of the 398 participants, 17 (4.3%) had an EAT-26 total score of 20 or higher. Among boys, the rate was 6 of 199 participants (3%), and among girls, the rate was 11 of 182 participants (6%). There were 89 participants (22.4%) with an AIS score of 6 points or higher, of which 36 (17.6%) were boys, and 53 (27.5%) were girls. Adolescents with potential ED had significantly higher rates of daytime sleep problems than those without ED. Further, while examining the types of sleep problems, adolescents with potential ED had greater problems with a sense of well-being and physical and mental functioning during the day. In contrast, no significant associations were found between potential ED and sleep initiation, awakenings during the night, early morning awakening, total sleep duration, or overall quality of sleep. Finally, nocturnal and daytime sleep scores were significantly associated with dieting, bulimia, and oral control EAT-26 sub-scores. Discussion: While Japanese adolescents with possible ED do not experience nighttime sleep problems, they do experience problems related to well-being and mental and physical functioning, which are indicators of daytime sleep problems. This may assist with early detection of disordered eating in adolescents. The study suggested that professionals working towards adolescent mental health issues need an approach that comprehensively integrates both sleep problems and potential ED.

Keywords: adolescents, potential eating disorders, sleep problems, eating attitudes test-26

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Authors: Prabesh Karki, Shyam Thapa Chettri, Bajarang Prasad Sah, Manoj Bhattarai, Sudeep Mishra

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Introduction: Frontal sinus is frequently described as the most difficult sinus to access surgically due to its proximity to the cribriform plate, orbit, and anterior ethmoid artery. Frontal sinus surgery requires a detailed understanding of the cellular structure and FSDP unique to each patient, making high-resolution CT scans an indispensable tool to assess the difficulty of planned sinus surgery. International Frontal Sinus Anatomy Classification (IFAC) was developed to provide a more precise nomenclature for cells in the frontal recess, classifying cells based on their anatomic origin. Objectives: To assess the proportion of frontal cell variants defined by IFAC, variation with respect to age and gender. Methods: 54 cases were enrolled after a detailed clinical history, thorough general and physical examinations, and CT a report ordered in a film. Assessment and tabulation of the presence of frontal cells according to the IFAC analyzed. The prevalence of each cell type was calculated, and data were entered in MS Excel and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics and frequencies were defined for categorical and numerical variables. Frequency, percentage, the mean and standard deviation were calculated. Result: Among 54 patients, 30 (55.6%) were male and 24 (44.4%) were female. The patient enrolled ranged from 18 to 78 years. Majority33.3% (n=18) were in age group of >50 years.According to IFAC, Agger nasi cells (92.6%) were most common, whereas supraorbital ethmoidal cells were least common 16 (29.6%). Prevalence of other frontoethmoidal cells was SAC- 57.4%, SAFC- 38.9%, SBC- 74.1%, SBFC- 33.3%, FSC- 38.9% of 54 cases. Conclusion: IFAC is an international consensus document that describes an anatomically precise nomenclature for classifying frontoethmoidal cells' anatomy. This study has defined the prevalence, symmetry and reliability of frontoethmoidal cells as established by the IFAC system as in other parts of the world.

Keywords: frontal sinus, frontoethmoidal cells, international frontal sinus anatomy classification

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Authors: Hailemeleak Regassa

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Traditional medicines use medicinal plants as a source of ingredients, and many modern medications are indirectly derived from plants. Consumers in affluent nations are growing disenchanted with contemporary healthcare and looking for alternatives. Oxidative stress is the primary cause of multiple diseases, and exogenous antioxidant supplementation or strengthening the body's endogenous antioxidant defenses are potential ways to counteract the negative effects of oxidative damage. Plants can biosynthesize non-enzymatic antioxidants that can reduce ROS-induced oxidative damage. Aging often aids the propagation and development of carcinogenesis, and older animals and older people exhibit increased vulnerability to tumor promoters. Cancer is a major public health issue, with several anti-cancer medications in clinical use. Potential drugs such as flavopiridol, roscovitine, combretastatin A-4, betulinic acid, and silvestrol are in the clinical or preclinical stages of research. Methodology: Microbial Growth media, Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), methanol, ethyl acetate, and n-hexane were obtained from Himedia Labs, Mumbai, India. plant were collected from the Herbal Garden of Shoolini University campus, Solan, India (Latitude - 30.8644° N and longitude - 77.1184° E). The identity was confirmed by Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (H.P.), India, and documented in Voucher specimens - UHF- Herbarium no. 13784; vide book no. 3818 Receipt No. 086. The plant materials were washed with tap water, and 0.1% mercury chloride for 2 minutes, rinsed with distilled water, air dried, and kept in a hot air oven at 40ºc on blotting paper until all the water evaporated and became well dried for grinding. After drying, the plant materials were grounded using a mixer grinder into fine powder transferred into airtight containers with proper labeling, and stored at 4ºc for future use (Horablaga et al., 2023). The extraction process was done according to Altemimi et al., 2017. The 5g powder was mixed with 15 ml of the respective solvents (n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol), and kept for 4-5 days on the platform shaker. The solvents used are based on their increasing polarity index. Then the extract was centrifuged at 10,000rpm for 5 minutes and filtered using No.1 Whatman filter paper.

Keywords: cancer, phytomedicine, medicinal plants, oncology

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Authors: Sumohon Matilal, Neveen Abdelrehim

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The purpose of this study is to examine the way households manage the risks of civil war, using the calculative practices of accounting as a lens. As is the case with other social phenomena, accounting serves as a conduit for attributing values and rationales to crisis and in the process makes it visible and calculable. Our focus, in particular, is on the dialogue facilitated by the numerical logic of accounting between the householder and a crisis scenario, such as civil war. In other words, we seek to study how the risk of war is rationalized through household budgets, income and expenditure statements etc. and how such accounting constructs in turn shape attitudes toward earnings and spending in a wartime economy. The existing literature on war and accounting demonstrates how an accounting logic can have potentially destabilising consequences and how it is used to legitimise war. However, very few scholars have looked at the way accounting constructs are used to internalise the effects of war in an average household and the behavioural consequences that arise from such accounting. Relatedly, scholars studying household accounting have mostly focussed on the links between gender and hierarchy in relation to managing the financial affairs. Few have focused on the role of household accounts in a crisis scenario. This study intends to fill this gap. We draw upon Egypt, a country in the middle of civil war since 2011 for our purpose. We intend to carry out 15-20 semi-structured interviews with middle income households in Cairo that maintain some form of accounts to study the following issues: 1. How do people internalise the risks of civil war? What kind of accounting constructs do they use (this may take the form of simple budgets, income-expenditure notes/statements on a periodic basis, spreadsheets etc.) 2. How has civil war affected household expenditure? Are people spending more/less than before? 3. How has civil war affected household income? Are people finding it difficult/easy to survive on the pre-war income? 4. How is such accounting affecting household behaviour towards earnings and expenditure? Are families prioritising expenditure on necessities alone? Are they refraining from indulging in luxuries? Are family members doing two or three jobs to cope with difficult times? Are families increasingly turning toward borrowing? Is credit available? From whom?

Keywords: risk, accounting, war, crisis

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Authors: Mohana Basu, Snehamanju Basu

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Urbanization has an immense impact on the holistic development of a region. In that same context, the level of women empowerment plays a significant role in the development of any region, particularly a region belonging to a developing country. The present study investigates the status of women empowerment in the Asansol Durgapur Planning Area of the state of West Bengal, India by investigating the status of women and their access to various facilities and awareness about the various governmental and non-governmental schemes meant for their elevation. Through this study, an attempt has been to made to understand the perception of the respondents on the context of women's empowerment. The study integrates multiple sources of qualitative and quantitative data collected from various reports, field-based measurements, questionnaire survey and community based participatory appraisals. Results reveal that women of the rural parts of the region are relatively disempowered due to the various restrictions imposed on them and enjoy lower socioeconomic clout than their male counterparts in spite of the several remedial efforts taken by the government and NGOs to elevate their position in the society. A considerable gender gap still exists regarding access to education, employment and decision-making power in the family and significant differences in attitude towards women are observable in the rural and urban areas. Freedom of women primarily vary according to their age group, educational level, employment and income status and also on the degree of urbanization. Asansol Durgapur Planning Area is primarily an industrial region where huge employment generation scope exists. But these disparities are quite alarming and indicate that economic development does not always usher in socially justifiable rights and access to resources for both men and women alike in its awake. In this backdrop, this study will attempt to forward relevant suggestions which can be followed for betterment of the status of women.

Keywords: development, disempowered, economic development, urbanization, women empowerment

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Authors: U. Isyaku, C. Upton, J. Dickinson

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Critical institutional approach for understanding pathways to shared prosperity among forest communities enabled questioning the underlying rational choice assumptions that have dominated traditional institutional thinking in natural resources management. Common pool resources framing assumes that communities as social groups share collective interests and values towards achieving greater development. Hence, policies related to natural resources management in the global South prioritise economic prosperity by focusing on how to maximise material benefits and improve the livelihood options of resource dependent communities. Recent trends in commodification and marketization of ecosystem goods and services into tradable natural capital and incentivising conservation are structured in this paradigm. Several researchers however, have problematized this emerging market-based model because it undermines cultural basis for protecting natural ecosystems. By exploring how forest people’s motivations for conservation differ within the context of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) project in Nigeria, we aim to provide an alternative approach to conceptualising prosperity beyond the traditional economic thinking. Through in depth empirical work over seven months with five communities in Nigeria’s Cross River State, Q methodology was used to uncover communities’ perspectives and meanings of forest values that underpin contemporary and historic conservation practices, expected benefits, and willingness to participate in the REDD+ process. Our study finds six discourses about forest and conservation values that transcend wealth creation, poverty reduction and livelihoods. We argue that communities’ decisions about forest conservation consist of a complex mixture of economic, emotional, moral, and ecological justice concerns that constitute new meanings and dimensions of prosperity. Prosperity is thus reconfigured as having socio-cultural and psychological pathways that could be derived through place identity and attachment, connectedness to nature, family ties, and ability to participate in everyday social life. We therefore suggest that natural resources policy making and development interventions should consider institutional arrangements that also include the psycho-cultural dimensions of prosperity among diverse community groups.

Keywords: critical institutionalism, Q methodology, REDD+, shared prosperity

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Authors: M. Joris, O. Agirdag

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For over two decades, calls for citizenship education (CE) have been rising to the top of educational policy agendas in Europe. The main motive for the current treatment of CE as a key topic is a sense of crisis: social and political threats that go beyond the reach of nations and require action at the international and European level. On the one hand, this context has triggered abundant attention to the promotion of citizenship through education. On the other hand, the ubiquity of citizenship and education in policy language is paired with a self-evident manner of using the concepts: the more we call for citizenship in and through education, the less the concepts seem to be made explicit or be defined. Research and reflection on the normativity of the concepts of citizenship and CE in Europe are scarce. Departing from the idea that policies are always normative, this study, therefore, investigates the normativity of the current concepts of citizenship and education, in ’key’ European CE policy texts. The study consists of a content analysis of these texts, based on a normative framework developed around the different dimensions of citizenship as status, identity, virtues and agency. The framework also describes the purposes of education and its learning processes, content and practices, based on the assumption that good education always includes, next to qualification and socialisation, a purpose of emancipation: of helping young people become autonomous and independent subjects. The analysis shows how contemporary European citizenship is conceptualised around the dimension of competences. This focus on competences is also visible in the normative framing of education and its relationship to citizenship in the texts: CE should help young people learn how to become good citizens by acquiring a toolkit of competences, consisting of knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that can be predetermined, measured and evaluated. This ideal of citizenship-as-competence entails a focus on the educational purposes of socialisation and qualification. Current policy texts thus seem to leave out the educational purpose of emancipating young people, allowing them to take on citizenship as something to which they can determine their own relation and position. It is, however, this purpose of CE that seems increasingly important in our current context. Young people are stepping out of school and onto the streets by the thousands in Belgium and throughout Europe, protesting for more and better environmental policies. They are making use of existing modes of citizenship, exactly to indicate to policymakers how these are falling short and are claiming their right and entitlement to a future that established practices of politics are putting at risk. The importance of citizenship education might then lie, now more than ever, not in the fact that it would prepare young people for competent citizenship, but in offering them a possibility, an emancipatory experience of being able to do something new. It seems that this is what we might want to expect from the school if we want it to educate our truly future citizens.

Keywords: citizenship education, normativity, policy, purposes of education

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