Search results for: organisational Justice
115 Beyond Chol Soo Lee’s Death Row Release: Transinstitutionalization, Mortification, and the Limits of Legal Activism in 20th Century America
Authors: Minhae Shim Roth
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The “Deinstitutionalization movement” refers to the spatial transition in the United States during the mid-20th century when the treatment of mental illness purportedly moved from long-term psychiatric institutions to community integrated care. Contrary to the accepted narrative of mental health care in the U.S., asylums did not close or empty. Some remained psychiatric hospitals, which came to be called forensic hospitals or state hospitals; others were converted into prisons or carceral institutions. During Deinstitutionalization, the asylum system became an appendage of the carceral system, with state hospitals becoming little more than holding centers for prisoners who were civilly committed, those incompetent to stand trial, offenders with mental health issues, and those found not guilty by reason of insanity. Psychiatric patients who became prisoners and prisoners who became patients became entangled in the phenomenon called transinstitutionalization. This paper investigates the relationship between psychiatric and criminal incarceration in 20th century California and focuses particularly on the case of Korean-American Chol Soo Lee, who fought detention in the psychiatric-prison system through the writ of habeas corpus. This study uses methodologies like critical theory, close reading, and archival research. This paper argues that during his psychiatric hospitalization at Napa State Hospital and incarceration in the California Department of Corrections, Lee underwent what sociologist Erving Goffman coined in his 1960 text Asylums as the process of “mortification.” After a burst of Asian American solidarity and legal aid that resulted in Lee’s triumphant release from Death Row in 1983 through a writ of habeas corpus, Lee struggled in the free world due to the long-lasting consequences of institutionalization, which led to alienation, recidivism, and an early death at the age of 62. This paper examines the trajectory of Lee’s trial and the legal activism behind it within the context of Goffman’s theory of total institutions and offer a nuanced reading of Lee’s case both during and after his incarceration.Keywords: criminal justice, criminal law, law and mental capacity, habeas corpus, deinstitutionalization, mental health
Procedia PDF Downloads 33114 Nuclear Resistance Movements: Case Study of India
Authors: Shivani Yadav
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The paper illustrates dynamics of nuclear resistance movements in India and how peoples’ power rises in response to subversion of justice and suppression of human rights. The need for democratizing nuclear policy runs implicit through the demands of the people protesting against nuclear programmes. The paper analyses the rationale behind developing nuclear energy according to the mainstream development model adopted by the state. Whether the prevalent nuclear discourse includes people’s ambitions and addresses local concerns or not is discussed. Primarily, the nuclear movements across India comprise of two types of actors i.e. the local population as well as the urban interlocutors. The first type of actor is the local population comprising of the people who are residing in the vicinity of the nuclear site and are affected by its construction, presence and operation. They have very immediate concerns against nuclear energy projects but also have an ideological stand against producing nuclear energy. The other types of actors are the urban interlocutors, who are the intellectuals and nuclear activists who have a principled stand against nuclear energy and help to aggregate the aims and goals of the movement on various platforms. The paper focuses on the nuclear resistance movements at five sites in India- Koodankulam (Tamil Nadu), Jaitapur (Maharashtra), Haripur (West Bengal), Mithivirdi (Gujrat) and Gorakhpur (Haryana). The origin, development, role of major actors and mass media coverage of all these movements are discussed in depth. Major observations from the Indian case include: first, nuclear policy discussions in India are confined to elite circles; secondly, concepts like national security and national interest are used to suppress dissent against mainstream policies; and thirdly, India’s energy policies focus on economic concerns while ignoring the human implications of such policies. In conclusion, the paper observes that the anti-nuclear movements question not just the feasibility of nuclear power but also its exclusionary nature when it comes to people’s participation in policy making, endangering the ecology, violation of human rights, etc. The character of these protests is non-violent with an aim to produce more inclusive policy debates and democratic dialogues.Keywords: anti-nuclear movements, Koodankulam nuclear power plant, non-violent resistance, nuclear resistance movements, social movements
Procedia PDF Downloads 147113 Responding to and Preventing Sexual and Gender Based Violence Related to Ragging, in University of Kelaniya: A Case Study
Authors: Anuruddhi Edirisinghe, Anusha Edirisinghe, Maithree Wicramasinghe, Sagarika Kannangara, Annista Wijayanayake
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SGBV which refer to acts of inflicting physical, mental or sexual harm or sufferings that deprive a person’s liberty based on one’s gender or sexuality is known to occur in various forms. Ragging in educational institutions can often be one such form of SGBV. Ragging related SGBV is a growing problem despite various legal, policy and programme initiatives introduced over the years. While the punishment of perpetrators through the criminal justice system is expected to bring a deterrent effect, other strategies such as awareness-raising, attitudinal changes, and the empowerment of students to say no to ragging and SGBV will lead to enlightened attitudes about the practice in universities. Thus, effective regular prevention programmes are the need of the hour. The objectives of the paper are to engage with the case of a female fresher subjected to verbal abuse, physical assault and sexual harassment due to events which started as a result of wearing a trouser to the university during the ragging season. The case came to the limelight since a complaint was made to the police and 10 students were arrested under the anti-ragging act. This led to dividend opinions among the student population and a backlash from the student union. Simultaneously, this resulted in the society demanding the stricter implementation of laws and the punishment of perpetrators. The university authority appointed a task force comprising of academics, non-academics, parents, community leaders, stakeholders and students to draw up an action plan to respond to the immediate situation as well as future prevention. The paper will also discuss the implementation of task force plan. The paper is based on interviews with those involved with the issue and the experiences of the task force members and is expected to provide an in-depth understanding of the intricacies and complications associated with dealing with a contentious problem such as ragging. Given the political and ethical issues involved with insider research as well as the sensationalism of the topic, maximum care will be taken to safeguard the interests of those concerned.Keywords: fresher, sexual and gender based violence (SGBV), sexual harassment, ragging
Procedia PDF Downloads 236112 Critical Evaluation of the Transformative Potential of Artificial Intelligence in Law: A Focus on the Judicial System
Authors: Abisha Isaac Mohanlal
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Amidst all suspicions and cynicism raised by the legal fraternity, Artificial Intelligence has found its way into the legal system and has revolutionized the conventional forms of legal services delivery. Be it legal argumentation and research or resolution of complex legal disputes; artificial intelligence has crept into all legs of modern day legal services. Its impact has been largely felt by way of big data, legal expert systems, prediction tools, e-lawyering, automated mediation, etc., and lawyers around the world are forced to upgrade themselves and their firms to stay in line with the growth of technology in law. Researchers predict that the future of legal services would belong to artificial intelligence and that the age of human lawyers will soon rust. But as far as the Judiciary is concerned, even in the developed countries, the system has not fully drifted away from the orthodoxy of preferring Natural Intelligence over Artificial Intelligence. Since Judicial decision-making involves a lot of unstructured and rather unprecedented situations which have no single correct answer, and looming questions of legal interpretation arise in most of the cases, discretion and Emotional Intelligence play an unavoidable role. Added to that, there are several ethical, moral and policy issues to be confronted before permitting the intrusion of Artificial Intelligence into the judicial system. As of today, the human judge is the unrivalled master of most of the judicial systems around the globe. Yet, scientists of Artificial Intelligence claim that robot judges can replace human judges irrespective of how daunting the complexity of issues is and how sophisticated the cognitive competence required is. They go on to contend that even if the system is too rigid to allow robot judges to substitute human judges in the recent future, Artificial Intelligence may still aid in other judicial tasks such as drafting judicial documents, intelligent document assembly, case retrieval, etc., and also promote overall flexibility, efficiency, and accuracy in the disposal of cases. By deconstructing the major challenges that Artificial Intelligence has to overcome in order to successfully invade the human- dominated judicial sphere, and critically evaluating the potential differences it would make in the system of justice delivery, the author tries to argue that penetration of Artificial Intelligence into the Judiciary could surely be enhancive and reparative, if not fully transformative.Keywords: artificial intelligence, judicial decision making, judicial systems, legal services delivery
Procedia PDF Downloads 224111 Public Art as Social Critique to Shape Urban-Scape
Authors: Po-Ching Wang
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Public art may be regarded as a social agenda. It is assumed that public art acts as an intermediate form that contributes significantly to community resurgence. That is, public art may be regarded as a verb/process or social intervention. It functions as a vanguard form, attacking boundaries and providing a sensibility for social strategy. Public art in tradition is generally expected to bring aesthetic pleasure to public. Contemporary public art, however, not only focuses on art installation, but it also often offers a process that aims to comment on, question, and challenge the socio-cultural status quo. During the last few decades, accelerated changes in the values and expectations brought to bear on varied urban issues, together with the destruction of the hegemony of traditional art and of museum authorities, has begun to contribute to freer and more democratic representations of public art. It is said that part of a public artwork’s role is to ruffle sacred feathers. In many cases, public art is created to address the dynamic social contradictions and mutability of public life; and artists and community participants approach public art from a variety of social critical perspectives and methodologies. Urban issues, such as social and environmental justice, health problems, violence, and political statements, provide plentiful source materials that fuel the performance of public art in many different settings. Further, public artworks have been extensively adopted to express social identity, make political statements, and/or to remedy social and environmental crises. Many murals on urban walls, for instance, reflect social conflicts and address civic rights, and these projects are usually the work of artists who though denied access to traditional gallery and museum channels are supported by community engagement and involvement. Public art as a social practice challenges the traditional western view of artistic practice. Art in the public realm creates a new media that provides a platform for a dialogical exchange between diverse social groups. It seems that public art has evolved as an arena for activism that addresses wide-ranging and highly controversial social issues and civilian concerns. The findings of this study indicate that public artworks are capable of playing a role of activist in facilitating community evolution via social progress.Keywords: aesthetics, community regeneration, city development, publicness, public participation, social progress
Procedia PDF Downloads 230110 Poetics of Labor: A Study of Selected Contemporary Australian Aboriginal and Immigrant Poets
Authors: Nabeel Mohammed Ali
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Background and significance of the study: This study focuses on the experiences, perspectives, and issues of the working-class Aboriginals and immigrants in Australia. In addition to dealing with their lives, struggles, and aspirations of working-class people, poetry of labor presents an insight into a neglected literary writing that goes beyond the social discourse of class distinction. In this contemporary context, it explores a broader spectrum of challenges and experiences, such as the complexities of modern labor, immigration, indigenous rights, social justice, multiculturalism, economic inequality, advocating for workers' rights and labor movements, the impact of globalization on local industries, and the evolution of labor in the digital age. Aims of the Study: The study will try to answer the following questions: What insights does poetics of labor provide to affect the literary creation of poetry at the time, as well as whether it can create a change in the social fabric of Australian diversity? What are the main themes and issues that Aboriginal and immigrant poets address in their works? How do they reflect the realities and challenges of working-class people in Australia? How do they use language, form, and style to convey their messages and emotions? How do the poets engage with and critique the dominant narratives and ideologies of Australian society and culture? How do they challenge or resist the stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination that they face? And how do they show solidarity or empathy with others who share similar struggles or aspirations? Methodology: The study will utilize traditional Marxist paradigms to analyze the poetry of the selected poets in the context of the evolving sociopolitical landscape of the 21st century. The Neo-Marxist literary criticism is used as a theoretical tool to analyze the texts. The concept of Power dynamics to analyze the intersectionality of race, labor and class. Findings: The poetry of contemporary Australian Aboriginal and immigrant poets labor, represents a critical, yet under-explored, discussion of the intersection of labor, class, and a multicultural identity. The study will deal with the poetry of the Aboriginal poet Ali Cobby Eckermann (1963- ) and the immigrant Chinese poet Ouyang Yu ( 1955- ).Keywords: aboriginals, immigrants, Australia, working-class, Ali eckermann, ouyang Yu
Procedia PDF Downloads 35109 Empowering and Educating Young People Against Cybercrime by Playing: The Rayuela Method
Authors: Jose L. Diego, Antonio Berlanga, Gregorio López, Diana López
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The Rayuela method is a success story, as it is part of a project selected by the European Commission to face the challenge launched by itself for achieving a better understanding of human factors, as well as social and organisational aspects that are able to solve issues in fighting against crime. Rayuela's method specifically focuses on the drivers of cyber criminality, including approaches to prevent, investigate, and mitigate cybercriminal behavior. As the internet has become an integral part of young people’s lives, they are the key target of the Rayuela method because they (as a victim or as a perpetrator) are the most vulnerable link of the chain. Considering the increased time spent online and the control of their internet usage and the low level of awareness of cyber threats and their potential impact, it is understandable the proliferation of incidents due to human mistakes. 51% of Europeans feel not well informed about cyber threats, and 86% believe that the risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime is rapidly increasing. On the other hand, Law enforcement has noted that more and more young people are increasingly committing cybercrimes. This is an international problem that has considerable cost implications; it is estimated that crimes in cyberspace will cost the global economy $445B annually. Understanding all these phenomena drives to the necessity of a shift in focus from sanctions to deterrence and prevention. As a research project, Rayuela aims to bring together law enforcement agencies (LEAs), sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, legal experts, computer scientists, and engineers, to develop novel methodologies that allow better understanding the factors affecting online behavior related to new ways of cyber criminality, as well as promoting the potential of these young talents for cybersecurity and technologies. Rayuela’s main goal is to better understand the drivers and human factors affecting certain relevant ways of cyber criminality, as well as empower and educate young people in the benefits, risks, and threats intrinsically linked to the use of the Internet by playing, thus preventing and mitigating cybercriminal behavior. In order to reach that goal it´s necessary an interdisciplinary consortium (formed by 17 international partners) carries out researches and actions like Profiling and case studies of cybercriminals and victims, risk assessments, studies on Internet of Things and its vulnerabilities, development of a serious gaming environment, training activities, data analysis and interpretation using Artificial intelligence, testing and piloting, etc. For facilitating the real implementation of the Rayuela method, as a community policing strategy, is crucial to count on a Police Force with a solid background in trust-building and community policing in order to do the piloting, specifically with young people. In this sense, Valencia Local Police is a pioneer Police Force working with young people in conflict solving, through providing police mediation and peer mediation services and advice. As an example, it is an official mediation institution, so agreements signed by their police mediators have once signed by the parties, the value of a judicial decision.Keywords: fight against crime and insecurity, avert and prepare young people against aggression, ICT, serious gaming and artificial intelligence against cybercrime, conflict solving and mediation with young people
Procedia PDF Downloads 128108 Atmospheres, Ghosts and Shells to Reform our Memorial Cultures
Authors: Tomas Macsotay
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If monument removal and monument effacement may call to mind a Nietzschean proposal for vitalist disregard of conventional morality, it remains the case that it is often only by a willingness to go “beyond good and evil” in inherited monument politics that truthful, be it unexpected aspects of our co-existence with monuments can finally start to rise into fuller consciousness. A series of urgent questions press themselves in the panorama created by the affirmative idea that we can, as a community, make crucial decisions with regard to monumental preservation or discontinuation. Memorials are not the core concern for decolonial and racial dignity movements like Black Lives Matter (BLM), which have repeatedly shown they regard these actions as a welcome, albeit complementary, part of a reckoning with a past of racial violence and injustice, slavery, and colonial subaltern existence. As such, the iconoclastic issue of “rights and prohibitions of images” only tangentially touches on a cultural movement that seems rather question dominant ideas of history, pertinence, and the long life of the class, gender, and racial conflict through ossified memorial cultures. In the recent monument insurrection, we face a rare case of a new negotiation of rights of existence for this particular tract of material culture. This engenders a debate on how and why we accord rights to objects in public dominion ― indeed, how such rights impinge upon the rights of subjects who inhabit the public sphere. Incidentally, the possibility of taking away from monuments such imagined or adjoined rights has made it possible to tease open a sphere of emotionality that could not be expressed in patrimonial thinking: the reality of atmospheres as settings, often dependent on pseudo-objects and half-conscious situations, that situate individuals involuntarily in a pathic aesthetics. In this way, the unique moment we now witness ― full of the possibility of going “beyond good and evil” of monument preservation ― starts to look more like a moment of involuntary awaking: an awakening to the encrypted gaze of the monument and the enigma that the same monument or memorial site can carry day-to-day habits of life for some bystanders, while racialized and disenfranchised communities experience discomfort and erosion of subjective life in the same sites.Keywords: monument, memorial, atmosphere, racial justice, decolonialism
Procedia PDF Downloads 80107 Real-World Vehicle to Grid: Case Study on School Buses in New England
Authors: Aaron Huber, Manoj Karwa
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Floods, heat waves, drought, wildfires, tornadoes and other environmental disasters are a snapshot of looming national problems that can create increasing demands on the national grid. With nearly 500,000 school buses on the road and the environmental protection agency (EPA) providing nearly $1B for electric school buses, there is a solution for this national issue. Bidirectional batteries in electric school buses enable a future proof solution to sustain the power grid during adverse environmental conditions and other periods of high demand. School buses have larger batteries than standard electric vehicles. When they are not transporting students, these buses can spend peak solar hours parked and plugged into bi-directional direct current fast chargers (DCFC). A partnership with Highland Electric, Proterra and Rhombus enabled over 7 MWh of energy servicing Massachusetts and Vermont grids. The buses were part of a vehicle to grid (V2G) program with National Grid and Green Mountain Power that can charge an average American home for one month with a single bus. V2G infrastructure enables school systems to future proof their charging strategies, strengthen their local grids and can create additional revenue streams with their EV fleets. A bidirectional ecosystem with Highland, Proterra and Rhombus can enable grid resiliency or the ability to withstand power outages caused by excessive demands, natural disasters or rogue nation's attacks with no loss of service. A fleet of school buses is a standalone resilient asset that can be accessed across a city to keep its citizens safe without having any toxic fumes. Nearly 95% of all school buses across USA are powered by diesel internal combustion engines. Diesel exhaust has been classified as a human carcinogen, and it can lead to and exacerbate respiratory conditions. Bidirectional school buses and chargers enable energy justice by providing backup power in case of emergencies or high demand for marginalized communities and aim to make energy more accessible, affordable, clean, and democratically managed.Keywords: V2G, vehicle to grid, electric buses, eBuses, DC fast chargers, DCFC
Procedia PDF Downloads 77106 Renovation of Dilapidated Areas and Sustainable Reconstruction of Various Parts of Tehran, Iran
Authors: Alireza Rahpeyma
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One of the most significant challenges faced by cities is inefficient and deteriorated urban fabric. Deteriorated areas bring about numerous issues, including economic, social, physical, and infrastructural problems, sewage management, environmental concerns, and security issues. One of the crucial necessities of modern urban life is the revitalization and renovation of these urban fabrics. Another important aspect is preserving a cohesive cultural and social identity during the urban renewal process. Urban renovation and upgrading are not a one-time occurrence but rather an ongoing process that ultimately needs to become ingrained in the system. This process is not swift; it involves sensitive and intricate stages that require well-designed plans within short, medium, and long-term timeframes. To revitalize dilapidated areas, a comprehensive understanding of the urban region's sustainability is essential. The goal of this study is to provide a suitable model for the upgrading and renewal of areas 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10 in Tehran, preserving the heritage within these urban fabrics (urban assets), including the valuable morphologies of these areas, to prevent financial wastage. This study was conducted descriptively and analytically using the SWOT technique and GIS software. The research results regarding urban upgrading and renewal bring about the following points: 1) Urban upgrading and renewal ensure satisfactory efficiency, justice, environmental quality, safety and security, hygiene, sewage management, and the comfort and aesthetics of urban spaces. 2) Employing the above processes in old city centers re-establishes the historical and cultural connection between people and their past, a past that is evolving and improving and will not repeat itself. 3) Despite the expansion and growth of Iranian cities, cultural and national identity can be preserved by adhering to healthy urban revitalization principles. 4) Proper urban upgrading and renewal prevent social fragmentation, deviant behavioral patterns, psychological and occupational disorders, and financial losses. In general, preserving the identity and urban life in renovation and upgrading must be comprehensive, encompassing various dimensions, including physical, social, economic, political, and administrative aspects.Keywords: dilapidated areas, renovation, sustainable reconstruction, Tehran-Iran
Procedia PDF Downloads 55105 The Neuroscience Dimension of Juvenile Law Effectuates a Comprehensive Treatment of Youth in the Criminal System
Authors: Khushboo Shah
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Categorical bans on the death penalty and life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders in a growing number of countries have established a new era in juvenile jurisprudence. This has been brought about by integration of the growing knowledge in cognitive neuroscience and appreciation of the inherent differences between adults and adolescents over the last ten years. This evolving understanding of being a child in the criminal system can be aptly reflected through policies that incorporate the mitigating traits of youth. First, the presentation will delineate the structures in cognitive neuroscience and in particular, focus on the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, and the basal ganglia. These key anatomical structures in the brain are linked to three mitigating adolescent traits—an underdeveloped sense of responsibility, an increased vulnerability to negative influences, and transitory personality traits—that establish why juveniles have a lessened culpability. The discussion will delve into the details depicting how an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex results in the heightened emotional angst, high-energy and risky behavior characteristic of the adolescent time period or how the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain, governs different emotional expression resulting in why teens are susceptible to negative influences. Based on this greater understanding, it is incumbent that policies adequately reflect the adolescent physiology and psychology in the criminal system. However, it is important to ensure that these views are appropriately weighted while considering the jurisprudence for the treatment of children in the law. To ensure this balance is appropriately stricken, policies must incorporate the distinctive traits of youth in sentencing and legal considerations and yet refrain from the potential fallacies of absolving a juvenile offender of guilt and culpability. Accordingly, three policies will demonstrate how these results can be achieved: (1) eliminate housing of juvenile offenders in the adult prison system, (2) mandate fitness hearings for all transfers of juveniles to adult criminal court, and (3) use the post-disposition review as a type of rehabilitation method for juvenile offenders. Ultimately, this interdisciplinary approach of science and law allows for a better understanding of adolescent psychological and social functioning and can effectuate better legal outcomes for juveniles tried as adults.Keywords: criminal law, Juvenile Justice, interdisciplinary, neuroscience
Procedia PDF Downloads 327104 A Method for Evaluating Gender Equity of Cycling from Rawls Justice Perspective
Authors: Zahra Hamidi
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Promoting cycling, as an affordable environmentally friendly mode of transport to replace private car use has been central to sustainable transport policies. Cycling is faster than walking and combined with public transport has the potential to extend the opportunities that people can access. In other words, cycling, besides direct positive health impacts, can improve people mobility and ultimately their quality of life. Transport literature well supports the close relationship between mobility, quality of life, and, well being. At the same time inequity in the distribution of access and mobility has been associated with the key aspects of injustice and social exclusion. The pattern of social exclusion and inequality in access are also often related to population characteristics such as age, gender, income, health, and ethnic background. Therefore, while investing in transport infrastructure it is important to consider the equity of provided access for different population groups. This paper proposes a method to evaluate the equity of cycling in a city from Rawls egalitarian perspective. Since this perspective is concerned with the difference between individuals and social groups, this method combines accessibility measures and Theil index of inequality that allows capturing the inequalities ‘within’ and ‘between’ groups. The paper specifically focuses on two population characteristics as gender and ethnic background. Following Rawls equity principles, this paper measures accessibility by bikes to a selection of urban activities that can be linked to the concept of the social primary goods. Moreover, as growing number of cities around the world have launched bike-sharing systems (BSS) this paper incorporates both private and public bikes networks in the estimation of accessibility levels. Additionally, the typology of bike lanes (separated from or shared with roads), the presence of a bike sharing system in the network, as well as bike facilities (e.g. parking racks) have been included in the developed accessibility measures. Application of this proposed method to a real case study, the city of Malmö, Sweden, shows its effectiveness and efficiency. Although the accessibility levels were estimated only based on gender and ethnic background characteristics of the population, the author suggests that the analysis can be applied to other contexts and further developed using other properties, such as age, income, or health.Keywords: accessibility, cycling, equity, gender
Procedia PDF Downloads 403103 European Prosecutor's Office: Chances and Threats; Brief to Polish Perspective
Authors: Katarzyna Stoklosa
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Introduction: European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is an independent office in European Union which was established under the article 86 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union by the Treaty of Lisbon following the method of enhanced cooperation. EPPO is aimed at combating crimes against the EU’s financial interest et fraud against the EU budgets on the one hand, EPPO will give a chance to effective fight with organized criminality, on the other it seems to be a threat for member-states which bound with justice the problem of sovereignty. It is a new institution that will become effective from 2020, which is why it requires prior analysis. Methodology: The author uses statistical and comparative methods by collecting and analyzing the work of current institutions such as Europol, Eurojust, as well as the future impact of EPPO on detection and prosecution of crimes. The author will also conduct questionnaire among students and academic staff involved in the perception of EU institutions and the need to create new entities dealing with inter-agency cooperation in criminal matters. Thanks to these research the author will draw up present ways of cooperation between member-states and changes in fighting with financial crimes which will grow up under new regulation. Major Finding of the Study: Analysis and research show that EPPO is an institution based on the principle of mutual recognition, which often does not work in cooperation between Member States. Distrust and problems with the recognition of judgments of other EU Member States may significantly affect the functioning of EPPO. Poland is not part of the EPPO, because arguments have been raised that the European Public Prosecutor's Office interferes too much with the Member States’ pro-active sovereignty and duplicates competences. The research and analyzes carried out by the author show that EPPO has completely new competences, for example, it may file indictments against perpetrators of financial crimes. However, according to the research carried out by the author, such competences may undermine the sovereignty and the principle of protecting the public order of the EU. Conclusion: After the analysis, it will be possible to set following thesis: EPPO is only possible way to effective fight with organized financial criminality. However in conclusion Polish doubts should not be criticized at all. Institutions as EPPO must properly respect sovereignty of member-states. Even instruments like that cannot provoke political contraventions, because there are no other ways to effective resolving of international criminality problem.Keywords: criminal trial, economic crimes, European Public Prosecutor's Office, European Union
Procedia PDF Downloads 164102 The Concept of Universal Design in the Independent City Life of Disabled Individuals
Authors: Berfu Guley Goren, Ayse Lale Berkoz
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The aim of the study is to analyze the concept of universal design and accessibility to make the city which allows equality and independence for individuals. In the content of the study, literature researches and observations of samples in Istanbul, Turkey are analyzed. As a result proposals are going to be developed to create the cities which are designed for everyone. In globalization process, in cities, population have been increasing dramatically with social and economic activities. Medical developments have been effective in prolonging human life and the disability that comes with aging has also increased in parallel with the disabled population. Nowadays disability is an important phenomenon. Because approximately 1 billion people live with disabilities. The heterogeneous structure formed by the rapid gathering of individuals with different social, economic and physical characteristics in the cities creates great spatial diversity and richness in the cities with different needs brought together. Unlike the cultural and physical wealth in these places and the potential to integrate and diversify the urban people, unfortunately, the designs in practice cause the urban areas to break apart, the urbanities to tear themselves apart, to interfere with their communication and interactions. The social and physical structure of the city is important to feel belonging to the urban society. In most cities when an observation is made, obstructions for people with disabilities can be seen in urban physical structure and design. With these obstructions, people with disabilities cannot live in urban space, and they are desolated in urban life. The city, which offers equal opportunity, the relation between economic development, social justice and built environment must be planned synchronous. Isolation and stigmatization must be abolished by regulations, activities of awareness and universal urban design. Without regard to social, economical and physical features every individual has the same right, which is using the freedom of movement. Supporting freedom of movement of every individual may be ensured by universal design and its principles. So urban spaces are going to be for every individual. For equal opportunity in urban services, urban design must be the focus on every individual including people with disabilities. In built environment practices, democratic suitable spaces should be created. In this respect, urban planners, architects, political decision-makers and other relevant actors should work together and should think very versatile.Keywords: disability, equality, universal design, urban design
Procedia PDF Downloads 302101 Spirits and Social Agency: A Critical Review of Studies from Africa
Authors: Sanaa Riaz
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Spirits occupy a world that simultaneously dwells between the divine and the earthly binary while speaking to all forces of nature, marginality, and extremity in between. This paper examines the conceptualizations, interactions with, and experience of spiritual beings in relation to the concept of self and social agency, defined as a continuum of cooperation leaving those involved with an enhanced or diminished perception of self-agency. To do justice to the diverse mythological and popular interpretations of spirit entities, ethnographic examples from Africa, in particular, will be used. An examination of the nature and role of spirits in Africa allows one to understand the ways in which colonial influences brought by Catholicism and Islam added to the pre-colonial repertoire and syncretic imaginations of spirits. A comprehensive framework to analyze spirits requires situating them as a cognitive configuration of humans to communicate with other humans and forces of nature to receive knowledge about the normative in social roles, conduct, and action. Understanding spirits also requires a rethinking of the concept of self as not one encapsulated in the individual but one representing positionalities in collective negotiations, adversity, and alliances. To use the postmodern understanding of identity as a far from a coherent collection of selves fluidly moving between and dialoguing with gravitational and contradictory social forces, benevolent and maleficent spirit forces represent how people make sense of their origin, physiological and ecological changes, subsistence, and political environment and social relations. A discussion on spirits requires examining the rituals and mediational forces and their performance that allow participants to tackle adversity, voicelessness and continue to work safely and morally for the collective good. Moreover, it is important to see the conceptualization of spirits in unison with sorcery and spirit possession, central to voodoo practices, also because they speak volumes about the experiences of slavery and marginalization. This paper has two motives: It presents a critical literature review of ethnographic accounts of spirit entities in African spiritual experiences to examine the ways in which spirits become mediums through which the self is conceptualized and asserted. Second, the paper highlights the ways in which spirits become a medium to represent political and sociocultural ambiguities and desires along a spectrum of social agencies, including joint agency, vicarious agency, and interfered agency.Keywords: spirits, social agency, self, ethnographic case studies
Procedia PDF Downloads 65100 Motherhood Constrained: The Minotaur Legend Reimagined Through the Perspective of Marginalized Mothers
Authors: Gevorgianiene Violeta, Sumskiene Egle
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Background. Child removal is a profound and life-altering measure that significantly impacts both children and their mothers. Unfortunately, mothers with intellectual disabilities are disproportionately affected by the removal of their children. This action is often taken due to concerns about the mother's perceived inability to care for the child, instances of abuse and neglect, or struggles with addiction. In many cases, the failure to meet society's standards of a "good mother" is seen as a deviation from conventional norms of femininity and motherhood. From an institutional perspective, separating a child from their mother is sometimes viewed as a step toward restoring justice or doing what is considered "right." In another light, this act of child removal can be seen as the removal of a mother from her child, an attempt to shield society from the complexities and fears associated with motherhood for women with disabilities. This separation can be likened to the Greek legend of the Minotaur, a fearsome beast confined within an impenetrable labyrinth. By reimagining this legend, we can see the social fears surrounding 'mothering with intellectual disability' as deeply sealed within an unreachable place. The Aim of this Presentation. Our goal with this presentation is to draw from our research and the metaphors found in the Greek legend to delve into the profound challenges faced by mothers with intellectual disabilities in raising their children. These challenges often become entangled within an insurmountable labyrinth, including navigating complex institutional bureaucracies, enduring persistent doubts cast upon their maternal competencies, battling unfavorable societal narratives, and struggling to retain custody of their children. Coupled with limited social support networks, these challenges frequently lead to situations resulting in maternal failure and, ultimately, child removal. On a broader scale, this separation of a child from their mother symbolizes society’s collective avoidance of confronting the issue of 'mothering with disability,' which can only be effectively addressed through united efforts. Conclusion. Just as in the labyrinth of the Minotaur legend, the struggles faced by mothers with disabilities in their pursuit of retaining their children reveal the need for a metaphorical 'string of Ariadne.' This string symbolizes the support offered by social service providers, communities, and the loved ones these women often dream of but rarely encounter in their lives.Keywords: motherhood, disability, child removal, support.
Procedia PDF Downloads 5899 Shaping Work Engagement through Intra-Organizational Coopetition: Case Study of the University of Zielona Gora in Poland
Authors: Marta Moczulska
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One of the most important aspects of human management in an organization is the work engagement. In spite of the different perspectives of engagement, it is possible to see that it is expressed in the activity of the individual involved in the performance of tasks, the functioning of the organization. At the same time is considered not only in behavioural but also cognitive and emotional dimensions. Previous studies were related to sources, predictors of engagement and determinants, including organizational ones. Attention was paid to the importance of needs (including belonging, success, development, sense of work), values (such as trust, honesty, respect, justice) or interpersonal relationships, especially with the supervisor. Taking them into account and theories related to human acting, behaviour in the organization, interactions, it was recognized that engagement can be shaped through cooperation and competition. It was assumed that to shape the work engagement, it is necessary to simultaneously cooperate and compete in order to reduce the weaknesses of each of these activities and strengthen the strengths. Combining cooperation and competition is defined as 'coopetition'. However, research conducted in this field is primarily concerned with relations between companies. Intra-organizational coopetition is mainly considered as competing organizational branches or units (cross-functional coopetition). Less attention is paid to competing groups or individuals. It is worth noting the ambiguity of the concepts of cooperation and rivalry. Taking into account the terms used and their meaning, different levels of cooperation and forms of competition can be distinguished. Thus, several types of intra-organizational coopetition can be identified. The article aims at defining the potential for work engagement through intra-organizational coopetition. The aim of research was to know how levels of cooperation in competition conditions influence engagement. It is assumed that rivalry (positive competition) between teams (the highest level of cooperation) is a type of coopetition that contributes to working engagement. Qualitative research will be carried out among students of the University of Zielona Gora, realizing various types of projects. The first research groups will be students working in groups on one project for three months. The second research group will be composed of students working in groups on several projects in the same period (three months). Work engagement will be determined using the UWES questionnaire. Levels of cooperation will be determined using the author's research tool. Due to the fact that the research is ongoing, results will be presented in the final paper.Keywords: competition, cooperation, intra-organizational coopetition, work engagement
Procedia PDF Downloads 14598 Importance of Secularism in Iraq
Authors: Azhin Hamad Ameen
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This research paper explores the concept of secularism in Iraq, analyzing its historical development, contemporary manifestations, and potential future trajectories. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, including archival research, interviews with experts and practitioners, and surveys of public opinion, the study examines the complex and often contested relationship between religion, politics, and state power in Iraq. The research finds that secularism has played a significant role in shaping Iraq's political and social landscape over the past century, reflecting both the influence of Western modernity and the challenges of managing religious diversity in a multiethnic, multi-sectarian society. However, the study also reveals that secularism in Iraq is highly contested and fragmented, with competing visions and interpretations among different groups and factions. The research identifies several key factors that have contributed to this fragmentation, including the legacy of colonialism, sectarian conflicts, external interventions, and the rise of Islamist movements. Despite these challenges, the study suggests that secularism continues to hold important potential for promoting democratic governance, protecting human rights, and fostering social cohesion in Iraq. The research concludes by outlining several key policy recommendations for strengthening secularism in Iraq, including promoting interfaith dialogue and tolerance, enhancing public education and civic engagement, and supporting grassroots initiatives for social and political reform. Overall, this research contributes to our understanding of the complex dynamics of secularism in Iraq and highlights the urgent need for innovative and inclusive approaches to promoting democratic governance and social justice in the country.Keywords: secularism, Iraq, religion, politics, state power, historical development, contemporary manifestations, multiethnic society, multi-sectarian society, western modernity, religious diversity, fragmentation, colonialism, sectarian conflicts, external interventions, Islamist movements, democratic governance, human rights, social cohesion, interfaith dialogue, tolerance, public education, civic engagement, grassroots initiatives, social and political reform
Procedia PDF Downloads 7197 Connecting African Ubuntu and Social Work Practices for Human Rights: The Value of Dignity and Worth of a Person
Authors: Meinrad Haule Lembuka
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Social work profession one of its primary mission is to restore and maintain human rights where social workers recognise all humanity as equal, and so too the philosophies that have developed across the world’s regions. Ubuntu means African Humanism, where realization of human rights has been a primary role for every member of community to protect other member. Before Universal declaration of human rights, African societies had a long history of embracing human rights through Ubuntu approach model. The article used Ubuntu theory to guide the review process of existing literature since Ubuntu theory since is grounded in African cultural values and ecology, and it was thought that application of Ubuntu theory was relevant to reflect reality of Ubuntu model and indigenization of social work in African context. Results have shown that in realization of human rights, Ubuntu was practiced is termed as model, philosophy, cultural values, way of life or framework originated in sub-sahara Africa and some of remarkably practice model in several African communities such as Angola, (gimuntu), Botswana (muthu), Burkina Faso (maaya), Ghana (biako ye), Malawi (umunthu), Mali (maaya/hadama de ya), Namibia (omundu), Nigeria (mutunchi/iwa/agwa), (bantu), Sierra Leonne (maaya), South Africa (ubuntu/botho) and Tanzania (utu/obuntu/bumuntu). Collective and holistic mechanism of Ubuntu is found through an Ubuntu framework that is contributed by individual, family, community and spirit that is characterised by interconnectedness of all things and beings. Each society has its own name but the practice remained the same and realization of human rights in Africa context was centred through human dignity, Ubuntu is built under cultural values of humanism that brings implications for African social worker to integrate this indigenous model into social work practice in restoring and maintain human rights. Social workers should promote policies and practices that demonstrate respect for human life, difference, support and expansion of cultural knowledge and resources, advocate for programmes and institutions that demonstrate cultural competence and promote policies that safeguard the rights and confirm equity and social justice for all people.Keywords: African ubuntu, indigenous practice, African humanism, African human rights, social work and human rights
Procedia PDF Downloads 7196 Change Detection of Water Bodies in Dhaka City: An Analysis Using Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing
Authors: M. Humayun Kabir, Mahamuda Afroze, K. Maudood Elahi
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Since the late 1900s, unplanned and rapid urbanization processes have drastically altered the land, reduced water bodies, and decreased vegetation cover in the capital city of Bangladesh, Dhaka. The capitalist modes of urbanization results in the encroachment of the surface water bodies in this city. The main goal of this study is to investigate the change detection of water bodies in Dhaka city, analyzing spatial distribution of water bodies and calculating the changing rate of it. This effort aims to influence public policy for environmental justice initiatives around protecting water bodies for ensuring proper function of the urban ecosystem. This study accomplishes research goal by compiling satellite imageries into GIS software to understand the changes of water bodies in Dhaka city. The work focuses on the late 20th century to early 21st century to analyze this city before and after major infrastructural changes occurred in unplanned manner. The land use of the study area has been classified into four categories, and the areas of the different land use have been calculated using MS Excel and SPSS. The results reveal that the urbanization expanded from central to northern part and major encroachment occurred at the western and eastern part of the city. It has also been found that, in 1988, the total area of water bodies was 8935.38 hectares, and it gradually decreased, and in 1998, 2008, 2017, the total areas of water bodies reached 6065.73, 4853.32, 2077.56 hectares, respectively. Rapid population growth, unplanned urbanization, and industrialization have generated pressure to change the land use pattern in Dhaka city. These expansion processes are engulfing wetland, water bodies, and vegetation cover without considering environmental impact. In order to regain the wetland and surface water bodies, the concern authorities must implement laws and act as a legal instrument in this regard and take action against the violators of it. This research is the synthesis of time series data that provides a complete picture of the water body’s status of Dhaka city that might help to make plans and policies for water body conservation.Keywords: ecosystem, GIS, industrialization, land use, remote sensing, urbanization
Procedia PDF Downloads 15295 Resilience and Urban Transformation: A Review of Recent Interventions in Europe and Turkey
Authors: Bilge Ozel
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Cities are high-complex living organisms and are subjects to continuous transformations produced by the stress that derives from changing conditions. Today the metropolises are seen like “development engines” of the countries and accordingly they become the centre of better living conditions that encourages demographic growth which constitutes the main reason of the changes. Indeed, the potential for economic advancement of the cities directly represents the economic status of their countries. The term of “resilience”, which sees the changes as natural processes and represents the flexibility and adaptability of the systems in the face of changing conditions, becomes a key concept for the development of urban transformation policies. The term of “resilience” derives from the Latin word ‘resilire’, which means ‘bounce’, ‘jump back’, refers to the ability of a system to withstand shocks and still maintain the basic characteristics. A resilient system does not only survive the potential risks and threats but also takes advantage of the positive outcomes of the perturbations and ensures adaptation to the new external conditions. When this understanding is taken into the urban context - or rather “urban resilience” - it delineates the capacity of cities to anticipate upcoming shocks and changes without undergoing major alterations in its functional, physical, socio-economic systems. Undoubtedly, the issue of coordinating the urban systems in a “resilient” form is a multidisciplinary and complex process as the cities are multi-layered and dynamic structures. The concept of “urban transformation” is first launched in Europe just after World War II. It has been applied through different methods such as renovation, revitalization, improvement and gentrification. These methods have been in continuous advancement by acquiring new meanings and trends over years. With the effects of neoliberal policies in the 1980s, the concept of urban transformation has been associated with economic objectives. Subsequently this understanding has been improved over time and had new orientations such as providing more social justice and environmental sustainability. The aim of this research is to identify the most applied urban transformation methods in Turkey and its main reasons of being selected. Moreover, investigating the lacking and limiting points of the urban transformation policies in the context of “urban resilience” in a comparative way with European interventions. The emblematic examples, which symbolize the breaking points of the recent evolution of urban transformation concepts in Europe and Turkey, are chosen and reviewed in a critical way.Keywords: resilience, urban dynamics, urban resilience, urban transformation
Procedia PDF Downloads 26494 Conflict around the Brownfield Reconversion of the Canadian Forces Base Rockcliffe in Ottawa: A Clash of Ambitions and Visions in Canadian Urban Sustainability
Authors: Kenza Benali
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Over the past decade, a number of remarkable projects in urban brownfield reconversion emerged across Canada, including the reconversion of former military bases owned by the Canada Lands Company (CLC) into sustainable communities. However, unlike other developments, the regeneration project of the former Canadian Forces Base Rockcliffe in Ottawa – which was announced as one of the most ambitious Smart growth projects in Canada – faced serious obstacles in terms of social acceptance by the local community, particularly urban minorities composed of Francophones, Indigenous and vulnerable groups who live near or on the Base. This turn of events led to the project being postponed and even reconsidered. Through an analysis of its press coverage, this research aims to understand the causes of this urban conflict which lasted for nearly ten years. The findings reveal that the conflict is not limited to the “standard” issues common to most conflicts related to urban mega-projects in the world – e.g., proximity issues (threads to the quality of the surrounding neighbourhoods; noise, traffic, pollution, New-build gentrification) often associated with NIMBY phenomena. In this case, the local actors questioned the purpose of the project (for whom and for what types of uses is it conceived?), its local implementation (to what extent are the local history and existing environment taken into account?), and the degree of implication of the local population in the decision-making process (with whom is the project built?). Moreover, the interests of the local actors have “jumped scales” and transcend the micro-territorial level of their daily life to take on a national and even international dimension. They defined an alternative view of how this project, considered strategic by his location in the nation’s capital, should be a reference as well as an international showcase of Canadian ambition and achievement in terms of urban sustainability. This vision promoted, actually, a territorial and national identity approach - in which some cultural values are highly significant (respect of social justice, inclusivity, ethnical diversity, cultural heritage, etc.)- as a counterweight to planners’ vision which is criticized as a normative/ universalist logic that ignore the territorial peculiarities.Keywords: smart growth, brownfield reconversion, sustainable neighborhoods, Canada Lands Company, Canadian Forces Base Rockcliffe, urban conflicts
Procedia PDF Downloads 38293 Building Data Infrastructure for Public Use and Informed Decision Making in Developing Countries-Nigeria
Authors: Busayo Fashoto, Abdulhakeem Shaibu, Justice Agbadu, Samuel Aiyeoribe
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Data has gone from just rows and columns to being an infrastructure itself. The traditional medium of data infrastructure has been managed by individuals in different industries and saved on personal work tools; one of such is the laptop. This hinders data sharing and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 for infrastructure sustainability across all countries and regions. However, there has been a constant demand for data across different agencies and ministries by investors and decision-makers. The rapid development and adoption of open-source technologies that promote the collection and processing of data in new ways and in ever-increasing volumes are creating new data infrastructure in sectors such as lands and health, among others. This paper examines the process of developing data infrastructure and, by extension, a data portal to provide baseline data for sustainable development and decision making in Nigeria. This paper employs the FAIR principle (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) of data management using open-source technology tools to develop data portals for public use. eHealth Africa, an organization that uses technology to drive public health interventions in Nigeria, developed a data portal which is a typical data infrastructure that serves as a repository for various datasets on administrative boundaries, points of interest, settlements, social infrastructure, amenities, and others. This portal makes it possible for users to have access to datasets of interest at any point in time at no cost. A skeletal infrastructure of this data portal encompasses the use of open-source technology such as Postgres database, GeoServer, GeoNetwork, and CKan. These tools made the infrastructure sustainable, thus promoting the achievement of SDG 9 (Industries, Innovation, and Infrastructure). As of 6th August 2021, a wider cross-section of 8192 users had been created, 2262 datasets had been downloaded, and 817 maps had been created from the platform. This paper shows the use of rapid development and adoption of technologies that facilitates data collection, processing, and publishing in new ways and in ever-increasing volumes. In addition, the paper is explicit on new data infrastructure in sectors such as health, social amenities, and agriculture. Furthermore, this paper reveals the importance of cross-sectional data infrastructures for planning and decision making, which in turn can form a central data repository for sustainable development across developing countries.Keywords: data portal, data infrastructure, open source, sustainability
Procedia PDF Downloads 9792 Sexual Diversity Training for Hong Kong Teachers Preliminary Themes Identified from Qualitative Interviews
Authors: Diana K. Kwok
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Despite the fact that Hong Kong government aims to develop an inclusive society, sexual minority students continue to encounter sexual prejudice without legal protection. They also have difficulties accessing relevant services from mental health and educational professionals, who do not receive systematic training to work with sexual minority students. Informed by the literature on sexual prejudice, heterosexual hegemony, genderism, as well as code of practice for frontline practitioners, the authors explored self-perceived knowledge of teachers and sexual minorities on sexuality and sexual prejudice, and how they perceive prejudice towards sexual minorities in Chinese cultural context. Semi-structure qualitative interviews were carried out with 31 school personnel informants (school teachers and counseling team members) and 25 sexual minority informants on their understanding of sexuality knowledge, their perception of sexual prejudice within school context in Hong Kong, as well as their suggested themes on teachers training on sexual prejudice reduction. This presentation specifically focuses on transcripts from sexual minority informants. Data analysis was carried out through NVivo, and followed the procedures spelt out in the qualitative research literature. Trustworthiness of the study was addressed through various strategies. Preliminary themes emerged from transcript content analysis: 1) A gap of knowledge between sexual minority informants and teachers; 2) Perception on sexual prejudice within cultural context; 3) Heterosexual hegemony and genderism within school system; 4) Needs for mandatory training: contents and strategies. The sexual minority informants found that teachers they encountered were predominantly adopted concepts of binary sex and dichotomous gender. Informants also indicated that the teachings of Confucianism cultural values, religiosity in Hong Kong might well be important cultural forces contributing to sexual prejudice manifested in school context. Although human rights and social justice concepts were embedded in professional code of practice of teachers and school helping professionals, informants found that teachers they encountered may face a dilemma when supporting sexual minority students navigating heterosexual hegemony and genderism in, as a consequence of their personal, institutional, cultural and religious backgrounds. Acknowledgments: The sexual prejudice project was funded by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council (ECS28401614), 2015 to 2017.Keywords: sexual prejudice, Chinese teachers, Chinese sexual minorities, teacher training
Procedia PDF Downloads 28291 Humanitarian Emergency of the Refugee Condition for Central American Immigrants in Irregular Situation
Authors: María de los Ángeles Cerda González, Itzel Arriaga Hurtado, Pascacio José Martínez Pichardo
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In México, the recognition of refugee condition is a fundamental right which, as host State, has the obligation of respect, protect, and fulfill to the foreigners – where we can find the figure of immigrants in irregular situation-, that cannot return to their country of origin for humanitarian reasons. The recognition of the refugee condition as a fundamental right in the Mexican law system proceeds under these situations: 1. The immigrant applies for the refugee condition, even without the necessary proving elements to accredit the humanitarian character of his departure from his country of origin. 2. The immigrant does not apply for the recognition of refugee because he does not know he has the right to, even if he has the profile to apply for. 3. The immigrant who applies fulfills the requirements of the administrative procedure and has access to the refugee recognition. Of the three situations above, only the last one is contemplated for the national indexes of the status refugee; and the first two prove the inefficiency of the governmental system viewed from its lack of sensibility consequence of the no education in human rights matter and which results in the legal vulnerability of the immigrants in irregular situation because they do not have access to the procuration and administration of justice. In the aim of determining the causes and consequences of the no recognition of the refugee status, this investigation was structured from a systemic analysis which objective is to show the advances in Central American humanitarian emergency investigation, the Mexican States actions to protect, respect and fulfil the fundamental right of refugee of immigrants in irregular situation and the social and legal vulnerabilities suffered by Central Americans in Mexico. Therefore, to achieve the deduction of the legal nature of the humanitarian emergency from the Human Rights as a branch of the International Public Law, a conceptual framework is structured using the inductive deductive method. The problem statement is made from a legal framework to approach a theoretical scheme under the theory of social systems, from the analysis of the lack of communication of the governmental and normative subsystems of the Mexican legal system relative to the process undertaken by the Central American immigrants to achieve the recognition of the refugee status as a human right. Accordingly, is determined that fulfilling the obligations of the State referent to grant the right of the recognition of the refugee condition, would mean a guideline for a new stage in Mexican Law, because it would enlarge the constitutional benefits to everyone whose right to the recognition of refugee has been denied an as consequence, a great advance in human rights matter would be achieved.Keywords: central American immigrants in irregular situation, humanitarian emergency, human rights, refugee
Procedia PDF Downloads 28990 Vocal Advocacy: A Case Study at the First Black College Regarding Students Experiencing an Empowerment Workshop
Authors: Denise F. Brown, Melina McConatha
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African Americans utilizing the art of vocal expressions, particularly for self-expression, has been a historical avenue of advocating for social justice and human rights. Vocal expressions can take many forms, such as singing, poetry, storytelling, and acting. Many well-known artists, politicians, leaders, and teachers used their voices to promote the causes and concerns of the African American community as well as the expression of their own experiences of being 'black' in America. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the perceptions of African American students in utilizing their voices for self-awareness, interview skills, and social change after attending a three-part workshop on vocal advocacy. This research utilized the framework of black feminism to understand empowerment in advocacy and self-expression. Students participated in learning about the power of their voices, and what purpose presence, and passion they discovered through the Immersive Voice workshop. There were three areas covered in the workshop. The first area was the power of the voice, the second area was the application of vocal passion, and the third area was applying the vocal power to express personal interest, interests of advocating for others, and confidence and speaking to others to further careers, i.e., using vocal power for job interviewing skills. The students were instructed to prepare for the workshops by completing a pre-workshop open-ended survey. There were a total of 15 students that participated. After the workshop ended, the students were instructed to complete a post-workshop survey. The surveys were assessed by evaluating both themes and codes from student's written feedback. From the pre-workshop survey, students were given a survey for them to provide feedback regarding the power of voice prior to participating in the workshops. From the student's responses, the theme (advocating for self and others) emerged as it related to student's feedback on what it means to advocate. There were three codes that led to the theme, having knowledge about advocating for self and others, gaining knowledge to advocate for self and others, and using that knowledge to advocate for self and others. After the students completed participation in the workshops, a post workshop- survey was given to the students. Students' feedback was assessed, and the same theme emerged, 'advocating for self and others.' The codes related to the theme, however, were different and included using vocal power (a term students learned during the workshop) to represent self, represent others, and obtain a job/career. In conclusion, the results of the survey showed that students still perceived advocating as speaking up for themselves and other people. After the workshop, students still continued to associate advocacy with helping themselves and helping others but were able to be more specific about how the sound of their voice could help in advocating, and how they could use their voice to represent themselves in getting a job or starting a career.Keywords: advocacy, command, self-expression, voice
Procedia PDF Downloads 11089 Refractory Cardiac Arrest: Do We Go beyond, Do We Increase the Organ Donation Pool or Both?
Authors: Ortega Ivan, De La Plaza Edurne
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Background: Spain and other European countries have implemented Uncontrolled Donation after Cardiac Death (uDCD) programs. After 15 years of experience in Spain, many things have changed. Recent evidence and technical breakthroughs achieved in resuscitation are relevant for uDCD programs and raise some ethical concerns related to these protocols. Aim: To rethink current uDCD programs in the light of recent evidence on available therapeutic procedures applicable to victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). To address the following question: What is the current standard of treatment owed to victims of OHCA before including them in an uDCD protocol? Materials and Methods: Review of the scientific and ethical literature related to both uDCD programs and innovative resuscitation techniques. Results: 1) The standard of treatment received and the chances of survival of victims of OHCA depend on whether they are classified as Non-Heart Beating Patients (NHBP) or Non-Heart-Beating-Donors (NHBD). 2) Recent studies suggest that NHBPs are likely to survive, with good quality of life, if one or more of the following interventions are performed while ongoing CPR -guided by suspected or known cause of OHCA- is maintained: a) direct access to a Cath Lab-H24 or/and to extra-corporeal life support (ECLS); b) transfer in induced hypothermia from the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) to the ICU; c) thrombolysis treatment; d) mobile extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (mini ECMO) instituted as a bridge to ICU ECLS devices. 3) Victims of OHCA who cannot benefit from any of these therapies should be considered as NHBDs. Conclusion: Current uDCD protocols do not take into account recent improvements in resuscitation and need to be adapted. Operational criteria to distinguish NHBDs from NHBP should seek a balance between the technical imperative (to do whatever is possible), considerations about expected survival with quality of life, and distributive justice (costs/benefits). Uncontrolled DCD protocols can be performed in a way that does not hamper the legitimate interests of patients, potential organ donors, their families, the organ recipients, and the health professionals involved in these processes. Families of NHBDs’ should receive information which conforms to the ethical principles of respect of autonomy and transparency.Keywords: uncontrolled donation after cardiac death resuscitation, refractory cardiac arrest, out of hospital cardiac, arrest ethics
Procedia PDF Downloads 23788 Teaching Accounting through Critical Accounting Research: The Origin and Its Relevance to the South African Curriculum
Authors: Rosy Makeresemese Qhosola
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South Africa has maintained the effort to uphold its guiding principles in terms of its constitution. The constitution upholds principles such as equity, social justice, peace, freedom and hope, to mention but a few. So, such principles are made to form the basis for any legislation and policies that are in place to guide all fields/departments of government. Education is one of those departments or fields and is expected to abide by such principles as outlined in their policies. Therefore, as expected education policies and legislation outline their intentions to ensure the development of students’ clear critical thinking capacity as well as their creative capacities by creating learning contexts and opportunities that accommodate the effective teaching and learning strategies, that are learner centered and are compatible with the prescripts of a democratic constitution of the country. The paper aims at exploring and analyzing the progress of conventional accounting in terms of its adherence to the effective use of principles of good teaching, as per policy expectations in South Africa. The progress is traced by comparing conventional accounting to Critical Accounting Research (CAR), where the history of accounting as intended in the curriculum of SA and CAR are highlighted. Critical Accounting Research framework is used as a lens and mode of teaching in this paper, since it can create a space for the learning of accounting that is optimal marked by the use of more learner-centred methods of teaching. The Curriculum of South Africa also emphasises the use of more learner-centred methods of teaching that encourage an active and critical approach to learning, rather than rote and uncritical learning of given truths. The study seeks to maintain that conventional accounting is in contrast with principles of good teaching as per South African policy expectations. The paper further maintains that, the possible move beyond it and the adherence to the effective use of good teaching, could be when CAR forms the basis of teaching. Data is generated through Participatory Action Research where the meetings, dialogues and discussions with the focused groups are conducted, which consists of lecturers, students, subject heads, coordinators and NGO’s as well as departmental officials. The results are analysed through Critical Discourse Analysis since it allows for the use of text by participants. The study concludes that any teacher who aspires to achieve in the teaching and learning of accounting should first meet the minimum requirements as stated in the NQF level 4, which forms the basic principles of good teaching and are in line with Critical Accounting Research.Keywords: critical accounting research, critical discourse analysis, participatory action research, principles of good teaching
Procedia PDF Downloads 30987 Examining Terrorism through a Constructivist Framework: Case Study of the Islamic State
Authors: Shivani Yadav
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The Study of terrorism lends itself to the constructivist framework as constructivism focuses on the importance of ideas and norms in shaping interests and identities. Constructivism is pertinent to understand the phenomenon of a terrorist organization like the Islamic State (IS), which opportunistically utilizes radical ideas and norms to shape its ‘politics of identity’. This ‘identity’, which is at the helm of preferences and interests of actors, in turn, shapes actions. The paper argues that an effective counter-terrorism policy must recognize the importance of ideas in order to counter the threat arising from acts of radicalism and terrorism. Traditional theories of international relations, with an emphasis on state-centric security problematic, exhibit several limitations and problems in interpreting the phenomena of terrorism. With the changing global order, these theories have failed to adapt to the changing dimensions of terrorism, especially ‘newer’ actors like the Islamic State (IS). The paper observes that IS distinguishes itself from other terrorist organizations in the way that it recruits and spreads its propaganda. Not only are its methods different, but also its tools (like social media) are new. Traditionally, too, force alone has rarely been sufficient to counter terrorism, but it seems especially impossible to completely root out an organization like IS. Time is ripe to change the discourse around terrorism and counter-terrorism strategies. The counter-terrorism measures adopted by states, which primarily focus on mitigating threats to the national security of the state, are preoccupied with statist objectives of the continuance of state institutions and maintenance of order. This limitation prevents these theories from addressing the questions of justice and the ‘human’ aspects of ideas and identity. These counter-terrorism strategies adopt a problem-solving approach that attempts to treat the symptoms without diagnosing the disease. Hence, these restrictive strategies fail to look beyond calculated retaliation against violent actions in order to address the underlying causes of discontent pertaining to ‘why’ actors turn violent in the first place. What traditional theories also overlook is that overt acts of violence may have several causal factors behind them, some of which are rooted in the structural state system. Exploring these root causes through the constructivist framework helps to decipher the process of ‘construction of terror’ and to move beyond the ‘what’ in theorization in order to describe ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘when’ terrorism occurs. Study of terrorism would much benefit from a constructivist analysis in order to explore non-military options while countering the ideology propagated by the IS.Keywords: constructivism, counter terrorism, Islamic State, politics of identity
Procedia PDF Downloads 18986 Men's Intimate Violence: Theory and Practice Relationship
Authors: Omer Zvi Shaked
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Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a widespread social problem. Since the 1970's, and due to political changes resulting from the feminist movement, western society has been changing its attitude towards the phenomenon and has been taking an active approach to reduce its magnitude. Enterprises in the form of legislation, awareness and prevention campaigns, women's shelters, and community intervention programs became more prevalent as years progressed. Although many initiatives were found to be productive, the effectiveness of one, however, remained questionable throughout the years: intervention programs for men's intimate violence. Surveys outline two main intervention models for men's intimate violence. The first is the Duluth model, which argued that men are socialized to be dominant - while women are socialized to be subordinate - and men are therefore required by social imperative to enforce, physically if necessary, their dominance. The Duluth model became the chief authorized intervention program, and some states in the US even regulated it as the standard criminal justice program for men's intimate violence. However, meta-analysis findings demonstrated that based on a partner's reports, Duluth treatment completers have 44% recidivism rate, and between 40% and 85% dropout range. The second model is the Cognitive-Behavioral Model (CBT), which is a highly accepted intervention worldwide. The model argues that cognitive misrepresentations of intimate situations precede violent behaviors frequently when anger predisposition exists. Since anger dysregulation mediates between one's cognitive schemes and violent response, anger regulation became the chief purpose of the intervention. Yet, a meta-analysis found only a 56% risk reduction for CBT interventions. It is, therefore, crucial to understand the background behind the domination of both the Duluth model and CBT interventions. This presentation will discuss the ways in which theoretical conceptualizations of men's intimate violence, as well as ideologies, had contributed to the above-mentioned interventions' wide acceptance, despite known lack of scientific and evidential support. First, the presentation will review the prominent interventions for male intimate violence, the Duluth model, and CBT. Second, the presentation will review the prominent theoretical models explaining men's intimate violence: The Patriarchal model, the Abusive Personality model, and the Post-Traumatic Stress model. Third, the presentation will discuss the interrelation between theory and practice, and the nature of affinity between research and practice regarding men's intimate violence. Finally, the presentation will set new directions for further research, aiming to improve intervention's efficiency with men's intimate violence and advance social work practice in the field.Keywords: intimate partner violence, theory and practice relationship, Duluth, CBT, abusive personality, post-traumatic stress
Procedia PDF Downloads 126