Milton Santos’ geographical perspectives in studies of culture and consumption: A study in a rural community

Background:Immunization coverage rates in Nigeria have remained very poor, in spite of numerous programs and strategies, specifically designed to improve coverage. This study was to assess the possible effects of greater community participation on immunization coverage, by comparing the immunization coverage in a rural community with a functional community health committee, with an urban community, with no distinct community structure.Materials and Methods:The study was carried out in Ondewari, a rural, riverine community, in Bayelsa State; and Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, south-south Nigeria; using a cross-sectional, comparative study design. The data were collected using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire, administered on female head of households in both communities, with under-five children; and used to collect information on the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, the immunization status of children in the household below the age of 2 years, and reasons for none and incomplete immunization.Results:A total of 288 respondents were studied in the rural community, while 270 respondents were studied in the urban center. The respondents in the urban center were significantly younger (P<0.01), better educated (P<0.001), and had fewer number of children (P<0.01). The immunization status of children in the rural community was significantly better than those in the urban community (P<0.000). Only 11.46% of the children in the rural community were not immunized, compared to 47.04% in the urban community. However, the dropout rate in the rural community was much higher; with a DPT dropout rate of 77.34%, compared to 12.39% in the urban community. Most of the reasons given in the urban community for the incomplete immunization were linked lack of motivation, and include relocation (11.34%) and the adverse rumor about childhood immunization (17.23%), while the reasons in the rural community were mostly health facility related, and included the absence of the vaccinator (20.46%) and nonavailability of vaccines (26.64%).Conclusion:The immunization coverage in the rural community was surprisingly better than that of the urban community, which can be attributed to better mobilization and participation in the delivery of immunization services.

The third goal of sustainable development is the well-being of society. Government actions to achieve this goal is by increasing built capital (e.g., infrastructure and housing) in urban and rural areas. Other forms of capital that can improve well-being include strengthening community bonds in the community (social capital). This study aims to explore the level of social capital (bonding, bridging, and linking) in rural and urban communities and the correlation between social capital and well-being. The data used is the Indonesian Family Life Survey 5 (IFLS5). The sample consists of 12,872 rural communities and 18,532 urban communities. T-test analysis was used to determine differences in levels of social capital, while a pairwise correlation was used to determine the correlation between social capital and well-being. The results showed that the majority of urban and rural communities had moderate levels of bonding and bridging, while linking is at a low level. In addition, there are significant differences in bonding, bridging, and linking social capital between urban and rural communities, in which rural communities have higher scores than urban communities. It was also found that there was a positive relationship between the bridging and bonding of urban and rural communities and well-being.

Branchless Banking is an ICT-based service provided by banks through the provision of agents. The agents are spread in several locations, both in urban and rural areas. This paper is part of a study on The Perceptions of Space and Locations of Urban and Rural Communities: Implications for the Development of Branchless Banking. However, this paper only focuses on how community makes use of branchless banking by comparing its conditions in urban and rural areas and its relations to the field of geography. The area studied in this research are Kulon Progo Regency and Yogyakarta Municipality that located in Yogyakarta Special Province, Indonesia. The method used in this research is quantitative method. The data are collected by structured interview especially to the agent and customers of branchless banking. The agents and customers of branchless banking coordinate locations used as input for spatial density analysis. The other geographic perspective is accessibility analysis using cost distance, this analysis developed from combining Euclidean distance of road and settlement, and slope. The result shows that the use of branchless banking is based on the factor of location that is closer to where they live and how easy the access is. In addition, there are also convenience factors, such as unlimited time for services and familiarity in accessing. Regarding the reasons for the utilization of Branchless Banking in Rural and Urban is almost the same, but for the city of Yogyakarta, the location factor plays a role, while in Kulon Progo the comfort factor is also a consideration. In both urban and rural areas, branchless banking agents are mostly located in residential area. Agents are highly used in the location that is far away from economic services, especially banks. It also shows the same pattern if evidenced by spatial density and accessibility analysis. The perception of societies related to the distance qualitatively has similarities with the results of spatial analysis of density and accessibility. The presence of ICT in banking services in the form branchless banking through an agent can add the concept of banking service development that is not always in the city center, but it can also be rural areas.

Identifying environmental health priorities in underserved populations: a study of rural versus urban communities

Few studies have provided observational data on long-term trends in the incidence of stroke and its subtypes, and shown the urban-rural disparities of stroke incidence in Japan. A multiple-source, community-based stroke surveillance was performed since 1963/1964 to determine all first-ever stroke cases among Japanese residents aged ⩾40 years living in the Minami-Takayasu district in Yao city, an urban community, and Ikawa town, a rural community. Sex-specific, age-standardized incidence per 1000/year with 95% confidence intervals was calculated during seven periods of 1963/1964-1971 (urban population (% men): 3242 (47.3%); rural population (% men): 2311 (46.0%)), 1972-1979, 1980-1987, 1988-1995, 1996-2003, 2004-2011, and 2012-2018 (13,307 (46.7%); 3586 (44.8%)). The age-standardized incidence of all strokes in the Japanese urban community decreased from 6.60 to 1.15 per 1000/year for men and 3.28 to 0.59 for women. In the rural community, the corresponding incidence decreased from 11.51 to 1.98 for men and 6.46 to 1.31 for women. Similar reductions were observed in the incidence of intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, ischemic stroke, and lacunar stroke. In the period of 2012-2018, the incidence ratios (95% confidence intervals) of all strokes for the rural compared to the urban community were 1.72 (1.08-2.75) for men and 2.23 (1.23-4.03) for women. The stroke incidence continued to decline in both urban and rural Japanese communities with the regional disparities over the past half century, whereas it remained higher than that in many Western countries.

Rural general practitioners (GPs) have insufficient diagnostic information to deal with complex clinical scenarios due to the inequality in medical imaging resources in rural and remote communities. The objective of this study is to explore the value of a tele-mentored handheld ultrasound (tele-HHUS) system, allowing GPs to provide ultrasound (US) services in rural and remote communities. Overall, 708 patients underwent tele-HHUS examination between March and October 2021 and March and April 2022 across thirteen primary hospitals and two tertiary-care general hospitals. All US examinations were guided and supervised remotely in real time by US experts more than 300 km away using the tele-HHUS system. The following details were recorded: location of tele-HHUS scanning, primary complaints, clinical diagnosis, and US findings. The recommendations (referral or follow-up) based on clinical experience alone were compared with those based on clinical experience with tele-HHUS information. Tele-HHUS examinations were performed both in hospital settings (90.6%, 642/708) and out of hospital settings (9.4%, 66/708). Leaving aside routine physical examinations, flank pain (14.2%, 91/642) was the most common complaint in inpatients, while chest distress (12.1%, 8/66) and flank discomfort (12.1%, 8/66) were the most common complaints in out-of-hospital settings. Additionally, the referral rate increased from 5.9% to 8.3% (kappa = 0.202; p = 0.000). The tele-HHUS system can help rural GPs perform HHUS successfully in remote and rural communities. This novel mobile telemedicine model is valuable in resource-limited areas.

The Palgrave Handbook of Society, Culture, and Outer Space

The success of a preventive oncology program depends upon the general population's awareness of the disease, its magnitude, and the screening and prevention process. Our study aimed to analyze the situational awareness of a rural community population toward the most common cancers in females. We conducted a cross-sectional study in the rural Indian community of Uttarakhand, recruiting 589 participants from Pauri Garhwal. We developed a questionnaire comprising sociodemographic information, knowledge of the disease, early detection, and the attitude toward breast and cervical cancer treatment. We also registered the participant's knowledge and enthusiasm toward vaccination against cervical cancer. Local non-governmental organization (Uttarakhand Manav Seva Samiti, Delhi) collaborated to conduct door-to-door interviews. Among the participants, 38% and 79% had never heard about breast and cervical cancer, respectively. A limited understanding of various signs and symptoms of breast cancer varying from 14% to 50% was noted. Only 36.1% (132) and 11.5% (42) of the participants had heard about breast cancer and were aware of breast examination and mammography, including its utility in diagnosing early breast cancer. Similarly, the knowledge about various signs and symptoms of cervical cancer varied from 11 to 55% among the participants. Only 6.5% of them have heard about preventive vaccination. Encouraging results of the study were that nearly 57% and 56% of the participants expressed eagerness to participate in cancer screening programs. Participants who were Younger (< 40years) and had more years of education had significantly higher levels of knowledge about and positive attitudes toward breast and cervical cancers. A grim lack of awareness in the rural community has been observed regarding breast and cervical cancers and preventive vaccination. Strengthening educational activities in the rural community against these cancers seems to be an indispensable step toward a preventive oncology program.

The study of Indonesian society is always related to the condition of a pluralistic Indonesian society, both in terms of race, ethnicity and religion. In addition, the study of Indonesian society also has several sections including studies of traditional, transitional, modern Indonesian society, and studies of rural and urban communities. Traditional communities are usually referred to as rural communities, with a population of less than 2.500 people. A transitional society can be described as a society that is just experiencing growth, because in this transitional process, society is expected to be at a faster pace in understanding technological growth, which inevitably has to be able to master this technology. And in modern society, every level of society can be influenced by means of communication to convey information, such as radio and television. Meanwhile, rural and urban communities have a relationship of interdependence. With an illustration, urban communities need labor from rural communities, while rural communities need jobs created by urban communities. With the sections from the study of Indonesian society, the pluralism that has been formed long ago, can be seen clearly. Because each part of the study of society, has its own characteristics.Between village and traditional communities have the same characteristics. Because in the village community, there must be a strong sense of bond as well as traditional society. Whereas urban society has the same characteristics as modern society, because every urban society has an open view of new things, so it is not difficult for them to move forward to become a modern society. However, before achieving this, they must go through several phases, among which the first phase is called the colonial phase because it places leaders as foremen, the second phase is referred to as the developmental phase of administration and management because of the emergence of administrative and secretarial academics, the third phase is referred to as This phase is referred to as the global leadership phase, because leadership studies have begun to appear in specific fields.

In the process of its formation and development, Wushu is deeply influenced by the cultural and geographical environment. At present, the inheritance and development of Wushu have been paid more and more attention. The international spread of Wushu has become a window for the world to understand Chinese culture. Therefore, it is of great significance to study Wushu culture from the perspective of geographical culture. From the perspective of cultural geography, the emergence and development of Wushu is one of the hot spots in the study of Wushu culture. Based on this perspective, this paper discusses the inheritance and dissemination of Chinese Wushu, with a view to contributing to the spread of Chinese Wushu.

In this editorial, we reflect on reasons why community studies are rarely undertaken nowadays and outline why re-engaging with this approach might help researchers develop insights into rural health and wellbeing. By 'community studies' we mean investigations which take as their starting point the idea that, 'Communities can be understood as on-going systems of interaction, usually within a locality, that have some degree of permanence' (Bell & Newby, 1971, p. 55). Such studies typically utilise ethnographic methods to document the day-to-day lives of local residents and how their social interactions and opportuni- ties are mediated by class, status and power struc- tures (see Bell & Newby, 1971; Wild, 1981).We begin by providing an overview explaining why, in Newby's (2008, p. 95) words, interest in community studies has 'fizzled out.' We critique the individualist approach adopted in much rural health research and discuss how community stud- ies might help address the limitations associated with this approach. This discussion sets the context for the seven papers included in this special edition which demonstrate the myriad ways rural commu- nity wellbeing can be conceptualised and studied.WHY RURAL COMMUNITY STUDIES ARE NOW DIFFICULT TO UNDERTAKEWe advance two main explanations why schol- arly interest in community studies has declined in recent decades. These include issues associ- ated with changes in academic governance as well as changing trends in rural social research (see Courvisanos & Martin, 2005; Luloff & Krannich, 2002; Newby, 2008) and theoretical approaches to 'community' (see Barrett, 2010; Blackshaw, 2010; Crow & Allan, 1994). It should be noted that these developments are by no means the only ones behind the decline in community studies (see Allan & Phillipson, 2008; Brint, 2001; Coleman, 1986; Crow & Allan, 1994; Putt, 2013).Academic demandsChanges in academic governance over the past two to three decades have discouraged academic investment in community studies. This includes the increasing imperative to publish consistently in leading Journals and to 'provide or perish' by win- ning competitive grants (Polster, 2007, p. 601). Such imperatives point to the growing ' audit cul- ture' in universities (see Lincoln, 2011), a culture epitomised by schemes such as Britain's Research Assessment Exercise (Broadbent, 2010) and met- rics associated with citation counts, university rankings, and teaching quality assessments (see Burrows, 2012; Lewis, 2013). The administrative workload required to comply with the audit regime has been acknowledged as having cut into academic research and ' think time' (Lincoln, 2011; p. 369). Furthermore, the rise in short-term contract work in academia (see Kimber, 2003; May, Peetz, & Strachan, 2013) arguably makes it hard for many academics, particularly those in junior positions, to plan and carry out long-term research projects of the type demanded by community studies.Declining interest in community studies has also been attributed to ethical issues associated with ethnography and participant observation, including concerns around the establishment of informed consent and the safety of researchers (Putt, 2013; p. 481). Research ethics commit- tees now want data collection methods spelt-out in detail prior to entering the field and restrict the collection and use of data obtained without formal written consent. The ability to collect data through observation, participation or spontane- ous conversation, quintessential methods in com- munity studies (see Wild, 1981), then becomes problematic. Most researchers and research ethics committees would understandably want to avoid the controversy stirred by Vidich and Bensman's (1968) critical insights into 'Springdale' that the local population rejected. Such concerns led Wild's (1981, p. 148; see also Moore, 2008, p. 123) publisher to request several changes to the original Bradstow (Wild, 1974) manuscript. …

For centuries, the sea and those who sail upon it have inspired the imaginations of British musicians. Generations of British artists have viewed the ocean as a metaphor for the mutable human condition - by turns calm and reflective, tempestuous and destructive - and have been influenced as much by its physical presence as by its musical potential. But just as geographical perspectives and attitudes on seascapes have evolved over time, so too have cultural assumptions about their meaning and significance. Changes in how Britons have used the sea to travel, communicate, work, play, and go to war have all irresistibly shaped the way that maritime imagery has been conceived, represented, and disseminated in British music.&lt;BR&gt; By exploring the sea's significance within the complex world of British music, this book reveals a network of largely unexamined cultural tropes unique to this island nation. The essays are organised around three main themes: the Sea as Landscape, the Sea as Profession, and the Sea as Metaphor, covering an array of topics drawn from the seventeenth century to the twenty-first. Featuring studies of pieces by the likes of Purcell, Arne, Sullivan, Vaughan Williams, and Davies, as well as examinations of cultural touchstones such as the BBC, the Scottish fishing industry, and the Aldeburgh Festival, &lt;I&gt;The Sea in the British Musical Imagination&lt;/I&gt; will be of interest to musicologists as well as scholars in history, British studies, cultural studies, and English literature.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt; ERIC SAYLOR is Associate Professor of Musicology at Drake University.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt; CHRISTOPHER M. SCHEER is Assistant Professor of Musicology at Utah State University.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt; CONTRIBUTORS: Byron Adams, Jenny Doctor, Amanda Eubanks Winkler, James Brooks Kuykendall, Charles Edward McGuire, Alyson McLamore, Louis Niebur, Jennifer Oates, Eric Saylor, Christopher M. Scheer, Aidan J. Thomson, Justin Vickers, Frances Wilkins

Book Reviews Beaver, Patricia Duane. Rural Community in theAppalachian South. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 1986. Notes, bibliography, index. 182 pp. $18.00. "Oh no! Not another Appalachian community study!" This was my first reaction when presented with the task of reviewing Pat Beaver's Rural Community in the Appalachian South. In manuscript, this study was awarded the University Press of Kentucky's Appalachian Award in 1985. Still, I approached the book with caution bordering on suspicion. The Appalachian community study has been around for a very long time. It has been with us at least since the 1920s, despite Emma Bell Miles declaration in 1905 that Appalachia had no sense of community. John C. Campbell 's classic, The Southern Highlander and His Homeland (1921) has elements of a community study in it, as does James Watt Raine's Land of the Saddlebags (1924). The first professional sociologist to attempt the task of the study of Appalachian community was probably J. Wesley Hatcher, who wrote a piece entitled "Appalachian America" for W. T. Couch's Culture in the South (1934, pp. 374-402). James S. Brown began his Beech Creek Studies in the 1940s. Then Marion Pearsall's Little Smoky Ridge began in 1959 what became a fad of community studies: Elmora Matthews (1965), Jack Weiler (1965), John Fetterman (1967), Rena Gazeway (1969), John Stephenson (1968), and others, including David H. Loof (1971) and Robert Coles (1967), which were as much community studies as studies of the characteristics of Appalachian children. So now comes Pat Beaver's study! One can be excused perhaps, for fearing that this was just another study plowing the same ground, and a study that might not add very much to our knowledge. But this one is different, and is, in my view, genuinely helpful in giving us significant handles on the elusive Appalachian community. First of all, this study gives us a good sense of context and process. Beaver does not present Appalachian community as something apart and frozen in space and time. Though there is some confusion in Beaver's first chapter about whether she is speaking of the three Western North Carolina communities she has chosen to study or of the whole counties involved, her treatment emerges early with a strong sense of historical background. And subsequent chapters clearly present her communities in the process of change. She never presents them or the people in them as atrophied entities. Some in the social sciences may object to her methodology. She never carefully explains how she worked. Nor are there graphs or any statistics. Only generalizations with supporting individual case studies. Anecdotes? Perhaps. But I for one found her approach fascinating. Her narrative reads very well, and is more understandable to the nonsocial scientist than interpretations of numerical data. These pages are loaded with individual cases—anecdotes if you wish. But I found them clearly illustrative of the points the author was trying to make. And on several occasions , Beaver shows a warm kind of "genius" for getting at the heart and soul of the matter with an insightful illustration. Perhaps Pat Beaver's best chapter is the one on "Sex Roles and the Life Cycle." The way she treats child care, the expectations of 86 children, discipline, the growing-up process, the choice of mate, the establishment of new family units, and the problems associated with the care of the elderly, all ring remarkably true. Yet "modernization" has modified mountain tradition, and Beaver has given us a clear sense of what industrialization has done to and for her communities, as both men and women have found jobs away from the traditional farm. A shortcoming which has been noticed by some I have spoken with, is Beaver's complete lack of any treatment of mountain religion. She does ignore the role of the church in the Appalachian community! Her particular three communities may not have had strong churches, though that would be unusual in Appalachia's "most religious area" of Western North Carolina. Beaver devotes a whole chapter to "Foreigners," or those who have moved into her communities since 1960. First came the "summer folk," then the "back-to-thelanders ." And both brought...

A prevention program that promotes attitudinal and behavioral change has been repeatedly recommended as an effective measure for community prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. Within the past decade, disease control programs among African Americans have shown no significant changes, as HIV/AIDS and related infections continue as the leading causes of death and disability in this population. It is particularly acute among African American females who, although representing only 13.9% of the United States female population, presently account for over 60% of all AIDS cases among females in the United States. The epidemic nature of the disease in this group poses the issue of African American women's rights and underscores their physical, emotional and sociocultural vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. This study used an open-ended attitude, knowledge, feelings, and behavior questionnaire (AKFBQ) survey approach to assess knowledge and various HIV/AIDS high-risk attitudinal and behavioral factors that affect the incidence, mortality, and morbidity of HIV/AIDS among women in specific urban centers and rural communities in the United States. Data analysis showed no differences in factors favoring rate of infection and level of spread of HIV/AIDS among the women in both the urban and rural communities. Although level of knowledge was higher among the urban subjects than rural ones, their beliefs, attitude/feelings, and potential for behavioral change did not differ significantly among women in the two communities. This article advocates both an ethnically sensitive and gender-specific HIV/AIDS intervention program for African American women and a more active involvement in and participation of African American leaders, parents, and faith-based communities in AIDS control efforts for African Americans.

This study was designed to assess the current prevalence of depression in Oyo State, Nigeria and the rural-urban variation in prevalence. This is a two-phase community-based cross-sectional study. The urban areas selected for the study are the Ibadan North-West and Egbeda local government areas. The rural area selected was the Saki-East local government area. A total of 1105 participants were recruited into the study. Multistage sampling technique was used to obtain a representative sample of the participants from the communities in Oyo State. The study was conducted using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire, and the general health questionnaire (GHQ 12) as a screening tool. The second phase of the interview was conducted only for those participants with a score of more than 3 using the GHQ 12. These participants were then clinically examined using the Structured Clinical Interview DSM IV for assessment of clinical depression. Prevalence of depression. A total of 721 (65.2%) were from urban communities, while 384 (34.8%) were from the rural community. The overall prevalence of depression was found to be 5.2%. Depression was more prevalent among women than men (5.7% vs 4.8%, chi(2) = 0.36 P = 0.55), and among adolescents (9.6%, P = 0.04). Furthermore, depression was more common in the rural areas than in the urban areas (7.3% vs 4.2%, chi(2) = 4.94 P = 0.02). Depression is more common in rural than urban areas in the Nigerian population. Mental health education for adolescents and secondary school students should be encouraged in rural communities.