Communal Problems Research Articles

A Review on Enhancing the Life of Teeth by Toothpaste Containing Bioactive Glass Particles.

Dental caries or tooth decay is one of the communal problems in the world which can affect not only the oral health but also the general health conditions. The main objective of this systematic review is to explore the efficacy of bioactive glass-based toothpastes against cariogenic bacteria. Bioactive glass particulates containing toothpaste show better remineralization potential on demineralized enamel and dentin when compared with toothpaste containing various bioactive constituents such as fluoride and potassium chloride. These constituents in conventional toothpaste can rapidly streak off due to acidic impact in the oral environment as the bioactive glass provides minerals for demineralized enamel and dentin by forming a strong hydroxyapatite (HAp) layer on its surface. Further, the therapeutic ions present in the bioglass can resist plaque formation by raising the pH of the surrounding environment or saliva and create amicable media for healthier teeth. Toothpaste containing bioactive glass particles undoubtedly displayed the remineralizing potentiality of the dental hard tissues. Dynamics of the mineralization through different bioactive glass materials needs further investigations. In order to prevent dental cavities and improve oral health, it is important to identify and study different effective bioglass particles in toothpaste.

Linking Social Connectedness to Subjective Well-Being: A Positioning Model of Mechanical Social Solidarity

The study measures the association between social connectedness and subjective well-being in rural communities. The study’s population was rural areas of District Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A quantitative analysis was designed, and data was collected randomly with the help of a well-structured interview schedule from males and females at two Tehsils of Swat, i.e., Khwazakehla and Matta, with a sample size of (n=473). The collected data was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that social connectedness has an association with subjective well-being among rural communities. In conclusion, the study highlights that community people share interests, ideas, and thinking about social networking, which ultimately helps poor, marginalized people and voluntarily informs the communities regarding communal problems. The study recommended to policymakers that knowledge from outside sources is essential and that extensive networks of individuals need more up-to-date information regarding the healthcare system and their expectations for the future.

Lateral Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Associations With the Oswestry Disability Index, Visual Analogue Scale, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Introduction Degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis is a communal problem in the sixth decade of life involving L4/L5 and L5/S1 levels. Lateral spinal stenosis is often underestimated because of no established relationship between the clinical symptoms and MRI findings. We conducted a study to establish an association between the degree of anatomical lateral stenosis, posterior disc height, and disc degeneration from MRI with the daily disability and pain severity for lateral lumbar spinal stenosis. Methods This was a cross-sectional study involving 121 patients with distinct clinical symptoms of lateral lumbar spinal stenosis evaluated from February 2018 to December 2019. The clinical data were evaluated using the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), while magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was assessed qualitatively for the anatomical gradation of lateral spinal stenosis, the magnitude of posterior disc height, and the extent of disc degeneration. Statistical analysis for the correlation between posterior disc height and ODI and VAS scores was evaluated using Pearson's correlation test via SPSS version 23.0 (IBM Inc., Armonk, New York), and the association between the extent of lateral stenosis and disc degeneration on MRI with ODI and VAS scores was determined by the Fisher Exact Test via STATA version 14.0 (StataCorp LLC, College Station, Texas). The association was considered statistically significant with a P-value of less than 0.05. Results The analysis of 121 patients showed the mean age of the patients was 58.7 ± 7.1 years old. The number of female patients was higher compared tomale patients, 52.9% and 47.1%, respectively. 97.5% of the patients were married or cohabiting, and 76.0% had an abnormal body mass index. The mean score of ODI and VAS was 62.2 ± 10.7% and 79.3 ± 8.6 respectively. 49.6% of the patient presented with a crippling disability with ODI assessment, while 59.5% presented with high pain intensity with VAS assessment. MRI assessment of anatomical grading lateral stenosis of L4/L5 level revealed that 45.5% of the patients had grade 2 lateral recess stenosis, 63.6% had grade 2 foraminal stenosis, and 44.6% had extraforaminal stenosis. L5/S1 level analysis showed that 43.0% had grade 2 lateral recess stenosis, 62.0% had grade 2 foraminal stenosis, and 29.8% had extraforaminal stenosis. 64.5% of patients had grade 4 disc degeneration of L4/L5 with mean posterior disc height of 7.0mm ±1.7mm while 59.5% had grade 4 disc degeneration of L5/S1 with mean posterior disc height of 6.3mm ±1.8mm. However, no statistically significant association between clinical symptoms and MRI findings was found. Conclusions There was no significant association between the clinical symptoms of pain and disability and the MRI findings for the anatomical gradation of lateral spinal stenosis, the magnitude of posterior disc height, and the extent of disc degeneration. A comprehensive clinical evaluation remains essential for an accurate diagnosis, emphasizing the necessity of appropriately correlating MRI findings with their clinical significance.

Ecological Aspects of the Development of Urbanized Territories

The relevance of the topic is due to the increased attention to environmental issues of the development of urbanized territories, which have a dual character. The process of urbanization and development of the territory is accompanied by anthropogenic impact on the environment, but at the same time, the change in the environmental situation leads to a deterioration in the quality of life of the population of the territory under the influence of environmental risks. One of the most obvious consequences of anthropogenic impact on urbanized territories is the significant negative impact of unauthorized waste disposal sites on the environment, in particular, on land plots located within the boundaries of the Irkutsk agglomeration. The problem of the occurrence of unauthorized waste disposal sites, as a rule, is transferred to the plane of housing and communal problems, however, it has broader implications and implications. This determined the purpose of the study identification of the relationship between the processes of urbanization of the territory and changes in the condition of land plots. Selection of research methods, allowing to perform the main tasks of the study, and to conduct a analysis for the area of the territory selected as an example of anthropogenic impact. As a result, some directions for further research of the problem of unauthorized waste disposal in urbanized territories were formulated and possible response to eliminate it or minimize environmental and social consequences.

الدراسات البينية في البحوث التربوية الواقع والتحديات ومقترحات التطويرمن وجهة نظر أعضاء هيئة التدريس بكليتي التربية بجامعة المجمعة

The current study aimed to recognize the reality of interdisciplinary studies in educational research and the encountered challenges, and to provide developmental recommendations. The author implemented a descriptive methodology and constructed a questionnaire. From the faculty of education at Majmaah University (55) teaching member participated in the study during the second semester 1442/ 1443 hijri. Analyses of data found that the level of interdisciplinary studies in educational research was low, in addition the challenges level encountering educational interdisciplinary research was high, differences between respondents answers on the reality and challenges was insignificant, and recommendations offered to develop interdisciplinary studies in educational research volume was high. In light of the results, the author recommends to benefit from non-specialized experiences in conducting educational research, to seek partnerships between different disciplines in solving educational and communal problems and developmental issues, to activate the role of research teams to enhance researchers, educationalists and academics participation in interdisciplinary studies, and to increase university fund budgets to conduct educational interdisciplinary studies. In addition, the author recommends conducting a study involving interdisciplinary research skills acquaintance, and a study on the relation of interdisciplinary studies to achieve the kingdom vision of 2030.

Critical Social Review on Community Poverty: Mabela, KrooBay and Kuntorloh Communities in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Long ago, scholars noted an inseparable link between poverty and the community, especially in works and social discourses concerning sustainable development and structural adjustment, although it is concluded that this link has not been explored systematically (Fur, 1991). The cost of the community is sometimes affected by the level and degree of poverty experienced by people living in urban communities. Bolay (2000) believes that slums are ‘characterised by the precarious nature of their habitat; and that beyond this, it can genuinely be seen as ‘hut house’ of cultural creativity, economic invention, and social innovation.’ This position underpinning slum dwellers has been translated as one that connects them to communal resources. In this regard, this article is grounded on two contradictory conceptual and social postulates: the Orthodox and the New Thinking Schools. Proponents of these schools acknowledge the fact that there is a degree of linkage between poor people and the community. However, the divergence in perception between the two ideologies lies in their conception of poor people in relation to the community surrounding them. For the Orthodox, the poverty-stricken situation of slum urban dwellers forces them to exploit and degrade the community. This, in turn, results in their impoverishment in a downward spiral. Scholars of the New wave of Thinking refute this stance by considering poor people as having the capability of salvaging the environment by adding value to it. For them, communal problems stem from some natural occurrences external to the community. A major characteristic of views from scholars on poverty and the community is that they take poor people as the causal variable who are forced by appalling circumstances to exhaust the communal resources.

Emotional and Family Functioning of Middle-Aged Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Present study was carried out to investigate the relationship between emotional functioning and family functioning of middle-aged mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, a mixed method approach was used in the second phase of study to explore factors contributing to family conflict and family cohesion. A purposive sample of 100 middle-aged mothers (age ranged between 40-45 years) was approached for this study. The participants were given the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (Cooper & Pertrides, 2010) for measuring emotional functioning and Covid-19 Household Environment Scale (Behar-Zusman et al., 2020) for measuring family functioning. The results revealed a significant positive correlation between emotional functioning, family cohesion, and a significant negative correlation between emotional functioning and family conflict. Moreover, it was observed that family functioning of mothers living in nuclear family system was better than those living in joint family system. The qualitative phase of the study revealed that factors related to finances, household work, limited resources, relationship deterioration etc. contributed to family conflict. While factors of increase quality time, emotional responsiveness, communication, and communal problem solving, contributed to family cohesion. The findings provide comprehensive insight into the characteristics of family functioning in the context of Covid-19 pandemic.

Whole-Person, Urobiome-Centric Therapy for Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infection.

A healthy urinary tract contains a variety of microbes resulting in a diverse urobiome. Urobiome dysbiosis, defined as an imbalance in the microbial composition in the microenvironments along the urinary tract, is found in women with uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI). Historically, antibiotics have been used to address UTI. An alternative approach to uncomplicated UTI is warranted as the current paradigm fails to take urobiome dysbiosis into account and contributes to the communal problem of resistance. A whole-person, multi-modal approach that addresses vaginal and urinary tract dysbiosis may be more effective in reducing recurrent UTI. In this review, we discuss strategies that include reducing pathogenic bacteria while supporting commensal urogenital bacteria, encouraging diuresis, maintaining optimal pH levels, and reducing inflammation. Strategies for future research are suggested.

Arvind Thomas, Piers Plowman and the Reinvention of Church Law in the Late Middle Ages. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019. xiv, 267 pp.

Abstract: As the law and literature movement in law schools reminded us several decades ago and Hans-Georg Gadamer before that, law and literature share much cultural work in common: they tackle some of the same communal problems; they interpret and revise norms for conduct; they evaluate written sources; they weigh what constitutes authority; and they both use and invite similar hermeneutical methods. This is especially so with medieval canon law and Piers Plowman. That capacious dream vision is chock full of forensic elements – trials, lawyerly debates, confessions, penalties, acts of restitution, pardons – and it is studded with so many legal terms and maxims that John Alford compiled a book-length glossary of them. From the late fourteenth century, readers have been interested in the poem’s legal language and its profound rethinking of how society can reach justice, especially in economic transactions. Now Arvind Thomas examines how the B and C versions of Piers understand legal problems somewhat differently from canon law and use legal thought in new ways for different ends, types of what he terms “reinventing” canon law. To do this, he focuses on private sacramental penance, organizing his study around the penitential process: contrition, confession, restitution, and satisfaction.

Impact of Custom and usage on implementations of Rules: In light of Book Al-Hidaya

Sharia’h has flexibility to resolve the emerging individual and communal problems. It has a rich jurisprudential literature concerning custom and usage. Islamic law placed the rule of custom within the sources of legislation. Muslim jurists explored the flexibility of divine text in light of community issues. The implementation of rules (Ahkam) has changed, and so have the interpretations. "Al-Hidaya" is the well-acknowledged jurisprudential code in the Muslim world. The ancient Muslim scholars, particularly the Hanafi School, always followed the principle of URF-O-ADAT (custom). The study at hand will examine the exercise of this principle in this book. It will review alterations to rules caused by the customary change. This article will explore the provisions of this book holding this principle. It will denote the criteria of application of the principle of usage in the implementation of rules. This research will demonstrate the significance of this jurisprudential approach to contemporary issues. It will make recommendations to bring legislation to address contemporary needs

An Analytical Study of Women Objectification in “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

The objectification of women is a communal problem in every developed and underdeveloped society of the world. Women make a major population of the world and serve society in multidimensional modes, but still, they are considered feeble to men. The subject of women objectification has remained the focus of various researchers globally. This research focused on three short stories drawn from “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders” of Daniyal Mueenuddin to bring forward disparities and inequalities prevailing in the patriarchal society of Pakistan. Additionally, it investigated the impact of these inequalities and injustices on the downtrodden women of Pakistan. The objectification of women is such discrimination that women are subjected to undergo in a patriarchal social setup. This study analyzes the objectification of women through the lenses of female characters selected from three short stories. This study uses the theoretical frameworks of Martha Nussbaum and Rae Langton’s to draw outcomes for this study. Study findings exhibit that female characters undergo objectification and are treated as things by males in the male-dominated strata of Pakistan. Keywords: Women objectification, gender, patriarchy, oppression, feminism

The Potential of Hydroxyapatite Toothpaste towards the Hypersensitive Tooth

Dental hypersensitivity is a communal problem that we may often encounter in the daily life of both men and women, especially in the elderly who can unconsciously affect every daily activity. Dentin hypersensitivity is defined as sharp pain caused by stimulation of exposed dentin and unprotected dentin by enamel which can be caused by attrition, abrasion, crown fracture, gingival recession, and orthodontic trauma. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the potential of hydroxyapatite toothpaste towards the hypersensitive tooth through literature review. Method: This study analyzed 35 journals from each database PubMed, Ebsco, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Wiley Online Library, and other international journal websites with keywords hydroxyapatite, hypersensitive dentin, remineralization. Conclusion: Toothpaste containing hydroxyapatite was more effective than toothpaste without hydroxyapatite in inducing tooth remineralization process. The use of toothpaste containing hydroxyapatite in the long term and routine for 15 days is more effective in reducing dental hypersensitivity.

Building the dance community virtually during COVID 19

With the advent of the global pandemic wrought by COVID-19, much of the world’s citizenry was forced to immediately pivot to new ways of doing business. This included shifting instructional delivery systems around the globe to online platforms. In the US and elsewhere, the dance education community displayed remarkable resiliency and perhaps more importantly – an amazing affinity for communal problem solving. As the nation’s leading, nonprofit, membership organization dedicated to advancing dance education centered in the arts, the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), “Identifies and acts in constructive and strategic ways to positively shape public, social and education policy about and for dance in education…” Accordingly, NDEO played a major role as a convener of dance educators throughout the US to problem solve how to provide equitable access to quality opportunities for learning in dance, delivered in a responsibly socially distanced manner as dictated by the latest science. This article highlights salient aspects of the shared journey of the dance education community during the pandemic. What is chronicled here is a demonstration of ways in which dance education is better due to collective impact of a cross-section of the nations’ dance educators, acting as stewards of the art of dance.

Dekolonialt socialt arbete


 The purpose of this article is to identify and analyze the conditions and strategies for creating a critical and decolonial social work in the urban periphery. IIn this article we explore Save the Children’s program ”On equal terms”, that during the past decade created a space for local mobilization in several areas in Sweden, with the purpose of resolving communal problems. The article identifies three elements as central for their critical social work: the empowerment of a new generation of social organizers grounded in the urban periphery; the forming of alliances for the purpose of developing new languages and strategies to address problems and solutions in alternative ways; and the construction of counter-publics through the appropriation of space for the establishment of citizen-driven meeting places. Through these strategies and conditions, a decolonial social work was formed. Inspired by theories of resistance and mobilization, we interpret the work of ”On equal terms” as an expression of the politics of public-making and border work that transcends the separation between activism and social work, giving space for new alternatives and horizons.

Adam Smith, Allyn Young, Amartya Sen and the Role of the State

This paper examines the views of Adam Smith, Allyn Young and Amartya Sen on the role of the state. Smith has been widely interpreted as advocating non-interference in economic matters with the state confining itself to three basic tasks of defence, justice and public works. However, this traditional view gives a misleading impression that Smith was a champion of laissez faire. We examine and develop Young’s contention that the main message from Wealth of Nations is not laissez faire but competition. Interpreted thus, a more active role for government is consistent with Smith. Young favoured neither laissez faire nor excessive intervention, but viewed the role of the state in the context of the stage of a society’s development. Amartya Sen’s stress on entitlements is also consistent with Smith’s stress on distributive justice and the Smith-Young emphasis on the public interest (or communal welfare). The more recent approaches to development such as political entanglement and complexity economics view the dichotomy of state versus market as false as both have to join hands in the coevolution of appropriate institutions to solve communal problems of economic life.

ПРАКТИКИ ПАРТИСИПАТИВНОГО БЮДЖЕТУВАННЯ І МІСЬКИЙ АКТИВІЗМ У РЕНОВАЦІЇ МІСЬКОГО ПРОСТОРУ: КЕЙС М.ХЕРСОН

The article presents the results of the participatory budgeting research and urban activism in the renovation of the urban space of Kherson, and analyzes the modern features of urban space transformation.Participatory planning and budgeting today are the guidelines for the development of new, joint and integrated decisions in strategic development of the community. However, the Kherson city case study proved urban activism on issues of participatory budgeting to be small-scale in nature, which means that 2-5% of the city community is involved in budgeting, and the total cost of approved projects is less than 0.5% of the average annual city’s budget. Urban activism is quite sporadic beyond the participatory budgeting, which is the result of “small initiatives” of individual creative groups and entrepreneurs, rather than a strategic plan for spatial development of the community.The participatory budgeting in the Kherson city community development is still pseudo-participatory in its nature, given that much of decisions are aimed at solving the current domestic and communal problems, rather than implementing the agenda or strategic goals of community development. In the era of actual city deindustrialization, Kherson should not only be positioned as one of the leaders in foreign and domestic tourism, but also restore its status of a comfortable city and a unique recreational and logistics center. The article presents the author’s vision of the planning decisions and urban activism prospects in the urban spaces’ transformation. The key points are the next: 1) renovation and revitalization of urban space should be carried out primarily by creating different types and functional purposes of creative spaces (new formats of recreation, communication, information education, inclusive environment development); 2) creation or renovation of existing public spaces should be carried out only with the involvement of participatory management mechanisms in order to provide the city with the functional content really needed by the community; 3) a particular strategic direction of urban space renovation should aim at the increase of green public spaces and benefiting from the unique Kherson city community location at the mouth of the Dnieper.

Solving housing and communal services problems during coronavirus infection on the example of St. Petersburg

Solving housing and communal services problems during coronavirus infection on the example of St. Petersburg

ЖИЛИЩНО-КОММУНАЛЬНОЕ ХОЗЯЙСТВО В РОССИИ: СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ ЗАКОНЫ, ГИПОТЕЗЫ И ТЕОРЕМЫ В ДЕЙСТВИИ

Целью исследования является попытка в жанре научного памфлета дать социологическую интерпретацию отдельным процессам и явлениям в системе жилищно-коммунального хозяйства России, применив известные социальные законы, гипотезы и теоремы. Жилищно-коммунальное хозяйство считается по праву наиболее противоречивой отраслью российской экономики и находится в процессе постоянного реформирования, что объясняет актуальность исследований в этой сфере различных общественных наук, включая социологию.
 Методологическую базу исследования составили закон разделения функций и специализации, теорема Томаса и ее следствия, гипотеза лингвистической относительности Сепира-Уорфа, закон возвышения потребностей, теория разбитых окон Уилсона-Келлинга, закон интеллектуального развития, число Данбара, концепция жилищных классов Рекса-Мура и др. При этом на современном этапе жилищных исследований усматривается недооцененность именно социологического инструментария к исследованию жилищно-коммунальных проблем в России.
 Результаты исследования отражают применение социологического инструментария к объяснению отдельных процессов и явлений в области управления многоквартирными домами в России. По ходу исследования анализируются результаты применения подобного метода. Руководствуясь методологическим принципом бритвы Оккама, сделан вывод о достаточной практичности подобного научного подхода к исследованию сферы жилищно-коммунального хозяйства в рамках жилищной социологии.
 Перспективу исследования составляет дальнейший социологический анализ с применением представленного инструментария на более глубоком эмпирическом уровне с целью верификации представленных выводов, уточнения результатов, а также формулирования новых гипотез.

Sharing Economy and Communities Attitudes after COVID-19 Pandemic - Review of Possible Socio-Economic Opportunities

The COVID-19 pandemic and its spillovers have managed to create new types of communities’ attitudes all over the world. This paper explores the pandemic influence on community-focused sharing economy business models. The possible socio-economic opportunities of this outbreak and how it enhances the capacity for communal problems solving through sharing are exploited. The research studies the type of sharing economy models needed from both the experience of the most successful start-ups and the inspiration economy models created using the same mindset. The author then proposes a hybrid socio-economic model that could compensate for the current sharing economy business models that are based mainly on apps and platforms, by more generic one that addresses the new world requirement Post-COVID-19 pandemic and as we enter the new normal. The implication of this research is that it builds new analogy for the opportunities of the variety of cross-cultural contexts that could disrupt many communities status quo and speed up the transformation for a better collaborative world.

Public policy interventions for grassroots innovations: are we getting it right?

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the socio-technical elements of Grassroots Innovations (GRIs) cases in Malaysia and draws lessons for public policy intervention by accounting for the contextual nature of the GRIs. Our findings on the four successful Malaysian rural GRIs indicate the following. First, carefully formulated level-specific policy instruments are needed to facilitate the smooth transition of the various stages of GRIs. Second, given the heterogeneity nature of GRIs, policymakers should avoid generalized, oversimplified and one-fit policy approaches. In turn, public policy intervention should be flexible and clearly suited to the aspiration of the founders and their missions. More importantly, attempts to commercialize, similar to the business-oriented innovation policy and in the name of creating value defeats the purpose of GRIs thus jeopardizing the true value of GRIs. Instead, the evidences suggest that strengthening the stakeholder-innovator partnership in co-developing and co-delivering adds value to the grassroots innovators and society at large. It also has larger benefits of application in providing greater social benefits especially in solving communal problems.