Living Dangerously Research Articles

Resilience in the dust: The influence of sand and dust storms (SDSs) on residents' perception of urban green spaces: A qualitative study

Sand and dust storms (SDSs) cause significant challenges to arid and semiarid regions exacerbated by climate change. These natural hazards directly and indirectly impact human health, the environment, economies, and urban life. To explore residents' perceptions and lived experiences of SDSs and their effects on urban green spaces (UGSs), we conducted a qualitative study using Grounded Theory (GT) in Ahvaz, Iran. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 53 residents in various UGSs negatively affected by SDSs. Thematic analysis was employed to extract the codes after transcribing the interviews to develop the study model. The study revealed a core category: "the occurrence of dust as a crisis and danger in urban life," along with categories shedding light on the substantial influence of SDSs on various aspects of urban life. The study emphasized that citizens avoid UGSs during SDSs due to health risks, declining social interactions, reduced mobility, and increased confinement at home, all resulting in a diminished sense of belonging, social deprivation, and a decline in social capital. The findings underscore the urgent need for effective measures to control dust storms and mitigate their impact on urban life in urban management.

Linguistic analysis of fiction texts in the context of the frame theory

The aim of the study is to identify and analyse frame structures, activators, and concepts in texts to reveal their impact on the reader' s perception. The research employed the methods of semantic, structural, and intertextual frame analysis. Cronbach' s alpha was also used to verify the instruments used. The following cases were used in the work: Oxford English Corpus and International Corpus of English (ICE). It is noted that frame activators such as "great heat", "hell heat", "hot wind", and "scorching sun" evoke associations with scorching heat and unusual warmth in the desert. These frames convey the impression of life danger, exhaustion, and severity of conditions. In turn, phraseological units such as "fresh waters", "bloody sunset", and "dried earth" reveal the contradictory nature of the image of the desert, where even such natural phenomena as water and sunset acquire a new, deep shade of meaning. The application of this theory was found to reveal complex language structures and their influence on the understanding and perception of texts. The obtained results open up new opportunities for educational and literary analysis, deepening the understanding of language mechanisms in fiction. Further studies in the field of linguistic analysis of texts should be aimed at considering the interaction between different works of art, focusing on the frame perspective. It is also worth paying attention to the possibilities of using the theory of frames to fulfill practical assignments, such as automatic text analysis.

Physicochemical studies of adenosine in the presence of aqueous caffeine and theophylline solutions, & sodium valproate with γ‐amino butyric acid in aqueous medium at T = (288.15–318.15) K and at p = 1 × 105 Pa

AbstractIn human body, drug‐neurotransmitter interactions have been the most significant process. Whereas, adverse reactions may be accompanied by unexpected interaction, which puts an individual in danger of life. Thus, the interactions between adenosine (ADN) and sodium valproate (SV) with caffeine (CAF), theophylline (TPY) and γ‐amino butyric acid (GABA) have been studied. Various properties like densities, ρ and speed of sound, u, have been used to calculate apparent molar volumes (V2,ϕ) and apparent molar isentropic compression (Ks,2,ϕ) for ADN and SV in aqueous (5, 10, 15 and 20 mmol kg−1) CAF, TPY and GABA solutions at T = (288.15–318.15) K and at pressure p = 1 × 105 Pa. The results of various interactions that occurred by mixing the solutions have been interpreted. Exothermicity is indicated by the negative values of standard molar enthalpy of transfer, ΔtrΔdilH0, obtained from the calorimetry. UV‐absorption and 1H NMR studies suggest that there is a dominance of solute‐cosolute interactions due to hyperchromic shift and shielding effect.

Resolving Rapprochement Challenges: The Process of Metabolizing Love-Fueling Development, Therapeutic Growth, Reparation, and Healing

ABSTRACT Anni Bergman’s later work regarding rapprochement is briefly considered and then used as a foundation for this reconsideration of rapprochement’s place in development over the lifespan. Resolving rapprochement challenges is seen as the central developmental process whereby one either utilizes or refuses the love and care one receives. A sense of safety in early life leads to the capacity to metabolize love and to the development of a secure attachment followed by libidinal object constancy. This developmental achievement sets the stage for caring relationships and optimal development over the lifespan. A predominant sense of danger in early life, either reality-based or based primarily on internal experience, leads to the development of an insecure attachment. Hostile object constancy, a form of self-regulation based on the anticipation of future danger, leads to the defensive refusal of the actual love and care one receives. Subsequent interference with the capacity for caring relationships leads to pathological development over the course of life. Successful psychological treatment involves helping the patient become open to loving connections. In addition, Anni intended her work to pave the way for a reconciliation of Attachment Theory and Separation-Individuation Theory. This integration is better conceptualized as Attachment-Individuation Theory, which highlights the unique contributions of each to a unified developmental process. This article aims to further this integration.

Digital denizenship: Hindu nationalist architectures of digital closings and unbelonging in India

This paper examines the sociodigital experiences of political and religious minorities in contemporary India to understand matters of voice and power, as well as feelings of belonging, identity and citizenship. It builds out from research conducted in New Delhi between February and June 2019 during and after the Indian national elections and focuses on WhatsApp as an everyday space where Hindu nationalism is (re)produced and articulated through memes, forwarded messages, videos and political talk. In the shadow of right-wing nationalisms, it examines how civic and political relationships are being transformed. Drawing on experiences and narratives of political and religious minorities we contend that the ‘digital denizen’ represents a new digital-political subject, one who is increasingly outcaste within a global conjuncture of exclusionary politics, technological affordances and local histories of power and coercion. Digital denizenship represents the regression of citizenship which connects ways of acting and articulating within intimate and digital storytelling infrastructures shaped by the articulation and defence of ‘truth’. We show how being a digital denizen means recognising, anticipating and navigating the oppressive expressive power of exclusionary sociodigital practices in order to quietly resist difference, disorientation, danger and unbelonging in everyday life.

From Consumption to Communion: The Ecclesial Role of Public Theologians in Cultivating a Livable City

Abstract Urbanism has become the dominant form of human dwelling, giving rise to the concept of livability, accompanied by livability indexes and city rankings. These reports provide brief bragging rights and marketing opportunities for high-ranking cities while glossing over the complex realities and inherent dangers of urban life. The issues surrounding livability rankings reveal corrupted anthropologies that prioritize the ways that one can consume a place rather than the cultivation of communities that are mutually reinforcing in their flourishing. Public theologians must work at the level of theological imagination to reclaim a vocational anthropology that places participation with God in the cultivation of community at the center of what it means to be made in the Image of God. In order to accomplish this fundamental shift, a significant and sometimes overlooked role for public theologians in the world today is serving ecclesial communities in facilitating this imagination through liturgical formation.

Representation of Islamic Education Values in the Wayang Kekayon Khalifah Lakon Pandanarang Malik Grembyang

Islamic education as part of society's value system cannot be separated from cultural elements. Therefore, the relationship between Islamic education and culture can be an appropriate collaboration in overcoming shifts in values among society. The aim of this research is to represent the values of Islamic education in the Wayang Kekayon Khalifah play Pandanarang Malik Grembyang, which also looks at the implementation of its value content on the social system. This research uses the hermeneutic phenomenology method to study the play text textually and contextually. The results of the research show that the play contains the essence of the dangers of life that deifies the world or the despicable behavior of one's culture. So, the Pandanarang play in the Wayang Kekayon Khalifah art becomes relevant when it is presented to a community that is starting to experience a shift in values. The implications of this research reflect a cultural approach as optimizing Islamic education in society.

AL-QUR’AN: THE ONLY DIVINE GUIDANCE IN PRISTINE FORM

AL-QUR’AN: THE ONLY DIVINE GUIDANCE IN PRISTINE FORM

Shadows of the Thrown Spear: Girolamo Cardano on Anxiety, Dreams, and the Divine in Nature

Abstract Girolamo Cardano (1501–1576), a preeminent natural philosopher, physician and astrologer of the sixteenth century, is known for the great diversity of his intellectual pursuits and writings. Across much of his work, we find an overriding concern with the dangers of human life, how those dangers might be foreseen, and how their effects can be mitigated. This essay begins by considering the epistemic significance of anxiety as it is described in his autobiography, the De propria vita. When Cardano had devoted so much effort to working out method and sense in medicine and astrology, why do episodes of foreknowledge in the autobiography seem so haphazard and disorienting? I use this question to examine Cardano’s views on the possibilities and limits of human foreknowledge, paying special attention to his treatise on dreams, the Somniorum Synesiorum libri quatuor, and his commentary on Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos.

Smart Sewage System

Abstract: Sewage treatment is an important environmental protect problem. If the drainage system is not maintained properly, the pure water got mixed with drainage water and cause infectious disease. It is very important that underground drainage system should work in a proper manner to keep the city clean, safe and healthy. So various kind of work has been done to detect, maintain and manage these underground systems. To create a barrier to this problem, a hardware model is designed to monitor the sewage system. In this project, we aim to design a system to measure the water level in sewage continuously using the ultrasonic sensor. The toxicity of CO and methane gases are also sensed to avoid danger for human life. This project attempts to device that detect the humidity, temperature levels, and mixture of gases, sensing each type of gas to measure its level while keeping track of the real-time dynamic changes in the above factors using Arduino. If levels exceed beyond the threshold, it shall send an alert on the connected mobile devices of the authorized people who are remotely located in the job with the help of Node MCU

The Solitary Mind in the Anatomy of Melancholy

The Solitary Mind in <i>the Anatomy of Melancholy</i>

Study of PLA pre-treatment, enzymatic and model-compost degradation, and valorization of degradation products to bacterial nanocellulose

It is well acknowledged that microplastics are a major environmental problem and that the use of plastics, both petro- and bio- based, should be reduced. Nevertheless, it is also a necessity to reduce the amount of the already spread plastics. These cannot be easily degraded in the nature and accumulate in the food supply chain with major danger for animals and human life. It has been shown in the literature that advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) modify the surface of polylactic acid (PLA) materials in a way that bacteria more efficiently dock on their surface and eventually degrade them. In the present work we investigated the influence of different AOPs (ultrasounds, ultraviolet irradiation, and their combination) on the biodegradability of PLA films treated for different times between 1 and 6 h. The pre-treated samples have been degraded using a home model compost as well as a cocktail of commercial enzymes at mesophilic temperatures (37 °C and 42 °C, respectively). Degradation degree has been measured and degradation products have been identified. Excellent degradation of PLA films has been achieved with enzyme cocktail containing commercial alkaline proteases and lipases of up to 90% weight loss. For the first time, we also report valorization of PLA into bacterial nanocellulose after enzymatic hydrolysis of the samples.

Development of depression in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 infection

IntroductionCoronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has caused a great psychological impact all over the world. With this research, we want to discover the incidence and associated risk factors for depressive symptoms among hospitalized patients. The objective is to investigate patients with criteria of a severe clinical picture and expressed systemic inflammatory response to SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection and if they develop mental disorders- depression, measured by Depression, anxiety and stress scale- DASS-21 scale. With this research, we also calculate the index of the immune-inflammatory response SII and test the hypothesis that people with higher SII will develop mental disorders more often. Demographic variables, comorbidities, COVID-19 severity criteria, and the intensity of the organism’s inflammatory response have also been examined. Psychiatric questionnaires were for the first time applied directly to patients with coronavirus infection during hospitalization.ObjectivesTo identify possible risk factors for depression and to investigate the association between disease severity and the occurrence of psychopathology among COVID-19 hospitalized patients.MethodsThe subjects are patients suffering from COVID-19, older than 18 years who were hospitalized in the respiratory center KB Dubrava. After an interview and informed consent, demographic data was taken and two psychological questionnaires had been applied. Variables: patient characteristics -demographic data, experience of vulnerability, information on whether they have been previously treated psychiatrically, symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, somatic comorbidities Intensity of systemic inflammation Severity of COVID-19.ResultsA total of 169 patients hospitalized were analyzed. The median age of the patients was 65. There were (62.1%) men and (37.9%) women. On admission, most patients had a severe (134, 79.3%) or critical (17, 10.1%) form of COVID-19. The median Charlson comorbidity index was 3 points. Arterial hypertension was present in 101 (59.8%), diabetes mellitus 42 (24.9%), hyperlipoproteinemia 30 (17.8%), obesity 61 (36.1%), malignant disease 17 (10.1%) patients. 11 (6.5%) smoked and 7 (4.1%) patients consumed alcohol. The median CRPa was 72.75 mg /L. Median SII was 1741. During hospitalization, the median DASS21 score for depression was 14, for anxiety 8, and for stress 6. Regarding depression, it was absent in 49 (29%), mild in 27 (16%), moderate in 47 (27.8%), severe in 18 (10.7%) and extremely severe in 28 (16.6%) patients during hospitalization.ConclusionsPatients with symptoms of depression during hospitalization felt statistically significantly more likely to be in danger of life due to COVID-19, had a more pronounced intensity of symptoms of COVID-19 upon admission. Additionally, patients with higher DASS 21 scores for depression were significantly more likely to be female, had COPD and required oxygen supplementation at higher flows.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Role of MGNREGA on Women Empowerment: A Socio-economic Study in Medinipur District, West Bengal

One of the most pressing concerns on a global scale is getting more power into the hands of women. In India, there is an illustrious history of realising the significance of giving women more agency over the course of several centuries. One of the primary goals of India's 9th Five Year Plan is to advance women's rights, which the Indian government has declared a priority. The process of enabling women to realise their identities, individualities, and strengths throughout all aspects of life is referred to as empowering women. The government has developed a number of different plans and programmes in the hope of rescuing more women from impoverishment and the dangers of everyday life. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which was passed into law in 2005, is an example of one of these programmes. The MGNREGA is an extremely important institution that helps fulfil both the tactical and the strategic requirements for women's participation. It has been a ray of hope for rural women's empowerment and contributed significantly to the improved living standards and economic situations by establishing equal remuneration for male and female workers. Additionally, it has become a glimmer of hope for rural women's empowerment. In the current study, an attempt was made to investigate women's empowerment in a hamlet located in the Paschim Medinipur District of West Bengal by using the MGNERGA programme.

МЕТОДОЛОГІЯ МІНІМІЗАЦІЇ ЮРИДИЧНИХ РИЗИКІВ У МІСТІ

The article deals with methodological aspects of avoiding and reducing legal risks in the city. Legal problems are raised, which have an impact on the harmonious development of the city. Issues of danger for life of city-dwellers are considered. Appeal to theoretical problems of the methodology of risks is caused by the desire to investigate in which direction modern law develops on the way to regulate modern relations of safety in the city. The emphasis is on the methodology of legal risks, in that deep and broad sense, which helps not only in finding the criteria of delimitation of spheres of public and private law as well as subjective rights of participants of the relevant social relations, but also in the formation of our knowledge of a holistic picture on the way of security events in the city. The question of the ratio of approaches of risk definition is revealed at the interdisciplinary level. It is noted that the theory of private law gives quite comprehensive answers to the question of determining the risk, its legal nature and the relationship with the institution of responsibility. Using the methodological component, it is indicated those logical steps aim at fully avoiding or minimizing risks.

Changes of Plasma Blood Ammonia Levels of Chinese Healthy People and the Establishment of Reference Intervals

Blood ammonia detection is used for the diagnosis or differential diagnosis of various hepatitis virus infections, severe liver cirrhosis, and hepatic encephalopathy. It is also one of the important indexes reflecting liver coma, Reyes syndrome, and other diseases. However, blood ammonia changes rapidly with time. If samples are not sent and detected in time, the results will be wrong, resulting in clinical misdiagnosis and life danger to patients. The purpose of this paper is to explore the change of blood ammonia with time and establish its reference interval. For this study, 228 healthy patients (111 males and 117 females) were selected who underwent physical examination at the Health Management Center of the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from April to May 2021. The blood ammonia detection kit (colorimetric method) produced by Roche Diagnostics GmbH of Germany was used for detection on the Roche cobas c702 automatic biochemical analyzer. After eliminating outliers from the obtained test results, they were grouped according to gender and age, and SPSS 26.0 software was employed to statistically analyze the blood ammonia test results. The differences in blood ammonia levels at each detection time were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The differences in blood ammonia levels between male and female subjects at 1 hour, 2 hours, and 3 hours were statistically significant (p < 0.05), but all ages saw no statistically significant difference in blood ammonia levels between segments (p > 0.05). The blood ammonia levels of each detection time and different genders showed a normal distribution. Therefore, it is necessary to take the 95% (X ± 1.96S) results of both sides as the reference interval according to the detection time and gender, and establish the reference intervals. The 1-hour blood ammonia reference interval for healthy men in Changsha is 15.8 - 47.5 μmol/L, for healthy women it is 12.4 - 39.6 μmol/L; the 2-hour blood ammonia reference interval for healthy men is 22.3 - 56.5 μmol/L, and for healthy women it is 19.1 - 48.0 μmol/L; the reference interval of 3-hours blood ammonia for healthy men is 27.9 - 65.7 μmol/L, and for healthy women it is 24.6 - 56.7 μmol/L. There are differences in blood ammonia levels between men and women at different detection times in Changsha. A reference interval suitable for blood ammonia in healthy individuals in the region should be established according to the detection time and gender, so as to provide better relevant evidence for clinical diagnosis.

Drink the Sea: Twenty Years of Walking and Falling in Beirut

ABSTRACT In this autobiographical essay, I examine the layers of solace and disruption I experienced in 20 years of walking in Beirut, and also falling all over the city. I explore how my regular walks on the sea-front corniche calmed my anxiety and soothed my spirit, while at the same time Beirut’s broken pavements, unlit streets, and exposed manholes skinned, sprained, twisted, and bloodied my body over and over again. As the situation deteriorated episodically through wars, neglect, and corruption, especially after the 4 August 2020 explosion, walking became an act of witnessing; it enabled the curation of a mental-visual archive contrasting my memories of the city with the catalogue of ills it revealed. In a Beirut hit by pandemic, economic crisis, and political deadlock, I eventually restricted my walks to daylight hours, often literally walking in small circles, as the city plunged into darkness and insecurity. Despite my frequent falls, and the dangers of a pedestrian life in Beirut, walking remained a source of great consolation and wonder: a daily ritual of erasing and remaking the city through stories and moments, disappointments and discoveries.

Fleeing Danger for a Better Life? A Social-ecological Study of Internally Displaced Journalists in Mexico

ABSTRACT The study of forced internal displacement (FID) frequently focuses on the personal effects of structural violence. However, the targeted victimization of members of risky occupations is less studied, neglecting the importance of professional factors in mediating people's experiences of displacement. Based on 20 in-depth interviews, this study uses a social-ecological approach to explore the challenges and experiences of journalists living under forced internal displacement in Mexico City, analyzing the multiple hardships journalists face in their resettlement processes at macro-structural, meso-professional, and micro-individual levels. Findings show that the most relevant aspects of the journalists’ experiences are family, economic and psychological concerns at the individual level; the partial or total disenfranchisement of journalistic practice, professional demotion and deskilling at the meso-level; and the general distrust of government programs at the structural level. We conclude that displaced journalists, already victimized by occupational violence, become even more vulnerable and suffer from specific profession-related hardships on top of the challenges that usually afflict displaced populations. Journalists suffer from unique and isolated forms of displacement. We call for more studies that explore the professional traits and conditions of victimized members of risky occupations to account for their overall experiences of displacement and resettlement.

Experiencing Léotard’s Sensational Body: Risk, Morality and Pleasure above the British Stage

Abstract Early 1860s responses to Jules Léotard’s innovative solo flying trapeze performances span pleasure and excitement to provoking claims of immorality related to risk that seem strange today. I examine the relationship between risk, morality and pleasure in Léotard’s celebrity using newspaper reports and imagery, demonstrating how his celebrity reveals changing attitudes to the body. Audiences evaluated his performances depending on how they valued bodily pleasure and how they connected citizenship, religion, science and progress to athleticism. Considering Léotard alongside the wirewalker Charles Blondin demonstrates how Léotard’s performance and physique mitigated concerns around risk. Making sense of Léotard’s unfamiliar movements often involved processing conflicting physical responses and contradictory viewpoints. ‘Dangerous’ performances drew censure because they provoked these confusing experiences and risk-related concerns of audience coercion and desensitization. Resituating Léotard within the 1860s craze for ‘sensation’ on the basis of newspaper reports and affect, demonstrates Victorians’ bodily preoccupation. Wider risks in society alongside scientific advancements help explain Victorians’ increased focus on the body as they turned to bodily health in the face of urban threats. Against this background, experiencing performers’ embodied vicarious risk enabled Victorians to rehearse, not avoid, the thrills and dangers of Victorian life.

Boat Spirits, Sea Monsters and Seal Women: Fishermen and hidden aquatic dangers in the Faroe Islands

This article discusses aquatic mythologies of the Faroes with focus on the narratives about the shoveller (also called ‘the man on board’), a boat spirit nesting in deep-sea fishing ships. The aim of the article is to examine and interrogate cultural representations of the relation between sea and land in the Faroes today by means of critical reflection on and analysis of the meaning of water-related mythology and folklore: what is the role of the stories and legends about the shoveller and other supernatural beings in present-day conversation about the sea, the islands, and the future? The shoveller, the seal woman, and the others on the ‘other side’ are protagonists of the polyvalent narratives shaping the folklore of the Faroes. They continue to reappear in new settings and among new generations. The spirits, water monsters, and seal women help people envisage what lies beneath the surface, the ocean, and the evident aquapelagic landscape. The shoveller is also a metaphor for the risk and danger in life beyond the fishing vessel today — he is a figure fooling, entertaining, frightening and confusing the islander in the age of globalisation, but also a kobold instructing and guiding the precarious islander in everyday struggle at home and away.