Disadvantageous Situation Research Articles

Humour, ridicule and the de-legitimization of the working class in Swedish Reality Television

AbstractDrawing on tools from Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis this paper analyses the editing techniques in a Swedish docu-soap showing that humour is used to ridicule the working-class participants, representing them as slow, inflexible, undynamic and unstylish. The paper places this within broader discursive shifts in Sweden where the rise of neoliberalism requires a dismantling of the welfare state, legitimized partly though establishing the lower social economic groups as morally flawed and themselves responsible for their increasingly disadvantaged situation as social inequalities increase.

Travel Disadvantage in Selected Rural Border Communities of Oyo State, Nigeria

The study examined travel disadvantage in selected rural border communities of Oyo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used for the survey. Two local government areas were selected from the border State (Oyo State) on the basis of their closeness to the border. Four rural border settlements were selected from each of the selected local government areas through simple random selection process. This was followed by selection of every third house in the respective settlements after the first house was randomly selected. A total of 115 duly completed questionnaires administered to the household head in each sampled household were used. It was discovered in the study that majority (94%) of the residents move around by trekking with 65% of the respondents trekking long distances between 1km and 5 km daily. The major reason for the travel disadvantage situation was attributed to the bad condition of the roads which restricts the movement of vehicle. However, in other to salvage the situation, the residents used communal labour to create new paths or widen the existing ones for easy passage of vehicles and passengers. Also the residents sold their products at extremely low prices to middlemen from towns. This study therefore concluded that transport situation in rural border areas of Nigeria needs urgent attention to ensure the liveability of the area and its economic development. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2016.v5n2p123

The Role of Transferring Knowledge in Case of Non-Business Sector Projects

The Hungarian-Slovenian-Croatian cross-border region, whose disadvantageous situation and hardship was dealt with by several authors, is placed in the focus of our research. Being aware of these facts it is conceivable that the subsidies from various proposal sources are of high importance for the cross-border region, especially those that support co-operation and region development and these proposals can become one of the primal movers of development. In our study the projects implemented in the concerned Hungarian, Slovenian and Croatian counties were involved in the Hungary-Croatia IPA Cross-border Co-operation Programme 2007-2013 and in the Slovenia-Hungary Cross-border Co-operation Programme 2007-2013 as well as the knowledge transfer methods in the managing organizations were analyzed. Each of the studied organisations belongs to the non-business sector as local government, school, foundation or association. It was characteristic of these studied organizations that in the 7-year cycle of the given programmed period they were involved in implementing several projects; therefore, the transfer of the managerial and professional knowledge gained in certain proposals could be of crucial importance in case of further projects. As a result, the aim of the research was to assess the correlation between knowledge transfer within these non-business organisations and the success of the projects. The analysis is timely and fills a gap since both studied programmes were closed in 2013 and the financed projects were finished in 2014; therefore, it explores significant information and correlations with regard to the projects of the programmed period to be closed for both the Joint Technical Secretariats and the Intermediate Bodies as well as for the applicants.

Abuse and discrimination towards indigenous people in public health care facilities: experiences from rural Guatemala.

BackgroundHealth inequalities disproportionally affect indigenous people in Guatemala. Previous studies have noted that the disadvantageous situation of indigenous people is the result of complex and structural elements such as social exclusion, racism and discrimination. These elements need to be addressed in order to tackle the social determinants of health. This research was part of a larger participatory collaboration between Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Servicios de Salud (CEGSS) and community based organizations aiming to implement social accountability in rural indigenous municipalities of Guatemala. Discrimination while seeking health care services in public facilities was ranked among the top three problems by communities and that should be addressed in the social accountability intervention. This study aimed to understand and categorize the episodes of discrimination as reported by indigenous communities.MethodsA participatory approach was used, involving CEGSS’s researchers and field staff and community leaders. One focus group in one rural village of 13 different municipalities was implemented. Focus groups were aimed at identifying instances of mistreatment in health care services and documenting the account of those who were affected or who witnessed them. All of the 132 obtained episodes were transcribed and scrutinized using a thematic analysis.ResultsEpisodes described by participants ranged from indifference to violence (psychological, symbolic, and physical), including coercion, mockery, deception and racism. Different expressions of discrimination and mistreatment associated to poverty, language barriers, gender, ethnicity and social class were narrated by participants.ConclusionsAddressing mistreatment in public health settings will involve tackling the prevalent forms of discrimination, including racism. This will likely require profound, complex and sustained interventions at the programmatic and policy levels beyond the strict realm of public health services. Future studies should assess the magnitude of the occurrence of episodes of maltreatment and racism within indigenous areas and also explore the providers’ perceptions about the problem.

Institutional Performance in Albania Regarding Social Protection Policies

Albania is often considered ''the most difficult case'' of regime change compared to other ex-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The long way, often too hard and chaotic, towards democracy and market economy put the country into a disadvantageous situation in comparison with other ex-communist countries because of the limited progress in these directions. Structural changes in Albania before and after the 90's are extraordinary. Now Albania is in a European integration phase, which means there's a series of standards to accomplish and political-economic challenges to be faced. In the first part, this paper will give a chronological view of social protection policies in Albanian going through the major historical phases such as communist regime and pluralist regime period. In the second part, our main focus will be the change in political regime and its consequences which dictated the need for new social protection policies. The inclusion policy or the policy of social protection in Albania is a component of a greater general frame named National Strategy for Development and Integration (SKZHI) 2007-2013, which brings in a single document the perspectives of social and economic stable development, in the framework of the integration in the UE and realization of the Millennial Objectives (SKZHI, 2008).The main social groups and social fields treaded by the policy documents such as National Strategy on Development and Integration, National Strategy on Social Protection, National Strategy on Social Inclusion will be explained. In the third part, social security and health care policies and institutions will be treated concluding with some findings from the empirical research.

Technoeconomic evaluation of urban plant factories: The case of basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Greece is currently in a turmoil, experiencing the effects of more than half a decade of economic crisis. Public health and welfare, jobs and wages, labor market concerning employment as long as employability of the work force, inequality, life satisfaction and housing, tourism and environment, economic and energy poverty are heavily impacted by Greece's disadvantageous economic situation. Real estate market could not have gotten away from the financial commotion, being currently in a halt after years of rapid decline. Fired from the present situation of Greece's real estate market, the present study is concerned with the investigation of alternative ways to support the local real estate market. With respect to sustainable development's ethics, the development, implementation, installation and operation of small, inexpensive plant factories within the urban environment is evaluated. Installations such are those, will encourage the penetration of a new market for the untapped buildings' resource, advancing new investing opportunities, promoting economic growth and productivity while creating a new labor market. The study will rely on the basic principles of Life Cycle Costing Assessment and develop a methodology upon which different scenarios will be evaluated against the “Do Nothing” scenario.

School factors helping disadvantaged students to succeed: empirical evidence from four Italian cities

ABSTRACTThis research investigates a particular category of disadvantaged students, namely those who are able to overcome a situation of socio-economical disadvantage and obtain good academic results (here named ‘resilient students’). We have used micro-data provided by the Italian National Evaluation Committee for Education and focused on class and school-level characteristics that help disadvantaged students to become resilient students when they move from primary (grade 5) to lower secondary school (grade 6), concentrating our analysis on four major cities. We employed a probit regression and a propensity score matching model, finding that class and school factors do matter. In particular, we looked at whether the performance of their peers has a positive impact on that of disadvantaged students, estimating the increased probability of these students becoming resilient.

Gender Inequality, Processes of Adaptation, and Female Local Initiatives in Cash Crop Production in Northern Tanzania

AbstractThis article contributes to development research, as well as research studying inequality in agricultural systems. We use empirical data from an ethnographic study in the village of Mamba, in northern Tanzania (2006–2009). This study analyzes the question of changing gender relations and the patriarchal constraints to collective action under market liberalization of cash crops. Our findings demonstrate that the shift to a market economy has influenced the nature of production relations, deepening inequalities in gender relations and the position of women. However, some women circumvent their disadvantaged situations through their association with various types of collective action groups or networks. In order to investigate the different impacts on women's lives, we analyze women's interest and motivations for these collective actions. We also identify the processes of adaptation to the new production relations through the coffee trade network and tomato cultivation groups, two local initiatives. We analyze the differences between these two forms of collective action and theorize on their different impacts on women's empowerment.

Assessment of Transport Connections Based on Accessibility

Enhancement of transport connections is an important condition for achieving better mobility and economic development possibilities in regions. Usually in a given region the economic and social development is concentrated mainly at the central city and its agglomeration, therefore a realistic accessibility goal is to reach this center from the farthest settlement within a reasonable amount of travel time. Recent accessibility analysis works have pointed out that the reality is far worse and some regions remain in a disadvantageous situation. Transport connections between central and peripheral areas may promote regional competition potential for the latter. A complex transport network indicator has been utilized for comparison of two neighboring countries, an EU member state and a non-member state, namely Hungary and Serbia. A cluster analysis has been performed in order to explain differences in transport network characteristics and socio-economic factors as well as assessing any possible connections. A new multi-criteria assessment methodology has been developed by combining two existing methods that is suitable for evaluation of transport network connections in order to justify reasonable developments in the regional infrastructure. As a result of assessment and consequent structural modifications the access to services would be easier, quicker and better, furthermore the regional competition potential would be enhanced and the disadvantageous situation of some peripheral territories would be eliminated. Regional planning can use the new methodology for explaining location and possible relocation of services as well as for enhancing transport network connections. Applying the proposed new methodology at regional level the characteristics of accessibility can be assessed and some “cross-border” solutions can be identified regarding neighboring countries. The recommended methodology incorporates fuzzy variables to take into account uncertainty within the assessment and provides a possibility for GIS based understandable presentation of results to enhance the procedure of decision preparing.

Does socio-religious identity lead to structural disadvantage? Evidence from the Indian labour market

The informal sector employs nearly 85 per cent of the labour force in India and hence constitutes a major proportion of the Indian labour market. A society which is still in the developing phase may lack labor market institutions in the informal sector. This may provide ample scope for differential treatment against the weaker sections of society. We term this differential treatment as structural disadvantage. This article intends to bring out the trends in differential treatment, based on individuals’ social identity, in the Indian labour market from 1993/94 to 2011/12. According to our study, SC/ST Hindus were found to be in a structurally disadvantaged situation compared to the upper caste Hindus, and the magnitude of this trend is increasing since 2004/05. On the other hand, upper caste Hindus were structurally disadvantaged compared to other religious minorities (apart from Muslims) but the trend is reversing after 2004/05. However, Muslims were found to be structurally disadvantaged compared to the upper caste Hindus during 1993/94, but no such trend has been observed in the following decade. An increase in reservations or quotas in education institutions, public and private sector enterprises would be helpful in bringing about a reduction in structural disadvantage against SC/ST Hindus. Special focus should be provided to promote reservations in the private sector enterprises because of shrinking of the public sector jobs. In addition, if formal sector could be encouraged in least developed states, this could create job opportunities for SC/ST Hindus.

How the risky features of previous selection affect subsequent decision-making: evidence from behavioral and fMRI measures.

Human decision making is rarely conducted in temporal isolation. It is often biased and affected by environmental variables, particularly prior selections. In this study, we used a task that simulates a real gambling process to explore the effect of the risky features of a previous selection on subsequent decision making. Compared with decision making after an advantageous risk-taking situation (Risk_Adv), that after a disadvantageous risk-taking situation (Risk_Disadv) is associated with a longer response time (RT, the time spent in making decisions) and higher brain activations in the caudate and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Compared with decisions after Risk_Adv, those after Risk_Disadv in loss trials are associated with higher brain activations in the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the precuneus. Brain activity and relevant RTs significantly correlated. Overall, people who experience disadvantageous risk-taking selections tend to focus on current decision making and engage cognitive endeavors in value evaluation and in the regulation of their risk-taking behaviors during decision making.

Prosocial competencies among adolescent siblings of the physically disabled

<b>Background</b><br /> The current study examined possible prosocial benefits of having a disabled sibling. Until now research has mainly focused on the negative effects of having a sibling with a disability. We hypothesized that regular and frequent interactions with a disabled person should result in an increase of positive attitude and empathy toward other people who are in a disadvantageous situation.<br /> <br /> <b>Participants and procedure</b><br /> A sample of 208 students from public secondary schools (middle and high schools) completed the Polish version of the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM) in order to assess the tendencies to prosocial behaviors in different conditions. Participants were between 13 and 18 years old. Ninety-six adolescents had a disabled sibling (group T) and 112 constituted the control group (group C).<br /> <br /> <b>Results</b><br /> Results showed that group T generally scored higher than group C in the number of helping behaviors. Furthermore, girls scored higher than boys in anonymous prosocial behaviors. The older adolescents are more inclined to use helping behaviors both in anonymous and compliant situations than their younger colleagues.<br /> <br /> <b>Conclusions</b><br /> Presence of disabled children in a family context may facilitate prosocial behavior in their non-disabled siblings. Older participants less frequently described themselves as prosocial in public situations. In contrast, younger adolescents reported weaker prosocial tendencies in anonymous and compliant situations. The effect of gender on prosocial tendencies was significant for public prosocial behavior, with a higher level achieved by males in this domain. Data analysis also showed significantly greater emotional and altruistic tendencies in females than in males.

Substance use among Dutch homeless people, a follow-up study: prevalence, pattern and housing status.

Previous studies have shown that substance use among homeless people is a prevalent problem that is associated with longer durations of homelessness. Most studies of substance use among the homeless were carried out outside Europe and have limited generalizability to European countries. This study therefore aimed to address the prevalence of substance use among homeless people in the Netherlands, the pattern of their use and the relationship with housing status at follow-up. This study included 344 participants (67.1% of the initial cohort) who were followed from baseline to 18 months after the baseline interview. Multinomial logistic regression analyses examined the relationship between substance use and housing status. The most reported substances which were used among these homeless people were cannabis (43.9%) and alcohol (≥5 units on one occasion) (30.7%). Other substances were used by around 5% or less of the participants. Twenty-seven percent were classified as substance misuser and 20.9% as substance dependent. The odds to be marginally housed (4.14) or institutionalized (2.12) at follow-up compared to being housed of participants who were substance users were significantly higher than those of participants who did not use substances. The odds to be homeless were more than twice as high (2.80) for participants who were substance dependent compared with those who were not. Homeless people who use substances have a more disadvantageous housing situation at follow-up than homeless people who do not use substances. Attention is needed to prevent and reduce long-term homelessness among substance-using homeless people.

Profiling drunk driving recidivists in Denmark

Drunk drivers are a menace to themselves and to other road users, as drunk driving significantly increases the risk of involvement in road accidents and the probability of severe or fatal injuries. Although injuries and fatalities related to road accidents have decreased in recent decades, the prevalence of drunk driving among drivers killed in road accidents has remained stable, at around 25% or more during the past 10 years. Understanding drunk driving, and in particular, recidivism, is essential for designing effective countermeasures, and accordingly, the present study aims at identifying the differences between non-drunk drivers, drunk driving non-recidivists and drunk driving recidivists with respect to their demographic and socio-economic characteristics, road accident involvement and other traffic and non-traffic-related law violations. This study is based on register-data from Statistics Denmark and includes information from 2008 to 2012 for the entire population, aged 18 or older, of Denmark. The results from univariate and multivariate statistical analyses reveal a five year prevalence of 17% for drunk driving recidivism, and a significant relation between recidivism and the drunk drivers’ gender, age, income, education, receipt of an early retirement pension, household type, and residential area. Moreover, recidivists are found to have a higher involvement in alcohol-related road accidents, as well as other traffic and, in particular, non-traffic-related offences. These findings indicate that drunk driving recidivism is more likely to occur among persons who are in situations of socio-economic disadvantage and marginalisation. Thus, to increase their effectiveness, preventive measures aiming to reduce drunk driving should also address issues related to the general life situations of the drunk driving recidivists that contribute to an increased risk of drunk driving recidivism.

Academic publishing and collaboration between China and Germany in physics

Based on publications indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) of Thomson Reuters, we explored China---Germany collaboration in physics from perspectives including publication profiles, collaboration effect, as well as active institutions and active fields. We found that German researchers are more capable of publishing higher-quality papers than Chinese counterparts. Both China and Germany get benefit from collaboration in raising publication productivity. The collaboration helps improve Chinese researchers' citation impact and capability of publishing in higher-quality journals. Research capacities of German institutions are more evenly distributed than Chinese counterparts. Chinese institutions that are most active in collaborating with German counterparts are mainly those in leading positions in China, whereas those in disadvantageous situation are still isolated from the international community.

Specialist and generalist oviposition strategies in butterflies: maternal care or precocious young?

Herbivorous insects specialized on a narrow set of plants are believed to be better adapted to their specific hosts. This hypothesis is supported by observations of herbivorous insect species with a broader diet breadth which seemingly pay a cost through decreased oviposition accuracy. Despite many studies investigating female oviposition behavior, there is a lack of knowledge on how larvae cope behaviorally with their mothers' egg-laying strategies. We have examined a unique system of five nymphalid butterfly species with different host plant ranges that all feed on the same host plant. The study of this system allowed us to compare at the species level how oviposition preference is related to neonate larval responses in several disadvantageous situations. We found a general co-adaptation between female and larval abilities, where species with more discriminating females had larvae that were less able to deal with a suboptimal initial feeding site. Conversely, relatively indiscriminate females had more precocious larvae with better abilities to cope with suboptimal sites. Despite similarities between the tested species with similar host ranges, there were also striking differences. Generalist and specialist species can be found side by side in many clades, with each clade having a specific evolutionary history. Such clade-specific, phylogenetically determined preconditions apparently have affected how precisely a broad or narrow diet breadth can be realized.

Imaging Subsurface Water Pipe Using GPR and Evanescent Waves: Experimental and Simulations Data

In this paper there are presented a series of methods and algorithms for signal processing (A-scan) and image processing (B-scan) which allow an easier and more accurate interpretation of the inspection results. The methods and the algorithms were tested for detection of a buried pipe, made of glass fiber polyester composite with a diameter of 1.3m, first when the survey conditions allowed only the scanning along the pipe, the most disadvantageous situation, but it has imposed by the configuration of the examined zone. After a few days of construction works, the site was prepared for inspection, orthogonally on the first scan direction.

Encapsulation of 10-Hydroxy Camptothecin in Supramolecular Hydrogel as an Injectable Drug Delivery System

10-Hydroxy camptothecin (HCPT) has been proven to be a cell cycle-specific chemotherapeutic agent, which is a necessary choice to inhibit tumor residue growth and prevent tumor metastasis after surgery. But it suffers from light decomposition, poor solubility, relatively low bioavailability, and some side effects, which are the major obstacles toward its clinical use. Integration of hydrophobic HCPT with hydrophilic hydrogel is a facile approach to change the disadvantageous situation of HCPT. In this study, a novel supramolecular hydrogelator with improved synthetic strategy was triggered by chemical hydrolysis, and then self-assembled to hydrogel. Taking advantage of the high-equilibrium solubility of HCPT in hydrogelator solution, this hydrogel was utilized to load HCPT via encapsulation as an effective carrier. HCPT hydrogels were characterized by several techniques including transmission electronic microscopy, rheology, and UV spectroscopy. In vitro release experiment indicated HCPT hydrogel could maintain long term and sustained release of HCPT at high accumulated rate. 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay showed that HCPT hydrogel had an optimized anticancer efficacy. Besides, with prominent physical properties of carrier, HCPT hydrogel possessed satisfactory stability, syringeability, and recoverability, demonstrating itself as a potential localized injectable drug delivery system.

A First-Principles Study on Electron Donor and Acceptor Molecules Adsorbed on Phosphorene

Density functional theory calculations have been carried out to investigate single-layer phosphorene functionalized with two kinds of organic molecules, i.e., an electrophilic molecule tetracyano-p-quinodimethane (TCNQ) as electron acceptor and a nucleophilic molecule tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) as electron donor. The TCNQ molecule introduces shallow acceptor states in the gap of phosphorene close to the valence band edge, which makes the doped system become a p-type semiconductor. However, when the TTF molecule is adsorbed on the phosphorene, the occupied molecular states introduced into the gap are of deep donor states so that effective n-doping for transport cannot be realized. This disadvantageous situation can be amended by applying an external out-of-plane electric field with direction from phosphorene to TTF, or an in-plane tensile strain, or their combination, under which the conduction band edge of the phosphorene moves closer to the TTF-derived donor states, and then the TTF-adsorbed phosphorene system becomes an n-type semiconductor. It is also noted that the out-of-plane electric field and in-plane strain can modulate the band gap of the TTF-adsorbed phosphorene markedly. The effective bipolar doping of single-layer phosphorene via molecular adsorption, especially n-doping against its native p-doping propensity, and the good response of band gap in the infrared waveband of the TTF-adsorbed phosphorene to the out-of-plane electric field and in-plane strain would broaden the way to the application of this new type of two-dimensional material in nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices.

Perspectivas y políticas sobre la juventud desfavorecida en España un análisis desde el enfoque de capacidades

Con la crisis en España, la juventud se enfrenta a una situaciónmultidimensional de desventaja. En el artículo analizamos los puntos de vista de distintos actores sobre dicha situación, y cómo estas perspectivas se reflejan en el diseño e implementación de las políticas públicas. Realizamos un estudio cualitativo mediante una aproximación innovadora, el enfoque de capacidades, utilizando tanto revisión defuentes secundarias como entrevistas en profundidad a 21 actores clave. Las evidencias muestran que las actuales políticas tienen una perspectiva limitada, centrada en la creación de empleo y que no considera las múltiples desventajas a las que se enfrentan los jóvenes hoy en día. Esto se agrava con la falta de participación en la definición e implementación de políticas, y con intereses partidistas y estrategias cortoplacistas.