Formal Participation Research Articles

Connecting community-delivered evidence-based programs and the healthcare system: Piloting a learning "wellcare" system.

IntroductionMany evidence‐based programs (EBPs) have been determined in randomized controlled trials to be effective, but few studies explore the real‐world effectiveness of EBPs implemented in the natural community setting. Our study evaluated whether a novel linked infrastructure would enable such insights and continuous improvement as part of a learning healthcare‐community bridged “wellcare” ecosystem.MethodsWe created a secure, web‐based data entry and storage platform with a network of Minnesota community‐based organizations to record EBP participants' demographics and attendance, and program details. We then linked participant's information to their Rochester Epidemiology Project (REP) medical records. With this infrastructure, we conducted a proof of concept, retrospective cohort study by matching EBP participants to REP controls and comparing medical record‐documented outcomes over 1 year follow‐up.ResultsWe successfully linked EBP participant records with medical records in 77.6% of cases, and the infrastructure proved feasible and scalable. Still, key challenges remain in obtaining participant consent for data sharing. Upfront resource investments and the availability of REP‐like warehouses limit generalizability. Optimal learning will be improved by enhancements that better track program fidelity. Our pilot study established a proof‐of‐concept, but sample sizes (n = 99 for falls prevention and n = 97 chronic disease/pain management EBP completers) were too small to detect significant differences in hospital admittance as compared to matched controls for either EBP group, (OR = 0.66[0.36, 1.19]) and (OR = 0.81[0.43, 1.54]), respectively. Events were too rare to gather meaningful information about effects on fall rates.ConclusionsOur pilot demonstrates the feasibility of developing an online infrastructure that connects information from community leaders with medical record documented health outcomes, bridging the knowledge gap between community programs and the health care system. Insights gleaned from our infrastructure can be used to continuously shape community program delivery to reduce the need for formal health care services.

‘I wanted to take on a lot of responsibility’. Reconstructing biographies of young people engaged in formal participation

ABSTRACT Youth councils, youth parliaments or youth organisations are often referred to as the king’s road to young people’s participation, at least from the point of view of policymakers. At the same time, there is evidence that many young people are either uninformed about or sceptical of institutionalised forms of youth participation as they distrust institutions in general. This article is interested in understanding why some young people actually engage in those institutionalised forms of youth participation that most of their peers assess as being ineffective and irrelevant for their needs and interests. Based on qualitative interviews with young people involved in different forms of participation in the context of a European research project, we take a biographical approach aimed at reconstructing what makes young people interested in getting and staying involved with youth councils, youth parliaments and/or youth organisations. The aim is, on the one hand, to analyse the different biographical pathways that lead young people into formal engagement as youth representatives. On the other hand, this article draws on a reconstructive analysis of the life stories of young people who engage in formal participation to elaborate the key dimensions and constellations that can be reconstructed from their participation biographies.

Understanding the relationship between green restaurant certification programs and a green restaurant image: the case of TripAdvisor reviews

PurposeThe study aims to investigate the adoption of green certification programs by restaurants. More specifically, this study has three objectives: to examine the relationships between green certification program scores and customers’ perceptions, duration of green certification and green brand image and food-focused green practices and green brand image.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected 25,098 TripAdvisor reviews, along with associated patron demographics, for 70 green certified restaurants. To investigate the hypotheses, the authors first used structural topic modeling to discover latent themes relevant to green restaurant practices. Thereafter, the authors used factorial Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) to examine the association between formal certification participation and customers’ green perceptions.FindingsThe results showed that customers were more likely to perceive a green restaurant image after visiting green certified restaurants with higher certification ratings and green certification periods of longer duration.Practical implicationsThe current study contributes to the literature in several ways. First, this study uses post-visit online reviews written by customers of certified green restaurants to understand customers’ natural responses more precisely. Second, the study captures the degree of green commitment by applying information about formal certification programs, where other studies have relied on hypothetical scenarios or survey questions to examine the impact of green attributes on customer perceptions.Originality/valueTo the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the adoption of green certification programs by restaurants empirically with data drawn from actual user-generated content (i.e. TripAdvisor).

Barriers to Yuruk Turkmen preschoolers’ access to education and participation processes: does inclusive education include pastoral nomadic children?

ABSTRACT The aim of the current study was to examine the access to education and participation processes of Nomadic Yuruk Turkmen children (NYT) in ecocultural viewpoint. The ethnographic method was employed in order to describe and analyze these processes. The sample consisted of four NYT children, their families and teachers. The findings indicate that NYT children face various barriers in access to formal education and participation. These barriers are largely due to the distance between nomadic families’ tents and the school, the low educational level of the parents, the fact that teachers have a limited understanding of nomadic lifestyle and the lack of communication between the nomadic families and teachers. As a result, problems of access to formal education and participation for NYT community remain today as they did in the past.

Spatial Knowledge: A Potential to Enhance Public Participation?

Spatial knowledge, i.e., knowledge about space and place, is commonly used by stakeholders during the deliberative process of public participation practice. The goal of this article is to examine to what extent spatial knowledge exists and is used in a formal public participation practice, as well as its potential to enhance the public participation practice. We used an annual public participation practice in Indonesia called Musrenbang as the case study. Using a three-dimensional framework, we identified the types, levels, and socio-spatial relationships of spatial knowledge used in the Musrenbang practice. Our study finds that villagers had and used spatial knowledge during Musrenbang. However, the knowledge was not properly used due to three main impediments: The stakeholders were not aware of their spatial knowledge, spatial data was not available, which can help to better utilize knowledge while supporting the participatory process, and power gaps among stakeholders. It can be concluded that the development of suitable methods, which can help stakeholders use their spatial knowledge, is needed to enhance the current Musrenbang practice.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS: A CONCEPTUAL REVIEW

Women entrepreneurs have become important players in the entrepreneurial landscape. In Africa, the equal right of women and their equal participation in the social, cultural, economic and political life have remained elusive. As such, they are still the main victims of poverty, social prejudice, lack of access to health services and education. African women entrepreneurship development is generally inadequate and beset with numerous constraints and challenges, which have to do with culture, religion, entrepreneurial behaviours such as lack of innovativeness, ability and willingness to take calculated risks, determination, and lack of economic independence and their total perceptions in entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to examine the environmental factors influencing women entrepreneurial intentions. Based on extant literature, the study paper out women entrepreneurs operate in an unfavorable business environment, characterized by various challenges ranging from infrastructural deficiency, low access and high cost of finance, weak institutions and many barriers to formal economic participation. This abysmal performance could be traceable to limited education, rudimentary skills, low household and business income, lack of savings and social networks, not possessing the required professional relationships, lack of mentorship, inadequacy of relevant experience, Limited access to support services which includes loan levels suited to their business needs, technical and managerial training. These problems arise from limited capacity outreach of existing institutions as well as the inability of women entrepreneurs to pay for such services. Article visualizations:

The Struggles for Women’s Suffrage in Lebanon

In 1953, Lebanon became the first Arab nation-state to grant women suffrage. The story of that monumental moment begins in the 1910s with the rise of the Lebanese women’s movement. The Lebanese women’s movement has a long history of transformation and metamorphosis that responded to the needs of the state in power at the time. It began under the Ottoman Empire (1516–1918), bloomed in the Nahda Arab Renaissance of the late 1800s and early 1900s, was sustained through French colonial occupation (1920–1943), flourished with independence in 1943, and continues today (Kaedbey and Naber 2019).The early Lebanese women’s movement of the 1910s and 1920s primarily focused on women’s access to education and their role in charity organizations (Stephan 2014). The writers and readers of popular women’s magazines, and the leaders of women’s organizations, came from the middle and upper classes. Their focus on education and charity work for the poor reflected their bourgeois class position, but many in the Lebanese women’s movement sought to provide benefits for all women (Armstrong, pers. comm., September 24, 2019). In the years between World War I and World War II, during the French Mandate, the women’s movement gained a nationalist character. Women’s public support of an independent Lebanon was spurred by the Syrian revolt of 1925, and subsequent struggles for independence, as well as the changing political pressure of French occupation during World War II (Weber 2003: 91). Women leaders promoted nationalist curricula in schools, and increasingly addressed the French colonial state on social issues such as health, education, labor, and the reform of religious personal status laws concerning marriage, divorce, and inheritance (Weber 2003: 91).The movement leaders carried this agenda with them as they attended a series of conferences throughout the Middle East beginning with a conference in Beirut in 1928. The conference in Beirut was followed by additional “Arab” and “Eastern” women’s conferences in Jerusalem, Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, and Tehran between 1929–1938 (Robinson 2015: 21). Lebanese independence in 1943 and the creation of an independent state ushered in a period of transformation for Lebanon. Women’s rights activists viewed independence as a perfect opportunity to shift their work away from education, charity, and a maternalist agenda, toward formal political participation, long considered a prerogative of men. Pioneers of the women’s movement, Najla Saab, Labibtha Thabit, and Labiba Saab and her daughter, Laure Moughaizel, spearheaded this transition. Najla and Labiba were members of the two premier women’s advocacy organizations of the time—the Lebanese Women Union, founded in 1920 to bring together Arab nationalists and leftists, and the Christian Women’s Solidarity Association, founded in 1947 and composed of elite women representatives from twenty Christian organizations throughout Lebanon (Stephan 2010: 536).In 1952, the two organizations came together to form a permanent organization known as the Lebanese Council of Women. A coalition of this kind may seem implausible today, but during this period Muslim, Druze, and Christian women came together across the political spectrum to champion women’s rights within Lebanon and in the region. This collaboration included humanitarian aid to Palestinian women in 1948, and vocal support for Palestinian liberation (Latif, pers. comm., September 30, 2019). Although Christian women from elite class backgrounds usually headed formal organizations like the Council of Women, significant work was simultaneously occurring among working-class women labor activists. The unity built among Muslim and Christian women is particularly important given the large Christian presence in Lebanon in comparison to its Muslim-majority neighbors. This presence, which thrived under the French Mandate, is an ongoing legacy of its colonialism (Traboulsi 2012: 91).The Lebanese Council of Women spearheaded the fight for women’s suffrage, and still exists today as a group of over 170 women’s organizations in consultation with the Lebanese Parliament (Stephan 2010: 536). In the 1950s, council members traveled throughout the country and region of West Asia and North Africa attending conferences and meeting with heads of state and community leaders to build solidarity among women. They used formal channels, the press, public education, and direct action to advocate for the rights of women. After a decade of sustained and united campaigning, on February 18, 1953, they succeeded in pressuring the government to grant all Lebanese women voting rights.The following In the Archives document, written by Najla Saab, outlines the political rights she, Labiba, Laure, and an entire generation of Lebanese women pursued. These women built on the work before them—the magazines of the 1910s, the charity work of the 1920s, the conferences, lobbying, and direct action of the 1930s and 1940s—to once again transform the struggle for women’s rights in Lebanon. All documents are from the Ruth Frances Woodsmall Papers, Sophia Smith NajlaCollection, Smith College (Northampton, Massachusetts).

A continuum of participation: rethinking Tamil women’s political participation and agency in post-war Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT In post-war contexts, attention is given to women’s participation and barriers to their participation in formal processes (for example, peace talks, economic initiatives, and elections). Yet, women have engaged in various activities to exercise collective and individual agency to impact political participation. This article examines how Tamil women’s political participation in post-war Sri Lanka exists along a continuum, from formal participation within state structures and party politics to informal community participation. Scholarship about Tamil women’s political participation is framed within discourses of “militants,” “ex-combatants,” “political mothers,” or “victims.” Using narrative interviews, we argue that – based on their awareness of unequal gendered power relations, structures, and norms impacting their lives in post-war Sri Lanka – Tamil women in Mannar exercise agency to challenge these constraints and promote a broader transformative political arena. Some women attempt to expand the agency of others and to promote a collective voice through which women can be better represented in politics. Drawing on feminist international relations and gender and development knowledge, this study demonstrates how political agency is constituted within informal arenas, disrupting masculinist assumptions about who is considered a political actor and what counts as political agency by examining the spectrum of political participation in post-war contexts.

Formal social participation protects physical health through enhanced mental health: A longitudinal mediation analysis using three consecutive waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE).

Previous studies have shown that formal social participation may reduce the risk of developing chronic conditions. Yet, the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. In this study, we assessed the potential mediating roles of quality of life and depressive symptoms using longitudinal data. We analyzed nationally representative data from three consecutive waves (2011, 2013, 2015) of the SHARE survey, including 28,982 adults from 12 European countries aged 50 years and above at baseline. Measures were self-reported and included formal social participation (i.e. active participation within volunteer organizations, educational institutions, clubs, religious organizations, or political/civic groups), quality of life (CASP-12), depressive symptoms (EURO-D), and chronic conditions. Structural equation modeling was used to construct a focused longitudinal path model. Formal social participation at baseline was inversely associated with the number of chronic conditions at 4-year follow-up. We identified two significant longitudinal mediation patterns: 1) formal social participation predicted higher levels of quality of life, which in turn, predicted lower levels of chronic conditions; and 2) formal social participation predicted lower levels of depressive symptoms, which, in turn, also predicted lower levels of chronic conditions. Formal social participation functions as a protective factor against the onset or development of chronic conditions. This association is partially explained by enhanced quality of life and diminished depressive symptoms.

The Pull to the Liberal Public: Gender, Orientalism, and Peace Building in Afghanistan

Orientalist and liberal-modernist underpinnings of postconflict gender programming in Afghanistan narrowly construct Afghan women’s rights and freedoms, moving them away from the traditional domestic sphere (reliance on religious and cultural worldviews, local institutions, and informal markets) and toward a distinct path of Western liberal (colonial) modernity, focusing on women’s public roles, formal political participation, state-centric legal rights, and neoliberal market participation. This liberal-modernist bias has meant that the women’s rights agenda is bound to the few contested, hypermilitarized, and politically fragile pockets of liberal publics that are unevenly dispersed across the country and that have limited accessibility for most women. The pull to the masculine-militarized liberal publics is juxtaposed against an Orientalist framing of a stiflingly traditional society from which Afghan women are expected to flee simply because emancipatory possibilities are deemed impossible within it. This article argues that countless rural and urban women are, for many reasons, unable to or lack the desire to enter the liberal public and may not even have the choice or desire to retreat from the interpenetrating spaces of customs, values, traditions, culture, and religion. In failing to account for the complexities of women’s lives, gender programming has failed to offer a broad-based, inclusive, or flexible approach to women’s rights and gender relations.

Predictors of high and low mental well-being and common mental disorders: findings from a Danish population-based study.

BackgroundMental well-being is fundamental for a good life. Previous literature has examined the predictors of mental disorders and continuous measures of positive mental health. Very few studies have specifically focused on the predictors of different levels of mental well-being, but those that have suggest a different picture. This study aimed to compare socioeconomic and relational/recreational behaviour predictors of different levels of mental well-being as well as common mental disorders (CMDs).MethodsData from 3508 adults aged 16+ years old from the Danish Mental Health and Well-Being Survey 2016 were linked to Danish national register-based data. Mental well-being was assessed using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, and information on CMDs was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4). Regression analyses were conducted to estimate the predictors of low and high mental well-being compared to moderate mental well-being and also of CMDs.ResultsLower socioeconomic position (education, income and employment status) was associated with increased odds of low mental well-being and the presence of CMDs, but did not significantly predict high mental well-being. Relational/recreational behaviours (informal and formal social participation, social support and recreational activity) were associated with reduced odds of low mental well-being and CMDs, and also with increased odds of high mental well-being.ConclusionsSocioeconomic predictors of high mental well-being do not mirror those of low mental well-being and CMDs, whereas relational/recreational predictors of high mental well-being do mirror those of low mental well-being and CMDs. These findings have important implications for public mental health strategies.

Gender and Conflict Management: The Role of Women’s in Indigenous Conflict Resolutions for Peace Building in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Evidence from around the world and across cultures showed that integrating women and gender considerations into peace-building processes helps to promote democracy, good governance, long-term stability and development . The inclusion of gender perspectives into conflict analyses can be beneficial not only to ensure better understanding of conflict dynamics, but also to highlight the linkages with development and poverty issues. Hence, the current review is aims to assess the role of women’s in indigenous conflict resolution in different regions of Ethiopia. All available materials were reviewed. The results of the review disclosed that even if women’s formal participation in the highest leadership positions were formally closed, it is documented that throughout the world, women had played critical roles in times of wars and peace as community organizers and activists. The findings further showed that the role and participation of women in the indigenous conflict management mechanisms is low and insignificant in Tigray. In indigenous system, women play an indirect role in Amhara and Tigray. In Oromia region, women have a great role in solving conflicts among Oromo clans by intervene and request for reconciliation by using the institution called Siqqe . They also have the right and power to reconcile Oromo people to their God called Waqqa by praying to God for them. In Somalia, Women’s also play multiple roles before, during and after conflicts. Women of South nations and nationality play different roles in addressing conflicts either along with men or alone and the male based institutions address conflicts in equal basis irrespective of sex. Based on the above findings, it can be concluded that, Ethiopian women’s play a pivotal role and still working to maintain peace and security across all provinces of the country. Therefore, women should be respected as they have a lion share role in indigenous conflict resolutions as well as they should be empowered to involve in peace promotion and peacemaking at regional and country level . Keywords: Gender, Indigenous, Conflict resolutions, Peace building, Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/80-01 Publication date: February 29 th 2020

Socio-economic status, self-rated health and mental health: the mediation effect of social participation on early-late midlife and older adults

BackgroundSocioeconomic status (SES) is a major determinant of diverse health outcomes, among these are self-rated-health and mental health. Yet the mechanisms underlying the SES—health relation are not fully explored. Socioeconomic inequalities in health and mental health may form along several pathways. One is social participation which is linked to better self-rated-health and mental health. We examined (1) whether various social participation practices, including the usage of information and communication technology, relate to a unidimensional or multidimensional phenomenon (2) the relationship among SES, social participation, self-rated-health and mental health; (3) whether social participation and mental health mediates the association between SES and self-rated-health; (4) whether social participation and self-rated-health mediates the links between SES and mental health.MethodCross-sectional data for individuals aged 35 and older were taken from the Israeli Social Survey for 2016 (N = 4848). Social participation practices included connection with family and friends, self-perceived-support, self-perceived trust, volunteering, civic and political involvement, and information and communication technology usage. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted for all social participation practices. We then constructed structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to explore paths of relations among SES, social participation, self-rated-health and mental health.ResultsWe found disparities in self-rated health and mental health across SES. Social participation practice, ‘frequency of meeting with friends’, mediated the links between SES-self-rated health and SES-mental health. Formal social participation practices along with internet usage mediated the SES- self-rated health link. Informal social participation practices and self-perceived trust mediated the SES-mental health link. Mental health mediated the SES- self-rated health link and self-rated health mediated the SES-mental health link.ConclusionThe links between SES and the two health constructs were enhanced by common and distinct social participation practices. Enhancement of social participation practices among low SES individuals is recommended. Social participation should be a prominent aspect of preventive medicine practice and health promotion interventions. Policy makers are called to support such programs as an important way to promote public health.

Which Countries Send More Delegates to Climate Change Conferences? Analysis of UNFCCC COPs, 1995–2015

Abstract The size of national delegations at the most critical intergovernmental climate change conferences—the annual gatherings of the Conference of the Parties (COPs) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—vary greatly. The literature has emphasized the importance of national delegation size (NDS) for states’ formal and informal participation in climate change negotiations. To our knowledge, however, this is the first paper to comprehensively examine the determinants of NDS from 1995–2015. The findings highlight a country's resources and its interest in the mitigation of fossil fuel emissions as important determinants of its NDS. In contrast, the evidence for a connection between vulnerability to climate change and NDS is limited. Interest group politics appear more important than civil society or bureaucratic influence in determining NDS. In terms of policy implications, the distance between the country and the COP location is a robust deterrent of larger delegations, and there is a nonlinear relationship between NDS and financial capacity. Further, there are differences across Annex I and non-Annex I countries.

Thresholds of income inequality that mitigate the role of gender inclusive education in promoting gender economic inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa

PurposeThis study aims to provide the thresholds of inequality that should not be exceeded if gender inclusive education is to enhance gender inclusive formal economic participation in sub-Saharan Africa.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical evidence is based on the generalised method of moments and data from 42 countries during the period 2004-2014.FindingsThe following findings are established. First, inclusive tertiary education unconditionally promotes gender economic inclusion, while the interaction between tertiary education and inequality is unfavourable to gender economic inclusion. Second, a Gini coefficient that nullifies the positive incidence of inclusive tertiary education on female labour force participation is 0.562. Second, the Gini coefficient and Palma ratio that crowd-out the negative unconditional effects of inclusive tertiary education on female unemployment are 0.547 and 6.118, respectively. Third, a 0.578 Gini coefficient, a 0.680 Atkinson index and a 6.557 Palma ratio are critical masses that wipe out the positive unconditional effects of inclusive tertiary education on female employment. The findings associated with lower levels of education are not significant.Practical implicationsAs the main policy implication, income inequality should not be tolerated above the established thresholds for gender inclusive education to promote gender inclusive formal economic participation. Other implications are discussed in the light of sustainable development goals.Originality/valueThis study complements the existing literature by providing inequality thresholds that should not be exceeded for gender inclusive education to promote the involvement of women in the formal economic sector.

Social participation of the elderly in China: The roles of conventional media, digital access and social media engagement

China is the most rapidly aging country and has the largest aging population in the world. However, social participation is an important intervention to boost the active and healthy aging. The present study investigated the effects of media usage, together with social-demographics and health variables, on Chinese older adults. Drawing upon a national research project with a representative sample (N = 1,399) of older adults (55+) from 58 cities in China, the research findings revealed that conventional media, digital access and social media usage had positive effects on older adults’ informal social participation, while age moderated the relationship between informal social participation and digital access, particularly regarding access to tablet PCs and smartphones. Moreover, conventional media, digital access and social media engagement largely explained seniors’ formal social participation regardless of their social-demographic backgrounds. Finally, the roles of conventional media and digital media in older adults’ social participation are discussed.

Maternal Engagement in a Home Visiting Program as a Function of Fathers' Formal and Informal Participation.

Home visiting programs support new and expecting parents by strengthening parenting practices, improving parental and child health and well-being, and preventing child maltreatment. Participant retention is often a challenge for home visitation, particularly for young families, potentially reducing program impact. Father engagement in services may be one avenue for supporting continued program take-up for young parents. The current study examined associations between fathers' formal and informal participation in an infant home visiting program and mothers' take-up of home visits and whether these associations differed depending on mothers' relationship status at enrollment or timing of enrollment. Results showed that fathers' participation in home visiting supported maternal retention, particularly when fathers were formally enrolled. These associations depended on mothers' relationship status at enrollment but not on whether they enrolled pre- or postnatally. These findings have direct implications for home visiting programs, both in supporting maternal retention and in informing the recruitment and engagement of fathers.

Epidemiological Study of Hereditary Hemolytic Anemia in the Korean Pediatric Population during 1997-2016: a Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Study.

BackgroundHereditary hemolytic anemia (HHA) is a rare disease characterized by premature red blood cell (RBC) destruction due to intrinsic RBC defects. The RBC Disorder Working Party of the Korean Society of Hematology established and updated the standard operating procedure for making an accurate diagnosis of HHA since 2007. The aim of this study was to investigate a nationwide epidemiology of Korean HHA.MethodsWe collected the data of a newly diagnosed pediatric HHA cohort (2007–2016) and compared this cohort's characteristics with those of a previously surveyed pediatric HHA cohort (1997–2006) in Korea. Each participant's information was retrospectively collected by a questionnaire survey.ResultsA total of 369 children with HHA from 38 hospitals distributed in 16 of 17 districts of Korea were investigated. RBC membranopathies, hemoglobinopathies, RBC enzymopathies, and unknown etiologies accounted for 263 (71.3%), 59 (16.0%), 23 (6.2%), and 24 (6.5%) of the cases, respectively. Compared to the cohort from the previous decade, the proportions of hemoglobinopathies and RBC enzymopathies significantly increased (P < 0.001 and P = 0.008, respectively). Twenty-three of the 59 hemoglobinopathy patients had immigrant mothers, mostly from South-East Asia.ConclusionIn Korea, thalassemia traits have increased over the past 10 years, reflecting both increased awareness of this disease and increased international marriages. The enhanced recognition of RBC enzymopathies is due to advances in diagnostic technique; however, 6.5% of HHA patients still do not have a clear diagnosis. It is necessary to improve accessibility of diagnosing HHA.

Vulnerable minorities and democratic legitimacy in refugee admission

ABSTRACTIn this paper I defend the view that the democratic legitimacy of refugee admission policies requires the democratic inclusion of asylum seekers. I argue that this includes not only granting them formal participation rights, but also ensuring that they have a sufficient level of participatory capabilities to exercise these rights. This leads to the specific problem of asylum seekers with vulnerable minority backgrounds. Their participatory capabilities may be hindered by social injustice stemming from their state of origin which the receiving state, one might argue, has no duty to redress. Redressing inequalities that stem from social injustice in other states may be thought of as being beyond the limits of refuge, and therefore unreasonable to demand from receiving states. I propose a defence of what I call the Inclusion Thesis against this objection based on the idea that the democratic inclusion of asylum seekers is necessary for making sure that they can enjoy their basic right to have a say. Receiving states do not generally have a duty to rectify unjust inequalities among asylum seekers that stem from their states of origin. However, when this is necessary for making sure that they can enjoy their basic rights, they may be required to do so. Therefore, since receiving states have a duty to ensure that asylum seekers with vulnerable minority backgrounds can enjoy their basic right to have a say, they also have a duty to make sure that their participatory capabilities are equalized.

A minimal viable process and tools for massive participation in urban development

The paper aims at providing a framework for enabling massive citizen participation in urban planning projects. Derived from a structured analysis of existing formal and informal citizen participation processes in urban development we developed a comprehensive process supported by a set of digital tools for massive participation. This so-called minimal viable process fulfils: a) good practice standards for participation while b) utilising as few as possible technical means and procedural steps. The newly developed procedure ensures proper citizen involvement from the very start of a project up to design selection. The framework involves all necessary stakeholder groups, who are addressed by specific tools and algorithms. The results of a test run indicate the general applicability of the process and the tools, and provided insight for the further technical development of the IT tools and the procedure itself within the H2020 project U_CODE Urban Collective Design Environment.