Forms Of Harm Research Articles

Mechanisms of gastrointestinal toxicity in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder patients treated with mycophenolate mofetil: insights from a mouse model and human study.

Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) patients frequently endure severe consequences like paralysis and blindness. Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) effectively addresses these issues, but its usage is hindered by gastrointestinal (GI) complications. Through uncovering the intricate interplay among MMF, gut microbiota, and metabolic pathways, this study identifies specific gut bacteria responsible for metabolizing MMF into a potentially harmful form, thus contributing to GI side effects. These findings not only deepen our comprehension of MMF toxicity but also propose potential strategies, such as inhibiting these bacteria, to mitigate these adverse effects. This insight holds broader implications for minimizing complications in NMOSD patients undergoing MMF therapy.

Soil Moisture, Soil NOx and Regional Air Quality in the Agricultural Central United States

AbstractAgricultural soils containing nitrogen‐rich fertilizers are a substantial source of reactive nitrogen to the atmosphere with potential to impact air quality. One form of reactive nitrogen, nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2), are a harmful air pollutant and form secondary pollutants, including particulate matter (PM) and ozone (O3). Soil nitrogen oxide emissions (SNOx) are heavily influenced by environmental conditions, however the understanding of the influence of environmental drivers on the behavior of SNOx is limited. Here, we implement a modified soil moisture‐dependent SNOx parameterization into the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF‐Chem) and investigate the impact on regional air quality in the central U.S. Evaluating against TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) column NO2 observations, WRF‐Chem columns better capture the TROPOMI column magnitudes earlier in the growing season when using the updated SNOx parametrization, with modeled column bias improved to −1.1% over the most heavily fertilized regions. Evaluating against Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) surface NO2 observations, the relationship between surface NO2 and soil moisture is better represented in agriculturally‐dominant regions when using the updated parameterization, with greatest surface NO2 concentrations at moderate soil moisture and lower concentrations at wetter or drier soil conditions. In simulations, these SNOx lead to increased O3 in select urban regions, with more than double the occurrences of O3 exceeding the EPA 8‐hr O3 standard of 70 ppb.

#Disgusted: Identifying potential sub-factors of Moral Disgust through Reflexive Thematic Analysis of Tweets

Social media provides an untapped resource for exploring Moral Disgust. We therefore drew on ‘tweets’ about Moral Disgust (k=526) to better conceptualise the situations, people, and concepts users found Disgusting. Our Reflexive Thematic Analysis identified two themes and accompanying subthemes: Hierarchical Disgust and Third-Party Disgust. Hierarchical Disgust was constructed from expressions of Disgust directed to power structures, abuses of power, and leaders, whereas Third-Party Disgust comprised expressions directed at negative outcomes for others, often in the form of discrimination or harm. Both themes served as a form of group protection through out-group distancing and normative in-group policing. Importantly, this research extends classic Disgust literature (e.g. Tybur et al., 2013), presenting a novel approach to naturalistic data collection and providing future researchers with an approach to study other emotions, beliefs, and subjects that are expressed online.

Synergistic effects of Co-pyrolysis on the immobilization and transformation of lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and fluorine (F) in phosphogypsum-biomass mixtures

Co-pyrolysis of biomass with phosphogypsum (PG) presents an effective strategy for facilitating the recycling of PG resources. However, it is crucial to note the environmental threats arising from the presence of Pb, Cr, Ni, and F in PG. This study investigated the effect of immobilization and transformation of four elements during co-pyrolysis with biomass and its components. The co-pyrolysis experiments were carried out in a tube furnace with a mixture of PG and corn stover (CS), cellulose (C), lignin (L), glucose (G). Co-pyrolysis occurred at varying temperatures (600 °C, 700 °C, 800 °C, and 900 °C) and different addition ratios (10%, 15%, and 20%). The results indicated that an increase in co-pyrolysis temperature was more conducive to the immobilization and transformation of harmful elements in PG, demonstrating significant efficacy in controlling F. Additionally, the addition of biomass components exerts a significant impact on inhibiting product toxicity, with small molecules such as glucose playing a prominent role in this process. The mechanism underlying the control of harmful elements during co-pyrolysis of PG and biomass was characterized by three main aspects. Firstly, biomass components have the potential to melt-encapsulate the harmful elements in PG, leading to precipitation. Secondly, the pyrolysis gas produced during the co-pyrolysis process contributes to the formation of a rich pore structure in the product. Finally, this process aids in transforming hazardous substances into less harmful forms and stabilizing these elements. The findings of this study are instrumental in optimizing the biomass and PG blend to mitigate the environmental impact of their co-pyrolysis products.

Fragilized Ecologies and Multilayer Violence in Two Oil Films About the Niger Delta

ABSTRACT: Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region has continuously been conceived as a context of terror and political violence. However, this representation of the Niger Delta is deemed too schematic and misleading since it does not account for oil production's complicated local and human issues. In fact, violent mining geographies like the Niger Delta are always permeated by various forms of subtle and imperceptible violence that, if overlooked, may lead to misrepresentations. Rob Nixon has theorized such invisibilized forms of violence as "slow violence." Building on this concept of slow violence as long emergencies that are hard to harness and turn into dramatic stories, this article examines how Black November : Struggle for the Niger Delta (Jeta Amata, 2012) and Oloibiri (Curtis Graham and Samantha Iwowo, 2016), two films set in the vulnerable ecosystem of the Niger Delta oil-producing enclaves, take on the representational challenge posed by the slow violence of ecological destruction. It studies how the filmmakers conceptualize slow violence and explores their strategies to make visible subtle forms of harm that resist representation. More specifically, it analyzes how spatiotemporal relations, images, and narrative sequences are combined to witness the slow violence of oil production and ecological destruction.

Toward Sociotechnical AI: Mapping Vulnerabilities for Machine Learning in Context

This paper provides an empirical and conceptual account on seeing machine learning models as part of a sociotechnical system to identify relevant vulnerabilities emerging in the context of use. As ML is increasingly adopted in socially sensitive and safety-critical domains, many ML applications end up not delivering on their promises, and contributing to new forms of algorithmic harm. There is still a lack of empirical insights as well as conceptual tools and frameworks to properly understand and design for the impact of ML models in their sociotechnical context. In this paper, we follow a design science research approach to work towards such insights and tools. We center our study in the financial industry, where we first empirically map recently emerging MLOps practices to govern ML applications, and corroborate our insights with recent literature. We then perform an integrative literature research to identify a long list of vulnerabilities that emerge in the sociotechnical context of ML applications, and we theorize these along eight dimensions. We then perform semi-structured interviews in two real-world use cases and across a broad set of relevant actors and organizations, to validate the conceptual dimensions and identify challenges to address sociotechnical vulnerabilities in the design and governance of ML-based systems. The paper proposes a set of guidelines to proactively and integrally address both the dimensions of sociotechnical vulnerability, as well as the challenges identified in the empirical use case research, in the organization of MLOps practices.

Study On Bioremediation Of Heavymetals Present In Cement

Cement, crucial for construction, poses significant environmental risks due to heavy metal contamination, including lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, etc. These metals, released during cement production, endanger both human health and ecosystems. An innovative approach involves utilizing microorganisms for bioremediation, converting pollutants into less harmful forms. Microbes develop resistance mechanisms against heavy metals, reducing their concentration and mobility within cement. In this project, various brands and types of cement were collected, and different bacteria were cultured. A comparison was made regarding the mechanical properties, concentration of heavy metals, elemental composition, surface morphology, and particle size of the cement before and after bioremediation using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), respectively. The results obtained from the tests conducted were compared between the conventional and bacteria-induced cement samples. Implementation of such biotechnological approaches not only addresses environmental concerns but also promotes the development of innovative and sustainable solutions in construction

Conceptualising the everyday harm experienced by people with cognitive disability: A scoping review of microaggression and emotional and psychological abuse

ABSTRACT Background Many people with disability experience harm in everyday interactions that can leave them feeling insulted, degraded, silenced, or rejected. We adopt the term “everyday harm” to describe this underexplored form of harm. Method The purpose of this scoping review was to assess how the literature on microaggression and emotional and psychological abuse contributes to an understanding of everyday harm and misrecognition. Results Microaggression and emotional and psychological abuse occur at an interpersonal level and are influenced by organisational structures and attitudes, underpinned by ableist attitudes and stigma. Actions and omissions are both intentional and unintentional and the effects are subjective and cumulative. Conclusion Insights from microaggression and emotional and psychological abuse can inform the concept of everyday harm. Little is known about how people with disability understand and respond to their harmful experiences and everyday harm can offer a language to name and prevent this form of harm.

Explosive and Harmful Impulses: A Subset of Child and Adolescent-to-Parent Violence and Abuse.

"Filial harm" refers to harms experienced by a parent and caused by their child, with increasing umbrella terminology developing to capture all forms of harm despite differing experiences and contexts. In this paper, based on a Glaserian Grounded Theory study underpinned by participatory research principles, this work utilized diaries and interactive interviews with 34 parents and arts-based workshops with 21 children to develop a new terminology and approach to child and adolescent-to-parent violence and abuse when harm does not have a clear intent. Explosive and harmful impulses refer to preadolescents experiencing proactive, reactive, affective, and relational harms and needs. These specific forms of filial harm are based upon underlying needs, and the maladaptive ways children may attempt to meet their needs result in filial harm as an unintended consequence rather than being a form of harm with intent. Using an approach that captures subsections of filial harm, there is opportunity to better represent the nuance of individual family experiences and could provide more appropriate language and interventions that better represent the language used by families themselves. Future interventions, support pathways, and research with families living with explosive and harmful impulses could use the provided framework to understand why children are attempting to meet their needs in harmful ways and to consider less harmful methods of support.

Everyday violence and care: insights from fictive kin relations between madams and sex workers in India

ABSTRACT This article intervenes in the globally polarised terrain of debates on violence and agency in sex work. With a critical eye on how developmentalism governs these debates, the article explores fictive kin relations between women in Sonagachi, a prominent red-light area in Eastern India. Through an analysis of ethnographic observations and life-history interviews among madams and sex workers across three brothel households, this article argues that the configuration of ‘family-like’ relationships needs to be understood against a backdrop of what ‘family’ implies for socio-economically marginalised women who sell sex in urban India. Specifically, experiences of choice and coercion within these relationships are predicated on how madams and sex workers respond to kosto, a vernacularised articulation of everyday violence in each other’s lives, through jotno or care. Through this, the article sheds light on everyday forms of harm and solidarity between women in a red-light area, challenging institutionalised exceptionalisms of violence within sex work.

Some contradictions of multiple perspectives approaches to peace and history education: lessons from Cambodia

ABSTRACT This article reflects on tensions arising in multiple perspectives approaches as they are deployed in response to histories of atrocity and conflict. We call attention to the ways that multiple perspectives intersect with the challenges posed by competing memories of violence and questions of responsibility. Focusing on a peace education programme that sought to work with ‘complex’ perpetrator histories in Cambodia, we explore how peace education can produce its intended aims of building dialogue and empathy across groups while, coextensively, enabling space for potentially harmful forms of historical revisionism. We show how the multi-perspectivity in peace education can be misaligned with the subjectivities that it seeks to reconcile or dignify in the present and reflect on the need for peace educators to develop approaches that move beyond the presentation of ‘perspective’ and identity as synonymous. We conclude by calling attention to other potential figurations of shared responsibility within peace education..

TRACHES Toolkit: A Report on the Creation and Implementation of a Novel Digital Educational toolkit for Tracheostomy Care in Wales

In the United Kingdom, more than 17,000 patients per year require a tracheostomy, of whom up to 30% will experience some form of avoidable harm. Education is key to supporting healthcare professionals in caring for people with a tracheostomy. However, delivering standardised education at a national level is challenging. In response to this challenge, we developed and implemented a ‘TRACHES toolkit’ for utilisation across all acute hospitals in Wales, United Kingdom. The toolkit is an online resource including tutorials, a Checklist poster, case-based assessments, certification, National Tracheostomy Safety Project resources, and webinars on various topics. The toolkit was implemented in August 2020 utilising implementation science methodology. Since then, the content has been accessed 19,183 times by 976 healthcare professionals across NHS Wales, with representation from the multi-professional workforce. As of December 2023, 471 healthcare professionals had completed the online competency across Wales. Further work is now underway to demonstrate the impact of the Toolkit on patient outcomes. Additionally, future developments aim to incorporate education on community care for adults with a tracheostomy and for children in both hospital and community settings.

Defending the Color Line: White Supremacy and the Legacy of Brown

Building on W. E. B. Du Bois’s color line concept, I argue that white supremacy is deeply embedded in U.S. educational organizations and that White racial actors, opportunity hoarding, and the cultivation of racial ideology and racial ignorance help sustain it. In doing this, I seek to move away from the aspirational progress narratives often associated with Brown to the racial hierarchies and various forms of harm that schools reproduce, even when they are racially diverse. Taking the recent attacks against critical race theory as a backdrop, I argue that educational institutions not only contribute to educational inequity but also socialize people into relations of racial domination and subordination through organizational practices and individual actions. In the article’s conclusion, I highlight my efforts to disrupt these patterns and work toward the creation of more liberatory education spaces.

Microaggressions in veterinary communication: what are they? How are they harmful? What can veterinary professionals and educators do?

Trusting relationships between veterinary professionals and clients are important for the well-being of people and the ultimate health of their animals. Yet, microaggressions pose a threat to these relationships. Defined as slights or indignities wielded against people with marginalized identities, microaggressions inflict a unique form of harm that reaffirms negative stereotypes enmeshed in systems of racism, sexism, classism, and beyond. In this article, we explore how microaggressions work and how they are applicable in veterinary settings. We also offer initial suggestions for veterinary professionals and educators to better understand and counteract their damage in the profession.

Contemporary International Criminal Law After Critique

Abstract Contemporary international criminal law (ICL) is a well-established field of scholarship and practice that wields significant influence in framing how certain events come to be understood and acted upon. Yet, as the field has increasingly captured the public’s attention and imagination, a body of critical scholarship has risen in prominence that seeks to test and challenge ICL’s underlying assumptions. In such a climate, this article suggests that ICL not only has moved beyond its inception and consolidation phases, but is beginning to emerge from its critical period towards a ‘post-critical’ phase where critique is becoming increasingly normalized within the field, with both reformist and structurally oriented reappraisals more readily acknowledged within ICL’s imaginary. Situated in this ‘post-critical’ moment, this article examines the extent to which the vocabulary and institutions of ICL may be productively (re-)engaged in the pursuit of emancipatory ends. After providing an overview of the strands of critique that have become increasingly prominent, we reflect on three avenues for engaging with the field of ICL ‘after critique’: first, critical engagement, centred on a commitment to revealing and detailing silenced and marginalized experiences and methods within the field itself; second, tactical and strategic engagement, which points to the ways in which actors choose to engage with imperfect legal frameworks for particular struggles; and finally, decolonial and abolitionist (dis-)engagement which takes as its point of departure the rejection of both colonial and carceral logics per se, especially in light of their historical and persisting patterns of patriarchal and racialized domination. Ultimately, in linking ICL with historical and contemporary anti-colonial and anti-carceral struggles, we seek not only to disrupt ICL progress narratives, but also to show how earlier, often-sidelined ways of imagining forms of harm and their repair may provide potentially more productive ways of engaging with ICL ‘after critique’.

Contributions Made and Challenges Posed by the <i>Rape as a Weapon of War</i> Narrative to Prevent Gender-based Atrocity Crimes

The aim of this article is to analyze the contributions and difficulties derived from the concept of sexual violence as a weapon to prevent gender-based atrocity crimes. In spite of the visibility of this narrative regarding the incidence and dynamics of sexual violence in armed conflict contexts, the efforts to improve prevention have been limited due to problems linked to the securitization of discourse, the emergence of hierarchies in the forms of harm, the privilege of legalistic and militaristic approaches, and the presence of blind spots in this narrative. This research adopted a qualitative approach from a hermeneutic perspective, with a non-experimental research design. The literature review and content analysis were the main research techniques.

How Public Statues Wrong: Affective Artifacts and Affective Injustice

In what way might public statues wrong people? In recent years, philosophers have drawn on speech act theory to answer this question by arguing that statues constitute harmful or disrespectful forms of speech. My aim in this paper will be add a different theoretical perspective to this discussion. I will argue that while the speech act approach provides a useful starting point for thinking about what is wrong with public statues, we can get a fuller understanding of these wrongs by drawing on resources from recent work in situated affectivity. I will argue that public statues can be understood as affective artifacts and that this can both help us understand both the deep affective wrongs caused by public statues and offer a possible explanation as to why some people are so strongly opposed to their removal.

Efforts to Protect the Law of Sexual Violence Cases Against Children Relate to Law Number 35 of 2014 Concerning Child Protection

The Integrated Service Center for the Empowerment of Women and Children (P2TP2A) is expected to function as a community-based service institution. This community-based service acts as a crisis center unit by providing complaints, health, rehabilitation, social, counseling, legal assistance, repatriation, and social reintegration services (for trafficking victims). Sexual violence encompasses any action that diminishes, belittles, intimidates, or assaults an individual's body or reproductive capabilities, stemming from imbalanced power dynamics or gender inequalities. Such acts inflict psychological or physical harm, potentially disrupting reproductive health and impeding educational opportunities. Examples include rape and sexual abuse. This research focuses on examining legal protection efforts and identifying obstacles faced by P2TP2A (Integrated Service Center for Women and Children) in handling cases of sexual violence against children, utilizing an empirical juridical approach. The findings reveal that legal protection for children experiencing sexual violence is enshrined in Article 13 of Law Number 35 of 2014, which emphasizes the rights of children to be protected from various forms of harm, including discrimination, exploitation, neglect, cruelty, violence, abuse, and injustice. Supporting factors include the availability of financial assistance to fund P2TP2A activities, the dedication of officers and volunteers who prioritize the welfare of women and children, and the provision of office facilities by the government. However, there are inhibiting factors such as inadequate budget allocation, the unrealized Community-Free Integrated Child Protection Program (PATBN), insufficient human resources, the need for improvement in office facilities and infrastructure, and the lack of safe housing for victims who are still renting.

Regulation of Social Work Practice in the United States, United Kingdom, and European Economic Area: A Perspective on Governance

Social regulation as a tool is designed to change behavior and ultimately protect the public from some form of harm. In this sense, social work regulation is a tool with the primary goal of public protection. Social work practice regulations vary widely within the United States, and the concept becomes more distorted when examined through an international lens. This manuscript outlines the regulation of social work practice in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Economic Area. Regulation in this context is examined through the framework of governance. Attention is given to the mechanism of regulation that is the regulatory body. The regulation of social work practice in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Economic Area share many similarities and several fundamental differences.

Некоторые особенности расследования ятрогенных преступлений

The article is devoted to the criminalistic features of the investigation against medical workers who made mistakes in their work, which entailed consequences in the form of harm to life and health. When writing the article, the works of A.A. Bimbinov, T.S. Volchetskaya, E.S. Mazur, A.A. Lavrinenko, N.A. Podolsky and others were studied. The scientific novelty of this article lies in the formulation of such problems as the lack of clinical recommendations/procedures for providing medical care as sources of information about the proper course of professional duties, as well as the use of drugs in the 0ff-label mode; the expediency of using a specialist's opinion on these issues as evidence is substantiated. During the collection of the material, 20 respondents were interviewed — medical workers in the field of gynecology and obstetrics. The text of the article provides examples related to the provision of medical services in the field of women's health. When writing the article, general scientific methods were used.