Geographical Place Research Articles

Lifeline, frontline, online: adapting art therapy for social engagement across borders

ABSTRACT Background: Art Refuge uses art and art therapy to support the mental health and well-being of people displaced due to conflict, persecution and poverty, both in the UK and internationally. Learning from its frontline programme in northern France has helped to inform the charity’s response to Covid19. Context: Social media and online communication are often lifelines for people who are displaced. Since March 2020, Art Refuge has extended its use of online platforms. Approach: Focusing on grounding techniques developed from the principles of Psychological First Aid, alongside the theme of daily rituals, the online work has used trauma-informed approaches to create viable spaces for social engagement alongside physical spaces: both require careful thinking to build safe, adaptive psychosocial structures, appropriate to context. Outcomes: These online models have limitations but also benefits: sustaining spaces in which individuals can find connection; developing new relationships while encouraging others; reaching people from a wide geographic area and across borders; partnership working which supports sustainability. Conclusions: As a result of Covid19, Art Refuge has developed new models for social engagement which include integration of both online and face-to-face models. The authors propose that these have relevance in both an emergency context and for wider application. Implications for research: Technological inequalities and issues of access need research, alongside robust evaluation studies on each model and research into whether these models can be usefully applied to other areas of practice. Plain-language summary Art Refuge uses art and art therapy to support the mental health and well-being of people displaced due to conflict, persecution and poverty, both in the UK and internationally. Our work in northern France since 2015 has included direct face-to-face models and using social media to engage people, delivered by a team of experienced art therapists and visual artists. The use of social media and online communication are often lifelines for staying in touch with family, friends and communities, alongside access to information and support, and Art Refuge has responded by being active online. Since Covid19, the charity has begun to see online work as having creative potential for social engagement, alongside working with people face-to-face. Both need careful thought as to how to build structures which are adaptive and appropriate to context, safe and accessible. This article focuses on how to create specific online models for social engagement, and the thinking and ethics behind these. This includes using grounding techniques developed from the principles of Psychological First Aid, alongside the theme of daily rituals. The work online has opened up possibilities: reaching people from different geographic places and across country borders; and working with individuals within other organisations which enables skills sharing so that the work can be continued when the team is not there. Adaptations to art therapy practice and traditional materials are necessary, as are the right devices and connectivity. In conclusion, Art Refuge has found that there are imaginative and engaging ways of working online, particularly when integrated with face-to-face delivery. Technological inequalities and issues of access need research, alongside robust evaluation studies on each model and research into whether these models can be usefully applied to other areas of practice.

Space and Violence in WWII Italian Captivity in Africa: Becoming a POW between Mount Kenya and the Equator Line

ABSTRACT This article examines the history of the Fascist soldiers in Italian East Africa who were captured by the British Army in 1940–1941 and kept in Kenya as POWs and co-operators of war. It investigates how they related to the mental and geographical spaces and places of Africa and war captivity. Using unpublished memoirs, it analyses how POWs survived by engaging in sports, intellectual activities, and the performing arts, thus turning the camp into a productive space where they escaped psychological annihilation. It discusses how POWs split into pro and anti-Mussolini supporters after the 1943 armistice and transformed the camp into a space of violence, with barracks used as courtrooms and torture chambers where they made their own justice. The article closes by arguing that freedom for these men did not come until 1946, when they were repatriated to a country that had removed them from its post-WWII national narrative.

Genetic Variability, Correlation and Path Analysis among Quantitative and Qualitative Traits of Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum L.)

Background: The poppy seeds commonly known as ‘khus-khus’ or ‘postadana’, obtained from opium poppy plant (Papaver somniferum L.) is known one of the world’s oldest medicinal plant. Its alkaloids, seeds and oil used since time immemorial for therapeutic, food stuffs and economical purpose. An effective breeding program plays an important role for selection, genetic improvement and development of high yielding cultivars/variety in opium poppy. Therefore, a study was conceded out to evaluate the genetic variability, path analysis for different agronomic traits along with their major chemical constituents of opium alkaloids in 30 accessions/landraces of opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) collected from different geographical places of India. Methods: The 30 genotypes of Opium poppy including different breeding lines and landraces collected from different places were grown in year (2017-18) in randomized complete-block designs (RCBD) with three replications at the research farm of CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow. Morpho-metric data were recorded on five competitive randomly selected plants in each line for following thirteen traits. Dried husk/straw capsules were chemically analyzed through HPLC. The pooled mean data were statistically analysed by using Windostat statistical software 4.0 versions available at Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, CSIR-CIMAP Lucknow. Result: Variation among the mean of thirty diverse genetic stocks was highly significant (p less than 0.01) for all thirteen traits. High heritability coupled with high Genetic advance as percent mean (GAM) and Genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for the traits Thebaine and Nosacapine. The results of associations studies revealed that the trait capsule/plant was positively and significantly correlated with seed (g)yield/plant (gm) and nosacapine at both genotypic and phenotypic level. According to results, a significant genetic variability was also present among 30 accessions, simple selection can be employed to improve seed yield along with alkaloids yield.

Estrangement, Identity and Ethno-global Imagination through Thirdspaces in Toni Morrison’s Home

Toni Morrison shows how Frank and Cee initiate from the obedient minorities to self-conscious individuals in her tenth novel, Home. This paper focuses on the analysis of Frank’s and Cee’s mental and physical sufferings implemented by society or history, their resistance to domination and reconstitution of identity through the journeys of leaving and returning their home. Spatiality occupies the high priority in Morrison’s narratives. On the journeys, they pass by or shortly stay at many Thirdspaces, which are marginal, hybrid, subversive and radically open. Mapping and studying those Thirdspaces, assist to understand the hidden meanings of geographical places as well as interpret how American minorities undergo discrimination and reconstruct their cultural identities. Drawing on Lefebvre, Soja and Bhabha’s Thirdspace theorization as well as bell hooks’ marginalization viewpoints, this paper focuses on the analysis of protagonists’ mental and physical sufferings implemented by society or history.

Influence of the 60 Hz Magnetic Field on the Airborne Microbial Distribution of Indoor Environments

The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of the magnetic field generated by the household appliances on the airborne microbial surrounding these equipment located on indoor environments with particular interest in the environmental fungi. A simultaneous environmental study was carried out in locals of three different geographical places of Havana, Cuba, which have televisions, computers and an electric generator. The air samples were made by a sedimentation method using Malt Extract Agar. The concentration of total aerobic mesophilic as well as fungi and yeasts were determined in rainy and little rainy seasons by applying as factors: exposure time of dishes (5 to 60 min) and distance to the wall (0 and 1 m) at a height of 1 m above the floor. The predominant fungal genera were Cladosporium, Penicillium and Aspergillus. In the dishes that were placed at 0 and 0.5 m from the emitting sources were observed that some bacteria colonies formed inhibition halos, a great diversity of filamentous fungi and an increase in the mycelium pigmentation as well as the pigments excretion. In the rainy season, the highest amounts of fungi were obtained in all samples. In the little rain season the count of the Gram-negative bacilli increased three times the Gram-positive cocci.

LINGUOCULTURAL ASPECT OF INVESTIGATION OF ENGLISH AND UZBEK IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS

The present article is devoted to investigation of English and Uzbek idiomatic expressions or phraseological units which contain culture-related information. They were divided into main groups: idiomatic expressions with the structure of knowledge related to religion, myths and legends, literature, geography, history and culture. They convey significant information about people’s way of life, religious principles, historical events, geographical places, etc. Theoretical part of the article is proved by numerous examples of English and Uzbek idiomatic expressions which were chosen for linguocultural approach of investigation. The objectives of the research: English and Uzbek idiomatic expressions with linguocultural content. The following methods of the research were used: descriptive method, comparative and cross-cultural analysis. Results obtained: linguocultural information in the semantics of English and Uzbek idiomatic expressions has been revealed and approved by numerous examples. Conclusion: the structures of religious, mythological, historical, literature-related, geographical and national-specific knowledge have been defined in the meaningful content of idioms.

The identification of the primal wine production with the protected designation of origin with the appliance of cluster metrics

The article considers the guidelines of the choice of identification criteria, allowing to verify and confirm the geographical name of the origin of domestic primal wine production, thereby confirming their legal status. A priori the production of wine with protected designation of origin includes the use of certain raw materials with predetermined organoleptic and physical-chemical characteristics, which can be confirmed by respective tests. The aim of the work was to develop a robust differentiating criterion that allows one to determine the authenticity and origin of wine materials relative to the standard. Material and methods. The authors presented a clustering technique, which allows on the basis of test results and developed digital identification criteria to verify the origin of wine materials from Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don regions. As a criterion, the data from the analysis of mineral and trace element composition of primal wine production in these regions have been used. Results. The article postulates following: the main concern of clustering, methods of identification from the perspective of food production using food regression model, information on fundamental clustering metrics, fields of appliance according to the approach of the identification of the product with indication of geographic place of origin. Based on the results of the analysis of the content of 21 mineral substances (10 in μg/l and 11 in mg/l), a regressive model of the primal wine production was built. Based on this model, cluster centers were identified. The resultant model allows us to distinguish the two mentioned wine regions and form a spatial digital discrimination criterion based on the proximity to one of the established cluster centers. Conclusion. The proposed model can be adapted to identify the production of different branches of the food industry.

The criticism of bases and claims of post-structural geography

In contrast to structuralists, who sought to achieve a fixed and static framework of meanings by referring concepts and content of knowledge to dominant structures and discourses, denying structures and meanings, post-structuralists abandoned the content of knowledge from any constraint and involved it in fluidity and ambiguities, and denied any pre-designed semantic structure. According to the post-structuralism view, there is no fixed semantic framework and no reliable foundation for knowledge, and everything is in the process of continuous decay and disintegration and every meaning is exposed to a continuous process of semantic dialectics in the dual oppositions between different and conflicting interpretations, and experiences changes, and this process continues and there is no end for it. In the field of geography, meanings are produced in the process of communication between spaces, and there are no independent meanings and identities for geographical space and place alone. According to the authors of this article, post-structuralism, despite the great noise, is a non-scientific and non-epistemic viewpoint, and before having an epistemic nature, it is considered as a political and social movement and approach. A look at the fundamentals and assumptions of this school suggests that this view has conceptual and epistemic contradictions. Relying on the claims of this school, the possibility of any scientific research, and the ability to communicate between geographic spaces and to reach the fields of interaction and dialogue between individuals, groups and spaces are lost. Therefore, the article authors' opinion is that, basically and logically, post-structuralism is something impossible, unreasonable, dimensionless, and a meaningless term.

Substitution of Canna edulis starch for a mixture of potato/cassava starch in the production of almojábanas

Almojábana is a kind of food that varies in its composition depending on the geographical place where it is baked. In Ecuador, almojábana is based on cheese, wheat flour and Canna edulis starch. C. edulis planting has diminished, leading to a high cost of the starch and less availability on the market. The present work studied C. edulis starch substitution by a mixture of potato and cassava starches on the elaboration of almojábanas. Specific volume, crumb structure, textural properties and sensory analyses were used to find the best starch substitution. Mixtures of cassava and potato starch (25/75, 35/65, and 45/55) and starch dough resting time (10, 15, and 20 h) were investigated. Hardness, elasticity, chewiness, specific volume, average size cell, the number of cells per area and the total area of cells of almojábanas were determined. Results showed that a mixture of 25% potato, 75% cassava and 20 h resting time could substitute C. edulis starch in almojábana baking. The obtained almojábanas had different flavor compared to a control sample (based on C. edulis starch). Starch substitution reduced the cost of raw materials (starch) by 60%.

Investigations on the Biodiversity of Tropical Tasar silk moth (Antheraea Mylitta) in Uttar Pradesh

The Non-mulberry silk sector involves tropical and temperate Tasar silk. India is home to five types silk mulberry and non-mulberry silks viz. the tropical Tasar (Antheraea mylitta Drury), and temperate Tasar (Antheraea proyeli J), Muga (Antheraea assamensis Ww.) and Eri (Philosamia ricini Hutt.), All the five silks are produced by silk moths belong to family Saturniidae (order Lepidoptera). Tasar silkworms have stalled itself in several forms of environmental populations normally called as (ecoraces) in various geographical places of the country according to host plants and micro- environmental circumstances. In India Tasar species exists in the form of about 44 ecoraces. The present study, revealed that the diversity of profitable populations of Antheraea mylitta Drury in selected sites of Uttar Pradesh is dependent upon climatic conditions, physical geographics, and their cocoon characteristics vary accordingly.

A spatial analysis of county-level education context and population health and wellbeing

BackgroundStark inequalities in health and wellbeing exist across US counties. Schools are a key feature of counties and residents often make decisions about where to live based on the quality of the local schools. How counties invest in their local schools may reflect one way that health and wellbeing become embedded in geographic places. MethodsWe constructed four indicators of county-level education context using administrative data from all US public schools and linked these to population health data from the RWJF County Health Rankings and Roadmaps Program. Using state-fixed effects spatial error models, we examined if county-level education context relates to county rankings on two indices of population health and wellbeing – quality of life and health behaviors – after adjusting for county-level demographic, economic, and social contexts. ResultsTotal county revenue from local sources and the percentage of a county's high school students enrolled in advanced placement coursework were associated with better county rankings on quality of life and health behavior. We also found a curvilinear relationship between county-level per-pupil spending and county rankings on our population health and wellbeing outcomes. In fully adjusted models, the education context indicators were attenuated; all three remained significantly associated with county rankings on health behavior, but only revenue from local sources was significantly associated with county rankings on quality of life. ConclusionProviding a quality education context may yield health and wellbeing dividends at the county-level given the public education system's far-reaching influence on social and economic wellbeing.

(Re)forming the Inside/Outside: On Place as a Governable Domain through Sports-Based Interventions

This article draws attention to two sports-based interventions carried out as part of the Midnight Football initiative and the places where they are conducted in two suburban areas in Sweden. Rather than approaching geographic place as simply a background and a context for sport-based interventions, we put place in the spotlight, scrutinising the very formation of place and its productive role in governing social policy. In line with a Foucauldian approach, and based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, the aim of the article is to explore how the specific localities where interventions take place are formed as governable domains. The analysis shows how place is constituted in association with sport sites, local youth outreach and recruiting coaches. These places are made distinct from the rest of the surrounding cities via material and symbolic borders, directing the movement of people within the urban geography. These differentiations underpin attributions of the areas in terms of otherness and exclusion from the rest of society, localising a variety of problematisations to the demarcated areas. Furthermore, the places are demarcated as being filled with danger, intertwined with narratives challenging such a discourse. In conclusion, the findings enable us not only to scrutinise how specific meanings are attributed to place and how place is formed, but also to explore the performative and governable potential of place.

(Re)forming the Inside/Outside: On Place as a Governable Domain through Sports-Based Interventions

This article draws attention to two sports-based interventions carried out as part of the Midnight Football initiative and the places where they are conducted in two suburban areas in Sweden. Rather than approaching geographic place as simply a background and a context for sport-based interventions, we put place in the spotlight, scrutinising the very formation of place and its productive role in governing social policy. In line with a Foucauldian approach, and based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, the aim of the article is to explore how the specific localities where interventions take place are formed as governable domains. The analysis shows how place is constituted in association with sport sites, local youth outreach and recruiting coaches. These places are made distinct from the rest of the surrounding cities via material and symbolic borders, directing the movement of people within the urban geography. These differentiations underpin attributions of the areas in terms of otherness and exclusion from the rest of society, localising a variety of problematisations to the demarcated areas. Furthermore, the places are demarcated as being filled with danger, intertwined with narratives challenging such a discourse. In conclusion, the findings enable us not only to scrutinise how specific meanings are attributed to place and how place is formed, but also to explore the performative and governable potential of place.

A Sociolinguistic Study of Street Names in Amman, Jordan

The present study investigates street names in Amman, Jordan from a sociolinguistic point of view. It is mainly concerned with categorizing these names and investigating the reasons behind using them, which leads necessarily to an investigation of the relationship between street names and culture. For the purpose of the study, a total of 845 street names were obtained from Amman Greater Municipality. Data shows that street names can be classified into five major categories: names of Arabic/Islamic significance, names of nationalistic significance, geographical place names, or names expressing abstract and religious values, and names from nature. This study also shows that names of Arabic/Islamic significance form the largest group of street names in the sample. A questionnaire is also designed and distributed to 50 people who live in Amman with the purpose of answering questions of the study. The analysis shows that the public would select names of Arabic/Islamic significance if they were to name a street.

Associations between ethnicity, place of residence, hearing status of family and habilitation of children with hearing impairment

BackgroundHearing parents tend to have a strong preference for their deaf and hard-of-hearing children to acquire adequate speech, as opposed to use of sign language. Research reports the contribution of many variables to speech acquisition by children with hearing loss (HL). Yet, little is known about the association between ethnicity, place of residence, and hearing status of family members and mode of communication of young people with HL. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether mode of communication of young people with HL is associated with ethnicity, place of residence, and hearing status of family members.MethodParticipants were young adults with sensory-neural severe to profound HL, either congenital or acquired prior to age 3. Only participants without additional disabilities were included. The data on participants were extracted from records of the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services in Israel. The data for each participant in the study included mode of communication, gender, use of assistive device, ethnicity, geographic place of residence, and presence of first-degree relatives with HL. Regarding participants with a cochlear implant (CI), age at implantation was documented as well.ResultsChi-square tests revealed significant associations between mode of communication and all of the study variables. In addition, all the study variables made a significant contribution to mode of communication. Regarding ethnicity, most of the ultra-Orthodox participants used oral language, while the majority of Israeli-Arab participants used sign language. Regarding geographical place of residence, lower rates of oral language use were found in the northern and southern districts of Israel.ConclusionsThe findings of the present study underline the need for better monitoring of Israeli-Arab children with HL and children residing in peripheral areas in Israel and for improving access to habilitation services.

Sociocultural and economic determinants of stunting and thinness among adolescent boys and girls in Nepal.

Despite the increasing interest in the determinants of adolescent undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries, a comprehensive multi-level overview at the country level is missing. Using the nationally representative 2014 Nepal Adolescent Nutrition Survey, this study aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the sociocultural and economic determinants of stunting and thinness of adolescent boys and girls in Nepal. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations between multiple individual, household and community determinants and stunting and thinness among 3773 adolescents aged 10-19 years (1888 boys and 1885 girls). The prevalence rates of stunting and thinness indicated suboptimal nutritional status and an inadequate growth environment in Nepali adolescents. The results highlighted an association of paternal occupation and education, household income, number of earning household members, geographical place of residence, caste/ethnicity and nutritional knowledge with stunting, with higher odds for males and older adolescents. Paternal occupation, education, household income, geographical region, caste/ethnicity and nutrition knowledge were associated with thinness, with higher odds for males and younger adolescents. The findings underscore the importance of involving adolescents, their parents and their communities in interventions. Such interventions should not only be aimed at improving adolescent nutrition but also at optimizing adolescents' growth environment for better health and development. Future research should focus on context-specific causal pathways and mechanisms through which sociocultural and economic determinants influence nutritional outcomes within broader societal, cultural and political settings. A longitudinal approach, including a range of dietary and nutrition indicators would allow understanding how and when the relative importance of these factors change during adolescence.

Anti-Colonial Orientations to Place: Unsettling Encounters with South African Educational Landscapes

ABSTRACT The authors bring together decolonial, place attuned, and critical posthumanist orientations to analyze an event during a residential workshop organized as part of a state-funded research project on decolonizing early childhood discourses in South Africa. An invitation during the workshop to grapple with what might be unsettling by attending to the agency of the more-than-human world and its entanglement with unequal human geographies of place, generated a diffractive photographic image and unsettling stories as a group of early childhood teachers and educational researchers kept re-turning to the data. Working with Barad’s methodology of temporal diffraction as apparatus, we discursively and visually trace entanglements that emerged from this data. We conclude on the mattering of this work for engaging with the potentials and tensions of attending to the more-than-human within highly asymmetrical human relations in the settler colonial context of South African education.

Medical, nursing, and physician assistant student knowledge and attitudes toward climate change, pollution, and resource conservation in health care

BackgroundClimate change and pollution generated by the health care sector impose significant public health burdens. This study aimed to assess medical, nursing and physician assistant student knowledge and attitudes regarding climate change, pollution from the health care sector, and responsibility for resource conservation within professional practice.MethodsIn February–March, 2018, medical, nursing, and physician assistant students at Yale University (1011 potential respondents) were sent a 17-question online Qualtrics survey. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, as well as Fisher’s exact test and logistic regression to assess associations between variables of interest and the personal characteristics of gender, age, geographic place of origin, school, and year in school (among medical students).ResultsThe response rate was 28% (280 respondents). 90% felt that physicians, nurses, and physician assistants have a responsibility to conserve resources and prevent pollution within their professional practice. 63% agreed or strongly agreed that the relationship between pollution, climate change, and health should be covered in the classroom and should be reinforced in the clinical setting. 57% preferred or strongly preferred reusable devices. 91% felt lack of time and production pressure, and 85% believed that lack of education on disease burden stemming from health care pollution, were barriers to taking responsibility for resource conservation and pollution prevention. Women and physician assistant students exhibited a greater commitment than men and medical students, respectively, to address pollution, climate change, and resource conservation in patient care and professional practice.ConclusionWe found that health professional students are engaged with the concept of environmental stewardship in clinical practice and would like to see pollution, climate change, and health covered in their curriculum. In order for this education to be most impactful, more research and industry transparency regarding the environmental footprint of health care materials and specific clinician resource consumption patterns will be required.

Wielogłosowość i milczenie w poetyce żydowskiej — ,,gdy ciało staje się słowem”: kilka uwag o poezji Zuzanny Ginczanki

The article is an attempt at presenting an inspiring writing of Zuzanna Ginczanka (Polina Gincburg) who was a Ukrainian-born Jewish poet writing in Polish. Due to her multifarious identity, it is in her poetry that one finds voices that reverberate from various nations and cultures, which makes an original polyphonic, geographic and mythological texture. Ginczanka’s poetics venerates the body since, in her view, contrary to the dogma of incarnation, it was the ‘flesh that was made word’. In her poems it is the Songs of So gs whose physicality more than metaphoricity inspires the poetic images. It is also nature that becomes an incentive for the poetic creation, which proves that poetry derives from the Greek word poiesis . In the times of the Holocaust atrocities, the language of poetry became for her the ‘house of poetic Being’ and several geographical places served her as security which, however, she had to constantly abandon in fear of Nazi repressors. Her monumental poems, chief among which is ‘The Fire-Bird’, due to its orchestration and almost sonorous imagery can compare with Igor Stravinsky’s ballet of the eponymous title. Her attachment to the earth and the living place, no matter how insecure, brought about that several geo-poetic images can be traced in her poetic works.

Journeying into the Well: An Autoethnography of 35 Retreats Across Two Decades

In this autoethnography I narrate the story of my retreat experiences and spiritual practices at the Well Retreat Center over a span of two decades. The Well is both a geographical place in the Isle of Wright County in Virginia, and a metaphor for a spiritual journey into the inner Well of our being. I chronicle an amalgam of 35 retreats in one 24-hour retreat, narrating stories about: leaving home and settling in, dreaming and awakening, sunrise and sunset, walking in nature and walking the narrow path, discovering life behind a cracked door, and uncovering the mystery that lies at the bottom of a Well. I punctuate each story with questions for the reader to contemplate, inviting them to go deeper into their own inner Well, to contact and connect with the life-giving waters that nourish our growth, sustain our hope, and orient our lives toward loving compassion. Finally, I address issues of validity, limitations, and future research.