Home Town Research Articles

Investigating Factors Causing Sectarian Militancy and Its Association with Rural Women Sufferings

The study titled “Investigating factors causing sectarian militancy and its association with rural women suffering” was carried out in tribal district Kurram erstwhile known as Kurram Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. A proportionally determined sample size of 335 female respondents was randomly selected within the age group of 30 years and above. The collected data was quantitatively analyzed and presented with the help of frequencies and percentages. The study concluded that sectarian militancy has devastating effects on rural women in terms of getting educations, access to health care facilities and administrative domains, social capital and networking, and political freedom. The prevalence of long standing sectarian tendencies and subsequent violence in the area, also contributed towards women increasing economic dependency on men. The study further concluded that women focused social institutions were socially disintegrated in terms of its physical infrastructure and deliverance due to sectarian conflicts. Likely, it’s also resulted into weakened control of women over livelihood, while on the other hand; women opt for secular ideologies in migrated areas after their displacement from home towns. To overcome with women sufferings in war effected areas, strict regulations need to be implemented especially targeting women folks, introduction of consistent efforts to challenge the prevailing patriarchal social structure, creation of awareness among the local leaders about gender sensitivity and punishing anti-state actors like Taliban and Zainebiyoun etc., were forwarded some of the recommendations in light of the study results.

Exceptionality of Space: Sexual Violence in “The Camp. A Little Girl from Karabakh” by Gunel Movlud

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Volume 27 No 2 2024,84-99 © Khazar University Press 2024 DOI: 10.5782/2223-2621.2024.27.2.84 84 Exceptionality of Space: Sexual Violence in “The Camp. A Little Girl from Karabakh” by Gunel Movlud Eva LennartzNazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstaneva.lennartz@nu.edu.kzAbstractIn the autobiographical novel “The Camp. A Little Girl from Karabakh” the Azerbaijani author Gunel Movlud describes her experiences of living in a refugee camp in the Sabirabad region of Azerbaijan. Movlud was forced to flee her home town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region during the First Karabakh War (1988-1994). For five years, she lived in the tent camp. In the novel, Movlud describes the hardships of the life in the camp and different characters from her personal perspective. What is striking from her observations is the amount of sexual violence apparent in the camp and the seemingly tacit acceptance of the camp inhabitants. This paper seeks to find a theoretical explanation for the violence encountered in the camp. The analysis is based on the novel itself as well as an interview conducted with the author. It is found that Agamben’s ideaof the exceptionality of space and Bourdieu’s notion of symbolic violence can help explain the violence encountered in the camp. In the author’s view it was women in the end who appeared stronger than men and who held the social fabric of the camp together.

Test-retest reliability of the "Home Town Walk" fMRI paradigm for memory activation and lateralization in the pre-surgical evaluation of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be used to assess language and memory function as part of pre-surgical decision making in refractory epilepsy. Although language paradigms are well established, memory paradigms are not widely used in clinical practice due to a lack of evidence for robust and reliable methods. Here, we aim to investigate the clinical utility of the Home Town Walk (HTW) paradigm for personalized treatment decisions in medial temporal lobe epilepsy. A cohort of 123 consecutive patients having HTW-fMRI as part of routine MRI scans over a 7.5 year period were included in this retrospective study. Of these, 111 patients underwent repeated HTW-fMRI in two scanning sessions one to three days apart. fMRI analysis was performed at the time of the scans using clinically approved software and retrospectively validated using FSL. We assessed the test-retest within subject reliability of activations within the posterior parahippocampal gyri (pPHG) at the individual subject level. Activations within the pPHG region were observed for 101 patients (91%) in at least one of the fMRI sessions and for 88 patients (79%) in both fMRI sessions, with 82 patients showing overlapping unilateral or bilateral activations and 8 further patients showing overlapping activations in one of the hemispheres but not the other. Reproducibility was evaluated using metrics based on the concordance ratios for size (Rsize) and location (Roverlap) within the pPHG region, as well as the lateralization index (LI) metric to reflect the asymmetry of hemispheric activations, which is of crucial relevance to inform surgery. Test-retest reliability of visuospatial memory LIs, assessed by an intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) yielded a value of 0.76, indicating excellent between session stability of memory lateralization. The HTW-fMRI paradigm shows reproducible activations in the medial temporal lobes of individual epilepsy patients sufficient to consistently lateralize visuospatial memory function, demonstrating the clinical utility of HTW memory fMRI and its potential for application in the pre-surgical assessment of people with temporal lobe epilepsy.

“‘We Hope They Forget COVID Exists’: Pandemic Dissonance in HGTV’s Evergreen Escapism”

This article analyzes American cable channel HGTV’s programing strategies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and specifically their construction of a “COVID-free” fantasia in their series Home Town and its spinoff, Home Town Takeover. By considering this response through the lens of dissonance, I argue that while the network originally emphasized their social responsibility to mitigating the spread of the virus, their business model incentivized them to move past the virus more swiftly than other channels, pushing the labor of mediating dissonance onto their on-screen talent and their audience. This case study foregrounds how variables like genre, channel, and audience shaped the television industry’s response to the pandemic, with HGTV’s business model built on “evergreen” reality programing leading them to abdicate principles of social responsibility both more quickly and more thoroughly, despite numerous options that would have addressed the dissonance of COVID in a more balanced fashion.

George Tate (1805–71) of Alnwick, an amateur Victorian polymath, and his contribution to geology in Northumberland and SE Scotland

George Tate, draper, postmaster and insurance agent, was not only a renowned civic figure during the mid-nineteenth century in his home town of Alnwick but was also, despite limited schooling, a widely celebrated and influential writer on the geology, biology, archaeology and history of Northumberland and adjacent parts of Scotland. His principal geological interests were wide ranging but in the main were devoted to the stratigraphy and palaeontology of the lower part of the Carboniferous System in his local area. Some of the lithostratigraphical terminology he proposed remained in use into the 1950s and, despite changes in nomenclature, elements of his classification can still be recognized in the modern lithostratigraphy. He put forward much evidence for the intrusive origin of the Whin Sill when it was still regarded by many of his contemporaries as a lava flow. Tate was among the first to describe and discuss the evidence in Northumberland and SE Scotland for the then novel idea that Britain had been subjected to the influence of ice in the recent geological past. His brother and two of his sons attended Edinburgh University and had distinguished professional careers. His nephew, Ralph, inherited much of his uncle's wide interests and became a highly celebrated figure in the development of geology in Australia.

Cheadle Moon

Abstract She scarcely left her home town, but her work put her on the Moon. Here's our celebration of a singular RAS Fellow: Mary Adela Blagg

Remains of the republic

Although local authorities, communities and charities played a major role in dealing with conflict fatalities, the Republican era (1911–49) saw new government initiatives to attend to the afterlives of common soldiers. Leaders of the Nationalist Party (Guomindang) exemplified ambitions to govern the dead by implementing a policy of collecting and burying fallen soldiers. As the first public military cemetery, constructed in Nanjing in 1935, could not accommodate the millions of war dead in the decade of war that followed, the Nationalist state promulgated regulations to help bereaved families transport remains back to their home towns for burial. The Nationalist government began to plan more national military cemeteries after World War II, yet most commemorative projects in mainland China were interrupted by the Chinese Civil War. By constructing martyrs’ shrines and national cemeteries in Taiwan, the Nationalists are continuing their efforts to look after the military dead.

Zapomniany tarnowianin dr med. Marian Wodziński (1911–1986) i jego aktywny udział w odkrywaniu prawdy o zbrodni katyńskiej

The text attempts to present the wartime and post-war fate of the Polish intelligentsia who took a direct part in uncovering the Katyn massacre, using the example of Dr Marian Wodziński, a medical doctor. As a forensic doctor, he was appointed (against his will), to examine the exhumation of the victims buried in the Katyn forest. As a forensic expert, he believed that it was not up to him to determine the perpetrators, but to the court that would one day hear the murder case. He remained under pressure from the Germans, and after his return from Katyn to Poland, he was intensively searched by the NKVD and the UB, as an inconvenient, muchknowing witness. Arrested by the NKVD, he was freed thanks to influential people, and when he started to go into hiding, an APB was issued for him. In December 1945, he managed to escape from Poland under the name Marian Cich. He settled in the United Kingdom. The security apparatus recruited his brother Stanislaw to collaborate with him for many years. Despite many attempts, Dr M. Wodziński did not succumb to persuasion and pressure and did not return to Poland, although he missed his homeland very much. He returned to Tarnów after his death, in an urn which was buried in the family grave. Despite his many merits, as well as his patriotic attitude, until recently the figure of Dr M. Wodziński was forgotten. Also in his home town of Tarnów. The text about Dr Marian Wodziński should be – in the author’s assumption – a memento of this luminous figure for contemporary and future generations of Poles, especially the Polish intelligentsia, of which Dr Wodziński was a representative.

Primary indication for admissions to a multi-specialty paediatric intensive care unit in Sri Lanka

It is critical to analyse the pattern of admissions made to a multi-specialty ICU (Intensive Care Unit) facility in order to enhance the standard of care, update resources, and to train the PICU (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit) personnel. Policymakers, funders, healthcare practitioners and administrators must be aware of the epidemiology and patterns of ICU admissions improve existing health services and plan for future delivery of intensive care.Objectives was to describe the primary indication for admissions to a multi-specialty Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya, Sri Lanka. Children from birth to 16 years of age treated in the PICU from 1st April 2022 to 31st March, 2023 were retrospectively analysed. Information was collected on age, sex, home town, mode of admission, primary specialty indication, length of stay, main system involved, requirement of mechanical ventilation and survival.A total of 341 children were admitted and were included in the study. 60.5 % of the study population were males. Transfers within hospitals (62.1%) outnumbered transfers outside hospitals (37.9%).The average PICU stay was 5.8 days. Respiratory illnesses accounted for 54.4% of medical admissions and was the most common reason for intensive medical care. Other indications included neurological problems (21.3%) and multiorgan sepsis (8.4%). Leading cause of surgical specialty admissions was post-operative care (80.8%). Overall survival rate was 87.9% and mortality rate was 12.1%.Respiratory and neurological problems and multi-organ sepsis were the most common reasons for medical admission to the PICU. Leading cause of surgical specialty admissions was post-operative care. Overall survival rate was 87.9%.

Building bridges between organisations and the local community

Introduction: People long for connection. Yet, our society is increasingly diverse and people can be vulnerable in a number of ways (poverty/(mental) illness/language barriers/...). There is an ever growing need for inclusion, for openness.
 Objectives and methods: Since 2016, I seeked to improve my wellbeing - even to recover - by participating in activities outside of the mental health sector. A chance meeting led to a volunteering opportunity for opgewekTienen vzw, a citizen's initiative in my home town. This led to a string of other opportunities, both for myself and others. I helped members of the community - vulnerable or otherwise - to become participants or to enter this vast network of volunteers and witnessed others do the same. Partnerships were forged between the community, the city and a number of social organisations, between the informal and the formal sector, to increase inclusion, both among volunteers as well as participants.
 Key findings: People can experience (social) recovery, an increased sense of purpose and belonging, as well as significant personal growth through volunteering.There is a degree of chance in entering the volunteer network. Bridges (bridge figures/partnerships) are helpful and often even instrumental in the participation of vulnerable groups, either as volunteers or participants. Bridges can be built starting from either side (citizens/professionals). However, more often than not it is the community that takes the lead. Employees can be volunteers after work without either the employee or the employer taking advantage of this existing link. Some of the strongest leaders in the volunteering community are employed in the social/mental health sector. Inclusion is not always easy for the network of volunteers. Support is welcome, but can be lacking.
 Conclusions: Bridges foster inclusion. 
 Implications: Be open as an organisation and look actively around for citizen's and community initiatives in your area. Even the smallest of informal initiatives can offer opportunities for inclusion.
 Identify, reach out and connect with bridge figures and social entrepreneurs. Explore existing links: volunteers in your own workforce. Stimulate employees and clients to volunteer or participate. Foster interconnection.
 Turn these links into a win-win situation and provide support, not by 'taking over' but by being present.

Wage Differentials Among Reverse Migrants: Analyzing the Social Reproduction of Inequalities During the Post-COVID Recovery

Income inequalities that have traditionally been high in India, witnessed a widening of the wedge as the pandemic struck. Interestingly, this wedge widened further as the recovery began, those in high income groups reverted to their original income levels while those in low income groups were left struggling at decreased wages. This paper is an attempt to examine if the post pandemic economic recovery mirrored the existing pattern of inequalities amongst various social groups. The study is based on a case study of a small town in the Raebareli district of Uttar Pradesh, and the data is collected from a primary survey of the migrants who had returned back to their home town in the aftermath of pandemic. Hypothesis tested is that the rate of recovery from pandemic-induced income loss is consistent among similarly skilled workers, regardless of their social group affiliation.The results indicate that the loss of income is not uniform across categories, and that it is more severe in case of vulnerable groups. We argue that if there is no affirmative action, the inequalities will keep reproducing themselves and become more severe after every shock that the economy faces.

“Feelings are strong here”: A Proximate Reading of Solastalgia in The Last Pulse

ABSTRACT In Anson Cameron’s The Last Pulse, the monkeywrenching protagonist blasts a dam in Queensland, rides on the resulting flood southwards and spreads his solastalgia around, an affect Glenn Albrecht defines as homesickness at home induced by local ecological loss. From water disputes overseas to those between the eastern Australian states, from the character’s drought-stricken home town in South Australia to the Murray–Darling Basin, the novel allows readers to experience solastalgia as a multiscalar affect capable of mobilising environmental activism, as well as mooring in and playing with the “arts of flow” informed by Indigenous water ethics. The scale and distance-conscious method of “proximate reading” can be applied to read the dynamic of the affect in such an expanded and sentient water ecology; in this way, it can provide crucial insights into how readers’ environmental feelings and thinking are constantly reconfigured alongside shifting borders within and beyond the watershed in the novel.

Nazwa „mowa chachłacka” w relacjach powojennych przesiedleńców ze Wschodu zamieszkałych w zachodniej Polsce

THE NAME MOWA CHACHŁACKA (KHAKHOL LANGUAGE) IN ACCOUNTS FROM DISPLACED POST-WAR MIGRANTS FROM THE EAST TO WESTERN POLAND This paper concerns the usage of the linguonym mowa chachłacka (Khakhol language) in Galicia, Podolia and Volhynia during the first half of the 20th Century. Therefore, it can be considered in the realm of historical sociolinguistics.The source material is comprised of interviews, recorded 1992–2006, with over 100 forced migrants from eastern voivodeships of the interwar Second Polish Republic. After World War 2, the respondents were resettled from their home towns into the new borders of post-war Poland, areas which belonged to Germany until 1945. The research method chosen was partially standardized interviews, which were first recorded and then written down.The paper is focused around the following issues: 1) which linguistic variety was referred to as mowa chachłacka in the interwar period within the researched communities, 2) whether this name contained a value judgement, 3) what was the prestige of mowa chachłacka in these communities. The first chapter of the paper concerns the history of the Russian lexeme хохол/хaхол, which forms the basis of the linguonym mowa chachłacka, and which has been used since the 17th Century to refer to Ukrainians. The article takes into account ideas concerning researching social attitudes to a language, such as standard language ideology and monoglossic ideology.

Strangeness as home. Georg Simmel in Berlin

Georg Simmel is the sociologist of the city. He spent almost his entire life in Berlin where he tried to make an academic career at his home town university. He had from early on remarkable success and published a number of classical books, most well-known among them his “Philosophy of Money.” But the intellectual merits did not translate into professional success. In Berlin he remained a “Privatdozent”—a teaching person without salary—and an “Extraordinarius”—a professor not remunerated. Simmel’s status inconsistency—a globally famous philosopher and sociologist yet without a full professorship—expressed an interesting meritocratic formula: failure by success. Simmel could endure this complicated fate only by putting on a mask which made strangeness his home. This thesis is developed in three steps: First, by looking on young Simmel who combined intellectual success with critical reception, in short: philosophe maudit. Secondly, by referring to his private life and life style as far as this can be reconstructed at all because Simmel turned all matters private into a secret. Thirdly, by discussing his predominate topics (city, prostitution, sociability, secret, and the stranger) we try to show how he made his personal existence possible philosophically, sociologically, and psychologically.

Language of our home town

language of our home town

Population and housing recovery in Tōhoku, Japan

This paper examines the complexity of post-disaster reconstruction in the coastal Tōhoku region during the 10 years following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE). Compared to official government accounts of rebuilding programs, which underscored their successful completion, many survivors felt that recovery had taken too long and that they did not see steady progress. This study contributes to the disaster recovery literature by underscoring the need for better tracking of reconstruction processes. I emphasize the importance of collecting and analyzing spatially disaggregated data sets of benchmarks and indicators, as well as searching for explanatory factors shaping the speed of recovery among the various communities affected by a catastrophic disaster. Conceptually, I develop a framework that identifies a number of different factors that account for spatial variation in disasters and their recovery. Empirically, I analyze population and housing data in Tōhoku fishing towns, indicating the role that the nature of the coastal terrain in particular locations played in shaping recovery. I also examine how the length of evacuation orders around the stricken Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant led to uncertain futures and the hesitation of residents to return to their home towns. The conclusion points to policy implications and suggestions for further research.

René-Edouard Claparède (1832–1871), Genevan naturalist and early adopter of Darwin's theory of evolution

René-Edouard Claparède was a ground-breaking Swiss naturalist specializing primarily in invertebrate embryology and the study of Protista and Annelida. While a student in Berlin he was encouraged by Christian Ehrenberg to use the latest microscopes and became renowned as a skilful observer and illustrator of the smallest organisms then known and of tiny anatomical details. A popular lecturer in zoology and comparative anatomy in his home town of Geneva, he nonetheless encountered difficulties in that city, still considered the “Protestant Rome”, due to his strong support for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. His involvement in the first French translation of On the origin of species ( Darwin 1862 ) proved problematic too, although his remark, “It is better to be an improved ape than a degenerate Adam,” became a catchphrase in discussions of this contentious debate. Premature death meant that Claparède's work was quickly surpassed in many areas, but the diversity of his many publications, given here in the most complete bibliography compiled to date, is a testament to a widely respected, although overshadowed, naturalist.

Genially- based interactive learning media in the sub-theme of the uniqueness In my home town

This development research uses the ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation , Evaluation). This research was conducted at SD Negeri Cigombong 02, Bogor Regency, and consisted of 31 students. This research was conducted in the even semester of the 2022/2023 school year. The purpose of this research is to solve the problems that fourth grade students face in the learning process. The results of the research show that the developed interactive learning media is feasible for students to use. This can be seen from the validation results carried out by media experts, linguists, and material experts showing a high percentage. Assessments from media experts showed a percentage of 94% "very feasible", linguists showed a percentage of 100% “very feasible", and material experts showed a percentage of 96% "very feasible". The results of the expert validation as a whole show a percentage of 96.6 % with the criteria of "very feasible". The limited test conducted on 31 students obtained a response of 98.8 % in the "very good" category. Based on the results of the study, it was concluded that genially- based interactive learning media is very appropriate for students to use.

Joachim von Exter und die Rezeption der actio Pauliana im hamburgischen Stadtrecht

Summary Joachim von Exter and the reception of the actio Pauliana in Hamburg statute law. – On 23 May 1785, a certain Joachim von Exter defended his legal dissertation De actione Pauliana Hamburgi non introducta sed necessario introducenda at the University of Frankfurt an der Oder, under the auspices of Joachim Georg Darjes, professor of natural law. As the title of his thesis indicates, von Exter wanted to demonstrate that there had been no formal reception of the actio Pauliana, remedy against fraudulent conveyances in Justinianic law, in the statute law of his home town Hamburg up to his time, but that an incorporation of this legal institution was something to be desired. After a brief preliminary note on von Exter’s quite colourful life, the paper traces the core theses of his work and the process of reception of the actio Pauliana in Hamburg.

A malaria death due to an imported Plasmodium falciparum infection in Sri Lanka during the prevention of re-establishment phase of malaria

BackgroundSri Lanka has maintained a rigorous programme to prevent the re-establishment of malaria ever since the disease was eliminated in October 2012. It includes efforts to sustain case surveillance to ensure early diagnosis and management of malaria. Yet, in April of 2023 the death occurred of an individual with imported malaria.Case presentationThe deceased was a 37-year-old Sri Lankan male who returned to Sri Lanka on the 10th of April after a business trip to several countries including Tanzania. He was febrile on arrival and consulted three Allopathic Medical Practitioners in succession in his home town in the Western Province of Sri Lanka, over a period of 5 days starting from the very day that he arrived in the country. Malaria was not tested for at any of these consultations and his clinical condition deteriorated. On the evening of 14th of April he was admitted to the medical intensive care unit of a major private hospital in the capital city of Colombo with multiple organ failure. There, on a request by the treating physician blood was tested for malaria and reported early the next morning as Plasmodium falciparum malaria with a high parasitaemia (> 10%). The patient died shortly after on the 15th of April before any anti-malarial medication was administered. The deceased had been a frequent business traveller to Africa, but with no past history of malaria. He had not taken chemoprophylaxis for malaria on this or previous travels to Africa.DiscussionThe patient’s P. falciparum infection progressed rapidly over 5 days of arriving in Sri Lanka leading to severe malaria without being diagnosed, despite him seeking healthcare from three different Medical Practitioners. Finally, a diagnosis of malaria was made on admission to an intensive care unit; the patient died before anti-malarial medicines were administered.ConclusionsThis first death due to severe P. falciparum malaria reported in Sri Lanka after elimination of the disease was due to the delay in diagnosing malaria.