Limited Autonomy Research Articles

Centralisation and Decentralisation in Higher Education: a Comparative Study of Hungary and Germany

The main focus of this article is on comparing the centralisation and decentralisation in higher education in Hungary and Germany. This study explores trends in implementing quality assurance measures in higher education. It employs the methodology of document analysis to identify differences between the two nations in the level of autonomy they accord to higher education institutions in regulating quality assurance standards. Data collected from these documents demonstrate that the two countries have divergent approaches to higher education governance. In the Hungarian higher education system, management is centralised and monitored by the national government. This state control indicates limited autonomy amongst higher education institutions to organise academic programs. In contrast, the German legal documents examined in this study indicate a belief in the need to guarantee the quality of learning, teaching, research, academic freedom, gender equality, and institutional autonomy. The data collected reveal the close relationship between governance and quality assurance in discourses regarding the accountability, transparency, and freedom of stakeholders.

SOCIAL ANXIETY AMONG STUDENTS DURING COVID-19: THE ROLE OF EARLY MALADAPTIVE SCHEMAS

The article focuses on social anxiety issues and predisposition to social anxiety disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic, namely the study of dysfunctional schemes as predictors of psycho-emotional distress and social dysfunction in terms of adaptation to new education requirements under quarantine restrictions. The relevance of the chosen topic is determined by the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic, appropriate quarantine restrictions, and changes in educational activity have become a significant challenge to maintain psychological well-being among students. Physical ("social") distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic can be expected to make it easier for people to avoid communication while providing short-term relief. On the other hand, there is strengthening by avoiding behavioral and cognitive strategies as meaningful. Social constraints, which allow more avoidance of social judgment, also mask persistent functional impairments associated with pre-existing levels of social anxiety. The analysis's emphasis is on expectations of negative social evaluation, denial of one's own needs, and uncertainty about the future in the context of distance learning may increase vulnerability to social anxiety disorder upon completion of quarantine restrictions and the need to return to everyday life. The author summarizes that analysis of the psycho-emotional discomfort associated with social anxiety among students during the pandemic related to the intensity of early maladaptive schemas. The performed study has expanded understanding of the mechanisms of vulnerability to psychosocial dysfunction in this group. The literature review proposed in the article and the results obtained may interest mental health practitioners. They may help develop education activities in distance learning settings during a pandemic and psychological support activities for students focused on correcting negative social interaction experiences and limited autonomy.

Barriers to Access of Healthcare Services for Rural Women-Applying Gender Lens on TB in a Rural District of Sindh, Pakistan.

Background: Women in the rural districts of Pakistan face numerous barriers to healthcare, rendering gender-responsive health programming important, including for the disease of tuberculosis (TB). This study was conducted to assess the general understanding of TB and for women’s access to healthcare, as a first step towards implementation of a gender responsive TB program in Tando Allahyar, a rural district of Pakistan. Methods: A total of 36 participants were interviewed for the study. The focus group discussion guide comprised of questions on: (1) family/household dynamics, (2) community norms, (3) healthcare systems, (4) women’s access to healthcare, (5) TB Awareness, and (6) women’s access to TB Care. Results: Limited autonomy in household financial decision-making, disapproval of unassisted travel, long travel time, lack of prioritization of spending on women’s health and inadequate presence of female health providers, were identified as barriers to access healthcare for women, which is even higher in younger women. Facilitators to access of TB care included a reported lack of TB-related stigma, moderate knowledge about TB disease, and broad understanding of tuberculosis as a curable disease. Other suggested facilitators include health facilities closer to the villages and the availability of higher quality services. Conclusion: Significant barriers are faced by women in accessing TB care in rural districts of Pakistan. Program implementers in high burden countries should shift towards improved gender-responsive TB programming.

School leadership development practices in Japan

ABSTRACT This study examines practices relating to four dimensions of leadership development (recruitment and selection, professional learning, autonomy, and evaluation) in Japan. Initial information was drawn from prior literature and websites of the national government (e.g., national legislation, policy documents, and national statistics) and BOEs at prefectures and ordinance-designated cities (ODC) (e.g., regional legislation, standards for principals, and PD documents) by searching for such words as “principal leadership” and “professional development.” Additionally, a survey on detailed information was sent to all the 47 prefectural and 20 ODC BOEs. Regional differences as well as a national trend were illuminated by triangulating a variety of sources mentioned above, while connections within and among dimensions are made clear by using legislation, policy documents and prior literature. It reveals (1) recruitment and selection overly dependent on seniority, and ambitious but unsuccessful reforms to attract private citizen principals, (2) inconsistent and undifferentiated professional learning opportunities, (3) limited principal autonomy over personnel and finance issues except for a few local governments, and (4) recent development of principal evaluation systems as separated from those for educators in general. Policymakers should carefully design policies that build the capacity for principals through a coherent, differentiated, and sustained leadership development opportunities.].

Dying by Suicide in Nursing Homes: A Preventable End of Life Outcome for Older Residents.

Suicide research and suicide prevention have given comparatively little attention to the older adult residents of nursing homes. This population is characterized by advanced age, significant infirmity, limited autonomy and social connections, and other factors associated with high suicide risk such as self-neglect. However, little is known of the actual incidence and prevalence of suicide in older adults in such residential care settings, partly because of how such deaths are reported. Suicide risk screenings are nominal, facility staff lack training to identify signs of suicidality, and suicide prevention programs are not common in the nursing home industry. These deficits can be remedied by increasing awareness among family members, facility caregivers, contracted providers, community aging services, accrediting and regulatory agencies, and residents.

Optimal Sizing of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Considering Urban Traffic Flow for Smart Cities

Achieving high penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) is one of the objectives proposed by the scientific community to mitigate the negative environmental impact caused by conventional mobility. The limited autonomy and the excessive time to recharge the battery discourage the final consumer from opting for new environmentally friendly mobility alternatives. Consequently, it is essential to provide the urban road network with charging infrastructure (CI) to ensure that the demand generated by EV users is met. The types of terminals to be considered in charging stations (CS) are fast and ultra-fast. The high energy requirements in these types of terminals could stress the electrical systems, reducing the quality of service. To size and forecast the resources needed in CI, it is of great interest to model and predict the maximum number of EVs, in each hour, that each CS will have to serve according to the geographic area in which they are located. Our proposal is not based on an assumed number of vehicles to be served by each CS, but rather it is based on the analysis of vehicular traffic in geo-referenced areas, so that the load managers can design the topology of the CS. The maximum vehicular concentration is determined by some considerations such as the road system, direction of the route, length of the road segment, the intersections, and the economic zone to which it belongs. The topology of the road map is freely extracted from OpenStreetMap to know the latitude and longitude coordinates. Vehicular traffic will be modeled through the topology obtained from OpenStreetMap and other microscopic variables to understand the traffic engineering constraints. In addition, the Hungarian algorithm is used as a minimum cost decision tool to allocate demand to the CS by observing vehicular traffic as a cost variable. The multi commodity flow problem (MCFP) algorithm aims to make commodities flow through the road network with the minimum cost without exceeding the capacities of the road sections. Therefore, it is proposed to solve the transportation problem by directing the vehicular flow to the CS while minimizing the travel time. This situation will contribute significantly to the design of the topology of each CS, which will be studied in future research.

Chief Resident Indirect Supervision in Training Safety Study: Is a Chief Resident General Surgery Service Safe for Patients?

There has been concern expressed amongst the medical educational community regarding the readiness of general surgery residents in the United States to be competent practicing attendings upon graduation and that limited autonomy may be a contributing factor to this unpreparedness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an RRC-accredited general surgery residency chief resident acute care surgery service with indirect supervision of cases in terms of safety and outcomes compared to traditional general surgeon cases with direct supervision. The study focused on common general surgical procedures, specifically cholecystectomies, appendectomies, and inguinal and ventral hernia repairs. A retrospective review was conducted of patient data from August 2016 to June 2018 to review all patients 16 years old and older who had received one of the following procedures: appendectomy, cholecystectomy, inguinal hernia repair, or ventral hernia repair. Patient characteristics, procedure type, procedure time, estimated blood loss, complications, length of hospital stay, 30-day readmission, 30-day ED visit, need for reoperation, and mortality were compared between attending direct supervision and chief resident indirect supervision surgery services. A single institution associated with a community based-university associated hybrid general surgery residency was included in this study. Patients aged 16 years or older who underwent one of the operations of interest and were discharged between the dates of August 2016 and June 2018. The operations were performed by, or indirectly supervised by, attendings who were both private surgeons and also covered the chief resident service. A total of 1000 cases were reviewed, with a total of 960 included in the final data after exclusions applied. Of the 960 cases included, 68.4% were traditional attending surgeon cases with direct supervision and 31.6% were chief resident service cases with indirect supervision. A total of 161 appendectomies, 396 cholecystectomies, 201 inguinal hernias and 202 ventral hernias were included. Overall, patients in the chief resident service were more often minorities (27.7 vs. 9.4%, p < 0.001), female (56.4 vs. 44.6%, p = 0.001), younger (40 vs. 55 years, p < 0.001), had a higher BMI (31.2 vs. 29.6, p = 0.018), and a lower ASA class (class 1+2 was 86.4 vs. 65.6%, p < 0.001). The median Charleson Comorbidity Index of the chief resident service patients was lower than that of the attending service (0 vs. 2, p < 0.001). Chief resident service cases were also more often urgent cases (40.6 vs. 22.8%, p < 0.001). Overall, the 30-day complication rate was similar between the two services (5.6 vs. 5.8%, p = 1.000). Complications observed from chief resident service and attending service supervised cases included pneumonia (0.3 vs. 0.5%, p = 1.000), surgical site infection (2.3 vs. 1.5%, p = 0.389), UTI (1.0 vs. 0.6%, p = 0.685), acute kidney injury (0.0 vs. 0.8%, p = 0.333), small bowel obstruction (0.0 vs. 0.6%, p = 0.314), cerebrovascular accident (0.0 vs. 0.2%, p = 1.000), and hematoma/seroma (2.3 vs. 1.7%, p = 0.500). There were no statistically significant differences in procedure-specific complications between services. There was one 30-day mortality in the study population, in the attending service group. This study's data suggest that a chief resident acute care surgery service with indirect supervision of cases is safe in this community with regards to appendectomies, cholecystectomies and hernia repairs.

Preliminary study of rescue systems for Mars landing

Entry, descent and landing (EDL) is probably the most difficult and risky phase of a human mission to Mars. Whatever the EDL systems for Mars, the qualification might be very difficult, very expensive and the risks could still be very high, especially for the first missions. Risks could nevertheless be mitigated if backup options existed during the final phase of EDL. If an important problem is encountered during the last minutes of the descent and if the velocity is lower than Mach 3, a possible option is to use an ejection seat, an individual parachute and small thrusters, which could be attached to the seat of the astronaut. The total mass of such a rescue system would be of the order of 230 kg, which does not include the mass of the astronaut. In the event of an emergency landing, the astronaut will still have to reach a safe haven quickly to survive because of his limited life support system autonomy. An automatic rover can be sent to rescue the astronaut and increase the maximum rescuing distance. A probabilistic risk assessment has been performed. Provided that the autonomy of the life support system is 8 h and that there is no insurmountable obstacle, it is shown that the probability of reachability is 0.9 at 50 km from the safe haven.

Midwifery workplace culture in Sydney, Australia

ProblemAspects of the midwifery workplace culture have previously been measured as negative with limited leadership or support. Support for midwives is essential for them to face the complexity and workloads in Australian maternity units. BackgroundUnderstanding the culture of the midwifery workplace is important to develop strategies to stem workforce attrition and to optimise care of women and their families. AimsThis study aimed to assess midwives’ perceptions of workplace culture in two maternity units in Sydney, Australia, and compare the results with a national study using the same validated instrument. MethodThis study reports results using the Australian Midwifery Workplace Culture instrument (n = 49 midwives) and stakeholder groups (n = 10). Simple descriptive statistics were used, and the qualitative responses were analysed thematically. FindingsCompared to the national sample, participants rated their workplace more favourably, especially their relationships with managers and colleagues. Over one-third (36.7%) considered that their workplace had a positive culture, compared with 27.9%. However, they rated their workplaces more negatively on time constraints and staff resources, and reported limited autonomy. Workplaces were highly medicalised which impacted their philosophy of woman-centred care and their ability to work autonomously. DiscussionFactors related to collegiality in the workplace, relationship with managers, midwives’ intention to leave the profession and time constraints are discussed in comparison to the national study, as well as other relevant research.Conclusion Workplace collaboration, support, respect and understanding were extremely important to midwives, as were adequate staffing levels, teamwork and opportunities for further education.

A Study on Changes in Unification Education Policy with Multiple Streams Framework(MSF)

The government has continuously made various efforts for unification, and one of them was to create a sense of unification among the people. It is because social and cultural unification is important as well as political and economic unification. The unification education policy has undergone several changes as it has been promoted for decades. This research analyzes the changes in the unification education policy in 2001. For this, the policy change model, Kingdon's Multiple Stream Framework(MSF) was applied. As a result of the problem stream, the reorganization of the world order, the foreign exchange crisis, the economic crisis in North Korea, the expansion of inter-Korean exchanges, and the inter-Korean summit led to the recognition that there was a need for change in unification education. The conditions for change were created with the support of the DJP alliance and the president, the spread of positive awareness of North Korea and unification, and demand for changes in unification education. In the policy stream, the issue of emphasizing security in unification education, the problem of limited autonomy of teachers and students as the subject of education, and the difficulty of taking an open position in discussions on unification, and the disparate or negative aspects of the contents of unification education were emphasized. It has been pointed out that there are problems that make it difficult to form consciousness and that there are problems of neglecting private discussions on unification while emphasizing the superiority of government policies. These three streams became possible when a policy opportunity called the “Inter-Korean Summit” arose in June 2000, and the leadership of the policy was the Ministry of Unification.

Relational governance of territorial resources in post-colonial Africa – A new analytic framework

Current political sociology scholarship suggests that limited state autonomy from societal organisations undermines state enforcement capacity throughout the national territory, and therefore does superficial separation of the state from civil society (or formal from informal institutions) in the conceptualisation of what effective state system ought to be. These conceptions contradict realities in post-colonial Africa where societal organisations have evolved to bear ‘state-like’ qualities in resource governance, especially in remote locations where the state has no promising alternative to accommodating inputs from revered institutions or charismatic actors to complement its functions. Colonial experiences in Africa have produced institutional pluralism and a consequential split loyalty to the state in the post-independence era. Apparently, limited state autonomy sometimes refract or obstruct state visions; the resultant co-governance regime does not imply ‘wishy-washy’ state leadership. This is because state formation processes have produced an intermeshed governance of people, places, and resources through a complicated interplay between entities which have become indistinct in terms of functions, and hence cannot be simplistically categorised as either formal or informal, state or non-state. In this sense, the activity of regulating affairs in the post-colonial regime is characterised by relational governance – a form of governance sutured via reciprocal relation(s) between multiple actors across differentspatial scales and milieus. Drawing on an empirical study of biofuel projects in Ghana, we believe a relational governance approach provides an analytic framework to challenge this orthodoxy in governance studies and refresh discussions on the nature of state-society relations required for effective governance of territorial resources in postcolonial regimes characterised by institutional pluralism.

Investigating violence against Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs): a mixed methods study from rural North Karnataka, India

# Background Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) are female community health workers who primarily work to improve local reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health across India. As ASHAs often hail from patriarchal environments and are positioned at the bottom of the healthcare hierarchy, they are vulnerable to experiencing different forms of violence from the various individuals that they interact with. There is a gap in knowledge about the violence ASHAs experience. The purpose of this study was to assess the working condition of ASHAs, the extent and types of violence they experienced, and the corresponding perpetrators of this violence in two districts of Northern Karnataka. # Methods Using a mixed methods approach, we first surveyed 396 ASHAs to characterize their experiences of violence. We then conducted in-depth interviews with 16 ASHAs to elaborate on survey findings. Data was analyzed using quantitative prevalence statistics and qualitative thematic analysis. # Results The majority of ASHAs reported economic (88%) or emotional violence (73%), while many ASHAs reported sexual (32%) or physical violence (26%). ASHAs reported high levels of economic violence from their beneficiaries and their beneficiaries’ families (64%), emotional violence from their co-workers (44%), and physical and sexual violence from their husbands (17% and 12% respectively). Mixed methods findings revealed that violence was often rooted from their low positioning on the healthcare hierarchy, a lack of respect from community members, and limited autonomy at home. # Conclusions Evidence from this study suggests that violence perpetrated against ASHAs is highly prevalent, diverse in forms, and often arises from the ASHA’s immediate circles. Interventions aiming to decrease violence against ASHA workers requires multi-level approach, with collaborative components empowering ASHAs, sensitizing ASHA families and co-workers, implementing regulations at the health facility level, and increasing community-wide respect for ASHAs and their role in the health care.

Institutional Articulation: Governance Between Family and State in Rural China

This article analyses the money transformations and institutional frameworks that are central to highly successful and innovative, yet legally questionable, community welfare funds in Huagang (pseudonym), an industrialized township in Shandong. One of two aims is to address the question, “How do funny money transactions constitute, undermine, affirm, and/or modify political authority—and whose political authority?” The second aim is to contribute to the study of formation within the economy—“how an economy emerges in the first place, and grows and changes structurally over time”. Both are approached by detailing how the irregular or nonlegal financial transactions that underpin welfare provision by private enterprise in Huagang are made acceptable to local authority by institutional articulation at the village level. Institutional articulation involves registered community welfare funds being granted limited and contingent autonomy on the basis of their formalised exterior institutional face, but operating according to their informal interior institutional mechanisms. The detailed case study supports the argument of this special issue that the admixture of legitimate with illegitimate transactions is intrinsic to the operation of the formal economy in China. Institutional articulation and irregular financial transactions play key roles in innovation, structural change, and the production of political authority.

How are children's best interests expressed during their hospital visit?-An observational study.

To describe ways in which children's best interests were observed to be expressed in paediatric settings during their hospital visit. The best interests of the child are embodied in national and international legal systems, although the definition remains problematic. The child's limited autonomy mandates duty bearers to have both a child perspective and the child's perspective when considering what the best interest of the child entails in care situations. A qualitative descriptive study with overt, non-participant observations fulfilling the COREQ criteria. Thirty-two observations of interactions between children aged 2 to 17years with both acute and chronic conditions, their parents and healthcare professionals were conducted at three paediatric hospitals in Sweden. Inductive and abductive reasoning were used in the content analysis of data, which followed the identification, coding, categorising and abstraction of observed patterns of the best interest of the child. Findings reveal facilitating and obstructing factors for the child's best interests to be safeguarded in healthcare situations. Children were guided in or hindered from exercising their competence. The observations showed a variation in actions taken by both parents and healthcare professionals to safeguard the best interests of the child. Determining thebest interest of the child requires a case-by-case basis, as it is context-dependent, situational, flexible and dependent on all actors involved and actual decisions made. Healthcare professionals' actions can facilitate or obstruct observed expressions of the child's best interest. It is essential to enhance healthcare professionals' communication skills, knowledge awareness and continuing education about the rights of children receiving healthcare services. Reflections and discussions on how to protect the best interests of children may help healthcare professionals to uphold children's best interest in daily clinical practice.

Supporting Patient-centered Communication on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health-Perspectives to Build an Appointment Planning Tool.

Input from adolescents and healthcare providers is needed to develop electronic tools that can support patient-centered sexual and reproductive (SRH) care. This study explores facilitators and barriers to patient-centered communication in the context of developing an electronic appointment planning tool to promote SRH communication in clinic settings. In-depth interviews were conducted to explore what constitutes adolescent-friendly SRH care and communication, as well as on the design of the appointment planning tool. Interviews were coded iteratively, and analyzed using the software Atlas.TI v8. An adolescent primary care clinic, and a pediatric and adolescent gynecology clinic. Adolescent girls (N=32; ages 14-18) and providers who care for adolescent girls (N=10). Thematic analyses explored facilitators/barriers to SRH communication and care and preferences for the tool. Facilitators identified by adolescents and providers included: direct patient/provider communication; adolescent-driven decision-making regarding care and contraceptive choice; supplementing clinic visits with electronic resources; and holistic care addressing physical, mental, and social needs. Barriers identified by participants included: limited time for appointments; limited adolescent autonomy in appointments; and poor continuity of care when adolescents cannot see the same provider. Given the complexity of issues raised, adolescents and providers were interested in developing an appointment planning tool to guide communication during appointments, and contributed input on its design. The resulting Appointment Planning Tool app pilot is in progress. Qualitative interviews with adolescents and providers offer critical insights for the development and implementation of mobile health (mHealth) tools that can foster patient-centered care.

Optimization Design of the BLDC Motor Using Backtracking Search Algorithm

The use of fossil energy has a negative impact on the climate and on the environment. For this reasons, the electric vehicles present an attractive and interesting solution to protect the Earth. However, the high cost of manufacture and the limited autonomy are the major problems of electric vehicles today. In order to solve these problems, the authors have chosen to act directly on the electric motor, which represents the heart of the traction system of electric vehicles. In this paper, the authors have been interested to optimize the design of an in-wheel BLDC motor presented by an analytical model consisting of a set of mathematical equations that describe several physical phenomena. Two in-wheel BLDC motor optimization problems have been presented and BSA has been chosen to do the optimization in order to evaluate its ability and its efficiency to solve similar complex optimization problems to use it in future research work.

Latihan "Salam Trendi" terhadap Kekuatan Otot dan Kecepatan Berjalan Lansia Paska Stroke di Kota Depok

Stroke in the elderly resulted in limited autonomy. Exercise Salam Trendy consists of deep breathing exercises, stretching, and range of motion is one exercise to reduce limitations. Exercises done at home and individual 2x / week for 4 weeks. This study aimed to identify the effects of exercise "Salam Trendy" against muscle strength and walking speed of elderly post-stroke in Depok. Quasi-Experimental research design using pre and post test design. Total sample of 44 respondents consisting of the treatment group and the control group were selected with consecutive sampling technique. Evaluation studies conducted on the first and fourth week. The results showed that the arm muscle strength (p = 0.042) and legs (p = 0.005); walking speed (p = 0.002) increased significantly after being given a workout. This means that the exercise “Salam Trendy “ affect the increase in muscle strength and walking speed. The study recommends the need for this exercise as one of the interventions of nurse elderly post-stroke in the community.&#x0D; Keyword: Stroke; the elderly; exercise Salam Trendy; muscle strength, walking speed.

Staffing crisis: Addressing the high turnover rate of personal support workers in Ontario’s long-term care sector

Personal support workers (PSWs) serve a valuable role within the health system, providing up to 80% of direct care to residents and clients in the home and community care (HCC) and long-term care (LTC) sectors. According to a report by the Ministry of Long-Term Care, as of 2018, 50 000 PSWs were employed within LTC facilities in Ontario, accounting for the majority of the workforce within this sector. The original purpose of the PSW role was to support residents with activities of daily living such as dressing, toileting, and bathing. However, in an effort to minimize healthcare costs and keep up with the rapidly aging population, there has been a recent shift towards implementing policies that support the idea of aging at home. The criteria for admission to LTC in Ontario was amended in 2010, with individuals now required to have “high or very high physical and cognitive challenges” to qualify for care. As a result, LTC home residents require a greater complexity of care, as reflected by the fact that an estimated 81% reportedly suffer from some form of cognitive impairment. To meet the increasing needs of residents in a sector that is severely understaffed, the role of PSWs has evolved to take on a greater responsibility in resident care and provide levels of support that are often beyond the scope of their training. As unregulated healthcare professionals, PSWs operate under the direct supervision of a nurse practitioner (NP) and face limited autonomy, strict reporting requirements, low wages, and minimal opportunities for further advancement. These factors contribute to the high staff turnover rates that exist for PSWs in LTC; 25% of PSWs leave the sector after just two years of work experience and 40% leave within the first year of graduation. This article will investigate the various factors that contribute to the high rate of PSW turnover, examine the COVID-19 pandemic and the staffing crisis, and highlight possible interventions that may improve staff retention within the LTC sector.

Fact-Checking Interventions as Counteroffensives to Disinformation Growth: Standards, Values, and Practices in Latin America and Spain

As democracy-building tools, fact-checking platforms serve as critical interventions in the fight against disinformation and polarization in the public sphere. The Duke Reporters’ Lab notes that there are 290 active fact-checking sites in 83 countries, including a wide range of initiatives in Latin America and Spain. These regions share major challenges such as limited journalistic autonomy, difficulties of accessing public data, politicization of the media, and the growing impact of disinformation. This research expands upon the findings presented in previous literature to gain further insight into the standards, values, and underlying practices embedded in Spanish and Latin American projects while identifying the specific challenges that these organizations face. In-depth interviews were conducted with decision-makers of the following independent platforms: &lt;em&gt;Chequeado&lt;/em&gt; (Argentina), &lt;em&gt;UYCheck&lt;/em&gt; (Uruguay), &lt;em&gt;Maldita.es&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Newtral&lt;/em&gt; (Spain), &lt;em&gt;Fact Checking&lt;/em&gt; (Chile), &lt;em&gt;Agência Lupa&lt;/em&gt; (Brazil), &lt;em&gt;Ecuador Chequea&lt;/em&gt; (Ecuador), and &lt;em&gt;ColombiaCheck&lt;/em&gt; (Colombia). This qualitative approach offers nuanced data on the volume and frequency of checks, procedures, dissemination tactics, and the perceived role of the public. Despite relying on small teams, the examined outlets’ capacity to verify facts is noteworthy. Inspired by best practices in the US and Europe and the model established by &lt;em&gt;Chequeado&lt;/em&gt;, all the sites considered employ robust methodologies while leveraging the power of digital tools and audience participation. Interviewees identified three core challenges in fact-checking practice: difficulties in accessing public data, limited resources, and the need to reach wider audiences. Starting from these results, the article discusses the ways in which fact-checking operations could be strengthened.

Women’s Participation in Panchayati Raj Institutions: A Perspective from Jammu Region in Jammu and Kashmir

Men dominated Panchayati Raj Institutions until the 73rd Amendment of 1993, which mandated 33 percent reservation to women. The provisions of the 73rd Amendment were available to women in Jammu and Kashmir from 2003, owing to its limited constitutional autonomy under Article 370. This reservation provided an opportunity to a large number of women from the state to participate in the panchayat elections in 2011. This article studies the awareness level and participation of the newly elected women panchayat members in Panchayati Raj Institutions. The author also studies the socioeconomic, political and socio-cultural factors that impact women panchayat members in carrying out their regular activities. DOI: 10.32444/IJSW.2021.82.1.115-136 Author: Ashwani Kumar is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Social Work,Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla.