Local Realities Research Articles

Pediatric Headache in Primary Care and Emergency Departments: Consensus with RAND/UCLA Method.

Headache is the most frequent neurological symptom in childhood and the main reason for admission to pediatric emergency departments. The aim of this consensus document is to define a shared clinical pathway between primary care pediatricians (PCP) and hospitals for the management of children presenting with headache. For the purposes of the study, a group of hospital pediatricians and a group of PCP from the Emilia Romagna’s health districts were selected to achieve consensus using the RAND/UCLA appropriateness method. Thirty-nine clinical scenarios were developed: for each scenario, participants were asked to rank the appropriateness of each option from 1 to 9. Agreement was reached if ≥75% of participants ranked within the same range of appropriateness. The answers, results, and discussion helped to define the appropriateness of procedures with a low level of evidence regarding different steps of the diagnostic-therapeutic process: primary care evaluation, emergency department evaluation, hospital admission, acute therapy, prophylaxis, and follow-up. The RAND proved to be a valid method to value appropriateness of procedures and define a diagnostic-therapeutic pathway suitable to the local reality in the management of pediatric headache. From our results, some useful recommendations were developed for optimizing the healthcare professionals’ network among primary care services and hospitals.

An argument for place-based policies: The importance of local agro-economic, political and environmental conditions for agricultural policies exemplified by the Zambezi region, Namibia

This article outlines the importance of place-based policies derived from knowledge on local realities. Through an analysis of maize policies and their impact on the Zambezi region, Namibia, we illustrate the constraining limitations of insufficiently place-based policies. We highlight the problems of current top-down policies of production promotion, value chain integration, and sector protection which barely integrate region-specific knowledge. We emphasize the importance of integrating knowledge on soil, climate, water conditions, production capacities, and local farming practices. Based on our analysis, we recommend a more knowledge- and place-based policy including a multidimensional perspective, adapted agricultural management, and open decentralized governance structures that engages region-specific agricultural, economic, political, and environmental knowledge.

Is timber management a realistic conservation alternative for indigenous Amazonian communities?

Indigenous people, who are often economically, socially, and culturally dependent on forests, represent important stakeholders in forest management. Due to high costs, indigenous communities partner with external institutions to harvest timber, often resulting in forest degradation within their territories, internal and external conflicts, and disinterest in starting new timber management projects. Using a standardized methodology to investigate the outcomes of previous community forestry projects presents an opportunity to better understand and potentially resolve further issues. To investigate this issue, we conducted research in the Sinchi Roca I native community in Peru. Our objectives were: (1) to describe the process of timber harvest; (2) to analyze gender differences in local perception of timber management; and (3) to evaluate the outcomes of the timber activity, applying socioeconomic criteria and indicators. Data collection included in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and intra-household surveys. We found that locals partnered with a company for timber harvesting, which led to a sanction from the Peruvian government. Timber harvesting was negatively perceived in the community, with 83.75% of survey respondents dissatisfied with the activity and 88.75% reporting internal and external conflicts due to the presence of the company. Moreover, women did not have a major role in timber harvesting, nor did they actively participate in planning meetings. Results suggest that improving future timber management projects in indigenous communities requires that projects be adapted to local realities and encourage local participation, including training for locals in governance, administration of documents, and negotiations with external stakeholders.

Best intentions and local realities: unseating assumptions about implementing planned community-based adaptation in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT Community-based adaptation (CBA) has gained traction in the management of climate risks within developing societies, due to its capacity to include local knowledge and build the adaptive capacities of vulnerable groups and communities. Yet little is known about what happens when such projects are implemented on the ground. This paper presents the results of a research project that sought to understand local perceptions and responses to planned CBA interventions in rural coastal communities in Bangladesh. Based on a qualitative approach, this paper presents the dominant narratives within local communities about the NGO-initiated CBA project. Findings highlight there is a deep disconnection between the objectives of CBA interventions and the perceptions of local communities about the project. Such a difference in perceptions meant that project participants prioritized personal gains over the creation of collective capacities to adapt to climate change. The paper concludes that in order to resolve such tensions, the gap between ‘community-based’ adaptation theory and practice needs to be addressed.

The Cold War: A World History

The Cold War: A World History

THE EVOLUTION OF THE CHEMISTRY CURRICULUM FOR GENERAL EDUCATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF FORMING THE STUDENT'S RESEARCH CULTURE

The educational process is oriented towards the needs of the labor market in perspective and the formation of valuable skills to ensure a harmonious activity of the personality in society. The chemistry curriculum has evolved over the last three decades in line with European trends and local realities. There is a shift in emphasis from informative knowledge acquisition to the formation of skills for independent development of the knowledge horizon. This methodology of autonomous and motivated development of the personality throughout the life is based on training through research, practical application of cognitive acquisitions, inter- and trans-disciplinary, innovation, technological transfer and innovative entrepreneurship.

Подходы балканских стран к сотрудничеству с Россией

The article examines three parameters of the stated subject: policies of the state governments of South-Eastern Europe in the light of the new developments in Ukraine, widespread attitudes and the configuration of political forces in these countries which may provide a chance to pro-Russian circles. The analysis is based on both national and international opinion polls and the results of the latest elections. As is shown, the traditionally strong Russophile sentiments in many countries of the region have reverberated again and affected the perception of the conflict. It's only natural for Russia’s public opinion, focused on events in and around Ukraine, to look at everything through the lens of Russia opposing the collective West. However, in a region, where the European Union for every single state is a pole of centripetal tendencies and where a NATO membership is a much needed permit to that pole, people view things in a different way. Thus, projecting Russian worldview on local reality is methodologically flawed and it would lead to incorrect assessments and conclusions. Pro-Russian sympathies made themselves known in areas where there are such. However, the potential of the pro-Russian forces is insufficient for a fundamental change in policies although the ruling circles cannot completely ignore it. The article concludes that the status and prospects of Russian cooperation with the countries of the region will remain unfavorable until the end of military operation in Ukraine, although the EU and the USA are unlikely to succeed in achieving complete abandonment of Russian energy resources in a short time.

Environmental crisis, sectoral versus integral

Today we experience and acknowledge the nexus of ecology, culture and politics as a moving objective, defined by local realities placed within global developments. Large-scale change is no longer a distant probability but an approaching condition, which forces us to accept instability and envision sustainability transitions as the ground of future inhabitation. When looking closer into atmospheric, water (riverine, maritime, deltaic), and land systems and their inherent uncertainties we realize the agency that local sensitivities, culture and planning regimes have in defining the success or failure of sustainable development. This dialogue will question what the real ground of preMarsent and future urbanization is, imagining adaptive and transformative change as material and ecologically sensitive practices to site, context and culture. This dialogue is the transcription of the round table talk on the International Forum on Urbanism held in Delft on 26 November 2021. Lars Marcus, Chris Zevenbergen and Carola Hein presented their work in the light of the environmental crisis, sectoral versus integral: the agency of change. With moderator Fransje Hooimeijer they elaborated and related their work in a discussion around the main questions of history, the longue durée, disciplinarity and agency of change.

Russian Renewable Energy Politics in the Arctic: National Priorities and Local Realities

Denne bokomtalen dreier seg om Hilma Salonens studie av overgangen til fornybar energi i Russlands arktiske strøk: Russian Renewable Energy Politics in the Arctic: National Priorities and Local Realities. Hun viser at det er mulig å realisere fornybar-prosjekter i fossilavhengige land som Russland. Selv om aktørene som fremmer slike prosjekter ikke synes å være fremtredende i Russland, viser studien at de har et visst handlingsrom som de lykkes med å utnytte. In Russian Renewable Energy Politics in the Arctic: National Priorities and Local Realities, Hilma Salonen examines the renewable energy transition in the Russian Arctic. She documents how, even in a heavily fossil-fuel dominated country like Russia, renewable energy players can achieve their goals. Hidden at first glance, these actors exhibit features of agency and can act successfully to develop renewable energy projects.

Transforming and integrating informal sectors into formal e-waste management system: A case study in Guiyu, China

<abstract> <p>Minimizing informal recycling activities is critical for the sustainable end-of-life treatment of electronics. Recent studies have started to revisit the concept of informality in recycling and reported empirical examples where informal sectors coordinate with formal sectors, jointly contributing to a greener recycling solution. This case study examines the systematic effort to transform and integrate the informal sector into the formal recycling industry for managing e-waste in Guiyu, China. This paper analyzes the policy design, implementation, technology development and market establishment of Guiyu's formal sector that enabled the evolution of the local informal recycling industry. The results show that the salient success factor is to offer advanced and centralized e-waste treatment by constructing a formal recycling sector while maintaining the competitive characteristics of the old informal businesses, including manual dismantling and private e-waste collection networks. Those characteristics ensured increased reuse value and sufficient e-waste sources. Meanwhile, the study found that many challenges and conflicts during this transition are rooted in the often-overlooked societal and historical contexts that profoundly shaped the local recycling industry. Authorities of regions facing challenges regulating informal recycling of e-waste, especially developing countries, could initiate similar systems based on local realities and the collaboration between formal and informal sectors to minimize the environmental and societal consequences of unregulated informal e-waste recycling.</p> </abstract>

Citizens’ Political Knowledge and the State of Local Governance Interest Determination in Uganda

The state of citizens’ political knowledge in shaping local governance interest formulation patterns has been identified as a vital mechanism in democratic systems for centuries. Nevertheless, political knowledge proficiencies remain remarkably scanty among ordinary citizens in the developing world, with significantly few studies directly engaging this local governance reality. The paper discusses how political knowledge influences the changing local interest determination dynamics to reinforce local governance functionality in Uganda. From a sample size of 99 respondents, the study used descriptive qualitative methods and techniques to collect data and analyze the responses. The study found out that notwithstanding institutional inconsistencies, local farmers were considerably more influential in local interest determination compared to politically erudite citizen groups. There were limited structures for citizen participation in decision-making processes, yet likewise found nascent progressive virtual platforms for local interests’ deliberations mostly based on digital and traditional media platforms. The nature of drivers which framed political knowledge were typically influenced by structural, political, economic and international dynamics. The study recommended that in order to address the local citizen participation constraints, profound local governance policy transformation interventions should be embarked on to reinforce local infrastructure, the local economy and expansion of education and the democratic space for civil society agencies’ operations.

Growing In A Minefield; the politics of organic agriculture, food security, and sustainable development in Lebanon

On a global level, debates on food security and sustainable development of food systems have shifted from merely economic debates, focusing on a trading rationale, to social debates discussing the underlying social and political relationships of food systems. Locally, the manifestation of the Lebanese political-economic system and the current crisis context have led to increased food insecurity in Lebanon. Although concepts like sustainability, resilience, and agency are centralized and recognized in international policy frameworks, Lebanese citizens are limited to act to contribute to the sustainable development of a food secure Lebanon (American University of Beirut, 2020). While acknowledgment and recognition of local knowledge and realities are needed for socially and culturally appropriate programs, it is unclear whether local Lebanese initiatives share the same interpretation or meaning of the concepts central in the policy-driven, top-down governed development programs. This research paper pays attention to food systems as socio-political systems through an ethnographic account of local agricultural initiatives that respond to food insecurity in Tripoli, Lebanon, in the context of the Lebanese crisis. The responses manifested in a particular set of social relationships structured by values of productivity, cooperation, and independence. Their future-making practices can be understood as a motion of ‘survival navigation’ within a metaphorical ‘minefield’ whereby the interwovenness of past, present, and future problematizes the exercising forces needed for the coming into being of a better future. The unpacked meaning and analysis of ‘sustainability’, ‘resilience’, and ‘agency’ shows they are experienced as part of socio-political reality, and reveals an ideological gap and a gap at the level of sustainable development practice. The Commons paradigm offers a framework of thinking to bridge this gap by acknowledging that the social world is grounded in the material world and that agency manifests in socio-political relationships around access to resources.

Falling between the Cracks of the Governing Systems: Risk and Uncertainty in Pastoralism in Northern Norway

Abstract Rapid and interacting change poses an increasing threat to livelihoods and food production, and pastoralists in Nordland, northern Norway, are at a crossroads both economically and culturally. Some of these changes are localized and pertain to changing weather and grazing conditions caused by climate change and land fragmentation. Others, driven by national management policies and governance specifically related to predators, are poorly adjusted for the different and localized contexts. The pastoralists are inherently adaptive and have a long history of responding well to variable changing conditions. This is now changing with the continued increasing pressures from many directions. The central government systematically ignores pastoralists’ traditional knowledge and enforces narrow sector policies to be implemented at regional and local levels. We address the effect of how institutional, physical, and societal constraints challenge pastoralists’ prospects for sustainable adaptation. Our results show how pastoralists’ livelihoods become compromised and potentially threatened because they are forced to respond in ways that they know are counterproductive in the long run. Adaptation outcomes are affected by different approaches and epistemologies that are situated across scale and context in terms of regional and national regulations versus local empirical reality among the pastoral communities. This study concludes that radical change is needed toward a more holistic governance in which multiple knowledge systems are integrated to ensure sustainable adaptation at all levels. This study is based on extensive and long-term fieldwork among reindeer herders and sheep farmers in Nordland, through a collaborative process of knowledge coproduction.

Study of Methodologyof Optimizing Image Segmentation and Processing Using Genetic Algorithm

In the literature, several worksfocal point on the description of contrast metrics and standards that allow to count the overall an image processing algorithm performance. These assessment standards can be investigated to outline new photo processing algorithms by way of optimizing them. In this work, we suggest a universal scheme to phasephotographswith the aid of a genetic algorithm. The developed approach makes use of an estimation standard which counts the first-class of a photo segmentation outcome. The suggested type segmentationapproach can combine a local ground reality when it is accessible in order to set the preferred degree of the last result accuracy. A genetic algorithm(G-A) is then investigated in sort to decide the first-rate mixture of statistics excerpted with the aidof the chosen standard. Then, we exhibit that this method can either be utilized for gray-levels or multicomponent snap shots in a supervised context or in an unsupervised one. Last, we exhibit the efficiency of the suggested approachviaseveral experimental outcomes on a number of(levels of gray) and multi-components images.

Normal, post-normal and new normal: A theology of hope in John 20:1–29

This article re-reads John 20:1–29 to foreground the normal, the post-normal and the new normal realities within the Johannine resurrection narrative. The narrator of John demonstrates the normal situational aspects by taking into consideration the setting, characterisation, thematic development, point of view and plot development of the story in closer relationship with the temporal and spatial mechanisms. The ordinary, local and existent realities are expressed to reveal the colourless human experiences in relation to the divine aspects within the narrative framework. The resurrection of Jesus introduces a post-normal situation within the Sitz im Leben Jesu and the Sitz im Leben Kirche. The post-normal situation was introduced by placing the story of Lazarus at a strategic place (Jn 11:1–45) and thereafter by unfolding the essentials such as speed, scope, scale and spontaneity. The unfolding of the divine within the existential human realities created a post-normal situation where the Johannine community had to undergo expulsion and persecution from the side of the dominant structures. The narrator gives the reader a hope about a new normal situation above and beyond the existent struggles of the Johannine community.Contribution: This article presents a new perspective concerning the normal, the post-normal and the new normal realities and dynamism within John 20:1–29 and suggests a new way forward in interpreting the Fourth Gospel by taking into consideration the existential aspects of the COVID-19 and Omicron pandemic situations. As a contextual and theological interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, this article fits well within the scope of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies.

Complexidade do cuidado da gestante de alto risco na rede de atenção à saúde

To understand the complexity of high-risk care for pregnant women in the health care network. Qualitative study with theoretical framework of Edgar Morin's Complex Thought and Grounded Theory methodology, Strauss's version. Data collection by theoretical sampling, including twelve health professionals and seven women users of the care network in a municipality in the south of Brazil from July to October 2018. Analysis by open and axial coding and selective integration. The phenomenon "Caring for high-risk pregnant women in the health care network", comprises four categories: Noticing autonomous decision making; Promoting care; Developing multiprofessional work; and Accessing the health care network. Every high-risk pregnant woman should be seen as a singular and multidimensional being with comprehensive and continuous care, considering the complexity of local, regional, and global reality.

Co-developing Local Feminist “Conceptual Vocabularies” While Strengthening Activism Through Critical Consciousness Raising with South Africa’s Mine and Farm Women

ABSTRACT This article is a reflection on five feminist schools, popular education platforms, convened between 2017 and 2019 with two women’s groups organising in the platinum mines in Marikana, North West and commercial farms in uMgungundlovu in Kwa Zulu-Natal in South Africa. The first part of the article looks at the background to the feminist schools and reflects on the composition of the groups, the self-selection of participants who attended the feminist schools, the co-development of a flexible curriculum and the non-hierachical dialogical learning methodology employed. The second part hones in on the use of local languages and how they enriched our conversations and encouraged full participation. Here we also highlight some of the translation challenges we experienced when dialoguing and drawing from concepts central in feminist theory, analysis and critique, e.g. patriarchy, power, gender. To resolve the challenges, direct translations did not work; we thus used multiple local concepts, and layered these with local expressions that the women felt were close proximates. We argue in this paper that to strengthen activist movements there is a need to think through our “pedagogy of mobilisation” and to co-develop local feminist registers and grammars and “conceptual vocabularies”. We thus make a case for the development and refinement of indigenous feminist theories/concepts that are locally grounded but outward-looking, drawing from and in conversation with local languages, realities and activists. We hope this paper adds to debates on feminist popular education and pedagogical questions in feminist activism.

Role of accredited social health activists in treatment of persons with severe mental illness in the community.

Role of accredited social health activists in treatment of persons with severe mental illness in the community.

Франчайзинг в Україні: реалії та перспективи розвитку в умовах воєнного стану

The article is aimed at studying the development of franchising in Ukraine in the prewar period, as well as its realities, features and prospects for development under martial law. It is noted that after the declaration of martial law on the territory of Ukraine and the beginning of the active phase of military actions, most of the business was actually paralyzed due to various factors and the impossibility of carrying out economic activities by enterprises located in the territory of hostilities. Instead, franchising is an up-to-date economic model for organizing and carrying out entrepreneurial activities that will allow businesses to survive and develop in this difficult time for the country. The accomplished analysis of the dynamics of franchising in Ukraine for 2017–2020 showed that franchising has been slowly but steadily developing in recent years, which justifies the annual increase in the number of franchisers and franchised facilities, an increase in the number of domestic and foreign brands in the franchise market. Precisely the increase in the share of Ukrainian franchises has been determined, since the franchise business model itself better takes into account local realities. The franchising created in Ukraine is more adapted to local market requirements; Ukrainian franchises are competitive, have a comprehensive business development program and strong support after the launch of a franchise project; the domestic franchising is directed towards further cooperation on a long-term basis. Based on a study by the financial portal Fibi, a rating of the best franchises in Ukraine in 2022 in trade, services and catering is compiled. It is also noted that during the wartime in Ukraine, some countries significantly simplified the rules for starting a business by Ukrainians, which facilitates the creation of a market for Ukrainian franchises abroad and the spread of national brands. It is defined that in order to support the Ukrainian economy during martial law, the government has introduced comprehensive changes to legislation and State-supported programs, which will help the development of entrepreneurship and the spread of franchising.

Peasants as “Cosmopolitan Insurgents”

The lives of peasants are strongly interconnected with their territories, economies, and local institutions. At the same time, they have been historically defined by international processes and decisions that are taken elsewhere and affect their autonomy and identity. This is clearly the case when smallholders (that is, farmers who work small plots of land, mostly less than two hectares) are part of transnational food chains, but it is also true when their market is the local community: even when peasants do not grow global food commodities, they can be affected by the dynamics and continuous expansion of the transnational food system. Given the local impacts of international processes and regulatory frameworks, peasant organizations have increasingly organized translocally to participate in the international policy spaces, and try to subvert the legal structures that are shaping their lives and territories. This essay discusses those attempts by peasants to organize beyond their local realities to increase their political power and promote their vision of international economic law as a central piece in their long term strategy for recognition, food sovereignty, and consolidation of territorial and agroecological food systems. The essay provides a diagnosis of farmers’ silencing and exclusion by international economic law, presents the movement La Vía Campesina as a platform for translocal solidarity and multi-scalar engagement, and elaborates on peasants’ “cosmopolitan insurgence” and their promotion of food sovereignty as an alternative project for international economic law.