School Holidays Research Articles

Where, when and what? A national support centre scenario for victims of gender-based violence

BackgroundGender-based violence (GBV) is a serious issue that remains highly prevalent in South Africa. However, real-time statistics regarding the number, timing, and location of emergency calls made by victims are limited. Therefore, this study aims to examine the spatial and temporal characteristics of GBV-related emergency calls made to the Help-at-Your-Fingertips (HAYFT) helpline, a national online support centre, from 2020 to 2023. The goal is to identify the regions where these incidents are more frequent and how their incidence is changing over time, particularly concerning social and economic factors and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsDeidentified data from HAYFT was used and analysed. This study used the time, geographic, and temporal patterns of emergency calls by the GBV victims to the helpline. Descriptive statistics were employed to examine call frequency with respect to region, temporal, and socioeconomic factors, while geographic pattern analysis helped identify the areas with high concentrations of GBV within regions.ResultsUpon examining 53,004 verified calls, it was elucidated that some provinces, such as Limpopo and the North West (104 and 103 calls per 100,000 population), had the highest call rates. Call peaks also occurred in September, November, and December, while call peaks were more likely, though not exclusively associated with public or school holidays, which are thought to be risk periods. Such trends suggest that there are existing limitations in the interpretation of statistics on GBV, which often associate the phenomenon’s incidence and prevalence with certain culture-driven times. Besides, while the number of risk calls in poorer areas was greater, the research also detected significant risk calls coming from higher socio-economic regions, particularly during the pandemic, suggesting wider security risks.ConclusionsThe results illustrate the need for focused and data-informed intervention approaches for victims of gender-based violence. In addition, they suggest that better systems are needed to facilitate monitoring and the timely use of such information for resource and intervention planning. This research serves an important purpose for decision-makers and non-governmental organizations that seek to improve the response to gender-based violence across South Africa.

Analysis of Global Influenza Outbreak Cycles and Patterns

History demonstrates that despite continuous advancements in modern medicine, the cyclical tendency of influenza to break out locally or globally remains largely unhindered. In 1918, the world experienced the most famous severe influenza pandemic in historythe Spanish Flu. Following this pandemic, the average life expectancy in the United States dropped by 10 years. In 1957, the Asian Flu (virus type H2N2) emerged, sweeping through Asian countries within two weeks before spreading to Australia, the Americas, and Europe, affecting countless nations. Globally, over 2 million people were affected by this outbreak. Since April 2009, multiple countries and regions, including Mexico and the United States, have experienced outbreaks of H1N1 influenza. This paper aims to analyze the periodic patterns and rules of influenza outbreaks and transmission through climate influences by examining global influenza surveillance data from the World Health Organization, utilizing Python modeling techniques. Based on the research, this paper found that the spread of influenza will have different transmission cycles depending on the region and climate. Secondly, the spread of influenza will be affected by factors such as season, temperature, humidity and temperature difference between day and night. At the same time, through the study of the three proposed human activities, it was found that only school holidays significantly reduce the spread of the virus.

Increased circulation of adenovirus in China during 2023-2024: Association with an increased prevalence of species B and school-associated transmission.

Increased circulation of adenovirus in China during 2023-2024: Association with an increased prevalence of species B and school-associated transmission.

South Africa’s male homicide epidemic: Who is killing men and why do we ignore the victims?

Two recent articles highlighted that ~90% of homicide victims in South Africa in 2017 were men. Here we present summary methods and findings and reflect on why there has been no concerted public health response to address the massive sex disparity in homicide risk. Based on routine data collected through forensic and police investigations, we found that male homicide rates were higher than female homicide rates across all ages, and were up to 8.4 times higher among youths and young adults. There was considerable interprovincial variation, with the highest male:female incidence rate ratio of 11.4 recorded in the Western Cape. Of the perpetrators, 93% were men, and usually acquaintances (63%). Most deaths were the result of sharp force injuries (stabbing), with gunshots the second leading cause. Of the 7% of men killed by female perpetrators, 60% were killed by their intimate partners. There were distinct temporal patterns associated with alcohol use. Male homicides were clustered around festive periods and school holidays. Amongst perpetrators, alcohol use was reported in 50% of homicides by acquaintances and 41% of homicides by family members, but other drug use was less common (9% overall). The omission of men from the prevention agenda is an equity issue that affects not only men, but also women and children in South Africa’s most marginalised communities. Broad population-based approaches are required to address the insidious effect of recalcitrant societal norms and structural interventions to overcome the root causes of poverty and inequality and the poor control of alcohol and firearms.

Effects of temperature and environmental covariates on the dynamic transmission of hand, foot, and mouth disease in Zhejiang, China.

Studies have documented the impact of temperature on the incidence of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD); however, no study has examined its impact on the transmissibility. The longitudinal surveillance data of HFMD in Zhejiang Province during 2013-2019 were collected from National Notifiable Infectious Diseases Reporting Information System. The incidence of HFMD was represented by daily case counts, and the transmissibility was quantified as the instantaneous reproductive number ([Formula: see text]). The case time series design was applied to investigate the association between temperature and HFMD incidence at small-scale spatial patterns (i.e., townships). General additive model was further employed to analyze the effects of temperature and other driving factors on the transmissibility of HFMD. Separate models were also conducted for each city, along with seasonal and spatial stratified analysis. We observed an inverted V-shaped association between temperature and HFMD incidence, with the highest cumulative relative risk (RR: 3.81, 95% CI: 3.75-3.86) at 28°C compared to the reference temperature. Notably, we discovered that HFMD transmissibility exhibited a similar but more pronounced sensitivity to temperature changes, peaking at a lower temperature of 19.69°C. City-specific and stratified results were aligned with the overall provincial pattern. Additionally, other significant driving factors of HFMD transmissibility included the depletion of susceptible individuals, school holidays, vaccination program, relative humidity, and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. Nonlinear associations between temperature and HFMD incidence, as well as transmissibility, are observed. Other driving factors potentially contribute to changes in HFMD dynamic transmission. These findings underscore the importance of implementing targeted policies aimed at early intervention, particularly when HFMD transmissibility begins to reach its peak.

Media Representations of School Holiday Programmes for Aboriginal Children in 1950s and 1960s Australia

ABSTRACT This paper examines media representations and surrounding discourse of holiday programmes developed for Aboriginal children in 1950s and 1960s Australia. Using a series of case studies and print media reports, this paper examines how white settler organisers and newspapers constructed narratives about holiday programmes as part of broader settler processes that sought to position education as central to assimilation. This discourse was used to legitimise the involvement of white settlers in the school holidays of Aboriginal children, in ways that rendered the role of their families and homes invisible, and that misrepresented and misrecognised the participation of the children themselves. In doing so, this paper unpicks holiday programmes – as charitable, educational and participatory assimilatory exercises – to examine some of the stories that white Australians have told themselves about the relationship they think they have with Aboriginal people: that they are best placed to make decisions about Aboriginal children’s education.

Probabilistic Prediction of Arrivals and Hospitalizations in Emergency Departments in Île-de-France

Probabilistic Prediction of Arrivals and Hospitalizations in Emergency Departments in Île-de-France

Social contact patterns in South Korea: an analysis of a survey conducted in 2023-2024

BackgroundUnderstanding social contact patterns is fundamental to the study of infectious disease transmission. However, in South Korea, detailed social contact data have not been publicly available. While global research on social contact patterns has expanded, there remains a critical need for more context-specific data in South Korea.MethodsWe conducted a social contact survey over two distinct weeks covering various time periods, including school vacations and national holidays. Participants provided details such as the location, duration, frequency, and type of close contact, as well as information on the contact person’s age, sex, residential area and relationship with the participant. We analyzed the data using summary statistics and the Bayesian linear mixed model.ResultsA total of 1,987 participants recorded 133,776 contacts over two weeks, averaging 4.81 contacts per participant per day. The average number of contacts per day varied by age, household size, and time period. Contacts were highest in the age group 5-19, lowest in the age group 20-29, and then gradually increased up to the age group 70+. Contacts also increased with household size. Weekdays during the school semester showed the highest number of contacts, followed by weekdays during vacations, the Lunar New Year holidays, and weekends. Contact patterns differed notably by period; during the Lunar New Year holidays, closed contacts with extended family members and, therefore, subnational social mixing were enhanced.ConclusionOur analyses across different time periods revealed significant and some unique variations of social contact patterns in South Korea. These findings can improve our understanding of infectious disease transmission in South Korea and will be useful for tailoring regional epidemiological models.

A study comparing positive benefits for parents, and their children, of children attending the UK's holiday activities and food program to parents of non-attendees.

The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) is a UK Department for Education (DfE) funded program that provides free food and activities for 5-16-year-olds in receipt of means-tested free school meals. This evaluation focuses on parent/caregiver perceptions of HAF benefits during the 2021 and 2022 school holidays for a sample of parents/caregivers whose children attended HAF (n = 736) and a sample who did not attend HAF (n = 885). The results show that parents of children who attend HAF for 4 weeks (i.e., the '4-Week' HAF treatment group) report that their children engage in more weeks of physical activity compared to children in the Non-Attendee group (b = 0.59, 95% CI [0.25, 0.94]). Parents/caregivers of children who attended HAF for 6 weeks or more report no significant difference in household food insecurity compared to parents/caregivers in the Non-Attendee group (b = -0.27, 95% CI [-0.70, 0.16]). The results also show that parents/caregivers are more concerned about affordable childcare if their children attend 6 weeks or more of HAF (b = -1.33, 95% CI [-2.07, -0.59]). For parents and caregivers of children who attend HAF for 1 to 5 weeks there is no difference in self-reported Parental Wellbeing compared to parents/caregivers of non-attending children (b = 0.57, 95% CI [-0.09, 1.23]), but parents/caregivers whose children attend 6 weeks or more of HAF report significantly better wellbeing than parents in the control group (b = 1.12, 95% CI [0.56, 1.69]). Parents and caregivers of attendees in the HAF treatment groups are no more or less likely to believe that children are safe in their neighborhood than in the Non- Attendee group (b = 0.12, 95% CI [-0.11, 0.34] for 6 or more weeks of attendance vs. non-attendees). These findings are discussed in relation to prior research, and we make several HAF policy recommendations.

Holiday hunger in India: experiences of food insecurity during the school summer holidays

ABSTRACT School feeding programs are widely used as safety nets and to realise food security. However, food is typically not served when schools are closed during school holidays. Consequently, children and their families may experience food insecurity or increased food insecurity in school holidays, known as holiday hunger. Outside of high-income countries, holiday hunger has received little attention. This study begins to expand the geographical focus in the literature by examining holiday hunger in India during the school summer break. I present primary data from household surveys and interviews conducted in four locations in Rajasthan. I show that many households experience increased food insecurity during the summer, including due to the absence of school meals, but that food insecurity was also high outside of the holidays. I conclude that policy makers and academics must give more attention to temporal lacunae in food provision.

PENDEKATAN HYBRID TSR-NN UNTUK PERAMALAN INFLOW OUTFLOW UANG KARTAL REGIONAL JAWA TIMUR

The availability of currency circulating in society can influence the economic conditions of a country. The need for money increases when religious holidays approach, such as Eid al-Fitr and Christmas, as well as school holidays and the end of the year. Therefore, it is necessary to plan the need for currency, one of which is by forecasting the circulation of currency, both inflow and outflow. Forecasting is done to predict a value in the future based on historical data. This research aim was to predict the inflow and outflow of regional currency in East Java using the hybrid Time Series Regression (TSR) – Neural Network (NN) method. The methods in time series analysis used to predict are increasingly developing, as are hybrid methods, namely methods that combine several models to produce more accurate forecasts. The analysis results obtained show that the prediction of incoming and outgoing cash flows is better using the hybrid TSR-NN method because it produces a smaller RMSE value, namely 1,656.62, with a MAPE of 0.28 compared to the TSR method. The results of this study are expected to contribute to a hybrid approach for forecasting the regional currency inflow and outflow of East Java.

Public holidays, school holidays, and long weekends: Effects on drowning rates in New South Wales.

Public holidays, school holidays, and long weekends: Effects on drowning rates in New South Wales.

How do families access holiday activities and food programmes and other support? Learnings from the Borough of Southwark holiday activities and food club's evaluation.

The school holidays can be a challenging time for many families especially for those reliant on free school meals. The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme aims to provide disadvantaged families across England with healthy meals and enriching activities for children and young people. The clubs are usually in the form of a network of independent clubs and often depends on local partnerships and connections, such as the voluntary, community, social and enterprise sectors. In 2023 Southwark Council, interested in building on the findings of a national evaluation and providing more context specific insights relating to access to and use of their clubs, approached the Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Teams scheme to collaborate in a service provision evaluation. As part of the wider evaluation, a qualitative study was conducted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents/carers of HAF eligible children and semi-structured interviews/focus groups were held with children and young people (CYP) attending a HAF club. Recruitment was through the clubs. The transcripts were coded by two independent researchers and thematic analysis applied. Nine parent/carers and two young people took part in an interview. Six discussion groups with 4-6 young people in each took place. Most participants heard about the club they attended through word of mouth from friends and family, through the child's school or by seeing a flyer/newsletter advert. Many participants were unaware of the variety and number of different clubs available to families. Finding out about the clubs online was reported to be time-consuming and websites not user-friendly. Parents/carers spoke of the frustration in trying to navigate booking systems. There was also a lack of awareness of the types of other support/signposting available from clubs. The evaluation highlighted the low-level of family awareness of all available HAF activities across the borough. Furthermore, navigating the system was reported as challenging. Southwark Council reviewed and revised its online provision to create a centralised repository accessible to families that aimed to improve awareness and ease the club booking process. Further work is required to improve signposting to support services and provision for parents/carers.

The Implementation of Foreign Language Learning Guidance Program for Elementary School Students During School Holidays

This community service activity is a learning assistance program that focuses on foreign language learning guidance for school-age children in the Glintong Dalam Village environment during semester holidays. With this activity, the children have interesting activities to improve their Arabic and English skills. This activity is one of the agendas of the facilitators of the Community Service Course of the Tarbiyah Faculty of STAI Darul Hikmahin 2024 in Glintong village. The service activities in the form of a foreign language learning guidance program which were attended by approximately 20 students went smoothly. The result of this activity is that the children are eager to learn Arabic and English and can overcome the difficulties they face when learning Arabic and English at school. In its implementation, children can learn calmly, comfortably, enthusiastically and are able to understand the material presented. This activity also received a positive response from themselves, parents, and the community.

Upper Secondary School Students’ Learning at Work: The Effect on Agency in School

In light of the fact that an increasing number of upper secondary school students in Estonia work in parallel with attending school or during school holidays, the purpose of the study was to ascertain whether work experience and the competencies acquired through work are, in combination with other school-related (teacher agency support), personal (resilience, achievement in Estonian language, mathematics and history) and socio-demographic (gender and mother tongue) factors, related to student agency in school. The second aim was to broaden the understanding of what students learn at work. The study used a mixed-methods approach involving a survey of upper secondary students (aged 16–19, N = 3179) in 30 schools followed by qualitative interviews with 18–19-year-old students who have gained work experience (N = 13). The analysis comprises a hierarchical linear regression analysis (N = 1947) and a thematic analysis of the interviews. The results indicate that work experience, perseverance, teacher agency support, male gender and Estonian mother tongue are positively related to agency while various skills learned at work had no relationship and student achievement in history was only relevant before work experience was added to the model. The interviews showed that students develop skills related to, e.g., self-regulation, self-awareness, career-awareness, social skills and self-confidence through work.

Yearlong study of indoor VOC variability: insights into spatial, temporal, and contextual dynamics of indoor VOC exposure.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released from many sources indoors, with ingress of outdoor air being an additional source of these species indoors. We report indoor VOC concentrations for 124 homes in Bradford in the UK, collected between March 2023 and April 2024. Whole air samples were collected over 72 hours in the main living area of the home. Total VOC (TVOC) concentrations in the homes were highly variable, ranging from 100 μg m-3 to >8000 μg m-3 (median concentration ∼1000 μg m-3). Acetaldehyde and 1,3-butadiene concentrations in >75% of homes were found to be in exceedance of the 1 in 1 000 000 lifetime cancer risk threshold. Higher concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) as well as trimethylbenzenes were found in urban houses (summed xylene median 2.35 μg m-3) compared to rural homes (summed xylene median 1.22 μg m-3, p-value = 0.02), driven by ingress of elevated outdoor BTEX and trimethylbenzenes (outdoor urban BTEX median 1.69 μg m-3, outdoor rural BTEX median 0.78 μg m-3). Inferred air change rate (ACR) exhibited a degree of seasonality, with average ACR varying between median values of 1.2 h-1 in the summer and 0.70 h-1 in winter. Time-averaged emission rate data provided additional insight compared to measured concentrations, such as seasonal variability, with highest total VOC time-averaged emission rates occurring in summer months (median 51 953 μg h-1), potentially a product of both increased occupancy times during school holidays as well as off-gassing of VOCs from surfaces. This comprehensive analysis underscores the critical role of seasonal, spatial, and contextual factors in shaping indoor VOC exposure, as well as potential health risks associated with consistently elevated concentrations of specific VOCs.

Examining the effects of school-vacation transitions on depression and anxiety in adolescents: network analysis.

The school-vacation cycle may have impacts on the psychological states of adolescents. However, little evidence illustrates how transition from school to vacation impacts students' psychological states (e.g. depression and anxiety). To explore the changing patterns of depression and anxiety symptoms among adolescent students within a school-vacation transition and to provide insights for prevention or intervention targets. Social demographic data and depression and anxiety symptoms were measured from 1380 adolescent students during the school year (age: 13.8 ± 0.88) and 1100 students during the summer vacation (age: 14.2 ± 0.93) in China. Multilevel mixed-effect models were used to examine the changes in depression and anxiety levels and the associated influencing factors. Network analysis was used to explore the symptom network structures of depression and anxiety during school and vacation. Depression and anxiety symptoms significantly decreased during the vacation compared to the school period. Being female, higher age and with lower mother's educational level were identified as longitudinal risk factors. Interaction effects were found between group (school versus vacation) and the father's educational level as well as grade. Network analyses demonstrated that the anxiety symptoms, including 'Nervous', 'Control worry' and 'Relax' were the most central symptoms at both times. Psychomotor disturbance, including 'Restless', 'Nervous' and 'Motor', bridged depression and anxiety symptoms. The central and bridge symptoms showed variation across the school vacation. The school-vacation transition had an impact on students' depression and anxiety symptoms. Prevention and intervention strategies for adolescents' depression and anxiety during school and vacation periods should be differentially developed.

School Closures and Respiratory Infections Transmission and Mortality: Evidence from School Holidays in Poland.

This study examines the impact of temporary school closures on influenza transmission and respiratory mortality, leveraging a natural experiment from winter break timings in Polish schools. Using causal inference methods on 12 years of ILI (Influenza-Like Illness) data and two decades of respiratory death records, the analysis shows significant reductions in ILI incidence within four weeks post-closures in an average season: 75% among school-aged children, 55% in adults, 26% in pre-school children, and 31% in the elderly, compared to pre-vacation averages. Notably, a 7% decrease in respiratory mortality was observed among the elderly, highlighting school closures as an effective public health intervention for reducing influenza spread and mortality among high-risk groups.

Reading Chinese but with Korean in mind: ERP evidence for nonselective lexical access in sentence reading

Abstract Previous studies have investigated whether lexical access in sentence reading is language-selective using interlingual homographs, but have yielded inconsistent results. In this study, event-related potentials were measured when Korean-Chinese bilinguals read the Chinese version of false-cognates (e.g., “放学”, after school) in Chinese sentence contexts that biased the meaning towards the Korean version (e.g., “방학”, school vacation). With the match words as the baseline, Chinese monolinguals elicited similar N400 and P600/LPC effects when reading the false-cognates and mismatch words, whereas Korean-Chinese bilinguals produced a smaller N400 effect for false-cognates than for mismatch words, indicating activation of the Korean version. The P600/LPC effect was observed for false-cognates in bilinguals, reflecting increased integration difficulties or enhanced cognitive control. The study supported the nonselective view and proposed a theoretical extension of the BIA+ model, claiming that bilingual interactive activation might be mediated by shared morphemic representations between languages.

Analisis Reduplikasi pada Puisi Liburan Sekolah Karya Joko Pinurbo

Reduplication is the process of repeating a grammatical form, either fully or partially, whether with phoneme variation or not. The purpose of this research is to describe the forms of reduplication found in the poem School Vacation by Joko Pinurbo. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative with data collection techniques (1) collecting data; (2) selecting data; and (3) categorizing data. The data analysis method in this research is as follows: data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion and verification. The results show that there are four types of reduplication in the poem Liburan Sekolah by Joko Pinurbo, including: (1) full reduplication, such as jalan-jalan, pelan-pelan, henti-henti, malam-malam, remang-remang, ketawa-ketawa, kepingan-kepingan, cari-cari, duduk-duduk, kata-kata, diam-diam, buku-buku, lelaki; (2) partial reduplication, such as berangsur-angsur, memecah-mecah, kenang-kenangan, melihat-lihat, membuka-buka, berdenyit-denyit, dibuat-buat, dikoyak-koyak; (3) reduplication of affixation, namely disipit-sipitkan; and (4) reduplication of phoneme change, namely seluk-beluk. Keywords: linguistic analysis, reduplication, morphology, poetry, joko pinurbo