Socio-political Constraints Research Articles

“So, where do they fit in?” Teachers’ perspectives of multi-cultural education and diversity in Singapore

This qualitative study attends to six Singaporean teachers’ experiences of diversity and understanding of multicultural education to illuminate the influence of national policies and narratives on teachers’ perceptions and practice. These cases illustrate that, beyond reflection on identity and diversity, there is a need for teachers to examine how political, cultural, and economic principles have shaped their understanding of diversity and multicultural education. The authors discuss findings in light of socio-political constraints faced by Singapore teachers and forward implications for teacher education.

Mu xa xtak'av: “He Doesn't Answer”

Society regiments argument: what one fights about, with whom, and the frontiers of possible resolutions. But arguments can catastrophically rearrange social relationships. I consider a Zinacantec theory of the links between mutual talk and sociality, then sequential facts of Zinacantec fighting, and wider sociopolitical constraints on who can fight with whom, as illustrated by an extended family dispute. Whereas orderly disputes may refashion social arrangements but leave them largely intact, a common Zinacantec idiom for winning a verbal battle—reducing one's opponent to silence—suggests how argument can entirely close down a social relationship. [Tzotzil, Mayan, Zinacantán, Chiapas, Mexico, fights, verbal interaction, legal argument, indexicality, ritual language, land tenure]

Fächerdifferenzierung unter sozialistischen Bedingungen – Die Etablierung der Neurologie an der Universität Rostock

The move towards disciplinary independence in Germany turned out to be more troublesome than in France or Great Britain and real institutional independence was not established at German universities until the 1970s of the 20th century, and this in the Federal Republic of Germany only. In East Germany (German Democratic Republic--GDR), a division into Chairs of Psychiatry and Neurology took place at individual universities and medical colleges only. Nevertheless, in exceptional circumstances, neurology did gain academic autonomy in the GDR. One such exception was the University of Rostock, where as early as 1958, the Chair of Psychiatry had been divided into three independent Chairs of Psychiatry, Neurology and Child Psychiatry. Besides internal scientific factors, socio-political constraints played a particular role here and had an influence on the disciplinary differentiation.

P.4.06 Trazodone – efficacious way to treat adjustment disorders

The role of social support on international relocations is important because an overseas assignment presents both the disruption of established social support networks and the challenge to develop new ones. Such changes can be especially stressful for relocated accompanying spouses, due to competing family responsibilities, social isolation, sociopolitical constraints, and changes in their social and/or work status. Participants in this study were 194 women who had moved temporarily to a new country primarily because of their husband/partners’ jobs; they were living in one of 17 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, or Latin America. Women with higher adjustment (a) were in more cohesive families, (b) had had more involvement in the decision to move, (c) felt they had fewer losses in friendship networks, (d) had more functions of social support adequately met, and (e) received more of their support from local rather than long-distance providers, compared with those with lower adjustment.

Irrigation versus hydropower: sectoral conflicts in southern Sri Lanka

Although hydropower does not directly consume water, its generation frequently conflicts with other uses, notably irrigation, because its release schedule does not always correspond to the timing of water use by other activities. This article analyses a case from the Walawe river basin, Sri Lanka, where economic efficiency can be raised by reducing releases from the dam for irrigation for the benefit of hydropower generation. The tradeoff is analysed in financial and managerial terms and different options for reducing irrigation diversions are reviewed. Although the high level of current diversions for irrigation warrants the possibility of improvement in management, it is shown that finding ways to reduce supply faces technical and socio-political constraints that make the realization of economic benefits costly and difficult.

Natural Circulation in Nuclear Reactor Systems

It gives us great pleasure to bring out this special issue on “Natural circulation in nuclear reactor systems” which assumes special significance in the context of present energy technology scenarios. Today nuclear energy produces about 15% of total world electricity. However, public concern about the safety of nuclear plants has resulted in sociopolitical constraints on its use in some countries. Now a worldwide renewed interest in nuclear energy is evident which is caused mainly by the following factors: (a) progressively dwindling world reserve of fossil fuel, (b) a deep-rooted concern about global warming, (c) increasing oil price, and (d) good performance of current plants. These factors are leading to rising expectations for nuclear energy for the future. For the sustenance of this renewed interest, besides fuel resource, a number of important issues are being addressed leading to the development of advanced reactor designs as well as fuel cycle technologies. The major issues, which these advanced reactors and fuel cycle concepts are addressing, include economic competitiveness, achieving very high level of safety, waste disposal, environmental effects and proliferation resistance. An important feature of several advanced reactors designs is the incorporation of passive safety systems. The IAEA conference on “The Safety of Nuclear Power: Strategy for the Future,” convened in 1991, recommended that for new plants “the use of passive safety features is a desirable method of achieving simplification and increasing the reliability of the performance of essential safety functions and should be used wherever appropriate.” Nuclear plant designers select active safety systems, passive safety systems, or combinations considering fulfilment of required safety functions with sufficient reliability, and the impact on plant operation and cost. A number of passive systems incorporated in advanced reactors employ natural circulation as the mode of energy removal underlining the importance of natural circulation in nuclear reactor design By definition, natural circulation is a process in which the fluid motion is driven by a density gradient and no external source of energy is required. However, the driving head for natural circulation is low and can be influenced by small changes in operating conditions. Sometimes the flow is not fully developed and can be multidimensional in nature. All these have led to the need of thoroughly understanding the phenomena involved to ensure reliability of natural circulation systems. This has necessitated dissemination of knowledge in this complex and important area. This special issue is a timely and very effective step in this direction. The papers in this issue cover most of the important aspects of natural circulation-modeling and code development, experimental investigations, development of performance evaluation tools, flow instabilities, safety analysis, and lastly reliability of natural circulation systems. This issue has been a modest effort to bring to the readers an update on a subject of importance to the reactor designers. We are sure that the readers of this issue will find the papers of immense value and get provoked to explore further in this area.

Jalan Terjal Transisi Demokarsi Relasi Negara-Masyarakat Menuju Konsolidasi Demokrasi

The Achievement of demorcacy in Indonesia, which is considered as e collective-goal and able to cintribute ini changing Indonesia to the better situation, is struggling and facih socio-political constraints. Collustion-Corruption-Nepotism (KKN), money politicys and conflicts are even performed by elite-politician and elite-government. There for, the idea to frame a good government is merely a polemics at the elite level, yet it is on the contrary when it comes to the practice. Several politcies are mare only for the beneficial of the elite and ignoring the grass-root society, particularly in local govemment.This article analyeses the relation between the nation and the society in creating democratic climate and petitioning the society as dialectics of control through non-govemment organisation (LSM) playing the role as structure mediacy in order to avoid "elites poewer arrogance" which in turn results in non-elite policies. Hence, the society as dialectics of control acts as a balancing-powerresulting in a down to earth policies and the social control for the elite.

Biodiversity Conservation Planning Tools: Present Status and Challenges for the Future

▪ Abstract Species extinctions and the deterioration of other biodiversity features worldwide have led to the adoption of systematic conservation planning in many regions of the world. As a consequence, various software tools for conservation planning have been developed over the past twenty years. These tools implement algorithms designed to identify conservation area networks for the representation and persistence of biodiversity features. Budgetary, ethical, and other sociopolitical constraints dictate that the prioritized sites represent biodiversity with minimum impact on human interests. Planning tools are typically also used to satisfy these criteria. This chapter reviews both the concepts and technical choices that underlie the development of these tools. Conservation planning problems can be formulated as optimization problems, and we evaluate the suitability of different algorithms for their solution. Finally, we also review some key issues associated with the use of these tools, such as computational efficiency, the effectiveness of taxa and abiotic parameters at choosing surrogates for biodiversity, the process of setting explicit targets of representation for biodiversity surrogates, and dealing with multiple criteria. The review concludes by identifying areas for future research, including the scheduling of conservation action over extensive time periods and incorporating data about site vulnerability.

Editorial: Critical reflections on the current state of spirituality‐in‐nursing

Editorial: Critical reflections on the current state of spirituality‐in‐nursing

Globalization, migration health, and educational preparation for transnational medical encounters.

Unprecedented migration, a core dimension of contemporary globalization, challenges population health. In a world of increasing human mobility, many health outcomes are shaped by transnational interactions among care providers and care recipients who meet in settings where nationality/ethnic match is not an option. This review article explores the value of transnational competence (TC) education as preparation for ethnically and socially discordant clinical encounters. The relevance of TC's five core skill domains (analytic, emotional, creative, communicative, and functional) for migration health and the medical-school curriculum is elaborated. A pedagogical approach that prepares for the transnational health-care consultation is presented, with a focus on clinical-clerkship learning experiences. Educational preparation for contemporary medical encounters needs to include a comprehensive set of patient-focused interpersonal skills, be adaptable to a wide variety of service users and global practice sites, and possess utility in addressing both the quality of patient care and socio-political constraints on migration health.

Ethical problems faced in villages of rural bengal while conducting researches on chronic diseases like diabetes

India is facing an explosion of diabetes and related diseases. Health infrastructure in rural India is very poor. A large number of rural Indians are below poverty line. To overcome the problem of insulin resistance in rural India, the authors conducted studies with nutraceuticals and came across many sociocultural, socio-political and socioeconomic constraints to faithfully following ethical guidelines of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). This paper deals with some of the constraints and it is strongly felt that the ICMR should review its guidelines in the context of the existing situation.

Confirmation of ETI: initial organizational response

Perhaps the most crucial responses to the confirmation of extraterrestrial intelligence will come from organizations, rather than from individual people. Among the key organizations that will help shape humanity's response are political institutions such as the US Congress, administrative bodies such as the US Department of State, security agencies, the military, professional societies, and the media. Although popular culture and individual beliefs will affect organizational performance, organizational reactions will depend also on organizational cultures and traditions, administrative structures, communication patterns, decision-making processes, and the actions of other organizations. Prompt and effective responses may be blocked by sociopolitical constraints, jurisdictional disputes, cumbersome structures and procedures, stresses that frequently slow and distort information processing, and potentially counterproductive efforts to maintain positive organizational images. Efforts undertaken by governmental agencies will be hampered by public perceptions of low credibility. Foresight and advance preparation are among the steps that organizations may take to prepare for contact, but conservative values, skepticism towards SETI, and competing organizational priorities make serious preparation unlikely.

Spousal adjustment on international assignments: the role of social support

The role of social support on international relocations is important because an overseas assignment presents both the disruption of established social support networks and the challenge to develop new ones. Such changes can be especially stressful for relocated accompanying spouses, due to competing family responsibilities, social isolation, sociopolitical constraints, and changes in their social and/or work status. Participants in this study were 194 women who had moved temporarily to a new country primarily because of their husband/partners’ jobs; they were living in one of 17 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, or Latin America. Women with higher adjustment (a) were in more cohesive families, (b) had had more involvement in the decision to move, (c) felt they had fewer losses in friendship networks, (d) had more functions of social support adequately met, and (e) received more of their support from local rather than long-distance providers, compared with those with lower adjustment.

The political economy of reform in Yemen: Privatisation, investment, and the Yemeni business climate

This article discusses the economic reform program that is pursued in the Republic of Yemen since the mid nineties which is consistent with structural adjustment themes along the neo-liberal paradigm. The author aims at identifying the main reasons for the severe economic crisis Yemen witnessed in the early nineties. He assesses the economic adjustment program introduced by the international financing institutions before concentrating on central reform aspects. With special reference to privatisation and the flow of foreign direct investment, it is shown that, despite some promising institutional measures, core reform issues have been singled out and structural impediments are preventing the country's economic order from a structural transformation towards a market economy. Finally, some of the most important underlying impediments are addressed with a special view to socio-political constraints and implications.

An Illusion of Omnipotence: U.S. Policy Toward Guatemala, 1954–1960

AbstractBased primarily on declassified U. S. government documents, this study analyzes the U. S. effort to build a “showcase for democracy” in Guatemala following the U. S.-engineered regime change of 1954. The effort was doomed, for the U.S. government lacked both unity of purpose and the necessary continuous commitment at the top. The documents also demonstrate limited consideration of the sociopolitical constraints that U. S. policy objectives would face. This is clear from examining three key U. S. objectives: to eliminate the “communist threat”; to create a stable, legitimate, democratic government; and to develop a free, independent labor movement. Domination and the limits of power are equally central to understanding the relationship between the Eisenhower administration and Guatemala, a case study that also has more general utility.

Home Science and the Nationalization of Domesticity in Colonial India

This paper investigates the late colonial origins of Home Science in British India. It deals most intensively with the institutionalization of Home Science in Madras Presidency and attends to the roles played by both the colonial state and Indian women's organizations in its establishment. Though the focus is on Madras because the efforts of those based there influenced the later course of Home Science education, the activities of Madras educators, policy makers and reformers are also situated within a wider frame of transregional and imperial relations forged through reform projects, missionization, travel and education. Consideration of Home Science education in this wider context reveals the socio-political constraints an opportunities of, as well as the ideological interests at work in, its establishment. The paper finds that, at its inception, Home Science was the product of strategic alliances among colonial authorities, Indian social reformers, and Indian nationalists — all of whom, despite other differences, considered the home a site of and symbol for nationalist modernity. Home Science is shown to have relied on and helped shape a set of discourses that can be deemed ‘feminist nationalist’ in that they were engaged dialectically with anti-colonial nationalisms and with internationalist feminisms. Using Home Science as a lens, this paper provides a window on a set of late colonial debates that, informed by nationalist struggles and goals, sought to reshape the meaning and scope of both female agency and domesticity.

The historical evolution of demographic data compilation, evaluation and use in South Africa

The compilation and evaluation of demographic data in South Africa have advanced over the years, despite a variety of socio-political constraints characterised by exclusions of entire population groups, poor cooperation in data compilation by individuals and inadequate institutional capacity for the compilation of data for the black population. Data compilation proceeded unevenly for the component racial population groups, and the use of demographic data was informed by separatist ideology. Supportive legislative measures were not responded to appropriately owing to political and social realities. The advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 opened new vistas and challenges for developments, based on a new ideological orientation and the foundations that were put in place over the years. Research and monitoring of progress in this area are now mandatory.

Clays of Contention: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Factionalism and Clay Composition

This ethnoarchaeological study examines sociopolitical constraints on traditional pottery production in Paradijon, southern Luzon, the Philippines. Factionalism divided the potting community as it became involved in elite competition and dictated that the two potting factions acquire clays from sources controlled by elite alliance partners. This study examines patterning in instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) data in relationship to the involvement of independent craft specialists in elite competition. Patterning of INAA data at community and regional levels is found, illustrating the middle-range links between sociopolitical behavior of potters and patterns in clay composition. INAA patterning among clay preparation areas appears dependent on whether a preparation area is in public or private space. Regionally, primary markets express INAA signals from both factions, whereas secondary markets reflect potter participation of a particular faction.

The feasibility of agroforestry interventions for traditionally nomadic pastoral people

Historically, the nomadic traditions of pastoralists have been alternately attacked and romanticized. In fact, pastoral groups represent a range of production systems with wide variations in pastoral and cultivation activities. Given this range and the ecological and sociopolitical constraints facing pastoralists today, agroforestry interventions appear not only feasible, but perhaps imperative for some pastoral groups. However, their design and implementation must be carried out with keen awareness and respect for the unique ecological and cultural position traditionally nomadic pastoral people hold. A review of the sociopolitical and natural resource management literature on existing sylvopastoral and agrosylvopastoral technologies points to the importance of social issues such as gender, land and tree tenure, equity, and cultural context. These provide the basis for discussing the feasibility of agroforestry interventions in terms of their aims, potentials, and risks for pastoral groups.

Controls of coalbed methane prospectivity in Great Britain

Abstract Only in the last few years has there been a significant increase in exploration for coalbed methane (CBM) in Great Britain. There are several geological controls on British CBM prospectivity which combine with socio-political constraints in limiting the direct transfer of experience and technology from the USA where, until recently, CBM development has been concentrated. In many parts of the world, the depth of burial and rank of coals may be used as approximate indicators of CBM potential. However, in most British coal-bearing basins, one of the most important factors controlling the amount of preserved adsorbed methane in coals appears to be the degree of syn- and post-depositional basin inversion. Although enough methane to saturate the coals was probably generated during the formation of the Late Carboniferous basins, extensive degasification took place during the end-Carboniferous Variscan orogeny. Subsequent Permo-Triassic and later reburial of coals seems to have been insufficient to replenish adsorbed methane over much of the CBM target areas of Great Britain. Those British coal-bearing basins which can be identified as having been originally deeply buried, only midly inverted during the Variscan orogeny and which have remained relatively deeply buried beneath Mesozoic cover until early Cenozoic times are likely to contain the most preserved adsorbed methane and consequently prove the best prospects. Identification of a consumer and an adequate infrastructure further limit the potential of CBM prospects. In addition, at present, geological factors such as in situ stress, Coal Measures sedimentology, coal cleat orientation, hydrogeology and hydrology, and planning and environmental issues are considered in more detail only at the well-siting stage. As a knowledge of British CBM grows, however, these factors will become more important in initial licence acquisition.