470 research outputs found

    Low-cost household water treatment: A techno-behavioural intervention for local sustainable development in Afghanistan

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    Access to safe drinking water is a critical global challenge, in remote rural areas and urban centres alike. A pressing concern within this challenge lies in the sustainability of groundwater and the livelihoods reliant on it. However, a comprehensive study of such a complex issue as water insecurity requires a multidisciplinary approach that can synthesize perspectives from the natural and social sciences. With the overarching aim of studying and developing means to rectify water insecurity in low-income settings, this thesis pursues such an approach and contributes insights to the broader global dialogue through the case of the conflict-affected urban context of Kabul – where groundwater and livelihood challenges are driven especially by the contamination and rapid depletion of the local aquifers. The multidisciplinary study begins with a geo-hydrology perspective that explores the sources of groundwater and the factors contributing to groundwater contamination. Additionally, it explores the potential of using clay disc filters for household water treatment from an earth sciences perspective. Complementing these natural science perspectives, the research also incorporates the COM-B framework, which draws from psychology and behavioural science. By leveraging anthropological techniques with a firm grounding in development research, the thesis further adopts a bottom-up approach to inform survey research. Translating this multidisciplinary approach into the empirical research underlying this thesis, firstly, the groundwater recharge sources and groundwater dynamics in aquifers of Kabul city were explored relying on the analysis of the stable isotopic composition (δ18O and δ2H) of groundwater and surface water from the Upper Kabul River and Logar River. The results showed that precipitation was the primary source of recharge in the Central Kabul sub-basin, while mixed recharge from the river, precipitation, and irrigation return flow governed recharge in the Logar sub-basin. In the Paghman and Lower Kabul, and Upper Kabul sub-basins, increased rainfall input was also observed. The contribution of river water to groundwater recharge decreased from an average of over 60% in 2007 to less than 50% in 2020. Also, substantial groundwater level depletion was documented in the Central Kabul sub-basin and western parts of the city. In addition to examining recharge sources and rates, the bacteriological and chemical characteristics of Kabul’s groundwater were analyzed. In Kabul, 4.1 million people rely on groundwater, making it critical to understand its contamination trends in the face of rapid development and social changes. The results showed an increase in E. coli and NO3-, indicating anthropogenic impacts on shallow groundwater quality. The Water Quality Index revealed that less than 35% of shallow groundwater samples had good quality. To address these issues, the implementation of point-of-use water purification was proposed as a temporary solution for reducing the occurrence of waterborne diseases. Moreover, a qualitative study, based on 68 semi-structured interviews, explored the factors limiting access to clean drinking water in two peri-urban areas in Kabul. These factors included dysfunctional water supply networks, water price inequalities, uneven development, and aid prioritization. In addition, the stressors and dynamic access to water such as droughts, contamination, and electricity disruption were documented. Further, this research examined the nature and underlying factors of inter-household water-sharing practices. Water availability, the costs to the donor, the frequency of requests for water, the period over which they operate, and religious beliefs were all found to play key roles in determining water-sharing practices. The added influence of droughts in limiting water-sharing practices further highlighted the dynamics in performing the behaviour. Furthermore, this research explored the factors that influence household water treatment practices, relied on a comprehensive behaviour change model (i.e., COM-B model). The results of the study showed that reflective and automatic motivation, as well as physical opportunity, had a statistically significant association with the performance of household water treatment behaviour. The findings suggest that socioeconomic, psychosocial, and contextual factors are all important in understanding and promoting household water treatment practices, and should be taken into account to develop interventions that are tailored to the specific needs and obstacles of different communities. Lastly, the potential of using clay disc filters, frequently termed ceramic water filters, made from locally-sourced clay samples, was explored for removing bacteria from water. The clay discs were produced by mixing clay and sorted sawdust in a ratio of 1:2, and the filtration rate was 1 litre per hour. Clay disc filters have the potential to be a low-cost and locally-sourced solution for improving water quality in Afghanistan, but further research and development is needed to optimize their production, particularly by leveraging the skills of local potters in Kabul. Overall, the synergistic combination of disciplinary techniques was thus capable of shedding light on the complex interplay between water resources, technology, and human behaviour (i.e., household water treatment) and provided a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and solutions surrounding access to safe drinking water

    Iterative musical collaboration as palimpsest: Suite Inversée and The Headroom Project

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    Suite inversée is a musical work, co-composed by the two authors asynchronously online by means of file transfer alone and digitally presented using a self-made web app called The Headroom Project. The Headroom Project mediates the compositional project during creation as well as allowing the listener to browse a historical thread that weaves through the developmental process: through this app, each audio file that was shared between the two composers can be heard and considered both in and out of the context of its creation. The framework of the project provided the opportunity for the authors to reflect on issues of remote digital collaboration and the palimpsest nature of a work revealed in varying stages of evolution through a novel mode of presentation. This paper discusses the mode of creation by situating it within narratives of composition and technology

    METROPOLITAN ENCHANTMENT AND DISENCHANTMENT. METROPOLITAN ANTHROPOLOGY FOR THE CONTEMPORARY LIVING MAP CONSTRUCTION

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    We can no longer interpret the contemporary metropolis as we did in the last century. The thought of civil economy regarding the contemporary Metropolis conflicts more or less radically with the merely acquisitive dimension of the behaviour of its citizens. What is needed is therefore a new capacity for imagining the economic-productive future of the city: hybrid social enterprises, economically sustainable, structured and capable of using technologies, could be a solution for producing value and distributing it fairly and inclusively. Metropolitan Urbanity is another issue to establish. Metropolis needs new spaces where inclusion can occur, and where a repository of the imagery can be recreated. What is the ontology behind the technique of metropolitan planning and management, its vision and its symbols? Competitiveness, speed, and meritocracy are political words, not technical ones. Metropolitan Urbanity is the characteristic of a polis that expresses itself in its public places. Today, however, public places are private ones that are destined for public use. The Common Good has always had a space of representation in the city, which was the public space. Today, the Green-Grey Infrastructure is the metropolitan city's monument that communicates a value for future generations and must therefore be recognised and imagined; it is the production of the metropolitan symbolic imagery, the new magic of the city

    Faculty Of Education UNHI

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    Faculty Of Education UNH

    Age differences in conspiracy beliefs around Covid-19 pandemic and (dis)trust in the government

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    Objective: Times of societal crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, during which people need to make sense of a chaotic world and to protect their health and lives, according to psychological research, represent suitable ground for the development of conspiracy theories about origins, spread, and treatment of the threat (coronavirus). Although numerous studies have been conducted on this issue since the beginning of the pandemic until today, most of the studies were conducted on the adult population with limited insights into development of the conspiracy beliefs in adolescence or over the lifespan. Objective of this study is precisely to explore how conspiracy beliefs regarding COVID-19 pandemic differentiate between multiple age groups (cross-sectional design), what are their sources and contexts, and how do they relate with the tendency to trust the government. Methodology: Data were gathered through eight focus group discussions with four age groups (11-12, 14-15, 18-19, 30+) in Serbia. Results: Based on critical discourse analysis, this paper identifies the differences in content and the sources of conspiracy thinking and how it relates to trust in the government. Study shows that high distrust in Serbian government is associated with conspiracy beliefs both within youth and adults. However, while among adolescents this finding is exclusively related with their beliefs that ruling structures have financial gain from the pandemic, against the interests of citizens, among adults it is related to the belief that the government (un)intentionally submits to the new global order that is managed by one or more powerful actors who are coordinated in secret action to achieve an outcome that is of public interest, but not public knowledge. Conclusion: The results will be discussed within current socio-political climate in Serbia, as well as the basis for understanding psychological factors which may underlie these tendencies in conspiracy theorizing, such as social identification, collective narcissism, authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation

    2023-2024 Course Catalog

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    2023-2024 Course Catalo
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