Dialogic universalism and human rights education : a case study from Kuwait

Human rights are often described as the underpinning framework for citizenship\ud education. However, literature on the subject focuses on justifications for this\ud perception more than on the substantive content or actual enactments of human\ud rights education (HRE). This study explores the human rights approach espoused by\ud Kuwait's Constitution and Human Rights (CHR) module, introduced to the secondary\ud school curriculum as a three-year programme in 2006 but then reduced to one year\ud by 2010. In order to analyse its substantive content and contextualised enactment as\ud well as its rollback, a case study was conducted, involving data collection in the form\ud of documents, observations, interviews and student research workshops over three\ud phases (2009-2011). 'Fatima School' was selected as a critical case for its potential to\ud provide viable alternatives. While the analysis reveals gaps in Kuwait's approach to\ud human rights education (HRE), it also identifies expansions to this approach in\ud Fatima School's enactment of CHR as well as in its ties to UNESCO. In conference\ud with the theoretical field and the empirical data, particularly the perspectives of the\ud student participants, a more maximal interpretation of HRE is offered in a Continuum\ud of Human Rights Education. Three dimensions are identified for the substantive\ud content of HRE: a curriculum that promotes criticality through purposive\ud engagement with tensions between competing rights frameworks; participation that\ud promotes the right to take what is termed 'unsanctioned action'; and recognition of\ud individuals' humanity, which fosters solidarity and helps trigger transformative\ud changes. This, it is argued, is best realized within an educational context\ud characterised by free rather than enclosed and controlled spaces; diverse rather\ud than homogenous school populations; and humanistic rather than authoritarian\ud ethos. Within this continuum, HRE is conceptualised as a potential space for\ud 'reclaiming dialogic universalism' through the types of mediations between the ideal\ud and the real advocated by Benhabib (2008, p. 20)

Echoviruses are a major cause of aseptic meningitis in infants and young children in Kuwait

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The etiologic agents of aseptic meningitis (AM) often include human enteroviruses. The role of enteroviruses causing AM in young children was investigated during a 3-year period in Kuwait.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Enteroviral RNA was detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by reverse transcription-PCR and specific genotypes of enteroviruses were identified by direct DNA sequencing of VP4-VP2 region. Enteroviral RNA was detected in 92 of 387 (24%) suspected AM cases and the results were confirmed by hybridization of amplicons with an internal, enterovirus-specific probe. The CSF samples from 75 of 281 (27%) children < 2 years old but only from 3 of 38 (8%) 4-12 year-old children were positive for enteroviral RNA (<it>p </it>= 0.011). Majority of infections in children < 2 years old (49 of 75, 65%) were due to three echoviruses; echovirus type 9 (E9), E11 and E30. Only three other enteroviruses, namely coxsackievirus type B4, coxsackievirus type B5 and enterovirus 71 were detected among AM cases in Kuwait.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data show that three types of echoviruses (E9, E11 and E30) are associated with the majority of AM cases in Kuwait. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to characterize different enterovirus genotypes associated with AM in the Arabian Gulf region.</p

Youth citizenship identities in Kuwait: the role of citizenship education and the Kuwaiti Diwaniya

Kuwait’s nationality and citizenship rules have been contentious since the country’s independence in 1961. The rightful claim to full citizenship rights in the oil-rich Gulf state is highly restricted and divided along lines of kinship, religion, gender, ethnicity and nationality, leaving the majority of Kuwait’s population excluded from many social privileges. Shaping youth civic identities through education and media messaging is thus an important part of the state’s construction of nationalist narratives of Kuwaiti citizenship, and yet there exists no empirical understanding of how young people receive and interpret citizenship education and information, nor how youth activate their citizenship outside of school contexts. This paper shares findings from a study exploring the citizenship education and activism experiences of young people in Kuwait. Findings are based on in-person focus group discussions and interviews with more than 100 secondary school students in Kuwait, and an ethnographic study of three youth-led grassroots groups organising public debates known in Kuwait as diwaniyas. The study’s findings highlight tensions between young people’s perspectives and Kuwaiti official discourses around citizenship identities, rights and participation

Smart Operations of Air-Conditioning and Lighting Systems in a Government Buildings for Peak Power Reduction

This paper presents the achievements of implementing smart operations strategies for air-conditioning (A/C) and lighting systems in Justice Palace Complex (JPC), Kuwait during the summer 2007. The peak load of this building was 3700 kW. The achievements are summarized as direct savings between 13:00 and 22:00 h by closing supply and return air fans of 52 air-handling units with a connected load 400 kW, and an additional saving of 550 kW during the same period by optimizing the cooling production and distribution. Also an all time saving of 22 kW by de-lamping, and additional saving of 27 kW through TDC of lighting were achieved. In conclusion project achieved an overall reduction in power demand of around 20% between 13:00 to 17:00 h and reduction ranging from 7% to 15% between 17:00 to 20:00 h

Childhood Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Libya: Epidemiological and Clinical features

Background & Aims: Inflammatory bowel disease is thought to be rare in Libya. The aim is to determine the prevalence of juvenile onset inflammatory bowel disease in Libya. Setting: Al-Fateh childrens' hospital, Benghazi, Libya. Methods: This is a retrospective study of all cases diagnosed over 10 years (1997–2006) with either ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease or indeterminate colitis. Inclusion criteria were age <15 years at time of presentation who were resident in the eastern part of the country and who diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease. Clinical features were outlined using a proforma. Results: Sixteen cases were diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease, of whom 11 were males (M:F ratio of 1.5:1). The prevalence and incidence rates in the year 2006 were 3.6 and 0.9 per 100,000 children, respectively. The incidence rate increased from 0.2 in 2002 to 0.9 in 2006 (Z score of 39.87, p= 0.00). The age at presentation ranged from 5 months to 14 years. Nine had Crohn's disease (6 males) and 6 had ulcerative colitis (4 males). One patient had indeterminate colitis. The most common clinical features were diarrhea in 10 (62.5%), abdominal pain, anorexia and weight loss in 9 (56.2%), anemia in 7 (43.75%) and vomiting in 6 (37%). Ileopancolitis was found in 3 patients whereas 6 patients had ileocecal disease. Conclusions: Childhood inflammatory bowel disease in this population is not so rare and it is increasing. The clinical pattern is similar to that reported by others

Peak Power Reduction Strategies for the Lighting Systems in Government Buildings

Lighting systems are the second major contributor to the peak power demand and energy consumption in buildings after A/C systems. They account for nearly 20% of the peak power demand and 15% of the annual energy consumption. Thus energy efficient lighting systems and their smart operation can be very effective in reducing the national peak power and energy consumption, particularly for a country like Kuwait where power demand grew from 6750 MW in 2001 to 9075 MW in 2007 (MEW, 2002- 2008). This paper presents an approach developed to reduce the peak power demand in the lighting. The approach included optimum use of daylight, time of day control and delamping. The implementation of this approach for eight government buildings with occupancy of between 7:30 and 2:30 and peak power demand of 29.3 MW achieved a reduction of 2 MW in the peak power demand (around 7%). More importantly this 7% in peak load reduction and 10,628 MWh reduction in the annual energy consumption was achieved without any added cost. Also, the paper includes recommendations for retrofitting cost effective energy efficient lighting systems and implementation of more effective control

A Digital Currency Architecture for Privacy and Owner-Custodianship

Objective: to present the new approach to perform monetary transactions with digital currency.Methods: abstract-logical, analytical methods.Results: in recent years, electronic retail payment mechanisms, especially e-commerce and card payments at the point of sale, have increasingly replaced cash in many developed countries. As a result, societies are losing a critical public retail payment option, and retail consumers are losing important rights associated with using cash. To address this concern, we propose an approach to digital currency that would allow people without banking relationships to transact electronically and privately, including both e-commerce purchases and point-of-sale purchases that are required to be cashless.The article shows the advantages of cash payments compared to non-cash ones and defines the possibility to transform these advantages into the central bank digital currencies. The disputable issues of commercial banks development under the spread of digital currencies are discussed. The architecture of digital currencies is described, including distributed ledgers technology. It was shown that, for the digital currency to function effectively, it is necessary to include the privacy of end-users into its architecture; measures to achieve that are determined.Scientific novelty: the approached proposed in the article should be used to develop the digital currencies infrastructure. It should be government-backed, privately-operated and ensure that every transaction is registered by a bank or money services business, relying upon non-custodial wallets backed by privacy-enhancing technology, such as blind signatures or zero-knowledge proofs, to ensure that transaction counterparties are not revealed. This approach can also facilitate more efficient and transparent clearing, settlement, and management of systemic risk. We argue that our system can restore and preserve the salient features of cash, including privacy, owner-custodianship, fungibility, and accessibility, while also preserving fractional reserve banking and the existing two-tiered banking system.Practical significance: the proposed approach can be applied in the practical organization of perform monetary transactions using digital currencies.The article was first published in English language by Future Internet. For more information please contact the editorial office.For original publication: Goodell G., Al-Nakib H. D., Tasca P. A Digital Currency Architecture for Privacy and Owner-Custodianship, Future Internet, 2021, 13, 130. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi13050130Publication URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/13/5/13