Population policies and education: exploring the contradictions of neo-liberal globalisation

The world is increasingly characterised by profound income, health and social inequalities (Appadurai, 2000). In recent decades development initiatives aimed at reducing these inequalities have been situated in a context of increasing globalisation with a dominant neo-liberal economic orthodoxy. This paper argues that neo-liberal globalisation contains inherent contradictions regarding choice and uniformity. This is illustrated in this paper through an exploration of the impact of neo-liberal globalisation on population policies and programmes. The dominant neo-liberal economic ideology that has influenced development over the last few decades has often led to alternative global visions being overlooked. Many current population and development debates are characterised by polarised arguments with strongly opposing aims and views. This raises the challenge of finding alternatives situated in more middle ground that both identify and promote the socially positive elements of neo-liberalism and state intervention, but also to limit their worst excesses within the population field and more broadly. This paper concludes with a discussion outling the positive nature of middle ground and other possible alternatives

Influence of silanization on voltammetry at electrodes modified with silica films of controlled porosity formed by electrochemically initiated sol-gel processing

Silica sol-gel (SG) films with templated pores were deposited on glassy carbon (GC) electrodes by an electrochemically initiated process. Generation-4 poly(amidoamine), PAMAM, dendrimer was included in the tetraethoxysilane precursor to facilitate pore formation. The PAMAM adsorbs to the GC, which blocks SG formation at those sites on the electrode. The pore size was 10±5 nm. After removal of the PAMAM, cyclic voltammetry of Fe(CN) 6 3- and Ru(NH3) 6 3+ at pH 6.2 showed that the residual negative charge on the silica attenuated the current for the former and increased the current for the latter, presumably by electrostatic repulsion and ion-exchange preconcentration, respectively. This premise was supported by repeating the measurements at the isoelectric point. Methylation of the silanol sites was used to eliminate the charge of the SG. At the end-capped SG, the voltammetry of Fe(CN) 6 3- and Ru(NH3) 6 3+ yielded currents that were independent of pH over the range 2.1 to 7.2. Circumventing the need for the silanization by using (3-glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane as the sol-gel precursor failed because the oxygen plasma treatment to remove the PAMAM attacked the organically modified sol-gel backbone. The resulting modified electrode mitigated the influence of proteins on the voltammetry of test species and stabilized functionalize nanoparticle catalysts under hydrodynamic condition

The relationship between anxiety, depression and religious coping strategies and erectile dysfunction in Iranian patients with spinal cord injury

Objectives: To assess the role of anxiety, depressive mood and religious coping in erectile function among Iranian patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Repair Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Methods: A sample of N =93 men with SCI participated in this cross-sectional study. Levels of anxiety and depressive mood were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Religious coping strategies were measured using the 14-items Brief Coping Questionnaire. Erectile function was assessed using the International Index of Erectile Function. The joint effect of anxiety, depressive mood and religious coping strategies on erectile function was assessed by performing stepwise multiple linear regression analyses. Results: The mean age of the SCI patients was 37.8 years with a mean post-injury time of 4.6 years. Multivariate regression analyses indicated that age (B=− 0.27, 95% CI=− 0.47 to − 0.07), education (B for higher education=0.63, 95% CI=0.24 to 1.02), the American Spinal Injury Association impairment scale (B for complete impairment=− 3.36, 95% CI=− 3.82 to − 2.89), anxiety (B=− 3.56, 95% CI=− 5.76 to − 1.42), positive religious coping (B=0.30, 95% CI=0.03 to 0.57), negative religious coping (B=− 0.56, 95% CI=− 0.82 to − 0.29) and the duration of injury (B=− 0.25, 95% CI=− 0.22 to − 0.29) were all independent factors influencing erectile function in SCI patients. Conclusion: Overall, the results indicated that SCI patients who use positive religious coping strategies had better erectile function compared with individuals who applied negative religious coping strategies. Furthermore, higher levels of anxiety, greater impairment and longer duration of injury turned out to be risk factors for erectile dysfunction