Social Sustainable Education in a Refugee Camp

The main objective of this article is to discuss how an Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institution in a refugee camp can promote social sustainable education. By giving empirical examples of innovative pedagogical ideas and practices inside a Greek ECEC institution, this article argues that concepts of formation are ways to promote social sustainable education. The article draws on data from an ECEC institution in which both the children living in a refugee camp and Greek children are located together. With nature as a neutral cultural mediator, serving as a pedagogical framework, children can make new experiences based on participation, equality and mutual respect. Data were produced through field observations, semi-structured interviews and one group interview from March 2019 until September 2019. The empirical data reveal three dimensions that we suggest work as markers for social sustainable pedagogical practice: the importance of nature and play as a facilitator for children’s activities; the importance of participation and equality; and the importance of commitment to the community. The findings are discussed in relation with theoretical concepts of formation, with a particular focus on children as active agents and the value of experiences, and the importance of highly qualified educators.publishedVersio

Depositional environment and apparent age of the Fauske carbonate conglomerate, North Norwegian Caledonides

The Fauske conglomerate represents a rather rare case of a monomict carbonate conglomerate in the Late Neoproterozoic to Silurian, lithostratigraphic successionsof the Norwegian Caledonides. Lithological varieties of this conglomerate unit from the Lovgavlen quarry have a highly decorative quality and are well known in both domestic and international markets under trading names such as 'Norwegian Rose', 'Jaune Rose', 'Norwegian Green', 'Antique Fonce' and 'Hermelin'. The Fauske conglomerate is a 60m-thick unit which rests on either dark grey ('blue') calcite marbles or white dolomite marbles. The latter are jointed and fragmented, and also appear as sedimentary collapse-breccia and debris where they are in direct contact with the conglomerate. Although the Fauske conglomerate has been involved in two main pulses of Caledonian tectonic deformation, which produced an early, syn-metamorphic flattening of the clasts and a later folding or rotation of clasts into a spaced cleavage, the overall sedimentary features are still remarkably well preserved. The Fauske conglomerate unit consists of 25 beds (5 cm to 3 metres thick) comprising landslide, carbonate debris and carbonate breccia-conglomero-breccias-greywacke lithofacies. Blocks, fragments, cobbles, pebbles and smaller clasts are mainly of white dolostone and pink, beige, white and 'blue' calcite marbles. The matrix has a granoblastic texture and similar range in lithology with variable amounts of quartz, fuchsite, sericite, muscovite and chlorite. Within the unit, an upward fining of the clasts is followed by the gradual development of calcareous greywacke layers which show both cross bedding and channelling. The depositional model involves: (i) a locally developed, tectonically unstable carbonate shelf-margin, (ii) a temporary lowering o sea level, (iii) formation of a high-relief, shore-to-basin fault scarp followed by (iv) the development of a channel, with (v) subsequent, long-distance transport of clasts of pink carbonates from the continent-basin margin,w hich were (vi) redeposited together with a carbonate debris (white dolomite and 'blue' calcite marbles) on the tectonically fragmenting edge of a carbonate shelf. Both matrix and pebbles show a similar range in isotopic values: -1.9 to +0.6 per mil (vs. PDB) for 13Ccarb and 0.70896 to 0.70946 for 87Sr/86Sr. The least altered 87Sr/86Sr (0.70896) isotopic value plotted on the calibration curve is consistent with a seawater composition corresponding to ages of 470-475, 505-510 and 520, whereas the least altered 13C carb (-0.6 per mil) value matches only 520 Ma

Catching up with Method and Process Practice: An Industry-Informed Baseline for Researchers

Software development methods are usually not applied by the book.companies are under pressure to continuously deploy software products that meet market needs and stakeholders\u27 requests. To implement efficient and effective development processes, companies utilize multiple frameworks, methods and practices, and combine these into hybrid methods. A common combination contains a rich management framework to organize and steer projects complemented with a number of smaller practices providing the development teams with tools to complete their tasks. In this paper, based on 732 data points collected through an international survey, we study the software development process use in practice. Our results show that 76.8% of the companies implement hybrid methods.company size as well as the strategy in devising and evolving hybrid methods affect the suitability of the chosen process to reach company or project goals. Our findings show that companies that combine planned improvement programs with process evolution can increase their process\u27 suitability by up to 5%

Programmatic management of patients with pre-extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in Peru, 2011-2014.

BACKGROUND: In Peru, a treatment approach for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) incorporating World Health Organization Group 5 drugs and patient-centred care has achieved 65% success. To extend this approach to pre-XDR-TB patients, we evaluated this population separately. OBJECTIVE: To assess programmatic management of pre-XDR-TB. METHOD: Retrospective study using the official national registry from 2011 to 2014. Cases were separately evaluated according to resistance to fluoroquinolones (FQs) (pre-XDR-F) or to second-line injectables (SLIs) (pre-XDR-I). RESULTS: Of 610 pre-XDR-TB patients, 120 (20%) had pre-XDR-F and 490 (80%) had pre-XDR-I. Pre-XDR-F cases were older (34 years vs. 28 years, P < 0.001) and a higher proportion had previously received two or more regimens (70% vs. 38%, P < 0.001). Among the 452 patients who started treatment in 2011-2013, treatment success was 43.3%, 26.5% were lost to follow-up, 12.1% died and 13.7% failed treatment. Success was higher in pre-XDR-I (48.5%) than pre-XDR-F (21.4%) patients. History of previous treatment (OR 2.23, 95%CI 1.52-3.38) and pre-XDR-F (OR 2.39, CI 1.18-4.83) were associated with unsuccessful outcomes. CONCLUSION: Programmatic management of pre-XDR-TB has not been successful, particularly in pre-XDR-F patients, with lower rates of success than those achieved in the same setting for XDR-TB. The strategy used for XDR-TB should be extended to pre-XDR-TB patients in Peru

Scaling Up Programmatic Management of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: A Prioritized Research Agenda

Frank Cobelens and colleagues outline key research questions that need to be addressed to maximize the impact of programmatic management of drug-resistant tuberculosis

Standardized Treatment of Active Tuberculosis in Patients with Previous Treatment and/or with Mono-resistance to Isoniazid: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Performing a systematic review of studies evaluating retreatment of tuberculosis or treatment of isoniazid mono-resistant infection, Dick Menzies and colleagues find a paucity of evidence to support the WHO-recommended regimen

EAACI position paper on occupational rhinitis

The present document is the result of a consensus reached by a panel of experts from European and non-European countries on Occupational Rhinitis (OR), a disease of emerging relevance which has received little attention in comparison to occupational asthma. The document covers the main items of OR including epidemiology, diagnosis, management, socio-economic impact, preventive strategies and medicolegal issues. An operational definition and classification of OR tailored on that of occupational asthma, as well as a diagnostic algorithm based on steps allowing for different levels of diagnostic evidence are proposed. The needs for future research are pointed out. Key messages are issued for each item

Taxonomic and Environmental Variability in the Elemental Composition and Stoichiometry of Individual Dinoflagellate and Diatom Cells from the NW Mediterranean Sea

Here we present, for the first time, the elemental concentration, including C, N and O, of single phytoplankton cells collected from the sea. Plankton elemental concentration and stoichiometry are key variables in phytoplankton ecophysiology and ocean biogeochemistry, and are used to link cells and ecosystems. However, most field studies rely on bulk techniques that overestimate carbon and nitrogen because the samples include organic matter other than plankton organisms. Here we used X-ray microanalysis (XRMA), a technique that, unlike bulk analyses, gives simultaneous quotas of C, N, O, Mg, Si, P, and S, in single-cell organisms that can be collected directly from the sea. We analysed the elemental composition of dinoflagellates and diatoms (largely Chaetoceros spp.) collected from different sites of the Catalan coast (NW Mediterranean Sea). As expected, a lower C content is found in our cells compared to historical values of cultured cells. Our results indicate that, except for Si and O in diatoms, the mass of all elements is not a constant fraction of cell volume but rather decreases with increasing cell volume. Also, diatoms are significantly less dense in all the measured elements, except Si, compared to dinoflagellates. The N:P ratio of both groups is higher than the Redfield ratio, as it is the N:P nutrient ratio in deep NW Mediterranean Sea waters (N:P = 20–23). The results suggest that the P requirement is highest for bacterioplankton, followed by dinoflagellates, and lowest for diatoms, giving them a clear ecological advantage in P-limited environments like the Mediterranean Sea. Finally, the P concentration of cells of the same genera but growing under different nutrient conditions was the same, suggesting that the P quota of these cells is at a critical level. Our results indicate that XRMA is an accurate technique to determine single cell elemental quotas and derived conversion factors used to understand and model ocean biogeochemical cycles