Living with Toxicity:disruptive temporalities in visual art and literature

Today’s world is deeply toxic: both human bodies and their environments bear traces of all kinds of industrial toxicants. We are, essentially, living with toxicity. In considering this new status quo, research focuses usually on toxicity’s effects on human health. This dissertation proposes that we also need to take seriously the impact of toxicity on human relations to time, which shape contemporary life. It additionally argues that visual art and literature can play crucial roles in identifying and articulating these temporal perturbations as a form of toxic violence. Living with Toxicity establishes toxicity as a deeply temporal phenomenon. Toxic substances linger in the environment into the far future; a person’s body might carry the traces of chemicals outlawed 30 years ago; and the effects of exposure sometimes only become visible years later, creating a state of perpetual uncertainty. Consequently, understanding the temporal aspects of toxicity goes to the heart of understanding how living with toxicity takes shape. Visual art and literature shed light on the notoriously elusive phenomena of time and toxicity. What unites the studied works is that they all invite their audiences to consider how normative, established, and predictable ways of orienting oneself in time become increasingly less attainable in living with toxicity. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that the temporal disorientation, instability, and sense of impasse that living with toxicity engenders should be understood as forms of toxic harm in their own right

High school teachers' experiences of dealing with learners made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS

The HIV and AIDS pandemic have become not only a health concern but educational and social concern as well. According to Beyers and Hay (2011, p. 99) many school-going children are not only affected by HIV but a large number of adolescents are also either HIV positive or have AIDS. Other researchers argue that education should act as a vaccine against new HIV infections (Kendall and O’Gara, 2007, p. 6). This argument comes with the expectation that all teachers are willing and ready to work with learners made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS; without considering the lived realities of the teachers in relation to HIV and AIDS. While many teachers make a difference in the lives of affected and infected learners through the way in which they deal with the learners concerned, some may not take up the challenge to assist the learners, while others might unknowingly and unintentionally do harm. This study, therefore, aimed at exploring high school teachers’ experiences of working with learners made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS in order to generate guidelines to assist teachers to effectively deal with vulnerable learners in their classrooms

Assessment of oral bioaccessibility of arsenic in playground soil in Madrid (Spain): A three-method comparison and implications for risk assessment

Three methodologies to assess As bioaccessibility were evaluated using playgroundsoil collected from 16 playgrounds in Madrid, Spain: two (Simplified Bioaccessibility Extraction Test: SBET, and hydrochloric acid-extraction: HCl) assess gastric-only bioaccessibility and the third (Physiologically Based Extraction Test: PBET) evaluates mouth–gastric–intestinal bioaccessibility. Aqua regia-extractable (pseudo total) As contents, which are routinely employed in riskassessments, were used as the reference to establish the following percentages of bioaccessibility: SBET – 63.1; HCl – 51.8; PBET – 41.6, the highest values associated with the gastric-only extractions. For Madridplaygroundsoils – characterised by a very uniform, weakly alkaline pH, and low Fe oxide and organic matter contents – the statistical analysis of the results indicates that, in contrast with other studies, the highest percentage of As in the samples was bound to carbonates and/or present as calcium arsenate. As opposed to the As bound to Fe oxides, this As is readily released in the gastric environment as the carbonate matrix is decomposed and calcium arsenate is dissolved, but some of it is subsequently sequestered in unavailable forms as the pH is raised to 5.5 to mimic intestinal conditions. The HCl extraction can be used as a simple and reliable (i.e. low residual standard error) proxy for the more expensive, time consuming, and error-prone PBET methodology. The HCl method would essentially halve the estimate of carcinogenic risk for children playing in Madridplaygroundsoils, providing a more representative value of associated risk than the pseudo-total concentrations used at presen

Desigualdad de género en el mercado laboral: análisis comparativo de Andalucía y Yucatán

Las mujeres hemos alcanzado transcendentales avances en el mercado laboral. Nuestras tasas de actividad y de ocupación se han incrementado considerablemente, nos hemos situado en sectores en los que no había presencia femenina, etc. Sin embargo, aún quedan pendientes desafíos trascendentales. Las tasas de paro aún son bastante superiores a las masculinas; somos mayoría en el tiempo parcial y las principales responsables de la conciliación familiar, con las limitaciones que ello supone en la esfera laboral; tenemos salarios más bajos y mayores dificultades a la hora de promocionar laboralmente, etc. En este trabajo nos centramos en dos regiones concretas: Andalucía y Yucatán. Estas regiones presentan singularidades en sus respectivos países (España y México) que las hacen interesantes a la hora de contrastar la situación del empleo femenino y las situaciones de desigualdad existente en los mercados de trabajo de ambos territorios.Women have achieved significant progresses in the labor market. Our activity rates and employment have increased considerably; we have located in sectors where there were no female presence, etc. However, there are still outstanding critical challenges. Unemployment rates are still considerably higher than male; we are majority in part-time and primarily responsible for family reconciliation, with the limitations that this implies in the workplace; we have lower wages and greater difficulties in promoting in labor, and so on. In this paper we focus on two specific regions: Andalusia and Yucatan. These regions have peculiarities in their respective countries (Spain and Mexico) that make them interesting to contrast the situation of women’s employment and situations of inequality in the labor markets of both territories

¿Está la juventud exenta de la desigualdad de género en el mercado laboral?

Las desigualdades entre hombres y mujeres, pese a los avances conseguidos tras años de lucha, continúan manifestándose en las mayores dificultades de acceso al mundo laboral para las mujeres, las segregaciones ocupacionales, la brecha salarial de género, etc. Podríamos pensar que para la juventud, con un mejor acceso a la información, facilitado por su acercamiento a las TIC como nativos digitales, mayores niveles de formación en general, etc., estarían superados estos problemas. En cambio, las dificultades a que se enfrenta la juventud en el mercado laboral son alarmantes, de modo que los organismos internacionales están muy preocupados por las elevadas cifras de desempleo y absentismo juvenil. Nuestro objetivo en este trabajo es analizar si las desigualdades laborales de género se ven incrementadas o no entre las generaciones más jóvenes. Para ello hemos realizado un análisis comparado de dos países España y México, y concretamente de dos regiones Andalucía y Yucatán.Inequality between men and women, despite the progress achieved after years of struggle, continues to offer steep challenges to women in their access to jobs, with greater difficulties to them, occupational segregation, the gender wage gap, etc. We might think youth, with better access to the information, providing the approach to ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) as digitals natives, greater levels of general formation, etc., these problems could be overcome. Instead, the difficulties faced by young people in the labour market are disturbing, in a way that deeply concerns the international organizations because of high unemployment rates and youth absenteeism. Our objective in this article is to determine if the inequalities in gender employment are increasing or not among the younger generations. To that end, we have made a comparative analysis of two countries: Spain and Mexico, and specifically of two regions: Andalucia and Yucatan

Overweight and Obesity in Indigenous Mayan Communities. Economy, Culture and Gender

La vida de las comunidades rurales mexicanas experimentó cambios significativos derivados de la globalización. La combinación de cultura indígena en Yucatán y modernidad originó nuevos estilos de vida provocando un impacto negativo en la condición nutricia de sus habitantes. Entre los problemas de salud más importantes está el sobrepeso y obesidad, que dada su multidimensionalidad debe ser analizado desde diferentes disciplinas. Su carácter económico y social justifica estudiar la Población en Edad de Trabajar analizando factores del mercado laboral, de consumo, y de género en un contexto de cultura local. El principal objetivo del trabajo es estudiar la alta incidencia del sobrepeso y la obesidad en las áreas rurales yucatecas. Se utilizan modelos de regresión logística binaria para establecer la relación con diversas variables.Introduction The life of rural communities in Mexico has undergone significant changes in recent years as a result of the processes been driven by globalization. The combination of indigenous culture in Yucatan and modernity has brought new lifestyles that have caused a negative impact on the nutritional status of its inhabitants. Among them, overweight and obesity have become one of the most important health problems, which can and must be analysed from different disciplines given its multidimensionality. Economic and social nature makes relevant study the Working Age Population analysing labour market factors, consumer, and gender in the context of local culture given its large indigenous population. Aim Overweight and obesity is a serious public health problem affecting several countries, among which Mexico highlights, and especially the state of Yucatan, which has a high indigenous Mayan population mostly in its rural areas. The main objective of this work is to study this high incidence of overweight and obesity in rural areas as a result of a strong cultural roots in a conducive context for the increase in body mass index (BMI), being the gender a differentiating factor. Methodology In this study, socio-demographic factors and cultural character and its relationship to nutritional imbalance of the studied population are analysed. Also, labour factors of Yucatan rural population and its relationship to overweight and obesity rates are analysed. Finally, several variables related to nutritional imbalance are contrasted and gender differences in the Yucatan rural population are identified. In order to do this, there were used the results of the surveys and work anthropometric measurement and others made in the project: “The effects of globalization on traditional food consumption, the use of biodiversity and nutrition of the rural inhabitants of Yucatan, Mexico” (Becerril, 2009). From comprehensive database, variables related to the occupation, the location of the community regarding the state capital, education, and consumption habits were selected; and in the case of women if they have had children. Then, there were built, using SPSS software, binary logistic regression models for both men and women. Main results On the health issue, obesity stands out as a problem that affects a large population, from childhood to adulthood, with the highest incidence in women. The role of women in the Mayan culture, especially in their role as mothers, is related to the fact that they don’t see obesity as a health problem. For both women and men, the variables proximity to the city of Merida, where you eat, where you buy your food and kind of drinks accompanying foods do not affect the condition of overweight or obesity. According to the results of the regression model the likelihood of obesity decreases by increasing the level of education only for women, but in these rural areas in Mexico, women have lower educational level than men. Overweight and obesity has a significant relationship with the fact that women have children; the more children women have the higher the likelihood that women have obesity or overweight is. Contrasting models respect to the values of R2 Nagelkerke shows that the analysed variables explain the condition of being overweight or obese better in the case of men than for women, however, the occupation increases further the likelihood of being overweight or obese for men and acts inversely for women. Conclusion It is confirmed in this study the high incidence of overweight and obesity in the rural communities in Yucatan, Mexico. There is a relationship between the indigenous Mayan culture and a certain ‘lack of awareness’ of the health problem that supposes the overweight and obesity. Although at the moment is the woman who has the highest rates of obesity, it can also be the most effective way to implement actions to sustained improvements. Education is perhaps the most efficient strategy in the short, medium and long term. Moreover, it is urgent to reduce welfare gaps between rural and urban as well as gender