47 research outputs found
Reducing corruption in a Mexican medical school: impact assessment across two cross-sectional surveys
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Corruption pervades educational and other institutions worldwide and medical schools are not exempt. Empirical evidence about levels and types of corruption in medical schools is sparse. We conducted surveys in 2000 and 2007 in the medical school of the Autonomous University of Guerrero in Mexico to document student perceptions and experience of corruption and to support the medical school to take actions to tackle corruption.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In both 2000 and 2007 medical students completed a self-administered questionnaire in the classroom without the teacher present. The questionnaire asked about unofficial payments for admission to medical school, for passing an examination and for administrative procedures. We examined factors related to the experience of corruption in multivariate analysis. Focus groups of students discussed the quantitative findings.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In 2000, 6% of 725 responding students had paid unofficially to obtain entry into the medical school; this proportion fell to 1.6% of the 436 respondents in 2007. In 2000, 15% of students reported having paid a bribe to pass an examination, not significantly different from the 18% who reported this in 2007. In 2007, students were significantly more likely to have bribed a teacher to pass an examination if they were in the fourth year, if they had been subjected to sexual harassment or political pressure, and if they had been in the university for five years or more. Students resented the need to make unofficial payments and suggested tackling the problem by disciplining corrupt teachers. The university administration made several changes to the system of admissions and examinations in the medical school, based on the findings of the 2000 survey.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The fall in the rate of bribery to enter the medical school was probably the result of the new admissions system instituted after the first survey. Further actions will be necessary to tackle the continuing presence of bribery to pass examinations and for administrative procedures. The social audit helped to draw attention to corruption and to stimulate actions to tackle it.</p
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Medicinal plants used by women in Mecca: urban, Muslim and gendered knowledge
Background: This study explores medicinal plant knowledge and use among Muslim women in the city of Mecca,
Saudi Arabia. Ethnobotanical research in the region has focused on rural populations and male herbal healers in
cities, and based on these few studies, it is suggested that medicinal plant knowledge may be eroding. Here, we
document lay, female knowledge of medicinal plants in an urban centre, interpreting findings in the light of the
growing field of urban ethnobotany and gendered knowledge and in an Islamic context.
Methods: Free-listing, structured and semi-structured interviews were used to document the extent of medicinal
plant knowledge among 32 Meccan women. Vernacular names, modes of preparation and application, intended
therapeutic use and emic toxicological remarks were recorded. Women were asked where they learnt about
medicinal plants and if and when they preferred using medicinal plants over biomedical resources. Prior informed consent was always obtained. We compared the list of medicinal plants used by these Meccan women with medicinal plants previously documented in published literature.
Results: One hundred eighteen vernacular names were collected, corresponding to approximately 110 plants, including one algae. Of these, 95 were identified at the species level and 39 (41%) had not been previously cited in Saudi Arabian medicinal plant literature. Almost one half of the plants cited are food and flavouring plants. Meccan women interviewed learn about medicinal plants from their social network, mass media and written sources, and combine biomedical and medicinal plant health care. However, younger women more often prefer biomedical resources and learn from written sources and mass media.
Conclusions: The fairly small number of interviews conducted in this study was sufficient to reveal the singular body of medicinal plant knowledge held by women in Mecca and applied to treat common ailments. Plant availability in local shops and markets and inclusion in religious texts seem to shape the botanical diversity used by the Meccan women interviewed, and the use of foods and spices medicinally could be a global feature of urban ethnobotany. Ethnobotanical knowledge among women in Islamic communities may be changing due to access to mass media and biomedicine. We recognise the lack of documentation of the diversity of medicinal plant knowledge in the Arabian Peninsula and an opportunity to better understand gendered urban and rural knowledge
Truncation Effects in the Functional Renormalization Group Study of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
We study the occurrence of spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) for O (N) models using functional renormalization group techniques. We show that even the local potential approximation (LPA) when treated exactly is sufficient to give qualitatively correct results for systems with continuous symmetry, in agreement with the Mermin-Wagner theorem and its extension to systems with fractional dimensions. For general N (including the Ising model N = 1) we study the solutions of the LPA equations for various truncations around the zero field using a finite number of terms (and different regulators), showing that SSB always occurs even where it should not. The SSB is signalled by Wilson-Fisher fixed points which for any truncation are shown to stay on the line defined by vanishing mass beta functions
Interfacial and Foaming Properties of Two Types of Total Proteose-Peptone Fractions
Total proteose-peptone (TPP) fractions were
extracted from skimmed milk (UHT) and whey protein
concentrate (WPC) on a laboratory scale. Protein solutions
(0.1 %, 0.5 %, and 1 % w/w) were characterized as function
of pH: 4.0, 4.6–4.7 (native pH), and 7.0. Their foaming
capacities and stabilities were studied. Beforehand, the surface
properties that govern them were investigated, notably
the kinetics of adsorption and mechanical properties of
monolayer films at the air–water interface involved in the
formation and the stability of foams respectively. The TPP
extracted from skimmed milk showed the lowest values as well
as a significant reduction in surface tension and presented a
good mechanically resistant film. The TPP extracted from
WPC presented a better foaming capacity and stability which
was unexpected. However, foaming properties and surface
properties of TPP fractions depended on the pH. The considerable
influence of extraction source and method on proteosepeptone’s
properties were highlighted
Patterns and Drivers of Communal Conflict in Kenya
This chapter analyzes patterns of communal conflict – i.e., violent conflicts between non-state groups which are organized based on communal identities – in Kenya. The politicized nature of ethnicity in Kenya, and the fact that both elections and land tenure are closely associated with ethnic identity, are highlighted as key factors explaining the prevalence of violent communal conflict. After discussing the main patterns of conflict since 1989, the chapter goes on to identify four main drivers of conflict: electoral politics, cattle raiding, local resources, and boundaries and local authority. The specific dynamics at play in different conflicts vary, and empirical examples illustrate how the precise way that different conflict drivers interact is different from case to case. The chapter also discusses different strategies by state and non-state actors to address and resolve communal conflicts, and how devolution – the decentralization of significant power to the local level under the 2010 constitution – has affected communal conflicts. As the discussion of devolution illustrates, a major point is that while communal conflicts in general should be seen against the background of a state and a political culture where ethnicity is strongly politicized, the impact of national-level political dynamics on communal conflicts will vary from case to case