The discursive construction of childhood and youth in AIDS interventions in Lesotho's education sector: Beyond global-local dichotomies

This is the post-print version of this article. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and Planning D,Society and Space 28(5) 791 – 810, 2010, available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 Pion.In southern Africa interventions to halt the spread of AIDS and address its social impacts are commonly targeted at young people, in many cases through the education sector. In Lesotho, education-sector responses to AIDS are the product of negotiation between a range of ‘local’ and ‘global’ actors. Although many interventions are put forward as government policy and implemented by teachers in schools, funding is often provided by bilateral and multilateral donors, and the international ‘AIDS industry’—in the form of UN agencies and international NGOs—sets agendas and makes prescriptions. This paper analyses interviews conducted with policy makers and practitioners in Lesotho and a variety of documents, critically examining the discourses of childhood and youth that are mobilised in producing changes in education policy and practice to address AIDS. Focusing on bursary schemes, life-skills education, and rights-based approaches, the paper concludes that, although dominant ‘global’ discourses are readily identified, they are not simply imported wholesale from the West, but rather are transformed through the organisations and personnel involved in designing and implementing interventions. Nonetheless, the connections through which these discourses are made, and children are subjectified, are central to the power dynamics of neoliberal globalisation. Although the representations of childhood and youth produced through the interventions are hybrid products of local and global discourses, the power relations underlying them are such that they, often unintentionally, serve a neoliberal agenda by depicting young people as individuals in need of saving, of developing personal autonomy, or of exercising individual rights.RGS-IB

New models of care: a liaison psychiatry service for medically unexplained symptoms and frequent attenders in primary care

Aims and method: This paper describes the process of setting up and the early results from a new liaison psychiatry service in primary care for people identified as frequent general practice attenders with long-term conditions or medically unexplained symptoms. Using a rapid evidence synthesis, we identified existing service models, mechanisms to identify and refer patients, and outcomes for the service. Considering this evidence, with local contingencies we defined options and resources. We agreed a model to set up a service in three diverse general practices. An evaluation explored the feasibility of the service and of collecting data for clinical, service and economic outcomes. Results: High levels of patient and staff satisfaction, and reductions in the utilisation of primary and secondary healthcare, with associated cost savings are reported. Clinical implications: A multidisciplinary liaison psychiatry service integrated in primary care is feasible and may be evaluated using routinely collected data

Validating child vaccination status in a demographic surveillance system using data from a clinical cohort study: evidence from rural South Africa

<p><b>Background:</b> Childhood vaccination coverage can be estimated from a range of sources. This study aims to validate vaccination data from a longitudinal population-based demographic surveillance system (DSS) against data from a clinical cohort study.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> The sample includes 821 children in the Vertical Transmission cohort Study (VTS), who were born between December 2001 and April 2005, and were matched to the Africa Centre DSS, in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Vaccination information in the surveillance was collected retrospectively, using standardized questionnaires during bi-annual household visits, when the child was 12 to 23 months of age. DSS vaccination information was based on extraction from a vaccination card or, if the card was not available, on maternal recall. In the VTS, vaccination data was collected at scheduled maternal and child clinic visits when a study nurse administered child vaccinations. We estimated the sensitivity of the surveillance in detecting vaccinations conducted as part of the VTS during these clinic visits.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> Vaccination data in matched children in the DSS was based on the vaccination card in about two-thirds of the cases and on maternal recall in about one-third. The sensitivity of the vaccination variables in the surveillance was high for all vaccines based on either information from a South African Road-to-Health (RTH) card (0.94-0.97) or maternal recall (0.94-0.98). Addition of maternal recall to the RTH card information had little effect on the sensitivity of the surveillance variable (0.95-0.97). The estimates of sensitivity did not vary significantly, when we stratified the analyses by maternal antenatal HIV status. Addition of maternal recall of vaccination status of the child to the RTH card information significantly increased the proportion of children known to be vaccinated across all vaccines in the DSS.</p> <p><b>Conclusion:</b> Maternal recall performs well in identifying vaccinated children aged 12-23 months (both in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected mothers), with sensitivity similar to information extracted from vaccination cards. Information based on both maternal recall and vaccination cards should be used if the aim is to use surveillance data to identify children who received a vaccination.</p&gt

Beyond the ‘Tomlinson Trap’: analysing the effectiveness of section 1 of the Compensation Act 2006

One of the intentions underpinning section 1 of the Compensation Act 2006 was to provide reassurance to individual volunteers, and voluntary organisations, involved in what the provision called ‘desirable activities’ and including sport. The perception was that such volunteers, motivated by an apprehension about their increased vulnerability to negligence liability, and as driven by a fear of a wider societal compensation culture, were engaging excessively in risk-averse behaviour to the detriment of such socially desirable activities. Academic commentary on section 1 of the Compensation Act 2006 has largely regarded the provision as unnecessary and doing little more than restating existing common law practice. This article argues otherwise and, on critically reviewing the emerging jurisprudence, posits the alternative view that section 1, in practice, affords an enhanced level of protection and safeguarding for individuals undertaking functions in connection with a desirable activity. Nonetheless, the occasionally idiosyncratic judicial interpretation given to term ‘desirable activity’, potentially compounded by recent enactment of the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015, remains problematic. Two points of interest will be used to inform this debate. First, an analysis of the then House of Lords’ decision in Tomlinson and its celebrated ‘balancing exercise’ when assessing reasonableness in the context of negligence liability. Second, a fuller analysis of the application of section 1 in the specific context of negligence actions relating to the coaching of sport where it is argued that the, albeit limited, jurisprudence might support the practical utility of a heightened evidential threshold of gross negligence

Pedagogical Agents for Fostering Question-Asking Skills in Children

Question asking is an important tool for constructing academic knowledge, and a self-reinforcing driver of curiosity. However, research has found that question asking is infrequent in the classroom and children's questions are often superficial, lacking deep reasoning. In this work, we developed a pedagogical agent that encourages children to ask divergent-thinking questions, a more complex form of questions that is associated with curiosity. We conducted a study with 95 fifth grade students, who interacted with an agent that encourages either convergent-thinking or divergent-thinking questions. Results showed that both interventions increased the number of divergent-thinking questions and the fluency of question asking, while they did not significantly alter children's perception of curiosity despite their high intrinsic motivation scores. In addition, children's curiosity trait has a mediating effect on question asking under the divergent-thinking agent, suggesting that question-asking interventions must be personalized to each student based on their tendency to be curious.Comment: Accepted at CHI 202

The Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey I: Design and First Results

The Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) is the first large-area survey to be conducted with the full 36-antenna Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. RACS will provide a shallow model of the ASKAP sky that will aid the calibration of future deep ASKAP surveys. RACS will cover the whole sky visible from the ASKAP site in Western Australia, and will cover the full ASKAP band of $700-1800$ MHz. The RACS images are generally deeper than the existing NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) and Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey (SUMSS) radio surveys and have better spatial resolution. All RACS survey products will be public, including radio images (with $\sim 15$ arcsecond resolution) and catalogues of about three million source components with spectral index and polarisation information. In this paper, we present a description of the RACS survey and the first data release of 903 images covering the sky south of declination $+41^\circ$ made over a 288 MHz band centred at 887.5 MHz.Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures, 4 tables. For associated data see https://data.csiro.au/collections/domain/casdaObservation/results/PRAS110%20-%20The%20Rapid%20ASKAP%20Continuu

Clinical, ultrasound and molecular biomarkers for early prediction of large for gestational age infants in nulliparous women: an international prospective cohort study

Objective: To develop a prediction model for term infants born large for gestational age (LGA) by customised birthweight centiles. Methods: International prospective cohort of nulliparous women with singleton pregnancy recruited to the Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE) study. LGA was defined as birthweight above the 90th customised centile, including adjustment for parity, ethnicity, maternal height and weight, fetal gender and gestational age. Clinical risk factors, ultrasound parameters and biomarkers at 14–16 or 19–21 weeks were combined into a prediction model for LGA infants at term using stepwise logistic regression in a training dataset. Prediction performance was assessed in a validation dataset using area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve (AUC) and detection rate at fixed false positive rates. Results: The prevalence of LGA at term was 8.8% (n = 491/5628). Clinical and ultrasound factors selected in the prediction model for LGA infants were maternal birthweight, gestational weight gain between 14–16 and 19–21 weeks, and fetal abdominal circumference, head circumference and uterine artery Doppler resistance index at 19–21 weeks (AUC 0.67; 95%CI 0.63–0.71). Sensitivity of this model was 24% and 49% for a fixed false positive rate of 10% and 25%, respectively. The addition of biomarkers resulted in selection of random glucose, LDL-cholesterol, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (VEGFR1) and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), but with minimal improvement in model performance (AUC 0.69; 95%CI 0.65–0.73). Sensitivity of the full model was 26% and 50% for a fixed false positive rate of 10% and 25%, respectively. Conclusion: Prediction of LGA infants at term has limited diagnostic performance before 22 weeks but may have a role in contingency screening in later pregnancy

The MeerKAT international GHz tiered extragalactic exploration (MIGHTEE) survey

The MIGHTEE large survey project will survey four of the most well-studied extragalactic deep fields, totalling 20 square degrees to µJy sensitivity at Giga-Hertz frequencies, as well as an ultra-deep image of a single ∼1 deg2 MeerKAT pointing. The observations will provide radio continuum, spectral line and polarisation information. As such, MIGHTEE, along with the excellent multi-wavelength data already available in these deep fields, will allow a range of science to be achieved. Specifically, MIGHTEE is designed to significantly enhance our understanding of, (i) the evolution of AGN and star-formation activity over cosmic time, as a function of stellar mass and environment, free of dust obscuration; (ii) the evolution of neutral hydrogen in the Universe and how this neutral gas eventually turns into stars after moving through the molecular phase, and how efficiently this can fuel AGN activity; (iii) the properties of cosmic magnetic fields and how they evolve in clusters, filaments and galaxies. MIGHTEE will reach similar depth to the planned SKA all-sky survey, and thus will provide a pilot to the cosmology experiments that will be carried out by the SKA over a much larger survey volume

A Unique Human-Fox Burial from a Pre-Natufian Cemetery in the Levant (Jordan)

New human burials from northern Jordan provide important insights into the appearance of cemeteries and the nature of human-animal relationships within mortuary contexts during the Epipalaeolithic period (c. 23,000–11,600 cal BP) in the Levant, reinforcing a socio-ideological relationship that goes beyond predator-prey. Previous work suggests that archaeological features indicative of social complexity occur suddenly during the latest Epipalaeolithic phase, the Natufian (c. 14,500–11,600 cal BP). These features include sedentism, cemeteries, architecture, food production, including animal domestication, and burials with elaborate mortuary treatments. Our findings from the pre-Natufian (Middle Epipalaeolithic) cemetery of ‘Uyun al-Hammam demonstrate that joint human-animal mortuary practices appear earlier in the Epipalaeolithic. We describe the earliest human-fox burial in the Near East, where the remains of dogs have been found associated with human burials at a number of Natufian sites. This is the first time that a fox has been documented in association with human interments pre-dating the Natufian and with a particular suite of grave goods. Analysis of the human and animal bones and their associated artefacts provides critical data on the nature and timing of these newly-developing relationships between people and animals prior to the appearance of domesticated dogs in the Natufian