CEDAW and Transformative Judicial Obligations: The Vulnerable Migrant Domestic Worker and Root Causes of Abuse

CEDAW’s transformative provisions, which require states to address root causes of injustice and discrimination, can be made more effective not only through legislation and policy, as commonly argued, but through the judiciary. This article highlights the need to develop the content and implementation of transformative judicial obligations under CEDAW through a comparative study of judicial decisions on the abuse of female MDWs in three key MDW destinations that are party to CEDAW—Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. By engaging with scholarship on CEDAW’s positive obligations, transformative equality, and theories of adjudication, this article argues that criminal law courts should not only ensure the accountability and punishment of perpetrators of MDW abuse, but should also ascertain and critique the laws, policies, and practices enabling such abuse. Courts in the MDW destination countries studied here have increasingly recognized MDWs’ vulnerabilities by discussing MDWs’ social isolation, financial precariousness, and dependence on employers for their basic needs. However, these judicial discussions generally have not recognized the underlying causes of MDWs’ vulnerabilities. By analyzing positive and negative examples of judicial decisions, this article demonstrates that criminal law courts can and should act as transformative agents by exercising their expressive or statement-making powers to address the causes of MDW vulnerabilities. Importantly, CEDAW requires courts to determine the root causes of MDW abuse, identify the necessary steps forward, target responsible state actors, and counter deep-seated prejudices by representing MDWs as dignified rights-bearing workers

Comparison of feeding practices, eating behaviors and dietary intake between children with Autism Spectrum Disorder of different body weight status in Sarawak

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are a nutritionally vulnerable population. To date, information on nutritional status and dietary intake of Malaysian children with ASD is scarce. This cross-sectional study aimed to compare parental feeding practices, child eating behaviors, and dietary intake between children with ASD of different body weight status from 16 autism intervention centers in Sarawak. A total of 124 children (83.9% males and 16.1% females) aged 2 to 11 years and their mothers were recruited using convenience sampling. Mothers were interviewed to obtain information on parental feeding practices and child eating behaviors. Anthropometric measurements including weight and height were measured by the researcher. Dietary intake was assessed using food diary and nutrient intakes were compared with the Malaysian Recommended Nutrient Intakes (RNI). The prevalence of at risk of overweight (4.8%), overweight (16.9%), and obesity (20.2%) was higher than that of thinness (3.2%). Inadequate intake of energy (33.9%), calcium (90.3%), vitamin C (37.9%), vitamin A (52.4%), and vitamin D (93.5%) was reported among children with ASD. Mothers with overweight/obese children reported higher scores in perceived child weight (p<0.001), concern about child weight (p=0.003), food responsiveness (p=0.001), emotional over-eating (p=0.035), and enjoyment of food (p=0.038) subscales as compared to their counterparts with normal weight. Overweight/obese children with ASD consumed more energy, fat, and iron than normal weight children with ASD (p<0.05). Children with ASD in this study were prone to overnutrition and nutritional deficiencies. Dietary interventions and trainings on parental feeding practices should be included in the intervention programmes by the autism intervention centers to improve feeding practices, eating behaviors, and nutrient intakes of children with ASD

ENGINEERING CONCEPTS IN ANALYSING LUMBOSACRAL LOAD IN POST-OPERATIVE SCOLIOTIC PATIENTS

Lumbosacral alignment plays a major role in the mechanical low back pain in normal population. Malalignment causes increased strain to the muscles and ligaments around it which eventually leads to mechanical low back pain and discomfort. The level of strain a ligament receives in the lumbosacral junction depends upon the lumbosacral angle and the load exerted on it. If there is an easy way to find the load exerted at the lumbosacral junction, then it would be trouble free for the physicians to examine. Hence, the treatment can be planned accordingly. This study analysis the angle, net force produced and stress faced by the ligaments around the lumbosacral joint in postoperative scoliosis patients using radiographic images. Study design was analytical, observational cross sectional study. Radiographs of 30 patients were collected and one sample ‘t ’test was used for data analysis with ‘p ’value set as 0.05 as level of significance .The mean lumbosacral angle of the postoperative scoliotic patients was found to be 45.56 degrees and the standard deviation was ± 8.7156. The results suggest that patients who underwent scoliosis correction surgery did not have an optimal lumbosacral angle of 30 degrees

ToyBox Study Malaysia: improving healthy energy balance and obesity-related behaviours among pre-schoolers in Malaysia

The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity is increasing in Malaysia and currently nearly 10% of children aged between 6 months and 12 years are overweight and almost 12% are obese. Early interventions to prevent excess weight gain are needed. ToyBox Study Malaysia is a feasibility project, funded by the Medical Research Council Newton-Ungku Omar Fund, to assess the practicalities of adapting the existing European ToyBox Study intervention programme to the Malaysian kindergarten setting. The main aims of all ToyBox programmes are related to improving four key energy balance-related behaviours, namely drinking water, eating healthy snacks and meals, reducing sedentary behaviour and increasing physical activity. Using stratified sampling, the ToyBox Study Malaysia intervention will be delivered and compared to usual practice by assessing behaviour, physical activity and health-related outcomes as measured by questionnaires, accelerometry and anthropometry. It is hoped that the evidence-based ToyBox Study Malaysia will help to achieve healthier energy balance-related behaviours in the children and their families and provide lifelong benefits to health. This article provides information on the dietary patterns, physical activity levels and prevalence of overweight and obesity in Malaysian children, and the approach of the ToyBox Study Malaysia

Elucidation of single atom catalysts for energy and sustainable chemical production: Synthesis, characterization and frontier science

The emergence of single atom sites as a frontier research area in catalysis has sparked extensive academic and industrial interest, especially for energy, environmental and chemicals production processes. Single atom catalysts (SACs) have shown remarkable performance in a variety of catalytic reactions, demonstrating high selectivity to the products of interest, long lifespan, high stability and more importantly high atomic metal utilization efficiency. In this review, we unveil in depth insights on development and achievements of SACs, including (a) Chronological progress on SACs development, (b) Recent advances in SACs synthesis, (c) Spatial and temporal SACs characterization techniques, (d) Application of SACs in different energy and chemical production, (e) Environmental and economic aspects of SACs, and (f) Current challenges, promising ideas and future prospects for SACs. On a whole, this review serves to enlighten scientists and engineers in developing fundamental catalytic understanding that can be applied into the future, both for academia or valorizing chemical processes

Dataset on gene expression in the elderly after Mindfulness Awareness Practice or Health Education Program

It has been reported that relaxation techniques can improve physical health and cognitive function. A number of studies involving different types of relaxation practices showed changes in expression of genes. We investigated the gene expression pattern of a cohort of elderly subjects of Asian descent after weekly (for the first three months) and monthly (for the subsequent six months) intervention. Sixty consenting elderly subjects (aged 60–90 years) with mild cognitive impairment were assigned to either the Mindfulness Awareness Practice (MAP) or Health Education Program (HEP) group in a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of the programs in preventing further cognitive decline and evaluate the influence on neurological, cellular and biochemical factors. Blood samples were collected before the start of intervention and after nine months for gene expression profiling using Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 arrays. The dataset is publicly available for further analyses

Influence of layer thickness to the emission spectra in microcavity organic light emitting diodes

Microcavity organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have attracted great attention because they can reduce the width of emission spectra from organic materials, enhance brightness and achieve multipeak emission from the same material. In this work, we have fabricated microcavity OLEDs with widely used organic materials, such as N,N'-di(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N'-diphenylbenzidine (NPB) as a hole transport layer and tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq) as emitting and electron transporting layer. These organic materials are sandwiched either between two thick silver mirrors or one thin copper and one thick silver mirrors. The influence of total cavity length (from 164 nm to 243nm) and the cavity Q-factor to the emission behavior has been investigated. In all cases, an OLED without bottom mirror, i.e. with the organic materials sandwiched between indium tin oxide and a thick silver mirror, has been fabricated for comparison. We have characterized the devices with photoluminescence, electroluminescence, and reflectance measurements. Multiple peaks have been observed for some devices at larger viewing angles