Are Transnational NGOs changing norms in the vocational ‘education and training’ of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people in the Middle East?

In the field of International Relations (hereafter referred to as IR), the role of Transnational Non Governmental Organisations (hereafter TNGOs) has changed; as the field of IR has traditionally been dominated by state-centric approaches, the role of NGOs was once considered insignificant, but is now considered to play an important role because of their ability to contribute to changing international norms, principles and agendas in local contexts (Joachim, 2020, pp. 349-50). TNGOs and International Organisations have developed various multi-agency, multi-sectoral frameworks, policies and programmes, all aimed at enabling refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people (hereafter RASIDPs) to access quality education and training regardless of gender, age, race or asylum status. Several international frameworks now recommend including Youth in creating sustainable, durable solutions for their futures (IASC 2020, INEE 2021, UNGA 2015, UNHCR 2017, 2019, 2020) so their voices are imperative in the creation of policies and strategies involving their education, training and future livelihoods. Having said this, these policies and strategies are not necessarily accepted or implemented across all education and training institutions in the countries where TNGOs are operating; therefore local education and training norms may or may not be affected. Given the role of TNGOs in humanitarian settings, how much power does an organisation like the NRC have in terms of changing norms within those countries and institutions? Are local beliefs changeable by international influence and if so, how much? Can TNGOs like the NRC shape the way a nationality or nation of foreign residents thinks about what is needed for Youth RASIDPs need for success, and what best practice education and training looks like? Based on data gathered from a survey administered across several NRC vocational education and training centres in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, this paper is a norms based exploration into the role of TNGOs as providers of normative change in a case study of RASIDPs engaged in TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) in the Middle East. The survey was administered to 171 youth learners (aged 15 plus) and 65 trainers of six Arabic speaking nationalities, and the data shows which norms are changing and which norms have not yet been affected, when compared with traditional approaches to TVET in the Middle East. This data also contributes to the lack of academic data that exists on perceived needs of learners in education in emergency contexts.M-I

Explosive events on sub-arcsecond scale in IRIS observations: a case study

We present study of a typical explosive event (EE) at sub-arcsecond scale witnessed by strong non-Gaussian profiles with blue- and red-shifted emission of up to 150 km/s seen in the transition-region Si IV 1402.8 \AA, and the chromospheric Mg II k 2796.4 \AA\ and C II 1334.5 \AA\ observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph at unprecedented spatial and spectral resolution. For the first time a EE is found to be associated with very small-scale ($\sim$120 km wide) plasma ejection followed by retraction in the chromosphere. These small-scale jets originate from a compact bright-point-like structure of $\sim$1.5" size as seen in the IRIS 1330 \AA\ images. SDO/AIA and SDO/HMI co-observations show that the EE lies in the footpoint of a complex loop-like brightening system. The EE is detected in the higher temperature channels of AIA 171 \AA, 193 \AA\ and 131 \AA\ suggesting that it reaches a higher temperature of log T$=5.36\pm0.06$ (K). Brightenings observed in the AIA channels with durations 90--120 seconds are probably caused by the plasma ejections seen in the chromosphere. The wings of the C II line behave in a similar manner as the Si IV's indicating close formation temperatures, while the Mg II k wings show additional Doppler-shifted emission. Magnetic convergence or emergence followed by cancellation at a rate of $5\times10^{14}$ Mx s$^{-1}$ is associated with the EE region. The combined changes of the locations and the flux of different magnetic patches suggest that magnetic reconnection must have taken place. Our results challenge several theories put forward in the past to explain non-Gaussian line profiles, i.e. EEs. Our case study on its own, however, cannot reject these theories, thus further in-depth studies on the phenomena producing EEs are required.Comment: 16 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Connected Health: An Open Innovation Perspective.

The concept of connected health has gained traction in recent years as a new technology enabled and networked model of health care delivery. It is often used as an umbrella term for eHealth, digital health, health informatics, telemedicine, mHealth and involves the establishment and management of a network of stakeholders with the aim of improving health care quality and out- comes. Yet a lack of open interactions and knowledge networks and the missing integration of the larger constituency of interdisciplinary experts are limiting the execution of the model and restricting its potential to devise services and interventions around patient’s needs with shared health related data. Drawing parallels between the concept of connected health and open innovation, the networked innovation model, which involves efficient management of knowledge flows and complex networks for successful innovations; in this paper we outline the practice of open innovation in health care and suggest connecting stakeholders in the health care ecosystem in an open innovative format. In doing so we present a categorization of firms in the health care ecosystem into open innovation profiles for getting connected and propose an open innovative framework for maximizing the potential of the concept of connected health

Risk of Adverse Obstetric and Neonatal Outcomes by Maternal Age: Quantifying Individual and Population Level Risk Using Routine UK Maternity Data.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate whether moderately increased maternal age is associated with obstetric and neonatal outcome in a contemporary population, and to consider the possible role of co-morbidities in explaining any increased risk. STUDY DESIGN: Secondary analysis of routinely collected data from a large maternity unit in London, UK. Data were available on 51,225 singleton deliveries (≥22 weeks) occurring to women aged ≥20 between 2004 and 2012. Modified Poisson regression was used to estimate risk ratios for the association between maternal age and obstetric and neonatal outcome (delivery type, postpartum haemorrhage, stillbirth, low birthweight, preterm birth, small for gestational age, neonatal unit admission), using the reference group 20-24 years. Population attributable fractions were calculated to quantify the population impact. RESULTS: We found an association between increasing maternal age and major postpartum haemorrhage (≥1000ml blood loss) (RR 1.36 95% CI 1.18-1.57 for age 25-29 rising to 2.41 95% CI 2.02-2.88 for age ≥40). Similar trends were observed for caesarean delivery, most notably for elective caesareans (RR 1.64 95% CI 1.36-1.96 for age 25-29 rising to 4.94 95% CI 4.09-5.96 for age ≥40). There was evidence that parity modified this association, with a higher prevalence of elective caesarean delivery in older nulliparous women. Women aged ≥35 were at increased risk of low birthweight and preterm birth. We found no evidence that the risk of stillbirth, small for gestational age, or neonatal unit admission differed by maternal age. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest a gradual increase in the risk of caesarean delivery and postpartum haemorrhage from age 25, persisting after taking into account maternal BMI, hypertension and diabetes. The risk of low birthweight and preterm birth was elevated in women over 35. Further research is needed to understand the reasons behind the high prevalence of elective caesarean delivery in nulliparous older mothers

Energetics of Hi-C EUV Brightenings

We study the thermal structure and energetics of the point-like EUV brightenings within a system of fan loops observed in the active region \textsl{AR~11520}. These brightenings were simultaneously observed on 2012 July 11 by the HIgh-resolution Coronal (Hi-C) imager and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We identified 27 brightenings by automatically determining intensity enhancements in both Hi-C and AIA ~193~{\AA} light curves. The energetics of these brightenings were studied by using the Differential Emission Measure (DEM) diagnostics. The DEM weighted temperatures of these transients are in the range $\log{T} (K) = 6.2 - 6.6$ with radiative energies ${\approx}10^{24-25}$~ergs and densities ${\approx}$ a few times $10^{9}$~cm$^{-3}$. To the best of our knowledge, these are the smallest brightenings in EUV ever detected. We used these results to determine the mechanism of energy loss in these brightenings. Our analysis reveals that the dominant mechanism of energy loss for all the identified brightenings is conduction rather than radiation.Comment: 17 pages, 8 Figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Explosive events in active region observed by IRIS and SST/CRISP

Transition-region explosive events (EEs) are characterized by non-Gaussian line profiles with enhanced wings at Doppler velocities of 50–150 km s−1. They are believed to be the signature of solar phenomena that are one of the main contributors to coronal heating. The aim of this study is to investigate the link of EEs to dynamic phenomena in the transition region and chromosphere in an active region. We analyse observations simultaneously taken by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) in the Si iv 1394 Å line and the slit-jaw (SJ) 1400 Å images, and the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope in the Hα line. In total 24 events were found. They are associated with small-scale loop brightenings in SJ 1400 Å images. Only four events show a counterpart in the Hα−35 km s−1 and Hα+35 km s−1 images. Two of them represent brightenings in the conjunction region of several loops that are also related to a bright region (granular lane) in the Hα−35 km s−1 and Hα+35 km s−1 images. 16 are general loop brightenings that do not show any discernible response in the Hα images. Six EEs appear as propagating loop brightenings, from which two are associated with dark jet-like features clearly seen in the Hα−35 km s−1 images. We found that chromospheric events with jet-like appearance seen in the wings of the Hα line can trigger EEs in the transition region and in this case the IRIS Si iv 1394 Å line profiles are seeded with absorption components resulting from Fe ii and Ni ii. Our study indicates that EEs occurring in active regions have mostly upper-chromosphere/transition-region origin. We suggest that magnetic reconnection resulting from the braidings of small-scale transition region loops is one of the possible mechanisms of energy release that are responsible for the EEs reported in this paper

Editorial:The emergence of animal welfare science and policy in Africa, Asia and Latin America

Peer Reviewe

Friendship Village : Exploring the Critical Economic Development and Urban Design Link for Sustainable Development

Presented on December 3, 2008 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in the Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development 2nd floor classroom.Full report: Friendship Village Exploring the Critical Economic Development and Urban Design Link for Sustainable Development, January 2009Runtime: 77:11 minutes (Presentation)Runtime: 23:27 minutes (Q & A)The Friendship Village group had the charge of advising a large-scale land developer on directions for promoting sustainability in the plans for a 210 acre multi-use project in south Fulton County, Georgia. Their work included site design recommendations modeled after traditional town centers in ten case studies but also included innovative open space and stormwater management proposals and ideas about educational and health care facilities. The diverse professional audience expressed admiration and the developer’s lead representative indicated that results exceeded her expectations.Faculty Advisors: Nancey Green Leigh, Professor of City and Regional Planning ; Richard Dagenhart, Associate Professor of Architecture ; John Skach, Adjunct Professor; Senior Associate, Urban Collag