‘There is violence across, in all arenas’: listening to stories of violence amongst sexual minority refugees in Uganda

This article examines the complex marginalisation and persecution faced by sexual minorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and forced displacement into Uganda. It demonstrates the need to create space for the voices of sexual minorities within transitional justice, and to attend to the wider systems of violence occurring through conflict and in its aftermath, as they articulate how everyday sexuality-based violence intersects with wider political violence. This article thus calls for a more transformative gendered approach to transitional justice that goes beyond the legal to address deeply ingrained gendered hierarchies of exclusion and stigmatisation of non-heteronormative sexualities

Sand stress as a non-determinant of habitat segregation of indigenous (Perna perna) and invasive (Mytilus galloprovincialis) mussels in South Africa

Periodical sand inundation influences diversity and distribution of intertidal species throughout the world. This study investigates the effect of sand stress on survival and on habitat segregation of the two dominant mussel species living in South Africa, the invasive Mytilus galloprovincialis and the indigenous Perna perna. P. perna occupies a lower intertidal zone which, monthly surveys over 1.5 years showed, is covered by sand for longer periods than the higher M. galloprovincialis zone. Despite this, when buried under sand, P. perna mortality rates were significantly higher than those of M. galloprovincialis in both laboratory and in field experiments. Under anoxic condition, P. perna mortality rates were still significantly higher than those for M. galloprovincialis, but both species died later than when exposed to sand burial, underlining the importance of the physical action of sand on mussel internal organs. When buried, both species accumulate sediments within the shell valves while still alive, but the quantities are much greater for P. perna. This suggests that P. perna gills are more severely damaged by sand abrasion and could explain its higher mortality rates. M. galloprovincialis has longer labial palps than P. perna, indicating a higher particle sorting ability and consequently explaining its lower mortality rates when exposed to sand in suspension. Habitat segregation is often explained by physiological tolerances, but in this case, such explanations fail. Although sand stress strongly affects the survival of the two species, it does not explain their vertical zonation. Contrary to our expectations, the species that is less well adapted to cope with sand stress maintains dominance in a habitat where such stress is high

Urban climate change, livelihood vulnerability and narratives of generational responsibility in Jinja, Uganda

There is an urgent need to understand lived experiences of climate change in the context of African cities, where even small climate shocks can have significant implications for the livelihoods of the urban poor. This article examines narratives of climate and livelihood changes within Jinja Municipality, Uganda, emphasizing how Jinja's residents make sense of climate change through their own narrative frames rather than through the lens of global climate change discourses. We demonstrate how the onset of climate change in Jinja is widely attributed to perceived moral and environmental failings on the part of a present generation that is viewed as both more destructive than previous generations and unable to preserve land, trees and other resources for future generations. A focus on local ontologies of climate change highlights how the multiple, intersecting vulnerabilities of contemporary urban life in Jinja serve to obfuscate not only the conditions of possibility of an immediate future, but the longer-term horizons for future generations, as changing weather patterns exacerbate existing challenges people face in adapting to wider socio-economic changes and rising livelihood vulnerability. This form of analysis situates changing climate and environments within the context of everyday urban struggles and emphasizes the need for civic participation in developing climate change strategies that avoid the pitfalls of climate reductionism. The article draws on more than 150 qualitative interviews, generational dialogue groups, and creative methods based on research-led community theatre

Towards Accurate Partial Volume Correction - Perturbation for SPECT Resolution Estimation

The accuracy of quantitative SPECT imaging is limited by the Partial Volume Effect as a result of the relatively poor spatial resolution. There is currently no consensus on the optimal Partial Volume Correction (PVC) algorithm in the application of SPECT oncology imaging. Several promising candidates require information on the reconstructed resolution - usually in the form of the Point Spread Function (PSF). A particular challenge that SPECT poses for PVC is that the resolution is known to vary with position in the field-of-view, as well as with activity distribution and reconstruction method. In this work, we assessed the potential benefit of using perturbation to measure case-specific resolution for PVC. A small point source was used to measure the resolution in phantoms designed to replicate the issues encountered in oncology imaging, including anthropomorphic phantoms which had not previously been examined in perturbation applications. Results demonstrate that, provided that a sufficient number of iterations is used for image reconstruction, perturbation can be used to measure a case-specific PSF. When PVC is applied with this case-specific PSF, quantitative accuracy is improved compared with no correction or applying PVC with an inappropriate PSF

Halin ai: Intersectional Experiences of Disability, Climate Change, and Disasters in Indonesia

Halin ai centres the lived experiences of climate change and disasters of people living with disabilities in two urban sites in Indonesia—Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan and Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara. We call for an intersectional and decolonial approach to better understand how disabilities intersect with social and structural injustices in urban settings to shape diverse responses to climate change and disasters. We highlight the economic, socio‐cultural, and embodied challenges that increase vulnerability to—and ability to recover from—disasters including urban flooding and earthquakes. We draw on ethnographic and visual data from our research, including a comic illustrated by Ariel and Zaldi and sketches by Rizaldi, to centre diverse lived experiences of structural vulnerabilities and socio‐cultural marginalisation, particularly concerning education and livelihoods. Foregrounding life stories in this way serves to challenge the absence of meaningful engagement of people with disabilities in disaster risk reduction and climate change actions and decision‐making. Our article highlights disability as a site of both discrimination and critical embodied knowledge, simultaneously a product of structural, socio‐cultural, political, and environmental injustice while also a source of innovation, resilience, and agency

Hanya ada Satu Kata: Lawan! On decolonising and building a mutual collaborative research practice on gender and climate change

Our title is borrowed from a famous line of Wiji Thukul’s poem Peringatan (translated as Warning), about the everyday lives of the working class and their struggles to be heard, resonating with many of our experiences in working to decolonise climate knowledge production. As in Thukul’s words: ‘There is only one word: Fight!’ We critically reflect on our recent experiences working with artists, communities, activists, and practitioners to better understand the gender–age–urban interface of climate change: how climate impacts are shaped by gender and age in urban Indonesia. In a deliberate challenge to problematic conventions of academic publishing, we choose to frame this paper around a series of creative processes focused on women’s experiences and responses to climate change, including Madihin – a Banjarese tradition of musical storytelling – and Trans Superhero Perubahan Iklim (Transgender Superheroes for Climate). We centre these different forms of knowledge and voice in our discussion as a series of provocations for researchers and practitioners to think creatively about the languages we use, the methods we draw on, the collaborations we build, how we disseminate ‘academic’ knowledge, and to push at institutional barriers and the boundaries of what ‘inclusion’ truly means at each stage of our research processes. We explore how feminist, ethnographic, and arts-led methodologies can foreground knowledge, perspectives, and art forms that are traditionally excluded in climate change knowledge production – long dominated by colonial and patriarchal hegemonies (and tyrannies) of science and ‘experts’; and unpack our un/learning in this imperfect ‘fight’ to decolonise our research process and build a mutual collaborative research practice

The Role of Parents\u27 Medication Beliefs, Religious Problem-Solving, and Risks for Treatment Nonadherence in Urban Families with Asthma

Childhood asthma is highly prevalent, affecting approximately nine million children in the United States. Negative effects of pediatric asthma are disproportionately experienced by ethnic minorities living in low-income, urban settings. Given the great diversity in families\u27 ways of addressing children\u27s asthma symptoms, sociocultural factors underlying asthma disparities must be examined. The current study investigated associations among parents\u27 beliefs about conventional and holistic/alternative medications, parents\u27 religious problem-solving strategies and childrens\u27 risks for asthma treatment nonadherence. The sample included 66 parents of ethnically diverse children with asthma living in urban settings. Factor analysis of the Religious Problem Solving Questionnaire yielded two factors, self-directed (ie, solving problems independently of God) and God-involved problem solving. Parents\u27 strong positive beliefs about conventional and alternative medications were associated with greater self-directed problem solving and with more risks for nonadherence. Higher levels of self-directed problem solving also were associated with more risks for nonadherence. Self-directed problem solving mediated the associations of conventional and alternative medication beliefs with risks for nonadherence. Possible explanations for findings are discussed

Climate change, genetics or human choice: why were the shells of mankind’s earliest ornament larger in the Pleistocene than in the Holocene?

The southern African tick shell, Nassarius kraussianus (Dunker, 1846), has been identified as being the earliest known ornamental object used by human beings. Shell beads dated from ~75,000 years ago (Pleistocene era) were found in a cave located on South Africa's south coast. Beads made from N. kraussianus shells have also been found in deposits in this region dating from the beginning of the Holocene era (<10,000 years ago). These younger shells were significantly smaller, a phenomenon that has been attributed to a change in human preference. We investigated two alternative hypotheses explaining the difference in shell size: a) N. kraussianus comprises at least two genetic lineages that differ in size; b) the difference in shell size is due to phenotypic plasticity and is a function of environmental conditions. To test these hypotheses, we first reconstructed the species' phylogeographic history, and second, we measured the shell sizes of extant individuals throughout South Africa. Although two genetic lineages were identified, the sharing of haplotypes between these suggests that there is no genetic basis for the size differences. Extant individuals from the cool temperate west coast had significantly larger shells than populations in the remainder of the country, suggesting that N. kraussianus grows to a larger size in colder water. The decrease in fossil shell size from Pleistocene to Holocene was likely due to increased temperatures as a result of climate change at the beginning of the present interglacial period. We hypothesise that the sizes of N. kraussianus fossil shells can therefore serve as indicators of the climatic conditions that were prevalent in a particular region at the time when they were deposited. Moreover, N. kraussianus could serve as a biomonitor to study the impacts of future climate change on coastal biota in southern Africa

‘Girls have powers’: using research-led arts to connect policymaking with girls’ lived experiences in Uganda

This article offers new methodological directions for generating difficult-to-capture evidence on the hidden dimensions of young people’s lives in challenging circumstances. We explore how research-led applied arts can advance participatory methodologies to bridge the gap that often exists between participatory research engaging girls meaningfully within the research process, and knowledge exchange processes that connect policy-making with their lived experiences. We demonstrate how this innovative approach, embedded within a girlhood studies framework, amplifies the voices of those marginalised by gender and age in urban settings. It co-creates the (safe) spaces, resources and tools to recognise, explore and intervene against systemic inequalities and injustices. Research-led applied arts provide mechanisms for messaging girls’ concerns and perspectives in a non-threatening manner directly to those with the power to address them. Such situated knowledge exchange is crucial if we are to sustainably challenge inequitable gender regimes in ways that respond directly to the everyday challenges faced by girls in developing contexts