Waste as a Social Dilemma. Issues of Social and Environmental Justice and the Role of Residents in Municipal Solid Waste Management, Delhi, India

In Delhi, as in many other large cities in developing countries, the inappropriate management of municipal solid waste is a significant flaw in the quality of life of its residents, and a serious threat to the environment. Taking the integrated approach to solid waste management as its point of departure, this thesis focuses on city residents as waste producers and their role in municipal solid waste management (MSWM). It argues that the waste problem is caused by human behaviour and therefore the solution lies in changing that behaviour. The aim of this project is to identify the city residents’ current attitudes and behaviour related to waste and waste management in Delhi and the factors influencing them. Based on that, the paper proposes several recommendations on the best ways to change behaviours towards more environmental-friendly and socially equitable ones. Methodologically, a triangulation of key informant interviews, statistical analysis based on a survey with 99 city residents, and observations of everyday practice was employed. The findings of this thesis point out that, although garbage is perceived as a big problem in Delhi by the majority of respondents, there is little awareness on the ways one could contribute to solving it. The sense of responsibility for one’s waste was found to be the major factor determining littering and waste separation but waste minimization is mainly associated with income and not perceived as part of the waste problem. As for ways out of the problem, it is suggested that public campaigns should emphasise residents’ responsibility for their waste and the importance of each and every citizen’s cooperation, thus creating a sense of a shared social goal around solving the waste problem. The information and motivation campaign should be supplemented with measures that would facilitate citizen participation

Prácticas de memoria histórica y democrática en formación inicial del profesorado. El caso de la Universidad de Málaga, España.

La comunicación presenta la experiencia de formación inicial del profesorado de todas las etapas educativas en memoria histórica y democrática desarrollada en la Universidad de Málaga. A través de procesos de literacidad crítica abordamos los discursos que adopta la memoria, forma y contenido, artefactos del recuerdo y cómo moldean el curriculum. La práctica formativa se desarrolla a partir de creencias y valores del futuro profesorado para identificar y resignificar vacíos u omisiones en los relatos del pasado. De esta forma se visibiliza a las víctimas como sujetos históricos y se reivindican lugares de la memoria para la práctica educativa. En tal sentido, las convertimos en prácticas de memoria que abordan la dimensión personal y social, epistemológica y cultural de esta para relacionar pasado y presente en la construcción de pensamiento crítico. Los resultados alcanzados invitan a avanzar en la necesidad de que el futuro profesorado aprenda a convivir con el disenso, conociendo cómo se reproducen narrativas básicas y discursos de odio contra las víctimas de un pasado en conflicto. En definitiva, entender que educar es una práctica social y ciudadana para promover pensamiento histórico, social y crítico que contribuya a una educación ciudadana y para la convivencia democrática.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

"Gypsy, Go Home!" : Hate crime against Roma EU-migrants who make a living on the streets of Malmö, Sweden. An intermediary report

This report is the first publication within the project, Tackling Anti-Gypsyism against Roma Migrants in Malmö, implemented by Skåne Stadsmission, together with Civil Rights Defenders and co-financed by the European Union (EU). The objective of the two-year project is to combat hate crime against migrant EU-citizens of Roma ethnicity, who make a living on the streets of Malmö, Sweden. Several studies have previously drawn attention to the fact that migrant EU-citizens making a living on the streets, live at a high risk of falling victim to abuse and attacks motivated by hate. This report investigates hate crime against this group, both from the perspective of the victims and of the perpetrators. Part 2 presents preliminary results of a study carried out by the project team, on the incidence and experiences of hate crime against migrant EU-citizens who live on the streets of Malmö. Parts3 and 4 examine explanatory models for motives behind these crimes. Part 3, written by Simon Wallengren, presents the results of a survey of Malmö residents’ attitudes towards Roma EU-migrants who make a living through begging. Part 4, by Erik Hansson, presents a historical and psychological perspective on people’s responses to begging. The results confirm previous research and demonstrate that migrant EU-citizens suffer an extensive and systematic exposure to hate crime. 56 percent of the migrant EU-citizens interviewed stated that they had been victims of hate crime during the past 12 months in Sweden. Self-identified Roma respondents were more likely to have experienced hate crime and most respondents experienced hate crime severaltimes a week. Although a seemingly low number of hate crimes were reported to the police, this is nevertheless a good result for the project’s first five months, when compared with only two police reports being filed the previous year. However, we found a discrepancy with previous research regarding beliefs and attitudes towards Roma EU-migrants who beg; few respondents answered that they have been angry with, provoked by, or afraid of Roma who beg. Also, compared to other surveys, relatively few respondents showed support for a ban on begging (33 percent). It was though, rather common that respondents considered the Roma who beg to be disturbing public order (18 percent). The consequences of poverty are perceived by many people as a disturbance of the normative and aesthetic order of the public space. There are two types of measures that could prevent violence. One is that Swedish authorities begin to work actively to ensure the basic human rights of vulnerable EU-citizens in Sweden. The second measure would be to revise hate crime legislation; to consider that states of homelessness and poverty can make people targets for hate crimes that are not necessarily motivated exclusively by the victims’ ethnicity. A more nuanced understanding and application of hate crime legislation would lead to more prosecutions and greater respect for the seriousness and prevalence of the issue

"Gypsy, Go Home!" : Hate crime against Roma EU-migrants who make a living on the streets of Malmö, Sweden. An intermediary report

This report is the first publication within the project, Tackling Anti-Gypsyism against Roma Migrants in Malmö, implemented by Skåne Stadsmission, together with Civil Rights Defenders and co-financed by the European Union (EU). The objective of the two-year project is to combat hate crime against migrant EU-citizens of Roma ethnicity, who make a living on the streets of Malmö, Sweden. Several studies have previously drawn attention to the fact that migrant EU-citizens making a living on the streets, live at a high risk of falling victim to abuse and attacks motivated by hate. This report investigates hate crime against this group, both from the perspective of the victims and of the perpetrators. Part 2 presents preliminary results of a study carried out by the project team, on the incidence and experiences of hate crime against migrant EU-citizens who live on the streets of Malmö. Parts3 and 4 examine explanatory models for motives behind these crimes. Part 3, written by Simon Wallengren, presents the results of a survey of Malmö residents’ attitudes towards Roma EU-migrants who make a living through begging. Part 4, by Erik Hansson, presents a historical and psychological perspective on people’s responses to begging. The results confirm previous research and demonstrate that migrant EU-citizens suffer an extensive and systematic exposure to hate crime. 56 percent of the migrant EU-citizens interviewed stated that they had been victims of hate crime during the past 12 months in Sweden. Self-identified Roma respondents were more likely to have experienced hate crime and most respondents experienced hate crime severaltimes a week. Although a seemingly low number of hate crimes were reported to the police, this is nevertheless a good result for the project’s first five months, when compared with only two police reports being filed the previous year. However, we found a discrepancy with previous research regarding beliefs and attitudes towards Roma EU-migrants who beg; few respondents answered that they have been angry with, provoked by, or afraid of Roma who beg. Also, compared to other surveys, relatively few respondents showed support for a ban on begging (33 percent). It was though, rather common that respondents considered the Roma who beg to be disturbing public order (18 percent). The consequences of poverty are perceived by many people as a disturbance of the normative and aesthetic order of the public space. There are two types of measures that could prevent violence. One is that Swedish authorities begin to work actively to ensure the basic human rights of vulnerable EU-citizens in Sweden. The second measure would be to revise hate crime legislation; to consider that states of homelessness and poverty can make people targets for hate crimes that are not necessarily motivated exclusively by the victims’ ethnicity. A more nuanced understanding and application of hate crime legislation would lead to more prosecutions and greater respect for the seriousness and prevalence of the issue

Healthcare-associated Clostridioides difficile infection during the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary care hospital in Romania

Introduction. Information on healthcare-associated C.difficile infection (HA-CDI) in COVID-19 patients is limited. We aimed to assess the characteristics of HA-CDI acquired during and before the COVID-19 pandemic

Revista esencia y espacio

Arquitectur

Orphanet J Rare Dis

BACKRGROUND: Evaluation of the efficacy of oral cyclosporine A as a prophylactic agent in preventing second-eye involvement in Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) in a prospective, open-label, non-randomized, multicenter pilot study. Only LHON patients aged 18 years or more, with confirmed primary mitochondrial DNA mutations and strictly unilateral optic neuropathy occurring within 6 months prior to enrolment, were included in the study. All these patients, receiving treatment with oral cyclosporine (Neoral(R), Novartis) at 2.5 mg/kg/day, were examined at three-month intervals for a year. The primary endpoint was the best corrected visual acuity in the unaffected eye; the secondary endpoints were the best corrected visual acuity in the first eye affected, the mean visual field defect on automated perimetry, the thickness of the perifoveal retinal ganglion cell inner plexiform layer, and the thickness of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer in both eyes. RESULTS: Among the 24 patients referred to our institution with genetically confirmed LHON, between July 2011 and April 2014, only five patients, four males and one female, fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Age at enrolment ranged from 19 to 42 years (mean: 27.2 years; median: 26 years), four patients harbored the m.11778G > A pathogenic variant, and one the m.14484 T > C pathogenic variant. The time-interval between the onset of symptoms and inclusion in the study ranged from 7 to 17 weeks (mean: 11.8 weeks; median: 9 weeks). Despite treatment with oral cyclosporine A, all patients eventually experienced bilateral eye involvement, occurring within 11-65 weeks after the initiation of treatment. Over the study time period, the average best corrected visual acuity worsened in the first eye affected; by the end of the study, both eyes were equally affected. CONCLUSIONS: Oral cyclosporine, at 2.5 mg/kg/day, did not prevent second-eye involvement in patients with strictly unilateral Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02176733 . Registrated June 25, 2014