Urban youth bulges and social disorder : an empirical study of Asian and Sub-Saharan African cities

By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities, and the greatest growth in urban populations will take place in the least developed countries. This presents many governments with considerable challenges related to urban governance and the provision of services and opportunities to a burgeoning urban population. Among the concerns is that large youth bulges in urban centers could be a source of political instability and violence. Here, we assess this claim empirically using newly collected data on city-level urban social disorder, ranging from non-violent actions, such as demonstrations and strikes, to violent political actions, such as riots, terrorism, and armed conflict. The dataset covers 55 major cities in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa for 1960-2006. The study also utilizes a new United Nations Population Division dataset on urban populations by age and sex. The study further considers factors that could condition the effect of age structure, in particular the level of informal employment, economic growth, education, and gender imbalances. The analysis finds that large male youth bulges aged 15-24 are not generally associated with increased risks of either violent or non-violent social disturbance. Furthermore, the proxy measures of"youth exclusion"do not seem to increase the risk that large urban male youth bulges are associated with either form of disturbance. However, several other factors that may be associated with higher levels of youth exclusion - notably absence of democratic institutions, low economic growth, and low levels of secondary educational attainment - are significantly and robustly associated with increasing levels of urban social disturbance.Youth and Governance,Adolescent Health,Population Policies,Urban Housing and Land Settlements,National Urban Development Policies&Strategies

Breaking the waves ? does education mediate the relationship between youth bulges and political violence ?

Much of the developing world has experienced a decline in mortality, while fertility often has remained high. This has produced youthful populations in many countries, generally referred to as"youth bulges."Recent empirical research suggests that youth bulges may be associated with increased risks of political violence and conflict. This paper addresses ways that education may serve as a strategy to reduce the risk of political violence, particularly in the context of large cohorts of young males. The authors use a new education dataset measuring educational attainment. The dataset is constructed using demographic back-projection techniques, and offers uninterrupted time-series data for 120 countries. The empirical analysis finds evidence that large, young male population bulges are more likely to increase the risk of conflict in societies where male secondary education is low. The effect on conflict risk by low education and large youth populations is particularly strong in low and middle-income countries. This is especially challenging for Sub-Saharan Africa, the region facing the youngest age structure and the lowest educational attainment levels. Although quantitative studies generally find a strong relationship between indicators of development and conflict risk, the results suggest that poor countries do have some leverage over reducing conflict potential through increased educational opportunities for young people. There is further evidence that the interaction of large youth cohorts and low education levels may be mediated by structural economic factors. The study supports broad policy interventions in education by relaxing concerns about the consequences of rapid educational expansion.Population Policies,Access&Equity in Basic Education,Adolescent Health,Primary Education,Youth and Governance

A Three-Phase Model for Tumor Cell Migration

Master's thesis in Petroleum engineeringFlow of interstitial fluid (IF) has proven to have a significant effect on the migration of cancer cells through tissue due to the tumor cells ability to sense flow by secreting chemokines that convect in the flow direction (autologous chemotaxis). It has become increasingly popular to model this (and other) phenomena using multiphase models based on e.g. Darcy's law, the Brinkman equation or more general mixture theory approaches. Recent experimental work suggests that fibroblast cells present in vivo might influence the ability of cancer cells to invade the surrounding tissue. The objective of this thesis is to expand a two-fluid model used to investigate autologous chemotaxis of cancer cells to a three-phase model where also the effect of the fibroblasts can be accounted for. First, relevant experimental results will be analyzed, followed by a general model formulation using mass and momentum balance based on mixture theory. The approach is inspired by that of modeling hydrocarbon flow in underground reservoirs. Finally, we will implement a numerical solution for a simplified 1-D version of the model and compare the simulated output to experimental results to elucidate some of the mechanism(s) behind fibroblast-enhanced tumor cell invasion. Special focus we will be on investigating the fibroblasts ability to remodel the ECM and also viscous coupling between cells and fibroblasts

Discoursing into Interpreting - Sign Language Interpreting Students and their Construction of Professional Identity as Interpreters for Deafblind Individuals

This article reports on students’ process of Bildung expressed as their construction of professional identity as interpreters for deafblind individuals. With a qualitative research design and critical discourse analysis, focus group discussions were used to gain insight into which discourses students drew upon when constructing their professional identity at different stages during their education. Data from the focus group discussions were analyzed by using Fairclough\u27s (1989, p. 112) values of features, experiential and expressive values. The findings indicate that students drew upon intersecting and antagonistic discourses in the construction of their professional identity. At the beginning of their education, and before meeting deafblind people, students emphasized discourses that were based on their previous experiences. They mainly described deafblind people by drawing on a care needing discourse, and the interpreter by operating a caring discourse. Later on in their study, students also operated the discourses that were made available to them in class and in the field of practice, such as an independence discourse related to deafblind people, and a technical, a reflective and a collaborative discourse related to the professional interpreter. Students also drew upon a student discourse in all focus group discussions. This entails that during their study, students went through a process of Bildung, which was manifested in their construction of their professional identity

Conquering the Interpreter’s Operational Space: Sign LanguageInterpreting Students and their Acculturation to Deafblind Clients

The author reports on how interpreting students developed their evidence-based practice while becoming interpreters for deafblind people. Focus group discussions were conducted with students to explore their thoughts about interacting with deafblind people, and their experiences after such interactions. Data from the focus groups were analyzed using qualitative content analysis (Krippendorff,2013), with the aim of investigating how the mix of classroom instruction, preparatory role-play, and practice placements influenced student\u27s evidence-based practice. The findings show that teachers contributing with their own evidence-based practice prior to the practice placements helped students develop the initial basis for their evidence-based practice. The opportunity to act as interpreters for deafblind people developed their evidence-based practice. In other words, students brought learning experiences from one arena and used them as a platform for further learning in a different arena. Students developed their evidence-based practice and conquered their operational space as interpreters through this combination of learning processes

Gruppe B-streptokokker i svangerskapet

Abstract The Group B Streptococcus is still the leading cause of infections in newborns. There is effective treatment available, but no global consensus exists on how to reach those women who will benefit from intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis. As a result, several countries have developed national guidelines on how to prevent GBS-disease. USA, Canada and many countries in Europe(Spain, Belgium, Italy) have chosen a universal screening strategy. This means screening of every pregnant woman in gestational week 35-37 and antibiotic treatment of those with GBS colonization. This strategy differs from the one used in Norway as well as in the UK, where the approach is to treat pregnant women based on risk factors associated with GBS-disease, without any screening. In this paper we discuss the different views, without making any conclusions which alternative is best. In order to look into the different arguments, we review several articles with different screening-strategies. In our material the main argument for pregnancy screening is the clear observed reduction of morbidity and mortality associated with GBS-disease. However, this approach will lead to excessive use of antibiotics, and the subsequent risk of serious antibiotic anaphylaxis and development of antibiotic resistance. At present there is lack of good randomized controlled trials where screening- versus risk based strategies are compared. Therefore no valid conclusions can be made from an evidence based view. However, before development and introduction of a vaccine, there may never be one universal strategy that every country will benefit from

Differential Population Dynamics, Inequality and Political Violence in India

Streaming video requires RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, or Flash Player to view.Urdal's research interests include population pressure and conflict; security implications of climate change; "youth bulges," youth exclusion, and conflict; demographic consequences of conflict.Ohio State University. Mershon Center for International Security StudiesEvent Web page, streaming video, event photo

Effect of traditional beer consumption on the iron status of a rural South African population

Objective. To determine the effect of traditional beer consumption on the iron status of rural black subjects. Design. A cross-sectional study was undertaken. Setting. Dikgale field site and the surrounding villages in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Subjects. Eight hundred and forty-four non-alcohol consumers (738 women and 106 men) and 280 alcohol consumers (163 women and 117 men) aged 30 years and above, participated in the study. Outcome measures. Outcome measures included alcohol consumption, serum ferritin levels, percentage transferrin saturation, total iron-binding capacity, haemoglobin and C-reactive protein levels. Results. Traditional beer fermented in either iron pots or plastic containers was found to have iron levels ranging from 15 mg/l to 67.8 mg/l and 6 mg/l to 17 mg/l, respectively. Iron status as measured by serum ferritin, serum iron, percentage transferrin saturation, and haemoglobin levels was significantly higher in alcohol consumers than in non-consumers, even after adjustment for age and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. A high percentage of women (12.3%) and men (8.2%) consuming alcohol had iron overload. Conclusion. This study showed that consumption of traditional beer in a non-urban population in Limpopo Province was associated with high levels of markers of iron status. Traditional beer consumption seemed to prevent iron deficiency in those at risk of developing such deficiency, but appeared to precipitate iron overload in those at risk of developing iron overload.South African Journal Clinical Nutrition Vol. 20 (2) 2007: pp. 62-6

Maternal Health Care in the Time of Ebola: A Mixed-Method Exploration of the Impact of the Epidemic on Delivery Services in Monrovia

Public health emergencies like major epidemics in countries with already poor health infrastructure have the potential to set back efforts to reduce maternal deaths globally. The 2014 Ebola crisis in Liberia is claimed to have caused major disruptions to a health system not fully recovered after the country’s civil war, and is an important and relevant case for studying the resilience of health systems during crises. We use data on the utilization of maternal health care services from two representative surveys, one conducted before the outbreak of Ebola, the 2013 Liberian DHS, and another, smaller survey conducted in Monrovia in December 2014, during the height of the epidemic. We focus exclusively on data for women aged 18–49 residing in urban Monrovia, restricting our samples to 1,073 and 763 respondents from the two surveys respectively. We employ a mixed methods approach, combining a multinomial logit model with in-depth semi-structured interviews. Our regression analyses indicate that deliveries in public facilities declined whereas they increased for private facilities. Furthermore, overall facility delivery rates remained stable through the Ebola epidemic: the proportion of home births did not increase. Drawing on insights from extensive qualitative interviews with medical personnel and focus groups with community members conducted in Monrovia in August–September 2015 we attribute these survey findings to a supply side “substitution effect” whereby private clinics provided an important cushion to the shock leading to lower supply of government services. Furthermore, our interviews suggest that government health care workers continued to work in private facilities in their local communities when public facilities were closed. Our findings indicate that resources to shore up healthcare institutions should be directed toward interventions that support private facilities and health personnel working privately in communities during times of crisis so that these facilities are safe alternatives for women during crisis

Ulik vektlegging av fremtiden : en studie av barnevernlederes forhold til media

Hvorfor er kampanjer for barnevernet ofte ikke i regi av barnevernet selv, men av andre aktører? Hva tenker barnevernledere om å bruke media til folkeopplysning? Dette var noen av spørsmålene som førte til problemstillingen; Hvordan forholder barnevernledere seg til media? Hensikten med studien har vært å fremskaffe mer kunnskap om, og forståelse for, hvordan barnevernledere oppfatter media, og hvordan de forholder seg til media. Studien tar utgangspunkt i kvalitativt intervju som metode. Materialet består av fire barnevernlederes fortellinger om sine erfaringer med media, og deres refleksjoner rundt mediehåndtering. Intervjuene ble i hovedsak analysert ved hjelp av Meads teori om tid og eksistens, som peker på at fortiden alltid er i nåtiden, og at nåtiden også har fremtiden i seg. Thomas og Thomas´ begrep «definisjonen av situasjonen» har vært i bakgrunnen for å ta barnevernledernes utsagn på alvor. Hovedfunnet i denne studien er at barnevernet og media vektlegger fremtiden ulikt. Media vektlegger barnets fortid og nåtid for å beskrive situasjonen som den er i dag, mens barnevernet vektlegger fremtiden i alt de foretar seg. Hovedidéen til Mead er at alt er i «the present», altså i nåtiden. Nåtiden grenser alltid til fremtiden, som både kan være umiddelbar og lengre unna. Det informantene fortalte, og som jeg fikk en dypere forståelse av gjennom Meads tidsbegrep, var at barnevernet i alt de gjør er opptatt av hvordan man kan legge situasjonen til rette for barnet i fremtiden. For media blir fremtiden på mange måter ikke så viktig, fordi media har et annet samfunnsoppdrag enn barnevernet. Gjennom informantenes fortellinger fremkommer at de er skeptiske vedrørende journalister, og at de ikke har tillit til media. Barnevernledernes erfaringer med media er i stor grad negativ. Informantene mener media fremstiller barnevernsaker unyansert, fragmentert og skjevt, og at befolkningen derfor har et galt bilde av hva barnevernet er. Informantene vil gjerne tydeliggjøre hva de jobber med, hvordan de jobber, og hvilke beslutninger som tas på hvilke grunnlag. Spørsmålet er hvor de skal informere om dette, og om media kan spille på lag med barnevernet. Kan de stå sammen om informasjonsarbeid om barnevernet? Barnevernet og medias ulike vektlegging av tid kompliserer dette, og er noe av grunnen til at forholdet mellom de to instansene er så vanskelig.Why are campaigns for child welfare often not initiated of the child welfare system, but by other actors? How do child welfare executives think about using the media to enlighten the general population of the child welfare system? These were some of the questions that led to the main problem for discussion in my master´s degree project, entitled: How do child welfare executives relate to the media? The purpose of this study was to obtain more knowledge about, and understanding of, how the child welfare executives perceive the media, and how they relate to the media. The study is based on qualitative interview methods. The methods are comprised by four child welfare executives´ stories about their experiences with the media, and their reflections on media handling. The interviews were mainly analyzed by using Mead´s theory of time and existence, which points out that the past is always in the present, and the present also has the future in it. The main finding of this study is that child welfare executives and the media focus on the media differently. The media emphasize the child´s past and present to describe the situation as it is today. Child welfare executives emphasize the future in all their activities. The present shares boundaries with the future, which can be both immediate and longer away. What the interviewees told me, and what I got a more in-depth understanding of using Mead´s theory on concepts of time, was that child welfare executives in everything they do are concerned with how to add provisions for the child in the future. For the media, the future in many ways is not so important, because the media has a different social assignment. Through the interviewees´ narratives, it emerges that they are skeptical about journalists, and that they do not trust the media. Child welfare executives´ experiences with the media are largely negative. The respondents believe the media portrays child welfare simplistic, fragmented, distorted, and that the general population therefore have a wrong picture of what child welfare is. The interviewees would like to make clearer to the general public how they make their decisions, based on the information available to them. The question is how to inform the public, and if the media can contribute to this. Can these two entities cooperate on child welfare issues? Child welfare executives and the media have different emphasis on the future, which complicates their cooperation, and this is part of the reason why the relationship between the two organizations is so difficult.Master i sosialt arbei