Exposure Outliers: Children, Mothers, and Cumulative Disaster Exposure in Louisiana

Only a limited number of studies have explored the effects of cumulative disaster exposure—defined here as multiple, acute onset, large-scale collective events that cause disruption for individuals, families, and entire communities. Research that is available indicates that children and adults who experience these potentially traumatic community-level events are at greater risk of a variety of negative health outcomes and ongoing secondary stressors throughout their life course. The present study draws on in-depth interviews with a qualitative subsample of nine mother-child pairs who were identified as both statistical and theoretical outliers in terms of their levels of disaster exposure through their participation in a larger, longitudinal Women and Their Children’s Health (WaTCH) project that was conducted following the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. During Wave 2 of the WaTCH study, mothers and their children were asked survey questions about previous exposure to and the impacts of the oil spill, hurricanes, and other disasters. This article presents the qualitative interview data collected from the subsample of children and mothers who both endorsed that they had experienced three or more disasters that had a major impact on the child and the household. We refer to these children as exposure outliers. The in-depth narratives of the four mother-child pairs who told stories of multiple pre-disaster stressors emerging from structural inequalities and health and financial problems, protracted and unstable displacements, and high levels of material and social losses illustrate how problems can pile up to slow or completely hinder individual and family disaster recovery. These four mother-child pairs were especially likely to have experienced devastating losses in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which then led to an accumulation of disadvantage and ongoing cycles of loss and disruption. The stories of the remaining five mother-child pairs underscore how pre-disaster resources, post-disaster support, and institutional stabilizing forces can accelerate recovery even after multiple disaster exposures. This study offers insights about how families can begin to prepare for a future that is likely to be increasingly punctuated by more frequent and intense extreme weather events and other types of disaster

Cumulative disaster exposure and coping capacity of women and their children in southeast Louisiana

2017 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Many studies have shown how cumulative disaster exposure and trauma can lead to a multitude of negative outcomes. As the risk of cumulative disaster exposure continues to increase because of climate change and population growth, this area of study is becoming increasingly important. This thesis is part of the Women and Their Children's Health (WaTCH) Study, which involves survey work with women and children affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Specifically, the current study explores the experiences of nine mother-child pairs who reported in the WaTCH study that they had experienced three or more disasters that had a major impact on the child and the household. Open ended, inductive interviews were conducted with these mother-child pairs in order to understand how cumulative disaster exposures impact mothers and their children and what strategies were used to cope with these exposures. This thesis found that disaster experiences alone did not determine disaster coping and recovery, but rather it was how these exposures combined with secondary stressors, some of which were related to demographic variables, that influenced disaster outcomes. Single parent households, African Americans, and low-income families who experienced long, unstable displacement periods, material, social, and instrumental losses, and problems with school adjustment demonstrated how problems can pile up to slow or hinder current and future disaster coping and recovery. Alternatively, the families who had high incomes, fewer displacements, less material loss, and high levels of social support were able to recover more quickly and show some adaptive capacity in the face of disasters, growing more and more resilient with each disaster experience

STUDYING THE IMPACT OF URBAN DENSIFICATION ON SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: THE CASE OF BIDA BIN AMMAR NEIGHBORHOOD IN AL AIN, UAE

As cities under the influence of rapid development, industrialization, modernization, and globalization, a key task for local authorities, urban planners, and residents is to understand what makes a neighborhood socially sustainable. In Al Ain City in the UAE, urban sprawl has been a persistent sustainability problem caused by low urban density and has led to the heavy reliance on private cars. To overcome this problem, urban densification as a sustainable planning approach is recommended. Al Ain 2030 Plan has adopted this approach for redevelopment of Asharej District. This research aims at studying the application of urban densification tools and their impacts on social sustainability in the Bida Bin Ammar neighborhood, Asharej district in Al Ain City that started in 2010. The study highlights the dichotomy of the urban densification approach, where although it is an advocated sustainable solution to limit urban sprawl, but it has its pitfalls. The research answers two main questions: what are the applied urban densification tools in Bida Bin Ammar neighborhood as an example of a neighborhood going under transformation towards higher urban density? and what are the impacts of the application of the urban densification tools on the social sustainability principles in Bida Bin Ammar neighborhood? The research adopts a qualitative case study method utilizing field observation as the primary source of primary data, while the analysis of CAD drawings, census data, Al Ain Plan 2030, land-use plans, and Google Earth maps form a secondary source of data for this study. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that urban densification has been a prominent method for enhancing social sustainability in Bida Bin Ammar neighborhood but in various degree of success. Some social sustainability principles including mixed use and accessibility have been partially achieved in the study area, while density, mobility, social capital, quality of life, sense of belonging, and safety and security have been weakly achieved. Finally, the results of the research study determined what measures of urban densification succeeded in achieving social sustainability in the study area and what did not work well and why. This will inform decision-makers in the city and maybe in the UAE about the outcomes of the applied urban densification tools, hence, these tools could be revised to ensure that the redevelopment of existing neighborhoods is meeting the social sustainability principles

STUDYING THE IMPACT OF URBAN DENSIFICATION ON SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: THE CASE OF BIDA BIN AMMAR NEIGHBORHOOD IN AL AIN, UAE

As cities are under the influence of rapid development, industrialization, modernization, and globalization, a key task for local authorities, urban planners, and residents are to understand what makes a neighbourhood socially sustainable. In Al Ain City in the UAE, urban sprawl has been a persistent sustainability problem caused by low urban density and has led to the heavy reliance on private cars. To overcome this problem, urban densification as a sustainable planning approach is recommended. Al Ain 2030 Plan has adopted this approach for the redevelopment of the Asharej District. This research aims at studying the application of urban densification tools and their impacts on social sustainability in the Bida Bin Ammar neighbourhood, Asharej district in Al Ain City that started in 2010. The study highlights the dichotomy of the urban densification approach, where although it is an advocated sustainable solution to limit urban sprawl, but it has its pitfalls. The research answers two main questions: what are the applied urban densification tools in the Bida Bin Ammar neighbourhood as an example of a neighbourhood going under transformation towards higher urban density? and what are the impacts of the application of the urban densification tools on the social sustainability principles in Bida Bin Ammar neighbourhood? The research adopts a qualitative case study method utilizing field observation as the primary source of primary data, while the analysis of CAD drawings, census data, Al Ain Plan 2030, land-use plans, and Google Earth maps form a secondary source of data for this study. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that urban densification has been a prominent method for enhancing social sustainability in the Bida Bin Ammar neighbourhood but in various degrees of success. Some social sustainability principles including mixed-use and accessibility have been partially achieved in the study area, while density, mobility, social capital, quality of life, sense of belonging, and safety and security have been weakly achieved. Finally, the results of the research study determined what measures of urban densification succeeded in achieving social sustainability in the study area and what did not work well and why. This will inform decision-makers in the city and maybe in the UAE about the outcomes of the applied urban densification tools, hence, these tools could be revised to ensure that the redevelopment of existing neighbourhoods is meeting the social sustainability principles

Migraine and Fasting

Migraine is considered as the second leading cause of disability worldwide, most commonly seen in young women. Skipping meals, dehydration and fasting are among many triggering factors which have been described in literature as a cause of increased frequency and severity of migraine attacks. The underlying pathophysiology, prevention and management of fasting induced migraine has been documented, however, there is a lack of randomized controlled trials for the same. This review article discusses these important aspects in the light of published literature and gives directions on future areas of research

The Impact of Supply Chain Management Practices on Competitive Advantage: The Moderating Role of Big Data Analytics

Purpose: The current study aims to investigate the moderating role of Big Data Analytics (BDA) on the relationship between supply chain management practices (SCMPs) and the competitive advantage (CA) in the Jordanian manufacturing firms.   Design/methodology/approach:  Quantitative method was used to collect data from 156 Jordanian manufacturing companies. And hierarchical linear multiple regression using SPSS technique was used to test the study hypotheses.   Findings: The results show significant positive impact of SCMPs on CA. Specifically, a significant positive impact is found between information quality (IQ), and information sharing (ISh) on CA. However, strategic supplier partnership (SSP), and customer relationship management (CRM) had no impact on CA. However, the study found that BDA does not enhance the impact of SCMPs on CA.   Research, Practical & Social implications: This study provides an inventory of knowledge about the reality of BDA and its moderating role on the relationship between SCMPs and CA, which contributes to enriching the library in overall and Jordanian in specific in this subject.   Originality/value: This paper is one of the first papers in the Jordanian context to address the moderating effect of BDA between SCMPs and CA

INEQUALITIES FOR A CLASS OF MEROMORPHIC FUNCTIONS WHOSE ZEROS ARE WITHIN OR OUTSIDE A GIVEN DISK

In this paper, we consider a class of meromorphic functions $r(z)$ having an $s$-fold zero at the origin and establish some inequalities of Bernstein and Turán type for the modulus of the derivative of rational functions  in the sup-norm on the disk in the complex plane. These results produce some sharper inequalities while taking into account the placement of zeros of the underlying rational function. Moreover, many inequalities for polynomials and polar derivatives follow as special cases. In particular, our results generalize as well as refine a result due Dewan et al. [6].

Adverse effects of parenteral dexamethasone in the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris

Background: Pemphigus vulgaris is associated with high morbidity as well as significant mortality rate. Today the risk of death in pemphigus from the side effect of oral prednisolone is greater than risk of death from the disease itself. Objec­tive: To observe the adverse effects of parenteral dexamethasone compared with oral prednisolone in the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris. Methods: An interventional study was carried out in the department of Dermatology and Venereol­ogy, Bangabandu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Total number of patients was thirty and among them fifteen patients were treated with parenteral dexamethasone (Group-A) and other fifteen were treated with oral prednisolone (Group-B). Results: The study showed statistically significant differences of skin lesion as well as mucosal lesion of pemphigus after 6 weeks of therapy between of two groups (P<0.05). The most common adverse effects were increased body weight(40%), increased appetite(40%), and puffy face(40%) in dexamethasone group. In prednisolone group, these side effects were 60% of the subjects. Other side effects in dexamethasone group were hyperglycemia (33.33%), hypertension (26.66%), and sleep disturbance (13.33%). In prednisolone group, other side effects were hyperglycemia(33.33%), hypertension(40%), gastritis (33.33%), nausea, vomiting (13.33%) in each , reactivation of tuberculosis, herpes zoster infection, sleep disturbance, and mood change were 6.66% in each group. Conclusion: In the light of the findings of the study, we conclude that each of the treatment of dexamethasone group and prednisolone group is individually effective and safe in the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris but adverse effects are less in parenteral dexamethasone group than oral prednisolone group. So parenteral dexamethasone can be used as an alternative drug in the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris

Neurological care and training in the times of covid-19: a tertiary care center experience

Resilience in these challenging times of COVID-19 at a professional and personal level is cardinal. Trainees and faculty have had to adapt to this adversity with striking limitations on formal neurological, neurovascular and neurophysiological residencies and fellowships. The revision of schedules and reallocation of assignments to cope with the practical aspects in a teaching tertiary care hospital have been overbearing. Novel structural innovation, testing, communications and supervision to assure a modified yet impactful training educational programme is mandatory and the need of the hour. Healthcare service providers remain at the highest risk of acquiring COVID-19 worldwide. Urgent measures to educate them about personal protective equipment (PPE), disease course, infectivity and complications were initialized at the first impact of COVID-19. Foreseeing the pandemic in months to come, here we describe the elemental changes made at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) Karachi, Pakistan a leading academic institute in health sciences and one of the largest tertiary care hospitals in the country and all the modifications contrived in the section of neurology to deal with the brunt of the pandemic. The neurology section devised a strategy balancing clinical work, research and academic activities.Tele health clinics were encouraged and set up across all specialties to minimize in hospital encounters whilst answering concerns of patients and their caregivers. Collaborative efforts, nationally and globally are the requirement as we continue to learn through clinical experience, trials and research on all the potential complications of COVID-19 in these dismal times