Impact of culture towards disaster risk reduction

Number of natural disasters has risen sharply worldwide making the risk of disasters a global concern. These disasters have created significant losses and damages to humans, economy and society. Despite the losses and damages created by disasters, some individuals and communities do not attached much significance to natural disasters. Risk perception towards a disaster not only depends on the danger it could create but also the behaviour of the communities and individuals that is governed by their culture. Within this context, this study examines the relationship between culture and disaster risk reduction (DRR). A comprehensive literature review is used for the study to evaluate culture, its components and to analyse a series of case studies related to disaster risk. It was evident from the study that in some situations, culture has become a factor for the survival of the communities from disasters where as in some situations culture has acted as a barrier for effective DRR activities. The study suggests community based DRR activities as a mechanism to integrate with culture to effectively manage disaster risk

Soft matter physics of the ground beneath our feet

The soft part of the Earth's surface – the ground beneath our feet – constitutes the basis for life and natural resources, yet a general physical understanding of the ground is still lacking. In this critical time of climate change, cross-pollination of scientific approaches is urgently needed to better understand the behavior of our planet's surface. The major topics in current research in this area cross different disciplines, spanning geosciences, and various aspects of engineering, material sciences, physics, chemistry, and biology. Among these, soft matter physics has emerged as a fundamental nexus connecting and underpinning many research questions. This perspective article is a multi-voice effort to bring together different views and approaches, questions and insights, from researchers that work in this emerging area, the soft matter physics of the ground beneath our feet. In particular, we identify four major challenges concerned with the dynamics in and of the ground: (I) modeling from the grain scale, (II) near-criticality, (III) bridging scales, and (IV) life. For each challenge, we present a selection of topics by individual authors, providing specific context, recent advances, and open questions. Through this, we seek to provide an overview of the opportunities for the broad Soft Matter community to contribute to the fundamental understanding of the physics of the ground, strive towards a common language, and encourage new collaborations across the broad spectrum of scientists interested in the matter of the Earth's surface

Clinical Practice: Giant Cell Tumour of the Jaw Mimicking Bone Malignancy on Three-Dimensional Computed Tomography (3D CT) Reconstruction

A wide range of diseases may present with radiographic features of osteolysis. Periapical inflammation, cysts and benign tumours, bone malignancies, all of these conditions may show bone resorption on radiograph. Features of the surrounding bone, margins of the lesion, and biological behaviour including tendency to infiltration and root resorption, may represent important criteria for distinguishing benign tumours from their malign counterpart, although the radiographic aspect of the lesion is not always predictive. Therefore a critical differential diagnosis has to be reached to choose the best management. Here, we report a case of giant cell tumour (GCT) whose radiological features by computed tomography (CT) suggested the presence of bone malignancy, whereas the evaluation of a routine OPT scan comforted us about the benign nature of the lesion. A brief review of the literature on such a benign but locally aggressive neoplasm is also provided

Clinical Practice: Giant Cell Tumour of the Jaw Mimicking Bone Malignancy on Three-Dimensional Computed Tomography (3D CT) Reconstruction

A wide range of diseases may present with radiographic features of osteolysis. Periapical inflammation, cysts and benign tumours, bone malignancies, all of these conditions may show bone resorption on radiograph. Features of the surrounding bone, margins of the lesion, and biological behaviour including tendency to infiltration and root resorption, may represent important criteria for distinguishing benign tumours from their malign counterpart, although the radiographic aspect of the lesion is not always predictive. Therefore a critical differential diagnosis has to be reached to choose the best management. Here, we report a case of giant cell tumour (GCT) whose radiological features by computed tomography (CT) suggested the presence of bone malignancy, whereas the evaluation of a routine OPT scan comforted us about the benign nature of the lesion. A brief review of the literature on such a benign but locally aggressive neoplasm is also provided

Nitrogen - grasping the challenge. A manifesto for science-in-action through the International Nitrogen Management System. Summary report

Report published by Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Edinburgh, UK on behalf of the International Nitrogen Management System (INMS). Freely available to download from the Official link

Healing through culturally embedded practice: an investigation of counsellors’ and clients’ experiences of Buddhist Counselling in Thailand

This thesis is concerned with an exploration of counsellors’ and clients’ lived experiences of Buddhist Counselling, an indigenous Buddhist-based counselling approach in Thailand. Over the past decade, Buddhist Counselling has received a growing interest from Thai counselling trainees and practitioners, and it has also expanded to serve Thai people in various settings. Research on Buddhist Counselling is very limited and most of the existing studies in the field have focused on measuring the effectiveness of the approach. While these studies have consistently indicated the positive effects of Buddhist Counselling on psychological improvement across several population groups, the significant questions of how Buddhist Counselling brings about such outcome and how it is experienced are still largely unanswered. Moreover, existing research is concentrated much more on clients’ views than counsellors’ views, although counsellors’ views of their counselling practice can also serve as a knowledge base of the field. This thesis thus sets out to contribute to rectifying this omission by exploring Buddhist Counselling from the perspectives of both counsellors and clients. The thesis is based on two qualitative studies. The first study addressed Buddhist Counselling from the perspective of five counsellors through a focus group and semi-structured interviews. The second study explored Buddhist Counselling from the perspective of three clients, using two semi-structured interviews with each of them. All data received were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The study reveals counsellors’ and clients’ overall positive experience of engaging in Buddhist Counselling. Central to the accounts of the counsellors are the following perceptions: that their practice of Buddhist Counselling is culturally congruent with the existing values and beliefs of both themselves and their clients; that their personal and professional congruence is key to their therapeutic efficacy; and that they enhance such congruence through their application of Buddhist ideas and practices in their daily lives. Key to the clients’ accounts is their emphasis on the significant roles of the counsellors’ Buddhist ideas and personal qualities, and of their religious practices in facilitating healing and change. Key shared findings from both studies reveal that the participants’ accounts of their cultural background and their experiences of Buddhist Counselling are intertwined. Adopting hermeneutics to address this intertwinement, I reveal the cultural and moral dimensions underlying the practice of Buddhist Counselling. Based on such revelation, I suggest that Buddhist Counselling in particular, as well as psychotherapy in general, should be better understood as a historically situated, culturally bound, and morally constituted activity of people who are concerned with improving the quality of their lives and their community, rather than the transcultural and merely relational work of morally-neutral practitioners