Domestic Child Abuse under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child: Implications for Children\u27s Rights in Four Asian Countries

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first binding treaty to endorse children\u27s rights as separate from both adults and the family, and is thus an important step in international law toward recognition of children as rights bearers. An inquiry into the extent to which children enjoy human rights logically begins with Article 19 of the Convention which guarantees a child\u27s right to freedom from abuse and neglect by any party. While most literature in this area concentrates either on the rights guaranteed by the Convention or issues raised by studying child abuse across cultures, this Comment incorporates elements of both approaches into its analysis. Examination of the child abuse statutes and relevant policies of Hong Kong, China, Singapore, and Indonesia reveals that child maltreatment is particularly influenced by cultural relativism. This analysis further indicates that cultural attitudes, a government\u27s regulatory strength within the familial context, and economic prosperity all contribute to obscure the fine line between child abuse and child discipline. Consequently, a full realization of the benefits guaranteed by Article 19 in these four countries may not be achieved until children are understood as rights bearers within the family as well as in society

Hopf algebras and characters of classical groups

Schur functions provide an integral basis of the ring of symmetric functions. It is shown that this ring has a natural Hopf algebra structure by identifying the appropriate product, coproduct, unit, counit and antipode, and their properties. Characters of covariant tensor irreducible representations of the classical groups GL(n), O(n) and Sp(n) are then expressed in terms of Schur functions, and the Hopf algebra is exploited in the determination of group-subgroup branching rules and the decomposition of tensor products. The analysis is carried out in terms of n-independent universal characters. The corresponding rings, CharGL, CharO and CharSp, of universal characters each have their own natural Hopf algebra structure. The appropriate product, coproduct, unit, counit and antipode are identified in each case.Comment: 9 pages. Uses jpconf.cls and jpconf11.clo. Presented by RCK at SSPCM'07, Myczkowce, Poland, Sept 200

Experiences, causes, and measures to tackle institutional incongruence and informal economic activity in South-East Europe

To explain the prevalence and persistence of informal economic activity globally, scholars have recently advanced an institutional incongruence perspective. Institutional incongruence exists where there is a misalignment between what is considered legitimate by a society’s formal institutions (e.g. its laws and regulations) and its informal institutions (e.g. norms, values and beliefs). Reporting findings from a series of qualitative focus groups in Bulgaria, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, this paper explores relationships between such institutional incongruence and informal economic activity. In particular, it sheds light on how informality and institutional incongruence are experienced by individuals in South-East Europe. It furthermore provides insights on the causes of such incongruence, and how it can lead to informal economic activity. Finally, it reports on individuals’ perceptions towards different measures to tackle institutional incongruence and informal economic activity, with implications for policy makers in South-East Europe and more widely

An update of stabilisation exercises for low back pain: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Background Non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) is a large and costly problem. It has a lifetime prevalence of 80% and results in high levels of healthcare cost. It is a major cause for long term sickness amongst the workforce and is associated with high levels of fear avoidance and kinesiophobia. Stabilisation (or ‘core stability’) exercises have been suggested to reduce symptoms of pain and disability and form an effective treatment. Despite it being the most commonly used form of physiotherapy treatment within the UK there is a lack of positive evidence to support its use. The aims of this systematic review update is to investigate the effectiveness of stabilisation exercises for the treatment of NSLBP, and compare any effectiveness to other forms of exercise. Methods A systematic review published in 2008 was updated with a search of PubMed, CINAHL, AMED, Pedro and The Cochrane Library, October 2006 to October 2013. Two authors independently selected studies, and two authors independently extracted the data. Methodological quality was evaluated using the PEDro scale. Meta-analysis was carried out when appropriate. Results 29 studies were included: 22 studies (n = 2,258) provided post treatment effect on pain and 24 studies (n = 2,359) provided post treatment effect on disability. Pain and disability scores were transformed to a 0 to 100 scale. Meta-analysis showed significant benefit for stabilisation exercises versus any alternative treatment or control for long term pain and disability with mean difference of -6.39 (95% CI -10.14 to -2.65) and -3.92 (95% CI -7.25 to -0.59) respectively. The difference between groups was clinically insignificant. When compared with alternative forms of exercise, there was no statistical or clinically significant difference. Mean difference for pain was -3.06 (95% CI -6.74 to 0.63) and disability -1.89 (95% CI -5.10 to 1.33). Conclusion There is strong evidence stabilisation exercises are not more effective than any other form of active exercise in the long term. The low levels of heterogeneity and large number of high methodological quality of available studies, at long term follow-up, strengthen our current findings, and further research is unlikely to considerably alter this conclusion

Patterns of coexisting superconducting and particle-hole condensates

We have studied systematically the influence of particle-hole symmetric and asymmetric kinetic terms on the ordered phases that we may observe competing or coexisting in a tetragonal system. We show that there are precise patterns of triplets of ordered phases that are accessible (i.e. it is impossible to observe two of them without the third one). We found a systematic way to predict these patterns of states and tested it by identifying at least 16 different patterns of three order parameters that necessarily coexist in the presence of the kinetic terms. We show that there are two types of general equations governing the competition of all these triplets of order parameters and we provide them.Comment: Published versio