Humanitarian response and stress in Kenya: gendered problems and their implications

ABSTRACT

Stress-related conditions such as burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder are a growing concern in the humanitarian sector. Aid workers themselves report not only that mental health problems are common, but that the support they receive from their employers is insufficient. Problematically, the experience of the international aid worker – particularly those who are white and from the global North – is often foregrounded in explaining what constitutes stress and related mental health problems. This indicates a wider problem of what is required of ‘the perfect humanitarian’ – a personality that is gendered and racialised – and how this influences the different experiences and treatment of national and international staff from aid agencies. This article explores the organisational culture and working conditions of humanitarian settings and their impact on the mental health and well-being of staff. It argues that there is a structural dimension to stress that is less to do with external security threats and more to do with the specific infrastructure, policies, and practices of humanitarian operations, with implications for aid workers which cut across dimensions of race, gender, and nationality.     

Brazil’s non-indifference: a case for a feminist diplomatic agenda or geopolitics as usual?

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Brazil took advantage of its economically and politically privileged position to challenge global normative structures. In 2004, the concept of “non-indifference” was integrated into the Brazilian vocabulary of foreign policy, justifying and legitimating the country’s acceptance of the invitation to command the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). On the one hand, non-indifference can be read as a discursive maneuver that enabled Brazil to accommodate its non-interventionist agenda to an old geopolitical game, given the pressure imposed upon “global players” to respond effectively and assertively to threats to international peace and security. On the other hand, the “Brazilian way” could also be seen as an alternative to a highly masculinized geopolitical approach to international security. This paper explores possible limitations, tensions and/or opportunities that emerge from the encounter between a feminist diplomatic agenda and a masculinizing ordering of the international space. It does so by contrasting Brazil’s ambition for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the club of powerful states, with Brazil’s diplomatic and military performance during MINUSTAH, widely evaluated as a success due to characteristics such as solidarity, generosity, flexibility and the “warm conviviality” of Brazilian culture.     

语义场理论对科技术语翻译的启示从——“水资源管理”一词的英汉互译谈起

科技术语在不同语言之间的翻译是一个复杂的语义匹配过程，如何在考虑相关术语使用现状的基础上将新产生的科技术语准确翻译为其它语言是科技工作者和术语研究者关注的重要问题。以语义场理论为分析框架，通过分析以"水资源管理"及其相关术语为代表的英汉互译，结果发现：不同科技术语在同一语义场所涵盖的语义范围将会随着相关研究深化带来的术语界定细化而发生相应的动态变化；新兴科技术语的翻译要充分考虑其所在语义场其它相关科技术语的翻译先例和使用现状所带来的影响，在翻译准确性和解读便利性之间做出适当的平衡。这是造成"水资源管理"及相关术语英汉互译处理极为复杂的重要原因之一，需要科技翻译者在工作实践中多加注意。     

Lighting Effects on Older Adults’ Visual and Nonvisual Performance: A Systematic Review

Lighting plays an important role in daily life: It helps people perform daily activities independently and safely, and also benefits their health. This study assesses the research evidence of lighting’s impacts on older adults in four domains: (a) performance of activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living; (b) circadian rhythm; (c) fall prevention and postural stability; and (d) sleep quality. A comprehensive review of lighting studies on older adults’ visual and nonvisual performance was conducted using a modified PRISMA systematic review process. For the first domain, some older adults had difficulty in using the toilet, preparing meals, and doing laundry under lower illuminance. For the second domain, brighter and bluish lighting improved older adults’ circadian rhythm. For the third domain, low-intensity LED lighting affixed on door frames can help older adults maintain postural stability and prevent falling during nighttime movement. Finally, some studies concluded that receiving outdoor daylight during exercise was beneficial to older adults’ sleep quality. This study provides several methodological, theoretical, and collaborative suggestions for developing a more conclusive evidence base for lighting standards and strategies for older adults.     

Inference and Decision Making for 21st-Century Drug Development and Approval

ABSTRACT

The cost and time of pharmaceutical drug development continue to grow at rates that many say are unsustainable. These trends have enormous impact on what treatments get to patients, when they get them and how they are used. The statistical framework for supporting decisions in regulated clinical development of new medicines has followed a traditional path of frequentist methodology. Trials using hypothesis tests of “no treatment effect” are done routinely, and the p-value < 0.05 is often the determinant of what constitutes a “successful” trial. Many drugs fail in clinical development, adding to the cost of new medicines, and some evidence points blame at the deficiencies of the frequentist paradigm. An unknown number effective medicines may have been abandoned because trials were declared “unsuccessful” due to a p-value exceeding 0.05. Recently, the Bayesian paradigm has shown utility in the clinical drug development process for its probability-based inference. We argue for a Bayesian approach that employs data from other trials as a “prior” for Phase 3 trials so that synthesized evidence across trials can be utilized to compute probability statements that are valuable for understanding the magnitude of treatment effect. Such a Bayesian paradigm provides a promising framework for improving statistical inference and regulatory decision making.     

Unsettling research versus activism: how might critical disability studies disrupt traditional research boundaries?

Abstract

This article responds to the call for producing activist-oriented scholarship by engaging with theoretical and methodological approaches that explore the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in Vietnam. We consider possibilities for connecting different forms of knowledge and activism by reflecting on research practices designed to foster social change. Specifically, we ask: how can critical disability studies be more reflexive about knowledge which privileges particular ways of knowing from the Global North? What alternative possibilities can exist to foster more inclusive and transformative knowledge that tackles systemic forms of oppressions in colonial and postcolonial contexts? Reflecting on an ongoing collaborative project in Vietnam, we argue that critical disability studies which engages with different forms of activism through critical reflections on our privileges can tackle exclusion by opening a new platform for debating social justice transnationally.     

新时代高校国防教育隐性课程开发探究

新时代高校国防教育，在利用好军事理论教学这一显性课程基础上，还需要开发隐性课程。从国防教育隐性课程内涵谈起，阐述了开发国防教育隐性课程的必要性和可行性，进而对高校国防教育隐性课程开发的策略提出了几点看法，认为应该从开发以校园环境建设为基础的隐性课程、开发以制度建设为载体的隐性课程、开发以培育大学精神为核心的隐性课程三方面进行。     

经典剧作的对外传播与中国国家形象建构

经典剧作是我国优秀传统文化的代表，是中国人民智慧的结晶，也是中华民族优良品德的集中体现。做好经典剧作的对外传播，有利于将客观、真实的中国介绍给世界，消除个别国家对我国国家形象的误解，对于我国的社会主义现代化进程和在国际社会树立良好的大国形象，具有积极的推动作用。     

京津冀节能减排政策措施的差异与协同研究

在对京津冀1981年以来节能减排政策措施进行量化处理的基础上,建立针对节能减排政策措施有效性的计量模型,分析了京津冀节能减排政策措施的演变状况,并探究京津冀节能减排政策措施对其节能减排效果影响的差异性.研究结果表明:京津冀节能减排政策颁布经历了早期各年份相对零散、缺乏连续性到新世纪以来政策颁布数量显著增多、政策总体力度逐渐增大的过程,但三地政策总效力的增加主要是由于节能减排政策颁布数量增多引起的;京津冀三地在政策的制定过程中更多的是趋于实现短期目标,政策整体缺乏系统性和权威性;人事措施、行政措施、引导措施、财税措施、金融措施等不同节能减排政策措施对京津冀节能和减排的有效性具有明显的差异;三地对不同政策措施的使用方式、使用程度方面存在明显的差异,这对京津冀协同推进节能减排的治理工作提出挑战.论文还从京津冀完善单一节能减排政策措施的使用、加强市场手段的应用及京津冀区域协同治理等方面提出了相应政策建议.     

试论社会治理背景下政府与市场关系的经济法规制

政府与市场的关系问题是经济法规制的基于问题，如何正确看待政府与市场在经济生态系统内各自的功能及作用，是经济法规制的核心问题。因为这样的认识直接导致了经济立法的体系构建与内容规则。经济法规制是国家实施经济治理与尊重市场调节的基本依据，也是施行经济法治与社会治理的根本前提。所以，从社会治理的背景下来讨论经济法规制的社会经济发展的制度条件及制度生成条件，有利于真正建立和完善经济法规制的体系和内容，从而使得经济法治生态化地融入社会治理的结构体系内，达到优化社会制度以促进经济发展的目的。