Academic literature on the topic 'Moe (Vic ) Social conditions'

This present study was carried out to check the feasibility of different cellulose fibers obtained from cropped virgin cellulose, blenched eucalyptus, and araucaria pulps through different new environmentally friendly curing processes for fiber-cement production. The aim is to introduce the different sources of cellulose fibers with lower cost to produce the “fiber-cement without autoclave” (FCWA). The slurries used in the experiments contain approximately 8% wt. of cellulose. The influence of the waste marble powder addition to the cement mixture was also studied. The physical and mechanical properties of the products which were prepared with this method under different curing conditions were investigated. The mechanical properties of eucalyptus cellulose appear to offer the best combination, especially after longer air-cure cycles. The results showed that the production of FCWA is very economical by using waste marble powders. And moreover, two new types of cellulose fibers (eucalyptus and araucaria celluloses; EuC and ArC, resp.), which provide a better density and packing in the fiber-cement leading to better modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) values as virgin cellulose (ViC), are very usable for production of the fiber-cement in industrial scale.

Drawing on case study evidence, this article explores the development of compulsory courses in a China’s high-level comprehensive university, which has achieved good results in the procedure of Quality Assessment of Undergraduate Education (QAUE) and China Discipline Ranking (CDR) issued by Ministry of Education (MOE). The general undergraduate majors of this university are classified into 5 categories, namely, journalism and communication, economics and management, science and engineering, foreign language and literature, humanities and social science. The research scope is from grade 2007 to 2017, 2007 fall to 2018 spring semester, respectively. According to the requirements of MOE, the compulsory courses are divided into two parts: public and professional. The public part mainly refers to the courses of physical education, ideological and political and elementary computer science, while the professional part is mostly relevant to the courses associate with the major. The laws of two parts are studied by utilizing the features of course name, course ID, credits and appropriate semester. The conditions of characteristic development, the workload of teachers and students and the interdisciplinary platform, which are universal in Chinese Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), are mentioned.

This research is motivated by the low learning outcomes of students in social studies class VIc. The purpose of this study was to describe the application of the children's song strategy in increasing the learning motivation of grade VIc elementary school students at the 005 Titian Resak State Elementary School in 2019, so that by increasing student learning motivation, it will be able to improve student learning outcomes. The data collection technique in this study was a student evaluation test consisting of 6 multiple choice questions and 4 short entry questions to determine student learning outcomes and supported by interviews and observations. Based on the results obtained from this study, it can be concluded that the learning outcomes of Theme 4 (Globalization) Sub-Theme 3 (Globalization and Love of the Homeland) students of class VI C SD Negeri 005 Titian Resak, can improve by using children's song strategies. The increase in learning outcomes can be seen from the initial conditions, the average value is 64.66 with a percentage of the number of students who complete 40%. In the first cycle there was an increase in the average score of 76 with the percentage of students who completed 64%, with a target of 75. Then in the second cycle there was an increase in the average value of 88, with the percentage of students who completed was 88% with a target of 80. ABSTRAKPenelitian ini di latar belakangi oleh rendahnya hasil belajar siswa pada pelajaran IPS kelas VIc. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan penerapan strategi lagu anak-anak dalam meningkatkan motivasi belajar siswa kelas VIc Sekolah Dasar Negeri 005 Titian Resak tahun 2019, sehingga dengan meningkatnya motivasi belajar siswa, akan dapat meningkatkan hasil belajar siswa. Teknik pengumpulan data dalam penelitian ini adalah tes soal evaluasi siswa yang terdiri dari 6 soal pilihan ganda dan 4 soal isian singkat untuk mengetahui hasil beajar siswa serta di dukung dengan wawancara dan observasi. Berdasarkan hasil yang di peroleh dari penelitian ini maka dapat disimpukan bahwa hasil belajar Tema 4 (Globalisasi) Sub Tema 3 (Globalisasi dan Cinta Tanah Air) siswa kelas VI C SD Negeri 005 Titian Resak, dapat meningkatkan dengan menggunakan strategi lagu anak- anak. Peningkatan hasil belajar dapat dilihat dari kondisi awal nilai rata-rata sebesar 64,66 dengan persenatse jumlah siswa yang tuntas 40%. Pada siklus I terjadi peningkatan nilai rata-rata sebesar 76 dengan persentase jumlah siswa ynag tuntas 64%, dengan target sebesar 75. Kemudian pada siklus II terjadi peningkatan nilai rata-rata sebesar 88, dengan jumlah persentase siswa yang tuntas adalah 88% dengan target sebesar 80.

This paper discusses how waqf properties, zakāt and qarḍ which are Islamic social finance (ISF) instruments, can be used to assist different categories of low-income individuals and groups to achieve financial empowerment and widen their financial well-being. In addition, this paper explains how takāful products and services can prevent financial anxiety and strengthen the financial resilience of low-income individuals and groups against unpredictable shocks. Qualitative approach is used to review opinions of both classical and contemporary jurists from four major Sunni madhāhib namely, the Ḥanafiyyah school, the Mālikiyyah school, the Shāfiʽīyah school and Ḥanbaliyyah school on the useability and application of waqf, zakāt, qarḍ and takāful as social financing tools. In addition, the paper discusses ijtihād held by a number of Muslim jurists who are known for deep thought and their ability to scrutinise and compare opinions and views from different Shari’ah sources. As the result, the divergent views expressed by these jurists are to some extent reconciled to help the policymakers and other interested parties to have a clear understanding of the actual meaning of the concept of sufficiency of sustenance/need (ḥājah) and conditions that deem to appropriately align with the concept. This is expected to provide the basis for the policymakers to formulate policies and strategies for the intended beneficiaries who are the low-income individuals and groups who constitute the vulnerable groups in a society. This research is supported by Ministry of Education (MOE) through Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS /1 /2021 /SS01 /UIAM /03 /3).

The conterminous United States includes national forests and grasslands that provide ecological, social, economic, recreational, and aesthetic services. Future climate change can alter long-term hydroclimatic conditions of national forests and grasslands and lead to negative consequences. This study characterizes shifts in hydroclimatology and basin characteristics of US National Forests (NFs) and National Grasslands (NGs) in response to climate change over the 21st century under the DRY, MIDDLE, and WET climate models with the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 emission scenario. Climatic projections for three climate models ranging from the driest to wettest conditions were obtained from the Multivariate Adaptive Constructed Analogs (MACA) dataset. Then, the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model was used to model hydrological responses of the selected future climates. Changes in regional hydroclimatic conditions of NFs and NGs were assessed by the magnitude and direction of movements in the Budyko space. The Fu’s equation was applied to estimate changes in basin characteristics. The results indicate that NFs and NGs are likely to experience larger changes in basin characteristics compared to the average of the United States. In general, across the conterminous US, the NFs in mountainous regions are likely to have larger changes in hydroclimatic variables than NFs with lower elevation and NGs. Comparing Forest Service regions, Pacific Northwest, Intermountain, and Northern regions may have a less arid climate with lower freshwater availability. The Southwestern, Northern, Intermountain, and Rocky Mountain regions are likely to experience higher shifts in their basin characteristics. This study can help environmental scientists, and land and water managers improve future land management plans.

Diagnostic analysis of domestic violence against women showed that this problem should be considered as a sci-entific concept. The attitude of society representatives to the manifestations of domestic violence against women was revealed. Their awareness of the essential characteristics of the studied phenomenon is described; availability of moti-vation to struggle against domestic violence; the real state of formation of professional knowledge and skills, ways to prevent domestic violence against women. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the organizational and substan-tive conditions for the prevention of domestic violence against women (informational and explanatory social and psy-chological work with perpetrators; interdepartmental interaction in socio-psychological work with victims of domestic violence; actualization of legal competence of victims of domestic violence through non-formal education). The struc-ture of socio-pedagogical prevention of domestic violence against women is determined, which consists of components such as: organizational, procedural, rehabilitation; criteria (managerial, activity, preventive) and indicators (organiza-tional component: detection of an act of violence, notification to law enforcement agencies, notification to the Depart-ment of Labor and Social Protection, decision-making on further work; procedural component: first aid, referral of vic-tims to qualification services, work with offenders, rehabilitation component: the formation of legal competence, the formation of reflection, work with a psychologist / a social worker) socio-pedagogical prevention of domestic violence against women. The methodological basis of the study are methods that have been selected to know a woman's own self; which allowed women to find out the level of their motivation, awareness, literacy in order to form in them the goal of eliminating domestic violence against women. It should be noted that the questionnaire guaranteed complete confidentiality to the respondents, which allowed women to have less pain and to answer the proposed questions hon-estly. It was concluded that interdepartmental cooperation of all institutions is necessary for the systematic prevention of domestic violence against women. Effective interdepartmental interaction aims to solve the problem of violence against women more effectively; it is one of the main functions of this mechanism. All institutions of interdepartmental interaction (i.e. local communities at all levels) must maintain effective coordination with each other. It is the coordination of actions that becomes the basis for reflecting more effective interdepartmental interaction. The use of public insti-tutions of general information will help to create clear and effective criteria for monitoring and assessing the state of work of public institutions in the fight against domestic violence against women.

With face-to-face interaction proving beneficial for mental health, there is still a paucity of research on the correlation between ground floor features (GFFs), defined here as the features of the ground floor of buildings overlooking a street, and public open space face-to-face interaction density (POSFTFID), defined as the density of human face-to-face interactions in the public open space (POS) adjacent to each building. Is there a correlation between GFFs and POSFTFID? This study aims to answer this question gaining empirical evidence from a Chinese village in the city (ViC). Behavioural mapping and statistical analysis were employed and the following GFFs were tested: Ground floor area, indoor visible space, presence of stairs, POS adjacent area, and land use. Results show an association between POSFTFID and: (1) The area of the POS adjacent to each building, (2) the degree of visibility (ratio of indoor visible space to total internal space) of the ground floor, (3) the presence of stairs. Moreover, food appears to be an important attribute fostering social interaction. Results can provide insights on future implications in urban design strategies and planning policies aiming at enhancing mental health conditions in contemporary cities.

ABSTRACT Introduction Tongan female smokers’ smoking experiences have manifested within a realm of socioeconomic and cultural conditions in New Zealand with cessation service engagement relatively low. Due to the projected tobacco burden attributed to Pacific women, pertinent research proves vital to bettering understandings of smoking and cessation within this group. This study explored the knowledge and experiences of smoking and smoking cessation services among Tongan women aged 16 years and over, living in the Auckland region. Methods This qualitative research design utilised the Kakala model to ensure processes were culturally appropriate and meaningful. Data was collected through eight face-to-face semi-structured interviews transcribed by the researcher and employed the toli, teu and luva process from the Kakala model to form relevant themes. Findings The findings suggest smoking among Tongan females is a social vector that marks independence and maintains friendships, despite known adverse health effects and stigma. It is characterised as stress relief that has habituated into day-to-day routine for most. Their aspirations to live longer for their family is a strong motivator but quitting remains difficult and should be done autonomously by the individual. Tongan female smokers stated smoking cessation services as ineffective and need to be adapted and consulted by and within the community. Stop smoking services should encourage autonomy among Tonga women in order to improve utilisation and engagement. Service delivery for Tongan female smokers needs to be on-going and long-term support reoriented within the community for more Tongan women to become completely smokefree. Conclusions Tongan female smoking in New Zealand is comprised of experiences surrounding friendships, family and culture. This study concludes that although smoking harms are widely known, cessation service delivery can be transformed by utilizing existing Tongan cultural roles such as that of the mehikitanga (paternal aunt) to encourage non-smoking among extended female generations.

TO THE EDITOR: Goddard et al, authors of ?People with an intellectual disability in the discourse of chronic and complex conditions: an invisible group??1 are to be congratulated for raising discussion about one of the most vulnerable groups in Australia with respect to their receipt of optimal health care. The authors conclude that ?developing interventions and strategies to increase the knowledge of health care workers . . . caring for people with intellectual disabilities will likely improve the health care needs of this population and their families?. In relation to this identified need for health professional education and training in the care of people with intellectual disabilities, we would like to draw the attention of your readers to some work undertaken by the Centre for Developmental Disability Health Victoria (CDDHV) to address this issue. The CDDHV works to improve the health and health care of people with developmental disabilities through a range of educational, research and clinical activities. In recent years there has been an increasing awareness of the need for health professional education in this area. Moreover, as people with disabilities often have chronic and complex health and social issues, focusing on their health care provides a platform for interprofessional education and a springboard for understanding the essential importance and value of interprofessional practice. Recently, the CDDHV has taken a lead role in developing a teaching and learning resource that focuses both on the health care of people with disabilities and on the importance and value of interprofessional practice. This resource promotes and facilitates interprofessional learning, and develops understanding of the health and health care issues experienced by people with disabilities and those who support them. ?Health and disability: partnerships in action? is a new video-based teaching and learning package, produced through an interprofessional collaboration between health professionals from medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, paramedic practice, health science, social work, speech pathology, dietetics and dentistry. Those living with a disability are the experts on their own experience and so their direct involvement in and contribution to the education of health care professionals is essential. The collaboration between those featured in the video stories and health professionals has led to the development of a powerful resource that facilitates students and practitioners developing insights into the health and health care issues encountered by people with developmental disabilities. We also believe that through improving their understanding of, and health provision to, people with disabilities and those who support them, health professionals will acquire valuable attitudes, knowledge and skills applicable to many other patients in their practice population. Jane M Tracy Education Director Centre for Developmental Disability Health Victoria Melbourne, VIC

The article examines the anthropological dimension of the victim phenomenon through the prism of Rene Girard's concept and modern studies of nihilistic tendencies of cultural scenarios with dominant polar psychotypes. The significance of Rene Girard's theory in the study of the arche- typal basis of victim behavior, its historical sources and myth-ritual basis is studied. The cultural specifics of modern forms of counteracting vic- timhood and value contradictions of the victim's figure in the conditions of new threats to humanity, changes in the space of culture in the direction of increasing dependence on media communication platforms, are revealed. Some aspects of the victim's behavior have been linked to identity patterns which suggests a hedonistic-entertaining culture format that results in narcissistic choices or escapist behavior. The article clarifies the nature of the interaction between the images of the victim in the era of multimedia communication and cultural practices which acquire the charac- ter of a ritual response to the archaic internal conflict in the context of cultural-traumatic discourse. Examining the sacred nature of the victim in the processes of desacralization of modern culture, according to R. Girard, preservation and es- sential transformation of this defining archetype as a medium of aggression is concluded. In the modern scenarios a model of total victim is formed that has lost the function of channeling social aggression, falling into a vicious circle of destruction of either oneself or others (W. Kraus), or which is "stuck" in the "triangle of fate", where everyone is a victim (S. Karpman). A hedonist who suffers from shortcomings in a flat everyday life, having lost the tragedy of his own existence in the culture, acts as its re- pressed subject, but is not aware of it, according to the psychoanalytic theory of cultural trauma. However, in everyday practices (bullying, gaslight- ing, trolling) anyone can be a victim at any time. In a more global dimension, we are talking about the collective nature of sacrifice, as evidenced by the tendencies of radicalism, terrorism, war, genocide, etc. It is possible to eliminate human inherent aggressive instincts only through the step-by-step development of the value sphere (W. Kraus). This is the only thing that can prevent the self-destruction of the mankind and solve the problem of intraspecific aggression, which was considered from different points of view by K. Lorentz and R. Girard.

L'élite dans sa définition générale, désigne les personnes les meilleures et les plus remarquables d'un groupe. Le travail mené ici tente de cerner l'élite d'Orléans de 1848 à 1914, mettant en avant les relations structurant cette société ainsi que ses comportements dans une logique de distinction locale. Partout ailleurs, la révolution industrielle amorce le recul de la puissance terrienne, soit le déclin de l'aristocratie foncière et la montée de la bourgeoisie capitaliste. Pourtant Orléans, jadis industrieuse et négociante, se transforme, tout au long du XIXesiècle, en ville de rentiers dont les stratégies d'investissements sont moins offensives, entraînant une certaine ruralisation des fortunes, des revenus ainsi que des modes de vie, l'Orléanais aisé continuant à exercer ses devoirs de riches sur les campagnes environnantes et sur les pauvres de la cité. Le négoce fait place au commerce faisant émerger quelques grandes familles de bourgeois aisés. Appartenir à cette élite signifiait alors en avoir les moyens: le niveau de fortune, la source de revenus, l'accès à la propriété, le lieu de vie ou l'emploi d'une domesticité. L'élite orléanaise affirme aussi son appartenance sociale par le regroupement au sein d'associations officielles ou spontanées, sans pouvoir autant mêler l'aristocratie et la bourgeoisie locale: les sociétés savantes, les réunions de salons, les cercles, les oeuvres de charité ou les lieux de rassemblements publics ont permis d'affiner les contours de l'élite orléanaise
The word "elite" for historians refers to all those thought to be at hightest position of the society by their contemporaries without expressing any value judgement. The work carried out there tries to define the elites of Orléans from 1848 to 1914, emphasing the relations by which this urban society as well as its behaviours have been organized in a logic of local distinction. If, during that period, in some other places the indusrial sees the decline of the domination of the land ownership, the falling of landed aristocracy and the coming bourgeoisie, Orléans, which was formerly an industious and merchant city, tend to change in the 19th century into a city of pensioners those safe strategies to invest, lead some fortunes as well as way of life to become more rural. Thus the wealthy citizen from Orléans exerts his patronage on the countrysides nearby and the poor of his city. Trade is changes into a mere commerce, however letting some new wealthy upper-class families emerge. If some people wanted to belong to this elite, they needed first a high income but compared to a standard of living, the source of income, the real estate, the living area or the hiring of household prove to be decisive. The elite of Orléans asserts its social level by gathering within associations, whether they are official or spontaneous, without however getting mixed with the local aristocracy or bourgeoisie: educated societies, lounge meetings, clubs, charities or some public events like races or every way to express sociability and distinction

Bibliography: leaves 135-143. An anthropological analysis of an industrial dispute that occurred within the East Gippsland forest industry, 1997-1998 and how the workers strove to acheive better working conditions for themselves, and to share in the wealth they had created.

Mme de Marans (1719-1784) est issue d'une famille de noblesse récente et vit en châtelaine dans le Bas-Vendômois. Elle tient la plume dès son enfance et écrit en son for privé toute sa vie. Trois de ses journaux personnelsont été conservés : recueils de miscellanées, ils s'apparentent aux livres de lieux communs. La forme et le fond de cesécrits privés révèlent la personnalité de leur auteure, très cultivée, les raisons de sa prise de plume et ses pratiquesd'écriture. À l'aide de ces sources principales, de la correspondance de Mme de Marans et d'actes de la pratique, il estpossible de restituer l'éducation reçue par la diariste et les voies d'accès à la culture pour cette provinciale curieuse detout. Mme de Marans mobilise l'univers de la sociabilité des élites et celui du livre (elle offre même le fruit de sesréflexions au public via les anonymes Pensées errantes) pour satisfaire son ambition d'en apprendre davantage.Introspection, morale, théologie, histoire, littérature ancienne et moderne, sciences, intéressent Mme de Marans. Elleporte aussi sa réflexion sur des sujets d'actualité : place de la noblesse dans la société, nature du pouvoir royal etdroits des femmes. Le profil de Mme de Marans correspond à celui d'autres écrivantes et curieuses de la France et del'Europe des Lumières, mais elle subit les mêmes contraintes que ses contemporaines dans son accès à laconnaissance. Son cas montre ce qui est possible en matière de réception et d'appropriation des savoirs à lacampagne, et contribue à la réévaluation de l'éducation et la culture des femmes au château au XVIIIe siècle
Mme de Marans (1719-1784) was born in a noble but new family and lives amongst the Bas-Vendômois gentry.She starts writing as a child and keeps private writings her whole life. Three of her diaries, or commonplace books, werepreserved. Form and content of these private writings reveal their author's character, her great culture, the reasons whyshe started writing and her writing practice. Those main sources, Mme de Marans' correspondence and notary sourceshelp reconstituting her education, and the ways her inquiring mind can access knowledge. Mme de Marans takesadvantage of her social network and of the book industry (she even publishes her thoughts in the anonymous Penséeserrantes) to fulfill her ambition of always learning more. Mme de Marans is interested in introspection, ethics, theology,history, science, ancient and modern literature. Topical issues such as nobility's place in society, nature of royal powerand women's rights concern her as well. Mme de Marans shares similarities with other women writers from France orEurope of the Enlightment, but she experiences the same restrictions as her contemporaries in her access toknowledge. Her case is an example of what can be appropriation of ideas in the countryside, and contributes to thereassessment of women's education and culture amongst the 18th century gentry

The late nineteenth century was a period of tumultuous social change throughout the English-speaking world. Nowhere was this more apparent then in Melbourne, the principal city in the British colony of Victoria. Melbourne experienced the best and the worst of the era. It enjoyed rapid economic growth and an unsurpassed level of general prosperity. However the depression in the following decade exposed and deepened cracks in the economic system which had been present for a long time. This thesis uses a wide variety of aggregate and individual-level data to chart the life courses of young Melburnians as they made they way to adulthood. It examines their schooling. It measures their entry into the work force, and investigates the types of jobs that were available and the consequences of boys’ and girls’ employment decisions. It considers what factors were important in determining the ages at which men and women married. In the early 1870s laws were passed to make elementary schooling compulsory and universal, yet children’s schooling practices were impervious to such interventions. Enrolment and attendance stayed at their former levels and in many ways parents and children circumvented or disregarded the laws to suit their own needs. Families were less successful in influencing the labour market. Mechanization and specialization went hand-in-hand with a deskilling of jobs. Youths of both sexes were forced into dead-end employment which taught them little or no skills and sentenced them to a life of low wages and frequent unemployment. The median age at marriage changed very little during the period, after controlling for changes in the age structure of the unmarried population. Most women faced no attractive alternatives to marriage. Consequently there was a relatively narrow dispersion in the ages of brides and only slight differences amongst women from different social classes. Marriage for young men was a more accurate reflection of the their perceptions of their present and prospective economic circumstances. At the furthest extreme, migrants who were working in semi-skilled and unskilled jobs were disillusioned and married very late. The unifying theme to the thesis is how the transitions to adulthood reflected the strains of late nineteenth-century family life and in particular the economic relationship between parents and children. Chapter 5 investigates marital fertility decline which is another example of how families coped. Melbourne began the fertility transition in the 1880s. Two unique features were that young married women were at the forefront of that demographic change and a large contribution to lower fertility rates came from longer intervals between births. The ideological importance of separate public and private spheres and on maintaining ‘respectability' are argued to be at the root of the fertility decline and on the progression from childhood to marriage in late nineteenth-century Melbourne.

Latin America developed experiments with the social investment perspective as the neoliberal Washington Consensus faltered. This chapter tracks the dynamics of reform in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru. Change processes in the three were similar and involved a central policy instrument of social investment, the conditional cash transfer (CCT). Protagonists of reform intended these transfers to advance human development goals via creation of human capital in childhood, while also serving as anti-poverty measures. They targeted extreme poverty while emphasizing early childhood development and well-being. Those who promoted these instruments intended to do more than reform social protection, however. CCTs and other interventions were part of ambitious projects to reform the state and its institutions. Technocrats in particular sought to use the instruments of the social investment perspective to confront entrenched policy legacies, breaking with past practices, institutional supports, and supporting actors that for years had allowed clientelism and even corruption to drive social policy.

In this chapter a new direct adaptive fuzzy optimal sliding mode control approach is proposed for the stabilization of fractional chaotic systems with different initial conditions of the state under the presence of uncertainties and external disturbances. Using Lyapunov analysis, the direct adaptive fuzzy optimal sliding mode control approach illustrates asymptotic convergence of error to zero as well as good robustness against external disturbances and uncertainties. The authors present a method for optimum tuning of sliding mode control system parameter using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. PSO is a robust stochastic optimization technique based on the movement and intelligence of swarm, applying the concept of social interaction to problem solving. Simulation examples for the control of nonlinear fractional-order systems are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed fractional adaptive fuzzy control strategy.

Privatization was a fundamental component of the process of transformation in Central and Eastern European countries. It was also the most important case of privatization when considering the number of countries involved, the number of enterprises privatized, and the value of privatized assets and jobs in proportion to the size of the economies and employment. The apparent similarity of privatization blueprints notwithstanding, different countries operated under different conditions, faced different constraints, and had different political and social preferences concerning transformation and privatization. These led countries to pursue different goals via privatization and to use different methods. Consequently, economic and institutional outcomes were also different. It turns out that there was a clear, direct relation between the quality of institutions and the outcome of privatization: Central European countries fared much better than Eastern European countries thanks to the more developed market-institutional context and the perspective of EU access in the former.

This chapter sets out and considers political readings of Othello, which is more commonly interpreted in an ethical or psychological frame. The plot puts sovereign state power into contradistinction and competition with patriarchal authority, with social antagonisms and oppressions, notably racism, with the political and moral claims of open frank speech, and with the ‘machiavellian’ strategies of hypocrisy, trickery, and ruthlessness. Shakespeare’s dramatizations of these powers and structures both emphasizes how ethical inter-personal and intimate relationships are shaped by political and social factors and forces, and also brings into question the claims of sovereignty and patriarchy vis-à-vis the forces of social antagonism. The claims of frank public speech in relation to political power are ambiguous: free public speech is a necessary condition of political life properly speaking, but is always risky and often compromised.

Abstract Feminism and materialism offer disciplinary resources that would be more effective in cooperation than isolation. From a dynamic, interdisciplinary materialism, feminists gain an understanding of the physical forces that contribute to our beliefs and values. In contrast to accounts that reduce all of causation to the law-based interactions described by physics, feminist materialists posit agency as a capacity to transform material conditions in order to survive in a changing world. The recognition of action at multiple levels of explanation offers feminists a range of potential interventions in pursuit of social change. Likewise, materialists gain from feminism an array of epistemic and ethical tools for examining the obstacles to interdisciplinary collaboration and faulty assumptions that misdirect research. Feminism opens materialists to alternative methodologies and perspectives necessary to the investigation of the nature of the mind.

The long-term implications of COVID-19 for wellbeing are predicted to be both significant and enduring. Data from previous epidemics indicates long-term detrimental effects are more pronounced among particular demographics, including individuals with pre-existing mental health conditions. The Mental Health Independent Support Team (MhIST) is a charitable organisation offering a range of free-at-the-point-of-contact services via self-referral for a range of mental health and wellbeing concerns, both with and without diagnosis. Since March 2020, the organisation noted significant rises in demand for services. Serious games and their active involvement in eliciting rapid positive behavioural change is associated with their emergence as a key learning tool, with effects transferable to the real world. While a growing number of gamified interventions exist for a range of mental health diagnoses, their presence in the domain of positive psychology is more limited. The chapter reports two studies conducted to enhance the development of an educational game for adult wellbeing.

Sociologist Murray Milner’s Freaks, Geeks, and Cool Kids applies a theory of status relations to American teens to explain why bullying happens, how it happens, and under what conditions it emerges. For Milner, bullying is a consequence of a complex status system by which teens vie for recognition and rank by peers, derive membership in groups, and solidify group identity by excluding others. School exacerbates a status-conscious social system. Schools are age-segregated, bounded enclaves where teens have little other power. In the absence of any real power, status, a symbolic good, becomes more important. For Milner, status systems by which individuals and groups struggle to improve their status set the conditions for the bully to emerge. Milner identifies four concepts to understand status relations in American high schools: conformity, association, inalienability, and inexpansibility. Understanding status as a complex social system helps us to better understand the causes of bullying and interventions to reduce bullying.

The incidence of psychotic disorders is increased, to varying extents, in many migrant and minority ethnic populations in several countries. This chapter briefly reviews the evidence on disparities in incidence between minority and majority populations and then discusses possible explanations. It is unlikely that methodological artifact, including misdiagnosis, can fully account for the high incidence rates observed in some populations. Further, there is no evidence that established neurodevelopmental risk factors for psychosis explain disparities among ethnic groups. It is, then, most likely—and there is growing evidence to support this—that the high rates are a consequence of greater exposure to adverse social conditions and experiences, particularly those involving threat and violence, over the life course among minority ethnic groups. In other words, psychosis occurs more often in some minority populations via a socio-developmental pathway.

This book has examined how the capability approach provides a politically normative metric for the critical analysis of policies and public policy structures, as well as policy interventions driven by human development or human security concerns. It has demonstrated that existing social structures and institutions play a key role in the realisation of capabilities or the feasibility of human flourishing. This chapter summarises the book's main arguments and considers new principles and aspirations towards capability-promoting policy. It argues that an alliance with the tradition of critical social science may ‘secure’ the capabilities approach, with its analytic focus on real-world conditions and requirements for renegotiating social justice and creating more capabilities-promoting policies, and vice versa. Capability-promoting policies include emancipatory and democratic strategies that transform unjust structures in order to enhance the agency of individual subjects in terms of human flourishing.

On the eve of the interwar period, a set of interrelated structural factors (i.e. socio-economic development and state- and nation-building processes) had created a distinction between resilient democracies installed before the end of World War I and fragile new democracies. Our theoretical framework proposes that these deep structural conditions were linked to interwar democratic survival via a set of more proximate factors, namely, democratic legacies and a strong associational landscape (i.e. vibrant civil societies and institutionalized parties). These factors increased the likelihood that political actors would comply with the democratic rules of the game via a number of mechanisms, such as democratic learning, mutual trust among key political actors, and the capacity to channel the ideas and frustrations of opposing societal groups via the established political institutions. Anti-democratic forces had only little support and room to manoeuvre in cases with firm democratic legacies and associational landscapes. On the contrary, where these factors were absent, democracies broke down after a few years. Finally, where they were partly present, democracies went through prolonged crises only to eventually break down, often during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Religious populism and radicalism are hardly new to Pakistan. Since its birth in 1947, the country has suffered through an ongoing identity crisis. Under turbulent political conditions, religion has served as a surrogate identity for Pakistan, masking the country’s evident plurality, and over the years has come to dominate politics. Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) is the latest face of religious extremism merged with populist politics. Nevertheless, its sporadic rise from a national movement defending Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws to a “pious” party is little understood. This paper draws on a collection of primary and secondary sources to piece together an account of the party’s evolution that sheds light on its appeal to “the people” and its marginalization and targeting of the “other.” The analysis reveals that the TLP has evolved from a proxy backed by the establishment against the mainstream parties to a full-fledged political force in its own right. Its ability to relate to voters via its pious narrative hinges on exploiting the emotional insecurities of the largely disenfranchised masses. With violence legitimized under the guise of religion, “the people” are afforded a new sense of empowerment. Moreover, the party’s rhetoric has given rise to a vigilante-style mob culture so much so that individuals inspired by this narrative have killed in plain sight without remorse. To make matters worse, the incumbent government of Imran Khan — itself a champion of Islamist rhetoric — has made repeated concessions and efforts to appease the TLP that have only emboldened the party. Today, the TLP poses serious challenges to Pakistan’s long-standing, if fragile, pluralistic social norms and risks tipping the country into an even deadlier cycle of political radicalization.

Macroeconomic summary Several factors contributed to an increase in projected inflation on the forecast horizon, keeping it above the target rate. These included inflation in December that surpassed expectations (5.62%), indexation to higher inflation rates for various baskets in the consumer price index (CPI), a significant real increase in the legal minimum wage, persistent external and domestic inflationary supply shocks, and heightened exchange rate pressures. The CPI for foods was affected by the persistence of external and domestic supply shocks and was the most significant contributor to unexpectedly high inflation in the fourth quarter. Price adjustments for fuels and certain utilities can explain the acceleration in inflation for regulated items, which was more significant than anticipated. Prices in the CPI for goods excluding food and regulated items also rose more than expected. This was partly due to a smaller effect on prices from the national government’s VAT-free day than anticipated by the technical staff and more persistent external pressures, including via peso depreciation. By contrast, the CPI for services excluding food and regulated items accelerated less than expected, partly reflecting strong competition in the communications sector. This was the only major CPI basket for which prices increased below the target inflation rate. The technical staff revised its inflation forecast upward in response to certain external shocks (prices, costs, and depreciation) and domestic shocks (e.g., on meat products) that were stronger and more persistent than anticipated in the previous report. Observed inflation and a real increase in the legal minimum wage also exceeded expectations, which would boost inflation by affecting price indexation, labor costs, and inflation expectations. The technical staff now expects year-end headline inflation of 4.3% in 2022 and 3.4% in 2023; core inflation is projected to be 4.5% and 3.6%, respectively. These forecasts consider the lapse of certain price relief measures associated with the COVID-19 health emergency, which would contribute to temporarily keeping inflation above the target on the forecast horizon. It is important to note that these estimates continue to contain a significant degree of uncertainty, mainly related to the development of external and domestic supply shocks and their ultimate effects on prices. Other contributing factors include high price volatility and measurement uncertainty related to the extension of Colombia’s health emergency and tax relief measures (such as the VAT-free days) associated with the Social Investment Law (Ley de Inversión Social). The as-yet uncertain magnitude of the effects of a recent real increase in the legal minimum wage (that was high by historical standards) and high observed and expected inflation, are additional factors weighing on the overall uncertainty of the estimates in this report. The size of excess productive capacity remaining in the economy and the degree to which it is closing are also uncertain, as the evolution of the pandemic continues to represent a significant forecast risk. margin, could be less dynamic than expected. And the normalization of monetary policy in the United States could come more quickly than projected in this report, which could negatively affect international financing costs. Finally, there remains a significant degree of uncertainty related to the duration of supply chocks and the degree to which macroeconomic and political conditions could negatively affect the recovery in investment. The technical staff revised its GDP growth projection for 2022 from 4.7% to 4.3% (Graph 1.3). This revision accounts for the likelihood that a larger portion of the recent positive dynamic in private consumption would be transitory than previously expected. This estimate also contemplates less dynamic investment behavior than forecast in the previous report amid less favorable financial conditions and a highly uncertain investment environment. Third-quarter GDP growth (12.9%), which was similar to projections from the October report, and the fourth-quarter growth forecast (8.7%) reflect a positive consumption trend, which has been revised upward. This dynamic has been driven by both public and private spending. Investment growth, meanwhile, has been weaker than forecast. Available fourth-quarter data suggest that consumption spending for the period would have exceeded estimates from October, thanks to three consecutive months that included VAT-free days, a relatively low COVID-19 caseload, and mobility indicators similar to their pre-pandemic levels. By contrast, the most recently available figures on new housing developments and machinery and equipment imports suggest that investment, while continuing to rise, is growing at a slower rate than anticipated in the previous report. The trade deficit is expected to have widened, as imports would have grown at a high level and outpaced exports. Given the above, the technical staff now expects fourth-quarter economic growth of 8.7%, with overall growth for 2021 of 9.9%. Several factors should continue to contribute to output recovery in 2022, though some of these may be less significant than previously forecast. International financial conditions are expected to be less favorable, though external demand should continue to recover and terms of trade continue to increase amid higher projected oil prices. Lower unemployment rates and subsequent positive effects on household income, despite increased inflation, would also boost output recovery, as would progress in the national vaccination campaign. The technical staff expects that the conditions that have favored recent high levels of consumption would be, in large part, transitory. Consumption spending is expected to grow at a slower rate in 2022. Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) would continue to recover, approaching its pre-pandemic level, though at a slower rate than anticipated in the previous report. This would be due to lower observed GFCF levels and the potential impact of political and fiscal uncertainty. Meanwhile, the policy interest rate would be less expansionary as the process of monetary policy normalization continues. Given the above, growth in 2022 is forecast to decelerate to 4.3% (previously 4.7%). In 2023, that figure (3.1%) is projected to converge to levels closer to the potential growth rate. In this case, excess productive capacity would be expected to tighten at a similar rate as projected in the previous report. The trade deficit would tighten more than previously projected on the forecast horizon, due to expectations of an improved export dynamic and moderation in imports. The growth forecast for 2022 considers a low basis of comparison from the first half of 2021. However, there remain significant downside risks to this forecast. The current projection does not, for example, account for any additional effects on economic activity resulting from further waves of COVID-19. High private consumption levels, which have already surpassed pre-pandemic levels by a large margin, could be less dynamic than expected. And the normalization of monetary policy in the United States could come more quickly than projected in this report, which could negatively affect international financing costs. Finally, there remains a significant degree of uncertainty related to the duration of supply chocks and the degree to which macroeconomic and political conditions could negatively affect the recovery in investment. External demand for Colombian goods and services should continue to recover amid significant global inflation pressures, high oil prices, and less favorable international financial conditions than those estimated in October. Economic activity among Colombia’s major trade partners recovered in 2021 amid countries reopening and ample international liquidity. However, that growth has been somewhat restricted by global supply chain disruptions and new outbreaks of COVID-19. The technical staff has revised its growth forecast for Colombia’s main trade partners from 6.3% to 6.9% for 2021, and from 3.4% to 3.3% for 2022; trade partner economies are expected to grow 2.6% in 2023. Colombia’s annual terms of trade increased in 2021, largely on higher oil, coffee, and coal prices. This improvement came despite increased prices for goods and services imports. The expected oil price trajectory has been revised upward, partly to supply restrictions and lagging investment in the sector that would offset reduced growth forecasts in some major economies. Elevated freight and raw materials costs and supply chain disruptions continue to affect global goods production, and have led to increases in global prices. Coupled with the recovery in global demand, this has put upward pressure on external inflation. Several emerging market economies have continued to normalize monetary policy in this context. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Federal Reserve has anticipated an end to its asset buying program. U.S. inflation in December (7.0%) was again surprisingly high and market average inflation forecasts for 2022 have increased. The Fed is expected to increase its policy rate during the first quarter of 2022, with quarterly increases anticipated over the rest of the year. For its part, Colombia’s sovereign risk premium has increased and is forecast to remain on a higher path, to levels above the 15-year-average, on the forecast horizon. This would be partly due to the effects of a less expansionary monetary policy in the United States and the accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances in Colombia. Given the above, international financial conditions are projected to be less favorable than anticipated in the October report. The increase in Colombia’s external financing costs could be more significant if upward pressures on inflation in the United States persist and monetary policy is normalized more quickly than contemplated in this report. As detailed in Section 2.3, uncertainty surrounding international financial conditions continues to be unusually high. Along with other considerations, recent concerns over the potential effects of new COVID-19 variants, the persistence of global supply chain disruptions, energy crises in certain countries, growing geopolitical tensions, and a more significant deceleration in China are all factors underlying this uncertainty. The changing macroeconomic environment toward greater inflation and unanchoring risks on inflation expectations imply a reduction in the space available for monetary policy stimulus. Recovery in domestic demand and a reduction in excess productive capacity have come in line with the technical staff’s expectations from the October report. Some upside risks to inflation have materialized, while medium-term inflation expectations have increased and are above the 3% target. Monetary policy remains expansionary. Significant global inflationary pressures and the unexpected increase in the CPI in December point to more persistent effects from recent supply shocks. Core inflation is trending upward, but remains below the 3% target. Headline and core inflation projections have increased on the forecast horizon and are above the target rate through the end of 2023. Meanwhile, the expected dynamism of domestic demand would be in line with low levels of excess productive capacity. An accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances in Colombia and the increased likelihood of a faster normalization of monetary policy in the United States would put upward pressure on sovereign risk perceptions in a more persistent manner, with implications for the exchange rate and the natural rate of interest. Persistent disruptions to international supply chains, a high real increase in the legal minimum wage, and the indexation of various baskets in the CPI to higher inflation rates could affect price expectations and push inflation above the target more persistently. These factors suggest that the space to maintain monetary stimulus has continued to diminish, though monetary policy remains expansionary. 1.2 Monetary policy decision Banco de la República’s board of directors (BDBR) in its meetings in December 2021 and January 2022 voted to continue normalizing monetary policy. The BDBR voted by a majority in these two meetings to increase the benchmark interest rate by 50 and 100 basis points, respectively, bringing the policy rate to 4.0%.