Galvanising and fostering sub-national government leadership for area-wide sanitation programming

Government leadership at both the national and sub-national levels is an essential step towards ensuring safely managed sanitation services for all. Though the importance of sub-national government leadership for water, sanitation and hygiene is widely acknowledged, to date much of the focus has been on the delivery of water services. This article sets out to start to address this imbalance by focusing on practical ways to galvanise and foster sub-national government leadership for sanitation programming. By focusing on the experiences across three sub-national areas in East Africa where positive changes in the prioritisation of sanitation by local governments have been witnessed, we (a group of researchers, local government representatives and development partner staff) cross-examine and identify lessons learnt. The results presented in this paper and subsequent discussion provide practical recommendations for those wishing to trigger a change in political will at the local level and create the foundation to strengthen sanitation governance and the wider system needed to ensure service delivery for all.

Should medical students perform pelvic exams on anaesthetised patients without explicit consent?

There have been many reports of medical students performing pelvic exams on anaesthetised patients without the necessary consent being provided or even sought. These cases have led to an ongoing discussion regarding the need to ensure informed consent has been secured and furthermore, how it might be best obtained. We consider the importance of informed consent, the potential harm to both the patient and medical student risked by the suboptimal consent process, as well as alternatives to teaching pelvic examinations within medical school. The subsequent discussion focuses on whether medical students should perform pelvic examinations on anaesthetised patients without personally ensuring that they have given their explicit consent. Whilst we question the need to conduct pelvic examinations on anaesthetised patients in any circumstance, we argue that medical students should not perform such exams without personally securing the patients informed consent.

Utopia?

The final chapter takes up the charge that the program envisaged is a utopian fantasy. Could the Deweyan society be achieved? If it were achieved, could it be sustained? Both questions are addressed. The seven characteristic features of the Deweyan society depend on a systematic change: once a society has reached a stage of economic comfort, it can increase the time spent away from the workplace instead of striving for ever greater productivity. The crucial move in bringing about the Deweyan society is to declare that enough is enough. The bulk of the subsequent discussion attempts to demonstrate that forgoing productivity needn’t spell economic (or social) doom. It concludes with some clarifications of the thesis that markets are essential to economic health, and with a defense of John Stuart Mill’s claim that the “stationary state” is not something to be feared, but, quite possibly, an enormous improvement on the way people currently live.

Topical Review: Pathways toward cost-effective single-junction III-V solar cells

III-V semiconductors such as InP and GaAs are direct bandgap semiconductors with significantly higher absorption compared to silicon. The high absorption allows for the fabrication of thin/ultra-thin solar cells, which in turn permits for the realization of lightweight, flexible, and highly efficient solar cells that can be used in many applications where rigidity and weight are an issue, such as electric vehicles, the internet of things, space technologies, remote lighting, portable electronics, etc. However, their cost is significantly higher than silicon solar cells, making them restrictive for widespread applications. Nonetheless, they remain pivotal for the continuous development of photovoltaics. Therefore, there has been a continuous worldwide effort to reduce the cost of III-V solar cells substantially. This topical review summarises current research efforts in III-V growth and device fabrication to overcome the cost barriers of III-V solar cells. We start the review with a cost analysis of the current state-of-art III-V solar cells followed by a subsequent discussion on low-cost growth techniques, substrate reuse, and emerging device technologies. We conclude the review emphasizing that to substantially reduce the cost-related challenges of III-V photovoltaics, low-cost growth technologies need to be combined synergistically with new substrate reuse techniques and innovative device designs.

Analysis of the Educational Legislation and its Influence of the Former Soviet Union

This paper introduces the stages and specific problems of Soviet educational legislation. First, the Legislation of the Soviet Union established many vital institutions, such as the system of equality between men and women in education. Secondly, the Soviet legislature and the Soviet Union also institutionalized Marxist ideas about freedom of learning and the overall development of human beings. Thirdly, in the practice of the Soviet Union, how to balance the relationship between freedom, equality and efficiency has become a topic worthy of subsequent discussion. Moreover, Soviet legislation influenced subsequent international human rights legislation and laid the foundation. On this basis, the subsequent international human rights legislation has been further improved.

Development of Social and Intercultural Competence in Students through Peer Assessment

This article presents the results from research into the development of social and intercultural competence in student teachers through peer assessment. The purpose of the study is to identify and describe the degree to which peer assessment can influence the development of competencies. Also, to formulate recommendations for the integration of peer assessment in the education of students towards the development of social and intercultural competence. The theoretical analysis is based on a review of the scientific literature on social and intercultural competence and peer assessment, and it is followed by a quantitative and qualitative analysis. Twenty-five students, training to be teachers at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Faculty of pedagogy, participated in the study. Each of them wrote an essay on intercultural competence and each of the students reviewed three of their colleagues' essays. The research confirms that providing feedback helps the development of social and intercultural competence in two directions: students form skills for providing constructive feedback and criticism; and they develop their abilities for accepting feedback, reflecting on their strengths and weaknesses, which leads to striving for self-improvement. Another conclusion, based on the analysis is, that by providing detailed instructions prior to peer assessment, by organizing a subsequent discussion and reflection, students would improve their skills in providing feedback, constructive criticism, considering the ideas of others with respect, understanding different perspectives. Hence, the study confirms that peer assessment provides educational opportunities for the development of social and intercultural competence.

Spanish and Ladino in Contact in the United States

This study explores contact between Ladino-speaking Sephardim and Spanish-speaking Latinos in New York City and Los Angeles, home to two of the largest factions of each population in the United States. While the retention of postalveolar sibilants [ʒ, dʒ, ʃ] in Ladino, corresponding to velar [x] in Spanish, helps distinguish these varieties, research has demonstrated cases where Sephardim implement the latter phone in lieu of one of the former. That such contact-induced change is a result of interaction between Sephardim and Latinos is further examined in this research. Twenty-five speakers of Ladino participated in two oral-production tasks: within-group and between-group testing. In the former, informants were paired with another speaker of Ladino; in the latter, they were paired with a speaker of Spanish. Data reveal that informants replace postalveolar sibilants with velar [x] at a rate of 18.2% within group and 76.5% between group, when direct equivalencies exist. Statistical analysis demonstrates that production of velar [x], the dependent variable, is conditioned by several independent variables, both social (age, gender, city of residence, interlocutor) and linguistic (type of lexical correspondence and origin of lexicon). Subsequent discussion considers the role of accommodation in determining the ways in which speakers select and implement variation in their speech.

The Conference of Carthage (AD 411)

The so-called Conference of Carthage in 411 AD, a religious trial overseen by imperial authorities, about the standing of the Donatist and Catholic churches in North Africa provides a model case for the examination of textual practices and bureaucratic conventions obtaining in such meetings. They constitute a point of reference for the subsequent discussion of such practices more specifically at the councils of the following decades. The scrupulous attention paid by the imperial authorities as well as by the conflicting parties to the propriety of recording practices reveals the technical measures and steps undertaken in the production of a record unusually clearly; at the same time, the frequent challenges highlight the areas of contention and the competing purposes of participants that inform the making and eventual shape of the resultant protocols.

Racism and persistent disparities: Difficult conversations on the road to equity

The convergence of the major social events of the COVID 19 epidemic and the racial protests around the George Floyd killing spurred many conversations and calls to action for racial justice. The Behavioral Science Forum of 2020 invited a plenary presentation to discuss guidelines for medical education institutions to improve their anti-racism curricula. The plenary aimed to put forward the personal experiences of family medicine faculty contributing to dismantling racism in their institutions. Presenters provided (1) a breakdown of the step by step process of addressing these issues with faculty, residents, and staff, (2) guidelines for improving recruitment and retention of diverse student populations, and (3) small group breakouts and a subsequent discussion forum for participants to bring their experiences into the conversation and develop their personal call to action. The wrap-up discussion and “Zoom chat” yielded emotional responses and specific ideas for participants and other faculty in medical education to do their part in developing anti-racism curricula.

Transposition of European Guidelines for Energy Communities into Austrian Law: A Comparison and Discussion of Issues and Positive Aspects

The Renewable Energy Directive and the Electricity Market Directive, both parts of the Clean Energy for all Europeans Package (issued in 2019), provide supranational rules for renewable energy communities and citizen energy communities. Since national transpositions need to be completed within two years, Austria has already drafted corresponding legislation. This article aims at providing a detailed comparison of the European guidelines and the transposition into Austrian law. The comparison not only shows how, and to what extent, the European guidelines are transposed into Austrian law, but also helps to identify loopholes and barriers. The subsequent discussion of these issues as well as positive aspects of the Austrian transposition may be advantageous for legislators and policy makers worldwide in their process of designing a coherent regulatory framework. It is concluded that experts from different areas (i.e., project developers, scientists concerned with energy communities, energy suppliers and grid operators) should be closely involved in the law-making process in order to introduce different perspectives so that a consistent and supportive regulatory framework for energy communities is created.