Melancholic mothering: mothers,daughters and family violence

Through selected theories of melancholia, this paper seeks to shed some fresh interpretive light on the reproduction and disruption of gender, violence and family turmoil across generations of mothers and daughters. The originality of the paper lies in its exploratory deployment of theories of melancholia to consider issues of women, violence and generation. It addresses these matters through a discussion of the intergenerational emotional archives accumulated by two mother–daughter pairs in relation to their different experiences of sexual and other violence. It shares the mothers’ experiences of violence in their childhood and shows how these help to shape the ways in which they raise their daughters and address the troubles that their daughters experience. Different theories of melancholia assist us to explain the dissimilar emotional dynamics between these mother and daughter pairs. But equally their stories suggest the analytical potential of different theories of melancholia for understanding women’s and girls’ diverse responses to violence. Freud’s, Irigaray’s and Silverman’s constructions of melancholia, which are to some extent based on notions of emptiness, lack and insufficiency, are deployed alongside Eng and Kazanjian’s interpretation of a melancholic state of being which focuses on the creative potential of animating the remains of loss; an interpretation that invokes an agential relationship to the losses that violence provokes. The former help to explain what Eng and Kazanjian might see as the ‘hopeless politics’ associated with certain melancholic responses to violence and the latter help to explain what they might consider more ‘hopeful politics’ associated with responses that mobilise a more agential relationship to loss. Although not subscribing to such a stark binary interpretation, we nonetheless argue for an analysis that acknowledges the different ways that the remains of loss are animated. The paper arises from a wider cross‐generational study in Australia of the lives of educationally, economically and culturally marginalised young women and their mothers.     

Quality early childhood education for all and the Covid-19 crisis: A viewpoint

The purpose of this viewpoint is to consider the impact of the current Covid-19 crisis on the educational prospects of young children attending early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Studies show that health pandemics and environmental, political, and socio-economic crises jeopardize children’s development and education. It is likely that for the immediate future, young children will continue to experience emotional and psychological stress. A curriculum that does not take into consideration a pandemic of the scale we are witnessing today creates unnecessary pressure and anxiety not just on young children but also on the adults who care for and teach them. This article outlines actions to ensure quality education for all as suggested by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The response of ECEC curricula to the pandemic may potentially act as a catalyst for educational change.

     

Session - 3 December 19, 2007 Cardiovascular risk markers - II

Oral Cancer is one of the five leading sites of cancer in Indian population. The circulating immune complexes were investigated in 100 serum samples of 60 oral cancer patients having different grades of the disease and 40 patients with precancerous lesions obtained from Nair Hospital Dental collage, Mumbai. The results obtained were compared with those of group of 40 healthy blood donors. Elevated levels of Circulating Immune Complexes were observed in oral cancer patients and patients with oral precancerous lesions. 92% positive samples were observed in well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma whereas 100% positive samples were observed in both moderately and poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Oral leukoplakia and oral submucous fibrosis showed 15% and 90% positivity respectively. Increased level of Circulating Immune complexes in high grade tumor suggest that Circulating Immune complexes is likely to contribute in evaluating the degree of malignancy, but follow up study is needed to draw any conclusion regarding it's prognostic role     

Best entry points for structured document retrieval—Part II: Types,usage and effectiveness

Structured document retrieval makes use of document components as the basis of the retrieval process, rather than complete documents. The inherent relationships between these components make it vital to support users’ natural browsing behaviour in order to offer effective and efficient access to structured documents. This paper examines the concept of best entry points, which are document components from which the user can browse to obtain optimal access to relevant document components. It investigates at the types of best entry points in structured document retrieval, and their usage and effectiveness in real information search tasks.     

Development and testing of a prenatal breastfeeding education intervention for Hispanic women

Many immigrant Hispanic women in the United States choose to bottle-feed rather than breastfeed. This article describes an intervention that was developed and tested in a two-step process. Two studies were undertaken. First, a qualitative inquiry explored the breastfeeding beliefs, attitudes, meanings, and practices of Hispanic women. Results informed the design of a culturally appropriate prenatal breastfeeding education intervention. Secondly, the researchers undertook a quantitative study of the intervention's success in increasing breastfeeding duration among Hispanic women. Methodology and findings of this study have implications for future interventions that promote breastfeeding.     

Touching creativity; a review and early pilot test of haptic tooling to support design practice,within a distance learning curriculum

ABSTRACT

Machine haptics has been shown to assist and enhance human–computer interactions. Research from previous studies in the field of haptics has focused on developing a user’s sense of realism of touch when using a haptic device. This paper examines the use of haptics for education, specifically for creative online education. The paper is presented in two parts. First, a review of literature was conducted and used to aid the rationale and underpin the design of a pilot test. Second, a pilot test was designed using a single-point kinaesthetic haptic device with a haptic rendered interface, to support the assembly of a virtual design prototype. The pilot test proved to be extremely valuable in creating and developing a rich virtual environment for non-sighted and sighted participants to use. The results from the initial pilot test showed that although users were positive about their experience of using the haptic device, there were improvements to be made to the interface to enhance the user experience in the next phase of testing.     

Diversity in New Zealand early childhood education: challenges and opportunities

The early childhood education (ECE) sector in New Zealand has long been recognised for the diversity of service types and range of organisations involved in delivering ECE. However, less attention has been paid to diversity within individual ECE services. This article draws on a national survey carried out as part of a larger project, The Diversity of Diversity in Early Childhood Education, focusing on teachers’ perceptions of challenges and successes encountered when working with children from diverse family backgrounds. Educators’ attitudes towards diversity clearly influence whether they perceive working with diverse children and families positively or as a challenge. We argue that possessing positive dispositions and attitudes that enable educators to truly welcome, acknowledge and embrace diversity, together with access to professional knowledge and support services, are critical. The implications of this for policy and practice are then considered.