Children: Rights, education and equal opportunity

The point of departure in this paper is the concept of RIGHTS. Whereas most countries accept that children have rights as is evidenced in the UNO Declaration of Rights of the Child (1959), such rights are statements, not laws. Statements advocating benefits, care, love, education etc. are goals or beliefs. Few countries have legalised rights; consequently, children may be at risk. In countries where there is discrimination of some degree in respect of race, colour, sex, religion, national or social origin, financial standing in society, level of education and so on, the right to “rights” as stated in the UNO Declaration is further jeopardised. The implications for educational provision from early childhood and onwards in countries where “rights” are not entrenched in statutes or where child advocacy is not forceful enough for all people are examined in this paper. Consequently, the chances for equal opportunity in life are reduced in situations where the child did not receive the benefit of education. Such a child may not perish as he might as a result of being deprived of food, but “the deprivation and injustice, the degradation of an individual and the setting of his vital interests at naught would at least approach in gravity the act of allowing him to die for the want of food” (1981, Wringe). In this paper, the author argues for the Rights of the Child, particularly where discrimination and inequalities exist and where provision for early education has to contend with excessive population growth.     

Patient satisfaction with health care providers in South Africa: the influences of race and socioeconomic status.

OBJECTIVE: The first democratic government elected in South Africa in 1994 inherited huge inequalities in health status and health provision across all sections of the population. This study set out to assess, 4 years later, the influence of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on perceived quality of care from health care providers. DESIGN: A 1998 countrywide survey of 3820 households assessed many aspects of health care delivery, including levels of satisfaction with health care providers among different segments of South African society. RESULTS: Fifty-one percent (n = 1953) of the respondents had attended a primary care facility in the year preceding the interview and were retained in the analysis. Both race and SES were significant predictors of levels of satisfaction with the services of the health care provider, after adjusting for gender, age, and type of facility visited. White and high SES respondents were about 1.5 times more likely to report excellent service compared with Black and low SES respondents, respectively. CONCLUSION: In South Africa, race and SES are not synonymous and can no longer be considered reliable proxy indicators of one another. Each has distinct and significant but different degrees of association with client satisfaction. Any assessment of equity-driven health policy in South Africa should consider the impacts of both race and SES on client satisfaction as one of the indicators of success.     

A Typology of Work‐Family Arrangements Among Dual‐Earner Couples in Norway

A symmetrical family model of two workers or caregivers is a political goal in many western European countries. We explore how common this family type is in Norway, a country with high gender‐equality ambitions, by using a multinomial latent class model to develop a typology of dual‐earner couples with children based on the partners' allocations of paid and unpaid work. Using data on 2,617 respondents from the Norwegian Generations and Gender Survey, we estimate 4 classes, of which 2 are characterized by a fairly equal sharing between the partners and 2 have more traditional arrangements. Equal sharing is practiced by 4 out of 10 couples and is most likely when the partners are well educated and work regular hours and the father is in public‐sector employment. A traditional practice is likely when the partners have less education, the mother has health problems, the father has private‐sector employment, and the partners work irregular hours.     

What is the UK Gender Duty and why is it linked to men's health?

Emerging from contemporary UK equality policy, the Gender Duty is not ostensibly about health, although men's health groups are keen to use it to bring about improvements in the health of men. Nevertheless, the status of men's health as an inequality is contentious and any links to equality policy should not be left unquestioned. In this article, I try to develop a critical but supportive perspective regarding the potential of equality legislation for improving men's health by describing the Gender Duty and exploring the links between equality and human rights and men's health.     

Effects of visual-haptic asynchronies and loading-unloading movements on compliance perception

Spring compliance is perceived by combining the sensed force exerted by the spring with the displacement caused by the action (sensed through vision and proprioception). We investigated the effect of delay of visual and force information with respect to proprioception to understand how visual-haptic perception of compliance is achieved. First, we confirm an earlier result that force delay increases perceived compliance. Furthermore, we find that perceived compliance decreases with a delay in the visual information. These effects of delay on perceived compliance would not be present if the perceptual system would utilize all force-displacement information available during the interaction. Both delays generate a bias in compliance which is opposite in the loading and unloading phases of the interaction. To explain these findings, we propose that information during the loading phase of the spring displacement is weighted more than information obtained during unloading. We confirm this hypothesis by showing that sensitivity to compliance during loading movements is much higher than during unloading movements. Moreover, we show that visual and proprioceptive information about the hand position are used for compliance perception depending on the sensitivity to compliance. Finally, by analyzing participants’ movements we show that these two factors (loading/unloading and reliability) account for the change in perceived compliance due to visual and force delays.     

Weight stigma and discrimination: Time for change!

The pervasiveness and negative impact of weight stigma and discrimination has highlighted the need to intervene across many levels of society. Instances of discrimination impinge on peoples’ human rights and societal values of equality, raising important questions for policymakers and legislators. The ingrained nature of weight stigma and discrimination throughout society means the systemic change that is warranted will not be easy or rapid. Within this article, several actions are suggested to reduce weight stigma and discrimination and in doing so, address this social justice issue. The article represents a long overdue call to end weight stigma and discrimination for the betterment of society.     

均匀设计法优化刺五加中总黄酮的提取工艺

目的：优化刺五加中总黄酮的提取工艺。方法：采用均匀设计方法,通过紫外分光光度法测定了刺五加中的总黄酮的含量。结果：以50%的乙醇浓度、20倍量、提取3次、每次30分钟为最佳提取工艺。结论：试验结果可为刺五加中的总黄酮的提取工艺的确定提供科学依据。     

全髋关节置换术平衡双下肢不等长

目的 探讨全髋置换术均衡双下肢长度差异的方法及意义.方法 分析71例单侧人工全髋关节置换术患者的临床资料,其中男39例,女32例;年龄30～86岁,平均(55.6±13.7)岁.通过术前临床及X线片测量评估患者肢体长度差异程度,采用模板测量预测假体型号大小及植入位置,确定股骨颈截骨平面及患肢所需延长的长度;参考术前计划中测量结果,术中通过测试假体试模、平衡软组织张力,比较标记间距离变化等多种手段综合评估,以获得术后双下肢长度均衡.结果 术前肢体长度差异0～5mm的患者比例占22.5%、差异5～10mm的占45.1%、差异10～20mm的占29.6%、差异＞20mm的占2.8%.通过THR平衡肢体长度差异,术后双下肢长度差异0～5mm的比例提高到57.7%,差异5～10mm和10～20mm的比例分别降为33.8%和8.5%,术后无肢体长度差异＞20mm.结论 全髋置换术中平衡肢体长度差异有重要意义.通过术前测量评估,术中采用有效方法评价肢体长度恢复情况,反复测量验证,是获得术后双下肢等长的有效途径.