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Challenges and Opportunities Experienced by Service Providers at Homeless Shelters in Tshwane, South Africa During the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textWhile the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exerted a devastating impact on all members of society, it highlighted the worsening inequalities experienced by marginalised groups such as people experiencing poverty and homelessness in South Africa. The pandemic also exacerbated the multiple demands and stressors of service providers working in homeless shelters. Hence, the study examined the experiences of service providers in terms of challenges and opportunities derived from working at homeless shelters in Tshwane, South Africa, during the hard lockdown from 27 March to 30 April 2020. Guided by a qualitative approach, five service providers were interviewed online. Thematic analysis revealed organizational challenges, such as a lack of knowledge and preparedness regarding disaster management, while client challenges included getting service users to adapt to living with rules. Organizational opportunities included the opportunity for the organization to conduct research, while personal opportunities included the learning experience of working with a vulnerable population during an unprecedented pandemic. Findings highlight the need for programmes to support the wellness needs of service providers and the development of a national policy on homelessness.
If Not, Clouds
No full textVideo art project by queer new gothic artist Morris Fox. Fox is an Interdisciplinary Humanities PhD candidate at Concordia U, situated in Tiohtiá:ke-Mooniyang-Montréal. He gratefully acknowledges the Kanien’kehá:ka from Kahnawake and Kanehsatà:ke who continue to care for the unceded land on which he resides. Fox’s interdisciplinary practice tongues and cruises the haunted house for feelings of community. In his practice, words and materials become an enmeshing net that forms a necropolis: a cemetery of desire. His work interconnects self-performance, digital video, VR environments, self fashioning, eco-poetry and textiles (including chainmaille) with material and queer historiographic research—rubbing against the ruins of memory and the haunted shimmering of an apocalyptic imaginary
Une vision pour La Revue canadienne des sciences de l’information et de bibliothéconomie
No full text“My Values Keep Me Well… Would They Help Other People?”: A Thematic Analysis Exploring the Values and Values-Based Behaviours of People Facing Severe and Multiple Disadvantage
No full textIndividuals facing Severe and Multiple Disadvantage (SMD) have experience of at least three of the following: homelessness, substance use, mental illness, offending, and domestic violence. There is a push towards providing better support for people facing SMD and yet little research on what the “best” support looks like. Values motivate behaviour across various contexts, and helping an individual identify their values can lead to greater enactment of positive behavioural change. This study aimed to identify and explore the values of people facing SMD, the barriers and facilitators to enacting these values, and the perceived helpfulness of service provision in encouraging values-based behaviour or change. Twelve participants took part in semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis resulted in four themes: values are idiosyncratic and interconnected; the benefits of value identification and enactment; the risks and challenges of value identification and enactment; and the relationship between values and support. Results offer preliminary evidence for the potential use of values in providing helpful, person-centered support for people facing SMD. Values work could arguably be integrated into any level of support for those facing SMD to support values-based living and change. Further research on the use and efficacy of values-focused interventions in SMD is needed
The Politics of Prevention and Government Responses to Homelessness
No full textRecently, the logic of public health prevention has found a foothold in research and advocacy about homelessness. From a commonsense perspective, the prevention of a social problem like homelessness is an objectively positive aim. However, in the realm of social and health policy, the concept of prevention is not simply a common-sense word. It is part of a wider set of rationalities and technologies of governance which operate in and through the institution of public health. Research demonstrates that state-driven interventions designed to advance the health of a population often pose problems for particular groups. Prevention efforts, and their differential effects, thus have the potential to illuminate how state-interventions pursued with the objective of safe-guarding the public in general may simultaneously exacerbate specific structural and systemic forms of inequality. In this article, we probe the ethical, empirical, and political dimensions of state-driven responses to the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) public health crisis, surfacing some of the ways these interventions posed problems for people who are homeless and experience intersecting health and socio-political disparities. From this vantage point, we then look critically at moves to frame homelessness as a public health crisis, as well as government efforts to prevent homelessness by drawing on public health rationalities. Although our focus is homelessness prevention, as constructed and pursued by governments, our analysis is inspired by critical public health scholarship that challenges the apparent impartiality of prevention as a central logic and set of practices in public health contexts
Rêver le Nouveau Monde, dirs. Sébastien Côté, Pierre Frantz et Sophie Marchand
No full textComment Lahontan et son personnage d’Adario s’inscrivent dans la fiction théâtrale dans la France du XVIIIe siècle, lorsqu’elle rêve le Nouveau Monde de la Nouvelle-France d’Amérique.Comment Lahontan et son personnage d’Adario s’inscrivent dans la fiction théâtrale dans la France du XVIIIe siècle, lorsqu’elle rêve le Nouveau Monde de la Nouvelle-France d’Amérique
"We can do our own thing here on Haida Gwaii": The Haida Nation's response to COVID-19
No full textThe Council of the Haida Nation (CHN) is the National government of all Haida citizens—and their response to the COVID-19 pandemic on Haida Gwaii—is the central focus of this study. The CHN’s response is contextualized through an analysis of governance structures, consideration of previous epidemics, diseases, and health inequalities. The research questions for this project include: (1) How did the CHN’s role shift during the COVID-19 emergency response on Haida Gwaii; (2) What lessons can be garnered from the CHN’s response to inform future Haida Nation governance? To explore these research questions I conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a sample of seven people who were living on Haida Gwaii during the pandemic and had some involvement with the CHN. Following an iterative process of data analysis, four main themes emerged from the data. These themes encompassed the inclusive approach taken by the CHN, the tireless work a small group of people did, and the importance of jurisdiction and self-determination while also considering lessons learned and capacity. The findings demonstrated the importance of continued pushes for self-determination as well as the ability of the CHN to expand its governance role.
Probability distributions arising from isoperimetric random triangles
No full textWe analyze the family of triangles whose sides come from a random subdivision of a given line segment into three segments. The usual geometric measurements on these random triangles (heights, bisectors, medians, angles, area, radii of the incircle, excircles, circumcircle) become random variables for which we determine the distribution function, the probability density, the expectation, the variance and higher order moments. This work can serve as a basis for activities at the college or university level. It is located at the crossroads between probability, geometry, integral calculus, special functions and computer algebra
Two-cycles in the Infinite Exponential Tower
No full textThe infinite exponential tower is studied through the associated iteration c₁ = 0 and cₙ₊₁ = eᶜₙ λ, for complex λ. For a subset of λ values, the sequence displays stable 2-cycles, that is to say as n → ∞ we observe that the odd subsequence c₂ₙ₋₁ → A whereas the even subsequence c₂ₙ → B, with A ≠ B. Thus, A and B obey B=eᴬ λ and A = eᴮ λ. Numerical investigations of the 2-cycles use a further transformation ζexp(-ζ) = λ = ln(z) and the set of ζ values corresponding to 2-cycles has a curious shape, reminding us of pictures of insect larva; the region has sharply scalloped edges. This paper gives an analytic expression for the edges of the 2-cycle region and a complete explanation of the cusps on the boundary that give the scalloped look
Zaidan, Nisrine. Mariage, mariage… Histoires drôles et touchantes
No full textNote de lecture de cet ouvrage de Nisrine Zaidan sur le mariage multiculturel sous l’angle de l’humourNote de lecture de cet ouvrage de Nisrine Zaidan sur le mariage multiculturel sous l’angle de l’humou