Suchergebnisse

Purpose
Although some research has been done with entertainment workers in KTV bars, little has been done to gain a qualitative understanding of the vulnerabilities of masseuse women. This is due to a prevalent focus on girls under 18 years, thereby excluding most masseuses. The paper aims to discuss these issues.


Design/methodology/approach
In total, 98 female participants completed an interview answering both open and closed questions concerning relationships, stigma and discrimination and personal sexual abuse among other topics.


Findings
This study finds that many women working in the massage parlor industry are vulnerable to various threats, including sexual exploitation and abuse. Dependency structures within the massage parlor as well as with their families seem to play a key role in the life situations that can be positive as well as negative, and in some cases both.


Social implications
The findings provide a baseline evaluation of the vulnerable conditions of the massage industry for women in Cambodia. Specifically, that stigma, discrimination, physical and sexual abuse, as well as a lack of access to education are all vulnerabilities not commonly covered, especially with adult women working in the entertainment industry. This research has been adapted from the original transcript "Strive, No Matter What" (Miles et al., 2014).


Originality/value
The paper seeks to understand the reality of life and vulnerabilities as perceived by Phnom Penh's female masseuses in the lower-priced massage parlors which is largely unknown.

Poor adherence to prescription medications causes approximately 125 000 deaths per year while an epidemic of a prescription drug overdose has been on the rise, resulting in an alarming number of deaths, 47 055 in 2014 only in the USA. Efforts from governments to address this issue are technologically inadequate. Once a patient leaves the pharmacy with a prescription drug container, no one, besides the patient, has control over the safe use of drugs. Here, we show a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) integration strategy to monitor drug intake, using a low-cost paper sensor-based flexible electronic system integrated inside the cap of a drug container. This electronic system consists of flexible modular decal sensors connected to a central flexible decal electronic interface, using a DIY compatible integration technique using an anisotropic conductive tape. We find that our DIY integration strategy gives the flexibility to develop customized versions of the system, depending on the requirements for different applications, ranging from ambient sensors to monitor the environment inside the container to security sensors that can detect any kind of mishandling with the prescription container. The add-on system is easy to install or remove, enabling an easy implementation for practical use that will ultimately mitigate drug overuse. ; This publication is based upon work supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under Award No. REP/1/2880-01-01 KFUPM.

This paper presents the first results of the measurements of trace gases and aerosols at three surface sites in and outside Beijing before and during the 2008 Olympics. The official air pollution index near the Olympic Stadium and the data from our nearby site revealed an obvious association between air quality and meteorology and different responses of secondary and primary pollutants to the control measures. Ambient concentrations of vehicle-related nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at an urban site dropped by 25% and 20-45% in the first two weeks after full control was put in place, but the levels of ozone, sulfate and nitrate in PM(2.5) increased by 16%, 64%, 37%, respectively, compared to the period prior to the full control; wind data and back trajectories indicated the contribution of regional pollution from the North China Plain. Air quality (for both primary and secondary pollutants) improved significantly during the Games, which were also associated with the changes in weather conditions (prolonged rainfall, decreased temperature, and more frequent air masses from clean regions). A comparison of the ozone data at three sites on eight ozone-pollution days, when the air masses were from the southeast-south-southwest sector, showed that regional pollution sources contributed > 34-88% to the peak ozone concentrations at the urban site in Beijing. Regional sources also contributed significantly to the CO concentrations in urban Beijing. Ozone production efficiencies at two sites were low (similar to 3 ppbv/ppbv), indicating that ozone formation was being controlled by VOCs. Compared with data collected in 2005 at a downwind site, the concentrations of ozone, sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), total sulfur (SO(2)+PM(2.5) sulfate), carbon monoxide (CO), reactive aromatics (toluene and xylenes) sharply decreased (by 8-64%) in 2008, but no significant changes were observed for the concentrations of PM(2.5), fine sulfate, total odd reactive nitrogen (NO(y)), and longer lived alkanes and benzene. We suggest that these results indicate the success of the government's efforts in reducing emissions of SO(2), CO, and VOCs in Beijing, but increased regional emissions during 2005-2008. More stringent control of regional emissions will be needed for significant reductions of ozone and fine particulate pollution in Beijing.