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Session 7A-7C 11:30-13:00 // day one

7A - Religion, Culture & Identity University of Warwick and Monash University South Africa

Christian women are reported to be the largest minority in Pakistan, yet their narratives are almost non-existent within the Pakistani diaspora in the UK.

Within academic literature, underlying reasons for this ‘missing identity’ are exemplified within Pakistani ethnonationalism, presenting a type of nationalism based on an overrepresentation of one-dimensional patriarchal narratives with Islamic religiosity, in Pakistani ethnic and diasporic belonging. So, homogenising intersecting gender and religions, and marginalising the experiences of Christian Pakistani women in the UK.

This study aims to identify the consequences of a religiously determined Pakistani ethnonational identity through the qualitative method of semi-structured interviews and stratified sampling. In-depth narratives of six Christian Pakistani women find that they are resisting the homogenization and marginalization of Pakistani ethnonationalism through practising Pakistani cultural aspects such as language in their everyday Christianity. This research finds Christian Pakistani women assert their ethnicity as well as their religiosity and question gender roles and resist a lack of individuality in their own community; thus, Christian Pakistani women are implementing their autonomy.

In conclusion, this study presents a perspective non-existent in the literature review, by signifying the acknowledgement of autonomy within intersectional Pakistani identities in the UK. This study critiques Pakistani ethnonationalism as being one-dimensional in narrating Pakistani experiences and belonging. So, illustrating Christian Pakistani women as a multi-dimensional Pakistani ethnic identity academically vocalizes their narrative within Pakistani diaspora in the UK. Therefore, implying an underlying cause for further marginalisation and the lack of diasporic belonging, to be the one-dimensional concept of ethnonationalism.

Understanding the "stasis" of cultural, social and economic relations prerequisites understanding the "kinesis" of the revolution that created the current conditions. However, a tendency to approach events and their context in a simplified, binary manner places a barrier on creating an accurate and applicable historical view on revolutionary moments. Postmodernity revealed that an absolute truth cannot be told about events and turned us to narratives as sources of information, involving reflection in the very nature of culture.

This research aims to offer a way to free the historical comprehension of revolutions from its barriers by drawing the attention to a yet less understood aspect, that of spatiality: the ways in which space acquires qualities through individual and shared conceptions being projected on it by people participating the revolution. This phenomenon is evaluated with reflection to Ahdaf Soueif’s 'Cairo: My City, Our Revolution'(2012): a narrative of the Egyptian Revolution (2011) and investigated through linking findings/key observations of previous research and theory in a new, revealing way.

The outcomes of the research show that revolutionary narratives are profoundly determined by love of, or aversion to a place: topophilia/topophobia in Yi Fu Tuan’s terms. To make a use of this disclosure a paradigm-shift in research practice is needed from simpler views on the role of space and place to a more reflective approach to revolutionary scenes as Foucauldian “crisis heterotopias”: spaces of otherness, showcasing what norm is in contrast to crisis. This requires an understanding of the "poetics of space", using Bachelard’s words.

The proposal will explore the construct of depression and try to understand how the Indian communities, specifically the Sunni Muslims perceive Depression, since Indian Sunni Muslims believe that depression does not exist for Muslims and it is a supernatural cause rather than it being a medical disorder. Methods: The method of data collection will be qualitative data collection through focus groups, which is analyzed and interpreted through qualitative data analysis called coding. Coding is a process that analyses data in order to make it more sensible by dividing the data into categories. Results: The expected outcome may be that most of Indian Muslims will perceive depression through a spiritual view and will believe that depression is 'a disease of the heart'. They will continue to believe depression as being nonexistent in their religion and being a western disease. However, this prediction may not be true as the perspectives of every individual is yet to be discovered. The study will help recognize areas of psychology that need to be improved and be a sign for the psychologists to spread their arena to educate people in such countries about mental health. Conclusion: This research may help uncover certain aspects in the field of depression that have never been discovered before hence adding great value to existing literature since it might have new concepts and ideas to look at.

Skateboarding is a subculture which emerged as a challenge to well-established perceptions of masculinity and yet, perpetuated patriarchal power relations in urban spaces. Consequently, women’s experiences within this community have often been marginalized, leaving their contribution to its development unrecognized. Our research analyses the dynamics of gender relations within this subculture, focusing on the case study of Brujas, a marxist-feminist collective based in New York. Ever since 2014, this group has been questioning and deconstructing stereotypical understandings of gender through skateboarding, managing to create an outlet and space for all women. Backing up our research with visual methods - mainly photographs and videos - and discourse analysis of articles from the collective’s website, we argue that the uniqueness of Brujas resides in using skateboarding as a means of exploring gender discrimination and forwarding a feminist standpoint in street-skate culture. Indeed, this collective merges their own personal experiences with theoretical frameworks as to endorse collective action to empower women and establish an all-inclusive local community. Our project demonstrates that locally based atypical forms of political action, when the personal is made political, have the potential to stimulate socio-political mobilization, oppose oppressive power structures and achieve greater equality within a particular community.

7B - Ethics University of Warwick and Monash University Malaysia

This research uses a psychoanalytic lens to explore occurrences whereby pedagogical relationships become sexual. The focal point of critical theory is Freud’s notion of transference which is a positing of emotions onto a substitute figure often related to infantile drives. The aim of this research is to show transference in an educational setting is not as clear cut as Freudian psychoanalysis suggests, as external sociological factors influence power in these relationships, particularly the law. The three literary texts explored, Heller’s Notes on a Scandal, Coetzee’s Disgrace and Bennett's The History Boys compare through the transference which occurs based on pedagogical approaches. The pedagogical relationships explored become sexual because of a transference of paternal feelings which occurs due to the erotics of education, the notion that transference of knowledge is comparable to sex due to the simultaneous transference of emotional attachment. This research explores why these relationships occur and how responses to these relationships influence the conduct of both parties. Victorian literature portrays complex personal relationships between teachers and their pupils, with instances of boundaries being crossed between tutors in Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw. This research takes ideas which are implicit but prominent in the 19th-20th Century and explores the complexities of explicit teacher-pupil relationships in the 21st Century. There is a building upon Freud’s theory of transference through the engagement with modern scholars’, but in terms of my field I have brought the focus closer to the origins of psychoanalysis, which modern scholars have steered away from.

There are numerous clinical trials involving children, some that can go on for extended periods of time. Being involved in a clinical trial can carry some risks and so it is of importance that those involved fully consent however there is an issue as to how much those children involved consent to being part of these trials, especially when they grow older as medical teams may not reassess their understanding and their willingness to continue to participate.

This paper examines the issues surrounding consent in long term clinical trials, with a focus on paediatric patients, to test whether the law satisfactorily protects the needs of the child as they mature or whether additional protections should be put in place.

Drawing upon research into current legal and medical practice guidelines, academic literature and case law, as well as relevant statistics, this paper will examine the current regulatory framework and the views of those working in this area in order to support a consideration of possible reforms and how these can best be achieved.

Introduction

Appendicitis shows epidemiologic associations with ulcerative colitis and multiple sclerosis. Investigators may wish to conduct studies to look for associations with other chronic disorders (e.g. asthma, Parkinson's, and others). The aim of our survey was to determine the prevalence of appendectomy in the community, to provide baseline data for such studies.

Methods

1269 apparently normal Malaysians aged 40 years or more were sampled (nonrandomized) from all over Malaysia. Participants were asked about a history of appendectomy and any chronic diseases via face to face or telephonic interviews. We excluded 8 appendectomized respondents who knew that their appendix was not inflamed at the time of surgery. White-collar workers were categorized as 'upper socioeconomic status'. We excluded persons below 40, because appendectomy is rare after 40, and this age restriction provides better measures of the lifetime risk of appendectomy.

Results

Of 1261 persons, 73 had undergone appendectomy (crude prevalence 5.789%, 95% CI 4.5%, 7.07%). The prevalence of appendectomy in 481 Malays, 568 Chinese, 197 Indians, and 15 others was 2.9%, 5.8%, 12.7%, and 9.1% respectively (chi-squared = 24.5 at 3 df, 0.000). Gender and socioeconomic status did not influence appendectomy rates. Chronic diseases of the skin, digestive tract, or bone showed no association with appendectomy, nor did diabetes or hypercholesterolemia. Hypertension showed a small negative association (3.96%, p=0.213, n.s.).

Conclusion

The prevalence of appendectomy in ethnic Indians is significantly than among other races. This data can help with studies that evaluate the prevalence of appendectomy in various disorders.

7C - Sustainability & Finance University of Warwick and Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

Food insecurity and mental health issues are prevalent throughout the world, yet the correlation between the two has not been as thoroughly researched as it warrants, nor has it been addressed on the scale that it necessitates. My research seeks to address this correlation and demonstrate the necessity of further research within this area, whilst highlighting the prospective positive influence food sovereignty can have on these issues. It is novel in demonstrating the importance of both food security and food sovereignty in relation to mental health. Throughout, I use theoretical and secondary analysis of a wide range of literature surrounding the key themes on both a global and local basis. The research illustrates evidence supporting the idea that food insecurity demonstrates potential to exacerbate mental health issues, touching upon physiological and socio-economic reasons for the correlation, as well as others. Following, the research ascertains how food sovereignty can influence the amelioration of negative effects of food insecurity on mental health. In addition, it provides potential local and governmental suggestions regarding how to counteract this issue. To conclude, the research argues that the evidence provides mostly correlations and that further research must be taken to demonstrate a cause and effect, providing a platform for effective measures to be taken to help resolve this problem. Overall, the research suggests a positive correlation between food insecurity and mental health issues.

Bitcoin is the world's first purely peer-to-peer decentralised cryptocurrency. Decentralisation allows users to digitally transfer value without relying on a third party, but this already introduces various issues. How can we ensure that transactions are legitimate? How is stored currency kept secure? How do we know that users cannot simply duplicate their Bitcoins? Typically a bank would deal with the first two issues, and a mint with the last, but these services introduce unnecessary fees and processing times. Furthermore, using financial institutions means that payments between people must first be approved - giving way to expensive international transaction fees. Clearly, we need another way of resolving these issues, otherwise Bitcoin is no better than regular fiat currency.

In this talk we will discuss solutions to the above problems, with a focus on the security of owned currency, i.e. ensuring that only the rightful owner may spend their Bitcoin. This requires the use of elliptic curve cryptography – similar to regular cryptography, but with significantly more complexity and security. We will build the theory for this from the ground up by introducing fundamental mathematical concepts such as algebraic groups, rings and fields, before moving on to the basic elliptic curve theory. We will then be able to look at Bitcoin’s security mechanism: the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, which we will mathematically analyse the security of. Elliptic curve cryptography is also useful outside of Bitcoin, and so we will make more general comparisons with classical cryptosystems such as RSA and DSA.

In business valuation, valuation experts have subjective opinions over the calculation of cost of capital in a valuation model. One of the most contentious issues relating to cost of capital is the size premium. It is proposed that smaller firms should have higher returns than larger firms in the long run. In practice, valuation experts calculate the size premium based on the market capitalization from the CRSP Deciles Size Premia Studies. It is further incorporated in the equity premium under the CAPM model. This research paper focuses on the reputable methodologies proposed by CRSP Deciles Size Premia Studies on deriving size premium and replicate the process in the Singapore market. We propose a database for the calculation of size premium in Singapore and analyse criticisms offered by Damodaran and the alternative Risk Premium Report. Common criticisms include the seasonal effect of size premium and the nonlinear relationship with firm size. We conduct additional tests to analyse whether such trends hold true in the Singapore market. Ultimately, we present ideas based on the current approach and application, including opportunities for future research.

Irving Goffman’s seminal work Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity (1963), has dominated sociological thinking on stigma for over half a century. While theory has remained static, society has changed vastly. In just a decade, foodbanks in Britain have gone from being ‘exotic foreign news’ (Wells and Caraher, 2014) to a high profile social problem. Earlier this year the Trussell Trust reported it had distributed over a million food parcels in the preceding twelve months, an increase of over 10 percent on the previous year’s figure (Bulman, 2018), amid grave concerns over changes to the UK benefits system. Foodbanks are therefore an important setting for examining the effects of stigmatisation. This research analyses how Goffman’s stigma theories relate to twenty-first century UK food poverty. The study is based on thematic analysis of secondary qualitative data, collated from several large-scale studies of UK foodbanks. It examines the lived experiences of foodbank users, focussing on issues of their stigmatisation. The study shows many cases where Goffman’s (1963) theories remain applicable to the stigma faced by those in poverty in modern Britain. It also shows how the societal roles documented by Goffman (1963) are still evident in the daily lives of those using foodbanks. The impact possibilities of further studies, determining where Goffman’s work could inspire programmes and initiatives to reduce stigma experienced by those facing food poverty and insecurity, and how those theories could inform policy development as they have done for other socially stigmatised groups (Tyler, 2017).