The Academic Writing Platform for the Middle Common Room.
By: Brittany Kulka Deep beneath the Earth’s surface, between 660 and 2,900 kilometres down, lies the lower mantle (Fig.1). This region experiences extreme pressures and temperatures. The mineral bridgmanite, which is not only the most abundant mineral in the lower mantle but in the Earth [1], is pivotal for understanding Read more…
By: Frances Hand Childbirth is often heralded as a joyful occasion. Yet, the 2022 Health Strategy for England report suggests that pregnancy-related care is the second most important sector in need of dramatic change.The current state of affairs has had devastating consequences. According to the 2022 Kirkup report, 46.9% of Read more…
By: Bradley Mee Picture the map room scene from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark – the titular hero armed with the recently liberated headpiece of the Staff of Ra, fixes it to a long stick and places the headpiece within a broad beam of diffuse sunlight penetrating the Read more…
By: Jacob Greenspon Generative artificial intelligence services like ChatGPT and DALL-E have wowed and worried many. Their ability to write complex programming code, craft poetry, and design images replicates that of workers currently hired for these tasks, raising fears of widespread job loss. How might generative AI affect the labour Read more…
By: Jasper Singh On the ill-fated maiden voyage of April 1912, Mr. J Dawson, and Ms. R Bukater fell deeply in love, their blossoming romance transcending far beyond their societal class differences. Rose, trapped in an engagement to another more affluent aristocrat, Mr. C Hockley, could only dream of a Read more…
By: Ms Menggelisha In the fading days of the Qing Dynasty, a poignant ballad portrayed the struggles of a Chinese family trapped in the unrelenting cycle of survival. “The father crafting lanterns, the mother aiding in tooth extractions, the son toiling as a servant, and the daughter threading as a Read more…
By: Sophia Abusamra A reward is being offered to the first person to catch killer prostate cancer cells. Please read the below briefing for case details: WANTED: Killer Prostate Cancer CellsREWARD: Funding for academic research and lifetime achievement in cancer research Every 45 minutes one man dies from prostate cancer Read more…
In the year 1990, Peru seemed a country in the brink of collapse. The Andean nation had gone through decades of successive ideologically-opposed governments that enacted incoherent social and economic policies. The country was battling with one of the world’s highest hyperinflations (7,650%). It also faced a crisis of representation: political parties had lost the trust of the majority of the population. Democracy was also threated by an internal armed conflict, in which the state was battling two sanguinary terrorist groups. The Peruvian Truth Commission estimates the death toll of this conflict at approximately 70,000 people.
The term therapeutic has gained a lot of momentum within the state’s child protection and family welfare services over the past decade, particularly within the provision and practice of foster care placements for teenagers in the UK. The proliferation of this term is due perhaps to a deepening in our understandings of the prevalence of developmental trauma/complex PTSD (Frogley, 2018) throughout the population of young people who are removed from their birth families due to abuse or neglect. Many of these young people may have been exposed to multiple traumas in childhood, as well as the experience of loss and displacement that being taken into state care can create. There is also a growing awareness of impact that these negative past experiences can have on an individual’s level of disadvantage in the personal, social, and economic spheres across one’s lifespan if left unaddressed.
In Guatemala, social protection coverage is marred by significant challenges, particularly in the realm of pensions and healthcare. The inequalities within the pension system are glaring, with only a privileged few, consisting of formal workers from the private and public sectors, enjoying its benefits. Guatemala’s social protection system corresponds to a Global South model where poverty is high (54% below the poverty line, according to the WB) and the high informality (71%) causes a weak collection of taxes. The allocation of resources for social protection is influenced more by political considerations than by a fair distribution of resources. This piece aims to shed light on the main challenges faced by Guatemala’s social protection system and explore potential political changes and reforms that could enhance coverage.