Suchergebnisse

"Becoming a Citizen makes a unique contribution to the existing scholarship on citizenship processes by empirically investigating how the naturalisation process is experienced with an explicit focus on language practices. This ethnographically informed investigation focuses on W., a Yemeni immigrant in the United Kingdom during the last eleven months of the citizenship process. In this time, he encounters linguistic trials involving the Life in the UK citizenship test, community life, ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) adult education and the citizenship ceremony. The richness of data allows for a nuanced portrayal of the complexities becoming a citizen, a particularly significant contribution since the UK's move towards an assimilationist form of citizenship, reflected in the introduction of a citizenship test within a broader socio-political climate which promotes the use of English. Drawing upon a wide range of theorists, from philosophy, psychology and linguistics, this book offers a detailed analysis of the process of becoming a citizen and makes an original contribution to the area of citizenship in language testing, sociolinguistics, sociology and ethnic relations"--

AbstractIn the context of sustainable development, urban transformation should encourage the use of life cycle thinking tools for infrastructure development. By adopting sustainable economic, social, and environmental criteria, this study presents a review of sustainability assessment tools to build a framework for urban infrastructure. It incorporates a variety of methods that economists and industrial ecologists use for evaluating their projects, in addition to the LCT approach. To recognize the strategic sustainability indicators and criteria, the framework uses LCC, LCA, and SLCA in conjunction with stakeholder evaluation and multi-criteria decision analysis, which recognizes the foremost three pillars of sustainability, i.e., economy, environment, and society. Additionally, system dynamics and agent-based modelling are used to optimise the framework. The prominence of the framework is to understand the route an urban infrastructure development should follow to achieve key sustainability interests involving the interconnected environmental and socio-economic aspects. This sustainability assessment framework can be utilised by consultants or supporting agencies to help organisations carry out and monitor such projects.

The British citizenship ceremony marks the legal endpoint of the naturalisation process. While the citizenship ceremony may be a celebration, it can also be a final examination. Using an ethnographically-informed case study, this article follows one candidate, 'W', through the naturalisation process in the UK. W is a migrant Yemeni at the end of the naturalisation process. Bakhtin's notion of "ideological becoming" offers an analytic orientation into how competing discourses may operate. This article focuses on the role of what Bakhtin describes as "authoritative discourse" in the citizenship ceremony, in particular the Oath/Affirmation of Allegiance which citizenship candidates are required to recite. Success in the ceremony is dependent on how individuals negotiate authoritative discourse. This study follows W and highlights the complexities and negotiations of authoritative discourse in a citizenship ceremony.

Citizenship tests are arguably intended as moments of hailing, or interpellation, through which norms are internalized and citizen-subjects produced. We analyse the multiple political subjects revealed through migrants' narratives of the citizenship test process, drawing on 158 interviews with migrants in Leicester and London who are at different stages in the UK citizenship test process. In dialogue with three counter-figures in the critical naturalization literature – the 'neoliberal citizen'; the 'anxious citizen'; and the 'heroic citizen' – we propose the figure of the 'citizen-negotiator', a socially situated actor who attempts to assert control over their life as they navigate the test process and state power. Through the focus on negotiation, we see migrants navigating a process of differentiation founded on pre-existing inequalities rather than a journey toward transformation.

Spain has followed the lead of other Western countries by establishing new citizenship requirements for immigrants. In 2015, the Real Decreto 1004/2015 was passed, making both knowledge of culture and history of Spain and knowledge of Spanish language a requisite for immigrants wishing to become citizens. In order to fulfill this legal requirement, immigrants need to take two exams: the Conocimientos Constitucionales y Socioculturales de España and the Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera (DELE), which are both administered by the Instituto Cervantes. This paper analyses some of the discourses that surrounded the introduction of the new testing regime. Given the complex socio political and historical context of Spain, establishing a requirement in Spanish for new citizens reinforces the subordination of other co-official languages such as Galician, Basque and Catalan. Beyond the ideological forces at play, we also highlight the monetization of compulsory tests and its benefits for test administrators. Furthermore, we bring attention to the fact that the DELE, a language test that was originally designed for other purposes and pre-dates the new citizenship legislation, is now being employed for high-stakes immigration, subverting the original purpose of the test. We highlight the problems this causes in terms of test effect, validity and ethics. Finally, we caution that greater reflection is required regarding the need for such tests, including more research on individuals experiencing the new naturalization process.

Abstract Background We set out to describe the risk of hospitalization from heart disease, stroke, and diabetes among persons born in India, all foreign-born persons, and U.S.-born persons residing in New York City. Methods We examined billing records of 1,083,817 persons hospitalized in New York City during the year 2000. The zip code of each patient's residence was linked to corresponding data from the 2000 U.S. Census to obtain covariates not present in the billing records. Using logistic models, we evaluated the risk of hospitalization for heart disease, stroke and diabetes by country of origin. Results After controlling for covariates, Indian-born persons are at similar risk of hospitalization for heart disease (RR = 1.02, 95% confidence interval 1.02, 1.03), stroke (RR = 1.00, 95% confidence interval, 0.99, 1.01), and diabetes mellitus (RR = 0.96 95% confidence interval 0.94, 0.97) as native-born persons. However, Indian-born persons are more likely to be hospitalized for these diseases than other foreign-born persons. For instance, the risk of hospitalization for heart disease among foreign-born persons is 0.70 (95% confidence interval 0.67, 0.72) and the risk of hospitalization for diabetes is 0.39 (95% confidence interval 0.37, 0.42) relative to native-born persons. Conclusions South Asians have considerably lower rates of hospitalization in New York than reported in countries with national health systems. Access may play a role. Clinicians working in immigrant settings should nonetheless maintain a higher vigilance for these conditions among Indian-born persons than among other foreign-born populations.

M-commerce is the subsequent generation of e-commerce which facilitates the user to access internet without requiring a place for plug-in. Today, mobile is not merely used for sending messages or for calling but it serves a wide variety of other purposes that are beneficial in corporate world. M-commerce helps in improving relationship with customers. It is an area that is still under development phase and offers potential prospects for further research and applications. Since the subject is at the stage of progress, this research help explore how and why m-commerce is gaining continuous popularity and taking over e-commerce and initiates further research on the reasons of growth of m-commerce expertise. Prior studies suggest that e-commerce and m-commerce are not only leading edge for doing global business and trade but also offers multiple benefits to the business, government and consumers on substantial scale. The incredible growth in mobile phone access shows that majority of people have adapted to mobile phone and advancement in mobile technology and its usage is not limited for making basic phone calls, but can be used almost in every sector of human activity if one has the required technological knowledge. Since the time e-commerce has evolved, the world of business has observed a drastic change in the way trade activities are conducted. On the other hand, influx of m-commerce has given rise to valuable commerce transformation. Significant advancement has been made in mobile Internet and SMS-based mobile advertising adoption, but there are other vital topics that need to be addressed and this research further explore one such area, that is, m-commerce in banking sector. For any country banking sector is an integral part of its financial services industry. Structure of the Banking Sector of Pakistan as it being a developing country and having a comparatively low level of income, is requisite growth rate is low as there is hardly any savings. The newer concept in Pakistan is the standard of living along with the quality of lifeIntention to Adopt M-Commerce over E-Commercewhich focuses on individual aspects of human nature. These have led to foreign aids which have been the holding force to bridge the gap for us between our savings and investments. Simple random sampling technique has been used to identify the segment whereas customers of four banks are taken as respondents in this study. The demographic characteristics include workforce of eighteen years and older and who have access to Internet, Mobile Phone and Bank account. Questionnaire used in the study is based on 5 points Likert Scale whose reliability is also checked before conducting the analysis. Multiple- regression, ANOVA and Correlation analysis has been used to test the hypotheses. This paper summarizes the progress and the future directions of m-commerce which depicts that the arrival of m-commerce has added to the margins of effective commerce revolution and is constantly taking over e-commerce and e-commerce activities. Future researchers may also identify the importance of m-commerce in other industries as well.