Topic Review
Understanding Sexual Agency
Debates on human agency, not least female and sexual agency, have permeated the social scientific literature and health educational practice during multiple decades now. This article provides a review of recent agency debates, illustrating how criticisms of traditional conceptions of (sexual) agency have led to a notable diversification of the concept. We propose a comprehensive, inclusive description of sexual agency, focusing on the navigation of goals and desires in the wider structural context, and acknowledging the many forms sexual agency may take. We argue there is no simple relation between sexual agency and sexual health. We propose the following description: Sexual agency refers to a continuum of dynamic, everyday, situated modalities of action related to sexuality in which agents navigate (contrarieties between) personal goals, desires and preferences on the one, and personal living conditions, normative expectations and the wider structural context on the other hand. A diversity of internal (e.g. self-identification) and/or external goals (e.g. maintain social relationships or challenge the status quo) motivate and direct sexually agentic behavior. Sexual agency may aim for change as well as for endurance, continuity and stability. It may be overt or tacit. It varies with individual (e.g. temporal orientation) as well as situational variables (e.g. novelty). Sexual agency may reproduce but also resist and renegotiate (aspects of) prevailing norms and the status quo. There is no simple relation between sexual agency and sexual health or well-being. Modalities of action as well as the constructiveness of their (multiple) effects always depend on personal frames of reference as well as on the opportunities and restrictions provided by the (immediate and distant) personal and structural context, including moral and ideological frameworks and dominant sexual stories.
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  • 21 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Understanding Science Teachers’ Implementations of Integrated STEM
Science teachers generally have a positive attitude towards using STEM-based activities. In addition, data revealed that participants implement integrated STEM into their teaching frequently and regularly. Results also indicated teachers encounter challenges while implementing STEM: documentation, the vast curriculum content, and lack of time. Moreover, external challenges (i.e., the lack of supportive guidelines) rather than teachers’ competency (i.e., having sufficient knowledge and skills for implementing STEM teaching) appeared to have the highest impending impact.
  • 434
  • 31 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Understanding Pet Food Attribute Preferences of US Consumers
This encyclopedia entry is dedicated to pet food attributes and builds on the work of Meike Rombach and David Dean. Partial least squares structural equation modelling shows that pet food purchase involvement positively impacts subjective and objective knowledge about pet food. Subjective knowledge appears to be the strongest factor impacting the importance consumers place on all three attributes. This is followed by objective knowledge. Socio-demographic factors such as gender, age, income, and education appear to have a limited impact as predictors for the importance consumers place on the product attributes.
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  • 17 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Understanding Perceptions of Leaders by Video Vignettes
Video vignettes are one form of virtualized vignettes that may build upon traditional text vignettes and enable research participants to see and experience a unique scenario that is better translated visually rather than through a written text. 
  • 148
  • 22 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Understanding Apple Attribute Preferences of US Consumers
Fresh apples are a commonly consumed and widely available product in food markets around the world.
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  • 17 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Uncontrolled Outdoor Access for Cats
Outdoor access for companion cats is a controversial topic. Some have suggested that outdoor access can negatively impact the welfare of companion cats through increased risks of disease and parasites, injury or death due to traffic, predation or ingestion of toxins, and becoming lost. In addition, cats can negatively influence their environments due to the predation of small birds and mammals, and they are sometimes a nuisance to human neighbors. Despite these concerns, recent estimates suggest that many owners still allow their cats outside, likely because it also provides cats with exercise, and allows them to perform natural behaviors, such as hunting, exploring, and climbing. While some suggest that cats need outdoor access, others recommend ways for cats to meet these needs indoors by providing enrichment and properly supervising cats during outdoor access. 
  • 480
  • 09 Dec 2021
Topic Review
UN and COVID-19: Economic Stimulation in Fragile States
United Nations support for fragile economies to overcome COVID-19's economic impact .
  • 472
  • 25 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Umtsimba
A traditional Swazi wedding ceremony is called umtsimba (Template:IPA-ss), where the bride commits herself to her new family for the rest of her life. The ceremony is a celebration that includes members of both the bride's - and the groom's - natal village. There are stages to the wedding that stretch over a few days. Each stage is significant, comprising symbolic gestures that have been passed on from generation to generation. The first stage is the preparation of the bridal party before leaving their village. The second stage is the actual journey of the bridal party from their village to the groom's village. The third stage is the first day of the wedding ceremony that spans three days, and starts on the day the bridal party arrives at the grooms’ village. Thereafter the actual wedding ceremony takes place which is the fourth stage of the umtsimba. The fifth stage takes place the day after the wedding ceremony and is known as kuteka, which is the actual wedding. The final stage may take place the day after the wedding day, and is when the bride gives the groom's family gifts and is the first evening the bride spends with the groom. Although the traditional wedding ceremony has evolved in modern times, the details below are based on historic accounts of anthropologist Hilda Kuper and sociological research describing the tradition
  • 514
  • 19 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Ultimate Issue (Law)
An ultimate issue in criminal law is a legal issue at stake in the prosecution of a crime for which an expert witness is providing testimony.
  • 835
  • 11 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Ukrainian Migrants in Poland during COVID-19 Pandemic
Economic and political crises have significant impacts on the situation of foreigners in their host country. Some of these impacts of such crises can be predicted, while others appear unexpectedly. Particularly challenging are those characterised by extreme unusualness and the absence of warning signs that suggest the possibility of their occurrence. The pandemic as an emergency situation entailing restrictions on mobility between countries did not significantly affect the migration decisions of Ukrainians. Disregarding the difficult epidemiological situation, they continued to make decisions on immigration to Poland, guided by individual profit and loss calculations. Others remained in Poland to wait out the crisis. The pandemic has exposed the dependence of the Polish economy on migrant labour and has also shown the deficiencies in migration policy.
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  • 23 May 2022
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