Search results for: general society’s opinions about disability

Authors: Craig A. Kaplan

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If AGI proves to be a “winner-take-all” scenario where the first company or country to develop AGI dominates, then the first AGI must also be the safest. The safest, and fastest, path to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) may be to harness the collective intelligence of multiple AI and human agents in an AGI network. This approach has roots in seminal ideas from four of the scientists who founded the field of Artificial Intelligence: Allen Newell, Marvin Minsky, Claude Shannon, and Herbert Simon. Extrapolating key insights from these founders of AI, and combining them with the work of modern researchers, results in a fast and safe path to AGI. The seminal ideas discussed are: 1) Society of Mind (Minsky), 2) Information Theory (Shannon), 3) Problem Solving Theory (Newell & Simon), and 4) Bounded Rationality (Simon). Society of Mind describes a collective intelligence approach that can be used with AI and human agents to create an AGI network. Information theory helps address the critical issue of how an AGI system will increase its intelligence over time. Problem Solving Theory provides a universal framework that AI and human agents can use to communicate efficiently, effectively, and safely. Bounded Rationality helps us better understand not only the capabilities of SuperIntelligent AGI but also how humans can remain relevant in a world where the intelligence of AGI vastly exceeds that of its human creators. Each key idea can be combined with recent work in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Large Language Models to accelerate the development of a working, safe, AGI system.

Keywords: AI Agents, Collective Intelligence, Minsky, Newell, Shannon, Simon, AGI, AGI Safety

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Authors: Yan Liu

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The Gini coefficient indicates that the inequality of income distribution is rising in China. How individuals viewing the equality of current society is an important predicator of social turbulence. Perceptions of social justice may vary according to the social stratification. People usually use socioeconomic status to identify divisions between social stratifications. The objective of this study is to explore the potential influence of socioeconomic status on citizens’ perceptions of social justice in China. Socioeconomic status (SES) is usually reflected by either an SES indicator or a composite of three core dimensions: education, income and occupation. With data collected in the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this study uses OLS regression analyses to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and citizens’ perceptions of social justice. This study finds that most Chinese citizens believe that the current society is fair or more than fair. Socioeconomic status (SES) has a positive impact on citizens’ perceptions of social justice, which means individuals with higher indicator of socioeconomic status prefer to believe current society is fair. However, the three core dimensions which are used to measure socioeconomic status (SES) have different influences on perceptions of social justice: First, income helps enhance citizens’ sense of social justice. Second, education weakens citizens’ sense of social justice. Third, compared to the middle occupational status, people of both higher occupational status and lower occupational status have higher levels of perceptions of social justice. Though education creates a negative influence on perceptions of social justice, its effect is much weaker than that of income, which indicates income is a determining factor for enhancing people’s perceptions of social justice in China’s market society. Policy implications are discussed.

Keywords: education, income, occupation, perceptions of social justice, social stratification, socioeconomic status

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Authors: Diwei Lin, Amanda Jia Hui Tan

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In 2012, testicular cancer was estimated to account for 940 disability adjusted life years in Australia; of these, 450 were years lost due to premature death and 500 were years of healthy life lost due to disease, disability or injury. Testicular choriocarcinoma is one of the rarest variants of testicular germ cell tumours, accounting for less than 1% of testicular germ cell tumours and only about 0.19% of all testicular tumours. Management involves radical orchiectomy followed by chemotherapy. Even then, the prognosis is extremely poor. This case report describes a 20-year-old male with pure testicular choriocarcinoma with pulmonary metastases.

Keywords: testicular cancer, choriocarcinoma, cryptorchidism, chemotherapy, metastatic testicular cancer

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Authors: Abdul Salim Amin

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This paper focuses on how judiciaries in post-conflict society gain legitimacy through reformation. Legitimacy plays a pivotal role in shaping peoples’ behavior to submit to the law and verifies the rightfulness of an organ for taking binding decisions. Among various dynamics, judicial independence, access to justice and behavioral changes of the judicial officials broadly contribute in legitimation of judiciary in general, and the court in particular. Increasing the independence of judiciary through reform limits the interference of governmental branches in judicial issues and protects basic rights of the citizens. Judicial independence does not only matter in institutional terms, individual independence also influences the impartiality and integrity of judges, which can be increased through education and better administration of justice. Finally, access to justice as an intertwined concept both at the legal and moral spectrum of judicial reform avails justice to the citizen and increases the level of public trust and confidence. Efficient legal decisions on fostering such elements through holistic reform create a rule of law atmosphere. Citizens do not accept illegitimate judiciary and do not trust its decisions. Lack of such tolerance and confidence deters the rule of law and, thus, undermines the democratic development of a society.

Keywords: legitimacy, judicial reform, judicial independence, access to justice, legal training, informal justice, rule of law

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Authors: Ian C. Padgett

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Future of society is built on the foundations built by the parents of today and how they raise their children. Strong foundations are made by accepting environments, good morals, and sound educations. Child abuse is a harm that immediately corrupts a child and everything that could do for society. Every child is a segment of modern society and future society, every child corrupted is a segment of society corrupted. Physical abuse is a clear abuse that leaves bruises and can traumatize a child for life, it can leave scars but effect a child’s mind for life. Another form of abuse, however, still impacts a child for life but with no scars to be seen. Child mental abuse directly targets children’s minds to control, manipulate, and belittle them. It becomes close to impossible to escape as there is no clear law defining mental abuse, the parent manipulates the child to stay quiet, and finally the child must come to terms that there parent is harming them. Society does not react to mental and physical abuse in the same manner. In a society that works to protect it future and it children, mental abuse is given a strange lack of attention. In order to protect children, all forms of abuse must be treated and given attention to. Mental abuse comes in many forms and can be extremely hard to spot, unlike physical abuse, but can still lead to the trauma other abuse can cause. While no abuse is worse than others, mental abuse should not be treated like it is nonexistent.

Keywords: Abuse Awareness, Child Mental Abuse, Effects of Abuse, Societal Issues

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Authors: Daiva Skuciene

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The Baltic States turned to free market and capitalism after independency. The new socioeconomic system, democracy and priorities about the welfare of citizens formed. The researches show that Baltic states choose the neoliberal development. Related to this neoliberal path, a few questions arouse: how do people evaluate the results of such policy and socioeconomic development? What are their priorities? And what are the values of the Baltic societies that support neoliberal policy? The purpose of this research – to analyze the socioeconomic context and the priorities and the values of the Baltics societies related to neoliberal regime. The main objectives are: firstly, to analyze the neoliberal socioeconomic features and results; secondly, to analyze people opinions and priorities about the results of neoliberal development; thirdly, to analyze the values of the Baltic societies related to the neoliberal policy. For the implementation of the purpose and objectives, the comparative analyses among European countries are used. The neoliberal regime was defined through two indicators: the taxes on capital income and expenditures on social protection. The socioeconomic outcomes of neoliberal welfare regime are defined through the Gini inequality and at risk of the poverty rate. For this analysis, the data of 2002-2013 of Eurostat were used. For the analyses of opinion about inequality and preferences on society, people want to live in, the preferences for distribution between capital and wages in enterprise data of Eurobarometer in 2010-2014 and the data of representative survey in the Baltic States in 2016 were used. The justice variable was selected as a variable reflecting the evaluation of socioeconomic context and analyzed using data of Eurobarometer 2006-2015. For the analyses of values were selected: solidarity, equality, and individual responsibility. The solidarity, equality was analyzed using data of Eurobarometer 2006-2015. The value “individual responsibility” was examined by opinions about reasons of inequality and poverty. The survey of population in the Baltic States in 2016 and data of Eurobarometer were used for this aim. The data are ranged in descending order for understanding the position of opinion of people in the Baltic States among European countries. The dynamics of indicators is also provided to examine stability of values. The main findings of the research are that people in the Baltics are dissatisfied with the results of the neoliberal socioeconomic development, they have priorities for equality and justice, but they have internalized the main neoliberal narrative- individual responsibility. The impact of socioeconomic context on values is huge, resulting in a change in quite stable opinions and values during the period of the financial crisis.

Keywords: neoliberal, inequality and poverty, solidarity, individual responsibility

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Authors: B. Bernabela, P. Bles, A. Bloecker, D. DeRock, M. van Es, M. Gerritse, T. de Jongh, W. Lansing, M. Martinot, J. van de Wetering

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A heated debate has been taking place concerning research and teaching at Dutch universities for the last few years. The ministry of science and education has published reports on its strategy to improve university curricula and position the Netherlands as a globally competitive knowledge economy. These reports have provoked an uproar of responses from think tanks, concerned academics, and the media. At the center of the debate is disagreement over who should determine the Dutch university curricula and how these curricula should look. Many stakeholders in the higher education system have voiced their opinion, and some have not been heard. The result is that the diversity of visions is ignored or taken for granted in the official reports. Recognizing this gap in stakeholder analysis, the aim of this paper is to bring attention to the wide range of perspectives on who should be responsible for designing higher education curricula. Based on a previous analysis by the Rathenau Institute, we distinguish five different groups of stakeholders: government, business sector, university faculty and administration, students, and the societal sector. We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with representatives from each stakeholder group, and distributed quantitative questionnaires to people in the societal sector (i.e. people not directly affiliated with universities or graduates). Preliminary data suggests that the stakeholders have different target points concerning the university curricula. Representatives from the governmental sector tend to place special emphasis on the link between research and education, while representatives from the business sector rather focus on greater opportunities for students to obtain practical experience in the job market. Responses from students reflect a belief that they should be able to influence the curriculum in order to compete with other students on the international job market. On the other hand, university faculty expresses concern that focusing on the labor market puts undue pressure on students and compromises the quality of education. Interestingly, the opinions of members of ‘society’ seem to be relatively unchanged by political and economic shifts. Following a comprehensive analysis of the data, we believe that our results will make a significant contribution to the debate on university education in the Netherlands. These results should be regarded as a foundation for further research concerning the direction of Dutch higher education, for only if we take into account the different opinions and views of the various stakeholders can we decide which steps to take. Moreover, the Dutch experience offers lessons to other countries as well. As the internationalization of higher education is occurring faster than ever before, universities throughout Europe and globally are experiencing many of the same pressures.

Keywords: Dutch University curriculum, higher education, participants’ opinions, stakeholder perspectives

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Authors: Leah Ritchie

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By many accounts, the most recent economic recession and subsequent lack-luster recovery has demonstrated that corporate social responsibility is in a state of crisis. This crisis represents an opportunity for CSR scholars to play a role in restoring long-term economic growth and consumer confidence. In its current state however, CSR may not be in a position to facilitate positive change. In an attempt to remain relevant, the field has shifted toward a performance-based agenda that demonstrates in practical terms, how CSR can positively affect the financial and strategic performance of the firm. This paper argues that if CSR is to play a central role in helping to create a more equitable balance of power between industry and society, it must demonstrate the symbiotic nature of the relationship between these two entities, not just in terms of compartmentalized strategic and financial gain for the firm, but also toward maintaining a 'do no harm' imperative. Given the evidence that harm done to society is ultimately turned back on the firm, this is not simply a moralistic imperative. In order to affect change, CSR must also create an activist agenda to raise consciousness among the general citizenry toward mobilizing, uncovering, and repairing breeches in the implicit social contract between business and society.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, multiple stakeholder view, economic recession, housing crisis

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Authors: Abbas R. Ali, Safa H. Abdulrahman

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In this study, forty samples had been collected from water of Lesser Zab River and drinking water to determine fluoride concentration and show the impact of fluoride on general health of society of Kirkuk city. Estimation of fluoride concentration and determination of its proportion in water samples were performed attentively using a fluoride ion selective electrode. The fluoride concentrations in the Lesser Zab River samples were between 0.0265 ppm and 0.0863 ppm with an average of 0.0451 ppm, whereas the average fluoride concentration in drinking water samples was 0.102 ppm and ranged from 0.010 to 0.289 ppm. A comparison between results obtained with World Health Organization (WHO) show a low concentration of fluoride in the samples of the study. Thus, for health concerns we should increase the concentration of this ion in water of Kirkuk city at least to about (1.0 ppm) and this will take place after fluorination process.

Keywords: fluoride concentration, lesser zab river, drinking water, health society, Kirkuk city

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Authors: Akinyemi Eyitayo Oufunmilayo

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In every society, it is expected that adult education will help in meeting the needs of people in terms of economic and social lives and reveal their talents, culture, and political abilities. Participation in adult education programmes could be the ones offered by the Federal, state, and local governments or non-governmental organisations. This study, therefore, investigated how people’s participation in adult education programmes could change their social lives. A quantitative method was employed for the study. The study population consisted of 210 people randomly selected from the three Senatorial Districts in Ondo State. Data obtained was analysed using frequency counts and percentages and chi-square analysis. Findings revealed that members of the society responded to the benefits of adult education programmes made available, and there were positive changes to their social lives. It could be concluded that people’s participation in adult education programmes improved every aspect of their lives for better living. It is recommended that members of the society respond and make good use of any adult education programme made available in their community, while stakeholders and other opportune members of the society come to the aid of less privileged people in their society.

Keywords: adult education programmes, social change, participation, society

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Authors: Karen V. Lee

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The background and significance of this study involve communication in education by a faculty advisor exploring story and music that informs others about a disabled teacher. Social issues draw deep reflection about the emotional turmoil. As a musician becoming a teacher is a passionate yet complex endeavor, the faculty advisor shares a poetic but painful story about a disabled teacher being inducted into the teaching profession. The qualitative research method as theoretical framework draws on autoethnography of music and story where the faculty advisor approaches a professor for advice. His musicianship shifts her forward, backward, and sideways through feelings that evoke and provoke curriculum to remove communication barriers in education. They discover they do not transfer knowledge from educational method classes. Instead, the autoethnography embeds musical language as a metaphorical conduit for removing communication barriers in teacher education. Sub-themes involve communication barriers and educational technologies to ensure teachers receive social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and intervention disability resources that evoke visceral, emotional responses from the audience. Major findings of the study discover how autoethnography of music and story bring the authors to understand wider political issues of the practicum internship for teachers with disabilities. An epiphany reveals the irony of living in a culture of both uniformity and diversity. They explore the constructs of secrecy, ideology, abnormality, and marginalization by evoking visceral and emotional responses from the audience. As the voices harmonize plot, climax, characterization, and denouement, they dramatize meaning that is episodic yet incomplete to highlight the circumstances surrounding the disabled protagonist’s life. In conclusion, the qualitative research method argues for embracing storied experiences that depict communication in education. Scholarly significance embraces personal thoughts and feelings as a way of understanding social phenomena while highlighting the importance of removing communication barriers in education. The circumstance about a teacher with a disability is not uncommon in society. Thus, the authors resolve to removing barriers in education by using stories to transform the personal and cultural influences that provoke new ways of thinking about the curriculum for a disabled teacher.

Keywords: communication in education, communication barriers, autoethnography, teaching

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Authors: Saman R. Khan, Najma Sadiq

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Silencing of opinions is an important aspect of Spiral of Silence theory however its applicability in rape-themed dramas requires investigation. This study focuses on the portrayal of female rape victim protagonists in Pakistani dramas and the factors influencing their behavior after rape. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on two prime-time dramas which directly dealt with female rape victims. Results indicate that the female protagonists who faced rape are shown as silent and submissive characters who are unable to communicate about their ordeal due to fear of social isolation. These findings lend support to the Spiral of Silence theory and indicate that the theory’s basic elements (inability to express opinions and fear of social isolation) exist in these TV dramas.

Keywords: gender stereotyping, rape victims, the spiral of silence, TV dramas

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Authors: Felix O. Omosele

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Several studies have established that electronic voting machines are prone to multi-faceted challenges. One of which is their capacity to lose votes after the ballots might have been cast. Therefore, the international consensus appears to favour the use of electronic voting machines that are accompanied with verifiable audit paper audit trail (VVPAT). At present, there is no known study that has evaluated the impacts (or otherwise) of this verification and auditing on the authentication, admissibility and evidential weight of electronically-obtained electoral data. This legal inquiry is important as elections are sometimes won or lost in courts and on the basis of such data. This gap will be filled by the present research work. Using the United States of America as a case study, this paper employed a qualitative legal analysis of several of its appellate courts’ judicial opinions. This analysis equally unearths the necessary statutory rules and regulations that are important to the research problem. The objective of the research is to highlight the roles played by VVPAT on electoral evidence- as seen from the eyes of the court. The preliminary outcome of this qualitative analysis shows that the admissibility and weight attached to ‘Computer Evidence from e-voting machines (CEEM)’ are often treated with general standards applied to other computer-stored evidence. These standards sometimes fail to embrace the peculiar challenges faced by CEEM, particularly with respect to their tabulation and transmission. This paper, therefore, argues that CEEM should be accorded unique consideration by courts. It proposes the development of a legal standard which recognises verification and auditing as ‘weight enhancers’ for electronically-obtained electoral data.

Keywords: admissibility of computer evidence, electronic voting, qualitative legal analysis, voting machines in the USA

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Authors: James Funsho Tope

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Being the prolific writer that he is, Gimba’s collection of Short Stories, A Toast in the Cemetery, brings out the themes of decay and corruption in the urban setting through the use of images, symbols, setting and character. Gimba seeks through these media to reveal the decay and corruption in the society. Gimba uses aesthetics to convey his message, thus making a call for change in the fabrics of society.

Keywords: corruption, decay, character, setting, symbolism, images, society

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Authors: Anna Dolinayova, Juraj Camaj, Martin Loch

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Presently it is necessary to ensure the sustainable development of passenger and freight transport. Increasing performance of road freight have been a negative impact to environment and society. It is therefore necessary to increase the competitiveness of intermodal transport, which is more environmentally friendly. The study describe the effectiveness of logistical centers realization for companies and society and research how the partial internalization of external costs reflected in the efficient use of these centers and increase the competitiveness of intermodal transport to road freight. In our research, we use the method of comparative analysis and market research to describe the advantages of logistic centers for their users as well as for society as a whole. Method normal costing is used for calculation infrastructure and total costs, method of conversion costing for determine the external costs. We modelling of total society costs for road freight transport and inter modal transport chain (we assumed that most of the traffic is carried by rail) with different loading schemes for condition in the Slovak Republic. Our research has shown that higher utilization of inter modal transport chain do good not only for society, but for companies providing freight services too. Increase in use of inter modal transport chain can bring many benefits to society that do not bring direct immediate financial return. They often bring the multiplier effects, such as greater use of environmentally friendly transport mode and reduce the total society costs.

Keywords: delivery time, economy effectiveness, logistical centers, ecological efficiency, optimization, society

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Authors: Russell Rosen

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American Sign Language (ASL) has been developed and used by signing deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) individuals in the American Deaf community since early nineteenth century. In the last two decades, secondary schools in the US offered ASL for foreign language credit to secondary school learners. The learners who learn ASL as a foreign language are largely American native speakers of English. They not only learn ASL in US schools but also create spaces under certain interactional and social conditions in their home communities outside of classrooms and use ASL with each other instead of their native English. This phenomenon is a transmigration of language from a native social group to a non-native, non-kin social group. This study looks at the transmigration of ASL from signing Deaf community to the general speaking and hearing American society. Theoretical implications of this study are discussed.

Keywords: American Sign Language, Foreign Language, Language transmission, United States

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Authors: S. Zeynep Siretioglu Girgin, Gizem Turna Cebeci

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Turkey’s immigration policy is a controversial issue considering its legal, economic, social, and political and human rights dimensions. Formulation of an immigration policy goes hand in hand with political processes, where natives’ attitudes play a significant role. On the other hand, as was the case in Turkey, radical changes made in immigration policy or policies lacking transparency may cause severe reactions by the host society. The underlying discussion paper aims to analyze quantitatively the effects of the existing ‘open door’ immigration policy on the economic integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey, and on the perception of the native population of refugees. For the analysis, semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus group interviews have been conducted. After the introduction, a literature review is provided, followed by theoretical background on the explanation of natives’ attitudes towards immigrants. In the next section, a qualitative analysis of natives’ attitudes towards Syrian refugees is presented with the subtopics of (i) awareness, general opinions and expectations, (ii) open-door policy and management of the migration process, (iii) perception of positive and negative impacts of immigration, (iv) economic integration, and (v) cultural similarity. Results indicate that, natives concurrently have social, economic and security concerns regarding refugees, while difficulties regarding security and economic integration of refugees stand out. Socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, such as the educational level and employment status, are not sufficient to explain the overall attitudes towards refugees, while they can be used to explain the awareness of the respondents and the priority of the concerns felt.

Keywords: economic integration, immigration policy, integration policies, migrants, natives’ sentiments, perception, Syrian refugees, Turkey

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Authors: Emeka Thaddues Njoku

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Since 2009, the Nigerian Government has established diverse counter-terrorism legislations and practices in response terrorism in North Eastern part of the country. However, these measures have hampered not only the ability of civil society organizations to sustain the autonomous spaces that define/locate them at the intersection between the state and public but also the balance between freedom and security. Hence, this study examines the various elements associated with the interface between the counter terrorism security framework of the government and the capacity of civil society organizations to carry out their mandates in Nigeria. In order to achieve this, the survey research of the ex-post facto type will be adopted using the multi-stage sampling technique. A total of two hundred (200) copies of questionnaire will be administered to members of the civil society organizations and 24 In-Depth Interviews (IDI) will be conducted for officials of security agencies, Ministry of Defence and operators of civil society organizations. Fifty respondents will be drawn from each civil society organisations in the areas of humanitarian assistance, human rights Advocacy, development-oriented, peace-building. Moreover, 24 interviewees drawn from the key members of the security agencies (6), Ministry of Defence (6) and 12 operators of civil society organizations-three respondents each will represent the four civil society organizations mentioned above. Also, secondary data will be used to complement In-depth Interview (IDI) sessions. All collected data will be coded and analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts and simple percentage in the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Content analysis will be used for the In-depth interview and secondary data.

Keywords: counter-terrorism, civil society organizations, freedom, terrorism

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Authors: Sara Dalma Galgoczi, Judith Gabriella Kengyel

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Sex scandals are quite an engaging topic to work with, especially with their judgment in society. Most people are interested in other people's lives, specifically in public figures' such as celebrities or politicians, because ordinary people feel like they have the right to know more things about the famous and notorious ones than they would probably willing to share. Intimacy and sexual acts aren't exceptions; moreover, sexuality is one of the central interests of humans ever since. Besides, knowing and having an opinion about any kind of scandal can change even whole social groups or classes estimation of anyone. This study aims to research the social judgment of some Hungarian politicians' sex scandals and asks important questions like diverse public opinions in the light of gender or delegates’ abuse of power. Considering that this study is about collecting and evaluating opinions from the public, and no one before researched and published this exact topic and cases, an online survey was created. In the survey were different sections. We collected data about party-preference, conservativism-liberalism scale; then we used the following questionnaires: from Zero-sum perspective with regard to gender equality (Ruthig, Kehn, Gamblin, Vanderzanden & Jones, 2017), Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI; Glick & Fiske, 1996), Ambivalence Toward Men Inventory (AMI; Glick & Fiske, 1999). Finally, 5 short summaries were presented about five Hungarian politicians' sex scandal cases (3 males, 2 females) from the recent past. These stories were followed by questions about their opinion of the party and attitudes towards the parties' reactions to the cases. We came to the conclusion that people are more permissive with the scandals of men, and benevolent sexism and ambivalence towards men mediate this relation. Men tend to see these cases as part of politicians' private lives more than women. Party preference had a significant effect - people tend to pass a sentence the delegates of the opposing parties, and they rather release the delegates of their preferred party.

Keywords: sex scandal, sexism, social judgement, politician

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Authors: Nasrin Badrkhani

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Human beings step into this world to live thus, the way of living holds undeniable importance. Addressing the contemporary lifestyle is a necessity that has attracted the attention of scholars. To formulate an ideal lifestyle, we need to progress in two dimensions: the instrumental and the content dimensions. In the context of lifestyle, which is the software part of Islamic civilization, we have not made significant progress. In analyzing the Iranian-Islamic lifestyle, it must be said that our current lifestyle is eclectic, and we need to refine it by selecting one or two main factors, which other factors are dependent on, and work on them so that the secondary factors change on their own. Lifestyle is a broad concept that, in addition to goals, includes an individual's thoughts about themselves, the world, and their unique way of striving to achieve their goals under specific conditions. The discussion of harm becomes relevant for an institution when it cannot fulfill the expected functions or is on the verge of dissolution. There is no doubt that today's Iranian family is far from being the balanced family that should be the cornerstone of a healthy society. The generation gap, as a global issue, is a problem facing Iranian society and families. The weakening of the element of faith, prioritizing worldly benefits over divine satisfaction, the prominence of material pleasures over spiritual joy, individualism and attention to personal interests instead of altruism and sacrifice, increased grounds for establishing relationships outside the framework of marriage, and the fading culture of hijab reduce the felt need to form a family. In a general summary regarding the pathology of the lifestyle of Iranians, it must be said that the consumerist lifestyle or the libertinism that some of our families have adopted is, whatever it may be, not beneficial for our country and society in terms of the development and perfection of future generations. We need to design alternative lifestyles that are suitable for our society and are also geared towards the elevation of our children.

Keywords: social problems, gap generation, communication, lifestyle of Iranians

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Authors: Aldona Guzik

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Experts have always played a special role in society. Drawing on their opinions was and most certainly is one of the most important strategies that direct people when they make decisions; something often used with the aim of exerting influence and ensuring social conformism. Many factors decide on who becomes an expert. The most important of these have hitherto been: the possession of extensive knowledge, charisma, authority as well as experience. Increasingly, however, these factors are insufficient and may even be deemed unnecessary. This state of affairs has been brought about (among other things) by the development of the media and the media’s influence on our lives. The inspiration to write the present article has its grounding in the book by Tom Nichols The Death of Expertise. The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters, in which the author claims that in our present-day open society experts and their expertise count for increasingly less for everyone who has unlimited access to the Internet and education. This has, in turn, resulted in the creation of so-called ‘collective wisdom,’ which is placed higher than any of the specialist knowledge proclaimed by experts. However, this is an incomplete picture, because admittedly, access to knowledge is nowadays unlimited, but on the other hand, the ubiquitous risk causes that the expert is someone who allows them to minimize it. Therefore, a modern society so readily refers to their opinion; from the smallest matters, eg home appliance, to important political issues. Hence, many information services include numerous experts (scientists, journalists, specialists, celebrities), whose task is to explain to the viewers in a simple way the presented reality. However, more and more often their role is also to give credence to what they explain. Hence the questions arise: who are the experts, what is their typology and what roles they play in Polish information services? To answer them, quantitative and qualitative research was used, such as analysis of lists of 100 most influential experts, analysis of expert profiles and their statements in three differentiated information services (TVN - commercial, TVP1 - public, TV Trwam - non-commercial/religious). They will be the basis for answering the above-mentioned questions and, above all, determining their role in information services in Poland.

Keywords: experts, media, public discours, symbolic elites

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Authors: Sushma Ghogale

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With a surge in user-generated content or feedback or reviews on the internet, it has become possible and important to know consumers' opinions about products and services. This data is important for both potential customers and businesses providing the services. Data from social media is attracting significant attention and has become the most prominent channel of expressing an unregulated opinion. Prospective customers look for reviews from experienced customers before deciding to buy a product or service. Several websites provide a platform for users to post their feedback for the provider and potential customers. However, the biggest challenge in analyzing such data is in extracting latent features and providing term-level analysis of the data. This paper proposes an approach to use topic modeling to classify the reviews into topics and conduct sentiment analysis to mine the opinions. This approach can analyse and classify latent topics mentioned by reviewers on business sites or review sites, or social media using topic modeling to identify the importance of each topic. It is followed by sentiment analysis to assess the satisfaction level of each topic. This approach provides a classification of hotel reviews using multiple machine learning techniques and comparing different classifiers to mine the opinions of user reviews through sentiment analysis. This experiment concludes that Multinomial Naïve Bayes classifier produces higher accuracy than other classifiers.

Keywords: latent Dirichlet allocation, topic modeling, text classification, sentiment analysis

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Authors: Afaf Manzoor, Abdul Hameed

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Hopes to attend school is the most effective means to overcome the burden of disability and become a self-reliant, productive citizen. The objectives of the study were to develop a valid and reliable scale to measure hopes of out of school children with disabilities and find an association between hopes and various demographic factors such as type of disability, gender, socio-economic status, and locale, etc. Child Hope theory by Snyder (2003) was used as a framework to develop a measure for the hopes of children. According to this theory, hope is defined as a set of cognition that includes self- perception which establish routes to achieve desired goals (pathways) and motivation for achieving the goals (agency). By applying this theory, inclusion hope scale was developed and validated. The data were collected from 361 out of school children with disabilities living in three districts (Lahore, Sheikupura, Kasur) of Lahore Division by using the cluster sampling technique. Findings of the study indicated that children with intellectual challenges were more hopeless as compared to other types of disabilities. Similarly, children living in urban areas have better hopes for inclusion in school. However, no gender disparity was found in terms of being hopeful to attend schools. The study also includes recommendations to improve hopes for educational inclusion among out of school children with disabilities.

Keywords: out of school children, disability, hopes, inclusion

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Authors: M. Lopez-Pereyra, I. Cisneros Alvarado, M. Del Socorro Lobato Alba

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This paper aims to discuss a conceptual, pedagogical approach that foster inclusive education and that create an awareness of the use of assistive technology in Mexico. Interdisciplinary understanding of disabilities and the use of assistive technology as a frame for an inclusive education have challenged the reality of the researchers’ participation in decision-making. Drawing upon a pedagogical inquiry process within an interdisciplinary academic project that involved the sciences, design, biotechnology, psychology and education fields, this paper provides a discussion on the challenges of assistive technology and inclusive education in interdisciplinary research on disabilities and technology project. This study is frame on an educational action research design where the team is interested in integrating, disability, technology, and inclusion, theory, and practice. Major findings include: (1) the concept of inclusive education as a strategy for interdisciplinary research; (2) inclusion as a pedagogical approach that challenges the creation of assistive technology from diverse academic fields; and, (3) inclusion as a frame, problem-focused, for decision-making. The findings suggest that inclusive pedagogical approaches provide a unique insight into interdisciplinary teams on disability and assistive technology in education.

Keywords: assistive technology, inclusive education, inclusive pedagogy, interdisciplinary research

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Authors: Waisu Iliyasu

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It is a well-known fact that the Hausa people have, since time immemorial, had a distinct culture of living together and assisting one another. In fact, the communal bond has been an important aspect that bound society together. Over the years, this communal bond has been eroded, giving way to an individualistic society whereby everyone lives a different way of life free from social cohesion and family bonds. It is against this backdrop the paper examines the forces of change in Hausa society and their effect on communal living. The paper also highlights the factors and actors involved in such change and how, in the later years of Nigeria’s independence, such factors transformed the social, political and economic structures of Hausa society in Northern Nigeria. In writing this paper, qualitative research is used in which questionnaires and oral interviews were used as a method of data collection. Along this way, other sources like primary and secondary are also used extensively in writing the paper. The concluding part of the paper reveals that unless the problems of elitism, corruption and poverty are addressed, the gap between have and have-nots, wealthy and poor, literate and illiterate, will continue to widen, thereby leading to an individualistic society that negates all forms of communal living.

Keywords: communalism, individualism, historical insights, Hausa land

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Authors: Tajudeen Ojo Ibraheem

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In a world characterized by greed and the lust for power and its attendant trappings, abuse of legal power is nothing new to most of us. Legal abuses of power abound in all fields of human endeavour. Accounts of such abuses dominate the mass media and for the average individual, no single day goes by without his getting to hear about at least one such occurrence. This paper briefly looks at the meaning of legal power, what legal abuse is all about, its causes, and some of its manifestations in the society. Its consequences will also be discussed and some suggestions for reform will be made. In the course of the paper, references will be made to various jurisdictions around the world.

Keywords: abuse, legal, power, society

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Authors: Kaori Mori Want

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American society is a racially diverse society and there are children books that tell the importance of respecting racial differences. Through reading books, children understand the world around them little by little along with their direct interaction with the world in reality. They find role models in books, strive to be like role models, and grow confidence in who they are. Books thus nurture the mind of children. On the other hand, because of their small presence, children books for multiracial Asian American children are scarce. Multiracial Asian American population is increasing but they are still minority in number. The lack of children’s books for these children may deprive the opportunities of them to embrace their multiraciality positively because they cannot find someone like them in any books. Children books for multiracial Asian American are still not that many, but a few have been being published recently. This paper introduces children books for multiracial Asian American children, and examines how they address issues pertaining to these children, and how they could nurture their self-esteem. Many states of the US used to ban interracial marriages and interracial families and their children once were discriminated against in American society. There was even a theory called the hybrid degeneracy theory which claimed that mixed race children were inferior mentally and physically. In this negative social environment, some multiracial Asian American people report that they had trouble embracing their multiracial identity positively. Yet, children books for these children are full of positive messages. This paper will argue the importance of children books for the mental growth of multiracial Asian American children, and how these books can contribute to the development of multiculturalism in the US in general.

Keywords: critical mixed race studies in the US, hapa children literature, interracial marriage, multiraciality

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Authors: Marwa Hanafy

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The objective of linking the museum with school curriculum is to focus on the values and principles of the educational standards of the fourth grade as "equality, cooperation, allegiance, belonging, participation, peace, tolerance, pride and patriotism, etc." through activities, discussion, exhibits, etc., which can help the students to develop their characters and be useful for their society. For example, there is a lesson in Module 3 assess the role of women as mothers and queens, here this research will focus on the value of women and respect them through statues or images of women which support and affect positively on the students who will apply these Morals to themselves and to the community by dependency. It cannot be denied that the students have to be a part of the museum educational programs which have designed for them, by giving them the opportunity to participate, talk, discuss and express their opinions and hear them in the museums, this may be an effective way to confirm that the interests of children are taken into account.

Keywords: museum education, primary school education, school curriculum, informal learning

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Authors: Myriam Castonguay, Florence Vinit

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This study aims to gain a better understanding of the lived experience of seven children growing up in a family where another child is severely disabled, informed by family systems theory and the socio-ecological model of development. In depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven children who described they everyday life since their brother’s or sister’s diagnosis. Thematic analysis revealed four themes : struggling with loneliness inside the family, supporting the disabled child through its journey, accommodating to a changing routine and keeping a “bubble” for oneself. Brothers and sisters depict a family life characterized by much loneliness, with severe disabilities requiring ongoing care and prolonged hospitalizations. In the midst of adversity, siblings describe themselves as highly committed to supporting the disabled child and to preserve family cohesion, even if that means getting exposed to emotionally challenging situations and adjusting their daily routine frequently. Children recount that keeping up with schoolwork and leisure activities of their own is central to their well-being. Having a space where one can reconnect with his ordinary life as a kid is also deemed very important. This study reminds us that more needs to be done to counteract the loneliness experienced by siblings through the family experience of disability. Family members and clinicians need to be extra vigilant to ensure siblings’ needs don’t go unnoticed or dismissed, as it may be difficult for this population of children to voice their own experience and needs. Family, school and other actors in the community may help brothers and sisters pursue their personal dreams, goals and projects, to continue experiencing well-being despite adverse life circumstances.

Keywords: sibling’s lived experience of disability, sibling’s needs at various levels of the ecosystem, family adjustment to the disability experience, supporting family wellness through the disability experience

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Authors: Amirhossein Karamoozian, Desheng Wu, Behzad Abbasnejad

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Building information modelling (BIM) is a new technology to enhance the efficiency of project management in the construction industry. In addition to the potential benefits of this useful technology, there are various risks and obstacles to applying it in construction projects. In this study, a decision making approach is presented for risk assessment in BIM adoption in construction projects. Various risk factors of exerting BIM during different phases of the project lifecycle are identified with the help of Delphi method, experts’ opinions and related literature. Afterward, Shannon’s entropy and Fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Situation) are applied to derive priorities of the identified risk factors. Results indicated that lack of knowledge between professional engineers about workflows in BIM and conflict of opinions between different stakeholders are the risk factors with the highest priority.

Keywords: risk, BIM, fuzzy TOPSIS, construction projects

Procedia PDF Downloads 224